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Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe: Morgan's run-off boycott a joke
Posted on Wednesday, June 25 @ 03:40:51 UTC
Topic: Zimbabwe
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 By Stephen T. Maimbodei
June 25, 2008
THE late Adrian Rogers, once said, "Facts are like a recipe, truth is the meal. Buy the truth, and sell it not. We should value it in our own hearts. It is indispensable. We must purchase truth and the search for truth is costly."
There is no denying that Zimbabwe is going through the most trying times since independence. The strange happenings on our political landscape in the past few days are food for truth within the context of truth and responsibility.
In the same vein, the next few days and months are not only very critical but also crucial for Zimbabweans. Some people believe that with daggers drawn against it, only divine intervention will save Zimbabwe.
Most people ask how Zanu-PF and the Government will respond to and manage the siege and the trail of disastrous events between now and June 27 and beyond.
For Morgan Tsvangirai, the Americans and the British and their Western allies are baying for President Mugabe and Zanu-PF's blood.
They have also roped in some African brothers, some of whom believe against hope that they will use Zimbabwe to enhance their political CVs.
This is what they have done. Zimbabwe will expose the real Africa, which the likes of Kwame Nkrumah dreamt about.
Tsvangirai embarrassed us all when he was ordered around, like a child, by US ambassador James D. McGee to return from his self-imposed exile. Since then Tsvangirai has exposed Zimbabwe to more embarrassing incidents not least his announcement that he had decided not to contest the run-off election.
Last Friday, Tsvangirai threatened to pull out of the presidential run-off.
We all said that it was not unusual seeing it was coming from a crisis-starved person and someone whom psychotherapists would describe as a person with a serious attention-seeking disorder.
This analysis will look at the concomitant issues, major players and the implications thereof in Tsvangirai's election withdrawal or pullout saga and the subsequent hiding at the Dutch embassy.
Nelson Chamisa, MDC-T spokesperson, told the media that Tsvangirai's decision came from their supporters. Typical of the local MDC-T at Harvest House, it entangled itself in a web of confusion, which they always believe is strategic positioning and posturing.
However, when the real MDC-T leadership at No. 10 Downing Street and Whitehall in London and the White House and Capitol Hill, in Washington spoke, they disentangled the confusion at the Harvest House, MDC-T.
For, the real MDC-T is on a mission, and they believe that this is a battle they must win at all costs. As if by sheer coincidence, their mouthpiece, the BBC started airing an avalanche of anti-Zimbabwe reports over and over a propaganda programme in what they wishfully thought what they want the world to believe should be a "crisis", actually turns out to be one.
Initially Chamisa did not know when they would come to a decision, while another report said they would decide on Monday, June 23, exactly four days before the poll.
Come on!
Then what followed is symptomatic of the October 12, 2005 when the back and forth acts revealed a deep chasm within MDC that fed a split of such magnitude that only the March 29 harmonised poll managed to cement, for convenience's sake.
Only a fool could fail to see that the frequency with which the programme was aired was a signal of what London and Washington were working on. The psychological game and its effect were obvious. For, a lie repeated so often can transform itself into truth.
Thus we knew that something sinister was in the offing. It was only a matter of time before the bubble burst. For them, there is nothing like a free lunch. Tsvangirai has to present to them Zimbabwe on a silver platter. Just that!
The psychological game plan did not end with the withdrawal threat. On Saturday, MDC-T was in victory mode after the High Court overturned the police ban on their campaign rally in Harare. That Saturday, Tsvangirai with the America-style bus, visited a number of high-density suburbs.
This writer understands that some youths donning Zanu-PF campaign regalia who had been harassing vendors in one of Harare's high density suburbs suddenly forgot that they were play acting.
When Tsvangirai arrived in his bus, the youths rushed to it palms up, giving themselves away.
Then Sunday, the scheduled rally never took off, as there were allegations from MDC-T that armed Zanu-PF youths had taken over the grounds.
The intended boycott had another twist. According to reports, it appeared that Tsvangirai had once again blundered, as it emerged that not all MDC-T party leadership were in agreement with his intentions.
Ralph Mutema writing in the online newspaper The Zimbabwe Guardian on Saturday revealed the divisions in MDC-T over whether Tsvangirai should pullout. Mutema, claims that the South African and Zimbabwean offices issued different statements.
He wrote, "Roy Bennett, MDC-T party's treasurer general and financier of the party issued a statement yesterday saying Morgan Tsvangirai will stand against President Mugabe in a run-off election on June 27. Bennett's remarks contradicted an earlier statement issued by Chamisa, who said that the party would consider withdrawing over the weekend".
There were also conflicting reports about when they would meet to make the decision, with some reports claiming that the decision would be made on Sunday, while others said Monday.
As readers are aware the pace of the local MDC-T is always decided by the real MDC-T in Washington and London.
On Sunday afternoon, Tsvangirai called a Press conference and announced his decision to withdraw from the race citing alleged violence against his supporters and that the playing field was not even.
For the first time, one of the acts of violence cited was rape. And readers will remember that the UN had just completed a conference on "rape as a weapon of war".
Moments after the "breaking news", that Tsvangirai had pulled out of the run-off was on all international and regional news wires and Internet websites and blogs.
However, Tsvangirai and the coterie of media that sympathies and supports his "cause" conveniently forgot that a party that makes so much noise about due process was once again sacrificing the rule of law.
Tendai Biti blatantly flouted the Constitution on April 2 when he announced MDC-T's own presidential result, declaring Tsvangirai the absolute winner with their alleged 50,3 percent of the votes cast.
Then on June 22, Tsvangirai was also at it. Thus the highest-ranking officials in MDC-T shredded the Electoral Act, and the Constitution.
The Zimbabwe Election Commission, the body that oversees all matters pertaining to elections in the country was reduced to nothing as Tsvangirai chose to announce his withdrawal to the media and election observers, before notifying ZEC in writing according to Electoral Act section 2:13.
The media internationally also knows that the rule of law is paramount in order for Tsvangirai's actions to be legitimised, but the pullout has become a de facto fact. The Electoral Act once again became irrelevant, just like the 50 percent plus 1 was trashed to claim Tsvangirai was the winner of the March 29 poll.
Thus the Western media and their governments did their bidding for Tsvangirai arguing that he was not supposed to contest the run-off, despite what the law says. Precedents like the Liberian case of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and George Weah are conveniently forgotten.
On Monday evening, MDC-T London-based official Nqobizitha Mlilo remarked that their lawyers were drafting the letter, while at the same time a decision on whether to really pull out would be announced today, Wednesday.
What decision when Tsvangirai creates another bubble by claiming security fears and seeking refuge at the Dutch embassy in Harare, and announcing that he would not reveal his hideout because he feared for his life.
One wonders at these imaginary security fears when the day before Tsvangirai's Strathaven home was open to the media and he never mentioned security problems.
Commenting on the BBC, Tsvangirai said they were prepared to go to the negotiation table with Zanu-PF on the proviso that certain conditions are met by Zanu-PF and the Government.
Mlilo reiterated the statement that they were willing to talk to Zanu-PF and he did not think that there was a conflict of interest in the positions they are taking: withdrawal and dialogue.
Whether it was politically motivated violence or a campaign of "violence and terror" Tsvangirai, the man who wants to occupy the highest office on the land has shown the world that he has no respect for the rule of law, and the bottom line is that he has no respect for Zimbabwe and its Constitution.
He also does not have respect for regional bodies such as Sadc and the African Uni0n most of who have missions in Zimbabwe. If he had confidence in his identity as an African and a black man who has been prancing around the continent, one of the African missions in Harare would have been his first port of call in his alleged hide out.
But no, he chose the Dutch embassy.
Now those who wondered why white people always surround him know why. A point that has to be grasped by Zimbabweans who believe that Tsvangirai is Zimbabwe's saviour since the departure of white farmers who are also believed to be the only people capable of managing Zimbabwe's economy and food security and return Zimbabwe to its "bread basket of Africa" status.
This makes wonder, whoever comes up with such phrases: rainbow and miracle nation; jewel of Africa; Harare the Sunshine City. For when things fail, then the white man becomes the survival kit that we should depend on.
Who are the major players now? The metamorphosis in MDC has created a monster, which even Tsvangirai himself cannot manage. What worries most though is the continual reference to intervention, with some quarters now brazenly asking that the international community (read the United States and Britain) should intervene militarily and depose President Mugabe.
Why the withdrawal is a ploy and a sham? Tsvangirai is well-known for his non-committal position. The way it is, it shows that they are agitated lot as they move from one mass hysteria to another.
In fact all the shifting of goal posts, coming up with a Zimbabwe that is almost non-existent on the African map shows that they want to read the mood from Zanu-PF and see how best they can proceed. They have failed to penetrate the intelligence system.
The visibility of Zanu-PF made them stone dead and they realised that Tsvangirai's globe trotting was counter productive. For voters are in Zimbabwe and it is only the people of Zimbabwe who can legitimise Zimbabwe's electoral process by casting their vote.
However, herein also is the catch.
Mlilo on Monday evening maintained that MDC-T was willing to stand in the election as long as the environment was violence free, because MDC-T leadership valued the people's lives more than their own.
Read between the lines, Tsvangirai has not withdrawn. ZEC has said none of the candidates had pulled out. Constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku also said that Tsvangirai cannot withdraw because the law says so.
Whatever game plan is in the offing, June 27 will reveal it.
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