MDC Congress retains Tsvangirai as its leader: what a pity!

The way MDC supporters have been fighting over positions is really no different from what Zanu PF supporters have been doing. It is a dog eat dog situation. None of them are really interested in addressing the real problems the nation is facing; they do not have the foggiest idea what these are nor do they really care.

If either party’s supporters and leaders fought for restoration of human rights and dignity, the rule of law and good governance with just half as much passion as that shown fighting for public office; Zimbabwe would not be in the hell-hole we are in today.

Being elected into public office is about serving the public and so those aspiring for public office should be asking themselves is “What do I have to offer to the public? Or, why should the public vote for me and not someone else?” In Zimbabwe neither Zanu PF nor MDC are counting on winning the public’s confidence to win elections. Once upon a time Mugabe and Zanu PF promised to delivery mass prosperity – “gutsa ruzhinji” as the party said in Shona. It seems Mugabe and others really believed they would do this although to anyone with any common sense the party’s “scientific socialism” was doomed to fail.

There was nothing scientific about the Mugabe regime’s economic policies of reckless spending. How could the nation prosper by spending beyond her economic means? It was, however, the decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and the all-out looting, especially in the last ten years, by the regime that turned economic stagnation into a spectacular failure and then finally into total melt down.

Mugabe and Zanu PF have since given up hope of staying in power by winning the electorate’s confidence and therefore their vote. The dictatorship is counting on all manner of vote rigging and cheating including the use of brute force against its opponents, to eliminate the competition, and against the public, to force them to vote for the party.

Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have not offered the Zimbabwean public any meaningful way out of the mess Mugabe landed the nation. All they have done is offered themselves as the alternative to Zanu PF and expect a nation, desperate for change, to elect them.

99999

So Tsvangirai is making his demands! He demands that the next elections be held “in a peaceful environment”. He demands that the said elections “be a free and fair contest". Sadly, that will not change the reality on the ground; the violence will continue.

Political violence has become a fixture of Zimbabwe politic. The violence in 2008 elections was particularly brutal and shocking. For one thing the Police, CIO and Army were, for the first time, used spearhead the violence. In the past these security agencies had turned a blind eye to all Zanu PF militia and war vets acts of violence and lawlessness. Mugabe has since formalised the sinister arrangement; in a 2009 Zanu PF Congress resolution, these State agents are compelled promote and protect Zanu PF because it is the “party of revolution”!

For two years Tsvangirai has done nothing to abolish the abomination of political violence from Zimbabwe politics forever. And now with Zanu PF inspired violence on the rise he demands “a free and fair contest”.

MDC Congress had the opportunity to elect some quality leaders. But by re-electing Tsvangirai, a flawed and indecisive character, the party has not done itself or the nation any favours!

Tsvangirai denounce Mugabe's nationalisation plans - belatedly!

Prime Minister Tsvangirai in his 31 Independence celebration speech denounces Mugabe’s nationalisation plan of white owned businesses and mines as “looting and plunder” by the ruling elite.


The looting and plunder has been going on for decades now under the PM's very nose and he it seems he has only now waken up to this! None of the white owners will be assured by this feeble and belated statement from a junior and powerless partner in the GNU! Mugabe, who heard the speech and he dismissed it as political posturing which it is.

Mugabe is "happy" to wait for new constitution before fresh elections - has he grown soft?!

Mugabe tells the Independence Day crowd he is “happy” for elections to wait until the completion of the new constitution writing process. A few weeks ago SADC had called on him to end the increasing political violence and suggested a roadmap to fresh elections after the writing of the new constitution was complete. Mugabe had insisted fresh elections would be held with or without the new constitution. As for President Zuma’s criticism he dismissed it as “interference”. As far as Mugabe was concerned Zimbabwe was "independence and sovereignty" nation and would not be “dictated” to. There was none of the usual anti-West vitriolic rhetoric this time. The softer tone in Mugabe’s speech was unmistakable. It has left many wondering whether he has changed or is this just a game. This is typical of Mugabe; when it suits him he will go to great lengths to ensure not only is the letter and spirit of the law followed but will bend over backwards to ensure every t is crossed and i dotted. He will make a big song and dance about it and the uninitiated will shower him with brownie points for being such a stickster of the law. Meanwhile he will continue to disregard and/or violate the most basic and fundamental laws repeatedly without the slightest sense of shame, remorse or sympathy for his victims. The real test of whether Mugabe has really had his road-to-Damascus changing moment will be if the political violence which has now become a permanent feature of Zimbabwe politics stopped. And the only sure way to ensure it stopped and never rears its ugly head again is by disbanding the Zanu PF militia and War vets, reconstituting the Police, CIO and Soldiers to end their partisan bias and return them to their principle duty of maintaining law and order and defending the nation and by arresting all those responsible for all the beatings, rapes and murders in the last two years and show these criminals they are not above the law. Up to now Mugabe has organised the political violence against his critics and opponents and even boosted that he “has degrees in violence”. If he is really a changed man then he must take a lead in punishing the thugs and henchmen who are carrying out all those heinous acts in his name! 66666 In 2008 the people of Tsholotsho elected Professor Moyo as their MP. He had stood as an independent candidate having been kicked out of Zanu PF after the Tsholotsho debacle where Moyo and others tried to topple Mugabe but failed. Professor Moyo has since rejoined Zanu PF and the people of Tsholotsho are displeased because, like most Zimbabweans, they despise Zanu PF and Mugabe. Professor Moyo is definitely a very clever and articulate speaker; so it is easy to see why many people have been impressed enough to vote for him. Sadly there is a sad and dark side to Professor Moyo; he is devilishly cunning and ruthless ambitious. He has shown that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants; he is the type who would sell their own mother for a price and be proud they had a mother to sell! After the Tsholotsho debacle, even Mugabe, a cunning fox by his own right, learnt just what a slippery sewage rat Moyo can be. The dictator welcome Moyo back in the Zanu PF fold because he needs ruthless and cunning minds around him to retain his grip on power. The people of Tsholotsho should have learnt not to trust Moyo from Mugabe’s misfortune; hopefully they have learnt this time.

MDC: a party of "excellence" led by "indecisive" Tsvangirai - what a contradiction!

MDC: “A party of excellence!” led by a “flawed and indecisive character”! Zanu PF: “The people’s choice!” led by a “ruthless and murderous tyrant”! Hydrogen burns with an invisible blue flame! Yes there is a contradiction in all the three statements above. If the hydrogen flame is invisible; then how can one the same flame have the colour, blue? Ever since Zimbabwe gained its independence and Mugabe was elected into office he has done everything including undermining the country’s democratic institution and widespread murder of his opponents to establish a de facto one-party one-man dictatorship. The people of Zimbabwe had no say, indeed they have been fighting to end this tyrannical imposition; so Mugabe or Zanu PF can not be considered the people’s choice! No one would ever choose to be ruled by a tyrant. People living under tyranny may be poor, very poor, ignorant and live in constant fear from being beaten and for their very lives but there is one thing one can say about them – they are not stupid. The tyrants will make appear that the victims of their misrule love them; who would be that stupid as to love the very system that deny them hope and human dignity! If Morgan Tsvangirai is a flawed and indecisive character how can the party, he leads, be a party of excellence? MDC’s pathetic performance ever since the party was formed in 1999 speaks volumes of both the leader and the party. MDC prides itself as “A party of excellence!” so the party’s chief propagandist, Nelson Chamisa never tires of telling us. If there is anything the USA and the West in general have done to MDC ever since the party’s formation in 1999 it is being supportive. So when Chris Dell, the USA Ambassador to Zimbabwe, said in 2002 in a leaked report to Washington that Morgan Tsvangirai was “a flawed and indecisive character”; he was being honest and sincere. There was no malice in the Ambassador. One has only to look at Tsvangirai’s track record as leader of MDC to see Ambassador Dell was right. MDC has made one political blunder after another; proving again and again that it can not possibly be a party “of excellence”. The signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which allowed the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) is certainly one of the greatest blunders Tsvangirai and MDC have ever made. For a start, the very act of signing the GPA – put to one side that it was a flawed agreement – got Mugabe off the hook. After the sham presidential run-off in which Mugabe had resorted to intimidation, beatings, rape and murder at a scale never seen before in human history the international community flatly refused to recognise him as Zimbabwe’s legitimate head of state. Mugabe had two options; either to defy the international community and be shunned by everyone or to hold fresh elections. After all the abuse the electorate had suffered the Zimbabwean voters would have cherished to show Mugabe and the whole world what the thought of the tyrant in a free vote! But by signing the GPA Tsvangirai got Mugabe off the hook. The GPA itself was so one side; it gave Mugabe all the dictatorial powers and none to Tsvangirai. There was widespread outcry against the GPA and Tsvangirai was advised not to sign it but, of course, he would not listen. For first year of the GNU Tsvangirai has put on a brave face defending the GNU at every turn. In the last year he has finally admitted that the GNU was not working. It took a significant escalation of Zanu PF violence against MDC leaders and supporters to ram home the message that the GNU was not working. The message was rammed home so forcefully that many expected Tsvangirai to finally walk out of the GNU. But even when the decision was forced on him still he dithered; underlining just how indecisive he really is. With up coming MDC congress one would think members would be keen to replace Tsvangirai and a few other party leaders. The party’s constitution says a leader is to serve not more that two successive five year terms; Tsvangirai was already served two five year terms. Member should have looked at the party’s electoral system by now to ensure the party will never again elect flawed and indecisive leaders or worse! Instead one province after another MDC delegates said they would want Tsvangirai and a few others to return their leadership position at the end of the congress. Last year, Zanu PF congress endorsed Mugabe as that party’s presidential candidate for the next elections. The tyrant is now dogged by ill health and after three disastrous decades as Zimbabwe’s head of state the tyrant has made Zanu PF totally unelectable. So why do Zanu PF members still want him as the party leader? The answer is not so obvious at first sight. Zanu PF knows the party would suffer a humiliating defeat in a free and fair election. So the party is banking on ensuring the election is NOT free and fair for yet another Zanu PF electoral “victory”. And the party has once again picked Mugabe; a man they know will intimidate, terrorise, rape and commit mass murder without batting an eye! Similarly MDC members are not counting on competent leader to making their party electable. In a free and fair elections MDC will win against Zanu PF hands down. Professor Jonathan Moyo, a maverick Zimbabwean politician, who has been Mugabe’s blue eyed boy one moment and thorn-in-the-backside the next said Mugabe would lose a free election to a donkey just to underline how unelectable the later has become. Whilst it is true that MDC’s electoral success in the past was based on the public’s disgust with Mugabe and Zanu PF. It would be a grave mistake for MDC to pick their hopes on this firstly because the MDC should not count their chickens before they hatch; Mugabe has outwitted Tsvangirai on numerous occasions already and the cunning fox can do it again. Secondly there are other parties for the voters to pick beside MDC. Third, more significantly, the people of Zimbabwe are desperate to get out of this hell-on-earth Mugabe landed the nation a flawed leader will not get them out. There is an important lesson to be learnt from Zanu PF and MDC members’ election of a tyrant and a flawed character as their respective leaders – they are not interested in law and order, democracy, human rights, economic recovery, etc. All the party members want is get a leader who will help them secure a position on the feeding trough as quickly as possible for as long as possible. If there are ever to be competent and visionary leaders in Zimbabwe then it is us, the ordinary citizens, who must pick them by using our vote selectively and wisely.

Ambassador Phoya is naive not to see through Mugabe's Good Cop vs Bad Cop game!

Ambassador Richard Phoya of Malawi, is really naïve because there is nothing to be “welcomed” in Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mbengegwi’s double Dutch! “The diplomats are very happy with what we have done so far and we are also happy about the efforts being done by President Zuma. Even the report that was tabled to the Sadc troika in Livingstone is what we will go by,” Minister Mbengegwi said. If SADC was happy with Zimbabwe’s the democratic reforms then why did SADC leaders rebuke Mugabe? The truth is there have been no reforms; none. Indeed the lawlessness and the dreaded political violence are getting worse. If Mugabe was happy with what President Zuma was doing then why did he castigate it as “interference”? “He cannot prescribe that we do A, B, C, D. We are a sovereign state and we don't accept any interference,” said the Zimbabwean dictator. If SADC really want to know Mugabe and Zanu PF’s position then Mugabe could not have made it any more plain – do not INTERFERE! What Minister Mbengegwi and George Charamba on the one hand and Professor Moyo on the other are doing is playing Good Cop and Bad Cop but the message remains – do not interfere! Reform means free and fair elections and that equals regime change. Mugabe knows that and he will not carry out any reforms; period. President Zuma and SADC should have never treated Mugabe with kid-gloves. The unity government was meant to be the soft landing for Mugabe and the next elections will be free and fair and Mugabe would accept the result this time and finally bow out; they had hoped. The GNU is coming to an end and Mugabe is more determined than ever to remain in power. Mugabe is no ordinary tyrant; he has lied, looted and committed some really heinous crimes to ever give up power willing and be forced to face the music of his past! Only the real gullible will believe Mugabe will happily accept and implement any meaningful political reform.

Ambassador Phoya is naive not to see through Mugabe's Good Cop vs Bad Cop game!

Ambassador Richard Phoya of Malawi, is really naïve because there is nothing to be “welcomed” in Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mbengegwi’s double Dutch! “The diplomats are very happy with what we have done so far and we are also happy about the efforts being done by President Zuma. Even the report that was tabled to the Sadc troika in Livingstone is what we will go by,” Minister Mbengegwi said. If SADC was happy with Zimbabwe’s the democratic reforms then why did SADC leaders rebuke Mugabe? The truth is there have been no reforms; none. Indeed the lawlessness and the dreaded political violence are getting worse. If Mugabe was happy with what President Zuma was doing then why did he castigate it as “interference”? “He cannot prescribe that we do A, B, C, D. We are a sovereign state and we don't accept any interference,” said the Zimbabwean dictator. If SADC really want to know Mugabe and Zanu PF’s position then Mugabe could not have made it any more plain – do not INTERFERE! What Minister Mbengegwi and George Charamba on the one hand and Professor Moyo on the other are doing is playing Good Cop and Bad Cop but the message remains – do not interfere! Reform means free and fair elections and that equals regime change. Mugabe knows that and he will carry out any reforms; period. President Zuma and SADC should have never treated Mugabe with kid-gloves. The unity government was meant to be the soft landing for Mugabe and the next elections will be free and fair and Mugabe would accept the result this time and finally bow out; they had hoped. The GNU is coming to an end and Mugabe is more determined than ever to remain in power. Mugabe is no ordinary tyrant; he has lied, looted and committed some really heinous crimes to ever give up power willing and be forced to face the music of his past! Only the real gullible will believe Mugabe will happily accept and implement any meaningful political reform.

There is a method in Mugabe and Moyo's madness of calling Zuma "erratic"!

Whilst it is true that the harsh criticism of SADC and particularly President Zuma in Zimbabwe’s Mugabe controlled media has caused many SADC leaders not only to curse Mugabe but also to harden their position against the Mugabe dictatorship. So Professor Jonathan Moyo penned off most of the scathing articles; it was either him or George Charamba and may be one or two others – the rest can not string one coherent sentence! It is hardly surprising that these brain-dead wimps are “sharpening their knives” and would love a chance to bury their knives in Moyo’s moyo – heart! The only person stopping them is Mugabe – he is a lot smarter than the rest and appreciate Moyo’s madness! Of course Moyo was right to say to Mugabe was so unpopular he “would lose to a donkey in a free and fair election” in 2008. Indeed the Professor could have said the same of Mugabe in the 2000 elections. Moyo played a key role in turning certain defeat into victory for Mugabe in that election. Mugabe has been unelectable for donkey years now; he has remained in power through his own grit determination, cunning and willingness to use brute force again and again to get what. He has found witty and cunning people like Professor Moyo very useful. Yes because of Moyo’s cunning plotting, Mugabe nearly lost his grip on power in the so called Tsholotsho debacle of 2004. Mugabe welcomed Moyo back in the Zanu PF fold last year because he needs cunning people like him. It is to people like Moyo that Mugabe has to turn if he is to win the next elections; not the brain – dead Joyce Mujuru, John Nkomo, etc. Whatever Professor Moyo has been saying about SADC and President Zuma, he certainly took his clue from Mugabe himself. The dictator himself had told SADC leaders following their criticism of him in Zambia that no one could “dictate” to him. The dictator is clearly sensing that from now on the regional body will be putting him under increased pressure to carryout some democratic reform – reforms that will result in free and fair elections and, therefore, certain defeat for him and his party! Regime change is simply unthinkable and if the only way out is to part company with SADC then so be it! So Mugabe fired the opening diplomatic volley and Professor Moyo is ratchet it up! And not surprisingly, “erratic” President Zuma and the brain-dead within Zanu PF itself have swallowed hook, line and sinker! It is now just a matter of time; President Zuma and SADC are set to make democratic demands in an election road map for Zimbabwe. Demands, Mugabe will claim, undermine the independence and sovereignty of Zimbabwe and are therefore unacceptable. Mugabe will then take Zimbabwe out of SADC before the regional body kick Zimbabwe out; just as he pre-empted similar action by Commonwealth a few years ago! Mugabe and Moyo know they can no longer count on SADC to stop regime change in Zimbabwe and so instead of waiting for SADC to pick the fight, the two are taking the fight to SADC! At first glance, it looks like the two are mad, but on closer scrutiny, there is certainly a method in their madness!

Swaziland Teachers demand democratic reform from King Swati: Mugabe placates Zimbabweans teachers with platitudes!

The Swaziland’s King Swati III did not meet the country’s Teachers Union Representatives. The king sent his adviser instead and the message from the union leaders was simple enough "We told him we want a transitional government and multiparty democracy," Muzi Mhlanga, the Union Leader reportedly told the adviser. The Swazi Unionists have reportedly called for public protests next week to press their demands for political reform. "The king is pleading that we cancel this thing (public protest). We told him (the adviser) it would be difficult because the decision has already been taken by our members," concluded Mhlanga. What a refreshing and stunning contrast to what happened in Zimbabwe! On Wednesday 6 April 2011 the Zimbabwe dictator, Robert Mugabe, granted the Progressive Teacher Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) a once in a life time audience – face to face with the tyrant. The meeting was to address the teachers’ demands for a living wage and the dictator, after expressing his usual concern and sympathy (shedding the usual crocodile tears) sent the teachers away with a promise of a minimum wage of US$251 – half what the teachers were asking for. The dictator did not say where the money would come from given that the national economic has shown no signs of recovery following the total economic melt down of 2002 to 2008. In the six year period the national economy shrunk by a staggering 84% fuelled by the world record inflation rate picking at over 5 000 000 000% and the total collapse of the agricultural sector following the looting of white owned farms by Mugabe and his loyalists. The scrapping of the Z$ in late 2008 brought down inflation to single digit percentage figures over night and a considerable measure of economic sanity. Unfortunately the farms have remained idle and the lawlessness has continued making it impossible for the much hoped for economic recovery to take place. Mugabe has his excuse why teachers, like the rest of the nation, were poor – West imposed sanctions! “Mr President, Sir; are you blaming the collapse of Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector on the West too?” one PTUZ should have asked. “Mr President, Sir; the country earning millions of dollars from the sell of Marange diamonds but none of the money is received by central government. Are you blaming the West for this too?” a second one should have followed up. Of course none of the PTUZ asked any obvious questions. They were there to ask for wage increase and they must have agonised forever to ever ask that. In 2008, just before the elections, Mugabe granted teachers and other public workers a 700% pay rise. Given the country’s hyper inflation at the time, the salary increase only served to fuel spike in flation. Many people have been asking whether Sub-Sahara Africa will stage public protest demanding democratic reform in any sustainable way as happened in North Africa and some Arab countries. In Swaziland, may be. If the performance of Mr Oswald Madziva and his PTUZ is anything to go by, Zimbabwe is not ready!

Mugabe using pre 1980 murders to boost his image: he has murdered 10 000s since!

The Mugabe controlled public media is giving the story of pre-independence mass murders widespread coverage and reminding the nation and the world at large of Mugabe and Zanu PF’s heroic role in Zimbabwe’s fight to end white colonial rule and independence. If the bodies being exhumed in Mount Darwin are those of victims of White Colonial repression – this regime’s failure to have professionals to do this task and establish conclusively who the victims are and when they were killed casts a shadow of doubt on the regime’s claim that they are indeed pre-independence and not post-independence – then the matter must be treated with the reverence it rightly deserve. What Mugabe must be told in no uncertain terms that his dismissal of post-independence political harassments, beatings, rapes and murders committed mainly by his own party supporters for his political gains as if the victims are not important is not acceptable. Indeed these post-independence political violence and murders are happening everyday right across the country. We must discuss the on-going violence with the urgency it rightly deserved and serve one more Zimbabwean from abuse and serve one more Zimbabwean life! After independence Zimbabwe should have had a Peace and Reconciliation Commission, similar to that headed by Archbishop Tutu in SA, with a brief to establish the truth and extend of the human rights violations by all the parties to the conflict. It was a great pity that the post-independence regime of Mugabe did not have the vision to set up such a Commission because it would have established precedence that all human rights violations will be thoroughly investigated and those responsible called to account. The skeletons being exhumed from Mount Darwin now should remind us all that the horrors of pre-independence era were never dealt with and closed properly and are now back to haunt us. Again, assuming these are victims of that period. Whatever happens now the post-independence human rights violations must be thoroughly investigated with a view not just to establish the truth but also to punish those responsible. The war of independence was to stop the white ill treating our people. Mugabe and Zanu PF can be forgiven for failing to deliver “gutsa ruzhinji” - mass economic prosperity. One can even forgive them for the sheer incompetency and mindless greed that have resulted in Zimbabwe’s total economic melt down with the tragic human suffering there for all to see. The one thing Zimbabweans must not forget nor forgive Mugabe and his cronies for is that after 1980 one Zimbabweans should have been treated the same way the whites had treated us. The Mugabe regime has denied Zimbabweans their basic human rights and freedoms; harassed, beaten, raped and terrorised millions and murdered tens of thousands. Mugabe is giving widespread coverage of the exhumation of the pre-independence human rights violations in the government controlled media for the sore purpose of reminding everyone of his and Zanu PF’s heroic role during that struggle. The irony is that all these victims died fighting for blacks to enjoy basic human rights including the right to have a meaningful say in the governance of the country and yet Mugabe has already murdered tens of thousands of Zimbabweans in the thirty years since independence to deny Zimbabweans these very rights! 77777 President Zuma has reportedly told Harare that the quite diplomacy is “dead”. At last the kid gloves are off and Mugabe will be treated like the ruthless tyrant he is. The "erratic and disaster-prone" insult did open President Zuma's eyes. Of course Zimbabwe would not have sunk this deep in the mud if President Zuma had been firm with Mugabe from the start. So yes, President Zuma has been erratic in his handling of Zimbabwe turning a very bad situation into a disaster. And so yes, Mugabe was right to call him “erratic and disaster-prone”. Even a totally discredited and irrational monster like Mugabe does speak the truth, insult or otherwise, on the odd occasion! SA remained resolute in enforcing the conditions of the Global Political Agreement whatever the difficulties; Minister Nkoana-Mashabane tells us! Well that is a new one. The GPA was signed two years ago and Mugabe has flouted the word and spirit of the agreement again and again in that period. The political violence and lawlessness, at the very heart of the GPA, have continued unabated and even stepped up a gear or two. Why has SA done nothing to stop Mugabe for two years? No, SA has decide to abandon quite diplomacy with Harare because Mugabe had the obesity to insult President Zuma, period. Please do not insult our intelligence with blatant lies of SA’s past resolute commitment to the GPA when we all know SA did not care a damn about the GPA or the suffering masses in Zimbabwe!

Mugabe calls President Zuma "erratic and disaster-prone": an eye-opener for Zuma!

Mugabe tries but fails to distance himself from spat of calling President Zuma “erratic and disaster-prone”. The same individual now writing to say the views expressed in the Sunday Mail were NOT those of Mugabe is the one who authorised the scathing Sunday Mail articles. Indeed it is quite possible he is the one who actually penned at least one of the articles. The Sunday Mail articles followed hot on the heels of Mugabe’s own statement to his party critical of SADC who had slapped him on the wrist over escalating political violence in Zimbabwe. "We are a sovereign country. Even our neighbours cannot dictate to us. We will resist that," said Mugabe. SADC leaders and President Zuma in particular have allowed Mugabe to rid rough shod over the people of Zimbabwe. They all completely ignored the cries of the people and the tragic the suffering the tyrant was causing. Now Mugabe is treating SADC leaders with his contemptuous arrogance. After all President Zuma has done to keep the Zimbabwe tyrant in power the last thing the SA leader expected was a insult for a thank you! As a Zimbabwean who has suffered all manner of abuse from the tyrant it is hard to sympathise with President Zuma! Indeed I really hope the insults will be the eye-opener to President Zuma and SADC so they now see Mugabe for the monster he is and to spur them to rein him in.

How cynical that tyrants like Mugabe hid behind sovereignty the one thing he robbed the nation of!

Liberty "Sovereignty refers to power to govern oneself," you say? By oneself- singular- you must be referring to individuals like Mugabe because that is exactly what has happened in Zimbabwe. For thirty years Mugabe has systematically denied ordinary Zimbabweans a meaningful say in the governance of the country by undermining the country’s democratic institutions, rigging elections, terrorising the electorate and would be political opponents, etc. In 2008 the tyrant took the repression to a new frightening level by getting the politicised Police, Army, CIO and other State Security organs to play an active role in the political repression. In the past these organs had turned a blind eye to Zanu PF inspired political shenanigans. The Zimbabwe Republic Police, National Army, CIO, etc are now actively involved in the beating, raping and murder of Zanu PF political opponents! We have more than political violence in Zimbabwe; we institutionalised violence just as we had institutionalised racism before independence. To who are the people supposed to turn for help if those sworn to protect them are they ones abusing them? The right to a meaningful say in the governance of one’s country, the right to life, etc. these are universal rights. And when these rights are being denied, the whole world has a moral duty to demand that this should stop. How cynical that tyrants should defend their continued brutal repression by claiming whatever they are doing are internal matters in which outsiders have no right to intervene. To do so is an affront on the nation’s independence and sovereignty - the very things the tyrants robbed from the people and nation! 9999999 It is hard to take SADC serious. Zimbabwe does not need SADC to "assist" her to hold free and fair elections. Everyone knows what is required. The problem is free and fair elections will result in regime change and THAT is something Mugabe and Zanu PF simply will not tolerate. SADC, if it really wanted to assist, should come up with guidelines on how to make regime change palatable to Mugabe. 7788888 Cote d’Ivoire has paid a heavy price economically and in human suffering and lives for Laurent Gbagbo’s stubbornness and greed. Now that he has been finally cornered he must be punished like the rat that he is! Cote d’Ivoire and the whole world have to sent a clear message to tyrants and would be tyrants that they will be called to account for their greed and brutal abuse of power! 8888 Paul Whelan Tsvangirai was desperate to hold some position of power and authority in Zimbabwe, so desperate that he willingly betrayed the most basic human values of freedom, liberty, and human dignity including the respect of human lives for it. Mugabe knew that and that was why the dictator demanded so much for himself out of the GPA. As long as he offered Tsvangirai the position of Prime Minister – even all meaningful power and authority taken away – he knew Tsvangirai would accept it. There was really nothing that Tsvangirai could have possibly accomplished as PM given that he had no power or authority to do anything! Tsvangirai talked himself into signing the GPA not because there were no other options open for him. The most logical option for him was to refuse to go into any form of power sharing or coalition with someone who had been so ruthless and brutal in denying the people their basic right in having a meaningful say in the governance of the country. The whole international community had already said they would not recognise Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s legitimate head of state. Mugabe had to either accept electoral defeat or face fresh elections in which he would not dare use violence again. It was Mugabe not Tsvangirai who was on the hook. Even if one was to accept the far-fetched idea that Tsvangirai wanted to give Mugabe a “soft landing” by agreeing to a power sharing arrangement with the losing tyrant; but did he have to give the loser all his dictatorial powers too? After two years of pretending the GNU was working, poor Tsvangirai has finally acknowledged that it is not working. But instead of thinking out a way out he is turning to SADC under the pretence that it is the regional body’s sole responsibility to get Zimbabwe out of this mess. He is so devoid of ideas; he could not even say what he expected SADC to do! U S Ambassador Dell was absolutely right is describing Tsvangirai as a “flawed and indecisive character” in his report back to Washington. Of course, the Ambassador was right; only a flawed leader would sign such a blatantly flawed agreement. But more significantly Paul, Zimbabweans have to realise that if they are serious about ending the tragic situation in the country then they must find quality leaders to deal with the cunning tyrant, Mugabe. 777777 Chimbido It would be wrong to even suggest that Tsvangirai was under any form of pressure to sign the GPA. It is true that before and during the sham 2008 presidential run-off elections Mugabe and his thugs were on a war footing; harassing, terrorizing and beating MDC leaders and supporters including Tsvangirai himself. When the election results were declared on the 27 June 2008, Mugabe called off his dogs. For one thing Mugabe did not have the money to continue paying his thugs but more significantly after 27 June he was keen to present himself to the world as an honourable statesman. Tsvangirai signed the GPA out of sheer stupidity on his part!

Mugabe defies SADC accusing them of interfering!

"We are a sovereign state and as a sovereign state we don't accept any interference and even our neighbours should not tell us what to do," said Mugabe. That was the dictator’s response to SADC criticism of Zimbabwe’s GNU’s failure to implement the GPA. Mugabe has always defied SADC, there is nothing new in that. The problem here is that we have very naive leaders, especially PM Tsvangirai and his friends in MDC, who are naive enough to pin all their hopes on some day SADC reining in Mugabe. The same individuals have again and again denounced SADC as a toothless dog and very good reason too- SADC is toothless. Yet they again and again knock on SADC’s door for help. Tsvangirai was warned the GPA was unworkable but he signed it anywhere because he could not think of what else to do. Now events have proven beyond all doubt that the GPA was unworkable but once again Tsvangirai does not know what to do. He did not have a plan “B” two years ago and still has none today. All he can think of is wave the SADC guarantee of the GPA which he knew was not worth the paper it was written on. This is the politics of despair and helplessness; the politics of those who have run out of ideas. We all realise that Mugabe is at the very heart of all Zimbabwe’s problems and that nothing will be achieved as long as he remains in power. So removing Mugabe is the nation’s top priority. We must also accept that in the last ten years the nation had numerous opportunities to remove Mugabe but this did not happen because Tsvangirai and MDC failed to seize these opportunities. If we are ever going to remove Mugabe then we must select competent leaders to do it; Tsvangirai is not man enough for this task!