Yesterday, I had the opportunity to listen to President R G Mugabe of Zimbabwe speak at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly.
Two words in particular from his speech struck me for their surreal portrayal of how he is perceived in the eyes of millions of of his country folks and in the minds of many others throughout the world.
In my mind, it was as if the chump was letting the whole world into the deep reflections of his own soul. Those two words so masterfully encapsulated a coded and subtle message of his own subconscious mind meant for his own sui generis perusal.
That address was not meant for the august assembly but for his own person.
The world will be a better place, if only Gabriel Robert Mugabe would accept that he is indeed an " antiquated anomaly".
Methinks that his own soul thinks so.
Showing posts with label Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zimbabwe. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Irresponsibility: The Bane Of The Land
I had always thought that the suburb where I stay was endurably safe for my family. Such a conclusion is probable still true, in spite of the fact that our house was burgled in broad daylight the same week we moved in. In addition to the raid on our property, our weekly community newspaper regularly comes out with reports of enormously hideous crimes in the area.
We are eternally grateful to God that we were not at home when those brutes decided to come for what did not belong to them; all the electronic gadgets in the house.
A few nights ago, around midnight, I was brutally awakened out of my precious sleep by what appeared to be loud bangs. Then it dawned on me. What I was hearing was in fact a rapid barrage of gunshots and a car-chase on a nearby street only a few metres from our house. On and on it went down the street in the quiet of the night until the fading sounds of the bullets could no longer be heard.
I could not go back to sleep anymore that night. But that was not the only bad thing that happened to me that night.
The proximity of that chilling episode got me greatly worried about the security of my family. Even though our house has been armed with a good security alarm system, we have primed ourselves to be extra careful twenty-four seven since then.
We cannot afford to take anything for granted anymore.
Many thoughts and scenarios have criss-crossed my mind over and over again ever since that drama took place.
Why is crime so pervasive in our part of the world? Why it is that crime in our society is not only prevalent, but also so gratuitous.
The criminals do not hesitate to rape, torture and kill their victims. It is only in our society where criminals spend hours in the homes of victims indulging in sadism, such as pouring boiling water on their victims, raping the women as they force the men to watch and repeatedly burning the bodies of their victims with hot irons while mocking them.
Our shopping malls, roads, homes, schools, hospitals and even churches have all been turned into war zones.
No where is save any more when the residence of the deputy president of the Republic can be brazenly burgled without people being overly shocked.
The question is how did it get so awfully bad?
How could the entire country, every corner of it, be held hostage by thugs and hardened criminals?
Where is the hiding place of this monster?
It is as if our communities have become massive crime labs and factories where criminal minds are being churned out in huge numbers.
It is evidently clear that something is terrible wrong with the society, with our value systems and with us as families and individuals.
As when an auto-immune disease starts to devastate the body, the elements waging this relentless war against the body are not external but from within the body itself.
Ours is a mutating infestation. A debilitating plaque. An apoptotic disorder of a systemic nature.
Here is what I think.
As much as we all would like to point fingers at others and apportion blame on some mysterious monster somewhere, we will be lying to ourselves if we allow the obvious truth about crime to escape us.
Crime in our society has everything to do with the culture of irresponsibility and impunity.
Until we as individuals, as families and as communities begin to embrace an attitude of responsibility, we will forever remain oblivious to our own role in nurturing this invasive culture of crime.
Let the charity of responsibility begin at your own home.
Cheers!
We are eternally grateful to God that we were not at home when those brutes decided to come for what did not belong to them; all the electronic gadgets in the house.
A few nights ago, around midnight, I was brutally awakened out of my precious sleep by what appeared to be loud bangs. Then it dawned on me. What I was hearing was in fact a rapid barrage of gunshots and a car-chase on a nearby street only a few metres from our house. On and on it went down the street in the quiet of the night until the fading sounds of the bullets could no longer be heard.
I could not go back to sleep anymore that night. But that was not the only bad thing that happened to me that night.
The proximity of that chilling episode got me greatly worried about the security of my family. Even though our house has been armed with a good security alarm system, we have primed ourselves to be extra careful twenty-four seven since then.
We cannot afford to take anything for granted anymore.
Many thoughts and scenarios have criss-crossed my mind over and over again ever since that drama took place.
Why is crime so pervasive in our part of the world? Why it is that crime in our society is not only prevalent, but also so gratuitous.
The criminals do not hesitate to rape, torture and kill their victims. It is only in our society where criminals spend hours in the homes of victims indulging in sadism, such as pouring boiling water on their victims, raping the women as they force the men to watch and repeatedly burning the bodies of their victims with hot irons while mocking them.
Our shopping malls, roads, homes, schools, hospitals and even churches have all been turned into war zones.
No where is save any more when the residence of the deputy president of the Republic can be brazenly burgled without people being overly shocked.
The question is how did it get so awfully bad?
How could the entire country, every corner of it, be held hostage by thugs and hardened criminals?
Where is the hiding place of this monster?
It is as if our communities have become massive crime labs and factories where criminal minds are being churned out in huge numbers.
It is evidently clear that something is terrible wrong with the society, with our value systems and with us as families and individuals.
As when an auto-immune disease starts to devastate the body, the elements waging this relentless war against the body are not external but from within the body itself.
Ours is a mutating infestation. A debilitating plaque. An apoptotic disorder of a systemic nature.
Here is what I think.
As much as we all would like to point fingers at others and apportion blame on some mysterious monster somewhere, we will be lying to ourselves if we allow the obvious truth about crime to escape us.
Crime in our society has everything to do with the culture of irresponsibility and impunity.
Until we as individuals, as families and as communities begin to embrace an attitude of responsibility, we will forever remain oblivious to our own role in nurturing this invasive culture of crime.
Let the charity of responsibility begin at your own home.
Cheers!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Charge Him For Refusing To Think
Desperate times, they say, call for desperate measures.
Bob Mugabe has been conned and scorned. Big time.
A woman by the local name of Nomatter Takira, a fetish priestess( an ancestral medium) of a sort needed money, a lot of it, in cash-strapped Zimbabwe. Like everybody, she knew where the money was in the land- under the mattresses and in the pockets of the ZANU-PF apparatchiks.
So. She devised a plan of action to get what she wanted.
And got it she did- a solid million dollars, Obama dollars I mean!
So what was her plot?
She got for herself a can of diesel(fuel), a hosepipe, a hungry and desperate young man and set off for one of the huge boulders that adorn the environs of the provincial town, Chinhoyi.
Once there, she dispatched the young man with the can to a hideout somewhere on the boulder away from the prying eyes of people .
The nozzle of the hosepipe was dragged to the top of the boulder. The other end was inserted in the can of diesel. Pretty soon precious diesel was gushing on top of 'magic' boulder when the pipe was opened. That done, she retreats to town to announce her magical conjugations to lieutenants of the strongman. This 'Good News' shortly after reaches Mugabe's ear, himself a son of the province, and he quickly sends senior members of his cabal for first hand evidence of the magical prowess of this new 'Ambuya Nehanda'.
With the young man in place 'the experiment' is repeated and Bob's envoys are awed into stupor as they see refined diesel gushing from the top of the said boulder. They return to Bob with the news that Zimbabwe's diesel woes are eternally over.
Days later, state house orders that Madam Takira be treated like a queen. And an amount of $1m is offloaded to treat her good on the finer things of life for her kindly helping Zimbabwe in her hour of need.
However the fact that diesel can only be obtained through a refinery process only began to dawn on some of the inner cycle of the Mugabe regime days later and another team was secretly sent to make a thorough check of the 'discovery'.
This week Mbuya Takira was charged for defrauding the state.
The question on many people's mind however is how could a whole state, including the presidency, be doped by something so obviously questionable.
My conclusion is that Mugabe and his cabal are clinically and criminally stupid.
Methinks Mugabe and his cabal should be charged in place of Nomatter Takira for gross stupidity.
Bob Mugabe has been conned and scorned. Big time.
A woman by the local name of Nomatter Takira, a fetish priestess( an ancestral medium) of a sort needed money, a lot of it, in cash-strapped Zimbabwe. Like everybody, she knew where the money was in the land- under the mattresses and in the pockets of the ZANU-PF apparatchiks.
So. She devised a plan of action to get what she wanted.
And got it she did- a solid million dollars, Obama dollars I mean!
So what was her plot?
She got for herself a can of diesel(fuel), a hosepipe, a hungry and desperate young man and set off for one of the huge boulders that adorn the environs of the provincial town, Chinhoyi.
Once there, she dispatched the young man with the can to a hideout somewhere on the boulder away from the prying eyes of people .
The nozzle of the hosepipe was dragged to the top of the boulder. The other end was inserted in the can of diesel. Pretty soon precious diesel was gushing on top of 'magic' boulder when the pipe was opened. That done, she retreats to town to announce her magical conjugations to lieutenants of the strongman. This 'Good News' shortly after reaches Mugabe's ear, himself a son of the province, and he quickly sends senior members of his cabal for first hand evidence of the magical prowess of this new 'Ambuya Nehanda'.
With the young man in place 'the experiment' is repeated and Bob's envoys are awed into stupor as they see refined diesel gushing from the top of the said boulder. They return to Bob with the news that Zimbabwe's diesel woes are eternally over.
Days later, state house orders that Madam Takira be treated like a queen. And an amount of $1m is offloaded to treat her good on the finer things of life for her kindly helping Zimbabwe in her hour of need.
However the fact that diesel can only be obtained through a refinery process only began to dawn on some of the inner cycle of the Mugabe regime days later and another team was secretly sent to make a thorough check of the 'discovery'.
This week Mbuya Takira was charged for defrauding the state.
The question on many people's mind however is how could a whole state, including the presidency, be doped by something so obviously questionable.
My conclusion is that Mugabe and his cabal are clinically and criminally stupid.
Methinks Mugabe and his cabal should be charged in place of Nomatter Takira for gross stupidity.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Zimfugees, Cowards and Sycophants
Take a pebble in your hand.
Choose any street corner in Jozi and randomly throw the pebble in any direction of your choosing. You are probably going to hit a Zimfugee.
Now come with me to Zimbabwe.
Take a pebble in your hands.
Choose any street corner in Harare and throw your pebble any direction you wish.
You most probably are going hit a coward.
Follow on through with me to Ghana.
Take a stone, a big one, in your hands. Choose any street corner, preferably near Osu Castle and haul the stone with all your strength towards the seat yonder.
You have just killed a sycophant.
You have saved the state from one big opportunist craving to put both hands in the cookie jar.
Choose any street corner in Jozi and randomly throw the pebble in any direction of your choosing. You are probably going to hit a Zimfugee.
Now come with me to Zimbabwe.
Take a pebble in your hands.
Choose any street corner in Harare and throw your pebble any direction you wish.
You most probably are going hit a coward.
Follow on through with me to Ghana.
Take a stone, a big one, in your hands. Choose any street corner, preferably near Osu Castle and haul the stone with all your strength towards the seat yonder.
You have just killed a sycophant.
You have saved the state from one big opportunist craving to put both hands in the cookie jar.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The African Dream
In the light of the near-perfect functioning of the American democracy which has just delivered a stunning victory for Sen. Barack Obama and the American people, my restless mind is becoming increasingly preoccupied almost to the point of obsession with the question of major chunks of our beloved continent, Africa, suffering from a state of chronic confusion and self-induced misery in the practice of democracy.
The Continent's unparalleled capacity to fumble in almost all spheres of democratic governance is baffling, to say the least.
Take a look at what has transpired recently in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan, Burundi, Congo D R, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Cameroon and many others, and you are immediately confronted by the utter failure of the practice of democracy to thrive in every one of them.
Our societies appear to be rudimentary in the assimilation and accommodation of the noble aspirations, principles and ideals which are fundamental for the practice of democracy. Is democracy an end in itself or a dispensable means to a more lofty end? Do we, as African nations and societies, need to aspire to similar dreams that have served other nations so well or do we continue as we have and hope that somehow "our democracy" will undergo its own evolution ( which I call "Que sera sera") and do the job?
Our excellence has been broadly wasted on adapting to and enduring adversities, calamities and misery and not on overcoming them once and for all. We seem to possess an incredible capacity to survive in the valley and not, as one would expect, in summiting the mountains on our way!
When are we going to realize that we need strong social, democratic and governance institutions to act as the pillars and guideposts for our collective wellbeing and not the myopic adherence to the transient system of subjection( of ourselves) to personalities, tribalism and political partisanship.
Come on Africa we can do better that that!
Let us, as a people, develop a consensus for a new dream that we all can aspire to: The African Dream.
The American Dream like a beacon of hope and inspiration seems to have served them well. Although imperfect, it has enabled them to rise up again and again to achieve the unimaginable. A similar dream stitched together in Africa by Africans for Africans, I believe, will go a long way towards helping us to reach where we have never imagined we could.
Barack Obama has inspired us to think and say " Yes, we can".
So fellow blogger and readers your suggestions in this regard are warmly welcome.
Yes, we can!
The Continent's unparalleled capacity to fumble in almost all spheres of democratic governance is baffling, to say the least.
Take a look at what has transpired recently in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sudan, Burundi, Congo D R, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Cameroon and many others, and you are immediately confronted by the utter failure of the practice of democracy to thrive in every one of them.
Our societies appear to be rudimentary in the assimilation and accommodation of the noble aspirations, principles and ideals which are fundamental for the practice of democracy. Is democracy an end in itself or a dispensable means to a more lofty end? Do we, as African nations and societies, need to aspire to similar dreams that have served other nations so well or do we continue as we have and hope that somehow "our democracy" will undergo its own evolution ( which I call "Que sera sera") and do the job?
Our excellence has been broadly wasted on adapting to and enduring adversities, calamities and misery and not on overcoming them once and for all. We seem to possess an incredible capacity to survive in the valley and not, as one would expect, in summiting the mountains on our way!
When are we going to realize that we need strong social, democratic and governance institutions to act as the pillars and guideposts for our collective wellbeing and not the myopic adherence to the transient system of subjection( of ourselves) to personalities, tribalism and political partisanship.
Come on Africa we can do better that that!
Let us, as a people, develop a consensus for a new dream that we all can aspire to: The African Dream.
The American Dream like a beacon of hope and inspiration seems to have served them well. Although imperfect, it has enabled them to rise up again and again to achieve the unimaginable. A similar dream stitched together in Africa by Africans for Africans, I believe, will go a long way towards helping us to reach where we have never imagined we could.
Barack Obama has inspired us to think and say " Yes, we can".
So fellow blogger and readers your suggestions in this regard are warmly welcome.
Yes, we can!
Monday, August 11, 2008
A portrait of disappointment
Sorry to begin on a sad note!
I was in Zimbabwe some weeks ago for the funeral of my mom-in-law. My better half is Zimbabwean for all of you who care to know.
Before going there I knew that the country was struggling economically yet what I saw there was simply otherwordly.
The beautiful exuberant country that once was was no more. Traded for poverty, anguish and bewilderment she laid in total surrender to the butchery of the vultures. A nation captured in the web of greed and lunacy and unable to disentangle herself.
How could a dream so disappoint? How could a good beginning end up so terribly? How could a people so educated, so spirited and so enterprising surrender so timidly to barbarity and hopelessness?
I need some answers here.
I silently cry and pray. I cry and crave for a country that will once again stand tall and proud.
Zimbabwe, don't give up on yourself for more are those who stand with you than those who are against you.
I was in Zimbabwe some weeks ago for the funeral of my mom-in-law. My better half is Zimbabwean for all of you who care to know.
Before going there I knew that the country was struggling economically yet what I saw there was simply otherwordly.
The beautiful exuberant country that once was was no more. Traded for poverty, anguish and bewilderment she laid in total surrender to the butchery of the vultures. A nation captured in the web of greed and lunacy and unable to disentangle herself.
How could a dream so disappoint? How could a good beginning end up so terribly? How could a people so educated, so spirited and so enterprising surrender so timidly to barbarity and hopelessness?
I need some answers here.
I silently cry and pray. I cry and crave for a country that will once again stand tall and proud.
Zimbabwe, don't give up on yourself for more are those who stand with you than those who are against you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)