What’s next?
There is a lot that remains to be said – some add “and done” – about the poll furore, but the most radical that I have heard is that the MDC-T is no longer the party that will lead Zimbabweans to the Promised Land.
I sat among some of the country’s respected senior citizens over the weekend as they mourned the death – once again – of credible elections and one thing one of them said rather angrily was that he did not want to discuss what went wrong but wanted to ponder the question: “what’s next?”
Indeed “what next?”
These are men who spoke fondly of Charles Chikerema, Authur Chadzingwa, men who recalled the politics of George Nyandoro, and exchanged stories about the bad turn the country took despite all the promise, and these elections became an opportunity to talk about the past, the present and the future of Zimbabwe.
One angry old intellectual said despite his loathing for Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF, he felt the country could do well with a new political party that would make sure to succeed where the MDC-T had failed, opining that Zanu PF had actually exercised some kind of selective magnanimity by “letting” some MDC-T candidates win and also extending the same to Zanu PF whom the revolutionary party “let” lose!
It was a strange conversation to be part of, but as one said, Zanu PF has no shame, yet I found myself musing over how all this anger being palpably felt across the country will be dealt with amidst concerns that what Zanu PF seeks is any excuse available to unleash the wrath of the security forces on civilians.
Yet one of these enlightened senior citizens was of the view that no soldier or policeman would act on such instructions to beat up any marchers because the same police and soldiers are fed up with the system that has taught nothing but hate and suffering.
This is disturbingly interesting considering the eagerness of the uniformed juniors to cast their vote during the special vote chaos.
I asked how the MDC-T lost Mbare for example, and an old professor said, “I know the guy who won for Zanu PF, he is a cruel man.” The response was loaded in that the old professor said nothing about the tactics that were employed to win but rather the kind of people who have been made guardians of our public life and space.
It was the kind of frustration with the election results that has you thinking, “If these old enlightened men are feeling this way, what of the younger people for whom this election was meant to provide a new beginning?”
One of the favourite occupations of many an analyst during the run-up to the poll was wide guesses about possible post-election scenarios, and like many such occasions, no one seems to have a clue about what’s likely to happen now that Mugabe has once again stunned everyone.
Besides the MDC-T changing its leadership, one suggested that Zanu PF had actually began destroying the MDC-T in that in forming a new government, it would invite some winning MDC-T MPs despite Tsvangirai’s position that these MPs must have nothing to do with a Zanu PF government.
And because we already know how eager everyone was to occupy cabinet posts during the GNU, this could indeed present problems for the MDC-T where its members appointed to cabinet positions through Mugabe’s magnanimity will see no reason why they should not take up the posts.
It then it becomes a matter of principle, but such appeals are always problematic in that such men and women sorely lacked when the GNU was birthed.
Meanwhile, like many Zimbabweans, the old wise men retreat to their own spaces and watch Zanu PF’s next move, because honestly, no one has a clue where we are going from here.