LILLIPUT ARTS AND CRAFTS

ALICE, EASTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
LOCATION: BELOW STANDARD BANK,
ALICE BRANCH, OPPOSITE SHELL ALICE MOTORS.

Today I want to introduce you to two major items that may sound new and strange to a good number of you out there. These are the small town of Alice where the University of Fort Hare and Lovedale College are located. The town of Alice though small has a big history as far as African liberation and freedom is concern. It was it is in this town where most of the first crop of African Nationalists lived when they were doing their University Education here at Fort Hare. For instance, great African leaders and statesmen like Julius Nyerere, Mandela, Robert Mugabe, Oliver Tambo, Mangasutu Buthelezi, Manoah Chirwa, Orton Chirwa, Masauko Chipembere , Thabo Mbeki and others walked in the streets of this small town. They became great leaders because of what this small town provided for them. So you don’t separate African nationalism and struggle for independence from this town.

Now this town today has a well furnished shop which has many items that could remind you and I as regard our identify as African people and children of the soil, valleys and mountains.

This shop is called LILLIPUT ART AND CRAFTS and it’s located below the Alice Standard Bank, opposite shell Alice Motors. Key items in this shop include Beadwork, glasswork, wool craft. Lillian Nozuko Peter is available Monday to Saturday to have your designs done. Also in this shop, you will find various newspapers for both South African and international; Mail & Guardian, Sun, Job mail, King mercury, Daily Dispatch, Sowetan, Soccer Laduna, Die Burger, Magazines and many stationery for those who are students.

For more details Contact

Mama Sylvia Lillian Nozuko Peter
Phone: 27-406531215 (international dialing) or 0406531215 (local)
Fax : 27-406532754
Cell : 0843861018

LEADERSHIP GROOMING: KEY SOLUTION TO AFRICAN CONFLICTS

By: Peter Qeko Jere

Many have questioned as to why Africa has become a battle field where, lives have been lost and many have gone into exile as political refugees. Some continue to ask what actually is the problem with Africa and what kind of sin did Africa commit that political conflict have become the order of the day. Each time you open your TV, the only thing you hear about Africa is war, bloodshed and political conflicts. Its either Dafour, Somalia, Chad, Central African Republic, Zimbabwe and others. In this brief account I want to show that the major problem in Africa today is the failure by leaders to groom someone to succeed them when their term of office expires. I also want to show that there is peace and tranquility in all countries where are prepared in advance.

To begin with, there is enough evidence to show that many African leaders don’t like prepare a successor in their political parties and government. This is a problem in African politics because many of our leaders the moment they are elected forget that one day they will have to leave office and pave way for a successor. We have political stability in countries where leadership grooming is the order the day. In such countries, there is always a peaceful transition from one leader of both the party and government. For instance, in Botswana, the country is at peace and stable economy because leaders are civilized and know the need to groom and prepare someone who could take over from them. Sir Ketumire Masire groomed Festus Mogae while Mogae groomed Khama who has just taken the reign of power even before the election. It is amazing that Mogae didn’t wait for the final whistle to leave office but he just handed the presidency to his deputy just like that, something that some African leaders can do. In grooming, the Vice President is given enough time to study how the President administers the country and normally it’s a period of ten years. In Mozambique, political transitions were smooth and peaceful from Mondlane, Samora Michael, Chissano and now Geubuza. What we see here is that its only one party which rules the country using the available human resources it has. There is peace and political stability in this country because Chissano didn’t want to rule the country more than necessary but handed the leadership mantle to one of the senior person in the party, someone who could carry the revolution forward. In Tanzania, there has been peaceful political transition at both party and national level from the time of Mwarimu Nyerere, Mwinyi, Mukapa and now Kikwete. The ruling Presidents from Mwalimu, have always been able to groom and prepare someone in within the party whom all of them could trust and support. In South Africa, Mandela handed the leadership mantle to Thabo Mbeki even before the end of his term of office. For five years Mbeki was groomed and prepared to rule the country. In Lesotho, Mokhlekhle groomed the current Prime Minister Mosisili in within the ruling party.

While some African countries Presidents and head of states have succeeded in grooming someone to take over from them, there are some who have see this as a threat to their political destiny. This is because they think that they were born to rule for life. For instance, in Malawi, Dr. Banda never groomed someone to take over both the party and government. Due to it was a problem to have the rightful successor when Banda died and the party disintegrated because both John Tembo and Chakuamba wanted to become the president.

Though is in charge of MCP, it is not clear as to whom he is grooming as the next leader of the party after he retires from politics. Some have argued that just like Banda, John Tembo is not grooming anybody to take over from him because he thinks he will rule MCP for life. This is the same mistake that Banda made something which reduced the political base of the party.

Like Banda, Muluzi after ruling Malawi and his UDF party for ten years also never prepared someone to take over from him. This at the end made him panic politically and many of his great friends left him. At the party level the UDF and Muluzi did not prepare someone to take over from him. We wonder as to why it is so much of a problem in Malawi’s politics to prepare someone to take over power. It seems the life presidency syndrome is still in many of our leaders such that they think they were born to rule for life. As for UDF, imagine Muluzi has been the leader since its formation and its like he is the life president or chairman of party. It seems there are unwritten laws in this party whereby noone could rule and take over the leadership of this party for as long as Muluzi is alive. The party has been bulldozed to the extend of changing its constitution to suit the needs, aspirations and demands of one man which automatically make him the life president and chairman of the party.

In all this, it is very clear that the UDF party has no one to succeed Muluzi which is worrisome because this party is going toward making Muluzi the life president the very same ideology which Malawians fought against in 1992. So failure by our leaders to groom upcoming leaders has led to the current political madness in the country. Malawi political problems to the large extend are caused by our selfish leaders’ who do not want to prepare and groom others to take over power from them.

Just like in Malawi, in Zambia, Kaunda never groomed someone to take over power from him. In the same way, Chiluba was in trouble when he wanted to change the constitution as he had noone to succeed him. During the entire ten years of his rule, Chiluba never thought of grooming someone to take over power from him one day. Thus he even wanted to change the constitution so that he could rule again. Now it is not clear as to who Mwanawasa is grooming as he is in his last term of office. The good thing with Mwanawasa is that he has made is clear to everybody in the party and the nation at large that he will not seek a third term and that he is happy that he is serving the Zambian people and in his last term of office. Also the leadership grooming seems to be a problem in Uganda where we are not sure if Museveni is preparing someone to take over power from him. Like wise in Kenya, Mwai Kibaki who is in his last term of office, need to begin to groom someone to take over power from him in a peaceful transition. The mistake leaders make is that they wait until the eleventh hour to think of who to hand over power to and as a result things goes politically bad. Finally in Zimbabwe, the main cause of the current political situation is the Zanu PF failure to groom someone to lead the party after Bob retires. Now if leadership grooming is not done at the party level, it becomes hard to think of leadership grooming at the national level. Things begin at the party level and flows at the national level. Our leaders should develop the culture of preparing someone to take over power from them in good time at both party and national level. Leaders need to be reminded that opposition parties dies a natural death in countries where the ruling party grooms the next President. In Tanzania and Botswana for example, the ruling party is very every leader who comes in knows that he is there for ten years and prepares someone to rule in advance. This strengthened the party and it remains intact and not shaken. So the only solution to African conflict is leadership shift in terms of party’s preparing the next leader in advance.

THE 2008 ROBERT SOBUKWE MEMORIAL LECTURE: PIERRE BUYOYA AND THE ALUSHA PEACE TREATY

BY: Peter Qeko Jere

On the 30th of May 2008, I was privileged to attend the 4th Robert Sobukwe Memorial Lecture here at the University of Fort Hare where the former President of Burundi, His Excellency Pierre Buyoya was the main Guest Speaker. In his Robert Sobukwe Memorial lecturer, His Excellency Buyoya presents the Arusha Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Burundi: Ten Years on the Path Toward Peace

Briefly, the Robert Sobukwe memorial Lecture is a yearly event here at the University of Fort Hare where prominent Sons of Africa are invited to give a lecture to commemorate and celebrate the life and political struggles of Robert Sobukwe who in 1959 founded the Pan African Congress (PAC) in South Africa and was also a graduate of his great University. The tripartite alliance, the Steven Biko Foundation, the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Trust and the University of Fort Hare were the main organizer of this function. Present at this memorial lecture were prominent people like the Eastern Cape Premier , the University of Fort Hare Vice Chancellor, Dr Mvuyo Tom who gave the vote of thank, Robert Sobukwe and Steven Biko’s sons, Dini and Nkosinati while the Director of ceremony was Prof. Buthelezi.

In this article, I will briefly comment on the Arusha Peace Treaty and its role in Making Burundi an admirable model in solving tribalism and ethnic conflicts in Africa. Secondly I will say some things that other retired Presidents in Africa need to do so as to emulate the good work Pierre Buyoya is doing across Africa. Finally I will show how Burundi dealt with the problem of ethnicity the kind of steps that can so beneficial to Malawi if emulated from.

As former President Buyoya was presenting his lecture, I sat at the back of the auditorium and paid attention as I listened to every word that he spoke. I was attentive because I realized that this was the same man who came into Malawi years back and I had no opportunity to hear and see him at close range apart from watching on Television. This time the President was right on campus and presenting his lecturer about what he basically did to bring about peace in his country. I admired him because he was doing the exact thing that former head of states need to be performing, help equip young people as they also get prepared to be leaders tomorrow.

To begin with, President Buyoya gave us a brief historical background of Burundi and said that this is a small country in the heart of Africa which boarders Tanzania in the south east, DRC in the west and Rwanda in the north. It is 28,000 square kilometers with 7.5 Million people. Burundi is one of the oldest nations in the Great Lakes region and was once a German colony from 1896 until 1918 before it was given to Belgium until 1 July 1962, when it gained independence. Though there had been some ethnic conflicts in Burundi, it was after the assassination of the President elect, Melchior Ndadaye on 21 October, 1993 that the country descended into a civil war that lasted 12 years. This civil war was basically between the majority Hutu and Tutsis.

As regard the main cause of this civil war, president Buyoya pointed two key major causes of this conflict. These were Bad governance after independence period and politicians abuse of ethnic division. He said that after independence, leaders continued to discriminate base on ethnic background and this was happening in schools, civil service and many other areas. He said the majority Hutus were victim of this discrimination and this helped make ethnic identify more entrenched and rooted in the national consciousness. As Pierre Buyoya mentioned this, I adjusted my chair and looked into my situation at home in Malawi where my people suffered discrimination of all form during both Dr. Banda and Bakili Muluzi’s rule. It killed me inside because I could relate the Burundi discrimination to what my people went through and the pain that people from the northern region of the country have gone through. I quickly remembered 1989 when discrimination came to its climax when all teachers including my uncle were chased from central and southern region and dispatched to their homeland in the north. I realized that many suffered in silence and many have even died in this pain. The only sin and crime they committed was that they come from the north. We don’t have to mention how qualified sons and daughters from the north could not get promotions in the private sector also. During Muluzi’s reign things were even worse because no major developments took place in the north and worse still it was alleged that the money meant for the construction of the road to Chitipa was diverged to the construction of the road in Mangochi or somewhere in the south.

The second Buyoya mentioned that politicians were abusing ethnic division in the country during campaigns. Of course in Malawi we have tribalism and regionalism that politicians have greatly abused. As Pierre Buyoya was speaking, I realized that this happens almost across Africa and has been the major cause of politician conflict. In Malawi politicians take advantage of regionalism since political party formation has been along regional lines. For instance, John Tembo considers the central region as his stronghold among his tribal men, the Chewa people while Muluzi has Machinga, mangochi, part of Balaka and some few districts in the southern region among his Yao people.

President Buyoya also put in place some attempts in trying to solve the ethnic tension and conflict in Burundi. Key to this he said was recognizing the fact that ethnicity was a problem to society’s progress. He also said that in Burundi, they introduce power sharing mechanism in government, civil service based on the fifty-fifty representation between Hutu and Tutsi. He added that they have two vice presidents from different ethnic groups. He said that appointment of Court Judges and others are based on ethnic representation. Looking into this critically, we realize that African governments need to realize and recognize the fact that tribalism and ethnic divisions are real. We need to accept that we face the results of this as a problem in society every day. We don’t have to pretend that societies are at peace when the power of tribalism hits and terrorize some of them on a daily basis. There is tribal resentment in African politics today that many tribes tend to support candidates who belong to their tribe. You can only begin to solve the problem when you accept that it exists.

In Burundi conflict, the Alusha Peace Treaty accommodates all key tribes in the administration of the country as a way of solving the problem. Thus African countries need to emulate the Burundi way of solving ethnic conflict where each tribe is represented at a higher level. In Africa naturally people feel good when one of their sons or daughter is part of the administration of the nation. It’s a proud thing for the entire tribe when they are represented in the administration of the country. At the same time, people automatically resent any administration where they are not represented which at the end creates conflicts. So African political problems are to a larger extend caused by a situation where people see no need of supporting a government when they are not represented at a higher level. Thus a situation where all major appointments are ethnically balanced, tend to unity the country unlike when one group of people, tribe and region or province monopolize the administration of a country.

In this regard, African Union, SADC, UNO, EU and the world at large, should know that the root cause of African problems is ethnicity and tribalism and the only solution to such situation is to follow the Burundi way of solving the situations. AU, SADC, UNO and EU should not rush at condemning African systems but should in the first place identify the key root of the problem and realize that it exist and then begin to solve them. In this vain, the Burundi model could help bring peace in Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Central African Republic, the DRC and Zimbabwe. The Burundi model could help because in all these conflicts, the major cry of the people is that they are not represented in the administration of these countries hence they resolve to take up arms to solve the problem. The key purpose of taking arms is that they should fight so that they at the end directly get involved in the administration of these countries.

ZIMBABWE NEED A CHIHANA

By Peter Qeko Jere

A critical analysis of the Zimbabwe situation today reveals that they need a Chihana type of a pro-democracy campaigner and a human rights activist. Chakufwa Chihana was the only courageous man in Malawi in 1992 who defied all odds but came home to lead the struggle against the autocratic rule of Dr. Banda. Chihana arrived at the airport and didn’t fear death and the prison chains but went forward to give his life as a sacrifice for the freedom of the country. This is the man who shocked Dr. Banda and faced him head-on until Banda open up the country to multiparty democracy. Chihana came to Malawi to directly face the treason law of Dr. Banda and he never left the people alone. He even said that no change can take place from outside the struggle. True change and victory is born from the inside and if there is someone who is man enough to lead, he has to be ready to die and sacrifice his life for others.

In the bible we are told that freedom and change for God’s children in Egypt came because Moses stayed with the people and confronted the regime of the time right there. Moses stayed strong even though his people continued to suffer. He suffered with and stayed strong and was not moved. Infact Moses never asked for any foreign intervention but God used him because he stayed with the people. God stays with the suffering people and he blesses a leader who ministers to such people. The Exodus account shows that blessed is a leader who stays in the frontline leading the suffering and the poor because God mightily uses and ministers to such leader. But when a leader goes into hiding, he becomes useless before God and can not be used by Him anymore. Going into hiding or leaving the suffering alone is closing the chapter for God to use him because God is looking for someone, a leader who can stand between the gap of the suffering people and become a sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered for the salvation of many. Even Jesus Christ in the bible, he describes himself as a good shepherd someone who takes care of the sheep and that is the quality of a great leader, someone who can lead and be with the people. One of the characteristics of a leader is that he has to be a shepherd and normally he stays in the frontline and the sheep follows him. The shepherd is the one who gives direction as to where the sheep should go that day. This is what a leader should do, something which is terribly missing in Tsvangirai. Though the western world is supporting the move to withdraw and even his hiding in the Dutch embassy, the world should know that God hates a leader who leaves his sheep alone. God’s desire is for a leader to lead the suffering people. The world should also know that God moves away from a leader who abandons that suffering and the poor and instead he raises up someone capable to stand between the gap.

We are arguing that Zimbabwe today need the Chihana type of a leader because of what Morgan Tsvangirai has been doing since the election results were announced. He left the people and went to South Africa and was up and down African capitals to mount up pressure against Mugabe. Also he is hiding in the Dutch embassy something which shows that there is a huge problem and element of fear in him. It is so much dangerous when a leader who is supposed to be at the frontline vacates his position and goes into hiding. The question is with whom do you leave the people and where will they go to when are in trouble? The Chihana type of leader stays with the people and don’t care about their lives but surrender it completely as a sacrifice for the liberation of their people. Such leaders stay in the battle frontline until the war is over. This is what Zimbabwe needs this hour around, a leader who will stay with the people, someone who will suffer with them when the going gets tough.

CHURCH MISSED OPPORTUNITY

BY: PETER QEKO JERE,

Early this year the government of Malawi exported maize to help our brothers, sisters and children who are suffering in Zimbabwe. There were mixed reaction to this initiative taken by our government. However though some of us with a sober minds and loving heart, normally have no problem when it comes to doing such noble work helping the needy and we thanked God for what the government did on behalf of all Malawians. This is because majority of those suffering in Zimbabwe belong to the body of Christ and are registered members of various Christian churches. In other words by and large, the government sent maize to even help our fellow Christian brethren something which can not be taken for granted.

While at government level there was such commitment and support, we have not heard anything from the Church of which confesses Jesus Christ in Malawi on this matter. We wonder what the church is doing and when will it begin to help their suffering brothers? When we say that majority of those suffering are Christian we simply mean that they are Catholics, Presbyterians, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecost’s and various charismatic church members. The Malawi church has sister churches in Zimbabwe hence it may not be right for us as a Malawian church to sit phwii and watch our fellow brethren suffering. If we do this then our Christianity is not that of Christ who still sits on the throne but somebody else.

The situation is Zimbabwe is an invitation letter to all Christian churches that time has come to get into Zimbabwe and help. God can not speak more loud and clear to the Malawian church than in this than in this situation. Behind this situation is the voice of God calling upon all the churches to seriously consider getting involved in helping those who are suffering. Therefore, a great window of evangelism has been open for the church that its about time that it should get into Zimbabwe and become an instrument of hope in the lives of those suffering.

The church in Malawi and its entire leadership need to realize that time has come to begin to act like Jesus Christ who had a holistic approach to ministry. This is because Jesus Christ not only preached the gospel but also spent a good part of his ministry feeding the hungry and healing the sick. The bible is clear that Jesus Christ healed and casted out devils in the lives of many but at the same time, those many thousands could eat the bread and the fish that he multiplied. Christ had compassion when he saw that they were hungry the exact thing that the church need to do. Just like Jesus Christ, the church need to show and demonstrate compassion as their master did. The church need to be available in the zones where people are suffering so that it can become the voice of encouragement in the lives of people.

However we need to realize that the church which confesses Christ need to act like Christ and not otherwise. Some may be saying that their churches are so much involved in such activities and hence it is not necessary to go as far as Zimbabwe to evangelize. In reaction to such arguments, we want to make the following statements: firstly is that the church which crosses the boarders to evangelize gets more blessed from God that the church which concentrates ministry in Jerusalem ministry. This may sound crude and hard to some of you but remains a sober truth as far as the word of God is concern. This is because Cross-boarder ministry demands more prayer, commitment, seriousness, availability and sacrifice. Secondly is that Malawi churches are poor because they don’t have a missionary touch to their evangelism. Of course some may have done this once but failed to sustain them.
Thirdly is that the missionary church can not be compared with the Jerusalem type. Missionary church goes international and has a wider angle from where it proclaims the gospel as compared to a church which focuses on their own territory. Finally is that there is more seriousness to cross boarder ministry than when you are involved in an internal assignment as far as ministry is concern hence we share the notion that there is something that the Malawi church is missing by not getting involved in helping the suffering church in Zimbabwe. Someone may argue that the Malawi church can not get to Zimbabwe because it has not yet finished assisting those in her Jerusalem. To this we may pose a question, if the church is sorting out its Jerusalem this time around then what has it been doing all these years?

This passion to help fellow suffering church connect us to what the Church in Caesarea did by helping their mother church in Jerusalem when there was famine. The bible declares that brethren in Jerusalem were saved from starvation because of the help which came from their colleagues in Caesarea and this was just a small poor church like any of the churches we have in Malawi. Though this church was poor, it managed to put something together to assist those suffering in Jerusalem.

This therefore teaches the Malawi church that though they may claim to be poor, there is still something they can still do to help those who are suffering just as their Caesarea did. Therefore, poverty is not a reason or factor to stop a church from helping and supporting those that are suffering. Having said this, the Malawi church today has to readjust its position as far as mission work is concern because there is more blessings in cross-boarder missionary work and it should not miss this opportunity to reach out..

XENOPHOBIA: REFLECTION AND RESPONSE

BY: Peter Qeko Jere.

Introduction.

The current brutal killings of foreigners in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and some other parts of South Africa has hit headlines across the globe and the world has been taken unaware with this confusing event at this moment in time. The photo of a burning young men with police trying to rescue him from the flames has circulated in all he major media houses and the one question that people ask is, “ why should black South Africans do this to fellow black man? Why should things go this far? What is the problem and the key reason behind all this madness? What does God say about such situation? What should Christian and the church of God do?

In this paper, I want to lay out a theological response to this issue. But before I go any further, I guess it Is vital that I should say some few things about Xenophobia and its implication in South African society today. I will argue my position in relation to the questions that PASM has raised in connection and concern with the entire killings taking place in South Africa.

THE MEANING OF THE WORD-XENOPHOBIA
The world Xenophobia is not an English word but it’s a word which has its deep root and meaning in Greek. This word comes from two major word, xenos and phobos.

Firstly the word “xeno” comes from the Greek word “xenos” which has the connotation of “foreign” or something which is “strange” or “stranger” (if it’s a person).

Secondly the word phobia comes from the Greek word “phobos” which means “fear” or fearing something.

Literally, xenophobia means the stranger or foreign’s fear. This is also defined as the fear of the coming in of some strange ideas or foreign people into a community. This is the fear which the locals have due to the coming in of stranger or someone from another country or tradition. There has to be someone called a stranger or foreign (xenos) which means that he or she is in a place which is not his or his original home. She or he may have come into this new place looking for opportunities, as refugee, aslylum seekers or something. So his or her coming becomes a problem or creates fear (phobos) in the lives of the inhabitants. Locals have this fear because this stranger comes in to invade their space. The locals in the first place are not told in advance about the coming in of this stranger or foreigner. Locals get surprised that when they work up, their neighbour is a new person from across Africa. Locals are not involved in the whole process which leads to the settling down of these foreigners. Now fear (phobos) breaks loose in the locals because they realize that due to limited education and profession experience, they may not be able to compete with their non local experienced Africans.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXPERIENCE
After the successful gains of defeating apartheid, it is sad to note that a new wave of segregation and victimization is taking place in society today. After going through five decades of apartheid brutality, one would expect that South Africans would be the first people to exactly know what it means to victimize and abuse someone due to their long painful history. Their history of torture and segregation was not a game but a real thing and many died in the course of fighting for freedom and justice. After 1994 when apartheid was officially buried and wiped off the political line, one would think that the nation was gonna move in the right direction without allowing any should go through pain and torture. But the recent xenophobic attacks on defenseless foreigners in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and other areas across the country, has reveals that something has gone wrong somewhere and somebody didn’t tell somebody something about the negative effective of doing such a barbaric attack on people. This xenophobic experience is interesting to study and watch because it has to a larger extent affected non South Africa blacks as opposed to their whites’ counterparts from overseas. It has become a problem where black people have taken up arms to kill and wipe away those who are not inhabitants of the land.

APARTHEID STRUGGLE AND NON SOUTH AFRICANS ROLE
This xenophobia sentiment has enabled us to look into the role of non South Africans in the fight against apartheid. There is a role that nations and people in Africa did in helping South Africans successfully dismantle apartheid. It was the people outside South Africa who by and large sacrificed their security and decided to be in solidarity with the suffering South Africans. Many of the ANC leaders stayed in exile outside South Africa where some where in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Tanzania to mention but a few. While South Africans were directly fighting the brutal white regime, outside South Africa, black people were in total solidarity helping the suffering South African brothers. In particular nations like Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique have a very special place in the entire anti apartheid revolution because these nations directly suffered from the white man’s brutal attacks for harboring ANC leaders. If it was not for these nations’s sacrificial position in helping fellow South Africans in the struggle, we are not sure if apartheid could have been dismantled with the internal pressure alone. This is the kind of history which has not possibly been effectively communicated to the many young people in South Africa. May be no-one has said anything to them regarding the role that nations outside south Africa played in helping ANC leaders. They have not been told that dismantling of apartheid was not the work of internal pressure alone but the entire world and particularly SADC countries.

This argument does not mean that we should use this thinking to invade every space in South Africa. We also don’t mean to say that we have the right whatsoever to come work or settle in any way we want. But that for those with valid legal reason to stay need to be given space and accommodated. Just as ANC were accommodated outside South Africa, South Africans need to likewise accommodate fellow Africans and not kill them. Just as ANC leaders were given food and shelter outside South Africa, South Africans need to do likewise to African brothers who are going through struggles right now. What could have happened if African countries didn’t welcome and accommodate ANC during the struggle?

RESOURCE COMPETETION AND XENOPHOBIA
The first question is about RESOURCE COMPETETION IN CONNECTION TO XENOPHOBIA and answering the question, “where do we draw a line between competition of Resources and Xenophobia?

Before we respond to this question, it’s important to understand some things clearly. Firstly is that competing over limited resources will always be there though what varies is the kind of competition in terms of those involved in this game. Who is competing who? And where do each one of them come from and why do they find themselves in this competition? What are the rules of the game and what safety nets do they put in place to protect the locals while at the same time accommodating those of different origins? What if the locals are not qualified enough to properly handle some other jobs, what do you do? How much of foreign expertise would you accommodate in a particular given time? How long would a nation take to produce its own?

Competition over resources becomes a xenophobic issue when government and faith community are not doing enough to develop and promote its own human capital. When locals are not given enough opportunities to develop their skills, they can be dangerous if one day they would want to take charge of their country’s destiny.

In a situation where good jobs are given to foreigners, naturally as a patriotic citizen of the land you have to react because in a normal way, you don’t expect jobs to be given to foreigners while qualified citizens are there. However in situation where there are no qualified citizen in a particular field, it becomes necessarily to employ other people even if they are foreigners because what you want is the job and things to be properly done. Such situations need to be made clear to avoid resentment from the locals. But the question could be what about those foreigners who come to do vending in a foreign land? Also what if locals don’t like to involve themselves in vending? Why should locals not be interested in vending?

As regard where you draw a thin line between Resource competition and xenophobia, I have this to say: that it’s not easy to have a clear cut thin line between the two because this varies. In a secular thought, some may argue that foreigners need to be given limited access to resources while others would say that it would depend on the professional experience and qualification that someone has. There are times when a foreigner is highly qualified and with superb experience such that his job conditions demands him or her to enjoy more privileges than locals.

But in a theological point of view, competition in the first place is not condoned because it’s not biblical. There is no biblical model which promoted competition in the first place. Anything that promotes elements of competition is outside the original plan of God. The Trinity from where we imitate and emulate from does not have any elements of competition but total unity and equal sharing of Trinitarian life. So I may argue that theologically, we don’t have enough ground of drawing a thin line between the two (locals and foreigners) and that the only thing could be to live in relation to the other based on the imago Dei. Just as the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit live perichoretically together, these different groups could live in unity and total oneness in the spirit of love and sharing.

NATIONALISM VERSUS XENOPHOBIA
The second question is in relation to NATIONALISM AND XENOPHOBIA AND HOW DO WE SEPARATE THE TWO? Before you begin to think of separating the two, it is important to understand what these two stands for. Nationalism is the people’s desire to rule themselves and in this case, they are able to do everything under their power to take control and rule. Xenophobia is the fear local people have when strangers or foreigners invade their space without notice.

Now if the spirit of nationalism is covered in the blanket of xenophobia (fearing of the foreigners) then something serious will have to be done in terms of clarifying the issue. There has to be a point and limit for locals or citizen of the land on how far they can go with issues. Nationalism has to have limits because while people can take control and rule, they will always come a time that they will need some extra expertise from somewhere else something which would force them to consult those of different race or nationalities for help. Now the only point where the two could separate is where great need for expertise from outside arises and in this case, being xenophobic could retard the desired progress and development. Being xenophobic in situation where a nation need extra human capital could be suicidal to national development. Xenophobia is not developmental oriented but is an enemy of progress. Xenophobia chases away potential and needed expertise for development and progress.

CAN A PERSON RULE MALAWI MORE THAN TWO TERMS OF OFFICE?

By: Peter Qeko Jere

One of the mostly hot issues in Malawi politics today is the question of whether the current constitution allows a person to rule the country after finishing his or her two terms of office. This is also whether after his two terms someone can go on five or ten years holiday then come back to rule again.

There has been many views shared on this topic in Malawi’s political economy currently and tempers have risen for some because they want the former president to rule the country again. Others are sick and tired and don’t want someone to come back from holiday after five or ten year to rule the country because they believe that Malawi is not a kingdom, somebody’s estate, farm or goldmine.

After a critically analyzing what many have said on this issue, we are compelled to share our views on the matter and show to the world and the nation the heart and mind of the framers of this constitution.

To begin with, here is what the controversial section 83 (3) of the Republic’s constitution says:

Section 83 (3) states the following:

The President, the first Vice President and the second Vice President may serve in their respective capacities a maximum of two consecutive terms but when a person is elected or appointed to fill the vacancy in the office of President or Vice President, the period between that election or appointment and the next election of a President shall not be regarded as a term.

When the framers of the constitution were putting down this document, they were doing this soon after we moved into multiparty democracy and the one major concern was that noone should ever be allowed to rule Malawi more than two terms of office. That time this was the key issue because every Malawian knew that it is not good to have someone rule for longer time because become ruthless. So in their mind they put the two term limit so that noone should think of coming back to power after retirement. Infact they had no idea that there was to be a time like this that someone would want to rule again after finishing his term of office.

So they made sure to put the maximum of two consecutive terms of office and this to them was not a problem at all because the key issue here is the two terms of office and that under whatever circumstances, noone has to come back and rule the third time using whatever definition. The guiding spirit of this constitution is that whether on uses the word consecutive or not, noone has to come again and rule after two terms of office. This is the key to everything in this section. So the question is how many has terms did Muluzi have? So if he rule Malawi for two terms then automatically he can not rule again because whatever formula or method he uses to rule would be interpreted as the third term because it will be the same Muluzi and not the other different Muluzi. What the constitution demands is that different people should come and rule after every ten years.

So it is a fallacy to say that in Malawi someone can rule again after two terms even if he comes back from his five or term years holiday because the Malawi constitution’s spirit is clear that every man has the opportunity to rule Malawi the maximum of two terms of office and not more than that.

Now let me show you something:

Muluzi ruled Malawi for ten years and that was how far the constitutionally he could go. But toward the end, he tried to change it (the first indicator) which shows that this man was not satisfied with what was given to him. He again came the second time with an open term bid which also never materialized because Malawian said no to such a thing which was (the second indicator) to show that worse things were on the way coming. It was not sooner or later that as he was in his retirement, we heard that he was planning to come back even though the same constitution said no to the third them of whatever form or version (the third indicator). We then heard that he had put in place a bunch of lawyers to help him fight the constitution so that he should come back and rule again (fourth indicator). Now the fact that he organized a bunch of lawyers to help him tear the constitution means that Muluzi has no regards for this document because as the former President, he should be exemplary and show respect to this document. It seems he is in a big hurry and wants to become the president of the country something which is unconstitutional and he can not win this battle in any court of law in the world. The constitution is not about twisting the wording of it but its about the SPIRIT THAT FLOWS IN IT. The spirit in the Malawi constitution is that we don’t bring a retired or former president back to office in Malawi because we know how bad this can be. History taught Malawians a lesson that never again will we as a nation allow someone to rule us more than two terms of office. The meaning of what Muluzi is doing now is that he wants to rule Malawi for twenty years because he has already done the first ten and he wants the other ten making twenty, the very thing that we don’t like in Malawi. We argue that this is a different version of third term because this is the same Muluzi and the same person not a different one hence he will continue from where he stopped. Whatever argument people may use, this will remain the third term which is unconstitutional.

Some have argued that the word “consecutive” was deliberately place to allow the incumbent president to break for a certain period and bounce back. This is a fallacy and wishful thinking because if the framers of the constitution had this in mind they could have definitely stipulated the number of years one has to stay in retirement before he bounces back. They could have done this so that people should not take Malawi their personal estate or goldmine. Now the absence of such prescription means that the framers of this document had one key goal of making sure that no one rules Malawi as a personal estate, that you can go on holiday and come back to rule in whatever manner possible.
The framers of the constitution blocked the retired president to avoid madness of the highest order in the country because it is not good to have one family rule Malawi for twenty year because Malawi is not one mans property, farm or goldmine. Malawi belongs to 12 Million people and it’s a lie that Muluzi is the only man who can rule Malawi better. Malawi has many blessed men and women who fail to take charge because they are blocked in the process by selfish leaders who don’t want to go home and enjoy their retirement. Time has come that none shall rule Malawi more than two terms of office using whatever. Malawians will stop any version of third term coming their way because we don’t want to go back to Egypt.