23 July, 2009

They are looking 30 years ahead instead of worrying about today

Last week, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai made startling statements at a two-day workshop that was organised “to identify a Shared National Vision that would be pursued by the country for the next 30 years”.
Also in attendance were Mugabe’s Vice President Joice Mujuru, Simba Makoni of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn, Dumiso Dabengwa of ZAPU, former Zanu-PF secretary general and leader of the now defunct Zimbabwe Unity Movement, Edgar Tekere, and that political gatecrasher, Arthur Mutambara.
Also looking for a platform to spout his retrogressive bunk was Jonathan Moyo.
What struck me first was that these people actually bothered to gather “to identify a Shared National Vision that would be pursued by the country for the next 30 years” while people continue to be abused around them and political intolerance slowly getting out of control.
No rule of law.
No human rights.
No property rights.
Disagreements over new constitution.
Zimbabwe is burning and they gather to map a future for Zimbabwe while they are failing to put out the fire!
To them, it was inconsequential that these are the same people who have, ironically over the past 30 years, presided over the demise of the nation of Zimbabwe.
Now they want to extend their influence for yet another 30 years and they are inviting the MDC along.
These are the same people who fail to agree on the most basic needs and way forward for the country today.
I declare myself astounded that these people have the audacity to try to map anything for Zimbabwe for the next 30 years when they fail to uphold the 100-day programme they imposed on themselves recently.
I wonder what makes them think they are the right people to consider such a weighty undertaking and if they believe they could agree on Zimbabwe’s path for tomorrow when, today, they cannot agree on anything about healing this nation and bringing it back to normal.
After weeks of glob-trotting and telling anyone who cared to listen that all was well in the government of national unity and that things were okay in Zimbabwe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai suddenly became aware of something that everyone has known since before the birth of the government of national unity.
“I envisage a Zimbabwe where political leaders are elected to serve the people and not their own interests, where incumbents stand down gracefully if they lose an election,” Tsvangirai said.
Such lamentations should find a space somewhere in the Bible.
This came from the same man who won an election but went on to accept a lesser role under the person he had defeated in the elections.
Tsvangirai set his own precedent against all advice.
Now things are not going well.
As an MDC activist, 31-year-old Ebba Katiyo, lies battling for her life in a private hospital in Harare after she was brutally attacked last week by ZANU-PF youths in Uzumba, Prime Minister Tsvangirai is packing his bags for South Africa for a meeting with South African President Jacob Zuma.
Tsvangirai wants Zuma to push the regional bloc, SADC, to convene an urgent meeting and deal with Mugabe’s stubbornness.
Tsvangirai asked for Zuma’s assistance in resolving outstanding disputes in the inclusive government.
It is reported that Tsvangirai is very frustrated by the lack of progress in solving the thorniest issues in the Global Political Agreement, after Robert Mugabe refused to budge on his re-appointment of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana.
But Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed to put these disagreements aside for a while and sit down to map Zimbabwe’s path for the next thirty years!
Why any one of them really thinks they will be important players on the political scene in the next thirty years is beyond me.
I suspect I know where Mugabe will be, unless hell runs out of fuel, but does Tsvangirai want to gag future generations by “mapping” phoney national visions for those yet to be born?
Thirty years is a long time and life’s dynamism laughs at their misguided priorities.
They should worry about today; they should start by visiting victims of violence in hospitals and releasing political prisoners.
Vice President Joice Mujuru has never been out of cabinet since 1980 and has held various ministerial posts since then.
She has achieved absolutely nothing of note during those 30 years in cabinet. No ministry looked or performed better after she joined it.
She and her husband have, however, amassed a lot of wealth. And now she considers herself to be of enough consequence to advice the still to be born on how to run Zimbabwe 30 years from now.
Why do politicians take people for fools?
Jonathan Moyo, the man who single-handedly destroyed Zimbabwean media and encouraged ZANU-PF to adopt a disastrous, murderous path, did show up to say whatever it is he had to say.
It must have taken a lot of courage for people to sit in on Moyo’s obnoxious rantings. That is what I call pushing democrats to the limit.
Just a few days ago, Moyo blasted Finance Minister Tendai Biti for lifting punitive duty on important newspapers, arguing that the move puts national security at risk and that the country would be bombarded with “duty-free propaganda”.
This from a man who banned several Zimbabwean newspapers. This from a man who crafted the notorious Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the obnoxious Public Order and Security Act (POSA), legislations that sent many reporters before the courts and got several papers banned not to mention the arrest of people and press freedom.
Some argue that Moyo has the right to be heard. I say no, he doesn’t. He has the right to speak to anyone who cares to listen to his buffoonery but he certainly doesn’t have the right to be heard because it would require forcing some people to listen to his rantings.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara who, for reasons known to him alone, referred to himself as “Yours Truly” at that workshop, urged Zimbabweans to “create a shared value system that would outlive individual political parties and politicians”.
“Zimbabwe is bigger than Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe is bigger than Morgan Tsvangirai and, of course, bigger than yours truly,” he said.
Mutambara leads a party called MDC-Mutambara and I wonder whether MDC-Mutambara, the party, will outlive Mutambara, the leader and owner of the name.
Simba Makoni and Edgar Tekere are both former Mugabe loyalists and are both failed presidential candidates. They were there too.
In spite of being rejected by the people, they too believe they have a prescription that Zimbabwe must take for the next 30 years.
Dumiso Dabengwa, a former ZAPU intelligence officer and Mugabe’s former Home Affairs minister who lost in parliamentary elections and was discarded, now leads a revived ZAPU.
He too was there and has plenty of political medication he recommends for Zimbabwe.
The heart of the matter is that our political leaders are now ignoring the priorities people expected them to deal with. Clearly, the MDC has lost the script.
This is the result of seeking to self-serve rather than serving the people.
We cannot honestly waste time plotting how this country will be run thirty years down the line as if there won’t be better leaders tomorrow.
We remain gagged as a nation and we know how it hurts; why are we eager to gag even the unborn?
The MDC should not be surprised to know that it is now being blamed for what is happening because they entered this against advice.
The MDC must reset their priorities and re-evaluate their significance and relevance. They must focus on their values and Mugabe be damned.
What do you think?
Send me your comments on tano@swradioafrica.com Tsvangirai plays an interesting game with the people. There are some to whom he will admit difficulties in working with Mugabe and there are others to whom he will explain how wonderful things are and that he is hanging in there for the good of the country.
What he is doing is dangerous for the country. Facing reality has always been the best way forward instead of cuddling a murderous dictator in the hope that he can make a tyrant such as Mugabe change just because they are in a government of national unity together.
There is no unity to speak of.
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my compatriots, is the way it is today, July 23, 2009.