Parliamentary Monitor - 13 June 2012
Parliamentary Monitor - 13 June 2012
Parliamentary Monitor - 13 June 2012
Parliamentary Monitor
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Ordinary Voices
It, (splitting ministries) is a way of accommodating each other in the gravy train Ramnosy Mbayimbayi
It is not true that he was killed by our supporters, but fell off their moving vehicle MP Acquilina Katsande
In this issue
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The Bottomline People of Zimbabwe are the most important stakeholders who should not be used to fight each other.
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To say there was a wife who bad a husband farewell in the morning, never to see him alive again. A daughter who kissed daddy goodbye, and that was the last she felt of that warm cheek. To a son, who said, see you after the rally, never to hear of what happened at the rally. A community that lost a soul because of political violence. Then to have the audacity not to apologise. The audacity to face other parliamentarians as if nothing had happened. We say to Honourable Kachepa and Katsande, We espect more from you. We deserve more, not this run off the mill approach. This is 2012, not 1220, when barbarism ruled. When more brawn meant more. NO NO NO NO TO VIOLENCE. To say all happened in your presence gives weight to how lowly you have sunk the office of an MP
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Village Observer
I want to write about Zuma! He has been in the news, or say his name was in the news after an artist at the most Freudian climax defaced Lenin's famous portrait, astride (and google on what killed the great genius) in black, to create Zuma, astride (google how many wives he has) with his manhood dangling. The phallic portrait, named The Spear, has caused so much uproar, and discussions on what constitute freedom of expression and how far it goes. Hahaha. Anyway, the debates are very informative and those following them may have come out more enlightened. At least we now know the difference between laughing with and laughing at our leaders. We know that advocates, when they run out of facts, or faced with a system they thought they would defeat, can also cry. Real tears. Legal tears for that matter. However, this import is not on legal tears, the spear, phallic structures, Leninism or causes of deaths. It is on how the protagonist/antagonist (mischief of binary identity) in The Spear would do business in Zimbabwe. Would The Spear pierce the thick skin Zimbabwean politics has couched itself in. Zuma succeeded Thabo Mbeki as the mediator for Zimbabwe. His greatest advantage was he was coming in not to be Mbeki, meaning he could succeed where Mbeki stumbled. However, when one starts to prepare a balance sheet, there is likelihood that the debit side will be greater than the credit side. Tally, a bit if you think I am being partisan in my analysis. As a villager, I have the luxury of observing what we do, how we do things, what we feel about certain things. From time to time, politics and politicians disturb our peace, our rhythm. It is during such period that we are forced to look beyond the horizon. In this case, the issue of Zuma has come to the attention of the village. We talk Zuma as we are seated around fires, as we down traditional beer
or when we bury our loved ones. Most of the villagers think Msholozi is failing on Zimbabwe. The genesis of his failure, some of the villagers argue, is on his attempt to be different from Mbeki. Instead of building on what Mbeki had painstakingly built, Zuma, started his own structure and this is the House that Zuma built. And these are the facts that reside in the house that Zuma built. While many see salvation in his confrontational approach to the delicate issue, any serious village observer would see that it would not yield anything. It has not yielded anything in the last 14 months, after the Livingstone Troika. What Zuma need to start doing is to be hands on. He has to engage, not use proxies. They say it is madness to continue doing something the same way expecting a change of results. The use of proxies, if anything, has created conflict than build consensus. This is a wrong way to start building bridges. If I were in his shoes, I would have dedicated more time to the Zimbabwe issue and get through with it. I bet my last dollar, if it were Zuma who started working with Zimbabwean political parties in 2007, then we would not be talking of a GPA, I may be labelled a Mbeki-phille but that is the reality. You cannot have an entire head of state sending envoys to be told that the Constitution is not yet ready, something we witnessed this week. This is a sign that something is rotten in the way we do things. Another thing, I feel as a villager should be clear is on the mandate of the facilitation team. What is their role? What are the terms
of reference? What I am realising is that we may place so much faith in people who may not have much say. On the constitution, I think it is the people of Zimbabwe who should have a say as it is a document that will govern them not the region. As it stands, the facilitators are giving ammunition to those who may want to throw spanner into works. The way the team is doing things, the clumsiness, leaves so much room for attack and they should tighten up or the issue slips. The issue has been slipping since April last year, when all thought the team had a grip on Zimbabwean issues, then things started getting out of hand and they continue to do so. Finally, what is wrong with SADC? Why would they decide to short change the people of Zimbabwe in particular and the region in general, by issuing ambiguous communiqus? And to the political parties, was the latest SADC meeting a test of power between political parties or it was a way of making sure that Zimbabwe returns to its rightful place. Why would each claim victory? Is this the way we are being run?
No.No. No T o Violence
Never again should we lose a soul over politics! Never again should one lose a limp in political violence. What about this being a pledge by Members of Parliament in the fight against political violence? Political violence is embedded in our politics. This is something that our politicians, to varying degrees of applications have employed as a tool to resolve differences and souls, limps and confidence were lost along the way. Our greatest problem is that we have this scorched earth approach, where we are prepared to destroy those things which may not only benefit us but our perceived enemies as well. This approach, had killed the politics of this country. And it continues to kill the politics to the extent that people are not free to say what they want or stand for. The recent events in Mudzi where Cephas Magura, an MDC-T supporter died as a result of political violence brings to the fore how we are failing as a country to eliminate political violence. Our take is that the issue should be approached from different angles. One important stakeholder is the police. They should be able to work in a manner that issues of political violence are minimised and ultimately eliminated. How? One thing that has been lacking is the bringing to book of offenders. If offenders are, charged, tried and sentenced, then it will definitely send signals to would be perpetrators of violence. To date this has been lacking. Then another issue is for the police not only to clear meetings but to attend such meetings as they have a potential to be the origins of violence. Then another important stakeholder are political parties. They should make sure that the supporters are reigned in. what we have seen is that the political parties only talk violence when it is convenient. Then the other stakeholder is the media and JOMIC, who remembers there is JOMIC. They should go deep and tell us what is happening. And finally, the People of Zimbabwe are the most important stakeholders who should not be used to fight each other.
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Madisnyongoro
the week. They are a clear sign of the craft incompetence that has come to our governance system. Another thing to note is the initial response by the police. They were arresting motorists. Where did they get that mandate. We are told ZINARA had written Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri informing them of the June 30 deadline. When ZINARA used the press to rescind the deadline extension, it was ok for the police to start arresting, talk of being handcuffs fine book happy. Now they have shown us that apart from soliciting bribes, they also contribute to the MADISNYONGORO.
You may not be a motorist but reading about ZINARA last week and the confusion around the organisation made most of us think twice about the rot at the institution. This qualifies the organisation to be the Madisnyongoro of
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