Zim Online
Saturday 22 September 2007
By
Prof Arthur Mutambara
HARARE - The fallen heroes of our great liberation
struggle produced a
historic result in the form of our political
independence in 1980. There is
a generational expectation for us to enhance
their legacy.
We have to continue with their struggle for a peaceful,
democratic and
prosperous Zimbabwe. The question is what is our generational
result? What
has been achieved in the last 27 years? Our country is going
through an
unprecedented national crisis with both economic and political
manifestations.
Our generational challenge is now to restore the
economy and the moral
fabric of our nation. At the root of our national
crisis are three
inter-related challenges: political illegitimacy, poor
country governance,
and the lack of both economic vision and
strategy.
In addressing these problems we have to ask ourselves what kind
of political
party would effectively embrace and enhance the legacy of
Josiah Tongogara
and Nikita Mangena? There are three questions that we have
to ask.
a.. Firstly, who are we as a party, what do we stand for, what
should we
be known for, i.e., what is our brand as a political party.
b.. Secondly, what is it that the people of Zimbabwe want that we can
provide better than other political parties, i.e., what is our unique value
proposition to Zimbabweans?
c.. The third question speaks to our
proposed path and strategy to power,
i.e., what is the game plan toward the
attainment of political power.
The Brand
We are an African opposition
party rooted in the history of Zimbabwean
nationalism and the liberation
struggle. We represent and seek to address
African aspirations within a
Pan-Africanist framework. This entails a
socio-politico-economic world-view,
as well as a movement, which seeks to
unify and uplift both Africans on the
continent and in the Diaspora, as part
of a global African
community.
The redemptive paradigm is regional integration inspired by
regional
sovereignty leading to continent-wide unity of both politics and
economics.
While embracing and leveraging globalization, we stand opposed to
any forms
of imperialism. We condemn Western double standards, duplicity and
hypocrisy.
For example, while we appreciate Western pronouncements on
the democratic
deficit in Zimbabwe we condemn the democratic exemption they
extend to
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There is need for consistency
if the West
is to be effective in its support for democratic and progressive
movements.
We note that when we in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa
were fighting
for our freedom we received no arms of war from Britain and
the USA. Why did
they not provide weapons to the FRELIMO, ZIPRA and ZANLA,
MK and APLA
freedom fighters and yet they found it appropriate to arm and
support Mobutu
Seseko, Jonas Savimbi, Saddam Hussein (in his war against
Iran) and Osama
Bin Laden (in his skirmishes with the Soviets in
Afghanistan)? This begs the
question what really informs Western foreign
policy? It seems permanent
interests outweigh both permanent values and
principles. We stand viciously
opposed to these double standards.
In
Zimbabwe we believe there was a case to redress the grave historical
injustices in the distribution of land. One of the reasons for the
liberation war was access to land by the African majority. Hence there was a
clear case for a land revolution in Zimbabwe. The fact that at Lancaster
House the terms of reference, processes and funding (including UK and US
assistance) for agrarian reform were verbal and not written means that this
fundamental issue was not taken seriously.
The British and their US
colleagues acted in bad faith. Of course as the
Africans at Lancaster we
take responsibility for our foolishness and
dereliction of duty. We should
never have accepted a verbal understanding on
land. While we take issue with
Mugabe's motivation behind the chaotic land
grab, and disagree with his
processes and perverted outcomes, we do not seek
to go back to the pre-2000
February situation. However there must be a land
audit, rationalization and
fairness to all Zimbabweans in the allocation of
land.
As regards the
question of compensation for farmers whose land or properties
were
expropriated, we believe that the international community must
contribute
funds for this purpose, in particular the UK and USA. There will
be no such
money from the Zimbabwean fiscus.
Our agrarian revolution will be based
on enhancing land access by the poor,
productivity, food security,
self-sufficiency, fairness and collateral value
of land. We seek to ensure
fair, secure and effective use of land with new
strategies that will make
the land green again. What is required is a
democratic and participatory
framework that seeks to achieve equitable,
transparent, just, and
economically efficient distribution and use of land.
Respect of property
rights and collateral value of land must be guaranteed
by establishing
security of tenure through the provision of title or
meaningful 99 year
leases (not the ZANU(PF) worthless leases). Land should
never be used as an
instrument of political patronage. With an effective
land revolution in
Zimbabwe land owners should be motivated towards
beneficiation where
emphasis is placed on secondary agriculture.
On human rights violations
in our country such as gukurahundi and
murambatsvina we believe in victim
based and restorative justice. It is
important to involve the victims,
understand what they went through, and
evaluate their current challenges
created by the violations. It is also
important that we hear from them how
they believe justice can be achieved
and restored.
There is need for
rehabilitation of the violated communities, surviving
individuals and
families. If we allow Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe to get
away without even
acknowledging, showing remorse and accounting for their
crimes, what will
stop future regimes from doing the same.
Consequently, there will be no
blanket immunity. We need to break the cycle
of impunity. We need to know
the truth of what transpired, and establish
some modicum of responsibility
even if it is moral responsibility. We need
to establish a systemic and
institutional framework that enables us to
ensure that never ever again
should there be any such violation of human
rights.
The Unique Value
Proposition
What is it that the people of Zimbabwe want that we can
provide better than
other political parties? Our vision is Zimbabwe as the
leading democracy in
Africa characterized by people-centered social
development and economic
growth. We desire a nation characterized by
inclusive and sustainable
development that is based on substantive
participatory democracy. Zimbabwe's
GDP and per capita income should be in
the top three in Africa.
We want a society where human rights, individual
freedoms, property rights,
non racialism, women's rights, workers' rights
and economic rights are
cherished and respected. We want a nation of
prosperity, economic
opportunities, affordable high quality public services,
social justice,
equity, and gender justice. We want a country of business
growth, productive
commercial agriculture, innovative entrepreneurship,
creative managers, and
productive workers whose working conditions are
decent.
We seek a Zimbabwean economy that leverages science and
technology, while
emphasizing valued added manufacturing, export based
investment and a
thriving services industry. We desire technology transfer,
local processing
of all our minerals, and increased domestic and foreign
direct investment.
All these endeavors must be established within the
context of a small
government philosophy, respect for free market
principles, respect of
property rights and entrenched rule of law.
Nonetheless, there is need for
targeted state intervention to develop
enabling physical infrastructure
(such as roads, water, electricity,
housing, and telecommunications) and
promote economic socio-economic
justice. It is essential to have an
independent central bank which
concentrates on core monetary policy
functions of maintaining both price and
financial market stability. This
should then be coupled by effective
macro-economic policy coordination
between fiscal and monetary
strategies.
Beyond economic recovery and stabilization there is need for
transformation
of the Zimbabwean dualistic economy inherited from the
colonial period and
deepened during the post independence economic melt
down. In the colonial
period the dualism divide was synonymous with race as
whites had more access
to resources than the blacks. It is therefore
imperative that the economy
should be transformed into an integrated
globally competitive economy in
both its production and service sectors. In
all these efforts there must be
deliberate efforts to promote broad based
economic empowerment of the black
majority.
The Zimbabwean economy
has the potential to be transformed from the present
dualistic and largely
agrarian economy into a modern industrial economy.
There is need to
maximally optimize our potential in terms of human capital,
natural
resources and infrastructure.
The Path to Power
The strategy to
victory has to be through democratic and constitutional
means. This is only
possible if we all fight together to create conditions
for free and fair
elections in our country. The primary drivers of change
should be
Zimbabweans themselves. This means in addition to embracing the
SADC
initiative we must develop an independent programme of action on the
ground
that we control as Zimbabweans.
Here we refer to a programme of action
that seeks to bring about democratic
change in our country, as a
precondition for the economic transformation of
Zimbabwe. In particular
through actions of defiance, strikes, demonstrations
and general mass action
we must drive this illegal kleptocracy to its knees.
We must create
conditions for free and fair elections by any means
necessary. All the
political parties, civic society organisations, the
labour movement and the
churches must work together in the streets in
pursuit of liberation and
emancipation.
We must be demanding that the Zanu PF government stops the
torture, murder
and the incarceration of members of the opposition and civic
society. Just
recently, members of the NCA were brutalized. We cannot have
free and fair
elections when members of the civic society are being
brutalised. We also
need a new constitution and we must fight for it in the
streets. There must
be new electoral laws that will allow free and fair
management of our
elections. POSA and AIPPA must be removed from our
statutes.
We want to allow every Zimbabwean the opportunity to vote,
including those
in the Diaspora. Lastly, we want international supervision
of our first
election under the new constitution. These are the demands we
should be
fighting for in the streets through an alternative programme of
action. Yes,
we should also pursue the same matters through the SADC
mediation. What is
criminal is for Zimbabweans to sit passively while
waiting for President
Mbeki to rescue them.
It is our strong
contention that it will be easier to dislodge the
illegitimate regime in
Zimbabwe if all democratic forces in the country work
together. This is even
more critical, given the fact that our elections are
likely to be unfree and
unfair. In spite of the challenges the opposition
parties are experiencing
in establishment a united front, they will continue
to work as one entity,
presenting common positions in the SADC mediation.
Conclusion
What
we stand for and what we offer should be a continuation of our great
liberation struggle. However we must understand that the aims of the
liberation struggle and its heroes who gave their lives for the emancipation
of our great land have been subverted by those who claim to be the current
living heroes but who in reality have stolen the hopes and aspirations of
millions of Zimbabweans since 1980.
This group of heroes turned
villains has lost any semblance of the redeeming
values of shame and
self-respect. The real heroes of our generation will be
those who will
restore Zimbabwe as nation in which we can all be proud; a
country which can
hold its head high amongst all the nations of the world, a
state which meets
the dreams of its people. We must have the moral and
physical courage to
step up to the plate and make our generational
contribution. History will
never absolve us if we prevaricate or equivocate.
Arthur
Mutambara
Prof. Arthur G.O. Mutambara heads one of two formations that
make up the
Zimbabwe opposition party, the MDC.
Zim Online
Saturday 22 September 2007
By
Farisai Gonye
HARARE - Zimbabwe main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
on Friday told
top officials of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party that he was
optimistic negotiations with President Robert Mugabe's
government could
ensure free and fair elections next year.
Party
spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Tsvangirai, who now leads the larger
faction
of the MDC after the party split 2005, said he believed the
opposition could
still milk more concessions from the ruling ZANU-PF party
to ensure
democratic elections next year.
The MDC, which though split into two
rival camps has acted together in
dealings with Mugabe and ZANU PF, on
Tuesday endorsed a controversial
government constitutional Bill saying the
move was in the greater interests
of resolving Zimbabwe's worsening
political and economic crisis.
"President Tsvangirai took the opportunity
to explain the decision to go
along with the Constitutional Amendment No. 18
as a first step towards the
final resolution of the national crisis," read
Chamisa's statement.
Chamisa said Tsvangirai told his party that the
second round of negotiations
with ZANU PF would now tackle outstanding
issues such as political violence,
harsh security, media and electoral laws,
the use of food aid by ZANU-PF as
a political weapon, the politicization of
security forces, and the
contentious issue of allowing millions of exiled
Zimbabweans to vote.
Tsvangirai called the emergency meeting with his
national executive to
explain the decision to back the constitution Bill
that clips some of Mugabe's
powers but leaves him room to anoint a
successor.
The MDC's largest civic society allies have rejected the
government
constitutional Bill and accused the opposition party of treachery
and
cutting deals in Parliament with the government in total disregard of
ordinary citizens who they said wanted a transparent and people-driven
constitutional reform process.
The Bill will see constituency
boundaries changed, parliamentary elections
brought forward by two years
while Parliament -- which Mugabe controls -
will be empowered to elect a new
president should the incumbent fail to
serve a full term.
Analysts
see the clause empowering Parliament to elect a new president as an
exit
mechanism allowing Mugabe, 83, to quit active politics, handpick a
successor
and possibly rule from the sidelines.
The MDC had pushed for an entirely
new constitution that would guarantee
basic freedoms and free elections but
relented after Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa agreed to changes that
watered down the amendment Bill.
The changes included abolishing the
president's power to appoint members to
the lower house of parliament, which
will have 210 members compared to the
current 150, and a further expansion
of the upper house to 93 members from
84, with five appointees. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Saturday 22 September 2007
By
Sebastian Nyamhangambiri
HARARE - Zimbabwe's National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) political
pressure group says South Africa's mediation
between President Robert Mugabe
and the opposition is flawed because it
excluded civic society.
NCA chairman Lovenmore Madhuku said South
Africa's Safety Minister Sydney
Mufamadi this week told Zimbabwean civic
groups that regional leaders did
not mandate Pretoria to incorporate their
concerns in ongoing talks between
Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party and the main
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party.
"The response
was that SADC (Southern African Development Community) had not
mandated
President (Thabo) Mbeki to include civic society," said Madhuku,
who led a
delegation of civic society leaders that on Tuesday met Mufamadi
in
Pretoria.
"He said our concerns will be forwarded to SADC heads of state
at a later
stage telling us that our concerns were similar to those the MDC
had
raised," said Madhuku.
Mufamadi was not immediately available
for comment on the matter.
Mbeki was last March asked by SADC heads of
state and government to lead
efforts to resolve Zimbabwe's eight-year
political and economic crisis by
facilitating dialogue between ZANU PF and
the MDC.
Civic society groups have long said agreement between Zimbabwe's
two largest
political parties alone would not end the country's
multi-faceted political
and economic crisis urging Mbeki to rope in
organised civic society, smaller
opposition parties and other stakeholders
in the talks.
Dialogue between MDC and ZANU PF appeared to bear some
results when the two
parties agreed in Parliament this week to pass a
controversial
Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 18 that will clip some of
Mugabe's
sweeping powers but paves the way for him to anoint a
successor.
The NCA, a coalition of churches, women's groups, opposition
parties,
students and workers, has rejected the Bill and accused the MDC of
abandoning its civic society allies to cut deals in Parliament with the
government in total disregard of ordinary citizens who it said wanted a
transparent and people-driven constitutional reform process.
The MDC
has defended its decision to back the government constitutional
reform Bill
as necessary to help create conditions conducive to the peaceful
resolution
of the country's crisis.
The NCA, which together with the MDC mobilised
voters to reject a government
constitutional draft in a 2000 referendum, has
vowed to mount resistance
against government constitutional reforms. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By Sandra Nyaira and Carole Gombakomba
Washington
21 September 2007
United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said he will take up the
crisis in
Zimbabwe with President Robert Mugabe next week at the U.N.
General Assembly
and seek support to dispatch a U.N. special envoy to the
troubled
country.
Ban said in an interview with Britain's ITV News that next
week's U.N.
gathering offers an opportunity for him to sit down with
President Mugabe to
convey the concerns and frustrations of world leaders
about the political
and economic crisis..
Ban said it was sad that
the situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate
and that he found it
disheartening that condemnation of government policies
by the international
community did not translate into action on the ground
to help the Zimbabwean
people or to end the political deadlock and
increasingly dramatic economic
collapse.
Correspondent Sandra Nyaira of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
reported from
London.
A Zimbabwean diplomat said Ban had no mandate
to intervene in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's ambassador to the U.N., Boniface
Chidyausiku, said the Secretary
General has no brief to use the General
Assembly to "rally international
leaders," as Chidyausiku put it, "towards
pushing for a special envoy to
Zimbabwe."
Sources said Mr. Mugabe
wrote to Ban to request a meeting during the
Assembly.
But
Chidyausiku told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe
that the meeting was a mere formality, adding that if Ban wants to
discuss
sending an envoy to Zimbabwe he should take it up directly with Mr.
Mugabe.
National Coordinator Jacob Mafume of the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition also
voiced skepticism on the point of the U.N. special envoy, but
for a
different reason - he noted that the recommendations of two previous
envoys
have not been implemented.
International Federation of Journalists
21/09/2007
The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the
government
of Zimbabwe to guarantee the safety of 15 journalists named on a
hit list
that appeared to have been leaked from official sources.
"The
government of President Robert Mugabe must make it clear to the
international community that it is not targeting journalists," said IFJ
General Secretary Aidan White. "It can do that by guaranteeing the safety of
all the journalists named and all other journalists in
Zimbabwe."
The IFJ was shocked to learn of what appears to be a
list of
journalists who are accused of working with "hostile anti-Zimbabwean
western
[sic] governments" and to see that it included the name of Foster
Dongozi,
Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists and member
of the IFJ
Executive Committee.
The IFJ has taken steps to
assure his safety but it is calling on
Zimbabwe's government to guarantee
that Dongozi, his family and the others
on the list will not come to any
harm.
The leaked document appears to date from June this year and
is
headlined "2008 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections." A list of 15
names then follows under the heading "Targeted Journalists".
Below the names is a short note:
"The following media personnel and
others as discussed in the previous
meeting are to be placed under strict
surveillance and taken in on the
various dates set. They're working hand in
hand with hostile anti-Zimbabwean
western [sic] governments. Measures to be
taken against the above including
those in exile, are listed on page 4
summary."
Top of the list is Abel Mutsakani who survived an
assassination
attempt when he was shot in South Africa on July 23. Mutsakani
was an editor
at the Zimbabwe daily newspaper The Daily News until it was
banned in 2003.
He moved to South Africa in 2004, so that he could report
freely on
Zimbabwe, and launched ZimOnline.
Also named is Gift
Phiri, a correspondent of the Zimbabwean newspaper,
who in early April was
abducted by police and severely beaten in the
capital, Harare. In August,
Phiri was acquitted of charges of contravening
the repressive Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).
Another
journalist named is Bill Saidi - deputy editor of the
privately-owned
newspaper The Standard - who in January received a brown
envelope containing
a bullet and a threatening message warning him to "watch
out".
All the journalists listed work for private media and do independent
investigative reporting.
"In the run up to the Presidential and
Parliamentary elections
expected in 2008, independent journalism will be key
to ensuring that the
voting process is fair and democratic," White said. "We
will be watching
Zimbabwe closely to ensure that our journalist colleagues
are able to do
their jobs freely and safely."
For more
information contact the IFJ at + 221 842 01 43
The IFJ
represents over 600,000 journalists in 114 countries worldwide
VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington
21
September 2007
The decision by Zimbabwe's opposition to
cooperate with the ruling party in
passing a constitutional amendment bill
in the lower house of the Harare
parliament this week is dividing public
opinion that was previously was
strongly opposed to the
measure.
Critics including Chairman Lovemore Madhuku of the National
Constitutional
Assembly have accused the Movement for Democratic Change of
committing a
"betrayal," while others see the compromise bill hammered out
under the
cover of South African-mediated negotiations as a step forward
towards
ending the crisis.
One sticking point for many is the lack of
clarity on how expanding both
houses of parliament will enhance the
democratic process or ensure that the
March 2008 presidential and general
elections will be free and fair.
Some say the MDC should renegotiate the
deal or call for an entirely new
constitution that could promote more
democratic government and the rule of
law.
VOA sought opinions on the
legislation, the political process and the
Movement for Democratic Change's
strategy from two experts: Executive
Director David Chimhini of the Zimbabwe
Civic Education Trust and Advocacy
Officer Busani Ncube of the Bulawayo
Agenda.
Ncube told reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyelye of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that
the outcome in parliament was a disappointment, so his group
has called a
stakeholders conference in Bulawayo next week to draw out
public opinion on
the matter.
This week has been of
particular frustration to all Zimbabweans where ever
they are and what ever
they are doing. To many people, the images of the
past week do not come as a
surprise but the graphical illustration of the
mayhem is astonishing.
Seeing, is believing! While the World is agape that
civilised people in this
21st century can stoop so low as to be subdued by
one man, Robert Gabriel
Catholic Mugabe, few do understand the scale of
Zimbabwean problem. If the
World new, they would not have placed Iraq ahead
of Zimbabwe because during
Sadam Hussein, at least food and sanity was
available to the Iraqis. Mugabe
is a moving grave surrounded by blood thirst
vipers fed on blood and corrupt
money. In case you forget, China, Russia and
Iran remain his closest alias.
In the absent of Africa backing, where would
one seek pad for a democratic
regime change. By forsaking Zimbabweans,
Africa is colluding with Mugabe in
the hope that if they become dictators in
the making African brotherhood
will prevail.
I have written many articles on Zimbabwe crisis,
all hardcore militant as to
motivate people to take a collective and
perpetual civil defiance even if it
means an armed struggle. Only writing is
not enough but I put my head on the
block contesting with Border Gezi the
architecture of Green Bombers, Elliot
Manyika the brutal Mugabe
intelligencia. Many Zimbabweans today do not know
that the Green Bomber were
initially setup specifically for me. By the way I
have a constituency to
represent, I have a grave right at my door step
having lost my brother, a
father with a permanent injury due to a murderous
ZANU(PF) and a business
empire ransacked to feed Green Bombers under Mugabe's
instruction. God
answered our prayers and Border Gezi did not leave to enjoy
the fruits of
his brutality albeit Mugabe did.
In October 2000, Adela Chiminya
and I sued Robert Mugabe on gross violation
of human rights, albeit even the
USA presidency (George Bush) did not
support us, actually the state
department appealed on behalf of Mugabe, what
ever the reason, I don't what
to know, but USA employs double standards and
I am very much convinced that
USA is behind the collusion with Mugabe.
Mugabe would not have survived even
for a year if he has fallen with USA and
Europe; I stand to be corrected
here.
So 2008 we are going for dual Presidential and
parliamentary elections? DID
I get it collect that the opposition agreed
with ZANU (PF) to;
1. Increase the parliamentary seats from
120 to 210
2. Accessible advertisement for all
parties
3. President will now be able to appoint a
successor
4. Bla-a-a-a-ar
If this is true, then MDC
has lost sanity. Even before commenting on the
above, let me hasten to say
as a postgraduate of Civil Conflict Resolution,
I was appalled by the speed
at which we opposition agreed to everything ZANU
(PF). Zimbabwe has one of
the most educated people in Africa, and a mare
consultation would have put
the struggle on track. This is attar rubbish!
Who does not know that the
over 4 million people who left Zimbabwe were from
urban areas and who are
opposition supporters. The delimitation commission
by Tobaiwa Mudede will
simply put the majority of the 90 seats in rural
areas, everybody know that.
By agreeing to Mugabe forfeiting the 30 seats he
appoints and give him
leeway to appoint further 90 indirectly is lunatic to
say the least. We have
always protested that the civil servant is bloated
and needs trimming, we
cant even find money to pay the current 120 MPs
adequately, where are we
going to get the money to pay late alone 210, this
is rubbish! I remain
defiant that Robert Mugabe must go and MDC has no
business to nurse him in
his transition to hell, ngatisaputsa chirongo
tasvika veduwe! In 2002 we
were allowed to advertise but mind you the
decision for the content still
remained with Mugabe and he never publish
anything because he did not agree
with it, what makes us think that this
will be different this time. The
agreement is silent on POSA, AIPPA, Green
Bombers and the Political Funding
ACT. These sections mean more to the
current fear than meets the eye. If you
remove them then you have democracy
in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans
all over the World are fighting this struggle, I hope the
opposition realise
this. This is not a lone struggle and consultation is
important. We must
fight Mugabe on sea, on air, on land and cyberspace;
remember he will be
turning 84, where on earth, for God's sake an 84 year
old has ruled a
country with sanity. Mugabe needs to be confronted with all
fire power the
World can produce. The opposition by agreeing to
constitutional changes no.
18, risk perpetuating a Mugabe dynasty. What will
stop Mugabe from passing
power to Grace Mugabe (the brutal wife) or to his
10 year old son in the
name of constitution? You don't need a degree to
understand
that!
I am in favour of not only removing Mugabe but the
uprooting of everything
ZANU (PF) ndipo panonyaya ipapo. Change is in the
air but it can only come
from Zimbabweans and not Thambo Mbeki. I am proud
to be a Zimbabwean and I
will die for that
cause.
Yours Sincerely
Elliot
Pfebve
Lecturer, Politician & Human Rights
activist.
Silence
Chihuri
The current stand-off between the MDC and the NCA is an extremely
welcome
development. It will also put the NCA into perspective and remind
the civic
leaders that they are not politicians after all. In fact we have
seen a kind
of cosseting between the MDC and the NCA that had embedded the
two
organisations in a manner that is retrogressive to democracy.
The
NCA has come to be known as a champion of human rights and democracy in
Zimbabwe through the courageous if not dangerously heroic acts of the likes
of Lovemore Madhuku. Ever since the NCA was incepted in 1997 it has
conducted itself in a manner that has never faulted it in the eyes of the
nation. This is why the NCA has become something of a stand-in opposition
party because there are times when it has actually shown more teeth than the
opposition.
The only time the NCA came under unusual scrutiny in the
eyes of the
Zimbabwean public was in 2006 when the current Chairman Lovemore
Madhuku was
re-elected to another term in circumstances that were viewed by
Zimbabweans
as uncharacteristic of a champion of democracy. But Madhuku got
off the hook
courtesy of his record because he is an individual who
epitomises courage
and defiance in the marauding dictator that is ZANU PF.
Because of Madhuku
and the likes of Douglas Mwonzora who have taken great
personal risk to
champion democratic rights in Zimbabwe, the NCA today is a
formidable force
that has taken the fight against human rights violation a
step further than
where the CCJP left in the mid to late
1990's.
Every Zimbabwean today except those who are living off the
scandal that is
ZANU PF rule will stand up to salute the NCA for it s
efforts in the fight
for human rights. This is why the NCA has enjoyed as
much platform as the
opposition political parties in Zimbabwe because they
are there together in
the trenches. Internationally the NCA is also highly
regarded as a vehicle
for the fight against ZANU PF tyranny. The part that
the NCA has played for
all these years is an integral one to the restoration
of fully functional
democracy in Zimbabwe.
In recent times however,
there has been this kind of warming up to each
other between the MDC and the
NCA in a way that would rather concern than
assure many Zimbabweans. The NCA
was almost becoming an appendage or
off-shoot of the MDC. Some people have
viewed this strategic positioning by
the NCA leadership as a way of lying in
waiting to feed on the political
crumbs that would fall off an MDC high
table once the party came into power.
This was starting to hamper the
impartiality and direction of the NCA which
was visibly becoming an
extension of the MDC. This recent stand-off would be
one to be wished to
last forever because it will prompt the NCA to sit back
and think about its
real role.
The MDC is to blame for the NCA's quasi political status
anyway, because the
deficiencies in the party had rather propelled the NCA
to that de facto
political status. Maybe this is time for both organisations
to be completely
independent of each other and start to work in the
interests of Zimbabwe
rather than individuals who were simply seeking to
ensconce themselves. The
NCA should also be reminded that it is merely a
civic body that should
completely stay out of politics and any attempt by
the organisation and its
leadership to enmesh themselves in matters
political would simply undermine
their integrity. If any of the leaders of
the NCA want to be involved in
fully fledged politics, then they should
resign from the civic body and join
the MDC.
Alternatively, they
should register the NCA as political and field
parliamentary candidates who
will then be able to debate political matters
in the parliament and enter
into political deals with other parties. The NCA
should also be clearly
reminded that the MDC is not in any manner or form
answerable to the civic
body and that whatever decisions the party takes, it
does so at its own
peril. The NCA should actually seize the moment and go
that step further and
show Zimbabweans that they can be trusted more than
the MDC. Also, it is not
that the MDC has taken an extremely bad decision as
such, but it is only
that a few individuals at the helm of the NCA feel left
out by the political
bandwagon are now crying foul.
Political pacts are never supposed to be
between political parties and the
civic society, period. The MDC and ZANU PF
have entered into a political
pact and one that is very necessary especially
at this moment and only the
self-serving and grand-standing antics of those
at the helm of the NCA would
seek to undermine the painstaking process of
normalising the situation in
Zimbabwe. This is the same NCA leadership that
scurried down south to
protest to President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa that
they felt being left
out in the political dialogue between the MDC and ZANU
PF. This propensity
for crying foul whenever the NCA is left out of the
political process shows
very worrying signs of loss of direction in the
organisation. If the NCA now
wants political status they should simply be
regularised as such.
Yes the NCA should continue to organise
demonstrations against the ongoing
mal-governance of ZANU PF and should even
demonstrate against any bad
decisions by the MDC as the main opposition
party in Zimbabwe. This is
because the NCA as a civic organisation must
champion the causes of the
Zimbabwean people in a manner that is not done by
the political parties.
That is the difference between politics and civic
agitation. There should
never be any overlapping or co-habiting between
political parties and civic
bodies. Directing any anger towards the MDC
could actually be viewed as a
feeling of bad workmanship.
Silence
Chihuri is a Zimbabwean who writes from Scotland. He can be
contacted on silencechihuri@hotmail.com
Zim Online
Saturday 22 September
2007
By Lizwe Sebatha
BULAWAYO - The family of a
Bulawayo man who was shot and killed by the
police while drinking beer at a
shebeen says it is suing the police for Z$30
billion in
damages.
Misheck Gumbo, 31, was shot and killed in the working class
suburb of Pumula
by a yet to be identified police officer at the unlicensed
drinking place.
Gumbo was buried last Wednesday at Luveve Cemetery at an
emotionally charged
funeral with relatives complaining that the police had
refused to offer any
assistance to meet the burial costs.
Noel Dube,
a close relative of the late Gumbo, was also badly assaulted by
the police
who had stormed the illegal drinking place in the suburb after he
had asked
the police why they were drawing a pistol in front of revelers.
Bulawayo
police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo defended the
shooting
accusing the late Gumbo of resisting lawful arrest.
Moyo said the police
officer who shot the deceased was "trying to defend
himself as he was being
overpowered." The police spokesperson said the
police were still carrying
out investigations into the matter.
A family spokesperson, Moment Gumbo
told ZimOnline yesterday that they were
suing the police over the fatal
shooting.
"We have agreed as a family to sue the police for more than $30
billion in
damages. The police have refused to accept responsibility over
the death of
Misheck," said Gumbo.
Gumbo's fatal shooting by the
police is the second such incident this year
following the killing of
another Bulawayo resident, Artwell Magagada.
Magagada was shot by the
police while celebrating the coming of the new year
on New Year's eve. The
Magagada family has already filed a Z$20 bilion
lawsuit against Home Affairs
Minister Kembo Mohadi and Police Commissioner
Augustine
Chihuri.
Zimbabwe's police have often been accused of committing serious
human rights
violations against civilians. Harassment and torture of
government opponents
and civilians is common in Zimbabwe. - ZimOnline