MILLION MAN MARCH REMINISCENT OF MUZOREWA'S 1980 HURUYADZO RALLY!!

By : Garikai Chimuka

The so called, " million man march" , ostensibly carried out in support of Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF candidature in next year's presidential elections, is nothing beyond a propaganda stunt to hoodwink the world (particularly in the run up to the EU-AU summit to be hosted in December in Portugal) that the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe are behind Mugabe and his failed policies.

If anything, there are very interesting yet striking parallels with the 3 day Huruyadzo rally that was held at the same Zimbabwe Grounds on the eve of the 1980 elections by the then President of the short lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, before his burial into the dustbins of history.

That the ZANU PF government fronted by lunatics masquerading as war veterans, youth and woman's leagues would waste taxpayers' money on the back of a disastrous national budget running into zillions of worthless Zim dollars, defies logic and common sense.

Thousands of unsuspecting rural folk especially from far flung areas such as Uzumba –Maramba-Pfungwa were frog marched and bused to partake in the useless march on the back of empty promises of free maize seed, scothcarts and ploughs for the so called "mother of all farming seasons", which has already turned into a "grandmother of all farming disasters" since the turn of the millennium. This is a serious abuse of the poverty stricken poor and hungry folk who were used for the personal yet unnecessary Mugabe wish to be life President at all costs.

The sorry sight of barefooted villagers clearly on empty stomachs being used as cheap cannon fodder for sloganeering and political posturing is a serious indictment on the moral bankruptcy of Mugabe and his storm troopers. Any government, the world over that inflicts poverty on its people through policy kwashiorkor and unmitigated hunger for power and then goes on to use the same, has lost the legitimacy to claim that it is a government.

However what is significant from this big non-event is that just like Muzorewa's Huruyadzo rally in 1980, Mugabe has clearly read the mood of the people and the writing is on the wall yet he is still in denial. Such cheap arrogance combined with ignorance is a sure recipe for a thunderous defeat in a free and fair election come March 2008

Just like in 1980,the people of Zimbabwe are not foolish. Although they were forced to attend the Huruyadzo rally , they knew in their hearts and minds that Muzorewa was history for he never stood for the aspirations of the people. The people knew that he had no capacity to stop the armed struggle and they had not forgotten the atrocities he had committed against the people through his notorious Pfumo Revanhu bandits.

In Zimbabwe today, the people will never forget , Gukurahundi ethnic cleansing, Operation Murambatsina, Operation Reduce Prices, Corruption by Mugabe and his cohorts and indeed civil servants will never forget that they are earning less than US $10 dollars per month which is decreasing every hour. They may attend the so called million man march, but come March 08, in a free and fair election, Mugabe will be taken to the cleaners.

Just like in 1980 at the Huruyadzo rally, Muzorewa was in fiery form, lambasting the dangers of communism and marxist socialism which the liberation movements were articulating. At the so called million man march, Mugabe was also lambasting the dangers of neo-colonialism vowing that Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. At Huruyadzo, Muzorewa claimed that the Liberation movements were mere pawns of the Russians and Chinese who wanted to plunder the country's resources and at the million man march , Mugabe was also lambasting the opposition as puppets of the British and Americans. The people of Zimbabwe now know better for poverty is a great teacher, a powerful force for change and Mugabe has created that force and he will reap the whirlwind.

In 1980, Muzorewa pretended that the people were willing to die fighting "terrorists" and at the million man march Mugabe is also lying to himself that the people are ready to die of hunger in order for him to be life President when his time is clearly up.

A confident Muzorewa in 1980 thought that victory was in the bag, what with the divisions in the Patriotic Front into PF ZAPU and ZANU PF after Mugabe, due to insatiable appetite for power and tribalism, had rejected a united Patriotic Front that the late Nkomo and late Tongogara had agreed at Lanchaster.There was also confusion surrounding the name ZANU for Sithole was also claiming it.

On the back of poor literacy levels at that time, Muzorewa thought that the confusion was going to hand him victory on a silver platter. At the million man march, Mugabe made it clear that the current factionalism within the MDC will give him victory.

Surely like Muzorewa in 1980, he is underestimating the ability of Zimbabweans to separate wheat from chaff for indeed Morgan Tsvangirai remains the undoubted personification of the struggle for change in Zimbabwe. He is also underestimating the ability of democratic forces to unite at the opportune time and endorse Tsvangirai for a decisive opposition victory in a free and fair election come March 08.

Muzorewa was not ashamed to marshal state resources , busing people and slaughtering thousands of beasts for the 3 day extravaganza. At least he can be forgiven for despite the battering of the economy by war which was now costing $1million a day at a time when the British pound was equivalent to the pound, the economy could still afford it. Today at the so called million man march, Mugabe has no shame to abuse state resources when the economy he has presided over the past 27 years is on its knees .

Hence the message that comes out is that the hour for a new Zimbabwe is nigh. Its high noon in Zimbabwe. No person, no ambition, no force however big, determined or "revolutionary' can stop an idea whose time has come and that national and patriotic idea is that at 83 years after 27 years of failed and uninterrupted rule, Mugabe must do what his peers and generation like Kaunda , Nyerere, Mandela, Chissano, Masire and Nujoma did, bow down for the national interest before it is too late!!

Chimuka writes from the Netherlands and is contactable at

garychimuka06@yahoo.com

Is the Nation of Zimbabwe ready for the earthly departure of its "father"?

By Mufaro Stig Hove (Rev.): 28 OCTOBER, 2007.



PRELIMINARY REMARKS:

Like I wrote in my latest submission "Why The SADC/Mbeki Initiatitive cannot and will not solve Zimbabwe 's problems"(14 October, 2007), the real tragedy is the very acute suffering of the humble, lovely people of Zimbabwe .

Don't ask the State President of South Africa !

Don't ask the illegitimate Executive President of Zimbabwe !

Talk to the common person on the ground inside or outside Zimbabwe and you will hear of the unbelievable abuse of the people of Zim!

My focus this time is what we have slowly become because of the humanitarian disaster occurring between the Limpopo and the Zambezi . What are the psychological effects of having a single, arrogant foreigner presiding with an iron fist over the affairs affecting 14 million "immobilised" citizens?

What will it be like when the Creator suddenly removes this unique dictator? How He will remove him is not the subject of this particular submission. A brave body-guard may I "take him out" the Laurent Kabila way! Or the heart that has been faithful for the past 84 years may suddenly "call it a day". No-one will be shocked if either happens. Suffice to say Robert Gabriel Mugabe (Matibili) will be officially confirmed as having joined those of his age (and many more younger) who had "gone before him".

I was taught at the United College of Education in Bulawayo in 1976 that "Learning is a change of behaviour that results from experiences that one goes through."

If there is a change in behaviour because of specific experiences, then we say learning has taken place.

I read in a book on Education that a certain Scholar by the name of Pavlov experimented with a group of dogs (or is it a pack of dogs?)

Over a length of time he would ring a bell whenever he gave the dogs food. This went for so long that the dogs would salivate whenever they heard the sound of the bell. He sustained this practice until he was sure all the dogs salivated profusely as mentioned.

Then he radically changed the procedures!

He would give the dogs food without ringing the bell and would ring the bell at odd times and not give the dogs anything to eat.

He observed that for some time the dogs would still salivate when the bell was rung but one by one the dogs stopped salivating.

This, Pavlov observed, showed something very important.

This clearly showed that animals (including humans) can be made to associate various sounds, objects etc with certain outcomes and then re-act sub-consciously in certain predictable manners.

This he called "Conditioning."

So the dogs were conditioned to associate the bell with food hence the salivating.

To the dogs, the bell meant food!

To re-enforce the expectations, Pavlov did not disappoint the dogs when the bell was rung.

Conditioning resulted from the dependability of the "signal". The bell signalled the "arrival" of food and for sure this was made completely reliable. There was no doubt in the minds of the dogs that the bell was just "ONE AND THE SAME THING" with delicious food.

Then the dogs' mindsets were completely "distabilized!"

Food came without the "fun-fare" and the bell could sound and no food appeared! So slowly but surely the animals learnt that apparently the sound of the bell and the appearance of food were not related in any way!

What happened here is called "de-conditioning!"

The animals reverted to the previous state where the bell and food had nothing in common at all!

Another interesting form of conditioning is manifested when a cat flees whenever the maid knocks at the door and then enters the house. Certain listeners phoned the "Radio Station 702" and asked whether their cats were "racist". Why did they immediately flee to hide as far as possible when the black maid appeared?

I was relieved when another caller gave this very convincing reason!

Whenever the maid came, she would at some time use the "hoover" and this loud-sounding device would scare the poor cat and she would flee like crazy! Incidentally it is known that a cat hears sounds 40 times more than a human being. What this means is that the sound of the "hoover" is picked by the cat 40 times louder than what we humns hear!

I'm not the one who proved that: experts say so!

So the cat flees as soon as the maid appears and returns when the maid is gone!

Fantastic! Nothing to do with racism!

Pure conditioning! If the maid came numerous times and did not use the 'hoover" it can be safely assumed that the cat would cautiously return while the maid is still around or better still, not flee at all at her arrival! A reaseacher would be needed to verify this but it seems logical!

LETS NOW COME TO ZIM SITUATION:

There is no doubt in anybody's mind that Robert Gabriel Mugabe is at the very centre of the Zim story (whether you call it a tragedy, a crisis or not!)

He is at the centre because he is the one who addresses the Central Committee and the Congresses of the so-called "Ruling Party" (ZANU-PF) and he is the one who gives Policy and Direction and both ZANU-PF and Government follow what he will have given as "guidance."

(You may have noticed that I never refer to Robert Mugabe as President, neither do I believe that ZANU-PF is the legitimate RULING PARTY! ZANU-PF is in reality an Opposition Party which uses various "arm-twisting tactics" to remain power illegitimately! Morgan Tsvangirai is the true President of Zimbabwe and his original MDC is the true ruling party! This however is only academic but must nevertheless bravely noted!)

Lets return to the story of Robert Mugabe being at the centre of the Zim story:

I would need to do a separate submission to relate how Mr Mugabe has developed into the influential person that he is!

Suffice to say that Mr Mugabe is to ZANU-PF what an Oasis is to one stranded in a desert!

Robert Mugabe (as someone observed) is the glue that keeps ZANU-PF together. I have a book with many of the speeches he gave at various Central Committee meetings especially from after the 2000 Referendum (where ZANU-PF clearly lost to the NCA/MDC) and he, more often than not, started by saying that he was aware of the "apathy" etc that was creeping into "The Party" and he had brought words of Encouragement etc.

In one speech he reminded the delegates that they had to find "comfort" in the fact the whole range of Security Forces were "on their side." He specifically said he was disappointed that the Mayors of the major cities and towns were in the hands of what he called "enemies."

"Something has to be done about it," he specifically said.

The unceremonious removal of the MDC Mayor of Harare (Engineer Elias Mudzuri) was a specific directive from none other than Mugabe himself.

The unceremonious removal of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority Chief Executive (the youthful world-respected Engineer Simbarashe Mangwengwende) was straight from the same Robert Mugabe.

The truth, therefore, is that the running of the country appears to the simple as de-centralized but in reality is in the hands of one man and his dangerous Central Intelligence Organisation (the CIO.) Many, including Eng Mangwengwende, relate how they received visits from certain young men who advised them to "change" and behave in a certain ways or risk losing their livelihoods.

Engineer Mangwengwende did personally pay a visit to Cde Mugabe at State House where he thought he had convinced him on the lack of wisdom in selling the Hwange Power Stations to an outsider.

He returned to Electricity House (ZESA HEADQUARTERS) confident that Cde Mugabe would communicate with the then Non-Executive Board Chairman Sidney Gata so they would inform the Malasyian Company that the "deal" was no longer going ahead as planned.

Hadn't he, as the Custodian of the Company Affairs and Properties not spoken to the very Executive President of the country and all was, therefore, clear after all!

Lo and behold, surprise, surprise: two young men came to his 10th floor office and asked him why he was not co-operating with the Government-appointed Board Chairman Sidney Gata on the supposed sale of ZESA Power Stations to the Malaysian Company YTL. Was he not aware that Mr Solomon Tavengwa had been removed from the Chairmanship of the ZESA Board because of this very issue? Was he prepared to risk "following in his foot-steps"?

Eng Mangwengwende said to me that he confidently replied them that they were "behind news". He had already spoken to "His Excellency" and all was understood. The young men in "dark glasses" informed him that they were aware of his meeting with "The Chef" but they were still insisting that he be aware of the consequences of "fighting" Dr Gata.

The young men left and what happened to Eng Simbarashe Mangwengwende is sad history that would require the "deposed" Chief Executive himself to narrate.

Also ask Engineer Elias Mudzuri how he was removed by heavily armed men from Harare Town House. Eng Mudzuri used to work even in the middle of the night seeing the City workmen repairing roads, filling pot-holes etc.

To tell the whole world the truth, there was absolutely no reason for Engineer Mudzuri's removal from the Executive Mayorship of the Capital City of Zimbabwe ! Mugabe was too embarrassed to be "a tenant" under an MDC Mayor!

Five years after Mudzuri's illegal removal, Cde Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki had the guts to hypocritically and mischievously announce to the world (only this year) that ZANU-PF believed they were a Democratic Party which respected the wishes of the people and the evidence was that MDC Mayors were happily and efficiently running the affairs of Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Kwekwe, Masvingo, Chitungwiza etc. What the dangerous South African "sweet-talker" omitted to mention was that the same "democratic ZANU-PF" had through the ruthless, cold, adulterous Ignatious Chombo "deposed" the Harare , Mutare and Chitungwiza City Fathers.

"The long and the short" of it is that ZANU-PF has been effectively supervised closely by Mr Robert Gabriel Mugabe and the extremely huge "Politburo" and Cabinet are just window-dressing tactics to make it appear as if there some semblance of Democracy in both ZANU-PF and by extension, in Zimbabwe!

Ask Dr Simba Makoni, ask Mr July Moyo....the list is endless!

Is Robert Mugabe sure when he says Dr Simba Makoni has been a "failure" in every assignment that he was given? Mr Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki must be ashamed to be used to convey such stinking trash to the world!

Did Dr Simba Makoni fail as Executive Secretary of the former SADCC (now SADC) when he was based in Gaberone , Botswana ?

Then if Dr Simba Makoni was a failure as Minister Of Finance, how is Dr Gideon Gono not a failure as Central Bank Governor when he is trying the same policies that Dr Simba Makoni was suggesting? But the failure of those policies (if Dr Gono has failed), have absolutely nothing to do with the policies themselves.

Who can be successful when operating under an accomplished wizard like Robert Mugabe?

Robert Mugabe tells President Thabo Mbeki about an expected outcry if Dr Sidney Sekeramayi was declared his successor!

What a load of stinking human waste!

So Mugabe will be periodically advising "his" people after he is dead on when to express "outrage" and when to accept whatever is before them!

Cde Thabo Mbeki should be completely ashamed to convey such filthy rubbish!

Cde Thabo Mbeki please don't be used so sheepishly by this Malawian Wizard, Robert Matibili!

Then the Malawian Wizard goes further to say that Emmerson Munangagwa cannot be President because he lost to the MDC twice!

Well and fine!

Question number one: Why continue appointing him to Ministerial posts when the man is such a loser?

Question number two: Why are you Robert Matibili avoiding a legal challenge to your dubious 2002 Electoral Victory? The reason is because you are a worse loser than your rival Emmerson Munangagwa.

Please give us a break!

( By the way I believe Zimbabwe would be much worse off under Emmerson Munangagwa than under Robert Matibili! Ask the now severely crippled Godfrey Majonga presently writhing in perpetual pain at Danhiko Centre!)

IN CONCLUSION:

We have had Mr Robert Gabriel Mugabe (correctly known as Matibili) for the past 40 years.

He has led us before Independence and after Independence !

What have we learnt from our associating with him?

Like Pavlov's dogs, what will happen to us when the name Robert Mugabe is mentioned? Do you feel confident and assured or do you shiver with trepidation lest someone behind you see you spit and vomit at the mention of his name?

Are we aware that one day he will be in a Casket at some Funeral Home like everyone else?

Has he prepared us for a day when the day will be shining on his "Golden Tomb"? Why can he not learn from Cde Nelson Mandela who left the Presidency while the masses still cried for him to continue?

What kind of a father has Robert Mugabe/Matibili been to us the millions he has claimed to Mr Tony Blair as "belonging" to him?

In short, yes, we have been "conditioned" for the past four decades to various emotions, fears, attitude postures; what has done to us etc?

As a parting shot: WILL THE "DE-CONDITIONING" BE SMOOTH AND UNEVENTFUL?


WILL THE MAN GET A DECENT BURIAL AND WILL IT BE AT HEROES' ACRE AMONG THOSE HE SENT BEFORE HIM?

OR WILL HIS CORPSE BE STOLEN, "VANDALISED" AND CREMATED AT MBARE OR HIGHFIELDS?

WILL SADC AND OTHER AU COUNTRIES NOT NEED TO SEND SECURITY FORCES TO TRY AND BRING ORDER WHEN THE MIXED EMOTIONS ERUPT?

AGAIN QUESTION STANDS: WILL THE "DE-CONDITIONING" BE UNEVENTFUL?

Respectfully Submitted,

Rev Mufaro Stig Hove.

www.zimfinalpush.blogspot.com

WHY THE SADC/MBEKI INITIATIVE CANNOT AND WILL NOT SOLVE ZIMBABWE'S PROBLEMS!

 

By Mufaro Stig Hove (Rev.): 14 OCTOBER, 2007.



PRELIMINARY COMMENTS:

There is no journalist, no blogger, no analyst, no politician: there is no individual or organisation that can ever describe the whole or even a part of the suffering that the people of Zimbabwe are going through just today as you read this humble submission of mine.

Suffering can never be adequately described!

It is the sufferer himself/herself who goes through the experience and may then try to describe it to whoever is interested in listening.

Zimbabweans are suffering both within Zimbabwe and outside Zimbabwe.

Whoever is reading this submission of mine has probably already read or heard of the trials and tribulations of the lovely people of Zim.

I will not go the direction of descriptions!

I will rather concentrate on looking at the Mbeki fallacy that the Elections of 2008 may/will help end the Crisis in the country of Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai, Lovemore Madhuku, millions others and myself also.

In brief, the State President of the Republic of South Africa, Cde Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki seems busy with what looks like some Initiative of some sort to try and return Zimbabwe to a state of "normality."

(In the meantime, his Government is on a recruiting spree absorbing all the qualified teachers, nurses, accountants, engineers etc that are fleeing the humanitarian disaster across the Limpopo.

Who remains to look after the sick in the Hospitals, who remains to teach our children in the schools, who is working for various Industrial Establishments back home?

I am equally guilty of fleeing the land of my fathers and hiding in the land of my uncles!)

Thabo Mbeki's under-paid soldiers and police are making a "killing" collecting bribes at the border and within the country from desperate Zimbabweans wanting to "regularize" their entry and stay in the mighty Republic of South Africa.

Farmers at the northern border are having various items disappearing as the "illegal immigrants" pilfer whatever they can so they can sell and get the precious Rand to use on the uncertain journey Southwards. The Rand will be required to pay for transport, for further bribes and for survival as one tries to establish oneself in the land of the intellectual Marxist-Leninist Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki.

When our legal or illegal immigrant brother/sister arrives in some town further South, life then really becomes another Hell as bad or even worse than the Zim one abandoned.

The only difference is that here one can set up a Barber Shop of sorts and get R10 per hairdo or whatever one can involve oneself in.

Bricklayers and other skilled or semi-skilled persons can be luckily absorbed in some project or other.

Women must brace themselves for vigorous sexual orgies and the word "prostitution" does not exist in this new land of South Africa. If one puts on a condom and gets in and then gets out, where is the problem there? The liberal ANC Government makes it even easier since they have exterminated all fear and acknowledgement of God in the short time they have presided over the affairs of the South African State.

The whole story of what is really happening as far as sexual abuse of Zimbabwean women is concerned will never be fully known or told!

Women share blankets with men at Marabastad Home Affairs (Pretoria / Tshwane) and the "lucky" ones are picked up in the evenings, spend the night earning a few rands "God-knows-where" and are then returned in the mornings to continue their wait for weeks and months for "papers" of one sort or another.

I will not talk of the rise in criminal activities because I have noticed that Cde Thabo Mbeki will then concentrate on having me substantiate this and that allegation instead of appreciating that the crime levels of any society will definitely go up when hundreds of thousands of hungry, angry and displaced persons are absorbed in that particular society.

As I have already said above, I will not go on singing about the trials and tribulations of my countrymen within and without the Zim borders.

ENTER THE SADC/MBEKI INITIATIVE:

The very idea of some initiative of any kind is a noble one!

It must, however, be mentioned to you, dear reader, that various initiatives were explored before to try and tackle the Zim crisis and (for reasons that would require a separate submission) dismally failed. Why did the previous initiatives fail? What is different about this present SADC/MBEKI initiative?

If you listen to Mr Mbeki very carefully, you will decipher that his urgent mission is to define the legitimate and the illegitimate. He said in Parliament recently that SADC has decided that its member states would share notes and intelligence on Terrorism so that South Africa would suppress and arrest any Zimbabwe terrorists if they tried to operate from its soil and vice-versa and the same for the whole SADC region.

At face value, there seems to be nothing wrong with that but imagine a situation where the Elections are heavily rigged as is the normal ZANU-PF practice. Then me as a private blogger can then be charged with something like "trying to cause alarm and despondency/ incitement" etc.

If Mbeki does his usual "pre-mature ejaculation" and declare the forth-coming 2008 Elections "free and fair", especially if they are not, then wait for more of Hell coming from Mvuyelwa Mbeki than from Robert Mugabe!

So the time to evaluate the way forward is desperately NOW and not after the 2008 Elections!

LETS NOW GO INTO THE MEAT OF THE MATTER:

My problem with the Mbeki Initiative is its lack of width and depth.

This Initiative works on a strange premise that the only way forward in solving the Zimbabwean Crisis is to try and ensure that Elections are held whose results will not be disputed by any party.

Well and fine!

But for reasons beyond me, these Elections MUST JUST BE HELD IN March, 2008 even if the Voters' Roll is in shambles with 20% of the names being those of dead people some of whom died as far back as 1998.

Why can the Elections not be postponed by a few months to make sure everything is above board?

Who can explain to me why Cde Mbeki or anyone else believes the only solution for Zimbabwe is the holding of Elections next year?

To me there are certain things that are seriously wrong with Cde Mbeki!

To Cde Mbeki the only tragedy is that there are certain elements that are disputing the legitimacy of the Government of Zimbabwe (whose legitimacy he apparently he himself does not doubt) and the major task at hand is to prepare for as free and fair an Election in 2008 as possible.

At face value this objective looks very noble and innocent!

But recent history has shown us the real character of President Thabo Mbeki!

He will seriously under-play any issues brought to him and his philosophy seems to be that if a senior person declares that there is no lion, whatever lion is hiding anywhere will immediately disappear!

The junior persons are full of mischief if they continue wailing that the lion continues to be sighted.

The fact that the senior person has unequivocally declared the absence of the lion should be enough to make all the juniors relax and continue with their everyday chores believing as "Gospel Truth" the declared proclamation that there has never been a lion and if it was there at all, it has been effectively dissolved by the Presidential Proclamation!

Alternatively, what has been sighted is some big stray dog that is being mistaken for a lion.

If indeed it is a lion, we need experts to check if it has any teeth and if it has the capacity to cause anyone any harm.

Welcome to the mind of the Hon Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki!

Lets now look at the SADC/Mbeki fallacy that the Elections of 2008 will be the effective "penicillin injection" that will make Zimbabwe sneeze once and for all and return to normality.

SOME BACK-GROUND INFORMATION:

When we got our Independence on the 18th of April, 1980, we had the greatest of potentials. Our new ZANU-PF Government was being led by a handsome 56-year-old Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

This fine "Englishman" was actually heading a Government of National Unity comprising members of Dr Joshua Nkomo's PF-ZAPU as well as members of the former racist Rhodesian Front eg Mr David Smith, Dr Timothy Stamps etc.

I refer to him as an "Englishman" because that is what the Englishmen labelled him.

"Oh what a fine, refined gentleman ……can never believe they called him a terrorist! Is this the same Mugabe we were so afraid of…..that Communist that was coming to take all our properties etc.? " The elderly whites were discussing among themselves over cups of coffee and glasses of whiskey.

The struggle for Zimbabwe had been long, bitter and extremely rough!

The blood, sweat and tears that oozed out during that protracted armed struggle against the illegitimate, racist regime of Ian Smith can never be adequately described nor compensated.

It was fully within the power of the new Mugabe Government to mete out retribution and spill even more blood of identified "sell-outs" etc.

Mugabe kept his word and did not go that route!

The question of whether Mr Mugabe was advised to follow a Policy of National Reconciliation is completely beside the point! Unscrupulous elements want to analyse whether Mugabe's Policy was genuine and whether it was originally his idea or not.

Oh come on! Come on!

The glaring truth is that Prime Minister Mugabe did announce a Policy of National Reconciliation and made sure it was followed by all who belonged to his Political Party, ZANU-PF.

As is normally the case with a formerly oppressed group, Mugabe's hand of Reconciliation was felt more by members of the white community than many of his own race. Any member of the white community today who can dispute that Mugabe did pursue and did implement this very noble Policy would be an incorrigible and mischievous liar.

I read in a certain "A" Level Sociology Lecture Note that black people and many other oppressed communities usually suffered from a condition that is called "group self-hatred." What this means is that the oppressed groups hated themselves and could not respect themselves.

They sub-consciously believed the philosophy of the oppressor and hence ill-treated others of their own group. If that school of thought is applied to ZANU-PF, it was therefore natural for Mugabe's party to abuse their own struggle brother, Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo.

So the Methodist Bishop Abel Muzorewa of the UANC and Dr Joshua Nkomo and his PF-ZAPU continued to be at the receiving end of worse abuses from this seemingly magnanimous angel, Gabriel.

I invite you, dear reader , to read the whole 117-point letter which the late Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo wrote to the then Prime Minister Mugabe on the 7th of June, 1983.

(The Link thereof is available at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com !)

Among his former opressors (all over the world), Mr Robert Mugabe was at home: not only speaking their English so well but also sharing their jokes and watching their cricket with a genuine passion. He only irked them when he reminded them that "his" Government was committed to spreading the National Cake so that "the previously disadvantaged, who incidentally were the Indigenous members of the Community of Zimbabweans" could also have a bite.

Among his own people, Mugabe was really relaxed and those that had/have access to him swear that he is a normal "Gushungo" (except for the permanent feeling that one is in the presence of a very alert, highly intelligent being.)

Mr Robert Mugabe was, therefore, a darling of the whole world!

But there is also a debate whether the former oppressors were frantically trying to "pacify" the Communism/Socialism in this 56-year-old former Guerilla Leader. Do not omit this aspect when looking at Robert Mugabe's journey from 1980 to date!

The tragedy of Zim Politics is that one is expected to ignore certain aspects if one is of a certain persuasion or claims to be of a certain persuasion.

If one is "Anti-Mugabe", that person must never mention any positives that arose from that same Mugabe!

Similarly, if one is a "Mugabe supporter", that person must never acknowledge the fact that the people of Zimbabwe badly needed a new Political Party to arise and replace ZANU-PF in matters of Governance.

Some of us then prayed that a Mediator or a Facilitator could then arise and give the two schools of thought a chance to sit down and iron out their differences for the sake of taking the beautiful country of Zimbabwe forward.

One school of thought has the self-styled "Defenders of the Revolution." Here we have the rough, illiterate, foot-soldiers -the likes of Joseph Chinotimba etc.

These do not know about the consequences of any action!

They will kill, abduct, torture etc at Mugabe's Command! To them, Mugabe is "The Revolution." And indeed, were it not for Mugabe's desperation in the last eight years, the likes of Cde "Chinos" would be just simple security guards without any major role in the running of the country.

On the Mugabe side, we have certain intellectuals, the likes of Dr Tafataona Mahoso, the shady "Nathaniel Manheru", the Australian-based Reason Wafawarova etc.

To these, the whole truth of the real personality of Robert Mugabe is well-known but to them, "THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS" and the destination is more important than who is driving the vehicle and how he is driving it!

To them, Robert is still the picture that I painted at the beginning of this submission: A handsome, forgiving, smiling "man of the people" and "Statesman of the world."

That is the line they must uphold because they view Robert Mugabe as the "bravest" among them who has "ably-led" Zimbabwe since the 70s etc etc.

Their slogan is "You say Mugabe is too old and must go: We say Mugabe is too bold and must stay!"

To these, were it not for a perceived "sanctions regime" against their beloved Mugabe Revolutionary Administration, Zimbabwe would be better than God's very Garden of Eden!

To these, General Josiah Magama Tongogara's death was just a simple car accident. The fact that of the six passengers who were in that ill-fated Land-Rover, no-one was injured when the gallant General was killed is not an issue!

At worst, they sarcastically ask: "Ko kana iri chokwadi kuti akapondwa, kuzviziva ndiko kuchamudzora here?" (" Suppose it is true that he was assassinated, will knowing how it really happened bring him back?")

What these revolutionaries fail to realise is that Robert Mugabe's death will open a completely new era!

Eritea, The Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Congo (Formerly Zaire), Rwanda, Burundi etc will be Sunday School/Kindergatten stuff when Robert Mugabe's eyes are finally closed for the very last time.

Where will Robert Mugabe's "comfort girl" Oppan Muchinguri hide? Will she drink rat poison at his death? Will she be able to explain why she waited until the last of the four other people passed away for her to tell the world what she called the called "the truth" of how the Gallant Karanga General Tongogara died?

I was given a list of Karanga operatives in the Central Intelligence Organisation who were either murdered or fled the country when Mugabe purged that Organisation of senior officers.

Of course Emmerson Munangagwa had Karangarised the CIO and this was equally wrong! Munangagwa had done exactly done what Eddison Zvobgo had done in every Ministry where he had set his foot! The Karangas were looking after their own just as the Manyikas were looking after their own via Didymus Mutasa, Oppah Muchinguri etc. The late Chitepo had been accused of using the Karangas in the rough, bloody assignments and keeping the Manyikas in the offices.

Mugabe himself was/is equally accused of protecting his "own."

Leo Mugabe rose into wealth thanks to corruption vigorously supported by none other than the ageing dictator himself, Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

Whose name was mentioned as corrupt when the Harare International Conference Centre was being built? Was Kofi Annan's son's name not mentioned? Why was a Commission of Inquiry not set up to clear their names?

What did Phillip Chiyangwa mean when he said "If you want to be rich, join ZANU-PF"? How can one be rich when serving the people through a supposedly Socialist Movement like ZANU-PF- an Organization that set up a Leadership Code that limited its Senior Officers from the excesses of corruption and wealth-gathering?

Robert Mugabe was reportedly "visibly disturbed" when the very Senior Maurice Nyagumbo was found to be involved in that "Cressida" Scandal in Zimbabwe's formative years! My question is: why was Mugabe not equally disturbed when his sister's son's name was mentioned in the scandal at the Harare International Airport?

Why was he not equally disturbed when his wife Grace was mentioned in a scandal that caused Civil Servants to lose a noble scheme that was benefiting them to build houses for themselves? Grace Marufu-Goreraza-Mugabe dipped her adulterous finger-nails into that Revolving Fund and hundreds of thousands lost out!

The "unholy" Gabriel Mugabe was as quiet as an Angel when the Press uncovered the ungraceful "Gracelands Scandal."

Then our own dear Thabo Mveyelwi Mbeki thinks the 2008 Elections will answer the problems besetting Zimbabwe!

Oh My Dear God!

If you go to my www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com, I have numerous links (some to articles like "Appeal to all writers and journalists", "Is Robert Mugabe the Master-Assassin?' and Prof Jonathan Moyo's "The death of the Robert Mugabe: The tragedy ahead!" among other articles. All these concerned writers will be trying to show you, dear reader, that the problems of Zimbabwe will never and can never be solved by Elections whether in 2008 or at any other time after that!

No single person, whether its Morgan Tsvangirai, or Arthur Mutambara can stand on behalf of Robert Mugabe and say "We have granted Robert Mugabe some Amnesty or some Immunity!" Check the debates on such Foruns as the ones at "The Zim Daily" (www.zimdaily.com) and get feel of the general Zimbabweans.

If the MDC gets out of touch with the general mood of the Zimbabweans, then they risk facing a completely new and more difficult problem and I wonder if the Security Forces (who hopefully will be at their command) will assist them to quell the new "uprisings."

I have not yet addressed the Ndebele question!

I have just touched in passing on the Karanga Question.

The Ndebeles have clearly shown me that a problem exists!

I received an e-mail from a certain radical Ndebele Grouping here in South Africa (they call themselves "MTHWAKAZI SOMETHING OR OTHER") and they advised me that they were no longer accepting me and recognizing me as a fighter for Democracy in Zimbabwe because of my revelations of my role in the atrocities that were perpetrated by ZANU-PF in the 80s against ZAPU members.

I refer you to my submission "The thoughts and memories of a former ZANU-PF cadre" and the link thereof can be got at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com .

For numerous articles and submissions on the atrocities of the 80s in Matebeleland and the Midlands in the 80s, I refer you to my www.gukurahundi.blogspot.com .

The letter by the late gallant Dr Joshua Nkomo to the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe can be found on that blog-site.

A link to that letter can also be found at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com .

In fact, my work in blogging so far is structured in such a way that every important item that has something to do with the Zim story is available archived in any one of my 30 blog-sites.

The very original blog-page is now named www.zimfinalpush1.blogspot.com and has the majority of the very early postings since October, 2006.

Its "faces" changed over the time and the "faces" themselves were saved and archived and the links to those archived "faces" are available at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com . What this means is: there is nothing that was posted in any of my now-30 blog-sites that cannot be easily retrieved.

The next main "ZIMFINALPUSH HEADER" is the current page which is now available at www.thezimbabwedigest.blogspot.com .

This page serves in conjuction with the www.zimfinalpush5.blogspot.com . This means that the former has the main postings but the latter has the same postings listed in a style that is mainly monotonous ie a field of links, links and more links!

I had to digress in this direction so that you realise my unquestionable commitment to exposing all the problems besetting the beloved land of Zim and what various writers and players around the world observed and said (some trying to offer certain versions and various suggestions as possible solutions etc.)

My style of writing is to put down on paper exactly as it comes to my mind!

What I have tried to highlight is the fact that the "Anti-Mugabe" bloc is too wide and that great-grand-father has too many enemies across too wide a spectrum!

No-one should ever fool themselves that even Cde Thabo Mbeki himself believes that what he is doing will really solve the multi-faceted problems facing Zim!

WHAT THEN IS THE IDEAL APPROACH TO ZIM'S CRISIS?

If I were in President Thabo Mbeki's shoes, I would call for a very wholistic approach!

A biased approach where you treat the Opposition as some delinquents who are being sponsored by the former colonizers will not work!

It will only encourage the likes of me to be more radical and more inclined to call for a stronger International Condemnation of Robert Mugabe.

As the title of this submission asks: "WILL THE 2008 ELECTIONS END THE ZIMBABWEAN CRISIS"?

I have not yet looked at the question of the Rigging of Elections because I believe that this issue has been exhaustively dealt with by numerous writers.

I've my own submission: "THE RIGGING OF THE ZIM ELECTIONS" and the link thereof can be found at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com .

But I was shocked to hear a supposedly respected senior journalist by the name of Mduduzi Mathuthu of www.newzimbabwe.com say on a SWRADIOAFRICA programme "Reporters' Forum" that he did not have any evidence of the rigging of the Zim Elections.

I have no words to describe such duplicity on this brother's part!

He ran away from Mugabe's thugs when he was a journalist in Zim and now that his tummy is full of British goodwill, he conspires simultaneously with ZANU-PF to pretend that the situation is such that he no longer has reason to doubt the freeness and fairness of the Zim Elections.

Yet, incidentally I hold him the highest degree of respect!

Yet sometimes his mind runs away with him as if certain "winds" periodically visit him.

In March, he tried to defend the ZRP violent assults on the MDC Leadership and was corrected by the www.talkzimbabwe.com Editor , Mr Itayi Garande.

My final request to all concerned in trying to solve the Zim Crisis is that they be very sincere and look at the whole picture!

A shortcut will not solve this complex, long-term problem.

President Thabo Mbeki has a propensity of doing things wrongly!

He rushed to congratulate the new Nigerian Leader while there was a lot of dust etc.

We must not allow him to prescribe a short-circuited solution to our crisis.

To summarise my submission, here are the reasons why Elections may not or will definitely not solve the Zimbabwean Crisis:

There are too many issues involved in the Crisis which require a total and whollistic approach.These range from the assassination/ elimination of numerous of the peoples' heroes as mentioned above.

There are too many cases of clear corruption which were literally swept under the carpet over the two decades of Mugabe's rule (well before the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change.) When the MDC was formed late 1999, the resolve of the people was great that a new Political Party was required to replace ZANU-PF. Many analysts fail to see the composition of the members of the MDC. It is only a very feeble-minded imbecile who fails to see numerous ex-ZANLA and ex-ZIPRA Combatants in the structures of the MDC. Very senior former ZANU-PF leaders eg Mr Patrick Kombayi are the top leaders of the MDC now. Never, never mislead yourselves into thinking that the MDC is made up of novices who "don't know Politics" or "sell-outs" who have been bought by whoever or whoever else etc etc.

The record of Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF as far as Elections are concerned is very well known. Elections are to Robert Mugabe a physical battle where new graves must be dug each time they are held. Robert Mugabe's perception of Elections does not change when "his" Party goes to "fight" other Parties. His view of Elections is the same even when they are held within his "own" ZANU-PF. It is simply treasonous to try and challenge him for the post that he himself holds. In fact it is treasonous to try and raise one's hand and offer a different viewpoint within the same ZANU-PF! Ask Professor Jonathan Moyo and the other casualties of the "Tsholotsho Declaration" fame! So how can Elections solve the Zimbabwean Crisis, when within the very ZANU-PF exist disgruntled members at very senior levels who send SMSs to the top Leadership of the MDC urging them to "continue the fight." Oh dear President Thabo Mvuyelea Mbeki! Oh my dear Xhosa brother! Do you want to know, do you not know or do you pretend not to know when in fact you actuaaly know? Which is which tata?

Elections can only solve any Crisis anywhere when those in power are prepared to step down if the people say so through a "free and fair" show of their will as they did during that Referendum of 2000. The Referendum of 2000 was the last free and fair expression of the people of Zimbabwe and ZANU-PF should have arranged to leave the corridors of power right there and then! I don't care a hoot whether Cde Thabo Mbeki agrees with me or not! THAT IS THE NAKED, UNADULTRATED TRUTH! On the next points let me visit each probable Scenario and show you how each scenario will or will not solve the Zim Crisis!

SCENARIO ONE!

Lets suppose the Elections are held next year (2008) and no action is taken by President Mbeki to ensure that all the accompanying evils of the previous Elections are not repeated. As things stand, ZANU-PF has already stepped up violence in various parts of the country and the gear-lever will soon be moved to "over-drive" as we approach March, 2008.

President Thabo Mbeki is fully aware of the whole scenario and judging from previous experience, he will, as usual, prematurely ejaculate and pronounce the Elections "free and fair" while many MDC Election Observers etc are in various Intensive Care Units (if there are still any in Zimbabwe!) Thabo Mbeki is a very dangerous sweet-talker who should not have been assigned any task to do with the Crisis In Zimbabwe!

So in Scenario One, ZANU-PF will win in a cloud of dust and blood and Mbeki will appeal to the world to recognise the "will of the people of Zimbabwe", lift all the real and imaginary sanctions etc etc.

In Scenario One, the situation has the capacity to seriouly deteriorate! What will happen after that "Electoral Robbery" will be seen by those that will be alive to witness it.

Those like myself will obviously intensify whatever we are involved in and God knows where Zimbabwe will then be headed!

SCENARIO TWO!

All is done to ensure the holding of "free and fair" Elections and all (including characters like myself) are completely satisfied that ZANU-PF did indeed win and deserves the respect and the recognition of the whole world Community.
What will that mean?
That all the evils and atrocities of Mugabe and ZANU-PF are completely erased and Zimbabwe must be given another "ZIMCCORD" to re-build itself after these latest 8 or so years of serious and reckless misrule?

Who will compensate all those who suffered various injustices eg loss of property, injury, and even death? Remember it is not only the former white farmers who deserve compensation.

There are more blacks who have suffered under Robert Mugabe's evil than the whites who have suffered in the last 8 or so years. Perhaps a white man's blood is of greater value that's why there is more noise now about Robert Mugabe.

If Mugabe has done more evil by "touching a white man", then well and fine…all the complainants can join the queue full of white people even if it means joining at very end! (In any case Zimbabwe is a land of queues. Who will be perplexed?)

But my question still stands: Will Mugabe's victory in a hypothetical "free and fair" Election in 2008 mean all then that "all is well that ends well"?

SCENARIO THREE:

With or without the normal violence and rigging, the MDC or whoever else wins the reigns of power in 2008.

Then what?

Will the whole ZANU_PF machinery just melt and dissolve and obey the new Administrators? Theoretically, it seems very simple! In reality we are talking of an advanced Mafia Gang that has looted not only the Commercial Farms but various other Establishments as well.

I ask any sincere seeker of the truth to investigate the reasons why Mr Chris Ushewokunze was assassinated. He was too sincere in his quest to end corruption at a certain Company which we all know was being looted by very Senior ZANU-PF Officials with Mugabe yawning pretending he was not seeing anything.

The same with the late youthful Moven Mahachi with his desire to get to the bottom of the allegations of the DRC looting of minerals by Munangagwa.

My question therefore is: Suppose some Opposition Party or Coalition has won the Elections of 2008. The issue of the "freeness and fairness" is not the subject of this question. Suffice to say that Mr Morgan Tsvangirai or whoever else is then sworn into Office.

What then?

Our evil Robert Mugabe then retires to his supposed home in Zvimba to enjoy a long-deserved retirement and joins the Esteemed Club of Senior Citizens who are made up of Cde Nelson Mandela, Dr Kenneth Kaunda etc. Will we then all live happily ever after with Police Commissioner Chihuri, Air Force Commander Perrence Shiri (of the "Gukurahundi" Fame) etc sitting at a round table with new "HIS EXCELLENCY" ,CDE MORGAN TSVANGIRAI or whoever else charting the way forward for the country?

Has President Mbeki got any assurances or his hope is only that there is no other option, except for Mugabe and ZANU-PF to win!

If the Hon Mbeki has that hope (as most of us seriously suspect,) then we are in for a very rough 2008. Mbeki himself may literally cough and spit blood if Zimbabwe becomes ungovernable.

SCENARIO FOUR:

I have deliberately labelled my vision of the way forward in Zimbabwe as one of the scenarios.

This scenario really does not stem from the Elections. This scenario stems from the recognition that the complexity of the Zim situation requires that all the Political Players exhibit the highest level of patriotism and put the Country and Nation far above any personal interests or fears.

This scenario requires that all Political Players recognize that being Political Leaders does not make them some "demi-Gods" above those that they purport to lead.

This Fourth Scenario therefore expects that a myriad of interest groups be invited a to huge "ALL-STAKE-HOLDERS CONFERENCE" not at Union Buildings in Pretoria/Tshwane but in the centre of Harare itself!

There men will bare their souls and re-dedicate themselves to the Nation of Zimbabwe!

Mugabe will be first to bare his soul exactly as at a "Gospel Crusade." All those that have skeletons in their cupboards will have them taken out for viewing by all!

All propaganda will be repented of and tearfully renounced.

A new start will then be launched with Mugabe hugging Tsvangirai and the same happening down to the last man.

Then a team comprising all will go round to SADC, the AU, the Commonwealth etc seeking support and recognition for this new Zim miracle.

All compensations will actually end up being over-paid by various funds set up and clear guidelines will be set as to the ratios of BLACK versus WHITE in the ownership of Commercial Farms etc. Goodwill will return to Zim and we will all happily return to our beloved mother-land to be involved in serious re-construction.

This fourth scenario appears too simplistic and unattainable!

But miracles do happen and I believe in a God of Miracles!

Yes I believe in the God of Miracles!

Respectfully submitted,

The Rev Mufaro Stig Hove.

mufarostig@hushmail.com  

www.zimfinalpush.blogspot.com  

Cell: 0791463039 RSA.

 

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Sent from Yahoo! - the World's favourite mail.

Feminist reflections on gender violence, political power and women's emancipation- From Rhodesia to present day Zimbabwe!

(Ms Grace Kwinjeh after being brutalized by Mugabe's thugs)

By Ms Grace Kwinjeh

"Freedom, my friends, does not come from the clouds, like a meteor; it does not bloom in one night; it does not come without great efforts and great sacrifices; all who love liberty, have to labour for it." Feminist Ernestine Rose, 1860.

Former Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Smith has just died, but his patriarchal legacy, of dictatorship, violence and sexist oppression lives on. The use of violence in contemporary Zimbabwean politics, is part of the machismo political culture inherited from settler colonialists, which successive political systems are failing to dismantle.

I therefore, wish here to link, gender based violence within the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to the question of political power and women's emancipation, based on our experience as a women's political leadership. My position being that patriarchy as a system of oppression is not going to willingly dismantle itself, it has to be fought.

Historically, Zimbabwe's violence politics, has been grounded in the quest for political power and positioning, with women often being at the receiving end of it. Thus today, MDC women are still subjected to all forms, of violence, by both the party and the State, as both systems grapple for political power.

Just as during the liberation struggle when women combatants, were told national liberation first, their emancipation later, today, women who have gone into front-line politics are being sold this 'two stage'.

approach model. This approach implies that the struggle is gender neutral, and that we suffer the impact of State repression the same way, and that when freedom is attained we(men and women) will have the same political will, to reverse gender disparities or to dismantle patriarchy.

Events on the ground in the MDC, however, speak differently.

Days before the annual, International 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign celebrations, MDC women, were once again subjected to another public humiliating bout of violence, this time, by their male counterparts.

Women protestors, against the unfair sacking and treatment of the Women's Assembly chair-person, Lucia Matibenga, were beaten up in front of the party's head-quarters Harvest House, on Sunday the 18th of November. The known assailants used fists, kicked, threw stones, to subdue and stop the female demonstrators, from proceeding with the protest in which they were demanding audience with their MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, over the unresolved women's chair matter.

Strangely, though it seems that it was beyond Tsvangira's political comprehension that the women were practising their democratic right to demonstrate and seek audience with him, as their leader, instead he shunned them. The message they got was violence. This is not accidental, but a political message.

The irony that played itself out in this scene, is that the MDC male leadership is forcing a new chair-person for women on the women, as part of their "empowerment" or "building efficiency" within the Women's Assembly, yet the beneficiaries of this male largess are denied the right to freely express themselves, as part and parcel of that political commitment to their liberation cause.

Apart from the violence and total exclusion, we have witnessed in this matter, the men will also not allow a democratic mechanism by which a proper process is carried out, of finding out who the most popular women's leader is, and conferring the women's chair on that person.
Again, not accidental, thus the basis of my thesis, on political and gender relations within the MDC being rooted in patriarchal tendencies and practices.

The violence both physical and psychological meted out, against Matibenga herself and her supporters, is characteristic of the misogynistic nature of Zimbabwean society, inherited from Smith, which Mugabe has used against opponents real or false, replicated by men in the opposition. Sexist oppression has thus been validated as normal political practice in opposition politics.

And so it seems, each time male power in the MDC seems to be under threat, violence erupts in all its forms - physical and psychological, we have seen this in the party, prior to the October 12 split, when senior female leaders were targets of this violence.

The assault on MDC MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, twice at party events, in one attack she was with feminist Janah Ncube. The psychological or emotional abuse, of Sekai Holland when the men, callously removed her as secretary for International Affairs. Like Matibenga she was told, it was because she had been "inefficient" as secretary. I will not try to delve into an analysis of efficiency and male leadership, otherwise Zimbabwe would have been a better society.2

Or the emotional trauma and stress I suffered when without warning funding was cut to me as MDC Representative to Europe. In fact I was slowly marginalised and excluded from all party activities, until I made my own way home. I was an emotional wreck, as I failed to survive, to date this gross treatment has never been explained to me, by either of the male leadership in the two MDC factions.

Last year, MDC MP Trudy Stevenson, suffered, severe physical attacks in an MDC constituency, which left her bruised with a broken arm and deeply traumatised. These are examples of women who have come out, I respect those who remain silent, there are more cases, of physical and emotional abuse. Including instances of sexual harassment of female staff members that have been suppressed.

All the abuse we have suffered has been condemned internationally, as being retrogressive to the women's emancipation agenda. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, (CEDAW) or the International Women's Bill of Rights, defines discrimination as "...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

Matibenga's abuse has also led me to revisit the notion of sacrifice within the framework of gender power relations, in the party where others are "sacrificers" or "sacrificed" and others hold positions of power and privilege that insulate them from those "sacrifices." It is an open secret that in her tenure of office Matibenga never had a vehicle allocated to her, in spite of all the dangers she was exposed to, such her brutal torture in September, 2006.

For a long time we have suffered silent persecution, like the horror stories of the rape of female comrades during the liberation struggle, by their fellow male comrades, that have never been really openly talked about or the perpetrators brought to book. The negative reaction to the screening of the "controversial" movie "Flame", which sought to highlight these crimes against women during the liberation struggle was met with such a strong backlash by those in the Zanu PF leadership.

We seem to be ingrained with this, culture of silence around the forms of violence or abuse, we suffer as women in politics. We have been socialised into a political culture of only talking about State sponsored violence. Matibenga's battle helps us to further interrogate and demystify these primitive notions, of our silent persecution vis-à-vis our role and placing as women in politics and the respect we deserve from our male comrades.

Two weeks ago, Matibenga was locked out of Harvest House by rowdy youths and told to go away and form her own party. She was seeking an audience with the party leadership which was about to hold a National Executive meeting. There was no condemnation of this treatment of the widow Matibenga, in fact in typical Zanu PF fashion, all rights are suspended when one is seen to be at variance with the powers that be.

Yet another example of the terrible abuse, she is enduring.

A social liberation party that articulates so well, violence against itself in the quest for political power, but fails to understand the same kind of violence against its own leaders and members, presents us with bigger questions about the Zimbabwe we are fighting for, as women.
This is because, the women's emancipation project has been subordinated to the political whims of those in power, who are not willing to let go of patriarchal privilege, thus the different political systems in Zimbabwe have failed in the endeavour of women's liberation.. Each historical juncture, has seen women lose earlier gains, as they are forced to renegotiate with patriarchy for their survival, be it in the home or in politics. Male bigotry, in both the ruling party and the opposition, has resulted in the further narrowing down of spaces women had carved out for themselves as a movement.

When I first wrote on Matibenga's unjust sacking I was attacked by men in both the ruling party and the opposition, and so my thesis is based on my personal experience and of other women in politics, and the backlash we suffer when we raise our heads. Most women in politics, are subjects of political violence, both emotional and physical, but are socialised not to talk about it. The way violence in the domestic sphere has been treated as a "private affair" and men getting away with increased cases of femicide, rape and other forms of violence.

Looked at within a historical context, what women at the front-line of Zimbabwe's struggle for social liberation and democracy are going through is no different to what their sisters in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle were up and against. It is always a double struggle internal and external.

Writes feminist Patricia Chogugudza on women liberation fighters, "Zimbabwean women, like their counterparts in Mozambique, Angola, and Guinea-Bissau, joined the armed struggle. Their hope was that with the revolution, gender equality would be certain. Women who could not conform to tradition saw the revolution as an opportunity to escape difficult situations. Yet feminist critics argue that at the end of the struggle, women's status actually fell as nationalist leaders and nationalist-oriented societies, in the quest of preserving tradition, expected women to be guardians of culture and respectability, or mistresses of the emerging ruling elites, or wives and mothers, recruiters for political parties, and labourers for the new market economy, while men were engaged in competition for political power in the state and the accumulation of wealth."

Thus today women who have delved out of the socially constructed roles of wife, mother or mistress into the public arena of politics have had to deal with much back-lash.
Feminist critique has shown us that power and democracy are historically exclusionary notions, as they remain class based and androcentric. The MDC example is important in this analysis, as the dust settles on the utopian vision and idealism many of us viewed the party with, as a fulfiller, of liberation goals, and ultimately our emancipation, that the nationalists failed to deliver on. It is in this context that I will further locate the analysis on the cycle of violence in Zimbabwean politics, from the State, to the opposition, and how it impacts on women's participation, in politics.

In this vein it is also important to take the analysis further to the rise and consolidation of power by Tsvangirai's "kitchen-cabinet", and the brutal expression of sexist oppression, that has accompanied it.

The rise of this elite core group of male and female financiers is important to the feminist discourse within the MDC because our political engagement has changed totally, from the values upon which the party was founded to a new finance driven, elitist political culture, that lacks popular support and legitimacy.

It is now power politics, in total and not a pro poor, people centred social liberation struggle, that is just, recognises history and honours sacrifice including women's role in that struggle. Thus the suspension of these values, explains the crude injustice against us as we are further marginalised and excluded from political processes.

Violence in the party becomes self perpetuating as this group seeks legitimacy, outside the organisations formal or official structures and boundaries.

Feminist Patricia Macfadden, writes "And even when such systems aspired to be inclusive and socially expansive, they remained essentially exclusionary and patronizing of those who had been constructed as Other in relation to power as the most critical resource in that society. Across our world we struggled for what appeared to be collective visions of freedom and justice, and while it is critical to acknowledge the opportunities that nationalist liberation struggles and anti-colonial resistance provided to those groups in our societies which had been up till then excluded from the public, for example women, we must also critically evaluate the implications of nationalism as an ideology which is fundamentally sexist and exclusionary of women, particularly during the neo-colonial period."

To further my thesis on how power relations between Zimbabwean women and men have not evolved with time, from nationalist notions and understanding of our roles in society with the use of violence being a common denominator between the systems, I will now look at Zanu PF's system of violence.

Mugabe responded to the formation of the MDC and the threat to his continued hold on power through violence. On the character of the post-colonial state and the way it has responded to demands for reform, by the broader pro-democracy movement, in Zimbabwe academic Brian Raftopoulos, writes, "Confronted with a strong former liberation movement, led by a leader with enormous prestige on the continent, civic and opposition forces have had to face the combined obstacles of an authoritarian nationalist state constructed through the legitimacy of the liberation struggle, in a rapidly shrinking economy that has comprehensively undermined the structural basis for the reproduction of broad social forces in the country.

Moreover, in the short term, this scenario has not engendered a spirit of reform in the ruling party. Instead observers have witnessed the intensification of repressive rule and the continued marginalisation of opposition forces, with the military taking on an increasingly prominent role in all spheres of the state."

I celebrate sheroes of the struggle, like young Talent Mabika who lost her life to the regime, others have been raped, tortured, arrested and have suffered different forms of victimisation in the hands of the ruling Zanu PF party.

The Women of Zimbabwe Arise, (WOZA), has just released a report on the violence suffered by its members, in the hands of state agents, reads part of the report, "WOZA has conducted over 100 protests on various issues of civil rights and social justice in its five-year existence and up to 3,000 women have spent time in police custody. Many have been detained more than once, most for 48 hours or more and 112 members once spent five days in police cells. These women, front-line human rights defenders, are willing to suffer beatings and unbearable conditions in custody to exercise their constitutional rights and fundamental freedoms. They continue to suffer torture and other forms of cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment."

Given the above analysis and the way it now mirrors the unhealthy situation pertaining in the opposition, of increased authoritarianism, lack of accountability and violence, I will further link this situation to yet another process and the danger it poses for Zimbabwe's future political dispensation, in relation to popular participation, democracy and our emancipation as women.
As part of the deal under South-Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, SADC sponsored mediation, the two MDC formations agreed to endorse Constitutional Amendment number 18, against public opinion on the political recklessness of such a move.

I will not go into the details of the amendment and how in many respects it contradicts the very struggle the pro-democracy movement has been waging, over the past years, and how the manner in which it was adopted short changes our quest for participatory democracy.
However, it is important to use this example to further illustrate, and magnify my point on the connection between 'elite-deal' making and politics of exclusion to increased violence and marginalisation of women, in the MDC.

Civil society organisations, and the women's movement got a rude awakening last September, at the voting for CA 18, when the Secretary General of the Arthur Mutambara led faction, Professor Welshman Ncube, literary told them that, their work was to lobby and advocate, they must leave power to politicians.

Defending their voting for CA 18, in Parliament Ncube said,"At that time I was the spokesperson of the NCA and President Tsvangirai was the chairperson. The NCA agreed that we needed a new constitution for Zimbabwe which would be crafted or written in an open, transparent and participatory manner. In that regard, we as members of the NCA were there to oppose two things.

One: the piecemeal amendments to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Two: the unilateral manner of setting such piecemeal amendments. Mr. Speaker, it is important to understand those two principles. Let me say that these two principles were conceptualised, conceived and adopted, not to be verses in a bible.

They were strategic and tactical principles which were intended to forge the making of a people-driven constitution. I despair today when I read and hear the attempt to transform these principles into some fundamentalist decrees which, we are told, are to be regarded as completely sacrosanct. As far as we understood them, they were supposed to be means to an end." And the end political.

Consequently, again by going this route the MDC has agreed to play junior partner to Zanu PF and so now they are on a reactive rather than proactive agenda, on many electoral issues, such as constituency boundaries, access to media, political violence and so on. Zanu PF however feels re-legitimated as it sees a mirror image of itself in an MDC, that does not respect women, public opinion and is violent.

The men will broker a power sharing deal that will not transform our society, by reconstructing the gender, class and power relations, as they exist, today, but rather endorses the status quo.
And so the notion of liberation through this avenue, has to be viewed within a perspective, of it really being a reconfiguration and consolidation of patriarchy, in our politics, just as we witnessed at the Lancaster House Conference, without any popular participation or support.
Meaning that our experience as women, in politics should really be an eye opener to the struggle ahead beyond Zanu PF's demise.

This abandoning of values we have believed to be sacrosanct, by the men, should be an eye opener to the longevity of our struggle for emancipation.

Activist and journalist Charlene Smith writes, "Governments are by their nature hypocrites. The structure of modern political systems encourages this. Globally politicians are more concerned about getting the right sound-byte on television than in going into communities to hear what people have to say. Politics and perhaps even the way you and I live our lives, have become divorced from values. Values drive societies, they are the essence that sustains humanity. Without them societies decay."

Given this sad scenario, as a political activist who has put in her all in the fight for a just and democratic society, I can only urge other sisters in the struggle to find new spaces, to continue with our struggle for emancipation, and for those who remain in the patriarchal systems, I can only give them my support.

In conclusion I say Smith's ghost will haunt Zimbabwean politics for some time to come.

Ex friendsoflucia@gmail.com

EU-Africa Summit Agenda:Africa must set an Empowerment for Poverty eradication!!

As the EU-Africa Summit approaches, African scholars, Intellectuals, Political leaders, Civic leaders and ordinary citizens of Africa must ask themselves, "What agenda should constitute the Summit?"



The quest for Africa to achieve development in Post-colonial Africa has been not been easy, if not unaccomplished at all because of failures on the part of Africa and lack of a constructive international engagement with key powers on the globe. What has been ubiquitous in Africa has been Independence, which is broadly negatively and narrowly defined as the absence of direct control and manipulation of the political spheres.



Over 50 years after the Independence of the first African nation, Ghana, Africa must probe itself "Why is it that independence has never been positively and broadly defined in Post-colonial Africa?" and "Who is dictating the pace and life in Africa?"



Africa, having been formerly and overwhelmingly exploited during the Pre and Post- colonial era by some key participants of the EU-Africa summit, must use this opportunity to set the tone of the relations so that at least some of her concerns prevail, in order to reassert the proper definition of independence.



The colonial question has remained broadly unresolved; many Africans have never experienced the real independence but real poverty and in fact repeated cycles of trauma of failing to reconcile their economic Pre-colonial expectations of independence with their post-colonial experiences.



The attempts to controversially empower indigenous people in Zimbabwe through the controversial seizure of white owned farms comes into my mind but there remains an enduring question as to who must foot the bill for compensation of white owned farms?



The African governments need to seek clarification from their co-partners on this enduring colonial question given the rise of pro-land reform sentiments in much of post-colonial Africa.



The Zimbabwean case should provide a testing ground and precedence of on how to tackle this key issue of compensation. Though the economic performance of agriculture in Zimbabwe after the farm seizures offers minimal convincing public relations support to the popular land reform exercise, this colonial question remains relevant in the quest for a higher-level independence.



Various interest groups attack the quest for land empowerment using imperial inspired arguments such as; the beneficiaries' inabilities to finance meaningful investments, the lack of technical skills and modern farming knowledge in beneficiaries, the chaotic nature of the fast track land reform, the destruction of employment opportunities in the farming sector and in some instances the food shortages and the economic downturn in Zimbabwe.



There is striking similarity between the argument which was used to advance the pre-colonial dualisation of Zimbabwe's agriculture which was a racial doctrine based on the premise that Africans are not ready to govern themselves and utilize the economic space around them and this was used to advance the cause of the evil of colonialism.



The issues against indigenous ownership of land are however now irrelevant because land has already been seized from the beneficiaries of colonialism, but what can be done is reorganization of the ownership systems of land in Zimbabwe so that they become broadly nationally inclusive, economically sensible and pro-poor in picture rather than total reversal of the process.



Africans need to ask their co-partners what contribution they will make to clear this mess to avoid a repeat of the Zimbabwean case. Africa must approach their partners on an equal footing in order to settle this enduring question once and for all.



The EU-Africa Summit coming shortly after the end of the China-Africa summit this year must enable Africans to probe the ideological construction, which informs the China and the EU scramble for Africa. Is it informed by a relationship of equity and equality which is a "win-win situation"?



Africa is yet to control and be responsible for her economic sphere despite undertaking various controversial initiatives and attempts to legislate indigenisation and empowerment.



My view is that given the financial and political muscle of China and EU, and the sinister past of some key EU-Africa summit participants, Africa will not be able to benefit much, which advances its cause of independence if it does not get concessions especially on the questions of empowerment for poverty eradication as opposed to aid for poverty eradication.



The summits are in fact making Africa more vulnerable from its former colonial masters, a euphemism for a negative and narrow definition of independence given the lack of commitment by the super powers to reform and make clear policy pronouncements on key issues of African empowerment.

The purpose why Zimbabwe has dominated the pre-summit debate on whether President Mugabe should attend or not, is not centered on the purported key issues of diminished civil nationalism of the ruling Zimbabwean government but on the enduring question of indigenisation and empowerment hence the split along lines of Africa and the West, who are the citadels of imperialism. Given that Zimbabwe and Africa can use the opportunity to bring to the table this enduring colonial questions, which leaves the EU, with a bad past an egg on the face, fortunate or unfortunate to Africa, they have given President Mugabe solidarity in his quest to get a seat at the summit.



I wish to submit that the solidarity extended to President Mugabe has been done by Africans so that he can articulate and act as an icon for empowerment on a key and emotionally controversial issue of land during the summit, which most nations wish to pursue and admire, but are afraid of because of the backlash associated with confronting and questioning this imperial hegemony, hence the notion by the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that an attendance by Zimbabwe's President will disturb and divert the summit agenda.



Africa remains geo-politically strategic to EU and China's interest because of its rich minerals and as a market for their goods including arms of war, rather than because of its plight of poverty. Africans can only make these summits different from the Berlin conference of 1884, which partitioned Africa for better exploitation of her resources by articulating her cause and not by ceding economic concessions to China and EU without deriving any equal reciprocation. Africans should set the tone of the Summit by asking the enduring colonial question of empowerment for poverty eradication than of Aid for poverty eradication.



Hillary Kundishora is a Scholar of Strategic Management. He can be contacted at

hkundishora@yahoo.co.uk