Stampede to honour Grace so disgraceful

via Stampede to honour Grace so disgraceful – The Zimbabwe Independent 19 December 2014 by The Muckraker

Is First Lady Grace Mugabe getting the right treatment from the media? She is being congratulated on ZBC TV by all and sundry. Even the Zimbabwe National Army and Prisons and Correctional Services has joined in at a time when the economy is in the doldrums.

Also joining the bandwagon is the Zimbabwe Republic Police who are showering praises on Grace for occupying what they call a higher office.

More parastatals and other outfits are likely to follow suit. Why are they giving her so much attention considering her predecessors Oppah Muchinguri and others, including Sally Mugabe, never dominated the government-controlled press to such an extent?

Does this infer the centre of power is now revolving around Grace?
Meanwhile, ZTV should be told to stop telling dubious stories.
Take for instance the story that the 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu and Zapu has created opportunities for Zimbabwean entrepreneurs and businesses to thrive.

“The unity and peace that Zimbabwe enjoys today has created several business opportunities for the black people who have made strides into the region and beyond in terms of getting huge market share, for the growth of the local economy,” ZBC reports.

This was in the context of next week’s 27th anniversary of the signing of the Unity Accord, which ZBC claims “coincides with the empowerment of the country’s citizens through the indigenisation laws”.

Given the current economic spiral, why would any sane journalist produce such a story? Is ZBC not aware of company closures, job losses and poverty around us?

Militarisation
In his instalment in the Zimbabwe Independent last week, Ibbo Mandaza wrote: “And so patronage and violence, or the threat of it thereof became the twin pillars of Mugabe’s rule: the securocrat state underpinned the period of the Government of National Unity (GNU) during which the MDC was rendered weak and impotent, while the securocrats systematically prepared for the 2013 elections; and, in many respects, therefore, the Zanu PF congress in 2014 marks the triumph of the securocrat state … The current situation has all the hallmarks of a conventional dictatorship in the political economy definition of the term: a decisive and thorough purge of anyone — or anything —that purports to be opposed to the First Family and the state …”

Mandaza succinctly sums up the true reflection of Zimbabwean politics, highlighting the important theme of de facto militarisation of the state. Historically, President Robert Mugabe was a well-known adherent of a one-party state in Zimbabwe.

His ambitions were only derailed by his war liberation colleagues such as Eddison Zvobgo and academics, among them, Mandaza, Lloyd Sachikonye and Jonathan Moyo (now information minister), who contributed immensely in local publications agitating against that dictatorial mentality.

One-party-state mantra dominated political debate up until the late 1980s and Mugabe failed to garner enough support to officially institute the monarchic structure of governance.

Not to be outwitted, Mugabe made sure Zimbabwe would attain the one-party-state status through unofficial means. Hence the military played a major role and continues to determine the fate of the country’s electoral outcomes, determining who is fit to rule and who is not.

That is exactly why MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai could not ascend to the presidential throne despite winning both the 2002 and 2008 general elections.

Remember military displays that dominated the streets prior to the notorious June 27 presidential run-off in 2008. Would anybody stand up to that? Zanu PF was prepared to shed blood to safeguard Mugabe’s empire. While the military won, the electorate suffered a heavy blow.
Of course, MDC naivety played a role.

Doomed
Sadly, de facto militarisation of the state is consolidating, with the newly-appointed Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagawa serving to perpetuate Mugabe’s legacy of mass suppression.

Since it is widely believed Mnangagwa enjoys the backing of the army, no hope for democratic polls should be expected in the country until the military itself disintegrates into factions the same way that rocked Zanu PF and led to massive purging of the party’s top officials.

Only if it doesn’t degenerate into a coup which nobody needs.

Insane
It’s understandable when one sings for his or her supper, but it becomes insanity when one goes into overdrive and equate Mnangagwa with the “Holy Son of Man”.

Our sister paper the Standard quoted Josiah Hungwe as having said: “This man who has been made VP has various names that we all know but some of the names you don’t know them … He is known as the Son of Man … I can tell you that I received several texts from Bishop Andrew Wutaunashe (leader of the Family of God church) telling me that the Son of Man will be ordained VP way before these things happen and I just told him that I had heard him because I know he is a Man of God.”

Muckraker wonders what type of a Christian Bishop Wutaunashe is and what teachings does he impart to congregants. Not even a single individual has so far matched the qualities of Jesus Christ, who lived a humble life, only to lay down his life for all mankind on the cross, the bible tells us, and is Mnangagwa, who lives a lavish lifestyle and is linked to the Gukurahundi atrocities committed in Matabeleland in the 1980s anywhere near Christ himself.

The bishop is a shame. He must learn from the biblical prophets that religious leaders must play a role in checking and fighting to correct poor governance. As for Hungwe we don’t need more personality cults.

Demonic
It’s frightening that Zimbabwe seems to be witnessing the reincarnation of Herod Antipas’ daughter Salome’s demonic spirit. Didn’t she collude with her mother to demand the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter? According to her will, it was done. And didn’t Grace displace hundreds of families to grab land in Mazowe? Didn’t she also demand the ouster of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru and the mission yielded intended results?

Didn’t she lobby for Mnangagwa to get Mugabe’s blessings and it was done? Won’t she now demand blood purges as she promised during her “meet-the-people” tours that Mujuru must be dragged into the streets for vultures to feast on her flesh? In the event Mugabe remains alive, Zimbabwe is likely to witness the new “‘women of terror” tossing everyone around to subject them to her whims.

Imagine a shopaholic who is used to compulsive shopping controlling all facets that shape our national politics — opposing her wishes will definitely be tantamount to treason. Zimbabwe is likely to suffer from the self-serv-ing Mugabe-Grace-Mnangagwa alliance.

Dreams
We are told Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said Mutare must have a diamonds cutting and polishing centre.

At this critical time for the economy, perhaps we should ask what happened to diamond cutting in the much-publicised Mt Hampden Centre? The tendency of fooling citizens whenever politicians speak won’t take the nation anywhere. Dreams should remain dreams and never be spoken of as potential economic projects.

Finally, DStv get no points for their explanations for picture failure when it rains. Here we are in an era when exploration is being carried out on Mars, TV stations on earth are scratching around for picture loss. DSTV must be futuristic, not act like the antiquated ZBC.