UK — I am bewildered to note that ZANU PF remains unrepentant as ever despite the signing of the agreement.
This follows a number of comments made in the state paper: Herald over the past couple of weeks. In the Herald of today, an article by one Musa seeks to attack the invitation of the Speaker to Manchester by the Labour Party.
This writer forgets that at one time Mugabe called upon the British to come to the table and build the broken bridges.
Mugabe himself came publicly and announced that he was prepared to talk to the colonial master because there is no way he can rescue himself from the economic mess.
The invitation of the Speaker is one of those processes aimed at bridging the broken bridges to placate the ruined country from the economic abyss.
ZANU PF must not be fooled to think that the old ZANU PF cadres will ever be invited to share the same table with the West unless on unavoidable international conferences.
I doubt whether one will ever envisage a situation whereby the Queen will invite Mr Mugabe for a dinner. The unrepentant ZANU PF would see this as a possibility and be quick to reply and say that the invitation by the Queen is a colonial mentality but ironically when it happened in the past it was not a colonial mentality.
ZANU PF must not forget that they themselves invited for the sanctions imposed on them by the West and its allies. Let me remind the ZANU PF people that Mugabe bellowed in South Africa and told Blair to keep his Britain and that he (Mugabe) will keep his Zimbabwe. This was an implicit call for sanctions.
At the heroes Acre Mugabe roared again and told the IMF and the World Bank to go to hell and that he will rely on the look East policy. All these reckless utterances contributed in part to the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
The Agreement signed between the principals reiterated the need to make a collective effort to persuade the West and its allies to remove sanctions. But from the evidence unfolding through the state press so far, it would appear the ZANU PF and people like Nathaniel Manheru would like to forge ahead with the duel between themselves and the West.
As matter of fact, the battle was won by the West and its allies. Had it not been won as I suggested, we wouldn’t have witnessed Mugabe compromising as he did in the agreement.
The main issue addressed by the AGREEMENT is the removal of sanctions and rebuilding of relations with the West and America. But, in my view which I think is shared by many normals ZANU PF has to put the MDC in the fore front in rebuilding those bridges.
If MDC rebuilds the bridges with the West and ZANU PF continues with their China and Russia but not in buying weapons, I think that will be a process haste enough to put our country into a quick recovery process. There is no way the Labour Party or any other like minded party would have allowed the kind of moral decadence that had been going on in Zimbabwe to continue unabated.
Just to name a few: Murambasvina, the Makamba law, looting of shops, political intolerance, violence, humanitarian ban on aid etc. For a person like Musa writing in a paper suggesting that asylum seekers must not be granted a waiver to work and stay in UK is just unfortunate and unrepentant as a ZANU PF cadre.
Zimbabweans who do not have the right to work in the UK are suffering. They are being exploited by unscrupulous employers. Those who are working illegally are not enjoying their rights to full. Imagine everyone going back to Zimbabwe today: is there any guarantee that they will get employment and sustain their lives?
Do you expect the world community to keep quiet when Gono is putting in place ruinous monitory policies that affect the general public? Let me take you through this simple practical example: A person gets $3000 per month. He is only allowed to withdraw $1000 per day. $1000 buys a half loaf of bread.
You need, bus fare, you need food, you have other expenses like children bus fare, buy drinks etc. All these items cannot be purchased using debt cards or RTG or cheques because its either the sellers do not have the facilities or they are not willing to use such systems at all. Let alone your grandpa dies at the rural areas and you want to go there. You have money in the bank but you can’t get it.
Fundamentally, do such policies serve any LEGITIMATE government purpose? This is a total failure and any suggestion to the contrary simply means an ingrained propensity to remain unrepentant.
An example of a person like Gono must not be allowed to be involved in tax payers money business again. He must be specified as an enemy of humanity. Whether, his policies were right or wrong, be repentant and try new hands.
We cannot trust him anymore after suffering like this. How can a reserve bank governor be more powerful than a finance minister? How can he be allowed to run gold mines?
How can he be allowed to export his personal flowers without an accountability checking mechanism in place? If ZANU PF is doing the best and has always been doing the best by allocating land to the landless, why then did they lose in the past election?
The answer to this is simple: Land is in the hands of the few and unless if they were allowed to vote more than once because they own land, possibly ZANU PF would have won the elections. This is simple reasoning to people like Manheru and the like-minded that people need to be repentant and speak about through one voice.
If you have a painstaking analysis of the agreement, most of its space is occupied by a repeat of the rights contained Declaration of Rights which are ensconced in the Constitution. Do you ask why? It is because during the negotiations, one of the parties, most likely Tsvangirai complained about the willful vandalism of such rights by state institutions and organs.
Their inclusion in the Agreement is an affirmation of the need to respect them and that such an acquiescence by ZANU PF representative is an undoubted sign of repentance. That means Mugabe in his person has repented.
Tsvangirai might be right when he says Mugabe himself might be spared prosecution because while he has shown some tendency to repent, some goons like Manheru remains thick and the only way forward is to prosecute them. But however, one must not forget that an internal agreement to immunity is not a bar to international prosecution for commission of international crimes.
There is no doubt that the violence preceding the June 27 elections and immediately thereafter were systematic in nature and were instigated and tolerated by state authorities. Such crimes are known as CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY and some people might be called to account. Mugabe will eventually be called to account. Watch out on space!
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