Opinion / Columnist
The trouble with ruinous advisers
08 Feb 2021 at 05:55hrs | Views
IT HAS been painful to watch over the past few days the desperation with which the small cast of know-it-alls, that is contributing so much to the country's toxic politics, has been attacking talk about the urgent need for national dialogue in the country.
Our hope, in this regard, is that the intended beneficiaries of the regular poisonous epistles will continue to see them for what they are - disastrous "advice" that is guaranteed to end otherwise promising careers in the fast-changing local political terrain.
An interesting, albeit pathetic angle of the anti-dialogue suicide bombers has been to portray the Daily News as pro-Zanu PF, and as the main player behind the national talks push. It boggles the mind.
What these Smart Alecs seem oblivious to, or is it that they conveniently choose to ignore this reality, is that Zanu PF actually doesn't care much about the mooted national dialogue, as the ruling party believes - rightly or wrongly - that it won squarely the 2018 parliamentary and presidential elections, and thus does not really need to talk to anyone.
And so, guess who would be among the biggest beneficiaries, beside the country, of the mooted talks, were they to happen formally and successfully - the favourite politicians of the epistle writers whom they are misadvising!
To the credit of many MDC bigwigs, irrespective of the factions that they belong to, they now appear to realise that it is in their interest and that of the country that Zimbabwe's decades-long political and economic challenges be once again dealt with through dialogue, as elections on their own have not managed to move the nation forward, or to improve people's lot.
By the way too and whether Douglas Mwonzora's critics like it or not, he is officially the country's current opposition leader by dint of his control of non-ruling party legislators in Parliament.
To that extent, he is a significant player in Zimbabwe's body politic.
On that score too, the respected Professor of World Politics at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, Stephen Chan - in talking about a "Big Three" in local politics - is demonstrating admirable intellectual honesty and understanding of the local body politic than the epistle writers.
All this once again brings us to a critical point, about the role of independent media like the Daily News in the life of our society. Must we pretend that the problem in our country is only in Zanu PF?
Or, as we have pointed out before, refrain from telling it like it is, as our motto goes, for fear of being labelled "enablers" by toxic academics?
Our pledge to our readers is that we will never yield to dubious agendas nor abdicate our key watchdog role, as well as our truthful, non-partisan approach to news - even if this may displease some misguided people.
Our hope, in this regard, is that the intended beneficiaries of the regular poisonous epistles will continue to see them for what they are - disastrous "advice" that is guaranteed to end otherwise promising careers in the fast-changing local political terrain.
An interesting, albeit pathetic angle of the anti-dialogue suicide bombers has been to portray the Daily News as pro-Zanu PF, and as the main player behind the national talks push. It boggles the mind.
What these Smart Alecs seem oblivious to, or is it that they conveniently choose to ignore this reality, is that Zanu PF actually doesn't care much about the mooted national dialogue, as the ruling party believes - rightly or wrongly - that it won squarely the 2018 parliamentary and presidential elections, and thus does not really need to talk to anyone.
And so, guess who would be among the biggest beneficiaries, beside the country, of the mooted talks, were they to happen formally and successfully - the favourite politicians of the epistle writers whom they are misadvising!
To the credit of many MDC bigwigs, irrespective of the factions that they belong to, they now appear to realise that it is in their interest and that of the country that Zimbabwe's decades-long political and economic challenges be once again dealt with through dialogue, as elections on their own have not managed to move the nation forward, or to improve people's lot.
To that extent, he is a significant player in Zimbabwe's body politic.
On that score too, the respected Professor of World Politics at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, Stephen Chan - in talking about a "Big Three" in local politics - is demonstrating admirable intellectual honesty and understanding of the local body politic than the epistle writers.
All this once again brings us to a critical point, about the role of independent media like the Daily News in the life of our society. Must we pretend that the problem in our country is only in Zanu PF?
Or, as we have pointed out before, refrain from telling it like it is, as our motto goes, for fear of being labelled "enablers" by toxic academics?
Our pledge to our readers is that we will never yield to dubious agendas nor abdicate our key watchdog role, as well as our truthful, non-partisan approach to news - even if this may displease some misguided people.
Source - dailynews
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