Professor Jonathan Moyo was among the first to fire the salvo.
Sensing danger, George Charamba played the fire-fighter but not before Moyo’s careless comments had reached the ears of those who matter. There are times when Moyo talks like a comical lunatic. This was one such moment.
Calling Sadc, the AU and President Jacob Zuma all sorts of names, including Judas Iscariot, was the height of madness and political suicide. This is the same Moyo who used to fervently support the notion of quiet diplomacy and African solution to African problems when it worked in Zanu PF’s favour. Today, he stands for the opposite. Those who give a toss about international relations were baffled by such self-destructive innuendos which shall always influence Sadc in its future dealings with Zimbabwe.
In his typical fashion, Moyo chided Sadc leaders for delaying official deliberations of the summit to 8pm when Mugabe and his delegates had been waiting and waiting. He went on to say the official session only took less than an hour. In his mind, Moyo is totally convinced that Sadc can only transact when Mugabe is in attendance and also that the length of the sessions should resonate with the amount of Mugabe’s waiting time. Is he aware that Zimbabwe is not part of the Troika and that Mugabe did not convene the meeting?
“Decisions were made without much dialogue, which is traditionally essential for the success of such summits,” moaned Moyo. What he seems to forget is that there is nothing happening in Zimbabwe that Sadc is not aware of. The fact that the body has taken this long to flex its muscles is not a sign of gullibility. Rather, Sadc leaders patiently and respectfully assumed that Mugabe and his party would one day stop acting like kids and start doing the right thing. Having realised that this was not to be, the only option was to crack the whip. It is now time for action, not rhetoric.
An outstanding aspect of Moyo’s post-summit analysis was his reference to Zanu PF as the Republic of Zimbabwe. For a political science professor to fail to distinguish between a political party and the state is just pathetic.
Moyo also predictably attack-ed Sadc for suggesting to constitute a team that would clo-sely work with Jomic in implementing the GPA.
Two points need to be highlighted; it is Sadc which created Jomic, therefore, only Sadc has the prerogative to review Jomic’s mandate, restructure its composition or reinforce its operations. Such simple logic should be too obvious to Moyo.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Nevertheless, he doesn’t stop wondering, “If there is resurgence of violence, why should there not be any arrests?” This is a question any sane citizen would have directed at the Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, not Sadc. We hope Chihuri will find time to answer this question honestly and educate Moyo on why perpetrators of violence are being protected while the victims are arrested.
In a seemingly well-calculated attempt to inflict as much damage on Zanu PF as possible by further insulting African institutions including Sadc, Moyo said the African vote on UN Resolution 1973, together with the Livingstone Troika communiqué, epitomised the work of puppets and sell-outs who should be abandoned by Zimbabwe as it turns to those friends who can provide weapons and military co-operation. For some strange reason, he religiously believes that those who fought in the liberation war are all alive, well, unchanged and ready to be used.
If anything, a good number of the ex-combatants have since moved on in terms of political affiliation and ideology while a lot more have passed on. Moyo will one day get his just rewards.
