Maravi

Mulongoti and the treacherous women

Mulongoti and the treacherous women
Written by Editor

MIKE Mulongoti yesterday advised women in the country to defend their positions on any national issue. Mulongoti also urged women not to apologise or feel intimidated for taking a stand on any national or moral subject. There is nothing wrong in defending a position on anything that one feels and sincerely believes is right, is just and fair. But there is everything wrong in defending a position that is wrong and one knows it is wrong, unjust and unfair.

In life, and especially in political life, one must not be too stiff-necked, too harsh and unyielding. There are times when it is necessary to yield. And as we have stated before, yielding is necessary, legitimate and essential in two cases: when the yielder is convinced that those who are striving to make him yield are in the right - in which case honest people frankly and openly admit their mistakes - or when an irrational and harmful demand is yielded to in order to avert a greater evil. It is said that little annoyances should not be allowed to stand in the way of big pleasure.
Even from the point of view of strategy and tactics, it is folly for one not to retreat or yield when circumstances demand so. Not doing so is the surest way of not being able to avoid defeat. A buffalo is a very strong animal, but a very stupid one. A buffalo is one good example of a creature that has seriously lacked the intelligence to efficiently and effectively use its strength. And one of the most serious weaknesses of this animal is its inability to retreat, to duck when the situation calls for this. It is on this account that the buffalo loses in fights with the lion, a far much weaker animal. But the lion is a very intelligent animal. It knows how to avoid danger and it has got no shame taking tactical, and even strategic, retreats. In its fight with the buffalo, the lion often runs away, taking tactical retreats. And sometimes completely runs away to avoid a total defeat. In this way, the lion seems never to lose in fights with the buffalo. And it is the buffalo that seems to be losing the fights all the time.

So the women who Mulongoti is advising should be careful with his advice. We are told in the Bible that "anyone can give advice, but some people do so only in their own interest. Be careful when someone offers you advice. Find out first what his interest in the matter is, because you can be sure that he is thinking primarily of himself" (Sirach 37:7-8).

As for apologies, one should not be ashamed to apologise when they are in the wrong or when this can help to save a relationship with a friend or a family member. It is not a weakness to apologise. We are advised: "Admit when you are wrong, and you avoid embarrassment" (Sirach 20:3). There is no need to allow pride to stand in the way and make us fail to apologise to others when we are wrong. This is why it is said that pride is like a fountain pouring out sin, and whoever persists in it will be full of wickedness. Stubbornness will get you into trouble at the end. A stubborn person will be burdened down with troubles.

But it is not difficult to see who Mulongoti is talking about, what he is talking about. He was talking about us and the apology we got from the Zambia National Women's Lobby Group. Mulongoti was also encouraging the treacherous leaders in NGOCC and Women for Change to stand their ground against us. It must be made very clear that we are not the type of people who go round seeking apologies; who go round seeking support. Although we welcome apologies from others, we never go out to seek them. And we never use apologies from others to humiliate them. We say this because we have no problems apologising to other people but we will never allow anyone to use an honest and noble apology of ours to humiliate us. We have made it very clear we are not seeking any apology from NGOCC and Women for Change. They have the right to do what they want; they have the right to attack us and even hate us. This doesn't bother us. However, we also have the right to defend ourselves, our work, our dignity in an honest way and with everything at our disposal.

As for the apology we got from the Women's Lobby Group, it was never solicited in any way. At no time did we open dialogue with the Women's Lobby Group over the position they had taken on those pictures, the pictures Rupiah Banda has labelled pornography. Even in our limited engagement with NGOCC over this issue, at no point or time did we ask them for an apology. They have every right to take their own position and to choose their own friends. Today Mulongoti is their friend, is their defender and their adviser. It is their right to go to bed with whoever they want. We don't choose friends for our friends. NGOCC being defended by Mulongoti, being bedfellows with him and his boss Rupiah may seem strange for NGOCC given its history. But it is their right to prostitute themselves with whoever they want, with whoever they think gives them the highest benefits. But there are consequences and they should accept to meet the temerity of their choices.

For us mutual forgiveness must not eliminate the need for justice and still less should it block the path that leads to truth. On the contrary, justice and truth present the concrete requisites for forgiveness, for reconciliation.

As for NGOCC and Women for Change's new-found love with Mulongoti, Rupiah and others in the MMD, we can only say every creature prefers its own kind, and people are no different. It is said that just as animals of the same species flock together, so people keep company with people like themselves. When you have got power, men will flock to you. We are told that "when a rich man stumbles, his friends will steady him, but if a poor man falls, his friends will have nothing to do with him. When a rich man makes a mistake, there are many people to cover up for him and explain away all the things he never should have said. But let a poor man make a mistake, and he gets nothing but criticism. Even if what he says makes good sense, nobody will listen" (Sirach 13:21-22).

We are reminded that the estimate of a shrewd enemy is very rarely based on sheer misunderstanding: you can tell a person's mistakes by the people who praise him or her.

What we don't understand is why our friends thought they would go around attacking us on radio stations and in the state-owned and government-controlled media without us responding, without us defending our dignity, without us explaining what we did and why we did it. They want to fire at our fort, and yet demand that we surrender our artillery. What jokers are they?

We don't need to be defended or to be praised by Mulongoti. We also don't need any apology from NGOCC or Women for Change. We have not survived by their grace. If anything, we have been more of their servants, we have done more for them than they will ever do for us. This is not to say we want anything from them.

We don't want anything from them. Our policy on this score is very clear: help others even if nobody helps us. It is simply a moral duty, a matter of principle, of conscience - to contribute to the welfare of others, to work for others even if they have done nothing for us. That's what solidarity means to us.

Labels: MIKE MULONGOTI

posted by MrK @ 3:42 PM