Zuma not the solution



By Blessing Vava

SADC Facilitator President Zuma poses for photographs with
his wives
The previous week’s newspaper headlines screamed with messages that the SADC facilitation team headed by president Zuma was on its way to this great nationwith some even suggesting that finally president Zuma will break the so-called  impasse that newspapers are claiming exist between the parties in government. There was too much expectation from most Zimbabweans, but it turnedout that President Zuma was a busy man. Coincidentally his troubled ANC was hosting its policy conference ahead of the heated congress in Mangaung in December this year. A make or break congress were he is seeking second termre-election and his serious contender being  his Deputy president Kgalema Mothlante backed by the Youth League.

Theresa Makone-Chihuri's appointment legal
 So to expect much from Zuma was purely magical because of the internal dynamics rocking the ANC, the man hasmuch to chew on his table.  Lest we forget that former president Mbeki was recalled just days after he thought he was a hero after brokering a unity deal betweenZimbabwe’s political parties. During his 2nd term of office he had been spending muchtime travelling to Zimbabwe to deal with the Zimbabwean crisis. Maybe his muchabsence from South Africa and much presents in Zimbabwe gave his rivals achance to plot and conspire against him. And after all this President Zuma is now very much aware that he has to put his house in order  first rather than spend valuable time in dealing with the unending Zimbabwean crisis with crooked politicians. Charity begins at home and that is why maybe he first had to deal with policy conference rather than flying to Zimbabwe to deal with insincere leaders.  In the same vein I wish to share the same thought with MDC’s secretary general Priscilla Musihairambwi when she said that it’s hightime we solve our issues as Zimbabweans rather than placing all our hopes to president Zuma and his team. She said these remarks at a Quill speak discussion at the Quill Club last Friday.  We are now tired of unending SADC summits, Troika meetings and unending visits by the facilitation teams who haven’t brought anything tangible rather than ultimatums and timelines. Zimbabweans are now tired of this script which has not changed much since this government was formulated.  Zuma’s team can make several trips to Harare but if there’s no will from the political leaders in Zimbabwe nothing much will change.

The politicians in government are just buying time and that is why i have been arguing that there’s no impasse existing between these  parties. Those who are talking of an impasse are lost; I do not believe there is any impasse in the GNU. They are mere side-tracks, the impasse is for the public who are made to believe non-existent things that there is an impasse. The parties in government, seemingly have found each other, surely if there was an impasse I did not expect people like Chimanikire to see no anomaly for the army to own a diamond mining company, even more shocking are the remarks by the controversial Ministerof Home Affairs MDCTs Theresa Makone who had the guts of saying that ZANU PF apologist Augustine Chihuri's appointment as commissioner general of police was legal.  We all wonder so who is really fooling who here? What is now evident is that  people in government seem to  have ran out of ideas to justify their continued stay in 'comfort' and 'luxury' of thisdysfunctional government.

No one wants elections, if you can ask what happenedto ZANU PF’s verve of having elections this year, a message they have beenparroting in the past months. I however think that no matter how many times the facilitation teams come here nothing will change as long as we Zimbabweans are failing to deal with some of these issues on our own.  The facilitation team has had several implementations plans despite the GPA beingan implementation plan in itself. The solution is in the hands of the political players, Zuma's role is to listen and advice. It is not president Zuma who hasa solution but us the people of Zimbabwe and the reason why he didn’t come as many were expecting was the fact that he had also his domestic issues to deal with, which are much more important than that of a neighbour who has spent close to five years negotiating and seemingly failing to find a conclusion to the so-called crisis. That’s the reason why I’m arguing that the impasse does not exist; the politicians are just trying to find justification and an excuse to continue serving in this unpopular government at the expense of millions of Zimbabweans who seem tired of this creature they did not vote for. We should not expect much from president Zuma, because he is not a decision maker in solving our problems, the responsibility lies entirely onus the custodians of this country and we should seriously think about that. Because it is now appearing that Zimbabwe is now another province of South Africa, mainly because we have given Zuma too much mandate and responsibilities to prescribe the course to take for this country.

We should be very careful and worry of South Africa colonising us indirectly because we have given them too much room to do so and dictate the pace for us.  Its like a man who is having sexual problems with his wife and goes to call a neighbour to mediate, yet the neighbour always looks at the wife with a lustful eye. South Africa has many interests in this country ranging from mineral claims and other business interests and the politicians should be wary of that fact and straighten up and end this bickering and approach the matter of solving the crisis with utmost patriotism and a sense of belonging bearing in mind that Zimbabwe has to be preserved for the generations to come. Same goes to the constitution making process which has dragged three years than anticipated, they have agreed on the Kariba document and now they continue negotiating and no one really knows when they will conclude. They have continued misleading us but we are now aware that they are sailing in the same boat.   The time is now that Zimbabweans demand a conclusion to all this GPA madness. It is not only about the three parties in government but, the millions of Zimbabweans whoyearn to see a progressive nation they enjoy its fruits and be proud of. It can only be us and no one else.

Blessing Vava is a blogger from Chipinge

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