Thread by @Wamagaisa

The adviser’s burden *Long thread (mini-BSR!)

1. I always liken the job of an adviser to that of the proverbial “water-carrier” in football. You work hard and win the ball in order to pass it on to the players in front. They score & they get the individual glory & accolades.

2. The adviser is not a friend of the principal. They might be mates outside but at work they are not. It isn’t their job to stroke the principal’s ego or to make supporters happy. In fact, the adviser must always be alert to the red flags & point them out without fear or favour.

3. The moment they try to please the principal or supporters, they become part of the problem. When you advise you have to tell the principal & supporters things they don’t want to hear. Because if you don’t warn them of their worst nightmare, you’ll all walk blindly into it.

4. When that happens, they will blame you. They will say, where were the advisers? Did they not see it coming? And yet, when advisers warn what’s coming, they might not be taken seriously & in some cases they might be accused of missing it. The adviser must plough on regardless.

5. Let me share one of THE moments of 2013 elections. One day, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called his top team to a key meeting at his office. There was a debate over proposals to amend the Electoral Act & this was a key issue before Cabinet.

6. The procedure is that Bills are approved at Cabinet before proceeding to Parliament but this was even more crucial during the GNU because consensus was crucial. ZANU PF was keen to have an early election well before the new Constitution had impacted the playing field.

7. The new Constitution had a mandatory requirement that the Electoral Act must be amended before the elections. I figured that this was a key tool to prevent the nation from being railroaded into a premature election. All the MDC had to do was to stall the mandatory amendment.

8. Without the amendment, any election that would be called would be unconstitutional. So when we went into the meeting I said, “leaders, when you go to Cabinet, please do not consent to this Bill. Hold back for a while. We need the Constitution to take root”

9. Why, my leaders asked. I said, “If you sign off this Bill at Cabinet, expect Pres Mugabe to publish the electoral amendments using the Presidential Powers (Temporary) Measures Act. They won’t go to Parliament. That will open the gate for him to declare the election.”

10. “Once that happens, there’s no stopping the train. The Bill is our one point of leverage because they need us to agree to it.” The leaders thought this was fanciful. They trusted Mugabe to live up to his word & that the Bill would go through Parliament. So they went & agreed.

11. Meanwhile, I felt very strongly that we were giving away our point of leverage. As the bosses went to Cabinet, I trudged back to the office, sat at the desk and began to write furiously a paper that explained why it would be illegal to use the Presidential Powers Act.

12. The paper was in anticipation of what I was sure would happen and I wanted to pre-empt it by demonstrating its illegality. shared it with trusted members of my team & circulated it to several key points of interest & influence concerned with the Zimbabwean affair.

13. I wanted them to know what was happening and why it was wrong and illegal. I was disappointed that the bosses had not accepted the prognosis that I had given and the suggestion about how to counter the ZANU PF strategy. Writing & anticipating it was the only thing I could do.

14. Next day, the PM called us to his office. We hurried there because it was very urgent. We found the man pacing in his office. He was not happy at all. What happened? Those of us who had arrived asked. “Tarisai zviri paTable apo,” he shouted, adding “Mdhara uyu so!”

15. He was shaking his head in frustration. We cast our eyes at the table. There on the table, were two documents & a letter addressed to the PM. It was from Mugabe. One was a statutory instrument announcing amendments to the Electoral Act under the Presidential Powers Act.

16. The other was a proclamation of the election and nomination court dates! My heart sank and everyone stood there open-mouthed. Mugabe had done precisely what I had predicted & tried to prevent the previous day. All he wanted was for the MDC parties to consent to the amendment!

17. In fact, I think the statutory instruments had already been prepared. Mugabe was just waiting for the consent & the printing machines went into motion once Cabinet approved. I could have said “I told you so” to the leaders but there was no need. Everyone in the room knew.

18. How had I guessed, someone had the courage to ask. “I subscribe to Sun Tzu’s philosophy” I said. “He says you must know your enemy. I have studied these people. When I want to anticipate what they will do, I put myself in their shoes and I think like them”.

19. “So I placed myself in Chinamasa’s shoes and I thought, what would I do if I want to force an early election but with the co-operation of the opposition? I would get them to consent to the mandatory amendments and thereby tick the constitutional box,” I explained.

20. “I would deceive the opposition partners into thinking we would go to Parliament with the Bill while in fact we would simply use the Presidential Power Act. So I said that’s what Chinamasa & Mugabe would do & that’s why I advised against agreeing to the amendments at Cabinet”

21. Unfortunately, that piece of advice which was designed to counter the ZANU PF strategy had no takers in the camp. It only made sense to most colleagues after the event. But by then, the horses had already bolted. However, my paper had already circulated where it mattered.

22. The paper was Plan B, that even though I had lost the battle, we could still salvage something from the ashes. It would prove useful in explaining to regional leaders the illegality of what was happening and a few months later getting us the historic Maputo Summit.

23. It was not meant to be such a long thread but I got carried away! The point really is that those who have advisory functions are not cheerleaders. They raise uncomfortable issues. It is not their job to please. It is up to the principals to take or reject that advice.