Bennett was a fugitive-Mohadi
By Delta Ndou
MDC-T national treasurer and Deputy Minister of Agriculture-designate, Mr Roy Bennett, who was arrested at Charles Prince Airport in Harare last Friday as he was preparing to flee the country, was a fugitive, the co-Minister of Home Affairs, Cde Kembo Mohadi said, yesterday.
Bennett fled the country in March 2006 when he was wanted by police in connection with the discovery of an arms cache at Peter Hitschmann’s house in Mutare.
Hitschmann was immediately arrested, charged and later convicted.
Recovered on the property were an AK47 rifle, four FN rifles, seven Uzis, 19 pistols and revolvers, 11 shotguns and an assortment of ammunition — all concealed.
In an interview, Cde Kembo Mohadi said Bennett was a “fugitive’’ who escaped after being granted bail in a bid to avoid justice while his alleged partner in crime, Peter Hitschmann has since been convicted.
“There was a warrant of arrest issued against Bennett by the courts. We are merely upholding the law and putting the court order into effect . . . that is our constitutional mandate. No one is above the law and he (Bennett) sought asylum knowing full well that he was being charged with a crime,’’ Cde Mohadi said.
Bennett — who was released from prison in 2005 after serving a year’s jail term imposed by Parliament for assaulting the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, in the legislative chamber in 2004 — allegedly skipped the country via Mozambique en route to South Africa where he sought refuge.
He was subsequently granted political asylum in South Africa.
Investigations into the arms cache led to the arrest of a number of top MDC-T officials and two ex-policemen and the recovery of numerous police and army uniforms and rounds of ammunition.
Cde Mohadi confirmed that Bennett had been apprehended at Charles Prince Airport where he was preparing to leave the country.
According to Mr Ian Makone, Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, Bennett intended to spend a few days with his family in South Africa before taking up his job as deputy minister.
This was his first time to return to the country since he fled arrest.
“We had been looking for him for one and a half weeks prior to catching him at the airport where he was planning to leave the country. So we apprehended him immediately because his case is pending,’’ explained Cde Mohadi.
Wednesday
MPC's Response to a false accusation on newzim.com Forum
MPC STATEMENT
MPC wishes to protest and condemn in the strongest terms a posting made by a New Zimbabwe forumite, Ratidzoo, on the online newspaper’s forum titled: “The face of a terrorist – MPC President!!!” in reference to MPC President, Mr Ndaba Mkwananzi.
We condemn the posting as malicious character assassination, hurtful and harmful of our President’s reputation. The attack is also unfounded and without justification whatsoever. Mr Mkwananzi is well-known in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. There are many who will feel hurt and offended alongside him as a result of this baseless attack. This attack is serious and threatening and MPC receives it with the seriousness it deserves.
MPC wishes to put it on record that no one has killed in the name of our President or MPC nor will anyone in the future. The speaking record is different and well-known. We re-state it here, just in case others have a short memory.Matebeleland and the Midlands bled in the name of a supposed superior tribe. That genocide remains unacknowledged and unaddressed. The MDC, too, has had casualties to the system. We also don’t fail to put it on record that the MDC has not been entirely blameless in this regard to some bad things that have happened in its name since 2000. We also state that to this day, the system uses starvation, water and other insidious means as political weapons against uMthwakazi. When people such as Ratidzoo are conveniently blind to such speaking facts or twist the truth, it is the reason MPC has risen as a political movement.
Our cause, which is in the public domain, including all the faces of MPC officials and that of our President, can never, even remotely, be associated with activities of terrorists or a terrorist organization. In his launch message for our new website, Mr Mkwananzi, spoke of the assassination of truth in Zimbabwe and the need to recover it as a political cause for any new political dispensation. This latest and unfounded attack on our President underlines the urgency for the MPC agenda to succeed, and succeed soon.There are also serious political and personal ramifications for this malicious attack which in our peculiar experience as Mthwakazi under Zimbabwe rule, we can never be blind to. For the moment we leave aside the legal implications of this attack.It is now well-known that labelling (de-humanization and de-personalization), incitement and other insidious acts, are the precursor to genocide and other serious human rights violations such as crimes against humanity, broadly defined.
In Mthwakazi’s own experience, which forumite Ratidzo knows full well about, the precursor to Gukurahundi was the labelling of uMthwakazi as ‘dissidents, ‘cockroaches’, ‘chuff’ (where the name ‘Gukurahundi was coined from), ‘snakes’ (cobra in the house) etc. Overnight, Joshua Nkomo became known, insultingly, as ‘Dumbuzenene’. Across the world where genocide has happened labelling has been an essential ingredient of that crime. We therefore wish to make it clear from the onset that if this is the beginning of an orchestrated campaign to place harm in our President’s way, or any of its officials or uMthwakazi society at large, MPC will fight that by all means it has at its disposal. We are also aware that for the most part the system will not act directly but will do so through surrogates or proxies they manipulate from the shadows and afford anonymity in various ways. Further, MPC will not leave threats, veiled as this one was or otherwise, unchallenged. We will always draw the line between free, robust debate and threats and incitement. MPC challenges all our political adversaries to come out of anonymity, as we have done, and engage us in open political combat. Here, belong the skills of debate and persuasion that MPC believes in.
Our political position is simple and publicly stated: the issue of the constitutional and political position of Mthwakazi under Zimbabwe will no longer be swept under carpet, as will the issue of the Gukurahundi genocide. These are the emerging and growing topics of our time.Finally, to their credit, we note that the publishers of New Zimbabwe, on realizing the gross nature of the original posting took immediate steps to change and tone down the title of the posting, from “Face of a terrorist” to “The face of the MPC President!!!” We commend them for their quick action. We can only hope that the publishers of New Zimbabwe, a platform we also wish to use in the future to articulate MPC’s position, will be more vigilant to ensure that a similar thing will not happen to anyone in the future and that its online publication will continue to conform to the applicable laws and good practices operative in their industry. We of course leave it to our President, Mr Mkwananzi, to consider all the options available to him arising from this unprovoked and malicious attack on him.
Thank you.
K. Dube
MPC Director of Communications
MPC wishes to protest and condemn in the strongest terms a posting made by a New Zimbabwe forumite, Ratidzoo, on the online newspaper’s forum titled: “The face of a terrorist – MPC President!!!” in reference to MPC President, Mr Ndaba Mkwananzi.
We condemn the posting as malicious character assassination, hurtful and harmful of our President’s reputation. The attack is also unfounded and without justification whatsoever. Mr Mkwananzi is well-known in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. There are many who will feel hurt and offended alongside him as a result of this baseless attack. This attack is serious and threatening and MPC receives it with the seriousness it deserves.
MPC wishes to put it on record that no one has killed in the name of our President or MPC nor will anyone in the future. The speaking record is different and well-known. We re-state it here, just in case others have a short memory.Matebeleland and the Midlands bled in the name of a supposed superior tribe. That genocide remains unacknowledged and unaddressed. The MDC, too, has had casualties to the system. We also don’t fail to put it on record that the MDC has not been entirely blameless in this regard to some bad things that have happened in its name since 2000. We also state that to this day, the system uses starvation, water and other insidious means as political weapons against uMthwakazi. When people such as Ratidzoo are conveniently blind to such speaking facts or twist the truth, it is the reason MPC has risen as a political movement.
Our cause, which is in the public domain, including all the faces of MPC officials and that of our President, can never, even remotely, be associated with activities of terrorists or a terrorist organization. In his launch message for our new website, Mr Mkwananzi, spoke of the assassination of truth in Zimbabwe and the need to recover it as a political cause for any new political dispensation. This latest and unfounded attack on our President underlines the urgency for the MPC agenda to succeed, and succeed soon.There are also serious political and personal ramifications for this malicious attack which in our peculiar experience as Mthwakazi under Zimbabwe rule, we can never be blind to. For the moment we leave aside the legal implications of this attack.It is now well-known that labelling (de-humanization and de-personalization), incitement and other insidious acts, are the precursor to genocide and other serious human rights violations such as crimes against humanity, broadly defined.
In Mthwakazi’s own experience, which forumite Ratidzo knows full well about, the precursor to Gukurahundi was the labelling of uMthwakazi as ‘dissidents, ‘cockroaches’, ‘chuff’ (where the name ‘Gukurahundi was coined from), ‘snakes’ (cobra in the house) etc. Overnight, Joshua Nkomo became known, insultingly, as ‘Dumbuzenene’. Across the world where genocide has happened labelling has been an essential ingredient of that crime. We therefore wish to make it clear from the onset that if this is the beginning of an orchestrated campaign to place harm in our President’s way, or any of its officials or uMthwakazi society at large, MPC will fight that by all means it has at its disposal. We are also aware that for the most part the system will not act directly but will do so through surrogates or proxies they manipulate from the shadows and afford anonymity in various ways. Further, MPC will not leave threats, veiled as this one was or otherwise, unchallenged. We will always draw the line between free, robust debate and threats and incitement. MPC challenges all our political adversaries to come out of anonymity, as we have done, and engage us in open political combat. Here, belong the skills of debate and persuasion that MPC believes in.
Our political position is simple and publicly stated: the issue of the constitutional and political position of Mthwakazi under Zimbabwe will no longer be swept under carpet, as will the issue of the Gukurahundi genocide. These are the emerging and growing topics of our time.Finally, to their credit, we note that the publishers of New Zimbabwe, on realizing the gross nature of the original posting took immediate steps to change and tone down the title of the posting, from “Face of a terrorist” to “The face of the MPC President!!!” We commend them for their quick action. We can only hope that the publishers of New Zimbabwe, a platform we also wish to use in the future to articulate MPC’s position, will be more vigilant to ensure that a similar thing will not happen to anyone in the future and that its online publication will continue to conform to the applicable laws and good practices operative in their industry. We of course leave it to our President, Mr Mkwananzi, to consider all the options available to him arising from this unprovoked and malicious attack on him.
Thank you.
K. Dube
MPC Director of Communications
Monday
MPC Speaks out on latest ZANU-MDC Marriage of 11th February
"We are grateful to a forumite at New Zimbabwe warning MPC and Zapu to be wary of the merger between MDC and Zanu-PF."MPC wishes to make it clear that it saw and warned of this danger as early as September 2008 when the so-called agreement between Zanu-PF and MDC was announced. Please re-visit the attached Statement MPC released at the time of the so-called agreement in September 2008.Please pay particular attention to paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 13.
Thank you.
K Dube
MPC Director of Communications
M P CMthwakazi People’s Convention
STATEMENT ON THE POWER-SHARING AGREEMENT BETWEEN ZANU-PF AND MDC MADE IN HARARE ON THE 11th SEPTEMBER 2008
1. MPC learns and receives with regret the power-sharing agreement made between Zanu-PF and MDC on the 11th September 2008, which is to be officially signed on Monday, 15th September 2008. But this is hardly surprising. Once again we see the people of present-day Zimbabwe betrayed on the altar of political convenience, opportunism and self-serving political interests. We ask; what have all those who died in the just-ended election period, and before, die for?
2. We learn with further regret that the agreement is about power-sharing not good governance or the political future of present-day Zimbabwe. MPC has long said that both Zanu-PF and the MDC are fixated with power and not governance or the political future of present-day Zimbabwe. This agreement puts paid to any doubts whatsoever about that.
3. This agreement is also a political fraud designed to pull a rug over the world’s face and conceal the real motives behind the agreement. The agreement fools no one. It is not difficult for the world to know that this agreement is about enabling Zanu-PF and Mr Mugabe to access international finance support and dig themselves out of the present economic mire, while at the same time enabling Mr Tsvangirai to access power, with which he is so intoxicated, and to secure a State Residence.
4. MPC wants to point out that this is not a political agreement of the people of present-day Zimbabwe. It is, as it says, a power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC. It is once again a cynical move to privatise a political process that should be owned by the people.
5. MPC will not attempt to apportion blame for the violence that has characterised Zimbabwean politics since the advent and entry into the political arena of the MDC. What we know and is now public knowledge is that both Zanu-PF and the MDC-T faction have been involved in inter and intra-party violence that has killed and maimed innocent people. The death of one person for political reasons is one death too many. We thought the lessons of Gukurahundi had been learnt. Clearly they have not. Clearly, both Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are not fit and proper persons for high office, whether it be as President or Prime Minister. They are dangerous people.
6. MPC condemns this agreement as cynical, mischievous and destined to achieve nothing politically. In a short while, Zanu-PF and the MDC must face each other in another round of elections. The political implications are too grave to contemplate. The implications are even worse if the two parties are on the same side, against others.
7. MPC also condemns Zanu-PF and MDC’s preoccupation with a so-called Government of National Unity (GNU), something both parties have achieved through violence. We also condemn their rejection, for obvious political reason, of a Transitional Government (TG).
8. MPC has long called for the establishment of an all-inclusive political process, recently supported by civic groups in Zimbabwe, to discuss, openly, the political problems of present-day Zimbabwe. We have called for the Convention on a Democratic Alternative for present-day Zimbabwe (Codaz). We re-affirm our call for Codaz. Out of Codaz MPC calls for a new political and constitutional order which must be captured in a New Constitution. MPC stands by its view that a New Constitution cannot usher in a new political and constitutional order. Rather, a new political and constitutional order must give birth to a new constitution.
9. This so-called agreement reverses this basic tenet of democratic construction. We therefore regret that the mistakes of Lancaster are being repeated in 2008, this time with the help of our own brothers and sisters in the continent who should know better. But this time uMthwakazi will not stand idly by. Through MPC, uMthwakazi has and is putting its case to the world. The time when political leaders and parties rode roughshod over the true aspirations of the people are gone.
10. As MPC, and talking on behalf of Mthwakazi, we reiterate the point we have made many times before, that MDC and Zanu-PF are two sides of the same coin. By this agreement both parties have put paid to any doubts about that. Both parties have today confirmed that they are parties built and designed to eliminate uMthwakazi as a people and political force. By embracing and going to bed with Zanu-PF the MDC has today confirmed that it is part of and shares in Zanu-PF’s so-called Grand Plan and the Zimbabwe Project, shadowy plans targeted at and designed to erase uMthwakazi politically and permanently. We know that despite public posturing by Mr Tsvangirai, this deal was easy to make because it completes the political dominance of the Shona over uMthwakazi. MPC long predicted such an agreement. Despite the political goodwill and generosity of the world in relation to Mr Tsvangirai, what draws him to Mr Mugabe and Mr Mugabe to him, and those of similar mind within those two parties, is ominous for uMthwakazi.
11. We restate it here. Zanu-PF and the MDC have never been divided politically. Rather, and clearly, they have merely disagreed on how to share power between themselves. Today, through this so-called agreement, they have put that question to rest. The truth is now out there for everybody to see.
12. MPC remains of the considered view that it is never too late to correct this political error. We call on both parties to reconsider the far-reaching implications of their so-called agreement. We also call on the mediators and the world to reaffirm and uphold the fundamental principle on which democracy is founded, namely; full, informed and free participation of the citizenry in political processes that affect them. The charade of elections ever held in Zimbabwe under Zanu-PF rule, and the sham presidential elections recently concluded, are matters of international knowledge. The world cannot and must not endorse and legitimise this political fraud.
13. Finally, Mthwakazi, this is not a time for dithering. The political implications of this so-called agreement are far worse and far tragic for Mthwakazi than the so-called Unity Accord could ever be. Let us all say, as Mthwakazians and as a people and proud nation, we will not be politically finished off while we draw breath. We owe it to our children and children’s children to say so.
MPC - Department of Communications
Thank you.
K Dube
MPC Director of Communications
M P CMthwakazi People’s Convention
STATEMENT ON THE POWER-SHARING AGREEMENT BETWEEN ZANU-PF AND MDC MADE IN HARARE ON THE 11th SEPTEMBER 2008
1. MPC learns and receives with regret the power-sharing agreement made between Zanu-PF and MDC on the 11th September 2008, which is to be officially signed on Monday, 15th September 2008. But this is hardly surprising. Once again we see the people of present-day Zimbabwe betrayed on the altar of political convenience, opportunism and self-serving political interests. We ask; what have all those who died in the just-ended election period, and before, die for?
2. We learn with further regret that the agreement is about power-sharing not good governance or the political future of present-day Zimbabwe. MPC has long said that both Zanu-PF and the MDC are fixated with power and not governance or the political future of present-day Zimbabwe. This agreement puts paid to any doubts whatsoever about that.
3. This agreement is also a political fraud designed to pull a rug over the world’s face and conceal the real motives behind the agreement. The agreement fools no one. It is not difficult for the world to know that this agreement is about enabling Zanu-PF and Mr Mugabe to access international finance support and dig themselves out of the present economic mire, while at the same time enabling Mr Tsvangirai to access power, with which he is so intoxicated, and to secure a State Residence.
4. MPC wants to point out that this is not a political agreement of the people of present-day Zimbabwe. It is, as it says, a power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC. It is once again a cynical move to privatise a political process that should be owned by the people.
5. MPC will not attempt to apportion blame for the violence that has characterised Zimbabwean politics since the advent and entry into the political arena of the MDC. What we know and is now public knowledge is that both Zanu-PF and the MDC-T faction have been involved in inter and intra-party violence that has killed and maimed innocent people. The death of one person for political reasons is one death too many. We thought the lessons of Gukurahundi had been learnt. Clearly they have not. Clearly, both Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai are not fit and proper persons for high office, whether it be as President or Prime Minister. They are dangerous people.
6. MPC condemns this agreement as cynical, mischievous and destined to achieve nothing politically. In a short while, Zanu-PF and the MDC must face each other in another round of elections. The political implications are too grave to contemplate. The implications are even worse if the two parties are on the same side, against others.
7. MPC also condemns Zanu-PF and MDC’s preoccupation with a so-called Government of National Unity (GNU), something both parties have achieved through violence. We also condemn their rejection, for obvious political reason, of a Transitional Government (TG).
8. MPC has long called for the establishment of an all-inclusive political process, recently supported by civic groups in Zimbabwe, to discuss, openly, the political problems of present-day Zimbabwe. We have called for the Convention on a Democratic Alternative for present-day Zimbabwe (Codaz). We re-affirm our call for Codaz. Out of Codaz MPC calls for a new political and constitutional order which must be captured in a New Constitution. MPC stands by its view that a New Constitution cannot usher in a new political and constitutional order. Rather, a new political and constitutional order must give birth to a new constitution.
9. This so-called agreement reverses this basic tenet of democratic construction. We therefore regret that the mistakes of Lancaster are being repeated in 2008, this time with the help of our own brothers and sisters in the continent who should know better. But this time uMthwakazi will not stand idly by. Through MPC, uMthwakazi has and is putting its case to the world. The time when political leaders and parties rode roughshod over the true aspirations of the people are gone.
10. As MPC, and talking on behalf of Mthwakazi, we reiterate the point we have made many times before, that MDC and Zanu-PF are two sides of the same coin. By this agreement both parties have put paid to any doubts about that. Both parties have today confirmed that they are parties built and designed to eliminate uMthwakazi as a people and political force. By embracing and going to bed with Zanu-PF the MDC has today confirmed that it is part of and shares in Zanu-PF’s so-called Grand Plan and the Zimbabwe Project, shadowy plans targeted at and designed to erase uMthwakazi politically and permanently. We know that despite public posturing by Mr Tsvangirai, this deal was easy to make because it completes the political dominance of the Shona over uMthwakazi. MPC long predicted such an agreement. Despite the political goodwill and generosity of the world in relation to Mr Tsvangirai, what draws him to Mr Mugabe and Mr Mugabe to him, and those of similar mind within those two parties, is ominous for uMthwakazi.
11. We restate it here. Zanu-PF and the MDC have never been divided politically. Rather, and clearly, they have merely disagreed on how to share power between themselves. Today, through this so-called agreement, they have put that question to rest. The truth is now out there for everybody to see.
12. MPC remains of the considered view that it is never too late to correct this political error. We call on both parties to reconsider the far-reaching implications of their so-called agreement. We also call on the mediators and the world to reaffirm and uphold the fundamental principle on which democracy is founded, namely; full, informed and free participation of the citizenry in political processes that affect them. The charade of elections ever held in Zimbabwe under Zanu-PF rule, and the sham presidential elections recently concluded, are matters of international knowledge. The world cannot and must not endorse and legitimise this political fraud.
13. Finally, Mthwakazi, this is not a time for dithering. The political implications of this so-called agreement are far worse and far tragic for Mthwakazi than the so-called Unity Accord could ever be. Let us all say, as Mthwakazians and as a people and proud nation, we will not be politically finished off while we draw breath. We owe it to our children and children’s children to say so.
MPC - Department of Communications
Saturday
Strategic thinking dictates that from now on we must fight our political fight as Mthwakazi
By Ndabezinhle Edwin Mkwananzi
Today, I want to make the point that, as Mthwakazi, we must begin to think strategically. I also want to make the point that, that strategy demands that we fight our political fight as Mthwakazi.
The reason for this is that the Zimbabwe Project oppresses and dominates us as Mthwakazi. Our political strategy must take stock of the effects of the Zimbabwe Project in the past 30 years as well as its present and lingering effects. We therefore need to remove it completely from uMthwakazi’s psyche and body politic. That is a long-term task that requires us to think strategically and to execute it in terms of a clear strategy.
In response to the Zimbabwe Project, as a starting point and as a critical first step of our strategy, uMthwakazi must seek to disengage with present-day Zimbabwe. As I say in my last message, we are saying, post-Mugabe, present-day Zimbabwe cannot continue to be governed as it has, as this project of domination of one people by another, of one system by another or one culture by another, and a project of suppressing and under-developing a specific population of present-day Zimbabwe society.
We therefore have a real political struggle in our hands.
Disabusing our people from the mentality that uMthwakazi’s independence is impossible to that which says, to quote Barack Obama, “yes we can”, is going to take some doing. Obama provides a useful anecdote for Mthwakazi. Only a few years ago, he was distant outsider, and even at recent elections, that he could become US first Black President, was to mainstream American politics a laughable joke. It has not been a honeymoon for him; it has been hard, sometimes, frustrating work. Unless there is something special about us, we have no right to expect the task before us to be a honeymoon.
Being a strategic project, our agenda is not short-term. It does not therefore carry the promise of immediate political reward. Nor does it offer the present excitement of joining the new gravy train of Zanu-PF and the MDC. For these reasons, we will admit, it is an unattractive agenda to many but the most brave and committed. It is this committed few who see the vision who we want to help transform that vision into an attainable goal.
Because our agenda is defining, it is long-term and hard. Because it is young, it is wobbly. But we struggle up, trudge on, and ferret, fully reminded that we will grow and become stronger with time. We have one advantage our oppressors do not have; and that is the justness of our cause. In it, is the political capital and political fire that will see us confront and cross every obstacle we will encounter.
We have already shown we can stand even the toughest tests thrown at us. We emerged from the Gukurahundi experience intact and more united. We have rejected Zimbabwe rule since, over and over. We have made our political point. It is time to make that point count for Mthwakazi, propel us to what we want and to be who we want.
It is no longer the time for protest voting. Protest voting achieves nothing. Protest voting translates to a political mandate to whoever you express your protest votes through, even a protégé of your political enemy. Today, the MDC through whom you have registered your protest against Zimbabwe rule has taken your votes and gone back home.
Which party did Mr Tsvangirai belong to before he became MDC?
Now that Mr Tsvangirai and his MDC are back home, where are you Mthwakazi? What reason do we have to condemn any Mthwakazian in Zanu-PF today while glorifying any Mthwakazina in the MDC today?
Betrayed and deceived once again, you are now left to leak your political wounds. How many times do you want to be betrayed and what do you want to happen before you open your eyes?
The facts are as crude and simple as that.
We know there are some, inside and outside the MDC, who would rather we did not say these well-known facts. In an environment of political justice we would have been persuaded not to but ours is a political environment of crude tribalism, matched only by the crudeness of the methods used.
Look, Mthwakazi! When Zanu-PF and MDC quarrelled in a domestic incident, MDC got a slap on the hand. When uMthwakazi rejected tyranny ever taking root in today’s Zimbabwe, uMthwakazi had a sledge hammer dropped on them; some 30 000 of our citizens paid the ultimate price and today lie in unmarked graves.
Mthwakazi, ever stopped to think why this is so?
With the so-called GNU now confirmed, the Zimbabwe Project is on the roll once again.
Mthwakazi, this is therefore the truth in our hands many of us would wish it was not. But it is the raw truth!
While celebrations to welcome Mr Tsvangirai back home in Harare were beamed across the world uMthwakazi was conspicuous by their absence. Yet, we have heard over and over again that Matebeleland is Mr Tsvangirai’s stronghold. Of course, in a few days Mr Tsvangirai will be going to Matebeleland to explain the GNU to his ‘supporters’ or ‘people’.
But Mthwakazi, do you matter to anyone now? And where has Mr Tsvangirai taken the MDC?
And is that not where the recently revived Zapu has recently come from, complaining that their own version of ‘unity’ has not worked? And did you not condemn Zapu when it went there in the first place? So, where do you stand now Mthwakazi?
There is a fundamental difference with the MDC, though. The MDC and the bulk of its supporters were Zanu-PF before. For them, their return to Zanu-PF is a political homecoming. There is therefore a probability things might work. Only time will tell. In the meantime, Mthwakazi will bewhere you have been in the last 30 years and will be for a long time unless you woke up: in the political freezer!
So for those who have supported the MDC, against all objective truth, it is back to square one. Here, at square one you will find MPC waiting, and here, MPC has been inviting our people for a long time now. We think it is time we all responded and took up and fought a political cause which is Mthwakazi’s.
You see Mthwakazi; the Zimbabwe Project used a simple strategy against uMthwakazi. It scattered us. Since then it has sowed seeds of distrust and planted mutual suspicion among us. In some cases, it buys or bribes us, all as part of a state-sponsored operation designed to finish uMthwakazi off politically once and for all.
We must regroup. This latest betrayal, this time by the MDC, adds urgency to that.
Our overriding and continuing task must therefore be to beat back of the tools of repression: mistrust and mutual suspicion and the vulnerability to be bribed or bought. We must learn to work together again even if, for the time being, that may mean we will be infiltrated. Infiltration must not worry us overly for once our struggle takes a life of its own, as we want it to, it will not matter which enemy is in our midst. Like all revolutions, we will carry the system’s spies and informers together with us to Mthwakazi’s freedom.
With Mr Tsvangirai and those he had taken away with him from Zanu-PF now back home, the system can now focus on the real political enemy: uMthwakazi, now defined through the prism of the revived Zapu and MPC. Don’t say you were not warned!
We must now chart a new course.
This is therefore no longer a political fight we can fight just as ‘something’. It is a fight we can only and truly execute as Mthwakazi because we are oppressed and dominated as Mthwakazi.
Such a political fight can also no longer be fought ‘somehow’ or in terms of self-deluding notions of some imagined apolitical arbitrator who sees the reasonableness of our acquiescence in our own oppression under Zimbabwe rule. It is a political fight we can only fight in a structured way and in terms of a framework designed to be effective and responsive to our unique political experience under Zimbabwe rule.
Such a political fight can no longer be fought through chance or the comforts offered by political ‘mainstreamism’. Nor is it a political fight we can fight through ‘incrementalism’, the sorry view that we should start small and claim bigger and bigger as we go along, a view which is often a convenient excuse for cowardice and inaction. It is no longer a political fight which can be fought in a piecemeal, disjointed, contradictory, and duplicating way. It is a fight that must be co-ordinated, deliberate, and focused.
This is also no longer a political fight that can be left to be led by people who ambrace ambiguity about who we are or who obfuscate a cause as clear as Mthwakazi’s by fashionable political-speak and political correctness. It is a political fight which must be fought through the crude application of good old fashioned truth and ‘speaking’ facts.
It is also no longer the time for political blur or imagined choices. It is an imagined choice that there is a struggle between rejecting the oppression and domination of Mthwakazi and not being seen as having embraced Mthwakazi’s independence altogether. There is no such choice; it exists only in the minds of the ‘learned’. For the rest of our people, nothing has been clearer since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. For them, and some of us, there is a clear duty, not just to reject this oppression and domination but also the obligation to stand up and do something about it.
MPC has long answered this call to political arms. We believe it is time for all Mthwakazians to get up and get their hands dirty as Mthwakazi.
We regret that those of us who believe we should go through political detours or rest camps, whether they are christened Government of National Unity (GNU) or Coalition Government (CG), or any other intermediate station, are mistaken. Our route must be direct and straight.
Another thing; let us not take our eyes off the ball. While it is commendable to help a village or community with fertilizer or seed or some other such hand of benevolence and charity, we are sure, ultimately, this is not helpful to Mthwakazi’s political circumstance.
Our problem is not want. Want is only a consequence of our political circumstance created for us by the Zimbabwe Project. What uMthwakazi wants is political freedom that will release its creative energies. It also wants opportunities of life created by a supportive and facilitative state of their own.
In the long-term these acts of charity are abetting the system that is oppressing and dominating us rather than helping to dismantle it.
This is why.
The Zimbabwe Project was built as this overarching system of Mthwakazi’s oppression and domination in terms of which everything uMthwakazi does must be micro-level. UMthwakazi is therefore designed to operate below a certain political sub-system where uMthwakazi must be kept. Manifestations of this are everywhere. Meanwhile, the system operates a different, facilitative system for its people that prepares them to take over the levers of power and economic advantage, while at the same time extending opportunity and political credit to its people.
You only need to look at who has senior experience in government and in the private sector in today’s Zimbabwe. You also need to look at the profile of Zimbabweans currently employed in international organizations, inter-government and non-governmental organizations across the world. Mthwakazians are conspicuous by their absence.
Here, therefore, is the critical point.
It is therefore the framework or edifice of domination that uMthwakazi needs to dismantle, not the detail or manifestations of it. Mentally, we also need to destroy micro thinking and replace it with strategic thinking. This is MPC’s message today.
The late ZAPU President, Joshua Nkomo, once said: “Think big!” He was lampooned and caricatured, with some Mthwakazians joining in in laughing at him but I believe Nkomo was sending a clear message to us because he knew the inside story.
The political system built by the Zimbabwe Project also operates a ruthless system of using uMthwakazi politically. It is at the level of politics that uMthwakazi’s sad political situation is most telling.
In terms of this political system anything started or led by a Shona person is ‘national’ purely on the strength that it is led by a Shona and something started or led by an Ndebele is ‘tribal’ purely because it is started or led by an Ndebele. This is Zanu-PF’s Zimbabwe, long endorsed by many of our Shona citizenry across all class divide but many of whom put on a show of pretending otherwise. The acceptability of this system among many of our Shona citizenry is best illustrated by the deafening silence from all but Mthwakazians about this joke of our time we have had as governance.
Here is the sad political irony of it all.
The more politicians from Mthwakazi try to appear ‘national’ (a notion which should be repudiated completely in the context of present-day Zimbabwe) the more the system makes them look and ‘proves’ they are ‘tribal’. Thus, Mthwakazians earn the ‘national’ tag not in terms of the views and the values they hold but by being wrapped in ‘Shonanostra’ by a Shona person placed above them to lead them. It is the crudest system founded on tribalism to have disgraced the political landscape of Africa anywhere!
Is it only MPC, then, who understand very well what ‘national’ means in the context of present-day Zimbabwe?
Mthwakazi, have you ever stopped to think why Zanu-PF chose ‘national’ for its name as against ‘people’ when it left Zapu in 1963? What did they mean and what do they mean by ‘national’? Thirty years into Zimbabwe’s independence, and after thousands of Mthwakazian kinsman lost their lives to the system to drive the point home, are you still blind to what ‘national’ means in today’s Zimbabwe? We think it is time to think long and hard.
So, as MPC we are aware that our agenda is not immediately demonstrable or implementable as that of the MDC and other parties. We are not front-runners, nor do we aspire to be. We are not afraid to say we are political underdogs. We are only happy to be doing what we can to put together a political framework through which we will prosecute our political struggle strategically and effectively.
So, where does uMthwakazi go from here, and how does uMthwakazi break this vicious cycle of political strangulation?
There are no easy answers. But one thing is clear; we can no longer afford to approach our political situation in the way we have so far, by hiding and ‘waiting’ inside Zanu-PF and the MDC. We fool no one. In any event, who is fooling who? From where MPC stands, we have no doubt in our minds, who is being a fool.
It is time to change our political toolkit.
As a start, we must now refuse to hanker to a glorious past that never was. We must learn from our mistakes. We must move on. We too must face the dangers and anxieties of liberating ourselves and celebrate the thrills and excitement of having achieved our liberation by our hard work and sacrifice. We want it easy, as many of us seem to, then we have hit the last nail on our political coffin. While we draw breath, many of us undertake never to.
This is no longer the time for political soothsaying, wish lists, or private fiefdoms of personal or quasi-political influence, or the time to harp on stories of our past glory and heroism. This is the time to staff our political toolkit with political tools necessary to fight the political battles of our time effectively and successfully.
There is not a better time to do that than now when we face the sure end of Mugabe’s rule. This is the time for men and women of Mthwakazi who cannot be bought or coerced into betraying uMthwakazi, to be found or to present themselves for service to our people.
There are those of us who say we must work inside political groups in today’s Zimbabwe. With these people, we completely disagree. There are those of us, MPC included, who say we must work together with other political groups in today’s Zimbabwe. With these people we are in total agreement.
The former group comprises Mthwakazians inside Zanu-PF and perhaps both factions of the MDC, and those that support them. Our history under Zimbabwe rule and inside Zanu-PF and the MDC dictates that working inside these formations is no longer an option. We don’t wish any Mthwakazian, thirty years from now, walking out of an MDC or some such other government having seen that things have not worked. In any event, the MDC is now back in Zanu-PF.
Mthwakazi; you don’t want to go there! In any event, the revived Zapu has shown the way and come out of there. Some of those from Zapu who remained have only recently been politely shown the door to make way for the true occupants of those warm seats.
We cannot accept guarantees either. Ours is not a political experience of political guarantees. Minus 30 000 of our loved ones, expect we have learnt the hard way. Nothing short of total control of our political destiny will do.
As noted above, MPC agrees with those people who say we must work with other political groups. To this end, MPC has placed its agenda in the public domain so that anyone who wishes to engage us politically is clear what we stand for and want. We are an open and public political movement. We will engage anyone, anytime with regard to our agenda.
We are therefore delighted that the revived Zapu is offering itself as a choice available to the people of present-day Zimbabwe. We also look to welcoming Mavambo/Kusile Movement when it transforms itself into a political party. We extend a similar welcome to disgruntled members of Zanu-PF and the MDC and other groups, when they join the political fray. This fluidity in the political market presents prospects for working with, not inside, other parties to advance uMthwakazi’s cause.
This is an opportunity we should never allow to slip through our fingers.
It is therefore tragic that at precisely the time when the Zanu-PF’s system is collapsing, in jumps Mr Tsvangirai and Mutambara to rescue it. The so-called Government of National Unity (GNU) throws a political life-line to Zanu-PF and Mugabe at precisely the time when the system is coming virtually unstuck. So, Mthwakazi and Zimbabwe, there you have it.
It seems clear, the lure of gravy seats has proved too strong for the MDC to resist. Forget the shriek denials!
A GNU in Zimbabwe at this stage is simply a crazy idea. It is crazy not only because of its grotesque size; three Presidents, three Prime Ministers, a shared ministry and a total cabinet of nearly sixty persons, including their usual coterie of political hangers-on. It is also crazy in terms of its very concept.
We ask: What are Zanu-PF and the MDC uniting?
A GNU is also gross because it includes Mr Mugabe, and as President for that matter. If press reports about the split between Mr Tendai Biti and Mr Tsvangirai are correct, then Mr Biti is spot-on on the point this time. (the other reason suggested is incredulous). We believe Mr Biti and those that support him are opposed to the GNU on a point of principle and strategy.
Now that the MDC has joined Zanu-PF in government, it has prevented the country getting where it should be – a formal transitional position.
For a long time, MPC has been a lonely voice in calling for a Transitional Government (TG) and transitional arrangements under such a government. There is now a growing consensus that a TG is the only authentic way forward. That is to be welcome.
Present-day Zimbabwe does not need a GNU.
A TG is the only way to ensure that no topic, no issue, and no matter is too hot to engage; that no topic, issue or matter is blocked or swept under carpet. The mentality of suppressing opinion must end with the demise of Zanu-PF rule and the system it has built to support it.
MPC’s view is that the TG must be composed of eminent persons from present-day Zimbabwe who will not be contesting elections under the new constitution, not a judge or Roman Catholic priest, as suggested by some people (We don’t understand the reasons for ‘a Roman Catholic priest’).
The TG must, as soon as it is constituted, convene a political conference on Zimbabwe similar to South Africa’s CODESA which will discuss and identify all political and other issues to be included in the New Constitution. It is envisaged that such a conference will be convened under the auspices of the UN. The constitution-writing process must only follow after such a political conference.
A transitional government also has the benefit of removing Mugabe, not just as a regime change agenda but also as a wider effort to get to the bottom of the political problems of present-day Zimbabwe. In the process, the whole political architecture built by Zanu-PF, which needs and must be destroyed, will begin the slow but sure process of political death. It is a terrible legacy that must not have even the remotest chance to connect to posterity. A transitional government also has the benefit of resolving the Matebeleland Question and any other issues, constitutionally, once and for all.
MPC believes that this so-called GNU illustrates the urgency with which the political foundation of present-day Zimbabwe must be dismantled and all traces of it permanently confined to the political grave. Instead of raising the spectre of Zanu-PF’s political death, the so-called GNU has rescued Zanu-PF from the clutches of political death.
There is also an overriding matter of principle inside this latest version of the ‘Unity Accord’ which should be stopped on its tracks.
With the so-called GNU almost political fact it now means that the next political party to unleash its own violence can expect to have a high seat in the next round of power-sharing talks. At that stage, and logically, we must expect to have is a second tier of Vice-Vice Presidents and Vice-Vice Prime Ministers, Deputy-Deputy Ministers, multiplied by the number of ruthless and vicious parties who have trampled the citizenry on their way to the cabinet posts-sharing table.
This is lust for power gone mad! Some people seem to have taken leave of their senses!
In my previous message I condemned the regime change agenda. I do not wish to be misunderstood as now saying that I support regime change because I say Mr Mugabe must not be part of any new government in present-day Zimbabwe. There is no conflict between my previous position and the present. MPC is still opposed to regime change as a political agenda.
We are opposed to regime change because it does not get rid of the terrible system Zanu-PF has built. We are also opposed to regime change agenda because it does not even begin to tinker with the outer edges of what needs to be done in present-day Zimbabwe. Present-day Zimbabwe is a political and constitutional black hole that needs sorting now.
Further, because the regime change agenda has come as an outside imposition and with its ugly face of Iraq and Afghanistan intact, it has jettisoned Africa’s goodwill in confronting the Zimbabwean crisis, which seemed to hold promise not so long ago. The principle around which Africa has galvanized, which Mugabe has taken full advantage of, seems to be that it should no longer be the prerogative of powerful states to appoint and fire African presidents.
Unfortunately, we think there has been a clumsiness about the regime change agenda as it has been applied even to Zimbabwe which has only served to prolong Mugabe rule and to give us totally ridiculous solutions such as we are now facing with the so-called GNU which retains Mugabe in government as President. We doubt that Africa has rallied to Zimbabwe’s side to support Mugabe himself, as is sometimes erroneously assumed. We think Africa has decided to stand up to what it perceives as the political bullying of the past by powerful states.
There is now an opportunity to correct these errors of the past.
The new US administration led by new US President, President Barack Obama, presents an opportunity for a new approach. Within the region, the impending presidency of Jacob Zuma, now bolstered by Presidents of the region who now want nothing short of good governance, must complement these fresh approaches. All these factors present a rare opportunity for Mthwakazians and Zimbabweans to get things right this time around.
Ultimately, however, the solution must rest with Mthwakazians and Zimbabweans assisted by the international community. A Transitional Government and transitional arrangements offers the best political environment for Mthwakazians and Zimbabweans to do exactly that.
Now that the MDC has agreed to join Zanu-PF in the so-called GNU, no one should be left in doubt about what has happened. It has been long in coming but many will also say they long saw it coming.
I thank you.
Ndaba E Mkwananzi
MPC President
Today, I want to make the point that, as Mthwakazi, we must begin to think strategically. I also want to make the point that, that strategy demands that we fight our political fight as Mthwakazi.
The reason for this is that the Zimbabwe Project oppresses and dominates us as Mthwakazi. Our political strategy must take stock of the effects of the Zimbabwe Project in the past 30 years as well as its present and lingering effects. We therefore need to remove it completely from uMthwakazi’s psyche and body politic. That is a long-term task that requires us to think strategically and to execute it in terms of a clear strategy.
In response to the Zimbabwe Project, as a starting point and as a critical first step of our strategy, uMthwakazi must seek to disengage with present-day Zimbabwe. As I say in my last message, we are saying, post-Mugabe, present-day Zimbabwe cannot continue to be governed as it has, as this project of domination of one people by another, of one system by another or one culture by another, and a project of suppressing and under-developing a specific population of present-day Zimbabwe society.
We therefore have a real political struggle in our hands.
Disabusing our people from the mentality that uMthwakazi’s independence is impossible to that which says, to quote Barack Obama, “yes we can”, is going to take some doing. Obama provides a useful anecdote for Mthwakazi. Only a few years ago, he was distant outsider, and even at recent elections, that he could become US first Black President, was to mainstream American politics a laughable joke. It has not been a honeymoon for him; it has been hard, sometimes, frustrating work. Unless there is something special about us, we have no right to expect the task before us to be a honeymoon.
Being a strategic project, our agenda is not short-term. It does not therefore carry the promise of immediate political reward. Nor does it offer the present excitement of joining the new gravy train of Zanu-PF and the MDC. For these reasons, we will admit, it is an unattractive agenda to many but the most brave and committed. It is this committed few who see the vision who we want to help transform that vision into an attainable goal.
Because our agenda is defining, it is long-term and hard. Because it is young, it is wobbly. But we struggle up, trudge on, and ferret, fully reminded that we will grow and become stronger with time. We have one advantage our oppressors do not have; and that is the justness of our cause. In it, is the political capital and political fire that will see us confront and cross every obstacle we will encounter.
We have already shown we can stand even the toughest tests thrown at us. We emerged from the Gukurahundi experience intact and more united. We have rejected Zimbabwe rule since, over and over. We have made our political point. It is time to make that point count for Mthwakazi, propel us to what we want and to be who we want.
It is no longer the time for protest voting. Protest voting achieves nothing. Protest voting translates to a political mandate to whoever you express your protest votes through, even a protégé of your political enemy. Today, the MDC through whom you have registered your protest against Zimbabwe rule has taken your votes and gone back home.
Which party did Mr Tsvangirai belong to before he became MDC?
Now that Mr Tsvangirai and his MDC are back home, where are you Mthwakazi? What reason do we have to condemn any Mthwakazian in Zanu-PF today while glorifying any Mthwakazina in the MDC today?
Betrayed and deceived once again, you are now left to leak your political wounds. How many times do you want to be betrayed and what do you want to happen before you open your eyes?
The facts are as crude and simple as that.
We know there are some, inside and outside the MDC, who would rather we did not say these well-known facts. In an environment of political justice we would have been persuaded not to but ours is a political environment of crude tribalism, matched only by the crudeness of the methods used.
Look, Mthwakazi! When Zanu-PF and MDC quarrelled in a domestic incident, MDC got a slap on the hand. When uMthwakazi rejected tyranny ever taking root in today’s Zimbabwe, uMthwakazi had a sledge hammer dropped on them; some 30 000 of our citizens paid the ultimate price and today lie in unmarked graves.
Mthwakazi, ever stopped to think why this is so?
With the so-called GNU now confirmed, the Zimbabwe Project is on the roll once again.
Mthwakazi, this is therefore the truth in our hands many of us would wish it was not. But it is the raw truth!
While celebrations to welcome Mr Tsvangirai back home in Harare were beamed across the world uMthwakazi was conspicuous by their absence. Yet, we have heard over and over again that Matebeleland is Mr Tsvangirai’s stronghold. Of course, in a few days Mr Tsvangirai will be going to Matebeleland to explain the GNU to his ‘supporters’ or ‘people’.
But Mthwakazi, do you matter to anyone now? And where has Mr Tsvangirai taken the MDC?
And is that not where the recently revived Zapu has recently come from, complaining that their own version of ‘unity’ has not worked? And did you not condemn Zapu when it went there in the first place? So, where do you stand now Mthwakazi?
There is a fundamental difference with the MDC, though. The MDC and the bulk of its supporters were Zanu-PF before. For them, their return to Zanu-PF is a political homecoming. There is therefore a probability things might work. Only time will tell. In the meantime, Mthwakazi will bewhere you have been in the last 30 years and will be for a long time unless you woke up: in the political freezer!
So for those who have supported the MDC, against all objective truth, it is back to square one. Here, at square one you will find MPC waiting, and here, MPC has been inviting our people for a long time now. We think it is time we all responded and took up and fought a political cause which is Mthwakazi’s.
You see Mthwakazi; the Zimbabwe Project used a simple strategy against uMthwakazi. It scattered us. Since then it has sowed seeds of distrust and planted mutual suspicion among us. In some cases, it buys or bribes us, all as part of a state-sponsored operation designed to finish uMthwakazi off politically once and for all.
We must regroup. This latest betrayal, this time by the MDC, adds urgency to that.
Our overriding and continuing task must therefore be to beat back of the tools of repression: mistrust and mutual suspicion and the vulnerability to be bribed or bought. We must learn to work together again even if, for the time being, that may mean we will be infiltrated. Infiltration must not worry us overly for once our struggle takes a life of its own, as we want it to, it will not matter which enemy is in our midst. Like all revolutions, we will carry the system’s spies and informers together with us to Mthwakazi’s freedom.
With Mr Tsvangirai and those he had taken away with him from Zanu-PF now back home, the system can now focus on the real political enemy: uMthwakazi, now defined through the prism of the revived Zapu and MPC. Don’t say you were not warned!
We must now chart a new course.
This is therefore no longer a political fight we can fight just as ‘something’. It is a fight we can only and truly execute as Mthwakazi because we are oppressed and dominated as Mthwakazi.
Such a political fight can also no longer be fought ‘somehow’ or in terms of self-deluding notions of some imagined apolitical arbitrator who sees the reasonableness of our acquiescence in our own oppression under Zimbabwe rule. It is a political fight we can only fight in a structured way and in terms of a framework designed to be effective and responsive to our unique political experience under Zimbabwe rule.
Such a political fight can no longer be fought through chance or the comforts offered by political ‘mainstreamism’. Nor is it a political fight we can fight through ‘incrementalism’, the sorry view that we should start small and claim bigger and bigger as we go along, a view which is often a convenient excuse for cowardice and inaction. It is no longer a political fight which can be fought in a piecemeal, disjointed, contradictory, and duplicating way. It is a fight that must be co-ordinated, deliberate, and focused.
This is also no longer a political fight that can be left to be led by people who ambrace ambiguity about who we are or who obfuscate a cause as clear as Mthwakazi’s by fashionable political-speak and political correctness. It is a political fight which must be fought through the crude application of good old fashioned truth and ‘speaking’ facts.
It is also no longer the time for political blur or imagined choices. It is an imagined choice that there is a struggle between rejecting the oppression and domination of Mthwakazi and not being seen as having embraced Mthwakazi’s independence altogether. There is no such choice; it exists only in the minds of the ‘learned’. For the rest of our people, nothing has been clearer since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. For them, and some of us, there is a clear duty, not just to reject this oppression and domination but also the obligation to stand up and do something about it.
MPC has long answered this call to political arms. We believe it is time for all Mthwakazians to get up and get their hands dirty as Mthwakazi.
We regret that those of us who believe we should go through political detours or rest camps, whether they are christened Government of National Unity (GNU) or Coalition Government (CG), or any other intermediate station, are mistaken. Our route must be direct and straight.
Another thing; let us not take our eyes off the ball. While it is commendable to help a village or community with fertilizer or seed or some other such hand of benevolence and charity, we are sure, ultimately, this is not helpful to Mthwakazi’s political circumstance.
Our problem is not want. Want is only a consequence of our political circumstance created for us by the Zimbabwe Project. What uMthwakazi wants is political freedom that will release its creative energies. It also wants opportunities of life created by a supportive and facilitative state of their own.
In the long-term these acts of charity are abetting the system that is oppressing and dominating us rather than helping to dismantle it.
This is why.
The Zimbabwe Project was built as this overarching system of Mthwakazi’s oppression and domination in terms of which everything uMthwakazi does must be micro-level. UMthwakazi is therefore designed to operate below a certain political sub-system where uMthwakazi must be kept. Manifestations of this are everywhere. Meanwhile, the system operates a different, facilitative system for its people that prepares them to take over the levers of power and economic advantage, while at the same time extending opportunity and political credit to its people.
You only need to look at who has senior experience in government and in the private sector in today’s Zimbabwe. You also need to look at the profile of Zimbabweans currently employed in international organizations, inter-government and non-governmental organizations across the world. Mthwakazians are conspicuous by their absence.
Here, therefore, is the critical point.
It is therefore the framework or edifice of domination that uMthwakazi needs to dismantle, not the detail or manifestations of it. Mentally, we also need to destroy micro thinking and replace it with strategic thinking. This is MPC’s message today.
The late ZAPU President, Joshua Nkomo, once said: “Think big!” He was lampooned and caricatured, with some Mthwakazians joining in in laughing at him but I believe Nkomo was sending a clear message to us because he knew the inside story.
The political system built by the Zimbabwe Project also operates a ruthless system of using uMthwakazi politically. It is at the level of politics that uMthwakazi’s sad political situation is most telling.
In terms of this political system anything started or led by a Shona person is ‘national’ purely on the strength that it is led by a Shona and something started or led by an Ndebele is ‘tribal’ purely because it is started or led by an Ndebele. This is Zanu-PF’s Zimbabwe, long endorsed by many of our Shona citizenry across all class divide but many of whom put on a show of pretending otherwise. The acceptability of this system among many of our Shona citizenry is best illustrated by the deafening silence from all but Mthwakazians about this joke of our time we have had as governance.
Here is the sad political irony of it all.
The more politicians from Mthwakazi try to appear ‘national’ (a notion which should be repudiated completely in the context of present-day Zimbabwe) the more the system makes them look and ‘proves’ they are ‘tribal’. Thus, Mthwakazians earn the ‘national’ tag not in terms of the views and the values they hold but by being wrapped in ‘Shonanostra’ by a Shona person placed above them to lead them. It is the crudest system founded on tribalism to have disgraced the political landscape of Africa anywhere!
Is it only MPC, then, who understand very well what ‘national’ means in the context of present-day Zimbabwe?
Mthwakazi, have you ever stopped to think why Zanu-PF chose ‘national’ for its name as against ‘people’ when it left Zapu in 1963? What did they mean and what do they mean by ‘national’? Thirty years into Zimbabwe’s independence, and after thousands of Mthwakazian kinsman lost their lives to the system to drive the point home, are you still blind to what ‘national’ means in today’s Zimbabwe? We think it is time to think long and hard.
So, as MPC we are aware that our agenda is not immediately demonstrable or implementable as that of the MDC and other parties. We are not front-runners, nor do we aspire to be. We are not afraid to say we are political underdogs. We are only happy to be doing what we can to put together a political framework through which we will prosecute our political struggle strategically and effectively.
So, where does uMthwakazi go from here, and how does uMthwakazi break this vicious cycle of political strangulation?
There are no easy answers. But one thing is clear; we can no longer afford to approach our political situation in the way we have so far, by hiding and ‘waiting’ inside Zanu-PF and the MDC. We fool no one. In any event, who is fooling who? From where MPC stands, we have no doubt in our minds, who is being a fool.
It is time to change our political toolkit.
As a start, we must now refuse to hanker to a glorious past that never was. We must learn from our mistakes. We must move on. We too must face the dangers and anxieties of liberating ourselves and celebrate the thrills and excitement of having achieved our liberation by our hard work and sacrifice. We want it easy, as many of us seem to, then we have hit the last nail on our political coffin. While we draw breath, many of us undertake never to.
This is no longer the time for political soothsaying, wish lists, or private fiefdoms of personal or quasi-political influence, or the time to harp on stories of our past glory and heroism. This is the time to staff our political toolkit with political tools necessary to fight the political battles of our time effectively and successfully.
There is not a better time to do that than now when we face the sure end of Mugabe’s rule. This is the time for men and women of Mthwakazi who cannot be bought or coerced into betraying uMthwakazi, to be found or to present themselves for service to our people.
There are those of us who say we must work inside political groups in today’s Zimbabwe. With these people, we completely disagree. There are those of us, MPC included, who say we must work together with other political groups in today’s Zimbabwe. With these people we are in total agreement.
The former group comprises Mthwakazians inside Zanu-PF and perhaps both factions of the MDC, and those that support them. Our history under Zimbabwe rule and inside Zanu-PF and the MDC dictates that working inside these formations is no longer an option. We don’t wish any Mthwakazian, thirty years from now, walking out of an MDC or some such other government having seen that things have not worked. In any event, the MDC is now back in Zanu-PF.
Mthwakazi; you don’t want to go there! In any event, the revived Zapu has shown the way and come out of there. Some of those from Zapu who remained have only recently been politely shown the door to make way for the true occupants of those warm seats.
We cannot accept guarantees either. Ours is not a political experience of political guarantees. Minus 30 000 of our loved ones, expect we have learnt the hard way. Nothing short of total control of our political destiny will do.
As noted above, MPC agrees with those people who say we must work with other political groups. To this end, MPC has placed its agenda in the public domain so that anyone who wishes to engage us politically is clear what we stand for and want. We are an open and public political movement. We will engage anyone, anytime with regard to our agenda.
We are therefore delighted that the revived Zapu is offering itself as a choice available to the people of present-day Zimbabwe. We also look to welcoming Mavambo/Kusile Movement when it transforms itself into a political party. We extend a similar welcome to disgruntled members of Zanu-PF and the MDC and other groups, when they join the political fray. This fluidity in the political market presents prospects for working with, not inside, other parties to advance uMthwakazi’s cause.
This is an opportunity we should never allow to slip through our fingers.
It is therefore tragic that at precisely the time when the Zanu-PF’s system is collapsing, in jumps Mr Tsvangirai and Mutambara to rescue it. The so-called Government of National Unity (GNU) throws a political life-line to Zanu-PF and Mugabe at precisely the time when the system is coming virtually unstuck. So, Mthwakazi and Zimbabwe, there you have it.
It seems clear, the lure of gravy seats has proved too strong for the MDC to resist. Forget the shriek denials!
A GNU in Zimbabwe at this stage is simply a crazy idea. It is crazy not only because of its grotesque size; three Presidents, three Prime Ministers, a shared ministry and a total cabinet of nearly sixty persons, including their usual coterie of political hangers-on. It is also crazy in terms of its very concept.
We ask: What are Zanu-PF and the MDC uniting?
A GNU is also gross because it includes Mr Mugabe, and as President for that matter. If press reports about the split between Mr Tendai Biti and Mr Tsvangirai are correct, then Mr Biti is spot-on on the point this time. (the other reason suggested is incredulous). We believe Mr Biti and those that support him are opposed to the GNU on a point of principle and strategy.
Now that the MDC has joined Zanu-PF in government, it has prevented the country getting where it should be – a formal transitional position.
For a long time, MPC has been a lonely voice in calling for a Transitional Government (TG) and transitional arrangements under such a government. There is now a growing consensus that a TG is the only authentic way forward. That is to be welcome.
Present-day Zimbabwe does not need a GNU.
A TG is the only way to ensure that no topic, no issue, and no matter is too hot to engage; that no topic, issue or matter is blocked or swept under carpet. The mentality of suppressing opinion must end with the demise of Zanu-PF rule and the system it has built to support it.
MPC’s view is that the TG must be composed of eminent persons from present-day Zimbabwe who will not be contesting elections under the new constitution, not a judge or Roman Catholic priest, as suggested by some people (We don’t understand the reasons for ‘a Roman Catholic priest’).
The TG must, as soon as it is constituted, convene a political conference on Zimbabwe similar to South Africa’s CODESA which will discuss and identify all political and other issues to be included in the New Constitution. It is envisaged that such a conference will be convened under the auspices of the UN. The constitution-writing process must only follow after such a political conference.
A transitional government also has the benefit of removing Mugabe, not just as a regime change agenda but also as a wider effort to get to the bottom of the political problems of present-day Zimbabwe. In the process, the whole political architecture built by Zanu-PF, which needs and must be destroyed, will begin the slow but sure process of political death. It is a terrible legacy that must not have even the remotest chance to connect to posterity. A transitional government also has the benefit of resolving the Matebeleland Question and any other issues, constitutionally, once and for all.
MPC believes that this so-called GNU illustrates the urgency with which the political foundation of present-day Zimbabwe must be dismantled and all traces of it permanently confined to the political grave. Instead of raising the spectre of Zanu-PF’s political death, the so-called GNU has rescued Zanu-PF from the clutches of political death.
There is also an overriding matter of principle inside this latest version of the ‘Unity Accord’ which should be stopped on its tracks.
With the so-called GNU almost political fact it now means that the next political party to unleash its own violence can expect to have a high seat in the next round of power-sharing talks. At that stage, and logically, we must expect to have is a second tier of Vice-Vice Presidents and Vice-Vice Prime Ministers, Deputy-Deputy Ministers, multiplied by the number of ruthless and vicious parties who have trampled the citizenry on their way to the cabinet posts-sharing table.
This is lust for power gone mad! Some people seem to have taken leave of their senses!
In my previous message I condemned the regime change agenda. I do not wish to be misunderstood as now saying that I support regime change because I say Mr Mugabe must not be part of any new government in present-day Zimbabwe. There is no conflict between my previous position and the present. MPC is still opposed to regime change as a political agenda.
We are opposed to regime change because it does not get rid of the terrible system Zanu-PF has built. We are also opposed to regime change agenda because it does not even begin to tinker with the outer edges of what needs to be done in present-day Zimbabwe. Present-day Zimbabwe is a political and constitutional black hole that needs sorting now.
Further, because the regime change agenda has come as an outside imposition and with its ugly face of Iraq and Afghanistan intact, it has jettisoned Africa’s goodwill in confronting the Zimbabwean crisis, which seemed to hold promise not so long ago. The principle around which Africa has galvanized, which Mugabe has taken full advantage of, seems to be that it should no longer be the prerogative of powerful states to appoint and fire African presidents.
Unfortunately, we think there has been a clumsiness about the regime change agenda as it has been applied even to Zimbabwe which has only served to prolong Mugabe rule and to give us totally ridiculous solutions such as we are now facing with the so-called GNU which retains Mugabe in government as President. We doubt that Africa has rallied to Zimbabwe’s side to support Mugabe himself, as is sometimes erroneously assumed. We think Africa has decided to stand up to what it perceives as the political bullying of the past by powerful states.
There is now an opportunity to correct these errors of the past.
The new US administration led by new US President, President Barack Obama, presents an opportunity for a new approach. Within the region, the impending presidency of Jacob Zuma, now bolstered by Presidents of the region who now want nothing short of good governance, must complement these fresh approaches. All these factors present a rare opportunity for Mthwakazians and Zimbabweans to get things right this time around.
Ultimately, however, the solution must rest with Mthwakazians and Zimbabweans assisted by the international community. A Transitional Government and transitional arrangements offers the best political environment for Mthwakazians and Zimbabweans to do exactly that.
Now that the MDC has agreed to join Zanu-PF in the so-called GNU, no one should be left in doubt about what has happened. It has been long in coming but many will also say they long saw it coming.
I thank you.
Ndaba E Mkwananzi
MPC President
Thursday
Mthwakazi People's Convention launches new website
Message from MPC President
MPC is about a common vision and shared values “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” - Ghandhi ...Readmore
Today the 15th of January 2009, Mthwakazi People's Convention (MPC) officially announces its website to you and the entire world. Feel free to visit the website http://www.mthwakazionline.org/umr2/where you will be able to find answers about MPC, its representatives and leaders. MPC will be encouraged to hear your contributions.
I thank you all.
K Dube Director of Communications - MPC.
Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair.(George Burns)
MPC is about a common vision and shared values “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” - Ghandhi ...Readmore
Today the 15th of January 2009, Mthwakazi People's Convention (MPC) officially announces its website to you and the entire world. Feel free to visit the website http://www.mthwakazionline.org/umr2/where you will be able to find answers about MPC, its representatives and leaders. MPC will be encouraged to hear your contributions.
I thank you all.
K Dube Director of Communications - MPC.
Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair.(George Burns)
Wednesday
Immigration workers 'linked to BNP'
From The Press Association
An investigation has been launched after two immigration staff were revealed to be members of the British National Party (BNP), the UK Border Agency confirmed.
The two staff worked in an immigration removal centre until a list of BNP members appeared on the internet in November, according to a UK Border Agency spokesman.
After the list was made public, one resigned and another was suspended, he said.
"There is no place for racism in the immigration system," said the spokesman.
"We ask anyone carrying out duties on our behalf to sign a declaration stating they are not a member of the BNP, the National Front or Combat 18."
The Government agency is investigating how the two staff - who were employed on behalf of the Home Office by a private contractor - managed to slip through the net.
A probe was launched following the resignation in November, the spokesman added.
An investigation has been launched after two immigration staff were revealed to be members of the British National Party (BNP), the UK Border Agency confirmed.
The two staff worked in an immigration removal centre until a list of BNP members appeared on the internet in November, according to a UK Border Agency spokesman.
After the list was made public, one resigned and another was suspended, he said.
"There is no place for racism in the immigration system," said the spokesman.
"We ask anyone carrying out duties on our behalf to sign a declaration stating they are not a member of the BNP, the National Front or Combat 18."
The Government agency is investigating how the two staff - who were employed on behalf of the Home Office by a private contractor - managed to slip through the net.
A probe was launched following the resignation in November, the spokesman added.
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