Senator David Coltart's
work during Gukurahundi is commendable and anyone who knows anything about
those dark days in Zimbabwe's history will know the Senator played a key role
in seeking some restorative justice to the victims of the madness. He has been
relentless in his demand for those responsible for this outrage to face justice
and rightly so too because this matter can never be laid to rest and the wounds
heal until justice is done.
We must never rest in our pursuit justice because in doing so we are sending a clear message that this nation will never ever sweep dirty, especially when it is committed by those in positions of trust, under the carpet. All those who commit serious human rights violation or betray the nation in anyway will be held to account regardless who they are, what office they hold and no matter how long has taken to get them to face justice.
"Mhoswa hairovi!" as they say in Shona. (The victim may die but the crime will live on!)
Sadly the Senator has soiled his good name by allowing himself to be corrupted by Mugabe during his years in the GNU. As a senior member of the MDC the Senator cannot deny that in failing to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU, MDC sold-out.
We must never rest in our pursuit justice because in doing so we are sending a clear message that this nation will never ever sweep dirty, especially when it is committed by those in positions of trust, under the carpet. All those who commit serious human rights violation or betray the nation in anyway will be held to account regardless who they are, what office they hold and no matter how long has taken to get them to face justice.
"Mhoswa hairovi!" as they say in Shona. (The victim may die but the crime will live on!)
Sadly the Senator has soiled his good name by allowing himself to be corrupted by Mugabe during his years in the GNU. As a senior member of the MDC the Senator cannot deny that in failing to implement even one democratic reform during the GNU, MDC sold-out.
Zimbabwe would not be in this political and
economic mess, the tyrannical rule of Zanu PF would have ended with free, fair
and credible July 2013 elections, if MDC leaders like Senator Coltart had implemented
the reforms. They had five years to implement the reforms, SADC leaders reminded
them repeatedly to implement the reforms and they paid no heed. They failed to
get even one reform implemented. Not one!
Just as the Zanu PF
leaders whose hands are red with the innocent blood the shed during Gukurahundi
have refused to apologized to the nation for their heinous crime; Senator
Coltart and his MDC friends have too refused to apologize to the nation for
failing to implement the reforms.
I have bought my copy of
Senator Coltart’s book : THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES – 50 YEARS OF TYRANNY IN
ZIMBABWE. I hope the Senator was as open and candid in recounting our struggle
as justice and history demands of him and us all! For him, a heartfelt apology
to the good people of Zimbabwe for his part in MDC’s betrayal of the nation
during the GNU will be a must! I hope for both our sakes that the Senator has
not short changed me, I hate being cheated!
VP Mnangagwa threatens to sue Coltart over the statements attributed to the VP in Coltart’s book.
ReplyDeleteMany terrible things happened during Gukurahundi and those in power have tried to sweep them under the carpet. We cannot have a clean house with a lot of filth under the carpet, especial such a large volume of dirty it has left mountains and valleys in the carpet and the stench and fungal spores emanating from the decaying dirty has made the house unliveable.
Gukurahundi is an unfinished chapter in the nation's history, an open wound that must be ad-dressed.
The wheels of justice has been very slow, 33 years is a long time, still the wheels were turning and have finally caught up with those responsible for the Gukurahundi madness. VP Mnangagwa and all those responsible for the madness must now face the music like man!
Senator Coltart together with one or two others like Tendai Biti was one of the few MDC leaders the people of Zimbabwe trusted and believed was competent and incorruptible. My doubts of these individuals came after they joined in the praising of President Mugabe; I ex-pected the more gullible and naive MDC leaders to be easily fooled by the tyrant but not Col-tart or Biti I was sure they would be a lot smarter and suave to be so easily fool.
ReplyDeleteThe reality of MDC's failure to implement even one reform after five years clinched it for me; there was no doubt that President Mugabe had, somehow, got through even to the likes of Coltart and Biti. The two had been fooled just as easily and readily as the more gullible and corrupt Tsvangirai, Eddie Cross, Gutu, Mwonzora, etc.
The refusal by Coltart and Biti to step up and admit they had let the nation down in totally unforgivable. What so people fail to understand is that this is more than just an apology; it is the key that would have allowed the nation to salvage something out of the GNU that would have allowed the nation to move on.
By admitting they failed the nation in implementing the reforms the people would have been forced to accept that there is unfinished business from the GNU that the nation must attend to move on - implementing the reforms. Many people know the 2013 elections were rigged but have no idea it was because no reforms had been implemented and so they have failed to demand the implementation of the reforms. So it is almost certain no reforms will be imple-mented before the 2018 elections and thus the elections will, once again, not be free and fair.
So MDC's failure to implement the reform during the GNU was a stab in the back but by refusing to admit it they turning and twisting the knife to increase the pain and damage. Such heartless cruelty is unforgivable, especial coming from one masquerading as a democratic and humanist!
I too would certainly want to see Mr Coltart give a true, accurate and detailed account of MDC’s betrayal of the nation during the GNU.
@ Grace Jones
ReplyDeleteColtart and others have had the opportunity to come clean on how they sold-out during the GNU if reminding him of that is "taking the thunder away" then he only has himself to blame for it. It is absolutely necessary that we hold people like VP Mnangagwa to account for what he did during the GNU but that is not as effective if the one holding him to account has himself his own baggage for which he is refusing to account!
Minister Zhuwao instructs line ministries to cancel the licences of all foreign owned compa-nies that have failed to comply with the requirements of the indigenisation law!
ReplyDeleteThis regime is stubborn but here the regime shot itself in the leg when it passed the stupid law in 2008 and ever since it has kept it on the statute out of sheer stupidity and stubbornness but by shutting down the businesses it is shooting itself in the other leg! Well done comrades, you have proven that you have two legs! Now let us see you walk, for that is what legs are there for!
We have an absurd situation here where over 20 000 innocent people were murdered and yet none of the public officials responsible for up holding the rule of law and protecting the lives and property of all Zimbabweans accept responsibility. These busy-bodies admit innocent civilians were killed but refuse to say how many, by whom and most important of all, deny responsibility. Now VP Mnangagwa is denying things he was quoted as having said at the time.
ReplyDeleteZanu PF is known for denying everything even when the regime is caught redhanded! VP Mnangagwa is doing what Zanu PF knows best deny responsibility and threaten the critics with a legal suit or worse! It is refreshing to see Mr Coltart stand firm on this; like the VP sue if he dares!
What VP Mnangagwa is failing to realize is that the truth about Gukurahundi is coming out and there is nothing he or Zanu PF can do to stop this. Nothing!
@ Grace Jones
ReplyDeleteTrue to a point! Zanu PF's iron grip on power is not what is was a year ago and with each passing day it is growing weaker and weaker as a result of the economic meltdown getting worse and worse. Zanu PF's continued rule is now totally dependent on whether or not the party can deliver economic recovery; in the past it was on whether or not it can rig the elections.
Even if no meaningful reforms are implemented before the 2018 elections and Zanu PF rigs the elections again the party will still have to deal with the 90% unemployment rate, water and power cuts, etc. The present economic meltdown is socially and politically unsustainable and the only way to revive the economy is by implementing far reaching political reforms - read into that free, fair and credible elections - read into that regime change.
Whether Zanu PF hardliners like it or not there is going to be regime change in Zimbabwe because the nation cannot be held to ransom much longer to protect them from their evil past!
The Gukurahundi stories are coming out and Mnangagwa's name is top of the list of those involved in the madness that took place; he and all the others have no choice but face the music like man! Mnangagwa's involvement in the madness is ruling him out as a serious presidential candidate but that is only part of the music!
President Mugabe and Zanu PF were murderous tyrants to be rightly feared during Gukurahundi but now they are a spent force, paper tigers!
In a BBC 1985 Panorama interview with Jeremy Paxman available on YouTube “Joshua Nkomo Interview in Exile” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WG8k7jZ2tA Dr Joshua Nkomo was spot on to dismiss Gukurahundi as a Shona army fighting for a Shona cause. He said it was a Zanu PF army fighting for a Zanu PF cause. He had objected to the formation of this brigade outside the main stream national army, and events proved him right.
ReplyDeleteIn the interview he condemned the ex-Zipra members who constituted the dissident fighters. He said that Zapu did not control them. He also condemned all those seeking to misrepresent what was going on in Zimbabwe as a tribal war!
@ Mikis
ReplyDeleteThe world and more specifically every Zimbabwean knows that MDC did not implement even one during the GNU because if they had done so they would have dismantled Zanu PF dictatorship and stopped the regime blatantly rigging the 2013 elections. We would not be in this hell-hole if the last elections had been free, fair and credible.
Did it ever occur to you that Coltart should have implemented the reforms and then written his book on how MDC successfully end the Zanu PF dictatorship and delivered democracy complete with free, fair and credible elections not only in 2013 but for generations to come? That would have been a book and history worth writing and reading!
You really have your priorities upside down and inside out; you "commending a brave Coltart for writing" about how he and his MDC friends had sold-out the whole nation but have no sympathy for millions, the real victims of this betrayal. They are suffering and dying right now and will con-tinue to suffer and die in misery for generations (it will take at least two generations to recover from this mess).
Someone has to stand up for the millions MDC betrayed, even if those millions, do not under-stand how they were betrayed. I care more about betraying them than I care about betraying with a totally misplaced selfish ego and cannot even think!
Patrick I met Coltart and I thought him a smart man but his lacklust performance during the GNU has been a rude wake up call. I have read most of the chapters of his book relating the events during the GNU; the man is breathtakingly incompetent, corrupt, naive and arrogant.
ReplyDeleteHe started his book by quoting Mugabe saying the only place he wanted Coltart to be in Zimbabwe was prison. Throughout the years in the GNU Mugabe found he could toy with Coltart just as easily as he toyed with Tsvangirai, Mujuru, Muzenda, Biti, etc. Coltart allowed Mugabe to do as he pleased and even went out of his way to praise the murderous tyrant even when is was clear the tyrant was dragging the nation into hell. In the end Mugabe told Coltart he could work with him!
I am please Coltart wrote the book because now we have eye-witness account of how dysfunctional the GNU was, how breathtaking incompetent, corrupt and useless MDC leaders were and most important of all how totally unworkable the present political system is. If we are serious about having a democratic Zimbabwe complete with free, fair and credible elections then we must revert back to implementing the reforms. There is no other way out. Implementing the electoral reforms is just a waste of time and treasure!
@ Grace Jones
ReplyDeleteColtart has been very brave in keeping the nation's eyes focused on serious human rights abus-es by Mugabe and his regime, I salute him for that. Much as I salute Mugabe and other liberation war heroes and heroines for fighting to end white colonial rule. I refuse to let Mugabe's war record stop me from seeing what a corrupt and murderous and vote-rigging tyrant he has become since independence.
By the same token I refuse to be blinded by what Coltart has done before the GNU. His pathetic record during the GNU is unforgivable because by betraying the nation he has condemned mil-lions to suffer and die under this corrupt and tyrannical dictatorship.
David Coltart must be held accountable for his role in MDC’s failure to implement even one reform during the GNU. He must apologize for selling-out, that is the very least he must do!
Mugabe backs his nephew Minister Zhuwao in closing all companies that have failed to conform to the demands of the indigenisation law.
ReplyDeleteMugabe shot himself in the leg when he passed this stupid law back in 2008. For the last 8 years he has foolishly retain it even thou it was clear it was costing the nation billions in lost investments. He threatened to impose the law and everyone called his buff. By closing the companies he will now be shooting himself in the other leg!
He thinks by forcing companies to close he will help in Zimbabwe's economic recovery, this is him entering a 100 m race after shooting both his legs and claim he will win the race. Watch this space!
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe was reportedly offered asylum by his then Senegalese counterpart Abdoulaye Wade in the aftermath of his electoral loss to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai at the 2008 polls, former Education minister David Coltart has claimed.
ReplyDeleteWhat I cannot understand is if Coltart understood that Mugabe is a tyrant then why did he and Biti do nothing to end Mugabe's dictatorship when MDC had the chance to do so during the GNU? I understand that Thabo Mbeki was naive and gullible and he went out of his way to ac-commodate Mugabe and allow him to stay in power as long as possible and yet if MDC had gone on to produce a democratic constitution and implemented the democratic reforms necessary for free and fair elections then the 2013 elections would have been free and fair. MDC failed to produce a democratic constitution and did not implement even one reform. Not even one!
Coltart has admitted that the new constitution does not have any checks and balances especially against the presidential powers and thus has given Mugabe excessive dictatorial powers. He, is careful NOT to say if the new constitution is a democratic one but rather argues that it is "better than the existing Lancaster House constitution". What a deceitful argument. We set out to pro-duce a democratic constitution that would deliver free and fair elections. The new constitution was neither democratic nor would it ever deliver free and fair elections.
Both Coltart and Biti joined the other MDC leaders in their praise of Mugabe. Coltart said Mugabe was not the monster everyone said he was. Biti called the tyrant the "unflappable father of the nation".
Whichever way one looks at this issue there is no doubt that David Coltart did not told us the whole truth in his book.
Coltart says Jonathan Moyo is embarrassed about his past.
ReplyDelete"In 1999/2000 Moyo changed course and since then has been one of the principal propagandists for Zanu PF, which has inevitably brought us into conflict.
"I think that his resentment may stem from the fact that I often refer to Moyo's "previous life", which perhaps is embarrassing for him.
Professor Moyo is a typical example of one who has changed and sold-out their very souls once they were offered a bribe.
David Coltart should know what it means to be a sell-out given that he too sold-out during the GNU. David cannot deny that he, like everyone else in MDC, was "too busy enjoying himself he forgot why he was in the GNU" as SADC heads said in their statement soon after the rigged 2013 elections
The book has infuriated supporters of President Robert Mugabe, Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and even former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai alike.
ReplyDeleteMoyo has dismissed the memoirs as biased against black Zimbabweans and not carrying any new information on the country's past.
"Other than Paul Themba Nyathi, I don't recall reading he consulted blacks. The book is basically a white project," the Tsholotsho North MP tweeted last week in response to a question by one of his followers.
However, the former minister sees a positive side to the fact that Moyo has taken a serious interest in his book.
"I see that 4 the last 2 days Jono Moyo has tweeted almost exclusively about my book #StruggleContinues -it must've really got up his nose!," he tweeted last week.
"As the working week draws to a close I must thank @ProfJNMoyo 4 the wonderful publicity he has given 2 my book #StruggleContinues. Siyabonga (thank you)," Coltart proded Moyo again and the minister responded in kind.
"Your responses to comments & observations on your book are shockingly amateurish for a former Education minister!" said Moyo yesterday on the same platform.
So it is the “wonderful publicity” and, no doubt the financial gain, which are the driving force behind Coltart’s book. As for its historic contribution, there is no serious reader who would fail to question the sheer incompetence shown by MDC leaders including David Coltart himself; the incompetence he then failed to point out for historic records!