The meaning of Chiwenga Utterances, Brig Gen Mabenge burial, Pango sad ending and Pomona Curse

Weekend reflections with Sabhuku Nhopi

The meaning of Chiwenga Utterances, Brig Gen Mabenge burial, Pango sad ending and Pomona Curse

05 August 2022

Introduction

The past week has been marred with many events some which are at best funny at worst appalling but that is Zimbabwe for you. It never runs out of events as the ruling party continues ruining the country uninterruptedly since 1980. This WRSN will cover the Apostle Chiwenga utterances, burial or Gen Mabenge, demise of Boss Pango and the Pomona Curse and the implication of these events on the Zimbabwe situation. This weekend’s episode of WRSN came a little late your favourite Sabhuku had a family health situation that is almost over thanks to the Almighty God.

Apostle Chiwenga Utterances

Many people woke to shocking news as well-known Apostle T.F. Chiwenga confidently declared how ineffective CCC President Nelson Chamisa’s politics is. He posed a question why Chamisa was not being arrested pointing to the fact that Chamisa’s politics is politics of timidity and ineffectiveness considering the many lives that have invested vast tracts of hope in the young and energetic 2023 Presidential hopeful. The Apostle whose broadcast was occasionally interrupted by clusters of laughter and ridicule towards Mr Chamisa as a ticking time bomb of political failure awaiting to explode confidently challenged Mr. Chamisa to prove the worth of his salt as a politician. With that said, one cannot resist the temptation to agree with the Apostle given the many truths that he has said in the past yet upon close inspection, the Apostle have missed the point. Still in his missing the point, he is subtly showing the world how disintegrated the political environment in Zimbabwe has become to such an extent that the effectiveness of a politician is measured by the amount of political arrests that person has experienced. He made reference to Hon Job Sikhala who is in custody for the past 50 days due to political reasons related to the murder of a CCC member Moreblessing Ali.

The main question that the well followed Apostle must be able to ask is “Is Mr Chamisa effective in prison of out of it?” By extention, Is Mr. Chamisa more valuable to the struggle for the democratisation of Zimbabwe alive or dead? The Apostle also prophesied or rather ‘Prophelied’ that the next leader of Zimbabwe would have taken leadership by 2020 by which time he will have attained 40. The truth of the matter remains, without CCC, Zimbabwe will forever by cursed to a long list of countries labelled pariah or failed states in the league of Somalia, Venezuela, Yemen and Haiti. In Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power, the 3^rd Law speaks of conceal your intentions so that the enemy will always be kept second guessing of your real intentions. The unprecedented attacks of the CCC party in the past 6 months can only point to one culprit who is happy to see the CCC’s back soonest, and that is Zanu pf. The attacks have been in the form of Professor Jonathan Moyo and Edmund Kudzayi’s attack of the party for no having structures, a constitution and an ideology. The state media which includes ZBC, Herald and Chronicles all attacking the CCC party from all angles with acres of square centimetres of editorial space. The CCC party has also faced attacks of its leaders from the legal front as many of its members have been arrested and kept at maximum prisons as if they are convicted criminals yet they are still on remand. The main victim being Lawmaker Hon Job Sikhala whose arrest is the umpteenth one. Fadzai Mahere has also faced an attack from Edmund Kudzayi who claimed to have compromising information pertaining to her private life which later proved to be just baseless and without merit.

The CCC has also faced an attack on its grassroots members who have either been abducted, tortured or killed just to instil fear in the rural areas. All these attacks have been targeted towards CCC which must tell on how effective their politics are. If one is still in doubt, why would Zanu pf not attack Brain Muteki or Douglas Mwonzora the leader of the MDC Alliance? The reason is these do not pose adequate threats to the Zanu pf regime the way CCC does. Now on the religious front, the Apostle who has some sympathy from some CCC members because he was also a victim of Zanu pf brutality is coming to attack the CCC as ineffective yet we have seen the behaviour of Zanu pf towards ineffective parties like the MDC Alliance. One factor which must be considered to determine ineffectiveness is not being arrested as the Apostle want the world to believe, but the way Zanu pf treats you. Kids Gloves = ineffective Sand Paper Gloves = Effective. Zanu pf are happy to have their main target behind bars as this will give them ample time to cause confusion in the CCC camp as they will have captured their leader. The biblical Zachariah 13:7b says “..strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter” and this is the Zanu pf tactic which they employed before on Tsvangirai only for Chamisa to rise to the occasion and perform even better at the 2018 polls. Chamisa is more valuable alive than dead and when he is in prison, the chances of him being fed with a slow poison will greatly increase. As a result, Chamisa’s political tactics are effective and forward looking because in a battle, never put all your cards on the table lest the enemy will be a step ahead of you, and to his credit, the CCC leader must do all he can to be alive God willing.

Brig Gen Mabenge Burial

The nation also learnt of the sad demise of Retired Brigadier-General Benjamin Mabenge who to his credit is one of the very few well to do Zimbabweans connected to Zanu pf who died at a local health facility with the majority of whom die in foreign hospitals. People like former MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai also died in a foreign hospital because he was not afforded the chance in 2008 to assume state power which would have seen him transform the health sector for all people to experience quality health care. The story is different when the leaders of Zanu pf fail to deliver quality health care in Zimbabwe yet they want to go to foreign lands to access the same. It is not all Zimbabweans who are privileged to go and access health care outside the country which makes Zanu pf leaders selfish. What made the Rt Brig-Gen to be included in this WRSN is what he did or was part of from 2010 to 2014. In 2010, he became a board member for ZBC until 2014 at the very height of Zanu pf propaganda and distorted reporting at the tax payer funded state broadcaster. As if that was not enough, he deputised the General Manager at Anjin Diamond Mining Company around the same time. Zimbabwe should have benefited from the Marange diamond discovery immensely but in the words of former President Robert Mugabe, 15 billion went missing from these diamond dealings which Rt Brig-Gen Mabenge was part of. How he used the Lord’s resources entrusted to him during his stint at Anjin to develop Zimbabwe and its people, is now between him and his Creator now that they have met at least once. For us on this side of life we can only wish him eternal and peaceful rest and comfort for the family he left behind.

Boss Pango sad ending

This week was not done experiencing sadness as 29-year-old Tafadzwa Murengwa also known as Boss Pangolin or simply Boss Pango lost his life after committing suicide by drinking a poisonous substance. This came after he had shot and killed his on-and-off girlfriend Samantha Dzapata in a fit of rage and jealous that she had been taken by another man. More details came from his suicide note which he indicated that people should consult with one Sekuru Banda and pay him for some traditional healing services. It is then that rumours of Boss Pango having sold his soul for money surfaced. He is believed to have handled thousands in US Dollar bills in his life a thing which most civil servants only dream of. Economic challenges in Zimbabwe has caused many youths to be under pressure to appear as if they are making it in life. This has made them end up doing things which are unconventional such as consulting Sangomas and Fetish Priests to sell their souls for money. For them, the feeling of being the Boss and the ‘richest’ among the impoverished youths satisfies them at the expense of their blood. Whether Boss Pango actually sold his soul or not remains a matter of speculation, however two souls have been lost irretrievably and the economic situation in Zimbabwe continue to take its toll on the youths pushing them to do whatever for the sake of money.

Pomona Curse

The Pomona deal represents a case of lack of forward thinking by our leaders. The deal was meant to benefit Geogenix BV for 30 years by which time all those who are behind it which include July Moyo and Mnangagwa front man Delish Nguwaya have a slim chance that they will be still around e deal will long be gone. Perhaps we should dig a bit deeper into other showdy African deals which are lopsided and are testament to poor bargaining skills of African Leaders. In Namibia, Fishrot accused and incarcerated James Hatuikulipi entered into a partnership with the University of Namibia to construct an 800 bed capacity student accommodation valued at N$160 million (approx. USD9.9 million) which in return Hatuikulipi’s former company Hanganeni will operate the hostels for 30 years then surrender it to UNAM. As if that is not enough, the Chinese Government is building the ruling party Swapo headquarters in the same city but at what cost does this free gift come from the people of China who also donated the Parliament of Zimbabwe in Mount Hamden. In Angola, what became known as the ‘Angola Model’ was an agreement between the then Angolan president Eduardo Dos Santos and the Chinese government which would extend their loan facilities to Angola in return for 10000 barrels of crude oil daily for 17 years. In addition to that, China would get 70% of all construction projects in Angola (Machado, 2021). In 2021, Mozambique whose debt with China stood at USD2Bn was pardoned of that debt yet the East African country exports gas and aluminium to China. When the borrower becomes a slave of the lender they are subject to anything that the lender says. It remains to be seen how many countries China and these foreign investors has replicated those lopsided deals in Africa which makes Africa the breeding ground for corruption, poorly bargained loan facilities and lopsided deals such as the Pomona deal.

Conclusion

This WRSN covered Chiwenga utterances, Rt Brig-Gen Manenge burial, Pango sad ending and the Pomona curse. These events all have implications of the Zimbabwean situation as things continue to deteriorate beyond imagination.

References

Machado, P. (2021). Assessing China and Angola relations: The implications of the 'Angola model’ of economic development, Accessed from https://iep.lisboa.ucp.pt/asset/8161/file

 

Sabhuku Nhopi is a political commentator you can find him on sabhukunhopi@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @Sabhuku Nhopi or like or Subscribe to his music on his Youtube channel @Sabhuku Nhopi.