Monday 30 June 2008

PM ODINGA DELIVERS KO BLOW ON MUGABE

Today, 30 June 2008, will go down in Africa’s history as a start of Africa’s Third and Final Struggle for Freedom. The fight to end the oppression and waste of Africa’s black ruling elite and dictators like Mugabe!

The First Struggle for Freedom was the fight to end the scourge of slavery. Millions of Africans rounded up like cattle mostly from West Africa sold and shipped in the most appalling and inhuman conditions to distance lands were they were forced to work for no reward. The Africans slaves played a major role in their own their own emancipation along side the whites nationals who had profited from slavery. Those African who had played a part in the whole sorry trade, if they were not themselves in turn sold slavery played no part. Still to this day all Africans hang their collective heads in shame that an African should have sold another fellow human being much less one’s very one brother and sister.

Abraham Lincoln talked there being “no shame in being a slave but shame in being a slave owner!” The greatest shame however is surely must be in one who sells his own into slavery.

The Second Struggle for Freedom was the fight to end white colonial exploitation oppression of Africa. At the beginning of the last century, not long after the abolition of slavery, Europe carved up Africa in what is now called the scrabble for Africa for the sake of exploiting the continent’s wealth. The indigenous people were treated as second class citizens denied a say in the governance of their land and a fair share in the rich harvest of its wealth. Africa was not the only continent that was colonised but without it was in Africa that colonial powers were particularly brutal in their treatment of the Africans. The Africans were considered savages and treated accordingly.

Africa’s fight to end white colonial rule started in 1950s with the Independence of Ghana. The release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 marked the end of colonial rule.

Unfortunately in our fight to end white oppression and exploitation Africa lost sight of the real price freedom, peace and economic prosperity for our people. The populous were duped into believed that all these things would follow once national independence was achieved. Of course it rarely ever happened, as rule Africa moved from white colonial oppression and exploitation to oppression by a corrupt and incompetent ruling black elite. On the economic front most African countries have become even worse off than they were before independence.

For nearly 50 years now it has become almost impossible to bring about any meaningful change in Africa and end this strangle on power by the select few. Reform from within was almost impossible as there was no such thing as free and fair elections in Africa. When outsider tried to pressure individual Africa regimes to carryout meaningful political reforms Africa leaders closed rank accusing the outsiders of interfering in African affairs and of neo-colonialism.

Today on 30 June 2008 in Egypt Raila Odinga broke rank with his fellow Africa leaders and pointed out something they have all pretended for years to see: that the Emperor was naked!

When the African leaders formulated the rules on the conduct of free and fair elections and even appointed and mandated the Pan-Africa Election Observer Team even dictators like Robert Mugabe endorsed these on the basis of some unspoken gentlemen’s agreement that none of these rules will be taken seriously. And true ensure so far it has been business as usual: each leader has done whatever they deemed necessary to win and AU has endorsed the result.

So each leader has tried in his own way to retain political power and suppressed the free expression of his people in his own way and for as long as possible. Still it was accepted that when the ground swell for change became unbearable then one to go. Again each leader was expected to do so although the rest would make their departure as bearable as possible.

For some people like Mugabe they simply do not know when the game is up. Mugabe’s political machination is clearly the worst the world has ever seen; it must have been ever some of his seasoned dictators in the AU blush. Who would have guessed anyone could be so desperate!

No doubt Mugabe had pen off one of his anti West and anti British speeches for the AU summit only to find everyone was avoiding him like a leper. Whilst the majority of the African leaders are trying to save his face by forcing a Government of National Unity headed by Mugabe down the opposition’s throat. Prime Minister Odinga, himself a victim of a similar arrangement, is calling for free and fair elections.

After all he has done in Zimbabwe the last thing Mugabe would want right now is to face the electorate again much less a free and fair election. The results will simply be too humiliating for him. Mugabe will accept anything else rather than that, it would be the worst electoral defeat, a total knock out, in history!

Zimbabweans are determined to have a government that will start addressing their many problems. They know any regime with Mugabe in it will be self saving.

Prime Minister Odinga has made a lot of busy bodies at the AU summit really uneasy. Instead of blushing at Mugabe they now were saying to themselves “But for the mercy of God, there goes I!” They knew, from now on they will have to face their electorate and if they do not they will find nowhere to hide.

It is not only Africa’s corrupt ruling elite who should sit up and listen those countries who have continued to back them such as China; they too had better pay heed. Many unscrupulous businessmen have grown fat off the misery and anguish of Africa; they too should be warned. Mark my words; from today Africa will never ever be the same again!

Sunday 29 June 2008

TSVANGIRAI LEAD BY EXAMPLE: TAKE YOUR ON ADVICE!

Tsvangirai calls the stolen election and the swearing in of Robert Mugabe as President Mugabe “a huge joke!” He is now calling on the African leaders in Egypt for the AU Summit starting tomorrow to reject Mugabe as the true Head of State of Zimbabwe. That is a very tough decision he is asking the AU to take.

If the presidential run-off had been truly free and fair, no doubt he would have been the one making his maiden appearance at the summit. If the shoe was on the other foot, and one of the Africa’s many dictator was riding roughshod over his people just as Mugabe has done. Would he stand up with leaders like Prime Rally Odinga of Kenya and condemn the said dictator, particularly since his own experience under Mugabe would still be fresh and the broken bones of his supporters still in plasters? Of course he could chose “quite diplomacy”, a favourite of SA President Thabo Mbeki. Then there is the most popular option of saying nothing and doing nothing – do not rock the boat, after all you too may need to rig elections, violate human rights, etc. sooner than you think!

Well Mr Morgan Tsvangirai you are not going to Egypt still you now have to demonstrate whether you would take act on the advice you so freely give to others. You want the AU not to recognise Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe, right? Well are you going to do the same? There is the little matter of swearing in of the newly elected MPs and opening of the new parliament; Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe will preside over these formalities. If MDC does not recognise Mugabe as the legitimate head of state then all recently elected MDC MPs and Senators can not take part!

Of course a tough stance by MDC will send a clear message to the AU that this is a problem that they deal with now or will have to deal with tomorrow or the day after that - it will simply not go away. Mugabe may think he is thick skinned by the prospect of a bye-election in over half the constituencies will wear him down.

Frankly I do not see MDC boycotting parliament and taking a tough stance against Mugabe. MDC leaders are itching to start enjoying the generous fringe benefits of being an elected official. Mugabe knows better that denying MDC MPs and Senators the privileged life style afforded his own cronies. MDC would join in a Mugabe led Government of National Unity even if it is clear such a regime would be totally ineffective in turns of taking the nation out of the mess Mugabe has landed it in. There will even be an open revolt by MDC leaders if Tsvangirai was to push them hard on this point.

There is all the evidence that Tsvangirai was not going to take his on advice not to recognise Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe- he has said or do nothing about that himself! It was one thing Mr Tsvangirai turning done the chance to drink glasses the best (nothing but the best for President Mugabe) French wine at President Mugabe’s swearing-in ceremony – electing to drown his disappointment with Dutch beer at the Dutch Embassy a few km away from State House- quite another taking the tough statesmanship choices!

HOT AIR FROM AU OR WILL COMMON SENSE FOR ONCE PREVAIL!

The Pan-African parliament observer team have said the presidential run-off election was not free and fair and therefore there should be a rerun. Mugabe has been in power for 28 years and has yet to hold free and fair elections. The level of violence, intimidation, etc used against his political opponents and critics have got progressively worse with each successive elections. In the past African election observer teams have down played Mugabe’s excesses and reported of the elections as being “largely” free and fair. Not so this time.

The AU has craved the image that the continent is perfectly capable of running its own affairs. Africa is the poorest continent in the world and yet it is also one of the riches in terms of natural resources and economic potential. It used to be the norm to blade white colonial oppression and exploitation for this disparity but with many countries in their third or fourth decade after independence that excuse is frankly wearing very thin. The truth in far is that most countries were economically better off before independence than they are now.

Africa’s problem is one of bad governance; corrupt and undemocratic leaders who once in office have plundered their nation’s wealth and would cheat, rig and, yes, even kill to remain in power. African leaders have grudgingly accepted this but, typically, have resisted outside pressure for reforms claiming they will deal with this themselves. They elected to use peer pressure; African leaders leaning on a fellow African leader who falls out of line. So the AU came up with its guidelines on the conduct of elections, for example, and routinely sends its own Pan African parliament observer team to monitor elections.

The Pan-African parliament observer team have now reported its finds and made its recommendation. The challenge now is to see whether or not the AU will act. The AU has repeatedly failed to act, but this time is own team of observers condemn the election, a very, very rare act of honesty and common sense by any AU organ. So will the African Leaders at the AU summit refuse to welcome Mugabe in their midst or will there be the usual blast of hot air blowing in Sharm el- Sheikh, Egypt!

Saturday 28 June 2008

UN FAILED LEADERSHIP A BODY BLOW TO ZIMBABWE'S HOPES

I am guttered. The people of Zimbabwe are guttered. The UN’s failure to condemn Mugabe’s continued violation of the people of Zimbabwe’s right to have a meaningful say in the governance of their country was a body blow to the people of Zimbabwe.

The UN has expressed “deep regret” at Muagabe’s failure to hold free and fair run-off elections. SA in a member of UN Security Council, the decision making organ of the world body, opposed a stronger statement calling the election illegitimate. So, after all the mayhem, intimidation and murder Mugabe unleashed on his political opponents and the ordinary people of Zimbabwe what else, Your Excellence, President Tembo Mbeki, did you Mugabe to do to tip the scale from “deep regret” to illegitimate?

Zimbabweans had hoped against hope that the UN would lead in taking a firm stance against Mugabe which others, such as SADC and AU would then follow. Strong diplomatic and economic pressure would then follow and so force the Mugabe regime to end further human rights violations and thus see return to the rule of law in and with it economic recovery Zimbabwe.

A few day ago the former President of South African, Nelson Mandela talked of the “tragic failure of leadership” north of the boarder. The great man had kept his own council against ever increasing pressure for him to speak out of Zimbabwe and the economic and political crisis gripping the whole SADC region because of what Mugabe is doing.

We live in a world in which, when it is time for them to go, most leaders would do so screaming, scratching and kicking. And then after they are finally bundled out, they will not shout up! In Africa we are curse in that most of leaders in fact simply refuse to go and would cheap and rig elections just to extend their rule. Leaders like Robert Mugabe are the extreme case of this group; they have committed serious human rights violation including murder. So leaders like Mandela who is on the opposite extreme who not only stand down, without being hurried along, but also resisted the temptation to becoming a backseat driver are very, very rare indeed.

So why the seemingly contradictory position of respecting Mandela’s silence and at the same time calling on him to speak out? There three reasons: one, there is a “tragic failure of leadership”, not only north of Limpopo River but south as well, within SADC and the whole of Africa, and, when it comes to matters concerning Africa, in the whole world too.

Mugabe and those close to him failed leadership is well established. And right across Zimbabwe society there will be some soul searching for the part we each played in this dictatorship. Mbeki’s failure, on the Zimbabwe crisis at least, is one of omission. He has repeatedly failed to rein in Mugabe when he could and should have done so. The feeble UN is just the latest opportunity for President Mbeki to do just that that has now gone begging.

The UN’s failure to lead would not have been so bad if Zimbabwe could count on SADC or the AU to act decisively. The quality leadership here too differ from that of Mugabe and Mbeki in turns of degree and not form. So Mugabe will, at worst, get tacit recognition of his regime by the regional and continental bodies.

It was rotten luck on the part of Zimbabwe that SA should have happened to be in the UN Security Council at this critical stage in our history. One can only hope without SA the UN would have acted differently this time at least. For its best intention to make human rights and freedom contain in the UN Charter truly universal the world body has largely failed to do so largely because selfish national interests by the five permanent members of the Security Council with veto powers have always been allowed to take precedence over human rights, etc. So there is a failure of leadership at this level too.

The second reason why Mandela had to speak out on the Zimbabwe crisis is, that the consequence of the crisis was a grim human tragedy. Millions of people’s lives in Zimbabwe and the whole region have been turned up side down and thousands of lives lost. Surely one of Africa greatest sons can not be expected to remain silent in the face of such heart breaking suffering and death.

The third reason is his was the voice of the voiceless at the cutting edge of this crisis and a voice of authority. His one sentence condemnation of “tragic failure of leadership” carried more weight than years of some people’s “quite diplomacy!

Zimbabwe will have to pin all their hopes on the G8 and the West to pile political and economic pressure to end Mugabe’s dictatorial rule. On the economic front the Zimbabwe economy is already in a sorry state so it will not take much for it to totally collapse. Zimbabweans themselves, both inside and outside, can too play an active role in this. So far we have not done much because we see ourselves as total helpless!

Friday 27 June 2008

Mugabe has called the bluff: UN to take decisive lead and MDC hold its nerve!

Mugabe has called the world's bluff. In the past he has called on his fellow African leaders to blink first- and without failure they did. Many of them have no democratic credentials of their own; still, this time Mugabe has gone too far, they can close their eyes to his brutal excesses. The UN and the rest must act decisively against Mugabe now, ahead of the AU meeting on Monday, to stiffen the AU resolve against Mugabe. Let the AU take a lead on this and Mugabe will once again have his way! The MDC for its part, must hold its nerve. The party was forced to withdraw from the election because of the campaign of violence and murder against its candidate and supporters. It therefore cannot recognise the run-off as anything else but a charade. The 29 March elections, although there were peaceful compared to past election, still they were not free and fair. Everyone except Mugabe and his Zanu PF supporters have been calling for a democratic constitution for years now. Well this is a wonderful opportunity for Zimbabwe to clear the deck, to have a clean start. Disregard the charade of the presidential run-off and put aside the results of the 29 March parliamentary and senatorial election which were not a true reflection of the free will of the people. There should be a six month Interim Government composed of all interested parties in Zimbabwe whose task will be to draft a new constitution and to organise free and fair elections. The government emerging out of this election will have the true mandate to take the tough decision facing Zimbabwe today and thus take the nation forward. MDC is in the habit, bad habit, of dithering and changing. It started the Zanu PF- MDC talks last with what many thought were a few "must have" demands only to give in to all of then. The whole world can take a tough stand against Mugabe but that will all come to naught if MDC show a willingness to appease and pamper him.

What Mugabe want is Mugabe led GNU. As a sweeter to MDC Mugabe will now probably appoint his own successor- a constitutional amendment agreed to by MDC last year- since neither he nor Tsvangirai would want to work together now. Of course MDC will have tacitly be accepted the charade 27 June election. The most important point however is, the GNU will be a weak and indecisive. Which is the very last thing Zimbabwe want right now!

Monday 23 June 2008

MUGABE'S ACHILLES HEEL IS THE ECONOMY: LET HIM HANG!

President Tembo Mbeki's idea of Government of National Unity (GNU) is laughable. Mugabe has ruined the country and all he cares about now is that he and his cronies should be allowed to enjoy their loot. He has just plunged the whole country into an orgy of lawlessness and murder just to maintain the status quo. GNU is simply to appease him. For 30 years Ziimbabweans have done nothing but appease him and he has done nothing but behave like a spoilt brat! We now demand and rightly deserve better!

Best way forward for Zimbabwe now is to have a UN Supervised Interim Gvt tasked to: 1) produce a new constitution 2) provide immediate economic help and relief 3) investigate past human rights violations 4) supervise fresh elections

The Interim Gvt will have Zimbabweans from all sectors of Zimbabwean society and will last six months (cooling off period for all political players).

The UN must act quickly, decisively and firmly, especially with Mugabe and those still seeking to appease him.

A military invasion of Zimbabwe by SADC or the UN is unrealistic; none of those bodies have the appetite for such action. Indeed such a extreme move would only flatter Mugabe; he would certainly prefer to die fighting rather than from the economic noose round his frail neck.

The Zimbabwe economy is in total melt down; there is absolutely nothing Mugabe himself can do to slow down let alone stop the nose dive. In the past he had a raft of economic policies promising economic reforms and recovery including World Bank sponsored Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAP) in the 1990s. Of course the economic recovery never materialised, the economic slid gathered in pace and speed. In the last five years Mugabe has said less and less when the economic figures have got worse and worse. The Z$ was on par with US$ in 1980 and today one green buck will buy a staging Z$ 22 trillion. The devaluation is fuelled by the run away inflation rate of 165 000%. This is an economy in free fall with terrible economic consequences on the ordinary people.

In Zimbabwe the ordinary people have learnt to make do without many, many things and forced to revert to a subsistent life style. Life expectancy has tumbled from over 60 years in 1980 to 34 years today. Mugabe and those close to him have done well; they control the nation’s key resources such as land and they have unfettered access to the scare foreign currency- the Achilles heel of the Mugabe regime.

The Zimbabwe economy now generates very little foreign currency, the last biggest earner, tobacco, was “killed” with the violent seizure of the white-owned commercial farms of 2000 to 2002. The biggest foreign currency earner today is probably the Diaspora dollar.

Zimbabweans outside the country are sending back home as much as US$1 million a day. The recipient of the foreign currency are forced to buy Z$, all local transactions must be in Z$. The regime soaks up all the foreign currency by printing more and more Z$ of greater and greater face value. It is the regime’s only answer to all its problems – printing more and higher denomination Z$.

The ruling elite have creamed off most of the foreign currency, by buying it from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe at official exchange rates and sell it back on the black market at 800 times. With such rich picking they can afford regular shopping trip outside Zimbabwe and, in the midst of abject grinding poverty they live a life of unparalleled luxury. The regime has its own parallel system for sourcing and paying for keep commodities such as fuel to keep its terror machine well oiled as is evidenced by rapid and efficient deployment of war veterans and militia in the last two months.

The regime’s appetite for more and more riches knows no bounds. It is matched by the regime’s collective will to hang on to their loot at all cost.

Cut off the flow of foreign currency and the Mugabe regime will collapse.

It is within the powers of the Zimbabweans outside the country, the majority of whom hate the regime with a burning passion for what it was done to the country and to them. They have the economic muscle to force Mugabe out of office but, unfortunately, lack the mental agility- common sense really- to do so. Of course if we could think even half as much as we hate Zimbabwe would certainly not be in the total mess it is in today. Mugabe has used the blacks’ inert hatred of the whites to hide his own evil acts, for example, so often and get away with it every time- it is simply amazing how the whole nation can be so easily and rapidly duped!

Zimbabweans may boost of having some of the highest literacy figures in Sub-Sahara Africa but what good is all our paper qualifications without common sense!

So although Zimbabweans could on their own bring about change, could have done so a long time ago, the sad reality is they will not. If there is going to be change then, the outside world will have to step in and help. The first call will be on SADC.

SADC could cut-off the supply lines of such critical commodities as Electricity and fuel for which Zimbabwe has huge amounts in unpaid bills anywhere. Paying these bills alone could soak up as much as two months of the country’s foreign currency supply. So far SADC leaders resisted taking such punitive actions against Mugabe’s regime even though Zimbabwe’s economic melt down has had a negative effect on their own national economy. There are many reasons for this top on that list is none of them have any democratic credential worth talking about. They are therefore reluctant to denounce Mugabe, a case of a pot calling the pan black!

If there is going to be any meaningful change in Zimbabwe then action with have to come from outside Africa, the UN.

The UN only has to come up with a strongly worded statement condemning Mugabe’s failure to hold free and fair elections and the acts of intimidation and violence he has unleashed in Zimbabwe. The statement could then urge all member state to exert all diplomatic and economic pressure on his regime to first stop the orgy of violence and then to allow International Supervised Interim Government to prepare for fresh free and fair elections.

The International community will only have to threaten to withhold some of the aid they are giving to some of Mugabe’s friends and they will fall in line double quick. Cut-off the supply lines of the luxurious the Zimbabwe ruling elite take for granted and they will know the game is up!

Ian Smith faced tougher economic sanctions after the UDI of 1965. His regime was a lot more resourceful and competent than Mugabe’s regime. The later handed over a viable and strong economy in 1980. The nearest thing to sanction against Mugabe is that he was not allowed to continue borrowing and not pay back! So his reckless spending has been his undoing. For Ian Smith it was losing the civil war that forced him to eat his own words “Not in a thousand years, will I accept black majority rule!” As for Mugabe his own economic incompetence will force him to eat his own words “Only God will take me out of Office!” He has had the economic noose round his own neck for years, let him to hang.

Sunday 22 June 2008

IT PAYS IN THE END TO GET THE BEST IN THE BEGINNING

“It pays in the end to buy the best in the beginning!” a work mate of mine in Zimbabwe, James, used to say. He was repeating a jingle of a local Clothing Store with a reputation of selling quality clothes. It showed; he was always smartly dressed. Nowhere is this truer than in politics.

In 1980 the people of Zimbabwe voted to end the war. The fear that the civil war, stopped following the 1979 Lancaster House Talks, would restart should Zanu PF lose the election was real. Of course, Mugabe and his party wanted to end the injustice of white colonial rule. Yes they also believed their brand of government would bring peace and prosperity to all, “gutsva ruzhinji”. But above all they had their eyes on the price- to be the new political master. It was not power to the people they wanted but absolute power to them. Mugabe and his follow Zanu PF leadership want a one party state and made no secrete of it. And the war of independence was waged to achieved that single objective above all else. The populous understood that well enough, the point was rammed home during the all night vigil rallies, ”pungwe”, Zanu PF operatives held in the last years before the 1979 Seize Fire.

Mugabe’s love of power knows no limit there can be little doubt his instinct would have been to shoot his way into power if he had lost the 1980 election. Instinct is one thing but whether he would have seen it through another. His political position then was not the same as after he assumed power.

Soon after independence Mugabe faced his biggest political challenge of his rule when PF Zapu withdrew from his unit government and some Zipra cadres took up their arms. They were doing exactly what Mugabe and Zanu PF had threatened. As the dually elected government, Mugabe was able to mobilise the national army to deal with the insurrection. He also saw the insurrection as the opportunity to quash once and for all his main political rivalry, PF Zapu and thus pave the way for a one-party state. He used the now infamous Fifth Brigade to do his dirty work. And 20 000 to 30 000 innocent civilians lost their lives.

This year Mugabe managed to use his political muscle to hold back the public announcement of the 29 March elections results and delay the date of presidential run-off. He wanted time to deploy his war veterans and other state operatives throughout the country to mount the campaign of terror and murder that have swept the country in the last three months.

Once in power, Mugabe was able to use the army to achieve his own selfish end in the mid 1980s, now to intimidate the opposition and a lot more beside to stay in power. Before his swearing in April 1980 Mugabe was sitting cross legged on the floor and his political opponents, the white regime, were standing with a loaded gun over him. A significant proportion of the Zanu PF leadership including Mugabe himself would have been rounded up and thrown in prison or killed within days if the party had lost the vote and had tried to win power using force.

When most people talk of politics being a “dirty game” they mean politicians do not keep their promises. With dictators like Mugabe who, unlike all other politicians, are NOT accountable to anyone for their broken promises or political excesses term assumes a new meaning. Here is a man who would sell his own mother for a price and be proud they had a mother to sell! The rights, freedom, suffering and the very lives of others mean absolutely nothing to them.

Dictatorship is like a noxious weed which once allowed will take root and thrive and will soon spread and choke everything good round it. Before independence many people described the key people close to Mugabe and his dictatorship as honourable men and women with integrity. These people have been at a total loss as to why no one within Zanu PF has ever spoken out against Mugabe’s madness. Indeed many of them not only failed to speak but went further to assume dictatorial tendency of their own.

Even those who have spoken against Mugabe and the opposition their motive for doing so has been purely selfish. All they seem to care about is for Mugabe to go so that they can take his place.

Zimbabwe’s biggest chance to stop Mugabe’s nearly thirty years dictatorial rule was by making sure he never ever got into power. Having elected him in 1980 he dug in making subsequent elections a meaningless charade justifying his own claim that “Only God would get him out of office!” We have paid dearly for failing to get the best regime back in 1980.

No doubt James is sporting the calico shirt with Mugabe’s face and/or a Zanu PF slogan! It is the “must wear” political fashion in Zimbabwe today; that is, if you value your life.

After the dust has settled this time round, one only hopes there will be no more innocent blood shed now that Tsvangirai has withdrawn from the run-off, Zimbabwe will not settle for nothing else but the best!

Friday 20 June 2008

TSVANGIRAI IN SEARCH OF SCALP!

70 innocent lives have been murdered already and there is every chance more lives will be lost before 27 June vote. A "win" for Tsvangirai would mean only one thing- more lives will be lost. It is not clear when or how the killing spree will end, Mugabe and those around him in key positions, particularly security have vowed they will not give up power.

The only other political out come is a Mugabe "win". An outcome, like it or not is even more certain now than ever. The people, the voters, have been so traumatised they can not do anything else but vote as they are "told". It is all very well for people talking of stubbornly refusing to be coerced but quite another if you were the one at the coal-face.

So if a Mugabe victory is but assured; why should more innocent people have their lives turned up side down and more human lives lost? MDC should not be mulling over this like a dog over a bone. They must withdraw now before one more life is lost.

What the one thing that has lost Mugabe's popular support is his handling of the economy. The great majority of Zimbabweans really do not care how many whites still own farms in Zimbabwe nor what happens to them. They also do not care who now owns the 4 000 white owned farms seized since 2000. So Mugabe's talk of not giving power until all land is in blacks' hands is all hot air. What the people are concerned about is empty shops, the valueless Z$ and all the other host of economic hardship caused by Zimbabwe's economic melt down.

On the 27 June Mugabe may go to bed content that he has retained his crown. The following day he will wake up to the biggest hangover of his political life- Zimbabwe's economic melt down- and, worse still, one that simply will not go away. It is the economy stupid- not the X on a ballot paper or a bullet - that will get the old dictator out of State House.

Mugabe is nothing but a fatally wounded animal. Tsvangirai wanted the honour of being the one who slew the dreaded beast. There is more political mileage in than in taking the scalp of a dead one. He never considered holding back even when violence and threat to human lives was a certainty after Mugabe deployed the war veterans and state agents in April. It is sad that only now, when the whole electoral process is overwhelming flawed in favour of Mugabe, Tsvangirai should be considering withdrawing.

Thursday 19 June 2008

IT IS THE ECONOMY (STUDIP) THAT WILL BOOT MUGABE OUT OF POWER

Mugabe has clearly committed himself to this path of violence and murder and mayhem to retain political power. Now the juggernaut is in full motion there is really no stopping it. I do not believe even Mugabe himself can stop it now. All we can do now is for those still in Zimbabwe, do you best to stay out of the way of the political madness sweeping the country and as for the rest of us note the suffering and deaths in its wake.

The International Community should tell Mugabe in no uncertain terms that it will not have any dealings with him. Winning this run-off election may be Mugabe’s immediate problem. But that problem is nothing compared to the elephant in the room he is trying to ignore; the national economy. Zimbabwe’s economy is in total melt down. And there is nothing Mugabe can do to stop the economic melt down with outside help.

The hundreds of thousands today terrorising and murdering innocent people at Mugabe’s behest will be demobilised soon after the voting on 27 June. The money, vehicles and all other resources that Mugabe had laid out for them in these last two months will dry up so quickly many of them will be find themselves stranded and abandoned. They, like the rest of the Zimbabwe populous, will have to deal with the economic reality of no food, no fuel, valueless Z$, etc.
The suffering and despair caused by the economic melt down will have everyone in Zimbabwe hurting for regime change. Mugabe has somehow managed to prevail against his critics and ride, rough shod, over his political opponent. But none of his ruthless and canning charm has worked on the economy. All his lies, propaganda, anti-West rhetoric and thuggery had any effect in the stopping the national economy’s slow and relentless slid down into the mess it now finds itself. So now if it this one foe, the national economy, who, ultimately, will boot Mugabe out of office!

Wednesday 18 June 2008

WHAT SHOULD AFRICA DO ABOUT ZIMBABWE

What should Africa do about Zimbabwe? The answer to that is simple enough; tell Mugabe and his henchmen in no uncertain terms that what they are doing is unacceptable. The people of Zimbabwe themselves should have told him that years ago. Why did they?

Mugabe has been in office for nearly thirty years now and throughout those years he never ever held free and fair elections. His popularity has fallen over the years just like the Zimbabwe dollar; slowly at first and has gather pace and volume in the last few years to the frightening torrent it is today. Riots broke out in many parts of the world because food prices had gone up two digit percentage figures in the last two months. In Zimbabwe you queue to buy an item (glad to have found something to buy – there is a chronic shortage of food, fuel, medicines, everything) and when you turn at the till finally you find the price has doubled! That is what a 165 000% inflation rate means. Yet the people of Zimbabwe have never ever held a peaceful protest let alone riot. Why?

I am a black Zimbabwean and also speak as, of course, an African. It is simply NOT in our African blood to speak against our elders or those in position of power and authority. A cultural weakness that African leaders have exploited to the full! Mugabe is but an extreme case of that.

There are over fifty individual countries in Africa. How many of them are truly democratic? I rest my case!

Among the leadership themselves of course they are reluctant to criticise each other. It would be a case of the pot calling the pan black.

Africa’s greatest chance to get out of this comatose state was when the continent had an African as Secretary General of the UN. The UN is the international body that has justice, human rights and the respect for human life- values dictators like Mugabe flout with impunity. The UN speaks with authority on these matters and an African Secretary General speaking to his fellow African leader would have had even greater weight. Africa has had two UN Secretary Generals and came and went and the continent did not move an inch towards becoming a more just and free people. Indeed the continent’s dictators even thrived during Africa’s turn heading the UN.

So there is a lot the Zimbabweans themselves, the Africans people across the continent, Africa National Leaders, Africa Regional Leaders and/or Africa Continental Leaders can do and should to stop the madness of Mugabe. The reality is; none of all these people are doing anything, period! Even getting any of them to TALK about it (or any of Africa’s life and death stories) seems to be a mammoth task- as you can see!

Tuesday 17 June 2008

NO PLACE FOR MUGABE IN GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY

I know all those suggesting the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU) as a way out of Zimbabwe’s present political and economic mess mean well. Given the present level of violence and the threat of worse to come if Mugabe should lose the 27 June run-off, they argue. As a Zimbabwean, I welcome the public support and sympathy and thank all these people from the bottom of my heart. As a Zimbabwean, I believe Zimbabwe would be ill advised to go down that route.

Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis is a wholly man-made one. We are where we are today because President Mugabe and his ruling party friends simply refused accept that their continued stayed in power should ever be left to the Zimbabwe electorate to decide. President Mugabe has never ever held free and fair election in his 29 years in power. As his popularity with the electorate has fallen over the years and he has adopted more and more undemocratic measures to ensure he remain in office.

Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF leadership firmly believe they have the right to rule even if it means against the express will of the people of Zimbabwe. Offering Mugabe or any of his friends a place in a GNU will not only be a get-out-of-jail card but will be a tacit endorsement of their undemocratic stance! Such shameful political appeasement has never worked anywhere and will certain not work here.

Give Mugabe and/or his cronies a say in the GNU and they will do nothing but block all meaningful attempts to restructure the Zimbabwe political and economic system. The last thing Zimbabwe needs is another five years of political and economic stagnation after all we have been through.

Monday 16 June 2008

MUGABE IS KILLING TO STOP THE TRUTH COMING OUT

Mugabe threatens war if he loses the 27 June presidential run-off. The truth is even if he does “win” the 27 June run-off he will have to step up his campaign of violence and murder to retain political power. He will still have to wage war on the people for him to hold on to power.

Stopping the election of Tsvangirai will not change anything. The pressure for regime change is not coming from the British nor their “puppet” Tsvangirai, as Mugabe would have the world believe. Pressure for change is coming from the ordinary people who themselves have been pushed beyond human endurance by Zimbabwe’s economic melt down.

The nauseating devaluation of the Z$ is symptomatic of the country’s economic melt down; in 1980 the Z$ was almost on par with British pound, today it is worth Z$ 16 billion! The economic collapse has caused untold hardships and despair. And it is the hardship and despair that is driving the people to risk limp and life in search for regime change. Mugabe has stopped all the pretence of economic management and everything he has done in the last five years has turned a bad situation to worse.

It was Mugabe’s vote-buying attempts before the 29 March- buying village chiefs grinding mills, bus, 700 % salary hike for teachers, etc – that have fuelled the country’s hyper inflation. And since he has deployed hundreds of thousands of party thugs and state security operative in this campaign of terror and murder driving the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s money printing machines into overdrive. Is it any wonder the rate of inflation is 165 000% and rising!

Zimbabwe’s economic melt down is simply unstoppable and so too is the people’s drive for regime change!

So why is Mugabe prepared to kill even more innocent Zimbabweans for – 60 have been killed since 29 March 2008 already? It should be no surprise really that it is the same economic melt down driving the people to seek political change that is driving Mugabe and cronies to kill and even declare war than give up political power.

There three reasons why Mugabe and his cronies are not giving up political power. First, everyone is groaning under the economic melt down and they are doing very well economically, thank you. The country has no foreign currency to buy even the most basic national needs such as fuel, medicines, children’s vaccines, etc. and yet surprise, surprise Mugabe, his ministers, party loyalists, etc. get all the foreign currency they need for their regular shopping trips outside Zimbabwe for food and other luxuries. Of course they are painful aware of the economic hardship the rest of us are facing. It is the prospect of having to queue for stile bread, for a few litres of fuel and to come home and find there is no electric power and water that frighten the living daylight out of them.

Second reason; Mugabe and his cronies own and control a lot of resources and wealth; farms, businesses, houses, etc. Many of them know they will not be able to hang on to any of it in a Zimbabwe without the Mugabe/Zanu PF patronage. It is simple absurd that one individual should be allowed to hang on to a farm to produce a few tonnes of food when it could be producing a hundred fold, for example.

Third reason: Mugabe and his cronies do not want the truth about Zimbabwe known and Mugabe above all else. Only a few weeks ago Mugabe was telling the whole world he is the champion of ordinary Zimbabweans, he redistributed the 4 000 white owned farms to over 300 000 landless black Zimbabweans. Most of the farms are in fact now occupied by Mugabe and his cronies; a simple land audit will show! Then of course, there is the innocent blood his regime has shed.

So in short, Mugabe and his cronies have murdered 60 innocent Zimbabweans in the last two months alone, more will die before the 27 June run-off and there will be even more bloodshed if Mugabe should fail to rig the vote! All this because Mugabe and his cronies want to continue to loot, to secure their loot and to stop anyone knowing of their looting and regime of terror!
Of course it is the looting by Mugabe and his cronies which has driven the national economy into free fall and which in turn is driving the people into despair. Something has to give and, after nearly three decades, that something is going to be Mugabe’s hold on power! Go he will and soon. And then truth nature of Mugabe and his whole regime will be open for the whole world to see. “Rinemanyanga hariputirwi!”, as the Shona would say. The truth can not be hidden for long!

Wednesday 11 June 2008

Government of National Unity would serve no one except Mugabe and Simba Makoni

There are two possible reasons why a GNU would be the best option. 1) The election fails to produce a clear winner 2) to make the best of the available talent from the opposing parties.

I do not think there is anyone out there who can honestly say the Zimbabwe Election has failed to produce a clear winner - if the 29 March had been truly free and fair Mugabe would have lost decisively!

After nearly three decades in power what can Mugabe or his Zanu PF cronies have left to offer the people? Absolutely nothing!

Simba Makoni is arguing for a GNU for no other reason other than that is his only chance to get back into power. He has been an integral part of Mugabe's dictatorship and enjoyed the spoils. During all those years he saw, heard, and said nothing about the dictatorship. A few months ago, to save himself from the Mugabe sinking ship and salvage his own political career; he broke away rank with Zanu PF. Well the people of Zimbabwe were not fooled; on 29 March they sent him to the political bust bin where he and all his former colleagues from Zanu PF rightly belong.

Those who are calling for GNU on the grounds that the run-off can not be free and fair are putting the cart before the horse. They should be demanding that everything be done to ensure that elections are indeed free and fair. We can all see what is going on, Mugabe is stopping at nothing, not ever the sanctity of life, to "win" the run-off.

The 1980 elections were above all else, a vote to end the civil war. The people were afraid that if Mugabe lost, the civil war would continue. Of course history has proven that their fear was completely justified. The nation has paid dearly for that moment of weakness; everything- the economic mismanagement, the corruption, the political murders, the economic meltdown, everything - can be traced back to the 1980 vote-of-appeasement.

Today Zimbabwe finds itself in total economic and political chaos. The way out is NOT by seeking to appease Mugabe and all those holding the nation to ransom further. The way out is by stopping appeasing Mugabe or anyone ever again.

My greatest fear is Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC will do just that; seek to appease Mugabe and his Zanu PF criminals and thugs and form a GNU. Whereas Mugabe has been described as political ruthlessly canning and savvied, Tsvangirai on the other hand lacks common sense to pick good advice from bad. Forming a GNU would be the sort of banana peal Tsvangirai would cross the street to step on, slip and fall flat on his face!

Mugabe had power and influence in the past, yes. Over the years he has lost it. In the past he rigged elections, for example, and could count on his party officials, election officials and the civil servants to cover up. Today he is universally disliked and therefore can not trust anyone except the few who, like him, have innocent Zimbabwean blood on their hands or, at the very least, have a share in the looted national wealth.

The round hole Mugabe is trying to square is the national economy. No amount of lies and propaganda and rhetoric can change the fact that Zimbabwe’s national economy is in total melt down and he has given up the charade of doing something about it. Mugabe is like a school boy bully who has soiled his pants but would not admit it. He thought he could clean-up whilst everyone else was away only to find one of his victims had turned off the water!

When Mugabe deployed war veterans to intimidate and murder the Zimbabwe electorate to force them to vote for him on 27 June it only showed he is desperate. It nothing more than the school bully wrapping himself in a blanket to hide his soiled pants in the welting Zimbabwe heat. To offer Mugabe the option of GNU would be like allowing the school bully to wash in the well from which we all must drink!

What Zimbabwe needs to climb out of the economic and political hell Mugabe has landed us is a bold rejection of all Mugabe stood for. In a GNU Mugabe and Zanu PF would no doubt fight tooth and nail to maintain the status quo!

Tuesday 3 June 2008

We must talk and never forget the victims of Mugabe's campaign of terror and murder!

We must talk about millions of innocent Zimbabweans, mostly in the rural areas, whose lives have been turned up side down. Since 29 March 2008 Election, they have been harassed and forced to attend all-night political rallies, Pungwe, where they are harangued by Mugabe thugs “re-educating” them NOT to vote for Tsvangirai again in the run-off. We must talk of the hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who have had their homes and properties destroyed by Mugabe thugs. Talk of the thousands who have been brutalised by Mugabe’s mad-dogs. We must weep and say a silent prayer for the fifty who were brutally murdered and, in many cases, had their bodies dumped and left to rot as if they were nothing more than a dead sewer rat.

How can any one do such a thing to another follow human being? We must tell these thugs that they will have to answer for what there are doing. Many people in the past have committed heinous crimes against our people and many times their have been allowed to get away with it. Not this time!

For three decades many of our people have held positions of power and authority in Zimbabwe. So why, oh why have none of them used their office to stop the madness that has completed ruined the country and dashed our people’s hopes and dreams of freedom, liberty, economic prosperity and life! Zanu PF chefs and all Mugabe and the party’s cronies have a lot to answer for the years of deafening silence and/or indifference to the cries of suffering Zimbabweans.

Mugabe has held this nation to ransom for too long. His hands are dripping with the innocent blood of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans all for the sake of political power. It has been Zimbabwe’s worst curse to have such a man as Mugabe to hold the highest office in the land. As the man behind all our suffering and death, as the man who deployed the war veterans and other party and state organs to terrorise, intimidate and murder our people – Mugabe must never ever be allowed to get away. He and the apache of assassins must be brought to book.

If we do not talk about the victims of this well orchestrated campaign of intimidation and murder for selfish political gains then what else could be worthy of our time and sweat. What else could be more important than human suffering and human lives? To those who have lost their lives, to those who have suffered at the hands of Mugabe’s thugs and to who have lost a brother or friend; you are not forgotten. You matter a great deal and there can be no better way to say that than so talk of you now and to seek justice on your behalf tomorrow.

To Mugabe and his thugs – you have had a good long run and your time is drawing to a close; there is nothing but a few grains of sand left in the timer. It is now reckoning time. It is a great pity that your evil deeds far out weigh the good you have ever done. Your attempts to forestall your hour of reckoning by holding back time and bloodying your hands with even more innocent blood are fertile and only serve to harden the resolve to see you all pay for your sins against the people of Zimbabwe. And pay, you must and will!