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?
Thursday, 5 November 2009
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!
Saturday, 31 October 2009
ZIMBABWE'S INCLUSIVE GOVERNMENT IS NOT WORKING AND NEVER WILL: THERE SHOULD BE FRESH FREE ELECTIONS.
"We have to find solutions to have the inclusive government working again,” Tsvangirai said!
God help us! I really do not think Tsvangirai will ever learn. It is not a matter of getting the inclusive government working AGAIN. It has never worked. He was the one who said it was working, when he knew it was not.
The inclusive government will be considered “working”:
- if it restores law and order throughout the country and those responsible for serious human rights violations are arrested and brought before the courts of law.
- if all repressive laws and practices are removed so the there is freedom of expression and association and a truly free press
- if it stopped all farm invasions, carried out the promised land audit without further ado and take away the farms from those with more than one farm.
- if the writing of the new constitution is put back on track and the process accelerated so delivery the new constitution and the holding of fresh free and fair elections in original time-table of18 to 24 months. There are many substantive issues that only a properly constituted government can address and this GNU hybrid has shied away from.
These are the important issues the GNU’s performance will be judge. The firing of RBZ governor and AG, the swearing in of Roy Bennett, the lifting of targeted sanctions, etc; these are peripheral issues. They are important to the concerned individuals or the particular political party but there are of little importance to the nation.
There is no chance of ever getting this GNU to work; that is the harsh reality. To start with the GPA which Tsvangirai himself signed gave Mugabe all the executive powers – he is head of State, head of government and commander of Army and all other State Security Organs. Mugabe has the power to disrupt the GNU so that it does NOT deliver any of the four goals stated above. And that is exactly what he has done. Yes sometimes he has abused his position and was down right a “dishonest partner”, as Tsvangirai rightly said, is pursuit of his selfish goals. Mugabe has shown again and again that he is a ruthless and heartless dictator; surely no one expected him to behave honourably and honestly just because he too signed the GPA!
The end objective of GNU is to dismantle brick by brick Zanu PF’s repressive and corrupt political system and replace it with a free, democratic and prosperous one. Of course Mugabe and his cronies will have no role in the new political dispensation; indeed many of them will not only lose the wealth they looted but will face serious human rights violation charges. In short, Tsvangirai expects Mugabe to honestly preside over a process that will incriminate and punish his thugs and henchmen and end with him losing the very thing he has vowed he will not lose- political power. Not even a five year old would be that naïve to expect that from a village idiot!
Zimbabwe is caught up in this mess of the GPA and then the GNU because the nation had a tough question: what to do with a discredited dictator who has been rejected by the electorate but refuses to relinquish power? Those who got us into this mess and proposed the GPA’s answer was to appease the dictator and then over the two to three years life of the GNU erode all political power from under the dictator. Well that strategy has singularly failed!
Now, nine months later, Zimbabwe is back to where it was on 27 June 2008 facing the same question – be it with a sight change. What to do with a discredited dictator, who has been rejected by the electorate, accepts all the appeasements allowed him, but still would not relinquish his dictatorial powers?
The nation can go through the torturous process of parching up the GPA – give Mugabe more to appease him here and force him to give up something there. There is one thing we can be sure of however; Mugabe will never ever preside over any meaningful democratic reforms and regime change!
In June last year we failed to address the tough question: what to do with a discredited dictator who has been rejected by the electorate but refuses to relinquish power? The GPA was not an answer but a fudge. As a nation, we can continue to fudge it but that will not make the problem go away.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti and others have pointed out at the full shop shelves, the 3% GDP growth rate and all the other signs of economic recovery the country has enjoyed since the signing of the GPA and formation of the GNU. On the political front; although human rights violations and acts of lawlessness have continued, they were nothing compared to what happened in April to June 2008. These are very important and very significant gains; the nation has Tsvangirai and company to thank for that. However, we have to ask ourselves was this the best Zimbabwe could have done?
If we had stamped out the violent farm invasions, carried out the land audit and taken away the extra farms from those who have one that one farm and thus put these farms, many of which have been left fallow; this would have made a big impact on Zimbabwe’s food production and economic recovery. The GNU failed to do this.
It was universally acknowledge that foreign aid, particularly from the West, would be critical to Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. The West have stated in no uncertain terms that they would not give direct aid to Zimbabwe because they were not convinced that this GNU was anything else other than Mugabe’s dictatorship by another name. Tsvangirai himself, who had been for nine months pretended that the GNU was not a Mugabe dictatorship in all but name, finally admitted that it was indeed a dictatorship.
How much more would have been achieved if Zimbabwe’s government today had the total support and confidence of the international community?
Nine months since the formation of the GNU, unemployment still remains at 80 to 90%. Most of those employed work for government as teachers, medical staff, etc or they are involved in the buying and selling of goods. Very few people are involved in the production of raw materials or finished products – the sector generating national wealth.
Zimbabwe has been reduced into a nation of civil servants and shop keepers! Where is not for the millions of Diaspora dollars pouring into the country, things would be a lot worse that there are already!
Yes not as many people have been arrested, tortured and/or murdered since the formation of the GNU compared to the period before the GNU. But as soon as Mugabe feels an pressure to implement meaningful democratic reforms he has responded by stepping up the arrests, tortures, etc.
The GNU is not going to deliver on most, if not all, the political reforms it promised. Mugabe has kicked the media reforms into the tall grass. He has made his position very clear on the writing of the new constitution – either we accept his Kariba draft or we get nothing. See the list of ifs list above for what this GNU should have done but have not.
The fundamental weakness with the GPA was offered the answer to what to do with a dictator who refuses to relinquish power by offering to appease him. The GPA did not offer Mugabe a golden handshake; which would have been unacceptable, rewarding him for all the years of repression and corruption. The other option was to let Mugabe to remain president but with no executive power. He did not accept that because there was no guarantee he would not be prosecuted for all the crimes he committed whilst in power. The solution he demanded was that he remained president with all the dictatorial powers.
The GPA endorsed Mugabe’s position that he was would NOT be democratically accountable to the Zimbabwe electorate.
The question we must now answer is: was the price of having food in the shops a fair price for the nation to pay for losing our fundamental and basic right to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country? Tsvangirai, Biti and the rest told us it was.
The question any level headed individual should have asked themselves before signing the GPA, which millions of others have asked themselves throughout history, is: if we give up the right to hold a leader to account what recourse will there be for us if the leader fails to serve our interest.
The GNU will never work because if gives all political power to a dictator and leave us, the people, completely at his mercy.
There is no point in tinkering with the GPA by taking something from here and giving something there; the only change that really matters is that Mugabe must be held accountable to the people and what better way than by having a free and fair election.
The GNU has failed and must now be set aside. People must now concentrate on internationally supervised fresh elections; that was the best and only solution to Zimbabwe’s political crisis in June 2008 and still remains the only solution now! We must have our democratic right to a meaningful vote restored and not be short changed again.
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess - which has caused tragic human suffering and costed hundred of thousands of human lives – because the nation accepted the falsehood that we can still do well even if we have been systematically denied our basic and fundamental political rights. Time for puss-footing is over; it is now time to address the nation’s problems head on and with iron resolve. It was Tsvangirai who led the nation down this garden path of the GNU; he must now do the honourable thing and resign! As for Mugabe and his cronies, all they looted from the people must be recovered and that responsible for the regime’s many serious crimes, they must for once feel the full weight of the law.
God help us! I really do not think Tsvangirai will ever learn. It is not a matter of getting the inclusive government working AGAIN. It has never worked. He was the one who said it was working, when he knew it was not.
The inclusive government will be considered “working”:
- if it restores law and order throughout the country and those responsible for serious human rights violations are arrested and brought before the courts of law.
- if all repressive laws and practices are removed so the there is freedom of expression and association and a truly free press
- if it stopped all farm invasions, carried out the promised land audit without further ado and take away the farms from those with more than one farm.
- if the writing of the new constitution is put back on track and the process accelerated so delivery the new constitution and the holding of fresh free and fair elections in original time-table of18 to 24 months. There are many substantive issues that only a properly constituted government can address and this GNU hybrid has shied away from.
These are the important issues the GNU’s performance will be judge. The firing of RBZ governor and AG, the swearing in of Roy Bennett, the lifting of targeted sanctions, etc; these are peripheral issues. They are important to the concerned individuals or the particular political party but there are of little importance to the nation.
There is no chance of ever getting this GNU to work; that is the harsh reality. To start with the GPA which Tsvangirai himself signed gave Mugabe all the executive powers – he is head of State, head of government and commander of Army and all other State Security Organs. Mugabe has the power to disrupt the GNU so that it does NOT deliver any of the four goals stated above. And that is exactly what he has done. Yes sometimes he has abused his position and was down right a “dishonest partner”, as Tsvangirai rightly said, is pursuit of his selfish goals. Mugabe has shown again and again that he is a ruthless and heartless dictator; surely no one expected him to behave honourably and honestly just because he too signed the GPA!
The end objective of GNU is to dismantle brick by brick Zanu PF’s repressive and corrupt political system and replace it with a free, democratic and prosperous one. Of course Mugabe and his cronies will have no role in the new political dispensation; indeed many of them will not only lose the wealth they looted but will face serious human rights violation charges. In short, Tsvangirai expects Mugabe to honestly preside over a process that will incriminate and punish his thugs and henchmen and end with him losing the very thing he has vowed he will not lose- political power. Not even a five year old would be that naïve to expect that from a village idiot!
Zimbabwe is caught up in this mess of the GPA and then the GNU because the nation had a tough question: what to do with a discredited dictator who has been rejected by the electorate but refuses to relinquish power? Those who got us into this mess and proposed the GPA’s answer was to appease the dictator and then over the two to three years life of the GNU erode all political power from under the dictator. Well that strategy has singularly failed!
Now, nine months later, Zimbabwe is back to where it was on 27 June 2008 facing the same question – be it with a sight change. What to do with a discredited dictator, who has been rejected by the electorate, accepts all the appeasements allowed him, but still would not relinquish his dictatorial powers?
The nation can go through the torturous process of parching up the GPA – give Mugabe more to appease him here and force him to give up something there. There is one thing we can be sure of however; Mugabe will never ever preside over any meaningful democratic reforms and regime change!
In June last year we failed to address the tough question: what to do with a discredited dictator who has been rejected by the electorate but refuses to relinquish power? The GPA was not an answer but a fudge. As a nation, we can continue to fudge it but that will not make the problem go away.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti and others have pointed out at the full shop shelves, the 3% GDP growth rate and all the other signs of economic recovery the country has enjoyed since the signing of the GPA and formation of the GNU. On the political front; although human rights violations and acts of lawlessness have continued, they were nothing compared to what happened in April to June 2008. These are very important and very significant gains; the nation has Tsvangirai and company to thank for that. However, we have to ask ourselves was this the best Zimbabwe could have done?
If we had stamped out the violent farm invasions, carried out the land audit and taken away the extra farms from those who have one that one farm and thus put these farms, many of which have been left fallow; this would have made a big impact on Zimbabwe’s food production and economic recovery. The GNU failed to do this.
It was universally acknowledge that foreign aid, particularly from the West, would be critical to Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. The West have stated in no uncertain terms that they would not give direct aid to Zimbabwe because they were not convinced that this GNU was anything else other than Mugabe’s dictatorship by another name. Tsvangirai himself, who had been for nine months pretended that the GNU was not a Mugabe dictatorship in all but name, finally admitted that it was indeed a dictatorship.
How much more would have been achieved if Zimbabwe’s government today had the total support and confidence of the international community?
Nine months since the formation of the GNU, unemployment still remains at 80 to 90%. Most of those employed work for government as teachers, medical staff, etc or they are involved in the buying and selling of goods. Very few people are involved in the production of raw materials or finished products – the sector generating national wealth.
Zimbabwe has been reduced into a nation of civil servants and shop keepers! Where is not for the millions of Diaspora dollars pouring into the country, things would be a lot worse that there are already!
Yes not as many people have been arrested, tortured and/or murdered since the formation of the GNU compared to the period before the GNU. But as soon as Mugabe feels an pressure to implement meaningful democratic reforms he has responded by stepping up the arrests, tortures, etc.
The GNU is not going to deliver on most, if not all, the political reforms it promised. Mugabe has kicked the media reforms into the tall grass. He has made his position very clear on the writing of the new constitution – either we accept his Kariba draft or we get nothing. See the list of ifs list above for what this GNU should have done but have not.
The fundamental weakness with the GPA was offered the answer to what to do with a dictator who refuses to relinquish power by offering to appease him. The GPA did not offer Mugabe a golden handshake; which would have been unacceptable, rewarding him for all the years of repression and corruption. The other option was to let Mugabe to remain president but with no executive power. He did not accept that because there was no guarantee he would not be prosecuted for all the crimes he committed whilst in power. The solution he demanded was that he remained president with all the dictatorial powers.
The GPA endorsed Mugabe’s position that he was would NOT be democratically accountable to the Zimbabwe electorate.
The question we must now answer is: was the price of having food in the shops a fair price for the nation to pay for losing our fundamental and basic right to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country? Tsvangirai, Biti and the rest told us it was.
The question any level headed individual should have asked themselves before signing the GPA, which millions of others have asked themselves throughout history, is: if we give up the right to hold a leader to account what recourse will there be for us if the leader fails to serve our interest.
The GNU will never work because if gives all political power to a dictator and leave us, the people, completely at his mercy.
There is no point in tinkering with the GPA by taking something from here and giving something there; the only change that really matters is that Mugabe must be held accountable to the people and what better way than by having a free and fair election.
The GNU has failed and must now be set aside. People must now concentrate on internationally supervised fresh elections; that was the best and only solution to Zimbabwe’s political crisis in June 2008 and still remains the only solution now! We must have our democratic right to a meaningful vote restored and not be short changed again.
Zimbabwe is in this political and economic mess - which has caused tragic human suffering and costed hundred of thousands of human lives – because the nation accepted the falsehood that we can still do well even if we have been systematically denied our basic and fundamental political rights. Time for puss-footing is over; it is now time to address the nation’s problems head on and with iron resolve. It was Tsvangirai who led the nation down this garden path of the GNU; he must now do the honourable thing and resign! As for Mugabe and his cronies, all they looted from the people must be recovered and that responsible for the regime’s many serious crimes, they must for once feel the full weight of the law.
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
MUGABE LOYALISTS PUSHING THE DICTATOR TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MDC "DISENGAGEMENT" TO CONSOLIDATE ZANU PF POWER.
Mugabe loyalists are calling for Mugabe to appoint acting ministers to replace MDC ministers who are boycotting cabinet meetings following MDC decision to “disengage” with Mugabe.
Typical of Zanu PF, they are always looking for someone else to blame for their own failures. Mugabe and his cronies have seized for themselves the country's commercial farms and agricultural production has fallen from the height where the nation produced enough food for the nation with surplus for export to the sorry situation today where 80% of our people are dependent on food aid.
The continued farm invasions by Mugabe loyalists have done more harm to Zimbabwe's agricultural recovery prospects than MDC ministers' boycott of Cabinet Meetings could do in a hundred years! Zimbabwe’s economy is in total melt down right now and yet the country has always had a bloated government and this GNU is three times as big as it needed to be!
No Mugabe loyalists see the MDC boycott as an opportunity for their party to seize back all the ministries Zanu PF had lost to MDC. The statements are to test the public reaction. Make no mistake, Mugabe has his list of new ministers ready and it will not take months to have them sworn in either!
Not that MDC ministers have made any difference since their joining Mugabe to form the GNU. Mugabe has not allowed any of them to be effective in their various portfolios; it has been nine months of sheer frustration. Indeed the present boycott is the frustration boiling over.
Everyone warned Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues that the GPA gave Mugabe too much power and therefore the proposed power sharing would not work. But, of course, Tsvangirai turned a deaf ear to all.
After nine months of being send from pillar to post by Mugabe over trivial matters, the so called outstanding issues, Tsvangirai finally got the message. But instead of having a clean break and walkout of the GNU, thus trigger fresh elections; Tsvangirai settled for the half-way house, remain in the GNU but boycott Cabinet meetings.
Of course Mugabe does not want fresh elections – he would be foolish to repeat the sham elections of 27 June 2008 so soon. Appointing acting Zanu PF ministers would suit him just fine; he will have a Zanu PF government without having had to face the electorate! Even if MDC should finally walkout, Mugabe will certainly be better off facing the electorate with his party in total control of every lever of power.
Tsvangirai’s dithering has again given Mugabe the advantage.
Zimbabwe has no hope of getting out of this mess as long as Mugabe remains in power and Tsvangirai will never ever get Mugabe out of power because Mugabe is too canning for someone as naïve and slow as Tsvangirai!
Typical of Zanu PF, they are always looking for someone else to blame for their own failures. Mugabe and his cronies have seized for themselves the country's commercial farms and agricultural production has fallen from the height where the nation produced enough food for the nation with surplus for export to the sorry situation today where 80% of our people are dependent on food aid.
The continued farm invasions by Mugabe loyalists have done more harm to Zimbabwe's agricultural recovery prospects than MDC ministers' boycott of Cabinet Meetings could do in a hundred years! Zimbabwe’s economy is in total melt down right now and yet the country has always had a bloated government and this GNU is three times as big as it needed to be!
No Mugabe loyalists see the MDC boycott as an opportunity for their party to seize back all the ministries Zanu PF had lost to MDC. The statements are to test the public reaction. Make no mistake, Mugabe has his list of new ministers ready and it will not take months to have them sworn in either!
Not that MDC ministers have made any difference since their joining Mugabe to form the GNU. Mugabe has not allowed any of them to be effective in their various portfolios; it has been nine months of sheer frustration. Indeed the present boycott is the frustration boiling over.
Everyone warned Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues that the GPA gave Mugabe too much power and therefore the proposed power sharing would not work. But, of course, Tsvangirai turned a deaf ear to all.
After nine months of being send from pillar to post by Mugabe over trivial matters, the so called outstanding issues, Tsvangirai finally got the message. But instead of having a clean break and walkout of the GNU, thus trigger fresh elections; Tsvangirai settled for the half-way house, remain in the GNU but boycott Cabinet meetings.
Of course Mugabe does not want fresh elections – he would be foolish to repeat the sham elections of 27 June 2008 so soon. Appointing acting Zanu PF ministers would suit him just fine; he will have a Zanu PF government without having had to face the electorate! Even if MDC should finally walkout, Mugabe will certainly be better off facing the electorate with his party in total control of every lever of power.
Tsvangirai’s dithering has again given Mugabe the advantage.
Zimbabwe has no hope of getting out of this mess as long as Mugabe remains in power and Tsvangirai will never ever get Mugabe out of power because Mugabe is too canning for someone as naïve and slow as Tsvangirai!
Friday, 23 October 2009
PROFESSOR MOYO HAS ZIMBABWEANS CHASING A RED HERRING; INSTEAD OF REGIME CHANGE!
Professor Jonathan Moyo has taken up the challenge of making sure Roy Bennett is on Zimbabwe’s national agenda and nothing else. He has called Tsvangirai’s nomination of Bennett treacherous.
“If by dint of fortune the Prime Minister manages to bring pressure to bear and Bennett is sworn-in, King Mzilikazi, Lobengula along with Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi and other fallen heroes of the Chimurenga (Liberation Struggle) would turn in their graves and inspire surviving comrades of the revolution and their offspring to set this whole country on fire,” the sabre-rattling Zanu-PF propagandist warned.
As far as the Professor is concerned Bennett “who fought and massacred our liberation forces”. Being a white Rhodesian, Bennett would have fought on Ian Smith’s side during the war of independence. Almost every able bodied white Rhodesian did; including the many whites who, after independence, have served in Mugabe’s government, including at ministerial level.
Mugabe got international praise for his willingness to let bygone be bygones and policies promoting racial harmony. Mugabe has shown he would work with anybody even those whites whose racial credentials are dubious to say the least. Mugabe has managed very close ties with people like Tiny Rowland and other Corporate big shots, for example, who continuing to do business with the white regime in violation of the imposed international sanctions. For years Tiny Rowland was one of the greatest financial backers of Mugabe and Zanu PF – say no more!
When Mugabe’s political popularity started to wane because his regime was incompetent and corrupt he has always rummaged around for scapegoat. He has found blaming the whites the easiest one of all – the whites had a history of being oppressive and they blamed him for ending their domination and exploitation of the blacks; plenty of raw data to work on.
In 2000, with the Zimbabwe economy in trouble and his political power under threat; Mugabe picked on the white farmers. He needed their farms to plicate with wasteful loyalists to buy their continued support. The move destroyed the country’s agricultural sector and thus accelerated the economic melt down. He knew this would happen and had a ready made explanation for it “he was being punished by the West for taking land off the white!” Of course that is nonsense, but that is beside the point. The point, as far as he is concerned, was the story was plausible and that was all that mattered.
From 2000 onward Zimbabwe’s economy dropped like a stone with heart breaking consequences to the people. Last year Mugabe had one of the most blatant violent elections in human history and through it all Mugabe has somehow managed to play his race card and get away with it.
So when Mugabe started to focus on Roy Bennett it was clear the dictator wanted to take the heat off failed GNU and his role in that. Tsvangirai should have seen this one coming but sadly he did not.
In his recent article in the Gideon Gono owned paper the Financial Gazette Professor Moyo compare appointing Roy Bennett to “having a former NAZI infantryman serving as a deputy Minister of Justice in Israel today”.
It is not at all surprised that Professor Moyo and Minister Chinamasa- no doubt with the tacit approval of Mugabe himself - “instigated the arrest of Bennett last week Wednesday”, The Zimbabwe Times suggested. Mugabe’s sycophants and propagandists will do their best to steer up racial hate until the whole country can talk of nothing else.
Of course MDC had many good reasons to break away from the GNU but the only reason Mugabe will want everyone to talk about is that he refused to swear in Roy Bennett because is of the latter’s white racist threats.
Tsvangirai and MDC bungled this one and now the whole nation will pay dearly for it! As one would say in Shona; “Uku ndiko kunonzi kurumwa nechokuchera!”
Within hours The Zimbabwe Times website has had pages of insulting comments against Professor Moyo! Whilst Zimbabweans have over indulged themselves finding the most insulting words and venting their outrage at Moyo; the fact of the matter is they have forgotten about the GNU and all the economic and political problems Zimbabwe is facing. And that is exactly what Mugabe wanted!
Some Zimbabweans have asked for Professor Moyo to resign his parliamentary seat now that he is a Zanu PF MP and not an independent member. Even if Moyo was to lose the seat in a by-election Mugabe will have a cushy job for him. Patrick Chinamasa lost in last year’s parliamentary elections and Mugabe still appointed him Minister.
Like it or not Professor Jonathan Moyo is worth more than his own weight in gold to Mugabe.
Mugabe and Professor Moyo have not only outwitted Tsvangirai but us too. We must snap out of this insulting Moyo competition and think of ways we can bring about regime change in Zimbabwe, for example!
“If by dint of fortune the Prime Minister manages to bring pressure to bear and Bennett is sworn-in, King Mzilikazi, Lobengula along with Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi and other fallen heroes of the Chimurenga (Liberation Struggle) would turn in their graves and inspire surviving comrades of the revolution and their offspring to set this whole country on fire,” the sabre-rattling Zanu-PF propagandist warned.
As far as the Professor is concerned Bennett “who fought and massacred our liberation forces”. Being a white Rhodesian, Bennett would have fought on Ian Smith’s side during the war of independence. Almost every able bodied white Rhodesian did; including the many whites who, after independence, have served in Mugabe’s government, including at ministerial level.
Mugabe got international praise for his willingness to let bygone be bygones and policies promoting racial harmony. Mugabe has shown he would work with anybody even those whites whose racial credentials are dubious to say the least. Mugabe has managed very close ties with people like Tiny Rowland and other Corporate big shots, for example, who continuing to do business with the white regime in violation of the imposed international sanctions. For years Tiny Rowland was one of the greatest financial backers of Mugabe and Zanu PF – say no more!
When Mugabe’s political popularity started to wane because his regime was incompetent and corrupt he has always rummaged around for scapegoat. He has found blaming the whites the easiest one of all – the whites had a history of being oppressive and they blamed him for ending their domination and exploitation of the blacks; plenty of raw data to work on.
In 2000, with the Zimbabwe economy in trouble and his political power under threat; Mugabe picked on the white farmers. He needed their farms to plicate with wasteful loyalists to buy their continued support. The move destroyed the country’s agricultural sector and thus accelerated the economic melt down. He knew this would happen and had a ready made explanation for it “he was being punished by the West for taking land off the white!” Of course that is nonsense, but that is beside the point. The point, as far as he is concerned, was the story was plausible and that was all that mattered.
From 2000 onward Zimbabwe’s economy dropped like a stone with heart breaking consequences to the people. Last year Mugabe had one of the most blatant violent elections in human history and through it all Mugabe has somehow managed to play his race card and get away with it.
So when Mugabe started to focus on Roy Bennett it was clear the dictator wanted to take the heat off failed GNU and his role in that. Tsvangirai should have seen this one coming but sadly he did not.
In his recent article in the Gideon Gono owned paper the Financial Gazette Professor Moyo compare appointing Roy Bennett to “having a former NAZI infantryman serving as a deputy Minister of Justice in Israel today”.
It is not at all surprised that Professor Moyo and Minister Chinamasa- no doubt with the tacit approval of Mugabe himself - “instigated the arrest of Bennett last week Wednesday”, The Zimbabwe Times suggested. Mugabe’s sycophants and propagandists will do their best to steer up racial hate until the whole country can talk of nothing else.
Of course MDC had many good reasons to break away from the GNU but the only reason Mugabe will want everyone to talk about is that he refused to swear in Roy Bennett because is of the latter’s white racist threats.
Tsvangirai and MDC bungled this one and now the whole nation will pay dearly for it! As one would say in Shona; “Uku ndiko kunonzi kurumwa nechokuchera!”
Within hours The Zimbabwe Times website has had pages of insulting comments against Professor Moyo! Whilst Zimbabweans have over indulged themselves finding the most insulting words and venting their outrage at Moyo; the fact of the matter is they have forgotten about the GNU and all the economic and political problems Zimbabwe is facing. And that is exactly what Mugabe wanted!
Some Zimbabweans have asked for Professor Moyo to resign his parliamentary seat now that he is a Zanu PF MP and not an independent member. Even if Moyo was to lose the seat in a by-election Mugabe will have a cushy job for him. Patrick Chinamasa lost in last year’s parliamentary elections and Mugabe still appointed him Minister.
Like it or not Professor Jonathan Moyo is worth more than his own weight in gold to Mugabe.
Mugabe and Professor Moyo have not only outwitted Tsvangirai but us too. We must snap out of this insulting Moyo competition and think of ways we can bring about regime change in Zimbabwe, for example!
Monday, 19 October 2009
TSVANGIRAI MADE A SERIOUS BLUNDER IN TRUSTING A DISHONEST MUGABE: HE MUST NOW RESIGN.
Listen to Deputy Prime Minister, Mutambara, rambling on S W Radio Africa and immediately one can see why Zimbabwe is in deep, deep trouble. Mugabe landed us in this mess but we can not be serious to expect the likes of Mutambara to dig us out on the mess. How did we pick such an empty head to hold such a top position?
As if having Mutambara for Deputy PM was not bad enough, we have Tsvangirai as Prime Minister!
After the March 2008 elections Tsvangirai went on a diplomatic offensive, when he should have been mobilising his supporters to stop Mugabe rigging of the election results. He wanted SADC to stop Mugabe and, of course, they did not do any such thing. This time he is off on yet another diplomatic offensive to get SADC Heads of State to pressure Mugabe to honour the GPA. A few weeks ago Tsvangirai was in Congo to pressure SADC Heads to do the same thing he wants them to do. In Congo SADC Heads ignored him completely. The chances are, they will do the same yet again.
Tsvangirai made the initial very serious political blunder by signing the GPA and joining Mugabe in forming the GNU. He has finally admitted that and walkout accusing Mugabe of being a “dishonest and unreliable partner.” But this was such a serious and costly blunder the only honourable thing for Tsvangirai those close to him to do now is resign from MDC.
Of course, Tsvangirai would never resign. Resign is as strange and alien to Tsvangirai just as regime change in to Mugabe. These words send the jitters to African leaders, even those supposedly standing on a democratic change platform, like Tsvangirai!
As if having Mutambara for Deputy PM was not bad enough, we have Tsvangirai as Prime Minister!
After the March 2008 elections Tsvangirai went on a diplomatic offensive, when he should have been mobilising his supporters to stop Mugabe rigging of the election results. He wanted SADC to stop Mugabe and, of course, they did not do any such thing. This time he is off on yet another diplomatic offensive to get SADC Heads of State to pressure Mugabe to honour the GPA. A few weeks ago Tsvangirai was in Congo to pressure SADC Heads to do the same thing he wants them to do. In Congo SADC Heads ignored him completely. The chances are, they will do the same yet again.
Tsvangirai made the initial very serious political blunder by signing the GPA and joining Mugabe in forming the GNU. He has finally admitted that and walkout accusing Mugabe of being a “dishonest and unreliable partner.” But this was such a serious and costly blunder the only honourable thing for Tsvangirai those close to him to do now is resign from MDC.
Of course, Tsvangirai would never resign. Resign is as strange and alien to Tsvangirai just as regime change in to Mugabe. These words send the jitters to African leaders, even those supposedly standing on a democratic change platform, like Tsvangirai!
Friday, 16 October 2009
TSVANGIRAI "DISENGAGES" WITH MUGABE OVER BENNETT: FALLING INTO MUGABE'S RACE TRAP!
Mugabe sends MDC’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture to jail and Tsvangirai reacts- he “disengages” with the Mugabe from the GNU.
Mugabe is a master strategist and he set a trap for Tsvangirai and the later walked straight into it!
Mugabe picked on Roy Bennett because he is white. Mugabe has played the race card again and again and it has served him well every time. For the last ten years; talk about Zimbabwe and nine times out ten you end up talking about the white farm invasions. Try as you will to talk about the disruption the invasion have caused or the many farms now fallow; the discussion will gravitate back to addressing the historic injustice created by the white colonialists, which is exactly what Mugabe would want to hear. Zimbabwe’s economy has completely collapsed and Mugabe has committed some shocking human rights violations and all these matters have played second fiddle to the farm invasions. All these has happen not by accident; they were all carefully choreographed!
Mugabe must have been pleasantly surprised when MDC signed the GPA. OK he had out manoeuvred them on countless occasions in the past still even he must have been surprised that they would be that to stupid to sign such a one-side agreement and even to trust him to honour even the marginal concessions he had made. In the last eight months Mugabe has again and again violated the word and spirit of the GPA by appointing the likes of Gideon Gono without consulting the other partners in the GPA and then refusing to point blank to replace Gono. Tsvangirai threatened to walkout of the GNU but never did.
If Tsvangirai had stuck to his guns and actually walkout of the GNU, I bet Mugabe would have relented and fired Gideon Gono, Tomani and any of the so called outstanding issues. Mugabe is not stupid, he did not want the GNU to fail and be fingered for it. However, when it came to Roy Bennett; that was a different matter.
Roy Bennett presented Mugabe with the opportunity to play his race game. Mr Bennett is accused of having weapons of war and thus of threatening peace and Zimbabwe’s sovereignty. The fact that Bennett is white, the links to Mugabe’s mimesis, “the white imperialists”, is not that tenuous. Mugabe has stubbornly refused to swear in Mr Bennett as the MDC’s deputy Minister of Agriculture. Mugabe has done nothing for eight months now hoping MDC would walkout of the GNU over this one. When nothing happened, Mugabe provoked MDC further by having Bennett thrown in jail and finally Tsvangirai swallowed the hook.
Mugabe is well aware that if the GNU collapses, his own legitimacy will once again be called into question. His legitimacy was first questioned after the sham 27 June 2008 presidential run-off because he had failed to hold free and fair elections. His legitimacy is totally dependent on the GNU but not now. If MDC walkout, Mugabe would want to continue to rule the country as if nothing has changed. If anyone should dare question his legitimacy he will claim they are seeking to punish him because he stood up to a white imperialist. Just as he blame Zimbabwe’s economic collapse on the white imperialists “punishing him for redressing the injustice of historic land distribution.”
Tsvangirai should have never agreed to share power with Mugabe particularly after the serious human rights violation leading up to the 27 June 2008 vote. Surprise, surprise, Tsvangirai swept all that aside and joined Mugabe to form the GNU. Many innocent Zimbabweans have been arrested and some have been murdered including MDC members since the formation of the GNU. MDC has never taken any firm actions to get Mugabe to stop. And so for MDC to finally take action over the arrest of one white person who smack on racism; that MDC values the comfort of one white person over the lives of hundreds of blacks!
Mugabe has always accused Tsvangirai of being a puppet of the West and, make no mistake about it, Mugabe will claim Tsvangirai acted in this case not of his own convolution – his white masters pulled the strings!
Tsvangirai called his MDC colleagues and their agreed to “disengage with Zanu PF” – one assumes that is a half-way house to walking out of the GNU. What matters is MDC have swallowed the hook; that is exactly what Mugabe wanted them to do. He will always blame MDC for walking the GNU over the Bennett case whatever happens. It is a great pity that Tsvangirai and MDC always move before engaging their brain!
Mugabe is a master strategist and he set a trap for Tsvangirai and the later walked straight into it!
Mugabe picked on Roy Bennett because he is white. Mugabe has played the race card again and again and it has served him well every time. For the last ten years; talk about Zimbabwe and nine times out ten you end up talking about the white farm invasions. Try as you will to talk about the disruption the invasion have caused or the many farms now fallow; the discussion will gravitate back to addressing the historic injustice created by the white colonialists, which is exactly what Mugabe would want to hear. Zimbabwe’s economy has completely collapsed and Mugabe has committed some shocking human rights violations and all these matters have played second fiddle to the farm invasions. All these has happen not by accident; they were all carefully choreographed!
Mugabe must have been pleasantly surprised when MDC signed the GPA. OK he had out manoeuvred them on countless occasions in the past still even he must have been surprised that they would be that to stupid to sign such a one-side agreement and even to trust him to honour even the marginal concessions he had made. In the last eight months Mugabe has again and again violated the word and spirit of the GPA by appointing the likes of Gideon Gono without consulting the other partners in the GPA and then refusing to point blank to replace Gono. Tsvangirai threatened to walkout of the GNU but never did.
If Tsvangirai had stuck to his guns and actually walkout of the GNU, I bet Mugabe would have relented and fired Gideon Gono, Tomani and any of the so called outstanding issues. Mugabe is not stupid, he did not want the GNU to fail and be fingered for it. However, when it came to Roy Bennett; that was a different matter.
Roy Bennett presented Mugabe with the opportunity to play his race game. Mr Bennett is accused of having weapons of war and thus of threatening peace and Zimbabwe’s sovereignty. The fact that Bennett is white, the links to Mugabe’s mimesis, “the white imperialists”, is not that tenuous. Mugabe has stubbornly refused to swear in Mr Bennett as the MDC’s deputy Minister of Agriculture. Mugabe has done nothing for eight months now hoping MDC would walkout of the GNU over this one. When nothing happened, Mugabe provoked MDC further by having Bennett thrown in jail and finally Tsvangirai swallowed the hook.
Mugabe is well aware that if the GNU collapses, his own legitimacy will once again be called into question. His legitimacy was first questioned after the sham 27 June 2008 presidential run-off because he had failed to hold free and fair elections. His legitimacy is totally dependent on the GNU but not now. If MDC walkout, Mugabe would want to continue to rule the country as if nothing has changed. If anyone should dare question his legitimacy he will claim they are seeking to punish him because he stood up to a white imperialist. Just as he blame Zimbabwe’s economic collapse on the white imperialists “punishing him for redressing the injustice of historic land distribution.”
Tsvangirai should have never agreed to share power with Mugabe particularly after the serious human rights violation leading up to the 27 June 2008 vote. Surprise, surprise, Tsvangirai swept all that aside and joined Mugabe to form the GNU. Many innocent Zimbabweans have been arrested and some have been murdered including MDC members since the formation of the GNU. MDC has never taken any firm actions to get Mugabe to stop. And so for MDC to finally take action over the arrest of one white person who smack on racism; that MDC values the comfort of one white person over the lives of hundreds of blacks!
Mugabe has always accused Tsvangirai of being a puppet of the West and, make no mistake about it, Mugabe will claim Tsvangirai acted in this case not of his own convolution – his white masters pulled the strings!
Tsvangirai called his MDC colleagues and their agreed to “disengage with Zanu PF” – one assumes that is a half-way house to walking out of the GNU. What matters is MDC have swallowed the hook; that is exactly what Mugabe wanted them to do. He will always blame MDC for walking the GNU over the Bennett case whatever happens. It is a great pity that Tsvangirai and MDC always move before engaging their brain!
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