The Homepage of Vusumuzi Sifile Sibanda: Chefs face uncertain future after deal

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Chefs face uncertain future after deal

By Vusumuzi Sifile

AS they waited for the signing of the historic power-sharing deal between their party and the two MDC formations at the Rainbow Towers Harare International Conference Centre last Monday, most Zanu PF officials appeared not as jovial as they usually are at important state gatherings.

Despite the signing being a milestone in the history of Zimbabwe, most Zanu PF officials appeared unsettled by the deal. A number of them could be seen staring into space, palms resting on their chins, as if wondering what the future holds for them.

And when President Robert Mugabe took to the podium, he did not — as he usually does at such national events — make a special mention of politburo and central committee members, let alone Vice-Presidents Joseph Msika and Joice Mujuru. And as if to add insult to injury, Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) executive secretary Tomaz Salamao did not invite Msika, Mujuru and other top Zanu PF officials to pose for photographs with the three principals and the negotiating teams, and dignitaries from 12 Sadc countries.

On Monday, they had no option but to listen, attentively, to opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, quite a major climb down from their usual barrages and attacks of them in state media outlets.

Asked why he appeared not at ease, an outgoing minister requesting anonymity, summed up the feeling among his colleagues, saying: "This is no playing matter. It’s a tricky situation for all of us. As you know, there were about 64 of us in the last cabinet. In terms of the deal, only 30 or so of us will be appointed in Cabinet. What is worse is that a number of sitting ministers lost their parliamentary seats. As it stands now, only a few individuals are guaranteed a position in the new Cabinet, probably the Vice-Presidents, whose positions are determined at the party congress."

In terms of the power sharing deal signed on Monday, Zanu PF will have 15 ministers, eight deputy ministers, and five provincial governors in Cabinet. This means about half of the outgoing crop of ministers will not be re-appointed.

A number of heavyweights have already been dropped from their positions as Provincial Governors. Some ministers, who are still clinging on to their offices despite losing their parliamentary seats, are also set to follow suit when the deal is implemented.

The Standard understands there have been massive flare-ups in recent Zanu PF meetings, with officials seeking an explanation from Mugabe and the negotiators on how certain compromises were made. Officials are also said to be trying hard to outsmart each other in every opportunity they get to draw Mugabe’s attention.

As a result, Mugabe is understood to have spent the better part of Tuesday and Wednesday trying to contain a potentially explosive situation in the Politburo and Central Committee.

As a result, Mugabe failed to make it on time for a meeting with Tsvangirai and Mutambara to discuss the allocation of ministries. That meeting was initially supposed to be on Tuesday, but was postponed to Wednesday, and later, Thursday.

"There are some in the party who feel the President conceded too much to the MDC. Although he is still in charge, the party’s influence in government has been extensively eroded," said the official.

Within minutes after the signing, violence broke out between MDC and Zanu PF supporters. The situation only calmed after the intervention of riot police. The violence, it was noted, was an indication that ordinary supporters of both Zanu PF and the MDC were not yet fully conversant with the contents of the deal.

On Wednesday, Mugabe acknowledged there was still need for party leaders to educate their supporters on the agreement.

"It is the responsibility of you in the leadership to explain the contents and meaning of the agreement to all our people," Mugabe said. "We therefore urge you to do the best you can to understand the document. Go out and explain to the people kumusha (in the communities). There are people who are yearning to understand how it is going to work now that our opponents yesterday are now our partners today."

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About Vusa

Vusumuzi Sifile Sibanda is a Zimbabwean journalist currently working as editor of The Mirror, a weekly newspaper in Gaborone, Botswana.

He joined the Mirror in January 2009 having worked s a Staff Writer for The Standard, Zimbabwe’s only independent Sunday newspaper for close to four years. He also had stints with the now defunct Parade Magazine and The Weekly Times newspaper.

Born in 1981 in Mberengwa, a rural district in the south western parts of Zimbabwe, on the boundary of Midlands and Matabeleland South provinces, Vusumuzi did his primary and secondary education at Danangombe Primary and Matabo Secondary schools respectively.

In 2000, he was named the best student in the Gwanda High School Advanced Level class. A year later, he became the first student from Gwanda High School to enrol at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo when he became part of 19 pioneer students in the Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Journalism and Media Studies. He completed the programme in 2005.

While still studying at NUST in June 2003, Vusa joined Parade Magazine, then Zimbabwe’s leading monthly magazine for Industrial Attachment. The very day he joined the publicatioon, on June 2 2003, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) embarked on their "final push". This was a real rude awakening for a young, raw journalist.

In November 2003, when all indications were that Parade would not continue publishing, Vusa left to join the World Agroforestry Centre/International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) where he worked as an intern communications assistant for the organisation’s Southern Africa regional programme. At ICRAF, he worked as an assistant Editor of the organisation’s regional publications, Miombo Voices ans Living with Trees in Southern Africa, as well as the organisation’s website, www.icrafsa.org. He was also a regular contributor to the organisation’s international weekly, Transformations. He also collaborated with Livai Matarirano in establishing Agroforestry Forum, an agroforestry newsletter focusing mostly on the ICRAF Zimbabwe national programmes and its partners.

In addition to his Bachelor’s Degree, Vusa also has a number of other qualifications like Reporting Politics, Multimedia and Online Journalism, Population and Rural Development. During his stay at ICRAF, Vusa participated at a number of training programmes, with the two main ones being the Integration of Gender into Agroforestry Development (2003) and Teaching with Trees in Southern Africa (2004).

Towards the end of 2004, Vusa and nine other students from his class grouped themselves to form the editorial team of The Weekly Times newspaper. Despite being inexperienced, the team managed to produce a high quality weekly newspaper, which proved to be an alternative source of information for Zimbabweans. So serious was the newspaper that the authorities saw it as a threat, resulting in it being forced to shutdown in February 2005 after publishing just six issues.

During his at The Weekly Times, Vusa also contributed to Tariro/Ithemba Magazine, a publication focusing on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). The magazine was edited by Parkie Mbozi, his industrial attachment supervisor at ICRAF Southern Africa.

His experience as a communications assistant inspired Vusa to write a dissertation titled: “An assessment of the knowledge and understanding of agroforestry issues by newspaper journalists in Bulawayo”.

On completion of his studies, Vusa joined The Standard newspaper as a junior reporter and rose through the ranks to the position of a Senior Staff Writer. He is also a regular contributor for reputable international news agencies.

Vusa is a God fearing journalist. He is a born again member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ). Among other positions in the church, Vusa is the current chairperson of the Luther League (Youth) Fellowship in the Martin Luther Deanery of the ELCZ.

As part of his contribution towards the ministry of the Gospel of Christ, Vusumuzi is among the founders of Anointing Magazine, a fortnightly Christian magazine published in South Africa. He is the magazine’s deputy editor.

My Writings

Zimbabwe impedes Sadc intergration’

By Vusumuzi Sifile

THE continued economic and political meltdown in Zimbabwe is endangering any prospects of regional integration within the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc), political analysts have said.
During a debate in Harare recently, the analysts were unanimous that the current situation in Zimbabwe was making it virtually impossible to integrate the region.
The debate focused on what role Zimbabwe could play in helping to integrate Sadc.
Among other factors was Zimbabwe’s inflation rate, estimated at more than 14 000% — more than 1 000 times the average across the region.
Weber Chinyadza of the MDC, who presented the argument, said although there had not been much effort in integrating the SADC region, Zimbabwe would “make the attainment of the integration objectives difficult”.
“The rest of the region is suffering as a result of Zanu PF’s misrule,” said Chinyadza. “Zimbabwe is short-changing the rest of the Sadc members. How can you integrate Zimbabwe, with an inflation of 14 000% with, say, Botswana, whose inflation rate is about seven percent?”
Chinyadza said the huge difference between the official and parallel market exchange rate was inconveniencing other countries.
The chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Dr Lovemore Madhuku said “the levels of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe are not found anywhere in Sadc”.
“The extent of human rights abuses on its own makes it difficult for Zimbabwe to fit into a community of nations with respect for human rights,” Madhuku said.
“Our political culture is clearly outside the framework that is necessary for integration. Zimbabwe is not so much in a class of its own in terms of creating problems for the SADC. For example, we have Angola which still wants to rerun the 1990 presidential elections, and Swaziland which is still run by a monarchy. But the difference between Zimbabwe and those countries is that in those places there is a genuine effort to implement the Sadc guidelines on the holding of free and fair elections.”
Madhuku said Zimbabwe had polarised regional and world politics, making it difficult to implement any form of integration. He said “each time the issue of Zimbabwe is raised, so many other irrelevant issues arise, diverting people’s attention” and as such, if the “Sadc were to be serious with any form of integration, they have to handle the Zimbabwean issue with openness”.
At the same time, said Professor John Makumbe, it was impossible for the rest of Sadc to integrate without Zimbabwe, as “the country is literally at the centre of the region”.
“The country’s position at the centre of the region forces every infrastructure to somehow touch Zimbabwe. Our position makes Zimbabwe key to any efforts to integrate the region,” Makumbe said.
The newly conferred Professor jokingly added that Zimbabwe was already implementing its own form of regional integration.
“The whole country is now a training centre where people are trained and exported into the region. Zimbabwe is exporting victims of human rights violations into the region and elsewhere, forcing neighbouring countries to spend lots of money on deporting Zimbabweans,” Makumbe said.

The Homepage of Vusumuzi Sifile Sibanda

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Chefs face uncertain future after deal

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