Mwonzora wake up and smell the coffee

EDITOR — Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) spokesperson, Douglas Mwonzora’s dismissal of the renewal team as a stillbirth smacks of a person who is running scared and is being haunted by major political historical events which seemingly favour the Tendai Biti-led group.

Major historical events that have occurred in the history of African politics and the drift towards commercialisation of political institutions is the major threat Morgan Tsvangirai’s political career faces against the renewal team and Mwonzora is aware of this stubborn fact.
Commercialisation transforms human experience by establishing commercial transactions in settings where markets had previously been absent or unimportant. Every eligible voter in Zimbabwe today has a value in dollars staked to their voting rights. The modern voter’s choice of a political institution to align with, is today mainly informed by the laws of potential returns and proceeds realisation.

Coming to the MDC-T, not only has Tsvangirai lost Tendai Biti, the party’s respected secretary general and the deputy treasurer general, Elton Mangoma. It had long lost its treasurer general Roy Bennett. This detail is important. In the 2005 MDC split, Welshman Ncube, the then party secretary general walked away with not so important portfolios.

Bennett and all he represents has been the soul and mainstay of the opposition MDC-T, financially. This is the man credited with the establishment of the Global Advocacy Campaign headquartered in Washington DC which has over the years been mobilising funds for the party. The walking out of Bennett and the chucking out of Mangoma leaves the Tsvangirai faction bankrupt. Biti is the custodian of the constitution of the party and through his expulsion Mwonzora and company are assured that there is no legal battle that they can win against the renewal team.

Tsvangirai’s faction is already feeling the financial crisis. More so when Tsvangirai, as a party leader, is struggling to raise medical fees what hope can he give to the multitudes of his followers failing to get medical assistance across the country? Tsvangira’s parrots might claim that he has the grassroot support, which may be partly true. But how many times has the same Tsvangirai aborted his rallies after having failed to raise funds for fuel and other related organising costs.

How then does Tsvangirai position himself? Whereas, the workers were the most boisterous voice in the turn of the millennium they have been displaced by the civil society movement. There are precedents to splits such as in the MDC in the history of African politics.
Those familiar with Ghana’s history would know of an elite group of lawyers, businessmen and intelligentsia who came to be popularly known as, “men of property and standing.” In 1947 they formed a political party called the United Gold Coast Convention and were led by Joseph Danquah.

Danquah and his inner circle then hired Kwame Nkrumah as their full time organiser. Nkrumah at that time was in the United States. Eighteen months after returning to the Gold Coast, he broke away and formed the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
During the 1951 elections of the 38 popularly contested elections, CPP won 34, while Danquah got three. Back home, the split of ZAPU in 1962 is a case in point, ZANU-PF emerged the winner.

Tawanda Museve