The four young thugs including the Zanu PF Governor Machaya’s son who murdered Moses Chokuda in August 2009 have finally been convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The crime was committed at the time when political violence in Gokwe and the rest of Zimbabwe was the order of the day. The victim was a know opposition supporter a “crime” in Zimbabwe for which many have been and continue to be summarily beaten, raped and murdered. And the Zanu PF thugs who commit these extra judiciary crimes are never arrested.
The Chokuda family refused to bury their murdered relative and for the last two years his body has remain in the Hospital Mortuary; it was that single act that has kept this case alive!
ZANU-PF Parliamentary Whip Joram Gumbo said the tough prison sentences prove the judiciary does not favor ZANU-PF and that all perpetrators of violence are brought to justice and punished. Over 500 innocent Zimbabweans were murdered and hundreds of thousands were raped in 2008 alone and yet those responsible have not been arrested.
The ZRP Officers have a lot to answer for why the thugs who have terrorised the nation are not arrested. It will not be enough to say they were under strict orders not to arrest Zanu PF loyalists; even if they produced dated and signed orders as proof, the fact still remains that the orders were clearly illegal since they flew in the face of everything the public policing are about.
In the past Mugabe has always stepped in and granted the presidential pardon the rare party loyalists arrested and convicted in the courts, regardless of how heinous the crime happened to be. Mugabe was sending a message to all that Zanu PF thugs were above the law! Mugabe did not dare, as yet, step in and pardon the young Machaya and his three fellow convicted murders. The Chokuda family have yet to bury their relative and they want the families of the murderers to apologise and compensate them in accordance with African traditional culture! Until that happen, the convicted murderers will languish in Zimbabwe’s hell-on-earth (because of the living conditions) jails; much to the anger and exasperation of Mugabe.
What this case has done is challenge the very foundation on which this Mugabe and Zanu PF dictatorship stand. That is, that the dictator and his thugs are above the law and that those who dare challenge his authority will be severely punished. The Chokuda family refused to have the murder of their son dismissed as nothing more than a squashed ant. The young man’s life and their suffering at his brutal killing matter not at all. It took two years for the autocratic regime to finally realise that this was one political murder they can not bury and forget. Not even Mugabe himself can use his presidential powers to whitewash the grave injustice of cold blooded murder!
Governor Machaya’s son and his fellow murderers are not above the law and they are paying for their heinous crime. That should send a cold chill down the spine of all Zanu PF thugs with any common sense.
Ending this absurd notion that Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs are above the law has, without doubt, been the Holy Grail which would end Zimbabwe’s culture of political violence. Tsvangirai, for all his egotistic claims of being a “visionary” leader leading a party “of excellence”, had singularly failed to find an answer. Indeed Tsvangirai’s political blundering has allowed Mugabe to re-organise his terror machine and secure a war-chest to funds its murderous activities; the threat of even worse political violence hangs over the nation.
It took the courage and self sacrifice of a simple fruit-seller in Tunisia to start the Arab Spring has toppled one Arab dictator after another. Even Mugabe’s old friend Gaddafi has been swept away. What the Chokuda family have done could well be the butterfly wing beat in Gokwe that turned into the political hurricane to blow away the murderous dictator and their thugs out of State House, parliament and every village in Zimbabwe!
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Monday, 26 September 2011
Minister Chamisa calls for Zimbabweans to "pray" as the answer to political violence!
"Violence must stop and this demon of beating up people should not continue. But for it to stop, we need to pray," Chamisa says. Pray?!
We have a cunning and ruthless tyrant and instead of coming up with a sensible plan to stop the suffering and blood shed all MDC can come up with is pray.
Half the nation was traumatised and over 500 killed in 2008 to elect Chamisa and his MDC MP friends giving MDC the parliamentary majority. Parliament has the power authority and duty to the nation to rein in a rogue president but instead of carrying out this task all we keep getting from these MDC cowards is one excuse after another or that someone else should do it. Minister Makone last week said SADC should stop the violence, another MDC leader called on ordinary people to fight back and now Minister Chamisa is calling on God!.
God helps those who help themselves, Minister.
We have it in us as a nation to govern ourselves! Thousands of good men and women have given their very lives before independence and thousands more since end oppression so we can all live in peace, freedom and dignity. Mugabe and Zanu PF betrayed the nation by denying us our freedom and dignity and for three decades they have stopped us realising our dream. In 2008 the nation put its trust in MDC to bring about democratic change. MDC have failed to delivery because of the leaders’ blundering incompetence and cowardice!
What Zimbabwe needs is MPs with the political spine something that has been noticeably lacking in Zanu PF and now MDC! We should pay closer attention to whom we vote for in future. The good Lord has given us the intellect to discern the good from the bad, competent from the corrupt, visionary leaders from the cowards; we have so far displayed a knack for electing tyrants or idiots or both! If we are to pray, then we must pray that we learn from our past mistakes.
There nothing more obnoxious than someone who have the power and duty to stop a wrong being committed but, out of cowardice or greed, chose to do nothing. Tsvangirai and his cowardly friends have tried the patience of the people of Zimbabwe beyond endurance; we would have been better off without a single MDC MP!
55555
Just remember Tsirare that you and your fellow thugs will be called to account for all the innocent blood you shed! Mugabe is desperate to win and since he can not win free and fair elections he is resorting to using violence. There are always some idiot willing to do the tyrant's dirty work and be paid nuts. And when the day when we all have to answer for what we did, the tyrant will disown you!
If you think you are doing the right thing by terrorising innocent people whose only crime is exercising their basic right to a free vote, then go ago! But if I were you I would make sure you have all instructions to beat rape and murder in writing and signed. You will hang alone if you do not. Mugabe’s days in power are numbered whatever he does and all his thugs will answer for what they have been doing, alone!
5555
The Zimbabwe government has reportedly rejected Standard Chartered Bank's offer to cede 10 percent of its shares to local blacks under a new law requiring foreign firms to sell 51% majority stakes.
This is not by any means down playing the pressure Standard Bank must be under still the Bank must accept that by breaking rank it is putting all other Banks and foreign owned companies under increased pressure to comply with this Zanu PF demand. There is no legal, economic or logical basic for doing this other than it being yet another Zanu PF looting scheme.
Zanu PF passed this knowing fully well there will always be some companies who will seek to appease and comply. It is a great pity!
We have a cunning and ruthless tyrant and instead of coming up with a sensible plan to stop the suffering and blood shed all MDC can come up with is pray.
Half the nation was traumatised and over 500 killed in 2008 to elect Chamisa and his MDC MP friends giving MDC the parliamentary majority. Parliament has the power authority and duty to the nation to rein in a rogue president but instead of carrying out this task all we keep getting from these MDC cowards is one excuse after another or that someone else should do it. Minister Makone last week said SADC should stop the violence, another MDC leader called on ordinary people to fight back and now Minister Chamisa is calling on God!.
God helps those who help themselves, Minister.
We have it in us as a nation to govern ourselves! Thousands of good men and women have given their very lives before independence and thousands more since end oppression so we can all live in peace, freedom and dignity. Mugabe and Zanu PF betrayed the nation by denying us our freedom and dignity and for three decades they have stopped us realising our dream. In 2008 the nation put its trust in MDC to bring about democratic change. MDC have failed to delivery because of the leaders’ blundering incompetence and cowardice!
What Zimbabwe needs is MPs with the political spine something that has been noticeably lacking in Zanu PF and now MDC! We should pay closer attention to whom we vote for in future. The good Lord has given us the intellect to discern the good from the bad, competent from the corrupt, visionary leaders from the cowards; we have so far displayed a knack for electing tyrants or idiots or both! If we are to pray, then we must pray that we learn from our past mistakes.
There nothing more obnoxious than someone who have the power and duty to stop a wrong being committed but, out of cowardice or greed, chose to do nothing. Tsvangirai and his cowardly friends have tried the patience of the people of Zimbabwe beyond endurance; we would have been better off without a single MDC MP!
55555
Just remember Tsirare that you and your fellow thugs will be called to account for all the innocent blood you shed! Mugabe is desperate to win and since he can not win free and fair elections he is resorting to using violence. There are always some idiot willing to do the tyrant's dirty work and be paid nuts. And when the day when we all have to answer for what we did, the tyrant will disown you!
If you think you are doing the right thing by terrorising innocent people whose only crime is exercising their basic right to a free vote, then go ago! But if I were you I would make sure you have all instructions to beat rape and murder in writing and signed. You will hang alone if you do not. Mugabe’s days in power are numbered whatever he does and all his thugs will answer for what they have been doing, alone!
5555
The Zimbabwe government has reportedly rejected Standard Chartered Bank's offer to cede 10 percent of its shares to local blacks under a new law requiring foreign firms to sell 51% majority stakes.
This is not by any means down playing the pressure Standard Bank must be under still the Bank must accept that by breaking rank it is putting all other Banks and foreign owned companies under increased pressure to comply with this Zanu PF demand. There is no legal, economic or logical basic for doing this other than it being yet another Zanu PF looting scheme.
Zanu PF passed this knowing fully well there will always be some companies who will seek to appease and comply. It is a great pity!
Zimbabwe should have considered what kind of leaders an armed struggle will produce - we would not be in this mess today!
During India’s fight to end British Colonial rule of India some of the nationalist leaders urged that they should escalate the struggle by taking up arms.
“What kind of leaders will the armed struggle produced?” asked Nehru. “And are they the kind of men and women we would like to rule the nation?”
In Zimbabwe we chose to escalate the struggle by taking up arms. I am sure it was losing the bush war that hurried Smith out of power but by God the nation has paid dearly.
In independent Zimbabwe mismanagement, corruption and down right looting have gone unchecked destroying the country’s once promising economy. Millions now live in abject poverty. The nation has been completely helpless to stop this criminal waste because we are a nation paralysed by fear. The heroes of the armed struggle have gone on to rule the nation with an iron fist boasting that “What was won by the bullet can not be changed by a ballot!”
Mahatma Gandhi’s none-violence strategy may have delay India’s independence by a decade or two but it was well worth it because it allowed democratic leaders to emerge. The kind of leaders who have set India on a path of peace, freedom and prosperity. By taking up arms Zimbabwe brought forward the end of white colonial but cast into leadership role the village thugs who have dragged down the path of self destruction and despair.
It is not as if the war of independence did not have a price tag, many good men and women lost their lives in the war. And at the end we did end one exploitive and oppressive regime only to replace it with a corrupt and an even more oppressive one. In our hast for independence we took one step forward and two steps backward; we too should have considering what kind of leaders an armed struggle will produce!
“What kind of leaders will the armed struggle produced?” asked Nehru. “And are they the kind of men and women we would like to rule the nation?”
In Zimbabwe we chose to escalate the struggle by taking up arms. I am sure it was losing the bush war that hurried Smith out of power but by God the nation has paid dearly.
In independent Zimbabwe mismanagement, corruption and down right looting have gone unchecked destroying the country’s once promising economy. Millions now live in abject poverty. The nation has been completely helpless to stop this criminal waste because we are a nation paralysed by fear. The heroes of the armed struggle have gone on to rule the nation with an iron fist boasting that “What was won by the bullet can not be changed by a ballot!”
Mahatma Gandhi’s none-violence strategy may have delay India’s independence by a decade or two but it was well worth it because it allowed democratic leaders to emerge. The kind of leaders who have set India on a path of peace, freedom and prosperity. By taking up arms Zimbabwe brought forward the end of white colonial but cast into leadership role the village thugs who have dragged down the path of self destruction and despair.
It is not as if the war of independence did not have a price tag, many good men and women lost their lives in the war. And at the end we did end one exploitive and oppressive regime only to replace it with a corrupt and an even more oppressive one. In our hast for independence we took one step forward and two steps backward; we too should have considering what kind of leaders an armed struggle will produce!
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Minister Makone says ZRP can not stop the political violence because their hands are "tied"!
MDC Home Affairs Minister tell S W Radio Africa that the ZR Police can not stop the growing political violence because their hands are "tied".
I do not think Minister Makone's suggestion that the arrival of the three SADC members to JOMIC will help stop the growing political violence. This is a typical MDC solution to any Zimbabwean problem; passing the buck to SADC. And as usual this will not solve the problem.
What does she expect the SADC member to do? If she, as Zimbabwe's Minister of Home Affairs can not get the ZRP to do their duty of maintaining law and order it is nonsense to say a foreigner will do it.
Whether or not Zimbabwe can hold free elections next year will now hinge on whether or not something can be done to stop the political violence. I believe something can be done to stop the Zanu PF thugs' reign of terror.
By stopping the Police carrying out their constitutional duty of maintaining law and order Mugabe has over stepped the mark. As President Mugabe has the executive powers and parliament has the legislative powers. Parliament also has the power to monitor the performance of all the other arms of government including the individual Ministers and their areas of responsibility and if necessary change or punish the failing one. Parliament can impeach the State President is he should commit any serious offence. Stopping the Police carrying out their duty of maintaining law and order and safe guarding the security and safety of our people is a very serious crime.
Still it would be premature to impeach the President on the basis of Minister Makone’s claim that it is the President who is stopping the ZRP doing their duties. Parliament should put Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri of the rake to answer why the ZRP has not arresting the party thugs who have been causing all the political violence. The victims of the violence have often supplied the Police the names of those who attached them and yet no one has ever been arrested. Let Chihuri speak for himself.
If Chihuri refuse to appear before parliament or give a satisfactory explanation; then parliament can demand that he is sacked!
If Mugabe should resist having Chihuri sacked just as he has done with AG Tomana and RBZ Governor Gono then parliament should resign on mass.
If parliament can not even get the Police to maintain law and order then parliament is nothing but a tooth dog masquerading as the all powerful guard-dog of the nation. Alternatively, MDC can use its parliamentary majority to impeach Mugabe himself.
It is no secrete that Mugabe has undermined the independence, power and authority of parliament just as he has done with all our other democratic institutions. He has legal or illegally assigned and exercised those powers himself making him the all powerful tyrant he is today. If we are ever going to end his tyrannical rule we have to confront him head-on.
MDC’s habit of turning on to SADC every time Mugabe flexes his tyrannical muscles is the worst kind of cowardice – too cowardly to face Mugabe although they have the power to do they ask other with no power to do anything to fight the tyrant for them!
I do not think Minister Makone's suggestion that the arrival of the three SADC members to JOMIC will help stop the growing political violence. This is a typical MDC solution to any Zimbabwean problem; passing the buck to SADC. And as usual this will not solve the problem.
What does she expect the SADC member to do? If she, as Zimbabwe's Minister of Home Affairs can not get the ZRP to do their duty of maintaining law and order it is nonsense to say a foreigner will do it.
Whether or not Zimbabwe can hold free elections next year will now hinge on whether or not something can be done to stop the political violence. I believe something can be done to stop the Zanu PF thugs' reign of terror.
By stopping the Police carrying out their constitutional duty of maintaining law and order Mugabe has over stepped the mark. As President Mugabe has the executive powers and parliament has the legislative powers. Parliament also has the power to monitor the performance of all the other arms of government including the individual Ministers and their areas of responsibility and if necessary change or punish the failing one. Parliament can impeach the State President is he should commit any serious offence. Stopping the Police carrying out their duty of maintaining law and order and safe guarding the security and safety of our people is a very serious crime.
Still it would be premature to impeach the President on the basis of Minister Makone’s claim that it is the President who is stopping the ZRP doing their duties. Parliament should put Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri of the rake to answer why the ZRP has not arresting the party thugs who have been causing all the political violence. The victims of the violence have often supplied the Police the names of those who attached them and yet no one has ever been arrested. Let Chihuri speak for himself.
If Chihuri refuse to appear before parliament or give a satisfactory explanation; then parliament can demand that he is sacked!
If Mugabe should resist having Chihuri sacked just as he has done with AG Tomana and RBZ Governor Gono then parliament should resign on mass.
If parliament can not even get the Police to maintain law and order then parliament is nothing but a tooth dog masquerading as the all powerful guard-dog of the nation. Alternatively, MDC can use its parliamentary majority to impeach Mugabe himself.
It is no secrete that Mugabe has undermined the independence, power and authority of parliament just as he has done with all our other democratic institutions. He has legal or illegally assigned and exercised those powers himself making him the all powerful tyrant he is today. If we are ever going to end his tyrannical rule we have to confront him head-on.
MDC’s habit of turning on to SADC every time Mugabe flexes his tyrannical muscles is the worst kind of cowardice – too cowardly to face Mugabe although they have the power to do they ask other with no power to do anything to fight the tyrant for them!
President Zuma promises to push for free elections in Zimbabwe - he will find it easier said than done!
South Africa’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe says President Zuma will from now on take a hands-on approach to solving the Zimbabwe crisis to “expedite the full implementation of the GPA and help create conditions for a smooth election in Zimbabwe.”
Mugabe is a tyrant. He and his cronies have enjoyed the good life for three decades. For them to retain their iron grip on power, they have had to commit some heinous crimes. Free elections will mean regime change and then they will be forced to give up their loot and, worse still, their entire criminal past finally coming out. Mugabe and his cronies simply can not allow these things to happen.
If President Zuma thinks a shift from quite diplomacy to a more aggressive hands one approach will be enough to force Mugabe to accept regime change then he is naive. We all know the root cause of Zimbabwe’s political violence is failure by Police to arrest those responsible. The ZRP are under strict orders NOT to arrest the Zanu PF thugs. Indeed often the Police Officers themselves are the ones behind the violence. Short of SADC deploying its own Police Force with a mandate to arrest Zanu PF party thugs as well as ZRP Officers; the violence will not stop. I do not see President Zuma or any other SADC leader agreeing to such a commitment.
After the sham June 2008 elections Mugabe faced the greatest political crisis of his political life as many nations refused to accept his election victory as legitimate. SADC help him out by engineering the power sharing arrangement. The regional leaders have since had nothing be trouble from Mugabe and things are set to get even worse. And it is the ordinary Zimbabweans who will suffer the most; they are at the coal face of all the political and economic troubles the tyrant dish out.
999
@ Chamunorwa
I agreed with you about Zimbabwe's seemingly never ending problems. If you have been following Zimbabwe's tragic story closely then you should know that it was Tsvangirai who foolishly signed the GPA and thus let Mugabe back into State House through the back door. And Mugabe, true to his nature as a ruthless tyrant, has thanked Tsvangirai for it by kicking him in the teeth. I do not feel sorry for Tsvangirai; after all the suffering Mugabe has caused to the nation since signing the GPA and the increasing political violence shows we are in for a rough ride.
Tsvangirai and MDC's blundering incompetence has become part of the problem in Zimbabwe for the last three year as Mugabe and Zanu PF itself. The sooner Zimbabweans realise that the sooner the nation can start the difficult task climbing out of the hell-hole Mugabe landed us in
Mugabe is a tyrant. He and his cronies have enjoyed the good life for three decades. For them to retain their iron grip on power, they have had to commit some heinous crimes. Free elections will mean regime change and then they will be forced to give up their loot and, worse still, their entire criminal past finally coming out. Mugabe and his cronies simply can not allow these things to happen.
If President Zuma thinks a shift from quite diplomacy to a more aggressive hands one approach will be enough to force Mugabe to accept regime change then he is naive. We all know the root cause of Zimbabwe’s political violence is failure by Police to arrest those responsible. The ZRP are under strict orders NOT to arrest the Zanu PF thugs. Indeed often the Police Officers themselves are the ones behind the violence. Short of SADC deploying its own Police Force with a mandate to arrest Zanu PF party thugs as well as ZRP Officers; the violence will not stop. I do not see President Zuma or any other SADC leader agreeing to such a commitment.
After the sham June 2008 elections Mugabe faced the greatest political crisis of his political life as many nations refused to accept his election victory as legitimate. SADC help him out by engineering the power sharing arrangement. The regional leaders have since had nothing be trouble from Mugabe and things are set to get even worse. And it is the ordinary Zimbabweans who will suffer the most; they are at the coal face of all the political and economic troubles the tyrant dish out.
999
@ Chamunorwa
I agreed with you about Zimbabwe's seemingly never ending problems. If you have been following Zimbabwe's tragic story closely then you should know that it was Tsvangirai who foolishly signed the GPA and thus let Mugabe back into State House through the back door. And Mugabe, true to his nature as a ruthless tyrant, has thanked Tsvangirai for it by kicking him in the teeth. I do not feel sorry for Tsvangirai; after all the suffering Mugabe has caused to the nation since signing the GPA and the increasing political violence shows we are in for a rough ride.
Tsvangirai and MDC's blundering incompetence has become part of the problem in Zimbabwe for the last three year as Mugabe and Zanu PF itself. The sooner Zimbabweans realise that the sooner the nation can start the difficult task climbing out of the hell-hole Mugabe landed us in
Thursday, 22 September 2011
MDC controlled Parliament must challenge Mugabe's madness now - the survival of Zimbabwe is at issue here!
Tsvangirai and MDC have made one blunder after another and its decision to confront violent Zanu PF thugs with violence is yet another act of folly by MDC for the nation will pay dearly for in numbers of victims with broken heads and limbs and in body bags.
The art of war is knowing your strengths and weaknesses including those of the enemy and then to outwit him by engaging him at the opportune time and place to maximize your advantages and minimise your disadvantages. Robert Mugabe has toyed with Morgan Tsvangirai; coning Tsvangirai into signing a GPA truce when the dictator was down and out after the sham 2008 elections only for Mugabe to then refuse to implement not even one of the democratic reforms agreed. Tsvangirai’s greatest weakness is that he does not even know his strength nor has the intellectual attitude to use it!
The problem of politically motivated violence is getting worse and the Zanu PF thugs have the audacity of beating up people even in the presence of the Police!
“There is this unwritten law that is understood by ZANU PF that you cannot arrest their members. We have talked about it in parliament, in cabinet and party meetings. But what difference does it make if the hands of the police are tied," the MDC Co-Minister of Home Affairs Ms Theresa Makone said.
The Minister admitted the Police were getting instructions from Mugabe himself not to arrest the thugs. Surely it is up to Parliament to challenge the source of this “unwritten” law and what constitutional powers authorise Mugabe to gives instructions undermining the nation’s ability to carryout its most basic function of maintaining law and order and safe guard the security of the people.
The Parliament of Zimbabwe is the only body in the land empowered to write the laws of the lands. And Parliament, even with all the constitutional amendments and tinkering by Mugabe and Zanu PF over the last three decades, still remains the most powerful institution in the land. Parliament has the power and authority to have anybody or representative of any company or institution arrest, tried and punished. It can have the State President impeached, tried and, if convicted, de-robed and punished him!
MDC have the majority in Parliament and if parliament can not act on such a critical matter then who can?!
MDC has again and again referred Zimbabwe’s political problems to SADC. SADC would step in and help if it was a matter of lack of human or financial resources to ensure there was adequate policing for example. What is lacking here is the political will to stand up to those bend on subverting the rule of law for political gain.
Calls by MDC leaders to the party supporters to “defend themselves” against Zanu PF thugs is ill advised. Mugabe has boasted of having “degrees in violence” and he will have all the state military mighty to back his party thugs. MDC supporters and defenceless Zimbabweans will be like lambs to the slaughter.
Yes, the matter has now come down to Zimbabwe Parliament having to rein in the excesses of a tyrannical State President.
“What are we all?” Oliver Cromwell asked the British Member of Parliament when the British faced a similar challenge of a tyrannical King Charles 1. “Quivering and cowering like serfs! It is not the survival of the King that is at issue here. It is the survival of England. And England is NOT the King!”
The path of lawlessness and thuggery Mugabe has taken the country all these last three decades has costed Zimbabwe dearly in terms of all the economic hardships the people have suffered, plus the hundreds of thousands of broken heads and limbs and the tens of thousands murdered. Mugabe should not be allowed to go through with the next wave of madness he is unleashing on the nation before more innocent Zimbabwean blood is shed.
There is nothing more obnoxious than someone who has the power, authority, the opportunity; everything to stop a heinous crime being committed but fail to do so out of cowardice!
It is the survival of Zimbabwe that is at issue here not that of the tyrant!
The art of war is knowing your strengths and weaknesses including those of the enemy and then to outwit him by engaging him at the opportune time and place to maximize your advantages and minimise your disadvantages. Robert Mugabe has toyed with Morgan Tsvangirai; coning Tsvangirai into signing a GPA truce when the dictator was down and out after the sham 2008 elections only for Mugabe to then refuse to implement not even one of the democratic reforms agreed. Tsvangirai’s greatest weakness is that he does not even know his strength nor has the intellectual attitude to use it!
The problem of politically motivated violence is getting worse and the Zanu PF thugs have the audacity of beating up people even in the presence of the Police!
“There is this unwritten law that is understood by ZANU PF that you cannot arrest their members. We have talked about it in parliament, in cabinet and party meetings. But what difference does it make if the hands of the police are tied," the MDC Co-Minister of Home Affairs Ms Theresa Makone said.
The Minister admitted the Police were getting instructions from Mugabe himself not to arrest the thugs. Surely it is up to Parliament to challenge the source of this “unwritten” law and what constitutional powers authorise Mugabe to gives instructions undermining the nation’s ability to carryout its most basic function of maintaining law and order and safe guard the security of the people.
The Parliament of Zimbabwe is the only body in the land empowered to write the laws of the lands. And Parliament, even with all the constitutional amendments and tinkering by Mugabe and Zanu PF over the last three decades, still remains the most powerful institution in the land. Parliament has the power and authority to have anybody or representative of any company or institution arrest, tried and punished. It can have the State President impeached, tried and, if convicted, de-robed and punished him!
MDC have the majority in Parliament and if parliament can not act on such a critical matter then who can?!
MDC has again and again referred Zimbabwe’s political problems to SADC. SADC would step in and help if it was a matter of lack of human or financial resources to ensure there was adequate policing for example. What is lacking here is the political will to stand up to those bend on subverting the rule of law for political gain.
Calls by MDC leaders to the party supporters to “defend themselves” against Zanu PF thugs is ill advised. Mugabe has boasted of having “degrees in violence” and he will have all the state military mighty to back his party thugs. MDC supporters and defenceless Zimbabweans will be like lambs to the slaughter.
Yes, the matter has now come down to Zimbabwe Parliament having to rein in the excesses of a tyrannical State President.
“What are we all?” Oliver Cromwell asked the British Member of Parliament when the British faced a similar challenge of a tyrannical King Charles 1. “Quivering and cowering like serfs! It is not the survival of the King that is at issue here. It is the survival of England. And England is NOT the King!”
The path of lawlessness and thuggery Mugabe has taken the country all these last three decades has costed Zimbabwe dearly in terms of all the economic hardships the people have suffered, plus the hundreds of thousands of broken heads and limbs and the tens of thousands murdered. Mugabe should not be allowed to go through with the next wave of madness he is unleashing on the nation before more innocent Zimbabwean blood is shed.
There is nothing more obnoxious than someone who has the power, authority, the opportunity; everything to stop a heinous crime being committed but fail to do so out of cowardice!
It is the survival of Zimbabwe that is at issue here not that of the tyrant!
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Tsvangirai is an incompetent and indecisive leader - his lack of education is irrelevant and certainly not a virtue!
@Kuju
You are not blind or do you have your eyes shut. You see the world like everyone else out there the only difference is you have a preconceived position that forces you to edit out what everything that does not fit what you expected. In the end you see everything in black and white when the real world comes in all the colours of the rainbow.
To you someone is either a baddy and so can not say or do anything right or he/she is a goody and everything and I mean everything they do or say is sheer genius. To you they are simply infallible. And anyone who dare remind you that everyone of us, you, me, those you have pigeon as the baddies and those you have labelled the goodies are capable of doing bad things as we are of doing good. We are fallible as we are mortal.
The GPA was the biggest political blunder in Zimbabwe’s modern history in that it allowed a ruthless dictator back into power complete with all his dictatorial powers. It allowed the tyrant time to regroup and put aside a war-chest of money to finance his terror machine and now he is ready.
Tsvangirai claims the last three years has allowed economic stability. “There is food in the shops” he tells us and you Kuju agree with him. There was food in the shops too in 1980 and thousands of jobs too; why then did we support the war of independence, one will have to ask, if all we wanted was food in the shops? We fought to end the exploitation and oppression so that we too can enjoy the same human rights others the world over take for granted. The same rights Mugabe has ruthlessly denied us for three decades.
In 2008 Zimbabweans risked life and limb to give MDC majority in parliament in the hope that MDC would use parliament to restore the rule of law and our human rights and dignity. Only a moron would accept Tsvangirai’s claim of delivering “food in the shops” as feeble excuse for failing not even one democratic reform.
Kuju, you need to concentrate on whether Tsvangirai is a good and competent leader and forget it is Ncube, a baddy, who said it. There is overwhelming evidence that Tsvangirai is a blundering fool and Ncube is only stating the obvious. Your jumping to Tsvangirai’s defence will not change the reality on the ground. It will only show you for what you are; another blundering fool. Two cheers for democracy; that it should grant a blundering fool like you one vote the same as me!
00000
@ Brain
This is not about Tsvangirai, Ncube or Mugabe. There is more at stake here than the individual. This is about Zimbabwe, the survival of the people of Zimbabwe.
After all the blunders Tsvangirai has committed in the last three years he is NOT going to get the country out of the mess Mugabe landed us in - that is a fact. And that is all that matters. The challenge before us is to start the serious search for a more competent leader and not bury our collective head in the sand.
After the circus that has been going on in MDC-N it is clear that Ncube himself, forget his university degrees, will not make a good leader either.
But this is not just a matter of either Tsvangirai or Ncube; there are many others who can lead. Zimbabwe has a population of 11 million, for Christ sake. Yes you can have your Tea Boy, Brain. But by insisting in having a blundering, flawed, indecisive and a hopeless judge of character as the man we want to rule the nation, even with hindsight of the blunders etc, only shows that as a people we are really incapable of self rule!
000000
Tsvangirai's poor leadership qualities is the elephant in the room. Ambassador Chris Dell called Tsvangirai a "flawed and indecisive character" way back in 2002. Even with all the evidence of Tsvangirai's countless blunders some people still refuse to accept he is way out of his depth. Professor Ncube hit on a raw nerve by stating the obvious. MDC-T had a chance to change its leaders in May and now it must pay for its failure; every punch will be aided at the raw nerve!
(((((((
I agree with Dan Williams, this has to be one of the best articles I have read on Zimbabwe for a long time. I am just concerned this will not be seen as an endorsement of Tsvangirai as a national leader given the political context today.
I can not dispute the fact that many of our well educated leaders have let us down because they lacked "principles, values, etc" as Andrew correctly pointed out. These leaders lacked common sense above all else and one does not need to hold a university degree to have that. But by the same token having no education does not necessarily mean one has common sense either.
Tsvangirai has shown again and again that he does not have common sense, principles, the ability to listen, etc., etc. If he had any common sense then he would have realised that the GPA he signed three years ago was a one side arranged giving Mugabe all the dictatorial powers and therefore unworkable. Many people told him he should not sign it but, of course, he would not listen.
We should be searching for a man or woman with common sense, humility, principles and all the other qualities of a good leader. We should accept that such a leader may or may not university qualification. We should be careful and not fall in the trap of making the lack of education a virtue just because we were betrayed by so many well educated men and women in the past!
)))))))
Prime Minister Tsvangirai shares a platform with Rev Jesse Jackson in Chicago, USA. Prime Minister appeals for America’s help in building a democratic Zimbabwe.
Mr Prime Minister you are right; "The major aim of the transitional government was to stabilize the economy and to put in place mechanisms to ensure a free and fair election in which the people’s aspirations are respected and protected." And you failed to deliver on both fronts.
People are simply sick and tired of your blaming Mugabe for these failures. People warned you the arrangement would not work but for two years you even insisting the GNU was making "progress" when all the evidence said things were getting worse.
"As Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, I commit to playing my part in providing visionary leadership that will take our people to a new Zimbabwe, a new country with new values and new ethos." The usual silverback chest-drumming!
Visionary leadership!? Well that is the one thing you, Mr Prime Minister, do not have; you can not give something that you do not and never had.
))))))))
@Black Dragon
Yes expanding Zimbabwe's education system was a very important and significant achievement by the Mugabe regime and for which Mugabe has himself receives numerous accolades. And rightly so too!
I am surprise you did not talk about the heroic sacrifice by Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF leaders in the struggle to end white rule, exploitation and oppression. That is Mugabe’s favourite topic and one he is known to speak for hours.
You were right to criticise the article for it failure to “balance” the mistakes and the achievements. But you will have to admit that balance in something that has been noticeably lacking for this Mugabe dictatorship for thirty years! Not only has the regime and its propagandists force fed the nation on the exclusive diet of the regime’s achievements. Or should I say exaggerated propaganda stories. The education system has all but collapsed, years ago during the economic melt down and has never recovered.
Hundreds of thousands of our fellow country men and women have been terrorised and raped and tens of thousands murdered by Mugabe in the last thirty years in his drive to establish and maintain the de facto one-party dictatorship we have lived under. Mismanagement, corruption and looting have destroyed the country’s once promising economy. And yet the regime has stifled all meaningful debate on these matters. Why have you, Black Dragon, never demanded a “balance” debate then?
It was not a “balanced” debate you want Black Dragon but to focus all attention on Zanu PF’s achievements and sweep all the mistakes under the carpet.
Given the economic hell-hole Mugabe landed the nation into forcing millions into a life of abject poverty and the blatant human rights violation including the cold blooded murder of tens of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans I would say Mugabe and cronies have a lot to answer for. On balance they had done this nation a lot more harm than good and therefore are more likely to hang than be declared national heroes!
99999
@ Robmug
If Tsvangirai realised that Mugabe had all the power in the GPA and he had none - as it now appears to be the case - then why did he agree to enter into such a pathetic arrangement?
Tsvangirai can not have it both ways; presenting himself as a competent leader an equal partner in the GNU one day and then helpless partner the next and yet still remain a "visionary" leader. When he signed the GPA he said it was not ideal but still it was workable. What did he expect to achieve then and how does that compare to the reality? If he did not achieve what he had hoped to achieve the he must accept that he is a poor judge of character and situations. If he achieved all he hoped to achieve then the list of his achievements makes a sorry reading, one would expect a lot more from claiming to be a "visionary leader".
In other words which ever way one looks at it, Tsvangirai made a blunder in signing the GPA and, sadly, he does not even have the intellect to realise that even when it is spelt out to him! If Tsvangirai was a relative of mine I would be on the phone and tell him to do himself, MDC and the nation one big favour and resign! He tried his best but it is now time to go, there is no shame in that.
You are not blind or do you have your eyes shut. You see the world like everyone else out there the only difference is you have a preconceived position that forces you to edit out what everything that does not fit what you expected. In the end you see everything in black and white when the real world comes in all the colours of the rainbow.
To you someone is either a baddy and so can not say or do anything right or he/she is a goody and everything and I mean everything they do or say is sheer genius. To you they are simply infallible. And anyone who dare remind you that everyone of us, you, me, those you have pigeon as the baddies and those you have labelled the goodies are capable of doing bad things as we are of doing good. We are fallible as we are mortal.
The GPA was the biggest political blunder in Zimbabwe’s modern history in that it allowed a ruthless dictator back into power complete with all his dictatorial powers. It allowed the tyrant time to regroup and put aside a war-chest of money to finance his terror machine and now he is ready.
Tsvangirai claims the last three years has allowed economic stability. “There is food in the shops” he tells us and you Kuju agree with him. There was food in the shops too in 1980 and thousands of jobs too; why then did we support the war of independence, one will have to ask, if all we wanted was food in the shops? We fought to end the exploitation and oppression so that we too can enjoy the same human rights others the world over take for granted. The same rights Mugabe has ruthlessly denied us for three decades.
In 2008 Zimbabweans risked life and limb to give MDC majority in parliament in the hope that MDC would use parliament to restore the rule of law and our human rights and dignity. Only a moron would accept Tsvangirai’s claim of delivering “food in the shops” as feeble excuse for failing not even one democratic reform.
Kuju, you need to concentrate on whether Tsvangirai is a good and competent leader and forget it is Ncube, a baddy, who said it. There is overwhelming evidence that Tsvangirai is a blundering fool and Ncube is only stating the obvious. Your jumping to Tsvangirai’s defence will not change the reality on the ground. It will only show you for what you are; another blundering fool. Two cheers for democracy; that it should grant a blundering fool like you one vote the same as me!
00000
@ Brain
This is not about Tsvangirai, Ncube or Mugabe. There is more at stake here than the individual. This is about Zimbabwe, the survival of the people of Zimbabwe.
After all the blunders Tsvangirai has committed in the last three years he is NOT going to get the country out of the mess Mugabe landed us in - that is a fact. And that is all that matters. The challenge before us is to start the serious search for a more competent leader and not bury our collective head in the sand.
After the circus that has been going on in MDC-N it is clear that Ncube himself, forget his university degrees, will not make a good leader either.
But this is not just a matter of either Tsvangirai or Ncube; there are many others who can lead. Zimbabwe has a population of 11 million, for Christ sake. Yes you can have your Tea Boy, Brain. But by insisting in having a blundering, flawed, indecisive and a hopeless judge of character as the man we want to rule the nation, even with hindsight of the blunders etc, only shows that as a people we are really incapable of self rule!
000000
Tsvangirai's poor leadership qualities is the elephant in the room. Ambassador Chris Dell called Tsvangirai a "flawed and indecisive character" way back in 2002. Even with all the evidence of Tsvangirai's countless blunders some people still refuse to accept he is way out of his depth. Professor Ncube hit on a raw nerve by stating the obvious. MDC-T had a chance to change its leaders in May and now it must pay for its failure; every punch will be aided at the raw nerve!
(((((((
I agree with Dan Williams, this has to be one of the best articles I have read on Zimbabwe for a long time. I am just concerned this will not be seen as an endorsement of Tsvangirai as a national leader given the political context today.
I can not dispute the fact that many of our well educated leaders have let us down because they lacked "principles, values, etc" as Andrew correctly pointed out. These leaders lacked common sense above all else and one does not need to hold a university degree to have that. But by the same token having no education does not necessarily mean one has common sense either.
Tsvangirai has shown again and again that he does not have common sense, principles, the ability to listen, etc., etc. If he had any common sense then he would have realised that the GPA he signed three years ago was a one side arranged giving Mugabe all the dictatorial powers and therefore unworkable. Many people told him he should not sign it but, of course, he would not listen.
We should be searching for a man or woman with common sense, humility, principles and all the other qualities of a good leader. We should accept that such a leader may or may not university qualification. We should be careful and not fall in the trap of making the lack of education a virtue just because we were betrayed by so many well educated men and women in the past!
)))))))
Prime Minister Tsvangirai shares a platform with Rev Jesse Jackson in Chicago, USA. Prime Minister appeals for America’s help in building a democratic Zimbabwe.
Mr Prime Minister you are right; "The major aim of the transitional government was to stabilize the economy and to put in place mechanisms to ensure a free and fair election in which the people’s aspirations are respected and protected." And you failed to deliver on both fronts.
People are simply sick and tired of your blaming Mugabe for these failures. People warned you the arrangement would not work but for two years you even insisting the GNU was making "progress" when all the evidence said things were getting worse.
"As Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, I commit to playing my part in providing visionary leadership that will take our people to a new Zimbabwe, a new country with new values and new ethos." The usual silverback chest-drumming!
Visionary leadership!? Well that is the one thing you, Mr Prime Minister, do not have; you can not give something that you do not and never had.
))))))))
@Black Dragon
Yes expanding Zimbabwe's education system was a very important and significant achievement by the Mugabe regime and for which Mugabe has himself receives numerous accolades. And rightly so too!
I am surprise you did not talk about the heroic sacrifice by Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF leaders in the struggle to end white rule, exploitation and oppression. That is Mugabe’s favourite topic and one he is known to speak for hours.
You were right to criticise the article for it failure to “balance” the mistakes and the achievements. But you will have to admit that balance in something that has been noticeably lacking for this Mugabe dictatorship for thirty years! Not only has the regime and its propagandists force fed the nation on the exclusive diet of the regime’s achievements. Or should I say exaggerated propaganda stories. The education system has all but collapsed, years ago during the economic melt down and has never recovered.
Hundreds of thousands of our fellow country men and women have been terrorised and raped and tens of thousands murdered by Mugabe in the last thirty years in his drive to establish and maintain the de facto one-party dictatorship we have lived under. Mismanagement, corruption and looting have destroyed the country’s once promising economy. And yet the regime has stifled all meaningful debate on these matters. Why have you, Black Dragon, never demanded a “balance” debate then?
It was not a “balanced” debate you want Black Dragon but to focus all attention on Zanu PF’s achievements and sweep all the mistakes under the carpet.
Given the economic hell-hole Mugabe landed the nation into forcing millions into a life of abject poverty and the blatant human rights violation including the cold blooded murder of tens of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans I would say Mugabe and cronies have a lot to answer for. On balance they had done this nation a lot more harm than good and therefore are more likely to hang than be declared national heroes!
99999
@ Robmug
If Tsvangirai realised that Mugabe had all the power in the GPA and he had none - as it now appears to be the case - then why did he agree to enter into such a pathetic arrangement?
Tsvangirai can not have it both ways; presenting himself as a competent leader an equal partner in the GNU one day and then helpless partner the next and yet still remain a "visionary" leader. When he signed the GPA he said it was not ideal but still it was workable. What did he expect to achieve then and how does that compare to the reality? If he did not achieve what he had hoped to achieve the he must accept that he is a poor judge of character and situations. If he achieved all he hoped to achieve then the list of his achievements makes a sorry reading, one would expect a lot more from claiming to be a "visionary leader".
In other words which ever way one looks at it, Tsvangirai made a blunder in signing the GPA and, sadly, he does not even have the intellect to realise that even when it is spelt out to him! If Tsvangirai was a relative of mine I would be on the phone and tell him to do himself, MDC and the nation one big favour and resign! He tried his best but it is now time to go, there is no shame in that.
Monday, 19 September 2011
Ncube says Tsvangirai's lack of education makes him unsuitable to rule - he has a point!
Professor Welshman Ncube, leader of the smaller MDC faction, says Tsvangirai, leader of the bigger MDC faction, should not be allowed to rule Zimbabwe because he is not educated! Partisan loyalties aside; Tsvangirai would make a hopeless national leader!
Mugabe has seven University degrees but look where he got us!
Tsvangirai has made some serious blunders in his political career. He had educated people like Professor Ncube, when he was a senior member of MDC before the 2005 split, the Lawyer Tendai Biti, etc at his side but that did not stop him making the mistakes. No Zimbabwean worth the salt can honestly say, much more now with hindsight, Tsvangirai is a competent leader.
In 2008 we voted for Tsvangirai and MDC because we were desperate for change. Professor Jonathan Moyo has said, in one of his rare moments of honesty, that Mugabe would lose an election to a donkey; underlining the people's desperation.
Of course Tsvangirai has chosen to ignore the people's desperation, down play his blunders and blow his few achievements as sheer genius. He was drumming his chest like a silverback only last week. However, no amount of spin can change the fact that Tsvangirai is a "flawed and indecisive character" as US Ambassador Chris Dell once said of him. Professor Ncube is attributing Tsvangirai's incompetency to his lack of education. Educated or not Tsvangirai could still have made a good leaders if only he was able to comprehend his own limitations and to accept advise.
Of course, voting Tsvangirai into State House (assuming that he will not make yet another blunder and smuggle Mugabe or someone else in his place as happened in 2008) will meet our immediate need for change. Still we must also consider what happens next. We will want the Mugabe and his cronies to give up the farms, mines and all the other national resources they looted over the years. Get the farms back into full production, for example, is a “must” for economic recovery.
On the political front, those responsible for all the violence and murders must account for their crimes if there is ever to be closure in the upheaval Mugabe brought on the nation.
Tsvangirai has neither the intellect nor the political will to make those tough and necessary decisions! We can get rid of Mugabe and also get a competent leader to get us out of the mess Mugabe landed us if we do not let our desperation to achieve the first task blind us.
Mugabe has seven University degrees but look where he got us!
Tsvangirai has made some serious blunders in his political career. He had educated people like Professor Ncube, when he was a senior member of MDC before the 2005 split, the Lawyer Tendai Biti, etc at his side but that did not stop him making the mistakes. No Zimbabwean worth the salt can honestly say, much more now with hindsight, Tsvangirai is a competent leader.
In 2008 we voted for Tsvangirai and MDC because we were desperate for change. Professor Jonathan Moyo has said, in one of his rare moments of honesty, that Mugabe would lose an election to a donkey; underlining the people's desperation.
Of course Tsvangirai has chosen to ignore the people's desperation, down play his blunders and blow his few achievements as sheer genius. He was drumming his chest like a silverback only last week. However, no amount of spin can change the fact that Tsvangirai is a "flawed and indecisive character" as US Ambassador Chris Dell once said of him. Professor Ncube is attributing Tsvangirai's incompetency to his lack of education. Educated or not Tsvangirai could still have made a good leaders if only he was able to comprehend his own limitations and to accept advise.
Of course, voting Tsvangirai into State House (assuming that he will not make yet another blunder and smuggle Mugabe or someone else in his place as happened in 2008) will meet our immediate need for change. Still we must also consider what happens next. We will want the Mugabe and his cronies to give up the farms, mines and all the other national resources they looted over the years. Get the farms back into full production, for example, is a “must” for economic recovery.
On the political front, those responsible for all the violence and murders must account for their crimes if there is ever to be closure in the upheaval Mugabe brought on the nation.
Tsvangirai has neither the intellect nor the political will to make those tough and necessary decisions! We can get rid of Mugabe and also get a competent leader to get us out of the mess Mugabe landed us if we do not let our desperation to achieve the first task blind us.
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Mugabe's "High Priest" Mukonori wanted a "secure way- out for the tyrant!
A Senior Roman Catholic Church Priest in Zimbabwe, Father Fidelis Mukonori SJ, was arguing the Americans and the British to arrange “secure way-out” of power for Mugabe according to a WikiLeaks. There is one man-of-the-cloth amongst many who has served the Zimbabwe tyrant well and served the oppressed masses badly.
Father Mukonori was right to say "ZANU-PF leadership around President Mugabe lacked the political clout, intelligence, experience or vision to lift Zimbabwe out of the hole they had dug". If Father Mukonori was not a member of the inner circle of Mugabe's dictatorship then he was he was certainly a very active member of the next tier of the leadership. He too lacked the political clout, intelligence, etc.
The Roman Catholic Church is rightly ashamed of the role played by some of its leaders throughout the dark years of Mugabe dictatorship. Church leaders like Father Mukonori allowed themselves to get too close to the tyrant and thus ended being used as "good will" ambassadors of the repressive regime. Their ego clouded their judgement; they should have known that he who dines with the devil needs a long spoon!
Father Mukonori was right to say "ZANU-PF leadership around President Mugabe lacked the political clout, intelligence, experience or vision to lift Zimbabwe out of the hole they had dug". If Father Mukonori was not a member of the inner circle of Mugabe's dictatorship then he was he was certainly a very active member of the next tier of the leadership. He too lacked the political clout, intelligence, etc.
The Roman Catholic Church is rightly ashamed of the role played by some of its leaders throughout the dark years of Mugabe dictatorship. Church leaders like Father Mukonori allowed themselves to get too close to the tyrant and thus ended being used as "good will" ambassadors of the repressive regime. Their ego clouded their judgement; they should have known that he who dines with the devil needs a long spoon!
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Mugabe is damned if punish the WikiLeaks plotters and damned if he does not!
Mugabe to hold the first Zanu PF party meeting since the publication of latest WikiLeaks in which many of his senior party members plotted his down fall. Some people expect a bloodbath!
“This is democracy. I believe in democracy and let’s discuss this issue. I addressed this issue in Mutare last week at our party meeting and our supporters agreed with it,’’ said Didymas Mutasa a senior Zanu PF member.
Mutasa talking of "democracy" in and a democratic discussion on the "sell-out"! Well there is a joke!
Since when has Zanu PF had any discussion on anything let alone a democratic one?
Mugabe may be seething with anger on the number of senior party members plotting his down fall. Still he should remember “He without sin should cast the first stone!” The WikiLeaks say that Mnangagwa had a every senior member of the party followed by a shadow in dark glass! Mugabe was well aware of this; surely that constitute a worse crime than making a statement of fact that X is old!
The only reason why Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo would want all those named in the WikiLeaks punished is so that they can be promoted. Mugabe knows he can not trust Mutasa or Gumbo no more than he trusted the WikiLeaks plotters.
Mugabe will find the plunging the likes of Mnangagwa and Jonathan Moyo easier said than done. These two have helped him stay in power all these years and the months ahead will be the toughest yet. What ideas will Mutasa or Gumbo offer him? Beside Mnangagwa and Moyo know too much already; if they should decide to spill the beans, Mugabe will be finished!
“Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer,” goes the adage. Mugabe is seething with anger not so much plotters but at the fact that their public exposure is making it near impossible for him to keep them closer than his friends without appearing to be weak!
999999
Mugabe government threatening to sue the EU over targeted sanctions against him and 160 of his cronies. The sanctions were imposed for failing to hold free and credible elections. Mugabe is threatening to sue on the grounds that the EU failed to list and notify him of its reasons and not on the substantive issue of Zimbabwe’s institutionalised culture of political violence and murder.
Mugabe is known to be a stickler on matters of the law, he will make a big song and dance about every section, subsection, comma, dotting every i and crossing every t. When it suits him he will ignore or blatantly violate the very pillars on which a free and just society stand and then quote some minor point in an obscure regulation in defence. Here is a tyrant who has ruthlessly denied a whole nation a meaningful say in the governance of the country for three decades. When some one imposed so punitive measures to underline their disapproval of what he has been doing, he sues them on the grounds that they should have listed their objections and send them to him by registered mail marked FAO of His Excellence The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. What a sick joke!
I am looking forward to the day the people of Zimbabwe will finally have their say after all these years of torment and abuse. They will not be imposing any targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his thugs: they will have the hangman’s rope!
“This is democracy. I believe in democracy and let’s discuss this issue. I addressed this issue in Mutare last week at our party meeting and our supporters agreed with it,’’ said Didymas Mutasa a senior Zanu PF member.
Mutasa talking of "democracy" in and a democratic discussion on the "sell-out"! Well there is a joke!
Since when has Zanu PF had any discussion on anything let alone a democratic one?
Mugabe may be seething with anger on the number of senior party members plotting his down fall. Still he should remember “He without sin should cast the first stone!” The WikiLeaks say that Mnangagwa had a every senior member of the party followed by a shadow in dark glass! Mugabe was well aware of this; surely that constitute a worse crime than making a statement of fact that X is old!
The only reason why Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo would want all those named in the WikiLeaks punished is so that they can be promoted. Mugabe knows he can not trust Mutasa or Gumbo no more than he trusted the WikiLeaks plotters.
Mugabe will find the plunging the likes of Mnangagwa and Jonathan Moyo easier said than done. These two have helped him stay in power all these years and the months ahead will be the toughest yet. What ideas will Mutasa or Gumbo offer him? Beside Mnangagwa and Moyo know too much already; if they should decide to spill the beans, Mugabe will be finished!
“Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer,” goes the adage. Mugabe is seething with anger not so much plotters but at the fact that their public exposure is making it near impossible for him to keep them closer than his friends without appearing to be weak!
999999
Mugabe government threatening to sue the EU over targeted sanctions against him and 160 of his cronies. The sanctions were imposed for failing to hold free and credible elections. Mugabe is threatening to sue on the grounds that the EU failed to list and notify him of its reasons and not on the substantive issue of Zimbabwe’s institutionalised culture of political violence and murder.
Mugabe is known to be a stickler on matters of the law, he will make a big song and dance about every section, subsection, comma, dotting every i and crossing every t. When it suits him he will ignore or blatantly violate the very pillars on which a free and just society stand and then quote some minor point in an obscure regulation in defence. Here is a tyrant who has ruthlessly denied a whole nation a meaningful say in the governance of the country for three decades. When some one imposed so punitive measures to underline their disapproval of what he has been doing, he sues them on the grounds that they should have listed their objections and send them to him by registered mail marked FAO of His Excellence The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. What a sick joke!
I am looking forward to the day the people of Zimbabwe will finally have their say after all these years of torment and abuse. They will not be imposing any targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his thugs: they will have the hangman’s rope!
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Tsvangirai is celebrating his blunders as successes - he refuses to face reality!
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’ s keynote address at his MDC party’s 12th Anniversary Celebration was stereo typical self indulgence chest drumming in which the glaring failures and blunders are glossed over or ignored completely and the few flickering flames of achievements becoming the blazing torches giving light and warm to all! Reading through the Prime Minister’s speech remaindered of this pompous Master of Ceremony in my High School
My High School had a Ball every year. It was traditional to have a ticket draw in which only the girls from the visiting schools took part. The Master of Ceremony one year was this pompous individual who considered himself God’s gift to all the girls and as for us boys it was more like “look and learn!” Instead of calling the lucky number and give the winner the price Mr “Pompous” who loved to hear his own voice played the music “Is she lovely” by Steve Wonder and then gave a speech expounding on the beauty of the winner. No doubt all copied from the Miss World Beauty Contest; there was nothing original about Mr “Pompous”, he was a phony through and through.
As lucky will have it, the winner that year was fat short girl with molehill for pimples all over her face. Everything about her suggested she did not care how she looked. If there had been a beauty contest that day, she would probably have come last! Mr “Pompous” had picked his music and had his speech to deliver; he soldiered on regardless of the fact that the music and speech said the exact opposite of the female specimen before him. That was priceless! Prime Minister Tsvangirai was giving a repeat performance of Mr “Pompous”!
“So today you must congratulate yourselves! For 12 years, you survived violence and intimidation!” said the PM. “For 12 years, you braved the brutality of an entrenched dictatorship and kept your faith in democracy and non-violence!”
Mr Prime Minister, we did not set out to “survive the violence and intimidation” but to end it! In 2008 the people of Zimbabwe risked everything in voting for you and your party giving you the parliamentary majority. Mugabe and Zanu PF punished the whole nation during the presidential run-off that followed. Mugabe deployed not just his party thugs but the Police, Army and CIO to terrorize, rape and murder to ensure the people voted for Mugabe in the run-off. Over 500 innocent Zimbabweans were murdered, Mr PM: they did NOT survive.
Mugabe’s rule was over after the sham June 2008 election because no other nation would recognize him as the legitimate head of state after all the blatant disregard all the law governing the conduct of elections. It was only after you signed the GPA that Mugabe was allowed back into the commune of nation. As if that was not bad enough, you allowed Mugabe to have all his dictatorial powers. There was a chorus of voices advising you not to sign the clearly one-sided agreement but you chose to ignore them. In other words it was you Mr PM who has “entrenched” this Mugabe dictatorship.
What have you done with your MDC parliamentary majority that the nation risked so much to give you? Nothing! Mugabe has over the years reduced parliament into a gathering of lackeys with a lot of power and authority in theory but scared stiff to exercise it. Well this parliament might just as well have had a Zanu PF majority!
“We accepted this painful compromise (of the GPA) because we were guided by the righteous and noble objective of stabilizing the economy and rescuing the people from the precipice of poverty, uncertainty, starvation and indignity wrought by three decades of corruption and misgovernance,” said the PM.
You stabilized the economy? The only thing that happened was the scraping of the valueless Z$ and putting a stop to Gono’s money printing machine that had fueled the country’s hyper inflation. That was simple and common sense thing to do; indeed Mugabe had already done this by the time the GNU was formed in February 2009. That alone is hardly worthy of all the dramatic extravagancy of “rescuing the people from the precipice of poverty, … plunge into the abyss,” etc.
The real economic challenge was in putting an end to the lawless looting that had undermined investor and donor confidence and how to make decimated agricultural sector productive again. MDC ignored all these critical challenges and so the much hoped for economy recovery has not happened. Unemployment has hardly changed, 80% plus down from 90%. MDC has completely failed to stop Mugabe pushing his policy forcing foreign owned mines, banks and other business selling 51% stake to blacks. This is nothing but a new looting scheme by Mugabe and his cronies. The Zimbabwe economy will suffer yet another crippling blow if this madness is carried out and MDC has done precious little to stop Mugabe.
Since the signing of the GPA MDC has failed to bring about not even one democratic reform in Zimbabwe. Mugabe has not just stubbornly resisted all reforms; he has done further than that. In December 2009 Mugabe managed to get the Police, the Army and CIO to formerly plague their loyalty to Zanu PF which means these State Organs can now “duty bound” to support Zanu PF’s fight to stay in power. Mugabe has also amasses wealth from the sell of diamonds to pay his party thugs. Mugabe is ready for fresh elections alright.
“We must be ashamed as political parties that even the things we have agreed on have become outstanding issues because of non-implementation,” Tsvangirai admitted. “Partisan policing, a biased justice system and violence remain rooted in our culture to the extent that rogue elements can beat up elected MPs in the Parliament chambers and escape unpunished.”
As things stand, one thing is almost certain in the next elections; there will be plenty of violence. Mugabe has no choice but to use violence; as Professor Jonathan Moyo once said Mugabe would lose the election to a donkey if he did not use violence; that is how unpopular he is. Mugabe risks being declared illegitimate again if he used too much violence. My guess is he will use very subtle and targeted violence in combination with other vote rigging ways - enough for him and his party to win with a few seats for opposition.
“In 2008, the people spoke in an election that they wanted a new culture and a new beginning. But their vote did not count.” True enough Mr Prime Minister. “Those who lost the election were smuggled into an inclusive government that is now dysfunctional due to their intransigence and lack of a common vision.” PM you were foolish enough to smuggle the tyrant back into State House but lack the intellect to acknowledge it ever now with hindsight.
If MDC had the quality leadership then it would have never made the mind boggling blunders it has made all these 12 years. Morgan Tsvangirai is himself a “flawed and indecisive character” as former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Chris Dell, rightly pointed out. So flawed he failed to appreciate sound advise and now, with the nation facing the full enormity of his blunders, he is celebrating it all as success! But worst of all, the nation; if it does not do something about it now, is stack with him and his MDC!
“And I tell you, we could not have achieved this without the unity of the leaders you see here. I guarantee you that this unity will continue into the future,” continued Tsvangirai.
The nation will remember Tsvangirai for generations the same way I will remember Mr. Pompous the difference is I laugh and the nation will cry!
My High School had a Ball every year. It was traditional to have a ticket draw in which only the girls from the visiting schools took part. The Master of Ceremony one year was this pompous individual who considered himself God’s gift to all the girls and as for us boys it was more like “look and learn!” Instead of calling the lucky number and give the winner the price Mr “Pompous” who loved to hear his own voice played the music “Is she lovely” by Steve Wonder and then gave a speech expounding on the beauty of the winner. No doubt all copied from the Miss World Beauty Contest; there was nothing original about Mr “Pompous”, he was a phony through and through.
As lucky will have it, the winner that year was fat short girl with molehill for pimples all over her face. Everything about her suggested she did not care how she looked. If there had been a beauty contest that day, she would probably have come last! Mr “Pompous” had picked his music and had his speech to deliver; he soldiered on regardless of the fact that the music and speech said the exact opposite of the female specimen before him. That was priceless! Prime Minister Tsvangirai was giving a repeat performance of Mr “Pompous”!
“So today you must congratulate yourselves! For 12 years, you survived violence and intimidation!” said the PM. “For 12 years, you braved the brutality of an entrenched dictatorship and kept your faith in democracy and non-violence!”
Mr Prime Minister, we did not set out to “survive the violence and intimidation” but to end it! In 2008 the people of Zimbabwe risked everything in voting for you and your party giving you the parliamentary majority. Mugabe and Zanu PF punished the whole nation during the presidential run-off that followed. Mugabe deployed not just his party thugs but the Police, Army and CIO to terrorize, rape and murder to ensure the people voted for Mugabe in the run-off. Over 500 innocent Zimbabweans were murdered, Mr PM: they did NOT survive.
Mugabe’s rule was over after the sham June 2008 election because no other nation would recognize him as the legitimate head of state after all the blatant disregard all the law governing the conduct of elections. It was only after you signed the GPA that Mugabe was allowed back into the commune of nation. As if that was not bad enough, you allowed Mugabe to have all his dictatorial powers. There was a chorus of voices advising you not to sign the clearly one-sided agreement but you chose to ignore them. In other words it was you Mr PM who has “entrenched” this Mugabe dictatorship.
What have you done with your MDC parliamentary majority that the nation risked so much to give you? Nothing! Mugabe has over the years reduced parliament into a gathering of lackeys with a lot of power and authority in theory but scared stiff to exercise it. Well this parliament might just as well have had a Zanu PF majority!
“We accepted this painful compromise (of the GPA) because we were guided by the righteous and noble objective of stabilizing the economy and rescuing the people from the precipice of poverty, uncertainty, starvation and indignity wrought by three decades of corruption and misgovernance,” said the PM.
You stabilized the economy? The only thing that happened was the scraping of the valueless Z$ and putting a stop to Gono’s money printing machine that had fueled the country’s hyper inflation. That was simple and common sense thing to do; indeed Mugabe had already done this by the time the GNU was formed in February 2009. That alone is hardly worthy of all the dramatic extravagancy of “rescuing the people from the precipice of poverty, … plunge into the abyss,” etc.
The real economic challenge was in putting an end to the lawless looting that had undermined investor and donor confidence and how to make decimated agricultural sector productive again. MDC ignored all these critical challenges and so the much hoped for economy recovery has not happened. Unemployment has hardly changed, 80% plus down from 90%. MDC has completely failed to stop Mugabe pushing his policy forcing foreign owned mines, banks and other business selling 51% stake to blacks. This is nothing but a new looting scheme by Mugabe and his cronies. The Zimbabwe economy will suffer yet another crippling blow if this madness is carried out and MDC has done precious little to stop Mugabe.
Since the signing of the GPA MDC has failed to bring about not even one democratic reform in Zimbabwe. Mugabe has not just stubbornly resisted all reforms; he has done further than that. In December 2009 Mugabe managed to get the Police, the Army and CIO to formerly plague their loyalty to Zanu PF which means these State Organs can now “duty bound” to support Zanu PF’s fight to stay in power. Mugabe has also amasses wealth from the sell of diamonds to pay his party thugs. Mugabe is ready for fresh elections alright.
“We must be ashamed as political parties that even the things we have agreed on have become outstanding issues because of non-implementation,” Tsvangirai admitted. “Partisan policing, a biased justice system and violence remain rooted in our culture to the extent that rogue elements can beat up elected MPs in the Parliament chambers and escape unpunished.”
As things stand, one thing is almost certain in the next elections; there will be plenty of violence. Mugabe has no choice but to use violence; as Professor Jonathan Moyo once said Mugabe would lose the election to a donkey if he did not use violence; that is how unpopular he is. Mugabe risks being declared illegitimate again if he used too much violence. My guess is he will use very subtle and targeted violence in combination with other vote rigging ways - enough for him and his party to win with a few seats for opposition.
“In 2008, the people spoke in an election that they wanted a new culture and a new beginning. But their vote did not count.” True enough Mr Prime Minister. “Those who lost the election were smuggled into an inclusive government that is now dysfunctional due to their intransigence and lack of a common vision.” PM you were foolish enough to smuggle the tyrant back into State House but lack the intellect to acknowledge it ever now with hindsight.
If MDC had the quality leadership then it would have never made the mind boggling blunders it has made all these 12 years. Morgan Tsvangirai is himself a “flawed and indecisive character” as former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Chris Dell, rightly pointed out. So flawed he failed to appreciate sound advise and now, with the nation facing the full enormity of his blunders, he is celebrating it all as success! But worst of all, the nation; if it does not do something about it now, is stack with him and his MDC!
“And I tell you, we could not have achieved this without the unity of the leaders you see here. I guarantee you that this unity will continue into the future,” continued Tsvangirai.
The nation will remember Tsvangirai for generations the same way I will remember Mr. Pompous the difference is I laugh and the nation will cry!
Saturday, 10 September 2011
MDC "party of excellence" celebrating 12 years of failures and blunders - beggars belief!
Today, 10 September 2011 the MDC party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is celebrating the 12 th Anniversary of the party at Gwanzura Stadium in Harare. Many people are fearful that there might be the usual Zanu PF inspired political violence. MDC has sort to assure the public that there will be no violence.
The MDC spokesman, Douglas Monzora, said the party are taken steps to protect the public. The party has retained its own security!
All those who had hoped that the formation of the GNU in Zimbabwe would bring an end to political violence and lawlessness were in for a big disappointment. The political violence and lawlessness have continued and now with talks of fresh elections next year, the violence has grown decidedly worse.
All our lives the people of Zimbabwe have lived in fear. Fear of being harassed, beaten, raped or worse still murdered. Mugabe used arms to force the white racist minority government of Ian Smith to accept black majority. But more significantly he used the same military muscle to impose his political will on the nation. When the blacks cast their very first votes in 1980, they were under no illusions that the victorious Zanu PF and PF Zapu would accept defeat.
“The vote must follow the bullet!” Mugabe told the nation at the time and has repeated the same message again and again for the last thirty years each time he felt his hold on political power threatened.
The 1980 elections was a vote to stop the war just as the June 2008 vote was to stop the beatings, rapes and murders. Some people would argue that both Mugabe and Nkomo would have accepted the 1980 election results even if they had lost. One has only to look at the brutality the two leaders have inspired since to retain power to know that can not be true.
Mugabe’s control of the Army, Police, CIO and all the other State Security Agencies has been total. Whilst these organs have done well in keeping law and order when Zanu PF’s hold on power was threatened they have all shown that their loyalty is to Mugabe and the party and not the nation.
Mugabe has used the members of the Zanu PF’s Youth and Women League and War Veterans has its foot soldiers to harass and intimidate the people and keep them faithful to the party. The Police have never, as a rule, arrested any these thugs. On the odd occasion that these thugs are arrested, those who shot and nearly killed the opposition parliamentary candidate Patrick Kombayi in 1990 for example, Mugabe himself stepped in and pardoned them. This has underlined the political reality that Zanu PF thugs are above the law.
Whilst the Zanu PF foot soldiers were deployed to provide the never ending political harassment, beatings, rapes and murders Mugabe has deployed the Police, Army, etc. at the drop of a hat whenever he felt the need to escalate the political violence. This is the reality on the ground in Zimbabwe today.
“The situation in Highfields (the suburb were Gwanzura Stadium is) is now back to normal and there is calm,” Monzora assured the public.
Calm? Does MDC really think whatever security the party has engage can stop the violence? Even if the party’s security can stop violence occurring in the Stadium itself it can not stop the violence outside. The party faithful have to get into the Stadium and Zanu PF thugs will ambush them and stop them getting in. The Police will standby and do nothing, as usual.
If there is no violence at Gwanzura Stadium, it will be because Mugabe and JOC directed that there would be no violence and not because of whatever security measures MDC claim to have taken.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai will reportedly give the key-note address to the gathering praising MDC’s achievements in bring about democratic changes in Zimbabwe. Threat of politically motivated violence still hangs over the nation, more ominous now than ever, and yet Tsvangirai claim there has been democratic change!
The only change that has taken place since MDC signed the power sharing arrangement that allowed Mugabe back into State House through the back door with all his dictatorial powers is that Tsvangirai and some of his fellow MDC leaders have been appointed into senior government positions. And they have since forgotten the plight of the ordinary Zimbabweans who still live in fear. “They mouths are too full to speak out for the masses,” as Joseph Whande has often said.
The people of Zimbabwe would have forgiven MDC for betraying the nation by signing the GPA if the party had delivered one thing – an end to the culture of political violence. That should have been the party’s last and none negotiable bottom line.
Tsvangirai will never deliver democratic change just as Mugabe failed to deliver freedom and liberty because he has never fully comprehended the complexities of subject. It takes some intellect to comprehend a subject and then to articulate and set goals. MDC has never had any set goals to achieve and so naturally the party does not view the last 12 years as a failure regardless of all the failures and blunders. The very fact that he is Prime Minister is itself cause for celebration for Tsvangirai and MDC; he will never accept that it is a glorified position with neither power nor authority!
MDC is in fact celebrating 12 years of failures and blunders; it beggars belief!
The MDC spokesman, Douglas Monzora, said the party are taken steps to protect the public. The party has retained its own security!
All those who had hoped that the formation of the GNU in Zimbabwe would bring an end to political violence and lawlessness were in for a big disappointment. The political violence and lawlessness have continued and now with talks of fresh elections next year, the violence has grown decidedly worse.
All our lives the people of Zimbabwe have lived in fear. Fear of being harassed, beaten, raped or worse still murdered. Mugabe used arms to force the white racist minority government of Ian Smith to accept black majority. But more significantly he used the same military muscle to impose his political will on the nation. When the blacks cast their very first votes in 1980, they were under no illusions that the victorious Zanu PF and PF Zapu would accept defeat.
“The vote must follow the bullet!” Mugabe told the nation at the time and has repeated the same message again and again for the last thirty years each time he felt his hold on political power threatened.
The 1980 elections was a vote to stop the war just as the June 2008 vote was to stop the beatings, rapes and murders. Some people would argue that both Mugabe and Nkomo would have accepted the 1980 election results even if they had lost. One has only to look at the brutality the two leaders have inspired since to retain power to know that can not be true.
Mugabe’s control of the Army, Police, CIO and all the other State Security Agencies has been total. Whilst these organs have done well in keeping law and order when Zanu PF’s hold on power was threatened they have all shown that their loyalty is to Mugabe and the party and not the nation.
Mugabe has used the members of the Zanu PF’s Youth and Women League and War Veterans has its foot soldiers to harass and intimidate the people and keep them faithful to the party. The Police have never, as a rule, arrested any these thugs. On the odd occasion that these thugs are arrested, those who shot and nearly killed the opposition parliamentary candidate Patrick Kombayi in 1990 for example, Mugabe himself stepped in and pardoned them. This has underlined the political reality that Zanu PF thugs are above the law.
Whilst the Zanu PF foot soldiers were deployed to provide the never ending political harassment, beatings, rapes and murders Mugabe has deployed the Police, Army, etc. at the drop of a hat whenever he felt the need to escalate the political violence. This is the reality on the ground in Zimbabwe today.
“The situation in Highfields (the suburb were Gwanzura Stadium is) is now back to normal and there is calm,” Monzora assured the public.
Calm? Does MDC really think whatever security the party has engage can stop the violence? Even if the party’s security can stop violence occurring in the Stadium itself it can not stop the violence outside. The party faithful have to get into the Stadium and Zanu PF thugs will ambush them and stop them getting in. The Police will standby and do nothing, as usual.
If there is no violence at Gwanzura Stadium, it will be because Mugabe and JOC directed that there would be no violence and not because of whatever security measures MDC claim to have taken.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai will reportedly give the key-note address to the gathering praising MDC’s achievements in bring about democratic changes in Zimbabwe. Threat of politically motivated violence still hangs over the nation, more ominous now than ever, and yet Tsvangirai claim there has been democratic change!
The only change that has taken place since MDC signed the power sharing arrangement that allowed Mugabe back into State House through the back door with all his dictatorial powers is that Tsvangirai and some of his fellow MDC leaders have been appointed into senior government positions. And they have since forgotten the plight of the ordinary Zimbabweans who still live in fear. “They mouths are too full to speak out for the masses,” as Joseph Whande has often said.
The people of Zimbabwe would have forgiven MDC for betraying the nation by signing the GPA if the party had delivered one thing – an end to the culture of political violence. That should have been the party’s last and none negotiable bottom line.
Tsvangirai will never deliver democratic change just as Mugabe failed to deliver freedom and liberty because he has never fully comprehended the complexities of subject. It takes some intellect to comprehend a subject and then to articulate and set goals. MDC has never had any set goals to achieve and so naturally the party does not view the last 12 years as a failure regardless of all the failures and blunders. The very fact that he is Prime Minister is itself cause for celebration for Tsvangirai and MDC; he will never accept that it is a glorified position with neither power nor authority!
MDC is in fact celebrating 12 years of failures and blunders; it beggars belief!
Today, 10 September 2011 the MDC party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is celebrating the 12 th Anniversary of the party at Gwanzura Stadium in Harare. Many people are fearful that there might be the usual Zanu PF inspired political violence. MDC has sort to assure the public that there will be no violence.
The MDC spokesman, Douglas Monzora, said the party are taken steps to protect the public. The party has retained its own security!
All those who had hoped that the formation of the GNU in Zimbabwe would bring an end to political violence and lawlessness were in for a big disappointment. The political violence and lawlessness have continued and now with talks of fresh elections next year, the violence has grown decidedly worse.
All our lives the people of Zimbabwe have lived in fear. Fear of being harassed, beaten, raped or worse still murdered. Mugabe used arms to force the white racist minority government of Ian Smith to accept black majority. But more significantly he used the same military muscle to impose his political will on the nation. When the blacks cast their very first votes in 1980, they were under no illusions that the victorious Zanu PF and PF Zapu would accept defeat.
“The vote must follow the bullet!” Mugabe told the nation at the time and has repeated the same message again and again for the last thirty years each time he felt his hold on political power threatened.
The 1980 elections was a vote to stop the war just as the June 2008 vote was to stop the beatings, rapes and murders. Some people would argue that both Mugabe and Nkomo would have accepted the 1980 election results even if they had lost. One has only to look at the brutality the two leaders have inspired since to retain power to know that can not be true.
Mugabe’s control of the Army, Police, CIO and all the other State Security Agencies has been total. Whilst these organs have done well in keeping law and order when Zanu PF’s hold on power was threatened they have all shown that their loyalty is to Mugabe and the party and not the nation.
Mugabe has used the members of the Zanu PF’s Youth and Women League and War Veterans has its foot soldiers to harass and intimidate the people and keep them faithful to the party. The Police have never, as a rule, arrested any these thugs. On the odd occasion that these thugs are arrested, those who shot and nearly killed the opposition parliamentary candidate Patrick Kombayi in 1990 for example, Mugabe himself stepped in and pardoned them. This has underlined the political reality that Zanu PF thugs are above the law.
Whilst the Zanu PF foot soldiers were deployed to provide the never ending political harassment, beatings, rapes and murders Mugabe has deployed the Police, Army, etc. at the drop of a hat whenever he felt the need to escalate the political violence. This is the reality on the ground in Zimbabwe today.
“The situation in Highfields (the suburb were Gwanzura Stadium is) is now back to normal and there is calm,” Monzora assured the public.
Calm? Does MDC really think whatever security the party has engage can stop the violence? Even if the party’s security can stop violence occurring in the Stadium itself it can not stop the violence outside. The party faithful have to get into the Stadium and Zanu PF thugs will ambush them and stop them getting in. The Police will standby and do nothing, as usual.
If there is no violence at Gwanzura Stadium, it will be because Mugabe and JOC directed that there would be no violence and not because of whatever security measures MDC claim to have taken.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai will reportedly give the key-note address to the gathering praising MDC’s achievements in bring about democratic changes in Zimbabwe. Threat of politically motivated violence still hangs over the nation, more ominous now than ever, and yet Tsvangirai claim there has been democratic change!
The only change that has taken place since MDC signed the power sharing arrangement that allowed Mugabe back into State House through the back door with all his dictatorial powers is that Tsvangirai and some of his fellow MDC leaders have been appointed into senior government positions. And they have since forgotten the plight of the ordinary Zimbabweans who still live in fear. “They mouths are too full to speak out for the masses,” as Joseph Whande has often said.
The people of Zimbabwe would have forgiven MDC for betraying the nation by signing the GPA if the party had delivered one thing – an end to the culture of political violence. That should have been the party’s last and none negotiable bottom line.
Tsvangirai will never deliver democratic change just as Mugabe failed to deliver freedom and liberty because he has never fully comprehended the complexities of subject. It takes some intellect to comprehend a subject and then to articulate and set goals. MDC has never had any set goals to achieve and so naturally the party does not view the last 12 years as a failure regardless of all the failures and blunders. The very fact that he is Prime Minister is itself cause for celebration for Tsvangirai and MDC; he will never accept that it is a glorified position with neither power nor authority!
MDC is in fact celebrating 12 years of failures and blunders; it beggars belief!
The MDC spokesman, Douglas Monzora, said the party are taken steps to protect the public. The party has retained its own security!
All those who had hoped that the formation of the GNU in Zimbabwe would bring an end to political violence and lawlessness were in for a big disappointment. The political violence and lawlessness have continued and now with talks of fresh elections next year, the violence has grown decidedly worse.
All our lives the people of Zimbabwe have lived in fear. Fear of being harassed, beaten, raped or worse still murdered. Mugabe used arms to force the white racist minority government of Ian Smith to accept black majority. But more significantly he used the same military muscle to impose his political will on the nation. When the blacks cast their very first votes in 1980, they were under no illusions that the victorious Zanu PF and PF Zapu would accept defeat.
“The vote must follow the bullet!” Mugabe told the nation at the time and has repeated the same message again and again for the last thirty years each time he felt his hold on political power threatened.
The 1980 elections was a vote to stop the war just as the June 2008 vote was to stop the beatings, rapes and murders. Some people would argue that both Mugabe and Nkomo would have accepted the 1980 election results even if they had lost. One has only to look at the brutality the two leaders have inspired since to retain power to know that can not be true.
Mugabe’s control of the Army, Police, CIO and all the other State Security Agencies has been total. Whilst these organs have done well in keeping law and order when Zanu PF’s hold on power was threatened they have all shown that their loyalty is to Mugabe and the party and not the nation.
Mugabe has used the members of the Zanu PF’s Youth and Women League and War Veterans has its foot soldiers to harass and intimidate the people and keep them faithful to the party. The Police have never, as a rule, arrested any these thugs. On the odd occasion that these thugs are arrested, those who shot and nearly killed the opposition parliamentary candidate Patrick Kombayi in 1990 for example, Mugabe himself stepped in and pardoned them. This has underlined the political reality that Zanu PF thugs are above the law.
Whilst the Zanu PF foot soldiers were deployed to provide the never ending political harassment, beatings, rapes and murders Mugabe has deployed the Police, Army, etc. at the drop of a hat whenever he felt the need to escalate the political violence. This is the reality on the ground in Zimbabwe today.
“The situation in Highfields (the suburb were Gwanzura Stadium is) is now back to normal and there is calm,” Monzora assured the public.
Calm? Does MDC really think whatever security the party has engage can stop the violence? Even if the party’s security can stop violence occurring in the Stadium itself it can not stop the violence outside. The party faithful have to get into the Stadium and Zanu PF thugs will ambush them and stop them getting in. The Police will standby and do nothing, as usual.
If there is no violence at Gwanzura Stadium, it will be because Mugabe and JOC directed that there would be no violence and not because of whatever security measures MDC claim to have taken.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai will reportedly give the key-note address to the gathering praising MDC’s achievements in bring about democratic changes in Zimbabwe. Threat of politically motivated violence still hangs over the nation, more ominous now than ever, and yet Tsvangirai claim there has been democratic change!
The only change that has taken place since MDC signed the power sharing arrangement that allowed Mugabe back into State House through the back door with all his dictatorial powers is that Tsvangirai and some of his fellow MDC leaders have been appointed into senior government positions. And they have since forgotten the plight of the ordinary Zimbabweans who still live in fear. “They mouths are too full to speak out for the masses,” as Joseph Whande has often said.
The people of Zimbabwe would have forgiven MDC for betraying the nation by signing the GPA if the party had delivered one thing – an end to the culture of political violence. That should have been the party’s last and none negotiable bottom line.
Tsvangirai will never deliver democratic change just as Mugabe failed to deliver freedom and liberty because he has never fully comprehended the complexities of subject. It takes some intellect to comprehend a subject and then to articulate and set goals. MDC has never had any set goals to achieve and so naturally the party does not view the last 12 years as a failure regardless of all the failures and blunders. The very fact that he is Prime Minister is itself cause for celebration for Tsvangirai and MDC; he will never accept that it is a glorified position with neither power nor authority!
MDC is in fact celebrating 12 years of failures and blunders; it beggars belief!
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Mankind is above all else a thinking animal!
Mankind is above all else a thinking animal!
A human life lived to the full is one where
Half the time was spent in mental contemplation
Half of the remaining time was spent in listening
Half of the remaining time was spent in talking
Half of the remaining time was spent in doing
The rest spent in resting mind and body.
Those whose speak without thinking are but a hauling wind
They neither inform nor entertain, they annoy.
Those whose act before thinking through first
Know not where they are going and never get anywhere
At worst, they will shatter their own leg swatting a fly.
If you can tamper the exuberant energy and passion of youth
With the patience and wisdom of age
Out of iron and carbon you have forged the blade of steel.
The only excellent plan is one tested in battle and worked!
What is said or done matters only carefully thought through.
A human life lived to the full is one where
Half the time was spent in mental contemplation
Half of the remaining time was spent in listening
Half of the remaining time was spent in talking
Half of the remaining time was spent in doing
The rest spent in resting mind and body.
Those whose speak without thinking are but a hauling wind
They neither inform nor entertain, they annoy.
Those whose act before thinking through first
Know not where they are going and never get anywhere
At worst, they will shatter their own leg swatting a fly.
If you can tamper the exuberant energy and passion of youth
With the patience and wisdom of age
Out of iron and carbon you have forged the blade of steel.
The only excellent plan is one tested in battle and worked!
What is said or done matters only carefully thought through.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
ANC's failure to deliver eonomic prosperity will force them to adopt Malema's quick fixs!
The ANC government’s failure to deliver economic prosperity to the masses of SA is putting it under increased pressure to consider the cheap option of looting!
"If we may be allowed to pose the question: is there anything intrinsic in the private sector that makes it more efficient and competent? or, posed differently, is there anything in the public sector that makes it intrinsically antithetical to all of this." Said Public Enterprises Minister, Malusi Gigaba.
Yes Minister there is something intrinsically inherent in State –Owned-Enterprises that make them inefficient, incompetent and corrupt. Whilst those in the Private Sector know that if they are not competitive in any way; everyone in the company from the top to the bottom will go under. The same can not be said about those in SOE, the taxpayer will bailed the company regardless how they performed. Indeed instead of concentrating of the performance of the company SOE employees are often more concerned about pleasing those who helped them land their job. Is it any wonder then corrupt, incompetent and inefficient is endemic in SOE.
The purpose of government is to create the economic environment in which private sector can grow and thrive and all the citizens a fair crack of the whip. It is those who having failed to compete fairly in the private sector who seeks to replace the private sector with the SOE, BBE schemes, etc. in which they can use political connections and/or corrupt practices to gain the competitive advantage.
It is not a matter of political ideology that SOE have failed to delivery masses prosperity; it is a historic fact. All State who imposed SOE, do so in the name of the masses. When the masses realise that the SOE are making their economic situation worse and not better these State have turned to more and more repressive measures to silence the masses.
Tyrannical regimes are obsessed about political power and to them political power without economic power is simply unthinkable. The first thing that the Mugabe regime, for example, did as soon as it got into power was to buy off as many private sector companies and turn them into outright public sector companies or turn them over to individuals whose loyalty to the party was unquestionable.
There is a direct collation between the demise of Zimbabwe’s private sector, prominence of SOE and Zanu PF controlled companies and the country’s economic decline. With the economic decline came increased political repression to stop the electorate protesting.
Mugabe’s seizure of white owned farms did not make any economic sense and it was the last straw that resulted in the economic melt down. The only reason Mugabe pursued this is because, one, he had nothing else of economic value to bribe his wasteful and ever demanding cronies. Two, he desperately needed a smoke screen behind which to hide his increased brutal political repression. Mugabe has cleverly maintained it his land reform policy his political critics, especially the West, are against and he has to remain in power at all cost to ensure the policy is not reversed. The truth is he turned the party militia, the Police, Army and other state security operatives into thugs to terrorise and murder the electorate and stop them exercise their democratic right to a free vote.
SA’s ANC government is seeking to destroy the country private sector for the same reason Mugabe did but from a different angle.
Minister Gigala, your ANC government has failed to meet the economic aspirations of the people because your party did not have the visionary leaders required to harness SA’s full economic potential and deliver the mass prosperity. As if that was not bad enough, corruption in high places has become rampant undermining the power and authority of the leaders and thus of government to act on matters of public interest.
Opportunists like Malema are “cashing-in” on the ANC’s leadership failure weaknesses by offering the masses a short-cut out of their lives of poverty and want – Mugabe style forced seizures of white owned farms, nationalisation of mines, etc. A pie is the sky, of course, because these measures will result in the same economic decline as befall the Zimbabwean economy. Indeed the continued failure by the SA government to take a firm principle stand against Mugabe’s continued violation of property rights and Malema’s rhetoric have had a negative effect on SA’s economy. Who would want to invest in a country where property rights are not assured?
Minister Gigala and his fellow ANC leaders will very soon embrace the nationalisation of mines and all Malema’s other hare-brain schemes as a matter of politically expedience. No one in ANC would want to admit this, of course, and hence the announcement that the party will conduct an independent study on the viability of nationalisation as if there can be any economic merit to such a myopic scheme. It is ANC’s feeble attempt to present a political fudge as an ideological shift!
))))))))))))
The Economist has rated Harare “the worst city to live in”.
A Mugabe die hard supporter hit back claiming his whole family was moving back to Harare to leave “cr@p” London behind. One has to ask why did they leave Harare in the first place? ". This article was highlighting the plight of the ordinary people, the masses, the 80 to 90% of the population. Unlike you, your uncles, etc. who constituting the 10% or so; you have everything. You have the money to buy and run generators, who send their children to private school and have the choice to leave in "cr@p" London. They, on the other hand, have nothing; they have to put up with the water and power cuts, suffer because the health and education systems have all but collapsed. They would be glad to leave Zimbabwe for “cr@p” London and do any job going if they could!
You deride the findings above because it included the masses; to tyrants like Mugabe and you his cronies the masses count not at all and the regime has treated them accordingly; riding rough shod over their hopes, dreams and human dignity! Still poor and oppressive these long suffering Zimbabweans are human beings, even in death; not even Mugabe can deny them of that!
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"If we may be allowed to pose the question: is there anything intrinsic in the private sector that makes it more efficient and competent? or, posed differently, is there anything in the public sector that makes it intrinsically antithetical to all of this." Said Public Enterprises Minister, Malusi Gigaba.
Yes Minister there is something intrinsically inherent in State –Owned-Enterprises that make them inefficient, incompetent and corrupt. Whilst those in the Private Sector know that if they are not competitive in any way; everyone in the company from the top to the bottom will go under. The same can not be said about those in SOE, the taxpayer will bailed the company regardless how they performed. Indeed instead of concentrating of the performance of the company SOE employees are often more concerned about pleasing those who helped them land their job. Is it any wonder then corrupt, incompetent and inefficient is endemic in SOE.
The purpose of government is to create the economic environment in which private sector can grow and thrive and all the citizens a fair crack of the whip. It is those who having failed to compete fairly in the private sector who seeks to replace the private sector with the SOE, BBE schemes, etc. in which they can use political connections and/or corrupt practices to gain the competitive advantage.
It is not a matter of political ideology that SOE have failed to delivery masses prosperity; it is a historic fact. All State who imposed SOE, do so in the name of the masses. When the masses realise that the SOE are making their economic situation worse and not better these State have turned to more and more repressive measures to silence the masses.
Tyrannical regimes are obsessed about political power and to them political power without economic power is simply unthinkable. The first thing that the Mugabe regime, for example, did as soon as it got into power was to buy off as many private sector companies and turn them into outright public sector companies or turn them over to individuals whose loyalty to the party was unquestionable.
There is a direct collation between the demise of Zimbabwe’s private sector, prominence of SOE and Zanu PF controlled companies and the country’s economic decline. With the economic decline came increased political repression to stop the electorate protesting.
Mugabe’s seizure of white owned farms did not make any economic sense and it was the last straw that resulted in the economic melt down. The only reason Mugabe pursued this is because, one, he had nothing else of economic value to bribe his wasteful and ever demanding cronies. Two, he desperately needed a smoke screen behind which to hide his increased brutal political repression. Mugabe has cleverly maintained it his land reform policy his political critics, especially the West, are against and he has to remain in power at all cost to ensure the policy is not reversed. The truth is he turned the party militia, the Police, Army and other state security operatives into thugs to terrorise and murder the electorate and stop them exercise their democratic right to a free vote.
SA’s ANC government is seeking to destroy the country private sector for the same reason Mugabe did but from a different angle.
Minister Gigala, your ANC government has failed to meet the economic aspirations of the people because your party did not have the visionary leaders required to harness SA’s full economic potential and deliver the mass prosperity. As if that was not bad enough, corruption in high places has become rampant undermining the power and authority of the leaders and thus of government to act on matters of public interest.
Opportunists like Malema are “cashing-in” on the ANC’s leadership failure weaknesses by offering the masses a short-cut out of their lives of poverty and want – Mugabe style forced seizures of white owned farms, nationalisation of mines, etc. A pie is the sky, of course, because these measures will result in the same economic decline as befall the Zimbabwean economy. Indeed the continued failure by the SA government to take a firm principle stand against Mugabe’s continued violation of property rights and Malema’s rhetoric have had a negative effect on SA’s economy. Who would want to invest in a country where property rights are not assured?
Minister Gigala and his fellow ANC leaders will very soon embrace the nationalisation of mines and all Malema’s other hare-brain schemes as a matter of politically expedience. No one in ANC would want to admit this, of course, and hence the announcement that the party will conduct an independent study on the viability of nationalisation as if there can be any economic merit to such a myopic scheme. It is ANC’s feeble attempt to present a political fudge as an ideological shift!
))))))))))))
The Economist has rated Harare “the worst city to live in”.
A Mugabe die hard supporter hit back claiming his whole family was moving back to Harare to leave “cr@p” London behind. One has to ask why did they leave Harare in the first place? ". This article was highlighting the plight of the ordinary people, the masses, the 80 to 90% of the population. Unlike you, your uncles, etc. who constituting the 10% or so; you have everything. You have the money to buy and run generators, who send their children to private school and have the choice to leave in "cr@p" London. They, on the other hand, have nothing; they have to put up with the water and power cuts, suffer because the health and education systems have all but collapsed. They would be glad to leave Zimbabwe for “cr@p” London and do any job going if they could!
You deride the findings above because it included the masses; to tyrants like Mugabe and you his cronies the masses count not at all and the regime has treated them accordingly; riding rough shod over their hopes, dreams and human dignity! Still poor and oppressive these long suffering Zimbabweans are human beings, even in death; not even Mugabe can deny them of that!
)))))
Friday, 2 September 2011
Malema before ANC disciplinarying hears at last!
The ANC has finally started disciplinary hears against the fire brand ANCYL leader Julius Malema following his call for regime change in Botswana. He accused the Botswana government of President Ian Khama of working "in full co-operation with imperialists" and thus undermining the "African agenda". Whatever that was supposed to mean!
The ruling ANC has finally called Malema and a number of his fellow leaders in the ANCYL to a party disciplinary hearing for bring the party into disrepute. Malema asked the charges to be quashed on the grounds that he was not aware of the party’s constitutional clauses forbidding him making the outlandish statements.
Malema is a multi-millionaire in his own right and it is widely believed his fortune is from corrupt activities. It is clear; he could not have accumulated his fortune from his earning as President of ANCYL and all his other known legal business activities alone. The authorities have never investigated the many charges of corruption against Malema.
If the ANC find Malema guilt of bring the party into disrepute and throw him out of the party, may be then will the corruption charges be investigated.
What people have to ask is why is it that the ruling ANC party has to dump Malema first before serious charges of corruption against him are investigated? A rhetorical question, of course, because we all know in SA and, indeed, the rest of Africa the ruling elite are above the law.
If Malema is guilt of the corruption charges against him then he will have costed the SA public billions of Rands and thus threatened well being of the whole nation. Surely the well being of SA is more important than the reputation (What reputation, you might well ask?) of a political party.
Even if Malema was thrown out of the ANC there is no guarantee his corrupt past will be investigated! He pleaded ignorance of ANC’s constitution stopping him making outlandish statements but he is, no doubt, surprisingly well informed of the corruption taking place in high places. ANC leaders know they can not dare to throw Malema to the wolves because he will spill the beans and take many of them down with him!
The ruling ANC has finally called Malema and a number of his fellow leaders in the ANCYL to a party disciplinary hearing for bring the party into disrepute. Malema asked the charges to be quashed on the grounds that he was not aware of the party’s constitutional clauses forbidding him making the outlandish statements.
Malema is a multi-millionaire in his own right and it is widely believed his fortune is from corrupt activities. It is clear; he could not have accumulated his fortune from his earning as President of ANCYL and all his other known legal business activities alone. The authorities have never investigated the many charges of corruption against Malema.
If the ANC find Malema guilt of bring the party into disrepute and throw him out of the party, may be then will the corruption charges be investigated.
What people have to ask is why is it that the ruling ANC party has to dump Malema first before serious charges of corruption against him are investigated? A rhetorical question, of course, because we all know in SA and, indeed, the rest of Africa the ruling elite are above the law.
If Malema is guilt of the corruption charges against him then he will have costed the SA public billions of Rands and thus threatened well being of the whole nation. Surely the well being of SA is more important than the reputation (What reputation, you might well ask?) of a political party.
Even if Malema was thrown out of the ANC there is no guarantee his corrupt past will be investigated! He pleaded ignorance of ANC’s constitution stopping him making outlandish statements but he is, no doubt, surprisingly well informed of the corruption taking place in high places. ANC leaders know they can not dare to throw Malema to the wolves because he will spill the beans and take many of them down with him!
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