Obituary: Gasela’s unfulfilled dream
Saturday, 01 May 2010 12:48
IN one of his many articles about the country’s collapsed agricultural sector, the late former Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislator for Gweru Rural, Renson Gasela wrote: “One thing that the government has been consistent on has been the annual failure to ensure farmers have inputs in time.”
In this January 20 2010, article titled: “How to get agriculture on its feet”, Gasela – who served as secretary for agriculture in the MDC before and after the 2005 split – stressed the need for proper planning by the
government as the only way out of perennial crop failures.
“It would appear to me that as for failure to plan for each agricultural season over the past 10 years or so, is concerned; it is like an eroded field which needs to be repaired by providing the necessary contours…
“What I recommend to government is that there be a continuous two-year plan for agriculture,” wrote Gasela.
At the end of his article, he warned: “If we do not do something along these lines, we will, as a country, continue to fail to plan for our food.”
This was among Gasela’s very last articles, focusing on, as usual, his favourite subject of agriculture.He died in a car crash near Zvishavane in the Midlands on April 24, alongside two other officials from the MDC formation led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
He will be buried in Gweru today.
While in his articles Gasela complained that the government had been consistent in failing to plan, he also made consistent recommendations for the government to prioritise agriculture reforms.
The recommendations fell on deaf ears.
When many were still basking in the excitement that followed the signing of the global political agreement (GPA) two years ago, Gasela challenged the parties to expedite the implementation of the agreement to allow farmers to plant on time.
At the time, there were numerous media reports about the importation of maize from neighbouring countries.
But in an article on October 9 2008, Gasela said instead of celebrating maize that had not even been delivered, the government should “bring maize, make it available everywhere and then go on television”.
“Very few people eat any maize from their television screens,” he wrote.
Sharing the same name with one of Gasela’s aides, on a number of occasions he made a mistake and dialled my number instead of Vusa his aide.
In all those “lost” calls, the sense of urgency to get things done on the farm was evident.
Those calls also revealed to me, as one of his colleagues put it, “the epitome of humility” that Gasela was.
According to Regional Integration and International Cooperation Minister Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Gasela had an unmatched love for agriculture.
During his days as a parliamentarian, he spent most of his time at the grassroots with other farmers, something that enabled him to always resonate with the daily struggles of Zimbabwe’s small-scale farmers.
“Ga’s passion was in land, its use and its produce, he symbolised everything about ‘the farmer’ and I know his happiest and most fulfilling times were during his tenure at the GMB,” said Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
She described him as “a combination of the past, present and the future of Zimbabwe”.
Gasela was among the MDC heavyweights who disagreed with party leader Morgan Tsvangirai over senate elections in 2005, resulting in the party splitting into two factions.
Because of his principled nature, Tsvangirai found it fit to push aside those differences and travelled all the way to Gweru to mourn his former comrade.
Even senior officials from Zanu PF, including the party’s provincial chairperson and Midlands governor Jason Machaya also found time to go and comfort the Gasela family.
A statement from MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa’s office said Gasela was consistent in his fight for a positive change in Zimbabwe.
“The MDC family particularly remembers Gasela as a committed and patriotic Zimbabwean who fought for many years to bring real change to the people of this country,” said the statement.
“He was a democrat, a patriot and a staunch defender of human rights who wanted to see positive change in the country of his birth.
“Since 1999, Gasela has always been on the vanguard, responding to the clarion call to save his country from the vagaries of Zanu PF misgovernance and corruption.”
Most of the issues Gasela raised in his articles have not been addressed.
The agriculture sector continues to be on a nosedive, but very few officials, including those from the two MDCs, seem to treat agriculture revival with the same urgency he advocated for.
Gasela’s death in a car crash alongside his party’s chairperson of the disciplinary committee, Lyson Mlambo and chairperson of the Women’s Assembly in the Midlands, Ntombizodwa Gumbo has spurred public debate on a vast array of issues, among them the sorry state of the country’s roads.
In his statement, Chamisa said the roads had become “highways of death… rivers of blood and death cages”.
“Innocent people have perished on our roads and on our railways; far too many to warrant urgent action from the inclusive government,” said Chamisa.
“The MDC calls on the inclusive government to take these accidents as wake-up calls to deal decisively with the carnage on our highways which has become a loud indictment on the state of the national road network.”
Chamisa said roads now topped the list of killers of innocent citizens and revealed that the MDC-T was now pushing for a “special investigation into the toll-gate fees that continue to be collected but with no improvement on the state of our roads”.
Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Senegal and MDC secretary for policy and research, Trudy Stevenson said “Gasela was one of the most decent, principled fighters for democracy and for the betterment of our beloved Zimbabwe and its people”.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE