Opinion

By Luke Tamborinyoka Today, 23 January 2023, marks exactly four years after we lost the great Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, the master of song who entertained and charmed this nation for decades. Today I republish an edited version of the obituary that I wrote when the legendary icon passed away in January 2019, leaving a teary nation in a massive sense of loss and bemusement. And only some 72 hours or so ago, we lost mbira queen gogo Stella Chiweshe. They are dying in droves, these iconic musicians who oozed brilliance in the class of their art. In the wake of Winky D's popular Eureka music album which has resonated with ordinary citizens but has riled the ruling elite for its politically tinged lyrics, we continue to be reminded of art's capacity to grip an entire nation and to spawn debate and animated conversations across the country. It is against this background that we today remember the great Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi, the boy from Dande whose music charmed and wowed this nation for decades.

By Tendai Ruben Mbofana I remember my dear late father telling me how some companies during the former times determined salaries for their employees. He said that the management would sit the employee down, question him about his lifestyle, financial responsibilities and average household budget, as well as plans and goals in life. In so doing, the company would work out how much the worker really needed – as opposed to giving someone money that he would simply waste on frivolity, such as drinking or other reckless irresponsible behavior. That way, it was hoped, the company would ensure that its own expenditure was strictly managed – particularly, the payroll, which, in most cases, is the biggest expense in any organization – since, workers were not paid money what they did not know how to use. I thought that was a pretty good way of running a business – as it not only showed astuteness on the part of the company in saving money – but, also encouraged the workforce to be more responsible with the money they earned, as a way to actually be paid more. This story by my dad came back to my mind, as I watched how Zimbabweans appeared so fond of celebrating and cheering mediocrity – more specifically, by way of shambolic and laughable government programs, which are supposed to be regarded as the height of achievement and development. Surely, why would anyone in their right mind find anything particularly exciting about being given handouts and free agricultural inputs, or being reduced to a subsistence small scale farmer all his life – through such programs as ‘Pfumvudza’?

The UK House of Lords on Thursday debated Zimbabwe’s bid to re-join the Commonwealth with some peers pressing the British government on what measures it was taking to block Harare’s re-admission. Below is the introduction to the full speech by one of them, Lord Jonathan Oates. My Lords, I have initiated this debate to emphasise the severe damage that would be done to the reputation of the Commonwealth, to the upholding of values of democratic and human rights within the Commonwealth and to the Zimbabwe people’s struggle against tyranny, if Zimbabwe were to be readmitted while its government remains in flagrant violation of the Commonwealth Charter and of the Commonwealth’s 1991 Harare Declaration. Reports following the visit of a Commonwealth delegation to Zimbabwe on November 12th last year, strongly suggested that Zimbabwe was on course to be readmitted, possibly even before the General Elections, due this year. Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Zimbabwe – of which I declare an interest as co-Chair – also came to understand that the UK government was not minded to oppose readmission, because it did not want to be isolated on the issue. I understand the government’s sensitivity given the UK’s deeply troubled history in Zimbabwe. However, ignoring the oppression faced by the people of Zimbabwe today does not atone for past oppression inflicted under colonial rule. On the contrary, it compounds it.

By Eddie Cross: "If we abandoned exchange control, floated our own currency and established a proper market for the currencies being traded, our own dollar would quickly re-emerge as first choice and emerge as a strong regional currency like the Pula and the Kwacha. "Second on my list of priorities would be to fix agriculture. We know what is required - a bankable long term lease for land, a market for farm land and a resumption of bank lending on a commercial basis to our farmers. "Command agriculture has failed and we have not put anything in its place. Until we do our farms will remain desolate and unproductive. We have all the ingredients for success - farm land, water, a decent climate, the knowledge and scientific know how as well as markets for just about anything we can produce."

By Luke Tamborinyoka Today is Friday the 13th, that mythical day fraught with so many mystic beliefs. But that is a story for another day. Let me begin by saying that stories and scandals that make national headlines have a certain remoteness about them because they may be about matters that appear to be far removed from the areas we live in. Be they stories about corruption, rape , murder, political violence or even the abuse of the school-going girl child, they remain events happening out there, far removed from what we deem to be the innocent reality in our immediate environment. The stories and scandals that occupy spangled banner colours in our national newspapers only begin to make sense and to infuse a sense of shock and rude awakening when they happen in our own communities. That is exactly what happened to me earlier this week. My rural hood and birthplace is Tamborenyoka village in Shumba ward, Domboshava, some 45 or so kilometres north-east of Harare. On the eve of the opening of schools early this week, I heard a harrowing story that made my heart to skip. I was reliably told that this term at our local Tsatse Secondary school, there is a Form Four North class that has only two girls. This is because the rest, well over 15 of them, have dropped out for other reasons but for most of them, they simply got pregnant and eloped.

By Blessing Taona Denhere Accordingly, Eureka Eureka album is the apt metaphor of protest music crafted in the rebellious tradition of provoking and spotlighting the socioeconomic and the socio-political ills within our society. It follows in the tradition of protest albums such as Hokoyo, Chimurenga Explosion and Chimurenga Rebel by Thomas Mapfumo and also Hodho by Leonard Zhakata and many others. The two songs which have ignited the most debate due to their politically charged and socially conscientizing lyrics are Ibotso and Dzimba Dzemabwe.

By Dr. Phillan Zamchiya In my view, if any legal challenge is going to place GERRYMANDERING at the centre it is easier for such a case to crumble like a deck of cards. Why? Reader, GERRYMANDERING involves drawing constituencies and wards to shape the electoral outcome in favour of a particular political party or contestant. So this approach will require the applicant to prove the cited electorate’s voting preference. This is because the issue will be about the swapping of potential voters between constituencies and wards to achieve a particular partisan outcome. I know I use gerrymandering in my articles on the delimitation report but it is because I have evidence through studying voter inclinations in most constituencies in Zimbabwe. Reader, but even that scientific knowledge can easily be rendered useless in Zimbabwe’s higher courts proven to be largely beholden to the executive (hence not my favourite path) especially when it comes to rulings that concern the saddle of state power.

Dr Phillan Zamchiya Dear Reader, Zimbabwe’s draft delimitation report tabled in parliament today the 6th of January 2023 in line with section 161 of the constitution threatens electoral democracy in a subtle but deadly way. The report is 509 pages and has an anexure with 995 pages and maps. The report compiled by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which is the statutory body mandated to run national elections presents the preliminary wards and 210 constituencies that can be used in the coming July/August 2023 general election if completed by 28 January 2023.

By Luke Tamborinyoka Today is New Year's Day. Today we begin a watershed year in which Zimbabwe holds a crucial election that carries so much promise and hope across the sectors. For the country's teachers, nurses, our uniformed forces, the intelligence services, housewives, informal traders, school children, traditional leaders, farmers, businesspersons and ordinary citizens, 2023 is a crucial year that will showcase the audacity of hope. We all hope that our enduring hope will see the realisation of our collective whims and aspirations as a people. We all begin the year today armed with so much hope that this is the year we have all been waiting for; the year in which a watershed election will yield a transformative leadership that will truly get our country working again. The title for this week’s re-worked piece is borrowed from Barack Obama’s 2007 book published by Canongate Books Limited. The title speaks to a people’s avowed faith that all shall be well; that a day shall come when their aspirations, the toil of their endeavour and the sweat of their labour, shall all yield a positive change in their lived circumstance.

By Tendai Ruben Mbofana I cannot stand it when the powerful and wealthy whine over clearly banal ‘injustices' inflicted upon their high and mighty little angels – yet, these same people have, themselves, perpetrated the most heinous and savage crimes against innocent defenseless children, under their jurisdiction. It was the height of arrogance and craziness when the ruling ZANU PF secretary for finance Patrick Chinamasa threw a childish tantrum on Twitter – demanding answers as to why his then 13 year old daughter, Gamuchirai, was included on the US sanctions list, targeted at some top Zimbabwe officials and entities accused of grievous human rights abuses and rampant corruption. Under normal circumstances I would have swiftly added my weight to Chinamasa's seemingly legitimate questions – since, surely, on what grounds could a mere 13 year old be designated as a human rights abuser or engaged in corrupt activities that may cripple the economy of Zimbabwe, or more specifically regarded as posing a threat to US national interests? However, in his angry tirade, Chinamasa conveniently forgot one critical point – as ordinary Zimbabweans, who have endured much untold suffering under his political party’s disastrous, ruinous and murderous reign - there is very little sympathy for an elitist few, who choose to thrown a fit over their daughters being denied an opportunity to enjoy their privileged lifestyles in the US.