The Nelson Chamisa BBC HARDtalk interview will turn out to be A great lesson for all our Zimbabwean politicians across the political divide.
Because of poverty and lack of self-respect we make a beeline to the western capitals to seek personal salvation and endorsement at Chatham House and on BBC by Steven Sakur. Jonathan Moyo screwed us up for many years – and I speak as one of his victims – but the moment the tables were turned on him he rushed to Big Brother Sackur, where he spouted out absolute nonsense about Zimbabweans still loving and missing Mugabe. Then Sibusiso Moyo was at Chatham House to market Mugabe’s successor Munangagwa. This week Chamisa tried his luck by launching a double- deep ; Catham and HARDtalk in one fell swoop.
Well he clearly failed to impress the hard – nosed Sackur and here we are now at each other’s throat because we fail to understand the fundamentals of the policy attitude of our former colonisers towards us.
While we claim to despise the Queen’s land, where hundreds of thousands of our compatriots are now domiciled, our politicians, old and young, never tire of rushing there to attack and bad – mouth each other while seeking to impress their hosts.
Unknown to Chamisa, this week he paid the price for the sins of the MDC over the years. Many of you may have forgotten, but in 2016 Tendai Biti attacked the British Ambassador in Harare for favouring EDM over the MDC. The MDC only has itself to blame for that situation. Can’t say I blame the British and other western donors for finally experiencing donor fatigue after years of pouring millions of pounds, dollars and kroners into a bottomless opposition and civil society pit, with little or nothing to show their tax – payers for their long – distance benevolence. So they tightened their purse strings and that hurt the opposition. A few weeks ago Zimbabweans were shocked when family members started to fight over Tsvangirai’s estate. MHSRIP.
The nation could not believe that the good Save had accumulated so much wealth – 17 vehicles, many of them luxury, and five mansions in the leafier suburbs of Harare. Back in 2013 I was approached by management at John Gault Village a holiday complex in Juliasdale where Tendai Biti had just acquired a holiday home. They were scared of telling the then Minister of Finance that he could not keep two horses (I saw them with my own shocked eyes) on the tiny plot. I was experiencing my own peculiar problems at the time so I let John Gault management down.
In Zimbabwe the public often gets to know of the massive wealth of our politicians when they divorce. So it was with Biti a few moons ago.
Chamisa was an eloquent victim of British fatigue circumstances this week. Sackur just fell short of telling him: “We are tired of you guys. Run back home and sort yourselves out for the benefit of your impoverished people. After all you have more natural resources than our tiny island.”
We have an important election coming. Our politicians must take us seriously – all of them. I for one don’t take kindly to being made to feel guilty because I’m more than 40 years old. This land belongs to me as much as it belongs to me as much as it belongs to my grand-children. I do not wish to be held for the sins of Mugabe.
I’m not campaigning for ED. No. There are serious issues of massive corruption that he must address immediately. I fell over backwards with laughter last night when I saw Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu on TV while presiding over the launch of a new police Anti-Corruption initiative.
“These people don’t seem to take us seriously,” I said to myself as I retired to bed early in frustration.
Yes, ED has issues as well. But the fact that we can all now bad-mouth him to our heart’s content without fear suggests to me that there is some change since the hasty departure of RG and Grace Ntombizodwa.
For the avoidance of confusion or doubt I must sign myself:
Geoffrey Nyarota