BY KENNETH MUFUKA
I have lost touch with my Zipra brother Melusi Nkomo. The last time I heard about him, he was doing some lofty business at the International Graduate Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Robert Mugabe was no socialist, he was concerned more about his power than about anything else,” he said. On that I totally agree with him. But then I ask; “Where do we go from there? What about Mukomana?”
In my Zipra archives, I found these words written there with the name Melusi Nkomo inscribed on them 06/01/2018).
“Chamisa delivers his speeches with the fervor of an evangelical preacher. Time and again he bloviates and throws in biblical aphorisms which cement his credentials as a lay preacher dedicated to the Apostolic Faith Mission. At a rally in Chinhoyi, a traditional Zanu PF stronghold, he said that constructing a bullet train that travels at 600 km/hour will be among his government’s priorities. At another rally, he claimed the miraculous — from “solving Zimbabwe’s liquidity crisis within two weeks of coming into office, to building airports in every village, and turning the town of Victoria Falls into Africa’s Las Vegas.”
It is now four years and so much water has passed under the bridge. Looking back now, many of Melusi’s observations can now be re-interpreted. An African political rally, like an Afro-American worship service, is part entertainment and part worship. Sympathetic observers, like Basil Davidson and the German philosopher Dietrich Bonhoeffer, came to realise, within that fog of entertainment, showing off and loud begging of the Holy Spirit lay the African genius.
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Mukomana has mellowed and matured somewhat from four years ago. The fire is still there, as you said, but now I see a semblance of gravitas as the spirit of leadership weighs on his shoulders.
Leadership can be trained, but one must have the capacity to absorb that training. Mukomana has the natural gift of rhetoric, but it seems that the wind is behind his back for reasons I shall show you.
First the Philistines have never accepted the advice of former US president Barack Obama. Do not do stupid things. If I were to make a list of the stupid things they do, there would be no end to it.
Take for example, the great opportunity of showcasing Zimbabwe at the Dubai International Exposition. The Zimbabwe delegation wanted to showcase some products: Tanganda tea is an easy sell. They did not have the tea leaves to give away and Tanganda Company in Zimbabwe did not send a representative.
The spokesperson for Zimbabwe was more political than practical. Zimbabwe is the best tourist destination in the world because it has Victoria Falls listed on the United Nations list as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. South of Egypt, Zimbabwe Ruins are the last great stone buildings traceable to the builders of Kemet and Kush.
The spokesperson was visiting Dubai for the sake of earning a per diem in US dollars so they could sustain their progeny at home. They fooled nobody.
African people are by nature religious. The zeal and prophetic mouthings of Mukomana are necessary to awaken Zimbabweans to a new recolonisation by Chinese companies.
The story that the Chinese mining company at Mvuma will soon build a railroad to Rutenga to facilitate iron ore exports to China scares me. It is reminiscent of Chinese modus operandi wherever they invest. They literally strip the resources of that country and ship them in their raw form to China.
“Since the mine opened in 2016, more than a dozen (Peruvian) Andean community groups have blocked the dusty 400km long mining corridor, citing pollution and a lack of social investment despite the huge mineral wealth. President Pedro Castillo is on his fourth cabinet in six months.” (Reuters 02/16/2022)
The complaints are standard. At one mine the Chinese paid police salaries. During negotiations with protest groups, some Peruvian brothers have received “sweet packages” and have left the protest groups.
Chinese do not create employment and, therefore, they do not offer careers.
Surprisingly, the financial liquidity of Zimbabwe is the easiest to solve.
Doing stupid things includes saying stupid things as well. If the three musketeers at treasury, Professor Mthuli Ncube, Dr. John Magundya and George Guvamatanga have a surplus, surely that surplus revenue should be able to support the Zimbabwe dollar.
These treasury chiefs have for a very long time been paid in US dollars all the time while asking the population to use Zimbabwe dollars. There is more. I am also informed that there is a roaring business for offshore retirement accounts in Zimbabwe starting with a minimum sum of U$$50 per month.
Instead of strengthening NSSA accounts, these brothers have financial baskets elsewhere.
Melusi my brother, the popularity of Mukomana in my opinion comes from the loss of credibility by Philistines, not that they had any.
Mukomana has grown up somewhat and now speaks with a more measured tone.
If I were to put in a basket package of why Mukomana’s star is rising, I would first put packages in the Philistine basket of the ridiculous things they do.
Philistines have failed to grasp the power of the social media. Government has totally (Zimbabwe English) failed to answer the charge that the Mbudzi Interchange price was padded from US$45 million to US$85 million. Their journalists have been outmatched and out-danced by social media copycats.
The repetitive disappearance and “alleged” torture of persons like former Harare mayor Herbert Gomba may reach a plateau where nobody is safe and diminishing returns kick in.
During the American elections of 2020, Americans had reached a situation where while in agreement with president Donald Trump American First policy, they loathed the man so much so that anybody other than Trump was considered a safe bet. After 40 years of repetitive stupidities, Zimbabweans may now be facing the possibility that any dispensation other than the Philistine one is worth a try.
This has more to do with the Philistines than with Mukomana.
- Mufuka is a Zimbabwe patriot. He writes from the US. His books are available from Innov8 Bookshops and from kenmufukabooks.com in the wider world.