By Dr Masimba Mavaza | The past few weeks the social media was awash with the photos of Senator Monica Mutsvangwa and Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa while they were in Canada attending their son’s graduation.
The photos were not published to join the Mutsvangwa’s in celebrating their son’s achievement. Instead it was put to demonise them and drive a wrong narrative that government officials are squandering public funds on personal business.
The tragedy of the whole issue is that the MUTSVANGWA’s can not come in the press and defend their actions. Mostly because they will be seen as being defensive or literally they will look like mad men chasing nothing more like chasing the wind.
The detractors who have just got rotten and turned yellow have tried to politicise the ministers trip to her son’s graduation.
There’s no denying that if you coast along and put forth minimal effort in raising your kids, there’s a high likelihood they’ll end up being mediocre (or even worse than mediocre, to be honest). Raising the highest achieving children will necessitate being intentional, disciplined and diligent. Once a parent attain such a feat he or she will be elated.
There’s some credence to the phrase “Happy child happy parent.
It turns out that all outcomes on parental joy research were more linked with the mother’s initial happiness, compared with the father’s when a child achieves. Mom’s happiness is also twice as important when it came to predicting mental health issues in children especially boys.
The rumour warmongering cliques in the opposition hated the ZANU OF and Zimbabwe ministers and politicians because they were ‘hard-working [arbeitsam] and intelligent.’
The Mutsvangwa’s are hardworking, dedicated family who have given years in service to Zimbabwe. The way they have been treated by the CCC on social media over their attendance of their son’s graduation is wholly unacceptable.
Mr and Mrs Mutsvangwa have spend more hours on the job than most of us are willing to do, under constant pressure and outing their lives at risk to serve the nation.
The Mutsvangwa’s like many patriots work like maniacs but not of greed but devotion or necessity.
Ambassador Mutsvangwa has worked as a diplomat for years and earned in foreign currency so did his wife. The family have run successful businesses which are thriving today.
They are people of means and do not need to steal from the government to fund a family event.
Every parent anywhere in the world will sacrifice anything to rejoice in the success of their child. A graduation is a leap to another level for any one,More so a child.
The problem we have with Zimbabwean opposition is to believe that any ZANU PF member with money must have stollen it from the government. What a shame. Government officers are capable of having monies from their hard work.
The irony of the matter is that if it is an opposition member with money they say it’s hard work.
Tendai Biti has sponsored his brother in England his sisters and children are all abroad yet nobody thinks that Biti can be capable to steal from the government.
Biti once controlled the purse of the nation and by the time of his divorce millions of US dollars owned by Biti came to light.
Tsvangirai as the Prime minister of Zimbabwe had all his Children abroad yet nobody raised a concern.
The reason why the opposition is spreading false information about the Mutsvangwa’s trip of glory is to forge a narrative that the ZANU PF big wigs are spending money like mad while the poco suffers. Once you start serving the nation you should not be expected to be in poverty.
Being a minister does not restrict you and your family to one country.
The world is now a global village.
We have over hundred thousand Zimbabwean students abroad. Only an insignificant fraction are children of the government officials. There are many Zimbabweans who have made choices of sending their children abroad. This is not a political move but simply a choice. If you can afford sending your children abroad you should do that.
The idea of scoring cheap points by politicising family life is pathetic.
The invasion on the Mutsvangwa’s privacy is depressing and disgusting, totally flabbergasting, we can not allow such cheap politicking to divine us.
The Mutsvangwa’s are a hardworking family and must be allowed to enjoy the fruits of their sweat. We must realise that “hardworking families” or “working families” is an example of a glittering generality in contemporary political discourse and must never be equated to thievery. The hard-working politicians who keep our democracy going should be respected not vilified.
This year more than ever, it’s important to recognize the people in elected offices who work hard for their families as-well as the nation.
Nothing seems to evaporate faster than a slogan in today’s politics. Gone are those days when hard work was rewarded. But we must never allow the Opposition to spoil and violate the family fabric. Love binds families.
What about the social media rants and splashing the family photos of the Mutsvangwa presenting them as gluttons. Not seen as hard-working in our parts, and in fact shirkers. That is untrue. To the contrary they are the hardest working people I know, with the most unrelenting schedules. This, of course, has to do with the reality that politics on the subcontinent is not a part-time profession. Indeed, successful politicians who come up from the local level all need to set aside their personal lives to attend to the everyday problems of their constituents—from school admissions and electricity bills to police cases—in an astonishingly busy schedule that never really relents.
They have to live with serious intrusions into their privacy, and are almost never alone. Something or someone is always at hand with yet another problem.
It is the very rare politician who is interested in both the masses and the rough and tumble of electoral politics and also in less sweaty pursuits. I can think of Christopher Mutsvangwa as such a man, erudite and urbane but also interested as well as competent in the sharper end.
Then there is the other side to politics that will make many of us wilt. And that is working with a group one may find truly reprehensible: the people. Let one example suffice here.
We must remember that over half the money a politician spent on elections is his own from his business. Such is a sacrifice the Mutsvangwas have.That they have succeeded redounds to their credit and speaks of their commitment to their work.
Senetor Monica and Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa are one of the most hard-working, disciplined people Zimbabwe has,as doubtless bureaucrats and ministers are finding out.
Whatever else one may think of them and of politicians in general, we must accept that they are on top of one of the most demanding professions because of their willingness to work a lot harder than most of us would want to or can.
One thing one can not ignore is that Chris Mutsvangwa has class. This can be confirmed by the beauty in Monica which dazzles the social media as they stampede to publish her angelic face safely guarded by the macho man, Chris.
People must make money not try to pull others down.