Rebranding Zim goes way beyond posturing

via Rebranding Zim goes way beyond posturing – The Zimbabwe Independent October 10, 2014

Could somebody explain why the Herald carries so much foreign material nowadays?

So much of the Herald’s dross is fed through a propaganda machine. Nobody would choose to read it.

We had for instance an article telling us “China is Hong Kong’s future, not its enemy” in response to the recent disturbances put out by Martin Jacques” who is a correspondent for the Guardian.

Another correspondent, Judeofor Adibe, thought we needed him to tell us “Who is an African?”

Bin van Auken asked what are Canada, Australia the Netherlands, and others doing dropping bombs on Iraq? All these correspondents clearly feel they are making a contribution to the Middle East war.

Perhaps they are. But not as most of us see it.

Branding
On the front page of its business section it had a picture of Industry and Commerce minister Mike Bimha chatting with Tourism and Hospitality minister Walter Mzembi about Brand Zimbabwe.

It would be interesting to hear what the Brand talks entail. Did they involve projecting Zimbabwe as a clean and modern state producing a wide range of items which compete well with neighbouring states?

Did they encourage retaining people of all backgrounds on the land?
Did they encourage young people to pursue their education here instead of South Africa?

On Tuesday the Herald published a firm rebuttal. Lauding one’s country, not propaganda, the paper said.

A small snippet of controversy caught our eye. Muckraker understands that these PhDs being bandied about in the press are in fact DPhils. They always used to be. Oxford issued DPhils and Cambridge PhDs. That’s how Muckraker remembers it at UZ. Well, maybe some things have changed.

Skewed laws
By the way, why is First Lady Grace Mugabe protesting against street protests? If they are peaceful they are surely entirely legitimate and lawful?

She was addressing people in Chinhoyi. She said demonstrations and protests were unhelpful to the country as they will lead to the stifling of development. Indeed, but how can there be one law for Zanu PF and one for everybody else? Grace must read the new constitution.

Venomous
The baton stick of spitting vitriol seems to have been passed from President Robert Mugabe to his wife, Grace, whose incessant attacks on fellow party members is escalating on a daily basis.

Whenever she gets the chance to speak, Grace takes a dig accusing Zanu PF officials for incompetence, which she believes is the source of all troubles bedevilling the ruling party.

She seems to forget that her husband has a long record of ineptitude and mismanagement. That’s why Zimbabwe is in this situation.

For not being diplomatic, Grace is likely to find the political turf more rugged than she thinks. Clever politicians are less noisy but diplomatic.

Her recent attack on Zanu PF chairmen whom she accuses of working in cahoots with the MDC formations will not change the voting patterns of urban voters who since 2000 realised Zanu PF has nothing to offer except more misery and their rejection of the party is premised more on rationality than emotion.

Why should a nominee for Zanu PF Women’s League be accorded the power to threaten those who have been overseeing party business when she was not there?

And why is she campaigning when her position is not an elected but appointed one? What’s her agenda?

Besides, she claims Mugabe is a man of God. Really? A man of God whose regime has survived through violence, intimidation, vote-rigging and murder?

By the way, why is Grace preaching the ancient and discredited doctrine of divine right to rule? So far she has been anything but impressive and refreshing. Someone must help her before she self-destructs so early into the game.

Ill-advised
Her advisers have failed to nurture her into a promising politician; she lacks the acumen to address supporters, worse off she hardly exhibits qualities of a PhD holder.

Mugabe could have lost the plot, but unfortunately those who are looting are let off the hook. They know they will strike hard against the Mugabe dynasty in the long-term.

People want peace and the First Lady’s quarrelsome language spells possibilities of a political purge aimed at weeding out dissenting voices in the political circles.

Zimbabweans must really be worried; Grace has been thrown onto the political stage to re-open and not to heal the wounds of the suffering masses.

Protecting loot
Oppah Muchinguri must have been laughing her lungs out when she told Zanu PF supporters in Gweru this week that Mugabe requires a wife with a PhD to advise him since he is learned. She was simply making a mockery of the new clown being used by tricksters to safeguard their loot.

Muchinguri was quoted in the media as having said, “If you stay with someone with many degrees like the president, how will you advise if you don’t have a doctorate?”

Grace is being fooled, the day she will realise that, surely she will regret ever dining with Judas Iscariots around her. The scramble for Grace is another era of madness that will sink Zimbabwe into more chaos.

After all the noise associated with her rallies, what’s new from what she has been saying? Muckraker fears Mugabe is just trying to impose his wife to protect family interests, not serve the nation.

Lipstick politics
The Herald on Wednesday carried an article headlined “Council audit unearths scam”. The article highlighted high levels of corruption in local government institutions involving illegal allocation of stands, among a host of alarming ills characterising Zimbabwe today.

Sadly Mildred Chiri can compile reports like before, but definitely no action will be taken to redress the woes.

Several corrupt bigwigs in Zanu PF have walked scot-free despite being linked to unscrupulous deals.

The issue on graft is much ado about nothing. In a mismanaged economy like that of Zimbabwe where misrule is entrenched, corruption will remain rampant unless government pays heed to the deteriorating economy and not lipstick politics.

No wonder others are driving top-of the-range cars while the majority are living in squalor. And that’s precisely why every open space, including wetlands, is a stand ready to be auctioned.