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Nduduzo Tshuma, Political Editor

THREATS by shadowy group and MDC-T surrogate Tajamuka/Sesijikile to “shut” down the country should be dismissed as an attention seeking stunt by a bunch of political novelties oblivious of the inevitable death of their parent party.

Unrestricted by their illusion of the so called “shut down” by Pastor Evan Mawarire last year who tried to hijack a strike by civil servants to create the false impression that he had inspired a “national shut down”, Tajamuka has threatened a five- day shut down from June 20 to 25.

This, the shadowy group claims, is to force the Government to attend to what they call a crisis that the country is facing.

“We are declaring 20 to 25 June 2017 as the days for a total shutdown. We kindly warn everyone to take this seriously . . . All shops and schools must be closed. Don’t risk sending your children to school; it’s a risk you won’t like to take,” reads part of a recently released statement by the group.

“Park all your kombis and no cars should be on our roads. All our borders must be closed. Stay indoors for your safety. It’s best to be with your loved ones indoors. Stock all your basic needs. Buy your electricity tokens which will last the six days of Shutdown. Take this seriously.”

What is striking is the veiled threats of violence and disturbing of peace in the statement by Tajamuka which seem to support the message of chaos preached by MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mr Tsvangirai has said he will not accept results of next year’s election unless he is declared winner.

At a recent rally in Chiredzi, MDC-T national youth secretary-general Mr Lovemore Chinoputsa said if Mr Tsvangirai doesn’t win the 2018 polls, they will make the country ungovernable.

Tajamuka spokesperson and former member of the MDC-T national youth executive Mr Promise Mkwananzi said they would help the MDC-T in visiting the people with violence if Mr Tsvangirai lost.

What can be detected is that both MDC-T and Tajamuka have realised that in 2018 polls will not only register another loss on their part but will bury the party that has suffered successive defeats at the hands of  the ruling party Zanu-PF since its formation in 1999.

Threats of violence have therefore become an easy escape route by both MDC-T and Tajamuka in a hopeless attempt to divert themselves from the inevitable 2018 election results and the effects on both party and the political life of Mr Tsvangirai.

The shambolic state of the MDC-T structures as a result of fierce factional fights, lack of a guiding ideology and identity, could be haunting Mr Tsvangirai and his party’s surrogates so much that it is fast dawning on them that becoming the Prime Minister in the Government of National Unity was the closest Mr Tsvangirai will ever be to the corridors of power.

The attempts to form a coalition with other parties has been rough sailing from the beginning and they are far from, if ever, finding a safe harbour where they can discuss and agree on the terms of that coalition and the person to lead it to face President Mugabe in the 2018 polls.

The only way to “save face” in the minds of both Tsvangirai and Tajamuka is to engage in criminal activities so that when relevant law enforcement institutions respond, as they are mandated to do by the constitution, the MDC-T and its surrogates will allege a State clamp down on the opposition.

In this, the MDC-T, facing serious resource challenges as a result of donor fatigue since their dismal performance in the 2013 elections, hopes to attract the attention of their Western donors who will then release millions of dollars towards their campaign.

However, that trick is not new and just like it failed to work in previous years, it will again not work because the people have read into the MDC-T machinations and it is only Mr Tsvangirai and the likes of Tajamuka who suffer from the folly that a dead strategy can be revived by repeated implementation.

Zimbabweans have shown that they would not allow Mr Tsvangirai and MDC-T who invited ruinous sanctions from the West in the vain hope of turning them against President Mugabe and in the process effect regime change, to hold them to ransom.

What is significant however is that the delusional acts by the so called pressure group comes at the back of a massive interface between President Mugabe and youths in Marondera where the ruling Zanu-PF flexed its mobilisation muscle if not  sealed the 2018 polls.

The old adage of numbers not lying fits perfectly in the description of the President’s interface with the Zanu-PF youths in Marondera, numbers that the likes of Mr Tsvangirai and Tajamuka can only dream of.

The interface, reminiscent of the massive campaigns in provinces by President Mugabe ahead of the 2013 elections, all but sets the tone for another electoral victory in 2018.

The by-elections since the 2013 elections and the numbers that the ruling Zanu-PF has recorded in winning those polls also serve to confirm the party’s popularity among the people.

At the end, no amount of diversionary or criminal tactics by either Tajamuka or the MDC-T will block Mr Tsvangirai’s free fall into political oblivion. His fate and that of his party and its associates has been sealed.