Zanu PF madness is still with us
8/16/02 9:38:50 AM (GMT +2)
When Joshua Nkomo died, the then legitimate President of Zimbabwe,
Robert Gabriel Mugabe (now considered illegitimate by many) said the
violence and war against the people of Midlands and Matabeleland and the
assassination attempt on Joshua Nkomo, ("if a snake enters the house, hit
the head to kill it" - Mugabe) was a "moment of madness".With those
conciliatory words, we assumed that that instant of insanity had passed and
would never be repeated.But no, with the use of a partisan and brutal police
force and the directionless CIO, we have seen how the same government with
Mugabe (the presidential elections have been condemned by all sane people)
at the helm, has again started a campaign to purge this country of all MDC
supporters and their leadership.They pick up a man, MP Fletcher
Dulini-Ncube, from an operating table in hospital; they raid Morgan
Tsvangirai's rural and urban homes looking for imaginary weapons of war;
they starve MDC supporters in rural areas; they have curtailed the movement
of urbanites, and keep on arresting people today because they burned DDF
tractors "tomorrow".
Maybe soon when they have forcibly assimilated the MDC, as they did
Zapu, they will again ascribe it to "a moment of madness". This shows that
dementia has been at play in this country since independence. Who cannot see
that the country is running on sheer lunacy?The senselessness is evident
when we go to get doctors from Cuba because we cannot pay our own. We would
rather send them to Border Gezi youth centre to instil patriotism! Folly is
apparent when we devalue the dollar only for importing cars, which we are
not assembling in this country anyway. Madness is when we call our own
rational minister and governor "saboteurs" when we know of real saboteurs in
the Ministry of Agriculture, in the presidium, in the so-called
indigenisation lobby groups and in some sections of the war vets.
Derangement is when we lose our souls and starve a large section of
our people because they do not support Zanu PF.We have created heartless
murderers, cruel youths, rude ministers and a fearful populace. How history
repeats itself. Yesterday it was Joshua Nkomo, now it is Morgan Tsvangirai
and the same man is responsible.
He will blame others even on his deathbed. We, the people of Zimbabwe,
will always tell our children that during our generation a man walked this
land and a lot of innocent blood was shed in his name.
VeMaromo
Harare
Happy birthday to an unfinished revolution
By Grace Kwinjeh Last updated: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:59:19 GMT "RIDICULOUS, rigged and rubbish", responded an angry opposition to a 100 percent election victory by incumbent President Ismael Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, in the horn of Africa, after the just ended General Election. Francophone and Arab League observers commended the ‘improved’ operations at polling stations, as well as the peaceful environment during voting days, as compared to previous elections. The opposition was forced to shun this election on the grounds that the electoral playing field was uneven. Not even pre-election demonstrations could force the government to reform. Sounds familiar? Further down South in Zimbabwe, ‘President’ Robert Mugabe ‘won’ himself a two thirds majority in an election again lauded by his friends as having been free and fair. We are told by the South African Observer Mission, the rest of Africa can ‘learn’ from the Zimbabwe experience. Learning they are! In Zanzibar, the main opposition candidate, Seif Shariff Hamad, does not qualify to contest in the next election, set for October. He is disqualified because he has not stayed in his constituency for more than three years, as stipulated in a recently passed law. Hah! The opposition is miffed. Who cares? After all we are a continent ‘celebrating’ so many years of independence and self determination. Why should the continental leadership give in to neo-liberal or conservative demands on democracy and human rights, forces determined to reverse the gains of independence? No Africa has to do it her way! Her way? Just recently in Zimbabwe, Nelson Chamisa, an opposition Member of Parliament and National Youth Chairman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), spent four nights in police custody on trumped up charges. The youngest MP in Zimbabwe was abused mentally and also forced to walk barefooted and in leg irons at one stage when he was being transferred by police to another prison. His crime? The police suspected that he may have been involved in post election demonstrations in the centre of Harare. The MDC has just released a damning report “STOLEN,” on how that election was rigged. Ethiopia has elections too next May. Is the story any different? No. We can almost go over the above situation with eyes closed. Already there are reports of harassment, imprisonment and victimisation of the opposition. Surprised? Why worry, these are just few countries still lagging behind, the continent is moving on. What with the reformed African Union, the adoption of the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development and its peer review mechanism. Both promise prosperity democracy and more human rights for us struggling citizens. The African leadership is keen to steer the continent towards the path of development and democracy. Well only if problems of resources and capacity can be overcome.
Be happy. Peace is on the horizon in the Ivory Coast after President Thabo Mbeki successfully brokered a truce between government and rebel forces, that will see an end to two years of conflict and holding of a ‘peaceful election’ in October this year. Well hopefully the main opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara, will be able to prove both his parents are Ivorian, failure of which he cannot stand. Be happy. The Democratic Republic of Congo will soon be holding the first elections, in 40 years. Have you read Adam Hochschild’s, King Leopold’s Ghost? You will be revolted. But be happy all that is behind us. Surely Morgan Tsvangirai the leader of the MDC must understand that in Africa, the way to the state house is through prison. Can he not learn from others? Abdoulaye Wade had to wait a good 27 years of detention and exile before getting there. Others, Ghanaian John Kufour of Ghana, eventually got there. Oh good, Gilchrist Olympio, Togo’s main opposition leader of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC) party, is back after over a decade in exile. He is about to get there. Only that he can not represent his party in next week's election, he has been away for too long. Oh but even if they do get there look at Kenya in the end they got rid of Moi, ah - but where is she now? The new democratic government has not lived up to its election promises; alas no new constitution in the horizon and corruption – well just the way Moi left it. Only recently a member of parliament, Reuben Ndolo was detained for ridiculing President Mwai Kibaki. Who needs a change of Government if nothing will change? Stuff the imperialists, we are told, why should the world be worrying about Zimbabwe? After all only four hundred people have died in political violence in just four years, what of Darfur where hundreds can die in a day? You want figures? How many died in Rwanda? Ah – Rwanda look at the whole Great Lakes region if you WANT a real ‘African’ crisis. After all the AU has increased its capacity in mediation and conflict resolution. Look at its efforts in Burundi, DRC and the Ivory Coast. More recently the regional body ECOWAS took a principled stance on Togo, stopping a military coup d'etat there and demanding fresh elections. Well Sierra Leone is on the road to peace and prosperity. Applaud. Come off it, they say, you talk of Zimbabwean women being raped? In South Africa every other hour a woman is being raped. Have you even seen the figures from Darfur? Arbitrary arrests and detentions, in Zimbabwe? Have you visited the prisons, of Togo, Gabon and the rest? Zimbabwe simply deserves a big applause for transferring land from minority whites to majority blacks. The biggest land transfer programme on the continent should be celebrated. Ah, well the opposition in the country is just a neo -colonial response to Mugabe’s good policies. He has snubbed international finance institutions and European imperialistic governments. Two million faced with starvation in Zimbabwe? They ask. Have you been to Ethiopia and Somalia? The rest of the SADC region? High unemployment, malformed education and health systems, corruption- are some of the normal characteristics of the post colonial Africa state. Results of which are a restive population, leading to conflict in some cases. What with the adverse effects of Structural Adjustment Programmes forced on many of the Governments by International Finance Institutions. Watch out conservative Paul Wolfowitz, has just been appointed President of the World Bank. What of the Millennium Development Goals? Yeah but what of the never ending debt crisis? Debt trap. How much goes to debt servicing for every dollar earned on the continent? Unfair trading regimes? HIV/AIDS threatening to wipe out the whole continent. No way forget those. What of the Moral leadership? International community? No. If the Americans and the Europeans are not getting it right why should Africa? The Republicans rig elections, who does what to them? As for the Europeans first they colonised us, now they want to teach us about human rights and democracy? Force values they do not even adhere to down our throats. Look at their drive at free market economies. What moral leadership can come from the Americans when they refuse to ratify the International Criminal Court Treaty? What of the fate of USA prisoners at Guantanamo Camp? Or unilateral decisions to go to war? Iraq? If they cannot respect United Nations rules why should any African Government be forced to? So why should anyone worry if Mugabe has decided to give himself another ten or more years in power? You can cry! Watch Hotel Rwanda. Or laugh. Read Amadou Kourouma’s ‘Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote’. I despair. Happy birthday Zimbabwe. To a very unfinished revolution. | |||
Editor - I have read what I can call satire from Grace Kwinjeh, and this girl has it on aher finger tips. We have soiled and blackened Africa on our own and everytime wrongs are pointed at us we pretend we still have unfinished business but we do not even have a clue of what we can do to finish this business.
That we always look at were a contibuter is staying and then conclude that she is being influenced by the colonists is wrong. Some of these people are happy staying in these countries where everything is done above board. They know they are protected by the law, but in Africa if you are not a governing party supporter the law is always against you. They know they have opportunities to grow, but in Africa you have to be supporting them to get opportunities. Human rights are respected and people can be arrested for abusing them but in Africa if you abuse human rights inthe name of governing parties you are considered a hero.
We cannot have a president in any of the civilised world telling a whole nation that we will strike fear in the hearts of a section of that country's community, and make their hearts tremble and survive to rule again. That sort of person would be gone before the sun rises, but in Africa we call that pan-africanism.
As for Matshazi, he writes from Canada which respects him as a person, and he is accorded protection from any harm. Here in the country called Zimbabwe, a green bomber can knock you senseless and you as the victim is made to pay a fine for conduct likely to breach peace. I wish he would come across these brigades when they are drunk as they sing 'Tisu maTaliban zviwororo zveMDC'.
| "We have an unfinished business and this is to remove these pseudo nationalists and put in people who understand that the world is dynamic and if you remain in history you will remain history" |
| T MASHAYAMOMBE |
And you want to call that an intricate issue of African experience where we have a group of people using government machinery to clobber others.
We have an unfinished business and this is to remove these pseudo nationalists and put in people who understand that the world is dynamic and if you remain in history you will remain history.
Can he tell us 25 years after independence we still want to see rotten bodies in a 70s mass grave daily on TV? Can he and his children stand this hogwash? He is in Canada, so he won't see the daily torture we are subjected to.
As long as Africans try to use the liberation rhetoric, this unfinished business will remain unfinished. We know revolutionary zeal is something else when it comes to votes but as the old dissappear from the scene, the a party which continuously tries to rely on history will also go.
Africa now needs people who will move forward, forget about history because if the Belgians took some diamonds from the DRC, they cannot recover that anyway, if Britain took beef from Zimbabwe, we cannot recover that, if America got oil from Kabinda, it's used and gone, why not look at what to do with what we still have which is a lot anyway?
Matshazi thinks African democarcy is different from the democracy being demanded by Brussels. No brother, democracy is democracy you can have Western democracy and African democracy. Let people choose in peace the leaders they want. Let anybody who wants to watch watch. He thinks democracy is when Caps plays Dynamos with Twine Phiri as the ref, Shakeman Tauro as first assistant ref, Tsungai Mudzamiri's father as match commissioner and Mr Leonard Tsipa as second assistant ref. To him that is the African way and should be accepted. Enjoy your stay in Canada bro but always remember because of this African theory, your brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe are starving. They blame it on drought but most of dams are spilling. Takambokohwa zvavamwe vaye vanga varima.
T.Mashayamombe
Letters
Thursday, 01 May 2008 18:04
THIS letter is directed to the Herald newspaper.
I know my letter will not see the light of day at that paper.
But the idea that those at the Herald read it somewhere is good enough
for me.
I have been following Herald stories since it is the only daily
newspaper I can get.
I wonder if there is any professional journalism at Herald House. I
also wonder whether its reporters are reporting from Zimbabwe or from some
place in wonderland.
Whilst I may appreciate that they should know who butters their bread,
they should also not compromise their individual CVs.
Really this paper has peddled so many lies that reading it is now
nauseating.
Instead of telling us as it is the newspaper has decided to hide so
much truth and let the country down by that.
Because of how it reports, the paper is now also an accessory to
violence.
Now it has become a crime for a white man to stop at a lay-bye on our
roads because the Herald will say he is checking on farms.
The Herald has become a rabid racist publication which does not have
any place in a civilised society.
A normal paper with normal reporters would really think twice before
coming up with interviews with men accused of rape such as Obadiah Musindo,
give coverage to the violent bragging of Joseph Chinotimba, or let people
like Jabulani Sibanda insult the intelligence of the people of Zimbabwe.
As a paper the Herald should instead of lauding someone who says “so
and so will never rule this country” be asking questions like why are we
holding elections in the first place.
Why if sanctions are hurting everybody do we have those who cry
sanctions but are filthy rich, drive very expensive cars, yet they tell
others “rambayi makashinga” and the paper does not question them on that.
At one time the Herald revelled at John Nkomo labelling Dumiso
Dabengwa a sellout just because Dabengwa has refused to endorse the
candidature of President Robert Mugabe.
I thought it is his right, a right which the Chimurenga was fought
for. As a paper you should question some of these comments.
Who does not know Dabengwa in this country and what role he played?
The Herald happily reported that Makoni has been labelled a frog.
Really, is it great to label another a frog just because you have
failed to agree? Your crime is failing to question that sort of thinking.
Mr Herald editor you will soon be a prisoner of your own conscience.
I am not saying you should not support your preferred side.
That is your democratic right. But do it somewhere else, not on the
pages.
You have to look at your news headlines, painting a rosy picture of a
sinking economy.
For the sake of Zimbabwe moving forward, we have lost a lot of time
and you are a contributor to that.
Let us self-criticise and see what we have done to this country with
our type of reporting.
I do not think you will be happy to see this country remain as
stagnant as it is now even for another hour.
Your paper is doomed if civilisation revisits this country.
Trevor Mashayamombe,
By e-mail.
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Zimbabwe Rhodesia Election
