Not in my name!
Comrade ‘Munyaradzi Sambo’, it’s not in my name!
Yesterday, 19 January 2009, Sambo a long serving member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) posted to this popular platform of assessing ideas and contestation of philosophies an estimated four paged ‘document’ with the ISO resolutions which was assessing the organization’s position.
In the document Sambo used a paint brush and recklessly painted everyone black in the process, I was no exception, I was not bothered in the beginning since I have come to know the comrade’s tendencies when it comes to addressing issues; He always taps ideas from his principal.
Given such, I decided to respond to the principal rightfully as a citizen of this country and a legal persona with rights to express myself outside the confines of my work environment, political affiliation and other elements of life which define human kind.
Firstly, the accusations leveled against me are against the grain given that Sambo and his principal have known me since my days at the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition where I was a communications person who loved my job. My contribution to this struggle is to keep the progressive elements of the struggle and the populace informed. To this I have arranged numerous press conferences for different organizations to sell their message to their stakeholders; a contribution that will not stop even if self anointed, more equal than others ‘left wingers’ are forced to perceive it otherwise.
What bothers me, however, is the malicious idea that I mobilized and organized a press conference for individuals in ISO. It’s a pedestal assessment of my capacity. Had I mobilized for that press conference I don’t think you would have the comfort of roaming around peddling falsehoods with impunity. If you are to progress by other people’s points of strength with the hope that one day you will overturn the course of reality, then you should not be surprised when the face of reality slashes over to sleep talk.
And to Mr Sambo’s principal (Munyaradzi Gwisai), allow me to quote directly from the Crisis Coalition think tank report of 14 March 2006 held at the Cresta Lodge in Harare which if I am not mistaken, Sambo attended; The think tank dicussed Opposition Politics in Zimbabwe.
At the think tank, Professor Brian Raftopolous commented on why Munyaradzi Gwisai had been expelled from the MDC and he said, “Gwisai was expelled from the party because he was always a minority in the MDC and that his extreme left ideology was a doctrine and largely theoretical. Gwisai failed to link his position with other issues of the party…”
So you see comrade Sambo, there is a danger when you start believing that you are the only god ordained spokesperson of socialism. Being in the left is a deep conception of the heart, mindset and orientation of which, I would like to think every one of us grew up under the doctrine of Marx and Lenin which helped us to understand the tilted terrain in which we operate in. It is not a hat, banner, bandanna or a pair of shoes which Sambo can abuse by choosing who to anoint by capping or disanoint by recalling. Comrade you should understand the principles of this ideology from its infancy.
The danger of self acclamation or spokespersonship to a movement as big as socialism is that you start preaching hoping that the people see you as the alpha and omega of socialism. You eventually reach the extent where when you go into and electoral process and you loose, you would think that the people betrayed the left movement. No chief, that’s a ruse, the movement went on after the demise of Marx and those before you and it will continue without the recited mantra which you rarely practice.
This attitude of claiming the demigod status , awarding personalities the god fathers status in socialism will slowly, and eventually drive one into a state of self denial. The dangers of self denial are that one will never know the difference between what is practical and what is theoretical. It happened in the 2003 by-election in Highfields.
I wonder who are some of the most equal person’s advisors or my be it is exaggerated ego, after being expelled by the party which you have been attacking on state broadcaster, ZBC being accorded a quarter of the news hour bulleting attacking the leadership of the opposition, the very party’s representative went on to thump the most high.
The results are still a public recorded as noted below: Pearson Mungofa MDC won with 8 759 votes, ahead of Zanu PF's Joseph Chinotimba who polled 4 844. The African National Party's candidate garnered 272 votes while Munyaradzi Gwisai, 73 votes ahead of the United Parties and Zimbabwe Democratic Party candidates, who polled 34 and eight votes, respectively.
What happened in Highfields, if one might answer? Was Chinotimba more socialist than some amongst our midst? This is the problem with pretence and it is the, ‘I am holier than thee’ mentality which leads some of our comrades exposed to untold humiliation when reality emerges. Even little known ANP party which was formed on the eve of the election managed to pull a better performance. Just stop spreading the misinformed position and portrait on an individual being an epitome of the institution. In their on right, institutions should outlive individuals.
Thirdly, the misnomer of the hand of imperialist causing destabilizations! You see comrade when there is a leadership failure, people will always find a scapegoat especially an outsider’s hand. The argument is as old as human kind, you start hearing of familiar names like renegade, enemies (as if to say of the state), sovereignty, sellouts, imperialists then you know that the struggle have taken a dangerous path. When ZANU PF uses such words on anyone of us you know that there is something to follow.
I am no stranger to being labeled an imperialist comrade, I have equally received such abusive language from the State. But you should bear in mind that you don’t hold the creative language of attacking people through the public media whilst those people stand by and watch. Very soon they will start responding and you will not hold the leverage to prescribe how they respond to such personality slaughter.
You have realized that I didn’t address issues of your organization because of my respect of institutions. Equally, be man enough, and stop attacking the organization which I work for in you perennial quest for attention which is fast becoming more of paranoia than anything else.
Lastly Comrade Sambo, you come from the same generation as I do and I hope history has been very fair to us both because it has taught us the mistakes which have been made by the generations which came before us. I hope you will dust off this layman approach of being loud, in an attempt to show intellect. We have people in the generations before us who still sound like they are still in their first years in SRC. By now you should understand this terrible linkage between loudness and emptiness.
I would not want to waste more of my productive time dwelling on who should be in the extreme left or extreme right because in essence I might end up turning a blind eye on humanity issues which are somewhere in between. I will not remove my eyes from the ball, which is the struggle for a better Zimbabwe to fight someone who could not exceed Chinotimba’s votes. No! Not me!
The section in which I was attacked by Gwisai and Sambo:
d. This is why it has become necessary to expel Gwisai and other longstanding leaders of ISO as has been threatened, for without that this the renegades cannot succeed in their designs to liquidate the ISO into popular front politics and opportunism. Indeed so crass has been their betrayal that the press conference was facilitated and mobilized by the imperialist-funded Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) through Thabani Moyo, formerly of the Crisis Coalition. The very same MISA whose executive director Takura Zhangazha vigorously led the opposition of the inclusion of anti-neoliberal and anti-capitalist demands in the Peoples Charter and who despite being a leading figure in the Peoples Convention still went behind everyone’s back to join the MDC-T technical team in the MDC-Zanu PF talks in South Africa despite that such talks had been roundly rejected by the Peoples Convention as a useless elitist platform. Today it is a network of such forces that have become the closest friends of the Mutero-Tigwe clique, funding them and pushing their propaganda. We ask whether it is a mere coincidence that the Mutero-Tigwe clique seeks to destabilize ISO, so conveniently near the elective Zimbabwe Social Forum annual strategic meeting where Gwisai is being supported by ISO and many progressive movements to stand as chairperson, but being massively opposed by the very same right-wing NGOs?
