Misinformed of the Diaspora: Tino Chinyoka

By Tino Chinyoka

I will quote in this piece from my favourite musician, Mzwake Mbuli, and from my friend Albert Nyathi. This in itself is not surprising, as the songs of protest and the pursuit for equal rights and excellence in this world has been Mzwake’s forte, and Nyathi’s inspiration.

From time to time people in the diaspora have voiced views contrary to the accepted wisdom in Zimbabwe, and have been dismissed out of hand by those that have stayed at home fighting the good fight and dodging the bad blows from Zanu PF’s minions.

We have been accused, by those that differ with us, of being armchair critics. We have been accused, by those that do not agree with us, of seeking relevance after long periods of silence. We have been accused, by those that do not see from our perspective, of being out of touch and ill-informed. I suppose there is a profile on some computer out there that is waiting for me to post my correct name: Misinformed of the Diaspora.

So, yes, allow me to write in this piece from an uninformed position. Allow me to expose my ignorance, and consign myself to irrelevance. The MDC and the Zanu PF are co-sponsoring a new constitution after all, one that will solve all our problems.

One that will put an end to rigged elections because it provides for independent verification of vote totals, allows for the appointment of a completely independent electoral commission by the Chief Justice or other independent authority, allows citizens to meet without any limitations in the interests of public order or some such similar basis, allows political parties equal share of television and radio time, allows for an independent delimitation commission so that constituencies are not made to favour Zanu PF, allows a free and fair press, and completely places the police within the civilian control of the Minister of Home Affairs. Oh yes, that constitution, which resides in the same place as other such notables as pie-in-the-sky, utopia, etc…

My friend Albert Nyathi once came to a meeting I was chairing and gave a rendition of his piece: I will not speak! Likewise, let me not speak.

Let me not speak about the police in Bulawayo who raided the Radio Dialogue offices last week and reportedly confiscated 180 solar and kinetic energy propelled radios from the premises. Why speak of such things, when we know that they were following well laid out procedures following reports that a genuine crime had been committed?

To suggest that this is somehow connected with anyone’s freedom of expression and right to impart or receive information is to be misinformed; the police in Zimbabwe are not partisan. They certainly won’t be after the new constitution, which will allow the Minister of Home Affairs to terminate the term of office of the police commissioner.

In fact, the new constitution provides that before someone is appointed police commissioner, they will be questioned by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Law and Order, to weed out anything and everything from incompetence to partisanship.

Only fully qualified and truly independent people will be police commissioner after the new constitution comes into play. So, I will not speak about any police raids or confiscations. I am, after all, in the diaspora and misinformed.

I will equally not speak about the violence that broke out in Mbare as youth group Chipangano members tried to greet their counterparts in the MDC-T at Shawasha Flats. The diaspora based media claims that Chipangano is a Zanu PF aligned ‘gang’, but have we ever read that from the truly independent Herald?

Zimpapers is majority government owned, and since the government is a GNU, it’s media outlets reflect the position of both parties to the GNU fairly. And equitably. If the media wants to claim that Chipangano is Zanu PF aligned, or that they beat up actual and perceived MDC supporters, let them.

It’s not like the State has a law that can allow the truly independent position to arrest journalists for telling people things that are not true. Besides, the new constitution specifically outlaws the regulation of the media, specifically provides that no licencing of radio stations or journalists will be tolerated as this is an interference with the right to information and freedom of expression, thought and conscience.

I am in the diaspora, so cannot understand that this is why people need to vote YES. What do I know, I am misinformed. Seeking relevance and spewing irrelevance. I have been accused, and rightly so, of being misinformed.

Why tricks and not solutions? Why would the MDC claim that it is a victim, when it is the party behind political violence. Let me not get started on speaking about this irony. Even Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo confirms that the MDC relies on violence as a campaign strategy. I will not speak on this at all.

Why should I? I might be in the diaspora, but I know that what Rugare Gumbo says is obviously true, since the MDC also control the Army, Police and the CIO. So, I will not speak about this again. The new constitution will no doubt cement this, making the police and CIO answerable to civilian authorities and not to the President alone. That is, after all, another reason why people are voting YES and only those uninformed in the diaspora want to rock the boat.

I will not speak about the NCA. I will simply not speak. Their application to challenge the referendum timetable foundered on the rock that is presidential discretion, which everyone knows is sacrosanct. Remember that time when the Old Man went to Malaysia and came back with an announcement that he had sold Hwange Power Station to a company called YTL?

That, is what it meant to be President in the old constitution, one had sovereign power. Of course, the new constitution severely curtails the powers of the President. He cannot dissolve parliament. He cannot call elections whenever he decides. He does not decide how many ministries there will be.

He does not need two Vice Presidents. He does not directly appoint the heads of the police, the CIO, the Human Rights Commission, the Attorney General, The Governor of the Reserve Bank, Provincial Governors. Heck, he is not Chancellor of all the State University, and does not appoint the Vice Chancellors.

He does not appoint judges. He, in fact, does not have the power to send soldiers to foreign wars without parliamentary permission. He is, truly, a people’s President, which is why people must vote YES. I will not speak about presidential powers. Those in the diaspora seeking relevance for themselves might want to suggest otherwise. I, will not speak, for I am misinformed.

A diaspora journalist, equally uninformed, recently wrote that calls for peaceful elections by President Robert Mugabe were ‘exposed as insincere after thugs from his Zanu PF party set ablaze the home of an MDC-T aspiring parliamentary candidate killing his 12 year old son Christpower Maisiri.’ He is in the diaspora, that is why he reports a mere accident as a arson attack. I will not speak.

And most definitely, I will not speak about the four Zanu PF activists named as having taken part in the murder of Christpower Maisiri, the same 12 year old son of an MDC-T aspiring candidate who was burnt to death after the hut he and his family was sleeping in was torched and who have not been questioned. Let me not even mention that the police blame fertilizer and paraffin lamps in the hut for causing this tragedy.

What do I know? I am, after all, in the diaspora and looking for some relevance.

Tino Chinyoka is a former student leader now a lawyer in the US. He is a columnist for Nehanda Radio