Mutsekwa’s Incompetence: Resignation or Reassignment?

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By DR PAUL MUTUZU

Published: October 1, 2009

Among all people of conscience deeply concerned about the future of Zimbabwe, nothing has riled them more than the recent Mutsekwa-sanctioned seizure of Meikles group of companies, one of nation’s foremost corporate brands listed on both Harare and London stock exchanges. To the MDC, Giles Mutsekwa has become a conspicuous embarrassment, possibly the biggest embarrassment ever. Even worse, Mutsekwa has shown no signs of public contrition. He must therefore resign from his job or least be demoted and reassigned for bringing his office and the MDC to such levels of unprecedented shame.

For ‘unpaid’ ambassadors of Zimbabwe like those of us in the Diaspora, we grudgingly, yet unavoidably resumed our mildly interesting responsibility of explaining to citizens of host countries what this recent ‘Mugabe madness’ is all about. What made our jobs more complicated this time around is that one of our own (for those in MDC), the co-Minister of Home Affairs – Mutsekwa, presided over the debacle by irresponsibly cooperating with Kembo Mohadi in authorizing this criminal act.

What perennially irks ordinary Zimbabweans is the elusive definition of ‘government’. In recent past, similar mendacious statements were made by state media that the ‘government’ had taken over company X or Y or Z, because of externalization charges or dealing in prohibited foreign currency. But it was irrefutable that Mugabe’s coterie of handpicked sycophants like Gono were always the very looters of companies the same way they gobbled productive farms and divided them equally (among themselves).

SW Radio Africa, a highly credible news organization, recently (September 28 2009) reported that Zimbabwe’s advanced-age dictator and his wife own at least 12 farms most of which are in dilapidated state. However, shamelessly, they are still able to sneak supplies of fresh milk into Switzerland through Nestle, while the people of Zimbabwe are starving. How hypocritical is it that there is never any mention corruption as one of the key factors that brought Zimbabwe to its knees?

Heck, didn’t Chiwewe remind us recently the extent of the loot when he recently said he knows several Ministers with at least ten farms? Zimbabweans were duped with this land ‘redistribution exercise’. In addition to be ing a politically expedient gimmick, it’s also a fraudulent hype!

Before the dollarization of the economy earlier this year, not even one organization, (even the most religious, such as Church organizations) could operate without foreign currency obtained from the black market. It is a fact that Gono incessantly printed money on his behalf and on behalf of the ‘government’ and mopped up foreign currency from the black market.

Just like today, every Zimbabwean knows that there is always a political and a malicious reason for taking over companies such as Meikles. Didn’t Gono raid foreign currency accounts of private companies and NGO’s under the guise of funding ‘government’ activities which turned out to be ‘blood money’ that funded the violent presidential campaign of 2008?

Using dislocated and clumsy statements Mutsekwa arrogantly defended his actions as motivated to pursue “a noble cause”. It begs the question: Since when did Mugabe’s causes become noble? How will a government that has consistently failed to run its own affairs ever manage to run a blue-chip like Meikles? How many parastatals did the ‘government’ fail to run down? Since Zanu PF began its interference with Meikles, its flagship brand -Meikles Hotel, has seen its standards plummeting.

Mutsekwa has become a real joke. In April 2009, at the height of abductions and murders of activists as well as prolonged unjustifiable incarcerations of Roy Bennett and Jestina Mukoko, I protested Mutsekwa’s incompetence as tantamount to a ‘wasted appointment’. (see archived article at www.nationalvision.wordpress.com). If Biti had presided over that Ministry, Zimbabwe would be different today. But again we need him in Finance to fight Gono, another Mugabe clone just like Mohadi. Suggestion: Biti goes to Home Affairs while someone with a spine replaces him at the Ministry of Finance. Then there will be the much-needed bloodbath in that horrendous Ministry of Home Affairs.

Instead of fighting to bring change and sanity to the murderous Kembo Mohadi and his ministry, Mutsekwa is conniving and working subserviently as an employee of Mohadi. Mutsekwa must be reminded that hundreds of people perished under the hands of Mohadi since he took over as Mugabe’s Home Affairs Minister in August 2002.

No one was ever brought to book for those daylight murders. Some MDC activists rotted in filthy prisons characterized by sub-human conditions, while others disappeared without a trace. Mugabe’s militias committed heinous crimes and brutalization of defenseless citizens which Mohadi aided and abetted. Rights group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) this week made the stunning revelation that the 7 missing MDC activists abducted last year by state agents and and the military have not yet been found.

If Mutsekwa is not the one ordering the arrest of MDC MP’s, then surely Mohadi is. It is thus saddening to hear that these two men are reportedly having a cozy working relationship. While Mohadi’s track record proves beyond reasonable doubt that he is kept and paid to harm Zimbabweans and their properties, the people of Zimbabwe expect nothing less than total revulsion if Mutsekwa is really working to sabotage people’s rights and freedoms.

The overarching charge is not about the damage and distraction he is causing to the MDC. But is about his utter incompetence and chronic under-performance as someone holding such a critical ministry. It is scandalous for Mutsekwa to continue clandestinely running such a high-visibility ministry as if he is a Minister without portfolio.

All this is happening at a critical time when Zimbabwe’s future is increasingly becoming uncertain once again as Zanu PF invokes old tricks to entrench its parallel government alongside GNU. Our patience must be running out now. Mutsekwa has failed the people of Zimbabwe and must resign or be demoted to a less influential position for condoning violence and for passively working for Mohadi.

This is a litmus test for the Prime Minister Tsvangirai as it goes down to the core of how people will define him as a leader. In addition, the ethical dimension and moral bankruptcy of this fiasco requires his immediate intervention. Mugabe recycled and rehabilitated incompetent Ministers for nearly three decades. What will Tsvangirai do differently? It remains to be seen whether he willing to flex his muscle in order to send a clear message that MDC is a democracy-driven party which does not tolerate lawlessness but is fully committed to the rights of individuals and companies.

This is coming at a time when the court of public opinion has issued its own verdicts. One such an inescapable verdict is that Mutsekwa, like many other new ministers from across political spectrum have now resigned to their newfound lifestyle which the GNU ushered in. For those in power such as Ministers and other ‘chefs’, life is good and ‘power is sweet’ just as Paul Mangwana recently put it. Mutsekwa is no exception. The luxury includes numerous perks that include new Mercedes Benz and ‘cash allowances’.

It is an insult for Mutsekwa to be seen hanging on piously to his job pandering to Zimbabweans as a martyr and also bragging ad nauseam that“I am the best qualified” yet he co-engineered the seizure. The last time we checked, those jobs did not go to tender, let alone opened to all the capable people of Zimbabwe. It was a political appointment. Period. Now the people of Zimbabwe are taking an audit of his performance. The results are in. Predictably, there is overwhelming incriminatory evidence of ineptitude!

We, the ‘undersigned’ people of Zimbabwe, condemn the Home Affairs Minister for engaging in acts of violence and then defending his actions in a contradicting,disingenuous and nebulous manner. On one hand Mutsekwa says “I appreciate “the repercussions where this big company, which is on the stock market, is specified” but he also admits that the process was not done transparently.

In a recent interview with the terrific Violet Gonda of SW Radio Africa, in his opening statement Mutsekwa apologized for making the mistake of “ listening to only one person who is an aggrieved character, and we took it for granted, being a Christian, everybody thought he was up to his word”. How then did Mutsekwa arrive at the conclusion that the company committed a crime before all the facts were in? Why did Mutsekwa find it expedient to employ junta tactics to short-circuit legal and due process to ’settle’ a corporate problem in the first place? Mutsekwa concluded by saying that the move will be reversed soon, yet the damage has been done already.

When the story is finally retold, I personally (and sincerely) hope that Mr Chanakira will be completely absolved from swirling allegations that he indeed unleashed ‘his’ Zanu PF comrades to seize Meikles’ assets. It would really be a disgrace for Zimbabweans to realize that respectable and celebrated entrepreneurs like Nigel Chanakira were after all playing dirty politics all along to be where they are today.

MDC must therefore understand the people’s frustrations concerning this issue specifically and the wobbling GNU in general. People want a break and at the same time public opinion should not shift to portray MDC as mere adventurers who signed up for a rabid experiment. They don’t want a relive Mugabe era which rewarded ministers for their destructive tendencies and worthlessness or where political elite and ‘chefs’ committed crimes against individuals and businesses with impunity.

Mohadi and Mutsekwa severely undercut the Prime Minister’s efforts of wooing international investors and global reintegration for the much needed economic recovery. Mutsekwa has less than succeeded (failed) and must be relieved of his duties without further delay. Mutsekwa is not just a Minister. He is an MDC minister who took an oath to uphold the law and should consequently be held at a higher standard than Zanu PF Ministers.

Dr Paul Mutuzu,
MDC- USA Secretary, www.mdc-usa.org, Email: nvinstitute@aol.com Archives: www.nationalvision.wordpress.com