Police Chief tell Parliament no less that MDC is responsible for the violence - how arrogant!

This turned out to be a comedy of errors comparable to the accused not only cross examining the Judge, the Plaintiff, the Plaintiff’s council, the Jury and all the Court Officials but throwing the lot into remand prison! This would be laughable if it was not for the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who have suffered and continue to suffer because the country’s Police and Security Agencies has failed to maintain law and order and up hold the rule of law.

Parliament is supposed to be the highest Court of Law in the land whose power and authority above all else and therefore all those called to appear before a Parliamentary committee are sworn to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. - Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri’s behaviour is nothing short of contemptuous.

"We have recorded 121 cases of political violence since January and all are related to the MDC legislators. I wonder why you decide to call me to appear before your committee since you are the politicians who are causing all the violence that is happening in the country,” said Chihuri.

The Commissioner would like the nation to believe that it is MDC who are inciting the violence and yet it is MDC supporters who always end up been beaten, raped and even murdered. And more often than not the violence has taken place on MDC’s home, Police Station or Churches were the victims had sought protection showing that it was Zanu PF supporters who are hunting they victims down. Worse still the Police have often escorted Zanu PF thugs and even took part in the violence!

The British South Africa Police (BSAP)’s main task was to the white resign of Ian Smith stayed in power; they did not care about the individual rights and dignity of the blacks. Indeed the demands for these rights particularly the right to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country was considered a threat to continued white domination and was ruthlessly suppressed. Was this not what we had hoped to end?

The ZRP is here to defend Mugabe and the Zanu PF dictatorship just as diligently as the BSAP had defended white colonial oppression. We have come a long way and yet we did not move an inch!

Tsvangirai and MDC have proved once again to be just as ineffective in stopping Mugabe riding rough shod over the people as Chief Chirau, Chief Ndiweni and the few Black MPs appointed in the white colonial parliament had too proved to be totally ineffective at stopping Ian Smith doing the same thing! Chief Chirau and company were in government to give a semblance of respectability to the white regime. MDC are saving the exact same purpose.

In Zimbabwe parliament has no real power. It is Mugabe and the Joint Operations Command (JOC) who have all the power. As a member of JOC, Chihuri’s contemptuous dismissal of the Parliamentary Committee was to remind all were real power lies. Chihuri was pulling rank!

Call for Chief Chirau and company to resign fell on deaf ears; they were well rewarded by the regime and that was all they cared about. Tsvangirai said he would resign from the GNU if it did not workout but that was before he was sworn in as PM. It was clear the very day he was sworn in that this was all he cared about; he would never ever resign. A situation that Mugabe has taken full advantage of, of course!

What Zimbabwe needs desperately is men and women of great intellect, integrity and vision who can restore the role and balance of power of parliament, the Police, Judiciary, etc. in a truly functional parliamentary democracy. All our lives we have suffered under one self-serving regime after another; it is high time this madness is finally put right.

The human rights situation in Zimbabwe is force everyone to take side: sitting on the fence is not an option!

“We believe that as a country, this issue on sanctions has nothing to do with human rights neither has it to do with issues of democracy,” said Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president, Joseph Kanyekanye.

Is this the position of CIZ or was Kanyekanye expressing his own individual view and not that of CIZ? Well if and CIZ believe it was the latter then they must come out now and say so. Kanyekanye has thrown the gauntlet; is there anyone left in CIZ with the guts to pick it up?

To say that targeted sanctions have “nothing to do with human rights” is to deny all that Mugabe has been doing from the rigging elections, the murder of opposition party supporters, the seizure of white owned farms, etc. By rigging elections and murdering opposition supporters Mugabe were denying Zimbabweans the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and, worse, still their right to LIFE. By seizing the farms he was denying the farmers the right to own property and to due process.

Any business owners, members of CIZ or not, who endorse Kanyekanye’s position publically or by saying nothing – silence here would be taken as approval – must know they are siding with Mugabe. 90% of our people are out of work and the regime has thugs marauding in our cities and countryside terrorising and murdering innocent people. Pretending all this is not happening may help you serve your business from being nationalised and/or collapse for a few more mores but one has to think of how many more Zimbabweans lives one might have saved if they had spoken out against the regime now.

The situation in Zimbabwe has reached the point where no one can pretend continue not to see the tragic human suffering that is happening in our country much less give one’s approval by saying nothing even when the situation demands it. Ladies and gentlemen, honourable member of CZI like it or not you have to take sides – Mugabe’s side or the suffering masses - sitting on the fence is no longer a viable option!

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MDC should have never agreed to the lifting of sanctions, the banning of radio stations like S W Radio Africa and free press. Of course Mugabe is right in accusing MDC of cherry picking and he has used this as an excuse for not honouring any of his GPA promises. The GPA was a one-sided affair favouring Mugabe and now the dictator will make it even more so.

MDC said they would “walk out” of the GPA if it did not work out the only reason MDC is still in the GNU and will never walk out is because of the personal benefit the individual derive in being Prime Minister, DPM, Ministers, etc! Of course it is exactly for the same reason that the likes of Simba Makoni and Dumiso Dabegwa remained in government for decades. Others like Mnangagwa, Mujuru, etc. are still very much an integral part of Mugabe and Zanu PF!

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My greatest hope is Zimbabweans will someday finally understand that it takes much more than cheap rhetoric and wishful thinking to have a free, democratic and prosperous nation. We can have as many protest and revolutions and topple one tyrant after another but only for another one to take his/her place.

As for Mugabe he should derive little comfort from the fact that Zimbabweans have yet to discover the recipe for a creating a free nation. His ruthless repression has driven the nation into the depths of despair already; we all know that desperate people do desperate things! Indeed we have seen this happening already; Zimbabweans risked their lives and over 500 were murdered to vote Mugabe out of office in 2008. They knew just how incompetent and flawed Tsvangirai was and did not care. Some people said they would have voted for a monkey just to make sure Mugabe lose; that is how much the hate the dictator and how desperate they are to see him go!

Only 40 turn up for Zimbabwe's Egyptian style million man match: protest would have delivered NOTHING!

Any call for a million-man protest in Zimbabwe that does not take into account why similar revolts/protests in the past have failed to deliver freedom, liberty and human dignity is doomed to fail. Zimbabweans risked everything to end white colonial oppression only for the men and women, the heroes and heroines of the armed strangle, to turn on the people and institute a regime more corrupt and oppressive than that of Ian Smith.

Two years ago the people, admittedly more out of desperation than conviction, again risked life and limp to vote for regime change. But yet again the men and women they voted for betrayed the people and allowed Mugabe and Zanu PF. Tsvangirai and his MDC friends showed that their promise to deliver democratic change and empty rhetoric. When Mugabe offered them the post of Prime Minister and a few Ministerial positions, although it was clear from the outset that was no real power and authority behind these positions, Tsvangirai and his MDC friends grabbed them and promptly forgot their promise to the nation. The exercise of absolute power and all the economic benefit that flowed from it made Mugabe and his cronies forget their pre-independence promise of freedom, etc.

It is not enough for those calling for Zimbabweans to stage an Egyptian style protest against Mugabe and point to the catalogue of misery the people have suffered under the dictator’s oppressive and corrupt regime. The people live these miseries everyday; they are at the coal face. What the people want to know before their once again risk their very lives is this protest will indeed bring democracy, freedom and liberty and not create a new opportunity for new faces at the feeding trough!

Zimbabweans has seen too many freedom heroes turn into ruthless murderers champions of democratic change turn coat to sign undying admiration of the nation’s tyrant calling him “a Victorian Knight!” They have had their fingers badly burnt in the past because they were naïve to believe everyone shouting for freedom and liberty with them believed and cared about freedom and liberty. Even mercenaries are capable of heroic acts of bravery and self denial and therefore it is important not to take everything at face value and scrutinise people’s motives.

If those calling for street protests had shown the people why people should believe that THIS TIME the protest will deliver freedom and liberty then there would have been millions of protesters in every city, town and growth point right across Zimbabwe. There was not a shred of evidence that the outcome will be any different from past revolution and protest and little wonder only forty people, the organisers, turned up!

Black African migrants targeted in Libya: a personal insult to all Black Africans!

There are reports of Libyans mass killing black Africans accusing them of being mercenaries fighting with Gaddafi. Libyans know there were up to 1.5 million Africans from Sub-Sahara Africa working in Libya doing the low-paid back-breaking work few other people would do. Most of these workers have been left to face the music when the Europeans, Middle East, Asian, white African (from country north of the Sahara desert) migrant workers were whisked out of harm’s way when the protests in Libya began.

How many mercenaries did Gaddafi get from Black Africa and how does that compare with the 1.5 million labourers? Are Libyans going to murder hundreds, or thousands of defenceless Black Africans for the sake of revenging the murderous activities of a handful of misguided individuals? Is this some collective punishment?

If Libyan were to allow this mindless killing of innocent people it will be a very sad and tragic start to the country’s hope for democracy and reason. And those responsible for the heinous crime must stand trial and punished.

There are many Libyans in Sub-Sahara Africa and whose lives would be put at risk by the madness of a few back in Libya.

Libyan must not forget that Gaddafi’s repressive rule reached far beyond the boarders of Libya. Black Africa has more than its fair share of tyrants and dictators and over the years Gaddafi’s played a prominent roll in propping them.

The relationship between White Africans and Black Africans has not been a good one – look at Sudan.

Libyans must be careful that they do not vent the 41 years of pended up anger against Gaddafi on innocent and helpless Black Africans. Millions of Black Africans have cheers the fall of every tyrant and dictator in North Africa and the Arab countries and our hearts have gone out to all the protestors killed along the way. Why; because we thought we were fellow travellers in the search for freedom and human dignity. The murder of innocent blacks – even the mercenaries deserve to be brought before a court of law and not lynched – will mean only one thing that Libyans DO NOT consider Black Africans as humans!

Soldiers fighting with Gaddafi must do the right thing for Libya: desert the Dictator!

There can be no doubt now that Colonel Gaddafi is a “lunatic” “out of touch with reality”. So Libya’s ambassador to South Africa, Ambassador Alzubedi’s appeal for Gaddafi to “do the right thing for the people of Libya," is a waste of breath.

Gaddafi, like many other dictators, has committed so many crimes against the people – enough to be hanged a thousand times over - whatever crimes he commits now is not going to make much difference. Instead of facing the hangman he and his cronies have opted to go with their guns blazing- just like in Western Gangster Movies!

The ambassador should be appealing to the hundreds of thousands innocent Libyans who have been co-opted to fight with the dictator. They were as much victims of the repressive regime as the rest of the Libyans now demanding freedom and liberty and they too stand to benefit from living in a free and liberated Libya as the rest.

The 1945/46 Nuremberg trials at the end of the Second World War established one universal truth that even a private soldier will be accountable for his/her actions. To say “I was following orders!” is no excuse for shooting unarmed civilians or committing any other war crimes!

To the Commanding Officers, Generals, down to the Private Soldiers; do the right thing for the people of Libya and stop fighting for a lost and unjust cause!

The grim choice Gaddafi is offering: "I will rule you or kill you!"

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely; we in Egypt, Libya, Zimbabwe and many other countries who have had the great misfortune of being ruled by a dictator know this to be true. When you have enjoyed absolute power for three decades – Mubarak and Mugabe – and four decades –Muammar Gaddafi – giving it up is simply inconceivable. When you exercise absolute power; whatever you want you get and whatever you say goes – regardless criminal waste of resources and the tragic misery and deaths caused on the overwhelming majority of the people. These dictators become gods ruling from up on high. The dictator’s life of unparalleled power and luxuries is far removed from that of the voiceless and suffering masses; there is a chasm that can not be bridged. Even with those in his inner most circle, dictators can not bide the thought of anyone else being considered their equal even in just one small band across the whole spectrum. Just to ensure he is not proven wrong; no one else is ever given the opportunity. Indeed the first thing those in the inner circle learn is that being considered a rising star in the sky dominated by the sun, the dictator himself, is the kiss of death!

It is not just the life of unquestioned power and unimagined comfort that dictators stand to lose if they gave up power. They also do not want the full truth and extend of their years of corruption and oppressive rule known. The dictator and his ruling elite’s fabulous wealth is mind boggling in its own right, competing as they do with any other multi-millionaires. However unlike the Henry Fords and Bill Gates of the world who have the equally staggering cars and computers productions to justify their wealth; the dictator and his cronies produced nothing. Their wealth was from decades of corruption and looting and the crippled national economy and millions of destitute people are the monuments of their criminal activities.

The ruling elite in a dictatorship are filthy rich in every sense of the word considering that their riches are from the shameless looting from where they never sowed and from stealing from the most needy and helpless in society. The dictators’ ill got wealth assumes gigantic proportions when viewed through the eyes of the destitute millions who have lost hope. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!” Jesus must have been thinking of the Gaddafi, Mubarak and Mugabe of this world.

For dictators like Mugabe with the blood tens of thousands of innocent murdered in the course of establishing and maintaining the de facto one-man dictatorship he has even more to fear. The day Mugabe leaves State House, other than in a coffin, he knows he be heading for the Court House to account for all the blood in his hands.

A dictator rule from a gold and diamond encrusted throne elevated to such nauseating height above his inner circle so that giving up power to a hand picked successor or even a son will mean a monumental climb down, it is simply unthinkable. To be forced to give up power as a result of regime change following democratic reforms will force the dictator and his ruling elite to descend to the depth of hell where the had confined the rest of the populous – that is something the dictatorship will simply risk all to resist.

“You either let me continue to rule or I will kill all those who dare challenge me!” is how a Libyan Diplomatic summed up the grim choice Colonel Muammar Gaddafi presented the people of Libya clamouring for freedom, justice and rule of law in their country. This is the instinctive reaction of all dictators.

Egyptian dictator Mubarak tried the use of brute force to silence the masses demanding an end to his autocratic rule using the riot police and then his party thugs. They all proved to be no match against a determined public. Mubarak would have solely wanted the Army to shoot to kill and clear Tahrir Square. As State President, Mubarak was the Command in Chief of Egypt’s Armed Services; yet it was clear the Army was not going to obey orders to shoot the protesters. The Egyptian Army had received orders from the American paymaster NOT to shoot. Since Egypt signed its peace agreement with Israel the American have rewarded the country with US$2 billion in aid a year and 80% plus of the aid went to the Army. Many members of the Armed Services, at least the to brass, were certainly part and parcel of Egypt’s ruling elite in that they benefited from the corruption of Mubarak’s rule. The low ranking officers may not have benefited from the corruption but they were, at the very least, protected from the full consequences of the misrule by the billions of dollars of US aid money.

Moammar Gaddafi was luckier than Mubarak in that the Libya Army had no other paymaster other than the dictator himself. But that also meant that most of the low ranking Officers were not protected from the rigors of the economic hardship brought on by the misrule. So a big swab of the Libya Army, particularly in the East of the country, defected after a few days of public protests to joint those demanding political change. Still with the remaining forces plus mercenaries Gaddafi has set out to kill those who have dare challenge his continued rule.

Colonel Gaddafi has taken Libya on a dangerous path; the people of Libya have the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country, to freedom and liberty and to a rule of law, they protest is an irresistible force. After 42 years of autocratic rule Gaddafi now believes he has a divine right to be President for Life, he is the immovable object. This is a nightmare scenario, something has to give. Already over 2 000 people have been killed in the clash between Gaddafi loyalists and protestors. Who know how this will end!

Many Zimbabweans and outsiders have asked whether there could be similar protests to end Mugabe’s autocratic rule. And if there were such protests, would Mugabe too kill the protestors and will he have the manpower to carryout the murderous acts?

To answer the second question first; yes Mugabe will not hesitate to use brute force to silence the protestors. And yes he will have the Army, Police, the Militia and the War Vets to do the dirty work for him. Mugabe has done this already in 2008 when he needed to force the electorate to vote for him after losing the first round to Tsvangirai. Faced with a murderous regime, Zimbabwe would certainly need to think twice before mounted any protest. But the main reason why Zimbabweans will not want to take Mugabe on has to do with the sheer incompetency of the main opposition party MDC. The 2008 elections should have by right delivered regime change in Zimbabwe were it not for Tsvangirai and MDC who handed power back to Mugabe in a silver platter. As long as MDC remains the only viable alternative to Mugabe’s Zanu PF the people not have any confidence of any meaningful political change in Zimbabwe. So why would anyone want to risk their lives for that!

MDC is hunting with the hounds and running with the hare!

"It’s even worse if you try the police in the town of Nyanga, because the fence surrounding the station has posters of ZANU PF and Mugabe. People have lost confidence in the partisan police,’ said Pishai Muchauraya. This is the typical example of the answers the nation has come to expect from MDC!

There really is no difference between Zanu PF leaders and MDC leaders; for 30 years the former have done nothing to stop Mugabe's madness because the dictator allowed them a cut of the loot, now MDC are doing the same. Whilst MDC admit they are totally ineffective they have nonetheless remained in government because they too are enjoying the benefits of being PM, Minister, etc. This has done nothing but embolden Mugabe to do as he please!

Zimbabweans must demand that MDC should walkout of this GNU now; they can not hunt with the hound and run with the hare!