Tsvangirai, MDC-T should watch out

Just before the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU), as the MDC-T was agonising on the tricky question of whether or not to join hands with ZANU-PF in governing the nation, Tsvangirai, who at that time was the prime opposition leader, was warned by many that if he should take up premiership in government, he would have to sleep with one eye open.
He was warned that the chalice from which, he was about to drink might be poisoned. Two recent incidents have resuscitated questions on Tsvangirai’s political safety at least, and his personal safety at most.
The first incident that warrants this word of caution was a newspaper article, and the second, an unfriendly reaction by Zimbabweans living in the United Kingdom who were urged by the Prime Minister to come back home.
The story in the Sunday Mail newspaper of June 21-26 2009, suggests that the Prime Minister might indeed be heading for either political or personal trouble for his failure to appreciate and abide by the modus operandi of the non-MDC components of the GNU, namely the strict control and limitation of the flow of information.
The lead story headlined: “PM, Cabinet on collision course” makes the point that “The Prime Minister’s Office is headed for a clash with Cabinet after it published a newsletter with details of the Prime Minister’s tour of Europe and America without seeking authority from Cabinet…”
The story ignores the fact that all the information in the beautifully done, but controversial newsletter was already in the public domain by the time it was published.
While the local press — electronic and print, featured very scant or no details about the premier’s foreign engagements, most of the international press broadcast and published in full detail, the progress and outcomes of the Zimbabwean premier’s encounters with the most significant and most powerful leaders of the world.
There have been no pictures on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation on Tsvangirai’s meetings with President Barack Obama, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with Chancellor Angela Merkel, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and all those other famous names.
The failures of the Zimbabwean press did not stop the international press from covering the all-important trip, and thereby placing news there into the public domain by June 17, the date of publication of the Prime Minister’s newsletter.
For arranging for the publication of common information, and therefore, enhancing the free flow of information, which in turn is in line with freedom of expression and freedom of information, the Prime Minister has been forewarned by the media, that he rides towards a collision.
Now, a “collision” in the context of Zimbabwean politics can be a very serious issue.
While many prominent and ordinary citizens in Zimbabwe have declared that they stopped buying newspapers and other publications from Zimpapers for a variety of reasons and for varying periods, it must be noted that ‘stories’ from the stable must still be taken seriously. The MDC-T will appreciate this point more than most other citizens.
To illustrate the point: on Wednesday June 10 2009, The Herald newspaper carried a curious story: “MDC-T official accused of perjury”. This was a story about the party’s director general, Toendepi Shonhe, who had a week earlier, deposed to an affidavit, which was used at the High Court in an urgent chamber application, for the release for three party members from the custody of the State.
According to records at the High Court, the three MDC members — Lloyd Tarumbwa, Fanny Tembo and Terry Musona had been abducted from their homes by the State in October last year and detained under horrendous conditions, then subsequently passed on to the Zimbabwe Republic Police for further detention.
They were never formally taken bef-ore a magistrate to be informed of their offence. The State has described these three as ‘State witnesses’, and the State’s contention has been that the three were under ‘protective custody.’
In at least three separate High Court cases, the so-called State witnesses expl-ained to the court how during their detention they were blindfolded when visiting the toilet, how they were assaulted during the ‘protective custody’, shown pictures of dead people as part of interrogation, denied access to their families and to independent legal representation, and other shocking det-ails of inhuman and degrading treatment.
These details are now a matter of public record as they are recorded at the High Court, in relevant files. The State has to date, not produced affidavits or evidence to controvert the claims made by the ‘witnesses’.
These three ‘witnesses’ were relea-sed only in March this year through a court order made by Justice Ben Hlats-hwayo. They were taken away again from their homes in Banket on June 2, apparently for interviews by the Attorney General’s office.
The details of the circumstances under which, they were taken from their homes on June 2, and the subsequent fears and concerns of their families and of the party, are what Shonhe wrote about in the Affidavit that was used at the High Court and which was reported about in The Herald.
When the ‘story’ about the perjury accusations came out in the newspaper on June 10, Shonhe and his legal team doubted that it was just a story. But there was little that could be done at that stage.
The merits and demerits of the accusation as couched in The Herald and repeated at the police station cannot now be safely discussed as they are now the subject of current court proceedings.
What is significant, however, is the fact that on Tuesday June 16, that is a week after the publication of the newspaper report, Shonhe was arrested at Harare Central Police Station when he went there voluntarily in the company of his lawyer, having learnt that police had started looking for him.
There were striking similarities between the contents of the newspaper story and those appearing in the State papers, which are being used for the prosecution of Shonhe, who is a key member of the MDC-T’s secretariat. 
On Thursday June 18, Shonhe was granted bail by the Magistrates Court, but the State invoked the notorious section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which has the effect of suspending the bail granted just on the grounds that the Attorney General intents to appeal against the bail ruling. By the time of going to press, he was still in custody at remand prison.
Shonhe’s case is not exactly the first time that a ‘collision’ has occurred between a member of the MDC and the State after the publication of predictive ‘press reports’.
The latest Sunday Mail ‘story’ on the Prime Minister’s newsletter could therefore, be a harbinger of ‘bigger things’ to come.
On the second issue that the Prime Minister should worry or ‘watch out’ about, it has been reported that he was booed off and jeered at by Zimbabweans last weekend, at Southward Cathedral in the UK when he urged fellow citizens in the diaspora to return to Zimbabwe and help rebuild the country.
According to the reports, Zimbabweans attending the Prime Minister’s address demanded that President Mugabe should go first before any returns.
The last experience that any politician would want to endure is to be heckled. Boos and jeers manifest disapproval and unpopularity.
In the many months leading to the expiry of his term, President George W. Bush of the United States of America experienced a lot of that sort of treatment wherever he went around the world. His displeasure at such receptions could not be hidden.
The London crowd’s reaction to Tsvangirai’s message that things were well again at home could be a warning that the Prime Minister might be losing touch with the common man and woman on the streets of Zimbabwe’s cities and towns, and the streets of international capitals.
The message emerging from the adverse reception of his message could be that Tsvangirai might be sliding away from reality, and that the people’s experiences, fears, concerns, troubles and misgivings might well be at variance with Tsvangirai’s.
In recent weeks, journalists have been arrested and detained for carrying out their duties, lawyers have been harassed in the course and scope of their professional duties, women protesters have been barred from expressing themselves or arrested, and the MDC-T senior staffer — Shonhe, has experienced a ‘collision’ with the State while trying to look out for party members.
It is therefore, in light of these boos and jeers from the London rally, and the headlines from the latest Sunday Mail, that the Prime Minister and his party, the MDC-T, must be reminded:  “Watch Out!”

– Chris Mhike is a lawyer practicing in Harare.