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MDC suspension of ties with Zanu PF: A step in the right direction, applaudable
Mutsa Murenje
October 23, 2009

Without much skirting, first and foremost, I would want to bring to your attention, my dear esteemed readers, the fact that this is an existential moment in my life when I must speak for myself; nobody else can speak for me. I am talking here about the recent turn of events in our beloved and beleaguered country, that country that some have referred to as an 'outpost of tyranny-. I am in particular making reference to the decision by the MDC to suspend ties with ZANU PF as we all heard through various media starting from Friday 16th October 2009.

I wouldn-t want to lie about the state of affairs in my country. Zimbabwe is so dear to me for it has made me who I am today. Not that I have achieved much but the little instances that I have had with people from various nationalities and from different social, economic, and political backgrounds have spoken volumes about the country that I hail from. I remain a patriotic citizen with Zimbabwe at heart. It is no doubt from this standpoint that I proffer the thesis that the decision by the MDC to disengage with ZANU PF is a politic, prudent and applaudable move which to me remains a step in the right direction. We had raised hopes when the coalition government took the reigns of power in Zimbabwe. We all hoped for the best. As the Old Chinese saying goes: "A journey of a thousand miles starts with but a single step . . . "

But with each passing day all our hopes for a peaceful and democratic transition were met with uncertainty largely because of ZANU PF-s insincerity, unreliability and dishonesty to the peace pact. Perchance this explains why the MDC had to take the bull by its horns i.e. to suspend ties with an unrepentant partner in the coalition government. A partner that for a long time has been treating them like political toddlers- a partner that continues to call them unpleasant and unwanted elements with ties with our former oppressors and their allies. I am talking about an unreliable partner that continues through the state media to call the MDC stooges of the West.

And yet I must tell you that Zimbabwe is in a political and economic crisis of stupefying complexity. Addressing this crisis isn-t at all simple, clear-cut and unproblematic but is instead, intricately complex thereby making it a huge and gargantuan task. My approach to the Zimbabwe crisis hasn-t changed. I continue to speak out in the anguish of my spirit and in the bitterness of my soul I complain. As I argued elsewhere, whenever I put pen to paper the main object is to give prudence, knowledge and discretion to responsible leadership and to also make such leadership wiser. It-s my moral obligation not to envy wicked men. I don-t at all desire their company because what irritates me most is the fact that their hearts are always plotting violence and they have no future hope. They don-t look beyond their circumstances. These are the sort of people who do not understand justice. Instead, they oppress the poor like a driving rain that leaves no crops. The political and economic instability that Zimbabwe faces today is largely attributable to Mugabe-s injustice. You didn-t hear me! All I am saying is that the sorrow in Zimbabwe is due to the selfishness of one living organism called Robert Mugabe that simply doesn-t care when the rest of us suffer.

What worsens the whole situation is that Robert Mugabe has remained stiff-necked after many rebukes-locally, nationally, regionally and internationally. Mugabe is as undependable as an intermittent stream. He is an antithesis of democratic government. He has dismally failed to inspire in us the desire to contribute to the common good. And this is the very reason why we have been consistently voting him out of office ever since the year 2000. His authority remains illegitimate and I won-t pay tax to such an evil regime. This is the very reason why I could not join the government upon completion of my studies in the year 2007. My conscience left me with no choice but to be out of employment rather than working for Mugabe-s illegal regime.

Mugabe-s evil regime is amazingly devoid of statesmanship, and when creative statesmanship wanes, irrational militarism increases. Mugabe has since started the establishment of military bases in rural areas ahead of the next election. And he tells us that he is too busy with students and soccer to deal with the crisis in the coalition government. Mugabe is readying himself for a violent confrontation with the suffering and oppressed people of Zimbabwe. Let-s not mock human life. Let him continue to kill us, torture us, condemn us because after all is said and done, we all know that his injustice is the proof that we are innocent and sincere in our insatiable quest for a free, just and democratic Zimbabwe. The oftener we are mown down by him, the more in number we grow; our blood is seed. This has to be especially when taking into consideration the fact that the sort of suffering which we have endured and no doubt continue to endure has brought us nearer to one another and believe me, this is a time of deep anguish to all of us-dedicated fighters who want the Zimbabwe problem addressed once and for all.

The MDC as the people-s project is made up of profound advocates of the social gospel. The MDC to us is like the gospel that deals with the whole man-not only his soul but his body; not only his spiritual well-being but his material well-being. In light of this revelation, I would want to concur with the late assassinated civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr that: " . . . any religion that professes concern for the souls of men and is not equally concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion only waiting for the day to be buried". It well has been said: "A religion that ends with the individual ends". ZANU PF represents that spiritually moribund religion.

The MDC grew out of the experiences of the people. The leadership knows the problems of the people they represent. Too often Mugabe and his sinking ship have left the people lost in the fog of political abstraction, rather than presenting politics in the light of our experiences. They continue barking about 'economic sanctions-/-zvirango zveupfumi- that are non-existent/zvisipo. Our liberties of expression, our freedom to vote, and our freedom to listen to what news we like or to choose our books are all restricted. People become hardly more, in Zimbabwe, than depersonalized cogs in the turning wheel of the evil regime of Robert Mugabe. We have been deprived of our freedom and have resultantly been relegated to the status of things as opposed to being elevated to the status of persons. This deprecation of our freedom is objectionable to us.

Mugabe is dead and is therefore a walking grave. And the cessation of breathing in his life is nothing but a belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. Mugabe died when he refused to stand up for right when he committed genocide in the early-mid 1980s. Mugabe died when he refused to stand up for truth when he lost elections in 2000, 2002, 2005 . . . Mugabe died again when he refused to stand up for justice in 2008 after his defeat by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. And now, Mugabe died when he refused to acknowledge the suspension of ties by the MDC with his ruining party. Why waiting to be informed formally when the news are all over the world. What more do you want? My humble suggestion, therefore, is that all African countries that made the coalition government to be in place in Zimbabwe should act as a matter of urgency. Time isn-t on our side and Zimbabwe-s health has to restored soonest. I rest my case and I put it to you.

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