WHERE is Jomic when cabinet ministers such as Sydney Sekeramayi move around inciting political tension in the country at a time when the healing and reconciliation process should be in full swing? Sunday‘s ZBC news bulletins were dominated by Sekeramayi. He was quoted telling Zanu PF supporters in Mazowe they should remain vigilant as the “enemy was making dedicated efforts to penetrate the party’s strongholds, especially in the rural areas”.
Which “enemy” was Sekeramayi talking about? We can safely  assume he was referring to Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC.
Is this not the kind of language that leads to political tensions and violence?
Can he tell us why Tsvangirai’s party should not be allowed to penetrate Zanu PF strongholds?
It is fine for Zanu PF to want to penetrate the MDC’s urban strongholds but they are immediately branded “enemies” when they want to penetrate Zanu PF’s rural stronghold.
Jomic must move in and censure such individuals from uttering statements that are designed to upset the fragile “truce” pervading  the countryside. This is a deliberate breach of both the letter and spirit of the GPA.

Sekeremayi was speaking at a celebration party hosted by Zanu PF politburo members from Harare and Mashonaland Central. They were celebrating their recent appointments.
He seized the opportunity to mislead Zimbabweans by telling the gathering in Mazowe how good the new indigenisation laws were and how they would “benefit every Zimbabwean”.
We know what that means. Only Zanu PF bigwigs, their relatives, girlfriends and small houses will be assured of being empowered through this latest gravy train.
“Our economy is better protected in the hands of the majority,” Sekeramayi said.  We recall voters rejecting these blandishments in 2008.
Can the minister be honest, at least for once?  Did we all not see for ourselves what happened to previously viable commercial farms as soon as they were taken over by “the majority”? Where did Kondozi go?

Was President Mugabe sincere when he told editors at Zimbabwe House recently that his relations with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai were cordial and the two occasionally have tea and pancakes together?
The question was prompted by threats issued against the PM by Zanu PF youths at the party’s headquarters in the capital in Mugabe’s presence. A week later, youths from this same “revolutionary party” promised Tsvangirai from their Bindura base that he would “face unspecified action” if he failed to have sanctions removed “not later than March 24”.
“This is not a threat but a promise,” read a petition from the Zanu PF youths. The Sunday Mail reported “over 5 000 youths” last Friday marched through the streets of Bindura to register their displeasure at the Western-imposed illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe.
The threatening petition was handed over to Advocate Martin Dinha, governor and resident minister for Mashonaland Central.
Has anybody cared to remind these “youths” that sanctions were imposed as a way of forcing President Mugabe and his delinquent party to restore the rule of law in the country.
The United States and the European Union have always made it clear that as soon as Mugabe restores Zimbabwe to a proper democracy the punitive measures will be removed.
The demonstrating “youths” should be reminded that threatening the PM with “unspecified” action undermines the Global Political Agreement. We have heard the US and the EU saying sanctions can only be removed if they are satisfied Mugabe and Zanu PF are genuine about implementing, in full, the GPA.
So anyone inciting these “youths” to continue to undermine the GPA is advocating for the sanctions to stay.
And why is the president quiet when Tsvangirai is obviously being harassed and threatened by “youths” from his party in complete disregard for the spirit of the GPA?

How many readers remember Margaret Dongo, who famously referred to the braggarts in Zanu PF as “Mugabe’s wives”? Online agency Zimdaily reported as follows recently:
“Forgotten political loose cannon Margaret Dongo spiced up ZTV’s usually tiresome news broadcast with a foul-mouthed tirade against ‘grown men who are always crying about sanctions’.
“Dug out of obscurity by some reporter who had obviously forgotten to give Maggie the full script and a producer who was evidently half-asleep on the job, Dongo launched a trademark rant at the leaders of the country.
“‘We are tired of grown men who are always crying about sanctions. Now they are saying they have sent President Zuma (to England to call for the lifting of sanctions).
“‘You want to get someone to help you screw,’” shouted Dongo facing straight into the TV camera while making the time-honoured finger gesture to illustrate her point.”
There is obviously still some life left in the old girl!

DStv screened Valkyrie last Sunday night. This was the story of the plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler in 1944 with Tom Cruise as the chief conspirator Claus von Stauffenberg. What caught Muckraker’s attention was the designation of Hitler as “Fuhrer of the German Reich and People, and Commander in Chief of the German Armed Forces”.
Does that ring a bell? Some acolyte has been watching too many war films!
Still on DStv, we were curious to know what the policy is on the 8pm Sunday slot. This used to be a premiere screening of a movie that would then make its way around the DStv circuit. But Valkyrie has already been showing around the circuit so when it screened on Sunday night it was far from being a premiere.
Muckraker was a tad sceptical about DStv’s interviews with viewers a few weeks ago in which they were encouraged to say how much better DStv is than cable TV in the UK and Australia.
When viewers complained about constant repetition of programmes they were told to plan their viewing so this didn’t happen.
It wasn’t the most suave PR exercise we’ve ever seen! If they asked Muckraker what the most annoying thing about their output was, we would have unhesitatingly said their promotional ads for their own programmes.

How many of our readers we wonder enjoy the BBC’s “Africa Have Your Say”?
All networks it seems have now embraced the practice of the feedback, letting listeners/viewers have their say. No sooner has a programme started than the phone lines are buzzing with listeners wanting to have “their say”. But have they anything interesting to say?
Sadly, not always. Some months ago under the heading, “Best and Worst of 2009”, they had people call in to say what their best and worst experiences were. One listener in Gabon wanted the world to know that his girlfriend left him in 2009. We are not surprised. He was not the brightest light in the room. Asked how old he was, all he could say was “Yes, I’m young”.
This mantra was repeated every time the interviewer tried to eke out this pertinent information. It never varied: “Yes, I’m young.”
But listener participation is not confined to “Africa Have Your Say”. Just about every news item now has a phone call or e-mail from somebody in Sierra Leone or Sudan providing their less-than-scintillating views on something that has featured in the programme. And audio quality doesn’t seem to matter.
Do we really need to know what Joe Blogger next door thinks about the situation in Somalia or Swaziland? We listen to the BBC and other networks to hear their reporting and views, not somebody whose views are unintelligible and sound as if they are calling from Mars!
Please guys, get a life. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t call in!

Finally we were amused to notice on Page 2 of Wednesday’s Herald an article proclaiming “Chiadzwa: Cabinet endorses Mbada, Canadile activities”. It was based on a statement by Obert Mpofu. Elsewhere on the same page was a story illustrating some of those “activities”.
The trial of one of Canadile’s directors, Komilan Packirisami, accused of illegal possession of 57 diamonds, started on Monday in Mutare, we were told. He was “nabbed”, as the state media likes to say, with a colleague at Hot Springs.
Mpofu said at his press conference it was government’s desire to ensure Zimbabwe enjoyed benefits from
the sale of diamonds from Chiadzwa.
How long did it take him to wake up to that “desire” we wonder?

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