I note with some interest the head scratching about the decision about the jump to embrace Makoni, Mine is an interest of a by-stander since I am not a paid up member of any of the MDC factions. I am really and truly a voice in the wilderness.

My fascination with the on-going debate has a resonance with the ZANU/ZAPU Unity accord, which in truth was a capitulation by the latter and in my humble opinion spawned the disaster that befell Zimbabwe thereafter.

I read nowhere that Mutambara extracted any promises from Makoni. In fact, Makoni appears to try to distance himself from the MDC Mutambara brand.

When I read Makoni's manifesto, it reads like a glorified "wish list". The healing process reads like papering over a ravaging sore. One needs to have visited Zimbabwe recently to hear and feel the pain and fresh desperation of those who suffered under the Gukurahundi to understand that mere platitudes disguised as national healing will not do. There is a great yearning to know "why such a scourge was visited on the innocents". The Unity accord did nothing to bring trust in the government of which Makoni was an executive member.

The future of Zimbabwe will, of necessity, have to include the likes of Makoni, the reformed? former errant rulers. But before people can rush to bestow praise and accolades  on them, they will have to do more than just make promises of a better future.

You must remember the French revolution slogan: Things must change so they can remain the same! During the first war of liberation from white dominance someone whispered something that will remain with me for a long time. Our greatest fear, my colleague said, must be of liberal whites. Their interests at the time was not true emancipation of the black person, but creation of an illusion that they could be the guardians of the black man's interests.

I know Makoni from times of old. My hope that his tendency to spin a good yarn as a way of disguising his true intentions is something that he buried with his youth.

If I see in any of his speeches something about devolving power to the regions, with the necessary safeguards that this would be the course he would advocate in government, I will be tempted to throw in my lot with that of the MDC Mutambara!