Loughty Dube
27 June 2008
FORMER Information Minister and independent lawmaker, Jonathan Moyo, has come out in full support of a government of national unity (GNU) between President Robert Mugabe and opposition parties saying no conflict can be resolved through an election.
Moyo, speaking at the Bulawayo Press Club on Wednesday, devoted the greater part of his presentation to lambasting MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai, calling him an incompetent leader and criticising him for pulling out of today's presidential run-off.
Moyo accused Tsvangirai of being handled by outside forces, adding that his withdrawal from the run-off was misguided.
The political scientist became the first Mugabe opponent to criticise Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the poll after civil society organisations and other political parties lauded the decision.
"This is the most unwise decision that Tsvangirai has ever made and it would signify his downfall," Moyo told the journalists. "How can Tsvangirai withdraw four days before the election and yet people were being beaten and killed all along when he made his decision to contest on May 21."
Moyo drew the ire of the journalists when he said the violence being perpetrated across the country did not warrant a withdrawal from the election and claimed that Zanu PF supporters were the most affected.
"The violence actually is more pronounced within Zanu PF itself where the party members are disciplining each other," Moyo claimed. "MDC members are not being invited to pungwes and being beaten there, but it is Zanu-PF members who are being beaten for voting wrongly."
He drew criticism from the scribes when he made parallels between the Matabeleland massacres of the 1980s and the current political violence which the MDC alleges has claimed over 85 lives of its supporters.
"Sometimes the concerns of the British and the Americans are suspicious," Moyo said. "Over 20 000 people were killed in Matabeleland and nothing happened, but when 86 people are killed, the very same people who ignored events in Matabeleland are the ones who say the election will not be free and fair because of the violence."
In his attack on Tsvangirai, the Tsholotsho MP said the MDC leader was gambling with his political career and accused him of failing to consult other democratic forces on his decision to pull out.
"When Zanu PF was organising and regrouping after the polls, Tsvangirai was advised by his handlers to leave the country for Botswana and South Africa as the handlers were preparing him to take over as the next president of the country," Moyo averred. "He ignored some of the people who were campaigning for him and spent a lot of time away from home and had to be persuaded by the US ambassador (James McGee) to come back home." This self-exile was a bad decision, Moyo said.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Zimbabwe Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
The political life in jeopardy is that of Tsvangirai and not the opposition party. MDC’s constitution is very clear on presidential terms and Tsvangirai by losing this presidential attempt puts him on a risky position in his quest to continue leading the opposition. Tsvangirai has more enemies than friends among the top guys who formed MDC who are now in Mutambara camp. While the pull-out is seen as humane, politics has no human face and the decision is politically wrong for it accelerate Mugabe to the driving seat legally. Mugabe can now chose who to talk to in opposition and also help ambitious opposition members to pull down Tsvangirai. Morgan remains naïve as usual. There is already a political conspiracy to link Morgan with the Rhodesian Special Forces and the Boer apartheid network of today through his continued relation with Holland and England who are the worst oppressors in Southern Africa.
Does any of this matter? Doesn't the MDC presently hold a parliamentary majority? How is Mugabe going to to try to rule without a rubber-stamp parliament to accede to his wishes?
MDC-T was brilliant in withdrawing from the election even if it means the short-term suffering of the people of Zimbabwe - how legitimate does ZANU-PF/Mugabe feel they will be when they are a parliamentary minority? How does Mugabe feel he can get parliament to approve legislation or a change in policy when he cannot get a parliamentary majority? How does he gain parliamentary approval of a budget for the government?
MDC is right in calling ZANU-PF/Mugabe's bluff in withdrawing from the election. Once Mugabe "claims" victory, how will he govern? He has NO mandate because his party does not control parliament.
All MDC needs to do is reject or veto any legislation that comes from Mugabe or ZANU-PF. Will Mugabe veto legislation MDC puts to him regarding the amendments to the Constitution, or the voting regulations, or the reforms to the government program? The only thing MDC needs to do at the present is wait for the election results to be announced and to have their elected members of parliament continue to say NO to anything ZANU-PF/Mugabe propose.......
Unable to govern, Mugabe will be forced to either disband parliament, or for ZANU-PF to attack members of the MDC in the government themselves.
Either way, Mugabe/ZANU-PF loses additional legitimacy. If he disbands parliament, he is indeed the despot the MDC accuses him of being. If ZANU-PF attacks the actual MDC members of parliament, then he loses legitimacy as the rule of law will have been discarded. I seem to recall that a certain English King lost his head over disregarding the will of parliament and attacking it's members.
ZANU-PF/Mugabe has won the "run-off". The bigger question is how does he implement policies via a parliament that will not approve any of his legislation and he vetoes any legislation he receives from parliament?
Remember, MDC is now the majority in the Zimbabwean parliament....... How exactly does Mugabe plan to do ANYTHING when he does not control parliament? Will he rule by decree? If so, civil war will come upon Zimbabwe, just like the case when the English revolted against Charles I and eventually beheaded him.
There is no need for a government of national unity and Tsangivrai knows it and Mugabe hopes for it. All Tsangivrai needs to do is to ensure MDC blocks every single piece of legislation and dare ZANU-PF/Mugabe to veto any legislation they approve before Mugabe dissolves parliament and rules by decree.
Once Mugabe does this, he will be further isolated by the rest of the world. He cannot possibly approve MDC legislation, because the laws he is sent by the parliament will almost surely undermine ZANU-PF dominance. On the flip-side, Mugabe cannot govern without the approval of his policies by the MDC controlled parliament.
It is only the beginning, or the opening "wicket", of a protracted game. With the MDC in a solid majority in parliament, there was no reason for Tsanvigrai to participate in the "run-off".
ZANU-PF/Mugabe is backed into a corner - either disband parliament and any semblance of democracy, or confine yourself to a 5-year term of no legislation whatsoever! All MDC-T needs to do at this point is show up in parliament and refuse to ratify any of Mugabe's proposed policies. All they need to do is to refuse budgetary funding for the CIO and the Army. All they need to do is open a parliamentary investigation into the abuses of ZANU-PF/Mugabe prior to the run-off and introduce charges of treason against the "President" in parliament - just like in the case of Charles I!
So let Mugabe be "crowned" President in this farce of an election! Let's see how he "governs" when none of his policies are ratified by parliament and he refuses to sign the legislation he is "force-fed" from the MDC controlled parliament.
The game is to be played longer than anticipated, but the cards ZANU-PF/Mugabe presently hold will evaporate once MDC comes into control of parliament. He will be blocked at every turn, his budgets rejected, his cronies subject to parliamentary investigation. The security services budget and activities will be subject to parliamentary review.
Once MDC assumes control of parliament, do you think they will stop there? They do not need the presidency to control the government of Zimbabwe.
Think about this..... What if parliament demands the government divestiture of the Herald and the ZBC? What if they cut off budgetary funding for these mouthpieces of ZANU-PF? What if they institute "equal time" legislation requiring the Herald and ZBC to give "free" air time to opponents of ZANU-PF/Mugabe? What if the activities of the "war-veterans" are taken out of the budget?
To the point......... MDC does not need to "win" the presidency in Zimbabwe. Surely, the people of Zimbabwe will suffer, but aren't they suffering already? The point is, parliamentary democracy is based on the concept of negotiation and compromise. MDC does not need to compromise at this point - they control parliament - will Mugabe outlive his current 5-year "mandate"?
Sooner than not, Mugabe will die, MDC will most likely continue to hold a parliamentary majority until that time, what then? As the democratically elected government of Zimbabwe, the healing and the "justice" will commence from the time Mugabe dies, sadly not for Mugabe to face "justice" except at the "God" he claimed could be the only one to remove him from office. Ironically, "God" will have the last laugh at Cde. Mugabe's expense.......
Dr. Jonathan Moyo, is the so-called maverick politician of Zimbabwe. Like Dr. Simba Makoni, both have learned to survive by being on both sides of issues. Today, they are against Mugabe, tomorrow they support Tsvangirai. And I don't know what to make out of both of them.
Tsvangirai, for all practical purposes made the right decision! Tsvangirai, not known to be bright or brainy, made the best decision in his entire political career and he saved Zimbabwe from further problems in future. Most people now can clearly see that Tsvangirai and the country were going to be cheated by Zanu-pf, had Tsvangirai participated in these sham elections!