By Tawanda Mhizha| Respected politician and academic Dr Walter Mzembi is preferred by many across political divide as the alternative solution for the Zimbabwe crisis. The long serving Tourism Minister and UNWTO Candidate for Secretary General post breaks his silence to weigh in with a prescription on the dialogue between two protagonists, incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his nemesis Nelson Chamisa. By offering such alternatives and solutions, many have described Mzembi as mature, sober and level headed in dealing with national question which remain unanswered. Mzembi suggested that the invaluable role of public opinion, for instance, civic society, the church, cross party agents, lobbyists, etc. and the building of the national consensus on the need to talk or talk about talks, and ultimately the escalation of it all too party agendas, the government, and right up to the main protagonists is very much needed.
Mzembi in one of his quotes he appealed to the public to be on the lookout for selfish people seeking to outlaw and spike comradely conversation or opinion by these change agents seeking national convergence. They need your protection and encouragement in their apostolic burden to unite the country. In his public service career , Mzembi the former Foreign Affairs Minister, hinted that he hosted by several Governments in the USA, UK, South Africa and other entities and observed that families members who belong to different political parties dine and debate hours on end over their political beliefs without exchanging blows or spilling blood, and this is political maturity. From the time Mzembi served as a Government Minister till the time he quit his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs, we have never heard a single day when the former Tourism Minister having spilled blood even at party level.
He is one of the well-respected politician across political divide who is sober, mature and level headed. Dr Walter Mzembi is a deferred potential Presidential aspirant who could change the Zimbabwe political landscape if given chance to bounce back in the mainstream politics. Studying from a distance the former Foreign Affairs Minister has clearly calibrated his re-entry into politics and may not be in a hurry to get into the mainstream politics. Mzembi a calculative politician, has avoided responding to media taunts, cheap and personal pot shots at his person which has obviously been a project for deliberate besmirching by his enemies in the current administration.
After a near successful run for the post of United World Tourism Organisation Secretary General for which he received a rare commendation from the then cabinet of Zimbabwe for excellent statesmanship and defense of brand Zimbabwe it was a cold blooded act of malice for the very same Government two months later to withdraw its goodwill and persecute him for his loyalty to the late President Robert Mugabe. The last man standing before a detach military coup, Mzembi’s diplomatic skills have been tested to the limit even in his self-imposed political sabbatical but he has responded with an characteristic golden silence, only broken after nearly two years with another of his trade-mark diplomatic epistles urging dialogue between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Advocate Nelson Chamisa as the closet solution to resolving the current national crisis. It is a fact that Mzembi authored the current diplomatic policy approach he announced on the day current President Mnangagwa was fired from both his Government position as Vice President and party Vice President.
Why had Mugabe taken a keen interest in promoting Walter Mzembi to the ministry of Foreign Affairs portfolio bringing him closer to him at Munhumutapa building at a time he was dropping his ester while deputy and personal assistant from the struggle opting for this suave diplomat, Walter is the subject of intrigue in the succession matrix of the time. Clashing the karanga brothers of the shumba clan, was a dangerous card for a seemingly “out of touch” Mzembi who had just returned from a near successful UNWTO campaign for the post of Secretary General.
What were the calculations on the part of Mzembi himself, did he have an option to choose disloyalty to a President who was openly fond of him against Karanga brotherhood solidarity? This brings to us Mzembi’s own ambitions for Presidency which many Zimbabweans have been stoking against evident failure by his clansmen to run the country. Is he the man or his ester while brother Savior Kasukuwere, popularly known as Tyson wabantu, or is a collaboration between them possible for a common goal? The question for political market is also asking is the governance coupling between the Foreign Affairs and Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi and MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa forming a possible grand coalition with other progressive elements to usher in a new era.
A typical American family has both democrats and Republicans but they do not wish each other ill or death, nor they do they express their differences in ideology and beliefs in medieval political sloganeering reminiscent of the byzantine or crusaders era, they debate. The question is why Mzembi of all the people? During the Government of National Unity, Mzembi sat next to the then Former ICT Minister and current MDC – Alliance President Nelson Chamisa for five years in the cabinet and their relationship was cordial and friendly.
Mzembi who commands a huge following among students, corporate world, business community and other respected entities because of his tolerance and accommodative stance. During the GNU era, Mzembi defied the Zanu PF stance and caucuses which had made a ruling that Morgan Tsvangirai, the then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe must not be saluted even on public gatherings, defied the odd and went to accord him respect within the precincts and boundaries of officialdom and protocol, earning some in despicable label in the process. No wonder Tsvangirai saw it fit to conscript Mzembi, albeit him with protestations from Zanu PF, into his delegation for the famous June 2009, 21 day, 14 country re-engagement trip. Mugabe, consented Mzembi’s inclusion notwithstanding protestations from the Zanu PF party. The delegation included Tendai Biti, Elton Mangoma, Priscilla Misihairambwi – Mushonga, and later Mumbembegwi who later joined the delegation in London.
Mzembi on dialogue and Mbeki’s surprise appearance
What the opposition misread at the time was the necessity of a transitional authority perpetually accountable to SADC and AU for its deliverables, not an autonomous GNU because , as events and time would prove, not a single of the agreed reforms under the Mbeki – brokered talks was implemented in five years, not even one, hence our current national crisis. The facilitator himself, very well meaning as he was and a man of high integrity , was consumed by untimely courtyard politics at home, removing a very pertinent point of reference in terms of accountability, and as it turned out later half the GNU became a cat and mouse government as we headed for 2013 elections. A railroad into elections without reform is as good as political suicide as SADC warned Tsvangirai the former Prime Minister at that time. The MDC component in Government was outfoxed at every stage by the experience and disdain of its senior partner, Zanu PF. Suffice to mention that the MDC existed in the inclusive Government a very disillusioned partner, confirming the fears of the western hemisphere during the 2009 era. In the recent past, MDC were accessories in settling the unending succession struggles of Zanu PF and now face a far more complex situation than before. The MDC’s difficulty is not made easier by the new empty stadiums syndrome which is sweeping the country and negatively affecting the two main parties in equal measure.
…Tawanda Mhizha is a political analyst who can be contacted at [email protected]…..