PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai expressed deep anguish and frustration when he addressed a public lecture in the capital on Tuesday.
He bemoaned the failure by Zanu PF to implement issues agreed in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed in September 2008.
“The continued failure to implement even the most simple of the 24 agreed issues of the GPA shows that inherent friction and lack of a shared vision will continue to haunt this inclusive government,” he said.
He further complained of renewed violence, partisan national security institutions and a biased public media which he said was promoting genocide.According to Tsvangirai they had tolerated Zanu PF’s arrogance for long enough.
“For too long we have tried to accommodate the arrogant attitude of Zanu PF within this administration. That is not our job. It is the people who will ultimately judge them for their attitude and actions,” he said.
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All well and good Mr Prime Minister but it seems the MDC-T has reached a cul-de-sac on how to move forward while Zanu PF throws spanners into the GNU works.
Without doubt Zanu PF has engaged campaign mode. Besides orchestrating violence countrywide including in Harare, the public media has begun a vicious campaign to denigrate the Prime Minister and MDC-T ministers especially Finance minster, Tendai Biti. This is happening despite having a deputy minister in the Information and Publicity ministry, Zwizwai Murisi.
The police force has continued to be openly partisan and have blamed the MDC-T for violence that rocked Harare and portrayed Zanu PF members as victims. This is happening despite the MDC-T co-chairing the Home Affairs portfolio with Zanu PF. It leaves us wondering just how effective minister Theresa Makone is within this set-up.
Their city councilors countrywide continue to be harassed by Local Government, Urban and Rural Development minister Ignatius Chombo with some being dismissed. This is happening under the watch of their deputy minister, Sesel Zvidzai.
MDC-T’s response has been mute and tame at best. The party seems to be in disarray over how to respond to these shortcomings. Gone is the vigour with which they used to spar with Zanu PF and their no-nonsense attitude towards the latter’s shenanigans. Even the rallies they used to hold countrywide to inform their supporters have dwindled.
Party structures at grassroots levels in most areas in the country are nonexistent and in the few areas where they exist, they are shambolic. This has severely weakened the party as the grassroots are the oxygen of any party worth its salt.
At the African Union Summit held in Ethiopia recently, the low level representation by the MDC-T at such a crucial meeting was puzzling especially at a time that President Mugabe and Zanu PF were hell-bent on dragging the country back to the dark days of 2008.
This leaves us wondering if the MDC-T have become complacent since becoming part of the inclusive government. Are they now taking the massive support they enjoy, especially in urban areas, for granted?
It is incumbent upon them to show that they can do more than whine and whimper about Zanu PF and running to Sadc to complain. Otherwise they risk giving Zanu PF room to regroup and reverse the inroads they made in 2008.
Ultimately actions speak louder than words.
