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Ncube misses the point
Comment, The Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
September 09, 2004

http://www.fingaz.co.zw/fingaz/2004/September/September9/6508.shtml

ZIMBABWE’S less-than convincing self-appointed moral authority, one Archbishop Pius Ncube, ostensibly a man of exceptional personal responsibility, is writing a bizarre episode in his book of Zimbabwe’s tragi-comic political history.

With the initial good deal of adulation where his stance was viewed as an act of civil bravery to criticise government excesses getting into his head and oblivious of the fact that the admiration is increasingly turning to scepticism, the Archbishop was at it again last weekend.

Exhibiting unconcealed satisfaction, the globe-trotting and politically excitable cleric bragged in a weekly publication about how he apprised the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, of how politically, the pendulum has swung too far the other way in Zimbabwe. Other key issues discussed with the man destined to one day become king, as told by Ncube, were runaway inflation, the AIDS scourge, the hunger which he claims is stalking the nation and the ugly face of the ZANU PF attack machine, among others.

"I told him about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe but he was well informed. He expresssed his sadness and stated that he was the one who handed the leadership to Mugabe at Rufaro Stadium in April 1980," revealed Archbishop Ncube, who not long ago was economic with the truth when he appeared on Sky TV saying that inflation in Zimbabwe was 1 000 percent! For all we know inflation peaked at 623 percent in January this year.

In short, what the unashamed self-publicist whose Achilles heel is playing to the gallery told Prince Charles in no uncertain terms was that there was gnashing of teeth in the God-forsaken country called Zimbabwe. That is not our bone of contention because one can literally cut the disillusionment among the generality of Zimbabweans with a knife. More than anything else however, the trip to Great Britain exposed the cleric, whose crusade in defence of individual liberty and standards of living we doubt is completely altruistic, as someone still holding on to the illusion that the United Kingdom is relevant to the political situation in the Southern African country — a Zimbabwean obsession or national curse!

Although he did not say it, we are hard-pressed not to feel that the Archbishop’s discussion with Prince Charles was an unconscious indicator of his sub-conscious intentions — that the British government should tighten the noose around the government of Zimbabwe, which he is on record as having implied ranks among the most despotic regimes in the world. This, the Archbishop believes, will raise the pressure on President Robert Mugabe, who himself has never hidden his dislike of Ncube for allegedly betraying his country in its most desperate hour.

The "crusading" man of the cloth, with whom the Zimbabwean authorities he accuses of a huge democratic deficit have shown a flush of impatience, claims that he is doing this because he is concerned with the rights of the common people, hence the oft repeated " . . . I can’t stop talking because it is a God-given duty that the Church must talk when people are suffering . . . "

We know only too well that when the system crumbles, the rights of the common people would be the last anyone remembers, which is why we would support the Archbishop, were it not for this mentality of his poisoned by the noxious fumes of the once blazing but now smouldering colonial fires, that the UK is a factor in the Zimbabwean political crisis. This is moreso when it has something to do with outworn shibboleths of the monarchical and feudal institutions whose relevance even in the UK is not only increasingly being questioned but is also now a subject of heated debate.

The Archbishop, who it would not be too far-fetched to say might be using this to buy influence and stitch together a political power base, has obviously lost contact with reality. There are new and complex political realities in Zimbabwe and the thinking that the UK still has the diplomatic, political or economic clout to influence developments in the country is not only erroneous but also bereft of realism, so to speak. The UK’s influence collapsed with the rupture of the ties that held for several decades. If anything there hasn’t been any hope for rapprochement and both countries seem to have written each other off as net losses. This is a tacit admission from both sides that the fences have irretrievably broken down.

That is why the seemingly patronising Prince who reportedly expressed sadness over the events unfolding in Zimbabwe since he is the one who handed the leadership to President Mugabe — as if Zimbabweans, who sacrificed so much in the war of liberation, achieved the right to self-determination on a silver plate — skulked. Whatever they discussed with Ncube should have, were it for the Prince’s wish, remained within the confines of the four walls of some dark room in London. He knows only too well the irrelevance of his country to the internal politics of Zimbabwe of today.

As a matter of fact there is consensus that the solution to the country’s crisis should be internal. Such reforms will only take root if they are backed by a durable political sentiment at home. But this is obviously lost on the Archbishop who still finds it difficult to overcome the inertia of Zimbabwe’s encumbering historical ties. Little wonder the cleric’s behaviour is beginning to provoke growing concern and the public is now looking at him with a magnifying glass after the initial uncritical admiration and praise.

Indeed, this is why those perplexed by the cleric’s behaviour are wondering when Archbishop Ncube and those of his ilk are going to acknowledge the historical validity and sustainability of home-grown political reform and the hopelessness of seeking recourse to exogenous forces who might have their own agendas. Otherwise it is difficult to escape the impression that whatever he has been doing as regards Zimbabwean politics is guided by vain and groundless hope. It is not in fact based on the calculation and understanding of political events unfolding in the country.

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