Opinion / Analysis

Communities Point would like to take this opportunity to comment on excerpts from former British Prime Minister Antony Blair’s book “A Journey”: http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=6863&cat=1.

Like everyone else we were shocked that he even contemplated invading Zimbabwe militarily during the tenure of his office.

Whilst we do not have the locus standii to speak for opposition forces in Zimbabwe as a pressure group that is also mainly opposed to the status quo in Zimbabwe we would like to take exception of the fact that he even thought of such an evil project.

THE next time you see a young man give up his seat on the commuter omnibus to a senior citizen or a mother with a baby strapped on her back, say a silent prayer of thanksgiving. God has not yet given up in Zimbabwe. He is still in His heaven.

He must be praised – if you are a Christian.

Even if you are not, that Great Someone to whom you pay homage deserves a gesture of thanks. Even a tip of your hat – most of these deities don’t demand lavish, extravagant gestures of adulation. They are the soul of humility.

The Great One continues to guide the young people of Zimbabwe to do good works – even if some of them seem to have sold their souls to the Devil – in exchange for something filthy.

Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was held in Windhoek, Republic of Namibia from August 16 - 17, 2010.

Summit was officially opened by SADC Chairperson, His Excellency Joseph Kabila Kabange, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Summit elected His Excellency President Hifikepunye Pohamba of the Republic of Namibia and His Excellency President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of the Republic of Angola as Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of SADC respectively.

MDC could be missing a rare opportunity to present its own case to the people in response to Zanu-pf jingles especially after the ZBC Chief Executive Happison Muchechetere is said to have declared that the state radio and television network will not stop playing the songs and “invited the MDC to provide its own music for similar airing“, (VOA News.com accessed 05.08.10). Zanu-PF is already in electioneering mode.

A quick online search of the power of jingles came up with 2,060,000 findings in 20 seconds. One entry claimed that jingles have been around for as long as radio and advertising have existed.

THE Zimbabwe Diaspora Development Interface (ZDDI) is hosting a consultative meeting on Diaspora participation in the Zimbabwe national constitutional reform exercise on Saturday, 7th August at the London Metropolitan University.

The public meeting will provide Zimbabwean community groups and individuals in the UK with an opportunity to map out and discuss the key issues they would like to see included in the draft constitution that will emerge from the current public outreach process being led by the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) in Zimbabwe.

The weekend gathering represents the first opportunity for Zimbabweans in the UK to formally discuss their views on this most important national exercise.

The National Constitutional Assembly held its strategic planning meeting at the Rainbow Towers Harare to refine its roadmap in the struggle for a new genuinely people driven constitution for  Zimbabwe, from the 24 to the 26th of July 2010. 

Three hundred delegates from all the ten provinces including the National Taskforce, Constituency leaders, provincial chairpersons  attended.

After thorough deliberations touching on the internal and external factors affecting organisation

The Indaba, made the following resolutions:

THAT Peter Walls has died, quickly reminded me of Ian Smith. The two are in no doubt war criminals who escaped justice thanks to the cowardly approach of Zimbabwe’s politicians in 1980.

If I had my way, I would not have waited a minute or breathe a second to let the full wrath of the law on Peter Walls and his alleged accomplices.

And if there truly is a God, who saw all the heinous crimes Peter Walls and Ian Smith committed without remorse and then used chicanery to stay away from justice; if there is God and he is the one I pray to every day and He is Justice, surely Peter Walls and Ian Smith

SOUTH Africa must act tough on the xenophobia which is continuing. Where were the authorities because this thing has been said over a long time and they were denying it?

If the perpetrators and those who incited them in the last wave had been brought before the hands of the law that could have been a deterrent, nothing happened and the same elements feel encouraged.

There is no doubt in my mind that some politicians there may actually be behind this and the truth needs to be told otherwise we are seeing the seeds of Rwanda germinating and growing. South Africa is a disaster waiting to happen if this is not STOPPED and the time is now.

ONE sure sign that the kid gloves are off as Zimbabwe prepares for the next elections was last week’s visit to Marange in Manicaland province by President Robert Mugabe.

There he was on television, in full technicolour – if you like – turned out in the flowing garments of the Johanne Marange Apostolic sect.

It must rate as the first time that Mugabe has garbed himself in the uniform of such a controversial sect since independence. It must indicate to all that the next election is going to be as bloody and probably bloodier than the 1980 or 2000 editions.

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti — staring at staggering political irrelevance as the embattled secretary-general of Morgan Tsvangirai’s now irretrievably divided MDC faction — squandered yet another budget statement opportunity to justify his ministerial portfolio when he presented a lacklustre 2010 mid-term fiscal policy review in Parliament last Wednesday which was laden with telling contradictions underpinned by his mischievous political intent.

It should be remembered that Biti’s appointment as finance minister following the formation of the coalition Government was controversial not least because there was nothing obvious about his qualification in finance or economics besides his political claim to seniority in the MDC-T.

ONE can only imagine the anger and indignation on Jacob's face (Genesis 29) when, after seven years of dedication, commitment, waiting and hard toil for Rachel, he was deceived into marrying Leah. That single act of deception compelled him to marry two wives by default.

Similarly, those who eagerly anticipated the inception of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission may soon be shocked to learn that what they have been given is not the beautiful Rachel they aspired for but the weak eyed Leah instead.

For far too long, Zimbabweans have been waiting for the establishment of an impartially constituted and entirely objective human rights commission to investigate perennial abuses and to promote human rights in this country.