SINCE February 2009, Zimbabweans have been under the illusion that the country was run under a tripartite arrangement where power was shared by three principals, namely President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara.

THE art of diplomacy is the defining element of a state, but what we have seen this week with Foreign Affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi is the destruction of the state as his actions have cast Zimbabwe as a rogue member of the international community.

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe chief Gideon Gono’s involvement in the Kingdom Meikles Ltd fight pitting Nigel Chanakira and John Moxon is suspicious, to say the least. Gono, who has seemed to be neutral during the year-and-a-half old dispute, says he is worried that the fight could knock the public’s confidence in the financial services sector.

THE certification and subsequent sale of diamonds last week came as relief to most Zimbabweans after years of wishing for divine intervention in the resolution of the country’s economic meltdown.

THE Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation met in Windhoek, Namibia, on Sunday to deliberate on the Zimbabwe political crisis and recommended that the only way out of this calamity is free and fair elections.

WE are not keeping our fingers crossed. And, unlike Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, we are not jubilant either about this week’s Sadc Heads of States and Governments summit held in Namibia.

ZIMBABWE this week started selling the controversial Chiadzwa diamonds after meeting the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).

LAST week’s confirmation that ministers who leak cabinet deliberations to the media face arrest together with the offending journalists under the Official Secrets Act, a colonial relic, reopened debate on what constitutes public information.

WHEN people bury their loved ones, they are expected to be humble and respectful to their guests. In typical African culture, those with a score to settle will wait for another day rather than spoil the sombre atmosphere with tirades that only serve to upset their guests.

THE Copac exercise is a trough-feeding exercise that enriches a select elite while engaging in a fraudulent consultation of “the people”, a process that will either deliver pre-conceived ideologies from the parties in charge or a bastardised amalgamation of unworkable and contradictory clauses.

WE have seen this before. A flurry of activity just before a meeting of regional leaders. So it was expected that Jacob Zuma would ratchet up pressure on Harare to fully implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA) ahead of the Sadc leaders’ summit set for Namibia later this month.

CONTROVERSY over who qualifies for national hero status re-opened this week with the burial of President Robert Mugabe’s sister Sabina at Heroes Acre.

INDIGENISATION and Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere was in a combative mood last week, threatening to shut down 9 000 companies for failing to submit their indigenisation plans in line with the law.

LAST month JSE CEO Russell Loubser had a few words of advice for authorities here; investors have a choice. This is a message the Zimbabwean government has possibly forgotten.

ONE of the most useful things that Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara did last weekend was to assure Zimbabweans living in the diaspora that the government valued their contribution to national development.

The Herald on Monday carried an editorial which challenged the two MDC formations “to respect the letter and spirit of the GPA in toto by stopping their dalliance with the pirate radio stations that beam divisive messages into the country on a daily basis”.

WEDNESDAY’S meeting between the top organs of Zanu PF and the two MDC formations to discuss political violence and national reconciliation was a historical farce.

CONCERNS raised by Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, in his mid-term fiscal statement about the mining sector not making a meaningful contribution to the fiscus have drawn attention to the priorities that the government needs to focus on.

OUR police have over the past decade been de-professionalised and increasingly became enemies of citizens, instead of protectors as a result of political leanings of the force’s commanders.

HARDLY noticed by industry this week in President Robert Mugabe’s address at the opening of parliament is yet another attempt by the state to form another parastatal to add to the long list of state enterprises which have become notorious for bleeding the economy.