The new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, who is also the leader of the larger faction of the Zimbabwean political party, the Movement for Democratic Charge, has had to endure two personal tragedies since early last month with the death of his wife in a road crash, and the loss of his grandson in a drowning at the Tsvangirai Harare home.

As he returns to work - and mourns the loss of Susan and Sean - he is struggling to get the ‘unity government’ to actually begin work.

Instead of having to deal with basic housekeeping, he finds himself having to spending valuable time in attempting to resolve unilateral moves by President Mugabe to remove ministerial powers from an MDC minister. Even more strange is that the power removed - including electronic snooping abilities - has since been handed to the ministry of transport!

Tsvangirai finds himself embroiled in the power struggle with Mugabe for the confiscated powers… Surely he has got other things to do, without being baulked by Mugabe almost immediately?

Mugabe’s official vehicle reflects his paranoia - bulletproof, anti-deflation tyres and kitted out to withstand any kind of personal attack...

He has also issued a plea to his MPs not to accept any of the vehicles being offered to them by the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Sadly, not many of the MPs have heeded that call and have taken receipt of the motor vehicles, which include Mercedes Benz saloons, 4×4s and twin cab pick-ups of various makes.

Even more distressing for the people who see the MPs driving around in the vehicles, is the suggestion that these very vehicles were the same used by ZANU PF brigands during the reign of terror visited on members and supporters of the MDC during the run-up to the general election in March last year, and the second round of the Presidential election in June 2008.

A reported 130 people lost their lives during that time, and many, many more were subjected to torture and terror.

Tsvangirai has intimated that any vehicles for ministers and members of Parliament should come from Central Government, and not from the Reserve Bank.

The simplest thing for Gideon Gono to do is to release the vehicle to Central Government, who will then issue the vehicles - leaving the exact same result as we see now.

After seven weeks in office, we have seen very little positive movement in government and Zimbabwean people continue to suffer.

Inflation in Zimbabwe, the highest in the world, has been seen to dip slightly, and international aid and donor bodies are slow to engage with the government, maintaining that there is much more to be done before they release any money or material assistance.

It has to be remembered that this government is representative (well - sort of) of the wishes of the population, and seven weeks after they have assumed control, very little is seen to have been done to alleviate the suffering of the people.

Government consists of civil servants - and therein lies the clue. The people so elected need to be civil - not only in manner, but in mind - and are the servants of the people that put them there.

(I have yet to understand the want we have to treat these people as dignitaries - they are just normal people like ourselves!)

Instead of spending the last two months dealing with infighting, elbow room and vehicles, these representatives need to concentrate on the reason why they were put there - to improve the plight of Zimbabweans…

I see very little like that emerging from the halls of power, and time and patience is beginning to run out.

Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man