I read online today that the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and his alleged ‘lover’ Aquilina Kayidza Pamberi, have both denied the allegations that they were having an affair. Was this one of those “unfounded and baseless” stories to “besmirch the person and office of the Prime Minister”? Read the stories from Newsday here and The Standard here

The weekend’s media carried several articles regarding Afrobarometer’s most recent survey titled     Zimbabwe, the evolving public mood. Interestingly the survey reports that 70% out of a sample of 1192 persons responded yes to a question that asked: “Do you think that Zimbabwe should hold elections next year, that is, in 2011?”  The report also notes that relatively few people favoured deferring elections to a later date.

Of this the writer of the report theorizes: That seven in ten would-be voters are anxious to freely elect leaders of their choice, even in an atmosphere where security forces and party militias are again on the move, is testament to the impressive depth of Zimbabweans’ commitment to political rights.

That’s a nice thing to think about Zimbabweans, but I don’t believe it. The same survey reports an increase in reluctance to divulge political party preference and an increase in reported support for ZANU PF. Consider our last election, in which gangs of young men went about rural Zimbabwe beating and raping innocent men and women who were only rumored to support MDC. I don’t think these people are brave, or selfless, or committed to democracy. I think they’re scared.

ZANU PF may not be all-powerful in the low-density suburbs, or even in the rest of the city, but in rural Zimbabwe, it’s Orwellian. It’s difficult to be completely honest with an unknown person whose word cannot be verified. Anyone who has ever conducted a survey will tell you that people will tell you what they think you want to hear. And with a ruling party that bears an uncanny resemblance to Nineteen Eighty Four’s Big Brother its very difficult to shake the feeling that they’re watching you. The ‘thought-crime’ of harboring ideas in your mind such as democracy, the right to vote and secret ballots do not go unpunished.

How constitutional is MDC-Ts National Council’s decision to remove clause 6.1.3 from the MDCs Constitution which states that the president shall serve for a maximum of two five year terms, in order to keep Mr. Tsvangirai in his position as President?

In a series of articles published in Newsday, the Standard and the Independent, Nelson Chamisa, MDCT Spokesperson boldly proclaims “We are the apostles of constitutionalism and disciples and doyens of democracy”.

Any proclamation spoken by politicians should be treated with suspicion, particularly if it is salted with religious reference. Mr. Chamisa goes on to ignorantly defend the National Council’s decision by saying that the two terms only counted when the MDC President also became President of the country.

The MDC Constitution, available for download from their website, states in article 3 titled Aims Values And Objects:

The MDC shall be a Social Democratic Party whose core values shall be solidarity, justice, equality, liberty, freedom, transparency, humble and obedient leadership and accountability. And it goes on further to say:
(b) An open democracy, in which national government is accountable to the people through the devolution of power and decision-making to the provinces and local institutions and structures.

The same document also states that amendments to the MDC constitution are to be carried out by a two-thirds majority of the Congress, not the National Council. I’m no legal expert but the actions of the National Council don’t seem very constitutional to me.

By what standard are we to measure Mr. Tsvangirai and MDC-T itself if even they cannot uphold their own party’s constitution? How are we to believe that they won’t at the first opportunity amend a national constitution to hold onto power?

Of course the major argument proffered will be (in former US Ambassador Christopher Dells words) that Mr. Tsvangirai is the only player on the scene right now with real star quality and the ability to rally the masses. But this does not exempt him from being accountable to the people he wishes to represent. If he is to remain president and the MDC constitution is to be amended then let him state his case at the congress in front of the people, not in front of a hand picked group of cronies and yes men who’s interest lie in maintaining the little power they’ve managed to wrangle from ZANU PF.

Elections are coming and Zimbabwe is watching. Nothing Mr. Mugabe does or says surprises anyone, but Mr. Tsvangirai is quickly becoming the devil no one knows about.

I don’t know whether to be angry or what. This seeming ambivalence, mixed emotions or whatever, is based on that this is the beginning of a New Year when the general expectation is to start on a fairly positive life experience outlook, what with that very mortal obsession of making “New Year’s resolutions.”

So it was that the South African government decided to have Zimbabweans regularise their stay in what is considered the biggest economy continent. Come on, you cannot fault these poor Zimbabweans who have been forced to make choices they would otherwise not have made all things being fair. I believe I am one of many, many Zimbabweans who stayed on despite all the crap, and this based on personal reasons. However, all my siblings left and the oldest – “a very sweet girl”- left with her family to “settle” in SA. Well, are they settled? You bet not!

Thus it was that she sent back her 15 year-old to “organise” a passport on 12 December 2010. Naturally she sought an emergency passport as she has to return to school, and believe me she has aced all the “tests” the South Africans can offer at her level. So I’m elated that she’s got a future she can never get in Zim. Having paid USD250 for an “emergency passport” which we had been told would be issued after two days; she is still wallowing here – today on the 6th of January! She might as well have applied for the snail-pace passport that we are told takes forever to be issued and saved the USD250 for lunch on her way back to SA! And she is supposed to be in class on the 11th of January 2011.

Ever wondered why so many people have so much bitterness about the so-called founding fathers [and I'm not talking about the Ndebele!]; how they have messed up the lives of innocent millions; how they still claim relevance with clowns like that Matebele Prof exhibiting traits that border on the fatalistic cocking a snook at the intelligence of the very people they claim to represent? Religious fundamentalist would no doubt say these folks are cursed, yet this is African politics where dead consciences abound.

And then we read about the KGVI fire and the statement from the MDC-T Home Affairs clown-princess that there was nothing suspicious about the pyromaniac work, as if we had suspected a link with the rush for passports by Zimbabweans domiciled in South Africa!

We sure have a long way to go.

Like Chief Nanga in Chinua Achebe’s ‘A Man of the People’, today’s politicians in Zimbabwe ‘preach one thing and practice another’, writes Levi Kabwato.

The Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) have released a report entitled “No Hiding Place: Politically Motivated Rape against Women in Zimbabwe.”  This report is accompanied by a DVD “What about us?” Both the report and the DVD focus on the experiences of women members of a voluntary network set up to provide support for female victims of politically motivated rape.

Read the report here