‘Zapu’: The End of Dumiso Tavengwa

‘Zapu’: The End of Dumiso Tavengwa



If it was not to self-advantage, Kofi Annan would have had my pity as a medical case of delayed reaction.

Many moons after the end of his term as Secretary General of the United Nations, the Ghanaian still behaves and carries himself about as if he still is the UN Secretary General. He relishes the aura of that convoluted post of little real power.

He savours sonorous titles and roles, which is why only a few weeks back, he paraded himself as an "African Elder". Is the letter of termination of his services as UN Secretary General taking more than three years to register on his mind? Until last week, very few people knew what mischief Man-Friday was up to.

It turned out to be the week the man pushed his ambitions a little too far. On the "strength" of a trip he never succeeded in making, namely a trip to Zimbabwe, and on the basis of a report given him by the British for validation through this ill-fated trip which never took place, the man sought to address the UN Security Council, in the process usurping the power and prerogative of Ban Ki-Moon, his South Korean successor. Needless to say, the South Korean would have none of it, straight away going into frenetic gear to make sure this would never happen.

It did not, much to the chagrin of the British and Americans who had made sure their foreign secretaries were on hand to draw dire conclusions from the fabricated report.

Unneeded, needless effort

Faced with a monumental South Korean barier, the West African sought to be a little clever.

He would not address the Security Council to preserve the independence of the "Elders", he claimed in an after-the-fact Press release.

But the world knew the real truth, as it also knew the fact that the whole trip of the so-called Elders had run into hefty opposition from South Africans, who still managed to press the point home without being impolite.

But that spate pitting former against current Secretary General gave the British and Americans some modicum of comfort.

Having lined up their foreign secretaries for the briefing from the so-called Elders, the unexpected turn of events almost left them with steaming sods on their foreheads. There was a real risk of a no-show, which is why it was important for Ban Ki-Moon to step in, inappropriately if you ask me.

The UN had no business doing a report on Zimbabwe which is not on the UN Security Council agenda. Much worse, such an unneeded and needless report never deserved the personal attention and delivery of the Secretary General. He has more pressing matters to pursue in the world.

What is more, he has other subject matters for which he has a better grasp. Zimbabwe is not one such. As it turned out, he stretched the short meeting he had with President Mugabe in Doha a few weeks ago to cobble a report, with the rest of his sparse presentation coming from Western media impressions on Zimbabwe.

On the last score, surely it made little sense to repeat propaganda facts to its real owners who dominate the Security Council and who decide and control scripts run by BBC, CNN and other networks.

More seriously, Ban’s arm — WHO — had just landed into Harare and was just beginning to go out for its preliminary assessment.

No, the SG would not wait for the outcome. Britain wanted a report before Christmas. America wanted a report before January 13, Bush’s handover day. So facts did not matter at all.

UN as Anglo-Saxony tool

Inside the Council, there was worse humiliation for the war-mongers. Put aside Ban’s not so luminous report, what stood out was his weeping admission that his envoy, the Eritrean Menkarios, was welcome neither by the facilitator nor by the Zimbabwe Government.

It was a rare admission, one clearly bringing to the fore the dilemma of an instrumental UN in Southern African politics, and, of course, the often denied fact that African opinion indeed is behind Zimbabwe.

It is not difficult to understand this revulsion of UN-decorated American and British attempted meddling in the affairs of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is an African country facing an Anglo-Saxon threat.

The UN is not caught in between. It is a willing tool for the realisation of Anglo-American goal on Zimbabwe. That anomaly explains Ban’s uncharacteristic hurry and effort in wanting to bring the UN in, regardless of the fact that the Zimbabwean issue is still at the lowest international level, that of regional Sadc mediation.

Regardless of the fact that UN envoys are badly needed in Somalia and other trouble spots which go unattended.

Embarrassingly, the UN reads greater chaos in stable but sanctioned Zimbabwe, when it will not read chaos in countries where that state has taken a foothold for many years, with world citizens crying out for its attention.

The message is clear: it is not about chaos or the threats of it. It is about Western interests and the rewards that follow if a Secretary General — retired or sitting — helps secure those interests on the West’s behalf.

Woman called Bragg

Much worse, the Secretary General is unambiguously told his envoy’s visit, while acceptable to Zimbabwe in principle, would have to be on dates mutually agreed with the Zimbabwean Government.

No, he will not wait. He wants to push his envoy in as if Zimbabwe will run away. Zimbabweans naturally ask: why this excitement Mr Ban?

And it becomes quite clear the urgency does not derive from the UN; it derives from a Bush/Brown timetable on Zimbabwe, which has to be accomplished before the departure of the Republican leadership.

And Ban makes another blunder. Apart from the mistimed visit by his envoy, he also bloats the delegation by including some woman significantly called Bragg, who is said to represent OCHA.

Now that woman has had an unhappy encounter with Zimbabwe, on behalf of America. Why would Ban be so insensitive? Is that the proper role of the UN and its Secretary General?

Coloniser’s Club

The real debate showed the insuperable hurdle Britain and America face even before they deal with the threatened veto from Russia and China. The debate clearly swung against intervention, against fatuous and facile propaganda reading of what is going on here in Zimbabwe.

More countries spoke against intervention, although they recognised the gravity of the cholera outbreak which faces Zimbabwe.

Interestingly, America, Britain, France and Belgium found themselves on one side.

It was not lost to the discerning that the common thread running through these countries is the fact of their having run colonies in their hideous pasts.

It turned out to be a club of colonisers, whose stance on Zimbabwe could only have been predictable, naturally prompted by fears of a rebelling colony, fears both direct and vicarious.

But Italy broke ranks, clearly indicating the fatigue that has been setting in on Europe. As the days go by, the hand of this positive group can only be strengthened.

With Amendment 19 gazetted and invites for joining the inclusive government already delivered, it will become increasingly clear who is stalling on the political agreement.

We wait to see whether the US and UK will ask Ban Ki-Moon to brief the Security Council on the MDC.

Biting the MDC nose

I wonder whether there is any more matter in young Chamisa.

He talks about MDC possibly voting against Amendment 19, presenting it as a setback for Zanu-PF. Ah-h, the youngster must be well beside himself.

What has Zanu-PF to do with Amendment 19? Who needs it? It is called biting the nose to spite the face. And he and Biti launch themselves into ballistic anger because Zanu-PF has not consulted them before gazetting Amendment 19! Consulting them as who?

Government does not need to consult anyone to pursue and fulfil its legislative agenda. Still less would it need to in respect of a mere secretarial formality called gazetting.

That is the problem with youngsters who have never worked anywhere. And when Biti was appending his signature to the draft Bill, where did he think the whole process was going? He is a bit of a silly and childish lawyer.

But a clear pattern is emerging. MDC-T fulminates over the gazetting, itself a legal formality whose real target is the reading public which must scrutinise the proposed Bill.

MDC fulminates again following the reappointment of Gideon Gono as Governor.

They should have been consulted, they cry. MDC fulminates yet again when Tomana is appointed Attorney General. The argument is the same: consult us. As who?

Here is a bunch of not-so-clever puppets who pretend to be politicians and a party, demanding the privileges of governmental consultation and facilitation in respect of a Government they are still to become a part.

It gets a bit childish and one pities Zanu-PF) for the stupid things it has to put up with.

A She-male called Jendayi

Jendayi Fraser thinks Zimbabwe has collapsed. Yet she will not walk in.

Yet America will not send in her troops.

If there is no Government, no system in Zimbabwe, why has not America marched in to bouquets of flowers?

Why is Britain trying to incite African armies to fight its dirty war here if the road is that clear? The same Britain whose performance in the DRC is pathetic; the same EU which is crying for African reinforcements in DRC?

The era of askaris is over, and one wished Botswana knew that. If our neighbour is foolish to provoke a confrontation betting on its glorified police force, it risks a lonely war in which it will emerge badly hurt.

No one will come to its rescue. Fortunately, the vibes I am getting from that great country so badly run, clearly show the critical mass for aggression is woefully lacking.

Dropping the ‘D’ for my real ‘T’.

Grant it to Dumiso T(D)avengwa, he made a confession when he addressed a Press conference last week.

He disclosed Mavambo was created to make sure there was no outright winner in the March 29 elections.

That is exactly what happened. And since Zanu-PF would have emerged the outright winner, Tavengwa was making the point that Mavambo was created by the British and Americans to make sure Zanu-PF would be denied outright victory, would be slowed down by a hung system. That has always been the argument of this column which Makoni and his supporters — declared and undeclared — stoutly denied.

And, of course, I know that after the March 29 Mavambo damage, there was lots of business between MDC-T and Mavambo, official and unofficial Mavambo. After all, both where true chips off the British block.

Tavengwa went further. "Zapu" would fight Zanu-PF, especially President Mugabe personally. Exactly.

Mavambo, which has now fractured and mutated into two heads, including Tavengwa’s "Zapu", was, from its inception, an anti-Mugabe project involving bitter former Zanu-PF ministers who imagined their value surpassed their days in Government.

The bane of Mabhena

And now that Dumiso Tavengwa has decided to be this truthful, should we not requite the favour?

I think we should, which is why this column has started to tell the first truth about this MuKaranga of Masvingo who then became a Kalanga of Gwatemba in Matabeleland South. When you have offered yourself for an elective public role, the role of the media is to put you up to scrutiny so voters know who you really are.

I am sure Tavengwa will not mind this great favour that is consequent to his choice.

But, of course, that means he can no longer pose as a super-Ndebele, if ever there is something like that. This column hates humbuggers who pretend to be what they are not.

We have, in this country, allowed impostors who play knights for communities in want, pretending they share their blood and cause.

That way, the national selection process has been duped and rigged, yielding fake leaders. That must end, and those seeking office should be held up to searing scrutiny.

The media must have the boldness to penetrate myths and auras, indeed to ask questions which generate growls and butterflies in one’s insides. Such as asking Tavengwa’s role in NSO.

Such as asking history and its records the real command of real Zapu’s armed wing. Such as unravelling the mystery behind the baffling fact of why leading combatants of the struggle on the Zapu side were screened out, ending up joining the army on a Zanla ticket.

Such as what happened to the Zapu properties which were returned to the leadership after the 1987 Unity Accord.

Such as the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project and why the Malaysians went away very disappointed, indeed why the RBZ had to hold back on the whole project.

We cannot afford another Mabhena phenomenon in Matabeleland, which condones eating or indolent chiefs by lumping the blame on "indifferent Shona Government in Harare".

The lie has been peddled for far too long and the truth must now out. That is the duty of the media, including this column.

Icho!

l nathaniel.manheru@zimpapers.co.zw