Self-styled war veteran Joseph Chinotimba and former minister of information Jonathan Moyo may appear worlds apart. After all, one is a witty former college professor known for cheesy political sound bites while the other is best known for exactly the opposite (unintelligible gibberish). Yet the two share one common trait in the recent history of Zimbabwe besides having been used as the ruling party’s favorite distractions; they have made Zimbabweans laugh about issues that were not exactly funny.
While minister of information, Jonathan Moyo destroyed the independent media, enforced “local content” in all state-controlled radio and television stations and authored the most absurd pieces of legislation in the history of independent Zimbabwe. Yet whenever he spoke, even his greatest critics found themselves laughing. When the Danish government threatened to pull out support for the country due to human rights abuses, Moyo accused them of “trying to create a storm in a tea cup.” In a televised debate with opposition members, Moyo went for their linguistic skills by suggesting they did not understand the meaning of the word corruption and were just using it as a word convenient to them. Responding to criticism of the Zimbabwean electoral process, Moyo said, “It is unfortunate that Britain and, to some extent, the EU, has taken the position that in Africa, free and fair elections must be won by the opposition.”
During his years as information minister, Jonathan Moyo was the ultimate expert, commenting on anything and everything. In many situations, his comments were the only bites that made the ridiculously package ZBC news bulletin worth watching – especially because the comments were ridiculous pro-government rhetoric.
Joseph Chinotimba destroyed Zimbabwean farming, led campaigns of chaos and violence and took away whatever decency was left of the public stage. Yet even while he helped in taking the nation to its knees, we still found comedy in his speeches (not only because of his linguistic challenges in whatever language he chose, including Shona). Currently he is at the center of a cellphone dispute in which he is accusing a deputy minister of stealing his $40 phone (read more on that here).
Chinotimba and Jonathan Moyo will be remembered as two men who kept us laughing while they (and their masters) peed on the country. But perhaps it is time we stop laughing. It is time we stretch our memory far back enough and draw the lessons from history that we need to save the country. We could learn that such laughs do come at a price, that dictators have employed distractions such as these to perform funny dances keeping us from asking the good questions.
In other news…..
Constitutional committee in Zimbabwe goes on….strike!
The constitutional reform process in Zimbabwe couldn’t be more troubled. Weeks ago the first meetings were disrupted by rowdy sloganeering ruling party supporters opposed to the unity government. But now the disruption is….I don’t know….embarrassing? Read more >>>
Botswana makes the top ten of the Global Risk Survey
The 2009 World Risk Survey is out and Botswana was the only African country in the top ten. Read more>>
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