What Crisis?

This picture was in my inbox this morning and just when I was lambasting South Africa (Thabo Mbeki) for inaction in Zimbabwe. One would have thought the xenophobic attacks against immigrants that began last month in South Africa would have made this man open his eyes and take action but no, instead the Mbeki-led regime in South Africa has chosen to condemn Zimbabweans to death. We will never forget this Baba Mbeki asizoze sikukhohlwe! Infact all you African leaders take heed. Robert Mugabe will not live forever and when he dies the murders and deaths that will continue to occur Zimbabwe will be on your hands. The hunger you continue to foster and nurture will be at you doorstep. The ruthless morally void Zimbabwean youth will be your worst nightmare.

How can you be so comfortable with have this mess in your backyards? Sure you benefit now from Zimbabwe's evicted white farmers and the brain drain but there are only a few of those...what happens when the 16 year old who has stopped going to school and has no skills comes to your door begging for food? Only he shan't be 16 anymore will he? No, he will be a sad, hungry, disappointed and bitter young man. What then will you tell him? Is your hatred for white western powers so entrenched that you really cannot see that there is no more a western sponsored neo-imperial scheme being waged against Zimbabwe as there is one in your own countries. Neo-imperialism is everywhere Zimbabwe is as much a victim of it as any part of the Global South and really has no place in the immediate Zimbabwean crisis.

Robert Mugabe was stealing and in bed with the so-called neo-imperialists for years. Still is, because all of his subsidiaries are still making money in Zimbabwe. While the rest of you African leaders are now forced to be transparent and actualy do the right thing as public servants, Robert Mugabe is laughing all the way to the bank. You are all of the younger generation....Tsvangirai's peers and Mugabe is the last of the dinosaurs; you all know what the consequences of a dictator and mismanagement are, yet you continue to allow Mugabe to torture the people of Zimbabwe and perpetuate the stereotype of African incompetence.

We claim in Africa that the west bullies us and we have no sense of autonomy, well here is a situation in which the west is being meddlesome in a constructive way and we have the opportunity to exercise this autonomy and what do we do? Dig our heals and go back on our words. Levy Mwanawasa you coward! As the head of SADC you should by-pass South Africa and stick to your guns when criticising Zimbabwe. We lose legitimacy if we cannot challenge each other when we fail.

Zimbabweans cannot do this alone. Modakuti tidii? Tife here? I am not suggesting that you interevene physically, the spirit of resistance in Zimbabwe is there, we just need to know that we are not alone in this.

This is some fucked up bull shit right here.

There is no crisis indeed. You will live to regret those words...all of you.

Wither To Zimbabweans?

Latest news on the BBC is that immigrants are being attacked and sometimes killed in Johannesburg and the quitely acknowledged South-African xenophobia is manifested. Wait quietly acknowledged....wasn't Makwerekwere a hot song once? Ahh but I digress. I could I suppose rail against the South Africans and get pissed off at their behaviour which was my intention when I started this post but then again.......Mencken comes to mind "People get the government they deserve", if we don't like the behaviour of the South Africans....go home! This violence against immigrants in South Africa, the South African leadership's apathy to intervene in Zimbabwe, and the recent move by Botswana to make their border with Zimbabwe less porous; all of this makes me wonder if we are not seeing the beginnings of an Isolationist period in Africa. Hear me out: I think Isolationism is a splendid idea for African states. Why should we be each other's keepers when internally we have our own burdens to carry. Much as I hate to agree with him (for non-Zimbabwe related reasons) Mbeki was right "Zimbabwe is not a province of South Africa" we cannot expect intervention from outside for our problems just as South Africa cannot expect employing Zimbabweans to occur without consequence.

And so we wait...........

I am surprised at my anxiety and hope for the outcome of the vote at home. I spoke to K this morning and she sounded so hopeful and now I am sick with worry that the election is in the process of being stolen. At this point I'll give up the Hague for a new President and constitution. All we want is fot the old man to GO......This cannot go on....right....I mean we cannot have this go on ...... can we? The official result apparently will be announced at 0400 GMT so we wait..............................................

Vote 2009

I suppose I should post something given that my fellow Zimbos are going to be practising citizenry in the next few days.....but honestly I can be excited nor can be fired up about this anymore. The more things develop the clearer it becomes that only the death of RGM is going to bring any kind of hope for Zimbabwe. I mean how do they (Tsvangie and Makoni) even begin to compete with dead people on the voter roll, police escorts in the voting booth, intimidation and promises of violence from the army and the police?

At this point I await death but while I wait I can smile when I get a dose of Zimfeminizmo

Wolves in Sheep's clothing

The news this weekend has been centered on Dumiso Dabenbgwa's support of Makoni's presidential bid. Ladies and Gentlemen we need to err on the side of caution. Why are we not extremely suspicious of these people? The euphoria that has risen, especially among those of us in the Diaspora, is amazing. Simba Makoni is the name on everyone's lips. But no one is asking the real questions, the important ones. Why does Makoni deserve our support? Why are we so comfortable with supporting a man who has made up the backbone of Zanu support? Makoni has never been a people's politician, all his political appointments have been bestowed upon him by Rob. Do we really not see Bob's hand in all of this? Knowing Bob the way we do, would Simba Makoni not be in hiding if was his bid a truly independent one?



We need to wake up! These elections should not happen without a new constitution. Makoni stands to inherit the same constitution that has kept Mugabe in power. So far Makoni has not even reached out to civil society groups, the individuals who have kept their finger on the pulse and know better than most what it is the people of Zimbabwe want in their leadership. We need a clear and conscise plan, one that will ensure that the reconstruction phase, that is inevitable after Mugabe, will include the needs and interests of ALL Zimbabwean not the elites.



The entire country needs to do this together. We all need a lesson in democracy. Our leaders need to understand their responsibilities as publics servants, the people need to understand what it means to be a citizen and how to exercise their rights as citizens. The marginalised need a voice. Only then will elections and new leadership mean anything.

"It Makes Me Wanna Holler"

Thanks Nathan McCall.


What is to become of Zimbabwe? Who is supposed to dig the land between the Limpopo and Zambezi from under the rubble of corruption, oppression, depression, and disease? Last night in a rare moment I paid attention in class and learned. We have been reading Women's autobiography and the assigned text for this week was Shirin Ebadi's Iran Awakwening and one of the themes that came up in discussion is Ebadi's ability to remain committed to Iran while pursuing a Human Rights agenda, that she is driven by nationalism in creating a fair and just world within the context of Iran. This got me thinking about how near impossible it is to be critical of the current regime in Zimbabwe without being denounced as a sell out or a Western puppet. Why do Nationalism and sovereignty trump universal rights? How does one demand good governance from one's leaders without seeming to undermine nationalism?



The current line from leaders in Zimbabwe and their counterparts in SADC is that calls from the West for Mugabe to step down are a direct violation of the International System's rules on sovereignty. Cries for proper governance from within, are always dismissed as blind mimic of western interference. Opposition movements (not the party) face reprisals for demanding that the government do the right thing because their demands are represented as not their own but that of the West. But is the desire for proper governance and the practise of democratic principle only a desire that can only be Western? Universal Rights:the right to life, liberty and security should be standard, right? Regardless of where one lives n'est-ce pas? That's why these rights are Universal



Then somebody please explain to me why Robert Mugabe's actions are not being judged solely by his utter disregard to the Universal Rights? Why is it that anyone who criticizes this "Liberation Hero" is immediately dismissed as a Western puppet? The right to life, liberty and security are not privileges,we are all entitled to these and we are furthermore entitled to demand them from the people who we elect to lead us. The problem with African politicians and leaders is that they forget that their alias is PUBLIC SERVANT. Their job is to serve the public and ensure that what they do in office as representatives of the people is to protect the people's interests. This is what Democracy is meant to be.



It is quite possible to be a nationalist and still demand universal rights. Anything else is fascism. Yeah I said it and SADC is supporting Fascism. What is happening in Zimbabwe right now is fascism: individual interests are being ignored for the interests of the party and a rampant bastardisation of populism is at work. ZANU PF claims to be a party made up of the people for the people but the leaders in ZANU have long been disconnected from the people. The fact that ZANU leaders have 3 squares a day is clear indication that they are not with the people. These arseholes have no context for what life in Zimbabwe is like for the individual they claim to represent.



Fascism has been used for shock-value in contemporary political discourse and so I want to be clear that I know what I am saying when I say the current regime in Zimbabwe is fascist. Todays news: If Zim catches fire, everyone will burn. Ambassador Simon Khaya-Moyo in weighing on the looming March 29th election,was spouting some bull-shit in which he claims that there is no dictator in Zimbabwe, just meddlesome Western puppets bent on bringing down the government. The evidence of fascism lies in comments like this:

That is primarily the reason why the Zimbabwean people have for long been decrying the death of patriotic opposition with the capacity to come up with a national agenda and home-grown solutions to our problems," he said. It was only the people of Zimbabwe who could, through the ballot, tell the world whom they thought had their best interests at heart. The will of the people must manifest freely, uncontaminated by outside money.

Ok so when exactly have the people been decrying the MDC (which I am not a fan of but I work with what I have) as an un-patriotic opposition movement? I mean just read the loaded language in the quote patriotic, national agenda, home-grow solutions.....I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Of course Zimbabweans want to be patriotic and I am the first to call for African solutions for African problems, you don't need to convert me I joined the "Fuck neo-liberalism" church voluntarily and with relish. But this appropriation of ideals that normal people hold and attaching BS dictator logic to it is unfair and that SADC would buy this rubbish is disheartening. This tactic of defaming the opposition is not novel, god forbid dictators and authoritarian regime ever be original. Where is the opposition supposed to get funding from? It has to come from outside. These ZANU dogs forget that just 30 years ago the White Minority Rhodesian regime was accusing them of the same un-patriotic agenda that they now heap on the opposition movement. Where did they get their guerilla training and ideological indoctrination? It definitely wasn't homegrown. How fucken rich! That they would use the same rhetoric and torure methods used by the colonial oppressor is just rich, soap opera rich!

This is why I am no longer going to be silent in the face of other Zimbabweans who call me a sell-out and westernised when I criticise the government of Robert Mugabe. It is not Western to demand dignity for all citizens of Zimbabwe (women,children, and men,black, white, makaradi, indian,). It is not Western to demand that the public servants who represent Zimbabwean citizens are chosen by Zimbabwean citizens and not foisted upon us. It is not Western to demand, it is citizen to demand. And I am a Zimbabwean citizen and I am demanding. I am still a nationalist and I wear my Zimbabwean colours with pride but I will never again allow anyone to questions my allegiance to Zimbabwe because I demand justice.

Ndiri mwana wevhu - I am a child of the soil.

The Makoni Symphony

All I have to say is:

Ibbo Mandaza

Solomon Mujuru

These are Makoni's backers......better the evil you know.

Zimbabwe needs a new constitution more than we need a new president.