On Friday 26 November SA President Zuma met Zimbabwe’s partners to the dysfunctional GNU. He said the partners who have stopped meeting will now do so although he would not disclose more details of meeting.
The central wish and hope of the Zimbabweans is for free and fair elections.
I really do not think anyone would dispute that what Zimbabwe needs to get out of the present mess is free and fair election. Indeed if the country had had free and fair elections; we would NOT be in this mess. The point we should therefore be looking at is why Zimbabwe has repeatedly failed to hold free and fair elections? And the answer to that is it has been left to one man, Robert Mugabe, whether or not the people had a free vote. And so far he said no.
The GNU has not worked because, again, it was at Mugabe's mercy. President Zuma and SADC have failed to bring about any meaningful change in Zimbabwe because they were all at Mugabe's mercy.
"I think Bob gets his kicks by running circles around his opponents," said Alan Foster above. Alan, you have hit the nail on the head there!
It was absolutely stupid of SADC and even more so of Tsvangirai and MDC to agree to a GPA that gave Mugabe all his dictatorial powers. Nelson Chamisa’s comment that "the issues of violence, the involvement of the military in elections and the monitoring and observing of elections" are key points; is the kind of nauseating nonsense we have learn to expect from MDC. MDC betrayed the people by selling their basic and fundamental rights and freedoms including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country for a chance to hold to be Prime Minister, Ministers, etc. Positions with no meaningful power or authority of course - what else, in a dictatorship.
During the meeting Zuma did not discuss ending Mugabe's dictatorial powers – that we can all be sure of. Whatever else they discussed is real of no consequence to the central issue of free elections!
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Forget the election wish list; they will not be fear and fair!
Of course everyone in his or her right mind would want to have a truly democratic constitution, a free media, the threat of all the political violence and murder removed, etc before the next election. But let face it, this is a wish list; the reality on the ground is something else. Mugabe wants the next elections held next year and none of these things are in place. It is the reality and not the wish list we must deal with.
It was always Mugabe and Zanu PF’s wish long before independence in 1980 to turn Zimbabwe into a one-party-one-man state. His wish has largely become true; Zimbabwe is a de facto one-man dictatorship. It is real naïve, to say the very least, of Tsvangirai and his MDC party to think that Mugabe would just roll over; give up his dictatorial powers in favour of a democratic constitution, end his Zanu PF monopoly of the media. And for what? So that after a free and fair election he can be kicked out of State House, have all he and his cronies have looted over the years taken away from them and, worse still, face the hangman’s noose for the serious human violations? What makes this wishful think particularly nonsensical is that it was Tsvangirai and MDC who granted Mugabe all his dictatorial powers to dictate what he wants in the GPA.
As long as Mugabe retains all the political power; a new democratic constitution, free media, etc. will all remain a pipe dream.
Mugabe considered the formation of the GNU a low point in his political career and the “stupidity” of the other two principles in the marriage has become intolerable, as far as he is concerned. So he has decreed, in his autocratic I-do-not-care-what-one-else’s-thinks way, the GNU must now be killed off. He wants elections by mid next year, period!
We can all debate all we like on whether the nation would prefer to have the elections now or delay them until we have a new democratic constitution, free media, etc. That is not going to change anything; the elections will be held next year because that is what Mugabe wants.
Tsvangirai should have never agreed to a GNU and let Mugabe off the hook following the sham run-off of June 2008. Mugabe has used the post June 2008 to reorganise his party, discredit MDC and the windfall from the Marange diamonds will enable him to bankroll the party thugs. This is the best time for Mugabe to hold fresh elections.
MDC has done absolutely nothing to ensure the political violence that marred the 2008 elections is not repeated ever again. So, yes of course, violence is on the cards. Minister Makoni, MDC’s co-minister of Home Affairs, says there could be “a blood bath” next year. She admitted MDC has done nothing to stop this.
Given MDC’s pathetic past performance, the people of Zimbabwe should now make it clear that they will NOT be voting for MDC next year. They voted for Tsvangirai and MDC in droves in 2008 risking the murderous wrath of Mugabe and Zanu PF only for Tsvangirai to squander that mandate. Millions of our people were punished and over five hundred were murdered for defying the dictator and voting freely.
The 2008 election was a historic moment in Zimbabwe’s history one seized upon would have ended Mugabe’s rule, restored the rule of law and reason in the land. Tsvangirai failed to raise to the occasion, his incompetence in the whole matter has been breath taking. This nation must not risk one more Zimbabwean life voting for Tsvangirai.
Mugabe’s second wish to bring “mass prosperity” – “gutsa ruzhinji” – has been a total failure. Three decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and looting have resulted in the total collapse of the national economy throwing millions of our people into abject poverty and despair. The whole nation dreads the very prospect of yet another five years of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s criminal waste of human and material resources; the nation’s sense of desperation for change is understandable. Still the nation would be ill advised risking one more Zimbabwean life by voting MDC, such is Tsvangirai’s incompetence!
It was always Mugabe and Zanu PF’s wish long before independence in 1980 to turn Zimbabwe into a one-party-one-man state. His wish has largely become true; Zimbabwe is a de facto one-man dictatorship. It is real naïve, to say the very least, of Tsvangirai and his MDC party to think that Mugabe would just roll over; give up his dictatorial powers in favour of a democratic constitution, end his Zanu PF monopoly of the media. And for what? So that after a free and fair election he can be kicked out of State House, have all he and his cronies have looted over the years taken away from them and, worse still, face the hangman’s noose for the serious human violations? What makes this wishful think particularly nonsensical is that it was Tsvangirai and MDC who granted Mugabe all his dictatorial powers to dictate what he wants in the GPA.
As long as Mugabe retains all the political power; a new democratic constitution, free media, etc. will all remain a pipe dream.
Mugabe considered the formation of the GNU a low point in his political career and the “stupidity” of the other two principles in the marriage has become intolerable, as far as he is concerned. So he has decreed, in his autocratic I-do-not-care-what-one-else’s-thinks way, the GNU must now be killed off. He wants elections by mid next year, period!
We can all debate all we like on whether the nation would prefer to have the elections now or delay them until we have a new democratic constitution, free media, etc. That is not going to change anything; the elections will be held next year because that is what Mugabe wants.
Tsvangirai should have never agreed to a GNU and let Mugabe off the hook following the sham run-off of June 2008. Mugabe has used the post June 2008 to reorganise his party, discredit MDC and the windfall from the Marange diamonds will enable him to bankroll the party thugs. This is the best time for Mugabe to hold fresh elections.
MDC has done absolutely nothing to ensure the political violence that marred the 2008 elections is not repeated ever again. So, yes of course, violence is on the cards. Minister Makoni, MDC’s co-minister of Home Affairs, says there could be “a blood bath” next year. She admitted MDC has done nothing to stop this.
Given MDC’s pathetic past performance, the people of Zimbabwe should now make it clear that they will NOT be voting for MDC next year. They voted for Tsvangirai and MDC in droves in 2008 risking the murderous wrath of Mugabe and Zanu PF only for Tsvangirai to squander that mandate. Millions of our people were punished and over five hundred were murdered for defying the dictator and voting freely.
The 2008 election was a historic moment in Zimbabwe’s history one seized upon would have ended Mugabe’s rule, restored the rule of law and reason in the land. Tsvangirai failed to raise to the occasion, his incompetence in the whole matter has been breath taking. This nation must not risk one more Zimbabwean life voting for Tsvangirai.
Mugabe’s second wish to bring “mass prosperity” – “gutsa ruzhinji” – has been a total failure. Three decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and looting have resulted in the total collapse of the national economy throwing millions of our people into abject poverty and despair. The whole nation dreads the very prospect of yet another five years of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s criminal waste of human and material resources; the nation’s sense of desperation for change is understandable. Still the nation would be ill advised risking one more Zimbabwean life by voting MDC, such is Tsvangirai’s incompetence!
Friday, 19 November 2010
What goes round comes round: Freedom Fighters are now themselves the victims of Zanu PF coercion!
There have been reports of retired Police Officers and War Veterans being appointed to beef up the ZRP with zealous Zanu PF party loyalist in preparation for next year’s general elections. A few weeks ago 300 to 500 Zimbabwe National Army soldiers reportedly matched through Masvingo with placards demanding that Mugabe must rule “forever”! Forever?!
The overwhelming majority of those in the Police and Army, still serving, retired or whatever are paupers living in total abject poverty. Their future like that of the millions of other Zimbabweans is grime. They, again like the millions of other Zimbabweans, know the whole nation’s future will only get worse with Mugabe and Zanu PF in power. The dramatic collapse of the Zimbabwe’s economic and its tragic human consequences are well documented and felt by millions.
The Zimbabwe economy shrunk by 84% is the sex period from 2002 to 2008; a world record. The looting by Mugabe and his cronies has been extravagant as it has been thoroughly criminal. They have been looting to satisfy their insatiable greed for wealth and luxuries; many of them have so much accumulated so much wealth it would take them more than the nine-cat-lives to squander it all. They have taken away resources like land and mines just to have see them lie idle just to stop anyone else make productive use, magpie style. In the last few years the looting has taken a more sinister slash and burn turn. Nothing would be more disappointing for Mugabe and his cronies than to see Zimbabwe rise from the ashes of the regime’s years of ruinous rule to flourish and prosper. And so the regime not been content is destroying the walls of country’s economic and social infrastructure brick by brick but has been hammering at their very foundations.
On the political front the regime is known for its heartless brutality. It has murdered tens of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans in its single minded drive to retain political power at all cost. It has even stopped foreign donors helping the country’s poor and vulnerable just to underline the fact that everyone was at the regime’s mercy. Freedom, liberty, justice, human rights and even sanctity human life all mean nothing to Mugabe and his cronies all they care about is power and the wealth and prestige it brings.
Except for Mugabe and the select few who have benefited from the looting and/or have played a part in the murderous past of the regime (a past they will commit even more heinous murders to ensure it remains hidden) no Zimbabwean would want Mugabe and Zanu PF to rule for another day longer let alone forever! Not freely!
Zimbabwe is a country that has been ruled by fear; the people feared the dire consequences that would follow if they elected anyone else other than Mugabe and Zanu PF to rule. Reason and common sense dictated that Mugabe was nothing but a thug who would bring nothing but misery to the nation and time has proved this right. But when one is looking up the business end of an AK4 rifle; one has no time for reason or common sense.
It was the Freedom Fighters who had their guns trained on the people in 1980 to ensure a Mugabe and Zanu PF victory. After independence Zanu PF had relied on its moronically overzealous members of the party’s women and youth wings and later the War Veterans to continue the intimidation, harassment and terrorising of the electorate. The country’s dramatic economic collapse has left millions living in abject poverty including the Zanu PF zealots forcing them to abandon the party in droves. Mugabe and Zanu PF’s strangle hold on power is totally dependent on the party not just maintaining this culture of fear but stepping up a gear. Deserted by the women and youths the party is turning to the Police, Army, CIO and other state functionaries to do its dirty work. But since the overwhelming majority of the low rank Police Officers, etc. have not benefited from the looting and they have faced the same economic hardships as the rest of us, they too want to see meaningful political change in the country. And so the majority of the soldiers matching in Masvingo recently and those deployed in rural areas to reorganise Zanu PF, etc.; they are all being coerced to do these things.
What goes round comes round! It was the Freedom Fighters who coerced the nation to accept Mugabe and Zanu PF denying the electorate a meaningful say in the governance of the country. It was the lack of democratic accountability that allowed Mugabe to establish the repressive dictatorship and to loot and destroy the national economy. The dictator has now turned the guns on the same Freedom Fighters, who have since learnt the error of supporting a tyrant, to once again prop up his rule.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF regime is doom; the people have since realised that they should have feared the dire consequences of years of tyrannical rule more than anything the tyrant could inflict on them fighting to end his rule. The only thing that has stopped the people in their drive for meaningful political change is that they have been let down terribly by Tsvangirai and MDC when they had viewed them as the alternative to Mugabe and Zanu PF.
The second reason Mugabe’s rule is doomed is that he now has to coerce his thugs to coerce the electorate, in the past they had done so freely. None of the thugs trust him and for good reason too; he has used them to do his dirty work in the past only to discard without a second thought as soon as the work is done.
To the Freedom Fighters coerced by Mugabe to join him in his last all out attempt to hang on to power; be careful that you do not end up with the blood of innocent Zimbabweans on your hands. The fight to end colonial rule and oppression was a just war and there are many took part in it for purely altruistic reasons. Unfortunately amongst the true heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle were the mercenaries and scum who saw this as an opportunity for them to enrich themselves. It will please Mugabe and his fellow thugs greatly to see the thousands of the nation’s true heroes fingered them!
This is the sunset period of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s rule and like the Nazi the regime has become reckless in its looting and repression. This is the most dangerous phase of their rule.
The overwhelming majority of those in the Police and Army, still serving, retired or whatever are paupers living in total abject poverty. Their future like that of the millions of other Zimbabweans is grime. They, again like the millions of other Zimbabweans, know the whole nation’s future will only get worse with Mugabe and Zanu PF in power. The dramatic collapse of the Zimbabwe’s economic and its tragic human consequences are well documented and felt by millions.
The Zimbabwe economy shrunk by 84% is the sex period from 2002 to 2008; a world record. The looting by Mugabe and his cronies has been extravagant as it has been thoroughly criminal. They have been looting to satisfy their insatiable greed for wealth and luxuries; many of them have so much accumulated so much wealth it would take them more than the nine-cat-lives to squander it all. They have taken away resources like land and mines just to have see them lie idle just to stop anyone else make productive use, magpie style. In the last few years the looting has taken a more sinister slash and burn turn. Nothing would be more disappointing for Mugabe and his cronies than to see Zimbabwe rise from the ashes of the regime’s years of ruinous rule to flourish and prosper. And so the regime not been content is destroying the walls of country’s economic and social infrastructure brick by brick but has been hammering at their very foundations.
On the political front the regime is known for its heartless brutality. It has murdered tens of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans in its single minded drive to retain political power at all cost. It has even stopped foreign donors helping the country’s poor and vulnerable just to underline the fact that everyone was at the regime’s mercy. Freedom, liberty, justice, human rights and even sanctity human life all mean nothing to Mugabe and his cronies all they care about is power and the wealth and prestige it brings.
Except for Mugabe and the select few who have benefited from the looting and/or have played a part in the murderous past of the regime (a past they will commit even more heinous murders to ensure it remains hidden) no Zimbabwean would want Mugabe and Zanu PF to rule for another day longer let alone forever! Not freely!
Zimbabwe is a country that has been ruled by fear; the people feared the dire consequences that would follow if they elected anyone else other than Mugabe and Zanu PF to rule. Reason and common sense dictated that Mugabe was nothing but a thug who would bring nothing but misery to the nation and time has proved this right. But when one is looking up the business end of an AK4 rifle; one has no time for reason or common sense.
It was the Freedom Fighters who had their guns trained on the people in 1980 to ensure a Mugabe and Zanu PF victory. After independence Zanu PF had relied on its moronically overzealous members of the party’s women and youth wings and later the War Veterans to continue the intimidation, harassment and terrorising of the electorate. The country’s dramatic economic collapse has left millions living in abject poverty including the Zanu PF zealots forcing them to abandon the party in droves. Mugabe and Zanu PF’s strangle hold on power is totally dependent on the party not just maintaining this culture of fear but stepping up a gear. Deserted by the women and youths the party is turning to the Police, Army, CIO and other state functionaries to do its dirty work. But since the overwhelming majority of the low rank Police Officers, etc. have not benefited from the looting and they have faced the same economic hardships as the rest of us, they too want to see meaningful political change in the country. And so the majority of the soldiers matching in Masvingo recently and those deployed in rural areas to reorganise Zanu PF, etc.; they are all being coerced to do these things.
What goes round comes round! It was the Freedom Fighters who coerced the nation to accept Mugabe and Zanu PF denying the electorate a meaningful say in the governance of the country. It was the lack of democratic accountability that allowed Mugabe to establish the repressive dictatorship and to loot and destroy the national economy. The dictator has now turned the guns on the same Freedom Fighters, who have since learnt the error of supporting a tyrant, to once again prop up his rule.
Mugabe and his Zanu PF regime is doom; the people have since realised that they should have feared the dire consequences of years of tyrannical rule more than anything the tyrant could inflict on them fighting to end his rule. The only thing that has stopped the people in their drive for meaningful political change is that they have been let down terribly by Tsvangirai and MDC when they had viewed them as the alternative to Mugabe and Zanu PF.
The second reason Mugabe’s rule is doomed is that he now has to coerce his thugs to coerce the electorate, in the past they had done so freely. None of the thugs trust him and for good reason too; he has used them to do his dirty work in the past only to discard without a second thought as soon as the work is done.
To the Freedom Fighters coerced by Mugabe to join him in his last all out attempt to hang on to power; be careful that you do not end up with the blood of innocent Zimbabweans on your hands. The fight to end colonial rule and oppression was a just war and there are many took part in it for purely altruistic reasons. Unfortunately amongst the true heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle were the mercenaries and scum who saw this as an opportunity for them to enrich themselves. It will please Mugabe and his fellow thugs greatly to see the thousands of the nation’s true heroes fingered them!
This is the sunset period of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s rule and like the Nazi the regime has become reckless in its looting and repression. This is the most dangerous phase of their rule.
Monday, 8 November 2010
CHOMBO'S AMASSED WEALTH - EVIDENCE OF MUGABE REGIME'S LOOTING: THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE ECONOMIC MELT DOWN!
“Hapana chinoshunguridze murimi sokuona churu chenhoko dzamakozho mudura. Anoziva kuti nzara yavaka imba yezvitinha zvakatsva pamurasha wake!” There is nothing more heartbreaking to a peasant farmer than to discover an anthill size heap of rat droppings in his granary. Zimbabwean and the whole world have a peep into the stupendous wealth accumulated by Minister Ignatius Chombo, one of Mugabe’s filthy rich ruling elite, and everyone is astounded. Little wonder Zimbabwe has had the most spectacular national economic melt down in human history!
Minister Chombo and his estranged wife, Marian, are going through a divorce and she is asking for $ 2 000 monthly allowance plus a share of the couple’s assets. She has submitted the list of the assets and these included: 15 vehicles including three Mercedes Benz, 75 properties including commercial farms, businesses, stands, houses and flats all over Zimbabwe and some in South Africa; all in all valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, at least.
This is the wealth of the Chombos alone. If we start the Zanu PF role-call starting with Mugabe himself the true picture of the rot will start to emerge. Mugabe and his wife Grace each own at least five farms each including the infamous Gushungo Dairy Farm and the multimillion dollar mansion. All the Zanu PF big wigs including ministers, Police and Army commanders and businessmen like Philip Chiyagwa are all know to own farms and vast fortunes. The full details of what each and everyone of them own is a closely guarded secrete – which is the reason why the regime has been ruthless to the point of committing mass murder to retain political power and thus stop the full truth coming out.
The effect of Chombo’s amassed wealth on the nation goes beyond the immediate value of the individual vehicle or property. Like the rats in a granary; the peasant did not only lose the grain eaten by the rats but also loses all the grain contaminated with the rat’s urine and dropping! When there is such rampant looting and individuals are awash with money as was the case here; there is criminal waste of resources.
The waste is two fold. Most of the loot is always spent careless self indulgencies. It is not uncommon for the looters to “blow” $250 000 over a long weekend. Minister Chombo, like Mugabe, had a son studying in America; they are known for driving the latest models of the most expensive cars and to throw lavish parties at the drop of a hat.
At the peak of the regime’s looting in 2005 to 2008 when Gideon Gono was printing money as if there was no tomorrow, stealing millions from Reserve Bank accounts and borrowing right, left and centre; Zanu PF ruling elite had so much money they were fighting to spend it and did not care how or on what. So 75% plus of what Chombo and his fellow Zanu PF looted will never be accounted for; there is nothing tangle.
The second level of waste is what the looters have done with their loot. It is a well known fact that Mugabe and his cronies have turned productive commercial farms into wastelands over night. Mrs Chombo has two new combine harvesters and tractors on her list of the assets to be shared; it will be no surprise to find the harvesters were bought using soft loans from Gono. The loan was never paid back and the harvesters themselves have never been used for nothing other than to roost chickens.
Mugabe and his cronies have been wasting billions of dollars of the nation’s wealth on luxuries and other pleasurable things and commandeering the nation’s important assets only to seat on them like magpies!
Soon as independence the Mugabe regime undermined the country’s economic prospects through economic mismanagement – the regime really believed it could spend its way into mass economic prosperity – gutsa ruzhinji – with its socialist policies. By the 1990s the regime’s ruling elite were looking increasingly at who to enrich themselves and corruption was allowed to grow dragging the national economy into the gutters.
It was the economic mismanagement that caused the economy to start to falter. It was the faltering economy that encouraged corruption as those in power sort to bolster their economic position. Corruption was even more wasteful of resources than mismanagement and thus forcing a faltering economy on it knees. With the economy collapsing and thus the ruling party turned to violence to retain power and starting looting at a grand scale to cover themselves for the difficult economic days. But again they only made a bad situation even worse; it was the looting has pushed the economy over the edge into total melt down.
The Zimbabwe economy has shrunk by 85% from 2002 to 2008; the period when looting was at its worst. The consequences of the economic melt down have been tragic human sufferings and deaths; unemployment has soared to the nauseating heights of 80% plus, basic services like education and health have collapsed and life expectancy has dropped from 65 years in 1980 to 30 years in 2008.
Of course, Mugabe and his cronies have tried to blame the economic melt down on the West’s imposed sanctions targeting him and 200 or so others. Stories like this, and there are many, many more stories of unparallel greed and waste to follow, tell a different story.
It is understandable why Mrs Chombo is fighting hard to ensure she keeps as much of the family wealth as she can; she has no doubt developed an expense life style over the years and would like to continue to enjoy it. However it is not so much her husband she has to fight to keep the loot, it is the rightful owners of the loot – the Zimbabwean people. It will be irresponsible to let the very people who caused such suffering keep their loot particularly when all they will do is seat all this wealth and hold back the economic recovery.
The Chombo’s looted wealth as with all other looted wealth must be given back to the people of Zimbabwe. There must be a thorough investigation to determine how anyone managed to accumulate all this wealth, particularly at the time when the country was going through a really devastating economic situation. Those who contributed to the economic melt down must be punished.
Minister Chombo and his estranged wife, Marian, are going through a divorce and she is asking for $ 2 000 monthly allowance plus a share of the couple’s assets. She has submitted the list of the assets and these included: 15 vehicles including three Mercedes Benz, 75 properties including commercial farms, businesses, stands, houses and flats all over Zimbabwe and some in South Africa; all in all valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, at least.
This is the wealth of the Chombos alone. If we start the Zanu PF role-call starting with Mugabe himself the true picture of the rot will start to emerge. Mugabe and his wife Grace each own at least five farms each including the infamous Gushungo Dairy Farm and the multimillion dollar mansion. All the Zanu PF big wigs including ministers, Police and Army commanders and businessmen like Philip Chiyagwa are all know to own farms and vast fortunes. The full details of what each and everyone of them own is a closely guarded secrete – which is the reason why the regime has been ruthless to the point of committing mass murder to retain political power and thus stop the full truth coming out.
The effect of Chombo’s amassed wealth on the nation goes beyond the immediate value of the individual vehicle or property. Like the rats in a granary; the peasant did not only lose the grain eaten by the rats but also loses all the grain contaminated with the rat’s urine and dropping! When there is such rampant looting and individuals are awash with money as was the case here; there is criminal waste of resources.
The waste is two fold. Most of the loot is always spent careless self indulgencies. It is not uncommon for the looters to “blow” $250 000 over a long weekend. Minister Chombo, like Mugabe, had a son studying in America; they are known for driving the latest models of the most expensive cars and to throw lavish parties at the drop of a hat.
At the peak of the regime’s looting in 2005 to 2008 when Gideon Gono was printing money as if there was no tomorrow, stealing millions from Reserve Bank accounts and borrowing right, left and centre; Zanu PF ruling elite had so much money they were fighting to spend it and did not care how or on what. So 75% plus of what Chombo and his fellow Zanu PF looted will never be accounted for; there is nothing tangle.
The second level of waste is what the looters have done with their loot. It is a well known fact that Mugabe and his cronies have turned productive commercial farms into wastelands over night. Mrs Chombo has two new combine harvesters and tractors on her list of the assets to be shared; it will be no surprise to find the harvesters were bought using soft loans from Gono. The loan was never paid back and the harvesters themselves have never been used for nothing other than to roost chickens.
Mugabe and his cronies have been wasting billions of dollars of the nation’s wealth on luxuries and other pleasurable things and commandeering the nation’s important assets only to seat on them like magpies!
Soon as independence the Mugabe regime undermined the country’s economic prospects through economic mismanagement – the regime really believed it could spend its way into mass economic prosperity – gutsa ruzhinji – with its socialist policies. By the 1990s the regime’s ruling elite were looking increasingly at who to enrich themselves and corruption was allowed to grow dragging the national economy into the gutters.
It was the economic mismanagement that caused the economy to start to falter. It was the faltering economy that encouraged corruption as those in power sort to bolster their economic position. Corruption was even more wasteful of resources than mismanagement and thus forcing a faltering economy on it knees. With the economy collapsing and thus the ruling party turned to violence to retain power and starting looting at a grand scale to cover themselves for the difficult economic days. But again they only made a bad situation even worse; it was the looting has pushed the economy over the edge into total melt down.
The Zimbabwe economy has shrunk by 85% from 2002 to 2008; the period when looting was at its worst. The consequences of the economic melt down have been tragic human sufferings and deaths; unemployment has soared to the nauseating heights of 80% plus, basic services like education and health have collapsed and life expectancy has dropped from 65 years in 1980 to 30 years in 2008.
Of course, Mugabe and his cronies have tried to blame the economic melt down on the West’s imposed sanctions targeting him and 200 or so others. Stories like this, and there are many, many more stories of unparallel greed and waste to follow, tell a different story.
It is understandable why Mrs Chombo is fighting hard to ensure she keeps as much of the family wealth as she can; she has no doubt developed an expense life style over the years and would like to continue to enjoy it. However it is not so much her husband she has to fight to keep the loot, it is the rightful owners of the loot – the Zimbabwean people. It will be irresponsible to let the very people who caused such suffering keep their loot particularly when all they will do is seat all this wealth and hold back the economic recovery.
The Chombo’s looted wealth as with all other looted wealth must be given back to the people of Zimbabwe. There must be a thorough investigation to determine how anyone managed to accumulate all this wealth, particularly at the time when the country was going through a really devastating economic situation. Those who contributed to the economic melt down must be punished.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
ZIMBABWE AN ALLEGORY OF A COUNTRY RULED BY VULTURES!
@ Jean Wright
I like your imagery of vultures. There is something uncouth and down right hellish about vultures but if they had a voice they would probably protested at being compared to Mugabe and his murderous thugs.
“We feed on rotten meat and if we see someone suffering we land, not to help, but to help ourselves,” the vultures would cry out. “Our table manners leave a lot to be desired; we like to bury our heads deep in our food - just as well we have no feathers on our neck. We are the world’s dirtiest undertakers. ‘No job is too gruesome and no morsel too smelly for a vulture!’ that is the vulture's creed!”
“But to be compare to that ruthless and mindless dictator, Mugabe; is an insult not even a vulture can stomach! We vulture will fight over a rotten carcass but will never gourge out another vulture's eye muchless murder him. Look what Mugabe and his gang are doing; they completely destroyed the nation’s economy forcing millions into a life of abject poverty. These people are suffering and dying for lack of clean water to drink and an asprin tablet in this day and age. The regime has murdered tens of thousands of innocent people in its quest to stay in power so Mugabe can continue to loot and murder. Least we forget, Mugabe and his thugs are doing these things to fellow black Zimbabweans - their own people, their own kith and kin!”
Yes, not even vultures would do what Mugabe and his thugs have been doing.
I believe Mugabe and his thugs know what they have been doing is despicable and they will have to answer for it; hence their cast iron resolve to stay in power at all cost. The country’s economy is in a total mess and yet the regime continues to loot. There are very few white owned farms left so the looters have turned on each other; there are stories of Grace Mugabe kicking a Zanu PF Judge off a farm to give it to her son Russell! With each passing day one thing is becoming clear – this house of cards is set to collapse and the regime is set to fall.
Whilst Mugabe is hoping that he can hang on for a bit longer and death finds him still in office. Each one of his top brass thugs is hoping the same. As for the rank and file officers and the thousands roped in into propping up the dictatorship for little reward they are having second thoughts about doing the party’s dirty bidding. They know when the whole edifice crashes they will be the one with blood on their hands and Mugabe and his lot will swear they never saw them in their life!
Zimbabwe has become an allegory what would happen to country ruled by uncouth vultures! The next chapter is what happens to the vultures when they were finally dethroned. Trust me it will be a lesson to discourage any would be dictator to think twice! Watch this space!
I like your imagery of vultures. There is something uncouth and down right hellish about vultures but if they had a voice they would probably protested at being compared to Mugabe and his murderous thugs.
“We feed on rotten meat and if we see someone suffering we land, not to help, but to help ourselves,” the vultures would cry out. “Our table manners leave a lot to be desired; we like to bury our heads deep in our food - just as well we have no feathers on our neck. We are the world’s dirtiest undertakers. ‘No job is too gruesome and no morsel too smelly for a vulture!’ that is the vulture's creed!”
“But to be compare to that ruthless and mindless dictator, Mugabe; is an insult not even a vulture can stomach! We vulture will fight over a rotten carcass but will never gourge out another vulture's eye muchless murder him. Look what Mugabe and his gang are doing; they completely destroyed the nation’s economy forcing millions into a life of abject poverty. These people are suffering and dying for lack of clean water to drink and an asprin tablet in this day and age. The regime has murdered tens of thousands of innocent people in its quest to stay in power so Mugabe can continue to loot and murder. Least we forget, Mugabe and his thugs are doing these things to fellow black Zimbabweans - their own people, their own kith and kin!”
Yes, not even vultures would do what Mugabe and his thugs have been doing.
I believe Mugabe and his thugs know what they have been doing is despicable and they will have to answer for it; hence their cast iron resolve to stay in power at all cost. The country’s economy is in a total mess and yet the regime continues to loot. There are very few white owned farms left so the looters have turned on each other; there are stories of Grace Mugabe kicking a Zanu PF Judge off a farm to give it to her son Russell! With each passing day one thing is becoming clear – this house of cards is set to collapse and the regime is set to fall.
Whilst Mugabe is hoping that he can hang on for a bit longer and death finds him still in office. Each one of his top brass thugs is hoping the same. As for the rank and file officers and the thousands roped in into propping up the dictatorship for little reward they are having second thoughts about doing the party’s dirty bidding. They know when the whole edifice crashes they will be the one with blood on their hands and Mugabe and his lot will swear they never saw them in their life!
Zimbabwe has become an allegory what would happen to country ruled by uncouth vultures! The next chapter is what happens to the vultures when they were finally dethroned. Trust me it will be a lesson to discourage any would be dictator to think twice! Watch this space!
Monday, 1 November 2010
TSVANGIRAI HAVE EGG ON HIS FACE OVER "CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS" AMBASSADORS APPOINTMENTS!
The UN and the EU have both dismissed Tsvangirai’s request for them to reject the Zimbabwean Ambassadors to these bodies on the grounds that Mugabe appointed them without consulting him, as PM. It was a stupid request and it would have been really stupid of the UN and EU to even consider it!
Tsvangirai had hoped to cause a “constitutional crisis” with this move; he is the one with egg on his face!
@Themba Khumalo and Peter Win
Tsvangirai has made many blunders in the past, very costly blunders at that! Yes Khumalo you are right to ask; “Is this man FIT to run a country?”
Peter Win you too are right to comment, “There might be doubt as to whether Tsvangirai is fit to be a P.M. - but there's certainly no doubt that Mad Bob should have been kicked out of the country a long time ago!”
As a Zimbabwean (and I believe this is an issue every Zimbabwean out there must now serious consider) I have to ask myself whether Tsvangirai is fit to kick Mugabe out of office. There have been countless opportunities for him to do so in the past notably after the sham 2008 elections when the dictator was on the hook. It was blundering Tsvangirai who got him off the hook.
Much as I would like to see all Mugabe and his cronies looted from the nation given back to the people and the dictator and all his henchmen in the dock for the murder of tens of the thousands of innocent Zimbabweans; I know none of these things will ever happen as long as blundering idiots like Tsvangirai are tasked to carry out this task. Mugabe is a canning fox; too canning for a slow thinking toad like Tsvangirai!
Tsvangirai had hoped to cause a “constitutional crisis” with this move; he is the one with egg on his face!
@Themba Khumalo and Peter Win
Tsvangirai has made many blunders in the past, very costly blunders at that! Yes Khumalo you are right to ask; “Is this man FIT to run a country?”
Peter Win you too are right to comment, “There might be doubt as to whether Tsvangirai is fit to be a P.M. - but there's certainly no doubt that Mad Bob should have been kicked out of the country a long time ago!”
As a Zimbabwean (and I believe this is an issue every Zimbabwean out there must now serious consider) I have to ask myself whether Tsvangirai is fit to kick Mugabe out of office. There have been countless opportunities for him to do so in the past notably after the sham 2008 elections when the dictator was on the hook. It was blundering Tsvangirai who got him off the hook.
Much as I would like to see all Mugabe and his cronies looted from the nation given back to the people and the dictator and all his henchmen in the dock for the murder of tens of the thousands of innocent Zimbabweans; I know none of these things will ever happen as long as blundering idiots like Tsvangirai are tasked to carry out this task. Mugabe is a canning fox; too canning for a slow thinking toad like Tsvangirai!
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