ZANU PF must die but MDC must step up! Part 1

A lot of well meaning people literally thought the sky would fall on the MDC for agreeing to be part of the GNU.Well, whilst a lot of their fears have been confirmed, Zimbabweans have had a bit of some breathing space as compared to the cataclysmic period the nation had plunged in post March 2008.We are now 'celebrating' one year of the GNU.
One thing is certain though, ZANU PF is now rapidly disintegrating into smitherings.With the final collapse of the Unity Accord, the aging of its leaders, the return of Moyo and the fights that have ensured as a result, l am convinced the end is near for the criminals. I submit that the extinction of ZANUPF in its entirety is a sine qua non to Zimbabwe’s recovery process. The revolutionary party has become a threat to the people's sovereignty hence there is a need for a protracted Chimurenga against 'vapambepfumi ve ZANU' so we can reclaim our inheritance! We have to use their language to describe them now. Today Jestina Mukoko is acquitted yet she had been tortured. We have a government that tortures, a President who is a multiple farm owner while the poor he purports to fight for still live in the communal lands where stones grow better than crops. We still have ministers who think it’s cool to invade farms and even invade farms owned by recent new farmers. One year on, we still have governors, Permanent Secretaries and even a cabinet minister who haven’t been sworn in. What l have personally learnt one year on is that ZANU PF should not and cannot be reformed. The party must die and its leaders have to be tried for their crimes against humanity. Those who are calling on the nation to ‘turn over to a new page’ maybe sincere but sincerely wrong. Before we turn the page, let’s read what’s on the page-maybe it might help us to understand the next page. The evidence is awash in a multiplicity of accurately researched reports and the anger in the population is understandable
However, my article is actually more focused on an analysis of the MDC’s perfomance.I see potential in the MDC to improve. A lot of the leaders have shown outstanding fortitude under inexplicable circumstances. The Prime Minister needs mention on this. After losing his dear wife we all felt for him. The manner in which he managed to bounce back within days to continue working proves the fact that he is more deserving to lead this country than President Mugabe. Clearly the breathing space we have as a country is because of the MDC National Council’s decision to participate in this unfairly structured GNU arrangement. A lot more people would have died if the bickering had continued outside the arrangement. A lot more would be jobless and dejected. Practically every national executive member of the party has been tortured but in their minds, the struggle continues unabated. However, beyond the remarkable bravery and obvious international goodwill the MDC enjoys,l have serious concerns with the party that has gallantly fought for the common man since 1999.We have witnessed uncharacteristic selfishness and stubbornness from some of the MDC MPs particularly those that refused to return the Gono allocated vehicles after Biti instructed it to be done. More worrying is the ‘Mercedes Benz mentality’ which so pervades African politics-It is not necessary for many of the ministers on the continent to drive such posh vehicles when the masses starve. It’s even more embarrassing in Zimbabwe’s case to see opposition ministers and MPs continuing the propensity to overspend on packages of public officials when the economy is on its knees. Cheaper vehicles could do. Now we know MDC will maintain the same packages ZANU PF used for patronage. This is important because it shows the mentality that the leaders have. To them it’s payback time for ‘the suffering we went through’. This is exactly what happened at independence when Mugabe’s ministers felt the need to ‘finally be comfortable’ after years in the bushes. What one could conclude is that the more a party struggles to get to power, the more its likely to spend to compensate its leaders when it gets into power.Mwalimu Julius Nyerere taught us selflessness maybe to an extreme. He simply didn’t want the opulence we now see on the continent. For many of the new ministers, the ministers’ Merc is worth more than the value of the other cars in that ministry combined! There is nothing anywhere in the other ministries. As David Coltart once said, it doesn’t make sense to drive around in such cars when the ministry building itself doesn’t even have water or electricity. Where is the logic? Where is the servant hood that we heard so often during the massively attended rallies? Minister Eric Matinenga my homeboy actually said that he was ‘embarrassed’ to accept the Merc.But he still did! When MDC was formed in 1999, the mandate was clear, to liberate the worker from the doldrums of poverty. One hoped for worker centered policies. Now the same party has ministers driving new and expensive cars whilst civil servants get $100 per month. Where is the solidarity? If MDC ministers had refused, that would have thrown egg in the face of ZANU PF .Now they can’t criticize ZANU PF spending without being accused correctly of being hypocrites.
It has been somewhat anti-climatic to just look at the MDC-T‘s list of ministers in itself. I deliberately exclude the Mutambara faction because l think that that party would crumble like a deck of cards if the GNU would collapse or elections are held. They have no mandate essentially. They aren’t going anywhere. The more we talk about them, the more they look important. I don’t see them having any influence on public policy whatsoever in future unless maybe the MDC unites. Folks like Thamsanqa Mahlangu, Paurina Mpariwa among many others make you wonder if that’s the best Zimbabwe has to offer as we all desire impatiently for the dawn of a New Zimbabwe. If there is something that Independence parties or revolutionary parties have been good at has been attracting some of the best minds in the country. Some of the minds are smart though unwise like Prof Moyo but there is no doubt that Mugabe has over the years had some of the best ministers you could think of in the cabinet. Imagine Bernard Chidzero or even the more recent ‘technocratic cabinet’. I have concerns on the quality of Tsvangirai’s picks. I however appreciate that these men and women have labored more than many people. I just wonder if that alone is license to ministerial appointments. When you look at the cabinet ,apart from just a few, you struggle to think of any trend setter in any field amongst the picks.Ideally,as we map out a new Zimbabwe, its best to get the best ,loyal Zimbabweans available and make sure they have proven themselves in that field. Some of the ministers have not excelled in anything except maybe being brave and you then wonder if they can outmaneuver the more experienced, obviously smart ZANU PF gang.ZANU PF has ruthless tacticians like Mnangagwa,Jonathan Moyo,Chinamasa and others and one wonders if MDC being the junior party can stand up to the heat. They are structurally at a disadvantage and l am sure they are constantly outwitted by those ZANU criminals. Giles Mutsekwa was outfoxed by the ZANU machinery.Sekai Holland is constantly outmaneuvered by Nkomo.When you enter such unfair deals, you have to be a supreme tactician yourself.Unfortunately,while l would crown a lot of the MDC ministers world champions for bravery, it remains to be seen if they can excel in a bureaucracy littered with obstacles like Zimbabwe’s. They are set up to fail but they can succeed. Even a perusal of the list of MPs leaves you underwhelmed. I strongly hope Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is working flat out to get the best possible. The challenge is to get technocrats who have feet on the ground and not the lofty, out of touch and otherwise arrogant type like Mutambara.I believe Zimbabwe is awash with such examples. They don’t have to be politicians; they just have to be able citizens who are effective. The fewer politicians Tsvangirai works with the less difficult he is likely to face in pursuing the new Zimbabwe vision.
I have been disturbed with a tendency to either misinform the public like ZANU PF ministers or to say stuff that is simply blithering nonsense. The other time Deputy Minister Murisi Zwizwai unashamedly denied the callous killings in Chiadzwa diamond fields.However, for him to get away with such behavior is simply incredible. I wouldn’t have been surprised if that had happened with Mugabe’s ministers.Infact, it is always a surprise to hear them say the truth otherwise they have become pathological liars. It is sad our ‘democracy’ does not cut such l ‘leaders’ to size. He denied that ZANU PF is killing people. Who side is he on? What was he trying to prove? The ministers are so desperate to prove that Zimbabwe is now a safe investment destination that they are prepared to lie to achieve that end.
Regrettably, this shallowness of thinking and dubious character is the last thing we would want in our progressive movement. Then came Sekai Holland who simply has become a gaffing machine. She will struggle to regain credibility after her numerous gaffes. Giles Mutsekwa then completed this unholy alliance. He claims that he was cheated by Chanakira into agreeing to the specification of Moxon without hearing the other side of the story. To argue that he trusted Chanakira because he is a Christian is alarming. In fact it’s nonsense and for him to say that is to insult our collective intelligence. Was he simply outfoxed?
Prime Minister Tsvangirai has a huge challenge because for the first time we are now looking at his ministers closely. Gone are the days when we would just clap hands and ululate at rallies just because an opposition leader declared Mugabe a liar. The ministers have to deliver results.Sofar; the nation is waiting and trusting.
Our hearts have been broken by ZANU PF.When MDC came; we thought we were on a mending process. There is still hope. Please do not disappoint…

My take on Mugabe's interview with CNN's Amanpour

Like any Zimbabwean, l was naturally looking forward to the CNN's Christiane Amanpour interview with my President Robert Mugabe. Regrettably but not surprisingly, l was disappointed. Sometimes l didn’t know whether to cry or even laugh. Mugabe constantly lied through his teeth and Amanpour lacked tact and fact at times.
In reference to the evil Operation Murambatsvina of 2005, Amanpour mistakenly asked Mugabe to explain why 'those farm workers were driven out of the farms’! She clearly had not done her homework properly because Murambatsvina was not about the farm workers. It was about the urban poor whose dwellings were destroyed by a desperate, irresponsible and callous government that feared that the more poor people remain in towns; the most likely ZANU PF would lose in towns during the elections. So the idea was to reduce the town population and drive the poor to the rural areas where ZANUPF 'rules’. Rigging has been very easy in the rural areas.Infact the Amanpour’s questioning itself sometimes left a lot to be desired.Amanpour was often irritated and frustrated by Mugabe’s transgience and l suspect she thought the Zimbabwean issues were so obvious that she didn’t even need to work too hard on the facts. It showed in the interview because she omitted pertinent questions bedeviling Zimbabwe and failed to follow up on some of Mugabe’s rumblings. Rather she fell into the Mugabe trap of giving him the platform to look like he is a martyr of western imperialism. That message still resonates in some countries and she didn’t need to ask questions that would make him hide behind imperialism. He is most eloquent when he is talking about western hypocrisy partly because he will be right and also because he is simply a great speaker on a good day.

Unfortunately, Amanpour sometimes seemed obsessed with 'white farmers' circumstances and never seemed to ask intelligent and probing questions on the situation of the black folk. One could argue that she confirms the fears of many that Zimbabwe has been an international concern less because of the malaise of the black Zimbabwean but because of the recent plight of the white Zimbabweans who have been brutally murdered. The question is whether there would been equal vehemence against the Zimbabwean crisis if the white folks had not been affected? Infact Amanpour praised the 1980s period as if that was some golden era. For goodness sake that was the era of Gukurahundi, the darkest period in the young ‘democracy’ when over 20000 Ndebeles were murdered in cold blood by the North Korean trained 5th brigade soldiers. That was the period when Mugabe was getting the red carpet the world over, receiving honorary doctorates from Universities from the East to the West.

It is amazing how that interview showed that Amanpour was probably asking what Americans wanted to hear? Why the silence on the opposition officials who have not been sworn in when they don’t have cases to answer in courts? It’s a question that Mugabe simply could not answer coherently the way he waffled embarrassingly when asked about Roy Bennett’s issue. It was hilarious to witness the Big Man of Africa crumble like a deck of cards! In my years in Zimbabwe l had never witnessed Mugabe look so clueless, stupified and clearly raffled. That was both a high and low point for Amanpour.From a tactics and political point of view, she could have asked about the other officials, permanent secretaries,governors,ambassodors who have not been sworn in as opposed to only pressing Roy Bennett’s issue which Mugabe defended. It gives the impression that the West seems interested only in the affairs of white Zimbabweans. While l feel sorry for the many white Zimbabweans who actually bought land yet it was taken away from them,Amapour should have outsmarted him by emphasizing the unfairness he is doing on his ‘own people’

However, Amapour was far from the loser that night. However, l felt she could have done more research, control her body language more because her contempt for Mugabe was apparent and ordinarily you don’t want to do that with a Head of state. Pointing at a head of State with her glasses was a small thing that revealed more. It’s highly disrespectful in the African culture.
Amapour still managed to ruffle Mugabe. Indeed he has not had such probing questions in years. He had become accustomed to Reuben Barwe who simply has been bootlicking throughout the crisis. It is said that bootlickers run the risk of being kicked in the mouth!
It was Mugabe who lost and lost emphatically in that interview. It was his first interview in several years since he instituted a blockade of independent media on Zimbabwe. He was at least supposed to sound his usual best. He generally has smart arguments and he easily outsmarts a lot of journalists but yesterday he was strangely subdued, tired and clueless. I was surprised by the stuttering. Sometimes l even felt sorry for him! He thoroughly flip-flopped that he lost the minute credibility that he might have had with some strange people.
Zimbabwe almost collapsed under his watch and the GNU is grinding to a halt under his watch as well. He denies that people are being harassed. He denied that the economy is in dire shape. He simply denies responsibility. At his age and health state you would think that he is more remorseful but pride reigns supreme in him. His fall is now as certain as the rising of the sun and its setting. I can sense a new Zimbabwe!

Emotional intelligence and leadership

We live in a world obsessed with intelligence. In the university system, one talks of rankings of institutions, grades and all kinds of ways to separate the intelligent and the slow. We even assume that the Ivy-educated will most definitely always make it in life. I have news for you! It’s not always the case. Now research shows that 75% of one's professional success is determined more by emotional intelligence (EQ) and less by mental intelligence-what we normally call IQ.EQ is a an intelligence that is fairly new in literature though as old as humantiy.People like Stephen Covey and Daniel Goleman have written remarkable books covering the subject.

Put simply, it explains the way a person handles their emotions within the confines of dignity. Over the course of my short life,l have met classmates who were very smart but no one wanted befriend or even hang out with them.Noone could deny their brilliance but they usually lose opportunities because people didn’t like their 'attitude', 'temper' and or 'disposition’. Even in the work environment, a lot of people fail to progress simply because e of the way they express and manage their emotions.Noone wants to work with emotional wrecks.
This is pertinent to leadership because leaders are usually faced with many daunting tasks that require nerves or broad shoulders.EQ is divided into three areas namely emotional awareness, emotional management and emotional sensitivity. Some people actually talk of more.
Emotional awareness is somewhat self explanatory in that it challenges the leader to be aware of their emotional make up. This is not as obvious as it sounds on surface. Being of aware of who you are helps you manage your behavior in critical moments. A short tempered person needs to be 'aware' of that and make sure they know when to stop in arguements.EA is important in explaining people's reactions to situations. Have you ever wondered why some leaders seem to blow everything out of proportion? I know of a prominent war veteran in Zimbabwe who fought gallantly during the war of liberation. His family was killed by the white minority government of Ian Smith. As late as 2005, he witnessed a car accident in which a white lady driving a car in the Harare city centre accidentally hit a black man just walking by. The man wasn’t hurt and they settled the issue amicably. The war veteran saw this happening and came charging literally to the point of hitting the lady. He started shouting obscenities at a place where peace was reigning. Passer bys stood perplexed because he was neither a victim nor invited to the discussion. What happened with the man was that he never dealt with his emotions of anger of losing his family to the extent that to this day, each day he sees a white person and a black person discussing or arguing, he has the propensity to attack the white person. Imagine if such a person becomes a President?Unfortuantely,a lot of nations, families and companies are led by people who are not emotionally self aware through analyzing their background .Consequently, a crisis tends to shake them and expose the deep seated unresolved issues in their subconscious mind. I read in the newspaper of a lady who used to hate all men with dreadlocks because she was once raped by a man with dreadlocks. As a leader, one has to be particularly aware of any deep seated negative emotions and deal with it. I know this is a huge subject on its own. Usually when you don’t deal with an issue, it explodes when you least want it to.

Second aspect of EQ is emotional management which deals with impulse control issues and control strong emotions of anger or even joy among other things. Many times we talk of anger management but we forget that some people are as destructive when angry as they are when happy! The trick is to where possible to always try not to make big decisions when extremely angry or happy-such emotions can cloud judgement.Some overjoyed people can be very naïve and gullible. Joy management is critical in negotiation. When you are close to sealing the biggest deal of your life, how does your body language show? Some get so happy that they freak out the other person they are negotiating with and they end up changing their mind! Imagine being a peace negotiator in a war torn country and you strike a deal midnight. What do you feel? Some immediately text everyone on phones and within an hour, delicate information is in the press and you scuttle the entire process.EQ experts like Covey even talk of impulse control with reference to control of sexual urges. Need l say more? Need l give examples of great people who essentially lost it for failing to manage this impulse? Regrettably a lot of people underestimate the importance of impulse control.

To remedy all this, consider clarifying your values and learn to stick to them. Consider among other things, auto suggestion or neurolinguistic programming, have a realistic set of goals and ‘making conscious effort’ to work towards emotional management. Seize making excuses of emotional outbursts.Folks like Kanye West,Joe Wilson and many others are classically examples of how not to conduct yourself as a leader.You might retract you statements but the damage would already be done. It doesn’t get you anywhere.

The last tenet of EQ is emotional sensitivity. This is empathy. World renowned leadership expert John Maxwell says ‘people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’. Leaders are sensitive to the needs of others. They don’t say things that are unnecessarily confrontational. They respect others. In his EQ classic Daniel Goleman sees this as relational intelligence in a way. Sensitive people usually exude a positive aura around their orbit. They attract and not repel. As a leader the last thing you want to do is to attract.

In conclusion, in this piece, l am simply encouraging the leader to be self aware, and then to learn to control self and to be ‘relationally sweet’. I can assure you that if you do well with EQ you substantially improve your leadership capacity. All the best!