Of crucibles and anchors

this crude political caricature; there is no comparison when it comes to the two above mentioned political players in Zimbabwe. One has history, values, policies, leadership, set a clear vision and path towards the total emancipation of its citizens and the other is history, is still to have his­tory, will never have history, soon to be relegated to his­tory books and still to come up with clear policies and programmes.
One party is in an epistemological penumbra, is exist­ing, but non-existent and the bottom line is wholly unconvincing; bend over backwards to the whims of the imperial West and multinational corporations. Is such a local body of supposed politicians oblivious to the West­ern portrayal of Africa?
Pessimism, calamity and undesirable negative antici­pation shapes Africa in the eyes of the puppeteer. Repre­sentation of Africa is in terms of absences, delinquencies and alien. Yet we have a local body of supposed politi­cians who submissively embrace the very same pup­peteer, who tamely accept the puppeteer’s aid and fund­ing. Is foreign aid ever altruistic or are such noble gestures always imperialistic in nature? No matter how well pack­aged. For what reason would the imperial West want to empower black Africa?
Neo-liberalism was and is always a myth: how come the imperial states have never completely opened their markets, they have never eliminated all subsidies? How come they always intervene to prop up or protect their strategic economic and political sectors? How come we have the MDC crying for the same which the puppeteer preaches yet does not practice? What is JUICE? Why clamour for JUICE yet eschew indigenisation and empowerment? What are security sector reforms?
Who in their right mind uxoriously consent to weak­ened strategic sectors? And for what purpose . . . whose benefit? Neo-liberal imperialism has always meant selec­tive openness to selective countries at specified periods in selective areas. Zimbabwe is no exception, a country unlucky to have Esap thrust upon it to disastrous conse­quences.
The EU and US policy makers and their IMF and World Bank partners preached market fundamentals to us, they encouraged elimination of all trade barriers, sub­sidies and regulations in all sectors. Who blossoms in a Zimbabwe with blind men aspiring to be at the helm?
With blind men aspiring to be at the helm, who would be able to see the sudden shift from neo-liberal imperial­ism to neo-mercantilism that is moving towards a firmer hold and manipulation of global trading zones, great uni­lateral political decisions aimed at maximising trade advantage and move towards more reliance on military strategies, all for even greater control over crisis ridden neoliberal economies?
Africom’s imperial agenda marches on as our local opposition embrace it. What is JUICE going to do to ben­efit the people of Zimbabwe? Politics is about policy and policy is what defines a country, what solidifies a country, the foundations and the boundaries, what unites a coun­try, what carries the country forward and what charts our paths and defines our future generations. Zanu-PF mir­rors vision, Zanu-PF oozes decisiveness, Zanu-PF exudes affective and reflective emotional intelligence.
Zanu-PF is about definitive course of action for the sake of expediency and facilitation. There is tangibility in terms of policy. Who anchors Zimbabwe?
Who is at the helm? Who, since the early 1950s, has always had clarity of vision for Zimbabwe? The crucible of Zimbabwe, Pres­ident Mugabe, is all about doing the right thing and doing things right. It is about clarity of declared objectives which are there for the preservation of national interests, long term benefits for all citizens.
Inferiority complex traits
The human being is a free spirit and anyone and every­one is free to associate with whoever they want. But if you are running for public office then the nature of your asso­ciations will forever be under scrutiny. Your associations defines who you are, whose interests you serve and wish to preserve. Zimbabwe has a unique and complex his­tory; apartheid and segregation; displacement and theft; a bitter liberation struggle; heroism and greatness of the pioneers of the liberation movement and that priceless day on 18 April, 1980.
There is a condition called the Stockholm syndrome, which is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors to the point of defending them sometimes. The victims become emotionally attached to their captors. In Zimbabwe we have a group of supposed politicians whose associations leave a lot to be desired.
You associate with your former “captors” who invaded your country, basically stole your land, relegate you to the margins of subsistence in specially created reserves for those of the black pigmentation. These same former “captors” had to return the seized lands to its original owners and became aggrieved when the land ends up in its rightful owners’ hands.
They enlist the services of their former victims in the form of this supposed group of politicians; they fund them and propel them to the dizzy heights of political celebrities. Some of the former “victims” actually began to believe they were serious political players. Some were earmarked for the Nobel Peace Prize and some were even honoured with the French Legion of Honour Award!
They even promised the former “captors” a return to the pre-1980 status quo. They promised them that all the land will be returned to them. They promised them retention of all their former privileges. They made a pact; they defend the cause of their former “captors”, the vic­tims have a low self-esteem, an inferiority complex. They wined and dined with former Selous Scouts, Aristocrats and the Western elite circles.
They went golfing in the South of France, guest of hon­our at Rhodesian Commemorations and shun  Indepen­dence Day yet are found in Normandy commemorating poppy day. We have even heard some of these former “victims” calling former “captors” like Roy Bennett “angels”. The human being is a free spirit, but only in mat­ters personal, not matters national. You are free to associ­ate with the likes of Jesse Helms, Roy Bennett, Raila Odinga, Tony Blair, George Bush etc in the comfort of your own home as a private citizen, but not as a public office aspirant; not as an office aspirant for a unique country like Dzimbabwe.
More NGOs please!
Where would Zimbabwe be without the wonderful world of NGOs? When the beautiful agents of imperial­ism prevails, where would we be without the Westmin­ster Foundation for Democracy? Where indeed? Where would we be without the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust? They undermine, they destabilise, they deceive and they nurture inextricable dependence, at the same time cover­ing their dirty tracks with the usual cry of rule of law, democracy and protecting civilians.
One Brigadier General Nyikayaramba
Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime, a quote from Adlai E Stevenson. Oscar Wilde called it the virtue of the vicious. It is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons, the liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, the virtues of our sover­eignty, are worth defending at all hazards. Voltaire said it is lamentable that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.
The good Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba weighed in when he addressed the ZNA’s Pay and Records 32nd anniversary celebrations in Harare recently. “Zimbabwe’s national security in under threat owing to Western ideologies being peddled by some political parties.
“A typical example is the current threat we have in Zimbabwe where the Western-sponsored opposition parties pose serious sharp and ideological threats . . . that the resilience of a country’s defence forces can be compromised by ideological diffusion.”
Do we have patriots in our opposition in Zimbabwe? Do we have rocks in the form of Nyikayaramba in the opposition? I am just a concerned citizen and hence why I ask.

So Elizabeth walked out?
When will the drama end? I hear Loretta Nyathi has also engaged the services of lawyers to force the PM of Zimbabwe to acquire a birth certificate for their love child. Elizabeth has demanded that the PM shakes things up at Harvest House. Is this a sign of things to come? So Elizabeth is going to be calling the shots if by some mira­cle this Razorman ends up at the helm of Zimbabwe?
The figures we are hearing about boggles the mind! Where does the PM get all that money? There is talk of US$3,5 million mansion in Highlands? I am just a con­cerned citizen, but if the figures that are being peddled about are real then we have trouble on our door-step. Locardia got between US$200 000 and US$500 000! Loretta is already getting US$1 400 for baby Ethan. The PM is plunging the high seas on million dollar yachts’ with yet more women!
I am still to understand JUICE? I do not want to just knock it, but I do want to understand it. The MDC say that JUICE is meant to rival Zanu-PF’s indigenisation and empowerment programme. That MDC spokesper­son Douglas Mwonzora was quoted as saying, “The MDC thrust its economic blueprint to put an emphasis on the creation of jobs because the employment rate is more than 80 percent . . . we need policies that lead to the opening of mines, revival of industry as well as bring in international businesses”.
Mr Mwonzora is coming up with very nice sounding words, but what we are not hearing is how you are going to achieve that? How are the people of Zimbabwe going to be empowered? Zanu-PF’s indigenisation and empow­erment is clear as crystal. People have been empowered through land reforms, over a 190 000 families benefitted from this programme. Now that is crystal clear. On empowerment, Zanu-PF is saying 51 percent local own­ership on all foreign investment, there are Community Share Ownership Schemes. This is tangible whereas JUICE is too vague! This is one of the points from JUICE: ‘’Zimbabwe needs greater integration with regional and global markets to facilitate sustainable growth”. What exactly does that mean? How is that going to empower the grass-roots?
Like I said, this MDC JUICE blueprint is as clear as mud, it has the obscurity of darkness and it does not have anything that remotely suggest it would empower the people of Zimbabwe. That is why I explored the neolib­eral policies of the puppeteer in earlier chapters. Capital­ism is about relations of domination-subordination in the current global politics arena.
Capitalism is basically imperialism in drag. The West carves up the world into markets for their capital and sur­plus production, converting subordinate countries into colonies, it is about projecting power militarily, politically and economically. JUICE is NOT a local creation, but the brain child of those with none of our interests at heart.
This JUICE blueprint is basically anti-empowerment in nature; it basically aims to relegate black Zimbabweans to the traditional role of worker rather than owner.
This JUICE was haphazardly and ill-thought out. There was no time and effort put into it. Mr Mwonzora could have given more time to the nitty-gritty’s of the whole process and how local grassroots are going to be empowered. What we are asking for is substance and not barebones promises. We of the black pigmentation are no lesser beings.
l Ben Bwoni writes in his own capacity as a citizen            of Zimbabwe.