Most political parties evolve from social interest group movements and or Civic Society. During their nascent years the movements relegate their political motive to the backroom of a single rallying point. This is done purposefully to protect the political idea from being hijacked by established political formations.
The political agenda comes to the foe at some point when the drivers consider it prudent to unveil it. This usually after assessing the level of the chemistry in the initial social interest group to be positive to the reception of the political agenda in place of the social one.
The evolution of ZAPU, ZANU, ZUM, UANC and MDC into political parties took this route. The Mavambo Kusile Dawn (MKD) movement and Vigil/ROHR partnership are classical examples of political outfits in the making whose leadership has not satisfied itself about the appropriateness of time to transform them into political formations.
It is this deliberate denial by the Vigil/ROHR axis of its not so well camouflaged political agenda that this instalment is intended to expose and leave it to the generality of the Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom to judge for themselves.
In rebutting accusations of masterminding the jeering and booing of the Zimbabwe Premier at the Southwark Cathedral on 20 June 2009 the Restoration of Human Rights statement on this site dismisses as “a vicious, hate-fuelled and well-orchestrated campaign by some UK-based Zimbabwean online news sites aimed at discrediting ROHR Zimbabwe as an organisation and the personal integrity of Ephraim Tapa, its President,” adding;
“ROHR Zimbabwe and its leadership wants to disassociate itself from these malicious accusations as they are baseless and outright falsehoods.
We also want to state categorically that at no time did the organisation agree, let alone set an agenda to ridicule or disrupt the Southwark Cathedral meeting. Mr Tapa was not even at the meeting. We therefore dismiss the accusations with the contempt they deserve.”
On any other day such a passionate rebuttal would gain my immediate sympathies but not with the benefit of the hindsight knowledge I have of the titanic political battles between ROHR leadership and the MDC leadership. It is a passionate plea of innocence that defies logic.
Indeed the ROHR chairman was not there in person but his placard carrying supporters were in scores. ROHR does not explain why its members would carry prepared protest placards bearing its logo and that of its so called sister organisation Vigil to a meeting with the premier if there was no preset agenda to ridicule or disrupt his rally.
This becomes an imperative issue for ROHR to distance itself from when the message on its protest placards was the chant that disrupted the Premier’s speech.
Instead of explaining away this “coincidence” ROHR actually brags in its statement after giving its version of the build up to what it wants us to believe was a spontaneous response from the Premier’s audience that;
“To launch this campaign on so little evidence mean that elements in the Zimbabwean UK Diaspora must feel very threatened by us as our message continues to resonate with not only those in the Diaspora but also the wider constituency within Zimbabwe. The issue is that Zimbabwe is still not safe to return for those who fled persecution and are in need of international protection. ROHR Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Vigil does not apologise to anyone for our principled stance that ‘Mugabe Must Go’, our demand for democracy and justice, respect for the rule of law and the Restoration of Human Rights.”
Indeed many genuinely exiled Zimbabweans blame their confinement to refugee status on Mugabe and Zanu PF impunity.
While for some refugees life in exile is a garden of roses that they would like to live in for the rest of their lives there are many others who would rather spent their lifetime in Zimbabwe but for the excesses of the previous regimes solely headed by President Mugabe cannot contemplate returning to their home country to be welcomed by a regime in which Mugabe and his dreaded Zanu PF structures are significant if not in their opinions, dominant political players.
The “Mugabe Must Go” message that the Vigil and ROHR alliance claims monopoly ownership of, has been the rallying cry upon which the MDC was built from strength to strength over the past decade but has now been rendered obsolete by the political developments that resulted in a tripartite coalition government taking over from the Zanu PF regime on 13 February 2009.
The coming together of MDC-M, MDC-T and ZANU PF in a SADC and AU coerced government that has satisficed on key ideological values of the parties as a means to achieve a political environment that would allow the electorate to reclaim its militantly induced disenfranchisement after the inconclusive March 2008 election is being exploited ruthlessly by the Vigil/ROHR alliance to gain political space.
The problem though is that within Zimbabwe, while the “Mugabe Must Go” rallying cry resonates with the majority thinking and feelings, they have learnt from experience that the target’s departure requires a bit more political innovation than just the chanting of the slogan and voting.
That is why they are solidly behind the political diversion presented by the formation of the coalition government which they agree across the political divide is far from the ideal but nevertheless an opportunity worth pursuing to its logical end as it shields them from the impunity they endured during the days of sloganeering and protest marches which were simply quelled by the security forces loyal to Zanu PF and President Mugabe.
The Vigil/ROHR adherents Premiership hecklers obviously still worship the slogan religiously and are prepared to retain it as the main driver of their fight for democracy because they unlike their home-based opponents of President Mugabe and his vicious Zanu PF party do not have to make a choice between supporting the slogan and getting physically violated or supporting the coalition government to achieve the same objective while remaining physically safe.
That is why Vigil/ROHR is fooling itself that it is now the sole devout custodian of the fight for “democracy and justice, respect for the rule of law and the Restoration of Human Rights.”
Far from it. Within Zimbabwe the prime minister they booed and heckled at the Southwark Cathedral rally is the beacon bearing that torch whether or not the Vigil/ROHR likes it and or accepts it.
The National Constitutional Assembly has been forced to climb down from the pedestal that it alone had the people’s backing on how the Constitutional reform process should proceed after attendances at the Parliament led initiative sent the succinct message that no campaign by anyone against the coalition government initiative would succeed.
It is a lesson that the Vigil/ROHR alliance is yet to learn as its structures are more pronounced in the UK than in Zimbabwe. One would be tempted to think the alliance leadership is preparing to launch a UK government opposition political party of Zimbabwean refugees and exiles when in effect the alliance is struggling to attract adequate support to launch itself as a Zimbabwe political party in exile.
In his resignation message after leading a defiance campaign against the MDC National Council to dissolve the Tapa led MDC UK&I provincial executive where he was Provincial Secretary Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa made it clear that he would gain more political relevance and clout from defying the MDC NC and would launch himself into the political limelight better from outside the dominant party that had lost its formation ideals that he still held onto.
It is instructive that the same Mutyambizi-Dewa is a crucial Board member of both Vigil and ROHR now at the center of the fiasco at the Premier’s rally on 20 June 2009.
Anyone can believe what they want to but it appears too great a conjecture that his brother Terrance Tendai Mutyambizi -Dewa would pre-empt the ROHR rebuttal with an article on the same portal using unrestrained vicious language against MDC UK &I leadership than ROHR complains of against specific news sites that implicated it in leading the protests against what the Premier had asked of exiled Zimbabweans to consider.
Interestingly Terrence also raises the issue of lost formative ideals of the MDC as the cause for the protest by Zimbabwean exiles in the UK.
“The problem in the diaspora is most central to the ideas and the fundamental principles of the party when it was formed. It is to do with the power dynamics as it stands and his failure to deal with this at this stage will lead to the demise of his influence and the creation of new wisdoms. The agenda of the party has been changed by the reformed ZANU PF now running and controlling his mind in exchange of loyalty and patronage,” he stated adding;
“Morgan Tsvangirai should revisit the formation of the party and look at the agreed principles of the way forward. He will be able to establish what the people wanted from their leadership. He needs to address the issue of Tripartite, the issue of social housing, strategy for a welfare state and the commitment to democracy. Walking away from the people when they talk is never heard of in a democracy. Even when President Bush had a shoe thrown at him in Iraq he continued to address the audience. Walking away is a sign of either cowardice or a total lack of respect to what the people are saying.”
This was after he had smeared nearly the entire Provincial leadership of the MDC in the UK with unsubstantiated allegations of nepotism , murder of former party chairman Isaac Matongo, de-campaigning the party president for failing to reward them with positions in the coalition government that he felt must be reserved for the MDC founding activists like him and much more.
The drivel in Terrence’s published opinion on the Zimbabwe journalists.com portal mirrors the lies behind the ROHR statement that the Vigil/ROHR alliance has no political gripe with anyone or any other political formation for that matter when its members like Terrence are spewing nothing but deep rooted hatred of the Premier that unites them in ROHR.
The Zimbabwetimes.com carries another opinion from a self professed ROHR member Batson Chapata, 36, a regional co-ordinator for Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe (ROHR)explaining why he booed the premier.
But ROHR contradicts his open and voluntary admission by stating in its rebuttal;
“Then, the call was for the Party to uphold its founding principles – constitutional democracy, transparency, accountability and justice for all. The ROHR President continues to cherish those values and, unlike some who have started glorifying Mr Mugabe with the advent of the inclusive government, continues to fight for GENUINE CHANGE. Whilst engaged in this struggle for human rights and notwithstanding his right to do so, Mr Ephraim Tapa does not for now have plans to seek any political office within any political party. And contrary to misleading theories being peddled by those who seek to detract from him, Mr Tapa harbours no rancour or vendetta against anyone within the MDC family.”
If indeed there was nothing linking ROHR to the protest as it claims why does it emerge that its key supporters are at variance with their organisation?
I may have missed it but nobody has to my knowledge questioned the presence of ROHR in Zimbabwe or anywhere else for that matter.
What has been questioned is the strategic setup of its structures on political party structure lines wherever it operates from and more importantly within the UK and I where its structures seem to shadow all MDC structures.
This is the question that the Vigil/ROHR alliance must answer rather than duck away from with frivolous explanations.
Vigil and ROHR has in the past been the subject of UK Metropolitan police investigation over complaints they are illegally charging for Asylum application advice without authority and selling MDC membership cards for personal benefit without the consent of the party causing immense harm to prospects of success of asylum seekers relying on recommendations from the grouping.
There is evidence everywhere of this having been the case and yet ROHR would like us to believe the fallacious explanation that it never involved itself with Asylum applications but is merely concerned with human rights advice to Zimbabwean exiles.
It is not a crime to contest for political power in Zimbabwe but the Vigil/ROHR campaign is deceitful and extortionate at the same time it aims to delay the inevitable attainment of the rights it purports to stand for.
The tirade by its members against the MDC UK&I Provincial executive exposes the Vigil/ROHR political agenda which it feels has gained momentum from heckling the Premier on his recent UK visit.
It was a good attempt but certainly not good enough to transform the political fortunes of the ambitious leadership of the alliance.
If anything it has pushed the nascent project against the wall and sooner rather than later it will find it increasingly difficult to raise funds from unsuspecting donors and desperate Asylum seekers.
The call for the MDC UK and I provincial leadership to resign must come from the MDC
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