Messages From Zimbabwe

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)

People help the elderly and share beer, some provide transport for those who do not have their own… and the burden of living in mother Zimbabwe seems a little lighter.

This sense of community harmony is seen nowhere better than in rural communities, where families struggling to find the elusive US$ are bartering amongst themselves without fear of being cheated, which they almost certainly would be in the big towns.

Recently I met an old granny in Seke rural and we talked as long lost relatives, the warmth that the old woman exuded was so inviting that I found myself wishing she was a true blood relative. It felt good to be a Zimbabwean.

We shared lighter moments of a time in Zimbabwe when a billion dollars could not buy a loaf of bread. It was a funny discussion, where we both managed to skip the valleys in the country’s history and touched on the hills which culminated in the introduction of the US dollar.

Life she told me is now better as compared to the inflation era, when it was hard to save. Now she told me with a gallon of maize she can trade with the miller at the noisy grinding meal to have her maize ground into meal.

In order to go to school, her orphaned grandchildren work at school for the teachers and save the money for school fees.

She does not have to worry much over putting a meal on the table, for with her bare hands she has a flourishing garden where she grows vegetables that she sells in the community, the income she uses to buy the basics.

I was lulled by her frugal existence, that seems so peaceful and free of trouble, but then I recalled that it is one thing about being Zimbabwean, we take life too lightly.

(Source)

Media, Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu yesterday castigated some sections of the media for “literally wishing President Robert Mugabe dead”.

In an interview Shamu, a journalist by profession, said he felt the media had not accorded the First Family the respect it deserves.

He said some sections of the media had also thrown away the country’s cultural norms by demonising their country, hence the warning that he would consider withdrawing licences.

“If you go all out to denigrate the person of the President, write speculative and negative stories on the President and the First Family without even verifying facts, one wonders whose interest you are serving,” he said.

“I’m not saying someone in Zanu PF or MDC can’t be wrong, but they can’t be wrong every day of their lives.

Are we saying the President can never be right? Is he always wrong? You (the private Press) always wish him dead and go on to regurgitate the same story over and over again. The hatred has been so blatant as to wish someone dead. In our culture, this not acceptable. The whole First Family is targeted, even the kids and this is not acceptable.”

Shamu, however, said: “I am passionate about the media, and I don’t want to give licences and take them away. I am, however, concerned by what is going on. As journalists you should understand that you are Zimbabweans first.

“I have no problem when public officials are criticised, but criticism should be constructive. It is the duty of journalists to highlight where officials have erred, but we should not denigrate our country and spread hate speech.”

(Source)

Zimbabweans have called on President Robert Mugabe and disputed leader of the smaller faction of the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) Arthur Mutambara to quit politics according to recent results of the Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) poll.

Presenting the MPOI findings of the research held in July in five provinces, Principal Researcher, Stephen Ndoma, said when they asked respondents on what they would tell political figures if given a chance to advise them, most of the respondents said they would advise Mugabe to retire while he still commanded respect while the common message to Mutambara was to quit politics.

A Mashonaland Central male said:“I would tell him (Mugabe) that we appreciate all he did for the country since 1980 but that it is unacceptable for him to continue holding onto power. I would also ask him to follow Mandela’s (Nelson) footsteps and retire.”

A Masvingo male said: “I would tell Mutambara to quit politics because he is not representing anything or anyone. I would tell him that he is a parasite and should leave politics and ask him to become a politician first before he gets into politics.”

According to the findings, Matabeleland South described Mutambara as driven by greed and urged him to give the legitimate MDC president elected at a congress early this year, Welshman Ncube a chance to be deputy Prime Minister. Mutambara was also urged by the respondents to pursue his robotics career.

Mutambara has refused to step down as leader of the MDC party after he was ousted by Ncube at the party’s congress earlier this year, citing irregularities.

However some respondents said they were not aware of what Ncube stood for either while others said they did not know him. Others said he should join the larger faction of the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The research, whose purpose was to monitor the performance of the inclusive Government, also revealed that the common messages to Tsvangirai were that of encouragement and to develop the country.

One of the research respondents said about Tsvangirai: “If I happen to meet him, I would tell him to be strong and keep on fighting for people’s rights. He should not be afraid even if they continue intimidating him.”

On the Economic direction of the country, most respondents concurred that while things had stabilised after the formation of the Unity government, the economy was now again on a downturn agreeing that the USD the common used currency was hard to get.

One respondent noted: “Money is very difficult to get, you can go for two weeks without getting a mere rand (R1).”

Mass Public Opinion Institute is an Independent Research Institute in Zimbabwe. The research was carried out in Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central, Masvingo, Matebeleland South and North.

(Source)

A South African Minister allegedly described President Robert Mugabe as a “crazy old man” according to leaked secret communications from United States embassies published on Sunday.

Release of about a quarter-million previously secret communications from US embassies by Wikileaks, a non-profit organisation, plunged the US government into a global diplomatic panic with officials warning the development could endanger lives and fray key security alliances.

Most of the documents are from the last three years.

Prior to their release, President Mugabe was said to be among leaders subjected to unflattering remarks by US diplomats but the Zimbabwean leader will not have expected the criticism to come from across the Limpopo.

However, South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane did just that, describing Mugabe as “the crazy old man”, according to a cable from the US embassy in Pretoria.

The minister’s unguarded remarks could create problems for SA President Jacob Zuma who is mediating between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on behalf of the regional SADC grouping.

Meanwhile, former US ambassador to Zimbabwe Christopher Dell is said to have written a scathing account of Mugabe and his time in the country when he left in 2007.

In a cable from Harare, Dell described the aging President as “a brilliant tactician” but mocked “his deep ignorance on economic issues (coupled with the belief that his 18 doctorates give him the authority to suspend the laws of economics).”

The US administration was in fire-fighting mode on Sunday after the release of the documents which show its ambassadors and officials making undiplomatic remarks about several world leaders and key allies.

A statement from the White House condemned the Wikileaks for the publication, warning that “these cables could compromise private discussions with foreign governments and opposition leaders, and … deeply impact not only US foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world”.

The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, says the US authorities are afraid of being held to account.

Wikileaks also claimed it had come under attack from a computer-hacking operation.

“We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack,” it reported on its Twitter feed.

No-one has been charged with passing the diplomatic files to the website but suspicion has fallen on US Army private Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak of classified US documents to Assange’s organisation.

Wikileaks argues that the site’s previous releases shed light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

(Source)

War veterans’ leader Joseph Chinotimba has reiterated his disdain for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, saying he would never salute him even if he were to become the President of Zimbabwe.

Chinotimba also said in a long-ranging interview that elections were long overdue because Zimbabwe had become ungovernable as the three principals in the inclusive government were constantly at loggerheads. He however said he would only salute a president who had liberation struggle credentials.

NewsDay reporter Veneranda Langa (ND) caught up with Chinotimba (JC) at his offices in Harare last week and had a one- on-one interview with the comic veterans’ leader.

Below are excerpts:

ND: President Robert Mugabe has announced that the country will go for elections in June 2011; do you think the country is ready for those elections?

JC: My view is that Mugabe is 100% right. We need elections soon in this country, whether other people want it or not. We become surprised when we hear other leaders in the GNU saying they do not want elections.

ND: But they have said they want elections in a free and fair environment?

JC: It is not true that there was intimidation during elections. People should now choose whoever they want.

ND: Are you saying the environment for elections has always been free and fair?

JC: Even in court when someone is accused of stealing they deny the charge. As I see it myself, the previous elections were free and fair. Even when you study the American elections, you will find that they also disagree. However, Zimbabwe is the only country where people say elections are not free and fair. In Afghanistan, where there was a lot of killing the Americans said the elections were free and fair. I can confirm to you that there are many war veterans who were killed and beaten up by MDC supporters during elections. So, let us go for the elections.

ND: Supposing Morgan Tsvangirai wins the elections, are you going to endorse the results and salute him?

JC: If I cannot vote for Tsvangirai, how can I salute him? Mugabe will win, but if Tsvangirai wins the elections, he should know that war veterans brought independence and he is the one who is supposed to salute us. It would be very dangerous for him to expect that we will salute him. How can people who did not vote for Tsvangirai salute him? He should clearly understand who war veterans are and why they are important in Zimbabwe. If he does not salute us, it would become a very big problem. Even the British know that the two MDC factions should salute war veterans and if they do not do that, it would be a big mistake. We will only salute Mugabe because we suffered together with him in the bush and we have never been cowards. As war veterans we will only salute leaders who are war heroes.

ND: What are your sentiments on life presidency for Mugabe?

JC: What is the problem with that? If he dies today, would we not say he was a life president? We do not know when he is going to die and why should we start asking why he is not dying? We are not talking about death here; we are talking of someone with leadership qualities to be a life president. What we are saying is that Mugabe should always be there for the benefit of Zanu PF. We still need him even if it takes 20 more years. In the new Constitution, the people should indicate that they want Mugabe to be life president. How can we stop people from saying that when it is their wish? Right now, we do not have anyone with leadership qualities in the country like Mugabe and so he must remain President. War veterans say that he is our leader because we were together in the war.

ND: Is it true that there is factionalism amongst war veterans?

JC: War veterans have no factions. War vets will always be war veterans. If we were divided into factions, we would have a situation like the one in MDC where there is MDC-T and MDC-M. Have you ever heard of a group called War Veterans –Mugabe or War Veterans – Nkomo? We are united; it is only the Selous Scouts who want to divide us like the Minister of Education, David Coltart. We do not have two names. Even those war veterans who are in the MDC factions work for us and we planted them there. Even the war veterans who are in leadership positions in Zanu PF work for us. We send people to do our work in political parties.

ND: Do you have any political ambitions for high-ranking government posts?

JC: I can be an MP, senator or minister, especially the Ministry of Education, Arts, Sports and Culture. I can handle that one; it is a very good post for me. I cannot be President myself because we already have a President. When he dies then we will have another President. It would take me 3 000 years to reach that position. The Presidency is for Mugabe, Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Vice-President John Nkomo and they will succeed each other by death. That is what we do in Zanu PF.

ND: But you are young and when all these people are no longer available to take the post of Presidency, would you not be interested? JC: We do not know when they are going to die and we are not prophets. As a child you cannot be too ambitious to want to take your father’s position whilst he is still alive. That is witchcraft and I cannot comment on that. The only position I want is to be Minister of Education, or even the Ministry of Lands.

ND: Would you agree that the land reform programme spearheaded by the war veterans was chaotic? JC: That is a Coltart style of talking and that is cheap politics. People are doing very well in the farms. When the whites took over our land, the Rhodesian Front supported them with cheap labour by Africans and they never paid for electricity and water.

(Source)

He is now a used condom, which is heading for the cesspool. This is the best description of Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara’s state of political affairs as his handler, Welshman Ncube ejaculate him into political oblivion.

Ncube, who rented Mutambara since February 2006, as President of his factions, announced recently that he will be contesting the presidency next year, bringing the political career of the Robotics Professor to an abrupt end.

Ncube no longer needs the services of a condom. He is taking the ‘presidency’ of his faction live, not through a plastic Arthur.

Mutambara who never concealed his Chihuahua exhilaration when he miraculously landed on the Vice Prime Minister position on 11 February 2009 after loosing a parliamentary contest in Zengeza was dusted off from political stupor by Ncube.

The cunning Ncube who hates ‘Chamatama’ with infatuation, went out shopping for a suitable candidate in his endeavor to short- circuit the popularity of the all-time -adored Morgan Tsvangirai.

The law professor, found Arthur on the market and bought him cash. The currency Ncube offered to Arthur was the Zengeza West constituency, which the 44 year old Guseni lost gloomily.

The arrangement that followed saw the condom amassing more power and enjoyment in the inclusive government as Ncube took a junior position as Minister of Trade and Industry.

But Ncube now wants his power back. Now where to for Guseni from here?

The once fiery former student leader, who Zimbabweans once ranked within Tsvangirai’s filament, stunned the nation when he re-emerged in Zimbabwe’s political equation but on the wrong side.

Mutambara further riled Zimbabweans when he backed Simba Makoni in the last Presidential race that was won by Tsvangirai. This fast-tracked Mutambara‘s fall from residual grace to dry grass.

Occasional shot pots, he aimed at Tsvangirai also are sure to cost him dearly. Zimbabweans are so incensed with his utterances that sought to undermine Tsvangirai. Guseni failed to read the political temperatures correctly. Maybe the propensity to placate his handler, Ncube, was too tempting to resist.

In an auxiliary spectacular display of political harlotry Guseni openly backed Robert Mugabe’s recent unilateral appointments of ambassadors. He slammed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for protesting against such violations of the global political Agreement. The former visiting fellow of Massachutes Institute of Technology might be paving his visit to the Shake-Shake building, by insulting Tsvangirai on behalf of Zanu PF.

This is a classic case of its own kind where condoms are recycled. Mugabe will not use the same condom that Ncube contaminated already. Condoms can only be used once. After use a dirtied condom is deposited in a rut. That is where Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara is heading to.

(Source)

Mr Mugabe I am writing this letter direct to you hoping that it will reach you and that you will read it with an open mind. You probably know me by the generic name of “orphan” because you killed my parents.

I am one of those thousands of Matabeleland children whose parents were brutally murdered by the 5^th Brigade which you specifically sent out to eliminate Ndebele speaking people. My father died a painful death in Kezi following an encounter with the 5^th Brigade, he was shot dead at close range together with his two friends for a simple reason that when greeted by the 5^th Brigade they responded in their mother-language isiNdebele, instead of Shona. I wonder why the international community never came to our rescue because this was clear ethnic cleansing. For example, my dad was killed for responding in “dissident” language – isiNdebele yet my dad was an ordinary civilian.  I was still young when my dad was butchered to death and your 5^th Brigade deprived me of the chance of being brought up by my beloved father. I miss him so much and I love my dad you killed. I just want you to know that you took a precious and loving father away from me and my life was never the same forever.

My mother later died because of the pain and horror of seeing my father being bludgeoned to death in such barbaric fashion.

Again, I am angry at the manner your dogs killed my beloved grandmother. On her way home from Christmas shopping on the Christmas Eve of 1987 with festive goat tethered to a tree, ready to be slaughtered my grandmother was shot and killed by your dogs again. Christmas was never Christmas as it turned out to be a double funeral. Though young, I can vividly remember a cloud of fear, sorrow and despondency in my family. And, because of this curse you inflicted to my family, I pray everyday that you also die a brutal and cruel death.

The root cause of all this is the immoral, inhuman and unconstitutional way which you have subjected Zimbabweans to. You have created a culture of racism, tribalism and violence. The children and the youth of today know nothing about values and respect because you have taught them the ZANU PF doctrine of violence, tribalism and racism, yet these are supposed to be future leaders of Zimbabwe. Long after you are gone, your tragic actions will continue to resonate amongst our society. You have brainwashed the young adults through your youth service where you take them away to your adulterous camps, indoctrinate then with your ZANU PF code of violence which basically says those who do not support your party should be brutalised, those who disagree with you should be tortured, starved and in most cases killed. The lucky ones, who come out of those militia camps uninfected with the deadly HIV virus, are still too traumatised, without a conscience and left to wreak havoc among the innocent civilians with no one to hold them to book.

I grew up in the dusty streets of Bulawayo in Magwegwe, I used to be proud of my country and most importantly, my people who successfully executed the independence of Zimbabwe. My mother fought in the struggle, when it was all over she got her demobilisation card went home to start a family, to start a life for herself, but she later turned out to be your casualty. I am really angry Mr Mugabe because what you have done to me and the rest is unimaginable. You have destroyed patriotism in me and amongst millions of other Zimbabweans. The once beautiful and once rich motherland is now poverty-ravaged. There is violence and there are mass graves, some of them unmarked.

As Zimbabwean youths, now, all we have is hatred and disdain for the adults in our society. Instead of trying to right the wrongs, you have buried your heard in the sand afraid of a darkness that has no hyenas. Mr Mugabe, why are you in a state of denial? It’s clear you have done a crap job, and I hope this won’t haunt us as well as a nation, to say black people are bad managers. People are dying in alarming numbers each day; children are growing up orphaned, more so, malnourished when your children are commandeering Air Zimbabwe to nice times. I am sure you know about this, as some of your own children are also out of the country, Bona is in Singapore, is she not?

It is very sad Mr Mugabe you have plundered Africa’s bread basket and turned it into a begging bowl. You have reduced the quality of lives of millions of Zimbabweans with your screwed-up and bushy policies. Zimbabweans are now a laughing stock, in South Africa, they call say us the Kwerekweres. This is all because of your vampiric policies which has destroyed such a great economy.

Maybe, we, as a nation should also take responsibility for the monster you have become. Maybe, we gave you too much power for too long and now you hold on to it like a man about to drown. Your destruction of Zimbabwe may never be remedied and we may never recover from it, and I insist, you must be punished for this old man.

Remember the Gukurahundi atrocities which were recently upgraded to genocides by experts in the United States.  You sent your 5^th brigade to go and wipe out Matabeleland and you succeeded in killing more than 20000 of my people. I pray that these victims of your brutality haunt you in your sleep each night. Yes, I am pleased Gukurahundi has finally been upgraded to genocides because they were genocides for sure in the face of a civilised world. I can now tell you Mr Mugabe that you became president in 1980 not because of military might, but because of the majority who voted for you. If leadership was a case of the fittest, there is no way you would have become president and I know you know that, and that is why you cruelly murdered Lockout Masuku and incarcerated Dumiso Dabengwa for four years. Mr Mugabe you are indeed guilty of Crimes against Humanity. Your day will come Mr Mugabe and I sense it is near.

You seem to be living in your own fantasy world refusing and denying acknowledging that you are old. A young man was jailed recently for talking about your old-age wrinkles. He got a year of hard labour in prison for that I wonder what you will get for all your crimes. I thought being old was a sign of wisdom but with you it’s like a sign of madness. Is this freedom Mr Mugabe? Is this what Hebert Chitepo, Nikita Mangena, and others died for during the liberation struggle?

Yours

(Source)

Notorious Midlands war veterans’ leader Biggie Kufakunesu Chitoro, who was behind  the brutal political violence in the province during the 2000 general elections campaigns, says a coalition government with President Robert Mugabe will not work.

Chitoro led ZANU PF terror gangs who killed and tortured many MDC supporters, mainly in Zvishavane and Mberengwa districts of the Midlands province.

However in an interview with the Daily News at his homestead  in Madhoro village in Mberengwa on Tuesday, Chitoro, who last year came out in public asking for  forgiveness from  his victims, said Mugabe was the stumbling block in the  smooth running of the government of national unity.

“We  know  that  old man can’t share  power  with anybody, that’s  why you see this unity government facing many problems,” said Chitoro, who says he has quit politics and is now a born again Christian.

“Look, in the 1980s he brutalized Joshua Nkomo supporters forcing him (Nkomo) to go under his feet.”

Chitoro says Mugabe is good at using other people, especially uneducated ones in order to stay in power.

“He is good at using other people, especially among us war veterans because the majority of our colleagues never went to school,” he said.

The war veteran leader said although he is still Mberengwa district chairman for  the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), he wanted nothing to do with ZANU PF.

“You don’t need to be ZANU PF to lead war veterans. I am still the chairman and have nothing to with that party vakandishandisa zvikakwana (they used me and that was enough),” he said.

Chitoro said he now spends most of his time conducting business for his Vapostori church or at his garden.

(Source)

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema said on Friday that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe must step down.

Malema met Mugabe earlier this year during a visit to Zimbabwe.

He has also praised Zanu-PF’s land redistribution programme.

But Malema said Mugabe must go.

“In as much as we support the revolutionary programme in Zimbabwe, President Mugabe must hand over to those young chaps so that we engage with [them] on the same level. We will never agree with permanent leadership,” Malema said.

(Source)