Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) New political thinkers required on Zimbabwe

New political thinkers required on Zimbabwe
Farai M. Kurenjekwa—Opinion
Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:21:00 +0000

DEAR EDITOR—There have been many predictions on how Zimbabwe will fare in 2008. Many of them have been wrong. There were media reports on how the political situation will look post-2008. Many of the predictions of the so-called “Zimbabwean political and economic analysts” have been completely wrong; yet day-in-day-out; we are fed these wrong analyses.

Instead, we have seen the Zimbabwean people become victims in their own country: of violence, hunger, starvation and disease. The people have been at the receiving end and with no sign of their suffering abating.

Critics and political pundits have continued to use the same rhetoric and the polarization of our society has continued. Millions of people have fled the country and those that remain subsist at the very basic level.

Zimbabweans pride themselves of being a very learned and literate bunch. If this is so, why is it that every year they keep asking for other countries and other people to fight their course? Surely the likes of former President Thabo Mbeki and the Sadc region can only facilitate efforts that Zimbabweans themselves initiate and devise. They are indeed facilitators.

One unfortunate phrase that has taken centre-stage in current discussions on Zimbabwe is “Guarantors of the Global Political Agreement”. I have heard Opposition circles mention this term many times. This is a very unfortunate term and has been used for ‘scape-goating’ purposes by those individuals who do not want to take charge for engaging in serious and solid discussions on Zimbabwe.

Zimbabweans should wake up, and wake up quick: both individual voters and politicians alike. For 2008, newspapers, publications, radio stations, etc should encourage a new breed of thinkers, analysts, columnists, etc. Those who have dominated these spaces thus far leave a lot to be desired.

Farai M. Kurenjekwa
Dublin

Labels: ECONOMY, SANCTIONS

posted by MrK @ 10:50 PM