Tsvangirai has many degrees in leadership
By Herbert Mugwagwa
ZANU(PF) seems paranoid and even the article written by their faithful but ‘lost’ propagandist Dr Tafataona Mahoso shows that it is so (Sunday Mail,16-22 September 2012 refers).
The old scholar first gives an example of the bilateral relationship between the USA and Chile and states that the reason why there was regime change in Chile was because the Americans knew more about Chile than the Chileans themselves!
He forgets that the regime in Chile crumbled because it was led by a despot and a tyrant who allowed graft and corruption to take place and sowed the seeds of its own destruction! He forgets, deliberately, that the ruling party in Chile could, like ZANU(PF) officials, have sold out State secrets to Americans and hence that’s the reason why Americans know more about Chile and Zimbabwe.
Imagine if it had been American officials who had done that! Dr Mahoso believes the COPAC constitution is bad because it opens up State secrets to people because of a clause he correctly quotes but incorrectly interprets which says everyone has a right to any information held by the State and its institutions ‘insofar as the information is required for the exercise or protection of a right or in the interest of public accountability.’
He obviously misses the intent and purpose of this clause. I can not go say to the army and ask the number of rifles they have but obviously say a civil servant who needs an increment can demand to know the amount of revenue the Ministry of Finance is making because he has a right to equal pay for equal work. A resident may demand to know the amount of money allocated for road refurbishment in his area and how it was used.
This is now standard practice all over the world! The Biblical allusion made by the Doctor is a typical example of misfiring. He quotes well from 2 Chronicles 32 but with neither the ability to exegete nor to apply Scripture goes on a tangent. The Scripture talks about Hezekiah who entertained spies from Babylon and showed them everything in his kingdom including granaries, treasures and weaponry. So which citizens of Zimbabwe can be equated to the spies of Babylon here?
Which spies has Zimbabwe, through the COPAC draft, opened up to? Citizens pursuing their rights and greater accountability of the State and its agencies? Such an argument defies logic. He then begins to quote from American Acts of Parliament like the Patriot Act and Defence Authorisation Act and what they are about but never mentions the Constitution of the USA. To him, obviously the constitution and acts of parliament are the same. And these are the fundis that give ZANU(PF) advice! Shame!
No wonder why that party has gone to the dogs! So neither the Biblical Reference nor the political reference holds water. Then there is a paragraph that was thrown in for good measure involving Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. He states that he went to the USA in order to be told what to do and yet all know he had been invited to the Democratic Party Convention. What Mahoso wants to do is to demean the PM by painting a picture of him as a stooge of the West like they always do. Mugabe has been to the west more times than Tsvangirai but has never been insulted that way!
Mahoso wants people to think that Mr Tsvangirai can not think on his own and hence the whites have to do it for him. This comes from the strange ZANU mentality that leaders have to have an array of degrees(even if they don’t think!), a mindset that made them ridicule their Vice President Simon Vengai Muzenda all his life and failed to respect him as leader despite his qualities. Mr Tsvangirai has many degrees, not in violence, but in leadership and logic and thats why Mr Mugabe can no longer call the shots in this country alone.
And when he had ground the country to a halt through ineptitude and inability it took Tsvangirai to move it forward again. And when ZANU leaders were clueless as to what to do or where to go it took MDC (Tsvangirai’s) leaders like Tendai Biti, Nelson Chamisa, Giles Mutseyikwa and Thokozani Khupe to show direction and lead the way. And when Tsvangirai fired corrupt MDC councillors Minister Ignatious Chombo reinstated them because obviously ZANU(PF) believes leaders have to steal and they believe in corruption.
No, Chombo despite his doctorate, didn’t comprehend what the PM intended just as Mahoso doesn’t show understanding of the COPAC draft. Even the draft clauses on homosexuality, devolution, the Attorney General etc seem not to have been understood. An explanation of the constitution, acts of parliament, statutory instruments and circulars need to be done especially at the Second Stakeholders Conference.
Perhaps ZANU is paranoid because they can read situations well and can see they do not have an iota of a chance against MDC both at the referendum and elections and hence the cry baby attitude, delaying tactics and futile attempts to delay real change for the people. InDepthAfrica.com
