Rugby World Cup 2011

This post is to all the Rugby fans out there. I'm here at home waiting for the first Semi-Final to kick off (01:00 AM Pacific Time). I have to admit, I've only watched the first game (New Zealand V Tonga) live. Work, family, and time-distance have conspired to keep me from watching more live games. Mercifully, you can now follow all the highlights online, and that's what I've being doing. I always enjoy watching the Pacific Islands teams (Fiji, Tonga and Samoa) and I've always had a soft-spot for the English (colonial sentiments). But this year was not the year for either the English nor the Pacific Islands teams. The French are in the semis, but this is not the French team of old, playing with Gallic flair. This team is more mechanical (less Latin, more Teutonic). Rather, it's the Argentines who have have been playing with what I would call "French Flair".

I no longer can roll off the names of Welsh and Scottish players off-the-top-of-my-head like I could as a schoolboy. I think Gavin Hastings was the last Scottish player I could recall. I wish the Welsh all the best in their semi-final game against France. I feel sorry for the Japanese. They always play with heart, but rugby is a physical game, and they're just too small of stature to compete. I do wish that they would "borrow" some players from the Pacific Islands just to make up for their lack of size.

I've never been a fan of the Springboks, despite the gallery of Zimbabwean players they always exhibit. I wasn't sad to see them lose in their quarter-finals against the Aussies. This leaves us with the All-Blacks, who I presume will beat the Aussies tomorrow and then go on to win the final next week. They've hosted a great tournament. Too bad it's bang in the middle of a packed sporting calendar-year. It's been a great tournament, and a great showpiece for the great sport of rugby.

Mo Ibrahim Prize For 1st Ladies

I'm still stunned at Rupiah Banda's graceful exit from Zambia's political scene. Given past African history, and the fact that it was a tight race, I was expecting mayhem on a grand scale. I was expecting the loser, President Banda, to resist stepping down by all means, plunging Zambia into chaos. But, no such thing happened. President Banda conceded defeat to the challenger, Michael Sata, and wished him well as the next President. Amazing!

Some pundits have proposed that Rupiah Banda be awarded this year's Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership, but I suggest an even more revolutionary stance: let's have Mo Ibrahim establish an award for African 1st Ladies, in order to encourage good behaviour and to help our young African democracies firmly establish democratic principles. Furthermore, I propose that the 1st winner of this  award should be Mrs. Thandiwe Banda, Zambia's former 1st Lady.

We can never know the wise counsel that Thandiwe Banda offered to her husband, Rupiah, but let's presume that it was bloody good! In our young, African democracies, the 1st lady is often the Chief-of-Staff of the President, and his most trusted counselor. If she gives faulty counsel, then things in that African tend to fall apart. Think of Cote D'Ivoire under the Laurent Gbagbo/Simone Gbagbo tandem. That 1st lady from hell, Simone Gbagbo, was almost as responsible for the chaos that engulfed Cote D'Ivoire as her husband Laurent Gbagbo

Let's thank our ancestors for having Mrs Thandiwe Banda as Zambia's 1st lady at such an important time in Africa's democratic transition. I don't know what candid advice she gave Rupiah, but it worked! And once again, I'm proposing her for the first recipient of The Mo Ibrahim Prize for 1st Ladies. I salute Mrs Thandiwe Banda; she is a genuine heroine.

How Great Zimbabwe Was Built

More on the subject of who built Zimbabwe and also, how the great stone monument was built. There is a lot of literature on this subject written by African authors. In my opinion Aeneas Chigwedere and the late David Beach (a white Zimbabwean), are the best authorities on this subject. You can also add Innocent Pikirayi, Stan Mudenge and Pathisa Nyathi. Below is an extract from Pathisa Nyathi's book, "Zimbabwe's Cultural Heritage", where he himself relates a conversation he had with Prof. Ken Mufuka on how Great Zimbabwe was built.

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He says, "The Shona are renowned for their stone architecture. Stoned walled structures are found in several parts of Zimbabwe (Khami, Danamomombe, Dzimbahwe), as well as in Northern South Africa." He then goes on to retell a conversation he had with Prof Ken Mufuka on how the stone structures were actually built. "Great Zimbabwe was built of granite, which was found in abundance in the area (present-day Masvingo Province). Construction was done off-season, and no slave-labour was used. Tributary chiefs sent their subjects to undertake construction work. Granite blocks were obtained by applying fire to the stone and then pouring cold water onto the hot rock. The sudden cooling and contraction caused the rock to split. Rocks so obtained were then chiselled into rectangular blocks."

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Africa's Leaky Political Institutions

Chinua Achebe stated that the central problem facing modern-day Africa was one of bad governance. Ah!, but what was the medium, the social framework, that allowed these "bad Governors" to flourish in modern-day Africa. In my opinion, I'd say that what ails Africa the most is chronically faulty institutions. Our Central problem is less a problem of odious individuals in politics, but rather, one of leaky political institutions (that allow these same odious individuals to flourish unhindered, in their own high depths of depravity).

Political commentators will trot out the same institutions needed for social progress (enforceable property rights, the sanctity of contracts, press freedoms, apolitical militaries etc, etc). But, only two essential ingredients are needed to put Africa onto the path of greater progress: term limits and greater press freedoms. If all African Presidents and Prime Ministers were limited to only two terms (with each term lasting four or five years) then we could have the dynamism and change that's needed for any society to flourish. Furthermore, there must not be a proviso that allows our tin-pot dictators to amend the Constitution (with a Parliamentary majority), in order to run again for political office. It would be either one term or a second, and then you're out! We could avoid the situation (of Guinea's ex-President) Lansana Conte who stayed in office for a grand total of 24 years. Ten of those years in office were spent in bed-ridden isolation, as the rudderless country of Guinea lurched from one problem to another.

The second institutional reform that has to be allowed is greater press freedoms. We might never be able to root out corruption or tribalism, but at least with greater press freedoms, we will know where we stand and what needs to be done. If it weren't for Wikileaks we might not have learnt of President Mugabe's health problems or some of the inner schisms that beset the ruling Zanu-pf. We need a vigorous press that's allowed to flourish, and engage and debate with the nation on the various goings-on. It's essential to have greater press freedoms, as living in the dark runs counter to the smooth functioning of the democratic process

Black-Libyans, Syrian-Christians & Afro-Cubans

There is an important aspect of authoritarian regimes that's often left unstated, and that is that they often do a good job of keeping racial/religious/linguistic tensions under wraps. In my own personal experience, I've found Libyans to be the most vulgar racists amongst all Arabs, and yet under Col. Gaddafi's regime, this primitive racism was kept under wraps. Now, with the probable demise of the Gaddafi regime, we're seeing Blacks (native Black-Libyans, as well as Sub-Saharan Africans) being massacred on the streets of Tripoli and Benghazi.

In the same vein, The Christians of Syria enjoy a level of peace and security that would be impossible in any other Arab/Islamic State (with the exception of Lebanon). They must be praying for the continued survival of the Assad regime, however sinister it may be. Regime-change in Syria would probably lead to the mass-migration of Syria's Christians and the demise of that country's ancient, Christian community.

Finally, I bring you to Cuba, which probaby has the best race-relations in all of Latin-America & where Afro-Cubans enjoy the kind of socio-economic progress that has been denied to Afro-Brazilians, for example. What would happen to race-relations in Cuba if Cuban Communism was to be replaced by full-blooded American Capitalism? Cuba's whites (and almost-whites) would probably pitch their tent with the other whites of North America, blatant racism would return with a bang, and all of Cuba's gains in public-health and education would be thrown out the window.

Arab Joke

OK, we have too many problems on this planet, and so it's time for some gallows humour (Jews are the best at this macabre genre). We've got hurricanes and Arab revolutions and Lord-knows-what's-next, so a joke is needed to lighten our load. This is a joke I was told by a Somali friend, way back in College. There are many versions of this joke & you might have heard it already, but it does deserve a re-telling. Here it is:

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Anwar Sadat , Hafez Assad & Muammar Gadhafi are sitting in an underground bunker drinking coffee. Anwar Sadat states that he's just won 90% of the vote in the Egyptian elections. "90%!" blurts out Col. Gadhafi. "What an idiot you are!". He then goes on to add, "Look at our dear brother Hafez over here. He recently won 99.99% of the vote in the Syrian elections. Now here's a smart ruler!" Immediately, Hafez Assad springs to his feet, shaking, in a blind rage. "99.99% of the vote? This is untenable!", he exclaims (waving his finger in the air to punctuate his remarks). He then beckons the head of the Syrian Secret Police, and grunts, "Find me the lone bastard who didn't vote for me!"

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P.S. Anwar Sadat was Egypt's President from 1970-1981 (replaced by Mohamed Hosni Mubarak).

Hafez Assad served as Syria's President from 1971-2000 (replaced, or relieved, by his son Bashar Assad).

R.I.P Rex Nhongo

Late last night I learnt with shock and horror of the untimely death of Gen Solomon Mujuru. He was the 1st commander of Zimbabwe's integrated Armed Forces after independence in 1980, and helped integrate the then separate Rhodesian, Zanla and Zapu elements into a unified force. I was a young lad in England in 1979, when I first saw  "Rex Nhongo" (as he was then named) on British TV. It was the Christmas holidays and all of us, family and friends, were crowded around the TV to watch the triumphant return of the first batch of Zanla and Zipra commanders to return home. I was expecting to see the tall and bearded Josiah Tongogara, but alas, he was never to make it. In his place strolled the smiling Rex Nhongo at the head of the Zanla contingent.

I would later have the pleasure of meeting him on several occasions in the late 80s and mid 90s. He was very humble, didn't talk much, and when he did talk, he talked with a pronounced lisp. He was not the stereotypical soldier that immediately comes to mind. He was also a good drinker and loved his scotch. He hailed from Chikomba (my home district) and after retiring from the army, served as our Member of Parliament from 1994  to 2000.

True, he had his faults, but in the main, he was good man. Sabre-rattling was never his thing; he always respected the civilian politicians in power, and he knew his limits. With only a limited education, he had graduated from the school of hard-knocks and the university of life, rather than from any academic institutions. He was a true Zimbabwean hero, and a gallant freedom-fighter. May his soul forever rest in peace. Gamba redu: mufambe zvakanaka.