Zimbabwe's GNU holds special cabinet meeting but, as usual, are tight-lipped on what was discussed!

There was a Special cabinet meeting on Thursday 24 March 2011 supposedly to discuss the increasing cases of politically motivated violence. A situation that has forced Tsvangirai to finally, finally admit the GNU is not working. But when journalists tried to find out what cabinet had discussed no one was willing to talk. Members from all the three parties to the GNU are “tight lipped” as usual.

When it comes to keeping the Zimbabwe public in the dark as to what those in positions of power and authority are doing this is the one thing all the parties in this GNU have observed without failure. Of course this is something Mugabe and Zanu PF have done ever since the tyrant first got into power in 1980. There is no evidence to show that the tyrant did any arm twisting of Tsvangirai and his MDC friends to get them to adopt the same political ethos of stonewall silence.

There are two issues at play here regarding this universal accepted position of Zimbabwe’s political leaders of keeping the public in the dark on everything which goes beyond the usual need to keep State secrets is:
1) The deep seated contempt with which the leaders treat the ordinary people. The leaders really believe that they not only know best but worse still that the public can not be trusted with even the most basic information. They will all tell you they subscribe to freedom of expression, free flow of information, free press, etc. Yes they believe that to be a basic human right for the rest of mankind it is just that they do not believe their own people are quite ready to enjoy that right.

In the GPA Tsvangirai complained about the torrent of abusive he and his party have been subjected to in the Mugabe and Zanu PF controlled public media. He demanded that the abuse should stop. He said nothing about ending government control of the public media and thus freeing it to carry out its true function of informing and educating the Zimbabwean public.

2) And then, of course, if the public do not know what the leaders are doing, they can never ever hold the later to account for anything!

Across the political divide Zimbabwe’s leaders really find the very idea of being held accountable by the public revolting. The few occasions the public have had to pronounce some form judgement over the leaders; the latter have loathed it. Indeed tyrants like Mugabe have taken the rejection by the electorate as a personal insult in which he felt justified to systematic denial of the people’s basic rights and freedoms including the right to life.

In many ways the all country’s social, political and economic problems revolts round this key issue of information: the public can not meaningful hold the nation’s leaders to account because they are ill informed and as long as they remain ill informed the leaders will do their best to maintain the status quo. For all their pretence to seeking democratic change in Zimbabwe Tsvangirai and MDC are as determined as Mugabe in remaining tight-lipped and keep the public ignorant!

There is one thing can say with complete confidence; this is not a chicken and egg situation – of course the politicians would want to create the illusion that it is – we know we have a right to know and thus must demand that there be free flow of information!

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Zimbabwe’s First Lady is reportedly trying to get her US$1 million from a Chinese businessman who conned her over truck import venture.

Where did she get the US$1 million in the first place? What does she know about the truck business anywhere? Not that any of the answers matter a great deal to the new rich in Mugabe's Zimbabwe. So she was conned but she will not lose sleep over it, it is after all chicken feed to her. There is plenty more money where that came from.

Now that this the looters are in power and control most of the nation's wealth it will be a up hill fight to get them to give up any of it!

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Tsvangirai was out visiting SADC Heads of State asking them to help although it is common knowledge that SADC is a toothless dog when it comes to good governance issues! So the Z C Coalition too has joined the Tsvangirai entourage of busy bodies. One would think at least one of the 350 organisations would be led by some one with some grey stuff between their ears! What a waste of space!