MORGAN Tsvangirai needs to decide between a scandalous personal life and serving the nation. And if he cannot make the choice, then Zimbabweans will do it for him. Everyone knows that the present situation is indefensible, he cannot do both.

Ordinarily, a man ought to be able to enjoy some degree of privacy. But Tsvangirai’s current office, and the fact that he is seeking election to the highest office in the land, denies him that privilege. It is no small thing for a Prime Minister to behave like a horny schoolboy and to treat women with the sort of indignity that he has subjected Locadia Karimatsenga to.

If nothing else, he should lead by example. Yet for quite sometime now, he has demonstrated that he is not a leader worthy of admiration, much less emulation. His latest behavior speaks volumes not just about his moral fiber but his disposition, character and quality of leadership. Has he no shame? Has he not embarrassed his own party?

Of course some of his pseudo-liberal apologists have predicted that his unprecedented behavior may not necessarily mean his downfall. I’m not so convinced. I think the kind of damage he has caused himself is staggering. He is supposed to be a leader. He has many responsibilities, one of which is to carry himself in a manner consistent with his office. He has abdicated that responsibility not once but several times and has done so without any sense of guilt or remorse.

Nor is Locadia his only victim. He has been linked to a string of G-strings not least that of the unfortunate, vulnerable and innocent 23-year-old Loretta Nyathi who has another of his possibly several illegitimate children. Put it this way, a lot is at stake, for an otherwise necessary politician and for Zimbabwe as a whole.

Tsvangirai’s problem is easy to point out but difficult to resolve. He is a widower who lost a partner of over three decades in a horrific car smash. Yet he is also a public figure, a politician seeking election to become President of this Republic who has not done much of a job to prove that he is worthy of the title.

Far from showing his worth, he has demonstrated that he is a man of questionable character who has no ethical boundaries, no central beliefs and no sensitivities whatsoever for the female of the species. That is not to be trifled with and could very well overshadow his many fine accomplishments over the years. In that regard, he has himself to blame.

And that is precisely why there was something very bogus and hypocritical about all the fury and outrage expressed in his statement last week. Tsvangirai sought to use Zanu PF, presumably because of Locadia’s family ties to the liberation party, as grounds for terminating his relationship with her. I refuse to accept that Zanu PF had anything to do with it.

Of course he was perfectly within his rights to express an opinion and probably did the right thing to finally speak out on a matter of such great public interest about which he had kept mum for an unconscionable period.

But, you see, Tsvangirai has a history with women – a history too long to blame anyone for but himself. Besides, his relationship with Locadia had come quite a long way. Sources say their romance started at OR Tambo Airport a couple of years ago. As far back as last year, he and Locadia were seen in the company of Theresa Makone (a dishonest lady whose fingerprints are all over this affair by the way) and his daughter, Vimbai, at the HICC when Joyce Meyer visited the country.

Indeed, the two have extensively traveled the globe on holiday trips including one vacation trip to Dubai last year. The reality of the matter, therefore, is that Tsvangirai has had more than ample time to study his partner – Theresa Makone’s, or anyone’s alleged involvement for that matter notwithstanding. In all probability, he was alive to Karimatsenga’s association with the people’s party. And in all likelihood, he did not see that proximity as an impediment to their relationship – all the more reason to see his paranoia for what it’s worth: an attempt to blame a blameless party for something which Tsvangirai himself is directly and exclusively responsible.

None of the evidence seems to suggest any sort of entrapment. Everything indicates that Tsvangirai got himself entangled with Locadia freely, voluntarily and while he was well aware of the latter’s family political persuasion. And that’s the beginning and end of it.

As far as Zimbabweans are concerned, it’s a bit baffling that, whereas President Mugabe is offering hope and realising dreams through the ongoing indigenisation and empowerment drive, Tsvangirai is busy dishing out babies, shattering dreams and breaking hearts. It bodes ill and shows that his priorities are altogether misplaced. Until he sorts himself out, Zimbabweans will be disinclined to place the country entirely in his hands.