Tsvangirai not a coward
 
I WRITE this letter in response to comments on your website by political commentator, Eldred 
Masunungure, of the University of Zimbabwe, who argues that MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, 
made a mistake by leaving the country and that a government of national unity is a must for Zimbabwe.

Well, I do not know how many degrees Masunungure has to so easily judge the repercussions 
of the MDC leader’s flight. 
    
Tsvangirai knows Zanu-PF very well; they have a well documented profile of assassinations 
 that they have carried out secretly over the years. 
       

At this crucial time, it is when Zanu-PF thugs are able to harm 
Tsvangirai is not a coward as Masunungure would like people to believe. 
       
The fact that he is still MDC up to this very moment after suffering a split in his own party 
goes a long way to show you the character of the man. His diplomatic offensive was akin to a man who 
did not want to resort to violence in order to remove Mugabe. If he was a militant kind of a leader, 
he would ask MDC sympathisers to train MDC cadres who would wage a very 
long war with Zanu-PF and leave Zimbabwe as bad as Somalia. 
 
 Tsvangirai and the MDC leadership. People like Masunungure fail to understand that Mugabe is a violent man right to the core. 
Instead of complimenting Tsvangirai's leadership, they want him to resort to a kind of militancy 
that will leave thousands of Zimbabweans maimed or dead. Zimbabweans are tired of war; 
it is even surprising that they have waited this long when Mugabe has been busy insulting their 
intelligence. Yet they have not resorted to civil war, partly because Zanu-PF has the weapons 
and the electorate does not. 

It remains to be seen how long this situation is going to last. However as evidenced by the
Chinese arms ship, Zanu-PF could already be anticipating a big outbreak of war in the near 
future. If Zanu-PF was not as violent as they are today they would not have been in power for 
all these 28 years. So Zanu-PF knows that violence does pay since it has carried them for all 
these years, but time is coming when they will realise Zimbabweans are no longer deterred by 
their violent ethic. 
      
Masunungure goes on to say there must be a government of national unity 
because MDC cannot go it alone. What a load of rubbish. Why do the likes of Masunungure 
still believe that there is no life without any Zanu-PF role-play? The role of Zanu-PF ended on 
March 29. They were given the mandate to rule for the past 28 years and they abused it, 
despite the fact that they had earned it after putting the electorate under extensive duress. 

MDC is entitled to form a broad-based government made out of experts, some whom are not 
even in the ranks of the party. 
Their mission would be to revamp the state institutions and restore the credibility which they no 
longer have. They will engage the international community to recognise 
Zimbabwe as a key strategic partner in investment opportunities and the championing 
of human rights. It must be said that according to MDC's human rights manifesto, 
no single individual would be targeted for supporting a party of their choice. 
     

Masunungure states that politics is a dangerous exercise. He should have specified that 
Zimbabwean politics is dangerous because in other countries which have embraced principles 
of liberty and civilisation, there has been never a single voter who has been persecuted for 
voting for a party of his or her choice. 
    

That is what Tsvangirai is fighting for; he wants politics which is free of any danger posed by uncivilised 
and power-obsessed individuals. We cannot move on in this 21st Century still cherishing those values. 
We want to move forward with the rest of the progressive world. 
    
Sydney