And the band plays on!

Co-chairpersons Paul Mangwana (Zanu-PF) and Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T)

Caesar Zvayi
 

I WAS growing up as Warren Park D was just tak-ing shape. There were two distinct sections, kumaBrigades and kumaStands. KumaBrigades referred to the area bordered by 166th and 150th
Streets whose four-roomed houses had been constructed by building brigades from the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, leaving the owner to ‘‘extend’’ the other three rooms. While kumaStands referred to the sections of the suburb where owners bought serviced stands to build houses of their choice this section
extends to the popular outdoor meeting place, KwaMereki.
   I had several friends in the Stands section where I stayed with my brother. The talk those days was woe betide the prospective homeowner who fed his builders a good diet like bread and eggs, sadza and meat for they would take their time to finish the house when compared to those who were fed sadza and vegetables with nothing more than salt added.
   I was reminded of this street wisdom as I heard reports that parties to the inclusive Government had issued yet another ultimatum to the Parliamentary Select Com-mittee to finalise the drafting of the envisaged new con-stitution.
   This becomes an ultimatum of ultimata because ultimata were issued before, the days came to pass and the party continued at Copac with the three musketeers Munyaradzi Mangwana, Douglas Mwonzora and Edward Mkhosi showing a camaraderie that belies the stated divergence. Copac, a committee of parliamentarians that was mandated to spearhead the constitution-making process, has so far gobbled $45 million from an initial budget of $24million with nothing to show for it apart from scandalous drafts far removed from people’s views as captured in the national report, and ofcourse wider waistlines.
   Its quite telling that whenever the Copac team reports a deadlock, they ‘‘retreat’’ to a resort either in the Nyanga or Vumba mountains, where they come out with distended tummies and even wider differences leaving many wondering at the purpose of such retreats that appear to be retreats from the national report.
  Yet there shouldn’t be any deadlocks at all as all that Copac members are mandated to do is ensure that the drafters they hired translate the peoples’ views, as captured in the national report, into legal language.
   Over the past three years, some Copac members have seen their lives dramatically transformed from the allowances they get for drifting from the people’s views. And as long as donors keep pouring in money, those at Copac will continue behaving like the proverbial builder who will take ages to lay the bricks on account
of good meals provided by his employer.
   What then is the way forward since the envisaged new constitution is now being used as an excuse to prolong the life of the inclusive Government that to all and purposes was supposed to last no more than 24 months? An inclusive Government whose dysfunctionality is acknowledged across the board?
   It appears the assumption here is that all parties in the inclusive Government are representing the interests of Zimbabweans in the constitution-making process. Zanu-PF, which is supposed to be the vanguard of the revolution, seems to have forgotten the MDC-T’s parentage. Mwonzora and those from his party are in Copac to safe-guard the interests of their western handlers and their kith and kin who were dispossessed of the means of production.
  This explains why their positions are clear attacks on the founding pillars of the Zimbabwean State. The MDC-T has been trying to provide for the weakening of the security sector. It has been trying to provide for the reversal of the land reform programme contrary to what is in the National Report as appears in items 1,2 and 3 and page 9 of 10 on Land. Mwonzora and his team have been campaigning for dual citizenship to cater for ex-Rhodies scattered throughout the world, and trying to smuggle gay rights contrary to popular sentiment and cultural mores.
  In short Copac has become the new frontier in the regime change drive. This is where the MDC-T hopes to address the so-called outstanding issues pursuant to abetting the regime change agenda.    The constitution-making process is thus a throw-back to the Lancaster House constitutional conference with MDC-T playing
the Rhodesian Front advocate. We can not have a truly national constitution under such circumstances. What we will end up with, if ever it comes, is a compromise not consensus document.
  The simple test, for any rational man, is the national report. If all parties to the inclusive Government genuinely represent the interests of Zimbabweans, the peoples’ views as captured in the national report should reign supreme.  Under such circumstances there will be no impasse. The only way out, in my view, is going for elections and then the drafting of a constitution thereafter.

 Meanwhile the party continues at Copac.

The builders are enjoying the banquet. And the band plays on!

Zimbabwe not under curatorship

Caesar Zvayi

Delegatus non potest delegare ... Jacob Zuma

What is the matter with our brothers who invest in the banking sector? Given how many indigenous-owned banks have gone under over the past decade leaving many a depositor seething, it seems the thinking is, ‘‘let’s form a bank and lend each other as much money as possible. Bugger the consequences!’’
This is the under-developed middle-class or comprador bourgeoisie that Frantz Fanon decries in his classic work, The Wretched of the Earth. They are not concerned really about creating wealth for the nation but transient conspicuous consumption, which explains why they over-borrow to support lifestyles they can ill-afford. The end result being the collapse of their nascent businesses, many of which end up under curatorship.
These compradors give us a bad name particularly in this era of indigenisation and economic empowerment. They give white supremacists the ammunition they need by making it seem like we can not run anything bigger than general-dealerships.
Be that as it may, that is not my point this week.
I am surprised by people who want to liken our government over the past three deacdes to the leadership of such banks. People who misconstrue the strategic retreat that is the GPA and regional diplomacy manifest in mediation by Cde Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, as akin to curatorship.
It is given that the MDC-T and its cousins in the MDC want to portray Zimbabwe as a failed state, a country that has failed at some of the basic functions and responsibilities of a sovereign government.
Common characteristics of a failed state include a central government that is so weak or ineffective that it has little practical control over much of its territory, has no legitimate authority to make collective decisions, a pariah that can not interact with others as a full member of the international community.
This is why, for instance MDC-T secretary general who is also GPA negotiator, Tendai Biti, wanted Zimbabwe declared a Highly Indebted Poor Country so that it could be placed under the curatorship of the Bretton Woods Institutions.
Having failed in the HIPC bid which would have made it easy for the MDC-T’s western overlords to invoke Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, the so-called ‘Responsibility to Protect’ as a prelude to invading Zimbabwe, the MDC-T and its allies have turned to the GPA.
Zuma’s backroom staff; principally his international relations advisor; Lindiwe Zulu, are conveniently elevated to the level of facilitators even though Sadc made it clear that there is only one facilitator, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, just like Thabo Mbeki before him.
Lindiwe Zulu and company are persona non grata in the councils of Sadc, and can not purport to speak on behalf of Zuma since a facilitator does not need a spokesperson, and neither can he speak on behalf of parties to a conflict.
All that a facilitator does is help the parties talk to each other. Where they are able to do so, the facilitator has no role to play but where they reach disagreements; the facilitator comes in to break the impasse.
That is the be-all and end-all of facilitation which means a facilitator does not speak for the parties or any of the parties but helps them find each other and speak to each other. But here are sections of our media, carving headlines out of the musings of Lindiwe Zulu who is purported, either through sheer ignorance or utter mischief, to speak for Sadc.
At its Ordinary Summit in Luanda, Angola last August, Sadc made it clear that Jacob Zuma was the sole facilitator and he should have a hands on approach to his delegated task as his reliance on proxies was spawning confusion and procedural irregularities.

As President Mugabe pointed out, in constitutional and administrative law, the principle delegatus non potest delegare, “one to whom power is delegated cannot himself further delegate that power”, holds and bids the facilitator to engage the principals directly. This principle holds in several jurisdictions like the United States, the United Kingdom and our own Roman Dutch law.
So why do we continue entertaining the likes of Lindiwe Zulu whose sole pre-occupation has been to spoil the broth? Why do we continue perpetuating the myth that she is a stakeholder in our politics, and that crucial national decisions like elections and appointments in the security services sector lie within the province of the likes of Lindiwe Zulu?
In their last visit here, Zuma’s backroom staff just barged into Harare uninvited, as if they are now administering our affairs from Tshwane.
It should be pointed out that Sadc appointed Zuma, the man, not Zuma the South African president to be mediator. Msholozi mediates in his personal capacity. If he selects backroom staff, they should be just that, backroom people.
It’s high time we stopped the charade by the likes of Lindiwe Zulu. They do not have locus standi before Sadc and by extension shouldn’t be tolerated when they overstep their boundaries like they did in holding meetings with fringe parties like Job Sikhala’s MDC99 and Wurayayi Zembe’s Zimbabwe Democratic Party. Fringe outfits not only outside the GPA but without representation even at ward level.
What will it take for Zanu-PF to give Lindiwe Zulu the boot the next time she exercises her jaws? For how long shall she urinate in our faces and tell us its raining?
We are not a failed state, neither are we without a government. Infact we are the only nation in Africa that is deemed to pose ‘‘an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States.’’ No dysfunctional state can achieve that feat. Its not as if the MDC-T and its allies do not know this, they do which is why they have poured millions in attempts at regime change.
* * *
Still on GPA matters, but on a lighter note.
Here is to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s GPA wedding! I couldn’t help but notice that the MDC-T leader has slated his nuptials for September 15 this year. September 15 coincides with the fourth anniversary of the signing of the inter-party political agreement that gave him the lofty office of premier when he appeared doomed to opposition trenches, that he — however — has refused to outgrow.
The symbolism becomes even clearer when one considers that bad ole Morgan loves fishing in the Zanu-PF pond given that his bride Elizabeth, just like Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo before her, grew up in a Zanu-PF household. But who can blame him given what MDC-T womenfolk have been prescribing for our nation!
Well here is to hoping there will be no outstanding issues Save!

Time to cut the chase

Professor Tony Hawkins

Caesar Zvayi

 IT IS a common, but seemingly heartless response by any newsman whenever reports of a road traffic accident filter through. The first question is always, ‘‘were there any fatalities/ pafa vangani?’’
In the absence of fatalities one is bound to hear ‘‘haa hapana nyaya/ it’s not a story,’’ accompanied by discernible disappointment on the newsman’s face for an ordinary accident is just that, bad copy.
It doesn’t sell the papers.
I have always been fascinated by this human condition that seems to put business ahead of human life.
The mundane is not news.
I am sure many who have been following international media over the past few months will have noticed that Zimbabwe has been largely missing from the newscasts.
This either means westerners have realised the game is up in Harare, which may explain talk of moves to effect regime change at Harvest House, or the re-engagement process is gathering momentum, true to the dictum, if you can’t beat them, join them.
What is more, word doing the rounds is that the BBC wants to interview William Masvinu, who was conferred with the title of Mr Ugly Harare at a pageant held at City Sports Bar a fortnight ago.
It appears the politically ugly among us are no longer that newsworthy, the Masvinus are.
The other noticeable trend, over the past few months, are the attacks the MDC-T is being subjected to by its erstwhile allies like the CFU, ZCTU, NCA, Zinasu to mention just a few.
Tsvangirai is being deserted, not only by his handlers, but hangers on too.
And earlier this week, it was the turn of University of Zimbabwe economics Professor Tony Hawkins, who has hardly been flattering to Zanu-PF over the years.
Hawkins tore into what MDC-T hopes to use as a campaign issue: Their claim that their entry into Government stabilised the economy and brought inflation from nine to two-digit levels.
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti, who is finance minister in the inclusive Government was even dubbed ‘‘best finance minister in Africa’’ for it.
Professor Hawkins was quoted in the South African weekly, the Sunday Times over the weekend blasting MDC-T for policy incoherence and for crediting itself with turning around the economy, which halted astronomical inflation in early 2009.
In the article titled, “MDC slated over economic revival claims,” and reproduced by this paper, Prof Hawkins pointed out that MDC-T had nothing directly to do with the fall in inflation as dollarisation brought an overnight change to the economy.
“There is nothing that the MDC did in that regard to turnaround the economy. It was a result of dollarisation. That is where the change came from not as a result of their implementing any praiseworthy policy. The MDC is pretty much out of its depth,’’ Hawkins said.
The then acting finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and Zanu-PF introduced dollarisation in a budget presented on Thursday January 29, 2009; a whole fortnight before the formation of the inclusive Government which was sworn in on February 13 the same                     year.
The then acting finance minister Chinamasa, presented this new policy package in the last budget of an exclusively Zanu-PF Government, after endless days and nights of inter-agency brainstorming.
The policy and decision to dollarise was a Zanu-PF idea, the implementation was by Zanu-PF.
The inclusive Government inherited a Zanu-PF programme, Biti found it there and is still to introduce anything as finance minister in the inclusive Government.
And now MDC-T wants to not only steal the idea, but to patent it and run with it at election time.
How they thought they could do that and get away with it is anybody’s guess.
In fact, the inclusive Government has been governing on Zanu-PF ideas.
MDC-T’s record in Government is an unenviable one, corruption in the councils and lethargy in central Government.
MDC-T leaders have, however, made headlines mostly for the wrong reasons, mostly mundane, shockingly puerile.
Take Tabitha Khumalo who wants the legalisation of prostitution and camaraderie between wives and mistresses.
Sithembile Mlothswa who wants sex toys for prisoners and a cap on the number of sexual encounters per month.
And of course, Tsvangirai’s name-sake, good ole Morgan Femai who wants our beautiful women to be less attractive to us; leaving many wondering whether given his party’s pro-gay stance, he wants us to be attracted to one another.
The bottom line is something is afoot at Harvest House that may explain why the MDC-T breaks into goosebumps whenever the word election rolls off anyone’s lips.
Interesting things, very interesting things have been happening over the past few weeks, first you have Morgan Tsvangirai prancing to China at the invitation of the Municipality of Beijing, and claiming that he was invited by the Chinese government.
A clear quest for a home given the vibes from his handlers who no longer find him politically sexy.
  The China jaunt, that came on the backdrop of a Sinophobic campaign by his party, followed revelations by NCA chairman, Professor Lovemore Madhuku that some Western countries had approached him to headhunt for a capable leader for the MDC.
And where is Zanu-PF in all this? Tsvangirai’s flanks are exposed, does it have to take Hawkins to see that? 
And the talk of election roadmaps, and constitution-making as if a new constitution was ever a pre-condition for elections should be put to rest.
It’s time to cut the chase, call for elections and finalise the Constitution thereafter.
I do not, for the life of me, see Copac finalising in a matter of months, what they have failed to do in three years.
Tsvangirai and his party are out at sea without a compass.
It’s time to bring the wave.

Malawi says no Sudanese leader, AU says no summit

Joyce Banda

BLANTYRE, Malawi - Malawi won't host an African Union summit next month after a dispute over the southern African's country's refusal to host Sudan's leader, who faces war crimes charges, the vice-president said Friday.
"Much as Malawi has obligations to the AU, it has also other obligations," Vice-President Khumbo Kachali said in a statement on state radio. "The Cabinet has decided not to host the summit."
Earlier, according to Kachali, the government had received a letter from the AU saying that it had no right to dictate who could attend the AU summit set to open July 6, and if it insisted on barring Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, the summit would be moved to AU headquarters in Ethiopia.
Joyce Banda has steered a path of western appeasementfor Malawi since stepping in as president in April after the sudden death in office of Bingu wa Mutharika. Mutharika had welcomed al-Bashir at a Comesa summit last year.
Sudan's al-Bashir has visited African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries despite International Criminal Court warrants for his arrest on charges of alleged genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region.
Speaking at a news conference in May, Banda said a visit by Sudan's president would be frowned upon by Malawi's international donors.
Banda has worked to fawn before donors. Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund said it and Malawi had agreed to a three-year, $157 million aid package. The IMF had described its work in Malawi as off-track under Mutharika, who had refused to devalue the currency as the IMF had advised. In May, Malawi devalued its currency by one third.
Last month, Britain said its central bank would work directly with the Reserve Bank of Malawi to help it cope with the impact of currency devaluation. Also last month, Britain — a former ruler of Malawi — pledged 20 million pounds ($32 million) to help stabilize the Malawian economy and 10 million pounds for the country's health system.
Last year, Mutharika expelled Britain's High Commissioner to Malawi after the envoy was quoted in a local newspaper as expressing concern that the president was increasingly intolerant of criticism and asserting that human rights were under attack. Britain, then indefinitely suspended aid to Malawi, which in the end invited the envoy back.

Luanda Troika Summit: A tale told by a fool

Caesar Zvayi
 

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.Goes Macbeth's famous soliloquy in William Shakespeare's book by the same name. Whats immediately striking about this soliloquy is the phrase "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. "
This phrase aptly describes the two, or is it three, MDCs’ reactions whenever they misconstrue Sadc resolutions for acceptance of their reactionary agenda. They did it after the ill-fated Livingstone Summit which ended up signifying nothing, and like Shakespeare’s proverbial idiot, they are at it again, full of sound and fury after the routine Troika meeting in Luanda, which to all intents and purposes did nothing more than re-state the obvious. That we go for elections.
“Mugabe loses poll push”, “Mugabe poll push rubbished”, “Mugabe poll push crushed”, “Sadc snubs Mugabe poll”, “Mugabe’s double loss”, “Mugabe faces end of political career”, and ‘‘Tsvangirai outfoxes Mugabe’’ were some of the private media’s screaming headlines fed from Harvest House, the MDC-T headquarters.
Yet a perusal of the Sadc communiqué would leave one wondering from where the newspapers were carving the headlines.
This is what the extra-ordinary Summit’s communiqué says:
l On Zimbabwe Summit commended stakeholders for their commitment, co-operation and efforts towards the implementation of the Global Political Agreement and urged the parties to the GPA to finalise the constitution-making process and subject it to a referendum thereafter.
l Summit also urged the parties to the GPA, assisted by the Facilitator, to develop an implementation mechanism and to set out time frames for the full implementation of the Roadmap to Elections.
l Summit further commended His Excellency Jacob G Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa and Sadc Facilitator of the Zimbabwe Political Dialogue for his efforts to towards the the realisation of full implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
Any reasonable person would naturally wonder where such headlines or notions of ‘‘victory’’ for the MDC formations, and ‘‘defeat’’ for Mugabe in Luanda are coming from?
Either the MDC formations — given that they are greenhorns in the workings of Sadc — misunderstood the communiqué or were just being wilfully mischievous in a bid to placate their restive constituency.
How anyone would think Luanda, of all places, Luanda whose infrastructure still bears the pockmarks of Jonas Savimbi’s ruinous guns, quisling politics and banditry would become Mugabe’s Waterloo and the equivalent of the Normandy Landing for Tsvangirai defies logic.
If Mugabe was isolated in Luanda, how then do the sages in the MDC and their private media hacks explain the summit of liberation movements from southern Africa that begins in Harare tomorrow? A summit aimed at enhancing synergies to outflank the neo-colonial designs of the erstwhile coloniser who is destabilising the region through proxy parties like the MDCs?
The African National Congress of South Africa, Angola’s MPLA, SWAPO of Namibia, Frelimo of Mozambique and Chama Cha Mapinduzi of Tanzania — all of which lead governments — are among the parties coming for the meeting of secretaries-general of the liberation movements.
The meeting is providential, coming as it does at a time the war-mongering US has identified southern Africa as an alternative source of energy to the Middle East during this decade.
A report that was released by the Bush administration’s think-tank, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in 2006 titled
‘More than Humanitarianism: A Strategic U.S. Approach Toward Africa’ predicted that;    ''By the end of the decade (2000 to 2010), sub-Saharan Africa is likely to become as important a source of US energy imports as the Middle East.
“China, India, Europe, and others are competing with each other and with the United States for access to oil, natural gas, and other natural resources. The world’s major powers are also becoming more active in seeking out investments, winning contracts, and building political support on the continent.''
In the report the CFR made it clear that the foreign policy of the US towards Africa is geared towards control of the continent’s resources, that is, it is ‘‘more than humanitarianism.’’
Add to this Uncle Sam’s attempts to have a base for the so-called US Africa Military Command, AFRICOM, and the picture becomes ominous.
As the introductory statement to the CFR report says, the West has identified the Middle East and Southern Africa as its sources of energy this decade. We have already seen what Uncle Sam has done to the Middle East to lay his hands on oil. The onus is on our leadership here to outflank the West’s neo-colonial projects. While Sadc has acquitted itself well in resisting western attempts to demonise Zimbabwe for daring to empower its people, it is not in dispute that Sadc could have done much more than just resisting, the bloc should actually have worked to bust the sanctions.
Zimbabwe has consistently shown its neighbours how to respond whenever a member state is threatened by external aggression, ‘injure one, injure all’ should be the bloc’s motto.
Our forces moved into Mozambique to save Frelimo from the insurgency launched by the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) bandits who had the backing of apartheid South Africa.
As former South African president Thabo Mbeki revealed recently when he came for the University of Zimbabwe fundraising dinner, Zimbabwe delayed land redistribution for South Africa’s benefit. President Mugabe did not want to scare the apartheid regime into thinking that once black people become independent, they proceed to dispossess their former rulers of ill-gotten colonial gains.
When the Democratic Republic of the Congo was invaded by rebels led by Rwanda and Uganda; Zimbabwe which was then chair of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation moved into to protect the territorial integrity of the DRC along with Angola and Namibia under Operation Sovereign Legitimacy.
Uganda and Rwanda’s incursion into the DRC was backed by the US which wanted to install a puppet regime to succeed Mobutu Sese Seko’s, so that it could continue pillaging the country’s vast resources while the citizens hacked each other to death.
Our intervention and successful campaign against the US-backed rebels disturbed the envisaged feeding frenzy; which is why our economy was targeted for sabotage from 1997 to this day. Operation Sovereign Legitimacy is one of the reasons why the US openly says the policies adopted by the Government of Zimbabwe continue ‘‘to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States.’’
Tsvangirai and his handlers should stop popping the champagne, the region is not fooled for ‘‘the actions and policies of proxy movements pose usual and dangerous threats to the region’s independence’’.
Sadc cut its teeth as the Front Line States that spearheaded decolonisation, it will be a cold day in hell that they forget that illustrious history.
The MDCs must be the change they want, change to be truly African. Then they wouldn’t have to misrepresent Sadc resolutions to assuage their supporters. Their politics would become palatable.

Eddie: A Cross we do not have to bear

Caesar Zvayi

Rhodesia Never Dies ... Eddie Cross

ISRAEL’S greatest king, Solomon, was only 12 years old when God promised him that he would be granted wisdom, and be the wisest man who ever lived. In the very first recorded decision in the history of legal jurisprudence, in the Book of Kings (3:16), Solomon’s brilliance endeared him to the entire nation of Israel at that tender age.
Two women who laid claim to the same child following the death of one of the women’s children during the night approached King Solomon at his court.
To determine who the real mother of the baby was, the wise King proposed that the living baby be cut into two with each woman getting half the body.
The one who was laying false claim to the child readily agreed to the proposal saying, ‘‘Neither mine nor yours; shall he be. Cut!’’ But the real mother pleaded with the King to spare the child’s life, even if it meant giving the baby to the spiteful woman.
And through her compassion for her baby, King Solomon separated the mother from the impostor.
Israel was awed at the wisdom of one so young.
Well, we can apply this verdict of the ages to many situations among them Eddie Cross’ purported love for Zimbabwe. The bellicose, bankrupt MDC-T policy co-ordinator, who — at the height of the hyper-inflationary period — said, ‘‘. . . we should let the country crash and burn and then pick up the pieces’’, is no different from the impostor mother at King Solomon’s court?
Cross of the ‘‘crash and burn’’ infamy was back again with another ironic “gem” earlier this week saying his party, MDC-T, would unleash a wave of violence against Zanu-PF officials if it wins elections set for this year.
In an article published on his website — www.eddiecross.africanherd.com — and flighted by several Internet sites, Cross threatens violence and retribution against Zanu-PF if Morgan Tsvangirai lands the presidency in the next election.
‘‘People may well take matters into their own hands and take retribution against those who committed Gukurahundi, Murambatsvina and the general violations that have characterised the behaviour of the regime managed by these same hardliners.
“If that is not bad enough, the hardliners have to know that we in the MDC have kept detailed records of every violation of our rights and the abuse of the people.
“We have all the facts and evidence to press charges against several thousand thugs and worse and many of the most senior leaders responsible could face The
Hague,’’ he charged without any sense of irony.
Surprising, quite surprising coming from a Rhodie who was spared the gallows by the same people he threatens today. Who does not know that Rhodies had a hand in Gukurahundi, along with their allies in apartheid SA?
Cross should be careful lest he be hoist by his own petard. He should not insult the nation’s collective memory by adopting a holier than thou attitude when even the blind can read our scars like braille.
By his own admission, Eddie Cross worked for Rhodesia, moving people from prime agro-ecological regions to semi-arid ones, which makes him a Rhodie to the core.
He is a cross we have had to bear due to our good hearts when we could have nailed him on the cross along with his Rhodesian kith and kin on account of the atrocities they committed during the liberation struggle.
That the same man who was spared the gallows by the progressive policy of reconciliation stands up today to thumb his nose at his benefactors to the extent of issuing empty threats, and misrepresenting history, testifies to the triumph of our democractic tradition and tolerance.
That we are a thriving democracy can only be contested by mentally and financially bankrupt characters of Cross’ ilk.
Democratic elections have been constant features of our body politic since we taught it to the likes of Eddie Cross. This democracy, however, was not handed to us on a silver platter as we had to fight for it and continue defending it from those who want to subvert it for their selfish, neo-colonial ends.
The subversion began at the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference, where British and Rhodesian interests ensured that, for a whole decade, 20 seats were reserved for white MPs and white voters per se in the post independence binary voters roll.
This provision ensured that the likes of Ian Douglas Smith, the former Rhodesian prime minister, continued to defile the august house with their supercilious diatribes, under the aegis of the Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe, formerly the Rhodesian Front.
Smith and his white supremacist cronies were, however, tolerated in line with the new policy of reconciliation espoused by Prime Minister Mugabe, who proclaimed in his address to the nation on the night of Thursday April 17, 1980 that;
‘‘If yesterday I fought you as an enemy, today you have become a friend and ally with the same national interest, loyalty, rights and duties as myself. If yesterday you hated me, today you cannot avoid the love that binds you to me and me to you.’’
Where would Cross be if Government had decided to take the route of retribution on account of Rhodie atrocities not the imaginary charge sheet he waves at Zanu-PF?
This spirit of tolerance exists to this day even though the Rhodesians have regrouped under the Western-funded MDC, which continues the futile quest of subversion. The hideous intentions are always couched in the neo-liberal regimen of minimalist democracy; rule of law and something called “good governance”.
For instance, the MDC’s first motion in parliament was an attempt at impeaching President Mugabe for alleged human rights abuses, the irony was the fact that some opposition elements who served in the Rhodesian security forces were part of the motion.
Yet if it were not for the largesse of the man they wanted to oust, they would have been hanged for atrocities in areas such as Nyadzonia, Chimoio, Tembwe, Freedom camp, and the Zimbabwean countryside.
On their first day in the house, the MDC legislators wore black armbands “mourning” fictitious “victims” of political violence, rather than the thousands of patriots who made it possible, even for askaris of their ilk, to masquerade as representatives of the people.
The MDC and those who follow it forget that the liberation struggle itself was a quest for good governance.
Good governance, being the empowerment of the people through people-centred programmes such as agrarian reforms.
It is not measured by high-scores on the neo-liberal indices of the self-styled Western “human rights” watchdogs such as Reporters sans Frontieres, Transparency
International, AfroBarometer and the West Minster Foundation for Democracy, to name just a few.
Good governance is measured by the socio-economic transformation of the lives of the previously marginalised indigenous populace, and on this score we are not found wanting.
Its, however, quite instructive that it makes Cross very cross.