Sunday, April 16, 2006

MDC TORONTO - YOU NEED TO BE SERIOUS

Yes, the Toronto MDC branch held its protest on Saturday, April 15, 2006 and as far as I am concerned, it was a big flop.

Any protest is supposed to have a well articulated ( in words and action) message to a well defined audience which is forced to take notice and must react. Did this happen on Saturday? No, and here is why;

First, due to poor preparation, only about 40 Zimbabweans turned up at Queens Park. Of that number, about two-thirds were the Toronto executive and their Niagara counterparts.

Yet, there are thousands of Zimbabweans in Toronto, most of who are members of the party. They would have really loved to come and take part, if only they knew exactly what they would be taking part in, where, why and for what. Members were never let in on preparations for this protest.

In fact, I remember one dedicated MDC supporter who e-mailed the executive suggesting a few things that could make the protest a success. That member was dressed down. He was told the executive had checked the membership register and since his name was not in it, he was not welcome to the meetings and, subsequently, the protest. The e-mail circulated among Zimbabweans, and with the kind of rebuke the member received, other people simply shied away.

To set off the protest, the executive led the protesters in singing “Ishe Komborera Africa” (God Bless Africa), can you believe it? Zimbabwe discarded the continental anthem 11 years ago. It has its own anthem called “Simudzai Mureza WeZimbabwe.” (Lift Up The Zimbabwean Flag). What kind of patriotism is that?

Then came the message, well, I can only describe it as muddled. I could not tell whether it was a history lesson or what?

After all this sham, what does the Toronto executive do, host a barbecue. Yes, its the second time this has happened. What are you now Toronto MDC, a social club?

I see political immaturity in the Toronto MDC executive. There is a lot of self-serving and self-importance on the expense of a serious party which represents a lot of Zimbabweans.

What Mr. Manyevere and his colleagues need to realize is that you are representing us all and whatever you do at Queens Park, in the name of MDC reflects on us all as Zimbabweans. If we do not take ourselves seriously, nobody will.

Maybe you should learn from the enemy, Zanu PF itself. When Mugabe and others were leading their party in exile, they represented us all with dignity. It is now your turn, take a leaf from them.

I suggest again that you seek advisors, consultants and other people to help you.

TO READ MORE OF MY WRITING, PLEASE VISIT;
www.torontosun.ca/News/Columnists/Madawo_Innocent/
www.catholicregister.org
www.canadiannewcomermagazine.org
http://www.thecanadian.ca/

1 comment:

Zimtoronto said...

As far as I am concerned our Demo was a resounding success. The turn out was overwhelming considering the fact that most Zimbabweans were spending time with friends and families during the long Easter weekend. Those that made it showed their love and support for their country.
Innocent, you very well know that when we started MDC Toronto, we were about 6-7 members and I am happy to say that our numbers have grown to over 100.
Some have given up on that cause but some we are still committed.
This is our first Demo and for a first demo, I am happy to say that we did very well.Like you said there are thousands of Zimbabweans in Toronto who are waiting to see how serious we are. Dambudzo Marechera walked from UZ to Cecil Square alone. The Indonesian students that overthrew Suhartu started demonstating when they were 10 but eventually it turned out into a nationwide protest and history was made in Indonesia. So numbers or no numbers the most important thing is that WE DELIVERED THE MESSAGE.
The banners and posters said it all and history lessons were given, remember we were targeting Canadians that had little or not idea of what was going on.
A passer by read the banner I was holding and started asking quetions that told me that he was ignorant of the hman right abuse in Zimbabwe.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the executive meeting socially since we always meet for business. Sometimes we can not meet at the library and sometimes we will need to chant songs and slogans so we meet at a venue provided by an executive member.If we were a social club then we would have invited people to meet socially at a social club but our social gatherings have only been for the executives.

Ishe Komborerai Africa is a song that's like Africa's song that both Ndebele's and Shona's can sing very well and South Africans. I don't speak bndebele but I can sing that anthem in Ndebele probably better than a Ndebele.
I hate media and journalists for one thing " fabrication" but i still love u as a friend. Munotsvaga nyaya pasina nyaya