WHEN the leaders of Zimbabwe’s three political parties put their signatures to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) on September 15 last year, that was a statement of the intention for change.
The real work begins now with the new cabinet taking charge effectively this week. The most critical task for the government of national unity is to change the culture of work in government. The most difficult part of managing change is “culture” simply defined as, “the way we do things here”. The arrest of Roy Bennett on charges that are changing each time is an example of how desperately Zimbabwe needs to address “the way we do things here”. If Bennett had a warrant issued way back in 2006, the police have had time to consider the charges they want to prefer against Bennett, rather than hold him while they look for charges to prefer.
The challenge when changing culture of work is that you do not simply do it through announcements in the media, government circulars or e-mails. There is always stronger resistance to change especially in the bureaucracy that government is. The wheels of government are slow to turn because governments are big organisation, that is why it is important to break ministries into smaller departments and put tight deadlines on short term projects so that they can deliver or change faster.
Much more has to be done in terms of public sector reforms that will address culture of service and this is what the Zimbabweans are awaiting from our newly-appointed ministers. It will take their creativity, initiatives, and ingenuity.When the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced that the civil servants would be getting their salaries in foreign currency by the end of this month, he might have risked creating a crisis of expectation. However, the doubt expressed by the Progressive Teachers' Union leader Raymond Majongwe over the Prime Minister's promise was clear sign that the union leaders understood that need to be realistic. The devil was to be in the details.
We now know civil servants will be paid $100 tax free. It is not clear whether the civil servants were expecting to be paid a full salary for February since most of them have not been at work for some time now. It is also not clear whether those civil servants who have not been doing any work or who turned up just to register presence at their stations expect to be paid a full month’s salary in forex. This would be accepting “the way we do things”.
My view is that the package promised by the Prime Minister was to be more of a stimulus package for everyone to have a starting point to return to work and the country to start afresh. Civil servants should be paid for the work done and we all know that they have not been at work for good reasons but there are others who have been working and continue to work hard. There should be also evidence of the work done but that was always going to be hard to prove so a stimulus package is the fair way to go.
UNICEF has reported that “the education crisis which started last year saw a marked depletion of teachers in schools, plummeting school attendance rate from over 80 per cent to 20 per cent…” We know that all major hospitals are closed or have been closed for sometime now, do the workers in these institutions expect to be paid full salaries for the work that they have not done? The answer to these questions sets a precedent for the way we do things from now going forward.
It has to be clear in “the way we do things” that “no work, no pay”. Majongwe of the Progressive Teacher’s Union is within his right to fight for the teachers’ rights to have meaningful salaries and tell them no to go to work until their demands are met. However, the government should also be clear about their policy on paying civil servants including those who are not at work. It makes sense that when a worker is on strike, they understand that they are not at work.
Most civil servants in strong economies like the UK do not even earn as much as Zimbabwe’s teachers are demanding. Teachers will need to know that such demands caused a major crush of the Zimbabwe dollar in December 1997 when the war veterans demanded cash from government. We just need to change the we do things in Zimbabwe, the siege mentality will not get us anyway.
It is hoped that civil servants will be realistic in their expectations and that they will understand that forex is not going to be just a substitute for the Zimbabwe dollar but value for the work they do.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Trust in politics: an overstated ideal
ONE can understand a genuine debate on the merits and demerits of the Movement for Democratic Change joining a Government of National Unity (GNU) with Zanu PF because it is healthy for the development of Zimbabwe. I, however, take issue with those people who are obsessed with obstacles because these people are creating a mental block among Zimbabweans and kill imagination, creativity and initiative.
Let us face it, a human mind has enough brains to drill the hardest rock and the highest mountain has been climbed. It is hoped that our experts and analysists such as the civil society celebrities like Dr. Lovemore Madhuku of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) could be more useful to Zimbabwe if they employ their energies and brains in finding solutions, rather than explaining or defining problems.
The GNU is for the solution focussed mind-set not problem definition mind-set.
The GNU's success will not solely depend on what Zanu PF does, although it is important for the success of the project. A lot will also depend on what the MDC brings into the GNU by way of a repertoire of skills such as administrative acumen, management and leadership skills that will help mobilise political consensus that is necessary for a turn-around. The MDC has a lot of political and social capital through its popular appeal and support that has a strong potential to unlock the economic capital.
So, to dismiss the GNU completely like some civic society celebrities such as Brian Kagoro and his colleagues are doing shows lack of imagination, initiative and creativity. One would think that at this point the debate should be more about which of Zimbabwe's fine minds and best skills can parties in the GNU deploy to help turn things around rather spending the time analysing WHY the GNU will NOT work in Zimbabwe. My hope is that Zimbabwe is not full of experts of impossibility, but experts of creative possibilities and solutions.
I always tell friends across the globe in very influential positions that Zimbabwe is counting on her best skills and brains to turn things around and we must disengage from the endless critiquing mode in favour of stepping forward and be counted. The GNU is not for the faint-hearted because parties are likely to deploy their best resources and personnel in the GNU. The Zimbabwean GNU is expected to unleash its talent and skills to confront the challenges of poverty and disease.
In politics you cannot trust anyone, including President Mugabe or even members of your party for that matter. I am not sure whether President Mugabe trusts social amenities minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa or Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, or vice versa, but this has not stopped them from working with each other.I am not sure how much trust Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai has in MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti or that party's organizing secretary, Eng. Elias Mudzuri.
Apparently, the very people who are saying do not trust President Mugabe actually expect the people to trust them, when in fact they are trying prepare to launch their own political parties. It is correct to say that Tsvangirai should not trust President Mugabe, but why should he trust NCA's Dr. Madhuku who is positioning himself to probably launch his own party if the MDC fails? More importantly, why should the people of Zimbabwe trust Dr. Madhuku who led us to believe that there was nothing good about the Draft Constitution in the 2000 Referendum.
Dr. Madhuku is at it again, this time calling this proposed GNU 'a catastrophe' -- suggesting that there is nothing good about it. There is nothing wrong about having different views, but to expect people to try you as a politician is to try and fool people. Just deliver - if you can do something - and the people will judge you. Personally I do not trust someone who has not yet delivered whatever their potential, because people change.
I am sure some people trusted the late President Canaan Banana until he terrorised the late Jefta Dube. Some trusted the late Learnmore Jongwe until he killed his wife. It is common cause that Dr. Madhuku is unhappy with the GNU because the NCA's position is threatened by the creation of the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs which is likely to be responsible for leading the re-writing of the Zimbabwean constitution. Dr. Madhuku himself can not be trusted after he abused the clients' trust funds, but let me end here for now on this issue of trust.
They say that, in politics, especially in Africa, you sleep with one eye open, but perhaps this serves to keep leaders on their toes. Ideally, we should have trust but in life it is hard. Lack of trust is not good enough a reason not to join a GNU; you need other better reasons than that. If you are looking for 'trust' then do not go into politics because I am yet to see a politician that can be trusted, although it is bonus.
The point is that, the MDC will need to do their best and people will judge them on the basis of their performance. Afterall, affairs of Government are public. There will be some teething problems in the implementation of the GNU especially at the beginning, but that should not be the end of the world.
We should never stop trying and never try stopping!
Let us face it, a human mind has enough brains to drill the hardest rock and the highest mountain has been climbed. It is hoped that our experts and analysists such as the civil society celebrities like Dr. Lovemore Madhuku of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) could be more useful to Zimbabwe if they employ their energies and brains in finding solutions, rather than explaining or defining problems.
The GNU is for the solution focussed mind-set not problem definition mind-set.
The GNU's success will not solely depend on what Zanu PF does, although it is important for the success of the project. A lot will also depend on what the MDC brings into the GNU by way of a repertoire of skills such as administrative acumen, management and leadership skills that will help mobilise political consensus that is necessary for a turn-around. The MDC has a lot of political and social capital through its popular appeal and support that has a strong potential to unlock the economic capital.
So, to dismiss the GNU completely like some civic society celebrities such as Brian Kagoro and his colleagues are doing shows lack of imagination, initiative and creativity. One would think that at this point the debate should be more about which of Zimbabwe's fine minds and best skills can parties in the GNU deploy to help turn things around rather spending the time analysing WHY the GNU will NOT work in Zimbabwe. My hope is that Zimbabwe is not full of experts of impossibility, but experts of creative possibilities and solutions.
I always tell friends across the globe in very influential positions that Zimbabwe is counting on her best skills and brains to turn things around and we must disengage from the endless critiquing mode in favour of stepping forward and be counted. The GNU is not for the faint-hearted because parties are likely to deploy their best resources and personnel in the GNU. The Zimbabwean GNU is expected to unleash its talent and skills to confront the challenges of poverty and disease.
In politics you cannot trust anyone, including President Mugabe or even members of your party for that matter. I am not sure whether President Mugabe trusts social amenities minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa or Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, or vice versa, but this has not stopped them from working with each other.I am not sure how much trust Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai has in MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti or that party's organizing secretary, Eng. Elias Mudzuri.
Apparently, the very people who are saying do not trust President Mugabe actually expect the people to trust them, when in fact they are trying prepare to launch their own political parties. It is correct to say that Tsvangirai should not trust President Mugabe, but why should he trust NCA's Dr. Madhuku who is positioning himself to probably launch his own party if the MDC fails? More importantly, why should the people of Zimbabwe trust Dr. Madhuku who led us to believe that there was nothing good about the Draft Constitution in the 2000 Referendum.
Dr. Madhuku is at it again, this time calling this proposed GNU 'a catastrophe' -- suggesting that there is nothing good about it. There is nothing wrong about having different views, but to expect people to try you as a politician is to try and fool people. Just deliver - if you can do something - and the people will judge you. Personally I do not trust someone who has not yet delivered whatever their potential, because people change.
I am sure some people trusted the late President Canaan Banana until he terrorised the late Jefta Dube. Some trusted the late Learnmore Jongwe until he killed his wife. It is common cause that Dr. Madhuku is unhappy with the GNU because the NCA's position is threatened by the creation of the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs which is likely to be responsible for leading the re-writing of the Zimbabwean constitution. Dr. Madhuku himself can not be trusted after he abused the clients' trust funds, but let me end here for now on this issue of trust.
They say that, in politics, especially in Africa, you sleep with one eye open, but perhaps this serves to keep leaders on their toes. Ideally, we should have trust but in life it is hard. Lack of trust is not good enough a reason not to join a GNU; you need other better reasons than that. If you are looking for 'trust' then do not go into politics because I am yet to see a politician that can be trusted, although it is bonus.
The point is that, the MDC will need to do their best and people will judge them on the basis of their performance. Afterall, affairs of Government are public. There will be some teething problems in the implementation of the GNU especially at the beginning, but that should not be the end of the world.
We should never stop trying and never try stopping!
Monday, 2 February 2009
There is no perfect political union, but unity is necessary
Posted to the web: 21/01/2009 21:58:18
THE deadlock in talks between the Zanu PF and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations to push for a government of national unity (GNU) is a sum total of experiences from previous GNUs. It is also an instructive to all of us Zimbabweans about the challenges that lie ahead in terms of consensus mobilisation within government.
It is a shame that positions have become more important than the people’s lives and one can only hope that events will not conspire to take the initiative out of Zanu PF and the MDC-T and plunge the country into unimaginable suffering as Zimbabweans reach their wits end. In a politically volatile and desperate environment, no one is safe and desperate situations are known to call for desperate measures. We are sitting on the proverbial powder keg.
While we need to learn from other people across Africa and the world at large about finding solutions to our problems, we know as a nation what we need to do to in order to redeem ourselves in the most trying moments. We should never pretend for a while that a single group or political opinion or formation has ever been enough for our country.
President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai need each other as Arthur Mutambara observed, and more importantly, we need to find each other once more as Zimbabweans. There ought to be room for all of us to develop our country.
The liberation war of the 1960s and 1970s was won by the ordinary Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Kalanga, Zanla and Zipra forces united to end decades of unjust, white minority rule. We lost that spirit of unity when we started fighting each other for positions soon after 1980, turning the same guns that liberated us against each other. The brutal killings of innocents in Matabeleland and the Midlands, as we know, did not end until 1987 when the late Joshua Nkomo agreed to united his PF-Zapu with Mugabe’s Zanu to form Zanu PF.
Some would argue that the political settlement of 1979 which involved the white supremacist leader Ian D Smith, Nkomo and Mugabe, and the Unity Accord of 1987 involving Mugabe and Nkomo taught Zimbabweans lessons about partnerships in government and the inherent pitfalls of such political alliances. Therein lie the seeds of the success and failure of the current talks between Zanu PF and the MDC -- fear of being swallowed.
However, the idea of letting bygones be bygones after political conflict was a model that South Africans further developed through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and that is what might hold the key to the possibility of success for the current talks between Zanu PF and the MDCs.
If amnesty was good for the white Rhodesians in 1980, it should be good for Zimbabweans today. Those involved in Gukurahundi atrocities, Operation Murambatsvina and the June 27 presidential run-off violence are naturally very worried about being made to account at foreign and domestic tribunals, so the talks ought to address these issues to close a chapter as we did in 1980.
The current Zanu PF and the MDC comprise of former Zanla, Zipra and white Rhodesian elements that participated or were in the background of the GNUs in 1979 and 1987. These people know what worked and what did not and they can appraise the efficacy of the GNU that is being proposed in Zimbabwe today through the SADC mediation on the basis of understanding the actors involved.
The only hope for Zimbabwe now is that Zanu PF has not decided to go it alone and form a substantive government without the MDC because that would escalate our problems to a new level. At the same time, the MDC is still available for discussions because they understand that their future is better in a proper GNU than outside.
The stalling of the crunch talks is a nightmare from which Zanu PF and the MDC-T should wake up from before it is too late. What does the failure of the talks mean for Zimbabwe? It means that our leaders have not learnt from those African leaders who have travelled the same path before. And if our leaders continue on this current ruinous path, they may very well both miss out on the top prize as Zimbabweans reclaim their destiny.
THE deadlock in talks between the Zanu PF and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations to push for a government of national unity (GNU) is a sum total of experiences from previous GNUs. It is also an instructive to all of us Zimbabweans about the challenges that lie ahead in terms of consensus mobilisation within government.
It is a shame that positions have become more important than the people’s lives and one can only hope that events will not conspire to take the initiative out of Zanu PF and the MDC-T and plunge the country into unimaginable suffering as Zimbabweans reach their wits end. In a politically volatile and desperate environment, no one is safe and desperate situations are known to call for desperate measures. We are sitting on the proverbial powder keg.
While we need to learn from other people across Africa and the world at large about finding solutions to our problems, we know as a nation what we need to do to in order to redeem ourselves in the most trying moments. We should never pretend for a while that a single group or political opinion or formation has ever been enough for our country.
President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai need each other as Arthur Mutambara observed, and more importantly, we need to find each other once more as Zimbabweans. There ought to be room for all of us to develop our country.
The liberation war of the 1960s and 1970s was won by the ordinary Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Kalanga, Zanla and Zipra forces united to end decades of unjust, white minority rule. We lost that spirit of unity when we started fighting each other for positions soon after 1980, turning the same guns that liberated us against each other. The brutal killings of innocents in Matabeleland and the Midlands, as we know, did not end until 1987 when the late Joshua Nkomo agreed to united his PF-Zapu with Mugabe’s Zanu to form Zanu PF.
Some would argue that the political settlement of 1979 which involved the white supremacist leader Ian D Smith, Nkomo and Mugabe, and the Unity Accord of 1987 involving Mugabe and Nkomo taught Zimbabweans lessons about partnerships in government and the inherent pitfalls of such political alliances. Therein lie the seeds of the success and failure of the current talks between Zanu PF and the MDC -- fear of being swallowed.
However, the idea of letting bygones be bygones after political conflict was a model that South Africans further developed through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and that is what might hold the key to the possibility of success for the current talks between Zanu PF and the MDCs.
If amnesty was good for the white Rhodesians in 1980, it should be good for Zimbabweans today. Those involved in Gukurahundi atrocities, Operation Murambatsvina and the June 27 presidential run-off violence are naturally very worried about being made to account at foreign and domestic tribunals, so the talks ought to address these issues to close a chapter as we did in 1980.
The current Zanu PF and the MDC comprise of former Zanla, Zipra and white Rhodesian elements that participated or were in the background of the GNUs in 1979 and 1987. These people know what worked and what did not and they can appraise the efficacy of the GNU that is being proposed in Zimbabwe today through the SADC mediation on the basis of understanding the actors involved.
The only hope for Zimbabwe now is that Zanu PF has not decided to go it alone and form a substantive government without the MDC because that would escalate our problems to a new level. At the same time, the MDC is still available for discussions because they understand that their future is better in a proper GNU than outside.
The stalling of the crunch talks is a nightmare from which Zanu PF and the MDC-T should wake up from before it is too late. What does the failure of the talks mean for Zimbabwe? It means that our leaders have not learnt from those African leaders who have travelled the same path before. And if our leaders continue on this current ruinous path, they may very well both miss out on the top prize as Zimbabweans reclaim their destiny.
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