President Jacob Zuma of the Republic of South Africa speaking at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand on October 26, 2009. The RSA is the host for the PAP.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
By Morris Mkwate in Midrand
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail
CLAD in adorable traditional apparel, she was as unmistakable as she was stunning. Her beauty, expressed in a variety of hues, was kaleidoscopic in nature.
She had traversed different routes and finally reached her destination. Africa had arrived, and though comprising many nations, her aspirations were carefully sutured together into one mission: the quest for full legislative powers.
“The African people expect us to be a legislative assembly,” said Mrs Rachel Shebesh, a Kenyan legislator.
“It makes no sense for us to continue to waste taxpayers’ funds by remaining a talk-shop whose advice may not even be taken on board.”
Bunge La Afrika, Parlamento Pan-Africano, Parlement PanAfricain or the Pan-African Parliament burst into life, as the First Ordinary Session of the assembly got underway in Midrand, South Africa, last week.
More than two hundred parliamentarians representing Africa’s rich assortment of ethnicity, language and religion converged on the Gallagher Convention Centre for the two-week session, which ends on Thursday.
Although various motions and topics ranging from the continent’s conflict hotbeds to climate change were up for deliberation, the quest for a law-making mandate remained one of the parliamentarians’ uppermost concerns during the first five sittings of the House.
PAP was constituted as the African Union’s legislative arm in March 2004 with its role taking on a consultative and advisory character.
The organ’s ultimate objective, which South African President Jacob Zuma pledged commitment to during the official opening of the session on Monday, is to evolve into “an institution with full legislative powers”.
Its constitutive protocol stipulates that the union’s arm will maintain its functions until it gains legislative muscle by way of amendment to the founding document.
Five years on, PAP is making moves in this direction. Members feel their functions are restrictive, adding little value to the multitudes of Africans they represent.
But being able to pass laws in the traditional sense of parliament would ensure member states advance their people’s interests, they say.
Last week, the assembly demonstrated its fervent resolve by capturing this dream on paper.
It produced a draft protocol which, if assented to by African leaders, will empower its members to pass laws that are binding on all AU-affiliate countries.
Among the 16 areas earmarked for legislation are education; public health; infrastructure; democracy, good governance and human rights; gender equality; mass and trans-continental immigration and migration; agriculture; AU citizenship and energy.
Chairman of the Rules, Privileges and Discipline Committee Mr Tidjani Serpos, who tabled the draft, said producing amendments to the parliament’s founding protocol was procedural.
He said only the AU could determine PAP’s jurisdiction.
“We are following procedure, but we are not certain whether the authorities will take all the proposals we are making on board,” he said.
Article 15 of the draft provides for the AU Commission to present a draft Act to PAP, which will in turn adopt the document with or without amendments.
The provision also mandates the Commission to introduce the draft Act through its initiative or at the parliament’s request.
It stipulates that the proposed legislation shall either be adopted or amended by an absolute majority vote of members present during a particular sitting.
After PAP assents, the Act shall be transmitted to the Commission, which will then forward it to the Assembly of AU Heads of State and Government. The Assembly shall be deemed to have adopted it if a simple majority of its members approve.
Each law shall have “a supra-magnitude” and will be “binding in its entirety and shall be directly applicable in each State Party”.
Part of Article 15 reads: “The Assembly may not reject an amendment from the PAP unless there is a qualified majority of two-thirds of its members.
“In such a case, the Act shall be referred back to the PAP with useful information on the reasons for rejection of the amendment for a second reading.
“At the second reading, taking into account the information provided by the Assembly, the PAP may: i) ratify the Act as adopted by the Assembly by simple majority vote; in this case the Act shall be deemed to have been adopted; reject the Act as referred by the Assembly, by a qualified majority of two-thirds of PAP members; in this case, the Act shall not be adopted.
“If a qualified majority is not attained during the vote at the PAP, the Act as referred back by the Assembly shall be deemed to have been adopted.”
If allowed to stand, the new arrangement, which is still under PAP’s consideration, would have far-reaching legal implications on AU members.
Each country would be expected to abide by PAP’s laws. And whether this is enforceable is the question.
“Of course, the laws will be enforceable,” said Mrs Shebesh.
“We have agreements in the continent’s various trading blocs and this would work because Governments will be required to implement laws through their national assemblies.
“Heads of State and Government are talking of continental integration. They need to look at our recommendations critically.”
President of the Chiefs’ Council of Zimbabwe and PAP member Chief Fortune Charumbira said conferring legislative powers on the organ would strengthen the institution’s role and also give greater impetus to Africa’s integration.
He was, however, quick to point out the need for the grouping of African parliamentarians to keep in step with the AU agenda.
“Of course, we support the transformation of PAP! The parliament will no longer remain in a weak position as that of a barking, but toothless bulldog,” he said.
“However, it is equally important to ensure we move in tandem with the programme of the union government of Africa.
“We also need to examine the principle of electing members through universal adult suffrage.
“If this is the route to be taken, we might risk constituting a PAP that has no roots in national parliaments.”
Dr Mohamed Elhouderi of Libya said moving towards legislative status was due.
He advocated a legislature that runs alongside other arms of government.
“For any parliament to be effective, it should have legislative powers. It should also be noted, however, that if we plead for a legislative assembly we should also plead for a pan-African government,” he said.
“The legislative power of the parliament should be agreed to by member States or by a majority of them.
“If countries assent, they are then called upon to abide by its decisions. The pan-African authority would then put in place measures to enforce the laws.”
‘We are glad that we are talking’
Sunday Mail Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday said Zanu-PF and the MDC-T are engaging each other to find a lasting solution to the problems affecting the smooth running of the inclusive Government.
He said the problem was an internal issue which needed to be solved by the three political parties in the Government.
The President said this while addressing thousands of mourners at the burial of national hero Cde Misheck Chando at the National Heroes Acre.
“We are glad that we are talking,” said President Mugabe, who is the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
“We can not report it anywhere. The UN says it’s your issue and this is our issue.
We settle it here, it’s not for others.”
President Mugabe said there was a need to ensure that the gains made so far by the inclusive Government were not reversed.
He said the three political parties formed the inclusive Government in pursuance of the ideals of the liberation struggle.
The ideals, said President Mugabe, included bringing unity and peace to the nation and putting ideas together to improve the status of the country and the people.
“We would remain in our three different parties, but we bid ourselves to work together.
“When you have as a party, and even as individuals, taken a stand that you shall work together with your political neighbours and your neighbours reciprocate it, then the requirement is that we indeed continue, step by step, and work together.
“Whatever the difficulties become our difficulties together. Whatever the positive steps become our achievements together.”
President Mugabe said there was no logic in the MDC-T statement that it was disengaging from the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers but remaining in the Government.
“For one party on an odd day to decide we shall not be fully in, we shall have one leg in and one leg out, then you begin to wonder: Have I entered into agreement with persons who do not understand?” he said.
“MDC-T iri kuti isu tabuda, asi hatina kubuda. We are out, but we are still in. Hameno language iyoyo. Professor (referring to MDC leader Professor Arthur Mutambara, who was at the national shrine) ndivo vangatoiziva.
“This logic where you agree and disagree, where you disagree and agree. It’s quite new.”
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and members of his party were conspicuous by their absence at the burial.
President Mugabe said the Government must one day think of fighting the illegal sanctions imposed by Western countries in international courts.
He said the Western countries wanted the sanctions to result in illegal regime change.
He said there was a need for unity, to prevent the machinations of the Western countries from succeeding.
“Are you prepared to sacrifice so that our country can be united?” he said.
“We may have our various groups, different cultural backgrounds, but that is a source of wealth. Let that not stand in the way of our national togetherness and our national ethos.
“But if we do not recognise our sovereignty and we allow ourselves to come under the direction of neo-colonialists, then we are to blame.”
President Mugabe said the country’s sovereignty should be respected by other countries, especially those in Europe and America who wanted to interfere.
The President described Cde Chando, whose Chimurenga name was Cde Makasha, as “a brave and courageous cadre with a sense of sacrifice”.
He said he first met Cde Chando at Chimoio in Mozambique when Cde Chando and other leaders came from Tete to meet him and Cde Edgar Tekere at the war base.
There were some students, said President Mugabe, from the university such as Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa, the late Cde Zororo Duri and Cde Gula Ndebele at Chimoio.
“They always had debates with Cde Makasha and they were saying they had logical ones from the university.
“But Cde Makasha was saying I have my degrees which work here in the bush.”
President Mugabe said Cde Makasha was known for his excellence in warfare and leadership.
“He started as an ordinary cadre and then a training cadre.”
The President said there was need to urgently dualise the country’s roads to avoid accidents.
Cde Chando died in a car accident on 23 October along Shamva Road.
He was the Senator for Bindura Shamva constituency and is survived by two wives
and 18 children.
PM plays golf as nation mourns
Sunday Mail Reporter
WHILE thousands of Zimbabweans gathered at the National Heroes’ Acre yesterday to pay their last respects to gallant freedom fighter Cde Misheck Chando, Prime Minister Mr Morgan Tsvangirai was taking it easy, hitting the green at Ruwa Country Club.
The Sunday Mail crew caught up with the Prime Minister and his contingent at the Ruwa Country Club along the Harare-Mutare road playing golf at around 11am, the same time President Mugabe was addressing mourners at the national shrine.
The Prime Minister, who has been attending State functions including the burial of national heroes since the signing of the GPA by the three political parties last September, opted to boycott yesterday’s event following his announcement two weeks ago that his party was disengaging from Zanu-PF.
Efforts to speak to the Prime Minister soon after his game failed as his aides dismissed the news crew.
“Ibvai pano izvozvi! Togona kukuisai patight as Mugabe’s regime does. (Get off this place now before we sort you out. We are capable of doing the same as Mugabe’s regime),’’ said one of his aides identified as a Mr Ushe.
“This is his private business and you are invading his privacy. You can only do that in consultation with him. For now he does not want to speak to anyone. I am warning you for the last time that you leave us alone, now!’’ insisted Mr Ushe.
As the news crew drove out of the premises, one of the Prime Minister’s security vehicles followed behind, presumably to ensure that their warnings had been heeded.
The MDC-T president announced two weeks ago that his party was severing ties with Zanu-PF, which he accused of acting in bad faith. Mr Tsvangirai said his party’s position would stand until President Mugabe resolved all the outstanding issues he said were stalling the inclusive Government.
Zanu-PF has dismissed the pull-out as a non-event. President Mugabe this weekend assured the nation that he would not allow the disengagement to affect State operations.
He said MDC-T had proved that it was “not a true and genuine partner”.
MDC-T: Spoilt brat behaving badly
By Munyaradzi Huni
OVER the last few weeks, the MDC-T has been behaving like a spoilt brat who thinks that just because his big brother is loaded with dirty cash, he can go around threatening and bullying everyone in the vicinity.
The MDC-T leadership has grown so bigheaded and thickheaded that they are threatening Zanu-PF with elections if they finally decide to pull out of the inclusive Government.
Of course, the MDC-T knows that they have no powers to call for any election as, according to the Constitution, only President Mugabe has that authority.
And this is despite the fact that even if the MDC-T pulls out of the inclusive Government, there is no provision anywhere that presidential elections should be held soon after because President Mugabe was not made the President by the Global Political Agreement. He was sworn into office on June 29 2008, after winning the June 27 presidential run-off. Only Prime Minister Tsvangirai, his deputies and Cabinet ministers were born out of the September 15 2008 GPA.
The MDC-T has become so reckless that it is even threatening that the supposed elections would be run by “Sadc, AU and UN”. Again, these are just hallucinations because the law clearly states that whenever the elections are held, they would be run by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Just like in all previous elections Sadc, the AU and the UN can send election observers following invitations from the Government.
The MDC-T leadership is drunk with its parallel government funds, drunk with the multi-donor trust funds, drunk with NGO funds and drunk with the little trinkets that are being shoved into their personal pockets. It’s true — dirty money makes people go bonkers.
Just because of one white Rhodie called Roy Bennett, the MDC-T leadership has decided to disregard its supporters who recently called on the party to remain in the inclusive Government. Of course, it is public knowledge that the MDC is a party of unrepentant former Rhodies, but the MDC-T leadership seems to be taking its recklessness to suicidal levels.
First the MDC-T leadership makes the “disengagement” decision and, as if that is not bad enough, the leadership goes on to say they will call for elections in the event that they pull out of the inclusive Government.
The people on the ground and even the MDC-T supporters are not in the mood for elections. Despite the challenges and the differences, the people want Zanu-PF and the MDC formations to work together because this has brought peace and stability in the country. The people are waiting for the inclusive Government to revive the economy and they want production to increase in industry so that they get jobs.
There is no one on the ground who supports the idea of holding elections anytime soon, save for the MDC-T leadership and its cronies in civil society who know that election time is money-making time.
And indeed the dirty money is flowing. Of that US$73 million that President Obama pledged during Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s visit to the US, USAID has said US$2,4 million will go towards parliamentary strengthening; US$3,2 million towards elections and constitution making; US$3,8 million towards the rule of law; US$2,7 towards consensus building; US$1,5 million towards media; US$1,9 towards victims of torture; US$5,8 towards civil society/local government capacity building; US$4,1 million towards maternal and child health, including TB, and US$1,2 million towards family planning.
This is serious regime-change funding and the imperialists are making sure that Zanu-PF doesn’t get a cent. During his presentation to the Sub-commit-tee on African Affairs on September 30 2009, in a paper entitled “Exploring US Policy Options towards Zimbabwe’s Transition”, the USAID acting assistant administrator for Africa, Mr Earl Gast, said:
“All USAID assistance is carefully targeted to support reformers within the Government and civil society.
No funds go directly to the transitional government as support is delivered in the form of goods and services through grantees and contractors hired and monitored in compliance with standard US government procurement procedures,” said Mr Gast.
Well, it’s common knowledge that the “reformers” in Government are those that are fighting to wrest power from Zanu-PF. People like the Minister of Finance, Mr Tendai Biti, who want the country to declare itself a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) with the sinister objective of paralysing the economy for easy takeover by the imperialists.
Mr Gast even goes to the extent of saying “furthermore, USAID will help democratic political parties rebuild their structures after the movement of many key members into Government service”.
According to the US, democracy started in Zimbabwe in 1999 with the formation of the MDC and so the MDC is the only “democratic political party” that will benefit from the imperialist funds.
While pouring funds to the MDC, the US is making sure that Zanu-PF is starved and they are not making it a secret anymore.
“The donors have agreed to retain targeted sanctions on President Mugabe and Zanu-PF hardliners until a credible reform-minded government is evident,” said Mr Gast. Put simply, Mr Gast was saying sanctions will remain in place until the MDC gets into power.
The vice-president and senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development, Mr Todd J. Moss, told the sub-committee that “the US should find ways to provide ring-fenced support for activities and select ministries involved in restarting critical public services”.
In his presentation to the sub-committee, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr Johnnie Carson, was even more explicit in confirming that the US government is providing funds to PM Tsvangirai’s office to run a parallel government.
He said: “Our assistance to Zimbabwe seeks to lay the groundwork for a return to democracy and prosperity by supporting democratic voices and civil society, including support to the Prime Minister’s office for communications and other capacity building.”
What is more worrying, however, from the presentations made to the sub-committee is that the US has hatched a plan to “invade” the rural areas that are traditionally a Zanu-PF stronghold and is planning to dangle its dirty funds to farmers.
Mr Carson spoke about “our recent notification and consultation on new targeted programmes in the agriculture and education sectors”.
In her presentation to the sub-committee, the president of Mercy Corps, Ms Nancy Lindborg, said: “The agriculture ‘value chain’ of economic actors and functions that brings goods from individual farmers to processing to market to sell is in extreme disrepair.
“Vital private-sector networks of agricultural input suppliers, product vendors, warehousers and traders have largely broken down. Assistance in rebuilding these value chains will be a vital component of efforts to restore agriculture production and revitalise the sector.”
Not surprisingly, in recent months, the Government has been promised millions of funds meant for farmers, including small-scale farmers in the rural areas. The idea is to buy the farmers in preparation for elections that the MDC-T is calling for.
With all the funds flowing and the game plan being put into effect from Washington and London, the MDC-T can’t contain its misplaced and miscalculated excitement about elections.
In any case, will Zanu-PF ever agree to go for elections with the sanctions still in place?
In the unlikely case that President Mugabe calls for elections, has anyone in the MDC-T leadership bothered to ask how Zanu-PF will respond? Just a reminder, during the liberation struggle Zanla and Zipra were fighting against an enemy that was armed to the teeth, but still the war was won.
Now the MDC is loaded with funds and is being fed with all sorts of imperialist ideas from the US and the UK, just how will Zanu-PF respond? Of course, the MDC-T’s big brother may be awash with cash, but the real deal happens here in Zimbabwe. The MDC-T should wake up from its drunken stupor and there is no need for it to be over-excited.
A little piece of advice: The MDC-T should be careful what it is asking for, otherwise it will be served the meal in a plate that will be too hot to handle. They say forewarned is forearmed.
Business sheds crocodile tears over MDC-T’s latest political stunt
AFRICAN FOCUS By Tafataona P. Mahoso
First it was the tourism sector which asked why Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai could be so callous as to announce MDC-T’s purported pullout from the inclusive Government right at the climax of the Sanganai/ Hlanganani tourism promotion party!
Last week it was The Financial Gazette which asked the same questions in its November 29 2009 editorial called “Stop hurting us”. The Financial Gazette used complaints by Industry and International Trade Minister Welshman Ncube, that the MDC-T’s latest political stunt, which was carried out for the benefit of cameras belonging to sworn detractors of Zimbabwe, might stop foreign investors who were just about to partner the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Zisco).
Let us deal with first things first: Foolish announcements of crises — whether called “humanitarian” or “constitutional” or “financial” — do hurt companies and hurt the economy, if they are perceived as credible. Indeed, Michael Regester and Judy Larkin in Risk Issues and Crisis Management have researched the sort of damage and costs which real crises have inflicted on corporations:
“The top 250 companies in the UK, when surveyed by the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers in 2000, claimed that damage to reputation was the biggest business risk they faced . . . Earlier research . . . found that the total value of the FTSE 100 companies was £842 billion. Goodwill — of which reputation is a part — accounted for 71 percent of total market capitalisation.”
In 1990 it was 44 percent of total value. This means the cost of risk to reputation for business has been rising together with the growth of media coverage.
The same Financial Gazette then states that Minister Ncube in his complaint spoke for the entire national business leadership in Zimbabwe! Ncube “may not have realised that he was actually speaking on behalf of all the company executives operating in the country along with their shareholders”.
Now, why are we suggesting that we are being showered with crocodile tears?
We say so because there is no worse attempt to damage a country’s reputation deliberately than campaigning for sanctions to be imposed on that country.
Welshman Ncube, corporate executives and The Financial Gazette have for the last 10 years contributed to the catastrophic damage of reputation inflicted on this country, which damage has brought the living conditions of the majority of this country backwards to the dark ages of colonial Rhodesia, according to Christopher Dell and the Centre for Global Development in Washington DC.
Welshman Ncube, Zimbabwe’s corporate executives and The Financial Gazette have long been aware of the claim Dell and the CGD made in 2005 that the economic crisis precipitated by the regime change onslaught on Zimbabwe in opposition to land redistribution brought the living conditions of the majority of the people back to 1953 levels within the six-year period from 2000 to 2005.
Why did they not then campaign against the worst weapon used to destroy the business reputation of Zimbabwe, the illegal and racist sanctions imposed on the people by the Anglo-Saxon axis led by the UK and US and invited by the MDC formations?
Being patriotic and business-wise should have caused The Financial Gazette, Welshman Ncube and Zimbabwe’s business executives to be sensitive to any and all forms of reckless damage to the reputation of Zimbabwe. They should not suddenly wake up to this reckless damage just because the MDC formations are now part of government and Morgan Tsvangirai is now Prime Minister.
Such a sudden awakening in itself must be examined for its sincerity; otherwise it is yet another form of manipulation for the same regime change agenda which these forces have pursued for the last 10 years.
If, indeed, The Financial Gazette is announcing a change of heart and a change of editorial policy, to become truly sensitive to attacks on Zimbabwe’s business reputation at all times, then it must say so and we would most welcome the change.
What do we mean by saying there has never been any worse attack on the business reputation of Zimbabwe than the campaign by the MDC formations to invite illegal sanctions?
We mean that since most people around the world would find it unbelievable that a political party claiming to represent the citizens of its country can join hands with foreign capital to invite sanctions on the same people; since the idea on its face value sounds so lunatic; the tendency of the campaigners is to design the most sophisticated, most elaborate ways to lie in order to make what is illegal, immoral and racist look noble and justified.
That is what this country and its people have suffered for more than 10 years: lies, lies and more lies made believable to foreigners only because the people paid to do most of the lying are natives and the papers and journalists paid to convey the lies also claim to be national precisely because they are allowed to edit and publish the lies from within the victimised country!
The MDC formations were still united when in 2000 their top leaders drafted the Bill which the US adopted as its sanctions law against Zimbabwe in 2001. The MDC formations were still together on January 29 2004 when they published their economic propaganda document called Restart: Our Path to Social Justice — the MDC’s Economic Programme for Reconstruction, Stabilisation, Recovery and Transformation.
The Financial Gazette then did not tell the people of Zimbabwe that Restart was in fact worse than Retard. It was a propaganda attack on the business reputation of Zimbabwe intended to deepen illegal sanctions. The so-called corporate executives complaining about Tsvangirai’s latest political stunt should read that Retard document again. It reads exactly as it should: a demonisation tract masquerading as a development blueprint:
“Two decades of misrule and poor governance at the hands of a rapacious clique of power-hungry politicians have transformed the Jewel of Africa that is Zimbabwe into a failed state.
“It is only the MDC that is capable of reversing this tragedy and turning Zimbabwe into a success story it should be. To tackle the economic crisis the MDC has drawn up a comprehensive economic strategy, Restart . . .”
And the link between this gibberish and MDC-T’s alleged pullout is the Rhodesian lobby. Zimbabwe was the jewel of Africa when it was ruled by Ian Smith with Roy Bennett as one of his killers. So the MDC-T is to return this country to Rhodesia.
Dell says it has already gone back to 1953! The document then did exactly what we have said natives calling for sanctions against their own people are bound to do, that is to lie and to exaggerate:
“As is now well known, the March 2002 presidential was stolen,” the MDC document declared.
And indeed, the demonisation of the country over the 2002 election was the worst in the history of independent Zimbabwe at that point.
So, for now, we are not impressed by The Financial Gazette’s claims on behalf of Welshman Ncube or the business executives on October 29 2009 because they amount at best to a preposterous cover-up. At worst they suggest gross manipulation of public opinion by inflating the value of MDC-T’s presence in the IG.
But is it true that The Financial Gazette and business executives contributed to the destruction of Zimbabwe’s business reputation for 10 years? What started in 1997 as company shut-outs organised in co-operation with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) became more elaborate and more sophisticated in 2007 and 2008.
The pattern was widely acknowledged as far back as 2003, following the defeat of the MDC by Zanu-PF in the 2002 Presidential elections.
For instance, on September 4 2003, the Daily News published a long letter to the editor which was called “Cathy Buckle can’t fool everyone all the time”.
The letter showed there were some within the regime change camp who were still proud that the MDC had invited Britain and its Anglo-Saxon allies to wage economic war against Zimbabwe in order to coerce the voters to abandon the liberation movement in exchange for sugar, mealie meal and other handouts. But there were others, such as Cathy Buckle, who were beginning to sense that openly celebrating an economic war against one’s own people posed serious risks for the opposition.
The people might become as clear in 2003 as they were in 1978. So Cathy Buckle wrote at length to deny the existence of British-sponsored illegal sanctions altogether.
But Denford Magora wrote a reply to Buckle which the Daily News published on September 4 2003. His letter stated, among other things, that:
“Britain and America have a tried and tested method of getting rid of regimes they do not like. The game plan always involves making sure that the population of a country suffer enough to rise up against the incumbent government. That was the plan in Iraq and, when it failed, United States President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair dropped all pretence and invaded that country.
By opposing bailouts by the international community, the West is imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe. These sanctions have nothing to do with Mugabe or Zanu-PF.
They are designed to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe do not feel comfortable, with the result that they rise up against Mugabe and chase him out of the country.”
But, precisely because the vote came through the gun, Britain and its allies know that it is easier to manipulate the same vote now through sponsorship, sugar, and biscuits than it is to try to sponsor the gun. This is because it is harder to bring in special forces and keep them hidden and working for a long time, without their being discovered, than it is to use about 400 to 500 British, North American and European companies, company subsidiaries and the 2 500 NGOs already operating inside Zimbabwe.
So, on September 11 2003, one Richard Chauke, who was close to the operations of industry then, wrote another letter to the Daily News to complain about companies who were benefiting from the workers and resources of Zimbabwe using profits from those same workers’ labour and resources to wage an economic war on the entire population.
“Industry really plays politics, too, perhaps with more (material) vigour than all the politicians. Truly, industry cannot be spared for its role in the Zimbabwe crisis. It is unfortunate that where industry acts politically, economists are quick to jump onto the grand stage to lecture us righteously about laws of supply and demand.
“There is no doubt that industry miscalculated badly towards the 2002 presidential elections. It fired many workers, the so-called downsizing.
“Some companies shut down deliberately, expecting to come back to life after the elections. Others even relocated to neighbouring countries in a bid to frustrate their workers.
“The povo in rural areas were not spared either. Some goods seen on the shelves in the evening were not available the next morning. Goods on the shelves were deliberately pegged at abnormal prices and many economic excuses were given, such as lack of foreign currency and fuel shortages . . . Politics is in the ability to have control and power over the people so that an individual, group on institution even determines what people eat or acquire. Therefore, industry played all sorts of games possible to frustrate workers in order to woo them to vote for its crippled baby — the Movement for Democratic Change . . . We were branded cowards because we voted incorrectly . . .”
We quote these passages at length because they were written by people using their own original experiences and observations. Magora emphasised one side of the equation, the role of Anglo-Saxon imperialism and racism in global economic warfare.
Richard Chauke emphasised the other side of the equation, the role of foreign companies in a small and independent economy where the people want independence, sovereignty, economic empowerment and indigenisation. But the two wrote in exactly the same month describing one chain of events which were a harbinger for 2008.
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