According to the Global Political Agreement signed by the three political parties in Zimbabwe . . .

“RECOGNISING and accepting that the Land Question has been at the core of the contestation in Zimbabwe and acknowledging the centrality of issues relating to the rule of law, respect for human rights, democracy and governance. The Parties hereby agree to: (a) conduct a comprehensive, transparent and non-partisan land audit, during the tenure of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe, for the purpose of establishing accountability and eliminating multiple farm ownerships; (b) ensure that all Zimbabweans who are eligible to be allocated land and who apply for it shall be considered for allocation of land irrespective of race, gender, religion, ethnicity or political affiliation; (c) ensure security of tenure to all land holders; (d) call upon the United Kingdom government to accept the primary responsibility to pay compensation for land acquired from former land owners for resettlement; and (e) work together to secure international support and finance for the land reform programme in terms of compensation for the former land owners and support for new farmers.”

Quite clear? Clear enough? So as Rejoice Ngwenya asks “on any clear day, it is therefore impossible to comprehend why MDC, realising the incapacity of JOMIC to guarantee the democratic rights of citizens, is not evoking the clause that binds the implementation of this agreement to be guaranteed and underwritten by the Facilitator, SADC and the AU.”

Below is a letter written by Ben Freeth, a Zimbabwean farmer. The letter is addressed to Morgan Tsvangirai and it asks him to follow through on his promise to stop farm invasions.

Dear Prime Minister Tsvangarai,

As you are aware I wrote an open letter to you 2 weeks ago asking where we were going because “soon it will be too late.”

I likened our countries economy to that of an engine that is continuing to be stripped. Unfortunately the stripping process has increased in momentum significantly since my letter; and police unfortunately remain complicit with it.

Since I wrote to you we have had a fresh illegal invasion on Mount Carmel Farm on the 4 April 2009. We copied a letter to your office addressed to the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Republic Police dated 5 April but have yet to have any response.

Some of our workers have been badly beaten [one with a cracked skull]; the Mount Carmel house was broken into and entered by invaders while my elderly parents-in-law were inside; Mike and Angela Campbell have since been evicted by the illegal invaders and stopped from accessing their home and work place by a locked gate that the invaders have erected on the drive into the farm; their house has since been entered by invaders again and some looting has taken place; the mango crop still in the orchards of over 100 tons is being stolen before our eyes; the pack- shed has been broken into and the 50 tons of export mangos that was rotting there [because the invaders have stopped all the 150 workers from loading the lorry that came from SA for export] are being sold by the invaders – we saw the rotting mangos and invader sales of stolen property on 10 April; the orange crop of 200 tons is being stolen and the maize and sunflower crops will be stolen shortly if nothing is done to arrest the perpetrators of these crimes.

Many of our workers are sleeping in the bush due to the violence that remains unpunished. Others are victims of trumped up charges in jail. They have been subjected to torture by police in Chegutu using armoured cable to beat them. The one with the cracked skull [Sinos] was dumped on the charge office floor by invaders in the presence of witnesses who were never even asked to explain themselves. A police constable then smashed Sinos’ head against the charge office wall. As a result of police being used to torture and arrest our workers, our workers are naturally very afraid to make reports of crimes that continue to be committed.

Invaders threatened to kill any of our guards that tried to continue to guard the crops. They stole a shotgun from the guards and used it to threaten workers. This they subsequently handed into police. Not a single one of the workers has been allowed to work for us in the last week doing the vital job of packing export quality mangos for the earning of tens of thousands of US dollars of scarce foreign currency.

Chegutu police will not even give us the name of the main invader who is frequently at the station with them. Chegutu Police now refuse to take reports of crimes being committed on Mount Carmel Farm so there is no official record. On their visit yesterday they saw all the evidence of these crimes and did nothing to arrest the “untouchables” who were in their presence. Evidence of some of the crimes is on film.

In my letter before this invasion I asked why the SADC Tribunal Judgement is not being upheld. SADC has directed that “the respondent [the Zimbabwe Government] is directed to take all necessary measures to protect the possession, occupation and ownership of the lands of the applicants [ourselves]…and to take all appropriate measures to ensure that no action is taken, pursuant to Amendment 17, directly or indirectly, whether by its agents or by others, to evict from or interfere with, the peaceful residence on and of those farms, by the Applicants.”

If there was a political will to restore the rule of law I have been assured by police that it would take 5 minutes. Unfortunately, there appears to be no political will to deal with these latest invasions and to restore the rule of law and to allow us to live and farm in peace.

This is not an isolated incident. Other farmers are experiencing similar situations and thousands of jobs and livlihoods are on the line. We invite you down to urgently see with your own eyes the realities of the continued State inspired lawlessness in Chegutu. We implore you to have the invaders arrested and to put a police guard on the property to allow us to continue farming in peace and to stop the continued victimisation that is being experienced.

Kubatana was copied in on an email written by Dale Dore, a Harare based activist, to Eddie Cross an MDC stalwart. In his email Dale suggested that the MDC are powerless in the unity government and because of the numerous transgressions of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) the MDC should declare the power sharing government dead.

We still have a dictatorship in place in Zimbabwe albeit with a bit more money than it used to have.

Tsvangirai can only cite certain successes because Zanu PF has facilitated them. Anything vaguely unpopular with Zanu PF doesn’t get to see the light of day.

Jonathan Moyo in an article published by The Nation, in Kenya, called the unity government “self indulgent” and that Tsvangirai is “now groping in the dark  in a desperate search for non exist benchmarks of success.”

Tendai Dumbetshena writing for The Zimbabwe Times asserts that Mugabe has something sinister in mind, but then again when hasn’t he? Tendai does ask some very direct questions that we must insist on being answered. We don’t expect the true blue dictator Mugabe to do so but we do expect Tsvangirai to step up to the challenge:

The Global Political Agreement (GPA) was signed on 15 September, 2008 – seven months ago. All issues pertaining to political reforms and human rights were contained in the GPA and Memorandum of Understanding that preceded it. Why do these issues remain outstanding after such a long time?

What is so difficult about repealing repressive legislation such as POSA and AIPPA? Why the delay in allowing the media to operate freely? Why does the government need an extra 100 days to, for example, lift the ban on international networks such as CNN, BBC, SKY and South Africa’s eTV. The above list of banned foreign media is by no means exhaustive.

Why do some MDC and civil society members still face charges for crimes that were not committed while those who actually murdered and tortured people have not been brought to justice? Where are the seven missing MDC members?

When will Roy Bennett be sworn in as deputy Minister of Agriculture? Will it also be done within the next 100 days? When will the endless talking stop and actual deeds begin?

Assurances from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his ministers count for nothing. In a major speech about three weeks ago the MDC leader threatened to arrest those who continued to invade farms and disrupt production. The mayhem continues and not a single person has been arrested. It is his people who languish in jail. The people who enforce law and order have disdain for Tsvangirai.

The MDC leadership must get real. It is excited beyond measure by the new titles, cars and other trappings of office. Its view of this inclusive government is defined by the material benefits it has yielded to those in government.

Tsvangirai and his colleagues must wake up from their comfort-induced slumber.

Serious people never allow themselves to be victims of naiveté or blinkered optimism. There is something sinister brewing in Mugabe’s mind. There is something sinister being hatched within Zanu-PF. If the MDC continues to act as if it has a genuine partner in this charade called an inclusive government a terrible fate awaits it.

Alex Magaisa rightly questions Zimbabwean politicians who educate their children outside Zimbabwe at great expense whilst allocating our teachers here at home a wage of US$100 a month.

There is always one easy way to spot a Zimbabwean at a dinner table. He or she will be the first one to reach for the salt shaker, thereafter proceeding to generously scatter grains of the white stuff onto his or her food.

Soups, gravies, meats, veggies – you name it. Extra salt is always a necessity.

The culture is so deeply ingrained (excuse the pun!) in many of us that we don’t even wait to first taste our food – thus gauging its levels of flavour. We just go ahead and shake, shower and rattle more sodium chloride onto it.

And when that precious condiment is found missing at a table, before very long, someone will point out, with frustration, to the host that the munyu is nowhere to be seen.

An unhealthy habit, right?

Absolutely. But try talking cholesterol to any salt fiend and you’ll probably get this answer, “But I can’t taste anything if I don’t add more salt!”

Sure, I’ve heard that people who regularly consume alcohol experience a deadening of their taste buds, hence their desire for more salt in their food. And older people, too, experience a dulling of their senses due to age. So what’s the excuse for the rest of us?

I suppose we are just socialised into the use of lots of salt from an early age. But as for me, I can’t stand it!

My mum and I have had to come to an amicable agreement on the seasoning of our food. After enough winces (initiated by me, of course!) at the saltiness of her cooking, she has decided that whenever she cooks something, she will let me first put the salt that’s adequate for my taste buds. After I have taken my share, she will proceed to add more of it to suit her own preference. The same is true when I cook.

It’s called compromise!

I remember once going for a dinner hosted by an American family here in Zimbabwe. As I recall, the meal was beautiful beef stroganoff served on a plate of fluffy white rice.

“Here, you’ll probably need this,” said the hostess as she passed the salt cellar to me. I took one forkful of food and, after swallowing, replied that the salt was just fine. “No extra salt for me, thanks,” I said. “Gosh,” she said in amazement. “You’re the first Zimbabwean I’ve met who doesn’t add extra salt to my food!”

Ah well, different salts for different folks!

And, now that they are in, the likes of Biti have a vested interest in the unity government’s success. That may not be a bad thing in itself. But they should be very wary of the old fox Mugabe. It was always believed his strategy would be to suck in the MDC and use its foreign credibility to revive the economy (and lift the travel bans on the president and his mates) while he and Zanu PF maintained control. Meanwhile, the MDC would be contaminated by association with Zanu PF. We have seen nothing to contradict that understanding of Mugabe’s game plan. Already we are seeing poor Tsvangirai trying to explain away the new farm invasions. Unless the MDC can get the rule of law restored very soon, it should pull out of this government. And even before then, it should hand back those Mercedes-Benzes, the very symbols of co-option. - Comment from the Cape Times SA, 6th April

There appears to be something inherently wrong with everything concerning African politics. The more rhetoric is contradicted by reality, the better the job. While everybody agrees that Zimbabwe needs a literal quick-fix, there appears to be no “global” signposts about what ideal conditions have to set or met for this quick-fix to come to fruition.

We have on one hand the PM appealing to the end of the violent expropriation of white-owned commercial farms, on the other, the usual militants upping the ante making sure they loot whatever is left before anything emerges from this government that would bar lawlessness and effectively forced farm acquisitions and abductions – at least among other State-sponsored evils.

We still have the country’s highest courts refusing to grant bail to jailed activists, yet Mugabe calls Tsvangirai his brother, a brother who has demanded the release of those same activists and also his incarcerated supporters. So much for fraternal love!

The formation of the inclusive government is obviously something sceptics accepted grudgingly and one which inveterate optimists welcomed as a sure-fire solution to the country’s longstanding crisis.

But debate has raged about the Vic Falls shindig where a 100-day plan was adopted as a benchmark to be used to keep tabs on what needs to be done to move the nation forward. Intellectuals, academics, street know-it-alls had unkind words for the retreat that it was a waste of time and money. Turns out the World Bank met the tab, so then it wasn’t our money being spent why complain right? Wrong! Is this not the same WB that has set stringent conditions for the government concerning the re-opening of credit lines etc? The same people who always have harsh words against government spending.

Where the splashing of money occurs no matter how noble – if at all –  in a time and place where poverty is ubiquitous, surely questions are bound to be asked about the morality of it all. Why waste so much on an already bloated cabinet when it could have been put to better use considering cholera and dead everything? But that is now water under the bridge: they came, they talked, they ate, visited the John, they went. The nation watched, drooled, cried, and slept on empty stomachs. Harsh you say. Well, that’s the truth Ruth.

Perhaps these are just some of the issues that have been blurred and become inconsequential both in public and media discourse that people become conveniently amnesiac when the money is THROWN AT them not WITHHELD FROM them?

We were told it (the Vic Falls retreat) was designed as an opportunity for them to bond, James Bond. Whether it worked remains to be seen, but I always have a problem with people who always try to stretch and impose the Christian virtues on others, and for purposes of political expediency, appeal to superhuman responses and glibly preach “forgiveness” and “moving forward.”

Is the political Man easily inclined to that metanoia – perhaps Mandela, but it sure is a marvel to see men and women who were bludgeoned to near death grinning and rubbing shoulders – among other things – with their erstwhile tormentors all for good of the nation. Ain’t that saintly? But all this takes a lot of stretching of the faith of “ye of poor faith,” to understand really what is happening, yet we also know the fate of hypocrites as laid down by the Holy Book. So, as they would say, hypocrites beware! And here I am particularly thinking Zanu PF. Sorry. Speck in a brother’s eye, log in mine? Heard it all before folks, thanks!

I was taken aback when I read the Sunday Times of South Africa the other day where Finance Minister Trevor Manuel cracked the fiscal whip on public servants where he cut unnecessary spending on travel, hotel accommodation, restaurant bills etc. These are the chaps who seem to believe taxpayers’ money is manna from heaven to be spent whichever way they please. Reminded me of the old Sicilian saying: “public money is like Holy Water, everybody helps himself to it.”

But good thing there are men with enough scruples to stymie these palatial romps. The minister said the saved cash could go a long way in meeting the government’s more urgent social services obligations or something to that effect. This same thrift has been demanded by the Zim Finance Minister, but still we get pointers that African politics will always be tinged with that unpalatable attraction to extravagance in circumstances that demand utmost self-deprecation.

But then, the sentiment here has always been that one cannot be a politician and be poor at the same time. A poor politician, come on give us a break! It is obvious then that our own FM will have a tough task convincing men and women who since 1980 saw a seat in parliament as a passport to wild wealth to cut down on “eating” taxpayers’ money. Thus the dangling of the ostentatious Mercs to the very men and women who vehemently criticized these status creatures as the ultimate sign of the betrayal of the struggle by the founding party becomes for the ordinary Jack just that – a betrayal of the very principles that gave birth to Zimbabwe’s only real political opposition. But who cares?

Contradictions galore in our politics and one just has to forgive them who see this GPA thing as being another Africa hocus pocus meant to pacify restive citizens by means of perpetuating the status quo but disguising it as a people-centric experiment. If it doesn’t work – which it never will as we all know because we will still go to elections at an appointed time – then we can always point to the traditional fall guys and blame them for the fallout.

As some sages of yore observed, the human spirit is full surprises. We may wake up one day with Zanu PF deciding the MDC-T is sure indeed the only political entity with the wherewithal to rescue the country. Well, dream on, a voice whispers.

The question one has to ask is what are we likely to see at the expiration of the tenure of this inclusive government when polls are called and the MDC-T once again emerges victorious in those elections? Another Zanu PF rebuttal of the people’s popular vote, then another protracted impasse as political parties jockey over what is best for the country, then another inclusive government? When is it all going to end? Perhaps when there is no one to offer political opposition to the founding party? You must hear the frustration in the street. Listen to any civil servant and you will weep.

Someone said the other day that with the coming of the MDC into government in February life suddenly changed for the better, so imagine if free and fair elections were held in the 18 or 100 months they are scheduled, would Zanu PF stand a chance? These are questions crisis and poverty weary Zimbabweans ask – well at least in Bulawayo. They just want to get on with their lives without envying the politicians’ gravy.

I interviewed a vendor the other day and asked him what he most strongly felt should change in his life after the signing of the GPA and the subsequent formation of the tripartite government. He was brutally honest: “I just want a proper job in the factories. I have no respect selling razor blades in the streets and living in fear of police raids all the time.” There you have it gentlemen, go ahead, wear the fancy suits, drink the whisky, drive Mercs you benzis, have another retreat after the 100-days, again put benchmarks but for god’s sake remember that vendor. It ain’t easy being an African politician, just don’t make it even harder for yourselves by doing all the wrong things.