Heart of the Matter

Thursday 02 April
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TANONOKA JOSEPH WHANDE

The Government of National Unity (GNU) has been in existence for less than two months.
These people are working pretty hard. Since mid February, principals of this so-called government of national unity have been swearing each other into office and, since they were created, they apparently became busier than bees.

The three unnecessary presidents, along with their uncalled for three Prime ministers, complemented by more than 71 cabinet ministers, who have tens of misnamed ‘permanent secretaries’ are a bit tired already and need to regroup and seek renewal. The cabinet and its ministers are going for a retreat for a whole weekend at Victoria Falls, ZANU-PF’s crown on the jewel on the itinerary of any visiting VIP. Zimbabwe Ruins and Chinhoyi Caves be damned!

As a Catholic, I am familiar with ‘retreats’. When our priests are under pressure and need a bit of breathing space for renewal and to re-connect with Our Lord, they always go on a retreat. They too get tired from administering. What with all the sins poured into their ears daily at the Confessional?
The priests need periods of seclusion. They need space; they need to pace themselves.
Listening and carrying the sins of all the transgressors in the vicary can leave any man powerless and drained of spirit. But they always go to a place less hospitable than the one they are familiar with. It keeps their attention.

The Oxford dictionary says a retreat is “withdrawing from confrontation with enemy forces”. It is also “a withdrawal to a quiet or secluded place” or just “a period or place of seclusion for prayer and meditation”.
Which one of these fits ZANU-PF and the MDC at Victoria Falls? Prayer and meditation? Withdrawing from confrontation with enemy forces? Gravy train? And for the likes of Constantine Chiwenga, a retreat is also a military musical ceremony carried out at sunset. Hi! Ha!

Less than sixty days into office, the work horses of Zimbabwe’s government of national unity are so tired that they need to go into retreat. And they are going to do it at Victoria Falls, a place where most visitors cannot even afford using their own money.

The MDC Information Department announced that a working retreat for the Zimbabwe cabinet will be held in the tourist resort town of Victoria Falls from Friday, April 3 to Sunday. The statement, from the Prime minister’s office, went on to say, “Officially opened by the President, Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the retreat will be presided over by the Prime Minister, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, and attended by all cabinet ministers, their deputies and Permanent Secretaries.”

Permanent Secretaries? Which ones? I thought they were still in dispute and not yet appointed?
The Zimbabwean government is beating its chest because that pauper of an organisation called SADC “approved” an 8.5 billion dollar bail out for Zimbabwe. South Africa and SADC made it clear, though, that they did not have the money but would lobby foreigners on behalf of Zimbabwe.

I have always admired destitute beggars who beg on behalf of other beggars. Are Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai asking Lesotho for money to entertain this blotted government’s ministers, their deputies and permanent secretaries at Victoria Falls? What is at Victoria Falls that cannot be solved by a mimeographed memo to all ministries? What is wrong with the Masasa Training Center? Or even the Quality Inn in Harare?

The government of national unity is asking the world for money and yet they are already spending it on themselves before that money is even received on behalf of the people. Meanwhile, the teachers complain about their salaries. Medical personnel want their efforts recognised. Not all schools and clinics are open. Cholera is not yet conquered. And the MDC now suddenly calls the murderer Mugabe “Comrade” and they go on a jaunt at Victoria Falls, calling it a retreat.

Tsvangirai should show more sensitivity than this. The least he can do is to dress up all those so-called ministers into overalls and put them to work. The MDC has become a clone of ZANU-PF. What the hell is going on now? I can’t believe this. Elias Mudzuri, do you remember us? Do you remember how we stood by you at a time you showed us that as mayor you were for the people? What is this?

Today, the MDC is taking Mugabe to Victoria Falls; tomorrow the MDC is taking Mugabe to Europe, Britain, America and all those countries which helped Tsvangirai to supposedly champion the people’s cause.
The cycle starts again. But this time with Tsvangirai’s connivance. And Tendai Biti and the MDC are begging for money for this? With all these trinkets, will the impoverished MDC ministers be able to resist the temptation to continue on this path? Have our leaders been robbed away from us?

While MDC’s Elton Mangoma appeals to the South Africans for investment, Mugabe and his half of the government have been very busy invading farms, instead of encouraging a sense of responsibility and instilling a sense of security in the nation to attract that investment.

While Finance Minister Tendai Biti trumpets confidence that the IMF will help our nation, they go on an unnecessary and expensive retreat to discuss nothing more than what they have discussed in cabinet but failed to implement.

What makes the MDC confident that whatever they discuss at Victoria Falls will be implemented when they still fail to prevail over Mugabe’s half of the government on important issues? Are they also going to discuss Mugabe’s silly stand against Roy Bennett? We all know that Bennett, if sworn into cabinet as a white farmer who lost his farm to Mugabe, would become not only a cabinet minister but a symbol of the need for the MDC to revise its morals.

So far, the MDC seems pleased to dabble in both worlds: to cooperate with ZANU-PF while ignoring important issues under the guise of cooperation within the government of national unity.

The heart of the matter is that the MDC must now fight its battles with ZANU-PF in the public arena.
They have made enough secret deals with disastrous consequences and it is now time to show us the difference between the two. The MDC cannot continue pleasing ZANU-PF at the expense of the people and the mandate given it by those citizens.

Mugabe and his ZANU-PF are serving their supporters well by continuing to invade farms, refusing to release innocent MDC captives and clinging on to some things that are not theirs while the MDC continues to compromise and ignore issues of great concern to the voters.

Now the MDC has joined the gravy train to expensive and exclusive places for no real good reason other than spend money which could be used for better purposes on a badly wounded nation.

Should the MDC stay the course? Eddie Cross says that it is not an easy question to answer.
“We set ourselves the goal of bringing in a new democratic dispensation, which would transform the country into a caring, productive and prosperous nation. We agreed that this goal would be secured by democratic, peaceful and lawful means.”

I say that even though the MDC has fallen for the Victoria Falls, no new democratic dispensation has come yet. We have not yet seen a caring, productive and prosperous nation that Mr Cross alluded to.
The government does not care. If it does, where are our kidnapped compatriots? Does the MDC know?
Zimbabwe is now a huge flea market, thanks to Thabo Mbeki and SADC. We only buy and sell and prosperity is foreign. We have a bastard currency that we do not deserve. A shame to a country such as ours.

No, from their behaviour so far, the MDC does not need more time for anything. They must have thought about all this before they took the plunge. They continue giving away the very same advantages they should be bargaining with.

The MDC has become an accomplice. I am slowly getting scared of the MDC.
The only consolation, though, is that I am not as scared of the MDC as I am of ZANU-PF…yet.

Send me your comments to tano@swradioafrica.com

I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my compatriots, is the way it is today, Thursday April 2nd, 2009.