I returned exactly a
week ago from a trip to Zimbabwe, and have been
gathering my thoughts and
feelings in order to write this letter. Please
read it carefully to
understand what is happening in this country.
Whilst in Zimbabwe I was
shocked beyond belief (those of you who have
experienced this emotion will
understand the feeling) by the situation in
this country. It is a totally
failed State. Ninety per cent unemployment
with the serious ramifications of
no jobs, no income and no food for the
overwhelming majority in this land,
and seemingly no way out of the dire
situation there..
Government Schools
mostly operated for twenty three days during 2008. No
final public exams
were written at either Government Schools or at the
University in 2008. The
salaries that Teachers and other wage earners for
that matter ( apart from
Police and Army Personnel, who Mugabe looks after
for his own personal
interests) are less than a Hawker can earn in the
informal sector, trying to
sell wares on the street. Zim money devalues so
quickly that nobody deals it
any more. Although it is illegal, the US Dollar
and the Rand rule on the
streets.
There is very little or no water in the major towns, including
Harare. The
situation in the high density areas is far more severe as open
sewers run
through the streets due to the majority of water treatment works
being non
functional. Contamination of water sources with Cholera-infected
sewerage is
rife. Any water that one is able to obtain from boreholes or
street vendors
has the potential of being infected with Cholera and needs to
be treated as
such. I had the unfortunate experience of contracting this
disease in
Chegutu. Luckily, through contacts, I was able to get hold of
Doxycycline
(an anti-biotic ) when the symptoms presented, and went straight
onto basic
re-hydration fluids of sugar and salt. It is relatively easy to
treat the
disease but where there are no drugs for the vast majority in
Zimbabwe,
particularly in the rural areas, it is a deadly disease. It has
reached
pandemic proportions. The deaths from Cholera in Zimbabwe are
grossly
understated, probably by four fold. On one day Mugabe is in denial
about
this epidemic in Zimbabwe, and the very next day his Minister of
Information
accuses Britain and America of Biological Warfare. Please
through this
little episode, see the Zimbabwean crisis in its
totality.
In a country riddled with Aids, those who become infected with
Cholera have
little or no chance of survival. The vast majority of
Government Hospitals
have closed throughout Zimbabwe. I spoke to a Nurse in
Chigutu who tearfully
told me that if she went to work all she could do was
to tell desperate
patients that there were no medicines available, and no
Doctors to treat
them. That it was pointless her going to work to make sick
people's lives
more miserable.
There is very little electricity supply.
Where I was staying, we had a
period of eleven days with no power. The
knock-on effect of this is that
there was no electricity to run the
bore-hole pump. Fridges and Deep-freezes
cease to function and all
perishable goods need to be thrown out. Toilet
cisterns do not re-fill.
There is no water for bathing. One has to find a
friend who has a Generator
to run a bore-hole, to get drinking water. PLEASE
try to imagine yourself in
that situation every day.
PLEASE GET THE PICTURE OF HOW BAD THINGS ARE IN
ZIMBABWE.
Having outlined the scenario I will now come to the point of
writing this
letter. Desmond Tutu, our Nobel Peace Prize Winner has openly
stated that
Robert Mugabe needs to be brought before the International Court
in the
Hague for Crimes against Humanity. This was no flippant remark, and
he is
absolutely right. The situation in Zimbabwe is the result of the
behavior of
one man, who over the last ten years or so, with his political
cohorts, has
been driven by the evil of clinging onto political and
financial power at
all costs, and for his own gain. Knob-kerrieing and the
machetteing to death
of thousands who dared oppose him will still come to
light. Here is a man
who has no compassion for his own people. Here is a man
who together with
his political cohorts and ZANU PF Government Ministers
(listed by the EU and
other civilized countries in the world, who will have
nothing to do with
them) has grown super wealthy by raping Zimbabwe of its
natural resources
and wealth to the detriment of all Zimbabweans.
It is
all too evident when the United Nations Security Council meet that the
three
Nations which help keep this failed dictator in power are China ,
Russia and
South Africa . In Zimbabwe, right at this moment, virtually all
the Chrome
Deposits are in the hands of the Chinese - pay-back for China
propping up
Mugabe's illegal regime. China is also primarily responsible
for the
payment of all the fuel that crosses the border at Beit Bridge into
Zimbabwe
, as well as paying Zambia , Mozambique and the DRC for electricity
supplies
into Zimbabwe . China has, in the last two weeks, delivered some
fifty three
tonnes of weapons and armaments to Zimbabwe . This will be used
against any
opposition, particularly the MDC in intimidation and killings.
SOME HARD
FACTS:
FACT NO. 1 THERE ARE NO SANCTIONS AGAINST ZIMBABWE BY ANY WESTERN
NATION. No
matter how many times South Africa mentions " targeted sanctions
against
Zimbabwe ", this is simply not true. South African media houses work
on the
assumption that the more often "sanctions against Zimbabwe by Western
Nations " is mentioned, the more likely uninformed people will believe this
to be true. THERE ARE TARGETED SANCTIONS AGAINST A VERY SPECIFIC CRIMINAL
ELEMENT IN ZIMBABWE who are the Government Ministers in the illegal ZANU PF
Government. The fact that the IMF and WORLD BANK do not send funds into
Zimbabwe is because these self same Ministers would steal these incoming
funds for themselves. They will not used for humanitarian reasons. The
funding destined for needy Zimbabweans from these two bodies was CORRECTLY
terminated.
FACT NO. 2 KALEMA MOTLANTE, the current interim President
of South Africa
was the leader of the South African Observer Mission which
declared that the
last set of elections in Zimbabwe was both free and fair,
WHEN EVERY OTHER
OBSERVER MISSION DESCRIBED THEM AS THE EXACT OPPOSITE.
Remember also that
the current mediator in Zimbabwe, TABO MBEKE was the then
President of the
Republic of South Africa . I hope you begin to see the
support that Mugabe
has in the current political structure in South
Africa.
FACT NO. 3 Mugabe was a leader in the liberation struggle and had the
opportunity to be an international figurehead akin to Nelson Mandela.
However, he chose differently. It is fine for Liberation Heroes to support
each other when good governance in terms of African Union guide lines are
being observed in their respective countries. But why should Liberation
Leaders, especially the South Africans, choose to support Mugabe when he is
carrying out his own subtle HAULOCAUST IN ZIMBABWE ( and this is why he is
needed at the Hague ). Remember also, this illegal dictator has lost the
latest National Election, and has been defeated in a Presidential Poll.
Thank goodness the Civilized World has seen through Mugabe's criminal ways,
and understand the necessity to be rid of him.
Let me briefly elaborate
on Mugabe's Holocaust. In the early 1980s' Mugabe
unleashed his notorious
Fifth Brigade on the people of Southern
Matebeleland, killing over one
hundred thousand MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN, for
his own political gain and
terrorized Joshua Nkomo and the Matabele People
into an Alliance with him.
(The Matabele have regained their courage and are
currently breaking away
from this Alliance , the ZANU PF. ) Also, Zimbabwe,
once regarded as the
Bread Basket of Africa, has been reduced to a country
where five million of
its people now require food aid to survive. Now, here
is the rub. Only ZANU
PF supporters are allowed to distribute food aid in
Zimbabwe . Any person
who is suspected of having ties with the MDC
opposition, is refused food and
is hounded out of food distribution centers.
Mugabe is a man bent literally
on starving to death those who are deemed not
to support him. If this does
not equate to a HOLOCAUST, then I do not know
what does. When people lie
down to die, knowing it is easier to go that way,
rather than being brutally
savaged to death by showing resistance, then you
know a HOLOCAUST is taking
place.
The supportive behavior by the leaders in South Africa for Mugabe
defies all
common sense and the norms of fair play and practice. President
Motlante
glibly states that " a solution must be found by the Zimbabwean
People
themselves". Mugabe has total control of the Armed as well as the
Police
Services in Zimbabwe (something he will not give up, as can be seen
by his
current outbursts ). Morgan Tsvangarai and the MDC have no protection
what
so ever from any law enforcement body in Zimbabwe. They are at the
mercy of
an evil and bitter Dictator. Should there be a murmur of dissent
against
Mugabe's illegal regime, the wrath of the CIO, the Military, the
Police and
the Green Bombers is unleashed to deadly effect. Under these
circumstances
who is the ANC kidding that a solution in Zimbabwe " must be
found by
Zimbabwean People themselves" As I write this letter, some forty
two MDC
supporters have disappeared, and Morgan Tsvangarai threatens to pull
out of
the Unity Talks altogether if they are not released by Mugabe's
illegal
regime. When can a fair and just solution be given to Zimbabwe by
the world
at large. A Zimbabwean said to me " Tabo Mbeke has failed us, SADC
has
failed us, the AU has Failed us, the UN has failed us and the World has
failed us. It is only God now who can save us." I hope we, collectively, can
prove him wrong.
I would like to believe that it is up to those nations
in the world who
truly understand the plight of the Zimbabweans and believe
that something
must be done to save the Zimbabwean people that must act.
South Africa has
failed Zimbabwe for the past eight years and something must
be done to apply
meaningful pressure against South Africa to bring about a
change in mind set
of the ANC politicians which, in turn, will bring about
meaningful change in
Zimbabwe.
I WOULD ADVOCATE THAT THESE COUNTRIES
START TO BOYCOTT THE SOCCER WORLD CUP
DESTINED FOR SOUTH AFRICA IN 2010.
PERHAPS AN IMMINENT BOYCOTT OF THE WORLD
CUP WOULD BRING SOUTH AFRICA INTO
THE FOLD OF RESPONSIBLE DEMOCRACIES AROUND
THE WORLD, AND END THE UNTOLD
SUFFERING AT ITS DOORSTEP.
The civilized countries in the world need to be
seen to withdraw support
from South Africa which is covertly supporting the
SUBTLE HOLOCAUST IN
ZIMBABWE. What ever different South African Politicians
may say, this is a
reality I have seen it with my own eyes. The Soccer World
Cup is currently
the pride and joy of South Africa, and for Seb Blatter to
be advised to ask
another country to host THE WORLD CUP in 2010 by pressure
from civilized
countries, may well be the catalyst to make South Africa
change tack and
bring meaningful change to Zimbabwe, and to once again bring
hope to a
broken people.
The closure of the Beit Bridge Border Post
between South Africa and Zimbabwe
will cause Mugabe's regime to fall WITHIN
A WEEK. Some people say that by
cutting off resources would harm the poor
people of Zimbabwe, yet from
personal experience, it is hard to imagine that
they could be any worse off
than they are now.
PLEASE DO NOT BE DUPED
INTO MUGABE WANTING TO CALL FOR NEW ELECTIONS IN TWO
YEARS TIME, SHOULD THE
CURRENT ROUND OF UNITY TALKS FAIL. This is a plan by
Mugabe which will allow
him a further two years to obliterate the MDC by
continuing with his current
HOLOCAUST. The Opposition has won, against all
odds, both a National
Election and a Presidential Election. This is now
being denied to them by
Mugabe. Please do not give in to Mugabe's plans, and
allow him to obliterate
the MDC for ever OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS.
I am tired now, and have probably
written a rather poor grammatical letter,
but I do hope I have managed to
convey a very important message. I ask
friends and family around the world
to precis this letter and send it to
influential news papers in your
respective countries. I ask you to forward
it on to your respective News
Channels and Governments for action. Please
pass this letter on to anyone
who you think may have influence. Please do
good for Zimbabwe this
Christmas.
Yours in truth,
Peter Nupen
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/2995#more-2995
Town was dead quiet today. Lots of shops still haven't
opened. A friend who
runs a small business won't open his shop until
February and it seems many
others plan to do the same. It costs US$20,000 to
buy a forex licence, which
legally allows businesses to trade in foreign
currency. However, most small
business can barely generate enough income to
pay their staff at the end of
each month, never mind raise the funds
required to buy that amount of forex
on the black market to put towards a
licence.
The result is that small businesses 'legally' have to trade in
Zim dollars -
of which there is a severe shortage - but pay for supplies and
raw materials
in forex. It's impossible to do. To survive, many traders have
started to
trade informally in foreign currency. Enter Gideon Gono's Reserve
Bank
'forex police'. They drift into shops in plain clothes and posing as
customers they ask cashiers if they can pay for their goods in foreign
currency. If the unsuspecting cashier says yes, and quotes a Rand figure,
the forex police crack down and seize all the foreign currency earned that
day in the shop.
One shop I was in today lost over R2,000 in one
raid, and over R300 in
another. He is in despair; the only way he can keep
going is to trade in
forex but he can't afford the licence. Similarly, he
simply cannot afford to
keep going if every now and then he loses days worth
of takings in raids.
His predicament is mirrored everywhere. Many many
businesses have adopted a
'wait and see' attitude, and decided to stay
closed for much longer. Their
hope is that Gono will be forced to eventually
recognise that the economy
can only function if people can trade in foreign
currency. It's less risky
and less intimidating to 'wait and see' than it is
to run the forex police
guantlet every day. As the guy I spoke to today
said, "How can we live like
this? How can we live looking over our shoulder
everyday as if we're all
thieves?"
The idea of having forex licence's
in the first instance is downright
bizarre. If it is illegal for people to
trade in forex then it follows that
employers cannot pay their employees in
forex. If it is illegal to even have
forex in your possession, and you
aren't able to earn forex, who on earth
does the government think is going
to buy the goods in the licensed shops?
Another friend commented today
that her domestic worker had tried all day to
find a shop where he could
spend his Zim dollars but not one shop would take
them - everyone, formally
or informally, is trading in forex.
I'm wondering how long it will be
before Gono and the Zanu elite start
demanding that shops re-open, and how
long it will be before they resume
their threats to 'take over' businesses.
Maybe that's the whole plan behind
the stupidy.. to force all businesses to
close so the elite can assume
control and start assest stripping this part
of our economy too. They can
console themselves that before they take
control of all business they can
send in their forex-squads to help
themselves to real currency. Win-win?
Who knows what's going on in their
heads.? Anything is possible and its
almost certainly disgustingly corrupt
and not to the advantage of the
poorest in our society.
This
entry was written by Hope on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Juma Donke Tuesday 06 January
2009
OPINION: Harare should perhaps be renamed
"Varere" (they are asleep);
for how else can one explain the recent display
of tomfoolery emanating from
Munhumutapa Building?
The dying
ZANU PF administration, typified by its geriatric leader
President Robert
Mugabe, is beginning to show worrying signs of dementia
that could lead to
increased repression.
Not since 2003 - when slain Iraq leader
Saddam Hussein's last
information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf fondly
rechristened "Comical
Ali" because of his colourful sound bites - has the
world been treated to
bizarre antics of a similar magnitude.
In
just over a week, Harare recently had the world gawking in
disbelief at its
clear lack of perspective, and detachment from reality.
First, Mugabe,
oblivious to the thousands of people who are dying of cholera
around him,
claimed that the intestinal disease had been "arrested".
In his
usual rambling style, Mugabe sneered at his arch critics United
States
President George Bush and British Premier Gordon Brown for daring to
call
for his ouster owing to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the
country.
"Because of cholera, Mr Brown wants a military
intervention. Bush
wants military intervention because of cholera. There is
no cause for war
any more. The cholera cause doesn't exist anymore," Mugabe
told a captive
audience at "national hero" Eliot Manyika's
funeral.
Barely a fortnight later, the United Nations reported that
the
spreading waterborne epidemic had claimed over 1 500 people and infected
nearly 30 000 others.
Also, more than 5.5 million people or
half of the country's remaining
population are desperate for relief food to
avoid starvation.
State hospitals have closed; only 23 days of
teaching were recorded at
public schools the whole year, hence the 80
percent slump in attendance.
Just over 20 percent of the country has safe
drinking water.
Inflation was last registered at 231 million
percent; a tacit
admission that the economy has imploded.
Secondly, addressing his ZANU PF party's annual convention, Mugabe
threw the
gauntlet at his colleagues on the continent, when he sniggered at
their
spinelessness.
And at the funeral of yet another "national hero",
Mugabe made the
shocking revelation that Zimbabwe was "mine", while
labelling his detractors
"irrelevant, quite stupid and
foolish".
"I will never, never sell my country. I will never,
never, never
surrender. Zimbabwe is mine; I am a Zimbabwean, Zimbabwe for
Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwe never for the British. Britain for the British," he
said in
response to sustained calls for his exit.
If Mugabe's
perverted logic was not tragic, it would pass for
mirthless humour. But the
depraved strongman's twisted reasoning should be
seen in its proper context:
he is turning 85 next month; has prostate
cancer, and is evidently
senile.
The word "senile", literary means, "mentally less acute in
later life:
forgetful, confused, failing, absent-minded, doddering,
especially in the
period after age of 65 years".
So, regardless
of how well Mugabe's minders paper over his
increasingly grotesque facial
features, there is precious little they can do
about his failing mental
faculties.
Sadly, Mugabe's gradual deterioration is reminiscent of
the
regrettable caricature that former Malawian President Hastings Kamuzu
Banda
had become in the final years of his dictatorship.
While
his cohorts pretended that the Ngwazi was still spry, everyone
else around
them could see that the old tyrant was in great distress and in
need of a
long rest.
But there was no denying Banda's declining health, when
he sprawled on
the carpet at what was then The Sheraton Hotel in Harare in
the early 1990s
after failing to clear a small fold on the floor
covering.
Typically, the omnipresent "Mama" Cecilia Kadzamira was
at hand to
lift the Ngwazi off the floor. At the time, Banda was officially
said to be
in his 90s, although he was widely believed to have been over a
100 years
old.
There is no argument about Mugabe's age though.
And unlike Banda,
Mugabe at least is still able to hitch up his own trousers
when they sag.
To his credit, Mugabe moved swiftly after the
cholera faux pas to claw
back some ounces of dignity when he asked George
Charamba, his acerbic spin
doctor to contain the damage. Charamba spun some
yarn about Mugabe trying
his hand at sarcasm.
Evidently, only
the gullible state media ingested Charamba's flawed
sophistry. Charamba told
the government-controlled daily newsapaper - The
Herald - that Mugabe had
been making "his argument through sarcasm, noting
that now that efforts
deployed so far towards containing the outbreak were
beginning to yield
positive results".
But perhaps even weirder was propaganda chief
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu's
argument that MI6 and CIA agents had contaminated Harare
and Chitungwiza's
water sources with bacterium vibrio cholerae; which causes
cholera.
"After squeezing and strangling the country with sanctions
and
contaminating it with cholera and anthrax, the West is seeking to use
the
window of opportunity provided by the disaster to justify military
intervention," he said.
While these elite spy agencies are
truly capable of pulling off such a
feat, it is highly unlikely that the
Anglo-American alliance is so desperate
for Mugabe to meet his "political
death" that it has resorted to Cold War
tactics to achieve this
end.
The last time this "coalition of the willing" connived against
a
villain; it did so in broad daylight. And not even the animated protests
of
the Russians, the Chinese and the entire United Nations could hinder
it.
The alliance later had Saddam hanged despite al-Sahaf's
courageous
attempts to curse the "infidels" out of Bhagdad. Even as American
tanks
rolled into Baghdad, al-Sahaf insisted, "There is no presence of
American
infidels in the city of Baghdad. There is no presence of the
American
columns in the city of Baghdad at all. We besieged them and we
killed most
of them."
A few days later, Saddam went to ground,
signalling the end of his
dictatorship.
Nonetheless, African
nationalism will suffer permanent damage if
Mugabe, who is still revered as
a liberation icon on the continent,
stubbornly refuses to clearly see the
choices before him.
The most compelling option is for him to
conform to the mood of the
country after March 29 and give up power and end
the spreading humanitarian
emergency.
The other choice, and the
one he seems to have decided on, is it to
remain at the helm of the
collapsing regime and - with the support of his
terror apparatus and
shielded from international scorn by the South
Africans - utterly destroy
the country and thousands of lives.
But even more distressing is
the thought of an unintelligible Mugabe,
shuffling along with the aid of a
cane and a coterie of minders; collapsing
from time to time due to
diminishing health, appearing at international
forums presumably to speak
for Zimbabweans.
It is against this setting that one hopes that the
tomfoolery
emanating from Harare is a sign of the endgame for the
unconscionable junta
that is responsible for egregious humanitarian and
international crimes; and
not merely a case of our rulers' going cuckoo. -
ZimOnline
http://www.hararetribune.com
Monday, 05 January 2009 20:29 Thomas
Shumba
Gideon Gono, who has helped push the annual inflation in Zimbabwe
to over a
trillion, has a small following of supporters scattered across.
Not
surprisingly, these die hard Gono supporters are largely from from the
foot
soldiers of ZANU-PF, who have benefited from Gono's illicit activities
over
the years.
"Dr Gono's heroic attributes require a thundering
applause and tribute from
poets and writers," Mbizo Chirasha, a native of
Zvishavane, said in an
interview. "He has done everything in almost every
sector, for instance, the
cholera outbreak, social rehabilitation of
communities through Baccossi and
seed distribution and the mechanisation
programme," added Chirasha.
Chirasha, a noted Zimbabwean poet, with his
own blog, spoke days after he
had launched an anthology of poems dedicated
to praising the works by Gono
since he took over office as the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe.
Gono, whom the MDC has indicated it will prosecute someday
in the future for
his sundry criminal activities, recently published his own
book defending
his policies that has left the country a
beggar.
Gono's failed polices are a matter of public record:
i) He
funded ZANU-PF's election campaign in both the March and June 2008
elections
last year. As part of his work for ZANU-PF, Gono also funded the
activities
by ZANU-PF militia, in conjunction with the CIO, ZNA, War Vets,
that left
more than 200 people dead and thousands displaced. In short, as
others have
said, Gono has turned the RBZ into personal a bank for ZANU-PF,
Mugabe and
his cronies.
ii) He has directed the RBZ to print money 24/7, and as a
result, the
country's inflation rate now stands at over a 1 000 000 000 000
%. The money
he printed, he has also used it to buy foreign currency on the
black market,
the foreign currency that he has then used to buy goodies for
ZANU-PF
cronies. Some of the money has been used by Grace Mugabe in her
numerous
shopping trips and vacations to the Far East.
iii) Gono has
destroyed banks by hounding business leaders.
iv) He has funded the
activities of ZANU-PF cronies on the farms that they
stole, providing them
with free farm inputs, from diesel, seed, fertilizer
and....
Chirasha has also praised Robert Mugabe in the past,
claiming he was being
crucified by the west for his work uplifting Zimbabwe.
"I understand how
Mandela is loved by the west and why my President is
demonized. I praise
what Mandela does to sacrifice his life for blacks at
Robben Island and I
hate his double standards of becoming a darling to
people who reduced black
life to that of dogs in Africa. As for my president
I don't have much to
say. He is a great statesman of Africa without favor or
denial. Viva
Mugabe," Chirasha said in an interview in Ghana.
It is
against this background that our Chirasha chooses to write a eulogy
for
Gono. It is, therefore, safe to conclude that Chirasha has benefited
from
some of Gono's activities, in case he is not a ZANU-PF cadre.
However,
Mbizo Chirasha is a ZANU-PF cadre through and through, the Tribune
was told
in central Harare Monday. As a ZANU-PF functionary, it didn't
trouble
Chirasha's conscience to praise a thug like Gono.
http://www.nation.co.ke
By KITSEPILE NYATHI, NATION
Correspondent HARARE, MondayPosted Monday,
January 5 2009 at 18:28
As
a power sharing agreement between Zimbabwe's rival political parties
teeters
on the brink of collapse, desperation is becoming more evident in a
nation
battling to rid it self of a brutal and calculating dictator.
For many,
President Robert Mugabe who will this year complete 29 years at
the helm of
what was Africa's most promising economy and now turned into a
basket case
has remained an enigma.
Few dare dream of a political solution to
Zimbabwe's vexing political
problems blamed on the 84 year-old former
teacher. Those who do so remain
with more unanswered questions than
answers.
After a severe economic meltdown and an electoral defeat to the
opposition
failed to prize him off from power, many Zimbabweans are now
openly calling
for divine intervention to remove Mr Mugabe.
This is
why a statement by Africa's largest grouping of churches calling on
Christians to pray for an end to the Zimbabwean leader's "illegitimate
regime" found resonance in the battered country.
The 19th general
assembly of the All African Conference of Churches meeting
in Maputo
Mozambique set aside January 25 as a "special 'Africa day of
prayer and
fasting for justice in Zimbabwe."
World famous South African Bishop
Desmond Tutu has even called for violence
to topple Mr Mugabe while other
clergymen openly say they are praying to God
to take him
away.
Analysts say such sentiments are only natural because Zimbabweans
know very
little about a man who has ruled them for so long. They wonder why
their
liberator now appears so determined to hold onto to the reigns for
eternity.
Mr Mugabe seldom gives interviews, the last with Ms Heidi
Holland who wrote
''Dinner with Mugabe'' in 2007. The book says Mr Mugabe
was moulded into the
monster he is by his tortured family background. Born
Robert Gabriel
Karigamombe Mugabe in Matibiri Villager north east of Harare,
he had two
older brothers and one of them, Michael was very popular in the
village.
Both his older brothers died leaving Robert and his younger
brother, Donato
and sister Sabina, 90.
His father, Gabriel Mugabe
Matibiri, a carpenter abandoned the family in
1934 after Michael died in
search of work in Bulawayo.
Mr Mugabe was raised as a Roman Catholic
studying at Jesuit schools
including the exclusive Kutama
College.
Those familiar with his early life, say Mr Mugabe spent most of
his time
with the priests or his mother when he was not reading in the
school's
libraries.
They say the bitterness moulded Mr Mugabe into
the complex man he is today.
They fear he does not trust any one and that is
why he is reluctant to cede
power and will only do so to a close relative
who will shield him from
prosecution and preserve his legacy. His defiant
statement that "Zimbabwe is
mine" just said it. He clings to power because
he believes that it his right
and that of his clan.
That is why
before last year's elections four of his close relatives,
including his
sister, Sabina and three nephews were railroaded into Zimbabwe's
national
assembly as people's representatives.
Two nephews remain in the
opposition dominated House of Assembly and this
has kept rumours alive that
the veteran leader wants one of his relatives to
take over power when he
finally leaves office.
Zimbabweans calling for divine intervention
believe grooming a successor
will take long for Mr Mugabe since his children
are still too young, the
oldest having just left high school. Yet others
locate Mr Mugabe's
reluctance to leave office to the influence of his young
wife, Grace - 41
years the president's junior.
Born in on 23 July
1965, Mrs Mugabe married the Zimbabwean leader in 1996
after the death of Mr
Mugabe's first wife, Sally Hayfron.
As secretary to the president, she
became his mistress and together they had
two children Bona and Robert
Junior. In 1987, Mrs Mugabe gave birth to the
couple's third child
Chatunga.
The fashion conscious first lady, has since her marriage to
Zimbabwe's
strong man overseen the construction of two palaces.
The
first palace commonly known as Gracelands for its opulence was sold to
President Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
Another one completed in 2007,
reportedly cost US$26 million to construct.
The first family was also at
the forefront of Zimbabwe's vicious land grab
and now owns some of the most
productive farms.
Annual holidays
Mr Mugabe also owns properties
in Malaysia where he usually spends his
annual holidays. There is always
speculation that the ageing dictator plans
to settle in Asia to escape the
stress of leadership and to address fears
the first family faces
assassination.
Grace spends more on a single shopping trip abroad than
the impoverished
country spends on health services a month. Zimbabweans fear
the taste of
power has corrupted her absolutely and she will do everything
to keep her
husband in power even against his will.
"Pressures from a
young wife and family will certainly play a big role in
Mugabe's decision to
hold on to power," said Mr Ben Ndlovu who has published
essays on the
president's psyche. "From the look of things Mugabe is not
going anywhere,
he will die in office come what may."
Mr Mugabe has been written off many
times and he often jokes that along
Jesus Christ, he is the only person who
has risen from the dead.
In December, he told his supporters that his
enemies had certified him dead
seven times. Indeed this is a man who will
only go on his own terms and in
his own time.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9532
January 5, 2009
By
Raymond Maingire
HARARE - Harare magistrate, Olivia Mariga has deferred
to January 7, 2008,
the matter involving seven alleged bombers of two Harare
police stations and
a railway line in Norton.
The state is seeking an
order that the accused persons be formally placed on
remand.
The
group involves MDC director of security, Chris Dlamini; freelance
photojournalist, Andrison Manyere; Zacharia Nkomo, brother of human rights
lawyer, Harrison Nkomo; and Gandhi Mudzingwa, a former personal assistant to
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The group also includes Mapfumo
Garutsa, Chinoto Zulu and Regis Mujeyi.
But the defence, led by Alec
Muchadehama, asked for a deferment of the
matter pending the outcome of an
urgent chamber application filed at the
High Court over the weekend where an
order is being sought for all the 18
accused persons to be released to the
Avenues Clinic for treatment.
This follows recommendations by private
doctors who examined them in remand
prison last week that they be accorded
full medical attention as remand
prison does not have the facilities that
they require.
There were heated exchanges between the state and the
defence counsel during
Monday's court session when Muchadehama accused the
state of being
"collaborators" of the torture that was perpetrated on the
accused persons
while in their secret detention.
The state is
ardently resisting attempts by the defence to have the accused
persons
released to a private medical institution for treatment, insisting
that they
be treated in remand prison.
Muchadehama contends his clients are victims
of abductions and it will not
be proper for the courts to deal with them in
"their state".
"Anyone who seeks to perpetuate a crime of kidnapping is
also an accused
person," Muchadehama charged, much to the chagrin of the
state which
demanded he withdraws his accusations.
The defence
contends the health of the accused persons should take
precedence over the
state's desire to have the accused persons remanded in
custody.
After
listening to both submissions by the state and the defence, Mariga
ruled
that the matter be deferred to Wednesday pending the determination of
the
High Court application.
Mariga also deferred to Tuesday, attempts to
place on formal remand,
Zimbabwe Peace Project director, Jestina Mukoko and
eight other alleged
plotters of acts of banditry in Zimbabwe.
The
matter could not be heard on Monday after the state requested time to
look
into another urgent High Court application by the defence seeking that
they
be absolved of any charges.
The defence wants the accused persons to be
treated as complainants as they
were admittedly victims of
abductions
The defence contends the state did not appeal against a
December 2008 order
by Justice Charles Hungwe who ruled that their continued
detention by
whosoever was illegal.
Justice Hungwe also ordered that
the police should proceed by way of summons
if they intended to place any
charges against the accused persons.
Mariga however refused to hear a
submission by the defence seeking the
release of Tawanda Bvumo and Pascal
Gonzo who were released by the court
last week but were kept in custody
after the state purportedly placed an
appeal against their
release.
The defence contends the "attempted appeal" by the state was
defective
because they did not seek permission with the High Court as
required by the
law to appeal against such ruling.
"As things stand
they are being illegally detained and should be released
forthwith," Andrew
Makoni, one of the lawyers said.
"The court refused to hear it so we are
going to write a letter to the clerk
of court directing the clerk of court
to the particular section in the
Magistrates Court Act which clearly says
the state needs to seek leave to
appeal against any ruling by the
court."
The two face charges of defeating the course of justice after
they allegedly
tried to protect some of their colleagues when they were
being abducted,
charges which the defence says are shameful as the so-called
arrests were in
themselves kidnappings.
http://www.hararetribune.com
Monday, 05 January 2009 21:41 Tawanda
Takavarasha
Normally, the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC)
releases Grade 7
national examination results with plenty of time ahead of
the schools
opening day in January each year. This year, with barely are
week before
schools open on January 13, ZIMSEC, whose slogan is "For
Performance
Measurement", is yet to release the results.
Happy
Ndanga, ZIMSEC director for operations, said his agency had completed
marking the examination papers and was now engaged in the process of
"capturing" the results.
"Marking of the exams was completed weeks
ago but we are currently capturing
the results," Ndanga assured the nation.
Ndanga, under pressure from parents
who want him to release the results
yesterday, however refused to divulge
when his agency would be ready to
relinquish the results.
"We cannot give the day or date of release but
hope that the results will be
made available as soon as possible given the
importance of the public
examinations," Ndanga said.
Grade 7 pupils
need the final examination results in order to secure Form 1
places across
the country. In some cases, wealth schools like Peterhouse
Boys out in
Marondera, selection of Form 1 pupils is based on in-house
examinations, not
ZIMSEC results.
Observers agree that the Zimbabwe education sector is not
a shadow of its
former self. Lack of funding by the ZANU-Pf govt. has seen
standards at
schools across the country plummet, coupled with the shortage
of teachers
who are leaving the country en masse.
"Marking of the
exams was completed weeks ago but we are currently capturing
the
results"
Happy Ndanga, ZIMSEC Director
The delay in the release of the
results has been caused by a mulfunction of
the antiquated computers that
ZIMSEC is using to mark the examinations.
"We have encountered problems
with our data capturing machine and that has
delayed the release of the
results," Ndanga said, and that "It is our hope
that the results will be
released before schools open."
The delay in the release of the results by
ZIMSEC is likely to give
ammunition to teachears organization. led by
Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe, who are calling for the postponement
of the opening of schools
across the country.
UNICEF in recent days
released a report in which it said less than 20% of
pupils in Zimbabwe will
attend school, owing to the crisis gripping the
country.
http://www.voanews.com
By
Chris Gande
Washington
05 January 2009
The
progressive dollarization of the hyperinflation-ridden Zimbabwean has
extended to school tuitions with private primary and secondary institutions
setting fees in U.S. dollars, putting child education out of reach of many
families given the collapse of the state system.
Concerned parents
said the new fees are out of reach of the majority of
families. Ordinary
Zimbabwean workers earn only around US$50 month.
The Chisipite Secondary
School in Harare, the capital, has set its fee for
one term (there are three
terms in the Zimbabwe scholastic year) at
US$1,200, and was asking pupils to
bring fuel coupons worth US$300 with them
on their first day of the term as
a deposit.
The Roxer Academy primary school in Harare has set its fees at
US$800
dollars a term, while in Bulawayo the Masiyephambili Primary School
is
requiring a fee of US$650.
National Coordinator Enock Paradzayi of
the Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe told reporter Chris Gande of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that even
private schools will be empty next
week as teachers cannot afford to travel
to work and families can't afford
fees.
05 Jan 2009 20:41:18
GMT
Source: UNICEF
By Shantha Bloemen
MUSINA BORDER, South
Africa, 5 January 2008 - Women and children sit on a
patch of grass under
one of a few leafy trees that lessens the heat from the
harsh midday sun.
They are among the most recent asylum-seekers who are
flooding across the
border from Zimbabwe.
The Musina showground, in South Africa's Limpopo
province has been converted
to handle the influx and UNICEF and its partners
are working to make sure
that the rights and health of children, especially
those who are
unaccompanied, are protected.
Four Department of Home
Affairs mobile trucks, equipped with computers and
are parked in the middle
of the grounds. Inside, emigration officials are
processing papers for a
three-month asylum permit. With the recent outbreak
of cholera in Zimbabwe,
the Government of South Africa has suspended
deportations.
In search
of work
With a permit, Rutendo, who has brought her three-year-old
daughter Lisa,
hopes to find work as a hairdresser in Johannesburg. Although
unlikely to
get full refugee status, she wants to earn enough money to send
back to her
other three children back in Zimbabwe.
She left home
three days earlier with only a change of clothes for her and
her daughter.
"I was desperate to find some type of job to feed my children.
They are
hungry and I have no way to feed them," she said.
Most assessments
indicate a dramatic increase in the numbers of
asylum-seekers in recent
months as the crisis in Zimbabwe has worsened.
Among those fleeing are a
growing number of unaccompanied children. Recent
estimates indicate it could
be as high as 1,000 a month.
Unaccompanied children
A UNICEF
report released last month - 'Immediate needs of women and children
affected
by the cholera outbreak' - notes that a Save the Children report
found an
estimated 2,800 unaccompanied children in the Musina area.
Approximately 92
per cent of these children are living on the street or in
dangerous
places.
Many arrive alone, hoping to go to a city where they can find a
job or
search for a relative. Young girls are often sexually exploited or
taken in
to houses as domestic workers.
The majority of children
interviewed for the Save the Children assessment
survive on small amounts of
money gained through small jobs, begging, or
stealing. As they cross the
border and stay illegally, they are at great
risk of harassment, sexual
exploitation, arrest and illness.
In previous years, many of the children
who were identified crossing the
border were deported to Zimbabwe, where the
International Organization for
Migration and Save the Children, with UNICEF
support, would attempt to
reunify the children with their families. For many
children, though, the
reunification was short-lived. Faced with poverty and
hunger they would
cross again.
Now, without enough social workers on
both sides of the border to handle the
growing caseload and a proper tracing
system to identify and track these
children, many are being left to fend for
themselves.
Child-friendly spaces
In December, UNICEF and Save the
Children child protection specialists from
Zimbabwe and South Africa met in
Musina to discuss the growing crisis.
"Since many children are on their
own, UNICEF's priority is to make sure
that they receive all the support
they need and are well protected," said
UNICEF South Africa Deputy
Representative Malathi Pillai.
Plans are underway to set up
child-friendly spaces as well as to provide
educational and recreational
activities for the children while waiting for
their asylum permits. To cope
with the growing numbers of street children in
Musina, additional support
will be provided to the drop-in centres, where
children come for a hot meal
and a wash.
UNICEF appeal
Three 'Advice Service Centres' will be
established in villages and farming
areas along the Zimbabwe border.
Children will receive legal advice,
information on health and basic food and
hygiene packages that can help them
to better cope in their new
environment.
With the tide of people, including children, fleeing into
South Africa
unlikely to end soon, UNICEF South Africa has just appealed for
1,400,000
dollars to better provide water, sanitation, hygiene, education
and
protection for the women and children affected by the crisis.
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe on Monday
launched a cholera awareness
campaign as the World Health Organisation (WHO)
figures showed that nearly
2,000 new infections were recorded in the country
since January 1.
The campaign, launched by Health minister David
Parirenyatwa in the capital
Harare, aims to provide information on good
hygiene to communities in the
face of the deadly cholera outbreak that has
killed at least 1,671 people
since August last year.
The Zimbabwean
government would partner with other stakeholders in the
awareness
campaign.
According to statistics released by the WHO Monday a total of
33,579 cases
of cholera had been recorded by January 4 compared to 31,656
suspected cases
on New Year's Day.
The WHO figures also showed that
about five percent of those infected
usually die from the
infection.
Cholera, which causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration, has
spread to all of
Zimbabwe's 10 provinces.
JN/daj/APA 2009-01-05
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own
Correspondent Tuesday 06 January 2009
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe
said on Monday a deadly cholera epidemic that has
claimed more than 1 600
lives in the southern African country could get
worse as the rainy season
peaks.
"While the statistics seem to be stabilising, we are now
approaching the
heavy rainy season and we may have more outbreaks," Health
Minister David
Parirenyatwa said at the launch of an anti-cholera
information campaign in
Harare.
The World Health Organisation last
week said cholera had killed 1 608 people
of 30 365 reported cases in
Zimbabwe since August last year and the
infection rate showed no signs of
slowing.
"Floods are a pre-disposing factor for cholera. We hope we don't
get floods
this year," said Parirenyatwa, adding that heavy rains could
hamper efforts
to stop the disease in a country whose rainy season peaks in
January or
February and ends in late March.
Parirenyatwa said aid
agencies and foreign governments had responded to
Zimbabwe's appeal for help
in fighting the disease, bringing water treatment
chemicals, equipment,
drugs and volunteers.
An intestinal infection that spreads through
contaminated food or water,
cholera causes vomiting and acute diarrhoea, and
can rapidly lead to death
from dehydration.
The disease spreads
fastest in situations with poor sanitation such as those
found in Zimbabwe's
cities where sewers have broken down while garbage piles
up in the streets
and a shortage of clean water means residents have to rely
on unprotected
shallow wells for water.
The preventable and treatable water-borne
disease has spread to all of
Zimbabwe's 10 provinces because of the collapse
of health and sanitation
systems in a country whose political leadership is
deadlocked over a
power-sharing deal.
Zimbabweans - already suffering
from hyper-inflation and severe food, fuel
and foreign currency shortages -
had hoped a power-sharing agreement between
President Robert Mugabe and
opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara would help ease
the political situation and allow their country to
focus on tackling a
deepening humanitarian crisis. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Patricia
Mpofu Tuesday 06 January 2009
HARARE - A Zimbabwean
opposition leader has called for the country's three
main political leaders
to meet to discuss nomination of ministers to a unity
government, as
President Robert Mugabe prepares to form a new government
with or without
the opposition.
Arthur Mutambara, who heads a faction of the opposition
MDC party, wrote to
Mugabe requesting that the convening of a meeting of the
principal
signatories to a September power-sharing deal to resolve a dispute
over
nomination of Cabinet ministers.
Mutambara wrote to Mugabe in
response to an invitation by the later to take
up the post of deputy prime
minister as outlined under the unity government
deal.
Main MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai is slated to become prime minister with
Mugabe, who turns
85 next month, retaining his job under the power-sharing
deal.
"While
fully appreciating the utmost urgency of the matter, may I, your
Excellency,
respectfully suggest and request that the matter of nomination
of
individuals to ministerial positions be resolved by way of a meeting of
the
principals so that the nominations may be reflected upon by the
principals,"
said Mutambara in a one-paragraph reply to Mugabe.
In a report on Monday,
the state-owned Herald newspaper reported that Mugabe
was pressing ahead
with plans to form a new all-inclusive government by end
of next month
despite an unresolved dispute with the opposition over
ministerial
appointments.
The paper quoted presidential press secretary George
Charamba as saying that
Mugabe was keeping the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) - which
brokered the power-sharing agreement between his
ruling ZANU PF party and
the MDC - briefed about his plans to form a new
government.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara agreed to form a
power-sharing government
to end a political stalemate after inconclusive
elections last March and
violence marred a presidential run-off election
last June.
The pact sparked hope that Zimbabwe could finally emerge from
a worsening
economic and humanitarian crisis but it soon hit a snag as
Tsvangirai and
Mugabe wrangled over who should control key ministries and
other top
government posts.
Tsvangirai, slated to become prime
minister in the unity government, is
reported to have already declined an
invitation by Mugabe to join the
government until all outstanding issues
regarding power sharing have been
resolved.
The opposition leader has
threatened to suspend talks with Mugabe unless the
government acted to stop
harassment and arrests of MDC and civic society
activists.
MDC
national spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told ZimOnline at the weekend that
the
opposition party's national council would meet to decide whether to pull
out
of power-sharing talks in view of continued detention of its
members.
"The national council is going to meet as soon as a date is set
to make a
determination on whether MDC stays in the deal or not," said
Chamisa. "What
the president (Tsvangirai) said still stands. We are still
saying that these
people in detention must be released."
A Harare
magistrate's court on Monday deferred to Tuesday the case against
prominent
human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and scores of MDC activists
who are
accused of plotting to overthrow Mugabe's government.
The MDC and human
rights groups say the charges against Mukoko and the
opposition activists
are part of a well-orchestrated scheme by state agents
to persecute human
rights defenders and government critics in a bid to scare
them from
highlighting deepening crisis in Zimbabwe.
Once one of the most vibrant
economies in Africa, Zimbabwe is in the grip of
an unprecedented economic
and humanitarian crisis marked by acute shortages
of food and basic
commodities, amid outbreaks of killer diseases such as
cholera and
anthrax.
In his letter to Mutambara and Tsvangirai, Mugabe emphasised the
urgent need
for a new unity government to tackle the crisis giving the
opposition
leaders up to December 23 to submit names of their respective
nominees to
Cabinet.
"In order to expedite the formation of the
inclusive government, I wish to
request that you treat the above
requirements with the utmost urgency, in
any event, I ask that I hear from
you by not later than Tuesday, 23rd
December, 2008," Mugabe said in the
letter.
Under the power-sharing agreement, Mugabe's ZANU PF will get 15
ministerial
posts, the Tsvangirai-led MDC 13 and Mutambara's faction three
posts. Eight
deputy ministers will be appointed from ZANU PF, six from
MDC-Tsvangirai and
one from MDC-Mutambara.
Tsvangirai's MDC which
holds 100 seats in the 210-member House of Assembly
can easily block passage
of a constitutional amendment Bill paving way for
the establishment of unity
government. A two-thirds majority is required to
pass a constitutional Bill.
- ZimOnline
http://www.thetimes.co.za/
The Editor, The Times
Newspaper
Published:Jan 06, 2009
Our government remains mute despite
promising signs late in 2008
EDITORIAL: ZIMBABWE has entered 2009 with
little prospect of progress on
democracy.
The decision by
its president, Robert Mugabe, to leave town on an extended
holiday is
confirmation of just how urgently he views the handover of power
to a new,
multi-party government.
Worse than that, he appears intent on forming a
government of national
disunity which excludes the man who beat him in
presidential elections last
year.
Morgan Tsvangirai has refused to
proceed with a power-sharing government
because opposition activists have
been abducted and are being held without
being charged by Mugabe's
thugs.
He has quite rightly insisted that they be released and that
abductions
cease before talks continue.
Mugabe's failure to
acknowledge the legitimacy of the opposition comes as no
surprise.
What is shocking is his willingness to take his country to
the wall in order
to hold on to power until the bitter end.
The
Zimbabwean economy is in ruins. The US dollar has become the default
currency and it won't be long before Mugabe runs out of cash to pay his
security forces. There are already signs that the military might toss aside
the rule of law and take to the streets.
This is a dangerous
development which seriously threatens the security of
the sub-
continent.
Through all of this, South Africa's government remains
strangely mute
despite promising signs that a tougher line was being taken
towards the end
of 2008.
President Kgalema Motlanthe appears as
unable as his predecessor, Thabo
Mbeki, to publicly chastise Mugabe for his
shocking leadership.
This moral ambivalence is not
inspiring.
South Africa must stand up and take the lead in pushing
Zimbabwe to reform.