Tanonoka Joseph Whande
The country continues to go through traumatic experiences and shameful happenings, such as the unnecessary attack on Father Wolfgang Thamm last week.
We have a police force, courts of law, a president and a prime minister, both of whom have hordes of deputies. But Mugabe and his group have sunk so low as to perpetrate such heinous acts on innocent civilians who are burdened with doing work that the government should be doing for the people.
Father Thamm’s attack attacked me from two fronts.
First that I knew him when he just arrived from Germany and was our caretaker at St Albert’s Secondary School in Mt Darwin way back in 1965 when we were the pioneering students of that secondary school.
He did not deserve to be treated this way, least of all by a government he was assisting.
Second that people who go about their business trying to make life for the suffering majority bearable are attacked by government proxies because a government, having failed to care for its own people now cannibalises its citizens.
It is a shameful thing, one which wins Mugabe the accolade of animal. How can humans behave this way?
We the people and our nation are rotting away as leaders plan endless meetings, as if they do not know that all our problems emanate from one Robert Mugabe.
SADC and the African Union, along with South Africa, display a deceptive view of eagerness to solve the Zimbabwean issue.
They refuse to come to terms with the fact that it was them who created the animal that is today devouring its young.
They pretend not to see that Zimbabwe would not have a problem were it not of Mugabe.
They want to preserve the problem and, at the same time, solve it. That is not possible and that is why they are failing.
If they want to solve the problem in Zimbabwe they must get rid of Mugabe. They should simply remove Mugabe who is taking down not only Zimbabwe but neighbouring countries along with their economies as well.
Last week, Botswana President Ian Khama expressed his view that Zimbabwe is better off with new elections under international supervision.
But does Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai want new elections?
Does Robert Mugabe want new elections?
Does even that unnecessary appendage Arthur Mutambara want new elections?
I do not see any one of these guys rushing for new elections. None of them wants to rock the boat. Besides, all of them seem to believe that the certainty of the little they have is better than the unguaranteed results of a new election.
Mugabe has been stung at the polls already.
Mutambara embarrassed his party at the same polls.
And Tsvangirai’s followers now have a lot of questions to ask, especially after all the continuous blunders the MDC has been committing.
They also have questions about how the MDC is handling governmental and party affairs.
In short, none of them is assured of victory so why rock the boat? Why not just enjoy what’s on the table together for now? Mutambara has expressed a wish for the government of national unity to last even for five years.
These politicians are not serious.
A few weeks ago, Tsvangirai partially pulled out of the unity government, only to return on his own three weeks later.
It is a matter of public record that the so-called unity government is anything but.
There has never been goodwill on the part of some of the participants. The government has been dogged with problems right from the start. Except for Mutambara and his mites who are happy to ride the animal while feeding on its blood, Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been at each other’s throats for months.
Regardless of who is wrong or right, their bickering almost always paralysed government.
Unlike Mutambara and his group who don’t stand for anything or represent anyone, Mugabe and Tsvangirai represent two distinct political attitudes, thus they found themselves arguing all the time.
However, these three people and their followers in government knew that they had problems making the three camps work as one.
So the call for fresh elections is not one received with too much enthusiasm by the three so-called principals.
“Yes, fresh elections seem to be the best and only way forward,” said Mariko Jones, a website contributor. “I do not see the MDC taking this up though, even if Tsvangirai was to be allowed to keep his position. Tsvangirai and the MDC would be quite content to have a few of their demands met and let the GNU drift until Mugabe calls for the next election.”
Another writer thinks elections on their own will not resolve the impasse as there is no way that Mugabe will ever accept any results “unless it is himself declared the winner even if his opponent garners more votes”.
“Somehow,” he says, “I credit President Mugabe for openly telling the whole world that only God will remove him from power and also for telling voters that voting for Tsvangirai was a waste of votes and, at another occasion, declaring that there was not going to be change in Zimbabwe.”
We have a host of problems that need to be settled first before we go to the polls and this is where people like SADC should have been involved with.
Our constitution is a shame.
The media is under siege.
Violence and intimidation continue while people are arrested on frivolous charges almost on a daily basis.
The judiciary is tainted and even lawyers have increasingly become targets of ZANU-PF madness.
Yes, elections are an important solution but the playing field needs to be leveled first.
And there does not appear to be anyone to do that just yet.
The heart of the matter is that Zimbabwe needs much more than fresh elections because there are no safeguards to prevent a repeat of what we have witnessed before.
There needs to be a level field. There needs to be a guarantee that citizens are safe.
There needs to be proper supervision and monitoring with the international community making sure that those who lose the election will be required to stand aside.
No country deserves a government of national unity constructed along the lines of that as we see in Zimbabwe.
A government of national unity must not be forced or imposed. It comes from the magnanimity and generosity of spirit of the winner when he invites his defeated opponent to come and work together for the betterment of their nation.
What do you think?
Send me you comments on tano@swradioafrica.com
The disintegration of the rule of law in any country is a recipe for disaster. In Zimbabwe, it has resulted in one man demonically feasting on a population that had given him everything he required and more.
Mugabe’s treatment of the people of Zimbabwe shall not be forgiven in this world or in the one after it.
When a human turns as rabid as Mugabe has done, neighbours, friends and those who care should gang up and correct the situation. It is all an effort to save humanity.
Our nation and our people have lost respect in the world because of Mugabe.
Our country is the subject of disbelief.
Zimbabweans are chided for allegedly allowing Mugabe to get away with murder.
This must stop and all people of conscience have to stand up and not only resist but vanquish the rogue man amongst us.
We deserve better.
The Zimbabwean problem will never be solved as long as Mugabe is part of any attempt to rectify the problems bedeviling our country.
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and, unfortunately, my fellow Zimbabweans, that is the way it is today, Thursday November 19, 2009.