10 November 2009
editorial
It is a relief that Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) will now rejoin the government of national unity (GNU) after pulling out a while ago.
Despite the many problems that the unity government faces, we all want to see it work for the sake of Zimbabweans.
The people of Zimbabwe have suffered for far too long and this unity government just has to work. So many times, the Zimbabwean government has failed the people. This time it has to be different.
The economy of Zimbabwe is in shambles. Family life has been greatly disturbed. Zimbabweans have been scattered to the four corners of the world by harsh living conditions at home. Politicians can ill afford to play politics when Zimbabweans are suffering.
When he decided to rejoin the unity government, Tsvangirai gave President Robert Mugabe an ultimatum of 30 days to play ball. He is demanding that Mugabe must fully implement the agreement that ushered in the GNU. Or else he will disengage and the unity government will collapse.
Many of these demands are very legitimate. For instance, Mugabe must stop making key appointments unilaterally as if his coalition does not exist.
On very good grounds, MDC fears that most of its cadres are targeted for prosecution and systematic victimisation by the Mugabe wing of the government.
In a unity government, trust and building of confidence is essential between partners. But we have all been witnesses to the systematic and institutional undermining of the very spirit that should build the unity government in Zimbabwe at Mugabe's behest. Both the African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) should see to it that Mugabe plays by the book.
The principles of the agreement that ushered in the unity government should be respected by both parties and it is high time that both SADC and the AU should tell Mugabe that enough is enough.
On a different note, the world and most importantly the Germans have been celebrating the 20th anniversary since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
This was not the defeat on any -ism but the demise of a system bent on imposing barriers on human integration.
The fall of the wall was a great lesson that artificial barriers cannot stop the need for humanity to be one.
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Senna28;
Your observation of the inside color of the MDC, in as far as the ownership of land in Zimbabwe is concerned, is 100% correct. It is true that MDC, as a puppet party that depends on filthy lucre from Rhodies, racists, imperialists and neo-colonialists, does not understand that "hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans died for the freedom to control their land that was stolen under colonialism".
How can they understand when their leader, Tsvangirai, himself an accomplished sellout, sold out to the Rhodesia Special Branch and caused the death of scores of freedom fighters in Buhera in 1978?
Sellouts in MDC do not understand that the "issue of land control and ownership is the MAIN ISSUE" behind all the problems in Zimbabwe. They are thus comfortable with "whites maintaining the land that was stolen during colonialism". However, it should be made known that the ONE and ONLY reason for going to war was LAND, anything else that one can think of was and still is peripheral to our heritage.
However, I disagree with you in total when you say that President Mugabe has now been “consumed by power and has become unnecessarily ruthless in his desire to hold onto power".
President Mugabe is not power hungry. He is a revolutionary who does not want to stay in power any time longer than is necessary. It is us the people of Zimbabwe who have been urging him to remain President and have been voting for him ever since 1980. He has remained consistent and persistent in calling for elections when they are due. He will therefore remain our leader and point-man until we win our struggle for Total Independence and 100% Empowerment.
Furthermore, at no time has my President been ruthless. He has ruled our mother land in a democratic way, better than Bush, Blair and Brown. The propaganda you hear about people being killed is just what it is - propaganda. It is meant to tarnish not only the image of the person of the President but the country and ALL AFRICANS as being unsuitable to rule themselves thereby opening up avenues for re-colonization.
A lot is being said about the so-called 20 000 Ndebeles killed during "Gukurahundi" (they conveniently call it "Gukurahundi" to emphasize their propaganda) and about the hundreds if not thousands of MDC supporters who are said to have been killed during elections since the CIA and MI6 formed the stooge party, now calling itself MDC-T, in 1999, with money from the Westminster Foundation and channeled through Amani Trust.
You should not listen to this trash as it is just garbage being propagated by the Rhodies who are trying to conceal their massacre of our people (innocent men, women and children) since colonialism in 1890 and are bitter that blacks have now been empowered.
The other point I would like to make is that President Mugabe does not need to do anything more than what he has already done to "make the GNU work". The President has fulfilled all his obligations as outlined in the GPA. The ball is now in the puppet party's court.
Sanctions are still on and actually being tightened as a result of MDC-T's current campaign; MDC pirate radio stations are still churning out hate speeches that are causing divisions and polarization in our country; and covert and overt interference is the order of the day as exemplified by the parallel government structure established by the CIA and MI6 and being run by MDC and from the stooge Tsvangi's office.
These, my friend, are the issues that need tackling by Tsvangi and his party and NOT your "Mugabe should do what needs to be done to make the GNU work for the good of the people".
I do accept that many people died during the liberation struggle for the land.Those people who claim to be supporters of Mugabe are the only beneficiaries of the chaotic land redistribution process that was never intended to bebefit poverty stricken rural based Zimbabweans.MDC is a no tribal non racial political party whose existence will never be accepted by Mugabe and his cronies.What has Mugabe to offer the country that he did not offer in the past twenty nine years?.Zimbabwe could be at par with South Africa if Zanu PF was a true party for the people.In the 1980s Mugabe spent time fighting PF Zapu, the came Zum and now MDC party that taught Mugabe that democracy does not mean sending povert stricken thugs claimimng to be ex-combatants to beat up people.I say this to all who believe in violence that nothing and I mean nothing never goes on forever.MDC has brought a new chapter in Zimbabwe and things will never be the same again.For murderers its time to repent.
Rufaro23;
Welshmen Ncube, Renson Gasela, Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti and all the MDC MPs who abused the inputs they were given last year are not "supporters of Mugabe". They actually opposed land reform. At one time Tsvangirai called us (those who fought in the Second and Third Chimurenga) names and actually insulted us by saying "Munongomera pose pose se howa".
However, the same idiot who insulted me and called me names has decided to benefit from "Mugabe's chaotic land reform programme" through the back door. This, at the expense of the ordinary people whom he and the whole MDC hierarch has dissuaded from applying for their heritage alleging that it was a "chaotic land redistribution process that was never intended to benefit poverty stricken rural based Zimbabweans".
What you and all other stupid fools do not want to accept, but which you can't change, is that more than 500 000 rural landless Zimbabweans who got land under the A1 scheme CANNOT ALL and WILL NEVER BE "Mugabe cronies". What you can NEVER change is that more than 170 000 Zimbabweans who benefited from the A2 Scheme cannot ALL and will never be "Mugabe cronies".
They are and will always remain ordinary Zimbabweans who had for long been crying for land after having been, for 100 years, crammed up into desert, rocky and semi-arid areas not suitable for any kind of farming. They will ALWAYS and FOREVER appreciate what President Mugabe has done to empower them.
It is true and I agree with you in total that MDC-T has "brought a new chapter in Zimbabwe and things will never be the same again". MDC has caused the death of thousands of Zimbabweans through sanctions called for by Tsvangirai and his fellow sellouts and because of this, "things will never be the same again".
MDC has polarized our nation through hate speeches being churned out by pirate radio stations operating from foreign lands like Botswana and because of this; "things will never be the same again".
For the first time in the history of independent Zimbabwe, MDC, through Biti and Ncube, drafted the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZiDERA) that has caused untold death and suffering in Zimbabwe and because of this "things will never be the same again". ZiDERA is not going away anytime soon and this should tell all Zimbabweans that "things will never be the same again".
Our hospitals continue to go without the necessary drugs, our schools are still not one hundred percent functional, our currency had to be abandoned for the time being and our lives are miserable for a people so educated, all because of MDC-T and this is why I agree with you that "things will never be the same again".
This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.
Awt;
This is typical of cowards who have no argument to put forward. The truth will always prevail and this is one example of how the truth is prevailing on issues Zimbabwean.
I am an indigenous Black Zimbabwean while you are an invader and exterminator of the Maori people. The History and events that have unfolded in my mother land are on my finger tips and so you cannot beat me on the presentation of facts on Zimbabwe. Unlike you I do not to research on them because I am a victim of subjugation, racism, colonialism, thuggery, barbarism and dispossession. I cannot be lectured to by those who killed and maimed my forefathers.
They say facts are stubborn. All along I did not know what they meant by that until now when I am dealing with a current colonizer who has exterminated a whole population of the Maori people to make them a minority in their land of birth.
The Maori people are still under colonial rule, more than 250 years after invasion by Awt’s ancestors, who have changed the name of the Maori land to New Zealand, disorientated the Maoris and made them forth class citizen in their own country of birth while making themselves (invaders) the indigenous people of that land – shame on you colonizer, GOD will never accept you in His Paradise!!
You,poor,poor man...
YOU ARE A VICTIM OF YOUR OWN IDLINESS!
Awt , you can add all the blaspemous lies they have said about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Remember Tack said there are many ways to heaven, the bible is a lie. It's just lie after lie after lie after lie. Best to hit the delete button.
See all comments (37).
I very much agree that the people of Zimbabwe have suffered for much too long. I also agree that Mugabe should do what needs to be done to make the GNU work for the good of the people. However,we must remember that thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans died for the freedom to control their land that was stolen under colonialism. It does not seem to me that the MDC understands that the issue of land control and ownership is the MAIN ISSUE. The MDC appears to be comfortable with the whites maintaining the land that was stolen during colonialism. Does Tsvangirai not know that the struggle for freedom was about the land. Yes, Mugabe is far from being perfect, as a matter of fact, I believe that Mugabe, is consumed by power and has become unnecessarily ruthless in his desire to hold onto power. Nevertheless, as long as Mugabe is seen to be protecting the right of Black Zimbabweans to their land, he will remain in power.