They will not vote

The debacle involving the candidates for our elections continue to mount, and I am getting a sense of despair from friends and relatives back home.

Funny, the interest generated by Makoni does not seem to have lasted more than a week. Is it a good sign or shock, that the announcement of a candidate can draw a damp squib on what should be already a politically volatile nation?

The mind boggles. I am forced to predict a reinactment of the various phases of elections in Zimbabwe. As we get closer, ZANU PF will get pretty much violent, and the other people will begin to cower and count their opportunity costs before stepping out to go and vote.

The astute tones of unveiled violence and threats are coming out in the press statements made by good old Morgan in South Africa, and, instead of spreading his manifesto he has taken to making a swipe at the other candidates for the electoral race.

People will not vote in an environment where they feel distanced from the decision making process. We are not a part of the system, and therefore we are not going to make any change.

Thus pretty much of the population will see march 29 as a day in passing. No one will go to vote because it will change nothing.

MDC Mutambara to Court Makoni

In a statement released yesterday, the Movement for Democratic Change (Mutambara) faction declared that it would consider engaging with Makoni ahead of the Presidential elections.
The statement reads, in part, The MDC National Council met today (10 February) to review and consider the candidate selection process going on throughout the country for the harmonized elections scheduled for the 29^th March 2008.

Council expressed satisfaction with the progress which has been made to date, and called for finalisation of the process at all levels.

Council also noted the recent announcement by Dr Simba Makoni that he will stand as a Presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections. Council mandated the Party’s Management Committee to remain engaged with all progressive Opposition formations desirous of creating a united front to confront the Mugabe regime in the forthcoming elections within a single candidate philosophy framework.

The move is in stark contrast to the declaration made by Morgan Tsvangirai's faction against a union of forces with Makoni. According to Zimdaily, Morgan's faction has categorically dismissed any coalition with Makoni, or Mutambara for that matter.

With the support that Makoni is receiving at present, coupled with sterling work carried out by the hoard of MP's under the Mutambara faction; the coalition may just prove to be the best move yet for either of the two. It remains to be seen whether Makoni will accede to the open call. Recent reports declare that he still has ties with the old ZANU PF and has in fact got the backing of disgruntled stalwarts who may not be so willing to tie with the MDC just yet.

We wait to see what the future holds.

Civic Society Backs Tsvangirai?

State media remains adamant that Simba Makoni made the wrong move. Today's article spoke about how political heavy weights in ZANU PF who wanted to come out and support him felt cheated to the chase when Makoni made an "imature" announcement of his candidacy.

Madhuku has been quoted by the same paper as saying his coalition of members will not support Makoni, but would rather side with Tsvangirai as the viable conduit of change.

Amazing, isnt it? Just a few days ago sections of the Crisis in Zimbabwe coalition celebrated the coming of the new man onto the fighting table. Can be that we are looking at two sides of the civic sector coming in and attempting to hold sway.

I am a bit concerned about the open declarations of support by purportedly non governmental institutions at this stage of the fight. Anything can go, and go for either good or bad at that. There is need for the civic movement to desist from trying to influence public sway by commenting on an issue that ultimately will rest with the millions of voters back at home.

I trust that Madhuku and the others who follow him have a good picture about who will win. Not too long ago the man who is now advocating the support of Tsvangirai was saying elections were doomed, ZANU PF will win.

Then again, Madhuku has been in the struggle for some time now. He has brushed shoulders with the high and mighty. He should know.

Ah well.

Simba Makoni 101

The villages are abuzz with the latest move by Simba Makoni to stand as an independent and contest the Zimbabwean Presidency. They speak in English, they speak in French, they speak in Zimbabwe, they speak in Britain.

Brian Kagoro's interview on newzimbabwe is an eye opener. (Click here) Kagoro sees Makoni's announcement as provident. It could be worth the MDCs' while to form a coalition with him and determine the one person who will represent the change that will face Mugabe.

Bloody witches!

Corporate acquisitions sometimes can sound the dearth knell to rising companies and organizations.

Indeed, initial by ins appear glamorous for the young organization, but sadly they end up swallowing the idea and making bitter any merger.

This is due to the way the bigger organization strives, by all means necessary, to make the smaller organization attune itself to the struggles and hopes of the bigger and more corporate enterprise at the expense of the smaller company whose success, in many cases, has been as a direct result of its ability to hold its own vision and share it right along the production chain.

Staff in up and coming companies have greater belonging than those in corporate. It’s a simple matter of fact cultured upon the understanding that it is the individual in a small organization who makes it sink or swim.

Larger corporate organizations distance the worker. In their desire to make profit they commodity the worker and make him or her part of the assets, not part of the chain process making things work. When the corporate registers a success, it is not shared with the staff; rather, it is celebrated in board rooms.

Yes, even when the manager comes to shake the hand of the member of staff, not team member mind you, it’s a passing trifle; as if they have been forced.

It’s enough to make one cry when the initial idea goes falling to the ground and there appears to be no other way to provide succor.

The bigger organization, understanding, always that there is need to make money, and more money at that, work to make the smaller organization feel that its original idea should go hang.

If anything, the tussle becomes one of do it my way, or I will swallow your organization and make sure that it will not be heard again.

In Zimbabwe, small business is paying dearly for making it in difficult times. I would applaud attempts by business angels; you know, the ones with a penchant for buying big cars and naming them after personal vendettas, to provide support for the small organizations so that they stand on their feet and hang on a little more.

Small business is giving jobs to many talented people back home. Had the situation been different, it would be the same small organizations working to make the country great. Give them a chance!

Failed Reunification, by Stella Allberry

Failed reunification, my account of what I experienced that tragic weekend

Stella Allberry, National Executive -Secretary for Health, MDC (Mutambara)
7 February 2008

When our National Council ( MDC Arthur Mutambara ) was requested to attend an extraordinary National Council Meeting for the reunification process, there were mixed emotions as we travelled to Harare.

Many of us had been deeply hurt in the last couple of years, and quite frankly were proud to be part of a sincere and principled group that were of one heart and vision, working tirelessly for the betterment of our country. We all knew that for the sake of all our beloved Zimbabweans we had to do all that was in our power to have a united front against Mugabe to free the people of Zimbabwe.

We were secure that we would make the right decision. Ten of our top leadership had been working again on some type of agreement (the last one a coalition agreement had been rejected by the Tsvangirai formation in April last year). This was a reunification agreement. On Saturday morning we were presented with a document that the top ten from both parties had agreed upon. They told of endless debates being held until the early hours of many mornings, saying they faced the hardest negotiations of their lives.

The document they showed us a fully comprehensive one and I attach it here so you may see for yourself what it is all about. The reunification process seemed fair and just in every way and culminating in a reunification congress shortly after elections dissolving both parties and making one reunited MDC. We debated vigorously but sensibly. Our concerns though were few and not too major. Our unity was incredibly evident, with our desire for freedom and an end to the suffering of our nation being our focus.

The new seats allocation between the two formations was a little disappointing for our side, effectively giving the Tsvangirai formation approximately 70% in 6 provinces, 50% in 1 province and 30% in the 3 Matabeleland provinces, but we recognised that all agreements require a considerable amount of compromise and tolerance. By 12 midday we had adopted the agreement and were ready to meet with the other team and sign it into being. I even had a romantic notion of the two leaders holding clasped hands up in the air to a roar of Chinja Maitiro ...... Instead we waited for four hours while the Tsvangirai formation debated.

Eventually our top ten were called back into negotiations. The Tsvangirai formation's National Council had been debating at the same time as us and could not accept what their top ten had negotiated for them. From 4pm until 8 30 pm we waited and were then told that the Tsvangirai formation were sticking over the point of wanting to have two more seats in Bulawayo. We had already compromised in other areas- for example we had agreed to only have 28% of seats in Harare, even though we were entitled in terms of our agreement to at least 33%.

Arthur had asked them to please make a decision one way or the other by the next morning, as we just could not debate further. The Tsvangirai formation's Bulawayo contingency were, it seemed, really fighting the process, and I couldn't help but cry in my heart: " Please, please remember the bigger picture for the people." Sunday morning our leadership called us in and we heard that the Tsvangirai Formation had brought an entirely new and different demand to the table. Funnily enough the Sunday Mail newspaper heard before us.

We were told that the Tsvangirai formation wanted 50 % of all the Matabeleland and Bulawayo seats, including those where our MPs were already sitting and further they would not guarantee not fielding in the other 50%! Taking 26 and then halving the voters in the other half! Where was the good will towards a uniting MDC? We were blown away! A few of us women cried and I even had an opportunity of saying with a broken heart "Do we give it to them to stop the suffering of the people?" But even as I said it, I thought what will we be doing for the people of Zimbabwe?

If we give them greedy MPs who think only of themselves anyway, are we not betraying them more? Arthur and Welshman ( our Secretary General ) both looked me directly in my face and asked if I had an idea of what to do and said they had tried their absolute hardest...... The press conference was given and we are going alone. I see that Eddie Cross has written of the gloom in our camp. Yes, that is true, but not because we cried for ourselves. There is no doubt that our gloom was shared by millions of patriotic Zimbabweans who hoped that people would put personal interests aside for National interest- something that the Tsvangirai formation has failed to do.

Eddie also has written that the decision not to form a united front was" received favourably across the nation.." Whilst I have no doubt it was received favourably in State House and by Zanu PF throughout the nation, I think the truth is that most reasonable Zimbabweans were deeply disappointed. Yes Eddie, we are very very sad, but not for ourselves. In fact, to stand with principled people is the greatest honour of my life.

I will never stop fighting this regime as long as I have breath in my body and I have no feeling of guilt or shame in the choices we have made because we gave it our best shot. We must now take on the brutal Zanu Pf regime divided - but we will do so with courage and determination

Image Source::http://www.inkundla.net/images

Image no t part of original statement by Stella. Mazheve's placement

Then there was light!

Hopes have been rekindled with the announcement that Simba Makoni is in the running for the presidency today in Harare.

Zimdaily.com sent fevers to dizzying heights across the diaspora with the news. The paper quotes him as saying,

“Following very extensive and intensive consultations with party members and activists countrywide and also with others outside the party, I have accepted the call and hereby advise the people of Zimbabwe that I offer myself as candidate for the office of president,”

Its a decision many have been hoping he would make, considering how the maverick politician has managed to strike s pose of calm and sanity amid the chaos and decay that has been Zimbabwean Politics over the past decades.

A lot will attest to Makoni's calm demeanour and level headedness. He has, for long being the level and dashing young boy of Zimbabwean politics who has weathered the storms and not grown the precarious pouch of political greed and economic flatulance. His handling of economic policy, for what it was worth comes highly recommended.

He is adept to the cries of the people. “Let me confirm that I share the agony and anguish of all citizens over the extreme hardships that we all have endured for nearly 10 years now. I also share the widely held view that these hardships are a result of failure of national leadership and that change at that level is a pre-requisite for change at other levels of national endeavor.” he says through the same paper.

It would be mischieveous for Zimdaily and its sources to play tricks on us. this kind of joy cannot be too good to be true now!

I just pray THEY dont get him involved in a nasty accident. If he is still alive by the time we get to the polls, I will ask leave from them that give me money here; I will pack my bags right here, set them aside for safekeeping till I return, and then I will leave;

Don't claim elections were rigged

It appears a united force among the ranks of the opposition will not be a reality after all in Zimbabwe. What a shame?

Opposition politics started to lose its plot when it began to pat itself on the back for a job well done. This was after the shakedown of 2000, when, in a record 8 months or less, a new and vibrant opposition party came and gave urban voters a sense of hope in new things to come.

The hope was kept steady again in 2004, and, while it began to teeter as the organisation reached its 6th year, people did not get to consider the real reasons behind the demise of the MDC.

A lot would be quick to blame ZANU PF for the breakdown in the party; above all, ZANU PF has infiltrators everywhere!

Right?

Wrong!

For when greed and avarice enters a "democratic" voice , echoes of dissention resonate so loud it becomes virtually impossible to make any form of order. The party derives its strength less on its capacity to hold its thing together, than in a display of outright power and inhouse squabbling.

A faction broke away from Tsvangirai after realizing his penchant for vetoing the constitution. The party can never speak of Unity again, because the same accusations arose once again late last year, and the party was rocked into running battles.

If only they knew how people are dying for change in the country. If only they knew that an opposition that is strong and united and in principle opposed to bad governance and disunity will win, then they would not wish to split votes the way they have done.

It will be ZANU PF , with its list of members right down to the last Cell. It will be ZANU PF, which reckons well the advice that you do not skin a skunk upwind or you will incur the wrath of your fellow villagers! It wil be ZANU PF, harbouring accusations of vote rigging, vote buying, call it what you will; that will win the elections in 2008.

Dont claim they would have rigged.

I died 2 days back

When you get to a new country. You must take a pinch of its soil and put it into your mouth. Savour the taste of the earth, and she will accept you as her son and mate.

For when we are born in our motherland the umbilical cord is interred in mother earth. It is not the medical doctor alone who keeps your health in check; it is the spirits of those gone before, interred in the earth and living, ever living, close to the One who created all Human Kind.

A lot of us who flee the land forget this. Caught up in mire or admiration, customs that have been the mainstay of our livelihood are thrown out of the window. In the end, we suffer stomach pains, caughs, heat and cold pangs; we miss home.

I thought I was going to die. The wave of heat hit me square in the tummy and made me sweat and squirm. I could feel the veins in my head thumping, and I could not make out if what I was seeing were people or spirits.

I lay dead for some seconds. While i was dead, I thought of the many people who, throbbed by pain and suffering each day, just wish they would die, go to waste and be forgotten.

Sickness is a very bad thing.

I received an email from a friend before I died. It was meant to be a warning about the vices of being a he whore in a land not yours; AIDS kills.

Lying on a hospital bed was a sceletalwoman, naked and dead. At her feet were red flowers and a picture of her during her prime. The message in the chain email was; she did not listen to advice about restraint, now she is dead.

How callous can we be? In seeking restraint should we judge the sick and dying, and show no compassion for the ones in pain?

My dying seconds taught me the value of good health.

Send a prayer today to people who are sick in this world. Particularly those who take photos of naked women who have died of AIDS, and parade them as warning signs to the rest of the world.