@ 33 - we need to get our act together

I have the good fortune of sharing a birth year with our country, Zimbabwe. Sometimes it makes me wonder if some of the growth and development processes, dummies and dilemmas, challenges and successes that come with each year to me as an individual apply to the nation.

Mothers of the Nation - celebrating the birth of Zimbabwe in 1980

My thinking is not too far fetched, thinking of Zimbabwe in parallel to myself. I think that life cycles and growth processes can be twinned; of cause the major difference is that I am mortal and Zimbabwe will live forever.

This however does not disqualify the parallels because, at the end of the day, in the life that the Lord blesses me with however long or short, there are things that I need to achieve, certain states I need to reach and accomplishments that need to be attained. 

Perhaps it’s selfish, but the fact that Zimbabwe will have a longer life than me, does not exempt her from fulfilling certain things, neither do I derive comfort from the possibility that some things will be achieved or done after I am dead and gone. I think in the same way that our liberation war heroes demanded freedom and independence in their life time, I can also demand certain things on Zimbabwe, not in the future but in my life time.

Life does have stages, and different ages denote different things. Take me for instance. At 16 I knew that I could have a National I.D. and drive legally, at 18 I knew I could vote, and could be held responsible for whatever crimes I commit as an adult, and not as a minor. At 21, I could drink and was considered an adult.  At 25 I was expected to be married or at an advanced stage in that process.

Of course my life did not always take this clear-cut trajectory. I started drinking much earlier than I care to admit to my mother. I started driving without a license amongst other things that I care not to admit on this platform. When I turned 25 with no steady girlfriend in sight, I became the main subject at traditional Christmas gatherings at my uncle’s home in Chinhoyi, and when I turned 30 without my first degree, I became the object of ridicule among my co-workers and colleagues and a cause for concern to my employers and partners.

When I won the open section of a Public speaking competition while in Form 3, I was praised and was a hero at my mission school. When I became the youngest chairperson (also least accomplished by then – not a big Star activist) of a major Civic group, I  became the envy of my peers, but also a source of inspiration and living proof that it could be done if we just open the door for others to try. Where the growth processes were fast tracked I was lauded, where they were slow I was censured.

This year at 33, I know that conventionally, I only have 2 more years before I loose the “get out of jail card” that is youth, which has in the past allowed me to be errant and do certain things and make certain mistakes with youth as my ‘cover’.  At 33, I feel uncomfortable when someone talks to me about my promise, my potential and my bright future, because really, in this country of ours with a short life expectancy, at 33 I am supposed to be well on the way to fulfilling my promise, potential and be living brightly today.

Embracing responsibility - Its not about #1 any more there are others

At 33, I have children to worry about, who need school fees, food, clothes and shelter and - more importantly to them – toys, games and holidays. At 33, I am worried that I don’t have a house, stand or mortgage or any real savings to ensure that should the Lord favor me with joining him in the afterlife my kids are well provided for and continue to go to school, eat and have shelter, forget the toys, games and holidays. In other words at 33, I don’t really have my act together - yet I should. My excuse is that it’s not really my fault, I am living in a bad economy, and those leading me could do me a favor by doing so democratically and well - yet they are not.

Now, I have already said that it is perhaps unfair given the “immortality” of countries, to try to demand that at just 33, something that will live forever should have its ducks in a row. But I ask it nonetheless, because I only have this life, and in as much as the past will not satisfy my present, neither will grand ideas about the future. I demand a good life in my lifetime, real freedom in my life time and real hope and opportunities in my life time.

Just like a birthday, Independence Day, is a day to celebrate, but you cannot just celebrate getting old, you also need to reflect. At birth, there was certain promise that was there for our country. At birth, we had grand dreams of freedom, self-governance, and independence – political and economic. In our early years we were considered a jewel - the pick of the African class.

 At a very early age, we were lauded for our education, and were considered a regional breadwinner – the breadbasket of Africa. In our teens, we had the usual teenage challenges as a country, experimented with the structural adjustment program drug, with disastrous effects. But we were young, and could be forgiven for the folly of youth. At 18, we celebrated and took in the drink of war, and like a normal 18 year old, we picked fights, and joined those that were not ours like DRC. But that was the code, at 18, we operated in gangs and if you picked a fight with my friend, you picked one with me.

At 25, it was clear that something was going wrong and that a lot of our promise was unfulfilled. We were not economically stable; we had acquired the means of production, but were failing to optimally use it. At 28, we got into a disastrous marriage, but got a bit of the stability and discipline that marriage always brings. We found new wealth, but in typical fashion, even in marriages, the perceived husband, seemed to squander it, was not accountable for it, and the kids hardly saw anything of it. At 33, the marriage running our national household is shaky and headed for divorce.

Naturally, at 33 a bit of judging does take place. Some introspection is necessary and the reality that you are not a kid anymore sets in. You start looking into saving schemes, hunt for a mortgage or a stand, and if you haven’t yet, you settle on a career path, perhaps not as exciting as your initial dreams, but one which is stable and secure for the sake of the kids. If moral and financial indiscipline were the hall marks of your life, you take off your “ player” hat and try to settle down, save, be the father/mother, husband/wife and adult you are expected to be. If your papers are not in order you put pride aside and fix it. At 33, you realize, that if your house is not in order, it needs to be and you try to get your act together.

Zimbabwe is that 33 year old. It’s not too old, but it’s not too young either. It is at a very productive stage, where it can still innovate, adapt, stabilize and get its act together. This 33^rd year of our independence presents opportunities for all this. Through the new constitution we got our national papers in order. With the coming elections, their conduct and their credibility, has got opportunities for setting us straight and putting our political house in order and by consequence our social and economic houses too. In the same way that a propensity to drink and stay out late can affect your home and work, our political discord had translated to economic hardships and social ills.  But all is not lost, at 33 you can salvage something and get your house in order – Zimbabwe needs to do that.

Fathers of the Nation

Let’s celebrate our independence day, but let us also reflect on where we are coming from and how best to get to where we want to. 

Best selling Author of the book, ‘ Brothers Emanuel” said the secret to his success and that of his brothers was that  when they did well they had “ all of 27 seconds to celebrate”  but would be told to get on to the next challenge soon after. So let’s celebrate, but without forgetting that after the party, life waits and that we need to move on to the next challenge and assignment. Let’s get our act together and pursue the greatness we are destined to as a nation.

ends

Political Interest and Prejudice….Remove that, and there’s case a No Case Against Justice Hungwe.

Our Justice system may have gone to the dogs. This became a very distinct reality when in 2001, our Chief Justice then, Anthony Gubbay was forced into early retirement, to be replaced by what some argued, was a more politically pliable one, in the form our current Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.

Over the course of the last decade, the lack of independence and impartiality of the Judiciary, has been a major part of the democratic deficits that have been flagged in Zimbabwe. The argument has been made that the Judiciary in Zimbabwe since then ceased to be impartial, and became a willing political tool, with the purging of the bench between 2000 and 2002.

 The purge was followed by the promotion and insertion of at least 5 new judges thought to be politically pliable to the executive, and this thinking is further fortified by the “ illegal” and unilateral appointment of several High Court judges in December 2012. The appointments are argued to have been “illegal” and “ unilateral” in that the appointments were made without the Prime Minister being consulted, and without giving his consent, as is required by law, and as assented to by the governing authorities under the Global Political Agreement (GPA) of 15 September 2008.

These developments, amongst other matters, have led, especially on matters of rights and politics, to an almost total mistrust of the judicial system, and a lack of faith in the ability of the courts to be fair and just in the conduct of their business.

As we head towards a critical election, and given the polarized nature of our polity, it is not completely unforeseeable that the result of the next election maybe decided by the courts. In light of this, one cannot be faulted for thinking that the persecution, and vilification of Justice Hungwe, maybe be meant as an example, calculated to ensure that if that becomes a reality, the High Court and Supreme Court are manned by benches which are either malleable and can do the bidding of ZANU Pf. It seems also clear, that if malleability is not achieved, at the very least there will be  sufficient fear planted in them through being shown that, if you do not tow the correct political line, you will be forced off the bench.

The targeting of Justice Hungwe ensures that the already low justice bank, reaches new depths of bankruptcy. In my opinion, in the case of the sustained attacks on Justice Hungwe, there is nothing but prejudice and political interest, and that if these are removed, there will be nothing left.

A cursory search of judgments passed by Justice Hungwe on cases in which the state has had a political or economic interest, and his submissions and opinions on Independence of the Country (He is an ex-Combatant), independence of the War veterans Association (of which he was first President) and Independence of the Judiciary, will show that these sentiments have not been met with approval by those who believe that all these should be malleable tools in the hands of ZANU PF.

It is perhaps this more than anything else that may be suggested, that Justice Hungwe has found himself in the cross hairs of the partisan public media which has  turned him into ZANU PF’s enemy No. 1.

Judge Charles Hungwe - Argued to be one of the most independent judges on the bench. He is now being prepped for a Judicial "lynching".

As a born free, one wonders how this model citizen, who fought in our struggle for independence and freedom, had a career sterling enough as a lawyer to be appointed a judge, feels as he is sanctioned by some of his peers who were on the opposite side of the liberation struggle. It is common cause that some on the bench served as Members of Parliament and Ministers in Colonial Rhodesia, and Muzorewa’s short lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia government.

But everyone has a past, and without seeking to malign the Judiciary, , it is not beyond imagining, that it is possible that, because of the huge debt of gratitude that suh people owe to ZANU PF, they may be over paying the debt through perpetuating a hostage crisis, in which political interests hold the judiciary hostage.

THe Hurried swearing In

After all, it was the current Chief Justice who chaired the Constitutional Commission from 2000, which had its draft constitution rejected after the Chief Justice, then Chairman, allowed the President to make 238 Executive Edits to the draft constitution. It is the same Chief justice, who from his current station, hurriedly swore in President Mugabe after the June 29 2008 electoral non-event, which everyone agreed could not qualify as a credible election, forcing the same President to get into a GNU with the two MDCs.

Judge President Chiweshe - Former ZEC Chairperson

We hear that Justice Hungwe was summoned before the Chief Justice and Judge President, which is as it should be under the circumstances. But it seems there is a Judicial Dynasty, that consists of a triumvirate of the The Chief justice, the Judge President and the Chairperson of ZEC, meant to deal with the electoral question. Zimbabweans would remember, especially as we head for an Election, that the Judge President George Chiweshe , is former chairperson of ZEC who for over a month, withheld the Presidential Election results of March 2008. The Judge President then was the ZEC Chairperson now, Justice Rita Makarau. The ZEC Chair in 2008, in a fantastic display of improved capacity delivered Presidential Results within 48 hours after the June 29 Run Off, leading to the stated hurried Swearing In of the President by Chief Justice Chidyausiku. Everyone has a past, and sometimes the past is best forgotten, but current form, where the Judiciary is concerned forces one to think back, to see if there is no pattern emerging.

Even Professor Jonathan Moyo, cannot fault the theory that, if as evidence shows, the Hegemony in the Judiciary holds itself in service to a Political party and Leader, that they would then try to exterminate those who don’t serve their interests, even with the help of the Professor.

Rita Makarau - Chairperson of ZEC and former Judge President - Is she part of a Judicial dynasty meant to preserve power for President Mugabe, or is she an Impartial abiter on Elections worthy of our trust?

Given the foregoing, it is very clear to me, that a lynch mob is being assembled and egged on by the State controlled media, for Justice Hungwe. The reasons for the lynching have more to do with Politics than Jurisprudence. The Political lynching of Justice Hungwe proves, what has always been argued, that the Judiciary is held captive by Political interests, and is far from independent, when looked at collectively. Given the damage that has already been done, this “judicial assassination” of Justice Hungwe, is only going to further lessen peoples’ faith and trust in the Justice delivery system.

In the Final analysis, every right thinking Zimbabwean agrees with the Law Society’s sentiments on the matter, that the Judiciary and Judicial actions are not beyond scrutiny, but that such scrutiny should be “ measured, tempered and based on fact and Law ”.  This however is not the case in the case of Justice Hungwe. There is nothing but prejudice and political interest in this case, if the prejudice and political interest are removed, you are left with nothing.

Justice Hungwe, through doing his job properly, impartially and independently, has earned the ire of powerful enemies and players. He however can rest assured that, most Zimbabweans understand that the attacks on him are a perfidy, that his cause is just, and supported by the people. Who by any measure are more important and powerful than any number of Ministers of Government put together, especially with election season beckoning.

The fight for judicial independence is not Hungwe’s alone, it is ours, and as we head for elections, this backlash against the impartiality and professionalism by Justice  Hungwe, will face the backlash to the backlash, this time from millions of Zimbabweans  .