Letters

EDITOR – One of the hardest lessons in life is learning who to trust. It’s a sign of maturity when individuals and nations acquire the judgement to know who to trust and who to be wary of. Slowly, with experience, we discover the people who will not let us down; we know they will be there when we need them and do what is right for us, the people who trust them. Elections are occasions when we get the chance to exercise that judgement on a national level.

At independence in 1980, we trusted Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF) to do what was right for us as a nation. We, the people, gave Robert Mugabe the power that he has enjoyed for 28 years. One of the hardest truths for Zimbabweans to accept is that our trust was misplaced. We look around and see a nation tearing itself apart. We no longer know who to trust; Mugabe has succeeded in turning what was once a trusting – some would say naïve – and united people into a fractured collection of individuals who can no longer be sure who to trust. We have lost faith in each other and in our leaders, traditional, political and even religious. Mugabe and Zanu (PF) have almost destroyed the moral fibre of our society.

We have repeatedly been told by Mugabe and his followers that the only thing that counts is loyalty to the ruling party; anything less is betrayal. MDC supporters and anyone else who dares to think differently are branded traitors. “Vatengesi”, “sell-outs” scream the likes of Joseph Chinotimba.  

According to the ruling party, liberation credentials are still the only criteria of the true patriot. That is the Zanu (PF) mantra, the very basis of their belief that only they are entitled to rule Zimbabwe through whatever crooked means they choose. How else can they claim, as they did this week, that they are 99.9 per cent certain of winning the elections!

Enter one Simba Makoni. As Eddy Cross remarked this week: “He has a very nice smile”, to which I reply: “Beware the smile on the crocodile!”

Where was Makoni during Murambatsvina? Where was he when MDC leaders were being beaten to a pulp? Where was Makoni when the brave women and men of WOZA were arrested and beaten for handing out roses on Valentine’s Day or when the police repeatedly misused their powers against the NCA to prohibit any form of demonstration? Where was he when our economy was diving into freefall, when education and healthcare were being destroyed? Where was Makoni when the press was being muzzled and all dissent was being crushed?

The answer to all these questions is that Makoni was nowhere to be seen. Not once did he raise his voice in protest. Instead he was there in the politburo, at the very heart of the ruling party; part of the machinery of government that sanctioned all the repressive legislation designed to keep Zanu (PF) in power.  

All his political life, Simba Makoni has been an integral part of the ruling party and now he tells us, the people of Zimbabwe, that he will “bring about change through national re-engagement” – whatever that means! He speaks of “national healing”, a process of reconciliation which, he says, will be achieved “with the help of friends” -  Thabo Mbeki perhaps?

I can no longer afford to travel regularly to London for the Vigil but I understand that Zimbabweans toy-toying outside Zimbabwe House are divided in their view of Makoni’s entrance into the presidential contest. Some are saying that it’s a brave move, he’s an honest man and that they might vote for him (if they had the vote that is).  

Some of these Zimbabweans have been away from the motherland for a long time and may not even be citizens any longer. They seem to have forgotten that the Zanu (PF) Government, of which Makoni was a part, was responsible for that piece of disenfranchisement.

From what I hear on SW Radio Africa, there are divided views on the Makoni question back home too. Zimbabweans have short memories it seems. Have they forgotten why they are in the mess they are in? Have they forgotten that it was Morgan Tsvangirai who led them in the call for change,; that it was Morgan Tsvangirai who was imprisoned and beaten, tried for treason while all around him his colleagues were beaten and arrested? Yes, he has made mistakes but they were political blunders, serious errors of judgement; he too has sometimes been too trusting, but not, I believe, lacking in integrity.

And yet, Zimbabweans are prepared to put their trust in a man like Makoni, who states quite categorically that he is not against Zanu (PF), not against Robert Mugabe. Surely, that is trust carried to the point of blind naivety – but perhaps that is just what Mugabe is banking on, and the support of Arthur Mutambara who has thrown his weight behind Makoni. Does anyone else smell a rat?

PH, by email

Makoni is 41-days-old in eight-year struggle

EDITOR – While nearly every democratic Zimbabwean has been stunned by Makoni’s dramatic announcement to stand for Presidency against his Zanu (PF) masters, it remains to be seen how Makoni and company will proceed, while all eyes are watching Mugabe to see how he will react.  

Makoni and his masters in and out of Zanu (PF) have presided over the political suffocation of the opposition and an economy that has been taken five centuries back with a collapsed health and education delivery system, reducing every Zimbabwean to destitution, and sending many into exile.  

What we are calling for in Zimbabwe is not the change of who is who in the ruling regime, we are talking of changing the entire system of governance. This is what should be in the minds of all suffering Zimbabweans come election day. Let the opposition’s much-needed votes not be spilt by Makoni’s bid.

Why should he want to deceive the autocratically polarised and suffering Zimbabweans into believing that the problem is Mugabe, not himself and his party. He is part and parcel of the cronies presiding over the fastest collapse of an economy that has ever been seen in the history of the planet.  

Now, if Makoni and his supporters are for change, I feel they should answer the following questions: Where was he when the MDC and other democratic forces were formed; when the economy started crumbling in 1998-2000; when policies hostile to economic development were enunciated; when he, as a technocrat, saw the mass exodus of professionals; when the people of Zimbabwe suffered under Murambatsvina; when Mugabe’s cronies looted the economy willy-nilly; when the Matebeleland and Midlands massacres were perpetuated; when the media and press collapse; when opposition members were persecuted and murdered; when the city of Harare was put under an administrative commission, and when all state institutions were personalised.

Whether he has been fired or whatever from Zanu (PF), he still remains the very Makoni who presided over the suffering of the majority at the behest of same political party. What he and his supporters are doing is a total insult to our collective democratic mentality; they think that this regime by another or independent name will change. Never.  

The suffering masses should never be hoodwinked into this political comedy and should remain resolute as before behind the forces of genuine change.

People should never be swayed 41 days into the final haggle of eight years of trying to bring democracy to our beloved nation.

IAN SIBANDA, by email

It’s Mudehwe strategy all over again

EDITOR – The motive of the Third Force has been exposed. Another poor script from Zanu (PF)! I am sure the gullible media has been caught with its pants down. Quite amazing amongst the frontrunners in propagating for a Third Force was the independent print and electronic media.  

In a local weekly independent, the MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai was castigated by the press for not standing up against Mugabe. No suggestions were given by the armchair critics about the shortcomings of the MDC. Then came the crunch; the media was pushing for a ‘unity accord’ between the MDC and Mutambara’s group, which has since ceded its presidential ambitions to Zanu (PF), courtesy of the unapologetic Zanu (PF) member Simba Makoni.

Yes. Mutambara and team, with the full knowledge that Simba Makoni was moving into the race as a Zanu (PF) man on an independent ticket, embraced him and moved out of the race. You dig that! Comparison – one good scenario that must have stimulated Zanu (PF) to come up with the Third Force concept. Mudehwe (the true Zanu (PF) man) used the independent ticket to usher Zanu (PF) into power. Mudehwe won the mayorship on an independent ticket and, after securing victory, crawled back to Mugabe with the prized trophy.  

The people of Mutare then realised their mistake and kicked Mudehwe out for good. The people of Mutare elected an MDC candidate who was answerable to the people of Mutare. The Mudehwe scenario above is a spitting image of what Simba Makoni aspires to do.

Now comes Arthur Mutambara, the independent media favourite horse. Mutambara fully realised that he was not presidential material and poor Arthur quickly handed the baton to Simba Makoni before the race had even started. Mutambara, the robot professor, went a milestone in his great political career to unashamedly pronounce himself the unheralded Makoni (read Zanu (PF)) cheerleader.  

The media has been dead silent over this fact and is saying sheepishly: give Makoni (Zanu (PF)) a chance. Chakwadi with more than 28 years in power! That Mutambara, an opposition hired gun, supports Zanu (PF) indirectly surely is stranger than fiction. My old man once queried why the Zanu (PF) machine that mows real political opponents ruthlessly had handled Mutambara and Welshman Ncube with soft gloves.

Baba Simba Makoni please give us a break. Zimbabweans deserve better. Tatambura. We certainly do not want Zanu (PF) directly or indirectly to lead us out of the mess Zanu (PF) has created over more than two decades. This country needs change, and Morgan Tsvangirai has stood by the people and deserves the chance to re-build this once breadbasket of a country that now has neither the bread nor the basket!

MURWIRA MWENDAMBERI, by email

What if

EDITOR – What if this was the 30th of March and the presidential election results had just been announced? What if Makoni was pronounced the winner and, in our haste for change (any change) we marched in jubilation, triumphant in the knowledge that Mugabe was out of State House? What if it then transpires that this was Mugabe’s plan all along? That, in fact Makoni, was his chosen successor and that his expulsion from Zanu (PF) was all part of the great plan devised the day Makoni met with Mugabe.

What if a day after the election victory, Makoni held a press conference and informed us that he was going back to Zanu (PF) ‘to change things from within?’

Use your vote wisely.

CHARLOTTE MADONDO, by email

Boot out the crazy old man

EDITOR – What Zimbabweans should do on the 29th of March is to vote for the better. Everyone needs a good life; that is why we always work for money. We all have to know that, if we fail to boot this old crazy man out of office now, we are to suffer until 2013. By then, we could we reduced to skeletons. Let’s have foresight, please. We don’t want a situation like in Kenya. Vakuru ngavachienda ava zvakwana mhani!

ANON, by email

Farmers’ expertise is needed

EDITOR – Almost gone from all the election manifesto news is what to do to promote agriculture once again. It does not seem to occur to many that the problem of the stolen farms must be addressed. It will not go away.  

If Zimbabwe is to receive overseas investment then compensation, on a fair and just basis, must be given to all those farm families who had their private properties seized. That eyesore has been the main problem why overseas capital is not coming in. They fear that their money will also be taken.  

The ideal solution would be to clear away all the squatters and allow the farmers to return to their own properties. This could well take some convincing, as the farmers fear they will be harassed and not allowed to resume activities. Their expertise is desperately needed.

An innovative programme is required soon. The racism, which drove the white farmers away, must also end immediately if a new Zimbabwe is to take its place in the international community.  

The police must deal with the lawless self-described ‘war veterans’ immediately to ensure law and order is maintained.

THOMAS A. WARDLE, Nassau, Bahamas

Zanu is Zanu

EDITOR – It’s crystal clear that Makoni and Ncube are products of Mbeki’s reformed Zanu (PF).  

Be wise all you guys who are taking part in these elections, A rose by any other name still smells the same – Zanu is Zanu whether with Mugabe or Makoni.

Vote for the only voice of change in the land: Morgan Tsvangirai and his crew.

LOVEMORE CHIKANDIWA, MDC Pretoria District Chairman