Just a quick note to indicate the latest news from Zimbabwe, now that Emmerson Mnangagwa has been sworn in as the new president of the country.
CBC managed to find some bloke from the University of Johannesburg to give his commentary on the transition, and the result sounded like a Trump-esque mishmash of sentence fragments, incomplete thoughts, redundant and relentless self-paraphrasing, and blurry conclusions. Somehow, the fact that he was standing on the same continent was supposed to give his opinions a greater significance, but you wouldn't know it from his meandering and incomprehensible babbling.
When asked about the history and importance of free and fair elections, he beat his gums for around seven minutes with something that sounded like this:
"Well, you know, South Africa, which has a large interest in the economic situation in Zimbabwe, and indeed in all of southern Africa, has been working with the West, or whatever you want to call the development agencies or the international community that involves itself with the affairs of countries in the developing world. And they've put together a package of something like sixty million... billion rand, rand which is what South Africa is using for currency, and there was a time, particularly in 2006 when there was an election where Mugabe used the usual election things of coercion and violence, but that was because he wasn't a clear winner, and there was a runoff election. So now there might not be violence because there is a clear winner and then we don't know where the package is going to come from. We don't know about the package in a situation where if the election is in doubt or is not free and fair. There might be violence and torture, you know. But we're not very certain about all of it. We're just going to have to wait and see because we're not sure about the package and what that means to the people who are dependent on the results of either an interim government or an election of some kind."
If all political correspondents spoke in this manner, I would expect a lot more violent reactions - mainly from people telling this talking head to shut his mouth.
Bottom line: Mnangagwa is 75 years old. He has spent the past 37 years operating within the Mugabe régime. Don't expect sweeping changes and reform during his reign, but we can predict that some of the more draconian Mugabe governmental dictates will be relaxed in anticipation of the next generation's incoming policies. Why? The next set of people to take over the country will be chronologically unlikely to claim status as a veteran of the War of Independence, and thus will have to appeal to a different segment of the population.
Side note: Veterans of the War of Independence refers to members of ZANU and ZAPU that actively terrorized and murdered people in the 70s and demanded recolonialization by Great Britain. Those that struggled for independence legally and constitutionally, like Josiah Gumede, Jeremiah Chirau, and Bishop Abel Muzorewa, have all been wiped from the country's history and have no political value.
Which leads us to the music.
Shower Songs
- Since You've Been Gone, by Melanie Chisholm and Bryan Adams
- Zodwa, by Juluka
- Life's Too Short, by the Lightning Seeds
- Veronica, by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
- Father and Son, by Cat Stevens
- Till the Morning Comes, by the Grateful Dead
- Sky Blue, by Peter Gabriel
And that's it for me. I'll try and get back after I finish some report writing with my doctors and insurance account representatives.
Until then, goodnight England and the Colonies.
—mARKUS
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