The Homepage of Vusumuzi Sifile Sibanda: Activists want radical action after talks flop

Monday, September 1, 2008

Activists want radical action after talks flop

By Vusumuzi Sifile

AS uncertainty continues to shroud the inter-party talks between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, and the aftermath of the convening of Parliament, civic activists have called for "radical action" as the best possible solution out of the crisis.

On Wednesday, youth and students’ organisations met in Harare and resolved to lead a campaign of "civic disobedience". And on Thursday, a political commentator said the only "legitimate" way out for Zimbabwe was to allow Parliament to elect the President.

One of the conveners of the youth meeting, Zimbabwe National Students’ Union (Zinasu) president, Clever Bere said they resolved to mobilize youths to protest against Zanu PF’s grip on power, which he said was against the people’s will.

"We discussed many issues to do with the current political developments, trying to find alternative ways forward and try to provide leadership to the country. One of the key issues that came out is that the young people do not recognise Robert Mugabe as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe," Bere said.

Bere said the youths agreed that the official opening of Parliament last Tuesday was in breach of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the principals of the two MDC formations and Zanu PF on 21 July. The youths were drawn from various organisations, mostly in Harare.

He said: "Indeed it was not within his mandate for Mugabe to officially open parliament until and unless there was a political settlement, political agreement and political consensus with the other parties, particularly the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which won the elections on March 29. We will soon be launching a petition against this move."

Bere repeated the same sentiments at a public discussion on Thursday, where he said following his assumption of the chairmanship of the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc), SA President Thabo Mbeki could not continue as mediator in the talks as there was now a clash of interest.

"Being the Sadc chairman, Mbeki cannot continue in his role as a Sadc mediator. The mediator has to report to someone in Sadc, and being at the helm, this means Mbeki now has to report to himself. This compromises the whole process," Bere said.

Speaking during the same discussion, a political commentator from the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), Dr Themba Dlodlo said under the current crisis, Parliament should be allowed to sit as an electoral college and choose a President. "We need to have a solution to this. This crisis must end. Why not give power to Parliament to choose a President? We cannot move forward in a situation where the governing party has a minority, and the opposition has a majority," Dlodlo said.

The inter-party talks proposed that the current parliament would only last for a limited time frame leading to fresh elections. This arrangement, said Dlodlo, may still not work.

"We cannot go back into an election to solve a problem which was in the first place created by an election," he said. "Parliament is the only legitimate body at the moment that was elected fairly. The presidential election was disputed. I propose Parliament should be given a role to choose a President and Prime Minister if there is to be such a role, and have their roles clearly separated."

Prominent Harare pastor who is also a human rights activist, Bishop Ancelimo Magaya, said the crisis was now "a spiritual issue" that could only be solved through "prophetic action".

"I believe at some point Zimbabwe will be able to recognize the supremacy of God. A power-sharing arrangement can actually worsen, rather than solve the crisis," Magaya said.

Last year, Magaya called on members of the Zimbabwe National Pastors' Conference (ZNPC) to March to the President’s Office in protest. The march did not take place.

No comments:

Post a Comment

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

Monday, September 1, 2008

Activists want radical action after talks flop

No comments:

About Vusa

Search This Blog

Followers

Links

Blog Archive

My Writings