New York Sun
By JAMES KIRCHICK
June 25,
2008
On Monday evening, the United Nations Security Council finally got
around to
doing what countless editorialists, international human rights
activists,
and ostensibly "outraged" Western leaders have been urging for
years: it
issued a statement expressing its "concern" about the dire
situation in
Zimbabwe.
This is a worthy diplomatic accomplishment
given the maneuverings of
President Mugabe's chief patron and ally on the
Security Council, China, to
prevent such an effort. Granted, Monday's
announcement was a meager one-page
statement, not a formal resolution, but
any action from the world body at
this point is welcome.
As promising
as this week's sally at Turtle Bay may seem, however, the net
effect for the
people of Zimbabwe, like so much of what the "international
community" says
about that blighted land, will be nil. At this point, the
only thing likely
to save Zimbabwe is international military intervention.
"The Security
Council regrets that the campaign of violence and the
restrictions on the
political opposition have made it impossible for a free
and fair election to
take place on 27 June," the proclamation read. A regret
is something you
send on nice stationary when you can't make a wedding. It
hardly evokes the
sentiment of free people toward the animalistic brutality
the Harare junta
has taken against the people of Zimbabwe. The strongest
verb in U.N.
nomenclature - the one that the Security Council ought to have
used - is
"demand." The Council should have demanded an end to the
amputations, live
burnings, and gunpoint executions that have now become an
every day
occurrence in Zimbabwe.
Mr. Mugabe stands in violation of the United
Nations Charter in the most
fundamental sense: he is illegally occupying the
presidency of a member
state. He and his party lost presidential and
parliamentary elections held
on March 29 and since that defeat he has
unleashed a torrent of brute
violence on his opponents. Nearly 100 people
have been murdered, many more
tortured, and thousands driven from their
homes. Mr. Mugabe has pledged to
wage "war" on those brazen enough to vote
against him in a runoff scheduled
for this Friday. On Sunday, opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai fled to the
Dutch Embassy in Harare, where he
remains today in fear for his life.
Rather than express "regret" at the
unfortunate circumstances in Zimbabwe,
the United Nations should be working
to delegitimize that nation's
pretenders to power and work to seat its
legitimate government. As the Sun's
editorial page said yesterday, "it's
hard to imagine what is gained by an
American administration, of either
party, recognizing the current regime in
Harare or hosting its diplomats in
Washington." The United States should
lead the worldwide diplomatic effort
to deport Zimbabwean ambassadors from
world capitals, as well as the
diplomats comprising Zimbabwe's Mission to
the United Nations.
It has
become de riguer in the parlance of international diplomacy that
force
should never be the first option used in international affairs. For
more
than eight years, Mr. Mugabe has driven his country into the ground,
starving and murdering his own people, all while the "international
community" protested, imposed sanctions, and "pressured" Zimbabwe's
neighbors to convince the dictator to change his ways. Clearly, these
efforts have not worked, and a more robust policy should be given a
chance.
America should make the fate of Tendai Biti, the
Secretary-General of the
Movement for Democratic Change, a crucial part of
its diplomatic approach in
dealing with the Mugabe regime. Mr. Biti was
arrested earlier this month on
fabricated charges of treason and
"communicating falsehoods" and faces a
potential death sentence. His case
should be a cause célèbre for all people
of conscience, and especially those
organizations that stand for human
rights. A strong message should be sent
to Mr. Mugabe and his cronies that
any injury inflicted upon Mr. Biti will
be visited tenfold upon regime
figures.
In the wake of the NATO's
successful interventions in the Balkans -
undertaken in the face of U.N.
intransigence - a group of international
relations theorists and political
leaders, foremost among them the foreign
minister of France, Bernard
Kouchner, began to propagate a doctrine called
the "Responsibility to
Protect."
It stipulates that, "When states manifestly fail to protect
their
populations, the international community shares a collective
responsibility
to respond." In the case of Zimbabwe, the government has done
far worse than
merely "fail to protect" its people. It has raped,
impoverished, and
murdered them, and has promised to inflict far worse
suffering. How many
more dead Zimbabweans will it take before we try to stop
the slaughter?
Mr. Kirchick is an assistant editor of the New
Republic.
The Zimbabwean
Friday,
27 June 2008 14:54
By Chief Reporter
HARARE - Zimbabwe's
Joint Operations Command has hatched fresh plans
to launch a massive
crackdown on the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) if
talks of a
government of national unity (GNU) fall through.
The JOC, a
think-tank of top security services chiefs which brings
together the army,
police and intelligence chiefs, met in Harare Monday, a
day after MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai announced he was withdrawing from
Friday's sham and
fraudulent poll.
Top security sources told The Zimbabwean that the
meeting did a SWOT
(strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis
of the run off,
which legal pundits say was illegal at law, and lacking all
the essential
components of a credible election.
The Zimbabwean
understands that the decision that the election
proceeds despite
Tsvangirai's withdrawal was made in that meeting.
The JOC also
summoned Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede and instructed
him to deny
Tsvangirai a passport, after pages in his travel book had run
out.
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono was also summoned to the
strategy
meeting, which started at 9 am and ended at 5pm, and asked to
provide expert
opinion on the potential impact of the expanded European
Union sanctions.
In attendance was State Security minister Didymus
Mutasa, Zimbabwe
Defence Forces commander General Constantine Chiwenga,
commander of the
Zimbabwe National Army, Lt Gen Phillip Sibanda, head of
Airforce Air Marshal
Perence Shiri, Army chief of staff Martin Chedondo,
Police commisioner
general Augustine Chihuri, CIO chief Happyton Bonyongwe
and Prisons head
Paradzai Zimondi.
There were fears in the JOC
that proceeding with the poll would
provoke more international condemnation
and worse sanctions.
But hardliners in the security thinktank took
the stance that they
were proceeding with the poll because "we are under
sanctions anyhow."
The JOC was also fearful that US and British
governments would want to
invade Zimbabwe using the United Nations and
African Union intervention
force as cover for regime change.
"The view of JOC is that Zimbabwe has a well renowned army that cannot
be
overrun by anyone in Africa," said our source.
The Zimbabwe crisis
has already been put on the agenda of the UN
Security Council, which has
expressed alarm at the violence in Zimbabwe and
called on Mugabe to call off
the poll. The AU meets in Egypt Monday, and the
Zimbabwe crisis is high on
the agenda.
Both the UN and AU Security Council are under pressure
to recognize
its responsibility to override sovereignty given the emergency
situation in
Zimbabwe - to prevent genocide, arrest war criminals, and
restore democracy
because the Mugabe government was either unable or
unwilling to do so.
The SADC, African Union, and the UN have all
said they will not
recognize whatever government emerges from the June 27
poll.
The Zimbabwean was told that the totalitarian military junta,
fearing
an intervention force, has resolved to launch a massive crackdown on
the MDC
aimed at forcing the resurgent party to surrender and assent to a
government
of national unity with Zanu (PF).
The Zimbabwean can
reveal that the JOC has expanded the terror team
that handles "smart
operations."
The expanded team now comprises 20 officers from
Military
Intelligence, five from the Special Air Services (SAS), five from
the
Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), five from Zanu (PF). The team
is
being handled by the CIO Internal division.
The Zimbabwean
heard that this team has over the past week been
compiling addresses and
names of MDC officials.
On Wednesday 50 vehicles were availed to
the team including Mazda BT
trucks, Toyota Hilux vehicles and white single
cab Isuzu vehicles.
Tsvangirai has said he is not opposed to a
government of national
unity to avert the violence as long as Mugabe is not
involved.
On the other hand, Mugabe says he is amenable to the idea
of engaging
the MDC leader as long as he is not left out of any new
arrangement.
On Wednesday Tsvangirai told reporters at his
residence: "Let me say
clearly that there is no discussion about moving
forward without our
secretary general Tendai Biti, who has been instrumental
in all of our plans
and discussions. Tendai Biti is an indispensable asset
of the MDC and the
people of Zimbabwe."
On Thursday Biti was
granted ZD1 trillion bail or about US$100, and
asked to surrender his
passport and the title to his home and report to
police twice a week,
according to his lawyer Lewis Uriri.
Despite Mugabe's anti-MDC
bombast, his chief election agent Emmerson
Mnangagwa has categorically
stated that working together with the MDC was
"unavoidable". There were
signs that the military junta was thawing its
relations with MDC, amid
mounting international pressure.
This is partly because Zanu (PF)
has lost control of Parliament and
that the embattled 84-year-old
iron-fisted ruler knows he cannot claim any
form of legitimacy whatsoever
from the widely-condemned Friday poll.
Mnangagwa has also stated
that there are plans to reinstall the Prime
Ministerial post, which insiders
said is earmarked for Tsvangirai as a
sweetener for the negotiated
settlement, with Mugabe retaining his position
as president.
It
explains Mugabe's obsession with proceeding with the Friday
election despite
the official withdrawal of his opponent from the poll.
Civic society is
totally opposed to this and say there cannot be any
marriage with such a
murderous regime.
"We know he wants sheen of legitimacy from this
poll, to use his
fraudulent win as a bargaining chip to retain his
presidency in a negotiated
settlement," said a Western diplomat, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, SADC's
point man in resolving the
Zimbabwe crisis, is totally for the GNU. He
however faces a daunting
challenge in brokering the deal given that
Tsvangirai wants Mugabe out of
the picture and Mugabe does not want to be
left out of any power-sharing
deal.
The Zimbabwean
Friday, 27 June 2008 13:37
PRETORIA,-RULING ZANU-PF's
antics to garner undeserved votes for
President Robert Mugabe in Friday's
presidential run-off election have been
exposed.
A Zimbabwean man,
who is a member of ZANU-PF, said the party's militia
had embarked on a spate
of rehearsals with people in the rural areas to
force them to vote for
Mugabe.
"Some ruling party militias, who know opposition members in
their
areas, are rehearsing their tricks with voters, to force them to vote
for
Mugabe," said the man, who preferred anonymity for fear of
victimisation.
He claimed that some people in the rural areas have been
duped into
posing as illiterate voters on election day, so that they can be
assisted to
cast their votes by pro-ZANU-PF officials.
The man also
said some people have been told to feign blindness so
that they can be
"assisted" to cast their votes.
Meanwhile, the level of political
violence in Zimbabwe was reported to
be worsening despite the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change leader
Morgan Tsvangirai having pulled out of
the run-off, citing widespread terror
on his supporters.--CAJ News.
Monsters and Critics
By Clare Byrne Jun 27, 2008, 16:13
GMT
Johannesburg - The game is up for Zimbabwe's African
neighbours.
Friday's one-man election contest, pitting 84-year-old
President Robert
Mugabe against, in his own words, no-one but God, forces
them to finally
show their colours.
'God dropped out of the race.
It's only Bob against the world now,' a joke
doing the rounds in
neighbouring South Africa goes.
But most of the world's major powers have
little sway over Zimbabwe, as
eight years of Western sanctions,
remonstrations and hand-wringing over
Zimbabwe have shown, meaning it's
really just Bob against his African
neighbours.
They're either with
him now, or they're against him, in the parlance of US
President George W
Bush.
Ironically, Friday's farcical vote, which was boycotted by
opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai clearing the way for Mugabe to scoop up
another five years
in power, was the result of democratic reforms, brought
about by none other
than one of Mugabe's closest allies, Thabo
Mbeki.
The talks brokered last year by the South African president on
behalf of
southern Africa between Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and Tsvangirai's
Movement for
Democratic Change resulted in significant reforms that allowed
the MDC to
romp to victory in March elections.
The reforms provided,
among other things, for the election results to be
posted outside individual
polling stations before being collated at the
national level, making it nigh
impossible for the votes to be 'massaged' en
route to the national election
centre, as happened in the past.
Opposition candidates were also awarded
increased media coverage and allowed
to hold rallies in previously no-go
Zanu-PF party strongholds.
The upshot was a first-ever defeat for
Mugabe's Zanu-PF and a humiliating
second-place finish for Uncle Bob, as he
is known in Zimbabwe, to Tsvangirai
in the presidential vote.
But the
man who led Zimbabwe to freedom from British rule in 1980, was not,
as he
has since hammered home, about to be ousted by a pesky X.
His security
chiefs devised a vicious payback campaign against those who had
dared vote
for Tsvangirai, deploying youth militia and the soldiers to beat,
torture
and displace Mugabe's detractors, killing at least 90.
So effective was
Operation 'Where did you put your X' that chastened
opposition supporters
trooped back to the polls Friday to 'correct their
vote' and mark the box of
the leader with the clenched-fist symbol.
'Where did you put your X'
became Operation 'you'd better mark an X' as the
focus of the intimidation
shifted to ensuring a respectable turnout in a
contest the leaders of the
world's eight most powerful economies have
already snubbed as a
farce.
'We will not accept the legitimacy of any government that does not
reflect
the will of the Zimbabwean people,' the foreign ministers of the
Group of
Eight said in Tokyo.
But it's the reaction of Zimbabwe's
African neighbours to his expected
imminent victory declaration that is most
keenly awaited.
The reticence of Zimbabwe's neighbours, particularly
South Africa, about
eight years of gross human rights abuses by Mugabe has
emboldened him in the
face of Western 'colonial' criticism.
Now the
days of African countries rubberstamping dodgy Zimbabwean elections,
for
fear of inviting scrutiny of their own human rights records, may be
numbered.
The Southern African Development Community called on Mugabe
before the vote
to postpone it, as did South Africa's ruling African
National Congress.
Political analysts say isolation by SADC and the
African Union is key to
forcing Mugabe to enter a powersharing agreement
with the opposition seen as
central to a peaceful transition of
power.
Whether Mugabe will get his come-uppance at an African Union
summit at Sharm
el-Sheikh, Egypt on Monday, remains to be seen.
But
he appears to gearing up for a dressing down: 'I want to say to any
country
which will raise its finger in the AU, our elections have been
free.'
VOA
By David Gollust
State Department
27
June 2008
The United States Friday expressed deep disappointment
that Zimbabwe's
presidential runoff election went forward even though
incumbent President
Robert Mugabe was the only candidate. U.S. officials say
they will pursue
new bilateral and international action against the Mugabe
government. VOA's
David Gollust reports from the State
Department.
U.S. diplomats were only able to observe voting in a few
neighborhoods in
the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. But State Department Deputy
Spokesman Tom
Casey said it is clear, even from that small sampling, that
the election is
being conducted in what he termed "a true climate of
intimidation and fear."
He says the Mugabe government, whatever it may
say about the election, will
emerge from the "sham process" with no
legitimacy in the world community.
The comments were some of the
strongest to date from the Bush
administration, which stepped up its
criticism of the Harare government
after opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's departure from the race earlier
this week amid a wave of
government-inspired violence.
Spokesman Casey said the situation has
generated international concern and
disappointment even among longtime
defenders of Mr. Mugabe in the southern
African regional grouping SADC, and
the African Union.
He said he hopes the AU, discussing the Zimbabwean
situation in a weekend
summit in Egypt, will push for a political solution
to the crisis:
"We would hope they would continue to speak out in
opposition to this
completely fraudulent electoral process that is now under
way, and put their
weight behind international efforts to reach some kind of
political
solution," he said. "At this point, I am not prepared to tell them
what
specific measures they ought to take. But clearly we're looking for
them to
speak out and do what they think is appropriate, and take what steps
they
can to be able to put pressure on the regime to change its
approach."
Echoing remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the
G8 foreign
ministers meeting in Japan, Casey said the United States will
seek
additional action in the U.N. Security Council beyond the president's
statement from the council earlier this week condemning Zimbabwe election
violence.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad
completes his
one-month term as rotating Security Council president next
Monday. But Casey
said the Bush administration does not see a need to push
for further council
action by Monday, saying world concern about Zimbabwe
will not suddenly go
away.
He also said there are "a lot of things"
the United States can do
bilaterally, beyond targeted U.S. sanctions against
the Harare leadership
already in place, to underline its displeasure over
the latest events.
iafrica.com
Article By:
Fri, 27 Jun 2008
17:30
The South African government was tight-lipped on Friday over whether it
would recognise the outcome of Zimbabwe's controversial run-off presidential
election.
"Concerning the question of recognition, South Africa's
approach to the
matter - moving from the premise that this is an African
issue - will indeed
be guided by the collective wisdom of the Southern
African Development
Community (Sadc) and the African Union (AU)," said
foreign affairs
spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.
He was reacting to
numerous queries about the government's stance on the
election, which took
place in Zimbabwe on Friday.
The leader of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan
Tsvangirai, won the initial presidential
vote, but not by more than the
required 51 percent, necessitating a
run-off.
He pulled out of the race on Sunday amid claims of widespread
torture and
intimidation of MDC supporters.
However his name remained
on the ballot, alongside that of Zanu-PF leader
Robert Mugabe, who has
served as Zimbabwe's head of government since 1980,
prime minister from 1980
to 1987, and president since 1987.
"South Africa is continuing to monitor
the situation in Zimbabwe very
closely..," Mamoepa said from Pretoria on
Friday.
The government's principal and strategic task at this stage was
to ensure
the leadership of Zimbabwe - both Zanu-PF and the MDC - could
jointly engage
in a process which sought to address its political and
economic challenges
and to chart a way forward out of the present
impasse.
"Inasfar as the reported violence is concerned, we reiterate our
unequivocal
condemnation of violence irrespective of who the perpetrators
are," he said.
Sapa
iafrica.com
Article By:
Fri, 27 Jun 2008
16:37
Opponents of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe held a noisy
demonstration
and mock election outside the country's embassy in London on
Friday as their
countrymen went to the polls.
Some 30 protesters,
many from the opposition Movement For Democratic Change
(MDC) which withdrew
from the presidential run-off after threats and
violence, sang songs, danced
and chanted slogans like "New Zimbabwe, New
Beginning".
They said the
vote would not be free and fair and were also protesting
against South
African President Thabo Mbeki's softly, softly approach to the
crisis ahead
of a march on the nearby South African High Commission later.
"We're
trying to send a message straight to Thabo Mbeki's head that he has
to stop
treating Mugabe with kid gloves," protestor Dumi Tutani said,
describing
Mbeki as "a disgrace to the region".
"Had Mbeki been firm with Mugabe,
this wouldn't have happened."
The mock vote was to highlight claims the
election is being manipulated in
Mugabe's favour. The march to South Africa
House was to include a coffin
symbolising what they say is the death of
democracy in Zimbabwe.
At the embassy, they will hand in a petition
calling on Mbeki to "stop
supporting Mugabe and allow a peaceful transfer of
power."
Many of the protestors said they had fled Zimbabwe in recent
years in fear
of their lives and painted a bleak picture of how the voting
day would
unfold in their home country.
"Texts I'm getting from home
say people are going to vote but not
willingly," Willard Karanga, another
protestor, said.
"They're going to vote to save their lives because if
they don't vote,
they're going to be tortured or killed."
AFP
Monsters and Critics
Jun
27, 2008, 18:24 GMT
Washington - The United States will 'take a
very strong look' at the
possibility of extending sanctions on Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's
government following the 'sham' elections that
took place on Friday, the US
State Department said.
The United States
already has sanctions on Zimbabwe, some members of
Mugabe's family and other
'cronies' in his government and more steps may be
on the way, deputy
spokesman Tom Casey said.
'You will see us take a very strong look at
additional measures that we
might be able to take in a bilateral capacity
against Zimbabwe,' Casey told
reporters.
Casey accused Mugabe of
employing thugs to attack supporters of opposition
candidate Morgan
Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change party,
and using
intimidation and violence to ensure he won the run-off
election.
Tsvangirai dropped out of the race on Sunday over fears his
life was in
danger and fled to the Dutch embassy in the capital Harare.
Tsvangirai won
more votes in the March 29 election but not enough for an
outright victory
in balloting international observers believed was rigged to
keep Tsvangirai
from winning.
Since then, Mugabe government has
launched a brutal crackdown on the
opposition, carrying out attacks that has
left at least 90 people dead and
warning voters of consequences of casting
ballots for Tsvangirai.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, attending
a G8 meeting in Kyoto,
Japan, told reporters she intends to urge the UN
Security Council to embrace
measures against the Mugabe regime. She called
the vote a 'sham.'
The G8 foreign ministers issued a statement rejecting
the legitimacy of the
Zimbabwean government following the vote. The European
Union also called the
election a 'sham.'
Harare
- 27June 2008 - Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a network
of 38
organisations notes the withdrawal of one Presidential candidate from
the
election prior to polling day with much concern and the impact this will
have on the credibility and legitimacy of the election outcome. ZESN has
been running a long-term observation project since December 2007 with
observers based in the country's constituencies. These observers have been
collecting election related information to date.
ZESN notes that
the run-off has been marred by low voter turnout and heavy
police presence
especially in the opposition strongholds.
The environment on polling
day has been tense following a sustained and
violent intimidation campaign
against the electorate since the announcement
of the March 29 presidential
election results. On the eve of the election
there were reports of suspected
ZANU PF supporters confiscating people's
national Ids in Mabvuku,
Harare.
In most rural areas and some high density urban areas like
Mbare and
Sunningdale queues were observed amidst reports that people were
being
forced to go and vote. In Masvingo North, at Matova, St Stanislaus and
Mahoto polling stations observers reported that youth militia and
traditional leaders were writing down names of all those who were going to
the polls as they entered the polling stations and were again asking voters
to provide the traditional leaders with serial numbers of their ballot
papers as they left after casting their vote. The same pattern was also
noted in Esigodini, Chitungwiza, Zengeza and Mufakose where voters were
being asked to provide suspected members of ZANU PF with their serial
numbers after voting. In Zengeza, a known ZANU PF losing candidate in the
harmonised elections addressed voters at her house before they cast their
votes ordering them to record serial numbers of their ballots and surrender
them to her. In Mazowe Central at Howard polling station, suspected ZANU PF
members were recording the names of voters in a register. This was taking
place from a distance of about 300m from the polling
station.
ZESN also notes alarming reports from Shamva, Chikomba and
Marondera that
many people, including known literates like teachers were
reportedly being
assisted to vote. Chikomba Central and Masvingo North
Constituencies were
some of the areas where ZESN received such reports at
the time of this
statement.
In most rural areas ZESN observers
reported that traditional leaders are
forcing voters to go and vote. There
is systematic gathering and forcing of
people to the polls particularly in
Mashonaland Central in Guruve North
Constituency and Mashonaland West in
Hurungwe East at Matende Primary
School. Suspected ZANU PF supporters were
reportedly moving from house to
house calling on all registered voters to go
and vote for ZANU PF. In
Chikomba West Constituency in Mashonaland East
people were being ferried by
lorries to go and vote. ZESN also received
reports of known ZANU PF
activists serving as polling
officials.
ZESN notes with great distress reports that in some areas
voters are being
asked to attend all night vigils tonight at bases dotted
across the country
to take an audit of who voted and who did
not.
Considering the low voter turnout, the forcing of voters to go
and cast
their vote, alarming levels of political violence, evident
participation of
traditional leaders and known ZANU PF activists in the
voting process, voter
intimidation through requests for ballot serial
numbers, among a host of
electoral flaws, it is ZESN's considered view that
the outcome of this
election in such a climate of fear and coercion will not
reflect expression
of the will of Zimbabweans and that the run-off will not
solve the current
political crisis.
ZESN urges political players
to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve
the prevailing political
stalemate.
Background
ZESN has been observing all elections in
Zimbabwe since 2000. For the first
time in eight years, due to the late
invitation to observe today's election
and a huge reduction in the number of
ZESN observers (from 15 433 to 500) by
the Minister of Justice as well as
the harassment and intimidation of its
observers, the Network was unable to
field short-term accredited observers
to observe the presidential run-off
election.
PROMOTING DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS IN ZIMBABWE
FOR
COMMENTS AND FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT
Zimbabwe Election Support
Network
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper
has condemned what he calls a corrupt
election in Zimbabwe and may be
prepared to announce sanctions against the
country.
Speaking to B'nai
Brith International on Friday, the prime minister said
Canada and the
international community must pressure President Robert Mugabe
and his regime
to hold a free and democratic vote.
"Our government has condemned the
corrupt vote in the strongest possible
terms," he said. "And we are working
with the international community to
bring in strong measures to pressure the
Mugabe regime which has
illegitimately stolen the election."
He called
the process in Zimbabwe "an ugly perversion of democracy."
Zimbabwe's
run-off presidential vote became a one-man show this week because
opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew his candidacy after widespread
violence
and bloodshed.
Tsvangirai won the first round of voting earlier
this spring, but didn't get
a simple majority, forcing the
run-off.
Since then, Mugabe's regime has been accused of terrorizing
voters in
opposition districts. Dozens have been killed and thousands have
fled their
homes in the political violence.
World leaders have
condemned the situation, but Mugabe pressed ahead with
voting on
Friday.
The G8 foreign ministers closed a two-day meeting in Japan
with a joint
statement formally deploring "the actions of the Zimbabwean
authorities ...
which have made a free and fair presidential run-off
election impossible."
Mugabe, who has been president since his country
won independence in 1980,
is believed to want a large turnout so he can
claim an overwhelmingly
victory over Tsvangirai.
The 84-year-old
politician has said he will never cede power to Tsvangirai.
© The
Canadian Press, 2008
International Crisis Group
Francois
Grignon in allAfrica.com
25 June 2008
allAfrica.com
With Zimbabwean
leader Morgan Tsvangirai's brave decision Sunday to pull out
of Friday's
presidential run-off election, no one in the world can say the
race was ever
anything more than a sinister and deadly farce.
Hardliners in the ruling
Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
(Zanu-PF) party of President
Robert Mugabe have used their absolute control
of state institutions and
security forces to perpetrate a wave of violence
and intimidation against
Tsvangirai supporters in the Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC).
Tsvangirai had wanted to believe that despite the terror, a real
vote was
still possible, but now he has accepted that this is simply not the
case.
Regardless of the real result, Mugabe would have himself declared the
winner
anyway. There was no reason to play the game and give Mugabe's stolen
victory any hint of legitimacy.
In the first round of legislative and
presidential elections on 29 March,
the MDC won a clear majority in
parliament. Announcement of the presidential
results was delayed by five
weeks while Mugabe's supporters prepared their
survival strategy, including
manipulating the results to ensure a run-off
was required between
front-running Tsvangirai and Mugabe. The regime had
thus already subverted
democracy, and by all accounts, intends to do so
again in the
run-off.
International support for Mugabe is disappearing fast even among
his
one-time supporters in the region. South African President Thabo Mbeki,
the
regional negotiator who has long been perceived as a weak reed in
pressure
to end Zimbabwe's national nightmare, has acknowledged Mugabe is no
longer
in a position to win a legitimate election.
The international
community, and especially regional actors observing the
polls, must stand by
Tsvangirai's decision and make it crystal clear to
Mugabe and his party that
he will gain no legitimacy from a self-proclaimed
and fraudulent run-off
victory - nor by simply declaring himself the
unopposed winner. Mugabe
should not be allowed to use this cynical exercise
to perpetuate his power
or to insist that he be able to hand the presidency
off to a chosen
successor if he decides to leave office as a result of
negotiations.
Regional leaders and the wider world should
unequivocally support the MDC's
decision to boycott this fundamentally
marred poll. They must send the
message that they will not deal with a
fraudulent government that has used
extreme violence to come to
power.
Most parties and experts inside and outside the country agree that
Zimbabwe's best option would be a Mugabe-free government of national unity
between the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu-PF. One desirable
outcome would be negotiation of a unity government with Tsvangirai as head
of government and a moderate Zanu-PF leader in a secondary position as
president.
The sticking point is the future role of Mugabe in a
transitional
arrangement. Tsvangirai rejects any role for Mugabe but is open
to
power-sharing with some members of his party, a position supported by key
regional leaders helping to work towards a solution, including Botswana,
Zambia and Tanzania. By contrast, Mbeki said last week that Mugabe should
hang on as head of state until his succession has been organised.
The
Movement for Democratic Change has approached senior military officials
to
win them over to a negotiated end to the crisis and a restoration of the
democratic process. Will the hardliners and the security services get on
board? The current violence would suggest otherwise. Top opposition leaders
have been repeatedly arrested and detained in an effort to thwart their
campaigning. Their supporters have been targeted by violence, forcing them
to flee their homes, and some have been coerced into exchanging their
voters' registration cards to access increasingly rare food.
As many
as 100 supporters of the MDC have been killed, while hundreds have
been
subjected to torture or assault. More than 30,000 people have been
displaced
following this new wave of violence. Further, several leaders of
the
security services have publicly stated that they would never recognise
Tsvangirai as head of state. They have indicated that even if the opposition
leader is able to pull off an electoral win, they will take up arms to
retain their hold on power. These warnings follow Mugabe's statements that
he will not accept an MDC victory. In such an atmosphere, Tsvangirai had
little choice but to reject this election, as the world must now also
do.
Violence has been spreading in Zimbabwe, and anarchy and civil war
are
looming with the risk of a split within the security forces. This would
have
grave consequences for not only Zimbabwe, but also the rest of southern
Africa and beyond. But this result is not inevitable. Even at this late
moment, there are courageous advocates for peace and reconciliation working
for a negotiated solution both inside the country and in the region. They
deserve international support.
Francois Grignon is Africa Program
Director at the International Crisis
Group
http://www.cathybuckle.com
28th June 2008
Dear Friends.
I have to
admit that when I heard the news that Morgan Tsvangirai had pulled
out of
the election runoff, my reaction was total despair. Why give up now,
I
thought, when you were so nearly there? You have just handed Mugabe
victory
on a plate. Judging by comments I read from Zimbabwe, I wasn't the
only one
who thought that way. Some MDC supporters were asking what all
their
beatings and torture had been in aid of? They felt betrayed they said.
I
hope that, like me, they have now come to see that it was the only thing
Morgan could do. What kind of leader would he be if he was prepared to let
his followers be terrorised and burnt out of their homes simply for 'voting
the wrong way'? Then we could really have accused him of being interested in
power for its own sake; anything just to get into State House. Instead he
has done the honourable thing; he has put the people's safety first before
his own personal ambitions. It was an agonising decision he had to make but
the reality is that even if Morgan had won the second round, Robert Mugabe
was never going to concede. 'Only God can remove me' he averred, like some
monarch of old claiming the Divine Right of Kings! 'God put me here, only
God can remove me.' Someone should remind the Dear Old Man that God works in
mysterious ways; in England the last king who made that claim had his head
chopped off!
Following Morgan's decision to pull out, there was a
massive outpouring from
world leaders condemning the violence in Zimbabwe
and in the last few days
even African leaders have finally found the courage
to speak out. And last
night it was Mandela himself, here in the UK for his
90th birthday
celebrations, who finally expressed his 'sadness' at what is
happening in
Zimbabwe. It was, said Mandela, 'a tragic failure of
leadership'. Quite a
mild comment, I would say, but it might have the effect
of encouraging other
African leaders to speak out, excluding Thabo Mbeki of
course. Mbeki remains
stubbornly unable to admit that he is wrong, that his
Liberation comrade has
turned into nothing more than a vicious dictator who
fully deserves the
opprobrium being poured on his head. Zimbabweans must
solve their own
problems says Mbeki and Mugabe reinforces the message, 'Let
them shout as
much as they like in London and Washington, only my people
will decide who
is to govern Zimbabwe.'
And on June 27th the
Zimbabwean people will once again go to the polls but
no one should be
deceived, there will be nothing free or fair about this
election. The
violence which I thought would lessen once Morgan pulled out
has intensified
but the objective now is to force people to vote and since
there is only one
candidate, it's pretty clear that means Vote for RG
Mugabe.or
else.
That message came home to me very clearly when I read about the
behaviour of
a certain Major General Englebert Rugeje in Masvingo on
Wednesday this week.
All the shops were ordered to close and the population
of the town was
forced to attend a rally at the local stadium. Having got
his captive
audience in place, the Major General launched into his tirade.
As soon as he
started to speak the crowd proceeded to stream towards the
exits but armed
Youth Militia barred all the gates and the people were
forced to listen to
his chilling words: ' We are going to make sure you go
and vote, not for any
person of your choice but for President Robert Gabriel
Mugabe. I am not
asking you to do so but we will force you to go and vote.'
And the Major
General continued, 'Zimbabwe is tied to the gun. Therefore
anyone who wants
to rule this country should forget about voting but find
his own guns to
rule.' Major General Rugeje is a serving officer in the
Zimbabwe Army; he is
not some half crazed war veteran whose words can be
dismissed as so much
Chinotimba-style nonsense. The Major General speaks
with the authority of
his master, the Commander in Chief of the army, who
dismisses the cross on a
ballot paper as a mere gesture when compared to the
might of the gun. That's
democracy Robert Mugabe style.
What can the
people do tomorrow as they are 'herded' ( the Major General's
term ) towards
the polling stations? The simplest solution would be to
disappear. Hide out
in a hole somewhere until it's all over but even that
will not prevent the
beating you will get afterwards for not voting. It
seems the people have no
choice, they will have to cast their vote or risk
their very lives. Spoil
your ballot paper, the MDC advises but even if you
are forced to vote for
Mugabe, don't panic because no one is going to
recognise the result when he
declares himself the 'democratically' elected
President of
Zimbabwe.
Thabo Mbeki flew in yesterday in a desperate attempt to
persuade Mugabe to
call off the election. Mbeki's appeal was apparently met
with outright
rejection. The election will go ahead. Mugabe cares nothing,
or so he says,
for world opinion but he is looking dangerously isolated. As
African voices
are now raised against him he threatens to reveal their own
faulty
democratic credentials. Threats and violence are the only weapons he
has
left. Like Ian Smith before him, Mugabe is at his most deadly as the day
of
reckoning draws ever nearer. Will his cronies in the party remain loyal
as
harsher sanctions are imposed and they can no longer travel abroad,
access
their ill-gotten gains or send their children to expensive schools
abroad?
One day before this sham election, the gallant freedom fighter,
Tendayi Biti
was released from gaol and what he said about his interrogation
reveals much
about the fractured state of Zanu PF. They are not the united
party they
seek to portray. Instead, they are desperate to find out who is
making deals
to secure advantageous positions in any future Government of
National Unity.
The rats are fighting among themselves as the ship of state
begins to sink.
It may take weeks or months but the end is very near, I
believe. The
sacrifices of the courageous Zimbabwean people will not have
been in vain.
MDC already has control of the Lower House; hope is not lost,
freedom will
come and Robert Mugabe and his monstrous ego will sink without
trace beneath
the waves. Such is the fate of all dictators.
Yours in the
(continuing) struggle. PH.
In The Field
June 27, 2008
Posted: 1654 GMT
Zimbabweans voted today in an election many
called a 'sham.' But ordinary
people from Zimbabwe were stuck outside the
country watching the events in
their homeland unfold.
And
so was I. CNN is banned by the Zimbabwean government from reporting in
the
country.So I spent the week talking to Zimbabweans living in
Johannesburg. I
met them at Park station in downtown Johannesburg and in a
refugee camp next
to a plush golf course outside of the city.
At the station they gather
commodities that they have bought to take back to
their families. There are
few commodities in Zimbabwe and the inflation rate
is over two million
percent. They were taking rice and maize meal, clothes
and
mattresses.
"There is no reason to go and vote since they are beating us
like this,"
said one man at the Park station, "It doesn¹t make sense."
Another agreed, I
can't use any of their names, they are afraid that
Mugabe's government might
monitor CNN's broadcasts and website, "Even if we
go back and vote, Mugabe
would not accept it. It is better for us to stay
here, we are free here."
I was at the refugee camp as voting began. Many
Zimbabweans live here and
they were depressed about their country. They had
voted in March. Now they
were too fatigued at the politics or too afraid to
go back.
They got hold of relatives, worried about their safety back in
Zimbabwe.
Texas talked to his grandmother. She was too afraid to chat on
the phone
because thugs were intimidating people at the polling station.
Joseph also
got hold of his grandmother. She said that militia where forcing
people to
vote and checking their hands for ink. They stain fingers when you
have
voted in Zimbabwe.
I also met Nesbitt and his father. Nesbitt's
father is a war veteran. War
veterans are generally associated with ZANU-PF.
But his father, who doesn't
want us to reveal his name, fled the country a
week ago. He says he was put
on a list an MDC supporter, though he has no
real political affiliation.
"They said I was an opposition supporter
because I am not following their
footsteps," he said, "I fought for
democracy, not for brutality after
independence."
Not all Zimbabweans
are refugees, of course, there are over a million of
them living in South
Africa. Privilege is one of them.
Privilege is a 24-year-old Zimbabwean
waitress who's been living in
Johannesburg since 2005.
She hopes for
a better tomorrow in Zimbabwe, but she has gotten used to her
adopted
country.
"I am better than I would have been had I been in Zimbabwe, so I
can say
that I am happy."
Whether Privilege and other Zimbabweans
ever get to live in their home again
depends on how the ruler of that nation
and the leaders of the world decide
whether the people of Zimbabwe deserve a
fair shake.
Posted by: CNN Correspondent, David McKenzie
Washington Post
By Anonymous
Sunday,
June 29, 2008; Page B01
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- My father, who lives in
Zimbabwe's countryside, wrote me
a letter the other day. The 74-year-old man
wrote that he had not had soap,
cooking oil, sugar or tea leaves --
virtually anything -- for a very long
time. Could I help? And if I had any
old shoes that I was no longer using,
could I send them to him?
I
felt castrated as I read his words. Like many Zimbabweans, I am in no
position to aid my loved ones; I had been out of a job for a whole year when
I got the letter. My father might have forgotten that, or simply been so
desperate that he just had to let me know about his plight. The company I
had worked for had closed down without any fanfare, and severance packages
were not paid. In an eerie way, the demise of our company mirrored the
demise of our country: The bosses at the top had proven adept at ruining the
company, not at running it efficiently with the welfare of the people at
heart. So we paid the price.
Now here was my father, asking for help I
was honor-bound to give but simply
could not provide. I was filled with
impotent rage -- the same feeling my
fellow citizens get as we watch
Zimbabwe spiral out of control, caught in
the turbulence of bad,
self-serving decisions by the powers that be,
ostensibly on our behalf but
always at our expense.
In particular, my father's case fills me with
simmering fury because he has
been a staunch supporter of President Robert
Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF), ever since the 1960s, when
he had served the liberation fighters
in any way he could in their struggle
against then-Rhodesia's British
overlords. Back in the 1990s, when Mugabe's
rule was turning sour, I was
amazed still to find in my father's house an
official portrait of the
president. When my father was in his early 60s, he
wrote to inform me that
he had taken up a job in a different district as a
secretary for his beloved
party. He was eventually forced to retire, and he
has been trying to eke out
a living as a peasant farmer ever since. My
father has been devoted to the
party that he says has nurtured him over the
years. What does he have to
show for it? The very people he has pledged his
loyalty to over the decades
are the ones responsible for his plight.
It is not just my father who is
writing letters of lamentation; almost every
one of us has plumbed the
bottoms of our hearts every day. We may never
write those thoughts down, but
each moment we spend agonizing about how we
are going to make ends meet is,
in essence, the sending of a plea -- one
that no one, sadly, seems to be
able to answer. The hope of change offered
by the March 29 presidential
election has been ruthlessly and systematically
crushed, and all that
remains is the stains of our butchered dreams. Like my
father, we have all
been betrayed, treated shoddily and been victimized for
daring to speak our
minds. In Zimbabwe, if you question a wrong or criticize
an injustice, you
are labeled a member of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change. Since
the regime rabidly calls the opposition puppets of
the West, that label can
have dire consequences.
One relative, a tobacco seller in his early 40s,
was particularly bitter
about the youth militia that is carrying out most of
the regime's dirty
work: boys and girls barely out of their teens who are
ordering elderly men
and women about with impunity. "Tisu tirikutonga," they
declare: We are the
ones in power and control. And so they are.
"What
hurts me the most," my relative said, "is that at my age, I have to
live in
constant fear. To come here to Harare, we had to ask for permission,
and on
our return, we have to go and report that we are back. . . . I am not
a
politician. I just want to earn a decent living and get by."
"The problem
is that there are people who did not tell Mugabe the truth,"
another
relative pointed out. "They lied to him that he was still popular.
When he
came to address rallies, they bused people from all over the
province, and
it was the same crowds that were ferried to the different
venues, most of
them forced. When Mugabe saw them teeming in their
multitudes, dutifully
cheering and applauding him, he thought they truly
loved him."
No
longer. If anything, our trials and tribulations have deepened with the
failure of March 29 to materialize into meaningful change -- a stillborn
hope that haunts us.
There is a surreal quality to the crisis
unfolding here. For the many
citizens who depend on the state media, it is
business as usual, featuring
robust coverage of Mugabe's campaign
appearances. Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the
run-off vote that was held Friday was
treated like a non-event. One
neighbor, a devout soccer fan, observed, "This
is like having a penalty
shootout with only one team." But Mugabe seems to
see nothing wrong with
banging the ball into an empty net, then sprinting
down the field
celebrating his victory. In fact, he does not seem to mind
playing the
entire match on his own. As long as he is playing, all is well
with
him.
But for the rest of us -- for my father, my relatives and friends,
my
country -- all is not well. The other day, a devout Mugabe supporter had
assured a friend of mine that once Mugabe had clinched his victory, the
terrible inflation wracking the economy would go down, probably a day or so
after his inauguration. Such people seem to believe that diesel could come
out of a rock. We ordinary Zimbabweans do not deal with inflation by making
unrealistic assurances; we deal with it in its grittier, raw form, in our
day-to-day struggle for survival. Last week, Zimbabwe's dollar fell a
staggering 80 percent on the country's illegal currency markets as people
hunkered down before the presidential runoff. In barely a week, the price of
a loaf of bread -- which can be found only on the black market -- has shot
up from $1 billion to more than $6 billion, but even that could have changed
by the time this article appears. In less than two weeks, we have watched
the fares for a commuter omnibus, our common means of public transportation,
shoot up from $500 million to a price somewhere in the billions.
In
Zimbabwe, we talk of these billions without batting an eyelid. A friend
from
my neighborhood has a 4-year-old son who is in kindergarten. The other
day,
I saw this boy holding a wad of $50 million notes; unless they all
amounted
to a billion of our dollars, he could not buy a mere sweet with
them. Even
our kindergarteners have to be billionaires these days.
Zimbabwean tycoons
now talk in terms of quadrillions of dollars. I still
haven't been able to
get my essentially artistic mind around denominations
with nine zeroes, much
less 15. You should see the people frowning, trying
to count the bank
notes.
As I count, I think of my father. His needs cannot be met, let
alone my own.
The skyrocketing rise in the cost of transport and basic
goods, most of
which can be bought only on the black market, means that what
one earns is
less than what one must spend on survival. Yet day in and day
out, people
trek to and from work. I can only conclude that we have all been
turned into
criminals of one kind or another, selling and buying on the
black market in
order to make ends meet -- which they barely do. And all we
want is better
lives for ourselves and our children -- and an aging father
who once
believed in Robert Mugabe.
The author is a Zimbabwean
writer. The Washington Post is withholding his
name for safety reasons.
Thursday 26 June 2008
by: Matt Frei, BBC News
Look around the world and what you see is one nasty regime after another getting away with it.
Washington - The generals of Burma thumbed their nose at the global community, first by gunning down monks in the streets, then by watching their own citizens die rather than accept urgently needed aid after the cyclone.
The government of Sudan happily continues to sponsor what President George W Bush has called "genocide", and a phalanx of outrage from Hollywood to The Hague has been powerless to stop it.
Iran continues to enrich uranium - and its own coffers thanks to the soaring price of crude oil - while the Israelis are wondering whether they should put a stop to Tehran's alleged nuclear programme with a unilateral strike sanctioned by the US.
And now it is Zimbabwe's turn to proffer two fingers.
As he prances around the campaign trail in his colourful jackets, the still-sprightly 84-year-old Robert Mugabe reminds me of the Joker in Batman, laughing at a disapproving world.
His opponent Morgan Tsvangirai has been forced to hide in the Dutch embassy.
The wife of the mayor of Harare, a regime opponent, has been beaten to death.
Zimbabwe is a country of destitute, frightened billionaires.
There is consistent evidence of systematic harassment and murder of anyone who dares to support the opposition.
And a ham sandwich now costs 3.8 billion Zim dollars, when we last checked.
Zimbabwe is a country of destitute, frightened billionaires. And yet there seems very little that a disapproving world can do about it.
Call it the axis of impunity. It is a club that speaks volumes about the state of the world.
There is no shortage of moral outrage about the members of this club. What is missing is the moral high ground.
When America points a justly accusing finger at Burma's generals, it no longer has the same clout as it did a decade ago.
The double standards of Guantanamo Bay are one reason.
The other is the concept of "the coalition of the willing", the phrase used by President Bush to describe a fairly reluctant bunch of fellow travellers on the regime change express.
This further eroded the weak authority of the United Nations and introduced an air of voluntary laxity into matters of global urgency.
Economic Interests
When I put it to Jendayi Frazer, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, that Zimbabwe might be a case for "regime-change", she almost reacted as if she had never heard the phrase.
Diplomacy has replaced the 101st Airborne Division as the administration's tool of influence.
The trouble is that it is firing blanks.
Just when you actually want Uncle Sam to throw his weight around a bit, he says he is bogged down, busy, otherwise engaged - call back later.
Then there is good old fashioned economic self-interest.
Why would the Chinese rein in their clients in Sudan if they need to buy all the oil and copper they can get their hands on?
And what hope is there for Europe to speak with one thunderous voice when its 27 members cannot even agree on a basic common constitution?
And if you're Russia, Iran or Venezuela - the axis of crude - and you can rake in $145 for a barrel of oil, why should you be listening anyway? You're laughing all the way to the refinery.
The UN is toothless, the EU is gormless and the US has had "the willing" kicked out of it by Iraq and Afghanistan.
Age of Non-Intervention
The emphasis now seems to be on regional bodies that most of the world barely even knew existed until recently.
Asean has tried to grapple politely with Burma.
The African Union is sending peacekeepers to Sudan.
And Zimbabwe awaits the stinging sanction of the Southern African Development Community. Take cover!
The good things about these neighbourhood watchdog schemes is that they are regional.
If his African neighbours berate him, then Robert Mugabe can no longer claim that he is being hounded by Rhodesia's former colonial masters.
Unfortunately the neighbours also need to shed their milk teeth.
Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president-in-waiting, may have called the actions of Zimbabwe's ruling party Zanu PF "unacceptable".
The President of Namibia has chimed in.
But the man who really counts - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa - has remained mutely on the fence, apparently unwilling to ruffle the feathers of his former comrade-in-arms.
But whatever debt the ANC leadership owes Mr Mugabe from its days in opposition against apartheid, it must know that it would probably never have come to power if the international community had not imposed stringent sanctions against the Pretoria regime.
This crisis is about Zimbabwe's future and South Africa's reputation.
There is clearly more work for sanctions to do.
The British bank Barclays, for instance, opted out of business in apartheid South Africa but continues to function in Zimbabwe, which has made a mockery of human rights as well as the value of money - both of which are surely good reasons to cut ties.
The crisis in Burma, Darfur and Zimbabwe illustrate how messy the global picture has become.
We are living in an age of non-intervention, where the stage is crowded with fuming ringside observers.
It is time to get back to the drawing board.
----------
Matt Frei is the presenter of BBC World News America which airs every weekday at 0030 BST on BBC News and at 0000 BST (1900 ET / 1600 PT) on BBC World News and BBC America (for viewers outside the UK only).
African Press Organisation
HARARE, Zimbabwe, June 27, 2008/African Press
Organization (APO)/ - Freedom
House will host a special briefing on Monday
featuring top representatives
of Zimbabwe's opposition party and civil
society organizations to propose
solutions to the country's political crisis
following its one-party
presidential runoff. The discussion will examine
possible courses of action
for international and African bodies seeking to
resolve the political
standoff with President Robert Mugabe and the
country's deepening
humanitarian crisis.
Representatives
of the Movement for Democratic Change, Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition, and
Zimbabwe Election Support Network, and Media Institute of
Southern Africa in
Zimbabwe
will lead the discussion via video link from Johannesburg, South
Africa.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Carol
J.
Thompson will participate from
Washington.
WHAT: Post-Election Briefing on Zimbabwe
Political Crisis
WHERE: SEIU Building, 1800 Massachusetts Ave.,
NW, Washington, DC
WHEN: Monday, June 30 from 3-4:30
p.m.
SOURCE : Freedom House
moneyweb
Getting away with
inflation is easy, just ask Zimbabwe
Eustace Davie*
27 Jun 2008
16:47
Causing inflation is a no-brainer. Getting away with it is even
easier. The
only small hiccup is having to callously disregard the somewhat
dire
consequences for your fellow-citizens. Clear that hurdle and you
qualify for
the job. But qualifying does not mean you will get it - not many
qualifiers
have cronies who will give them the nod. There are even fewer who
have the
presence to bull**** the whole nation and get away with
it.
Gideon Gono in Zimbabwe has given us a wonderful demonstration of how
to go
about inflating a currency and causing minute-by-minute price rises.
He has
been printing money at such a rate that the presses have been running
white-hot. He has printed so much that by 23 June 2008, the value of the
Zimbabwe dollar had fallen to 21,888,000,000 or 21,888,000,000,000 pre-2007
Zimbabwe dollars per 1 US dollar. The largest denominated note was then 50
billion Zimbabwe dollars and some estimates put the rate of price increases
at something like 400,000 per cent per annum. However, Gono still has some
way to go to beat the 1994 Brazilian, the 1923 German, and, daddy of them
all, the 1946 Hungarian inflation which had prices doubling every 15 hours.
If he keeps up the good work, he'll beat the record without much
difficulty.
On its website, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe swears to uphold
the values of
honesty, integrity and uprightness. It also claims that its
primary goal is
"the maintenance of the internal and external value of the
Zimbabwean
currency." According to the bank, the interest rate is 6,500 per
cent, CPI
974,925,192.9 (now don't forget the .9) and the year-on-year
inflation rate
is 100,580.2 per cent. Gono doesn't even claim the 400,000
per cent. You
see, you can be a master inflationist and still be a little
modest about
your achievements. What a smooth operator!
What the Zim
experience is showing us is that even with such a spectacular
demonstration
of inflation-creation most commentators continue to believe
that printing
too much money does not cause rapid and general price
increases. This means
as a country's inflationist, you are home free.
Commentators, who
fortunately include a whole raft of economists, will blame
things like the
increase in the oil price, executive salary increases, the
greediness of
shop owners, the current account deficit, the phases of the
moon, or some
other such concrete phenomenon, leaving you free to "do your
own thing"
while everyone continues to smile on you.
Semantic confusion enables
inflationists to do the job and avoid being
nailed. A century ago, the word
inflation meant an untoward increase in the
quantity of money in circulation
and even non-economists knew that this
caused general price increases. They
knew that debasement of the currency
meant a reduction in its purchasing
power and they would get fewer goodies
for their bucks. Alternatively, they
had to hand over more bucks for the
same quantity of goodies. According to
pedantic economists the word
"inflation" meant an excessive increase in the
money supply (the cause),
which always resulted in general price increases
(the consequence). Then
some genius (it must have been a budding
inflationist) thought of the clever
idea of calling general price increases
"inflation". Give the consequence
the name of the cause and even economists
no longer know their A's from
their E's - absolutely brilliant!
Our
own Tito Mboweni was just getting up steam last year in June when the
year-on-year increase in M0 (the monetary base, which includes notes, coins,
and bankers' deposits with the Reserve Bank) hit a peak of 22.65 per cent;
his conscience then got the better of him and he took his foot off the
pedal. He is obviously not callous enough to be a true inflationist. You
have to have a hard heart to erode the purchasing power of the savings of
old-timers, widows and orphans, and others on fixed incomes. When you start
issuing new money like it's going out of fashion, you reduce the purchasing
power of all the money already in circulation. It's a steal, of course, if
nobody blames you, but you can't afford to let twinges of conscience affect
your inflationist performance.
Give it time. In South Africa, there
are people after Tito's job who think
he's been a fuddydud for sticking to
the Reserve Bank's primary objective to
"protect the value of the currency
in the interest of balanced and
sustainable economic growth in the Republic"
as required by the
Constitution. For people burdened with the injunction to
act with "honesty,
integrity and uprightness" that could be a problem, but
as Zimbabwe has
shown, there are ways around mere words in constitutions. No
thoroughbred
inflationist will be deterred by semantics.
Citizens
will love the lower interest rates that result when you first
increase the
money supply. They'll borrow money to buy property and all
sorts of goodies
that they've always wanted but couldn't afford. Banks'll
throw money at them
and many will borrow as much as they can and spend it.
When everyone starts
blaming everyone else for price increases, your pals in
government will talk
about and even introduce price controls, labour unions
will clamour for
inflation-plus wage increases, and eventually some
curmudgeons may even
start dragging your name into the blaming business.
When the red alert
flashes it's time to act. Don't breathe a word about
money supply! Come down
hard; give the usual long list of reasons for the
price rises and declare
that excessive spending has to be curbed. Consumer
behaviour must change;
inflation expectations must be expunged from their
minds; those that
borrowed all that nice lolly from the banks and spent it
must suffer the
consequences; they must be choked by having to pay so much
interest that
they have nothing to spend on other things. Ratchet up the
interest rates,
then everyone will complain but tell you how responsibly you
are acting.
What a life! You'll probably get a medal for your noble efforts.
*
Eustace Davie is a director of the Free Market Foundation.
Sadsbury PA: MDC North America (NAP) has a vibrant team
in place to face
the many challenges taking place now and beyond. We have
secured meetings
with key African members of the UN Security Council and we
will impress on
them to change course on the Zimbabwe issue and side with
the people. The
meetings are scheduled with UN Ambassadors for Burkina
Faso, South Africa,
and Libya.
We are resolved to send the Mugabe
regime away for good. Representatives who
voted were drawn from the
following branches and locations Dallas Texas,
Columbus Ohio, Indiana
Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Penn State, Raleigh
North Carolina, Nashville
Tennessee, and New York city. The sub-committees
on Finance, Information,
Disciplinary, Lobbying, and asylum & Immigration
will be in place at the
next meeting.
The following people were elected and this is an
Interim structure
until a congress is held.
Mr. A
Bako Chairman
(bako176@comcast.net)
Mr. C
Msimbe Deputy
Mr. T.
Nyandoro Acting Secretary General
(nyandorot@gmail.com)
Mr Z.
Ruzvidzo Secretary General on
medical
leave
Ms A Murambiwa Women
Chairperson
Mr. O. Chikonyora
Treasurer
Mr. W. Makota
Deputy
Mr. N. Rusike
Organizing Secretary
Mr.S Masuku
Deputy
Mr. O. Ndhlovu
Information & Publicity
Secretary
Mr. S.
Maswela Deputy
Mr D
Mpondi Asylum & Immigration Secretary
Mr P Bere Youth
Chairperson
Contacts:
Media : onmm@aol.com and maswelas@aol.com
Political Asylum dmpondi@yahoo.com
New branches &
members: nasrusike@hotmail.com