The ManicaPost
Daphine Zulu Post Correspondent
“TODAY I spent the day meeting and consulting different stakeholders, mobilising for the #31July2020 movement. I met with top bishops, Ian Makone, Dr Shingi Munyeza, Elton Mangoma, Godfrey Tsenengamu. The buy-in is growing … hope is on the way,” said Mr Jacob Ngarivhume, leader of Transform Zimbabwe (TZ), who is also the brains behind the #31July rantings.
But who is Mr Ngarivhume or Transform Zimbabwe, many still wonder.
He is the leader of the little-known TZ, which once saw itself as the vehicle to democracy, having staged ‘almost’ successful protests against former President, the late Cde Robert Mugabe, in 2016.
Still engrossed in this illusion, Mr Ngarivhume wants his #31July to come down as a success story for many who jumped onto this roadmap to nowhere.
This same party leader is the very person whose policies failed to appease even two percent of the electorate to an extent of him forging an alliance with MDC Alliance in 2018. He had broken away from the MDC in 2010 as he did not subscribe to the Government of National Unity. He later broke away from the Alliance soon after the 2018 elections.
Apart from having failed to nurture his TZ into anything meaningful, Mr Ngarivhume has been embarking on numerous projects aimed at gaining relevance.
He is a founding member of the MDC UZ branch in 1999, founder of the Voice of Democracy which claimed to have been working on enhancing democracy and fighting political violence as well as human rights abuse. He was also behind the little known Prayer Network Zimbabwe in 2010.
His party also led an anti-bond notes demonstration which attracted a handful of his clansmen.
However, he has remained a nonentity.
Clearly it is a case of a blind man leading the blind. That is the best scenario to describe Mr Ngarivhume’s cause.
Mr Ngarivhume continues to amaze many people as he astonishingly hails his interaction with the ‘top bishops’ (in his own words), in reference to Messers Makone, Munyeza, Mangoma, and Tsenengamu.
While Mr Ngarivhume is at liberty to think highly of these men, resurrecting deadwood is the last thing that Zimbabwe needs right now.
Who remembers Mr Mangoma or Mr Makone? We have long forgotten their significance in Zimbabwean politics. As for the charlatan chameleon, Mr Tsenengamu, he has a tendency of resurfacing to blabber nonsense whenever he is bruised.
This #31July is nothing but a case of the blind leading the blind deeper and deeper into political abyss.
Zimbabwean politicians need to understand that Zimbabwean politics does not revolve around social media. MDC spokesperson Ms Fadzayi Mahere and Mr Evan Mawarire can attest to that. They are some of the many people who were fooled by their huge followership on Twitter, only to realise during elections that social media followers do not translate to voters.
Therefore the 31 July call is just one of the anti-Government activists’ usual empty promises of change. Clearly it is now a race for relevance.
Interestingly, Mr Ngarivhume revealed on his Twitter handle that there are people ‘trying to hijack his initiative’. Clearly he was enjoying his one minute of relevance on Twitter.
Some advice to Mr Ngarivhume and all those purporting to be rallying behind the #31July movement – Twitter handles are not people, they will not hit our streets for any demonstration as they reside online.
