Time for introspection at Harvest House

Had Tsvangirai lost his mind? Had sound judgement, common sense and decency deserted him? More than half the population need food aid to survive. Cholera has claimed more than 4 000 lives with many more destined to die. Malnutrition stunts the physical and mental growth of children with many condemned to a life of misery and under-achievement.
Government is unable to provide basic services such as health and education. It cannot even pay public servants. People continue to be victims of state-sponsored violence, arbitrary arrests, and unlawful imprisonment. Yet at some point Tsvangirai saw nothing wrong with attending this annual obscenity. It is reasonable to assume that other leaders of the MDC intervened to change his mind. On his own he could not exercise sound judgement on the matter.
The MDC and Tsvangirai need to be extremely careful. The party’s leadership runs a real risk of being authors of its demise. They are being taken for a ride by President Mugabe. A statement released last Friday by the MDC’s national executive council listed five violations of the unity agreement. The continued imprisonment of MDC members and civil society activists; the unilateral appointment of permanent secretaries and ambassadors; continued farm invasions and violence; lack of progress in the equitable appointment of governors and the positions of Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana.
The stark reality the MDC has to face is that on all these issues President Mugabe is not prepared to move an inch. At his birthday party he said farm invasions would continue. Earlier in a televised interview he made it clear that he would not reverse any appointments he had made specifically naming Gono and Tomana. The MDC failed to get these concessions while it was in a strong bargaining position.
With nothing to bargain with following its meek surrender at the last summit of SADC leaders the party is literally at Mugabe’s mercy.
The tragedy is that President Mugabe knows how desperate the MDC leadership is to remain in government. It has been thoroughly compromised by the comforts and trappings of office. He knows that they will moan and whine but remain in government. He has absolutely no reason to honour any agreements on these outstanding matters.
The MDC will remain in government under the terms and conditions that currently exist. They must live with the consequences of their folly.
South Africa’s most insightful columnist, Barney Mthombothi of the Financial Mail, recently wrote a piece lamenting the ineptitude of MDC leaders. It is worth quoting him at length. “(President) Mugabe has managed to hang on to power this long partly thanks to major missteps by the opposition under Tsvangirai who has been inconsistent, indecisive and even erratic. Mugabe has appeared almost invincible simply because he is up against rank amateurs. The MDC has legitimized his usurpation of power. A loser is allowed to disregard the will of the people and negotiate for himself a lion’s share of power simply because he controls all the resources of violence. By agreeing to go along the MDC are as guilty as the men who concocted this abomination. They are now ensnared in Mugabe’s web. It is difficult to understand what they hope to achieve by embracing Mugabe.”
An essential skill in politics is the ability to read and anticipate what your opponents are up to. This skill is not possessed by the MDC leadership. A view advanced as justification for this shameful appeasement of President Mugabe is that it will allow for free and fair elections.
President Mugabe will never allow a repetition of March 29. He knows the MDC will lose a lot of support and credibility for being an appendage of ZANU-PF in this government. His infrastructure of terror and electoral fraud is still intact.
Surprisingly the MDC has not raised the issue of the militia. They and war veterans supported by the army, police and CIO will play a big part in the next election. That is why of late President Mugabe talks with such relish of the coming election.
It will come sooner than the two years he has hinted to catch the MDC off guard.
He knows Tsvangirai and his ministers will be on cloud nine for a long time enjoying their new cars, big offices and assortment of perks. For now President Mugabe needs the MDC in government to perform two outstanding functions. In his televised interview he called for Tsvangirai to “vigorously” call for the immediate lifting of sanctions. The ZANU-PF elite are desperate to have travel restrictions in Europe, America and Australia lifted. They want to have bank accounts in these countries and educate their children there. The call for the lifting of sanctions has nothing to do with the need to re-build the economy.
Tsvangirai and Finance Minister Tendai Biti also have to take their begging bowl to all corners of the earth for much needed financial support. For these two reasons President Mugabe will tolerate the MDC as unwelcome second class guests in his government. Once they have outlived their usefulness he will call for elections in which violence will determine the outcome.
That is why he wants farm invasions to continue as they provide cover for violence against the MDC.
In life it is important to see things as they are and not what we want them to be. People should not live in a world of fantasy and make believe. In Tsvangirai’s fantasy world he is a substantive Prime Minister with all powers associated with that office. Of late he has convinced himself that President Mugabe is genuinely committed to this government but is let down by hardliners in his party. Hardliners such as Attorney – General Tomana who refuses to release Roy Bennett and others.
President Mugabe wants them released according to Tsvangirai.  Mr Prime Minister, please leave dreamland for the real world.  There is no harder hardliner than President Mugabe himself.  To think that a nonentity like Tomana can defy President Mugabe is laughable. It is President Mugabe who wants Bennett and others in jail to teach you a lesson. In politically sensitive cases Tomana takes instructions from Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa one of President Mugabe’s most obedient disciples. The securocrats – defence force and police chiefs – are mere enforcers of President Mugabe’s will.
On the continued imprisonment of Bennett and others Tsvangirai said; “This is a provocation of the highest order. It is time the inclusive government salvaged itself. The inclusive government is failing Roy Bennett, Jestina Mukoko and other political hostages.”
It is not the inclusive government that has failed these people. It is the MDC.
So eager was it to jump on the gravy train it did not have the backbone and decency to insist on their release before its capitulation. Mugabe regards all those in prison as enemies to be crushed. He has not betrayed anyone.
To think that while these people languish in prison Tsvangirai was for a while prepared to dine and wine with their jailers and torturers.
Heavy introspection is needed at Harvest House. The MDC has completely lost the plot.