Money talks, bullshit walks
So, it’s done. Morgan Tsvangirai has been sworn in as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. Here we go again?
Anyone who knows our history will recognise the current situation – a threat to Mugabe and his ZANU-PF; a “unity” agreement. Is the MDC turning into another ZAPU, to be swallowed by the crocodile and never seen again?
I don’t think so. Yes, entering this forced marriage with an illegitimate despot is selling out of the highest order. I believe the fight was there to be won, and Tsvangirai commanded such a huge following among the people that holding out would have forced the regime to finally give in.
Secondly, the reason ZAPU and others could so easily be swallowed was that they were the bastard children of the same movement, with a similar base and ideological roots. However, the MDC is a robust liberal coalition with principles so tangential to the (former) rulling ZANU-PF that absorbing it would be, and I apologise, akin to swallowing a bitter pill.
See, MT has two trump cards. First, he holds the people in the palm of his hand. Yes, those who are delusional about “elections” should face the fact that MT was robbed blind. C’est la vie. He’s still the most popular leader in Zimbabwe.
Secondly, he holds the keys to foreign aid. Our economy is reeling, and if the purser rules the ship, so Morgan holds all the aces. Any sign of feckery business, and it’s bye-bye foreign aid. Some may protest that aid dollars shouldn’t be used as a cudgel on the people. No, it’s not the people under the cosh, it’s the bastards used to abusing and squirreling away money meant for said people we’re after.
You have the power, Morgan. Use it wisely, an entire nation is counting on you.
So don’t feck it up.
For real hey, I’m hoping MT shows some true leadership mans up aand does right by the people. As a Zambian for a second I was joking with friends from the Miz about how Zambians ain’t the ones carrying suitcases of money to buy surf…but in all honesty its got to the point where the joke is not funny anymore. That aid, the support of the people and MT standing up to the seduction of corrupt, irresponsible behaviour is the key to Zimbabwe’s journey back to some resemblance of normalcy for its people. Viva MT…literally too…we know Bob’s rivals “disappear”
MT is a useless lucky mothafucker who does not know what the game of politics entails….I agree with you JB that a lil more time and the Zanu Puff punks would have buckled, but remember its Mogiza we are talking about here….. I fear for him, remember he will be dealing with retards in Zanu who have “died for the country” and were all certified to be +80% disabled
hmm – new children or same children with different names?
G Spot – like the your elusive namesake you are all over the place – condemning the PM then feeling sorry for him.
The MDC is a peoples movement. This revolution is now being televised and it will never eat it’s children. We wait with hope, love and desperation in our hearts. Waiting and wanting more from our leaders. We have become accustomed to their machinations but now we hope for a people driven government.
There will be many mistakes but for the first time in a long time we have been given something that Zanu PF destroyed – Hope.
The good thing now is that at least things will be done in the light, not in the murky darkness we’ve been used to all this time. And that can only be a good thing.
Now, what the fuck is up with appointing a lawyer as Finance Minister?
I’d be cautious about MT if I were you. He is still a human being in Zimbabwe, and a such,he is still susceptible to being corrupted by the forces working in Zimbabwe. I reckon the guy still has enough potential to screw us. He is coming from a place bitterness, among other things. And we all know what happens when bitterness drives a person. Just look at The Uncle. Just as he had Ian Smith and the Liberation War, MT has Bob and the ‘silent’ war leading up to his inauguration as Prime Minister. The biggest problem/mistake with Uncle was letting him be President for as long as he has been (was about to say ‘as long as he was’ – Eek! – wishful thinking). We thought the democratic process was in effect the whole time. Well, that is until we realised the shit had hit the fan years ago and was still hitting the fan in truck loads. Hell, the fan even stopped working due to all the shit it was caked in.
The point? MT, though crucial, is only a temporary fix and not the ‘saviour’. He may have started ‘it’, but he will not be the one to finish it. MT’s biggest test for me is how much he is willing to let someone else take over. All he is is a means to an end (change). He is only paving the way to a better future, and the people need to bear this in mind. What we need now is someone on hand to take over from MT soon before we find ourselves in the same boat we’ve been in for the past two decades. I will only trust MT if he makes it so that the country is never led, by law, by the same person in more than two terms. Question is ‘does Zimbabwe have someone on hand to finish what he started?’ The young uns needs to step up now. Kinda like the likes of King, Malcom X and Jackson set the foundation, Obama did the stepping up.
@Tara – we need to compare notes 🙂
Beezy – if you took the time to read the Obama piece I sent you, you would know where I stand with inactive political optimism 🙂
There is only one reason why every post revolutionary state lands in shit – The PEOPLE start a revolution, but for some reason, along the way, they delegate their duties to a group of people, depoliticize and wait passively for deliverance. This dereliction of every persons political duty is the downfall of that nation.
A nation of able-bodied and sane people does not need to be LED anywhere, anyhow nor by anyone person or group of people. For expediency, you may elect representatives, but they are merely representatives fully accountable to the people. These reps derive their power from the people, who have it in their hands to recall that rep if he/she does not expedite their cause. This public service is a burden, not something to be contested for.
When people contest and see greatness in being an MP or other such public post, that is indication of a fundamental flaw in the politics of a nation.
When there is talk of ” our leader” and his capability to deliver, that is the signal for the beginning of the personality of cult that swiftly leads to despotism. The time it takes for the nation to realise, ” shit, we’ve been had!!” is the time it takes for the ” leader” to become a despot.
The business of governing a country cannot be left to a few individuals.
Again, The business of governing a country is too important to be left to a few individuals.
There are no good or bad people, people are what they are from their nurture and socioeconomic environment. Point being – Despots and Dictators are what they because they have a passive nation of people bestoring power to them. The moment we as a people depoliticize and wait for deliverance WE ARE FUCKED. Give Morgan (or anyone) the same length of rope we gave Bob and we will be in this exact same spot a few years for now. Give any “good” person a passive(docile?) population and you will get what you deserve – he/she will adapt rapidly to this environment.
Cometh the hour, cometh the political party – not the other way round. MDC opportuned and filled in a void created by the people’s discontent circa mid 1990s. They did not start anything. Every Zimbabwean needs to understand that. Right now the biggest threat to Zimbabweans attaining their freedom, political or otherwise is the cult generating about Morgan and the MDC.
We as a nation are about to fall headlong into the same shit we landed in when at the cusp of liberation we allowed a group of men to “negotiate” a liberation we, the people, had already won.
Our passivity and depoliticization created Mugabe/Zanu PF, Idi Amin, the ANC beast in SA, Kaunda and Chiluba ….pick any post-colonial African country from Algeria to the last, SA, and you will see a trend of liberator-turned-despot replaced by neo-liberator-turned-despot.
Passive optimism in a population gives rise to despotism!!!
The MDC are a tool, in service to the people of the country. The first move Tsvangirai should be making, bugger going to beg for international financial aid, and closed-door caviar negotiations, should be to send all the MDC MPs to their communities and taking mandates as to what THE PEOPLE want them to do.
Zimbabweans should have had alarm bells ringing when they were not consulted or invited to submit their opinions at those “negotiations”. Where were the community groups, the NCA, the traders, teachers, students groups?
Zanu PF is a non-issue, the political dialectic has taken care of them i.e. the death of Zanu PF is inevitable in the political cycle.
I repeat – the biggest threat to Zimbabweans attaining their freedom, political or otherwise is the cult generating about Morgan and the MDC
Will do MosNav. Will print this and read it on the train home after my lesson. Standby!