Zhou's ideas are poisonous
The
Standard, 23 January 2005
THE
letter by Takavafira M Zhou of Masvingo titled Mugabe's Ultimate Goal in Mujuru's
Appointment published in The Standard of 9 January, must be dismissed by all right
thinking Zimbabweans as one originating from a parochial and tribal bigot bent
on destabilizing the country under the illusion of ethnic balance and representation.
In the letter, Zhou makes not only shallow and ludicrous accusations against
President Robert Mugabe but dangerous statements against the stability of the
country. The following are some of the allegations made by Zhou that :
l President
Mugabe had supported the nomination of Vice President Joyce Mujuru into the Zanu
PF Presidium to the disadvantage of Emmerson Mnangagwa;
l The Zanu PF Presidium
had become a "triumvirate of Mugabe, Joseph Msika and Mujuru";
l
President Mugabe had ever since his election to Zanu PF leadership during the
liberation struggle, embarked on a systematic mission to eliminate the Manyikas,
Karangas and the Ndebeles;
l The coercive machinery of the State - the police,
army and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) are being headed by people
from president Mugabe's ethnic grouping; and
l The President had "developed
a strange appetite for absolute power".
It is highly misleading and a
mischievous misrepresentation of facts that President Mugabe had supported and
canvassed for the nomination of Vice President Mujuru. What the President simply
did was to remind members of the ruling Zanu PF that the party had resolved that
of the two vice presidents of the party, one of them should be female.
This
surely is not a directive that the party should nominate Mujuru. The party had
a lot of other options in the form of the many other women who are in its structures.
The
allegation that the Presidium had become a symbol of Zezuru hegemony should be
dismissed as hogwash oozing from a tribesman who has certainly lost control of
his mental faculties. For example, Zhou seems to be ignorant of the fact that
national chairman John Nkomo is part of the Presidium. Zhou is totally lights
out about the fact that primary requisites for appointment to a position in Zanu
PF and the government are anchored on public spiritedness, patriotism, a desire
to serve the country selflessly, integrity and a commitment to pursuing the values
of liberation struggle.
If these requisites and virtues are found in people
from one province, so be it, although this is not the case right now.
Zhou's
view that ethnic considerations are preponderant and should come ahead of the
key leadership virtues goes to show how his reasoning is warped and inebriated.The
man needs some very basic orientation in politics, leadership and public governance.
How
can Zhou talk of a deliberate endeavour to exterminate the Manyikas, Karangas
or Ndebeles when some of the key positions in Zanu PF Politburo and the government
are being held by people of the same ethnic group? It is clear than Zhou does
not know that the current director-general of the CIO, Happyton Bonyongwe, hails
from Manicaland province. The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Shadreck Chipanga,
who is a former Director-General of the CIO, again comes from Manicaland.
Former
Commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe Retired Air Mashall Josiah Tungamirai and
former Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Retired General Vitalis Zvinavashe
have Masvingo as their home province.
The current Army Commander Lieutenant
General Phillip Sibanda has his roots in the Matabeleland region. Former CIO director-general,
Dr Elleck Mashingaidze, is from the Midlands province. Also former director-general
of the CIO, Mutewera, was from Manicaland. So where is the deliberate effort to
exclude other ethnic groups from positions of power?
Does Zhou want to imply
that once a person is appointed to a particular post, that person should never
lose his/her position to people from other provinces?
Zhou must realize that
his ideas are poisonous. Zhou needs to know that the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and
the current political disturbances in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi
are a result of the works of people who put ethnic interests ahead of national
issues.
Zhou and those who share his dangerous views need to be educated that
major decisions of Zanu PF are made in discussions in the Politburo subject to
ratification by the Central Committee or Congress, as the case might be. Similarly,
the government makes collective decisions on the basis of deliberations of Cabinet
after which the principle of collective re.sponsibility is taken by all those
party to the decisions. President Mugabe alone is not the Politburo, Central Committee,
Congress, Cabinet or the government.
The folly, absurdity, parochialism and
lack of intellectual profundity displayed by Zhou are shocking to say the least.
Tinashe
Mawarire
Warren park
Harare