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