SPECIAL CASE OF A LAWYER - JACOB MAFUME Sunday Special With Itai Dzamara MDCs headquarters Harvest House was never bombed in recent times, but someone is still busy searching for his corner in prison for that crime. Leonard Dendera (Lego) was jailed for eight months last week for attempting to bomb Harvest House, in a saga that has everything political and wholly symptomatic of one of the scandalous side shows of the MDC rebels political drama of this year. Granted, it can be argued, reasonably, that Lego was found to have had intention to commit the crime, yet, l am convinced, a good lawyer would have helped him escape with a lighter sentence. He, according to the state case, was found close to Harvest House a couple of months ago, with a pack of materials known for causing petrol bombs, such as fertilizer and petrol. The drama includes that Lego actually was the first to report a case to the police, alleging to have been assaulted by MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora on the night which turned to have been supposedly set for the bombing of Harvest House. I reiterate, the issues that went before court could have been handled in a manner that would have helped Lego get less punishment, and there is a deeper dimension thereof - the purpose of my writing here. I know Lego personally. He is one of many MDC members and activists l have met and interacted with over the years, through pretty similar processes and circumstances, of them mainly clashing with me over my journalism before developing to appreciate and respect me. Lego, a stone thrower type of activist, once slighlty pushed and shoved me at Harvest House in typical attempt to assault me over what was deemed my unfavourable journalism by some in the MDC, in 2011. Since then, like with many MDC activists, we developed a warm and interactive engagement. About five weeks ago, l met Lego, together with Pardon Mandishona Maingehama in Harare CBD, and, they became agitated and enthusiastic. Maingehama did not know me in person and so was thrilled when Lego identified me - unavoidably, all hell broke loose. They both jumped onto it, in typical, tried and tested fashion. They poured out their emotions and accused me of, among several things, working flat out to fight and destroy the MDC Renewal through journalism. I had a couple of minutes to spare, so, l patiently listened to them, and, especially as Maingehama enthusiastically ranted and raved all over, pleading journalism ethics, alleging l was on a payroll of Nelson Chamisa and so forth. He was like an overzealous young lawyer grandstanding in court over a case he knew to be easily winnable and set to raise his profile, meteorically. Coincidentally, Pardon was dressed in a neat designer suit, and orange neck tie, clearly representing the branding of the camp of MDC rebels, of the orange colour. Lego was putting on an orange T-Shirt, and at one time taunted me by holding it up to my face saying proudly orange, as he assumed Pardon to be circumcising the journalist that l am. None of us never had the slightest of imaginations about where Lego would be five weeks later - prison - and over exactly what l then unpacked to the two lads. After Pardon had exhausted his energies, l took my turn, and, hit with a big stick, in line with my brother Patson Dzamaras obsessive slogan. I allowed the two political activists to choose how they would continue judging me as a journalist, but then mesmerised them with facts. I answered each and every of their complaints and queries about my writings on the Biti rebellion with facts and comparison with reality and how events later unfolded. For example, l put it to them, as if saying, my lady, that, as l consistently predicted that the rebellion would flop, had l been proved right or wrong. I challenged them to point at any prediction or analysis l had made about their rebellion, which had not proved to be accurate. There were blanks. Gradually, Pardon started softening, and the excuse or regret became, But mudhara, that being the case, munozotinyanya kuti exposer and musingabvumburudze paHarvest House apo. The case had been decidedly won, and, the two chaps had climbed down from their high horses. I had changed into mukoma, or mudhara. Then, they took off their masks. So, mukoma, how would you advise us given the way things have gone? How can we rescue the mission, and make progress as an alternative political party? Pardon respectfully inquired. I always spare moments to honestly and objectively provide my assessments and views whenever colleagues make such requests. I recently enjoyed such a session with Themba Mliswa - will leave it for another day. Back to Pardon and Lego. I went into my lecturing groove and articulated the roots of their political outfits trouble - which, Lego must be regretting, precisely have plunged him into prison, quite unnecessarily. And, one young man called Jacob Mafume is symbolic of the whole story. I told Pardon and Lego that, from the beginning, the MDC rebels have tried to fool themselves, and continued to sink into a sea of self delusion, into iredeemable political doom. At the crux of it all, the MDC rebels always tried to do things they virtually had no capacity of, yet, with a consistent fatal streak of choosing to count their noise as progress. In short - because l have to return to Mafume, and a special case of him - the MDC rebels almost always staged farces and acts of deceptions, which they would choose to believe and fall for, lock, stock and barrel - whilst the people watched with ridicule and scorn. I summed it up to Pardon and Lego by questioning, as l have always done, just why the Biti gang couldnt simply pronounce an honest position of having fallen out with the Tsvangirai leadership and move out to form their own party. I have always believed the MDC rebels would have done far much better and gained symathy and respect of many people if they had done that, rather than their ill-advised plot of cheating, lying, acting and trying to be mischivously smart - which severely damaged them. They thought to have a strategy, they hoped would culminate into them winning key battles out of the rigmarole and chaos they created. There, enter Jacob Mafume, because he has been the disastrous symbol of that strategy and plan to win key battles. I met and interviewed Mafume in May, and, like everyone else, after the questioning and answering, he found me to be not what he thought - he opened up and also ended up getting or two advices from me. I made it clear to Mafume what his and the Biti camps tragic flaw was, and would always be - staging their foolish and delusional farce before the whole world and towards their political doom. Now, Mafume doubles as the lawyer of the Biti outfit, where he has done a calamitous farce, worse than his boobs as spokesman. Poor Jacob, he has so far lost half a dozen of cases, ranging from battles for property, the legitimacy of Mandel coup attempt, and all the way to assault of Elton Mangoma, as well as Lego, who is now probably getting induction on how to co-exist with Robert Muga, oh sorry, Martin Gumbura. Two very important points about Mafumes consistent defeat by his opposite number, Mwonzora. The quickest one first. Arguably, Jacob is proving to be highly incompetent as a lawyer, because, surely, he could have done better in some of the cases, especially Legos. But, that is sympotamic of everything about the Biti camp. Really from nowhere, Jacob just emerged to assume his multi-roles, key ones for that matter, the same way much of the Biti gangs things were hotch potch, knee jerk, excitable plunges. Jacob could have laboured through his law studies, but, l have no doubt, he needs a lot of growing before taking up cases in court. I have always found him to be a disaster as spokesman but, it is worst in the courtroom, certainly. Lastly, and the second point, Mafume - the special case of a lawyer - probably was cursed from the beginning, and inevitably, because, he was always going to try and defend lies, acts of deception, delusional antics and blatant foolishness. I am sure he sometimes recalls me, after our May interview, looking him in the eye and saying, Jacob, please stop fooling yourself, do you seriously believe you can successfully sell Mandel and all these gimmicks in a normal process or court? I recall that he shrugged, raised his hands and said, We have strategies and ammunition we know will work, but, like l said, l cant reveal to you now. That remains the Mafume scandal, and he may also end up greeting Robert Martin Gumbura - because, not only is Jacob trying to defend lies and deceptions, the young man is deeply ensconced in their creation and attempts to sell them.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 14:38:19 +0000
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