Opinion / Columnist
The same Eddy Cross said, 'U Tsvangirai yi Nkosi yami' Bootlicked; MDC-T now jumps to bed with Zanu PF
07 Aug 2021 at 19:12hrs | Views
Mnumzana Eddy Cross is disregarding atrocities of geocide that Zanu PF government perpetrated in the early hours of independence. Cross lives in Matabeleland: he is versed in Mnangagwa's mass murders and criminal activities in this region as Security Minister in Mugabe's Zanu PF government. He chooses to overlook the pain that this region is going through, instead he pens a biography about Mnangagwa. Did he include the Gukurahundi atrocities in the book or omitted what he termed "inappropriate" and "inconsistent" with the language of bootlickers like Cross? Why is he insensitive to the people of Matabeleland? I would think he is openly provoking and insulting the people in the region and does not give a second thought: it is about Eddy Cross, never beyond.
Not only was Eddy Cross party member of the MDC-T in 2008: Tsvangirai won the elections by 74%. His praise for Tsvangirai amazed us: he called him "Inkosi yami". Eddy Cross, back then was sure Tsvangirai was going to take over as President of the second Republic. He nearly made it to the top. In the making of the GNU, initially Tsvangirai had chosen him to be one in his cabinet. That did not happen for reasons we were not facilitated with. However, he was Bulawayo MP on an MDC-T ticket. Me included his articles about the economy of the nation back then were positively read. We valued them, a professional graduate economist, we thought.
There are no permanent friends but permanent interests: this could be true in this case. He stands to win if he bootlicks the President, never mind if it insults the people of this region. He has never had the people of this region in his mind and heart. It sounds judgemental to say that much about Eddy Cross: Why would an educated man of Cross's political acumen go out of his way to please known criminals, murderers, perpetrators of genocide? Are there personal economic factors at stake that he is defending? Is his farm about to be invaded just like the one of Sydney Malunga's son, Siphosami?
Is it the limelight he was craving, a moment he got, his book sold out in thousands within the time it was being launched? From a white Rhodesian's perspective, how do the whites feel, home and abroad about the book? Does it include atrocities committed by the government when the farm invasions took place in year 2000? Eddy Cross is not a young person, could be about 81; he rightfully left politics to give the younger generation a chance. Eddy Cross fears to lose; we shall remain speculating that what he is protecting to go overdrive about bootlicking Mnangagwa to the extent of penning a whole book.
It will be unwise to generalize Zimbabwean citizens of European origin as political flip-floppers. The mould of Advocate David Coltart has never sunk this low to please a sitting Zanu government, him as opposition leadership in MDC-Alliance. 'A Life of Sacrifice' is the title of Eddy Cross's book. If going on a killing frenzy by butchering and murdering innocent citizens in Matabeleland and Midlands is a life of sacrifice according to Cross's political conviction, then there is great concern for humankind; Eddy Cross needs to do introspection about his political convictions: his virtues are found wanting.
Reading Tendai Mbofana's article in BYO 24 today was to me a great consolation. He says, to quote him verbatim: "Quite frankly, I have never understood the mentality behind hero-worshipping and praise-singing another human being, since my parents taught me five valuable concepts of life and human relationships - that we are all equal, no one is perfect, Jehovah God is the only One who is infallible and worthy of worship, we should love one another, and hold each other accountable for our deeds. Therefore, I was never socialized to regard another human being as being superior, or some form of deity such that, are infallible, and are deserving of hero-worshipping". Mbofana wrote.
I am just considering Mbofana's statement and not his argument later in the article. The first two paragraphs punctuated a common disease in the nation that cuts across tribal and cultural divides hero-worshipping and bootlicking of political leaders becoming endemic at best nauseating, it is also practiced by the educated and the enlightened. I will never buy the book that insults a section of people in our societies. Reading an articles in BYO 24, the synopsis of the biography is full of fake news, dishonesty, crafted with half-truths to make it saleable, what a good man Mnangagwa was: Mnangagwa whose military credentials were questioned by Mugabe himself.
Mnangagwa's grandfather was raised by King Mzilikazi. How old is Mnangagwa whose direct ancestor was raised by King Mzilikazi who came to this region 135 years ago? This is where dishonesty starts. Mnangagwa is of the royal lineage of early Mutapa civilization and of Great Zimbabwe Monuments that underpins it. I totally disagree with the civilized aspect of his historicity. The way Gukurahundi was perpetrated against innocent Ndebele peoples and those who had Zapu card carriers speaks against the civilized aspect about him and in him. Mnangagwa is a rogue, a criminal, a murderer evidenced by the magnitude and callous style he carried out genocide in the region of Matabeleland and Midlands. Genocide in this region took place in our lifetime and not centuries ago.
If his grandfather Kushanduka was raised in the Royal Nguni kraal and was pedestalized to military ranks that saw him deputize Mtshane Khumalo, where did the fury to annihilate the nation of Matabeleland come from? What caused his right-about-turn to call the Ndebele peoples lice and ticks first, then it was easy to nearly decimate them in thousands? This biography has loopholes already before it can reach out to the bookshelves for sale. The truth is hidden in the fine lines in an effort of sanitizing Mnangagwa as a mega superior human being. "He added that his grandfather Kushanduka was raised in the court of King Mzilikazi, under the culture of the Ndebele State and this arrangement solidified the excellent relations between Chief Chivi and the Ndebele King. Again, this statement is a lie and naked dishonesty!
However, I agree with Mnangagwa's violent upbringing; it augers well with his reputed criminal aspect. Mnangagwa, according to what I have just read, he was nurtured with pain at a very early age. At his birth three gunshots were fired, a baptism of violence on day-one no less. "It is something of significance to the path he would follow in his adult life". Says the synopsis in the book. He smelled gunpowder when he was one day old. This statement is reminiscent with other life histories of global despots.
Hitlers life as a young man was full of constant pain inflicted on him at a tender age. His book "Mein Kampf", narrates events where he was beaten 79 strokes with a shambok: at times he was able to count each stroke that was meted on his buttocks by some stepfather disregarding the pain. Mnangagwa narrates: "That meant I smelled gunpowder at birth. By the time I am old enough to herd small livestock, Sekuru Mubengo, would occasionally find time to play war-games with his grandson, Hlupeko. Quote from the biography. Mnangagwa lived by the power of umqwayi right from boyhood predicating what is to come. What if he had the gun and the army at his disposal? This is what Mnangagwa has today.
Narrating his political life, President Mnangagwa said his capture, torture and racist trial following the blowing up of a Rhodesian locomotive in 1964, was one of the worst experiences he has had in his life. His death sentence was commuted to a 10year prison term on the account of his age. "It is an experience I never wished for myself and for anyone. The unhappy experience engrained in me to oppose capital punishment," he said.
As I said this biography has untrue elements: liars are told willy nilly because he is now in power: there is nobody who can dispute his liars written for him in the biography. How many lives has this man taken away? How did General Solomon Mujuru die? Where is our son Itai Dzamara? He thinks we gullible can believe him when he allows painful experiences penned in his name, he never wishes for anyone else? What! "Looking back, I now fully understood why the game always ended in pain and punishment. That way, a soldier in the making got hardened," said President Mnangagwa. Is that kind of upbringing virtuous va Mnangagwa?
Reading the synopsis of his book says volumes about the character of a President we have. By his own account, his upbringing hardened him. His inability to confront his genocide past and be able to say "I am sorry about the atrocities and human lives lost in my command as Minister of State Security" is openly revealed in the biography. Giving a painful account of his criminal boyhood upbringing, Mnangagwa thinks he is displaying virtuous character of himself inadvertently betraying what criminally went wrong right from birth. Mnangagwa will never say sorry; to do so will be to betray those who brought him to be a hardened soldier he is today. Loss of life does not mean anything to Mnangagwa: he has decimated thousands of them. Insulting people using hate speech does not mean anything to Mnangagwa; what is hate speech compared to thousands of deaths in his command? How many of our citizens have been abducted and murdered? We do not know how many people perished in the coup that took place in November 2017.
To appeal to Eddy Cross for his conscience is to ask too much from him because he does not have one. He is not different from Khaliphani Phugheni and several Ndebele politicians from Matabeleland who bootlick for breakfast lunch and dinner.
Not only was Eddy Cross party member of the MDC-T in 2008: Tsvangirai won the elections by 74%. His praise for Tsvangirai amazed us: he called him "Inkosi yami". Eddy Cross, back then was sure Tsvangirai was going to take over as President of the second Republic. He nearly made it to the top. In the making of the GNU, initially Tsvangirai had chosen him to be one in his cabinet. That did not happen for reasons we were not facilitated with. However, he was Bulawayo MP on an MDC-T ticket. Me included his articles about the economy of the nation back then were positively read. We valued them, a professional graduate economist, we thought.
There are no permanent friends but permanent interests: this could be true in this case. He stands to win if he bootlicks the President, never mind if it insults the people of this region. He has never had the people of this region in his mind and heart. It sounds judgemental to say that much about Eddy Cross: Why would an educated man of Cross's political acumen go out of his way to please known criminals, murderers, perpetrators of genocide? Are there personal economic factors at stake that he is defending? Is his farm about to be invaded just like the one of Sydney Malunga's son, Siphosami?
Is it the limelight he was craving, a moment he got, his book sold out in thousands within the time it was being launched? From a white Rhodesian's perspective, how do the whites feel, home and abroad about the book? Does it include atrocities committed by the government when the farm invasions took place in year 2000? Eddy Cross is not a young person, could be about 81; he rightfully left politics to give the younger generation a chance. Eddy Cross fears to lose; we shall remain speculating that what he is protecting to go overdrive about bootlicking Mnangagwa to the extent of penning a whole book.
It will be unwise to generalize Zimbabwean citizens of European origin as political flip-floppers. The mould of Advocate David Coltart has never sunk this low to please a sitting Zanu government, him as opposition leadership in MDC-Alliance. 'A Life of Sacrifice' is the title of Eddy Cross's book. If going on a killing frenzy by butchering and murdering innocent citizens in Matabeleland and Midlands is a life of sacrifice according to Cross's political conviction, then there is great concern for humankind; Eddy Cross needs to do introspection about his political convictions: his virtues are found wanting.
Reading Tendai Mbofana's article in BYO 24 today was to me a great consolation. He says, to quote him verbatim: "Quite frankly, I have never understood the mentality behind hero-worshipping and praise-singing another human being, since my parents taught me five valuable concepts of life and human relationships - that we are all equal, no one is perfect, Jehovah God is the only One who is infallible and worthy of worship, we should love one another, and hold each other accountable for our deeds. Therefore, I was never socialized to regard another human being as being superior, or some form of deity such that, are infallible, and are deserving of hero-worshipping". Mbofana wrote.
I am just considering Mbofana's statement and not his argument later in the article. The first two paragraphs punctuated a common disease in the nation that cuts across tribal and cultural divides hero-worshipping and bootlicking of political leaders becoming endemic at best nauseating, it is also practiced by the educated and the enlightened. I will never buy the book that insults a section of people in our societies. Reading an articles in BYO 24, the synopsis of the biography is full of fake news, dishonesty, crafted with half-truths to make it saleable, what a good man Mnangagwa was: Mnangagwa whose military credentials were questioned by Mugabe himself.
Mnangagwa's grandfather was raised by King Mzilikazi. How old is Mnangagwa whose direct ancestor was raised by King Mzilikazi who came to this region 135 years ago? This is where dishonesty starts. Mnangagwa is of the royal lineage of early Mutapa civilization and of Great Zimbabwe Monuments that underpins it. I totally disagree with the civilized aspect of his historicity. The way Gukurahundi was perpetrated against innocent Ndebele peoples and those who had Zapu card carriers speaks against the civilized aspect about him and in him. Mnangagwa is a rogue, a criminal, a murderer evidenced by the magnitude and callous style he carried out genocide in the region of Matabeleland and Midlands. Genocide in this region took place in our lifetime and not centuries ago.
However, I agree with Mnangagwa's violent upbringing; it augers well with his reputed criminal aspect. Mnangagwa, according to what I have just read, he was nurtured with pain at a very early age. At his birth three gunshots were fired, a baptism of violence on day-one no less. "It is something of significance to the path he would follow in his adult life". Says the synopsis in the book. He smelled gunpowder when he was one day old. This statement is reminiscent with other life histories of global despots.
Hitlers life as a young man was full of constant pain inflicted on him at a tender age. His book "Mein Kampf", narrates events where he was beaten 79 strokes with a shambok: at times he was able to count each stroke that was meted on his buttocks by some stepfather disregarding the pain. Mnangagwa narrates: "That meant I smelled gunpowder at birth. By the time I am old enough to herd small livestock, Sekuru Mubengo, would occasionally find time to play war-games with his grandson, Hlupeko. Quote from the biography. Mnangagwa lived by the power of umqwayi right from boyhood predicating what is to come. What if he had the gun and the army at his disposal? This is what Mnangagwa has today.
Narrating his political life, President Mnangagwa said his capture, torture and racist trial following the blowing up of a Rhodesian locomotive in 1964, was one of the worst experiences he has had in his life. His death sentence was commuted to a 10year prison term on the account of his age. "It is an experience I never wished for myself and for anyone. The unhappy experience engrained in me to oppose capital punishment," he said.
As I said this biography has untrue elements: liars are told willy nilly because he is now in power: there is nobody who can dispute his liars written for him in the biography. How many lives has this man taken away? How did General Solomon Mujuru die? Where is our son Itai Dzamara? He thinks we gullible can believe him when he allows painful experiences penned in his name, he never wishes for anyone else? What! "Looking back, I now fully understood why the game always ended in pain and punishment. That way, a soldier in the making got hardened," said President Mnangagwa. Is that kind of upbringing virtuous va Mnangagwa?
Reading the synopsis of his book says volumes about the character of a President we have. By his own account, his upbringing hardened him. His inability to confront his genocide past and be able to say "I am sorry about the atrocities and human lives lost in my command as Minister of State Security" is openly revealed in the biography. Giving a painful account of his criminal boyhood upbringing, Mnangagwa thinks he is displaying virtuous character of himself inadvertently betraying what criminally went wrong right from birth. Mnangagwa will never say sorry; to do so will be to betray those who brought him to be a hardened soldier he is today. Loss of life does not mean anything to Mnangagwa: he has decimated thousands of them. Insulting people using hate speech does not mean anything to Mnangagwa; what is hate speech compared to thousands of deaths in his command? How many of our citizens have been abducted and murdered? We do not know how many people perished in the coup that took place in November 2017.
To appeal to Eddy Cross for his conscience is to ask too much from him because he does not have one. He is not different from Khaliphani Phugheni and several Ndebele politicians from Matabeleland who bootlick for breakfast lunch and dinner.
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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