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Alex T Magaisa 🇿🇼

@Wamagaisa

3 Sep

1. This man reminds me of Unoka in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. His son Okonkwo was embarrassed by him. He was perennially in debt & didn’t care. He was lazy and constantly borrowing from friends and neighbours. He didn’t pay back. Always looking for favours.

2. One day a creditor came to collect his debt. Unoka dismissed him. “Look at that wall," Unoka said pointing to the wall of his hut. "Look at those lines of chalk". Okoye, the creditor saw groups of lines drawn in chalk.

3. Unoka took some snuff & sneezed dramatically & said, “Each group there represents a debt to someone and each stroke is one hundred cowries. You see, I owe that man a thousand cowries. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it. I shall pay you, but not today”

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Alex T Magaisa 🇿🇼

@Wamagaisa

27 Aug

Understanding Pseudo-operations in politics

1. Dealing with an authoritarian regime is tricky business. In war, there’s a thing called pseudo operations. This is where the army creates teams that are disguised as guerrillas in order to penetrate guerrilla-controlled units.

2. Pseudo-operators pretend to be guerrillas. People unwittingly accept them as “our own”. But they gather intelligence. They might do damage which is attributed to the side they are pretending to be. The Selous Scouts were masters at this during the 1970s liberation war.

3. Some of the most devastating massacres, such as Nyadzon’a were a result of these counterinsurgency operations led by pseudo operators. Some pseudo operators were “turned guerrillas” the most infamous of them being Morrison Nyathi. Pseudo operations didn’t stop after the war.

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Alex T Magaisa 🇿🇼

@Wamagaisa

25 Aug

Covid, Education & Politics

1. That the COVID-19 pandemic has wrecked havoc & caused immense disruption around the world is common cause. That humanity must learn to live with COVID-19 is also apparent because it’s not going to go away anytime soon.

2. Therefore the tough restrictions that were imposed in many states are now getting lifted as more people get vaccinated & other measures are developed to deal with the pandemic. Humans are social animals & they can’t be kept in enclosures for too long without causing problems.

3. However, for some states that are ruled by authoritarian regimes, the pandemic is an opportunity. It provides justification for maintaining restrictions on citizens. Therefore while some states are trying to lift restrictions, others are keen to maintain them.

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Alex T Magaisa 🇿🇼

@Wamagaisa

16 Aug

1. When there’s excitement a word of caution may be inconvenient but it is necessary: obviously, opposition parties become ruling parties upon winning. Sadly, time & again they have adopted the mentality of the ruling parties they replaced. Each time you hope it will be different

2. But something happens once they don those big robes of power & start associating with the old chaps in the regional arena. They seem to forget that they were once victims of repression. The burden carried by our brothers new to power is heavy. Expectations go beyond borders.

3. Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a handy read for this phenomenon. We know from history that it’s so easy to become the monster that you spent many years opposing. Words are good but they aren’t enough. It’s what they do with power that matters.

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Alex T Magaisa 🇿🇼

@Wamagaisa

17 Jul

1. Ndaba doesn’t get it most of the time. However, his confession that the man he is defending has never won a government tender is gold. Let me explain because what it reveals is worse than you can imagine. I see a lot of people have a misunderstanding of a “government tender”

2. When government wants ta service or product, it floats a tender. It’s a call to contractors to make their bids. At law it’s called an invitation to treat. The idea of floating a tender is to have fair competition among contractors. The government chooses the most competitive

3. Therefore, when a contractor “wins a tender” it means it has gone through a competitive process where it’s offer has been accepted. This is legitimate. Ndaba has just told us that his client has never won a government tender. But note, he has not said he never got a contract.

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Alex T Magaisa 🇿🇼

@Wamagaisa

9 Jul

1. Efforts to vaccinate the nation are commendable. But we must also be vigilant re: the other pandemic - corruption. The government’s numbers don’t add up. Let’s start with Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube in January 2021 saying government had set aside US$100 million for vaccines

2. Two weeks later, the Minister of Health & VP Constantino Chiwenga said the cost of the national vaccination program was going to be US$6,7 million. Both Ncube & Chiwenga’s figures are based on the same numbers to be vaccinated: 10 million people.

3. The gulf is so wide that a reasonable person has a duty to raise serious questions. The man in charge of the national purse says US$100 million while the man in charge of health says US$6,7 million. The difference is a whooping US$93,3 million! We’re also getting donations

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