LAST week, Cde Gomba Midson Mupasu, whose Chimurenga name was Cde Norman Bethune, narrated how he was recruited to join the liberation struggle in 1968 and his long journey to Mgagao Training Camp in Tanzania.

In this interview with our team comprising Munyaradzi Huni and Tendai Manzvanzvike, Cde Bethune continues his narration of the training at Mgagao. He talks about walking over 200km from Chifombo to Zambezi River carrying materiel before the Second Chimurenga started in earnest. He talks about the early years of the liberation struggle as the Rhodesian forces fought to block the freedom fighters from venturing deep into Rhodesia. Read on . . .

SM: Cde Bethune, let’s talk a little bit more about life at Mgagao. Were there any comrades who ran away from training?

Cde Bethune: There are some comrades who tried to run away. I remember Cde Tumai. He tried to run away but they caught up with him. The biggest challenge was that in Tanzania, they use Swahili as the language of communication. At that time you could not communicate in public using English. The English language was confined to school campuses or at home. You know after discovering this, the Smith regime trained some of its black soldiers to speak Swahili so that they could infiltrate our training camps? But still that didn’t work because most of these spies were fished out. During our time, security was really tight.

Remember after the Chinhoyi Battle, the war stopped. The leaders had realised their mistakes and from 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 the leaders sat down to iron out the mistakes and weaknesses. They looked at why the 1964, 1965 and 1966 generation had failed to be successful in waging the war. It was a lesson learnt. Lots of mistakes. You know most of the comrades who were sent to the front in the early 1960s were sent by Zanu just to get some publicity so that the party could get support? That is why most of them were captured. These comrades you now call heroes to me are sellouts. They sent comrades into Rhodesia during their early 1960s without any planning just to get publicity so that Zanu could be recognised. Vakatengesa vamwe vavo.

Our generation which opened the war front in Mashonaland Central is the one which later showed the world that Zanu was now serious in executing the war. The party’s military wing, Zanla, was now oiled and determined to fight the war. Kurovana naSmith and Smith accepted through the media kuti ndiri kurohwa.

SM: Obviously during training, things would sometimes get tough. How would you keep your morale high?

Cde Bethune: There are some comrades who were good at singing and we would sing revolutionary songs. One of my favourite songs was (singing) “Takawira mukono waidzvova. Tichafa nenzira iyo. Makatifira kuti tizvitonge. Nesu tose tichatevera …” We would sing such songs morari vobva wasimuka. (Singing another song) “Toricheka cheka here bhunu? Toricheka cheka here bhunu? Hondoo iyo! Yaaa, yaaa, hondo iyo!” When we started training end of 1970, up to March 1971, we would go for jogging every 4:30am. We would run a distance of about 25 to 30 kilometres, everyday. After coming back we were given about 30 minutes to bath and drink tea, then we went for parade. During the first days, this was torture but later we were used (to it). Up to this day, I can still run this distance.

The instructors would tell us that at the war front we were going to run long distances because this was guerilla warfare. The instructors were ruthless and they would not tolerate lazy people. Remember, we had no means of transport at the war front. You know we had some comrades when we were at the war front who would surrender to the Rhodesian forces kuti ini ndaneta. Pvuti dzichirira munhu kungo simudza maoko surrendering. According to international law, once someone raises his hands in surrender, you are not supposed to kill him.

SM: We have spoken to some comrades who vowed that instead of being captured, they would have blown themselves so that the enemy could not capture them alive. Did this actually happen?

Cde Bethune: I never got to that situation, but I can tell you that even myself I would not allow the enemy to capture me. Fortunately, in most battles I either fought my way out or retreated tactfully. It was good for some comrades to blow themselves up because of the information they would be holding. You realise that the enemy is going to kill me through torture to get this information and you kill yourself. It’s called sacrifice.

SM: Did you see this happening yourself?

Cde Bethune: No, I didn’t but I heard that one of our comrades, Gordon Shiri, killed himself that way. I am told that he failed to get water to drink and he became too weak. Some of his comrades carried him for a while but they discovered that this was now hampering their movements. They left him pachuru saying kana tawana mvura we will come back to collect you. When these comrades got back to where he was, he had died. Some comrades think he killed himself but I am not really sure about that. This comrade was an instructor, he was my age, we trained together and so I was really surprised to hear that such a seasoned fighter had died that way. When this happened I was now at the rear at Nampundwe Farm.

SM: Let’s go back to Mgagao. When did you finish your training?

Cde Bethune: We finished training in March 1971. From Mgagao we were sent to a transit camp called Kongwa. Cde Chemist Ncube, Cde Josiah Tungamirai, Cde Dick Moyo, Cde Cephas Tichatonga, Cde Tumai, Cde Josiah Ziso, Cde Mugwagwa and others were taken to Lusaka. They teamed up with groups that had been trained at Chunya camp and Itumbi and came for reconnaissance in Rhodesia. After their reconnaissance that’s when we met them around August 1971. I remember August 18 that’s when we left Kongwa and got to Chifombo on the 20th. Around October, I remember it was not raining, that’s when we started walking from Chifombo to Zambezi River to leave materiel. We did this until December 1971.

SM: How difficult was it carrying materiel from Chofombo to Zambezi River? What distance are we talking about here?

Cde Bethune: This distance was over 200km. I think walking like from Harare to Mutare. We would sleep on the way. Just to give you an idea, we would walk like from Harare to Headlands in one day. From Headlands up to Nyazura the next day. Actually, I think Mutare is too close.

SM: Comrade, Comrade, Comrade, are you being real here?

Cde Bethune: Yes, I am very serious. We were determined. Like I told you, during training we were told kuti tichafamba netsoka. So we were ready for all this. By this time, the female comrades had not yet joined us.

SM: When you say carrying materiel, what exactly do you mean? How heavy was it?

Cde Bethune: When I say carrying materiel I mean carrying war weapons. Chainyanya kurema chikasha chemabara. It was just a small box that contained between 1 000 to 2 000 bullets depending on the type. I think this box was between five to 10kg. I am not sure about the kgs but I can tell you kabox ikako kairema. Ndokusaka waizoita chikofu pamusana apa. Handiti mombe ukaisunga pajoki inozvimba yosvuuka? Ichocho isu takachiita.

SM: You would go how many trips?

Cde Bethune (laughing): Paifiwa macomrades. Zvaida kushinga chokwadi. There was no one we could say ndiye achazozviita. It was not easy. It’s very difficult to explain such things to someone today and someone understands what you are saying. Dai zvaiitwa nevanhu vandinoona vava kushandira Hurumende now, most of them would have surrendered. Vaitiza! Kurwa kwaitova easy than kufamba. Besides this heavy box, at the same time we would be carrying land-mines, then ma mortar 60mm and 82mm. We would also be carrying shells of RPG 7 and RPG 2.

When we got to Zambezi, we would take the materiel to a place we used to call kumaPopo. This was a large orchard belonging to Mozambicans. It had mainly pawpaw trees, that’s why we called the place kumaPopo or kumaPapaya Base. Frelimo had its base there also. So isu vatakuri taingonzi we leave the materiel at one place. One of the comrades, we called him Baba vaJuru, together with Cde Joseph Khumalo ndivo vaiziva kuti vanoatora vachienda kupi. Our job was to carry the materiel and drop it pavanenge vataura. After dropping the materiel, we would hit the forests going back. These two comrades had the responsibility to make sure that the materiel got into Rhodesia. Most of the materiel found its way to Duhwa area in Mukumbura at Kakwidze Base. All this way, Cde Khumalo and Baba Juru would be with the comrades carrying the material. Once they got to Kakwidze, the two would instruct the comrades to drop the materiel at one point and order them to leave. These two would know where to hide the material. They were the ones who distributed materiel to the freedom fighters when the war started. From Kakwidze, all groups at the war front had someone responsible for logistics. He is the one who was responsible for distributing materiel at the war front to his group of comrades.

So before the war started, we made sure that we carried lots of materiel that could sustain the war. By the way, along the way from Chifombo to Zambezi, we would sometimes fight the Portuguese soldiers in Mozambique. Our ratio as we walked was one-to-two. As we walked, we would be in groups of six so what I mean is that if, for example, we met 12 Portuguese soldiers, we were supposed to avoid them if it was possible.

So I am saying one comrade to two Portuguese soldiers, but kana zvaramba we had to fight. We were supposed to go into contact (fighting) with the number of Portuguese soldiers that we knew we could kill. Kwete kungoridza chete. We were never supposed to waste our materiel. You were supposed to fight knowing that you are the one responsible for carrying the ammunition. So it was important to make sure that each bullet hits a person. This is what we had been taught. Our ambush was supposed to be around 20-30 metres because 50m unenge usisanyatsowone murungu. So murungu aifanirwa kuswedera mudhuze. Close, worova hako. Ukanyatsomurova anosimuka mudenga, ozoti pasi buuu! Even iwe comrade ukarohwa at close range unotosimuka.

SM: You are talking about kurova murungu but the Rhodesian army also had blacks?

Cde Bethune: Yes. During the early years, the Rhodesian forces would go around in groups of nine. So there would be eight black soldiers and one white. These blacks are the ones who would be walking in front. But these numbers increased over the years after the Rhodesian forces discovered that in those small groups taivarakasha. From nine they went to 10, then 12.

During these early years, among our group of six – one would have specialised in firing a bazooka – RPG7, three with an AK47, another with a 60mm mortar and others with light machine guns. Armed like this, we were very, very dangerous. Hatina kumira mushe and team yakatokwana. Aiwaaa, ahhhh, kana 16 soldiers tinorova! Taitanga kusimudza duri raMbuya Nehanda (60mm mortar). Roti pakati pavo zhiii, then isu tomirira kupedzisa vaya vanoda kutiza. Unonzwa kuti pa, pa, pa, pa! Later during the struggle, we started using semi-automatic rifles. During my time at the war front, this is how we operated. I later went back to the rear around April 1973. This was after a fierce battle at Gwetera. We were with Cde Chimedza. Taifamba nesvikiro rekwaChaminuka. We were supposed to go to Domboramwari. Kwainzi kune banga riri padombo. As we were walking to Domboramwari, we were sold out and we got into this battle. After this we failed to go to Domboramwari.

SM: We will get back to this battle later. For now let’s go back to the years you were carrying materiel to Zambezi. Before carrying the materiel, did you conduct any rituals?

Cde Bethune: Every time pataifamba, taiwombera. This was usually done by the section commander or commander in charge of security, or commissariat. Everybody knew that before embarking on any mission, taiisa fodya pasi pemuti wemuchakata. (clapping hands) “Hekani waro Chaminuka weee, Nehanda Nyakasikana, vazukuru vari kukumbira kuti tive machena. Tiri kukumbira kuti tifambe munezvakanaka. Ndimi zimbuya guru, chisvitsai kuna musikavanhu. Zitateguru guru Munhumutapa, ndimi makatisiira basa iri sezvamakataura kuti mapfupa angu achamuka changamire. Hatina zvakawanda zvatinokumbira. Tiri kukumbira machena. Pfumo ndimi makarisiira panzira. Chiitai kuti titakure pfumo ramakasiira panzira. Tatenda!” After this toti macomrades, handei. Munhu wese rinenge rava gandanga chairo. You know after conducting this ritual, sometimes we would meet lions but they would just look at us. I saw this with my own eyes.

SM: Comrade are you being honest here?

Cde Bethune: Yes, of course. I know many people think that lions don’t have a good relationship with human beings. During the liberation struggle, taitora shumba seshumba dzepasi. Unlike the ordinary lions, these lions I am talking about you could see them not very far and they would just stare at you. We took them sana sekuru vedu, mhondoro dzedu. Sometimes these lions would walk by our side as if dzaitiperekedza. After a while, they would just disappear. We never heard stories of comrades who were killed by lions during the liberation struggle or even snake bites. Our ancestors are the ones who had cleared the way for us so that we could only fight one enemy – the Rhodesian soldiers.

SM: When were you deployed into Rhodesia to start the war?

Cde Bethune: After getting wind that freedom fighters had found their way into Rhodesia, the Rhodesian soldiers came up with a plan that the freedom fighters could not get over Mavhuradonha Mountain and go to areas like Dotito, Mt Darwin, Chitiriri and Chahwanda area. But by this time, James Bond and his group were already operating between Mt Darwin and Bindura. I was deployed around Gwetera area facing Shamva. Before getting to Gwetera, we fought quite a number of battles along the way. We were still on the Mozambican side. I remember one battle at Karomokafue, then Musengezi, then Nzoumvunda, then Kakwidze and then Kwaduhwa. We engaged in these battles together with Frelimo. During this time, Frelimo was preparing for transition dialogue with the Portuguese government in their country. From 1972 up to 1974, we had very good relations with Frelimo because we fought many battles together, especially from their spring bases that were in Mukumbura area. Most of the battles, the Rhodesians would wait and ambush us. Their idea was to make sure that we would not go deep into Rhodesia.

From Chigango, Chiswiti, Katerere, Chitsungo, Muzarabani to Musengezi Mission, there were so many Rhodesian informers by this time. After discovering this, as freedom fighters we took a decision not to rely on people from these areas. We relied on people from Duhwa area which was on the Mozambican side. These people could speak both Shona and Portuguese because they were Zimbabweans who had migrated to this area. Families from this area understood the war and they helped us a lot in terms of food. When the war in Rhodesia intensified, these people abandoned their homes and went further into Mozambique. When these people left, they left matura echibage. I think chibage chavo chakatozopera around end of 1974.

After discovering that these people were in trouble with the Rhodesian soldiers, we told them that kana varungu vasvika pano don’t hide it from them that we were around. We told them to tell Smith’s soldiers that “kwanzi kana mauya imimi masoldier aSmith tikuudzei kuti vari kukutsvagai”.

They were supposed to tell these Rhodesian soldiers where they thought we were so that they would not be tortured. Unfortunately, some of these villagers were killed by the Rhodesian soldiers, especially those we would have defeated. As they retreated, they killed many of these villagers.

To be continued next week

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Harmony Agere
In yet another low for the education sector, some schools are demanding that enrolling students should bring their own desks, chairs and mattresses, in a development that has stretched their already burdened parents. Parents and guardians who last week enrolled their children for Lower Six told The Sunday Mail Society that they had been told to bring chairs, desks and mattresses.

The requirements add to a string of items that are already being demanded by both primary and secondary schools, which range from toys to laptops.

“The requirement to bring such items as a desk, chair and mattress increases the cost burden on parents and we expect Government to intervene,” said a parent who declined to be identified.

“We are already required to pay for a lot of things outside school fees and we can’t afford to take this one too.”

The practice is reported to have started at the beginning of the year when Form Ones began classes. The parent said they had already bought desks, chairs and mattresses for their other children who enrolled for Form 1 at a boarding school (name supplied) early this year.

Whilst the requirement to bring mattresses is based on the fact that some students bed-wet and the move is seen as a health issue, what does not make sense is the requirement that pupils bring their own furniture, especially for Advanced Level classes.

Explained the parent: “For Form 1 to 4, whilst bringing desks and chairs might work because students are stationed in one classroom throughout the year, how does this work for Advanced Levels classes, where students move from one classroom to another for different subjects?”

Another burning question is what has happened to the furniture that the schools were using prior to this arrangement.

“If every pupil is to bring his or her desk, chair and mattress, what will happen to the furniture that the school had?” the parent queried.

Also of concern is what becomes of the furniture at the end of a schooling period or if a student transfers to another school.

Education experts believe the move is another one of the several tricks being employed by schools to by-pass a 2014 Government freeze on tuition fees and levy increases.

Some schools have been dribbling the directive by applying for time-framed “building” levies which they, however, continue to collect in perpetuity.

And it is not clear if schools have been given the green light to demand furniture from parents. Some schools maintain that asking learners to bring their own furniture is not a new practice.

They say students are free to take their furniture with them when they finish school but added that a few do so since it would have been worn out.

The schools are arguing that they are cash-strapped, hence they have resorted to this arrangement.

“It’s easy for the media to criticise but we need money to operate smoothly and we are simply passing on the burden because we do not have the money,” said one school head.

“For starters, parents are no longer paying fees because Government says defaulters cannot be turned away and we cannot hike the fees because Government banned that too and lastly, we don’t have other sources of funding besides fees.”

But the move to demand desks, chairs and mattresses has not been welcomed by parents and other stakeholders in the education sector. They feel the move is counter-productive.

“It is almost criminal and it goes against policy,” said Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president, Mr Obert Masaraure.

“The procurement of furniture should be the prerogative of the School Development Committee and it is against procedure for them to ask children to bring their own furniture. But what it shows is that our education system is so broken that schools now resort to such unprofessional conduct.”

Mr Masaraure said schools should come up with fund-raising activities rather than passing the burden to parents.

Zimbabwe Schools Development Associations and Committees president, Mr Claudio Mutasa, says his association is yet to receive formal complaints on the issue but blasted the alleged practice.

“I must be honest to say that we do not have such a case yet and should it come, it will be the first,” he said.

“If that is what it is happening then it’s wrong because that is not the ideal way to procure furniture for the school. The committees handling business in those schools are failing to follow set rules and procedures.”

The Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Professor Paul Mavima said there is nothing wrong with the practice as long as it has been approved by the ministry.

“Well it is a way of raising levies and if it is agreed between the school administration, the SDC and the parents then it is fine,” he said.

“But it should be approved by the Permanent Secretary so that whatever they do follows procedure.

“If the parents feel that they are not in agreement and that they are being forced into the arrangement, they can always put in a formal complaint with the ministry.”

Apart from furniture, some schools are demanding toys, books and various extra curricula items, a situation Mr Masaraure says is the child of an “ambitious curriculum”.

“Much of these things came up with the new curriculum which we have always said is over ambitious,” he says.

“It simply does not make sense to demand that children should bring laptop toys and other stuff because the majority cannot afford them.

“Look at schools in rural areas, the parents cannot afford a bulk of things demanded by this new curriculum.”

Asking children to bring items to school has often been seen as a way of promoting stigmatisation against children whose parents cannot afford.

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Zimbabwe is truly on a path to self-realisation.

It is amazing how much a people with collective interests at heart can turn their fortunes around.

As the general elections draw nearer, the whole nation is in agreement that free and fair elections are what is required to cement the country’s economic boom.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged that the upcoming plebiscite is going to be free, fair, transparent, credible and peaceful.

The President has even committed to meeting all political parties to preach peace and love.

That message of peace should be able to extinguish any flames of inter-party and intra-party violence as we approach the elections. Political violence has no place in modern-day Zimbabwe.

This is something that the MDC-T, which has been burning from the inside with its members attacking each other day and night, must learn from Zanu-PF. Factional politics most certainly does not work for the greater good of any political party. And jabs do not clear any misunderstandings.

This is why the President has been consistent in discouraging hate speech. While in years gone by, anti-people slogans had taken route in the ruling party, there has been a great shift, a breath of fresh air. The focus should be on the economy and on policies to improve people’s lives.

The electoral body, the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC), has promised nothing short of a credible election. For several months now, the Commission has been busy with the compilation of the biometric voter’s roll.

It is almost all systems go.

Today, a Sadc mission team arrives in the country for a pre-election assessment.

More teams from the United Nations, African Union and European Union are expected soon on the same mission.

Their observer missions will go beyond the polling process to encompass the pre-election period, the campaigns as political parties drum up support as well as assessing stability after announcement of results.

Government, therefore, has done its part in setting a conducive environment, having already bankrolled the registration exercise and inviting the various regional and international bodies.

It is now the responsibility of the people of Zimbabwe to deliver their end of the bargain. A credible election is not something that can be handed over to us, we have to create it as a people.

More than 5,3 million potential voters have since registered to vote. This is a huge number that shows the appetite that the people of Zimbabwe now have with regards to having a say in the governance of this country.

These are expectant voters, who are looking forward to casting their vote without being coerced or intimidated into any decision.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of all political parties to ensure that these voters are allowed to express their will freely.

To that end, political parties must take heed of the call from ZEC that it is illegal to demand voter registration slips from potential voters as it has the potential of intimidating them. At the same time, voters must also find comfort in the fact that there is no way that a serial number can ever be tracked back to their vote.

With about 60 percent of those who have registered to vote in this year’s election falling under the youth category, which is those between the ages of 15 and 35 years, political parties are also aware that this group has to be courted.

Politicians are alive to the fact that it is this group that is falling over each other in its search for employment and empowerment. Unfortunately, this has exposed the youth to unabated abuse. The youths are being used as pawns to fan political violence by their party leaders. The never-ending clashes between MDC-T youths are regrettable. One hopes that this is not a taste of what this opposition party has become.

The excitement and eagerness to add voices through the ballot has not been confined within the potential voters’ hearts. Even political parties have been flexing their muscles.

Towards the end of last year, ZEC revealed that the number of political parties registered to contest the 2018 elections had more than doubled from 35 to 75. More have recently joined the race. This again is testament to the fact that a conducive environment has been created for political parties to flourish.

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Howdy folks!

THIS year’s International Women’s Day was celebrated last week under the theme “Press for progress” to celebrate social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

Folks, women’s struggle for gender parity has been arduous and they have managed to make significant progress although more still needs to be done.

I have been wondering why women have been left behind for many years. Sometimes I am tempted to think that men are afraid of being outsmarted by the fairer sex.

Even British novelist and author of “Lord of the Flies” William Golding once remarked that; “I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men; they are far superior and always have been”.

I agree with Golding that women are superior to men but I disagree that they are ‘foolish enough to pretend’.

Women are conscious of their capabilities. The greatest undoing is that they are imprisoned by the patriarchal society we live in.

This has been the situation since time immemorial, even during biblical times when a woman was caught in an adultery affair and she was the only one who faced punishment while the man walked scot-free.

In contemporary society, we still have men who oppress women without shame. Some women are punished for drinking the same beer that men enjoy and for dressing whichever way they like.

My point is that men are foolish for pretending to be superior to women.

Democracy entails rule by the majority but given the few women in the corridors of power, it may mean that there is no justice; there is no equality. Women are more than men in numbers but the majority is being ruled by the minority; it’s absurd.

However, it is also pleasant to note the Constitution provides room to address gender inequality in Section 17 (2), which says, “The State must take positive measures to rectify gender discrimination and imbalances resulting from past practices and policies”.

What are some of these “past practices and policies” being cited and what action has been taken to safeguard the rights of women?

Some of the pertinent issues which need to be addressed include land ownership. In the past, women were not allowed to own or inherit land, leaving them disempowered.

According to a 2016 Zimstat report, titled “Understanding Gender Equality in Zimbabwe”, out of all the A2 farmers, only 3,5 percent is owned by women, with men owning the remaining 96,5 percent.

Women also own as little as 16,3 percent of A1 land and 17,6 percent of small scale farms.

These dynamics should change folks.

Section 17(1) (c) of the Constitution says, “The State must take practical measures to ensure that women have access to resources, including land, on the basis of equality with men”.

What practical measures are being implemented?

Part of the reasons why women have limited access to land is because of our patriarchal and cultural systems of inheritance where the boy-child takes over the father’s land. The girl child achinzi anozoroogwa, in other words, marriage is her inheritance.

We cannot conclude the land reform programme without allocating more land to women.

The Good Book says as the Israelites were about to enter Canaan, there were five wise sisters whose father had died and had no male child. These sisters knew that their father’s inheritance would be grabbed by their uncles and they sought help from the powers that be.

“Why should the name of our father be removed from among his family because he had no son?” they queried.

That day, the Good Book says God Himself crafted a new inheritance law which says, “If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughters.”

As we press for progress, there should be deliberate efforts to address the huge imbalance along gender lines in relation to land ownership.

Folks, you will also realise that in the past, decisions about women were made in their absence as they were not given opportunities to be included in the various spheres of life.

This is despite the fact that Section 17(1) (a) says, “the State must promote the full participation of women in all spheres of Zimbabwean society on the basis of equality with men.”

To attain gender equality, all the barriers blocking the parity must be dealt with.

In political and economic spheres, women are still marginalised as they are not trusted to lead.

Statistics show that of the 1 793 councillors in Zimbabwe, only 15,7 percent are women while only six out of the 276 chiefs are women and 13 out of the 494 masabhuku are of the fairer sex.

These leaders play a key role in making decisions that impact on the daily lives and well-being of communities.

The same should also happen in business. Just ask yourself why only a few companies on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange are led by women.

Of the 31 000 sole proprietor establishments, only 22 percent are women. There is certainly ample room for improvement.

Section 56 (2) of the Constitution says: “Women and men have the right to equal treatment, including the right to equal opportunities in political, economic, cultural and social spheres.”

To demonstrate that some women are sometimes treated as second class citizens, they earn less than their male colleagues.

A survey commissioned by a human resources firm, CV People Africa in 2012, for instance, established that women continue to earn less than their male counterparts, with a gender pay gap of 19,4 percent.

Gender pay gap statistics in the agricultural sector, according to Zimstat, show that female employees in the large scale agricultural sector earn 83 percent of what male employees earn. The figure is as low as 78 percent in the A1 sector.

This is despite the fact that Section 65 (6) of the Constitution says: “Women and men have a right to equal remuneration for similar work.”

In the past, women would lose their jobs for getting pregnant and giving birth. They were punished and condemned for bringing life into the world.

Giving birth and taking time to nurse babies was wasted time. Positive strides have been made in addressing this issue with the Constitution now guaranteeing female employees a right to fully paid maternity leave for at least three months.

Cases of women abuse are still rife with some being treated as sex objects. They are often harassed in the streets with some being stripped by uncouth touts.

Section 80 (1) of the Constitution states that: “Every woman has full and equal dignity of the person with men.”

We should not harass women but rather treat them with dignity.

I am glad that the Constitution now protects women in the event of divorce or death as they are allowed custody of children.

Section 80 (2) says: “Women have the same rights as men regarding the custody and guardianship of children.”

It is also worrisome that some women are being subjected to dehumanising cultural practises such as genital mutilation and reed dance against their will. In other cultures, practises such as chinamwari and komba, young women who have not reached marriage age are forced to do sex lessons.

This may lead to child marriages in some instances.

According to Zimstat, 21 percent of women between 15 and 19 years are married, with 2,2 percent of them already divorced.

On the other hand, 1,6 percent boys in the same age group are married.

Girls should spend more years in school before they decide to get married.

Further, some gender norms have resulted in more women than men contracting HIV as women have a weaker position in making sexual decisions.

Of the women between the ages of 20 and 24, nearly 11 percent of them are HIV positive whilst only 3,8 percent of men in the same age group have the virus.

Folks, we have a Constitution which says, in Section 80(3): “All laws, customs, traditions and cultural practices that infringe the rights of women conferred by (the) constitution are void to the extent of the infringement.”

In light of the above, you may want to agree with me that constitutionalism is one of the buttons that have to be pressed for progress on gender equality.

We also need leaders who respect the Constitution to the spirit and letter.

Before I jump on my horse and ride back to the country, happy International Women’s Day to you all!

Later folks!

Clemence Machadu is an economist, researcher and consultant. He writes for The Sunday Mail in his personal capacity.

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In our small world of little Zimbabwe, we too have lost a beautiful mind.
Many people think it was lost somewhere between 2008 and 2017, prompting other beautiful minds to step in to save a nation.
Others think it was lost in the year 2000, when that mind failed to operationalise land reform into a truly transformative economic programme.

Russel Crowe’s portrayal of John Nash in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” has to be one of the greatest biographical cinematic performances of all time.

It is right up there with Denzel Washington’s take on Frank Lucas in “American Gangster”.

I admire movie-makers and actors. They are walking, talking art.

Tafataona Mahoso told our junior class in the Division of Mass Communication at Harare Polytechnic back in 2001 that the fascination with celluloid heroes could be understood within the context of commercialised suspension of disbelief.

He was right.

But I like movies all the same. Not C-Grade stuff like the “Wakanda” comic book regurgitate that has gripped the world. That is genuine commercialised suspension of disbelief stuff.

I am more in awe of true artistic expression than special effects computer-generated voodoo.

Which is why I think Mr Washington has a beautiful mind. Apart from “American Gangster”, consider “John Q”, consider “Fences”, consider “Remember the Titans”, consider “Glory”, consider “Hurricane”, consider “Malcom X”, consider “Antwone Fisher”, consider “The Great Debaters”, consider “He Got Game”, consider “Cry Freedom”.

The list of superlative performances is long.

Would it be heresy for me to say Mr Washington has never made a bad movie? That some of his works are just better than others?

Yes, Mr Washington has a beautiful mind.

Russel Crowe on the other hand is a likeable-quirky-tough-soft Mr Washington wannabe.

He promised good things in “L.A Confidential”, lived up to the promise in “Gladiator”, hit his highest point as a lead in “A Beautiful Mind”, and complemented Mr Washington well in “American Gangster”.

He has trundled along and tried to live true to the promise in “The Next Three Days”, but it just has not been happening.

But that is not my concern today. My concern is “A Beautiful Mind”.

“A Beautiful Mind” tells the story of Nobel Laureate in Economics John Nash and his battle with paranoid schizophrenia, which almost cost the world revolutionary insights in the field of game theory.

The real John Nash graduated from university at just age 19, with both a BS and MS in Mathematics.

But the following years were to be hellish.

Around 1959, Nash started believing that all men who wore red ties were part of a communist plot against him.

He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

The experts say a person with this mental illness has “fixed beliefs that are either false, over-imaginative or unrealistic, and usually accompanied by experiences of seemingly real perception of something not actually present”.

Because of his intellectual brilliance, his eccentricities went largely accepted, even as he declined treatment for his condition.

As a result of the illness, Nash saw himself as some sort of messenger with a special purpose for humanity. He believed he had “supporters and opponents and hidden schemers, along with a feeling of being persecuted and searching for signs representing divine revelation”.

Nash died in 2015. I don’t know if that beautiful mind had been cured of its illness.

The world lost another beautiful mind last week.

At the age of 21, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and was told he had two years to live.

He was to live another 55 years, dying last week at the age of 76.

Unable to move his body and only able to speak through a computer, he unleashed his powerful mind to deconstruct the universe via the field of theoretical physics.

He could have become a paranoid schizophrenic, convinced that there was a conspiracy around him.

There never was any bitterness expressed about his condition. He accepted it and did not let it define him.

The world loses beautiful minds every day. Sometimes we see it, sometimes we don’t. Either way, it’s always tragic.

In our small world of little Zimbabwe, we too have lost a beautiful mind.

Many people think it was lost somewhere between 2008 and 2017, prompting other beautiful minds to step in to save a nation.

Others think it was lost in the year 2000, when that mind failed to operationalise land reform into a truly transformative economic programme.

Others yet insist that beautiful mind was lost in 1980 when we all failed to see that tri-mingling personality, the ruling party and the State was fatal to nationhood and national aspirations.

Those with the dimmest view will say it was never a beautiful mind, and that from February 1924 to November 2017, a selfishness of boundless proportions was being nurtured so that it could exact its strangely vengeful will over millions of souls.

I’m no psychoanalyst, never mind my pet forays into Freudian methods, but methinks we have before us subject matter that would give Sigmund political wet dreams.

I cannot – medically or legally – diagnose paranoid schizophrenia.

Whence come the delusions of omnipotence? From which warped cranial streams flow murky thoughts of persecution, conspiracy and ill-deserved comeuppance?

Surely, what makes a full-grown man – more grown than most in this land – think that ‘tis only by the will of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga that he is now an ordinary, private citizen?

Is it, as one gentleman has put it, power denial psychosis, and if it is, is that a medical condition that can be treated by hard science or a political condition that requires a more nuanced intervention?

No, I can’t diagnose paranoid schizophrenia. And I can’t diagnose power denial psychosis. But I sure do know a God complex and megalomania.

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Beijing is already talking about how, going forward, it will focus on enhancing strategic synergies, pushing the Belt and Road Initiative through the African Union Commission, poverty reduction and skills training of young people.

Africa figures highly in Beijing’s estimation of the global economic trajectory, if deliberations at the ongoing 13th Communist Party of China National Congress and 19th People’s Political Consultative Conference are anything to go by.

China, commanding the world’s second largest economy, knows there is no future without Africa, hence its strong push to enhance ties with the continent.

This thrust is outlined in President Xi Jinping’s “Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” development blueprint for a prosperous society.

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era encompasses 17 areas of focus for China’s development agenda.

These areas include pursuit of peaceful development and co-operation with other countries. For our continent, this is dubbed “A New Era of China-Africa Co-operation and Common Development”.

China has stated its commitment to working with on the bases of political equality and mutual trust, mutual beneficial co-operation, enriching cultural exchanges, assistance in security, and solidarity and co-ordination in international affairs.

To address Africa’s development problems of inadequate infrastructure, lack of professional and skilled personnel and shortage of capital, China has laid out a clear plan.

That plan involves the China-Africa industrialisation programme to promote partnerships in industry with more investment in Africa by Chinese enterprises; agricultural modernisation with China sharing its experience in this sector; and an infrastructure programme to upscale mutually beneficial co-operation in planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance.

What remains is for Africa to be clear on how it wants to engage China going into the future.

China has increased direct investment, trade and loans to Africa.

This seems to have ruffled the feathers of Washington the wrong way, with then US Secretary of State Mr Rex Tillerson recently showing discomfort with the way ties between Africa and China are growing.

Instead, Mr Tillerson tried to play up American humanitarian aid to Africa, which he priced at US$533 million.

Yet African countries are not in need of aid as much as they are in need of win-win trade, skills exchange and infrastructure development partnerships.

With those fundamentals in place, Africa’s reliance on aid will decline. And this is what China is offering.

Last week Deputy Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Shouwen Qian Keming, told the international media here that Africa was an important partner.

He pointed to development co-operation in more than 20 African countries, which emphasised infrastructure, clean water, industrial co-operation, capital investments in small to medium-sized enterprises and skills training.

And as China hosts the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac) Summit later this year, these partnership assume a new, higher level.

Minister Wang said Focac was a platform to take stock of existing partnerships and enhance them for mutual growth and development, with Beijing’s multi-billion dollar Belt and Road initiative, sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road, as the bedrock.

China, he pointed out, wanted to assist Africa to grow by and for itself and the international community.

It is against this background that it is incumbent upon to find its voice and outline its own interests clearly so that we have truly win-win partnerships.

A good starting point would be to start planning for the China International Import Expo slated for November in Shanghai, where Africa should present a credible trade position.

We should start asking ourselves what Africa has brought and will bring to the table since 17 years of the birth of the Focac, which graduates into a full Summit this year; what Africa hopes to achieve from Focac and what its plan to achieve this is.

Does Africa really know what it wants? Does it know how to get it? Is it doing what it must do to get it?

China is clear on what it wants.

Beijing is already talking about how, going forward, it will focus on enhancing strategic synergies, pushing the Belt and Road Initiative through the African Union Commission, poverty reduction and skills training of young people.

Focac is the platform where for African leaders to play a defining role in uplifting African economies by negotiating sustainable trade, agriculture, and industrialisation deals.

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Panganai R Ngorima
The MDC-controlled council and the Zanu-PF Government need to set aside political differences and find a lasting solution to this horrible menace that has reduced our former Sunshine City to a squalid backyard township shopping centre.

Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, was once a shiny, clean metropolis and symbol of modern industrialised Africa.

But over the past two decades it has been reduced to an epitome of disorder.

All forms of informal business activities have in the last decade sprouted at an amazing pace and more recently an exponential rise in these activities have been recorded.

These informal business activities range from the historical newspaper vendors, fruit and vegetable carts, clothes sold from car boots and metal rails and even grocery items sold on street pavements.

Almost every street pavement, corner or open space is now occupied by these mostly illegal vendors. This has virtually left no space for free movement of people going about their daily activities.

This is a scourge that is threatening the very existence of the city itself.

The city’s traditional revenue streams from formal businesses is under serious threat in Harare and urgent measures need to be taken to restore sanity in the capital city.

Informal vending has always existed in Harare.

However its existence was organised in a manner that did not compromise the state and general standard of the CBD.

In those days, all vendors were issued and paid for their hawkers Licence. Designated vending stalls were located across the CBD.

There were fruit stalls at charge office bus rank, text book vendors at the Rezende Street bus rank, the newspaper/magazine vendors along First Street and the famous Mupedzanamo clothing market at the periphery of the CBD.

As such, vending is not a new phenomenon, but the level of disorder is what is mind blowing.

The city fathers and indeed the responsible ministries need to step in and take charge.

This is not time for a political expediency.

This is time for serious political will and leadership to be demonstrated.

I am not advocating an action similar to Operation Murambatsvina, but a holistic and structured approach to solving the problem and bringing order back. Should all the various illegal vendors be driven out of town, will demand for their various wares disappear?

The answer is a big NO.

The demand for cheap and affordable products will remain present particularly because of the current level of household incomes in the country where the majority now fall into the low income level bracket.

A time bomb?

One key consideration that seems to be ignored by those who actively or passively support the continued stay of illegal vendors in town is the health and hygienic standards in the city.

Harare City Council has a health department manned by environmental health officers and inspectors.

These play a critical role in the licencing of any business that is to operate in the city.

For a business to be licensed, it would require ablution and waste disposal facilities inter alia.

That there is a whole department responsible for monitoring health standards is an obvious acknowledgment of the significance of health and hygienic standards wherever any enterprise operates.

It therefore is worrisome when no importance or urgency is placed on resolving the situation with illegal vendors.

The absence of adequate ablution and waste disposal facilities to cater for these illegal vendors is one area that should cause alarm bells to ring.

Harare risks a catastrophe should, say, a cholera outbreak hit the city. This is not unimaginable given recent events in Zambia.

Further, the risk factor grows even higher given the foodstuffs, fruits and vegetables that are sold from pushcarts and street pavements.

The source and handling of some of these products is questionable. How will we trace the source of a bacteria should we ever be hit by a bacterial epidemic?

These are matters that need to be addressed with speed to avert disaster.

The current state of illegal vending poses a serious threat to the continued existence in the CBD of formal operations in particular and organised business in general.

This should be of significant concern not only to the city itself, but the vendors themselves.

On the one hand, the city will continue to lose revenue as formal businesses close shop or relocate to less congested areas.

This will also rob the vendors of the very market they are seeking.

Property values even in the uptown continue to plummet and tenancy rates have equally nose-dived.

The city needs to acknowledge that the bulk of their revenue come from these formal businesses which they need to protect as they pay shop licences, rates and other levies.

The vendors also need to acknowledge that is a cost to doing business, rent-free street side businesses are not sustainable as resources are required to maintain the environment.

It is, therefore, in the city’s and indeed every citizen’s interest to preserve the image of the city.

Arguments have been put forward that jobs must be created first before illegal vendors come off the streets.

Whilst this appears to make sense, there are other critical factors to consider such as health and hygienic standards, free movement of other citizens and the viability of other law abiding businesses that are currently compromised.

Finding a solution

City authorities and indeed the Local Government Ministry has to desist from a piecemeal approach to solving problems.

Over the years, the city has come up with numerous clean-up operations that have failed to achieve any meaningful results.

All they have turned out to be is cat and mouse games between the police and vendors.

The city has to employ moral suasion and engage the vendors, ensure that there is a clear understanding of the problems vending poses and that relocation will not necessarily result in loss of markets.

The engagement process must then lead to realistic deadlines by which illegal pavement and street vending is to cease.

This has to be accompanied by provision of conveniently located vending sites that have affordable, commercially viable rentals and operating costs.

The MDC-controlled council and the Zanu-PF Government need to set aside political differences and find a lasting solution to this horrible menace that has reduced our former Sunshine City to a squalid backyard township shopping centre.

If “Zimbabwe is open for business” is to make sense in as far as the impression that we give to our international visitors and investors, then this madness has to stop forthwith.

A joint taskforce comprising the vendors, City of Harare, the Local Government Ministry and civic society has to be put in place to come up with a solution that takes into account everyone’s interests.

Common purpose for the greater good of not only the city, but the entire national is critical if we are move forward as a nation.

Panganai R Ngorima is an economist and retailer. He wrote this article for The Sunday Mail

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Clemence Machadu
Last year Government imposed a temporary ban on the importation of meat and related products from Brazil, following the outbreak of a rotten meat exports scandal.
That happened at a time when Zimbabwe was importing large quantities of meat, including cheap chicken offals, and the cut in supply saw the price of meat rising on the local market.

Greetings folks!

THE effect of the recent ban on the importation of cold meats from South Africa and other countries by Government, after the outbreak of listeria, is yet to be ascertained in quantitative terms.

Neighbouring countries such as Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana also banned the importation of cold meats mainly from South Africa.

The listeriosis outbreak which is said to be the world’s largest documented outbreak so far has already claimed about 183 lives in South Africa, with fears that the number will grow if no concrete measures are expeditiously taken.

For Zimbabwe, while no incidence of death or sickness has been recorded yet, the economic costs of the outbreak cannot be ignored.

Zimbabwe has been importing a lot of cold meats from South Africa, including polony, sausages, cheese and milk – which are said to be the carriers of the infection.

A case in point, cheese imports from South Africa into the country reached $2,3 million in the first 11 months of 2017, with sausage casings standing at $3,23 million during the same period.

Other processed meat products imported from South Africa also run into millions.

Retailers who already had consignments of these food products in transit or were warehousing them are obviously going to be affected as these goods are apparently not going to be put on the market.

When it comes to the dynamics of the market forces, we might see the price of meat products going up as compared to what has already been happening.

These products were mainly being imported from South Africa largely because of their low price.

Replacing them with local substitutes might see prices going up due to the high cost of production incurred locally and the general lack of competitiveness.

The ban might also be positive in that local producers will increase their production of these substitutes and claim the foreign market share that was being occupied by South African producers such as Tiger Brands and RCL Foods.

Local meat processors such as Colcom can take advantage of the time the cold meats imports will be banned to fully service the local market and create brand loyalty that will be difficult to break by the time the ban will be lifted.

However, it will also require them to be competitive and diversified as consumers in a low-income country such as ours mainly base their buying decision on price.

The advantage is that it might take time for the ban to be lifted, which creates room for a de-facto import protection.

Even if the ban is lifted, it might take more time as well for local consumers to accept the imported cold meats due to fear of the unknown, especially considering the death toll that has so far been created.

So local might be lekker for a while.

Meanwhile, there is strong need for Zimbabwe to reduce its reliance on meat imports not only to safeguard the erratic foreign exchange but to also avoid the vulnerabilities associated with the external shocks.

For instance, last year Government imposed a temporary ban on the importation of meat and related products from Brazil, following the outbreak of a rotten meat exports scandal.

That happened at a time when Zimbabwe was importing large quantities of meat, including cheap chicken offals, and the cut in supply saw the price of meat rising on the local market.

Last year’s meat price increases were also partly exacerbated by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development’s imposition of Statutory Instrument 20 of 2017 which allowed for the charging of Value Added Tax (VAT) at a standard rate of 15 percent on meat products such as beef, chicken, fish as well as other basic food products. The decision was however later reversed through Statutory Instrument 26A of 2017 which exempted the meat products from VAT.

As if that was not enough, there was an outbreak of avian influenza which saw Government putting Irvine’s Private Limited’s white meat and eggs under quarantine. The avian influenza had killed some 7 000 birds, with the company also proceeding to cull an additional 140 000 birds to prevent the spread of the disease.

Zimbabwe’s poultry products exports were also banned to avoid the spread of the virus in other countries in the region.

The move, however, affected the production of chicken against high demand for the product on the local market, which also increased the price of meat.

Because of the above factors, coupled with other domestic challenges, the inflation of meat has been rising on a monthly basis. Meat inflation has been rising dynamically and above the general price level which stood at 3,52 percent in January.

Meat inflation rose from 3,97 percent in July 2017, rising to 8,59 percent in October and stood at 13,42 percent in January.

While it remains to be seen how the real impact of the ban in cold meat will ultimately turn out to be, it is important to ensure that Government has effective strategies in place to ensure that there is sanity in the meat industry and that there is price competitiveness.

Later folks!

Clemence Machadu is an economist, researcher and consultant. He writes for The Sunday Mail is his own capacity.

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By Joseph Nyadzayo
IT’S March 7, 2018, I am at the front office of the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Mr George Charamba who is also the presidential spokesperson. I am chatting with Mr Charamba’s personal assistant Mrs Patience Kapembeza while office orderly supervisor Sophie Ngwenya is going about her business.
Enter Sekuru Artwell Karuru, the presidential cameraman. He is walking with the aid of a stick and without saying a word, he stands there listening to our conversation.

I notice that he is grimacing his face, clearly showing some pain. “Sekuru, are you ok?” I ask him but he does not answer me. He gazes around the room with a frowned face and we can see he is in pain.

“Ok sekuru, tomorrow do not come to work. Take a rest,” I advise him. Immediately there is a chorus; “yes, yes sekuru! You are not well. Musawuye kubasa” from Mrs Kapembeza and Sophie.

Mrs Kapembeza quickly adds: “If you come tomorrow, I will tell the permanent secretary that you are coming to work whilst sick.”

Sekuru Karuru suddenly comes alive. He thunders: “I hear you, but tomorrow I will be back with you!”

We all burst into laughter as he walks out of the office.

That was the last time Sekuru Karuru, my twin, was in the office he had worked for 19 years.

When I joined the panel that was to interview the incoming presidential cameraman some 19 years ago, I had been in the office as the presidential photographer for 4 years.

The panel relied on me to handle the technical aspects of the interview. This was not an ordinary interview. The candidate I had to interview had one eye and as the person in charge of the technical aspects of the interview, I had to ask one tricky question.

I could not ignore this question and seated there I sweated wondering how I could ask the question without sounding insensitive.

I had to frame the question very carefully and there I went: “Do you face any challenges in your work as a cameraman given that you have one eye?”

Sekuru Karuru burst into laughter. He laughed so loud that I felt embarrassed. Then came the answer, “Not at all. Actually I feel much more comfortable than you because I do not have to close one eye when focusing like you do”. Everybody laughed.

I joined in the laughter not sure whether I was doing the right thing.

For the next 19 years, this one-eyed candidate became my close buddy, my twin and my Sekuru. There is very little that I didn’t know about Sekuru Karuru.

We shared a lot and kutonyeya vanhu zvedu naSekuru vangu. We spent a lot of time together, travelling all over the world with former President Mugabe.

Sekuru Karuru enjoyed talking about his early childhood years so much.

Most who listened to him will remember his story of being brought up by his maternal grandfather who moulded his character in life. After working for a white farmer called Mr. Daisey, the grandfather was retired.

He was given a big herd of cattle which he ferried to Kajokoto near the Mozambique border. He settled there with young Artwell.

This grandfather spoke mostly Silapalapa, a language devised by white fathers to communicate with their workers.

Silapalapa was a mixture of Shona, Ndebele and English. Bald-headed and missing most of his teeth, this grandfather taught young Artwell important life lessons.

Artwell told many of these lessons, but I vividly remember two of the lessons.

The first lesson was that “never court a girl who is socially inferior to you, for your dominance maybe the source of her saying yes.”

The second lesson was that “when food is brought out at a gathering, never be among the front runners in the queue, it reduces your dignity.”

Sekuru Karuru lost his eye when he was about seven years. That must have been the beginning of his social conditioning or better still ‘hardening’.

He told of people, including grown-ups, who would mock him as ‘kakondo’ from that bird, Kondo which is said to have one eye.

Although he was very slim, Sekuru Karuru always told me that he fought these big boys like a lion, earning a reputation as a good fighter in the process.

Then there was this story about his once classmate the big-bodied Eriaby.

Sekuru narrated that Eriaby was way older than most of his classmates but still he found it difficult to spell simple words such as “amai.”

However, the teacher had to be very careful in correcting Eriaby who always warned; “Teacher, tinotokunyarai nokuti muri teacher.”

Sekuru Karuru also narrated the day he would never forget. That is the day he saw a tarred road for the first time in his life. The school had organised a trip to the museum in Salisbury.

His grandmother gave him five cents as pocket money. The transport of choice was a T35 open truck.

Little Artwell and other small kids where crammed together at the centre while giants led by Eriaby made a ring around the small ones.

The trip started before dawn. It all started well with the usual bumps of a dust road.

As they got closer to Salisbury the bumps suddenly stopped. To the surprise of little Artwell, the truck was now moving very smoothly.

Eriaby and his tribe of giants erupted shouting “tara, tara, tara, tara!” Little Artwell wondered, what was happened.

Why were they traveling so smoothly? What was this tara? He and another small little boy tried to stand and peep but their heads were quickly and firmly shoved down. “Shit down mhani! Munowa!”

The journey continued with little Artwell wondering what had just happened. To him it seemed like they were floating in the air.

When they got to the museum, they disembarked and the first thing that little Artwell came face to face with was this “tara.” Tara was a corrupted English word for tarred road.

The great day ended with little Artwel buying a small bottle of Mazoe crush. He galloped a few sips from this bottle and wondered why it was so sweet.

Anyway luck for him, this bottle had a bottle top that could be screwed back, unlike Fanta’s and Coke. He screwed the bottle and took it back kumusha.

His school was then closed because of the war. Most of his classmates went to join the liberation war, led by the great Eriaby. When asked why he didn’t join the war he always told the story of some comrades in the mountains who told him that he could not join the war because “there could be problems if the other eye got trouble.”

It took only one strong beating and overnight detention that Artwell left the rural home and came to Salisbury looking for a job.

His story is so inspiring to me – he started as a gardener and furthered his education through distance education.

At independence, he would attend classes with the likes of Madam Joice Mujuru.

For professional courses he learnt how to repair televisions and operating the camera while at the University of Zimbabwe. Further education was encouraged by Professor Walter Kamba when he worked as a Steward in the office of the Vice chancellor.

As we worked together with Sekuru Karuru, I got to know that he was diabetic. When we took flights, meals would be served and invariably we would sit together.

He would ask me what I thought about the menu in front of us. If there was anything on the menu that I wanted in his plate, I would say, “Sekuru, this is not good for you, and this and this”.

As we ate he would say “zvirisei?” and I would respond, “ndozipigwa!” He would then say, “mmmm hauna kundinyepera here muzukuru?” This was a sekuru nemuzukuru affair.

In our community of Presidential Press Co, he managed to make friends with teams from numerous countries.

I have received condolence messages from Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique and DRC.

Among these friends the one who will miss him dearly, is the Presidential Cameraman of President Joseph Kabila.

That gentleman does not speak English, he speaks French only. Sekuru could only speak English. However, despite these differences, they were the best of friends.

They would greet the DRC way first and typically it would be slightly knocking their heads together on both sides. “Bonjour, Bonjour, Ca va, Ca va”. That’s all.

Sekuru Karuru had a special task when interviews of former President Mugabe were being conducted.

It was his duty to attach the mic on him. Usually it involved unbuttoning a few of the President’s buttons and move the lapel mic up to his neck tie, button them back. He did his work without blemish until the end.

Sekuru Karuru had another life other than being the presidential cameraman.

He once entered the race to be a Member of Parliament – what a bold and daring attempt! So bold that until his death, at the office, he was referred to as the MP.

However his attempt did not go beyond the primaries. He always told me; “ndakatambwa tingolinko”.

In primary election parlance, it means being duped such that you really don’t know kuti tsoro yacho yatambwa sei.

After our advice for him not to come to work and rest, he indeed did not come to work on Thursday and Friday.

On Friday night, I phoned him with the intention of telling him the time was supposed to be at the office as we were going to Botswana the following Saturday.

He answered and told me that he was admitted in hospital. It seemed under control to me at the time and I thought the problem would be soon fixed.

As I went to Botswana, most members of the delegation noticed that my twin was missing. The following Monday, I went to see him in hospital. He was jovial, but when I went back on Tuesday, the situation had changed.

He looked drowsy and incoherent at times, but I still had hope that he would soon be out of hospital. As I left hospital, I never thought that was the last time seeing Sekuru Karuru alive.

When the news of his death came, my heart sank. Sekuru masiya muzukuru nani? Ko Gogo kumba nevana? What of your brothers and sisters? Inzira yamwari. Be the cameraman ikoko, kusvika ndauyawo!

Adios! Honorable MP. Fambai zvakanaka sekuru Karuru!

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Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa
The newly-minted President of South Africa, His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, yesterday came to visit Zimbabwe and his counterpart, His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This is the first official engagement between the two leaders as Heads of State, though it is the third time they are meeting since President Mnangagwa assumed office last November.

They met the same day President Ramaphosa won the leadership of the ANC, South Africa’s ruling party.

It is time-worn practice of leaders of a close-knit Sadc to honour seniority once one assumes the apex of national power.

The two leaders got another chance to meet in Davos, Switzerland as they took advantage of the World Economic Forum to woo global business leaders and lure investment to the region.

This working visit is in that aspect a celebration of the maturity of Sadc political relations.

There is clear opportunity for champagne toasts.

The camaraderie honed in the years of exile as the Frontline States hosted various regional guerrilla freedom fighters is paying rich political and diplomatic dividends to the independent nations of Southern Africa.

It is common a cause that neighbourliness fosters shared development goals. Sadc, indeed goes beyond geography.

Years of bonding as the regional national liberation movement unshackled itself of colonialism, racism and apartheid gifted a shared political soul.

This special, if not unique, attribute has repeatedly come in handy in the form of the political dexterity that marginalises the machinations of those with a historical penchant to manipulate African differences into internecine conflicts.

With Sadc, the African continent can justly take pride that the revered quest for unity since 1963 is paying rich dividends.

President Ramaphosa was wearing another cap as Chairman of Sadc during his working visit to Harare. And he is soon to assume the role of Chairman of the Brics.

As China and India enter the global centre stage of economic eminence, Africa stands to benefit immensely.

After all, African civilisations flourished when both the Indian and Pacific oceans where bastions of free trade by the littoral states. This glorious epoch fell foul to European imperial mercantilism, starting with the maritime ascendancy of Portugal.

But the golden age is returning.

Our two leaders have the tantalising prospect of trilateral engagement with varied third party economic players in a globalising world. This will deepen the pool to harvest much needed capital, technology, expertise and market access.

The region desperately needs all these to develop and make competent use of its youthful population.

The bilateral file also offers a full plate.

The ANC has embraced land restitution to the colonially dispossessed black majority. Zimbabwe has travelled this road.

The lessons – good and bad – from this road travelled will be invaluable to our southern neighbour.

President Mnangagwa’s accommodationist thrust to bring order and tranquillity, and bury pernicious turbulence on land matters, is providing a haven to agricultural capital from South Africa.

The lodges in Zimbabwe are full of scouting South African investors seeking fortunes in partnership with those who benefited from our epochal land reform.

President Mnangagwa continues to win accolades for his pro-investment thrust. Zimbabwe is open for business is his ear-catching mantra.

President Ramaphosa has successfully converted his cadreship of the ANC into rewarding business acumen.

The exchange of notes in this domain edifies the Harare working visit.

Recently, a group of Zimbabwean Diasporans teamed up with South Africa’s Transnet rail operator to re-capitalise the National Railways of Zimbabwe.

Dwarfing the size of the investment fund outlay is the future which is heralded by the deal. It is a refreshing departure to a bold new world of robust infrastructure development.

There is also the issue of work permits for Zimbabweans in South Africa, which will now be handled with new sensitivity and urgency.

Related to it is the crying call for expeditious border clearance arrangements at Beitbridge-Musina for public convenience.

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The late VP Nkomo warned us in his 1984 book that there is a Robert Mugabe we don’t know, but we were too consumed by the dummy we had been sold by the dominant liberation war discourses. These warnings have always been coming even before the attainment of independence. 

ONE of Zimbabwe’s renowned academics, Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatseni in 2009 published a very interesting book with a catchy title; “Do ‘Zimbabweans’ Exist? Trajectories of Nationalism, National Identity Formation and Crisis in a Postcolonial State.”

It’s a very revealing piece of academic work, but the intention here is not to chew much of the beef in that book. The first part of the book’s title, “Do ‘Zimbabweans’ Exist?” is the focus of my attention.

Ndlovu-Gatsheni acknowledges in the book that he borrowed conceptual tools from a number of sources including Immanuel Wallerstein’s article entitled; “Does India Exist?” and Ivo Chipkin’s seminal book; “Do South Africans Exist?”

“Zimbabwe, just like India and South Africa, has no strong primordial foundation that could be taken for granted. There is need to unpack, deconstruct and demystify those historical and political processes that coalesced to create what today stands as Zimbabwe, together with ‘Zimbabwean-ness’ as a national identity,” writes Ndlovu-Gatsheni.

Borrowing from Ndlovu-Gatsheni, I have a genuine question born out of the recent statements attributed to former President Robert Mugabe, his association with the G40 project, National Patriotic Front and shocking revelations about his excesses while still in office. After critically analysing these developments, I wondered: “Do revolutionaries really exist?”

The former President has always been re-presented as a “larger-than-life” African icon. He has been touted as “the last man standing” in terms of Pan-Africanism. And indeed, during his tenure as President, he came up with policies, like the land reform programme, indigenisation and economic empowerment that shook the foundations of capitalism. One was tempted to think that the revolt against capitalism that Karl Marx predicted years ago, was about to explode in Zimbabwe, led by this socialist at heart.

The former President looked like he was different from many former African leaders that prominent Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe calls “A Man of the People.” A “man of the people” who detaches himself from society and seeks to gratify individual interests. But looks like we have just another “man of the people.”

So many of  these “man of the people in Africa.” In Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah became a hero after his death. Writing in 1970, in an article entitled; “To Move a Continent: Nkrumah’s Role in African Affairs; 1957-1966”, Robert Moss observed that soon after its independence, Ghana was described as a “British pawn” and that “Ghana had no genuine independence.” Many wondered what Moss was writing about since Ghana was once touted as the “Mecca for Pan-Africanists and revolutionaries.”

In Tanzania, Julius Nyerere was followed to the grave by so many accusations. In the book, “Joshua Nkomo: The Story of My Life,” the late Vice-President had no kind words for Julius Nyerere. “Nyerere lacked confidence in the ability of Africans to rule themselves.

“He had actually requested the British to postpone the date for his own country’s independence, only to find that Britain was determined to shed its responsibilities as fast as possible . . .

“Moreover, Nyerere had a special problem with me personally. He always sought to dominate the policies and the personalities of the liberation movements to which he gave hospitality.

“But my contacts with the outside world were older than his and independent of his patronage. Perhaps he saw me as a threat to the leadership he wished to assert,” wrote the late VP. After hosting so many liberation movements in his country during the liberation struggle, one wonders which “Nyerere” the late VP Nkomo was referring to.

In Libya, that country’s former charismatic leader, Muamar Gaddafi, the man behind the idea of the “United States of Africa” was killed like a rat and not like a revolutionary. Yes, western powers were behind the killing, but surely revolutionaries are never supposed to be killed while trying to hide in some water drainage hole. Revolutionaries put up a fight or if they can’t they make their deaths a mystery.

Closer home, the world calls Nelson Mandela a champion of democracy and human rights, but in 2010, his wife for 38 years, Winnie Mandela got fed up with the lies and told the world that Mandela had “let blacks down.”

Let’s come back home to our beloved country. A country born out of 14 years of a protracted liberation war. Still the revolutionaries remain elusive and fluid.

The late Vice-President Nkomo is referred to as “Father Zimbabwe,” and indeed he played a crucial role in the liberation of the country as the leader of Zapu. In Matabeleland, the late VP is seen like a humanly “god” and consequently in playing its hegemonic politics, Zanu-PF has to always remember the “Big Josh” effect.

But then Fay Chung in her 2006 book, “Re-living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from the Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe,” exposes the darker side of the late VP.

She writes: “Two decades of political agitation by black nationalists under Joshua Nkomo had failed to bring any substantive gains for blacks. Younger and better-educated leaders now questioned the wisdom of following the traditional strategies and tactics. This unease was brought to a head when Nkomo allegedly accepted a plan for power-sharing between blacks and whites through which blacks were to be given a small proportion of seats in parliament, with a plan for a gradual transfer of more power to blacks as they “proved” themselves to be more capable of assuming greater responsibility.

“The Smith regime had reserved for itself the right and power to determine when blacks would be ‘ready’ for a greater share of political and economic power. This decision had been reached after secret negotiations between Nkomo and Smith, during which many of Nkomo’s colleagues were either not present or were in disagreement.”

Then the sucker punch: “Besides this fundamental disagreement over both principle and process, many within the black-nationalist elite criticised Nkomo’s dependence on white advisors. At the same time he was accused of failing to consult his black colleagues. His advisors included Terence Ranger and John Reed from the university, Leo Baron, a well-known and high respected lawyer in Bulawayo, and Peter MacKay, a British military specialist.”

How and why was this revolutionary wining and dining with the enemy at such a precarious time of the struggle? There are so many worrying stories out there about the late VP that will be told in a future that is soon to come. As Ndlovu-Gatsheni asserts, there is need “to unpack, deconstruct and demystify” the country’s liberation war narrative.

From the late VP, one can focus on the founding leader of Zanu, the late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole one can zoom on other leaders like Abel Muzorewa, James Chikerema, Herbert Chitepo, Josiah Tongogara, Dumiso Dabengwa, Edgar Tekere and many others. The story is still the same. There is some disappointment somewhere along the liberation way, leaving one wondering whether revolutionaries really exist or that all along we have been sold a liberation war dummy.

It’s very possible that all along we could have been believing the dummy considering that soon after independence, these nationalists who were stationed in Lusaka and Maputo, seized the liberation war discourse, silencing the real fighting forces. As a result, the liberation war account has so far been constructed as if this was a war without the fighting comrades.

According to Ndlovu-Gatsheni, the situation was made worse by historians who wrote seminal works on nationalism soon after the attainment of independence. These historians includes the likes of Terence Ranger, David Martin and Phyllis Johnson, David Lun and Ngwabi Bhebe, whom Ndlovu-Gatsheni said ‘too close’ to the cause of nationalism to the extent that they produced what “Steven Robins termed ‘praise-texts’ in service of official nationalism.”

Former President Mugabe must have gotten so used to this liberation war dummy and must have gotten drunk sipping in these “praise-texts” for 37 years that he started believing that there can’t be Zimbabwe without him, but that is a story for another day.

For now, the story is – “Do revolutionaries really exist?”

First, the former President insulted the country’s soldiers. “They (soldiers) said to me people have marched, they want you to go. They said they have filled the stadium demanding that I should go. I said ‘which people, MDC people?’ What about those in Kadoma, what about those in Mutare, did you go and ask them?

“People were beaten, the soldiers were beating up our intelligence guys saying you are paid higher than us. You wear good suits, hence you are protecting Mugabe. Ahh, they didn’t know that you do not need to be educated to be a soldier, normally soldiers are recruited from Grade 7 or Form Two while the intelligence team is recruited from those who are educated.

“It should follow that when one is educated with a degree or A Level, you should be paid higher than those who are just recruited as long as they are trained,” the former President was quoted saying.

Ordinary Zimbabweans were disgusted by the insult while many soldiers were clearly angered by this reckless statement. Do revolutionaries behave like spiteful little kids when things are not going their way?

Some quickly forgave the former President attributing the unfortunate statement to a number of excuses that include old age, anger and a nagging influential wife.

And then the stunning revelations – the former President turned his Blue Roof Mansion into a rendezvous to plot the formation of the G40’s National Patriotic Front.

As if that was not bad enough, news started filtering that the former President had met Joice Mujuru and Thokozani Khupe in a bid to mobilise opposition political parties against Zanu-PF.

Zimbabweans were still digesting what exactly the former President was up to when a Government source revealed to The Herald that former President Mugabe has 21 farms some of which he has been leasing to white farmers. This couldn’t be true. 21 farms? Wasn’t this the Mugabe who at each and every turn preached about one-person, one-farm?

But then the stunning news kept coming. “Former President Robert Mugabe for years received his salary in cash, and has demanded that the same arrangement apply to his pension lump sum of nearly half a million dollars and monthly pension payments of over $13 000,” revealed The Sunday Mail.

The paper revealed that the former President wanted his pension lump sum of $467 200 and monthly pension of $13 333 in cash. During his tenure, the former President was getting monthly cash payments of $20 000.

The skeletons now coming out of the cupboards are shocking. It looks like at 94, a new Robert Mugabe is being born. Who exactly was Robert Mugabe for the past 38 years? Was Robert Mugabe that humble leader who fought for the rights of his people? Was Robert Mugabe that principled Pan-Africanist leader who stood by the ideology of the revolution? Was Robert Mugabe the uncaring leader who got his $20 000 salary in cash when the ordinary people were failing to get $20 a day? Was Robert Mugabe the leader who spoke vehemently against multi farm ownership when he owned 21 farms that he leased to his white friends? Was Robert Mugabe ever a revolutionary?

The late VP Nkomo warned us in his 1984 book that there is a Robert Mugabe we don’t know, but we were too consumed by the dummy we had been sold by the dominant liberation war discourses. These warnings have always been coming even before the attainment of independence. On December 3, 1976, the late Ndabaningi Sithole wrote a letter addressed to Zimbabweans saying; “No man today is more dangerous to ZANU than Mugabe. The enemy has seized on Mugabe’s unscrupulous leadership ambition to divide and weaken ZANU and hence the armed struggle.” We can repeat this same statement today as it aptly captures the unfortunate machinations by the former President.

Political scientist and historian, Benedict Anderson in his famous book; “Imagined Communities” defines a nation as an imagined political community.

Drawing from Anderson’s definition, one can justifiable conclude that revolutionaries are imagined persons – imagined because we have been made, through one-sided liberation war narratives, to believe they exist and we are convinced that they exist.

No wonder why after all he has done in recent weeks and more that he is likely to do in future, former President Mugabe in the eyes of many remains a revolutionary and still commands a lot of respect. These revolutionaries exist in our minds. Out there, capitalism and coloniality are on a relentless recruitment drive.

Another troubling question as I sign off – if former President Mugabe were to die today (not that I wish him dead. I still respect him a lot no wonder why this disappointment), does he still qualify to be buried at the National Heroes Acre since nationalists like Ndabaningi Sithole and James Chikerema among others were disqualified on the grounds that “vakanga varasa gwara remusangano?” Former President Mugabe havasati varasa gwara remusangano here?

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Phyllis Johnson
THE visit to Zimbabwe by the new South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, is part of a series of working visits with counterparts in neighbouring countries that has taken him to Angola, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique.

President Ramaphosa is visiting his neighbours both as a new President in the region and in his capacity as of the Southern African Development Community chair.

This comes at a time of leadership changes in Sadc member states, a development which has opened up new opportunities for building new economic partnerships from long standing historical relations.

The regional integration agenda in Sadc is advancing rapidly, rooted in a policy of industrial development aimed at facilitating closer cooperation across borders, including the movement of people and goods.

South Africa experienced challenges during the recent transition in the African National Congress and government leadership but after stepping down, former President Jacob Zuma returned to his Nkandla home in KwaZulu Natal where he pledged to continue supporting party activities.

President Ramaphosa is one-month-old in office having been sworn in on February 15, 2018. South Africa was elected as the chair of Sadc at last year’s Summit in Pretoria.

President Mnangagwa is a few months older in office than President Rhamaphosa having been sworn in on November 24 last year. Both were elected as substantive leaders of their respective parties, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) and the ANC at party congresses in December 2017.

Before coming to Zimbabwe, President Ramaphosa visited Mozambique yesterday morning for a courtesy call on President Filipe Nyusi.

In a statement, the Mozambican President said the visit aimed “to strengthen and deepen the historical ties of solidarity, friendship and political, economic, social and cultural cooperation between the two countries, as well as assess the stage of bilateral cooperation.”

President Ramaphosa is accompanied on the regional visits by his Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Lindiwe Sisulu, and the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and other government officials.

He began his regional visits earlier this month in Luanda with a courtesy call on Angolan leader, President João Lourenço, who assumed office on September 26 2017.

Angola and South Africa use the same an electoral-college system, in which the President is not directly elected by voters but is a candidate of the majority party in Parliament.

Lourenço was selected by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) to replace José Eduardo dos Santos, who had been Head of State since 1979 and remains party leader.

Angola was chosen as the first country for President Ramaphosa to visit due to the “very special and historical relationship” since the 1970s and 1980s when Angola hosted military training camps for the ANC during the armed struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

Angola is also the current chair of the Troika of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation. This is the system used in-between summits for a committee of leaders to meet and discuss issues that cannot wait for the annual Sadc Summit, which normally takes place in August.

While South Africa is the current Sadc chair, Namibia is the incoming chair, meaning the latter will chair the regional body after hosting the next summit.

The Namibian President Hage Geingob was elected party leader at the 6th SWAPO Party Congress in late November. He won the 2014 elections and assumed office as President on March 21 2015.

President Ramaphosa said it was a special courtesy visit “to come and renew our friendship, to consolidate it and to also look back where we have come from because we have been comrades in arms, and comrades in struggle and we move forward now as comrades in development, developing our countries”.

He acknowledged the close relations between the former liberation movements that worked together “against the common enemy but because we had so many things that connected us, that bound us together.

“We had the same vision, same perspective, progressive forces, bound together by a need to develop our people. In many ways we chose each other but as countries we are neighbours that are joined together as well.”

“We are all new because I have got two of my colleagues who are ministers. We just reshuffled our cabinet so you are looking at part of a new executive of the Republic of South Africa. For us this is a very very special moment and we look forward to serious engagements at a bi-national level.”

President Ramaphosa said they would engage in matters related to the economy, trade, cultural connections, political relations and to deal with “issues that are obviously aimed at developing our two countries, growing our economies and when it comes to that we will know that we are doing the right thing to take our countries forward”.

After visiting Namibia, President Ramaphosa went on to Botswana to call on President Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

In welcoming his South African counterpart, President Khama emphasised that “we are one people”.

This was echoed by President Ramaphosa who said Batswana and South Africans were only separated by colonial boundaries.

President Khama also spoke about the uniqueness of the visit as President Ramaphosa had been sworn into office only a month earlier before he leaves office at the end of this month.

He has served as President since April 1, 2008 when his predecessor former President Festus Mogae stepped down.

The governance system in Botswana facilitates a change in Head of State between elections, thus President Khama is preparing to hand-over power to his Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Botswana also hosts the Sadc Secretariat and it is usual for the Sadc chair to embark on a familiarisation visit where he was hosted by the Sadc Executive Secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax.

Sadc has welcomed the peaceful transition in Zimbabwe and the African Union also issued a statement welcoming former President Mugabe’s decision to step down; “Today’s decision will go down in history as an act of statesmanship that can only bolster President Mugabe’s political legacy.”

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There comes a point in any state’s existence where it must declare “never again”.

For Zimbabwe, a series of dangerous precedents that constituted an existential threat to the existence of our State over a period of several years should bring us to the point where we declare today “never again”. That series of treacherous precedents was characterised by an erosion of the integrity of the instruments of State; a tripartite conflation of personality, ruling party and Government; and an initially creeping but ultimately rapacious usurpation of constitutional order.

It is these three things, ultimately, that prompted our military to open the gates to the barracks and, with millions of Zimbabweans, demand a restoration of law, order, legacy and indeed common sense.

For purposes of clarity, it would be good to appreciate what a “state” is.

According to the 1933 Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States in 1933, which provides one of the most widely accepted definitions of the state, a state is defined by the following: having a permanent population; having a defined geographical territory; and having a government that maintains effective control over that territory while also engaging in international relations with other states.

In that sense, a state becomes clearly differentiated from a government, with a government being a group of people mandated from time to time to establish an administrative bureaucracy that is expected to further the interests of the state.

In the Zimbabwe of years gone by, all that had ceased to matter.

We allowed a situation to evolve where an individual and his close associates, particularly his wife and a few criminally-inclined hangers-on, to shred the constitution – a document that defines and directs our statehood – while conflating institutions and instruments of power and coercion to advance narrow, and economically and socially damaging interests.

Fortunately, our State is structured such that no one person or institution has monopoly over defence of the Constitution.

Upholding and defending the Constitution is not the prerogative of the Head of State alone, not even the sole right and responsibility of the Executive in its entirety. A check and balance is provided for. Section 90(1) of our Constitution says: “The President must uphold, defend, obey and respect this Constitution as the supreme law of the nation and must ensure that this Constitution and all other laws are faithfully observed.”

In this onerous task, our Constitution thoughtfully provides backup in the event that the President is irresponsible or for whatever reason incapable of holding up his end of the bargain.

Section 212 says: “The function of the Defence Forces is to protect Zimbabwe, its people, its national security and interests and its territorial integrity and to uphold this Constitution.”

In short, where the President fails in his sworn duties, the defence forces are constitutionally bound to step in and uphold the supreme law. Which is what the Zimbabwe Defence Forces did in November 2017.

We have had a half-clever argument from quarters that surely are literate enough to understand the Constitution better, that the ZDF violated the Constitution because they deployed without authority from their then Commander-in-Chief.

Of course, they will not point out that the Commander-in-Chief deploys, according to Section 213(1), only “Subject to this Constitution . . .”

This means the Commander-in-Chief retains such authority for as long as he himself is not in violation of the same Constitution. This simply means one cannot claim constitutional authority while at the same time presiding over conversion of that very Constitution into a piece of paper with less value than that of used tissue.

And we have specific examples of how the former Commander-in-Chief dissipated constitutional order and indeed threatened the integrity of our State, in the process failing to stand true to Section 90 of the Constitution thereby losing his authority to hide behind Section 213, thus prompting the ZDF to live up to Section 212.

For starters, he allowed, nay, encouraged, his wife to make pronouncements in respect of persons who were due to appear before courts of law, proclaiming their innocence and directing judicial authorities to leave them alone.

What does this say about separation of powers? What does this say about constitutional order? What does this say about statal integrity? Secondly, and many may not know this, the then President had abdicated his constitutional responsibilities as regards Cabinet appointments. For those not in the know, the last Cabinet reshuffle the former President did in October 2017 was at the behest of his wife. She drew up the list of appointments and had a senior police officer assigned to her deliver it to the President’s Office. The officer in question admitted herself to the Principal Private Secretary to the President that she had been sent with a list of Cabinet appointments.

Section 104 is clear on who makes Cabinet appointments, and it is not the First Lady. So what happens when a President falters, when he abdicates his duties? What is the responsibility of the other organs of the State? Should the ZDF be personally beholden to a President, more so one derelict in his duties, or should it uphold the Constitution? This is an ugly path that Zimbabwe has trod, and we must be clear henceforth: never again!

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Prof Innocent Chirisa
Urban and regional planning is founded on the basic understanding of the natural environment.

The planner, using the natural environment, will create a “built environment” through environmental design and urban planning.

The built environment is the sum total of substructures, infrastructure and superstructures.

It is also a constellation of the socio-cultural and economic environment in which humanity expresses lifestyles and business pursuits.

One of the founding fathers of planning, Patrick Geddes — a biologist-turned-planner — had a formula to summarise what planning involves: Survey, Analyse and Plan (S-A-P).

Surveying in this context summarises all the activities that have to do with information gathering regarding the natural and physical features — gradients, flora and fauna, aspect or angle of the sun and water.

Then there is also the human factors that include population, heritage and economic activities of the place or space.

Once that information is gathered and known, the planner has to sit down and ask the meaning of this is, and engage in analysis.

To analyse is to break anything to its constituent parts; to synthesise is to build something from its broken pieces.

Planning is that systematic putting together of component parts of a system towards construction a functional environment where the community enjoys and maximises its potential with a sustainable future in mind.

Every good urban design artefact must be informed by the understanding of the environmental system including the landscape.

At the end of the day, a functional settlement must be there in place.

Zimbabwean cities, especially Harare, have often faced serious flooding in times of rains. There are two explanations why the city faces this challenge.

One, of course has to do with the planning engaged in putting up the settlement aspects.

The other is behavioural and maintenance.

Three years ago, I had an opportunity to visit one rural-based intermediate city of Monteria in Colombia (close to the Panama Strip).

The city is located close to the major Sinu River whose mouth is into the Caribbean Sea.

It is a major river that has facilitated trade for more than five centuries.

Although, the medium-sized city has a share of the squatter menace, the city does not ignore the planning of environment.

It allows, as part of livelihoods promotion, its urban poor to operate boats for crossing.

They can also extract river bed sands for construction in the city.

Before the coming of the rains, there is serious dredging of the canals that must drain away excess run-off in the city.

I saw people engaged to just remove the unwanted material (paper, plastics, grass, sticks and mud, which was a case of casual employment, I guess.

In terms of biodiversity, I remember the all sorts of big lizards, some the size of a live mature goat, which I saw in the park. The citizens have learnt to live and play with them.

They come down trees with sunrise and go up the trees around sunset. I also saw the brown instead of the grey monkey. Colombia is in the tropics just like the bulk of Sub-Saharan Africa. I was impressed by the way in which the people co-exist with nature.

Unless we begin to see the city as a system where settlement, production and waste generation are part of it, then we are also very myopic not too see that some of the so-called small issues will bog us into serious problems.

The wastes will block the drainage system and when rainwater comes, it has nowhere to go but the places where we do not need it. This is a maintenance issue.

I recall one of my lecturers at Second Year, Mr Tatenda Mbara’s statement, “Infrastructure, like babies, is easier to produce but difficult to maintain.”

Any production of artefacts in space — houses, industries, schools and recreational parks — that fails to put maintenance planning is perspective is good as bad.

Our cities are usually masters of corrective maintenance. During the storm, you them see personnel busy on the ground trying to clean the system.

Yet, maintenance can be planned hence planned maintenance and even predictive maintenance. Put simply, we all know, one day, we are going to die.

But you hear someone say; ‘there is no need for me to plan about my funeral. One thing for certain is that if you keep my body you are the ones to brace with the smells.” Such is a reckless talk.

Then, they die and for sure, it will be nhamo (and not a funeral, as others would want to put it). You have to run and around and make ends meet. Shame!

Planning is a cyclical and iterative process which means, from time to time, we must be checking whether what we instituted or birthed still has live and is functional.

It is not enough to bring a life on earth (production). It is equally important to see that such a life has lived a life abundant.

The outcry by the public, who get affected by the flooded areas of the facilities and settlements we created as a planners, is indeed a genuine concern.

We may say, we were not involved when such and such was established but we have to intervene positively.

We should work hand-in-glove with officials from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and assist our brothers and sisters who are in trouble because of the effects of the rains. This is all in the name of serving the public interest.

EMA must continue to raise awareness to the public to check where they are choosing to construct various structures and ask the following questions;

Has the plan been subjected to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)?

What are the mitigation measures put on the table by the developer?

Has the developer gone a step ahead to implement those suggested measures?

Is he/she not playing us ‘hit-and-run’?

I know the major problem with the home-seeker is about just getting ‘where to lay my head’. This explains partly why, in Brazil, for example, year in and year out, slum dwellers are victims of flooding and mud-flows.

EMA can also help by pressing hard on the citizens to stop littering in the city.

I have just observed that we now have two cities in one, especially, if one uses the central business district as an example.

We have the formal city that normally runs from 8am to 5pm (the day city).

This city is heavily regulated. It tries to follow the rules and regulations of city management as stipulated in the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act (Chapter 29:12) and the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15).

The other city (the nocturnal city) runs from around 5pm till late (maybe 3am).

This city follows the rules of anti-planning. It is unregulated. In Shona, idongawatonga muzinda wenyuchi.

Unlike the day city, one wonders where the nocturnal citizens get their toilets. They don’t respect waste bins; where they sell is where they throw their litter.

Then early in the morning, the Harare City Council employees get busy sweeping the mess. The nocturnal citizens are free riders. The government has a huge task to create employment or rather to have policies that allow for the re-opening of industries.

Perhaps, on that day, everyone will be busy at their workplace.

On that interesting day, there will be no more vendors in the streets.

There will be no more indiscriminate littering.

The pipes and drains will be breathing fresh air. The suffocation of the city will end and we will live happily ever afterward!

Prof Innocent Chirisa is University of Zimbabwe Department of Rural and Urban Planning chairperson. He wrote this article for The Sunday Mail

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Zack Murerwa
Come on Zimbabweans, let us put our thoughts together. Let us create an environment of peace and tranquillity. Let us move from the abyss of laissez-faire, business as usual approach.

A nation without a vision will move aimless and will not grow.

The vision of Zimbabwe being a middle-income economy within the next 12 years is a clarion call by President Emmerson Mnangagwa for us to prepare for positive economic transformation, better lifestyles, more jobs, better skills and consequently better individual and group incomes than what we have at the moment.

For the benefit of readers, the World Bank classifies countries as low, middle or upper-income.

A middle-income economy is one whose gross per capita national income is $1 000 to $12 000.

In simple terms, per capita income measures the average income per person per year in a given area.

Obviously a country’s gross domestic product and population have determining effects. For income per capita to be high there must be high productivity factored against a controlled population.

A simplified table below illustrates some countries and their classifications; the list is not all inclusive but for illustration purposes only.

Within each category the norm is to have sub-categories; for example low middle-income, upper middle-income.

The potential for Zimbabwe to move from low-income to high-income is huge given comparative advantages that the economy has. Firstly we have huge reserves of about 43 marketable minerals.

The current investment drive will obviously bring in investors in the mining sector and simple trajectory calculations on an exponential basis can bring total minerals income to four times what it is now.

Secondly, concerted and consistent efforts on increased agricultural output will make Zimbabwe the bread basket of Southern Africa, a position we held in the past.

This is achievable, given favourable climate conditions, the drive for maximum land utilisation, property rights and roll-over financing of agricultural activities.

A third area of comparative advantage is our excellent human capital base, a necessary ingredient to the growth process.

Our human capital development programme should move in tandem with technology, skills transfer and industry needs and this process has already started.

Lastly, our fourth area of comparative advantage is peace and stability, despite negative perception displayed by some sections of both the external and local media.

The above are necessary ingredients for drive towards a middle income status. Experience of other economies such as Kenya, South Africa and DRC have shown that economic transformation driven by a rigorous investment drive can change the economy.

Above all, as Zimbabweans we already have national values and visions to share.

Recently some of us we were surprised when one Professor Arthur Mutambara criticised the President for a national vision devoid of depth and substance.

Well, debate is good and healthy, but let us give credit where it is due. President Mnangagwa has already articulated the vision, and it is indeed a shared vision.

We should now be focusing on how we want to get there. We should now be debating what next after Zim-Asset.

Do we need a transitional plan to 2020 and thereafter what five-year or 10-year development plans? What do we need to do to realise the 2030 vision?

Come on Zimbabweans, let us put our thoughts together. Let us create an environment of peace and tranquillity. Let us move from the abyss of laissez-faire, business as usual approach.

Let us create the environment we see in our dreams and leave a legacy for generations to come. Together as one we can make it.

Zack Murerwa is MD of Stallone Consultancy and an economist. He wrote this article for The Sunday Mail. Feedback: zackmurerwa@gmail.com

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Adam Bakili
Humans have multiple roles.

A lawyer — on top of routinely putting up stocky defences in court — is a father/mother, brother/sister and citizen required by law to pay taxes.

That burly police officer responsible for collaring delinquents in the neighbourhood and enforcing law in broader society could be a granduncle or covert highwayman himself.

A President is no different.

In addition to running a government, he/she is a family person duty-bound to fulfil their familial obligations.

Sigmund Freud throws in a deeper dimension to this multiplicity of persons with his three-element deduction of the human mind.

Though abstract, the id, ego and superego add inextricable qualities to human behaviour and character.

The id is that part of us which impulsively dances to any beat be it samba or bossa nova.

Largely instinctive, the id requires ample riveting to prevent it from bolting to far away moorlands wherein impulsive desires are gratified regardless of consequences.

The ego is more temperate and counterbalances our actions by shaving off significant verve from the id’s excitable disposition. It makes sense of reality and angles to satisfy the id’s fleeting desires in more socially acceptable fashion. Then there is the superego, that third dimension of the psyche which raises moral red flags whenever we flirt with ill-virtue.

It is our compass to right over wrong, a vernier caliper imbued in us from our formative years by parents and larger socialisation agents.

Every businessperson worth his or her salt will tell you that good enterprise thrives on interactions of the multiple persons that customers are and their tri-dimensional psyche.

Goods and services are not sold to people, but the id, ego and superego — all signifying our true selves.

It is a fact global commerce has wrapped its head around.

It has also become a point of traction in the political sphere. Ideas are not sold to an empty electorate, but to those inner beings. How such profound knowledge escapes Mr Robert Mugabe, himself a self-proclaimed philosopher, is mind-boggling.

The thought of him being a father, grandfather, uncle and husband is well-settled in his sub-conscience, far away from the talons of doubt.

Yet, the one person he refuses to be is a 94-year-old retiree. Whether this is right or wrong is for others to judge. But from where I stand, it appears his reasoning tilts more to impulse, more to the id —the id that disregards consequence all to satisfy impulsive urges.

In November 2017, the people of Zimbabwe were emphatic in their collective resolve for him to step down from the Presidency.

Multi-coloured and energy-drunk, they marched on the streets. Their unrestrained chants found synchrony in telling Bob that his time was up.

On the same weekend, Zanu-PF recalled him from the Presidency. And as the business week opened, impeachment loomed large.

We later learnt that Mr Mugabe had taken in all this and let go of the reins of power; slowly, willingly.

Now for him to cry foul sounds pretty ugly.

Taking the fight to a government wielding the levers of power speaks less of his venerated intellect and much about his impulsive disposition.

Here is a man who, in denial, thinks he has a bastion of supporters in some nook somewhere. Someone should whisper to him that he is at sea; no one is out there! Maybe just Jonathan Moyo.

Mr Mugabe thrust himself into that invidious position when he turned a blind eye to a new brand of politics that targeted individuals and took no prisoners. This “new age politics” was designed and launched by one with a particularly peculiar cerebral casing.

Yet, Mr Mugabe allowed such politics to escalate to national level and distract economic focus. For that, he gradually became a deserving retirement candidate in the eyes of many Zimbabweans.

Perchance, he could have lingered longer had he stood for the people instead of doing the bidding of some “junior mafia” clique.

Personifying the id won’t do him much good now. He should listen to his more temperate ego and the voice of reason that is the superego.

Try something different, something exhilarating. Not bungee jumping. Not archery. Not becoming an equestrian. And certainly not political reinvention!

Writing or recounting history could be an invaluable start.

There’s no “Dilemma of a Ghost” here. The option is simple: choose reason over impulse. Shakespeare’s Mark Antony sayeth in Julius Caesar, “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.”

Mr Mugabe should restore his legacy, which, buffeted by the winds of sadistic politics, looked inevitably headed for the rocks until it was salvaged, valiantly so.

He should abide in his blue shed from where people will recall his heroism and not the embers of his political career.

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Tau Tawengwa
Urban areas are perhaps more likely to experience voter apathy because of a lack of tangible benefits for voting. 

The 2018 election is perhaps the most interesting poll in Zimbabwe’s history for several reasons

It is the first election in the country’s history that does not include Mr Robert Mugabe on the ballot paper..

Secondly, in this election, the predominance of voters are below the age of 40 — about 60 percent in fact.

For that reason, some politicians are putting their money on youthful candidates prevailing at ward and constituency levels. The logic that youthful candidates will prevail on that basis alone is misguided. Elections are complex processes, and voter patterns and behaviours are equally complex.

A number of factors come into play when attempting to deduce voter patterns within the various demographics in the forthcoming elections.

I will attempt to discuss some of those factors here.

Age and region

Around 5,3 million Zimbabweans have registered to vote in the 2018 elections. For the 2013 elections, 5,8 million people registered to vote.

Within the 5,3 million registered voters, there are three subgroups: non-voters (those who are registered but don’t vote), occasional voters (those who don’t always vote), and regular voters (those who vote in every election).

It is often the case that the regular voters are older people (or the 40 percent who are over 40 years old and above) and this group consists of people who have a sense of civic duty and citizenship.

Those who have registered to vote for the first time are an erratic group, partly because it is not guaranteed that first-time voters will spend election-day in queues waiting for their turn to vote.

In fact, there is a high chance that many youthful first-time voters will treat election day as a holiday and take the day off.

It is indisputable that the figure of 5,3 million registered voters was arrived at over a period of years.

Therefore, it is highly unlikely that 5,3 million voters will turn out at polling stations on election day, especially considering that the 2013 harmonised elections saw only 59 percent of registered voters turning up.

Furthermore, the generally held “rational model” for judging voter participation suggests that individuals will decide to vote when the benefits of voting exceed the cost of voting.

This means that voters will participate in elections when they feel they have something tangible to gain or lose.

In light of this, we are likely to experience a high voter turnout in agricultural and rural areas, which consist largely of people who have benefited from land reforms or farming inputs.

These people will turn out in their numbers because they have something tangible to gain or lose.

Urban areas are perhaps more likely to experience voter apathy because of a lack of tangible benefits for voting.

It is likely that Harare Metropolitan and Bulawayo Metropolitan will suffer from voter apathy among first-time voters.

Gender

While some put forward the argument that 60 percent of voters are below the age of 40, they are forgetting to mention that about 54 percent of our national population consists of women.

Let’s assume that 54 percent of registered voters (even those below the age of 40) are women, and this will have a significant impact on the electoral outcome.

Research from different parts of the world reveals that women vote at higher rates than men. Furthermore, It is also my perception that a significant number of women voters relate to women candidates irrespective of political affiliation, primarily because women address and understand issues relating to women far much more than men do.

For this reason, we may find that women voters may prefer to choose female candidates at ward, and constituency levels.

Political affiliation

I think it is fair to say that historically in Zimbabwe, the members of a political party will automatically vote for their party.

Of course, there have been incidents where this did not happen such as the 2008 “bhora musango” campaign which saw traditional Zanu-PF members voting for their ward and constituency candidates, but not for their Presidential candidate.

In 2018, I do not foresee a “bhora-musango”. However, MDC-T’s political infighting that has occurred over the last few months may see the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC-Alliance lose a significant number of votes among party members, particularly in the Matebeleland regions.

As things stand, it still seems Zanu-PF has the upper hand.

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Christopher Takunda Mugaga
That Zimbabwe is yet to embrace a local currency, coupled with dominance of only three products on our export list might signify that as a nation, we must put our house in order before ratifying the free trade agreement.

Sporting his trademark scarf with Zimbabwe flag colours, President Emmerson Mnangagwa took his rightful place at the dignitaries’ table.

As he signed the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, he was carrying the hopes of a Southern African nation whose expectations of economic recovery have reached a crescendo.

President Mnangagwa, a former Vice-President who headlined a number of business conferences as a special guest at the time, is definitely aware of expectations that come with joining such an FTA.

The business community is excited about the prospects of joining such an important grouping.

Regarding what took place in the tiny east African country of Rwanda, it is pertinent to appreciate that this is the biggest trade agreement signed since the World Trade Organisation was established.

Two of Africa’s biggest economies, South Africa and Nigeria, postponed joining the AfCFTA due to reasons mainly related to their domestic policies and procedures.

The latter had to use “ear buds” to clear the way for private sector voices. The former’s absence from the arrangement is worrisome given the leadership mantle it holds among emerging economies as symbolised by its Brics membership.

With South African opposition parties clamouring for radical economic empowerment, it will certainly take a month of Sundays for their Cabinet to approve the AfCFTA.

It is a cabinet that will face fierce opposition not only from the Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters, but from ANC moderates as well.

This is so given South Africa’s desire to promote an inward approach to wealth redistribution as opposed to attracting foreign capital.

That eliminating intra-Africa tariffs will prejudice states of a potential US$4,1 trillion is rattling some Heads of State regardless of the expected annual welfare gain beyond US$16 billion whose impact can start being felt around 2022.

Most African countries run fiscal deficits that have seen them either introduce peculiar tax heads, or raise tax levels, thus equally negatively impacting on the annual welfare.

Zimbabwe, a country running trade deficits averaging eight percent of GDP, cannot ignore the implications of a borderless society given its current account deficit which might have declined from around 18 percent of GDP to roughly four percent in 2017.

We are still reeling from the effects of economic sanctions, and that gives our African peers comparative advantage.

The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act is a case in point.

Countries like Ethiopia have benefited from Agoa and have seen their leather industry grow to unprecedented heights as market access to the United States improves.

The same cannot apply to Zimbabwean companies given the structural bottlenecks precipitated by the period of conflict between Harare and the West.

Indeed, we have appended our signature to the AfCFTA.

However, wider consultation is definitely required before ratification given that several of our sectors have become sensitive and need protection.

The target is for AfCTA to come into force in 2018.

The draft agreement commits countries to removing tariffs on 90 percent of goods, with 10 percent of “sensitive items” being phased later.

It will also liberalise services and tackle non-tariff barriers, including unnecessary delays at border posts.

Beitbridge Border Post, being the busiest port in Southern Africa, and with South Africa not committing to the agreement, might mean Zimbabwe not affording to expedite ratification as vulnerability to foreign economies will become unsustainable.

We already have contentious issues with Pretoria regarding the citizenship status of Zimbabweans in South Africa.

The matter can only take a bilateral arrangement to solve, with the AfCFTA not helping matters in the short to medium-term.

South Africa is no stranger to the cautious approach as was witnessed with the Tripartite FTA agreement.

Pretoria said it would only sign when it had a clear picture of the rules of origin, especially list rules due to their preference for product-specific rules.

The Yamassoukro Declaration on opening air space is yet to be fully implemented.

It is more expensive in relative terms to travel from Harare to Cape Town than making a trip to Dubai. That is a serious barrier to intra-Africa trade.

We still have arguments against opening up the skies, dominantly around security concerns.

To achieve a borderless society with the DRC, which is still unsafe to travel through, is a tall order.

Lack of infrastructure investment can be solved by entering the AfCFTA given the urgent need to allow efficient movement of goods and services.

One shudders at the thought that the DRC, which is four times bigger than France, has a smaller network of tarred roads than tiny Luxembourg.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa estimates the agreement’s implementation could increase intra-Africa trade by 52 percent by 2022, using 2010 as the base year.

Evidence elsewhere must also be factored in before one concludes on the likely impact of signing the AfCFTA.

It is a crazy era in which the developed world is becoming more protectionist while Africa is lectured on why it shouldn’t have closed economies.

Britain is in the process of exiting the European Union.

Trump is preoccupied with fighting Beijing and Moscow. South Africa is promoting Buy South African. China avoided joining the WTO at its inception as it was unprepared.

Intra-Africa trade owes its current modesty to lack of diversification and competitiveness; not underplaying the chronic infrastructure deficit playing out daily.

That Zimbabwe is yet to embrace a local currency, coupled with dominance of only three products on our export list might signify that as a nation, we must put our house in order before ratifying the free trade agreement.

We have already suffered competitiveness challenges, and opening our borders overnight can only help to grow the service sectors at the expense of sectors where Zimbabwe has potential comparative advantage such as mining, agriculture and manufacturing.

The greatest winner, if we rush our decision to ratify the AfCFTA, will be multinational corporations. Domestic enterprise development will be suffocated.

Further, it is important for stakeholders to appreciate that the signing which took place in Kigali last Wednesday will not change anything in principle.

So, if you are a trader or businessman, it’s not a case of short-term planning for new trade developments or changes.

Changes can only ensue once the agreement comes into force.

At the same time, goods will not be traded duty-free until the ACFTA rules of origin are agreed upon.

Remember, rules of origin are yet to be concluded at Tripartite Free Trade Area level following more than 72 months of negotiation.

The next meeting of thematic working groups on ACFTA rules of origin is scheduled for May.

One hopes the ambition displayed by Heads of State in Kigali will be transported to technical committee organs.

Zimbabwe is on the verge of coming up with both a National Trade Policy and National Export Strategy.

Therefore, Government, the private sector and labour should caucus on the trajectory to pursue.

Mr Christopher Takunda Mugaga is an economist and the CEO of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce. He wrote this article for The Sunday Mail

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Thobekile Marume
The rhythm and meaning of human development begins in early childhood and winds into late adulthood; a stage associated with great wisdom as deep reflection connects the end with the beginning.

As the holy scriptures say, elders are blessings to the young, and Zimbabwe has, therefore, been gifted with longevity in the mould of former President Robert Mugabe.

This article examines socio-emotional developments associated with old age and its related stages, focusing particularly on Mr Mugabe following his resignation as President of Zimbabwe.

People have questioned the effect of old age on the former President’s cognitive abilities.

However, contrary to popular belief that no new brain cells are generated after early childhood (under 10), people continue to grow new brain cells throughout their lives.

Late adulthood years are no exception to continued brain development as the brain retains capability to repair itself, losing only a portion of its ability to function.

But cognitive mechanics decline with age.

These mechanics involve the speed and accuracy of processes related to sensory input, visual and motor memory, discrimination, comparison and categorisation.

Some, but not all aspects of memory, decline in older adults. This decline occurs primarily in remembering the where and when of life as well as working memory which is used in problem-solving.

Erick Erickson concluded that humans move through psychosocial stages at various stages in their lifetime.

These psychosocial stages reflect a desire to affiliate with other people throughout life.

And each stage ushers in a unique development opportunity which comes in the form of a developmental task the individual is faced with.

The task presents a crisis which is not catastrophic but is a crossroad of increased vulnerability and enhanced potential. Successfully resolving crises leads to healthier development where the virtue of the developmental crisis is attained.

A developmental crisis ensures the individual takes away something from it.

If not a virtue, it will be a vice which will be the Achilles’ heel symbolising inability to successfully resolve the developmental crisis.

There are eight stages, with Stage One occurring in the first year of infancy, progressing through childhood, adolescence and ultimately culminating in the final stage which happens in late adulthood.

Late adulthood begins at 60.

The final stage of development is characterised by the individual’s reflection on the past and either piecing together a positive review or concluding that one’s life has not been well-spent.

If the retrospective glances and reminiscences reveal a picture of a life well-spent, the individual will be satisfied. Conversely, if retrospective glances are negative, the individual will despair.

At this stage, the individual assesses his/her worth through the eyes of their contribution. Such assessment can be quiet or intense, involving various activities around the individual.

Individuals look at their personal lives, families and communities as they assess the effects of their decisions and overall contribution; negative or positive.

At 83-years-old, Robert Mugabe continued working.

He continued contributing actively to the nation of Zimbabwe and, therefore, might have been assessing that stage of life quietly.

We will never know how much those around him cushioned him from the discontentment many in Zimbabwe had with his leadership.

Mass mobilisation events such as Million-Man March were organised for him and he may have felt accomplished, satisfied with the way he led Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe was made to believe he was a darling to many; loved by both young and old.

Then one day he woke up to a bigger crowd — perhaps much bigger than the one he encountered in 1980 when he ascended to power — advocating his resignation.

No one’s bearings remain the same under such circumstances.

On November 18, 2017, the statesman stepped down as President of the Republic. His resignation came after a period of intense negotiations that could only have been stressful for a man his age.

In African culture, the elderly are excused from some serious deliberations for fear of upsetting them.

Most deliberations are done by younger kinsmen, with older ones informed of the decisions. This could have stemmed from indigenous knowledge of the decline in working memory.

However, Robert Mugabe had to be actively involved in negotiating his end.

He was supposed to be the source of wisdom; full of invaluable knowledge, the one they all looked up.

But suddenly, and true to street lingo, “shiri yabvuta rekeni” (the bird snatched the catapult).

November 2017’s events may not have been how President Mugabe envisaged leaving power.

In African culture, ageing brings with it greater responsibility, especially in taking on an advisory role as happened with Nelson Mandela.

Mr Mugabe had none of this, possibly catapulting him into despair: Despair as revision, reflection on experience and expanded understanding take place.

One may ask themselves questions such as: where did I go wrong? What did I do? How did I miss it? This could further catapult him into despair.

In the later stage of life, people worry about generativity, assessing the lives of the children they have raised. Parents wonder if they did a good job.

This crisis is worse for parents whose children remain children, failing to transcend and fill the ageing father’s shoes. Baba Mugabe is no exception.

He has to worry about the children he has raised. Can they carry the family totem with pride?

Mr Mugabe continues to negotiate through the last stage of development like any other sekuru his age, but for now, it is amidst a major loss in his life.

Losses come with their own set of psychological processes.

Kubler Ross, in working with people dealing with grief, identified five common stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

The stages are not necessarily linear, but individuals do go through them at different times of loss as a way of coming to terms with their circumstances.

The two psychological theories above can help the nation empathise with possible explanations of what Robert Mugabe might be going through.

However, the theories cannot be used in isolation of a full basement by qualified personnel to draw a comprehensive conclusion on what he is going through.

Everyone has some degree of uniqueness in dealing with both grief and existential crises which is set in motion with ageing or any other event in their life.

Thobekile Marume is a Harare-based psychologist. She wrote this article for The Sunday Mail

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ABOUT two weeks ago, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services and Presidential Press Secretary, Mr George Charamba wrote a thought-provoking article titled; “ED’s 100 Days: Defying Horace’s Burden” which appeared in this paper.

In that article, Mr Charamba wrote something that I found quite revealing and profound. He said: “Beyond this insincerity, who does not know that at the heart of what commentators have glibly termed succession battles which raged in the ruling party before this new era, was a clash of contending visions on post-Land Reform Zimbabwe?

“That pitted against a greedy and ambitious cabal was a group of veteran-cadres, both inside and outside Government, who saw beyond the worn and staid rhetoric of old nationalism and Cold-War type of anti-Western politics which though central to the liberation struggle and the recovery of Land, had become a needless cost after 2015?

“Or that this firebrand rhetoric had become a smokescreen for primitive accumulation by a few, while duping the youths through empty promises of indigenisation and empowerment for which there is absolutely nothing to show on the ground as I write?

“Except of course a badly depressed economy, an isolated country and high incidences of corruption?”

The piece by Mr Charamba was profound in two ways. First was the revelation that there were contending visions on the post-Land Reform Zimbabwe in Zanu-PF with one “greedy and ambitious cabal” against “veteran cadres” who “saw beyond the worn and staid rhetoric of old nationalism and Cold-War type of anti-Western politics.” This revelation was quite refreshing even more so when Mr Charamba added that “. . . which though central to the liberation struggle and recovery of the Land, had become a needless cost after 2015?”

The import of the statement by Mr Charamba was that after 2015 and especially after the land reform exercise, we should have changed communication strategies and tactics. If we look back dear congregants, we see that indeed Mr Charamba was dead right. We shouldn’t have continued with confrontational politics. Inga wani after winning a fist fight, you don’t continue kunyomba the guy you have beaten. Instead you say; “handiti waona kurwa hakuna kunaka.” Zvino baba vangu Moyo iwe, takaramba tongotsondokota kusvika isu vacho takuzvikuvadza. In this regard I mean both the private-owned and public-owned media. We are all guilty as charged.

Even the Holy Book in Ephesians 4 vs 26 is very clear. It says: “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” The sun went down while we were still angry.

Secondly, the narrative was profound because Mr Charamba gave a honest explanation why the sun went down while we were still angry saying “…this firebrand rhetoric had become a smokescreen for primitive accumulation by a few, while duping the youths through empty promises of indigenisation and empowerment for there is absolutely nothing to show on the ground as a write.”

The honesty by Mr Charamba was mind-blowing. This is someone who was the spokesperson of the former President for quite a long time and so he knows what he is talking about. We should all learn from the mistakes of the past. Never again!

Talking about learning from the past, it seems as if quite a number of my good friends in the media haven’t yet learnt a thing.

They are still stuck in the “worn and staid rhetoric” of the past. It’s very possible I will be crucified here, because journalists for some strange reasons think they are immune to criticism but then kana Jesu akaroverwa pamuchinjikwa nenyaya yezvitadzo zvedu, who am I?

Journalists from both the public-owned and private-owned media are to blame. Hona matombo abatwa kwanzi Bishop isu hatinzwaro? Well, the truth shall set me free.

Let me start with journalists from the private-owned media in the country.

These scribes are still stuck in the mood and mode of the gone era. Just look at the way they are trying to create a rift between President Mnangagwa and the former President Mugabe. There is still an obsession for confrontational and divisive news.

Granted, the former President is really spoiling for a fight with President Mnangagwa and indeed it’s a good story, but hey good people, the biggest story is that Zimbabweans want to move on with their lives and they want to live an enjoyable life.

If the former President, his wife marujata Grace and Professor Jonathan Moyo still want politics dzebopoto, let them exercise their freedom of expression on social media.

Let’s not cover them as if we approve of what they are doing. Ngatirege kupembedza mapenzi.

Since he took over, President Mnangagwa has been focusing on the economy, economy and the economy. During the first days, some people thought the President was playing some political games, but slowly the pessimism is giving way to optimism. Ngwena iri serious imi vanhu vaMwari. There is some good vibes going on in the country even though the President still has some serious work to do.

There is need for my good friends in the private-owned media to shift focus because the negative story, while it may excite one or two people, will not sustain the organisations. Audiences have shifted to positivity and so as the media our job is to follow those audiences.

I know some of my friends will say “hatiudzwe zvekuita naBishop” and I know there is something called the political economy of the media which dictates the goings on in newsrooms but its high time we differ constructively. Kungoratidza kuti tinofungawo so.

This past week, I was shocked that on a day that Zimbabwe signed a 4,2 billion mining deal, the private-owned media decided to downplay this investment deal.

Of course I know some people must be tired of hearing these big-sounding billions, but hey people, that 4,2 billion deal was not some memorandum of understanding.

It’s a done deal with set time-frames. That deal is historic.

Besides that deal, several companies are opening and re-opening, but still these positive developments are downplayed in the private-owned media yet day in and day out, we scream kuti hakuna mabasa and people are looking for jobs. Hewozve mabasa acho nhai vanhuwe!

Then we come to the public-owned media. In their own way, some of my good friends in the public-owned media are still stuck in the past.

They still think the story is where the President is and the story is where the Ministers are. When they follow the President and the Ministers they think they are doing a wonderful job.

They actually think they are doing the President and the Ministers a big service.

Look, it’s all good and fine to cover stories by the President and the Ministers. These are the biggest sources of news, but they are not the news. Now because of this mentality of thinking the President and his Ministers are the news, very important stories are dying as soon as the President and the Ministers leave.

These stories will be resurrected the day the President and the Ministers revisit them. That’s lazy journalism, if you ask me.

Take for example, when the historic 4,2 billion deal was signed last week. On that day, ZBC-TV did a fantastic job talking to different analysts who commented on the deal. The next day, the story disappeared completely from News Hour. Completely dead. The President and his Ministers had moved on to other projects and so the 4,2 billion story died.

Semakwayi kumafuro the scribes follow the President and his Ministers on their next assignments. They cover these next assignments and the stories die again soon after. As a result, we have zvitunha zvemastories all over the country. Even a sensitive story like that of the striking doctors becomes a story only when the Minister of Health has said something, yet people are dying. It’s really said.

Due to this lazy approach, investment deals are not subjected to interrogation and set timelines are easily forgotten. The journalists think they are doing the President and his Ministers a great service, but the greatest service is to ensure that these investment deals are unpacked so that there is accountability and transparency.

Speaking to delegates while opening the Zanu-PF Extraordinary Congress in December last year President Mnangagwa said: “The role you have given me and the office you have inserted me into, can never be partitioned to anyone.

“The praise song I desire, if you were to sing one, is that of our national anthem and those from the liberation struggle, not for myself, no! If you sing the national anthem, if you sing those national songs then me and you are together.”

While this statement was directed to Zanu-PF supporters, all journalists who think the President and his Ministers are the story are no different from the ruling party supporters who sing songs to praise the President. Journalists should take this statement to mean “don’t follow me, follow the story” because journalists sing through their stories.

Some uncomfortable truths there handiti? Kikikiki! And please don’t get me wrong, Bishop Lazarus munhu wamwari but is not claiming to be God’s gift to journalism. Kungowonesana. Ngatibude muhandaka.

In an article entitled; “Journalism Ethics” published in 2008, Stephen Ward asserts that the social utility of journalism is centred on its ability to function as a provider of public knowledge, and truthful, comprehensive and intelligent accounts of news and events. This is what a journalist in these ED times should thrive to do, kwete kuita mutswe weNgwena.

Over the years, the profession has been hit hard by arm chair journalists, then came the “copy and paste” generation with sedentary journalism practice and so surely, we can’t add story-murderers to this worrying list.

Bishop is out!

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