Here’s a pertinent piece from the ‘rebel journalist’ Tabani Moyo. Aren’t the MDC ministers having a swell time …

Luxurygate and the MDC’s false sense of ‘arrival’

By Tabani Moyo

The dust of the government’s hollywood lifestyle is refusing to settle down. It cannot settle down especially when the people are living in such a sea of poverty. However, the development has shown beyond reasonable doubt that the MDCs are stuck in an omnibus syndrome to governance. The mimicry politics have taken over the voice of reason as the so called ‘democratic change merchants’ stampede for the gravy train.

I happened to bump into three ministers one from the MDC and two from the MDC-T riding in their new filthy lucre. The windows where lowered, music loud as if to attract attention from the public in the exhibition of a newly acquired status. The status of a polished league of gentlemen/women I guess. I said god forbid. These are not business people who have the leeway to do whatever they want with their profits, but public officials ridding on the poor taxpayers’ hard earned income. What happened to the so called paragons of virtue, those who saw everything wrong about public officials abusing state funds on luxuries? The virtue seems to have sublimated during the ‘opposition’ times, as the train gets more gravy laced, the elements of virtue are crucified on the altar of public suffrage. As we stand no single minister has declined the offer of these fuel guzzlers, their consciences are clean and their declaration of intent manifest that they are still in a struggle for a better Zimbabwe!

Personally, I don’t have a problem with ZANU PF being implicated in this bangle, we as a people know of its heinous deeds. That’s why the people of Zimbabwe risked limb and life in forming and supporting an alternative vehicle to rid the rot in ZANU PF. It becomes confusing when the line between ZANU PF’s actions and those of the MDCs becomes blurred.

20 million on luxuries!

The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) is set to increase the utility cost of delivering energy. The public hospitals have collapsed, children this summer shall die of mosquito bites, the industry performing below 30%, women failing access basic sanitary facilities and our education system turning into an elitist platform among other things.

With the above cacophony of problems, we have learnt that ZANU PF and the MDCs can actually unite in ‘looting’ from the poor. The current blame shifts between Minister of Transport, Infrastructure Development and Communication Nicholas Goche and the Minister of Finance Tendai Biti should not be tolerated to continue stealing our intellectual space in the papers.  The decision to purchase the goodies is a collective one from the cabinet which the three parties are represented.

In this process there is no room for afterthought. The three parties could not agree at cabinet level on the need to increase civil servants salaries but unanimously agreed to squeeze harder the drying pockets of the taxpayers.

As I stated before such are the pitfalls of proximity to state power it exposes the cravings which were going to manifest themselves soon after the ‘opposition’ takes total control of state power. We are better off with some of these happenings are unfolding at this juncture of our cultivation as a people. The MDCs only got into office two years ago; they are already leaving the lives of movie stars or the English premier soccer stars.

One can only remind the MDCs of the calamity of approaching this ‘struggle’ with omnibus gloves. It gives the impression of a false sense of ‘arrival’, a false sense of destiny. The ministers believe, their yearnings have been achieved, hence the need to amass as much as they can before sporadic cabinet reshuffles. These state trappings are dangerous for the same people who came up with these platforms or movements can still do the same and push aside primitive ‘accumulativists’ into political dustbins.

Tabani Moyo can be contacted at rebeljournalist [at] yahoo [dot] com

First stunning thing this week. Information that the Zimbabwe government may deport the Libyan Ambassador for flying the rebel flag.

Stunning!

I mean, denial is a wonderful place. I go there often. ‘In denial’ is usually the note that goes with my blank stare and far away look. However, I think this really takes the cake for life with your head up your ass! They are almost as ‘lost in space’ as Gadaffi himself, the man of the HUGE floor mural that people are now pissing on in Tripoli! And who issues radio statements that he is going to fight to the last against the cockroaches, and die in Libya, and … he is nowhere to be found. Even the cockroaches do not know where he is. But he is defiant! From some safe hole where he is doing his Saddam/Gbago impersonation. While he lets others die for him. And it appears he let others kill, (in great numbers) for him too.

Now there is a real man for you!

And the second stunning bit from that same information. The GNU has ‘unified’ and come to a decision to deport someone! This must be a first – a government decision! But I suspect someone gave out the wrong information. Who actually said this? I really do not think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the Prime Minister, (the government) made any statement. Some ignorant hack in the President’s office (living in denial, and in the past, with his head up his ass), or some other executive type person (army or police), may have said something, but not ‘the government’.

First off, the government is the majority party in parliament, headed by the Prime Minister. They make the laws of Zimbabwe. And I suspect they made no law about deporting ambassadors. The President is the head of the Executive, the chief civil servant. And the Executive is the body of people that implement, or carry out, the laws of Zimbabwe. They do not make them. They are bound by them, and must do what the Government tells them to do. They must enforce the law. (Or be lawless, undisciplined, warlords.) And they do not make policy. Let alone ‘deport’ other people’s ambassador’s.

Then, more stunning (but ‘slow burn’) information. 100 prominent South Africans sign some letter protesting NATO’s bombing of Libyan killers (tanks, and other mechanisms of ‘civilian’ control). Why? Who are they (and don’t tell me the names, I can find that myself)? They cannot sign any letter 10 years ago to say, “please help the people suffering under this evil murdering dictator most foul”. But now they can sign a letter against the ‘will bomb for oil’ boys. So who are these people who can only see what they want to see? But seem quite incapable of looking around and calling out evil wherever they see it. The can only look around and call out evil when it suits them. So who are they, and why should we listen to them? Seems their ‘values’ are a bit suspect.

And the Africa Union (that organisation founded and consisting of Heads of State and Government) wonders why it has been ‘marginalised’? Well, what did happen to the peer review mechanism? Are you also unable to see and deal with evil? Except when it suits you. Or are you really only a body to represent African heads of State, and have nothing to do with African people.

Dear AU. You are marginalised because you only deal with marginal issues, and even then, at the margins. If you took a stance, had some values, and pursued them, you would not be a marginal (holiday trip) body.

On doublespeak, I hear on the BBC, interviews with foreigners in Libya and Tripoli, wanting to get out. Why? The new power in Libya is killing Africans (or might kill) people who are suspected as being Gadaffi mercenaries. But hang on, Libyans are Africans! After all, Libya is in Africa, and Gadaffi is one of the main founders/movers of the African Union. Oh, does the BBC mean ‘blacks’? It seems quite clear that all blacks are not Africans, and all Africans are not black. So why can we not speak properly?

And Zapiro’s cartoon also had me laughing and smiling for some time. His, “Signs of Libya”. NATO planes over head with banners, ‘Will bomb for oil concessions’. His Zuma character on the street corner with the sign, ‘No coherent foreign policy, Please help’, and the wall poster behind him ‘lost, road map’ and to contact the AU.

And now, big (but not really) scandal on Shell Oil spills in the Niger delta. Over the past 20 years, or more. Compare this to the small spill, over months, in the Gulf of Mexico. I have no desire to go back to my earlier blog on the USA, their gross oil over consumption, and how their backyard contrasts with our backyard. And the one response I got, “fuck you”. But I would like to ask, “was I right?”, or “was I right?”. The ‘will bomb for oil boys’ are, without doubt, a bad bunch. But where does the buck stop? At producers, or consumers? They will bomb for oil, and poison whole nations of people, but not in their back yard.

Rather than arguing about what social media can’t do, focus on what it can, urges Aaron Bady writing for MIT’s Technology Review this week. He looks at the role of tools like Twitter and Facebook in the Egyptian revolution, and without giving credit to them for “starting” the revolution, or even “causing” the revolution, he makes a thoughtful, reasoned argument for appreciating what they can do. He counters arguments from the likes of Malcolm Gladwell, that social media organising revolves around ‘weak ties,’ by suggesting that sometimes weak ties are exactly what you need to keep people working together – and not getting bogged down in disagreements over the detail.

Read more here – It’s worth it.

It was always going to be difficult to run with the hares and hunt with the dogs, and the indigenisation drive is just one of those things that show how this has become more than real if this metaphor is to be located in the country’s body politic. The fact that “a moderate” like Gono has attempted to steer Minister Kasukuwere away from a bank takeover drive that is a patently kamikaze-inspired policy but has still met the very obduracy that has landed the country in this mess ought to tell us something about the extent the Prime Minister’s MDC is emasculated.

We read the other day that Minister Biti was to meet Minister Kasukuwere over this bank takeover after some tough talk from Gono who himself has never found favour with Biti. It becomes a convoluted matrix of politics meets economics, and we can be sure that these power games have no ordinary Zimbabwean at the centre of indigenisation or economic reconstruction. It is dumb even to imagine that Gono would agree on anything with the MDC based on what we already know, and just what is it that can be read in the public spat with Kasukuwere? Are we seeing an overt emergence of moderates who have no place in the Zanu PF scheme of radicalism?

Zimbabweans have long been conditioned to read developments here in very emotive binaries because of the polarised politics of our post-independence history, and it will take some leap of faith for anyone to believe that “God’s banker” is reading from the same hymn sheet with men who have labelled him a terrorist. So are we now expected to see Gono and Biti punching from the same corner and cheer that indeed we have made that turn for the common good, or just dismiss this as another episode of the protracted battle for the control of the country’s resources by a group of people who still have to prove themselves that it is the Zimbabwean people who matter?  You just have to have your ear on the streets to understand how Zimbabweans think.

The concept is, ZANU PF are now the new Rhodesians.

Why do I say this? Let us look at parallels.

In the end (and also not far from the beginning), Rhodesia stood for nothing. They were simply against.

Rhodesia – “Keep out the godless communists!”
Zanu PF (listening to the ZPFer at the MPOI security sector debate) – “Keep out the whites!”

But what exactly they both wanted to implement was a mystery.
And never mind the fact that Rhodesia was one of the most socialist countries the world has ever known (aside from the apartheid regime).
And never mind the fact that Zanu PF just asked me (a white) to be the local area treasurer!

Really, they are/were both against democracy.
They are/were for entrenched power (and privileges).

For Rhodesia, it was race. It was a strongly classed, and stratified, society.
The upper class – paid, moneyed, educated, healthy, infrastructure there for (pools, cars, roads). Socially distinct, by race.
The lower class – there for labour. Some education, some health (had food!), some infrastructure (bicycle tracks).

There was no middle class. Thanks to PK vd Byl, for the most part. While Rhodesia was not racist, but had a qualified voting system (A and B voters rolls, based on property, income or wealth), in the early 70′s the voters rolls were ‘upgraded’. It was made more difficult to get on the voters roll. You had to own more property, make more money, or have a bigger bank balance. And people were taken off the voters roll. Why? Read Hansard. “Too many blacks were getting the right to vote.” said one MP.

So, instead of building a black middle class who might have voted for the RF, and stood with them for property rights, law and order, decency, etc. the Rhodesians decided to make enemies of everyone!

For Zimbabwe. How do they know who is kissing who’s ass? How do they know who is ‘onsides’ and who is a ‘national security threat’?
Upper class – paid, moneyed, educated, healthy, infrastructure falling apart for. They live in the same suburbs. They go to the best schools (not the government ones). They have offshore medical aid schemes, and go ‘away’ (Singapore) for hospitals. They drive nice, fancy cars. (and fast too!)
Lower class – there for labour. Education – there are the government schools to go to, but no one can afford. Health – go to Pariyanetwa, there might be a doctor on duty. Infrastructure – a pothole on every corner. Power lines hanging on from every pole (but only generators provide power). A tap in every garden, but the water is a bit brown, better get a borehole.

There is no middle class. They are in London (Harare North) or South Africa, where people can get jobs. Called the brain drain.

And what are the middle class? They are biggest threat to a radical, extremist regime. They are the ones who want to develop themselves and their community through standard hard work. Simple solid day’s pay for day’s work. Not the briefcase businessman. Not a fast buck specialist. Not the fly by night company. The builders, with companies with reputations, and personal reputations. Children, modest cars, plain holidays. Eyes on the future. They want good schools, good hospitals, roads with no holes in them, street lighting, clean water it the taps, electricity with a switch. They pay their bills, and expect others to do the same.

Similar? Rhodesia and Zanu PF land look the same to me.

Rhodesians never actually did anything. Unable to do labour. Good at getting others to do things, but not themselves. Their hands were not dirty.

For example, I knew an Afrikaner (ex Rhodie) in Pretoria, who never let it be known he was a Rhodesian. He got dumped on for all the Rhodies who came down, got jobs (based on their white skin), but could not put out the work. Another white came back from Australia, where he did not make it in farming. He was so glad to be back. He could come from a day ‘working’ in the fields here, and just throw his boots at the maid, “Clean them”, and they would be cleaned. He could not clean them himself. Zimbabwe was a wonderful place. Numerous stories like that. And of course, many did make it good overseas too! Listening to the Rhodesian farmers now in Nigeria on the BBC. Stunning stuff!

And here in Zimbabwe, why is the infrastructure falling apart? Because no one here can work. The civil service was stacked with Zanu PF loyalists, because they were Zanu PF loyalists and patronage needed to be handed out. Based on Zanu PF loyalty, and not technical merit, or ability. When I was a councilor, the City or Harare was the third biggest employer of people in Zimbabwe. Now, we are trying to paint the MacDonald Park Pool (owned by the City of Harare). And there are 6 painters in the employ of the CoH! Anyone with any skills or ability have moved to London or South Africa for a job. What do the others on the payroll do? The ghost workers (650) have been found and sacked. An independent body says CoH could be/should be run by a staff of 6000. But the patronage has been handed out, (not that it is worth much anymore). And no one wanted a job anyways, they just wanted the pay cheque. (The farms and factories syndrome.)

Similar?

I also noticed that the Rhodesians were HUGELY anti homosexual. Homophobic in fact. Yet, having done a lot of lights at a lot of Reps shows, I KNOW that the acts in any variety shows, that always got the hugest ovations – audience standing in their seats, hollering and clapping in adoration – that act was the cross dress, most faggoty, camp, blatant, men dressed up as women and singing women’s songs in high voices act.

And Zimbabwe? The main man states they are ‘lower than pigs and dogs’, and there are gangs of professionals beating them up and tearing down their stands, etc. However, I KNOW they exist. I have met them. And they did not pick it up overseas, as some have never left this country!

(And for the record, while I know I should not condemn something I have never tried and have no experience of, I am quite sure I am not gay. Don’t hit on me, as I am quite sure I will hit back. I suspect I am homophobic, and a product of my society. So we can keep sexual preference in some back closet.)

Similar? Again, it is to me.

So, the big question then is, if the ZPFers are the new Rhodesians, who are the new kaffirs?

We held a discussion group this morning with a vibrant and energetic group of students from several tertiary institutions across the country including the University of Zimbabwe, Harare Polytechnic, Africa University and Harare Institute of Technology. In some respects things haven’t changed much since I was a student; they worry about the same things I did then. But while getting a degree and wondering if it will be good enough to guarantee a (high-paying) job is an obvious and universal concern, I think our tertiary institutions are letting their students down by not addressing the social issues that affect them.

Sexual harassment of women students by men in general seems to be one of the biggest problems. In the period when the UZs halls of residence were closed, numerous students had to find alternative accommodation close to the university. One student reported cases of women students staying with gardeners in Mount Pleasant. In addition to paying rent, the women students would also have to give them sexual favours.

Women students are also exploited by their lecturers, and what concerns me most is that the students themselves were unable to even imagine a possible solution for addressing this. The newer institutions like Africa University seem to have the correct structures in place for reporting and investigation, while the older ones like Harare Polytechnic and the University of Zimbabwe simply discourage it by not having or not informing students of the channels in place for bringing up this issue with administrative or faculty staff. Alarmingly, all our women participants reported a lack of faith in any attempt to seek redress by reporting to school authorities. In one story a student reported harassment to a departmental head, who was a woman, but nothing was done to help the distressed student or investigate her claims.

When asked to estimate how many women students got their degrees because they had sexual relationships with lecturers, the average was 80%. The general consensus was that while this relationship was not desired at all by the student, it was in the student’s best interests to endure and make the best of it. One woman student who attends the University of Zimbabwe said: ‘We know that as girls we just have to accept some of these things. If she reports him [for harassment] he will fail her and stop her from getting her degree by talking to all his friends in the faculty.’

Zimbabwe boasts thirty-one government funded universities and colleges whose purpose is to be bastions of knowledge and enlightenment. Instead they have become a playground for the sexual exploitation of women, where every man with so much as a modicum of power seeks to manipulate his way in to gaining sexual favours. Equally culpable are lecturers, department heads and faculty staff; men and women who are aware of this situation but for whatever reason choose to do nothing. It is not enough to protect your own daughter, every woman is someone’s daughter, and every woman has the right to gain an education without harassment. Shame on you!