Harare — Our elders say, it's always telling for a hyena to retch grey hair on the village perimeter in the wake of the disappearance of an elder.

Well one of our village elders disappeared to Nigeria last week where he was reported to have gone to seek mvura yemuteuro (Holy water) to use during the next election, as one of his underlings puked at a rally in Chitungwiza.

These seemingly unrelated but telling events that occurred last week may have a bearing on how the self-proclaimed "party of excellence" will behave in the coming days, weeks or months.

Nelson Chamisa, who appeared to be shadow-boxing only forces he could see; told a rally in Chitungwiza that MDC-T may campaign for a "No Vote" in the referendum for the envisaged new constitution.

The reason: alleged intimidation and violence against people taking part in the constitution-making process.

Suffice to say this announcement was quite surprising given that the MDC-T is not only part and parcel of the constitution-making process but is equally represented on the tri-partite Constitutional Parliamentary Committee chairmanship that brings together Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana of Zanu-PF, Edward Mkhosi of the MDC and the MDC-T's own Douglas Mwonzora.

Chamisa's ranting should be read in the context of Vice President Joice Mujuru's announcement, at the Zanu-PF Mashonaland West Province inter-district meeting in Kariba over the weekend, that Zanu-PF's is happy with the way the constitution-making process was going.

"You have given me reports that things have gone well in the outreach programme. The constitution we want captures the country's values as premised on the liberation struggle, the land reform programme and the indigenisation programme.

"Zimbabwe's history did not start in 1999 or 2000 like what other people want to portray. When the time comes for the referendum, we should all go out and support what we stand for, to support the values that we stand for," VP Mujuru said to much applause from the delegates.

Of course MDC-T converts would be quick to twist VP Mujuru's remarks to imply that Zanu-PF, as the party accused of intimidation during the outreach, would naturally be happy with proceedings.

I do not agree with such thinking for the following reasons.

Firstly Copac; on which the MDC-T is well represented has since dismissed reports of alleged violence and intimidation during the outreach, and this was at a Press conference called by the three Copac co-chairmen.

Secondly we have not heard of a day that the MDC-T leaders approached the police to provide evidence of the alleged violence and intimidation to facilitate prosecution of the culprits. The party's failure to do so implies that the violence claims can not be substantiated.

Thirdly, the GPA itself provides for a tri-partisan conflict resolution organ in the form of Jomic, on which the MDC-T is again well represented, and which they should approach with any concerns about the way the constitution-making process is going instead of threatening rejection of a document that is still to be drafted and whose contents are not known.

Fourth, we did not hear even a whimper from MDC-T leaders when one of their allies, the Lovemore Madhuku-led NCA openly campaigned for violence against the outreach teams telling students, through Zinasu, to kick out the outreach teams from their colleges, utterances that were clear incitement to violence.

Now given that the MDC-T is well-represented in both Copac, Jomic and even the Ministry of Home Affairs that oversees the police, the party's failure to report the alleged violence and intimidation or to bring its concerns to the attention of Jomic means its leaders want to create self-fulfilling prophecies should the outcome of the outreach go against what they and their handlers wanted included pursuant to the regime change agenda.

And judging by reports from the provinces, the MDC-T's talking points on the constitution; that dwell mainly on presidential powers and civil liberties; are finding few takers as the majority are said to be embracing progressive themes to do with safeguarding the country's independence and sovereignty and entrenching the economic empowerment drive, which is basically Zanu-PF's message and campaign mantra.

Since the outreach is a virtual test-run for the elections given that the three main parties are using it to gauge the appeal of their messages to the generality of Zimbabweans, the pronouncements by the two main parties may explain, last week's second but telling occurrence; Morgan Tsvangirai's visit to Prophet T. B Joshua's Synagogue Church of All Nations in Nigeria where he reportedly sought divine intervention ahead of elections likely to be called at the end of the life-span of the inclusive Government next year.

We do not know what Tsvangirai was told by the Nigerian prophet but whatever it was; unless it pertained to progressive mindset shift, it was brouhaha. The bottom line is politics does not need divination. The secret is to be in tune with the people and the majority sentiment.

Zimbabwe is unique in that it is one of only a few countries that won their independence through protracted armed revolutions and the objective of that revolution was our total independence and sovereignty, and ownership of and control of the factors of production.

That is a message that resonates with the generality of Zimbabweans, 70 percent of whom are in the countryside that bore the brunt of that liberation struggle.

The revolution is work in progress and the message still resonates with the masses. And as long as Tsvangirai stands opposed to those ideals, not even an army of prophets can help him win an election.

Similarly no matter how many outreach programmes are held, and by whom, the same message will come across, which is why that was the case with the Constitutional Commission's Draft of 2000 that the MDC campaigned against, the Kariba Draft which they co-authored but now vehemently oppose and the yet to be named draft whose outreach is underway and which they are threatening to reject.

MDC-T leaders should not forget that the constitution-making process is a major milestone towards fulfilment of the GPA in readiness for fresh elections which are to be the logical conclusion of the inclusive Government.

Threatening to reject the new constitution implies that MDC-T leaders will even reject the resultant poll outcome if, as is most likely to happen, it does not go their way. But then no one will be bothered because Zanu-PF has always won elections, even in an environment skewed by sanctions.

Tsvangirai and company should know that they were the most vocal about a new Constitution which they claimed would guarantee free and fair elections and bring all sorts of goodies to people's dinner tables; rejecting it would be no skin off Zanu-PF's nose for the simple reason that Zanu-PF can be quite happy with the current constitution which has been amended 19 times to bring it in line with the aspirations of the majority.

That same Constitution upholds all the talking points Zanu-PF wants included in the new document. So the MDC-T can only score an own goal.