Newsday

By Conway Tutani

February 18 2011

This past week the police have catalogued what they say are incidents of violence perpetrated by the MDC-T, which, to all intents and purposes, is being treated as an opposition party despite being part of government. The week has also seen the arrest of several MPs from the same party for public violence. Are these arrests justified or targeted?

The question needs to be asked because there have been similar trends whenever there is talk of elections.

From this arises a further question: Are these arrests ploys calculated to intimidate and cripple the MDC-T because this has been happening since 2000 when the then united MDC arrived on the scene as a powerful political force?

I hold no brief for the MDC-T, but for justice and fairness, and any keen, neutral observer cannot help but notice that in the police’s eyes, Zanu PF has been the victim and only hits back after provocation. There is indeed a pattern to all this.

A few examples will suffice in dissecting this questionable conduct of the police and the whole state machinery which remains firmly in the hands of Zanu PF as they control all the levers of power, specifically coercive power.

I say it is questionable because most, if not all, of these charges have not stood in a court of law or have completely disappeared into thin air but after doing great harm to the individuals named as suspects and at great economic cost.

Israeli Ari Ben-Menashe, a former spy and arms dealer who claimed he had a “personal relationship” with President Robert Mugabe, was the key prosecution witness in the treason trial of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2002.

He incriminated Tsvangirai in an assassination plot two weeks before the 2002 presidential election.

Ben-Menashe’s key piece of evidence cited was a statement issued by his political consultancy Dickens & Madson which said the firm in October the previous year had been contracted by Tsvangirai to kill Mugabe and secretly filmed a video of a meeting held in Montreal, Canada, to discuss how to instal Tsvangirai into power after the assassination.

Then High Court judge Justice Paddington Garwe dismissed the case, saying plainly: “Nowhere in the videotape is there a request of Ari Ben-Menashe to assassinate Mugabe and stage a coup.”

Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa was outraged, saying Tsvangirai “has been wrongly acquitted”.

For his lies, Menashe was paid $100 000 at a time the country was reeling from a fuel crisis, and that amount could have gone a long way in alleviating the shortage as it would have covered more than a month’s supply at the prevailing price.

Before the court case commenced, ZTV with much hype prepared the nation to watch the video footage on prime time news.

When the time came for screening, the video stuck on screen and when it eventually obliged, what appeared was a hardly audible black-and-white grainy film with squeaking noise. It left no doubt in people’s minds that there had been much ado about nothing.

The discovery in November 2001 of the body of war veteran Cain Nkala, who had been implicated in the abduction of MDC activist Patrick Nabanyama (who has since been declared dead) the previous year also raised the issue of the impartiality or not of the police and the supportive state machinery. MDC “suspects” were immediately arrested.

On November 13, 2001, statements made by the two “suspects” were broadcast on ZTV in which they implicated themselves and others in the abduction and subsequent murder of Nkala.

But their acquittal in 2003, after one of the longest-running trials in this country, left the government with egg on its face as in the Ben-Menashe case.

Then High Court judge Justice Sandra Mungwira (may her soul rest in peace) concluded that the state had not put up a solid case against the MDC activists for which the court could convict and ruled against placing them on their defence. She established that their “confessions” had been made under duress.

One of the suspects died soon after release because of the harsh prison conditions he had been subjected to without adequate medical care.

“The judgment brings us back to the question: Who killed Cain Nkala?” said MDC secretary for legal affairs David Coltart, continuing:

“The judgment is a serious indictment of Zanu PF. The acting Attorney General should immediately investigate the murder of Nkala, and I suggest he starts closer to home.”

These are but two examples where people faced the noose for what were clearly fabricated charges, but for a fair and transparent judicial system they would have been hanged.

In 2008, the year of the bloody elections, Zanu PF offices were gutted by a fire and the police immediately implicated the MDC-T for carrying out a petrol bomb attack.

However, it eventually emerged that the fire had been caused by petrol which was being kept on the premises for sale on the thriving black market at a time of critical shortage.

During that tumultuous period, MDC activists were alleged to have bombed trains and arrests were made. Nothing came of it, but the suspects suffered immense psychological and physical torture.

Then there was the pure facile fabrication about uniformed soldiers who had been recruited by the MDC-T to attack patrons in nightclubs in Chitungwiza, but nothing again came of this despite their being paraded in front of state media cameras.

Last month MDC-T supporters in Mbare reported an attack on them by Zanu PF supporters. What did the police do?

They came a little later, didn’t arrest the culprits, but rounded up the complainants. Does this not keep them awake at night?

Fortunately, the magistrate saw through all this and released the complainants from custody without paying bail.

Peace activists, like Woza, trying to do things as harmless as singing songs and distributing leaflets calling for harmony have been repeatedly attacked.

Now we are having police-sanctioned violent demonstrations in the city and this is being blamed on MDC “hijackers”.

Fascism came to power in Italy and Germany through a combination of street violence (carefully orchestrated from above but still undeniably with great mass support), deep infiltration into the police, bureaucracy and army, and the connivance of “centrist” political leaders.

Crude violations of laws and constitutional norms alternated with the Fascists’ loud protestations of respect for legality.

They alternated between an occasional apology and much more frequent and intensified aggressive violence.

Adolf Hitler repeatedly asserted his party’s respect for legality but meanwhile his security police chief Hermann Goëring “Nazified” the police, organised street encounters in which more than 50 anti-fascists were murdered, and set the scene for the notorious stage-managed Reichstag (parliament building) fire, after which first the communists, and then all opposition political parties and trade unions were quickly eliminated and destroyed. The central government did not lift a finger.

Now the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs has summoned Police Commissioner-General Chihuri to testify before it on the upsurge in political violence, the nation hopes there won’t be the usual obfuscation and prevarication, and that he will distinguish genuine threats to national security from normal political activity in a modern, democratic state.

As for those behind the hooligans deployed on the streets to commit violence, they had better be careful.

In December 1971, demonstrations broke out in the main cities and towns in the then Rhodesia.

The Ian Smith regime wanted to force on the oppressed blacks a constitution agreed between itself and Britain (the so-called Pearce proposals) without any clear roadmap to majority rule and a justiciable Bill of Rights; in other words, the Pearce proposals virtually maintained the status quo of white dominance.

The “No” vote prevailed in 1972 as it similarly won the day in 2000. It’s impossible to suppress the people’s determined will as shown over vastly different political eras and circumstances despite organisational hurdles that were deliberately put in place.

Smith used traditional chiefs, dubious newly-created political parties, force and the one-sided state media to advance the “Yes” vote, but he still failed. Now it’s practically impossible to control the minds of the people because of advanced technology. Technology is a vast transformer.

The same scenario is being played out today with violence at Copac meetings and, in a contrived manner, only hand-picked individuals allowed to air the viewpoint of vested interests in the ruling elite to maintain the status quo while the views of the ordinary people and various stakeholders are suppressed.

But the initiative and power always swing back to the long-suffering people.

The 1971 protests descended into looting and shops owned by people of Asian origin at the southern end of Salisbury (now Harare) were broken into as they were within walking distance of the Mbare hostels, where there was a significant thuggish element.

One of the looters was arrested within days, tried and jailed. How was he caught when hundreds were involved in the looting?

In his rush to put on the new pair of trousers he had looted in the shop, he did not remove his ID from the old trousers he discarded in the shop.

So those responsible for this ongoing violence at whatever level will, sooner or later, leave incriminating evidence at the scene of the crime and pay heavily for that.

One of these days they are going to drop incontrovertible evidence linking them to all this violence. They can’t get away with this forever.

And this will finally force the hand of the police to act.

SW Radio Africa

By Lance Guma

17 February 2011

Arthur Mutambara’s attempts to regain control of the smaller MDC faction took a knock on Wednesday, when the High Court ruled that he cannot ‘purport’ to be president of the party until the leadership dispute is fully resolved in court.

Mutambara also defied a party directive to step down as Deputy Prime Minister, claiming he did not recognize Ncube as the new party leader after last month’s party congress. He also claimed he would wait for the High Court to rule on an application filed by disgruntled party members unhappy with the congress.

Bulawayo High Court judge Nicholas Ndou granted an interim relief order which had been sought by the MDC faction led by Welshman Ncube. The order temporarily bars Mutambara from exercising any function vested in the presidency of the party and also stops him from interfering with the structures and organs of the party.

The urgent application by Ncube’s party followed reports that Mutambara was considering a reshuffle of Ministers from the party that are in the coalition government. Mutambara was also rumoured to be planning on sacking ministers Welshman Ncube, David Coltart and Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga and had allegedly already approached several party MPs offering them ministerial appointments.

In the court application the MDC-N said there was a forthcoming meeting of the SADC Organ on Defence and Security……”at which the facilitator of the Zimbabwe dialogue, President Jacob Zuma, will present his report on the outstanding issues in the implementation of the GPA. The party must be presented by its president at this meeting which is normally attended by the presidents of the parties in the GPA.”

The MDC-N said it feared Mutambara will seek to represent the party at this meeting “when he has no lawful right to do so.” The High Court has since given Mutambara 10 days to file a notice of opposition to the court order.

The saga has seen Mugabe take sides with Mutambara, telling Ncube he will not swear him in, no matter what happens.

Ncube’s camp has since said they have ‘donated’ Mutambara and the DPM post to ZANU PF.

Financial Gazette

By Dumisani Ndlela and Njabulo Ncube

17 February 2011

FORMER Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara, reeled into a potentially embarrassing political crisis after it emerged that the majority of his supporters had joined ZANU-PF while incumbent Members of Parliament from the party had snubbed his appeal for government appointments. ZANU-PF insiders indicated that the party had, in recent days, welcomed an undisclosed number of former MDC card-carrying members who had defected in solidarity with Mutambara, rendering the former student leader a shepherd without a flock and threatening his planned reshuffle.

It was not immediately clear why the members had joined ZANU-PF instead of rallying behind the robotics professor who is currently fighting for his political life from the fringes.

The development came even     as Mutambara and a group of rebel party activists, who broke ranks with new leader and Minister of Industry and International Trade, Welshman Ncube, insisted the robotics professor would go ahead with a proposed reshuffle targeted at eliminating Ncube and the new MDC secretary-general, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga from government.

Others targeted are Moses Mzila Ndlovu (National Healing and Reconciliation) and David Coltart (Education and Culture) and several deputy ministers linked to what he views as “Ncube’s political machinations”.

Mutambara, who has received immense support from President Robert Mugabe who is said to have categorically told Ncube that he was not willing to sack Mutambara from the Deputy Prime Minister’s post to make way for the new principal of the so-called Global Political Agreement (GPA), was making frantic efforts to salvage his reputation by trying to lure outsiders to join his cabinet.

There were also frantic efforts to lure MDC MPs his party had fired over a year ago for alleged indiscipline as he tried to salvage the little  chance he might get to hang on to power. The three Matabeleland members of the House of Assembly fired by the MDC under Mutambara last year are Abdenico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni and Norman Mpofu.

In the event that this fails, his bet would be on disgruntled MDC members challenging Ncube’s election at a recent party congress. These are led by former MDC acting national chairman, Jobert Mudzumwe and a rag-tag group of youths.

Mudzumwe and 13 other MDC supporters are presently challenging Ncube’s ascendency to the presidency of the party, charging that the congress which endorsed his candidature was unconstitutional.

Sources indicated that all MPs from Mutambara’s former party had snubbed his overtures for an alliance. Mutambara is said to have approached the MPs either personally or through emissaries.

“His idea is to humiliate Ncube. He might get President Mugabe’s support for the reshuffle but at the moment, there are significant legal hurdles because Mutambara essentially no longer leads any party,” a source indicated.

All MDC MPs and senators, except one lawmaker, Noma-langa Khumalo had attended last Thursday’s MDC national council meeting that endorsed the sacking of Mutambara from the party.

Khumalo is said to have sent an apology to the meeting and is understood to have endorsed the national council decision.

Mutambara said before the national council meeting last week that he had fired Ncube and Misihairabwi-Mushonga from the party even though no organ of the party had met to make that decision.

He has also been announcing party decisions from government offices, and has been making most of his party communication from the letterhead of the Deputy Prime Minister.

His peers in the inclusive government — President Mugabe of ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who heads the other MDC formation — have always made party pronouncements from their respective party offices and using official party letter heads.

Sources indicated that Mutambara was so far grappling with the fact that he was now claiming to be leader of an MDC formation that did not have a national council or a politburo, as well as no party structures.

Sources close to Mutambara, however, said he had been advised of the “dearth of leadership” among his rebels and might find it difficult to appoint some of them into Cabinet.

Mutambara, who could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print, is said to have initially banked on hopes that some members of the MDC’s national council would support him if he dangled offers of ministerial jobs.

However, the council members are said to be adamant on a resolution to sack him from the party and have viewed allegations that he was fired by Ncube as attempts to divide the political formation by isolating Ncube.

A Mutambara confidante, however, insisted that they were making inroads.

“The possibility of being appointed to a ministerial position has been a draw-card to some legislators who all along believed they should have been in government by virtue of being elected representatives,” the confidante told The Financial Gazette yesterday.

“Those that think Mutambara has no support of the MPs are day-dreaming. In his five years at the helm of the MDC-M he  has made friends and quietly built his base,” he added.

Maxwell Zimuto, who now acts as spokesperson for Mutambara and his “MDC formation” and now operates from home, said the Deputy Prime Minister would not have mulled reshuffling his ministers if he had no suitable replacements.

“Mutambara has the mandate to reshuffle as and when he deems (it) necessary to do so, notwithstanding the fact he has to consult the two other principals,” said Zimuto.

“There are capable people around him and also remember he has the support of business which is fully aware of the economic thrust Mutambara is trying to pursue and put across. He is the only leader who has managed to clearly articulate economic issues in a manner that shows that this country has a bright future ahead of it. Business is excited about Mutambara and awaits his next move. There are consultations and people are supporting him after a lot of people had been misled and cheated,” he added.

Business, apparently, is not a constituent member of the MDC.

Zimbabwe Telegraph

By Moses Chamboko

February 17, 2011

The endgame for the minor MDC faction to which our only rocket scientist was invited by the shrewd lawyer but cunning political upstart, Welshman Ncube, is finally beckoning. Nonetheless, this was never a matter of “if” but “when” from day one.

When he accepted the surprise invitation which sent shockwaves across the rank and file of that faction, Arthur Mutambara petrified keen followers when he declared that he was “the anti-senate President of the pro-senate MDC”. This signalled the beginning of more confusion in years that followed. Up to now, I don’t quite understand what he meant by that bold statement in his maiden speech.

This writer personally wrote to Arthur and Welsh Ncube requesting them to re-think their position soon after the split of October 2005. The writer also had a fairly long interview on a New Zealand-based Zimbabwe community radio with Tendai Biti and Paul Themba Nyathi imploring them to find one another and maintain the unity of the party that had become the epitome of hope for most Zimbabweans. Both gentlemen exhibited unwillingness to move an inch from their respective and grounded positions. Themba Nyathi almost cut me off when I questioned if the MDC constitution was cast in stone. The rest is now history.

While ambivalence had the better of David Coltart (probably owing to his profession), when he finally jumped, he also landed on the wrong side of the fence. A couple of months down the line, those who were quick to read that their new political compass was leading them into the wilderness, made an about turn and rejoined the mainstream MDC. I will not delve into names as it would appear like a forlon attempt to open old wounds.

The recent press conference by the distressed trio of Welshman Ncube, Priscilla and Coltart brought memories of the aftermath of the split. Looking dejected and despondent, one could wonder if it was the same team that had exhibited so much exuberance just in the past few weeks or months. The gloomy pictures looked like an episode from a primary school drama. They all seemed to say “we was robbed” when they generously declared that they were now donating the rocket scientist to ZANU PF for free. We haven’t seen or heard of this magnitude of munificence in the political arena in recent years.

As for the rocket scientist, his utterances at some Diaspora conference in Victoria Falls last December were indeed a precursor to the unfolding drama “muchashama ndava Head of State”, were his own words. Little did we know that he was up for donation (or is it political adoption?)

Looking ahead, it appears Arthur has only three options; to join ZANU PF (if he hasn’t done so already), join the real MDC or simply quit politics and utilise his intelligence and education elsewhere. At his tender age, the sky is the limit, only if he makes the right choices of which the time is now.

Our passionate, energetic and vocal sister, Priscilla, should consider submitting her resume’ to WOZA without delay. I’ve no doubt she will be useful there. As for Welsh, like Tich Masaya, he can simply go back to the lecture room of which all local universities would love to have his signature. While he has done fairly well as minister of education, without a political base, Coltart should start talking to the law society and update himself on what needs to be done for him to start practising as a lawyer again. Beyond the next election, unless a miracle happens, I don’t see these three coming back into the political arena. Also, should they choose to pull out of the GNU prematurely, that will never be a trigger for early elections as they have always been an insignificant partner in that hybrid arrangement.

While the rushed MDC-M-N congress produced this drama that we will entertain us for some time, the main MDC congress slated for May as widely reported promises to be a springboard of hope, strength and prosperity as the people’s party comes out of that congress even stronger.

Views expressed in this article are the writer’s personal opinion.

chambokom@gmail.com

VOA

By Peta Thornycroft

16 February 2011

European Union sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and most of his colleagues in the ZANU-PF party have been renewed despite requests from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that they be abandoned.  The EU has lifted restrictions against 31 people, mostly wives of those on the sanctions list and a few minor political personalities.

Restrictions including visa bans and asset freezes remain on most ZANU-PF leaders and a number of state companies for another year.  The restrictions were first imposed in 2002 after violence accompanying presidential elections.

Three years ago, the EU and United States added state companies and a few private businesses and some business leaders who were not members of ZANU-PF to the list.

South African President Jacob Zuma and other leaders within SADC have asked the EU to lift the restrictions, saying they harm the regional group’s ability to resolve the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

SADC is the guarantor of the political agreement which brought the two-year-old Zimbabwe unity government to power.

Zimbabwe political analyst Brian Raftopoulos said it was clear after recent violence, mostly against supporters of MDC and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, that the EU would not lift sanctions.

“Clearly they are moving towards rethinking what the meaning of these sanctions are, and it was always predictable they would not remove them this time around specially because of the recent violence,” said Raftopoulos.

He said the EU had engaged in deep debate about the usefulness of the sanctions and the effect they had on efforts to mediate the issues afflicting Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government.

He said the EU had chosen a holding position.  Raftopoulos and other analysts are concerned about lack of progress of the SADC mediation.

“The problem of course, is that for the moment the SADC mediation doesn’t seem to be moving very effectively,” added Raftopoulos.

MDC finance minister Tendai Biti has said repeatedly that the restrictions against some of Zimbabwe’s state companies should be lifted.  He said restrictions on some of these companies hurt the economy.

Mr. Mugabe says sanctions have caused misery to millions of Zimbabweans.

Zimbabwe trades normally with the EU and the United States.  Most businessmen in Zimbabwe say they want all the restrictions lifted.

Among those whose names have been removed from the EU list is Peter Chingoka, the long- standing boss of Zimbabwe cricket.

When the inclusive government came to power, MDC education minister David Coltart, also responsible for sport, moved quickly to persuade most of the cricketing world to re-engage with Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe cricketers are now playing internationally.

So far neither the EU nor U.S. have disclosed what assets belonging to those on the list have been frozen by the sanctions.

VOA

By Blessing Zulu

15 February 2011

Sources said the power struggle in the MDC wing could strengthen President Robert Mugabe’s hand in determining the timing of new elections this year, as he has argued that the government is so divided that new elections are urgently needed

Zimbabwe’s long-troubled government of national unity faces further strains as embattled Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is said to be seeking a Cabinet reshuffle that would target his opponents in the smaller Movement for Democratic Change formation.

Sources said the power struggle in the MDC wing could strengthen President Robert Mugabe’s hand in determining the timing of new elections this year, as he has argued that the government is so divided that new elections are urgently needed.

Political sources say Mr. Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are likely to scotch any move by Mutambara to settle political accounts. He is said to wish to fire his main rivals in the MDC formation: Trade minister Welshman Ncube, elected president of the formation in its congress last month; Regional Integration Minister Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga; and Education Minister David Coltart.

Political sources say Mutambara is likely to seek the reshuffle when Mr. Mugabe returns from Singapore where officials of his ZANU-PF party said this week that he has traveled for follow-up treatment after an operation to correct an eye cataract.

Mr. Mugabe has declined to swear in Ncube to replace Mutambara as deputy prime minister despite Ncube’s election as party president, displacing Mr. Mutambara, noting a pending court case in which disgruntled members have challenged Ncube’s election.

A spokesman for Mutambara’s faction of the now-divided MDC formation, Morgan Changamire, told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that Mutambara has a mandate for a shuffle of the MDC formation’s ministers. But Nhlanhla Dube spokesman for Ncube’s faction, said Mutambara has no mandate to fire or hire ministers.

Political analyst Earnest Mudzengi said Mutambara’s move is not likely to have a major impact on the cohesion of the already fractious unity government. The power-sharing arrangement, launched in February 2009, has been in place for just over two years.

Newsday

15 February 2011

By Fortune Moyo

Education, Sport and Culture minister David Coltart says there is need to revamp the schools’ history curriculum to include the Gukurahundi era, roles played by the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo, Zapu and Zipra, to enable students to fully appreciate history of the liberation struggle.

In a recent interview, Coltart said history textbooks currently in schools were silent on important roles played by Nkomo, Zapu or Zipra in the country’s liberation struggle.

“In the current history curriculum, one would struggle to understand the role that Joshua Nkomo, Zapu and Zipra played in the liberation of the country,” he said.

“The history and incidence of Gukurahundi are not even mentioned in the current history curriculum.

“Our curriculum therefore needs to be modernised to factor in certain incidents of history,” he said.

“Our curriculum has not been reviewed since 1986 and there is also need for us to catch up on information technology.”

Zimbabwe’s schools are using a curriculum that was last reviewed in the 80s, a situation that has contributed to the free fall in education standards and put the country out of sync with fast-changing education trends globally.

Coltart said his ministry had engaged a local education expert based in the United States, Josiah Tlou, to review the country’s curriculum.

The new curriculum would include academic, vocational and social education as a way of widening knowledge in pupils.

Some time at the end of 2009, the National Educational Advisory Board recommended the Ministry of Education’s “structures need to be reviewed to cope with recent changes and challenges, particularly in terms of providing a more updated curriculum which caters for a globalised economy”.

Africa.World 247.net

February 15, 2011

A WEEK after being expelled by his party, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has reportedly hatched a plan to kick three ministers who engineered his ouster out of government.

In its evening bulletins on Monday, the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation said Mutambara was “mulling a cabinet reshuffle which is likely to affect Professor Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and David Coltart, if it sails through”.

But senior government sources said Mutambara’s move was unlikely to gain traction with President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who are both keen to move on from recent attempts to throw Mutambara out of government by the MDC.

Mugabe was instrumental in blocking Mutambara’s ouster from government after telling Ncube, the new MDC leader, that he would not swear him in as Deputy Prime Minister.

“Mutambara can try but he will find Mugabe and Tsvangirai lack appetite, as they did in his case, in upsetting the coalition government’s operations,” said one official.

Ncube is currently the Industry and International Trade Minister; Coltart the Education, Sport and Culture Minister and Misihairabwi-Mushonga the Minister for Regional Integration and International Cooperation.

Citing unnamed legal experts, the ZBC said “Mutambara has legal grounds to carry out the move considering the fact that the congress which elected Ncube into the MDC presidential post is under a pending legal challenge”.

A dozen disgruntled MDC officials filed a court petition, seeking to annul the decisions of a January 8 and 9 congress which Mutambara attended and addressed after deciding not to challenge Ncube.

But Coltart, the party’s legal affairs secretary, said the court challenge was being used by both the disgruntled members who lost positions and the party’s political opponents to frustrate efforts to sideline Mutambara.

“Courts are also used as a delay mechanism to frustrate political goals,” Coltart said last week after the party’s national council expelled Mutambara and declared him a functionary of President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.

Daily News

By Enock Muchinjo, Deputy Sports Editor

Monday, 15 February 2011

HARARE – Pitiful Zimbabwe bowed out of the second-rate African Nations Championships (Chan) tournament prematurely, as largely expected, following defeat to a South African Development XI on Sunday evening in Sudan.

In the end, it was wasted emotions to mourn over an early exit from a tournament doomed from the start when the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) imprudently decided to book the team in a substandard Avenues budget lodge with players threatening to strike due to non-payment of camping allowances.

The greatest tragedy is that Zimbabwean football is under a new leadership which swept into office with a promise to restore pride and sanity to a game damaged by serious allegations of match-fixing, bribery, maladministration and corruption.

Now, if that same FA cannot perform an essential duty like properly kitting out its utmost symbol of identity, the national team, you shudder to imagine what the future holds if that is a depiction of its overall competence.

A nice kit is all part of taking pride in your team. Look good, play good.

It is also something that gives a team the initial advantage when it gets onto the pitch.

The team neither had a proper uniform nor training kit when the players were first called into camp, only for Zifa to “buy” over-sized red T-shirts and counterfeit white Puma longs which one player described as “ugly and embarrassing”.

The team’s swag was further dented when the Warriors, possibly the worst dressed team in the tournament, turned up in a horrible yellow strip (and another white one) which was not branded.

Turning to the tournament itself, what is Chan and what purpose does it serve?

The idea behind it, to be honest, is noble. It is a tournament for African players still plying their trade in their home leagues.

But the tournament loses its foundation value the moment other countries send their best premier division players while others, like South Africa, sees it as a wonderful opportunity to give its lower division players a rare, or even once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent their country.

When the usual critics would have lined up to condemn the South Africans for “disrespecting” the tournament, the youngsters gave them no chance by convincingly winning all their three pool games against supposedly stronger opposition, a major boost to South Africa’s development drive.

So, from a Zimbabwean point of view, the question that arises is whether this tournament is worth the trouble.

Next month, the national side will resume its quest to qualify for the more prestigious 2012 African Nations Cup, yet Zifa saw it fit to spend a  US$180 000 government  hand-out on a useless tournament beforehand.

It is a given fact that Zifa will come back begging for money to fulfil the Afcon fixtures.

The money given to Zifa for the Chan trip was taken from a US$800 000 allocation said by Sports Minister David Coltart to be meant for sports administration alone.

Football cannot continue enjoying preferential treatment at the expense of other disciplines.

Imagine if Zimbabwe Cricket had gone to the ministry asking for US$400 000 for the forthcoming ICC World Cup? What would be left for grassroots sports development, which that money is meant for?

Sports Associations must get their act together and attract private sector sponsorship, Zifa included.

ZBC

14 February 2011

Information emanating from within the embattled MDC movement has revealed that Professor Arthur Mutambara is mulling a cabinet reshuffle which is likely to affect Professor Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and David Coltart, if it sails through.

The MDC drama, which has seen back and forth recalls being announced by the battling two professors Arthur Mutambara and Welshman Ncube, is poised to gain momentum this week.

Sources from both camps told ZBC News that Mutambara is likely to make his move anytime the week.

The move is set to see Professor Welshman Ncube, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and David Coltart recalled from their cabinet posts.

With some legal experts pointing out that Mutambara has legal grounds to carry out the move considering the fact that the congress which elected Ncube into the MDC presidential post last year is under a pending legal challenge, ugly battles are set to ensure.

While pointing out that the issue has not been discussed in the Mutambara camp, former Deputy Organising Secretary, Mr. Morgan Changamire, who is aligned to the Joubert Mudzumwe faction, said even if the move is confirmed, Mutambara has the right do it.

Changamire said as president of the MDC, Mutambara has the prerogative to carry out any reshuffle and should the people decide to do so, then the move will be done.

Ncube’s deputy spokesperson, Mr. Kurauone Chihwayi, told ZBC News in a telephone interview, that although they have picked up information to that regard, Mutambara has no legal mandate to reshuffle cabinet posts as he is no longer part of the MDC.

Chihwayi said they are not taking Mutambara seriously as they do not consider him as part of the party.

While Ncube has previously claimed that the inclusive government will collapse if he is not made principal, he has woken up to a harsh reality that the Zimbabwean political landscape is way too bigger than what he imagined.