Messages From Zimbabwe

In an article published on the Zimbabwejournalists.com website on 24 December 2007, the author, Freeman Forward Chari, posed the following question:

“In a country of nearly 200 000 military people… whose public sector is run by the military, where does the common man fit in?  Is there a possibility of civil participation in the country?”

Chari breaks down the military component for 2007 as follows, but does not indicate his sources, so the accuracy of his figures cannot be confirmed:

Security Forces – total 80 000

• Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA):                    35 000 [1]
• Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ):                          5 000
• Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP):                  25 000
• Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO):        15 000

Those with a basic knowledge of military operations/training – total 110 000

• Prisons Service:                                             10 000
• War veterans:                                                 35 000 [2]
• Trained youths / youth militia:                         30 000 graduates since 2005
• Zimbabwe People’s Militia (trained in ‘80s):    20 000 vigilantes/youths
• Plus voluntary retirements from ZNA & ZRP:            15 000

Total number:  190 000

“This means we have (in 2007) at least 190 000 people in Zimbabwe who have a basic understanding of military language,” wrote Chari.

He reminded Zimbabweans that, at the level of leadership and policy formulation, there was a need to also explore the level of involvement of the military in strategic entities that deal strictly with civilians.  In December 2007, the line-up was:

• Minister of Energy and Power Development – Rtd Lieutenant General Mike Nyambuya.
• Minister of Youth Development and Employment Creation – Rtd Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri.
• Ministry of Transport – Rtd Colonel Hubert Nyanhongo, Deputy Minister
• National Railways of Zimbabwe – Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba (Board chairman) and Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai (CEO).
• Grain Marketing Board – Rtd Colonel Samuel Muvuti (CEO).
• Permanent Secretary for Industry and International Trade – Rt Colonel Christian Katsande.
• Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) – Justice Chiweshe, (head) a former Advocate-General in the Zimbabwe National Army.
• Attorney General – Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, a retired Colonel.
• Sports and Recreation Commission – Brigadier General Gibson Mashingaidze and Rtd Lt Colonel Charles Nhemachena.

Chari summed up the relevance of the appointments as follows:

Zanu PF controls:

• Food (Grain Marketing Board – GMB)
• Transport
• Energy, fuel, power
• Trade and industry
• Sport
• Youth
• The Attorney General
• Elections.

Chari pointed out that Joint Operations Command (JOC) comprises the ministries of Defence, Finance, State Security, Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.  “The military therefore controls the finances and even the foreign policy is directed by the military and not parliament,” he said.

Major Martin Saurombe (Rt), writing for the website zimsecurityforces.com in 2007, brought in an interesting perspective.  He reminded Zimbabweans that, in politicising the military, Zanu PF had started by appointing raw guerrillas to top posts in the army.

He noted that:

• General Solomon Mujuru commanded the army from 1981 to 1992 without attending a single military course.
• The late General Vitalis Zvinavashe, retired former commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, also never attended any military courses.
• Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander, General Constantine Chiwenga, Air Force Commander Perence Shiri and Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri are also politicians in military uniform.

One wonders how many people are aware of this fact.

Frustration in the ranks

Despite the fact that it became very dangerous for members of the armed forces to show the slightest signs of disloyalty to Zanu PF, by mid 2007 the dissatisfaction that had been brewing began to mount and to be expressed openly.

In August, Perence Shiri and Constantine Chiwenga were shocked when they were booed by junior soldiers at the KG VI Barracks in Harare for trying to convince them that the hardships being experienced in the military were caused by sanctions imposed by Britain and the USA.

The following month, disgruntled veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war asked government to hike their monthly allowances five-fold, just two weeks after pledging undying loyalty to Mugabe and declaring him the only one fit to rule the country.

Four months later, in January 2008, former army general Vitalis Zvinavashe sent political temperatures within Zanu-PF soaring after calling on Robert Mugabe to step down.  Zvinavashe is reported to have said that, “by clinging onto power, Mugabe was betraying the essence of the liberation struggle.”

Mugabe’s hatchet men

Authoritative journalist Basildon Peta wrote in an article published in the Sunday Independent of June 29, 2008 that “the multi-billionaires who have Zimbabwe by the throat are right to dread the people’s revenge.”

He listed Mugabe’s six “hatchet-men” as Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, General Constantine Chiwenga, Augustine Chihuri, Paradzai Zimondi, Perence Shiri and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono.  He noted that this Joint Operations Command junta controls Zimbabwe.

“When Mugabe lost control of parliament and it became clear that he was also losing the presidency to Morgan Tsvangirai after the poll on March 29, it was these six men who hurriedly assembled around their octogenarian leader,” explained Peta.

“For five weeks, the announcement of the presidential election results were stalled while they plotted…(but) none of their charges stuck.

“So they unleashed the infamous Operation Makavhoterapapi (For whom did you vote?) in preparation for the presidential runoff…”

Peta reports that it was Constantine Chiwenga, as commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Force, who spearheaded the campaign of violence that led to the deaths of 86 people, the serious injuries inflicted on thousands more and the massive displacements countrywide.

Police and army clash in Harare

By the beginning of December 2008, tensions across the country were heating up.  In Harare, police shot at rioting soldiers on the streets as unpaid uniformed personnel sided with the country’s impoverished people for the first time in protest against Zimbabwe’s collapsing economy.

“If Mr Mugabe is unable to maintain loyalty even within his own armed services, his position will come under serious threat,” commented The Telegraph (UK) on December 1.

The following day, Mugabe ordered the execution of 16 rioting soldiers in a cold blood murder carried out by members of the Presidential Guard death squads at its PG HQ Base in Dzivarasekwa, north west of the capital.  Three others were reported to have died during torture.

The fast-track military court martial was presided over by High Court Judge Major General George Chiewshe, with three other assessors, two majors and a captain.  Chiweshe, who is the current Chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, was previously Director Army Legal Services.

Soldiers tortured following theft of guns

During October 2009, at least 12 soldiers died after they were brutally tortured by military intelligence agents following the alleged disappearance of an assortment of guns and other military equipment from Pomona barracks.

By early November reports were being leaked that an additional 120 soldiers had been horrifically tortured at KG VI Barracks in Harare following the alleged theft of the guns. SW Radio Africa warned of rising tension in the Zimbabwe National Army.

A retired army colonel who fought with ZANLA forces in Mozambique, told the radio station that Robert Mugabe had lost the control and trust of the army. (ZANLA was the armed wing of ZANU PF during the liberation war of the 1970s).

Security reports from Zimbabwe indicated the situation was volatile.

Fear of reprisals, retribution and paranoia

Dr George Ayittey, a prominent Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC, analysed the militarisation of Zanu-PF in Part 1 of “The Zimbabwe Conundrum” (September 8, 2009) as follows:

“The hierarchy of the ruling Zanu-PF has fully been “militarized” or integrated with the security apparatus. The security chiefs who are behind President Mugabe presently — Paradzai Zimondi (rtd), head of prison service, Augustine Chihuri, head of the police force, Perence Shiri — want Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also the choice of “war of liberation veterans,”[3] to succeed Mugabe.

Mnangagwa, known as the “Butcher of Matabeleland,” is known for his uncompromising stance and ruthlessness. He was the Minister of State Security who orchestrated a systematic and brutal 1981-1983 campaign (known as Gukurahundi) to suppress the Ndebele people and wipe out the main opposition, ZAPU and its leader, the late Joshua Nkomo.

It is fear of reprisals, retribution and paranoia which haunts the ruling Zanu-PF regime…. Their hands are dripping in blood and their pockets are full of booty. They are afraid that all their gory misdeeds will be exposed once they are out of power. So they must do everything they can to cling to power. They must crush the opposition and ruthlessly silence any whiff of protest. But in doing so, they dig deeper graves for themselves because these brutal tactics seldom work.

African tyrants spend an inordinate amount on an elaborate security-cum-military structure to protect themselves and suppress their people. Since they came to power through illegitimate means (a military coup or stolen election), they are suspicious of everyone and paranoid of any little event, however innocuous.

So they spend huge resources creating layers upon layers of security – just in case one level fails – and shower security agents with perks and amenities. But in the end, they are hoisted by their own petards – overthrown by their own security apparatus.

The more an African head of state spends on security, the more likely he will be overthrown by someone from his security forces…. The Zanu-PF regime, in contemplating its imminent demise, should ask itself whether more investments in lethal weaponry and brutal repression will pay off.”

In Part 2 of The Zimbabwe Conundrum (September10, 2009), Ayittey notes that, in all of Africa’s post-colonial cases where intransigent autocrats refused to yield to popular demands for freedom and took hard line positions, the threat to the despotic regime did not come from the opposition parties.  It came from:

1. Within the despot’s own security apparatus / circle of officers / family members
2. Rebel groups
3. Invasion from a neighbouring country.

Ayittey explains that the insurgency often started with a small band of determined rebels and says it was relatively cheap to start a rebellion.

According to Ayittey, Zanu-PF has two choices:  The first is to maintain its hard-line stance – which he says is invariably a dead end – and the second is to adopt a more conciliatory approach.

“Political leaders who were willing to yield to the popular will and make amends saved not only themselves but their countries as well,” writes Ayittey.

Holding Zimbabwe to ransom – a clique of 200

In view of escalating dissatisfaction within the ranks of the armed forces, Zimbabwean commentators say it is fallacious to believe that Zimbabwe is being held to ransom by security forces who remain loyal to Mugabe.

Furthermore, they point out that the improvements within the economy – which are clearly understood to be the result of Finance Minister Tendai Biti (MDC-T)’s achievements – are already impacting positively on the lives of their families and communities.

The glimmerings of optimism that followed the signing of the Global Political Agreement are now being bolstered by the decisiveness and firm approach of South African President Jacob Zuma.

President Zuma, with the support of the Southern African Development Community, is clearly committed to solving the Zimbabwean crisis and restoring peace and democracy across the Limpopo.

The question that must be asked is this:  Who exactly is holding Zimbabwe to ransom and how strong is this grouping?

Political commentators believe that it’s a cabal of about 200 people comprising senior serving army officers, the members of Joint Operations Command and a clique of Mugabe cronies who have benefited substantially over the years from his patronage.

This ties in with a report released at the SADC summit in Kinshasa during early September by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.  Comprising over 350 civil society organisations, Crisis said it had information that over 70 top military officers remained in the provinces where they were deployed after President Mugabe and Zanu-PF suffered a devastating electoral loss just after the March 29 poll last year.

Clearly they are crucial in the equation.  Crisis called on the inclusive government to immediately get the army out of the countryside and recall them to barracks.

Conclusion

In Part 2 of ‘The Conundrum on Zimbabwe”, Ayittey claims that the game is up for Zanu-PF.

“It has lost all credibility with the Zimbabwean people.  It has become an imposition – a cancer – on Zimbabwe’s body politic – a far cry from the liberation stature it once enjoyed. Fear and paranoia are driving the regime to cling to power at all cost – by force and with brutal repression,” he writes.

This changed scenario presents an opportunity for President Zuma, his South African negotiating team and the leaders of SADC, who have clearly lost patience with President Mugabe and Zanu-PF, and who want to see a speedy solution to the crisis.  The fallout on the entire region, while difficult to quantify, has been very significant.

To have found a peaceful solution to the Zimbabwean crisis in the period when Mugabe had the unequivocal support of a sizeable armed forces component would have presented a major problem.

To be faced instead with a clique of just 200 or so people who have brazenly amassed great wealth for themselves and their families while leaving the Zimbabwean people impoverished is totally different situation.

For a powerful country like South Africa, which holds all the trump cards, dealing with the dregs of a regime that has blighted the face of southern Africa suddenly becomes eminently manageable.

(Source)

Founding Father of the Namibian Nation, Dr Sam Nujoma, has spoken strongly against Western powers, which he accused of funding opposition parties especially in the African continent and elsewhere in the world for their own interests. He has also taken issue with those who want to topple the president of Zimbabwe.

“The white imperialists should be careful not to topple Comrade President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, because if you touch Zimbabwe, then you touch Namibia and the whole Southern African Development Community (SADC).”

He was addressing a Swapo star rally at Ongwediva in the Oshana Region over the weekend.

“It is because of the Western powers and those colonialists that oppositions are formed in our countries in the African continent and elsewhere in the world,” he said.

According to Nujoma, the United States and Britain imposed suctions against Zimbabwe because the Zimbabwean people demanded their land from white minorities who occupied a high percentage of good land in Zimbabwe.

“How could one impose sanctions against people who are demanding their own land and it was made that those who have too much land or many farms should give some to the government so that the landless black people could be resettled there?” Nujoma asked.

“The whites have been on our necks and colonised us for a long time, they crossed with our people through the Atlantic Ocean and made us slaves in their countries. ‘Omushiningwa iha dhimbwa, ashike omushiningi oye owala ha dhimbwa’. (The victim will not forget, but the wrongdoer will forget easily.) The whites must be careful, if they play with us we will thoroughly deal with them,” a fired Nujoma stated.

The Swapo rally took place at Ongwediva Mayor’s Park on Saturday.

Nujoma urged all the Namibian people from the age of 18 and above, including the born-frees to vote for the Swapo Party during the Presidential and National Assembly elections to take place from November 27 – 28.

“We have our President (Hifikepunye) Pohamba well known ‘Bulletproof’ and we want him to continue leading for another term. We are confident and we know that Comrade Pohamba will win during November elections. All those who have been members of the National Assembly should remain in and we must add more born-frees after the national elections,” said Nujoma.

Nujoma said there is need to create “more guns and bullets” for the land of the brave and “our guns and bullets are our children”.

“How do we turn our children into guns and bullets, we can only do that if we teach them computers, Mathematics and science subjects at a very tender age. Let’s do that right now while they are in kindergarten,” he said. “Only if children understand computers, Mathematics and science subjects, then we in Namibia, SADC region and the entire African continent can talk about standing on our own feet.

“Parents must ensure that children are guided and attend school everyday so that they acquire enough knowledge and skills to challenge the imperialists, because today they are telling anything but not necessarily the truth because they know that we do not have the know-how,” the Founding President said.

He said imperialist countries are now poor because they finished all their natural resources. Because they have all knowledge and skills, they come to African and Asian countries to tap the natural resources and take them to their countries for their own benefit.

Nujoma compared the white minorities with a black mamba (snake), which even if you keep it in a room, it will bite you one day if you step on it.

“Whites are dangerous, just like a black mamba, if they oust Mugabe, they will oust another president in the African continent,” he said.

“Namibia ‘oshilongo shomapendafule kashi shi kiiyego kekekeke ashike oshegonga lya yagwa, (Namibia is a land of the brave but not for jokes and laughter),” said Nujoma.

(Source)

I bumped into Max Chigweda last week and in the course of our discussion he said to me, “At least we are closer to the end than the start”. That just about sums up where we are right now and the territory in front of us is as deadly as any we have traversed so far. As has been the case so often in the past 30 years, we are dependent in part on what the region does or does not do to ensure we can cover the ground that remains.

I am quite encouraged by the news from South Africa where the Prime Minister saw the President on Monday. It seems clear to us that the South African leadership understands the situation we are in right now, both the President and the Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs are savvy, street wise and certainly more committed to a democratic outcome than was Thabo Mbeki. But the ghosts of the Mbeki administration remain and those in the region who want to try and protect Zanu PF from its fate are still embedded in the system and active.

The visit to South Africa and the discussions held with the President are in the same league as the September 1976 visit to Pretoria by Henry Kissinger when the Americans delivered the final blow that led to the demise of the Rhodesian Front and the eventual transfer of power to Mugabe in 1980. Because of the nature of diplomacy it will be some time before we see the final outcome of all this diplomatic manoeuvring.

If we look back over the past six months since MDC entered the transitional government, we can point to a number of key achievements – we have stabilised the economy, secured a resumption of all basic services – health, education, water, sanitation and communications. We have been able to restore markets and get the retail and wholesale sector back into business.

The finances of central government are recovering steadily – total revenues to the State have grown from $4 million in January to $70 million in July. My guess is that the theft and plunder of public assets has been reduced from perhaps $1,5 billion last year to $250 million. That is partly because we have closed down the Reserve Bank and partly because there is not much left to steal.

We have been able to partly restore our relations with the international community – the World Bank and the IMF are both back in Zimbabwe with limited programmes of technical assistance and the Bank is making its first forays into local finance since 1997. We have made formal contact with virtually all the OECD States as well as the Non Aligned countries; international grant aid has reached $100 million a month and lines of credit negotiated, although we have yet to see the colour of this money.

On the downside we have seen little progress in media reform. No changes in the attitude or the activities of the security agencies and no changes to repressive legislation or improvements in the management system for elections. The constitutional reform process has started, but faces a difficult and tortuous path over the mountains in its way. The judicial system as a whole is being used as an instrument of oppression and a political weapon. No progress has been made in agriculture where output and activity continues to decline.

Yesterday the South African Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs said that she wanted to see “the acceleration of the implementation of the Global Political Agreement”. In fact I think she said the “full implementation” and that would be even better. More we could not ask for, as the GPA, even though it has numerous weaknesses and faults, is the only way forward.

I attended the annual Congress of the Commercial Farmers Union this week in Harare. It was a courageous and well organised affair and Deon Theron was elected President. I was glad to see both – it is vital that while we work on the solution to our problems and negotiate the difficult terrain ahead of us that we keep what is left of our economic institutions alive and operational. Deon will make a good President and is an important player in this situation.

The keynote address was given by a farmer from Zambia who is the current President of the International Association of Agricultural Unions. It was an excellent summary of the global state of agriculture and it was good to see a farmer from Africa in such an influential position. Zimbabwe’s displaced farmers are making a huge impact on agriculture throughout the continent and are a real testimony to what we have lost in the way of human capital.

C G Tracey died the other day and his book “All for nothing?” was on sale at the CFU Congress. It is an excellent read for anyone who is interested in this country and wants to see what has gone on over the past century – no man played a bigger role in building the country and served its best interests more than “CG”, as he was known. The title was suggested by his wife before she died and all he did was to add the question mark to emphasise that it is not yet all over.

I hear rumbles that JZ may visit Zimbabwe for talks with Mugabe shortly. The Vice President of SA is here for the funeral of our Vice President who died last week and he will be buried on Monday and no doubt talks will take place on the sidelines – funerals are great events for this sort of activity. Certainly we will have to wait for a couple of weeks to ascertain what is going to happen on this front.

If (as usual) we are let down by the region, we will have to fight our way through some very tough terrain. There is no doubt in my mind where the people are and if we can mobilise the resources required, we could stun Zanu PF yet again with a significant electoral victory in the bi elections. I was listening yesterday to some music especially written for the MDC and one song in particular asked “if you vote for Zanu, where are you going?” That just about sums things up.

This is not the time to relax or to abandon the prayer mat – we need to work and pray. At its heart this is a spiritual battle and both activities are vital to our eventual victory.

EG Cross

(Source: by email)

The recent hullabaloo over the loss of a cell phone by a ZANU PF politician purportedly to an MDC politician would make good comedy. Instead it makes worrying reading that politicians can engage in such a frivolous spat, over a mere cell phone, when they are supposed to be applying their minds to the important issues of drafting Zimbabwe’s constitution.

The spat also highlights a number of facts about Zimbabwe’s political situation. Fact number one is that ZANU PF is still in control. This should be clear from the continued detentions of MDC activists, continued inability to bring ZANU PF perpetrators of violence to book, that the MDC are nothing but window dressers. They are the beautiful curtains hiding the ugly fact of continued ZANU PF dominance in Zimbabwean politics.

Mahlangu’s plight also disturbingly illustrates the continued selective application of justice. Hundreds of militants, who pummelled, thrashed and pounded MDC activists to pulp, are walking scot-free in Zimbabwe. The police seem paralysed, unable to take even any rudimentary action such as laying charges against some who are quite well known and can easily be identified by their victims.

Zimbabwe police are known to be ruthlessly efficient. For example they quickly traced and fished out escaped convict Masendeke from Mozambique about a decade ago. The same ruthless efficiency was demonstrated in the way they quickly tracked down the whereabouts of Chinotimba’s SIM card. One is left wondering what happens to this effectiveness when they are called upon to deal with cases involving political violence.

MDC officials should by now be aware that ZANU PF is like a crocodile. The party can lie patiently and quietly waiting for a victim to make the wrong move. When the victim slips up they pounce with unbelievable ferocity and ruthless efficiency.

MDC officials should thus know that it is incumbent upon them to be extra careful in their dealings. These dealings should also be based on principle not the kind of mendacious opportunism that landed Mahlangu in trouble.

In the past I have often lamented the lack of solid principled ground upon which the MDC stands. I have complained that they are a bunch of opportunists hunting for personal gain more than they are hunting for freedom for ordinary Zimbabweans. Mahlangu’s actions are clearly the actions of an opportunist.

That the MDC being opportunists does not mean that ZANU PF is free of opportunism either. The actions of Chinotimba also reek of opportunism, albeit impractical opportunism. Chinotimba is claiming US$19 million for loss of business. That amount is enough to pay the salaries of all of Zimbabwe’s teachers for six months. One wonders why Zimbabwe is struggling with poverty and sending officials all over the world begging for money if Chinotimba can make enough money to pay the entire civil service in a few fortnights.

Instead of travelling all over the world to beg for money, the Prime Minister should just pop over to Chinotimba’s home.

Humour aside, it is clear that Chinotimba’s claim lacks any practical and logical basis. It epitomizes the shallowness and lack of analytical power that plagues most Zimbabwean politicians. They are shy to apply their minds to situations and are very quick to make outrageous and poorly thought out demands.

Neither Mahlangu nor Chinotimba emerges from this saga with flying colours. Unfortunately, the Zimbabwean political establishment is littered with people of Mahlangu and Chinotimba’s calibre.

(Source)

I looked through a list of one of the more recent line-ups of the ZANU PF government and found that in the list of 58 or so Ministers were 17 PhDgraduates, many from prestigious Universities in Europe and the USA. Mugabe himself is no slouch, he works out, drinks very little and eats sparingly. He has 6 University degrees in valuable skills such as law and economics and is clearly above average in intelligence. Why then the propensity to self-destruct?

They know what is required to run a modern economy; we have lots of examples of economic reform programmes adopted with great fanfare and then fudged and abandoned. They did a lot of good things in the early 80’s and yet they have these blind spots. How could they ever have imagined they would get away with Gukurahundi? Murambatsvina? How could they expect to be able to destroy the commercial agricultural system and still feed the country and keep the economy on its feet? But they did, clearly, because that is just what they have done and have expected to be absolved of all wrongdoing, if not by the deluded West then by their colleagues on the African Continent.

Now, in front of the whole world they sign up to an African brokered deal after 18 months of tortuous negotiations and then, even before the ink is dry, they are violating the agreement in fundamental ways and expecting to get away with these violations. The list of violations grows every day. Farm invasions, theft of private property, illegal detentions, false allegations against neighboring States and agreement partners, abductions, murder, torture, illegal appointments, failure to implement agreed reforms and now manipulation of ministerial mandates.

Last winter, 95 per cent of the wheat crop was grown by the traditional large-scale commercial farmers, 5 per cent by the so-called “new” farmers. Last summer 97 per cent of the tobacco crop was grown by a handful of remaining large-scale growers, the same can be said of milk, pigs, poultry and fruit. Yet the secretive cabal that runs the security and legal apparatus of the transitional government under ZANU PF tutelage is, as I write, destroying every last vestige of what was a decade ago, the most productive agricultural community in Africa. In doing so they are using violence, theft and extra legal methods that defy logic and any sense of justice.

We are now just 30 days from the date by which winter crops of wheat and barley should be planted. I can predict now, with absolute certainty, that the winter crops will be half or less of those planted last winter. April is the start of the new crop cycle for tobacco and if things remain as they are, this country, which at one time ranked with Brazil and the United States as a producer and exporter of quality flue cured tobacco, will cease to be a significant player. The industry is about to collapse totally.

Tobacco firms will close their processing plants and the largest auctions floors in the world will become warehouses for food aid. Our economy which just ten years ago sustained a population of 15 million and supported an education system that was the pride of Africa together with a health system that was able to deal with all but the most complex cases, is down to being unable to support even the most basic of services. In January total tax collections were equal to US$4 million, less than 2 per cent of what we needed to run the country. Yet the men and women who did this to us give no sign that they acknowledge their failures or even that they were in any way responsible for our total collapse.

The irony of the fact that they have participated in the past in forums that have yielded principled statements on human and political rights, signed up to agreements guaranteeing those rights and giving verbal accent to them on many occasions, then violated those same principles with impunity in the pursuit of power, seems to be lost on them. They spent most of their lives demanding democracy and equal rights only to brush both principles aside when challenged at the ballot box. When faced with limited and targeted sanctions by the very people who supported their struggle for justice in the 60’s and 70’s with mandatory UN sanctions against Smith, they cry foul.

They had become one of the most corrupt and greedy administrations in the world and yet they demand to be trusted with others funds and allowed to do as they please with aid. They flaunt their wealth before an impoverished nation where just a month ago, 75 per cent of the entire population had to be fed by foreign donors because the government could not do so or be trusted to do so if empowered. Yet these people, show no shame, no understanding or even awareness of what damage they have done, not just to the people and nation of Zimbabwe, but to the entire continent as we all bear the consequences of the failures of leadership in Africa. Especially when that leadership should know better, because of their own history, their education and experience and the relative sophistication of the society they managed.

I am afraid this propensity to self-destruct is a mystery to me. Many would assign a racial connotation to the failure – certainly Ian Smith would crow that he had been right about “them” not being “ready” to run their own affairs. Who could argue with him? That is the real tragedy of this situation; do they understand that? I see no sign that they do at present yet it is so painfully obvious to any informed observer.

I know that countries only learn from mistakes and that if you read European history about 500 years ago you will see the same failures, the same shortcomings and destruction. Nevertheless we live in hope that education, culture and communications together with centuries of experience and reform would enable us to avoid these pitfalls. To stand on others shoulders instead of falling into the same holes in the road they left behind. But somehow ZANU PF seems incapable of this and seems incapable of reform itself.

Hundreds of people are writing and calling me every day to say that MDC is being sucked into the ZANU PF morass and will suffer the same fate if it does “nothing”. I will admit that if we do not make progress on rectifying the many transgressions of the GPA and very soon, that the whole caboodle could come tumbling down. Right now this failure is holding back progress on all fronts and even though international donors have doubled their aid to the country in the first quarter of this year, both patience and time is running out.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 12th April 2009

(Source: via email)

Mutambara has moved from being a voice of reason to echo of Mugabe’s wailing. The robotics professor seems to be sliding quicker than Tsvangirai in his admiration for Mugabe to the point that he has suddenly assumed the position of a George Charamba. His recent maiden parliamentary speech reveals a man struggling with getting over his student union days. It is time for the professor to understand the basics of life. You cant plead forgiveness and cry revenge with same mouth at the same time. As much as he appreciate that Zimbabwe’s problems are self  inflicted wounds, he should realise too that it does not do any good to the country when he attacks the West. The professor must accept the plain truth that  Zimbabwe is a beggar and as such has no power to put conditions to possible donors. A beggar has two choices, either to stretch his arm and take what is offered or fold his arms and refuse. 

Mutambara has off late adopted a Mugabe turbulent, disillusioned attitude towards the West as noted from his maiden speech, “Please, remove any types of sanctions you have imposed because you are undermining Comrade Tsvangirai, you are undermining the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, you are undermining the efforts of Zimbabweans”

“It’s not for America , it’s not for Britain to judge our wisdom or lack of it vis a vis the affairs of our country as long as we take charge of what we control.”

The robotics professor has become a talking caricature of Mugabe more than an animation of him. His goodwill and spirit lacks charisma the natural golden touch that characterises charismatic statesman like Nelson Mandela and nationalist like the late Joshua M Nkomo.

If Zimbabwe has wisdom and ability to take charge of its own affairs, then it (Zimbabwe) has to stop appealing for help from these western donors. What the robotics professor has managed to display is the plain fact that all African leaders think that the problems faced by Africa are European engineered other than the basic fact that the leaders are plain stupid, corrupt and unaccountable. The professor is starting to show symptoms that are endemic, hereditary, embedded and contagious among African leaders. l believe it would be better if the GNU created a marketing ministry  for the robotically and rocket  intelligent professor who draws so much from the term re-branding.

(Source)

 

One of Zimbabwe’s two vice prime ministers and key party to Zimbabwe’s infant tripartite government of national unity, Professor Arthur Mutambara on Wednesday threw ice cold spanners in the works of President Robert Mugabe dictatorship when he announced that the country will immediately allow back in to the country the foreign media.

The controversial politician from the smaller formation of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), promised he was to immediately facilitate the return of the big foreign media and singled houses such the BBC, CNN and ITN which are all banned from operating from Zimbabwe.

Local correspondents of all foreign media operate illegally under a wide range of repressive legislation such as the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Broadcasting Act which has seen them detained, tortured and imprisoned for operating “illegally” if they are not “registered” with the government’s Media Information Commission.

The Commission is well known for its links with President Mugabe’s spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation.

Prof Mutambara said the new government would reverse the old order where the State determined who should report and how. “No government has the right to control how it should be reported, by whom and from where,” he said adding that while Zimbabwe had external sanctions; its leadership had to remove internal sanctions they imposed on themselves through their misrule.

Prof Mutambara’s broad shot will not only litmus test President Mugabe’s commitment to ending dictatorship but will begin actualizing a new democratic political dispensation.

The former Massachusetts Institute of Technology robotics engineering professor had no kind words for Zimbabwe’s present junta’s iron fist rule.

“We want to re-brand Zimbabwe, but what are we known for? How are we perceived by the rest of the world? “We are known for violence, farm invasion, disregard for the rule of law, electoral fraud, cholera, an unheard of rocket propelled inflation, gigantic corruption and mafia style abductions and kidnappings of journalists, human rights activists and anyone seeking their democratic space,” he said amid applause from the large turn out that included Vice President Joyce Mujuru, one of President Mugabe’s key allies.

Prof Mutambara said Zimbabwe needs a complete paradigm shift in the manner in which it runs its affairs.

“You cannot re-brand for instance tourism to just start this economy instance without first re-branding Zimbabwe first. To re-brand a country, you must first have a product.

“You must be known for something and have triggers for delivery but not certainly what Zimbabwe is presently known for. You must be perceived for the right things for you to be attractive, and then you can sell.

“You then have to go beyond and build love marks which will then market loyalty for your product,” he told the country tourism stakeholders citing Coca Cola and Mercedes Benz which he told them has branding equity of 65% and US$22 billion on their balance sheets respectively.

In another fora, in Parliament Mutambara hit out at western governments describing as “ignorant and arrogant” a decision by US President Barrack Obama to extend targeted sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and his allies.

In his maiden speech, Mutambara criticised western governments for imposing and extending targeted travel sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his lieutenants in spite of the establishment of a government of national unity (GNU) between ZANU PF and the two MDC leaders.

“We understand why the US, Britain, and the EU are sceptical to remove the sanctions. But we are determined as the three political parties to make this agreement (Global Political Agreement) work. Please do not give us conditions like (such as) we are waiting for progress. If we don’t get balance of payments support and humanitarian assistance this government will collapse. Don’t patronize us. So we are saying remove any type of sanctions you have imposed on our people. You are undermining the Prime Minister. You are undermining the efforts of Zimbabweans. Mr Obama has extended sanctions to our country by one year. That decision was based on ignorance and arrogance,” Mutambara said.

Obama extended US sanctions that target Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler President Mugabe and others linked to him for another year at the beginning of this month, saying some people are continuing to undermine the country’s democratic processes.

Although both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have asked the US and the European Union to lift the sanctions to help the country pull itself out of its man-made economic crisis, both Washington and Brussels have ruled out any early lifting of targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his close associates until there is more progress on democratic reforms and human rights.

The EU and the US first imposed sanctions targeting scores of people and companies linked to President Mugabe with travel bans and asset freezes in 2002 and 2003 respectively to protest human rights violations in Zimbabwe and President Mugabe’s dictatorial rule.

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Robert Mugabe reasserted his authority in Zimbabwe on Saturday at a lavish birthday party but urged followers to respect the new power-sharing administration. The extravagant celebrations were held against a backdrop of economic ruin and came weeks after the veteran leader joined a unity government with long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

“I am still in control and hold executive authority, so nothing much has changed,” Mugabe told a crowd of about 2 000.

“Under this arrangement I want it known, as some of you were thinking we are no longer in power, we have an inclusive government with the president at the top, followed by the two vice-presidents, then the Prime Minister Tsvangirai and two deputy prime ministers.

“This is a result of the vote in which we did not do well. Let us not complain too much about it. Let’s accept things as they are.”

‘Some sold Zimbabwe out’

The veteran president, who has ruled Zimbabwe non-stop since independence in 1980, blamed former colonial power Britain for his party’s defeat at the polls and accused those who turned against Zanu-PF of being traitors.

“They (British) imposed sanctions which resulted in some basic commodities being unavailable so that the people would be disgruntled with the party.

“Some of you thought about your tummies and children and sold out the country,” he blasted.

Mugabe supporters raised more than US$250 000 for Saturday’s celebrations which included a birthday cake weighing 85 kilograms.

The party was held north of the capital Harare in the town of Chinhoyi in Mugabe’s home province of Mashonaland West.

‘Mugabe never lets his people down’

Crowds arrived in lorries, singing songs in praise of Mugabe, while banners proclaimed him a “great leader who never lets his people down”.

Tsvangirai, who has been rallying the donor community for $5bn in aid and investment, was not at the celebrations despite initial reports he would attend.

The country desperately needs money to rebuild schools, hospitals and sewers after a decade of economic collapse compounded by country’s long political travails.

Chinhoyi local Leo Matiyashe, who runs a food kiosk in the town, had to put business above pleasure as crowds flock to the party.

“I am in business looking for money and I cannot afford to close my shop to attend the birthday party.”

Several members of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF have farms in Mashonaland West and conditions are considerably better than the rest of the shattered country with a university and one of the best-equipped state hospitals.

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Zimbabwe‘s President Robert Mugabe has denied reports that he bought a mansion in Hong Kong saying ‘ndiri mwana wevhu” (I am son of the soil) and will never leave the country.

Mugabe made the remarks, in his 2-hour traditional birthday interview with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings on Wednesday.

“Why would I need a house. Ndiri mwana wevhu (I am a son of the soil)” said Mugabe crouching to the ground and picking some soil granules, in the snippets of the interview which will be beamed Thursday night.

International media have been awash with the reports that Mugabe bought a USD 5,8 million mansion in Hong Kong, where his daughter, Bona, is attending university. Some of the media even published pictures of the alleged mansion.

The London Times said the mansion was purchased by a middleman through a shadowy company whose registered office is in a run-down block. It said when a reporter and a photographer called at the house last week, they were attacked by the Zimbabwean occupants. The assailants were questioned by the police.

The acquisition came to light during a Sunday Times investigation into the Mugabes’ financial interests in Asia, where a web of associates has helped them to spend lavishly on luxuries and stash away millions in bank accounts.

In Zimbabwe, meanwhile, inflation has reached 231 million percent, although this figure is believed to be much more than that, unemployment stands at 94 percent and 3 467 people have died in recent months from cholera.

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday blamed Western sanctions for his country’s economic collapse, which has left millions jobless and hungry.

Speaking on the final day of the 12th African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Mugabe charged that European and US sanctions against his regime had crippled his nation’s economy and fuelled popular unrest.

“We believe that these illegal sanctions are not only unjustified and cruel, but they have also contributed deeply to the suffering and the poverty-induced polarisation of the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.

Mugabe accused donors of punishing Zimbabwe for his land reform programme, in which white-owned farms were forcibly seized and given to black farmers, who often had little experience or access to equipment.

“Our condemnation, our isolation is because my government took the necessary measures to create conditions for equal opportunities, for decolonisation, for creating conditions in which our people could regain their lost resources.”

Zimbabwe has been bogged down in a bitter political feud since the March 2008 elections, further scuppering an already ailing economy.

The southern Africa country’s unemployment rate currently peaked at 94 percent while its inflation – symbolised by the release last month of a 100-trillion-dollar note – is the world’s highest.

The African Union on Saturday called for the lifting of the sanctions, which comprise mainly a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and his inner circle, as a means of alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe made little mention of a deal to form a national unity government with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and did not reply to calls from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for him to free political prisoners and guarantee human rights.

The 84-year-old, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has come under increasing international pressure since his electoral dispute with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

But Mugabe remains a popular figure and is considered an independence hero by many African leaders.

The Zimbabwean president also blamed the West for causing the global financial crisis by allowing the speculative activities of a greedy few and demanded Africa be given a role in shaping a healthier economic system.

“We are therefore ready and more than willing in playing our part and contributing toward the rebuilding of the global economy,” he said.

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