Opinion / Columnist
Inertia seems to be Zimbabwe's worst enemy
20 Jun 2013 at 03:27hrs | Views
News that Zimbabwe's House of Assembly sat for only fifteen minutes on 18th June without transacting any business or giving any official explanation of developments related to the recent SADC Summit is a matter of serious concern.
Given that there are only four scheduled sitting days left before the automatic dissolution of Parliament at midnight on 28th June, it is disheartening to note that even the Senate adjourned after nine minutes, without transacting any business (see Veritas, 'Bill Watch 25/2013 of 19th June,' zimbabwesituation.com, 20/06/13).
In spite of the urgency of the issues arising from the Maputo SADC extraordinary summit, inertia seems to have gripped both chambers.
While there are so many definitions of inertia, for present purposes, we could settle for the physics one which says: "the tendency of a body to resist acceleration" (see the free disctionary.com).
Synonyms which help clarify the intended meaning are 'indifference', 'lackadaisical', 'without interest, vigor, or determination', 'listless', or 'lethargic'. Of course, Parliament has probed diamonds cash and in the past secured a confession that Zimbabwe 'lied' in order to be chosen to host UNWTO .
However, it is sad that of late Parliament seems to have abdicated its duty and resigned itself to rubber stamping executive directives from 'behind-the-scenes' meetings, counting down to dissolution without any proud legacy to leave behind given that POSA and AIPPA are still as intact.
Similarly, since Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson Justice Rita Makarau stated on Monday 18th June2013 that public broadcasters must afford all political parties and independent candidates free access to broadcasting services as prescribed in regulations, it is curious that we have not heard of which parties or individuals have seized that opportunity.
To get airtime on ZBC, parties don't need to await the realignment of the Broadcasting Act or the licensing of new broadcasters given the limited time left between now and elections in August if all goes well.
Has any opposition party or independent candidate/s approached ZBC with their party political statement for instance urging people throughout the country to register to vote for them and why. Is this not one of the long awaited "media reforms" [albeit for elections only] they are ignoring?
What are they waiting for? Another SADC summit? Parties should go and announce their action plans on radio and television before it's too late. Inertia seems to be Zimbabwe's worst enemy.
About the author: Clifford Chitupa Mashiri is a London based political analyst. He was recently awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations degree by the Commonwealth Open University after obtaining 'A' grades in all the programme's seven modules plus dissertation i.e. Power Politics; The Foreign Policy Process; International Conflict; International Organisation and Law; International Political Economy; The North-South Gap; Birth of a New World and Dissertation (also called thesis). Clifford can be contacted at zimanalysis2009@gmail.comSource - Dr Clifford Chitupa Mashiri
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