Lie-O-Meter – Tafataona Mahoso
Posted by ZDN on November 13, 2009
Week Ending 13 November 2009
This week in honour of Friday 13th, we wondered whether to rename the Lie-O-Meter. Perhaps it could be called the Mad-O-Meter due to the utterances of the state press which have become truly insane rather than just untrue.
In particular we quote the discredited Tafataona Mahoso (judged ‘unfit for office’ in 2008 and fired from his post as chairman of the Media and Information Commission). Taffy “Fathead’ Mahoso indulges his spleen in the state owned Sunday Mail each week, and although it is hard to read his booze-fuelled fantasies, they do reveal how very thin are the straws at which Zanu-PF clutches. Mahoso gets a record 10 out of 10 this week.
The Lie
Senator Roy Bennett is a former Selous Scout.
The Reality
Hmm, Pachedu Bennett has graduated from a soldier (last week) to a full fledged Selous Scout this week. Really, Taffy! Bennett was a police reservist (and then joined Zanu-PF after Independence).
The Lie
Zimbabwe was “scandalised” by the fact that Prime Minister Tsvangirai boycotted the burial of a ‘national hero’ at the weekend, and opted to play golf instead.
The Reality
Zimbabwe was not scandalised. The PM played golf on Saturday because he did not recognise Chando as a national hero. Tsvangirai has often pointed out that awarding national hero status is not the sole prerogative of Zanu-PF in the current ‘inclusive’ government. And who was this Chando anyway? MP Misheck Chando was a minor official known as Cde Makasha during the war of liberation, then served with 5 Brigade during the genocidal Gukurahundi campaign in Matabeleland and the Midlands. Tsvangirai would hardly agree to honour such a one.
The Lie
Mahoso again: “Tsvangirai takes the white supremacist declaration that Rhodesians never die (what?) to mean that Rhodesia must live so blatantly again through MDC-T”
The Reality
Mahoso has run out of legitimate ways to discredit the MDC, the party which is bringing all the most welcome improvements to Zimbabwe. The Rhodesian regime was dismantled 30 years ago, never to return. Insulting the MDC like this just makes people laugh at the poor mad creature who tries to justify his salary by writing such garbage.
The Lie
(er, no, at this point it’s a – rant? rave? gibber? – whatever madmen do): “The President is a symbol; the Prime Minister is a symbol; National Heroes Acre is a symbol. A hero’s burial is a symbol; and so is the flag.” And that PM Tsvangirai does not know what a flag at half-mast means.
The Reality
You’re nuts, Mahoso.
The Lie
“…what saves the state from relying entirely on violence to maintain social and political integrity is the smooth forging, arranging and deployment of powerful symbols which transform raw energy, potential aggression and simmering conflicts into community rituals of solidarity and co-operation”.
The Reality
You wish! But what keeps Zanu-PF from the dustbin of political history is that they rely entirely on violence to maintain their grip on power. Does ‘Daffy Taffy’ really think that our rage, suffering and injustices can be transformed by a geriatric making a symbol out of a political gab-fest?
Ok that’s enough of Taffy Fathead Mahoso – you get the picture. The rest of his piece descends into serious weirdness as he accuses the PM of ‘inflicting wild ritual violence’ on the sacred symbols of statehood… offering Zimbabwean children a “white Rhodesian Selous Scout instead of an uncle”…… and other sickmaking drivel. Get back into your straitjacket, Taffy.
The Lie
Here’s a biggy from the country’s Attorney General: Johannes Tomana said that the state’s star witness, Mike Hitschmann, agreed to testify against Roy Bennett in the High Court trial that started on Monday.
The Reality: According to the country’s top defence lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, Hitschmann has no accusations to make, and has refused again and again to testify against Roy, as he has nothing to say, was cleared of his own charges, and was tortured into making statements in the first place. If he testifies it will be under extreme duress.
The Lie
The Herald newspaper claimed that PM Tsvangirai and his Secretary General (also Finance Minster) Tendai Biti are on a collision course. It claimed: “The (MDC-T) president does not recognise that there are sanctions on the country, but the secretary-general (Tendai Biti) is acknowledging that sanctions are there and they are causing unwarranted suffering to the people.”
The Reality
Minister Biti immediately rubbished this report, saying: “The Herald has an agenda to create artificial fissures in the people’s Movement in the hope that they can concoct another split in the MDC.” Right on. And do we care that Zanu-PF leaders just cannot bear the unwarranted suffering caused by the targeted sanctions that prevent them shopping at Harrods?
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11-15-2009
9:22 pm
Diana Mitchell
I have a special dislike of this mad Mahoso. My late friend, Willie Musarurwa, a fine example of journalistic excellence must be turning in his grave.
I had dealings with Mahoso starting soon after Independence – he was sacked from the National Arts Council, for misappropriating funds as far as I can remember. He was only half mad then and got worse as exposed in his dreadful columns in The Sunday Mail. How he has survived with his dreary, almost unreadable prose can only be because he has brought the standards of journalism in Zimpapers so low that its bosses can no longer recognise his offerings as the crazed, foul propaganda that they are.
12-09-2009
11:56 am
Taedza Harare
It seems most of these so called “independent” publications fear Mahoso.
12-09-2009
12:00 pm
Taedza Harare
The Zimbabwean was on Mahosos case last Sunday emphatically declaring (on the front page) that he had INVADED a farm in Mutare only to correct thier story (a lie) a week later and this time it wasnt a First Page story.
So we all can see who the liar is.Mahoso tells his mind and sticks to it with facts but these ” independent journals” always retract their Hate statements!