Air Zimbabwe Arrests: When justice becomes injustice

West Abbey, London, United Kingdom is the place where the great explorer David Livingstone lies to this day. Yes I’m told that’s the place where his two servants at the time Susi and Chuma embalmed the rest of his remains, wrapped in sailcloth and sailed to London in 1874 and left him there.

Up to this day he continues to sleep there, surreal yet posing a lot of serious questions to us born on this beautiful continent concerning his “discoveries”. From his sojourns in the Zambezi and exploring its tributaries and the Nile source, only he could narrate better what he discovered first hand.

I love Africa. It’s a beautiful continent with great scenic views. From the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, Africa boasts of such tourist attractions which continue to mesmerise visitors till this day. If one travels to North Africa, Egypt especially, the Suez Canal continues to act as a trade bolstering facility between developed countries and developing countries.

It connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, allows ships to travel between Europe and South Asia without navigating around Africa thereby reducing the sea voyage distance between Europe and India by about 7, 000 kilometres!

Although the Suez Canal is just a water way between two continents, it symbolizes much more in value. This Canal strengthens the power of Egypt in world economy.

With the taxes from the ships which use the Suez Canal, the Egyptian economy keeps growing day by day. The siltation and erosion in the coast requires labour force. The required labour force usually comes from the Egyptian society therefore it reduces the unemployment rate in the country.

I would have missed the point if I don’t talk about my own Zimbabwe. We boast of the majestic Victoria Falls, Great Zimbabwe among others. Beautiful continent, beautiful cultures and people.

These are some of the discoveries that Livingstone yearned to make but alas fate had other plans for him. But to his advantage, he witnessed the development of early societies in Africa. Today West Abbey is a resting place for the explorer who witnessed first-hand development of early societies.

Through his interactions and dealings with local chiefs and people in Africa, there are many things that only he could narrate concerning the political organisation of these early states. Forget about the great divide between distortion and factual representation. This is a debate that continues to this day. But all this is to wonder off the point.

When the gander is mistaken for a duck

Over the past weeks, a sombre atmosphere engulfed Zimbabwe. The sentencing of former Air Zimbabwe Chief Executive Officer, Peter Chikumba and the company secretary, Grace Pfumbidzai for a combined 20 years left many mesmerised by the “competent’ justice delivery system.

The two were convicted for criminal abuse of office. While relatives and loved ones wailed and toiled at the courts in trying to get sympathy, it proved to be a futile exercise.


While I don’t want to exonerate these two from the “harsh” sentence, a lot of interesting questions emerge. As one thinks and ponders on the reason why the courts flexed some treacherous muscle in trying to restore public confidence in justice delivery in as far as corruption is concerned, a lot of “whys” emerge. What about others?

Whose Justice is it anyway?

I mean we have our archives of corruption hidden in deep parts of our memories. Yes, this is our hope at least for now, something that has become part of us and as the political tides continue to trudge towards exciting times ahead, all we can do is watch. We have so many cases of parastatals that were left in the intensive care unit by most political figures who continue to bask and revel in ill-gotten wealth and success.

But alas, our courts, magnanimous to criminals as ever, continue to operate and skirt on corruption cases with rehearsed precision and yet when those not aligned to powerful figures within the political matrix err, they act swiftly with the speed of lightning to at least remind citizens and would-be criminals that they still have a semblance of what courts should do.

We can write thick volumes of how ZUPCO was looted by one Bright Matonga, Chiadzwa diamonds corruption that saw no revenue being remitted to treasury during the time of the inclusive government. Ask Biti. The rest of the corruption cases are already public knowledge. I would waste my precious time to talk about rampant looting in the allocation of land and stands by those aligned to Ignatius Chombo. The list is endless.

The justice delivery in Zimbabwe is deplorable to say the least. On one end you have the new National Prosecuting Authority masquerading as an institution with a constitutional mandate of undertaking criminal proceedings on behalf of the state, headed by one Johannes Tomana, who is a former Attorney General under whose charge he was actually an enabler of the regimes transgressions.

Today he has just shifted office but same script. The police also continue to play to the whims and tunes of political players and in many cases they have actually taken orders from politicians which in itself is a violation of their ethical practices and standards.

On the other hand you have a “spineless” Auditor General whose job is to just audit and sit back and relax. In 2010 after carrying out an audit government of parastatal bosses, it unearthed misappropriation of funds, embezzlement and other fraudulent activities.

If the findings from this audit were to be executed and acted upon, the whole of government, ministers and parastatal bosses would have been arrested. But alas, if anything, several people who have been implicated in corruption have actually been promoted. What a travesty of justice!

Now when you have several cases under the carpet at the instigation of those in power and authority, what does one make of this nation?

The days ahead will have many eyes.

That’s the bottom line.

The writer Rawlings Magede is a rural political enthusiast who writes from Nkayi.

MUTASA:THE SUN SETS IN PARADISE TOO!

WHEN THE BULLY RUNS SCARED..

When I was doing my ordinary level studies, my History teacher, One Mr Sharara always added some humour that enhanced our zeal and enthusiasm for history. I remember it like it was yesterday how my friend and I would always look forward to his lessons. At times because of mischief, we would exceed history lesson by asking “unnecessary” questions that would take away time from other lessons. Those were the days!

His lessons were always something to look forward to; they were so educative in the literal sense. His expansive narrative on African history, made me take pride in being fortunate to be born on this beautiful continent of Africa. At one time I remember, he taught us about the Mfecane and how invincible Tshaka the Zulu was at the peak of his reign. These were exciting times, yes, times that would cause us to have all sorts of imaginations of how he looked like.

They were a lot of controversies in his reign too. When his mother Nandi died in October 1827, huge numbers were put to death during the mourning ceremonies because they showed “insufficient grief” and his armies were also sent out to neighbouring chiefdoms to force them to grieve the loss of his mother.

His fall as narrated by our teacher invoked feelings of celebration in us and I still harbour a lot of questions of how a ruthless king could oppress his own. His fall came about when he was betrayed by his own people. Taking advantage of the absence of his armies, on 22 September 1828,his bodyguard whom our teacher only identified as Mbopha,and his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana,stabbed Tshaka near his military barracks at Dukuza.As his life ebbed away, he called to his brother Dingane:”hey brother! You kill me, thinking you will rule, but the swallows will do that”. By the swallows he meant the white people, because they made their houses of mud, like the swallows. This was too much for his assailants and they leapt upon him, stabbing. His last words of his words were,”Are you stabbing me, kings of the earth? You will come to an end through killing one another.”

How the mighty fell! I liked his “prophecy” that they would all kill one another. Surely all barbaric acts do come to an end. It’s true. The sun actually sets in paradise. This is the same predicament that one former Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa finds himself in.The gruesome stories of torture and killings by Mutasa especially in Headlands, still reverberate till this day. His acts of evil have been documented for all to see.http://nehandaradio.com/zimbabwe-wall-of-shame/.How his political career will turn out, remains a question best answered by those who fired him, but with the writing clear on the wall of a new “order” in ZANU PF,he might not make a biblical resurrection like Dzikamai Mavhaire,whose resurrection was short-lived.

Villain turns Victim?
One of the most unfortunate misdemeanours by our media is to apply lipstick on frogs. Whether they present Mutasa as a “champion” by using all forms of adulterated titles to describe him like “vibrant’ this or that, what is sorry is that no matter how they try to reinvent him, his evil past which has made a permanent imprint on people’s memories, always amplify the throes and cries of his victims who have given up on seeking justice.He remains a villain, detested by the common man who suffered during his time at the helm where he sprinkled “gamatox” on anyone who dared challenge ZANU PF especially in the Headlands constituency.

And today Mutasa runs away from that era of ruin, sprightly pursued by a monument of utter failure to try and re-join what he terms the “original” ZANU PF.This original ZANU PF is the one under whose tutelage, he committed acts of “genocide’ against the innocent people in constituency. His assertion that he remains part of the original ZANU PF can invite scrutiny from his sympathisers that he might never like and withdraw sympathy. The urge to be re-admitted into high office and sinecure is all there is to his “dubious” media interviews that he is giving willy-nilly these days.

Today he continues to distance, retreat and remain mum on some bad choices he made against a sceptical and interested public that would want to hear him reveal finer details of ZANU PF’S acts of gross human rights violations. He continues to eschew this important subject and falter; retreating into a self-made cocoon where he continues to sing the tired swan song of how “illegitimate” the recent ZANU PF congress was. He does so with sickening bitterness.

Far from the monumental madness by him, his other mate in ruin, Rugare Gumbo continues to do the same. They continue to masquerade as champions of democracy and injustice of ZANU PF but during long stints in ZANU PF, they used all machinery at their disposal to torture, maim and kill opposition supporters. From the state agents to youths, the list is endless.

Today they continue to eat up necessary space in the newspapers that can be used to talk about hunger and suffering taking place in rural communities. They are busy going to court for redress and the same courts that they used to oppress people are today fighting from a different corner. While they continue to revel in cold comfort of their demise, they must never think that they will receive sympathy from the suffering Zimbabweans who continue to suffer because of poor governance by ZANU PF that they have affinity for. Bad days outnumber good ones in politics!

While these two have been accused of being personalities of legendary pretences by biting the hand that fed them, what true however, is that their political careers have eclipsed just in a moment. Its over!

That’s the bottom line.


Rawlings Magede writes in his personal capacity and he is a rural political enthusiast who writes from Zimbabwe.