(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Grand welcome for President in Malawi
Saturday, 17 August 2013 23:00
Caesar Zvayi in LILONGWE, Malawi
President Mugabe received a rapturous welcome at the opening of the 33rd Ordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government at the Bingu wa Mutharika International Conference Centre here yesterday.
Wild cheers and chants of ‘‘comrade!, comrade!’’ reverberated across the auditorium when the master of ceremonies introduced President Mugabe, prompting him to rise again to pump his right fist into the air in acknowledgment, drawing wild applause from delegates and handshakes from his colleagues at the top table.
The welcome set the stage for the congratulatory messages that characterised the opening ceremony.
First to the podium was outgoing Sadc executive secretary Dr Tomaz Salomao, who gave a valedictory speech, thanking the region for the support it gave him during his eight-year tenure at the helm of the secretariat that he will today leave to Dr Stergomena L. Tax.
Dr Tax, who is the permanent secretary in Tanzania’s Ministry of East African Co-operation, beat Mr Peter Simon, the Minister of Investment, Natural Resources and Industry of the Seychelles, to become the first woman to head the secretariat.
Dr Salomao was followed by host President and incoming Sadc chairperson Dr Joyce Banda who also congratulated President Mugabe and Zanu-PF for a resounding electoral victory, saying Zimbabwe should always count on Malawi’s support.
‘‘We wish to congratulate President Robert Gabriel Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe for conducting peaceful elections and free elections. We wish to assure the President and people of Zimbabwe of our continued support as a member of this (Sadc) family,’’ she said.
Next up was African Union Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who said the AU will always deploy election observers wherever elections are held in order to have first-hand information.
‘‘In this regard, we would like to congratulate the people of Zimbabwe for having a free and peaceful election,’’ Dr Zuma said.
The AU deployed long-term and short-term observer missions to the harmonised elections, with the latter led by former Nigerian president General Olusegun Obasanjo who endorsed the polls while Dr Zuma dismissed MDC-T rigging claims, saying no such issues were brought to their attention after meeting the party leadership in Harare.
Outgoing Sadc chairperson President Armando Emilio Guebuza was next on the podium and also congratulated President Mugabe and Zanu-PF for resoundingly winning the harmonised elections.
After the opening speeches, President Guebuza handed the chairpersonship badge to President Banda who, in her acceptance speech, pledged to bring Sadc closer to the people.
Zimbabwe’s pole position in literacy in Africa was on show when Tarrens Muradzikwa, an Upper Sixth science student at Marist Brothers in Nyanga, scooped the first prize in the Secondary Schools Essay Competition for the second year running, pocketing US$1 500 plus a Samsung Galaxy cellphone.
Third prize went to Precious
Nemutezi, a Lower Sixth science student at St Dominic’s in Mutare. Nemutezi pocketed US$750 plus a Samsung Galaxy cellphone.
The two pupils attributed their success to God, their schools and personal drive to excel in whatever they do. After the awards, the leaders broke for lunch after which they retreated into a closed session to tackle a broad agenda that included discussing a report of the Ministerial Task Force on Regional Economic Integration that was mandated to work on a roadmap for the proposed launch of the Sadc Customs Union, pursuant to deepening integration and promoting the smooth movement of goods and services across the region through the removal of non-trade barriers.
The launch of the union was initially scheduled for 2010. However, member countries asked for more time to first implement the Sadc Free Trade Area that was launched in August 2008.
The report on the Sadc Infrastructure Investment Summit, held in Mozambique in June, was also on the agenda.
With regards to the political situation in the region, the leaders were to receive a report from the outgoing Troika chairperson, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania.
Contrary to reports in some sections of the media, Zimbabwe was not on the agenda apart from the passing mention hailing the harmonised elections, which were endorsed as credible by a 573-member Sadc Election Observer Mission.
The leaders were also set to receive a report on the Sadc Tribunal that was disbanded in 2010, following an order by the Sadc Summit for an independent review of its functions and terms of reference. This was after it passed questionable decisions regarding the progressive land reform and resettlement programme in Zimbabwe.
Summit last year directed that the Protocol on the Sadc Tribunal and Rules of Procedure thereof be negotiated and the jurisdiction of the new Tribunal be confined only to an advisory role and interpretation of the Sadc Treaty and any protocols that may be negotiated among member states.
The Summit enters the second and final day today.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, JOYCE BANDA, MALAWI, ROBERT MUGABE
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(ALLAFRICA, THE HERALD ZW) Zimbabwe: EU Dumps Tsvangirai
By Caesar Zvayi, 26 June 2013
THE European Union should not pre-occupy itself with who is in power in Zimbabwe, but concentrate on improving the country's political culture and institutions as support for the MDC-T has waned over the years. The revelations, a virtual vote of no confidence in MDC-T's electoral chances, are contained in an EU Parliament policy document titled "Quick Policy Insight Zimbabwe's 2013 General Elections" that was published on May 28 ahead of the Constitutional Court ruling ordering elections by July 31.
"Government turnover does not guarantee democratic change in Zimbabwe. Zanu-PF lacks democratic roots; but the MDC has, for its part, done little to prove its trustworthiness. Rather than asking who is in power, international analysts might want to put a stronger focus on how to actually improve Zimbabwe's political culture and institutions," reads the document in part.
The EU's Damascene moment, that tallied with several recent surveys pointing to a Zanu-PF victory in the elections, dovetailed with recent statements by senior MDC-T officials who admitted that the majority of Zimbabweans had lost faith in MDC-T because of the party's failure to live up to its rhetoric.
Ex-journalist and MDC-T founding member Grace Kwinjeh laid into the party on her Facebook Wall after being elbowed out of the Makoni Central constituency primary elections which she claimed to have won before being dumped for one Patrick Sagandira.
"The bulk of Zimbabweans who have lost faith in us as a party have because of this kind of behaviour (failing to walk the talk), they judge us not by what we say, but we do. I hope you can bring this to the attention of the party leadership . . . for the record I am not accepting the charade that took place in Makoni Central," she charged.
In a telephone interview from her base in Belgium last night, Kwinjeh confirmed writing to the MDC-T leadership complaining over lack of intra-party democracy.
"I have presented my petition and I'm told the party is sitting and discussing this issue," she said. "So, I am waiting for the party's response."
MDC-T Manicaland provincial chairman Mr Julius Magaramombe, who won the party's primaries in Buhera North, also posted on his Facebook Wall his fear for his life after warning the MDC-T leadership not to be surprised if supporters voted for Zanu-PF.
"A Democratic Party without democracy will pay the ultimate price at the hands of the people . . . folks, I've just discovered that speaking the truth can get you killed, literally. And you know what? I'm ready to die!" he said.
MDC-T, the EU said, had tried to capitalise on public discontent, presenting itself as an alternative to an aged and corrupt Zanu-PF elite culminating in Mr Tsvangirai's lead in the first round of the presidential elections in 2008, but the party had since lost any goodwill it had as public opinion favours Zanu-PF.
"The MDC enjoys backing from many foreign actors in the region and from overseas. Yet the party also faces numerous problems.
"First, its reputation has suffered critical blows from a range of personal lapses by its leader: numerous sexual adventures of 61 year-old Tsvangirai, including the pregnancy of a 23-year old woman and his denial of paternity; reports of growing corruption and financial mismanagement within the MDC headquarters; and Tsvangirai's refusal to accept criticism of his increasingly centralised leadership style," reads the EU report.
" What is more, the MDC's participation in government for more than four years -- although in a weak position -- renders it increasingly difficult to argue that it could bring about a radical turn for the better. Disenchanted with the party's inability to trigger decisive change, many young urbanites -- previously the MDC's most devoted supporters -- have stopped attending the party's once-overcrowded rallies and have sought other arenas to voice their discontent. Pentecostal churches have seen their popularity skyrocket, and new political alternatives have emerged, including the recently revived Zimbabwe African People's Union."
Several recent surveys from the likes of Mass Public Opinion Institute, Freedom House and Afro barometer have pointed to a Zanu-PF victory in the harmonised elections with the latest opinion coming from the leading US think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations that described the prospect of a Zanu-PF loss at the polls as highly unlikely.
The EU report acknowledges this saying; "recent surveys suggest that Zanu-PF by now attracts more public support than the MDC, a total turnaround from 2008/2009. The MDC may yet regain control by forming a coalition with a third party. Yet Tsvangirai's chances of finding a suitable partner appear meagre, since he broke ties with a smaller MDC faction led by Welshman Ncube, and other promising parties are lacking."
The MDC-T attempt to form a grand coalition against Zanu-PF ahead of the elections recently hit a snag with several key allies; among them the NCA, Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, MDC99, ZCTU Concerned Affiliates and MDC, distancing themselves from the party accusing it of losing direction.
Voting patterns in the Constitutional referendum held mid-March revealed that Zanu-PF strongholds drove the Yes Vote, a development affirmed by statistics released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that showed high voter registration in Zanu-PF strongholds coupled with low figures in urban and peri-urban areas from where the MDC-T drew support over the years.
The MDC-T acknowledged the voter apathy in its election strategy document titled 'Priority Activities ahead of 2013 Election'.
The EU document also lays into the MDC-T's campaign of violence which it said was costing the party support.
"Evidence that MDC youth groups have engaged in violent campaigns has further undermined the party's credibility. The political outlook, as a result, has changed drastically".
The MDC-T has unleashed a wave of intra- and inter-party political violence in a bid to not only trash the political environment to abet its call for poll postponement, but to also provide fodder for its Western allies to discredit the poll. Harmonised elections are scheduled for July 31, with nomination courts for contesting candidates sitting on Friday.
The terror campaign began last year, but was intensified from January, with over 45 cases being recorded countrywide since the beginning of the year.
In all the recorded cases, MDC-T supporters were at the forefront of attacking their colleagues or those from other political parties, especially Zanu-PF.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, EU, MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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(STICKY) (ALLAFRICA, THE HERALD ZW) Zimbabwe: EU Dumps Tsvangirai
By Caesar Zvayi, 26 June 2013
THE European Union should not pre-occupy itself with who is in power in Zimbabwe, but concentrate on improving the country's political culture and institutions as support for the MDC-T has waned over the years. The revelations, a virtual vote of no confidence in MDC-T's electoral chances, are contained in an EU Parliament policy document titled
"Quick Policy Insight Zimbabwe's 2013 General Elections" that was published on May 28 ahead of the Constitutional Court ruling ordering elections by July 31.
"Government turnover does not guarantee democratic change in Zimbabwe. Zanu-PF lacks democratic roots; but the MDC has, for its part, done little to prove its trustworthiness. Rather than asking who is in power, international analysts might want to put a stronger focus on how to actually improve Zimbabwe's political culture and institutions," reads the document in part.
The EU's Damascene moment, that tallied with several recent surveys pointing to a Zanu-PF victory in the elections, dovetailed with recent statements by senior MDC-T officials who admitted that the majority of Zimbabweans had lost faith in MDC-T because of the party's failure to live up to its rhetoric.
Ex-journalist and MDC-T founding member Grace Kwinjeh laid into the party on her Facebook Wall after being elbowed out of the Makoni Central constituency primary elections which she claimed to have won before being dumped for one Patrick Sagandira.
"The bulk of Zimbabweans who have lost faith in us as a party have because of this kind of behaviour (failing to walk the talk), they judge us not by what we say, but we do. I hope you can bring this to the attention of the party leadership . . . for the record I am not accepting the charade that took place in Makoni Central," she charged.
In a telephone interview from her base in Belgium last night, Kwinjeh confirmed writing to the MDC-T leadership complaining over lack of intra-party democracy.
"I have presented my petition and I'm told the party is sitting and discussing this issue," she said. "So, I am waiting for the party's response."
MDC-T Manicaland provincial chairman Mr Julius Magaramombe, who won the party's primaries in Buhera North, also posted on his Facebook Wall his fear for his life after warning the MDC-T leadership not to be surprised if supporters voted for Zanu-PF.
"A Democratic Party without democracy will pay the ultimate price at the hands of the people . . . folks, I've just discovered that speaking the truth can get you killed, literally. And you know what? I'm ready to die!" he said.
MDC-T, the EU said, had tried to capitalise on public discontent, presenting itself as an alternative to an aged and corrupt Zanu-PF elite culminating in Mr Tsvangirai's lead in the first round of the presidential elections in 2008, but the party had since lost any goodwill it had as public opinion favours Zanu-PF.
"The MDC enjoys backing from many foreign actors in the region and from overseas. Yet the party also faces numerous problems.
"First, its reputation has suffered critical blows from a range of personal lapses by its leader: numerous sexual adventures of 61 year-old Tsvangirai, including the pregnancy of a 23-year old woman and his denial of paternity; reports of growing corruption and financial mismanagement within the MDC headquarters; and Tsvangirai's refusal to accept criticism of his increasingly centralised leadership style," reads the EU report.
" What is more, the MDC's participation in government for more than four years -- although in a weak position -- renders it increasingly difficult to argue that it could bring about a radical turn for the better. Disenchanted with the party's inability to trigger decisive change, many young urbanites -- previously the MDC's most devoted supporters -- have stopped attending the party's once-overcrowded rallies and have sought other arenas to voice their discontent. Pentecostal churches have seen their popularity skyrocket, and new political alternatives have emerged, including the recently revived Zimbabwe African People's Union."
Several recent surveys from the likes of Mass Public Opinion Institute, Freedom House and Afro barometer have pointed to a Zanu-PF victory in the harmonised elections with the latest opinion coming from the leading US think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations that described the prospect of a Zanu-PF loss at the polls as highly unlikely.
The EU report acknowledges this saying; "recent surveys suggest that Zanu-PF by now attracts more public support than the MDC, a total turnaround from 2008/2009. The MDC may yet regain control by forming a coalition with a third party. Yet Tsvangirai's chances of finding a suitable partner appear meagre, since he broke ties with a smaller MDC faction led by Welshman Ncube, and other promising parties are lacking."
The MDC-T attempt to form a grand coalition against Zanu-PF ahead of the elections recently hit a snag with several key allies; among them the NCA, Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, MDC99, ZCTU Concerned Affiliates and MDC, distancing themselves from the party accusing it of losing direction.
Voting patterns in the Constitutional referendum held mid-March revealed that Zanu-PF strongholds drove the Yes Vote, a development affirmed by statistics released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that showed high voter registration in Zanu-PF strongholds coupled with low figures in urban and peri-urban areas from where the MDC-T drew support over the years.
The MDC-T acknowledged the voter apathy in its election strategy document titled 'Priority Activities ahead of 2013 Election'.
The EU document also lays into the MDC-T's campaign of violence which it said was costing the party support.
"Evidence that MDC youth groups have engaged in violent campaigns has further undermined the party's credibility. The political outlook, as a result, has changed drastically".
The MDC-T has unleashed a wave of intra- and inter-party political violence in a bid to not only trash the political environment to abet its call for poll postponement, but to also provide fodder for its Western allies to discredit the poll. Harmonised elections are scheduled for July 31, with nomination courts for contesting candidates sitting on Friday.
The terror campaign began last year, but was intensified from January, with over 45 cases being recorded countrywide since the beginning of the year.
In all the recorded cases, MDC-T supporters were at the forefront of attacking their colleagues or those from other political parties, especially Zanu-PF.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, EU, MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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(HERALD ZW) Humble Tsvangirai, I presume?
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 10:23
FROM today please call me Humble Caesar Zvayi, I am really, really desperate to be humble. For a humble life is what I have been trying to build since the day I earned my first salary but alas, I didn’t know what such a life entails till I heard it from the lips of our Prime Minister, the ‘‘Humble’’ Right Honourable Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
The man lives a “humble’’ life in a US$4,5million mansion in Harare’s posh Highlands suburb. It is such a humble existence that having bought the house for US$790 000, that is three quarters of a million US dollars, his humility demanded that it be renovated at a cost of US$1,5million of which he reportedly took a whopping US$3million, US$1,5million apiece from the central bank and treasury, which is why the house is today valued at US$4,5million.
Of the US$3million, US$1,5 went to renovations while the other US$1,5million no one knows but with reports the man became a legend of all kinds of seas, you can hazard a guess.
It is such a humble existence that a string of women last year fought over Mr Tsvangirai for his athletic build and gorgeous, drop dead looks, with one of them revealing that the man had paid US$36 000 ‘‘damages’’ for her without batting an eyelid, while another told of a jet-set life of boat cruises and seven star hotels.
In fact, it is such a frugal existence that Tsvangirai could afford to buy his first wife out of a marriage with a lump sum payment of US$300 000 and an undisclosed monthly maintenance plan, all so he could be left to enjoy life with his second wife in peace. I REITERATE, in peace.
Who wouldn’t want such a humble lifestyle? One with enough money to buy one self out of a marriage? A humble life that enables one to fly all of 18 hours to New York for a family get together that could have been held back in Humanikwa Village, but humbleness required lording it for a week in a US$5000 a night suite at the plush Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan that is normally monopolised by Sheiks and Emirs rolling in oil dollars.
Please call me Humble Zvayi, maybe, just maybe, I may live such a humble life!
But what is my point?
My point is what Tsvangirai says and what he does are as different as day and night.
The other day the man, who has been clamouring for so-called media reforms, and who on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day earlier this month waxed lyrical about his commitment to Press freedom, media plurality etc, was busy threatening unspecified action against journalists who see him as an ugly duckling not the handsome swan the women who fought for him took him to be.
Journalists do not have to hold a contrary opinion. It is illegal in Tsvangirai’s book. I am one of those journalists who were put on western sanctions at the instigation of Tsvangirai’s party as I stood accused of “closing democratic space’’ whatever that means. It did not dawn on Tsvangirai that in having me on sanctions, his handlers were also closing my democratic space.
Today the man talks media reforms but is deathly silent on the pirate stations his handlers set up in a bid to prop his political fortunes, that waned regardless. He talks of the full implementation of the GPA but conveniently forgets that the major outstanding issue to the full implementation of that GPA are the illegal sanctions regimes he grovelled for.
Maybe it all has to do with the professed humility, kudya uroyi nekunyara his handlers as it were.
Well the man talks transparency but lies to the nation with a straight face, his latest fib being the ludicrous claim that he was issued a second hand Mercedes Benz vehicle when he took delivery of a spanking new machine with just 28km on the clock, delivery mileage.
But to our man from Buhera, the truth is what he says it is, the same way he emerged from his party’s national council meeting on October 12 2005, to misrepresent that there had been a deadlock when the issue was put to the vote with 33 council members for participating in the Senate elections, and 31 against with two spoilt ballots; and as party president he had used his casting vote to break the impasse.
It later turned out that there had been no deadlock as the national council had endorsed participation since decisions were taken by simple majority; and there was no provision for the so-called casting vote in the MDC constitution.
But to our man from Buhera, the truth is what he says it is.
This is the same thinking that saw Tsvangirai rush into the region to try to misrepresent the socio-political situation in a bid to get support for a postponement of elections constitutionally due on or before June 29 , when the life of the Seventh Parliament expires.
Well, our long suffering ‘’democrat’’ who has harped ad nauseum over the years that Zimbabwe faced a ‘’crisis of legitimacy’’ is digging in over putting himself to the people for a verdict, when ‘’dictator Mugabe is insisting on elections.
But then it’s all in a day’s work for Tsvangirai, just as with lifestyle, democracy is what he says it is.
I remain, Humble Caesar Zvayi.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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(HERALD ZW) When dwarfish thieves in giant robes try to pilfer the struggle
Tuesday, 23 April 2013 22:21
Caesar Zvayi My Turn
THERE is a ruckus in South Africa over the opposition Democratic Alliance’s decision to use pictures of Nelson Mandela and Helen Suzman embracing, with the words “We played our part in opposing apartheid” on its awareness campaign pamphlet.
The DA’s attempt to put itself in the pantheon of the heroes of the struggle against apartheid has naturally angered the ANC, which said Helen Zille’s DA should not have used either of the two leaders since none were ever members of the rightwing party.
The pamphlet that identifies Suzman as ‘‘one of the founder members’’ of the DA, is one of several in the DA’s “Know your DA” campaign that has been launched as part of the build-up to next year’s general elections.
The ANC slammed the DA’s campaign as a “cynical and opportunistic exercise in propaganda”.
But the DA dug in claiming Mandela was a global icon and Suzman a member of a predecessor party of the DA.
Suzman, who was an opposition MP for 36 years, had been a member of the Progressive Party which became the Progressive Federal Party and later merged with other parties to become the DA.
The DA’s attempt to “steal’’ Mandela and Suzman was roundly slammed by the ANC which accused Zille of “deception and deceit’’ in trying to woo black voters
“This cynical and transparent attempt to rewrite history and to pretend that most of the DA’s members and leaders were not beneficiaries of apartheid but champions against that crime against humanity is dishonest and desperate,” ANC Western Cape chairman Marius Fransman fumed.
Hellen Zille
Well if they ask me, Mandela was stolen a long time ago which is why he has been turned into a virtual mascot for any westerner who wants to appear politically correct after setting foot in Africa. That is why Mandela, who was deemed a terrorist by the westerners as late as his 90th birthday, has a statue in Britain’s Trafalgar Square.
This is because from the “terrorist’’ who was put in the slammer in June 1964, to the hero who ambled out of prison in February 1994, Mandela became the typical “good African’’ during his tenure as he did not upset the apple cart.
He left office leaving South Africa virtually the same way he had found it when he began his term at Union Buildings.
Be that as it may, this week, we celebrated 33 years of independence here. Thirty-three years during which we did the unthinkable by upsetting the colonial status quo. We dismantled the economic order inherited at independence that made us virtual hewers of wood and drawers of water in our own country.
We removed those structures and replaced them with a genuine, black, wealth-creating middle class that is creating a truly Zimbabwean economy.
We had every reason to celebrate our independence as we have both the crown and the crown jewels. And because of that you will not see the MDC-T trying to steal Robert Mugabe for use on its pamphlet because he is not the archetype of ‘‘a good African’’.
You will, however, see that quisling party trying to cloth itself in nationalist robes, claiming, as Tsvangirai recently did “to be there to complete the unfinished business of the liberation struggle.’’ Really, with the excitable Chamisa quipping, “the MDC is a creature of the struggle.’’
The MDC can only be situated in the struggle to the extent that it is home to the Rhodesian agenda which is why all ex-Rhodesian security services men and women found a home in its rank and file.
Tsvangirai’s kin in the struggle would be Morrison Nyathi, who joined and deserted the struggle before selling it out. For Tsvangirai to claim to be completing the “unfinished business of the struggle’’ is to mistake Zimbabweans for a pack of fools.
MDC-T represents a return to Rhodesia, a reversal of land reforms, and indigenisation and economic empowerment. An MDC-T government would reduce Zimbabwe to a banana republic, there to serve the interests of its Western handlers.
The liberation struggle was not waged so that black Zimbabweans would remain workers on white-held farms which is what the MDC-T has been advocating. It was waged so that the soil returns to its rightful owners. The struggle was not waged so that black Zimbabweans would remain mere blue-collar workers in white-owned factories and mines like what the MDC-T’s JUICE advocates.
It was waged so that black Zimbabweans get control of the means of production, and determine their economic destiny.
No sane person would have laid down his life so that he gets food instead of a farm, a job instead of the factory, flag independence instead of total independence like what MDC-T harps about.
It is also quite laughable for the MDC-T leader to claim that independence did not come with freedoms when he not only has freedom to front a foreign sponsored party but to openly consort with the country’s enemies without comebacks.
Tsvangirai was either simply exercising his jaws or does not know what the word freedom means.
Be that as it may, isn’t it easier for the likes of Zille and Tsvangirai — mere dwarfish thieves in giant robes — to fight on the right side of history and justice instead of trying to claim what they can never be identified with?
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, LIBERATION, MDC, MDC TREASON
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So this is democracy?
Wednesday, 11 July 2012 14:58
STUPID WHITE MEN . . . AND OTHER SORRY EXCUSES FOR THE STATE OF THE NATION! Is a book by American writer Michael Moore that interrogates the excesses of America’s powerful elite. Published in 2001, the book that was almost shelved by publishers who feared a reader backlash on account of the September 11 bombings on the World Trade Centre and The Pentagon, spent 50 consecutive weeks on the New York Times best-seller list, eight of which were at Number 1.
Generally known by its short title, Stupid White Men, the book criticises US government policies in general, and the policies of the Clinton and Bush administrations in particular.
The satirical and thought-provoking, ‘A Prayer to Afflict the Comfortable’, was originally published in this book.
In the prayer, Moore asks God to create circumstances in which powerful figures in the American establishment are given problems or situations that affect “ordinary” Americans.
Among his pleas, Moore requests that: every member of the House of Representatives contracts cancer; all senators become drug addicts and be permanently incarcerated; that their children become gay; all white political leaders “who believe black people have it good these days to become black-skinned overnight; and for bishops in the Roman Catholic Church to develop unplanned pregnancies!
Moore’s central argument is that if all political figures experienced the same level of injustice and misfortune as average citizens, they would be more sympathetic and better leaders.
His facetious conclusion is that the effect of God answering the prayer, in terms of the benefits that would accrue to the majority would outweigh the damage to the smaller number of afflicted members of "the Comfortable”.
I recalled this prayer as I read the scandalous utterances by the self-exiled MDC-T treasurer, Roy Bennett who — in an interview with pirate radio station Studio 7 — likened President Mugabe to a diseased dog.
Earlier on, the Great White Hope had likened our service chiefs to rats saying he had drafted a ‘‘rat list’’ of service chiefs to fire WHEN (not if) MDC-T wins elections.
Said Bennett: ‘‘ . . . We did not begin the struggle (for regime change) to stroke the hand that kills. No more GNU — a miserable and malnourished mongrel fathered by an illegitimate and diseased village dog. Zanu-PF, get out of our way. Let’s finish it now.’’
Proded by interviewer, Violet Gonda, on who the ‘‘diseased village dog’’ was, Bennett said: ‘‘Obviously Mugabe is the dog.’’
I would want Roy Bennett, the ex-Rhodesian security services man, to not only wake up black but to wake up as a guerrilla in 1966. I would want him to be incarcerated in Ian Smith’s prison for 11 years separated from his newly married wife, be tortured and denied the right to go and bury his only son. I would want him to cross into Mozambique to lead the war effort, survive numerous assassination attempts at the hands of white Rhodies, witness their atrocities; and see if at independence in 1980, he would have the humanity to not only forgive his tormentors but extend the hand of reconciliation.
I would want Bennett to then stand up and utter the following words; which were the central theme in Prime Minister-elect Robert Mugabe’s address to the nation on March 4 1980 as he proclaimed the policy of reconciliation:
‘‘I urge you, whether you are black or white, to join me in a new pledge to forget our grim past, forgive others and together, as Zimbabweans, trample upon racialism, tribalism and regionalism, and work hard to reconstruct and rehabilitate our society as we reinvigorate our economic machinery.’’
I would want the black Bennett, who would have survived Smith’s bombs and biological warfare, who would have witnessed the atrocities at Nyadzonia, Chimoio, Tembwe, Freedom Camp, Chibondo to calmly look as ex-Rhodies come back masquerading as fighters for, and defenders of human rights and democracy.
I would want him to listen to ex-Rhodies in the MDC rank and file call him rats, I would want him to see a Tsvangirai who fled a liberation training camp demanding a salute from all who stayed behind. I would want Bennett to sit at the same table with Eric Matinenga, the white Roy Bennett, and Giles Mutsekwa and not think about the wailing bones of Chibondo. I would want him to hear the white Bennett call him a rat, and see if he does not go berserk the way he did when Justice and Legal
Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa reminded him that he was born of bandit loins.
I doubt that, given his recent irresponsible mouthing, Bennett would be able to do what President Mugabe or the service chiefs have done, namely see their erstwhile enemy as a friend and pretend yesterday never happened.
Thirty-two years after that historic policy of reconciliation, it’s evident that Bennett is unrepentant. He still has to shake the hand of reconciliation he was proffered.
Its clear he has maintained the ‘laager’ mentality and holier than thou attitude, steeped in the old colonial belief of white supremacy that saw black people as lesser beings. This explains why to him, President Mugabe is a diseased dog! He is black. He is not human.
This is why to him, General Chiwenga and those he commands are rats that have to be exterminated. They are black! They are not human.
And then you have the only Zimbabwean Welshman, the son of Ncube, calling his partners in government pigs. Addressing journalists during his party’s community
outreach programme in Mahusekwa communal lands, the MDC president had this to say of Zanu-PF: “If you wash a pig, it will always return to the mud and they are
a party which is naturally violent. They have piggish behaviour and it is in their DNA.”
This is the same Ncube, whose party always plays great victim, always alleges hate speech at the hands of Zanu-PF, a lawyer and party president to boot, who sees fellow Zimbabweans as pigs!
He obviously learnt from the best, the Great White Hope from Chimanimani. This makes the Welshman a black mask to a white skin, to bastardise, Fanon. I hope he knows it is the ‘‘pigs’’ in Zanu-PF who made it possible for him to sit in Parliament. It is those pigs who fought for, and brought the democracy that allows him to malign and insult them without comebacks. It is that same ‘‘diseased dog’’ that allowed Bennett to sit on the green benches of Parliament and not the cold, hard floor of Chikurubi.
To contextualise it for Bennett, a Nazi would never take a seat in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, nor would an Al Qaeda member ever be elected to the US Congress. The fact that Rhodies sit in our legislature and continued sitting even as we unearthed evidence of their atrocities at Chibondo testifies to the humanity of our leadership. Bennett, who is every bit Moore’s Stupid white man and Welshman, who is turning out to be every bit Malcolm X’s house Negro, must rein in their tongues.
They are mere dwarfs in giant robes compared to the men they needlessly insult. Maybe that is the democracy the MDCs purport to be fighting for, the freedom to bite the hand that frees; the hand that feeds!
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, MDC, RHODESIA, ROY BENNETT
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Sanctions and the doctrine of human rights
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 00:00
Reason Wafawarova
It is very important that we look at how the media have handled the issue of the EU/US illegally imposed economic sanctions on Zimbabwe in the last decade. By the media it may be necessary to broaden the term to include all commentary, analysis, opinion and the generality of the intellectual fraternity.
For many who have read about the EU sanctions in particular, the impression ones gets is that the sanctions on Zimbabwe are not only limited to the punishment of a few rogue politicians but also justifiably imposed on the basis of alleged human rights abuses. That is the prevailing rhetoric that largely passes for fact in the public domain.
Welshman Ncube agrees that it was him and some of the leadership in the original MDC who advocated and supported for the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe, but he insists that their request was only limited to the punishment and isolation of their individual political opponents within Zanu-PF, whom they accused of alleged human rights abuses. He says he is opposed to the inclusion of companies and other business entities to the sanctions regime, arguing that the position of the MDC has never been to advocate for economic sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe.
This is despite the fact that Morgan Tsvangirai has always openly supported the inclusion of companies and businesses in the sanctions regime, even making public warnings that the people would suffer for real if they did not help him remove Zanu-PF and President Robert Mugabe from power. The utterances are on public record in Zimbabwe and not even one of them has been rescinded once.
We must start by making some factual observations about the issue of these sanctions. The official basis for the illegal economic sanctions by both the US and the EU has been that the embargo is a punitive measure to force an end to systematic human rights abuses. The reality of course is that the sanctions were in a large part a gesture of protest against the forceful reclamation of land from colonially settled white commercial farmers, and in another sense a way of creating political leverage for the puppet MDC over their rivals in Zanu-PF.
The part that includes human rights for ordinary Zimbabweans is nothing more than an impressive truism to that is meant to put a human face to an otherwise racist power game.
Tony Blair, George W. Bush and John Howard made up the aggressive triumvirate whose rhetoric was impressively megaphoned into impressive news bytes by a compliant media as well as into impressive commentary by equally compliant sections of the Western intellectual community.
The foreign policy of these Western powers became a matter of fighting the “egregious human rights abuses” by Robert Mugabe, to quote John Howard of Australia. His Foreign Minister Alexander Downer repeatedly declared Australia’s support “for the people of Zimbabwe,” a euphemism he favoured so much in reference to the puppet MDC leadership.
Downer even went as far as hunting down Zimbabwean students studying in Australian universities, and suspected of being connected to Zanu-PF politicians or officials in President Robert Mugabe’s Government. Those who were suspected of any relations to Zanu-PF elites were summarily expelled from both the Australian universities and also from the country itself in 2007, purely on the basis of being related to politicians whose opinions differed with those of Downer and his political colleagues. That blatant abuse of the rights of these individuals was meant to be a correction of alleged human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. It cannot be more ironic.
This writer was extensively debated in the Senate after Senator Natasha Stott Despoja moved a motion for deportation on the basis of pure fabrications of charges of “rape, murder, and training mass killing militias.” The “reliable” source of information in this case was a slanderous radio report defamatorily created by the imagination of one ABC reporter by the name Wendy Carlisle — a package of total concoctions and sensationalised fabrications, coloured by ludicrous utterances from Job Sikhala.
The rhetoric about correcting human rights abuses in Zimbabwe is quite similar to that on the “war on terror,” once described as the “evil scourge of terrorism” by the late Ronald Reagan, and also described by George Schultz as a plague spread by “depraved opponents of civilisation itself”.
Reagan’s rhetoric made headline news in Western media in 1985 just like the Bush/Blair/Howard rhetoric placed Zimbabwe on the media spotlight at the peak of land reclamation in Zimbabwe in 2000.
There is a striking continuity on the players involved with the illegal sanctions regime in Zimbabwe. Today there is talk about a possible lifting of these illegal sanctions whose imposition was clearly outside the mandated authority of the United Nations. The United Kingdom played a leading role in the imposition of the sanctions after the 2000 and 2002 elections in Zimbabwe, more for punishing Zanu-PF for its performance and far less for the allegation of human rights abuses. Today the UK continues to play a huge role in advocating for the perpetuation of these illegal sanctions, declaring that it would be “unacceptable” for President Robert Mugabe to be allowed to “shake hands with the Queen,” as if that gesture in itself was a feat of global political significance. To Zimbabweans the lady is nothing more than an ordinary old woman enjoying mythical over-glorification from sections of the British population.
The continued role played by the UK does not only confirm that the illegal sanctions regime is all but an internationalised bilateral conflict between London and Harare, but also shows the United Kingdom’s obsession with seeking a domineering role in the affairs of its former colonies.
The power element must not be ignored in this debate about sanctions. The sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are about trying to get rid of a perceived cancer that could spread dangerously across the Southern African region, especially into South Africa.
As officially stated by the US State Department and as repeated by Barack Obama in his maiden speech, Zimbabwe is seen to be posing “the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national interest and foreign policy of the United States”.
Those who have been negotiating for the lifting of the illegal economic sanctions may need to be reminded of the words of George Schultz on April 14 1986. He said, “Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.”
The US and the EU will only take negotiations about lifting sanctions on Zimbabwe seriously if and only if such negotiations cast the shadow of Western power across the bargaining table. This is why the UK is putting patronising conditionalities as a prerequisite for the lifting of the sanctions.
Schultz even condemned those “who seek utopian legalistic means like outside mediation, the United Nations, and the world court while ignoring the power element of the equation”.
Equally, those who have made legalistic utterances about the illegality of the economic sanctions against Zimbabwe have been emphatically ignored by the EU and the US. Even the UN’s Navy Pillay has been dismissed for failing to realise the element of power in the sanctions equation on Zimbabwe.
The only Zimbabwean person who seems to openly revere the power element in the sanctions regime is Morgan Tsvangirai, who until recently was in so much denial that his tongue could not even utter the word sanctions — jumping from one silly euphemism to the next, like “restrictive measures,” or “travel bans.” Morgan Tsvangirai is quite clear of the power element in the sanctions regime, and he cherishes this element for its prospect of making him the supreme beneficiary — given the man’s conviction that there is no other puppet in Zimbabwe that impresses Western powers more than he does. Even internal rival Tendai Biti publicly concurs with that. Simply put, Morgan Tsvangirai remains the most hopeful trump card in the West’s power game to dislodge Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
What the West has been doing in Zimbabwe is to exercise the power element by sponsoring mercenary civic forces in the country, under the direction and supervision of Western diplomats and other organisations like the National Endowment for Democracy, DFID or the US Aid.
For as long as Zimbabwe pursues pro-people policies like land reclamation and the current economic empowerment policies, it will remain a preoccupation for Western powers to block any pursuit of such policies, viewed as cancerous and a very bad example to neighbouring countries.
What we have right now is the hawk/dove debate in the West. The hawks are those sharing the position of the UK that the illegal economic sanctions must be maintained and intensified regardless of the harm to the ordinary Zimbabweans because, to them, there are higher Western priorities than Zimbabwean lives. These priorities are, of course, the economic interests of the UK, interests in the minerals of Zimbabwe as well as in other economic sectors like banking and so on.
The doves argue that the illegal sanctions have failed the test as a weapon to remove or weaken Zanu-PF and its leader President Robert Mugabe. They argue that alternative methods need to be adopted, including buying off Zanu-PF officials or bribing them by conditionally lifting the sanctions.
The human rights mantra will have to continue in order to maintain an international appeal to the cause of sanctions, and to provide good politics on the part of the Western-funded Movement for Democratic Change, whose only strength seems to be in vilifying and incriminating their political opponents in Zanu-PF.
Those in Zanu-PF who believe that the economic sanctions will be removed simply on the basis of holding an electoral referendum in a manner deemed to be free and fair by the West must rethink that position because, in essence, that logic is not only patronising but also clearly insincere.
If Zanu-PF misses the power element in the politics of sanctions, then there is a real danger of the party blindly capitulating into Western-engineered oblivion. What Zanu-PF must do, as matter of strategy, is to make sure that they play the power game effectively to their advantage.
It is the West that is after Zimbabwe’s natural resources and not vice versa. Zanu-PF must befriend non-Western investors so as to render Western isolation useless.
Zanu-PF must stop making pleas for the lifting of sanctions, and start pushing hard towards radical positions in economic development without the Western input.
Simply put, Zanu-PF must make the life of the Western investor harder the very way the life of an ordinary Zimbabwean has been made harder by the Western sanctions. Where Zimbabweans are predicted to stone their leadership, let the Western investors attack their politicians back home for lost opportunities.
The hawks in the West must realise the futility of the illegal economic sanctions and they must be forced into seeking concessions with Zimbabwe as opposed to continue with the bullish arm-twisting games we are seeing today.
Zimbabwe we are one and together we will overcome. It is homeland or death!!
Reason Wafawarova is a political writer based in Sydney, Australia.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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COMMENT - "“There is nothing that the MDC did in that regard to turnaround the economy. It was a result of
dollarisation. That is where the change came from not as a result of their implementing any praiseworthy policy. The MDC is pretty much out of its depth,’’ Hawkins said. "
Time to cut the chase
Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:52
It is a common, but seemingly heartless response by any newsman whenever reports of a road traffic accident filter through. The first question is always, ‘‘were there any fatalities/ pafa vangani?’’
In the absence of fatalities one is bound to hear ‘‘haa hapana nyaya/ it’s not a story,’’ accompanied by discernible disappointment on the newsman’s face for an ordinary accident is just that, bad copy. It doesn’t sell the papers.
I have always been fascinated by this human condition that seems to put business ahead of human life.The mundane is not news.
I am sure many who have been following international media over the past few months will have noticed that Zimbabwe has been largely missing from the newscasts.
This either means westerners have realised the game is up in Harare, which may explain talk of moves to effect regime change at Harvest House, or the re-engagement process is gathering momentum, true to the dictum, if you can’t beat them, join them.
What is more, word doing the rounds is that the BBC wants to interview William Masvinu, who was conferred with the title of Mr Ugly Harare at a pageant held at City Sports Bar a fortnight ago.
It appears the politically ugly among us are no longer that newsworthy, the Masvinus are.
The other noticeable trend, over the past few months, are the attacks the MDC-T is being subjected to by its erstwhile allies like the CFU, ZCTU, NCA, Zinasu to mention just a few.
Tsvangirai is being deserted, not only by his handlers, but hangers on too.
And earlier this week, it was the turn of University of Zimbabwe economics Professor Tony Hawkins, who has hardly been flattering to Zanu-PF over the years.
Hawkins tore into what MDC-T hopes to use as a campaign issue: Their claim that their entry into Government stabilised the economy and brought inflation from nine to two-digit levels.
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti, who is finance minister in the inclusive Government was even dubbed ‘‘best finance minister in Africa’’ for it.
Professor Hawkins was quoted in the South African weekly, the Sunday Times over the weekend blasting MDC-T for policy incoherence and for crediting itself with turning around the economy, which halted astronomical inflation in early 2009.
In the article titled, “MDC slated over economic revival claims,” and reproduced by this paper, Prof Hawkins pointed out that MDC-T had nothing directly to do with the fall in inflation as dollarisation brought an overnight change to the economy.
“There is nothing that the MDC did in that regard to turnaround the economy. It was a result of dollarisation. That is where the change came from not as a result of their implementing any praiseworthy policy. The MDC is pretty much out of its depth,’’ Hawkins said.
The then acting finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and Zanu-PF introduced dollarisation in a budget presented on Thursday January 29, 2009; a whole fortnight before the formation of the inclusive Government which was sworn in on February 13 the same year.
The then acting finance minister Chinamasa, presented this new policy package in the last budget of an exclusively Zanu-PF Government, after endless days and nights of inter-agency brainstorming.
The policy and decision to dollarise was a Zanu-PF idea, the implementation was by Zanu-PF.
The inclusive Government inherited a Zanu-PF programme, Biti found it there and is still to introduce anything as finance minister in the inclusive Government.
And now MDC-T wants to not only steal the idea, but to patent it and run with it at election time.
How they thought they could do that and get away with it is anybody’s guess.
In fact, the inclusive Government has been governing on Zanu-PF ideas.
MDC-T’s record in Government is an unenviable one, corruption in the councils and lethargy in central Government.
MDC-T leaders have, however, made headlines mostly for the wrong reasons, mostly mundane, shockingly puerile.
Take Tabitha Khumalo who wants the legalisation of prostitution and camaraderie between wives and mistresses.
Sithembile Mlothswa who wants sex toys for prisoners and a cap on the number of sexual encounters per month.
And of course, Tsvangirai’s name-sake, good ole Morgan Femai who wants our beautiful women to be less attractive to us; leaving many wondering whether given
his party’s pro-gay stance, he wants us to be attracted to one another.
The bottom line is something is afoot at Harvest House that may explain why the MDC-T breaks into goosebumps whenever the word election rolls off anyone’s lips.
Interesting things, very interesting things have been happening over the past few weeks, first you have Morgan Tsvangirai prancing to China at the invitation of the Municipality of Beijing, and claiming that he was invited by the Chinese government.
A clear quest for a home given the vibes from his handlers who no longer find him politically sexy.
The China jaunt, that came on the backdrop a Sinophobic campaign by his party, followed revelations by NCA chairman, Professor Lovemore Madhuku that some Western countries had approached him to headhunt for a capable leader for the MDC.
And where is Zanu-PF in all this? Tsvangirai’s flanks are exposed, does it have to take Hawkins to see that?
And the talk of election roadmaps, and constitution-making as if a new constitution was ever a pre-condition for elections should be put to rest.
It’s time to cut the chase, call for elections and finalise the Constitution thereafter.
I do not, for the life of me, see Copac finalising in a matter of months, what they have failed to do in three years.
Tsvangirai and his party are out at sea without a compass.
It’s time to bring the wave.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, COPAC, MDC, PATRICK CHINAMASA, TONY HAWKINS
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Mr Commissar, Sir!
Tuesday, 15 May 2012 21:15
Tony Namate is a brilliant cartoonist. While I do not subscribe to his political thinking I can’t begrudge him his talent. From the sketches to the humour, he is good at what he does.
One of his cartoons I liked most depicted the late vice president Dr Simon Muzenda with his trademark jersey and jacket accosting a congress of baboons — an appropriate name I think for our noisy Lower House — soliciting for a parliamentary candidate. The dialogue box above one baboon, which was depicted scratching itself nonchalantly, was ‘‘I am sorry Mzee, but this year I am standing as an independent!’’
Dr Mzee had brought the joke on himself when he announced, in the run-up to the 2000 general elections, that even if Zanu-PF fielded a baboon as a candidate, true party cadres should vote for it.
He made the announcement as he decried the factionalism that had gripped Masvingo province, pitting the then so-called Muzenda and Zvobgo factions.
While Namate saw the humour in Cde Muzenda’s utterances, I doubt the grassroots did or do whenever their wishes are disregarded and a candidate is imposed. The top-down approach to intra-party democracy is a cancer that has afflicted Zanu-PF in recent years.
In fact Zanu-PF played second fiddle to the MDC-T in the House of Assembly elections in the March 2008 harmonised elections even though it led the popular vote coluntrywide precisely because of imposing candidates.
Though the crunching effects of the western economic sanctions regime had a lot to do with voting patterns in 2008, Zanu-PF was in a position to shake off the MDC-T challenge but two issues cost the party outright victory in the March 29 harmonised elections.
The first, and gravest one was the imposition of candidates by the Politburo and other higher echelons of the party at the expense of what the grassroots wanted.
We saw hordes of people camping at the Zanu-PF HQ in Harare, among them chiefs resplendent in their regalia, seeking to drive the point home, but they were either turned away or ignored.
The result was either voter apathy or protest votes. Zanu-PF ended up fielding two candidates; a Politburo candidate and the peoples candidate, in one constituency, splitting the vote in favour of MDC-T in about five constituencies.
The second and equally grave one is the sheer absence of principles among some party members like the two Zanu-PF legislators who secretly voted for Lovemore Moyo during the House of Assembly speaker’s contest and the blind mice who urged party supporters to vote Zanu-PF in the council, House of Assembly and Senate elections, and then Simba Makoni for president in 2008 oblivious to the fact that they were splitting the vote in favour of Tsvangirai.
In times like these, especially after the near miss of 2008, it should be self-evident to any progressive Zimbabwean that votes have to be cast on principle not personalities.
You vote for the party not its representative which is what happens in systems of proportional representation where you would not even know who the party will nominate to be your representative in parliament.
This is what Dr Mzee meant when he said even if Zanu-PF fields a baboon, party cadres must endorse the baboon regardless.
However such cadreship was missing in 2008.
The game in town was the self-defeating practice code-named ‘‘bhora musango” (protest vote), that saw President Mugabe trailing Tsvangirai in the first round of the presidential contest even though Zanu-PF, the party he leads, led the MDC-T in the popular vote nationwide.
Coming back to the Speaker’s contest, I had it on good authority that Zanu-PF Chief Whip Joram Gumbo, and Women’s League boss, Oppah Muchinguri were interested in the Speaker’s post. Gumbo having done extensive groundwork but both were shunted aside as the Politburo wanted Khaya Moyo, the party’s most senior member out of government, to land the post.
This spawned disgruntlement in party ranks prompting VP Mujuru to threaten dissenting legislators with expulsion if they refused to vote for the Zanu-PF national chairman.
Yet a simple, amicable way out would have been primary elections pitting Cdes Khaya Moyo, Oppah Muchinguri and Joram Gumbo with the winner taking on Lovemore Moyo.
This cancer in Zanu-PF that sees some leaders say no self-respecting party cadre should challenge another cadre with a higher rank in party primaries must be nipped in the bud. The grassroots carry the party, not the chefs.
Let the inter-party elections be real polls where one's standing in the party is not an issue but one's ideas and appeal to the electorate so that voters get the candidates they want.
However, judging by what has been going on in DCC elections countrywide, the lessons of 2008 have been forgotten as some ‘‘untouchable’’ party chefs are busy filling party structures with their own choices at the expense of the grassroots. President Mugabe blasted this practice during the burial of national hero Cde Edison Ncube at the beginning of the month.
‘‘They go around and say do not vote for so and so. Ndiwe ani? Kunyora tutsamba kuti ava ndivo vanosungirwa kuvhoterwa muDCC. You are destroying the party for which people like Edson worked so hard. Do your work. Let the people judge you. If they do not like you, they do not like you. We do not want impositions. No!”
I hope the national political commissar, Cde Webster Shamu, took notice and will walk the talk.
Zanu-PF must exorcise the ghost of 2008 by cleansing its ranks of dubious characters and putting an end to the cancer of imposing candidates, otherwise they needlessly concede ground to the hapless MDC-T.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI
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Beware of the opportunist!
Tuesday, 17 April 2012 21:29
“Dear Optimist and Pessimist, while you were busy arguing whether the glass was half-full or half-empty, I drank it! Yours Opportunist!” I do not know who came up with this telling quotation, but one thing I know is, it is pregnant with meaning and worth learning from.
It reminds me of another axiom I heard from the then independent candidate for Harare South constituency, Margaret Dongo, in the run-up to the Harare South by-election that pitted her against Zanu-PF’s Vivian Mwashita and one Joshua Cohen another independent in 1995, the axiom of the three dogs.
Dongo, who had been expelled from Zanu-PF for standing as an independent after a dispute with the way primaries were held, said when two dogs fight for a bone, it’s the third dog that wins the fight. She was counselling on the possibility of splitting the vote with Cohen and handing victory to Mwashita.
For all that Dongo's proverbial third dog would need to do is creep over and slink away with the bone as the other two canines tore each other to pieces.
So what is my point? My point to the three main political parties in Government today is, please argue over whether the glass is half full or half empty but never argue over who owns the glass or its contents.
No party should be used as a decoy so that Mr Opportunist can come in to drink from our glass once our attention is diverted.
As we mark 32 years of independence today let us introspect what we have done for our country to abet the cause of the gallant sons and daughters of this land who paid the ultimate sacrifice to give us freedom. April 18, did not just spring from the calendar but is a culmination of the sacrifices made by the heroes and heroines of this land from the time the Pioneer Column raised the Union Jack at Fort Salisbury on September 12, 1890 till the attainment of independence on April 18, 1980.
Nine decades of struggle that some among us had no stomach for, though today we feign courage while stroking tummies distended by the erstwhile coloniser’s filthy lucre.
It is fortuitous that we celebrate 32 years of Independence at a time forces opposed to our total emancipation have ranged against us for daring to go beyond the façade of flag independence. Sadly, they have found succour in some who are willing to be used to lend black faces to patently racist, neo-colonial subversion.
Be that as it may, that should not distract us from the agenda at hand. We should today beat our chests that as a nation we chose to take the bull by the horns. We dropped the short-end of the stick the erstwhile coloniser had given us at the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference in 1979.
And over the past 32 years we have systematically worked to transform our country into a truly independent unitary State. Independence does not only mean flying our flag over our territory, neither does it mean having black faces in Government, independence means non-dependence on anyone but ourselves for our own destiny. As Bob Marley told us on April 18, 1980 “every man has a right to decide his own destiny . . . and in this judgment there is no partiality”.
And when we look at the path travelled over the past 32 years, there is every reason to celebrate the achievements scored, gains that are unparalleled by any nation that attained political independence in our generation, or even those that have been free much longer.
The gains in the social services sector are phenomenal, infrastructure development, housing, you name it.
Yes, some of these gains took a hard knock from the past decade of sanctions, but the fact that we did not become a failed state testifies to the strong foundation laid since independence. The only blight on an otherwise impeccable record was an economy dominated by foreign-owned companies, and this is what we are painstakingly changing through the land reform programme and indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes.
Indeed, the fact that despite a sustained 10-year assault, our country has not gone under is testimony to the strength of the foundation laid since 1980.
Yes, there are those who point gleefully at the prevailing economic hardships as a sign of failure, I disagree with them strongly. What our nation is experiencing are the pangs of transformation, and only a fool can deny that sanctions account for the economic malaise of the past decade. Our economy has not collapsed, but that which we called our economy when it was, in fact, a white economy collapsed, and in its place an indigenous Zimbabwean economy is emerging on the back of a genuine land-owning, wealth-creating middle class.
That transformation cannot occur overnight, neither can it be cosy, as it is a duel with dark forces whose very existence hinges on continued exploitation of our resources, with us as chattel slaves.
These are the forces, along with their black minions, that we should all tell today, never again! Never again will we allow them to reverse the gains we have made, amid so much opposition.
However, for that transformation to be achieved expeditiously, we must all pull in the same direction.
This is the last phase of our struggle, and history tells us that the myopia of those who opted to abet the enemy — either as Rhodesia Front members or Selous Scouts or outright sellouts — prolonged the liberation struggle.
Today they have been resurrected to mouth meaningless neo-liberal platitudes in a bid to divert us from the path of economic independence. They will tell you investment is more important than owning the means of production, jobs more important than owning the farm, factory or mine and food more important than farming. By their language you shall know them.
This is why we need, this day, to dedicate ourselves to the ideals of the struggle, close ranks to defeat the machinations of those seeking to torpedo and reverse our independence. The sanctions imposed by the West are not for our benefit, but they are meant to benefit their kith and kin, who we dispossessed of resources that are rightfully ours.
Thus whether we are Zanu-PF, MDC-Tsvangirai or MDC, let us differ only on the modalities of governing our nation, not who should govern it. Let us differ on how we see the contents of the glass not who should drink from it. Whether it’s half-full or half-empty, it’s our glass and we are entitled to everything inside it.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, INDEPENDENCE, NEOLIBERALISM
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Declare April Zim history month
Wednesday, 04 April 2012 14:58
IN February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands” in which he urged the US to take up the “burden” of empire, as had Britain and other European nations when colonising Africa.
Theodore Roosevelt, later to become president, described it as “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.” However, not everyone, particularly in the developing world, was as impressed as Roosevelt. African-Americans, among many others, rapped the notion of the “white man’s burden.” And one of the prominent responses to Kipling’s poem was “The Black Man’s Burden,” written by African-American clergyman and editor Hubert Johnson and published in April that same year. Hubert Johnson argued that the mistreatment of brown people in the Philippines was an extension of the mistreatment of African-Americans at home. There was nothing noble in imperialism.
The bottom line is the black man has a burden of ensuring that his history, which has over the years been misconstrued as being synonymous with the history of the white man’s arrival in Africa, is corrected and captured for posterity. It is a history of not being seen nor heard; a history of being manipulated and subjugated.
The onus is on us Africans to correct the historical distortions.
I flew this kite before in 2006, and I raise it again this year in the hope that someone in the high offices takes note and does something about it. In spite of having a rich history of stolid, defiant resistance to all forms of colonial or neo-colonial domination, we Zimbabweans are notoriously modest. We do not seem to celebrate this history except waiting for days or events. Why don’t we, for instance, have even a Zimbabwe history month to mark the milestones that helped define us as the nation we are today?
I have said it before and I will say it again. If ever there is a month that deserves to be called Zimbabwe history month, it is April, a month littered with numerous milestones stretching from the First, Second to the Third Chimurenga wars.
One hundred and fourteen years ago, on April 27 1898, the architects of the First Chimurenga War, Mbuya Chahwe, the medium of the Nehanda spirit, and Sekuru Gumboreshumba, the medium of the Kaguvi spirit also known as Murenga, were hanged by the settler regime for daring to challenge colonial dispossession. It is from the Kaguvi spirit, that was alternatively known as Murenga, meaning “war spirit”, that the name Chimurenga was derived.
Mbuya Nehanda along with Zindoga, Hwata and Gutsa wrongly stood accused of murdering a brutal white native commissioner, one Henry Hawkins Pollard of the British South Africa Company who lived near Mazowe and terrorised people in that district.
Rhodesian legal documents classified Mbuya Nehanda modestly as a Mashona woman residing at Chitawa’s Kraal in the Mazowe District; Zindoga as a native kitchen boy residing at Nehanda’s Kraal; and Hwata and Gutsa as native hunters residing at Hwata Kraal.
The four along with Sekuru Kaguvi were arraigned in the High Court of Matabeleland that sat in Salisbury on February 20 1898 and were subsequently convicted on March 2 1898 in a case entered as “The (British) Queen against Nehanda”.
They were sentenced to death by hanging.
The execution was authorised by the (British) High Commissioner for South Africa, one Alfred Milner, and endorsed by the (British) Imperial Secretary on March 28 1898. The presiding judge was Judge Watermayer, with Herbert Hayton Castens Esquire, as “the acting Public Prosecutor Sovereign within the British South Africa Company territories, who prosecutes for and on behalf of her majesty”.
The warrant for Mbuya Nehanda’s death commanded that she be executed within the wall of the gaol of Salisbury between the hours of 6 and 10 in the afternoon. A Roman Catholic priest, one Fr Richertz, was assigned to convert Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi, Hwata and Zindoga. It is said the hapless Catholic priest failed to make headway with Mbuya Nehanda but managed to convert Sekuru Gumboreshumba, whom he baptised as Dismas, the ‘‘good’’ thief.
Gutsa, Hwata and Zindoga were also converted and similarly hanged.
According to Fr Richertz’s account, Mbuya Nehanda “ . . . called for her people and wanted to go back to her own country Mazoe and die there . . . When I saw that nothing could be done with her, the time of the execution having arrived, I left Nehanda and went to Kaguvi who received me in good dispositions. Whilst I was conversing with him, Nehanda was taken to the scaffold. Her cries and resistance, when she was taken up the ladder, the screaming and yelling disturbed my conversation with Kaguvi very much, till the noisy opening of the trap door upon which she stood, followed by the heavy thud of her body as it fell, made an end to the interruption”, he wrote.
Fr Richertz, however, conveniently forgot to mention the other words Mbuya Chahwe said to him, that “Mapfupa angu achamuka (my bones will surely rise)”.
Fr Richertz may have considered it heresy, especially from a woman who had refused to be converted to “Christianity”, but he did not know that the settler regime had just killed the mediums of the Nehanda and Kaguvi spirits but the spirits proper remained to influence the war effort.
Sixty-eight years later, Mbuya Nehanda’s prophesy came true when seven of her bones rose up in style on April 28 1966 to fire the first shots of the Second Chimurenga war.
They struck just five months after Smith announced his Universal Declaration of Independence (UDI) and 20 months after the Rhodesian regime banned the nationalist movements Zapu and Zanu in August 1964.
[AMBUYA Nehanda]
AMBUYA Nehanda
It is not clear whether it was by design or providence that the seven cadres intended to hit on the exact date Nehanda was executed but were somehow delayed by logistical problems and did so a day later.
The seven cadres — Simon Chingosha Nyandoro, Godwin Manyerenyere, Christopher Chatambudza, Arthur Maramba, Chubby Savanhu, Godfrey Dube and David Guzuzu — who entered the country from Zambia struck near Manyame River in Chinhoyi.
Their aim was to destroy power pylons to cut off electricity coming from Kariba Dam and plunge the country into darkness. This was supposed to be the signal for other groups that were strategically placed in towns like Mutare, Rusape, Chegutu and Mvuma that the war against the Smith regime had begun.
Lack of proper equipment and explosives saw the cadres fail to bring down the pylons near Lions Den, the Rhodesians got wind of the operation and descended on the people who were harbouring them.
But the gallant fighters, who had retreated to Golden Kopje, dared the Rhodesians to come out and fight, and the cowardly Rhodies came complete with helicopter gunships and all sorts of weapons to face seven men armed only with AK-47 assault rifles.
The seven commandos gave as much as they took as the battle lasted from about 9am to around 4pm. Eyewitness accounts say several helicopters and scores of Rhodesian soldiers were gunned down and littered the battle scene when the seven cadres were finally wiped out. It is important to note that they were only overcome because they had inferior weapons and ran out of ammunition, while the enemy was armed to the teeth and had the advantage of going back to base to replenish both ammunition and manpower.
The bodies of the seven cadres were never seen again after the Rhodesians took them.
The nationalist leaders learnt a lot from the battle of Chinhoyi and future incursions inflicted heavy losses on the Rhodesian regime that was finally brought to its false knees in 1979.
In the intervening period, another milestone again occurred, on April 4 1975, when Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe, who had just been released from an 11-year incarceration by the Smith regime, crossed into Mozambique in the company of Cde Edgar Tekere.
The following is the verbatim account of the crossing that President Mugabe gave during an interview with Power FM ahead of his 82nd birthday in 2006.
“It was on Saturday morning and we decided to leave in the afternoon of that day. Old Tangwena, late now, Chief (Rekayi) Tangwena at whose home we had slept was instructed by his wife to lead us. Mai Tangwena vaisvikirwa, vakati zvanzi izvo iwe Tangwena pachako tungamirira vana ava. So he accompanied us. There we were, we had two young men carrying our bags and I think there were five of us and we decided to cross the border.
“There was this big boundary road they called Bhinya. It was also so called after the name of the person who was chief native commissioner . . . I will think of it. We had to cross the broad road, not tarred, but just a dirt road, gravel, not tarred because it was meant to facilitate the vigilance that the Rhodesians kept on the people.
“So we crossed that, after looking at both sides of the road, we moved on and at night we had to cross rivers. There was a small river that we crossed and upon putting our shoes back, I could not distinguish the right from the left. Ndakaita sambuya vangu vaimbouya kuchurch vakapfeka matennis vachiti yekurudyi yoenda uku (laughs indicating his left foot). Ndakatozoona zuva ratobuda kuti that was the disaster that had attended my feet.
“You know the Tangwenas had been fighting for Gaerezi Ranch. It was that resistance, vaivingwa from time to time vachipfurwa. Ndiro chaidzo dzaiboorwa nemabullets kuti vabve, their children were all taken away to a school somewhere, but they resisted. We got to a village where two headmen vekwaTangwena decided to get away from this problem and settled on the Mozambican side, and two headmen had remained. So they were four.
“We were drenched, very wet and we needed fire, so early in the morning fire was lit for us outside. I noticed that my shoes had done harm to my toes and we were not prepared to continue. So we remained there for quite some time. Kwakanga kusina masoja eFrelimo akawanda, so we had to relay our presence to them, and
from that place word was sent ahead that we were there and we then got to a base that was close to Tete, this place was called Vam-Vam.
“We were at Vam-Vam for quite some time that’s where we met vana Mao and others who had been recruited in Highfield. From there we were taken along a road in the direction of a town yaimbonzi Villa Guveya, now Katandika. It was while we were at Vam-Vam that Mozambique celebrated its independence. We stayed at Katandika for a month or two. From Katandika we were taken to Chimoio, and there we met many more and now we were moving with other comrades that we had met along the way.
“That is where we met vanaChamu (Oppah Muchinguri) vachiri vadiki and many others. We had some students from university, vana (Zororo) Duri, vana (Christopher) Mutsvangwa vana Gula Ndebele, vana (John) Mayowe, who had left university, we met them there.
“There were about 5 000 to 6 000 of us kuChimoio. It was a little outside the town, and then the governor decided that some of our cadres who had been trained who were in Tete should be informed about our presence. There were about three ladies and mukuru wavo akavatora ndiMai (Joice) Mujuru, and there were about four or five male cadres. So they came and saw us and came back, and we asked them to take control because they were trained cadres.
“So that was the journey, and all the while we were with Chief Tangwena, right up to the end taive naChief Tangwena, and when we came back, we came back with him also. He was quite a gallant cadre, very strong,” President Mugabe said.
The President was to gallantly lead the war effort from Mozambique for the next five years. He participated in all the peace initiatives up to the Lancaster House
Constitutional Conference of September 10 to December 15 1979 that paved way for the first democratic elections in March 1980.
It was a month later, again in April, that the new Zimbabwe was born on April 18.
This was the month that the Union Jack was pulled down and the Zimbabwean flag, as we know it, rose majestically in its place at midnight on April 18 as the heir to the British throne Prince Charles and Governor Lord Soames saluted the new nation and its people.
This was the day that defined us as a people as the then Prime Minister-elect, Cde Mugabe, laid out the policy of reconciliation in his maiden address, much to the amazement of terrified Rhodies who thought they would be made to account for their war crimes.
That is April, a month that traces a century of resistance, from Nehanda to Mugabe.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, HISTORY, INDEPENDENCE, RHODESIA
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‘Copac yet to produce draft Constitution’
Friday, 30 March 2012 00:00
Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
COPAC has not yet produced a draft to the new Constitution as the document produced does not qualify for that status, Secretary for Media, Information and Publicity Mr George Charamba has said.
Addressing the Joint Command and Staff Course Number 25 on the role of the media and information in promoting nation-building and economic development at the Zimbabwe Staff College in Harare yesterday, Mr Charamba described the Copac document as an ‘‘attempted draft’’.
He said Copac should come up with a consensual document that will be submitted to the management committee.
The management committee is made up of negotiators to the inter-party dialogue that gave birth to the Global Political Agreement and the inclusive Government.
After interrogating the document, Mr Charamba said, the management committee would in turn submit it to the principals. The document will, on reaching the principals, assume the status of the draft constitution.
“What we have are mere drafts of drafts, way away from a draft for the management committee, let alone for principals,” he said.
“We do not have a draft Constitution. Copac has its own motions going on and they do not have a document they can have consensus on. They have certain issues they are referring to the management committee, which is the second level.
“Because Copac does not have a consensual document to forward to the Management Committee, what they have cannot be given the status of a draft Constitution.”
Mr Charamba said some clauses in the “so-called” draft Constitution were questionable.
The clauses, he said, sought to relegate Zimbabwe from its sovereign status to a non-State governed by foreign laws.
“If one were to go by the draft, one would get a sense of a country about to retreat from a nation, doing so in two contradictory ways.
“Centrifugally by anticipating secession presently couched as devolution. Call it a retreat to narrow forms of political and social foci. Globally by turning itself into a non-State governed by international law players.”
He said the media should critique the draft Constitution rather than focusing on peripheral issues.
Mr Charamba said a proper Constitution should not try to settle political scores, but should be timeless.
He said devolution being pushed for in the draft Constitution was impossible in a unitary State like Zimbabwe.
On freedom of expression, Mr Charamba said media organisations needed to be regulated as they have the capacity to injure freedom of expression.
“Media organisations can indeed undermine freedom of expression, which is why their protection under any Constitution must be conditional.
“Our drafters appear to be missing this most elementary point. What should be unconditionally protected is freedom of expression as a human right but never as an organisational right.”
Transmedia chairman Dr Paul Chimedza said they had intensified efforts to ensure radio and television transmission signals reached all parts of Zimbabwe.
He said traditionally marginalised border towns such as Plumtree and Beitbridge were connected to radio signals last year.
“We have now realised the importance for every Zimbabwean to receive radio and television transmission signals.
“We have done that in Plumtree, Beitbridge and Victoria Falls,” he said.
He said Transmedia was preparing for community radio stations across Zimbabwe.
“We realised that lack of transmission creates a vacuum and that vacuum will be filled by pirate stations which are hostile to the country.
“People will end up listening to pirate radio stations, not because they love them but because there will be no option,” said Dr Chimedza.
He said although they received substantial funding from the Government, they had devised other ways of making money.
Herald deputy editor Caesar Zvayi and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation general manager (programming) Allan Chiweshe were also part of the Joint Command and Staff Course Number 25.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, CONSTITUTION, COPAC, GEORGE CHARAMBA
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Quisling politics and myth of the White Man’s Burden
Tuesday, 20 March 2012 21:43
When I was six, my mother bought me a cup that was emblazoned with the Zimbabwean Flag on one side. It was a white cup from Kango. I didn’t allow anyone to drink from that cup. There was hell to pay for anyone who dared put his/her lips — no matter how shapely — on its precious rim. And being the last born in a family of six, I always got my way after each tantrum.
I, however, forgot to pack my cup when I transferred to start my Grade Five in the city, at Kurai Primary School in Kambuzuma to be specific. The excitement of the bus ride to the city and the prospect of all that the bright lights of the city promised made me forget my precious cup.
I never saw it again as I later heard that its disappearance had coincided with the visit of an aunt whose fingers were reputed to be as long as her skinny limbs.
I believe we should all approach our National Flag, Coat of Arms, National Anthem, finite and infinite resources, in fact everything to do with our beautiful country with the same possessive jealousy.
This is my point of departure with some people perspiring for national leadership who approach matters of State with the lackadaisical attitude of the Tragedy of the Commons.
That dilemma, captured in an article titled “The Tragedy of the Commons” that was first published in the journal Science in 1968, arising from the situation in which several individuals, acting independently and rationally but in their own self-interest, ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone’s long-term interest for this to happen.
It appears to MDC-T leader — Morgan Tsvangirai — our country is such a commons, he seems to mistake it for a medieval pasture where all are free to graze. The MDC-T leader was quoted in the Western and local media as telling his Western handlers to “insist on the necessary reforms to create a conducive environment for free and fair elections.’’ A euphemism for illegal regime change.
News flash, Mr Prime Minister; the only acceptable regime change will be one effected by Zimbabweans.
“My call to the world is, ‘You must insist on the necessary reforms to create a conducive environment for free and fair elections and a lasting solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe.’ Zimbabwe can’t afford isolation and continued vilification by the world. Above all we don’t want to be treated like a pariah state. We need the international community to ensure that the will of the people is respected.”
Tsvangirai, who was in London to address an African business summit, said on Monday.
Quite surprising sentiments from a man who signed the so-called GPA that, in Article IX that deals with external interference, abhors foreign meddling in our domestic affairs.
All three parties to the inclusive Government concurred in section 9.2 (a) that ‘‘the responsibility of effecting change of Government in Zimbabwe vests exclusively on and is the sole prerogative of the people of Zimbabwe through peaceful, democratic and constitutional means.’’ And in subsection (c) that ‘‘no outsiders have a right to call or campaign for regime change in Zimbabwe’’.
So where does Tsvangirai see Westerners fitting in, in this scheme of things? For a man who claims the GPA is his Bible, Tsvangirai seemed blissfully ignorant that he was speaking ultra vires provisions of the same GPA he claims to uphold and defend.
A GPA that was signed and implemented with the express objective of “fostering an environment of socio-economic and political stability in readiness for fresh elections.’’
A responsibility Tsvangirai seeks to outsource to outsiders as if they have a stake in our politics. Which African country has ever been invited to “ensure that the will of the people is respected’’ in any Western plebiscite? Why does Tsvangirai seek to perpetuate the myth of the so-called White Man’s Burden?
It is high time the MDC-T leader realised that even though he is a willing cat’s paw for Western interests, quisling politics should start and end at Harvest House, they have no place in the wider nation. Outsiders have no role to play in our domestic affairs let alone elections even if they sponsor, illegally at that, one or more of the contestants.
If he dreams of ever presiding over this country as Head of State and Government, the MDC-T leader must uphold the sanctity of our independence and sovereignty.
Not surprisingly, Tsvangirai took the opportunity to swipe at the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme that has already hit the grassroots through community share ownership schemes.
It does not pay, politically, to slam such pro-people policies in favour of jobs. Any sane or knowledgeable person knows that to develop to the levels attained by Western countries that grew on the back of exploiting the developing world, African countries and others in the developing world need genuine, wealth-creating middle classes, and these only come from owning the means of production.
This is where Zanu-PF got it right through the land reform program and the indigenisation and economic empowerment policies. While one invites polite applause by slamming these policies in western capitals, among the progressive, such utterances invite ridicule.
The jobs the MDC-T harps about create “middle income earners” or comprador bourgeoisies who front multinational corporations not the middle class we envisage and which is emerging in Zimbabwe.
A real middle class does not draw salaries, it pays them. It does not create wealth for other nations but its own motherland. And this will not come from a “jobs policy” but from indigenisation and economic empowerment.
A progressive leader would also have taken the platform like the one Tsvangirai was given in London to slam the ruinous economic sanctions that, in fact militate against the attainment of an environment conducive for the holding of free and fair elections.
London offered Tsvangirai a perfect opportunity to call for the lifting of sanctions in light of the impending re-engagement talks set for Brussels.
But that would have been expecting too much from a man whose brain seems to become foggy, the moment he sets foot on the foggy Isles where his biggest gaffes have always manifested.
‘‘Zimbabwe can’t afford isolation and continued vilification by the world. Above all we don’t want to be treated like a pariah state.
“We need the international community to ensure that the will of the people is respected,” Tsvangirai quipped without a sense of irony.
Of course, I am under no illusion that by “international community’’ Tsvangirai will be visualising the Anglo-Saxon alliance.
How can the outside world take us seriously when you take every opportunity to badmouth your homeland Mr Tsvangirai?
And you harp about security forces not being amenable to your kind of politics, how can they be amenable when everytime you open your mouth, you vindicate their assertion that you pose a security threat.
Our country is not a commons, we own it and we alone have the right to decide its destiny. If you have grievances Mr Tsvangirai, or if there are loopholes you see in guaranteeing an environment conducive to the holding of free and fair elections, that is why you are in government.
Fix the problems along with the other principals. You have your partners in the GPA, internal mechanisms like Jomic, guarantors in Sadc and the African Union to call upon if you have issues.
Outsiders, Westerners to be specific, are not stakeholders in our politics. They do not have a “burden’’ to “civilise’’ us in the virtues of neo-liberal democracy.
We had to fight protracted wars just to win the right to vote.
Wars you had no stomach for. And to take the food from the mouths of their kith and kin to feed our impoverished people, we have to brace for gruelling fights even against our own brothers if they are willing to be used against their own.
Do not give a black face to neo-colonial designs.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NEOCOLONIALISM
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Beggars on a beach of gold
Tuesday, 13 March 2012 21:44
Caesar Zvayi, Deputy Editor
The joke that has been doing the rounds since the discovery of diamonds in Marange is that VanaWasu (colloquial for people from Manicaland) were busy loading rough diamonds on their catapults to shoot birds from baobab trees that are ubiquitous in the Chiadzwa area.
Oblivious to the value of the stones they were sending hurtling into the sky, vanaWasu would continually send thousands of dollars worth of diamonds hurtling into the sky in search of worthless Quelea birds. In other words they did not know that every stone they were shooting was so valuable it would have bought them several herd of cattle.
And VanaWasu being the jovial characters that they are take it all in their stride, especially if the wise waters are freely flowing and the sweet voiced and soft skinned ones are nearby for they are always harp, ‘‘mhamba ingonaka panaMai.’’ I have shared this joke with my friends from the Eastern Highlands and we always have a good laugh about it. Suffice to say we may all be the proverbial Wasus given our lackadaisical approach to our very finite but valuable mineral resources that are being carted out to benefit mainly South Africa or Western countries from where our much-vaunted investors hail.
Nathaniel Manheru broached this subject a few weeks back querying the fixation with Chiadzwa and what comes out of it to the total exclusion of other mining areas in Zimbabwe. It appears every Tom, Dick and Harry has an opinion about Chiadzwa. Even the so-called civil society has demanded ‘‘unfettered access’’ to the diamond fields despite their ‘‘high security area’’ status. Morgan Tsvangirai and his ‘‘monkey-see, monkey do’’ sidekick Arthur Mutambara have also joined the fray, talking themselves hoarse over Chiadzwa conveniently forgetting Murowa (which is 78 percent owned by Rio Tinto) or River Ranch.
If we are at all serious about attaining the US$100 billion economy that the finance ministry loves to harp about, then we need to take stock of what we have and ensure that we benefit from every mineral the way the Chiadzwa gems are breathing life into our comatose economy. For instance, Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, was quoted telling investors in Johannesburg that there is a chasm between what the Ministry of Finance is getting from diamonds — and other minerals — and what he believes is actually being produced and exported.
Biti revealed that the fiscus got US$80 million from diamonds in 2010 and is this year set to receive more than US$600 million. Contrast this with the US$150 million the country reportedly earned from all other minerals combined in 2011 against mining exports valued at US$2,5 billion and you get the feeling we are ignorantly throwing our minerals away and being content with meagre returns like the proverbial Samanyika and his catapult.
But what do we have under this soil the British get so red in the face about? Believe it or not, our country, deserves the moniker ‘‘Persian Gulf of Minerals’’ and its quite shocking that we could only get, and be content with a measly US$150 million from such a diverse and valuable store. For the benefit of our Finance Minister, who wanted us declared a Highly Indebted Poor Country, here is what we are sitting on:
Gold: We are estimated to have over 3,5 billion tonnes beneath our soils. More than 90 percent of these deposits are located in the granite-greenstone terrain which covers about 60 percent of the country. Being home to over 6 000 recorded deposits, we have the capacity to produce at least 25 tonnes of gold annually.
Iron Ore: Our high-grade deposits are estimated to be over 251,17m tonnes.
Nickel: The country’s known deposits of 41,9 million tonnes are being mined at Trojan and Shangani mines in the south of the country. Among the base metals exploited in the country, nickel predominates in terms of value and contributes significantly to foreign currency generation. Bindura also hosts a smelter and refinery.
Platinum Group of Minerals (PGM): Our deposits, the second largest in the world, are estimated to be over 3,05 billion tonnes. They are found along the Great Dyke. After South Africa, we hold the second largest deposits, mined at the Chegutu, Wedza and Shurugwi complexes — all along the Great Dyke. Exploration for more PGMs is underway in areas outside the Great Dyke.
Coal: Our huge coal resource base of over 8,87 billion tonnes is found in the Zambezi and the Save-Limpopo basins. It is renowned for its high ash content, low calorific values, low sulphur and phosphorus content needed in thermal power generation. To date, only coal resources within the mid-Zambezi basin have been reasonably exploited as the coal-bearing strata in this area is generally shallow and amenable to open cast mining.
Chrome: Our deposits are estimated to be over 50 million tonnes. Production is mainly along the Great Dyke. We are the world’s fifth largest producer of chromite after South Africa, Kazakhstan, Turkey and India. Processed chrome, or high carbon ferrochrome (HCF), is one of our major foreign currency earners.
Asbestos: We are the fifth largest producers of high quality white asbestos fibre in the world, which is produced in the full range of grades required by customers. Our deposits are estimated over 47,1 million tonnes.
Diamonds: There have been over 130 discoveries of Kimberlite pipes in Zimbabwe. Known deposits are over 15 million tonnes. The story of our diamonds has become the stuff of legend following the discovery of three potentially lucrative kimberlite pipes in the Zvishavane district.
A new mine, Murowa Diamond Mine, with production figures of 200 000 tonnes per annum, is in operation. Such kimberlitic occurrences are spatially related and found in similar geological settings to those in diamond-rich Botswana. Consequently, there is immense potential for the discovery of more diamond fields as exploratory activities in the Marange area have shown.
Coal Bed Methane (CBM) gas: We have the largest known reserves of coal bed methane (CBM) gas in sub-Saharan Africa. CBM is a gas produced from the decomposition of organic matter during the formation of coal. All coalfields are, therefore, potential CBM gas fields. In Zimbabwe, CBM gas resources have so far been discovered in the Hwange and Lupane areas of the Matabeleland North Province, the Lubimbi area in Binga, the Sengwa area of Gokwe, and in Chiredzi in the south east.
Uranium: Exploration in the country dates back to the 1950s when surveys were carried out in the Zambezi Valley. Deposits were subsequently discovered, and with the ever increasing global fuel prices and the projected power deficit in Southern Africa, uranium stands out as one of the key alternatives to both oil and electricity imports. Apart from the minerals highlighted above, we also have huge deposits of over 40 other “strategic” minerals that are still to be, exploited. So how can such a cache give us a paltry US$150 million when, for instance Mbada Diamonds alone is remitting US$15 million to treasury every month, and Chiadzwa alone is going to give us over US$600 million?
Take for instance the case of Zimplats which is exporting more than 100 000 ounces of platinum each year. With platinum going for US$1 699 per ounce, it means we are giving South Africa US$170million every year, and this is just one mine, Zimplats. How does that compare to the US$150million remitted to treasury by all the mines? What is more Impala Platinum, the holding company for Zimplats, expects to ship out 100 000 ounces per year for the next 50 years which translates to US$8,5 billion of our money feeding into the South African economy.
Given the fact Zimplats has stubbornly refused to set-up a smelter, we are also exporting jobs and other platinum by-products that would significantly feed into this figure of US$8,5 billion. The question is how much has Zimplats contributed to the fiscus? Would love to hear it from Minister Biti who loves to harp about a Chiadzwa that is sustaining an economy being bled by a largely unsupervised mining sector.
Why are we still borrowing when we have all these minerals at our disposal? Why are we not demanding our fair share? The bottom line is we are like beggars sitting on a beach of gold, drifters drifting on silver seas as British crooner, Mike Rutherford put it.
‘‘Oh Lord, I’m a poor man. With all the riches I can hold I’m a beggar, and I’m sitting on a beach of gold.’’
Its time we stopped watching our eyelids.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, DIAMONDS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS
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