Financial Gazette
Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor
13 January 2011
ENTER Mutambara . . . exit Mutambara. That is the astounding tale of a typically short political history that Arthur Mutambara had as leader of the smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) otherwise known as the MDC-M.
His entrance was as dramatic as his exit. After the party’s congress of January 8 to 9, 2011 it is imperative to look at the transpirations in the party and the possible capacity in the new leadership to steer it as an effective democracy-seeking institution.
The coming in of Mutambara in 2007 to lead the party was somehow thespian though we never really questioned the political motive behind such grandiosity. The nature of African politics has always had a streamlined context, which is defined by the grassroots. Africa’s political terrain is graced by the inevitable need to inculcate the preferences of the grassroots if any party or entity is to be of any substance and relevance.
Mutambara should have sensed that any meteoric rise to leadership without any transmission or reference from the grassroots is both superficial and Machiavellian. In the circumstances that led to his rise, Welshman Ncube, his secretary-general then was at the centre of the transaction.
Being so, Mutambara should have also realised that the days of “king-makers†in African politics are quickly expiring. The real and sustainable “king-makers†are the toiling grassroots of the party and their extended functionaries thereof.
No matter how brilliant one is, that endorsement by the grassroots is critical for ascendancy. Individuals never make sustainable democratic centres rather they are the temptation upon which dictatorships always evolve out of.
The irony today in the MDC-M is that the “king-maker†who was in 2006 has now become the “king†himself.
There is a pinch of suspicion that Mutambara was just a stop-gap measure in the unfolding theatre of leadership conception in the party. Many still wonder if Ncube never had any flirtation with the possibility of landing the presidency of the party after the iniquitous split of the mainstream MDC in 2005.
If so could it then have been nonstrategic to immediately pounce on the position given that the emergent split had been blamed on Ncube’s perceived craving for power?
The proponents for this conviction therefore view Mutambara’s rise to presidency as a meticulously calculated move intended to divert attention from the immediate power desires of Ncube. In that regard, Mutambara was to be the pawn that would stop-gap while the real power conveyance would be given time to maturate away from the suspicion of the watching eyes.
Ncube’s desire for the presidency, which he only openly expressed two months before Sunday’s City Sport Centre congress is therefore seen by many to have been harboured since the split of 2005, that is, if it wasn’t the motive behind the intention of the said split. There are just too many political permutations around the MDC-M trajectory.
One certain thing, however, has been the pungency for self-disintegration in the MDC-M.
Immediately after the two MDC parties had split in 2005, the MDC-M portion was faced with some defections to the MDC-T. The likes of Gift Chimanikire who had actually been one of the centres of the split turned back and joined the MDC-T. This was then followed up in 2009 by the topical Job Sikhala splinter that subsequently resulted in the formation of yet another MDC shade; the MDC 99.
In fact behind that split was the suspension of a legion of MDC-M leaders including Abedinico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni, Sikhala, Nor-man Mpofu, Alex Goosen and Gift Nyandoro.
In the run-up to the January 2011 congress yet another split transpired with the national chairman Joubert Mu-dzumwe leading a mutiny against the congress that elevated Ncube into presidency. Others who joined him were Morgan Chan-gamire, Tsitsi Danga-rembga and Nom-alanga Ncube. There was also the glaring non attendance by some senior MDC-M officials such as David Coltart and Trudy Stevenson at the 2011 congress over the weekend.
Though they may have had various reasons for not attending the congress, it is the compounded perception that critically shifts indications away from normalcy.
Communication from MDC-M had earlier hinted at a crowd of about 5 000 at the congress only for just about    1 000 to attend. Could this shrinkage be an indication of the internal bickering in the party or is it mere followership deficiency? There is just too much porous ground in the MDC-M and this needs to be riveted if any formidable results are to be obtained in the future.
As Ncube takes over the reins, it is the desire of any democracy-embracing Zimbabwean that there be an increase in vibrant and robust political parties in the country.
This is necessary for multi-party democracy. However, in that regard there are some pointers that the party needs to learn from its short but incident-filled history. Firstly, Ncube must not be tempted to create himself into a political circumstance that then becomes the lifeblood of the party.
For some time there has been that sublime and at times remote hand of Ncube in many of the party’s activities, decisions, policies and positions.
Rather than the institutionalisation of the party’s entity there has been its personification around his individuality. The party must also build a grass roots base upon which all foundational substance originate from. The theatrics of leadership by invitation must never again be intimated even if it is for the sake of whatever strategy.
There is a desperate need for the party to have an identified and mature political ideology. Zimbabweans are tired of parties that are solely founded and then die on the “remove-Mugabe†ideology without a knack for the Afro-centric developmental capacity that our battered nation so desires.
Zimbabwe will be a better democracy only if parties like MDC-M are able to find their potency and develop into formidable and punch-absorbing democratic parties. The current and future landscape of our politics require democratic alternatives and the more varied the choices people have the more enhanced our democracy becomes.
For Arthur Mutambara, we offer words of encouragement.
You may have come into a political fray that was as cruel as much as it was opportunistic. Your future in politics is not done our dear brother as long as the lessons you have learnt are taken seriously.
The Zimbabwe that we are building for the future will definitely require your intellect, courage, pan African spirit, professionalism, commitment and your orientation for results.
But for now let the political terrain preserve you until maturity.