The anti-Zimbabwe cookie crumbles
by Basil Mutoti
POLITICS is very unpredictable. An hour in politics is a long time. Fortunes can change overnight. Who would have thought Zimbabwe would be off BBC or CNN and the anti-Zimbabwe lobby would look so discredited and so confused? Talk of extending Zimbabwe sanctions now sounds more like pub talk; and those who advocate sanctions look more confused as each day passes.
British prime minister Gordon Brown cannot handle this hot potato called Zimbabwe.
Former avowed critics of President Mugabe like Lord Malloch-Brown and others left in the British government have gone completely silent, or are secretly reciting the Lord's Prayer wishing for a miracle to happen. Infact Malloch-Brown stood to lose his credibility as a leader, because of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean story is too tight to mention. People simply need their land and wealth back and they need to self-determine; no more, no less.
Just like thousands of British people who throng the City in their Saville Row suits "to run things in Britain", Zimbabweans need to do the same, in their own country, and they don't need lectures from the west. The west is discredited. It should start by lecturing itself on economics, human rights and public diplomacy. They are printing money (masking it as quantitative easing) at a faster rate than Reserve bank Governor, Dr Gideon Gono. Their Attorney Generals are more discredited as they fail to prosecute warmongers who killed and maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
PM Brown is so discredited he had to bring in a warmonger, Tony Blair, to help turn around his fortunes. Blair was red-faced recently at the Chilcot Inquiry. One has to be really desperate to call in such a man. John Prescott was on telly trying to convince people that Blair was still relevant. Like President Mugabe, British voters simply don't like Blair.
Dr Rev John Sentamu! Oh boy. We don't know whether he's decided to wear his collar now that President Mugabe looks like he's going to run for office again. The collarless Rev has to rethink his strategy. Grandstanding will not work. Ideas work. You cannot win against a man who's trying to uplift his people.
Now even Nick Griffin is expressing support for Dr Sentamu. What a tragedy! It's all political correctness gone mad. The British National Party frontman, ironically, was on Revelation TV and said: “I’m an Anglican. By blood, by decent, by the way I was brought up, by my schooling and so on. I’m an Anglican, and really therefore I find myself without a church."
The Archbishop Desmond Tutu has retreated to his hole. Zimbabwe is no playfield. Last we heard of him he was on US's CBS. The programme was dubbed: "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: An Evening with Archbishop Desmond Tutu". Infact it was a replay. That episode won the George Foster Peabody award and had Archbishop Desmond Tutu as the sole guest. Whenever we hear the name Bishop Desmond Tutu, there's an award of some kind. Interesting!
The question asked by President Mugabe on Bishop Tutu was never answered. Talking to CNN's Christianne Amanpour, the president asked: "Do you know what that man amounts to in the ANC?"
Raila Odinga. Where art thou brother? 1,300 Kenyans died in election violence and 300,000 uprooted during weeks of bloodletting in early 2008. Remember that statistic? The aftermath should keep you busy at home. Where is the new constitution promised by elder Annan? Son of the Soil, where are the legal, political, social and economic reforms to promote stability, equity and peace in Kenya? Ruling is not a joke. Look at the log in your eye first Sir, before you call our president an 'embarassment to Africa'.
Obama is your relative you claimed, but he acts more American than Kenyan. Has he deserted you brother? What was the National Holiday all about? Are you still friends with our PM and our Finance Minister?
To our friends and relatives in Botswana, we are ever so grateful. African solutions to African problems, that was what the meeting in Vic Falls was all about. No grandstanding in the media. We come from the same place, and we love each other.
As the anti-Mugabe lobby remains discredited, journalists have taken over the sacred role. But their task is no walk-in-the-park. As Commissions are appointed, ambassadors appointed and violence subsides, they are left with little bad news to report. Concocting stories has become the new way of gathering news. Not for long though. They can't keep bringing documentaries like BBC's "Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children", shot in 2006 as a stop-gap measure or Hopewell Chin'ono's "A Violent Response" to lie about the present. If recycling old violence had any impact, the British would not have had a day in Zimbabwe. People move on and forgive each other, and learn from each other. The EU is made up of former warring parties. Those who silently wish for the worst in ZImbabwe in order to feed their dubious careers always get left by the wayside as the tide turns.
The axiom that "politics is local" rings true for our country. Know the local politics first before you grandstand. Unfortunately few people heed the call, and they get embarassed and discredited in the process. Zimbabwe is simply on the mend, but definitley not for sale.
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*Basil Mutoti is a new columnist for The Zimbabwe Guardian.
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