Harare Carnival laden with dubious agenda

via Harare Carnival laden with dubious agenda October 16, 2015

Have you noticed that the state-run Herald has been running pictures of girls in skimpy outfits in keeping with the Carnival theme? Nothing has been spared in the naughtiness stakes. Even organisations that were keen to advertise their faithful credentials found themselves on the party’s dubious agenda. Anybody recall pigs and dogs insults?

MUCKRAKER

They have been shunted off to the vet it seems. Consistency has never been Zanu PF’s strongpont. But do the Brazilians know they are being used? It will be interesting to see how the ruling party’s detractors cope with the double standard that was bound to manifest itself in some ghastly attire. Do you recall when they used to chastise us?

This year things were somewhat more restrained. Somebody called Bev managed to engineer a cat fight with another pussy, but one got the impression they were both keen to get home.

Related to this, one must ask how Icasa will fare. Again there is the pigs and dogs test. Don’t be surprised if there is a sudden disappearance of certain categories of “best by” which will suddenly materialise.

Tourism minister Walter Mzembi is no doubt looking for a clean exit!

Who by the way was a Mr Cassidy whose function was clearly to say something helpful about the regime and its human rights record. Mission impossible perhaps, but it is always fun to witness agents of the regime lining up to do their duty as spokesmen for a redundant regime on the one hand and having nothing to say on the other.

It is important to know when new activists arrive. Some are already here. Others slip in. What we need is a public record of appointments to the commission and those who aspire to membership via the church’s fond embrace.

Nobody can deny that this has been one of the hottest weeks ever experienced in Harare. Did it reach 40? If so that is a record. Obviously places like Binga and Kariba qualify but rarely has Harare made it to the top spot.

Disappointment
Finally we were disappointed to note South Africa’s intention to pull out of the ICC following Sudanese president Omar al Bashir’s visit to South Africa recently.

According to EWN reports on Tuesday, it is now of the view that it is no longer useful to prosecute crimes against humanity amid the diplomatic and legal fallout over the Al-Bashir debacle.

Legal voices were everywhere expressing disappointment with the outcome. What about the thousands of South Africans hoping for a new democratic order. Are they not disappointed? How about victims of Al-Bashir’s campaign of genocide?

Offside
With Zanu PF chairmen resigning en masse this week, what has presidential spokesperson George Charamba to tell us after crassly denying the existence of factionalism in the beleaguered ruling party?

Is it logical to trash the infighting in Zanu PF as a dream when it’s there for all to see?

To buttress the rot in the party, War Veterans minister Chris Mutsvangwa last week lashed out at the so-called G40 — group of young Turks in Zanu PF, saying, “Generation 40 is a nuisance to the party. They are cronies of diversionists coming from power-hungry clowns misguided by errant professors from nowhere who have found their way into the party … They absconded the war when sovereignty was at stake. And when there was need for courage and sacrifice to fight for Zimbabweans, they ran away. Now they are trying to bask in the new-found glory.”

First Lady Grace Mugabe even conceded the escalating discord and power struggles in Zanu PF when she addressed a rally at Mutambara Mission in Chimanimani last week saying, “When I said down with factionalism, I noticed that there are some people who are not happy with what I said. Stop it; whoever is involved in factionalism should stop it.”

Even the former vice-president Joice Mujuru and Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s dogfight was once called a newspaper creation. Didn’t the results come out?

The electorate are no juveniles, there is a massive rift tearing apart the ruling party, whether propagandists say the truth or invent falsehoods hoping the masses won’t see the light, the truth at the moment is that Zanu PF is in panic mode and that greedy vultures are at each other’s throats as the succession battle reaches its climax.

Crossing the line
So Charamba, who sometimes seems to forget he is a civil servant and Mugabe’s mouthpiece, not Zanu PF spokesperson, must stop benightedly spinning yarns about Zanu PF factionalism.

Who doesn’t know Zanu PF is faction-ridden? Haven’t Mugabe, Grace and other senior party leaders been bemoaning factionalism and infighting in the party? Then you have bootlickers like Herald columnist Tichaona Zindoga, who just mimic Charamba without putting their thinking caps on, exposing their appalling incompetence.

How does Zindoga write a column excoriating the private media over Zanu PF factionalism when he himself has previously written turgid opinions — or whatever he calls his sloppy pieces — based on factionalism and succession?

Fallacious
And Grace should give us a break, what empirical mechanism is she using to categorically reach a conclusion that only her husband President Robert Mugabe is capable of running Zimbabwe’s status quo? Fallacious and detrimental to economic revival isn’t it? Has anyone been given the chance and failed? Why should then the self-made “Queen referee” make a comparison where it doesn’t exist?

Potential gaffe
It’s not surprising the G4O could be working tirelessly to alter the constitution to establish a position of executive First Lady to consolidate the former secretary (now fake PhD holder) power base. Didn’t Zanu PF, in a similar fashion, create its monster through constitutional amendment No 7 (Act No 23 of 1987), which paved way for executive presidency?

Is that impossible when we learnt that vice-presidents stampede to bootlick Grace and even take notes from her?
It is this neo-fascist one-party state mentality that champions curtailment of civil liberties, oppressive harassment and political repression that unnecessarily keeps African dictators in power when they have no clue of their deepening crises.

And that is also why, as Bade Onimode points out, by 1968, barely a decade after African states had begun gaining independence in 1960, the continent had recorded 30 major military operations with 19 successful coups. What a pity.

Lupepe, Deketeke must respect corporate governance

Information filtering in from government propaganda hub, Herald House shows that the state-controlled Zimpapers board chaired by businessman Delma Lupepe — under the direction of Munhumutapa Building of course — is considering appointing company CEO Pikirayi Deketeke as group Editor-in-Chief again.

Deketeke, a career journalist and a jolly good fellow, was in May appointed CEO after being chief operating officer and Editor-in-Chief responsible for editorial issues, content for all newspaper platforms and staff development.

While Muckraker believes Deketeke is a great guy — from the very few occasions we have met — he must not be power-hungry in a manner which compromises corporate governance. If he is not the pushing the proposal, then Deketeke must refuse such as stroppy arrangement which blatantly violates corporate governance principles.

How can one person be CEO of a media company and also be its Editor-in-Chief? It’s unheard of. It has no precedence. Lupepe and his board must reject it.

In defence of principles of good journalism practice, Deketeke must not accept it. Otherwise, he would be misunderstood by fellow CEOs and journalists.

While Muckraker is no corporate governance expert, he knows there is a system of rules, practices and processes by which a company is directed and controlled. Corporate governance essentially involves balancing the interests of the many stakeholders in a company: shareholders, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government and the community.

Since corporate governance also provides the framework for attaining a company’s objectives, it encompasses practically every sphere of management, from action plans and internal controls to performance measurement and corporate disclosure.

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