Dear Donald

Dear Donald

I never thought you would want to become a duck, but it seems you are working very hard to make yourself a sitting one.

Whoever told you that people can be terrorists on the basis of their religion forgot to tell you that Christians have been terrorists since the times of crusaders. We are in a modern enlightened world but your actions and so called convictions are no different from those who burned Joan of Arc at the pyre for being a heretic. I demand that you remove my African brothers and Muslims from your pyre of hate.

The chaos and legal setbacks that immediately succeeded your dictatorial order suggest that you are ignorant of the laws of the country you lead. On a whim, you have thrown people who have diligently followed the laws of your country to the dogs, literally leaving some of them stranded in the air.

I would expect such behaviour from small minded dictators like Kim Jong-un. It seems the two of you share more than hairstyles. You both think your personal word and beliefs constitute the law of the land. Please do not take America back to the dark ages. The world needs an enlightened America not the fascist fiefdom you are trying to make it.

Your behaviour would have seen Benito and Adolf puffing up their chests with pride in you. If anyone can muster a smile inside The Inferno they are probably chuckling now.

Your executive order does not improve security in slightest. Determined terrorists can easily arrange fake passports from numerous countries not on your list. The fact that you can even imagine that such a measure will work suggests that you are clueless about how international travel and national registries work worldwide.

Your pompous ignorance is what is a real danger to American security. You are like a man who is busy showing the village how good he is at dancing to fireworks, by setting his house is on fire - divorced from reality.

Whatever you criteria for selecting countries whose citizens to ban was, it has precious little to do with terrorism. Otherwise you would not have left out a country whose nationals organised the biggest terrorist attack on American soil, the World Trade Centre plane attack. A nation who citizens are said to be among the chief sponsors of the terrorist organisation you claim to be fighting, ISIS.

In case you haven't noticed, your rhetoric is already inspiring terrorism. A terrorist who has professed admiration of you has just killed six people in Canada. Given that you inspire terrorists, perhaps it is time you signed an executive order barring yourself from the USA.

I am glad you are discovering that it takes more than tweety fingers to run a country. Especially one as big and critically important in the world as the United States.

Please stop making America unsafe. It also makes the rest of the world unsafe,

Zimbabwe: There is absolutely nothing to blame SADC for

Those who insist on blaming SADC for Mugabe's continued rule in Zimbabwe are completely wrong. Recently SADC has been negatively contrasted with ECOWAS after the recent events in The Gambia. Some people also cite ECOWAS' role in the Ivory Coast.

These people are comparing snort apples (matobwe) and bananas. ECOWAS had solid grounds to support both Quattara and Barrow. SADC never had similar grounds.

In The Gambia Barrow was declared the winner and the Colonel General Professor Doctor Jammeh (profound apologies for leaving out the rest of the half-page paragraph of his titles) even conceded defeat. ECOWAS had solid grounds to support the official outcome of an election.

In the Ivory Coast, like Zimbabwe, there was a first round of elections in which there was no winner. A second round was held and Quattara won 54%. Gbagbo then CANCELLED the results of seven districts that supported Quattara resulting in himself becoming the winner.

The United Nations and ECOWAS decided to uphold the official results announced by the IEC. They had solid grounds for supporting an official election outcome.

In the case of Zimbabwe there was a first round is which THERE WAS NO OFFICIAL WINNER. A second round was held. Tsvangirai then WITHDREW from the second round GIFTING Mugabe a clear victory. I had actually wanted to say 'the coward Tsvangirai' but I will hold that back.

Tell me what should SADC have done? Force Tsvangirai back into the election?

In any case Mugabe had offered to negotiate with Tsvangirai BEFORE the runoff. The latter rebuffed the offer.

After Mugabe's UNCHALLENGED victory, what SADC then facilitated was a coalition given the opposition's official strong showing. That was a very pragmatic approach and Tsvangirai should thank SADC for helping him get into government after he had officially lost the election, and failed to negotiate for himself despite Mugabe's willingness.

To those who claim rigging let me point out that not once have Zimbabwe elections or outcomes ever been challenged in court. The one time that Tsvangirai did make noises about a court challenge, in2013, he later withdrew it. Himself, cited the lack of rigging evidence for the withdrawal.

There is nothing to blame SADC for.

Pragmatism: Why The Gambia Type Scenario Won't Work in Zimbabwe

I want to be sauntering lackadaisically in the lush green plains of Manyene listening to the side splitting jokes of my elders like mudhara Hahuhunazvi (nickname meaning "you won't lick this beer").

I want to be able to go to Chambara or Nyamhere clinic and get painkillers if I have a headache. I long for the days as I child when I would dread a visit to the clinics because it was guaranteed I would get a 'jekiseni' (antibiotic injection).

Those days are no more. Our country is in a terrible state. Ruled by people who would rather spend millions of US dollars going kusikero (post-natal baby inspection and weighing) in a foreign country than spend a few hundred thousands dollars making sure every clinic is well stoked with medicines.

I want to be building my homestead (kuvaka musha) rather than toiling in a foreign land trying to raise some cash to send my relatives back home. I want the economic gangrene that has infected Zimbabwe to be amputated and thrown onto the rubbish heap of history.

I want my country to stop being the shebeen example (and every sundry drinking place) of bad management. A country that any drunkard so sloshed that they have got only a few brain cells left in working order, if you ask them "Which is the worst managed country in the world?" they will slur out "Zimbabwe" in that half passed-out state.

I want my skills and expertise to benefit my people without risking starving myself. I want a country that simply works.

No matter how desperately I want proper leadership in Zimbabwe, I will not be fooled into thinking that a Gambia scenario will work in my country. The Gambia is a country that is barely 20km across and maybe an odd 150km long. The length of the country would fit in the distance from my home town of Chivhu to Harare. The width of the country would leave out places like Mhondoro Mubayira and Manyene if Simon Mazorodze road were a line running down the centre of the country. Chitungwiza would be a border town.

It is entirely surrounded by Senegal except for a thin sliver of beautiful beaches on the Atlantic. Its army is made up of a mighty 2500 soldiers. It has never fought in any wars. The army's most strenuous experience has been harassing Jammeh's opponents. Relative to Zimbabwe it is a toy army.

Zimbabwe has more than 80'000 militarily trained personnel (army, air force and police) in active service. The armed forced have fought in several engagements in the past few decades, from Mozambique to the DRC. The Gambia's most strenuous engagements have been sending 200 soldiers on UN peace keeping missions.

There is no regional army that can take out Zimbabwe's army in a few hours of marching like was done in the Gambia. You can be assured that any war will be brutal, lengthy and have no guaranteed outcome.

Having foreigners occupy the fiercely proud people of Zimbabwe will also be a problem. You can be guaranteed that triggering violence will lead to lengthy internecine violence like Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

We need to solve the Zimbabwe situation, but let us not imagine that a The Gambia scenario is one of the solutions.