As I watched, I could not bring myself to a state of joy. I am not sure
that this is the right thing to have happened, but I admire Morgan for
going into the lion's den and at least trying to bring protection to
the people of Zimbabwe.
May God protect him as he protected Daniel.
JOYCE, by email
Prepare for the Zanu booby traps
EDITOR – The strength of any leadership is judged by its ability to
take hard and painful decisions but still steer out of trouble.
You (Tsvangirai and the MDC) had no choice but to think of your people
first and accept the invitation to join the GNU, because no war can
ever be won on empty stomachs, worse still with the current carnage
caused by preventable diseases in the country.
The open secret or stark reality, however, is that you have just gone
to bed with a porcupine (mapinda mugudza nenungu). This is your biggest
challenge, which should always be in the mind of each and every one of
you in your daily business.
You are literally in a spider's web or in the grip of a hungry octopus.
We are not there yet and surely there is a 90 per cent chance that if
you forget too soon, you will never be there.
You are dealing with the greatest schemer of all time in Zimbabwe's
political history. If God had given RG MUGABE empathy and compassion so
that he could put his people and not his supporters first, almost
everybody would have wanted him to stay until he decided to leave. (asi
mwari haangape zvese, njere dzakaiswa panemwoyo mukukutu).
This is your opportunity to demonstrate that you are a strong,
principled and people/business-oriented alternative to Zanu (PF). It is
therefore imperative that you get your priorities right first time. Ask
yourselves first whether you are in GNU to:
•   investigate who killed Tongogara or Chitepo?
•   prosecute those who committed Gukurahundi atrocities or who was complicit in the cruel Murambatsvina campaign?
•   chase away or extradite the fugitive Mengistu back to his country?
•   prosecute those who murdered farmers and all those political and human rights activists?
•   arrest and prosecute those who tortured your comrades and the
general populace for holding a different political view from theirs?
•   arrest and prosecute those who looted through the Reserve Bank, or state institutions like ARDA, NOCZIM, ZDF and so on?
I know most of you still have terrible memories and scars inflicted by
the regime but the answer to all the above is a big NO or else you
will be holding the gun against your own heads.
You are probably aware that the regime was looking for a safe way out,
but your conduct might just present them with a golden opportunity to
stay put and perpetuate the suffering of Zimbabweans.
Even two-year-olds now know that RGM is corrupt and he killed all the
way to where he is today, and that is the very reason why they are
being arrested and tortured together with their parents, so please
prioritise those things which add value to the life of common
Zimbabweans.
The reason you joined the GNU in my opinion is to diplomatically find a
way to stop a repeat of all the above, and demonstrate that you can do
it better by resuscitating the economy, feeding the hungry, healing the
sick and continuing with the struggle/journey because you are not there
yet.
The information department is the lifeblood of any organisation. It is
my personal view that you have a great weakness in that area. I have
nothing against Nelson Chamisa, in fact I admire him as one of the most
courageous and intelligent young men of the struggle.
But the honest truth is, he still needs guidance to fully mature in that portfolio.
If great and intelligent leaders like Barack Obama can have a pool of
three to four specialists just to prepare and perfect speeches, why
can't you do that for Chamisa in his mammoth task, so that you do not
play into the hands of the enemy.
I am sure many people believe he should be there to gather experience
for the future because he has potential and deserves to be there, but
please surround him with the right advisers because, as he learns the
ropes, his blunders can cost you dearly.
The reason why PF Zapu was swallowed and dumped in the toilet was
because they thought they had arrived when they were not yet there. And
it took 22 years for Dumiso Dabengwa and the likes to know that Zanu
(PF) would always sleep with one eye open; once an enemy, you will
forever be an enemy.
That is why Simba Makoni akatambiswa bhora risina mweya namaiMujuru
nemurume wavo, kunzi pinda pinda mhindya takabata (was pushed into a
trap) or was it a grand strategy by RGM and the CIO to split
Tsvangirai's vote? But the truth is RGM has never trusted the man with
his presidential ambitions, so good riddance either way.
PF Zapu sold out everything, including their supporters, to Zanu (PF)
for a bar of chocolate, now they wrecked and bruised and back to the
electorate with a new agenda where MDC has already camped as a viable
option. The greedy ones grabbed Zanu (PF)'s poisoned carrot of
corruption, hook, line and sinker, and they are now part of political
history garbage.
You are definitely going to drink, eat, talk, sleep, breath and walk
over Zanu (PF) booby traps to portray the worst image of any government
you can ever dream of besides Zanu (PF). Right now, seven of your MPs
are being investigated for abusing agricultural inputs, a practice
started and perfected by Zanu (PF) itself to feed their cronies and
henchmen.
You will fall one by one until he regains his majority in parliament,
and you remain the wannabes of Zimbabwe's opposition politics. Fairly
soon you will be queuing for your chance to get bars of sugar-coated
chocolates in the foam of luxurious plasma TVs, top of the range Mercs,
stolen farms and so on, but I will assure you once they are satisfied
with their re-strategising, you will vomit up everything with your
blood. Please leave those to turncoats Mutambara and Welshman Ncube,
the greatest sell-outs in history after Jeremiah Chirau, because the
electorate will judge you harshly.
MWANA WEVHU, by email
Mugabe and Mutambara are defeated gatecrashers
EDITOR – SADC is buying time for Robert Mugabe to further hurt the
people of Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe failed to manage his succession plan;
how can he today lead a unity government in transition of removing him
from power?
Robert Mugabe vowed by his mother's name never to let Morgan Tsvangirai
lead Zimbabwe during his lifetime. A leopard like Mugabe will not
change the colour of its skin.
The generals such as Brig Nyikayaramba have already put traps for the
new MDC-T MPs through the so-called support input scheme manned by Zanu
(PF) generals. The generals will not easily let go of the wealth and
caskets of bars of gold, diamonds, emeralds and other precious stones
they looted without any sweat.
Britain, the United States and the EU should not remove the targeted
sanctions. Robert Mugabe wants to have fun in the USA and EU. Zanu (PF)
fatcats are full of money, 4x4s, mansions and many farms, so what? They
don’t care about the suffering masses.
Fresh presidential elections under the supervision of the UN and EU is
the quickest solution. President Khama was very clear about this.
Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara and all the defeated gatecrashers remain very much illegitimate.
ANON, by email
Zimbabweans in Durban hopeful of positive results
EDITOR – When the politics of the land deteriorates to such
proportions, it's a clarion call to the powers that be to embrace the
much-needed political will so as to bring the country back on track.
Most Zimbabweans in Durban are quite hopeful and optimistic that the
developments at home will bring about positive results with the
agreement between Zimbabwe's political players to form a coalition
government.
We hope that things will start happening and our country will be
restored, because we have longed for a peaceful political settlement of
the chaos that Zanu (PF) has authored and an end to the rot that Mugabe
has unflinchingly mastered.
We thank the opposition MDC for showing its willingness to restore the
fortunes of our beloved land. The opposition has shown that it's
undoubtedly a bona fide representative of the national sentiment, said
a Zimbabwean accountant who works for a Durban magazine publisher.
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown has forced the country's political forces
to engage each other in order to kickstart some economic reforms. A
decade-long economic surge has plunged the country into a plunge-pool
of gloom and doom.
However, peace-loving Zimbabweans have never chosen violence as a means
to topple a regime that milked and raked the country's wealth.
We just hope and expect the political forces at home will show
maturity and abide by the rules of the global political agreement,
another Zimbabwean teacher said.
Zimbabwe, once one of the southern African region's best economies has, under Mugabe, been reduced to a begging bowl.
With Mugabe's land seizures in 2000, came dire straits of poverty; with
Operation Murambatsvina, came blood-curdling realities of hunger; with
Operation
wakavhotera papi, came the sorriest state of affairs in the world. Now
cholera has become increasingly a time-bomb. May the interests of all
Zimbabweans be highly honoured. We earnestly pray that there will not
be a resurrection of operation Wakanga uri kupi kana tava.
ANON, by email
Zanu remains corrupt, arrogant, brutal
EDITOR – The unity government is a waste of time for the people of
Zimbabwe and is about trying to keep Robert Mugabe in power for life.
Robert Mugabe is buying time.
Zanu (PF) cannot suddenly change from dictatorship to democracy. The
leopard cannot change its colour. Already Zanu (PF) has set its traps
for MDC-T through many programmes headed by the generals. We repeat:
Robert Mugabe, Gideon Gono, the Munangagwas, Kangais, Mujurus and the
generals are full of gold, diamonds, emaralds and all other minerals
they looted.
For them, the Zimbabwe economy will not collapse.
Kabila, the Chinese and the Russians bring easy barter-trade for
looting open cast platinum at Selous and Shurugwi as long as they
remain in power.
Zamu (PF) cannot lead itself out of power after three decades of
research on communism. Zanu (PF) remains deeply corrupt, arrogant,
defiant and brutal as per their propaganda on ZBH TV.
All SADC agricultural donations ended up in the hands of Zanu (PF)
corrupt structures and sold on the black-market and given free only to
Zanu (PF) supporters. The army generals and top civil servants are
grossly misusing government vehicles and property during this
transition period.
ANON, by email
[There is a gender heading that we've used in the past – can you use
with this one, please and make it a little box in its own right.]
Cabinet snub for women who struggled for democracy
BY THOKO MATSHE
My heart sank when I saw the list that the prime minister put out for
his cabinet – two women as ministers out of 14 ministerial positions!
One woman deputy so far out of the three, still three more to decide.
I thought of how far we women of Zimbabwe still have to struggle.
My misconception was that, since we are democrats, since I personally
know these men in other the struggles we have waged, they would have a
different practice to those other men I have never been friends with.
I hear the same rhetoric, there are, no women', or still there are no
capable women'. How do we define capable; are all those men capable?
As I sit here, I can reel off ten women – even ten capable women in the
MDC (Tsvangirai) alone – without stopping to breathe. If I even apply
further and ask some of my sisters, I am sure I will by the end of
thirty minutes have more than 30 women.
I should also know their capability. I have been in the struggles,
organising with most of them. So, how come when it's issues of power,
kana kudya, all of a sudden there are no women'.
I am not very conversant with the MDC structures on the ground and in
the diaspora, which in itself says to me I could count another ten or
20 women by the end of two days if I checked.
My frustration, my anger, my disappointment, is this: how do you men we
struggle with for democracy forget us when there is a table to be sat
at? All of a sudden you expect us to sit parupasa and hence be
delegated to the crumbs that fall from the table and have the gall to
expect us to be grateful. How dare you!
My heart sank as I thought of the level of the struggle I still have to wage as a Zimbabwean woman.Â
The least the women of Zimbabwe expect is to see a Cabinet composed of
50 per cent women (for all the parties) as recently committed to in the
SADC Gender and Development Protocol signed in August 2008 in South
Africa by the SADC heads of state, including Zimbabwe.
Further to that, the adoption of gender equality as a core principle of
the GPA and in particular that section 20 specifically acknowledges
the need for gender parity, particularly the need to appoint women in
strategic cabinet posts'. Tirikurasika papi maComrades!