The Sunday News
Meluleki Moyo
IN a life-like vision yet invisible in presence, a ghost is the spirit of a dead person that can appear to be living. In solitary and human-like essences, ghosts are believed to frequent and haunt particular locations and people they were associated with when they walked the face of the earth.
They are said to be spirits with unfulfilled desires and other cravings. Ghosts seem to find pleasure in exerting control and tormenting humans in their futile attempt to correct the mistakes they could have made during the days of their lives.
In as much as rumours may not necessarily be true, I personally appreciate them because they are often revealing. The political grapevine has of late been infested with rumours of three notable political ghosts who went way and fell on the wayside. They were laid to rest at the graveyard of Zimbabwe’s political history amid great wails from mourners of little sight. Disturbingly however, they cannot rest in peace due to unfulfilled political desires and other cravings.
We hear of their haunting spirits despite the fact that they are dead and were buried in the political cemetery. We joined the funeral wake, we witnessed it, and we saw it with our own eyes. If only we could, we would perform some funeral rites and exorcisms so their wandering souls can finally rest in peace.
But what was the actual cause of their death?
It would be ideal to carry out a systematic examination on the political corpses to avert similar casualties in future. In this regard, I arrive at some post-mortem so that my beloved readers can see for themselves. After all, that is the main purpose of a post-mortem.
In the words of Professor Wamukota, “The dead make you wiser”, let us therefore learn. A post-mortem is important in establishing the actual cause of death. For instance, when a person hangs to death, the village talk will be lowana wazibophela wafa (That one hanged himself to death) but the autopsy results would be very specific: “Intense pressure on windpipe, resulting in choking”.
With regards to the causes of political death in the case of Morgan Tsvangirai, Dr Joice Mujuru and Tendai Biti, the autopsy results are very specific: “Political showboating coupled with leading politically reckless lives and succumbing to politicide”.
In the case of Tsvangirai, the haunt displayed gross dictatorial tendencies, failed to take advice and was blinkered to the extent of surrounding himself with short-sighted advisors who did not waste time in taking him down the road to the political ancestors.
In biblical Samson fashion, Tsvangirai had also become a procurer of women than of ideas and strategies important in keeping a political body afloat. You see, his mistake was failure to learn from the past and coupled with politically thick headedness, his frame could not live to see the light of day. So tired were his kith and kin that they even lost interest in visiting him on his deathbed upon consecutive admissions in 2002, 2008 and 2013.
Then departed Dr Mujuru. When her erstwhile comrades were busy getting down to the people, we hear she sat comfortably in her office. When at one moment her erstwhile comrades sang “Bhora Mugede”, we are told, she chanted “NO! Bhora Musango”. She fell on the wayside, and today, her political spirit is restless. In terror, she has hopped from one graveyard to the next in search of company from other haunts.
Terrified of political darkness and moving with the wind, she recently left her initial place of burial, the Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) and moved to a new graveyard called the National People’s Party (NPP). Of late, the reactionary haunt, catapulting from her “I have been to Government” rhetoric, has shown an interest in joining a broader army under (National Electoral Reform Agenda) Nera and (Coalition for Democrats) CODE where she is reportedly vying for the queen ghost position, much to the frustration of other apparitions.
Her fate can also be understood from a biblical perspective. She failed to respect her political mentor and father, President Mugabe and thus her days were shortened. If only her wandering soul could find some rest. She is in good company though.
On the other hand, ungratefulness, overestimating self-worth in politics hammered the final nail into Biti’s coffin. I find his cause of political death similar to that of Dr Mujuru. The two overestimated their influence amid ungratefulness, like that donkey which received a red carpet welcome in Jerusalem simply because it was carrying Jesus. Imagine the same donkey going back to Jerusalem without Jesus? Definitely, sjamboks would replace the red carpet, with the donkey getting some thorough beating.
Like Mujuru who owed her political breath to President Mugabe, Biti arguably owed his political breath to his then leader Tsvangirai. However, in ungratefulness, false pride and glory, Biti failed to realise Tsvangirai’s worth in his life, resulting in him being thrown into the dungeon like the great angel Lucifer. Today, he desperately insists on a coalition in the hope of bringing his political spirit to rest.
There are as well other little known casualties who do not even deserve a mention in this article who had the time and opportunity to prove their worth during the Government of National Unity (GNU) and they were a disappointment, much to the disdain of the electorate. In necromancy, they today desperately attempt to contact the spirit of Tsvangirai in their futile attempt to rise from the dead, a very impossible wish.
And the ceaseless search for alliances
The muted coalition and the endless search for alliances between these political spooks and phantoms explicitly alludes to the fact that the departed souls are afraid of political darkness, they cannot haunt independently. The political ghosts are terrified and cannot perambulate the political darkness on their own.
Terrified of being gobbled by the dark and ignorant of the fact that actions not names and visibility make an impact, the wraiths have decided to come together for some solace. This they do seemingly oblivious of the fact that they are no longer visible to the world of the living and that the two worlds are very apart and cannot co-exist.
No matter how many they can be or how hard it can be to accept, what stands is that they are in the dark. This has seen a craze in MoUs and alliances with some likely to be reached with that black face of apartheid, Mmusi Maimane across Limpopo.
Their troubled spirits cannot wander alone for any longer, let alone rest. It would probably be very considerate for those who were close to them when they still walked on the face of the earth, to at least inscribe the words “Rest in Peace” and replace the “Rise if Possible” on their political epitaphs. It might help. As talk of the 2018 election gather pace, beware of these and many other political ghosts.
Feedback: [email protected] / @melumoyo86
