The knife cuts both ways

I have been on a writing hiatus and have particularly not said much insofar as Zimbabwean politics is concerned... but following the death of the Prime Minister Tsvangirai's wife on Friday 06 March, I have been drawn into the fold.

Now, FTR I do not condone the deaths of many - caused by the cholera outbreak, hunger and alleged political violence - or the fact that our country is suffering from hyper-hyper inflation (currently pegged at 231 million percent - who knew that was possible?!)... and we're not even at war! I, however, cannot deny that President Mugabe - from a pan-Africanist, revolutionary struggle, rights to land perspective - has a point.. but for the purposes of this article I shall not delve into the complex intricacies of land reform, land tenure rights and land ownership rights... google is your friend in that regard..

The purpose of my note is not to play devil's advocate, but to clear the air and to help people have a more objective outlook on the situation in my beloved motherland.
While, Zimbabwe has been ready for "change" for nearly a decade now, I don't think a politically immature former weaver is our redemption. You are free to criticize me on this, but first hear me out...

On Friday 06 March 2009 at around 16.00 (Local Harare time), Mrs Susan Tsvangirai and her husband were involved in a car accident caused by a collision with a USAID truck that had veered into the wrong lane. Both the US and the UK have expressed their deepest sympathies and have declared the incident an accident. WAIT one bloody African minute... so when it's a US/UK truck that collides into a government official's car it's an accident, but all other high-profile road deaths were orchestrated by ZANU PF? Seriously now..

But that's not even the point of my article... the point is that the Government of national unity (GNU - read "ZANU PF led government") has been condemned by the media and lay arm-chair critics for not providing the "second most important man in Zimbabwe" sufficient protection. I too would have argued this had Tsvangirai himself not rejected a GNU motorcade and state-sponsored security personnel, alleging that he is not "comfortable" with the GNU yet and that he fears that the security forces are still under Mugabe's control... So, while the death of ANYONE is saddening and is a reminder of just how easily life can be taken from us, Tsvangirai is not entirely blameless here. He had the option of greater protection, but instead opted for a 3car motorcade (with cars not designed for security purposes). For one, Barack Obama will tell you that when you suddenly become "important" you need the most protection you can get.

Let's not topple the already fragile GNU by alleging conspiracies... sometimes accidents do actually happen... and if it indeed wasn't an accident, I think people should be considering that the truck was a USAID truck, driven by an employee of USAID and not an axe-brandishing war-veteran. However, Given the speculations, it is clear that a credible, independent investigation into the car accident is needed. The results of this investigation will help settle the matter expeditiously... and then we can get to the business of reconstructing Zimbabwe.

Remember... knives cut both ways...

That said... can the change promised start already...