“Zanu PF Politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo on Wednesday said Africa was facing a serious deficit of leaders with true African values,” reported the Chronicle of 1 June 2012. Moyo couldn’t have said it better, but then he is the type of fellow who does not listen to what he is saying! In the same story he extolled the (rabid) nationalism of South Africa’s Julius Malema, naming him along your regular pan-Africanists in the mould of Kenyatta, Nyerere, Kaunda and Nkrumah. I wondered what these men would have to say about that, but then dead men tell no tales. But it is agreed that Africa faces a serious leadership deficit and we certainly do not have to only look at the troubles that spurred the toppling of Mubarak who has just being given a life prison term for presiding over the unnecessary slaughter of his compatriots. In fact, we have Moyo’s very own Zanu PF where his party’s leader has said he is not ready to leave his post (despite the Wiki revelations from non other than Moyo, Muzembi and many others that the old man has no place in contemporary power games) because there simply isn’t a suitable candidate within the ranks to succeed him. Not even Moyo apparently! Yet by “slamming” the new crop of African leaders, Moyo betrays Zanu PF’s disregard for the popular vote as these new African leaders came to power not by jambaja but by what would be electoral processes anathema to Zanu PF. After all, one cynical political science don has commented that Moyo’s party is rejecting the draft constitution because it is too democratic for Zanu PF’s liking!

Did you ever notice that when a politician does get an idea he usually gets it all wrong. – Donald Robert Perry Arquis, American poet (1933)

We got this and we thought it well worth sharing because it so clearly illustrates the incompetence in Zinara:

This week Zimbabwe Post Offices finally started issuing the new required vehicle license discs.  The new system was instigated as according to the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) their ministry lost US$15 million last year alone to counterfeit discs.  They reckon there are at least 800 000 vehicles on the country’s roads.

Sadly the Post Office computerised system encountered some major glitches, so the majority only opened for service on the 21 May, giving them 11 days, including weekends and extended hours, to issue the 800 000 or so discs.  A large Post Office can issue about 100 discs per day, using at least 3 tellers.  So, I will be generous and use that as a national average for the 50 designated venues, plus the 10 mobile service providers.  Here is the maths:

No. gazetted post offices (including 10 mobiles): 60
No. licenses issued per day on average: 100
National Total per day: 6000
No. days from opening of service to deadline: 11
Total potential discs to be issued: 66000
No. vehicles in Zimbabwe: 800000
% possible of 800 000 vehicles in 11 days: 8.25

There is pandemonium at our Post Offices, tempers are frayed as members of the public are spending up to 8 hours in the queue and still not being served, returning the next day for another massive loss of potential productive work.  The Post Office workers are barely able to type as they have only ever worked on manual systems previously, now they have to capture screeds of information per disc.  The form is long and complicated and the amount of paperwork required cumbersome.

What is amazing is the ingenuity of Zimbabweans in latching on to the potential for lucrative business.  Some Post Offices resorted to issuing place numbers to help alleviate time spent in queues.  I know one elderly person who queued for 4 hours to get his number and who ONLY had to spend 2 hours in the queue the following day.  But, a few particularly enterprising individuals quickly saw the opportunity for profit, spent the day queuing, were issued several numbers for their hard work going from the front to the back of the queue and the next morning they sold places for US$10 a number!  Alas, the Post Office officials quickly caught on and stopped the number system!

Yet another friend hired a queue sitter.  This individual obviously received priority service as he is a member of the police, and for $25 my friend was the proud owner of 3 new discs for his small fleet of vehicles.

Now you have to remember there is one variable that has not been taken into account – the fact that the new system is entirely dependent, of course, on electricity, the scarce commodity that is needed to run the state of the art equipment.  Need I say more?

The new disc plan is a good plan, and nobody can deny it, but oh dear Zinara has really aimed far too high in announcing the programme would be complete within the deadline period of 1 June and no grace period will be awarded.  Perhaps the Zinara head of information, communication and technology Mr Gift Kanotangudza and his colleague, head of corporate communications, Mr Augustine Moyo, should sign up for a few basic maths lessons, for through their insistence that there will be no extension, they have created a mathematical impossibility.

For a long time the complaint here in Zimbabwe has been the thievery of state resources by politicians from a party that still claims relevance three decades after proving it has no business steering this ship. And the thievery has virtually become an official exercise.

One will recall a time when local papers splashed the now Defence Minister’s wealth valuing it at billions of dollars, a time when the Zim dollar was considered useful. Of course it was asked where the hell he got that kind of money considering the salaries of government ministers were – and still are – public knowledge.

Time was the Kumbirai Kangais grabbed news headlines with allegations of sweeping clean the national silos (and we saw him not a long time ago on national television being toasted on his birthday by Simon Khaya Moyo who “celebrated” the man’s integrity!).

Time was when senior government officials claimed incredible disability gratuities, some claiming up to 80 percent disability, never mind they continued to occupy such lofty positions as government ministers and top cops. Talk about equal opportunity and the spirit of “disability is not inability!” If only that were true.

And then it took the woman who bashed lawyer Gugulethu Moyo, screamed profanities about then opposition gadfly Morgan Tsvangirai’s manhood, to be scorned for Zimbabweans to get a look see into the wealth amassed by Constantine Chiwenga. Of course Jocelyn deliberately and vindictively made the public claims in order to shock and awe and prompt us to us where the heck all that wealth came from, considering the scorned woman knew the kind of bread the soldier brought home on his salary.

And then the VP Mujuru’s point man Sylvester Nguni’s domestic troubles also became what let us in on the kind of wealth that has been amassed on what would be a measly government minister’s salary.

And then Chombo who seeks to rival real estate don Donald Trump and his stupendous wealth that only became public after a bitter woman who all along enjoyed the same trappings at the drooling of “ordinary” Zimbabwean.

And then Obert Mpofu, who does not need hostile domestic waters to have his wealth splashed ostentatiously, owning prime Bulawayo real estate and big business (acquired on the advice of Saviour Kasukuwere to borrow from banks, he says), feeding 10,000 people on his “birthday bash” and seeks to put to shame the wealth of your typical amoral African politician.

Of course there are many more.

And then Finance Minister Biti complains about the kleptocracy that has become rooted in the diamond fields.

One would think these are issues that would inform voters and determine how they use their franchise, yet Zimbabwe offers many bad examples about how the politics do not necessarily have to reflect the people’s sentiments. A politician can go on looting the people’s wealth and still expect those same people to vote for him! Crazy ain’t it?

If the people decide they have had enough and show this through the ballot, these same people are accused of being influenced by external forces who are imposing Western models of democracy that are not applicable here! But you still have to ask what culture under the sun has ever accepted thievery, what kind of voters gleefully embrace the embrace kleptocracy of their leaders when this kind of behaviour is impoverishing millions.

It should be quiet a simple exercise really to connect the dots, and it does not need any racking of the brain: if people complain about lousy amenities, faeces on their doorsteps because of archaic water and sewer mains, living with the threat of disease everyday, school children failing to be looked after by the State, pensioners being abandoned by the State, if the people see the brazen posh lifestyles of the political elites, surely the only way to address these and other issues must be to vote for someone else. But then for some reason, it does not work that way here.

A politician is a devil’s quilted anvil. He fashions all sins on him, and the blows are never heard. John Webster, English dramatist (1623)

It is sad to be reminded that negotiations for the Zimbabwe Independence Constitution held in 1979 at the Lancaster House in London were made without the inclusion of women. According to one woman activist the only female present had gone solely for the upkeep of the men, like to make sure they were fed on time. Various movements and efforts by government and civil society have brought about a change in the order of this. One body that has greatly worked for the inclusion of women participation in constitution making matters is the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe. They have worked to ensure women’s rights are met and have took a step further to advocate for women’s inclusion in governance.

The WCoZ according to their website is described as, “A network of women rights activists and women’s organizations with national structures. The WCoZ is a forum where women meet to engage in collective activism on issues affecting women and girls in Zimbabwe. Its central role is to provide a focal point for activism on women and girl’s rights”. Among the commendable work they have done is to fight for the increase in participation of women in the constitution making processes in Zimbabwe.

The Inclusive Government, which agreed to pen a new constitution before electing a new president, saw the formation of COPAC, which is co-chaired by three representatives from the three parties that are signatories to the Government of National Unity. Speaking at a FFT session at the US Embassy Public Affairs Section Netsai Mushonga, a representative of WCoZ, gave an analysis of the organisation’s work in pushing for the inclusion of women in both the constitution making process and in the constitution itself. One of COPAC’s steps in the constitution making process was that of getting information of what Zimbabweans need included in the constitution. They created outreach teams but men outnumbered women in these teams. This led to a petition being made by the women’s movement for the engagement of more women in the outreach teams and the figures rose from 10% to 25%. They went on further to advocate for women engagement in the Thematic Committees and managed to get 37% representation of women.

Moving to the constitution itself, the WCoZ clearly spells out its demands for women in the constitution and they list five minimum demands on their site which include: the quota system for women’s political participation; socio-economic rights; non-discrimination (all forms of disability); customary law subject to the Bill of Rights; and access to and control of resources. Netsai Mushonga indicated that the current draft constitution by COPAC had met at least 80% of their needs. She said the forum had vowed to continue advocating for the remaining 20% to ensure full achievement of women’s rights in the constitution. Their decision to vote for or against the constitution will only be made when they have the constitution in their hands. She likened the constitution-making process to a train that moves from New Delhi to Bombay in India, which is overloaded with people entering through the windows, but still makes it to its final destination. Likewise, the constitution making process might not be the best ride in town but one day it will reach its final destination.

How could the intro to the latest newsletter from the Parliamentary Monitoring Trust (Zimbabwe) not catch my eye. It said “we address issues of MPs who have gone Bananas.”

MPs Gone Bananas

Well well well, the season of political madness is upon us. It is not the elections, this or next year. It is mere madness that has been loosened upon our politicians and we as the people of Zimbabwe have a mandate to tell them that you have gone too far. From legislating prostitution, to free electricity through to sex toys in prisons then the KAPUT thesis to make women shabby to reduce spread of HIV/Aids. That aside, there was another sign of madness last week when MPs demanded that they get stands in the leafy suburbs. We call this madness! Becoming an MP is not a fulltime job. This is one big mistake most of these guys make. There is no job in this world where you attend a few sessions and break. The argument may be that they spend more time in the constituencies and who-ever accepts that would accept anything. This is not a fulltime job. One then questions the wisdom of having a duly elected MP, requesting a stand in a leafy suburb in Harare. It is syllogistic to say that when they get the stand, it will reduce the burden on government. We have 210 Members of the House of Assembly. Working on this figure, not including the senators, 210 stands will be availed. What will happen should all lose their seats in the next elections? We will have another batch of stands availed. Then what is the cycle continues? The whole issue smacks of selfishness. Something we have seen in our politics of late. They are there not to serve the people but their own interests. The issue is simple. If they have realised that housing is important, why are they not pushing for legislation that ensures all Zimbabweans have a right and means to housing? What makes them so special that they need housing in Harare even if they represent a rural constituency? It is a very simple matter. The legislators should have pushed for the establishment of a Parliamentary Village. One that would accommodate all of those outside Harare. It is a more focused and long term. This is one of the international best practices. After all there is talk of building a new Parly then this should be incorporated. Then there is what Prof Welshman Ncube is proposing. Moving Parly to Bulawayo, the country’s second largest city. If it happens that way, are we not having wasted resources? It has been realised these people are thinking of themselves to the detriment of our own welfare. Why not start with, like in sport, Yellow Cards, for their selfish showing. Should this continue, then we red cards them in the next election.

Too often people write analysis and commentary on Zimbabwe without ever really immersing themselves in our country, and its complicated politics. So I was very pleased to come across a blog by Craig Barnett who visited Zimbabwe and has taken the time to share his experience and reflections.

Living at Hlekweni, I gradually came to think that the reality is considerably more complex and ambiguous than this, and increasingly started to question the way our media represents Zimbabwe and other non-Western nations (especially those that are usually represented as outside the ‘international community’ of US allies).

More here