- Tsvangirai Election Case Judgement Reserved ‘Indefinitely’
- Zimbabwe Polls Not Part of SADC Agenda in Malawi
- Tsvangirai polls petition be heard on Saturday
- Video: Muzarabani Fraud and Fear
- MDC-T Plans Poster Campaign Against Mugabe Vote win
- State of the nation
- SADC protests against Zim polls at SA parliament
- Surrender regalia or else: Zanu
- Greasing up the Slippery Slide
- Mugabe says No security reforms
- Time for Zimbabweans to reflect
- Malema hails Robert Mugabe
- Robert Mugabe vows to continue Zimbabwe indigenisation
- More than 30 regional NGOs petition SADC over Zim elections
- UN urged to refer Mugabe to International Criminal Court
Tsvangirai Election Case Judgement Reserved ‘Indefinitely’ by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via FFZE BREAKING NEWS: Tsvangirai Election Case Judgement Reserved ‘Indefinitely’ By Don Gwara and George Mpofu Zimbabwe’s Electoral Court on Wednesday decided to withhold judgement in the case brought by Morgan Tsvangirai challenging the results of the July 31 elections that his MDC-T party has said was rigged to give victory to President Robert Mugabe. Presiding Judge Chinembiri Bhunu told the court that he would reserve his decision indefinitely and issue a written judgement at an unspecified date. President Mugabe won the general election with 61 percent of the vote, to Mr Tsvangirai’s 34 percent. Mr Tsvangirai called the poll outcome a “monumental farce” and applied to the court last Friday to cancel the result and order a re-run. The court had 14 days to decide. “The honourable judge reserved his judgement and he indicated that he was going to give a written judgement in due course,” Fred Gijima, Mr Mugabe’s lawyer, told reporters outside the Court. “There is no set down date that has been given in which he is going to hand down the judgement,” he said. Mr Tsvangirai had asked the court to order the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to provide a forensic examination of the voters’ roll, ballots and voter registration slips. The party has also applied to the High Court to force the ZEC to produce copies of the voters’ roll and provide the presidential election results for each constituency. “We need those materials to demonstrate beyond doubt that the election was improperly conducted, to demonstrate that the will of the people is not reflected in that election,” said Mr Tsvangirai’s lawyer Lewis Uriri. “There must be a reason why they do not want to make provision of those materials and that reason is that they are, definitely in our submissions, ghosts in those sealed materials that they do not want us to access.” Independent local observers and Western powers have also questioned the credibility of the elections, but regional groups SADC and the African Union were less critical, describing the election as “free and peaceful”. The judge’s decision to defer a decision indefinitely effectively shelves Mr Tsvangirai’s application. Zimbabwe’s judiciary are generally considered partisan in favour of Mr Mugabe’s ZANU-PF. The election result gives ZANU-PF a two-thirds majority in the parliament which means it can change the constitution and make laws with impunity.
Zimbabwe Polls Not Part of SADC Agenda in Malawi by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe Polls Not Part of SADC Agenda BY BRIAN ITAI Director of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ for Politics, Defence and Security, Lieutenant Colonel Tankie Mothae has indicated the recently held polls in Zimbabwe are not part of the agenda for this year’s SADC Summit. Mothae was reacting after being asked if the poll results in Zimbabwe, which have faced massive dispute mainly from the opposition side which is suspecting foul play, will form part of the debate during this year’s SADC summit. In his briefing to members of the press on Tuesday, Mothae said as SADC they are satisfied with their participation and involvement during the polls which saw Robert Mugabe being re-elected President after edging out former Prime Minister in the previous administration Morgan Tsvangirai. “We do not have anything on the agenda which will specifically tackle the issue of the polls recently held in Zimbabwe. What we will discuss will be what is on the general agenda and that is the general review of the political situation in the country,” he said. He said the general feeling of the SADC grouping is that there has been massive improvement as compared to previous elections held in Zimbabwe. “As SADC we released a preliminary statement which was agreed upon and as a bloc we have one mouth piece which is through our chairman. So the position reflected in the preliminary report is the general view of the whole grouping. “We are very happy with the way the electoral process in Zimbabwe went. The events of 2008 are a part of a history that we will never forget as SADC. So unless any individual member has a different view, that is the position of SADC,” said Mothae. He said SADC will continue to thrive on its number one responsibility of ensuring peace and stability in the region so that development is realised smoothly. Malawi will host the 33rd SADC Heads of State and Government summit from the 17th to 18th of August 2013 in its capital Lilongwe. Ministerial meetings preceding the summit started in the country on 10th August.
Tsvangirai polls petition be heard on Saturday by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via Tsvangirai polls petition be heard on Saturday | The Zimbabwe Independent by Paidamoyo Muzulu PRELIMINARY issues raised in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s electoral petition challenging the July 31 presidential poll result will be heard on Saturday following an agreement by lawyers from all parties at a pre-trial conference at the Constitutional Court (ConCourt). The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) announced President Robert Mugabe the winner of the poll with 61% of the vote way ahead of his main rival Tsvangirai who had 33%. Mugabe’s lawyer, Advocate Fred Gijima said two issues raised at the pre-trial conference were what form the hearing should take and whether the Attorney-General should be enjoined to the case. “The court will on Saturday decide on two preliminary issues on whether the hearing should be done through an application or a trial and if the Attorney-General can be enjoined to the case,” Gijima said. Tsvangirai is seeking the nullification of the presidential poll and a re-run within 60 days from the date of judgment. MDC-T has since labelled the poll as a ‘farce’ in public statements. The pre-trial conference agreed that all parties should have filed their papers with the court by Friday 17:00 Hours. Tsvangirai is being represented by Advocate Lewis Uriri, Alec Muchadehama and Chris Mhike. Gijima is representing Mugabe while Advocate Farai Mutangamira is represents the Attorney-General and Tawanda Kanengoni is representing the Zec in the matter. According to the new constitution, the ConCourt should finalise the application within two weeks of the petition being filed. Mugabe’s swearing in for his new term will be held in abeyance until the matter is finalised.
Video: Muzarabani Fraud and Fear by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
Video published on Aug 13, 2013
MDC-T Plans Poster Campaign Against Mugabe Vote win by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via [FFZE] MDC-T Plans Poster Campaign Against Mugabe Vote win By Nicollete Zulu in Bulawayo Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC-T party, landslide loser of last month’s general election, plans to plaster the country with posters to back up its claim that President Robert Mugabe stole the vote in an effort to rally support for a re-run, a senior party official told FFZE on Wednesday. Douglas Mwonzora, MDC-T spokesman, said the party will also distribute copies of the election fraud dossier that it plans to hand to leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) during its upcoming regional summit in Malawi. The MDC-T’s leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has denounced the ZANU-PF victory in the July 31 election as fraudulent and applied to the Constitutional Court for a re-run. The party believes that distributing fliers and copies of its fraud dossier will win the support of ordinary Zimbabweans for its re-run call. “We are printing shorter versions of the dossiers for all Zimbabweans to access them. We are also making flyers and posters to distribute to millions of Zimbabweans whose votes were stolen. They deserve to know what was done and what should be done to reverse this fraud,” Mr Mwonzora said. Police continue to maintain a heavy presence across the country and have warned against any street marches and demonstrations to protest the election outcome. Mr Mugabe’s party won 61 percent of the vote, to MDC-T’s 34 percent, giving it a two-thirds majority in the 210-seat parliament for virtual rule by decree. The 89-year-old leader has dismissed Mr Tsvangirai’s accusations, and in a speech on Monday said his opponents should “go hang” if they do not accept his victory. A 20-page MDC-T dossier contains evidence of irregularities that Mr Tsvangirai argues resulted in Mr Mugabe and ZANU-PF stealing their way to victory, Mr Mwonzora said. These include use of fake ballots papers, manipulation of the voters’ roll, and the turning away of up to a million voters mostly in urban areas where MDC-T support is strongest. The party’s secretary general, Tendai Biti, said on Wednesday that the dossier also shows how hundreds of Congolese and Sudanese refugees at Tongogara Refugee Camp in Chipinge, as well as Mozambican nationals, were taken to polling stations to vote for ZANU-PF. “In Harare East we had 6,000 or so new people registered in Chikurubi, but we were denied access of verifying physically the authenticity of these new voters. In some of our affidavits, it is clear that some of the imported persons were from refugees camps or even Mozambique,” Mr Biti told FFZE. Mr Mugabe on Tuesday promised to act on his populist election promises to cancel electricity and water bills for ordinary Zimbabweans and to increase civil servants’ salaries and allowances for war veterans – pledges that analysts said are unplanned and will further strain the struggling economy.
State of the nation by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via State of the nation | The Zimbabwean by Jera It has emerged that Zimbabwe has a uranium supply agreement with Iran. According to outgoing deputy minister of mines, Gift Chimanikire, a deal was struck between the two countries in 2012. Western big brother nations generally stay out of quarrels that take place on land that has no oil or gas reserves. Perhaps mention of the word ‘uranium’ will get people scurrying about in the oval office, carrying memos on which phrases like ‘vote rigging’ are highlighted in yellow. Boot polishing In the run up to the polls, SADC recommended that the Zimbabwean security chiefs publicly declare their political neutrality. Augustine Chihuri’s reaction was like that of a teenager who when ordered to put out his cigarette, defiantly blows a cloud of smoke into his mother’s face. Even before ZEC had finished uttering the words, ‘Robert Mugabe is duly elected…’ Zimbabwe’s chief cop sat at his typewriter, pecking at the keys like a hen as he composed a message of congratulations, bordering on a salivary kiss of Mugabe’s presidential shoe. Chihuri heaped praise on Mugabe for his re-election ‘in the face of adversity and concerted effort by the West who are trying to undermine and rubbish the election in their quest to further their interests.’ Civil action Roy Bennett, well concealed behind the nine-foot wall of a house in South Africa, is still muttering words like ‘protests’ and ‘exiled government.’ Listen here. The last time somebody called for ‘the last push’, in the winter of 2003, urging us onto the streets of Harare, none of them were among the picketing crowd. The best leaders lead by example. While a lot of us remember him fondly, for his WWE smack-down move on Patrick Chinamasa in parliament, we say either hush up or come back home and lead these protests that you so loudly tweet about from the safety of an HP laptop. Party at rotten row Senior Zanu (PF) members received the welcome of returning war heroes at the party’s Politburo meeting, held at the Rotten Row headquarters. Believing themselves to be comrades entering a 1979 demobilisation centre, they strutted in, waving and pumping their fists. All that was missing from the occasion was the Sting pants with many pockets and messy Afros that were synonymous with the country’s bush war. I shrunk beneath the coffee table, embarrassed on their behalf, for the indecorous celebrations, in which grown men slapped each other’s shoulders without restraint, grown women, for whom some poor men have paid lobola, gyrated their hips and shook their buttocks. Then the court jester, Chinoz, cheered by party lickspittles, enriched the fray by enacting a bhora mugedhe show, dribbling an imaginary soccer ball, complete with a comical football commentary, which only served to confirm his position as class clown. What the dancing clapping singing Zanu (PF) minions will have failed to register is the stark difference in affluence between they and the Politbutro chefs, whose oily skins and chubby cheeks glowed in the fluorescent light of the venue.
Apartheid economics
SADC protests against Zim polls at SA parliament by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via SADC activists protest Zim polls at SA parliament | SW Radio Africa By Violet Gonda Activists from the region rallied at South Africa’s parliament to protest the endorsement by SADC and South Africa of the electoral process in Zimbabwe, which they say was flawed. Dozens of protestors from Zimbabwe, South Africa and other SADC countries, presented a memorandum to Speaker of Parliament Max Sisulu, in which they outlined thirteen breaches of the constitution and the Electoral Act, which they say renders the election unacceptable in terms of Zimbabwe law and the African Union declaration governing elections in Africa. The protesters appealed to South Africa’s legislators to ensure that South Africa and SADC pronounce the conduct of Zimbabwe’s election as unacceptable and also call for an independent audit of the electoral process. Danai Musandu, a Zimbabwean student studying at UCT, told SW Radio Africa that a collection of students from all parts of Africa participated in the demonstration. “We have to realize that where the minority gather there is a force that comes with that. This is a matter of the young generation and we are speaking out. This is our future. There was a lot of hope and we the youths are coming together as a collective.” Justice Mavedzenga, another student at the University of Cape Town, said the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe is a struggle for Southern Africa. “We implore our fellow brothers and sisters in South Africa and in the region to engage in the struggle for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. It is not just a Zimbabwean struggle, but it is the struggle for democracy and constitutionalism for the entire region.” Ramabina Mahapa, a UCT student from Limpopo province, said endorsing the Zimbabwe election is a dangerous precedent. “Looking at South Africa as a South African per se, and looking at the fact that South Africa will be heading into elections next year – now for South Africa and the SADC region to endorse those elections, with so much illegalities – that would be setting a dangerous precedence because in effect you are saying you are allowing a country to run on an election with was not legitimate. So in effect the South African government would be saying we allow the will of the people to be tampered with. And that for me is a dangerous case.” Sipho Mudau, a law student, said peaceful elections are not necessarily fair elections. “I am just part of a group of concerned citizen’s from the SADC region – I’m from Zimbabwe, and I’m standing against unfree and unfair elections in Zimbabwe. I think our main argument and contention is that peaceful elections don’t equate to free and fair elections and we’ve outlined about 13 fundamental breaches of the Zimbabwean constitution that took place either before or during the elections, that we deem to be flagrant breaches and abuses of the electoral process in Zimbabwe.”
Surrender regalia or else: Zanu by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via Surrender regalia or else: Zanu | The Zimbabwean by Edgar Gweshe MDC-T supporters here have been ordered to surrender their party cards and regalia to Zanu (PF) officials or face retribution for their political affiliation. Sources told The Zimbabwean that the directive was issued by Zanu (PF) branch Chairman for Ward 10, Charles Mugabe. The sources said that known MDC-T activists in the area had since complied with the order. Village heads, the sources said, are coordinating the process by identifying people in their villages who refused to vote with the assistance of Zanu (PF) officials in the July 31 elections. Uzumba recorded a high number of cases of politically motivated violence during the 2008 elections. The violence was mostly perpetrated by Zanu (PF) militia and war veterans. “When it was announced that Zanu (PF) had won the election, the party’s activists started moving around villages targeting known MDC-T supporters whom they ordered to surrender their party regalia and join Zanu (PF). Some of us are well known for supporting the MDC-T and we had no option but to give in to the demand,” said the source. The sources said that prior to the election, MDC-T supporters were denied access to grinding mills at various shopping centres while lorry drivers were ordered not to transport produce from the party’s supporters. The sources said that those who surrendered their party regalia had their names scrapped from the sanctions list. “We were told that the restrictions that had been placed upon us were lifted because we had accepted reform. However, the other problem is that when you go to surrender your regalia, the Zanu (PF) officials tell you to provide them with the names of other people who supported the MDC during the elections,” said the source. When contacted for comment, MDC-T losing candidate for Uzumba, Peckson Kazingizi, confirmed the development, saying it was a serious cause for concern. “Village heads are the ones coordinating the process. Every village head has a register and they are targeting people who refused to be assisted in casting their votes. The practice is mostly pronounced in Chipfunde village where people have been warned against reporting issues to the newspapers,” said Kazingizi. Mashonaland East police provincial Spokesperson, Bulisani Bhebhe, said the situation in the province was peaceful.
Greasing up the Slippery Slide by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via Greasing up the Slippery Slide | South of the African Equator Posted by Andrew Field Zimbabwe’s elections have come and gone. We all know the results and most will agree that they yielded more than a few surprises; within both party camps. Something is just not right and all the analysts worth their salt are struggling to come to terms with what really happened; and just how sweeping is the victory. Few are discussing the consequences. Clearly the election was over-rigged creating skews where they should never exist, but some will suggest that the losing side were really caught on the back foot by a cunning, methodical and experienced old fox. The sham is not so much the fact that the winning party usurped the vote, but rather that a now grumbling opposition is found so badly wanting. They were outmanoeuvred or outclassed in more ways than one. Principally, it was abundantly clear to the wider audience that supposed reforms were needed before any fair election could ever take place. To venture into an election without these reforms was political suicide, and they were warned. The now ruling party had absolute and utter control over the electoral process. This provided the necessarily biased infrastructure needed for the winning party to manipulate to its heart’s content; from voter registration, through to organisation and the count. The platform had thus been set for biased maladministration. It ensured that those contesting were denied sight of the voter’s roll. Voter registration and roll manipulation are considered the core of the vote scam and no bias could be determined before voting began. Both disenfranchisement and false enfranchisement (duplicated, deceased and centenarian voters) saw to it that the opposing parties could never achieve an outright majority save for securing a few party strongholds. Voter registration in rural areas amounted to 99.97 percent of eligible voters (compared with 2012 national census figures). That is an incredible feat in itself! The campaign saw contesting parties denied access to National media, petty attempts to prevent opposition rallies being held, and even refused real access by one party to the other party’s strongholds. The thuggery was absent. It was going to be a peaceful election, but while the thugs were reined in, seemingly, the fraudsters were released with a vengeance; scheming and planning to scoop power back to the “liberation” party. Some say the MDC formations did not smell the rat, yet everyone was pointing to where it lay festering. Instead they were quaffing the sweet fragrance of victory and indeed relishing in their false sense of triumph. Never underestimate the enemy in African politics. On the day, many legitimate voters were denied the vote and sent away from polling stations, mostly in opposing party, urban strongholds. There was a heavy and unprecedented incidence of assisted voting, for alleged illiterates in Africa’s most literate nation. And then there was the bussing; the movement of youths in large numbers to vote in several locations; false voter registration slips and all the trimmings of the rook. Finally, there was outright denial of results being broadcast from individual polling stations, lest this exposed the eventual swindle. Apart from a few party die-hards, everyone is saying that the vote was rigged… thekleptocracy has successfully enforced its will upon the people. Those who believe otherwise are rather slow on the uptake. Even ZANU(PF) are worried that perhaps it was over-rigged by all the tell tale signs now being exposed! Did they really expect to win in the territory of the Gukurahundi massacres? They did. The winning party announced very early in its campaign that they would achieve as much as 90 percent of the poll with some degree of confidence. Did they know something then that bolstered their confidence? Whatever, they achieved a devastating defeat of the would-be aspirants. Early post election whimpers for a regime of passive resistance were just not going to hold water. Those people who would perhaps care were disoriented and shocked with the poll outcome. A sense of being let down by their own permeated and suddenly the knives were being drawn, not for the wicked kleptocrats, but for those who led them to defeat. There is a to and fro of opinion as to whether the MDC-T should take up their seats. It is a case of condemning the election, yet taking up the resultant parliamentary seats. Not many among the party faithful are sticking their heads above the parapet just yet… so just how does one expect the people, the man in the street, to cast the first stone of passive resistance? Politicians seem to be leading from the rear here and clearly they have not strategized to the optimum. The storm troops are waiting for any resistance. Election observer parties from the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) see the election as free and fair and their judgement will not be reserved for long. In contrast the non-partisan Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) is exposing the poll for what it really was. It is perhaps a foregone conclusion that the submissions to the Constitutional Court will fail. Can Zimbabweans presume a different outcome from what many consider to be partisan courts? They are yet to hand down judgements to earlier election contests. There are those who hold hope despite the odds. Thus the issue for many is not whether opposition will upset the apple cart through the Constitutional Court; whether the AU and SADC yield to the reality of it all and call for a new round; or perhaps what happens within the losing party’s senior ranks; but rather how the winning party is going to measure up to its election manifesto. More critically for some is the scale by which it handles the selective xenophobia, resource nationalisation and outright racism by its far right. Nobody can come to grips with the fact that Zimbabweans, by hook or by crook, have brought back into power a party which has bad economic form. It has a track record for destruction; self enrichment and gross patronage of the ‘chefs’. The markets responded negatively within hours of electoral results. There was even a run on the banks. The prognosis is not good.This seems to suggest that Zimbabweans may have been prostituted at the polls and they have inadvertently greased up the slippery slide once more. Visit Andrew’s Simply Wild Photography photo blog… you will not regret doing so! via Greasing up the Slippery Slide | South of the African Equator.
Mugabe says No security reforms by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via ‘No security reforms’ Mugabe – NewsDay Zimbabwe PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday swatted calls for security sector realignment, which were central to the MDCs’ call for reform, saying the military had been a reliable pillar of the government.Mugabe also said he saw his July 31 election as a mandate for “total” application of policies forcing foreign-owned firms to sell majority stakes to local investors. Addressing Defence Forces Day commemorations in Harare, Mugabe said he was surprised by the inclusive government partners’ calls for security sector reform, saying this was disregard for the good work the military had done in maintaining peace. He said it was “surprising that some misguided fellow countrymen, at the behest of their Western allies, blatantly disregard the good work done by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the country”. “They disguise this by demanding what they call security sector reform, when it is obvious the enemy’s real ploy is to dilute the efficiency of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces,” he told the crowd. Ahead of last month’s poll, the two MDC parties accused the security sector of being partisan saying it needed to be reformed, a proposal that Mugabe and his Zanu PF party flatly rejected. In the past, some senior army officials have made disparaging remarks about Mugabe’s rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, with some saying they would not salute him if he won elections. Mugabe maintained a belligerent defence of his re-election on July 31, which is being challenged in court as fraudulent by Tsvangirai, saying the massive 61% poll win had given Zanu PF a mandate to implement its policies, chief among them being the indigenisation policy. Rejecting this challenge along with questions by Western governments about the election’s credibility, Mugabe said his new five-year term extending his 33 years in power gave him the chance to enact what he called the “last chapter” of a fiercely nationalist economic strategy. His indigenisation policy seeks to redistribute wealth by forcing foreign-owned firms to sell at least 51% to black Zimbabweans. “Now that the people of Zimbabwe have granted us a resounding mandate in the governance of the country, we will do everything in our power to ensure that our objective of total indigenisation, empowerment, development and employment is realised,” he said. “This is our final phase of implementing the ideals of the liberation struggle.” The President vowed to see through the indigenisation policy, saying he wanted to ensure that Zimbabweans enjoyed the country’s resources. “The indigenisation and empowerment drive will continue unabated in order to ensure that indigenous Zimbabweans enjoy a larger share of the country’s resources,” he said. As Mugabe soldiers ahead with his black empowerment policies, critics fear that this will only benefit his inner circle, while the rest of the country will not see any tangible benefits. Yesterday, the Defence Forces Day commemorations resembled a Zanu PF victory party as supporters, clad in their green and yellow party regalia and armed with anti-MDC-T banners, filled the stadium. Some of the banners read: “Learn to lose with dignity; Gladly get rid of the 3-legged monster (the inclusive government); July 31 the day we buried imperialism; Let’s tackle water and electricity challenges now that the thieves (MDCs) are gone; Now begins the empowerment revolution and Rakapinda mugedhi zvisina tsvete (We scored without favouritism)”. Mugabe said this year’s Defence Forces Day commemorations resonated with his victory. “The theme is more relevant to the country as we travel the crucial path of consolidating the gains of our hard-won independence through the total economic emancipation of our people under the motto: ‘Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Employ’,” he said. He pledged to improve the uniformed forces’ conditions of service. “Conditions of service for the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, like those of other civil servants, have remained below expectations, considering that their salaries and allowances fall below the poverty datum line. Over the past 10 years, the fact that the government has been battling illegal sanctions from the West has resulted in inadequate budgetary allocations to the Ministry of Defence and the entire Defence Forces establishments,” Mugabe said. He also cited lack of resources for the country’s failure to meet a 2009 deadline set by the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Landmines for the clearance of the deadly devices which are believed to be buried at most of the country’s borders. Zimbabwe became a signatory to the convention in 1999 and was given 10 years to clear the landmines, planted by colonial forces during the war of liberation.
Time for Zimbabweans to reflect by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via Time for Zimbabweans to reflect by InsiderZim.com Black American comedian Chris Rock says: “When it comes to acquiring a fortune, when it comes to acquiring wealth in the United States of America, different people have gone about it in different ways. “There is a saying about wealth. There is saying about fortune. And the saying is that behind every great fortune there is a great crime. And there is some truth to that. Some of the richest people, some of the most powerful people in the United States are descendants of drug dealers. “They call it bootlegging but that’s just the white man’s way of saying drug dealing. They didn’t sell boots. They sold the crack of their day. They killed cops and kids. “When it’s time for other people to come up and acquire wealth, the rules change. One of the number one rules about acquiring wealth in America is that only the white man can profit from pain. “If you are black or brown, you can make money in America. You can prosper in America but whatever you decide to do it must be positive because if one person is harmed you will be destroyed….White man makes guns, no problem. Black rapper sings guns, congressional hearing.” One could be saying the same thing about Zimbabwe. The only difference is that there is no black and white. It is black and black. One is talking the language whites understand and the other, the language some blacks understand- that you took our land, we are taking it back. This is our country. We must own the majority shareholding in every enterprise. Robert Mugabe won last month’s elections because of his promise to empower the people through indigenisation. People can shout rigging, theft and so on. The truth is that Zimbabweans want to create wealth. Investors had banked on a Morgan Tsvangirai victory. Tsvangirai was going to open up the economy. Reverse indigenisation. But the people spoke. They want to create their own wealth, rather than to be employed. Again back to Rock: “Wealth will set us free because it is empowering. It will set us free from poverty because wealth is passed on from generation to generation.” This is what every Zimbabwean wants, especially the rural Zimbabwean who has never worked for anyone but for himself. Is there anything wrong with that? Yes. The message that has been drilled into the people for over a century and the one being drilled into people today is that black Zimbabweans cannot create wealth without the help of foreign- read white- investors. The black man needs a white man to prosper, to feed himself, even to free himself. If that were true, why did the blacks have to fight for freedom while the whites were creating wealth for everyone? And they ruled the country for 100 years? That kind of reasoning sets us back. We can’t talk about the old days. We can’t even talk about the liberation struggle. That’s history. But we can talk about Mugabe’s 33-years of misrule. We can talk about how Mugabe has destroyed the country in 33 years. We can even lie that Mugabe is Zimbabwe’s first president. We can talk about Gukurahundi. But when it comes to the economy and the true history of Zimbabwe, it starts in 1999. The very whites who want to invest in Zimbabwe can talk about the Second World War and Adolf Hitler. They can even talk about the First World War. They can even talk about their founding fathers. But Zimbabweans should not talk about the liberation struggle. It’s all in the past. This is rewriting history to suit someone- a history that does not have white oppressors but just black dictators; a history that does not have black achievers but white rescuers; a history that does not have blacks feeding themselves and even exporting food before the arrival of the white man, but a history that had blacks destroying the country’s economy after getting back their land; a history where the country has been ruled by one man with an iron fist for 33 years; a history where, despite having the highest literacy rate on the continent people cannot even recognise that they have been rigged out of an election; a history where the votes of more than two million people do not reflect the will of the people but someone in Washington, someone in London, someone in Brussels, someone in Canberra, knows their wishes better than the two million. Former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi said the West was fond of humiliating Africans. And this is exactly what the West is doing now “The Jews are the most persecuted people on earth while the Africans are the most humiliated,” Moi said. Sadly, to some Africans, it is OK to be humiliated by a white man but not by another black man. If not, why would someone be interested in an investor who is scared of indigenisation when indigenisation is a way to empower the majority? And why would someone think that the country would collapse if the majority are united in one common goal to get the wealth of their country back and use that wealth to empower future generations? Zimbabwe lost $11.8 billion through illicit financial transfers between 1980 and 2009. This could have paid off the country’s debt, yet someone still has the guts to say foreign investors will rescue the country! Investors are there to make money. They are not interested in the welfare of locals. Indigenisation is the only way to go. “Think! It ain’t illegal yet. But they are working on it,” says another black American comedian Eddie Griffin.
Malema hails Robert Mugabe by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via iafrica.com | news | sa news | Malema hails Robert Mugabe Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema said on Tuesday that he wanted to emulate Robert Mugabe and congratulated the Zimbabwean leader on being re-elected president. Speaking from Nigeria where he was visiting spiritual leader TB Joshua for “blessings” and “divine intervention”, Malema said that he — like Mugabe — was merely misunderstood, according to an eNCA report. The former ANCYL leader said that Mugabe’s success at the polls should be celebrated. “They have made their wishes very clear… and we want to congratulate President Mugabe because he has returned the land to the people and Zimbabwe will be one of the fewest African countries which is truly owned by Africans,” he said, according to the eNCA report. Watch the eNCA interview below.
Robert Mugabe vows to continue Zimbabwe indigenisation by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via BBC News – Robert Mugabe vows to continue Zimbabwe indigenisation Robert Mugabe has vowed to press on with his policy of forcing all companies to cede economic control to black Zimbabweans. “Indigenisation” was one of his main campaign issues for last month’s election, which he officially won. Mr Mugabe, 89, denies opposition claims that the voting was rigged in his favour. He says black Zimbabweans need help as they faced discrimination during white minority rule, which ended in 1980. His policy of seizing most of Zimbabwe’s white-owned farms is widely seen as having caused the country’s economic collapse from 2000-2009. ‘Final phase of total independence’ Mr Mugabe says giving black Zimbabweans control of the business sector is the next step and said the election result had given him a “resounding mandate” to do so. Robert Mugabe says his policy will help black Zimbabweans “We will do everything in our power to ensure our objective of total indigenisation, empowerment, development and employment is realised,” he told a public rally to mark the annual Defence Forces Day. He said the policy was the “final phase of the liberation struggle” and “final phase of total independence”. Foreign-owned companies are already supposed to ensure they are at least 51% locally owned – a policy which some analysts say has scared off potential investment from abroad. Reuters news agency reports that the local operations of foreign-owned mining companies have already been targeted, while banks could be next. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which says Mr Mugabe stole the election, boycotted the rally to mark Defence Forces Day and has attacked the indigenisation drive. On Monday, Mr Mugabe said that his critics could “go hang”, in his first public speech since the disputed election. Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown halted in 2009 after a power-sharing government was established and the local currency abandoned. Some of Mr Mugabe’s allies have suggested that the Zimbabwe dollar could now be re-introduced but they have stressed this would not happen soon. His critics say much of the land seized from white farmers was either given to his cronies or to people who lacked the expertise or resources to use it productively. He retorts that Western powers are sabotaging Zimbabwe’s economy because of his anti-colonial stance. The Constitutional Court is to start considering the opposition’s legal challenge on Wednesday, following a two-day public holiday. The nine-member panel of judges has two weeks to either endorse Mr Mugabe’s re-election or order a rerun. Mr Mugabe won 61% of the vote in the election on 31 July, with his long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC on 35%. The president’s Zanu-PF party also gained a parliamentary majority of more than two-thirds, winning 160 of the 210 seats.
More than 30 regional NGOs petition SADC over Zim elections by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via More than 30 regional NGOs petition SADC over Zim elections | SW Radio Africa by Violet Gonda Scores of NGOs from Southern Africa are stepping up pressure on the regional body SADC to discuss the disputed Zimbabwe elections at a summit scheduled for Malawi this weekend. One of the civil society organisations, Action Support Centre, told SW Radio Africa that the NGOs are also planning demonstrations across the region, starting with one in Cape Town on Wednesday. The call from the civic groups comes as President Robert Mugabe has received congratulatory messages mainly from his traditional supporters in Africa, Asia and eastern Europe. It’s reported that out of the 14 SADC member states, eleven have so far congratulated the 89 year old leader who is accused by his rival MDC formations of rigging and stealing the elections. Western countries have been openly critical of the process, as has Botswana. Action Support Centre campaign manager Philani Ndebele said the NGOs are calling for SADC to initiate and undertake a comprehensive audit of the election process in Zimbabwe. “We are trying to challenge the whole process and we have issued out a strong statement and a call to the SADC body not to only accept the report of the SADC observer mission but to also take into account the well documented flaws in the democratic process.” He said the summit will be an opportunity for SADC to remind member states of the guidelines and principles that are used as standards for elections in the region. The NGOs, who recently held crisis talks in Botswana, want the controversial Zimbabwean polls to be tabled at the summit in Malawi, even though SADC has declared that the elections were free and credible. “We are mobilizing a lot of NGOs to endorse our petition. And other than the protests, which will be held at the parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday and other protest marches that we have arranged across the region, we are also working with partners in the region that have links to SADC to apply more pressure in terms of the demands that we are articulating,” Ndebele said. He said there are 10 countries that have so far endorsed the petition, including 30 NGOs.
UN urged to refer Mugabe to International Criminal Court by ZimSitRep – 08-14-2013
via UN urged to refer Mugabe to International Criminal Court | SW Radio Africa. By Alex Bell The United Nations (UN) is once again facing pressure to take the lead in confronting Robert Mugabe and the crimes against humanity he is responsible for, by referring the matter to the International Criminal Court (ICC). New York based advocacy group AIDS-Free World this week called on the UN Security Council to step in, warning that if there is no international intervention in Zimbabwe, more violence and human rights abuses could be seen there. The warning comes two weeks after the highly disputed elections that saw Mugabe re-elected as President. The opposition MDC-T is challenging this outcome, saying the electoral process was clearly rigged and manipulated in ZANU PF’s favour. AIDS-Free World co-director, Stephen Lewis, said Tuesday that this election outcome means Mugabe and his ZANU PF party has resumed “absolute control” of Zimbabwe. “What has happened is that because ZANU PF now has an absolute majority which allows them to revise the constitution, and Mugabe has erected around him an impenetrable wall of impunity, and one never knows what he will unleash over the coming weeks, we felt the time has come for the international community to intervene. And there’s only one way to do that and that is through the International Criminal Court,” Lewis told SW Radio Africa. He said there is deep concern of a return to violence in the coming weeks, with the election outcome being challenged. “The challenge from Morgan Tsvangirai is strong, and Mugabe feels like such a victor in this manipulated election that he may well unleash something pretty horrific,” Lewis warned. He said that such a return to violence would not be unprecedented, explaining that the same man and his party has unleashed horrific violence repeatedly in the past. He referred to the Gukurahundi genocide in the 1980s, the Murambatsvina ‘cleansing’ operation in 2005, and the rape campaign that followed Zimbabwe last elections in 2008. “This all amounts to crimes against humanity,” Lewis emphasised In 2009 AIDS-Free World released a shock report detailing the horrific rape campaign against Zimbabwe’s women, as part of ZANU PF’s violent strategy to hold on to power. The report, ‘Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe’, documents 380 rapes committed by 241 perpetrators, who all identified themselves to their victims as ZANU PF members. The report also detailed that the figures are just the tip of the iceberg, as many other rape victims are too fearful to come forward. Any kind of justice for the crimes has been nonexistent, and there has been no condemnation or action from either the African Union or the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The report states that the ZANU PF government was well aware of the rape campaign that, along with the election violence, was masterminded by the Joint Operations Command (JOC). The report goes on to detail Mugabe’s own complicity in the rapes, explaining how he not only knew about the campaign, but also refused to prevent it or punish those responsible. The report has formed the basis of an investigation set to be undertaken by the South African police, where AIDS-Free World was forced to turn for justice for the rape victims because justice in Zimbabwe was not possible. Lewis explained that every other avenue, apart from action from the UN Security Council, could be a dead end. “Everything about the reign of Mugabe and ZANU PF has been extreme, authoritarian and episodically deranged. And it demands international notice,” Lewis said.
COMMENTS