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(NEWZIMBABWE) The Truth About: Nelson Chamisa

The Truth About: Nelson Chamisa
by
12/08/2009 00:00:00

Nelson Chamisa rose from student activism to become one of the key figures in Zimbabwean politics. President Robert Mugabe famously refused to cap him when he graduated at the University of Zimbabwe -- his name mysteriously disappearing from the graduation programme.

A holder of three degrees --- Political Science and Public Administration (UZ), Masters in International Relations (UZ) and Business Administration (Institute for Marketing Management, SA) – Chamisa was last year chosen for a course on Governance, Democracy and International Human Rights at Stanford University in the United States.

Now the Minister of Information Technology in a coalition government, Chamisa is considered one of the greatest orators of his generation. Here is The Truth About Nelson Chamisa:

Born: February 2, 1978

Hometown: Masvingo
Marital Status: Married to Sithokozile, have a son Ashley (4)

How did student activism prepare you for politics?
Together with the likes of the late legend [Learnmore] Jongwe, [Tafadzwa] Musekiwa, Jethro Mpofu, Daniel Molokela, [Chalton] Hwende, [Takura] Zhangazha, [Phillip] Pasirayi, Hopewell Gumbo and many others, we are products of student activism. Student politics was a leadership incubation chamber where I developed my political life. Through exposure to servant leadership, I learnt and grew in appreciating the meaning and purpose of leadership. For me, exposure is the best form of education. Through exposure; I developed and evolved in leadership.

My days as a student leader helped me appreciate and understand the challenges of leadership, challenges of representation and the challenges of managing centrifugal interests and forces.

Also, as a student leadership, we developed many forms of protest, various forms of interest articulation. Demonstrations were a language for us who felt we were oppressed … wherever autocracy and dictatorship reared its ugly head, we mobilised to smash it. Personally, I am allergic to oppression -- either self suppression or exogenous oppression, I am against it.

So I must say that background in student leadership has helped me go through the furnace, that leadership furnace … that moulds one’s rough edges and gets them polished.

You have spoken fondly of your rural upbringing. What memories and values did you draw from this period of your life?

A lot of people generally don’t like to celebrate their rural upbringing, but I personally draw a lot of inspiration and wisdom from it. As a servant of the people today, I am aware of what children from the countryside have to endure to get to achieve, and that makes me become a possibility thinker. Nothing is impossible.

I came from my rural home without an iPod, when I go back I have an iPod; I came by bus, when I go back I catch a lift. So I think that nothing is impossible, where there is will, right effort and mindset.

One important thing I have learnt is that because of tough life in rural areas and how people have to struggle for everything from firewood, water through to tilling the fields and going to school, as Africans, we are a special people, a strong people, very resilient, hardworking and capable. We deploy our main might for what is best under whatever circumstances.

Wikipedia says of you that you are an “articulate orator” who delivers “charismatic speeches”. Very few will disagree with that, but a great many probably wonder how much practise goes into it?

I am surprised at that Wikipedia conclusion. I believe we are all born to do certain things better. Some are born to serve … to serve their country. I suppose what I am doing is my modest contribution on behalf of my generation to a better world.

When it comes to speeches, I certainly don’t consider myself much of an orator … but I think most times when people speak in public, they do not want to be themselves, I am myself. I free myself from that imprisoned way of doing things. I am not shackled; I am not imprisoned by other politicians’ way of doing things. I find my own path, set my own pace and define my own delivery trajectory. So when I deliver a talk, I deliver my feelings and thoughts, I heart out and unload my mind.

In 2007, you were brutally attacked at the Harare International Airport and left with a fractured skull by suspected state security agents. How has that incident affected your life?

It brought me closer to God; it awakened and strengthened the spirituality in me; it spoke to the existence and presence of divinity, divine powers, the ever excellence of God.

It also strengthened me. I realised how we live in a sea of evil. We get overwhelmed by evil from time to time but it gave me more courage and reminded me of every citizen’s duty to fight evil.

I also realised that the life in our bodies is very easy to lose, and we just retain it by and on the grace of the Lord. I discovered that human beings can plot, but where there is God’s plan, all their pitfalls and snares become meaningless and profitless. It gave me a new sense of purpose and direction … it set a whole new trajectory for me.

You are writing a book on the life of your former friend Learnmore Jongwe [ex-MDC spokesman. Died 2002 in an apparent prison suicide after his arrest for stabbing and killing his wife]. Why?

In every individual’s lifetime, you have characters that change your life, characters that season or flavour your life. For me, Learnmore is such a person. We were friends, we were brothers … we worked hand-in-glove in everything. In fact, whatever we did was well coordinated and I just feel that it’s important that I share with others my wonderful moments with my brother … it’s an idea I have entertained for sometime that I make sure I put pen to paper to try and communicate the wishes, the aspirations, the motivations and thoughts of a friend.

I am in the process of preparing that book, which will be made available in due course. It will offer my perspective on Jongwe’s leadership, his vision and my perspective on the tragic demise of this great Zimbabwean, a man imbued with wisdom, a man pregnant with ideas and ideals, a man who had profound beliefs and vision.

It only makes sense that we celebrate the life of this man, his contribution, his history ... It will be a good tutorial to future generations, when all of us are long gone.

You had a front-row seat to Jongwe’s rise and fall. Is there anything you regret, anything you could have done, to change the course of history do you think?

I suppose that will be part of the book. But I don’t believe that Jongwe ever fell, it was the rise and rise but it was a truncated rise, a terminated rise and of course one wants to interrogate reasons for the termination of such a rare gift of intellect, a blooming flower, a brilliant mind. He was an early bloomer, he had just begun to bloom and all of a sudden there was this heat … the flower wilted. That’s not falling; there are lessons to be learned.

Jongwe was a path finder and an agenda setter. Today, young people are misled under the false promise of being leaders of tomorrow when we know that tomorrow is under siege from the very people who are making those promises.

Learnmore taught us that young people are the leaders of today, we need to play our part in building our country. The duty of today. If we don’t do it today, some people will do it on our behalf and build what we will regret to inherit and pass on to future generations.

So, back to your question, the issues you ask about are some of the things that I am not going to pre-empt. We have to make sure that we celebrate that candle, that light, that flower and then we will have many more flowers in this country, many more Learnmore Jongwes. We have to build on the foundation of course of the truncated, terminated life of a hero.

You are now the Information Technology Minister. What exactly does an ICT minister do?

As Minister, I develop the government ICT policy mix .I promote the use and security of ICTs in the country. I deal with the legislative framework of the ICTs.

But politics being politics is a full contact sport, and I guess one should not mind the occasional blind side tackles … ICTs are not well understood in many corridors in our country. There is certain technophobia that we have to tackle together. In this endeavour, one naturally faces many challenges.

Do you have an iPod?
I carry an iPod all the time, it’s my extra vein. I listen to all sorts of music; you may be surprised by some of it. I enjoy the best both worlds really -- Zimbabwean music in its various genres from Leonard Zhakata, Alick Macheso, the Charambas to Oliver Mtukudzi and then of course I listen to some R&B from the other world. I like Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Rihanna and Akon. But I am only on my iPod when I am not addressing rallies or singing MDC songs!

What do you think of Facebook?
Facebook is a fantastic innovation, a very important networking platform. Life is about relations, networking and communicating. Facebook gives that means of communication, that empowerment to know what’s happening, as well as locate friends. Owning the means of production is incomplete without owning the means of communications – Facebook is one way of communicating.

I know that people who don’t like it say it’s an evil platform and so on. It really depends on what you do with it. I guess just like a knife, it can be used to kill as it can be used positively to cut meat for a delicious meal. I guess it’s like any other instrument which can be abused, or be used to great effect in the service of mankind.

My view is that there are more advantages to Facebook. And of course it is our ambition here to see more Zimbabweans, even in the remotest of villages in the country, on Facebook and indeed other social networking platforms like Tweeter, Skype and YouTube. The internet does not sleep, and we need to take good advantage of it.

So can we safely assume you are a Facebook, Twitter and Skype user?
I am on all those platforms, yes. We don’t just preach; we act what we preach!

Imagine you are on death row, and the executioner grants you a final favour to listen to any song of your choice. What would that be?

Perhaps before we get to that critical stage, I would have successfully challenged the death penalty. I totally object to the death penalty. The Bible says you shall not kill for whatever reason; it’s there in the Commandments. The ultimate sentence belongs to the Almighty. Who are we to judge?

I believe life belongs to the maker, and we are not makers of man, we are man ourselves.

There are three things I was born with, which I will take to my grave -- hope, freedom and love. These are the three things I believe were born part of me and define who I am. Killing is a negation of ubuntu.

What’s your favourite dish?
Sadza and chicken – that’s my order even when I am in China, UK or USA. Before they even give me the menu, they will have to tell me they can’t make it! It’s what I call food. I am an African, I am a Zimbabwean, and I come from the village. When I was growing up, chicken was special meat, and I fell in love with it -- I guess because of childhood deprivation. I need to compensate for lost glory and time you see.

Labels: MDC, NELSON CHAMISA, PROFILE

posted by MrK @ 4:44 PM