Prof Austin, Chairman of ZHRC Resign In Frustration!

The Chairman of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) resigns in frustration over the Commission’s ineffectiveness.

“As a national human rights institution the commission must be independent and properly capacitated.” Prof Austin cited sections of the ZHRC Act and electoral laws that he said impinged on the commission’s work.

In a country used to Police Officers turning a blind eye to violence and thuggery as long as it is Zanu PF carrying out the violations; it is universally accept Zanu PF leaders and supporters are above the law. In a country where Judges routinely refuse bail to none Zanu PF supporters arrested on tramped up charges for months on end but Zanu PF murderers go free; reaffirming that Zanu PF are above the law.

In a country with more President, Vice Presidents, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Governors, etc. all costing the impoverished nation a fortune but all doing nothing; they are all in it for the gravy train ride. It is the unwritten but nonetheless universal acknowledge gravy train rule that one should enjoy the benefits of office and say nothing about its relevance, etc. Kudya unyerere!

Look at PM Tsvangirai and his MDC friends they took to gravy train ethos like ducks to water. For the last four and half years the PM has been globe-trotting, chasing women, everything except what the nation elected him to do like implement the democratic reforms, etc.!
It is completely refreshing that someone should resign and refuse to be part of Mugabe’s elaborate façade to hide a totally dysfunctional, corrupt and oppressive autocratic regime. Thank you Professor Austin. Thank you!

Diaspora Zimbabweans Lost A Vote In 2012 But Still Have A Voice In 2013!

To most if not all Zimbabweans in the diaspora were 2012 was a bad year. In the July 2012 Copac draft constitution, Zimbabweans learnt they would not be allowed to hold dual citizenship and that any Zimbabwean, except a select few, who are outside the country will not be allowed to vote. These are the two issues Zimbabweans in the diaspora had campaigned to have included in the draft.

MDC’s pathetic attempt to mislead everyone by claiming the draft said something else to please those in the diaspora only rubbed salt in the wound. It was bad enough that MDC had betrayed them by failing to have these issues favorably addressed, it was insulting that party deliberately misread what everyone can see is not in the draft. Sadly Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his MDC friends are at it again; deliberately misleading.

Whilst the PM and his MDC friends have all acknowledged that the Copac draft constitution alone will not deliver the long cherish free and fair elections, free notably of the scourge of violence. They insist the raft of GPA democratic reforms, including security sector and media reforms, will be implemented at some point – when, they do not say - before the elections.

The reality is, none of the reforms are going to be implemented. MDC has had four and half years to get the agreed reforms implemented and failed. It is inconceivable that they will now finalize the Copac, hold the referendum, draft the democratic reforms have them approved by all parties and then implement them; do all this in the six or nine months maximum. Mugabe has already said that there will be no more reforms. If MDC was serious about getting SADC to pressure Mugabe to accept reforms then they should have submitted the proposed reforms years ago.

PM Tsvangirai and everyone in MDC know that the coming elections are NOT going to be free and fair but do none of them have the guts to admit it and thus admit the dysfunctional GNU failed to deliver its single most important task – free and fair elections with results will be a true reflection of the democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe.

The average Zimbabwean will neither understand complexities of reforms nor appreciate the time constraints and so they will readily believe MDC that all the reforms will be implement so that the elections will be free and fair. The people will vote YES in the Copac constitution referendum believing the elections to follow will be free and fair. It is up to every Zimbabwean, especially those in the diaspora who having been denying a vote will find they still have a voice, to tell the ordinary Zimbabweans the truth – the GNU failed to deliver free and fair elections.

Since the next elections are NOT going to be free and fair Zimbabwean must vote NO in the referendum and force the implementation of all democratic reform and rewriting of a truly democratic constitution and not the Copas rubbish.

If every Zimbabwean in the diaspora called five Zimbabweans back home and explained why they must vote NO; the NO camp will win the day!

No one in their right mind would concede to play in a game in which the other side uses a loaded dice. Only a fool would risk leg and limb much less a life in such a mad gamble! After 33 years of a corrupt and repressive government Zimbabweans deserve a good and competent government; that we can only have born out of free and fair elections.

Zimbabweans must put their collective foot down and accept nothing short of free and fair elections.

Mugabe campaigning for Elections with Referendum yet to lose!

At the end of Zanu PF Conference in Gweru Mugabe sent off his followers with instructions to prepare for the planned elections. He said nothing about the referendum on the Copac draft constitution which must precede elections as if the draft had already been approved and therefore the referendum was of no consequence.

Zanu PF Minister of Mines, Obert Mpofu, was out in Tsholotsho campaigning. “We want to assist the youths in many ways, they want projects that would boost their livelihoods,” he said.

It was three decades of mismanagement and corruption and, in the last ten years, some of the worst looting in human history by Zanu PF that destroyed the Zimbabwe economy forcing millions into abject poverty and millions to leave the country in search of work and to escape Zanu PF the political repression.

Obert Mpofu is one of the few Zanu PF ruling elite who have grown fat, very fat, from the corruption and looting. All he is doing now is offering some of his ill got wealth to buy votes and, to bolster his election chances, to pay thugs to intimidate and terrorize the electorate into voting for him. As soon as he is re-elected whatever funding he would have provided for these youths projects will disappear like mist in the Africa morning sun.

What Obert Mpofu, Robert Mugabe and the rest Zanu PF cohorts are doing everything possible to ensure they retain power and thus continue with the corruption and looting as before. Zanu PF intends to use the looting of the white owned farming as template for an all-out looting of whatever is left in the Zimbabwe economy with its 100% indigenization plan. This will sink the Zimbabwe economy even deeper into trouble.

Mugabe and Zanu PF are not offering an solutions to Zimbabwe’s economic and political mess - they created; all they are offering are the same cheap short term answers that landed the nation in the mess in the first place.

It is not elections per se Zimbabweans should be thinking about at present but more specifically making sure the next elections are free, fair and a true reflection of the democratic will of the people – an anomaly which has kept Mugabe and Zanu PF in power all these years and will do so again, contrary to the their performance and popularity.

This dysfunctional GNU was tasked to implement a number of democratic reforms, write a democratic constitution in preparation for holding free and fair elections whose results will not be disputed. None of the reforms have been implemented and the Copac draft constitution is rubbish.

It is in Mugabe and Zanu PF’s interest to have the next elections under the same mudded water conditions.  Zimbabweans must not allow themselves to be lured into yet another election process marred by abuse of power and violence but rather insist that everything to ensure the next elections are free and democratic. Zimbabwe must reject the Copac draft in the upcoming referendum and thus force the implementation of the reforms before elections are held!

Obert Mpofu, Mugabe and Zanu PF are gearing for yet another violent election confident Zimbabweans will follow Tsvangirai and MDC, who have already foolishly approved the Copac rubbish, like sheep to the slaughter and vote yes in the referendum. Zimbabweans must shock Mugabe by voting NO to the Copac rubbish and thus demonstrate in no uncertain way that they can think for themselves and refused to be denying a meaningful say in the governance of Zimbabwe!  

Fervent 2013 Wish: Zimbabweans Accept Reality Of Indecisiive Tsvangirai!

For four years Zimbabweans have appealed to Tsvangirai, begged him, groveled before him, flattered him, anything to get him to implement the democratic reforms and to stop letting Mugabe continuing riding rough shod over the people. But all to no avail.

By the mid-1980s it was clear the Zanu PF government has leading the country into trouble. The people appealed, begged, you name it, Mugabe to something about the mismanagement, the rising corruption and, even more worrying, the increasing political repression. But all to no avail.

The truth of the matter was that resorted to appealing and begging year after year because we didnot want to accept whilst he might the surrounded by bad advisers and corrupt ministers Mugabe himself was a great leader. Of course, he was the fountain from which all the rot flowed, he is a heartless selfish brute who cares for nothing but power and wealth; the people all different reasons and weakness just did not want to accept that reality much less take the necessary decisive action to replace him as national leader. Sadly history has the habit of repeating itself.

We have all know for years now that PM Tsvangirai is "a flawed and indecisive character" as US Ambassador Chris Dell rightly pointed out in 2002. Whilst we would have all wanted the PM to have been a decisive and visionary leader; the reality is that he is not and no amount of appealing or begging has made one iota of difference.

Zimbabwe is already paying a heavy price for years of Mugabe tyrannical rule and PM Tsvangirai's failure to implement the necessary democratic reforms to end the tyranny. My fervent wish for 2013: that Zimbabweans finally accept individuals like Tsvangirai for the indecisive blunderer he is and stop this folly of groveling to him as the infallible great leader they wish him to be!

We desperately, desperately need to end this naval gazing and face reality if we are ever to get out of hell-hole!

With hindsight; armed struggle was not the best option for ending white rule!

As a nation we should have considered the consequences of giving the enormous power of life and death the gun gives to whoever has the gun before deciding to launch the war of independence. As it happened, the gun did hasten the end of white rule and oppression but it did not the freedom, liberty and justice we were after.

 

 I think you have to admit that on both the political and economic fronts Zimbabweans are worse off today than they were before independence. We did not have the right to vote in Ian Smith's Rhodesia; we now have that right in theory only and many thousands have been murdered in cold blood because they dare exercise that right. On the economic front mismanagement, corruption and looting have turned a once prosperous nation into one of the poorest.

 

You can teach a monkey how to use a gun; the only reason there are no monkeys out there swaggering around with shot guns like cowboys is that no one can teach them when to shoot.

Give the gun to a tyrant like Mugabe, with an IQ not much higher than that of a monkey but enough to appreciate the power it gives and thrill generated by exercising that power and you know you are in serious trouble!  

 

Yes Mugabe defeated the white oppressors but before the smoke of the last gunshot in that war had cleared he already had his gun trained on the defenceless black civilians. He has gone on to kill over 30 000 innocent black Zimbabweans since independence  - he has murdered more blacks than all the whites he killed in the liberation war - in his ruthless determination to retain political power at all cost!

 

The basic and fundamental human rights to freedom, liberty, right to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life itself have all been trumped by the tyrant and his cronies’ overarching “right” as liberation war heroes and heroines rule the country as they please. "What was won by the bullet cannot be over turned by the ballot!" they boost!

 

There many people who believed the armed struggle was necessary to end white colonial oppression, many of them died in that war, others lived but have since died fighting to end the Mugabe dictatorship and yet others are alive and fighting the dictatorship in their own various ways themselves; they will all agree, with hindsight, it was not a wise to have allowed a monkey like Mugabe to wield a gun! Whilst it might have taken ten years or so longer to end white rule using none violent means it has taken over 33 years, economic ruins and over 30 000 died and we still have not disarmed the ruthless tyrannical monkey!

Zimbabweans must be the most laidback - dodo laidback - people on earth!

Zimbabweans must be one of the most laid-back people on earth.

 

The Zimbabwe economy shrunk by a staggering world record of 84% in the six year period 2002 to 2008 alone throwing millions out of work and into a live of abject poverty. Zimbabweans have seen their life expectancy plummet from 68 years when Mugabe took over in 1980 to 34 years by 2004, the last time it was measured. And throughout all these trials and tribulations have done very little to stop the madness behind it all. To the people of Zimbabwe it was water off a duck's back. Instead of water rolling off well-oiled duck's feathers Zimbabweans had the corruption, looting and brutal oppression, concentrated sulphuric acid which burns the skin, flesh and bone. Other than groan in pain and bury their dead Zimbabweans have staidly done nothing else.

 

Zimbabweans have had a chance to define what kind of Police service they wanted, for example. After 33 years of a Police service that has turned a blind eye to politically motivated violence and thus contribute to the nation’s culture of mindless violence; there was one thing one expected that Zimbabweans would want to see changed. The MDC, the party one expected to be more in tune with the nation’s needs, has done nothing on the matter although they have had the parliamentary majority these last four years. The people themselves have clearly not paid much attention on the subject either.

 

Yes, Zimbabweans must rank amongst the most laid-back people; or am I confusing laidback with being stupid - the dodo kind of stupidity!

Maduku Calls For Elections Before Referendum - Offering Mugabe GPA Bolt-hole!

The leader of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Professor Lovemore Maduku calls for fresh elections to be held and not bother holding the referendum on the proposed Copac draft constitution as proposed in the GPA.

 “There is no need for the NCA to keep on talking of Vote NO for the referendum because there is no referendum to talk about,” Maduku said “As NCA we are now saying that elections must be held without the constitution and deal with the issue later, whoever wins the elections.”

Drafting the new constitution was supposed to take 18 months but has taken four years instead. And the Copac draft is so feeble and weak it is not the democratic constitution the nation was expecting. In the planed referendum on the Copac draft the people will have their chance to express their opinion on the draft, the failure to implement the reforms and ultimately on whether they will accept another electoral process marred by violence and bloodshed and whose result will not be a true reflection of their democratic will.

The NCA had said it was going to campaign for a NO vote to the Copac draft because the later draft is not a true reflection of the democratic wishes of the people. Admittedly the NO vote camp has an uphill fight on their hands given that all the major political parties has endorse the Copac draft.

The YES camp has the public media on its side whilst the private media still remains muzzled by POSA and AIPPA. This is why media reforms should have been implemented within months of signing the GPA. Still the NO camp must not give up, there is simply too much at stake to throw in the towel so readily.

To even suggest that we can have fresh elections without implementing the reforms and with no new constitution shows Maduku never appreciate why these were proposed in the first place. The reforms and new constitution were proposed to ensure the next elections were free and fair elections. The people of Zimbabwe did not want the orgy of violence of 2008 repeated back then and they still hold that view today.

MDC is telling the nation to accept the Copac draft on the understanding the reforms necessary to ensure the elections are free and fair will follow. Mugabe is saying there will be no more reforms and we all know it is his position that matters. It is the NO vote camp’s responsibility to ensure the people know a YES vote means accepting holding fresh elections in which the orgy of violence of 2008 is not a possibility but a certainty. There is all the evidence of another bloody election for the people to see for themselves, without anyone else having to point these out.

The referendum on Copac draft constitution will be the most important test yet on the Zimbabwe electorate whether or not they are capable of thinking for themselves and not just sheepishly follow the leaders.

Of course Mugabe has every reason to fear the people rejecting the Copac rubbish because that will mean revisiting all the reforms and rewriting the constitution with the added provision that he will not have the same dictatorial sway over the process he has enjoyed these last four years.

To agree that there can be fresh elections knowing they will not be free and fair because none of the agreed reforms were implemented and to agree to deny the people their only chance to reject the whole fraudulent process is defies logic and common sense! It will be betraying the common people because they gain nothing from the cancelation of the referendum but lose everything. The only person to gain from this would be Mugabe for who the arrangement will provide a bolt-hole to escape implementing the only outstanding undertaking in the GPA when he has cunningly avoided implementing all the others!

“There is no referendum to talk about because of what is happening. What we are likely to see is a mock referendum after parties have done the usual negotiations,” was Doctor Maduku’s explanation why holding the referendum should be abandoned. What feeble explanation!

Each time a Zimbabwean whom everyone had thought was on one side of the political divide made a totally irrational decision which will only benefit the other side rumours of the person being a double agent have always followed. It is tempting to dismiss such talk as paranoia. Still, the jury is out on this one; there is simply no rational reason Doctor Maduku would want Mugabe to get away with not having to implement not even one single thing; particularly given that this one – the referendum – would unravel all the tyrant’s dodge schemes Tsvangirai has allowed him to get away with these last four years!

Mugabe and Maduku’s scheme to deny the people a say on what this GNU has done to ensure the next elections are free and fair by cancelling the referendum on the Copac draft must not be permitted. It is infinitely better to just cancel the planned referendum and elections because we already know the Copac draft is rubbish and the whole electoral process is already compromised and therefore will not be free and fair; and thus start the whole process. For the GNU to abandon the referendum because they failed to prepare for free election and go ahead and hold elections that are not free is cynical and contemptuous of the people.

There must be a referendum before there can be an fresh elections in Zimbabwe! The people must have their say on whether or not they are happy there elections will be free and fair!

Zimbabwe Teachers Want Schools Declared "Peace Zone" Ahead of Elections!

Zimbabwe's Teachers want schools declared “peace zones” ahead of the coming elections.

So the Teachers have given up hope of a free and fair election free of the scourge of violence and are therefore looking for a compromise solution: let the rest of the country be engulfed in the same orgy of violence as in 2008 but make sure school are left as islands of peace and tranquility. Yes I can just imagine Chipangano thugs on a war path having to give up the chase as soon as their victim enters the sanctuary of school. Erect an electric fence or laser guns to zapping up any Zanu PF thugs who dares cross into the school zone. What a joke!

Takavafira Zhou and the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe of which he is the President are behind this call. Mr Zhou told SW Radio Africa that the real problem lies in the unity government’s failure make any real changes (to end the culture of violence) since 2008. Still that is hardly cause to push the panic button and to propose a down right stupid solution!

America Will Embrace Mugabe Only "If He Wins Free And Fair Elections", US Ambassador Warns!

“Yes, we will embrace President Robert Mugabe if he wins free and fair polls,” USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton told reporters.

Mr. Ambassador, if you are resolved to accept a free and fair election and nothing but then you may just as well tell Mugabe right now that Mugabe victory will not be accepted because there is clear evidence already that he is cheating.

There are many reports of the Police disrupting opposition party rallies and of soldiers harassing and intimidating the electorate.

Zanu PF still maintains its struggle hold over the public media and the private media is still muzzled by repressive laws like POSA and AIPPA.

The country's voters’ roll is still in shambles; many voters will be denied their right to vote because their names are still not on the roll whilst the names of many dead people are still on it - in Zimbabwe the dead have been known to “voted”. And so the list goes on!

How can the elections be judged free and fair when Zanu PF thugs are allowed to terrorize the people. The people have yet to hear PM Tsvangirai, let alone anyone else outside the Mugabe, speak on the national radio and see him on ZBCTV.

The security sector reforms to end the violence, media reforms to create a free and independent media and all the other democratic reforms agreed in the GPA should have been implemented a long time ago so that an atmosphere conducive for free and fair election was created at least six months before elections.
It is a great pity that more innocent Zimbabweans have to be beaten and, as happened in 2008, possibly hundreds murdered for the world to then admit the elections were not free and fair!

Mugabe Offer West Olive Branch Over Farm Seizure Whilst Targeting Them For 100% BEE!

The report submitted at the Zanu PF party Conference admits the party was wrong to have seized farms covered by Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPPAs) and no pay compensation to the owners. These include properties belonging to citizens from Denmark, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The report detailed that out of 153 BIPPA protected farms, 116 were taken over under the land grab.

Some of the countries in the West have been itching to lift the targeted sanctions and give up all efforts to force Mugabe and Zanu PF to accept democratic reforms. They accept a leopard will not lose its spots, especially when they are being nagged to lift the sanctions by the very people they expected to be pushing them to do the exact opposite - SADC and no lesser person than Prime Minister Tsvangirai himself!

No doubt Mugabe is aware of this and the public admission that he was wrong to seize the farms is meant to be an olive branch to the West.

It should be noted that Mugabe also announced, within hours of offering this token of peace, that Zanu PF will be pushing for "100% ownership" of Zimbabwe's resources by black Zimbabweans; he is no longer contend with the 51% ownership. So Mugabe is offering the olive branch in one hand and meanwhile in the other hand he has a snapper rifle hunting the would-be recipient of the olive branch.

Mugabe seized the white owned farms in violation of the international agreements, Zimbabwe’s own laws and common sense – the seizures were the primary cause of the country’s economic melt-down from which the nation has yet to recover – because he had no choice. He is the leader of a party whose appetite for loot is insatiable; the more the get the more they waste and the greater their demands for more. There are no more white-owned or foreign-owned farms left in Zimbabwe and already there is a deafening chorus from the Zanu PF ruling elite, demands more loot! It is just a matter it is just a matter of when, not if, Mugabe is going to let fly on some white-owned companies caught in his cross-wire!

Chihuri Attended Zanu PF Conference Not To Support "Revolution" But A Tottering Dictator!

All Zimbabwe’s security sector chiefs attended the just ended Zanu PF Conference. “We are part and parcel of the revolution,” replied Police Chief, Augustine Chihuri when challenged on this blatantly partisan act. “We cannot be divorced from that revolution; those who are thinking of leading this country without respecting those who fought for it must stop dreaming.”

Yes Police Commissioner Chihuru is part and parcel of the revolution leading to independence in 1980. Since then, he has also become part and parcel of the corruption and brutal repression of this dictatorship. He has loot to safe guard and the blood of many innocent Zimbabweans on his hands he does not want to account for. He does not want to see regime change because of what has happened after the revolution and not for the revolution for revolution's sake!

The revolution was to give every Zimbabwean their human rights and dignity including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and the right to life. Rights this dictatorship has blatantly denied the people a position Commissioner Chihuri and the rest of the dictatorship are defending. They are all defending the indefensible.

The revolution is not complete until all Zimbabweans; every man, woman and child; are accorded all their democratic rights and human dignity. The looted wealth must be recovered and used to pull the millions forced into a life of abject poverty out of poverty. Those with blood on their hands must account for it.

No Commissioner, it is not the revolution you are defending but a ruthless and murderous dictatorship; you know! You are doing your best to bolster the dictator and the dictatorship on its last legs; you know that too!  

Sadly it is NOT against the law for members of the security sector to attend any political party’s conference or campaign for the election of the said party.

The South African constitution, for example, explicitly forbids this; we would have been wise to follow their example, particularly after the 2008 elections orgy of violence. There was nothing in the Lancaster House Constitution one could fall back on and there is still nothing in this Copac draft to force the Police, etc. to stop behaving in a partisan manner.

In the GPA, security sector reforms were listed amongst other things as necessary for free and fair elections.

The fact that none of the reforms were ever implemented is largely PM Tsvangirai and his MDC friends’ fault: in the PM’s case he was too busy globe-trotting and chasing women! It is rich that the same incompetent individuals should now be complaining about Police Officers and Soldiers attending Zanu PF Conferences and/or campaigning for Mugabe!

Mugabe vow to exterminate corruption: only sure way is to fire him!

Mugabe promises to exterminate corruption by firing corrupt Police Officers, corrupt Ministers, anyone and everyone guilty of corrupt.

“I was getting complaints even kunze from former South African president Thabo Mbeki who said some of our ANC people who come (to Zimbabwe) trying to do business, have been told, if you want to do business you should give us US$1 million. No, it is now US$5 million. We will take some of the money to President Mugabe, zvekundinyepera,” Mugabe said.

Why has he not done so all these years?

 

The only sure way of ending the corruption that has dragged the nation into economic despair and political chaos is to vote the principal architect of this chaos out of power. The chaos has served him well and he will never ever destroy it. All he is offering to do is punish the small fry and leave the big fish untouched. Mugabe himself is one of the really big fish in this pond!

 

He is making the promise to end corruption hoping that such a promise would entice the people into believing him and dropping their insistence on free and fair elections - the only sure way the nation can get Mugabe out of office and thus end this madness.

 

It is the people's democratic right to fire him through free and fair elections. Mugabe should not be allowed to deny the people that right by holding yet another fraudulent election.

All Is Set For Another Bloody Elections: Are Zimbabweans Smart To Stop It?

MDC Finance Minister Tendai Biti says the new constitution and reforms were needed first to ensure the poll result was "credible, legitimate and sustainable". Meanwhile Mugabe at his party conference is stepping up the rhetoric to ensure Zanu PF victory in the next elections

The nation is going to pay dearly for MDC's failure to force through meaningful democratic reforms for the last four years. Minister Biti would like everyone to believe that the reforms are still going to be implemented; it is hard to see that happening for three reasons:

1) It is hard to see how MDC can now accomplish in four months or so what they failed to do in four years

2) Even if some reforms are pushed through in the next few months; they will not have much effect on the ground on electoral process given the elections must be held by September at the latest.

3) The reforms would lose their full meaning if they are not set in law. The Copac draft constitution does not have contain any of the reforms, which is why by accepting the draft MDC and the nation at large if they vote YES in the referendum would be shooting themselves in the foot.

All the evidence on the ground; increasing political violence, the chaotic state of the voters roll, continued Zanu PF struggle hold on the public and private media, Mugabe's feverish paranoia and reckless all out looting calls, etc.; points to one thing and one thing only - Mugabe and Zanu PF are even more determined than ever to win the next elections. They will stop at nothing; if need be, they are geared to repeat the orgy of violence of 2008 to achieve their singular objective.

PM Tsvangirai and his MDC friends did not push for the reforms these last four years because they were too busy enjoying the life-trapping of being on the gravy train and did not want to risk being thrown off the train by pushing for reforms. Now that the passenger list of the gravy train has to be renewed they know their chances of winning a seat would have been a lot better if they had pushed through the reforms and the elections were free and fair.

The reasonable and logic course of action now would be MDC to admit the party had failed all these last four years to pursue the implementation of the reforms with the vigor and resolve they deserved and redouble its efforts to ensure all the reforms are faithfully implemented and they are incorporated in the new constitution. That would certainly stop the Zanu PF juggernaut and the orgy of violence it is now primed to unleash on the people. But of course, being reasonable is the one thing MDC is totally incapable of. Instead the party is going to blunder along.

MDC politicians believe Mugabe will need a sprinkling of MDC MPs at least to give his victory some semblance that there was a contest and each MDC politician hopes he or she will be one of the luck few who will have a seat on the gravy train! They will, of course, condemn the orgy of violence that will befall many ordinary Zimbabweans at the coal face of the culture of violence; paying the usual lip-service to the problem without ever doing anything concrete to end.

It is the ordinary Zimbabweans themselves whose rights, dreams and every lives stand to be once again crashed by the Zanu PF juggernaut. They are at the coal face of the country’s culture of violence and they, of all people, are experiencing the increasing violence, etc. and must know everything is set for the repeat of 2008. They should be more determined than ever to ensure that the reforms are implemented and the orgy of violence of 2008 is NOT repeated ever again.

They are being asked to accept this Copac draft constitution that will not stop culture of violence and guarantee their rights. They should reject that draft and thus reject holding of fresh elections until there is evidence the violence has stopped, there is free media, etc.

The current political situation is completely unique in that unlike in the past the ordinary Zimbabweans are being given a chance to reject through the upcoming referendum a political system that has denied them their rights and human dignity. If the people should vote yes to a system that made it abundantly clear all along that it WILL treat them like shit then does just that.

This time whole world will be right to shrug their shoulders and say "They voted for a shitty system; they got what the deserved!" For in the day and age when other oppressed people the world over are reasserting their basic right to be treated with dignity Zimbabweans would have voted to continue to be treated like shit!

Former CIO arrested for revealing 2008 Elections violence - Damocles sword over nation's head!

Obediah Dodo, a former CIO but now lecturer at Bindura University and one of his student has been arrested and is being tortured for writing report titled: “Political Intolerance, Diversity and Democracy: Youths Violence in Bindura Urban Zimbabwe.”  The report revealed details of many cases of political violence during the orgy of violence in the period April to June 2008. Many of the cases were not recorded by the Police because they had been instructed to ignore them and, of course, not to arrest those responsible for the violence. not to went unreported because police had been disempowered.

The report also said the Police, Army, CIO and Prison Guards played a key role in inciting the violence.

Dodo was arrested and is reportedly being tortured by the Mugabe and Zanu PF controlled security sector who clearly do not want the truth of the country’s culture of violence exposed. No doubt the Junta is trying to send a message to would-be whistleblowers of its barbarism, particularly now as it is beyond doubt that the violence of 2008 will be repeated if Mugabe and Zanu PF’s struggle hold on power is threatened.

For four years Prime Minister Tsvangirai has failed to push through security sector reforms; it is inconceivable to see how the culture of violence can end without these reforms. Instead of admitting he has made a big mistake he is now pretending the nation can still go ahead and hold another election with violence hanging over the nation’s head like the Sword of Damocles.  

Tsvangirai can afford to ignore the problem of political violence, as long as he gets elected and is back on the gravy train; he does not care how many more Zimbabweans are killed or the cost of yet another five years a dysfunctional Unity Government or worse still a Zanu PF dictatorship.  Zimbabwe's economic recovery from the hell-hole the nation now finds itself is totally dependent on the restoration of law and order and rule of law and which, in turn is totally dependent on the ending of the scourge of violence and the holding of free and fair elections! It will be suicidal for Zimbabweans to accept the holding of fresh elections without cast iron guarantees there will be no violence.

By voting NO to the Copac draft Zimbabweans will send a clear message to both Tsvangirai and Mugabe that the culture of violence must end.

2008 Electoral defeat shocked Mugabe: No vote to Copac would be the coup de grace!

Tsvangirai is promising 1 million new jobs in the five year period 2013 to 2018 when, surprise, surprise the GNU in which he is the Prime Minister has completely failed to create any new jobs the last four years. Indeed many big companies have closed which others are barely functioning! He must think all Zimbabweans out there are complete idiots who will believe anything he says and thus have their votes - the one thing the people have left – just as an adult would takes away a doll from a sleeping child!

 

Big household companies like Zimglass and Kariba Battery have closed since 2008 and State owned companies like ZESA and NRZ which are too important to fail have continued in their downward spiral into collapse, dragging the whole nation with them. The Zimbabwe economy shrunk by 84% in the six year period, 2002 to 2008; a world record for a nation at fighting a war. The recovery could and should have been double digits rates, given the good leadership ensuring the removal of many huddles that had cause the economic melt-down in the first place; particularly since the economic infrastructure and skilled labour were still there plus the generous Marange diamond windfall.

 

Sadly, many of the huddles have remained in place; the corruption, lawless and violent invasion of white owned farms, the racist indigenisation laws, etc. Hence the much hope for economic recovery never materialise.

 

PM Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have been quick to point the finger of blame on Mugabe and Zanu PF, their partner in the GNU, for the poor economic performance with some good reasons too. After all it is Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs who are responsible for most of the lawlessness and looting. Still the PM must shoulder most of the GNU’s poor performance because, like it or not, he is an equal partner in this government; but, more pointedly, because, he was warned that the arrangement would not work but refused to listen because he could not wait to be on the gravy train.

 

In the last four years the PM has had many opportunities to force Mugabe to accept meaningful change on the economic and political front but again and again the he failed to do so. He was too busy globe-trotting, chasing women or otherwise enjoying the many luxuries on offer on the gravy train.

 

The call of new elections works magic on politicians the world over, it helps concentrate minds and politicians are never more attentive to the electorate. The PM and his party have come up with a new program promising at least one of the many things that party failed so dismally to deliver – jobs. Whilst the new program acknowledges some of the old huddles like the indigenisation policy, the electorate is supposed to assume MDC will have the political power and authority to do as it pleases. Only MDC is that naïve to believe that!

 

There is no media freedom, the voters roll is in a mess, the political violence is on the increase; everything, absolutely everything points to one thing that the next elections are not going to be free and fair. If there elections are not free and fair then regardless of who wins one thing will be certain; Zanu PF will still wield a lot of political power. Even if Tsvangirai and MDC were to win the next elections they will only be too keen to appease the Zanu PF cronies so corruption, looting etc. will continue. An outright Zanu PF victory will mean corruption, etc will be deeply entrenched.

 

It is tempting to be despondent; the electoral choice between Zanu PF and MDC is the mythical choice of the rock and the deep blue seas. Whilst the people are literally dying to end the cancer of greed and corruption that is destroying the nation; all Zanu PF and MDC want is to get back on the gravy train. Members from both parties are fighting each other like wildcats within their own party and then at party level for the seat on that train. Actually the people have a real one-in-a-life-time chance of derailing this gravy train, once and for all.

 

Both Zanu PF and MDC do not want a truly democratic Zimbabwe. For Mugabe and Zanu PF, they would have lost power years ago if democracy had ruled the roost and they would certainly lose the coming elections. Whilst MDC’s electoral victory would be assured if there was free and fair elections nonetheless Prime Minister Tsvangirai knows he would certainly have lost his position as MDC leader a long time ago. A free and independent media would have exposed his pathetic performance over the years, incessant womanising, etc.; showing him for the failed leader he is. Indeed it is for the same reason why MDC has resisted all calls to accept democratic practises within the party and not just call for them at nation level.

 

MDC's failure to have any of the democratic reforms implemented was partly due to the incompetency of the party leadership but also the fear on the full glare of the democratic spotlight turned on MDC itself. It is for this reason the party has willingness to take its chance and hold elections knowing fully well they will not be free and fair rather force through all the democratic reforms and face the reality of MDC itself being held to account by the electorate! 

 

Both Zanu PF and MDC are expecting the people of Zimbabwe will accept this rubbish Copac constitution in the coming referendum; both parties have told the electorate to vote yes and, as a rule, they expect the electorate to do as they are told, period! Whilst each party is completely focused on its wildcat fight to be on the gravy train after the next elections neither of the party is expecting to fight a rare guard revolt of the electorate derailing the gravy train by voting NO to the Copac draft.

 

A NO vote will force the nation to implement the agreed democratic reforms and to write a democratic constitution which will lead to free and fair elections. As long as there are free and fair elections the electorate will force those in public office to keep their promises or kick them out of office. Then and only then can the electorate be sure the gravy train has been derailed.

 

Mugabe’s 2008 electoral defeat was a shock to the tyrant; a NO vote in the coming referendum would deliver the coup de grace!  

Democratic reforms are the only path to freedom and economic prosperity; no short cuts!

Democratic reforms lay at the very heart of everything; without meaningful democratic reforms Zimbabwe will never get out of this political and economic hell-hole. These include a democratic constitution and not one open to abuse by the ruling elite; reform of the security sector so the Police do their duty of maintaining law and order and not turn a blind eye to lawlessness; a free media committed to freedom of expression and not a public media brainwashing the people with Zanu PF propaganda and a private media muzzled by AIPPA and POSA; a clean voters roll so every Zimbabwean can vote and not one where hundreds of thousands of voters were deliberately left out whilst thousands of dead people's names still remain on the roll and even "vote"; the restoration of basic individual rights and freedoms including the right to a meaningful vote and the right to life; etc. Sadly Tsvangirai has failed to deliver none of these things.

 

Nothing can be done without first carrying out the above democratic reforms to think otherwise is to delude oneself. MDC has often boosted of "stabilising the economy" of saving it from "falling over the edge"; that is all nonsense!

 

The two things have brought some sanity in the Zimbabwe economy since 2008; the scrapping of the Z$ in November 2008 by Zanu PF’s Patrick Chinamasa and then the removal of all price control by MDC’s Tendai Biti. These two policies were carried through because Zanu PF approved. After the hype inflation fuelled by the printing of worthless Z$, the party realised this was NOT a sustainable way of running a national economy.

 

To get the national economy on a meaningful economic recovery required other bold changes like not just putting an end to the disastrous farm seizure which had triggered the economic melt-down in the first place but to take away the seized farms and put them to productive use again. Mugabe and his Zanu PF did not want their loot touched, indeed the looting continued.

 

Tsvangirai and MDC had foolishly signed on to an arrangement in which they had no meaningful political power to stop the corruption and looting.

 

In June 2009 Andrew Marr on a BBC programme highlighted Tsvangirai his political weakness. Tsvangirai was boosting about of his magnanimity in agreeing to form the GNU with Mugabe and even compared himself to SA’s Nelson Mandela. Andrew reminded Tsvangirai that President Mandela had agreed to work with F W De Klerk only when it was clear that apartheid was dead and buried; the same could not be said of Mugabe and Zanu PF. Sadly Tsvangirai did not get the message even now, with hindsight, he still does not understand the critical importance of good governance in effecting meaningful change.

 

Last week MDC unveiled its latest economic program, The Jobs, Upliftment, Investment, Capital and Environment Plan, or JUICE which will deliver 1 million new jobs in five years, etc., etc. The program acknowledges that Zanu PF’s indigenisation policy was one thing that has held back national economic recovery and therefore would be scrapped. Zanu PF has already responded and said indigenisation is “irreversible”. And since all the evidence on the ground show the next elections will not be free and fair and thus Zanu PF is assured of victory it was clearly pointless concentrated on JUICE whilst doing nothing to ensure the elections were free and fair!    

 

The way MDC supporters keep blabbering about “give us the alternative” every time anyone points out yet another blunder by the party shows just how shallow minded they really are. An intelligent and rational person will not hold back acknowledging a mistake because he or she has not figured out the alternative because the acknowledgement itself is a necessary first step in the search for the alternative!

 

It must have taken USA Ambassador Chris Dell one or two meetings with Tsvangirai for him to conclude the MDC leader was “a flawed and indecisive leader”. 13 years of endless blundering has been water off a duck’s back with many Zimbabwe; they still considering Tsvangirai a great leader who should be rewarded with a “sack full of Marange diamonds”. Is it any wonder the country is in this hell-of-mess and at this rate the prospect of ever getting out are naught!  

 

Thank you very much Savagehunter, you and your equally myopic MDC and Zanu PF friends are doing your bit to hold Zimbabwe down. 33 years with Mugabe and now 13 years with Tsvangirai and still have learnt nothing. Tigere hedu! Waiting for alternatives not that you will see any since you have your eyes closed anywhere.

MDC promise 1 million new Jobs in new program: an election gimmick!

MDC has unveiled a new economic program, known as The Jobs, Upliftment, Investment, Capital and Environment Plan, or JUICE. The party claim the program will create a million new jobs from 2013 to 2018, expand the economy by 8% a year over the period and increase power generation to 6,000 megawatts. The party has conveniently ditched its last program, RESTART; without even bothering to explain why the promised economic recovery never materialised. If MDC get back on the gravy  

JUICE will seek to reverse the Zanu PF flagship policy of indigenisation in which white owned mines, banks and other companies are forced to sell 51% of their equity to blacks – in practice to Zanu PF loyalists. “The problem that indigenisation poses is that it kills investor confidence,” said MDC Minister Mashakada. And yet for the last four years the party has done nothing to stop this policy being rammed down the nation's throat.

But Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo was quick to respond “indigenization is a reality and it is not reversible.”

For the last four years MDC had the chance to clean up Zimbabwe’s mudded political system, sadly the party has failed to get not even one of the raft of reforms implemented. PM Tsvangirai has already endorsed the Copac draft constitution although it will do nothing to end the country’s culture of political violence and restore the people’s individual rights. In these mudded political water it is Mugabe and Zanu PF who will thrive and so corruption and looting (indigenisation is but one manifestation of the looting) will continue.
PM Tsvangirai and MDC have lost a lot of political credibility in the last four years – they promised democratic change but delivered nothing. JUICE is nothing but a juicy election gimmick to once get the people’s vote; once back on the gravy train the program will be discarded just as RESTART was!

Prosperity is born out of production and not more reckless spending!

Zimbabwe’s economic melt-down is affecting everyone. The wife and family of one of the country’s well known liberation hero, Magama Tongogara, are reportedly living in abject poverty. Max Mkandla, the spokesman for Zimbabwe Liberators’ Peace Forum (ZLPF) called for the appointment of a cabinet minister for war heroes and their families.  

Who is this Max Mkandla? Where has he been all these years for Christ’s sake? Zimbabwe has the biggest number of deputy minister and above per capita representation; counting the president and his two vices, prime minister and his two deputies, governors, ministers, executive mayors, etc. An even more bloated cabinet will only make an intolerable situation even worse. Ian Smith govern the country with only a handful of ministers and the economic grow in leaps and bounds, even when the country faced international sanctions.

Max please, it is quality leaders we want not more of the same rubbish who have got us into this hell-hole. And Max, you ARE the spokesman of the Zimbabwe Liberators’ Peace Forum (ZLPF) and you do not even have an common sense. Is it any wonder we are in this mess!?

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@Murambatsvina

Mai Tongogara and the families of all the other war heroes from Victoria Falls to Beit Bridge, from Mutare in the East to Plamtree in the West; they all deserve  financial assistance. And so too all the millions of other Zimbabweans now living in abject poverty; they too deserve financial help even if they played no role in the liberation of Zimbabwe. They deserve help because they are human beings and they too do not deserve to suffer. None of all these deserving people are getting any financial assistance nor are they ever going to get because there is no money.

For thirty years now Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies have behaved as if the public purse is a bottomless beg of money and all the nation, especial the ruling elite, has to do is spend, spend, spend and spend! Over the years Mugabe and his friends' appetite has grown beyond recognition; they have sucked the breathe, the blood and the marrow out of the country.

Murambatsvina, there is no simply no money in Zimbabwe’s  coffers to pay  Mai Tongogara or anyone else.

What Zimbabwe should be doing now is first; stop all this criminal waste of human and material resources through mismanagement, corruption and looting by Mugabe, his thugs and now Tsvangirai and his MDC friends too have joined the gravy train. Second; we must get everyone back to work producing goods and services. Prosperity is a measure of how much one produces first and foremost, and not how much one spends!

Who should Zimbabwean vote for next time?

Who should Zimbabweans vote for in the coming elections if Tsvangirai and MDC are no good?

Well first things first we, the electorate, should have a serious debate about where we are politically and economically and then where we want to go. Voting is about electing the best person most likely to take us where we want to go. In 1980 we voted for Mugabe because we wanted to get rid of Ian Smith. We really did not have clue where we wanted to go beyond that and look where Mugabe has taken us. In 2008 we voted for Tsvangirai because we wanted to get rid of Mugabe well not only did that fail but Mugabe is stronger politically than he was in 2008 thanks to blundering Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai is confident he will have our vote regardless of how badly he has performed in the last four years. In other words there is no incentive for MDC to look for better leaders than the party has right now.

An electorate that has a better understanding of the issues affecting the nation will force those vying for their vote to work hard to address those issues to win the vote. Zimbabwe has a lot better man and woman than those in leadership positions at present but when one is faced with an electorate that does not have the foggiest idea about what makes sense and what does not - it is the idiots who will get elected. In other words it is the quality of the electorate that determines whether the cream or scum rises to lead

Blaming the whites for Mugabe's murders is admitting Mugabe's inability to judge for himself!

“Rhodesians promoted racial and tribal strife that culminated in Gukurahundi that brought about the senseless killings in Matabeleland and the Midlands regions,” wrote Chimbwido warveteran (S W Radio Africa). Mugabe and his apologists never tire of trying to find a scapegoat for the regime’s wrong doing but this is one of the feeblest excuses from them.

Yes the whites owned and controlled all facets of the country’s economic wealth and denied us the blacks all meaningful say in the governance of the country. That is a historic fact and no one is disputing that. That is not what we are talking about here.

What is at issue here is whether or not the white should be blamed for what happened after independence. You are saying yes and I am saying no.

The white may have had all the economic and political power and abused it and made us suffer and die unnecessarily for all those years of colonial domination and rule. Still no amount of colonial abuse could have deprived us our faculty to think for ourselves, to know what is right and what is wrong.

Mugabe never tires of reminding the nation of his heroic contribution in the fight to end colonial oppression. He fought to end it precisely because he KNEW the system was wrong. And the whole nation holds him and all those who contributed in the struggle to end colonial oppression in high regard preciously because they risked their own lives and indeed many died doing what is right!

On the political front the liberation war was so that blacks too would have the right to vote. “One man, one vote!” remember. Everything Mugabe did as soon as he got into power was to undermine and deny Zimbabweans that basic right. He wanted a de facto one-party state, a dictatorship. The Gukurahundi murders and the on-going political violence are all part of this grand scheme to secure absolute power.

To say Mugabe does not know that it is wrong to deny people their right to a free vote and even their right to life itself because he was traumatised by the whites during colonial rule is the feeblest excuse one can offer in supporting tyranny. He knows what is right and wrong it is just that greed for power and economic wealth has got the better of him.

If Mugabe is mad then I am not interested in why he is mad at this point; our principle concern should be to get him out of State House and stop the looting and murders! I hope Mugabe will go from State House to The Hague; he can then plead that he is suffering from colonial oppression induced madness but even he knows that will not wash!

If colonial oppression robbed Mugabe his ability to see right from wrong, his ability to reason for himself then he could not have that faculty in the first place. Handcuffs, beatings, torture, jails, etc.; all these punishments torment and punish us physically. None of these punishments have yet to deprive the prisoner his or her ability to think.  Mankind is yet to build a prison to imprison the mind. If Mugabe can not see whathe is doing is wrong then he never had that faculty in the first place. He should not blame the white man for making him lose something he did not have in the first place! 

UN is wrong to bargain Zimbabweans' rights to appease Mugabe!

Mugabe has no intention of ever giving up power inZimbabweand ever since he was first elected in 1980 he has used brute force against his political opponents and the people to retain his iron grip on power. His demands to have targeted sanction against him and his cronies lifted as a prerequisite for democratic reforms is no different from Saddam Hussein’s 1990 demand after invadingKuwait!  

 When the late tyrant ofBaghdad, Saddam Hussein – may his soul root in hell – invadedKuwaitin 1990; he tried to link his barbaric act to the Palestinian issue. He told the world at large he would leaveKuwaitif theIsraelleft all Palestinian occupied land. The government and people ofKuwait, like many other people the world over sympathised with the Palestinian people.Kuwaithosted hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees. That did not reduce the Kuwaitis’ outrage at Saddam Hussein’s preposterous proposition.

 Why should the people ofKuwaitbe denied their land, freedom and human dignity because of somethingIsraelhas done?

 The international community and the UN itself too rejected the linkage and Saddam Hussein was unceremoniously booted out ofKuwait. The gullible Palestinians inKuwaithad voiced their support of Saddam Hussein’s scheme were themselves in turn booted out ofKuwait.

 Saddam Hussein wantedKuwait’s oil revenue and he only brought up the Palestinian as a smoke screen to hide his real intentions.

 Zimbabweans, like our brothers and sisters inKuwait, can see through Mugabe’s political machination. And we feel insulted that anyone much less a UN Human Rights Commissioner no less should be encouraging this tyrant to ride rough shod over our hopes and dreams of freedom and dignity.

 Mugabe has had some SADC Head of State foolishly campaigning for the lifting of the sanctions.Zimbabwe’s own Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, and his follow MDC leaders have too joined the band wagon. The West has even responded by taking some of the names of the sanctions list. Mugabe has responded to all this by demanding an even great political bias from the nation’s security services, he has rich war-chest from commandeered diamond revenue to pay for an even bigger militia operation than that seen in 2008, etc. He has thumbed his nose at SADC by refusing to implement any of the GPA reforms agreed four years ago. As for Tsvangirai, one of the most incompetent leaders in human history, Mugabe has had nothing but contempt for the man.

Allowing Mugabe back into power through the back door after the sham June 2008 presidential run-off has been Tsvangirai greatest blunder. And for a thank you, Mugabe has kicked Tsvangirai in the kisser at very opportunity! And the people of Zimbabwe now face the real prospect of yet another bloody election in which their electoral wish will be disregarded thanks to Tsvangirai’s blundering incompetency.

Appeasing a tyrant like Mugabe does not work and it has never worked. It is deeply regrettable that Ms Navi Pillay has decided to join the band wagon of those appeasing Mugabe. The people ofZimbabwereject and condemn her decision because our right to free elections is not some Indian Sari Ms Pillay, Mugabe or anyone can trade or deny as they please!

Mugabe say he can not retire for fear of a civil war - what a hypocrite!

Enos Nkala, a former Mugabe buddy, says Mugabe is ready to retire but fear that Zanu PF will break up and the country slide into civil war if he did.

Very few Zimbabweans would shed a tear at the demise of Zanu PF. As for the country slipping into chaos and civil war if Zanu PF breaks up; that is very likely. But that is likely only because the country Mugabe stifled debate and competition – the prerequisites for evolutionary change – to create a de facto one-party state. The one-party state did not work and it has been clear for years that there has to be change. Having stifled evolutionary change for so long the possibility of a revolutionary change including civil war is real.

The longer Mugabe stays in power the greater the danger of Zimbabwe breaking up into a civil war to force change. Mugabe is a man who has been seating on a boiling pot, he is feeling the heat and yet fearful of standing up for fear the pot will explode in his face. Saves him right!

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Minister Patrick Chinamasa says Zimbabwe welcomes the UN Human Rights Official.

"We have nothing to hide in terms of human rights issues," says Minister Chinamasa. What he means is Zimbabwe has developed ways and means to keep most of its human rights issues well hidden and as for those it cannot hide, like the never ending Zanu PF inspired political violence, it has conditioned Zimbabweans to accept as a necessary evil in the fight to resist regime change. And the UN too must ignore all such human rights violations.

88888

If all Zimbabweans who do not want Mugabe to remain in power had the opportunity to leave the country then Zimbabwe will have a few thousand people left. The leaders’ children, who can afford it, have all left Zimbabwe. Mugabe's own daughter, Bona, does not even visit Zimbabwe any more let alone want to live there. She must have as many degrees as her father by now; she has been studying for donkey years. Even Tsvangirai’s children are overseas studying and will do anything too just to stay away from Zimbabwe.

Mugabe is so unpopular that his own spin-doctor Jonathan Moyo said he would lose the election to a donkey in a free and fair election. That is why the political violence has to continue even at the risk of an adverse human rights report from the visiting UN Official. The diplomatic consequences of such a report are nothing compared to the consequences of regime-change! Mugabe and his cronies will lose all their loot and those with the blood of tens of thousands innocent Zimbabweans on their hands risk the sudden drop and quick stop at the end of a rope. They all shudder even to think of it!

9999

Zimbabwe has a “better” human rights record than several other African countries! Tell that to the sons, daughters, relatives and friends of the man in Zaka East whose hands were cut off and then killed by Zanu PF thugs a few weeks ago!

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Chinamasa said his meeting with Pillay was cordial, but reiterated Zimbabwe's insistence on outlawing "homosexual activities". Ms Pillav is in Zimbabwe to assess Zimbabwe’s human rights record. There are not many homosexuals in Zimbabwe and although Mugabe and Zanu PF has maintained their anti-homosexual rhetoric few homosexuals have ever been arrested, as far as I know. None have ever been killed. Contrast this with the millions of Zimbabweans who were harassed, beaten or raped and over 500 were murdered in the three months period April to June 2008 alone for political reasons. The reason why Minister Chinamasa brought up the issue of homosexuals is therefore clear: he would ignore or dismiss all other human rights violations and concentrate of human rights violations against homosexuals.

Even if Ms Pillav’s report fails to mention any human rights violations against homosexuals, the Minister will be sure to raise it and defend the government’s position as if the nation’s very existence depended on it!

Mugabe has threatened for years to criminalise and now to outlaw homosexual activities. This has become one of his lightning-conduct issues behind which to hide the real burning issues he does not want discussed.

The UN has produced critical and wishy-washy human rights reports about Zimbabwe before and Mugabe has continued in his repressive ways regardless. Ms Pillav’s report, whatever it says, will be like water off a duck’s back. The world attention is focussed on the economic crisis in Europe; no one would notice the increased role of  Zimbabwe’s State Security Agencies in state sponsored violence, which should come out in Ms Pillav’s report if it is thorough. Zimbabweans will notice and we know the dirty tricks Mugabe has been playing only too well!