A cross Zimbabweans don't have to bear

ISRAEL'S greatest king, Solomon, was only 12 years old when God promised him that he would be granted wisdom, and be the wisest man who ever lived. In the very first recorded decision in the history of legal jurisprudence, in the Book of Kings (3:16), Solomon's brilliance endeared him to the entire nation of Israel at that tender age.

Two women who laid claim to the same child following the death of one of the women's children during the night approached King Solomon at his court.

To determine who the real mother of the baby was, the wise King proposed that the living baby be cut into two with each woman getting half the body.

The one who was laying false claim to the child readily agreed to the proposal saying, "Neither mine nor yours; shall he be. Cut!" But the real mother pleaded with the King to spare the child's life, even if it meant giving the baby to the spiteful woman.

And through her compassion for her baby, King Solomon separated the mother from the impostor.

Israel was awed at the wisdom of one so young.

Well, we can apply this verdict of the ages to many situations among them Eddie Cross' purported love for Zimbabwe. The bellicose, bankrupt MDC-T policy co-ordinator, who - at the height of the hyper-inflationary period - said, ". . . we should let the country crash and burn and then pick up the pieces", is no different from the impostor mother at King Solomon's court?

Cross of the "crash and burn" infamy was back again with another ironic "gem" earlier this week saying his party, MDC-T, would unleash a wave of violence against Zanu-PF officials if it wins elections set for this year.

In an article published on his website - www.eddiecross.africanherd.com - and flighted by several Internet sites, Cross threatens violence and retribution against Zanu-PF if Morgan Tsvangirai lands the presidency in the next election.

"People may well take matters into their own hands and take retribution against those who committed Gukurahundi, Murambatsvina and the general violations that have characterised the behaviour of the regime managed by these same hardliners.

"If that is not bad enough, the hardliners have to know that we in the MDC have kept detailed records of every violation of our rights and the abuse of the people.

"We have all the facts and evidence to press charges against several thousand thugs and worse and many of the most senior leaders responsible could face The

Hague," he charged without any sense of irony.

Surprising, quite surprising coming from a Rhodie who was spared the gallows by the same people he threatens today. Who does not know that Rhodies had a hand in Gukurahundi, along with their allies in apartheid SA?

Cross should be careful lest he be hoist by his own petard. He should not insult the nation's collective memory by adopting a holier than thou attitude when even the blind can read our scars like braille.

By his own admission, Eddie Cross worked for Rhodesia, moving people from prime agro-ecological regions to semi-arid ones, which makes him a Rhodie to the core.

He is a cross we have had to bear due to our good hearts when we could have nailed him on the cross along with his Rhodesian kith and kin on account of the atrocities they committed during the liberation struggle.

That the same man who was spared the gallows by the progressive policy of reconciliation stands up today to thumb his nose at his benefactors to the extent of issuing empty threats, and misrepresenting history, testifies to the triumph of our democractic tradition and tolerance.

That we are a thriving democracy can only be contested by mentally and financially bankrupt characters of Cross' ilk.

Democratic elections have been constant features of our body politic since we taught it to the likes of Eddie Cross. This democracy, however, was not handed to us on a silver platter as we had to fight for it and continue defending it from those who want to subvert it for their selfish, neo-colonial ends.

The subversion began at the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference, where British and Rhodesian interests ensured that, for a whole decade, 20 seats were reserved for white MPs and white voters per se in the post independence binary voters roll.

This provision ensured that the likes of Ian Douglas Smith, the former Rhodesian prime minister, continued to defile the august house with their supercilious diatribes, under the aegis of the Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe, formerly the Rhodesian Front.

Smith and his white supremacist cronies were, however, tolerated in line with the new policy of reconciliation espoused by Prime Minister Mugabe, who proclaimed in his address to the nation on the night of Thursday April 17, 1980 that;

"If yesterday I fought you as an enemy, today you have become a friend and ally with the same national interest, loyalty, rights and duties as myself. If yesterday you hated me, today you cannot avoid the love that binds you to me and me to you."

Where would Cross be if Government had decided to take the route of retribution on account of Rhodie atrocities not the imaginary charge sheet he waves at Zanu-PF?

This spirit of tolerance exists to this day even though the Rhodesians have regrouped under the Western-funded MDC, which continues the futile quest of subversion. The hideous intentions are always couched in the neo-liberal regimen of minimalist democracy; rule of law and something called "good governance".

For instance, the MDC's first motion in parliament was an attempt at impeaching President Mugabe for alleged human rights abuses, the irony was the fact that some opposition elements who served in the Rhodesian security forces were part of the motion.

Yet if it were not for the largesse of the man they wanted to oust, they would have been hanged for atrocities in areas such as Nyadzonia, Chimoio, Tembwe, Freedom camp, and the Zimbabwean countryside.

On their first day in the house, the MDC legislators wore black armbands "mourning" fictitious "victims" of political violence, rather than the thousands of patriots who made it possible, even for askaris of their ilk, to masquerade as representatives of the people.

The MDC and those who follow it forget that the liberation struggle itself was a quest for good governance.

Good governance, being the empowerment of the people through people-centred programmes such as agrarian reforms.

It is not measured by high-scores on the neo-liberal indices of the self-styled Western "human rights" watchdogs such as Reporters sans Frontieres, Transparency

International, AfroBarometer and the West Minster Foundation for Democracy, to name just a few.

Good governance is measured by the socio-economic transformation of the lives of the previously marginalised indigenous populace, and on this score we are not found wanting.

Its, however, quite instructive that it makes Cross very cross.