WATCH OUT FOR CODED LETTERS FROM ZIMBABWE

Last week reports from Harare said President Robert Mugabe had angrily instructed his security people to raid Internet cafes in the whole country to smoke out all the “traitors” allegedly using the Internet to spread “falsehoods” about Zimbabwe.

This is by no means news, it is just that what the Central Intelligency Organisation (CIO) was doing clandestinely now has the weight of presidential powers and is being done jojntly with the police, the army and other security agents.

Now, the real target of Mugabe's order are Zimbabwean journalists based in the country, who bravely defy all odds to tell the world of the atrocities being perpetrated by the Zanu PF government.

The government banned most foreign media organizations from operating in Zimbabwe; however, because of the nature of Internet technology, it cannot effectively ban journalists and other concerned citizens from sending out information by e-mail.

But this crackdown will not only affect journalists. Its real victims are ordinary Zimbabweans who find it cheaper to use e-mails to exchange information and pictures with their relatives in the Diaspora.

Now they will experience the indignity of having their mail opened and read by faceless people who will then use the information in the mail to keep tabs on them and, inevitably, harm them.

However, one thing Mugabe and his party did well despite everything, was to ensure a very high rate of education among Zimbabweans. Education necessitates innovation and soon Zimbabweans will come up with a way to beat the system, if they haven’t invented it already.

Just watch out for coded mail from Zimbabwe. It should be fun to read. Get this: Mother in rural Gokwe writing to son in Toronto;

"Oh, by the way, son, Gushungo's rogue oxen broke into our cattle pen the other night and gored all of my cows. I just hope you and your siblings will be able to do something to make sure Gushungo makes sure his oxen do not keep goring my cows."

Translation: "Oh, by the way, son, those good for nothing Zanu PF youths came to our village and beat up everyone. I hope you and your others out there can do something to rid us of Mugabe and his overzealous party."

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THE DEMISE OF "DIE GROOT KROKODIL"

I respect the adage "do not speak ill of the dead" but in the case of Pieter Willem Botha, the former apartheid president of South Africa, facts would seem like I do not wish his soul to rest in peace.

Those who know the history of Botha's rule in the 1980s will agree with me that the man simply known as "PW" by both his supporters and victims personified the evil of a racist regime.
During the peak of his rule, I was in high school in Zimbabwe. Due to colonial links between the two countries, what happened south of the Limpopo River affected us.

Zimbabwe had just won its independence from another white racist regime, that of of Ian Smith; however, because the new majority government of Robert Mugabe refused to kick the then jailed Nelson Mandela's African National Congress out of the country, Botha targeted
Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, with a ferocity that could only be equated to that of a crocodile.

Fittingly, Botha was already known in Afrikaans as "Die Groot Krokodil" (The Great Crocodile). He is said to have liked the nickname, which was uttered in endearing ways by his supporters and in utter fear by the persecuted.

I was school in 1986 when Botha's ferocity was unleashed with staggering effects around the world. Sweden's anti-apartheid prime minister, Olof Palme, was assassinated and the plane carrying Mozambique's president, Samora Moises Machel, was shot down. Fingers were pointed at PW.

In Zimbabwe, ANC offices and safe houses in Harare and Bulawayo were bombed, killing the comrades of president Thabo Mbeki (who is now South Africa's president).

Fed up with seeing his backyard in Zimbabwe bombed at will by Botha's "birds of fire," Mugabe -- considered the toughest among all southern African leaders -- dared to challenge PW to a military duel along the Limpopo. It never happened.

Gossip making the rounds in Zimbabwe at the time was that Botha considered the invitation but was told by his generals that the Zimbabwe National Army was a small but mean machine, fired up by former guerrilla strategists who could beat the best conventional armies. I know the ZNA is mean, but that's all I know.

I also know "PW" was hated with a passion in Zimbabwe. Mugabe, ever the master of name-calling, got us all fired up with a daily dose of derogatory Shona names he gave Botha: "Chimbwasungata" (Mad Dog), "Chisveta Simba" (Blood Sucker) and "Mudzvanyiriri" (The Persecutor).

Musicians, too, took their best shot at the man with a permanent sneer. Zimbabwe's best known singer, Thomas Mapfumo (Canadians might remember him. He performed recently in Calgary and Toronto) produced one of his all-time hits whose main refrain was "Botha, Gandanga guru, ngaaurayiwe" (Botha, the biggest terrorist, must be killed).

Calypso king Eddie Grant mocked Botha with Johanna Gimme Hope, a worldwide hit that likened Botha to a mean woman who runs a country with such cruelty that her victims were forced to look up to her for salvation. Michael Jackson sang The Man in the Mirror.

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SOYINKA CAN WRITE, BUT CAN HE READ?

Friday night I went to hear one of my favourite writers, Nobel Winner Prof Wole Soyinka, arguably the best author to come out of Africa. He read from his latest book “You Must Set Forth at Dawn”.

Now, I have something to say about that. Not many people are multi-talented and much as Soyinka is an excellent writer, I did not enjoy his reading. His voice was flat; he missed certain words or phrases and had to go back several times.

It could have been his eyesight or lighting because he said so at some point anyway. Also, being the main attraction can become a disadvantage if you follow such immaculate under cards as the lovely Iranian Azar Nafisi (she of the internationally acclaimed bestseller, “Reading Lolita in Tehran”.

Be that as it may, I was really elated to be in the same room with my literary hero, Soyinka. I remember reading some of his earlier books when I was in school and wondering what he really looked like in person.

Then I saw his image on television a lot when he was being persecuted by the then dictator of Nigeria, Sani Abacha. So, it was fulfilling when I finally laid my eyes on that wispy white afro.

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THE RETURN OF THE OLD GENERALS

Zimbabwean journalism saw the return of two old generals this past week. My former boss and mentor at the real, but now defunct Zimbabwe Inter-Africa News Agency (Ziana), Henry Muradzikwa was called back by the government to head the perennially unstable Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (now known as the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings).

His old colleague at Zimbabwe Newspapers Group, former Daily News Editor-In-Chief, Geoffrey Nyarota started his own Internet newspaper also this past week.

I do not know how long Muradzikwa will last at ZBC, given that none of his predecessors have lasted long enough to mean anything at an organization that is really run from Munhumutapa House.

However, one thing I know is that Muradzikwa is not a pushover. He gives as much as he gets and I believed him when he said: “It will not be business as usual” at Pockets Hill.

Nyarota is known for kicking political backsides and now that his new venture, http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/, is web-based (thus no bombs on his press and no Mahoso and his gang lurking around), I personally expect some serious kicking.

Good luck to you gentlemen. You led the way for us before; let’s see if you still have it. We will be watching.

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JOIN ME ON AFRICAFILES.ORG

Last week I joined AfricaFiles, a network of people committed to Africa through its promotion of human rights, economic justice, African perspectives and alternative analyses.

AfricaFiles was launched in 2002. My volunteer job with the group is to post current reports on Zimbabwe, particularly those highlighting human rights concerns.

So, why don’t you visit http://www.africafiles.org/ to read all about Africa? It is such a very informative ride, let’s enjoy it together.

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MUGABE MUST HAVE ORDERED GAG ON SABC

Recent events in the South African media may surprise many, not me. I knew a high profile gag on members of the press in a country considered a bastion of democracy in a continent fraught with dictatorships and tyranny was just but a matter of time. www.zwnews.com

For those slow to catch up with news from south of the Sahara, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has blacklisted a number of South African and Zimbabwean media personalities who had developed a habit of criticizing President Mbeki and his Zimbabwean mentor, President Robert Mugabe.

Among the blacklisted are independent political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi; the author of a book on Mbeki, William Gumede; and Business Day staff members Vukani Mde and Karima Brown. Others are Zimbabwe’s own media magnate Trevor Ncube and Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube.

These commentators have been criticizing the Mugabe regime and of late, they have been snipping at Mbeki’s conciliatory policies towards Harare.

This is a very serious matter. South Africa is a respected country in the whole world and so is Mbeki’s administration. It is, therefore, such a let down to hear that the government-controlled SABC is being muzzled like that. What a shame.

Thank God, the judiciary in South Africa still works. This morning Johannesburg High Court Judge Zukiswa Tshiqi dismissed with costs the SABC's application to have the Mail & Guardian Online remove a report on the blacklisting of the analysts and commentators by the broadcaster.

"I don't believe that it is okay to suppress information or to hide information written in the report," the judge told the court.

When I got this latest development, I almost jumped up with joy, but then, I checked myself quickly. In Zimbabwe it started like that. The government muzzling the press and the judiciary intervening until the muzzle was placed on the men with the Victorian wigs. I have a feeling SA is going down the same road.

But, like I said, it is not surprising. This is Africa after all and here is how it works in African politics. “Respect Thy Elders” is a term taken so seriously and then perverted to give a picture of holiness to those elders. There is also, Ziva kwawakabva “remember where you came from”.

So, following this norm, Mugabe must have called Mbeki and say: “Hey Thabo, what is this I hear that you allow some loud mouths to trash me in your backyard?”

Mbeki: “Well Mdala, I am sorry but there is not much I can do. There is what is called democracy and freedom of speech here. I am kinda helpless.”

Mugabe: “Is that the renaissance nonsense you have been preaching? I can tolerate trashing from Madiba because he is my elder. Where is your ubuntu? I am your elder and need I remind you of your time in exile here. How many fires did I extinguish when they were about to consume your corrupt ANC backside?”

Mbeki: “I am on it Mdala.” And within no time, orders are flying all over SABC to ban so and so, from saying anything anti-Mugabe.

It is not the first time this has happened in southern Africa. In Mozambique they do not say anything bad about Mugabe, lest Chissano and his successors will be reminded who propped them when rebel leader Alfonso Dhlakama was on the verge of taking Maputo.

In Tanzania, respected fellow journalist and former president, Benjamin Mkapa has it on record that he will not be seen criticizing Mugabe and following the “Respect Thy Elder” rule, neither will his successor Kikwete and their media.

Other countries are just in awe of Mugabe they would not dare say anything other than sing his praises and we wonder why Mugabe is not leaving his throne?

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SEE THE ZIMBABWE POLICE IN ACTION

If anybody ever doubted reports of police brutality in Zimbabwe, here is visual and audio proof, courtesy of my homeboy Lance Guma and his colleagues at SWRadioAfrica.

I do not want to take credit for the sterling work done by Guma and others, but I am sure they won't mind me spreading this further. I do not know how they got the footage and smuggled it out of Zimbabwe. Frankly, in the interest of protecting the innocent, I don't want to know.

Before you click on the http://www.swradioafrica.com/ link (scroll down to the article: ZCTU demo video of beatings and interviews) to watch President Robert Mugabe's boys inaction, here is some background.

Leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and its allied worker and civic organizations, organized a peaceful demonstration, on August 13, to highlight the suffering of people under the corrupt economic regime of the Zanu PF government.

Well, go ahead and take a 15-minute break from whatever you are doing and see what our police department does well.


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If the links fail to open please let me know. __._,_.___

SHE WENT, SHE SAW AND SHE WEPT

Yes, one Evelyn Brown of the Global African Congress (GAC), some obscure Pan-African organization based in Canada, is said to have wept for her beloved Zimbabwe.

The story, as told by the Zanu PF government-controlled newspaper, The Herald, last week, is that, Ms Brown was part of a team that traveled to Zimbabwe to see for itself the reported human rights violations by the government of Zimbabwe.

Suspiciously though, the group was hosted by the same government whose persecution of the innocent it had come to investigate. The government officials took the group supposedly to see houses being built by the government under the so-called Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle.

The said operation is government’s feeble attempt to provide proper housing to more than 700 000 people it rendered homeless last year when it embarked on Operation Murambatsvina/Clear Filth, euphemism for ridding the urban centres of most of the opposition’s supporters.

So, we are told, Ms Brown openly wept after realizing that what she sees and reads in the western Press is totally different from what obtains on the ground."I am glad to be home. I am glad to be seeing all these good things," she said, according to The Herald.

Frankly, I want to believe that the reporter got it wrong. Ms Brown must have been crying that she had seen for herself how the western press actually down played the atrocious living conditions of the Zimbabweans, not the other way round.

I mean, the evidence was clearly there for her to see. She and her group were taken around by the enemy of the people who made efforts to show the group what it has done, which is nothing.

In Herald speak; Acting director of works for Harare City, James Chiyangwa said council organized people into cooperatives and sold them land on which to build. The cooperatives would build infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer reticulation. But because of economic problems, the city had decided people could service land on their own. In ordinary language; The group was shown bare land, which was intended to be sold to the displaced people (who have no jobs and no money) and then the people were supposed to develop that land on their own. Talk about giving a dead body a shovel to dig its own grave.

At this moment, Ms Brown, having realized that the people would remain poor and homeless for a long time if not forever, she broke down and cried.

The antics of Ms Brown and her group remind me of another group from Harlem called the 12th of December Movement. Those of my generation might remember Cde Chimurenga and sister Violet, the only two members of the group as far as I was concerned. A rather shifty two-some if you ask me. They always came to attend Zanu PF conferences and give solidarity speeches, on whose behalf I never got to know.

With thanks to my sister Eunice Mafundikwa.
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ARCHBISHOP PRAYS FOR PRESIDENT TO DIE

On my way to work this morning I was listening to CBC Radio One when none other than our Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube came on.

He was a special guest on the Current, a news magazine program and, of course, he was talking about the political and economic problems in Zimbabwe and, yes, he had strong words for President Robert Mugabe.

It has been more than six years since I last heard the Archbishop talk but I have always been up-to-date with his fiery attacks on Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies.

Now, here is a guy who has his facts right, is consistent with his message about the injustices being perpetrated on the people of Zimbabwe and does not make apologies for his “naked” hatred of Mugabe.

During the Current interview, which was taped recently in Ottawa, Archbishop Pius was asked if it was true that he once said he was praying for Mugabe to die.

“Yes.”

Does he still feel that way and still pray that the president dies?

“Definitely”

As a priest, is that the right thing to do, you know, pray for someone to die?

“In this case, yes.”

Okay, I was driving so I did not take down his answers and justifications word for word, but the answers above are a summary of what he said.

He likened Mugabe to the Biblical Egyptian Pharaoh who persecuted the Israelites or, closer to home, Hitler who killed millions of Jews. After all Mugabe’s nickname is Black Hitler.

Personally, I agree with the Archbishop that Mugabe has shamelessly presided over the killing, jailing, maiming, exiling and starving of Zimbabweans. Most likely a lot of us are praying for Mugabe’s death, but being so open about it may not be such a brave thing.

After all, in Zimbabwe, if you wish death on someone, whenever they do die (an 82-year-old man can demise any day) fingers will be pointed at you.

My solution? Just pray, pray and pray hard for God to guide our nation out of its quagmire. If that comes out of Mugabe’s death, well…

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I SAID IT, DIDN'T I?

Regular readers of this blog will remember that I predicted that President Robert Mugabe will not relinguish power and that presidential elections due in 2008 would be pushed off to 2010.

Well, if anybody doubted me, news from Harare this week that infact that is what is going to happen vindicates me, as it were. Need I say more??

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ZIM FARMERS GO TO GHANA, RESULT OF STUPIDITY

Reports that Zimbabwean white farmers are finding new homes and land to till in Ghana and Nigeria are not surprising but outright sad.

Look, I am a black Zimbabwean and I know too well the arrogance and oppressive nature of some of the white farmers I grew up seeing and sometimes interacting with.

But if the truth be told, they were the driving force behind Zimbabwe's robust economy. All anybody needed to do was just teach them some virtues of respecting human rights. Chasing them out of the country was the worst mistake.

Now Zimbabwe, a country once known as the bread basket of Southern Africa, is now the begging bowl of the region, all because our leaders decided to play up their own stupid arrogance on the expense of 12 million people.

As a result, our people are starving when our farmers are now filling the stomachs of Ghanaians, Nigerians, Mozambicans, South Africans and so on. Stupid, stupid, stupid I say.

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MACKAY'S STATEMENT ON ZIMBABWE PRETENTIOUS

The brief statement issued by Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter Mackay, on Thursday to condemn the authoritarian government of President Robert Mugabe’s rampant human rights violations in Zimbabwe falls short in terms of its intended goal to show support for people in my home country.

MacKay’s statement followed this week’s arrest, detention and assault of dozens of Zimbabweans participating in a labour-organized peaceful demonstration against the government’s self-serving policies which have seen Zimbabwe’s economy plummet from being one of the top five in sub-Saharan Africa to be among the worst in just six years.

Six years in which hundreds have been killed, thousands have been tortured and jailed while millions have been forced into exile, including some Canadian-born white farmers whose properties were taken over or destroyed in an extra-constitutional land redistribution exercise authored and directed by Mugabe’s Zanu PF government.

And all Mr. MacKay can say is: "I am deeply troubled that the Government of Zimbabwehas once again denied its people their rights to freedom of expression and association as well as the right to peaceful assembly. Canada condemns the arrest of these peaceful demonstrators and calls for their immediate release. "Canada urges Zimbabwe to refrain from the use of intimidation, violence and repression and to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens, and we have conveyed our concerns to Harare," he said.

Canadians out there may wonder what the fuss is all about. The fuss is that Canada and Zimbabwe have a history of suffering together and supporting each other in politics and business, so much that a run of the mill statement like this becomes really pretentious.

Canada and Zimbabwe were both British colonies, once upon a time. Canada was one of Zimbabwe’s strongest western backers during its fight for independence and when self-rule came in 1980, Canada and Zimbabwe shared the brotherhood of Commonwealth countries.

Not only that. Canada became one of Zimbabwe’s biggest investment sources and it still is. Now, here lies the problem that Mr. MacKay and others in government may not see yet, but will soon.

Mugabe’s Zanu PF government is prepared to stay in power forever with the backing of a well-oiled machinery of the army, the police, former freedom fighters, a Hitler Youth-type militia and an overzealous support base backs it in this.

This machinery demonstrated its capability to plunder in 2000 when they invaded farms, destroying Zimbabwe’s primary economic sector, agriculture. The same machinery will not blink if an order is given to go after mines, industry and other sectors.

Then, the ripple effect, both in human and economic terms, will be felt in the neighborhoods of Toronto because Canadians own companies in Zimbabwe and some work there.

Canada and other leading democracies, Britain and the US particularly, have both national and international obligations to intervene in Zimbabwe more directly and urgently than just to issue out lame statements.

Canada has joined other western countries to impose travel sanctions on Mugabe and Liberal MP, Keith Martin has proposed a Bill to arrest Mugabe whenever he comes this way.

With all due respect, Mugabe is not a mouse that goes for a piece of cheese on a trap. He will never come here. He goes to countries that are more welcoming to him, like Cuba where he is visiting right now as I write.

Mugabe is an intelligent man who uses a strong arm to oppress the people of Zimbabwe and he needs the same strong-arm treatment applied on him. Mr. MacKay could start by engaging Zimbabweans directly to get the accurate picture, not to rely on news reports.

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MY PERSONAL 9/11

As September 11 gives way to September 12, 2006 and official 9/11 commemorations come to an end, I too mark another milestone in my life, I turned one year older.

I am one of thousands of people in the world who were and will be born on a day now so infamous that one has to make sure they assume the right demeanor and adjust their tone before uttering it or anything connected to it, lest listeners misconstrue you to be reveling in the loss of that day.

In fact, I have no problem with my birthday being eclipsed by all the solemn attributes to the 3 000 innocent people who lost their lives to terrorism on that fateful day in 2001 and those so killed in similar tragedies before and after that day. It is the least I can do to honour them.

The last time I had a full-fledged birthday party was in 2000. Then came September 11, 2001, a sunny Tuesday in Harare. I was running around preparing for my journey to Texas, USA.

Every now and I again I stopped to field calls from family and friends who wished me a happy birthday. Around 3 pm, Zimbabwean time, I fielded a different call. A colleague asked if I was near a television. I wasn’t. I was driving.

“Go home immediately and watch TV,” he said in an eerily quiet voice.

I rushed home and switched on the TV just before the first tower collapsed. The calls I made and received after that had nothing to do with my birthday. They were all about what was happening in the US, who was doing it, why, how would it end and whether I was going to be able to travel to the US.

I have no doubt my story was repeated a thousand times around the world in one form or another.

After that day, it never felt necessary for me to party. Well meant congratulations and presents have been treasurable enough, thank you.

Today became a measured exception though. Colleagues at work threw me a small do in the office. Two delicious cakes, some non-alcoholic wine and appropriate presents from special friends. It was befitting the day.

In the end, when others worry about whether they will get all excited and drunk and ruin their special day, I prayed that the day ends without some devilish commemoration from, you know who!

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SOMETHING WRONG WITH ZIM'S INFO CHIEFS

Can someone tell me what really is wrong with Zimbabwe’s information ministers? What do they really have against journalists? Do they understand our job at all?

Since the time of the professor from HELL, Jonathan Moyo, every information minister has been accusing journalists of all sorts of things.

Paul Mangwana -a learned lawyer, no less- accuses Zimbabwean journalists of working undercover to advance Western interests and denigrate President Robert Mugabe’s government.

Reports from Harare say Mangwana charges that some reporters have dedicated their careers to working with Zimbabwe's enemies to bring about regime change. Well, at least he knows there is need for regime change.

They are “willing soldiers in a war that is not theirs", he reportedly said.

Mangwana is holding the portfolio in an acting capacity following the death of substantive minister, Dr. Tichaona Jokonya who was on record threatening journalists with death for working for Western media. He called us “traitors”.

“The unfortunate thing about a traitor is that you are killed by both your own people and the person whom you are serving,” Jokonya warned us and we all shook with fear!!

It all started with Jokonya’s predecessor, Prof Moyo who came into the ministry in 2000 with such hatred of journalists that he literally drove many into jails and exile. Some have actually attributed some deaths of journalists to brutality authored and directed by the professor.

He actually made a public announcement that all journalists living Zimbabwe were spies and should be dealt with accordingly. Spies are almost always killed or at least jailed for long stretches of time.

I don’t know about my colleagues back home and elsewhere in the Diaspora, but I wouldn’t know how to spy even if I was offered the chance to.

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I HAVE HAD IT WITH JONATHAN MOYO

I don’t know about y’all Zimbabweans out there, but I am really getting it up to my nose with Jonathan Moyo.

The professor keeps running his mouth (or is it his pen) about the flaws in the Zanu PF government policies and the persons of President Robert Mugabe and his officials, the latest victim being Zimbabwe Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono.

Now, hold it! Put those knives back in their sheaths before you stab me. I am not in anyway defending Mugabe and his cronies, far from it.

My beef with Jonono is that all that is happening in Zimbabwe may have its roots in Mugabe’s misguided economic (war veterans grants of 1997) and foreign (DRC war) policies and related cases of fiscal mismanagement.

However, when the professor got onboard the doomed Zanu PF train via the Constitutional Reform Exercise of 1999, he took the leadership of a propaganda machine that promised utopia to believers and condemned doubters to death, jail, and exile and never imagined suffering.

Talk about any aspect of the Zimbabwean society, Jonono had a hand in ruining it. In the five years that he was part of Mugabe’s government, he did more damage to the country than any of Bob’s other ministers combined.

Let me talk about the field I know best, journalism. Jonono single-handedly destroyed journalism in Zimbabwe. True, there was oppression and persecution of journalists during the times when Nathan Shamuyarira, Chen Chimutengwende, Mai Mujuru and others were at the helm of the Information ministry, but when the professor came along, oppression and persecution became simply HELL.

I will be surprised if any journalist in Zimbabwe can stand up and say they enjoyed professional freedom during Jonono’s time. The man was just terror, the bin Laden of Zimbabwean journalism.

If it were not for Jonathan Moyo I would not be here and I am sure I am not the only one who feels like this. Even those who may have been showered with favours by the good professor, I know for certain that they too were burdened by his attentions and demands and right now, a lot are embarrassed that they ever knew him.

Prof Moyo destroyed my beloved Ziana, ZBC, and Zimpapers and, even though they fought hard, he managed to extinguish all the fire in the independent and foreign press.

There is simply no more journalism worth talking about in Zimbabwe right now, all thanks to Jonono.

Prof, do not seek to be holier than thou. It doesn’t even suit you!!

TO READ MORE ABOUT MY WRITING, VISIT;

www.torontosun.ca/News/Columnists/Madawo_Innocent/
http://www.catholicregister.org/
http://www.durdesh.net/issue002/page24.pdf
http://www.canadiannewcomermagazine.org/
http://www.thecanadian.ca/
http://www.zimcanada.com/
http://www.jexcanada.com/

FRANCE DESERVE TO BE WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS

Isn’t revenge so sweet? Those of you who watched the Euro 2008 Group B match between France and Italy will agree with me that the World Champions were outclassed by the runners-up.

It was total humiliation and there could never be any excuse. If the World Champions missed some key players like the villainous Metarazzi, France missed the retired inspirational captain, Zidane and Fabien Barthez among others.

Italy cannot even claim bad officiating because the referee today was perfect, making the right calls all the way. Italy was simply a Grade B team. Having seen their performance in their 1-1 draw with Lithuania, I knew they would not go far with France.

Les Bleus were just a class act. They took me back to 1998 when they won the championship. They were just so polished you could not fault any department and their goals were results of perfection by a team out to prove that they should be the world’s beaters.

Do I hear someone calling for a re-take of the World Cup final and crown the deserving team? I second.

www.torontosun.ca/News/Columnists/Madawo_Innocent/
http://www.catholicregister.org/
http://www.durdesh.net/issue002/page24.pdf
http://www.canadiannewcomermagazine.org/
http://www.thecanadian.ca/
http://www.zimcanada.com/
http://www.jexcanada.com/

A SABHUKU CAN RUN ZIMBABWE BETTER - MAPFUMO

Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo, aka Mukanya, should be happy.

Last Monday morning, just before sitting down to an interview with in Toronto, Canada, he received news from his Oregon base. He and his family’s political asylum application had been accepted by US authorities.

“That is great news,” I said.

“I should not have been forced to do it. No Zimbabwean should be forced to seek refugee protection abroad. It is humiliating,” Mukanya responded, betraying a controlled anger with President Robert Mugabe’s dictatorship.

“I fought for that country in my own way. We all fought for it, and yet some people are now claiming everything, including the right to oppress us, suppress our views and just burn our country,” added the typically defiant Mapfumo.

The man considered by many as Zimbabwe’s best known musical export is also hailed as one of the unsung heroes of Zimbabwe’s liberation war.

In the 1970s when others were crossing over into Mozambique and Zambia to participate in a guerrilla uprising that brought independence in 1980, Mapfumo used his music to fight the “people’s enemy on his turf”. He was thrown in jail for it.

After independence, Mapfumo was soon throwing salvos at the Zanu PF government which fast turned into a corrupt regime and slowly degenerated into the dictatorship it is today.

“I really feel sad about what is happening at home,” said Mukanya whose latest album, Rise Up was banned in Zimbabwe because it highlights the problems inflicted on the people of Zimbabwe by the government.

“Educated people are supposed to know better but they have degrees of destruction,” he said in reference to Mugabe and most of his ministers who are university graduates. “Yet, tikaisa sabhuku anotogona kutonga nyika zvirinani 'if we put a mere village headman in office in Zimbabwe, he may do a better job'.”

The aging music guru believes that Zimbabwe’s problems would best be solved through dialogue between Mugabe’s Zanu PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

However, he said on his last visit to Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai invited him for an exchange of views.

“For hours we talked with Tsvangirai and I believe he has very good and workable ideas which he is ready to share with Mugabe, but the old man does not want to share anything,” he said.

Mukanya also lamented that despite that there are an estimated 3-4 million Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, they are not doing anything to force change in Zimbabwe.

“There are enough of us out here to cause change in Zimbabwe through lobbying, advocacy and other means, but typically, we are not united,” he said.

TO READ MORE OF MY WRITING, PLEASE VISIT; www.torontosun.ca/News/Columnists/Madawo_Innocent/
http://www.catholicregister.org/
http://www.durdesh.net/issue002/page24.pdf
http://www.canadiannewcomermagazine.org/
http://www.thecanadian.ca/
http://www.zimcanada.com/
http://www.jexcanada.com/

MUKANYA, STOP CROUCHING AND DANCE SOME

If you were not at El Mocambo, Toronto on Friday night, I know you want to me to tell you what Mukanya was up to and I will tell you, of course.

For more than 2 hours, Thomas Mapfumo, the Lion of Zimbabwean music, did what he knows best. He took his sizeable (I mean really sizeable) audience back to the good old days with such yesteryear hits as “Chipatapata”, “Chiruzevha Chapera”, “Corruption” and many more until he fittingly closed with “Bhutsu Mutandarika”.

When I got to the El Mocambo Club -seeing the small crowd- I was fearful that Mukanya might do what those who claim to know him better accuse him of doing, that is, play just a few minutes and take off complaining that he was such a big name who only performs to big crowds.

Well, none of that happened, in fact Mukanya performed as if he was in front of 60 000 fans in The National Sports Stadium back in Harare.

I am not about to give excuses for Mukanya, but the small crowd could have been that he performed to a large non-paying crowd on Monday and the thrifty among us took advantage. After all most of us are still on social assistance!!

I have some advice though for Thomas Mapfumo: Mukanya, people do not like it or enjoy it when you crouch down, right to the floor to sing. Are you in agony, they want to know.

Also, audiences want to see you dance all the time, not shuffle a little and then stand up there and watch them with what most construe as a bemused or disapproving stare while Loveness, your backing singer and dancer, is literally killing herself with fancy footwork.

Just thought I should say this and hope that when you come next time there will be a more upright Mukanya to listen to, watch and dance with.

TO READ MORE OF MY WRITING, PLEASE VISIT; www.torontosun.ca/News/Columnists/Madawo_Innocent/
http://www.catholicregister.org/
http://www.durdesh.net/issue002/page24.pdf
http://www.canadiannewcomermagazine.org/
http://www.thecanadian.ca/
http://www.zimcanada.com/
http://www.jexcanada.com/

GIRL CHILD NETWORK WINS AWARD

Zimbabwe’s Girl Child Network (GCN) has won the first ever United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Red Ribbon Award for addressing gender inequalities that fuel the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The award was presented to GCN founding director, Betty Makoni by Her Royal Highness, Princess Mette-Marit of Norway on Wednesday night at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.

AIDS is not something that one can raise a glass to in a toast, particularly when one considers how much it has devastated our country.

However, an award like this is a cause for some form of celebration, if only to congratulate Ms. Makoni and her staff and sponsors for assisting more than 20 000 girls most of who call the network and its members, home and family respectively.

The GCN oversees more than 300 clubs where girls are sheltered and shielded from imminent HIV infection and eventual death, usually as victims of their blood relatives like fathers and brothers.

Ms. Makoni, makorokoto, amhlope – rambai makashinga. The world is watching and applauding.

TO READ MORE OF MY WRITING, PLEASE VISIT; www.torontosun.ca/News/Columnists/Madawo_Innocent/
http://www.catholicregister.org/
http://www.durdesh.net/issue002/page24.pdf
http://www.canadiannewcomermagazine.org/
http://www.thecanadian.ca/
http://www.zimcanada.com/
http://www.jexcanada.com/

MAPFUMO IS BACK, REALLY!!

He is here, he is performing and you just don’t know what you are missing.

Yes, the Lion of Zimbabwe, Thomas Tafirenyika “Mukanya” Mapfumo is in Toronto (the meeting place). He is here on the invitation of the organizers of the International AIDS Conference but he will also perform independently on Friday at the El Mocambo on College and Spadina in downtown TO.

But that is in the future. On Monday night he headlined the Strength of Africa Concert, which is part of the AIDS Conference’s side shows. I am not much of a music critique, but I will tell you this; the man had the several hundreds of revelers crammed at the small Harbourfront Theatre all dancing and singing along.

I know that many people had dismissed Mapfumo as a washed up old man. Well, the old man went ol’skool on Monday night and it was just fantastic.

You should have been there to witness the frenzy that followed after he hit the note “Zvandaive ndiri mwana mudiki, Mai vachandida…” Zimbabweans, Canadians and other people at the concert were soon dancing chinungu.

And that dancing girl, Loveness, she is just something!

But for someone resident in Toronto, it would be outright shameful if I were to finish this story without mentioning Soul Influence, the locally based Zimbabwean acapella troupe.

The girls are beautiful, soulful and their melodious voices just melted my heart. Lead singer, Dorothy Gettuba, not only does she claim ownership of the stage, she engages the audience with her teasing animation. The boys! Well, that bass, the tenors, what a fitting way to start off a concert that was rocking all the way until it ended and we had to go home reluctantly.

While Mapfumo is an experienced performer reclaiming his position at the top of African music, especially with his new album, Rise Up, there is a great future in Soul Influence. And I am glad to here that they have a new album in the works and possibly a DVD.

I will definitely be at El Mocambo on Friday night and I have purchased my copies of Mapfumo’s Rise Up and Soul Influence’s first album. If you haven’t bought yours, what are you waiting for?

TO READ MORE OF MY WRITING, PLEASE VISIT; www.torontosun.ca/News/Columnists/Madawo_Innocent/
http://www.catholicregister.org/
http://www.durdesh.net/issue002/page24.pdf
http://www.canadiannewcomermagazine.org/
http://www.thecanadian.ca/
http://www.zimcanada.com/
http://www.jexcanada.com/