Zimbabwe meltdown

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Zimbabwe refuses entry to Carter, Annan

Former U.S. president 'disappointed' after humanitarian mission is blocked

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Former US President Jimmy Carter, former UN head Kofi Annan, and Graca Machel, wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, at a news conference in Johannesburg on Saturday.


JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Saturday that he and others planning a humanitarian mission in Zimbabwe had been refused entry to the impoverished African country.

Carter and two other members of The Elders group — former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and rights advocate Graca Machel, who is married to Nelson Mandela had planned to assess the country's humanitarian needs as Zimbabweans are stalked by disease and hunger while political crisis occupies its politicians. But they were told Friday night by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating the political crisis, that efforts to secure travel visas for the group had failed, Carter told reporters at a news conference in Johannesburg.

Now Robert Mugabe is afraid of himself.

[Mpita Njia]

Lakini naona yule waziriw a mambo ya nje wa Botswana amemtolea uvivu na amesema kweli, akina Kikwete wanamchekea sana Mugabe na matokeo yake watu wa kawaida ndio wanaoteseka

[mwanakijiji]

Hawa wazimbabwe nao wana kiburi cha aina yake.

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Tutu: Mugabe should be toppled and indicted in The Hague



Africa News
Dec 5, 2008, 12:22 GMT

Amsterdam/Copenhagen - The international community should be prepared to intervene military in Zimbabwe and indict Robert Mugabe if he refuses to meet the world's demands and step down, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu told Dutch media. Speaking in the late night Dutch current affairs programme NOVA on Thursday, the bishop, aged 77, said the Zimbabwean president must be forced out of power as soon as possible.

'The point is that we should stop the suffering of so many people,' said the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was in the Netherlands to award the 2008 Childrens' World Peace Prize. The bishop said the current state of Zimbabwe and the deplorable situation of its people has made him change his strategy concerning Mugabe. Tutu said that previously 'I myself felt that Mugabe should be given a soft landing. I then said he should be tempted with a carrot: 'If you step down,
we will not bring you to (the International Criminal Court in) The Hague.'' The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC) is a court of last resort for serious crimes of international concern, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

'Today I think the world must say (to Mugabe): 'Look, you have been responsible for gross violations and you are going to face indictment in The Hague - unless you step down.' 'He has destroyed a wonderful country. Zimbabwe has become an empty basket. The country needs help,' Tutu added, saying that African countries should play an important role in the process of forcing Mugabe out of power.

'The world should bring him to The Hague and this should also include African countries as well as the European Union. If necessary, it should happen by force, by the African Union, (the South African Development Community) SADC, and the European Union. They have got that capacity.' Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday called for President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to step down, citing the recent cholera outbreak as an example of his failed government.

Describing Mugabe's departure was 'long overdue,' Rice called elections that had brought Mugabe to power a 'sham.' After a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Rice urged the international community, especially Zimbabwe's
southern African neighbours, to help break the political impasse over a power-sharing government between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).


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The Ncube family: Kwanele, 6, and Nomagugu, 5,
are suffering from kwashiorkor,
caused by severe malnutrition


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On tap: a queue for clean drinking water
from a Unicef truck. Almost 600 people
have died of cholera Photo: AP


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Children collect water
from a well in Harare,
Zimbabwe, 05 Dec 2008


A lot of people had been for a long time advocating for this bustard to be send to the cleaners but few people did not understand the extent of disruption he has caused for a lot of people in Zimbabwe. Always crying like a small child for sweets from his colonial masters. Another African leader whom you can compare with Mobutu, Bokasa and other Nigerian Dictators.

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Helping themselves at Harare central along Baker Street!


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Catch us if you can


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Let ne have the last one!

South Africa has failed to continue to bankroll the Mugabe regime after Mbeki's departure, what next for the dictator? Thinking aloud waiting to be buried at heroes acre……………………I wonder?

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Dollar is key to Zimbabwe survival

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Zimbabweans queue for the new $500 million banknote in Harare


Last week the reserve bank issued a new Zimbabwean banknote - a $500m bill. Its value changes by the day, but a rough estimate of its worth now is about US $50 (?33).

Its release was enough to see a surge of people flock onto the streets and form huge queues outside the banks. Harare's pavements were gridlocked for most of the day. But increasingly it is only US dollars that are accepted in Zimbabwe's shops. Petrol stations are among those now turning away people who offer fistfuls of local currency. Even water bills - for what little clean water there is - have to be paid in hard US cash. And bread is now a dollar commodity in many parts of the country.

'Dollarisation'

]There has been a surge in cross-border trade in recent weeks with the lifting of restrictions on US dollar transactions. Consumer goods, food and cars are being brought across from neighbouring South Africa.


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To get (US) dollars I have to do assignments abroad?
there are not many Zimbabweans who can do that

Supermarkets are now stuffed with food, filling shelves that just a month or so ago were empty.
These supermarkets are for Zimbabwe's tiny dollar elite - the type that drive brand new cars into the car parks as others try to fend off starvation. They only accept US dollar bills in these swanky shops. John Makombe, professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe, estimates that 80% of the population here has no access to US dollar bills. "Even I sometimes don't have foreign currency and I'm a university professor. To get dollars I have to do assignments abroad," he says. "There are not many Zimbabweans who can do that."

The value of Professor Makumbe's monthly salary, he reveals, is equivalent to US $30. That is just a little more than the price of a jar of instant coffee in the supermarkets which have become a refuge of the dollar rich. The "dollarisation" of the Zimbabwean financial system is propping up a collapsed Zimbabwean economy. But it has created an unwieldy free market where the government, unable to control basic prices, is merely a bystander.

A shortage of change and small US banknotes is now creating a new US dollar inflation.
"Zimbabwe is like a house of cards? one puff and it could come down," says a Zimbabwe-based Western diplomat with a depressed tone. "The problem is? there isn't the puff to blow it down." It seems to be an accurate observation. Massive food shortages, hyperinflation, cholera and continued political turmoil are a heady cocktail. In any other country in the world, this combination might have triggered a coup. But not here. People are simply too scared.

Critics vanished

Journalists, human rights activists and other critics of Robert Mugabe's presidency have recently vanished.


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Many Zimbabweans do not have access to foreign currency


More than 20 people have disappeared in just the past few weeks - people are terrified.
Reporting the Zimbabwe story is risky for all concerned - not least those on the other side of the microphone. Not surprisingly many are reluctant to speak out - yet thankfully, some still do. Like Elliot and Molly - a retired couple now living on a small farm, whose geographical details I dare not divulge for fear they are punished for speaking to me. "Africa needs to be responsible for its own problems," says Elliot boldly. "It's about our own mismanagement? we can't blame former colonies like Britain."

It is a sentiment that runs deep here, though few will speak openly about it. When I arrived tensions were high following the disappearance of Jestina Mukoko - a prominent human rights campaigner and former journalist, who had allegedly been abducted. Her safety has been playing on the minds of so many here ever since. Yet Zimbabwe's neighbours continue to offer legitimacy to Robert Mugabe. Despite a power-sharing deal back in September, he still holds all the cards. He is revered as a liberation hero by many influential figures on the continent, with just Botswana and Kenya breaking rank and speaking out.

One political campaigner for the opposition MDC described the present climate in Zimbabwe as "coerced control" - an environment where intimidation rules. It means that ordinary Zimbabweans, already enduring so much, may still face the prospect of worse to come - resisting the instinct to revolt with a sense of fear.



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This is the reality of Zimbabwe?s cholera epidemic, aid workers say. Dehydrated patients lie motionless on makeshift beds. Nurses work day and night with barely any medical supplies.

At the same time R. Mugabe anabwata kama jibwa lililotelekezwa.

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Rubbish litters the streets of the southern town of Beitbridge. Church volunteers help clear rubbish in the hope it might prevent the spread of cholera which the UN says has already claimed almost 1,000 lives.



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Years of neglect means that clean water is scarce in Zimbabwe. Raw sewage flows through the streets. There are fears that with the onset of the rainy season the cholera will continue to spread.


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Seven-year-old Sinikiwe cradles her young brother Simba. Hunger stalks their family. Their local church, supported by the charity Tearfund provides what little food, clothing and seed they have.


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Hyperinflation renders Zimbabwean dollars valueless in days. This man's wife tried to buy maize with their last dollars. But they were worthless. He was forced to beg for food for his children.

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Supporting the opposition comes at a high price. This village councillor elected in March says he's been repeatedly threatened and beaten by soldiers. Pix: Marcus Perkins Words: Abby King/Tearfund


Zimbabwe ni aibu ya SADC, tutawezaje kuona maovu kama haya hayatokei? Uroho wa madaraka na umungu-mtu, siku atakayokufa inzi watakula mzoga wake.

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Pretoria confirms 30-million-dollar aid injection for Zimbabwe (http://www.monstersandcritics.com)


Pretoria - South Africa on Tuesday confirmed it had provided its ailing neighbour Zimbabwe with humanitarian aid to the tune of 300 million rands (30 million dollars). The move amounted to an about-turn on the part of Pretoria that had initially made the formation of a unity government in Zimbabwe the condition for such assistance.

Thabo Masebe, a spokesman for South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, had reiterated on Sunday in an interview with the public broadcaster that Pretoria would provide such assistance only once a new government was formed. But a day later, Zimbabwe's state media quoted Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo as saying Pretoria had sent, among other goods, maize and sorghum seed, fertilizer and fuel.

On Tuesday, Masebe, confirming that assistance was already being provided, said: 'The aim is to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to circumvent a dire food security situation.' Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe and opposition Movement for Democratic (MDC) party leader Morgan Tsvangirai have failed to implement a power-sharing agreement signed in September. Months of negotiations involving South African officials, have failed to
break the deadlock, with Mugabe refusing to bow to international pressure to step down.

You wonder why Pretoria is doing this?

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Mugabe's genocide: The images of despair that reveal the full horror of Zimbabwe (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ )



Our chilling undercover report reveals how President Robert Mugabe is cynically deepening the country's crisis for his own twisted ends


22nd December 2008

His body ravaged by cholera, two-year-old Amos barely opens his eyes as a nurse in protective white plastic boots and gloves checks his temperature. Tenderly, his mother Rachel strokes her son's head. But in her heart she must know that his chances are slender. Her little boy is staring death in the face - in all likelihood, he will not survive to see Christmas. Last Tuesday, Rachel walked five miles carrying Amos on her back to an emergency cholera clinic near Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.


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Distraught mother Rachel comforts her dying two-year-old son Amos at a cholera clinic


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The young are particularly vulnerable to killer diseases such as cholera

'I tried to run fast,' says the 27-year-old tearfully, as she sits beside him. 'I thought he wouldn't get help in time. Now I can only pray.' Yet Amos is lucky. He made it here; one of 1,000 children in one month to be treated by nurses (many paid for by British donations) at the tiny three-ward clinic in the dusty commuter town of Chitungwiza. Hundreds of other children are dying before they can reach medical care at all, as Zimbabwe's latest horror unfolds.


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Clutching her Zanu PF membership card
required to claim treatment,

Destiny, 25, delivered her baby at Bulawayo's Central Hospital two weeks ago. She was separated from the child to be treated for her own malnutrition. She is slowly starving to death
In the final indignity for its benighted people, the nation is now in the grip of a cholera epidemic.
In the past few weeks, the disease has swept through a country in political chaos, economic meltdown and on the brink of starvation. Little by little, news has filtered through of a large-scale medical emergency. But what is the reality? Last week, I went to Zimbabwe to investigate for myself the human toll the disease is taking.

I travelled undercover - along with photographer Jamie Wiseman - because foreign journalists are barred from the country and face five years in prison on spy charges if caught. I talked to nurses, charity workers, church leaders and local politicians. I visited families living deep in the bush, and those in the cities and suburbs. And what I found is, quite simply, a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions. It is a tragedy, moreover, that some believe may even have been deliberately orchestrated by Robert Mugabe in a warped attempt to crush his critics for good and reassert absolute rule.

As Rachel Pounds, the British-born director of Save The Children in Zimbabwe - which helps to finance the cholera clinic treating baby Amos - told me: 'This country is going to hell in a hand cart. Children are chronically malnourished and cannot fight off illness - even a common cold, let alone a killer such as cholera. The epidemic is out of control.' Across the city in Mbare, a poor Harare suburb where the stench of sewage in the streets stings your eyes, local priest Father Oskar Wermter went further. He stated plainly: 'We are witnessing a crime against humanity. There is evil going on in this country. 'It is being perpetuated by a President who greedily hangs on to power without a care for his people.'

In Zimbabwe, where every government-run service is in ruins, cholera marched in through an open door. It first took hold a month ago after filthy, untreated water began pouring out of taps into homes, and raw sewage leaked from pipes into streams where people wash their vegetables.


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Stella Manhando, 54, and her three-month-old grandson Tinotenda, who she cares for since the death of her daughter, live in a slum in Harare

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Only this week, the tyrannical Mugabe blamed the tragedy on the British.


We had, he claimed, planted cholera in his country to pave the way for a military invasion orchestrated by Downing Street. But the truth is that Zimbabwe has been broken by Mugabe himself. The bankrupt country does not have enough foreign currency to buy chemicals from abroad for the filtration plants that are supposed to purify its water system. Meanwhile, the cracked sewage pipes have not been repaired in years.


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Two Zimbabweans look on as a relative struggles to survive in a makeshift hospital. Dirty water is killing the people: 1,123 have died so far and 21,000 have been infected, the United Nations has said. At one cemetery in Harare, the gravediggers are burying 31 child cholera victims every week. In a chilling prediction, the UN says that 60,000 people may lose their lives before it is all over. Yet still the world seems too paralysed to respond. In an act of misplaced loyalty, many of Africa's leaders refuse to denounce this despot because he was once a Marxist freedom-fighter against white colonial rule.

From Britain there have come platitudes about bringing back true democracy to Zimbabwe and the promise of ?45million extra in aid to prop up the country. But is this hopeless naivety against a dictator who even uses the threat of starvation as a political tool? The Mail has discovered that those who do not carry the red membership card of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party (complete with the President's mugshot) are routinely refused the chance to register for emergency food aid from international charities. Crucially, gifts of grain, cooking oil, soya beans, powdered milk and medical supplies are not reaching the children who so desperately need them.

The charities hand out the aid to local tribal chiefs (often in positions of power because of their allegiance to Zanu-PF) for distribution. Time and again, the food is then given exclusively to party henchmen for their own use or for sale on the black market. Some is even exported by them to neighbouring African nations in exchange for U.S. dollars, now the only meaningful currency in Zimbabwe.

Yet some suspect even more sinister happenings: that Mugabe's men may be encouraging the spread of cholera in areas where opposition to Zanu-PF is strong. Campaigners say it is no coincidence that the green and brown water pouring out of taps is particularly evident in areas which do not support the President.


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Young patients are attended to at a cholera clinic in Chitungwiza, where 120 people a day are presenting with symptoms of cholera


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Empty shelves in a Bulawayo supermarket illustrate how the economy has collapsed under Mugabe's rule

'The question has to be asked: "Is this by design or by default?"' said John Worsley-Worswick, a white Zimbabwean and head of Harare's Justice for Agriculture Trust, which campaigns against food shortages. 'We are witnessing genocide here; first by starvation and now by cholera, too. A hungry, sick nation is a compliant nation.'

Even for those who survive the epidemic, the future is eternally bleak. Nine out of ten adults are jobless, while inflation surpasses anything witnessed in world history. It topped 260 million per cent this week, dwarfing even the rampant hyperinflation of Germany's Weimar Republic during the early Thirties.

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Malnourished children near their home in the country's south


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This facility in Chitungwiza aims to treat those who have fallen ill after drinking contaminated water


The response from Mugabe, at his heavily-guarded mansion, is to print more money in bigger denominations. The latest - introduced for Christmas - is a 10 billion Zimbabwe dollar note, worth less than 20 U.S. dollars. However, no one is allowed to withdraw more than 500,000 dollars daily from the bank, enough to buy one-and-a-half loaves and a bottle of cola. Patiently, the people queue from dawn for this meagre sustenance, although by evening the prices may well have doubled again and they will get only half what they wanted.


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Showing the signs of malnutrition, 18-month-old Tholakele Ndlovu
holds the cup from which she is fed barely once a day

Meanwhile, the shops are yawningly empty. In Bulawayo, the country's second biggest city, the hypermarket was selling only washing powder and imported wine last week. In the vegetable and fruit section there was not even a banana. This was once the farming capital of Zimbabwe, yet I met middle-class families here who have eaten only once a day for months, because they simply cannot find - let alone afford - more than this.

As Julia, a 31-year-old mother and teacher, explained: 'Sometimes I eat nothing, because if it is a choice between me and my child, my child comes first.' Doctors and nurses have to devote so much of their day to searching for basic food for their families that most of Zimbabwe's hospitals are shut through lack of staff. In a hideous scenario, 700 pregnant women needing emergency Caesarean sections have been turned away.

Even Mugabe's state police are hungry. Their uniforms hang off their bodies as they stop cars at road blocks and order that any food belonging to the driver or passenger is handed out to them through the window. As we travelled through Bulawayo, our car was pulled over by a young policeman. He made the driver get out and asked him: 'Where are you taking those whites?'
When the driver loyally refused to answer, the policeman instructed us to hand him our bottled water and sandwiches before we were allowed on our way. There was an automatic pistol in his holster.

In a chilling analysis, Tendai Biti, Secretary General of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, estimates that 4,500 Zimbabweans are dying of hunger each week, many of them babies and the old. At least 50,000 children have swollen stomachs and stunted growth - the signs of malnutrition. In Plumtree, 80 miles from Bulawayo, I watched as two small girls stood at the grave of their baby sister, Lucie. Their mother, Sara, knelt in respect as their father pulled off his white cotton hat to mourn the child who died of hunger four months ago.

The only food the family had to eat that day was a spoonful of sadza, a maize porridge that is the staple diet of Zimbabweans. Of course, it is not enough to keep a human being alive for long.


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Government services have all but collapsed in Zimbabwe. More than 1,000 people have died from cholera

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Eight-month-old Kudi from Bulawayo at an emergency UNICEF Malnutrition Centre with his mother Liliosa, 22.


Initially deceived by his plump appearance caused by malnutrition, treatment wasn't sought until diarrhoea set in. Doctors worry he may not survive as he weighs just 5kg
'I am afraid we will lose another of our daughters by Christmas,' 27-year-old Sara told me at the graveside. 'Before our baby died, I was so thin I did not have enough breast milk to feed her. She just faded away, her eyes sank into her head. We had hardly any porridge then, and now that is running out, too.'

The reality is that Mugabe's Zimbabwe, which he has ruled for 28 years since it gained independence from Britain, is now staring into the abyss. Zimbabwe once happily exported grain to the rest of Africa, but it is now a decade or more since it grew enough to feed itself.


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Melissa, 4, from Bulawayo, with her mother. She is malnourished and shows signs of stunted growth.

She is almost two-thirds of the weight she should be, and almost eight inches shorter than an average British four-year-old Racially inspired 'land reforms' ordered by an increasingly demonic Mugabe in the late-Nineties put paid to that. The 6,000 white farmers who owned 46 per cent of the arable land were forced to hand their thriving enterprises to black Zimbabweans - often henchmen in Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party - with no experience of agriculture.

The result? Huge tracts of Zimbabwe are returning to bush. The land lies untilled while almost every kind of food is imported. No wonder the people, black and white, share a cynical joke. 'We were once the bread basket of Africa,' it goes. 'Now we are the basket case.' Yet Mugabe, at 84, still clings on, declaring only this weekend: 'Zimbabwe is mine.' Before presidential elections earlier this year, which every sane observer dismissed as a sham, he ordered his followers to murder and beat political opponents (even cutting off their limbs and genitals) to terrify thousands into voting for him.

And still such atrocities continue: 41 human rights activists, journalists, and opposition politicians have been abducted in the past few weeks after a knock on the door from Mugabe's men. Most have simply disappeared. Meanwhile, Mugabe himself continues to live the high life (financed in part by the sale of Zimbabwe's ?250 million platinum rights to China). He has five mansions (two confiscated from white farmers) and flies in foreign foods on a fleet of private planes. His wife, Grace, 40 years his junior, is known as 'Gucci Grace' because of her profligate spending in the boutiques of Europe with other Zanu-PF leaders' wives.

For months the dictator has cynically sidestepped a power-sharing deal which might give Zimbabwe a future. His main political opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, has fled to neighbouring Botswana for his own safety. Now Zimbabwean people are thinking the unthinkable: that the tyrant has deliberately provoked the collapse of his country as a forerunner to declaring a state of national emergency and outright military rule.
It is a scenario Zimbabweans dread. As Jessica, a 44-year-old social scientist from Harare, explains: 'We are frightened. We think the end game is near. Already, we look over our shoulders. We are careful what we say, even to neighbours. We put up Mugabe posters on our front doors to protect ourselves. It is like a Stalinist state.'


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Some of the malnourished children found by The Daily Mail in Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe
Outside Harare, at the Granville Cemetery, there are lines of newly dug graves in the 'cholera section'.

Each has a tin sign with the age of the victim. Most have died unbearably young. The ravedigger tells me: 'We are beginning to lose count of the coffins arriving. We have buried 120 children every month since September.' Here, families place silver Christmas tinsel on top of the graves instead of the headstones they cannot afford.

In the nearby St Peter's Church, where the services in the run-up to Christmas are under way, Father Oskar Wermter has never been busier. The priest, who recently spent weeks in hiding when he was threatened with abduction by the Zanu-PF, is visiting the emergency cholera clinics, praying for the sick and giving solace to those who have lost loved ones.


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The leader who betrayed his people: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe

During Mass and other services, it is normal for worshippers to shake hands with each other as a sign of peace. But this week, even this simple act had disappeared at St Peter's. 'People are afraid to touch, in case it leads to them catching cholera,' said Father Wermter. 'We just nod at each other instead.' It may seem like a small thing, but in this once-civilised and prosperous country, it is yet another indignity imposed by Mugabe on his long-suffering people.

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Zimbabwe?s misery prolonged by two unlikely partners


Dec 18, 2008, 00:42

(WMR) -- WMR has learned from a source within Zimbabwe?s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), that Zimbabwe?s authoritarian president, Robert Mugabe, is being propped up with the help of two unlikely bedfellows: Israel and Libya.

A knowledgeable MDC source told WMR on background that the opposition has evidence that Israel?s Mossad helped rig Zimbabwe?s presidential and parliamentary elections to forestall a decisive victory for the MDC. Mugabe has violated a power-sharing agreement with the opposition that was agreed upon after the opposition won a majority of seats in the parliament.

On April 28, 2008, WMR reported on Israel?s assistance to Mugabe. WMR reported: ?Mugabe?s relations with Israel have grown close even though Mugabe has favorably compared himself to Adolf Hitler and has been a strong supporter of the Palestinians. ?According to U.S. Defense Department sources, the Zimbabwe opposition blames Israel more than China for propping up Mugabe with security assistance and military equipment.

?In 2002, prior to contested elections, Israel sold riot control vehicles to Zimbabwe. These vehicles assisted in putting down opposition demonstrations against what was then called a fraudulent election rigged by Mugabe. Israeli security firms also provide assistance to Mugabe.
?Recently, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) accused an Israeli software company with Mossad links of changing computerized voter registration lists to rig the recent election in Mugabe?s favor. Tendai Biti, the MDC?s Secretary General, accused Cogniview of helping Zimbabwe?s Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) of rigging the election. Cogniview?s CEO, Yoav Ezer, called the allegations ?science fiction.? The Zimbabwe Guardian in London reported that Ezer had contacted Phil Matibe, an MDC official in the United States, to pressure MDC officials to retract the allegations about Israel?s role in fixing the election.?

WMR has learned that the Mossad does not primarily operate out of Israel?s small embassy in Harare, located on the 6th Floor of Three Anchor House on Jason Moyo Avenue in the Causeway district of Harare, but out of the large Mossad station in the South African embassy in the South African capital of Pretoria. Mossad agents, using diplomatic passports, regularly travel between South Africa and Zimbabwe to assist Mugabe?s security and intelligence agencies. Israeli security companies provide Zimbabwe?s police and military with tear gas, water cannons, anti-riot gear, and anti-riot armored vehicles.

Mossad has also reportedly assisted Zimbabwe intelligence agents spying on Zimbabwean opposition activities in Botswana. The small Mossad station in diamond-rich Botswana operates out of the Israeli Consulate in Gaborone, the Botswana capital. Recently, Botswana?s Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) caught a number of Zimbabwe CIO agents disguised as refugees. Botswana deported the agents back to Zimbabwe.

Mugabe?s intelligence and security services are also being supported by Libya, making Israel and Libya odd bedfellows in their joint support for Mugabe. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi owns a number of houses in Harare, including a large house in the Belgravia district of Harare. The homes are suspected of being used as ?safe houses? for the CIO. In a bizarre twist, joint CIO and Mossad activities in Zimbabwe occasionally involve the use of Qaddafi?s safe houses.

In return for support for Mugabe, Israel has access to Zimbabwe?s gold and diamond resources, as well as those in the Democratic Republic of Congo over which Zimbabwe has control.

This Dictactor has gone too far for comfort and other nations around should know better how to deal with him.

[Dua]

Naona Bob amepotea njia alipewa mwanya wa kutokea lakini naona amechezea shillingi chooni.

[Dua]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45385000/jpg/_45385700_006633838-1.jpg

The loose beast

Morgan Tsvangirai goes back to Zimbabwe to face the devil and said: "I'm glad to be back home," Mr Tsvangirai said after arriving in Zimbabwe's capital Harare from Johannesburg. "I hope the meeting will find a lasting solution to the crisis." He added: "The MDC will not be bulldozed into an agreement which does not meet the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe."

More than 2,225 people died since the outbreak of cholera .

[911]

Its like Mugabe have failed to lead the country,he is simply rulling.
But the question that crosses my head is...Will it be safe to give Tsvangirai to lead the country?I have heard several times that the guy is a puppet.

[duru langu]

Zimbabwe refuses entry to Carter, Annan

Former U.S. president 'disappointed' after humanitarian mission is blocked

http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/ap/c70d0c88-cc39-4999-9b12-941823ad85f7.hmedium.jpg


Former US President Jimmy Carter, former UN head Kofi Annan, and Graca Machel, wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, at a news conference in Johannesburg on Saturday. [/B

[B]Now Robert Mugabe is afraid of himself.

Sina nia ya kuitetea serikali ya Mugabe.

Mambo mengine bwana! Kawaida needs assessment inatolewa na serikali. Je hawa waheshimiwa waliiomba serikali needs assessment wakakataliwa? Kama hawakuiomba serikali hiyo needs assessment basi ni lazima serikali idhani ujumbe huu ulikuwa na lengo la kuongea na mahasimu wake na ndio maana wakawatolea nje.

[Ach-F]

Sina nia ya kuitetea serikali ya Mugabe.

Mambo mengine bwana! Kawaida needs assessment inatolewa na serikali. Je hawa waheshimiwa waliiomba serikali needs assessment wakakataliwa? Kama hawakuiomba serikali hiyo needs assessment basi ni lazima serikali idhani ujumbe huu ulikuwa na lengo la kuongea na mahasimu wake na ndio maana wakawatolea nje.

Msimamo wako ni upi? mbona unaanza kujitetea? Cholera imeua more than 2000 people hata Israel kule Gaza hawakuua 2000.

[duru langu]

Msimamo wako ni upi? mbona unaanza kujitetea? Cholera imeua more than 2000 people hata Israel kule Gaza hawakuua 2000.

Msimamo wangu ni kwamba kama hiyo needs assessment haikuombwa kwanza
kupitia serikali basi hawa wakuu wamechemsha.

Sijajitetea ni kusisitiza tu kwamba mtazamo wangu kuhusu hawa wakuu kunyimwa ruhusa ya kuingia zimbabwe kwa ajili ya needs assessment hauingiliani na mtazamo wangu wa utawala wa jongwe.

Maisha kupotea bila hatia ni jambo la kusikitisha na inabidi kulaaniwa. Hizo namba ni tarakimu tu. Kwani kipindupindu Zimbabwe kingeuwa idadi kidogo kuliko idadi ya watu kuliko maisha yaliyopotea huko Gaza ndio serikali ya Zimbabwe isingestahili kushutumiwa?

[Mpita Njia]

Maisha kupotea bila hatia ni jambo la kusikitisha na inabidi kulaaniwa. Hizo namba ni tarakimu tu. Kwani kipindupindu Zimbabwe kingeuwa idadi kidogo kuliko idadi ya watu kuliko maisha yaliyopotea huko Gaza ndio serikali ya Zimbabwe isingestahili kushutumiwa?

Mkuu, unataka mpaka namba ifikie ngapi ili ujue kuwa hili ni tatizo, tena la kujitakia?

[Dua]

Robert Mugabe plans binge in land of hunger



? Times Online February 10, 2009
It is the 85th birthday of President Mugabe this month and the zealots of his Zanu (PF) party are determined that it should be an occasion that their great leader will never forget. In recent days they have been out soliciting ?donations? from corporate Zimbabwe and have drawn up a wish list that is scarcely credible in a land where seven million citizens survive on international food aid, 94 per cent are jobless and cholera rampages through a population debilitated by hunger.

The list includes 2,000 bottles of champagne (Mo?t & Chandon or ?61 Bollinger preferred); 8,000 lobsters; 100kg of prawns; 4,000 portions of caviar; 8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates; 3,000 ducks; and much else besides. A postscript adds: ?No mealie meal? ? the ground corn staple on which the vast majority of Zimbabweans survived until the country?s collapse rendered even that a luxury.

Those who prefer to give in cash, not kind, are invited to send ?donations? of between $45,000 and $55,000 to a US dollar bank account in the name of the 21st February Movement, a youth organisation controlled by Zanu (PF) and named after the date of the President?s birthday. Western diplomats and aid workers were stunned when shown the list. ?It?s just appalling. It?s like they are either completely oblivious to what?s happening in their country, or completely impervious and just don?t care,? said one. ?It?s shocking and obscene,? said another, who noted that lobsters were unobtainable in Zimbabwe and would have to be flown in.

Others said it showed that the Mugabe regime had no intention of curtailing its excesses after entering a unity government with the Movement for Democratic Change later this week. The Times cannot be entirely sure of the list?s authenticity but it came from a reliable source who was contacted by this newspaper, not the other way round. The source had no vested interest in its publication, was hesitant about releasing it and had himself received it from three or four separate businesses that had been approached for donations.

He said that in each case the approaches were made by groups of youths from the 21st February Movement who were aggressive and threatening, and warned that they would make life difficult for the businesses if they did not stump up. In most cases they are doing so because the cost of fighting the quasi-mafia that runs Zimbabwe is simply too high. Zimbabweans became accustomed long ago to the ?elite? staging extravagant celebrations for the birthday of the increasingly reviled President ? last year?s reportedly cost $1.2 million ? but the organiser of this year?s bash is Patrick Zhuwawo, Mr Mugabe?s nephew, who seems determined to outdo his predecessors.

At the launch of the fundraising campaign in a Harare hotel last month, Comrade Zhuwawo, the out- going Deputy Minister of Science and Technological Development, said that thousands of youths and invited guests would join the first family for the celebrations in Chinhoyi, in Mashonaland West, Mr Mugabe?s home province, on February 28. He said that hundreds of cattle, goats and sheep would also be slaughtered for the lavish one-day celebration. ?It?s an important day for Zimbabweans to celebrate the life of our great leader and Africa?s hero,? he said. ?Zanu (PF) continues to receive massive donations from the corporate world, ordinary Zimbabweans and from people from all walks of life and we are confident that this year?s celebrations will be the best.?

He even suggested that the event would raise funds for the underprivileged, which led one outraged academic to quip last night that this would include almost every Zimbabwean not invited to the party and that most would happily accept the extravagance provided that it was Mr Mugabe?s last. Mr Mugabe?s birthday parties are seldom understated affairs. The celebration two years ago featured 20,000 guests in the Mboka football stadium in the city of Gweru, which was shown on national television. It featured giant cakes, children in brightly coloured sashes mingling with the ?elite? and a speech by the President denouncing homosexuality. For his 80th birthday ? which he celebrated in his home village of Kutama, 50 miles west of Harare ? the day began with a Catholic Mass followed by a festival of school choirs, a police band and a performance by the gospel singer Fungisai Zvakavapano.

Zimbabwe?s newspapers often publish huge colour advertisements wishing the Old Crocodile birthday greetings from state enterprises that have been haemorrhaging money for years. This year, however, the Zimbabwean media have reported that even some Zanu (PF) members have complained about the planned celebration. Dzikamai Mavhaire, a senator, told a recent provincial executive meeting in Masvingo: ?We cannot fundraise for a single person when we have millions of starving Zimbabweans in the country . . . Only [Mugabe?s] personal friends and relatives within the party or outside should do that.?

Birthday list

2,000 bottles of champagne ? Mo?t & Chandon and ?61 Bollinger

500 bottles of whisky ? Johnny Walker Blue Label, 22-year-old Chivas

8,000 lobsters

100kg king prawns

3,000 ducks

4,000 portions of caviar

8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher

16,000 eggs

3,000 cakes ? chocolate and vanilla

4,000 packs of pork sausages

500kg cheese

4,000 packets of crackers

Asiye na Mwana aeleke jiwe.

[Ach-F]

Tsvangirai says he has given Mugabe an ultimatum on power-sharing



Apr 22, 2009, 18:41 GMT

Harare - Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday he had given President Robert Mugabe a deadline on the resolution of issues threatening to derail the country's unity government. Tsvangirai was speaking ahead of a third meeting between the two leaders on Thursday over the unilateral claw-back by Mugabe of the telecommunications dossier from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

'The outstanding issues cannot go on and on hanging over our hands,' said Tsvangirai, while refusing to reveal what sort of ultimatum he had issued 85-year-old Mugabe. Mugabe earlier this month took telecommunications off MDC Information Minister Nelson Chamisa and gave it to Transport Minister Nicholas Goche - a member of the Zanu- PF party. The move outraged the MDC, given that telecommunications covers spying.

The ongoing invasion of white-owned farms by Zanu-PF loyalists and Mugabe's refusal to review his unilateral appointments of the central bank governor and attorney general are other issues threatening to scupper the deal and putting the skids on foreign aid and investment. Finance Minister Tendai Biti has appealed for 10 billion dollars to rebuild the tattered economy but Western donors are waiting for proof of real reforms before committing to anything more than emergency relief for the millions of Zimbabweans, who cannot feed themselves.

So far, two meetings between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway faction of Tsvangirai's MDC and the third signatory to September's power-sharing agreement, have failed to resolve the issues.

Bob realised his mistakes, and he took over the powerful telecom position ... ... will Morgan blink?

[Ach-F]

Mugabe has started to cave in on Tsvangirai demands.

[mwanakijiji]

BBC - Wenye passport ya Uingereza warudishwa Uingereza!

More than 60 British passport holders, reduced to poverty in Zimbabwe, are to be repatriated to Britain over the next few weeks.

They are the first successful applicants to a UK government scheme to resettle elderly and vulnerable people unable to afford the move themselves.

All their savings were lost in years of hyper-inflation in Zimbabwe.

The government says it may eventually have to pay for the return of 750 of its citizens.

The scheme is available to people aged over 70 with medical or care needs.

Bags packed

Fred Noble has lived in Zimbabwe for 51 years, but is now packing his bags for the move back to Britain this weekend. He had built up a good pension fund working on the railways, but is now almost destitute.

"I got sick, had to go to a private hospital and pay all the expenses myself. I had to sell my flat," he said.


I came to a beautiful country and I will remember it as that
Fred Noble, pensioner

In pictures: Zimbabwe's pensioners

"One day you are very well off, and the next day you are a poor man."

Inflation in Zimbabwe, which at one point reached 231m%, made pensions, savings and investments worthless.

British local government minister John Healy says the number of enquiries went up after last year's presidential election in Zimbabwe.

"People were looking for help, particularly as the economy was still collapsing, the health care system, food supplies were getting more difficult," he said.

With the new unity government in power, the economy in Zimbabwe is beginning to stabilise. But it has come too late for Mr Noble.

"I'll miss this," he said. "Wonderful years. But I am not a young man any more, and I am going home to die - that is how I look at it. I came to a beautiful country and I will remember it as that."

[Ach-F]

Morgan Tsvangirai and MDC asked SADC to convene an urgent meeting in order to force R Mugabe to abide by the unity agreement.

[Dua]

Tsvangirai: Mugabe acrimony over


Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has told the BBC the "acrimony is over" between him and President Robert Mugabe.

He made the remarks ahead of a tour of Europe and the US to garner support for his country's four-month-old power-sharing government. He is to meet UK PM Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama, among others. Zimbabwe needs $45bn (?28bn) in the next five years to revive an economy mauled by years of political conflict. Zimbabwe's unity government between the former bitter enemies was inaugurated in February, ending months of political crisis following disputed elections.

Earlier this week the European Union authorised $11m (?7m) in humanitarian aid for Zimbabwe. But most Western donors have said they will only reopen their purses for Zimbabwe when they see evidence of genuine power-sharing, an end to farm seizures and a restoration of the rule of law. Ahead of his trip this weekend, Prime Minister Tsvangirai told the BBC: "The objective is to demonstrate that Zimbabwe's inclusive government is ready to engage the world and secondly to see whether there could be opportunities for transitional support. "We hope that the incremental gains we have made so far will convince even the most sceptical to ensure that this government is consolidated."

Speaking at the Elephant Hills Golf Course in Victoria Falls on Thursday morning, he conceded that challenges remained on the "emotive issue" of farm seizures. But he insisted the unity government would stabilise the situation, adding: "It's a work in progress." On his relationship with Mr Mugabe, the Zimbabwean premier said: "It's a workable relationship; if we have differences they are expressed in a respectable way. We do appreciate that the period of acrimony is over." MDC leader Mr Tsvangirai struck a less upbeat tone last weekend during a party convention when he told supporters the rule of law had still not been restored and warned that Zimbabweans still feared political persecution.

Giving with the right hand and taking more with the left hand. When will our leaders learn? Our chiefs were robbed, but what about now?

[Dua]

Obama pledges aid for Zimbabwe


President Barack Obama has announced $73m (?44m) in aid for Zimbabwe.
The US president was speaking at the White House in Washington, where he met the visiting Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Mr Obama said he wanted to encourage the rule of law, human rights and basic health and education in Zimbabwe. Mr Tsvangirai - who entered a power-sharing agreement with President Robert Mugabe in February - is on an international tour to seek aid.

President Obama said he had "extraordinary admiration for the courage and tenacity" shown by Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe.

Contrast with Mugabe

The US president said the power-sharing coalition in Zimbabwe was showing promise, following what he termed the "very dark and difficult" period the country had been through.
Correspondents say the warm welcome given to Mr Tsvangirai is in sharp contrast to the attitude towards President Mugabe, who is the subject of a travel ban and assets freeze by the United States and European Union.

Earlier, Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the country's economy could grow by between 4% and 6% this year. Mr Biti said steps would be taken to restrict central bank activities such as borrowing and that Zimbabwe was coping with a lack of foreign aid. The Zimbabwe economy has been battered by years of hyperinflation.

Mr Biti was speaking at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town. "I think we will be able to achieve a growth rate of at least 6%, although conservatively it will be 4% in 2009," he told journalists. Zimbabwe's economy has been shrinking for years. It contracted by 6.1% in 2007, according to the International Monetary Fund. The power-sharing government has said the country needs about $10bn (?6bn) to stabilise its economy.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/africa_enl_1244717757/img/1.jpg

In the shadow of Table Mountain, two migrants from Zimbabwe sleep rough in the South African city of Cape Town, which is hosting the World Economic Forum on Africa this week.

[Dua]

China finally will give Zimbabwe 950 million dollars


China has agreed to give Zimbabwe a loan of $950m (?573m) to help it revive its battered economy, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said.

[Dua]

SADC shuns Bingu as Comrade Mugabe is booed (http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk)

8 July 2009




Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who stirs mixed feelings in many Malawians, received hisses at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre where he was attending the country's 45th independence celebrations on Monday.

The celebrations, where he was the only other head of state with his host Bingu wa Mutharika, appeared to have been studiously shunned by the 16-member Southern African Development Community, SADC. Only two low-ranking officials from Mozambique and Tanzania attended among locally-based diplomatic staff. Government sources said the SADC heads are sending a message to Mugabe that his failure to cooperate with their recommendations on the way forward for the Zimbabwe government will not be tolerated.

But a political secretary in one embassy said it has dawned on the leaders of SADC who are on the verge of going to elections of their last terms of office, that they do not want to encourage their own successors to dump their political parties as Mutharika did in Malawi. Mugabe who is seen by local Malawians as only a titular head following the formation of a unity government with Movement for Democratic Change, MDC was hissed at on entry and was openly booed with his host from the over-crammed 25,000- seater stadium in a show of disaffection with his presence in Malawi.

He was also here in May attending Mutharika's inauguration. Mugabe is the most frequent visitor and a political buddy of Mutharika. Some said they were tired with Mugabe while others said the relationship has become an obsession with Mutharika at the expense of the people in the eyes of the international community and in particular, Britain which gives Malawi the second largest chunk of development aid after Bangladesh.

However, there also concerns that Malawi will be seen as comforting the enemy in the eyes of the emerging new leaders who may not be kind to the existing relation. In the madness-filled attacks against so-called white farm settlers, many of the 3 million Zimbabweans who trace their origins to Malawi were also victims of the extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, rape and torture from marauding Mugabe thugs in uniform and plain clothes.

Others said attended the celebrations for the love of football which was played at the end of long-winded political speeches where Mutharika and his officials took turns to vilify the opposition, in the fashion that his guest revered until he faced the reality that he cannot survive without the opposition. Mugabe has been a source of mixed reaction in Malawi with protests from civil society and opposition followers removing his name from road furniture bearing his name.

However, Mutharika whose foreign policy favours close ties with China and countries such as Iran as opposed to major bilateral donors like Britain declared Mugabe his political "hero".

Waarabu wa pemba hujuana kwa vilemba. Itakumbukwa kwamba Mutharika ndiys alikuwa anaongoza ile taasisi ya COMESA iliyokuwa na makao yake Harare.

[Dua]

Zimbabwe dictator and his army


http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/features/2005/07/images/070424zimbabwe.jpg


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Gideon Gono

Governor, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Age: 48, Tribe: Shona
Family: Wife Helen, four children including twin daughters, all four currently studying in Australia. History: Banker by profession, but formerly Mugabe's chief executive officer and personal banker (he has a correspondence course degree in economics). Fond of family holidays in the USA.
Today Gono is Zimbabwe's money man. He sources foreign exchange to keep Mrs Grace Mugabe happy - and to launch any new government crack-downs. If there is no cash in the Reserve Bank for other projects he prints some more. Hence the current Zimbabwean inflation rate - so gross the government won't reveal it. Future: Financial and moral bankruptcy.



http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/features/2005/07/images/070424chiwenga.jpg


Constantine Chiwenga

Commander, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Age: 50s Rank: Lieutenant General
Birthplace: Chiweshe. Family: Wife Jocelyn, several children. History: Joined Mugabe in Mozambique for the independence struggle, then in 1980 joined the Army, and rose swiftly through the ranks, thanks to ruthless ambition. Chiwenga was one of the first to raise his hand when Mugabe asked "Who wants a white farm?," repaying his boss by declaring before the 2002 Presidential election that his forces would accept no outcome other than a Mugabe victory.
Today he remains at the head of the much-politicised Army, and both he and his wife are amongst those barred from travelling to Europe and the US. Future: Will put up a fight.



http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/features/2005/07/images/070424mudede.jpg

Tobaiwa Mudede

Registrar General Age: 64 Tribe: Shona, Birthplace: Svimba District, Robert Mugabe's rural home. Family: Wife Sarah, several children, all studying abroad. History: Unlike most of Mugabe's men, Mudede never fought. Instead he became a civil servant - a grossly incompetent one according to even his friends. A fierce Mugabe loyalist, his speciality is fixing elections. Said to falsify voting records at will, and to have millions of 'ghosts' on the electoral role, all of whom vote the straight Zanu PF ticket. Recently tried to confiscate the passports of those brave souls who still run independent publications in Zimbabwe, but was foiled by court action. Future: A survivor, no matter how dim.

[Dua]

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/features/2005/07/images/070424msiko.jpg

Joseph Msika

Vice President Age: 84 (a year older than the ageing Mugabe) Tribe: Shona, but raised in Matabeleland so considers himself a Ndebele History: Not originally a Zanu PF man. Instead, a prominent member of PF Zapu under Joshua Nkomo. PF Zapu was forced into unity with Zanu PF in 1987, with Msika succeeding Nkomo on his death. Today Msika remains a deep disappointment to many people of Zimbabwe - especially those in the south. Given his position he was expected to represent the values and interests of the old PF Zapu. Once or twice he voiced feeble protests and criticisms. But otherwise he is just another Mugabe puppet. Future: Retirement, not before time.





http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/features/2005/07/images/070424mutasa.jpg


Didymus Noel Edwin Mutasa

Minister of State Security, Lands and Land Reform Age: 72 Tribe: Manyika
Birthplace: Rusape District Home: Luxury villa in Harare; two formerly white-owned farms. Family: Wife, Chipo, Army Medical Director; three children. History: Raised a Christian, Mutasa worked on a multi-racial farm, where he learned as much about liberation as agriculture.
Subsequently he studied at Birmingham University on a British Council scholarship, later joining Mugabe in Mozambique.

At independence in 1980 he became Speaker in Zimbabwe's first Parliament, and is today one of the few men still loyal to Mugabe. He'd love to take over from his boss - but others have different ideas. Future: Retirement would be the wisest course.



http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/features/2005/07/images/070424zimbabwe_7.jpg


Happyton Bonyongwe


Director General, Central Intelligence Organisation Age: 47, Birthplace: Chikomba District
History: Zania commander during War of Independence. Rose to the dizzy heights of Brigadier General in the Zimbabwean National Army before retiring to take on the CIO job. Under him, the CIO, an organisation inherited from Ian Smith's government, developed into Mugabe's strongest right arm, specialising in terror, kidnap, torture and death.

Today Bonyongwe, when not enjoying life on one of his (at least) two previously white-owned farms, remains close to Mugabe, reporting directly to him and by-passing Minister for State Security Didymus Mutasa. Future: In the balance. He knows where the bodies are buried. So he should - he buried many of them.


Zimbabwe GDP - per capita(PPP) has dropped from USD 1800 to 200USD while Tanzania has now $1300; Kenya is $1600. The figures are estimate of 2008. The highest in Africa is Seychelles at $18000 South Africa at $10000.

[Dua]

It's just amazing considering that in 1980 when Zimbabwe gained its independence it was as wealthy as Canada. Robert Mugabe and his thugs did a great job of making Zimbabwe a basket case.

[Dua]

Baada ya makubalino ya muundo wa serikali ya pamoja bidhaa zimekuwepo madukani na zinauzwa kwa US dollars. Kila unachotaka kipo kwa standard waliyokuwa nayo majirani zetu. Mishahara inalipwa kwa US dollars sasa. Je huko ndiko Tanzania tunataka kwenda kwenye dollarisation?

Serikali imebadili legal tender kwa Tanzania? Maana hata cash point zinakupa in terms of USA dollars, Where are we? Hata nchi zilizoendela kama UK, USA, n.k. hawaruhusu huu upuuzi au tuite utitiri wa imbeciles katika kuona uchumi wa Tanzania unawafaidia walipa kodi.

[Dua]

The tragedy of Robert Mugabe



http://estb.msn.com/i/70/95E91C11DA34115C8E94E83CE8DC9D.jpg
　

Today marks 30 years since Robert Mugabe rose to power, and you can't help but feel a sense of remorse for what might have been. Having helped defeat the racist minority white government of Ian Smith, many hoped Mugabe would be the person to lead the nation from its tumultuous past and achieve prosperity for all its people.
　
"I wish to assure you that there can never be any return to the state of armed conflict which existed before our commitment to peace and the democratic process of election..." Mugabe declared back in 1980. "The wrongs of the past must now stand forgiven and forgotten. If ever we look to the past, let us do so for the lesson the past has taught us, that oppression and racism are inequalities [we should shun]."

While the initial message was one of peace and harmony, Mugabe's attempts to shape the country as he saw fit would instead lead his people through many years of strife, hardship and even death.

Achievements overshadowed by violence

Without doubt there have been many highlights during Mugabe's lengthy tenure, most notably his remarkable success in tackling illiteracy. In 1983, around 63% of Zimbabwe's population was either illiterate or semi-literate, according to figures from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation - largely because so few had access to education under the previous government. Mugabe responded by rolling out a massive literacy campaign. By 2002, the rate of illiteracy stood at just 9%.

Sadly, such achievements are overshadowed by the violence that has been a common theme of his leadership.


Off to a rocky start

Indeed right from the start of Mugabe's time as prime minister there was trouble: ideological differences with Joshua Nkomo (above right), a popular political figure with whom he fought to defeat Smith's government, soon escalated into violence between supporters of the two political heavyweights. Seeing Nkomo as a threat to his leadership, Mugabe decided the best way to crush the opposition was to carry out a ruthless attack on supporters in Nkomo's home territory of Matabeleland. Known as Operation Gukurahandi ("the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains"), Mugabe's North Korean-trained troops slaughtered thousands of civilians. It remains one of the bloodiest acts in Zimbabwean history.

Land grabs lead to economic collapse

Zimbabwe was once again thrust into the limelight a decade ago when Mugabe authorised 'land grabs' of white owned farms across the country. Thousands of Zimbabweans found themselves forcibly removed from their homes, but the biggest impact of the move would be felt by the economy: Zimbabwe is heavily reliant on commercial agriculture and the industry was essentially decimated in the early 2000s.
This triggered one of the most catastrophic economic failures in modern times. By 2009, it was estimated that 94% of the nation was now unemployed. In other words, less than 500,000 of the nation's 12 million people had a formal job. Inflation had also reached unfathomable levels, peaking at around 231,000,000%.

Election rigging allegations

With the economy in tatters and poverty rife, many people felt that new leadership with fresh ideas was needed in order to steer the nation towards some semblance of normality. Support for Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) grew steadily and Mugabe soon found himself facing a very real threat. The response from government was one of violence and intimidation, with MDC rallies routinely ambushed by supporters of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. It has been reported that more than 300 MDC supporters have been killed in the past 10 years, mainly at the hands of Mugabe's militant backers. Nonetheless, the intimidation failed to sufficiently quell the opposition and many believed the 2008 national elections could finally signal an end to his 18-year reign. But the elections were marred by political violence and widespread allegations of vote rigging by the ruling party. In the resultant recount, tensions escalated and Tsvangirai announced he was withdrawing from the run-off, citing violence against his supporters.


Moving forward tentatively

Pressure on Mugabe continued - both internationally and from the MDC - and in February last year, Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister in a volatile power sharing deal with Mugabe. As expected, that alliance has proved uneasy, but it has helped the country take its first tentative steps toward recovery. Inflation is coming down, violence between the two main parties has eased and the government has implemented policies to stabilise the agriculture industry.

A Zimbabwean icon

And so Zimbabwe enters a new chapter, and still Mugabe clings onto power, now aged 86. Having freed the Zimbabwean people from a racist government, he had the opportunity to create a legacy of prosperity, of unity. Instead, he delivered despair and poverty. As a nation, they will have to bear the burden of those failings.

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