By Tendai Ruben Mbofana
There have been those who have asked me for a comment on statements by Professor Jonathan Moyo, and his relentless attacks on the main opposition CCC party - disparaging its lack of a constitution and visible structures.
In most cases, I have respectfully refused to comment, and reserved my sentiments.
Why?
Quite frankly, I strongly feel that most of the debates on social media, more so on Twitter, are far divorced from real issues that ordinary poverty-stricken Zimbabweans are grappling with on a daily basis - as Twimbos (Zimbabweans on Twitter) are bogged down on matters and arguments that can best be described as elitist and out of touch with the grim realities on the ground for the population.
By Grace Kwinjeh
I wrote a while back that chances of Emmerson Mnangwagwa’s name appearing on the ballot paper in the next harmonised elections in 2023 are very slim.
Well, the first victim of his unbridled abuse of office and power, Susan Mutami has spoken. With courage and conviction Mutami explains how she was raped by Mnangagwa, then a minor under his care - just 15 years old.
A chilling narration, that left Zimbabweans and the world shell-shocked. But, apparently there are more to come.
By Luke Tamborinyoka
Zimbabwe and Malawi have always had close ties. The railway line that ran from Harare to Blantyre in the years when Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi were part of what was then called the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is evidence of close-knit ties between the peoples of the two countries. There is even a narrative in the corridors that the former Zimbabwe President had his roots in Malawi while the same rumour-mill locates the origins of the current one in Mumbwa, Zambia. But that is a story for another day. The point is that there has always been a close relationship in both the politics and the people of Malawi and Zimbabwe.
This week, we focus on the commonality and similarity between the unravelling political developments in Zimbabwe and Malawi; the gipping story of betrayal, of purported agreements that have now been flouted between the Presidents and Vice Presidents that the former will allow the latter to take over the Presidency after running their single terms. The running common story in both countries is that there was an agreement that the two respective deputies will take over the reins after their bosses had served their terms. But as their single terms run out, both Zimbabwe President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and his Malawian counterpart Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera are reportedly digging in, in the process shutting out their deputies Retired General Constantino Chiwenga and Saulos Klaus Chilima from enjoying their hour in the sun. The cracks in the Presidency have triggered a high political noon in both counties as there is palpable elite rupture.
Tendai Ruben Mbofana: "As our country's esteemed teachers leave their banks, shaking their heads in utter disbelief and disgust, at the continued brazen insults at the hands of their employer, after the recently promised 100 percent salary increment, amounted to a disgraceful US$48 net earning - it is time they finally make the tough choice whether they want to finally be taken seriously by the government, or remain willing punching bags, always taken for granted as toothless bulldogs, who cannot stand up for themselves."
By Luke Tamborinyoka
It has been the week that the Zanu PF second-in-command’s daughter was appointed as a ZEC commissioner; the same week that the Zanu PF national spokesperson bragged that the national army was part of their party structures.
It has been the week in which a video has gone viral in which a Zanu PF supporter says Nelson Chamisa must be killed; and in which yet another party mandarin quips that Chamisa’s children too must be eliminated.
Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa's blood--soaked legacy as well as the callous murders of Nyasha Zhambe, Mboneni Ncube and Moreblessings Ali mean that the threats must be taken seriously.
Eddie Cross: "In the past few weeks, the debate has raged across this country as to what we should be doing to bring some stability to our financial system and to control inflation. In both respects, after some progress in 2021, the first seven months of 2022 have revealed serious weaknesses and distortions in our present policy environment."
By Douglas Mwonzora
There has been very little or no explanation of the Pomona Deal to the general public either by government, stakeholders and or opposition political parties, save for misinformation. The MDC continues to be unfairly victimized and used as a convenient scapegoat by some political players and sections of the media which took to attack us without paying due attention to detail.
By Grace Kwinjeh
King Léopold 11 never set a foot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but his daunting ghost still haunts the country and its neighbours today.
A result of the enduring impact of the merciless genocidal plunder he presided over – in which millions of Congolese would be massacred.
That small country, “petit pays” and small people “petites gens”, still bears heavy political responsibility for the trail of historical destruction, that has followed the King’s deeply entrenched political mischief in Africa.
Writing his last letter to his wife Pauline, from Thysville prison, the first democratically elected Prime-Minister of the DRC, Patrice Lumumba, whose brutal assassination Belgium is still to take full responsibility, said: “the day will come when history will speak. But it will not be the history which will be taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations…Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity”.
Indeed! A history of ‘glory’ and ‘dignity’ being told in Africa, but, in order to allow for closure and healing – exposing perpetrators, deniers and revisionists is key.
By Grace Kwinjeh
The attacks against Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson, Advocate Fadzayi Mahere, are not only diabolic but very unfortunate.
There is a background to this, in a deeply entrenched patriarchal society, in which powerful women who have a voice, suffer incredible attacks in order to cow them into silence.
‘kumupa size.’ Some men brag after attacking a female.
In order to redirect attention, when losing an argument men turn to sexual objectification.
Dr Pedzisai Ruhanya: "Through my conversations with him, Alex was of the view that any group that wants to democratise politics in Zimbabwe and take over power at any historic moment must have its own agents of class projects, it must conquer at the levels of ideas, issue articulation subordinate groups and convince them to join the broader counter hegemonic organised masses through persuasion or what he called the battle of hearts and minds."
