The Sunday Mail
Vukani Madoda
The Sharp Shooter
Perennial opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai last Thursday unveiled yet another recycled shadow cabinet as his obsession to be the President of Zimbabwe gripped him yet again in another show of trying to remain relevant in the face of glaring oblivion.
The shadow cabinet includes shadows such as Nelson Chamisa, who has often been accused of trying to usurp power from the MDC-T leader.
Chamisa has insinuated that Tsvangirai sees shadows. And we can see he is even creating shadows.
His announcement of the shadow cabinet was not a coincidence as he and his backers had hoped that the war veterans would demand President Mugabe step down at the Thursday indaba and that would present a rare opportunity for MDC-T to ready itself for an election victory against a divided revolutionary party.
But with Zanu-PF holding steady and President Mugabe firmly in control, the announcement of a shadow cabinet is nothing but a shadow.
When any leader continues to cling to shadows, it certainly is time for him to let the sun set so that the shadows may disappear and he may take leave and have a rest.
Surely, after 16 years of living in the shadows, Tsvangirai must just call it a day.
A lot has happened in 16 years. Children were born and are getting ready to write Ordinary Level exams. All this while MDC-T shadow minister of education, tertiary and vocational training Heneri Dzinotyiwei still dreams of being sworn in.
What really is this obsession that Tsvangirai has with shadows? What is this obsession that he has with power (and women of course)?
What is this obsession with spent forces such as Eddie Cross of all people?
He uses the shadow cabinet announcement as a tool to try and keep together a deadbeat party that is obviously fragmented and disintegrating.
The shadows continue to be an illusion of imaginary political power that he is desperately trying to clutch at.
MDC-T is really struggling with relevance.
They have suddenly become insignificant in the wake of perceived Zanu-PF factional wars and in the wake of Mujuru’s ZimPF huffing and puffing that it is the next best of the worst opposition party.
MDC-T is recycling old strategies and they have announced a shadow cabinet at the twilight of their existence.
I can understand the pressure that Tsvangirai must be under with his party having split some five times over the last decade.
No one takes him or what is left of his party seriously.
Over the years it has been deserted by the little brains it had and now it is under real threat of really going under because the party is broke, tired, fatigued, fragmented and inconsequential.
Not even the members of the shadow cabinet still support their own party.
Most of them must have been surprised by the shadow cabinet announcement.
Even more, they must be wondering if Tsvangirai is still fit to be their leader because he just wakes up one day and announces a thumb-suck shadow cabinet full of clueless and disillusioned spent-forces.
How else can anyone describe a fellow like Job Sikhala apart from clueless and desperate for relevance?
And Tsvangirai thinks this guy can head the Zimbabwe Media Commission. Where we used to say jobs for the boys, we can now say a job for Job.
The elections are two years away and Tsvangirai is trying to put his people on a leash in the hope that they don’t desert him just before 2018.
The shadow cabinet and the shadow executives have now been pinned down so that they do not defect — but the writing is legibly on the wall.
Meanwhile, Zanu PF is elated that the headache that was once the MDC has fizzled out.
Things have fallen apart in the opposition and they have nothing left to do except to chase shadows by announcing shadow cabinets and shadow parastatal executives until the sun finally sets on them just as it did with Mavambo which quickly became Magumo after the 2008 elections.
One by one the enemies are falling by the way side. One by one they are licking their wounds. One by one they are relegating themselves to shadows.
Dubulaizitha!
