HARARE // Never before had the National Heroes’ Acre, a cemetery for Zimbabwe’s political icons, hosted such a crowd as the one that gathered for the burial of Joseph Msika, the vice president, this week.
With no space left in the grandstands, some people found perches in trees from which to watch Monday’s proceedings that tens of thousands are thought to have attended, including leaders from other parts of the continent.
“He is our hero,” said Muchada Nzou, 20, of Kambuzuma suburb in Harare, who was sitting on a tree branch. “He was honest, brave and loathed corruption, unlike some of our leaders.”
Msika died last Wednesday aged 86, 10 years after Robert Mugabe, the president, appointed him his second-in-charge. He had been in poor health for years following a stroke in 2005. His death is expected to spark a succession battle.
Known as much for his forthrightness and humility as for his love for whisky and use of expletives, Msika was among the pioneers of the liberation struggle in the 1950s.
“Joe had given himself over to his people through the liberation struggle, to this very soil to which we commit his remains,” said Mr Mugabe in a speech at the funeral.
Msika was born on December 6, 1923 in Chiweshe, north of Harare, and trained as a carpenter. He later worked as a cabinet maker in Bulawayo where he launched a political career that spanned 52 years.
By 1930s standards, the late vice president had a decent upbringing – his polygamous father owned more than 100 cattle, ran a wagon transport business and paid his children’s school fees in eggs.
Msika’s political activism landed him in trouble with colonial governments. He was arrested in 1964 while attending a political meeting at the house of a fellow nationalist, Josaih Chinamano, in Harare and jailed. He was released in 1974 after which he left for neighbouring Zambia to support the independence war. He was a member of PF- Zapu, a political party that amalgamated with Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in 1987.
“As we inter his remains, we do so with both gratitude and acknowledgement that here lie the remains of one who saw it all, fought for it all and lived to see it all from the beginning to the end; the alpha and omega of our struggle for independence,” Pathisa Nyathi, a historian, wrote in an opinion piece in The Chronicle, a newspaper published from Bulawayo
Msika was respected across the political divide and related with all, said a former employee, Edson Ntalawe, 67, who is originally from Malawi.
“It is sad especially for me that he is gone,” said Mr Ntalawe.
“I am originally from Malawi and have worked for him for more than 20 years. Where will I go now? I cannot return to Malawi now, where will I start from?”
Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, who sent his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe to Msika’s funeral, extolled the late vice president, saying his death was a blow to Zimbabwe’s six-month-old inclusive government which needed someone of his experience.
Msika’s death means Mr Mugabe, 85, has lost three vice presidents in 10 years. The first, Joshua Nkomo, died in 1999 aged 81, followed by Simon Muzenda in 2003 at the age of 80.
The Independent weekly said Msika’s death could see a bitter succession battle in Zanu-PF, already divided by a parallel war among rivals eyeing Mr Mugabe’s post.
John Nkomo, 75, Zanu-PF’s chairman and a former PF-Zapu official, is favoured to succeed Msika, though analysts say he could face a surprise challenge.
“A briefing to the Independent by senior Zanu-PF officials indicates that jostling for Msika’s position started to escalate when it became clear his health was rapidly deteriorating ahead of the party’s congress in December,” the Independent said last Friday.
“Sources said Msika’s death would fuel battles between Zanu-PF chair John Nkomo, [Minister of Mines] Obert Mpofu and Bulawayo governor Cain Mathema to succeed him. Nkomo is seen as the frontrunner.”
Mr Mugabe religiously follows the terms of the 1987 unity agreement his Zanu-PF party signed with PF-Zapu, under which both share equally the top four posts in the party and government. The top four, called “the presidium”, are the president, his two vice presidents and the party chairman. After Msika’s death, the “presidium” has Mr Mugabe, Joice Mujuru as the remaining vice president, and Mr Nkomo as national chairman.
“So in terms of the 1997 accord, I expect Nkomo to rise to the vice presidency,” said Madock Chivasa, political commentator and spokesman of the National Constitutional Assembly, an organisation that is campaigning for a new democratic, people-driven constitution.
“He is the most senior former PF-Zapu member still in Zanu-PF. I do not see much debate there. The debate will be who replaces him as national chairman. For that post, I do not see any favourites, but the successor will have to come from the old PF-Zapu as dictated by their unity agreement.”
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Malawi clamps down on illegal currency dealers
As shortage of foreign currency threatens to derail Malawi's economic growth, authorities have clamped down on illegal dealers of foreign currency with the court fining a Chinese National who was caught trying to smuggle out thousands of US dollars and arresting two local businessmen found in possession of fake foreign currencies.
Shen Chong was on Thursday, 6 August 2009 fined K500,000 by the Blantyre Magistrate court after pleading guilty to charges of attempting to externalise US$39,151. He has since paid the fine. Chong was arrested at Chileka Airport on 24 June 2009 while wanting to board a South African Airways plane.
The Mzuzu Principal Resident Magistrate Court denied bail to two Malawian nationals, Mustafa Kaweche, 48 and Daniel Jere, 52, who were found with US$4 million in fake currency.
Authorities have linked the two incidents to a severe shortage of forex that has hit Malawi due to continued foreign exchange scarcity in the market and lack of demand for huge local development and project financing.
Shen Chong was on Thursday, 6 August 2009 fined K500,000 by the Blantyre Magistrate court after pleading guilty to charges of attempting to externalise US$39,151. He has since paid the fine. Chong was arrested at Chileka Airport on 24 June 2009 while wanting to board a South African Airways plane.
The Mzuzu Principal Resident Magistrate Court denied bail to two Malawian nationals, Mustafa Kaweche, 48 and Daniel Jere, 52, who were found with US$4 million in fake currency.
Authorities have linked the two incidents to a severe shortage of forex that has hit Malawi due to continued foreign exchange scarcity in the market and lack of demand for huge local development and project financing.
Tales of Malawi's Forgotten Children Malawi
Although it is home to over 14 million people, Malawi is not especially well-known on the world stage. This is largely due to the Southeastern African country’s ranking among the poorest developing nations in the world. The nation’s GDP per capita comes out to a mere 800 dollars a person, by 2008 estimates. Compare that to the 48,000 dollars average GDP per capita rate in the U.S. to begin to get a grasp of the depth of poverty in Malawi.
Almost 20 percent of the country’s population is infected with HIV/AIDS. In addition to the AIDS epidemic, conditions are so poor in Malawi that the life expectancy is a startlingly low 43 years. By contrast, Americans can expect to live well into their 70s.
In Malawi, there are hundreds of thousands of orphans, more than 50 percent of which are orphaned when they lose their parents to AIDS. Because these children are left on their own, without parents to care for them and feed them, many resort to theft and other crimes to feed themselves. For breaking the law, children end up incarcerated in Malawi’s juvenile prison system, when they were often just desperate for food and resources for survival. Once imprisoned, children continue to face an equally dire situation. Prisons lack sufficient food, medicine and clothing to adequately care for the children.
Although Malawi has been facing this grave humanitarian crisis for years, the situation there hasn’t garnered much if any attention in Western media. Armed conflicts are more likely to grab headlines, like those taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. While those situations certainly require urgent attention, we can’t let the more silent emergencies slip by. Malawi’s orphan children, who are bearing the worst of the nation’s poverty and disease rates, remain voiceless and unnoticed in slums and prisons throughout the country.
Enter Mia Kirshner. You might know her from TV’s The L Word or the film The Black Dahlia. As it turns out, she’s also a Causecast leader, an amazing author and a brave humanitarian. In her 2008 book, I Live Here, Kirshner, alongside author J.B. MacKinnon, recorded the stories of young boys at a Malawian prison in the nation’s capital. Her experiences in Malawi are one part of Kirshner’s ongoing travels, gathering stories and art from the world’s most underrepresented people. By giving voice to the powerless, Kirshner’s I Live Here Foundation looks to artistic expression as a necessary complement to humanitarian aid in developing nations around the world.
Since we love what they’re doing (and never turn down the chance to party), Causecast is hosting a cocktail party fundraiser to benefit I Live Here on August 22, featuring a DJ set from KCRW and a silent auction. Check out the flyer for the event here.
To read personal stories from the boys in the Kachere juvenile prison, pick up a copy of I Live Here. To support the brave work of Kirshner and her colleagues, you can contribute to the I Live Here Foundation directly on Causecast. Also, check out their partner, Operation USA for additional information on the Malawi project.
Almost 20 percent of the country’s population is infected with HIV/AIDS. In addition to the AIDS epidemic, conditions are so poor in Malawi that the life expectancy is a startlingly low 43 years. By contrast, Americans can expect to live well into their 70s.
In Malawi, there are hundreds of thousands of orphans, more than 50 percent of which are orphaned when they lose their parents to AIDS. Because these children are left on their own, without parents to care for them and feed them, many resort to theft and other crimes to feed themselves. For breaking the law, children end up incarcerated in Malawi’s juvenile prison system, when they were often just desperate for food and resources for survival. Once imprisoned, children continue to face an equally dire situation. Prisons lack sufficient food, medicine and clothing to adequately care for the children.
Although Malawi has been facing this grave humanitarian crisis for years, the situation there hasn’t garnered much if any attention in Western media. Armed conflicts are more likely to grab headlines, like those taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. While those situations certainly require urgent attention, we can’t let the more silent emergencies slip by. Malawi’s orphan children, who are bearing the worst of the nation’s poverty and disease rates, remain voiceless and unnoticed in slums and prisons throughout the country.
Enter Mia Kirshner. You might know her from TV’s The L Word or the film The Black Dahlia. As it turns out, she’s also a Causecast leader, an amazing author and a brave humanitarian. In her 2008 book, I Live Here, Kirshner, alongside author J.B. MacKinnon, recorded the stories of young boys at a Malawian prison in the nation’s capital. Her experiences in Malawi are one part of Kirshner’s ongoing travels, gathering stories and art from the world’s most underrepresented people. By giving voice to the powerless, Kirshner’s I Live Here Foundation looks to artistic expression as a necessary complement to humanitarian aid in developing nations around the world.
Since we love what they’re doing (and never turn down the chance to party), Causecast is hosting a cocktail party fundraiser to benefit I Live Here on August 22, featuring a DJ set from KCRW and a silent auction. Check out the flyer for the event here.
To read personal stories from the boys in the Kachere juvenile prison, pick up a copy of I Live Here. To support the brave work of Kirshner and her colleagues, you can contribute to the I Live Here Foundation directly on Causecast. Also, check out their partner, Operation USA for additional information on the Malawi project.
Malawi makes a song and dance about Madonna
A few weeks ago I flew to Malawi to meet Toby Gough, the fringe's most irrepressible theatre director. He took me to Kumbali Lodge, on the outskirts of Lilongwe, and insisted that I was given the key to room five. Why? Because that's where Madonna stayed earlier this year, during her court battle to adopt Mercy James – and because Gough was in the midst of rehearsing an unlikely musical about the whole saga, Mercy Madonna of Malawi.
Kumbali Lodge won't have been the most luxurious place Madonna ever stayed, but the room had a rustic charm and a voluminous mosquito net, and I was told that she was very happy here. This is just as well, because in April Judge Esmie Chondo ruled that it would set a bad precedent to waive Malawi's adoption criteria (prospective parents need to be married, as well as resident for two years), not least because Mercy was already well cared for in one of the country's best-funded orphanages. But a few weeks later, the supreme court of appeal overturned the ruling, apparently swayed by the generosity of Madonna's Raising Malawi charity.
This is the story at the heart of Gough's musical Mercy Madonna of Malawi, in which Malawian actors dramatise the story using feelgood song and dance. The show addresses a thorny dilemma: is it better for a child to live a life of privilege in the west, or a life of poverty among her own people? It also casts a tall black man in a blond wig in the role of Madonna.
Behind the knockabout cross-dressing lies the fact that many Malawians still have little idea who this rich white woman is. "No one knows who Madonna is, no one knows her music," Gough told me. "They just call her 'the white woman'. I walked through the villages with a Scottish woman and everyone thought she was Madonna. They all shouted out, 'Adopt me!'"
Kumbali Lodge won't have been the most luxurious place Madonna ever stayed, but the room had a rustic charm and a voluminous mosquito net, and I was told that she was very happy here. This is just as well, because in April Judge Esmie Chondo ruled that it would set a bad precedent to waive Malawi's adoption criteria (prospective parents need to be married, as well as resident for two years), not least because Mercy was already well cared for in one of the country's best-funded orphanages. But a few weeks later, the supreme court of appeal overturned the ruling, apparently swayed by the generosity of Madonna's Raising Malawi charity.
This is the story at the heart of Gough's musical Mercy Madonna of Malawi, in which Malawian actors dramatise the story using feelgood song and dance. The show addresses a thorny dilemma: is it better for a child to live a life of privilege in the west, or a life of poverty among her own people? It also casts a tall black man in a blond wig in the role of Madonna.
Behind the knockabout cross-dressing lies the fact that many Malawians still have little idea who this rich white woman is. "No one knows who Madonna is, no one knows her music," Gough told me. "They just call her 'the white woman'. I walked through the villages with a Scottish woman and everyone thought she was Madonna. They all shouted out, 'Adopt me!'"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
