Whenever the Prof Arthur Mutambara opens his mouth, all his guts fall out.

Of late, each time he has conducted an interview or written an article, it’s full of insults, sprinkled with unimaginably contemptuous and uncivil epithets or simply void of clear perspective. I’m reminded the last time he lost his cool in an interview with SW Radio Africa and needlessly ended up insulting the innocent interviewer. He said she was too slow, poor Violet. He is one of those whom after listening to what they say; you are left unsure of what exactly they stand for politically or whether something close to a fart has just been flung in your face. You just can’t fathom whose interests they represent because personally, they seem to possess none rational.

The good Prof has just unleashed another masterful fusillade to usher us into the New Year and it is aptly titled as Laying the Foundation for 2009: The inconvenient truths about the West. An excellent read – that falls in the same category as RBZ guv’nor’s latest book, Zimbabwe’s Casino Economy – for those with a fetish to bore themselves. Like everybody else, the Prof has the right to freedom of expression and accordingly I will not grudge him that right; he is entitled to his opinion. However, when that opinion is sickeningly and insultingly unenlightened as well as forced down the throats of the very people he invariably calls names, it also becomes a right to demand a certain level of respect from the good Professor.

Here is one guy who is convinced he is surrounded by idiots. In his latest article, the text is littered with words like unstrategic, ignorant, ineffective, uninformed and reckless, pathetic and foolish. All epithets used to describe the actions or the very beings of certain individuals among whom are Botswana President Ian Khama, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga as well as the Archbishops Desmond Tutu and John Sentamu. Now which 84 year-old does this kind of talk remind you of, anyone?

Clearly, the guy is pissed off with ATANAs (All Talk and No Action) but aren’t we all? Indeed, it has been exhaustingly annoying that all that politicians the world over have been good at doing was to issue endless statements and careless talk that does not articulate solutions while life in Zimbabwe becomes a more classic Hobbesian ‘short, nasty and brutish’ by the day. But to be so disrespectful, while at the same time one is also an ATANA, is the highest level of hypocrisy that demands an outrage. He vaingloriously berates the men and women calling for military intervention to shut up if they are not prepared to shed blood on Zimbabwean soil, because aside from this, that option is to be dismissed based on the repugnancy of the Iraq/ Afghanistan precedent. He is convinced the concerns of ‘Western’ governments are nothing short of being driven by racism and disrespect for African lives. Clearly the Prof does not believe in the existence of goodwill. Neither does he discern the preposterousness of any don’t-give-a-toss-about-Africans racist going out of their way to assist and clamor for the release of the same from the clutches of an Abhurian leader. A leader who is conducting a slow genocide through illegal abductions, denial of food relief to starving citizens as well as the refusal to acknowledge the existence of a deadly water-borne epidemic that is wiping out whole communities.

That sections of the international community have begun to clamor for the unexplored option of military intervention indicates that any plausible diplomatic options, including talks, have simply failed. People are perfectly aware of the risks and possible repercussions Zimbabweans face, you are not surrounded by idiots Prof. However, you will be surprised to find that the dominant sentiment among many a despairing, starving Zimbabwean is kusiri kufa ndekupi? (Which option is not death?).

The professor discusses two other possible options of ousting the incumbent: peaceful mass uprisings/demonstrations and free and fair elections. The former he immediately displays a lack of faith in and dismisses after highlighting the sadly gallant but true ineffectiveness of Zimbabwe civil society strategies that have time and time again failed to command people into joining marches and demonstrations. He describes Zimbabweans as lacking an appetite for an orange revolution. Ouch.

Sadly, I disagree with the Prof on what he deems to be the only way forward for Zimbabwe: free and fair elections. What cave has this man been hiding in? The March 08 election clearly articulated the people’s opinion, despite that certain logistics to do with percentages could not name the people’s choice a clear winner. But despite the fact that even after a rigged election Tsvangirai won, somebody refused to let go of the royal seat, and actually proceeded to unilaterally and unashamedly re-elect himself in a one-man race. Does the Prof sincerely believe such a somebody will one day be capable of partaking a democratic election and humbly exit if he loses; a thing he failed to do earlier when both the people’s open scorn and age beckoned? With or without going through a transitional period of national healing, does he think right thinking citizens are prepared for another brutal election when the trauma that accompanied the last will never be completely erased from their minds? What will make a leopard suddenly change its spots? I thought this does not take Rocket Scientist to figure out; clearly it takes more than that.

In the regard of fresh free and fair elections, Mutambara speaks in normatives that for this option; Mugabe “will have to be part of the transition.” Well how do you make him, Professor, because already, the man has demonstrated an inability to comply with the simple principles of both Universal Suffrage and honor among diplomats?

On negotiations, Mutambara says that because we all (predictably owing to our lack of strategic thinking) sanitized the March 08 farce as a legitimate outcome; it would be foolish to think Mugabe can be negotiated out of power. Well, if the Prof sincerely believes this and lacks faith in the talks, what the hell is he doing tugging along with the white-headed boys in the posh hotels? Nevertheless, it is purely understandable if it is the good food that beckons.

Those who think they are smarter than everyone must map out a good way forward for us seeing they are well placed to do so at the talks. They should desist from engaging unnecessarily in the business of disparaging those of their own caliber and stop insulting us further with the usual platitudes.

Crap, I say.

This entry was posted on January 9th, 2009 at 4:07 pm by Natasha Msonza and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.