YESTERDAY the media was awash with reports of skirmishes that rocked Harvest House, the MDC-T headquarters where the party’s deputy national treasurer Elton Mangoma was pummelled by rogue party youths.
Tendai Biti is said to have been saved from a thorough beating by the same elements after he made a hasty retreat to the safety of his car. Others officials reportedly sought refuge inside Harvest House as the hoodlums bayed for more blood.
Douglas Mwonzora, the MDC-T spokesman, has came guns blazing, charging that the people who assaulted Mangoma were agent provocateurs sent by enemies of the opposition — read Zanu PF.
Citizens have heard this line of argument before in which the MDC-T has blamed the violence that has visited Harvest House on Zanu PF. This is taking citizens for fools.
It is known that Mangoma has earned the wrath of the MDC-T faithful after he penned that lengthy missive last month calling for MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai to step down. He has been a marked man since then evidenced by posters plastered outside Harvest House.
Mangoma’s crime, and to a certain extent Biti, is for taking the proverbial bull by the horns — publicly advocating for leadership renewal.
We have it on good authority that there is a general consensus within the MDC-T that Tsvangirai has overstayed his welcome at the helm of the party in the wake of the electoral whitewash the party suffered at the hands of the July 31 polls, albeit controversial.
The situation has been made dire by Tsvangirai’s penchant for sexual scandals, the latest being his messy relationship with his estranged wife Elizabeth Macheka who is said to be contemplating filing for divorce. Those in the know at Harvest House said Mangoma is not a lone voice in calling for leadership and generational renewal in the MDC.
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Mangoma’s brutalisation probably gives credence to claims there are institutions of violence at the party’s Head Office. It would appear violence is part of MDC-T DNA. Ask Welshman Ncube and Trudy Stevenson. They were beaten silly probably by the same hoodlums when they dared to point out that the emperor was naked, leading to the infamous spilt of October, 2005.
But resorting to stone-age tactics of unleashing violence on real or imagined enemies will not reverse the MDC-T political misfortunes. What the party desperately needs to salvage it from political oblivion is dialogue and intellectual discourse as started by the likes of Mangoma.
