Peace, love & happiness unto the whole world

The day the dollar died temporarily

2010-02-26T12:23:00.000+02:00

Most people spent a greater part of their lives working so that they get money and most times in so doing they ignore the emotional needs of their children and loved ones. The pursuit of riches has often resulted in people not getting time to spent quality time with the people they love, the very people whom they will be working to provide for. The search for money has also often led to people becoming so inhuman, take for example during the 2009 recession when quite a number of people were left homeless because they couldn't pay their mortgages, this showed that people value money more than the well-being of their fellow humans. It is during times like that, that I have often wished that that piece of paper called money did not exist. The whole world has let that piece of paper called money rule us to the extend that when we don't have it we are devoid of peace and happiness. It is said that, "Money is the root of all evil," and that is true to a certain extend but I think the saying should have been, "The lack of money is the root of all evil", because a lot of crimes and inhuman activities are committed with the motive of getting that piece of paper called money. I value love, peace and happiness more than money and when I look around me and see the bad effects of the love of money above all else I often fantasise with my over-imaginative mind of strangling money to death. My dream came true in USA recently when for but only a day the USA Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke caused the dollar to die temporarily.

This word to word extract from the link http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_economy_grinds_to_halt_ ,will make you understand what I am talking about.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy ceased to function this week after unexpected existential remarks by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke shocked Americans into realizing that money is, in fact, just a meaningless and intangible social construct.

What began as a routine report before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday ended with Bernanke passionately disavowing the entire concept of currency, and negating in an instant the very foundation of the world's largest economy.
"Though raising interest rates is unlikely at the moment, the Fed will of course act appropriately if we…if we…" said Bernanke, who then paused for a moment, looked down at his prepared statement, and shook his head in utter disbelief. "You know what? It doesn't matter. None of this—this so-called 'money'—really matters at all."
"It's just an illusion," a wide-eyed Bernanke added as he removed bills from his wallet and slowly spread them out before him. "Just look at it: Meaningless pieces of paper with numbers printed on them. Worthless."
According to witnesses, Finance Committee members sat in thunderstruck silence for several moments until Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) finally shouted out, "Oh my God, he's right. It's all a mirage. All of it—the money, our whole economy—it's all a lie!"
Screams then filled the Senate Chamber as lawmakers and members of the press ran for the exits, leaving in their wake aisles littered with the remains of torn currency.
As news of the nation's collectively held delusion spread, the economy ground to a halt, with dumbfounded citizens everywhere walking out on their jobs as they contemplated the little green drawings of buildings and dead white men they once used to measure their adequacy and importance as human beings.

At the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday morning's opening bell echoed across a silent floor as the few traders who arrived for work out of habit looked up blankly at the meaningless scrolling numbers on the flashing screens above.
"I've spent 25 years in this room yelling 'Buy, buy! Sell, sell!' and for what?" longtime trader Michael Palermo said. "All I've done is move arbitrary designations of wealth from one column to another, wasting my life chasing this unattainable hallucination of wealth."
"What a cruel cosmic joke," he added. "I'm going home to hug my daughter."

Sources at the White House said President Obama was "still trying to get his head around all this" and was in seclusion with his coin collection, muttering "it's just metal, it's just metal" over and over again.
"The president will be making a statement very soon," press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters. "At the moment, though, his mind is just too blown to comment."

A few U.S. banks have remained open, though most teller windows are unmanned due to a lack of interest in transactions involving mere scraps of paper or, worse, decimal points and computer data signifying mere scraps of paper. At a Bank of America branch in Spokane, WA, curious former customers wandered aimlessly through a large empty vault, while several would-be robbers of a Chase bank in Columbus, OH reportedly put their guns down and exited the building hand in hand with security guards, laughing over the inherent absurdity of the idea of $100 bills.

Likewise, the real estate industry has all but vanished, with mortgage lenders seeing no reason to stop people from reclaiming their foreclosed-upon homes. "I don't even know what we were thinking in the first place," said former banker Nathan Collins of Brandon, MS, as he jimmyed open a door to allow a single mother and her five children to move back into their house. "A bunch of people sign a bunch of papers, and now this family has no place to live? That's just plain ludicrous."

The realization that money is nothing more than an elaborate head game seems to have penetrated the entire country: In Wilmington, DE, for instance, a collection agent reportedly broke down in joyful sobs when he informed a woman on the other end of the phone that he had absolutely no reason to harass her anymore, as her Discover Card debt was no longer comprehensible. For some Americans, the fog of disbelief surrounding the nation's epiphany has begun to lift, with many building new lives free from the illusion of money. "It's back to basics for me," Bernard Polk of Waverly, OH said. "I'm going to till the soil for my own sustenance and get anything else I need by bartering. If I want milk, I'll pay for it in tomatoes. If I need a new hoe, I'll pay for it in lettuce." When asked, hypothetically, how he would pay for complicated life-saving surgery for a loved one, Polk seemed uncertain. "That's a lot of vegetables, isn't it?" he said.

I would be very happy to live in a world were people see money as the worthless piece of paper that it is, where people realise that the worth we place on money is all but only an illusion and so concentrate all their efforts on the real valuable issues in life like love, peace & happiness & spending quality time with loved ones. Pity that this lasted for only a day.

Long back, in 1967, Martin Luther King Jr said this about money in his speech called The Trumpet of Conscience, "We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobile rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind. I am aware that there are many who wince at a distinction between property and persons--who hold both sacrosanct. My views are not so rigid. A life is sacred. Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on; it is not man."

Who exactly is benefitting from foreign aid given to African countries?

2010-02-04T18:33:00.000+02:00

Self-reliance and poverty reduction are the ultimate goals of foreign aid to any country. Foreign aid is supposed to influence economic growth and promote the sustainable development of the country receiving aid. It is supposed to make a difference in the lives of people and increase their self-reliance. Foreign aid, comes in three different forms namely, economic development assistance, military aid, and humanitarian relief assistance, which all generally aims at promoting development through, economic and political reforms that promote human rights, good governance and democracy, through investments in technological innovations and ideas that make land, capital or labor more productive, through investments in physical and human capital and through institutional and capacity building with technical assistance. Apart from these “standard assumptions” cum motives for foreign aid, empirical evidence and literature reveal that there are other disguised motives for foreign aid. Foreign aid is and has been a tool of statecraft often used by the government providing it to encourage or reward politically desirable behavior on the part of the government receiving it. It has been an instrument of coercion and a tool for the exercise of power over poor nations by donors. Donor countries have been known to attempt to influence the policies of poor countries by promising to provide, or threatening to withhold financial or material assistance. Such a leverage may be exercised not only in the direct interest of the citizens of the poor countries but also in the direct political or economic interest of the donors. During the Cold War era aid was part and parcel of international power struggles between the West and the East and was given to developing countries in order to keep them in the same camp or prevent them from allying themselves with the other side. Economic development assistance in Africa has over the decades been used as an instrument by the donors to achieve a variety of non-economic objectives such as a containment of communist expansion in Africa. Therefore foreign aid to Africa more frequently reflect political considerations of donor countries rather than the real needs of the recipient nations.

Despite the flow of foreign aid to many African countries over the years since the 1960’s, Africa, continues to wallow in seemingly perpetual states of misery, poverty, crises, hunger, and chaos despite massive foreign aid being poured in. Paradoxically, most of the countries that are basket cases of lethargy and poverty, including Zimbabwe, have been recipients of massive amounts of foreign aid since their independences. Despite the massive infusion of billions of dollars in aid into Africa, there is little to suggest that aid has succeeded in either stimulating self-sustaining economic growth or improving the plight of the marginalized Africans. Africa’s development record has indicated that greater aid intensity has not necessarily led to sustainable development, improved institutions improved infant mortality rates, increase in primary school enrollments, improved life expectancy or good governance. The paradox is, how can massive inflows of aid coexist with massive economic deterioration? So who exactly is benefitting from foreign aid given to most African countries? Almost every African country in crisis today has received abundant foreign aid. Aid was found to primarily benefit a wealthy political elite and not the poor citizens it is meant to benefit. Most of these countries have slid into anarchy and unspeakable abuse of human rights of their citizens while abusing foreign aid to oppress the poor and sink them deeper into poverty. Indeed, foreign aid almost certainly helped create and aggravate problems in most African countries by subsidizing dictators and corrupt regimes. So often in Africa, and throughout the Third World, the main function of foreign aid seems to be to finance the emergence of kleptocracies and then entrench a powerful new class of rich people amidst the poor, destitute, and miserable. Many parts of Africa face daunting problems of extreme poverty, overpopulation, civil wars, crumbling public infrastructures and environmental degradation. The fact that these problems have persisted and in many respects actually worsened despite massive foreign aid is a prima facie evidence that foreign aid to Africa has failed to produce the results it is intended to produce. Africans are mainly to blame for not channelling the foreign aid towards sustainable development but they are not the only ones to blame. The donors themselves are also to blame because foreign aid programs are donor driven in the sense of being tied to the donor government’s non-developmental objectives and having program design and implementation tightly controlled by the donors. Therefore foreign aid, has often amounted to economic and technical advice that might have worked in the West, but that is grossly inappropriate for Third World countries with limited indigenous resources, poor infrastructure or uneducated work force.

I am of the view that foreign aid is supposed to be temporary. Once the capacity for self – sustaining growth has been achieved, aid would no longer be required. But far from growth and development, most Third World countries seem to be more dependent on aid than ever. In fact, these countries are addicted to foreign aid. Decades of financial transfers have not fostered economic growth and, worse still, almost every African country in crisis today has received abundant foreign aid. The net effect of aid in Africa, as several development experts have observed, has been a culture of dependence that erodes self-confidence, creativity, and pride of citizens and leaders. Aid dependence has eroded and undermined the moral authority of African leaders to govern. It seems aid does not help ordinary people to help themselves, but systematically empowers and enriches the very forces that most efficiently stifle the initiative and resourcefulness of peasants, nomads, slum dwellers and villagers throughout the Third World. Most of the poor people in most poor countries most of the time never receive aid in any tangible form. There is ample evidence to show that during the past decades of massive aid flows, Sub Saharan Africa has lost the self-sufficiency in food and agriculture production it enjoyed before the injection of humanitarian food aid. Africa has now become a beggar continent that cannot feed her own people.

Africa would you please come up with sustainable development projects that will make you self-reliant so that you can wrench free from the addiction of donor funding,

Why waste money on military weapons?

2010-02-02T16:35:00.001+02:00

It's really sad how some men and women who rule nations believe that their power and the respect their nations get is directly proportional to the amount of military weapons that they have and their military prowess. That used to be true before the computer age but with the advent of the computer which was utilised to control almost everything from air traffic, rail traffic in developed nations, road traffic lights, electric power stations, water supply systems to government databases and financial systems, the power of a nation now rests on how well it can protect its critical computer network systems from hackers. If ever there is going to be a world war III in years to come,(may God forbid) it is going to be a cyber war with nations launching cyber attacks on each other's critical computer network systems, which will render all military weapons useless.

Picture it this way. The year is 2060 and the whole wide world has become one computer network highway. China has become the number one superpower having overtaken giants like USA, Japan, UK, South Korea and Russia and that is because it has developed an army of hackers who have the ability to hack into any computer network system in the whole world and through those hackers China stole other nations' technology programs, business and strategic governance intelligence and improved on it to become a superpower to reckon with. Then it so happens that there is a diplomatic dispute between USA and China which escalates into an all-out war. USA is convinced that with its superior military weapons it can cut China down to size by defeating it in military war so it gives China an ultimatum to submit to USA's demands or else face their wrath in war. This ultimatum opens China's old wounds, the psychological trauma it suffered during the Opium Wars of the nineteenth century, when British gunboats routinely humiliated the Chinese government of the day. The deep feelings of resentment most Chinese feel for the humiliation they suffered during that time makes them want to ensure that there is no repeat of a time when foreign powers could push the Chinese people around with impunity. Therefore the Chinese knowing very well that they stand no chance if it came to a conventional military conflict with USA and its superior military firepower, they turn to using what they can do best, they utilise their army of hackers to launch a cyber attack on USA. So as the USA army is busy preparing to launch a barrage of ballistic missiles and jet fighters to destroy key Chinese targets, China simply telnets into the USA's critical computer network systems and by so doing takes over control of the whole nation of USA. At the flick of an electronic switch the Chinese army of hackers totally shut down USA's electric power stations, water supply systems, all traffic control systems, USA financial systems and all USA government databases. USA with all its computer network systems shut down abruptly stands still and the result is more devastating than the earthquake in Haiti of January 2010 and also more devastating than the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki of August 1945. There are airplane & airbus crashes, electric train crashes and road accidents all over USA, people suffocate in elevators and the effect of the terrible stench from decaying food supplies in refridgerators and toilets without water after a few days with the electronic switch off is worse than the effects of the poisonous gases at Chenobyl, Bhopal or Seveso combined. USA's attempt to respond by launching nuclear-armed Trident missiles at China proves impossible, as the computer systems that control the weapons system have been hacked into by the Chinese army of hackers.

Dear readers, heave a sigh of relief because this is a fictitious story and not a prophetic statement but be warned that a situation like this has the potential to become reality especially considering what was written on http://www.telegraph.co.uk recently , I quote,

"There have already been well-documented instances in recent years where Chinese hackers have successfully launched cyber attacks against key Western targets like the Pentagon and Whitehall. In America Chinese hackers are reported to have attempted up to 100 000 attacks on government computers each year, and have successfully penetrated the computer systems of some of American military's elite units, such as US Army's 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. In 2006 Chinese computer hackers were accused of shutting down the UK House of Commons computer network by flooding it with bogus emails, and the UK Foreign Office and other key government departments have accused Chinese computer experts of trying to hack into their systems. In fact, China is so obsessed with achieving electronic dominance over the whole world so much that it annually holds computer hacking competitions throughout the country, and then recruit the winners to their burgeoning cyber army."

So dear readers let me get back to my question, "Why waste money on military weapons when the real threat to the world today is hackers who can penetrate the computer networks that this technology age is dependent on to run people's lives efficiently." It would be best if countries like Iran which is refusing disarmament of its nuclear weapons would realise that their nuclear weapons are no threat to an army of hackers and get rid of the nuclear weapons and concentrate their efforts on building perfectly secure computer networks that even the most capable hacker can not penetrate.

Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize of 2009 that was awarded to him.

2009-12-15T16:50:00.002+02:00

On Thursday the 10th of December 2009 he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Why Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2009 was for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between citizens of the world. President Barack Obama's creation of a new climate in international politics closely fulfils the statutes of Alfred Nobel's will which is why the Norwegian Nobel committe nominated him as the Nobel Peace Prize winner on the 9th of October 2009. This is what Thorbjørn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as he announced the winner on the 9th of October 2009.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

On the 10th of December Thorbjørn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in his presentation speech went on to explain why the committe saw it fit to award President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. You can read the full text of that presentation speech on the following link,
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/presentation-speech.html
I am a peace-lover myself and have always believed that nothing ever justifies violence or for that matter war but after reading the Nobel Peace Prize lecture that President Barrack Obama gave just before being awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize I now understand and am convinced that sometimes it is neccessary to wage war in order to achieve lasting peace but only as a last resort when peaceful negotiatians, sanctions and passive resistance have failed. You can read this Nobel Peace Prize lecture on this link,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34360743/ns/politics-white_house/
These are some of the words in Obama's speech that convinced me to change my rigid anti-war mindset.
1."There will be times when nations - acting individually or in concert - will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified and war is justified only when it meets certain preconditions: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the force used is proportional, and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence."
2."As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King's life's work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak -nothing passive - nothing naïve - in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.
But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason."
3."I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That is why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace."
4. "I understand why war is not popular. But I also know this: the belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace entails sacrifice. That is why NATO continues to be indispensable. That is why we must strengthen UN and regional peacekeeping, and not leave the task to a few countries. That is why we honor those who return home from peacekeeping and training abroad to Oslo and Rome; to Ottawa and Sydney; to Dhaka and Kigali - we honor them not as makers of war, but as wagers of peace."

World history is full of charismatic leaders who were or are great orators but President Barrack Obama surpasses them all, his charisma and ability to give moving speeches that exude his humanitarian nature can not be equaled but that is not why he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2009. Why he was awarded the prize is because he not only talks but walks the talk. It is almost a year since he came into power but the many peaceful negotiations he has embarked on in that small space of time in trying to heal the world and make it haven of peace, love and happiness makes him deserve to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2009. If I had my own peace, love & happiness unto the whole world award I would award it to him too, for he rightly deserves it.

Zimbabwe: The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award of 2009 was awarded to Magodonga Mahlangu and WOZA of Zimbabwe

2009-11-25T16:59:00.000+02:00

In a country whose people are notorious for not speaking out, notorious for being passive and not standing up for what they believe in, there arose two women called Jenni Willims & Magodonga Mahlangu who refused to be intimidated by the POSA and AIPPA repressive laws of Zimbabwe and formed a group called Women of Zimbabwe Arise, WOZA, whose aim is to empower Zimbabwean women with knowledge and skills designed to stimulate courageous activities within the community. Over the years WOZA has managed to build strength of character among its members that demonstrates courage and leadership qualities as it spoke out, demonstrated and picketed for democracy, good governance and human rights in Zimbabwe. On Monday 23rd of November 2009, President Barrack Obama of USA showed his appreciation for their efforts over the years by awarding Magodonga Mahlangu on behalf of WOZA the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award of 2009. The awarding ceremony was held at the Whitehouse in the East Room. President Barrack Obama made a beautiful speech in which he narrated what WOZA has been up against in Zimbabwe for the past years up until now, before handing over the award to Magodonga Mahlangu amid a deafening applause.

You can read President Barrack Obama's beautiful speech by going to the link below.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-presentation-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-award

Congratulations WOZA!!! I am proud of you and am sure all Zimbabweans who are for democracy, good governance and human rights are indeed proud of you.

He loved me but never told me

2009-11-10T17:38:00.004+02:00

I am posting on this blog address again until I find a way to make readers be able to make comments on the articles I post on my new address, http://www.peacelovehappiness.org.zw

A group of my friends were at a Zimbabweans and South Africans only dinner party in UK watching photos of yesteryears which were on a slideshow loaded on the host's desktop computer and reminscing about the good old Zimdays whilst watching the photos. When my photo filled the screen a male friend of mine who used to belong to the same book club as myself when we were teenagers asked Babra my friend who was hosting the party to freeze the slideshow so that he looks at my photo for some more minutes. She obliged and asked him to tell the party members what that picture reminded him of. He started talking and Babra switched on the tape recorder of her phone. This is what is recorded on the tape that Babra sent to me.

My secret admirer"This woman's name is Eusebia and we grew up together in Greendale and she has a good deal of character and is awfully attractive. There was always something poetic in her, a sort of lyrical quality, as it were, that coloured her movements, her acts and everything about her. It seemed to exalt her above common cares. There has always been something so candid in her expression, so courageous and independent in her bearing, that-oh, made other beauties in the neighborhood just flat and dull compared to her."
My secret admirer's wife "I remember you telling me about her when we started dating."
Babra " You speak as if you had been in love with her?"
My secret admirer " Of course I was. I should have thought you would have guessed that at once. I was frightfully in love with her but I never told her so we never had a love relationship?
Ike (Babra's husband) "What made the friendship feelings turn to love?"
My secret admirer "For many years I thought I just liked her as my friend until her elder brother Ephraim who was a medical student was stabbed by a knife and died in 1989 and when I saw her broken-hearted at the funeral my heart bled, it hurt me so much and I wanted to hold her in my arms and shield her from all the hurting in the world. It was then it suddenly struck me that what I felt for her was special, I don't know how to explain it but it was a sort of shattering turmoil that affected every bit of me and that feeling was love.
Ike "So why didn't you tell her that you loved her.?"
My secret admirer " I wanted to badly enough but I never gained the courage to say so. Although she was always so nice to me and so easy to get on well with and we were such good friends, I always felt there was something about her that made me feel inferior when I was with her. Although she was so simple, so frank and natural, you never quite got over the feeling of an inner kernel of aloofness, as if deep in her heart she guarded, not a secret, but a sort of privacy of the soul that not a living person would ever be allowed to know. I don't know if I make myself clear.
One of the male party members. "Maybe if you had declared your love you would have been the only person she would let into that private place."
My secret admirer " Maybe but I never got the courage to tell her that I loved her and up to now I regret not doing so. Her aloofness was not the reason because I found it quite captivating. It was strangely exciting to think that if she loved you and you were married to her you would at last pierce right into the hidden heart of that aloofness, and it would be as it were a consummation of all that you'd ever desired in your life.
One of the female party members "If you found her aloofness attractive then what exactly was it that made you hesitate to tell her that you loved her.?"
My secret admirer " What really made me not ask her is because I couldn't bear the thought that if I proposed to her and she refused me our friendship would never be the same again, there would be a tension between us. I enjoyed her friendship so much and didn't want my proposal to disturb that friendship. It made me so happy to be her friend and I wasn't sure if she loved me too. Babra did she love me too?
Babra "She never confided that to me, and anyway even if she had loved you, knowing her and her pride she would never had told anyone unless she was sure that the love was mutual."
My secret admirer "I saw her photo on facebook the other day and damn she still looks as beautiful and elegant as ever, her beauty has defied age. Funny enough what made me fall in love with her was not her looks, though they were quite alluring, with the tenderness and sweetness in her eyes and her sexy legs. What made me fall in love with her was the sensation of well-being when I was with her, she made me relax and be quite natural without putting up appearances because she was so down-to-earth. You felt she was incapable of meanness and it was impossible to think of her as envious of other people or catty. She seemed to have a natural generosity of soul.
Ike "Do you still love her?
My secret admirer "I can't answer that question because I am married and have four teenage children ."
My secret admirer's wife "Honey it is important to me that you answer that question."
My secret admirer "Of course I don't love her anymore, I love you my wife of sixteen years."

When I listened to the tape Babra sent to me yesterday I couldn't believe my ears and I cried till my eyes were red because I loved him too though I never dared tell a single soul because I thought that the love was not mutual. If human society was such that it was acceptable for a woman to make the first move or to propose to a man I would have told him that I loved him way back then and we would have got married to each other and not to the people we both eventually married. As it is, that love we shared secretly in both our hearts will forever remain in our dreams buried into history never to be consummated between us. What a waste. I will never forgive him for not telling me that he loved me.

A glimpse of passing moments of joy.

2009-10-27T10:10:00.000+02:00

Life is made up of bits and pieces of moments of joy most of which pass so swiftly yet they leave permanent marks in our lives. How we often wish we could freeze those moments in time so that the joy they bring to us stays with us forever. We keep memories of some of those moments in our photographic memories and remember them during moments when life seems so sad and hopeless but no matter how often we remember them and they make us smile they are just that, memories.

1. Do you remember the feelings of joy when you thought you had finally found mutual love from a soulmate that would lead to a lifetime full of love, peace and happiness? The mutual love was but only a passing emotion and did not last the lifetime you had envisioned but it was sweet while it lasted.

2. Do you remember the joy of anticipating for the first day you would meet someone you had loved for so long but had never met? The feelings of joy, love and excitement as you waited patiently for the two of you to meet. How you longed for an embracing, warm and love-filled first hug and when instead you got a cold, "Hello" you suddenly realised that, that moment of joy had passed away so swiftly. It's one of those moments that you keep replaying in your mind and sometimes replace the actual events with your own wishful thinking. If given a second chance to make a first impression would he/she make it not a passing moment of joy but the prelude to a lifetime of joy?

3. Do you remember the day someone unexpectedly proposed to you or the day you unexpectedly proposed to someone? That beautiful moment when he went on his knees and told you that he loved you and wanted to be engaged to you. That beautiful moment when you went on your knees and declared your love for her and how you wanted the two of you to be committed to that love. She was taken aback because she thought the two of you were just friends and could never be something else and had to ask him to give her time to think about it. She never said yes because she was in love with someone else but that beautiful moment when he was down on his knees will forever be etched in her mind as a passing moment of joy. Joy that someone loved her enough even though she had no feelings for him.

4. Do you remember the day you got married? Hopelessly in love and naive, you thought marriage meant a lifetime of bliss laying on a bed of roses so on that day you were operating on cloud nine. The marriage turned out to be not all roses with the thorns of the roses pricking the marriage ever so often. So your marriage day was but only another of those passing moments of joy.

5. Do you remember your honeymoon? All those days of indulging in the pleasures of the body without any nagging issues at the back of your mind and the joy of it all. The pictures of the two of you on your honeymoon failed to capture all the joy you were feeling inside your heart just as your life together after the honeymoon was over failed to retain that joy of the honeymoon days. So your honeymoon was but only another of those passing moments of joy.

Most of life's passing moments of joy have to do with love. How I wish love was something you could pin down and catch in your hand, never to let go. Unfortunately you can't do that with an emotion like love, it is not tangible. If love was tangible surely we would make the passing moments of joy not pass but stay with us forever.

Being in Love

2009-10-21T17:28:00.001+02:00

Think back to when you met that man /woman that you just knew would be the one. Remember when you admitted to yourself and to him/her that you loved him/her. Now remember how much you wanted to act like you were in a movie, and yell to everyone in the football stadium "I love this man / woman!" You told family and friends how perfect he/she was; he/she was just what you were looking for. Then he/she broke your heart and it felt like your world had crumbled and not even Trinepon xxx the strongest adhesive could glue back the pieces of your heart that lay broken on the floor. You then vowed to yourself that from then onwards you would stick to loving Jesus only because unlike men and women of flesh he will never break your heart and he will love you unconditionally and forever.

Well, when that happened to me I decided to immediately tell JESUS that I love him. And He said to me, "How much do you love me? You haven't told anyone how good I've been to you. You haven't shared how perfect my love is. You haven't spread the good news that I am always there to listen to your problems. You haven't told your family how I help you in your life everyday. You haven't shared with anyone how I am always there for you even when every one else has deserted you including that man/woman that was just what you were looking for. So how much do you really love me?"

So, I said I would share with my friends and family just how wonderful, perfect, understanding, patient, loving, unselfish, considerate and forgiving JESUS really is. He has blessed me with a family that loves me and friends that I can confide in. But even more than that, He has saved me from so many problems that I couldn't even see coming. He gave to me the peace of knowing Him, and He has never broken a promise. Truly He is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I stand in my stadium today to tell you all, "I LOVE JESUS!"

Grandpa I am very angry with you.

2009-09-23T16:00:00.002+02:00

Disclaimer: This story about 85 year old Grandpa Hamudiamwe who is the chief of my village is pure fiction and any resemblance it might have to your own chief or your senile Grandpa or your own circus government is only a coinicidence. So all forms of intelligence should take it as such, a fictitious story which is a figment of my sharp imagination.

Grandpa Hamudiamwe is the fictitious chief of my village and for you to follow what I am going to say in this article, you could start by reading some of the articles in my archives that I wrote about him on this blog entitled:
1. Grandpa can't you see that your time is up.
2. Letter to Grandpa Hamudiamwe on Unity day
3. New Year letter to Grandpa

Dear Grandpa,

I have no time for greetings Grandpa, have to get straight to the main reason why I am writing this letter to you because I am livid with anger at the way you are allowing your "cronies" to ruin the little bit of respect that the villagers had left for you. Your inability to intelligently figure out that the actions of your cronies will sink the village deeper into the abyss that it is already in and your inability to stop them shows that your IQ has dropped drastically to very low levels. Grandpa you have completely lost it now, you have become senile and your doddering and gaga is going to make this village disappear not only from Google earth but in reality from being considered as a village by the whole wide world. I told you long ago before you had become senile that you have to step down from the chieftainship but you didn't listen to me, look now how you are not only embarrassing the villagers but destroying the village legacy. I knew that your becoming an imbecile while still on the throne would be ruinous to the village as those who purport to be your friends twist your mind pretending to be acting in your best interests yet their intention will be to fix you from within because of your refusal to handover power to one of them. Your cronies figure that since they all don't have the guts to tell you point blank to step down from the chieftainship position or mobilize the party to vote you out the only way they can deal with you is by destroying you while pretending to serve your interests. Grandpa lest your decrepit mind get it all wrong, my writing this letter to you is not because I am concerned with the way your cronies are messing with your mind and the little dignity that you have left. My concern is how their actions will adversely affect the village, maybe not immediately but in the long-term. It is this village that I am concerned about Grandpa. I love this village and all the villagers in it and my heart bleeds when I see you and your cronies using this village and its people to settle your scores. You and your cronies can squabble and declare cold war on each other, all you want, for all I care, but when the political dirty tricks you play on each other affect the welfare of the village and the villagers I become very concerned. I wouldn't care less if they ruin you because Grandpa you have become a liability to this village (because of the fact that you let your cronies violate the rule of law and disrespect property rights) but if in so doing they so much as touch on the lives of the ordinary villagers on the streets I will scream non-stop.

Anyway now that I have offloaded my frustrations, let me calm down and tell you exactly why I am ranting and raving like this. The matter that I wish to draw your attention to Grandpa is the recent specifying of one of the most successful businesses in the village which is listed on the stock exchange. There was a boardroom wrangle going on internally in the company and your government ministers chose to become the judge and the jury in the wrangle and intervene in favor of the Christian, without hearing both sides of the story. I know that the business acumen of you and your government ministers leave a lot to be desired but honestly didn't it ever occur to you how badly that would impact on investor confidence and the much needed foreign direct investment. If it had been the first time for such a mistake to happen I would understand but this same mistake happened years back in 2003 when your friends GG and PC went on a specifying spree targeting every black prominent business person in the village who was doing well. I strongly suspect that this move was part of an espionage plot by some of your so called friends to sabotage the village's economy. The businesses that were targeted where making a great significant contribution to the economy, to the GDP and their closure contributed heavily on the gradual decline of the economy to pathetic levels. The TM group of companies that was specified recently is one of the best companies in the village that managed to withstand the abnormally high hyper-inflation in the village in the past ten years and kept on making profits in spite of the ravaged economy. It is such companies that you and your government ministers should treat with high respect Grandpa because they are the ones which keep the economy running. This recent specification of the TM group of companies in the village makes me suspect that the espionage plot by some of your cronies to economically sabotage the village's economy is still going on. My suspicions are not based on this issue alone but also on the issue of the fresh wave of farm invasions and the chaotic new constitution-making process which are all issues that are further driving away investor confidence and FDI.

You will no doubt, Grandpa, appreciate that your inability to control your cronies some of whom are or were government ministers has been a sore point for the people of this village and is the main reason why the people of this village voted you out of power as from 2000 and every election after that. Had it not been for the rigging capabilities of your cronies you would have been in the archives of ex-chiefs by now.
The way you and your cronies are not upholding the rule of law and respecting property rights has many negative consequences for the village Grandpa. It makes it extremely difficult for the villagers to have confidence in you and your power sharing government. It makes it extremely difficult for other villages to respect this village or want to be associated with this village, be it on social or business grounds. The entire village under you leadership Grandpa has been severely compromised and it was your national responsibility to prevent that. Grandpa it is impossible to believe that all this assault at the village's economic progress since you signed the notorious power-sharing agreement is happening behind your back unless you are telling me that you have become so senile that you are no longer authorizing what goes on in this village and live someone else to do it for you. If you are the one authorizing all these dreadful moves after your senile brain is convinced to do so by your henchmen then I advise you to question and ponder if your henchmen are doing it for the good of the village which would improve your badly painted image or are doing it so as to further destroy the village and by so doing completely destroy the minute goodness that the villagers associate you with. From this far distance where I stand this could be a chieftainship takeover bid strategy that is so cleverly planned that to the mediocre minded brain or senile brain it would appear as if your henchmen are working for you, yet in actual fact they are working against you.

Let me conclude this letter by saying this again, "I wouldn't care less if your cronies declare a cold war on you Grandpa but if in so doing they so much as touch on the lives of the ordinary villagers on the streets I will scream non-stop and try to stop them with the only weapon I have, namely these writings on my blog."

Your sincere grand-daughter Stillwaters (the one you disowned for disagreeing with your methods of ruling)

P.S.
Grandpa what is that I hear about you taking back Professor JM into your confidence when he is the main culprit responsible for killing democracy in this village by coming up with undemocratic bills. I know that you don't give a damn about democracy but the majority of the village population love democracy Grandpa and if you want their support you have got to learn to let go communism and learn to embrace democracy. Grandpa JM as well as your cronies PC, GG, TM, IC and believe it or not your political henchman who has ambitions to takeover from you when you retire are the people who seem to be carrying out the espionage plot to sabotage the village and in so doing bring you down from the high throne with shame. If you doubt me just try to think back to the past actions of each of these people and the negative effect those actions had on the village. PC together with GG were behind the specifying of prominent businessmen in the village the result of which was the gradual collapse of the economy. JM and PC were responsible for coming up with undemocratic bills that promoted no rule of law in the country. IC was responsible for the notorious and inhuman, "Operation No Dirt" that made the world hate you Grandpa. TM is responsible for the most recent farm invasions that shouted to the whole world that property rights are not respected in the village and chased away investors from the village. And the henchman who wants you to handover the reins of power to him when you retire is the man behind the recent post-election violence against opposition members which made the world think that you were the devil incarnate. All these people's actions show that they had a hidden economic sabotage agenda. How you fail to see through their actions beats me Grandpa and convinces me that you surely has become senile. Please, just don't let your senile actions and reactions affect this village and its people.

The precarious state of the English Language on the tounges of politicians.

2009-09-21T13:21:00.005+02:00

Confused by the smoke-screen phrases of the political terminologists

Politicians are adept at "spinning" the details of the truth and coming up with some English phrases to advance their own agenda. One such phrase, Calculated Risk, has been going around among politicians and statesmen the world over. Lately I made some study of the smoke-screen phrases of the political terminologists and they have to be described rather than defined. Calculated Risk can be described like this. " We have every hope and assurance that the plan will be successful, but if it doesn't work we knew all the time it wouldn't and said so."

There is a kind of menacing meaninglessness in a great deal of modern political phraseology. Take for example the way Tsvangirai prefers to call the economic sanctions that he asked the West to impose on Zimbabwe way back in 2000 (when Zanu-PF unfairly won the elections amid pre-election violence, inaccessibility of the media to opposition parties and accusations of rigging) smart sanctions or targeted sanctions. What is so smart about the sanctions imposed by the ZIDERA bill which was drafted with the help of an MDC white parliamentarian and passed by the American Congress in 2000? It is this bill that makes it impossible for Zimbabwe to access any lines of credit, so tell me what is so smart about the ZIDERA sanctions and how can they be called targeted when they target the whole Zimbabwe nation?
On the other hand we have the die-hard communist, Mugabe, whose every action and reaction screams out loud, "Communism!," clinging on to communism, a political ideology that is on the verge of becoming extinct just as he clings to power at his, "waiting for God," age. I can imagine the kind of communist political terminology that whirls around in his aged brain as he stubbornly refuses to fire Gono or allow Transparency International to carry out an audit on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe financial accounts as from 1980 to the present day. I am sure the Marxist words that Mugabe uses to justify his refusal are Obscurantism and Obfuscationism. The meaning of these two words can be described like this, "You are seeking to distort our objectives by exposing them to the scrutiny of the unfairest of all bourgeois virtues, namely truth and justice."
And then there is Mbeki's smoke-screen political phrase, "Quiet Diplomacy," which he used to make Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Mutambara agree to an embraceable impasse which he then named with another smoke-screen political phrase called the GNU. Mbeki's Quiet Diplomacy can be described like this, "The ability to circumvent a fair long-lasting political solution and make the disagreeing parties be content with an unfair substitute solution." Government of National Unity can be described like this, "The suffocation of democracy by including in the government members of parties that lost elections and then rigged the results and unleashed violence on the opposition party members."

Dear God, save the English Language from the tongues of politicians who hammer and panel beat it to suit their own political agendas. As you the omnipotent God is very much aware of, these days because of genetically modified food that the human race is consuming, the brain of the human species is now largely made up of laboratory manufactured chemicals and media propaganda with very little capability to think and discern through the maze that is life. As a result how not to understand what should be clear is becoming easier and easier for most people. Discernment, humanness, soundness and sincerity of which gleams and stains can still be found in the human brain under powerful microscopes, flourish only in a culture of clarification, which is now becoming a rare commodity and politicians are making its scarcity worse by the political phrases they conjure up in their heads to justify their political dirty tricks. So dear God in saving the English Language from the tongues of politicians you would have saved the human race from the dirty tricks of politicians. This will not save Man from himself, for sure but it would help in the coming struggle for a world regime of sense and sanity. Amen.

Dear readers you can choose to enjoy the humor in this article or you can choose to be irritated by it and say, " What does she know about politics, she who only English knows," the choice is yours.

You can't change or quiten me

2009-09-21T10:59:00.006+02:00

I can't be switched off like the way we switch off our TV sets.

Ever since I made the decision to stand up for what I believe in and voice my objective opinion about life and politics with no holds barred through this blog I have ruffled some feathers, rattled some comfort zones, dug up the skeletons in the cupboards and made people know of the wolves in sheep's clothing. As a result I have made a lot of enemies, some of whom would want to quieten me, some of whom suspect my intelligence to be not my own but linked to some organisation or activist group, some of whom think that I have political ambitions and am inclined to some party or other. Some have even gone to the extend of putting me under surveillance, searching my house when my family and I are out, blocking my blog so that it can't be accessed in Zimbabwe, listening to all my calls at home and at work, as well as creating some dirt about me. Messing up with my life one way or the other. I am sure if I drove everyday an accident would have been organised a long time ago.

As a result many times I have thought of keeping quiet about politics and be voiceless and as passive and docile as most of my fellow Zimbabweans but I just can't seem to be able to do that especially when I see injustice, corruption, unprofessionalism and unethical behavior being perpetrated by prominent people to the disadvantage of the ordinary man on the street. I always find myself writing about it on my blog because I believe that it is the truth spoken out that will eventually help in healing the world and make it the peaceful haven full of love and happiness that all humans who are not inhuman long for. I also believe in stopping evil from triumphing by doing something to stop it and the only way I know how is by making it come out in the open using my passion for writing.

All those who hate me out there please be informed that I am just a nonentity with a big mouth, (or should I say a big pen or keyboard because in reality I am very quiet by nature and only say too much when I am writing. Because of my quietness which is in sharp contrast to my saying too much when I am writing I have earned the nickname, Stillwaters.) who just can't seem to keep quiet about some political injustices. I have no political ambitions whatsoever and do not belong to any party or intelligence organisation. The political opinions that I write on my blog are my own individual opinions and not a represantation of the thoughts of any party, organisation or activist group. I intend to remain a neutral citizen who doesn't belong to any political party so that I continue to give an unbiased objective political opinion without favour or bias due to allegiance towards any particular political party I would have joined. My intention in writing my opinions is not to insult, belittle or cause the political fall from grace of anyone. I have got nothing against any politician and hold no personal grudges with anyone in the whole wide world. What I am against is some of the politicians' deeds, misdeeds and policies that they come up with as well as the fact that they tend to abuse their offices and neglect the ordinary men on the streets who voted them into power. My intention in writing my political opinions on my blog is to try and make right what I find wrong.

I will not stop writing about how I think that Gono and Tomana should be removed from their public office positions and my thinking so does not mean that I support MDC. I will not stop pin-pointing Tsvangirai's weakness of not being able to outwit Mugabe and my saying so does not mean that I support Zanu-PF. I will not stop giving Mutambara credit when he makes a brilliant speech like the one he made in parliament sometime ago and my praising that speech does not mean that I support his party. I will not stop pointing out how I think Simba Makoni has the potential of being the perfect President of Zimbabwe if only he would make it a habit to voice his political opinions often so that people get to know what he is all about and my saying this does not mean that I am a member of his party. I will not stop pointing out that Zapu's downside is the tribalism tendencies of most Ndebeles and my saying so does not mean that I have got anything against the Ndebeles. I will not stop pointing out that Zanu-PF is indirectly destroying the country by not upholding the rule of law in the country and disrespecting the GPA that it signed during the formation of the GNU. See, I can objectively say whatever I want about any party, such is the freedom of not belonging to any particular party.

Let me also take this opportunity to tell whoever has been trying to quieten me that all your efforts to do that are a waste of time. You can tail me around the clock, violate my privacy and mess my life all you want but that won't change me. Just as it is impossible to catch a cloud and pin it down, just as it is impossible to keep a wave upon the sand, just as it is impossible to hold a moonbeam in your hand, it is just as impossible to put the oddball that is me into your box. You just can't change who I am to suit you. Only God can change me but he doesn't want to change me because he made me the way I am for a reason and loves me like that. It's about time whoever is out there stalking me to close my file with these words, "Operation quieten Eusebia aborted because she is harmless and we have failed to find anything to pin her down or blackmail her with and she is protected by angels that make her untouchable so the conclusion is mission impossible,"
I will always be me no matter what, just let me be me in peace.

Thank you Jesus for peace, love and happiness.

2009-09-01T11:40:00.014+02:00

Today I prayed for peace, love and happiness for all readers of this blog.

Today I thanked God for my life and the lives of everyone who reads this blog.

Peace, perfect peace comes from God and I pray that it engulfs the lives of all readers of this blog.

Jesus is the epitome of love and I pray that he enables every reader of this blog to experience love.

The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you so dear readers don't worry, be happy.

JESUS DIED FOR US, WITHOUT JESUS WE ARE NOTHING!!!!

Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed,

Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side.'
After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.
He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this... I got an old barn out back.
It's been there a long time;
It's withstood a lot of weather;
It's gone through a lot of storms,
And it's stood for many years.
It's still standing.
But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit.
So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall.
Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn.
I've been around a long time.
I've withstood a lot of life's storms.
I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life,
I've withstood a lot of hard times,
And I'm still standing too.
But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time,
So I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side,
Cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning at times.
Sometimes we get to leaning toward anger,
Leaning toward bitterness,
Leaning toward hatred,
Leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't.
So we need to pray,
Lord, prop us up on our leaning side,
So we will stand straight and tall again,
To Glorify The Lord.

To the women, as women's month comes to a close

2009-08-30T16:04:00.016+02:00

I celebrate all the women of the world for their compassionate hearts that make them so sweet. Every person has at one time or other needed a shoulder to cry on and most of the times the person who offered him/her that shoulder was a woman. It could have been your mother, your sister, your aunt, your niece, your grandma, your aunt, your cousin, your sister-in-law, your mother-in-law, the woman next-door, your female workmate or your wife. There are women all over the world whose hearts can accommodate you and give you that understanding, that sympathy, that hug, that reassurance, that advice, that counselling just when you need it the most. It is what we women are known for and let us keep it up for it makes the world so human.

All of us women, old and young, hold special memories of good times we've shared with other women. We've had our share of hard times and our women friends were there to make us feel better. We've shared our hearts, our time, our secrets, our fears, our hopes and our dreams. Let us never break the chain of women friends so that we grow old holding each other's hands as friends.

What's so poignant about the picture above?
Well, it shows a line of little girls holding hands facing the immensity of ocean waves. Alone they might be washed away, but together they stand strong. Thank you women for holding each other's hands somewhere along the way when one of us women was facing a wave of their own. I hope you will continue to reach for my hand or any other woman's hand when your own wave threatens.

Let us women not spoil the goodness we are known for with petty issues like gossip, jealous, envy or competition.

Some woman will always be prettier and younger looking than you but that is no reason to be jealousy of her.

Some woman will always be smarter than you but that is no reason to try and bring her down.

Some woman's house will be bigger than yours or they will drive a better car, or their children will do better in school or their husband will fix more things around the house but that is no reason to try and compete with them.

Just let it go and be happy by loving yourself and your circumstances.

Think about it.
The prettiest woman in the world can have trouble in her heart. And the most highly favored woman on your job may be unable to have children. And the richest woman you know, she's got the car, the house, the clothes....might be lonely.
And the word says 'If I have not Love, I have nothing.'

So, again, love you. Love who you are. Look in the mirror in the morning and smile and say.
"I am too blessed to be stressed with petty issues and too anointed to be disappointed, jealousy or want to live beyond my means as I compete!"
"Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen"

Be blessed women of this world and hey love that special someone with all your heart, because, 'To the world you might be one person, But to that one special person you just might be the world'.

Zimbabwe: All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

2009-08-28T10:22:00.005+02:00

Zimbabweans are holding their breath as they wait for the outcome of the talks between President Jacob Zuma of SA and the three GNU principals namely Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara. In these talks the three principals are going to raise the outstanding issues in the GNU that are hindering progress, one of the major issues being the appointments of Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor and Attorney General respectively. I have constantly blogged about how Gideon Gono in his capacity as the RBZ governor economically sabotaged the country and will continue to do so if nothing is done about his removal. I believe that what makes evil triumph is because good men don't continue to speak out against it. I am afraid that evil like no rule of law, no respect of human rights and property rights, unfair police and justice system and economic corruption and sabotage will continue to triumph in Zimbabwe if President Jacob Zuma in his capacity as the SADC chairman does not reprimand the perpetrators of such evils. It's about time that SADC shows that it has got some teeth that bite and is not just some social gathering of Southern African presidents with no significant fruits to write home about. The onus lies on President Jacob Zuma to use these talks to show the whole world that SADC is a force to reckon with.

Let me stress to you that all that is needed for evil to triumph in Zimbabwe is for the good man Jacob Zuma to do nothing about it and if he doesn't do anything about it he will start being labelled as part of the evil just like Mbeki before him. It's not only Zimbabweans who are watching closely the outcome of these talks but also South Africans and the whole world over and so under-rating the importance of these talks will put a negative dent on Zuma's political career.

Let me end this article by inserting some parts of the petition that was send to Tsvangirai recently on the 21st of July 2009 by the Anti-corruption trust of Southern Africa, concerning the firing of Gideon Gono as the RBZ governor which is one of the outstanding issues. I got it from the website www.kubatana.net on the following link.
http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/demgg/090721actsa.asp?sector=ECON&year=0&range_start=1

Petition to investigate the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and its principle officials

Your Excellency,

We, the undersigned concerned institutions do hereby call upon your good offices, in the interest of accountability and transparency, to facilitate the setting up of an Independent Commission of Enquiry into the conduct of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and its Principal Officials. The proposed Commission is required to fully and conclusively investigate allegations of incompetency, unprofessionalism, corruption and illicit dealings of the RBZ and its principal officials.

This request has been necessitated by a plethora of allegations that have been leveled against the RBZ by a number of stakeholders, which in our view should be investigated.

Further to a host of allegations that were leveled against the bank and its staff, we all hold the view that there was failure to comply with Section 6 of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act Chapter 22:15.

Some specific allegations leveled against the RBZ and its officials include:-

Looting of institutional and individual bank accounts:-
The RBZ and its principal officials have been accused of looting individual and institutions bank accounts. Shining examples include: the looting of money belonging to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Africa University Public Sector Management Programme, Hivos (a Dutch development organisation) and others. In most of these cases the money was withdrawn without the consent of owners. There are many other victims who will be prepared to testify if an opportunity for them to do so is created. You will agree with us that this behaviour, if it is true, is criminal and constitutes a flagrant violation of national laws such as the Prevention of Corruption Act. We are also concerned that the allegations against the RBZ which are true, are damaging and have grave implications to accountability, transparency and integrity principles espoused in human rights and anti-corruption treaties such as the SADC Protocol against Corruption, AU Convention on the Preventing and Combating Corruption and the UN Convention against Corruption to name a few.

Involvement in the illicit buying of diamonds from Marange
There are also reports that the RBZ was or is involved in the illicit buying of diamonds from Marange, a serious contravention of the Kimberley process, which is a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stamp out the flow of conflict diamonds used by some movements to finance wars against legitimate governments or movements. We hope you will agree with us that trade in these illicit stones has fuelled devastating conflicts and serious violations in Zimbabwe and other countries such as Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone.

Part of this petition is
1. That you empower the existing Anti-Corruption Commission of Zimbabwe to carry out its duties and responsibilities independently and effectively, and
2. That the government of Zimbabwe ratifies/accedes to or otherwise abide by the provisions of UN Convention against Corruption of 2004, the AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and the SADC Protocol Against Corruption.

We trust that your good offices will positively consider this request since we all want to see Zimbabwe regaining its glory once again.

Zimbabwe: The neighbor that arranged the political marriage of convenience is coming for marriage counselling.

2009-08-27T10:28:00.008+02:00

Six months have gone by since the political marriage of convenience between Mugabe and Tsvangirai which was arranged by the then head of the neighboring household, Mbeki. Now the head of the neighboring household is Zuma and today he is visiting the Mugabe and Tsvangirai family called Zimbabwe whose parents have been having some marriage problems ever since the conception of the marriage of convenience. Zuma is expected to act as a marriage counselor for this troubled marriage when he comes as well as officiate at the family's annual agricultural show. The wife Tsvangirai has high hopes that Zuma will judge in his favour which is how the majority of the Zimbabwe family want him to because father Mugabe has showed disrespect to the sanctity of marriage as stated in the marriage contract. It has also emerged that father Mugabe is a gold digger whose main motive in agreeing to the marriage of convenience was because he thought that doing so would automatically open floodgates of donor funding for the Zimbabwe family whose bank coffers are at very low levels. He wasn't alone in thinking so, "the wife" Tsvangirai also thought he had the magic wand to make that happen and it only dawned on him that his magic wand can not cast any financial breakthrough spells when he went globe trotting waving his magic wand and came back with much less than he expected. What the couple failed to realise was that the donors were more concerned about the respect of human rights, property rights and the rule of law for the benefit of the Zimbabwe family than about Tsvangirai sharing "power" (the power is fake) with the autocratic Mugabe.

Anyway, let me get back to the marriage counselling sessions that Zuma is supposed to
contact between the Zimbabwe political marriage of convenience partners. Let me start by telling you the character of this marriage counselor Zuma so that you know the kind of person the Zimbabwe family is dealing with here. Zuma is a versatile politician. He has proven to be an exception to the old adage you can’t be everything to everybody. His political prowess is based on being a political chameleon of note who promises everybody what they want – from the hardcore capitalists to blue collar workers; from the poor black majority to the marginalised Afrikaners. Just show your colour and he will adapt his promises pitch to embrace you, whether he actually delivers the promises is not for me to say, ask South Africans, they are at a better vantage point to give you a correct answer. I can not predict what the outcome of this marriage counselling session will be because the political chameleon who is the marriage counselor might change color depending on who will be addressing the marriage problem to him at that moment in time and the result will be nothing solved. This marriage of convenience needs a marriage counselor who doesn't want to please everybody and makes a decisive fair judgement concerning who is right or wrong and tells the marriage partners of the best way forward without fear or favor. If the political chameleon decides to loose its changing color capabilities when it arrives in Zimbabwe then there is hope that he will provide a definite solution to this marriage.

I am not into marriages of convenience and this particular marriage has not improved the lives of the majority of the Zimbabwe family but the truth is that the collapse of the political marriage of convenience in Zimbabwe will adversely affect not only the Zimbabwe family but all the neighboring SADC families if it causes shortages or politically motivated violence in the country. If that happens, Zimbabwean refuges will flood neighboring countries and squatter there in squalid conditions that will bring the property value of their surroundings down, which is only a minor problem compared to the social and political de-stabilisation of the SADC region which will result . If Zuma counsels the Zimbabwean marriage with that thought in mind he is going to make sure that the marriage of convenience stays intact. On the other hand neighboring countries will benefit from the brain drain that will increase as Zimbabwean professionals flee to stable countries if the political marriage collapses. There their services will be very much appreciated. Take note that it is not only those with brains that will flee the country but even the manual workers will go and help build the infrastructure of neighbouring countries and the humble workers will go and clean the streets and toilets of neighbouring countries. Business in neighbouring countries will boom as Zimbabweans go shopping to cheaper shortage-free neighbouring countries. If Zuma counsels the marriage selfishly thinking of these business benefits then he is going to allow the marriage to collapse.

Let me end this article with an extract from www.kubatana.net to stress the point that its about time that Zuma sets the political record between Zimbabwe and SA right. This extract is a comment that one South African called Sally D made on an article on www.kubatana.net that was talking about the scrapping of visa requirements for Zimbabweans visiting South Africa. This is what she said.

We South Africans are partly responsibile for what’s happened in Zimbabwe and that’s one very good reason why we can’t complain now when millions of Zimbabweans arrive, desperate, at our door. We knew what was coming, our Government knew very well.
Yet on the one hand we had Thabo Mbeki denying the significance of human rights in Zimbabwe (compared with the importance of land redistribution, which bizarrely he thought wasn’t an “upside down view” of Africa), and SA voting to protect Mugabe again and again in multilateral institutions like the UN. On the other hand, South African corporates and utilities eager to ensure that their Zimbabwean business partners could keep up with ever-increasing debt repayments, even as the Zim currency collapsed and the Chefs spirited their millions away overseas. And even now, the SA Government calls for “sanctions” to be removed on these same kleptocrats and their foreign bank accounts.

I can remember the exact place I was when I heard on the radio news that our Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, ably assisted by convicted fraudster Tony Yengeni, reckoned the Zimbabwe Presidential election of 2002 “substantially free and fair”. It was completely sickening!! And COPE supporters should note that Terror Lekota, our brand-new Defender of the ANC’s Democratic Heritage, had previously professed himself
“deeply satisfied” with the reasons Mugabe gave him for refusing international election monitors - despite months of vicious State- sponsored violence against the oppostion, detention and deportation of journalists, and so forth. Someone should ask Lekota whether he’s still satisfied now that the full extent of the plunder and ruin of a beautiful, productive country has become obvious to the entire world, even us; and someone should ask Mbeki why he ever thought that the elimination of property rights could lead to people’s needs being met in Zimbabwe, whilst at the same time telling people that this kind of redistribution would never happen in SA.

Jesus is in every subject & how can a woman not love God?

2009-08-25T10:05:00.007+02:00

JESUS IS IN EVERY SUBJECT
My first born daughter Amanda will be writing "O" Level examinations at the end of this year. I noticed that every morning when I enter her bedroom to tell her that I am leaving the house to go to work she will be reading the bible and not any of the other subjects. So this morning I asked her if she wasn't neglecting other subjects because of her love for God and she said,
"No mum its just that I can't start studying without reading the bible first, although I know that Jesus is in every subject"
When I asked her what she meant by saying that Jesus is in every subject this is the interesting response that she gave me, which I found awesome and worth sharing.
"In ATHLETICS he is the first and last, the Alpha and the Omega.
In ACCOUNTS he balanced five thousand men with five thousand fish.
In AGRICULTURE he is the true vine.
In ART he made a masterpiece, that's me.
In BUILDING he is the foundation of our lives.
In BUSINESS he is an effective leader.
In BIBLE KNOWLEDGE he is the perfect teacher.
In CHEMISTRY he is the base of the church.
In COMPUTERS he deleted our sins.
In ENGLISH he speaks with knowledge.
In FASHION & FABRICS she touched the hem of his garment and was healed.
In FOOD & NUTRITION he is the bread of life.
In FOOD SCIENCE he turned water to wine.
In GEOGRAPHY he calms the storm.
In HISTORY he is the rock of ages.
In MATHEMATICS he told his disciples to forgive seventy times seven times.
In MEDICINE he is the giver of life.
In MUSIC he is the Lord of dance.
In PHYSICS he broke the law of gravity when he ascended into heaven.
In POLITICAL SCIENCE no weapon fashioned against him shall proper.
In SHONA ndiye mambo wemadzimambo.
In WOODWORK he is the carpenter.
So in every subject that you study you can praise the Lord"

HOW CAN A WOMAN NOT LOVE GOD?

This sermon from my daughter Amanda had me thinking about God and Jesus as I went to my workplace. I thought about how the number of women who love God is more than that of men who love God, then I said to myself, "How can a woman not love God when he is all things that she wishes in her love partner and doesn't get in its full measure."

I love God because,
"He is a gentleman,
He is confident,
He is a provider and protector,
He is rich and powerful in character,
He owns everything, there is nothing He wouldn't do for me
He perfects all things concerning me,
He anticipates my wants and needs,
Every day He tells me and shows me how much He loves me
I don't have to perform in order to earn His love
He keeps all of his promises
No one can influence His opinion of me
He is the ultimate intimate partner
He can't "disown" me because I am a part of Him
He prepares a table before ME (Selah)
He covers me and doesn't expose me
He wrote his loving words down so that I'll never forget how He feels about me!"

NOW THAT'S LOVE!!!
Any man, who wants pointers on how to love a woman, should study GOD!
Women wake up every day and thank God for being the best "man" in your life!

TO ALL THE WOMEN OF MERCY SEAT INTER-DENOMINATIONAL 5am to 6am MORNING PRAYER GROUP AT 62 MEGAWATT HOUSE, cnr J.Tongogara Avenue/4th Street AS WELL AS ALL WOMEN WHO LOVE GOD AND TO ALL THOSE MEN WHO DO THEIR BEST TO EMULATE GOD, BE BLESSED!!!!

Wisdom to divorced single mothers from my life journals.

2009-08-12T13:08:00.011+02:00

On the 27th of July, I turned 41years of age. Don't look shocked, I know I have this beautiful face and gorgeous figure that makes me look like I am 30 but its true that I am 41years old now. Anyway, in celebration of my birthday, I took two weeks away from the madding crowd to make a date with myself and ponder and reflect about life and what it has taught me. It was an exciting interlude in which I first pampered myself in the way that makes me feel good and then had that appendicitis operation I had been dreading to have for weeks and then read through the journals I wrote over the years, as I recuperated from the operation. As I read through the journals which I started writing when I was 10 years old, my life started to rewind in front of me and I enjoyed seeing how life moulded me into the woman that I am today and it occurred to me that life is actually very interesting and good.

Let me randomly share with you the highlights of my life journals that I found interesting as I read them recently when I turned 41. What particularly struck me was the descriptions I gave of people when I first met them and how different to those descriptions the people turned out to be after getting to know them better. One of the writings in my journal that I found interesting and which I think is worth mentioning is the description of my ex-husband that I wrote in 1989 when I first met him. How his first impression on me turned out to be totally different from the man whom I eventually shared my life with briefly taught me that first impressions of people should not be trusted. Appearances and reality usually diverge dear readers, that is one of the wisdoms that life has taught me. For 41 years now I have been studying my fellow men and yet there still remains some mystery about the human species, I do not know everything that has to be known about them. I certainly hesitate to engage a maid on her face, and yet I suppose it is on the face that for the most part humans judge the persons they meet. We draw our conclusions from the shape of the jaw, the look in the eyes, the contour of the mouth. I wonder if we are more often right than wrong. Why novels and plays are so often untrue to life is because their authors, perhaps of necessity, make their characters so perfect and fitting to the role they play. They can not afford to make them self-contradictory, for then the novel or play becomes incomprehensible. Yet self-contradictory is what most humans are. We are a haphazard bundle of inconsistent qualities. The mixture of incongruities that make up a human being defy logic sometimes. I now disagree when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right, I think they must have small insight or great vanity. For my own part I find that the longer I know people the more I know the type of human beings that they are. So my advice to you dear readers is to take a very long time to get to know the true character of a person and never to judge a person by the first impression they give you.

As I read through my journals I realised that all the turning points in my life started with a simple thought that I implemented which then resulted in life-changing transformations. Allow me to share with you some of the simple thoughts that resulted in transitions in my own life.

1. Facing the winds of life
It was in 1994 and I had finally managed to separate from my abusive, alcoholic violent ex-husband and was feeling pity for myself. Pity at how my marriage had turned out to be and pity that I was going to bring up Amanda, our daughter, alone as a single mother. And then a simple thought of wisdom entered my mind and I wrote it down in my journal and gave it the title, "Facing the winds of life." This is what I wrote.
Self-pity is intrinsically bad and life goes on while I am pitying myself. Meanwhile I can decide whether I will continue to feel sorry for myself or look around me to see where my life is heading with this self-pity. Sometimes the winds of life are cold and cruel and I have to dress for the windy weather. I have wrapped my face in a woolen scarf of feeling sorry for myself as I wait out the storm but it is important to know when to remove the scarf. If I wrap the scarf too tightly around my eyes, my ears and my heart I am most likely to miss the change of season. The winds of life can carry me through my life whether I want to go or not, I'll inevitably be blown through good times and bad times. As I am blown, I can curl up tight into a little ball of self-pity trying to protect myself from seeing, hearing and feeling what is going on around me, or I can face the wind, throwing my arms open to embrace the wind.
So it was with that simple thought that I decided to stop pitying myself and embrace my single life and the serenity and independence that came with it as well as embrace being a single mother and the responsibilities and unshared everyday shows of love from my daughter that came with it. Since that day I have never felt pity for myself for being a single mother, I accepted my situation and learnt to enjoy it. So my advice to you dear readers is not to waste life pitying yourself because as long as you pity yourself happiness will elude you. Just face the winds of life head on and deal with them accordingly.

2. Realising that the caterpillar has become a butterfly
It was in 1999, five years after I had separated from my ex-husband and I had built a cocoon around myself, to protect myself from being hurt by love again. Many a man tried to penetrate it and failed. At first I was so engrossed in bringing up my daughter and building a new comfortable life for the two of us such that I had no time to feel lonely but in 1999 I started to feel lonely. The new feelings of loneliness frightened me and I tried very hard to eliminate them by keeping myself busy with studying and work but every free moment I would get the loneliness would creep in. As I puzzled over where the feelings of loneliness were coming from a simple thought entered my mind and this is what I wrote in my journal.
It's easy enough for me to see how the caterpillar became the butterfly. I can look at the transition from the outside. The caterpillar on the other hand, is wrapped up in that cocoon and can't even look in the mirror to see if it looks as bad as it feels. One day it chafes and pushes to get out of the walls of its own making and finally wakes up to find it is a new creature. My transformation to a woman who feels lonely is equally mysterious and magical. First there is the surprised stage. Here I am my own old self, then one day my present life doesn't fit anymore. But I don't know how to make it fit, I struggle with my new feelings in my old self. Until one day I finally shed the cocoon. The feelings of hurt from my past marriage have disappeared,I am healed, which is why I now can feel lonely. It is a transformation based on accumulated changes. It's a process in which I have turned from being a caterpillar to being a butterfly.
With this simple thought I made the decision to start dating again. So my advice to you dear readers is for you to recognise the instance you turn from caterpillar to butterfly so that you can be all the butterfly you can be.

3. Letting go of winter so as to feel spring
Having made the decision to start dating again so as to kill the loneliness which I had started to feel, it wasn't easy to give up the single life I had become accustomed to and embrace the idea of constantly updating someone about my life. Was so used to being alone and doing my own things and having no one to answer to or consult, no one to feel left out and hurt if I make my own decisions without their knowledge. The thought of giving up my independent singleness made me hesitate to start dating although the feelings of loneliness where becoming like an intermittent pain in the neck. I was in a dilemna as to what to do, whether to say goodbye to the independence of a single life and kill loneliness or to continue with my independence and stay lonely. And then a simple thought entered my mind which I wrote in my journal. This is what I wrote.
The old die so that the new may be reborn. Plants, animals, people, all experience this rule of nature, dying and being reborn, either literally or figuratively. When we decide to make a conscious change, say to move to a new house, take a new job, begin a new life in a new country, get out of a bad relationship or begin a new love relationship, we decide to make that change because we expect a new "spring growth" to result from it. But for that spring growth to be a reality, there has got to be the death and destruction of the old like that experienced in winter when leaves die from cold, death and destruction of the status quo which had become the comfort zone. Losing the familiar is hard, no matter how pleasant the contemplated change may be. Sometimes it's enough to simply remind ourselves to persist, the change will be worth it. Sometimes we get stuck in "winter." We stay there, not being able to embrace the new and living. At these times, the best we can do is to let the uncomfortable dying process happen so that there is new "spring growth" in our lives.
With that simple thought I decided to let go off my single life and allowed one man to charm his way into my life. I let go the winter in my life so that I could begin to feel spring and that dear readers is my advice to you.

4. Making new footprints in pursuit of happiness.
Love relationships are complex and rarely do two lovers completely click in all aspects of life. There are bound to be some differences here and there and the extent of the differences will determine if the differences can be shrugged off or can not be tolerated. My first love relationship after my divorce was all roses at first but became thorny as years went by as he started to take me for granted. I was left with the dilemma as to whether to ditch him or to tolerate and continue with the relationship. If I ditch him what would the Zimbabwean cultural society think of me, they might think I am the one who has a problem of not tolerating men. But then if I don't ditch and stay unhappily in the relationship because of fearing what the society will think about me I will remain unhappy for the rest of my life. This dilemma was very difficult to solve, until one day when a thought entered my mind which I wrote in my journal. This is what I wrote.
The way to get beyond the footprints that I've made in this life is to make more footprints. If I have been plodding along in size eight hiking boots, I can't trip away en pointe in size five ballerina slippers, yet I don't have to keep marching along the same well-worn track. I can change shoes and walk in new directions. That's transformation, getting beyond the footprints of my girlhood, my married life, my divorce, my first love relationship after my divorce into a new life in which I am fully happy. As I become who I am in my new single life, I remember how I made the old footprints, I remember the running, hiking, jumping, twirling, plodding and the dancing that made the old footprints and can decide which of those I want to repeat. As I make new footprints that can make me happy I will remember the paths that served me well and avoid those that ended at a cliff and to hell with society and its judgement. Only God has the right to judge me.
With that simple thought I decided to end my first love relationship after my divorce and make new footprints leading a single and celibate life. Surprisingly enough I didn't feel lonely this time around. I had learnt that solitude is the antidote to loneliness and so would spent my alone moments in solitude indulging in my passion for writing. That is when I started blogging. If not blogging I would study or research, ponder and meditate about this and that or pray or play with my children. It was a very happy life I started leading even though I had no man to share my life with but that is not to say if the right man comes along asking for my hand in marriage I won't accept. It's just that I have stopped feeling so lonely that I start thinking that I definitely need a male companion. With or without a man in my life I can be just as happy and happiness is what we all seek for from life, or isn't it? So my advice to you dear readers is that your happiness is more important than what pleases the society and so you should always choose what makes you happy which might not necessarily be what makes the society happy. The other advice is that you should never depend on someone giving you happiness, your own happiness comes from within you and you are the only one who can dish that happiness to yourself, a man or someone can only add to the happiness that you already have within yourself.

The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing

2009-07-20T13:25:00.007+02:00

Yesterday I visited a friend at her house and was struck by the words about risk that she had hanging on her living-room wall. As I read through the words I couldn't help crushing every sentence in my mind. Below I will write what was written on the wall hanging in bold letters and then write how I crushed every point in italics.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
Well, so what, fools have a lot of fun and are very cheerful. I would rather appear like a fool than be serious all the time. I will laugh when ever I feel like.

To weep is to risk being called sentimental.
I see nothing wrong with being called sentimental. Weeping shows that I am not heartless and besides crying has a soothing effect that helps me to feel better.

To reach out to another is to risk involvement
Involvement is good, it makes my humanity come out. I want to reach out and get involved with others. No man is an island.

To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self.
I want to show my true self to the world, I want to be known for who I am, so I will expose my feelings. Have never been one for putting up appearances.

To place your ideas and your dreams before the crowd is to risk being called naive.
They can call me any adjective or name they want but that won't silence me, I will continue to have my voice and thoughts heard.

To hope is to risk despair
Without hope how would I be able to carry on with life. Without hope I might start thinking that life is not worth living, so I will continue hoping and if I despair later on it will be for a short time before I start hoping for something else again.

To try is to risk failure.
But then if I don't try how will I ever know if I can or can not do it? It is through trying that I learn to succeed.

To trust is to risk disappointment and feeling betrayed.
I would rather trust than be paranoid about everyone and everything. And when in love, trusting the one you love is a must otherwise the love will be incomplete.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.
It is better to have loved and not be loved in return than not to have loved at all. Besides love just happens whether we like it or not and as long as we are alive we can't run away from love.

To live is to risk dying
So would you rather not live just because you don't want to take risks? I choose to live and take all the risks that come with living.

There is no way you can live without taking risks. The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing. Of course, by not risking you can avoid suffering and sorrow, but you simply won't be able to learn, feel, change and grow, love and live if you don't take risks. Chained by your certitudes you forfeit your freedom because only the person who is not afraid to take risks is truly free. The humanity in humans is a result of taking the risk to reach out to other fellow humans, taking the risk to express yourself mentally and emotionally, taking the risk to go on living against all odds.

The time to show love with actions is now.

2009-07-19T16:05:00.006+02:00

We are always putting things off for tomorrow, especially with people whom we love. We always postpone showing love with actions and rarely do we say, "I love you," to the one we love when the courting stage is over and he/she has declared his/her love and we are together in a relationship. In our minds we will be saying, "It's foolish for me to tell her/him I love her/him, she/he knows it." Even if she/he knows it, reassuring her/him everyday will enhance those love feelings. No one ever gets tired of being told that they are loved. Imagine how happy you would feel if every morning you pick up your coffee cup you find a little note underneath it that says, "You're incredible". Or imagine how special you would feel if you get a card, not on your birthday, not on Valentine's day, not on Mother's day or Father's day, that says, "My life is so much richer because you are in it." I don't know why we tend to postpone showing our love with actions like these. What if tomorrow never comes because we die or he/she dies? We will then live with regrets for postponing showing our love with actions when we still had the chance to do so. Losing a loved one is a hard way to learn that love is lived in the now. The time to say to him/her, "You're important to me, sometimes I don't say it, but you are. My life would be empty without you," is now. The time to reach out to him/her and live a permanent mark in his/her heart is now. The time to pour your heart out in person, in an email, in a letter, on Skype, Gmail Chat, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live, cellphone SMS message or in a phone call is now, for love is lived in the present and too important an emotion to waste by postponing saying it or acting it to tomorrow. Loving relationships depend upon everday open, honest, beautiful and intimate communication that makes the two of you continue to feel connected in mind, body and soul.

Let me end this Sunday article with these thought-provoking words.
I would rather have one little rose given to me when I am alive, than to have the choicest flowers, put on top of my casket. I would rather have a pleasant word in love said to me now when I am alive than a love-filled eulogy said at my graveside when my heart is still and my life has ceased to be. I would rather have loving smiles now from all those who love me, than love tears shed round my casket, when to this world I bid adieu. Show me love now when I am alive and bring me all your flowers now with love smiles on your faces and loving words to top it all. I want and need that love shown to me and said to me now, when I am dead it won't be of any use to me.

Zimbabwe: Espionage and the tattered economy

2009-07-17T14:46:00.019+02:00

In my last article I mentioned how the RBZ governor, Gideon Gono orchestrated the specifying of a number of prominent and competent business people during the years 2003 and 2004, soon after he was appointed RBZ governor. I also mentioned how by so doing he sabotaged Zimbabwe's economy because these competent business people that he frustrated to the extend that they fled the country and left their businesses at the mercy of his economic terrorist fangs where making such a big positive contribution to Zimbabwe's economy to the extend that the effects of the ZIDERA bill of 2001 sanctions were not being felt in the country. Gideon Gono and Patrick Chinamasa were the judge and jury in all the cases of these business people most of whom were being accused of externalising foreign currency and causing the enormous foreign currency shortage that had hit the country. No Commission of Inquiry to investigate what Gideon Gono and Patrick Chinamasa where accusing these business people of was set, it was up to these two men to do whatever they pleased with the lives and businesses of these competent professional business people. In most cases soon after the owners of the businesses had fled the country, Gideon Gono, Patrick Chinamasa and their fellow ZANU-PF cronies would seize or buy shares in those businesses at prices far below the market price. That was corruption, injustice and unfairness at its best. To make matters worse not even one reporter in the country had the courage or thought of interviewing these business people to hear their side of the story or investigate the cases further, they all printed Gono's lies about what he was alleging to be the economic crimes that these business people had committed. So like sheep most of the Zimbabwean population after reading the lies in the media concerning these cases cheered Gono on and congratulated him for a job well done not knowing that actually what they were cheering him on was his economic terrorist activities of getting rid of all competent business people in the country so that he is left with no impediment to his goal of tearing the Zimbabwean economy to tatters.

It's a pity that Mugabe and the country's intelligence network who could have stopped him all trusted Gono and Chinamasa so much that they didn't suspect that they were economic hitmen on a misson, sent forth by God knows who. It's also sad to note that up to now Mugabe still trusts these two men. Even more pitiful and sad is the fact that these two men are not the only ones trusted by Mugabe whose actions revealed that they were on a mission to destroy Zimbabwe one way or the other. One such man is Jonathan Moyo who together with Patrick Chinamasa again drafted the POSA and AIPPA bills in 2003 and 2004 which with the help of the police officially killed human rights in Zimbabwe. Then there is Ignatius Chombo who is notorious for Operation Murambatsvina which made headlines all over the world in 2005 because of the inhumanness and cruelty it portrayed. Recently, soon after the GNU had been conceived, Themba Mliswa joined in the list of economic hitmen by instigating a fresh start of commercial farm invasions targeting the few white commercial farmers that were protected by SADC and still farming in the country . The actions of these men that I have mentioned, namely Jonathan Moyo, Patrick Chinamasa, Ignatius Chombo and Themba Mliswa had the effect of proving to the whole world that human rights were being abused and there was no rule of law in Zimbabwe which is what the ZIDERA bill lists as the reason why they can not allow lines of credit to be opened for Zimbabwe. For that reason I am sure you now understand why I am calling these men economic terrorists terrorising their own country.

Let me end this article by philosophising about this issue.
A nation's success depends on the character of its people. A nation's success is not even dependent on the armed forces or intelligence security of the nation only or its President or Prime Minister alone because if the character of some of its people is such that they work against the development of their own nation then that country won't succeed.
Zimbabweans should learn from the people of ancient China, who sought protection from the barbaric hordes from the north by erecting the Great Wall of China. It was too high to scale, too thick to tear down and too long to go around, yet during the first 100 years of the wall's existance, China was invaded three times. How was the security breached? The enemies simply bribed the gatekeepers and then marched easily through the gate. The fatal flow in China's security lay in spending its wealth to build a wall but paying much less to build the character of its gatekeepers.

CAN THE CHARACTER OF ALL ZIMBABWE'S GATEKEEPERS BE TRUSTED? ARE THEY ALL WORKING TOWARDS THE ONE AIM OF POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN ZIMBABWE?

Zimbabwe: Gideon Gono's criminal and corrupt deeds out in the open

2009-07-11T13:58:00.005+02:00

On the 25th of May 2009, Mugabe said this defending Gideon Gono's stay as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, " He is not a thief, he has done no wrong. Prove the wrong he has done, that's the crime he is alleged to have committed -- that he stood by this man Robert Mugabe, who must collapse so that there is regime change."
On the 31st of May 2009, soon after that myopic and paranoid outburst by Mugabe, Gilbert Muponda who used to own the company ENG CAPITAL in Zimbabwe and made numerous headlines in Zimbabwe during the years 2003 and 2004 when Gideon Gono (who had just been appointed RBZ governor)was accusing him of sabotaging Zimbabwe's economy, at long last decided to speak out and let us know his side of the story. He wrote a letter to Mugabe telling him of Gideon Gono's criminal and corrupt deeds concerning ENG CAPITAL Z$35billion worth of shares that Gideon Gono grabbed for himself for only
Z$2,9billion thereby prejudicing ENG CAPITAL creditors, investors and contributories of at least Z$32,1 billion back then in 2004 when a billion Zimbabwean dollars was equivalent to millions of US dollars. You can read for yourself the letter that Gilbert Muponda wrote to Mugabe on the URL link below.
http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/opin/090531gm.asp?sector=ECON&year=0&range_start=1

After reading through it I came to the conclusion that Gideon Gono started sabotaging the Zimbabwean economy right from day one when he was appointed governor of RBZ. To quote Gilbert Muponda's own words which are very true, "Using the Anti-Graft mantra RBZ Governor Gideon Gono devised an unjust self enrichment scheme targeting business leaders, arresting, harassing, intimidating, exiling and black mailing Zimbabwean entrepreneurs whose businesses were causing an economic growth in Zimbabwe." If that is not sabotaging Zimbabwe's economy, then what is? ENG CAPITAL was doing well, it had a market value of US$ 175 million, just before Gono descended on it with his economic sabotaging fangs and liquidated it. Gilbert Muponda explained clearly what he meant by Gideon Gono's unjust self-enrichment schemes, for those of you who are lazy to go to the URL I provided let me copy and paste for you what he said.

I will briefly describe for you one specific example about what I mean by unjust self-enrichment schemes .I am sure you were told that ENG CAPITAL had many cars, and these cars were the only assets that ENG had. The correct and accurate facts are that ENG was a Group of Companies, which Companies had Directors, Managers and employees and the cars were for the use of these members of staff who ran the various companies which made up ENG CAPITAL.

Below is a brief ENG Group Structure:

ENG HOLDINGS GROUP STRUCTURE

- SUBSIDIARIES
- ENG CAPITAL INVESTMENTS PVT LTD
- ENG ASSET MANAGEMENT PVT LTD
- ENG REAL ESTATE
- ENG NOMINEES PVT LTD
- ENG PRIVATE EQUITY (PVT) LTD
- ENG CAPITAL ADVISORY SERVICES
- ENG STRUCTURED FINANCE

ADDITIONAL MAJOR ASSETS OWNED:

- Century Bank Holdings (now CFX bank)
- Leasing Company of Zimbabwe, Century Asset Managers)
- Century Discount House
- Hybri Micro-Finance Institution
- Care Insurance PVT LTD
- RestCel Insurance PVT LTD
- Amalgamated Health Services ? (Harare West Hospital )
- 15% of OK Zimbabwe Limited
- 15% of Zimplow Holdings Limited
- 20% Medtech Holdings Limited
- Hornet Re-Insurance PVT LTD
- Pearl Pension Fund Management
- 25 % Clan Holdings Limited
- 25 % Zimbabwe News Papers Group - Zimpapers Limited
- Allied Conveyor Belts PVT LTD
- River Drilling PVT LTD
- Real Estate including (Anastasia Court, Belgravia House, Thaine Building)
- Various Listed ZSE Listed shares
- Treasury Bills
- GMB Bills
- Cargill Commercial Paper
- $ 4 billion - Alliance Capital Debenture (representing 123 million First Mutual Life shares)
- 23 Million First Mutual Life shares

ENG Group was liquidated and managed to repay its creditors.

ENG assets above included a parcel of more than 600 million Century Financial Holdings ( Now CFX BANK) of these 600 million we were able to track 309 Million Shares sold to Network Investments and Kwangwari Enterprises which are investment vehicles in which Gono reportedly has interests. The 309 Century Financial Holdings Limited Million shares in question were sold through Fidelity Stock brokers on or around May 13, 2004. Within the same week an announcement was then made that CFX Bank was taking over Century Holdings. The shares were sold to Gono’s reported consortium for Z$2,9 billion when ENG had spent $35 billion to accumulate the shares, thereby prejudicing ENG, Creditors, Investors and contributories of at least Z$32,1 billion.

As ENG contributory and shareholder, I wrote to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Chief Executive Mr Emmanuel Munyukwi asking for an investigation because we had agreed with the majority of creditors that the shares should not be sold but rather swapped with creditors and investors instead of selling them at an unreasonable price. But the 309 Century /CFX Financial Holdings million shares were somehow clandestinely sold and that transaction enabled CFX Bank to take over Century Holdings Limited.

This allowed the reverse listing of CFX Bank on to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Without those 309 Century Holdings Limited million shares owned by ENG the CFX/Century merger would have never happened. Gono and his proxies became the new controlling shareholder of the new merged bank. Is this by design or accident, Gono then forced out the Mr Sean Maloney who had helped to put together the transaction. Mr Sean Maloney had to leave the country under unclear circumstances. Part of the same shares snatched From ENG were later transferred to Premier Bank Financial Holdings which is reportedly owned by Governor Gono.

ENG directors and contributories asked the high court to set aside the sale of the shares and the matter action is still before the courts in Harare. We asked Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Committee to investigate. They refused. We asked the brokers for the identity of the buyer of our shares. They refused. The brokers indicated they were under serious pressure from individuals they couldn’t identify to maintain total secrecy on the identity of the buyer. Within a few days of raising the challenge of the CFX/Century shares Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa specified me without affording me a hearing or an enquiry as required by the Constitution of Zimbabwe. The was specification at the instigation of Governor Gono .The specification was meant to harass, cow, intimidate and silence me from raising further complaint and challenges regarding ENG assets specifically these 309 million shares in CFX Financial Holdings.

Since the ENG shares in Century /CFX Bank Financial Holdings were irregularly transferred the Bank ownership remains in dispute. The ENG shareholders and contributories filed and sought a high court order to stop the transfer of the shares until the dispute had been resolved. The shares were still clandestinely transferred despite the pending high court application to resolve the dispute. After filing for this order My Lawyer the late Oscar Ziweni was also specified by the Minister of Justice and threatened, harassed and intimidated until he went into hiding. However the point remains ENG shareholders and contributories still lay claim to these shares and stake in Century/ CFX BANK which were looted by Governor Gono.

A few individuals directly involved in the illegal sale of the ENG shares in Century later confessed that the beneficiary of the transaction was Governor Gono. Cde President the description of the actions above constitutes unacceptable behavior by the Governor of the Reserve Bank. The transactions clearly show corrupt behaviour which when repeated at a massive scale as done by Governor Gono can bring down a country’s Economy. This is a significant part of what killed Zimbabwe’s Economy. I am sure other business people will have their stories to tell and many will have common features with what I have described above. This will be difficult to prove without a forensic audit of Independent Commission of Enquiry. And this will only be possible if Governor Gono is gracefully asked to recuse himself or go on paid leave whilst this is done. As a scholar of modern corporate Governance practices I believe the Governor will find this acceptable.

As you may probably recall Barbican Bank, Trust Bank and Royal Bank experienced a liquidity crisis similar to what Century /CFX Bank experienced during the same period. Barbican Bank, Trust Bank and Royal bank were then taken over and amalgamated to form Zimbabwe Amalgamated Bank (ZABG). Even though Century /CFX Bank faced the same situation it was not merged into ZABG. The reason was that Governor Gono was now the new controlling Shareholder and he was protecting his self-interests. Century /CFX Bank was placed into temporary curatorship only to reopen a few months with RBZ pumping huge amounts of money to protect Governor Gono’s new investment?. Your Excellency this is corruption. This is how the country goes down the drain.

ENG CAPITAL is not the only company that Gideon Gono targeted in his self-enrichment schemes during that time, the list of victimised business people is very long and as I read through the last section of Gilbert Muponda's letter I couldn't help but cry. This is the first time I have cried because of some issue other than the pains of love so my crying about it is worth writing about. I cried because I felt angry with myself and the rest of the Zimbabwean population for believing what the Gono-controlled media in Zimbabwe was saying about ENG CAPITAL and cheering on Gideon Gono back then in 2003 and 2004 while he harassed our fellow Zimbabwean business people whose positive contribution to the Zimbabwean economy was actually making the effect of the ZIDERA bill sanctions unnoticeable. If all those Zimbabwean business people that Gideon Gono harassed and caused to flee their businesses as well as flee the country had continued doing business in Zimbabwe I am very sure that the Zimbabwean economy would never have become so tattered and torn. The lesson learnt is never believe what the media says unless you know the true facts of the story and never believe one side of the story. I have copy and pasted the part of Gilbert Muponda's letter that made me cry with the hope that you too will realise what fools Gideon Gono made us and cry along with me.

The list of victimized businesspeople is rather long but it includes such luminaries as Dr Makoni, Mutumwa Mawere, James Mushore, Emmanuel Fundira, Otto Chekeche, Godfrey Jowa, Norman Sachikonye, Victor Chando, Durajadi Simba, Jeffrey Muzwimbi, William Nyemba, Nicholas Vingirai, Mthuli Ncube, Francis Zimuto , James Makamba, David Butau, Minister Chris Kuruneri, Nyevero Hlupo, Chris Goromonzi,John Moxon and many more. Mr President all these men above are true patriots who chose to set up businesses in their own country instead of neighbouring countries where they had similar opportunities and incentives. Is this normal to see a whole generation of entrepreneurs scandalized and lose all credibility and all at the same time all based on accusations raised and directed by one man? A lot of these individuals have been forced to settle in other countries where they are working, creating jobs and help build neighbouring economies whilst Zimbabwe is in desperate need for such skills and services.

This list includes some of the most gifted Bankers and Business people of our lifetime. It includes The Founders of the first Indigenous Merchant Bank, It Includes the founders of the first Discount House, It includes the first Black Entrepreneurs to form and list their own Financial Institution in Zimbabwe. All these men Your Excellency have been haunted out of the country, embarrassed and disgraced due to the vindictiveness of Governor Gono as he pursued long discredited economic policies. When such experienced and skilled business people are haunted out of their businesses and out of the country the impact is long term. Factories close, production is reduced, shortages become widespread and prices keep rising till hyper inflation becomes order of the day.

During the 1980s and 1990s the Government ran the much-vaunted Education for All campaign. That campaign produced millions of graduates. Including me. It is sad today that a majority of those products are today working and serving other nations whilst Zimbabwe is in desperate need of their skills and services. More than 80% of my former classmates at National University of Science and Technology are now based outside Zimbabwe.

Cde President other countries protect and support their business people and entrepreneurs. They give them incentives to remain, stay and be based in their country of birth. In the USA there are individuals like Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and many others. They live in America and if they were to re-locate else where I am certain the American Government will do everything it can to re-attract them. They do this because they know Entrepreneurs create jobs, provide services and make the economy prosper. In 2006 The richest Chinese man was the then 37 year old Wong Kwong Yu of Gome Appliances. Wong Kwong Yu has an estimated $2.3 billion US dollars in assets according to the Forbes business magazine. China has 108 other billionaires. And they all live in and operate from China. These are some of the people who have helped China become such an Economic powerhouse. The world over its rare for any country to be developed by foreigners in the absence of a vibrant local entrepreneurial community. Whilst Zimbabwe may look east its also important that it looks inside for its own business people and entrepreneurs. Under the direction of Governor Gono Zimbabwe lost too many talented individuals who are needed to revive the economy. It is therefore imperative that the RBZ be reformed and Governor Gono be re-deployed away from the Central Bank which must play.

The Media and those close to you tried to create impressions that ENG was brief case company premised on Financial Engineering and Financial gymnastics and creating money from thin air without real economic activity. This is false. I will clarify this by bringing to your attention 2 companies, which were part of the ENG Capital Group. ENG included River Drilling PVT LTD specialized in locating under ground rivers and water bodies. Its main activity was to locate such water bodies and bore hole drilling through out the country. This included drilling boreholes for schools and rural district councils. Allied Conveyor Belts was involved in manufacturing, servicing and installation of conveyor belts and elevators. At the time of ENG’s closure the Company was in the process of negotiating the refurbishment of all the Conveyor belts and systems at Hwange Colliery Company Limited. In addition it was finalizing an conveyor belt system export order worth US $ 2.8 million from an Angolan firm. It is clear a misleading impression was created that ENG specialized in cars or non-economic activities and these businesses I am highlighting were ignored and downplayed to try and create justification for the closure of ENG CAPITAL whilst ENG assets were stripped and looted as earlier described above.

I hope the above will give an indication of why the RBZ must be reformed and during that reform individuals like Governor Gono must gracefully be retired or redeployed. The above case about the ENG shares in Century / CFX Financial Holdings show how corrupt the Governor is. Your Excellency your reputation and legacy is on the line. Cde President you cannot be seen to be defending and protecting a corrupt man like Governor Gono. I am sure other cases of his corrupt behaviour will be brought to your attention since you have asked people to show you the Governor’s criminal and corrupt deeds.

After reading through this economic sabotage by Gideon Gono and remembering how around the same years, 2003 and 2004, Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Chinamasa drafted the POSA and AIPPA bills which consolidated no rule of law in Zimbabwe that the ZIDERA bill of 2001 had quoted as the reason for economic sanctions towards Zimbabwe, would I be wrong in suspecting that these three men are probably working as economic terrorists in their own countries. Excuse me if I am wrong, my thoughts must be a result of reading too many Robert Ludlum espionage novels.

The kind of President that Zimbabweans want

2009-07-10T13:40:00.000+02:00

Today I was having conversation with some African foreigners and the conversation suddenly turned to the economic and political situation in Zimbabwe. The foreigners were of the opinion that the economic and political demise Zimbabweans find themselves in is because they don't know what they want because if they did they would do something about the big zero in their country. Ever the patriotic citizen I of course took it upon myself to correct that wrong perception of Zimbabweans that some foreigners have. I told them that Zimbabweans do know what they want but their only problem is that they do not aggressively join hands and call out with one voice to get what they want. It was then that the idea of writing this article stating clearly the kind of President that Zimbabweans want came to mind so that it comes out clearly that even though we have this big zero in our Presidential leadership it is not what we want and we do know exactly what we want. Not that my aims are modest for I hope to affect not only what people know but how they think, at least in terms of the images people have in their minds as they look at Zimbabweans from a distance. This effort at an overall interpretation, tentative as it is, has been stimulated by the difficulties I find with the interpretations of foreigners. I hope to sharpen a confrontation of basic issues, provoke disagreement over the matters of interpretation and make manifest the underlying assumptions of different perceptions.

Zimbabweans want a President that will represent them to the outside world as the peace-loving and dignified people that they are, so it is imperative that the President be well-groomed with the right etiquette and knows the right diplomatic language and tactics to use when interacting with others on his level as well as with anyone he comes into contact with. Mugabe's rhetoric hate speeches towards the British and the Americans or anyone who disagrees with his principles, policies, political ideology or actions does not have the support of most Zimbabweans, in fact he embarrasses most Zimbabweans with such behavior. We don't expect words like idiot, go hang, etc, to be uttered publicly by a President, such undiplomatic words are not a true representation of our Zimbabwean culture which condemns hate speech. There is always a polite alternative way of expressing how one disagrees or has a different opinion from another person without resorting to foul language. Talking about diplomacy, remember how Tsvangirai's undiplomatic utterances undermining SADC and the AU and preferring to deal with the EU and the UN when it was trying to resolve the GNU formation problems resulted in him loosing respect and credibility among most African leaders. This goes to show the importance of diplomacy in a President..

Zimbabweans want a President who recognizes the importance of an excellent education system for all Zimbabwean children who in future are going to be responsible for developing the nation after all the adults of today are long gone. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government destroyed the educational system of Zimbabwe and then send their children abroad to study as did Jerry Rawlings of Ghana when he and his ministers sent their children to Europe and America to study after destroying one of the best educational systems in the world. If Tsvangirai and Mutambara want the majority of Zimbabweans to vote for them in the next elections then they have got to use this opportunity as PM and deputy PM of the GNU to ensure that the standard of education in Zimbabwe is raised high to its former level or even to a higher level than before.

Zimbabweans want a President who makes the development of an excellent and affordable health system a priority because the lives of Zimbabweans depend on it. We must have a President who will see the importance of financing the health infrastructure needs of Zimbabwe and prioritize it. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government destroyed the efficient health infrastructure that they inherited from Smith's government such that when he and his elite cronies fall ill they travel overseas for medical treatment. It's sad to say that such behavior is typical of most African leaders, who have no trust in the health infrastructures in their own countries , yet they are the ones who have the responsibility to build the health infrastructures in their own countries to high competence levels. Gnassingbe Eyadema after ruling Togo for more than 3 decades could not built the country's health infrastructure and died when he was being rushed to Europe for medical treatment. The same can be said of Omar Bongo who was President of Gabon for 42 years during which time he did absolutely nothing about the health infrastructure in his country which had one of the world's highest infant mortality rates. When his late wife Edith fell ill he had to fly her to France for medical treatment and he himself died in Spain this year where he had gone to receive medical treatment. Zimbabweans expect Tsvangirai, Mutambara and their MDC ministers who are in the Zimbabwean GNU government to rebuild the health infrastructure to very high competence levels such that they themselves will have confidence in receiving medical treatment in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabweans want a President who is not preoccupied with how to enrich himself and his children, grandchildren & relatives. We want a President who does not think only about the future of his children & great grand children, we need one who thinks about how the great grand children of the entire nation of Zimbabwe will fare in future. We don't want a President who is more concerned about how to get rich than how to lift the Zimbabwean citizens from poverty. We don't want a President who is more interested in votes than the responsibilities that go with the votes. There is an IMF report which shows that last year, 2008, Mugabe and his elite ZANU-PF cronies through the RBZ governor, Gideon Gono, got subsidized directed lending, subsidized provision of equipment and fertilizers and allocation of foreign exchange at subsidized exchange rates. Besides monetization, these activities were financed by surrender requirements on export proceeds, the retention of foreign exchange earnings of the gold and agricultural sectors in excess of mandatory surrender requirements, a freeze of most foreign currency deposits, external borrowing, and purchases of foreign exchange at the parallel market. After enriching themselves corruptly like this the ordinary Zimbabweans were left languishing in poverty, hunger and cholera and told to tighten their belts and embrace economic hardships with open arms. As Zimbabweans were dying of hunger Mugabe repatriated a lot of US dollars to banks in Hong Kong and bought a three storied mansion for his daughter Bona in Hong Kong. Such behavior shows how Mugabe and his cronies are only concerned about themselves and their families and relatives and don't give a damn about the welfare of all the other Zimbabweans. Zimbabweans expect Tsvangirai, Mutambara and their MDC ministers in the GNU to put the interests of Zimbabweans above their own interests and never to indulge in corrupt activities. In this 21st Century we need a President who will not collude and connive with Swiss Banks and banks in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, France, Britain, Jersey Island, US and a host of offshore banks in the Caribbean and the Pacific to cheat their poor countries as Mobutu of Zaire; Lansana Conte of Guinea; Eyadema of Togo; and a number of dictators and tyrants such as Omar Bongo of Gabon; Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea; Dos Santos of Angola; Denis Sassou- Nguesso of Congo; Paul Biya of Cameroon; Arap Moi of Kenya; Jerry Rawlings of Ghana; Ibrahim Babadjinda of Nigeria and a number of sitting and ex-presidents in Africa did to their countries thereby surrendering their people to the altar of poverty. These African Presidents paid lip service to fighting corruption and then turned to loot the treasuries of their countries and Zimbabweans don't want such a President in their country.

Zimbabwe needs a humanitarian President who respects human rights by adhering to the tenets of democracy and all its freedoms like Khama of Botswana. A President who relinquishes power freely like Nelson Mandela, Rawlings and John Kuffour, not Presidents who panel beat the constitution so that it has no limit to the number of terms that a President can serve and has no age limit so that they stay in power until they die like what Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo did.
Not the likes of Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Mugabe of Zimbabwe whose recent election results where not a true representation of the citizens' votes. Africa has a lot of Presidents who are very undemocratic, corrupt, kleptocratic and have dictatorial tendencies not only in Zimbabwe but also in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Congo, Angola, Libya, Sudan and Chad, these Presidents should not be emulated. Tsvangirai and Mutambara must make sure that a new democratic constitution is drafted with the participation of all Zimbabweans and its bill passed in Zimbabwe so that all the tenets of democracy and its freedoms can be fully practised in Zimbabwe with the support of the constitution. This new constitution should not be based on the Kariba draft which gives the President too much power which a dictator President can then abuse.

Zimbabweans want a President who is committed to building excellent infrastructures in Zimbabwe, in schools, hospitals, roads, airports, rail lines, telecommunication, manufacturing and processing industries, silos and irrigation facilities using the latest technologies in the market so that the country can compete in the global village. South Africa is one country in Africa whose infrastructure is counted among the best in the world and it continues to upgrade its infrastructure every year. The economic competition for markets in the global village requires a President who will strategise and implement concrete and sound economic and social policies that are long lasting, result oriented and are attractive to both local and foreign investors. Policies that can help lift millions of Zimbabwean citizens from poverty, diseases and illiteracy. Policies that enable Zimbabwean citizens to experience their Zimbabwean dream in their own country so as to curb the brain drain. What the Zimbabwean GNU should appreciate is that no matter how good their economic and social policies might be if they are not supported by the rule of law and respect of human freedoms then those policies will count for nothing. As long as commercial farmers continue to be violently and forcibly evicted from farms and opposition members are abducted and jailed unjustly the country will continue to be regarded as unfriendly and a risk to investors. As long as the Zimbabwean constitution is not amended so that it becomes fully democratic then all the good policies the GNU government comes up with will count for nothing. As long as corruption remains a cancer which is not being treated by chemotherapy it will continue to eat away every positive achievement in the country and cancel it to zero.

Zimbabweans want a President who has the vision to convert the huge amounts of natural resources in the continent into processed goods that can be sold globally and enable the country to be self-reliant and move away from the dependency trap. Zimbabwe is home to a lot of natural resources and human resources that needs to be tapped so that it produces end products that can make the country look to the West and East not for donor funding but for win-win trade deals that benefit everyone in the country. Zimbabwe is home to a lot of rivers, lakes and dams and yet water supply cuts are an everyday experience, why when efficient water supply networks can be built all over the country? The value of these rivers and lakes to agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, commerce, power generation and household use cannot be overemphasised. Zimbabwe experiences sunny and windy weather through out the year except for just a few days and yet it has to buy electricity from other countries, why when it can convert solar energy to electricity or use the wind to turn wind turbines that generate electricity? Zimbabwe has got a lot of mines with huge amounts of precious minerals and yet the money the country gets from selling those minerals only benefits a few elite families like the Mujurus who have made Chiyadzwa diamond mine their private territory. Zimbabwe has got very rich soil that can feed all sorts of crops and yet those who took over commercial farms from white farmers are failing to produce enough crops to feed the whole nation, and yet most rural families are relying on Western donors for food. Zimbabweans need a President who will make sure that all the country's resources are fully utilised to benefit everyone in the country and eliminate poverty in the country. We can no longer afford to remain poor in the abundance of natural resources.

Zimbabwe's Presidential leadership as well as its economic, political and social situation has been mocked and laughed at for so long and it is about time we change that. In the next elections, whenever that is let us rise up in great numbers and use the ballot to demand excellent Presidential leadership and accountability in our country Zimbabwe. Let us vote for the candidate who can put back our country on the path to economic prosperity and back on the world map as a country full of integrity and competence in all fields. Prior to the elections, during the campaigning period let us ask the election candidates all the questions that will reveal the kind of leaders that they are so that we make informed decisions about the right candidate to choose. It will be great if ZBC allocates them a slot where the candidates can debate important issues and to take questions from viewers so that we ask them all the questions that some journalists are afraid to ask. Let us use the ballot to vote for a Zimbabwean President based on merit rather than tribal or party affiliation. We must make sure that in the next elections Zimbabwe becomes free from Presidential leadership incompetence and corrupt, weak, ineffective and despotic rule.

Zimbabwe: Tendai Biti is doing a good job as the Minister of Finance

2009-07-04T17:03:00.001+02:00

I believe in giving credit were credit is due and in this article I am giving it to Tendai Biti, the Minister of Finance. Some of you readers might be wondering why I am giving him credit when you can't see anything tangible that he has done so far. What he has done so far might not be felt now by the ordinary men on the ground but in the long run it will be felt. The tattered and torn economy that Tendai Biti inherited from his predecessor can not be rebuilt overnight, it has got to be rebuilt precept by precept one day at a time until it reaches the level which can be felt by the ordinary men on the ground. Tendai Biti has started rebuilding the economy and is being successful though not at the rate that can be felt because of some constraints beyond his control. Let me tell you exactly some of the work he has been doing behind the scenes and the results of that work.

Let me point out to you that the relations between Zimbabwe and the IMF had become so bad because Zimbabwe had been in continuous arrears to the IMF since February 2001 and had the only case of protracted arrears to the PRGF-ESF Trust, which amounted to about US$133 million. The remedial measures that had been imposed on Zimbabwe with respect to these arrears were the suspension of technical assistance; the removal of Zimbabwe from the list of PRGF-ESF-eligible countries and the declaration of noncooperation.
Soon after Tendai Biti was sworn into office he set out to have a good relationship with the IMF. He requested for an IMF team to come into the country to conduct consultation discussions with them concerning the country's economic prospects and policies as well as make a review of Zimbabwe's economic situation. The IMF team led by Vitaliy Kramarenko, Mission Chief for Zimbabwe, came into the country from the 9th to the 24th of March and met with Tendai Biti and other senior officials, as well as representatives of civil society and the financial, business, academic, and diplomatic communities. At the conclusion of the visit Vitaliy Kramarenko issued a press release about his assessment. Of interest to me at this point in time in this article is what he revealed concerning the economic environment in Zimbabwe in 2008, the year that most Zimbabweans suffered like paupers. This is what he said,

In 2008, quasi-fiscal activities undertaken by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) increased in the context of weak RBZ governance. They are estimated at US$1.1 billion (36 percent of GDP) in 2008, and included election-related expenses, transfers to parastatals, subsidized directed lending, subsidized provision of equipment and fertilizers to farmers, and allocation of foreign exchange at subsidized exchange rates. Besides monetization, these activities were financed by surrender requirements on export proceeds, the retention of foreign exchange earnings of the gold and agricultural sectors in excess of mandatory surrender requirements, a freeze of most foreign currency deposits, external borrowing, and purchases of foreign exchange at the parallel market exchange rates. These large operations unrelated to central banking core activities were conducted in the context of weak oversight of RBZ operations. Key governance weaknesses include lack of enforcement of the RBZ Act’s accountability requirements and noncompliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards.
The central government’s revenue and expenditure effectively collapsed in 2008. With economic decline and hyperinflation eroding the real value of accrued tax liabilities, budget revenue fell from almost US$1 billion (25 percent of GDP) in 2005 to US$133 million (4 percent of GDP) in 2008. Expenditure shrank from about US$1.4 billion (37 percent of GDP) in 2005 to US$258 million (8 percent of GDP) in 2008 causing an almost complete collapse in the provision of public services, including a significant reduction in electricity generation capacity, collapse of water supply, and major disruptions in railway services.

This confirms what I said in a previous article entitled, "Zimbabwe: A nation held at ransom by three men", that Gideon Gono is the man who caused Zimbabweans to suffer at such pathetic levels in 2008. This part of the report will also give you a complete picture of just how bad the economy was when Tendai Biti became the Minister of Finance.
Vitaliy Kramarenko then made the following conclusion, "The short-term macroeconomic outlook is uncertain. The government’s short-term emergency recovery program and the revised 2009 budget contain a number of important macroeconomic and structural policy commitments which, if fully implemented and supported by donor assistance, could lay the foundation for a private sector-led economic recovery in a low-inflation environment. However, there are significant downside risks to the economic recovery due to potential policy reversals."

Soon after the IMF team had assessed the economic situation in Zimbabwe and made a report, the IMF Executive Board made a decision to lift the suspension of Fund technical assistance to Zimbabwe in targeted areas as requested by Tendai Biti and his team. So effective from May 4, 2009, IMF technical assistance could now be provided to Zimbabwe in the areas of (i) tax policy and administration; (ii) payments systems; (iii) lender-of-last-resort operations and banking supervision; and (iv) central banking governance and accounting. The IMF Executive Board said, "In taking this decision, they took into account the following improvements in Zimbabwe,
1.There has been a significant improvement in Zimbabwe’s cooperation on
economic policies to address its arrears problems since the Executive Board reviewed
Zimbabwe’s overdue obligations last January.
2.The Zimbabwe authorities have expressed their commitment to improve
cooperation on payments to the Fund.
3.The government’s forward-looking policy intentions are sound, but their success
mainly depends on the authorities’ ability to sustain political commitment and to
strengthen technical capacity.
4. Zimbabwe has severe capacity constraints in the Fund’s core areas of expertise and so the IMF's Technical Assistance will help alleviate those constraints.
Using Vitaliy Kramarenko's report concerning his findings in Zimbabwe, the IMF Executive Board then made their own assessment and gave advice about what needs to be done for Zimbabwe to have economic growth. You can read that assessment on the following link, http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pn/2009/pn0953.htm

Recently, from the 22nd of June 2009 to the 30th of June 2009 the IMF team headed by Mission Chief for Zimbabwe, Vitaliy Kramarenko came to Zimbabwe to evaluate the economic performance in the country as well as to review progress in implementing the government’s Short-Term Emergency Recovery Program, and to discuss the forthcoming mid-year revision of the 2009 budget and the underlying macroeconomic outlook. When they were done they made the following press release statement.

As a result of improvements in macroeconomic policies, a nascent economic recovery appears to be underway. A more liberal economic environment, price stability, a deepening in financial intermediation, and increased access to foreign credit lines underpinned a pickup in economic activity. The public finances benefited from the recovery in economic activity and consumption. The government matched expenditure to revenue during January-May 2009; and significant increases in budget revenue in recent months have made it possible to start implementing nonwage expenditures in critically important social areas.
To sustain positive economic trends and improve living standards, reform and stabilization efforts need to be stepped up. In particular, the authorities would need to create sufficient fiscal space for nonwage expenditures in social spheres and critical infrastructure, establish workable coordination mechanisms for attracting direct donor financing of priority social programs, improve Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governance, further promote financial intermediation, and strengthen the business climate.
IMF staff will continue to provide policy advice and targeted technical assistance in the context of regular visits. Access to IMF financing would require donor financial support for arrears clearance to official creditors and a sustained track record of sound policies.

This just about sums up the work Tendai Biti is doing to normalise Zimbabwe's relationship with the IMF but that is not the only international financial body he is engaging with, he is doing the same with the World Bank and many other regional financial bodies. At one time he actually went to USA to try and talk to the USA Congressmen who drafted the ZIDERA bill to have it repealed, though he wasn't successful on that mission, he at least tried. The Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti of the ndakiya-kiya fame actually knows what he is doing and is doing his best for Zimbabwe. If I could say the same for everyone in the GNU by now Zimbabwe would have significantly recovered in all areas in a way that ordinary Zimbabweans on the ground can actally feel it. KEEP IT UP TENDAI BITI.

Zimbabwe: A scrutiny of the Kariba Draft constitution

2009-07-01T16:59:00.000+02:00

The lives of these poor little Zimbabwean school children who at present are relying on donor handouts have the hope of changing for the better if Zimbabwe comes up with a new democratic constitution that all Zimbabwean citizens participate in drafting.

The Kariba Draft constitution has attracted a lot of controversy in Zimbabwe with most people being against it. I decided to scrutinise the content of the Kariba Draft Constitution with my constitutional law layman's mind, (which happens to represent the way an ordinary Zimbabwean might view it if he/she bothers to do so but unfortunately most prefer to believe what the media says about it without reading it for themselves) and find out for myself its good and bad parts. I refused to join the bandwagon of opposing it just by judging from what the media is saying about it, without reading it for myself because I don't know whose interest the media would be trying to serve. The media has been known to be sometimes infiltrated by power hungry people or agents whose motive is to demonise and destroy so I have learnt not to trust it unless I know for myself the truth of the matter. However my scrutiny revealed that the media that is shouting against the Kariba Draft of the constitution is justified because it has some parts which are very undemocratic and if Zimbabweans allow it to be passed as law without those parts being modified they will be throwing themselves into fire, especially if the person who is elected President turns out to be a dictator like the present incumbent. It is full of loopholes that devious political minds can manipulate to oppress the people. Read the Kariba Draft yourself by going to the link below if Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed on your computer because it is in the PDF format.
http://www.kubatana.net/docs/demgg/kariba_draft_constitution_070930.pdf

Let me save you from reading my constitutional law layman's scrutiny of the Kariba Draft and instead refer you to a trusted link that scrutinised it the way I did but with full knowledge of constitutional law. This link is
http://www.radiovop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6716&Itemid=758
Go to this link and read through it and you will see for yourself how Tsvangirai and his MDC-T as well as Mutambara and his MDC would be making a very big mistake if they allow this Kariba Draft to go into Parliament (without being democratically modified by all Zimbabwean citizens) and a bill is passed to enact it as the constitution of Zimbabwe. Zanu-PF is notorious for crafting undemocratic bills and passing them as law like they did with POSA and AIPPA but this time round they shouldn't be allowed to have their way and the onus is on Tsvangirai, Mutambara, MDC-T and MDC parliamentarians to stop them.

If not, civil society especially the NCA should mobilise people to peaceful mass action to demonstrate against using the Kariba Draft as the basis for coming up with a new constitution. All Zimbabweans should be given a chance to participate in coming up with a draft of the new constitution and then vote on whether they want the final draft to be passed as law or not and if not state clearly the parts that they want modified. There should be no short cuts when it comes to the constitution making process because the constitution is what makes a country, it is very important for the proper running of a country and its making should be treated with the importance that it deserves. The excuse that the Zimbabwean GNU government is giving for wanting to make shortcuts to the constitution making process by not allowing the full participation of Zimbabwean citizens is that they don't have the money to sponsor the full process. That to me is pure nonsense, a ploy meant to hoodwink Tsvangirai and Mutambara into agreeing to making the shortcuts. True, Zimbabwe has got money problems but that should not be an excuse for something of paramount importance as the making of a constituition because it should be given priority above all else. Need I repeat that a country is defined by its constitution so that you completely understand how important it is and why its making should be given first priority when allocating funds.

Let me digress a bit.
I am happy that Dr. Simba Makoni has finally launched the Mavambo Kusile Dawn (MKD) political party. I was there in the crowd that gathered to see the breaking of the new political dawn in Zimbabwe and as I listened to him giving a speech I could see a vision of a great political leader who has the potential to dish the Zimbabwean dream to all Zimbabwean citizens. A great leader who can not be hoodwinked into making shortcuts in the constitution making process like how Tsvangirai and Mutambara are being hoodwinked. A democratic leader with all the presidential leadership qualities that I mentioned in a recent article about presidential leadership qualities that Zimbabwe needs in its President for it to be able to rise up to its former glory and splendour.

In the next elections Zimbabweans need to choose a President with the following leadership qualities.

2009-06-26T17:34:00.003+02:00

Throughout history successful nations have been those whose heads of state have excellent leadership qualities that are focused towards the best interests of the nation. The President’s performance is often a measure by which we all judge the performance of a country because the President plays a vital role in the life of the country. Being a successful President means being a leader, but what, exactly,
are the characteristics of leadership that result in a successful president, what are the leadership qualities that are needed for good and effective presidential leadership? It is such presidential leadership qualities that Zimbabwe needs in its President for it to develop into the Zimbabwe full of splendour that its citizens long for. Presidential leadership is an intangible that most of us intuitively believe matters in making a country successful and unfortunately usually when we go and vote we do so without making an inquiry on the topics that would afford voters an opportunity to take the full measure of the candidate as a leader. That is how he/she engages followers, listens, treats allies and adversaries, perseveres, and responds to the unexpected and the urgent. In the next elections whenever that is, Zimbabweans need to choose a President with the leadership qualities listed below. I list these Presidential qualities with trepidation, because I am not a politician and many might have the opinion that, that fact alone disqualifies me from airing my views concerning Presidential leadership qualities but that will not stop me from listing them anyway.

1. Zimbabwe needs a President who can empathise with the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans and is able to successfully work towards improving the lives of all Zimbabweans. Great Presidents have always been those who are in touch with the ordinary men and women on the ground such that they have a deep connection with the needs, anxieties and dreams of the people. I do not believe that any man can lead a nation successfully who does not act under the impulse of a profound sympathy with those whom he leads, a sympathy which is insight founded from an understanding of the people you are leading, an insight which is of the heart rather than of the intellect. Presidential success largely depends on the consent of the governed which means that Presidents without a national consensus for major policies touching people's everyday lives are politicians not serving the interest of the people and are therefore courting defeat. Successful Presidents are those that have earned credibility among the people they govern and that credibility and trust is earned by keeping in touch with the ordinary countrymen that they lead. Public opinion is something that a President should listen to and respect but not to the extend that it dictates his/her every move or to the extend that he/she puts aside what he/she believes in and focuses on adjusting what he does and says to what’s acceptable to public opinion at that moment. Every president would like to be loved by everyone in the country, but presidents who sacrifice convictions to a quest for popular affection are not likely to be regarded as great Presidents. The President should be a person who believes in the ability of Presidential leadership to change public opinion, he should be flexible, pragmatic and capable of compromise but also firm, decisive and principled.

2. Zimbabwe needs a President who possesses a strategic vision about an ideal Zimbabwe and has a set of overarching goals with explicit and consistent viewpoints that are grounded in specifics. Every successful President in the world had a clear and comprehensible grand idea of where he wished to lead the nation in its quest for a better future. They are concerned with big issues and big challenges, and seek to explain their vision in a way that allows people to understand their circumstances and develop confidence in their vision as well as confidence in the set goals and policies. Great Presidents the world over have been likened to the commanders of ships at sea who must have a helm to grasp, a course to steer and a port to seek. The helm to grasp represents the vision that the President has for the country, the course to steer represent the positive goals that the President wants to achieve so that the nation can experience his vision and the port to seek represent the development and growth in the nation that is going to be a result of the President's vision and goals. Not only should a President have a noble vision but he/she should be able to lead people towards the achievement of the goals related to that vision. The President should be able to stand firm and consistent in support of his/her vision and give attention to details of the content of policies and an ability to assess their feasibility so as to be able to set the terms of policy discourse. As much as consistency of vision is important in a President it shouldn't make him/her rigid, he/she should be willing to change strategy in moments of crisis, vision can remain the same while the strategies continue to be modified. The costs of vision-free Presidential leadership include internally inconsistent programs that are unachievable, policies that have unintended consequences and therefore fail in the implementation stage, and sheer drift like a rolling stone that gathers no moss.

3. Zimbabwe needs a President with an excellent organisational capacity and perceptiveness about people which bears heavily on the quality of the President's appointments and his ability to mold his people into an effective team. An awareness of gaps in his/her own knowledge and concerns should enter the President's criteria when making his ministerial appointments. Proficiency at effective team building lies at the heart of every successful Presidency and it largely depends on how good he/she leads and motivates the ministers, as well as how strong-willed the members of the team he chooses are. Take note that a successful President behind the scenes should lead his/her ministers and what should be visible to the rest of the ordinary people should not be the President as a manager but the President as a leader of the people who has this grand vision for the country that they should eagerly help to fulfil. Managing has more to do with directing day-to-day tasks, whereas leading has more to do with casting a vision, goal setting, and motivation. The President must understand what his ministers are managing so that when he delegates work to the ministers he/should then know how to keep track of the delegated work. Team members are bound to have some disagreements sometimes and the President must be shrewd enough to see when infighting is unavoidable, even useful, and when it is destructive. Not to be underestimated is the need for the President to be surrounded by a strong team that is honest in giving solid, straightforward advice to the President, always telling him/her the truth as they see it and not simply what the President wants to hear. Karl Rove once said, "An effective President is one who can allow people to give advice that may not be in agreement with his views and values and opinions, and yet to feel secure in the knowledge that they are serving the president by doing so. Creating this environment for rigorous give and take, and minimizing leaks and the use of the press to pay back other members of the staff who said something with which you might disagree, is a difficult thing for a president to do, but a vital thing." Success of a President is guaranteed if he is able to ask were he is making a mistake and is given a truthful answer. Lastly the organisational capacity of the President is also judged by how well he/she has executive oversight and control over the fearfully complex systems and institutions in his care and his/her clear sense of priorities.

4. Zimbabwe needs a President with knowledge and wisdom about how to govern a country as well as the kind of strategic intelligence that cuts at the heart of a problem. A successful President usually possesses a formidable ability to absorb and process ideas and information and then sift through all the various information and come up with a well-thought out informed decision. A President's cognitive style that can be likened to an engineer's proclivity to reduce issues to what he/she perceives to be their component parts has been known to lead to the success of a President in coming up with effective decisions. The President's ability to listen to a diverse, rich and varied fare of advice from a broad circle and encouraging debate among the ministers with the different viewpoints is important in ensuring that he makes the right decision. The President should be comfortable in making decisions and his/her decisions should be unbiased. Of importance is an analytical mind in a President so that he/she does not substitute mere rationalisation for reasoned analysis. All great presidents are leaders of thought at times when certain ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified. The President must be capable of thinking in contigencies and needs to be an optimist but one who has a built-in early-warning system so that his/her optimism does not blind him from spoting signs of trouble and facing unpleasant facts. The strategic intelligence of a President is shown by his/her ability to startle the country into constructive debate, and how to move people into thinking beyond short-run self-interest projects towards some longer term projects that impact positively on the general welfare of the country as a whole. The roots of a President's political philosophy needs to be grounded in an acceptable political ideology that respects the human rights of the people and a Christianity affiliation is necessary because most people don't want a non-believer President although certified historians and political scientists shy from such a value judgement, it is the truth. Successful Presidents are not mediocre-minded, the middle-of-the-road is not where you find them in their ruling ways because the middle-of-the-road is not the vital centre, it is the dead centre. Great Presidents the world over were not middle-roaders, they all took risks in pursuit of their ideals and they all provoked intense controversy at one time or the other. Such Presidents sought to positively change the nation's direction knowing very well that they are bound to alienate those who profit from the status quo but because they are not middle-roaders who are mediocre-minded they went ahead anyway. Of importance to the strategic intelligence of a President is his/her knowledge of local and international history concerning Presidency because history is a great teacher. History can offer no sure-fire solutions to current dilemmas and problems, but it can provide guidelines that Presidents can only ignore at their own peril. The modern world with its nuclear weapons, electronic communications, and national and international responsibilities compel presidents to think and act differently from their long ago predecessors in the history of Presidents but the elements of compelling leadership in history largely remain unchanged.

5. Zimbabwe needs a President who is an effective public communicator who has excellent political skills and an emotional intelligence that is above reproach. A President needs to be an effective public communicator so that the public is well-informed about his/her thoughts and what he is up to concerning the developments in the country. The media is the tool that the President should use extensively to communicate with the people but that is not to say the President should control the media so that it reports only what he/she wants it to report because doing so will be infringing on the human right freedom of expression of the press. The political skills of the President that enables him/her to use the powers of his office assertively, build and maintain public support, and establish a reputation among fellow policymakers as a skilled and determined political operator are a must for a President to be successful. To stress to you the importance of emotional intelligence let me start by saying, "Beware the presidential contender who lacks emotional intelligence because in its absence all else may turn to ashes." Emotional intelligence in a President is very important because it determines how the President will react to situations he/she comes across in that position of authority and his/her reaction will affect not only him but the whole nation. The emotional handicaps that significantly impair Presidential leadership are for example, mood swings of clinical proportions, defective impulse control, uncontrolled anger, defective temperaments, rigidity and a tendency to suspicion that results in being paranoid. Emotional flaws in a President can result in him/her being an underachiever because those flaws can act as an impediment to his/her peformance and a defective impulse control especially when it involves the control of sexual emotions can result in the President becoming an embarassment to the nation. The presidential bedrock must be integrity and that includes an honorable private life. The President must be steady and stable and have a normal personality which has presence, dignity, a certain touch of distance but not aloofness and be a person of substance who has high morals and courage. The President must be tough, even ruthless, but not find sick enjoyment in ruthlessness and he needs to possess a deep self-confidence, stopping short of a grandiose sense of destiny.

Let me end this article by pointing out that it would be reductionist to suggest that any of these Presidential leadership qualities can stand alone because the truth of the matter is that they are inextricably linked, each of these Presidential leadership qualities connects to and builds upon the other to form a seamless web of a great President. Taken as a whole and not in parts I am sure they will give you an idea of the kind of great President that Zimbabweans need to vote for in the next elections for them to be able to live in a developed Zimbabwe of their dreams. In the world of imagination it is possible to envisage a cognitively and emotionally intelligent Zimbabwean President, who happens also to be a brilliant effective orator, a capable and efficient country organizer, and the possessor of exceptional political skill and a clear vision. In the real world, human imperfection is inevitable, but some imperfections are more disabling than others and it is up to us the voters to choose a President whose imperfections will not be detrimental to the development of the country.