MDC-T, Zanu PF trade accusations over survey
27/08/2012 00:00:00
by Violet Gonda
AN opinion poll indicating a sharp decline in support for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change formation has sparked a heated debate between the party and Zanu PF, which the survey says has gained support.
The report by Harare think-tank, the Mass Public Opinion Institute, titled Change and New Politics in Zimbabwe, shows that support for the MDC-T dropped from 38 percent in 2010 to 20 percent this year while Zanu PF’s base grew from 17 percent to 31 percent over the same period. According to the report, 47 percent of the respondents said they would not vote in the next elections or refused to indicate who they would vote for.
Voice of America’s Violet Gonda spoke to a Zanu PF Central Committee member and former Ambassador to China Chris Mutsvangwa and MDC-T spokesman Douglas Mwonzora for their perspectives on the survey findings. Gonda started by asking Ambassador Mutsvangwa for his reaction.
Mutsvangwa: Freedom House is an organization, which I have worked with for many years. I actually used to be a neighbor of them in New York. Whilst I may not agree with many of their views but they have strived to be a scientific and objective organisation with a wealth of experience.
Historically of course it used to put positions which were supportive of the MDC and the MDC used to embrace them as an objective organization. Now that the news is no longer what the MDC is expecting of them it is beginning to show their sliding popularity with the people of Zimbabwe - now they are beginning to denounce it.
It’s really a question of a boomerang effect on the MDC, which has proved to be incompetent, corrupt and generally directionless in the government of Zimbabwe. It’s a party, which has thrived on bad news. The feel bad factor is beginning to affect the MDC because it is not a party of hope it’s a party of desperation.
Gonda: Mr. Mwonzora can you come in?
Mwonzora: At no point did the MDC attack the credibility of the Freedom House. The MDC acknowledges that Freedom House is a professional body. What the MDC … (interrupted).
Mutsvangwa: … thank you. On that good note you must acknowledge the professional results Mr. Mwonzora.
Gonda: So let him finish please.
Mwonzora: Let Cde Mutsvangwa not disturb me please. What I was saying is that we have never questioned the integrity and the competence of the Freedom House. What we are saying is that the data that was gathered by Freedom House, as currently presented, does not show us whether this party is popular or not popular. This is because according to the report itself there has been massive intimidation and massive violence directed against the people of Zimbabwe.
According to the same report, of the people who were interviewed, almost half of them refused to disclose their political affiliation. Those people who refused did that for a reason and the reason is that they have been intimidated by Zanu PF. So you cannot celebrate where you are relying on the information of only half of the people that were interviewed. The report… (interrupted)
Mutsvangwa: …but with due respect Mr. Mwonzora, this study is not by Zanu PF! With due respect …
Mwonzora: Can I finish?
Gonda: Let him finish this last point and I will come to you Mr. Mutsvangwa ...
Mutsvangwa: No, because he has been speaking for a long time.
Mwonzora: I have the floor and I want to finish.
Mutsvangwa: No but you can’t be on the floor forever. You should give others a chance!
Gonda: Can you finish please Mr. Mwonzora …
Mwonzora: The second issue is that besides the number of people who did not choose their political affiliation is the fact that the people who were questioned - the report does not distinguish between rural areas and commercial farming areas… (interrupted).
Mutsvangwa: How many more seconds?
Mwonzora: … We all know that commercial farming areas are areas only Zanu PF people were resettled. So we refuse (to accept) the results coming out.
Gonda: Let me go to Mr. Mutsvangwa …
Mutsvangwa: No, No, No…
Gonda: Mr Mutsvangwa please let’s not do that handiti?
Mutsvangwa: Alright.
Mwonzora: Yes, we don’t want lawlessness on the radio please. Our people deserve better. Maku invade radio futi?
Gonda: Can I ask a question please gentlemen? Can we just calm down please?
Mutsvangwa: The lawlessness person you can hear him.
Mwonzora: (laughs)
Gonda: So Mr. Mutsvangwa the MDC is saying the survey is unreliable and that a lot of people refused to disclose their political preferences for fear of intimidation. What can you say about this?
Mutsvangwa: No I have nothing to say about that. I believe in the integrity of Freedom House. They cannot put views, which are contrary to their professionalism and basically that is what Mwonzora is trying to do. You cannot believe in Jesus and then you don’t want his gospel. So this splitting of hairs by Mr. Mwonzora is a lot of nonsense.
The real truth is that the people Zimbabwe are rapidly deserting a party, which has built its political career on Afro-pessimism - that Africans are incompetent, Africans can’t do anything, Africans need the West, Africans need God. That thing has been rejected because the people of Zimbabwe have taken a path of hope.
The Pan-Africanist ideology of Zanu PF where there say we have diamonds in Chiadzwa which we can use to pay our civil servants; the MDC says no we can rely on loans from the IMF. Now things have rebounded on them. There is electoral disaster facing this party.
Gonda: Mr. Mwonzora can you respond to this and also to criticism from other people who say that the MDC has lost touch with grassroots constituencies?
Mwonzora: People like Mutsvangwa must really be worried that there are people who refused to disclose their political affiliation. 47 percent refused to disclose their political affiliation. Why did they do that? Because of intimidation!
Those people who refused to speak because of intimidation are not your supporters. The other thing is that those people who were doing research needed first to get clearance from the president’s office in the districts. Some of them were arrested during the research, some of them were asked to submit their questionnaires …(interrupted)
Mutsvangwa: …arghh this is an attack on Freedom House! This is not… (interrupted)
Mwonzora: … the MDC is saying if Zanu PF … (interrupted)
Mutsvangwa: … I am sorry I have to defend the integrity and professionalism of Freedom House …
Mwonzora: ... If Zanu PF thinks that it is popular let’s call for free and fair elections so that the people of Zimbabwe can decide. If Zanu PF is so popular it must agree that the constitution be sent to the referendum. Right now they are disturbing the constitution. They don’t want to be subjected to the referendum because they know how the people of Zimbabwe will vote.
The people of Zimbabwe know that after the MDC entered the government their lives changed. The meaningless money that they used to have is no longer there. The people of Zimbabwe now know what is called ‘dollar for two’. It came as a result of the entry of the MDC into this government.
Gonda: Mr. Mutsvangwa what can you say though about this challenge from the MDC? They say if you are really more popular let the parties go to a referendum with this new constitution and see what the people decide?
Mutsvangwa: No! This is coming from a spineless and dishonest person who has represented very negative tendencies during the whole process of constitution making. Ask that gentleman why did they not publish the national report about their outreach program?
They went all over the country and wasted millions - but the national report, when it came out, it was contrary to the views which they thought Zimbabweans held about their party. He has refused that man. He takes a democratic initiative, takes it to the people and refuses to give people the result of that democratic initiative.
Then a coterie of them, educated by ex-Rhodesians from the (University of Zimbabwe) law faculty Mwonzora, (Eric) Matinenga (MDC), (Paul) Mangwana (Zanu PF) and a whole bunch of them write a constitution out of their own head which has nothing to do with what the people said during the outreach program and that is what they want to foist on the people of Zimbabwe. No! The constitution making process is still on, the principal parties are involved.
He is only an agent of the principals – that young man called Mwonzora – but he is now speaking like a political warlord. That is political overreaching of the worst type from a man who is very preposterous in his posturing about the constitution. Let’s not divert issues, let’s concentrate on the report of the Freedom House, an international organization which has given an objective study and for him to criticize it is being disingenuous.
GONDA: If we are to concentrate on this report what about the fear factor that has been raised in this report? The survey says many people continue to be fearful that the new elections could result in heightened levels of political violence. So this is a serious problem, so what can you say about this?
Mutsvangwa: The GNU has been good. Zimbabweans have been coming together. That Mwonzora has even been working with my wife - who is the vice co-chairperson. The Parliament people have been working together. The tension in Zimbabwe is much, much reduced. Zimbabweans are beginning to find each other so let’s continue on that constructive path.
GONDA: Yes, but you as political leaders might be doing this but it would appear that this is not the case on the ground with ordinary Zimbabweans.
Mutsvangwa: To the contrary, the political atmosphere has always been improving. There is a new sense of camaraderie among the people of Zimbabwe - even relations with traditional western powers are increasing. This is a new mood in Zimbabwe and this is the mood which is washing away the MDC to the dustbin of political history in Zimbabwe.
GONDA: Mr. Mwonzora do you agree that there is a path of optimism in the country?
Mwonzora: The report itself, which vaMutsvangwa surprisingly is marveling at, clearly tells that 47 percent of the people were afraid to disclose their political affiliation. It also says that the people of Zimbabwe are living under fear.
What we are saying as the MDC is very simple - let the people of Zimbabwe decide especially on the issue of the constitution. If we did not write what the people of Zimbabwe want it’s not for Zanu PF to speak for them.
Mutsvangwa: … So you are coming from God? Mwonzora you are coming from God, you are not coming from a political party? You are coming from God to write a constitution?
Mwonzora: … Soldiers were intimidating people who were conducting the survey. CIOs were intimidating people conducting the research. So if Zanu PF thinks it is popular let’s agree to a free and fair election in terms of the new constitution and we see what happens.
GONDA: Mr. Mwonzora how do you respond to people who say stop being defensive and instead look at the reasons why this report is saying your support is declining and work on that?
Mwonzora: We have not condemned the survey what we have simply said is that we must put sufficient weight to the fact that the people of Zimbabwe are afraid to disclose their political affiliations. That is … (interrupted)
Gonda: So if people …
Mwonzora: That is fundamental…
Gonda: Mr. Mwonzora so if you know as a party that this is the situation, that the people are afraid, this could be the situation at elections, so what is your party’s plan B?
Mwonzora: Well, firstly the fact that 47 percent of the people refused to talk should make the international community, especially SADC, very worried about the situation in Zimbabwe. But more importantly this is not a call for Zanu PF to start gloating and saying that it has got support. People who are quiet are not necessarily supporting you.
Regarding the strategies that the MDC is going to employ, you will see, come free and fair elections. MDC is simply saying its decision time for the people of Zimbabwe to decide their future in a free and fair election.
It is not true that the people of Zimbabwe favor the ZBC at the expense of radio stations like Studio 7. Almost every person in the rural areas is listening to this radio and Zanu PF spokespersons make use of Studio 7. Now all of a sudden how can ZBC be the most popular than Studio 7? How can (Attorney General) Johannes Tomana now be called a very popular and trustworthy person in Zimbabwe? That is obviously false and Zanu PF must be worried about that.
Gonda: Mr. Mutsvangwa 47 percent is a huge figure. Does this not concern you as Zanu PF?
Mutsvangwa: We are reading the report and the question of people being afraid you know that is what Freedom House (is saying) but it still has not impinged on the integrity of their findings that is why they were able to publish the report…. (interrupted)
Gonda: But I am asking you as Zanu PF. What is your party’s response to this?
Mutsvangwa: We are a scientific party. We have always done things in a scientific manner. We are very people-oriented, that is why we managed to rescue the vote away from the Rhodesians so that Mwonzora can become an MP, so that Morgan Tsvangirai can form a party called MDC…
Gonda: … Mr. Mutsvangwa I asked you a question about the 47 percent. Can you respond?
Mutsvangwa: ... Whatever positives, which are in the report, we will study them and we will use them to address the issues which are in Zimbabwe. We are never an ostrich-in-the-sand, party. We are objective. So we take note of whatever needs to be approved upon which Freedom House has said.
Gonda: How does Zanu PF hope to regain the confidence of those who are doubters or are afraid – especially the 47 percent?
Mutsvangwa: We will make sure that we will go out to the people to make them feel good about them being Zimbabwean. They are free to express themselves. We will go to look for this vote; we fought hard and died for it. They should not feel intimidated about anything.
Even in our own party-elections we are saying that there is no central imposition of leadership from the core. A political party is always evolving, what we don’t do is to reject things, which are scientific, things which are objective.
Mwonzora: The Freedom House report is confirmation of the terrorism of Zanu PF, the terrorism they have subjected the people of Zimbabwe to and we need to save the people of Zimbabwe from the Zanu PF terrorism.
For feedback e-mail Violet: violet@voanews.com or follow her on Twitter: @violetgonda
***
SOME READER'S COMMENTS:
TLN Economics Int.
The people of Zimbabwe know that after the MDC entered the government their lives changed. The meaningless money that they used to have is no longer there. The people of Zimbabwe now know what is called ‘dollar for two’. It came as a result of the entry of the MDC into this government. THESE ARE PROPER LIES, MWONZORA. FIRSTLY, YOU ARE PERFECTLY AWARE OF ZIDERA ACT 2001 (ECONOMIC SANCTIONS THAT CAUSED ECONOMIC MELTDOWN IN ZIM, SANCTIONS MWONZORA AND CO. AUTHORED AND RECOMMENDED TO THEIR WESTERN PARTNERS TO IMPLEMENT AGAINST THE WHOLE PEOPLE OF ZIM. SECONDLY, DOLLARISATION REGIME WAS MUTED BY ZANU PF JUST PRIOR TO GNU IN 2009. DOLLARISATION POLICY ADOPTED TO MITIGATE THE RUTHLESS EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC SANCTIONS. AND YOU KNOW MWONZORA, "THE BEAUTY OF TIME AND TRUTH", RINE MANYANGA HARIPUTIRWI, WIKILEAKS AND EVEN MORGAN AS WELL AS BITI, HAVE CATEGORICALLY CONFIRMED THE EXISTENCE OF ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AND THIS IS THE MAIN REASON WHY ELECTORATE SUPPORT HAS FUNDAMENTALLY DIMINISHED FROM 38% TO 20%, THE TRUTH HAS AND STILL COMING OUT ABOUT THE CALLOUSNESS OF MDC TO THE PEOPLE OF ZIM. THE PPLE OF ZIM SUFFERED IMMENSELY AS A RESULT OF EXISTENCE OF MDC AND THE PPLE ARE DESSERTING. FREEDOM HOUSE.
Zimbolove
The report is on the internet for all to read. MDC is lying, period. There is no where in the report where fear is a factor in the 47% not voting. I quote from page 5 of the report :"It is essential to bear in mind that a total of 47% of the respondents did not declare their voting intention in this 2012 survey. The percentage includes those who declared their vote to be their secret. Analyses in the rest of the report show that this undeclared category does not veil a systematic party orientation. Rather, should these persons vote in a next election, their support is likely to be diffused across party categories"
Further, it should be noted that the survey as you read through the report was checking for pulse between MDC and ZanuPF only. The other choices that existed include, All Others and My vote is my secret. the poll further observes that "The 47 strong grouping of undeclared support, specifically those who say ‘my vote is mysecret’, is a demographic hybrid of the characteristics of the MDC-T and ZANU-PF. Theundeclareds there do not systematically resemble a specific party." So no, the MDC cannot claim the 47% as theirs. They could easily belong to NewDawn Mavambo, MDC-N, MDC-99 or simply voter apathy. No party can lay claim to the 47%. So MDC better get off their high horse and face reality. They should stop thinking they are as popular as in 1999.
The 47 strong grouping of undeclared support, specifically those who say ‘my vote is my secret’, is a demographic hybrid of the characteristics of the MDC-T and ZANU-PF. The undeclareds there do not systematically resemble a specific party." So no, the MDC cannot claim the 47% as theirs. They could easily belong to NewDawn Mavambo, MDC-N, MDC-99 or simply voter apathy. No party can lay claim to the 47%. So MDC better get off their high horse and face reality. They should stop thinking they are as popular as in 1999.
RudeChikala
The independent media report that MDC officials revealed to them that Mdc leadership held an emergency meeting to discuss the The Freedom House survey findings & party leader Tsvangirai was not amused by the party’s information chiefs who ran into denying the genuineness of the report instead of spinning the contents of the outcome to the party’s advantage.
“Tsvangirai took Mwonzora to task for opposing the contents of the report when in the past the party has never had problems with reports by the same institution which came in the party’s favour. Tsvangirai feels Mwonzora ran into shooting the messenger who was delivering bad news to the party,” said the source in reference to the survey.
It is therefore very easy to see how Mwonzora is attempting to follow the new instruction that he should spin the contents of the outcome to the party’s advantage.
However, the report emphasizes the 37% to 20% drop in numbers supporting the Mdc.
This is totally very different to the 47% sample he is choosing to bark about.
If we take away the 47% & just focus on his party's 17% drop in support during the same period ZanuPF gained 18%, you then begin to see the spin in Dougy's nonsense..
A 17% drop in his party's popularity has absolutely nothing to do with the 47% of people who kept silent.
Only an idiot will not see this **And i must admit that Chris Mutsvangwa was foolish in failing to notice this straight forward & simple fact & in turn wasted an opportunity to highlight it in this silly interview!!
Labels: CHRIS MUTSVANGA, DOUGLAS MWONZORA, FREEDOM HOUSE, VIOLET GONDA, VOA
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Biti bomb threat a fluke: analysts
Posted by By Our reporter at 6 June, at 19 : 37 PM Print
POLITICAL analysts have laughed off the alleged bombing incident at MDC-T Secretary General, Tendai Biti’s residence as headline seeking antics and cheap politicking ahead of the June 11 SADC Summit in South Africa.
Amid all the hype created by the party and its private media partners, the little dent on Biti’s precast wall said to have been left by the bomb has been described by analysts as merely a little scene begging for attention before the Sadc Summit.
Biti last played the last stunt in July 2008, just before the September 2008 Sadc Summit when he allegedly received a used bullet cartridge in the post.
Since then, Biti has never received ant threats.
The news comes after Biti was criticised by President Mugabe for not supporting Zimbabwe’s communal farmers and standing in the way of increasing civil servants’ salaries.
Political analyst and diplomat, Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa called on Zimbabweans to see beyond the coincidence between the bombing and the upcoming Sadc Summit.
Ambassador Mutsvangwa noted that just a few days after MDC-T supporters murdered a police officer in cold blood, the Western sponsored movement’s self inflicted bombing scare is a last minute attempt to court Sadc sympathy.
“This is a narcissist headline, an attempt by the MDC-T to play latter day revolutionaries cast in the Tunisian or Egyptian style smacking of recklessness,” Ambassador Mutsvangwa said.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice National Coordinator, Advocate Martin Dinha called for an in depth investigation into the bombing claims, saying a party with no agenda to take to the regional summit will go to great lengths to cast itself as a victim of violence when in essence it is the perpetrator.
“The MDC-T has no agenda to take to the summit and they have chosen to cast themselves as violence victims,” Advocate Dinha said.
Sources in the MDC-T said Biti is planning a stage managed escape from the country on the pretext that his life is under threat.
A visit to the MDC-T Secretary General’s house showed a disappointing work of amateurs, far from what can be described as a life threatening attempt.
Police say they are still investigating the case, which was reported 17 hours late.
The MDC-T has a culture of documented violence involving petrol bombs.
Besides attacking Marimba Police Station, Harare Central Police, CID Headquarters at Morris Depot and Zanu PF Mbare offices, the party has an ugly history of intra-party fighting, which saw the bombing of Fidelis Mhashu and Job Sikhala’s residences a few years ago.
Labels: CHRIS MUTSVANGA, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, NEOLIBERALISM, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, SADC, TENDAI BITI
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Rebirth of an African genius
THIS is the first part of a series of articles in which AMBASSADOR CHRISTOPHER MUTSVANGWA traces the foundations of Zimbabwe and how four centuries of Zimbabwe-Europe interaction have served to sap the country of its ability to chart an independent and prosperous course in global affairs.
THE history of Zimbabwe over the years has demonstrated an African genius that thrived on opening to the outside in the medieval era. It proved its resilience against two waves of European intrusion, including a military defeat of the Rhodesian offshoot of the British imperial army.
Zimbabwe has just successfully carried out the most far-reaching restitution of indigenous property rights of the post-colonial era by decisively reclaiming land for the majority.
By once again refocusing on the natural human development task of the conscious creation of a genuine African middle class, Zimbabwe is poised to recover its role as the sub-regional driver of civilisation to the benefit of the African Renaissance.
The Founding of the Zimbabwe Nation
Zimbabwe today is a geographical entity that is between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers.
In the east are the Eastern Highlands that form the boundary with Mozambique. The fringes of the Kalahari Desert form the western border with Botswana.
MaDzimbahwe, stone-walled citadels worthy of Unesco heritage sites
The fabulous wealth was used to build granite stone citadels that are an enduring testimony of the stability of Shona Kingdoms over a period of 900 years starting from 800AD.
Mapungubwe, on the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashi rivers in South Africa, was the first such citadel. It has become famous because its artefacts escaped the deliberate if philistine destruction of Cecil John Rhodes and other latter day European marauders.
The most famous and majestic is the Great Zimbabwe at Masvingo, also a Unesco heritage site.
Their scope and splendour are testament to a pinnacle achievement in architecture and granite stone-working which awed the merchants from far off lands who visited the rich kings of the time.
Others are Naletale, Dhlodhlo and Khami. These citadels have no parallel in sub-Saharan Africa.
Seen in their totality, they are a testament to a political order of general and sustained stability that could spawn enduring achievements in agriculture, mining, commerce, military arts and language.
This was to mark the golden era of the Dzimbahwe civilisation.
These imposing granite citadels tell a story of advanced scientific tilling of the lands to produce abundant surpluses that freed the human mind and body to pursue other skills in gold mining and other metallurgical activity.
This in turn spawned a great increase in commerce that soon went beyond the Indian Ocean to attract Monsoon seafaring merchants from Egypt, Arabia, Persia (Iran), India and even far off China is indicated by archaeological Ming Dynasty beads.
The law and order of his day, the sense of peace and tranquility was such that gold and other items could be traded at great fairs.
More so it could be safely transported by human porters to the coastal ports to an extent that it assured the monsoon dhows of sure and unfailing cargo.
This type of accomplishment should put to shame the modern day gold and diamond smuggling in Zimbabwe.
The stories of the gold of the Munhumutapas reverberated from the near Orient all the way westward to the ears of the kings of the rising maritime powers of Europe.
There it kindled imagined legends such as the biblical "King Solomon’s Mines" and the "Empire of Prester John.
It was not long before Portuguese seafarers made the groundbreaking sail around Africa on the way to the spices of the East. Such was the pull of Zimbabwe’s fabled gold that they also made a sojourn into the interior of the land of the Munhumutapas and took no time in setting up an embassy at his court.
Greed soon overcame the Portuguese guests as they found the interior of Zimbabwe quite hospitable to those from temperate zones.
Their superior firepower and their increasing numbers soon led them into land grabs. Estates or prazos (mapurazi) were claimed especially along the Mazoe valley.
The military adventurism incurred the wrath of the Shona people. With stretched supply lines of the mercantile empire 17th Century they proved no match to the reorganised Rozvi armies.
The Portuguese interlopers were routed and confined to the coastal zones while their occasional warlords formed ad hoc alliances to retain varying degrees of influence all the way to the arrival of the British challengers two centuries later.
Portuguese mercantilism and the first trade sanctions against Zimbabwe
They in turn retaliated with a naval grip of the coastal ports that destroyed free trade in the Indian Ocean. Arab, Persian, Indian and Chinese traders were banished from trading with Zimbabwe, which was effectively now under blockade.
This isolation was the first sanctions ever applied by European power against Zimbabwe.
It is the only plausible explanation of why the stone citadels afterwards never reached the pinnacle of Great Zimbabwe at Masvingo.
Zimbabweans should thus dismiss with total contempt, the lies and deliberate confusion by British colonial historians as to the real cause of waning Shona influence.
Starved of external trade, the Rozvi Empire went into steady decline effectively marking the close of the golden era of Shona civilisation in the sub-region.
Shona as lingua franca
Historically, the people of modern Zimbabwe have been part of a bigger social grouping which extended further into adjacent Mozambique, Botswana and northern South Africa.
They spoke the Shona language, which is used across varying tribes indicating the overriding influence of sustained socio-political integration over a long period.
Clearly the flourishing internal trade led to the emergence of common lingua franca, more so as that trade expanded beyond borders and across oceans raking in immense wealth.
The heritage of a common medium of communication across tribes and region is perhaps the greatest gift left to modern Zimbabwe by our ancestors.
Courtesy of the Shona language, Zimbabwe was to emerge a more united viable entity in the wake of the 1884 Berlin Conference when European conquerors carved Africa using the age old tactic of ethnic, tribal, religious and linguistic divide and rule.
The glue of a majority language has also made it possible to easily foster national consciousness. Modern Zimbabwe has thus been able to withstand determined efforts directed at national fractiousness by Britain, the post imperial power in concert with its allies.
Monotheistic religion and ‘Vadzimu’ intercession
Closely related to common language was also the practice and belief in the common Mwari religion of one God across the sub-region.
It worshipped one God, Mwari through the intercession of "mudzimu" or "svikiro". It was non-sexist and women could also wield great religious influence.
The departed ancestors acted as the angels. The traditional chiefs performed the role of chief priests. Shrines and burial places all played their part as the physical anchors of worship.
The religious and administrative structure of the Shona chieftaincy was to ensure the survival of this centuries-old tradition.
The resilience and power of traditional religion was so strong that it managed to survive the separation of the people from their historical homes when British colonisers violently expropriated land from the people.
Ndebele Nguni and the new Zimbabwe nation
The capacity of the Zimbabwe nation to withstand external shock and absorb new ideas was to be tested with the arrival of the Ngunis in the wake of the Mfecane of the early 19th century.
The pressure of advancing British imperial power that had finally subjugated the Xhosa after a long series of wars forced the Zulus of King Tshaka to forge unity of the Nguni nation through forced military integration.
One unforeseen outcome was the Mfecane or Diaspora by reluctant smaller tribes who decided to escape even northwards across the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers.
The first group to cross the Limpopo River was that of Zwangendaba.
He raided and killed the Rozvi Mambo before proceeding to cross the Zambezi and settle in parts of Malawi, Tanzania and eastern DRC.
Mzilikazi and the Ndebele followed shortly after. As he wandered northwards, Mzilikazi had incorporated Swazi and Sotho elements into his regiments.
He finally headed for western Zimbabwe.
There he quickly blended Nguni social structures, superior military arrangements and language with the dominant Rozvi traditions of the Shonas to form a powerful kingdom with Bulawayo as capital.
To its credit, within just three generations the new society had become part of a Zimbabwe that would ally with the majority Shonas across the whole plateau into formidable resistance to encroaching British imperial hegemony.
Soshangana and the Shangani in the East
Another Nguni offshoot, the Shangani moved into the Mozambique- Zimbabwe border. Here they fought great anti-colonial battles against Portuguese rule under the great chief Gungunyana.
The British and modern Zimbabwe
The present day Zimbabwe is a product of British imperial rule for over 90 years. Unlike other African countries where the English sent administrators, Zimbabwe was turned into a home by the colonisers.
The fertile soils, the equable climate off the plateau was simply too enticing to the new European invaders thus vindicating the great sense of human geography in the original Shona who had made the plateau home at about the same time as Vikings invaded England and well before the Norman conquest of the British Isles.
At their population height in 1970s, the white settlers were less than 3 percent of the total population. Yet they wielded great power concentrated in a racial minority.
Their numbers have dwindled mainly because of lack of allegiance to Zimbabwe. Britain, the metropolitan power has consistently and persistently manipulated their loyalty to serve a selfish, neo-colonial and increasingly out-dated agenda of pernicious influence on the Zimbabwe body politic.
The British tradition continues to wane as their numbers have decreased in the aftermath of their military defeat a decade before the 21st century.
But their influence in ushering in the concept of a modern state to the Zimbabwe nation is still there and will endure long after their present if flippant sulkiness.
The English language and international discourse
Besides the management of a modern economy, advanced commercial law and other aspects of a modern state, the enduring contribution is the usage of the English language in national discourse.
With the emergence of the USA as the dominant superpower of the 20th century and beyond, Zimbabwe could ride on the worldwide acceptance of English as the premier lingua franca of international interaction.
The liberal democratic tradition
Another remarkable feature of English colonial rule was the introduction of the liberal democratic mode of governance.
At home, British rule had done its part in advancing constitutionalism as a mode of modern governance. Yet as it went abroad, British imperialism practiced class discrimination that would lead to rebellion by the American colonists. Worse it was the pioneer and practitioner of modern racism against the people of colour.
Nevertheless, with the eventual demise of the imperial adventure, the concept of liberal democratic governance has been avidly adapted by the former subjects.
In Zimbabwe, it took one generation before the black majority shook off the stupor of the shock of military defeat by British conquerors at the end of the 19th century.
Agitation for workers’ rights in the new towns soon coalesced with rural demand for stolen land.
The aftermath of World War II saw this political activism morph into the demand for the non-racial voting and majority rule.
Political parties were formed in the face of growing resistance and increasing white minority settler repression. This was the incubation of the future political leadership that would culminate in a successful military challenge to British imperial rule.
Heroes and the anti-colonial tradition
Just as Walter Rodney postulates in his celebrated book, "How Europe underdeveloped Africa", the natural development of Zimbabwe was stunted and even temporarily arrested by aspects of its negative interaction with Europe.
Changamire Dombo of the Rozvi
The Portuguese who had set up legation at the court of Munhumutapa did not take long to see an opportunity in occupying the well-endowed Zimbabwe plateau for their far away king.
Through the ruse of dabbling in local succession politics, the Portuguese interlopers did not take time to ensconce themselves as imperial arbiters of the Munhumutapa Kingdom.
Though outnumbered with stretched supply lines, they soon turned themselves into rulers taking courtesy of their advantage of superior firepower. However, their imperial adventurism was very short lived as the Shonas from the interior organised a counter offensive.
Changamire Dombo of the Rozvi was the first great hero in the long history of painful encounter with European imperial invaders. His warriors drove Portuguese armies away from the interior plateau to the Indian Ocean coastal zones.
He thus spared the country the fate of present day Mozambique which became a colony of Portugal for so many centuries.
The respite of freedom was to be challenged by more modern and better armed British imperial troops. Under the guise of dubious and deceitful treaties, Rhodes and his Pioneer Column occupied present day Zimbabwe in the wake of the 1884 Berlin Conference on the Partition of Africa.
Lobengula and the Ndebele War
This brazen act of imperial conquest forced King Lobengula of the Ndebele nation into a war against the marauders.
Though he was defeated, the spirit of resistance took another dimension when both the Shona and Ndebele organised a joint resistance that would stretch the new occupiers.
Nehanda and the First Chimurenga
Nehanda, Kaguvi, Mashayamombe, Chingaira and many other Shona and Ndebele chiefs carried out co-ordinated attacks at isolated settler outposts all over the Plateau. Facing stark prospects, imperial Britain had to dispatch fresh reinforcements from Port Elizabeth to go to Zimbabwe through Beira in order to save its embattled settlers from imminent annihilation.
European advances in military technology such as the Gatling gun and the invention of dynamite tilted the equation against native peoples who still fought with spears. Their numbers were rendered useless against such firepower and the war of resistance collapsed into painful defeat.
Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo and modern nationalism
The defeat of the people of Zimbabwe cowered a whole generation into submission as fear gripped the land and white settlers did as they wished. They appropriated large estates for themselves while forcing the majority natives into marginal lands.
Indentured labour was the order of the day. So were onerous taxes and other administrative measures intended to force the majority into a new proletariat designed to serve the new masters.
Working conditions in new urban centres, farms and mines were as appalling as the low wages.
The sheer weight of oppression was such that it could only revive the spirit of resistance. By the 1930s the people had taken to strikes and agitation against colonial excesses.
The outbreak of the WWII forced a stretched Britain to recruit Africans and other colonial subjects into its war effort against Hitler’s Germany.
The battle cry of freedom had a resonant effect. At the end of hostilities, many were demobilised without as much as a thank you by a broke and penniless England.
To their consternation they noticed their erstwhile battlefield white colleagues being rewarded with even more land which was being expropriated from fellow Africans. The resultant anger and alienation fuelled the spirit of popular resistance eve more.
In the meantime, missionary education had nurtured a more conscious African elite, which could eloquently articulate the issues of concern to the black majority.
This new elite also benefited from interaction with other Africans when they went to South Africa to further their education.
After all, South Africa had the oldest liberation movement, the African National Congress which had been founded in 1912 in reaction to nascent apartheid as the British co-opted Afrikaners into a white ruling condominium.
Joshua Nkomo, the Father of the Nation became the voice of Zimbabweans as he articulated their grievances and formed political parties that urged majority rule and one man one vote.
Robert Mugabe an uncanny intellectual, austere revolutionary and visionary statesman started his political career as Joshua Nkomo’s lieutenant but came into his own as the demands of the drawn out struggle rose.
The two combined into a formidable duet that scaled new heights in the fight for freedom. They did not hesitate to the ultimate choice of armed confrontation with the entrenched settler minority in order to dislodge it from power.
Repeated proscriptions of political parties, imprisonment and detention of the leadership, brazen violence meted out to the agitating populace exposed the futility of non-violent confrontation of the entrenched settler minority.
The nationalist movement came to the painful conclusion that to win freedom and sovereignty, the people had to organise their own defence against the colonial state machinery.
Zimbabwe had to reverse the defeat of Nehanda, Kaguvi and others before they could once again come into their own.
One man one vote, majority rule, a people’s constitution and all that go with the trappings of a modern democratic state were only possible after the people had been organised to answer the settler insolence and intransigence with potent armed power. A terrible new beauty was about to be born.
Herbert Chitepo, J Z Moyo and the people’s war
The challenge to chart the new territory of founding a revolutionary army fell on two, on lawyer Herbert Chitepo of Zanu and Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo of Zapu.
In the relative safety of exile in newly independent Zambia and Tanzania, both took it upon themselves to embrace current thinking on national liberation theory and practice.
They rightly deserve the credit of the formation of an armed political cadreship for the defense of a people under colonial bondage.
This army was built on the bedrock of love of the country and its people. Those who were its initial cadres sowed a tradition were the well-being of the individual was subsumed to that of the nation.
The prospect of one’s life was subordinated to that of a country and its people for eternity.
Good schooling, rewarding work, marrying and bringing up own family as well as quest for self actualisation, including any anticipated fame: all these were to pale in significance and value to the call of patriotic duty.
A great calling that could not reward the self. It inevitably led to maiming, loss of sight or hearing.
Most horribly, it often ended with the brutish claim of that invaluable, once only gift of life. And for the survivors there is the lifelong trauma of war and the consequences of foregone opportunity in a competitive society.
It is no wonder that their invaluable philosophy and praxis of nation building so frightened the enemy that he dedicated all his effort to the personal elimination of both Herbert Chitepo and J Z Moyo among many others of their proud ilk.
Josiah Tongogara, Nikita Mangena and the Samora Machel generation
Zimbabwe’s military genius came into its own under the command of the incomparable Josiah Tongogara of the Zimbabwe African Liberation Army (Zanla) and Nikita Mangena of the Zimbabwe’s African People’s Army (Zipra).
Their military mettle came to the fore courtesy of a new wave of recruits who left the country at the inspiration of the political and military exploits of Samora Machel and his Frelimo of Mozambique.
The armed victory of the people of Mozambique that helped foment a revolution against fascist Portuguese rule was to fire the imagination of youth in the whole of Southern Africa.
All the classrooms of the region starting with those of Soweto burst into open defiance of colonial rule spilling into the streets to demonstrate.
More potently, thousands others melted into the African bush to trek to neighbouring independent countries to seek the much loved gun. Defying the prospect of imminent death they fervently embraced arms with the sole desire to train and go back home to settle the final score with a well-armed and dug-in armed racist oppressor.
ENDS
Labels: CHRIS MUTSVANGA, HISTORY, ZIMBABWE
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‘Zim govt to revisit mining legislation’
Ralph Mutema
Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:39:00 +0000
THE Government of Zimbabwe has been urged to revisit mining rights so as to enable the country to benefit from the very lucrative industry. The call was made by the former Zimbabwean Ambassador to China, Chris Mutsvangwa.
Mutsvangwa said the current ownership of mining rights in the country was tantamount to
“daylight robbery” and many impoverished Zimbabweans were not benefiting from the vast mineral resources in the country.
“The current ownership structure of mining rights is
still very much neo-colonial in nature,” said the ambassador adding that this is “tantamount to daylight robbery”.
Mutsvangwa who is a Zanu PF Information Committee member and strategist, urged the government to extend the current indigenisation laws to include the mining industry.
Earlier this year, Zimbabwe passed the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act which seeks to create an enabling environment that will result in increased participation of indigenous people in Zimbabwe in the economic activities of the country. The Act also makes provision for the establishment of an Indigenisation and Empowerment Fund to provide finance for the indigenous people in the acquisition of shares, working capital and other forms of finance.
A stake of at least 51 per cent shareholding in the majority of businesses in all sectors of the economy will have to be in the hands of indigenous people, under this legislation.
The government proposed separate legislation for the mining industry. The Mines Ministry proposing that 40 percent of the shares in mine companies would be nationalized without any compensation.
Zimbabwe is not the only country that has made such a proposal. African, especially Southern African Development Community countries where there are vast mineral deposits, have passed indigenization laws.
The West African country, Mali, the third highest gold production in Africa (after South Africa and Ghana) has 51 percent shareholding [in gold mines], while Namibia and Botswana have 49 percent in their diamond mines. South Africa is also considering such legislation.
Mutsvangwa who was speaking at a business function held in the capital, said indigenization legislation was necessary to correct colonial imbalances.
He also urged young people to get involved in the mining sector so that they can acquire skills necessary to develop the country in the future.
A trust was set up to encourage young people to develop skills in mining and get involved in one of Zimbabwe’s highest foreign currency earning activities – Youths in Mining and Environment Trust (YIMET)
Speaking at the same occasion, marking the launch of the YIMET, the Chairman of the organisation said his organisation will develop the youth in Zimbabwe in the area of mining and national resources exploitation to enhance production in the mining industry.
Mutsvangwa’s statement comes at a time when Zimbabwe is said to be currently losing US$1.2 billion a month to illegal diamond dealing.
Analysts believe Zimbabwe has enough mineral deposits to turnaround the economy if the production and marketing is properly managed. The country boasts gold, platinum and chrome as the principal endowments. The country’s gold reserves are among the largest in the African region, while it hosts the second-largest platinum reserves in the world.
Diamond mining started only four years ago with the discovery of kimberlites in the Manicaland region, but already the industry is fast becoming the major foreign currency earner. With an estimated US$1.2 billion being lost to smuggling every month, the country stands to benefit from a well-managed diamond production industry.
The mining industry earns Zimbabwe over 40% of its total export revenues. Conservative industry estimates say the industry could account for over 60% of export revenue in the next ten years.
Zimbabwe, however, has not been able to derive the full benefits of its myriad mineral resource base. Rather than expanding, the industry is forecast to register an average annual contraction of 1.5% during the 2008-2012 period.
Labels: CHRIS MUTSVANGA, MINING, NEOCOLONIALISM, ZIMBABWE
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