To announce his coming back so early is a good strategy. It gives him time to retract his political misgivings and opt for a realistic approach. Nkosana Moyo should ask the people where things went wrong for him in 2018 harmonised elections. My feedback and advice to Moyo Nkosana will be the following:
You are not a politician dear Nkosana: leave the arena for those who are politicians: your chance to serve Zimbabwe as a top civil servant is to warm up now with the idea of leading a government of national unity: NTA. For several reasons this is your slot; you have answers, eloquent answers on how to revive the economy of this country. Zimbabwe does not need politicians at this juncture but technocrats, you are one of them who are desperately needed to execute an NTA administration to normalize political playing field and give a chance to meaningful much needed and awaited electoral reforms.
Reasons for my ruling you off as a presidential contender in 2023 elections is that you have serious political shortcomings that you displayed in the last elections of 2018. A potential leader is a brave one: you are not Nkosana. Fear was evident in your body language. You can not possibly display your tribalistic card right from the start of the election campaign. You were quick to display your Karanga credentials, your wife Manyika, your mother: maNkomo. While all that could be true and correct, an alumni from Imperial College in London UK could have been well above such narrow confines of tribal affiliations: using tribalism as a ticket to the high office.
We are in this hellhole because of a nation that has always voted on tribal lines. You come into the political scene with a tribal card in your hand hoping to impress the majority Shona to vote for you. That was disingenuous, politically shallow, and insensitive to the people of Matabeleland. Again you were not kind to them either. When credible journalists asked you about pertinent questions: how are you going to solve the Gukurahundi issue: an educated, astute doctorate graduate would have given a better answer than to remind the people of Matabeleland that they must be silent about Gukurahundi. “The Nguni impis of 1835 butchered the peoples of Mashonaland” you said. You were so impatient about questions on Matabeleland giving all the impression you need to concentrate on problems you think are “important” to you, but not Matabeleland and its myriad convoluted problems ever since the independence of Zimbabwe.
Even in THE Haig, the International Court of Justice: They have timelines, at what time do they consider cases to be handled and treated as legitimate to prosecute or execute justice. To come with 1835 Nguni – Mashona wars as justification for Gukurahundi atrocities was unfortunate. For this reason you do not qualify to hold a public office of a president, you are openly biased against minorities in this country.
You should remember that you have lost it twice to engage in Zimbabwe political discourse. Your cowardice stands out in your political engagements. Firstly, you left the government of Mugabe without a formal goodbye and you resigned in South Africa, somewhere you thought was safe for you. I still wonder if you feel the public grudging over this: Zimbabwe electorate at large have never forgiven this act of cowardice on your part. Secondly when you came back again as presidential candidate, many people did not take you seriously. Your poor campaign strategy was evident for all to see. Going to homes and marketplaces to meet the people without public rallies did not pitch you as a serious presidential candidate. You were so afraid to stand in front of the big audience and speak to them: well this is what many people think: or perhaps you were worried about the turnout that was going to embarrass you openly.
If there is anything that destroyed you during the election campaign was telling the people in an interview that Emmerson Mnangagwa is a smart person, will do things differently. In that interview you sold your soul: How do you tell the electorate that Mnangagwa is smart: the second question is, why are you not joining Zanu PF then if Mnangagwa is smart? To me, that was disingenuous: you did not mean what you said but all the same it was a question of time the people were going to show you the middle finger: they did.
Do not ever think that you can win elections in Zimbabwe in 2023. The adage says it is the small things that make a big difference. Highlighting your shortcomings may sound small and trivial but this is politics, third world politics. You were asking the Zimbabwean electorate to vote for you and not the electorate in Guildford Surrey. I would think that even in Guildford Surrey they would never vote for you Nkosana because you have low opinion of women. In your first interview you gave, there was not a single woman in your panel. The feedback you got from the interview were a pile of complaints regarding the absence of women: not even your wife was present or your daughter. Your response to that: you quickly unveiled to us your gender balance of 50/50 cabinet in your manifesto: but the damage was already done. To some of us feminists we concluded that you have issues with us in a big way. Your match of a woman, it appears, is only Christine Lagarde, the World Bank boss, below that?
I want to repeat this tribal fact once more Nkosana Moyo, please abandon cheap politics of tribal affiliations. Your uncle Joshua Nkomo spoke passionately about tribal politics that pose serious threats to development of this great country. We sincerely thought that you were educated and smart enough to look above tribal confines in all your political endeavours. However, not much is lost if you get advice albeit coming from a woman, a despised gender, it appears. We really need your finance and mathematical expertise in the future Zimbabwe dispensation. Your manifesto was mind-blowing: exceptionally good. You know what you can do to rebuild this broken down, run down economy like ours.
Stop dreaming about winning elections in 2023, but instead be prepared to take over as an administrator of a transitional government that will be composed of technocrats only: timeline of three years. Your academic astuteness is wanted in an NTA. Reading the interview of yesterday: your APA spokesperson shot the idea of an NTA down. However, I personally see your chance in an NTA and never in an election.
In Matabeleland we have parties including Mthwakazi parties, many of them mushrooming at the speed of light. The last thing you can do Nkosana is to give them fuel to justify their wish to secede from mainland Zimbabwe. You cannot ignore them, must be accommodated, must engage with them it did not matter how radical they appear to be: they are justifiably radical. Their cessation demands, fiscal reparation demands are unacceptable to many of us who wish for a united Zimbabwe. Talking carelessly about Gukurahundi ignites them to utter the abominable. Nation building means our ability to dialogue with them and see if we can find common ground.
