Let’s vote to save Christmas

The Herald
December 29 2010

Let’s vote to save Christmas

PHEW! What a Christmas, this was. Like the caress of a returning, long-lost lover, it had been a while since many a family felt that joyous hand of Christmas. This is the time we are all supposed to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. A birth that signified God’s undying love for his greatest creation, man, when he chose to descend from the heavens and live among mere mortals, just to try to save them from purgatory. So there we were in Gweru. The Zambezi was really going down and we were seeing first hand the truism of the adage ‘‘nguruve inokangwa nemafuta ayo’’ as pork chops sizzled on the braai stand. All around us we could see evidence of the return of the good times. Chickens and goats were cackling or bleating as they were dragged home to meet a fate similar to that of the pork chops we were tormenting on the braai stand. All around little kids, smartly turned out were running around, blowing balloons or blowing those noisy, irritating fire-crackers that they love so much. Macheso and Dhewa were competing to drown each other out on many hi-fis. This was what it was all about. A time to be with friends and family, to see and be seen, to eat but not be eaten, to drink but not drown. Let me enlist the help of Musaemura Zimunya, whose gem of a poem, Kisimuso, really captured the spirit of Christmas as we know it. Says Zimunya: The family were gathered The eldest son from Bulawayo Boastful of his experiences in the city of knives and crooks; One son from Harare, a fish pocket who can slang everyone into ignorance with the stupefying s’kuz’apo tongue (the family believe he is the chief mechanic at Lever Brothers!" a sister, latest to arrive from Gutu blue-painted eye-lids, false eye-lashes, red lips bangles gritting in her hands with a European hair-wig above an ambi-proof face. she covers her thighs with a towel when she sits (as for her the family will always believe she is a dressmaker in Fort Victoria) the rest of the family, mum and dad are happy to admire the latest from town. Kisimiso means feasting Dozens of bread loaves, drums of tea, mountains of sadza Rock-size pieces of meat of the he-goat in lakes of thousand-eyed soup And of course, large pots of fizzing, frothy beer. Nothing about the print themes of goodwill and peace Of course goodwill was always here; an old man well-known to me lost half his hair while pulling a tourist out of a blazing car’s wreckage – in June, six months before last Christmas. A child without clothes sat nodding with sleep his belly as big as a muchongoyo drum; buzzing flies were fighting, spinning and tumbling into the smelling parting between his buttocks, Kutu the scraggy dog was retching in front of him; they ultimately gave the mother water that had washed the madman’s beard because she could no longer leave the bush or close her oozing behind and brother s’kuz’apo filled the boy’s hut with urine and vomit and a powerful smell of beer gone stale The next day They talked of the greatest Kisimiso for many years. From Zimunya’s foregoing characterisation, it’s evident that what goes on around Christmas is as similar to what Christ embodies as night is to day. What with the drinking binges, gluttony, adultery, fornication; false-pretences, you name it. It’s all done in the name of Christmas, and much like many other things that are done in the name of love, politics or such similar pursuits, its all in a day’s work. Well let’s hope those who cost innocent families Christmas over the past decade through sell-out politics or ruinous economic sanctions will see the error of their ways, reform and ensure that the nascent stability that we have experienced since the introduction of the multi-currency regime is consolidated so that Xmas 2011 is even better than this year’s edition. WikiLeaks has, to a large extent, confirmed what we have already known that there are some among us who worked with outsiders to cost us many things, including Christmas. Let’s hope now that they have been unmasked, they well not walk their well-beaten path to perdition. I believe progressive Zimbabweans will agree with me if I say, when we shout "Happy New Year" at midnight on December 31, we want that happiness to transcend to each of the 365 days of 2011. When we wish each other "a prosperous New Year", we should not forget that true prosperity does not come from fronting multinational corporations, earning five-figure salaries, driving company cars or living in company houses; it comes from having dominion over our God-given resources. It comes from owning our economy and participating fully in economic production. It comes from pro-people programmes like the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive. It accrues from prospering the nation by building a genuine, wealth-creating middle class that can defend the gains of the liberation struggle that began as early as 1896. And as we head into election season next year, let’s remember the cost we paid to get that ballot, and who was denying us the vote and why. Most importantly let’s not forget that along with one man one vote we were also fighting to be masters of our destiny, to have dominion over our resources down to our rats and ants. The gains of the revolution need to be protected not only for our sake and for the sake of those patriots who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but for future generations in whose trust we hold this country and all that reposes in it. Let’s not prostitute our right to our country and its resources, simply because the erstwhile coloniser has dangled a few dollars before our eyes. Next year’s election should be about a society that has become mature, that has had time to evaluate what is at stake and hence can tell a proxy from a bona fide contestant. Let the next poll be a time for judgment. A time to show that we have not only gone to school but we are also educated, that we have not only heard but listened, that we have not only read but have understood, that we have not only been taught but have learnt. Next year’s election should not just be about punishing those who cost us Christmas over the years, it should also be about ensuring future great Christmases for our families. It should be about telling the Westerners and their lackeys that we want our livelihoods and our Christmases back for good. caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Let’s vote to save Christmas

PHEW! What a Christmas, this was. Like the caress of a returning, long-lost lover, it had been a while since many a family felt that joyous hand of Christmas. This is the time we are all supposed to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. A birth that signified God’s undying love for his greatest creation, man, when he chose to descend from the heavens and live among mere mortals, just to try to save them from purgatory. So there we were in Gweru. The Zambezi was really going down and we were seeing first hand the truism of the adage ‘‘nguruve inokangwa nemafuta ayo’’ as pork chops sizzled on the braai stand. All around us we could see evidence of the return of the good times. Chickens and goats were cackling or bleating as they were dragged home to meet a fate similar to that of the pork chops we were tormenting on the braai stand. All around little kids, smartly turned out were running around, blowing balloons or blowing those noisy, irritating fire-crackers that they love so much. Macheso and Dhewa were competing to drown each other out on many hi-fis. This was what it was all about. A time to be with friends and family, to see and be seen, to eat but not be eaten, to drink but not drown. Let me enlist the help of Musaemura Zimunya, whose gem of a poem, Kisimuso, really captured the spirit of Christmas as we know it. Says Zimunya: The family were gathered The eldest son from Bulawayo Boastful of his experiences in the city of knives and crooks; One son from Harare, a fish pocket who can slang everyone into ignorance with the stupefying s’kuz’apo tongue (the family believe he is the chief mechanic at Lever Brothers!" a sister, latest to arrive from Gutu blue-painted eye-lids, false eye-lashes, red lips bangles gritting in her hands with a European hair-wig above an ambi-proof face. she covers her thighs with a towel when she sits (as for her the family will always believe she is a dressmaker in Fort Victoria) the rest of the family, mum and dad are happy to admire the latest from town. Kisimiso means feasting Dozens of bread loaves, drums of tea, mountains of sadza Rock-size pieces of meat of the he-goat in lakes of thousand-eyed soup And of course, large pots of fizzing, frothy beer. Nothing about the print themes of goodwill and peace Of course goodwill was always here; an old man well-known to me lost half his hair while pulling a tourist out of a blazing car’s wreckage – in June, six months before last Christmas. A child without clothes sat nodding with sleep his belly as big as a muchongoyo drum; buzzing flies were fighting, spinning and tumbling into the smelling parting between his buttocks, Kutu the scraggy dog was retching in front of him; they ultimately gave the mother water that had washed the madman’s beard because she could no longer leave the bush or close her oozing behind and brother s’kuz’apo filled the boy’s hut with urine and vomit and a powerful smell of beer gone stale The next day They talked of the greatest Kisimiso for many years. From Zimunya’s foregoing characterisation, it’s evident that what goes on around Christmas is as similar to what Christ embodies as night is to day. What with the drinking binges, gluttony, adultery, fornication; false-pretences, you name it. It’s all done in the name of Christmas, and much like many other things that are done in the name of love, politics or such similar pursuits, its all in a day’s work. Well let’s hope those who cost innocent families Christmas over the past decade through sell-out politics or ruinous economic sanctions will see the error of their ways, reform and ensure that the nascent stability that we have experienced since the introduction of the multi-currency regime is consolidated so that Xmas 2011 is even better than this year’s edition. WikiLeaks has, to a large extent, confirmed what we have already known that there are some among us who worked with outsiders to cost us many things, including Christmas. Let’s hope now that they have been unmasked, they well not walk their well-beaten path to perdition. I believe progressive Zimbabweans will agree with me if I say, when we shout "Happy New Year" at midnight on December 31, we want that happiness to transcend to each of the 365 days of 2011. When we wish each other "a prosperous New Year", we should not forget that true prosperity does not come from fronting multinational corporations, earning five-figure salaries, driving company cars or living in company houses; it comes from having dominion over our God-given resources. It comes from owning our economy and participating fully in economic production. It comes from pro-people programmes like the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive. It accrues from prospering the nation by building a genuine, wealth-creating middle class that can defend the gains of the liberation struggle that began as early as 1896. And as we head into election season next year, let’s remember the cost we paid to get that ballot, and who was denying us the vote and why. Most importantly let’s not forget that along with one man one vote we were also fighting to be masters of our destiny, to have dominion over our resources down to our rats and ants. The gains of the revolution need to be protected not only for our sake and for the sake of those patriots who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but for future generations in whose trust we hold this country and all that reposes in it. Let’s not prostitute our right to our country and its resources, simply because the erstwhile coloniser has dangled a few dollars before our eyes. Next year’s election should be about a society that has become mature, that has had time to evaluate what is at stake and hence can tell a proxy from a bona fide contestant. Let the next poll be a time for judgment. A time to show that we have not only gone to school but we are also educated, that we have not only heard but listened, that we have not only read but have understood, that we have not only been taught but have learnt. Next year’s election should not just be about punishing those who cost us Christmas over the years, it should also be about ensuring future great Christmases for our families. It should be about telling the Westerners and their lackeys that we want our livelihoods and our Christmases back for good. caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Let’s vote to save Christmas

PHEW! What a Christmas, this was. Like the caress of a returning, long-lost lover, it had been a while since many a family felt that joyous hand of Christmas. This is the time we are all supposed to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. A birth that signified God’s undying love for his greatest creation, man, when he chose to descend from the heavens and live among mere mortals, just to try to save them from purgatory. So there we were in Gweru. The Zambezi was really going down and we were seeing first hand the truism of the adage ‘‘nguruve inokangwa nemafuta ayo’’ as pork chops sizzled on the braai stand. All around us we could see evidence of the return of the good times. Chickens and goats were cackling or bleating as they were dragged home to meet a fate similar to that of the pork chops we were tormenting on the braai stand. All around little kids, smartly turned out were running around, blowing balloons or blowing those noisy, irritating fire-crackers that they love so much. Macheso and Dhewa were competing to drown each other out on many hi-fis. This was what it was all about. A time to be with friends and family, to see and be seen, to eat but not be eaten, to drink but not drown. Let me enlist the help of Musaemura Zimunya, whose gem of a poem, Kisimuso, really captured the spirit of Christmas as we know it. Says Zimunya: The family were gathered The eldest son from Bulawayo Boastful of his experiences in the city of knives and crooks; One son from Harare, a fish pocket who can slang everyone into ignorance with the stupefying s’kuz’apo tongue (the family believe he is the chief mechanic at Lever Brothers!" a sister, latest to arrive from Gutu blue-painted eye-lids, false eye-lashes, red lips bangles gritting in her hands with a European hair-wig above an ambi-proof face. she covers her thighs with a towel when she sits (as for her the family will always believe she is a dressmaker in Fort Victoria) the rest of the family, mum and dad are happy to admire the latest from town. Kisimiso means feasting Dozens of bread loaves, drums of tea, mountains of sadza Rock-size pieces of meat of the he-goat in lakes of thousand-eyed soup And of course, large pots of fizzing, frothy beer. Nothing about the print themes of goodwill and peace Of course goodwill was always here; an old man well-known to me lost half his hair while pulling a tourist out of a blazing car’s wreckage – in June, six months before last Christmas. A child without clothes sat nodding with sleep his belly as big as a muchongoyo drum; buzzing flies were fighting, spinning and tumbling into the smelling parting between his buttocks, Kutu the scraggy dog was retching in front of him; they ultimately gave the mother water that had washed the madman’s beard because she could no longer leave the bush or close her oozing behind and brother s’kuz’apo filled the boy’s hut with urine and vomit and a powerful smell of beer gone stale The next day They talked of the greatest Kisimiso for many years. From Zimunya’s foregoing characterisation, it’s evident that what goes on around Christmas is as similar to what Christ embodies as night is to day. What with the drinking binges, gluttony, adultery, fornication; false-pretences, you name it. It’s all done in the name of Christmas, and much like many other things that are done in the name of love, politics or such similar pursuits, its all in a day’s work. Well let’s hope those who cost innocent families Christmas over the past decade through sell-out politics or ruinous economic sanctions will see the error of their ways, reform and ensure that the nascent stability that we have experienced since the introduction of the multi-currency regime is consolidated so that Xmas 2011 is even better than this year’s edition. WikiLeaks has, to a large extent, confirmed what we have already known that there are some among us who worked with outsiders to cost us many things, including Christmas. Let’s hope now that they have been unmasked, they well not walk their well-beaten path to perdition. I believe progressive Zimbabweans will agree with me if I say, when we shout "Happy New Year" at midnight on December 31, we want that happiness to transcend to each of the 365 days of 2011. When we wish each other "a prosperous New Year", we should not forget that true prosperity does not come from fronting multinational corporations, earning five-figure salaries, driving company cars or living in company houses; it comes from having dominion over our God-given resources. It comes from owning our economy and participating fully in economic production. It comes from pro-people programmes like the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive. It accrues from prospering the nation by building a genuine, wealth-creating middle class that can defend the gains of the liberation struggle that began as early as 1896. And as we head into election season next year, let’s remember the cost we paid to get that ballot, and who was denying us the vote and why. Most importantly let’s not forget that along with one man one vote we were also fighting to be masters of our destiny, to have dominion over our resources down to our rats and ants. The gains of the revolution need to be protected not only for our sake and for the sake of those patriots who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but for future generations in whose trust we hold this country and all that reposes in it. Let’s not prostitute our right to our country and its resources, simply because the erstwhile coloniser has dangled a few dollars before our eyes. Next year’s election should be about a society that has become mature, that has had time to evaluate what is at stake and hence can tell a proxy from a bona fide contestant. Let the next poll be a time for judgment. A time to show that we have not only gone to school but we are also educated, that we have not only heard but listened, that we have not only read but have understood, that we have not only been taught but have learnt. Next year’s election should not just be about punishing those who cost us Christmas over the years, it should also be about ensuring future great Christmases for our families. It should be about telling the Westerners and their lackeys that we want our livelihoods and our Christmases back for good. caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Let’s vote to save Christmas

PHEW! What a Christmas, this was. Like the caress of a returning, long-lost lover, it had been a while since many a family felt that joyous hand of Christmas. This is the time we are all supposed to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. A birth that signified God’s undying love for his greatest creation, man, when he chose to descend from the heavens and live among mere mortals, just to try to save them from purgatory. So there we were in Gweru. The Zambezi was really going down and we were seeing first hand the truism of the adage ‘‘nguruve inokangwa nemafuta ayo’’ as pork chops sizzled on the braai stand. All around us we could see evidence of the return of the good times. Chickens and goats were cackling or bleating as they were dragged home to meet a fate similar to that of the pork chops we were tormenting on the braai stand. All around little kids, smartly turned out were running around, blowing balloons or blowing those noisy, irritating fire-crackers that they love so much. Macheso and Dhewa were competing to drown each other out on many hi-fis. This was what it was all about. A time to be with friends and family, to see and be seen, to eat but not be eaten, to drink but not drown. Let me enlist the help of Musaemura Zimunya, whose gem of a poem, Kisimuso, really captured the spirit of Christmas as we know it. Says Zimunya: The family were gathered The eldest son from Bulawayo Boastful of his experiences in the city of knives and crooks; One son from Harare, a fish pocket who can slang everyone into ignorance with the stupefying s’kuz’apo tongue (the family believe he is the chief mechanic at Lever Brothers!" a sister, latest to arrive from Gutu blue-painted eye-lids, false eye-lashes, red lips bangles gritting in her hands with a European hair-wig above an ambi-proof face. she covers her thighs with a towel when she sits (as for her the family will always believe she is a dressmaker in Fort Victoria) the rest of the family, mum and dad are happy to admire the latest from town. Kisimiso means feasting Dozens of bread loaves, drums of tea, mountains of sadza Rock-size pieces of meat of the he-goat in lakes of thousand-eyed soup And of course, large pots of fizzing, frothy beer. Nothing about the print themes of goodwill and peace Of course goodwill was always here; an old man well-known to me lost half his hair while pulling a tourist out of a blazing car’s wreckage – in June, six months before last Christmas. A child without clothes sat nodding with sleep his belly as big as a muchongoyo drum; buzzing flies were fighting, spinning and tumbling into the smelling parting between his buttocks, Kutu the scraggy dog was retching in front of him; they ultimately gave the mother water that had washed the madman’s beard because she could no longer leave the bush or close her oozing behind and brother s’kuz’apo filled the boy’s hut with urine and vomit and a powerful smell of beer gone stale The next day They talked of the greatest Kisimiso for many years. From Zimunya’s foregoing characterisation, it’s evident that what goes on around Christmas is as similar to what Christ embodies as night is to day. What with the drinking binges, gluttony, adultery, fornication; false-pretences, you name it. It’s all done in the name of Christmas, and much like many other things that are done in the name of love, politics or such similar pursuits, its all in a day’s work. Well let’s hope those who cost innocent families Christmas over the past decade through sell-out politics or ruinous economic sanctions will see the error of their ways, reform and ensure that the nascent stability that we have experienced since the introduction of the multi-currency regime is consolidated so that Xmas 2011 is even better than this year’s edition. WikiLeaks has, to a large extent, confirmed what we have already known that there are some among us who worked with outsiders to cost us many things, including Christmas. Let’s hope now that they have been unmasked, they well not walk their well-beaten path to perdition. I believe progressive Zimbabweans will agree with me if I say, when we shout "Happy New Year" at midnight on December 31, we want that happiness to transcend to each of the 365 days of 2011. When we wish each other "a prosperous New Year", we should not forget that true prosperity does not come from fronting multinational corporations, earning five-figure salaries, driving company cars or living in company houses; it comes from having dominion over our God-given resources. It comes from owning our economy and participating fully in economic production. It comes from pro-people programmes like the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive. It accrues from prospering the nation by building a genuine, wealth-creating middle class that can defend the gains of the liberation struggle that began as early as 1896. And as we head into election season next year, let’s remember the cost we paid to get that ballot, and who was denying us the vote and why. Most importantly let’s not forget that along with one man one vote we were also fighting to be masters of our destiny, to have dominion over our resources down to our rats and ants. The gains of the revolution need to be protected not only for our sake and for the sake of those patriots who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but for future generations in whose trust we hold this country and all that reposes in it. Let’s not prostitute our right to our country and its resources, simply because the erstwhile coloniser has dangled a few dollars before our eyes. Next year’s election should be about a society that has become mature, that has had time to evaluate what is at stake and hence can tell a proxy from a bona fide contestant. Let the next poll be a time for judgment. A time to show that we have not only gone to school but we are also educated, that we have not only heard but listened, that we have not only read but have understood, that we have not only been taught but have learnt. Next year’s election should not just be about punishing those who cost us Christmas over the years, it should also be about ensuring future great Christmases for our families. It should be about telling the Westerners and their lackeys that we want our livelihoods and our Christmases back for good. caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

PHEW! What a Christmas, this was.
Like the caress of a returning, long-lost lover, it had been a while since many a family felt that joyous hand of Christmas. This is the time we are all supposed to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. A birth that signified God’s undying love for his greatest creation, man, when he chose to descend from the heavens and live among mere mortals, just to try to save them from purgatory.

So there we were in Gweru. The Zambezi was really going down and we were seeing first hand the truism of the adage ‘‘nguruve inokangwa nemafuta ayo’’ as pork chops sizzled on the braai stand.

All around us we could see evidence of the return of the good times. Chickens and goats were cackling or bleating as they were dragged home to meet a fate similar to that of the pork chops we were tormenting on the braai stand.

All around little kids, smartly turned out were running around, blowing balloons or blowing those noisy, irritating fire-crackers that they love so much. Macheso and Dhewa were competing to drown each other out on many hi-fis. This was what it was all about. A time to be with friends and family, to see and be seen, to eat but not be eaten, to drink but not drown.

Let me enlist the help of Musaemura Zimunya, whose gem of a poem, Kisimuso, really captured the spirit of Christmas as we know it.
Says Zimunya:

The family were gathered
The eldest son from Bulawayo
Boastful of his experiences in the city of knives and crooks;
One son from Harare,
a fish pocket who can slang everyone
into ignorance with the stupefying s’kuz’apo tongue
(the family believe he is the chief mechanic at Lever Brothers!"
a sister, latest to arrive from Gutu
blue-painted eye-lids, false eye-lashes, red lips
bangles gritting in her hands
with a European hair-wig above an ambi-proof face.
she covers her thighs with a towel when she sits
(as for her the family will always believe she is a dressmaker in Fort Victoria)
the rest of the family, mum and dad are happy to admire the latest from town.
Kisimiso means feasting
Dozens of bread loaves, drums of tea, mountains of sadza
Rock-size pieces of meat of the he-goat
in lakes of thousand-eyed soup
And of course, large pots of fizzing, frothy beer.
Nothing about the print themes of goodwill and peace
Of course goodwill was always here;
an old man well-known to me lost half his hair
while pulling a tourist out of a blazing car’s wreckage – in June,
six months before last Christmas.
A child without clothes sat nodding with sleep
his belly as big as a muchongoyo drum;
buzzing flies were fighting, spinning and tumbling
into the smelling parting between his buttocks,
Kutu the scraggy dog was retching in front of him;
they ultimately gave the mother water that
had washed the madman’s beard
because she could no longer leave the bush
or close her oozing behind
and brother s’kuz’apo
filled the boy’s hut with urine and vomit
and a powerful smell of beer gone stale
The next day
They talked of the greatest Kisimiso
for many years.

From Zimunya’s foregoing characterisation, it’s evident that what goes on around Christmas is as similar to what Christ embodies as night is to day.
What with the drinking binges, gluttony, adultery, fornication; false-pretences, you name it. It’s all done in the name of Christmas, and much like many other things that are done in the name of love, politics or such similar pursuits, its all in a day’s work.

Well let’s hope those who cost innocent families Christmas over the past decade through sell-out politics or ruinous economic sanctions will see the error of their ways, reform and ensure that the nascent stability that we have experienced since the introduction of the multi-currency regime is consolidated so that Xmas 2011 is even better than this year’s edition.

WikiLeaks has, to a large extent, confirmed what we have already known that there are some among us who worked with outsiders to cost us many things, including Christmas.

Let’s hope now that they have been unmasked, they well not walk their well-beaten path to perdition.
I believe progressive Zimbabweans will agree with me if I say, when we shout "Happy New Year" at midnight on December 31, we want that happiness to transcend to each of the 365 days of 2011.

When we wish each other "a prosperous New Year", we should not forget that true prosperity does not come from fronting multinational corporations, earning five-figure salaries, driving company cars or living in company houses; it comes from having dominion over our God-given resources.

It comes from owning our economy and participating fully in economic production. It comes from pro-people programmes like the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive. It accrues from prospering the nation by building a genuine, wealth-creating middle class that can defend the gains of the liberation struggle that began as early as 1896.

And as we head into election season next year, let’s remember the cost we paid to get that ballot, and who was denying us the vote and why. Most importantly let’s not forget that along with one man one vote we were also fighting to be masters of our destiny, to have dominion over our resources down to our rats and ants.

The gains of the revolution need to be protected not only for our sake and for the sake of those patriots who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but for future generations in whose trust we hold this country and all that reposes in it.
Let’s not prostitute our right to our country and its resources, simply because the erstwhile coloniser has dangled a few dollars before our eyes.

Next year’s election should be about a society that has become mature, that has had time to evaluate what is at stake and hence can tell a proxy from a bona fide contestant.

Let the next poll be a time for judgment. A time to show that we have not only gone to school but we are also educated, that we have not only heard but listened, that we have not only read but have understood, that we have not only been taught but have learnt.

Next year’s election should not just be about punishing those who cost us Christmas over the years, it should also be about ensuring future great Christmases for our families. It should be about telling the Westerners and their lackeys that we want our livelihoods and our Christmases back for good.
caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw
 

Let’s not distort history

The Herald
December 15 2010

I AM tempted, very tempted to delve into the WikiLeaks debate once again. What with the way the cables are leaving some grown men in the nude, as naked as the day their first cry rang out in the village, that day when their now cat’s paw little fists were clenched Zanu-PF style with elders gathered wondering what gifts the little one had brought into the world.

If only they had known then that they had just witnessed the birth of a monster that would invite a goblin against not only their village but the entire nation, I am sure the midwife would have washed her hands Pontius Pilate style and left the rondavel in a huff.

Ah, such is the mystery of life one never knows what the pregnancy will bring forth for as those of old put it: Nhumbu ininga inozvara mbavha nemuroyi.
Be that as it may, let me leave this subject for this week and address a dangerous lie that’s being peddled in some quarters, the claim that elections will bring about economic instability and as such they should be deferred to an as yet unknown date and year.

Such thinking presupposes that the economic instability of the past decade was caused by elections or contested electoral outcomes, an assertion that feeds into the MDC-T rhetoric that the neo-liberal platitudes of electoral democracy accounted for the economic regression of the past decade.

What is shocking about these claims is that they are also being parroted by people who should know better, captains of industry who do not see the irony of making such assertions while acknowledging, in the same breath, that the West’s illegal economic sanctions had a deleterious effect on the economy.
The well-fed men in the boardrooms claim that the inclusive Government has fostered a modicum of stability and elections should be deferred to enable them to translate the nascent stability into growth.

Hearing them speak like this, a Martian would be mistaken to think that some of them had no hand in the economic subterfuge. Some of these pontificators deliberately scaled down production or smuggled their products to neighbouring countries as they preferred the greenback to the increasingly volatile Zimdollar bearer cheques.

It’s not as if industry was not producing over the past 10 years, it was but the goods and the revenue that accrued from selling them were externalised to abet the illegal regime change drive. Some of them even locked out workers whenever the MDC or ZCTU called for their abortive stayaways.
This explains why soon after the then acting finance minister Patrick Chinamasa introduced the multi-currency regime; the goods appeared on shop shelves over night since they could be sold in hard currency locally.

Let’s not try to distort history.

The emerging stability has nothing to do with the fact that Tsvangirai now has an office at Munhumutapa Building or moves around in a three-car convoy, "it’s all about the Benjamins", as the young men about town would put it in reference to Benjamin Franklin whose visage adorns the US$100 note.
What the anti-poll lobby should never forget is that the inclusive Government was formed pursuant to fostering an environment of socio-economic stability in readiness for elections.

What makes them think that the elections will not give us another hung parliament necessitating another inclusive Government, if the inclusive Government is so good for the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange?
What is more, President Mugabe put it clearly where he said he felt uncomfortable exercising executive authority under a makeshift arrangement. Who in his right mind would want the current scenario where people who, we are told are flawed, weak, and indecisive and in need of ‘‘massive hand-holding’’ are left to superintend a nation with so many multi-faceted challenges as our dear Zimbabwe?

What is more? WikiLeaks has just revealed that some of these characters treat national affairs like Tizirai’s proverbial basket that on one end is being woven while on another its being undone.

Thanks to Julian Assange, we now know that MDC leaders are not only double-faced but are also fork-tongued as they say one thing during the day, and do the exact opposite at night.

Where can such an arrangement take us?

In fact, WikiLeaks makes the case for elections all the more compelling because saboteurs need to be punished severely in the court of public opinion. We were all told, ad nauseum over the past decade that the answer to our multi-faceted challenges are free and fair elections.

The inclusive Government was put in place primarily to pave way for the much-vaunted free and fair elections though it honestly beats me how an election can be adjudged to be free and fair in an environment of sanctions that were imposed specifically to influence voting patterns.

It’s a good thing that Zanu-PF is actually saying regardless of the effects of economic sanctions and the spectre of protest votes, they are prepared to go for elections. That stance should actually be applauded not derided.
It’s not difficult to see where all the talk of delaying elections is coming from. One WikiLeaks cable revealed as much where it said the regime change drive should look to time to do what it failed to achieve over the past decade. It’s quite clear that the anti-poll lobby believes the only way to realise regime change is to ensure that the Zanu-PF candidate is not President Mugabe.
The call to defer elections, even by those who initially thought the threat of early elections was a stick with which to browbeat Zanu-PF, is premised on the belief that President Mugabe would soon retire leaving Tsvangirai to face a new and ostensibly weaker opponent.

Well, well, such is their fear of a man they claim does not enjoy widespread support.

Be that as it may, those who imposed sanctions claimed they were doing so to promote democracy and good governance. Elections are part of their minimalist conception of democracy.

What better way to expose their double-speak than going for a poll, rout their lackeys openly, and then challenge them to justify the continued existence of sanctions?
caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw/
http://caesarzvayi.blogspot.com

Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths

The Herald

December 13 2010

By Julian Assange

WIKILEAKS deserves protection, not threats and attacks.

In 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide's The News, wrote: "In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win."

His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.

I grew up in a Queensland country town where people spoke their minds bluntly. They distrusted big government as something that could be corrupted if not watched carefully. The dark days of corruption in the Queensland government before the Fitzgerald inquiry are testimony to what happens when the politicians gag the media from reporting the truth.

These things have stayed with me. WikiLeaks was created around these core values. The idea, conceived in Australia, was to use internet technologies in new ways to report the truth.

WikiLeaks coined a new type of journalism: scientific journalism. We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?

Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption.

People have said I am anti-war: for the record, I am not. Sometimes nations need to go to war, and there are just wars. But there is nothing more wrong than a government lying to its people about those wars, then asking these same citizens to put their lives and their taxes on the line for those lies. If a war is justified, then tell the truth and the people will decide whether to support it.

If you have read any of the Afghan or Iraq war logs, any of the US embassy cables or any of the stories about the things WikiLeaks has reported, consider how important it is for all media to be able to report these things freely.

WikiLeaks is not the only publisher of the US embassy cables. Other media outlets, including Britain's The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais in Spain and Der Spiegel in Germany have published the same redacted cables.

Yet it is WikiLeaks, as the co-ordinator of these other groups that has copped the most vicious attacks and accusations from the US government and its acolytes. I have been accused of treason, even though I am an Australian, not a US, citizen. There have been dozens of serious calls in the US for me to be "taken out" by US Special Forces. Sarah Palin says I should be "hunted down like Osama bin Laden"; a Republican bill sits before the US Senate seeking to have me declared a "transnational threat" and disposed of accordingly. An adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister's office has called on national television for me to be assassinated. An American blogger has called for my 20-year-old son, here in Australia, to be kidnapped and harmed for no other reason than to get at me.

And Australians should observe with no pride the disgraceful pandering to these sentiments by Julia Gillard and her government. The powers of the Australian government appear to be fully at the disposal of the US as to whether to cancel my Australian passport, or to spy on or harass WikiLeaks supporters. The Australian Attorney-General is doing everything he can to help a US investigation clearly directed at framing Australian citizens and shipping them to the US.

Prime Minister Gillard and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have not had a word of criticism for the other media organisations. That is because The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel are old and large, while WikiLeaks is as yet young and small.

We are the underdogs. The Gillard government is trying to shoot the messenger because it doesn't want the truth revealed, including information about its own diplomatic and political dealings.

Has there been any response from the Australian government to the numerous public threats of violence against me and other WikiLeaks personnel? One might have thought an Australian prime minister would be defending her citizens against such things, but there have only been wholly unsubstantiated claims of illegality. The Prime Minister and especially the Attorney-General are meant to carry out their duties with dignity and above the fray. Rest assured, these two mean to save their own skins. They will not.

Every time WikiLeaks publishes the truth about abuses committed by US agencies, Australian politicians chant a provably false chorus with the State Department: "You'll risk lives! National security! You'll endanger troops!" Then they say there is nothing of importance in what WikiLeaks publishes. It can't be both. Which is it?

It is neither. WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed. But the US, with Australian government connivance, has killed thousands in the past few months alone.

US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates admitted in a letter to the US congress that no sensitive intelligence sources or methods had been compromised by the Afghan war logs disclosure. The Pentagon stated there was no evidence the WikiLeaks reports had led to anyone being harmed in Afghanistan. NATO in Kabul told CNN it couldn't find a single person who needed protecting. The Australian Department of Defence said the same. No Australian troops or sources have been hurt by anything we have published.

But our publications have been far from unimportant. The US diplomatic cables reveal some startling facts:

-- The US asked its diplomats to steal personal human material and information from UN officials and human rights groups, including DNA, fingerprints, iris scans, credit card numbers, internet passwords and ID photos, in violation of international treaties. Presumably Australian UN diplomats may be targeted, too.

-- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia asked the US to attack Iran.

-- Officials in Jordan and Bahrain want Iran's nuclear program stopped by any means available.

-- Britain's Iraq inquiry was fixed to protect "US interests".

-- Sweden is a covert member of NATO and US intelligence sharing is kept from parliament.

-- The US is playing hardball to get other countries to take freed detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Barack Obama agreed to meet the Slovenian President only if Slovenia took a prisoner. Our Pacific neighbour Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to accept detainees.

In its landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US Supreme Court said "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government". The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth.

Julian Assange is the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks. He has since been arrested and is in custody in Britain. This article is reproduced from www.theaustralian.com.au

WikiLeaks: Tsvangirai should be bothered

The Herald
December 8 2010

WORD doing the rounds is that there is a lot of gnashing of teeth and rumbling of bowels in certain quarters of the inclusive Government and their sidekicks who grew fat on the back of engorging the West’s filthy lucre over the past decade as Uncle Sam’s willing cat paws. So deep is the fear that even some long forgotten acquaintances from the college days, now call for idle chat before asking, in an offhand manner, whether there has been anything new from WikiLeaks.
Some of these people worked with the West to impose economic sanctions on our country, compiled lists of people to be put on travel sanctions and generally fed the West with all sorts of concocted horror stories and fabricated reports all in a bid to tar and feather this beautiful country.

With reports that WikiLeaks has in its possession 2 998 cables on Zimbabwe falling in three categories "secret", "classified" and "unclassified", with the one by Dell being from the ‘‘classified’’ group, many wait to see what the 39 classified as "secret", the 1 542 "classified" and 1 417 in the "unclassified" categories have to tell us about the cats that ate the canary over the past 10 years.

Well, you made your beds guys, so you must lie on them be they beds of roses or beds of nails.
We need to know the source of the cloud that does not bear water, as Albert Nyathi would put it.
Well, one man is already on his bed and he appears non-plussed that it has six-inch nails. His name is Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.

Dell described him as ‘‘a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment in selecting those around him’’. These shortcomings, we are told, make Tsvangirai an albatross around the MDC-T’s neck.
But then is Dell wrong in his assessment of Tsvangirai? Based on my knowledge of the man over the past 10 years, I would say Dell is spot on though he could have added many more adjectives.

Tsvangirai has numerous flaws, chief among them his quisling nature, the propensity towards sellout politics that saw him become a willing vessel for Western interests and the interests of white commercial farmers at the expense of his fellow black Zimbabweans. The man also has a sickening tendency of going back on his word to the extent that even diehard MDC-T supporters do not know where he stands on critical issues as he reportedly remembers the advice of the last person he would have spoken to.

Tsvangirai has also displayed shocking indecision that makes him unfit for high office which at times demands hard decisions. How many times have we seen Tsvangirai announce a boycott of an election he would go on to contest? We saw him dither over joining the inclusive Government only to do so in a huff after the US embassy told him to join government. In 2005, Tsvangirai dawdled over contesting the Senate elections and asked his party to put the matter to the vote saying he would be bound by the party decision. When the party voted to contest, Tsvangirai stormed out of the meeting and hastily convened a Press conference at his house in Strathaven where he claimed the MDC had voted to boycott the elections.

As for questionable judgment in selecting the company he keeps. We all know he would rather spend more time in London or Washington than in Lusaka or Tshwane. In the run-up to the presidential run-off in 2008, Tsvangirai claimed his life was in danger and made a beeline for the Dutch embassy in Harare, passing numerous African embassies along the way. It was completely lost to him that his choice of refuge buttressed the view that he is a Western puppet. No one with good judgment would have done what he did.

These are just a few examples to show that Dell’s assessment is spot on. There are many other examples that could not be highlighted here that no amount of make-up can mask on Tsvangirai.

Anyway judging by his response to the WikiLeaks expose, Tsvangirai is more than an albatross, he is a curse not only to MDC-T but to Zimbabwe in general.

Speaking through the Minister of State in his office, and in his capacity as Prime Minister, Tsvangirai was quoted as saying he was not bothered and did not give a hoot about the low opinion expressed by his American handlers.
Timba claimed Uncle Sam’s opinion was at variance with the opinion of Zimbabweans as expressed on March 29 2008, when his party played second fiddle to Zanu-PF on the popular vote though he led President Mugabe in the first round of the presidential contest.

Tsvangirai apparently thinks March 29 was an expression of confidence in his leadership abilities and not an expression of the desperation of an electorate that had been squeezed dry by the ravages of economic sanctions that left not only shop shelves but pockets and tummies virtually empty. If he genuinely believes that, then it only serves to confirm the accuracy of Dell’s assessment, the man has questionable judgment.

What is ironic here is that for a man who claims he got a vote of confidence on March 29 2008, Tsvangirai is showing amazing fear of elections.

What Tsvangirai appears to miss from the WikiLeaks expose is the fact that the US has laid ownership to him, his party and its agenda making him a virtual puppet on the US’ string. Uncle Sam made him, so he can destroy him the same way he made Saddam, used him before hanging him when he begun thumping his nose at them.

Any leader worth his salt would be very bothered if he is exposed that he is not his own man, but not so for Morgan, he has been in the game for too long it no longer bothers him.

It’s all in a day’s work for him.

While quisling politics may not bother Tsvangirai, it does bother right thinking Zimbabweans who know that leaders are not followers. They are not flawed; they are open to advice, are decisive and are blessed with sound judgement when deciding for the people.

Tsvangirai’s attitude is thus very worrying. It shows he is beyond redemption.

caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw

The man who cried wolf

The Herald

November 24 2010

IN one of his famous fables, Aesop — the slave and storyteller — who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BC; relates the story of a shepherd-boy who tended a flock of sheep near his village.

The boy was such a prankster that on three or four occasions he brought out the villagers running by crying out, "Wolf! Wolf!" and when his neighbours ran to his rescue, there was no wolf to be seen and the boy had a good laugh at his neighbours’ expense for falling for his prank.

Then one day, a big hungry wolf did come, and as per habit the boy, now really terrified cried ‘‘Wolf, Wolf,’’ but no one paid any heed to his cries, nor rendered any assistance as the wolf destroyed the whole flock. The villagers naturally believed the boy was up to his usual tricks again.

The moral of this fable is simple: People are always hard pressed to believe a habitual liar, even if he was to speak the truth for once.

This truism appears lost to MDC-T leaders who have been crying wolf even over their own shadows in the inclusive Government. Given MDC-T’s comical approach to the GPA, surely President Jacob Zuma and his colleagues in the Troika can’t distinguish MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai from the prankster in Aesop’s fable. This may explain why the other members of the Troika — Presidents Rupiah Banda of Zambia and Armando Guebuza of Mozambique — did not even bother pitching up in Gaborone to discuss Zimbabwe on the sidelines of the official opening of the new Sadc headquarters in the Botswana capital over the weekend.

The reason, I believe, is simple. Tsvangirai’s alleged ‘‘constitutional crisis’’ was nothing more than a little boy’s prank, they have seen it all before. There is no doubt that President Mugabe acted within the powers vested in him in appointing provincial governors, re-assigning ambassadors and appointing judges as per the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission. In short, the President was not the big, bad wolf Tsvangirai tried to pass him for to Sadc.

Aesop does not say how the embattled boy related to the villagers upon his return home or whether he did not also end up in the wolf’s gut, but our shepherd-boy here left little to the imagination. He went straight to foul the communal well by insulting Sadc leaders whom he likened to ‘‘toothless bulldogs.’’

An ironic comparison if you ask me given that the bulldog is a British running dog. Need I say more? Tongai Moyo, advises in the song, "Ndiro yababa" off his latest album, Toita Basa, that ‘‘ngwariraiwo kuzvituka chinyararire.’’

But what is disturbing about the MDC-T’s attacks on Sadc is not only that they are baseless and unwarranted, but that it’s misdirected energy.

The people the two MDC factions or formations should be attacking are the Westerners who are clearly the stumbling blocks to the full implementation of the GPA with their continued refusal to lift the illegal economic sanctions. Let them keep the travel bans if they wish, but the economic sanctions have to go.

If the truth be told, Zanu-PF has done more to meet its part of the bargain under the GPA than both MDC formations combined. The GPA is quite clear that there are economic and other forms of sanctions on Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans. It’s quite clear that western-funded pirate radio stations should stop beaming their divisive hate messages into Zimbabwe. It’s quite clear that there should be no foreign meddling in our internal affairs.

What does the MDC-T leadership do? They continue denying the existence of sanctions claiming "bad governance and corruption" were responsible for the economic decline of the past decade. They feature daily on the pirate radio stations denigrating their partners in government.

They approach westerners seeking assistance to take on Zanu-PF in the next election to the extent of accepting intelligence agents seconded to them by the same hostile western countries. And after all that they turn around and cry wolf claiming Zanu-PF is violating the GPA.

Either MDC-T leaders think they are very clever or that everybody else in Sadc is very stupid. For how else can one explain their decision to go to Sadc, the guarantor of the GPA, claiming to have fulfilled their part of the GPA when their hands are so soiled with western excesses?

They deny the existence of sanctions and then go to the same Sadc that, at its last Summit in Windhoek, Namibia, tasked its own chairman — President Hifekepunye Pohamba and the Troika — which coincidentally the MDC expected would toe their line, to lobby for the lifting of sanctions that MDC-T leaders claim do not exist.

So is Tsvangirai saying Sadc, made up of all of 14 states, is schizophrenic and sees non-existent things? And such a man expects to be taken seriously? The mind boggles.

I have no doubt Tsvangirai is a stranger to history because if he knew his history he would not have accepted to be used as a cat’s paw by self-serving westerners.

History should have told him that such adventures never endure beyond the interests of the sponsor. He would have known that Sadc was built from the foundation of the Front Line States that ranged against the same forces driving the MDC today, and as such would never be willingly used to advance reactionary politics.

Instead of continuing to cry wolf in the wilderness, Tsvangirai should join others to confront the real wolves ranged against this our community.caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw

What’s in a name?

The Herald

November 18 2010
IT’S said miromo yevakuru haiwire pasi, literally, the wisdom of ages endures. To this end the characterisation of the three main political parties in Zimbabwe made by Chiefs Council president, Fortune Charumbira, was apt judging by events in the body politick.
Chief Charumbira, in his characteristic, hard-hitting Karanga dialect described the parties as follows: ‘‘Mazita ane zvaanoreva. Take Zanu-PF. There is Zimbabwe, there is African, there is National, there is Union, there is Patriotic and then there is Front, which was the name given to the line of defence in a liberated zone during the struggle. This was the same with Zapu which had Zimbabwe, African, people and union.
‘‘Now come to the MDC. There is no Zimbabwe, no African, no National, no Union, no Patriotism, and of course no Front for the defence of our country or the gains of independence.’’
The Chief went on to attribute the vagueness of the MDC’s full name to the fact that the party’s umbilical cord reposes in Whitehall, in the foggy isles; a development, analysts say explains why the same template used for Fredrick Chiluba’s Movement for Multi-party Democracy in Zambia, fitted the MDC in Zimbabwe and Kizza Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change in Uganda,
That MDC is a foreign-conceived, foreign-funded and foreign-driven political group is not a secret given that the Westminster Foundation admitted as much on its website, before removing the incriminating admission after Zanu-PF latched on to it.
That MDC is alien to many things that define us as a people distinct from others in the community of nations is also not a secret given the party leadership’s failure to pronounce themselves on progressive programmes like land reforms and the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive; all of which are geared at moving our independence from the political to the economic dimension.
At every opportunity we have seen MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai speaking against Zimbabwe, but for Westerners to the extent of even trying to negate the nation for the cause of the Great White Hope, Roy Bennett.
And only this past week, at a time when even our brothers and sisters in Sadc summoned the US ambassador to express their displeasure over the ruinous economic sanctions, we saw an MDC-T legislator — one Jefferson Chitando — standing up in the House of Assembly to say westerners should intensify their illegal economic sanctions.
Not coincidentally, ambassador to Australia, Jacqueline Zwambila, drawn from the MDC-T had set up a scandalous website for western readers on which she denied the existence of economic sanctions on Zimbabwe.
A week earlier, MDC-T legislators had disrupted a pre-budget consultative meeting in Victoria Falls after CZI boss Joseph Kanyekanye told delegates that economic sanctions had severely impacted on the economy.
That MDC-T leaders are greenhorns lacking both the temperament and deportment for national leadership was aptly shown by Ms Zwambila who is reported to have stripped to her underwear before three, shocked male embassy staff whom she accused of leaking information about the sanctions-denying website to The Herald.
How Zwambila believed she could hide information on the Internet defies logic but is a good pointer to what lies between her ears.
These are, by no means the only incidents that bid the MDC to do some serious soul-searching if it is to be considered a potential government in waiting.
For instance on September 11 this year, MDC-T vice-president Thokozani Khupe, manhandled and slapped a cop at a roadblock near Zhombe Business Centre in the Midlands.
The cop’s crime: He insisted on searching vehicles in the MDC-T convoy that was on its way to Gokwe Centre for the party’s 11th anniversary celebrations. An infuriated Khupe is said to have disembarked from her vehicle, grabbed the hapless cop by the scruff of the neck before dragging him to her vehicle where she gave him a mouthful before slapping him
Not to be outdone, two weeks later, on September 25, the MDC-T legislator for Masvingo Urban, Tongai Matutu and his entourage allegedly beat up Chief Serima — Vengesayi Rushwaya — at Matizha Business Centre after the Chief admonished him for not greeting him as per tradition.
This is what the people have seen from the self-styled ‘‘party of excellence’’ over the past three months alone.
And throughout that time, their colleagues in Zanu-PF were speaking for Zimbabweans, campaigning against the sanctions, fighting westerners over Chiadzwa, consolidating land reforms, pushing forward the indigenisation and empowerment agenda, according chiefs the respect due to them to the extent that the chiefs are reported to have announced that President Mugabe should be president for life.
Add to that the different fortunes the two parties faced during the outreach programme for the new constitution due to the differential appeal of their talking points, and you have a situation where one party has increasingly alienated itself from the people while another has steadily worked to endear itself to the voters, who are the owners of the political process anyway.
Any wonder then that the self-fulfilling prophecies have already begun, manifest in the MDC-T’s campaign against the new constitution, threats of a no vote whose campaign sources say is already underway, and threats to boycott an election that is still to be called?
MDC-T leaders are already gripped by necrophilia, Chamisa has been claiming every dead body in town; every mugging, every rape will be politicized in a bid to discredit next year’s poll, which the MDC-T leadership rightly feels is bound to be their Waterloo.
But then don’t they know voters are like ladies, they need to be serenaded, they need to be wooed and they always go for the better charmer.
Isn’t it time ‘‘the party of excellence’’ told the nation its areas of excellence? Is it heckling, violence, stripping? People need to know.
MDC-T leaders must change their ways to become truly Zimbabwean, African, nationalistic and unifiers. Real democracy vests in empowering the people to be masters of their geo-polity and resources. Zita rine zvarinoreva.
caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw

Be careful what you wish for

The Herald
November 3 2010

IT’S said one day, a bear and a rabbit were walking trough the woods when they came across a genie in the form of a golden frog.

The frog said ‘‘I don’t see many people here, but when I do I grant them three wishes’’.

The bear looked at the rabbit and said, “That means three each”. The bear then said, ‘‘I wish all the bears in this forest were female.’’ The rabbit, in turn, wished for a motorbike.

The bear looked at the rabbit again, and said, ‘‘in fact, I wish all the bears in the next forest were female, too.’’ The rabbit wished for a crash helmet.

The bear (getting a bit carried away), said ‘‘I wish all the bears in the world were female!’’ Then, the rabbit put on the helmet, revved the bike and said, ‘‘I wish that bear right there was gay’’ before roaring away.

The moral; be careful what you wish for, it may just come back to haunt you.

Well, sometime this week, MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai — who seems to have discovered the art of letter writing of late — is reported to have written to GPA facilitator, South African president Jacob Zuma complaining about what he called ‘‘unilateral’’ appointments (of provincial governors, judges and ambassadors) by President Mugabe saying he wanted to sue the President over the ‘‘illegal’’ appointments.

In so doing, Tsvangirai behaved like the proverbial bear above that got carried away forgetting to be careful what it wished for.

In believing he can sue President Mugabe for ‘‘violating’’ the GPA, Tsvangirai forgets that he is also bound by provisions of the same GPA and can similarly be sued for failing to meet his part of the bargain.

Before getting to that, let me unpack the so-called ‘‘illegal’’ appointments since Tsvangirai seems impervious to developments and advice which has even come from unlikely sources like ‘‘the only white man from Buhera’’, John Makumbe.

On ambassadors, Tsvangirai has since been snubbed by the same South Africa to whose president he addressed his ill-advised letter, the United Nations and his handlers in the EU, who had long accredited and have since indicated they accept the ambassadors deployed by President Mugabe.

More so, it has been pointed out to Tsvangirai that the ambassadors were not appointed but were simply redeployed since they are career diplomats, and that communication between countries is conducted through the ministry of foreign affairs not party leaders.

On provincial governors, Tsvangirai is not being truthful because in the letter that was drafted by MDC leader Prof Arthur Mutambara and co-signed by the three principals earlier this year, Tsvangirai agreed that the issue of the appointment of provincial governors would be dealt with after the lifting of the illegal economic sanctions. This letter was part of the report that President Zuma presented to the Troika, in Tsvangirai’s presence, at the 30th Sadc Summit in Windhoek, Namibia in August.

Then on judges, we all know President Mugabe acts on the recommendations of the Judicial Services Commission, and the judicial appointments in question were done above board.

In a bid to bolster his case, Tsvangirai even claims he should have been consulted on appointments made in August 2008, when he was in self-imposed exile in Botswana, as he played shy bride to joining government.

Now back to Tsvangirai’s intention to sue.

The MDC-T leader should know that he and his party also have obligations under the GPA. That agreement is not all about getting concessions from Zanu-PF.

In fact, the raison de’tre of the GPA is fostering an environment of political and socio-economic stability in readiness for elections. That environment can only prevail in the absence of the West’s illegal economic sanctions regime.

It’s no secret that Tsvangirai grovelled for the sanctions.

There is evidence galore that he not only called for the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe, but that his party’s legal department helped draft the ruinous US sanctions law, the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Ac that cut our lines of credit to multilateral lending institutions and foisted us with an artificial investment risk tag.

The sanctions brought untold suffering to millions of innocent people, many of whom died of otherwise preventable diseases like cholera and the opportunistic infections stemming from HIV and Aids simply because the Government’s capacity to fund the social services had been curtailed. Thousands of workers lost their jobs due to capital flight as companies closed and others downsized. Pensioners lost their savings to hyperinflation, a development that saw the British government airlift its pensioners resident in Zimbabwe to safety after their pensions and savings were rendered worthless by sanctions-induced hyperinflation.

We use foreign currencies today, for the simple reason that the sanctions claimed the Zim-dollar.

Surely Tsvangirai’s role in inviting economic war on the people in collusion with outsiders is a more serious crime than the alleged ‘illegal’’ appointments that even his own allies grudgingly acknowledge were above board.

As such Zimbabweans have a genuine case against Tsvangirai and his handlers for the losses, both material and human, suffered due to the illegal sanctions regime. Surely if Tsvangirai can sue over appointments, then President Mugabe and Zanu-PF can sue him for reneging on his GPA obligation to lobby for the lifting of sanctions and his continued dalliance with pirate radio stations condemned by the GPA.

While it may be difficult to sue Tsvangirai as an individual over the sanctions and while some may say the buck stops with westerners, it’s possible — once the locus standi has been established — to sue his handlers for imposing the sanctions with him and his party as first and second respondents, alternatively the suit can be against the MDC with Tsvangirai as respondent.

Trinity Engineering boss, Senator Aguy Clement Georgias has shown the way by suing the British government. Senator Georgias was, in 2005, barred by British immigration authorities from transiting through London to New York where he was to receive an international award on behalf of his company, Trinity Engineering.

The case, which opened at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in London on March 14 2008, has since been referred to the European Court of First Instance with Senator Georgias vowing to pursue it to its logical conclusion.

The case against the sanctions is bolstered by the fact that they were imposed outside the purview of the UN and in violation of multilateral pacts like the Cotonou Agreement; and as such they are a violation of international law?

Legal experts say the other option would be for Zimbabweans to come together in a class action against Tsvangirai and his MDC-T.

They can sue MDC-T and Tsvangirai for: Firstly, “specific performance” since the party and its leader called for the sanctions, they need to act specifically by calling for the removal of the sanctions. This is what the MDC-T has stubbornly refused to do despite being signatories to the GPA that bids them to condemn the sanctions.

Secondly, people can sue for damages but this would require quantifying the damage wrought by the sanctions and the specific losses suffered by the litigants.

This is where, in my opinion, the anti-sanctions lobby has been faltering.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why the government has not engaged economists and accountants to do a quantitative analysis of the effects of the sanctions over the past decade, which analysis can be compiled into a dossier to be used by our own ministerial team when it engages the EU and the US, and by our brothers in Sadc when they take the fight to western capitals?

The dossier can be used to expose the lies peddled by westerners and their lackeys about the sanctions.

I throw this challenge to Zanu-PF. Be scientific in your approach to the anti-sanctions drive. Present documentary evidence of the ruin the sanctions have caused. Such a dossier will also prove invaluable at election time.

Tsvangirai be careful, very careful what you wish for.

caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw

True theatre of the absurd

The Herald

October 28 2010


PLAYWRIGHTS would tell you that their writings are mostly art imitating life. The absurdity of the human condition that at times manifests in man’s failure to understand his environment or his kith and kin, or simply the failure of some people to understand gave rise to a new form of theatre that broke dramatic conventions while highlighting the characters’ inability to understand each other. This type of theatre came to be known as, the Theatre of the Absurd.
Zimbabweans do not have to look far to find this type of theatre unfolding in real life because election season is nearly upon us and it tends to bring out the worst among those at Harvest House.
Elections by their nature bid aspirants to sell themselves and their programmes to the people. And in the absence of any programmes, some aspirants naturally become perspirants who try to divert attention from their shortcomings with side-shows in the hope of evading public scrutiny.
MDC-T leaders are masters at this game and the comedy of the absurd has truly opened at Harvest House.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s ill-advised letters to South Africa, the United States and Europe calling for the ousting of ambassadors posted there was Act 1, Scene 1 of the theatre of the absurd.
Scene 2 was MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett’s announcement that he was now in ‘‘exile’’ in South Africa, fleeing what he called a ‘‘military junta’’. Bennett said he would not return to Zimbabwe until the political situation stabilises and rule of law is restored.
This was quite ironic given that in fleeing to SA, Bennett who faces a US$1 million defamation lawsuit and is wanted by the police, broke the law and became a fugitive from justice.
High Court judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu is suing Bennett for allegedly defaming him in an interview he had with the British paper, the Guardian, on May 24 this year in which he was quoted as saying the judiciary was selective and that "the very judge that is trying me is the owner of a farm that he’s been given through political patronage". Suffice to say the same judge Bennett accused of ‘‘selective application of the law’’ acquitted him of the banditry charges he was facing.
In his tirade from South Africa, Bennett proclaimed his innocence saying he did not utter the defamatory remarks yet the comments are still there to this day on the archives of the Guardian newspaper. All he has to do is prove that he did not defame Justice Bhunu in a court of law, and he would be free to do whatever he wants in Zimbabwe without let or hindrance.
What Bennett does not realise is that in giving the courts a non-existent address before skipping the border he did not behave like the innocent man he passes himself for, but a guilty individual who deserves to be hauled to the courts by the scruff of the neck.
Isn’t he aware that he can still be arrested in SA and extradited to Zimbabwe to stand trial, and that can cause him considerable embarrassment than turning himself into the police and facing the music strummed by his own brutish hands.
I challenge the police to call Bennett’s bluff on rule of law, and show him that it really exists. They must contact their counterparts in the South African Police Services to nab Bennett and ship him back home. The courts need him.
Then, of course, Scene 3 was Tsvangirai’s announcement last week that he was launching ‘‘a nationwide consultative exercise’’ to find out whether the MDC-T should stay in or pull out of Government following the renewal of the tenures of provincial governors, appointment of judges and re-assignment of ambassadors, all of which are within the powers of the President to appoint and outside the powers of the Prime Minister to stop.
The biggest irony, of course, was that Tsvangirai has done this before and always when Bennett was in trouble, coincidence?
I don’t think so. This is a typical case of the tail wagging the dog.
Tsvangirai has taken his party structures for a ride with sham consultations before trashing whatever they would have suggested because baas Bennett’s hide would be in need of saving.
A typical example would suffice here.
Last year, October 2009, soon after the formation of the inclusive Government, Tsvangirai claimed there were differences with Zanu-PF and his party would consult its membership countrywide on whether they should stay in Government or pull out. The party members, we were told, resoundingly said the party should remain in Government, and as fate would have it, Bennett’s treason case opened at the High Court on October 16, and Tsvangirai promptly announced that MDC-T was ‘‘disengaging’’ from Government. It didn’t matter to him that his party’s supporters had said MDC-T should remain in the inclusive Government.
Given Tsvangirai’s history of unilateralism, a crime he ironically accuses President Mugabe of, it does not look like Tsvangirai will value whatever the supporters tell him, after all they have thick lips, broad noses and kinky hair when those he listens to have blonde hair, thin lips, hawkish noses, high foreheads and eyes of any colour other than brown.
The other irony of Tsvangirai’s latest charade is not only his attempt to pass himself off as someone who values the opinion of his party’s rank and file but the fact that he openly contradicts himself without even realising it. In one breath he says he does not want early elections, in another he says he wants to pull out of Government and the GPA, a development that will only abet the cause for early elections.
Tsvangirai would save himself the pain of acting all these sideshows by articulating his party’s policies and proving that they are better than what Zanu-PF has to offer. The coming election will be different, very different.
He will have his new constitution, access to the public media, the Sadc guidelines and principles, all of which he used to take as campaign material; this time people need to hear from his own lips what the MDC-T stands for.
What is the party’s position on indigenisation and economic empowerment; resource ownership by Zimbabweans, where exactly do they stand on the land reform programme, our independence and sovereignty.
Judging by MDC-T’s record in the local authorities they control, they stand for the dispossession of the vulnerable groups of society and the enrichment of a few.
No amount of sideshows will erase the images of widows, orphans, the elderly and infirm demonstrating against the party’s councillors who tried to boot them out of their houses.
This is a picture MDC-T party has made clear can happen at national level by promising to return land to white farmers.
Tsvangirai needs to become truly Zimbabwean. He needs to tune in to the majority sentiment.
As it is he manifests the worst of the human condition, failure to understand his environment and those around him, true, theatrics of the absurd.
caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw