Opinion
I will miss England- Bright Matonga in 2001
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When Bright Matonga left the U.K. in 2001 to return home to Zimbabwe, he spoke fondly of his seven years in Britain.
“I will miss England a lot as this country has made me the person I am today,” Matonga said at the time. “People were just treated as people.”
For those who knew him then, including his former neighbors in the town of Billericay east of London, it’s hard to reconcile that Matonga with the one they see on television these days. “He doesn’t look like the man I knew,” says Shirley Begg, 62, a Billericay neighbor. “He looks horrible, with all that garbage that comes out of his mouth.”
As the spokesman for President Robert Mugabe — who is clinging to power after a March 29 election opponents say he lost — Matonga defends a regime that U.K., U.S. and European Union officials accuse of abusing human rights, stealing elections and triggering an economic meltdown.
His earlier words notwithstanding, Matonga these days calls the U.K., Zimbabwe’s former colonial ruler, “bloodthirsty,” and accuses it of trying to overthrow Mugabe while “hurting our economy” with “illegal sanctions.”
Matonga, who didn’t return calls to his office and cell phone, was born in Zimbabwe in 1969 and given the name Brighton, according to the U.K. Treasury, which bans him and other Zimbabwe sanctions targets for undermining “democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law.”
Begg says Matonga’s father told her during a U.K. visit that he was considered wealthy in Zimbabwe for having a farm and three cows.
Media Studies
Matonga’s schooling was disrupted by Zimbabwe’s war for independence, which Mugabe led until a peace deal with the U.K. in 1980. In 1994, Matonga went to college in Southend-on-Sea, a resort east of London, to study media production and technology at South East Essex College.
Halfway through the four-year program, the U.K. tried to deport him after a change in rules for foreign students made him ineligible to stay. Teddy Taylor, a U.K. lawmaker and one- time Margaret Thatcher adviser, persuaded a tribunal to let him remain.
“I had the impression he was a good guy,” says Taylor, 71. Taylor says he has no regrets because the episode “showed him how democracy can work.”
Matonga married Anne Pout, a municipal information- technology manager, in 1997, and moved into the white Englishwoman’s home in Billericay.
`Spruced Up’
She was the marriage’s “driving force” and “smartened him up no end,” Begg says. “He didn’t go back to Zimbabwe the way he came to England. He was definitely spruced up.”
After graduation, Matonga worked as a delivery driver and a freelance journalist. He once attended the local Conservative Party’s annual dinner.
Members of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party who live in England weren’t aware of his activities there. “Maybe he was brought in here, and the Zimbabwean government was grooming him,” says Washington Ali, 37, the Movement for Democratic Change’s former U.K. chairman.
The Matongas lived for a time in nearby Basildon before he returned home in November 2001 to head the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp.’s television division. South East Essex College, proud that a graduate had landed the job, issued his statement praising England.
Anne Matonga and their son followed six months later. The family left behind a mystery: Ashley Sinclair, who bought the Basildon home, says a telephone engineer doing work on it found “wires had been cut and re-taped, and an area had been dug out for a small recording device.”
Seizing Farms
In September 2002, the couple became part of a state- backed campaign to seize white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to black families that mainly grew food for themselves. The program slashed exports, caused food shortages and triggered the current recession.
The Matongas personally took over a farm at Banket, northwest of Harare. While doing so, Anne Matonga made a name for herself in local and overseas media when she declared: “Get off our land, we are taking back what you stole from our forefathers,” according to the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph.
“She said they’d come to claim the land that we stole from their forefathers, but she’s a white lady from England,” says Monica Schultz, 64, whose family lived for four generations on the 1,500-acre farm, which once produced 10 million roses a year. “They absolutely destroyed the farm. All the stuff that was there — equipment, generators, chemical tanks to spray the roses — Matonga ripped it all out.”
Member of Parliament
Matonga, who also headed Zimbabwe’s state-owned bus company for a time, became a member of parliament for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and deputy information minister in 2005.
Since the elections, he has warned supporters of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, 56, that their victory claims may spark violence. “The MDC are doing this in a mischievous way to create an uprising,” he said April 3. “They don’t have the capacity to defend themselves. If they want to provoke the police and army, they have to be very careful.”
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matonga will lead zanu pf one day-if not soon.he has carried himself well dealing with the media..half of them wish mdc had such a charismatic spokesman.
on top of that he is only deputy.
well done young man.you have a lot of passion for zimbabwe and zanu pf.you could have chose to stay in england and drive the van but no-you took up the opportunity to own a part of your country.resource ownership is the way forward.
you have made people sit up and listen whenever you are on tv or radio.compare that to chamisa and biti with their drivel.well done young man..keep up the good work.make a contribution to your country.
viva zanu…viva zimbabwe
by the way benzi riya has decided to contest the run off after all -we new all along so its no surprise—-we are ready !!!!!
GHOST FACE…It may surprise you to know that I support your right to say what you feel. I don’t suppose it surprises you, that I can’t say similar words in support of the MDC in Zimbabwe. Please answer me Why?. Is it because there is no democracy there. Is it because there is no rule of law which protects all the people regardless of their political views?. Take your views and peddle them in Zimbabwe. Talk to a few dispossessed and beaten voters. You might find they will disagree with you.
Matonga may be silly, stupid, controvesial and corrupt, but one thing is that he has emerged from the last elections stronger than many of madhara e ZANU PF. Getting a person who was so fearless to say what he did at that delicate time of post-election vacuum was an unimaginable gesture.
He immediately a that time towered above his Minister who remained flabbergasted and mute as he Sikanyiso assessed the political climate first. This is what we call growth. Even if your background is riddled with all sorts of issues, you show growth by the way you turn round to handle critical issues.
Mumwe murungu achiudza vamwe varungu kuti we have coe to reclaim our land as rightful owners - what does that tell you? Mogidza achiudza vanhu kuti minda yevarungu tinovadzorera - how does that make a contrast? Bright had to perform because he had the opportunity to come to political limelight. I hate varungu with a passion, but I like Anne Matonga’s bravery!
I hated Bright matonga for being half-schooled, but I came to understand him better when he was there - just and only just, to fill in the political void of post-election tensions. The man was brave and Mugabe must reward him for just that!
Pese apa manga musingazvizive here - kuzomhanya netuma picture nhasi? Vanhu ve media you are a desperate lot!
Matonga must go back home
BRIGHT Matonga must simply go back to Great Britain, a country which he so loves and misses. (thezimbabwetimes.com, May 9).
Why not, when that country reared him from being a nervous bush-baby, so afraid of white people to a courageous man, who eventually succeeded in not only mustering enough courage to marry one, but to also bring her and an offspring back to Zimbabwe!
I have also noted that his name is very ambitious, too, judging by his nauseating utterances these end-of-Zanu-PF days. And here is confirmation - a lower second class degree! No wonder why he and his colleagues think diesel can ooze out of a rock!
WeZimbabwe
Daily News
It was not relevant THEN as it is now …reminds me of Comical Ali,Iraq just b4 the fall of Saddam.Ana Daily News munenge vana Not-so-Bright Matonga, kutaura shit about other pple when u are married to one !!!
JUST A NEW MODEL OF JONATHAN MOYO. ONCE HE WILL ATTEMPT TO RISE HIGHER OF HIS OWN ACCORD, HE WILL BE KNOCKED DOWN
SCARFACE, DAILY NEWS, GHOST FACE = NATHANIEL MANHERU , NOT-SO-BRIGHT MATONGA, CIO !!!!
not so bright is silly and a proven thief,He is married to one of them but he says trash to them, -what a husband.just to show kuti they don’t mean what they say….Politician ar bad animals….ignore 90% of what they say including not-so-bright-matonga
Bright Matonga was named after the British town of Brighton. This is on the South Coast and his name was shortened to Bright.
His father owned a farm and 3 cows according to his CV, and this afforded him an opportunity to extend his education.
What I can’t understand is his slavish following of the policies of RGB when they very definitely clashed with his exposure to a Democratic system. I can only suppose something happened between his graduation and his appointment to the Zimbabwe government.
His English wife is blameless. She is supporting her husband. I wish mine did.!!!!
Watch the space besause he is an idiot he will rise against his wife soon.He does not know what he wants.Beleive you me he blames whites for everything ask him now he will tell you that his wife is different.Like you rightly say Dave his wife is not to blame she is just following, but she knows that she has no husband but a stupid idiot who is being used.28 years of mismanagement that is pathetic indeed. i would have done better if i was elected coz i was going to get the right advisors if i was in doubt.First time in my life to come across people of Zanu PF’s making.Where did they come from cetainly not Zimbabwe.Zimbabweans are educated probaly one of the best educated nation in Africa.One wonders what Mugabe gave them to act this way
Ghost face, if you truly understand how Zanu and its thugs work, you’d know Matonga is busy masterminding his own political grave .Ask Jonathan Moyo
.Besides, spouting venomous vile and hate speech is not being charismatic…but then again,Ghost Face, you would be the last person to know what charisma is.
DAVE—USANDIMAKE FOR NOTHING…
PEOPLE IN MDC HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK FOR THE SIMPLE REASON -YOU ARE A PUPPERT ORGANISATION NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF TRUE ZIMBABWEANS…MABHUNU IN BLACK SKIN
NDAPEDZA…
Ghost Face(aka PZ) , you’re obviously retarded if you think you and only you know what a “true zimbabwean” is.Typical Zanu mentality of wanting to impose your ideas upon people.If MDC are puppets of the West , then Zanu are puppets of China and Ghaddafi.How much of Zimbabwe’s minerals and land are you going to continue pawning to China and Libya just for cans of ration food for the army?
Btw , get yourself a new keyboard…yours seem stuck in Uppercase
This Ghostface/Proud Zimbabwean chap.
This dude is a twat, he is on the newzimbabwe forums as well, spewing rhetoric daily. The hypocrisy of this fcukwith is unparalleled, forever going on about the ‘evil west’ yet he enjoys the full benefits of living in the UK.
trial, Trial
xxxxxxxx
What are the “full benefits of living in the UK?”
Go back to Zimbabwe then you will realise what were the benefits of living in UK.Freedom of speach, association,food,money that does not expire amoung other things
Those who surpport matonga and zanu they must go and ask jonathan, what happens to someone who is too 2 much i know.Did anyone believe the way he [jonthan] spoke,one day he will be out.i believe john was very intelligent more than matonga.Down with people who are gready while the nation is staving.
Brighton is just trying to cover up his evil deeds. Remember akaba ku Zupco, we will hold him accountable in the new zimbabwe. Some of us are auditors and wil be glad to nail the dude.
now in anycase there should be two sides-
what good has bright matonga done? TRY to name a few-what bad things has he done?
do the same with mugabe - but take your time.use logical thinking not anger.
your points should be fact based not drivel from the media.i just need to make a decision before the run off and this is a cry for help.
you will be amazed how many positive points you will come across if you think logically -if you have not been to school you will notice too many negatives.
good luck
what do you expect from munhu akadonhedza zupco nekuba,he will soon go to jail,kambavha aka plus kakasiya kaitisa an innocent young girl nhumbu kakatizira ku England now hakatombochengeta mwana,kamunhu kakura ikaka was not born in 1969 kakadzosa makore,kushora varungu idzo hama dzake dzizere kuEngland,mukuwasha wevarungu,bloody hypocrite