Right Again! - Our Media Commission Scoop Confirmed

-
Morgan Tsvangirai embraces another "dishonest partner": The Prime Minister was congratulating newly sworn-in Vice President John Nkomo at State House last week. Today, he had reason to smile as Mugabe finally announced the names I leaked on this blog on October 5 this year.




Harare, Zimbabwe, 22 October 2009

On October 5 this year (2009), I published here the list of Zimbabwe Media Commission appointees as agreed that day between Mugabe and Tsvangirai during their Monday meeting of that week in an article entitled: Scoop! - Zimbabwe Media Commission Names Released - Massive Victory For Tsvangirai.

The list that I published on October 5 2009 was:

  • Godfrey Majonga (former ZBC newsreader)
  • Matthew Takaona, former President of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists and an ardent supporter of Morgan Tsvangirai
  • Henry Muradzikwa, who is also in the Tsvangirai camp
  • Chris Mutsvangwa of ZANU PF, a former ambassador to China
  • Chris Mhike
  • Hussain Sibanda
  • A Mrs Nyati, whose first name I could not immediately establish and
  • Millicent Mombeshora, a senior official at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Today, our scoop was confirmed when Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara announced, through the Secretary to The President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, the new Commissioners to sit on the ZMC. They are:

  • Godfrey Majonga (former ZBC Newsreader, as Chairman of the Commission)
  • Matthew Takaona (former Zimbabwe Union of Journalists President)
  • Henry Muradzikwa
  • Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa
  • Chris Mhike
  • Ms Nqobile Nyathi (Deputy Chair)
  • Millicent Mombeshora (Deputy to Gideon Gono at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe)
  • Lawton Hikwa
  • Ms Miriam Madziwa

The Commissioners were agreed to by the so-called Principals at the beginning of October, as I told you here on October 5.

The announcement today was an effort to give the impression that something has come out of the talks precipitated by Tsvangirai's partial "disengagement" at the end of October. In actual fact, the only issue was that Mugabe was taking his time to announce the names (Tsvangiai is not allowed to announce them because he is not "Head of State and Government, Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces and......")

As you can see from a comparison of my October 5 list and the list released today, this blog was right on the money. The only name to be dropped in the final list is that of Hussain Sibanda. Lawton Hikwa and Miriam Madziwa are the two new names introduced here.

So, we are proved right yet again!!

Apart from the Zimbabwe Media Commission, there was an announcement today on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).

The Electoral Commission that will run Zimbabwe's elections in future is fairly important and Mugabe and Tsvangirai could not agree on a Chairman, with Mugabe rejecting all recommendations as not having enough experience and "character".

For the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Mugabe returned two Commissioners who were with the old ZEC that sat on election results for two months in 2008 as Mugabe cooked the books and stole votes from Simba Makoni in order to force a run-off. The two to be returned from that old Commission are Mrs Joyce Kazembe, who was Deputy Chair of that old Commission and Theophileus Gambe.

The rest of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission comprises:

  • Dr Petty Makoni
  • Sibongile Ndlovu
  • Bessie F. Nhandara
  • Daniel Chigaru
  • Geoff Feltoe
  • Mukhuli Nyathi
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission:

  • Dr Ellen Sithole
  • Dr Kwanele Jirira
  • Mrs Neseni Nomathemba
  • Mr Elasto Mugwadi
  • Dr Joseph Kurebwa
  • Mr Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube
  • Mr Jacob Mudenda
  • Professor Carol Khombe
It is my fear that, especially for the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, the current environment may not allow them to be as thorough and relentless as they should be in terms of enforcing respect for human rights. They need to be able to prosecute all offenders on the basis of complaints from those who feel aggrieved.

But do they have the teeth? And will they be allowed to use them.

If not, then a very bad precedent would have been set and it would take another struggle to put together a Commission at the very least as effective and powerful as the South African and European Union ones.

Anyway, there you have confirmation of the reliability of our sources. You can expect this to continue and we will always be the first to bring you the news that politicians and our so-called leaders wish to put under a bushel.


Comments

Post a Comment

Comments from Anonymous Users will NOT be published

Popular posts from this blog

Who Killed Elliot Manyika?

-
Image
Security was unprecedented at the burial of Elliot Manyika. Mugabe traditionallu has tight security, including two truckloads of fully armed combat troops and an ambulance (he has never used it), but even by his standards, the level of security at Heroes Acre was unusually tight. Here he inspects a guard of honour of t he presidential guard with his wife Internet connetion in this country is getting worse by the day. I have not been able to access the blog for more than 24 hours now and even as I write this, I am not sure I will be able to post it. We are continually getting "conectivity problems", whatever those are. We have lots to talk about, you and I. We can catch up on the comments page if you have any thoughts. First, it should come as no surprise that Jakaya Kikwete refuses to confirm or deny his conversation with Mugabe yesterday. It was a conversation in which he really was not making any demands, but merely asking if the "insurgency" case is nearing...
Read more

Another Tsvangirai Family Accidental Death

-
Image
Shaun Tsvangirai, grandson to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, drowned in the swimming pool at the PM's home in Strathaven. Shaun was being looked after by the PM and his wife The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, lost a grandchild on Friday, who drowned in the swimming pool at the PMs residence in Strathaven, a middle-density surburb in Harare. The child who drowned is understood to be Shaun Tsvangirai, son of Garikayi Tsvangirai, himself a son of the Prime Minister. Garikayi had not been living with his parents in Strathaven but had instead left his two children in the care of their grandmother for quite some time now. Around the time of the death of Mrs Tsvangirai, I was told that Garikayi had actually been kicked out of the home together with his wife, after his parents objected to the union (the wife had apparently at one time left Garikayi for his friend before coming back to him. This was the source of discord, I was told.) At the time, I did not think the stor...
Read more

Zimbabwe: Petition To Free A Two Year Old Toddler From Prison

-
Image
Zimbabweans , and my readers from all over the world, take a good look at the photo above. This is what a two year old toddler looks like . A boy just like the sweet little kid above is imprisoned right now in one of Zimbabwe's most brutal and notorious prisons. His name is Nigel Mupfuranhehwe. His crime is that his mother is being charged with recruiting "bandits" to topple the government of Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe lawyers who are representing his mother and the other accused in the case say that this little child has been beaten in front of his mother to get her to confess. Imprisoning a two year old in a maximum security prison together with murderers and rapists and some of the worst kinds of people on earth boggles the mind. I do not know how the government of Robert Mugabe is justifying this cruelity to itself, but I am more shocked at our own reaction, our silence and complicity in all this. Where is our sense of outrage, Zimbabwe? Where is our humanity? In all the...
Read more