Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Diplomatic overtures overshadow Tsvangirai's real agenda

Diplomatic overtures overshadow Tsvangirai's real agenda
Comment
Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:46:00 +0000

ONE interesting image that will come out of the Prime Minister's visit to the EU and US is that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Tsvangirai inspecting the German Guard of Honour.

A simple definition of that ceremonial practice would suffice. A "guard of honour is a military practice to honour the fallen in war, or to honor visiting foreign dignitaries.

"A guard of honour is also a ceremony for public figures who have died."

If this simple definition is accepted, then the irony in the PM's visit to Germany could not be more interesting.

Zimbabwe's "independent media" made a hullabaloo about the whole event and missed the irony and subliminal message masked in that image, or that gesture.

A naive media was concerned about what they called the rolling of "full military honours" especially for Prime Minister Tsvangirai, needless of the fact that this is a usual German practice for any visiting government leader.

In January this year Chancellor Merkel and Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi were seen inspecting the German Guard of Honour during the latter's first official visit to Germany. The President of Malta George Abela was not in attendance during that inspection.

The Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso was welcomed on May 5 by Chancellor Merkel in similar fashion, but the Japanese media never made such a hullabaloo as our so-called "independent media" did.

Japanese President Hu Jintao was no less important, simply because his PM had received full military honours in Germany.

To mask the accordance of such honours to PM Tsvangirai as somehow symbolic of the insignificance of President Mugabe is arrogant, illiterate and mischievous.

Diplomatic overtures of the German government should never be used by such naive media outlets to pursue some hidden agenda.

The irony of that diplomatic gesture was that during the salute, the national anthem of Zimbabwe was played by the ceremonial band. Significant lines in that anthem are: "We praise our heroes' sacrifice, And vow to keep our land from foes; And may the Almighty protect and bless our land," yet after inspecting that Guard of Honour and playing that anthem Chancellor Merkel called for the return of "expropriated land".

This, to use finance minister Biti's terms is 'ahistorical'.

The lands referred to here were originally expropriated from the blacks -- from 1896 at the arrival of the Pioneer Column right up to the forced removal of the Tangwena people in the early 1970s from their lands.

Mothers and their children watched their huts and crops being burned down and saw their fathers being driven into the mountains by Ian Smith's police with helicopters and dogs.

Whose expropriated land is the Chancellor referring to in such an ahistorical fashion? What do Western countries mean when they talk of "respect for property rights" when they cannot appreciate the rights of the black people to those lands?

The debate should never be about the morality of the return of expropriated lands to landless blacks, but the fashion in which that return is managed.

The inclusive Government of Zimbabwe is clear on this issue: it is necessary, significant and irreversible.

Germany and the US referred to "PM Tsvangirai's government" needless of the fact that he (the Prime Minister) referred to that same government as the "transitional inclusive Government" made up of MDC (Mutambara) members and Zanu PF party members.

Such sheer arrogance by the West was even welcomed by PM Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi who spoke of the trip as "very highly successful" thus far.

PM Tsvangirai also underscored the fact that he initiated that trip, playing to media tricks that attempt to divert him from the crucial policy issues and his real agenda which was mandated by the inclusive Government.

The visit was never meant to be politicised in such fashion. This is not a Tsvangirai visit, neither is it an MDC-T visit. It is a state visit on behalf of the inclusive Government of Zimbabwe and PM Tsvangirai is leading a delegation, not representing himself or the MDC-T party.

Zimbabweans could not care less who initiated that trip. They will measure that trip against expected deliverables. They would like to see an improvement in their lives. This is the crux of the matter and the onus is on the PM to seek re-engagement and call for the lifting of sanctions that have been detrimental to the lives of Zimbabweans.

Diplomatic overtures should never divert attention from the real issues. A nice photo opportunity should never be used to judge the "success" of PM Tsvangirai's official state visit.

Next week PM Tsvangirai will have to report to Cabinet and President Mugabe. Such overtures will be reduced to zero in that report.

Labels: LAND REFORM, NEOCOLONIALISM

posted by MrK @ 7:00 AM