THE most bizarre, perhaps most catastrophic, outcome of the just ended 5th National Congress of Zanu-PF was that it was a massive slap in the face of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The Zanu-PF leadership did not mince its words on the unlikely prospect of the ongoing negotiation around the Global Political Agreement (GPA) ever delivering the desired result, the compromise, peace and national development that Zimbabwe has been awaiting with bated breath.

“Congress has noted that the inclusive government brings the party into partnership with ideologically incompatible MDC formations from which it must extricate itself in order to defend its mantle as the only dominant and ascendant political party that is truly representative and determined to safeguard the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe,” the Zanu-PF congress said in a final communiqué on Saturday evening.

With such inflexible words, Zanu-PF could have finally sealed the fate of the GPA; perhaps that of the government of national unity itself. In the circumstances any continued pretence, for whatever reason on the part of the MDC, that everything is working according to the dictates of SADC would be an act of self-delusion that is tantamount to treachery of the faith that the people of Zimbabwe have placed in the party and its leadership.

This willfully abject humiliation of the MDC by Zanu-PF was delivered in the aftermath of Tsvangirai’s own unguarded expression of optimism around the current negotiations.

Speaking in Cape Town on December 3, an upbeat Tsvangirai said he was anxious to convince all skeptics that Zimbabwe was entering a new chapter of abundant opportunity for Zimbabweans. He then again urged fellow countrymen in the Diaspora to consider returning to participate in the rebuilding of their devastated motherland.

Far from the sublime optimism expressed and the rosy picture painted by the Prime Minister, the utterances emanating from the Zanu-PF conference appear calculated to trap Zimbabwe in the old chapter of mutual suspicion, despondency, violence and economic ruin.

That is unless SADC facilitator President Jacob Zuma rises to the fore and surprises all by intervening with a clarion call for a much-needed restoration of order. Otherwise Zanu-PF now appears more concerned only with doing mortal battle with the MDC and delivering what in the party’s scheme of things must be the final blow on its rival.

The enthusiastic readmission of Professor Jonathan Moyo to the Zanu-PF Central Committee amid much celebration and the categorical declaration by Mugabe that the GNU has no life beyond 24 months are indisputable pointers in this direction. We pray that what Zanu-PF envisages are elections that are free, fair and totally devoid of violence.

In its resolutions, Zanu-PF lamented the fact that the GPA had joined its hand in holy matrimony with the MDC. Zanu-PF said the MDC was an incompatible partner, still bent on trying to force the reversal of the land reform programme.

Listening to this obvious treachery on the part of its ally of the past 10 months must have been more of a painful experience to the MDC leadership than to anyone else.

For that reason, the thunder of responding to the dramatic and traumatic developments over the weekend should not be stolen from the MDC. Traditionally, there has been a tendency for spokespersons of foreign governments and civil society organisations to rush to preempt the MDC and other Zimbabwean political organisations by issuing statements on developments such as these that undermine the welfare, if not the very existence of Zimbabwe.

The spokespersons in question have obviously been motivated by their sympathy for the underdogs, the MDC, in particular.

Even if such organisations may have proceeded on the basis of good intentions, the indecent haste with which they have issued statements has unfortunately served to weaken politically the supposed beneficiaries of their benevolence.

They have unwittingly created the impression that they are the official policy formulators or the ideological mentors of the MDC. They have thus undermined the credibility of the MDC in the face of charges, however false, that the party is a puppet of the West, while providing the Zanu-PF arsenal with fresh ammunition as it seeks to demolish the MDC as a foreign-controlled party. While the chances of Zanu-PF’s subterfuge achieving success are minimal, the international community should nevertheless desist from rendering such assistance to the party.

By the time their messages of democratic support for the MDC are disseminated to distant rural voters by Zanu-PF channels, the line between fact and fiction is completely blurred.

The most memorable example of this was the somewhat witless statement – in the Zimbabwean political context – which was made by former Prime Minister Tony Blair in Parliament in 2004 when he stated that his Labour Party worked hand-in-hand with the MDC. Former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo instantly seized on this stray gem and put if to effective use in casting the MDC as puppets of the British. The MDC could have lost a few votes in the 2005 parliamentary elections as a result.

One of the most critical factors in shaping former President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” on Zimbabwe could have been the speed with which western governments hastened to issue statements on Zimbabwe, including suggestions to Mbeki on how he should couch his own statements. Former US President George W Bush was a culprit. Mbeki is an arrogant pan-Africanist intellectual who does not take kindly to unsolicited advice on matters where he feels competent enough to make his original pronouncements.

Instead of creating the impression that he was parroting statements channelled through him from western capitals he elected to simply remain quiet.

It would be most desirable, in the interests of the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe, if the first response to Zanu-PF’s outrageously provocative weekend assertions were to be made spontaneously either by the MDC or by President Zuma, the facilitator of the process of negotiation.

On its part, the MDC has constantly proven totally incapable of or devoid of capacity to re-assert its proprietorship of the profound sentiments patronizingly expressed on its behalf. In fairness, third parties have often intervened on behalf of the MDC in the absence of any coherent pronouncement from the MDC when one was clearly required.

On the positive side, political parties other than Zanu-PF should derive solace from the fact that the recall of Moyo is a manifestation of the desperation currently prevailing in Zanu-PF.

Even if it stands doubtful that Moyo commands sufficient credibility to restore the falling fortunes of Zanu-PF as demonstrated by the outcome of the harmonized elections in March 2008, the parties preparing to challenge Zanu-PF at the forthcoming elections would be ill-advised to dismiss his arrival back at Zanu-PF with sleight of hand. Zanu-PF may be at its weakest ebb, but it would be an act of folly if its rivals were to leave anything to chance in their bid to restore Zimbabwe to full democracy and prosperity.

The MDC, in particular, being the party currently possessing the greatest potential to replace Zanu-PF, must strategize to reinforce the effectiveness of its information department to take on the challenge presented by the combination of Moyo, George Charamba and Tafataona Mahoso as they exploit the opportunities presented by the Zimbabwe Newspapers/Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings media behemoth in the absence, as of now, of alternative sources of news on a regular basis.

thezimbabwetimes