The source, a former MDC-T MP who lost his seat in July, told The Zimbabwean that Tsvangirai had been given the impression that Zanu (PF) was in tatters and MDC-T would easily win the polls.
“Tsvangirai shared with us tidbits from his confidential discussions with Mugabe. He said Mugabe had told him Zanu (PF) was ill-prepared for elections because of factionalism and it was clear that MDC would win overwhelmingly,” said the source.
“The impression we got from our president was that Mugabe was desperate. Tsvangirai even said Mugabe had pleaded with him for protection for him and his family after the elections, and advised him not to take drastic action against the status quo.”
Mugabe reportedly offered to advise the MDC-T leader when he took over power, even giving him elaborate strategies for the new government, such as retaining acceptable Zanu (PF) figures like Joice Mujuru, engaging security chiefs for their exit packages and maintaining the land “reform” programme but with an audit.
“This persuaded our leader that he was on his way to State House. In fact, a lot of us in the party thought the same. We didn’t see any way in which Zanu (PF) would beat us. Their candidates were hardly campaigning and that to us proved there was chaos in the party.
“Little did we know, however, that Zanu (PF) was busy rigging the elections. We genuinely believed that Mugabe had grown a soft spot for Tsvangirai and was trying to curry favour with us,” he said.
Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, dismissed reports of Mugabe leading Tsvangirai down the garden path. “That is mere speculation. If anything like that ever happened, I would have been privy to it,” he said.
During his election campaign, Tsvangirai brushed aside threats that the police would arrest anyone who prematurely announced the election results, saying that could not happen as MDC-T was assured of victory.
“They say they are going to arrest us for announcing the elections outside ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission). How will they do that because, after the elections, some of us will already be at State House, as the new government?” said a confident Tsvangirai at a rally in Chitungwiza.
At the recent burial of his former chief of security, Benson Muchineuta, Tsvangirai told mourners that Mugabe had confided in him that he was afraid to hand over power in Zanu (PF) because factionalism would destroy the party.
The two met regularly over tea, during which they reportedly engaged in confidential discussions.
Eldred Masunungure, a political scientist, said: “MDC-T basked in the sun like it would never sink. They were too relaxed and assumed that they would get victory on a platter. They rested on a dangerous assumption that Zanu (PF) was beyond rescue. If Zanu (PF) rigged, then the MDC has itself to blame because, as part of government, they didn’t do anything to avoid it,” he said recently.
The MDC-T source added that a false sense of security caused the party to accept that a huge number of voters had cast their ballots without appearing on the voters’ roll. There were complaints after the elections that thousands of Zanu (PF) supporters voted more than once by producing voter slips, some of them fake, even though they did not appear on the voters’ roll.
The matter was complicated by the fact that in many cases, polling officers abandoned the traditional practice of scanning voters’ fingers to establish if they had already voted or not.
Post published in: News
MDC has greatly let down the people of zimbabwe with their slothish behaviour,,only now they are busy writing in various media outlets about what could have been and yet they are accessories to the theft of our votes by simply doing nothing when even a new born baby could see what was going to happen,,hence a call for more focused and serious leadership
Mr Tsvangirai is a good man but he is not that gifted in the mental department.Even 5 year olds knew he was being tricked by Bob but surprisingly Morgan never suspected anything.If he is honest with himself, he should just resign and allow the democratic process to take its course in choosing the next leader.Yes Morgan is quite courageous but courage without brains is meaningless in the 21st century!
Guys the story whether its false or accurate, the so called MDC leader is a fool kapa…How can you be fooled by an old man like Robert Mugabe…..meaning that the cde is very intelligent is it,,,,,more than Morgiza…..so the MDC was supposed to work on its strategy so that they could win the elections. The party has no intelligence at all in his party……in fact, he is surrounded by CIOs and sharks from the ZANU PF system.
Guys the story whether its false or accurate, the so called MDC leader is a fool kapa…How can you be fooled by an old man like Robert Mugabe…..meaning that the cde is very intelligent is it,,,,,more than Morgiza…..so the MDC was supposed to work on its strategy so that they could win the elections. The party has no intelligence at all in his party……in fact, he is surrounded by CIOs and sharks from the ZANU PF system.
Thirty three years of mastering the art of trickery and rigging, the MDC T stood no chance of felling Zanu pf. The year 2008 awakened them and they would have never left their destiny to be in the hands of the electorate. The MDC formations may have been complacent but even if they had upped their game the outcome would have been the same. Different strategies are called for to outfox Zanu pf.
Whatever Mr Tsvangirai’s attitude was the fact is the Bob was able to cheat and you have to ask: how could that be stopped? The only way was to not take part in the election, I suppose. In no way would any action lead to a desirable result. Bob has too much money and power over people. When he loses that he will go quite rapidly.
I agree with Oneal Patel and TimM. Mugabe and his party don’t believe in democracy. Elections in Zimbabwe are simply window dressing just to say to the world “look at us we are democratic”. The fact of the matter is ZPF came to power in 1980 not to ever let go of it. They follow the old communist style of government, once in you stay there. MDC were fools for thinking otherwise. Mugabe has been out foxing people for many years even before independence. He out foxed Ndabaningi Sithole, Herbert Chitepo, Josiah Magama Tongogara, Joshua Nkomo, Ian Smith and now Morgan Tsvangirai. While you have the likes of South Africa and the other corrupt African countries supporting one another to stay in power we can forget about true democracy and true freedom. South Africa is heading the same where you only have to see how the ANC has hijacked a national event like the Mandela memorial, yes Mandela was the leader of the ANC but he became much more than that when he became the leader of South Africa.