As state witness
I told the court
that the one saying
they had been beaten
Had done the beating
in Uzumba
I have never been
to Uzumba
They said if I didn’t
say what they told me
I would get more than
broken ribs.
Don’t call me a coward
One held my hand
the other held my other hand
A third crushed a log
into my ribs
A forth crushed my testicles
for good measure
As state witness
I told the court
that the one saying
their buttocks had been burnt
their homes had been burnt
and their wives raped
Were the ones
who had actually done those
horrible things.

- Copyright Mgcini Nyoni

We’ve just received the latest report from the Research and Advocacy Unit, entitled Challenging Zimbabwe’s bloated executive.

The report discusses the fact that Zimbabwe has more Ministers than it is actually Constitutionally allowed to have. This has been the case since the swearing in of the inclusive government cabinet on 13 February 2009, but it has recently come back into public discussion. According to RAU, “on 7 May, Zimbabwean citizen and civil society activist Moven Kufa filed papers in the High Court challenging the constitutionality of the appointment of the extra Ministers.”

However, this court application has been largely ignored by the Zimbabwean media, both state and local.

The response of the MDC itself to the case – Morgan Tsvangirai is one of the respondents, in his capacity as Prime Minister – has exhibited a worrying lack of seriousness for a party that paints itself as the “rule of law party.” The report comments:

The Ministers cited as Respondents to the Application have not filed any opposing papers. The President, Robert Mugabe, and Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai are cited as the 1st and 2nd Respondents in addition to the Respondent Ministers. In a further irony, these two Respondents have not attested to any opposing affidavits. That task has been left to the Attorney-General who claims in his opposing papers to have the authority of both Respondents to attest an affidavit on their behalf and that he is constitutionally empowered to do so. So the very individual whose appointment is so hotly contested by Tsvangirai, Johannes Tomana, is now engaged by Tsvangirai to oppose what is stated as an attempt to compel compliance with the rule of law and the Constitution.

This situation becomes even more remarkable when one considers that the arguments advanced in the opposing affidavit by Tomana are, legally speaking, those of Tsvangirai and Mugabe. Supporters of Tsvangirai may then be astounded to learn what those arguments are and that Tsvangirai is prepared to be not merely associated with then, but to allow them to be advanced on his behalf.

Tomana, and thus Mugabe and Tsvangirai, contend that Moven Kufa is not entitled to bring the Application at all, as there has been no violation of his rights set out in the Declaration of Rights in the Constitution. They claim that Kufa has no legal right to complain that neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai complied with the provisions of the Constitution when the appointments were made. Only parliament can do that, they claim. Parliament does indeed have the power to impeach the President for breaches of the Constitution. However, such impeachment requires a two-thirds majority of parliament in favour to succeed. Accordingly, if the contention of Tomana, Tsvangirai and Mugabe is correct, Tsvangirai and Mugabe are free to ignore the provisions of the constitution so long as two-thirds of the members of parliament or more do not object to these violations.

Read more about the case, its arguments, merits and challenges here.

The poem, Jasmine, by Zimbabwean poet and writer John Eppel has just been selected poem of the week by The Guardian. “John Eppel explores the duplicities of the word freedom while, in characteristic style, evoking the odours and symbolism of flowers.”

Jasmine

When they cried freedom, when the sweet
mingling of woodsmoke and jasmine
with dust – grass, granite, antelope
bone – gathered into wrists which turned

light the colour of blood, darkness
a memory of the colour
of blood – when their voices lifted
that song and sent it echoing

across Africa, I knew it.
Sibanda had taught it to me,
polishing the family’s shoes,
squatting outside the scullery

door. We both wore khaki trousers
many sizes too big; no shirt,
no shoes. I spat on the toecaps
while he brushed: and while he brushed

we sang: ‘Nkosi sikelel’
iAfrika…’ over and over
till the birds joined in. August birds.
‘… Maluphakanisw’ udumo lwayo …’ *

It comes back to me, this August,
now that the jasmine is blooming
and the air is stilled by woodsmoke;
how they cried freedom, and how I

knew their song. A lingering chill
pinches Zimbabwean sunsets
into the cheeks of my children
squatting beside me as I write.

It is their song too. I teach it
to them, over and over, till
my tired eyes are pricked with tears
held back, sweet smoke, dust and jasmine.

*(Zulu) “God bless Africa … Raise up her spirit.”

Recently the Prime Minister announced a cabinet reshuffle. He said the main reason for doing so was to regain the people’s confidence in the new administration amongst the electorate by addressing weaknesses in the party. Ministerial reshuffles are not anything new on the political front. This move might serve to confirm three basic points, 1. That rumours of fissures in the MDC party are real. 2. The MDC has not performed per expectation in the GNU. 3. The party is not hesitant when it comes to addressing serious issues.

The prime Minister did not talk about the reshuffle as firing anybody – he chose to call it a redeployment of the people: “…within the party to strengthen and add momentum to party programmes.” However Fidelis Mhashu, one of the axed ministers, speaking on ZTV expressed surprise at the reshuffle and said that he was shortchanged and he feels demoted.

Putting politics aside, the axing of Engeer Mudzuri is worrisome. Unless the party does something to paint him white, his career has been tarnished. Before assuming the ministerial post, Engineer Mudzuri was also uprooted from his Mayoral post that he had democratically occupied. It was Chombo’s axe that saw Mudzuri controversially replaced by a commission led by Sekesayi Makwavarara at the helm of the town house. The move was interpreted by many as a more politically inclined issue than a professional performance one. As a result Mudzuri was an MDC hero, who through the firing from the council office, had proved to be a real threat to the ZANU PF bigwig Chombo, the then Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

Complaining on the suspension of Mudzuri the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said:

“The arbitrary suspension of Mudzuri represents a double standard in the application of authority by the Minister of Local Government. While other local authorities continue to suffer under poor service delivery, similar action has not been adopted. Indeed, the whole country is a victim of mismanagement and poor service delivery, and yet not a single member of the executive has been fired. Hospitals are largely dysfunctional, as are schools, colleges and universities. There are rampant food, fuel and foreign currency shortages. Surely if service delivery were so important, the entire government would have been fired by now”

Now that Mudzuri has failed to escape the first axe of his trusted Master, Morgan Tsvangirai, does this confirm that Chombo was right when he said Mudzuri is incompetent? The two consecutive firings are a bad mark on the engineer’s curriculum vitae. The MDC has to take appeasement action towards its Party’s National Organizer, otherwise his professional sheet will not be clean.

We were recently sent this photograph of the Bling Bus, which has been ferrying the Zimafia – Zimbabwe’s Worst Eleven team around South Africa during the World Cup.

According to the Zimafia website:

The star players in the ZIMafia team comprise Zimbabwe’s illegitimate and unelected Joint Operations Command (JOC) – a group of military and strategic commanders who maintain the oppressive structure set up by Ian Smith’s racist government 30 years ago under a State of Emergency.

This Nation-Beating (literally) team are the ‘real’ rulers of Zimbabwe, the ones who have sworn never to give up power, and the ones who have committed the worst crimes. All are experts in abduction, intimidation, torture and political murder.

Now they are in control of a multi-billion dollar diamond strike with which they are  personally enriching themselves while purchasing arms and ammunition to use against the electorate, or each other – or any other force that challenges their right to loot in perpetuity.

Read more about their recent campaign in South Africa here

Social and political commentator Rejoice Ngwenya believes that the right to property ownership should be enshrined in Zimbabwe’s new Constitution. He writes:

Property ownership – whether it is land, trademarks, brand names, patents, and works of art or literature – needs title in order to realise real market value. Ownership is not just a historical fact of life, but also a right whose spinoffs go well beyond the individual. It is about self-confidence, wealth creation, identity, legacy, inheritance and economic growth.

Make property rights part of the Zimbabwe Constitution today. Let’s go down in history as being the first country in developing Africa to enshrine private property in the Bill of Rights. If you do not agree with my ideology, let’s talk about it!

What do you think? Leave a comment here or contact Rejoice directly on rngwenya [at] ymail [dot] com