Zuma and direct diplomacy

Given South African President Jacob Zuma's reputation for "cash talk", it has been speculated that he might be more amenable to engaging in direct diplomacy with Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF, using more sticks than carrots in helping end the impasse in the so-called inclusive government.
It remains to be seen how much of this new approach Zuma may have applied in his negotiations with Mugabe during his recent visit to Zimbabwe. However, if press reports are anything to go by, there has not been a significant departure from the "softly softly" approach taken by Zuma's predecessor, the much despised Thabo Mbeki. I suspect that Zuma quickly learned that Mugabe will not yield his political kingdom as easily as Mbeki did under the onslaught of Zuma and his supporters last year.
Far from being his own man any longer, Mugabe embodies the inertia that has crept into Zimbabwean politics in recent years. Even if Mugabe wanted to leave office today, he would not be allowed to do so by the system that put him there because ZANU-PF will collapse under the overwhelming gravity of its own decadence.
If Zuma came away with a better sense of the tremendous amount of work that still needs to be done to get things moving in the right direction in Zimbabwe, then his trip was well worth the effort and expense.
Mark my word though: Mugabe will not leave his ill-gotten power on the negotiating table. He would rather die in office and something inside me tells me that this will be the case, regardless of any new diplomatic offensive by Zuma.

Of city fathers and feathers

If the mayor of any city finds it demeaning to use the best form of public transport available in that city to travel to and from the office every day, then they should not be mayor of that city. Across the globe, mayors of major cities use the subway, taxis and buses to get to the office. Why? Well, they are virtually guaranteed to get to work using the same means that ordinary folk use every single day to get to their divers workplaces.
There cannot be a greater manifestation of lack of confidence in a city's transportation system and in the city's very character than when the mayor of a city will not use any form of public transit. Some might say that the spectacle of the mayor of Harare riding in a mini van might not be a very eclectic one, to which I say amen, while pointing out, in the same breath, the circularity of such an argument: as long as the mayor and other city dignitaries, cabinet ministers and senior civil servants do not use public transit because taxpayers and ratepayers provide them with the most expensive super-sized sedans Daimler Benz has ever assembled, the public transportation systems will stay stuck in the mid-twentieth century.
There will be no major investment in improving the road and rail systems that take people to work if neither the city fathers nor their families use them on a regular basis.
Harare needs a mayor who can set an example for the rest of the country's cities to follow in these difficult times. The same applies to those in the so-called inclusive government who wallow in luxury at the expense of the poor.

MDC: Movement for Disquieting Compromise

MDC:Movement for Disquieting Compromise?
There is little doubt that a lot of wheeling and dealing is going on in the so-called inclusive government in Zimbabwe. Politicians hidden away in the proverbial smoke filled rooms are making decisions that will not only have far-reaching implications for the future of all Zimbabweans, at home and abroad, but also on the career prospects of many of the politicians making these deals.
Zimbabweans must begin to realize that these backroom deals are an assault on the democratic process; they are nothing more than an attempt by ZANU-PF to hold on to ill-gotten political positions and wealth by making it possible for the MDC formations to swallow the bitter pill of electoral theft administered by Robert Mugabe.
We are now told that the service chiefs may be willing to salute Tsvangirai, as if the whole country had been waiting with baited breath for that development. In fact, I suspect that the rest of us have been waiting for the service chiefs to do what they promised a few short years ago: that they would rather resign than salute Tsvangirai.
We need a new crop of police and military leaders to take charge of the security services and lead these forces out of the dungeon of despair into the sunshine of accountability.
It is fair to ask just what is in these deals for the MDC. What are they hoping to achieve by virtually re-baptizing themselves as the Movement for Disquieting Compromise? I suspect that a lot of wishful thinking is going on but I also know that this once gallant movement could emerge unrecognisable from this give and take with the forces of darkness.

Till death do us part!

Zimbabwean politicians do not retire, they die in office. In fact, even if they think about retiring, as Joseph Msika reportedly did, they risk being marginalized for admitting that they were frail, old, tired, dead wood. If it is true, as I suspect it is, that Msika wanted to retire several years ago but was told to sit tight for the good of the party, one can begin to make sense of Robert Mugabe's retirement plans, of which there are none, unless to die in office counts as one.
Zimbabweans are expected to buy the nonsense of the indispensability of Robert Mugabe! We are all married to Robert Mugabe: till death do us part; divorce is not an option!
In fact, we are all married to ZANU-PF politicians. In the entire history of this murderous coalition which has stalked our land for three decades of lack-lustre governance, only one person has ever come close to retiring honorably, one Nathan Shamuyarira, who nevertheless continues to haunt us with the occasional outburst from Chibuku house.
Some people in the MDC may be day-dreaming about a time in the near future when the political thugs who make up ZANU-PF will peacefully retire to enjoy their loot and plunder. I am not nearly as optimistic as some of my friends in the MDC that ZANU-PF is willing to compete fairly for power and give up its most favored status at election time; not for as long as Mugabe is still among us.
In a recent interview, Thabo Mbeki said he had suggested, during negotiations that led to the so-called inclusive government, that Mugabe became ceremonial president. I am persuaded that Mbeki was hinting at what a future Zimbabwe government might look like, if Barack Obama can be made to buy a ceremonial Mugabe presidency, believing it to be more palatable than the current arrangement, thus unlocking the spigots of Western aid.
Under this scenario, Mugabe can be expected to continue to have some official role in our national affairs, for his biological life!