The rise of Zimbabwe's Mutambara

In my June 2008 article (http://briankapito.blogspot.com/2008/06/why-ukusa-has-let-zimbabwemorgan.html) on Zimbabwe I opined that both Mugabe and Tsvangirai would not last as Zim leaders, in Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway faction of the opposition MDC however perhaps one finds a unifying leader for both factions.

In Davos over the weekend Mutambara, expected to become the Deputy Prime Minister in the new government showed his poise and what is to come in the future as reported in excerpts pasted below from a Reuters news article http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37766120090131?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0 :

Quote: "This agreement is a flawed arrangement. It is imperfect. But it is the best short-term answer to provide a platform to extricate our country from its worst crisis," Mutambara said.

Mutambara, a former student leader who is recognised as one of Africa's most prominent scientists, said the world had a tendency to simplify the Zimbabwe crisis and see Mugabe as a "devil", to Tsvangirai's "angel".

"There is no devil and there is no angel. There are two political parties. There are two political leaders," he said.

"Let's forget our political differences and think about Zimbabwe's national interests, let's try to work together to salvage our economy, to salvage our business," he said.........

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, also attending the Davos meeting in Switzerland, urged world leaders on Saturday to help rebuild Zimbabwe. As he passed Mutambara in the corridor, he told him: "Congratulations on the decision."

Mutambara called for aid to rebuild the country, but said investment was even more important, saying he had been approached by businessmen meeting in the Swiss Alpine resort.

"There is a lot of appetite to be involved in Zimbabwe in Davos," he said. "People want to be involved in Zimbabwe, not for charity, but for economics."

"Our foundation is very strong. Our fundamentals are very robust," he said, noting that Zimbabwe was rich in natural resources, like platinum, gold and uranium, while its people were also very well educated by African standards. Unquote.

Ladies and Gentlemen Zimbabwe is back and while the two main cocks were fighting, a third emerged seemingly much more ready to lead than the rest, he may not be perfect for the Zim's themselves and in some circles is referred to quite negatively but as an outsider I see no perfection in the others either. At the end of the day its for Zimbabwe and its own to decide.

OF HOPE IN ZIMBABWE

I received an email tonight from a Zimbabwean motivational speaker I subscribe to, and was amazed at the strength of the human spirit, of hope, of the ultimate realisation that after the rain the sun must shine, he wrote and I share......

The Red Ocean

2008 has come and gone. It was as though a river rising daily with a sole purpose of swallowing us up, or drift us into the deep sea which we did not desire to go. As we were in that sea, we discovered that there were more than plenty people doing what we were doing – SURVIVING THE TIDE. It was as though we were in a Red Ocean, a place crowded with greed, competition, corruption, and uncertainty.

But, to a few individuals, an understanding of the age Zimbabwe is in was paramount to their prosperity and lifestyle. These individuals began charting a new course, into the Blue Ocean, where no other had gone before.

The Dark Ages

2009, is a continuation of what can be called The Dark Ages in Zimbabwe, as there is only one certain thing – UNCERTAINTY, as chaos and anxiety rule the day.

The Renaissance Age

Zimbabwe is in the Dark Ages of its history. The next age is the Renaissance Age; a time to Rebuild, Repossess, Restructure, Restore, and most importantly, REDOMINATE in Africa. Only the Blue Ocean Strategist will see and sieze this.

The question is where are you in your mind – Red or Blue Ocean, because this will determine what you will have in the Renaissance Age?

Welcome to 2009!

Oscar Manduku
market.dynamix – the communications company

Blog: cozvaitasei.blogspot.com

WHY THE UK / US HAVE LET ZIMBABWE / MORGAN TSVANGIRAI DOWN?

Sometime back I wrote the article:- MUGABE- All good things must come to an end
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My view of the current Zim scenario confirms to me that the editors of the recent headlines on Sky News and other western TV broadcasts are a little naive, have little understanding of the Zimbabwe mindset or have a hidden agenda.

Mugabe must leave, but it must be left to the Zimbabweans themselves, not foreign entities, that is the principal reason why other African governments will not comment, after all they reason that there have been violent elections in most of the countries of Southern Africa and never were any nations requested to comment, so the nations may be asking 'why now?', as Thabo Mbeki has intimated, other nations can only facilitate discussion, not take sides without totally understanding the total make-up of the current stalemate. And perhaps they will be saying to the choruses of 'Leaders must speak up' that who should we be speaking up for? the Zimbabweans that voted for MDC? the total Zimbabwean people? the displaced white farmers? the UK/ USA/ Australia/ Western world? the line is so thin commenting may seem like participating in the election process.

How is the UK and US propping up Mugabe?

• by shamelessly participating in the local elections of Zimbabwe with diplomats zipping around Zimbabwe trying to prove atrocities committed
• by only supporting one party in the elections rather than taking a neutral role.
• as Mugabe and his cronies may see it, by ganging up on him and Zanu-pf , but losing legitimacy because, Australia, USA etc who have been the loudest so far have links to Great Britain the former colonial master and may be viewed as speaking for like entities who have effectively silenced the Native Indian and Aborigines respectively.
• in direct addition to the last point comes the issue of reminding the Zimbabweans of how they suffered under British sponsored rule (Ian Smith), and reigniting the fervour amongst a significant section of the Zimbabwe nation.
• Why did it take so long to get rid of the Apartheid SA govt.? Where was Australia, USA, UK etc then? supporting the then regime perhaps as most Africans would remember, my point being? Africans don't trust the UK, USA on their actions of the past, the treatment of the HAMAS and FIS elections in the North do not help, Neither does the Equatorial Guinea failed coup plot.
• Perhaps in effect the UK/USA have driven Mugabe and his cronies into a corner mentally, by the sanctions they have faced as a government thus far and the recent verbal hyperbole, in the siege mentality that ensues I hypothesize Mugabe and company see the UK/US as the same 'enemy' they faced that is still after their land and have their reasons for that just or not, they will undoubtedly fight to the very end any party that seems too close to their traditional 'enemy', the same friends they had in the past China, Russia have stood by them, this is more complex than meets the eye or can be explained by an outsider like me but it does not take a rocket scientist to see the UK/ US posturing is hurting the electoral process rather than anything at all.

This will be an interesting one to unravel for Zim itself, I remain committed that for most parts of Africa the western model of Democracy will never work as packaged, we need to model them to suit our culture, our traditions and the level of participation of our people, we need governments of unity or the Tanzanian model of democracy, only through those unity vehicles will we have fundamental policy ownership and continuity especially the all important economic policies and move on from the poverty that now reigns supreme, Mugabe and MDC should roll up their shirts, get greasy and sweaty but only by talking this out, Zimbabweans are intelligent and big enough to sort this matter by themselves, they urgently need to get out of this stalemate without the new president being elected on a 'western sympathy' podium and thus losing respect and legitimacy in the eyes of a significant portion of his subjects, the western world has let down Zimbabwe and Morgan now seems tainted, maybe unfairly so, he in my view has been reduced to a 'liberator' of sorts but not a future president, Zimbabweans will more likely unite around a different new figure other than both Morgan or Bob. but for now Morgans continued pandering for a foreign audience has made him make mistake number one, disregarding the Electoral body in Zim in withdrawing without providing official notice of his withdrawal perhaps handing the presidency to Mugabe on a silver platter, shot himself in the foot for now? lets wait and see....

Robert Mugabe's time is gone but the west has to tone down its rhetoric, we had our Dr Banda, he eventually left after Malawians themselves voted him out, irregardless of government machinery or violence from Malawi Young Pioneers or the notorious 'Youths'. We need Zimbabwe to be strong again, there is so much that the entire region is losing out on with Zimbabwe's current situation, the sooner all the posturing is laid to rest the better for all of Africa, politics is not the key to this one, common sense is.

But then again thats just me rambling my head off, who knows? maybe one day I'll wake up to President Morgan's speech in the UN!

Nkhota kota Beckons/ A tall tale of rice.

The world is experiencing a serious shortage in the supply of rice, some supermarkets in the UK are actually controlling the amounts of lbs (kgs) bought per person! the basics of supply and demand then would dictate this to be a boon for Africa's rice farmers, so when the big buyers come searching and knocking in the village town centres the prices have to reflect the scarcity of the commodity...... in my cuckoo land I would encourage, no, I would force the village farmers in Nkhota kota to pool their various singular harvests together and sell that through a trusted intermediary who would by virtue of the size of product created by the pooling and more plus a better sense of prices make sure the rice farmer in Nkhota kota yields a better return per 'lb', and for this year 2008 lets pretend rice will replace tobacco's status as our main forex earner.

Why did the likes of Rab Processors become so successful? the villager sold locally at local prices whilst they sold internationally in dollar prices in the markets where they could get the best price, top dollar mate! Poor farmer in the village, poor Admarc, they could not survive, their management and business model were not dynamic enough. Does that make Rab Processors bad, definitely not, just good businessmen, they saw the opportunities and seized them, they waited for the country to harvest, they went around the villages and bought produce, the farmer felt more comfortable as they no longer needed to travel far to sell their produce, the buyer came to their village, then after a countrywide exercise what did they then have, the entire country's harvest in their stocks!! The country had done the farming for them and they bought the produce fair and square. Good businessmen. Very Clever.

Imagine if you will the massive middle class in China suddenly eating meat, cereals and all the status foods you can imagine every day. And if anything has to go by the Italy food UN meet of today, in which Mugabe sang praises of his 'land redistribution' programme, and the world does indeed experience severe food or even mild food shortages as forecast, my my!! a whole massive international market waiting to be fed (Dollars!!!), then Africa's food crops/ animals, grown to satisfactory Eurozone specification will be 'green gold' in the next few years, so I prophesise a rush by foreign entities to buy African land, sudden growth in farm numbers and commercial farming, artificial rain where possible, deliberate river diversions, lower unemployment rates, lower crime rates and higher taxation on food crops. So what are we waiting for? lets go farming! all we now need are good rains and constructive deliberate policy to empower the local african farmer to do more than carry just a hoe, we need to mechanise him, make him understand a P & L acount, we need to make him 'more' and he doesnt have to spend 4 years in Bunda Uni for that.

Suddenly it becomes clear why Mugabe is such a pariah to the British political set-up, he disturbed a critical link in the chain of food supply to the motherland, by taking away the land from the British farmer he deprived the British public of a steady guaranteed source of fresh food, Zimbabwe was a solid British farm in Africa, processing units, whole businesses prior to the market shelf were disturbed, the number of cargo flights between Harare and London fell etceteras etceteras, it must have been a multi-million pound loss, it still is for both Zimbabwe and 'Britain'.

Back to Malawi's parliament and they are still bickering and running around in small circles, and the bankers, they'll still only lend to the already rich- history will not be kind to us. Another lost opportunity. Reminds me of an old Queen (Freddie Mercury) song's lyrics- 'I am a great pretender, I pretend too much'.

Patriotism: Preaching Water and Drinking Wine?

By Rejoice Ngwenya Besides being a Freelance Writer in Zimbabwe, Rejoice runs his own policy dialogue ‘think tank’ called Coalition for Market & Liberal Solutions: COMALISO More articles by this writter...

http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles_editor.php?editor=90

A mist of self-deception has for long engulfed self-proclaimed life presidents in Africa, that anybody that does not echo the chords of their discorded, tyrannical hymn sheets is 'unpatriotic'. Perhaps they may be right, that if one, according to my Collins Dictionary, does not 'vigorously protect one's country and way of life', they fall under the category of what Robert Mugabe repeatedly calls ‘sell-outs.’ But then patriotism is not synonymous with blind faith, or dogmatic allegiance to one man's selfish wishes.

One cannot package patriotism and shelf it, only to retrieve it at the whim and desire of a dictator. It is neither meant to be a consideration for subservience and servitude nor a preserve of an incumbent president. When citizens are dazed and anaesthetized with calculated repression, they cannot be said to be patriotic. When Zimbabweans are said to be resilient and resistant to the transgressions of their forceful rulers, they do not pass the test of patriotism.
Patriotism is not situational, a self-proclaimed clarion of nation state bravado, waved and engraved on national coats of arms. We cannot claim that since Cubans have 'resisted' American 'sanctions' for forty-five years, they are patriotic. It is Fidel Castro who has soothed his ego for that long and gropes around in the political wilderness for collective national stupidity that he terms patriotism. Can we label Ugandans and Libyans, who have laboured under the yoke of skewed pan-African fundamentalism as patriotic? It is Yoweri Museveni and Muamar Gaddafi who have framed the definition of the word and displayed it on their fireplaces. We could not claim that Kenyans, under the poisonous political excesses of Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi were patriotic, or that Malawians of the Kamuzu Banda era, the Zambians of the life and times of Kenneth Kaunda; the Mozambicans of Samora Machel and of course the Zimbabweans of Robert Gabriel Mugabe - were and are patriotic!

Patriotism is a spiritual condition of belonging, an acceptance that one's culture, national boundary, identity is unique. It is not an expression of superiority, but a humble acceptance of belonging. Patriotism without high self-esteem is superficial. When your ego has been bruised and brutalised, you lose self-respect. When your liberty has been vandalised, your privacy ransacked by those who are elected to protect your liberty, your patriotism is punctured. We Zimbabweans are patriotic not because we have 'resisted' Tony Blair, or snubbed George Bush. We have absorbed the curses and insults of xenophobic South Africans, Tswanas and British in pursuance of our dreams that have been bludgeoned by those who were elected to govern us. When a citizen ceases to command respect within his or her boundaries, and takes the option of enforced exile, they cannot be accused of being unpatriotic. Patriotism is not an exchangeable commodity that loses or accumulates value as one crosses the border. It is not about one man and his anointed cronies parceling it out at political rallies in exchange for delirious ululation.

Patriotism is a birthright, inalienable and life long. Presidents of Africa who masquarade on the grand regional, continental and global political stage as defenders of patriotism, but back home their citizens have no bread, milk, sugar, petrol, water, medical drugs, electricity, civic and political rights cannot claim a morsel of knowledge of what patriotism is about.

For Zimbabweans, patriotism is not according to the rulebook of ZANUpf and Robert Mugabe, no, it is what we feel. In Zimbabwe, the word has been desecrated, adulterated, poisoned, infringed, shredded and diluted with obscene and obnoxious, if not primitive and archaic political patronage. Let African dictators keep their version of patriotism in the annals of their forgettable, yet impeachable history. To us, it's simply - superficial, when they say it.

MUGABE- DEGREES ARE NOW ATTACKED

EVERYTHING WITH THE MUGABE NAME ON IT IS UNDER ATTACK NOW IT SEEMS...........
BBC NEWS
Thursday, 7 June 2007, 14:44 GMT 15:44 UK

Mugabe unconcerned by degree loss

The president has been accused of human rights abusesZimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will not lose sleep over being stripped of an honorary degree, a leading government official has said.
Edinburgh University announced on Wednesday it would withdraw the degree it awarded to Mugabe in 1984. The university cited human rights violations by the Zimbabwe government for its decision.

But Zimbabwe's deputy information minister, Bright Matonga, said the move was meant to embarrass Mr Mugabe. The president was awarded the degree for his services to education in Africa, but has since been criticised by Western countries for a crackdown on political opponents and creating economic problems in the African country. 'If they are basing this decision on humanitarian grounds, they should look at their history during slavery ' Bright MatongaDeputy Information Minister

The decision to strip him of his honorary degree was welcomed by university staff, students, politicians and human rights campaigners. Mr Matonga said the move was "politically motivated" and accused the Scottish university of hypocrisy. He added: "The president will not lose any sleep over this. He has acquired no less than seven degrees on his own. He's a well-read president, better than their (Tony) Blair and (George W.) Bush. "They can keep their degrees and we'll keep our Zimbabwe. Even the so-called knighthood he does not need."

Mr Mugabe led the former British colony to independence in 1980 and has remained in office ever since. He was made an honorary Knight Commander of Britain's Order of the Bath in 1994.

Contacted in writing Mr Matonga added: "If they are basing this decision on humanitarian grounds, they should look at their history during slavery. "They should also look at their prime minister - 600,000 people have died in Iraq as a consequence of his actions in aiding and abetting Bush's war."

Mr Mugabe will be contacted in writing by the university and will be given the opportunity to respond to the decision. The controversy surrounding the degree reached Westminster, with Edinburgh South Labour MP Nigel Griffiths tabling a motion in the Commons to have it withdrawn.

It is believed Michigan State University and The University of Massachusetts in the US are also considering stripping degrees from Mr Mugabe.