It's not Gaddafi alone

Yesterday some headlines screamed, "Gaddafi legacy still haunts Libya". It was the fourth anniversary of his brutal murder by militias with the help of the French airforce. While Gaddafi's rule cannot be divorced from happenings in Libya it is overly simplistic, and frankly speaking unintelligent to blame all of Libya's current problems on him.

We cannot separate the present chaos from the history. That history includes destabilising external interference. The West is responsible for planting military instability in Libya. They armed the militias who are holding the country to ransom, not Gadhafi.

By the way even in perfectly democratic states military instability can be planted by external powers. Look at Ukraine. Maybe you use the double standard that blames Russia for supplying weapons to rebels, but does not blame the West for doing the same in other parts of the world.

If we want to stay closer to the Libyan context, look at Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and even Egypt. They are all dictatorships of which Saudi Arabia is way worse than Gaddafi.

Saudi Arabia is the closest thing to the kind of caliphate that the Islamic State is trying to establish. This year alone they have already executed nearly 100 people by beheading. Believe me if somebody airdrops several hundred tons of weapons in the Saudi desert we will have a conflagration worse than Libya.

Like most post colonial Africa, Libya is a patchwork of tribes placed inside one border by colonial expediency. Gaddafi is not responsible for that. He stifled but did not eradicate those tribal divisions.

But then which country in Africa is free of such tribal divisions. If you want to check what I mean just get the United States to airdrop heavy weapons in KZN, Free State, the North West, Eastern Cape and Limpopo and then watch what happens.

Would you blame Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma for the violence that is bound to follow?

Mind you in North Africa countries like Tunisia and Egypt went through similar situations but they remained stable because no one supplied weapons to militia groups.

In short blaming everything on Gaddafi is a rather simplistic view, which does not take into account all the geopolitics at play. Like Ukraine, Libya's instability has far, far more to do with interference by big foreign powers than prior bad leadership.

Met Department my foot!!!

Recently a cabinet minister accused the Department of Meteorology of lying about the water levels in Lake Kariba. According to him government asked the Met department whether it was going to rain and when they were told yes, they came to the conclusion that Lake Kariba would be full.

Zimbabwe is run by people who are so desperately ignorant that it is frightening.

Firstly most of the rain that falls in Zimbabwe does not go into Kariba. Half of the rain flows eastwards into the Save, Limpopo and Pungwe river systems. Most other river systems like Hunyani and Mazowe feed into the Zambezi below the Kariba Dam.

Only Zivagwe, Munyati and Shangani rivers feed into Kariba. But their catchment areas are the drier regions of the country. In short more than three quarters of the rain that falls in Zimbabwe has no chance of ending up in Lake Kariba. Consequently you cannot use rainfall predictions in Zimbabwe to extrapolate the big lake's water levels.

Therefore accusing the meteorological department of Zimbabwe of 'lying' over those water levels is rather negatively revealing about the minister's own knowledge.

The main catchment area of the Zambezi is in Angola and Zambia. Last time I checked the Zimbabwe Met Department did not have weather stations in that area. Maybe Undenge is more knowledgeable on the subject than I am, but I doubt.

To blame the Met Department for the water levels in Kariba does not only show ignorance, it also shows that the issue of energy shortage is being handled lackadaisically and negligently. No serious minister would not know the complex hydrological (not meteorological) considerations that go into management of a water reservoirs.

The best place to start would be the hydrology unit or department of the ministry of water. I deliberately use the words 'best place to start'. That is because if you expect to get all your answers in that one unit, you are a very lazy person. There are many other factors that affect rainfall run-off. Among them ground permeability and percolation.

The type of underlying rock in a region will affect how much water will actually end up in run-off dependent reservoirs. There is an entire scientific field called hydro-geology that deals with that. Ground topology and human activity such as presence of a large paved urban area also affect run-off.

Besides, in order to be able to understand all the factors, years of diligently gathering data are needed. You can't just wake up one morning, rush to the Met Department and ask, "Is it going to rain?"

If they answer "Yes sir!" you then expect Kariba to be full the next morning. What about evaporation patterns? What about past rainfall patterns. If previous seasons were dry the ground will absorb more water before you start getting significant run-off.

Undenge also seems quite misinformed about the kind of authority the Zimbabwe government has over the Kariba dam sluice gates. The dam is managed by the Zambezi River Authority. This is organisation is jointly owned by Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In addition all countries that are materially affected by the Zambezi, among them, Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique have a say in the management of the river through the SADC Protocol On Shared Watersources.

Moreover, as minister of energy, Undenge is supposed to be a member of the four person ministerial committee that heads the ZRA.

In short Undenge has got absolutely nothing to blame the Met Department for. They are not responsible for doing a job the he should be doing. He didn't ask the right series of questions from all the relevant departments. His perceptions about the level of water in the Kariba is what is called a thumb-suck.

Undenge's scepticism about the Met Department is entirely unfounded. However it would be well grounded to have scepticism about his capabilities.

His pointing of fingers is what is called blame-shifting or passing the buck. He is passing it to the wrong people. This is a buck that stops with government. They are ultimately responsible for the incorrect allocation of resources that has led to the energy crisis.

France's Silence Over Kunduz Massacre is Disgusting

It is now almost a week since a French organisation, Medecins Sans Frontiers, had its 100 bed hospital deliberately flattened by Afghan and American forces. I say deliberately because the Afghan government has clearly stated that the hospital was targeted because they thought there were 15 Taliban inside. The Afghan government even proudly claimed success in killing these Taliban. You do not claim success over a mistake.

The one thing I find absolutely disgusting is the total silence of the French government over the massacre of nurses and patients. Not even the mistress of a junior official has been reported to have said anything. I wonder how the French have lost their voice given that were engaged in all sorts of shrill theatrics over Syria the week prior.

I would love for Mr Hollande to personally answer this question. Is the bombardment of a French run hospital something not worth talking about? Maybe the lives lost there are worthless to him because they are Afghan not French.

Medecins Sans Frontiers won a Nobel prize in 1999. Was that not a good thing for France? Did the all the non-French people who work for MSF in the field not contribute to that success? If a Nobel prize was worthy, why are the non-French who work for MSF so worthless that Mr Hollande doesn't even bat an eyelid upon their death?

Not one single word condolences, or any sort of sympathy expression, has been reported as coming from the French government. The callousness is unbelievable.

SA Crime Stats: Foreigners getting disproportionate blame

A senior government official has again done the generalised blaming of foreigners for crime. This kind of talk is plain xenophobic. The minister of police Nathi Nhleko made statements that amounts to little more than expressions of prejudice.

On a sensitive topic, I would have expected him to back his conclusion with specific data and facts. However his conclusions have amounted to little more than personal feelings of either himself or the report writer.

The conclusion that 'undocumented' foreigners are responsible for 'spikes' in crime is wrong on two points. Firstly documented individuals can be criminals. In fact high-value organised criminals are able to corruptly buy documents. On top of that they often work hand-in-glove with corrupt government officials.

To back my point, the former wife of an intelligence minister is in jail as we speak over a corrupt relationship with criminals. That foreigner was documented wasn't he? Czeck fugitive Rodovan Krejcir even had a gun in his cell, something he could not have acquired without corrupt connivence.  Several senior officials in the police have been said to be in his pay. He is so brazen that he has apparently been organising assassinations from his cell. In short, the worst kind of foreign criminals are documented and work closely with government officials.

The language that minister Nhleko used diverts attention from this group and instead focuses it on undocumented people whose crimes are by scale petty compared to those of the rich-criminal, government-official alliance. Even the highest echelons of power in this country has been linked to a very rich foreign family.

It is therefore my view that Nhlekos statement that the “influx of undocumented foreign nationals remains a serious issue, noting a spike in certain crimes in the areas where there is a large number of these individuals" is not a sincere and honest assessment. The corrupt relationship between rich criminals and government officials is a far much more serious challenge. Need I emphasise that a former police commissioner died on parole. Or that a friend of very top person have been convicted of corruption and is on medical parole.

The vast majority of undocumented individuals are doing their best to work for a living. Not quoting a percentage creates the impression that the whole group are criminals. The worst part is that it stokes xenophobic sentiment in townships where it may break out as murderous rampages.

Unless the South African government makes honest non-xenophobic assessment of crime, serious crime is not going to be tackled. However relations with neighbours are going to continue to be damaged. Countries to the north are beginning to direct their buying power elsewhere. Right now South African transport companies are facing a pinch because raw copper from the DRC and Zambia is increasingly being shipped via Dar es Salaam and Beira rather than Durban which was the norm. Countries are also increasingly buying manufactured goods from China and India and shipping them via Beira, Walvis Bay and Dar es Salaam.

Physically all these ports have always had an advantage over Durban because they are closer to the copper belt. However Durban has benefited from the enormous goodwill people have towards South Africa. Xenophobia, and very unhelpful statements by government officials are steadily eating away at this goodwill.

The South African government should be happy to see economic migrants make SA a top destination. If that stops happening it will mean that South Africa's economy is in serious trouble. By that stage South Africans will have to become the economic migrants. Of course a lot already are. A lot of the mines up north employ South Africans, though mostly skilled.

Rather knee jerk populist statements South African government officials should take time to think carefully before blaming ills on foreigners. Careless statements eventually cost lives. We have evidence of that from the very recent past.

African Pride: A Matter of Identity

Personally I am non-spiritual. I do not believe in anything claimed to be supernatural.

However a lot of people do. When they recount simple factual events, they often tag their beliefs along. As a result oral history in whatever form often gathers a huge shroud in myth and spirituality. It is not something unique to African culture.

Recently I have made it clear that I am proud of my African identity. To that end I have been discussing African people whose exploits are recounted in mythical terms.

You may have guessed right already. It wasn't long before I was accused of worshipping ancestors. The insinuation was that by talking about my ancestors I was associating with some form of evil. To be seen as good I had to dissociate myself from my ancestors.

Still, I won't be good enough until I start singing praises to the ancestors of others. What utter hogwash. Oops! Let me apologise to pigs for insulting them.

There are many histories shrouded in myth, mystery and spirituality. The very same people who call me evil for recounting African myth and mystery, turn around and start calling those other myths good entertainment.

Have they ever condemned stories of King Arthur the and Knights of the Round Table? Don't they watch movies about a god who throws his hammer to make thunderbolts? Don't they watch movies about children with magical powers fighting all sorts of wizards and monsters? We even know about super strong men who swing huge boulders on chains, like pieces of confetti. Not to mention loving a mythical thief, Robin Hood.

Recounting European, Greek and Roman mythology is regarded as a mark of knowledgeability.

Every day those myths are rammed down our throats as entertainment. They reinforce the identity and pride of the people who own them.

What about our own pride and identity? We are told to condemn our ancestors as evil witches and sorcerers and not talk about them. How are we going to boost our identity and pride?

If I may ask what do you make of ancestors who killed their sons in sacrifice? What do you make of a man who turned sticks into snakes, lit bushes from afar? Is that not wizardry and sorcery of the highest order?

If we can praise a man who parted a sea, why should we condemn a man who parted rock like Nehoreka?

The very moment that I writing this, there is a law of return that allows the children of Abraham to return to the land of their fathers. Do Walter Magaya, Makandiwa, Ezekiel Guti and the like qualify to go and live in Israel based on that law? They do not. They are not the descendants of the ancestor I mentioned above.

If they try to go and live in Israel today, Benjamin Netanyau will kick them out like a dirty mongrels. They are not the descendants of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Israel and David. They are the descendants of Nehoreka, Nkalange, Chaminuka, Muguni, Nyatsimba Mutota, Makate and the like.

While others are busy reinforcing their ancestry and claiming rights based on that, they are busy insulting and denigrating theirs. Can't they see they are giving away their identity and rights?

The right of return law claims land based on ancestry. Now tell me, if ancestry gives some the right to land, does it not mean condemning your own ancestry gives away the right to your own land?

I am proud to be Sena, Shona, Zimbabwean and African. I make no apologies for talking about my ancestors whether mythical or not. It is my identity. Case closed.

Syria: The Sadness of It All

If you think the reason why Syrians are walking from Aleppo/Kobane to Munich is because Bashar Assad is killing them, then there is a very serious problem with your reasoning powers.

Assad the father was dictator for decades, yet Syrians have never decided to walk to Munich. Bashar himself was a dictator for years after his father died. They never decided to put maximum distance between themselves and their country on foot.

They only decided to do that after Obama decided to send weapons into Middle East and destabilize the Syrian government. It is such typical poor, ignorant, presumptuous poorly judged foreign policy that we have come to expect from the Americans.

That poor judgement started when George Bush thought he could make Iraq a Western style democracy after letting Paul Bremmer run Iraq for six months. It boggles the mind to try and fathom how any intelligent person can even imagine that they can undo centuries if culture and sectarianism in just six months.

Habits, ways and values that have been set over centuries, someone thinks they can saunter in, and saunter out six months later leaving everything working according to their ways and values. The absurdity is laughable. It would make nice comedy if the results were not so tragic.

Instead of one big dictatorship, American policy has created a jigsaw patchwork of small dictatorships. Not even the Americans themselves know how to deal with them. If they do, why aren't they stopping the misery of Syrians.

To rub salt into the wound, the Americans and their allies sponsoring the destabilisation, do not want to help with the crisis they created. It is Europe and Canada that are having to foot the bill of helping the refugees. In the region it is Lebanon, Iran, Jordan, Afghanistan and Turkey that are bearing the worst of the refugee flood.

The allies that helped Americans sponsor what eventually became the Islamic State are nowhere to be seen. Significant American allies, Israel, Saudi Arabia are nowhere to be seen with helping the refugees.

After their attempts to create a rebel group allied to them failed with a host of groups that became the IS, the Americans are still trying to do the same thing with another rebel group. Do they have any guarantee that the people they are trying to train won't just feed into the rabid sectarian militia network. No they don't.

So why keep pumping weapons into the region? Why keep pumping military knowhow into the region? What is the purpose of doing those things besides callously making Syrians suffer more?

It's corruption. Not white farmers

Anybody who believes white farmers can rescue Zimbabwe's economy, has absolutely no clue what is wrong with Zimbabwe.

Recently Zimbabwe's government announced that it wants to give white farmers offer letters for land. These are not full title, or even long term leasehold and offer no legal protection from political interference. In fact the only security they offer is entirely based on political charitability because a minister can withdraw them at any time.

Apart from appealing to the usual racists who believe the blacks are lazy whites are hardworking nonsense, there is no news in the so called 'revelation' that Zimbabwe wants to bring back white farmers.

The problem with Zimbabwe is not agricultural output or other productive output. The problem is a culture of corruption, official impunity and grand scale entitlement that has taken root in the political elite.

No white farmer is going to grow crops in order to deliver them for free to government. No white farmer is going to stop ministers from taking whatever they want from government coffers because of their overblown sense of entitlement. Even if they grow crops, they can only do it for one or two seasons and then drown.

Right now, farmers who delivered maize to the GMB in 2013 have not been paid. Where were they expected to get the money for inputs for 2014 and now 2015. What bank is going to give you a loan knowing the chances of you not being paid for your crops are very high.

The agricultural market is heavily restricted with non-state entities being regularly elbowed out by government in favour of parastatals like the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco).

Most of the maize delivered to the GMB is allocated to milling companies owned by ministers for token (not market) prices and sometimes even just taken for free.

That it is the Zanu-PF government floating the idea shows, not only that they don't know how to solve the problem, but, significantly, that they are not prepared to change their ways. Those corrupt, we-are-entitled-to-whatever-we-want ways are the root cause of the problem, not the skin colour of the people producing crops.

Yes a white farmer can come back today. However what guarantee do they have that two years down the line a minister won't try to take their now productive farm? The compulsory land acquisition laws are still in place. Anybody who has been following Zimbabwe's issues will know that those laws have been used by high-ranking politicians to raid going concerns, milk them of cash, then dump the shells.

That seems to be what they have been trying to do with indigenisation laws as well, use them as a tool to raid going businesses for cash. Most of that cash is going to personal pockets and not government coffers anyway.

No one, not black farmers, not white farmers can operate in an environment where you have to rely on the personal charity of politicians, not law, to keep your investments safe.

Mind you the problem is not just affecting agriculture. Right now the government led by Supa Mandiwanzira has been trying to make a run for the assets of Zimbabwe's second largest mobile operator, Telecel.

He has also been trying to force the biggest operator, Econet, to share its infrastructure with parastatal NetOne. NetOne used to be the biggest mobile operator but, like nearly all other parastatals, has now been reduced to a shell because constant raids to its coffers for cash have deprived it of money to invest in infrastructure and growth.

If the mines had not been owned by very big conglomerates, most would have been taken over by now.

What we are faced with is a wolf called corruption, entitlement and greed wearing a sheepskin called black empowerment, indigenisation and all other esoteric feelgood themes. That it may be singing to Little Red Riding Hood called white farmer in grandma's voice, will never ever change the wolf genes in its body.

If white farmers are prepared to handover their maize to GMB for free, let them come back. I will personally go and stand in the line for free handouts when politicians are handing over their maize to villagers to buy votes.

The Southlea Saga: Of Chickens and Sharks

What kind of government, sets up its people for extortion by dubious business people? What kind of government allows its authority to be used to manoeuvre people into positions where they are mercilessly milked of their money to enrich millionaires

The Southlea saga is one of the saddest indictments of abuse of government authority and processes by an individual.

Odar Farm was acquired BY GOVERNMENT over a decade ago, and was allocated to various housing cooperatives. Some of these housing cooperatives involved the employees of parastatals like ZESA. One of them involved prominent Zanu-PF central committee member, Mai Manyonda and her daughter.

That the farm was acquired by government and allocated to housing cooperatives is beyond question. What is unclear, is what happened after that.

At some point the government was taken to court by Philip Chiyangwa. Mind you the farm was not acquired from him in the first place. How the farm ended up his property is an area covered in thick fog.

He took the government to court and lost the case at the High Court. The story we are now hearing, is that Chiyangwa appealed to the Supreme Court and then reached an out of court settlement with the government.

How on this beautiful earth of ours, could the government enter into an out of court settlement without involving the parties it had allocated the farm to. Surely it should have known that they stood to suffer massive prejudice. Surely the government should have known it was handing the people over to Chiyangwa for extortion purposes.

Chiyangwa is reported to be demanding $150 'registration fee' after which it will be at his liberty to decide what price he will charge the occupants for the stands. Mungati angarega kufara segudo raona danga remarize pasi pebwe?.

Another thing, that is murkier than Mukuvisi waters, is exactly who in government authorised the so called out of court settlement. Was it local housing minister Ignatius Chombo? Was it a cabinet sitting? Was it His Excellency the President himself?

Failure by the government to involve the people it had allocated the land to means the out of court settlement could not have been in good faith. Secrecy about the government's logic and reasoning in so belatedly entering into an out of court settlement, does not suggest it was a decision taken in good faith. Decisions taken in bad faith are not valid at law.

What is further puzzling is that to any thinking person, this clearly civil dispute caused by the government's flip-flopping on what should be a straightforward issue, is suddenly being treated as criminal fraud by police. If that is the case why did they not start by arresting the minister who allocated the area to the housing cooperatives in the first place? Surely he is a co-conspirator in all the developments up to now.

This clearly looks like the police being used by powerful entities to harass the hapless elected representatives of the housing cooperatives involved.

Still the question needs to be answered, why did the government chicken out at the last minute? Why did the government decide to throw live chickens into shark infested waters? Surely they should have known the feeding frenzy to follow, would cause a massive disturbance.

The best way forward forward for the housing cooperatives involved is to approach the courts and ask for the so called out of court settlement to be set aside because clearly it was done in bad faith.

They should further seek that Southlea be declared part of Harare metropolitan area so that its affairs fall under the authority of the city council. They should further seek that demarcated stands should be allocated to persons who have been paying for their servicing under the housing cooperative schemes.

Lastly they should seek a cease and desist order against any parties that have been harassing them such as Mr Chiyangwa.

The MDC election boycott in a nutshell

The MDC is primarily an opportunistic party. Several disparate and ideologically opposed groups thought they had seen an easy stroll into power.

In the MDC you had avowed socialists like Munyaradzi Gwisai getting into bed with avowed capitalists like Eddie Cross. You had trade unionists dancing with industrialists. There was no core ideology or motivation. There was no fundamental collective set of principles.

After the victory of trade unionist Chiluba in Zambia everyone thought if they threw a trade union sheepskin over whatever contraption they had, they could saunter into power. There was no deep personal conviction by most members. All of the groups concerned got together merely because they thought getting rid of Mugabe was a shortcut to achieving their individual aims.

I am convinced that a large number of people in these groups also privately saw the opportunity to control, and hence dip their hands into, lots of cash. That is why anyone who gets close to the top, is not prepared to back down.

Excuse the pun but no pig at the trough steps away to let others eat. If it is forced away it tries to drag a portion of the trough with it. That explains the numerous splits in the MDC.

When there was lots of cash circulating in the opposition, there was a lot to spare for things like elections. Now that most of the financial backers have pulled away and there is little cash, why waste some of it on elections instead of just pocketing it. As far as I am concerned that is the fundamental motive behind the election boycott. The rest of what is being said is just suitable justifications.

Besides that fact that you do not need an electronic voters roll to hold a reasonably credible election, election time is also a good opportunity to market yourself. In simple marketing terms it is called keeping the customers mindshare by maintaining brand presence. It allso helps to keep your supporters motivated.

Any other route is nothing but a gamble that Zanu-PF will make more blunders and drive support away from itself. Zanu-PF blunders, especially with the economy, is what has kept the MDC alive. Otherwise they would have collapsed a long time ago.

The MDC and other opposition groups are boycotting elections simply because they do not want to spend money on them. It also shows that most opposition leaders do not have sufficient personal conviction and motivation to soldier on despite difficulties.

Borders are not for Africans

Imagine a young Venda man living a hundred kilometres downstream of Beitbridge town. They spy a beautiful girl they fancy on the other side of the Limpopo river. Does anyone in their right mind seriously think the young man will travel a hundred kilometres to Beitbridge border post to have a passport stamped so that he can go and propose to a girl who lives a few kilometres across the river?

And if officials happen to meet the young man, how do they know on which side of the river he belongs. They speak exactly the same Venda on both sides of the river.

Colonial borders are artificial and arbitrary lines drawn right down the middle of existing communities in ALL cases.

Therefore for anyone to demand that a border must not be porous is daydreaming of the highest order. It is also a sign that the person has not travel and has no clue how borders function.

At the border border between Zambia and Tanzania it is difficult to tell which street or footpath is in Nakonde the Zambian town, and which one is in Tunduma the Tanzanian town. You can be living in Nakonde and go fetch water in Tunduma and vice versa.

In Dedza the border between Malawi and Mozambique is a nondescript building surrounded by open plains. People and livestock wonder across the plains freely. In Ntcheu district of Malawi the main road from Blantyre to Lilongwe is said to straddle the border for several kilometres. People from Mozambique use clinics and schools in Malawi and vice versa.

Where my wife comes from in Honde Valley the local chief used to rule cases from both sides of the border. People's movement was only curtailed when the border was mined during Zimbabwe's liberation war. All along the Zambezi river the Tonga people fish using canoes and build their homes on either side of the river as they choose. No person in their right mind can try and allocate a Tonga person to Zambia or Zimbabwe.

At Kasumbalesa the border post between Zambia and the DRC is a collection of nondescript buildings surrounded by thick bush. If you take a footbath a few hundred metres long you won't know on which side of the border you will be.

The bottom line is border controls have never really worked as a way of controlling immigration. It is unlikely they will work. If people have a motive, they will find a way across. Palestinians dig tunnels across the border despite it being patrolled by two of the Middle East's biggest armies, one of them inhumanly ruthless.

No country in the world has ever successfully sealed its borders against human movement. There is a much better chance of finding ice-cream in hell, than that of South Africa being the first to succeed. Not with borders drawn right down the middle of Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Venda, Tswana and Nama peoples. These peoples are quite capable of choosing which set of documents they want and when.

No one should make noises about 'the border tribes' allowing in foreigners. Over seventy percent of the people I met in Johannesburg who introduced themselves as Zulus, latter explained that they are actually Swazis. That is how I came to know that there are people called Jo'burg Zulus. These are people who speak one of the Nguni dialects and pass themselves off as Zulus because the Euro-Africans from whom they would be looking for work express preference for Zulus but have no clue about the different Nguni dialects.

The problem for South Africa is not the mere presence of foreigners. The major problem is South Africans are often out-competed by foreigners in nearly all spheres of endeavour. This goes against their notion that they are 'better' than other Africans.

That is why most of the xenophobic sentiments are targeted at people who are running small businesses or holding onto jobs more successfully than locals.

President Mugabe's Comments and the Kalanga People: Unraveling the Truth

In my primary school days I went to school with a Tsveropile Tlou. One of my father's tenants was a Mr Mbedzi. At that time I had no clue there was a tribe called Venda and I thought they were just Shonas who grew up in Matabeleland.

Zimbabwe's history books, which were written from the point of view of European settlers, do not mention anyone other than the Shona and the Ndebele. Like nearly all of Zimbabwe's school children I first learnt about other tribes from anecdotal social discussions.

If the adults around you happen to discuss social traits you might pick up a thing or two about the existence of other tribes. However what you pick-up might not be accurate of even true because it may be heavily tainted by the speaker's biases.

The first tribe I learnt about were the Tonga because my father was always talking about how powerful Tonga muti from Binga was. Later when I was hanging around the workshop of a relative and talk centred around sexual activity, I picked up that Shangani women had beads that could drive a man crazy and they also pulled certain anatomical parts to make them longer.

That should not be the way we let our children learn about Zimbabwe's ethnic mix. Right now my first child is in high school, I do not know if she is even aware that Zimbabwe has other people apart from the Shona, Ndebele and Europeans.

President's Mugabe's comments are unfortunate but, ironically, it may mark the first time the Kalanga people were mentioned in international news services. Even though, most western media services like BBC and CNN did not report the story. It would have been difficult for them to explain to their audience who this Kalanga tribe were. They were suddenly being mentioned in a country that has always been reported as having Shona and Ndebele tribes only.

President Mugabe's comments are unfortunate on more than one front. The second being that it also shows that he takes the colonial version of history as gospel truth.

For the record there is no tribe called Shona. No group of people ever called themselves Shona people prior to colonialism.

The bulk of the people called Shona today were called maKaranga. The reason for that is that they practiced the chiKaranga religion. If you call yourself Shona and dispute what I am saying, tell me at every funeral you have attended from Mutoko to Zaka-Jerera, when they announce rituals do they not say 'Tava kuita chiKaranga'?

The Tswana call our culture iKalanga, not iShona. The Venda call all Shona people maKaranga. That is who we are.

What about the Kalanga people. Who are they? They are maKaranga with heavy Ndebele influence. That influence happened simply because colonial governments forced anyone from the Matabeleland provinces, and parts of Midlands, to learn Ndebele at school irrespective of what language they spoke at home.

The Herald recently had an article explaining how the name Lomagundi came about from Nemakonde. European settlers first mispronounced place or people's names, then they Nguninised the names. Thus Mutare became Umtali, Panyaronga became Penhalonga, Uhera became Buhera and the Karanga within Matabeleland became the Kalanga while the rest were simply called Shona.

The name Karanga was popularised again after independence. However that was accompanied by the misconception that it applied only to people from parts of Masvingo province. Those people are mostly vaDuma and the dialect they speak is Hwesa. The name Karanga should actually be used in relation to all dialects now collectively called Shona.

Shona is a subset of chiKaranga not the other way round. ChiKaranga includes Kalanga, Nambya and iKalanga spoken in parts of Botswana.

Therefore truly, truly peaking, President Mugabe himself is a Kalanga.

Zimbabwe Politicians and Intellectuals Have To Work Together

Leaders everywhere rely on think tanks to formulate policy. The unfortunate circumstances that gave birth to Zimbabwe led to a political establishment full of raw ex-guerillas many without high school education.

As a result the intelligentsia in Zimbabwe mostly chose to stand aloof and hold the political establishment in disdainful regard. Where they got involved or decided to pass comment it was mostly in the form of condescending critique and very often virulent negative criticism, not constructive engagement.

Many intellectuals, among them Jonathan Moyo, Kempton Makamure, Welshman Ncube, John Makumbe, Heneri Dzinotyiwei to mention a few made careers out of attacking the political establishment. They did not seek to offer advice.

On the other hand those in the political establishment felt they had made too big sacrifices for the country to be treated like mops by the intelligentsia. To put it in words claimed to have been spoken by Comrade Chinotimba, they had died for the country. The result was a huge gulf of mistrust between those holding the steering wheel and the intellectual engines. The engine was always angrily revving but the clutch was broken and steering wheel was locked in one position.

For years the think-tank gap was filled in by donors and NGOs. It was these groups who floated and financed development programmes. They gave the political establishment of raw combatants advice and direction and in the early years the arrangement was quite successful. Names like DANIDA, Christian Care, CIDA, DFID became household names in Zimbabwe. These organisations filled in the gap of think tanks, coming up with development projects.

Most, if not all, of these NGOs were from Western countries. When the political establishment fell out with Western politicians they were inevitably pressured, by their politicians back home, not to work with the Zimbabwe government.

The Zimbabwe government panicked. They stumbled from one panic stricken measure to another without any clear and coherent plan. Price controls were at first favoured. When these didn't work direct restrictions in the movement and trade of commodities were rushed in. When cash ran out it was simply printed. When this resulted in massive devaluation foreign currency was simply commandeered from private entities.

In the process massive damage to the country's financial, commercial and economic systems was wreaked. Local savings were obliterated by the massive devaluation caused by the printing of cash. Entities who owned foreign currency resorted to keeping it outside Zimbabwe, out of the clutches of a clearly mismanaging government.

The result was an economy in free fall. The Zimbabwe government blamed the West, but in doing so they did not understand where the real problem was. They focused on sanctions which were mostly targeted at individuals. However in my view, the real damage to Zimbabwe came from the withdrawal of 'think-tank' support which Zimbabwean politicians had grown to take for granted.

Zimbabweans politicians were unable to manage the resources which they had. In my view, those resources were more than sufficient to keep Zimbabwe afloat. Piqued by the withdrawal of Western support, the government came up with a Look East policy.

What that amounted to was simply directing nearly all of the Zimbabwe government's buying power towards China, at the expense of local industry. No meaningful 'think-tank' support has been forthcoming from the east. The Chinese have never been associated with development projects the same way Western agencies were. In fact in the minds of ordinary people, they are associated with reckless exploitation of resources, and harsh employment practices.

The bottom line is for Zimbabwe to develop, local intellectuals and politicians will have to respect each other and share ideas. Politicians will have to take the input of intellectuals seriously, even if it is in the form of criticism. Intellectuals will have to learn that persistent attack merely generates resistance with little chance of achieving the desired outcome.

Zanu-PF on the decline, failing Zimbabwe

I know Zanu-PF leaders are not going to like this but they have got to be told the truth. They are failures and their greatest failure has been the failure to support local industry and the local job market which depends on that industry.

It is a matter of record that senior political leaders of all persuasions, and rich business people, are commercially disloyal to Zimbabwe. They consider it a sign of status to buy things outside Zimbabwe. They have their holidays outside Zimbabwe. They go and splash money all over the world except inside Zimbabwe.

They even consider status symbol to send their children to obscure backstreet universities, as long as they are outside Zimbabwe's borders. Yet much of SADC runs on professional services provided by top quality Zimbabwean trained professionals.

They associate Zimbabwe with backwardness and whenever they want to do something they perceive as sophisticated they rush out of the country to spend money. In the process they impoverish the country by taking money out of the country unnecessarily.

Not only do they take money out of the country, but they are also the biggest culprits in stripping Zimbabwe of revenue. Of all these farms, mines and businesses run and owned by ministers and the politically connected, how many are paying their taxes correctly? I would love to know.

They seem to be completely ignoring the free advice that I gave them in an open letter to cabinet and MPs. If they listened to just half that advice, Zimbabwe's economy would be much better than it is.

One of the major points of advice in an open letter to President Mugabe was that he should not include people trying to get rich as quickly as they can in his cabinet. Again that seems to have been ignored.

I also complained of mafia like tendency in government. Some in government are using the provision of services as an excuse to extort money from the public. That money is then skimmed out of public coffers by officials who award themselves unbelievable salaries and perks at the expense of service provision. Just look at the salarygate scandal to see what I mean.

There is only one way Zanu-PF can turn around its fast sinking record. Corruption and patronage must go. Corruption and patronage are placing a massive stress upon Zimbabwe's budget. The reason why Zimbabwe has run out of money is that over the years too much money has been wasted in giving people posts and perks, when they have no real functional role in the running of the country. On top of that, those people engage in corrupt activities, siphoning more money from state coffers.

I did a quick research on the size of Zimbabwe's executive relative to its budget, and compared it to some of the world's leading countries. My conclusion was that there is very little chance that Zimbabwe's economy can recover while current spending patterns continue.

I also made it clear that in Zimbabwe right now there is a huge and growing divide between the haves and the have nots. The haves are lavishing off public money which is supposed to provide services for the have nots. They are not engaged in any meaningful productive activities which would increase the national wealth pool.

I have never ever tired of stressing the Zimbabwe needs a small lean government not the current patronage bloated behemoth.

The irresponsible use of resources was highlighted by the then minister of finance, Tendai Biti. Despite that, he continued to preside over this irresponsible state of affairs. Even after the tenure of the massive government of national unity, resources continue to be wasted. Especially by never ending travels.

I have lamented that unless the mentality of political entitlement changes, even a constitution written by Mwari Baba, Sekuru Chaminuka, Jehovah, Jesus Christ, Allah, Prophet Muhammad, Buddha, the Brahman, Jah, and all the good supernaturals you can think of, will not make a difference.

I have not concealed my opinion is that one of Zimbabwe's biggest problems is dishonest leaders who manipulated and are manipulating the country's laws to rob people of their possessions. The raft of lawsuits against the RBZ's practice of just taking foreign currency and replacing it with worthless local currency bears me out on this.

I have also not hidden my strongly held belief that some of our worst economic woes have been caused by plain incompetence and ignorance. Particularly the incompetence of a man who failed to run the country's financial systems so dismally that he resorted to selling scorthcarts, ploughs, plough-chains, majoki and tractors just to try and prove that he was good at something.

He was not good at that too. Right now the government is grappling with the problem that he just took tractors and materials from suppliers without paying for them running up a massive debt.

The quality of Zanu-PF's leadership has been declining. From the days of freedom stalwarts like Josiah Tongogara, Hebert Chitepo, Edgar Tekere and others, the party finds itself sliding into the hands of people like Grace Mugabe. Apart from a foul mouth and a chance landing in the right bedroom, such people have no other credentials.

The only one left of the old crop of leaders is Robert Mugabe himself. It is difficult to predict how the party will fare once he too, inevitably departs. Personally I don't think the party will do well once Mugabe's generation is out if the picture.

With the sinking in the quality of Zanu-PF's leadership, so are the hopes of many Zimbabweans.

Xenophobia in South Africa is institutionalised

South African police officers casually stroll away from a crowd looting a foreigner's shop.

Let us face it. Xenophobia in South Africa is institutionalised. It may not be codified in law like apartheid was, but many South African public institutions are permeated with xenophobic sentiment.

I saw it on the front page of the Sunday Times today. All the arrests that have been made in connection with recent violence are for the deaths of South Africans. No one has been arrested for the death of a foreigner.

In Soweto two men were rescued from a mob by the police. They had already been doused in petrol, and the matches were about be lit. The police moved in very quickly rescuing them. They were South Africans. If they had been foreigners the police would probably have waited the extra minute or two needed for the flames to take hold before moving in just to be seen to be doing something.

In Durban there were reports of a Malawian being turned away from a hospital because 'there were not enough medicines for foreigners'. At some home affairs offices and border points, foreigners are made to wait inordinately long periods for service.

It is common knowledge among foreigners that if you to report a crime the police won't even bother to open a case. It happened to me once. Officials routinely refuse to speak in English and try insist that black foreigners speak one of the local vernacular languages.

Perhaps the best evidence it is institutionalised, is how xenophobic sentiments creep into the discourse and language of senior politicians. A cabinet minister Lindiwe Zulu was recently accused of making xenophobic statements. The statements that are widely believed to have sparked the latest round of violence, were made by Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini with a cabinet minister standing by his side.

South African officials have been hesitant to condemn pure thuggery and murder of foreign nationals. They seem almost at pains to offer context and justify the 'anger' of South Africans. KwaZulu-Natal premier Mchunu even accused foreigners of 'lacking respect'.

African governments have no choice but put pressure on the South African government to tackle the institutionalisation of xenophobia. Explanations will have to be asked for on why there is no progress on the investigating the killing of foreigners. Accountability will have to be demanded. Police officers will have to be disciplined including senior police officers.

As long as the cauldron of institutionalised xenophobia is not quenched cold, the problem will continue to simmer. It is a serious threat to the stability of South Africa itself, because the xenophobia is tinged with tribalism.

A friend living near Sun City in Rustenburg told me that they wanted to protest because the mines in the area were employing people from Limpopo and Eastern cape while Tswanas from the area did not have jobs. However they did not want to be seen as acting together with Zulus who they still don't like because of Third Force killings in which rogue apartheid agents armed Zulu men living in hostels to attack ANC supporters.

We do not want an unstable giant among us.

In 2008 Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamauve was torched in full view of the police and on camera. Not a single person has been tracked down and arrested.

Yesterday Emmanuel Sithole was hit with a wrench then stabbed in broad daylight. The scene was captured on camera in minute detail. They say he is a Mozambican but Sithole is a Tsonga (Shangani) surname. Recently an MP belonging to the EFF, made derogatory remarks against the Shangani in parliament. In case you didn't know there is a tribalist dimension to xenophobia as well.

The Shangani live across borders, in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Indeed Ndabaningi Sithole was a founder of what is now Zanu-PF. The same applies to the Venda whose language and culture is closer to what is now called Shona. Deeper inside South Africa members of these tribes are often attacked for being foreigners. Many South Africans are often accused of being foreigners simply for being dark in complexion. Members of these tribes are generally dark in complexion.

I won't even mention Indians. During the recent violence in Durban an Indian journalist was told to go back to India despite her being a fourth generation South African. Those mobs cannot tell the difference between a Indian and a Pakistani. Even for black people they often make the judgement based on darkness of complexion. They do not ask to see identification documents. Remember in 2008 half the people who died were South Africans accused of being foreigners.

How foreigners liberated South Africa

I would like to ask the Zulu king, does he know what Alfonso Dlakama's values and principles are. If he does not he is not alone. Nobody else does.

RENAMO

Yet Dlakama is a looming figure in Mozambican history. He was a huge factor in conflict that almost brought Mozambique to its knees. Dlakama is like a tokoloshe that was set upon the Mozambican people. The reason being they dared support the liberation of South Africa. His only source of strength, was the support he got from the apartheid regime led by PW Botha. They supplied him with the best arms, sometimes helped him with secret commandos.

He wreaked havoc. Mozambican lives were lost. Infrastructure was destroyed, roads and railways planted with land-mines. Zimbabwe was sucked into the conflict too. It had to send its army to help Mozambique survive the onslaught by this surrogate of the apartheid regime. In retaliation Matsangaise (as RENAMO rebels were called in Zimbabwe) began hit and run raids into Zimbabwe, killing and maiming many people along the long border with Mozambique.

It was Zimbabwe's army that broke Renamo's back at Casa Banana and in Gorongosa, showing the apartheid regime that efforts to defend itself through surrogates would not work.

Samora Machel death

Mozambique's commitment to South Africans liberation was so unselfish and so un-shirking that Mozambique's first president, Samora Moises Machel died on South African soil. The theory believed by some is that his plane was diverted by a false beacon set up by agents of the apartheid regime. Instead of approaching Maputo the plane followed a beacon into the hills of Nkomati where it crashed. Some claims say Machel survived but was finished off by South African agents.

Why did this happen to Machel? Because he was an unwavering and committed supporter of South Africa's liberation. A policy he pursued at great cost to his own country, and people. That is what African brotherhood is about.

In 2008 Ernesto Nhamauve perished. Like many Africans delighted at the liberation of South Africa he had moved there, thinking he was going to live among brothers. Alas! He was mistaken. He died at the hands of the very people his native country suffered so much to liberate. He died a painful tortured death. He was necklaced. Burnt alive. An image of him on his hands and knees engulfed in flames still haunts the memories of many.

He was necklaced in a street full of people. Journalists' cameras were busy clicking away at the spectacle of his death. The police were there. An image of one of them using an industrial fire extinguisher, belatedly smothering the flames that took his life, also haunts many memories. The people who necklaced him were photographed. Many bystanders from the area were also photographed. To any competent police force, there were hundreds of leads that could have led to the arrest of his killers.

To this day, seven long years later, not single person has been brought to trial for his murder. This day, Ernesto's people, and other Africans, are again targets of the very same people they suffered so much to help liberate.

When you listen South African leaders speak, they sound like they are more worried about apologising to South Africans for the presence of foreigners than condemning the violence. They often repeat anti-foreigner hearsay, as if trying to offer a context to xenophobia. That is if they admit xenophobia is taking place right now. In most cases they offer the hollow excuse of it being 'only a few criminal elements'.

Assassinations and bombings

When ANC offices and safe-houses in Harare were infiltrated and bombed by PW Botha's agents on 19 May 1986, Robert Mugabe was at the scene the very following morning. His declaration of commitment to South Africa's liberation was not laboured, punctuated by excuses or tongue-chewing statements.

"Zimbabwe will not be deterred from rendering assistance to the liberation movement of South Africa", he clearly declared. In Zambia, also attacked on the same day, Kenneth Kaunda immediately promised revenge for the attacks on the ANC.

Contrast that with the doddering response to xenophobia. Zuma has to be cajoled into saying anything at all, let alone show concern by visiting victims.

Yet today, people who are enjoying the fruits of that liberation, chew their tongues when Mozambicans, Zimbabweans and Zambians are attacked for absolutely no reason. They show more sympathy for criminal activity than they show for human rights.

Zambia and Malawi were liberated. Mozambique and Angola were liberated. Then Zimbabwe was liberated. As each of these countries got freedom, they immediately picked up the task of helping the next country. The frontline of liberation slowly marched southward, until only South Africa was left.

Cornered, the apartheid regime thought the best way to halt the steady march of liberation, was to take the battle to those countries that were already liberated. At first they used surrogates like RENAMO and Super Zapu (not Zapu). Then they send in their commandos and army into the places that troubled them the most.

Cuito Cuanavale

The biggest modern military battle ever fought on African soil, was at Cuito Cuanavale. Angola was the main host and trainer of Umkhontho weSizwe and SWAPO fighters. PW Botha had decided to send in his army to deal with the growing problems of MK and SWAPO once and for all.

It was when their army lost the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola, that the apartheid regime came to the realisation that their only way out was to negotiate. If they didn't they would eventually be driven into the sea.

The battle of Cuito Cuanavale was fought in early 1988. The SADF (not SANDF) had gone into Angola to hunt MK and SWAPO. By the time it ended the apartheid regime were already negotiating with SWAPO.

Less than a year later, on 9 December 1988 they transferred Nelson Mandela to low security Victor Verster prison and started secretly negotiating with the ANC. Three years later in 1991, fist raised, Mandela walked out of Victor Verster prison with Winnie by his side. He led South Africa to freedom. That was after Cuito Cuanavale broke apartheid's back.

It was not one or two foreigners who died to liberate South Africa, but thousands. Tens of thousands if we take into the apartheid regime's support for RENAMO. All that suffering by neighbouring countries was a DIRECT result of hosting the ANC and its armed wing Umkhontho weSizwe.

Jacob Zuma he know that. Yet he doesn't tell his son Edward to shut-up when he spews nonsense against foreigners.

ANC leaders seem more worried about apologising to South Africans for the presence of foreigners. Who is going to apologise to the thousands of foreign people who were killed, not for some speculative reasons, but for hosting the ANC and its armed wing the MK.

When ANC operatives were under attack from the apartheid regime - pursued relentlessly by people like Eugene de Kock whom they are now busy protecting, we did not just host them, we fought for them. Where is the ANC fighting for us?

One hand does not wash itself. It was when the two hands of South Africans struggling internally, and the frontline states fighting the apartheid military where they could, washed each other, that the filth of apartheid and racist idiocy was finally washed away from our continent. Now if one hand is cutting off the other one, one day it will be unable to wash itself.

I would like to ask Goodwill, did Samora Machel die so that his people could be necklaced on Johannesburg streets? Were ANC safe-houses bombed killing Zimbabweans so that Zimbabwean toddlers and their mothers could be burnt on Durban streets?

Xenophobia: Economic benefit is not a one way street

If the South African government are not serious about tackling xenophobia then they should not be serious about trading with the rest of Africa.

All the goods being shipped to the Congo mining industries, to the Zambia copper belt. All the South African retail giants pushing northwards, Pick n'Pay, Shoprite, Makro.

All the minerals being shipped from the DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Just drive on the N1 freeway and watch how many convoys of trucks carrying copper you see. Everyday at Beitbridge there is a kilometre long queue of trucks ferrying South African goods to markets up north.

They should stop telling us the bullshit that we are just sucking their economy and busy contributing nothing. The other way is more true. They are busy sucking our resources to build their economy.

The Congolese and Zambians are following their copper here. If you don't want them here then stop going to get their copper. We Zimbabweans are following our platinum here. South African companies are refusing to build refineries up in Zimbabwe despite the well known demands of our president.

Billions of rands worth of goods are shipped to Zimbabwe every day. If you don't want the factories making those goods to employ Zimbabweans then stop the export of the goods.

Before they start chasing foreigners out of townships, South Africans should go to Beit Bridge, Martins Drift, Komatipoort and other borders to block the importation of raw materials and the export of South African goods.

Let South African ministers, kings, sons of presidents and others knock one fact into their heads. There is a reason why the ruling establishment gave them token freedom in 1994. They wanted sanctions removed so that the country could benefit from trade. South Africa is reaping those benefits now. If they want to throw them away for the sake of xenophobia, fine they can go ahead. But they should not say we did not warn them.

If South Africa want to be part of a regional integrated economy then they should know that economic interaction involves goods and people. It is not just a one way street.

The South African government needs to be serious about managing that integration. They should stop being lackadaisical about xenophobia

Lost and disoriented: The West's policy in the Middle East

I have never imagined that I would see such low levels of human depravity since Joseph Mengele skinning children alive and sewing them together to try and create Siamese twins from living people. Today I watched a video of ISIS terrorists setting a man alight with what is their version of pomp and ceremony.

What is the world coming to? Does anybody know how to stop this? Does anybody have a vision and policies that will work in the Middle East? Certainly not the USA and their allies in my personal opinion. They are passengers in a runaway train just like the rest of us. Unfortunately, that runaway train is our entire world.

Nobody is saying it in as many words but to anyone with half a brain it is clear that the USA'S policy in the Middle East is in a pathetic and confused shambles. Past decisions have lacked vision. They have also been steeped in dangerously overconfident ignorance.

If we look at the history of Al Qaeda and now the Islamic State, the bottom line is that it is American money and support that has been incubating the most problematic terrorists. When they are chicks, the Americans are busy pampering and feeding them, but when they grow damaging beaks and claws, the Americans start crying foul.

 I remember that Dubya's rhetoric in the run-up to the 2001 invasion of Iraq. It was all about fostering democracy and exporting American ideals to Iraq. If things had gone according the vision he espoused, Iraq by now would be a liberal democratic society bordering on becoming the 52nd US state.

Nobody foresaw the quagmire of tribes and sects butchering each other that it is now. It is a place teeming with two cent tribalists threatening to export terror to the entire world, turning the USA into an Islamic province in their own words.

American politicians can be excused for their ignorance. America is a migrant society where virtually nobody belongs to a tribe. Consequently they do not understand the power of tribal loyalties, and the magma-like simmering of long standing tribal rivalries and sects. When such simmering grievances erupt, it is with volcanic violence.

Rwanda is an example of how quickly and seemingly suddenly tribal and sectarian violence can escalate. Tribal mistrust can last for generations. It cannot be swiftly puffed away by lofty ideals like democracy and liberalism. Tribal differences passed from generation to generation for centuries by word of mouth are difficult to erase.

Conflict has a way of quickly finding these tribal fault lines and tear them apart rather. Divisions rarely persist along the lines that outsiders may have wanted or imagined. Look at how the conflict in Iraq and Syria has quickly found the sectarian fault lines, rather than be idealistic struggles of democrats against oppressors. Oh, not to forget Libya too.

I have been trying to wrap my small mind around the issues of the Middle East. It might not be big enough to cover a very big problem but my simplified understanding is as follows.

The Americans have a history of buying oil from Sunni Saudi Arabia. The 1979 Islamic revolution in Shia led Iran humiliated them. The Sunni Egypt and Jordan signed a peace agreement with their close ally Israel. The Shia led Syria refused. To me it becomes understandable why the Americans have been pandering to the whims of the Sunni sect for the past three decades.

Unfortunately that has drawn the Americans into a sectarian conflict in Western lifestyle and ideals are the perfect symbols of decadence and sin loathed by the more extreme side. The West is not a role model for these extremists as Dubya fooled himself into believing, but the ultimate target in their effort to wipe out what they see as decadent and sinful lifestyles blocking the road to their version of religious Utopia.

Instead of privately reigning in wild allies, the West they stick by them. I do not mean Israel, but allies like Saudi Arabia. I do not know if the West have noticed that Saudi Arabia is the only state that beheads convicts. It is the role model of an Islamic state which ISIS are trying to better.

It seems, for the West, everything is fine when Islamists are beheading hundreds of Arabs, migrant workers and the occasional teenage girl. It only becomes a scandal when exactly the same principles are used to behead a couple of Westerners.

Saudi Arabia has been beheading convicts for decades without as much as a murmur of protest from the West. Indeed, the other day I saw a photograph of Prince Charles, resplendent in garb typical of a Saudi be-header, busy hobnobbing with the elite.

Beheading should not only be reprehensible when done by ISIS. All people who respect human dignity should oppose it whenever it happens, and never appear to condone it.

Right now the most efficient way to fight ISIS would be to get the Syrian government to regain control of its territory. However for some twisted reason, the West would rather have a three way fight, whose outcome they do not know. Their strategists may think otherwise, but I have as much faith in them as I have in a n'anga (witch-doctor) promising to attach back the head of a dead person and bring him back to life.

Why the Western educated Bashar is such anathema to them I do not understand. They hate him so much that they would rather take their chances with some tribal morons who have little knowledge of the world beyond their desert hideouts. That is what ISIS are. ISIS came out of the rebels the West are now busy calling 'moderate'.

Yes Bashar is a dictator but I think it is easier to manage him than it is to manage ISIS. Besides transition in Syria can always be pressured onto him through negotiations. That transition might not yield exactly what the West wants, but whatever it will be I am willing to bet that it will be a better animal than ISIS.

Je suis Charlie

Many Islamic bodies have been attempting to justify the cold blooded butchery of innocent Charlie Hebdo cartoonists. They claim Charlie Hebdo disrespected Islamic values.

The moment you imply that, you are insinuating that the magazine needed some form of punishment or censure. I do not agree to that.

If I am not a Muslim, I do not live under Islamic laws. Therefore for me, and other non-Muslims, publishing pictures of Prophet Mohamed is not blasphemy or disrespecting Islam. It is just a form of freedom of expression, a necessary component of any society if they are to openly debate issues.

It is wrong for anyone, to impose limits on our liberties because of their rules, not our rules. If you kill us for not following your values, may I ask, would it be right for us to kill you for not respecting our values of liberty. We hold our values dear, the very same way you hold your values dear, if not more so.

No one should ever take our lives, simply for upholding our values as free humans. Liberty is not an option. It is a necessity.

Charlie Hebdo did not commit one iota of wrong.