Smear campaign on PM escalates

Obituaries
Charges brought against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai by a chief for violating traditional values by reportedly marrying Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo in November expose a hidden political hand in the PM’s marriage debacle.

Little known Chief Negomo, Luscious Chitsinde, shot to prominence last week by summoning Tsvangirai to his court for the November timing of his marriage considered taboo in Shona culture.

The ceremony took place in Christon Bank, which is outside his jurisdiction. While Tsvangirai’s antics in the bedroom are morally reprehensible, the chief’s interest in the matter exposes a grand plot to injure the premier’s reputation irreparably by exploiting his apparent weakness for women.

Zanu PF is now determined to keep Tsvangirai’s sexual misadventures in the public domain in a bid to achieve this ahead of elections provisionally slated for next year — which they can’t win in a free and fair atmosphere.

Tsvangirai has been a pain in the Zanu PF neck for a long time, and after failing to beat him at the ballot box, the party now sees an opportunity to exploit his weakness.

The PM is now being painted not just as a promiscuous bed-hopper unfit to lead the nation but as a leader who is ignorant of the nation’s traditional norms and values.

So, Chief Negomo has been brought into the picture to buttress this view. The truth of the matter is that the chief is just a pawn in a grand scheme to debase Tsvangirai in the eyes of millions of his supporters who see in him the best hope to replace the ageing President Robert Mugabe.

The chief’s antics, which have been fiercely contested by Tsvangirai’s lawyers, are designed to humiliate the man who is determined to end Zanu PF’s rule.

The decision by Tsvangirai to ignore the chief’s summons is right. By appearing at the court, Tsvangirai would have played into the hands of Zanu PF which is intensifying its attacks by demanding that he undergo a public HIV test.

It is clear the party, blamed for turning once a breadbasket country into a basket case, does not want this matter to die a natural death.

Quote of the week

 

“Dogs are even better than these people. A dog can understand better and defend its territory than these people.” — War veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda describing top Zanu PF politicians exposed by WikiLeaks as critical of President Mugabe.