A Kubatana subscriber made some good points recently in the “should politics and sports mix” debate:

In the midst of all the negative news coming out of Zimbabwe of late, many may have missed the positive news of the legendary Kirsty Coventry, who having already won various medals in many an international swimming arena, continues to swim her way to the top of the world swimming rankings. Coventry broke the world’s oldest short-course record at the World Short Course Championships, recently held in Manchester England on April 12th. Kirsty also won a gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley. During her celebratory interviews, Kirsty Coventry excitedly spoke of her wins, and expressed how much she was looking forward to heading to Beijing China, to represent Zimbabwe at the Olympics in August.

Personally, I support Kirsty’s ascent to fame and swimming stardom, and have felt proud as a Zimbabwean as she has won medal after medal, and broken record after record over the years. However, I have to say I found myself pausing in some degree of disbelief at Ms. Coventry’s expressed anticipation of a visit to Beijing. Ms. Coventry was also asked a question about the crisis that was engulfing Zimbabwe as she, on the other end of the world, painted a positive image of the country. Ms. Coventry reportedly replied that she tries to “stay out of politics”. I do too ….. for the most part! But honestly, what Zimbabwean in this day and age has the luxury to “stay out of politics” !!!?

I think it would be wrong and almost hypocritical for Kirsty Coventry to go to China if she does qualify to go to the upcoming Olympics. Doing so would demonstrate, in my opinion, that she represents her own personal ambitions and interests, and not Zimbabwe’s. Her claim of efforts to “stay out of politics” though understandable are not realistic, and would in this instance be a betrayal of her claim at representing Zimbabwe as she swims her way to the top. Ms. Coventry instead, holds a unique position to represent Zimbabwe in a more meaningful and unselfish manner. As a world renowned Zimbabwean star athlete, she should either speak out against the atrocities going on in Zimbabwe, or quietly boycott China to show her solidarity with the ordinary Zimbabweans who have absolutely nothing to celebrate or look forward to at this particular time, except survival. Reports are coming out that as the ship carrying a consignment of weapons from China now stands to be recalled back to China, China on the other hand, is preparing another consignment of reportedly “more sophisticated” weapons to be flown directly from China to Harare within the coming week!!!

I am no politician, but I consider myself a fairly intelligent being. China’s disregard for the significance of its arms sales to Zimbabwe, demonstrates at best, an utter disregard and disinterest for the value of the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans who will certainly be massacred by these weapons, and at worst, demonstrates what many have said all along. China has no respect for human rights, and in Zimbabwe’s case, like in Rwanda, is seeking to facilitate, aid and enable genocide by the Mugabe regime. Even the pursuit for economic supremacy has its bounds, and no Zimbabwean should stand aside while China massacres our people as a stepping stone to economic supremacy. No Zimbabwean blood should aid China’s economic rise. As Mugabe cries foul to perceived new attempts at colonization of Zimbabwe by the West, he is willing to shed our blood as he hands over the country to those from the East. Even the apolitical Kirsty Coventry needs to look beyond the potential gold medals and the prospects of enhanced fame, and take a stand on one side or the other on this issue. I will be damned to find any Zimbabwean, a true Zimbabwean, anywhere in this world, who is truly “staying out of politics” today. Kirsty should certainly continue swimming her way to the top, but certainly not to China. She can still prove herself the best on other venues that will certainly present themselves in the future after China, but China is no venue for any Zimbabwean to be competing under any guise of any form of a positive spirit as is supposedly embodied by the Olympics. In my view, they might as well extinguish the Olympics torch when it gets to China, and carry on with the games instead of trying to pull a veil over the rest of us. There is nothing positive-spirited about China from an ordinary Zimbabwean’s perspective today, unless you are looking out for the personal gains that come from such an association with China. Currently, the only Zimbabweans I know of who are benefiting in any way from China are Mugabe and his cronies. Which side does Ms. Coventry stand, on this issue, in which EVERY other Zimbabweans has taken a stand?

Please share your views directly with Kirsty and also congratulate her on her wins on her blog (You’ll need to register to leave a comment).

Philip Barclay from the British Embassy has been blogging again – he’s recommended reading. Here’s an excerpt, and if you want the full blog click here

There’s a right way and a wrong way to approach a cordon of Zimbabwean riot police. It’s not clever for example to don an MDC t-shirt and ask the plod for the results of the Presidential election.

I usually try and carry it off with a self-confident swagger, as if a line of big cops in crash helmets and heavy boots carrying nasty sticks is an everyday hurdle. I try to look like a man who has proper business in Zimbabwe’s High Court, rather than what the state media portrays me as: a colonialist who is sabotaging Zimbabwe’s economy because he wants to restore white supremacism. As I reach the thick blue line I manage a cheerful:

“Good morning! How are you sirs?”,

in the Zimbabwean style.

While the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission drags its heels, and the MDC turns to the courts and the international community, a headline caught my eye: Only mass mobilisation can defeat the Mugabe dictatorship.

At last, I thought to myself.

In it, the International Socialist Organisation makes a few important points:

1) Zanu PF will remain in power by hook or by crook, unless otherwise compelled by mass mobilisation.

2) The people’s power route is only possible if there is “the urgent establishment of a united and democratic front of the commons and democrats, including organised labour, residents, informal traders, youths, students, women, progressive civic groups, socialists and other radicals.

3) The behaviour of the regime in refusing to announce the election results has more than vindicated the position of those who said that without a democratic constitution and mass mobilisation, the March election would not deliver change.

4) The MDC’s boycotting of the run-off, would be commendable, but is suspect in the circumstances. Instead of mobilising the masses who have overwhelmingly voted for it, … the MDC(T) has focused on calling for so-called “international community” intervention – code words for the Western countries – and sending its leaders on futile regional/international “diplomatic offensives”. Most damning, it is pacifying its members and civic groups by calling for restraint and not doing anything to provoke the regime. The MDC(T) is again going to Mugabe’s courts for relief, giving the regime cover to draw out the dispute and consolidate its positions.

The ISO recommends the mobilisation of mass resistance to electoral fraud, “starting with less confrontational methods that build confidence, such as pressure on the ZEC members to resign, especially those seconded by the opposition, regular mass prayer meetings, cascading into stayaways and general strikes and demonstrations.”

Now we’re talking.

I’ve been reading a news article in which the Mugabe regime asserts that the MDC is drawing attention to post election violence as a “ploy” for international intervention. Meanwhile the BBC has just published a short film about victims of state violence in Zimbabwe. I wonder whether Morgan Tsvangirai might challenge Zimbabwe’s Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa to tour Harare’s hospitals to see and hear the gruesome stories of assault and brutality. Tsvangirai’s visit to supporters who have been beaten and who are recovering in hospital is long overdue. But if Ban Ki-moon comes first, then let’s at least see Someone from the MDC rallying hope in the hospital wards.

In response to my last blog, somebody going by the name DA Mal raised some very interesting and relevant points. He/she wrote: “… what, exactly, do democratic Zimbabweans expect South Africa to do? Thabo Mbeki is right about one thing – it’s your country, and in the end getting rid of your dictator must be your solution. Every thinking South African agrees that we are not doing enough to help you. But, if we were to offer genuine, unalloyed and uncompromised help, such as JZ (Jacob Zuma) might likely offer, then what would you want from us?”

Well, I’m sure Da Mal is not the only one who fails to see exactly what Mbeki, or the rest of SADC, including its ordinary citizens can do, and must do. My first point would be to say that if there really wasn’t anything anyone could do, then what would be the point of appointing a mediator in the first place? What did former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan do for the crisis in Kenya? I hasten to add, that as much as this problem is ours and this is our country, the effects of whatever goes on here may also be felt regionally. Moreover, I believe that a call for help is not a sign of weakness, but of courage. Zimbabweans live under the iron fist of a practically untouchable dictator who moves around in the company of a kilometer long armed motorcade. They also risk being shot dead for coming within the 10-meter perimeter of state house. They live in constant and real fear of losing their lives because unlike other places, here the respect for the right to life is in short supply. They have seen footage of police bashing in the heads of dissenters with baton sticks. They have witnessed peaceful protesters like the WOZA women beaten thoroughly in places normal people would hesitate to hit a woman. Some people have died mysteriously or just disappeared. Can Zimbabweans then be blamed for fearing for their lives?

In short, there is a hell of a lot Mbeki, or our neighbors can do. For instance, we applaud the move by members of SATAWU and the South African naval intelligence for resisting and blocking the entry of the arms reportedly en route to Zimbabwe aboard a Chinese ship. Some sensible people realized the arms were headed into a peaceful country full of defenseless people who were just going to be annihilated simply for daring to want a different government. We are grateful for that. Should the arms arrive somehow, (which is very likely to happen thanks to Mugabe’s loyal friends in SADC), at least SA should be proud for having done the right thing.

Another thing Mbeki, SA or the rest of SADC can do is make it difficult for these big chefs to enter their countries. Hit them with another wave of sanctions; ‘local’ ones this time around. A few colleagues also feel that South African can be a little more tolerant of Zimbabwean refugees. The reports of serious xenophobia down south are distressing. It may help for our neighbors to remember that this can easily happen to them also, and they’d have to depend on others for mere survival.

Mr Mbeki could also be helpful by either keeping quiet and admitting he can’t handle it then step down, or if not, at least stop insulting people’s intelligence by misrepresenting the facts as they are. The man insists on describing his lack of action as diplomacy then has the nerve to say “loud diplomacy” is not diplomacy. Really? I thought the word diplomacy was a verb describing certain tact or artfulness intended to achieve something. What is quiet diplomacy anyway? Let me guess; wait and see? What is that intended to achieve?

If Annan could broker a deal that saw a semblance of peace descend on Kenya, then surely, talks conducted in the right way can achieve positive results? For a lot of people the question of what Mbeki can do, is out of question.

Before the March 29 Election, my impression of Zimbabwe’s Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr. David Parirenyatwa was that he was among the more “reasonable” of mugabe’s ministers. He had a good reputation, and the people I knew who had been on committees or at conferences or meetings with him seemed to respect him.

But Parirenyatwa being depicted in the media seems a very different man. He is accused of being instrumental to a campaign of post-election, retaliatory violence in Murehwa.

Dr Parirenyatwa, I challenge you to read stories such as these, and explain yourself.

• Mugabe minister accused of gun threats
• Health Minister Parirenyatwa Organising Violence in Murehwa
• MCDT condemns Parirenyatwa for ongoing violence in Murewa
• Widespread Political Violence Reported in Zimbabwe’s Rural Areas

If you would like to contact Dr David Parirenyatwa and challenge him about these reports, you can reach him on the details below:

Ministry of Health and Child Welfare
Box CY 1122, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 4 730 111-9
Email: npro_moh@gta.gov.zw (Ministry’s National Public Relations Officer)