The curse of Africa's leadership

African leaders must be cursed. How else do you explain leaders who do not know when to leave, even when their own people show them the door? Leaders are willing to face humiliation (Gbagbo, Mubarak etc) instead of simply handing over the baton of power to someone else. There was a burial of a 'hero' today, an event that is keenly followed by both friends and opponents of Zanu PF. What has made these funerals interesting is that the party has converted them into a farce. How else do you explain Mr Mugabe's rant against the United Kingdom or is it Gaydom? Surely it shouldn't come as a surprise if you are discussed in the British parliament after all you spent a whole day mobilising people to go and sign a so called anti-sanctions petition aimed at the British. Is a graveside speech incomplete without insulting other people? What is more interesting is the Zanu PF habit of disengaging. If the Commonwealth raises inconvenient facts then get out of the Commonwealth, now SADC is stating the obvious and we already have diatribes aimed at the well-meaning and peace loving people of the region. What I find bizzare is that according to Zanu PF everyone else is wrong except themselves. Only a genius can be in the minority and still be right and genius is not a word to be wasted on Zanu PF.

How long shall I cry violence and you will not save

Shall I dare to ask again, if you may suffer such impudence from a mere mortal, 'How long, Lord Creator, must I call for help but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralysed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.' I always feel very emotional when I read this ancient query because it remains relevant today as it was then. Two major reasons today; (1) the shooting in Tucson and the burial of the youngest victim half a globe away and, (2) the death of a Tunisian youth. Whenever there is a gathering of African leaders it feels like a convocation of beasts with the blood of innocent Africans dripping from their fangs and talons. It is sad that it took the self immolation of a poor Tunisian student for a dictator to step down (I wish more dictators will step down too without such a huge sacrifice from from young people who have a lot to offer their nations). My condolences to the Tunisian nation. Another twit is wasting our time in Cote d'Ivoire while his colleagues are fiddling. Sad sad sad.

Sanctions

Sanctions, what sanctions? A pretty reasonable question to ask. We have been bombarded by so many views on the current sanctions regime imposed by the US, the EU and allied nations on Zimbabwe and their impact of the the economic situation, prognosis on the economy, political reform and democratisation. I know a lot of people with very strong views about these sanctions. My view is that, apart from irritating a few ZANU PF people, the sanctions are largely irrelevant.

This is not the first time sanctions have been imposed on Zimbabwe. The Rhodesian Front government went for fifteen years or thereabouts of full blown UN-imposed sanctions in the middle of a civil war but did not suffer the kind of economic meltdown that Zimbabwe witnessed in the decade after 2000. That the sanctions regime currently in place is a much weaker version compared to what Smith faced is indubitable, unless you are using the sanctions for propaganda purposes. Needless to add, with every pun intended, Mugabe loved the sanctions against Smith but is not happy about the sanctions on himself. To add further inconvenience, the sanctions imposed on Smith were because he was a very undemocratic individual who oppressed, abducted, disappeared and killed a lot of people. And, to be fair to Mugabe, he is also a very undemocratic individual who oppresses, abducts, disappears and kills a lot of people. That's the reason why sanctions were imposed for both. The only reason why anyone would bother to consider the lifting of sanctions is when there are visible signs of reform. I do not see them, does anyone else see them?

The economic meltdown was largely caused by bad policies...and poor personnel,  I must add. In addition, while the Rhodesians realised that they were in the cauldron together and did everything to work in the same direction, Zimbabweans a are fractious and peevish lot led by a thieving cabal which is not designed for survival under threat. The country has the resources to get out of the quagmire but those resources are being abused. It is this difference in culture and outlook that allowed Rhodesia to survive for those years despite being an obviously reprehensible regime while Zimbabwe's economy failed. Gideon Gono's strategy to reintroduce the Zimbabwe dollar, announced with a lot of fanfare in 2009, could have been implemented when he became the reserve bank governor in 2003 not after the demise of the local currency under his watch. Lack of timely and judicious implementation of sound programmes is what caused the death of the ZimDollar, not lack of printing paper and spare parts from Germany. While Smith implemented a sound sanctions busting programme despite having only one friendly nation in the neighbourhood, Mugabe has failed dismally to do anything despite having friends all over the place. It's something to do with political will.

ZANU PF have no intention of reforming themselves. So, whether they are under sanctions or not is immaterial to the democratisation process. Even if you were to remove the sanctions today you will not move ZANU PF an inch from their current position. Such is ZANU PF's intransigence. The democratisation process itself is inimical to their continued stay in the corridors of power and the opportunities for corruption that come with it. It is illogical to assume that they will allow a process that will definitely remove them from power and for some will lead to prosecution. In addition, none of these people are actually serious business people. Such an appellation is inappropriate for a person who walks onto a farm, harvests all the produce, receives loans from the RBZ, free inputs and implements and gets a yield of zero tonnes per hectare...let's be serious. Such people cannot survive outside cabinet and they know it. While Zuma thinks removing sanctions will improve the pace of reform, I think it will do nothing of the sort. The only reason why ZANU PF is where it is is because they have lost the confidence of the people of Zimbabwe. The thin veneer of legitimacy (acquired with the connivance of the ANC and SADC in previous elections) was discarded after March 2008. So, Zuma's focus and energy should be better spent consulting the people of Zimbabwe and making sure that their voice is heard. This can be done if people focus on it. Zuma suggested we should park some issues and proceed. Good idea, let's park the sanctions and proceed!

Tomana and the Bennett trial

We have been introduced to new words, or new meanings of words during the past decade in Zimbabwe's politicsscape (I invented that one, do not look it up). These range from baccossi, fast-track land reform, quasi-fiscal activity and, recently, impeachment of a witness. The biggest question I want answered is are all these funny sounding activities necessary. Bennett's arrest was not necessary, his prosecution was not necessary, the state's 'star' witness had refused to testify and calling him to testify was not necessary, his supposed impeachment is not necessary and quite baseless ... and Zimbabwe's attorney general does not recognise all these issues. I wonder where we got him from. 

Been out

...where? I can't remember. So please do n0t ask. This the end of 2009. Year of our Lord. According to the calender. Been trudging through the year. Hoping. Not hopping. Hoping, that one day things will get better as they must. But things did not bother to get better. May be I would be better off hopping. Simpler. Just your usual expenditure of energy, you lose weight, the neighbours wonder if you have lost your mind (which is okay, anyway), then they wonder if you have been bewitched (which is outlandish ... but the outcome is the same) or both (which is fine, you can blame your condition on the bewitchment). The principals of the school called Zimbabwe do not know what they are doing. I doubt if anyone knows what they are doing. Doesn't matter. May be, one day things will get better, as they must.

National heroes

Who is a hero? Rather, what is a hero? In Zimbabwe, we always have a debate about who should grant and be granted national hero status. I think we tend to waste time debating a nonsensical issue. The definition of a hero in Zimbabwe is the sole preserve of Zanu-PF and you have to be in good books with Zanu-PF in order to be buried at the National Heroes Acre. I have heard people advocate that Jairos Jiri or Ndabaningi Sithole should have been buried at the National Heroes Acre. Those people are missing the point. The national heroes acre is neither heroic nor national.

I agree there are distinguished persons of heroic stature buried there e.g. Herbert Chitepo but we also have people of dubious status equally buried there. For example, while Cain Nkala may have fought for Zimbabwe's liberation, he played a part in the disappearance of Patrick Nabanyama then his own revolution 'ate' him. I do not know why Zanu-PF accorded him national hero status - except that it was politically convenient at the time since the MDC was accused of killing him. They just could not miss such a propaganda opportunity. Then, there are people who did not fight during the war, nor did they contribute anything of value to the nation except showing undying loyalty to Zanu-PF, rather, to Robert Mugabe e.g. Elliot Manyika. Calling that cemetery national is a misnomer. It does not reflect the nation it purports to represent. A partisan body decides which members of itself should be buried there. Advocating that Jairos Jiri be buried there is akin to insisting that a Pope be buried at Westminister Abbey. The national heroes acre is a Zanu-PF cemetery, so why would you want to be buried there if you are not Zanu-PF or better still, why should Zanu-PF bother to bury you there? 

Scream freedom!

I am surprised by the Chinese government. I wonder why they chose to suppress commemorations of the Tiananmen massacres. Why do they assume that pretending that something that actually happened did not happen will lead to a situation where the world forgets about it? I recently watched the Chinese documentary on Tibet. While some of the stories in the documentary may be true, I do not trust a source of information that insists on being the only source while suppressing others. What kind of freedom is that? Apart from it being rather childish, it negates all the gains that China has achieved so far.  I have immense respect for China and the Chinese people but some of these issues tend to mar their record.

Another disturbing story is the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. You wonder what that military junta expects to achieve. A salute to the guys who fight for freedom everywhere. I hope you will achieve what you are fighting for. Will always be with you in the struggle. Hope everyone will be free.

I did not want to write about Africa, but hey, it's unavoidable. Not when you have Mr Mugabe hosting the Sudanese, Swazi, Ugandan leaders and all the other members of the dictators' club. It is my hope that the newly launched customs union will be followed closely by reasonable standards of democratic governance and I hope the rest of the world including China will assist us in this endeavour.