(with acknowledgement and apologies to MISA/NID)

Zimbabwe's opposition had a successful day of campaigning despite attempts by ruling party militants to thwart election activities, party officials said on Sunday.

President Robert Mugabe's supporters cordoned off the area where opposition leaders were to speak in a Harare suburb, preventing the opposition from going ahead with the rally, Movement for Democratic Change spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said.

However, two other gatherings went ahead as planned in Harare despite militants threatening and intimidating supporters at the venue, Chamisa said

M&G

Quote from the Human Rights Watch report: “Bullets for Each of You”
State-Sponsored Violence since Zimbabwe’s March 29 Elections (see document centre: press releases)

Will Mugabe force victory in the June run-off — or will there be a liberating turn of events? Here are five possible outcomes

The next three weeks in Zimbabwe will be the most traumatic in its history. Robert Mugabe has declared war on the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), NGOs and churches to reverse the electoral defeat he suffered in March. It is a war on unarmed people. Can he win it and what would victory mean?

Scenario one: When the votes are counted after a peaceful, well-organised and credible election on June 27, President Mugabe concedes defeat, congratulates Morgan Tsvangirai, hands over the reins of power and retires. Likelihood? Zero.

The official results of the election on March 29 did not give Mr Tsvangirai more than half the votes so there must be a run-off. To secure victory, Emerson Mnangagwa, one of the architects of the massacres in Matabeland in 1983, with the heads of the police, defence forces and Gideon Gono, the Finance Minister, has launched a violent nationwide campaign to destroy the opposition's capacity to deliver the vote.

Only the towns that the ruling party now believe they cannot win have been spared. Key MDC organisers have been abducted and killed. The death toll is about 50 so far but may be many more. Anyone suspected of voting MDC is seized and ritually beaten, often on the back, buttocks and legs with whips and sticks, sometimes wrapped in barbed wire.

Another strategy is to force people out of their homes by burning their houses. Driven from their constituency areas, they will be disqualified from voting. MDC leaders are detained. NGOs are ordered to stop work in rural areas so that news of what is happening there cannot reach the outside world. It also means that hundreds of thousands of people, now dependent on food aid, will not be fed. The last strategy is to prepare a massive rigging campaign. Professionals such as teachers, who acted as election officers in the first round, are being intimidated so that Zanu (PF) officials can step in to run the polling.

Opinions vary on whether all this will succeed in cowing the people or if it will make Zimbabweans more determined to cast their votes for the MDC. But even if Mr Tsvangirai were to win the most votes, it is inconceivable that, in its present mood, the regime would concede defeat.

Mr Mugabe believes he won Zimbabwe by conquest, through the liberation war. Zimbabwe was never a one-party state, but to him the function of elections is to confirm his possession. The idea that he could be deposed through the ballot box is unthinkable. His wife has vowed publicly that Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, will never see the inside of State House. To justify his claim - and his war - Mr Mugabe has created a fantasy enemy: Britain. He says the British want to recolonise Zimbabwe, bring back the white farmers and re-create Rhodesia again. MDC is their creation and puppet.

While the key player outside Zimbabwe, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, remains silent on these developments, his probable successor, Jacob Zuma, says they have undermined any possibility of a credible election. He recommends a government of national unity.

This is scenario two: a powersharing agreement between both parties. Likelihood? Minus zero. Neither side wants this election but the possibility of a Kenya-style government of national unity is unthinkable.

Kenya had a lot to lose from political disruption. Zimbabwe has lost it all already. About ten powerful allies of Mugabe do have a lot to lose, which is why they hold on to power at any cost. They could offer the MDC a few places in government, but the MDC would not accept them. The only terms under which MDC would enter a reconciliation government - as they prefer to call it - is if they headed it.

Which brings us to the third scenario: a victory for Robert Mugabe. Likelihood? High. The party was complacent in the first round. It assumed the rural areas would vote Zanu (PF) but they didn't. This time voters in traditionally loyal areas will be urged, even forced, to the polling stations. That, the campaign against the MDC and rigging might well reverse the result.

This scenario raises three more fundamental issues: the splits in Zanu (PF), the reaction of the region and the economy. Everyone knows a Mugabe victory will not reverse Zimbabwe's catastrophic disintegration - although there are some who say he is willing to step down but will not be driven from office.

After the declaration of war on MDC, there is no one in the senior hierarchy of Zanu (PF) who would be an acceptable replacement except as a stopgap. The party itself is deeply riven by factions.

If Mr Mugabe wins, the reaction of the regional leaders would be crucial. But since Mr Mbeki's quiet diplomacy has failed, he appears to have no other policy. The other presidents of Southern Africa are divided. They will not condemn Mr Mugabe but would probably not continue to support him if he wins an election under current circumstances.

The economy can no longer provide the Government with the revenues it needs to keep it in power. No one will lend it money. Every source of wealth has been raided and drained. Inflation is now more than 2 million per cent. African economies do not die, they sink into subsistence, but the Government's ability to pay soldiers, policemen, party officials and civil servants is at an end. The election itself will drain the last few drops of wealth from the coffers.

These factors create fourth and fifth scenarios.

Scenario four: The unpaid Armed Forces and police could break up into pro and anti-Mugabe factions within the party. Some may support the MDC. As the Armed Forces disintegrate, warlords take over local areas. Zimbabwe begins to look more like Somalia. Likelihood? Possible.

Scenario five. The miracle. Some random factor not in the equation at the moment suddenly turns history. Maybe the death or defection of a key Mugabe ally: Mr Gono, the Finance Minister, for example, who has been churning out increasingly worthless banknotes. Now he is of no further use, but, rich and ambitious, he may not see a future with Mr Mugabe. His defection breaches the wall of the fantasy castle and reality crashes in. Mr Mugabe and his chief lieutenants seek refuge in Equatorial Guinea and a government of national unity is set up.

Likelihood? Impossible to say. But Southern Africa has been known to produce miracles before.

Richard Dowden is director of the Royal African Society. His book Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles is published in September.

Sorry, oneword, if I stole some thunder!

There are no scenarios for the Zimbos!! They have to take what they get!!!!! No choice!!!!

One-doubt!!!!! That was purely for protection!!!!!!!! For protection so that nobody would see the green bombers clobbering the MDC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zimbabwe 2008 –
by Mutumwa Mawere

From 1890 through 1980, the Rhodesian state machinery was exclusively controlled by a white settler community who derived economic benefits underpinned by a racist ideology.
To white Zimbabweans, the exclusion of blacks during the 90 year period was justified primarily because it was argued that the state was a creature of colonial civilization and, therefore, blacks could conceivably have had no interest in participating in the administration of the affairs of a state that they played no part in its creation and was in any event not in existence prior to colonization.
It was also argued that without education natives were of no value to the system other than as providers of cheap labor.
The role of white people in Africa is not surprisingly still one of the most contentious and debated issue of our time.
Even President Mugabe would rather shy away from discussing his record in government and rather divert attention to the demon of racism that resonates with many Africans.
Many African politicians thrive on it and to the extent that the 90 year history of race based politics is real, people like President Mugabe find the issue of extreme value in explaining black poverty and hopelessness.
It cannot be denied that colonial occupation had an adverse impact on not only black political and economic rights but has arguably some relevance to the national democratic revolution.
The colonial experience was not a pleasant one for the majority native population to make it difficult for anyone to dismiss President Mugabe’s attempt to make race the principal issue that must be associated with leadership change even after 28 years in power.
At independence, President Mugabe was a champion of a new civilization that understood the need for healing and reconciliation on the firm belief that the past provided no viable solution to the pressing problems that confronted the country at the defining moment in its history.
President Mugabe must have known then that Zimbabwe needed to turn a new chapter in its history and white people would be strategic players in the transformation agenda principally because the colonial race-based primitive accumulation process had uniquely advantaged them.
It was none other than President Mugabe who reached out to white Zimbabweans including the army in search for a new civilization founded on republican principles that all men are created equal and the politics of exclusion was not consistent with the values and principles that informed the liberation struggle.
A new Zimbabwean was then born so everyone thought and to a large extent President Mugabe was a credible person to champion and promote a new Zimbabwean identity.
Many white Zimbabweans were persuaded to remain in the country while a few could never trust a person who in a meeting with General Walls compared Karl Marx to Jesus Christ. White Zimbabweans distanced themselves from politics and so their role as economic agents.
However, they had more to lose if Zimbabwe degenerated into economic chaos and the question must be asked about what they did or not do to make the system inclusive and mutually beneficial to all.
To demonstrate his magnanimity, President Mugabe appointed Ian Smith’s former cabinet colleagues to his government and during the last 28 years he has made many white friends including the likes of Mr. A. Cluff and Tony O’Reilly.
It was evident then that the colonial system had advantaged only whites to the extent that resources were allocated on racial grounds. The ownership of land was skewed as was the ownership of mineral resources.
The deal that was brokered at Lancaster House may not have been fully understood by nationalists like President Mugabe. The thorny racial issue that surrounds not only the idea of Africa but also its material realities is a complex one. It has been argued that it is not sufficient to say that whites stole African resources without acknowledging the role of whites in creating the foundations of a functioning economic model.
In advancing this argument, it is often pointed out that white people are not the cause of everything ill in the continent for how can the poverty in many countries where the white population is small or nonexistent be understood and explained.
The image of an African in the minds of people like President Mugabe is a black person. His argument is no different from the one being advanced in South Africa where black South Africans have accepted that the image of a South African cannot be a Nigerian born black person but a Zulu, Pedi, Xhosa, Afrikaner, English etc.
Even if the resources of Zimbabwe for example were handed to blacks by the state in the name of indigenization or black economic empowerment, it cannot be concluded that such inheritance will necessarily produce the same outcomes as the colonial system yielded to white settlers.
The views of President Mugabe on race may not be any different from the views shared by the architects of xenophobia in South Africa. The only difference is that President Mugabe had the power and authority for 28 years to do something about it but regrettably he has not been able to accept any responsibility for the failure to provide leadership on this defining nation building issue of identity.
President Mugabe would accept that colonialism has had a positive influence on him because his mastery of the English language and his dressing betray his ambivalence against colonialism. He speaks better English than many white Zimbabweans but has not understood the true nature of the civilization they sought to bring to Africa.
At the core of the colonial system was a market based economic architecture that was founded on an exchange of value. The white settlers created a functioning system for themselves based on fee for service or goods in exchange for money. The colonial administration was only a referee but economic games were played by the individual white actors.
Accordingly, an asset like land had only value if it could produce an income stream rather any other economic enterprise as opposed to the position taken by nationalists that ownership/possession is an end in itself.
President Mugabe’s views on race are shared by many and form part of the wider hysteria in not only Africa but the developing world in general that cuts across the class spectrum.
White progress in Africa is easily described as a direct consequence of colonialism without any regard to the effort and initiative of the actors concerned. To what extent was the colonial system responsible for white progress is an issue that requires critical analysis in as much as the role of the state in addressing the poverty challenges that confronts the continent.
As President Mugabe approaches the run-off elections, it is important that the issue of race and skin color be discussed comprehensively to determine whether in fact Mugabe is a saint who will make Zimbabwe a better and not bitter nation after the elections.
President Mugabe takes the credit that his administration has changed land title deeds in favor of blacks without attempting to explain that any commercial enterprise like a commercial farm ultimately belongs to its customers and suppliers. If, for example, a farmer produces crops and is not able to find customers he will perish irrespective of the color of his skin.
Whites have been able to thrive under the colonial system in as much as they have confused Mugabe during the last 28 years because they have been able to organize their economic initiatives and blacks who are in the majority have largely supported such initiatives as consumers and suppliers of labor.
If President Mugabe was serious about change then surely he would have found a way of strengthening blacks without weakening whites. At the end of the day, customers do not care who produces maize for example as long as they get it.
Since 2000, Zimbabwe has been reduced to a net importer of food prompting President Mugabe to attend the food summit to register his view that were it not for racism and imperialist machinations, Zimbabwe would be in a great economic shape.
The whole idea behind decolonization project was that Zimbabweans irrespective of their skin color would be able to occupy any office including the Presidency. However, President Mugabe is of the view that equality is a privilege conferred by the true owners of the revolution i.e. the war veterans who had 28 years to build a new foundation for a new dispensation but regrettably such foundation is missing.
What kind of Zimbabwe do Zimbabweans want to see? This question can only be answered by all who believe that Zimbabwe’s brighter day is yet to come and President Mugabe needs to be told that time for change is now. His brand of politics has nothing to do with the future of the country but his personal legacy.
It can be argued that one of the sustainable ways of combating xenophobia would be an attempt to change the language and tone of politics in Africa.
Zimbabwe is too important hence the global attention it receives for anyone to remain disinterested and it cannot be argued that the whole system does not need fixing.
In 1845 it took only 166 people to form Old Mutual and 83 years later Afrikaners responded by forming Sanlam but after 28 years in power, it is evident that the language of mutuality and shared values has not resonated with the leadership of Zimbabwe.
If only President Mugabe had used his political office to unite people across racial, tribal and class lines; I have no doubt that people would have responded with real nation building institutions.
Americans have shown that they can rise above the confines of the politics of race and I have no doubt that Zimbabweans in record numbers will on 27 June register their verdict on whether the attempt by President Mugabe to blacken Zimbabwe and make it a pariah state should be condoned.

POSTED BY DANIEL MOLOKELE AT 12:41 PM

Analyst confirms junta's generals met with terror campaign factions


Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND.

This is the list of villains & heroes that have been involved in the protracted crisis in Zimbabwe.

May all those who died for a free Zimbabwe rest in peace.

Heroes: June-13-2008

1. Dadirai Chipiro - wife of MDC head Mhondoro - brutally murdered by having her feet and one hand cut off, then thrown into a hut and burned to death.

2. Mr. Chipiro - although aware that his life is threatened, he said he's not leaving Mhondoro: "They want to kill me. But I have no alternative. My presence here as a leader is very important. If I leave, everyone else will leave. I intend to fight the battle, from here."

3. Reverend Takura Bango - savagely beaten in Makoni South.

4. The wife and 6 year old son of the MDC councillor Harare South - both died after ZPF thugs set fire to their home.

5. MDC activist Chenjerai Kahari - shot dead Bindura South by war vets. His body was left lying in a pool of blood after police refused to take it to the mortuary.

6. Jennie Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu of WOZA - being denied bail and still in detention after 3 weeks.

7. Dumihasani Hapazari - a popular manager at ZESA Chiredzi - abducted and drowned because he nominated the MDC councillor.

8. Botswana government - for summoning the Zim ambassador and complaining about the latest arrests of Tsvangirai and Biti.

9. Tendai Biti - for returning home even though he knew his arrest was inevitable.
10. The 40 prominent African leaders who issued a public call for an end to Zimbabwe's violence.

Villains: June-13-2008

1. Thabo Mbeki, Kenneth Kaunda, Simba Makoni - for not condemning the violence but pressuring Tsvangirai to accept a unity government, with Mugabe at it's head.

2. Major Dangirwa - led soldiers who beat Reverend Bango.

3. Zanu PF MP Bright Matonga - for organising the violence in Mhondoro which most recently claimed the life of Mrs. Chipiro.

4. ZPF Harare South MP Hubert Nyanhongo - blamed for the murderous attack on the wife and son of the MDC Councillor.

5. South African government for again blocking discussion of the Zimbabwe crisis at the UN Security Council.

6. SADC for it's lack of action over the Zim crisis and it's late deployment of observers.



Heroes: June-9-2008

1. Mazhandu - a village headman from the Gokwe area whose home was burnt by war vets and who has been stripped of his position as Headman by the District Administrator, for refusing to join ZPF.

2. Priscilla Sibanda - MDC councillor Ward 15 Matobo - badly beaten by war vets for attending the Matobo Agenda meeting.

3. Precious Ndlovu - Matobo Agenda chairman - assaulted for putting up posters about the meeting.

4. European Union for terminating the consultancy contract of Dr. Paul Chimedza, the former medical superintendent for Harare Hospital, following confirmation of his involvement in political violence in the Masvingo area.


Villains: June-9-2008

1. Joel Biggie Matiza (ZPF MP), Saymore Chimombe, Oscar Kuchenga - all Murehwa - all guilty of torture and beatings in the area, and allegedly of murders.

2. Mlungiselwa Nkomo, Edward Sibanda and Jacob Ngwenya - war vets Gwanda - beat MDC supporters waiting for Tsvangirai - 10 hospitalised.

3. Elliot Manyika - again - ZPF political commissar who invaded Gweru recently with a group of youths and forced people to wear ZPF T shirts.

4. United Nations - for inviting Mugabe to Rome to the food conference, and also for saying nothing when he banned NGO's from distributing food aid and other assistance.

5. Morris Mukwe and Simon Mapfumo - well known ZPF thugs Chipinge - recently abducted 18 MDC activists in early morning raids - all were tortured.

6. David Parirenyatwa MPand Minister for Health, Mavhungire (war vet) Simba Mutarikwa (MP Uzumba) Bright Makonde (Senator for Murehwa) - all involved in the recent violence in Murehwa North. Two MDC supporters died in the attacks and traditional leaders were badly assaulted.


Heroes & Villains 31 May, 2008


Heroes:
1. Shepherd Jani - MDC Senatorial candidate for Murehwa - abducted and murdered.

2. Taurai Matanda - shot dead by soldiers at Murambinda growth point, Manicaland.

3. 78 year old grandmother, 13 year old brother, plus mother and other relatives of MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa. Savagely beaten for 2 hours by armed soldiers in Gutu.

4. Mabel Penisara - wife of election campaign manager for MDC MP Ian Kay. Abducted and tortured, left for dead by a roadside.


Villains:

1. Mashava - ZPF Murehwa district Vice chariperson - threatened to kill children of MDC officials.

2. Colonel Chineta - alleged to have been involved in the murder of Jani.

3. Matemachani - war vet - known for his violence, he is now attacking people in Triangle again.

4. Sidney Somai - CIO Marondera - jumped out of vehicle and attacked MDC district chairman Potifa Bakaaiman with a rifle butt and then abducted him.

5. Colonel Morgan Mzilikazi - led attack on Murambinda growth point, to 'flush out' MDC supporters - leaving one dead, 31 hospitalised.

6. Major General Engelbert Rugejo - responsible for the attack on Nelson Chamisa's family.

7. Ignatius Chombo - local government minister who has illegally appointed commissions to run towns, ignoring the council elections, predominantly won by the MDC.

8. Grace Mugabe - for saying that Mugabe will never step down for Tsvangirai, even if he loses the election.

Heroes & Villains 23rd May, 2008

Heroes:

1. Tonderai Ndira - arrested 35 times for his MDC activism, abducted 14 May. Found murdered 21 May with his tongue and lips missing.

2. Gibson Nyandoro - war vet who regretted his violent path and raised his arm and unclenched his fist to make the open-palmed salute at an MDC rally 8 weeks ago. Found dead near army barracks where he had been tortured.

3. Rosemary Maramba and her unborn baby - beaten to death in Nhakiwa village, Mutawatawa, Mash Central, for supporting MDC.

4. Action Nyadedzi and village head Chitsungo - MDC activists Mutawatawa. Found dead.

5. Godfrey Kauzani and Cain Nyeve of Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe - missing after the attack in which Beta Chokururama was murdered by state agents. Both found dead in Goromonzi.

6. Chokuse Mupango, the MDC chairman for ward 26 in Mutiusinazita, Manicaland province - beaten to death for being the election strategist for the MDC MP elect who defeated Joseph Chinotimba.

Villains:

1. ZPF Grace Mvududu - who stood as councillor in Gombakomba and lost to MDC - organised savage attack on her own MDC relatives.

2. President Thabo Mbeki - for his support of Mugabe and denial of Zimbabwe's crisis, which is leading to so many murders in Zimbabwe and now in South Africa in the xenophobic attacks.

3. Security Minister Didymus Mutasa - for refusing to respond to questions about Tonderai Ndira's disappearance.

4. Nolbert Kunonga, former Bishop of Harare - for organising police to take control of all Anglican churches Harare, to block parishoners from worshipping.

5. Retired Major Cairo Mhandu, MP elect Mazowe North and Raradza, who was not elected Muzarabani South - responsible for massacre at Chaona, Mazowe North 5th May. 6 confirmed dead, murdered in front of their children, wives and parents who were savagely beaten. Their crime - at polling station Chaona, 80 votes MDC 15 votes ZPF.

6. Joseph Chinotimba - for overseeing the murder of MDC Chokuse Mupango, savagely beaten by a militia group he was put in a wheelbarrow and taken to Chinotimba, but died before he could be questioned. Chinotimba's response was to scream that he was a pig, who had died before he could start on him.

Heroes & Villains - 16 May, 2008

Heroes:

1. Sabhuku Elias Madzivanzira and his wife - the 70 year old village head in Ward 8 Shamva was axed to death by youth militia. His wife was seriously injured.
2. Nelson Emmanual - Harare South - beaten to death at Hopley farm.
3. The 79 year old father and 76 year old mother of Elliott Pfebve - currently being held at a torture camp. Condition unknown.
4. 22 year old Memory - savagely beaten and hospitalised, but still vowing to vote for peaceful change.
5. Tonderayi Ndira - abducted in Mabvuku by 9 men from Goromonzi police, in a white Toyota single cab pickup Reg. 772-224T. Still missing he has been arrested a total of 35 times.
6. Beta Chokururama, Murehwa - shot and stabbed to death on his way to say goodbye to his mother. He was fleeing the country to seek refuge in SA after an earlier, brutal beating.



Villains:
1. Zimbabwe prisons chief Paradzai Zimondi - he is funding and feeding Zanu PF militias terrorising and murdering opposition supporters in Mashonaland East province.
2. Deputy youth minister & Mt. Darwin MP Xavier Kasukuwere - chief architect of the violence in Mash Central and Mash East.
3. Ward councillor Zira - leads a gang of ZPF thugs terrorising people in Marondera North. Recently 2 people died in an attack at Kadenga growth point.
4. Major Moyo Zim national army - leads a ZPF militia in Gokwe. Two deaths reported in the area.
5. War vets Gwava and Samson Svundu - chased 14 youths at Chiredzana dip tank (ward 13). Caught and severley beat 3 of the young boys, one who had to be hospitalised.
6. Village headman Antony Jongwe and ZPF district chairperson Viola Muchenje implicated in very violent attacks on ZESN observers Mt. Darwin.
7. War vets Muroyiwa and Joshua, based at Bata farm - named as the killers of village head Madzivanzira.
8. MP for Mudzi North Newten Kachepa - instigator of violence in the area. A ZESN observer was severely tortured.
9. Murehwa violence - The MP for Uzumba/Pfungwe, Simba Mudarikwa, instigating violence, arranging vehicles & ferrying youths to villages to attack opposition supporters. War vets Kashesha, Dandara, Mavungire (wearing army fatigues), Kandemire and Katsvairo 3. Mukoma 'Brother B' is force marching people in Murehwa to meetings and ordering people to provide 20 names each of opposition supporters.
Heroes and Villains 9 May, 2008

Heroes:

1. Samson - 3 years old - hit in the face with a rock by ZPF militia on Golden Star farm, Shamva.

2. Unknown 14-month old - admitted to a Harare hospital on Thursday. Beaten unconscious on her mother's back in an attack by ZPF youths and "war vets".

4. South African Transport & Allied Workers Union - for continuing to monitor the movements of the Chinese arms ship and alerting the world to the fact that it is heading to Congo Brazzaville.

5. Durban based inspectorate of the Int Transport Workers Federation - for flying to Brazzaville to make sure the Zim weapons cargo is not unloaded.

6. Tairos - a tractor driver - dragged to a police station, ordered to point out police symapthetic to MDC. Unable to do so he was beaten to death in the police station by ZPF militia.
Villains:
1. Christopher Mashoko, Oswel Kasakura, Dovshal Mutekede, Raphael Chimunhu, Aleck Mbofana and Aleck Chiumbi - all named as being involved in violence.
2. ZPF activist Mhindo - trained youths involved in the violent assaults at Driefontein Mission near Mvuma.
3. 18 security officials including Happyton Bonyongwe, Head of the Department of State Security in the President's Office; Augustine Chihuri, Commissioner General of Police; Paradzayi Zimondi, Prisons Commissioner; Constantine Chigwenga, Head of Defence Forces; Didymus Mutasa, Minister of State Security; Kembo Mohadi, Minister of Home Affairs; Assistant Commissioner Musarashana Godwin Mabunda; and Superintendent, Law and Order Section, Harare, J Chani. Named in a report submitted to South African's Prosecuting Authority for involvement in the torture of MDC officials, including Tsvangirai, in March last year.
4. Cairo Mhandu - recently elected MP & retired solider - led attacks on 4 villages in Chiweshe. 11 dead, 20 seriously injured.
5. Kicker Ncube - leader of a group of war vets responsible for beatings and evictions on a farm in Figtree. He works for MP Obert Mpofu.
6. GMB manager in the Lowveld, the newely appointed Army Colonel Masimbi - for using food as a political weapon and violently 're-educating' people.
7. ZPF MP for Uzumba, Simba Mudarikwa - financing and directing the violence in his area, as well as using his trucks to transport the violent youths.
8. War vets Kandomire & Makoto - for leading the gangs responsible for the beatings and burning of houses in Uzumba. ZPF Senator Kabayanjire also involved.

Heroes & Villains - Friday 02 May
Heroes:
1. MDC Councillor Rusere for Sadza, Wedza - died from injuries sustained in the rural violence. She had fled to MDC offices Harare but was one of those arrested in the raid on the offices and detained. Police ignored the court order to provide access to medical treatment.
2. Tabitha Marume, Rusape - Marume was part of a group of MDC activists who went to a torture camp at Manonga School, demanding the release of colleagues who had been abducted by soldiers. She was shot and killed.
3. 10,000 villagers in Makoni West who attend Marume's funeral in defiance of the ZPF violence. They sang songs of defiance, declaring violence will not stop them supporting MDC.

Villains:
1. Jabulani Sibanda - allegedly axed an MDC supporter in the head .
2. Emmerson Mnangagwa - in charge of the Joint Operations Committee (JOC) that oversees the violence campaign.
3. Gideon Gono - economic advisor to JOC. It costs money to beat and murder people.
4. Sithembiso Nyoni, Minister of Small to Medium Scale Enterprises - watched as 3 ZPF men with her seriously assault Zachariah Isaac Ncube at Gababi in Ward 1 in Nkayi North.
5. Former CIO director and cabinet minister Shadreck Chipanga - led war vets in attack on headmaster at Chakumba Primary School Makoni South. Headmaster battling for life with serious injuries.
6. Daniel Romeo Mutsunguma, CIO agent employed at Zim embassy Washington, USA - MDC allege he murdered Tabitha Marume.
7. Thabo Mbeki - as chair of the UN Security Council he blocked UN action over the Zimbabwe crisis - along with help from China , Russia and Vietnam.
Heroes & Villains - Friday 25 April
Heroes:

1. The whistleblower who leaked the consignment details about arms for Zim on Chinese ship.
2. Noseweek for alerting the world to the story.
3. SA dock workers for refusing to unload the arms.
4. SA litigation centre/Int Action Network on Small Arms, for the successful legal case that blocked the arms shipment.
5. Chairman of SADC, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, for asking all regional leaders to bar ship from docking.
6. Avaaz for their banner protest at the UN and their global online petition to stop arms to Zim.
7. The Archbishops of Canterbury & York, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Anglican Primate of Southern Africa for calling for a Zim arms embargo.
8. Ex Malawi President Muluzi for condemning the Zimbabwe situation.
9. Delegates to East African Law Society conference Dar es Salaam for referring to Mbeki as 'Thabo 'no crisis' Mbeki.
10.U.S. envoy to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, on a visit to South Africa, for saying Mugabe should do the honourable thing and step down.
11. Democratic Alliance in SA for calling on the South African government to press for Zimbabwe’s expulsion from the AU and the imposition of travel sanctions on Zimbabwean government officials entering South Africa.

Villains:

1. War vet Richard Makoni (Mutoko East) for the murder of Tatenda Chibika who he shot & killed on April 17.
2. War vet gang leader in Mash Central, Mashonga for evicting and threatening Wela villagers with death.
3. Magistrates Olivia Mariga and Gloria Takundwa for remanding 30 MDC human rights activists and journalist Frank Chikowore in custody, saying that releasing them would fuel violence.
4. Soldiers Cloud Mashoko & Oswell Kasakura, war vet Aaron Jack Kadande, ZPF youth vice chair Raphel Chimhandu, ZPF youths Tichafa Chimunhu, Wellington Chimunhu, Dova Mutekede, Nyepanai Mutekede, Marisa Mapika and Ian Makonde for attacking Mutata/Mukango/Matumbura villagers with logs and axes and destroying homes and property.
5. China for sending arms to Zim.
6. China for refusing to accept a petition at it's embassy in Pretoria asking them to respect the human rights of Zimbabweans.
7. ZNA private Madamombe & ZPF miliaman Jawet Kazangarare for the murder of MDC supporter Tapiwa Mbwanda in Hurungwe East.
8. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for saying no one has died of politically motivated violence at the hands of Zanu-PF.
9. Extreme violence in Murewa instigated by Health Minister David Parirenyatwa, ZPF District Co-ordinating Committee member Mavhungire & newly elected Senator, Bright Makunde (owner of Hot Pot Restaurant and other businesses in Murewa Centre).
10. War Vet Eric Pfumvuti, mastermind of reign of terror in Mutoko. Promoted to police Sen Ass Commissioner. 4 MDC dead in the area.
11. Police officer 'Silver' based Harare Central, is at the centre of terror campaign against MDC. Shot dead an opposition activist in Sunningdale.

MDC/various

It is times like these that I feel deeply ashamed and embarassed to be an African, and ashamed of being the citizen of a country that would like to be seen to be civilised and democratic - a beacon of freedom in Africa.

I feel a deep, deep anger and also sadness about the cold, callous disrepect for life that our "leaders" are displaying in the face of a brutal, murderous assault on the people of Zimbabwe by what they are not afraid to call their friends and comrades.

Where is the outrage about the violence perpetrated by ZANU-PF thugs and even soliders that is sweeping Zimbabwe? Where is the condemnation of brutality, of the suffering? Where is that statement of our Government calling on the violence to stop?

There is none, and there will be none. They don't care, and they probably never will.

Read this - and many, many, many other articles, and if only half of all the reports are tue , we better prepare ourselves for disaster right here in our own nation.

For I ask myself again and again what nation would support a tyrant and dictator that commits such unspeakable acts of brutality against his own people?

What people do not speak out in the face of such naked murder? Have we forgotten the suffering inflicted on some of us? Is this suffering different because it is perpetrated by Africans against Africans, and not by white people against Africans?

This is what keeps us back, my brothers and sisters: This turning away and looking the other way when we know we should be speaking up and putting a stop to Mugabe's and ZANU's terror against its own people; this being indifferent to what is happening, even not caring. This coldness towards the suffering of our fellow brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe.

How and why should we trust the people who rule us do to it any different in the future when these are their friends? Why? There are dark, dark days ahead my brothers and sisters...dark days.

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"Nothing is complete and thus nothing is exempt from criticism." - James Luther Adams: