A Few weeks ago Enos Nkala said the car accident that resulted in the death of Moven Mahachi in 2001 was murdered. He was has now given some more details; Mahachi was murdered because he did not approve the illegal looting of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s wealth, particularly diamonds by top brass Army and senior Zanu PF leaders.
The looting was confirmed by a UN report which named Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and then commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, Vitalis Zvinavashe as some of the Zimbabweans who looted DRC.
The Zimbabwe National Army was in the DRC supposedly to stop that country being over run by rebels and restore the rule of law. According to Nkala Mugabe himself was one of the beneficiaries of the widespread looting. That would explain why no one was ever punished for the plunder.
Zimbabwe is in this hell-hole because there of the widespread looting and plunder of the nation’s wealth within our own boarders. Mugabe and his cronies destroyed the nation’s economy and agricultural sector throwing 95% of the people out of work and pushing the country to a point where we can not feed our own people. What did we get in return; a super rich few and the Gideon Gono “Best Chicken Farm in African” type farms. Gono’s chickens are so expensive he has to export them – ordinary Zimbabweans can not afford them.
Yes Enos Nkala is bitter because he was thrown off the gravy train; that is true. But to dismiss him as someone with nothing to say will be to make a grave mistake. Who better to tell what has been happening on the gravy train all these years than someone who has just got off!?
Nkala has promised to reveal all in his book – to be published after his death. He has done this to protect some of the people “named in his book”. It is a price Zimbabwe has to pay; he can not count on the rule of law to protect anyone and who can blame him!
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Monday, 27 July 2009
MUGABE CRONIES CONTINUE LAND GRAB: MDC FEEBLE LAND POLICY IS NOT HELPING!
Zimbabwe’s Attorney General and a known Mugabe loyalist, Johannes Tomana, has acquired Malangani Ranch in Masvingo Province. Fortune Charumbira, the president of the Council of Chiefs, acquired Dyres Ranch in Mwenezi. Chivi North Zanu-PF Member of Parliament Tranos Huruva has taken over Kaywood Ranch while Chivi Central legislator Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, also a member of Mugabe’s party, now owns Wanezi Block Ranch. The Zanu PF farm feeding frenzy continues unabated.
MDC's current position of the land issue is a compromise "one-man one-farm". So Johannes Tomana will be allowed to keep his new farm - assuming he had no other farm. And so will all the other Mugabe cronies. What nonsense!
Tomana and all the other Mugabe cronies how own all these farms are the same people who have benefited all these years from the ransacking and looting that has crippled Zimbabwe. They destroyed the country’s once thriving economy and productive agricultural sector to the point where 95% of the people are out of work and 80% of our people now rely of food aid. It is the height of lunacy that these same criminal should be allowed to keep that loot.
All looted farms must be returned to the state. The state must use the farm to resettle the landless peasants, who thanks to the corrupt Mugabe regimes are even poorer today than they were in 1980 and therefore their need for resettlement is even more urgent now than it was back then. The rest of the farms must be sold in the open market where every Zimbabwean will have an equal chance to buy.
Tsvangirai’s enfeebled stance on the land issue has spurred Mugabe and his cronies to continue with the land seizures; to them it has been business as usual!
For Zimbabwe to move and have a just and prosperous future the land issue will have to be revisited and dealt with in a robust way. And it will; believe you me, it will! Mugabe and his cronies may think they will get away with their criminal abuse of power and looting. They are wrong!
MDC's current position of the land issue is a compromise "one-man one-farm". So Johannes Tomana will be allowed to keep his new farm - assuming he had no other farm. And so will all the other Mugabe cronies. What nonsense!
Tomana and all the other Mugabe cronies how own all these farms are the same people who have benefited all these years from the ransacking and looting that has crippled Zimbabwe. They destroyed the country’s once thriving economy and productive agricultural sector to the point where 95% of the people are out of work and 80% of our people now rely of food aid. It is the height of lunacy that these same criminal should be allowed to keep that loot.
All looted farms must be returned to the state. The state must use the farm to resettle the landless peasants, who thanks to the corrupt Mugabe regimes are even poorer today than they were in 1980 and therefore their need for resettlement is even more urgent now than it was back then. The rest of the farms must be sold in the open market where every Zimbabwean will have an equal chance to buy.
Tsvangirai’s enfeebled stance on the land issue has spurred Mugabe and his cronies to continue with the land seizures; to them it has been business as usual!
For Zimbabwe to move and have a just and prosperous future the land issue will have to be revisited and dealt with in a robust way. And it will; believe you me, it will! Mugabe and his cronies may think they will get away with their criminal abuse of power and looting. They are wrong!
ZIMBABWE'S GNU IS DOOMED TO FAIL BUT WILL SURVIVE FOR YEARS ONLY BECAUSE THE PEOPLE HAVE THEIR HEADS BURIED IN THE SAND!
It took many Zimbabweans at least twenty years to realise Mugabe was leading the nation into disaster. We have all the evidence that Mugabe was no champion of justice and human rights with the first few years of our independence. We did not want to believe the evidence and closed our eyes to the realities.
It took another ten years to force us to open our eyes and by then the dictator was well entrenched in power. It has taken over ten years now to try to dislodge him but without success.
Many Zimbabweans today want to believe Tsvangirai is bringing about the democratic reforms and the economic prosperity the nation has been waiting for. The reality is that Tsvangirai will bring no such things. The West, for example, has repeatedly said they will not give Zimbabwe any financial assistance. Without the West’s financial backing there will be no meaningful economic recovery. The Western leaders are not convinced the GNU is anything other than Mugabe’s dictatorial rule by another name. They told Tsvangirai so to his face last month.
Tsvangirai stuck to his guns; insisting Zimbabwe was on an “irreversible” path to democratic change. Ironically Tsvangirai has himself complained to SADC about Mugabe’s failure to honour the GPA but when he met the Western leaders he insisted everything was fine between himself and Mugabe. It is one thing to delude oneself; the West was not going to be sucked into this delusion.
Zimbabweans desperate for change, so desperate it seem that they would once again close their eyes to reality and believe Tsvangirai is bring the change. Tsvangirai has a captive audience who would rather be deluded than hear the difficult reality. The later means they will have to deal with the difficult question of what to do to end the dictatorship. On the other hand by believing Tsvangirai’s lies and delusion means they themselves will not have to lift a finger. These people are like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand to hide from the grass fire.
Some people get really angry with those who say the GNU is not working; that burying his head in the sand will not protect the ostrich from the fire.
We should have end Mugabe’s reign of terror years ago. That was a difficult challenge; the years of burying our collective heads in the sand did not make Mugabe go away nor the task any easier.
Some people have accepted this GNU and will not want to consider whether or not it is working on the grounds that there is no other alternative. Tsvangirai and MDC have them self made the same argument. For years Mugabe presented the nation with no alternative to his rule and for nearly three decades we accepted that. This time Mugabe is using Tsvangirai to make the same claim. Nonsense there is an alternative.
We know what we want; to live in a free and prosperous society in which the rights of the individual are respected. We knew Mugabe was taking us the wrong way just as we know now that this GNU is taking us the same direction Mugabe did. Mugabe has created a political situation in which he frog-marched us down his chosen route. That is not to say were we did not know the alternative route. What we have lacked is the political will to stand up and strike out in our chosen direction. We do not have to see this GNU through another month let alone the planned two years (five years if Mugabe has his way, and he always does) to realise it is taking us nowhere. Some people never seem to learn but history is a tough task-master; those who will not learn from the past will be forced to make the same mistake and pay the price over and over again until they learn!
It took another ten years to force us to open our eyes and by then the dictator was well entrenched in power. It has taken over ten years now to try to dislodge him but without success.
Many Zimbabweans today want to believe Tsvangirai is bringing about the democratic reforms and the economic prosperity the nation has been waiting for. The reality is that Tsvangirai will bring no such things. The West, for example, has repeatedly said they will not give Zimbabwe any financial assistance. Without the West’s financial backing there will be no meaningful economic recovery. The Western leaders are not convinced the GNU is anything other than Mugabe’s dictatorial rule by another name. They told Tsvangirai so to his face last month.
Tsvangirai stuck to his guns; insisting Zimbabwe was on an “irreversible” path to democratic change. Ironically Tsvangirai has himself complained to SADC about Mugabe’s failure to honour the GPA but when he met the Western leaders he insisted everything was fine between himself and Mugabe. It is one thing to delude oneself; the West was not going to be sucked into this delusion.
Zimbabweans desperate for change, so desperate it seem that they would once again close their eyes to reality and believe Tsvangirai is bring the change. Tsvangirai has a captive audience who would rather be deluded than hear the difficult reality. The later means they will have to deal with the difficult question of what to do to end the dictatorship. On the other hand by believing Tsvangirai’s lies and delusion means they themselves will not have to lift a finger. These people are like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand to hide from the grass fire.
Some people get really angry with those who say the GNU is not working; that burying his head in the sand will not protect the ostrich from the fire.
We should have end Mugabe’s reign of terror years ago. That was a difficult challenge; the years of burying our collective heads in the sand did not make Mugabe go away nor the task any easier.
Some people have accepted this GNU and will not want to consider whether or not it is working on the grounds that there is no other alternative. Tsvangirai and MDC have them self made the same argument. For years Mugabe presented the nation with no alternative to his rule and for nearly three decades we accepted that. This time Mugabe is using Tsvangirai to make the same claim. Nonsense there is an alternative.
We know what we want; to live in a free and prosperous society in which the rights of the individual are respected. We knew Mugabe was taking us the wrong way just as we know now that this GNU is taking us the same direction Mugabe did. Mugabe has created a political situation in which he frog-marched us down his chosen route. That is not to say were we did not know the alternative route. What we have lacked is the political will to stand up and strike out in our chosen direction. We do not have to see this GNU through another month let alone the planned two years (five years if Mugabe has his way, and he always does) to realise it is taking us nowhere. Some people never seem to learn but history is a tough task-master; those who will not learn from the past will be forced to make the same mistake and pay the price over and over again until they learn!
Sunday, 26 July 2009
TSVANGIRAI IS IN OWE OF MUGABE: HE DOES NOT SEEK TO END THE DICTATORSHIP BUT TO SANITIZE IT.
A photo of Mugabe and Tsvangirai at the National Healing talk-shop, showed the two shaking hands with the latter laughing.
What was it Mugabe said to Tsvangirai that set him giggling like a school girl! Taking into consideration the subject matter before them and the despicable and contemptuous way Mugabe has always treated Tsvangirai; it is hard to see how Tsvangirai would ever find anything to laugh about in the presence of the dictator. It seems Tsvangirai has been overwhelmed by Mugabe's mere presence, so overwhelmed he would do anything to please Mugabe.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai's relationship is not one of equals but more of a master-slave relationship. In the GPA, for example, it is Mugabe has all the power to do as he pleases whilst Tsvangirai has no real power to do anything. His roll is to follow wherever Mugabe leads - even when the set course flies in the face of what Tsvangirai, MDC and common sense dictates.
If Tsvangirai could stand up to Mugabe, then he would have never ever agreed to such a one-sided arrangement as the GPA. It is wishful thinking to now expect the slavish Tsvangirai to somehow gain mastery over the wily Mugabe, contrary to the dictates of GPA, and end Mugabe's reign of terror and all the other important things. That is simply not going to happen.
Little wonder the West has outright refused to back this GNU, they see it for what it really is; a whitewashed Mugabe dictatorship in all but name. If we, Zimbabweans, are serious about getting out of this mess then we too have to bit the bullet and start searching for effective ways to end this dictatorship. The rest of world will help us but we have to take the lead! We have yet to show the world we are serious about finding a solution to our suffering and misery – this circus Mugabe is leading is saying the exact opposite.
When it comes to Mugabe; Tsvangirai is in total owe of the dictator, stuck in the “great leader” mode. Like it or not; he will never remove Mugabe from power nor end the repressive rule. Since Mugabe is set in his ways, all Tsvangirai will do is give the brute as human a face as he can.
What was it Mugabe said to Tsvangirai that set him giggling like a school girl! Taking into consideration the subject matter before them and the despicable and contemptuous way Mugabe has always treated Tsvangirai; it is hard to see how Tsvangirai would ever find anything to laugh about in the presence of the dictator. It seems Tsvangirai has been overwhelmed by Mugabe's mere presence, so overwhelmed he would do anything to please Mugabe.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai's relationship is not one of equals but more of a master-slave relationship. In the GPA, for example, it is Mugabe has all the power to do as he pleases whilst Tsvangirai has no real power to do anything. His roll is to follow wherever Mugabe leads - even when the set course flies in the face of what Tsvangirai, MDC and common sense dictates.
If Tsvangirai could stand up to Mugabe, then he would have never ever agreed to such a one-sided arrangement as the GPA. It is wishful thinking to now expect the slavish Tsvangirai to somehow gain mastery over the wily Mugabe, contrary to the dictates of GPA, and end Mugabe's reign of terror and all the other important things. That is simply not going to happen.
Little wonder the West has outright refused to back this GNU, they see it for what it really is; a whitewashed Mugabe dictatorship in all but name. If we, Zimbabweans, are serious about getting out of this mess then we too have to bit the bullet and start searching for effective ways to end this dictatorship. The rest of world will help us but we have to take the lead! We have yet to show the world we are serious about finding a solution to our suffering and misery – this circus Mugabe is leading is saying the exact opposite.
When it comes to Mugabe; Tsvangirai is in total owe of the dictator, stuck in the “great leader” mode. Like it or not; he will never remove Mugabe from power nor end the repressive rule. Since Mugabe is set in his ways, all Tsvangirai will do is give the brute as human a face as he can.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
FORGIVE ALL PAST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION AND LET MUGABE KEEP HIS THUGS: NATIONAL HEALING "TRUE ZIMBABWE WAY"!
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara have launched National Healing week on Friday 24 July. For the next three days the nation is to pray and seriously think about “forgiving” all those who violated fellow Zimbabweans’ human rights, according to the GNU’s position.
We all know what the root cause of the politically motivated violence is – it is to retain political power at all cost including the use of intimidation and violence. Politically motivated violence have been sanctioned at State level and those responsible for these acts have been placed above the law.
We have the absurd situation where the Police, the Courts and the whole legal process have again and again failed to protect the victims of lawlessness.
So if we are serious about National Healing then we must do two things:
1) Carry out the necessary reforms of the Police, Judiciary and all the other corrupted national organs and institutions so that the Police, Judges, etc. carry out their public duties without fear or favour.
2) Carry out through investigations of past violations and punish those responsible and compensate the victims or their dependents. This must be done within the legal framework of the Courts and not individuals setting out to settle old scores. This will demonstrate beyond doubt that the rule of law has been re-established and establish a precedence that those who break the law whilst in position of power will, someday, be asked to account for their past crimes.
Of course Mugabe does not want to see any institutional reforms in the Police, Army, Judiciary, etc. He would like these institution to remain partisan and loyal to him and his objective of retain political power at all cost. There have been reports that the Police Commissioner. Augustine Chihuri, sacked over 1000 Police Officers who had dared investigate Zanu PF instigated political violence!
Mugabe’s ability to cause political havoc just as he did last year and in the past is as strong as ever. The National Healing Mugabe is after is that the nation should simply forget what he and his thugs did in the past and that we should close our eyes to the ever present threat of him doing exactly the same tomorrow.
“Greater unity is the basis of your strength,” Mugabe said, “the basis of your power of self- preservation; the basis on which we can resist external interference in order to protect ourselves from those external institutions and interests which always look for opportunities to divide and tear us apart as a people.”
It is what Mugabe wants in this GNU that counts, not that Tsvangirai and Mutambara had any strong position beyond the usual lip-services calls for justice for the former.
“There can be no truth without justice and no justice without truth” said Tsvangirai. “National healing cannot occur without justice and justice must be done, as well as be seen to be done.”
Mutambara said his empty rhetoric. “Never again in this country should Zimbabweans brutalise and slaughter each other because of political differences,” he said. “We must establish within Zimbabwe a ‘never again’ framework. We seek no revenge, we seek no retribution in our country.” How are you proposing creating this “never again” framework, stupid? Not by letting the dictator doing as he pleases.
The official position of the Ministry of National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration is to focus on forgiveness that, the nation is told is “true Zimbabwean way”!
In short nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to be done to end Zanu PF’s culture political motivated violence. Of course in the coming months the GNU will raise a big dust storm about National Healing, etc. and Mugabe will deliver more long speeches about political unity and the threat from outside Zimbabwe’s boarders. Sadly, that is true Mugabe way of doing things!
We all know what the root cause of the politically motivated violence is – it is to retain political power at all cost including the use of intimidation and violence. Politically motivated violence have been sanctioned at State level and those responsible for these acts have been placed above the law.
We have the absurd situation where the Police, the Courts and the whole legal process have again and again failed to protect the victims of lawlessness.
So if we are serious about National Healing then we must do two things:
1) Carry out the necessary reforms of the Police, Judiciary and all the other corrupted national organs and institutions so that the Police, Judges, etc. carry out their public duties without fear or favour.
2) Carry out through investigations of past violations and punish those responsible and compensate the victims or their dependents. This must be done within the legal framework of the Courts and not individuals setting out to settle old scores. This will demonstrate beyond doubt that the rule of law has been re-established and establish a precedence that those who break the law whilst in position of power will, someday, be asked to account for their past crimes.
Of course Mugabe does not want to see any institutional reforms in the Police, Army, Judiciary, etc. He would like these institution to remain partisan and loyal to him and his objective of retain political power at all cost. There have been reports that the Police Commissioner. Augustine Chihuri, sacked over 1000 Police Officers who had dared investigate Zanu PF instigated political violence!
Mugabe’s ability to cause political havoc just as he did last year and in the past is as strong as ever. The National Healing Mugabe is after is that the nation should simply forget what he and his thugs did in the past and that we should close our eyes to the ever present threat of him doing exactly the same tomorrow.
“Greater unity is the basis of your strength,” Mugabe said, “the basis of your power of self- preservation; the basis on which we can resist external interference in order to protect ourselves from those external institutions and interests which always look for opportunities to divide and tear us apart as a people.”
It is what Mugabe wants in this GNU that counts, not that Tsvangirai and Mutambara had any strong position beyond the usual lip-services calls for justice for the former.
“There can be no truth without justice and no justice without truth” said Tsvangirai. “National healing cannot occur without justice and justice must be done, as well as be seen to be done.”
Mutambara said his empty rhetoric. “Never again in this country should Zimbabweans brutalise and slaughter each other because of political differences,” he said. “We must establish within Zimbabwe a ‘never again’ framework. We seek no revenge, we seek no retribution in our country.” How are you proposing creating this “never again” framework, stupid? Not by letting the dictator doing as he pleases.
The official position of the Ministry of National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration is to focus on forgiveness that, the nation is told is “true Zimbabwean way”!
In short nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to be done to end Zanu PF’s culture political motivated violence. Of course in the coming months the GNU will raise a big dust storm about National Healing, etc. and Mugabe will deliver more long speeches about political unity and the threat from outside Zimbabwe’s boarders. Sadly, that is true Mugabe way of doing things!
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
TSVANGIRAI IS A SIMPLE MAN SCARED STIFF OF MUGABE AND WHOSE POLICY OF APPEASEMENT IS THE GREATEST HINDERANCE TO MEANINGFUL CHANGE!
The big question of our time is: Why is Tsvangirai so resolutely committed to this Government of National Unity (GNU), viewing it as the “only game in town” and “irreversible”; in the face of overwhelming evidence that the coalition is not working? To really understand why Tsvangirai is doing this, one has to climb into Tsvangirai skin and walk around in it.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” wrote Harper Lee in TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD.
There are those, and they are many, who said union between Tsvangirai and Mugabe was a marriage made in Hell. Others were more patient and wanted to give the union a chance, they labelled it a marriage of convenience. Tsvangirai himself said the arrangement was “not perfect but workable”. It was left to “Time” to settle the matter.
After four months of the GNU the decision is unanimous, the marriage was NOT working. It is such a one sided affair in which Mugabe has all the power and has continued to ride rough shod over Tsvangirai, MDC and the ordinary people and so, yes it is a marriage made in Hell.
Even before the GNU was sworn in Mugabe was making unilateral decisions such as the appointment Gideon Gono governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and Johannes Tomana, the Attorney General, for example. The appointments were contrary to the word and spirit of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). For five months Tsvangirai has fought to have these appointments reserved but failed. He even tried to force SADC’s hand on the matter and the regional body has played deaf, dumb, blind and stupid!
When Tsvangirai left Zimbabwe last month on his begging tour of Europe and USA the jury had given their thumbs down on the GNU and yet Tsvangirai told his hosts the exact opposite; the GNU was working. He was like one of those cheap magicians whose trick has been discovered and yet still goes through the motions. He made a complete fool of himself. The West sent him back empty handed.
Tsvangirai gave an interview with Atika Shubert in CNN AFRICAN VOICES. The interview gave some insight into who he is and what him tick. (The interview is available on http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/africanvoices/)
“Without economic prosperity and economic recovery, democracy is useless,” Tsvangirai said. Well that would explains why Tsvangirai has failed to take an uncompromising stand against human rights abuses and the continued lawlessness by Mugabe and his henchmen.
In fact, this is nothing new African leaders see good governance as a threat to their hold on power and therefore consider political rights as secondary to economic rights. Mugabe has a similar approach. The truth is political rights cost nothing or very little to deliver and secondly if the leaders fail to deliver the economic prosperity, without the political rights, the populous has no recourse; they can not replace the leaders.
No doubt Tsvangirai will not be too hot on a having a free press and restoring all the basic democratic rights of the people. Ever since the formation of MDC the party and Tsvangirai is person has made some monumental mistakes and the criticism has left him smarting. He is certainly not of the brightest stars in the Zimbabwean sky and he does not like to be reminded of that. So he has cause to focus on the economy and down play political rights.
However there is another reason why Tsvangirai is down playing the continued human rights violations in Zimbabwe; because he is totally powerless to do anything to stop them even if he wanted to.
Last year the nation was subjected to some of the worst politically motivated violence in the last decade; over half a million people were beaten, raped and/or had their property taken away or destroyed. Over 200 people were murdered. Although the wanton violence reduced considerably after 27 June 2008 when Mugabe was declared the winner of the sham presidential run-off; still, it never really stopped. The violence has continued to flare up and the threat of it building up again is there, always.
Mugabe orchestrated last year’s violence using Zanu PF thugs in the form of youth militia and War Veterans. The Police, Army and other State Security agents, who should have contained these political thugs, at best turned a blind eye and often they actually spearheading the violence.
The solution to ending the violence and ensure it will never flare up again is obvious; arrest all those responsible for it including those in the State Security organs and have been all punished. But that is easier said than done!
Tsvangirai did make a stub at reining those responsible for politically motivated violence by making sure that at least one on the State Security organs, the Police, fell under MDC control through the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mugabe insisted the Ministry would be shared by MDC and Zanu PF. Mugabe had his coup de grace when Tsvangirai appointed the most useless individual, Giles Mutsekwa, to be the MDC co- Home Affairs Minister working with a wily Zanu PF co-Minister.
So Mugabe enjoys the same potent power to turn the country into a lawless and violent one as he did before the GNU. His political thugs remain a law onto themselves and the State Security organs will do nothing to end the violence and indeed will openly back the thugs if necessary.
On Monday 13 July 2009 Zanu PF activists completely disrupted a high profile Constitution Conference in Harare. The Police arrested no one and the Zanu PF controlled public media has had a field day blaming the MDC and civic societies for the disruptions. It was a clear reminder of Mugabe’s considerable political muscle and what happens when he flexes it.
The one thing that has completely dominated Tsvangirai’s dealing with Mugabe is his fear the violence the later can unleash. “Mugabe is part of the (Zimbabwe political) solution,” Tsvangirai admitted. “Do you want peace and stability or do you want chaos!” Hence Tsvangirai has sought to appease Mugabe and allowed him all his dictatorial powers.
The fundamental weakness with Tsvangirai’s appeasement policy is that the status quo is what landed the nation into the current political and economic mess and it is nonsense to think that it will, somehow, get us out. Secondly, Tsvangirai’s fear of Mugabe and his one-track minded mentality has stopped him considering other alternatives and seizing the many political opportunities that presented themselves.
Mugabe’s struggle hold on the country’s heavily politicised security organs is not as solid and firm as Tsvangirai fears. Whilst the top ranking members in the Police, Army, etc. are considered part of the country’s ruling elite are therefore have greatly benefited from the rampant looting of the nation’s wealth; those lower down have suffered the consequences of the economic melt down with the rest of us.
Now with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe cleaned out and the West refusing to give Zimbabwe any aid, even the ruling elite will soon feel the effects of the economic melt down this time. There some in the Army and Police who have recently renewed their unflinching support of the dictatorship; these are the simpletons who have yet to realise that the status quo is not sustainable. They think the good times will be back, let them dream on!
As the economic hardship begins to bit the blind loyalty to the dictatorship will vanish like mist in the morning sun. Tsvangirai and MDC have failed to capitalise on this and as long as he remains in the GNU, he can not!
Tsvangirai and MDC’s greatest opportunity to change Zimbabwe was soon after the sham June election. Mugabe had been widely rejected as the legitimately elected president of Zimbabwe, even by some of his fellow African leaders would do endorse such a blatantly fraudulent election. Mugabe was on the hook and by signing the GPA Tsvangirai got Mugabe off the hook.
Tsvangirai has cast himself as a man of peace, taking great pride in achieving democratic change in Zimbabwe without resorting to violence. He has sometimes compared himself to the late Dr Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. He is nothing like them. Whilst King and Gandhi went to great lengths to expose the justices of the day, Tsvangirai has sort to cover it up to appease the powers that be.
So who is Tsvangirai? He is a simple man of fuzzy ideas. He is scared stiff of the brutal dictator Robert Mugabe whom he is trying to appease under the misguided policy none-violence. Tsvangirai’s political blundering has wasted the many chances Zimbabweans had to end Mugabe’s tyrannical rule, has extended the rule under the guise of GNU and beyond that.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” wrote Harper Lee in TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD.
There are those, and they are many, who said union between Tsvangirai and Mugabe was a marriage made in Hell. Others were more patient and wanted to give the union a chance, they labelled it a marriage of convenience. Tsvangirai himself said the arrangement was “not perfect but workable”. It was left to “Time” to settle the matter.
After four months of the GNU the decision is unanimous, the marriage was NOT working. It is such a one sided affair in which Mugabe has all the power and has continued to ride rough shod over Tsvangirai, MDC and the ordinary people and so, yes it is a marriage made in Hell.
Even before the GNU was sworn in Mugabe was making unilateral decisions such as the appointment Gideon Gono governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and Johannes Tomana, the Attorney General, for example. The appointments were contrary to the word and spirit of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). For five months Tsvangirai has fought to have these appointments reserved but failed. He even tried to force SADC’s hand on the matter and the regional body has played deaf, dumb, blind and stupid!
When Tsvangirai left Zimbabwe last month on his begging tour of Europe and USA the jury had given their thumbs down on the GNU and yet Tsvangirai told his hosts the exact opposite; the GNU was working. He was like one of those cheap magicians whose trick has been discovered and yet still goes through the motions. He made a complete fool of himself. The West sent him back empty handed.
Tsvangirai gave an interview with Atika Shubert in CNN AFRICAN VOICES. The interview gave some insight into who he is and what him tick. (The interview is available on http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/africanvoices/)
“Without economic prosperity and economic recovery, democracy is useless,” Tsvangirai said. Well that would explains why Tsvangirai has failed to take an uncompromising stand against human rights abuses and the continued lawlessness by Mugabe and his henchmen.
In fact, this is nothing new African leaders see good governance as a threat to their hold on power and therefore consider political rights as secondary to economic rights. Mugabe has a similar approach. The truth is political rights cost nothing or very little to deliver and secondly if the leaders fail to deliver the economic prosperity, without the political rights, the populous has no recourse; they can not replace the leaders.
No doubt Tsvangirai will not be too hot on a having a free press and restoring all the basic democratic rights of the people. Ever since the formation of MDC the party and Tsvangirai is person has made some monumental mistakes and the criticism has left him smarting. He is certainly not of the brightest stars in the Zimbabwean sky and he does not like to be reminded of that. So he has cause to focus on the economy and down play political rights.
However there is another reason why Tsvangirai is down playing the continued human rights violations in Zimbabwe; because he is totally powerless to do anything to stop them even if he wanted to.
Last year the nation was subjected to some of the worst politically motivated violence in the last decade; over half a million people were beaten, raped and/or had their property taken away or destroyed. Over 200 people were murdered. Although the wanton violence reduced considerably after 27 June 2008 when Mugabe was declared the winner of the sham presidential run-off; still, it never really stopped. The violence has continued to flare up and the threat of it building up again is there, always.
Mugabe orchestrated last year’s violence using Zanu PF thugs in the form of youth militia and War Veterans. The Police, Army and other State Security agents, who should have contained these political thugs, at best turned a blind eye and often they actually spearheading the violence.
The solution to ending the violence and ensure it will never flare up again is obvious; arrest all those responsible for it including those in the State Security organs and have been all punished. But that is easier said than done!
Tsvangirai did make a stub at reining those responsible for politically motivated violence by making sure that at least one on the State Security organs, the Police, fell under MDC control through the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mugabe insisted the Ministry would be shared by MDC and Zanu PF. Mugabe had his coup de grace when Tsvangirai appointed the most useless individual, Giles Mutsekwa, to be the MDC co- Home Affairs Minister working with a wily Zanu PF co-Minister.
So Mugabe enjoys the same potent power to turn the country into a lawless and violent one as he did before the GNU. His political thugs remain a law onto themselves and the State Security organs will do nothing to end the violence and indeed will openly back the thugs if necessary.
On Monday 13 July 2009 Zanu PF activists completely disrupted a high profile Constitution Conference in Harare. The Police arrested no one and the Zanu PF controlled public media has had a field day blaming the MDC and civic societies for the disruptions. It was a clear reminder of Mugabe’s considerable political muscle and what happens when he flexes it.
The one thing that has completely dominated Tsvangirai’s dealing with Mugabe is his fear the violence the later can unleash. “Mugabe is part of the (Zimbabwe political) solution,” Tsvangirai admitted. “Do you want peace and stability or do you want chaos!” Hence Tsvangirai has sought to appease Mugabe and allowed him all his dictatorial powers.
The fundamental weakness with Tsvangirai’s appeasement policy is that the status quo is what landed the nation into the current political and economic mess and it is nonsense to think that it will, somehow, get us out. Secondly, Tsvangirai’s fear of Mugabe and his one-track minded mentality has stopped him considering other alternatives and seizing the many political opportunities that presented themselves.
Mugabe’s struggle hold on the country’s heavily politicised security organs is not as solid and firm as Tsvangirai fears. Whilst the top ranking members in the Police, Army, etc. are considered part of the country’s ruling elite are therefore have greatly benefited from the rampant looting of the nation’s wealth; those lower down have suffered the consequences of the economic melt down with the rest of us.
Now with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe cleaned out and the West refusing to give Zimbabwe any aid, even the ruling elite will soon feel the effects of the economic melt down this time. There some in the Army and Police who have recently renewed their unflinching support of the dictatorship; these are the simpletons who have yet to realise that the status quo is not sustainable. They think the good times will be back, let them dream on!
As the economic hardship begins to bit the blind loyalty to the dictatorship will vanish like mist in the morning sun. Tsvangirai and MDC have failed to capitalise on this and as long as he remains in the GNU, he can not!
Tsvangirai and MDC’s greatest opportunity to change Zimbabwe was soon after the sham June election. Mugabe had been widely rejected as the legitimately elected president of Zimbabwe, even by some of his fellow African leaders would do endorse such a blatantly fraudulent election. Mugabe was on the hook and by signing the GPA Tsvangirai got Mugabe off the hook.
Tsvangirai has cast himself as a man of peace, taking great pride in achieving democratic change in Zimbabwe without resorting to violence. He has sometimes compared himself to the late Dr Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. He is nothing like them. Whilst King and Gandhi went to great lengths to expose the justices of the day, Tsvangirai has sort to cover it up to appease the powers that be.
So who is Tsvangirai? He is a simple man of fuzzy ideas. He is scared stiff of the brutal dictator Robert Mugabe whom he is trying to appease under the misguided policy none-violence. Tsvangirai’s political blundering has wasted the many chances Zimbabweans had to end Mugabe’s tyrannical rule, has extended the rule under the guise of GNU and beyond that.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
ZANU PF AND MDC ARE LIKE GLASSES OF MILK TOPED WITH SEWAGE: THE SCAM HAS RISEN TO THE TOP!
Tanonoka Joseph Whande in his SW Radio Africa programme, THE HEART OF THE MATTER on Thursday 9 July 2009 claimed that there are quality leaders in Zanu PF and MDC. He was responding to my claim that there were no quality leaders in either party.
I challenge you, Joseph, to name one, just one, quality leader – dead or alive!
Each generation has its challenges and the true measure a quality leader is how he or she define and solve these challenges with the clarity of vision, with courage and commitment that surpasses that of the ordinary man and woman. For a nation lost in the wilderness of corruption and serious human rights violations; a quality leader with a moral compass that will remain true and not wobble in the face of temptations.
The challenge before independence was how to end white colonial exploitation and repression of the blacks. Mugabe and his fellow nationalists did very well to mobilise the nation to achieve this goal. But independence in 1980, brought its own different challenges; how best to deliver the promises of freedom, liberty and economic prosperity to all the people. It was here that Mugabe and Zanu PF fell flat on their faces.
In thirty years Mugabe has turned a once promising country into economic ruins. Even the most basic services such as education and health have completely collapsed and 80% of the population is dependent on food aid, for a nation that used to grow enough to meet its needs with enough let over for export. On the political front, Mugabe has been ruthlessly repressive, he has murdered thousands of people for his selfish political gains.
Mugabe’s dictatorship would have collapsed long time ago if it was not for the clever individuals like Professor Jonathan Moyo, Dr Simba Makoni, Dr Gideon Gono, the late Bernard Chidzero and Edson Zvobgo, who help him create and run the dictatorship; the countless journalists who brainwashed the nation and the judges who have used the law to undermine the rule of law. Mugabe used those who have/had very little grey stuff between their ears to do the dirty work of terrorising and killing his opponents; people like Air Marshall Perence Shiri, Police Commissioner Chihuru, Dr David Parerenyatwa, the late Boarder Gezi and many others.
Mugabe did not “subdued and pushed to the back of the room” anyone in his ruling party, Zanu PF; as you said. All these people have all remained active members of the party even in the face of mounting evidence of corruption and brutality by the regime because the system paid them well. Zimbabweans have rightly rejected the nonsense from people like Dr Simba Makoni that there was nothing he could have done to end the Gukurahundi massacres for example. Of course he could have voiced his concerns and ultimately resign in protest. A quality leader should lead in doing what is right and difficult and not have to wait in the back of the room for ease tasks.
If there is one thing Mugabe has done without ever faltering it is paying those who have helped build and run the dictatorship. He has paid them well and no expense spared. Last year when Cholera was spreading like forest fire because the people were forced to drink dirty water, the country had no money to buy the chemicals to treat water, and yet Mugabe was buying new Mercedes Benz, Plasm TVs, etc for the country’s Judges! Zimbabwe’s economic melt down is unique in that it created mass poverty and a filthy rich ruling elite; Mugabe allowed them to loot everything!
MDC joined Mugabe to form the GNU but, more significantly, they joined him in the looting. Mugabe dangled the keys of the ministerial Benz in the face of Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti and the others MDC leaders and they all starting speaking in foreign tongues! Tendai Biti called Mugabe a “Victorian gentleman” who should be “knighted”! A knighthood for the man who only last year conducted one of the most outrageous election campaigns in human history and has fresh blood of over 200 Zimbabwean on his hands!?
A repressive political system will encourage scam to rise to the top be it in the ruling party or opposition parties; as contrast to a democratic one which will the best, the cream, to rise to the top. The Zimbabwe Times, SW Radio Africa and a few other independent media have done a great job in fostering freedom of expression, a key requirement in a functioning democracy. If this was extended to include Zimbabwe’s public print and electronic media, then there will be real hope of a democratic Zimbabwe.
In a free and fair election, a well informed electorate will never elect any of the scam ruling Zimbabwe today!
Zanu PF and MDC like are glasses of milk toped up with sewage and in both parties the scam has risen to the top. The exact proportion of milk to sewage in each party is of no consequence; one drop of sewage in a glass full of milk equals a glass full of sewage, period. So whatever cream you will find in Zanu PF and MDC, Joseph, it will be highly contaminated and not fit for purpose!
Zimbabwe has the potential to become a great nation but that will never be until we the people seek quality leaders and never settle for nothing less. “Kwete kungoti makudo namazvere!” as one would say in Shona.
I challenge you, Joseph, to name one, just one, quality leader – dead or alive!
Each generation has its challenges and the true measure a quality leader is how he or she define and solve these challenges with the clarity of vision, with courage and commitment that surpasses that of the ordinary man and woman. For a nation lost in the wilderness of corruption and serious human rights violations; a quality leader with a moral compass that will remain true and not wobble in the face of temptations.
The challenge before independence was how to end white colonial exploitation and repression of the blacks. Mugabe and his fellow nationalists did very well to mobilise the nation to achieve this goal. But independence in 1980, brought its own different challenges; how best to deliver the promises of freedom, liberty and economic prosperity to all the people. It was here that Mugabe and Zanu PF fell flat on their faces.
In thirty years Mugabe has turned a once promising country into economic ruins. Even the most basic services such as education and health have completely collapsed and 80% of the population is dependent on food aid, for a nation that used to grow enough to meet its needs with enough let over for export. On the political front, Mugabe has been ruthlessly repressive, he has murdered thousands of people for his selfish political gains.
Mugabe’s dictatorship would have collapsed long time ago if it was not for the clever individuals like Professor Jonathan Moyo, Dr Simba Makoni, Dr Gideon Gono, the late Bernard Chidzero and Edson Zvobgo, who help him create and run the dictatorship; the countless journalists who brainwashed the nation and the judges who have used the law to undermine the rule of law. Mugabe used those who have/had very little grey stuff between their ears to do the dirty work of terrorising and killing his opponents; people like Air Marshall Perence Shiri, Police Commissioner Chihuru, Dr David Parerenyatwa, the late Boarder Gezi and many others.
Mugabe did not “subdued and pushed to the back of the room” anyone in his ruling party, Zanu PF; as you said. All these people have all remained active members of the party even in the face of mounting evidence of corruption and brutality by the regime because the system paid them well. Zimbabweans have rightly rejected the nonsense from people like Dr Simba Makoni that there was nothing he could have done to end the Gukurahundi massacres for example. Of course he could have voiced his concerns and ultimately resign in protest. A quality leader should lead in doing what is right and difficult and not have to wait in the back of the room for ease tasks.
If there is one thing Mugabe has done without ever faltering it is paying those who have helped build and run the dictatorship. He has paid them well and no expense spared. Last year when Cholera was spreading like forest fire because the people were forced to drink dirty water, the country had no money to buy the chemicals to treat water, and yet Mugabe was buying new Mercedes Benz, Plasm TVs, etc for the country’s Judges! Zimbabwe’s economic melt down is unique in that it created mass poverty and a filthy rich ruling elite; Mugabe allowed them to loot everything!
MDC joined Mugabe to form the GNU but, more significantly, they joined him in the looting. Mugabe dangled the keys of the ministerial Benz in the face of Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti and the others MDC leaders and they all starting speaking in foreign tongues! Tendai Biti called Mugabe a “Victorian gentleman” who should be “knighted”! A knighthood for the man who only last year conducted one of the most outrageous election campaigns in human history and has fresh blood of over 200 Zimbabwean on his hands!?
A repressive political system will encourage scam to rise to the top be it in the ruling party or opposition parties; as contrast to a democratic one which will the best, the cream, to rise to the top. The Zimbabwe Times, SW Radio Africa and a few other independent media have done a great job in fostering freedom of expression, a key requirement in a functioning democracy. If this was extended to include Zimbabwe’s public print and electronic media, then there will be real hope of a democratic Zimbabwe.
In a free and fair election, a well informed electorate will never elect any of the scam ruling Zimbabwe today!
Zanu PF and MDC like are glasses of milk toped up with sewage and in both parties the scam has risen to the top. The exact proportion of milk to sewage in each party is of no consequence; one drop of sewage in a glass full of milk equals a glass full of sewage, period. So whatever cream you will find in Zanu PF and MDC, Joseph, it will be highly contaminated and not fit for purpose!
Zimbabwe has the potential to become a great nation but that will never be until we the people seek quality leaders and never settle for nothing less. “Kwete kungoti makudo namazvere!” as one would say in Shona.
Sunday, 5 July 2009
WEST SENDS TSVANGIRAI EMPTY HANDED BUT WITH A CLEAR POLITICAL MESSAGE: CHANGE!
Three weeks ago, Tsvangirai left Zimbabwe for a tour of Europe and USA confident that the West was impressed by what the Government of National Unity and he personally have done to move Zimbabwe from a dictatorship to democratic rule. He was expecting the West “to reward the significant progress” by paying the US$ 8 to 10 billion needed to finance Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. The West was not impressed and their contributions to Tsvangirai’s begging bowl said it all.
Item
Country
Begging bowl
Humanitarian Aid
Comment
1
Netherland
nothing
nothing
Dutch Development Aid Minister Bert Koenders said the West still needs to see more progress on reforms targeting human rights, the reining in of security services and the country’s central bank
2
US America
nothing
US$ 73 million
“President Mugabe, has not acted, oftentimes, in the best interests of the Zimbabwean people and has been resistant to the kinds of democratic changes that need to take place.” Said President Obama.
3
Germany
nothing
Promise humanitarian aid
Want to see progress in democratic reforms, said the Germans.
4
Sweden
nothing
Promise to support democratic reforms
“We must earn the respect of the international community”, Tsvangirai said in reference to Zimbabwe none existent/functional democratic institution.
5
Norway
nothing
US$6.5 m target education, health and promoting democracy
Norwegian Gvt said “ the Government (GNU) is not democratically elected, it is a political compromise. “ Ready to start bilateral relation once there is progress in democratic reforms.
6
European Union
US$42 m for budget support
US$ 11 million humanitarian 12.5 million food aid
7
UK
nothing
US$ 8.25 m paid through aid agents for food security and for books for reopened schools.
Brown says there will be more to come, provided Zimbabwe can show it is on the road to real democratic reform.
Initial reports that the British will support “reformers” have come to nothing.
8
France
nothing
nothing
France was prepared to write off Zimbabwe’s EU400m debt if Zimbabwe gave guarantees that it would spend the savings on development projects and if democracy took root in Zimbabwe.
Response
The response West and even so the ordinary Zimbabweans, who have carried the full brand of the nation’s economic melt down and the political repression, want to see from this GNU is real democratic change. Sadly they are all in for a great disappointment.
Vice President Mujuru, from Mugabe ruling inner circle, said GNU was disappointed by the poor response by the West throughout Tsvangirai’s begging trip. Still, the regime was sending ministers to visit EU and none EU countries to “tell our story as a unity government, because we are not understood by many..” said the Vice President. She also announced that next month Zimbabwe will be hosting an investment conference.
Back to the drawing board Zimbabwe
The white supremacists and racists from the time of slavery two centuries ago to the more recent white colonialism justified the enslavement, exploitation and oppression of blacks on the grounds that “blacks were incapable of self-rule!” Africa’s post independence leaders, particularly Robert Mugabe’s disastrous rule of Zimbabwe, have given the rednecks racists a chance to crow from the rooftops “I told you so!”
Zimbabwe’s economic and political failure has been notable. Here was a country endowed all manner of wealth and resources, material and human, with a very strong economic infrastructure and great potential to grow and prosper. Zimbabwe had the reputation of the breadbasket of the region, not any more. Its people were enjoying a very high standard of living, the life expectancy was 68 years back in 1980 when the nation attained its independence. Three decades of Mugabe rule had changed all that.
Mugabe spawned a political system designed to serve the interest of a few at the expense of the many, a pernicious and inward looking system that stifled all meaningful public debate and within the ruling party itself. As a result the dictatorship is known for its dogged implementation of ill-advised policies and repeating the same mistakes over and over again. The regime was so fearful of criticism and fresh idea – they were viewed as a threat to its political hegemony – the only path was the dictator’s well beaten track. The whole regime was nothing more than a giant caterpillar feeding on its own excrement; in time the lack of nutrients and poison has destroyed the nation and the dictatorship itself.
The national economy suffered its worst performance year after year. The nation’s life expectancy has plummeted from 68 years at independence to 34 years today. Millions of Zimbabweans have left the country of their birth in search of work, any work to buy enough to eat and for, the lucky few, to help those stuck back in Zimbabwe.
When the Zimbabwe Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, visited the West, it should have been to reaffirm the simple message that Zimbabwe had exorcised its past demons and was now “capable of self rule!” This would have been after Mugabe’s dictatorship had been completely dismantled and the mould broken into a thousand pieces to ensure the Zimbabwe will never again fall into the hands of a tyrant. Instead Tsvangirai had set out with the dictator very much alive and running the country in his lawless ways.
Tsvangirai should have been firm and uncompromising when it came to critical issues such as rule of law and the end to this culture human rights violation Mugabe had encouraged. Instead he pretended these issues were not happening in Zimbabwe or, if they happened, they were few and isolated to matter. Tendai Biti, the MDC Minister of Finance, was so impressed by the brutal dictator he wanted him knighted. A year ago Biti was in the dictator’s jail on treason charges.
Any student of history would be disappointed, yes, but not surprised by Tsvangirai and Biti’s turn-coat behaviour because they are not the first to do so. Mugabe and most of those who have helped him create and run this dictatorship were liberation war heroes and heroines before they were transformed into the ruthless and heartless tyrants we see today. Power transformed them.
Power is like latent heat, the greater the power the intense the heat; it is felt by all without exception who exercise it but affects each differently. Some people, whose moral compass is weak and value system is shaky; expose them to power and they will melt like lead. They are the turn-coats, yesteryear’s liberators who once in power become the new oppressors – often worse than the oppressors they replaced. And then there are those people moral compass will point “North” and will never ever betray the cause of truth, justice and liberty and the common people. They will seek to limit the power given to them and not abuse it.
The West is used to dealing with African leaders whose ego does not allow them to admit they have very serious shortcomings. Still, they were disappointed with Tsvangirai, begging bowl in hand, whilst doing his best to hoodwink them into believing that Zimbabwe’s GNU was a democratic regime committed to democratic reforms when they can see it is nothing of the sort. They had to send him back empty handed – he certainly needed to a more graphic way to remind him they were not amused.
Of all the Western leaders President Barack Obama, must have been particularly disappointed with Tsvangirai. President Obama is a man of history, he is painful aware of the blacks’ place in it, but he is also aware of what black can achieve if they took up the “Yes, we can!” attitude. He is hoping that his own example will inspire others. Nothing would please him more than to help Africa pull itself out of the dark ages into the light of freedom, liberty and prosperity during his time in White House. (Africa will probably never have a better partner in White House than it has right now in President Obama for another generation.) All he needs are a few men and women with some common sense in Africa to work with. The Tsvangirai he met at the White was everything detestable in the stereotype African leader: armed with big begging bowl, matching their great appetite to spend as seen by their ballooning national debt and dependence, in the one hand and a long tale why the nation has failed its own people so badly.
Tsvangirai did not even the common courtesy to shut up instead of waste President Obama’s valuable time listening to him wittering.
Conclusion
Last year Mugabe and his cronies decided to disregard the law and launch the campaign of violence and murder to win the presidential run-off; the cabal had crossed the Rubicon, there was no turning back. It was easier for the old Mugabe regime to implement meaningful democratic reforms than the hardened cabal in power now; it has even more to hide! The economic pressure for meaningful change is still there, although less now that a year ago; the dictatorship will resist change for as long as it can, it has no other option.
Zimbabwe’s greatest chance to meaningful democratic change, even regime change, was last year after the sham presidential run-off. Tsvangirai let Mugabe off the hook. The cause for meaningful democratic change in Zimbabwe is a just and worthy cause; sadly, in Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti and company, it could not have had more feeble champions.
Tsvangirai listened to all President Obama and all the other Western leaders had to say but none of it sunk in. Even after the trip he was backing to signing Mugabe’s praises when as the later stepped up the harassment of MDC leaders and supporters.
Zimbabweans have been short changed for three decades, denied by Mugabe their humanity and human dignity others take for granted. Still the tyrant Mugabe will be swept aside like the trash he is some day soon and this will come to pass in spite of and not because of Tsvangirai and MDC; the buffoons have been more of a hindrance than an aid in this struggle.
Item
Country
Begging bowl
Humanitarian Aid
Comment
1
Netherland
nothing
nothing
Dutch Development Aid Minister Bert Koenders said the West still needs to see more progress on reforms targeting human rights, the reining in of security services and the country’s central bank
2
US America
nothing
US$ 73 million
“President Mugabe, has not acted, oftentimes, in the best interests of the Zimbabwean people and has been resistant to the kinds of democratic changes that need to take place.” Said President Obama.
3
Germany
nothing
Promise humanitarian aid
Want to see progress in democratic reforms, said the Germans.
4
Sweden
nothing
Promise to support democratic reforms
“We must earn the respect of the international community”, Tsvangirai said in reference to Zimbabwe none existent/functional democratic institution.
5
Norway
nothing
US$6.5 m target education, health and promoting democracy
Norwegian Gvt said “ the Government (GNU) is not democratically elected, it is a political compromise. “ Ready to start bilateral relation once there is progress in democratic reforms.
6
European Union
US$42 m for budget support
US$ 11 million humanitarian 12.5 million food aid
7
UK
nothing
US$ 8.25 m paid through aid agents for food security and for books for reopened schools.
Brown says there will be more to come, provided Zimbabwe can show it is on the road to real democratic reform.
Initial reports that the British will support “reformers” have come to nothing.
8
France
nothing
nothing
France was prepared to write off Zimbabwe’s EU400m debt if Zimbabwe gave guarantees that it would spend the savings on development projects and if democracy took root in Zimbabwe.
Response
The response West and even so the ordinary Zimbabweans, who have carried the full brand of the nation’s economic melt down and the political repression, want to see from this GNU is real democratic change. Sadly they are all in for a great disappointment.
Vice President Mujuru, from Mugabe ruling inner circle, said GNU was disappointed by the poor response by the West throughout Tsvangirai’s begging trip. Still, the regime was sending ministers to visit EU and none EU countries to “tell our story as a unity government, because we are not understood by many..” said the Vice President. She also announced that next month Zimbabwe will be hosting an investment conference.
Back to the drawing board Zimbabwe
The white supremacists and racists from the time of slavery two centuries ago to the more recent white colonialism justified the enslavement, exploitation and oppression of blacks on the grounds that “blacks were incapable of self-rule!” Africa’s post independence leaders, particularly Robert Mugabe’s disastrous rule of Zimbabwe, have given the rednecks racists a chance to crow from the rooftops “I told you so!”
Zimbabwe’s economic and political failure has been notable. Here was a country endowed all manner of wealth and resources, material and human, with a very strong economic infrastructure and great potential to grow and prosper. Zimbabwe had the reputation of the breadbasket of the region, not any more. Its people were enjoying a very high standard of living, the life expectancy was 68 years back in 1980 when the nation attained its independence. Three decades of Mugabe rule had changed all that.
Mugabe spawned a political system designed to serve the interest of a few at the expense of the many, a pernicious and inward looking system that stifled all meaningful public debate and within the ruling party itself. As a result the dictatorship is known for its dogged implementation of ill-advised policies and repeating the same mistakes over and over again. The regime was so fearful of criticism and fresh idea – they were viewed as a threat to its political hegemony – the only path was the dictator’s well beaten track. The whole regime was nothing more than a giant caterpillar feeding on its own excrement; in time the lack of nutrients and poison has destroyed the nation and the dictatorship itself.
The national economy suffered its worst performance year after year. The nation’s life expectancy has plummeted from 68 years at independence to 34 years today. Millions of Zimbabweans have left the country of their birth in search of work, any work to buy enough to eat and for, the lucky few, to help those stuck back in Zimbabwe.
When the Zimbabwe Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, visited the West, it should have been to reaffirm the simple message that Zimbabwe had exorcised its past demons and was now “capable of self rule!” This would have been after Mugabe’s dictatorship had been completely dismantled and the mould broken into a thousand pieces to ensure the Zimbabwe will never again fall into the hands of a tyrant. Instead Tsvangirai had set out with the dictator very much alive and running the country in his lawless ways.
Tsvangirai should have been firm and uncompromising when it came to critical issues such as rule of law and the end to this culture human rights violation Mugabe had encouraged. Instead he pretended these issues were not happening in Zimbabwe or, if they happened, they were few and isolated to matter. Tendai Biti, the MDC Minister of Finance, was so impressed by the brutal dictator he wanted him knighted. A year ago Biti was in the dictator’s jail on treason charges.
Any student of history would be disappointed, yes, but not surprised by Tsvangirai and Biti’s turn-coat behaviour because they are not the first to do so. Mugabe and most of those who have helped him create and run this dictatorship were liberation war heroes and heroines before they were transformed into the ruthless and heartless tyrants we see today. Power transformed them.
Power is like latent heat, the greater the power the intense the heat; it is felt by all without exception who exercise it but affects each differently. Some people, whose moral compass is weak and value system is shaky; expose them to power and they will melt like lead. They are the turn-coats, yesteryear’s liberators who once in power become the new oppressors – often worse than the oppressors they replaced. And then there are those people moral compass will point “North” and will never ever betray the cause of truth, justice and liberty and the common people. They will seek to limit the power given to them and not abuse it.
The West is used to dealing with African leaders whose ego does not allow them to admit they have very serious shortcomings. Still, they were disappointed with Tsvangirai, begging bowl in hand, whilst doing his best to hoodwink them into believing that Zimbabwe’s GNU was a democratic regime committed to democratic reforms when they can see it is nothing of the sort. They had to send him back empty handed – he certainly needed to a more graphic way to remind him they were not amused.
Of all the Western leaders President Barack Obama, must have been particularly disappointed with Tsvangirai. President Obama is a man of history, he is painful aware of the blacks’ place in it, but he is also aware of what black can achieve if they took up the “Yes, we can!” attitude. He is hoping that his own example will inspire others. Nothing would please him more than to help Africa pull itself out of the dark ages into the light of freedom, liberty and prosperity during his time in White House. (Africa will probably never have a better partner in White House than it has right now in President Obama for another generation.) All he needs are a few men and women with some common sense in Africa to work with. The Tsvangirai he met at the White was everything detestable in the stereotype African leader: armed with big begging bowl, matching their great appetite to spend as seen by their ballooning national debt and dependence, in the one hand and a long tale why the nation has failed its own people so badly.
Tsvangirai did not even the common courtesy to shut up instead of waste President Obama’s valuable time listening to him wittering.
Conclusion
Last year Mugabe and his cronies decided to disregard the law and launch the campaign of violence and murder to win the presidential run-off; the cabal had crossed the Rubicon, there was no turning back. It was easier for the old Mugabe regime to implement meaningful democratic reforms than the hardened cabal in power now; it has even more to hide! The economic pressure for meaningful change is still there, although less now that a year ago; the dictatorship will resist change for as long as it can, it has no other option.
Zimbabwe’s greatest chance to meaningful democratic change, even regime change, was last year after the sham presidential run-off. Tsvangirai let Mugabe off the hook. The cause for meaningful democratic change in Zimbabwe is a just and worthy cause; sadly, in Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti and company, it could not have had more feeble champions.
Tsvangirai listened to all President Obama and all the other Western leaders had to say but none of it sunk in. Even after the trip he was backing to signing Mugabe’s praises when as the later stepped up the harassment of MDC leaders and supporters.
Zimbabweans have been short changed for three decades, denied by Mugabe their humanity and human dignity others take for granted. Still the tyrant Mugabe will be swept aside like the trash he is some day soon and this will come to pass in spite of and not because of Tsvangirai and MDC; the buffoons have been more of a hindrance than an aid in this struggle.
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