Denford Magora's Zimbabwe Blog

Dr Tafataona Mahoso has been appointed the CEO of Zimbabwe's new Media Commission, despite having vied for the Chairmanship of the same body, losing out to Godfrey Majonga. Mahoso is known as the "Media Hangman" because he ran the previous Media and Information Commission which presided over teh closure of several newspapers in Zimbabwe as well as the banning of several journalists from practising their craft.

If proof was needed that Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T are just passengers in the so-called Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe, then it was provided this last week by the appointment of Dr Tafataona Mahoso as the Chief Executive Officer of the new Zimbabwe Media Commission, which was supposed to usher in a new era of media plurality and democracy in Zimbabwe.

Mahoso is accused by his detractors of being a "media hangman"in his previous incarnation as Chairman of the now defunct Media and Information Commission (MIC), which presided over the closure of such publications as The Daily News (whose offices were at one time reduced to rubble by a bomb explosion), The Tribune and others. Several journalists were also blocked from practicing their craft and some were deported (Andrew Meldrum of the Guardian being one of them).

The MDC-Tsvangirai, especially, is known to be vitriolic in its opposition to Dr Mahoso's presence anywhere near anything to do with the media. Mugabe, taking his cue from the MDC-T opposition, has come out frequently in support of the "hangman"and Mahoso is a frequent visitor to State House. (In fact, on one occasion, he was mugged and robbed as he made his way from State House on his bicycle and Mugabe promptly gave him a driver and car to ensure this never happened again).

Nelson Chamisa, the largely incompetent Minister of Information Technology in the Inclusive Government and Spokesman for the MDC-T, is quoted as saying that Mahoso is not even qualified to run a burial society."

It is all hot air, unfortunately, because Mugabe is not going to reverse this appointment.

Questions have also been asked (mostly by the ignorant) regarding how Mahoso can be appointed CEO of the ZMC when he is also the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Authority.

The answer is that Mahoso's chairmanship at the Broadcasting Authority is non-executive. He was put there, obviously to make sure that no new radio stations and no new television stations come out of the woodwork to haunt ZANU PF.

Mugabe is actually much more concerned about radio stations and TV stations that he is about the print media. This is why, to this very day, ZANU PF insists that the existence of radio stations broadcasting from outside Zimbabwe is an outstanding issue under the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Still, the fact remains that Mahoso is now back at the "gallows"(if you are to follow the analogy of his being a hangman).

There is nothing the Prime Minister can do about this. There is nothing the MDCs can do about this. It just goes to show yet again where true power lies in this so-called Inclusive Government.

Despite the outcry over the appointment of Mahoso as CEO of the new Media Commission, the man is unlikely to go anywhere. The new people running Commission have already said that people should shut up about Mahoso's appointment because it was "a purely administrative role". They insist that he will not be deciding who gets a licence and who doesn't.

What they forget, of course, is that the laws that governed the old MIC are still intact (with Simba Makoni saying last week that these laws are now being presided over by an MDC-T Minister, Jamieson Timba).

With AIPPA and POSA still active and even the MDC-T making no moves to have these laws repealed (not even making noise about them anymore), the basis upon which Mahoso acted in his past life as Chairman of the MIC is still in place. Mahoso used to argue that the media should not look to him because he was simply enforcing laws that were on the books. The media, he insisted, should instead look to parliament and politicians to see that they repealed the laws, which would have made the MIC redundant.

What it means, therefore, is that there is the very real possibility that the media landscape in Zimbabwe will only change temporarily. Should Mahoso decide to enforce AIPPA and POSA, then we would all be back to square one.

Remember that the Permanent Secretary in the Information Ministry and Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, still insists that journalists need to be accredited to cover government events and functions. This is a requirement of POSA and AIPPA and the laws remain valid, with the tacit consent of the MDCs in government.

The more things change......

At a gathering of journalists of last week, Mavambo interim president, Dr Simba Makoni, who ran for president in Zimbabwe's last General Election, clashed with the MDC-T's Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, who was also present to hear him speak.

Makoni kicked off the confrontation by publicly accusing Timba, who I was sitting with in the audience, of "presiding over POSA and AIPPA." POSA (Public Order and Security Act) and AIPPA (Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act) are two of the most vile and repressive pieces of legislation currently on Zimbabwe's books.

They have been used by the government before to close down independent newspapers and harass journalists, effectively suffocating free speech and freedom of expression.

The MDC-T, since coming into government, has done nothing to have these pieces of legislation repealed.

Timba, at the end of Makoni's speech, told the gathering that he should have been asked to share the high table with Makoni and said most of his criticism was acceptable.

"On the wasteful foreign trips, Simba is absolutely correct. Totally unacceptable,"said Timba.

However, he claimed that there was currently a private member's proposition in parliament, sponsored by MDC's MP Gonese, to repeal POSA and AIPPA.

Timba, however, tried to smear Makoni by saying the MDC-T Minister of Finance and party Secretary General, Tendai Biti, had inherited a huge debt from ZANU PF in government, saying that some of the debt was accumulated by Makoni when he was Minister of Finance "and took us into the wasteful war in the DRC."

Makoni immediately hit back, saying that, by the time he accepted to be Minister of Finance, it was a full year since Zimbabwe had gone into the DRC. He also pointed out that he, Makoni, was the only Minister of Finance in Zimbabwe since Bernard Chidzero to run a budget that was close to being balanced.

He left government, Makoni said, when it became clear that he could not be effective because other Ministers and Mugabe refused to allow sensible policies that would have averted the economic meltdown that followed his resignation from the post of Finance Minister.


The meeting at the Quill Club at Ambassador Hotel in Harare, was well -attended by journalists from the independent media and some diplomats who had also come to hear what Makoni had to say.

The Mavambo leader lambasted ZANU PF and MDC-Tsvangirai for spending huge sums of money on foreign trips (US$28 million within the first nine months of the Tsvangirai-Mugabe coalition) while ignoring ignoring requests from one of the country's main hospitals, Harare Hospital, for just US$400 000 tore-equip itself and save lives).

Makoni also pointed out that there is not reconciliation and healing taking place in Zimbabwe despite the establishment of a "three-headed monster"ministry to deal with the matter.

Makoni has recently embarked on a tour of Zimbabwe which he is dubbing "Conversations with Simba"and is meeting citizens of Zimbabwe at public fora to put his case across.

He insists that the Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe (which he says is neither Inclusive nor a Government) has failed the people of Zimbabwe and that he will be running again at the next elections against Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

This tour comes as Makoni's party recently released thousands of party membership cards, which are now being sold at party offices all over Zimbabwe.

The first batch of 20 000 cards printed last month was sold out within a week and the party, I understand, has now printed thousands more cards. This, together with renewed coverage of Makoni's activities by the independent media in Zimbabwe (which had been ignoring him for some time), has given Makoni impetus to launch a visibility campaign that is proving popular with audiences.

A recent development that was not covered by the media in Zimbabwe: Makoni was last month barred from attending the Independence Day celebrations in Harare by the Inclusive Government, which gave instructions to security at the grounds where Mugabe and Tsvangirai were present that he should be denied entry because he had not been officially invited.

Makoni had attended every celebration and other public occasions since 2008, when he ran for president, without any incident.

Some time back, I was accused of being a nay-sayer, a hater of the MDC etc for pointing out facts that are now emerging to be true.

Last week, Tendai Biti, the most potent and credible challenger to Morgan Tsvangirai in the MDC-T, was cut down to size by the Prime Minister and an executive packed with Tsvangirai loyalists.

Most of Biti's powers as Secretary General of the MDC were transferred to his deputy, Tapiwa Mashakada.

This comes almost a year after the same Morgan Tsvangirai moved silently and swiftly to clip the wings of one other contender, Energy Minister Elias Mudzuri. Mudzuri, although continuing to hold the title of Organising Secretary, is nothing of the sort now, as I report a few months ago.

Instead, Tsvangirai has inserted Morgan Komichi as DeputyOrganising Secretary and has asked him to in effect become the Organising Secretary.

Curiously, the same excuse used for clipping Mudzuri's wings is the one being proffered for the emaciation of Tendai Biti's powers.

The MDC-Tsvangirai says Biti should be given room to concentrate on being Finance Minister. When Mudzuri was told by Morgan Tsvangirai in a face to face meeting that he should step aside from the day to day responsibilities of being Organising Secretary, he was also told that he had concentrate on being Minister of Energy.

Of course, the truth of the matter is that Mudzuri and Biti are the two strongest contenders for Tsvangirai's post and they had to be neutralised by the Prime Minister and his side-kicks.

Mudzuri held sway (and some say still does) as organising secretary because he oversaw the elections for MDC grassroots structures and could move to nullify appointments and elections at the lower levels. He is, in effect, a kingmaker in the party as far as the ambitious foot-soldiers are concerned.

Mudzuri has a formidable base and is said to have joined forces with another group whose leader was denied a leadership position by Morgan Tsvangirai even after she had been voted into office by an MDC-Tsvangirai Congress.

Biti, meantime, believes that Morgan Tsvangirai's time has come and gone, that the Prime Minister has reached the apex of his capabilities as leader of the opposition movement in Zimbabwe.

Biti and Mudzuri have forged an alliance designed specifically to dislodge Morgan Tsvangirai from the leadership and talk of "leadership renewal" now fills the corridors of Harvest House, the MDC-Tsvangirai Head Office in downtown Harare.

Tsvangirai refuses to take any of this lying down and has reverted to type. The youths that the MDC leader relies on to intimidate internal perceived "enemies"have now come out of the woodwork. Violence, which was reported on by the independent media, erupted at the MDC HQ three weeks ago and it is now emerging that the violence was instigated by the Prime Minister's youths.

The reason for this is as follows:

Tsvangirai says he has gotten wind of plans by the Secretary General and Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, together with Minister Mudzuri, to compel the party to hold a Congress of the MDC (which has been put off for some time now).

At this Congress, Biti was to be nominated to challenge Morgan Tsvangirai, with Elias Mudzuri as Deputy President.

The truth of this widespread talk (which is now so common in Harare that you hear it discussed in public transport vehicles), was betrayed by a statement made by Deputy Organising Secretary (and de facto Organising Secretary of the MDC-T), Morgan Komichi over the weekend.

Komichi told reporters that the MDC-T has now resolved to postpone the holding of a Congress even further:

"We have resolved as a party that we will only hold our Congress after General Elections and that decision was agreed on by the standing committee, national executive and national council."

These undercurrents betray deep divisions with in the MDC-T, which have been made worse by the naked attempts from Tsvangirai to enshrine himself at the head of the party indefinitely.

Having once campaigned on the platform of term limits, Morgan Tsvangirai now says openly that in a true democracy, term limits are not imposed by constitutions but by elections, at which failing leaders get booted out.

Of course, following in the footsteps of Mugabe, he refuses to accept that despotic leadership using violence as a crutch, as he himself is now doing to stay at the top of the MDC-T food chain, will always ensure that unpopular and failing leaders stay in power long past their sell-by date.

One interesting side story to this is the blacklisting of Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Spokesman, by Morgan Tsvangirai, on the basis that he is seen as being too close to Tendai Biti and would help him vault to the leadership position using his position as Publicity Guru for the MDC-Tsvangirai.

Chamisa complained about this at the last meeting of the leadership of the MDC (this past week) but was apparently quickly silenced.

The history of the violence unleashed by Morgan Tsvangirai goes back to 2005, during the time when the MDC was about to split, resulting in the formation of the MDC led by Arthur Mutambara.

A public report compiled by a Commission of Inquiry led by Morgan Tsvangirai (it was published in December 2005 and is freely available in public) states that youths who threatened to beat up then Secretary General Welshman Ncube and sought to confiscate his party vehicle accused him of "wanting to depose the president (Tsvangirai)".

Tsvangirai never disputed this assertion and made no moves to deny the facts in that violent episode. In fact, one of the youths named in the report as having supplied money and support to the youths loyal to Tsvangirai is now a senior official in the Prime Minister's office, part of the group whose meagre government salaries are boosted by donor funds so that they each earn around US$7 000 a month when all other civil servants are on barely US$200 per month.

Of course, the usual refrain from Tsvangirai apologists are to heard: the infighting is either a figment of MDC opponents' imaginations or sowed by ZANU PF!

Naturally, some of us are immune to that sort of nonsense, because we also experienced the very same praise-singing during teh heydays of Mugabe's rule. When Mugabe was at the height of his popularity, even as he sent thugs into townships to force people to attend ZANU PF meeting, even as trampled on rights and rewarded corruption at the expense of competence, Mugabe apologists and supporters, including even some gullible neutral observers, insisted that Mugabe himself was the model of reason and that it was his functionaries and underlings who were destroying his good name.

All warnings from opponents were dismissed with contempt.

It was only around 1999, when Mugabe's power was directly being assaulted, that he dropped all pretence and climbed down from the ivory tower to mingle with the corruption in public and to come straight out to endorse some questionable policies and antics of his supporters, officials and ministers.

The signs that Tsvangirai is a Mugabe mini-me have been around for some time, but some people choose to want to shout others down and keep the truth from getting out. They are failing, mostly because Tsvangirai is proving to be his own worst enemy.

The Prime Minister , in fact, told a group of his friends and confidantes on his return from a trip to Korea and the USA last week that his position is so secure within the MDC that "We can get away with anything".

His supporters and apologists make this astonishing boast a reality.



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