John Simpson interviews Simba Makoni
February 29th, 2008
The BBC have a short video of a telephone interview between John Simpson and Simba Makoni.
I always think things are getting a bit serious when John Simpson arrives on the scene; I think of him as one of the ‘big guns’. The guy who ‘liberated Kabul‘ snuck into Zimbabwe last month disguised in a baseball cap, and here he is again interviewing Simba.
It’s serious: the elections really are just about to happen!
So what did Simba say?
A few things, including a clear acknowledgement of the fear pervading the country:
“We must work to remove the fear that so bears on our life everyday, as individuals as communities. This country is a country of fearful people. Remove the mistrust and the suspicion that dominates our everyday life”.
What he says is self-evident: people fighting for freedom and democracy have been saying this for years. What intrigues me is the fact that the man saying it, until very recently, was a member of Zanu PF – the party that has deliberately cultivated fear and intimnidation.
I want to believe and hope we have a way out of this hideous morass, but my cycnicism and dashed expectations in the past keep coming to the fore. Besides, even Robert Mugabe knew how to say the right things in the past.
Bottom line for me is to hope, but to hang on to my scepticism. We need to demand more of our leaders and we need to make them dance hard for us. They are there to serve us. Why should they be given an easy ride?
So Simba, keep talking. I’m listening – carefully!
More on Simba Makoni:
February 29th, 2008 14:30
Simba mudhara manje. I just got a reason to go voting now. I am now ZANLA with SM, Mbudzi, Mawere, Ibbo and all the other like minded Zimbos I can not mention here.
March 5th, 2008 13:35
Makoni lost his credibility when he said there would be no backlash against Mugabe – “We want President Mugabe to know that under our Mavambo/Kusile (“New Dawn” government) they have the same rights as other citizens.” Obviously his long term of service with ZANU-PF has distorted his views on moral issues, justice, and human rights. What citizen of Zimbabwe enjoys immunity from murder, fraud, theft, and destruction, to mention a few of the criminal activities Mugabe has been instrumental in. If Mugabe is to be awarded a new brand of citizen rights under a Makoni government to escape punishment for human rights abuses and civil crimes, are we to expect that every citizen of Zimbabwe will be able to embark on a spree of lawlessness with impunity. Is anarchy to be tolerated. Or does Makoni himself fear a backlash, because in the Mugabe can of worms you would at some stage find Makoni wriggling around in there? He was afterall a key member of the government that prefected institutionalised crimes. During all that time,if he was that concerned about the behaviour of his comrades, he did nothing in protest, not even resigning and getting a decent job. An eleventh hour change of heart supported by a half-cocked and unprepared campaign does not suggest leadership stategy either. Mugabe slated Makoni as an opportunist and, reluctantly, I would have to agree. Makoni is hedging his bets and looking to means to secure his own safety from reprisals from whosoever wins the elections. To an MDC government he could claim amnesty through his apparent change of heart and remorse, to which his election campaign would hopefully lay some creedence. To a continued ZANU-PF government he could say he stood as an independant with but with the principles of the party (which he never left) still at heart, and it was never his intention to persectute any of his former allies -”so let’s just make up and be friends again..like we did in the past”. He talks of a future of governance transparency. One would have to ask why his efforts at transparency has been clouded in the past 28 years. Makoni joined the presidential game at the last minute and is not showing all his cards – especially those up his sleeve.
March 5th, 2008 18:05
Politics of retribution will not heal the wounds of Zimbabwe’s injured souls. Simba has the right approach so far. You can not expect to run a country through insults or appeasement. Tsvangirai is trying to appease the white farmers and Mugabe is throwing insults all over the place. The issue of human rights abuses has been too intellectualised it has lost meaning. In any case Tsvangirai campaigned for sanctions against his own country and that is treason. Nobody can try and deny this because he even asked Mbeki to switch of electricity and cut fuel supplies to Zimababwe. There is your president then in Tsvangirai. I think Simba is the real deal.
March 6th, 2008 01:31
I made the point that the issue was one of law and justice. Society needs order and rules to be upheld if it is to be coherent. Look at Zimbabwe today – there your evidence of what happens when a government is selective about who it punishes for disregarding the law. No-one should be above the law if it is to maintain its value and the confidence of all members of society. By allowing Mugabe to escape punishment for wrong-doings Makoni is, by implication, putting himself above the law. Further, your point that human rights abuse is intellectualised begs explanation and defining. What part of genocide is intellectual? Finally, I believe Tsangirai calls for a Truth and Reconcilliation commission and cites 4 issues, of which only one could be argued to be a white appeasement ploy, in part. If Tsvangirai did ask Mbeki to cut any services to Zimbabwe, it would have been with the aim to further destabilise the government institutions. It’s a better alternative than resorting to violence. Anyway, treason applies to a governing body, and the term can only be meaningfully and realistically applied to governments that are without a record of election fraud and wanton rape of the country’s resource for selfish means. I would, however, not put too much score on the treason word, because if taken in its right context, all liberation struggles, including that of Zimbabwe, are illegitimate, and are acts of treason. All said and done – I wouldn’t trust any politician further than I could throw him, anyway. The measure of a good politician is simply how far you can throw them when he (or she) becomes a nuisance. Mugabe underscores this description.
March 6th, 2008 10:53
Zimbabweans are so desperate that they are now falling for anything.ZANU-PF by any other name is still ZANU-PF.Anyway Simba does not deny that he is ZANU-PF.Only some of his blind followers deny this.The only beneficiary of this blind faith is Mugabe himself.Whither Zimbabwe!
April 9th, 2008 20:02
Do you know if John Simpson is still in Harare?
He has not been mentioned for some time on our UK news from Zimbabwe,and I am concerned to note that two foreign journalists have been arrested.
He is one of my favourite reporters and authors and I hope he is safe.
I hope that you manage to achieve real democracy in Zimbabwe and free the country of the tyranny of Mugabe.
With best wishes,
Irene Handley