ress by Chair of the African Union, Ghanaian President John A Kufuor, at the closing session of the AU’s eighth ordinary session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
His speech stressed the need to execute decisions in order to make the continent a better place for Africans. The AU summit managed resolutions on conflicts in Sudan, Somalia and Ivory Coast but fell short of addressing the tumour of sub-Sahara – the Zimbabwean crisis.
There has been a recent shift in attitude among some African institutions, with the Southern African Development Community appointing a Ministerial Action Group as part of the troika to investigate Zimbabwe, and President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, on his recent visit to London, said the situation in Zimbabwe posed a challenge to African leaders.
However, questions linger on how willing African leaders are to address the challenges that face Africa.
What is crucial at this stage is for us (progressive forces and ordinary Zimbabweans) to embrace initiatives like the Africa Liberate Zimbabwe campaign, aimed at seeking solidarity from the continent. We should not just criticise but also have an alternative road map. We need to have a clear African-based ideology.
It’s somehow premature to lock horns with Zanu (PF) when they are viewed across the region as champions of indigenisation and fighters against neo-colonialism, and seen implementing land reform and staying true to their socialist principals.
Unfortunately, key players (such as the AU and SADC) cannot see that what Zanu (PF) has done can be portrayed as a betrayal of the true African revolution and a political illusion to cover up its incompetence as a government.
Calling for the repeal of repressive legislature and a new Constitution are supporting pillars in a structure that should be firmly based on African ideology. In order to counter Zanu (PF), we need to be clear on where we stand on key issues, land reform and the empowerment of ordinary black Africans… we need to act in the interests of the peasants, who make up 95% of the population.
Comrades, there is a drastic need to relinquish reformist politics, as we have entered the era of confrontational politics. Power to the people!
WELLINGTON CHIBANGUZA (founding member of Free-Zim Youth), Zimbabwe
An Open Letter to All
EDITOR – This Open Letter is addressed to all politicians and the leaders of all political parties, non-governmental organisations and civic movements.
Your Excellency, Honourable Members of Parliament, Senators, Chiefs, Mayors, Councillors, Comrades and Friends, As we write this Open Letter, Zimbabweans are living in a state of fear and uncertainty.
Levels of poverty are high; unemployment is at 82% and inflation at four figures. Non-existent service delivery makes life difficult. Access to education, housing and other basic needs is now only for the rich. The HIV/Aids pandemic, which has created thousands of orphans and child-headed households, is a social catastrophe compounded by a failed healthcare system and little or no access to ARVs.
People have been unsuccessful at holding their government accountable due to a raft of repressive laws and shrinking freedom of expression/media space. Corruption at all levels of government and the politicisation of all aspects of society has led to chaos and disorganization in every sector.
Women and men of WOZA have initiated a non-violent campaign with the aim of mobilising Zimbabweans to demand social justice from their leaders. The time has come to put the past behind us and start building a better tomorrow.
We plan to hold existing leaders accountable and mobilise people to demand leaders who will deliver all aspects of social justice and a genuinely people-driven constitution.
This resolution was made after an eleven-month, nationwide consultation process. During 2006, over 284 meetings consulting almost 10,000 rural and urban people on social justice, were held. The people spoke clearly about what they want in a new Zimbabwe, and their contributions are contained in the People’s Charter.
We are looking to all leaders to provide a public reply and endorsement of the People’s Charter and would be happy to have this by Valentine’s Day on 14th February 2007.
WOZA looks forward to working hand in hand with any political or civic leaders who have publicly endorsed the People’s Charter, to deliver social justice and honour the wishes of the Zimbabwean people.
WOZA AND MEN OF ZIMBABWE ARISE, email peoplescharter@yahoo.com
More time for Mugabe misrule
EDITOR – I was shocked to learn that the ‘ruining party’ resolved to postpone the elections, due in 2008, to 2010. This is political chicanery.
Mugabe is taxing our patience at his own peril. No true Zimbabwean will accept such an abominable act of lunacy.
I think this old man is only concerned with how to remain in power, stubbornly ignoring real problems bedevilling Zimbabweans.
This extension of time will only allow him to continue annihilating the once-vibrant economy at will, and to pass more repressive laws to the detriment of innocent citizens.
His man-made crisis has prompted people, especially the younger generation, to dare cross the flooded and crocodile-infested Limpopo River, and recently over 60 people drowned.
Yet the good-for-nothing dictator remains unfeeling – he continues to close his eyes to reality, behaving as if nothing is wrong in Zimbabwe. But let me tell him, “beware the Ides of March”. We won’t allow his antics unchallenged.
The people’s rage will be turned loose on him soon. Let’s be players, not beholders, everyone must kick the ball. We are almost there. Never say die!
TAPIWA HOVE, Pretoria district, SA
The A to B of car economics
EDITOR – Personally, I could not care less in what sort of car Dr Gideon Gono goes from A to B. I am quite happy that I managed with someone else’s help to pay the Third Party insurance for my car – bought in Harare in 1997 for Zim $142,000 (Z$142 in the new currency). The insurance cost me Z$68,000 (Z$ 68,000,000 in old currency) in January 2007.
I also managed last month to buy 20 litres of petrol for the trifle sum of Z$30,000 (or Z$30,000,000 in old currency).
A Mercedes (Benz), whether a 500S or a 600S, needs far too much petrol – and neither of them goes faster than 250km/h, anyhow.
Some people would, of course, expect Dr Gono to have bought a more modest version of a Mercedes (Benz), say the 200C or an E-class Merc. If he has to publicly justify his purchase at all, Dr Gono will probably argue that he bought himself neither a tuned version of the Merc 600S (Brabus or AMG) nor the Mercedes Maybach.
I am still impatiently waiting for someone in the uppermost political or economic echelons to buy himself a Maybach, as I haven’t seen one even in the streets of Germany … this would really mean aggrandisement (for those who need it).
At any rate, I would not be surprised in the least if, sooner or later, I saw one in Zimbabwe. After all, are we not still a developing country?
LUDWIG REAL, Zimbabwe
Who’s looting the wealth?
EDITOR – Not even Houdini could get us out of the economic quagmire that we are in, compliments of one man and his mesmerised and stupid followers… Congratulations to Dr Gono for trying, but for any economic policy to succeed in this Zimbabwe of ours (not Mugabe’s, Mutasa’s, Nyambuya’s, Chinamasa’s, Made’s, Goche’s or any other individual’s or group’s), one need only to nail the real culprits – is it not the chefs who are keeping the Zanu (PF) coffers topped up with the illicit dealing in the newly-discovered wealth beneath our soil?
Where is the people power that came to the forefront when commercial farms were invaded – are we not worse off now than we were before the ‘Third Chimurenga’?
We need to take a closer look at the guys who have duped the nation and looted it to the state that it’s in now – ‘the government’, for want of a better term.
Good luck, Dr Gideon, and watch your back!
S TAYLOR, Manicaland-in-the-gomos
What ‘Gono-ese’ translates to
EDITOR – To the simple-minded like me, the latest and increasingly quasi-political – not fiscal – monetary policy statement seems to boil down to, “I have been misleading the nation these last few years, there is no economic turnaround in sight, inflation is out of control, the Zimbabwe dollar ever more worthless each day, and the parallel market untamed.
“We are going to wind down non-core business operations at the RBZ – slowly and … well, in a sort of fiscal way. We will continue to reverse our policies as and when we see fit (eg foreign currency regulations) and we promise to stop the money-printing fest of 2006, slowly.
“My critics were right all the time; I can’t do it by myself and we need a ‘holistic’ solution. I have no new quick fixes for you. The past ones have failed to deliver … but you can’t fire me because it’s not really my fault (you know whose fault it is, I have listed the various culprits several times before).”
The rest was padding – spin and politics, by way of admissions and reflections on what the man in the street already knows and has been battling, day-to-day.
Given the approval from on high that the Governor no doubt needs to have for his statements, this all probably represents a shift in strategies to tackle the growing pressures facing our unpopular rulers. The economic propaganda of previous policy statements (in the election year of 2005, for example) would have today fallen on incredulous ears.
To the cynical, this awakening on the road to Damascus may simply represent new, time-buying concessions by our master-politician at State House, in cahoots with his partisan security bosses.
Is all this talk of a ‘social contract’ (loudly echoed by the government-controlled media) not an attempt to pre-empt the coalescing forces of opposition – while at the same time continuing the overt and subliminal messages on an ever-evolving, political role for our central banker?
To create a social contract you must have credibility, the trust of all parties involved, and you yourself must be willing to implement any painful recommendations. For this government, that’s zero out of three.
All the same, welcome to reality, Governor. Hopefully this time your projections on money supply growth will not go the way of your double-digit inflation promises of yesteryear (especially after the ongoing and future wage negotiations in the civil service).
We shall be watching with interest, given that many of us are still reeling under the negative effects of some of your previous interventions.
B MHLANGA, Harare
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