Tichaona Zindoga
One has to pity MDC-T policy advisor Eddie Cross sometimes.
The man is passionate about politics, although he does not seem quite well served by it, and each time he opens his mouth he sounds very desperate. He has been passionate about opposition politics, through which he no doubt had been hoping to bring back Rhodesia.

He descends directly from a member of the Pioneer Columnist. Cross recently went to the extent of calling MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai his “nkosi” (lord or king).
His life depends on it.

Eddie Cross’ latest  piece, elsewhere on this page, exudes similar desperation.

He not only yearns for old Rhodesia but also seems to believe that there will be regime change in Zimbabwe as early as next month.
While projecting the legacy of Ian Smith, he wishes Zimbabwe had pursued “different policies to guide our society” and says if we “just examine what we have done with the resources we did control through the past 34 years then we see an equally dismal story.”

The policies Zimbabwe has had are empowerment policies; what the country has done with its resources is giving land and mineral wealth to the black majority.
This makes Cross unhappy.

He blames the economic situation in the country on empowerment policies — never on western sanctions to punish Zimbabwe’s impudence.
Cross sees an opening for regime change in “deteriorating” economic situation in the country.

He writes: “…the economic situation in the country is again driving the reform and change agenda. If we do nothing to restore confidence in the State and to engage the International Community and unlock our economic potential very soon, we are going to be in big trouble by the end of May 2014. Radical measures are needed and it’s urgent.” And Cross goes figurative about cats that catch mice.

He says President Mugabe “needs to be reminded that his cat does not catch mice, never did and will not do so in the future. It is time to change the cat; it might be the only way forward.”

He is unhappy that President Mugabe speaks about the irreversibility of Zimbabwe’s self determination.

Before examining the foregoing, it will be useful to note that on March 28, Cross wrote a similar piece on his website.

He said, partly: “In our case it is how to get Zimbabwe back to some form of legitimacy and growth, rapid growth. This is only possible with a change of government; Mr Mugabe simply cannot bring Zimbabwe back into the real world or deliver confidence and growth. …”

That of course eerily sounds the same as his January 4, 2009 piece in which he said he would prefer an implosion in Zimbabwe “until we are satisfied that the driver is our man and not Mugabe… And that is not negotiable. If Mugabe is anywhere near the wheel, we would rather let the bus crash and burn.”

Now, Eddie Cross must be saved from himself.  No matter how the country fares economically, even badly as he wishes and seems to enjoy as an opening for regime change, Zimbabwe will never be a colony again.

There are basically two reasons.

First, is that his preferred cats of Rhodesia and MDC-T will not catch mice in Zimbabwe.

The one is long gone and was buried in 1980 while the other was rejected by the people of Zimbabwe on July 31 last year.
For the latter, the fate is even worse, as it has seemingly lost its bearings and gone feral and self-destructing.

Cross must especially understand the dynamics involving the latter.

The fights, the mudslinging, the suspensions and expulsions, have just reached a crescendo in the MDC-T and the party teeters on the brink of a split.
Cross should be very foolish or very imaginative to think that Zimbabwe will see regime change even as early as May 2014.

To think that he writes about regime change twice in 15 days makes his case particularly curious.

It will also be interesting to find out just what drives Cross’ imagination or revs his folly.

Are these permutations that Cross bundles about predicated on something more existential than what we understand currently?

As far as any sober analysis is concerned, Zimbabwe may be facing economic challenges but they are not on the scale of “big trouble” that the alarmist Cross continuously touts.

Cross should also stop dreaming that the indigenisation and empowerment policies will be “removed” and colonial and apartheid property rights restored, the South African way.

Zimbabwe has turned a corner and it will take another revolution to undo the gains of Independence and Cross does not seem able to muster that kind of revolution, especially if he has ‘nkosis’ like Morgan Tsvangirai.

Unless he is telling us the country needs to crash and burn again with Rhodesia rising like a phoenix from the ashes.

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