It is when the marriage has gone sour, when the
deceased’s estate is being shared out or some special occasion such as a
wedding that Zimbabweans have been afford the very rare peek at the Zanu PF
ruling elite’s amassed wealth and the extravagant luxuries of their life. We
saw this with when Minister Ignatius Chombo was having divorcing his wife and
when Mugabe invited the world into his opulent palatial $20 million Blue Roof mansion
for his daughter, Bona Nyapudzai, wedding. This time it was Zimbabwe Defence
Forces commander Constantine Chiwenga’s turn to declare his loot!
“The couple owned Blue Chip Stamp Company (Pvt)
Ltd which owned a property at 5 Rosary Close, Quinnington, Borrowdale measuring
5 701 square metres,” Bulawayo24 reported.
“They also owned Lighthouse Investments (Pvt) Ltd which owned four industrial units in Willowvale, with each unit measuring 3 850 square metres and Liversay Investments (Pvt) Ltd which owns a property at 614 Prince Drive in Borrowdale Brook measuring 4 817 square metres.”
“They also owned Lighthouse Investments (Pvt) Ltd which owned four industrial units in Willowvale, with each unit measuring 3 850 square metres and Liversay Investments (Pvt) Ltd which owns a property at 614 Prince Drive in Borrowdale Brook measuring 4 817 square metres.”
The report went on to list thirteen other properties
in the form of companies, farms houses and an apartment in Malaysia.
The couple also owned motor vehicles, including
a Prado, Jeep, Toyota land Cruiser V8, Mercedes Benz C180, Land Rover Defender
and a Land Rover Discovery 4.
There are three things that stand out like a sore finger in all the stories of Zimbabwe’s rich ruling elite:
There are three things that stand out like a sore finger in all the stories of Zimbabwe’s rich ruling elite:
1)
In a country where millions have absolutely
nothing how is that a tiny few have come to own so much?
2)
Most of these filthy rich Zanu Pf loyalists
cannot account for any of their amassed wealth through traceable tax returns;
they got it through corruption and looting.
3)
The General’s divorced wife Jocelyn was awarded seven vehicles in the court settlement among them a jeep,
Toyota Land cruiser V8, two Mercedes Benz, Land Rover Defender, Land Rover
Discovery and a Toyota Hiace. She can only drive one car at a time but she had
to have all seven cars in line with the Maggie pie hoarding mentality in this
Zanu PF filthy rich class.
4)
These Zanu PF cronies seized productive farm
from the white farmers only to fail to keep up the productivity; the same
happened with all the other business ventures they bought or looted. Indeed the
value of assets we see today is but a fraction of the billions of dollars lost in
bad investments and in luxuries expensive holidays and pleasure of the flesh.
5)
People like General Chiwenga were well aware
that their amassed wealth and their lifestyles of unparalleled luxuries was
unearned, undeserved and, most significantly, unsustainable. It was only
because Mugabe and Zanu PF were prepared to ride roughshod of the masses that
made all these things possible, no other political party would give them that. It
is no wonder then people like Chiwenga have pledged their loyalty to Mugabe and
Zanu PF and the regime’s continued rule even when it was self-evident that this
was contrary to the national interests and common good.
6)
On the economic front, the nation’s economic
recovery is dependent of taking back the looted wealth hoarded by Mugabe and
his cronies and putting them back into productive use, especially the farms.
7)
On the political front, like General Chiwenga can
be allowed to serve in their positions if the so wished, but it is absolutely
imperative that all the democratic reforms giving back institutions like the
Army their independence and freedom to serve the nation as they are implemented.
The nation had its best chance to
implement the democratic reforms during the GNU and, sadly, failed to do. Doing
so now is not going to be easy but still not impossible. This is something we simply
have to do because the alternative is accepting the status quo that has
condemned millions to abject poverty and hopeless despair.
Every generation has its
challenge, the greatest challenge of our time is to get all the democratic reforms
implemented followed by free, fair and credible elections. Nothing of any
meaning and substance can ever be achieved until we have free elections.
16 comments:
Armed with a PhD, a seat in the Zanu-PF politburo and her 90-year-old husband’s ear at home, Grace Mugabe has become a political force as the battle hots up to succeed the only leader Zimbabwe has known since independence in 1980.
Yes she has all the above but unless any of these going to help her rig the economic recov-ery; because without that she will never be president of Zimbabwe. Mugabe was able to rig the 2013 elections, thanks to the breath-taking incompetence of MDC, but his hold on power has become tenuous because he has failed to rig the economy too.
Mugabe’s recent “mega-deals” with China and Russia granted the two superpowers unfet-tered access to join the other looters plundering Zimbabwe’s diamonds, platinum and other national mineral resources like Israel, Lebanon and India. None of these deals are going to slow down much less end Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, Mugabe knows that.
What the tyrant and the rest of his Zanu PF thugs are hoping for is to use brute force to stop the people protesting against the economic hardships and to demand real change. Unless Mugabe or Grace or any other Zanu PF leaders can rig economic recovery then the party’s continued hold on power regardless of the economic hardships is simply untenable!
AT LEAST two million Zimbabweans, about the same number of citizens who voted Pres-ident Robert Mugabe into power in last year’s election, are living in abject poverty, ac-cording to a university report.
The report by the University of Zimbabwe’s Institute of Environmental Studies (IES) in conjunction with UNICEF said at least 62.6 percent of Zimbabwean households are deemed poor while an estimated 16.2 percent (2.1 million people) live in extreme pov-erty.
Mugabe’s recent “mega-deals” with China and Russia granted the two superpowers unfet-tered access to join the other looters plundering Zimbabwe’s diamonds, platinum and other national mineral resources like Israel, Lebanon and India. None of these deals are going to slow down much less end Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, Mugabe knows that. The num-bers of those living in abject poverty is set to increase as long as Mugabe and this Zanu PF regime remain in power!
What Mugabe is hoping to use brute force to stop the people protesting against the economic hardships and to stop them demanding real change. If he thinks the people are going to put up with this for much longer then he is deluding himself.
Since the rigged July 2013 elections, it was the economic meltdown that posed the greatest threat to Mugabe and Zanu PF’s continued rule. Since the tyrant could not end corruption and restore investor and donor confidence – the necessary requirements for economic recovery – he had to rig economic recover or give up power. He failed to rig the economy and so he is now left with one option – resign!
It is not in the DNA for tyrants to resign and Mugabe is one tyrant with just too many skeletons in the closet and a large ego to give up power now. Sadly he has run out of track, he can ignore the sign “DEAD END AHEAD” at his on peril.
Speaking at the official launch of the Non Aligned Movement Workshop on Minerals in Harare last week, Mugabe told delegates, who included school children, that: "Uprooting settlers demanded more than just sitting and crying, so we opted for the brutal way. Bullet for bullet."
Yes and you also “opted for the brutal way” to establish and maintain your de facto one-party, one-man dictatorship after independence didn’t Mr Mugabe. Millions of ordinary Zimbabwe were beaten or/and raped and over 30 000 murdered in the 34 years of your tyrannical rule.
Today 2 million Zimbabweans are living in abject poverty because of three decades of misrule by Zanu PF. Instead of spending on those things that will help alleviate the suffering of our people like water supply plant giving that most cities and towns now do not have clean running water, the tyrant is buying weapons. Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramai met the Russian arms dealer. The regime has already said it will use brute force to stop street protest again the worsening economic situation.
After 34 years of being systematically denied their basic rights including the right to a meaningful vote and the right to life itself, the cup is full to overflow; the people are ready and deserve for change.
@ Rude Chakala
The economic meltdown is real and is getting worse. The Chinese refused to give Mugabe even one dollar in budgetary support because he is "bad debtor". They told him so to his face!
Chinamasa's latest wave of tax increases will not bring the regime the cash it needs so desperately because milking the cow again will not increase the amount and the Zimbabwe cow is now being milked on the hour every hour 24/7.
Civil servants are to be paid next week, we will see if he can pay them!
Mugabe is trying his best to distract the nation from the economic meltdown but it keeps come-back to bite him. Yesterday UNICEF reported that 2 million Zimbabweans are now living in abject poverty. The economic meltdown is real, it is getting worse and Mugabe will never cheat or bam-boozle it the same way he has cheated his fellow Zanu PF leaders and bamboozled MDC!
The late Nathan Shamuyarira and Enos Nkala died after years of living in abject poverty, they too were in denial. But I am sure Nathan would have said something after Zanu PF cynically painted his house the day he died to hide the years of neglect, decay and rot. The party painted the front only and worse still, it has done nothing to help his widow. She could not afford the bus fare to visit her husband on his death bed – that is the reality of abject poverty. No one has to tell her that this Zanu PF dictatorship has failed – she knows that. No doubt she too, like Nathan, has been in denial that Zanu PF has failed the nation for years but not anymore.
There are other Zanu PF idiots like you who too are in denial that Mugabe and Zanu PF are cor-rupt and murderous thugs who will never deliver mass prosperity and have resorted to denying the people their basic rights including the right to a free vote and the right to life itself to stay in power. Even party grandees like Shamuyarira and Nkala failed to keep poverty out of their homes what more ordinary members like the war vets, youth and women league members, etc. – poverty rules the roost! The Zanu PF youth and women league members who attended the conferences last month forgot they were poor after Mugabe gave them a piece of meat but now they have forgotten how good it tasted.
All these Zanu PF die-hard, idiots and murderous thugs with skeletons to hide will all fall in line when poverty and hunger get them by the throat!
“Nhamo, nzara ndihorora mapenzi!” my late mother would say. [Poverty and hunger are tough teachers that even the idiots will not ignore!]
I have said it before and will say so again for the record; Mugabe cannot rig economic recovery and the only way out now is for him to resign or he will be force out the same way Gaddafi and other tyrants have been forced out! The clock is ticking, he is fast running out of time!
@ Sammy Moyo
Mugabe needed the looters to help him retain power. He needed the Israelis to help him rig the elections and he paid Nikuv $13 million for adding false names to the voters roll. Of course he was conned because high school drop-outs could have done that. Mugabe could not release the voters roll when he realised there was nothing special Nikuv had done and anyone would see how the elections were rigged.
Mugabe was hoping the Chinese and Russians would bankroll his ZimAsset plan if he allowed them to plunder the nation's resources. They took up the offer to plunder but they have pointedly refused to bank-roll ZimAsset.
Zimbabwe has not been getting and revenue from Marange diamonds, which should have helped finance the economic recover if there was no corruption and looting. The Israelis, Lebanese, Indians and Chinese have been mining the diamonds 24/7 and shipping the gems out of the country.
The Russians will be shipping the Platinum wealth and again Zimbabwe will have little to show for it!
Just as the Israelis conned Mugabe on the voters roll; the Chinese and Russians are doing the same thing on these mega-deals!
@ Sammy Moyo
Mugabe needed the looters to help him retain power. He needed the Israelis to help him rig the elections and he paid Nikuv $13 million for adding false names to the voters roll. Of course he was conned because high school drop-outs could have done that. Mugabe could not release the voters roll when he realised there was nothing special Nikuv had done and anyone would see how the elections were rigged.
Mugabe was hoping the Chinese and Russians would bankroll his ZimAsset plan if he allowed them to plunder the nation's resources. They took up the offer to plunder but they have pointedly refused to bank-roll ZimAsset.
Zimbabwe has not been getting and revenue from Marange diamonds, which should have helped finance the economic recover if there was no corruption and looting. The Israelis, Lebanese, Indians and Chinese have been mining the diamonds 24/7 and shipping the gems out of the country.
The Russians will be shipping the Platinum wealth and again Zimbabwe will have little to show for it!
Just as the Israelis conned Mugabe on the voters roll; the Chinese and Russians are doing the same thing on these mega-deals!
“A WATER crisis has reached two of Zimbabwe’s largest hospitals in Harare, where many key medical facilities have been operating largely without running water for most of the year,” reported the New Zimbabwe.
“Harare Central Hospital, which receives referrals from across the country, remains open despite the water shortage, in violation of several international public health standards.”
So here is a regime that cannot supply something as basic as clean running water to such a critical institution as the country’s referral hospitals but can spend $1 million on a birthday party for Mugabe and $ 5 million on his daughter’s wedding.
Last week Defence Minister held private talks with an arms deal from Russia. Zimbabwe has consistently spent millions of dollars, probably the second highest per GDP per capita, second only to North Korea; whilst important key sectors like health and education collapse from the chronic lack of funds!
Decades of Zanu PF misrule have forced 2 million Zimbabweans into abject poverty ac-cording to a recent UNICEF report and now the nation is sitting on a serious social and health time-bomb. Zimbabweans have wakeup to the reality that Mugabe will never admit that he has failed and, if not forced out of state house, will force the nation to sit on these time bombs until they finally explode!
Welshman Ncube and MDC renewal are in unity talks. One incompetent party merging with another equally incompetent party will not produce a competent party.
"This party is God-appointed and we'll not do anything against the will of God," remarked Samuel Sipepa Nkomo of MDC-Renewal involved in the merger talks. What is the buffoon talking about now? No party, whichever party he has in mind, is appointed by God but by will be appointed by fallible mortals, in this case fallible mortals known for their folly of following failed and incompetent leaders blinding without ever asking any questions!
The good Lord gave each and every one of us humans a “discerning mind to know right from wrong and the freedom to choose which path to follow”! People like Sipape Nkomo have chosen to stick their heads into the backsides of leaders like Tsvangirai, Ncube and Biti and will not listen to reason.
They have failed to learn the lesson of their foolishness of the GNU years and they are now extracting their heads out of Tsvangirai’s backside to shave it up Biti or Ncube’s backside without even posing for one breath of fresh air. They are inviting the rest of the people to do the same under the nonsensical disguise the party is “God-appointed”.
MDC leaders have already proven beyond all reasonable doubt that they are breathtakingly incompetent. No amount of repackaging or merging will turn them into the competent leaders the nation so desperately need. We should be concentrating on certainly the criteria we should be looking for in quality leaders and not waste time recycling waste!
For 34 years Mugabe has managed to outwit his fellow Zanu PF leaders to stay in power whilst he dragged them and the nation into this political and economic hell-hole. He bamboozled Tsvangirai and his incompetent MDC friends into not implementing even one democratic reform so he was able to rig the 2013 elections. The one thing Mugabe, with all his cunning and ruthlessness, has failed to do is rig the economic recovery.
34 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption, which he has denied but only to have these cancers grow and spread, have taken a heavy toll on the national economy. The national economy is in the ICU and will continue to get worse until these cancerous tumours are removed. Since Mugabe lacks the political will and commitment to remove these cancers since he and Zanu PF are the chief beneficiaries of the political patronage system that is behind the mismanagement and corruption. Mugabe has no choice but to step down and allow free, fair and credible elections to take place.
The new regime so elected will have the political mandate and will to remove the tumours and carry out all the other tasks necessary for economic recovery.
Mugabe’s attempt to rig economic recovery was dealt its death blow when China refused to bankroll his ZimAsset plan because he is a “bad debtor” as Minister Chinamasa who accompanied Mugabe on the trip to China has testified. The country is going through a serious economic meltdown and it is a futile for Mugabe to deny this is a problem or the consequences it is having on the nation. There are 2 million Zimbabweans living in abject poverty; that is a fact. Unless Mugabe steps down, there will be even more people living in abject poverty; that too is a fact!
“Companies continue to close down, unemployment levels are high, infrastructure is deteriorating and services such as water and waste disposal are struggling to cope with increased urban populations,” Minister Chinamasa acknowledged.
Well acknowledging that companies are closing down, unemployment is high is a significant step given this is a regime that has, at best, acknowledge the economic problems but picking on scapegoats like sanctions as the causes. Of course this was a feeble excuse since the regime had embarked on its look east policy thus cancelling any effect the West imposed sanctions would have had since the country’s new trading partners, the East, had not imposed any sanctions.
The real cause of the economic collapse has always been mismanagement and corruption. Denying these were the root causes have only encourage these cancers to grow and spread and today the economic collapse has become the economic meltdown.
Minister Chinamasa acknowledges the adverse effect of the economic meltdown is not good enough; the nation expect the regime to finally acknowledge that mismanagement and corruption and the root causes and, most important of all, acknowledge the regime cannot deal with these problems and thus step down.
Minister the economic meltdown is not going away but will continue to get worse until you do finally admit Zanu PF has failed!
So Chapfika and his fellow Zanu PF cronies got the money did not pay the money back and we have a staggering $1.3 billion Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe debt. There is no doubt who the regime blames for the debt - "the evil West and their illegal sanctions" but of course!
AT least 25 percent of Zimbabwe’s rural population will need food hand-outs or they will starve, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
In its latest report on the food situation in Zimbabwe, the WFP said the country will not meet its Millennium Development Goal of eradicating hunger by 2015.
It never rains but pours! Zimbabwe had its best growing season for a long time and in-stead of producing enough to start rebuilding its depleted food reserves after the decades of the chaos following the violent farm seizures. Zimbabwe is experiencing a serious economic meltdown as a result of the decades of mismanagement and corruption, the chickens have come home to roost and they are reproducing like bunny rabbits!
Mugabe can try to deny or down play the economic meltdown but that is not going to stop the nation’s economic decline. Mugabe will sooner or later have to accept the reality that he has failed and step down for that the country can have free elections and a legitimate government. The root cause of Zimbabwe’s politically paralysis is last year’s rigged elections; Mugabe’s regime is illegitimate!
Mugabe will no doubt use the UN opportunity to blame "the evil west and its illegal sanc-tions" for Zimbabwe's economic meltdown. The fact that the EU lifted sanctions on eve-ryone else except the tyrant and his wife nearly a year ago to say nothing of the fact China and Russia, his new found "best friends" have never had any sanctions against the regime.
The real cause of Zimbabwe’s economic problems is the waste of human and material resources arising from the mismanagement and corruption. Mugabe thought he was being clever by denying there was no such waste and blaming the poor economic performance on sanction instead. He was being foolish because the problems have grown and spread and now they are killing the economy.
Mugabe will rant and rave against the west but the whole world now know better! The Emperor will be once again showing off his fine golden robe so fine that only he can see it all the rest of us can see in his full nakedness! There is nothing more pathetic repeating a lie everyone knows is a lie!
Repeated controversies that have dogged Zimbabwean elections could soon be laid bare after the South African Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed with costs on Friday the latest at-tempt by President Jacob Zuma's government to overturn a lower court order that compelled it to hand over a much sought-after report into shenanigans surrounding Zimbabwe's disputed 2002 elections.
I salute SA’s judiciary system for standing up to President Jacob Zuma in upholding the rule of law.
SA got involved in Zimbabwe’s political problems because of the upheaval it was causing within Zimbabwe and in the neighbouring countries. Making sure that Zimbabwe had free, fair and credible elections was the single most important SA could have done to ensure political stability in Zimbabwe and making public the findings of the 2002 elections was the sure way to ensure any irregularities were address and never repeated. President Zuma did the people of Zimbabwe a great disservice by refusing to make the report public.
Thank God the voice of sanity has prevailed and the report is finally going to be made public.
Mugabe has denying vote rigging ever, now the world will know if he has been lying!
Former Cabinet ministers Elton Mangoma and Tendai Biti say the $533-million Kariba South power extension project has been inexplicably inflated from an initial $370-million and suggest the $163-million difference will go to corrupt government officials.
Corruption is a cancer that is killing the nation; Mugabe has denied this for decades allowing the cancer to grow and spread. Sanctions were just a smoke screen and now the nation knows the truth!
Flamboyant businessman Phillip Chiyangwa has taken delivery of his 2014 GL63 AMG, the first of its kind in Zimbabwe.
The seven-passenger Mercedes Benz utility, which cost him $400 000, was handcrafted by Marco Feeber at the German firm's home of supercars in Affalterbach.
"Everyday we read about financial scandals… involving corporate executives and other individu-als, but that's not news. Surely, someone must spend that money (and) it becomes news if you are not the one to be spending that money (and if you got it)," Chiyangwa said.
Mr Chiyangwa you will have to produce tax returns to show what it is exactly you have been do-ing to afford all these luxuries. If you fail to produce the documentary evidence of how you have earned your living then you will not only lose the loot but will spend some time in jail. The only sure way to stamp out corruption is to go after those who have grown fat on the back of the most vulnerable in society.
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