"Ninety percent of the time, I cannot recognise the Mugabe I sit with in cabinet with the Mugabe who has ruled this country through violence,” confess Welshman Ncube. “He shows real concern for his country and people, like a father. And he can master detail over a wide range of government matters.”
Professor Ncube is one in a line of many other Zimbabwean politicians who have had to sing Mugabe praises for their dinner.
“(Mugabe) is a very, very, very good charmer...” joined in another MDC minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC-T Minister of Information and Communication Technology, once thought Mugabe was "unbalanced", but adds: "sitting in cabinet with him, I admire his intellect. He has dexterity of encyclopaedic proportions. He is bad leader but a gifted politician.”
Finance Minister Tendai Biti talked of the dictator as “unflappable” and that he was “Zimbabwe”.
Simba Makoni says of Mugabe: "There is a part of him which is outwardly nationalistic and radical but there is also an inner part of him which is questioning and doubtful, because deep down he admires things British. He is conservative."
All these individual tripping over each other to sing Mugabe praises have all been on the gravy train, they now understand gravy train etiquette; you do not do anything that will disrupt the harmony on the train much less bit the hand that feeds you and every so often you must join the others and sing for your dinner!
It is hardly surprising that Ncube and Mushonga should be leading the chorus; these are individuals who were elected by no one and so they own Mugabe a big debt of gratitude!
When you are on the gravy train you see the whole world through rose tinted glasses, even a murderous tyrant suddenly becomes charming and irresistibly so too! That is why those who promised to derail the gravy train have so far always failed because they all sort to be on it train and enjoy the ride for a few years first and then derail it. The only sure way to derail the gravy train is to blow it up; get on it and will claim you will be charmed into becoming a fellow traveller!
The ordinary people who have paid the heavy price of Mugabe’s corruption and tyranny see Mugabe as he really is a pathetic ruthless tyrant with no heart who has been often portrayed as a statesman of great intellect by those close to him but turned out to be as hollow as Tin-man in Wizard of Oz!
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The debate on implementing the GPA agreed reforms is heating up and some people’s contribution will not be to add clarity but to muddy the waters.
“We went to war for us to have power to control the direction of politics in this country,” Minister of Defence, Emmerson Mnangagwa argued. “Soldiers are free to vote for any political party and what they are not allowed to do is to hold positions in political parties.”
The issue about security sector reforms was never about denying the Soldiers, the Police or CIO Officers their right to support the political party of their choice much less deny any one of them the right to vote. What is at issue here is whether they have the right to deny ordinary citizens the right to belong to a political party of their own choosing and to then to vote freely for a candidate of their choice and for that vote to count.
Operation “Mavhotera papi!” (Where did you put your vote!) in April to June 2008 in which many members of the country’s security sector played a major party and in which millions of civilians were subjected to all manner of intimidation and over 500 lost their lives was not about Soldiers being denied their right to vote.
It was about soldiers denying the civilians their right to vote!
Mugabe and Zanu PF wanted Tsvangirai and MDC to agree on the weak and feeble Copac constitution, which will do nothing to ensure the people are not denied their basic rights, and having got what they wanted and try bring up all the other outstanding issues they do not understanding what you are talking about.
How can we get anywhere when some people can chose to hear and only what they want and ignore the rest. Talk of reforms to Mnangagwa and you might as well be speaking in Chinese!
“(Mugabe) is a very, very, very good charmer...” joined in another MDC minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga. Poor, poor Priscilla, she must be speechless every time she meets Mugabe.
Well wealth has that effect on some people, especially those of little substance!
Priscilla should have asked Locadia for example, what happened to her when she met Chamatama. If he had turned up as the goat herder, she would not have given him a second look. But when he turned up in a chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz, you could have heard her knees knocking from across the street. My God, she fought like a wild cat to retain him. Let him lose his PM post and go back to herding goats and she will be cured of all her love-sick!
Add power to the wealth, absolute power in Mugabe's case, and you have the most powerful, irresistible and never-fail all-in-one pheromone and narcotic drug of all time. Get a whiff of it and in an instant, most people will be both legless and headless! Years later some people will still be talking of someone being “a very, very, very good charmer...” with abated breath!
JOMIC has reported a decrease in political violence in Mashonaland Central.
Zanu (PF) Co-chairperson, Everson Tauro, admitted that many cases of
politically motivated violence were reported in Mashonaland Central during
the 2008 elections but said the situation had changed as communities were
beginning to embrace political tolerance.
“We are saying that as Zimbabwe let’s move away from 2008.We are glad that
people are embracing the call and there is peace in the province. Even during the liberation struggle we used to clash as ZIPRA and ZANLA forces but we later realised that there is more that unites us than divides us. Even the GNU came after some fighting but the relationship between the principals now is very cordial and let us follow that example,” said Tauro.
What is amazing is that having failed to put something in the new Copac constitution to ensure there was no violence some people are no coming up with all manner of suggestions to stop the violence. What is even more amazing is the number of people conned into believing these “piece of plaster tape to a broken bone solutions” are working.
As soon as Mugabe has the yes-vote safely bagged; he will roll out the terror machine - Jabulani Sibanda, Chipangano, Army, Police, everyone will be back in business beating, raping and murdering Zanu PF’s political opponents, critics and many more to get the people to vote for Zanu PF. JOMIC is just helping people into a false sense of security so they vote yes in the referendum!
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