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Tsvangirai must resign

NOW DAILY EDITORIAL

There are two important narratives about Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean presidential contender who was defeated for the third time by Robert Mugabe in elections last week.

Many see him as a gangling, hapless trade unionist often seen spotting a poor man's cap and rather shapeless Nelson Mandela shirts.

There is a sleeker side to him: the golfing Tsvangirai who sleeps in $5 000 per night government-funded hotel rooms on foreign visits, lives in a multi-million-dollar state mansion and sends his kids to expensive foreign schools.

His avowed principles of upholding democracy, honest wealth accumulation and clean governance have, however, come to contradict the reality that he helped Mugabe retain power, against the advice of his colleagues, after forming a coalition with the tyrant. Tsvangirai helped Mugabe escape serious charges, including the murders of hundreds of opponents. He also allowed him to get away with the seizure and looting of thousands of commercial farms, corruption and cronyism.

Out of a mysterious, deep sense of charity, Tsvangirai also campaigned vigorously, sometimes angrily, for Western nations to lift sanctions against Zanu PF. That was seen by supporters as a cardinal sin, after Mugabe said he would not reform.

Tsvangirai surprised the world by vouching for Mugabe, claiming he could change and do the right thing. When asked what evidence he had that Mugabe could change, he said, to surprise, "I talked to him.” That is when he gave his now infamous speech about having tea and pancakes with the dictator.

Leaving office is something Tsvangirai should have done voluntarily, as soon as he realised he had lost the election, to give others a chance to move the ship forward. Tsvangirai has already squandered that chance, choosing to soldier on, on the pretext that the struggle is not won. That is a tactic borrowed from Mugabe, who says he can not go because he is fighting colonialists. Democrats
in the MDC will not stand for that.

The bottom line is that Zimbabweans are suffering. They will rally behind anyone who promises some respite from the current problems.

The instinct to drift away at the first sign of failure has led to the demise of many once-formidable political movements in Zimbabwe: ZUM, ZUD, Forum Party. The same oblivion can befall the MDC, if the question of leadership is not resolved right away.

The fact that Tsvangirai has failed to remove Mugabe for 14 years is reason enough for him to give up the reigns of power.

While, indeed, the election was rigged, senior party officials who attended a meeting of the party's supreme national council at the weekend blamed the blundering on Tsvangirai's security and intelligence teams. In particular, the officials blame Tsvangirai for appointing as his chief of security, the Central Intelligence Organisation operative and former Zanu PF MP Pearson Mbalekwa. Mbalekwa is a close relative of politburo member and defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mbalekwa had a record of murdering MDC supporters before joining the party. For

Tsvangirai to dream that anyone in SADC, including Khama, can save him or reverse this in less than five years is the height of folly.

Tsvangirai is running on empty in terms of good will, due to sex scandals and poor decisions. Noone trusts him, including his former Western sponsors, who were told by Welshman Ncube when the party split that Tsvangirai is a member of state security. It is hard to believe, but Tsvangirai is increasingly seen shielding Mugabe. Before this election, the MDC leader claimed that if the election was rigged, the people would "defend their vote”. Now that it has happened, there seems to be no plan, except time-wasting initiatives like going to the biased courts. Previously, Tsvangirai has made such claims, once promising a "final push” demonstration which did not take place after he fled.

Now, the man who founded a once-promising party is now its greatest liability, as Zimbabweans' misery deepens.

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