BY DR MASIMBA MAVAZA
Nature abhors a vacuum, and opposition has become a giant vacuum machine, sucking the air out of opposition politics and leaving the government to roam the centre ground at will. One obvious consequence is that ZANU PF is not being constantly challenged and made to justify their decisions at such a crucial time for the future of Zimbabwe. MDC is engaged in fierce position fighting, blood is literally gashing out and their powers are directed against each other. The good thing is that MDC T has taken all the opposition in an Alliance and the internal fight has sucked in the whole opposition.
Another consequence is that it sows discord in ZANU PF because it is not forced to unite against an effective opposition. OPPOSITION’S weakness leaves the airwaves clear for ZANU PF as the only party with a clear alternative to the nation, and the MPs will emerge as the unelected, de facto opposition.
The painful thing is that in this situation ZANU PF is now busy chasing its own shadow. The party is now overburdened with fake news and fake intelligence where people start a spirited witch hunt. Those who had always harboured their grudges have found a reason to point a finger to others and call them G40 and even creating a new party. Any person who visits the former president is labelled as forming a new party. It is this paranoia which gives the cabal strength. There is no tangible evidence that Mugabe is active on the ground. He is a bitter man yes because he was removed when he did not want to be removed. But does he have the power to destabilise the party.
The irony of the whole issue is that those fearing Mugabe’s party are those who were his obedient sons. The idea of Mugabe forming a party is laughable and the tragedy is those who are supposed to be strong are spreading the fear of Mugabe. It is true that Mugabe was the face of ZANU PF but he has fought his fight and he needs to be allowed to rest. The people who are real threats to ZANU PF are those peddling the lies of a new party being formed.
Grace Mugabe was the cause for the fall of Mugabe and indeed she was powered by Jonathan Moyo and Kasukuwere with Chombo and some few other guys around, for them to form a party and command multitudes is a dream which, however, looks unattainable in the near future and could stay that way for years if Momentum consolidates its hold by deselecting moderate MPs or forcing them to abandon the party. At some point the moderates will have to stand and fight, and join the party in large numbers. But as in the 2008s, it will probably require a resounding general election defeat to make ZANU PF come to its senses, root out Momentum and retake the territory that it so successfully occupied.
Our democracy was born out of opposition, opposition to the power of the ruling. Government was exercised by both sides, by the party in power together with the loyal opposition. It is the duty of an opposition to do its best to see that the actions of the government are in the best interests of the country, not simply the party. In that spirit there is nothing wrong to have an opposition, but there is a big problem to create one and name drop those you seek to punish. The word in the air is that there is a party formed and that word is not true. The problem is if a lie is said several times it will look like its true. It is a wonder haw Jonathan Moyo can shake the pillars of the party through twitter. He is creating a fear of the unknown and there are those gullible to his hogwash and causing distress to others.
The opposition’s job is to improve legislation by forcing the government to explain itself more clearly, to consider the consequences of its enactments, and also to expose the role of vested interests and conflicts of interest. The opposition has to be content to oppose until such time as it may find itself in office, when it can expect to be opposed in its turn. An opposition that spends its entire time and resources on dreaming and scheming how to win the next election is worse than useless. A government that does not have to answer the hard questions of the opposition will take what is open to it, that is, the line of least resistance. The problem Zimbabwe is having is that the party in power is fighting itself, the opposition is fighting itself, and we are indeed doomed.
Opposition is gone. Zimbabwe needs a new political party to speak for its deep tolerance and decency. That would be so good. Perhaps we’re all a bit jaded. Maybe we all need new political parties. But this party is not an offshoot of ZANU PF. If only one can understand that the crowds which graced the interface were forced crowds then you will know no party can be formed by the cabal which can be a threat to the incumbent.

The rumour of a new party has forced ZANU PF retreats on several of their most progressive policies and wasting time on the owl with no horns. But, in the face of a party that operates a majority approach when it comes to votes, defeating them policies is a difficult task. So no new party can be formed now and challenge ZANU PF in few months to come. It is important for ZANU PF to concentrate on campaign and let MDC exercise their right to violence as long as they don’t touch the populace. Creating a pretend party is counterproductive. Creating an imaginary split is chasing shadows and total hallucination.

But opposition doesn’t just happen within the four walls of Parliament, nor is it a matter only for politicians. That’s where Momentum comes in. Momentum evolved out of Mugabe when he allowed his wife to rule from the back ground that was not a grassroots network to empower people to build a movement that can get her elected on a transformative platform. Instead it made her unpopular and her handlers destroyed her instead of building her.
Our activists are on the front line of fighting opposition in communities’ violence, and spreading a message of peace. The youth are introducing ED to the populace and it is going well. Now the destructive force is the one which talks about an imaginary party which is a Joke Of the year. In addition to campaigning they are also providing real support to those who are in need and preparing the nation for a great change. By filling the void created by the cabal and providing real solidarity in communities across the country, Momentum activists and local leadership are putting our unity politics into practice, while exposing the vandalism of this heartless cabal and the opposition at large.
Momentum are also organising cultural events to open up political discussion in communities where many have felt disengaged with politics and ignored by the party. A series of events called Take Back Control, which brings together Leave and Remain voters in communities including the youth and the old for a day of discussion, music, food and sport that will question what it would really mean to take back control from the economic elite, must be put on the calendar.
So, while defeating the disjointed opposition is guaranteed, ZANU PF has the people power to mount the momentous country-wide votes needed to keep us in government.
The opposition is toothless at the moment. MDC T, as a party, as opposition, is in far worse condition now than it was in, Tsvangirai’s time. In that era, it was still hanging together as an opposition, still doing the job. Now it isn’t.
The very reasonable people on the ZANU PF benches need to speak out more THE LANGUAGE OF UNITY AND NOT LANGUAGE OF DIVISION. We ought to hear more from them, saying, “We’re still here. Mugabe doesn’t represent the party, we represent the party.” And working out ideas – I see nobody doing that. They’re too quiet. They’re not fighting the fight. They’re not speaking out. They are just attacking each other.
Some of them are worried about their own seats; some of them find their job congenial. It’s very much easier to be a parliamentarian asking questions at appropriate times and speaking during debates than it is taking your case to the country. They should be fighting. They should be working on ideas.
I think the idea of the split is wrong those fired from the party must never make us lose sleep.

We don’t have an effective opposition. The question is how to take advantage of this situation and make ZANU PF strong. I think ZANU PF should start to discuss with a view TO STRENGTHEN THE PARTY. It’s just got to stop for a moment, have a pause on personalities. They’re going to have to return to personalities, they have to have a new THINKING not the old gossiping culture. But at the moment, the issue should be: let’s get the policies right. I’m sure there are areas in which people want to see changes, but they’re obviously completely incoherent over Mugabe, so just let that incoherence lie.
If ZANU PF can’t start to talk about why young people were attracted to the opposition, they won’t find the solution. Mugabe– you can trash him like the right-wing press do every day, I am not defending him, I don’t think he is the right person to be leader of any party he is 94. All I am saying is ZANU PF have got to widen their base, and they’ve got to widen it in an election. That doesn’t stop the party having more values. The party instinctively, like the country, needs to move a bit more to the left. I’m not afraid of talking more about socialism and social values. I think that would be matching the mood of the country. I believe there is a mood in the country that wants a difference. They don’t want recycled Mugabeirism. The party must switch on and move on.
You’ve just got to face up to reality. The fundamental thing is, where we slipped up in election, is that we were not able to answer the question about any solution to our economy.
It seems to me all great movements begin with language. “Liberty, equality, fraternity”. “All men are created equal and independent . . . from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
Mugabe is not a natural opposition politician. So he should not worry any reasonable person. He is no longer in politics to change the world
We all need an “official” opposition. It saves us thinking for ourselves. We need a drawer into which we can shove the “yes, buts”, the “surely nots”, the boos, the heckles and the cries of “nonsense”. We need someone else to speak truth to power. If not, we feel a strange burden on our shoulders, the emptiness makes us fight ourselves.

The most pressing political issue at present is how to win the coming elections with maximum benefit and minimum damage to the economy and social cohesion.

We must always remember that Opposition is meaningless if it only opposes. It has to offer something better. If the current political landscape looks like a teenage dystopian fantasy, well, the exit from Dystopia lies along Utopia Road. I hear a great deal about what is wrong. I hear very little about what a better society – a good society – might look like.
No, of course our democracy is not in crisis just because one of the main political parties is in a parlous state. But ignorance is when we fight ourselves and let the opposition recover. We are a rich and stable country with a pretty big consensus about the broad outlines of our society none of that is going to change if MDC T disappears down the plughole. But if we create an enemy within ourselves then we are destroying the fabric which united us all along.
So we need to open our eyes and March on the country is ours as ZANU PF to rule.
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