By Brighton Mutebuka| There is now revisionism around Morgan Tsvangirai’s name. While he was an opposition leader, it should never be forgotten that there are many current opposition leaders who openly fought against him fiercely, ridiculed him and sought to derail him.

Some even called him an “intellectual midget“. On paper, their academic and professional credentials were demonstrably far superior to his and yet this never translated into mass grassroots appeal for them.

Several opposition leaders went their own way and started their own political parties. While there, there were further splits – which exposed them and showed that Tsvangirai was not the problem. Not that he was perfect – but that they had heaped all blame on him!

Some even worked with the regime and a potential pact was even mulled with ZANU PF to try and elect the Speaker of Parliament as a united force against Tsvangirai’s then MDCT political party. Maridadi, Stevenson, Thabani Vusa Mpofu, Gutu, Timveos, Chaibva, Qhubani Moyo, Dube, Mwonzora and Khupe are among those who have openly joined the regime.

We will explore this later this week but judging by Sleeper Agent Tshabangu’s reported “demands“, it’s clear that a decision has been made to exploit the disgruntlement of some opposition leaders who feel that they have lost power since the MDCA Congress and feel side lined to resurrect their relevance via him and the cause of “Constitutionalism“.

The shameless power hungry characters are terrified of fully coming out into the open for fear of being labelled traitors as they surely know that it is clear that Tshabangu is working with the regime. A bit more patience should see them coming out of the woodworks in the lead up to the Nomination Court’s sitting! One can’t hide forever!

They clearly don’t respect Chamisa and voters. They are not ashamed to ride on his coat tails / mass / popular appeal, despite the flaws which they say he has. They know that without him they would lose relevance overnight.

Some of them meet with the regime secretly to plot against him while others desperately, recklessly and maliciously leak sensitive information to openly hostile characters like Jonso, Jojo and others. Many had hoped there would be no favourable SEOM Report which would make their job easier, which is why Jojo was gloating about the pre-election plot to topple Chamisa soon after the elections.

In a truly democratic society, it’s acceptable to be disdainful towards Chamisa and criticise him for his flaws including the absence of a Constitution. It is the duplicitous behaviour and rank hypocrisy which should be roundly condemned.

These are some of the reasons why the opposition has failed to fulfil its potential. Elitists like myself with a sense of entitlement who believe that by virtue of their academic or professional achievements they are superior to voters and to their democratic choice and yet lack the ability to organically connect with the grassroots which is essential to start and sustain their own independent political parties – are restless and given to plotting & conniving with the regime at key points in the democratic struggle!