Hello everybody in yo great organisation! Please send me the much needed news! We r tired of this tyranny. MDC is not doing enough 2stop zanu’s rot. Am afraid pple may b butchered again next yr if it remains like this. Please do something now!
- Text message to Kubatana

Psychology Maziwisa believes that its the beginning of the end for the MDC. I’d agree with him. A recent news article suggested that Tsvangirai is going to have a hard time getting battle weary Zimbabweans to go to the polls again to vote for his party. To get people out to vote, and more importantly to defend their vote when Zanu PF steals it, the MDC is going to have to engage their brains, rather than their mouths over the next while.

“To survive, they need visionaries able to see beyond the comfort of the GPA” . . . here’s some more very good food for thought from Psychology:

If there is one line of engagement that requires originality, momentum and avoidance of stupidity it is politics. The authenticity of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) project has always been an open question and so a handicap in its own right. However, events of the last three weeks alone might yet herald the beginning of the end of that project.

Doubtless, apart from providing Zimbabweans with a breather, the primary function of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was to give ZANU PF a new lease of life- and it has. It has also given them time to rediscover, re-group and re-energise. Nor can the effect of the Chiadzwa diamonds be under-estimated. For the rest of the country, however, the GPA has flattered to deceive and been a grievous mistake. But the GPA alone will not destroy the MDC- there are other elements at play.

First, the question of sanctions has revealed a rather treacherous and malevolent side to the MDC not least because they have dismally failed to provide a satisfactory rebuttal to accusations that the sanctions were imposed at their instigation. Indeed David Miliband’s proverbial declaration that the British government would be guided by the MDC on the subject of subjects might well have given it all away.

When history is written, when the moment of truth-telling dawns upon us, this will be counted among the most inexcusable and most unforgivable of the MDC’s actions. Indeed it will count in no small measure among the reasons for the downfall of the MDC.

Second, Tsvangirai’s position on the sanctions as a party to the GPA has been anything but clear. He has called them different things at different times. Nor has he been clear about their effect let alone removal.

For instance, a highly respected figure in Zimbabwean political circles wrote to me in confidence on the subject of sanctions and lamented: ‘Maziwisa, It’s unfortunate that Tsvangirai continues to vacillate on the sanctions issue. I have serious doubts about his capacity to run this country effectively given his flip flopping on important issues’.

And it is not just among Zimbabweans that the MDC has lost important support through the question of sanctions. Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, whose assessment of things many in the West have no choice but to consider as plausible, has constantly and unmistakably called for the removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe. This has been a huge blow to the MDC who have had no option but to join the gallery and also call for their removal although, by the look of things, they would have preferred it if Zuma said otherwise.

And it never rains for the MDC. A few weeks ago President Robert Mugabe’s long-time critic and Tsvangirai’s known ally, Ian Khama of Botswana, added insult to injury by joining the already growing number of African leaders in calling for the lifting of sanctions on Zimbabwe. That the sanctions have yet to be lifted is neither here nor there. Suffice it to say that the European Union has since expressed a desire to ‘reconsider’ its position on sanctions.

Nor can the damage occasioned by the GPA be overlooked. Quite the contrary, it has been devastating to the MDC as a party. Two weeks ago, President Robert Mugabe acted in what many, including this writer, perceived as a disturbing pattern of unacceptable unilateralism.  No question about it, President Mugabe was wrong for reasons that are not the subject of this piece.

But while being so wrong, Tsvangirai’s rather ‘stupid’ reaction was even more so- the culmination of which has since seen ZANU PF’s approval ratings rise by a considerable margin while the MDC’s plummet substantially.  It was a moment of madness. It was a schoolboy mistake from an important politician.

Make no mistake the MDC’s impulsive but characteristic decision to seek the intervention of western and foreign governments in a matter purely domestic and purely Zimbabwean met with widespread domestic and regional condemnation- a sure plus for ZANU PF and a resounding negative for the MDC.

Empirically put, 99, 9% of those I have spoken to regarding the matter believe Tsvangirai’s move gave credence to accusations that his party is foreign founded, foreign funded and foreign interested. They believe it served to confirm allegations that theirs is an outpost of foreign interests. The fact of the matter is that Tsvangirai’s statements and actions make it horrendously difficult for anyone to imagine otherwise.

And the decision has backfired big time. For example, the United Nations has bluntly dishonoured Tsvangirai’s plea. It was always going to take a lot of persuading for Jacob Zuma to even read Tsvangirai’s letter. And, apart from classifying it is as ‘a matter of concern’, the European Union has yet to heed Tsvangirai’s request. Moreover, ZANU PF has made it clear that it would reciprocate any gesture of goodwill from the EU. Back home President Mugabe has since used Tsvangirai’s mistake to announce the imminent end of the GPA, pleading with his party for an ‘acceleration of pace’ in preparation for elections at the same time.

Meanwhile, Arthur Mutambara has endorsed President Mugabe’s appointments. Oppah Muchinguri is doing everything in her power to maintain the momentum. Roy Bennett has fled the country and, in the clearest sign of desperation ever, Morgan Tsvangirai has hinted that he will not leave the GPA. In politics, as in many things in life, one ought to play with one’s cards close to one’s chest. But, then, Tsvangirai has a known propensity to inadvertently disclose party secrets and strategies.

All things considered, the political battle in Zimbabwe has become disappointingly one-sided. It has exposed MDC weaknesses and confirmed ZANU PF strengths. All told, the MDC is in big political trouble and needs to fix its mistakes. They have not done much in the GPA. Sadly they have secured higher praise in certain quarters than their record in government justifies. To survive, they need visionaries able to see beyond the comfort of the GPA.

Some of the feedback we’ve received from members of the Kubatana community:

I’m very much worried about the so called ZESA load shedding especially in the area I live, Hatfield. Usually the cutoff is at 5.30pm and will be back at around 10pm and will also be off as early as 4.30am. We hardly use electricity. To my surprise the bills are just too much as we hardly use electricity. One wonders why such load shedding is like that in this area which is along the airport road. This road is usually used by government officials, diplomats, tourists, and investors. How can we have tourists and investors to this country when they are driving in the dark from the airport? This will obviously turn most of our potential investors and tourists away. Their first sight to the country of hope is just darkness and they will feel they will be throwing their money in the dark. My suggestion to this load shedding is that, cut offs should be done during the day, lets say from 9am to 4pm. Lets market our country for potential investors in light. I feel ZESA authorities should look into this matter with broad minds which are full of sales and marketing ideas. Lets market Zimbabwe to rebuild our economy.

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I am getting very agitated with the way Ruwa Local Board is managing the service delivery in the otherwise very quiet and potentially well managed surburb. For starters the board has simply resigned on the water provision aspect, they sit back and relax while the residents go for months on end without water. Awhile ago they used to provide water from a couple of boreholes located on the USAID side but those days are way behind us. Residents resorted to sink wells in their yards but due to the poor rainfall last season the watertable is now miserably low and all you get from the well is mud . . . is this not precipitating a cholera outbreak!!!! To add insult the board has the audacity to dispatch water meter readers for the drops that drip out of the taps once in a blue moon. The drips are so brown from the rusted pipes that you do not even dare use them for flushing the toilet because you will stain it forever. The refuse collection side is even more disappointing. They have a known schedule that the residents know and early in the morning on the particular day all households bring out the refuse outside their yards to be picked up . . . this is a mirage, the refuse is never collected for weeks on end. I just wish the Board could use their municipal police to announce in advance that they will not be picking up the refuse anytime soon and it stays hidden in the yards. I am so fed up of officials who sit in the office and do nothing except grow big tummies from the rates that we fork out every month.

Having a coffee with a friend of mine today she said that not much has changed under the Unity Government in Zimbabwe. We used to have Zimbabwe dollar repression, now its US dollar repression she mused. Sure the shops may be full but the prices are jaw dropping. And if we measure our freedom against packed shelves we’ve got many years of dicktatorship ahead of us.

Zimbabwean people speak out . . . here are a few questions from a Kubatana subscriber.

1. When the municipal police raid vendors, where do they put the merchandise coz the bulk of times the raided stuff does not reach the police station?

2. Why do police raid people trying to make a living by selling when the council and the government they are serving can’t create jobs to absorb those people? Do they want to turn them all into thieves?

3. Where is the money being collected at Toll Gates going if roads remain that bad even around cities when the people collecting the money are cruising in modern-mech cars?

4. Besides getting high perks, chasing vendors from the streets, and involving in corrupt land deals what else do the council administrators do on a normal day?

It’s a disgrace, God help us.

Either Morgan Tsvangirai is short on brains by saying that he won’t contest the result of Zimbabwe’s 2011 poll, or he’s got a direct line to that famous World Cup winner predicting octopus from Germany. One of Kubatana’s SMS subscribers texted us this question recently: Did octopus predict tsvangirai victory in next polls?