Their true masters
Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:32:00 +0000

Munyaradzi Huni—Opinion



THE actions confirmed it all. Soon after the BBC World Debate on "Political Transitions: Africa’s Achilles", that was conducted at the 18th World Economic Forum on Africa here last Friday, the representatives from the MDC showed who their true masters were.





The leader of the other MDC faction, Professor Arthur Mutambara, who was not part of the panellists to the debate, rushed to the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ms Jendayi Frazer, the way a little school boy would rush to his father to report some bullies at school.



He appeared as if he was reporting President Mugabe to the US master. Ms Frazer listened attentively as Prof Mutambara poured it out. "Please deal with Mugabe for us," Mutambara’s exaggerated gestures seemed to suggest from a distance.



On the other hand, the secretary-general of the MDC-T, Mr Tendai Biti, was hand in hand with his newfound brother and friend, the Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga. Later, the two gave each other what one would call a "solidarity hug". They then spoke for some minutes and later Mr Biti went to greet Ms Frazer. Both Prof Mutambara and Mr Biti literary ignored all the other panellists to the debate because "the master had to get a quick update about developments in Zimbabwe".



Indeed, Big Brother America has put some respectable people in his loaded pocket!



Anyway, let’s get back to the real issues. The forum was supposed to be an opportunity for the opposition to show the world that Zimbabwe had collapsed. For Mr Biti, this was the long-sought opportunity to show the world the few lessons he has learnt since he found lodging in Mr Odinga’s offices in Kenya.



For Dr Simba Makoni of the failed Mavambo project, this was a rare opportunity to show relevance and in the process get noticed. For the leader of the other MDC, Professor Arthur Mutambara, this was an opportunity to cry loud so that the world "rushes" to fix things for Zimbabwe.



Mr Collen Gwiyo from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions was also here and during a session dubbed "Reconstructing Zimbabwe", where he was a panellist, he was largely ignored.



Mr Biti, Dr Makoni and the chief executive of the Meikles Africa Limited, Mr Nigel Chanakira, were also panellists to this debate that was supposed to answer questions on "how to reconstruct Zimbabwe".



First to speak was Mr Biti. Instead of coming up with constructive suggestions, he ranted and raved, blaming all that is wrong in Zimbabwe on President Mugabe. He recited the economic challenges the country is facing and tried to sell the idea that violence in the country is only being perpetrated by Zanu-PF. Mr Biti said Zanu-PF would not agree to be removed from power through the ballot because the party acquired power through the gun in 1980.



He alleged that all the elections that have been held in Zimbabwe since the attainment of independence did not reflect the will of the people and only when the MDC came into the scene in the year 2000 did the elections start having meaning. "So the results of the June 27 run-off will not be different to the results of the March 29 elections because the regime does not believe that elections can be used to transfer power. Zanu-PF is a regime that was founded in violence and naturally its reaction is to react through violence," said Mr Biti.



No one doubts that Mr Biti can be a very good lawyer, but the quicker he realises that addressing a forum and making arguments in court are two different things the better. After all these years in politics, Mr Biti still can’t control his emotions when speaking and, as a result, some delegates ignored him completely. Some even walked out of the room while he was speaking. He later said: "What happens after June 27 is anyone’s guess. President Mugabe has created conditions for war. It’s important to talk now rather than after June 27."



Next to speak was Dr Makoni, who called for a government of national unity. He said the run-off is not necessary. His views were understandable considering the fact that the March 29 elections rendered him almost irrelevant to the political equation in the country. He seems to believe that the government of national unity can facilitate his reappearance on the political radar. Mr Gwiyo spoke after Dr Makoni.



Mr Chanakira gave the session a breath of fresh air by speaking like a true Zimbabwean. Like someone who is passionate about his country, he said despite the challenges the country is facing at the moment, Zimbabwe remained a good destination for business. He expressed so much optimism that soon the country’s problems would be solved, adding that this time next year, the country would be a lot better. What was impressive about Mr Chanakira was not only the fact that he stood by his country but the fact that despite the challenges he, as a businessman, still has confidence to operate in Zimbabwe. He added that President Mugabe should be credited for educating many people in the country.



Then the floor was opened to other delegates and Prof Mutambara was the first to speak. He said in Zimbabwe there were forces of democracy represented by Mr Tsvangirai and forces of "evil and despotism" represented by President Mugabe. Before he could explain himself, some delegates started walking out. He said the international community cannot afford to continue being neutral when dealing with Zimbabwe. He said the international community was encouraging genocide in Zimbabwe by failing to "deal" with President Mugabe.



Surely, Prof Mutambara knows his robotics but he is too green for politics. And, like Mr Biti, he was so emotional that he irritated some delegates. He seemed oblivious to the fact that once one puts emotion before reason, one always loses an argument in politics. Whatever points he wanted to make, he failed to communicate because he was just too emotional. Ideas and points do not usually flow when one is too emotional. This was evident as Prof Mutambara was speaking.



In the end, many delegates who had jammed the room to hear the discussions on Zimbabwe left before the debate was over. Later the BBC World debate was held and it looked like Mr Biti had been disciplined by the BBC cameras. He was cool and looked like a true gentleman. Even his arguments were well thought. After the debate the moderator of the session, Nik Gowing, asked for questions from the floor and Prof Mutambara was at it again. Instead of asking a constructive question, he fell short of calling the debate a "useless session" and went on to ask a question that the moderator had asked already, leaving the BBC presenter with no choice but to politely say "instead of a question I will take that as your point".



During the debate, Ms Frazer tried to explain that the US is not prescribing its model of democracy in Africa, but she failed to convince many. As she was speaking, one could easily see that Ms Frazer lacks a clear and deep understanding of the politics in Africa.



While the forum continues to be a "talk shop" that does not offer concrete solutions to Africa, my encounter with Mr Odinga was very enlightening and frightening at the same time. Enlightening because I got an idea of what Mr Odinga represents and frightening because what he represents is scary. Just like the MDC, Mr Odinga seems to think that colonialism should be forgotten and his mind is pre-occupied with issues like good governance.



"Africa is what it is today because of the mediocrity of the African leadership. Let’s stop blaming colonialism. We are not the only continent that was colonized," said Mr Odinga when he was asked his opinion on why Africa finds itself in the state that it is in today.



But the President of Ghana, John Kufuor, would not take any of that: "We can’t ignore colonialism. At independence we swept under the carpet problems that were left by colonialism. I was recently in Kenya and I saw this. The recent problems in Kenya were as a result of what was left by colonialism.



"If we continue beating about the bushes we will continue to go one step ahead and two steps back. This is what happened in Kenya. I saw educated people, some of whom had walked together, turning against each other over a failed electoral process. These are the results of what colonialism left in Africa."



etc

Munyaradzi Huni

Cape Town, South Africa

 http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/130/ARTICLE/2630/2008-06-08.html