The Movement for Democratic Change -Tsvangirai faces a daunting task of sealing its fragile fences against Mugabe’s unholy manouvres, or else it slides into political oblivion.

It is no secret that since the eve of Zimbabwe’s 2000 elections, the then, united MDC became top priority assignment for the ruling ZANU PF which eventually led to its Mugabe inflicted split into two formations. The immediate cause of the split was conflict over the decision on whether to contest the newly introduced senatorial elections, which were considered to be unnecessary within the MDC. A reason too flimsy to justify a permanent and bitter split.

The split was due to its the MDC loose fencing. Mugabe wolves skipped over the fragile fences and within a very short space of time, the entire organization was over-crowded with top leadership affiliated to the to the notorious Mugabe Central Intelligence Organisation infiltrated for the purposes of weakening the mass movement which had, already, by then, beaten Mugabe’s ruling party twice in the national elections, and, almost swept the entire urban areas in local government elections to its fold. Fevered by visible public resentment and agitation daily gaining momentum against ZANU PF, the trials of former Zambian president, Frederick Chiluba under his hand-picked successor, the late Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, and later an election coming hot on the heels of the Kenyan electoral fraud and its unpleasant out-comes, Mugabe had to hatch new approaches to legitimize the illegitimate for the third time as a matter of urgency.

The “weaken it {the MDC} from within” strategy was hurriedly adopted and part of the then, united MDC top leadership found itself handsomely bribed into compliance. This development made the split inevitable. It had to occur very urgently in time for the elections that ZANU PF was sure of losing again, this time with an a more alarming margin. The idea was to split the victorious but fragile party into two equal parts to ensure that ZANU PF’s visibly terribly dwindled support base came up top at the polls.

One Mugabe wolf called Christopher Mutsvangwa, specifically re-called from diplomatic service in China, handled this special assignment within the majority opposition party whose third time victory was imminent. Mutsvangwa did a thorough and perfect job. The greatest challenge for ZANU PF was, at the time, the SADC protocol on the conduct of elections in the region.

The usual election rigging tactic would have been too transparent to the SADC, and would, therefore, cause lots of regional and international condemnation of ZANU PF. The MDC {Tsvangirai} survived by divine intervention in an assignment well calculated. The unceremonial split of the united MDC played a great shocker to the public! Angered the man on the street at a time when the masses had mobilized all their resources to democratically break-away from the ZANU PF unholy yolk of 28 years through the MDC. Got so angry with the levels of ZANU PF instilled confusion within the MDC stable. Angry with the visible advancement of self-interest within the MDC as against public.

Mugabe’s bribery politics had prevailed. He was lawfully owed, and was, therefore, entitled to some return-on-investment {ROI} within the MDC leadership. At this stage multitudes of MDC supporters and sympathizers made-up their minds in dire disappointment, not to go to the polls in protest against the disabling split. The masses of Zimbabwe viewed it as a would-be futile exercise in the face of a seasoned two-time election rigging tyrant. This was a Mugabe manufactured strategic political apathy designed to propel ZANU PF into fake but legitimate victory.

Today, a single formation MDC, a one nation, one country and one leader movement is long over-due. It would be a prudent move for the MDC {Mutambara} ZANU PF sponsored break-away faction, to urgently rid itself of its deceitful Central Intelligence Organization sponsored top leadership that seeks to surrender the suffering masses back to Mugabe’slaughter house to live with disease, hunger, poverty, and death. The faction Members of Parliament could catalyse the situation by crossing the floor in favour of the Tsvangirai faction. The Mutambara faction is one of Mugabe’s many jokes and would have no capacity at all to breathe beyond the March 29 elections. The united MDC had been destined for victory resounding enough to send Mugabe into either, voluntary hiding or, staging an instant military coup. And he knew it, and strategised against it.

Then emerged yet another suspect formation! That of Zimbabwe’s former minister of finance in Mugabe’s cabinet, Dr Simba Makoni. This was a blessing in disguise for the MDC {Tsvangirai} formation. The emergence of Makoni shook a substantial amount of the resigned would be voters into an urgent voter registration stampede in sympathy with Morgan Tsvangirai, though multitudes still stayed away in anger. It was suspected that Mugabe was on yet another joke with Makoni. This includes the writer of this article. The sudden stampede to voter registration centres gave Makoni false security, and, yet a devastating disappointment at the end of the race.

It must, however, be acknowledged that Makoni’s Mavambo Movement accidentally catalysed the electoral process in favour of Tsvangirai as there was, already, sufficient apathy to romp Mugabe back to power. The people of Zimbabwe identified with Morgan Tsvangirai, a man made of the stuff that great man’s fathers are. Highly purposeful and consistent in all weather. A man who suffered a little worse than the biblical Daniel who was cast into the midst of a pride of lions as prey, but divine intervention tamed the hungry lions into domestic cats. And Daniel came out unharmed. Morgan Tsvangirai was equally cast by Mugabe thugs into a swum of hungry mosquitoes at Zimbabwe’s notorious Mbare police station cells.

The following morning the entire swum could not fly as it had over-preyed on Morgan and entourage blood. Tsvangirai had been eaten alive at Mbare police station amongst other countless and consistent inhuman, ungodly, humiliating, brutish, nasty and very primitive trials and tribulations for inflicting Mugabe’s perennial political running stomach in favour of good governance.

Mugabe engaged all sorts of treachery! His head went more grey such that the then illegitimate first lady, Grace {aka. Amai Teaspoon ye Sugar, turned political stalwart in the period post Mugabe defeat. A name she derogatorily pasted on Morgan Tsvangirai meaning traitor/sellout of the country’s gains in exchange for a teaspoon full of sugar in ridicule of his {Tsvangirai’s} non hate, non-racial, conciliatory attitude. That is undisputed political idiocy on her part} had to purchase more of the Innecto Super Black hair dye in her over-seas grocery shopping trips to keep the old man’s head black.

Amai Teaspoon ye Sugar is a very unmotherly personality who went on the rampage in the pretext of alleviating the situation of victims of ZANU PF stage-managed arson in Headlands and beyond, against its own supporters to justify its post-election defeat attacks on against the civilian, and therefore, fragile MDC. Amai Teaspoon ye Sugar went on to give out ZANU PF election campaign regalia and food packages to the victims in a non-election campaign period and the SADC opted for a “splendid” silence. Mugabe went very desparate! Tried to touch all the nerve centres backed by the self-styled notorious leader of Zimbabwe’s War Veterans Association, war rascal, Jabulani Sibanda. Emerson Mnangagwa equally desperately tried to go Dr Mzee poetic style in a Chikomba rally to no avail.

The notorious and cheap … Zimbabwe shall never be a colony again… 100% Empowerment [at election time] …We will defend our land at all cost …Victory Against Tony Blair, Gearge Bush and Gordon Brown… Tsvangirai Atengesa Nyika ne Teaspoon ye Sugar …Tsvangirai wants to give the country back to the white former colonial masters that we fought against and shed lots of blood of our heroes…Tsvangison ndi Tea Boy wa Tony Blair…Morgan “Mr Boycot/stay-away” Tsvangirai…Tsvangirai destroys the economy… This country was liberated with blood , we therefore cant let it go back to the colonial masters… Whoever wants to rule this country will do so through the barrel of the gun… If you vote Tsvangirai and the MDC we will go back to the war and it is your children who will nourish the war…The white farmers are back on the farms and are already serving eviction notices to the ZANU PF resettled farmers due to the envisaged Morgan Tsvangirai victory in the March 29 elections…We are going back to the bush if you don’t vote wisely… etc failed! Devastatingly failed! Many thanks to the MDC ’s professor Elphas Mukonoweshuro for off-loading Shuvai Mahofa in the Gutu South constituency of Masvingo. That, inevitably, means that there would be less of the ZANU PF political nausea-inflicting Zimbabwe ndeye ropa lyrics, and kongonya in the parliament of the new Zimbabwe.

The “ropa” rhetoric has also failed. Zimbabweans want food, gainful employment through industrialization and good health, not “ropa”. “Ropa” and “kongonya” enthusiasts will now have to follow Shuvai Mahofa to Mupandawana growth point, 3 kilometres left, off the Gutu-Chiredzi high-way in Masvingo. The people demanded good governance unambiguously, with or without “ropa”. The time for people engagement and organizational renewal had come. It had come and is not yet gone.

Mugabe is a most unpredictable animal who lives by the sword. It remains of grave importance to remember that Mugabe’s ZANU PF Headquarters conferred multi-honourary degrees in violence have not yet been, and are unlikely to be, withdrawn as has happened with several reputable international institutions which had made similar awards in other disciplines in good faith. Of all the honourary degrees conferred on Mugabe, he has loudly and perennially bragged about the local ZANU PF Politburo conferred one on “Violence” which he effectively put to use. Mugabe is not the kind of man to accept anything that trims down his hegemony to size.

The MDC has to sleep with one eye open at all times. Mugabe is so well equipped and very determined to dismantle the MDC despite all the set-backs he (Mugabe) has experienced before. Mugabe’s ability to manufacture the MDC-Mutambara with the aim of thawing the entire MDC into thin air is political sophistication of the best order. He is undisputably, very cerebral. The Mugabe MDC-Mutambarafaction had its over-zealous faction spokesman, Gabriel Chaibva, as an important guest at Mugabe’s self-anointment following the fraudulent June 27 lone-man electoral race, into the illegitimate presidency of Zimbabwe.

The other time, Chaibva, was shuttling across the Botswana border to allegedly, meet Botswana government officials to negotiate the welfare of Zimbabweans in that country. It would be a matter of great interest to follow-up and find-out on whose behalf this political lunatic was acting. On getting to Gaborone the over-zealous Chaibva was “honoured” with a government security escort to the border town of Plumtree alongside a “prohibited immigrant” status. That is what Mugabe does to political idiots/ opportunists of professor Jonathan Moyo and Gabriel Chaibva’s kind.

Professor Jonathan Moyo has, in the past twelve years, been an excessively very busy political idiotic bee that gathered little hand-to-mouth nectar. A shameless rolling stone political lunatic destined to gather no moss for a life-time. A politically reckless activist who never bothered whom he injured in the process of winning the better part of Mugabe’s heart, and yet, ended up in a ZANU PF “paupers grave-yard”. He injured multitudes and yet a “jelly-cry-baby” who lives by the courts door-step ever ready to seek legal relief when hit back. Jonathan Moyo is currently struggling to catalyse his resurrection from the Mugabe paupers grave-yard by hook or crook. This is the man who played most of the dirty tricks in the rigging of the previous MDC victories, and the suppression of the media, civil society and opposition political activism on behalf of Mugabe.

Mugabe created MDC {Mutambara} faction leadership had long prioritized jostling for hand-outs in a Mugabe led illegitimate government as against the will of the brutalized people of Zimbabwe who daily aspired to be governed well. That was part of the Mutsvangwa brokered deal. Ironically, this Central Intelligence Organisation driven formation top leadership wields no representation at all as it lost all the targeted parliamentary seats to either the MDC Tsvangirai, or ZANU PF. Submitting to Mugabe had became a very strategic move for it {the Mutambara faction leadership} in order to qualify for such hand-outs and partner Mugabe when such need arose. It is ZANU PF culture to go into government to make money. Government is no “money-maker” zone, but a public service. Money-makers go to industry. It is the looting spirit that makes Zimbabwean elections brutal within and without ZANU PF, as opportunists/fortune hunters stampede for the looting grounds, and a “holy life-style” above the law.

The MDC break-away faction was a sell-out ZANU PF formation in all respects. Mugabe created a fake critical negotiating partner to safe-guard his primitive and self-serving rule as evidenced by his {Mugabe} attempt to exclude Morgan Tsvangirai and seal the deal with that very small tribalistic faction led by political rejects of his kind in the March 29 elections. It is, however, political good news that the Mutambara faction rank and file have begun to question the faction’s excessive loyalty to Mugabe and rejected the respective faction’s candidate for the parliamentary speaker’s position in favour of the Tsvangirai faction candidate, Lovemore Moyo.

The entire ZANU PF voted for MDC {Mutambara} faction’s losing candidate, Paul Themba Nyathi, to boost-up the ZANU PF created break-away party’s chances.

In grave moments dictators are known to manufacture false political pluralism by forming “partisan” lame opposition and making them key negotiating and governing partners. That is the “party-within-a party” scenario. It would be gross miscalculation for Tsvangirai to assume that Mugabe has exhausted all the dirty tricks in the book with this very one.

For those familiar with ZANU PF, it would not be outrageous thinking to expect Stalin-type purges of top leadership of vocal civil society groups and the majority opposition party top leadership in a government of national unity through the army, the police and the Central Intelligence Organisation stage-managed accidents, food poisoning, and other bizaire methods. Army and war veterans electorate intimidation and bribery in preparation for the next election have not ended in rural areas.

The Southern African Development Community {SADC}, enshrining of Mugabe in a highly favoured position has left him {Mugabe} with all the means to unleash his ever-ready angels of death against humanity as evidenced in ZANU PF daily hate speeches which symbolize bad faith in a big way. The recent Thabo Mbeki brokered power-sharing deal between Mugabe’s ZANU PF and the two factions of the MDC subordinates the winning majority party to the electorally humiliated Mugabe. South African president, Thabo Mbeki, prides himself of what he terms “an African victory”, yet in most proper terms, this is pure “African Electoral Fraud {AEF}” in Zimbabwe.

This is the setting of a new grave legacy, dust-bin legacy that trivializes the entire electoral process in favour of political rejects. An unholy legacy that empowers electoral losers to prevail over the democratically elected institutions. Shame on the SADC, the African Union and the United Nations, which have now sunk to to the status of dictators hide-outs. Dismantling the Movement of Democratic Change {Tsvangirai} remains Mugabe and Mutambara’s fondest wish today and tomorrow. Lots of resources would be, inevitably, mobilized accordingly.

Reginald Thabani Gola is a Zimbabwean political analyst, civil society and human rights activist.