Is Tsvangirai suitable to be our next President? In our stupidity we have equated historical personal sacrifice with political leadership competence

Historically the only qualification of African Presidents has been their fight for independence and as we have experienced, this has not necessarily resulted in good, selfless  men who seek  to pursue the common good prevailing.

In my opinion Africans have failed to define for themselves who should lead them, it has been about  brawn and not competence, it has been about the past and not the future. The authenticity of our political leaders needs to be continually questioned and debated upon so that we choose those that are most likely to take us to a better future.

I have argued in the past that a fundamental problem is the issue of "the liberation struggle hangover" and "from poverty to power" where political leaders who have come from a poverty background and suddenly thrust in the fore-front to manage the vast resources of the state and the competing interests of opportunistic charlatans who may have funded their political careers.

This inevitably results in cronyism and selfish accumulation of wealth as those placed in power. The other limiting factor is what I term "mass idiocy" where the masses who deliver the majority vote do so repeatedly and blindly expecting different results. No wonder why the loudest and most populist political campaigners have tended to get the largest number of votes despite their failure to deliver.

In our stupidity we have equated historical personal sacrifice with political leadership competence and look what we have got! We unfortunately believe that because certain individuals have sacrificed  they are therefore entitled to live in the State House. In the case of Morgan Tsvangirai, there is no doubt that he has contributed tremendously to the possibility of change and I respect him for that. The question we must now ask is should we vote for him to be our next President?

In my opinion I do not have  adequate information to make that decision yet. Yes he has fought a good fight but I have found him compromised both by his colleagues and by agreeing to some of Mugabe's policies that have been implemented despite his loud objections. I am not happy that he is not dealing with the issue of diamond proceeds, these continue to be looted.

I am not happy he has let the indigenization process continue in its current form and with its current questionable champion. I am definitely not impressed with progress with regard to media freedom and the constant incarceration of journalists.

The economy is in pause mode and Zimbabweans continue to suffer. The country's value system of selfish ambition and short termism have not changed and these are a cancer to social progress. The issue of national healing is a farce and much must still be done to address the wounds of the past.

Please note that I am not berating or ridiculing his efforts for change and I do understand the challenges he may face but the results to date hardly speak for him.

I must confess that personally there is no one that really strikes me as the next obvious candidate. Tsvangirai may therefore become our next president by default as the masses protest against ZANU (PF) but is my view that we need more Zimbabweans coming forward to take our country to the next level.  The talent is certainly somewhere out there.

Hmmmm........ I am looking in the mirror mind you.

Vince Musewe is an economist and you may contact him on [email protected]

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