Takarinda Gomo either you HAVE INSIDE information or you are dreaming! My bet is on the latter because only a naïve political dreamer would even suggest that Mugabe is “running out of tricks” on the basis of some flimsy statements, guise work and out right lies.
“Ever since Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dropped the bombshell by partially withdrawing from engaging Zanu-PF, there has been political turbulence in Zimbabwe, which has now gathered momentum and has a life of its own” you say.
Well for a start the political situation in Zimbabwe is much more that a mere “turbulence”. It is a tragedy dating back to white colonial rule, the war of independence and Mugabe’s dictatorial rule after that. The more immediate tragedy started when Mugabe staged the sham election in June 2008 and Tsvangirai betrayed the people by entering into this stupid power sharing arrangement. Now that was a bombshell, alright.
When Tsvangirai announced his “disengagement” with Mugabe because the latter was a “dishonest partner” Tsvangirai was finally acknowledging something that was there all along but he had refused to see. That was a firecracker size bombshell and worse still by unilaterally ending the “disengagement” Tsvangirai walked away with the fuse!
You are talking of Mugabe being given an ultimatum to resolve the “outstanding issues”. Well that was what Tsvangirai said on his return from SADC Troika Summit in Maputo. A few days latter he himself said the datelines are “not cast in stone.” Professor Ncube of MDC-M said SADC never set any deadlines; he dismissed Tsvangirai’s initial statement as “posturing and grandstanding”! So Gomo, are you sure SADC did set deadlines for Mugabe or are you too posturing and grandstanding?
“The troika insisted that if Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations were failing to agree on the outstanding issues, then Zimbabwe should go for elections forthwith” you said. Where did that come from?
If there is one thing Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Mutambara and their respective parties agree on it is NOT to have fresh elections. Mutambara and most of his party members lost in March 2008 and their performance especially that of Mutambara himself since has been pathetic. The electorate would want MDC-M buried.
Mugabe would never ever win a free and fair elections; he would lose to a monkey that is how much the electorate hate him. He is a ruthless murder, for Christ sake!
In the past Zimbabweans have voted for Tsvangirai because they were desperate for change and not because they were bowled over by Tsvangirai as a leader. The people never thought he would be this incompetent; he has made some monumental blunders and stupid moves.
The Zanu PF and MDC “rascals”, as Tanonoka Joseph Whande called the party negotiators, may fight like cats but end of the day they all want to the GNU to survive for their own political survival. No doubt Tsvangirai will make further concession to Mugabe and the GNU will limp along much the same way as it has done ever since it formation ten months ago. Meanwhile the country continues to sink deeper and deeper into the economic and political hell-hole Mugabe dragged us into.
The most important thing to note is the resolution of all the “outstanding issues” one way or the other will not change a thing as far as the ordinary Zimbabweans are concerned. Firing Gono will not open the flood gates of foreign investors and Western donors, for example. Investors would still want to see property rights restored and the West still view the GNU as a Mugabe dictatorship by another name.
What good is it to us that President Zuma has appointed his “no nonsense” team to mediate in Zimbabwe when their brief is to get the trivial “outstanding issues” only resolves? President Zuma had his chance to stamp his own authority on the Zimbabwe crisis when he became President of SA and was chairman of SADC – he did not do so.
Takarinda Gomo, you claim everyone else’s “opinions are informed by emotion” whilst yours are presumably based on “analytical thinking”; you have only succeeded in proving the exact opposite. You must be one of Tsvangirai’s chief political advisors or would be advisor because this is the typical shallow and self-righteous nonsense MDC has been churning out for years!
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
UNTIL ZIMBABWE'S LEADERS TREAT EVERY ZIMBABWEAN WITH RESPECT FREEDOM AND JUSTICE WILL REMAIN A DISTANT DREAM!
Until every Zimbabwean is treated with respect and human dignity, especially by those in positions of power and authority, then Zimbabwe will never ever enjoy peace, justice, freedom or realise its full economic potential. After a generation of white oppression and abuse, the nation was we had three decades of more abuse and contemptuous treatment from Mugabe. Sadly Tsvangirai has only paid lip service to human rights; deep down he too he shown he too could not careless about the suffering and death of ordinary Zimbabweans.
In colonial Rhodesia, the whites were the first class citizens; they enjoyed all the human rights and freedoms, had the top jobs, etc. They were THE boss! The coloureds, Chinese, Indians and all the other minority races constituted the second class citizens; they had some rights and they were the boss-boys. The indigenous blacks constitute the third class; had no rights and at work did all the hard and physically demanding, dirty and dangerous jobs for the least remuneration.
Even when blacks had exactly the same qualifications and did exactly the same job as the whites, they where paid a fraction, five times less on average, of what the whites were paid. The white supremacists had a ready answer to that: whites lived in big houses which cost a lot more to build, furnish and run as contrast to the match-box houses blacks lived in. Whites needed a car; blacks walked. White folk had bacon, egg, toast and tea/coffer served in china-cups for breakfast whilst the blacks had maize meal porridge or tea served in a tin cup. The white supremacists would get hot in the collar about unreasonable and “cheeky” blacks.
What was so cheeky about a black person eating bacon! What was so unreasonable about asking for equal pay for equal work? What each individual did with their wage was their own business.
What white racism did was created a situation where blacks had to justify why they had to be treated fairly and accorded the human rights and freedoms the white took for granted.
White racism and bigotry was a lot easier to identify and deal with than the black on black discrimination and oppression. This took various form, for example, it grieved some blacks to have to work under a fellow black, even if the black candidate is better in every respect to the white candidate.
Generations of humiliation and being made to feel blacks are inferior to whites has left some blacks deeply scarred. And so to cope with their inferiority complex some blacks have adopted some bizarre methods of constantly having to “prove” to themselves and the world at large that they are not inferior. And what easier way of doing that then riding roughshod over those considered their inferiors and/or superiors.
Mugabe violent take over of white owned farms in Zimbabwe has to with pure greed as much as it has to do with hunger to be revenged on the whites. The price for his egotistic policies has been the total economic melt down of the Zimbabweans economy with the tragic human suffering. Instead of enhancing his image Mugabe is rightly regarded as a failed ruthless despot.
Mugabe has denied the people of Zimbabwe their basic rights and freedom because he really never believed they were human enough to be worthy of the same rights and freedoms enjoyed by most other human across the world. Last year Mugabe could not have given a more graphic illustration of the contempt with which he held the Zimbabwe people. He vowed that “only God” not the Zimbabwe electorate would force him out of office and adopted some of the most despicable electoral methods the world had ever seen to ensure his wish became a reality. Half a million Zimbabweans were intimidated, beaten, tortured, raped and/or had their property destroyed. Over 400 innocent lives were lost in the most horrific circumstances.
Mugabe failed to accord the Zimbabwean people even the most sacrosanct of all human rights – the right to life. As far as he was concerned Zimbabweans are an inferior people who do not deserve the same right to life as other humans; Zimbabwean lives are a dispensable.
After what Mugabe had done in 2008 no one in their right mind would have agreed to sweep all that aside, pretend it all never happened, and join hands with the dictator to form an inclusive government. No one, that is, except Tsvangirai who also believed that the Zimbabwean people are an inferior people who do not deserve to be treated with respect and human dignity. Whilst he has paid lip service to democracy and human rights when the chips are down; Tsvangirai showed he too has nothing but contempt for the suffering and deaths of Zimbabweans.
Some Zimbabweans are pleased that MDC managed to get food and other goods into the shops and overlook MDC’s graphic failures to bring meaningful change in other areas affecting their lives like employment creation and restoring the rule of law. It is understandable that they would do that; these are a people who have learnt to expect nothing but abuse from their leaders.
The greatest gift Zimbabweans would have really wanted from Tsvangirai is a reaffirmation that they, the people, have a right to a free vote and that the vote counts! All that they have suffered and sacrificed over the years, all the 400 lives lost last years would not have been for nothing.
If Tsvangirai really believes, which he clearly does, that the people of Zimbabwe would value the food in the shops over their desire to be treated with human dignity and respect then he is hopelessly wrong. And, which is more, he will never add up to much as a national leader!
In colonial Rhodesia, the whites were the first class citizens; they enjoyed all the human rights and freedoms, had the top jobs, etc. They were THE boss! The coloureds, Chinese, Indians and all the other minority races constituted the second class citizens; they had some rights and they were the boss-boys. The indigenous blacks constitute the third class; had no rights and at work did all the hard and physically demanding, dirty and dangerous jobs for the least remuneration.
Even when blacks had exactly the same qualifications and did exactly the same job as the whites, they where paid a fraction, five times less on average, of what the whites were paid. The white supremacists had a ready answer to that: whites lived in big houses which cost a lot more to build, furnish and run as contrast to the match-box houses blacks lived in. Whites needed a car; blacks walked. White folk had bacon, egg, toast and tea/coffer served in china-cups for breakfast whilst the blacks had maize meal porridge or tea served in a tin cup. The white supremacists would get hot in the collar about unreasonable and “cheeky” blacks.
What was so cheeky about a black person eating bacon! What was so unreasonable about asking for equal pay for equal work? What each individual did with their wage was their own business.
What white racism did was created a situation where blacks had to justify why they had to be treated fairly and accorded the human rights and freedoms the white took for granted.
White racism and bigotry was a lot easier to identify and deal with than the black on black discrimination and oppression. This took various form, for example, it grieved some blacks to have to work under a fellow black, even if the black candidate is better in every respect to the white candidate.
Generations of humiliation and being made to feel blacks are inferior to whites has left some blacks deeply scarred. And so to cope with their inferiority complex some blacks have adopted some bizarre methods of constantly having to “prove” to themselves and the world at large that they are not inferior. And what easier way of doing that then riding roughshod over those considered their inferiors and/or superiors.
Mugabe violent take over of white owned farms in Zimbabwe has to with pure greed as much as it has to do with hunger to be revenged on the whites. The price for his egotistic policies has been the total economic melt down of the Zimbabweans economy with the tragic human suffering. Instead of enhancing his image Mugabe is rightly regarded as a failed ruthless despot.
Mugabe has denied the people of Zimbabwe their basic rights and freedom because he really never believed they were human enough to be worthy of the same rights and freedoms enjoyed by most other human across the world. Last year Mugabe could not have given a more graphic illustration of the contempt with which he held the Zimbabwe people. He vowed that “only God” not the Zimbabwe electorate would force him out of office and adopted some of the most despicable electoral methods the world had ever seen to ensure his wish became a reality. Half a million Zimbabweans were intimidated, beaten, tortured, raped and/or had their property destroyed. Over 400 innocent lives were lost in the most horrific circumstances.
Mugabe failed to accord the Zimbabwean people even the most sacrosanct of all human rights – the right to life. As far as he was concerned Zimbabweans are an inferior people who do not deserve the same right to life as other humans; Zimbabwean lives are a dispensable.
After what Mugabe had done in 2008 no one in their right mind would have agreed to sweep all that aside, pretend it all never happened, and join hands with the dictator to form an inclusive government. No one, that is, except Tsvangirai who also believed that the Zimbabwean people are an inferior people who do not deserve to be treated with respect and human dignity. Whilst he has paid lip service to democracy and human rights when the chips are down; Tsvangirai showed he too has nothing but contempt for the suffering and deaths of Zimbabweans.
Some Zimbabweans are pleased that MDC managed to get food and other goods into the shops and overlook MDC’s graphic failures to bring meaningful change in other areas affecting their lives like employment creation and restoring the rule of law. It is understandable that they would do that; these are a people who have learnt to expect nothing but abuse from their leaders.
The greatest gift Zimbabweans would have really wanted from Tsvangirai is a reaffirmation that they, the people, have a right to a free vote and that the vote counts! All that they have suffered and sacrificed over the years, all the 400 lives lost last years would not have been for nothing.
If Tsvangirai really believes, which he clearly does, that the people of Zimbabwe would value the food in the shops over their desire to be treated with human dignity and respect then he is hopelessly wrong. And, which is more, he will never add up to much as a national leader!
Sunday, 15 November 2009
demerara sugar is not sweeter than freedom
Demerara sugar is NOT sweeter than freedom!
After decades of anguish, humiliation and pain
After generations of forced hard labour for no pay
A few broke their chains, bolt and ran
They were hunted down like animals and some got away
Many lost a limb or worse their very lives.
Those who had lost all hope and resigned muttered away
Wha dey say dey say!
Demerara shuga ize suweta jan fredomu
Ah chanki four mee teei
Ah chanki four mee to chuuee
Demerara shuga suweti four suwa
When the hard labour and anguish was more than any could bear
The cry for freedom and liberty grew louder than the ear could bear
The slaves’ revolt was underway
Some had guns; some had machetes or whatever they found along the way
They all shouted with one accord for freedom
And silenced was the old foolishness of doom
Wha dey say dey say!
Demerara shuga ize suweta jan fredomu
Ah chanki four mee teei
Ah chanki four mee to chuuee
Demerara shuga suweti four suwa
Back in mother Africa were the slaves came from in chains
There was no happy ending to Colonial exploitation, oppression and pain
After the sweat and blood for freedom was shed black dictators were the new masters
The same oppressive laws stayed and in violence they hold masters
Their incompetence was only exceeded by their corruption and greed
Things are worse in independent Africa than in colonial days; that is agreed
So decades after independence the people are yet to taste peace and freedom
Africa’s dictators have destroyed everything dragging all into darkness and gloom
Each saviour, on tasting power, is transfigured into just another dictator in turn
They betray the cause and those who have suffered and, now in the grave turn
Some have pointed to the shops full of food where before the shelves were empty
Africa’s dictators reject call for good governance with oldie emptiness
Wha dey say dey say!
Demerara shuga ize suweta jan fredomu
Ah chanki four mee teei
Ah chanki four mee to chuuee
Demerara shuga suweti four suwa
Demerara sugar is not sweeter than freedom
I don’t care what the demagogues and dictators say!
After decades of anguish, humiliation and pain
After generations of forced hard labour for no pay
A few broke their chains, bolt and ran
They were hunted down like animals and some got away
Many lost a limb or worse their very lives.
Those who had lost all hope and resigned muttered away
Wha dey say dey say!
Demerara shuga ize suweta jan fredomu
Ah chanki four mee teei
Ah chanki four mee to chuuee
Demerara shuga suweti four suwa
When the hard labour and anguish was more than any could bear
The cry for freedom and liberty grew louder than the ear could bear
The slaves’ revolt was underway
Some had guns; some had machetes or whatever they found along the way
They all shouted with one accord for freedom
And silenced was the old foolishness of doom
Wha dey say dey say!
Demerara shuga ize suweta jan fredomu
Ah chanki four mee teei
Ah chanki four mee to chuuee
Demerara shuga suweti four suwa
Back in mother Africa were the slaves came from in chains
There was no happy ending to Colonial exploitation, oppression and pain
After the sweat and blood for freedom was shed black dictators were the new masters
The same oppressive laws stayed and in violence they hold masters
Their incompetence was only exceeded by their corruption and greed
Things are worse in independent Africa than in colonial days; that is agreed
So decades after independence the people are yet to taste peace and freedom
Africa’s dictators have destroyed everything dragging all into darkness and gloom
Each saviour, on tasting power, is transfigured into just another dictator in turn
They betray the cause and those who have suffered and, now in the grave turn
Some have pointed to the shops full of food where before the shelves were empty
Africa’s dictators reject call for good governance with oldie emptiness
Wha dey say dey say!
Demerara shuga ize suweta jan fredomu
Ah chanki four mee teei
Ah chanki four mee to chuuee
Demerara shuga suweti four suwa
Demerara sugar is not sweeter than freedom
I don’t care what the demagogues and dictators say!
ZIMBABWEANS' BLIND LOYALTY LANED THE NATION IN HELL-HOLE: AND FAILURE TO CHANGE IS KEEPING US THERE
The follow is my reply to a comment in The Zimbabwe Times to my last blog.
Nyoka: I presume if Mr Mukori stands as the opposition leader he is prescribing he will solve Zimbabwe’s problems. Its this kind of attitude which puts our country where it is today.
Answer: The political leaders I am advocating would restore the rule of law, ensure there is press freedom, reform the Police and free them to carry out their duty of keeping law and order, etc. These are political reforms that we should not be talking about today thirty years after independence. The only reason why we are still talking about these issues is because none of the current crop of political leaders has the political will to resolve them.
With all due respect it is the defeatist attitude of people like you, Nyoka, who believe that just because Mugabe has not solved these basic issues; no one else can. It is this attitude that has allowed a dictator like Mugabe to do as he pleased and thus dragging the whole nation into this hell hole.
Nyoka -It does not require a PhD to identify that Mugabe would never relinquish power at any cost. Even it meant him wiping out the whole nation he was prepared to do that for the sake of his hold to power.
Answer: Well there goes the defeatist in you “Mugabe would never relinquish power”! And what has been your response to that? For thirty years you have appeased Mugabe by letting him have his way. Mugabe has completed destroyed Zimbabwe; the schools and hospitals have closed, 90% are out of work, life expectancy has dropped from 65 years to 34 years and the dictator has murdered tens of thousands of Zimbabweans to consolidate his hold on power. Mugabe is already “wiping out the whole nation”! What else does Mugabe have to do for you to finally realise that this policy of appeasement is NOT working?
Mugabe is a mere mortal and he is not above the law. It is the people alone who should have the ultimate say on who is to rule Zimbabwe. And that is exactly what fresh elections will reaffirm!
Nyoka: It does not take a wise man to see that the so-called AU and SADC are toothless bulldogs as far as Zimbabwean problems and Mugabe, in particular, are concerned.
Answer: What President Khama is proposing here is the best and only viable option for Zimbabwe. Keep your eye on the ball.
Nyoka: You don’t need to get up from a slumber to note that at least the common individual can access basic commodities and food in shops which had become foreign to Zimbabweans before the GNU.
Answer: There is food in the shops, yes. But it is equally true that Zimbabwe is facing many other serious economic and political problems that the GNU has failed to address ten months after GNU was formed. The problems have remained as intractable as ever. Surely we must search for a solution able to keep the food in the shops and address the other problems too.
We must reject the usual Mugabe nonsense that economic gains would be lost if we asked for political rights as if these are somehow mutually exclusive. They are not and we must demand it all.
Nyoka: You don’t need to be clever to note that Tsvangirai was left with no choice other than to join the GNU when the rest of these so-called African whatevers had vowed to withdraw support for him if he shunned GNU.
Answer: You have said it yourself, above “AU and SADC are toothless bulldogs as far as Zimbabwean problems and Mugabe, in particular, are concerned”. Few people would dispute that and, indeed, Tsvangirai himself has complained about this on numerous occasions. So why is it that Tsvangirai was so easily cowered down by “toothless bulldogs”?
President Ian Khama and Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya showed after the June 2008 sham elections that they had broken away from the rest of the toothless bulldogs. Why did Tsvangirai not team up with them? Well President Khama has clearly given Tsvangirai another chance to do the right thing, time will tell whether or not he will take the lifeline this time round.
Nyoka: It only requires one to be open minded and refrain from being bound by the spirit of blame apportionment which characterises most of the writers in diaspora who pontificate and expect other people to put things right for them so they can go back and reap what they did’nt sow.
Answer: Mugabe has denied most of us a meaningful say in the governance of the country because we did not make the same sacrifices he and his fellow Zanu PF leaders made in the liberation war. Using your logic of not allowing people to reap where they did not sow, Mugabe was right. The truth is the right to a democratic vote, the right to life, etc. these are all basic rights that everyone Zimbabweans must claim and enjoy as his or her birth right regardless of whether or not the made any contribution or sacrifice to a national cause. Our failure to make this clear to Mugabe was a very serious dereliction of our duty to fight for our basic rights whenever these are threatened or denied. And the whole nation has paid dearly for this.
We must all now fight for our basic rights and never again be found wanting in this. Those in the Diaspora have a greater opportunity to carry the fight better than the millions in the backwater in Zimbabwe. Please do not let the rural poor down!
People like Nyoka want to see a subservient people and are rummaging for excuses to stifle the open debate that sites like The Zimbabwe Times have afforded. The suggestion that only Zimbabweans still in Zimbabwe must take part is one of the most flimsy put forward; no doubt it will not be the last. We must dismiss this nonsense with the contempt it rightly deserves.
Nyoka: Please come up with ideas but dont blame Tsvangirai he is the messiah who brought food on the table for people in Zimbabwe. There are disadvantages in every move you make. If you observe Newton’s laws of motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So while Tsvangirai wants to solve the country’s problems, on the same breath and strength, Mugabe wants things to get worse.
SO NO BLAME APPORTIONMENT – COME UP WITH CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!
Answer: President Khama in this case has come up with what I have already is the best and only viable solution. So why are you calling more “ideas”? You clearly do not agree with the solution and instead of presenting your reasons why the idea is not acceptable, you pretend no solution has been offered.
If Tsvangirai is indeed trying to solve the country’s problems and Mugabe is the one throwing the spanner in the works, as you claim; then holding fresh elections is the best way out. After the election Tsvangirai would have the mandate to implement his own policies without Mugabe ever interfering; problem solved.
ZIMBABWE IS IN THIS HELL-HOLE BECAUSE AS A PEOPLE WE HAVE ALLOWED OURSELVES TO BE RULED BY FEAR OR TO HOLD BLIND LOYALTY. WE HAVE A SIMPLY CHOICE TO SNAP OUT OF THIS STUPOR OR ELSE STAY IN THE HOLE. PEOPLE LIKE YOU, NYOKA, HAVE SWITCHED YOUR BLIND LOYALTY FROM A DICTATOR TO A BLUNDERING AND INCOMPETENT LEADER AND BELIEVE YOU HAVE MADE A QUANTUM LEAP. HOW PATHETIC! REAL DEMOCRATIC CHANGE IS COMING TO ZIMBABWE WITH OR WITHOUT THE LIKES OF YOU, NYOKA, OR TSVANGIRAI!
Nyoka: I presume if Mr Mukori stands as the opposition leader he is prescribing he will solve Zimbabwe’s problems. Its this kind of attitude which puts our country where it is today.
Answer: The political leaders I am advocating would restore the rule of law, ensure there is press freedom, reform the Police and free them to carry out their duty of keeping law and order, etc. These are political reforms that we should not be talking about today thirty years after independence. The only reason why we are still talking about these issues is because none of the current crop of political leaders has the political will to resolve them.
With all due respect it is the defeatist attitude of people like you, Nyoka, who believe that just because Mugabe has not solved these basic issues; no one else can. It is this attitude that has allowed a dictator like Mugabe to do as he pleased and thus dragging the whole nation into this hell hole.
Nyoka -It does not require a PhD to identify that Mugabe would never relinquish power at any cost. Even it meant him wiping out the whole nation he was prepared to do that for the sake of his hold to power.
Answer: Well there goes the defeatist in you “Mugabe would never relinquish power”! And what has been your response to that? For thirty years you have appeased Mugabe by letting him have his way. Mugabe has completed destroyed Zimbabwe; the schools and hospitals have closed, 90% are out of work, life expectancy has dropped from 65 years to 34 years and the dictator has murdered tens of thousands of Zimbabweans to consolidate his hold on power. Mugabe is already “wiping out the whole nation”! What else does Mugabe have to do for you to finally realise that this policy of appeasement is NOT working?
Mugabe is a mere mortal and he is not above the law. It is the people alone who should have the ultimate say on who is to rule Zimbabwe. And that is exactly what fresh elections will reaffirm!
Nyoka: It does not take a wise man to see that the so-called AU and SADC are toothless bulldogs as far as Zimbabwean problems and Mugabe, in particular, are concerned.
Answer: What President Khama is proposing here is the best and only viable option for Zimbabwe. Keep your eye on the ball.
Nyoka: You don’t need to get up from a slumber to note that at least the common individual can access basic commodities and food in shops which had become foreign to Zimbabweans before the GNU.
Answer: There is food in the shops, yes. But it is equally true that Zimbabwe is facing many other serious economic and political problems that the GNU has failed to address ten months after GNU was formed. The problems have remained as intractable as ever. Surely we must search for a solution able to keep the food in the shops and address the other problems too.
We must reject the usual Mugabe nonsense that economic gains would be lost if we asked for political rights as if these are somehow mutually exclusive. They are not and we must demand it all.
Nyoka: You don’t need to be clever to note that Tsvangirai was left with no choice other than to join the GNU when the rest of these so-called African whatevers had vowed to withdraw support for him if he shunned GNU.
Answer: You have said it yourself, above “AU and SADC are toothless bulldogs as far as Zimbabwean problems and Mugabe, in particular, are concerned”. Few people would dispute that and, indeed, Tsvangirai himself has complained about this on numerous occasions. So why is it that Tsvangirai was so easily cowered down by “toothless bulldogs”?
President Ian Khama and Prime Minister Raila Odinga of Kenya showed after the June 2008 sham elections that they had broken away from the rest of the toothless bulldogs. Why did Tsvangirai not team up with them? Well President Khama has clearly given Tsvangirai another chance to do the right thing, time will tell whether or not he will take the lifeline this time round.
Nyoka: It only requires one to be open minded and refrain from being bound by the spirit of blame apportionment which characterises most of the writers in diaspora who pontificate and expect other people to put things right for them so they can go back and reap what they did’nt sow.
Answer: Mugabe has denied most of us a meaningful say in the governance of the country because we did not make the same sacrifices he and his fellow Zanu PF leaders made in the liberation war. Using your logic of not allowing people to reap where they did not sow, Mugabe was right. The truth is the right to a democratic vote, the right to life, etc. these are all basic rights that everyone Zimbabweans must claim and enjoy as his or her birth right regardless of whether or not the made any contribution or sacrifice to a national cause. Our failure to make this clear to Mugabe was a very serious dereliction of our duty to fight for our basic rights whenever these are threatened or denied. And the whole nation has paid dearly for this.
We must all now fight for our basic rights and never again be found wanting in this. Those in the Diaspora have a greater opportunity to carry the fight better than the millions in the backwater in Zimbabwe. Please do not let the rural poor down!
People like Nyoka want to see a subservient people and are rummaging for excuses to stifle the open debate that sites like The Zimbabwe Times have afforded. The suggestion that only Zimbabweans still in Zimbabwe must take part is one of the most flimsy put forward; no doubt it will not be the last. We must dismiss this nonsense with the contempt it rightly deserves.
Nyoka: Please come up with ideas but dont blame Tsvangirai he is the messiah who brought food on the table for people in Zimbabwe. There are disadvantages in every move you make. If you observe Newton’s laws of motion, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So while Tsvangirai wants to solve the country’s problems, on the same breath and strength, Mugabe wants things to get worse.
SO NO BLAME APPORTIONMENT – COME UP WITH CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!
Answer: President Khama in this case has come up with what I have already is the best and only viable solution. So why are you calling more “ideas”? You clearly do not agree with the solution and instead of presenting your reasons why the idea is not acceptable, you pretend no solution has been offered.
If Tsvangirai is indeed trying to solve the country’s problems and Mugabe is the one throwing the spanner in the works, as you claim; then holding fresh elections is the best way out. After the election Tsvangirai would have the mandate to implement his own policies without Mugabe ever interfering; problem solved.
ZIMBABWE IS IN THIS HELL-HOLE BECAUSE AS A PEOPLE WE HAVE ALLOWED OURSELVES TO BE RULED BY FEAR OR TO HOLD BLIND LOYALTY. WE HAVE A SIMPLY CHOICE TO SNAP OUT OF THIS STUPOR OR ELSE STAY IN THE HOLE. PEOPLE LIKE YOU, NYOKA, HAVE SWITCHED YOUR BLIND LOYALTY FROM A DICTATOR TO A BLUNDERING AND INCOMPETENT LEADER AND BELIEVE YOU HAVE MADE A QUANTUM LEAP. HOW PATHETIC! REAL DEMOCRATIC CHANGE IS COMING TO ZIMBABWE WITH OR WITHOUT THE LIKES OF YOU, NYOKA, OR TSVANGIRAI!
Friday, 13 November 2009
BOTSWANA PRESIDENT KHAMA CALLS FOR FREE ELECTIONS IN ZIMBABWE: MUGABE AND TSVANGIRAI ARE EACH SWEATING!
Botswana’s President Ian Khama calls for fresh elections in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai has always claimed that AU and SADC leaders pressured him into the power sharing arrangement. President Khama of Botswana and Prime Minister Odinga of Kenya were forth right in their condemnation of Mugabe’s sham June 2008 elections. The two leaders would have supported calls for fresh elections.
The other African leaders realised that Mugabe had gone too far. Most of them had rigged elections in their time but none of them had ever done what Mugabe did in the 2008. Mugabe had crossed the Rubicon and was beyond the peril. Of course they still wanted to serve Mugabe from a fate they themselves feared awaited them if the Zimbabwean electorate were to win back their democratic vote. Zimbabwe would set a bad precedence, as far as them were concerned, and soon the whole continent would be swept by an unstoppable wave of citizens demanding the same right. So the rest of Africa’s dictators had no choice but try to save Mugabe and thus ultimately themselves by proposing, with a heavy heart, a power sharing arrangement. It was with a heavy heart because these leaders know Mugabe had gone too far and they would be skating on thin ice if they openly throw they lot with him. If Tsvangirai had stuck to his guns and demanded free and fair elections most of the AU and SADC leaders would have relented rather than fight a lost cause.
The AU and SADC leaders must have been greatly relieved when Tsvangirai accepted the power sharing arrangement. Of course the President Khama camp were disappointed.
If Tsvangirai was not sure of President Khama’s support for fresh election in June 2008 well he has heard it now from the horse’s mouth! In the face of the mountain of evidence that the NGU is NOT working; will Tsvangirai take this life line and finally walk out of the GNU and give Zimbabwe the chance to finally turn over a new leaf? Sadly, he is not going to do that.
Tsvangirai did not take the option of fresh election in June 2008 and will not consider it now for the same reason: he really fears that Mugabe would use the Police, the Army and his Zanu PF thugs to make the country ungovernable. That is why Tsvangirai believe Mugabe has to remain “a part of Zimbabwe’s solution”. Of course it is a nonsensical and historically untenable.
Mugabe has bankrupted the nation; the schools, hospitals, everything has collapsed and the people are destitute and without hope. As long as Mugabe remains in power the whole nation will have no hope so how can he still remain even a small part of the solution; he is the problem!
Whilst it is true Mugabe had made Zimbabwe ungovernable from April to June 2008 because he needed to beat the electorate into voting for him. As soon as the voting was over he had started to wind down his violent operations. It was unsustainable.
If Tsvangirai had called for fresh elections Mugabe would have used his henchmen and thugs against whom and to what purpose?
Zimbabwe is stuck in this ridiculous position of economic stagnation and political rot; we have a ruthless dictator ruining our lives just as he has done since 1980, except that we have to pretend that something has changed with GNU when deep in our hearts we know nothing has changed.
If there is going to be real change in Zimbabwe then we must replace Tsvangirai with who believes in real change.
President Khama is taking great risk by cutting through the nonsense from his fellow SADC leaders and says it as it is. Mugabe will be fuming with anger over this and who knows what the dictator will do next! The tragedy is President Khama will have taken all this risk for nothing, at least as long as Tsvangirai remains the main opposition leaders.
Tsvangirai has always claimed that AU and SADC leaders pressured him into the power sharing arrangement. President Khama of Botswana and Prime Minister Odinga of Kenya were forth right in their condemnation of Mugabe’s sham June 2008 elections. The two leaders would have supported calls for fresh elections.
The other African leaders realised that Mugabe had gone too far. Most of them had rigged elections in their time but none of them had ever done what Mugabe did in the 2008. Mugabe had crossed the Rubicon and was beyond the peril. Of course they still wanted to serve Mugabe from a fate they themselves feared awaited them if the Zimbabwean electorate were to win back their democratic vote. Zimbabwe would set a bad precedence, as far as them were concerned, and soon the whole continent would be swept by an unstoppable wave of citizens demanding the same right. So the rest of Africa’s dictators had no choice but try to save Mugabe and thus ultimately themselves by proposing, with a heavy heart, a power sharing arrangement. It was with a heavy heart because these leaders know Mugabe had gone too far and they would be skating on thin ice if they openly throw they lot with him. If Tsvangirai had stuck to his guns and demanded free and fair elections most of the AU and SADC leaders would have relented rather than fight a lost cause.
The AU and SADC leaders must have been greatly relieved when Tsvangirai accepted the power sharing arrangement. Of course the President Khama camp were disappointed.
If Tsvangirai was not sure of President Khama’s support for fresh election in June 2008 well he has heard it now from the horse’s mouth! In the face of the mountain of evidence that the NGU is NOT working; will Tsvangirai take this life line and finally walk out of the GNU and give Zimbabwe the chance to finally turn over a new leaf? Sadly, he is not going to do that.
Tsvangirai did not take the option of fresh election in June 2008 and will not consider it now for the same reason: he really fears that Mugabe would use the Police, the Army and his Zanu PF thugs to make the country ungovernable. That is why Tsvangirai believe Mugabe has to remain “a part of Zimbabwe’s solution”. Of course it is a nonsensical and historically untenable.
Mugabe has bankrupted the nation; the schools, hospitals, everything has collapsed and the people are destitute and without hope. As long as Mugabe remains in power the whole nation will have no hope so how can he still remain even a small part of the solution; he is the problem!
Whilst it is true Mugabe had made Zimbabwe ungovernable from April to June 2008 because he needed to beat the electorate into voting for him. As soon as the voting was over he had started to wind down his violent operations. It was unsustainable.
If Tsvangirai had called for fresh elections Mugabe would have used his henchmen and thugs against whom and to what purpose?
Zimbabwe is stuck in this ridiculous position of economic stagnation and political rot; we have a ruthless dictator ruining our lives just as he has done since 1980, except that we have to pretend that something has changed with GNU when deep in our hearts we know nothing has changed.
If there is going to be real change in Zimbabwe then we must replace Tsvangirai with who believes in real change.
President Khama is taking great risk by cutting through the nonsense from his fellow SADC leaders and says it as it is. Mugabe will be fuming with anger over this and who knows what the dictator will do next! The tragedy is President Khama will have taken all this risk for nothing, at least as long as Tsvangirai remains the main opposition leaders.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
CORRUPT MUGABE CRONIES UNCOVERED - TIP OF ICEBERG: FIRE BREATHING MDC SET TO MELT ICEBERG!
Zimbabwe’s Auditor General submits a report to Parliament showing serious irregularities in public accounts in 2009. MDC Tapiwa Mashakada jumps on the bandwagon to share in the limelight.
This is indeed "the tip of the iceberg"; Tapiwa Mashakada is right there. During the 2008 elections Mugabe went around the country dishing out cars, computers, buses, farming equipment, etc. This was happening at a time when schools, hospitals and all the other key public services had collapsed for lack of funds. Where were the funds coming from to buy all these things?
There were many reports of twin-cab trucks driving around in Zimbabwe and some with no number plates. Where did these vehicles come from and what has since happened to them? Many of these where used in kidnapping and terrorising people.
I am convinced Mugabe and his cronies were involved in a multi-billion dollar racket in which they bought foreign currency from Gono using the worthless Z$. Most of the loot was squandered on luxuries and the high life and some banked outside Zimbabwe. I believe this will be the iceberg that would sink the Titanic!
Sadly MDC has really been slow off the mark; after a year, most of the trails in most of these corruption cases will have gone cold. What has Mashakada been doing all these months? Typical of MDC officials they spent months napping, wake up with a start and shout and rant to give the impression they have been working hard.
The real heroine here is the Auditor General, Mai Chari; Mashakada is only stepping in to share the limelight. If MDC had been more robust how much more corruption would have been uncovered and the loot recovered?
People like Gideon Gono are flouting their loot and, worse still, they are now using it to fight against any meaningful change. It was Gono’s paper that printed Professor Jonathan Moyo’s recent two page tripe. On Gono’s farm everything is computerised down to chicken droppings! The best chicken farm in Africa, my foot! What I want to know is where he got all that money to waste, when thousands were dying from Cholera because there was no money to buy water treatment plant and chemicals!
So Mashakada is “breathing fire and brimstone” looking for an iceberg in tropical waters and not heard of global warming! The sheer incompetence of MDC officials’ sheer incompetence never seizes to amaze me.
We voted for MDC in 2008 because we were desperate and now we are deeply regretting it. Poor, poor Zimbabwe; there seem to be no end to the torment and suffering!
This is indeed "the tip of the iceberg"; Tapiwa Mashakada is right there. During the 2008 elections Mugabe went around the country dishing out cars, computers, buses, farming equipment, etc. This was happening at a time when schools, hospitals and all the other key public services had collapsed for lack of funds. Where were the funds coming from to buy all these things?
There were many reports of twin-cab trucks driving around in Zimbabwe and some with no number plates. Where did these vehicles come from and what has since happened to them? Many of these where used in kidnapping and terrorising people.
I am convinced Mugabe and his cronies were involved in a multi-billion dollar racket in which they bought foreign currency from Gono using the worthless Z$. Most of the loot was squandered on luxuries and the high life and some banked outside Zimbabwe. I believe this will be the iceberg that would sink the Titanic!
Sadly MDC has really been slow off the mark; after a year, most of the trails in most of these corruption cases will have gone cold. What has Mashakada been doing all these months? Typical of MDC officials they spent months napping, wake up with a start and shout and rant to give the impression they have been working hard.
The real heroine here is the Auditor General, Mai Chari; Mashakada is only stepping in to share the limelight. If MDC had been more robust how much more corruption would have been uncovered and the loot recovered?
People like Gideon Gono are flouting their loot and, worse still, they are now using it to fight against any meaningful change. It was Gono’s paper that printed Professor Jonathan Moyo’s recent two page tripe. On Gono’s farm everything is computerised down to chicken droppings! The best chicken farm in Africa, my foot! What I want to know is where he got all that money to waste, when thousands were dying from Cholera because there was no money to buy water treatment plant and chemicals!
So Mashakada is “breathing fire and brimstone” looking for an iceberg in tropical waters and not heard of global warming! The sheer incompetence of MDC officials’ sheer incompetence never seizes to amaze me.
We voted for MDC in 2008 because we were desperate and now we are deeply regretting it. Poor, poor Zimbabwe; there seem to be no end to the torment and suffering!
Friday, 6 November 2009
TSVANGIRAI, THE BUFFOON, UNDERMINES SADC'S ULTIMATUM TO MUGABE!
Some one has come up with a plausible explanation why Tsvangirai called off the boycott; so that SADC can see him as the one cooperating with SADC and thus win himself some brownie points. That is exactly the kind of thing Tsvangirai would do!
It was SADC who pressured Tsvangirai to enter this power sharing nonsense to get Mugabe off the hook following the sham June 2008 elections. Tsvangirai foolishly agreed; he did not have to, but he did. When Mugabe played hard ball in the power sharing negotiations and he turned to SADC to pressure the dictator to be reasonable, SADC did not want to know. This has happened again and again and Tsvangirai has publicly accused SADC of failing to be impartial and fair, especially SADC’s chief mediator former SA President Thembo Mbeki who MDC called repeatedly to be removed.
A reasonable man would have expected MDC to remind SADC of the numerous occasions it had taken the initiative only to be kicked in the teeth by Mugabe and SADC stood by. This time MDC would demand SADC should pressure Mugabe and prove the organisation can be impartial, fair and has teeth. A reasonable man, but that does not include Tsvangirai.
In his eagerness to earn brownies points from SADC Tsvangirai has in fact undermined SADC.
Botswana’s President Ian Khama took a principled stand and took the lead in declaring Mugabe illegitimate after the June 2008 sham election. He stuck his head above the parapet and he would most certainly have supported Tsvangirai’s call for fresh elections - but of course, President Khama could not call for fresh elections himself. Someday history will know President Khama’s disappointment and frustration when Tsvangirai agreed to share power with Mugabe and thus get the dictator off the hook. This was not the last time Tsvangirai’s sheer stupidity was to drive SADC leaders up the creek!
In Maputo SADC gave Mugabe 15 days to implement the outstanding issues. For once SADC was being firm and decisive against Mugabe. What does Tsvangirai do: he calls off his own boycott and, worse still, he gave Mugabe 30 days in contrast to the 15 days SADC had demanded of Mugabe! Of course Mugabe will now want to defy SADC by do nothing in the 15 day and SADC is powerless to do anything without appearing to be bossy.
Tsvangirai begged SADC to interfere in Zimbabwe’s political crisis he himself had trigged. When SADC finally acted – guess what, it is none than Tsvangirai himself who undermines SADC’s instructions to Mugabe. How exasperating! In a way, SADC’s dismissive treatment of Tsvangirai is completely justified; how else can any one treat such a buffoon!
It was SADC who pressured Tsvangirai to enter this power sharing nonsense to get Mugabe off the hook following the sham June 2008 elections. Tsvangirai foolishly agreed; he did not have to, but he did. When Mugabe played hard ball in the power sharing negotiations and he turned to SADC to pressure the dictator to be reasonable, SADC did not want to know. This has happened again and again and Tsvangirai has publicly accused SADC of failing to be impartial and fair, especially SADC’s chief mediator former SA President Thembo Mbeki who MDC called repeatedly to be removed.
A reasonable man would have expected MDC to remind SADC of the numerous occasions it had taken the initiative only to be kicked in the teeth by Mugabe and SADC stood by. This time MDC would demand SADC should pressure Mugabe and prove the organisation can be impartial, fair and has teeth. A reasonable man, but that does not include Tsvangirai.
In his eagerness to earn brownies points from SADC Tsvangirai has in fact undermined SADC.
Botswana’s President Ian Khama took a principled stand and took the lead in declaring Mugabe illegitimate after the June 2008 sham election. He stuck his head above the parapet and he would most certainly have supported Tsvangirai’s call for fresh elections - but of course, President Khama could not call for fresh elections himself. Someday history will know President Khama’s disappointment and frustration when Tsvangirai agreed to share power with Mugabe and thus get the dictator off the hook. This was not the last time Tsvangirai’s sheer stupidity was to drive SADC leaders up the creek!
In Maputo SADC gave Mugabe 15 days to implement the outstanding issues. For once SADC was being firm and decisive against Mugabe. What does Tsvangirai do: he calls off his own boycott and, worse still, he gave Mugabe 30 days in contrast to the 15 days SADC had demanded of Mugabe! Of course Mugabe will now want to defy SADC by do nothing in the 15 day and SADC is powerless to do anything without appearing to be bossy.
Tsvangirai begged SADC to interfere in Zimbabwe’s political crisis he himself had trigged. When SADC finally acted – guess what, it is none than Tsvangirai himself who undermines SADC’s instructions to Mugabe. How exasperating! In a way, SADC’s dismissive treatment of Tsvangirai is completely justified; how else can any one treat such a buffoon!
Thursday, 5 November 2009
TSVANGIRAI CALLS OFF BOYCOTT ALTHOUGH MUGABE HAS DONE NOTHING
Tsvangirai announced in Maputo that he will call off MDC’s boycott of the inclusive government.
Here we go again! Tsvangirai said he disengaged with Mugabe because the later was a "dishonest partner". So was it the fresh sea breeze in Maputo that suddenly transformed Mugabe into an honest partner?
MDC said it would boycott the inclusive government until Mugabe implemented all the out standing issues. Mugabe has not implemented a single one of the issues and Tsvangirai calls off the boycott. It is not as if Mugabe is being rushed off his feet, the dictator has already had nine months to fire Gono and now Tsvangirai gives him another month to do it. But Tsvangirai is being true to form; he has issued threats and deadlines before only to ignore them himself!
Zimbabwe has teething economic and political problems that have required urgent attention but have been ignored for nearly a year now. The West still see this GNU as a Mugabe dictatorship in all but name which is why the administration has not received a penny in direct financial aid. On the political front there is still widespread lawlessness, for example.
Tsvangirai had a real chance to end Mugabe's reign of terror and ruin last year after the sham June elections. Sadly, Tsvangirai did not seize that opportunity. After that, Tsvangirai has been a lose cannon latching from one thing to another toying with the nation's hopes and dreams.
This GNU will never bring a just, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe we have all been waiting for all these decades. Zimbabwe’s match to democratic change took a serious knock when Tsvangirai signed the GPA. The important question is how long will this nation take to recover from the knock?
Here we go again! Tsvangirai said he disengaged with Mugabe because the later was a "dishonest partner". So was it the fresh sea breeze in Maputo that suddenly transformed Mugabe into an honest partner?
MDC said it would boycott the inclusive government until Mugabe implemented all the out standing issues. Mugabe has not implemented a single one of the issues and Tsvangirai calls off the boycott. It is not as if Mugabe is being rushed off his feet, the dictator has already had nine months to fire Gono and now Tsvangirai gives him another month to do it. But Tsvangirai is being true to form; he has issued threats and deadlines before only to ignore them himself!
Zimbabwe has teething economic and political problems that have required urgent attention but have been ignored for nearly a year now. The West still see this GNU as a Mugabe dictatorship in all but name which is why the administration has not received a penny in direct financial aid. On the political front there is still widespread lawlessness, for example.
Tsvangirai had a real chance to end Mugabe's reign of terror and ruin last year after the sham June elections. Sadly, Tsvangirai did not seize that opportunity. After that, Tsvangirai has been a lose cannon latching from one thing to another toying with the nation's hopes and dreams.
This GNU will never bring a just, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe we have all been waiting for all these decades. Zimbabwe’s match to democratic change took a serious knock when Tsvangirai signed the GPA. The important question is how long will this nation take to recover from the knock?
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
SADC MEET TO RSOLVE ZIMBABWE'S TRIVIAL ISSUES AND NEGLECTING THE IMPORTANT ONES!
SADC troika summit on Zimbabwe scheduled for Thursday in the Mozambican capital, Maputo.
The trouble with the present political crisis is that it is over issues like the firing of RBZ governor Gideon Gono, the swearing in of Roy Bennett, etc; matters that will at best have only a marginal effect on the ordinary citizen. Ok Mugabe will climb down and fire Gono and swear in Bennett so what?
The chances are Mugabe will appoint another Mugabe loyalist to replace Gono. Gono himself will probably continue to run the key accounts although be it remotely. As for Bennett, he will be just another MDC Minister, hopeful, a shed better than Home Affairs Minister Mutsekwa who may just as well be a Zanu PF Minister.
The political crisis should have been over the really big issues affecting all Zimbabweans like ending the state of lawlessness and the culture of impunity by arresting and punishing all those responsible for the violence and murders. Tsvangirai’s answer to Mugabe’s failure to end Zanu PF’s struggle hold on the public media and create a truly free and independent media was to launch his own MDC newspaper!
It took nine months of MDC grooving before Mugabe followed by weeks of sulking to get Mugabe to finally fire a few Mugabe loyalists. How much longer will the nation have to wait for the day when the electorate will exercise their basic right to vote for whoever the please without fearing for one’s very life?
Zimbabweans have waited for over three decades now for the restoration of their basic and fundamental human rights and freedoms. Rights denied them by Mugabe. Whatever Tsvangirai comes back from the SADC meeting on Thursday with; if it does not guarantee the rights and freedoms of every Zimbabweans with immediate effect then it is simply not good enough. Zimbabweans have waited for their human dignity for thirty years now; they should not have to wait another day. If there was political will these rights and freedoms can be guaranteed at no significant cost in terms of money or time.
If there was ever a time when Zimbabweans should stand up and be counted; there will not the a better time than right now!
The trouble with the present political crisis is that it is over issues like the firing of RBZ governor Gideon Gono, the swearing in of Roy Bennett, etc; matters that will at best have only a marginal effect on the ordinary citizen. Ok Mugabe will climb down and fire Gono and swear in Bennett so what?
The chances are Mugabe will appoint another Mugabe loyalist to replace Gono. Gono himself will probably continue to run the key accounts although be it remotely. As for Bennett, he will be just another MDC Minister, hopeful, a shed better than Home Affairs Minister Mutsekwa who may just as well be a Zanu PF Minister.
The political crisis should have been over the really big issues affecting all Zimbabweans like ending the state of lawlessness and the culture of impunity by arresting and punishing all those responsible for the violence and murders. Tsvangirai’s answer to Mugabe’s failure to end Zanu PF’s struggle hold on the public media and create a truly free and independent media was to launch his own MDC newspaper!
It took nine months of MDC grooving before Mugabe followed by weeks of sulking to get Mugabe to finally fire a few Mugabe loyalists. How much longer will the nation have to wait for the day when the electorate will exercise their basic right to vote for whoever the please without fearing for one’s very life?
Zimbabweans have waited for over three decades now for the restoration of their basic and fundamental human rights and freedoms. Rights denied them by Mugabe. Whatever Tsvangirai comes back from the SADC meeting on Thursday with; if it does not guarantee the rights and freedoms of every Zimbabweans with immediate effect then it is simply not good enough. Zimbabweans have waited for their human dignity for thirty years now; they should not have to wait another day. If there was political will these rights and freedoms can be guaranteed at no significant cost in terms of money or time.
If there was ever a time when Zimbabweans should stand up and be counted; there will not the a better time than right now!
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