President Mugabe remains the head of state and government of the state of Zimbabwe notwithstanding what the majority of the citizens of Zimbabwe may have wished to see when they voted on 29 March 2008.
Those who voted for change will accept that a precedent starting with Kenya has been set in Africa that it is not sufficient for voters to vote but the incumbent has the ultimate say in what kind of change should obtain.
What kind of change does Zimbabwe deserve? Who should lead Zimbabwe? What rights, if any, should be conferred on citizens to shape their future? Does the continued service of Mugabe and Gono at the top represent the change that people of Zimbabwe and the world can believe in?
The President was in Doha at Zimbabwean taxpayer’s expense where the theme of his address was that the suffering; the people of Zimbabwe have and continue to be subjected to; stem solely from what he described as illegal sanctions imposed by some Western countries in a purported bid to effect illegal regime change and prevent Zimbabwe from benefiting from its own resources.
The President was speaking at the conference on Financing for Development hosted by the UN to review the Monterrey Consensus. At no moment in his speech did he accept any responsibility for causing or helping to cause the crisis. Prior to his departure to Doha leaving the country with a health nightmare and yet finding the resources and time to repeat the old song that sanctions must be lifted as a dividend for making concessions for the MDC formations to be part of an inclusive government, Zimbabweans learnt that Gono’s term had been extended for another 5 years.
Judging from Gono’s actions both prior to the elections and after the controversial Presidential elections, his reappointment was never in doubt as was the continued tenor of President Mugabe.
If any change was to be expected, it was never in the mind of President Mugabe and Gono that such change will amount to their change of employment addresses.
Zimbabwe’s future ought to be the responsibility of all who have interests in the country. The interests may originate from natural and corporate citizenship as well as artificial interests emanating from economic and other interests including people who have chosen Zimbabwe as a place of permanent residency.
The enterprise of building Zimbabwe lies on the shoulders of all these multiple stakeholders. Mugabe and Gono are after all human and God has given them no more than 24 hours in a day and yet a situation has been allowed to exist in which the voices of change have been and continue to be marginalized.
The kind of change that Zimbabwe deserves must and should be a consequence of some shared vision but regrettably even at this eleventh hour President Mugabe has no problem, for example, squandering a unique opportunity presented by the UN in Doha to correctly and accurately express the desire by all concerned about the future of the country that it is not acceptable for any Zimbabwean to mistakenly and mischievously attempt to mislead the world into believing that the removal of targeted sanctions is a panacea to the problems and challenges confronting the country.
President Mugabe will be aware of the futility of denouncing the very countries that on his own version are critical in moving the country’s agenda for progress and yet he misses no opportunity to concede that he has no alternative plan to lift the country out of its abyss.
The country needs leadership and regrettably SADC has accepted that no change in Zimbabwe’s top leadership is the kind of change that people of Zimbabwe want to see.
Having benefited from the endorsement by SADC, it would be naïve to blame President Mugabe for making the unilateral decision to reappoint Gono and continue to invest in the propaganda that says the state of the Zimbabwean economy is causally and directly attributable to the purported impact of the sanctions regime.
The recent public exchange between former President Mbeki and the MDC-T has exposed a widely held view of the contempt with which many African leaders hold the leader of the now majority party in parliament who still is to get his passport and who is presumed to be a surrogate of the West who are blamed for putting the country’s resources at the centre of their strategy and tactics.
It is evident from Mbeki’s recent famous letter that he holds the view that MDC-T is responsible for the delay in implementing the Global Political Agreement even in the face of President Mugabe’s unrepentant, unapologetic and antagonistic attitude to the change agenda.
President Mugabe has not and will never accept that the 29 March election results genuinely reflect the verdict of the people.
Equally, he believes that every rational African should accept without question a version that says Zimbabwe’s brighter day will come from the actions of external parties who have imposed sanctions on the country.
It is apparent that Mbeki is convinced that the implementation of the GPA as framed and signed will advance the interests of Zimbabwe and that an inclusive government will positively encourage President Mugabe to change his ways and worldview.
His speeches and actions since the signing of the GPA exposes the widely held view that the world Mugabe lives in is foreign to the daily realities that Zimbabweans face.
In this, we must all accept some responsibility in creating a situation where the Emperor has gotten out of touch with reality and yet no one can tell him that he is naked and the more he continues to make noises while we surrender to laugh in disbelief we are in a sense also culpable for creating the mess.
We should and must not expect Mugabe to change if we do nothing about it. The future of Zimbabwe is just too important for us to allow the buffoonery of Zimbabwe’s current political actors to take root. After reading Mbeki’s letter, I am convinced that a new conversation is required beyond the confines of the GPA. I have often observed that the only power people who do not have power is the power to organize.
Having recently obtained a judgment in England that on the face of it suggests that the contention that Mugabe wants to remain in power to protect black economic rights is just but a sham and yet the lessons from my experience goes unnoticed by the political actors who potentially stand to benefit by presenting a new argument why Mugabe cannot and should not be trusted to remain as the custodian of the country’s sovereignty.
If Mugabe knew what time it is in Zimbabwe and the extent of suffering, he would behave and act differently.
Equally, if Mbeki, who was sufficiently detached from the machinations in his own party to the extent that regime change was effected without any GPA, knew that the problem of the ANC cannot be traced to his successors but squarely on him for failing to appreciate the mood and the climate of confusion in the party that he had helped create.
An inclusive government will not and should not be expected to solve the problems of Zimbabwe in as much as any expectation of a unity of purpose in the post-Mbeki era between the losers at Polokwane conference and the victors was misplaced. Is it realistic then to expect Tsvangirai and Mugabe/Gono to forge an alliance for Zimbabwean progress?
Mugabe/Gono by continuing to hold the view that Tsvangirai’s power is not a product of the genuine expression of the people of Zimbabwe for change have already provided enough evidence of the nullity of the GPA and the lack of sincerity on the part of SADC to help resolve the crisis.
The ANC came to the inescapable conclusion that Mbeki had to go for the country to move forward and for the divisions he had invested in to come to the fore.
It has generally been accepted that it was in the interests of the ANC for Mbeki to exit and at some stage Mbeki has to accept that it may be time for Mugabe and his ideas to exit.
What was evident to all who listened to Mugabe in Doha is that Zimbabwe needs a new face to encourage the world to identify with its cause.
Cuba, for example, has been under sanctions for a longer period and yet has seen wisdom in internalizing its pain and investing in alternative business models.
Both President Mugabe and Gono have run out of ideas and yet refuse to exit.
Why would Gono and Mugabe want to remain in the driver’s seat, fully cognizant of the fact that the people needed to support the renewal of the country have no confidence in their stewardship?
SADC is fully aware; as it should that it is not sufficient for the regional body to urge Zimbabweans to rush to implement an unworkable agreement when the actors themselves do not trust each other and their actions clearly demonstrate that they are not serious and time is of the essence. The burden of showing good faith must be placed on Mugabe/Gono but it now appears that such a burden has now mischievously placed on MDC-T through the crafty facilitation of Mbeki.
The nullity of the SADC brokered deal is self-evident and many who know Mugabe’s inflexibility generally share the sentiments expressed by Biti.
After 28 years of political manipulation, Zimbabwe needs a new beginning. There are only two principal political actors on the stage and it is evident that they cannot co-exist in as much as Zuma and Mbeki could not.
Mbeki was smart enough to know what time it was and yet he appears not to be smart enough or courageous enough to tell Mugabe what time it is.
Even Mbeki cannot be satisfied that the GPA will deliver the kind of Zimbabwe that people can believe in.
Mugabe and Gono are confidently rewriting the history of the country in a manner that suggests that a conspiracy exists to undermine the future of the country and the country’s future can only be secured if power remains in their hands.
Mbeki was a genius in framing the post-election negotiations so as to divert attention from critical economic questions that needed to be addressed for Zimbabwe to move forward. Both Mugabe and Gono are acutely aware that they can run but they cannot hide.
Zimbabweans need an opportunity to start believing in the country again. Many have voted with their feet and it is unlikely that implementing the GPA will change the hearts and minds of the people Zimbabwe needs most to move forward.
By and large I think that some these world leaders are a gathering of feeble minded politicians, I am left wondering who in thier right mind would afford Mugabe a platform to speak? Or maybe his comments were made at an ad hoc press conference. Everything that is, and could possibly be wrong, in Zimbabwe is due to “demonic and illegal sanctions”. The same mantra EVERWHERE EVERYTIME! For the love of heaven above, why on God’s earth is this moron given the chance to speak? He cannot even make a false and half hearted gesture to his opposition to (like he did at independance to the R****, so the two would reconcile) help rebuild the tattered nation. Oh no, not in the mind of this idiot, vile vitriol, which I guess Mugabe may or may not know; only serves to further alienate himself, and moreover his country. Gushungo & Associates do not hold life as sacrilege, one dare not fool themselves into believing these people care about the suffering, or let alone have anything to help alleviate the suffering of the nation. Their perception is that we should thank the heavens, and the forefathers (especially the ones that nearly “gave” us pure unadulterated diesel from the sacred rock in Chinhoyi!!), that we are fortunate enough to be governed by them, thus; they answerable to NO-ONE, yes not even the Lord Almighty. There is no desire to change, SADC, the AU have iether been convinced that there is need for change (lest it happens to them, which undoubtebly Gushungo has worked fanatically & zealously to ensure), or quite simply they too do not want embrace change; evidence in the state that most of Africa finds itself in. I unaimously am not convinced in the calibre, let alone qualities (if he has any at all) and credentials of Tsvangi as the much sort after Moses figure, leading us out of Egypt and to the promised land. My bone of contention is not his academic background, even though I feel there would have been a phenominal difference in the play and outcome of the political chess game if he had a very decent academic grounding. Unfortunately, sometimes you cannot have it all, but; if you look at things closely he had some very impressive brains on his team, Biti, Prof. Ncube (now MDC-M) and others for example, so; one might wonder then, where did it go wrong? Very simple; Tsvangi had (I say had because he has been helter-skelter since leaving the ZCTU to head the MDC) a vision, but was absolutely clueless in transforming that vision into reality. The explanation is even simpler; given his humble intelligence; and this is unequivocally true, when some of the big heads presented bright ideas, well beyond the imagination and conception of Tsvangi, a lot of them where outrightly dismissed by him. Certainly cannot have the minions looking more clever than the boss now can we? My countrymen do not buy into Gushungo’ mantra about stooges, puppets etc, Zimbabwe has some extremely intelligent political scientists, economists, advocates and such minded individuals, many of whom offered an abundance of guidance to Tsvangi, most disappointingly almost all their ideas were poo-pooed when they reached him, preferring the abysmal stay aways and mass action, and maybe, and a very finite chance of it ever happening (but Tsvangi saw it in his head, again kusadzidza vakomana is an awful thing) Morgsta imagined an Afghanistan situation (what the pretex would have been absolutley defeats me!), “people” rushing in, kicking doors down, swashbuckling him into Chancellor Ave, Hamid Karzai style. The poor fool should have listened.
R***** is supposed to read Rhodesians, I don not know where metro get their software! China maybe?
Mugabe has imposed himself on us and we are stuck with him and his party Zanu PF. Why cant you guys with money, Mutumwa Mawere, Vingirayi, Makamba, Makonis, Strive Masiiwa and the whole lot underground form an alliance motitengera zvombo tirwise Mugabe. At the moment he has got no army but we still afraid of him. Can people continue to die with cholera? Haisi hondo here yaita DECLARE against vanhu vasina zvombo, cholera is going to wipe a big chunk of the Zimbabwean population and you guys are seated comfortably Sandton, Florida, UK kwese kwamuri hamuna hanya nesu here. Tipei the tools kfor the trade timubvise Mugabe. Kusvika riinhi tichi urawa. Justina Mukoko is now history. Rashiwe and many others just disappeared in thin air because of one person who is ungrateful of the sacrifices which our parents and relatives vakaita kuti iye atonge. KUSVIKIRA RINIKO TICHITAMBURA. TSVANGIRAI EGA HAZVIKWANISE CHIMUBATSIRAIWO. If you are already helping him tinotenda. Yours in tears of crying for real freedom.
Maybe if the Rhodesians were not chased from the country, they could have helped maintain and further develop the systems and infrastructure they established, that has been allowed to deteriorate to such a point that its literally falling apart while being relied on by a modern day “government” that has no idea of what it’s doing or how to fix anything.