The other day, I sent my son to the bank to cash a cheque I had issued in his favour.
The cheque bounced.
Oh, there were sufficient funds in the account, alright. It is my signature that bounced!
I then went to the bank in person and tried to cash a cheque in my own name. That, too, was rejected.
Over the years, my signature had slowly shifted away from the sample signatures that I had provided the bank with.
I was called into an inner office where I was shown the sample signatures. The signatures were mine but they were different. My signatures no longer mirrored the specimens I had provided my banker with.
We had transferred trust of each other to a scribbling on a piece of paper and the bank held me responsible for supplying it with the same signature whenever I did business with them.
I had become a prisoner to my own signature; without it, no money.
The bank manager said the inconvenience had been perpetrated for my own protection.
Thank God for ATM Cards and PIN codes!
Unfortunately, Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC party cannot use ATM Cards in lieu of their signatures on national documents.
A signature is a representative of its owner; it remains valid long after we die.
MDC-Tsvangirai must take note: signatures validate a deliberate thought, arrangement or promise that occurred or was agreed upon at some time before now.
Even the “Last will in Testament” is validated by the signature of one who is long departed.
After putting their signatures on it, leaders swear, on the Bible, to uphold constitutions of their country, organization or company.
The power of a constitution lies in that it is not a personal document but is a “users’ guide” that has to be respected, used and followed by everyone who aspires to operate within the parameters of that country, organization or company.
But, apparently, in Africa a signature or constitution is just like a letter to “Dearest Mummy”.
A few weeks ago, Giles Mutsekwa, Tsvangirai’s co-minister of Home Affairs, appended his signature to a document that specified and forcibly took over one of the largest companies in Zimbabwe.
Mutsekwa later said that he was not aware of the significance of the document, admitting to signing a document that acquired, by force, one of Zimbabwe’s most prosperous companies without even thinking about the weight of his signature.
The signature was on behalf of the nation.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for the police department and for the issuance of passports as well as birth and death certificates. Yet Mutsekwa did not care to scrutinise a document before signing it, or so he claims.
Mutsekwa now wants to retract his signature.
After being throttled by the Constitution, Robert Mugabe set the regrettable precedent of ignoring the constitution, picking up disciples along the way.
Lovemore Madhuku, of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), betrayed NCA members by simply rebuffing the NCA constitution.
He steadfastly refused to step down and ran for extra terms, a terrible indictment on a lawyer who reportedly teaches Law to University of Zimbabwe students.
To this day he remains the chairman of the NCA.
Tsvangirai, after being “caught” by the MDC constitution, also openly refused to respect the party’s constitution and held on to the presidency of the organization.
While today Tsvangirai supporters acknowledge that he did indeed violate his party’s constitution, they also appreciate that had he not ignored the constitution, there wouldn’t be any MDC to speak of, nor would there be a government of national unity.
Tsvangirai is Prime Minister today because he violated his own party’s constitution.
On September 30, 2007 the MDC put their signatures on the Kariba Draft Constitution.
A year later, on September 15, 2008 that draft became ‘Annexure B To The Power-sharing Agreement’ with the consent of the MDC.
Elections are now looming on the Zimbabwean political horizon. And Mugabe is in top gear.
“We look forward to the new constitution and for us (Zanu-PF), we will go by the Kariba Draft,” said Mugabe, “That’s what we agreed upon. Every page of that draft has signatures of all parties and there’s no way anyone can run away from it.”
But, in spite of signing “every page of that document”, the MDC no longer wants the Kariba Draft Constitution to be part of the political process anymore.
Earlier, the MDC admitted to signing the power-sharing agreement before negotiations had been completed and that is precisely what is causing problems for them today.
Thus attorney general Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono have become the MDC’s rallying point, calling them “outstanding issues”.
Even after they realised that Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa had made changes to the Global Political Agreement without consulting the MDC, the MDC president appeared robust on stage with Mugabe and again signed the deal in front of SADC Heads of State and the international media.
Speaking of Chinamasa, in August, the man wrote a letter to the SADC Tribunal advising them that Zimbabwe “was withdrawing from all tribunal proceedings”.
Although Chinamasa is a “legitimate” member of government, sworn in by Mugabe in Tsvangirai’s presence, Tsvangirai said what Chinamasa did was null and void.
“The decision to pull out of the SADC Tribunal was a comment by an individual minister and the country cannot be bound by that,” said Tsvangirai.
Yes, the country can be bound by that, Mr Tsvangirai!
These people are, unfortunately, Tsvangirai’s legitimate partners in this fake arrangement and Tsvangirai knows it.
A signature is a reminder that, wherever you go, wherever you might be, you must remember a responsibility that you, some time before today, promised to undertake or carry out.
After signing countless documents without bothering to consult or listening to the people, the MDC now wants to rope in the masses.
How shall we fire people we did not hire into this government of national unity?
Nelson Chamisa, MDC spokesperson, says that consulting the people is meant “to allow members of the public to give their views on whether or not the inclusive government ‘is still a worthy project’.
“We are simply throwing the argument to the people,” said Chamisa. “Do they think this (government of national unity) is a worthy project?”
May I remind Mr Chamisa that a signature represents good faith, which, from where I sit, is lacking on the part of both the MDC and Zanu-PF?
The MDC signed many documents against the wishes of the people and now they are literally “throwing the argument to the people”.
It’s not even our argument like he says.
We never thought the government of national unity was a worthy project. We tried to tell Tsvangirai and the MDC the same message but we were ignored.
Said Mutsekwa only last week: “My personal attitude is that if you want to make a good leader, you listen to everybody and, unless you are capable of listening, then you are no different from the dictatorship that Zimbabweans have experienced from Zanu-PF.”
Mutsekwa should direct this to his party president who now appears to be listening to the people less and less.
MDC, IOU? N-o!
