Messages From Zimbabwe

ZNU 115 is released. This was recorded on Friday - only because I am so very tired and had so much to do over the weekend… If the programme contents then seem dated with developments going on in Zimbabwe, then I apologise.

In this programme I read my posting from last week, entitled “VINDICATED!“…

The programme can be played in the player on The Bearded Man, the multiplayers in the right hand sidebar on that page, here, or even downloaded from here.

All 115 programmes are archived on my Odeo page.

Thank you for your continued support.

Take care.

‘debvhu

Zimbabwe’s former finance minister Simba Makoni may have come a distant third in the presidential election, but he could emerge as the kingmaker in the aftermath of the bitterly-contested poll.

Makoni, 58, quit the ruling ZANU-PF party to mount his challenge against President Robert Mugabe and main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, but unofficial results put him a distant third in the March 29 vote.

“Obviously he will be a kingmaker. Either of the two will need Makoni,” said Professor Eldred Masunungure, a political expert at the University of Zimbabwe.

Makoni is thought to have played a “spoiling” role in the presidential battle so far, winning enough votes to prevent his rivals from passing the 50 percent mark needed for outright victory.

But this could change if indeed the duel for the presidency goes to a run-off: analysts believe his supporters will hold the balance of power.

“In the second round, he is becoming the ultimate winner, playing the role of an influential factor on who wins,” said Joseph Kurebga, a political scientist expert and colleague of Masunungure.

In an apparent bid to spruce up his electoral machinery, Makoni’s camp announced plans Saturday to form a political party, after he stood as an independent in the presidential elections.

“We will be formalising our movement into a fully-fledged political party,” his spokesman Denford Magora told AFP.

For the parliamentary polls, Makoni entered a loose alliance with a splinter faction of Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and a host of independent candidates.

The MDC faction garnered just 10 of the 210 parliamentary seats, while Tsvangirai’s main bloc took 99 and Mugabe’s ZANU-PF 97.

Makoni’s movement is widely expected to back Tsvangirai in the event of a run-off with President Mugabe, but his spokesman said nothing had yet been finalised.

“No decision has been made as to who we will back as we are still awaiting results of the presidential elections.”

However, if Zimbabwe’s elections have proved anything so far it is that nothing is for certain. One-time Mugabe information minister Jonathan Moyo believes Makoni’s candidacy is actually a ruling party ploy.

“He denied Tsvangirai an outright victory and gave Mugabe a new lease of life. It was a ZANU-PF project aimed at preventing Tsvangirai from the leadership,” said Moyo.

If unofficial results are to be believed, Mugabe will clearly find it very difficult to win a sixth term without Makoni’s support.

But in the run-up to the polls, Mugabe labelled his former protege a political “prostitute” and described him as “a frog trying to inflate itself to the size of an ox,” warning he would “burst in the attempt.”

But if anybody needs Makoni more, it is Mugabe, according to Masunungure.

“Unless he mobilises the support base which did not vote in the first round, there is no doubt that Robert Mugabe will need Makoni in order to make it back to State House (the presidential palace),” he said.

Less than half of Zimbabwe’s 5.9 million eligible voters voted last week and both Mugabe and Tsvangirai will look to tap into the huge reserve of untapped voters if the presidency goes to a run-off.

(Source)

I continue to keep a watching eye on events in Zimbabwe. But I have been quiet today as I am exhausted. For the last week, I have done little else except follow the elections in Zimbabwe - and try to keep you all informed - and it is now time to pay the piper.

Firstly, the war veterans have apparently marched through the city of Harare from the ZANU PF headquarters in Rotten Row - in a statement of intent against the opposition party, the MDC.

Do the war veterans not have to give 3 days notice of their intention to march to the police? The law was signed not that long ago by their illustrious leader! But the law obviously doesn’t apply to those that represent ZANU PF.

Secondly, Mugabe has indicated that he will go ahead with a second round in the Presidential election - a straight two-way fight between Tsvangirai and Mugabe. Mugabe has the power to extend the dates from 21 days to 90 days. But, to this best of my knowledge, he hasn’t declared that. But 21 days - what happens in the interim? Who runs the country? Which government?

Think of it along these lines. Patrick Chinamasa is/was the Minister of Justice. He lost his seat in the election. Who will be the Minister of Justice until the Presidential election is resolved? Chinamasa? Isn’t that extending the rule of people who are not the choice of the population?

Thirdly, and lastly - for today at any rate - I refuse to refer to the MDC as the ‘ruling party’ once they take over. Mainly because the phrase carries with it too many memories of the Mugabe reign and his destructive government.

When the MDC takes over, and while they are in control, I will refer to them as the ‘party of choice‘ - because that is what they are!

Take care.

‘debvhu

vindicate - 1. to clear of accusation, blame suspicion, or doubt with supporting arguments or proof. 2. to justify or support. 3. to justify or prove the worth of, especially in the light of later developments.

Since 1999, the official opposition party within Zimbabwean politics has been on the receiving end of endless events in that country. Them - and many accidental observers and members of other bodies. We all watched as Mugabe’s ZANU PF rigged the elections in 2002 and 2005, and the Movement for Democratic Change took much of the blame for those losses.

Incorrectly, as it proved, since various court wrangles not only cleared the party, but in 2005 it is believed that Morgan Tsvangirai, the party’s leader, actually won the Presidential race, but was denied a re-run as the courts decided that because Mugabe had already taken office, they lacked the power to reverse it.

Then came the acrimonious split within the opposition party, which quickly turned very nasty. This was caused by a difference in opinion over whether the party should participate in the Senate election.

The breakaway faction, soon to be led by the parachuted in Arthur Mutambara, a former student firebrand and NASA rocket scientist, spent much of their initial few months arguing with the larger faction.

There was also talk about them commandeering the party name and logo, but in time much of this calmed down as the real aim of the party was thrust once again into the spotlight.

Who can forget the beating that the MDC-Tsvangirai faction took at the hands of the ZANU PF sponsored ZRP, army, war veterans and youth militia last March? Who can forget the heartbreaking photographs of Morgan Tsvangirai, Sekai Holland and Grace Kwinje lying in hospital nursing their wounds?

And they were joined within days by their faction spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, who was set upon, in broad daylight, by ZANU PF thugs at Harare International Airport.

During the majority of 2007, the two factions of the MDC were tied up in ‘mediated’ talks with Mugabe’s ZANU PF, overseen by South Africa’s President, Thabo Mbeki.

Ten months of sustained negotiation - sustained? - ZANU PF refused to attend most of the sessions, and dug their heels in on any compromises to their rule - and the small victories by the MDC factions were very quickly negated by Mugabe who just used Presidential decrees to cancel the advances out.

The South African President, given the mandate to mediate the talks by the South African Development Community (SADC), spent most of the year delegating his responsibility to his underlings and reporting to SADC that the talks were ‘on course’, ‘in progress’ and that a breakthrough was imminent.

Obviously Mugabe’s influence over the South African President was in play then.

And his influence throughout the immediate region has also been noted, with many of the area’s leaders lauding the praise of Mugabe. Indeed, at a SADC meeting in Lusaka, Mugabe was applauded onto the stage by the regional leaders.

But if leadership within the region is one thing, then leadership within a country is another.

For 28 years the people of Zimbabwe have had no choice but to watch Mugabe begin to dismantle and destroy the economy which he inherited from Ian Smith’s Rhodesian government.

Few people had ever dreamed that the opposition party, just 9 years old, and battle-scarred and bruised, would ever displace and dethrone Mugabe.

But dogged determination, which epitomises everything that their leadership has been through since the party’s inception, has been what has carried them through.

Whilst many of their original supporters may have jumped ship or returned to the loving arms of Mugabe’s ZANU PF, more people were beginning the realise that Mugabe’s remaining in control was just going to guarantee a long and lingering death.

And the watching world did precisely that - they watched… Afraid to say a word of criticism against Mugabe or his government, for fear that he may say something scathing back.

The people of Zimbabwe were made to pay the price for that silence.

Three main assaults on the population spring to mind, and I believe that it is these, together with disjointed, impersonal government, that has precipitated the fall of Mugabe. As Roy Bennett stated on his recent interview with SW Radio Africa’s Violet Gonda, the Presidency is for the incumbent to lose, not for an outsider to win.

And Mugabe lost the Presidency as long ago as the 1980’s - he has just been able to hang onto power through all manner and means at his disposal - and has added insult to injury by perpetrating agony after agony on ‘his’ people - people which he lost touch with in the first few years of his reign.

First was the Gukurahundi - the massacre of between 20 to 30 thousand Ndebele people in Matabeleland and the Midlands. Mugabe made the excuse that it was to put the Ndebele people in their place, but in reality it was his way of smashing the hold that Joshua Nkomo had over the Matabele tribe. The atrocities ended in 1987 after Mugabe and Nkomo signed an Accord to work together. Nkomo’s ZAPU was swallowed up by Mugabe’s ZANU.

The families that were affected by these heinous acts have never received any compensation for those atrocities, whilst the closest they have ever had by way of an apology was Mugabe admitting that the Gukurahundi was a ‘moment of madness’.

The second atrocity visited upon the population that springs to mind is the land grab. In 2000, Mugabe presented the population with a Constitution for acceptance or rejection. In a referendum, the new Constitution was soundly rejected.

In anger, Mugabe set the war veterans - the aging battle force that he had used to fight against the Rhodesian security forces in the 1970’s bush war - sometimes referred to as the chimurenga - on the commercial farms in the country, owned primarily by experienced and very productive white commercial farmers.

This was the beginning of the land redistribution programme which saw some white commercial farmers murdered and even more farm workers killed, injured and losing their jobs.

The land redistribution exercise was, to all intents and purposes, to return the land to the ‘landless’ blacks. Eight years later, only a handful of farms remain in the hands of the original commercial farmers, whilst the overwhelming majority of the land is in the hands of Mugabe and his loyalists in his regime - and officers in the army and the police… The land remains unworked and fallow, but Mugabe’s government uses the land as an excuse to spend money on farm equipment for the new ‘owners’ (which is not used for agriculture) and a system where the ‘farmers’ received discounted fuel, and the banks offer loans against the land whilst they continue to run the country into destitution.

The land grabs continue as I type.

The third example of the atrocities that Mugabe perpetrates against his people, is commonly called Operation Murambatsvina. Remove the rubbish. Take out the dirt.

Something in the region of 700000 people were effected by this demolition.

Mugabe decided that the opposition party was becoming too strong in the urban enclaves in the various cities and towns, and ordered the demolitions of all properties and dwellings that his government considered illegal.

Some unfortunate people died in the ’slum clearance’ and Mugabe refused to acknowledge his people’s heavy handedness, and chose to remain silent.

The economy began to deteriorate and today inflation is gauged at 100000% - the highest in the world outside a war zone.

The problem was that the world-at-large did not realise that within the borders of Zimbabwe is very similar to a war zone. The Mugabe government fought may a battle with many organisations and many institutions and these battles were waged with a ‘no prisoners’ policy.

Today, Mugabe finally lost the majority in parliament and we await the announcement that he has been dethroned from the top office of the land. And replaced by Morgan Tsvangirai.

Morgan Tsvangirai and his party, the Movement for Democratic Change, are on the rise - but we must be sure to emphasise to any protractor, that the fall of Mugabe’s government was enabled by DEMOCRATIC means. That was the MDC’s original intention, and they have not only risen to the challenge, but the party has achieved their target.

Let no one ever hoodwink the good people of Zimbabwe again.

We must be aware that power in Zimbabwe is ours to give - not to be taken from us - and that we must allow no government to ever build up the resources for personal use as Mugabe did.

Freedom in Zimbabwe is a paramount necessity. We owe it to our children, and to our children’s children. No one must be allowed to dictate to us again. No one.

Tsvangirai needs all of us to assist and help where we can - even if that help is only passing on information. Many of us will decide to go home, and again, we need to be aware that the country is in a poor state of repair and that rebuilding is the first priority. And that life will not magically improve overnight. And that the rebuilding will continue for many years - if not decades. It may take as many years to rebuild as it took to destroy.

Some of us may elect (forgive the pun) to remain in our adoptive lands - but we still remain - by default at least - Zimbabwean.

Zimbabweans: a truly democratic, well-meaning - often misunderstood people - people who love life, love people and are able to weather any storm.

My hearty congratulations to Morgan Tsvangirai and his party. And to the people of Zimbabwe who had the belief in their hearts and the hope of democracy to guide them in their vote. I am proud to be led by a man and a party that ‘does what it says on the tin’…

This afternoon I sit in front of my machine typing this, and the reality of the moment has not yet hit me. But it will and I may even break my aversion to alcohol (brought on by my necessary use of pain killing drugs) to celebrate. I will probably wait until victory is complete, and then I will happily drink to the best health of our President, his party and all God-fearing, like-minded Zimbabweans the world over.

The real struggle starts now…

Democracy loving Zimbabweans the world over must feel entirely vindicated.

Take care.

‘debvhu

President Robert Mugabe’s party has lost its majority in parliament, the Zimbabwe Election Commission says.

It says Mr Mugabe’s ZANU PF party has taken 94 of the 207 contested seats, while opposition parties have won 105. One seat has gone to an independent.

Although seven seats have yet to be declared, this means ZANU PF cannot win an overall majority.

The opposition MDC says its leader won the presidential election but official results have not yet been released.

(Source)

The results of the election in Zimbabwe shocked dictator Robert Mugabe so badly that he opted not to declare outright victory for fear of a rebellion. Instead, his aides have convinced Mugabe to slowly roll out rigged numbers that appear at first to favour the opposition MDC but that later put Mugabe’s ZANU PF in control. However, the MDC has already collected evidence for that event:

A crisis meeting of Robert Mugabe’s security cabinet decided to block the opposition from taking power after what appears to have been a comprehensive victory in Zimbabwe’s elections but was divided between using a military takeover to annul the vote and falsifying the results.

Diplomatic and Zimbabwean sources who heard first-hand accounts of the Joint Operations Command meeting of senior military and intelligence officers and top party officials on Sunday night said Mugabe favoured immediately declaring himself president again but was persuaded to use the country’s electoral commission to keep the opposition from power. ….

If the government does attempt to fix the result it will not go unchallenged. The election commission will have to substantially alter a large number of polling booth returns in order to overturn Tsvangirai’s significant lead. But the MDC has photographed results declarations pinned to the doors of more than 8,000 polling stations. If the numbers announced by the election commission are different, the party says it will have indisputable evidence of fraud.

“Unlike previous elections no one can privatise the result as it is posted outside the stations,” said the MDC’s secretary general, Tendai Biti. “This country stands on a precipice. We still express our great misgivings about [the election commission’s] failure to announce the results. It raises tension among the people that is fertilising an atmosphere of suspicion.”

The MDC saw one election disappear into the corruption of the Mugabe government in 2005. This time, they took no chances with his election commission. The photographs of the ballot-station declarations will provide plenty of embarrassment for Mugabe when his numbers bear no relation to the local counts, and the anger over vote rigging will erupt in demonstrations - and probably worse.

Will the military remain with Mugabe? The MDC has tried reaching out to senior commanders, including a well-respected former army chief who is currently out of favour with Mugabe’s clique. They hope that Solomon Mujuru can convince current military leadership to either back the actual results of the election, or at least not interfere on Mugabe’s behalf with an MDC seizure of power.

The international community needs to increase its pressure on the situation as well. The West has no influence with Mugabe, but it does on his African associates. South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki has been one of Mugabes’ closest allies, to the shame of Mbeki’s own nation. Britain and the US should make clear to Mbeki his responsibility in convincing Mugabe to abide by the actual will of his people and depart forthwith.

Comments

He is a horrible man. I hope for the sake of his people that they are able to finally get rid of him.

USBB on April 1, 2008 at 7:38 AM

I wonder how the people of Zimbabwe would feel about our 2nd Amendment about now?

orlandocajun on April 1, 2008 at 7:47 AM

Mugabe’s a parasite and won’t let go until he kills Zimbabwe. If he’s smart he’ll go into retirement overseas and live off the billions he stole from the country.

Don Carne on April 1, 2008 at 7:53 AM

One comment from “Energizer Bunny” says it all…

Oh well. Hopefully by the next round of elections the average life expectancy hasn’t dropped below the legal voting age in Zimbabwe. That way we can all go through the merry charade again.

Thanks, Ed for staying on the Zim story.

BacaDog on April 1, 2008 at 8:13 AM

I think they should award this murdering b**tard the highest office in the land. That would be at the end of a noose 30 feet in the air.

leanright on April 1, 2008 at 8:24 AM

Here’s hope Mugabe meets the same justice as his peers, Ceaucescu and Saddam.

irishspy on April 1, 2008 at 8:46 AM

Mugabe’s a parasite and won’t let go until he kills Zimbabwe.

He’s already killed it and many people in it. He is as bad as Idi Amin. Shows how totally worthless are the UN, African coalition forces, Jimmah Cotta, and liberals in general. Remember, they wanted the “oppressive” Rhodesian government driven out and supported the open slaughter of many whites. A lot of blood on many left hands.

wepeople on April 1, 2008 at 9:03 AM

Mugabe’s legacy is carved in stone. The party’s over. The place has been trashed. He’ll be lucky to leave with his noggin attached.

perroviejo on April 1, 2008 at 9:29 AM

Robert Mugabe will remain in power until he dies. After that, a bloodbath of mythic proportions will encompass the country as one Warlord after another will seize power in the various states.

The sad thing is no one will step in to fix the problem.

SeniorD on April 1, 2008 at 9:30 AM

Mugabe’s regime needs to join the ash heap of history. And then he should be shot.

CP on April 1, 2008 at 9:34 AM

Then he should be stood up and shot again…

GeneSmith on April 1, 2008 at 9:50 AM

I’m sure someone will find a way to blame it all on George W Bush. Maybe Rev Wright will call him a CIA plant, designed to kill Africans.

How does he stay in power? Maybe his inner clique is still rich, but doesn’t the average soldier see what’s happening to the country?

rbj on April 1, 2008 at 9:52 AM

The only hope is for some military leader to ‘escort’ Mugabe from power (preferably at room temperature as a warning to others), then work with the new leadership, letting them know they’re next if they start acting the same way.

michaelo on April 1, 2008 at 9:55 AM

I love the title of this write-up, where Mugabe’s party is ‘considering defeat’. I’m sure General Custer did likewise when the first arrow perforated his pompous hide.

It does suggest how Mugabe’s thugs are planning to get out of this; by declaring a runoff is needed, one they’ll be sure does not have the same unfortunate honesty of this election. For one thing, they’ll make sure the local results are not posted on the doors.

michaelo on April 1, 2008 at 10:25 AM

These soft diplomatic measures being suggested are for fools. He should be assassinated immediately, and all who support or tolerate him in neighbouring countries, like the corrupt nitwit Mbeki, should be put on notice.

Jaibones on April 1, 2008 at 10:27 AM

This is the kind of vicious, murdering tyrannical, tin-pot dictator, commie scum that the United Nations loves. The UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development gave Mugabe a STANDING OVATION not too long ago. Democrats, lefties of all sorts and the UN just love this guy. Have a look for yourself.

I first saw Robert Mugabe in the flesh at a UN Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002.

His arrival on the podium was preceded by US defence secretary Colin Powell, who was booed and jeered, and by Tony Blair, who met with similar indignities. Mugabe, on the other hand, was greeted by a tumultuous standing ovation. I wrote it off as a passing fad. At the time, black power fanatics were still pumped up over Mugabe’s ethnic cleansing of white farmers, and one assumed their enthusiasm would wear off once the consequences of Mugabe’s folly manifested themselves.

Maxx on April 1, 2008 at 10:32 AM

President Obama would do the same thing to the US if given free rein. Wipe out the winners and prop up the loosers. Kind of like the cultural revolution in China.

It sure worked well for them.

saiga on April 1, 2008 at 10:41 AM

His arrival on the podium was preceded by US defence secretary Colin Powell,

Colin Powell was Sec of State, not Defense

bernzright777 on April 1, 2008 at 11:24 AM

Colin Powell was Sec of State, not Defense

bernzright777 on April 1, 2008 at 11:24 AM

Good catch… I didn’t notice that. But the article was written by a Brit, probably got confused because Powell was in the Joint Chiefs of Staff for so long. You will also notice “defence” is spelled the British way.

Maxx on April 1, 2008 at 11:58 AM

(Source)