The Sunday News
Analysis, Meluleki Moyo APART from attracting a lot of people, a good and healthy looking person impresses people in social situations. After all, a pleasing face is nice to look at and people like to relax amid good looking things. A pleasing face can relax the mind and those with an aesthetic sense like to admire beautiful people and things.
The fact that in Zimbabwe, the Dettol brand is a household name clearly shows that Zimbabweans are so particular about germs. This concern has spiralled over to politics as the ever alert Zimbabweans seem to have shown preference to germ-free politicians.
Probably that explains why the Zimbabwean electorate has a good history of electing good looking leaders and leaders of good standing too.
The private media has on record glorified and made salient, issues and rumours of ill-health and death, knowing plainly well how ungodly it is not to sympathise with any man of ill-health. In a bird in possession of the catapult scenario, it’s high time Tsvangirai comes out in the open with regards to the inevitable “Tsvangexit” moment and a host of issues bedevilling the beleaguered opposition movement.
A revisit to the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus advised on the importance of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us, makes it strange how we find ourselves sympathising with people who do not wish others well.
Anyway as Africans, singakuthini? Phola Morgan.
Of late, the social media has been awash with images of a frail looking 64-year-old Tsvangirai. He has been subjected to the brutal glare and multiplicity of the media and the voters at a crucial time when the country’s political landscape has slopped towards 2018 elections.
If the images are real, then it’s time Tsvangirai gets honest with his blindly following supporters who unlike that biblical Bartimaeus, choose not to see. If only grace could locate them and restore their sight so they can see the sorry images which depict a gloomy future and shattered dreams. Talk of semiotics at play. And by the way, a picture is worth more than a thousand words.
For the MDC-T supporters, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. The time has come for them to cry out even louder for troubled Tsvangirai to hear their voices and throw in the towel.
The MDC supporters need to see beyond this political comic who once thrilled the political world when he left the hospital using the back door, just evading hospital bills. How could an aspiring Head of State and Government do that and expect to be taken seriously?
Of course, illness is not a character flaw and does not mean a passion, intelligence or dedication deficiency. In the case of Tsvangirai, coupled with images of violence which he preaches on a day to day basis, he is an apt description of inward and outward deformity and has fallen off the radar of the politics of spectacle in all respects.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet once remarked to Ophelia, “I’ve heard all about you women and your cosmetics too. God gives you one face, but you paint another on top of it.” When natural beauty runs out, women resort to make-up. Poor Tsvangirai has tried make-up to cover up his inward and outward blemishes. Although make-up does not change women’s names and characters I see nothing wrong with women covering a huge red blemish on their nose, creating a simulacrum of beauty and giving themselves the liberty to channel different personalities and aesthetics in their quest to stay attractive.
Over the years, Tsvangirai has worn different make-ups which fail to stick on his face and they fade on a day to day basis.
Lately, his appointment of two deputies has caused divisions within the MDC-T. Together with his cohorts, they choose to bury their heads deep in the sand like ostriches in face of an imminent succession crisis.
They choose to ignore their troubles, opting to focus on the so-called factionalism in Zanu-PF.
