@Petina"Diamonds became closely associated with the tapinda tapinda culture of dealers who, as the expression went, "burned" their money on flashy cars and other goods." Well those boys learned from the best, Mugabe and his ruling elite are the embodiment of the tapinda tapinda culture. Whilst schools and hospitals closed down for lack of funds Mugabe and his cronies were "burning" public money on flashy cars and other luxuries.
When the KP allowed Zimbabwe to sell its diamonds people in Borrowdale, one kilometre away, were kept awake for a week by the loud singing from State House. The dictator and his cronies were doing their best to sing "The Good Times are Here Again"; it is near impossible to harmonise when one is drunk! Needless to say they were drinking the best, nothing but the best, wines, Vodka, etc.
The Commonwealth did the right thing in kicking Zimbabwe out of the group. Look what Mugabe is doing in SADC; he is showing the finger to the organisation by refusing to respect its court ruling. No organisation can function when members are allowed to disregard the rules governing its contact. And no organisation worth its name can run without rules.
Zimbabwe should have been kicked out of UN and slapped with sanctions. How can the country remain a member and yet continue to violate the word and spirit of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This has not happened because China and South Africa vetoed all attempted to punish the Zimbabwe regime.
The diamond sell have come at the most opportune time for Mugabe; he needed to fill his empty war chest ready for the coming elections. One has to be really naïve to think Mugabe will forego this opportunity to get money for his thugs and henchmen in favour of jump starting the Zimbabwe economy. It was Mugabe's tapinda tapinda culture that caused the economic melt down. Surely 50 kg bags full of diamonds will only spur him to spend even more recklessly, not wisely!?
6 comments:
@John Berry
I am talking about Mugabe denying the ordinary Zimbabweans the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. I am talking about Mugabe violating the people's right to freedom of expression and the right to life itself. These are the fundamental human rights on which the UN is founded.
I know, you do not recognise the ordinary Zimbabweans as humans and that is why you do not acknowledge their suffering and deaths. You do acknowledge the whites and their suffering. Since 2000 eleven whites have been murdered and a few hundred beaten and had their property taken away. For every white farmer beaten there are one hundred black farm workers who were beaten and thrown off the farms. The collapse of Zimbabwe's food production has forced 80% of our people to depend on food aid. Over 500 Zimbabwean were murdered in the period April to June 2008. You do not see any of these things because you chose not to see them. The millions of Zimbabweans who are at the cutting edge of the economic melt down and the political repression have no such luxury!
The threat of Mugabe using the diamond money to pay thugs and henchmen in his desperate effort to hang on to power is real. My sister Petina and Minister of Finance Tendai Biti are being naïve. Of course if the diamond money was used wisely it will help the economic recovery; we all know that. What is at stake here is how likely is that to happen given that Mugabe and his ruling clique are as popular with the electorate as rat poison and to they “regime change” is simply unthinkable.
When Somalia broke up as a state countries like the USA step in to try and restore order and there was a chorus from black Africans demanding that the Americans must get out. They wanted an African solution to an African problem. These Africans had the best intentions but in life good intention alone are not enough particularly when they ignore the realities on the ground. Africa did not have a road map to prevent Somalia become a failed state and that was exactly what happened.
Petina, Biti and company should know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Now the Marange diamonds may have t a little blood of those forced to mine them for little pay; they will soon be dripping blood once Mugabe has the militia, the Police, the Army, CIO, etc on the war footing. We all know that Mugabe’s continued rule is totally dependent on the use of brute force!
NGO calls on ICC to investigate documented cases of rape by Zanu PF militia in 2008.
Now there is a call that will get a thumbs-up from millions Zimbabwean, especially those whose lives have been a living hell under this repressive Zanu PF regime! This is just one the human rights violations that Mugabe wished the world would forgotten but keep coming back again and again. As we would say in Shona, “Mhoswa hairovi!” Mugabe’s dirty past is coming back to haunt him and his followers.
A word of caution to his overzealous thugs; there are four things you must now be aware of:
1) Mhoswa hairovi
2) Zimbabweans are now a lot better at documenting human rights abuses and realise the importance of pursuing those responsible.
3) In the past Mugabe has pardoned party thugs, this time the dictator will himself be in the dock together with many of his cronies. And they will all swear they do not know you!
4) If you ever be foolish enough to carry out Mugabe and Zanu PF’s dirty work then be sure to have the instructions in writing and to guard the piece of paper with your life – you will need it!
@ Fungayi
Petina like Tendai Biti is hopeless wrong in thinking a ruthless dictator like Mugabe has the interests of the people at heart and will use the diamond windfall for that purpose. The two have their heads screwed up; still their hearts are certainly in the right place. Please do not compare them to yourself; you are as heartless as your mentor Mugabe and your head is full of shit. You destroy a nation and force millions into object poverty murder hundreds of thousands and you still pretend you have done nothing wrong! There only thing awaiting you is a hangman’s rope. I have told you before and will tell you again – Mugabe, many of his cronies and you will hang!
@Dread Dread 6 The MDC has proved to be as ineffective as Abel Muzorewa's ANC in the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia arrangement. At least Ian Smith had some respect for Muzorewa, Mugabe has nothing but contempt for Tsvangirai. Coltart, Mutambara, etc. were in UK to woo investors. We do not have to wait to see if there will be a queue of investors; there will be no one. Investors are not stupid. There are really pressing issues people like Coltart should be attending to and not waste time and money chasing rainbows!
Dread Dread6
I do not accept what Mugabe is doing therefore I must be an MDC supporters or worse still a puppet of the West. I actually considered Muzorewa a sell-out just as I believe MDC have sold out to Mugabe. Before independence and for at least ten years after, I was an active Zanu PF supporter and, like so many Zimbabweans I would not see Mugabe for the tyrant he was- yes even then his tyrannical streak was there.
I am open to see good or bad in Mugabe, Smith, Tsvangirai or anyone. You, on the other hand, only see good things Mugabe has done and refuse to the bad things - even when these include the cold blood murder of innocent people. Ian Smith is evil and totally incapable of doing anything good. You see people in monochrome so they are black or white, good or bad. You need to see the world in all the colours of the rainbow; a national hero per excellence today can be a ruthless dictator tomorrow!
Of course you may have other reasons, selfish reasons, why you refuse to see Mugabe for the ruthless dictator he has become, for example. So be it. What you can not do is force others into this straightjacket; you may succeed with some people but will not with me!
Suspicions remain that diamond profits are being channelled directly to the cash-strapped Zanu-PF, or at least to ensure that the underpaid army remains loyal to the party. "When the next election comes, it's going to be a bloodbath," said one observer. "And that bloodbath [will be] sponsored by the Marange diamond fields."
That is very true.
Why MDC leaders joined hands with Mugabe in the call to have the ban to sell Marange diamonds lifted is the most puzzling question. MDC is a party known for making nauseating blunders; one of the most outstanding to date was letting Mugabe off the hook by signing the power sharing agreement after the sham June 2008 elections. But after the diamonds fuelled bloodbath in the coming months next, Tendai Biti’s call for the ban to be lifted will turnout to be the most costly of all MDC’s blunders. For this blunder the nation will pay in human misery and lives!
@ Farai Maguwu
I agree with you that the Marange diamonds have turned out to be a curse and not a blessing to our people. But you know what this is only so because the nation’s riches are in the wrong hands. A knife in a medical doctor’s hands can save lives in a murderer’s hands it will take live! The real curse to Zimbabwe is that we have a ruthless tyrant for President and a blundering idiot for Prime Minister!
@Johann Braunstein
After thirty years of living in fear and Zimbabwe had the best chance of ending the dictators without risking one more Zimbabwean life and Tsvangirai scuff it. He had many opportunities after signing the stupid power sharing agreement to redeem his past failings but again and again Tsvangirai failed to do so. Now that Mugabe has a pot full of diamonds and lots and lots of cash; you can be sure of one ting, he will resist regime change even if that means murdering thousands of innocent Zimbabweans. I believe Zimbabwe is today standing on the very edge of the abyss and no one seems to notice or care. It is this frightful future prospect that makes Tsvangarai’s blundering so monumental!
@Dread Dread6
I “do not understand the basics”? Well I am lucky that you are here to explain.
“Your elections did not produce a clear winner.” Which election are you talking about; the March 2008 or the presidential run-off of June 2008?
If it was the March 2008; my understanding is that Tsvangirai had won the 50% plus one but Mugabe would not accept that result. That would explain why the ZEC took five weeks to declare the result – they were cooking the result.
If it was the June 2008; then the result was rejected by even SADC’s own Election Monitoring Team because of the wanton violence which was designed to force the electorate to vote for Mugabe.
Of course Mugabe and you, Dread Dread6, understand that an election result will only count if it the true reflection of the people democratic wish expressed through a free and fair vote – the very basics of democratic elections! Since the free vote result was not to your liking, you pretend not to understand; that is the arrogance of a village bully who would tread on a small boy’s toes and yet swear he would not hurt a fly!
Small boys do grow up; even a seemingly invincible tyrant like Mugabe will fall some day. Mugabe’s days in power are numbered alright! As for you Dread Dread6 you are doomed to die a frustrated man; I do not think SA will allow Mugabe’s form of government in which a select few ride rough shod over the rest.
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