Sat 19 May 2012

“Zimbabwe Betrayed” by Sandy Botha

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Zimbabwe Betrayed.
By Sandy Botha.

All the world leaders stood with pride,
On that day when Rhodesia died.
They congratulated themselves on a job well done,
As Zimbabwe was born with the rising sun.
And the drums beat so very loud,
As Mugabe addressed the eager crowd.
He said “we’ve won our freedom today”,
He said “I’m president and I’m here to stay”,
And he made wild promises about the way,
That Zimbabwe would change on it’s first day.
Towns were renamed and streets were too,
Every time an African leader passed through.
And the cheering of the crowd as they danced in delight,
As Mugabe lit the heroes acre light.
Mercedes were ordered they couldn’t have enough,
They knew they deserved them the fight had been tough,
The West would pay for them so they didn’t need to worry,
The aid was pouring in they had to spend it in a hurry.
Mugabe was important now, he’d even met the Queen,
And of the whole world there was little left unseen.
But still Mugabe felt ill at ease,
What if someone else his power did seize.
The Matabele leaders had to go first,
It was for their blood that Mugabe did thirst.
And the whites that remained were a thorn in his side,
What to do about them he needed to decide.
But what had actually changed in the ordinary mans lives?
As a future for their children they did strive.
Inflation had spiralled out of control,
And on these people it took its toll.

And when there was a rumbling of discontent,
It was always the army that in he sent,
He silenced the people who didn’t agree,
That he’d done a good job since Zimbabwe was free.
He had to find someone else to blame,
So he started his land seizure game,
So he’s kicked the white farmers off the land,
So many farms now idle they stand.
Farm workers jobs have all gone now,
And they wonder how they’ll make a living somehow.
And now as children starve and die,
The people of Zimbabwe hang their heads and cry.
Elections were held but what a farce,
The results were in before the first vote was cast.
And as food aid continues to pour in,
Mugabe commits the ultimate sin.
For as people get to the front of the queue,
They have to prove that to Mugabe they’re true.
For if they don’t have a ZANU PF card.
Then its empty handed that they leave the yard.
And the leaders of the world stand by and sigh,
As they see the people of Zimbabwe die.
Why can’t they admit that they made a mistake,
Why can’t they do something for Zimbabwe ‘s sake.
And I wonder what stories the old people tell,
Of the time before they were living in hell.
Of a time when work was plentiful,
And the children were happy and their bellies were full.
Of days before they lived under a dictator so cruel,
In the days before they fought for Majority Rule…

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Thu 10 May 2012

Book Review: “Without Honour” by Robb WJ Ellis

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The hardest book to review is the book that touches you personally and this is such a book. To do it justice, yet not let my emotions overwhelm my response, was… impossible. So I have decided to start with the most objective opinion I can manage and then go on to write about my personal feelings.
The book is Without Honour, by Robb W J Ellis.
A simple grey cover, straightforward and unassuming… rather like the author. This is a true story. It is written by a man who was, at the time of writing, a very young hope-filled policeman in the equally very young newly independent country of Zimbabwe.
Robb Ellis writes as he was (and still is at heart) – a policeman. His observations are precisely written, just like a good police report. It makes for a clear, and surprisingly objective, account of his most deeply personal experiences.
“When I decided, at a tender age, that I wanted to be a policeman in Africa, I wanted to do it amongst the people I knew and loved – Zimbabweans. I had visions of a classic police role – someone who investigates crime and corrects the wrongdoings of the criminally minded.
Wow! Was I in for a rude awakening!”
Without Honour is not a book that automatically grips you on the first page. Being a precise sensible sort, Robb starts with a chapter explaining the history of the country and the politics of that time. If you know most of this, as I do, it was a little redundant and dry, but it is a very necessary reference chapter for anyone who does not know the full history of Rhodesia-Zimbabwe. It also sets the stage for the appalling events that followed Zimbabwe’s Independence.
From there Robb describes his childhood in Rhodesia before going on to write about his brief time as a policeman in Zimbabwe – ‘brief’ due to… well you need to read it and find out. It’s a tale that reads like a movie, complete with the shocking twist-in-the-tale ending, except this is a true story about genuine events.
How would I sum up this book? I’d say it is:
A clear honest account of a period in time when a country turned inwards and ate itself alive.
Robb wanted to make the world a better place… instead he found himself caught up in an insanity that nearly cost him his life and most certainly left deep and irreparable scars on his soul. As he puts it:
“The story that you are about to read is fact. I was there and it happened around me, and to me. It is all true. It can’t be fiction – a story like this can never be made up. It’s too convoluted, too personal, too destructive – too real…
It took something deep inside of me to even start writing this book.
… And it hurt to write this – mentally.”
I can only imagine how it felt to live this story.  It hurt to read it – I wept through most of it. I don’t know if you will weep too. Our world has become overloaded and numbed to war atrocities on TV news, but for me this isn’t a story you see on the TV and say, “How terrible” as you switch channels. This happened to a man my age who grew up in the same country as me; he worked in and around the city where I was born. This is where my family roots are and the chance that I, or my family, knew people involved in these times is not only possible… it is inevitable.
Even trying to pick a few quotes from the book I ended up crying again.
“The terrible stench of burned human flesh filled the air. Not a smell you would want to smell everyday, but one which once you would easily identify again, should you have that terrible privilege.
The remains of the hut were still smouldering. The bodies within were all melded together, their burnt limbs outstretched as if accusing the living of not doing more to save them. Small bodies. Grotesquely misshapen in a final dance with death… Ugly…
Facial expressions reflecting the final moments of life… Glaring empty eye sockets, questioning why…
How do you handle something like that? What do you do?
I had discovered in my relatively short time in the Police that the best way to handle scenes like this was to busy myself with anything and everything else – not to allow my mind to stop and think.
Don’t stop. Keep going. The dead don’t mind.
But they do. And they ask questions every time you allow your mind to venture back to that day. Why weren’t you there to stop them? What did you do to help?”
Robb was 19 when he witnessed these events. He wrote them down in reports that would be quietly removed from all records… because these events were commanded by the bright new president himself, Robert Mugabe.
Robb began to realise that he was tracking the actions of an elite government-approved brigade of mercenaries rather than random acts of violence… and with that understanding came the new fear of being someone who knows his own government is now his enemy. How that came to a climax is quite surreal and terrifying.
This is a frightening book and it contains descriptions of war crimes that are definitely not for the sensitive. There are details in here that will haunt you, but to leave them out is to deny these people any justice or voice. Robb has given them his voice and continues to be a voice for Zimbabwe.
I am honoured to know him.

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Tue 8 May 2012

Tsvangirai Aide Nabbed For Assaulting Cop

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POLICE have arrested Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s security officer and two MDC-T supporters for allegedly assaulting a police officer and a Zanu-PF supporter at a rally in Kambuzuma on Sunday.

The three have been identified as Ambitious Muzuva (36) of Kambuzuma Section 3 who is employed as security officer for the PM, Passmore Jaricha (28) of Epworth and Lovemore Chimbangu (19) of Kuwadzana 1.

They are detained at Warren Park Police Station while investigations are underway.

Police yesterday dismissed reports by some sections of the media that they disrupted the MDC-T rally in Kambuzuma as misleading.

Harare provincial spokesperson Inspector James Sabau said the attack on the police officer was premeditated.

“MDC-T Harare provincial organising secretary youth wing told people gathered at the rally that they were going to deal with police officers at the venue,” he said.

“A commuter omnibus was stopped by MDC-T youths at around 1410hrs.

“The conductor, Gerald Mandaza (23) chanted a Zanu-PF slogan and this infuriated MDC-T supporters and one of them stabbed him with a sharp object on the left shoulder.”

MDC-T youths went on to deflate the commuter omnibus’ front right tyre.

“Mandaza was rushed to Parirenyatwa for medical attention and he is reportedly in a stable condition,” said Insp Sabau.

“Twenty minutes later, four MDC-T youths approached a police officer who was monitoring the rally.

“One of the youths recognised him and asked what he was doing at their meeting.

“The four manhandled and dragged him for about 500 metres away from the meeting.”

The police officer was taken to a footbridge between Kambuzuma 2 and 3 where more youths emerged from a nearby maize field armed with knobkerries, stones and knives.

The youths punched and kicked the police officer and took away his Nokia E300 cellphone before he escaped with minor injuries.

Warren Park police officers were later called to the meeting with a back-up team and after the three suspects were arrested the rally continued.

(Source)

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Mon 7 May 2012

Mugabe Snubs Tsvangirai

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In a move likely to cause fresh fissures in the wobbly inclusive government, President Robert Mugabe has snubbed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai by making key government appointments without consulting his coalition government partner.

The Global Political Agreement (GPA), signed between Mugabe (on behalf of Zanu PF), Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara (for the MDCs) in September 2008, stipulates that Mugabe should consult his partners when making key government appointments.

But last Thursday, Mugabe unilaterally appointed Justice Anne-Mary Gowora and Justice Yunus Omerjee to the Supreme Court bench while Advocate Happias Zhou joined the High Court.

This has raised tempers and highlights what observers have described as Mugabe’s intransigence and how he continues to undermine the power-sharing agreement.

Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Obert Gutu also said he was not consulted on the key judiciary appointments, neither was he invited to the swearing-in ceremony of the judges at State House.

“We were hearing from the grapevine within the legal fraternity since last week of the appointment of the three judges. But I was not informed or consulted as the Deputy Minister of Justice and a senior legal practitioner in the fraternity. The invitation was never extended to my office as should have happened,” Gutu said.

Tsvangirai was not present at the occasion, which was attended by Justice and Legal Affairs minister Patrick Chinamasa, High Court and Supreme Court judges and senior members from the legal fraternity.

MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said the party was unhappy that Mugabe had snubbed Tsvangirai over the appointments.

“Although the GPA is clear on what must happen before key appointments, President Mugabe has reneged from that GPA position and has resorted to making unilateral appointments as our (party) president was not consulted,” Mwonzora said.

According to the State media: “The appointments were done following consultation with the Judicial Service Commission as prescribed by the law.

The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (Mugabe) made the appointments in terms of Section 84 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.”

Presidential spokesperson George Charamba yesterday admitted Tsvangirai was not consulted, but said Mugabe was exercising his constitutional powers by appointing service chiefs.

“Yes, it’s not in the spirit of GPA, but it’s in the spirit of the law. That’s all what matters,” Charamba said.

In February this year, Mugabe unilaterally extended the terms of office of Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and four other service chiefs — Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga, Lieutenant General Philip Valerio Sibanda (Zimbabwe National Army), Air Marshal Perence Shiri (Air Force of Zimbabwe) and Retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi (Commissioner of Prisons) – without consulting the Premier.

The appointments came at a time the MDC-T is angry over reports that Zanu PF had roped in service chiefs as its political commissars to contain factionalism as rifts from the recently-held district co-ordinating committee elections continue to haunt the party.

Sources said last Sunday at Marymount Teachers’ College, service chiefs from Mutare attended the party provincial co-ordinating committee meeting where they were tasked to spearhead the Zanu PF election campaign.

But Zanu PF Manicaland provincial chairperson Mike Madiro said: “I cannot comment on matters we discussed in that meeting because it was a closed one. I don’t know what has happened to those indisciplined comrades who chose to divulge what we discussed. I chaired the meeting and declared that it was a closed one, therefore I cannot go against my word.”

Service chiefs reported to have been assigned Zanu PF duties include Police Deputy Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga, Major General Martin Chedondo, Air Vice-Marshal Shebba Brighton Shumbayaonda, Brigadier-General Herbert Chingono, Brigadier-General Mike Sango and 3 Brigade Commander Brigadier-General Herbert Bandama.

MDC-T secretary for defence, intelligence and security Giles Mutsekwa said it was regrettable that Zanu PF had chosen to abuse service chiefs.

“As the MDC, we are so worried about the developments that military and police officers are being deployed as political commissars of Zanu PF,” said Mutsekwa, himself a former army officer.

“The development that serving service chiefs have been tasked to resuscitate the waning popularity of the former ruling party makes sad reading for the MDC and Zimbabwe in general. In our view, what the security forces should concentrate on at the moment is to demonstrate to all Zimbabweans that they are bound by the supreme law of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

“Our experience has shown that wherever the military involve themselves in party political campaigns, there has been massive violence as we witnessed in 2008.We hope that Jomic (Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee) is following these developments and that they are taking necessary steps to curb genocide.”

Involvement of service chiefs in active party politics has remained one of the issues hanging over the coalition government.

(Source)

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Thu 3 May 2012

Mugabe Unpopular With Most: Gallup

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President Robert Mugabe is one of the least popular leaders in Africa and is ranked lowly by his own people, according to a 2011 poll by the internationally esteemed Gallup World organisation.

Mugabe, Zanu (PF)’s First Secretary, is the party’s chosen candidate in the next general election, which he insists should be held this year despite strong local and international opposition. Gallup’s survey puts Mugabe third from the bottom on a list of 34 countries. Only Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Angola’s Eduardo dos Santos, who came last, are worse than him.

Only 36% of the Zimbabwean population approves of Mugabe’s leadership, according to Gallup – a distant rating from the 81% enjoyed by Botswana’s Ian Khama, who is the most popular leader in southern Africa.

In Botswana, only 19% of the population disapproved of Khama’s leadership, while 73% gave the overall leadership the thumbs up.

“The President’s and Country Leadership ratings are the highest among surveyed countries in the SADC region, as well as being well above both the African and global average,” said Jeff Ramsay, the Botswana government spokesperson.

The annual survey, done through face-to-face interviews with citizens of the respective countries, determines popularity of national and institutional leaders of countries around the globe and sampled 142 countries.

While “the state of the local economy does have an influence on Africans’ assessments of their country’s leader, other factors are also at play” says Gallup.

In the majority of African countries, the rating of the heads of state was proportional to that of the national leadership, but, says Gallup, Zimbabwe was different.

The national leadership represented by top officials in the coalition government set up in early 2009 as a compromise between Zanu (PF) and the two MDC formations, performed better than Mugabe.

Even though in Africa people tend to rate their head of state’s performance more highly than they rate that of the country’s general leadership, Zimbabwe is different, according to the survey findings.

“Zimbabwean residents give higher marks to the country’s general leadership than to the president. This suggests that they credit improvements in their lives more to the actions of the broader unity government in fighting hyperinflation than those of their head of state,’’ said Gallup.

Gallup says 43% of the adult population are unlikely to view Mugabe as a popular leader in the future, preferring the overall leadership instead, while those that would still approve him remained at 36%.

“Governance issues, such as the honesty of elections and the judicial system, seem to matter much more in the eyes of most Africans. Other factors, such as political apathy, may play a role as many may not be interested in political affairs and tacitly approve of their leader’s performance,” said Gallup.

Poll findings

Approve %

Botswana – Ian khama 81

Moz – Armando Guebuza 64

Mauritius – Navin Ramgoolam 67

Kenya – Mwai Kibaki 62

Swaziland – King Mswati III 56

Zambia – Rupiah Banda* 47

DRC – Joseph Kabila 43

Malawi – Bingu wa Mutharika* 36

Zimbabwe – Robert Mugabe 36

Senegal – Abdulaye Wade* 30

Angola – Eduardo dos Santos 16

*No longer in office

(Source)

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Fri 27 Apr 2012

Cree Indian Proverb

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Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

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Mon 23 Apr 2012

NZ Journalist Still Imprisoned In Zimbabwe

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The New Zealand journalist imprisoned in Zimbabwe has not been released say his family, despite media reports that he has.

Speaking to Fairfax, Robin Hammond’s sister Jessica Doube said he was still being detained by Zimbabwe authorities.

“We’ve heard from his fiance in South Africa, and she said he hasn’t been released.”

Doube said Hammond’s fiance was in constant contact with him.

“We are obviously disappointed the reports aren’t true, we would love him to be freed,” Doube said.

Zimbabwe newspaper The Herald had reported Hammond was released and fined $183.10 for breaching media regulations, when he and Zimbabwe woman Bertha Chiguvare were arrested on Monday for illegally working on a story on irregular migration between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has not received any updates on the matter yet.

Hammond grew up in Wellington before moving first to Britain and then South Africa, where he has lived for about the past three years and has won international media awards for his work as a photo journalist. In 2009 and 2010 he won Amnesty International media awards and Life Magazine included one of his pictures in their edition of Pictures of the Year for 2010.

Hammond’s mother, Christine, said her family had not heard from him in more than a week “but it’s unlikely we would hear from him until he is back in South Africa”.

She said her daughter had rung her this morning after she heard on radio there were reports he had been freed, but the family were “waiting on tenterhooks” to try and get the information confirmed.

His arrest was his second in as many months in Zimbabwe, Hammond said. She was worried about her son’s safety and hoped he would be allowed to return to his home in Cape Town, South Africa, unharmed.

Hammond said her son was aware of the job’s dangers, “but there is a quote that says ‘be the difference you want to see in the world’ and he is making the difference he wants to see and we are so amazingly blown away by his passion and his commitment and the trueness of spirit”.

“He has seen some horrific things and the stories he tells are just gut-wrenching.”

Hammond’s sister Anna-Mareia, 29, said she was surprised her brother had gone back to Zimbabwe so soon after his initial arrest. In the first instance he was detained for about 36 hours in “some really horrible, dingy room with nothing to lie on – just concrete, and no windows or anything like that”.

She did not know the full circumstances surrounding the first arrest, but understood he was taking photos that the authorities didn’t like.

“He’s kind of cagey about it [revealing details]. He knew the Zimbabwe government wouldn’t be too pleased with it. He’s like the bravest guy that I know.”

The paper reported the pair appeared in front of magistrate yesterday (local time) charged with contravening sections of the Protected Areas and Places and Immigration Acts.

Hammond, 37, and Chiguvare, who the paper said worked for Save the Children, were stopped by officials when taking photos at the border.

At the time, an Mfat spokesperson said they were aware of the situation.

Hammond was understood to be based in Cape Town working as a teacher and photographer.

“Preliminary investigations reveal the Hammond Robin Nicholas [sic] who claims to be a teacher and photographer entered the country on Sunday morning in the company of Bertha Chiguvare who is employed by Save the Children in Musina South Africa,” Beitbridge district Chief Superintendent Lawrence Chinhengo told The Herald.

“They misrepresented to the Department of Immigration that they were on holiday. In fact they were on a mission to investigate how illegal immigrants manage to cross into South Africa,” he said.

“After being cleared at the border post they spent the night in Beitbridge and on the following day they enlisted the services of a man who facilitates illegal migration popularly know as Guma Guma. They hired a taxi and went to Dulibadzimu Gorge along the Limpopo River intending to take videos and pictures of the illegal entry points. They however, came across police and soldiers who were on patrol in the area and sped off to the border post.”

He said the two continued taking videos and photos near the commercial area.

“The duo ran out of luck since our detectives were already on the look out for them after getting a tip-off. They were arrested after taking photos of one of the travellers and we recovered equipment including video and digital cameras and a voice tracker.”

Police found a recording of an interview the duo did with a young girl and photos of the border post, Chinhengo said. Hammond had apparently been arrested in another province while on a similar mission.

Chiguvare faced charges of breaching a section of the Criminal Law Reform and Codification and the Protected Areas and Places Acts.

(Source)

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Fri 20 Apr 2012

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Pleads for Outside Help

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Zimbabwe’s finance minister, Tendai Biti, says his country has a mixed record in terms of economic policies during a three-year power-sharing unity government. He also warns there has been no progress in terms of preparing better elections, which in the past have been marred by widespread violence and fraud.

At the Atlantic Council think tank Thursday, Zimbabwe’s finance minister, Tendai Biti, pleaded for outside help, both in terms of improving electoral conditions before it is too late, and in helping Zimbabwe’s economy.

Economic successes he outlined included dropping the Zimbabwean dollar as the official currency, which helped tame massive hyperinflation, and removing previous government restrictions such as price controls.

“The biggest thing which we did was to restore trust in the market, because we have been predictable, we have been consistent, and I have said if there is anyone who is going to push me to carry out a measure that I do not agree with, if anyone is going to force me to retain the Zimbabwean dollar, I will quit and go back to my law firm,” Biti said.

A current power struggle concerns so-called indigenization policies, pushed forward by Zimbabwe’s black empowerment ministry.

Black Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, from President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, said earlier this month the government had taken majority ownership of all foreign-owned mining companies. But his claim was immediately disputed by Mugabe’s political rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The prime minister is the head of the Movement for Democratic Change, of which Biti is the secretary-general.

Biti said that while he understood the aim of indigenization and what he called “resource nationalism,” in order to give citizens sustainable access to the wealth of their country, he called its implementation in Zimbabwe a “disaster.”

“You are just transferring shares from a few rich, white people, to a few rich, black people so it is not democratization. It is just elite transfer. So it was not well thought out. And the true due process is not sufficiently being followed, so I think it is a program that we need to go back to the drawing board and then say genuinely how can we empower people,” Biti said.

He listed other challenges including massive debt, very little foreign direct investment and much lower diamond-mining revenues than the government was expecting.

In terms of politics, Biti warned that if the current opportunity for successful elections is not met, any economic progress Zimbabwe has made could be erased.

Elections are expected by next year, but 88-year-old President Mugabe, in power for more than three decades and once again a candidate, has said he wants to hold them as soon as possible.

Biti had harsh words for President Mugabe.

“If you have a party that is placing its hopes in somebody who is 88 years old, I think there is something wrong with that. If you are 88 years, you belong to a people’s home, you belong to a wheelchair. To place the fate of a country to an 88-year-old, with great respect, I am not a member of ZANU-PF, but with great respect, it is an insult to present generations. We need renewal in Zimbabwe,” Biti said.

Mugabe has said he is still leading Zimbabwe to correct wrongs from the brutal colonial past of what was then white-minority rule Rhodesia.

(Source)

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Thu 19 Apr 2012

Ban Tsvangirai: War Vets

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War veterans, collaborators and former political detainees resolved here at the weekend that MDC-T President, Morgan Tsvangirai, should be denied political space as he was against the people’s revolution, the land “reform” programme and black empowerment initiatives by Zanu (PF).

The resolution was agreed upon by some 2000 Zanu (PF) delegates attending the National Ex-Political Detainees and War Collaborators’ Congress.

“It is our national duty to deny Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC party room to practice their anti-revolutionary politics. Tsvangirai will never rule in his life-time. Robert Mugabe will be the country’s president for life,” said speaker after speaker.

The delegates also demanded that government pay them “without delay” gratuities and monthly allowances as it did for war veterans in the 1990s.

Many expressed anger at Mugabe’s failure to address them. “We feel betrayed by the President’s unexpected absence of He should take note of our concerns and address them before elections while he is still in office. We cannot afford to wait for a new government to be in place as the future is unpredictable,” said a disgruntled delegate who only identified himself as Jena from Plumtree.

Some of the delegates returned to their homes even before the congress started, complaining of hunger and lack of decent accommodation.

(Source)

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Wed 18 Apr 2012

Some Of Us Died A Long Time Ago, We Don’t Give In: Mugabe

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President Robert Mugabe vowed on Tuesday to keep up the push for majority shares in foreign-owned firms to transfer to locals, declaring that Zimbabwe had nothing to lose.

Mugabe, 88, also accused the United States of seeking to sabotage Zimbabwe’s economy by imposing sanctions on Mbada Holdings and Marange Resources – two diamond firms part-owned by the government.

Speaking at an annual children’s party in Harare held on the eve of the country’s independence, Mugabe said the United States had threatened sanctions on anyone buying diamonds from Zimbabwe.

A week after he was rumoured dead, Mugabe vowed to defy external pressure aimed at forcing a change of government in Zimbabwe, declaring: “Some of us died a long time ago. We don’t give in.”

He said Zimbabwe will forge ahead with its indigenisation programme which has caused consternation within a coalition he formed with his MDC rivals in 2009.

In a reference to mines, Mugabe said foreign individuals had arrived in the country with not so much of an investment than “hoes and shovels”, which was the basis on which they were laying claim to the country’s mineral wealth.

“That’s what we are objecting to,” Mugabe said. “Down with them! Let them take their hoes and shovels and leave. Do they think God was crazy to put these mineral resources in our hands?”

Mugabe, who championed controversial land reforms targeting white farmers starting in 2000, hinted he was running out of time and the resource ownership drive was the final battleground for the liberation effort which began with a bush war against colonial rule in the 1970s.

“We are living in the afternoon, if not in the evening of our lives and those who are still in the morning of their lives will have the benefits we are fighting for,” he told thousands of children drawn from the country’s 10 provinces who gathered at the City Sports Centre, among them his two sons Robert Jnr and Chatunga.

He added: “They don’t have to toil as we have done. It would be much easier for them to proceed into the future.”

Zimbabwe celebrates its 32nd independence on Wednesday which is being held under the theme: ‘Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment for Economic Transformation’.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told journalists in Harare on Tuesday that he had disagreed with Mugabe at their last cabinet meeting when Zanu PF ministers proposed an empowerment-based theme.

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Tsvangirai said he had wanted a theme about peace.
“I wish to state that we had a discussion in Cabinet last week about the proposed theme for this year,” Tsvangirai said.

“We rejected it because we find this a repugnant theme, which sounds more of a slogan for a political party than an inclusive, peace-building theme, which should be determined through consensus.

“While we support broad-based empowerment of the ordinary person, our colleagues have taken indigenisation to mean expropriation and nationalisation. We have disagreed in this government because there are others who want to perpetuate the old culture of expropriation, looting and self-aggrandizement clad in new and misleading nomenclature such as indigenisation.”

(Source)

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