Zim Online
Tuesday 11 September 2007
By
Pius Ncube
BULAWAYO - Today the Vatican will publicise their acceptance
of an offer of
resignation tendered to them by myself in July.
I
wrote to the Pope within days of what was obviously a state-driven,
vicious
attack not just on myself, but by proxy on the Catholic Church in
Zimbabwe.
In order to spare my fellow Bishops and the body of the
Church any further
attacks, I decided this was the best course of action. It
has been necessary
for me to wait for the Vatican to acknowledge my
resignation before making
it public.
It is my feeling that I should
face this case in court as Pius Ncube, an
individual, not that the Holy
Catholic Church of God should seem to be on
trial because I am its
head.
I know that there will be many of you who will be bitterly
disappointed at
my leaving my post as Archbishop of Bulawayo - and a few who
will be
delighted, seeing their mission as having been
accomplished.
To the many thousands of Catholics and ordinary Zimbabweans
as well as those
in the international community who have stood by me in my
hour of need, who
have offered their prayers and stood in solidarity with
me, I thank you all
from the depths of my heart.
I remain a Catholic
Bishop in Zimbabwe, and will continue to speak out on
the issues that sadly
become more acute by the day.
I am committed to the Word of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, and see my decision as
opening up new opportunities to serve
Him through serving the poor and
suffering of Zimbabwe, who sadly become
more numerous and more impoverished
every day.
I remain unshakably
committed to the Mission declared by Christ: "The Spirit
of the Lord is upon
me for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the
afflicted. He has
sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the
blind, to let the
oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the
Lord". [Luke 4:
18-19].
Recent events have brought me closer to God and have given me a
clearer
sense of mission.
I have not been silenced by the crude
machinations of a wicked regime. I am
committed to promoting the social
teachings of the Church, and to working
among the poorest and most needy in
Zimbabwe.
My wish is to be a lowly servant of all: as stated by Jesus, "I
came not to
be served, but to serve." [Matthew 20:28]
I will use my
experiences working among the people to lobby for greater
humanitarian
support, in particular for food and medical supplies at this
time of extreme
national crisis.
I have various options available at the moment, both
within the Church and
within the civic movement, and will decide in the next
few weeks which will
provide the best platform to continue with God's
work.
My passion is to get closer to God through prayer and to preach the
Gospel
so that people move away from selfishness to care for God and others,
and to
fight for human rights.
"Go out to the whole world, proclaim
the Gospel to all creation." [Mark
16:15].
May God bless and be with
all of us.
By Pius Ncube
Zim Online
Wednesday 12 September 2007
By Farisai
Gonye
HARARE - A crisis is brewing at Zimbabwe's oldest university
after
only a quarter of the students turned up for a new semester that began
this
week while acute accommodation and financial problems kept thousands
others
away.
According to authoritative University of Zimbabwe
(UZ) sources, about
25 percent of the returning students had so far
registered for the new
semester.
The total UZ enrolment is
around 10 500 students.
The sources said less than 400 new students
had taken up their places
out of an expected intake of about 1
500.
Registration for new students began on 3
September.
Highlighting an all-round collapse of what was once one
of Africa's
leading institutions of higher learning, the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ)
might be forced to suspend lectures due to the shortage of
students.
Thousands of students could not report for the new
semester on Monday
because they had no accommodation in Harare or could not
raise funds to pay
for university fees.
The university has
called for an emergency meeting of the UZ senate
this week to discuss the
latest development, according to sources.
The senate comprises the
chairpersons of the UZ's various departments
and deans of faculties and
reports to the council, the highest
decision-making body at the
university.
Most of the children who failed to turn up are those
from outside
Harare who were affected by a university decision earlier this
year to
withdraw accommodation facilities.
UZ Vice Chancellor
Levi Nyagura has defied a standing High Court order
issued in July ordering
him to re-open the halls of residence, maintaining
that the halls of
residence are not habitable because of their bad state.
Citing City
of Harare Department of Health Services recommendations,
the university last
week insisted it would not offer accommodation
facilities to
students.
About 4 000 students were legally staying at the
university, although
student leaders say the number could be much higher as
some students
resorted to "squatting" at the campus.
Nyagura
could not be reached for comment as he was said to be out of
the
office.
But higher education minister Stan Mudenge confirmed a
crisis was
brewing at the country's largest university.
"I hear
there are some serious problems there. We will have to work
out a plan so
that all students return and complete their programmes," said
Mudenge in a
telephone interview.
Lecturers said they might have to cut on
teaching hours "to cater for
those who can at least make it to college,"
most of whom would not be able
to arrive at the university on time because
of a transport crisis affecting
the country.
Edwin Matunge, a
Bachelor of Arts final year student, said he might
have to abandon his
studies. He said he had nowhere to stay after the
withdrawal of
accommodation facilities by the university.
He said the University
Bible Fellowship, which offered them shelter
following the closure of the
student hostels in May, was no longer able to
accommodate him and 11 other
students.
"The South Koreans who run the Bible school have told us
that all they
can offer us now is bus fare to go back home if we can't find
alternative
accommodation," he said.
Shorai Mutimbe, a
20-year-old social sciences student, said she would
have to walk eight
kilometres from Bluff Hill suburb to the university daily
as the aunt who
had offered her accommodation could not take care of her
transport
costs.
"At least I am lucky I have somewhere to stay while I
complete my
studies," she said.
Zimbabwe's education system,
once the pride of Africa, has over the
years been on a steady
decline.
Teachers at public schools have refused to teach until the
government
lifts a salary freeze imposed last month and offer them a
substantial pay
increase.
A serious food shortage affecting the
country has also forced schools
with boarding facilities to send students
back home after failing to find
adequate supplies to feed the
children.
Others have asked parents to provide food for their
children to avoid
starvation. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wednesday 12 September 2007
By Lizwe
Sebatha
BULAWAYO - War veterans in Mberengwa have petitioned President
Robert Mugabe
to reprimand local Member of Parliament and Agriculture
Minister Rugare
Gumbo whom they accuse of using food handouts to punish
ruling ZANU PF party
rivals in the district.
The war veterans accuse
Gumbo of denying wards that opposed his candidature
in the 2005
parliamentary elections access to food obtained from the Grain
Marketing
Board under a government scheme to support drought-stricken
villagers.
War veterans' leader and ZANU PF chairperson for Mberengwa
East district
Rudo Chakona yesterday said the letter to Mugabe was sent a
fortnight ago.
"War veterans are not happy with Gumbo because he is using
his portfolio to
fix those wards that were against his candidature in the
2005 elections by
denying them food," said Chakona.
Gumbo denies the
allegations.
"All those you say are complaining about me should approach
me as their MP
than to rush to the President," Gumbo said
yesterday.
Chakona said Nyamhondo and Garenyama wards in the district
were the worst
affected areas.
The war veterans' leader said the food
denial was punishment for the two
areas' open support for Godwill Shiri,
Gumbo's rival in the ZANU PF
primaries ahead of the 2005 parliamentary
polls.
Shiri was eventually expelled from the ruling party for standing
as an
independent candidate in the parliamentary elections in 2005 after
contesting that Gumbo had rigged the primary elections.
Gumbo had
earlier lost the primary elections before a re-run was ordered.
This is
the latest case of factional fighting in the fractious Mberengwa
East, which
was last year rocked by the suspension of three senior officials
accused on
allegations of indiscipline.
Gumbo later accused ZANU PF chairman John
Nkomo and political commissar
Elliot Manyika of fuelling the divisions in
his constituency after they
suspended three Mberengwa East District
Coordinating Committee (DCC) members
aligned to him on allegations of
indiscipline.
He has continued to work with the suspended DCC members in
defiance of Nkomo
and Manyika, arguing that their suspension was
illegitimate.
Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party and
human rights groups have in the past accused ZANU PF party
officials of
denying food aid to opposition supporters as punishment for
failing to back
the ruling party. ZANU PF has in the past denied the charge.
- ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wednesday 12 September 2007
By
Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - A Zimbabwean clergyman was on Monday picked up
for questioning by
feared state security agents for allegedly organising a
pastors' workshop in
Masvingo town last weekend.
The Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents picked up Reverend
Sonykis Chimbuya,
the chairman of the Pastors' Forum, accusing him of
holding an illegal
anti-government meeting last Saturday and Sunday.
At least 24 pastors
from Pentecostal churches attended the meeting that was
held at the Glen
Livert Hotel, 20km east of Masvingo, to discuss problems
affecting
disadvantaged communities in Zimbabwe.
The CIO agents were riled after
they discovered that the meeting sought to
discuss contentious issues such
as the controversial government slum
clearing exercise, Operation
Murambatsvina, and the Gukurahundi atrocities
that saw over 20 000 ethnic
Ndebeles being massacred during the early 1980s.
"I was picked up for
questioning by members of the CIO on Monday. They
wanted to know what we
were discussing at the meeting.
"The CIO agents later handed me to CID
(Criminal Investigations Department)
officers who claimed that the meeting
had not been cleared by the police,"
said Chimbuya.
Chimbuya said he
told the agents that as a church group, they did not need
to apply for
police clearance when conducting church services as required by
Zimbabwe's
security laws.
Under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA),
Zimbabweans must first seek
permission from the police before gathering in
groups of more than three
people to discuss politics.
An increasingly
jittery President Robert Mugabe's government has over the
past seven years
used the tough security law to stifle legitimate political
activities around
the country.
"As churches, we have a right to discuss such issues (as
Operation
Murambatsvina and the Gukurahundi massacres) because they are
affecting our
communities. Personally I do not see anything wrong with
that.
"We are living in constant fear as church leaders since it appears
we have
become targets for state repression. We are no longer free to
discuss
anything in our Motherland but we hope one day, the situation will
improve,"
Chimbuya said.
Police in Masvingo confirmed interrogating
the clergyman in connection with
the "illegal" workshop, adding that the
police will summon the churchman
when they gather enough evidence that a
crime was committed.
"Yes, it is true that we wanted to know something
from Chimbuya in
connection with the workshop he organized over the
weekend," said a police
officer who identified herself as Assistant
Inspector Ndlovu.
This is the second time that Chimbuya has had a brush
with the law this
year. Earlier this year, Chimbuya was arrested on
allegations of
distributing opposition Movement for Democratic Change
campaign material.
It was however later established that Chimbuya was
simply distributing
sweets and toys to children in Masvingo. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wednesday 12 September 2007
By
Nqobizitha Khumalo
BULAWAYO - Zimbabweans have reacted with shock over
Tuesday's resignation of
Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube who is
fighting a Z$20 billion lawsuit
for alleged adultery.
The cleric, who
is a fierce critic of President Robert Mugabe's government,
resigned from
the Bulawayo diocese after the Vatican acceded to his
application for relief
of duties.
In a statement released yesterday, the Archbishop Pius Ncube
Solidarity
Coalition, a group bringing together about 60 civic
organisations, said it
would continue backing the archbishop all the way
despite the resignation.
"While we are deeply distressed about the
resignation of Archbishop Ncube,
we take comfort in the fact that he is
going to continue his campaign for
democracy, justice and freedom. He is an
important voice that must always be
heard.
"His resignation confirmed
what we have always said. That he is a democrat
at heart and down to the
soul. Rather than undermining and harming his
democratic credentials, his
resignation enhances them," said the group.
In a statement released to
the media yesterday, Ncube said he was stepping
down to the spare the
Catholic Church from further attacks from President
Mugabe's government that
he accused of waging a fierce propaganda war
against him.
Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe leader Reverend Trevor Manhanga said it
was difficult
to make judgments on the Ncube case as the resignation sent
difference
messages to different audiences.
"The resignation by the Archbishop is
not clear on whether it was a decision
reached after realizing that there
was moral failure or it was just a
decision to deal with the
courts.
"The role of the church is to accept those that have sinned and
repented
after confessing their sins. But here it is difficult to tell
whether the
Archbishop resigned on moral grounds or not," Manhanga
said.
Zimbabwe information minister and chief government spokesperson
Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu could not be reached for comment on allegations that
Harare had
hounded out the Catholic archbishop.
Ordinary Zimbabweans
who spoke to ZimOnline said they were disappointed by
Ncube's
resignation.
Thabo Sibanda, a Bulawayo resident, said the resignation was
not necessary
since Ncube had weathered the storm created by state security
agents.
"This is disappointing and it will create an impression that the
Archbishop
is guilty. He should have continued without resigning until his
case went to
court," Sibanda said.
Another Bulawayo resident Robert
Nyoni however said Archbishop Ncube's
resignation was noble and long
overdue.
"Archbishop Ncube's decision to resign is noble since it will
give him more
time to deal with his court case without interfering with
God's work and we
wish him good luck with his case," he said. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By Patience Rusere and Blessing Zulu
Washington
11 September 2007
The government of
Zimbabwe last week earmarked some US$11 million for food
aid to an
increasingly hungry population - but meanwhile it's splashing out
more than
US$20 million to buy luxury vehicles and SUVs for ministers and
members of
parliament.
Harare's allocation of Z$347 billion dollars for food aid in
the
supplementary budget it took to parliament last week will only pay for
about
36,000 metric tonnes of grain out of the estimated 450,000 to 500,000
tonnes
needed to feed the country for the next three months - in other words
less
than 10% of the fourth-quarter requirement.
That Z$347 billion
translates into some US$11million dollars at the official
exchange rate of
Z$30,000 for one U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, grain on the world
market is
running between US$300 and US$350 per metric tonne, agricultural
experts
said.
The government said it's targeting some 600,000 households, or some
3.6
million people, according to the experts, who figure six people per
household.
While that food aid allocation does not seem likely to go
far, International
Emergency Adviser Zvidzai Muburutse of ActionAid told
reporter Patience
Rusere that Harare will bend backwards to provide food to
ensure support
ahead of next year's elections.
However, agriculture
spokesman Renson Gasela of the Movement for Democratic
Change faction headed
by Morgan Tsvangirai said that whatever the government
does the food
situation will remain dire, because there is still a shortfall
in donor
assistance that must offset most of the country's nutritional
deficit.
Meanwhile, Harare is importing vehicles for the president,
his ministers,
members of the house and senate, and traditional chiefs at a
cost of more
than US$17million .
Adding in another 150 vehicles for
army officers - Toyota SUVs and Mercedes
cars - plus vehicles for the ruling
party election campaign, the total being
spent on vehicles for senior
officials approaches something like US$25
million, more than twice what's
been allocated in the official budget for
food aid for the rest of this
year.
Finance Ministry sources said President Robert Mugabe's top of the
line
Mercedes Benz S600 cost around US$250,000. His ministers are getting
Mercedes Benz E240 sedans and Toyota Land Cruiser Prados. An official at the
Zimbabwe Motor Company said Mercedes E240s cost some 53,000 euros each, or
around US$73,000.
Senators and house members must settle for vehicles
costing less than US$30
000.
Director Godfrey Kanyenze of the Labor
and Economic Development Research
Institute told reporter Blessing Zulu of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
with an election on the horizon, and
factionalism on the rise inside
ZANU-PF, President Mugabe will give priority
to appeasing senior ruling
party officials.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
11
September 2007
Members of the Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe went on strike Monday
though the union's 14-day warning to the
government had not yet expired.
Teachers belonging to the union are
reporting for duty, but not giving
instruction, said PTUZ sources. Members
of the Zimbabwe Teachers
Association, considered closer to the government,
said they awaited guidance
from organizers before taking action.
But
a ZIMTA official ruled out a strike, saying the association is still in
discussions with the government. The PTUZ wants a minimum salary of Z$15
million (US$70) a month compared with Z$2.9 million at present, plus a Z$4
million housing allowance and a Z$5.2 million allowance to meet skyrocketing
transportation costs.
The PTUZ strike notice officially runs out
September 17.
Asked why his members went on strike early, PTUZ General
Secretary Raymond
Majongwe told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that
the teachers could not postpone their financial distress
any longer.
New Zimbabwe
By Tendai
Biti
Last updated: 09/12/2007 07:30:18
POOR Sam Mumbengegwi! Some men are
gifted enough to hide their mediocrity or
at least to hide the mediocrity of
their work. But alas, the talentless
Minister of Finance possesses neither
attribute.
The supplementary budget presented on September 6, 2007, is an
indictment
not just on the person of Mumbengegwi but on the regime in
Harare.
That the supplementary budget can exceed the original
budget presented in
December 2006 by 800 percent betrays a fundamental lack
of elementary
understanding of the nuts and bolts of economics. But even
more importantly,
it exposes the fact that the regime has no control over
this failing economy
and worse still, that they do not care.
The very
appointment of Mumbengegwi as a replacement of the affable and
whisky-loving
Hebert Murerwa is a reflection that Robert Mugabe does not
give a hoot about
basic economic housekeeping fundamentals such as budget
balancing and
macro-economic stability.
A number of critical issues arise with this
supplementary budget. The first
is that as a supplementary budget, it is not
located in any policy or
ideological framework. The budget is a major fiscal
tool that should be
grounded in some major policy framework.
The
existing fiscal planning tool that this regime is nominally bound by is
the
National Economic Develeopment Priority Programme (NEDPP) launched by
minister Rugare Gumbo in March 2006. The budget therefore should have been a
complementary tool for the objectives and roadmap designed in the NEDPP.
Sadly, the supplementary budget is not anchored on this. Instead, it is a
hotch-potch of contradictory and self-defeating policy
tools.
Stripped to its bare bones, the supplementary budget betrays the
contradiction in the Zanu PF state between on one hand, the need to be loyal
to basic economic fundamentals and on the other, the power retention agenda
in which State resources will be spent without reason, logic or limit purely
for the purposes of maintaining and reproducing power.
Thus, whilst
the Minister implicitly acknowledges the catalpetic effect that
a huge
budget deficit has on inflation and fiscal discipline, he
nevertheless
succumbs to the power retention agenda by producing a
supplementary budget
that is loyal to this cause and this cause only.
One finds that the
amounts allocated to the President's Office (which houses
the notorious
Central Intelligence Organisation), the Ministry of Defence
and the Ministry
of Home Affair, is a staggering $12,662 trillion, which is
33 percent of the
supplementary budget. If one adds the traditional
government slush fund, the
unallocated reserve under the Ministry of Finance
vote, of $2,4 trillion ,
then in fact the amount being allocated to the
securocrats, who are at the
helm of this Vampire State, is 43 percent of the
supplementary
budget.
The net effect of the expansionary fiscal deliquency is that
there will be a
major increase in the stockpile of domestic debt from $8,1
trillion to at
least $16 trillion, in our view.
Furthermore, whilst a
huge budget deficit does not necessarily have to be
destructive, ours is,
given that more than 70 percent of that budget
consists of consumptive
recurrent expenditure in the form of interest
payments and wages. To the
extent that the budget deficit and the debt are
financed by domestic
borrowings, the government has yet to engineer negative
interest rates with
the consequent debilitating effect on savings.
What it means right now is
that Zimbabwe is experiencing negative net
savings of -5 percent of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). Without savings being
at least 30 percent of GDP,
there is no way this regime, or any other
government for that matter, can
resolve the supply side of the economy
through use of domestic resources.
What it means therefore is that Mugabe's
policies have made this country
more dependent on foreign inflows for the
recovery of our
economy.
Put simply, the regime that has made sovereignty its national
mantra has
stolen the economic sovereignty of this country.
A key
question to be asked is how will this government finance this
supplementary
budget? In answering this question, one must recognise the
minister's
admission that of the cumulative revenue of $3,4 trillion
collected up to
June 2007, 30,3 percent came from Value Added Tax (VAT).
But since 18
June 2007, when the government embarked on its crackdown on
prices, or
Ginyanomics as we called it, the receipts from VAT have shrunk by
more than
80 percent as a result of that ill-advised adventure.
The situation is
going to get worse in view of the enactment, through
Presidential Powers, of
the new price control regulations SI 159A/2007.
However, one does not
need to be a rocket scientist to understand that the
regime has set itself
up for further printing of money. With all the
disastrous consequences
associated with this treasonous act, the act of
printing money has
unashamedly been glorified to the status of a
revolutionary
achievement!
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono, defending the
same in the
latest edition of the banal NewAfrican magazine, states as
follows:
"Only the bull-fighter knows what goes on in the ring......We
are guided by
conviction and not convention, and where convention meets
conviction, well
and good. What drives us is the belief that we are doing
the correct
thing..."
That is Zanu PF economics for
you!
Moreover, the fact that the supplementary budget is presented
without
disclosing the estimated revenue is quite clearly dangerous and
unacceptable. In any case, it is an implicit breach of the provisions of
section 103 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which requires full disclosure
of both the revenue and expenditure components in an Appropriation
Bill.
A further glaring contradiction of the budget statement is the
devaluation
of the Zimbabwe dollar by 12 000 percent. As we have argued
before, any
devaluation done that is disconnected to an overall supply side
strategy
engendered by a comprehensive fiscal and monetary policy, is
meaningless. It
will simply exacerbate the crisis. The same is true of this
devaluation.
Firstly, it is unrealistic given that the parallel market
rate of the
Zimbabwe dollar is $250 000 to the US dollar. There is no chance
therefore
that the latest move will have any meaningful effect towards
stimulation of
exports. All it will do is to add further distortions on the
exchange rate
matrix.
The same is true of the move to increase the
minimum tax threshold to $4
million. Given that the Poverty Datum Line is
$8,5 million, $4 million
becomes an insult. Moreover, another pertinent
question is whether there is
still a significant number of people in formal
employment.
The supplementary budget fails to acknowledge the
quasi-fiscal activities
that have become a favourite pastime at the RBZ,
which quasi-fiscal
activities have never been scrutinized by
Parliament.
In the 2006 financial year, the amount of money spent by the
RBZ in
quasi-fiscal activities was $370, 9 billion, which was at par with
the
national budget presented by Hebert Murerwa, who then paid a price for
the
full disclosure of those activities by being fired.
Quite
clearly, the out-of-depth Mumbengegwi has neither the courage nor
reason to
demanding full disclosure from the RBZ. The point being made is
that the
national debt and the budget deficit in real terms are much higher
than what
has so far been disclosed.
Furthermore, it means that the push on
inflation and the further
impoverishment of the ordinary Zimbabwean will
increase. Put simply, we are
in a rut!
One cannot run an economy on
the basis of throwing lots or consulting
sangomas. At least under Simba
Makoni, there was an element of comprehension
of rudimentary economics, but
unfortunately the economics of failure has
been replaced by unpredictable
sangomanomics.
Clearly, the task at hand is beyond the chubby and overfed
fellows at number
80 Samora Machel Avenue in Harare and at Munhumutapa
building in the same
street. As we have argued before, only a political
solution, predicated on a
new, people driven Constitution and free and fair
elections in Zimbabwe, is
a starting point to the resolution of the
multi-faceted Zimbabwean crisis.
Otherwise this house has
fallen!
Hon Tendai Biti, MP is MDC Secretary General of the MDC faction
led by
Morgan Tsvangirai
New Zimbabwe
By Mthulisi
Mathuthu
Last updated: 09/12/2007 06:03:15
NEWS of Archbishop Pius
Ncube's resignation would have come as no surprise
to those who have been
following the cleric's story since he was sucked into
a very unpious sex
scandal.
Whatever the outcome of the pending adultery lawsuit against
him is going to
be, it goes without saying that whoever planned the whole
exercise of
filming the bishop's bedroom exploits had done their homework to
the last
detail.
The obvious motive of this operation was to cause
enough damage through a
splash of a glut of photographs and videos that
would cast a permanent
shadow over the bishop's history and future
work.
It is not wholly wrong then to say the archbishop has done the
honourable
thing to resign and save his Church from shame, and to win back
public
support that would have permanently evaporated if he had chosen to be
his
granite self in the face of a well-orchestrated plot executed with
breathtaking skill by the state media and Robert Mugabe's security
men.
To us, the bishop has paid his price. It is wrong to bed a married
woman,
and even more scandalous for a man of the cloth to conduct himself in
a
manner such as the bishop is alleged to have done.
Be that as it
may, the effort to cast a permanent shadow over the cleric's
record
collapses of its own accord. Here is a man, who despite his own
faults has
remained consistent in his criticism of an evil regime that has
never, even
for a day, cared about the suffering of the country's poor.
What he
condemned more than 20 years ago remains prevalent up to this day.
In the
early 1980's, Ncube was amongst the clerics who confronted President
Mugabe
with evidence of state terror against the ordinary people in the
Midlands
and the Matabeleland regions.
He remained resolute right up to this date
in his conviction that Mugabe's
regime was not about prosperity nor was it
was about liberation. For
standing up for us all, Ncube took fierce
criticism and shocking
name-calling, including from the First Person himself
- Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe labelled the clerics as "a band of Jeremiahs'
prophesying for Joshua
Nkomo".
Of particular concern to Ncube and
those like him was the state's penchant
for blood spilling, blackmail and
deceit as a measure to destroy political
opposition. It was the universal
silence in the face of clear-cut state
terrorism.
For the archbishop
to have chosen that path at a time when many of today's
so-called
pro-democracy activists were praising Mugabe, proved he was and
still is a
brave and courageous man.
Today Mugabe's quarrelsome-brand of politics
remains firmly in place and on
the march. Nothing has changed, only that the
players have changed here and
there. It's still the same old way of
thuggishly silencing dissent and
diverting public attention from the real
issues.
Thanks to Ncube, his colleagues then and the opposition of that
time, we
trace the current wave of universal scepticism about Mugabe's rule
-- for
what is it which today's human rights defenders and the opposition
politicians are saying which Ncube didn't question yesterday?
The
bishop may have fallen, but his word hasn't and will never fall for it
shall
remain true that Mugabe has not been good for Zimbabwe.
It shall remain
true that we have today in Zimbabwe some clerics who are
working hand in
glove with a discredited government to undermine the march
of
democracy.
It shall remain true that somewhere in the din of the clamour
for change is
hidden the sinister voices of those who are in the
government's payroll,
some of whom may have played a role in the filming of
the bishop's
bedroom -- itself a gross abuse of a person's right to
privacy.
Historians will in future look at the story of Ncube as a brave,
naïve man.
Brave because he stood for the truth at a time when Mugabe was a
"hero" for
many who today pretend they never fantasised about him as a
democrat.
He refused to sail with the wind and listen to the lily-livered
clerics who
chose to remain silent when Mugabe's cohorts were plunging
terror into the
twin towers of freedom and liberty.
No doubt today
his fall will be used by his enemies within the ecumenical
movement-as a
reason to fear the truth which is what the government wants.
Naïve? Yes.
Here is a man whose fall was triggered by nothing but naiveté --
the
failure to notice that the moment you take things to the sewer with
Mugabe,
you should gird your loins and watch out even in your toilet.
Mugabe has
not only made his name in the sewers -- he literally resides
there. There is
no gainsaying that the bishop's words had the blessing of
the world's
powerful institutions, his church, politicians and the
governments and the
ordinary people of Zimbabwe. All he needed was to be
intelligent enough not
to slip into Mugabe's residence -- the sewer. But he
did, and he has paid
for it.
Yet his word shall forever remain in the mouths of all those
chasing
justice. His addage we will sing even at the risk of being labelled
'Jeremiahs'.
He is a first class human rights activist, a great man
who did wrong and
paid the ultimate price. When will Mugabe finally be
accountable?
Mthulisi Mathuthu is The New Zimbabwe news editor and can be
contacted on
e-mail: mthulisi@newzimbabwe.com
The Star
Letter
September 12, 2007
Edition 1
As a Zimbabwe-watcher for the past four years, I have tried
to inform
readers of the consistent and strikingly downward direction in
which
President Robert Mugabe has taken his once-promising
country.
At independence in 1980, many - including myself - were euphoric
about this
new and exciting African country with enormous mineral resources;
farming
abundance as a wheat, maize and tobacco exporter; the glorious
Victoria
Falls as a top tourist attraction; plus its (then) erudite,
intellectual
leader, Mugabe.
Now, 27 years later, we watch in despair
as the country collapses into what
can only be described as the Zimbabwe
Ruins.
I don't believe the world's people - including South Africans -
have woken
up to the grim realities on our doorstep.
We are so busy
applauding our "statesmanship" at the United Nations Security
Council (for
exactly what, I don't know), that we fail to notice that
millions of
poverty-stricken Zimbabweans are searching in vain for bread,
milk, sugar,
cooking oil and the staple maize meal.
Fuel is almost extinct. Hunger
stalks the land and many will probably die
from malnutrition and lack of
basic food.
Clean water is scarce. Run-away inflation, I'm reliably
informed, has
reached 40 000%.
Mugabe's schoolboy economics - I
apologise to schoolboys for this analogy -
have produced nothing but empty
shelves.
There's an imminent countrywide strike (by the minority who
still have work)
against a wage-increase "freeze".
Wisely, it would
be a stay-at-home strike, in order to avoid the inevitable
police beatings
of peaceful protesters.
We hear about the so-called talks between
Mugabe's despotic regime and the
opposition MDC to find a political
settlement, but, meanwhile, MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai is being "charged"
for visiting a supermarket last month
to see the empty shelves for
himself.
With a general election pending in six months, the independent
Daily News
remains banned and there's no semblance of democracy or human
rights.
This failed state gives the rest of the region a bad image in
terms of
investment and tourism.
Surely it's time for the UN to step
in to the equation and adopt measures to
stop what might become genocide
through mass hunger.
Ivor Davis
Sandton