President Mugabe- SADC Tribunal ruling on Zimbabwe's chaotic land grab is nonsensecal but the Regional Block must still sponsor its after effects.
By Philip Murombedzi
Talkzimbabwe.com
Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:11:00 +0000
OPENING old wounds is not honourable, but I think there are lessons that need to be learnt from all the exchanges that have been going on in the media and the statements that have been made by our politicians, some of them who are now Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and whatever other titles they have now or will assume in future.
Some of us have been at the forefront of the Zimbabwean debate and have used our real names while others had the comfort of remaining anonymous while we got verbal punches.
As I write today, we have a Prime Minister in Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, whom I have a lot of respect for as my leader and Mr Tendai Biti, who both have carried a begging bowl to South Africa – the head of the Southern African Development Community, aptly acronymed Sadc.
If I remember very well, Mr Biti..was at the forefront of dismissing Sadc, and South Africa, as an important agent of change in Zimbabwe; but is today running to that same country for help.
The reader will notice how the campaign to remove President Mugabe was concentrated away from the African borders; yet the reconstruction efforts of our beloved country are concentrated within the region.
Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki once reminded the MDC leadership that the West will never share borders with Zimbabwe.
Mr Mbeki said in a letter written to MDC leader, Tsvangirai: “Nevertheless, the leaders of the people of Zimbabwe, including you, dear brother, need to bear in mind that the pain your country bears is a pain that is transferred to the masses of our people, who face their own challenges of poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment.”
He was responding to the leader of the MDC although the Secretary General had originally penned the now infamous “nullity” letter.
He added: “This particular burden is not carried by the countries of Western Europe and North America, which have benefited especially from the migration of skilled and professional Zimbabweans to the north.
“In the end, when all is said and done, Zimbabwe will have to exist in peace and productive collaboration with its neighbours in Southern Africa and the rest of Africa.
“Realistically, Zimbabwe will never share the same neighbourhood with the countries of Western Europe and North America, and therefore secure its success on the basis of friendship with these, and contempt for the decisions of its immediate African neighbours.”
Mr Mbeki has now been vindicated and his words will occupy our minds for a very long time.
One wonders why the Zimbabwean debate is no longer fodder for international media and the sudden lack of interest from the West of what is going on in Zimbabwe. "They are watching Zimbabwe closely," we hear. Watching closely while people die?
Indeed, South Africa is now bearing the burden of reconstructing Zimbabwe, and Mr Biti, the Finance Minister, is the new agent who has to face the people that he chastised before. I wonder what he is now saying in the boardroom, to people he once dismissed as docile and incompetent in reconstructing Zimbabwe.
The promise made to Zimbabweans: that they will receive their February salaries in foreign currency has faltered.
Mr Biti told us that “Our Prime Minister has friends” and automatically many of us thought he had friends in the West, but alas, we were wrong. He had friends in Sadc, in South Africa, the same leadership that was called docile and that could not stand up to President Mugabe.
Mr Biti then recycled Sen. Patrick Chinamasa's suggestion to pay a US$100 stipend, modified it to save face. But that initiative was already in the Budget, the same Budget he wanted to deface just a few days ago.
Reality is beginning to creep in. The business of running a Government with meagre or no resources is no easy task and our new leadership is beginning to realise that.
Recently another embarassing showdown loomed between the new Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara, whose job description we have not yet seen (and doubt will ever see) and Reserve Bank Governor, Dr. Gideon Gono, over the “casino economy”. We are witnessing the same knee-jerk statements now being made by the leadership in power.
He told business leaders to disregard Dr Gono's Monetary Statement. And replace it with what? When? How, Professor?
I have to warn my brothers and sisters who still feel and think that they are opposition leaders that the public is watching and certainly the media is watching and listening and we will analyse each statement they make and every move they make with the level of scrutiny they watched the last Cabinet, and ones before that.
Playing to the gallery, over-enthusiasm and knee-jerk statements that are meaningless to the material well-being of people should now be a thing of the past.
The new leadership should give itself time to learn how Governments work and function and not spend time trying to appease supporters by making uninformed statements.
Many of us thought the new Deputy PM was merely trying to find relevance in a position, that he probably does not understand the relevance of himself. Otherwise why would he make such a statement before his position, and role in Government has not even been clarified to the Zimbabwean people? Dr. Gono's role is well understood by everyone.
What is Prof. Mutambara's mandate? What exactly does a Deputy PM do in the current structure and where does he derive his authority from? Two deputies for that matter! Now that Mr PM Tsvangirai is in South Africa who is the acting PM and what exactly does and acting PM do?
We hope that a certain level of soberness and responsibility will now instruct this new leadership, otherwise they will be the new targets of an ever-inquisitive and hungry media.
Philip Murombedzi
philipmurombedzi@yahoo.com
And here is the rest of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment