via Jessie Majome, a typical time waster | The Herald by Tinomudaishe Chinyoka October 22, 2013
THERE is something especially stupid about an MP who breaks the law, then goes running to the Constitutional Court alleging that she decided that she would not follow the law because it is unconstitutional. For this is what has happened with Jessie Majome, the MDC MP for Harare West. Having been parachuted into the seat made vacant by Trudy Stevenson, that American citizen that Morgan Tsvangirai foisted upon us as if we did not have enough Zimbabweans to stand for Parliament, Jessie Majome has been running around the constituency like a headless chicken, making a nuisance of herself with issues that have nothing to do with an MP’s remit.
She takes to Facebook about potholes and burst pipes, calling upon the Harare City Council to do something, as if she expects that they will read her Facebook page, instead of merely going to them to inform the Council of the problems (if any) so that they can be taken care of.
For a Member of Parliament to behave in this fashion, discussing problems through social media instead of directly with those that are in a position to do something about it, is straight out of the Book of Lunacy, right after the chapter on “Victimology – How to blame your opponents for your own stupid mistakes”.
Of course, taking these problems to the City Council would be too discreet, for our MP likes publicity. She is on record as claiming that she bought a water tank with the Constituency Development funds, and that Zanu-PF went and destroyed it. What rubbish! Why would Zanu-PF, the party that has, throughout its time in government, built schools where none existed, dug boreholes where water was scarce, built roads in no-go areas, suddenly want to vandalise a simple water tank?
Has Zanu-PF not been on the side of the people all the time that the MDC has been on the side of the British and their progeny, the white commercial farmers?
We are suddenly being asked to believe that suddenly, the champion of the poor, the party that sent us to school for free, suddenly wants us to die of thirst? There is something spectacularly stupid about this claim. But, we digress. So, here she is, breaking the law by not paying a licence fee to the ZBC, like everyone else should, then going crying to the Constitutional Court that because she is not being interviewed enough on ZBCTv. It seems to her by this lack of interview time on TV that this means that the broadcaster is biased against MDC and as a result she is not supposed to pay the licence fee. Instead, she wants ZBC to encrypt its signal so that it does not show on her TV, where she would rather be watching BBC and taking instructions from there on how to misrepresent and denigrate our country.
First, what is it about these MDC officials and their aversion to common honesty? There seems to be a visceral hatred of truth in all its forms, as they seem to wage a full force assault on anything even approximating verity in any of its forms, deliberately distorting things and disavowing yesterday’s actions for no other reason than that they are at variance with a good lie. The MDC, it seems, will never allow simple truth to come between them and a publicity stunt against the image of our country.
As anyone that has a chance to look at the Hon Ms Majome’s aforesaid Facebook page, which she uses to publish her “Harare West Information Service”, it is replete with invitations for her constituents to listen to her being interviewed by this or that radio station, and sometimes, presumably when they can find her, ZBC Tv. Unless if Ms Majome thinks that ZBC must run as her Harare West information service like her Facebook page, then one cannot see why, given how many times she is in the media, she suddenly thinks that that very same media is biased.
We have, in Prof Jonathan Moyo, a very able minister responsible for the media. There is no suggestion from Ms Majome that she sought an audience with the minister to voice any concerns that she might have had about this so called ZBC bias. No, of course not – because that would not go into the papers that’s why. A discreet meeting would not be reported on news websites and disseminated to her handlers in London and Washington DC, who need to see that their stooges are “raising hell” and “keeping Mugabe honest”. Shame. Second, this game has become tiring. These people pick up the most unmeritorious challenges to the law, take them straight to the Constitutional Court, knowing full well that they will lose. Why would anyone do that, right thinking people might ask? Because they want to lose, that is why. Because the MDC has been preaching this gospel about “Mugabe and his biased judges” for a long time, so much so that even people that should know better (like me) were starting to believe it, and that gospel needs to be fed continually.
How better to do that than by bringing the zaniest possible cases before the court, as long as they can be made high sounding enough to confuse Mr and Mrs John Q Public, and proceed to lose. The challenge against the licence fee will no doubt fail, because it is without merit. However, I think that any statement suggesting that it failed because the judges are biased, ought and should attract criminal sanction, because bringing our justice system into disrepute is or should be a crime. Of course, were the AG to suggest that they be arrested, he too will be castigated as a Zanu-PF appointee. To which one must ask: if the President of the day stood on a Zanu-PF ticket and won, should he abdicate his duty to appoint people to offices for which they are qualified and give that job to . . . whom? Oh, the man who thought that former ZBC TV DJs were fit to be his spokespeople and MPs? And this is the same ZBC that is biased? You do not wake up from the nightmare of having subcontracted your party’s publicity department to a phantom of lies running around as Baba Jukwa and decide that everything is unconstitutional. What next? We will have cases suggesting that police sirens are constitutional, and should be encrypted so that only criminals can hear them. You do not just go and file a constitutional challenge just because you can write. It is a waste of the court’s time, money and expertise. The ZBC has an address, anyone with a complaint about how they run things should go there and talk to ZBC. Or write them a letter. Once, when I had a problem with the continuity announcer saying “Children’s programmes” in reference to cartoons, I sent the ZBC a letter. I did not sue them for my licence fee on the basis that as I was not a child, they should not have my money to show programmes that I did not like. The content of ZBC programmes is an editorial choice, and has no relationship to the liability to pay a licence fee. If one has a problem with editorial policy, talk to the editor.
If one is upset because they could not be interviewed on a particular date, then they want to turn around and say “I do not want to pay the licence fee as a result”, that person is nothing but a petulant time waster.
Too bad the court does not have a sieve to trap and cast out those cases, such as the present, that are no more than a cheep publicity seeking headline grabbing garbage that we seem to keep getting from the lunatic fringe.
Unless the MDC thinks that everyone has a Facebook account and can be updated on their news that way, public broadcaster is necessary. The UK, from whence their instructions originate, has a licence fee, which funds the BBC. You do not need to watch, or even like, the BBC to pay the fee, everyone that owns a TV must pay it.
And no-one, even the most unintelligent of jacanapes, has tried to suggest that the BBC must encrypt their signal so that it doesn’t go to their homes in order to enable them to avoid paying the licence fee.
COMMENTS
The author of this diatribe is clearly a brain washed racist idiot
I agree with u 100%
The pravda (herald) with an online presence still does not understand the role of the social networking sites in his day and age. Pathetic
Nice to know the herald reads her fb page!!Go Jessie Go
The Herald is supposed to be a national newspaper. It must stop being a party mouth-piece, forever defending one side and forever attacking the other side, and try to report news. After all, as they say in the children’s show – the Muppets, “Everyone makes mistakes – oh yes they do.” But the Herald wants us to believe that Zanu PF never ever ever ever makes mistakes. Grow up Herald! Be mature.
Talk about freedom of expression. I have a gut feeling Zimbabwe will be going back to the pre GNU era.
uri chinyoka sure, we are talking to her on fb, making our contributions, brainstorming and she ll use the view points gathered to “develop” the consituency. she is smart, using social media to replace the biased bombo-clot herald
Who ever the writer is, he is singing for his supper
Be a responsible author, accept others as you would like them to accept you author. People are not stupid.
Sorry maningi.Mapenzi haaperi. Jessy, its your right to go to court. Go!Go! Jessy
hello… Is this the herald or zanu or some apologist? Watumwa?
“Trudy Stevenson, that American citizen that Morgan Tsvangirai foisted upon us” – This racist tongue-waging is not wanted in this nation and is way out of your topic. You want to build hatrage along racial lines. Obama is president of America right now, yet he is of African origin. So what wrong about Gertrude being of American origin, but a Zimbabwean citizen? Editors, especially of national media, should not allow such people like chinyoka to use that platform to publish their venomous articles which are very unhealthy for national development.
Coming to the issue of using the social media to air one’s views like what Majome is doing, she is very mentally upright contrary to the writer’s. There are so many ways of airing grievances or views. Many atimes the Herald or other newspapers have been publishing about traffic lights not working or water gushing out from burst pipes for time days or even weeks, then in no time they council swiftly reacts to that. If they get exposed that will react positively in many instances. So Jessie keep it up, dont get discouraged! You are moving with time. These are the king of MPs we want.
“Trudy Stevenson, that American citizen that Morgan Tsvangirai foisted upon us” – This racist tongue-waging is not wanted in this nation and is way out of your topic. You want to build hatrage along racial lines. Obama is president of America right now, yet he is of African origin. So what wrong about Gertrude being of American origin, but a Zimbabwean citizen? Editors, especially of national media, should not allow such people like chinyoka to use that platform to publish their venomous articles which are very unhealthy for national development.
Coming to the issue of using the social media to air one’s views like what Majome is doing, she is very mentally upright contrary to the writer’s. There are so many ways of airing grievances or views. Many atimes the Herald or other newspapers have been publishing about traffic lights not working or water gushing out from burst pipes for time days or even weeks, then in no time they council swiftly reacts to that. If they get exposed that will react positively in many instances. So Jessie keep it up, dont get discouraged! You are moving with time. These are the kind of MPs we want.
I personally do not think that the article was authored by Tinomudaishe Chinyoka who was at Dadaya High School.
A very foolish article from a brainless idiot.
Why are you picking on Jessie ? Who on earth is still watching ZBC ? Chinyoka you can write a book about Jessie and MDC on how stupid they are but the truth will prevail. Your views are for ZanuPf 33 years ZBC station is still the same old building at the same location, no development .
I am surprised you are talking of ZANU being there for the people ,when there is no running water electricity, health care is not accessible.
WELL DONE JESSIE you are not alone .
Think they should change ” The Herald ” to “The Zanu-PF Herald”
As ZBC stands for ZANU Broadcasting Corporation I would never pay for a TV/Radio licence. Not in a month of Sundays. Jessie has a constitutional right to challenge the stupid law.
How the thrash found its way into print, evading gatekeepers, editor and proofreaders? Answer; when we have vane musoro wakawoma sedamba in a sunset political party forming gorvenment of the day in our watch. If anything is to go by the article, the guy is a product of the “Dayadaya” youth project trying his /her hand in journalism. Is that indicative of the news quality at home?
At least Honourable Jessie is ‘man’ enough to stand up to the big bully called ZBC which even uses ZRP to mount unnecessary roadblocks to force us to pay. Unfortunately until the service improves both in quality and content, hamulume hatibhadhari. Iye Nyoka haana kubhadhara but wants to be recognised nevakuru kuitira next elections…
Herald and Tinomudaishe Chinyoka: Morumwa nechekuchera. Mosakurwa nekuzunzwa. Mati madii, majaira kunyora nyaya dzenhando. Navo mhuri ye Zimbabwe.
By the way, I’m all for freedom of the press, but why are we now being treated to so many Herald gems of wisdom?
I wonder y this article found itself in a news “family newspaper”. The language used hey hey kutuka chete instead of articulating his points. The article is punctuated w factual errors like Stevenson made for Majome. Infact Trudy was defeated in e 2008 elections when she was representing MDC led by AGO. The origins of Trudy are not important than her being a Zimbabwean. In e 90s Mugabe appointed Fay Chung as minister of education does that mean we ddnt have capable pure Zimbos? He said zpf is a pple’s party. Does a pple’s party beat its citizens for voting opposition like in 2008? Does a ppl’s party destroy pple’s homes and home industries? Does it import maize from e same whites it chased? Does it sponsor high level corruption? Does it refuse donor aid when pple are w cholera like only to accept aid when thousands upon thousands have died already like what happened in Budiriro in 2008? Does it haunts and chases its best business minded pple like it dd to e likes of Masiwa, Ncube, Makamba, Mponda, Mawere etc. Does it send its militia to terrorize teachers in rural areas. Does
It sponsor militia grps like Chipangano, El Shabaab, top 6 etc. Does it sponsor rogue ppl to insult others citizens when they approach courts for redress. Why is only zpf and its stooges like Mawarire Jelousy and Mkwazhi are portrayed in good light when they petition courts. Thanx to this articlle it has proved beyond that zpf or its supporters and mouth pieces are foul mouthed and hate critical voices