September 17, 2009

Is Jonathan Moyo of any use to any political party today?
 

 
We started with loving him when he was a non-descript teacher at the University of Zimbabwe.
By the time he had captured our interest, he was referred to as professor, something that his contemporaries still argue about today.
And, as always, we wish we did not know now what we did not know then.
We were reading his vitriolic anti-ZANU-PF and anti-Robert Mugabe comments in church magazines and other independent publications and papers as he spared no expletive to describe the government run newspapers, including radio and television.
He hammered Mugabe and ZANU-PF mercilessly and Zimbabweans cheered him on because he was speaking their minds as well.
Jonathan Moyo was at one brief but poignant time one of the most, if not the most, popular man in Zimbabwe, at least among those who were literate enough to buy independent magazines and newspapers.
There are still arguments weather he is a professor or otherwise.
But that is totally beside the point because Jonathan espoused our sorrows, while at the same time he persistently articulated our hopes.
He said things to the bullies that the ordinary man only wished to say but was reluctant to say.
He fearlessly put the blame on ZANU-PF and appeared to have set out on a one-man crusade to resist and expose ZANU-PF’s excesses.
The trinity of ZANU-PF, Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe government media did not like our Jonathan and harassed him at every opportunity.
Jonathan Moyo persisted and espoused the gut feelings of the common person. And he used publications at the periphery to espouse his views since the government media would not let his anti-government vitriol appear in their papers.
Then came the 2000 constitutional referendum when he suddenly emerged as the spokesperson for a government picked group of people who were to write and campaign for the acceptance of a new constitution.
The choice of Jonathan Moyo was not by accident. It was meant to give credence to a wide range of not so credible individuals who made up this group.
Then, for some reason, this son of Zimbabwe suddenly decided to go against fellow sons and daughters of his nation.
Every day, he climbed higher and every day he cemented his arrival in government by issuing statements without even bothering to consult with anyone, a trend that would persist well after he was rewarded with a cabinet post.
At the height of his time, Jonathan Moyo was the only cabinet minister who had access to the president several times a day with no prior appointment while other ministers would wait for a fortnight to get a 30-minute appointment with Mugabe.
Jonathan Moyo’s turnaround surprised millions in Zimbabwe and he was well decorated with a variety of names that are far from complementary.
Someone who calls himself Grade Seven wrote: “Jonathan is an educated donkey who lacks any human feeling. Selfish he is and always speaks about himself. Let us not forget that it is the same fool who reversed what the majority had chosen in the 2000 referendum. Give him money in exchange for the blood of every Zimbabwean and you will see how happy he can be. Nothing new we can get from a prostitute like Moyo.”
After the referendum in question, Moyo was given the Information ministry and he set out to destroy rather build the media in Zimbabwe.
He simply went after the people with great gusto.
Zimbabweans will not forget the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), both pieces of legislation he partly wrote and championed.During his term as Information Minister, Moyo banned four newspapers which were viewed as critical of President Robert Mugabe.
AIPPA and POSA, more than anything else, resuscitated the fortunes of Robert Mugabe and revolutionerised the media and political temperatures in Zimbabwe, antagonizing the media and drew lines between the government and the people.
These two Acts gave Mugabe a stronger hold on the nation’s jugular vein.
And many cabinet ministers were wary of him as Moyo interfered in other people’s ministries with impunity.
As always happens in such circumstances, Moyo’s bubble burst as he was found out when he allegedly tried to maneuver and position certain people within ZANU-PF without Mugabe’s knowledge and blessing.
He was kicked out of both the government and party. He faced the specter of being ordinary.
He then briefly resumed his onslaught on ZANU-PF but he had already shown the people that he did not have honourable intentions and is too self seeking. Few believed his turnaround and shunned him.
I still remain astounded as to what makes Jonathan Moyo behave the way he does.
Some people are saying that, like any other prostitute, political or otherwise, Jonathan has his rights and he can flout them at any time within ZANU-PF’s red light district.
But how many millions believed in him? How many millions are enthralled by his acumen?
Why does he not think he owes the people of Zimbabwe something? Why doesn’t he think he is a product of the same people he is balancing on scales of betrayal?
“It’s strange that people don’t understand Jonathan Moyo up to now,” wrote Biggie Murakatira on a news website. “The fact of the matter is that he sells himself as a wordsmith without shame or conscience. He has advised Mugabe since 2002 and in 2008, he was consulted after March 29. He is simply and squarely a mercenary, with no feeling for the people. He realises that no sane party can ever want anything to do with him. He has been working for Zanu-PF at the insistence of Mugabe and Mnangagwa. Remember, he is trying to buy his security and his only weapon left is “spinning” shamelessly.”
As recently as August 25, 2009 Jonathan said that Prime Minister Tsvangirai “has shown that he is capable of national leadership”.
He had, however, pre-ambled that qualification with parroting Mugabe’s worn out nonsense about the British and Americans telling Zimbabweans what to do.
Then Moyo allegedly wrote a letter to ZANU-PF seeking readmission into the party and, a few days later, he branded the mainstream MDC politicians as “blithering idiots”.
Clearly, Jonathan Moyo has a fear of being ordinary.
A fellow writer by the name of Nazario says that the heart of the matter is that “this man Moyo is a lunatic, an opportunist and a political prostitute. How else can he be described? He is notoriously famous for switching allegiances when it suits his pocket. He is a pretender of the highest order and intellectually bankrupt. He has no morals or the nerve to stand for the truth; instead he uses his western education in articulating the art of deception.”
What do you think?

Send me your comments on tano@swradioafrica.com Just what is it that Jonathan Moyo wants from the people? Why does he hate fellow Zimbabweans so much?
Is any conscience involved when he performs these political summersaults or is it just part of his nature?

I would have hoped that after the disaster he caused the nation during his foray into cabinet, he would see reason and actually apologise for his abuse of the nation.
But he is seeking another opportunity to ravage Zimbabwe again. Is there any political party that could use Jonathan Moyo today?

What have we done to this man which has caused him to be so vindictive towards his own people? Nazario continues: “History will judge Jonathan Moyo harshly and so will his friends in ZANU-PF. I pray they earn God’s wrath. As much as God is forever forgiving, I pray that Moyo and Mugabe and the rest of the thieves should be thrown into the fires of Hell, after all, they deserve this for creating hell-like conditions which our people have endured for several years.”

I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that is what my fellow compatriots think of Jonathan Moyo today, Thursday September 17, 2009.