Mugabe says he will not implement any of the outstanding issue in the GPA until the West lift the sanction imposed on him and his inner circle. SADC heads of State meeting had given the GNU a month to implement ALL outstanding issues.
Well SADC has Mugabe’s reply to their latest ultimatum!
The GPA was between Zanu PF and the two MDC factions. It was not between Zanu PF on the one side and the two MDC factions and the West on the other. The West has never had their foreign policy dictated to them by someone else much less the likes of Tsvangirai.
As a Zimbabwean citizen, I do not see why my democratic right to a free and fair election is now being tied to the lifting or otherwise of the smart sanction! In fact the connection is a myth because the smart sanctions were imposed in 2001 Mugabe’s history of denying the Zimbabwean people their right to free elections and other serious human rights violations goes dates back to 1980. Even the first pre-independence elections were not free and fair; the people were told in no uncertain terms that if Zanu PF lost the election the civil war would continue. So the 1980 elections was a vote to end the war and not a free vote. By the time the country held its first post independence election the country was already a de facto one-party dictatorship and these considered a threat to Mugabe’s hold on power were subjected to all manner of abuse including murder. As the years went by and the country’s economy started to falter and Zanu PF’s popularity nose dived the party has stepped up the repression.
It was Mugabe’s failure to hold free and fair elections that forced the West to impose the smart sanctions on the dictator and his inner circle in 2001. That did not work Mugabe still failed to hold free and fair elections in 2002, 2005 and in 2008. Again the violence got worse with each successive election.
Of course Mugabe had decided to endure the smart sanctions than lose the elections and power and have all his past finally opened up to public scrutiny and he is certain to face charges for the thousands of people murdered by his regime.
Mugabe will never do anything to undermine his struggle hold on power, period. Of course he would never admit that and so had to come up with some excuse why he will not implement any democratic reforms and demanding that the sanctions be lifted was just the excuse he wanted.
Zimbabwe’s economic melt down is because of the years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption by Mugabe and Zanu PF. The economic rot also started long before the smart sanctions were imposed but, again, the regime has found it more convenient to blame it all on the sanctions.
Most people know the sanctions are a smoke screen but they have joined in the call to have them lifted anyway because they want to appease the dictator. MDC were stupid to have the sanctions even mentioned in the GPA. Zimbabweans gave Mugabe the electoral victory in 1980 for the same reason - to appease. They have done than again and again election after election. Mugabe has used all these acts of appeasement to consolidate his hold on power and increased the repression.
The people of Zimbabwe have a right to free and fair elections and to all the other democratic rights and freedoms with no conditions attached. People must stop appease Mugabe by trading off other people’s basic rights!
@Fidel Castrol
“I know sanctions are hurting the very people they are supposed to benefit,” you say. I for one agree with you. But what you do not seem to appreciate is that the people of Zimbabwe were suffering long before the sanctions were imposed because of the mismanagement and corruption. We have watched the criminal waste of the country’s material and human resource helpless to do anything about it because Mugabe denied us a meaningful say in the governance of the country. 95% plus of Zimbabwe’s economic melt down today are dues to the same causes – mismanagement and corruption which have got worse and worse with time – and maybe 5% is due to sanctions.
The sanctions were imposed to pressure Mugabe to hold free and fair elections and end the intimidation, beatings, rape and murder of all those who are seeking an end to the mismanagement and corruption by election some one else. Surely it makes sense to endure 5% of the hardship now so that we can finally start addressing the 95%. Why is that so difficult for you, Fidel Castrol, to understand; especial since you are from Malawi and it was not so long ago that your country was under the dictatorship of Banda?
@Dread Dread6
Whilst the likes of Fungayi, John Berry and other Mugabe apologists and of course Mugabe himself are reasonable people who are simply refusing to see facts for selfish reasons; you Dread Dread6 and a few others are different. You are plan stupid. If it was in a court of law you would be discharged on the grounds of having the mental ability of a ten year old.
I said the West would not have their foreign policy dictated to them by a simpleton like Tsvangirai. In typical style you accuse me of being ignorant and then ask the stupid question: “Ever wondered on the origin of the term 'puppet government'? Whatever that is supposed to means!
Dread Dread6, I suggest you pick some other subject to comment on if you do not want to be reminded again that you are not a full shilling. The subject of democratic reform in Zimbabwe is a very important one and we really can not afford to have half wits writing nonsense and do nothing about it. We can not let the tragic suffering of Zimbabweans turned into a trivial matter. To do so will be irresponsible, it would be like letting a ten year old play with matches!
4 comments:
@Karikonga Gumiremiseve
“It would be outright stupid and unintelligent to think that sanctions against your country for whatever reason will yield benefit. History does not lie—“ That is a sweeping statement!
The targeted sanctions were imposed on Mugabe and his ruling elite for failing to hold free and fair elections and other serious human rights violations. That surely is a good reason. Indeed International sanction should have been imposed if SA and China had not repeated blocked the vote at the UN.
I agree the targeted sanctions have not really hurt Mugabe because the West failed to fine tune them and refocus them. Mugabe has made a mountain out of a mole hill of the sanctions because he wanted to blame the sanctions for the country’s economic melt down.
Sanctions against apartheid SA were justified and they did work. Did they cause an hardships to the black majority? Yes but that was nothing compared to the pain of black in apartheid SA!
You have to view sanctions against a repressive regime like Mugabe as a jail term for an abusive husband who beats his wife and children. No society can standby and let the brute get away without some sanction even if he is the bread winner of the family!
66666
Some people may not like to hear that the outstanding issues will not be resolved in 30 days but that is a fact. Professor Ncube is right there. The Professor talked of having new constitution before fresh elections; well that is one exercise that Zanu PF has effectively hijacked - it will now be exactly what Mugabe wanted.
As for when the elections will be held, that is up to Mugabe to decide; no one else has a say.
The elections will not be free and fair; that is something Mugabe simply can not afford. Both MDC and SADC have done nothing to ensure the next elections are free and fair. Indeed MDC should have done taken measures to end this culture of violence before the on going constitution exercise. They were naive to think Zanu PF thugs will behave. The next election will be a waste of time if nothing is done to stop Zanu PF sponsored violence particularly now when Mugabe's war chest is full of money from the sell of Marange diamonds!
8888
Zimbabwe is a rich country and yet millions of our people are living in abject poverty, all because of rampant corruption. The route cause of this is the political system - Mugabe needed to control every sector of the country's economy to consolidate his political hold and to ensure he pulled the strings he had Zanu PF loyalists running them. Whether or not they were competent was irrelevant what mattered most was their loyalty and thus mismanagement and corruption became rampant!
Of course nothing will ever be done to punish the ZMDC individuals, they will have a list of big wigs behind them who also benefited and Mugabe will not want his whole Zanu PF top brass punished.
We must end this Mugabe dictatorship first if we are ever to start the important task of rebuilding Zimbabwe. Thank you Dumisani, this kind of exposure will only help to undermine the repressive system.
@Karikoga
You would agree that the worst period in our time was 2007 and 2008 when inflation soared reaching the world record value of 500 billion %. If was impossible to carryout any meaningful business activity. Factories closed and there was no food or goods in the shops.
I put the case to you take the run away inflation was caused by Mugabe and Gono printing worthless Z$ as if there was no tomorrow. Of course the regime benefited since the nation was forced to buy the Z$ with foreign currency at the official rate whilst the ruling elite sold the forex.
Of course Mugabe and his propaganda machine went into overdrive blaming it all on sanctions.
In November 2008 the regime finally scrapped the Z$ and overnight inflation disappeared like the morning mist in the hot African sun, the shops filled with food and goods, banks and other business opened for trade again, etc. The targeted sanctions and the dreaded ZEDRA were still firmly in place.
It is not me who is deluded my friend, it you! Zimbabwe’s economic melt down is due to gross economic mismanagement and rampant corruption by the Mugabe regime. The regime is only trying to fool the gullible by blaming the melt down on the sanctions.
If Mugabe is the husband then we have a man who not only beats his wife and children but is wasteful of the family’s resources and worse still has been murdering all those who dare stand up to him. There some things one can not do whether you are the man-of-the-house or President of the country; Mugabe crossed that line.
There those, like you Karikoga, who see appeasing a ruthless tyrant as a solution and then there are those, like me, who believe the brute must be told in no uncertain terms that he will be punished for his abuse of power and lawlessness. Thirty years of appeasing Mugabe has made him even more arrogant; if you can not see that then you must be blind!
The targeted sanction must stay and Mugabe must know he will be held to account for all human rights violation during his watch. Zimbabweans will one day enjoy their democratic right to have a meaningful say who governs them and enjoy all the basic human rights and freedom including the right to life denied them by Mugabe and Smith before him!
The increased brutality by Mugabe and his gangs of thugs has only hardened the Zimbabwean people’s resolve to seek regime change. Admittedly Tsvangirai and his MDC party have been a let down but alternative leaders will emerge and the goal will be reached. Zimbabwe will take its rightful place amongst the free and prosperous nations!
@Karikoga
At the beginning I thought you are just one of the millions of Zimbabweans who was brain washed after decades of reading the Herald and listening to Zanu PF propaganda. Now I am beginning to wonder whether you are not just one those paid by Mugabe to do the brain washing.
How can you expect and development when well established businesses are closing right, left and centre because of the hyper inflation?
Zimbabwe was finding it hard to borrow from WB, IMF and other international institution before the sanctions were imposed because the country was not servicing the loans it had already. By then Zimbabwe was already up to her eye balls in debt! The sanctions are not stopping Zimbabwe borrowing money from China, India, Malaysia, etc; there are other countries besides USA, UK, etc., you know. The Chinese did give Zimbabwe some money in return for exclusive rights to farm, mine, etc. Soon Mugabe was back asking for more. Of course they too told him to f*** off!
Zimbabwe could finance a lot of development from its own resources but not when the resources are wasted through mismanagement and corruption. The last straw that triggered the economic melt down was destruction of the country’s agricultural sector following the farm seizures. 70% of the country’s diamond wealth, the country’s biggest foreign currency earner now, is going into the pockets of a select few. All these things are happened before your very eyes and idiots like you still look for outsiders to blame for Zimbabwe’s economic hardship.
Mugabe’s dictatorship will have collapsed years ago if he did not have an army of very clever people like Professor Jonathan Moyo, G Charamba and an even bigger army of idiots all with one thing in common – they are sell-out. They will sell their own mothers for a price and be proud they had a mother to sell. The first lot have greatly benefited from the looting that has been going on the second, well they live in hope that they too will get something. My guess is you Karikoga belong to the later!
@Gordon Smith
You think Fungayi is a "tool"; you are very kind. Considering that millions of Zimbabweans live in abject poverty, fear and despair. Ten of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans have been murdered by the dictator for nothing else other than exercising their democratic right to vote. Fungayi as a Zimbabwean will have some relatives still in Zimbabwe and caught up in all this and yet he/she and a few others still continue to sing Mugabe praises. Surely some one like that is not the dictator's tool but stool!
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