Temba Mliswa, Didymus Mutasa and Theresa Makone can of worms

The recent arrest of Zanu PF foot soldier from Mashonaland West province TEMBA Mliswa for allegedly seizing shares worth US$1 million in a local company is slowly but surely mothballing into a can of worms Zanu PF never wished to be opened.

Mliswa (38), Mliswa is currently on bail on yet another charge of fraud for which he is jointly charged with Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa’s son Martin Mutasa (47) and George Marere (36).

MDC ministers and MP's stand up and be counted

Elections thief George Chiweshe former ZEC Chairman recently rewarded by Zanu PF with unilateral appointment by president Mugabe as Judge President of the High Court causing the same reactions in MDC-T similar yet still substantive past appointments have stirred in the past. Could this be the one that instructs MDC-T to look elsewhere for remedies to Mugabe's failure to uphold the Constitution?

The MDC-T is once again crying foul as it finds itself short changed by President Mugabe’s unilateralism in the coalition government.

President Mugabe has followed up his unilateral appointment of the Reserve Bank Governor, Attorney General and Provincial Governors and his unconstitutional refusal to swear in Roy Bennett as Deputy Minister of Agriculture with announcement of unilateral appointments of High and Supreme Court judges.

The latest appointments have further riled the MDC-T that is already seething with anger over the blatant refusal by Zanu PF to fully implement the provisions of Constitutional Amendment No 19.

The MDC-T are in the flawed coalition government to try and salvage whatever it can of its political losses following the rigged March 29, 2008 elections the party won a victory that was invalidated by the intervention of the military and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in favour of Zanu PF.

Bruised and battered by a well oiled and armed violent Zanu PF machinery augmented by a complicit Sadc leadership the MDC-T was forced into accepting a seat in a coalition government negotiated at the behest of the defeated Zanu PF party.

Because Zanu PF forced itself into the coalition government it was always going to be the dominant player despite its unpopularity with the electorate.

President Mugabe did not waste any time in making the most out of the coalition government allocating all the critical Ministries to his Zanu PF adherents many of whom he had to appoint as Senators to qualify for Cabinet posts following their humiliating defeat at the polls.

Next he moved to appoint 10 Provincial Governors, the RBZ Governor and the AG all from Zanu PF ranks notwithstanding the humiliating rejection the party had suffered at the polls and provisions of the GPA his party had entered into with MDC-T and MDC-M requiring consulting first before appointing.

Having realised that the MDC-T and MDC-M had no meaningful means with which to resist his unilateralism in making appointments President Mugabe went on to announce a full line-up of Permanent Secretaries he had appointed without consulting the other coalition principals as required of him by CA No19.

The appointments were later to be ratified by the Premier after President Mugabe had agreed that he would appoint the next set of Ambassadors from MDC nominees until an external representation balance was struck between the coalition partners.

To pacify the restive MDC-T coalition partners who had announced a partial pull out from the coalition government that was threatening to delegitimize President Mugabe , he also added the appointment of Commissions and the reconvening of the National Security Council on a monthly basis as well as the revisiting by inter-party negotiators of all outstanding CA No 19 issues.

No sooner had the tactic to lure back the MDC-T into full participation in the coalition government than President Mugabe was at it again this time reassigning ministerial portfolios to himself and Zanu PF ministries while leaving ministries under MDC nominated ministers without any administrative Acts to superintend.

In all instances the MDC-T in particular has done well to highlight these unconstitutional behaviours to the nation and the guarantours of the coalition agreement but has not come up with effective counter strategies to stop the unconstitutional actions by the President.

The multitudes that have banked their trust in the party to make a difference in their lives have not done themselves any service by concentrating their analysis of events in the coalition government and embarking on a strengths/weakness evaluation of the parties instead of throwing in missiles for the MDC-T to use in countering the Zanu PF onslaught on their rights.

The unilateral appointments remain substantive to date despite the vociferous MDC-T opposition and referral of the illegal appointments to the guarantours and the never-ending negotiations.

To be fair to the MDC-T the party has also scored significant victories in gaining appointments of its nominees as Ambassadors to 5 missions abroad and the appointment of the Zimbabwe media Commission, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Human rights Commission as well as the regular meetings of the National security Council.

But these gains were made insignificant given the national expectations that are premised on the full and unconditional implementation of the coalition agreements leading to the holding of elections to foreclose the flawed coalition era and replace it with a representative government of the electorate’s choice.

The MDC-T has announced that agreement was reached ages ago on the share of Provincial governors among the coalition parties but all the electorate sees are Zanu PF Governors and no indication as to when the agreed quotas will be put in practice.

The MDC-T has referred the matter to SADC but there is no sign there from that they will enforce the agreement.

President Mugabe argues that provincial governors are his Constitutional prerogative to appoint and not covered by the GPA.

But that argument is preposterous as the GPA has now been integrated as part of the Constitution through CA No19 which overrides any Constitutional and Statutory variances with its spirit and letter during the lifespan of the coalition government.

None other than President Mugabe signed CA No 19 into the Supreme law of the coalition government and annexed the GPA to it.

The MDC-T is right to make all the noises about the failure by the President to uphold CA No 19 in letter and spirit. The MDC-T is equally right to refer the matter to Sadc guarantours of the Supremacy of CA No19 during the tenure of the coalition government.

However if these initiatives are not yielding the desired result the MDC-T needs its supporters to tell it what to do next and all the party is getting is brickbats about it having entered into this untenable position without the approval of its grassroots support which wanted nothing less than the total transfer of power from Zanu PF following the March 2008 electoral defeat of Zanu PF.

The paradox though is that while the coalition was not an expectation of the MDC-T grassroots it was the same grassroots that implored party leadership to do all it could to relieve them of the harsh and hostile burden of Zanu PF retributive violence and the coalition government initiative has done just that.

The MDC-T supporters must now use the freedom from violence they have to demand that their MP’s do something about the violations of the coalition constitution by President Mugabe and Zanu PF in addition to its Jomic and Negotiators and Sadc arbitration initiatives.

The ZCTU has already suggested that a fresh Presidential election be considered in the circumstances, which is not an outrageous proposal at all.

Alternatively the MDC-T must table a motion in Parliament to impeach the President who has willingly of deliberately refused and or failed to uphold the Constitution he swore to defend and uphold at all times during his tenure of office.

IF there is doubt on the interpretation of CA No19 of outstanding in so far as the powers of the President to appoint certain categories of Public Servants as appears to be the case the best place for that to be put to rest would be in the Supreme Court.

In the past the MDC-T has been reluctant to resort to the Supreme Court for adjudication of its political disputes with Zanu PF on the premise that the Supreme Court bench was compromised in favour of the government.

Now that the Party’s leader is also the Head of Government and Premier, why is the party still reluctant to approach the court for redress of a constitutional dispute in the government it is involved in?

The MDC-T must seriously consider approaching the Supreme Court for adjudication on the interpretation of “SCHEDULE 8 (Section 115(2) and (3)) which reads;
“Transitional Amendments and Provisions
Framework for a New Government
1. For the avoidance of doubt, the following provisions of the Interparty Political Agreement, being Article XX thereof, shall, during the subsistence of the Interparty Political Agreement, prevail notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution-
20.1.3 The President
(a) ......
(n) appoints independent Constitutional Commissions in terms of the Constitution;
(o) appoints service/executive Commissions in terms of the Constitution and in consultation with the Prime Minister;
(p) in consultation with the Prime Minister, makes key appointments the President is required to make under and in terms of the Constitution or any Act of Parliament;

The argument that approaching the Supreme Court would automatically suspend political initiatives to settle the dispute may be valid but is defacto flawed because even without the approach the political initiatives are in limbo and as good as suspended.

Once the Supreme Court clarifies the meaning and application of these clauses the disputed appointments in the coalition government can be dealt with accordingly and in compliance with the legal ruling.

That will spare the nation of all the political noses it has been subjected over the past 18 months over the appointments which legally appear to be flawed but are defacto operational.

With specific reference to the refusal by the President to allow Senator Roy Bennett to take up his appointment as Deputy Minister of Agriculture the MDC-T must in addition to efforts and initiatives it has so far undertaken, initiate a parliamentary motion compelling president Mugabe to uphold CA No19 section “23A Political rights which reads;

“(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every Zimbabwean citizen shall have the right to;
(a) free, fair and regular elections for any legislative body, including a local authority, established under this Constitution or any Act of Parliament;
(b) free, fair and regular elections to the office of President and to any other elective office;
(c) free and fair referendums whenever they are called in terms of this Constitution or an Act of Parliament.
(2) Subject to this Constitution, every adult Zimbabwean citizen shall have the right;
a. to vote in referendums and elections for any legislative body established under this Constitution, and to do so in secret; and
b. to stand for public office and, if elected, to hold office.”

By failing to challenge the President legally the MDC-T is complicit in Roy Bennett’s refusal to assume public office for whatever reasons that the President and Zanu PF have so far advanced which are unconstitutional.

It is no use the MDC-T complaining about the unilateral appointment of Retired Brigadier General George Chiweshe as the new High Court Judge President because he was the Chairman of the Electoral Commission that robbed the party of its electoral victory in March 2008 yet on the other hand the Party’s Secretary General in his capacity as Finance Minister appoints Gideon Gono as Chairman of the RBZ board in the full knowledge that the same Gono was the financier in chief of Chiweshe’s electoral rigging.

The complaints become even more ludicrous when the MDC-T is shunning the option to stop President Mugabe from acting unconstitutionally by refusing to table parliamentary initiatives open to the party to counter Presidential excesses and worse refuses to approach the courts for redress preferring to resort to Sadc, Jomic, Inter Party negotiators, ZMC, ZEC, ZHRC and other Commissions for arbitration before the laws they operate under have not been changed.

The results will not change because the rules remain and can only be changed in Parliament where the party seems afraid to hazard radical legislative changes for fear that its slim parliamentary majority may not carry the day.

But the people it claims to represent would rather see attempts to change these regulations fail and know who is against the changes so that they will deal with them come next elections.

As it stands there are many who believe that the MDC-T is shedding crocodile tears over Mugabe and Zanu PF’s refusal to implement the coalition agreement when it is the MDC-T that wants to use the outstanding issues to gain political mileage through accusing Zanu PF of political intransigence.

The noble cause the MDC-T is fighting for of seeing through the Constitution making process will come to nothing if in the process the party loses its grassroots support by failing to address immediate concerns of the electorate on the flawed belief that its economic stabilization and political violence interventions have endeared it to the grassroots in perpetuity.

The fight must continue even after the party wins elections under the new Constitution in the making as the improved conditions that people are enjoying are still way below the ideal.

All the unconstitutional and unilateral appointments and or denials of public office that the President has made or perpetrated must suffer the same treatment and fate without singling out the recent appointment of George Chiweshe.

Chiweshe's recent appointment is not in any way more repugnant than the imposition of people rejected at the polls as Provincial Governors, the appointment of Financier of the violent electioneering by Zanu PF as RBZ Governor, the imposition of a self confessed Zanu PF activist as the AG thereby delaying the prosecution of perpetrators of violence while the innocent victims are persecuted and denied the right to public office.

MDC-T must stop pussycating on these serious issues and take the bull by its horns in Courts, in Parliament, within Sadc and AU as well as in Jomic and other Commissions that are in place through pushing for regulations and laws that will bind the operatives to act constitutionally and judiciously.

What corrective measures have all those Ministers and deputy Ministers from the MDC who are whingeing about being stripped of their powers taken to reclaim their powers other than crying in public about their losses?

Why can’t they raise these unconstitutional acts in Parliament and demand their powers back that way given that these were ministries they were allotted after Zanu PF had chosen those it wished to administer in the first instance?

Is it not time these Ministers take a cue from Roy Bennett’s bravery and grit and start hitting back and very hard too whenever they are lapped in the face by their Zanu PF counterparts.

The Prime Minister can only do so much for them but it is really up to them to show that they are not in government to nursemaid Zanu PF Ministers but to push through the people’s agenda for the country.
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Professor Moyo exposes Zanu PF unholy agenda against Roy Bennett

Motor mouth Professor Jonathan Moyo (Zanu PF Tsholotsho North MP) may just have provided the MDC-T the ammunition it lacked in fighting the Roy Bennett persecution

Professor Jonathan Moyo the Zanu PF MP for Tsholotsho North has confirmed national sentiment about the ongoing persecution of MDC-T Treasurer General Roy Bennett in unambiguous terms that leave no room for error in interpretation.

Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo said delays in swearing in Bennett had nothing to do with his trial but “his abominable Rhodesian past”.

“The quandary has never been a legal one but rather a political one. For the record, Roy Bennett must not be part of any government in free Zimbabwe because he represents the unacceptable face of the murderous Rhodesian infantry whose bloodletting during the liberation struggle knew no bounds.

As such, the question whether Bennett should be sworn in as deputy minister of agriculture has absolutely nothing to do with his acquittal but his abominable Rhodesian past.

The MDC-T can have Bennett as their treasurer, agriculture secretary or even their president, but the majority of Zimbabweans simply can’t stomach him as a member of their government in any capacity whatsoever,” disclosed Professor Moyo in an interview with the Herald on 14 May 2010.

The MDC –T has never believed otherwise and now has the confirmation from the persecutor –Zanu PF that has been missing and thus reducing the fears in MDC-T to mere speculation and must act on it.

The swearing in of Roy Bennett as Deputy Minister of Agriculture following his nomination to the post in terms of Constitutional Amendment No 19 has been unilaterally set aside by President Mugabe who is also the First Secretary and President of Zanu PF.

President Mugabe has always highlighted that he would be in dereliction of is constitutional responsibility if he was to appoint Roy Bennett into the government before he was exonerated of serious charges of conspiring to commit acts of banditry, terrorism and insurgency against an elected government that had been preferred against the MDC-T nominee .

Not that there was anything in the constitution allowing him to do so, the nation has grudgingly given the President the benefit of doubt and allowed the president to get away with an obvious breach of the Constitution afraid to be accused of agitating for going against the rule of law that the nation and international community had always vilified Zanu PF of.

That fear no longer has any basis following the acquittal of Roy Bennett by the High Court on Monday 10 May 2010.

Not even in the face of a frivolous and vexatious appeal by the State against the acquittal that has been exposed as a Zanu PF inspired appeal to buttress the real motive of the appeal as disclosed by professor Moyo.

There will be objections that when he disclosed the reason behind the prosecution of Roy Bennett, Professor Moyo was airing his personal views as he holds no position in Zanu PF entitling him to speak for and on behalf of the party and or government.

That would be acceptable if Zanu PF had always distanced itself from the vociferous Professor.

Zanu PF has always identified and supported the vociferous rants of Professor Moyo as a former Minister and Party deputy spokesman and lately as MP for Tsholotsho.

It was the same Professor who as Information and Publicity Minister in the Zanu PF government crafted the draconian legislation like AIPPA and POSA that have caused so much pain and suffering to the nation.

It is the same Professor who is in Court with Zanu PF approval and backing to try and reverse the election of current Parliament Speaker Lovemore Moyo from MDC-T.

As an MP and Member of the Zanu PF Central Committee professor Moyo is no lightweight member of the party and given the history of success his initiatives through Zanu PF have been implemented and the fact that Zanu PF has not officially distanced itself from his disclosures about the reasons behind Bennett’s prosecution, the MDC-T will be within reasonable grounds to consider political initiatives to counter Zanu PF initiatives through abuse of judiciary systems to achieve political ends.

Obviously the MDC-T leader will be meeting the other Principals and taking up the Bennett persecution case to try and get it resolved without the need to wait for the outcome of a dubious and politically motivated appeal whose only chance of success is in delaying the swearing in of Mr. Bennett as Deputy Minister rather than a conviction of Mr. Bennett over the allegations he is accused of.

But that alone is not enough to show the president how a self confessed politically compromised Attorney General is a liability in the Judiciary system of the nation and a source of unhealthy conflict in government.

What is needed is for the MDC-T to roll out a well coordinated political program that will target those that rely on political patronage for jobs to pay the political practice that politicians pay when they fail to serve their constituencies.

A starting point would be a massive protest against the AG at the courts whenever the appeal is set down for hearing.

In tandem with that there must be a parliamentary initiative by the MDC-T that sends an unambiguous message that the party does not condone any breaches of the Constitution from anyone starting with a motion to impeach president Mugabe if he refuses to swear in Roy Bennett on the grounds of an appeal that his party has already said has nothing to do with seeing justice in action but rather a political initiative to stop Bennett access to a seat in government because of his past.

The likelihood that such a motion will not succeed is very high as the MDC-T alone does not command sufficient numbers in parliament to push through the motion on its own.

However there are immense political benefits that will accrue to the party if it risks losing the motion than if it continues to use methods that President Mugabe has scoffed at in the past like discussions with coalition government Principals.

First a motion to impeach President Mugabe for failing to uphold the Constitution will send him the message that he does not enjoy popular support in Parliament in that regard.

Secondly the MDC-T will send a message that the electorate has been waiting for that nobody is above the Constitution and the Party will not stand by and be counted among those that willfully disregard the Constitution.

Finally President Mugabe is not guaranteed success against such a motion given his unpopularity within Zanu PF.

There are several among his lieutenants who would want to see his back out of the party and government but would never publicly voice their intentions for fear of reprisals but would in their secretive factions within the party caucus to support the motion if they believe voting will be in secret and the MDC formations will support it.

It happened when Lovemore Moyo was elected Speaker and it can be repeated against President Mugabe but only if the MDC-T takes the risk.

The risk will not be as politically damaging for the party as would otherwise be the case if the impeachment motion was premised on fabricated political malice against the President at the same time its benefits far outweigh disadvantages be it won or lost.

Professor Jonathan Moyo, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Patrick Chinamasa, Johannes Tomana, Michael Mugabe and Christopher Mutangadura will be in real trouble with Zanu PF over such a motion and the MDC-T will relieve itself of pressures exerted by the Bennett dispute.

Are there any takers in the Party though or are they now risk averse given the personal benefits that are flowing their way from their seats in government.

Whatever the MDC-T party will settle on in respect of the persecution of its Treasurer General it must never forget that political battles are never fought and won in courts but in political institutions like Parliament, through demonstrations and or crisis negotiations.

Kasukuwere headstrong and dogmatic about indigenisation

Minister Kasukuwere must know that we will not buy into phony empowerment projects from Zanu PF unless the party cleans its past acts of dis-empowerment

Youth Indigenisation Empowerment and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has dominated media space on Zimbabwe during the first quarter of the year following the Gazetting of the controversial Empowerment regulations that require foreign owned entities worth $500 000.00 and above to surrender 51% of their investment for free takeover by indigenous or more appropriately Zanu PF networked Black Zimbabweans.

Despite the numerous and vociferous opposition to the potentially damaging manner in which the Minister proposes to expropriate majority ownership in foreign owned companies for free donation to the so called Indigenous people he has remained headstrong and at face value unwilling to accommodate wise Counsel on the potential Empowerment rules had for setting the economic turnaround objective backwards by a decade.
But we all know that the bad law that the Minister has crafted has got nothing to do with empowerment of the people the Minister says he intends to empower neither will it empower anyone as all the law will do is legalise pillaging and asset striping of foreign owned companies by the politically connected beneficiaries of free majority shareholding in the targeted companies.

We say this with so much conviction because we have lived long enough under Zanu PF misrule to know the party’s political treachery and be able to predict outcomes of each and every move the party makes with less than 1% margin of error in our predictions.

We have witnessed more than enough of Zanu PF pseudo empowerment initiatives that have spectacularly collapsed and fizzled into horrendous economic liabilities for the nation to trust the party in any matter that it spearheads as an empowerment initiative.

During the 2000 electioneering Kasukuwere and his Zanu PF party campaigned on the theme of empowerment and coined the infamous “The land is the economy and the economy is the land “slogan to whip support for empowerment through land expropriation via unplanned invasions of commercial farms.

The predominantly White owned commercial farmers were chased off farms they had lived and farmed on for decades and the Zanu PF supporters replaced them as the new farmers.

Agricultural productivity plummeted to abysmal levels and the country was transformed from a net exporter of agricultural produce to at best a net importer of national food requirements and at the worst a beggar for international food aid.

The new farmers were queuing with destitute at Government Social Services, International Donor Agencies, the Reserve Bank and the Grain Marketing Board for charity and or heavily subsidized handouts of not just food packs but also farm implements and cropping inputs like fuel, fertilizer and seed packs.

To date the same farmers who have been allocated and are occupying vast tracts of fertile agricultural lands are still whingeing about Finance Minister Hon Tendai Biti being the main obstacle in their way to accessing free government donations to enable them to farm the lands they have acquired.

How empowered are they if they are still unable to practice farming on freely acquired land? Do they have titled ownership of the lands they occupy and if not why not?

More importantly how have the fortuitous Zanu PF “farmers” moved forward the Black Empowerment Agenda that Kasukuwere is dogmatic about when the entire nation is now surviving on imported food while the farms they own lie forlorn and derelict?

The failed empowerment through land invasions has not given the Zanu PF leadership insight into what real empowerment is as they seem to have been encouraged or is it frustrated to redirect expropriation energies from the now valueless and derelict farms in the possession of party loyalists to foreign owned mines and companies.

They hope to realise better fortunes from these economic assets which will be managed by the minority foreign investors who on top of donating free ownership will have to endure the ridicule of earning the lesser of the company profits yet shoulder the major responsibility of financial resourcing of the companies to cover operational pre-requisites or face the real prospect of winding up as the new majority shareholders have neither the acumen nor the resources to shoulder 51% of the company operational requirements and liabilities.

Clearly the foreign investors are in a catch 22 position on their investments in Zimbabwe because if they decide to oblige with the Empowerment regulations and parcel out 51% of their investment they will still be burdened with the responsibility for organisation management and leadership as well as 100% of the working capitalisation of the companies or collapse as new partners are not being donated 51% of the liabilities but just the assets.

The irony of it all is that in 1996 Kasukuwere and his ruling Zanu PF party were given an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to Black Economic Empowerment when by far the largest and most profitable organisation in the country Old Mutual applied to demutualise.

The Zimbabwe Insurance Act [Chapter 24:07} section 15 reproduce here in full did not and still does not permit Mutual Societies to demutualise.
“15 Effect of registration and prohibition of registration as or conversion into a Company
(1) From the date of registration of a society in terms of this Part, such society shall be a body corporate by the name under which it is registered and shall, in its registered name, be capable of suing and being sued, acquiring property and disposing of it and, subject to its constitution and of this Act, of performing all such acts as bodies corporate may by law perform.
(2) Subject to section ninety-one, no society registered in terms of this Part shall register or be registered as a company in terms of the Companies Act [Chapter24:03].
(3) No society shall, after its registration in terms of this Part, convert itself into a company as defined in the Companies Act [Chapter 24:03].
Zanu PF with Minister Kasukuwere’s tacit consent not only issued Old Mutual with Cabinet Authority to demutualise and transfer the ownership of the Society from 98% of its ownership by Black policyholders to foreign ownership by Old Mutual PLC headquartered in London but also allowed it to be registered as a public company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange using the term Mutual in its name despite the prohibition for the use of the term Mutual by Insurers and companies registered in terms of the Companies Act at section 20 0f the Insurance Act.

“20 Restriction of use of the word “mutual”
(1) No insurer, other than a society registered in terms of this Part, or an existing society awaiting the outcome of registration proceedings, including any review in terms of section seventy-one, shall operate under any name or title of which the word “mutual” is a part.
(2) An insurer who contravenes subsection (1)shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level six or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

Now the same Minister Kasukuwere expects us to take him seriously when he makes rules compelling the same Old Mutual PLC he allowed to buy us out of its shareholding using our accrued surpluses in its custody to donate back 51% of its equity to unspecified Black Zanu PF adherents.

If he was serious he would start by reversing the Executive order authorizing Old Mutual to demutualise as it was not only unlawful then but remains unlawful today as the Act of Parliament does not empower the Executive to make such decrees but Zanu PF used its majority in Parliament to condone the illegality by not challenging the Executive decree as they were supposed to.

Will 51% of Old Mutual today be restored to the policyholders that were bought out at its demutualization or other unspecified “Indigenous” Zimbabweans who have corruptly acquired wealth to buy the equity or are connected to Zanu PF to be able to gain preferential allotment without payment like what happened in the chaotic land reforms spearheaded by the party to the economic detriment of the country.

First Mutual followed suit and demutualised again with Zanu PF government approval in utter disregard of the law.

Who now owns First Mutual which was 100% indigenous owned as a Mutual Society and why is it still using Mutual in its name despite Section 20 of the Insurance Act prohibition?

Perhaps minister Kasukuwere has answers for these disempowerment initiatives of his party that will convince us that it now represents Black economic empowerment champions through transfer of ownership.

And while at it Minister Kasukuwere may as well address us on why foreign banks must donate 51% of their equity to us when no more than 5years back the Zanu PPF appointed Reserve Bank Governor wound up several Indigenous Banks, Asset Management Companies and Bureau De Changes and impounded their assets after haunting their owners into exile on charges that have never been successfully prosecuted in our courts.

It is myopic for Kasukuwere and Zanu PPF leadership to posture as champions of Black Economic Empowerment when all they are doing is project themselves as investment and economic scarecrows aware that after the next elections they will not be able to form a government and will not be answerable for the stunted economic growth the laws they are enacting will cause.

Zimbabwe needs leaders that act in the interest of its nationals well being and scaring away investors at a time when investor confidence was gaining momentum is not in anyone’s interest neither will it improve the political fortunes of the festering party that Zanu PF is today.

Zanu PF serving foreign interests

H

President Mugabe transformed into a puppet political leader by targeted sanctions imposed by the EU,USA and their allies

Zanu-PF has over the years preached the gospel of national sovereignty and independence as its founding principle.

Many Zimbabweans were fooled into believing this mantra which was later spiced by the lies that the MDC was a puppet party of the British and USA imperialists bent on re-colonising our country.

But for the targeted sanctions against its leadership most would have never known that the party masquerading as the vanguard of our sovereignty is nothing more than a wild bunch of inextricably dependant s of White settlerism.
After frothing on the mouth over imperial interference from Britain and the USA and their allies’ attempts to effect regime change through their hidden hand within the MDC, it is saddening to hear Zanu PF now making former settler imposed sanctions a scapegoat for refusing to do what is good for the nation.

After negotiating the GPA with the MDC and before the brotherly Sadc facilitation and agreeing a raft of reforms necessary to save the nation from the political social and economic abyss it had plunged into, the party that boasts being the vanguard of our sovereignty is putting most of us to shame by its squirming over the sanctions.

President Mugabe and his Zanu PF acolytes are demanding as they have done over the past decade without much success, the lifting of sanctions imposed on Zanu PF leadership by the USA and the EU countries together with their associates.

Whatever has become of the look east alternative the party has been drumming up prior to the signing of the GPA one is left wondering?

Could it be that the look east alternative was a political ruse that Zanu PF never believed and has never managed to benefit from despite a decade of devotion to making the strategy work and render USA and EU sanctions inconsequential to the country’s economic progression?

Even if that was the case, which appears to be the case with each passing day after the signing of the GPA, Zanu PF is expected to show the spine and grit it is reputed for in the face of this adversity than to crumble in the manner it has done and hold the nation it helped attain liberation from colonial bondage at ransom because the former colonial masters have slapped the country with an economic embargo.

Addressing the 80th Ordinary Session of the Central Committee at the party’s headquarters in Harare recently, President Mugabe proudly declared that;

“Zanu PF had not reached any agreement with the two MDC formations over outstanding Global Political Agreement issues and will not do so until the issue of sanctions is fully addressed.”

"References to Gono, Tomana and Bennett is nothing because it has never been part of the agreement.”

"The reply from Zanu-PF has always been the same: Gono and Tomana have no case to answer while Bennett has a criminal case in the courts.

"The position is that they cannot be any further concessions from us unless the illegal sanctions are gone.”

In saying this President Mugabe may not have realised or intended it but he came through as the leader of not just a dependant and colonised nation that cannot survive without aid and or some form of economic support from former colonial masters and their allies but also as a leader of a bankrupt political party whose value of sovereignty is overshadowed by the desire for economic support and puppetry of the Western democracies.

By making implementation of the GPA conditional on the Western Nations’ lifting of sanctions they imposed against his party leadership, President Mugabe showed that he was more concerned with gaining access to the resources of the nations that imposed travel restrictions on him and his party leadership than he is in seeing Zimbabweans recover from the economic mess he plunged the nation into.

For how else does he expect us to understand why he should make the implementation of an agreement he entered into with other Zimbabwean political leaders at the total exclusion of the sanctions imposers’ dependant on the reaction of countries and persons that were, are and will never be beneficiaries of the agreement?

If in entering into the GPA Zanu PF were interested in improving the economic and political wellbeing of the country without compromising its sovereignty to the former colonists and their friends it does not make sense for him to make normalisation of economic relations with the same countries which are a threat to our sovereignty a condition for implementing the part of the agreement that does not require the normalization he and his party are demanding.

But the geriatric President shamelessly argues that the MDC party he has spent a decade accusing of puppetry must now lead a crusade that will bring Zanu PF into the fold of the former colonial masters by vigorously campaigning for the lifting of sanctions that are a wedge between his party and the bloodsucking, politically distablising and economically pillaging imperialists.

"They are just paying lip service to the issue of sanctions and they need to do more. The sanctions must go first," whined President Mugabe over the MDC-T enthusiasm to do his party and personal bidding for the lifting of sanctions.

The outstanding GPA issues are now Constitutional imperatives that the President is duty bound to uphold as the GPA in its entirety was annexed to Constitutional Amendment No 19 which none other than President Mugabe signed into law.

His failure to implement these constitutional provisions must be viewed as serious dereliction of duty that requires some form of sanctions from Parliament through an impeachment motion even if the motion will not secure the requisite 2 thirds majority to carry it will scare him to the core to know the numbers in the legislature that do subscribe to deliberate failure to uphold the constitution by anyone in power least of all the President.

More pertinently Zanu PF and President Mugabe need to be reminded that Zimbabweans do not expect any concessions from Zanu PF over and above those it consented to in CA No 19.

All Zimbabweans want is for Zanu PF and President Mugabe to abide by their signatures on the GPA and Constitution Amendment No 19 which was endorsed unconditionally and thus must be implemented in like manner.

The rant about Gono, Tomana, Provincial Governors appointments being outside the GPA is the kind of political tomfoolery that President Mugabe and his acolytes must desist from as it leads to unproductive conflict for nothing.

If there was any element of truth in the argument why is it that SADC is accommodating the issues as outstanding from the GPA it facilitated?

The argument that Bennett is not attested to his office because he faces serious criminal charges is equally unconstitutional and requires no serious consideration.

After exposing the Zanu PF desire to be in the former colonial master’s fold through the lifting of sanctions the rant from President Mugabe about the recently gazetted controversial Indigenisation and Empowerment regulations made the President look very dishonest in his accusation of opponents of the regulations.

The evidence of backward mentality and servitude is not in opponents of regulations that harden the resolve of sanction imposers to consider more stringent measures but in the thinking that the same countries must directly engage Zimbabwe and invest in Zimbabwe and loose 51% of their investment to empower Zimbabweans.

What is evident is that Zanu PF is holding no further concessions that it is purporting will be conceded if sanctions are lifted and in any event the threat of withholding such superfluous concession does not hurt the Western democracies to the extent of making them relax the sanctions but rather it is Zimbabwe that continues to bleed from the self inflicted ransom scars.

The relaxation of sanctions will benefit a few Zanu PF leaders while the implementation of the other outstanding CA No 19 clauses will benefit millions of Zimbabweans.

Whose interests is the Zanu PF President serving then?

Zanu PF MP Bhasikiti opens can of worms with sanctions motion

Controversial Zanu PF Mwenezi East MP whose sanctions motion has injected some life into the docile coalition Parliament that was content with sidelines bargaining before introducing lively debate on motions in Parliament for fear of rocking the fragile coalition government.

Zanu PF’s Mwenezi East MP Kudakwashe Bhasikiti deserves congratulations for opening a Pandora’s Box with his sanctions motion in Parliament.

The reason why Zanu PF organs believe they have concessions to give away to coalition government partners has been because the partners have failed to dictate the pace of Parliamentary debates by resorting to private party to party negotiations to achieve consensus before tabling motions that they were elected to represent in the august house.

But thanks to the Zanu PF hotheaded thuggish MP with a repute for violence all that...came to an end on Wednesday 3 February 2010 when he introduced a motion compelling the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Deputy Arthur Mutambara to cause the US and EU to lift sanctions imposed against the Zanu PF regime that preceded the coalition government.

Suddenly Parliament which has been docile and passing motions unopposed erupted into life albeit in a manner unbefitting of behavior expected of members of the august house that Parliament is and must always be.

Stung by the undiluted manner the motion was brought to the House without prior inter party bargaining to gain support before its tabling as had become the norm, MDC-T MP’s tried in vain to stop the motion on frivolous grounds that the motion had ulterior motives to tarnish the image of the Premier and his Deputy who as co-principals of the coalition government must not be subjects of motions in parliament as there was the GPA forum in which issues pertaining to the trio were supposed to be resolved.

That was most disingenuous coming as it did from the MDC-T which has the most trust of ordinary Zimbabweans in matters relating democratic governance which Parliament is the highest institution.

Now we hear what we have always yearned to hear from the MDC-T that it will table the National Healing and Reconciliation motion in Parliament in retaliation to Bhasikiti’s sanctions motion.

We now hear that the MDC-T National Healing and Reconciliation motion has been gathering dust in the party archives after MDC-T legislator and Parliamentary Chief Whip Innocent Gonese was dissuaded from tabling it by Zanu PF Chief Whip Joram Gumbo.

The motion, we hear, petitions President Mugabe to instruct the Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri and Attorney General to arrest and prosecute named electoral violence messengers roaming the streets after murdering nearly 500 MDC-T supporters in the run up to the sham July 27 2008 Presidential runoff election.
This bodes well for a Parliament that had become so docile and irrelevant in articulating concerns of the electorate.

The MDC-T must realize that Zanu PF MP’s represent a constituency that has no obligation whatsoever to spare criticism of the Premier and his Deputies on matters that are of concern to the Zanu PF constituents.

In like manner MDC-T MP’s have no business defending the public image of a Zanu PF appointed Head of State in dereliction of duty simply because he is the Head of State and a co-Principal of the GNU.

If anything the MDC-T must capitalize on its numerical superiority in Parliament to take charge of the GPA which it has passed as Constitution Amendment No 19 (CA No 19) and table motions that hold the executive accountable for their signatures that converted the GPA into law.

We have in mind here motions to compel the President to dutifully convene the National Security Council meetings once every month as per CA No 19 Provisions.

How about a motion for the President to adhere to the spirit and letter of Constitutional Amendment No 19 and reverse the unprocedural appointments he effected after signing the GPA without consulting the other Principals stipulated in CA No 19.

Yet another motion the MDC-T must table forthwith is that compelling the President and Premier to institute the agreed Land Audit in CA19 and ensure the one man one farm concept is strictly enforced in land redistribution.

These are some of the issues the populace at large has been waiting to see addressed by Parliament but to their dismay are being left in the hands of the unelected inter party negotiating teams which are not making any headway in resolving the critical issues.

Instead there is much heckling about sanctions which no one other that disadvantaged Zanu PF bigwigs are interested in seeing lifted.

If such motions are tabled in parliament and defeated because of Zanu PF opposition the electorate will know what to do with those they elect to Parliament and then refuse to address their legitimate concerns in preference to defending their privileged positions.

It is all very well to resort to SADC mediation over GPA implementation omissions but if such approaches are made with supporting evidence that the Principals have ignored Parliamentary resolutions passed in motions the likelihood of SADC stepping in and compelling adherence is higher than when disputes are referred with no evidence of Legislative attempts to get the Executive to comply.

Bhasikiti may not have anticipated it but herein lies the best chance for the MDC-T to show the nation who is acting for the people or against them in the implementation of the GPA that the party can ill afford to miss.

Zanu PF propaganda will find it hard to report that MPs representing the party have voted against motions demanding prosecution of the people who killed opponents during the Presidential runoff and looted property from opponents.

If Zanu PF supports the motions it will lose the trust of the people it has relied upon to violently rig elections and either way the MDC-T will emerge stronger than it has ever been.

Premature end of the coalition government the next best thing

Premier Tsvangirai, Deputy Premier Prof Mutambara and President Mugabe facing numerous problems implementing the GPA that is now under serious threat of premature foreclosure.

When it was conceived we were told that it was the best option available to end the political impasse in the country and mitigate the debilitating economic downturn that had gripped the country with hardships never witnessed before.

Sane and well grounded arguments that pointed out that the best way to end the impasse permanently was internationally supervised violence free elections were discounted on the grounds that the country needed time to heal from scars of previous acrimony and polarisation that characterised politics in the country.

But from the onset it became apparent that the coalition government was always going to sail in turbulent waters and risked capsizing before completion of its cursed voyage.

Soon after he was legitimised as President Robert Mugabe the octogenarian Zanu PF leader did not hide his disdain of the agreement he had just signed to legitimise his disputed claim to Presidency of the country.

“There are many clauses in this agreement that are not to my liking and likewise the leader of the MDC Morgan Tsvangirai,” he ominously revealed to the captive audience that included several Heads of State that had come to witness the momentous occasion of the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which was the foundation upon which the coalition was supposed to operate.

The symbolic public signing ceremony nearly failed to materialise as the MDC-T had well founded reservations.

The MDC –T was rightfully in doubt about the sincerity and commitment of Zanu PF to the agreement. The party’s fears were not helped by the failure of Sadc Heads to strike an equitable balance in the distribution of key ministries among coalition subscribers.

The forced co-Ministering of the Home Affairs Ministry as well as the omission to address the allotment of Provincial Governorship prior to the agreement being formalised were serious sources of discontent in the MDC-T which it felt had been handled shoddily by the mediation process that produced the GPA.

It was only after then South Africa President and Sadc mediator in chief Thabo Mbeki had given irrevocable commitment to address the allotment of Provincial Governorships immediately after the signing of the ceremony that the MDC-T agreed to sign the document albeit grudgingly.

The stop gap political settlement that the GPA was and still is envisaged to be to allow the country to restore democratic governance that had been usurped by a military Junta fronted by Zanu PF President Robert Mugabe envisaged an 18 to 24 months lifespan for the GPA during which the unelected government would set the groundwork for credible democratic elections to elect a successor government.

In tandem with that the coalition was agreed upon on the grounds that it would halt political decadence and mischief that had become the hallmark of the exclusive Zanu PF regimes of the past 3 decades and halt the economic collapse of the country while addressing issues that provided fertile grounds for impunity.

But the actions of President Mugabe soon after signing the agreement provided pointers that are now being realised and threatening the premature foreclosure of the coalition government.

Instead of taking advantage of the presence of the Sadc ensemble at the signing ceremony to show genuine commitment to the GPA by swearing the Premier and his Deputies as well as the Vice Presidents that were there present to form the steering leadership of the coalition government he packed his shopping bags and was off for a three day UN session in the USA the following day leaving the country without a government as the GPA had only confirmed him as the Head of State.

When he returned he did not address the Provincial Governorship dispute as promised but the Sadc mediator nor did he move swiftly to swear in the Premiership team but instead started arguing that he wanted Parliament to first pass the Constitutional Amendment empowering him to form the government as agreed in the GPA.

This was notwithstanding the fact that the GPA had a clause authorising him to swear in the Premier, Deputy Premiers and Vice Presidents in advance of the passage of Constitutional Amendments in order to create a team that he would work with in negotiating key government Appointments to man the bureaucracy.

Irked by the slow pace in agreeing Ministerial portfolio and Provincial Governorship allotments the MDC-T referred the dispute to Sadc for mediation and on 27 January 2009 Sadc heads met in Maputo and laid down a strict timeframe to be followed by the GPA subscribers in order to form the coalition government .

President Mugabe had tried to form an exclusive government through taking control of Parliament by entering into an unholy alliance with the MDC-M where the tribal breakaway faction of the MDC would field a candidate for Parliamentary speakership with guaranteed support of Zanu PF legislative votes.

Sly President Mugabe had convinced Sadc Heads of State that MDC-T grievances in the way of the formation of the coalition government were frivolous and he could go it alone if allowed to convene parliament where he would take control with MDC-M support.

The cynical political initiative collapsed when the MDC-T fielding for Parliament Speakership romped to victory against the MDC-M fielding.

That defeat weakened Mugabe and Zanu PF into submitting to the SADC timeframe for forming the coalition government with the two MDC formations and forced him to agree to a review of appointments he had unilaterally made to bolster chances of winning control of Parliament and in preparation for a Zanu PF government in coalition with the MDC-M.

Of course President Mugabe was never committed to a coalition government with his nemesis Morgan Tsvangirai and only agreed the SADC timeframe to save face and avert him being delegitimized as the country’s President.

He formed the government grudgingly as the expected MDC-T declinature to join the government failed to materialise even when all the State propaganda machinery was utilise to dissuade MDC-T from being part of the coalition government.

Amazingly the coalition government has ridden over numerous hurdles thrown in its tracks by disgruntled Zanu PF supporters who were disadvantaged by the sharing of power between the coalition partners.

Critical objectives that were agreed upon in the GPA such as the appointment of Commissions, Media reforms, reconciliation and national healing, land audit and constitution re-writing were and are suffering from the weight of hurdles thrown in their way by the unrepentant and disgruntled Zanu PF functionaries who rightly see their success as the final stroke that will end the Zanu PF stranglehold on power in Zimbabwe.

Key appointments such as Permanent Secretaries, Reserve Bank Governor, Provincial Governors and the Attorney General were unilaterally effected by President Mugabe in contravention of the provisions of Constitution Amendment No 19 CA No 19 which is the GPA text that was added to the Constitution to legitimise the coalition government.

The sole purpose has been to provoke a walkout from the coalition government by the MDC-T but all has been in vain as the party continued to exceed expectations in its performance within the coalition under the adverse environment created by Zanu PF.

In CA No 19 the coalition government pronounced its collective distaste for the continuation of the sanctions imposed against the exclusive Zanu PF regime that preceded it.

But because the government has failed to speak with one voice on key elements in the GPA EU and USA sanctions have remained in place with imposers saying they will only lft them if there is total compliance with the terms of the GPA.

Yet Zanu PF insists that it will not abide by the GPA unless the sanctions are removed as if it signed the GPA with the imposers of the sanctions.

The false belief in Zanu PF is that the sanctions denying them access to looted funds they have stashed in EU and other countries were imposed at the behest of the MDC-T and thus the party must cause for their lifting before it can be treated as an equal partner in the coalition government.

But facts on the ground point to the contrary that sanctions were imposed on the Zanu PF regime to mitigate its unbridled human rights abuses of political opponents and the MDC-T which was the major object of the abuses supported the measures because that was the only way it had to confront Zanu PF impunity.

Now that it has taken its position in government and thinks it can protect its supporters against Zanu PF barbarism from within the government it has no reason to support continuation of the restrictive measures imposed on Zanu PF political malcontents.

Be that as it may the MDC-T is not convinced that Zanu PF will play ball in critical outstanding issues that the coalition government must address without some form of international leverage the party can fall back on in the event Zanu PF lapses into its habitual state of political thuggery and violence.

That is why the MDC-T has consistently implored the US and EU to consider staggered removal of sanctions in tandem with progress the coalition government has achieved towards implementation of the GPA and restoration of democratic governance.

Zanu PF stalwarts used to getting whatever they want out of nothing or through the use of force are impatient with delays in them accessing the stashes of their loot that have been frozen in EU and USA offshore accounts and each day that passes draws the country closer to the next elections that the party knows are beyond its ability to win if held under a new Constitution and in a violence free environment.

The real prospects of an electoral outcome that will surely reduce Zanu PF representation in Parliament and remove it from government are too ghastly to contemplate for many Zanu PF bigwigs who fear that they may never access the funds they have stashed away under a new and most likely MDC-T political dispensation.

That is why they are now getting more and more vociferous about the lifting of sanctions as a bargaining chip for supporting hitherto unconditionally agreed to coalition government democratisation processes.

Fortuitous MDC-M leader Professor Mutambara is aware that the end of the coalition government will most likely be the end of his nascent political career within the unpopular faction he leads and in the country where he has no constituency to fall back on for recovery.

It is evident that after his faction suffers defeat in the elections to end the coalition government Professor Mutambara will have to find political accommodation elsewhere other than in MDC-M to remain relevant.

The sad reality is he realises that there are limited chances for securing such accommodation in MDC-T and that leaves the only meaningful option left for him being joining Zanu PF.

The decision to join Zanu PF will not be without a political capital toll on him as he has been accused of having Zanu PF inclinations and refuted same for too long a time now.

When he rejoins Zanu PF, as he will surely do unless the lifespan of the coalition government is prolonged through the lifting of sanctions and thereby relieving Zanu PF to relapse into impunity in the knowledge that it was safe from international censure, his previous denial of association with the party of geriatrics and thugs will be brought into question as is happening to Professor Jonathan Moyo.

What is evident for now is that a premature ending of the political marriage of convenience between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara is nearing its end and only Tsvangirai is carrying a healthy pregnancy from the artificial insemination the trio got from indulging in the GNU.

Professor Mutambara will deliver a still born for his faction while Mugabe is likely to deliver an unhealthy baby with a multiplicity of complications that will keep the baby on life support for the following five years.

If there is no medical breakthrough for some of the life threatening complexities that Mugabe will deliver for Zanu PF the child will die after five years and Zimbabweans will give a sigh of relief.

Dangerous MDC-M fundamentalism

Professor Welshman Ncube a fundamendalist?

After reading the transcript of Professor Welshman Ncube with Violet Gonda of SW Radio Africa I was convinced more than ever before that Professor Ncube is a dangerous fundamentalist who has been elevated to the leadership of our country thanks to the Global Political agreement.

There is the frightening arrogance in his belief that the political doctrine of the MDC-M should be implemented literally, without interpretation or adaptation that runs through the entire interview that I shudder to think would result in if he and his party were ever going to be elected to majority party status in our country.

Professor Ncube was at the centre of the reasons why the MDC split into two on 12 October 2005 and in the interview he sheds more light as to why the split was inevitable given his passion for self righteousness and obsession with self image.

First he argued that his Party name is MDC and not MDC-M as it is widely referred to in media coverage because there is no party registered as such in Zimbabwe and he is accurate about that.

The media use the prefixes of the surnames of the party leadership in the MDC to distinguish between the MDC splinter formations rather than in the strictest sense of their legally registered names.

Under normal circumstances a senior official in Prof Ncube’s capacity would not raise such trivialities in an interview where he was being examined on his party position towards contentious issue from the GPA but because he is a fanatical nitpicker he had to unsettle the interviewer with the objection to a party name he had hitherto never raised in previous interviews with any other media house he has given interviews to and been referred to as representing the MDC-M.

Fundamentalists are generally offended by trivial issues which they defend with disproportionate overzealousness with disastrous consequences in many instances.

But it was his summation of why the party he belongs to settled on who to assign to Ministerial responsibilities that exposed the fundamentalist views that drive his party.

“Well Violet, that’s illogical. The question of who this party deploys to government is an exclusive prerogative of this party.

It cannot be said because this one was elected, this was unelected – we have an obligation to deploy this or that person. On the contrary we have deployed Moses Mzila Ndlovu, David Coltart, and Tapela – all of whom were elected. We have deployed only so-called unelected people who are the senior leaders of the party and even that for good cause.

You are not going to go around buying our Members of Parliament who work with you and expect us to then deploy them into government.

And we did that quite deliberately and we were being asked to deploy people who were already working for another political party and we are not imbeciles, we will not do that and we’ll never do that.

We will deploy people who will stand by, defend the party, die for the party and will not deploy turncoats who can be bought overnight,” he declared.

In essence therefore it does not matter to the party who its grassroots supporters would want to represent them in government but rather who the party leadership believes will stand by, defend and die for the party under whatever circumstances and there is no better barometer to measure that level of loyalty than seniority within the party.

Frightening indeed!

When later in the interview he was confronted by the interviewer with accurate information about perceptions widely held in relation to his party’s alliances with Zanu PF he forcefully stated;

”I’m tempted not to dignify that rubbish with an answer. You have just been saying right now – passionately defending your right of your freedom of expression, freedom of the media to exist and to hold views and to allow people to propagate their views through their media as freely as they want to and you were very passionate just a few minutes ago – and surely you must be equally passionate about our right as a party to hold views which are different from MDC-T and which are different from yours and which are different from civil society and which are different from those of Zanu-PF, and therefore we don’t exist for the purpose of agreeing with this or that particular party.

And therefore when we disagree with the favourite party of some interest you can label us whatever you wish and we wouldn’t care a hoot. We take our position on the basis of our party policies and on the basis of our principles and we hold no brief for Zanu-PF. We disagree in a lot of ways, too many ways with Zanu-PF to be even considered as a party, which bids for Zanu-PF.

Just as much as we disagree in terms in particular of the practices of the MDC-T, fundamentally disagree with them in many ways and it’s our right to do so. The fact that we do disagree with them does not make us Zanu-PF.”

This was after he had earlier disclosed that his party position is to oppose the positions in MDC-T to avoid reinventing Zanu PF within that party and not because of shortcomings in its popular message of pledges to
the nation.

“So it’s quite simple as far as we are concerned and the principle issue is you cannot disagree with Tsvangirai and his party. All of us exist to serve them, if you don’t serve them you will be perceived in a negative way, if you jump at the top of the highest mountain and say Tsvangirai is God, you will be worshipped by the media and civil society – that is the bottom line and indeed you should be worried if you are a true democrat.

You shall be worried and indeed not just worried, you shall be truly afraid because you have a culture, you have a party, you have a civil society which is a mirror image of Zanu-PF in its behaviour, in its treatment of dissenting voices – because you believe that the positions you have taken are an eternal truth. Who dares challenge an eternal truth?” in his own words.

But the people are not frightened of Tsvangirai and the MDC he leads and they do not have reason to other than if they are persuaded by the likes of Professor Ncube.

On the contrary they are afraid of Professor Ncube’s fundamentalist views and his arrogant disposition towards anyone who dares tells him that he may be leading his party in the wrong direction by opposing popular ideas for nothing else other than that they are making a political opponent with the electorate.

Ideas will never be popular unless they carry perceived benefits for the electorate and the electorate has wised up to phoney promises from politicians that it will not be easily led up the garden path as Professor Ncube and his party discovered after 29 March 2008.

On the outstanding issues from the GPA Professor Ncube exposed bare the fears that are widely held that these negotiations are much ado about nothing.

His admission that all issues before the negotiators arise from the GPA which is the acronym for Global Political Agreement signed between Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC-M political parties to manage the Presidential elections stalemate that emerged after the harmonized elections in March 2008 makes the current effort a waste of critically short time to move the country forward.

The same people who negotiated the GPA and initialed each and every clause in it are being asked to revise their agreement because of implementation misgivings by one party to the agreement –Zanu PF.

The issues in dispute are complimentary and implementation of what was initially agreed is seen as a means with which to address all the concerns but not by the original negotiators and subscribers and the nation wonders why that should be the case.

According to Professor Moyo the outstanding issues are outstanding because they have not been fully implemented as per the GPA and the reasons for that is because the parties mistrust each other in that if demands from the MDC-T arte fully implemented before the concerns from Zanu PF are addressed there are no guarantees that Zanu PF concerns will be addressed.

It is an absurd way of viewing issues because there is a cause and effect process that must instruct the priority of implementation of the agreement.

As Gonda put it and the Professor conceded;

“But don’t you realise that you can or you may discuss the issue of the external radio stations until you are blue in the face but nothing is going to happen because the creation of some of these radio stations such as ours had nothing to do with politicians and you have no authority to ask for the radio stations to close down. And secondly we all know that this is a Zanu-PF pre-condition – the closing down of these external radio stations – you can’t close down things you don’t like – isn’t that what it all means, isn’t this what democracy is about?”

The same question can be posed in respect of the unfulfilled clauses in the GPA. Logic demands that subscribers implement all the aspects of the agreement that are within their control before moving onto those aspects of the agreement that require foreign concessions.

But no Zanu PF wants foreign concessions before full internal implementation of what it agreed, agrees and knows is necessary to be done internally to move the country forward.

That is why SADC set a 30 day deadline for resolution because the internal issues do not need hours to agree and implement as they have already been agreed to but are being deliberately delayed implementation as bargaining chips by Zanu PF with Professor Ncube’s implied consent in complicity.

People however know pretty well why Professor Ncube has been compromised by the coalition government. He has no chance of winning an election and returning to government in a ministerial capacity in elections to end the coalition and that is why he would rather see the outstanding issues drag on while he secures a job.

In a country where jobs are 80% in short supply we are tempted to empathise with him but the best chance he has os securing long term employment lies somewhere in a government that is internationally free to transact for the good of the nation and the current coalition government lacks that credibility.

A final word on the so called party sellouts he loathes for working in collusion with MDC-T as opposed to his preference for an alliance with Zanu PF during the elections of Speaker of Parliament.

The looming by elections challenge from the MP’s the MDC-M recalled from Parliament will not be good for the MDC-M as its candidates will be humiliated by the same renegades it dispensed with exposing the deep craters in the party leadership vision and philosophy.

GNU prefects are coming

PM Morgan Tsvangirai, DPM Arthur Mutambara and President Robert Mugabe seen here shaking hands in affirmation of having willingly signed the GPA they are now at loggerheads over full implementation.

Zanu PF nonchalantly dismissed the 15 to 30 day deadline that Sadc imposed on subscribers to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to comprehensively address all outstanding GPA issues declaring that Sadc was not the Party’s headmaster who could punish it if it failed to meet the deadline.

Furious Sadc Chief Mediator (the headmaster) on Zimbabwe and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has had to put together a team of three of his top aides (the prefects) to pay the truant Zimbabwe political protagonists a visit before the end of next week and whip them into line before he personally comes for an inspection in loco in the dormitory country ravaged by political malfeasances of Zanu PF.

The South African Presidential team includes the President’s political advisor Charles Nqakula, special envoy Mac Maharaj and international relations adviser Lindiwe Zulu.

There is no chance Zanu PF will detain and deport them in similar fashion to how they handled the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture Mr. Mafred Nowack on 28October 2009.

President Zuma’s prefects will no doubt be fully updated about the numerous acts of disregard of critical GPA articles by Zanu PF including among other things the illegal persecution of;

Jestina Mukoko and 17 others, Ghandhi Mudzingwa and three others, Pascal Gwezere and Farai Muyambwa

Rickson Kaseke, Norbert Dhokotera, Tongai Jack, Amiri Njawara, TereraiTsvakwi and Daniel Koroni and 15 other MDC-T Bindura activists convicted by Zanu PF Magistrate Chakanyuka

MDC Legislators Thamsanga Mahlangu (Nkulumane), Evelyn Masaiti (Dzivarasekwa), Blessing Chebundo (Kwekwe Central),Eliah Jembere (Epworth), Pearson Mungofa (Highfield East), Bedwin Nyaude (Bindura South), Mathias Mlambo (Chipinge East) and Trevor Saruwaka (Mutasa Central), Stewart Garadhi, (Chinhoyi) Ernest Mudavanhu (Zaka North) Ransome Makamure (Gutu East) Reggie Moyo (Luveve ), Albert Mhlanga, (Pumula) Takalani Matibe, (Chegutu West) Pishai Muchauraya (Makoni South) Senator Tichaona Mudzingwa (Non Constituency) Lynnette Karenyi (Chimanimani West), Shuwa Mudiwa (Mutare West), Meki Makuyana (Chipinge South) Hega Shoko (Bikita West), Edmore Marima (Bikita East), Tichaona Maradza (Masvingo West), Hamandishe Maramwidze (Gutu North) Shuah Mudiwa (Mutare West) " and Senator Roy Bennett (non Constituency).

The prefects will certainly want to know how many of these arrested alleged criminals have been brought to justice and with what results from the government that is prosecuting them.

It will be embarrassing for Zanu PF to defend the continued employment of an Attorney General (AG) who is at the centre of these arrests and selective persecution of MDC-T supporters.

The fact that appointments of Provincial Governors, the AG and the (RBZ) Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor were unilaterally effected by President Mugabe after signing of the GPA will not escape the eagle eyes of the prefects.

They will want full explanations from the Zanu PF subscribers to the GPA as to how the appointments in dispute fit into the letter and spirit of the GPA.
They will also want to find out what has happened to the names recommended to the President for appointment to the Media, Electoral and Human Rights Commissions and what progress if any these commissions have made to date to free the airwaves and encourage Pirate radio stations to operate from within the country.

They would also be interested to know why the Constitution making process has been deferred to 2010 and how that fits in with the GPA provisions.

They will not forget to enquire into the reasons why nominated MDC Provincial Governors, Ambassadors and the Deputy Agriculture Minister has not been sworn in or posted to date and to what extent such delays are in compliance with the GPA.

More importantly they would want to know what positive action the government has taken to ameliorate the reasons why the Zanu PF leadership has been slapped with the illegal sanctions which information they can use to help the government unshackle itself from the bondage of the sanctions.

With regard to the parallel government structures allegedly set up by the Premier the prefects would want to know why the premier’s staff are not on the State establishment nine months after their appointment by the Premier and why the Premier does not have direct access to the President and has to book appointments with him via the Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda or Information and Publicity Secretary George Charamba.

They will want to know how such arrangement promotes mutual trust requisite for smooth operation of the coalition government.

The prefects will brook no nonsense about the scapegoating that has been employed by the major protagonists in the coalition government and will demand realistic and concrete measures they will take to overcome all the outstanding issues from their agreement on 15 September 2008 and the addendum by SADC on 27 January 2009.

Both parties must be ready for some roasting from the Mediator’s prefects and will not be allowed to delay the GNU momentum any longer as ramifications of the failure of the government have serious bearing on Southern Africa as it prepares TO HOST THE Soccer World Cup in six month’s time and political stability in the region is a critical ingredient for the success of the showcase.

The headmaster appears to have taken his first move towards asserting his authority and grandstanding will not help the cause of whoever takes to it.

Well-done MDC-T and Professor Mutambara on stance against GPA impunity and political tomfoolery

Love him or loathe him Professor Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara the fortuitous Zimbabwe Deputy Prime Minister is adding colour and fanfare to the coalition government.

The Professor who must rank the luckiest political opportunist in the world was bound to be the political clown in the coalition government given his entry route to political prominence and he has not failed in that regard.

In 2005 Mutambara returned to the Zimbabwe political arena in controversial circumstances where he was to lead a faction of MDC malcontents within the party’s National Executive Council who had broken away from the Party over participation in Senate elections.

He said of his invitation to lead the Tribal faction of deviants that he was the Anti-Senate Elections leader of the Pro-Senate Elections faction of the MDC and he would rebrand the faction by renaming it and cleansing it of its bad reputation as a puppet of the West lacking leadership strategy and direction.

That set the stage for Mutambara becoming the Mukadota politician that he has turned out to be.

And boy do they love him in the MDC-t for the lighter moments he brings to the serious s and tense political environment that pervades the coalition government.


There appears to be consensus that in his own ways Professor Mutambara and his grouping of renegades is a useful political clown to have around when things get tough.

He has raffled a few feathers in Zanu PF at unexpected moments as insiders within MDC-T will bear testimony.

There was the incident in Kampala Uganda when he lapsed into his favourite rebranding subject and took a dig at African Heads of State for failing to establish internationally reputed political brands that earned him rebukes from Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Jakaya Kikwete.

He reportedly took the stage by storm and roared and thundered;

“The problem with African politics is the lack of internationally recognized brands.
What is your brand Museveni? What is your brand Kikwete? What is your brand Mugabe” he allegedly asked. “Africa must strive to establish political brands that are endorsed by the Western democracies and not by the Africans” he thundered in those exact words or something to that effect.

The Sentinel is advised that when Mutambara took to the podium Mugabe was too tired to remain in attendance and was on his way to bed but had to turn back when operatives rushed to hint him of the drama that was unfolding in the auditorium from his erudite deputy premier.

He entered just in time to hear the deputy premier castigate the African statesman much to the chagrin of Museveni and Kikwete.

Mugabe was not amused but could do nothing about it. After the speech Professor
Mutambara allegedly took his seat in the Zimbabwean delegation, rolled his eyes in the peculiar way he always does, wiped sweat drops forming on his forehead with an open palm and asked;

“How did that go?”

Needless to say he had read the body language in Mugabe’s eyes to know he had not been well received and the feedback was immediate from Museveni and Kikwete who told the Deputy Premier in their response that he still had a lot to learn about African politics if his views were anything to judge him by.

There is a widely held belief within MDC-T that the Zimbabwe deputy Premier sometimes lapses into the world of the bizarre and says things unintentionally landing himself in trouble.

Although he meant no malice on senior African statesman when he asked about their legacies he nonetheless raffled feathers when he implied that the West are better judges of what constitute democracy and good governance in Africa.

Far from it all the Deputy Premier was saying is that self praise has no recommendation and the African leadership bravado about practicing democratic governance is hollow unless the international community endorses that to be indeed the case.

But the real reason why he was not received well was because he sounded most disrespectful by naming the leaders he singled out as examples to drive home his branding obsession by their surnames and without reference to their esteemed titles which they cherish so much.

You only have to see how long and loaded some of their titles are to appreciate how offensive it is for a political novice like Mutambara to ignore them in a formal meeting of African Heads of State.

In many African customs calling elders or seniors at work by their surnames without the honorific prefix is a great insult.

Whichever way they took it Mutambara had once again pointed to a truism many an African leader would rather it not be said in public.

Then there was the incident in Nyanga where government had retreated to review its operations and redefine its objectives.

For the first time in the History of the Zanu PF party Professor Mutambara made them walk out in protest. Something akin to making a Zanu PF boycott of proceedings because they were in such a weakened position they could not defend themselves other than through a walkout.

Professor Mutambara had reminded the party not to make unreasonable demands on how government should operate as they had years of uninterrupted power to implement those ideas but failed dismally to the extent that they had to rely on stealing recent elections to remain politically relevant.

The rebuke was apt and stinging and took Zanu PF ministers by surprise leading
Patrick Chinamasa to call a boycott of proceedings through the infamous yet shameful walkout for which he later profoundly apologised to the Premier.
At the time he led the walkout Chinamasa stated;

"The meetings were going on very well until this morning when Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara made some very provocative statements that the parliamentary and presidential elections of last year were all fraudulent, null and void,"

"We, members from the ZANU-PF side, walked out in protest at the reckless and irresponsible utterances by Professor Mutambara because they are intended at undermining the legitimacy of a party in the inclusive government,"

None of the permanent secretaries in attendance followed suit and the embarrassed Chinamasa and Webster Shamu had to eat humble pie when they had to apologise to the Premier for their ill advised and cowardly response.

But instead of disclosing that embarrassing episode to the nation Chinamasa sought to mislead the nation into believing that Professor Mutambara had apologised to Zanu PF for having caused the walkout which he never did.

In fact the Premier accepted Chinamasa’s apology and reminded him of the serious responsibility he carries in ensuring that the coalition government succeeds as a leader of Zanu PF.

He reminded Chinamasa that Mutambara was in government at the behest of Zanu PF and if they now have a problem with their project to neutralize MDC-T dominance they should not vent it in government fora but in the political arena.

Whichever way Professor Mutambara behaves it always seems to benefit and strengthen MDC-T’s hand in the coalition government and they love him for that.

As the adage goes in Shona “Anebenzi nderake kudzana kwaro anopururudza “in the MDC they applaud Mutambara’s political tomfoolery which is now being landed weight by Professor Moyo’s attempts to rejoin Zanu PF.

That is why when Professor Mutambara comes out strongly condemning Zanu PF intransigence in implementing the GPA we must support him and urge him to come good on his promise to mediate between Gushungo and Save.

More importantly we urge him to make it clear that he and his party take exception to being compromised by unilateralism in Zanu PF.

It is obvious that the decision by State Prosecution Services to commit Roy Bennet to custody following indictment compromised the entire government including Deputy PM Mutambara.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Roy Bennett’s bail was granted by the High Court and upheld by the Supreme Court at the time he was arrested.

This was after the Attorney General had refused to abide by the Mutare Magistrate Court to grant Bennett bail through invocation of section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CPEA).

The AG having indicted Mr Bennett for trial in the same High Court that had granted the accused bail had no basis upon which to incarcerate Bennett with the sole intention of igniting a legal process similar to the one that had been resolved by the Supreme Court at the time of the accused’s arrest.

It is sad that in all this legal gerrymandering the AG is using taxpayers’ funds for a vindictive Zanu PF political agenda which has nothing to benefit the taxpayers outside that party.

The unanimous decision by the MDC-T National Council to boycott government structures that Zanu PF is abusing to soil the good standing of the party must be commended and fully supported.

In politics it is the most bizarre and irrational decisions that change thinking and directions of the State.

If Mugabe does not address the GPA concerns at the centre of the boycott he will be forced into violence or alternatively he will find that his party will have nothing to offer the country.

Most people will go with the MDC-T led wing in Government and that is a frightening prospect for Zanu PF’s future relevance.

Meanwhile those that have been selling the idea that the MDC-T is in the throes of another split or about to ditch its leader Premier Morgan Tsvangirai must take note of the unity and cohesion within the party that the resolution has sent.

Most of the alleged sources of such malicious stories are frequent visitors to the Premier’s residence seeking job positions in the bureaucracy by night.

Some from within the party ranks have broken down to tears in their pleadings for jobs from the Premier. Many others from outside MDC structures have made nightly visits to the Premier to pay homage and seek jobs.

Army Generals that are threatening MP’s with loaded pistols are not any exception to these nightly visits.

The more subtle are those campaigning against the constitutional reform process who are using the platform to gain political recognition as opposed to spearheading a principled stand against the process.

It is remote that these same persons could successfully stage a palace coup in the MDC-T when their very existence and repute is in the Premier’s sphere of influence.

So it is with the Deputy PM who realizes that his political wellbeing is better served with Tsvangirai on his side and does not hide the fact when an opportunity arises.

Where whither Zimbabwe with Professionals like these

Exposed pocket of resistence leader George Charamba; Secretary for Media Information and Publicity and Presidential spokesperson

Zimbabwe Image about me; by George Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru


“I support ZANU PF and the leadership of CDE Robert Mugabe.”

“I support the taking back of our land from the settler invader. I support the struggle of any oppressed, discriminated, colonized, subjugated people against their colonisers, invaders, discriminators, and oppressors.”


“No race or people-type is better than the other, and along that same line no race or people-type deserve to be colonised, oppressed, discriminated, or subjugated.”

“I have no tolerance for Tsvangirai, who i am convinced is a low IQ, semi-literate, unkempt thug, with a gross inferiority complex when dealing with whites and an exaggerated slave mentality that makes him dance to tunes played in Number 10 Downing Street and the White House.”

“A stupid uncle tom who cant tell his right from his left but has been elevated by his european masters for being willing to play 'horse and rider' games in which Zimbabwe is the horse.”
Need we say more about the professionalism that underpins some of the people Premier Morgan Tsvangirai has evaluated to be suitable for positions of Permanent Secretaries in the coalition government?

No wonder there are so many teething problems facing the government today.

There are some square pegs in cornerstone holes upon which the government must rely to function smoothly.