Thank you for the gifts this Christmas

Zimbabwean politicians are not renowned for their generosity. If anything they are reputed for a mean brand of politics that polarises people and has little room for lasting compromises. It becomes difficult to decide which one to thank or deplore without inviting a torrent of criticism from the polarised Zimbabweans.Here is the beginning of my post.

In 2008 many politicians within and outside Zimbabwe have held their own and deserve to be thanked for their efforts in shaping the living conditions in Zimbabwe to the state they are in today.

The Zimbabwean electorate deserves special thanks for its courage in voting resoundingly for change on 29 March 2008. Pity their courage did not count for much towards the change they yearn for. All is not in vain however as the process they started is still centre stage of the politics in the country this Christmas.

Self styled political analysts and commentators also left an indelible mark on the political landscape in Zimbabwe. Their leading opinions on harmonised 29 March 2008 elections were as polarised as the country’s political landscape is.
The chattering politicians had some awful predictions about the outcome of the Presidential elections.
Many in the elitist school predicted a Dr Makoni win in a vigorous Web based campaign that was proved way off the mark by the electoral outcome and they went into hibernation only to resurface months later when the Junta prevented the winner’s coronation by forcing a sham Presidential poll.

Al the same they must be thanked for showing Zimbabweans that their eliticism can only aide survival of the Junta and nothing more.

Because of their esteemed political positions some people deserve special mention for their contributions to the political state of Zimbabwe today.

Trudy Stevenson, Priscilla Misihairambwi Mushonga and Gabriel Chaibva deserve to be thanked for showing Zimbabweans that they are not worthy of the trust that had been invested in them as MDC Parliamentarians.

They blame MDC leader Tsvangirai for the political and economic malaise gripping the country yet they were part of his inner circle and won political reputation under his leadership only to crumble into oblivion when they decided to backstab him in vain.

Dr Simba Makoni, Dr Dumiso Dabengwa Prof Jonathan Moyo and Prof Welshman Ncube deserve special thanks for their contribution to the current political impasse in the country.

Aided by news magnate Trevor Ncube and his media group the proponents of political eliticism deserve special mention for fooling the electorate that they were interested in change from Zanu PF fascism when infact theirs was a mission to derail regime change by dividing opposition to Zanu PF and Mugabe leadership.

We shall forever remain indebted for your intuitive strategy that aided the vote rigging that bestowed a Junta regime upon us this Christmas.

We can only wish you many more years in the politics of eliticism that will further alienate yourselves from the generality of the populace.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, Patrick Chinamasa, Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Nathaniel Manheru, Bright Matonga, Dr Tofatoona Mahoso, Happyton Muchechetere, Munyaradzi Huni, Caesar Zvayi, Reason Wafawarova, Caesar Zvayi, Mabasa Sasa, Jorum Nyathi, Itayi Garande, Mthulisi Mathuthu, George Shire and the rest of the Junta’s information crew we thank you for leading the crusade to retain the current hegemony.

Surely we could not be any better off than we are now if you had promoted democratic ideals in your opinions?

But it was the comical side of your lethargic views that we will never forget. The West recolonisation agenda, the Sanctions, the Cholera, the Anthrax, the abduction Denials, the Price wars, the Trumped up charges, the Cover ups, the Mugabe praise songs and the low opinions you hold for our desire for change deserves our eternal gratitude don’t you think?

Prof Arthur Mutambara thank you for branding the MDC to MDC PF and the generational thinking thought process that seeks to create a universally competitive economy in our country. Thank you for vacillating between promoting international integration and ostracising integration with Western values led by undereducated politicians who do not see the value of a Zimbabwe whose people are subservient to Zanu PF as long as you are the Deputy Prime Minister.

Infact we must all be grateful for you retaining a separate political existence from the shallow MDC oppositional rhetoric and moulding a truly Zimbabwean opposition to Zanu PF that seeks to unite Zimbabweans under Mugabe’s incisive leadership of the Unity Government that in your opinion is panacea to all our woes as a country.

We must also never forget to thank you for promoting that unity by leading a tribal breakaway faction of the politicians opposed to Mugabe.

Dr Dumiso Dabengwa has taken a cue from your politics of tribal division to achieve national unity and integration and we are sure you will forge strong alliances with him and bring our economic woes to an abrupt end something the “intellectual midget” leading the MDC has failed to achieve in the past decade despite having support of most Zimbabweans other than those behind you and Zanu PF and your shared militia.

We further thank your wisdom in cobbling a flawed Unity Government framework with a view of extinguishing political diversity and moving the country towards the one party state that Zanu PF has failed to achieve over 3 decades of uninterrupted rule in the country.

Your gate crash entry into mainstream politics by spearheading factionalism and coalitions thereafter has resolved our political docility and improved our social and economic status or has it done the opposite?

All the same we thank you as we now more the wiser that it will not serve democratic promotion to bank our votes in any political formation under your stewardship now and in future as you prefer elitist negotiated political settlements over electoral democracy many of us subscribe to.

We know that in future even if we do not choose your leadership you will always use your superior intellect to thump your nose at us by forcing an endless negotiated political settlement that embraces the violent and vicious for political expediency.

We thank you for admitting that you and your faction are electorally irrelevant but intellectually formidable therefore next time elections are held we will bear that uppermost in our minds and decide who to vote for on that basis.

A big thank you to the late Elliot Manyika, Jabulani Sibanda, Saviour Kasukuwere, Nicholas Goche, Joseph Chinotimba and their unholy partnership with Constantine Chiwenga, Augustine Chihuri, Happyton Bonyongwe and Paradzai Zimondi aide by economic saboteurs Godwills Musimirambwi and Gideon Gono.

Because of your immeasurable patriotism guys our hospitals are empty deserted and forlorn, our shops are full of steel shelves with nothing on display, our schools are full of dilapidated furniture no one is prepared to use, our food self sufficiency is guaranteed by produce from farms you viciously repossessed and parcelled to your cronies, our clean water supplies are now internationally reputed for the catastrophic spread of cholera and other waterborne diseases, HIV and malnutrition have reached endemic levels and our currency has accumulated so many zeroes we no longer can pronounce our value in figures.
We thank you.

Kgalema Motlanthe, Jacob Zuma, King Mswati, Thabo Mbeki, Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba Armando Gabueza, José Eduardo dos Santos, Joseph Kabila, Hu Jintao, Dmitry Medvedev and all likeminded African and Eastern bloc political leaders, thank you for promoting and supporting impunity and unbridled onslaught against humanity and electoral democracy in our country.

We shall forever remain indebted for your support of an elitist political process that rewards electoral losers with totalitarian power to determine the fate of over 13 million people 80% of whom are living in abject poverty and gripping fear of political repression from aid extended to the Junta in our country by your countries.
Umaru Yar'Adua, Abdoulaye Wade, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, the late Levy Mwanawasa, Barrack Obama, John Howard, Reverend Allan Boesak, George Bush, Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy, Stephen Harper, Kevin Rudd, Gordon Brown, David Cameron. Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Jendayi Elizabeth Frazer, Raila Odinga, Archbishop Joseph Sentamu, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Pascal Couchepin Ban Ki-moon, Kofi Annan and all likeminded world leaders Zimbabweans will forever remember the solidarity you have expressed in their fight against Zanu PF fascism.

Many among you have other pressing national issues for people in your respective countries and in many instances you have inherited a morally debilitating historical association with colonial Zimbabwe but that has not dissuaded from expressing solidarity with oppressed Zimbabweans.

Your vocal disapproval of dictatorship in Zimbabwe has been heart warming for many Zimbabweans.

If only you could prevail on the anchors of the fascist junta in Zimbabwe to desist from propping up the junta with material aid it uses to suppress dissent with reckless abandon, Zimbabwe will by the next Christmas take pride of place in global politics and economic activity.

Zimbabweans wait for that day with increased trepidation and forbearance.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe does not deserve any thanks from anyone. He has refused to uphold the oath of office he took when he was elected president and has used the military and all pillars of state power to suppress and dominate Zimbabweans.

His self made presidency is the reason why this Christmas is bleak for all Zimbabweans rich or poor alike.

Many innocent victims of Mugabe’s misrule are separated from family and friends and a great many others are languishing in secluded detention for trumped up political charges.

Thousands of prime and nascent lives are being lost to diseases and famine Mugabe has capacity to mitigate by simply accepting the outcome of a democratic process but alas he does not and continues to plunder the social economic and political fabric with impunity.

For that reason he is the only politician I will not thank this Christmas. Not that it will take anything away from him but regardless of how impervious he is to correction I will still withhold my appreciation for what he did because that is the only way to register to him the displeasure of many Zimbabweans with his self imposed rule.

Morgan Tsvangirai may have many shortcomings as a person and politician but it is him that I will reserve the bulk of my appreciation for forcing Mugabe and his Junta into a corner they are struggling to fight out of.

By taking calculated political risks Tsvangirai and his MDC advisors have managed to open world eyes to the humanitarian catastrophe in Zimbabwe.

International food aid and medical aid operations have been restored after the Junta led by Mugabe had punitively suspended such operations for political expediency.

The undemocratic Unity Government pact he entered into remain on the drawing board because Zanu PF and Mugabe want to use it for entrenching themselves in power when its purpose was to allow smooth transition from the Junta state Mugabe had sanctioned on 27 June to the electoral democracy it has always claimed to be albeit falsely.

But the greatest gift from Tsvangirai and his MDC party has been the exposure of Mugabe and Zanu PF as a fake democratic political institution to the whole world.

The greatest gift has been the threat of a pullout from the Unity Government unless abducted people in jails and police detente for political crimes they have not been charged of committing, tried and convicted.

Christmas was ever going to be agonising in Zimbabwe but for families and friends of the abductees only Mugabe and his vicious police force knew of their whereabouts, the agony was unbearable and Tsvangirai’s threat archived the relief families needed in knowing that their loved ones were still alive notwithstanding the victimisation and deprivation they had been subjected to.

In the coming new year I have the greatest expectation that MDC and Tsvangirai will usher the changes we yearn for by forcing Mugabe to share power equitably in the transitional Unity government or pulling out of the project altogether if Mugabe and Zanu PF persist with the smash and grab political brinkmanship they have displayed since 29 March 2008.

Setting 29 March 2009 as the deadline for setting the inclusive government or its collapse is not a bad idea at all.

Mugabe’s politricks under the microscope

For decades Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe have committed heinous crimes against Zimbabweans in the name of sovereignty and have so far managed to escape any serious recrimination for that.

The bag of political debauchery that Mugabe carries for and behalf of Zanu PF appears to have ruptured and threatens to leave the party of geriatrics with egg all over.

The party that has transformed from a Colonial Liberation movement to a Pan Africanist Conservatives and Military Junta appears to have made the ultimate political mistake.

For the first time it has regionalised the political dispute it created over three decades in power by making unsubstantiated claims about Botswana’s involvement in training MDC activists to wage a military uprising against the Zanu PF Junta.

Zanu PF has a well documented history of labelling its internal political opponents enemies of the State.

In its political realm Zanu PF strongly believes it is the equivalent of the State of Zimbabwe.

Anyone who thus differs with its social, economic and political ideology is thus a dissident deserving of military suppression to conform or to be extinguished.

From Reverend Nbabaningi Sithole, Herbert Chitepo, Ian Douglas Smith, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Justice Enoch Dumbutshena, Dr. Joshua Nkomo, Edgar Tekere, to Morgan Tsvangirai the script has been the same.

They have all been subjected to Military violence for daring to oppose Mugabe and Zanu PF politically.

There are yet many other perceived or real opponents of Mugabe and Zanu PF who have been tormented for daring to openly voice misgivings about Zanu PF and Mugabe’s political hegemony.

But in the past Zanu PF and Mugabe have been selective of their targets and largely concentrated their brinkmanship on perceived local opponents.

On the rare but significant occasions the brinkmanship was regionalised- invasion of Mozambique and the DRC – Mugabe made sure he was reacting to a recognised regional insurrection and camouflaged his intervention as a regional SADC initiative allowing him to escape scrutiny.

But all that has changed with the latest accusations he has levelled against Botswana.

There is no evidence on the ground that there is a military insurrection in Zimbabwe led by organised bandits.

Yet Mugabe has formerly complained to SADC and fingered another SADC State – Botswana – in hosting and training MDC activists preparing to launch an invasion of Zimbabwe.

The Botswana government and the MDC have both categorically dismissed the accusations and the later has turned the tables against Zanu PF by alleging that Mugabe and Zanu PF are at it again because they are insincere about forming a SADC mediated inclusive government following the failed March 29 2008 electoral process.

Sadc have promptly constituted an investigation into the allegations levelled by Zanu PF against Botswana confirming that Zanu PF is the defacto State of Zimbabwe as it claims.

SADC Chairman and interim South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe appears to have inherited a Zimbabwe crisis far too complicated for his understanding.

His initial response was to order a Sadc investigation into a complaint by the Zimbabwe government against the Botswana government.

Nothing sinister here if both countries had legitimate governments recognised by Sadc, which is not the case.

Is former South Africa president Thabo Mbeki leading mediation of a nonexistent crisis in Zimbabwe –failed electoral process leading to government illegitimacy- or not?

If indeed he is, as is internationally accepted, which legitimate State of Zimbabwe complaint has the SADC chair accepted and promptly accepted and ordered to be investigated by SADC when his predecessor is at the helm of another SADC initiative to thrash out a legitimate State leadership in Zimbabwe?

Be that as it may, and assuming the South Africa President and SADC chair felt it was complimentary to the Zimbabwe mediation process to ensure the process was not sidetracked by frivolous and vexatious complaints from the Zanu PF junta, why has he not assumed the same attitude over equally frivolous and vexatious complaints about Zanu PF banditry against opponents of the junta by the MDC?

The answer is that South Africa and the SADC countries at large recognises the Mugabe fronted junta in Zimbabwe as the legitimate State apparatus and they are hell bent on securing international legitimacy for Mugabe after he was disgraced by Morgan Tsvangirai on 29 March 2008 but used military influence to retain political powers in the country.

That is the sad reality of the immorality behind SADC and its chair’s relentless pressure on Mugabe to form an inclusive government forthwith to regain his lost credibility as Zimbabwe’s undisputed Head of State.

But Mugabe is too old and senile to see this. After the electoral defeat he suffered in March, he does not trust that SADC initiatives can guarantee his stay in power.
Precisely because it was because he went along with a SADC guideline on elections to conduct ballot counting at local polling stations and announce outcomes there and then before they were tempered with by the aggregation process at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) national level that he for the first time in his life realised the extent of his party’s unpopularity nationwide.

As if that was not frightening enough Mugabe realised that he was trailing far behind Tsvangirai’s popularity among the electorate and that could not have developed on the eve of the 2008 elections but has been the reality since 2000 when the MDC first contested elections.

The reason why it was not clear to him before why his political opponents were crying foul after each election he and his party were declared winners was because he was only being presented with aggregated outcomes after his loyal supporters in ZEC had diluted the real outcomes with cooked figures.

Now if Mugabe is not a legitimate head of State and his complaints against Botswana are beyond reasonable realm of intelligent and informed belief, why waste time and money the impoverished region can ill afford setting up investigation structures to examine insurrection allegations against a pseudo government?

Would it not be prudent to tell the complainant that he cannot be toppled unless he is a legitimate President and that way add weight to the push for the whingeing Mugabe to move with speed to form the state apparatus that will earn him lost recognition and justify regional and international cooperation with him when threatened with unconstitutional means of gaining power from anyone?

But instead of pushing this logical effective and cheaper line to a solution, SADC would rather pursue the complicated and so far unsubstantiated Botswana/MDC banditry training and sponsorship allegations which is likely to prove nothing.

And worse how can a self respecting regional institution like SADC be pushed to investigate allegations based on confessions of alleged captives of a regime who are being held incommunicado and hope to escape criticism of partiality?

SADC’s narrow view as exposed by its chair is that the solution lies in Mugabe forming an inclusive government with political nemesis Morgan Tsvangirai.

The reasoning seems to be that if MDC is part of the government any possible insurrection will not arise from that party against a government it is responsible for.

That rationality on the part of SADC is not ill advised at all. However they are missing the key components to achieving that ideal. They want to compel the inclusive government formation at the expense of all else and that is hardening the attitude of the very party that can be easily lured into the inclusive government trap.

The MDC has already conceded defeat to the Presidency and headship of the State leaving that to Mugabe’s uncontested ownership.

The MDC has also surrendered legitimate claims for it to lead the inclusive government formation initiative but retained a vexing grip on how whoever wants to lead the initiative must proceed.

The demand is simply power to govern the country must be shared equitably between the MDC and Zanu PF for the process to move forward.

That process must obviously start with Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreeing that they have both failed, for whatever reasons, to logically conclude the legislated process of determining who must form a government.

As a consequence they have sought friendly support to constitute a government and must be legitimised through that process.

That means neither of them have the power nor the exclusive capacity to determine the composition of the inclusive government despite them jointly holding the influence to that eventuality.

Mugabe seems to have adopted a one-appointment-at-a-time approach to the formation of the inclusive government rekindling Dzingai Mutumbuka’s one-fool-at-a-time jibe at parliamentary inquests into the Willogate scandal.

On the other hand Tsvangirai appears to have settled for a holistic approach where all attendant power issues are bargained for and agreed upon before the nominations to government positions are entertained.

SADC seem to prefer the piecemeal approach model adopted by Mugabe.

They have condoned piecemeal appointments of Vice Presidents, Provincial Governors, Legislative Chamber Speakers, Reserve Bank Governor, Attorney General and now want the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers appointed at the next instant.

To do this they have exerted pressure on Mugabe who has emerged the unelected mover of the inclusive government formation initiative to gazette the Constitutional amendment No 19 (CA No 19) that will legitimise the positions.

That has now been done and the SADC leaders have reportedly forced Mugabe to officially confer the Premiership on Tsvangirai before the legislation has been passed by Parliament.

The intention is clearly to lure Tsvangirai into government under terms that he is not yet satisfied give him and his party equitable leverage to that held by Zanu PF in the government on the hanging threat of withdrawal of regional support for him and his party if he refuses to tow the line.

The SADC is obviously oblivious of what constitutes Tsvangirai’s power base in Zimbabwe. They believe it is them and their countries first thereafter Africa and finally and least of all Zimbabweans that support his party.

Tsvangirai believes to the contrary that his support is first and foremost from Zimbabweans, thereafter the United Nations (UN), the Africa Union (AU) and SAD in that order.

He respects SADC but is not afraid to be at variance with them if they start making decisions against the Zimbabwe electorate.

That is why he will theoretically acknowledge the Premiership offer but stress that he will effectively take up the offer when power equity concerns between his party and Zanu PF have been holistically ironed out to his party and personal satisfaction.
SADC will be back at square one on the matters in Zimbabwe thereafter.

The Global Political Agreement (GPA) they tenaciously cobbled between Zanu PF and MDC does not empower Mugabe to appoint Tsvangirai as Prime Minister by invitation or otherwise after gazetting CA No 19.

Rather the agreement appointed Tsvangirai Prime Minister designate on the date it was signed namely 15 September 2008 and Mugabe was compelled to publicly endorse that there and then but chose to procrastinate behind the unavailability of the Constitutional framework to bind him.

Now that he has been compelled to do so on the flimsy and false interpretation of the GPA by SADC he will have to justify to the Nation why he took 3 months to endorse the GPA in so far as Premiership and Deputy Premiership positions in the inclusive government are concerned.

SADC and obviously the Zanu PF line Mugabe will regurgitate that he could not endorse unconstitutional positions will not wash as the positions remain unconstitutional until the date they will be passed and signed into law by a legitimised and sworn in President emerging from the GPA.

That unfortunately is the correct interpretation of Article 20(1) (3) (j) and (k) as read with Article 25 of the GPA which reads;
“20.1.3 The President
j) shall, pursuant to this Agreement, appoint the Prime Minister pending the enactment of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment no.19 as agreed by the Parties;
(k) formally appoints Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers in accordance with this agreement;

25. Commencement
This Agreement shall enter into force upon its signature by the Parties.”

It does not say the appointments will be made by any other President after the gazetting of the CA No 19 nor that the specific President can appoint Tsvangirai as Prime Minister of the inclusive agreement other than in terms of what was agreed in the GPA.

Zimbabweans will not be fooled by the SADC chair’s implied assertions that the PM’s appointment was impossible of formalisation before the gazetting of CA No 19 nor will they buy into the false implications that Mugabe has powers to invite Tsvangirai into an inclusive Government in Zimbabwe.

What SADC ought to do is to pressure Mugabe to allow it as the underwriter of the GPA to arrange for the coronation of Mugabe, Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Khupe as President, Prime Minister, and Deputy Prime Ministers of the Republic of Zimbabwe on a specific date in proceedings presided over by the Speaker of Parliament.

Thereafter they should request the inaugurated leadership to announce their agreed Cabinet and in one day the inclusive government will be in place.

The reason why Mugabe is finding the time to raise frivolous and vexatious claims against neighbours is because of the inaction of SADC to implement the agreement it underwrote on 15 September 2008.

Sadc is paralysed by the fear of Mugabe and Zanu PF that sends it scuttling for evidence to justify a serious allegation against a member state and misinterpret a straightforward agreement.

Tsvangirai will pour cold water on any rush decisions by SADC that neglect to address the underlying fundamental of equitable power sharing in Zimbabwe’s envisaged inclusive government.

He will not be bullied into a flawed inclusive government and may even walk out of the agreement and leave SADC and Mugabe to fight Zimbabweans and the international community over Mugabe’s legitimacy.

It does not help the resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis when the cart is put before the horse and piecemeal interventions are implemented to build up to an illegitimate government for the country.

Meanwhile Botswana has a strong case to seek SADC censure of Mugabe and his ZANU PF junta once investigations return a blank on allegations of it harbouring and training MDC insurgents.

We are convinced the SADC will treat such a complaint with equal haste to how it has treated the unsubstantiated Zanu PF junta complaints.

And now that SADC has video evidence of the whereabouts of allegedly abducted MDC activists we expect it to compel the Zimbabwe junta to bring the accused insurgents to court so that they can get a fair trial for their crimes.

The resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis: International military interventions or isolation embargo?

As the power sharing dispute rages on in Zimbabwe self imposed President Robert Mugabe has of recent come under increased international pressure to concede power he has unilaterally centralised in his Zanu PF cronies or step aside and allow Zimbabweans to forge ahead with the reconstruction of their government.


In the likely event Mugabe will be obstinate and refuse to make way at the same time he continues to fail to implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA) he signed together with Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara on 15 September 2008, serious threats have been issued that he will be forced to step aside.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga called upon the AU to send in troops into Zimbabwe to replace Mugabe’s terrorist militia in maintaining law and order in the failed State.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu echoed him and Botswana has suggested that the Mugabe Junta be forced to resign by a bordering state embargo on fuel supplies to the country.
France, Germany, The United Kingdom, and The United States of America have added that Mugabe’s time as a dictator in Zimbabwe is up and he must be pushed out of power.

There are millions of impoverished and epidemic threatened Zimbabweans who voted Mugabe out of power on 29 March 2008 willing and available to support such calls with active engagement in a power struggle to oust Mugabe from the Zimbabwe State House.

Several obstacles are in their way to attain that noble objective not least among them the fact that;

•Mugabe has a lethal fully trained, mechanised and armed militia ready to kill anyone who dares attempt to remove Mugabe.

•Neighbouring African as well as most AU leaders are toying with the idea that the GPA they coerced from the feuding Zimbabwe politicians is the only means with which to solve the social political and economic standoff in Zimbabwe.

•They will not support any ouster of Mugabe neither will they consider alternatives to the GPA.

•The Western democracies whose position on Mugabe resonates with the majority thinking of Zimbabweans suffering under Mugabe’s dictatorship are soiled by their Colonial involvement in the country and their invasion of Iraq on false Weapons of Mass destruction warehoused by the Saddam Hussein dictatorship.

•They will not sponsor another military expedition in Zimbabwe for whatever it takes and would rather tighten the sanctions regime that has broken the Zanu PF Junta’s back but has failed to bring down the leader to his knees due to support he is getting from Africa.

•Zimbabwe’s total isolation will always be an elusive international objective because it will be vetoed by either China and/or Russia in the UN Security Council and Zimbabwe will continue to conduct international trade through bordering countries as its proxies because of its hub position in the region for trade routes.

That is why Mugabe is comfortable to use Zimbabwe as a Pan Africanist guinea-pig for defiance of Western imperialism and bargain chip for Africa to use in trade negotiations with Westerners in dire need yet short supply of the abundant raw materials the African continent has at its disposal but is incapable of transforming into day to day utilities needed for quality of life improvement among their people and globally.

Sadc pressure on Mugabe to avert the humanitarian carnage in the country he has declared himself political king immune to lifetime replacement has been accelerated by the outbreak of Cholera that threatens to engulf the region and has led to the gazetting of Constitutional Amendment Number 19 (CA No19) to pave the way for the formation of the inclusive government the region feels will resolve the leadership crisis the country is facing and reverse its tumbling economic, social and political fortunes.

Unfortunately they are wrong about that assertion because the people of Zimbabwe have not bought into the GPA as a replacement of their right to choose leaders of choice.

A critical mass of Zimbabweans wants real and meaningful political change.

They have lost all faith and hope in Mugabe steering the country towards such revolutionary change that will restore their freedoms he has systematically taken away from them using ruthless repression.

Any political formation that courts and actively seeks to coalesce permanently with a Mugabe led political initiative will be discredited in the eyes and minds of most Zimbabweans who will ultimately find means and ways to oppose that coalition.

The reason is very simply that no lasting political coalition is possible with Mugabe and during the currency of the coalition Mugabe will do everything in his power to consolidate Zanu PF’s grip on power while he systematically dismantles the power bases of his newly found allies.

That is why the MDC is not enthusiastic about a five year relationship with Mugabe and Zanu PF where three quarters of the time will be spent on political haggling on policy issues at the end of which people will start questioning its achievements.

The MDC is desirous of a short term coalition period between one and half years to three years at the most to halt further decline of the economic malaise, restore confidence in the judiciary and its impartiality and set up conditions for holding credible and violent free elections where people will choose their preferred political leadership without fear.

SADC and AU appear to favour a long term accommodation of Mugabe for him to either die in office or consolidate the waning fortunes of his ZANU PF party by passing all blame for government failure he will cause on coalition partners or even belittling them with unilateral trumped up arrests and dismissal from the government to stain their political repute.

The legislation of CA No19 had been unduly delayed by Mugabe and Zanu PF’s intransigence as it was part of the agreement Mugabe did not like to implement.
Because Mugabe has shown his true intentions the MDC now intends to use CA No 19 Parliamentary processes to compel Mugabe to visit other contentious aspects of the agreement he has vitiated starting with reversal of key appointments he has unilaterally effected, equitable distribution of Ministries, definition of the roles and responsibilities of the National Security Council and allocation of key government positions between parties to the GPA.

The Western democracies have rediscovered their voice after Mugabe’s Junta was forced to swallow its pride by a ravaging Cholera epidemic and appealed to the International Community for assistance.

They have in turn called for his removal from office if need be by force for his failed leadership of the country.

They are planning a motion for the UN Security Council to adopt measures to see to it that Mugabe is removed from office in Zimbabwe politics if he does not step aside voluntarily.

When will this circus end the impoverished and Cholera threatened Zimbabweans ask?
Zimbabweans are anxious to see Mugabe’s back after voting against his continued stay in office on 29 March 2008.

It therefore means anyone proposing Mugabe’s forcible removal from office is declaring war against Mugabe’s militia that is presented as the National Security Forces.

Those that are not willing to finance and or prosecute such a war should stop raising expectations in Zimbabwe to unsustainable levels.

There are too many desperate yet energetic people in Zimbabwe ready and willing to remove Mugabe from office by force but they are all unarmed and sitting ducks for his vicious militia.

Stating that Mugabe’s time in office is up without any signs of a corresponding military initiatives to dismantle that which Mugabe has in place to defend his continued stay in office is rather naive and useless demagoguery.

Those that want to reclaim the militarily stolen Zimbabwe votes must first set up a military establishment to prosecute the war against Mugabe’s militia.

Avail the disgruntled Zimbabweans rear bases from which to launch attacks on Mugabe’s militia, train a core group and equip it then unleash it on Mugabe after just 12 weeks of intensive training and they will recruit supporters among the populace.

Within 18 months the Mugabe Junta will be history as between 70 and 90% 0f Zimbabweans are willing and ready to take up arms against Mugabe.

That will halve the period Zimbabweans will suffer under a Mugabe led inclusive government for five years at the end of which nothing tangible will be in place to allow the people to exercise electoral democracy in a free and safe environment.

Alternatively and most sensibly Mugabe must be made to submit to a credible and internationally organised and supervised Presidential runoff election that he circumvented in June 2008.

If he refuses as he is likely to do, the international community led by SADC must then rightfully refuse to have anything to do with his government and within two months he will succumb to an uprising in the country.

The plagues of Mugabe misrule

Pic Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa isconvinced Mugabe must be forced out of office if he refuses to resign.


Egypt has a rich biblical history. For the religious converts the Bible is the word of God creator of the universe. For the unconverted biblical stories are folklore that was used to teach societal values, ethics and beliefs of generations of the Jews many of which transcend several other cultures


The similarities between crises dogging Mugabe and Zanu PF and the 10 plagues that visited The Pharaoh of Egypt narrated in Exodus 7 verses 12-32 is ominous for Mugabe whichever belief one has about the biblical scriptures.

The Egyptians had enslaved the Israelites and trivialised their human rights in similar fashion to what Mugabe and Zanu PF are doing to humanity of ordinary Zimbabweans who sought refuge in the Party after being vandalised and savaged by colonial rule.

The scriptures narrate that God heard the prayers of the subjugated Israelites in Pharaoh’s captivity and sent a frightened Moses to deliver them out of the bondage of slavery.

The Egyptian leader trashed Moses’ demands for the restoration of the Israelites’ humanity and dignity in ways akin to how Mugabe trashed Tsvangirai’s demands for democratic rule in Zimbabwe.

God was infuriated by the Pharaoh’s brutality and Odin status over the Israelites and decided to call time on Pharaoh and make him submit to Israelites demands for freedom.

He equipped Moses with supernatural powers to cause miraculous occurrences throughout the Egyptian empire in the hope the king would see that he had come up against a superior force and free the slaves.

These were irritants that were supposed to push the Egyptian king into concession about Israelites’ right to freedom but the power deluded and well catered for king had become so accustomed to benefits of free labour from the slaves would not concede without putting a brave fight.

The first plague was water was turned into blood but the king would not yield.
This was to be followed by the plague of Frogs, Gnats, Flies, Disease in Livestock, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness and finally Death of Firstborns which forced the king to yield
It took deaths of Egyptian firstborns for the king to let go. That calamity could have been avoided if the despotic king had not stubbornly refused to yield to the 9 precedent plagues which were for many shocking but not the powerful king.

Mugabe is equally playing Odin in Zimbabwe. Using the military might of a rag tag Liberation Army he has heavily funded from Zimbabwean taxpayers’ funds Mugabe has entrenched himself as the king of Zimbabwe.

The swell of rage building under his self imposed stewardship of the country is oblivious to him despite the abundance of plagues in the country.

The country has for more than a decade experienced erratic rainfall patterns Mugabe’s successive regimes of oppression have blamed for poor agricultural outputs.
His opponents blame failed agricultural performance on poor economic management policies of Mugabe’s successive regimes.

Chief among them is the chaotic land reforms he undertook which resulted in productive land he reposed from mainly White Commercial farmers and parcelled out to Zanu PF adherents who in turn left the land derelict and forlorn because they neither have the knowhow to make the farms productive nor do they have the capacity to sustain commercial agriculture.

The plague of poor rains in Zimbabwe is strikingly similar to the plague of water shortage in king Pharaoh’s Egypt when water was transformed into blood.

Could it be that water is a key natural resource only God has power to give as he feels and thus a tool he uses to warn those in power that they have exceeded tolerable limits?

There will always be geographic and scientific explanations about why the rains have become erratic but such explanations though widely accepted do not explain why the proponents cannot devise mitigatory interventions to ensure rains are never erratic.
The second Egyptian plague was that of frogs.

Well it appears the plague has repeated itself in Zimbabwe as Mugabe labelled Dr Simba Makoni a frog after he “broke ranks” from Zanu PF and challenged Mugabe for the Presidency in March 2008.

Each time the Egyptian king was faced with a plague he would relent, promise immediate Israelites freedom and either Moses and/or Aaron would pray for the cessation of the plague only for Pharaoh to go back on his promise when the plague ended.

In the first two plagues the king refused to live by his word after his magicians replicated the miracles.

The reliance on magicians by besieged despots has been repeated in Zimbabwe with astonishing similarity when Mugabe and his entire Government have encouraged rainmaking ceremonies and consulted a Rotina Mavhunga, a N’ganga to make diesel ooze from rocks in the Chinhoyi Caves.

Equally striking is the manner in which Mugabe makes similar concessions when pressed with a crisis only to abandon the concession when the crisis relents.

The Egyptian magicians failed in attempts to repeat the third plague of turning dust into gnats in similar fashion to how Mavhunga failed to turn the Chinhoyi rocks into oozing diesel.

There is no evidence that Mugabe has been tested with the equivalent of the Egyptian Gnats and Flies plagues but the fifth plague of disease of the animals has been very much evident in Zimbabwe.

Anthrax and Foot and Mouth diseases have decimated livestock in the country and reduced the lucrative beef industry of the country to ignominy.

The plague of Cholera and HIV in today’s Zimbabwe closely approximates the plague of boils suffered by the Egyptians at the sixth occurrence of a plague over the king’s failure to free Israelites.

Still Mugabe like the indignant Pharaoh will not let go even when it is evident that the situation is out of his control.

Instead he has reluctantly classified the Cholera epidemic a national emergency and allowed international aid to be rendered the country.

Zimbabwe was rocked by an earthquake in early 2007. This natural disaster is in the category of the plague of hailstorm witnessed by Egyptians over the slavery of Israelites.

The plague of locusts in Egypt has repeated itself in Zimbabwe as the red locust invasion compounded by the Kwela Birds and Army Worm invasions which hitherto have been contained by imported the country no longer has capacity to import after squandering its foreign currency reserves on worthless wars, political repression equipment and corrupting the Military to support Zanu PF.

In Egypt the second last plague in a battery to break the king’s resistance was darkness. Three solid days of darkness enveloped Egypt other than in the land of Gessen where the oppressed Israelites were condemned to live.

In all instance the frightened king would call in Moses and Aaron and undertake to free the Israeli slaves and as soon as the plague was stopped he would become obstinate and trash his undertaking.

Zimbabwe was plunged into political mayhem since 2000 when Zanu PF rigged parliamentary elections it had lost to the MDC and since then the country has not known peace.

A poorly thought out political strategy to pacify restless and impoverished Zimbabweans through a chaotic land reform programme boomeranged with disastrous consequences on the political fortunes of Zanu PF and Mugabe in particular.

The rule of law was suspended to effect the vicious land grab initiative. The grabbed land’s productivity plummeted to subsistence output levels and hunger and starvation set in among the poor and has now engulfed the majority of the populace.

Once the electoral fraud had succeeded in retaining Mugabe and Zanu PF hegemony it became an integral part of Zanu PF electioneering in 2002 and 2005.

Protection of Human rights took a heavy knock from offshoots of the noble land reform project that had become a Party political tool than a National empowerment and development strategy.

The Mugabe regime was slapped with targeted sanctions to which it responded with its own sanctions against proponents of sanctions against failed Zanu PF leadership of the country.

Regime change, a natural key objective of political competition was criminalised and proponents thereof labelled all sorts of names as conduits for the re-establishment of colonists supremacy.

The once strongest economy south of the equator mellowed under pressure from the global village for Mugabe and Zanu PF to uphold democracy and the rule of law.
Mugabe and Zanu PF responded with the obstinacy of the Egyptian Pharaoh over the enslavement of Israelites.

While the country’s economy was plunging into a dark era, regional neighbour economies were on the ascend after regime changes and or end of civil strife.
For many destitute Zimbabweans the regional neighbours have now become like the land of Gessen during the Egyptian plague period in relation to their being plague free.

Questions are now being loudly asked about Mugabe’s legitimacy and leadership styles in Zimbabwe.

His role in mutilating the Zimbabwe economy is being questioned with greater frequency.

Even more telling are suggestions about his continued stay in power.
There are echoes of discontent with Mugabe’s legitimacy from Zimbabwe to Kenya, South Africa to Nigeria, Senegal to Canada, Botswana to Australia, the Bahamas to the United States of America, Liberia to France, Lesotho to Britain and Zambia to Japan throughout Europe and Asia.

This latest plague on Mugabe’s government and Zimbabweans is building up to the plague of death. Not of Zimbabwean firstborns but of Mugabe Zanu PF hegemony in Zimbabwe.

Calls for Mugabe’s voluntary resignation or for him to fight forced ejection are on the increase and sooner rather than later Zimbabweans will take heed and follow the cue.

Already cash disgruntled Soldiers have rampaged streets and the arrested are waiting to appear before a Court Martial where if they are convicted they are likely to be executed.

Military executions are not uncommon in Mugabe’s military establishments but these would be the first publicly witnessed military mutineers to be executed and in their blood will the resolve of their colleagues be emboldened.

The dilemma is if they are not executed for mutiny, they will lead further mutiny against the establishment with potential to stage a coup and yet if they are executed Mugabe will have acknowledged that his rule is severely threatened within the Army that has propped his illegitimate rule over the past decade after his political popularity waned.

There will obviously be conspiracies that Mugabe is stage managing a military insurrection to achieve his objective of staying in power till his predicted 2010 exit but those predictions are wide off the mark.

The truth is there is a military insurrection build-up in Zimbabwe that will circumvent current political dialogue and whatever government will emerge from the military insurrection Mugabe will not be part to it.

Behold the plague of death is with the Mugabe and Zanu PF junta and there is not much capacity left in them to resist the implosion.

Something has to give in and pretty fast to halt the crusade against Mugabe.

Zimbabweans celebrate Elliot Manyika’s death

Pic: The late Elliot Manyika Zanu PF National Political Commissar and Junta Minister without Portfolio correctly identified as the centrepiece in Zanu PF vicious electioneering

Zimbabweans in the country and the Diaspora have greeted the tragic death of Elliot Manyika with a mixture of joy and relief.

Readers of the of the most popular Zimdaily online publication celebrated the news of Manyika’s death as if Zanu PF had conceded electoral defeat and handed the baton to the MDC.

Readers’ comments on another Zimbabwean online publication carrying the story thezimbabwetimes.com are no different either.

In Zimbabwe ordinary people in Chiweshe,Harare, Kadoma, Bulawayo, Mutare, Bindura, Shamva, Murombedzi, Murehwa and Mutoko greeted the news with absolute delight.

Every call was greeted with “nemakorokotozve ekushaya kwemhondi iyi inonzi Manyika”-[congratulations on the death of this murderous Manyika.]

Of nearly a combined 400 comments by readers of the two online publications carrying the story only a paltry 10 comments expressed condolences and commiserations for the passing away of the Zanu PF National Commissar and the Zanu PF Junta Minister without Portfolio.

Such a reaction is completely out of character with societal norms and values of Zimbabweans whose culture is to express profound sorrow and sympathy to bereaved families regardless of whether they were close relatives and friends or complete strangers on hearing death news.

Yet in the case of Elliot Manyika the outpourings of relief and a measure of vengeful triumph at his death were not to be expected.

For here at last, was terminal news, of the death of a true messenger of Zanu PF viciousness towards people of Zimbabwe that has displaced millions and impoverished the entire nation.

Elliot Manyika was a fiery supporter of Zanu PF octogenarian despot Robert Mugabe who many hold responsible for their current misfortunes in life.

He died on 6 December 2008 while on a Zanu PF mission to reorganise its dilapidated provincial and grassroots structures.

The structures he was revamping are the ones that have been coordinating vicious murder, rape bombings, abductions and torture of any one within Zimbabwe suspected of being at variance with Zanu PF at local community level.

Many a family have directly or indirectly fallen victim of these structures and loathe them with a passion.

So it was pleasing to learn that the driving force of the unholy mission had at last met with a more powerful force and succumbed never to return to haunt them again.

That he could well be replaced by a more vicious successor is to many immaterial as they savour the rare moment of natural justice triumph over the evil that Elliot Manyika represented in the Zanu PF establishment.

Zanu PF has indeed lost a key cog in its repressive machinery. This is not to say they will find it impossible to replace Elliot Manyika. No.

The Party is teeming with trained and indoctrinated assassins waiting in the fringes to take over from Manyika.

They may however find the role a bit overwhelming given that at present there are wide craters within Zanu PF following its weakened position after losing the harmonised March 29, 2008 elections to the MDC.

The death of Manyika presents the troubled head of the Party and illegitimate Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe a platform to link with disenchanted grassroots supporters at the funeral which at present is likely to be a State Hero’s gathering.

But was the late Elliot Manyika a deserving National Hero fitting in the criteria used to declare Zanu PF heroes National Heroes in the past?

The short answer is yes. If messengers of Zanu PF violence like the late Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi and Border Gezi have graves at the National Heroes Shrine there can be no argument denying Manyika similar honours after his distinguished service to the Party of despots.

However from a purely National Hero viewpoint Manyika like Gezi and Hunzvi are National Villains rather than heroes.

Be that as it may the State owned media has already pre-empted conferment of National Hero status on the late Zanu PF National Commissar and possible interment at the heroes Acre in Harare with a glossed up obituary.

“We have lost a dedicated cadre, who always worked so diligently for the party. I don’t have much detail at the moment, but I think the Politburo will have to meet over his hero status," Junta Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi was quoted by the Sunday Mail as having bemoaned.

Nothing about him having served the country that will discuss his hero status is evident there from. But the country will still debate his hero status anywhere.
“In 1974, he was arrested for allegedly writing and circulating subversive statements while waiting for his O-level results.

He was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released after 18 months under strict conditions. As a result of the incarceration, he could not proceed for Advanced level,” the Sunday Mail disclosed.

The nature of the subversive material he allegedly got done for remains a mystery.

The fact is that in August 1978 the late Elliot Manyika was employed by the then Public Works Department (PWD) at its Mashonaland East Provincial offices situated near where the current Mutare road Vehicle Inspection Department is.

His criminal security vetting report was returned endorsed “No Criminal Record Traced/ Nothing Detrimental Traced” and he was duly appointed Clerical Assistant.

Further to that his “O” Level certificate had three passed subjects at grade “C” and a string of “D” grades for the rest and thus could not have been accepted for any “A” level course on the basis of those grades.

Suggesting that the PWD employed a saboteur under strict court conditions are stretching imagination a bit too far.

These are lies that can only be on his Zanu PF CV.

While employed by the PWD he was called up for compulsory National Service in 1979.

Although he was still under 30 years his poor “O” levels allowed him to escape basic Territorial Forces training at Llewellyn Barracks. Instead he was conscripted for Police Reservist training at Mushandike.

That is the same training base where Phillip Chiyangwa was trained.

There is as far as we know no former person with Rhodesia Front military training interred at the National Heroes Acre and it appears Manyika is poised to score a first because his chequered history and links with the Rhodesian army has been camouflaged by reference to him as Comrade Manyika within Zanu PF.

Many people hold that he was a former Liberation combatant when he was never anywhere near an operational area or participated in the war. Not even as a Mujibha (male Civilian War sentinel and collaborator).

“Cde Manyika joined the Zanu-PF Youth League together with the late Minister of Youth, Gender and Employment Creation, Cde Border Gezi, in 1982,” declared the Sunday Mail falsely.

There was never a provision to join Zanu PF as special league member.

Membership of Zanu PF was general membership and after joining one chose dependant on his age and sex to affiliate and be active in the Youth or Women’s League otherwise the docile members remained ordinary main league members regardless of their age or gender.

Elliot Manyika wormed into the Youth league prominence on the reputation of the late Robson Manyika whom he openly bragged was his brother.

To date it remains unclear how he was related to the late Deputy Minister but one thing for certain is they share a common surname and not many wanted to explore further the relationship after the Kopje shootout between the Deputy Minister and revellers at the Queen of Sheba brothel.

It was this connection he used to worm up employment ranks in the Civil service because of all his work colleagues in clerical positions in 1978 he was the only one who had failed accelerated advancement (affirmative action) promotion exams run by the Public Service training centre and remained a clerk class II when others were upgraded to Clerical Executive and Administrative Officers to fill the void of emigrating former White bearers of the posts.

His belated promotions in the Civil Service surprised many as he was never a high performer at work.

The meteoric promotions from Clerk to Under Secretary were rewards for sterling party work he had done with Border Gezi, James Makamba, Chenhamo Chimutengwende Saviour Kasukuwere and Nicholas Goche to return a Zanu PF clean sweep of Parliamentary seats in Mashonaland Central in the 1990 Parliamentary elections.

As a leader of the terror gangs of Zanu PF hoodlums in the province he was rewarded handsomely with undue Civil Service work promotions for vile electioneering work he and his minions executed with diligence and precision that earned the Mashonaland province the “accolade” (No go area for opposition politicians).

The disclosure that he was promoted to senior Civil Service positions without linking the promotions to political patronage is most cynical by the State Media that wants to sell a daft hooligan as a smart civil servant.

By the time this writer left the Civil Service in 1982 Elliot Manyika who had joined the service at the same grade and level with the writer was still a clerk class II when the writer had already been promoted to an Executive Officer.

In 1995 Zanu PF repeated its political dominance of the province and that success brought Elliot Manyika handsome work rewards when he was in1999, appointed Zimbabwe’s High Commissioner to Malawi only to be recalled home the following year as Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister.

Zanu PF needed him more in the country to spearhead the chaotic land reforms it had been forced to embark on by an embarrassing Constitutional referendum defeat and an even more humiliating electoral defeat to the MDC it had to reverse through ballot stuffing rigging by Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede and his Electoral Commission team.

He did not disappoint as he led marauding gangs around the province chasing off White farm owners and pummelling them into submission to his vicious onslaught.
When in 2001 his predecessor mentor and idol Border Gezi died in a car accident after a reportedly similar tyre burst to the one reported in his accident causing death, Elliot Manyika became a natural successor to both Gezi’s roles of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation and Zanu PF National Commissar.

Little did he know that he had also inherited death in similar circumstances to those of his predecessor? How ironic?

Drawing on his experiences in National Service while at Mushandike police Reservist training he teamed up with hoodlums like Reason Wafawarova to draw up a National Youth service spiced with militia tactics and institutionalised the Zanu PF violent electioneering strategy.

The products of his thuggish training curriculum for National Youth Service are there for all to see and evaluate.

Cold blood murder, rape, torture and theft of civilian property in Youth manned electioneering bases countrywide every time the country goes to elections.

And more he mobilised the Youth to commit these crimes jovially by teaming up with compromised musical outfits like the POLICE band and Brian Muteki to compose and sing praise songs for the murderous regime he was part of.

Is it any wonder then Zimbabweans have greeted news of his death with joy and relief against their cultural norms and values. I guess not at all.

The wisdom in the vernacular Shona language that wafawanaka (the dead is good as he is no longer a threat worth counter strategising about) may hold true in many instances but not in Elliot Manyika’s case.

He was a vile political monstrosity with little respect for human life and died unrepentant.

He was bad for Zimbabwe and will be bad in death. Zimbabweans will worry a about his legacy long after his burial wherever his party will decide to honour and bury him.s online publication celebrated the news of Manyika’s death as if Zanu PF had conceded electoral defeat and handed the baton to the MDC.

Readers’ comments on another Zimbabwean online publication carrying the story thezimbabwetimes.com are no different either.

In Zimbabwe ordinary people in Harare, Kadoma, Bulawayo, Mutare, Bindura, Shamva, Murombedzi, Murehwa and Mutoko greeted the news with absolute delight.

Every call was greeted with “nemakorokotozve ekushaya kwemhondi iyi inonzi Manyika”-[congratulations on the death of this murderous Manyika.]

Of nearly a combined 400 comments by readers of the two online publications carrying the story only a paltry 10 comments expressed condolences and commiserations for the passing away of the Zanu PF National Commissar and the Zanu PF Junta Minister without Portfolio.

Such a reaction is completely out of character with societal norms and values of Zimbabweans whose culture is to express profound sorrow and sympathy to bereaved families regardless of whether they were close relatives and friends or complete strangers on hearing death news.

Yet in the case of Elliot Manyika the outpourings of relief and a measure of vengeful triumph at his death were not to be expected.

For here at last, was terminal news, of the death of a true messenger of Zanu PF viciousness towards people of Zimbabwe that has displaced millions and impoverished the entire nation.

Elliot Manyika was a fiery supporter of Zanu PF octogenarian despot Robert Mugabe who many hold responsible for their current misfortunes in life.

He died on 6 December 2008 while on a Zanu PF mission to reorganise its dilapidated provincial and grassroots structures.

The structures he was revamping are the ones that have been coordinating vicious murder, rape bombings, abductions and torture of any one within Zimbabwe suspected of being at variance with Zanu PF at local community level.

Many a family have directly or indirectly fallen victim of these structures and loathe them with a passion.

So it was pleasing to learn that the driving force of the unholy mission had at last met with a more powerful force and succumbed never to return to haunt them again.
That he could well be replaced by a more vicious successor is to many immaterial as they savour the rare moment of natural justice triumph over the evil that Elliot Manyika represented in the Zanu PF establishment.

Zanu PF has indeed lost a key cog in its repressive machinery. This is not to say they will find it impossible to replace Elliot Manyika. No.

The Party has an abundance of trained and indoctrinated assassins waiting in the fringes to take over from Manyika. They may however find the role a bit overwhelming given that at present there are wide craters within Zanu PF following its weakened position after losing the harmonised March 29, 2008 elections to the MDC.

The death of Manyika presents the troubled head of the Party and illegitimate Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe a platform to link with disenchanted grassroots supporters at the funeral which at present is likely to be a State Hero’s gathering.

But was the late Elliot Manyika a deserving National Hero fitting in the criteria used to declare Zanu PF heroes National Heroes in the past?

The short answer is yes. If messengers of Zanu PF violence like the late Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi and Border Gezi have graves at the National Heroes Shrine there can be no argument denying Manyika similar honours after his distinguished service to the Party of despots.

However from a purely National Hero viewpoint Manyika like Gezi and Hunzvi are National Villains rather than heroes.

Be that as it may the State owned media has already pre-empted conferment of National Hero status on the late Zanu PF National Commissar and possible interment at the heroes Acre in Harare with a glossed up obituary.

“We have lost a dedicated cadre, who always worked so diligently for the party. I don’t have much detail at the moment, but I think the Politburo will have to meet over his hero status," Junta Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi was quoted by the Sunday Mail as having bemoaned.

Nothing about him having served the country that will discuss his hero status is evident there from. But the country will still debate his hero status anywhere.
“In 1974, he was arrested for allegedly writing and circulating subversive statements while waiting for his O-level results.

He was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released after 18 months under strict conditions. As a result of the incarceration, he could not proceed for Advanced level,” the Sunday Mail disclosed.

The nature of the subversive material he allegedly got done for remains a mystery. The fact is that in August 1978 the late Elliot Manyika was employed by the then Public Works Department (PWD) at its Mashonaland East Provincial offices situated near where the current Mutare road Vehicle Inspection Department is.

His criminal security vetting report was returned endorsed “No Criminal Record Traced/ Nothing Detrimental Traced” and he was duly appointed Clerical Assistant.

Further to that his “O” Level certificate had three passed subjects at grade “C” and a string of “D” grades for the rest and thus could not have been accepted for any “A” level course on the basis of those grades.

Suggesting that the PWD employed a saboteur under strict court conditions are stretching imagination a bit too far.

These are lies that can only be on his Zanu PF CV.

While employed by the PWD he was called up for compulsory National Service in 1979. Although he was still under 30 years his poor “O” levels allowed him to escape basic Territorial Forces training at Llewellyn Barracks. Instead he was conscripted for Police Reservist training at Mushandike.

That is the same training base where Phillip Chiyangwa was trained.

There is as far as we know no former person with Rhodesia Front military training interred at the National Heroes Acre and it appears Manyika is poised to score a first because his chequered history and links with the Rhodesian army has been camouflaged by reference to him as Comrade Manyika within Zanu PF.

Many people hold that he was a former Liberation combatant when he was never anywhere near an operational area or participated in the war. Not even as a Mujibha (male Civilian War sentinel and collaborator).

“Cde Manyika joined the Zanu-PF Youth League together with the late Minister of Youth, Gender and Employment Creation, Cde Border Gezi, in 1982,” declared the Sunday Mail falsely.

There was never a provision to join Zanu PF as special league member. Membership of Zanu PF was general membership and after joining one chose dependant on his age and sex to affiliate and be active in the Youth or Women’s League otherwise the docile members remained ordinary main league members regardless of their age or gender.

Elliot Manyika wormed into the Youth league prominence on the reputation of the late Robson Manyika whom he openly bragged was his brother.

To date it remains unclear how he was related to the late Deputy Minister but one thing for certain is they share a common surname and not many wanted to explore further the relationship after the Kopje shootout between the Deputy Minister and revellers at the Queen of Sheba brothel.

It was this connection he used to worm up employment ranks in the Civil service because of all his work colleagues in clerical positions in 1978 he was the only one who had failed accelerated advancement (affirmative action) promotion exams run by the Public Service training centre and remained a clerk class II when others were upgraded to Clerical Executive and Administrative Officers to fill the void of emigrating former White bearers of the posts.

His belated promotions in the Civil Service surprised many as he was never a high performer at work.

The meteoric promotions from Clerk to Under Secretary were rewards for sterling party work he had done with Border Gezi, James Makamba, Chenhamo Chimutengwende Saviour Kasukuwere and Nicholas Goche to return a Zanu PF clean sweep of Parliamentary seats in Mashonaland Central in the 1990 Parliamentary elections.

As a leader of the terror gangs of Zanu PF hoodlums in the province he was rewarded handsomely with undue Civil Service work promotions for vile electioneering work he and his minions executed with diligence and precision that earned the Mashonaland province the “accolade” (No go area for opposition politicians).

The disclosure that he was promoted to senior Civil Service positions without linking the promotions to political patronage is most cynical by the State Media that wants to sell a daft hooligan as a smart civil servant.

By the time this writer left the Civil Service in 1982 Elliot Manyika who had joined the service at the same grade and level with the writer was still a clerk class II when the writer had already been promoted to an Executive Officer.

In 1995 Zanu PF repeated its political dominance of the province and that success brought Elliot Manyika handsome work rewards when he was in1999, appointed Zimbabwe’s High Commissioner to Malawi only to be recalled home the following year as Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister.

Zanu PF needed him more in the country to spearhead the chaotic land reforms it had been forced to embark on by an embarrassing Constitutional referendum defeat and an even more humiliating electoral defeat to the MDC it had to reverse through ballot stuffing rigging by Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede and his Electoral Commission team.

He did not disappoint as he led marauding gangs around the province chasing off White farm owners and pummelling them into submission to his vicious onslaught.

When in 2001 his predecessor mentor and idol Border Gezi died in a car accident after a reportedly similar tyre burst to the one reported in his accident causing death, Elliot Manyika became a natural successor to both Gezi’s roles of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation and Zanu PF National Commissar.

Little did he know that he had also inherited death in similar circumstances to those of his predecessor? How ironic?

Drawing on his experiences in National Service while at Mushandike police Reservist training he teamed up with hoodlums like Reason Wafawarova to draw up a National Youth service spiced with militia tactics and institutionalised the Zanu PF violent electioneering strategy.

The products of his thuggish training curriculum for National Youth Service are there for all to see and evaluate.

Cold blood murder, rape, torture and theft of civilian property in Youth manned electioneering bases countrywide every time the country goes to elections.

And more he mobilised the Youth to commit these crimes jovially by teaming up with compromised musical outfits like the POLICE band and Brian Muteki to compose and sing praise songs for the murderous regime he was part of.

Is it any wonder then Zimbabweans have greeted news of his death with joy and relief against their cultural norms and values. I guess not at all.

The wisdom in the vernacular Shona language that wafawanaka (the dead is good as he is no longer a threat worth counter strategising about) may hold true in many instances but not in Elliot Manyika’s case.

He was a vile political monstrosity with little respect for human life and died unrepentant. He was bad for Zimbabwe and will be bad in death.

Zimbabweans will worry a about his legacy long after his burial wherever his party will decide to honour and bury him.

Picking on “soft target” Tsvangirai and MDC

Pic: Former zambian President Dr Kenneth Kaunda whose legact the Editor of the Post of Zambia Newspaper lives under.

The Post of Zambia’s Editor must have missed his Zimbabwean political idol’s assessment of the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai at the Rainbow Towers Hotel- Harare on 15 September 2008 following the signing ceremony of the tripartite Zimbabwe Global Political Agreement GPA by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Prof Mutambara.

We are tempted to conclude that in the light of his timid attempt at counselling Morgan Tsvangirai to sign-up to, in his own words “a may not be the ideal political arrangement” just because it was recommended by Africans.

After that historic occasion, Mugabe for all his reputed strong arm tactics and mesmerising aura among African leaders admitted that Tsvangirai is an insolent and harder nosed political opponent than he ever held him to be.

“He has no respect for anyone. He said no to me. Then he said No to the Sadc mediator. And he even said no to the King (Mswati). He does not know what it means to disobey kings,” lamented Mugabe.

If the Post of Zambia had the faintest idea of who Tsvangirai is and what he stands for that has elevated him from a humble Trade Unionist to the most revered political leader in Zimbabwe he would not have wasted his time on an opinion couched in loathed Mugabe and Mbeki mantra.

The Post of Zambia’s Editor has the condescending attitude towards Tsvangirai that has seen Tsvangirai humble many of his better academically qualified opponents in elections and political strategy.
“MORGAN Tsvangirai and MDC are pushing their luck too far,” declared the Post of Zambia’s Editor in introducing his warped and condescending opinion.
Surely there is no luck to talk about the MDC and its leader at present after SADC and the AU whom the Editor defends abandoned their ratified democratic protocols to defend an octogenarian political despot who lost the 29 March 2008 Presidential elections and unleashed militant retribution against the electorate that claimed no less than 150 innocent lives and displaced over a quarter of a million of the electorate in a desperate bid to retain power.
What kind of luck is that? We call it MDC and Tsvangirai political misfortune underwritten by SADC and AU. Period.
“In politics, one must not be too stiff-necked, too harsh and unyielding. It is sometimes necessary to yield to those moving towards us,” the Post’s Editor disingenuously discloses his condescending attitude towards the subject matter.
All Zimbabweans know who among their leaders is the most stiff-necked, iron fisted, wooden headed, vicious and despotic. We suspect even the Post’s Editor knows that leader to be Mugabe and not Tsvangirai but because he is awe stricken by Mugabe’s vicious credentials he has chosen to assign those qualities to Tsvangirai whom he mistakenly thinks is the weaker of the two leaders and thus the easier to intimidate.
Have we got news for the Editor of the Post of Zambia!
Indeed yielding is legitimate and essential when the yielder is convinced that those who are striving to make him yield are in the right. But in the case under consideration they are not.
The Sadc leaders that are striving to pin him down to an unworkable and unheard of co-management of a Ministry in a coalition Government have through their Secretary General Tomaz Salomão that frankly and openly their resolution was an untried experiment in 21st century politics.
Has the Post’s editor ever applied his mind as to why SADC in its wisdom or mainly the lack of it found it proper to recommend an irrational and harmful resolution whose validity is subjective and unreasonable for a “UNITY” government they have forced upon Zimbabweans.
Could it be that the Editor believes that yielding to co-managing the Home Affairs Ministry of the novel “INCLUSIVE” Zimbabwe government is a lesser threat to MDC and Tsvangirai’s political fortunes than asking Sadc and AU to live by their democratic pledges to their citizens and compelling Mugabe to accept legitimate electoral outcomes in Zimbabwe and live by them.
That would be some kind of indictment Mugabe and Zanu PF wouldn’t it?
Where is the inclusiveness and unity of the envisaged government if there is such evident mistrust between the parties to the agreement?
Why does the Post Editor avoid the seemingly paradoxical Zanu PF and Mugabe demand for exclusive management of the Defence Ministries and its demand for inclusion in management of the Home Affairs Ministry?
How feasible is it for the parties to co-exist and cohesively manage government affairs under such evident mistrust between them? Those are the issues he must address Tsvangirai and Zimbabweans on with convincing facts but which he conveniently avoids.
“It is also commonplace wisdom that little annoyances should not be allowed to stand in the way of a big pleasure,” the Post’s Editor declares.
We must for once agree with him on that. Having done so we must ask what pleasure would exceed a Presidential election winner forming the next Government after the hard fought victory. Nothing we must tell him. Not even being coerced to become a key member of a Unity Government where his powers are checked by a contestant he defeated in the election.
“Tsvangirai should realise and accept the fact that concessions are inherent in negotiations,” lectures the condescending Editor of the Post of Zambia.
As if Tsvangirai did not know that or has not compromised far too much by merely accepting to negotiate power sharing with a loser of the highest Political office election in the country.
And while at it why should Tsvangirai alone accept the fact that concessions underpin negotiations and not Mugabe? What has Mugabe conceded so far in the negotiations in Zimbabwe that points to the fact that he understands that underlying principle?


“If one is not prepared to compromise, then they must never enter into or think about the process of negotiation at all,” the Editor declared.
Indeed. Tsvangirai and his MDC were invited into these negotiations by SADC and AU resolutions after those political institutions realised that the democratic process in Zimbabwe had gone awry.
Not because Tsvangirai and MDC had failed to form a government after winning the 29 March elections but rather because Mugabe had used the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the Joint Operations Command (JOC) to circumvent the electoral process and staged a Military Coup in an affiliate State which they could not endorse.
Other than International recognition of his victory in March that was negatively impacting on Mugabe’s claim to the Presidency, Tsvangirai had nothing else to concede as his winnings had already been expropriated by Mugabe.
The concessions in these negotiations were thus expected more from the electoral thieves in Mugabe and his Zanu PF rather than from Tsvangirai whose concession was simply reduced to accepting participation in a government in which Mugabe had a key role despite losing the elections.

Weird as it sounds SADC and AU coerced Tsvangirai into making those concessions on promises they would underwrite equitable power distribution between his victorious MDC party and Zanu PF.

Instead however SADC shifted goal posts and started using a none Presidential election disputant Prof Mutambara to reduce Tsvangirai and his MDC’s power base and create a wedge between him and the faction that in theory is loyal to Mutambara but in practice its elected MP’s are pro Tsvangirai in their majority.

But the Post of Zambia editor would like us to ignore these realities and join him in condemning Tsvangirai for refusing and or failing to compromise in negotiations.
We cannot agree with him on that.

If anything we feel Tsvangirai has compromised too much in the negotiations and he will not carry the aspirations and hopes of impoverished Zimbabweans that invested their trust in him and his party during elections.

“It is sad that Tsvangirai and MDC could dismiss the decision taken by the Southern African Development Community Extraordinary Summit of November 9 as a ‘nullity’, the editor declares.

His verdict is informed by the fact that it was Tsvangirai himself who asked for this meeting and for Sadc’s intervention and the SADC solution for the sharing of ministerial portfolios in the (inclusive) government dispute was not unreasonable.
In both cases the editor is wrong. Implementation of the Zimbabwe GPA is underwritten by the Sadc mediator who in turn reverts to the SADC Troika reference Group if he fails to assail a dispute and if the troika fails to resolve the dispute SADC intervention becomes mandatory. Both Zanu PF and MDC referred the impasse on Ministerial portfolios to SADC for resolution.

The only point of departure was and still that Zanu PF and the faction of the MDC that is led by Prof Mutambara which has been christened MDC PF for its leadership affinity with Zanu PF had reduced the dispute to one Ministry of Home Affairs whereas the MDC led by Tsvangirai insisted on 10 disputed Ministerial allotments, appointment of Governors, Top Civil Servants, Diplomats, State Commissionaires and clarification and definition of the role of the National Security Council apropos as well as an address of insincerity incidence observed in the GPA implementation process.

On the second instant, the resolution directing co-management of the Home Affairs Ministry was absurd, inconsistent with the GPA letter and Spirit that allowed each Party only 1 Minister for each of the 31 Ministries agreed upon and has no provision for co-management.

Further the resolution was outrageous and a betrayal of Tsvangirai’s trust in the impartiality of SADC because it allowed Mugabe dominion over all Security Ministries he has in the past abused to entrench himself and party in power which abuse needed to be counterbalanced with MDC control of the law enforcement Ministry.

And finally the resolution that was passed as a decree as opposed to a recommendation by an informal Sadc Heads of State fora without locus citandi to preside over the Zimbabwe dispute as a jury rather than mediator and conciliator was and is still a legal nullity whichever way the Post of Zambia editor sees it.

It is legally impossible of execution because the authority that issued it has no legal means with which to enforce it other than politically.

That is why the MDC has taken a political decision to reject the resolution and appeal it to the further mediation consideration of the AU.

But that does not go down well with the Post of Zambia editor who believes that rejecting a SADC resolution is contemptuous of the SADC.

We wonder if he holds the same beliefs about appeals in judicial litigation where aggrieved litigants reject lower court decisions and appeal them to the highest court possible until they exhaust chances of attaining a desired remedy.

If he does we do not hesitate to tell him that he is a pathetic tragedy holding a dangerously influential position in Zambian, Sadc and AU communities that he must be stripped of.

“From the very beginning, Tsvangirai had relied on American, British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and other European support. Africa had never been an option for him.

For a long time, Tsvangirai and MDC had no meaningful contact with African countries, governments or political parties. In saying this, we are not in any way trying to choose friends for them.

But we are merely wondering why countries that have never supported liberation or progressive movements in this region are today the allies and ardent supporters of Tsvangirai and MDC,” the editor pondered loudly.

The reality is that for a long time African politicians have been overawed by the antics of despots like Milton Obote, Idi Amin, Muamar Gaddafi, Charles Taylor, Kamuzu Banda, Mobutu Sese Seko, Emperor Bokassa, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Hosni Mubarak, Kenneth Kaunda, King Mswati and Robert Mugabe for them to care about political upstarts like Tsvangirai.

The coups that litter African history mirror the blind leadership the continent has witnessed where obsession with power retention has overridden developmental change desires of Africans.

The African leaders did not care about the MDC and its leader until he proved that with or without them he was the most popular leader in the country by defeating Mugabe and his awesome Zanu PF party in the 2000, 2002, 2005 elections where they retained their rule of the country by electoral rigging and vicious political thuggery.

All African leaders were privy to observer reports into electoral conduct in Zimbabwe and were convinced that Tsvangirai and his MDC were true representatives of a critical mass of Zimbabweans they could no longer afford to ignore after witnessing his party secure nearly 50% of votes in three consecutive elections his party participated in under conditions no other party had managed to win 10% of the rigged vote.

This entrenched conservative “prove your worth before receiving my endorsement” African and Asian value system which runs contrary to the Western value system that actively seeks to identify and promote competition and thus is dynamically manage change is the reason why the Western democracies identified Tsvangirai’s leadership capabilities much earlier than the Africans did.

They were waiting for a sign and when they realised Tsvangirai and his MDC were there to stay in Zimbabwe politics they began to cautiously warm up to him and his party and in that process wanted to as they now seem to be pushing for, take credit for mentoring Tsvangirai.

This is the reality of African political hypocrisy that the Post of Zambia editor must expose in the interest of African developmental politics but alas he is hell bent on promoting conservatism.

“The British and Americans never supported any of our liberation struggles in this region. These are the same countries that classified our liberation movements as terrorist organisations,” he declares in his African conservationist approach.

Indeed the Western countries committed cardinal generational sins against African humanity through slave trade and colonisation but they also realised the folly of their imperialism and were forced to abandon it by African militarism.

Once they were forced into retreat they actively sought to champion democracy within their countries and the world to atone for their mistakes.

They may not have achieved ultimate democracy but they are light years ahead of African democratic systems.

“What is it that they have found more interesting, more favourable, more acceptable in Tsvangirai and MDC that they did not find in Mandela and ANC, in Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo and Zanu and Zapu?

What is it that they see in Tsvangirai and MDC that they did not see in Sam Nujoma and Swapo, in Samora Machel and Frelimo, in Dr Agostinho Neto and MPLA and so on and so forth?” he prods.

That Western interest in Africa dates back to the slave trade and imperial expansion seems lost to the Post of Zambia editor.

The Western democracies view Africa as a critical source of economic resources that are being abused at a time when they could be exploited and utilised to improve the quality of life throughout the globe.

When African liberation movements came into the way of this agenda they initially resisted them with vengeful force but African resolve for self rule triumphed over the might of imperialist military supremacy.

The Western leaders could not have been realistically expected to warm up to African Liberation movements that were threatening their smoothly coordinated access to the economic resources in Africa.

When they were belatedly forced to take stock of their human losses in wars that were beyond their capacity to win they tactically withdrew from political leadership of the countries and financed the election of preferred leaders in their former colonies.

Mugabe’s election in 1980 was sponsored and made possible by his former British colonial masters.

They hoped he would restore peace and tranquillity in the country and thereby create conditions for free trade between his country and the former colonisers as well as with any other nation the Zimbabwe leadership established convenient trade relations with.

But Mugabe went at a tangent and started terrorising people and trashing all known human rights conventions the country had hitherto ratified.

It is absolutely stupid for the Post of Zambia editor to then sing from Mugabe’s script that Tsvangirai and his party are puppets of Britain and America.

Many Zimbabweans will disagree with him with irrefutable evidence that the MDC is a truly Zimbabwean political initiative necessitated by Zanu PF excesses and nothing else.

“Today, Tsvangirai is going round raising concern about the worsening humanitarian condition in Zimbabwe when he was the one who campaigned vigorously for sanctions against his own country, his own people,” the editor declared.

Tsvangirai is unduly credited with calling for the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe without any evidence being given as to how an individual of his humble stature and alleged limited intellect could convince the most powerful nations of this world how he managed that feat.

We can assure the editor of the Post of Zambia that he is wrong in this belief. There are targeted sanctions against close associates and aides of Mugabe because they are at the forefront of trashing human rights in Zimbabwe.

If the editor doubts us we dare him challenge Mugabe to desist from applying the law selectively, restrain him from wanton arrest of opposition politicians, prevail upon him to respect property rights, freedom of speech, freedom of political assembly and association, open broadcasting airwaves, concede electoral defeat and generally rule by consent rather than military cohesion.

It is sad that the editor of the Post of Zambia Newspaper is still steeped in UNIP political dogma that failed Zambia to a point where Zambians depended on Zimbabwe for food security and daily life necessities in similar ways to how Mugabe’s mantra has reduced Zimbabweans to food scavengers in all bordering Sadc countries and is not ashamed to promote such shameful policies.

Targeted sanctions against Zanu PF despots have not impoverished Zimbabweans. Rather it is Zanu PF grab and squander political leadership that has reduced most Zimbabweans to destitution as national productivity has plummeted to nothing and the country now relies on imports for national survival which is a complete reversal of the economic principles Zanu PF inherited from colonists which guaranteed national self sufficiency.

“There is no doubt that Tsvangirai sought to take over power in Zimbabwe at the back of national failure,” lamented the editor.

Could there be any better justification for change of national leadership than proven failed leadership by the current leadership?

It is pathetic that the editor believes that failed leadership in Zimbabwe was caused by Tsvangirai and the MDC when the very existence of that party was justified by mounting discontent with Zanu PF leadership.

“And he must be very frustrated today that the national failure he sought has come to his country but not with the appropriate share of power he wanted.

But despite his lack of respect for Africa and fellow Africans, over the last 12 months, the political fortunes for Tsvangirai on the continent increased beyond belief.

But the way he is going about things will make him lose all that support in a very vast way.

The support that he got from Africa made it possible for him to have the status that he has in his country and the world today.

If he wants to lose all this, he should ignore what Thabo Mbeki is saying. Mbeki has raised very serious matters concerning Tsvangirai and MDC’s behaviour and attitude,” the editor concluded.

Nothing can beat this for the editor’s sheer political stupidity and irrationality.
If Tsvangirai is frustrated it is not because he entered the political fray with the objective to cause national failure but to halt and reverse the country’s economic decline by democratically wrestling power from the corrupt and hopeless Zanu PF leadership.

SADC and the AU have conspired with Mugabe to deny him that opportunity and that is what is frustrating for Tsvangirai as that conspiracy has worsened the Zimbabwean humanitarian crisis.

If his lack of respect for African leadership models has endeared him with the people he aspires to lead in Zimbabwe why must he be expected to abandon a working political strategy and follow that which has caused Mugabe to lose his popularity if not outright political stupidity.

The reason why Africans like the Post of Zambia editor are mesmerised by the growth in Tsvangirai’s popularity throughout the African continent is because Tsvangirai is speaking for many impoverished Africans across the African continent whose voice is suppressed by Liberation political leaders through vicious military repression.

What sort of support is this from African leaders who intervened to deny him ascendency to the presidential throne in Zimbabwe after winning a legitimate election that the editor is crowing about.

If Tsvangirai’s popularity is on the ascendancy it is because many other sane countries and rational people throughout the world sympathise with victims of bullies and brutes.

Mugabe and Zanu PF are typical examples of political bullies and brutes in Zimbabwe and evidence of their brutality is everywhere for anyone with eyes and ears to see and hear.

The editor does not explain to us how a Tsvangirai who has never related with African leaders managed to secure their support to grow his popularity in the continent because the truth is that he has no explanation for that.

Tsvangirai like Senegalese President Wade has worked extra hard to gain African leaders’ respect as a genuine Zimbabwean political leader but Mugabe’s established State sponsored propaganda machinery has tried with some measure of success to sell him to Africa as a Western puppet and the Post of Zambia editor is a buyer into that mantra.

It is tragic that the editor relied on Mbeki’s letter to arrive at the conclusion that Tsvangirai and his party are fast losing credibility within SADC because he has disagreed with substantive leadership in the region.

If Mbeki was a Zimbabwean he would be a card carrying Zanu PF supporter. That is the undeniable fact that emerges on analysis of his relationship with Zanu PF and his leadership style similarities to those of Mugabe.

A common denominator between him and Mugabe is his intolerance of political competition and reliance on framed military and selective law application interventions to silence opponents.

We shall not waste time commenting on Mbeki’s ideas and opinions but merely state that he is a failed former President of South Africa with a superiority complex that is nauseating for the common man and women.

He adds no value whatsoever to Tsvangirai’s growing popularity as his sole mission is to support Mugabe regardless of how wrong or right the octogenarian despot maybe.
Tsvangirai can only gain SADC Heads of State lasting respect by openly challenging them to act in the best interests of impoverished SADC citizens and in particular Zimbabweans he leads.

He will be accommodated in the Presidential Union if he eulogises the current SADC leadership but he will lose grassroots support in Zimbabwe something the Zambian Post’s editor is oblivious to.

All Sadc Heads of State may withdraw their support from Tsvangirai and his MDC which for all we know is next to none existent in most of them but that will not diminish his popularity with Zimbabweans who agree with him on the cowardice of SADC leaders where dealing with Mugabe and Zanu PF excesses are concerned.

“This is how Mbeki reacted to Tsvangirai and MDC’s attitude, arrogance, lack of humility, lack of respect for others, and lack of gratitude to their African neighbours. Tsvangirai’s excessive dependency on Western Europe and North America for political and financial support will backfire.

What Tsvangirai should not forget is that for all that life has dealt them, one thing that Africans have not abandoned is hatred for colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialism in general.

The Zimbabwean campaign is the biggest Western Europe and North America have ever mounted in an independent African country.

We have had problems in Kenya, Uganda, Congo, but we have never seen Western Europe and North America do what they are doing in Zimbabwe.

Why?, the editor enquired.

Simple. None of those countries have ever openly stolen elections and trashed democratic practice to the extent Mugabe and Zanu PF has gone to.

Further Mugabe has an open confrontational approach with the leadership in those countries that alienates him from them and invites their ire in dealing with him personally after all they have done for him to become the first Black Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately his loud mouth is not backed by matching resources and he is ever on the receiving end of negative consequences of his political brinkmanship.
Maybe the editor would like to remind Mugabe of his opening remarks that yielding is noble to avert a more serious consequence in this regard.

“Tsvangirai shouldn’t mistake the African people’s commitment and desire for democracy as an acceptance of Western European and North American political domination,” the editor advised.

Indeed and he has never committed that sin. What he has done is to refuse to be fooled by disguised African kleptocracy being sold as African democracy. That is what principled political leaders must do. Reject political mirages.

“There is no sensible alternative for Tsvangirai and MDC outside negotiated political settlement as expressed in (an inclusive) government,” the editor intones Prof Mutambara.

Why not? Is African democracy better served by negotiated settlements than elections? If so why then hold the elections in Africa?

There is no need to satisfice on the Zimbabwe political impasse. The root cause is the refusal by Zanu PF to hold credible elections and live by results of such elections. That is the alternative open to Tsvangirai and MDC in their quest to gain power legitimately.

If opinion leaders like the Zamia Post’s editor were to campaign for SADC and AU to compel member states to resolve political differences through credible elections open to monitoring by any interested party, SADC leaders would not make dreadful mistakes of resorting to elitist political pacts that circumvent the will of citizens.


“In conclusion, we can only say that intervention only works when people concerned seem to be keen to come together and work together in unity.
If they want to be sweepstake winners where there can only be a collective winner, then there is a problem.

We hope Tsvangirai and MDC will see sense in what Mbeki is saying and make amends,” he concluded.

By people concerned we hope the editor also had in mind Zanu PF militants. They are the ones who profess openly they will not work with anyone as leader of the country other than one with Liberation war credentials.

The majority in the population do not have those credentials and thus the stage for acrimony as opposed to cooperation is set and the editor does not address its basis.
With regard to his conclusion that winners must cede their winnings to competitors we are at variance. Why compete if the price was there for sharing by other means in the first instance.

In any event competition we believe brings the best out of people if there is a prize for effort spent in competing.

We also hope that as much as we appreciate the editor’s desire for Tsvangirai to consider Mbeki’s recommendations, Mbeki. Mugabe, Sadc, AU and the Post of Zambia Editor must also consider his position and uphold his winning status and advise him in that capacity rather than the present position where they want him to be subservient to Robert Mugabe whom he beat at the polls.

Picking on Tsvangirai on the assumption he is weaker than Mugabe is condescending and unacceptable and will not work as the editor will sooner rather than later find out.

Mugabe found out rather belatedly and conceded. The post of Zambia editor may not wait as long as Mugabe did to discover realities about Tsvangirai and the MDC.