Mugwiji, Sun Tzu was a brilliant military strategist, you are not - stick to fishing P Guramatunhu.

Whitlaw Mugwiji, you are one of those Zimbabweans who have brought nothing but confusion to the political discourse. The spirit is willing but the intellect is noticeably lacking. You say one thing and then say the exact opposite next.

“Sun Tzu says, “victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” We can either fail to prepare or prepare to fail because 2018 elections are won or lost by the actions we take today,” you write in Nehanda Radio.

Could not agree with Sun Tzu more; if you want to win, you must go to battle with a winning army, winning generals, winning soldiers, winning weapons, winning strategies, winning everything so that the fighting itself is but a reaffirmation of the winning army, etc. You were happy to quote and acknowledge the wisdom of Sun Tzu but you clearly failed to understand him. Will consider two examples:

1)    Must have winning generals

The last 17 years have proven beyond all reason doubt that Morgan Tsvangirai is breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent and that he and his MDC banded mongooses sold-out during the GNU. There many occasions when MDC had victory snatched out of their hands because of their blundering incompetence. You do not deny this.

“They (Zimbabweans) would rather focus on the democratic deficiencies in the MDC-T. We all know, Tsvangirai is no saint, but must we throw away the baby with the bath water?” you argued.

How foolish is that; so, you are going into battle with corrupt and incompetent leaders, with a proven record of being so, because you lack the common sense to remove them!

  

2)    Must have winning strategies

Everyone, who is any one, agrees that Zanu PF has been rigging elections and that the only way to stop the regime rigging we must implement a raft of democratic reforms. No one would deny that not even one reform was ever implemented during the GNU or since the rigged July 2013 elections.

SADC leaders have recommended that elections should be postponed until reforms are implemented. Morgan Tsvangirai and his banded mongooses disregarded the recommendations and contested the July 2013 elections and lost the elections with a landslide. Sadly, the banded mongooses are going into next year’s elections still with no reforms.

People like you Whitlaw are ignoring the importance of reforms in these elections and pretend that such things as forming a coalition, voter mobilization, etc. are a substitute to the reforms. With no reforms in place, Zanu PF will win the elections hands down; all these other things are of little or no consequence.   

There is no doubt that Zanu PF wants the elections to ahead and, with no reforms in place, the party is assured of a landslide victory. The party’s greatest worry now is that the elections must be seen as having been credible elections and not a sham. One of the worst moments in President Mugabe’s long political career was the day when the whole international community including the AU and SADC refused to recognize his electoral victory in 2008. He was then forced to go into the GNU with Morgan Tsvangirai. This is the one thing President Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies will not want to happen again next year or ever. This bring me back to your second quotation of Sun Tzu.

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake,” said Sun Tzu.

“Whilst this is true, it does not mean we must be lackadaisical in our preparations,” you commented. “We have a big battle before us next year. I am sure if everyone understood the meaning of that battle; we would set aside our petty differences and finalize the coalition.”

As noted above the coalition will have very little or no effect on the outcome of next year’s elections it primary import now is to bolster the opposition’s image as a formidable opponent in the elections and thus give the flawed the desperately needed political credibility. There is no doubt that Zanu PF and its operatives doubling up as opposition supporters are not only being careful that they do not interrupt the banded mongooses making the mistake of wasting their time, energy and resources on coalition building and other peripheral issues but they are actively encouraging them to do so!

This is not to say you, Whitlaw Tanyanyiwa Mugwiji are a Zanu PF double agent; after all there are many banded mongooses who have lost many a battle because they shoot themselves in the foot by are, unwittingly, shoot themselves in the foot by “going to war first and then seek to win”, as Sun Tzu aptly put it! You clearly have no clue what Sun Tzu is talking about, you are not helping the nation find the solution to its political and economic mess. You should just stick to fishing or whatever else you do!