AFRICA DAY: DECODING THE DECOY BEYOND AFRICANNESS IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA

I am usually cautious when it comes to commenting on issues to do with Africa. I know the sensitivity that surrounds the matter. Some have been called traitors for speaking out and others have been labelled puppets before Christopher Dell's assessment actually confirmed what we have said before, that in fact the person who has been passed on as a puppet for a very long time is the opposite of that and "he will need handling once he is in power" which actually says that he is not being handled at the moment and therefore he is not a "puppet" whatever the meaning of the word.

Luckily I didn't have to participate in the Second Chimurenga as my birth in 1973 coincided with the decisive phase of the Second Chimurenga and my father and mother and others in my circle including my brother gave themselves to the liberation cause as has been the tradition in my family. We have fought selflessly in every war that mattered since 1684. So no-one can accuse me of being anyone's puppet. And I was still 6years in 1980 when independence came, still too young to hold a kitchen knife unsupervised let alone an assault rifle.

Africa Day is still relevant as is the unity of Africa. But the question that boggles the mind is what unity; because there are several unities; Unity of Purpose; Unity behind Evil, Partners in Crime, Union in Nobility, Unity for Sinister Motives; Joint Enterprise for Criminal Purposes. Africa must identify her unity as a continent and it is that identity that has seen competing definitions and an emerging split in regional relations. Unlike the OAU which was united in its effort to end all forms of colonialism on the continent, the African Union seems to struggle on what brings them together.

The Organisation of African Unity was really principled on the aspect of fighting colonisation and colonialism. They rejected Ian Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence and rejected the lies that South Africa became independent in 1910. But the most significant stance taken by the OAU which separates it from its successor, the African Union, was its insistence that Morocco was a colonial power in the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and their open, united and vigorous support of the POLISARIO Front which was fighting for the freedom of the Saharawi and which they gave liberation movement status and therefore recognised only them as the legitimate voice on the Saharawi Republic, prompting Morocco to have stormy relationships with the OAU. In a similar principled stance was the OAU's recognition of the SPLM as a legitimate liberation movement in South Sudan prompting countries such as Zimbabwe to have diplomatic relations with the organisation.

The significance of this is that an African organisation was recognising that it was possible for an African to oppress another African and here the OAU was doing better than what had happened in Europe in the 1930s when the whole of that continent including the United Kingdom had problems accepting that a European could oppress another European and therefore allowed the rise of Hitler and Nazism and Musolinni and Fascism. The OAU was one better, even though it concentrated mainly on colonialism but left the rise of dictators during its tenure. At least they succeeded in the primary role they sought to address; dismantling colonialism on the continent; all forms, all colours of vice; including black on black vice.

THE STREET CASINO

There was a game they played on the streets in Harare. It was played with a deck of cards and it was illegal gambling. The main player would assimilate a foreign accent and each time they saw a potential "client" they would bait him or her by pretending to play and win but in actual fact they were playing among themselves. Many people fell prey to the street casino. But there is this day we went to town and I was with my brother Robert. We took one of the cards and put a mark on it such that we could also trick the trickster. So we won the first round and when he noticed what had happened he asked to change the cards and therefore the rules. Unfortunately they found me in one of my rare moments and I would not take that. Rules should not be changed and I insisted with a stony face. It was the previous week which made me behave like that. In one of the "casino" a young mother had lost money in my eyes and when she cried I demanded that the thugs give her back her money which they complied to but with grumbles. But we thought that should not have been the end as they also had to feel the pain of loss. Yet they wanted to change the rules.

A CONTINENT SHY OF SUCCESS

 I will never accept any criticism of Africans as shy of thinking. Or even that we lag behind Europe in terms of innovation. That is so untrue. But one thing I always praise Europe for and which we should copy is the continent's propensity to improve. Europe takes everything as a raw material and improves on it. And Europe is the master of borrowing ideas, they copy almost everyone and then improve on that. And they have weaknesses which they are so keen to expose through trial and error. Yet most of the things they do so well all started in Africa. We have heard how writing started in Africa, oh yes that's true but I am not going to talk of the ancient, I am going to talk about the contemporary.

The concept of continental unity started in Africa, the first monetary union was in Africa through the UAPTA which

h was a currency for everyone and in football the African Nations Cup came before the European Nations Cup. But just how we have been surpassed says a lot about our seriousness as a people. The blame game we have which is based on a rhetoric that is constructed on blaming Europe for almost everyone of our failures is our undoing. We have created an astronomic West that is only Utopian, it simply doesn't exist and then we fail to deal with it. People in Europe sleep and dream, they wake up and go to work, they too fall ill and get treated but if they can't be treated they too die and get buried. In their countries white Europeans also do menial jobs, they also pick bins and clean toilets, its just as normal. Most don't even know there is a country called Zimbabwe, some are barely educated but they have geniuses too. They blunder and fire their ministers and change their governments. They recruit workers and dismiss others just as we also have the punishment and reward model in our own systems.

We have a problem of improving, we start things that we cannot pick on. We also destroy the good things that we may have had; the near collapse of Zimbabwe made Smith die a satisfied man saying "I told you didn't I, that you cannot give blacks a country like Rhodesia; and look what they done". Our problem is when we fail we don't want to acknowledge we still want to put the blame on others and I simply can't understand how we became infallible.

UNITY OR GANGSTERISM

There seems to be a total failure to understand the responsibilities of the African Union. Is it to Governments or to nations? This seems to influence the debate on whether South Africa, Guinea and Nigeria were correct to vote for UNSC Resolution 1973/2011 which led to the Western-led attack on Libya. What should the African Union do when governments turn against their own. Since its inception the AU has seen Operation Murambatsvina and the post-2008 Election Violence in Zimbabwe and the post-2007 election violence in Kenya. Clearly an organisation of that significance on the continent derilicts on its duty to act if they fail to interfere as they have done. For governments to say when a foreign actor under the auspices of the UN interferes to help the hopeless and defenceless victims the AU should side with them, is an act of sticking to a secret code.

The AU has protected decoys at the expense of victims and clearly the emerging split between the progressive nations led by Jacob Zuma's South Africa and the antithesis led by Libya, is a test on the principlehoodness of the AU. The ghost must surely be exorcised. The post-2008 deaths in Zimbabwe were unnecessary deaths and that followed the Gukurahundi deaths which should never have been allowed. Africa, led by the AU should strike an ethical code that is based on protecting Africans and not African governments. It should not be an open room that anyone can enter or leave. It should have house rules that have to be adhered to and those who cannot conform to the house rules must not be members of the fraternity. Not every country in Europe is a member of the EU. Not every country in Africa should be a member of the AU. Only those who conform to its house rules should be. Governments that are not accountable to their people, that kill their own are existing in very adversarial and counter-productive world. They don't deserve friendship. AU must not shake bloody hands and hug laden chests. It is leading a great and principled continent. The governments of Kenya, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe have questions to answer for the unnecessary deaths in their countries every time there are elections. Africa can easily lead the world, we are gifted with everything. God favoured us but it will be for us to now say enough is enough and the AU must lead the singing of that verse and the perfect, melodious pitch!

BE JUDGE!

JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA

CHAIRMAN OF COMMUNITIES POINT

contact: 07401182271, 07529705413, mutyambizidewa@yahoo.co.uk

Message from MDC UK and Ireland Chairpersonship Aspirant Emily Madamombe

Dear Valuable member. As we progress towards the provincial elections, planned for 2nd April 2011, and having travelled the length and breath of the UK and Ireland during my campaign trail I wish to assure the MDC membership that I have heard what you are saying, I have captured your wishes and hopes for the future of this province and I wish to reach out to the wider MDC UK and Ireland membership about the absolute need to choose the best contender in this race. There are currently four candidates whose credentials we are all familiar with. It is vital that voters choose a candidate who has the ability to respond to both neutral and controversial items.  People have talked, e-mails have been sent, text messages have been exchanged, images of cows have been sent, and misleading polls, accusations and counter accusations have been published in the public domain.     I wish to remind our valuable voters that our Province needs tough, courageous, realistic, honest and humble leadership. Our province requires leadership which is firm and assertive and one which embraces the spirit to togetherness, inclusiveness, and team building. These important attributes have not been evident in past administrations and hence our province has been sitting at the rim of leadership crisis and we have risked loosing political relevance.   I wish to reaffirm my promise to you is that I, with your support and will seek to rejuvenate the legal, moral, political and socio-economic standing of the UK & Ireland external assembly.    On my watch, the leadership will respond to the needs of wider membership while at the same time promoting and protecting the core values and principles of the the MDC T party. Let me assure you that new team you elect under my leadership    will maintain an uncompromising attitude towards corruption, nepotism, favoritism and wrongdoing which is as a result of carelessness and arrogance. A robust training and awareness exercise will be introduced   for all office-bearers to equip them with the knowledge and understanding of  the MDC constitution so that our members are fully informed  of their rights and also their  constitutional obligations. With regards to the constitutional amendment, as  leadership we will make sure that   our wider membership are active participants in this process and  will ensure that these submissions are deliberated upon and incoporated in the constitution which will be  amended  at our National Congress now pencilled to start on the 29th of April and ending on the 1st of May 2011. It is crucial that as a province with huge capacity to influence the shape and form of our struggle for the total emanciupation of Zimbabawe   we seek amendments to existing powers  provided within the current constitution  with view to ensuring that our rights as active members in the Diaspora are guaranteed. We also acknowledge that the UK remains a province, a part of the MDC whose leadership is in Zimbabwe. I will lead a Province that as a team will be aware of your aspirations: both the expectations that are unique to the UK Diaspora and those that are familiar with every Zimbabwean wherever we may be. I am aware that we have collective aspirations and I am also aware of the specific aspirations as the UK. As a leader I will be the beast of burden that will carry your will forward. But I am aware that we have a leadership ahead of us and inasmuch as my team will be the advocates for the Province, I will not try to usurp the roles of the leadership you elected to National positions. Our Party is a party with order and I will be an advocate of orderly transition into offices. The fight will not be one of MaDhewa versus Gushungo or anyone. This is a principled fight, it is all of us as the MDC under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai against a system put in place by Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF. I respect you and I know your capabilities, I and my team will listen to you, we will not claim to know everything. We don’t have a lot of degrees; I personally am a professional social worker who holds that one degree and my teaching diploma. What I bring to you is not my personal knowledge but my respect for you which is total. I know and value your collective abilities to contribute meaningfully to the Province and it is this that underpins our collective strengths. The Movement for Democratic Change was formed with the promise of doing things differently it is a collective effort and collective approach that encourages a bottom to top approach. I am not power hungry, I am humble and I am not a veteran of anything. Our country has been let down by revolutionary authorship and ownership. We have been let down by people who have claimed to know everything because of their part in history. I respect those who were there at the formation of the party and thank them from the bottom of my heart. But that alone cannot be the reason why the electorate should keep on voting them. ZANU PF will fear and respect all of us as a Province not because of the presence in the Province of one individual as what some of my colleagues want you to believe. Such a claim disrespects your contribution by promoting self aggrandisement. My belief is togetherness that we work hard to restore the MDC in the UK and Ireland. Let’s make it a vibrant Province and ZANU PF or any other opposition party will respect us together. The fight for Zimbabwe to me remains a collective effort.        As a province we are also faced with uncertainties regarding the future of our membership in the UK. To this there is urgent need to seek to be involved in the processes leading to  how the Home Office comes   up with the so called Country Guidance, and  ensure that as Zimbabweans fleeing from a brutal regime, we  shall not continue to be recipients of discriminatory and oppressive home office decisions and court rulings. Under the MDC constitution/ external assembly; 5.8.16 (a) as a provincial chairperson, I am empowered to formulate programmes designed to benefit our province. To that effect, I intend to employ a legal expert on immigration and asylum law who will without bias educate our members of the true legal positions of court decisions and their implications.      Finally ladies and gentllemen under my leadership   bureaucracy will be eradicated and I will ensure that elected leadership will readily   accept opinions of ordinary MDC members and forward their concerns to MDC leadership via clearly established channels.  I strongly believe that no one individual is capable of effecting positive change in our province, and ultimately in our beloved country, and hence my strong belief in partnership, and team working. In our struggle for peace, equality of opportunities, and justice in Zimbabwe, and the UK and Irealand External Assembly my biggest partner will be the ordinary MDC card carrying member.     I wish to reiterate that I am ready to lead, confident to accept the challenges, tough to deal with outstanding issues and I am informed about socio-economic and political issues which affect our members.   May I take this opportunity to appeal to the membership to go to the polls in large numbers and VOTE FOR THE CHANGE YOU WANT.   Vote! Emily Madamombe  FOR A NEW PROVINCE AND A NEW BEGGINNING TOGETHER AND WINNING

THE CHRISTMAS RHAPSODY: JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA

Come you Christmas time, I live to see it another while,

I married my wife around this time

And attached to her my father’s name

Hoping to change a lot in the life ahead

To end the strife and walk the mile

I sat her right in the middle of the house

She took the veil and sung a song

As she fought to catch my mother’s eye!

Come you Christmas time, and see my lips smile again

I had my son around this time

He came to the world with a commanding voice

A voice that hid a double tone

He swore at his mother for chasing him

Away from the womb that had kept him for several months

And thanked her too for freeing him

From the captivity of an unchanging womb!

Come you Christmas time, and take me to a world afar

I made my name around this time

And attached to it my endless zeal

Refusing again to let it go

For around this time I make a vow

I watch the clouds and watch the sky

As my heart decides again!

Come you Christmas time, the world at large waits for you

They wait in vain for the rising star,

He comes, she comes on Christmas time

To make a claim with a Christmas Number One

Millions flock to hear the song

As history records the day and time forever more

Prospects snatched, prestige claimed

As I claim my Christmas time!

JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA

PUBLICATIONS

Chaibva is wrong again: Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa

The attack on Trudy Stevenson is an act of barbarism that no-one can really condone. And the MDC, as led by Morgan Tsvangirai, was quick in condemning it. But it seems as if the Professor Mutambara faction of the Party wants to gain political mileage out of it. Statements that followed the attack seem to have exonerated ZANU PF and ridiculously tried to make Tsvangirai the wicked person of Zimbabwean politics. In doing that the Mutambara faction is not alone, they have plenty admirers especially in ZANU PF, as represented by Nathan Shamuyarira their spokesperson. Interestingly the government mouthpiece reported on the same day and ironically on the same page that the case against Didymus Mutasa was being dropped, yet that involving Trudy Stevenson was being propped up. The Mutasa case was about ZANU PF intra-political violence which involved attempted murder and is no different from the Trudy Stevenson case but it is clear that the stake is higher to pursue Morgan Tsvangirai. One wonders why ZANU PF is too quick to implicate MDC and why some of us are complicit to that.

The attack on Trudy Stevenson was splashed in the Herald, Trudy herself gave a good account of how bad her attackers from the other side were, and that she has never seen such savagery in her entire life. Of course when in pain, one can say things that they would not want repeated! Not to condone violence, I personally being a very peaceful man who submitted fully to the life of Christianity, but there is a clear distortion in such statements. It is commonplace in Zimbabwe that the savagery that has been witnessed was from Ian Smith in the liberation struggle, the Robert Mugabe regime during Gukurahundi in Matabeleland and the Robert Mugabe regime against mainly MDC supporters and white farmers. These are the facts, documented in such reports as the Monthly Political Violence Monitoring Reports that are produced by the Zimbabwe Human rights Ngo Forum. The depth of that savagery is so deep and we have Zimbabweans such as Tonderai Machiridza, Stephen Olds etc lost their lives and others like Gabriel Shumba, Ian Kay, Job Sikhala etc were beaten and left for dead. This was savagery at its worst, sustained by the ZANU PF machinery…sustained shamelessly and anchored as a monoculture through institutions of violence such as the Youth Militia.

The attempt to demonise Morgan Tsvangirai by exonerating ZANU PF is as bad as hero-worshipping Ian Smith because I do not like Robert Mugabe. The MDC can not be demonised that way. Whoever beat Trudy was not sanctioned by Morgan Tsvangirai or whoever leader of the MDC. It follows also that it is not true that Tsvangirai and the MDC are very violent as both Nathan Shamuyarira and Gabriel Chaibva want us to believe. Contrary to that if there is any political party in Zimbabwe that is serious about addressing the issue of political violence, it is the Tsvangirai led MDC. This is seen in the tangible efforts that followed the attack on Trudy Stevenson. The Independent Commission of Inquiry that was set displays a seriousness that only those with ulterior motives won’t notice. The quoting of the word independent in some quarters seems to attach doubt to the effect of the inquiry; its purpose is being defeated even before its inception by people obviously longing to see the end of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC. Yet the same people have been crying for violence to be addressed. It seems as if the attack on Trudy was a blessing in disguise for the Mutambara-led MDC…..and they want that on and are clinging to it as if their whole lives belong to it. But some of it is coming from people like Chaibva who themselves lack credibility and were trained to maintain ZANU PF by using violence, when he was trained in the then People’s Militia. But what Chaibva forgot to tell the nation is that he was also involved in intra-MDC fighting when he was jostling for a position in MDC Harare Province in 2001. Maybe he is a recent convert to the peace brigade but of course everyone who knows about converts knows that they confess first before they become true converts. We haven’t heard Chaibva confessing. The same for Arthur Mutambara, himself during his University years, a master who taught our intellectuals how to urinate in fridges! We have nothing really to learn from people who lack credibility to talk, and the nation simply has to be spared the lectures from people whose histories too are well-embedded in the culture of violence that they want us to believe they loath.

Enter Gabriel Chaibva: http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/senate211.14346.html on the proposed talks between MDC and ZANU PF seemed to want to indicate that Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC may have played a traitor. The man, of course doing his duty as the Pro-Senate spokesperson, seems to want to speak to the World and seems to have thought that he might have wrong footed Morgan Tsvangirai for what he says is talking to ZANU PF. In his article he also exonerates the Pro-Senate MDC for what he says were accusations that they were either a creation or an extension of ZANU PF. He seems to celebrate the exposure of Tsvangirai as indeed the real traitor, and further talks about the “Winter of Discontent” which he thinks might have been shelved.

What is so striking is the attempt to be the good guys of Zimbabwean politics, a card that was played before the planting season of Budiriro, which as we all know came and others who had truly been serious harvested fruits, and others we won’t mention to avoid unnecessary monotony harvested thorns. “Oh how did I become anheroxic?” said the food shy sister! The question of being traitors and going thousands of miles away from principles is there, stuck on the Mutambara faction that they it will only be changed with the fading of history. Zimbabweans will always remember how some of those they thought were MDC betrayed the struggle for the love of money. They, led by Welshman Ncube and Priscilla Misiharabwi-Mushonga, decided to endorse a constitutional amendment all civic groups in Zimbabwe had rejected by participating in Senatorial Elections. Zimbabweans remember how those they thought were part of them decided to deride the poor by participating in a scheme once more being advanced at the behest of their oppressors, to overburden the already overtaxed Zimbabwean taxpayer by creating a senate that is nothing but the “golden handshake” for Zimbabwe’s political mafia. The senate project came at a time when the electorate, which happens to have the largest stake in the political economy, was crying for houses destroyed during “Operation Murambatsvina” and hyperinflation. It is at that time that Welshman Ncube and company decided to distance themselves from the legitimate agenda of poor people, which at the time was to get redress for “Operation Murambatsvina”. It was around this time that they chose to legitimise ZANU PF by supporting the senate when that money should have been used to build houses for those affected by Murambatsvina. The senate is a project that even ZANU PF luminaries such as Shuvai Mahofa are castigating in broad day light. One wonders how far some of us have travelled from the truth, if they are so myopic not to see what others are beginning to see. Come, the Political Parties Financing Act. Faced with two MDCs after the split, and faced with two MDC congresses it was left to the discretion of ZANU PF and Mugabe to choose what to do. It was either that the two parties would be given Z$4bn each or else as it turned out to be, ZANU PF would reward the MDC they preferred and punish the MDC they hated. And so recent history has it that ZANU PF chose to give the Z$8bn to the MDC they preferred, those that were talking their language and opposing them innocently. This meant the Arthur Mutambara camp was baptised as another ZANU PF, even more preferred to this day to ZANU Ndonga which is ZANU PF’s namesake and to United People’s Party which was born from within ZANU PF itself. They then were taken closer to the hearts and minds of ZANU PF but on that day they also became bad-smell to the besieged masses of Zimbabwe. Bad-smell as shown by their rejection at the hands of the Budiriro folk. Their redundant and decadent ideology was rejected by the sound rejection of their Party’s principal promoter, the spokesperson Gabriel Chaibva…the rejection showed in the number they got 504; ironically the code name of a now redundant and decadent model of cars; Peugeot 504.

I wasn’t really surprised when I followed Chaibva’s argument. It was really not on principle, no. He was not saying MDC should not talk to ZANU PF, no. He was saying ZANU PF should talk to them because they have more representatives in the House of Assembly. What he could not see was that ZANU PF will not talk to another ZANU PF in order to end the crisis. They will engage the opposition and by aligning themselves to ZANU PF, by allowing themselves to be used as canon fodder early in the day and by being rejected by the grassroots the Mutambara faction is both bad-smell and damaged goods and ZANU PF will not have anything to do with them. ZANU PF and the international community would like to hear the other side as is the principle of natural justice and the true other side that has been resolute and unwavering in its opposition of ZANU PF is the Tsvangirai-led MDC and that is in the public gallery. It is therefore clear that all along Chaibva’s group has been positioning itself for talks and in the process they decided to call the bitter pill that is ZANU PF by the name sweet but of course that did not alter the test-buds of the electorate. Instead the electorate has become more and more interested in supporting the truth, supporting the truth with the vigour that it deserves. Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC have not warmed up to ZANU PF in anyway. They did not seek to “re-brand” the Party by harmonising their policies with those of ZANU PF as was done by Mutambara and company. What they have done is to proffer a platform by which ZANU PF will be engaged and that is being done on about eight pillars. What is being proffered is a good dispute settlement mechanism that is all inclusive and this is rare and an indication that at least in Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC he leads we seem to have a leader prepared to move further away from the culture of revolutionary aristocracy that has done our country great disfavour. The Mutambara faction of the MDC is full of people who have positioned themselves as the sympathetic few whom without them poor Zimbabweans would have no voice of agitation. If you listen to Arthur Mutambara speaking, his emphasis on gravitas and how by inference he thinks he meets that definition and the excludability that he thinks befits people such as Morgan Tsvangirai and Joyce Mujuru because they do not have the so-called gravitas, you can see how people who claim to be pro-democracy are not prepared to listen to the electorate but their whims. Like ZANU PF they are a closed club of self-important persons no wonder the likes of David Coltart were shocked when they were not called to mediate when they thought they have the gravitas to mediate and denial would be a sin.

It is therefore left to the Arthur Mutambara led MDC to start-searching for their soul. They are clearly exhausted with the struggle and people like Chaibva who want to contest in every constituency are the best case of such desperation. Defeated in the MDC primary elections in his traditional Harare South Constituency he did the embarrassing thing of going to contest in Budiriro in a clear sign that either the Mutambara faction has no ready takers or they are a closed club where only a chosen few will be preferred. This is why we have seen the same recycled people coming to “preach” their political gospel which at best is a rare blend of ZANU PF and 1960s Pan-Africanism. Having realised that they do not stand a chance with the Zimbabwean electorate they now want to see the demise of MDC and they have been trying by all means to sound the international community that MDC is not good business. They are no longer promoting their own philosophy because they know its bad-smell but as they go want to pull with them the entire MDC and of course the only hope Zimbabweans have. Because they are intellectuals they do not care what happens to the average Zimbabwean because they have never cared. They want their names only. One is reminded of the Biblical mothers who claimed the same child. One who was not the mother wanted it cut into two. The other who was the mother asked King Solomon to spare the child’s life and give it to the other woman if necessary. The wise King settled for the later. In our scenario the electorate is the wise king and they have chosen the ones who want to save the life of the people’s party. What’s left for Chaibva and company is to try and co-exist, if they do that history may not charge them harshly. But if they continue to try and destroy the only hope the people of Zimbabwe have, they may succeed in scaling it down but they will never succeed in destroying the Party. And people will never forgive them. This happened before and ironically the same people were involved in the futile attempt to destroy ZimRights. For years ZimRights had a bad name with the so-called international community. But people remained resolute and now the people’s human rights organisation still survives and has since been rewarded by regaining the respect from the ever inconsistent so-called international community!

JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA CAN BE CONTACTED ON 07984254830, 02077206614 mutyambizidewa@yahoo.co.uk or dhewah@hotmail.com

PUBLICATIONS

OF ASCENDENCE SYNDROME, DOOM’S DAY CULTS AND THE ARTHUR MUTAMBARA CAMP: JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA

Ever since he arrived on the Zimbabwean political scene Professor Arthur Mutambara raised hopes by first lighting political flames but no sooner had the flames started to burn, was he immediately extinguished. Coming at a time when the MDC was clearly in disarray, he seemed to provide the soberness that was then needed to bring Zimbabwe’s most serious opposition party back on track.

There was this Arthur Mutambara who was really high sounding, offering to proffer a political ideology that really made sense to a lot of people who are not post-searching but role-searching. By offering to work with Tsvangirai, fight for the unity not only of the warring MDC factions but also extending the catchment’s area even to the likes of Margaret Dongo, Daniel Shumba, Professor Heneri Dzinotyiweyi, Professor Jonathan Moyo and all the others who today are the outstanding voices against President Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF, he really made sense. Here was a man who really meant well, a force not attracted by positions but real need to emancipate his country men from the yoke that they are in. Professor Mutambara then offered to even step down from his seat to accommodate free and fair elections which he would respect. This coming from a man who did not have second thoughts about assuming the presidency of a party that he was very new to of course raised eyebrows but at that time there was reason to believe, for we all know what is meant by compromise leaders. To me Professor Mutambara then provided the perfect solution to the crisis that the MDC had found itself in, a crisis that seemed more to do with a leadership at that point in time seemed to be in denial.

Professor Mutambara made sense as the compromise that would help glue things together until such a time when differences were mended. Yet this had been tried in Zimbabwean politics before, and when that was tried it also ended in disaster. In 1971 Bishop Abel Muzorewa was chosen as the compromise leader of the Zimbabwe’s African National Council, which was the united voice of the banned nationalist movements, ZANU and ZAPU. The Bishop Muzorewa leadership was supposed to hold fort for jailed and exiled nationalists, Frontline States having agreed on him as a cleric who would be trusted with power. Yet the temptations of power would entrap the Bishop and although he had agreed to the leadership of the late Father Zimbabwe, Joshua Nkomo, in the 1977 negotiations that eventually led to the internal settlement with Ian Smith, on arrival at Harare International Airport (then Salisbury International Airport) the sheer volumes of people who thronged the airport to welcome him resonated in his ears so badly that at the end he cancelled all the scheduled meetings with Joshua Nkomo who was already waiting in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia). The ascendance syndrome which told him of the support that he thought he had made him assume a sense of leadership that in reality he did not have.

Immediately ANC became UANC and the praises on Nkomo that had been characterised by such songs as “Tsuro tsuro wapera basa naNkomo, tamba naMuzorewa, Tamba naChikerema, tamba naNkomo” immediately changed into vilification for the true father of the revolution Zimbabwe has ever had. We started to hear at Muzorewa’s instigation songs such as “Nkomo wairamba nemajerasi kuti titore nyika-Nkomo was jealousy, he didn’t want Muzorewa to lead”. Sensing danger Joshua left for Zambia and upon hearing this all Frontline States immediately resolved not to work with Muzorewa again. As a result the internal settlement that became known as Zimbabwe Rhodesia was still-born, shunned by the Frontline States, even Margaret Thatcher who had initially indicated support for it was isolated and withdrew her support. Had greed for power not entered Muzorewa’s mind, Mugabe might have been isolated and forced into the same arrangement and there would have been a better history for Zimbabwe’s most historical cleric. It is important to realise that the same ascendance syndrome also affected Robert Mugabe in 1980 at a time when he could have listened to common sense and let Joshua Nkomo who was more senior and with the capacity to unify the new Zimbabwe and hold it together, lead. It is shameful that even after the so-called Unity Accord President Mugabe still could not see the usefulness of letting the one who had real capacity lead and him to follow for the benefit of Zimbabwe.

Politicians forget one thing. That we are the same people who have been voting since the internal settlement of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. But the pattern in the politics of change as shown in Zimbabwe has been this idea of borrowed support. Before 1999 it was clear that people were borrowed from Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe,( forget what other people would like us to believe it is clear from the insistence on Unity that even Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF realised the potential that the old man, Josh, had). Failure to realise this creates a wrong impression that one may regret for the rest of their lives. Thus the support that Muzorewa borrowed when ZANU and ZAPU did not participate in the internal settlement reverted back to their roots and in 1980 the Patriotic Front had 77seats to Muzorewa’s 3. The same seems to be true with Arthur who seems to have been hoodwinked into believing that he has the numbers. When he entered Zimbabwean politics people greeted the rationality, the seeming maturity and the promising star that he seemed to be. Yet people were not saying run before he could walk, there was no special treatment. It was clear that the same incremental rise was expected of him, whether he was a high calibre professional or not!

Mind you most of the parties that failed in Zimbabwe before are parties that were fronted by very prominent people in Zimbabwean society, particularly high calibre professionals. Parties such as the Forum Party of Zimbabwe quickly come to mind. Interestingly political parties that seem to have made a meaningful contribution to Zimbabwe were fronted by people whom we can not say were very educated, such as Edgar Tekere’s Zimbabwe Unity Movement and Margaret Dongo’s Zimbabwe Union of Democrats and of course Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. But it is clear that ascendancy syndrome caught up with Professor Mutambara. “Takapembedza ngozi tichiti mudzimu”. It is very clear to me that there could have been good intentions and well-meaning when Arthur Mutambara entered the political scene. But just like Bishop Muzorewa before him, he has easily been entrapped by the prophecy of seeing immediate reward which is the trademark of most members of his team. The divorce speech that we heard on Studio 7 from the Pro-Senate’s former Chairperson, Gift Chimanikire, is not something that can be easily discounted as the likes of Gabriel Chaibva and Priscilla Misihairabwi want us to do. If at all there are people not to be taken serious of it will be Priscilla and Gabriel for not only is Chimanikire a very senior politician who has a track-record dating back to successful mass-mobilisation at PTC, but also that both Priscilla and Gabriel have to their credit (discredit) left a trail of destruction and confusion wherever they have gone to. Everyone knows the cream that ZUD was, the promise of a party led by a woman who had it all within her means to be the first elected head of state in Africa, Margaret Dongo. Everyone knows how she took on ZANU PF single-handedly, and bravely, but for the arrival of Priscilla Misihairabwi whose entrance into ZUD spelt disaster and she only left when she was sure the party was in intensive care, bleeding to death. And this Gabriel Chaibva whose origins are with the same People’s Militia that is well-known for its atrocities in Matabeleland, is also known as the person who joined every opposition political party in Zimbabwe and caused a lot of confusion notably in ZUM and the Forum Party of Zimbabwe. He later bounced back as a desperate choice for MDC in the 2000 elections as the party did not have a willing candidate for Harare South. Not that MDC had not identified a candidate for Harare South from its own ranks, no! The reality is that people who had been identified had genuinely been in the struggle for democracy with Margaret Dongo and as genuine cadres they did not want to fight it out against one who had been so principled in the same struggle. It needed someone who either was not part of the struggle for democracy or a total opportunist who saw the possibility of making it to parliament, principles notwithstanding. And there was this Gabriel Chaibva who was not even a member of the MDC, to fill in that space. From then on we could see the endless struggle for power in MDC Harare Province as Gabu tried to position himself in the province, using the same violence that he now accuses others of having used. The Mutambara camp lacks the capacity to criticise others, not only morally but historically, legally, and politically as well. Morally because serve for a few people still remaining in the Mutambara camp, they are a bunch of opportunists who do not even care a thing about the poor people they purport to represent, historically because they are a creation of the same violence they accuse others of being-Mutambara at the UZ, all MDC MPs as there was no way the party could have defeated ZANU PF if it had turned its back to ZANU PF violence, legally and politically because it is Morgan Tsvangirai who has the support of the people, and in politics if you do not have the numbers you will have to fall by the wayside.

There is a clear Doom’s day element in the way that things are being run. But it is also premised on schoolchild tactics and obviously wishful thinking; that this Arthur Mutambara comes to South Africa, he sees the potential in his country to fill in the number one job, he tries to use his history as a student leader to experiment with the people’s feelings. This is all wishful, World Utopias, which of course was bound to fail, not least because the same society that produced the professors in Arthur Mutambara and Welshman Ncube has not been stagnant. It has matured intellectually and has produced not only two, but several professors some of them the Heneri Dzinotyiweyis, Jonathan Moyos, Norman Nyazemas and John Makumbes of this world. The same society can choose its leaders as they like using their own formulae, not professorial templates such the “toilet caretaker” mockery of Professor Ncube, or the “I am the only one capable” wild dream of Professor Mutambara!

When I read the speech that Arthur is said to have made to a few hundred people in Mount Pleasant, I realised that the young man was gone. He seems to me in all what he is doing to be saying that he is the sympathetic one who is taking it upon himself to liberate the suffering masses who without him, are not capable. Such bragging as “Vote for President Mutambara…ask Jonathan Moyo, Daniel Shumba and Morgan Tsvangirai who has the capacity to unseat Mugabe”, says who, Professor? Such self praises are unprecedented in the history of politics and even Idi Amin or Hitler never said that about themselves. That can not come from a fully baked revolutionary and a true Pan Africanist. Such mystification of a mortal man is frightening to say the least especially in the face of dictatorship and I am forced to salute people who are leaving the Pro Senate camp because if it’s the story that is being written there, it must surely be written on an Epitaph or as a graveside speech! It can not be the story to be associated with the living, even the undead! The story of self-praising belongs in the grave; we hoped it would go with ZANU PF. The issue of ascendance must always be incremental, no need for denying that at the moment it is Tsvangirai who has the numbers and Mutambara must admit that he made a mistake by not seizing the opportunity to play the better politics that he was suppose to play; put efforts for unity in MDC before he joined the agenda of any of the factions. Both factions at that time were clearly acting on emotion and also especially the Pro-Senate faction has people like Priscilla Misihairabwi who have histories of leaving a trail of confusion in would-be successful opposition parties that they join.

Politics is about numbers as these show the approval rating for politicians and the stubbornness that the pro-senate camp has greeted their clear rejection by the people of Zimbabwe is unfortunate and those who are leaving the camp are refusing to be associated with the hypocrisy and arrogance that this reflects. At the moment there is a very low approval rating to that camp and the insistence by Professor Ncube that even if they remain with only two people depicts the camp as self-important and not the servants of people that politicians should be. Modern politics listens, it is involving rather than excluding, and it involves people telling their leadership that the approach should be a bottom to top approach. By the way this is what democracy is all about. It is clear therefore that the Pro Senate Camp is driven by their egos and Zimbabweans are being sacrificed because leaders’ egos are telling them not to follow popular opinion. It is because of positions that MDC will not unite even in the face of an impetus towards a people’s revolution which demands that every political leader who is against the status quo be involved. The Zimbabwean opposition must resemble Mao Tse Tung who during the Second World War resolved to suspend his war with the Kuomintang in order that they created a common force against the Japanese. Ascendance syndrome for positions that are yet to come must immediately heal and all must back Morgan Tsvangirai as the Joshua Nkomo of this era, the person with the numbers and a natural leader currently able to unify the masses against Robert Mugabe.

“Dzila kunda mbeli”, sometimes to step down is to move forward!

Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa, Human Rights Activist based in the United Kingdom

PUBLICATIONS

Mugabe has scathed black pride
KWINJEH
• Matshazi: 'Kwinjeh ridiculed Africans'• Mugabe's celebratory rant as Zim turns 25• Zim gone 25 years backwards, says MDC• Grace Kwinjeh: Happy birthday to an unfinished revolution• No cheer as Zim turns 24• Independence war mass graves found• Mugabe calls on exiles to return

Grace Kwinjeh's Independence Day article 'Happy birthday to an unfinished revolution' has attracted several comments from our readers. Kuthula Matshazi accused her of distortion. But lawyer Julius Mutyambizi-Dewa disagrees

READING Kuthula Matshazi, I quickly realise that there are some more questions that we as Zimbabweans must honestly ask ourselves.
The first is whether or not Zimbabwe is liberated and the second is when a country begins to be perceived as liberated or worse still, independent. To arrive to an honest conclusion on such a debate we should begin to think beyond the colour of our skins and patronage that arises from skin colour. To me the opinions that Matshazi advances, with due respect, are part of the 1960s discourse where the move on the African Continent was to replace white oppressors with black oppressors. The basic meaning of freedom to me is the absence of oppression and this I believe is not subject to cultural or racial relativism. And oppression is oppression, it is bad whether its practised by whites on blacks, blacks on blacks, or otherwise. Oppression knows no skin colour.
The black government in Zimbabwe to me represents everything of the bad governance subset and it is clear that with such a government at the helm, Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans are not free. I know we will all say well but they are the guys who wedged the war of liberation to free us but to me liberation comes as package, its not about changing the name of the country to Zimbabwe but it goes much further than that.

Of course I didn't participate in the liberation struggle but I am the first son of a father and mother who participated fully in the liberation struggle. But it will require more than simple white or black defeatism to convince me that there are any clear gains derived from the liberation struggle. First the government of Robert Mugabe loses it on all fronts. Was it a revolution to showcase the black man as a champion of his own fate?
But if that's the case then the ploy is lost and I can tell the Africanist that Robert Mugabe is the real Uncle Tom. Why? Because he has proven everything that white supremacists have said about perceived black ineptitude. For starters here is a hypocrite who claims to have championed a war for the freedom of blacks. Late in the day he enacts laws that take away the purported freedom from them. I don't want to repeat POSA and AIPPA which we obviously have heard before. The accusation that the blackman is a failure is made more apparent by leaders such as Robert Mugabe who has managed to run down an economy that was once sound. It is sad for me as a blackman when I have to say yes our economy was good, with a diverse base and production capacities only second to South Africa in the whole continent of Africa, Egypt included. But it is more humiliating when I have to say oh yes but it was in the era of Ian Smith!

Matshazi your children will never understand you when you shall one day tell them that "oh Zimbabwe was once under a whiteman called Ian Smith and we the blacks had to overthrow him". And if then they will ask "but was there any food then, I mean did you have bread and butter, meat and mealie-meal", you will certainly be ashamed to say" Oh yes, in abundance!"
Matshazi, Grace is wrong when she says this revolution is unfinished, no she is very wrong, this revolution is lost! Black pride is scathed, our face is not disfigured but dismembered. Zimbabwe is historically at its lowest. Remember it was this Zimbabwe that built Great Zimbabwe under Mwene Mutapa, it was Zimbabwe that under Tombolaikona Tjimwango (Changamire Dombo) of the Rozvi became the first in Africa to defeat a European army - the Portuguese. It was also Zimbabwe under the Rozvi that first used the mulomo wa kumba fighting method (cow horn formation) later made famous by Tshaka of the Zulu. It was Mzilikazi, a Zimbabwean and founder of the Ndebele nation, who pioneered freedom from Tshaka. His son Lobengula became the first Zimbabwean to embark on shrewd nation-building. I can go on and mention how Zimbabweans both black and white have been conquering not only Africa but the world. But we are at our lowest under this government and all the outstanding things that we are known for have been eroded, overtaken by events.

"Black pride is scathed, our face is not disfigured but dismembered. Zimbabwe is historically at its lowest"
JULIUS DEWA
The country that gave birth to Zion Christian Church under Samuel Hosea Mutendi, Johane Masowe under Sixpence Gandanzara, the country that pioneered panel beating, the pioneers of exploration of the Moon under the Rozvi of Lupandamanhanga Hupenga (Gumbolevula), and at one time manufacturers of cloud seeding aircraft in Norton. Who doesn't know the heroics of white-Zimbabwean pilots during the Second World War.
How do we get independent when we do not have economic freedom? This is the question that the government in Zimbabwe today has always asked itself. To address this, they have embarked on a number of projects under the term affirmative action and indigenisation. These are always good words but with our government, the propensity for bad intentions is very high. If we had embarked on indigenisation, to the true meaning of it in letter and spirit, surely Willowvale Motor Industry wouldn't be bleeding, Matshazi. Oh, the government would be buying Mazdas, and the President would surely have been driving in Mazda. Why not, they are assembled in our country with more than 33% Zimbabwean content. They would have created more jobs for Zimbabwe through the savings on foreign currency as the first family would no longer need EUROs to finance the purchase of Mercedes Benz from Bavaria in Germany.
The President's suits would be designed by Zimbabwen tailors and so would the First Lady, who would not go to Italy to design her shoes instead of Conte Shoes, Bata or G&D that are Zimbabwean. But this doesn't happen, well because our country hasn't come yet, the revolution was lost to bourgeoisis who tell others to think Zimbabwean while they don't think Zimbabwean. Come on, we don't need the West or the East we need ourselves but we have to co-exist in a world that is globalising. The so-called champions of Zimbabwe's struggle are self-servicing hypocrites.
:Phillip Chiyangwa boasted the other day of buying an expensive shoe from Italy but he is the owner of a shoe manufacturing company in Zimbabwe that is closing shop because there is no business. Thats their mentality, they belong there, where we all want to come from. Of course, indigenous Zimbabweans are black and white Zimbabweans alike. This is the reality of our society, we are a multiracial society! This is the same as in South Africa and Namibia, but not the same as elsewhere in Africa. Comparative analyses that do no take account of clear exceptions will not be worth their meaning. Africa as Africa will have a problem if we try to close our world as if we belong to another planet. Africa is on earth and trying to come with philosophies that talk of continental relativism will take us nowhere. I dream of a Zimbabwe that is a serious competitor economically and a rival militarily to the superpowers of the world and such a Zimbabwe can only be built by Zimbabwean white and black hearts and minds together. I believe as a blackman the oppression of a whiteman by my fellow blackman affects me in the same way as the oppression of a blackman by a whiteman.

The third thing will be my assertion that it is possible for blacks to oppress blacks. This is where the problem of Zimbabwe is today. And this the disease Africa has, that blacks can not oppress blacks. That Europe is raising the same issues with Zimbabwe as what the Zimbabwean opposition is, remains very coincidental. What is happening in Zimbabwe is bad and it is in the public domain. In Kalanga we say "usinyile tsime". It doesn't matter whether it is the man next door who says the same as my child, if I mess with drinking water I deserve to be rebuked, left right and centre. But to say Mugabe is right because he has been criticised by the West is clearly myopic. True visionaries do not say such things in public.

Lastly, Matshazi must ask himself why Yoweri Museveni, who defeated the Amin and Obote dictatorships in his Uganda, is not considered a liberator in Africa. For the record Front for National Salvation, FRONASA and later on National Resistance Army, which Museveni led, was trained in the same Tanzanian barracks and by the same FRELIMO and North Korean instructors that trained Zanu PF's Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (Zanla). But why is Museveni not part of the so-called Liberation Grouping of ANC, FRELIMO, PAC, ZANU PF, SWAPO and MPLA? Because he represents the new thinking of Africans who oppose black oppression and can do anything to defeat it. It is a sin in Africa to fight the black aristocracy and this is why MDC in Zimbabwe, MMD in Zambia and Democratic Alliance in South Africa will forever be demonised.
Further I want to leave you what my hero Josiah Tongogara said: "I don't care which post I will get but what I want is for the black child and the white child to grow together freely in the new Zimbabwe."
This was the revolution Matshazi, and it was lost. Remember what he said of the 1980 elections: "I want us to contest the elections as the Patriotic Front led by Dr Joshua Nkomo" and what happened later? Of course Gukurahundi would have been avoided if the true revolutionary had been heeded and the true revolution won!Dewa is a Zimbabwean laywer currently studying for an LLM International Law at the University of East LondonJOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMSdebate@newzimbabwe.com

PUBLICATIONS

DOWN WITH TRIBALISM

Down with those who preach tribalism, those who are intent at seeing the perpetuation of the destruction of our beautiful country. Like you my brother you work for the same Robert Mugabe you want us to believe you so much hate. Matabeleland has never existed as a separate entity. It has always been part of Zimbabwe. The Rozvi Kingdom with its Kalanga language (to which I belong) found Matabeleland there; they called it Bukwa (Guruuswa in Shona) because of its ranches. The Khumalo found it there, after a lot of fighting they conquered the Rozvi and built the Ndebele Nation.

Mzilikazi tried total conquest but he was not successful, he found resistance in Tohwetjipi, or Sibumbamu, who was a Rozvi/Kalanga General. It was Lobengula, arguably the shrewdest politician and leader Zimbabwe has ever had (bayethe okaMthwakazi, May His Soul Rest in Peace) who finally brought peace to Matabeleland. Under him Rozvi Chiefs such as Sai, Bidi, Rozvi -related Ndiweni, Hwange etc returned their chiefdoms and influence and the Rozvi religion with its Njelele and other shrines became the official religion of Matabeleland. This meant that even Lobengula, the mighty King, would also follow Rozvi religion. But this was in exchange for loyalty and also tjiKalanga, Zimbabwe's official language for more than two centuries was replaced in Matabeleland with the Ndebele language, (I must say which is not pure Zulu). This is reality my brother. Nations are not built by confrontation.

The Ndebele is not a tribe but a nation. 70% of present day Ndebeles have their roots in Zimbabwe, which makes the argument advanced in Mashonaland that Ndebeles should go back to South Africa very silly, add that to Bantu migration patterns and you will laugh at our lack of knowledge. Remember this was the basis by which Robert Mugabe, Enos Nkala and others massacred people of Matabeleland thinking that they have to go, where? And the Matabeleland version of wanting a separate country has its basis in a wrong argument, that "imikhuba yethu 'aihambelane, we are so different from the Shona, substance, form and content!"

The only real difference between the people of Matabeleland and those in Mashonaland is in languages, and this was a colonial design that the half-backed revolutionaries who are running our country decided to maintain. But this should never be allowed to erode the common ground we share that makes us Zimbabweans. The fact is that it was a government that massacred people lets not exaggerate it into a Hutu and Tutsi scenario that has never existed in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans have tended to unite for a common cause. For example the first Chimurenga was not only fought to drive colonialism away but it was also fought to bring back the Rozvi and Ndebele monarchs, hence the term "chiMurenga", "Murenga"/"Tobela" being God in Rozvi language, and the prophet behind all this was a Rozvi called Mkwati (the founder of Chimurenga, not heralded though) and he was saying the message from God was to have the resurrection of the two monarchs. In the First Chimurenga Ndebele impis came to Mashonaland and fought in that part of Zimbabwe with the help of impis from Chief Mashayamombe (where Kaguvi and Chaminuka came from) and Chief Hwata (where Nehanda came from) who had guns and knew how to use them. As a piece of history you may also want to know that all these people were opposed vigorously by a puppet of the BSAC, Chief Zvimba of Mashonaland West, to whom President Robert Mugabe is directly descended. Defeat came because of people like Chief Zvimba and Chimurenga part 2 came. Then the 1962 debacle came, Nkomo the unity leader, a unifying force in our struggle was ridiculed and accused the Morgan Tsvangirai fashion, and the rest is history. The only person who was accepted as the leader of the struggle did not become the leader of the country, not only that, he was ridiculed and chased away and now where are we? The same seems to be happening in MDC today, oh how we have this propensity to destroy ourselves.

Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa