News Day

By Nduduzo Tshuma

2 September 2013

OUTGOING Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart has urged the new Zanu PF government to retain the Education Transition Fund (ETF), which he said was instrumental in reviving the country’s education sector.

President Robert Mugabe is expected to announce a new Cabinet this week and Coltart, who was instrumental in wooing donors to the education sector, is not likely to be retained as he lost during the July 31 parliamentary elections.

Zanu PF has also ruled out any chance of incorporating Coltart’s MDC and the MDC-T in the next government.

The veteran Bulawayo-based human rights lawyer is regarded as one of the few ministers who shone in the previous Cabinet.

But he was singled out in the Zanu PF campaign manifesto for allegedly spearheading donor-driven programmes “camouflaged by the sanitised language of humanitarian and developmental assistance to cover up sinister regime-change intentions”.

Zanu PF’s election victory has heightened fears that programmes such as the ETF would be abandoned to the detriment of the education sector that was brought to its knees before it was rescued by the inclusive government in 2009.

Coltart said his successor should understand that the ETF was the only salvation for the education sector because Treasury was virtually broke.

“The first thing my successor would do is to decide whether or not ETF is illegal as they claimed,” he said.

“If they decide that it is illegal, they would not want to continue with it.

“If they decide that they were not telling the truth in their manifesto and ETF is legal, then they will continue with it.

“There was no money from Treasury to fund Education, it was the ETF that financed the sector.”

Coltart said some of the projects funded through the ETF were at pilot stage and would transform the education sector if fully implemented.

“Firstly there is the issue of curriculum review and reform, the process had already started,” he said.

“The curriculum has not been reviewed in a long time and the recommendations of the Nziramasanga Report in 1999 have not been implemented.

“There is also the School Improvement Grant programme with a funding of $62 million.

“We had a pilot scheme in Goromonzi (district). The plan was to extend the scheme to all schools.

“The purpose was infrastructural development because we realised that most schools had not been refurbished for more than a decade.

“In Goromonzi, we had identified 100 schools where we were repairing roofs, buying desks and making sure that the infrastructure is rehabilitated.”

Coltart said the programme was important because it was meant to ensure a friendly learning environment in the country’s schools.

“There are quite a number of projects that we might take hours (to talk about them), but what is important to note is that the ETF is most critical in all these projects as it is the source of the funding,” the MDC secretary for legal affairs said.

According to the Zanu PF manifesto, non-governmental organisations had, during the life of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), poured in $2,6 billion to support “nefarious activities”, which the party infers included the ETF.

News Day

Guest Column with David Coltart

2 September 2013

August 28 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.

He has always been one of my heroes and I have taken great inspiration from his speeches for many decades.

While rereading his “I have a dream” speech, it struck me that it applies very much to Zimbabwe today.

Many are feeling downcast; many in the human rights community feel that despite decades of struggle to bring freedom and tolerance to Zimbabwe, we are going backwards.

It was in that light that I found the speech so encouraging because many black Americans felt that way on August 28, 1963. And so I have adapted the speech to suit Zimbabwe today and I hope you will find it as inspirational:

“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’

We can never be satisfied as long as Zimbabweans are the victims of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Zimbabwean in Highfield cannot vote and a Zimbabwean in Johannesburg believes she has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream”.

I am not unmindful that some of you are mightily weary out of great trials and tribulations.

Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering.

Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Tsholotsho, go back to Dotito, go back to Mutare, go back to Mwenezi, go back to Kariba, go back to the ruined and dilapidated suburbs of our cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in our Zimbabwean dream.

I have a dream that one day this country will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: That we are “united in our diversity by our common desire for freedom, justice and equality”.

I have a dream that one day on the granite hills of the Matopos, the sons of former detainees and the sons of former white rulers will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day, even the province of Matabeleland North, a province sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Zimbabwe, still with some of its racists, one day right here in Zimbabwe little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together”.

This is our hope, and this is the faith that we face the future with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our country into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood.

With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of our heroes’ pride,From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if Zimbabwe is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious Chilojo Cliffs.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of Chimanimani.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Nyangombe Mountain.
Let freedom ring from Mount Silozwe.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of Harare Kopje.

But not only that:
Let freedom ring from the Zambezi escarpment.
Let freedom ring from Domboshawa.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of the Midlands.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every province and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, Muslims and Hindus, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old blackman’s spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

The Zimbabwean

By Mkhululi Chimoio

28 August 2013

Former national team rugby player Likang Ndlovu has challenged the new government to revive the waning standards of the game in the country.

“Whoever will be appointed Minister of Sports should cast his net wider and turn around the fortunes of our rugby, which is now almost dead,” said Ndlovu earlier this week.

“I recently moved around the country and was shocked to note that very few people are keen on developing the sport. Good players are giving up as they see a bleak future in the sport. David Coltart had given us hope during his days as the minister in charge of sport, but unfortunately, he might not be in the new government and that could signal the total demise of our sport.”

Ndlovu also bemoaned lack of proper training facilities and corrupt officials. “Government needs to invest in developing proper training grounds because these are none-existent in most part of the country right now. Excellent training facilities can lure youngsters to join the sport.

“Officials are also to blame because most of the money allocated to various sporting departments don’t reach those areas and we need to work hard in exposing such practices,” he said.

In the past few years, Ndlovu has been involved in mentoring and directing young talent at Inner City Rugby Development team, a South African rugby development institute for young people in Johannesburg.

A former Zimbabwe national team player, he holds a rugby national coaching certificate and has coached Highlanders Juniors in Bulawayo, Botswana Sharks Senior team, Botswana Tuskers Senior outfit and SA’s Sandton Rugby Youth.

Southern Eye

28 August 2013

August 28 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech.

He has always been one of my heroes and I have taken great inspiration from his speeches for many decades.
While rereading his I have a dream speech it struck me that it applies very much to Zimbabwe today.

Many are feeling downcast; many in the human rights community feel that despite decades of struggle to bring freedom and tolerance to Zimbabwe, we are going backwards.

It was in that light that I found the speech so encouraging because many black Americans felt that way on August 28 1963. And so this morning, I have adapted the speech to suit Zimbabwe today and I hope you will find it as inspirational:

“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’
We can never be satisfied as long as Zimbabweans are the victims of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Zimbabwean in Highfield cannot vote and a Zimbabwean in Johannesburg believes she has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until ‘justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’
I am not unmindful that some of you are mightily weary out of great trials and tribulations.

Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Tsholotsho, go back to Dotito, go back to Mutare, go back to Mwenezi, go back to Kariba, go back to the ruined and dilapidated suburbs of our cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in our Zimbabwean dream.

I have a dream that one day this country will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: That we are ‘united in our diversity by our common desire for freedom, justice and equality’.

I have a dream that one day on the granite hills of the Matopos, the sons of former detainees and the sons of former white rulers will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the province of Matabeleland North, a province sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Zimbabwe, still with some of its racists, one day right here in Zimbabwe little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; ‘and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.’

This is our hope, and this is the faith that we face the future with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our country into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day – this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of our heroes’ pride,From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if Zimbabwe is to be a great nation, this must become true.And so let freedom ring from the prodigious Chilojo Cliffs.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of Chimanimani.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Nyangombe Mountain.

Let freedom ring from Mount Silozwe.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of Harare Kopje.

But not only that:
Let freedom ring from the Zambezi escarpment.
Let freedom ring from Domboshawa.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of the Midlands.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every province and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, Muslims and Hindus, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old blackman’s spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
DAVID COLTART
BULAWAYO

The Herald

By Isabel Mutekwa

28 August 2013

DURING his term as Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, David Coltart, concentrated on cricket affairs he was dubbed the Minister of Cricket. Unless President Mugabe re-appoints him to that same portfolio in the next Cabinet, Coltart is the outgoing Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister.

But apparently he is not giving up his other appointment — the Minister of Cricket.

Only over the weekend he was singing from his familiar album, this time a track entitled “ZC Please Don’t Let the Players Walk Away,” published by ESPNcricinfo.

As if ZC is! As if ZC can!

Regrettably, we have to go into colour because this is what it is about.

Kyle Jarvis is not the first white cricketer to leave the country to play county cricket in England.

Andy Flower is on record, on the eve of the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, that he had set his sights on turning his back on international cricket and going to play county cricket in England.

But why doesn’t David know this considering that he has been counsel for Andy?

Didn’t David Houghton go to a county? And since then haven’t the likes of Travis Friend, Antony Ireland, Gary Balance also gone to a county?

What about Kevin Pietersen and a whole host of England cricketers who should be or should have been Proteas? David, you love the internet.

Please google Allan Lamb, the late Anthony William “Tony” Greig or just “South African cricketers who have done what Jarvis wants to do.”

In the global village, there is always a field where the grass is greener — or appears so!

And the movement from here to there is easier for those who can trace ancestry to those fields yonder.

And so they use our Under-19 or senior platform to advertise themselves to motherland, then follow their figures made in our name to wherever ancestry leads. — Isabel Mutekwa writes in her personal capacity.

ESPN Cricinfo

24 August 2013

I spoke to Firdose Moonda a few days ago and we discussed many aspects of cricket in Zimbabwe. We spoke about the future of the sport, the financial issues as well as the change that we have seen over the last decade and how there is a need for our team to enjoy top quality tours. There are also many other topics that were discussed so please tune in and listen.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/video_audio/664905.html?genre=34

ESPN Cricinfo

By ESPN Cricinfo Reporter

24 August 2013

David Coltart, Zimbabwe’s former minister of sport, said that cricket in the country is now in a critical state, following a financial crisis which almost resulted in a boycott from the players.

In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Coltart said that Zimbabwe Cricket was nearly $15-18 million in the red and the financial condition was affecting the board’s ability to look after players. The lack of international tours was further affecting Zimbabwe’s chances of addressing its financial issues.

“The association now is very much in the red. We estimate anything between $15-18 million in the red. That situation has been compounded by the fact that there have been very few international tours, very few profitable tours, which undermines the ability of Zimbabwe Cricket to address that massive debt,” Coltart said. “And that, in turn, has meant that players have not been paid on time.”

Earlier this month, Zimbabwe’s players boycotted their training ahead of the series against Pakistan and decided to form a union to negotiate for better pay. They reached an agreement with the board, after an assurance that ZC would clear their outstanding salaries and also pay them match fees. Shortly after the issue was resolved, fast bowler Kyle Jarvis announced his retirement from international cricket. The pace bowler opted out of the series against Pakistan to take up a county offer from Lancashire.

Coltart recounted an incident last year when he had met with a delegation of players and coaches, some of whom had not been paid for up to three years. Such treatment, Coltart said, was pushing players like Jarvis and Gary Ballance to leave the country for better opportunities and this exodus was dragging the game down further.

“Last year, I received a delegation of players, including coaches who, having not received any joy from Zimbabwe Cricket came to me directly because they had not been paid match fees,” Coltart recalled.

“Some were owed a vast amount of money, and had not been paid up to three years. I summoned Zimbabwe Cricket and the Sports Recreation Commission and arranged for players to be paid. But, it undermined the confidence of many players in the association and that resulted in people, critically important players like Tatenda Taibu, leaving the game.

“And now we see Jarvis leaving the game, and there are others who we had hoped would be attracted to play for the country, players like Gary Ballance, started to look elsewhere. That erodes the confidence of the team and creates a very vicious cycle where we are not competitive against international teams. So those teams are reluctant to come, they don’t get the revenues that they would otherwise get from a close contest.”

Coltart, who lobbied with Australia, England and India to get more tours to Zimbabwe, said the chances of Zimbabwe hosting more countries depended as much on the political situation in the country as it did on the state of the game. He was also critical of the way ZC had managed funds, saying the board had failed to protect players’ interests. He however expressed hope that future incomes from the game could be used efficiently to revive the game.

“I had a meeting with (ICC CEO) Dave Richardson in Dubai in March and he told me that Zimbabwe Cricket, over the next couple of years, can expect revenues of up to $25 million. Zimbabwe cricket does not have the infrastructure that, for example, we see in New Zealand and $25 million, properly administered, should be enough to grow the game and pay players,” he said.

One of the major benefits of the newly formed players’ association, according to Coltart, was that it would help many players negotiate for better pay. The association, he said, could get ZC to start treating players better, sparking better results and more series with international teams over the long term. He, however, urged the players to find a manager who could keep the association going, while the players are busy with their cricket commitments.

“It has been a demand of players for over a decade. And what has happened in the absence of the players’ association is that the administration has managed to literally threaten players, especially young black players who had nothing else to turn to, and undermine their ability to negotiate reasonable terms and conditions.

“I am very pleased that this is now being agreed to and the players must find someone to do that role. And I am very encouraged to see the unity among players in the last couple of weeks. If they are successful in that and if Zimbabwe Cricket starts treating their players better, then the players will play better, and we can attract these teams and ultimately, it’s going to address the financial problems.”

The Zimbabwe Independent

By Sokwanele

23 August 2013

If these elections were won by Zanu PF freely and fairly in a clean democratic contest, then I would respect them.

If you believe in democracy as powerfully as I do then you are honour-bound to “take the rough with the smooth”. A Zanu PF victory would sit uneasy with me given its track record and my personal life, but I would respect and accept the result.

But this result is sour and unacceptable. I believe that even the most ardent Zanu PF supporter knows that this election was stolen through fraud and cheating, and not secured by the will of the people.

An Al-Jazeera reporter commented that he had driven all around Harare after the results were announced looking for signs of celebration from Zanu PF supporters and there were none. He tweeted: “Are people waiting for (President Robert) Mugabe to issue a decree: celebrate!”

There were none, because no one voted for Zanu PF or Mugabe in the numbers the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) claims are the outcome. It made me aware of what a bizarre situation we are in: a manufactured political context where the vast majority of the people in our country are forced to accept control and authority from those they do not want.

And the grief and fear of an uncertain future — which recent history tells us is going to be unpleasant — is palpable among all of us. People who usually talk about politics to me freely are silent. They don’t want to discuss the results because the obvious question “What now?” is one that only raises fear and uncertainty. We are all so damn tired of feeling fearful and unsure of our futures.

One person, blessed to have his exams in the last five years said on Twitter in a message directed to David Coltart, outging Education minister: “I wrote my O-level and A-level in a perfect way, no hassle, results came in time, THANK YOU … now I am worried of the future.”

We worry about the future because our past lives, under Zanu PF rule, were so terrible. A short five years ago every Zimbabwean was trapped in a daily struggle just to survive. The list of what we endured is simply incredible — no one can begin to understand how awful it was unless they had lived here.

We collectively experienced one of the world’s worst examples of hyper-inflation; businesses dying on a daily basis; completely empty supermarket shelves and consequently wide-spread starvation; one of the worst cholera epidemics the world has seen as a result of collapsing infrastructure; roads strewn with potholes; divided families as a result of a forced exodus to neighbouring countries; the total collapse of our education and health systems; thousands of businesses and homes deliberately destroyed by Zanu PF government through Operation Murambatsvina; unemployment that is close to 95%; and, on top of all that, grotesque unimaginable violence and torture.

Surely, any sane reasonable person can see that it is illogical and inconceivable that a nation that has endured all that would voluntarily elect the party, a mere five years later, the same party that brought us all to our knees and made our lives a living hell? Or does everyone really think Zimbabweans are that stupid?

What is more incredible is the result that Mugabe awarded himself: five years ago the presidential results were delayed for weeks in the wake of a national revolt against his rule. We all knew why — the “books were being cooked” behind the scenes.

The subsequent manufactured results of March 31 resulted in a presidential run-off, the only chance Mugabe had of still clinging onto power. And the vicious violence that preceded the run-off was a desperate attempt to literally bludgeon an already brutalised nation into allowing him to stay on.

It is simply absurd and farcical that that same nation would now peacefully and legitimately award him a massive 61% victory, and his party a landslide 2/3 majority in parliament — enough, you note, to allow Zanu PF to reverse all the legal gains that we voted for as a nation in 2008.

Zanu PF would like the world to believe that those legal gains, including our brand new constitution, are things the people have suddenly decided they do not want.

Zanu PF would like the world to believe that the liberation message combined with hate and loathing of Western nations has suddenly became appealing in 2013, when exactly those same messages were massively rejected in 2008.

They would like the world to accept that a very elderly man who makes long rambling speeches and seldom refers to concrete policies, is suddenly seen as a viable solution to our country’s substantial woes, when just five years ago we demanded someone else be given a chance. Zanu PF would like us to believe this improbability when it is a biological fact that Mugabe is only going to get older and more frail, and at a much faster rate given his advanced years.

Zanu PF wants the world to believe that even though things had become palpably better for Zimbabweans in the last five years — not all of us, but enough to give real hope — the vast incredible majority of us would suddenly wilfully choose to give Zanu PF the benefit of the doubt again and that we would all want a return to what was pure unadulterated hell.

A Mugabe landslide victory is simply not plausible. To endorse it as credible or fair would be an outrage against a whole population, and a total disregard for the meaning of democracy.

Zimbabweans are not stupid. This election has been stolen. It is an abomination to democracy and a violation of everything sacrosanct to all who believe in the right for people to determine their own futures.

In Muzarabani North — a hot-spot area for violence in 2008 — the result speaks for itself: in 2008 nearly 4 000 people voted for MDC-T, but in 2013 only 600 people did.

Zanu PF would like us to believe that 85% of the people there suddenly saw the light and saw their party as the future solution. This is ridiculous.

News Day

By Conway Tutani

23 August 2013

Losing elections in 2008 lit a fire under Zanu PF. They were jolted into action after getting singed (kubvuraudzwa/ukufuswa). The proud cock almost lost all its feathers.

Zanu PF sharpened their claws this time around, splashing millions of dollars on their campaign. This was mind-boggling expenditure considering the state of the economy. Was this money from outside? Was this ransomed for people’s lives to make them loyal no matter what?

In stark contrast, what the opposition MDCs spent on campaigning was a drop in the ocean, reducing their fight against Zanu PF into a mere slap on the wrist instead of slap in the back of the head.

The MDCs would have done with sane heads like David Coltart, who did not allow political hatred and pettiness to cloud his judgment as to the issues at the core.

He correctly read that it was basically a systemic issue; that in order to allow normal, acceptable political behaviour to take root, the system had had to be removed first and foremost; and after that, turn on each other in a normal, civilised way. Coltart knew that there was no way they could take on the system separately.

The lawyer that he is, Coltart saw that justice was elusive and selective in the country — which it still is. Those ministers that former South African president Thabo Mbeki mentioned to President Robert Mugabe last year as serial bribe takers have not been dealt with up to now despite Mugabe’s avowal to take action, while High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe was placed under investigation soon after issuing warrants to search the offices of ministers fingered over corruption.

The known killers of MDC activists Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya are still roaming free 13 years later. Indeed, the killers of Police Inspector Petros Mutedza in Harare two years ago should be dealt with, but so must the killers of Mabika and Chiminya, but up to now no one has been held accountable.
Coltart read the mood of the people. It’s about action, action, action! This is an individual who, with brave others, compiled a report on the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s at great personal risk. That is why he lost by a mere 19 votes unlike fellow MDC candidates who were defeated comprehensively, showing how detached from the ground they were. They didn’t quite get the hang of it. It was like taking us back to the nursery book of politics. You need to work on multiple fronts. We can’t reduce the world of politics to an intellectual abstraction. We must not be scared of making people feel offended or provoked so that they start thinking, real thinking. It’s necessary to hit hard and hit often. How can people snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like what divisiveness did in 2008? Now it appears their first and last chance is gone — forever.

Now Mugabe is yet again savouring another victory, tainted as it is, who can begrudge him in the face of such ineptitude? Now, the regime, for its own survival, has promised to introduce some reforms.

There is no doubt that Mugabe divides opinion. He is loved and loathed in almost equal measure. On the one hand, foreigners — maybe from the safety of distance — display a romanticised view of him following his brave and sacrificial fight for independence. On the other, the majority of urbanites — who have borne the brunt of his economic policies and see political intolerance at close hand with the beatings and arrest of protesters and mind-numbing one-sidedness in the public media — have consistently rejected him since the formation of the MDC. The more discerning people are, the less attractive they find Zanu PF. If anything, that political thuggery and crude propaganda is Zanu PF’s downfall in urban areas because it is a throwback to colonial Rhodesia where the racist regime demanded unquestioned acceptance of its rule from oppressed blacks claiming that they were there to maintain some creature called Western Christian civilisation.

Today, some religious clerics, including the loquacious Obadiah Musindo, are reprising the same tune of Mugabe being anointed to rule. How can someone be anointed and at the same time go through an elective process? Enlightened people find this derisory and insulting. It doesn’t work among educated and sophisticated people as opposed to the exploitable and fickle vulgus, uneducated masses. Is it not peculiar that as one gets nearer to urban areas, there are more votes for the opposition and vice versa?

Indeed, Zanu PF tipped the balance when it went all out for majoritarianism using, to great effect, ochlocracy. Ochlocracy or mob rule is government by mob or a mass of people, or the intimidation of legitimate authorities. Using ochlocracy, Zanu PF finally swept out the MDC-T from Mbare and other places as the duly elected councillors were blocked at each and every turn by Chipangano and other Zanu PF militias.

Ochlocracy, unlike democracy (rule of the people), is characterised by demagoguery, “the tyranny of the majority”, and the rule of passion over reason. That is why land reform, justified as it was but driven by mobs, was as bloody and violent as it was. Short-term demagoguery or moral panic were used; land invasions were escalated after the “No” vote against the draft constitution in 2000. Now we are importing maize from Zambia grown by the very white farmers who were thrown out.

Loading of the judiciary can also result in ochlocracy.

That is the state of the nation today. These are the things that people should be clear in their minds about while they feast and gnash their teeth. This is the time to avoid false ultra-nationalism — especially against the reality of grand corruption. Do we need people who are only after finding a secure political office to live off it forever and ever? The extent of corrupt diamond money still has to be established and revealed.

Let’s not be silent witnesses to all this.

Radio Dialogue

By Lulu Brenda Harris

23 August 2013

Former education minister, Senator David Coltart, has spoken out on the “serious” electoral breaches of both the Constitution and Electoral Law he observed during the election period, which may shed light on concerns centering on the credibility of the just ended elections.

Speaking at the Bulawayo Press Club on Thursday, Coltart expressed reservations on the whole national electoral process saying actions leading to and on day of voting brought the whole elections into disrepute.Coltart pointed out the certain breaches that took place within his constituency, where he a lawyer by profession was contesting and wondered what happened in other areas especially in remote areas.

“I am aware of the legalities of the constitution and the electoral law, which is why i am pointing them out. These concerns have an impact on the whole national process. When i look at my own election campaign I had the best election team and highly qualified polling agents yet these breaches occurred in an urban setting what more in a rural setting,” said Coltart.

He said the electoral process was a complete violation of the constitution and a mockery of voters in constituencies and nationwide as a whole.

“Section 6 of the Constitution needed a 30 day period for an intensive voter registration but in wards three and four, where I was contesting the intensive process began after nomination court sat.

This shows the cynical way the election process was conducted. The registration centre was stuck at Lockview primary school, the most inaccessible place and some don’t even know where it is.

“The school is stuck in the middle of nowhere, not nearer the high concentration areas of Hillside, Ilanda and Woodlands. This was a deliberate ploy to make sure few people registered as soon as possible,” he said.

Coltart said the most serious breach of the electoral law was the duplication of names, concerns of dead peoples names on the voter roll, bussing in of people to polling stations but when political parties raised these concerns, they were ignored.He said the inaccessible voters roll was a key necessary planing tool, aiding candidates in studying their constituencies and demographic detail of voters.

“We went to the Supreme Court asking for the copy the electronic version of the voters roll the copy, which we were not issued with. The electronic copy is more user friendly because the paper format is long and when laid out, will take up to four rooms.

It is certainly difficult to go through it in a whim. It is like checking for double entries in a telephone directory but the supreme court denied us that.

“But in the Global Political Agreement we agreed that every candidate shall be entitled to to the voters roll. Section 21, six and seven of the electoral law says within a reasonable time every candidate must be provided a copy in electoral format of sold to on request,” said Coltart.

The presence of police officers inside the polling station was another grave violation of the Electoral Law, Coltart said.

“Section 55. 6 of the Electoral Act says a presiding officer might call in a police officer to provide order and assistance. The role of police is simply to keep law and order outside they have no other roles than that.

Section 62 says during counting of votes, the following persons and no others may be present – the presiding officer, polling officers, candidates, roving party agents and no other persons are to be involved. but there was intensive involvement of police at very single polling station they were taking notes, communicating on their radios.

“We expressed our concerns but we were just ignored. Even when counting started senior policemen were moving in and out of polling stations yet we the candidates were shut. If this happened in an urban setting what more in a rural one,” he said.

The former minister said these irregularities spoke volumes about the entire harmonised elections and that these were some of the serious breaches of the electoral law and Constitution, which Zimbabweans had worked hard for.

However, in light of these concerns, President Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s head of state, regardless of breaches made.