“My hands are very clean and my conscience is clear. I did not kill anyone during Gukurahundi. I did not kill anyone during Operation Murambatsvina and I did not kill anyone during the 2008 presidential elections run-off.“I challenge Mugabe to come out in public and say the same,” he said to enthusiastic applause, reported the Daily News.
When Tsvangirai entered this political marriage with Mugabe three years ago it was a love of a lifetime. He was dazzled by the prospect of being Prime Minister he forgot that it was a tyrant he was marrying, the same man he is now calling a murder!
Tsvangirai should have resigned for dragging the nation into this stupid GNU and allowing Mugabe to continue with his murderous reign. He should be talking of how he and his party were going to stop this madman terrorising and murdering our people. Calling Mugabe a murder may bring a moment’s conform but it is not doing anything to stop him.
Tsvangirai was speaking at a party to celebrate Moyo of MDC’s win of the Parliamentary Speaker’s position. An empty victory really given that it is JOC who exercise all real political power in Zimbabwe not parliament. Years of Zanu PF corruption have undermined the country’s democratic institutions; this parliament had its work cut out. And yet this GNU parliament has not changed a single thing in three years.
MDC’s leaders cheered Tsvangirai’s murderer jibe at Mugabe and yet everyone of them were relieved when they got back home unmolested by Zanu PF thugs or the Police. If these leaders faced the same level of political violence as the ordinary MDC supporters and the public faced, none of them would have cheered just as none of them would have agreed to share power with a murderer!
.
77777777
A Daily News reporter forced to leave a public Zimbabwe Republic Police cadet pass-out parade officiated by Mugabe.
“You cannot cover this event, you were not invited. After all your stories and cartoons are damaging the President. Go away now. This is our area,” the State Security Agent told the reporter. Signs of the things to come as the prospect of the national elections looms.
Zanu PF will have their elections this year.
In the 2008 elections thousands were raped, hundreds were murdered and the whole nation was traumatised to secure a Mugabe "victory". The dictator has since reorganised his terror machine and it is well oiled with Marange diamonds money. The juggernaut will leave tsunami type destruction!
To think Mugabe was politically dead after the sham 2008 elections and, by signing the GPA, MDC gave the tyrant this Lazarus moment!
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Retire Chihuri and Chiwenga and Zanu PF - Medousa - will grow new snake heads!
Here we go again, MDC making confused, contradictory and, frankly, nonsensical demands.
“The current leadership in the security sector has in the past shown that they are partisan. In our view, the best way to realign the security sector is to retire at the very minimum the Commissioner-General of Police Augustine Chihuri and the Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) General Constantine Chiwenga,” the MDC’s policy document states.
It is Chihuri’s sworn duty to investigate all unlawful activities and arrest all those responsible. During the three months to the June 2008 presidential run-off over 500 people were murdered and yet no one has ever been arrested. Does MDC really expect Chihuri to up hold the rule of law because he made a public commitment to do so when he failed to do so after taking an oath!
The simple act of forcing Chihuri and Chiwenge into retirement will not transform these partisan institutions into democratic ones. One can even add the retirement or death of Mugabe himself in the mix and still this Zanu PF dictatorship will survive and thrive. These individuals are the public faces of the dictatorship; they masterminded all the intimidations, rapes and murders and supervised the executions of these heinous crimes. Still they are buts the visible snakes growing out of the mythical Medousa’s head. Cut one snakehead off and two will grow in its place.
The years of economic mismanagement, rampant corruption and, in the last ten year, the all out looting – the three ugly beasts behind Zimbabwe’s economic collapse and then total melt down - has costed Mugabe and Zanu PF dearly in terms of public support. Zimbabweans have desert Zanu PF and voted for alternative in droves, knowing they risked the wrath of Zanu PF. Corruption and looting have allowed the unscrupulous individuals to prosper and allowed the party to generously reward the ruthless individuals who have carried out its dirty work. Mugabe and others planned the murders but it was the ruthless that have the blood on their hands. The unscrupulous and ruthless constitute the body and soul of the Zanu PF dictatorship; they have as much to lose from regime change as Mugabe, Chihuri and all the others.
MDC should have pushed for democratic reforms the very next day after the signing of the GPA and not to do so now, a few months before fresh elections. And worse still push for the reforms by making an empty gesture. At this critical stage in our history when the nation is literally dying for meaningful democratic changes the last thing we wanted is more endless posturing from MDC.
As if having a ruthless dictatorship was not bad enough but MDC’s sheer incompetency in all this is make one’s blood boil!
888
Given the man-hours the South Africa government has invested in the Zimbabwe crisis and its critical importance to the economic and political stability of SA and the whole region there must be more to President Zuma’s failure to attend the Namibia SADC meeting than that he had another commitment. It would have taken a couple of hours of his precious time to fly there address this single item on the agenda and fly back.
In Zambia President Zuma had tried, the first time, to put his foot down and rein in Mugabe. The later had responded by becoming even more arrogant and belligerent and thus called President Zuma’s bluff. President Zuma knew the Namibia meeting would be tough.
With SADC’s demands for more political reforms still ringing in his ears Mugabe knows he must push for elections to be held this year. Instead of taking SADC head on and resist reforms he wants to avoid the reforms by making sure that there was no time to see them through even with the best will in the world.
SADC and more so MDC should started pushing for the democratic reforms soon after the formation of GNU. They were slow off the start and three years is a long time to prepare for fresh elections particularly when all parties agree the GNU is not working!
President Zuma knows Mugabe has a strong hand and he really does know what to do next. Delaying the discussion on Zimbabwe has bought President Zuma more time but of course the hesitation would have heartened Mugabe.
If push comes to shove Mugabe will force the holding of election by withdrawing his party from the GNU and the GPA says the GNU will collapse. President Zuma will have to forget his demands for elections to be held next year to allow for meaningful democratic reforms. He can do so quietly now or be forced to do so later!
“The current leadership in the security sector has in the past shown that they are partisan. In our view, the best way to realign the security sector is to retire at the very minimum the Commissioner-General of Police Augustine Chihuri and the Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) General Constantine Chiwenga,” the MDC’s policy document states.
It is Chihuri’s sworn duty to investigate all unlawful activities and arrest all those responsible. During the three months to the June 2008 presidential run-off over 500 people were murdered and yet no one has ever been arrested. Does MDC really expect Chihuri to up hold the rule of law because he made a public commitment to do so when he failed to do so after taking an oath!
The simple act of forcing Chihuri and Chiwenge into retirement will not transform these partisan institutions into democratic ones. One can even add the retirement or death of Mugabe himself in the mix and still this Zanu PF dictatorship will survive and thrive. These individuals are the public faces of the dictatorship; they masterminded all the intimidations, rapes and murders and supervised the executions of these heinous crimes. Still they are buts the visible snakes growing out of the mythical Medousa’s head. Cut one snakehead off and two will grow in its place.
The years of economic mismanagement, rampant corruption and, in the last ten year, the all out looting – the three ugly beasts behind Zimbabwe’s economic collapse and then total melt down - has costed Mugabe and Zanu PF dearly in terms of public support. Zimbabweans have desert Zanu PF and voted for alternative in droves, knowing they risked the wrath of Zanu PF. Corruption and looting have allowed the unscrupulous individuals to prosper and allowed the party to generously reward the ruthless individuals who have carried out its dirty work. Mugabe and others planned the murders but it was the ruthless that have the blood on their hands. The unscrupulous and ruthless constitute the body and soul of the Zanu PF dictatorship; they have as much to lose from regime change as Mugabe, Chihuri and all the others.
MDC should have pushed for democratic reforms the very next day after the signing of the GPA and not to do so now, a few months before fresh elections. And worse still push for the reforms by making an empty gesture. At this critical stage in our history when the nation is literally dying for meaningful democratic changes the last thing we wanted is more endless posturing from MDC.
As if having a ruthless dictatorship was not bad enough but MDC’s sheer incompetency in all this is make one’s blood boil!
888
Given the man-hours the South Africa government has invested in the Zimbabwe crisis and its critical importance to the economic and political stability of SA and the whole region there must be more to President Zuma’s failure to attend the Namibia SADC meeting than that he had another commitment. It would have taken a couple of hours of his precious time to fly there address this single item on the agenda and fly back.
In Zambia President Zuma had tried, the first time, to put his foot down and rein in Mugabe. The later had responded by becoming even more arrogant and belligerent and thus called President Zuma’s bluff. President Zuma knew the Namibia meeting would be tough.
With SADC’s demands for more political reforms still ringing in his ears Mugabe knows he must push for elections to be held this year. Instead of taking SADC head on and resist reforms he wants to avoid the reforms by making sure that there was no time to see them through even with the best will in the world.
SADC and more so MDC should started pushing for the democratic reforms soon after the formation of GNU. They were slow off the start and three years is a long time to prepare for fresh elections particularly when all parties agree the GNU is not working!
President Zuma knows Mugabe has a strong hand and he really does know what to do next. Delaying the discussion on Zimbabwe has bought President Zuma more time but of course the hesitation would have heartened Mugabe.
If push comes to shove Mugabe will force the holding of election by withdrawing his party from the GNU and the GPA says the GNU will collapse. President Zuma will have to forget his demands for elections to be held next year to allow for meaningful democratic reforms. He can do so quietly now or be forced to do so later!
Friday, 20 May 2011
Mugabe and his entrourage flew five times to Singapore for cataract op - sick joke!
This is a sick joke! So Mugabe had to go all the way to Singapore not once; five times for something as simple as an eye cataract operation? I know the country's health system has but collapsed (and we know who is responsible for that), still the money Mugabe and his entourage spent on one trip to Singapore alone would have paid for a state-of-the-art Eye Hospital in Zimbabwe. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans today are blind when only they needed was a cataract operation.
This is a sick joke! So Grace Mugabe is in China being treated for a dislocated hip. There is no doctor in Zimbabwe who can treat that? No doubt it is the Zimbabwe taxpayer who is paying her bill. And no doubt her bill is comparable to what government is spending running all the clinics catering for all the health needs of hundreds of thousands including hundreds with dislocated hips!
This is a sick joke! So Bona Mugabe is still studying in Hong Kong and, I suppose, still staying in the mansion worth US$5m. She must be aiming at having seven degrees, like her father. The Mugabes have reportedly more than 13 farms each worth millions looted from the white farmers and lots of other assets and wealth besides. But no doubt it will be the Zimbabwe taxpayer who pays, directly or otherwise, all Miss Mugabe’s bills. Her annual bill will no doubt be comparable to what government spends on all the students at UZ in a month!
After all the billions of dollars the nation spends educating the children and relatives of the country’s ruling elite one would think these students would be going back to Zimbabwe. None of them are doing that if they can help it. The late deputy CIO Director’s children are reportedly applying for political asylum in UK.
Mugabe has destroyed Zimbabwe’s education and health system and by flying his wife and himself to distant lands for treatment of even the most basic ailments and by sending his children and those of his cronies out of country for their education he is acknowledging this. And yet when the ordinary people with no money to seek their health and education needs outside the country and have paid dearly for his misrule ask for regime change; he is ruthless in his fight to maintain the status quo! How sick is that!?
This is a sick joke! So Grace Mugabe is in China being treated for a dislocated hip. There is no doctor in Zimbabwe who can treat that? No doubt it is the Zimbabwe taxpayer who is paying her bill. And no doubt her bill is comparable to what government is spending running all the clinics catering for all the health needs of hundreds of thousands including hundreds with dislocated hips!
This is a sick joke! So Bona Mugabe is still studying in Hong Kong and, I suppose, still staying in the mansion worth US$5m. She must be aiming at having seven degrees, like her father. The Mugabes have reportedly more than 13 farms each worth millions looted from the white farmers and lots of other assets and wealth besides. But no doubt it will be the Zimbabwe taxpayer who pays, directly or otherwise, all Miss Mugabe’s bills. Her annual bill will no doubt be comparable to what government spends on all the students at UZ in a month!
After all the billions of dollars the nation spends educating the children and relatives of the country’s ruling elite one would think these students would be going back to Zimbabwe. None of them are doing that if they can help it. The late deputy CIO Director’s children are reportedly applying for political asylum in UK.
Mugabe has destroyed Zimbabwe’s education and health system and by flying his wife and himself to distant lands for treatment of even the most basic ailments and by sending his children and those of his cronies out of country for their education he is acknowledging this. And yet when the ordinary people with no money to seek their health and education needs outside the country and have paid dearly for his misrule ask for regime change; he is ruthless in his fight to maintain the status quo! How sick is that!?
Thursday, 19 May 2011
The signing GPA did not help avoid "conflict" it was stupid!
“Mugabe and long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government two years ago to avoid a descent into full-fledged conflict in the aftermath of a bloody presidential run-off election,” reported News Live. That is a myth not found on falsehoods!
If Tsvangirai had refused to enter into the power sharing arrangement Zimbabwe would have NEVER descended into conflict.
In 2008 Mugabe and his thugs had just orchestrated a ruthless campaign of terror, rape and murder to force the Zimbabwe people to ensure there would be no regime change. At the time the tyrant did not care what anybody else said about his electoral methods. He did after when the international refused to acknowledge his electoral victory as the legitimate. Even the AU Election Monitoring Team, known for declaring fraudulent elections a clean bill of health, could not do anything but condemn the Zimbabwe elections. None of Mugabe’s own follow dictators attended his swearing in ceremony; no doubt they too did not want their own nationals drawing parallels with the Zimbabwe tyrant!
With the whole world shunning after the sham elections Mugabe was as keen as mustard to recast himself as a statesman who would not hurt a fly. He disbanded his party thugs so quickly some were reportedly stranded far from their homes. The last thing on Mugabe’s mind was to continue the terror, etc. Against whom and to what end and purpose?
Tsvangirai has done some stupid things in his political career but signing the power sharing agreement with Mugabe was the rake-madness. It was the act of signing the agreement that gave Mugabe the legitimacy he was craving for. Indirectly, that also legitimized Mugabe’s acts of terror, rape and murder. No one with an sense of pride and principles would have done that, no one!
And Tsvangirai allowed Mugabe to enter State House through the back in return for what?! It was clear even before the agreement was signed that there would be no meaningful power sharing since Mugabe retained all the dictatorial powers. The America Ambassador to Zimbabwe at the time described the agreement as “full of hole”! Tsvangirai paid no heed to all advice not to enter into the agreement; his eyes were set on being Prime Minister.
Time has proved beyond all doubt just what disaster the GPA has been for Tsvangirai and the nation at large. No good was ever going to come out of keeping Mugabe in power with all his dictatorial powers.
Tsvangirai’s spin doctors, notably Professor John Makumbe, have span the yarn claiming Tsvangirai entered into the GPA to save the country from political violence. What nonsense! The violence stopped soon after 27 June 2008 when Mugabe was declared the “winner” of the sham election. The peace lasted throughout the negotiations but restarted again before the ink on the signed GPA had dried.
Tsvangirai’s spin doctors have had to work even harder on their yarn to cover up all the negative things that have been coming out ever since the signing the GPA!
666
Mugabe can never win free elections and hence the mad rush to have elections before any democratic reforms in Police, Media, etc. can be pushed. Pushing through the reforms should have been Tsvangirai's top priority but sadly for two years he has done nothing. He was napping again as usual!
Tunisia is holding elections in July this year, six months after the demise of the country’s dictator. By end of the year Zimbabwe would have had over three years to hold fresh election. The political playing field will not be level but with Tsvangirai championing reforms; it is hard to see how that can ever happen; Mugabe is just too cunning for him!.
If Tsvangirai had refused to enter into the power sharing arrangement Zimbabwe would have NEVER descended into conflict.
In 2008 Mugabe and his thugs had just orchestrated a ruthless campaign of terror, rape and murder to force the Zimbabwe people to ensure there would be no regime change. At the time the tyrant did not care what anybody else said about his electoral methods. He did after when the international refused to acknowledge his electoral victory as the legitimate. Even the AU Election Monitoring Team, known for declaring fraudulent elections a clean bill of health, could not do anything but condemn the Zimbabwe elections. None of Mugabe’s own follow dictators attended his swearing in ceremony; no doubt they too did not want their own nationals drawing parallels with the Zimbabwe tyrant!
With the whole world shunning after the sham elections Mugabe was as keen as mustard to recast himself as a statesman who would not hurt a fly. He disbanded his party thugs so quickly some were reportedly stranded far from their homes. The last thing on Mugabe’s mind was to continue the terror, etc. Against whom and to what end and purpose?
Tsvangirai has done some stupid things in his political career but signing the power sharing agreement with Mugabe was the rake-madness. It was the act of signing the agreement that gave Mugabe the legitimacy he was craving for. Indirectly, that also legitimized Mugabe’s acts of terror, rape and murder. No one with an sense of pride and principles would have done that, no one!
And Tsvangirai allowed Mugabe to enter State House through the back in return for what?! It was clear even before the agreement was signed that there would be no meaningful power sharing since Mugabe retained all the dictatorial powers. The America Ambassador to Zimbabwe at the time described the agreement as “full of hole”! Tsvangirai paid no heed to all advice not to enter into the agreement; his eyes were set on being Prime Minister.
Time has proved beyond all doubt just what disaster the GPA has been for Tsvangirai and the nation at large. No good was ever going to come out of keeping Mugabe in power with all his dictatorial powers.
Tsvangirai’s spin doctors, notably Professor John Makumbe, have span the yarn claiming Tsvangirai entered into the GPA to save the country from political violence. What nonsense! The violence stopped soon after 27 June 2008 when Mugabe was declared the “winner” of the sham election. The peace lasted throughout the negotiations but restarted again before the ink on the signed GPA had dried.
Tsvangirai’s spin doctors have had to work even harder on their yarn to cover up all the negative things that have been coming out ever since the signing the GPA!
666
Mugabe can never win free elections and hence the mad rush to have elections before any democratic reforms in Police, Media, etc. can be pushed. Pushing through the reforms should have been Tsvangirai's top priority but sadly for two years he has done nothing. He was napping again as usual!
Tunisia is holding elections in July this year, six months after the demise of the country’s dictator. By end of the year Zimbabwe would have had over three years to hold fresh election. The political playing field will not be level but with Tsvangirai championing reforms; it is hard to see how that can ever happen; Mugabe is just too cunning for him!.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Tsvangirai promise to sweep securocrats' misdeeds under the carpet: what a cop-out!
Instead of demanding far reaching reforms in Zimbabwe's public media to end Zanu PF's monopoly and openning it to serve all Tsvangirai in the GPA asked that the public media stopped calling him a puppet! He really did not care that Zanu PF continued to brainwash the people with its propaganda and deny them their basic right to freedom of expression. It did not take long before the Herald reports were back to calling Tsvangirai puppet! One would think he learnt his lesson.
Tsvangirai is back at it again selling the nation's rights and future to appease Mugabe and his thugs. This time he is offering to sweep the Zanu PF dictatorship's heinous crimes under the carpet if the Police and Army promise to salute him!
Tsvangirai said if his party forms the next government, he will ensure that no one harbours feelings of revenge for past misdeeds.
"We are grappling with so many traumas, our liberation struggle was not easy. We went through that trauma - Gukurahundi was not easy, the Murambatsvina was not easy, and the violence against the opposition political parties was not easy. In finding a solution to that trauma we need balance," Tsvangirai said.
"You cannot have balance as a nation if we say an eye for an eye. If we do that, we will all be blind."
Some great people like Mahatma Gandhi of India have used this quotation “an eye for an eye and the whole world going blind” to stop the use of violence to end violence. But this is the first I have heard it used to encourage violence and lawlessness.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s history of political violence on which Zanu PF’s de facto one-party state is founded is that those committing these heinous are above the law. What makes these crimes totally unforgivable is that these crimes were not committed by some rogue criminal or small time mafia gang but by the State using State Institutions like the Police, Army, the Courts, etc.
What Tsvangirai should have been doing for years now is send a clear message that crime does not pay and the law will get you sooner or latter. Yes, even if you are committing these crimes for those in the highest offices in the land.
As for those in the Police, Army or the other State Institutions Tsvangirai should have been reminding them no nation worth its salt can have Police Officers, for example, breaking their sworn duty to maintain law and order by not just turning a blind eye to political violence but playing an active role in the lawlessness.
Most of the lowly paid people in the Police, Army, etc. are coerced by the regime to prop up the dictatorship they would stop doing so if anyone could offer them a way out. They have all suffered from the economic melt down and have been the victims of the repression just like the rest of the populous.
Only Mugabe and his inner circle have benefited from the dictatorship and have an invested interest in maintaining the status quo.
So Tsvangirai is offering to have all Mugabe and his criminal henchmen are the political crimes swept under the carpet in return for these criminals’ promise to salute him? Will he also allow them to keep all the wealth they looted too?
Zimbabwe has a real chance to once and for all put an end to this corrosive political system that has allowed mafia thugs to occupy the highest seats of office in the land and rid rough shod of the public and get away with it by the simple act of making sure that those responsible for past crimes held to account.
Upholding the rule of law and establishing precedence that those who do not will be held to accountable is not being vengeful but being responsible and visionary! If Tsvangirai ever gets into State House and is allowed to sweep under the carpet what Mugabe and his thugs have done to the people of Zimbabwe throughout the years as if their sufferings and all the deaths count for nothing then that would be the worst cop-out and dereliction of duty in human history.
44444
Gentlemen
We had all hoped against hope that events in North Africa and the Arab states will spur Zimbabweans to finally get rid of Mugabe. We can now safely conclude that the much wished for Zimbabwe's Arab Spring moment was a none-event!
So brave Zimbabweans tried to organised a copy cat public protests and within minutes the Mugabe's Police had the organisers all rounded up and thrown in jail.
Two weeks ago Ezra spoke of the little interest Zimbabweans paid to the numerous independent newspapers launched in the last year. I too have found that I can talk to many Zimbabweans be they here in UK or back home for hours on end if we talk about football, especially the English teams. Talk about the tragic events back in Zimbabwe and the discussion in end in two minutes flat!
So why is it that Zimbabweans are more interested in the fortunes of Arsenal than their own life tragedy that has left 90% of the nation out of work and destitute? Why was it that the North Africa political awakening failed to spur our people out of their dinosaur like slumber? And, more significantly, what should be done to finally arouse this nation after decades of sleep-walking into the abyss? This must be one of the challenges of our time.
5555
@Mcritic you have hit the nail bang on the head; JOC have the thugs primed to intimidate, rape and murder the electorate into voting for Zanu PF. The thugs, who include members from the Police, Army and CIO have been deployed already so why wait?
It has finally dawned on President Zuma - he is a bit slow on the take - that there can not be free elections as long as Zanu PF is free to use violence and hence the drive to depoliticise the Police, Army and CIO. Delaying the elections will give President Zuma the time he needs to push for the security sector reforms. Mugabe and JOC know that.
Before this new development it was operationally convenient to have elections this year, now it is a matter of survival! If the reforms are carried through Mugabe and his JOC cronies will lose a lot more than political power; there is the small matter of the sudden drop and quick stop at the hangman’s hands to consider.
9999
Professor Makumbe cheered when Tsvangirai signed the disastrous GPA; he is still at it.
If SADC was being influence by events in North Africa, then elections must be held this year. Tunisia and Egypt’s dictators were deposed this year and elections are set before the end of the year. Zimbabwe’s GNU has had two years already to do the same. Tsvangirai should have delivered democratic reforms long ago and not be asking SADC to do it. We are NOT impressed he has “beaten” Zanu PF in this!
88888
Another Mugabe loyalist former Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Boniface Chidyausiku is entangled in a messy divorce with his wife. She is claiming a share of the family’s wealth in settlement; The wealth include eight residential houses, farm, cars, etc. It is not as impressive as Minister Chombo’s wealth; his wife is too demanding a cut in their divorce.
Ambassador Chidyausiku will forever be remembered for his staunch support of Zimbabwe’s sham 2008 presidential run-off in which the nation was subjected to the worst cases of political violence in which at least half of the nation was subjected to some form or other of violence including beatings, rape and murder. Over 500 people were killed. No one has ever been arrested proving – proof was required – the violence were all orchestrated and sanctioned at the very top! And of course, it was none other than Mugabe himself who was the principle beneficiary of the violence. The level of violence was such that Tsvangirai could not campaign and was forced to withdraw from the race giving Mugabe a clear run!
People like Chidyausiku do not understand Zimbabwe had a total economic melt down in the last tens years and is yet to recover. How can they, they have become multi-millionaires in their own right in the same period. That is the reality of looting; the lucky few become millionaires over night and over night millions are condemned to abject poverty!
Tsvangirai is back at it again selling the nation's rights and future to appease Mugabe and his thugs. This time he is offering to sweep the Zanu PF dictatorship's heinous crimes under the carpet if the Police and Army promise to salute him!
Tsvangirai said if his party forms the next government, he will ensure that no one harbours feelings of revenge for past misdeeds.
"We are grappling with so many traumas, our liberation struggle was not easy. We went through that trauma - Gukurahundi was not easy, the Murambatsvina was not easy, and the violence against the opposition political parties was not easy. In finding a solution to that trauma we need balance," Tsvangirai said.
"You cannot have balance as a nation if we say an eye for an eye. If we do that, we will all be blind."
Some great people like Mahatma Gandhi of India have used this quotation “an eye for an eye and the whole world going blind” to stop the use of violence to end violence. But this is the first I have heard it used to encourage violence and lawlessness.
The root cause of Zimbabwe’s history of political violence on which Zanu PF’s de facto one-party state is founded is that those committing these heinous are above the law. What makes these crimes totally unforgivable is that these crimes were not committed by some rogue criminal or small time mafia gang but by the State using State Institutions like the Police, Army, the Courts, etc.
What Tsvangirai should have been doing for years now is send a clear message that crime does not pay and the law will get you sooner or latter. Yes, even if you are committing these crimes for those in the highest offices in the land.
As for those in the Police, Army or the other State Institutions Tsvangirai should have been reminding them no nation worth its salt can have Police Officers, for example, breaking their sworn duty to maintain law and order by not just turning a blind eye to political violence but playing an active role in the lawlessness.
Most of the lowly paid people in the Police, Army, etc. are coerced by the regime to prop up the dictatorship they would stop doing so if anyone could offer them a way out. They have all suffered from the economic melt down and have been the victims of the repression just like the rest of the populous.
Only Mugabe and his inner circle have benefited from the dictatorship and have an invested interest in maintaining the status quo.
So Tsvangirai is offering to have all Mugabe and his criminal henchmen are the political crimes swept under the carpet in return for these criminals’ promise to salute him? Will he also allow them to keep all the wealth they looted too?
Zimbabwe has a real chance to once and for all put an end to this corrosive political system that has allowed mafia thugs to occupy the highest seats of office in the land and rid rough shod of the public and get away with it by the simple act of making sure that those responsible for past crimes held to account.
Upholding the rule of law and establishing precedence that those who do not will be held to accountable is not being vengeful but being responsible and visionary! If Tsvangirai ever gets into State House and is allowed to sweep under the carpet what Mugabe and his thugs have done to the people of Zimbabwe throughout the years as if their sufferings and all the deaths count for nothing then that would be the worst cop-out and dereliction of duty in human history.
44444
Gentlemen
We had all hoped against hope that events in North Africa and the Arab states will spur Zimbabweans to finally get rid of Mugabe. We can now safely conclude that the much wished for Zimbabwe's Arab Spring moment was a none-event!
So brave Zimbabweans tried to organised a copy cat public protests and within minutes the Mugabe's Police had the organisers all rounded up and thrown in jail.
Two weeks ago Ezra spoke of the little interest Zimbabweans paid to the numerous independent newspapers launched in the last year. I too have found that I can talk to many Zimbabweans be they here in UK or back home for hours on end if we talk about football, especially the English teams. Talk about the tragic events back in Zimbabwe and the discussion in end in two minutes flat!
So why is it that Zimbabweans are more interested in the fortunes of Arsenal than their own life tragedy that has left 90% of the nation out of work and destitute? Why was it that the North Africa political awakening failed to spur our people out of their dinosaur like slumber? And, more significantly, what should be done to finally arouse this nation after decades of sleep-walking into the abyss? This must be one of the challenges of our time.
5555
@Mcritic you have hit the nail bang on the head; JOC have the thugs primed to intimidate, rape and murder the electorate into voting for Zanu PF. The thugs, who include members from the Police, Army and CIO have been deployed already so why wait?
It has finally dawned on President Zuma - he is a bit slow on the take - that there can not be free elections as long as Zanu PF is free to use violence and hence the drive to depoliticise the Police, Army and CIO. Delaying the elections will give President Zuma the time he needs to push for the security sector reforms. Mugabe and JOC know that.
Before this new development it was operationally convenient to have elections this year, now it is a matter of survival! If the reforms are carried through Mugabe and his JOC cronies will lose a lot more than political power; there is the small matter of the sudden drop and quick stop at the hangman’s hands to consider.
9999
Professor Makumbe cheered when Tsvangirai signed the disastrous GPA; he is still at it.
If SADC was being influence by events in North Africa, then elections must be held this year. Tunisia and Egypt’s dictators were deposed this year and elections are set before the end of the year. Zimbabwe’s GNU has had two years already to do the same. Tsvangirai should have delivered democratic reforms long ago and not be asking SADC to do it. We are NOT impressed he has “beaten” Zanu PF in this!
88888
Another Mugabe loyalist former Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Boniface Chidyausiku is entangled in a messy divorce with his wife. She is claiming a share of the family’s wealth in settlement; The wealth include eight residential houses, farm, cars, etc. It is not as impressive as Minister Chombo’s wealth; his wife is too demanding a cut in their divorce.
Ambassador Chidyausiku will forever be remembered for his staunch support of Zimbabwe’s sham 2008 presidential run-off in which the nation was subjected to the worst cases of political violence in which at least half of the nation was subjected to some form or other of violence including beatings, rape and murder. Over 500 people were killed. No one has ever been arrested proving – proof was required – the violence were all orchestrated and sanctioned at the very top! And of course, it was none other than Mugabe himself who was the principle beneficiary of the violence. The level of violence was such that Tsvangirai could not campaign and was forced to withdraw from the race giving Mugabe a clear run!
People like Chidyausiku do not understand Zimbabwe had a total economic melt down in the last tens years and is yet to recover. How can they, they have become multi-millionaires in their own right in the same period. That is the reality of looting; the lucky few become millionaires over night and over night millions are condemned to abject poverty!
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Tsvangirai to appoint 15 "kitchen cabinet" loyalists into MDC National Executive - the Zanu PF rot setting in!
MDC leader Tsvangirai is reportedly considering expanding the party’s National Executive by as much as 15 loyalists from his “kitchen cabinet”. The Congress elected 12 members and the party’s constitutions says 7 can be unelected. The MDC leader is seeking to more than double the number of unelected members!
MDC disregarded the party's constitution stipulating that the president could only serve a maximum of two terms thus allowing Tsvangirai to remain leader. Of course this gentlemen agreement applied to everyone else and hence, other than Mudziri, the top brass in the party remained in office after the May 2011 party Congress. And not contend with that, the party is bringing back the few marginal individuals the party Congress had pruned off.
“MDC has a winning team, why change it!” parroted the party chief propagandist, Nelson Chamisa.
There is no real debate and competition for leadership position in MDC turning it into a party of deadwood. The party was formed eleven years ago and its track record is already a liturgy of monumental lost opportunities and blunders.
MDC will never bring economic prosperity in Zimbabwe just as Zanu PF’s promise of mass prosperity – “gutsa ruzhinji” – has turned out to be mass poverty. The two parties’ ethos stifles competition depriving themselves the critical ingredient for a dynamic and progressive government. The only thing differentiating MDC from Zanu PF is the latter’s history of brutal repression. But do not hold your breath MDC the party has not had the opportunity of being in office to abuse it. Indeed the party has already shown they too can resort to brute force in the dog fight for party positions; a taste of what to come!
MDC disregarded the party's constitution stipulating that the president could only serve a maximum of two terms thus allowing Tsvangirai to remain leader. Of course this gentlemen agreement applied to everyone else and hence, other than Mudziri, the top brass in the party remained in office after the May 2011 party Congress. And not contend with that, the party is bringing back the few marginal individuals the party Congress had pruned off.
“MDC has a winning team, why change it!” parroted the party chief propagandist, Nelson Chamisa.
There is no real debate and competition for leadership position in MDC turning it into a party of deadwood. The party was formed eleven years ago and its track record is already a liturgy of monumental lost opportunities and blunders.
MDC will never bring economic prosperity in Zimbabwe just as Zanu PF’s promise of mass prosperity – “gutsa ruzhinji” – has turned out to be mass poverty. The two parties’ ethos stifles competition depriving themselves the critical ingredient for a dynamic and progressive government. The only thing differentiating MDC from Zanu PF is the latter’s history of brutal repression. But do not hold your breath MDC the party has not had the opportunity of being in office to abuse it. Indeed the party has already shown they too can resort to brute force in the dog fight for party positions; a taste of what to come!
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Reforming Zimbabwe's security sector is necessary for free elections but there are challenges!
Yes security sect reforms are a must if there is to be free elections. What I find infuriating about Tsvangirai is why he has done nothing on the matter for the last two years. Thank God President Zuma has taken this up; still there is a limit to what even he can achieve in the few months before elections.
President Zuma faces three main challenges; the biggest and immediate challenge is time. The writing of the new constitution has taken over two years already and there is still little to show for because Zanu PF kept throwing spanners in the works. It suited the party to do so. Now that the party has decided to have fresh elections this year, the nation will be whipped into a stampede to make sure that happens. The party does not want to see any democratic reforms pushed through and making sure there is no time is one way to ensure they achieve this.
Second, whatever reforms President Zuma force the three parties to sign to in the roadmap have a snowball in hell chance they will not be honoured on the ground; particularly when they can not be enforced by law. Mugabe will see to it that any proposed laws threatening his dictatorial powers are kicked into the tall grass!
Last but by no means least; no nation can hope to have peace and to prosper when those entrusted with the duty of keeping law and order and themselves guilty of breaking the law. The rule of law is the foundation of peace, justice, freedom, liberty, economic prosperity; all the good things we all seek in life! Zanu PF has used all manner of ways to coerce and corrupt our people into doing things they know are wrong and are damaging to the common interest including their own person interest. The overwhelming majority in the Police, Army, etc have suffered greatly from the madness of this Mugabe dictatorship as have the rest of us.
The Police Officers and the Soldiers, deployed throughout the country, to intimidate, rape and murder know that it is Mugabe and his cronies who stand to gain from all this; they are not stupid. They have allowed themselves to be a key part of this madness because no one has yet presented to them an alternative vision of Zimbabwe freed of this madness.
Waving some piece of paper signed by some up starts in Cape Town saying a Police Officer must enforce the law regardless of political affiliation will not be enough to restore law and order. To win this war, there has to be boots on the ground to sell the democratic Zimbabwe brand. It is not a hard sell, God knows it sells itself, and yet MDC, who should have been selling it, have failed miserably to do so. Can not see what President Zuma can do on this one.
Reforming Zimbabwe’s Police and Army are a must for democratic elections but, sadly, that is not going to happen; with Mugabe determined to have elections this year, it is a bridge too far!
President Zuma faces three main challenges; the biggest and immediate challenge is time. The writing of the new constitution has taken over two years already and there is still little to show for because Zanu PF kept throwing spanners in the works. It suited the party to do so. Now that the party has decided to have fresh elections this year, the nation will be whipped into a stampede to make sure that happens. The party does not want to see any democratic reforms pushed through and making sure there is no time is one way to ensure they achieve this.
Second, whatever reforms President Zuma force the three parties to sign to in the roadmap have a snowball in hell chance they will not be honoured on the ground; particularly when they can not be enforced by law. Mugabe will see to it that any proposed laws threatening his dictatorial powers are kicked into the tall grass!
Last but by no means least; no nation can hope to have peace and to prosper when those entrusted with the duty of keeping law and order and themselves guilty of breaking the law. The rule of law is the foundation of peace, justice, freedom, liberty, economic prosperity; all the good things we all seek in life! Zanu PF has used all manner of ways to coerce and corrupt our people into doing things they know are wrong and are damaging to the common interest including their own person interest. The overwhelming majority in the Police, Army, etc have suffered greatly from the madness of this Mugabe dictatorship as have the rest of us.
The Police Officers and the Soldiers, deployed throughout the country, to intimidate, rape and murder know that it is Mugabe and his cronies who stand to gain from all this; they are not stupid. They have allowed themselves to be a key part of this madness because no one has yet presented to them an alternative vision of Zimbabwe freed of this madness.
Waving some piece of paper signed by some up starts in Cape Town saying a Police Officer must enforce the law regardless of political affiliation will not be enough to restore law and order. To win this war, there has to be boots on the ground to sell the democratic Zimbabwe brand. It is not a hard sell, God knows it sells itself, and yet MDC, who should have been selling it, have failed miserably to do so. Can not see what President Zuma can do on this one.
Reforming Zimbabwe’s Police and Army are a must for democratic elections but, sadly, that is not going to happen; with Mugabe determined to have elections this year, it is a bridge too far!
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