Myth of transition and fitness to govern

By Tabani Moyo (main picture)


It has been more than a year under the government of national unity. The performance to this end clearly speaks of a mission impossible in terms of reverting Zimbabwe back to a full democracy and improving a people’s lives.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word transition as, “the process of changing from one state or condition to another.” The questions in the Zimbabweans’ minds today remains - what are we changing from and where are we headed. Squarely, this is the jinks puzzle which defines the power relations in our government. The three political parties will want to gain political power in the next election so that they can look back one day and say we managed to out manoeuvre our opponents during the transitional period.

Therefore, in assessing its fitness to govern or lack thereof, one need to first and foremost debunk the myth that we are in a transition and that during this transition, we cannot squarely measure the performance of the government given the complexity of its making. For too long we have been exposed to the messaging that the government is not performing owing to its numerous centres of power.

From the onset, there laid a great danger espoused in the foundation of the negotiation process. The founding point was that Zimbabwe had produced a hung parliament in the March 2008 plebiscite hence the need to mitigate the pile up of cabinet bills in the august house by ensuring the three feuding parties come together and collectively govern. This has sadly transferred the baggage of a hung parliament to a hung cabinet as the different centres of power govern either through the media or acts of blatant defiance. Resultantly we now have a hung government, whose fitness to govern has become heavily contested.

The argument is that, of these three centres of power, only one is working for the collective good of Zimbabwe and the other two, Zanu PF and Ncube-Mutambara MDC are imbedded in making it impossible to govern Zimbabwe in a translucent and transparent manner. Whatever the case might be, the government has collectively failed to effect meaningful and lasting change in people’s lives. The excuse has and will remain – we are in transition and its complex so non-delivery is poised to happen.

In honest and earnest terms, there is a new culture of ‘wait and see’ as the law of diminishing returns sets firm amongst the political arms. Energy and zeal are fast burning out as promises lead to additional promises. It seems there is a business as usual approach due to political fatigue, when the journey is supposed to be beginning. In the process, some among our midst are fast forgetting the reasons why they accepted to be in ‘transition’. A rude awakening call awaits. How long will the transition last? By their nature transitions are supposed to be time specific. If it’s going to be two years or less than five years, then it’s an acceptable time span.

This argument stems from the fact that the life span of this government is going to be five (5) years which is clearly a constitutional term of the government. Therefore, ZANU PF and two MDCs are essentially serving a full government term irrespective of the fact that the political parties will insist on the contrary. There is nothing transitional about serving a full government term.

There should, therefore, be a paradigm shift in terms of policy approaches from short term to long term since the political parties are going to serve full office tenure. These stop gap measures should stop forthwith and give way to the effecting of developmental and lasting programs that are meant to change the people’s living standards as opposed to the humanitarian and salary governance style that has crept into present day Zimbabwe.

The stop gap measures approach are informed by the reality of the political parties’ comprehension of the fact that an election is pending hence long term investment will not produce results to the electorate. Hence the entire nation is being held by a thread of belief that the reason why the levels of unemployment and industry capacity remain sorry is because of the current transitional phase.

The import thereof, is that if the ‘inclusive government’ is serving a full term of office, it should be held to account for the progress and lack of it during their reign. The three political parties’ manifestos clearly outline that they are going to deliver in the socio-economic and political elements if voted into power – they are in power now for a full term, whether they are voted for or not. The word transition has been abused for too long in this country and should not be continuously used as a scapegoat for non-performance by attaching a time frame to it.

Attempts to juxtapose the element of transition and stagnancy in delivery will be unfortunate and sad. It is will be a virtue of insanity just as saying Zanu PF was failing to deliver in every five year term because it was awaiting a transitional election at the end of its full term. Zimbabwe cannot stomach such thinking so can the rest of the continent and the region.

Our leadership was elected into office, to those who were elected, to make things happen – there is therefore no space or time to go around explaining why the leadership is failing to effect change in a people’s lives. Zimbabwe awaits for the leadership that makes things happen.

This takes me back to the argument of fitness to govern. As stated in the first paragraphs, the next election will be in 2013; this is the most feasible date for all the 3 political parties who agreed to govern the state together on the 15th of September 2008.

ZANU PF cannot fathom being exposed to an electoral test any time soon given the marginal losses accrued in the 2008 plebiscite which was held under minimum conditions of peace. The same is true for the Mutambara factor, if exposed to electoral temperatures this will in all probability mark the end of its political life. The Tsvangirai led MDC is embroiled with factional challenges internally and facing a huge challenge of gaining state power if it goes to an election now, it will come out more weakened.

Both Zanu PF and MDC-T face a serious crisis of primary elections which by their own nature are politically nerve threatening. They draw lines of factionalism as the leadership will be trying to protect the so called heavy weights from being thumped by ‘mafikizolos’.

Comprehensively, if Zimbabwe is to conceive a genuine and true transition, the transition should face minimum standard answers of where the country will go after the next election which will happen in 2013, since transition in one way or the other points to the change of the present state to the other.

Calling for an election before an in-depth transformation of electoral institutions, the state machinery of power, effecting meaningful media reforms in broadcasting and the laws governing the print media will lead to yet another transitional still birth. The vanquished will retain a point of strength and start acting and behaving like winners whilst the genuine winners are left crying to the world over a stolen victory or blocked democracy.

The civil society, should therefore mend its partially broken wings as a watchdog of the basic tenants of democracy rather than making ‘politically correct’ decision to appease narrow political conquests.

It is therefore only fair to call upon the collective arms of the state to stop political grand standing and start addressing the developmental and long term infrastructural questions which still linger in the minds of Zimbabwe’s people in line with the full constitutional term they are serving.

If we are not careful as a people, the entire five (5) years under this government will go to politicking and political voodoo, which does not have any socio-political or economic meaning except narrow and parochial political interests.

Any meaningful political concepts should have the ability to address the long term infrastructural needs. This entails structured efforts towards revitalising our industry which is still wallowing below 30% production capacity and creating employment opportunities to almost 85% of the unemployed resource pool.

Our education system needs a life saving system in the form of proper remuneration for our educators and a surgical treatment of our civil service remuneration to instil confidence in the country’s biggest employer. In the same vein, the state has the duty to educate its people through a non-commercial fee – it must start acting like a responsible being. Our hospitals remain a death parlour trap. Utility access in the form of electricity and water is a mirage. This is irrespective of the fact that the ministers manning them had been criticizing from the outside and we are now shocked with their defining silence when the centre is falling apart.

So is the GNU fit to govern, collectively it is not given its politicking stance rather than addressing the fundamental issues of development in the country. The donations which are pouring into the country are going into non-investment use such as the civil service bill and humanitarian aid. The right arm of government doesn’t have a clue what the left arm is doing for example in mining, the MDC does not have a clue of where the huge monies coming from the Chiyadzwa mine fields are going. ZANU PF boycotts the council of ministries meetings with impunity among other acts of militant defiance.

If there was a semblance of governance fitness, one would have expected by now some transparency over the country’s resource levels and usage. A clear cut road map towards recovery from a decade of recession which is clearly guarded with a unity of purpose aimed at transforming the state institutions.

Zimbabweans should therefore start demanding that their government to deliver – for the government is not in transition but serving a full constitutional term in the ambience of a hung government which by its own nature is not made of angels.

*Tabani Moyo is a journalist based in Gokwe. He can be contacted on rebeljournalist@yahoo.com

The paradox of media reforms!

The need for media reforms remains contested terrain in Zimbabwe more so in the context of the political contestations over the issue.

The crisis facing the media reforms agenda is found in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by the three political forces which constitute Zimbabwe’s inclusive government. Article 19 of the GPA states that the registration and re-registration of new and closed media players respectively will be done under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA).

It is paradoxical that these two pieces of legislation which led to the closure of the media space in Zimbabwe should be the foundation of reforms and/or transformation. This poses a serious contradiction in terms given how the acts are repressively structured to curtail the very same goal of securing media freedom.

This clearly explains why the political foes are now stuck when it comes to addressing this fundamental catastrophe. In negotiating and signing the GPA, the negotiators overlooked several issues pertaining to what defines media freedom and freeing the media environment. The GPA points to a desire to retain control of the media notwithstanding political pronouncements on commitment to the so- called reforms.

There is no need to go beyond statements of commitment. This can be demonstrated through the repealing of the nefarious acts and explicitly guarantee media freedom as opposed to hanging on to these discredited pieces of legislation. Assertions by the Permanent Secretary of Media, Information and Publicity George Charamba that AIPPA is necessary to secure the industry and the country from foreign aggression is sad and fact free.

Prior to the media reign of terror orchestrated by former minister of Information Professor Jonathan Moyo through AIPPA, the media industry existed without the restrictions of today. Any publisher who wanted to start his or her newspaper would simply notify and register with the General Post Office of Zimbabwe and proceed as planned with the publication. This should be the spirit which governs well intentioned media reforms.

One remains cognisant of the hopes raised by the signing of the GPA pertaining to the opening of the media space specifically that of registration and opening up of new and closed papers respectively. However, reforms are not symbolic. They require a surgical process of the entire system governing the media industry.

Adverts pertaining to the registration of the News Day, sister publication of the Zimbabwe Independent, the banned Daily News and other prospective papers are now awash in the public domain. Their return and entry into the market is long overdue. Viewed differently, their registration will not necessarily mean the sealing of the envisaged media reforms. The very same legislative acts which would have registered the publications can equally be used to close them.

Meaningful reforms should, therefore, be underpinned by the repealing of AIPPA and BSA to clear the confusion arising from the conundrum of Article 19 of the GPA and thus pave way towards guaranteeing media freedom in the constitution.

Likewise, the government should disinvest from Zimpapers as that gives government an unfair competitive advantage in what is supposed to be a free market environment. Newspapers should survive or fold on the basis of their strength to satisfy the target audience. In this transitional phase the way forward would be to bring back the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust to act as a buffer and minimise interference by the state with editorial decisions at Zimpapers.

Newspaper companies should be registered in terms of the Companies Act while the General Post Office of Zimbabwe should retain its traditional role of receiving notification and registration of newspapers from prospective publishing companies.

In the broadcasting sector, the government has a role of distributing the magnetic spectrum. This cannot be done through the BSA due to its restrictions on issues pertaining to ownership, the responsible minister’s discretionary powers and lack of technical capacity on the part of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), among other issues. An independent regulatory board answerable to parliament is therefore necessary as the starting point for genuine media reforms.

These are the parameters that should frame negotiations or any form of discourse around the issue of media reforms. Opening of the media space should therefore not be measured on the return of The Daily News or the entry of new players alone but as the precursor to wholesale reforms that will allow Zimbabweans enjoy the right to freedom of expression with minimum state interference.

Tabani Moyo hits back after being attcked by Gwisai

Not in my name!

Comrade ‘Munyaradzi Sambo’, it’s not in my name!

Yesterday, 19 January 2009, Sambo a long serving member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) posted to this popular platform of assessing ideas and contestation of philosophies an estimated four paged ‘document’ with the ISO resolutions which was assessing the organization’s position.

In the document Sambo used a paint brush and recklessly painted everyone black in the process, I was no exception, I was not bothered in the beginning since I have come to know the comrade’s tendencies when it comes to addressing issues; He always taps ideas from his principal.

Given such, I decided to respond to the principal rightfully as a citizen of this country and a legal persona with rights to express myself outside the confines of my work environment, political affiliation and other elements of life which define human kind.

Firstly, the accusations leveled against me are against the grain given that Sambo and his principal have known me since my days at the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition where I was a communications person who loved my job. My contribution to this struggle is to keep the progressive elements of the struggle and the populace informed. To this I have arranged numerous press conferences for different organizations to sell their message to their stakeholders; a contribution that will not stop even if self anointed, more equal than others ‘left wingers’ are forced to perceive it otherwise.

What bothers me, however, is the malicious idea that I mobilized and organized a press conference for individuals in ISO. It’s a pedestal assessment of my capacity. Had I mobilized for that press conference I don’t think you would have the comfort of roaming around peddling falsehoods with impunity. If you are to progress by other people’s points of strength with the hope that one day you will overturn the course of reality, then you should not be surprised when the face of reality slashes over to sleep talk.

And to Mr Sambo’s principal (Munyaradzi Gwisai), allow me to quote directly from the Crisis Coalition think tank report of 14 March 2006 held at the Cresta Lodge in Harare which if I am not mistaken, Sambo attended; The think tank dicussed Opposition Politics in Zimbabwe.

At the think tank, Professor Brian Raftopolous commented on why Munyaradzi Gwisai had been expelled from the MDC and he said, “Gwisai was expelled from the party because he was always a minority in the MDC and that his extreme left ideology was a doctrine and largely theoretical. Gwisai failed to link his position with other issues of the party…”

So you see comrade Sambo, there is a danger when you start believing that you are the only god ordained spokesperson of socialism. Being in the left is a deep conception of the heart, mindset and orientation of which, I would like to think every one of us grew up under the doctrine of Marx and Lenin which helped us to understand the tilted terrain in which we operate in. It is not a hat, banner, bandanna or a pair of shoes which Sambo can abuse by choosing who to anoint by capping or disanoint by recalling. Comrade you should understand the principles of this ideology from its infancy.

The danger of self acclamation or spokespersonship to a movement as big as socialism is that you start preaching hoping that the people see you as the alpha and omega of socialism. You eventually reach the extent where when you go into and electoral process and you loose, you would think that the people betrayed the left movement. No chief, that’s a ruse, the movement went on after the demise of Marx and those before you and it will continue without the recited mantra which you rarely practice.

This attitude of claiming the demigod status , awarding personalities the god fathers status in socialism will slowly, and eventually drive one into a state of self denial. The dangers of self denial are that one will never know the difference between what is practical and what is theoretical. It happened in the 2003 by-election in Highfields.

I wonder who are some of the most equal person’s advisors or my be it is exaggerated ego, after being expelled by the party which you have been attacking on state broadcaster, ZBC being accorded a quarter of the news hour bulleting attacking the leadership of the opposition, the very party’s representative went on to thump the most high.

The results are still a public recorded as noted below: Pearson Mungofa MDC won with 8 759 votes, ahead of Zanu PF's Joseph Chinotimba who polled 4 844. The African National Party's candidate garnered 272 votes while Munyaradzi Gwisai, 73 votes ahead of the United Parties and Zimbabwe Democratic Party candidates, who polled 34 and eight votes, respectively.

What happened in Highfields, if one might answer? Was Chinotimba more socialist than some amongst our midst? This is the problem with pretence and it is the, ‘I am holier than thee’ mentality which leads some of our comrades exposed to untold humiliation when reality emerges. Even little known ANP party which was formed on the eve of the election managed to pull a better performance. Just stop spreading the misinformed position and portrait on an individual being an epitome of the institution. In their on right, institutions should outlive individuals.

Thirdly, the misnomer of the hand of imperialist causing destabilizations! You see comrade when there is a leadership failure, people will always find a scapegoat especially an outsider’s hand. The argument is as old as human kind, you start hearing of familiar names like renegade, enemies (as if to say of the state), sovereignty, sellouts, imperialists then you know that the struggle have taken a dangerous path. When ZANU PF uses such words on anyone of us you know that there is something to follow.

I am no stranger to being labeled an imperialist comrade, I have equally received such abusive language from the State. But you should bear in mind that you don’t hold the creative language of attacking people through the public media whilst those people stand by and watch. Very soon they will start responding and you will not hold the leverage to prescribe how they respond to such personality slaughter.

You have realized that I didn’t address issues of your organization because of my respect of institutions. Equally, be man enough, and stop attacking the organization which I work for in you perennial quest for attention which is fast becoming more of paranoia than anything else.

Lastly Comrade Sambo, you come from the same generation as I do and I hope history has been very fair to us both because it has taught us the mistakes which have been made by the generations which came before us. I hope you will dust off this layman approach of being loud, in an attempt to show intellect. We have people in the generations before us who still sound like they are still in their first years in SRC. By now you should understand this terrible linkage between loudness and emptiness.

I would not want to waste more of my productive time dwelling on who should be in the extreme left or extreme right because in essence I might end up turning a blind eye on humanity issues which are somewhere in between. I will not remove my eyes from the ball, which is the struggle for a better Zimbabwe to fight someone who could not exceed Chinotimba’s votes. No! Not me!

The section in which I was attacked by Gwisai and Sambo:

d. This is why it has become necessary to expel Gwisai and other longstanding leaders of ISO as has been threatened, for without that this the renegades cannot succeed in their designs to liquidate the ISO into popular front politics and opportunism. Indeed so crass has been their betrayal that the press conference was facilitated and mobilized by the imperialist-funded Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) through Thabani Moyo, formerly of the Crisis Coalition. The very same MISA whose executive director Takura Zhangazha vigorously led the opposition of the inclusion of anti-neoliberal and anti-capitalist demands in the Peoples Charter and who despite being a leading figure in the Peoples Convention still went behind everyone’s back to join the MDC-T technical team in the MDC-Zanu PF talks in South Africa despite that such talks had been roundly rejected by the Peoples Convention as a useless elitist platform. Today it is a network of such forces that have become the closest friends of the Mutero-Tigwe clique, funding them and pushing their propaganda. We ask whether it is a mere coincidence that the Mutero-Tigwe clique seeks to destabilize ISO, so conveniently near the elective Zimbabwe Social Forum annual strategic meeting where Gwisai is being supported by ISO and many progressive movements to stand as chairperson, but being massively opposed by the very same right-wing NGOs?

Live (life) at 28!!!

By Tabani Moyo

Life is a paradox I must say!
On a day like this we need to start from the beginning. I guess!
You are growing old ‘young’ Tabani! The cotton grower from Gokwe you are really growing old! You are now 28, you are not growing any younger you know. I know the dangers of time, you keep on seeing the same faces, same building, same workmates and you mislead yourself that everything is the same and nothing is changing – time is moving!

You better start realizing that you are not living in no man’s land! Time is triggering motions of changes some of which are dramatic, some earth shattering and others threatening the essence of human kind’s survival, ‘young’ man as Annie Musodza will keep on misleading you, that you are still young! Time is not on your side.

As in Wole Sonyika’s You Must Set Fourth at Dawn, the rainy season that leaves moist thickets, fording swollen gorges, sliding on treacherous rock and being suck into mud gullies, day or night – at night – with nothing but few stars seen through branches, or chasing after fireflies as if to test one’s patience and judgment are gone. They are gone cotton boy, you are now supposed to make tough decisions, decisions that will make or break you and the nation at large.

You have made enemies and friends alike during the 28 years cotton boy, it’s the time for you to carefully structure and charter your plane to destiny--- friends of yester year are now enemies. The danger cotton boy is captured in Bob Marley’s song witch you can’t remember the title stipulating that your best friends are the worst enemies since they know all your secrets and they hold the leverage to reveal them. Cotton boy, never mind, you keep on telling yourself it does not matter that you have broke ties with friends of yester year. Yes you keep on telling yourself that it’s okay, you are of your own making, never ‘godfathers’ making.

You look in the mirror today and you can afford a smile? Why? You have served your conscience well, growing up in Gokwe, walking 10km to and from school you must be very proud? Are you not? Well you are very proud, from the arid lands of Gokwe, where you have to wait until there is moonlight to start tilling the barren lands with the hope that they will feed the multitudes of hot air stomachs to coining the Save Zimbabwe Campaign name that have brought this inclusive government today, you have made some strides ‘young man’!

As they say, the struggle shall never be televised, when books are going to be written never expect your name to appear in those fly by night books, in their foreword to epilogue never dream your name to be captured. You have never played a role in the struggle for Zimbabwe in their minds, thought and fliers disguised as books, never mind that cotton boy, you will write your own books to counter such futile ‘truths’ when they present it to mean facts. Facts are sacred you will intent to tell you kids later on in life, that they must never be tempered with. Never allow clobbered thinking to warp your critical thinking. When facts are misrepresented always stand for the facts to remain your campus for you are the custodian for future generation’s access to information.

They will tell you that you were never close to the points of action when Gift Tandare was shot. They will tell you that because we now have more access to information and a proper context of the struggles of Zimbabwe which they were not able to witness due to the dictates of nature.

That’s why you got surprised when you passed by a certain country and found a group of people claiming that they engineered the brand Its Our Country Too (Oc2) which was used at the All Stakeholders Conference of September 2008 which gave birth to the People’s Convention of February 2009. You set there listening as if you were a stranger to the day light intellectual robbery and disregard of intellectual rights. You knew deep down in you that the people who coined that brand are; Tabani Moyo, Ellen Kandororo, Nixon Nyikadzino, Takura Zhangazha, Benjamin Nyandoro and three more comrades you can’t remember at this time. So history Cotton Boy can easily be distorted, you have to learn and live to challenge that!

When Honorouble Nelson Chamisa was nearly killed at the airport, ‘young’ man, they will tell you that they were the first to seek help, that they informed the world that all was at stake, yet you know deep down in your heart that you informed the world and coordinated efforts together with Itai Zimunya to keep the world informed. Never mind them cotton boy, if you stand by the truth you will always stand by yourself!

They will tell you when the action was folding in Highfileds on the 11th of March 2007, they kept the world focused on Zimbabwe’s brutality which took place yet you kept silent until today, that you were at the epi-center of events keeping the stakeholders, the media and the international community’s lenses zoomed on the country together with the other comrade you can’t name given the processes happening in the country. You were the information centre cotton boy they know, you know and thats why you are dismissing myths of the present day history coming to the fore.
You have worked closely with the MPs so that they get into office! The other time Cotton Boy, you had to be detained for ensuring the safety of your good MP friend for St. Marys. It was yourself and Maureen Kademaunga who mislead the police that the prospective MP was not in the Building when you knew that he was hidden under you office desk.

All the same, life at 28 can be a paradox; the people whom you thought were making a stand for certain values, life time principles have become anathemas to the same – butchering the very same principles with perceived impunity. Life is not that simple, history will judge the same brutality. No human being can manage to mortalize history, given the fact that humans are mortals and history will forever remain the cardinals of our reference points.

Unfortunately at 28 I have come to learn of young generations sublimating into primitive accumulation, in a capitalistically cannibal manner that have left me with more questions than answers. There is nothing wrong in differing but I see everything wrong in a failure to appreciate principles – very sad.

In the same vain, I have come to realize of paid for mercenaries amongst our midst, people who are willing to hire corruptible and disgruntled soldiers to bash those holding differing perspectives to officialdom, above all there are certain civic individuals who have settled for a rather atrocious position that because the MDC is in government they hold themselves as equally ruling and part of the government because of perceived proximity to the person of PM Morgan Tsvangirai. It’s a perception and a dangerous one for that matter. People who will do anything for money – such people are dangerous in life because they can KILL for money – there is need to go back to the source!

At 28, I hope Zimbabwe will start answering some of the hard questions which are more profitable for nation building than caressing individualistic egos. Facts should be respected at all cost as in Thabo Mbeki’s words, “we have the possibility and latitude and necessity to speak thus because we live during our own age of revolution. Exactly because it is such an age, all of us face the demand to understand objective reality accurately and objectively, to enable the revolution to decide on the correct strategy, tactics and operations. Respect the truth. In this situation of an inevitable contest about the future of our country, information, facts, the truth themselves become an area of contestation… opponents of change see it as their obligatory task to falsify reality, in their interests. The imperative to understand the critical difference, and in some instances the contradiction becomes ever-more pressing.”

It is equally imperative that the arrogance in differences exhibited by personalities in the civics and those who have crossed the line to the government be done away with in a civilized manner rather than creating vacuums for overzealous personalities to believe that they can come up with remedies.

Everyone be it in government, political parties, civic should never believe in the old myth of young children they saw joining CSOs and mislead themselves that the same people are still kids--- they will be humiliated and fall with a thud.

Well at 28, you are grown up young man its time you start looking for a women to settle down with have children and continue with the struggle with the hopes that your kids will fight a faithful struggle and keep the struggle for democracy, human kind survival, human rights, struggle for education freedoms, against poverty, deprivation among other things as opposed to the struggles for wealth accumulation, and contestation to donor funds alive.

It’s the paradox of life at 28!

Tribute to a fallen friend – Philemon Sajeni, Finance Officer, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Born 1977-Died 2009

By Tabani Moyo

At exactly 1115hours on the 14th of July 2009, his heart, that of a comrade and colleague ceased beating. He had been in agony as the body and spirit departed from each other. “Philemon Sajeni (main pic) is no more!” was the voice of Kumbirai Mafunda, MISA-Zimbabwe Harare Advocacy Chairperson relaying the message of the passing on of my beloved friend.

My pulse ran riot as I contained my tears from pouring. I felt a thick lump developing from my heart as if I was about to be struck by a heart attack. I saw images flying past my sight of a young man, who had given so much, to so many.

It never occurred to me that human life could be that fragile. Here is a man I was sharing lighter moments with on Sunday 12 July at his home in Highfields, a man I spoke to on Monday and by Tuesday, he is dead.

Questions started racing in my mind, what is going to happen to his two young children Anesu and Anotida aged 6 and 2 years respectively? How is the widow going to cope with the sudden and saddening news of a husband who left for hospital in the morning with the expectations that he will come back home in a better state only to be informed that he had been transferred to the mortuary? What is in the mind of his father who lost his beloved wife when Philemon was a toddler when he receives the message that the family’s bread winner is no more? Why is it that I personally didn’t notice that my friend was hinting, when he was telling me that life is short and that I must get married?

Twenty minutes later I broke into tears. A towering brother had departed from mother earth – if heavens are there, they should pave a consoling space for his soul to rest in eternal peace.

I first met ‘Saji’, the name he was referred to by his work mates and friends in 2005 when I joined Crisis Coalition as an Information Intern. He struck me as a very enterprising person and who cherished it when his colleagues prosper. The friendship since then grew during the three year stint I had with the Coalition and strengthened longer after I left the organization.

I always told him he had chosen the wrong field – accounting due to his vast network. He would always laugh dismissively stating that he would be fired for exaggerating issues. His networks would be every journalist’s envy. At numerous points he would advise colleagues in office to vacate immediately as the police would do their routine raids and arrests at the Coalition.

He would frequently tip me off on the cases and human rights activists appearing before courts whenever the police thought they had tortured them enough to let them go. He broke the news to me that Jestina Mukoko who had been detained for almost three months was going to be appearing in court, each time I was always shocked by this young man’s networks and as usual, it gave me the arsenal to break news to my colleagues in the media and the civics.

When the Coalition relocated its offices from Herbert Chitepo to where it is housed today, police raided the offices on the same day and I can hear still hear his voice telling me to jump over the durawall. Of course I used the main gate because it was open while the comrade decided to hide under the office table, something we would discuss in good humour later on.

He enjoyed his Oliver Mutukudzi music on long distance journeys, the last one we travelled together was on our way to the Bulawayo Agenda Ideas Festival in Bulawayo. As usual he was always bubbling with new ideas on how best to stamp a mark of recognition when he is long gone; sadly as fate would have it, the man was not going to live long after our trip to the City of Kings.

Now that you are gone my friend, I am left with black and white photography on the good times we shared and I also remember the hard times that we shared.

On the 17th of July 2009, I saw his face for the last time in form and content. It seemed as if someone was going to wake him up and proceed with the adventures we always found ourselves entangled in.

His face had not changed! He was dressed in unusual attire. His taste for clothing had always been smart casuals rather than the formal wear. When I saw him stuck in that suit, then I knew the gods had made a decree on the fate of a man who had given everyone so much and received so little in return.

Here is a man, who went through thick and thin to assist people on the administrative issues which are always a herculean task for the majority of us, but in return, he was labeled, accused and ridiculed in some words which are not printable.

A convoy of cars, people who loved and who may also have been indifferent joined hands all the way to Mbudzi cemetery where his body was laid to rest. He had bought 10 grave sites in 2007; I remember accompanying him that fateful day when he was telling me that when the day finally arises, he wanted to be laid to rest next to his family members. That was the extent of his clarity of thought, he saw beyond life.

His life was always in a hurry; his achievements clearly show that the person had an urgent meeting with destiny. He managed to build up a wide network of friends which will take some of us a life time. He never grudged anyone forever, but always found a way of speaking his mind and forgives as he went along.

His death came a month after doctors in South Africa had warned of the dangers which his heart was posing to his survival. The South African doctor refused to operate him arguing that the opening in his heart had grown too big to be operated and that his blood pressure was failing. He however remained strong and bolder than ever before, he didn’t show any symptoms that he was slowly losing his grip on earth. He never explained to anyone except his wife. His last words to his wife was that she must persevere and make sure that the children will be send to school against all odds.

But today my friend; you have left a permanent scar in my life. Your fragile life was synonymous to a burning candle in the wind, like dew at dawn – death was rapturous. He suffered cardiac arrest and that was the last we heard of his voice and never again shall it come from the person who used to give me strong and durable counsel.

May the love of the almighty escort you all the way through the gates of peace and eternal life!

One year after the GPA– mapping the new struggle for civil society in Zimbabwe

By Tabani Moyo

Some events are meant to define history!

How else can one comprehend the new wave of divisions within civic organizations in light of the constitution making process? It is as if a cat has been thrown among the pigeons. Movements, covenants, value systems and gluing principles which maintained consensus for decades and eras, are now fractured and weaker than ever before.

This can only be explained by the dangers elevated by the elements of time. Time has eroded the core values of our struggle - the virtues which as a collective we used to cherish and kept us united under the most trying of times.

Over the last ten or so years, civics remained committed and did not compromise on issues of principle much to the annoyance of the regime. Several good friends and comrades died while pursuing the same virtues and principles which were built through countless conferences and conventions.

As civics, our long held belief has been that a people driven constitutional reform exercise must be done in terms of the principles that were outlined in the National Working Peoples convention as well as Section 3 of the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter. And in this that we must remain defiant in the face of the tempting idea of letting our political outlook colour or warp our intellectual perception of things.

Inherent in this argument is the philosophy that whatever actions we are pursuing or intend to pursue, should be executed with clear conscience that we are doing it as the today’s custodians of Zimbabwe for the benefit of future generations. We must not be blinkered and controlled by cross- buffeting winds and remote controls both in terms of ideology and resources that are dangled as carrots and sticks.

The crux of the matter is that since the singing of the GPA and the formation of the inclusive government, the current wave of divisions are unnecessary given the fact that they are not of the institutions’ own making. Equally, they should not be perceived as simply a reaction to the constitutional making process. The problems are as deep as they are wide. They are a reflection of a deep seated ideological and value system crisis, which I insist must be addressed if we are to move forward as a collective.

This can be noted in the historic split of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) into two formations namely, MDC-T and MDC-M. The root cause of the split at face value can be attributed to the Senate elections of 2005, but in essence the causes were deeply entrenched in the lack of value consensus and issues to do with failure to define the party’s ideology. It was also the result of failed cohesion among academics or the so- called intellectual wing and trade unions.

This led to the other group believing that the best way of eroding the then incumbent government was through the courts whilst the radical wing in the mould of labour and student activists impressed on the need to mobilize in the streets.

The travesty of 2005, has struck civil society four years later in 2009. The main difference this time is that the splits are mythical creations built and cemented by a certain crop of personalities deciding how certain actions should be carried out and in what order. Such personality differences have had cascading effects on civic institutions.

It is therefore necessary that consistency of mind, persistency with the cause or purpose and the brazen simplicity of decisions in the face of adversity and successful moments should remain the guiding principle that governs the conduct of civic organizations against all odds.

The mistake happened at the very beginning due to the way we framed the narrative of our journey from the repression under President Mugabe’s rule. It never occurred that one day, the core principles we shared and believed in would stand to divide us. The thinking was that the values of democracy and constitutionalism where clear road signs towards the Promised Land as captured and articulated in the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter.

If the CSOs are to execute their mandated roles of being a watchdog of the government rather than the lapdog, there is an imperative need to borrow from an American phrase – reset the button in our public discourse, because the politics of yesterday will get us nowhere. Typical of any machinery, when you reset, it reverts back to its default status – which will cleanse off the confusion reigning in on the civics and start afresh on a clean slate.

Suffice to note that in the initial proposition I made that the so called splits are mythical still stand. If you cut away the ranting and raving mouth pieces from the sources of proxy wars, one often gets the sense that those fanning the divisions are not always the ones calling the shots; that they are being hypothetical while the organization grinder is lurking from somewhere in the background, pulling the strings. Thereby the personalities battling to outdo each other in the civics are often seen as the elephants in the room.


This is why the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is experiencing the upheavals and riding in personality driven manifestations of waves in an ocean. If the grinders pulling the strings halt their acts of personality ‘differences’, sanity will prevail at this cog of young and dynamic academic activism. It is therefore notable that the ‘split’ in ZINASU is not hinged on the issues of constitutionalism but the forces of insurgence aimed at weakening the union.

If these forces colliding at the union are to hold their horses, the students will start reorganizing themselves and forge ahead with their academic freedom campaigns with the hope to free the students from the collapse of the education system in Zimbabwe. Above the battle of personalities at ZINASU lies a constituency of suffering students, coming from humble backgrounds, whose main agenda is to attain academic credentials, as the only attainable escape route from the demon of poverty. This can only happen when well meaning colleagues within or without the union are to chip in and facilitate the reign of sanity, rather than employing divisive tactics, which will not help the students to achieve their goals.

The crisis which has been brought by the constitutional making process should therefore be revisited, since it has created some rattling of shock in the civic organizations and the political parties themselves.

The constitution making process should be understood from a point of fact that constitutions are meant to overhaul and redress socio-economic and political imbalances which are deeply embedded in any given fabric of a society. This is mainly so given the fact that constitutions are either written in post conflict periods or in transitions such as was the situation with South Africa, which wrote its constitution under a transition.

For this to happen, there is a need to dispel the mind games being played by the three political parties in government, namely a) Zanu PF seeks to smuggle provisions in the constitutions which shoves away issues of restorative justice must be dealt with in a new constitution and ensure that crimes are swept under the carpet b) the MDCs should be careful of falling in the trap of thinking that its role in government would be drafting a constitution that will liquidate Zanu PF – its role is to abide by its founding values on constitutional making process which allows the peasant, the intellectuals, labour, media, church, women and students among others to play an active role in writing their country’s constitution. The three political parties in short should understand that the constitution making process is not a power contest – no institution or individual(s) can contest for power using the process of making the country’s contract between the governed and those governing unless individually or collectively the parties are not answerable to the people of Zimbabwe.

The MDC as a party of ‘excellence’ and the civic organizations who have all of a sudden found new reason in blindly following where-ever the government is going should be on a constant watch of the terrain which they are treading on. It’s very easy to erode the people’s confidence if organizations and movements are not firm on the covenants and ideals which have been reiterated over and over again.

The wobbling can be understood, given the fact that the MDC and some civic organizations manning the opposition or civic role through the anti-Mugabe crusade and pro-democracy positions not so long ago, found it easy to see things in stark terms: in black and white. No compromise. It’s the beauty of one being powerless, I believe. You don’t have to prove and justify all the things in measurable terms. All you have to do is to yell and hope someone across the barricade will take fright and accede to your demands.

The main danger forthwith in yelling is that of taking a militant pose in making promises to ingratiate your followers for the opposition and the public for the civics. That would be a grave mistake; promises have got political and budgetary consequences. The promises of a people driven constitution which registered Zanu PF’s first millennium defeat by a united CSO and united MDC are now having some political consequences on the MDC and posing serious response problems on the part of the CSOs. It’s neither the time nor the place to keep on yelling on who are the people through countless press conferences and conferences.

It’s time to come up with a constitution that will attempt to correct the ills that are so entrenched and have existed for so long which cannot be done through artificial plastic surgery. Hence the people of Zimbabwe should be given a chance to fully express the grey areas in their lives through factoring their views in an uncensored manner in a new people driven constitution which will surgery the state and the society at large. This will not be achieved when the three political parties have total control of the process from sub-committees to the chairing of the entire committee – those who want to believe that we will find a surgical process through people throwing water missiles at each other at a supposedly all stakeholder meeting should wake up and smell the coffee.

This is why I am opposed to this state led process of writing the constitution. It gives the three parties which are interested in a pending election to write a constitution – such a farce cannot be entertained level headedly as it propels power contests rather that enabling the people of Zimbabwe to express themselves. As said before this should be a revolutionary process of transforming the society. Ours is a society whose constitutional and socio-political ills date back to colonial settlement which need genuine constitutional reform to spare the country from further human rights violations.

The problem of lack of clarity of thought which is being forwarded by the CSOs is particularly from the so called ‘modern’ day civic activists. This is a new crop of cadres facing an identity crisis emanating from the fact that they have been employed in the government but are finding hard to relinquish their roles in the CSO. There is a lot of cross-pollination, whereby a decision made by the CSO coming from these modern activists should tally with the aspirations of the government – Zimbabwe deserves better!

This has led to adverse moments for the civic organizations, presenting it with confusion never witnessed before, which I can liken to ‘young adults’ who leave home to build a life of their own, but are not quite confident enough to take along their belongings. It is critical to make sure that the movement shakes off such confusion. When such a self introspection has been done, the kaleidoscope would have been shaken, the pieces would be influx, but very soon they will settle again, but my argument remains, before they do, there is a need to reorder and realign the movement.

Taking lessons from South Africa, they drew the Freedom Charter in 1955 and it was done by people of principle and virtue, who gave future generations a constitutional architectural design as a model of a society and the governance which over decades has inspired and guided revolutionary activities at all convincible levels of their political, military and constitutional struggles.
In 1994, April the 27th the charter survived the test of time and remained the colossal at which the South African constitution was premised on. It was to become a life time value system and covenant upon which the people of South Africa’s struggles were to be found, but such bonds only work when the leadership, the CSOs and any other pro-democracy forces are of a strong principle hold.

In this country, the so called civic leadership will attend conventions, all stakeholders meetings and come up with binding documents which are supposed to be creating the bind but less than a decade, in this struggle post the movement’s formation, the modern day activists have reined in a circle of confusion. Given such a scenario, it’s high time to re-set the buttons and start on a clean sheet.

The progression of Zimbabwe coming in the form of providing leadership to its people leading to the attainment of better lives and a return to the rule of law should remain our bible. The quarrels and perceived splits are only but buttressing individual egos at the expense of the people of Zimbabwe’s desire for a better country where all men and women have got equal access to opportunities and the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Tabani Moyo is a free thinker, who writes on issues affecting his country. He writes from Gokwe and can be contacted on rebeljournalist@yahoo.com or moyojz@gmail.com

Is the GNU going nowhere slowly?

Palookas have been cautious about the decision by feuding political protagonists ‘agreeing’ to forge a Government of National Unity (GNU) which came into force on the 11th of September 2008. From the onset, the devil’s advocates were insisting that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) should not have signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA) without the resolving the contentious issues ranging from the fate of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, the Attorney General, the governorship, ambassadorial postings to the permanent secretaries.

The decision by the MDC’s national council meeting held on the 17th of May 2009 to refer the ‘outstanding issues’ to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) has proved the suspicious and cautious voices correct that the GNU is really going nowhere slowly, irrespective of the fact that at the time of signing the agreement it was seen as the only way out of the socio-political and economic abyss.

The stalemate is a clarion call to the people of Zimbabwe that, the ‘agreement’ is infested by machinations within Zanu PF that do not want the government to work smoothly. For Zanu PF, every day which lapses is a day closer to the election and imperatively, the successes of the government will send a message of confidence to the electorate crediting the MDC leadership for managing to address a decade of economic, social and political dry spell. Knowing Zanu PF the way every Zimbabwe understands it, it will not sit at its laurels as the electoral boulders of defeat are heading towards its door steps. As a matter of fact no party would be that naïve to smoothly open its own exit package, especially when power and the obsession of primitive accumulation and plunder of national resourses are at the core of its value system.

That is why on the 19th of May 2009, one of Zanu PF’s negotiators Nicolas Goche who is also the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development was quick to comment in The Herald that the decision by the MDC National Council was ‘pre-mature’. To the demagogy establishment, Goche and his principals are seemingly living in no man’s land; one wonders what the Russian train Minister implies when he argues that the principals have not reached a stalemate when two of the three principals are insisting that the remaining party has taken the GPA for an errant’s ride. The statement in itself shows that Zanu PF remains defiant to the call to change its behavior and refuses to whole heartedly implement the dictates of the GPA.
Zanu PF will therefore continue with its wayward behavior of bestowing itself the imperial powers to allocate what it deems irrelevant to its follies and holding back the carrot to ensure that the bigger picture of the next election remains in the hands of the very same centre which led the flowed electoral processes for the better part of the post independence period. The utterances by Goche are a clear statement of intent aimed at delaying the matter from going to SADC with its best bet being that of ensuring that the tenure of the newly elected president of the Republic of South Africa Jacob Zuma, as the chairperson of SADC comes to an end in August before gaining leverage on the region’s problem child.

Similarly, there are no guarantees that the Zanu PF sympathizers in SADC will change their behavior when approaching the arbitration of their creation. The ball will still remain in the hands of the SADC Executive Secretary Toamaz Salamao to continue managing the politics of brotherhood amongst the revolutionary movements in the region and sidelining those perceived to be threatening the extinction of the same movements.

The SADC leaders will definitely confess ignorance of the Attorney General Johannes Tomana’s over night spreading wings of tormenting the 18 abductees without arresting the abductors. Inimically, the AG went on to arrest of Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure who are the Editor and News Editor of The Zimbabwe Independent respectively on the 12th of May 2009 for rightfully publicizing what Tomana had revealed into the public domain that he knew the abductors but was reluctant to prosecute. They will bury their heads in sand and wish the missing political prisoners away and hear no evil as the harassment of journalists continues with impunity.

If the MDC is to come out of the SADC meeting ‘aggrieved again’ then the next step will be going to the AU. The ball game has changed; statesmen like Jakaya Kikwete are no-longer at the helm of the organization which had made strides towards making rationale decisions during his tenure. This time it will be a marathon race all the way to Tripoli, Libya. This is an empire of Colonel Maummer Gadhafi, a man who does not believe in elections previously quoted in the quarters of the media arguing that one cannot put revolutionaries under the test of a democratic barometer called an election. The same is true with the majority of the nations sitting in the grouping which President Mugabe once threatened that he was prepared to see a leader who would lift a finger about the blood bath of the June 27 election – as predicted no single leaders quizzed the octogenarian leader who had ‘won’ an election which even the AU observers had dismissed. The end will be tragic.

The danger lies in the two double edged swords namely, time and promises. As the three political formations remain entangled in the ‘outstanding’ issues, time will be passing and the populace will become increasingly hungry and angry since the promises will be pushed to the better end of the pipe dream. Such a calamity only but helps Zanu PF as it is bequeathed with an arsenic election message that the MDC had been making noise on the side lines when they joined the government they failed to deliver the manifesto promises.

In such a process the MDC is confronted with the quadruple quagmire of ensuring the government works, which is to a larger extend impossible under the current conditions, to repair broken relations with its friends of yester year who are increasingly raising their voices over some of the initiatives by the Zanu PF-MDC government, sustaining the political activity of the party which is fast being sidelined in favour of the government and ensuring that it structures the attainment of the end result, which is a victory in the election.

It is therefore advisable that the party re-engineers and rejuvenates its structures and intensifies the lifeline of the party which seems to have been forgotten in the hype of the so called ‘inclusivity’. From the onset there lied a danger of parachuting the majority of the senior leadership into the government leaving the party with little scope from an outsider’s perspective. Literally, the human resource mobility into the government left voids in the party, which if the party is going to be serious about the attainment of the above listed demands should address.

The paradox is that the top party leadership hierarchy, the president, vice-president, secretary general, treasurer, deputy treasurer, organizing secretary are in government, the national chairman is the speaker of parliament, leaving the deputy secretary general as the lone soul to fully commit to the party’s structures.
If the MDC is to become deeply endowed in the government’s business to the extent that the party issues an ultimatum on the outstanding issue at the same time withdrawing the pressure point of the ultimatum that the GNU should finalize the grey areas and insisting that it will not pull out from the government one will be led to the conclusion that the centre which is the party is marginally being weakened and really need to start self assessment.

The MDC’s brief from the people of Zimbabwe on the 29 of March was to lead the country however out of the supervening impossibility of the attainment of such, the party was send on a clear mandate to ensure that it opens democratic space and deliver on the social, humanitarian, political and economic morass which had pressed Zimbabwe’s auto-pilot baton to a precipice.

Very soon the people who entrusted the leadership to steer the wheels of change will start to gradually lose confidence depending on the actions of those in power. When the government was established, there was euphoria and crisis of expectations which the leadership failed to manage. All of a sudden, the messages coming from the leadership is “give us more time”, but as stated earlier on, time and promises are a very dangerous element, one leads into another.

The duck and diving by the ruling parties is drawing the country back to the drawing board of negotiations when the country is crying loud for the captains of the titanic to retain the highest statement of purpose and clarity of sight in the quest to address the plight of the people of Zimbabwe.

The public service which is still trading on the lines of allowances will soon start demanding its rightful status of professionals rewarded with salaries. The students who have been charged absurd fees will soon start asking hard questions through different avenues. The media which has been yearning for a reprieve from the suffocating arm of statutory regulation will start to ask the questions which will be embarrassing to answer and the rural peasants who have been waiting for the better part of the rain season to access fertilizer and seed to invest in the soils for survival will start questioning why its not happening?

As in the Nigerian idiom, you can never measure the length of the frog until its dead, but ours need to be measured when it is alive to console those lying in shallow graves after the June 27 violence orchestra master minded by Zanu PF and to bequeath the people of Zimbabwe with the right to dream again. Zimbabwe cannot afford another loss of productive time on the issues which are clearly outline in the GPA – please show the people of Zimbabwe leadership.

Tabani Moyo is a journalist based in Gokwe. He can be contacted on rebeljournalist@yahoo.com