Mugabe say he can not retire for fear of a civil war - what a hypocrite!

Enos Nkala, a former Mugabe buddy, says Mugabe is ready to retire but fear that Zanu PF will break up and the country slide into civil war if he did.

Very few Zimbabweans would shed a tear at the demise of Zanu PF. As for the country slipping into chaos and civil war if Zanu PF breaks up; that is very likely. But that is likely only because the country Mugabe stifled debate and competition – the prerequisites for evolutionary change – to create a de facto one-party state. The one-party state did not work and it has been clear for years that there has to be change. Having stifled evolutionary change for so long the possibility of a revolutionary change including civil war is real.

The longer Mugabe stays in power the greater the danger of Zimbabwe breaking up into a civil war to force change. Mugabe is a man who has been seating on a boiling pot, he is feeling the heat and yet fearful of standing up for fear the pot will explode in his face. Saves him right!

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Minister Patrick Chinamasa says Zimbabwe welcomes the UN Human Rights Official.

"We have nothing to hide in terms of human rights issues," says Minister Chinamasa. What he means is Zimbabwe has developed ways and means to keep most of its human rights issues well hidden and as for those it cannot hide, like the never ending Zanu PF inspired political violence, it has conditioned Zimbabweans to accept as a necessary evil in the fight to resist regime change. And the UN too must ignore all such human rights violations.

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If all Zimbabweans who do not want Mugabe to remain in power had the opportunity to leave the country then Zimbabwe will have a few thousand people left. The leaders’ children, who can afford it, have all left Zimbabwe. Mugabe's own daughter, Bona, does not even visit Zimbabwe any more let alone want to live there. She must have as many degrees as her father by now; she has been studying for donkey years. Even Tsvangirai’s children are overseas studying and will do anything too just to stay away from Zimbabwe.

Mugabe is so unpopular that his own spin-doctor Jonathan Moyo said he would lose the election to a donkey in a free and fair election. That is why the political violence has to continue even at the risk of an adverse human rights report from the visiting UN Official. The diplomatic consequences of such a report are nothing compared to the consequences of regime-change! Mugabe and his cronies will lose all their loot and those with the blood of tens of thousands innocent Zimbabweans on their hands risk the sudden drop and quick stop at the end of a rope. They all shudder even to think of it!

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Zimbabwe has a “better” human rights record than several other African countries! Tell that to the sons, daughters, relatives and friends of the man in Zaka East whose hands were cut off and then killed by Zanu PF thugs a few weeks ago!

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Chinamasa said his meeting with Pillay was cordial, but reiterated Zimbabwe's insistence on outlawing "homosexual activities". Ms Pillav is in Zimbabwe to assess Zimbabwe’s human rights record. There are not many homosexuals in Zimbabwe and although Mugabe and Zanu PF has maintained their anti-homosexual rhetoric few homosexuals have ever been arrested, as far as I know. None have ever been killed. Contrast this with the millions of Zimbabweans who were harassed, beaten or raped and over 500 were murdered in the three months period April to June 2008 alone for political reasons. The reason why Minister Chinamasa brought up the issue of homosexuals is therefore clear: he would ignore or dismiss all other human rights violations and concentrate of human rights violations against homosexuals.

Even if Ms Pillav’s report fails to mention any human rights violations against homosexuals, the Minister will be sure to raise it and defend the government’s position as if the nation’s very existence depended on it!

Mugabe has threatened for years to criminalise and now to outlaw homosexual activities. This has become one of his lightning-conduct issues behind which to hide the real burning issues he does not want discussed.

The UN has produced critical and wishy-washy human rights reports about Zimbabwe before and Mugabe has continued in his repressive ways regardless. Ms Pillav’s report, whatever it says, will be like water off a duck’s back. The world attention is focussed on the economic crisis in Europe; no one would notice the increased role of  Zimbabwe’s State Security Agencies in state sponsored violence, which should come out in Ms Pillav’s report if it is thorough. Zimbabweans will notice and we know the dirty tricks Mugabe has been playing only too well!