Former Tourism minister Walter Mzembi has shared intimate details of his interaction with the late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai who was complaining about intra-party divisions within his party.
Posting on Twitter (now known as X), Mzembi said Tsvangirai told him that he would have preferred him as his successor because of the serious fights in his party.
Below is Mzembi’s full post;
On a flight from Washington to Amsterdam, in June 2009 , i am seated next to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai sipping whisky and discussing many subjects from politics , social to economics and suddenly he blurted;
” If i had my way i would make you my successor in MDC , the fights in there will destroy my Party when am gone . We need a unifier . There are serious fights in there worse than in your Zanu PF “
We laughed off this unimaginable prospect , with others in the Business Class cabin joining who had overheard this conversation. I later shared this with a number of top MDC officials , Nelson , Khupe , Job and we laughed it off for what it was ; a joke !
Many years later it has turned into reality , Zanu PF & its State Agencies has simply exploited a situation that has been simmering for years , so before pointing fingers at the external there is serious need for introspection by political actors in the Opposition formations on how they themselves have authored their own demise. The external simply exploits the internal fissures.
That said, there is a silver lining to every dark cloud , an opportunity for fresh start politics only this time apart from populism it must be built not only on grievances but on solid vision and promise of an alternative Zimbabwe , home grown political enterprising that carries the hope and aspirations of all . The maturity required for this task can only come from the lessons learnt . Everyone has been bruised , but it is the people who feel a greater sense of betrayal of reposing their faith for more than two decades into something that has morphed into an octopus worse than the creature they were trying to replace.