Then a firebrand trade unionist drawing massive crowds to his rallies, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai emerged on the political scene with a swagger that instantly threatened President Robert Mugabe’s position.
Richard Chidza
Mugabe’s cabinet at the time was littered with characters past their prime. A majority of them were spending time dozing in Parliament.
By contrast, Tsvangirai paraded fresh-faced and youthful political upstarts, among them some of the best brains the country’s leading institutions had produced at the time. Mugabe must have had knots at the pit of his stomach as he watched in horror the products of his education for all policy tearing apart his experienced geriatrics at many a forum.
But since the days of the supremely-talented and enigmatic Learnmore Jongwe, the astute Welshman Ncube, dignified Gibson Sibanda and the popular Elias Mudzuri, his wordsmith compatriot Nelson Chamisa and the boisterous Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai’s party has seen better days, analysts contend.
With individuals either dying or leaving the party to form their own after vicious fall-outs with their erstwhile leader, it has been down-hill for Tsvangirai and things have never been the same again.
A former senior Tsvangirai aide, Charles Mangongera seemed to confirm the deterioration in leadership quality, although he refused to be drawn into discussing the issue directly.
“While working for the party, I got the sense that there wasn’t sufficient commitment to respect intellectual rigour and valuing research and analysis. In my experience, there were two individuals I will not mention by name, who had a keen mind of interrogating data,” Mangongera said.
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“It contributed to some decision being taken without sufficient regard to the outcomes despite the apparent red lights. We raised concerns around certain strategies that we thought were not anchored on scientific research, but were dismissed as out to demoralise the party.”
He provided a telling example of how Tsvangirai’s lieutenants had rejected off-hand scientific advice ahead of the 2013 harmonised elections won convincingly by President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party to the shock of many.
“I remember we crafted scenarios around the 2013 elections outcome and one of these was ‘Kumbudzi’, meaning if we lost we would all go to the rural areas to herd goats. We were branded as factionalists and were taken to task, amid questions on why we were inferring that the president would retreat to the rural areas,” the former party policy chief said.
Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya said there was no doubt that the MDC-T has been deteriorating with each leadership change.
“Everything has been going down and the strength of the party has evidently been on the slide. The party has failed to regenerate itself and those that have tried to move the party forward have woefully been found wanting,” he said.
Ruhanya said the problem with the MDC-T was building a party around a personality rather than institutionalised strength.
He said the African National Congress in South Africa was a century old party that is as strong as it was in 1912, if not better.
“But they had very strong leaders, super personalities from John Dube, Oliver Tambo, Govan Mbeki to Albert Luthuli and not to mention Nelson Mandela,” said Ruhanya. “These leaders came and left but did not die with the party. What is clear is that the institution of the party is not as strong as the individuals. The MDC-T has created individuals who want to leave beyond the institution, rather than [creating] an institution that outlives its leaders”.
But MDC-T spokesperson, Obert Gutu said people must give the opposition party credit for sticking to democratic means of seeking regime change.
“We have not resorted to chaos and violence as happened elsewhere on the continent despite the fact that we are dealing with a vicious regime,” said Gutu.
However, a current national executive member provided a sneak-peak into the metamorphosis of Tsvangirai’s inner circle and its subsequent slide into near oblivion.
“There was no Standing Committee following the congress in 2000 but there was, you will remember, that animal called the Top Six. It comprised the president [Tsvangirai], his deputy [Gibson Sibanda], secretary-general Welshman Ncube, deputised by Gift Chimanikire, treasurer general Fletcher Dulini-Ncube and national chairman Isaac Matongo,” said the official who requested anonymity.
“These were joined by the youth leader Nelson Chamisa and Women’s assembly chair Lucia Matibenga at the time. But the national executive had the charismatic Jongwe and others like Biti. It was a cosmopolitan grouping of intellectual ability.”
Following the 2005 split, Tsvangirai under pressure dissolved his “Top Six that had literally captured the party from the workers” to create first a management committee called the Standing Committee.
In came Biti with Chamisa taking over from Paul Temba Nyathi who had replaced Jongwe following the latter’s unfortunate death while awaiting trial for murder.
Ncube was gone, and so was Nyathi. Matongo passed away in 2007 while Sibanda joined Ncube along with Chimanikire. The split left Tsvangirai with suitable replacements if not better in other positions.
Chamisa made his way into the Standing Committee following the changes because the spokesperson was drafted into this structure, Matongo remained chair while Mudzuri also came in as organising secretary. Khupe was elected vice-president, Mashakada as deputy secretary-general and Roy Bennett became the treasurer general. The youth assembly was led by Thamsanqa Mahlangu while Matibenga remained head of the women’s assembly.
But after the 2013 harmonised election loss, the former Prime Minister was left literally scrapping the barrel and the result, according to an insider, is “the worst Standing Committee in the history of the party”.
“There is no debate and most of them are just yes man who would never fathom questioning the direction Tsvangirai is driving the party towards,” The Standard was told.
“We are moving into a cul-de-sac with little in terms of policy alternatives to what Zanu PF is offering.” An insider summed up the decline.
“It is very clear that if you look at the quality of leadership within the party, it has deteriorated and that has to do with the natural laws of management,” said the senior MDC-T official.
“If the chief executive officer of a company stays for too long, there comes a time when it will be difficult to attract intelligent and credible people to the organisation. This is what has happened to the movement over the years. Its ability to craft credible policy alternatives has massively deteriorated.”
