Patrick DZVOTI

Software Consultant, Social commentator, Volunteer. From Guruve, Zimbabwe

[Dr. Denver @denvern3]

Robert Mugabe was a cruel, sadistic coward, and incompetent leader. No amount of eulogies will change that. A Pan-Africanist specializing in slaughtering the Africans closest to him. Good riddens!

[Thandekile Moyo @Mamoxn]

Shona privilege is the advantage that comes from belonging to the ethnic and linguistic group that has historically dominated Zimbabwe’s state institutions.

It does not mean every Shona person is rich, powerful or personally connected to Government.
It means that in a system structured to favour Shona people,
Being Shona can give you advantages that non-Shona people do not have.

That is what I mean by Shona privilege.

For example,
During the Gukurahundi genocide,
Speaking Shona could mean being spared,
While those who could not speak it were targeted, killed, raped, disappeared or purged from Government.
When a system decides who lives and who dies,
And your identity is one of the identities it protects,
That is privilege.

Today, we see a different expression of that same structural advantage.

In a national institution whose mandate is to serve and represent a country of many ethnicities and languages,
And whose political leadership and supporters come from across that diversity,
We are presented with a board that is overwhelmingly Shona-named.

The names alone cannot tell us the ethnicity of every individual,
But the pattern of representation is still meaningful.
It shows us who appears to have access to these spaces,
And who continues to be missing from them.

That is Shona privilege.

And when I see a board that is overwhelmingly Shona-named,
I am not only looking at who has been given positions at the top.
I am thinking about where that privilege goes next.

I assume they will appoint predominantly Shona employees.
I assume they will play predominantly Shona music,
Commission predominantly Shona films,
And thus create opportunities predominantly for Shona filmmakers, actors and creatives.

That is how privilege trickles down.

When the people at the top overwhelmingly come from one linguistic and ethnic group,
The benefits of that access can flow through the institution to people from the same group.

That is Shona privilege.

[Freeman @freemanchari]

Countries where people matter. 25 people died & the nation mourned. The president visited to console & take responsibility. In Zimbabwe where goblins rule, 100 pple died in a preventable disaster on a ferry run by the President's office. He did not show any care. No mourning. He did not take responsibility. He did not even visit. Instead he went to South Africa twice. They gave victims $10k. Yesterday we hear he pledged $2 million to a charlatan's church. We are being ruled nembudzi!!!!

[Dr. Denver @denvern3]

My thoughts exactly. He did his part, and just like Morgan before him he was not accepted by others, that's Ok. The field is big enough for different ideologies and tactics, trying to bury Chamisa as an objective is short-sighted and poor. Yes, you don't like him but others do and then what?🤷‍♂️...should everyone become a copy of your brain? Move on, let him be. If he decides to come back in whatever form that's his business, let the people decide. Build your entity, grow it on alternative ideas and not just being "not Chamisa".

[Patrick DZVOTI @DzvotiPatrick]

@Phidze72 @mwwwn201 @sibanda_tobias1 @Simba_LionDRED Tsvangirai was no saint. That said, I think all our politicians are guilty of pushing a tribal agenda one way or the other. ZANU is worse because they use state power to entrench these colonialism driven beliefs & practices!

[Patrick DZVOTI @DzvotiPatrick]

@nickmangwana Hello Nick

While at it can we have a view of the maintenance record of the affected craft, record of f health and safety certificates and record of training for the pilot & crew.

Thanks in advance 👏🏾

[Patrick DZVOTI @DzvotiPatrick]

@MakomboreroH @Masterhkd17 Congratulations younger!

[Fadzayi Mahere🇿🇼 @advocatemahere]

🔸Good day @nickmangwana,

Why do the beds at Parirenyatwa Hospital @PGHZIM have no bedsheets or linen? Why are the blankets so dirty? Is this hygienic? Why are the walls dilapidated? Ko iyo tsvina? Ndiyo 2030 yacho? Hakuna chipatara chakadaro. How disgusting.

We need new leaders.🇿🇼

[Patrick DZVOTI @DzvotiPatrick]

@Phidze72 @mwwwn201 @sibanda_tobias1 @Simba_LionDRED We are fake pan-Africanists, fake democrats. We take away the vote from citizens, after so much blood was lost fighting for that right to vote! What more for other Africans escaping Xenophobia! We have no empathy, love & lack self esteem!

[Patrick DZVOTI @DzvotiPatrick]

Congratulations Queen of the South 👏🏾👏🏾

[Samkeliso Tshuma @samkebusiness]

Good evening,

I would like to inform you that I am the National Chairperson for Constitution Defenders Forum Women's Desk. I finally accepted the call to serve women and my country through a different platform. It was through some persuasion, discussion and fights with one of the people I respect the most, Freeman Chari who is the CDF Diaspora Chairperson.

I thought this is the right time and platform to join to contribute my time, experience and expertise I have gained over the years working with women and youth. I am passionate about my country and I can't keep making excuses about not getting in the ring like others but continue to complain about the space for having only one gender and the usual faces while I am choosing not to participate.

I know this is a huge responsibility but I am eager to learn, contribute and work with individuals, organisations across Zimbabwe, SADC region and globally. The goal is to ensure that women, women with disabilities are at the forefront of leading justice processes and driving initiatives and movements for Constitutional reform, constitutional protection and democratic accountability. I know the workload would be more bearable with your support. I will be knocking on your doors, please welcome me and the Gender desk.

More than ever Zimbabwe needs us to stand up and play our part one way or the other.......Find your place to serve.

[Fadzayi Mahere🇿🇼 @advocatemahere]

🔸If @ZANUPF_Official had any shame, they’d resign immediately. This is a man-made crisis and they are responsible for it. 2030 kuti muitesei? Shameful.

We need new leaders.🇿🇼

[Freeman @freemanchari]

Tshabangu is not the story. He has no power as an individual. He is projecting the monopolistic power of the state. No one would have been able to stop him without firing a gun. We are lying to each other that citizens would have stopped him. The state has power.

If it were that easy, ZAPU and ZANU wouldn't have been banned by the Rhodies in 1962 & 64 respectively. When the state decides to use its resources to destroy opposition, there is nothing you can do that doesn't involve force.

ZANU PF is known to use small proxies to destroy and humiliate. Do you remember when Tsvangirai realized his blunder on Locadia Karimatsenga? Some obscure Chief Negomo was given prominence just so a score could be settled. It doesn't mean Negomo had any legitimate power, he was tortoise on a post.

We need to study how other movements survived even in the face of relentless state pressure.

[Fadzayi Mahere🇿🇼 @advocatemahere]

🔸Back in 1987 when the Constitution was amended to allow for the direct election of the President, Edison Zvobgo made a compelling case for direct election. He observed that this direct election process was core to “one man, one vote” and denounced the notion of a parliamentary executive as being divorced from the people.

It’s a pity @ZANUPF_Official no longer has intellectual muscle of this caliber. They cannot even have a sound cerebral debate. Varikubatirana pfuti nekunyima vanhi secret ballot in their desperation to rail road a brainless amendment that will ruin the remaining embers of our democracy.

They’ve been reduced to mbingarism, cash for votes and cars for loyalty. They leave their brains at the door. Intellect has been replaced by paid trolls who flip flop according to the highest bidder. Of it’s not paid activism, then it’s a predatory elite that’s stolen so much they’re consumed by the pandemic of conspicuous consumption - spending money meant for basic services on their personal largesse.

Ndozvamakaendera kuhondo here izvi? Our true heroes must be turning in their graves. Did their blood go to waste?

It’s a mess.

We need new leaders.🇿🇼

[Samkeliso Tshuma @samkebusiness]

Hwende, you destroyed the political party but the opposition as abantu still exists. So, the excuse that we don't have numbers is just poor. You should be fighting to resist the Bill entirely and making sure that we go to a referendum. Also, push against ZANU monopolising the space of educating citizens on CAB3.

[Patrick DZVOTI @DzvotiPatrick]

Just so that we are all in the clear, which amendments are “the constituents” agreeing with and which ones do they not want. It’s about the constituents and not what you like or prefer. 🤷🏿‍♂️

[Chalton Hwende MP @hwendec]

This is one of my proposed amendments I have tabled and are on the order paper I am pushing for leveling of the political field when elections are finally held. Rejecting and tarnishing the whole process is not strategic and wrong. We simply don’t have the numbers to stop Cab3 because we destroyed our own party and structures that were supposed to fight this bill.

[Thabani Mpofu @adv_fulcrum]

It Is All Down to You

I am convinced, beyond any doubt, that Zimbabweans love their country with remarkable intensity. There may be little in the present circumstances to admire, yet many continue to defend it with a passion that is both profound and persistent. In all this, however, it seems to me that my people still fail to appreciate one essential truth: ultimately, it is all down to them.

We often become engrossed in disputes over who did what wrong, who failed the masses, who betrayed whom, and who sold out, all in the name of love for country. Yet in doing so, we lose sight of a more important reality: we ourselves are the change this country so desperately yearns for. There’s no knight in shining armor thats coming to save us; no politician to call for and lead in any action and certainly no strategist to deal with a militarized and corrupt regime.

With CAB 3, we have reached a critical juncture at which we must all acknowledge that this nation requires our active participation more than it requires the men or institutions we are so quick to blame. The blame game has long exhausted its value. What remains urgent and relevant is the fundamental question: What can I do for my country?

I hope that by asking this question, we may come to understand that the responsibility for change now rests with each of us as individuals. Makunyiwe!

[Zwelinzima Vavi @Zwelinzima1]

Thank you Trevor and thank you Julius for standing firm against barbarism and violence! What you warned against is already happening

[Freeman @freemanchari]

There is a General who died some few years ago. He had $4 million in Mauritius and a mansion in Dubai. He fell sick in Zimbabwe from "Covid". The healthcare system could not save him. The same thing that happened to Makamba's son.

We once calculated the amount of money Mugabe used for his trips to Glen Eagles in Singapore, he could have built a hospital that took care of him, his cabinet and locals but NO, he preferred to use more than $10 million in Singapore.

Ginimbi was burnt in his expensive car for hours with no Fire Brigade in sight.

They flaunt their ill-gotten riches and smack on our faces but they fail to realize is that the basics that everyone needs are absent. When they need them, sometimes that money won't save them.

A functional healthcare system is good for everyone. We have to get rid of Mnangagwa and his cabal!!!!

[Dr. Misheck Ruwende @drruwende]

Today, Africa day, allow me to celebrate our own, 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗭𝗶𝗺𝗯𝗮𝗯𝘄𝗲

Prof. Christopher J. Chetsanga, 90 years, (PhD Univ. of Toronto, 1969; postdoc fellow, Harvard Univ., 1969-72) is prof. of Biochemistry at the Univ. of Zimbabwe, Harare since 1983, a prominent Zimbabwean scientist who is a member of the African Academy of Sciences and The World Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Chetsanga has discovered two enzymes involved in the repair of damaged DNA: (𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒕
) firstly, formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase, which removes damaged 7-methylguanine from DNA (1979) and secondly, purine imidazole-ring cyclase, which re-closes imidazole rings of guanine and adenine damaged by x-irradiation (1985).

Professor Chetsanga is a UNESCO Gold Medal Award winner and former UNESCO Executive Board member among others