ANY NORMAL PERSON MUST GET EMOTIONAL , MR WAKATAMA!

P. Wakatama gets emotional

Comment published in the Standard Newspaper by Pius Wakatama   http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/pwakatama.htm Sun 9-Oct-2005 A few months ago, I was invited to a private dinner along with a number of eminent Zimbabweans from various walks of life. Among the guests was none other than my good friend and fellow journalist, Dr Ibbo Mandaza, the ardent Zanu PF supporter and favourite government media analyst and apologist. Some foreign dignitaries were also present. The discussion at the table was about the future of Zimbabwe.   Some voiced a lot of platitudes about the need for Zimbabweans to work together and so forth. Others talked about how the opposition and the ruling party were engaged in talks to bring an end the political and economic crisis the country is facing. One or two talked glowingly about the "economic turnaround" that the country was into and painted a picture of a rosy future indeed.   I begged to differ with all of them.    I said there was no hope for Zimbabwe unless Zanu PF went out of power or underwent a radical metamorphosis which was rather unlikely. I said: "A hungry man is an angry man. If the economic situation gets any worse the people might resort to violence."    Mandaza differed with me rather strongly.   He accused me of not looking at the situation rationally and of being too emotional. He went on to describe how good and capable the Zanu PF government was at meeting the national challenges and working hard to make Zimbabwe a success.    He, however, admitted that some mistakes had been made.    At first, I felt stung by Mandaza's remarks.    I wanted to reply with some rather caustic and uncomplimentary comments about his party but thought the better of it. I didn't want to spoil the dinner. These days it is not often that I get invited to a free and sumptuous meal like the one we had. I therefore didn't want to ruin my chances of being invited again.   Also on reflection, I concluded that the good doctor was right. I am indeed an emotional type of person. And come to think of it, there is nothing wrong in being emotional.    Emotion is only undesirable when it arises out of irrational subjectivity such as when someone cries for no apparent reason or lashes out in anger without due cause.    Otherwise emotion is a basic and necessary human expression of feeling. I tend to become emotional when I rationally consider the ill-treatment of the powerless by the powerful bullies as is happening in Zimbabwe today. I become emotional when I survey the human and physical ruins brought about by "Operation Murambatsvina" and the unnecessary suffering it has brought to thousands who are now homeless.    I become emotional when I see poor vendors who are trying to make an honest living by selling bananas, tomatoes and other vegetables being hounded and arrested when Zanu PF chefs are openly selling scarce petrol, maize meal, sugar, bread and other essentials on the black market with impunity.    Indeed, I become emotional when I see how Zanu PF chefs and their cronies and relatives have carved out the best lands for themselves just like the white colonisers did. The colonisers were better because they took mostly virgin land and developed it. These shameless beggars wait until the white farmer's produce is ripe.   They then swoop down to steal the farm, the implements and the ready-for-the-market produce. I get emotionally charged and mad when poor peasants who were allocated land and have been trying to eke out a living from the soil for the last three years, are being chased away to make way for gainfully employed civil servants and businessmen with mansions in town.    Who would not be incensed at how shameless and crooked liars talk of lofty plans to help the poor when they are devoid of any feelings of love for their fellow men whatsoever? The only love they exhibit is the love of power and filthy lucre. The only feelings they show are feelings of hatred for those who dare question their legitimacy or right to eat like pigs when the rest of the country goes hungry.    How can any true and caring Zimbabwean not become emotional and mad when the country's director of social welfare brazenly says Zimbabwe does not need international food aid? He actually said the majority of the people are able to buy food on their own thus invalidating the need for an international appeal for food aid. I wish I could call a rally of the starving masses in Dzivarasekwa and introduce him to them as the man who told willing donors that they didn't need food aid. "Vaimuita kanyama-kanyama."- They would tear him to pieces right there and then.    The hunger and suffering there is pitiful.    Ask the churches and non-governmental organisations who are trying to feed them with what little food they get if you want to know the truth. I am not ashamed of being emotional because I am in the best company. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was very emotional. One day as he approached Jerusalem and thought of the evil in the place he wept like a child. He lamented the ignorance of the people as to what could bring about real peace. The Bible says that he entered the temple area and began driving out those engaged in nefarious activities.   As they scattered in all directions some must have thought that they were being attacked by a lunatic. He said to them: "It is written: My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves'. (Luke 19: 39 - 460. Zimbabwe too, has become a den of thieves.   Yes, Jesus became so emotional because of the wrong doing that He saw that He became violent. Oh, I wish that more people could be moved to become emotional as they see what is happening in our country today. Our children's future is being destroyed before our very eyes. We even rejoice when a son or daughter gets a visa to the much vilified UK, Europe or the United States to start a new life there. Shame on us! Mandaza rebuked me for being emotional and thought that is an undesirable trait. He himself was an unemotional and able apologist for the government but where is he now? To tell you the truth, I was not surprised at all when I read that he had been unceremoniously kicked out of the Zimbabwe Mirror Group of Newspapers, allegedly by agents of the government he so ably defended. He is now frantically battling to regain control of the business he started through the courts. How the mighty have fallen!    When I read about Mandaza's ouster I felt really sorry for my fellow scribe. He had worked so hard to set up the newspaper group. However, he should have known what most Zimbabweans know. "Inonzi ZanuPF.    Ndeyekutamba wakachenjera."    When playing with Zanu PF one should be very careful because it cannot be trusted. It is like playing with scorpions and vipers. Once you don't toe the line you are finished. My sincere advice to Mandaza is to forget about challenging the government through the courts. He will never win for our judiciary is quite partisan. And if he insists on fighting the powers that be to regain his business, he might end up being incarcerated like former Finance minister, Christopher Kuruneri or he might end up a fugitive in the diaspora like the former Zanu PF central committee member and businessperson, James Makamba. The list of Zanu PF unfortunates who fell out of favour is endless.     The only sensible thing he can do is to cross the floor and team up with those actively opposing Zanu PF hegemony. Mandaza could only have remained at the helm of the Mirror Group by parroting Zanu PF and government propaganda.    He was tolerated as long as he toed the middle line. But, when he openly went against government propaganda by criticising "Operation Murambatsvina", his fate was sealed. Our government does not tolerate independent thinking, especially by the media.   Those who say that the right of the people to speak out through a free Press is a hallmark of a democratic society are definitely not talking about Zimbabwe. Ours is not a democratic society but a dictatorship.    Those with ears to hear let them hear!

 

ANGLICAN BISHOPS CORRECT "MISLEADING " REPORT!

http://www.nehandaradio.com/anglicanmugabe110507.html

 

11 May 2007

 

The Bishops of the Church of the Province of Central Africa would like to correct the misleading report which appeared in the Herald Newspaper of 20 April, 2007 and other media  giving the impression that the Bishops supported President Mugabe in the crisis facing the country. The Herald Newspaper distorted the Bishops' Pastoral Message issued after their recent Episcopal Synod in Harare, Zimbabwe, held on the 11 – 13^th April, 2007. 

 

Contrary to what the media may have tried to insinuate the position of the Bishops in regard to the situation in Zimbabwe, is that they are concerned and pained at the distressing occurrences that have been taking place in Zimbabwe, especially the deteriorating economy that has rendered the ordinary Zimbabwean unable to make ends meet.  The Bishops by highlighting the economic sanctions in the declining welfare of the people were simply pointing out that this is also a critical factor among others such the violence, especially against, the opposition and civic groups,  corruption and mismanagement which have destroyed many government-run institutions and infrastructure causing tremendous hardships on people's lives in Zimbabwe. 

 

In this context the Bishops appealed to the government of Zimbabwe to provide a framework for peace by creating a conducive environment for dialogue and tolerance and also called upon the civil society in Zimbabwe to articulate and promote the practice and respect of human dignity by all social and political ways in the building of a culture of governance that respects the sanctity of life. Furthermore, the Bishops urged the church in Zimbabwe to offer an effective pastoral ministry to the downtrodden, to rebuke and warn the nation especially those in positions of authority through a prophetic ministry by calling upon the nation to repentance and renewed relationship with God and our neighbours.

 

Another misleading impression given by the Herald Newspaper was that the Anglican Bishops Pastoral Message disagreed with the Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter published on Easter day, 8 April, 2007, entitled "God hears the Cries of the oppressed[1].  As Bishops of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, we   endorse the Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter.

 

The role of the Church is to provide moral and spiritual leadership.  It is therefore  imperative on the Church to always promote that issues of conflict and violence are resolved in a spirit of forgiveness, love and reconciliation.

 

 

Issued: 28 April, 2007

             By the Provincial Secretary

             The Rev Fr Eston Dickson Pembamoyo

             Church of the Province of Central Africa

Related stories

Anglican statement not meant to be pro-Mugabe
Defrocked Pastor mobilizes sons to disrupt services
Church leader appeals for peace in Zimbabwe
Bishops attack Mugabe
African Bishops blame Mugabe for crisis
Christians taken to task over Ivy Kombo scandal- 04/12/06
The Zimbabwe we want: Church document on the way forward

 

RELIGIOUS LEADERS SAW FOR THEMSELVES THE TRAGEDY IN ZIMBABWE!

Zimbabwe: a challenge to the truth

By Nicholas Baines   http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=2254&cat=4   CROYDON - Any critical account of life in Zimbabwe is written off by the government-sponsored media in Zimbabwe as 'propaganda'. 'UK media lies', aimed at securing re-colonisation, poison the minds of potential visitors and investors, blinding them to the peaceful and harmonious reality of life in a wonderful country. If it wasn't for Western countries such as Britain, there wouldn't be any problems to speak of.   Well, I have just returned from a two-week visit to Zimbabwe with a group of 20 people from my Episcopal Area. We began to plan the visit nearly three years ago and became increasingly diffident about it as conditions deteriorated there more recently. Our fears were not based purely on British media coverage of Zimbabwe, but also on reports we were getting from the country through contacts in the churches at all levels. Our visit, then, afforded a unique opportunity to see for ourselves what is going on there as well as develop our long-standing link with the Diocese of Central Zimbabwe. The situation looks like this: • Inflation is well above 3000 per cent and rising, thus making any planning impossible. The official exchange rate was 250 Zim dollars to 1 US dollar; but the parallel rate (on which prices are based) was 16,000 Zim dollars to 1 US dollar. The black market rules. • Nothing has been repaired for years and the country's infrastructure is collapsing. Constant power cuts, sometimes lasting for days, are interspersed with water shortages. In Gweru, the administrative centre of the Midlands Province, we were without running water for our last five days; in Kadoma, where I preached and presided on Sunday April 22, there has been no running water for two months. • We saw signs of malnutrition in children, and adults suffering from hunger fatigue. Some of the people we stayed with are normally eating what is called 'zero one zero' -– no breakfast, a basic lunch and nothing in the evening. This year's drought has devastated the maize crop. • Agricultural land, once so rich and well-farmed, is now largely abandoned. The land-reform process has been catastrophic, not because it was morally wrong in itself (the UK agreed to it), but because it was ill-conceived, appallingly executed and has proved economically disastrous. You don't need a GCSE in economics to know that it could never work. • Many businesses and industries have closed down or are working at a small percentage of their capability. • HIV/AIDS is wreaking devastation and life expectancy for a male is now 34 years. Our visit was designed to give us unique access to ordinary people. Our hosts were generous and hospitable, wanting us to be comfortable and looked after. However, nothing can hide the reality that lies behind this warmth. People are going hungry and are beginning to feel hopeless. One priest said to us, 'You see us walking, but we are dead already'. They are fearful of the authorities and pessimistic about the possibility of next year's elections bringing any change. They end many conversations with: 'We must pray that God's will may be done.' And therein lies a problem. One of the aspects of Zimbabwean life that is hard to comprehend is the disjunction between 'hope' and responsibility. Many of the people we met hope that radical change will come and their lives improve. But when we said that prayer must be accompanied by action, this was often dismissed. It is clearly easy to be critical from a distance of these people's apparent unwillingness to take responsibility for the changes that are needed (eg voting against Mugabe in 2008), but nevertheless this is a striking feature of many conversations. Our group comprised eight clergy and 12 lay people of different ages and backgrounds. We had educationalists, medics, a lawyer, IT specialists –- all of us falling in love with Zimbabwe and her people. We spent time together as a group, but were then dispersed to different parts of the Diocese of Central Zimbabwe. Therefore, the picture we built came not from second-hand reports, but from personal experience. Water shortages and power cuts were experienced by all. Hunger was identified by all. Fear of intimidation was discerned by many. From high-density townships to rural villages, the picture was remarkably consistent. In the midst of all this the Anglican Church is struggling to keep hope alive. The worship in the churches we visited was vibrant and life-changing. The music was fantastic everywhere we went. People know how to celebrate -– but whilst celebrating their faith and their God, they are not celebrating their circumstances. Priests and people are trying to enable one another to remain faithful under pressure and to have the courage to do what is necessary to bring about change. We met some very brave and good people. However, the Anglican Church is also hindered in its witness. The scandalous Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, dominates the church and makes it impossible for the Church to speak with one voice. He is a Mugabe man and is supported by Bernard Malango, Primate of the Province of Central Africa. Archbishop Malango (who has announced his retirement from the end of 2007) is a 'conservative' Primate who sees sexuality as a moral issue, but appears to see little problem with (presumably, non-moral) matters of financial fraud, incitement to murder and corruption. Kunonga has his support. Following a recent Provincial Episcopal Synod (April 12) the bishops issued a statement that appeared weak in its demands, as this newspaper reported last week. Yet it clearly called for change in Zimbabwe and, by implication, change in governance and government. Those who have ears to hear will discern in this an encouragement to bring about such change. Even Kunonga signed a plea for change. The regime of Robert Mugabe will end –- all empires do -– and many of those who have climbed on his back will go down with him –- including those who are prepared to let their people suffer in the interests of their private power games. Our visit has left us with much to reflect upon. The extraordinary faith and spirituality of the people we met reaches out in costly praxis to the hungry, the orphaned and widowed, the sick, the aged and the bereaved -– but how can they speak and act prophetically before people who cannot bear criticism or challenge? How can we best support the ordinary people of Zimbabwe through the networks we have in the churches there? How can we help prepare for the rebuilding of this suffering country in a way that does not patronise, but enables Zimbabwean Christians to re-shape their country and church? How can we most usefully use our resources to support those who will one day be able to offer good models of governance and the exercise of power? How can we most effectively pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ while they suffer in a land waiting for liberation? And are these observations the result of naïve consumption of British propaganda? No. We saw for ourselves. The Rt Revd Nicholas Baines is Bishop of Croydon. This article was originally published in the Religious Intelligence.

 

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THE INTERVIEW BY THEARCHBISHOP PIUS NCUBE!

PLEASE CLICK BELOWAND SEE AND HEAR FOR YOURSELF!

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bHb_VwTIPm4

 

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DESPERATE, ILLEGITIMATE ROBERT NOW THREATENS BISHOPS!

Zimbabwe's Mugabe warns Roman Catholic bishops

(PLEASE CLICK ON HEADER FOR LINK!)


HARARE/JOHANNESBURG – President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has warned Roman Catholic bishops in the country that they are on a dangerous path after they criticized his government in a recent pastoral letter, reports said Friday.
The 83-year old president, himself a Roman Catholic, dismissed as nonsense the pastoral letter released last month that said the crisis gripping Zimbabwe was a crisis of governance and leadership.
If I had gone to church and the priest had read that so-called pastoral letter, I would have stood up and said nonsense, Mugabe said in comments carried in the latest edition of the British-based New African magazine and reproduced Friday in the official Herald newspaper.
“It (the pastoral letter) is not something spiritual, it is not religious, the bishops have decided to turn political,” Mugabe said.
“And once they turn political, we regard them as no longer being spiritual and our relations with them would be conducted as if we are dealing with political entities, and this is quite a dangerous path they have chosen for themselves.”
In their hard-hitting letter, which was distributed in all Roman Catholic parishes on Easter Sunday, the nine bishops said a new constitution under which free and fair elections can be held was needed to avoid bloodshed and a major uprising.
They also accused the government of maintaining and enhancing unjust laws adopted from former colonial governments.
Many people in Zimbabwe are angry, and their anger is now erupting into open revolt in one township after another. The confrontation in our country has now reached a flashpoint, the bishops said.
In the interview, Mugabe said he would speak to the bishops, but warned that he would be giving them a piece of his mind.
“A bishop can go to hell while an ordinary person goes to heaven depending on the character of the person. Well, I don’t want to say much about the bishops now, I will say much when I meet them,” he said. –Sapa-dpa

CHURCH ENDS 'CRIMINAL SILENCE' ON ZIMBABWE!

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Zimbabwe bishops end 'criminal silence' on Mugabe

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

 

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07050013.htm

HARARE, ZIMBABWE (ANS) -- As the Catholic Pax Christi peace movement calls for prayer and action for Zimbabwe, a local political analyst says that a pastoral letter by the country's bishops calling for the removal of the Mugabe regime may help end the crisis.

According to a story carried on www.cathnews.com, John Makumbe, a Zimbabwean political commentator and Mugabe critic, told Reuters that local Christian leaders could play a large role in finding a solution to the crisis.

"I think after such a long silence, a criminal silence in my view, the Catholic bishops have woken up to this disaster, and the other church leaders will probably do the same soon and help sort out this crisis," Mr Makumbe said.

Robert Mugabe

Other political analysts also believe that the Church's sharp criticism of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe could have a greater influence in persuading him to discuss political reform than a mass of attacks from elsewhere, Reuters says.

Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops accused Mugabe and his officials of running a bad and corrupt government and abusing the political rights of Zimbabweans in a pastoral letter posted in churches throughout the southern African nation during Easter.

The www.cathnews.com story said that neither Mugabe, a practicing Catholic, nor his officials have publicly responded to the warning from Zimbabwe's Catholic Bishops' Conference that radical reforms were needed to avert a mass uprising in the economically-strapped country.

"The pastoral letter presents a new challenge to Mugabe and will probably help persuade him that he needs to be talking about electoral and constitutional reforms, too, as pressure is mounting on him," said Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare.

Archbishop Pius Ncube

"The Catholic bishops bring a new moral authority to the Zimbabwe crisis, which Mugabe cannot simply dismiss offhand by suggesting that they are supping with his Western enemies," he added.

Mugabe, who counts a number of Catholic priests among his friends, has traditionally taken a hands-off approach to political critics within the Catholic Church, the largest Christian denomination in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, Pax Christi International has launched a call for a day of prayer and action on 14 April for Zimbabwe in solidarity with the Zimbabwe bishops and the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference.

The story concluded by saying, "Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo has also urged the people to stage peaceful demonstrations to call for the president's resignation."

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Thursday, May 3, 2007

"BE CAREFUL OF THESE CHURCH LEADERS!" Letter from Kutama.

By Mthulisi Mathtuhu

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/mthuli28.16350.html

THE Zimbabwean Church leadership is a hotchpotch of fairly educated people of a considerable cultural level and downright gullible people of highly questionable intellectual acumen and moral standing.
Among them you will find narcissistic power mongers and wealth seekers with a fair sprinkling of dishonest men and women of renowned insincerity.
Not to be outdone are those of different political persuasions making the grouping naturally given to polarisation which is why the Anglicans and the Catholics will issue totally different statements on the situation obtaining in Zimbabwe as if they reside in two different planets.
This composition renders the Church leadership vulnerable to manipulations and hi-jacking as the politicians seek to use them as a camouflage for their
tyranny.
So when the Church leaders met last year to produce the Zimbabwe We Want document, it was apparent to some of us in the ecumenical movement that the gullible lot among them had swung the ship to take the route that was welcome to the government and help Robert Mugabe pretend that he was doing something.
The blunder of the Church today has been to enter the Zimbabwean debate with the thinking that Zimbabwe is a victim of some conspiracy. The scope of their reasoning is essentially pleasing to Mugabe.
They speak about Zimbabwe in a manner that would rather please the tyrant in Mugabe than challenge and implore the normal person in him to see sense in the drive for the other Zimbabwe.
Rather than use their moral authority to diplomatically bring a sense of guilt and consequently, the urgent need for reform, they will use it to shield him. Mugabe is certainly relieved than challenged by the bond he has with the Church leaders who often concoct eulogies for him under the guise of theological reflection and patriotism.
The Church Leader’s spokesperson Bishop Trevor Manhanga’s "patriotic" statements and gesturing are all that counts to Mugabe and are enough to please him as they are within the premise of blaming somebody else other than the Dear Leader.
The contents of the Zimbabwe We Want document are not important to Mugabe, after all that is what is written every day in the opinion pages of newspapers by the Lovemore Madhukus and the Brian Kagoros.
What Mugabe is interested in are the Bishops who purchase into and defend the fallacy that Zimbabwe is under attack and is a victim of vitriolic imperialist propaganda.
That is why there is no difference today between Manhanga’s utterances and the state adverts praising the trees, mountains, rivers, Victoria Falls and the country’s literacy levels as if anybody ever questioned the beauty of Zimbabwe.
What is under attack is not Zimbabwe in its entirety, but is the obtuse leadership that has sunk deep down to the levels of the ancient kingdoms of the Old Testament era.
What is under attack is not the contents of the document, but the spirit and the purpose behind its release because we have always been saying what it says anyway.
It is the willingness of the Church leaders to expose their ethical weaknesses by being on the same platform of views with Mugabe while at the same time producing a ‘good’ document that he will evidently not take serious in order that they may claim in future that they never conducted themselves questionably.
The Zimbabwe We Want document should not be used to cover up for the Church leadership’s folly which is a windfall for Mugabe.
Even as they still cling on to it, nothing has come out of the document because there was never going to be anything except that they were always going to end up being "patriotic Zimbabweans" giving interviews to the official press which customarily doesn’t give space to democrats but to confused apologists.
It is for this reason that the document is unacceptable because instead of it being an instrument to engage Zimbabwe and Mugabe for change, it is used to cover up for the Church’s support for the establishment which is what Mugabe intended in the first place.
Criticise the Church leaders today, and their apologists will be quick to say its bigoted criticism because they (primates) produced a "good" document. But didn’t Mugabe present a "good" speech at Independence in 1980 but only to walk out of Rufaro Stadium to set up the Fifth Brigade that went on to mete out unprecedented violence on the civilian population in Matabeleland in a spectacular betrayal of his promises. Wasn’t his speech a good statement used to cover up for his wayward and evil ways that were to unfold just a few weeks from its delivery?
"Even a madman can say something with sense but watch out because he will soon add something to it which will show you that his mind is still spoilt," writes Chinua Achebe.
It is the case with Trevor Manhanga who will produce a good document (regurgitating what has been said over and over again) but will go on to extend solidarity to the very class that is a hindrance to the Zimbabwe he wants.
He will go on to excoriate the defenders of democracy, as he did with South African editor Mondli Makhanya recently, but will keep quiet or just "regret the situation" when the state descends on democrats and opposition politicians seeking to air their views freely.
If Manhanga and his friends are ever so ready to frankly dispute the claims of the supposed detractors of Zimbabwe in the South African media, they should explain why are they reluctant to comment on murder and beatings of Zimbabweans by the state.
It is hypocrisy for them to condemn "violence" under the cover of being non-partisan when it is clear to everybody that what we are faced with is not just "violence" but state terrorism. It is not something to "regret" but something to condemn in frank and forthright terms.
There is very nearly no indication that the Church leaders abhor Mugabe’s un-statesman-like political behaviour. Their spectacular readiness to condemn "violence" and "attacks on Zimbabwe" is opposed by the reluctance to condemn state terror, electoral theft and un-diplomatic violent language from State House.
If they were indeed concerned about bad journalism, they should have long complained in strong terms about the state publications which use their statements to defend Mugabe.
While Manhanga is at liberty to show his vehement displeasure with the South African journalists, he will not show the same forthrightness in the face of journalism practiced by the ZBC and the Herald.
Actually he is silent because it is the kind of journalism serving the person he is not only in bed with but whom he is not willing to be frank in his dealing with.
Evidently, the best way to deal with Mugabe is not through documents but civil disobedience which Archbishop Pius Ncube is talking about.
Hasn’t history shown us that Mugabe resents documents of discussion? Think of the Chihambakwe report, CCJP report, Zimrights report, African Union Human Rights Commission report, Constitutional Commission draft Constitution etc.
To want to discuss with Mugabe is to miss the fact that what is obtaining in Zimbabwe is not a battle of minds. It is something less about views but more about murder, brazen repression and madness.
Zimbabweans including Mugabe know that his time is up. He knows that he has raped the country and will not leave because he fears accounting. It is not that he thinks he is a victim, although he says so.
There is no doubt that the Church leaders are currently not doing anything because the document is dead and buried. It will forever be useless in as far as Zimbabwe’s future is concerned. They have come to a dead end. The only thing they have to do is to complain about some people not being patriotic because the person who sent then to the people has shown them that they were wasting their time.
Perhaps they may as well tell Zimbabwe the source of new vehicles driven by some of the Church leaders. They should say who is funding their secretariat on the so-called Zimbabwe We Want project.
Mthulisi Mathuthu is a New Zimbabwe.com columnist. He can be contacted at: thuthuma@yahoo.com

URGENT "STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS" FROM THE OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT!

"STATE OF THE NATION" ADDRESS BY YOUR PRESIDENT!

I think there is a bit of confusion in our beloved country of Zimbabwe today!

Who ever said I won the Presidential Elections of 2002?

I never said so!

All I said was Tsvangirai's Election Petitions are "frivolous and vexatious."

I also pleaded with all patriots to "recognize" me as the Executive President.

I am the only person who can keep this country of Zimbabwe together!

If I removed myself from the top seat, the country will degenerate into chaos (racialism, tribalism, regionalism and all the negatives you can think of!)

Now we are in this whole mess because you simply refused to do the obvious- JUST RECOGNIZE ME. PERIOD!

Do you honestly think Tsvangirai can run this country?

I'm very disappointed with you, my fellow countrymen!

Running a country is a very complicated, delicate task!

You do your best and you are still accused of not doing your best!

WHO REALLY COULD HAVE MANAGED THIS ECONOMY BETTER THAN ME?

Now about the so-called rigging and the so-called-violence!

Your focus should be on the major issues!

Would we really stand by and allow Mr Blair to re-colonize our country, take away our Sovereignty and take over all our resources?

Would you allow someone to take your wife and you just stood by?

Please lets be very serious, Ladies and Gentlemen, Comrades and Friends!

About assassinations:be very careful!

This may break the whole Nation apart!

Who killed Cde Hebert Chitepo?

So why do you ask who killed General Josiah Magama Tongogara?

About the so-called "Truth and Reconciliation Commission!"

Where and when do we start?

Who will remain without blood on his hands?

Do you know how Dr Parerenyatwa died? Was it Smith's men or was it an internal struggle?

So will you raise the dead to ask them to testify?

Then last but not least: where in the world are "perfect people"?

The words "rigging", "assassinations" etc are English words!

Are they Shona words?

MUTIKWANIRE! (STOP THIS LUNACY!)

Please recognize me, rally behind me as your God-given father and lets move forward and re-build our Nation!

About the unfortunate isolated incidents in the Southern part of our country (the so-called "Gukurahundi Massacres"), please lets not open old wounds!

The Ndebeles can be very naive if they think we have forgotten their vicious raids against our peace-loving Shona people in the 1890s!

Please let all bye-gones be bye-gones!

MAY THE GOOD LORD ABOVE BE WITH YOU ALL!

Yours Faithfully,

ME.

 

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Wednesday, May 2, 2007

"MUGABE NOT TYPICAL DICTATOR!" CHURCH MAGAZINE!

Standing Up to Mugabe

 

5/1/2007

http://www.catholic.org/views/views_news.php?id=23945

 

Commonweal Magazine: A Review of Religion, Politics and Culture

 

(www.commonwealmagazine.org)

 

Robert Mugabe is not a typical dictator. Unlike, say, Idi Amin or the former Liberian president Charles Taylor, Mugabe does not play the part of a thug. He wears natty suits, watches cricket, and reads the British press. He gets up early to practice yoga, drinks lots of tea but no alcohol, and switches artfully between a very proper English and Shona, the language of Zimbabwe's majority tribe.

In fact, despite his fierce opposition to British involvement in his country, Mugabe is in many ways a textbook Anglophile. His rhetoric may be ferociously anticolonial, but he still wants his children to learn the manners of British royalty.

But Mugabe is a dictator - and a particularly dangerous one. First elected as prime minister in 1980, the 83-year-old former school teacher has slowly destroyed his country's economy.

Zimbabwe was once the breadbasket of southern Africa but now depends on aid from the World Food Program, which estimates that 38 percent of the country's population is malnourished. This hunger is not mainly the result of natural famine but of greed and maladministration. In 2000, President Mugabe's government confiscated the land of the country's remaining white farmers and, in the name of justice and decolonization, gave it to his friends and political supporters, most of whom knew little about agriculture. The farms were neglected or destroyed, while the urban poor went hungry, many of them fleeing to South Africa. As James Kirchick recently reported for the New Republic, Zimbabwean state-run television now warns people not to set brushfires, which are being used to trap mice for food.

Mugabe and his cronies in the Zimbabwean African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) have often used hunger as a political weapon, directing aid to his party's rank and file, withholding it from those who support the country's beleaguered opposition party. Having made them hungry, he has also tried to make them invisible. In 2005 he began to "re-ruralize" a million Zimbabweans who lived in poor urban areas of Harare that voted against ZANU-PF candidates in that year's parliamentary elections. The campaign was called Operation Murambatsvina, which in Shona means "drive out filth."

Zimbabwe's catalogue of miseries is impressive, even by African standards. The rate of inflation is now well above 1,000 percent, the highest in the world; it is expected to reach 4,000 percent by the end of the year. This - and the 80 percent unemployment - make it hard, if not impossible, for the average Zimbabwean to buy even the most basic provisions. In 1990, the average life expectancy of Zimbabwean men was 62. Today, it's 37, the lowest in the world, though three years above the life expectancy of women.

Opposition to Mugabe's regime from within the country has been savagely punished, while criticism from outside has been scorned or ignored. Morgan Tsvangirai, a former union leader who now heads the Movement for Democratic Change, was beaten by Mugabe's police at a prayer meeting in early March. Forty-five other activists had to be hospitalized. Two were killed. Asked about Tsvangirai's beating, Mugabe replied, "Of course he was bashed. He deserved it. ... I told the police: 'Beat him a lot.'"

Until recently most of Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops were silent about Mugabe's misrule, but on April 1 they released a pastoral letter describing the government as "racist, corrupt, and lawless."

Sharp criticism from the United States and other Western countries has often seemed to help Mugabe, since it plays into his public image as a native hero beset by hostile colonial powers.

South Africa's leaders have discouraged what they describe as the "megaphone diplomacy" of the United States and Great Britain in favor of their own "quiet diplomacy." But, so far at least, these leaders have been better at the quiet than at the diplomacy. Although they privately acknowledge the urgency of the situation in Zimbabwe, they are still too reluctant to criticize Mugabe publicly, seeming to treat him as he wants to be treated - as a kind of Zimbabwean Nelson Mandela.

Perhaps the United States cannot do much, but it can do more: it can use every diplomatic and economic pressure available to let South Africa's leaders know that they must no longer enable and protect Mugabe.

If they refuse to listen to the United States and Europe, they should listen to Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town. Tutu laments that there is "hardly a word of concern let alone condemnation" about what is happening in Zimbabwe. "We Africans should hang our heads in shame. Do we really care about human rights, do we care that people of flesh and blood, fellow Africans, are being treated like rubbish, almost worse than they were ever treated by rabid racists?"

 

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