“None other than war rookie Robert Mugabe benefited from Joice Mujuru, the trained cadre at Zhunda Camp. She will remain an inspiration in her own right well beyond those who […]
Source: Zanu PF in desperate bid to rewrite history – The Zimbabwe Independent August 26, 2016
REWRITING history is an art Zanu PF has specialised in as and when it suits them. The Sunday Mail article on Joice Mujuru this week is one such example.
MUCKRAKER
Twitter: @MuckrakerZim
In one of the most unprofessional and despicable articles written by the paper under the heading Mujuru unmasked, the article suggests that Mujuru rose through the ranks through offering sexual favours.
What makes this article even more appalling is that it trivialises the sexual abuse of young girls during the war, one of whom was Mujuru. If this garbage that she rose through sexual favours was true, it would then reflect very badly on President Robert Mugabe who appointed her minister in 1980 at a tender age and as his deputy in 2004 till 2014.
That even war veterans chairman Christopher Mutsvangwa who, less than two years’ ago castigated Mujuru, has been disgusted by the Sunday Mail article and has sprung to her defence calling her “a fully-fledged war veteran, a fighter and a leading woman combatant”, speaks volumes of the pathetic tripe spewed by the weekly propaganda sheet.
“None other than war rookie Robert Mugabe benefitted from Joice Mujuru, the trained cadre at Zhunda Camp. She will remain an inspiration in her own right well beyond those who glory in that which is accidentally bestowed by marriage certificates. Such reactionary apostasy will come to naught,” Mutsvangwa said of the article.
At this rate of rewriting history, a Pravda-style article claiming that First Lady Grace Mugabe single-handedly masterminded the liberation struggle and was the one who famously shot down the Rhodesian chopper instead of Mujuru could be in the works!
Of course, this pathetic revisionism will dismally fail like Zanu PF’s previous clumsy attempts to obliterate Joshua Nkomo, Zapu and Zipra from the liberation war narrative and memory.
Kiss of death
Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been waxing lyrical on government’s command agriculture programme. The programme, we are told, aims to ensure national food security. It targets farmers with the potential to produce over five tonnes of maize per hectare.
However, that the programme is being spearheaded by the same government that decimated agriculture since 2000 gives the whole exercise the kiss of death. This was the same government after all which in 2008, through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, bought farming implements to bring about what the government trumpeted as the mother of all agricultural seasons, only for it to be the mother of all blackjacks as the season turned out to be yet another unmitigated disaster. To add insult to injury, it is the taxpayers who are now paying off the debt for equipment that benefitted God knows who as the government has refused to this day to name the beneficiaries.
Assurance by Agriculture minister Joseph Made that there are enough inputs for the agricultural season will do little to convince the nation. This is the same minister who predicted a bumper harvest after mistaking hedges for maize from a helicopter in 2002. Needless to say, the season turned out to be a write-off. Given Zanu PF’s incompetence, the command agriculture project will no doubt join the long list of failed programmes by the clueless ancien regime.
Daydreaming
Recent remarks by Zimbabwe Investment Authority chairman Nigel Chanakira in parliament laid bare the extent to which the government daydreams when it talks of increasing investment to more than US$1 billion this year. This is according to the Economic Planning ministry’s 2015 fourth quarter macro-economic bulletin.
“In April this year, the President (Robert Mugabe) had to issue a statement giving guidelines to the indigenisation laws, but still, investors are asking, that is only a statement, where is the law to back it up?” Chanakira told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment last week.
Chanakira might as well be winking in the dark for all the good it will do. His words will like those of many others who have expressed similar sentiments will fall on deaf ears.
Premature defence
Self-styled Prophet Walter Magaya has been known to wear his heart on his sleeve, never one to shy away from the controversial social topics of the day.
He has a large following who hang on his every word and takes his pronouncements as the gospel truth, including on issues as diverse as bond notes, apostolic sects, soccer and politics. The field of criminal law is, however, a different kettle of fish that bounds even to a prophet and moreso if you happen to be the subject of a case that is sub judice.
Commenting on a matter that is already before the courts and one where you are the subject of the trial may be a good way of whipping the public into a frenzy of emotion and sympathy. It is, however, not particularly helpful on building up one’s defence. Just have your day in court “prophet” and that is where you can say it all on the rape allegations.
Overzealous Barwe
Ever heard of a car being reduced to ashes? The ever-exuberant Reuben Barwe was at it on Wednesday, “bringing news as it happens” and reporting on demonstrations against growing police brutality in the country.
Barwe narrated how, in the course of protests, “a police car had been burnt to ashes”. Viewers could see the shell of the car — something which obviously escaped the attention of the excitable veteran ZBC propagandist who has to show that even after all these years, he is still a dedicated party cadre in his reportage.
Staying with the pliant state media, we could not help but note the desperate yet farcical attempts by the garrulous and gullible Herald political editor Tichaona Zindoga to build a case of friendship between Mozambican opposition Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama and MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai.
After a screaming Dhlakama reveals Tsvangirai friendship (an old state propaganda story), we expected to be treated to salacious details about how the two had plotted to destabilise their countries. You can imagine our disappointment when all we got was an unhelpful quotation ascribed to Dhlakama who was apprehensive about being pushed into a coalition government like “what happened to my friend Tsvangirai”.
Opposition glut
Muckraker has always watched with a mixture of downright cynicism and amusement the manner in which political parties always seem to multiply in opposition to the “revolutionary party” whenever elections begin to approach on the horizon.
There should a plausible explanation of how a country of 15 million people came to this scenario of having more than 18 opposition political parties. Ever the optimist, Muckraker prefers to think of it as evidence of democracy at its best.
However, we had never heard about political leaders Barbara Nyagomo (PDZ), Cosmas Muponda (FF), Gilbert Dzikiti (Dare) and Farai Mbira (Zunde) until now. Muckracker sincerely hopes they bring something to the table and do not just overcrowd the political space as state-sponsored outfits.
short and sweet…
Koroma teaches Mugabe a lesson or two
So Sierra Leonne’s President Ernest Koroma saw it fit to send his Vice-President Bockarie Foh in his stead for the official opening of the Harare Agricultural Show? It is the kind of behaviour Muckraker frowns upon for it betrays a certain lack of tact and respect for the continent’s elder statesman who was obviously relishing the occasion to once again thumb his nose at the West and show them that the sovereign nation of Zimbabwe can never run out of all-weather friends.
Now look what you’ve done Mr Koroma — the Dear Leader will now become a laughing stock of all those detractors who are bent on reversing the hard-won gains of our liberation struggle. Muckraker can even visualise scandalous headlines in the opposition media — something like “Koroma snubs Mugabe”.
However, as they say there’s always a silver lining in every cloud and in this case, Mugabe could well do with a lesson himself even if he was a primary school teacher. Koroma has just delivered a lesson on the importance of delegating responsibilities to subordinates.
At the ripe old age of 92, Mugabe is still gallivanting and attending every function around the world, including obscure youth festivals.
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