By Wilbert Mukori| The social media is abuzz! 

“Douglas Mwonzora, the leader of the MDC-Alliance alongside his counterpart Elias Mudzuri are currently at the Zanu PF Headquarters and have officially joined Zanu PF,” reads one report.

“This publication has confirmed the development and revealed that the two have been welcomed by Blessing Chebundo who is currently manning the Returnees4ED desk at the Zanu Pf Headquarters.

“Mwonzora and Mudzuri have pledged allegiance to President Mnangagwa. They all said they will be campaigning for Zanu-PF in the coming by-elections which are set to be held in December.”

If this story is true, it will not surprise me in the least; because I really cannot think of anything anyone of the opposition leaders, not just these two, has ever done to be considered an enemy of Zanu PF.

When it really mattered, such as implementing the democratic reforms during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Not even one MDC leaders out of the 110 MPs, 50 senators, 26 plus ministers and deputy ministers, 2 deputy PMs and one PM, dared to disappoint Zanu PF by submitting even one token proposal. 

Most of the MDC-T and MDC-N leaders must have known that the 2013 constitution was weak; after all Mugabe had “dictated” the document, as Paul Mangwana, Zanu PF’s co-chairperson of the parliamentary committee that drafted the constitution, boasted after the March 2013 referendum. Still all the MDC leaders came out is force to suppose the constitution in the referendum. Tsvangirai even claim the new constitution was “an MDC child!” 

“Mazivanhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the grant train benefits and not rock the boat!) boasted Zanu PF cronies when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing any democratic reforms during the GNU.

With not even one token reform implemented and a feeble new constitution, SADC leaders wanted the 2013 Zimbabwe elections to be postponed in a last minute bid to have the democratic reforms implemented before the election. 

“In 2013 the Maputo Summit, in June 2013, before the elections, the Maputo Summit was all about having the elections postponed – the SADC summit. I went there,” Dr Ibbo Mandaza told Journalist Violet Gonda in 2017.

“I was there at the Summit and Mugabe pretended to agree to a postponement of the elections. If you recall, the postponement was based on the need to reform, at least electoral laws, (to be implemented before the elections).

“And after that Summit, Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, all of them were called to a separate meeting by the Heads of State of SADC in the absence of Mugabe, that same evening. And they were told; I was sitting there outside the room with Mac Maharaj; they were told ‘if you go into elections next month, you are going to lose; the elections are done’.”

As we know all the MDC leaders without exception participating in the 2013 elections in defiance of the SADC leaders’s advice. And MDC leaders have all been participating in flawed elections since, “so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw,” as David Coltart confessed in his book. 

The 2017 military coup would have been a transformative moment for Zanu PF if the any of the MDC leaders had denounce the coup for what it was – an illegitimate and unconstitutional move. Instead Morgan Tsvangirai and the rest of the MDC leaders came out in support of the coup and even called on their supporters to join the street demos calling on Mugabe to resign. 

Many people were surprised that Nelson Chamisa did not demand that Constitutional Court must order the opening of the 12 Polling Station ballot boxes to verify the results. The V11 forms, a summary of the vote count of each candidate, in two or three of these PSs were identical in very respect, same total number of ballots cast, same vote count for each candidate, same spoilt ballots, etc. and most notable of all Mnangagwa had a commanding lead. The only rational explanation was the result was one PS enter twice or three times. 

Double entry of the V11 was easy what would not be so easy to do is creating a duplicate PS! Chamisa’s legal team was asked by the Judge why they did not request the sealed ballot boxes from all the 12 PSs to be opened? It turned out that they are the ones who did not want the boxes opened. The gave some feeble excuse! 

“MDC vanoziva kuti apa pakasungwa noruwhaya!” (MDC leaders know that there some matters they are not allowed to touch!) boasted George Charamba, Mugabe and now Mnangagwa’s spokesperson, when asked why the opposition has never ever taken Zanu PF to task on any important matter. Never ever!

Each time there is any falling out in the opposition camp the fall guy is always accused having been a Zanu PF agents. When it mattered they all acted as one in not rock the boat, in making sure the untouchables were left untouched, etc. but at every opportune moment they are as keen as mustard to off load all the party’s cases of corruption and incompetence on the scapegoat. 

Each time fall guy realises that his/her chances of ever being welcome back in the opposition camp are poor they cross the floor and join Zanu PF. Zanu PF has always welcomed these former opposition leaders after all they did the party a great favour by not rocking the boat, etc. when they could have. 

“Kwawabva kanda huyo, kounoenda kanda huyo!” (You should always be careful to make friends where you are going and come from; because you never know!) so goes the Shona adage.

It is no exaggeration that none of Zimbabwe opposition leaders ever dreamt that their political party could ever replace Zanu PF and govern the country alone. The most they could achieve is govern with a Zanu PF offshoot as a partner. And so the opposition has always been cautious never ever to rock the boat, touch the untouchable, etc. to be certain of Zanu PF partners in future. 

By failing to implement even one democratic reform the MDC leaders were betraying the ordinary Zimbabweans whoo were risking all to elect them into office for that express purpose. Fortunately for Tsvangirai a company they have always managed to get away with the selling out because most of the masses had no clue what the reforms are much less how they were implemented.

Even to this day, with the benefit of post GNU hindsight, most ordinary Zimbabweans still have no clue what the reforms are. How can they blame MDC/CCC leaders of selling out of something they do not know. 

So when it came to betraying the people by selling out on reforms or implement the reforms and rock the boat and upset Mugabe and company. Tsvangirai and company chose to betray the masses because they knew they would get away with it. And so, far at least, povo has never held them to account. 

Yesterday it was Obert Gutu and a few others who left the opposition to join Zanu PF. Today it is Mwonzora and Mudzuri. Next year it could be anyone of the remaining leaders, Nelson Chamisa, David Coltart, Tendai Biti, etc.

They will all be welcomed by Zanu PF because, when it mattered, none of the rocked the Zanu PF boat or touched the regime’s untouchables. Of course they knew they were/are betraying the nation to please Zanu PF; they did not care then and still do not care!