The Zimbabwe Situation - Page 4

juikk · #31 4th April 2008, 09:13 AM

Sumone sent this to me this morning, with title Operation Restore Order Finale

jux thought it a bit funny

Oneword · #32 4th April 2008, 09:49 AM

Bob Dylan must be proud! "The times they are a-changing" As true today as it was in the sixties!

Oneword · #33 4th April 2008, 09:57 AM

Pot calling the kettle black

What a turn-up for the books!

From this morning's print media quoting New Ziana:

Quote:

"Former Information and Publicity deputy minister Bright Matonga said the party (ZANU-PF) felt that some ZEC (Zim Election Commission) officials had tampered with the results to deny it (the ZANU-PF) victory"

Oneword · #34 6th April 2008, 09:28 AM

Just an addition:

I wrote to Shebeen on another issue and said "As recalcitrant as Mugabe ... refuses to go!"

My crystal ball must have been particularly prescient.

Just check the latest news!

ZIMBABWE HANGING ON THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE

No re-run, Mbeki tells Mugabe

Not so nice, but beggars .............. : The Times - Rescue plan for Zim

For Africa’s sake, end it -Times Online

Teletext National News

Zimbabwe Q&A: Africa: Zimbabwe: News24

Oneword · #35 6th April 2008, 09:52 AM

Just a last note:

How many more times must we hear the following?:

Quote:

Gono introduces new notes

By Peter Chikondi
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has introduced new $25 million and $50 million notes in a bid to curtail growing demand for cash that had seen banks failing to cope with long queues everyday.

Long queues had resurfaced at banking halls, but most banks had no cash to dispense. Most automated teller machines were also not dispensing cash.

The new bearer notes which come into effect on Friday the same day newly introduced maximum withdrawal limit of $5 billion per day takes effect. In a statement the RBZ said the new notes would take effect Friday.

The introduction of the $25 million and $50 million follows the introduction of the $10 million in January this year. Analysts said the introduction of the higher denomination notes would feed into inflation and the general price levels.

Oneword · #36 7th April 2008, 10:26 AM

The firts news about Zim this morning concerne an alleged taking over of the Zim Reserve Bank by Germany. No laughing matter; it was after all they who pumped billions upon billions into the former GDR and still managed to stay (more or less ) within the budget deficit parameters set by the EU,. So, maybe not a bad choice at all ....

The second is a quote from the venerable "The Times". That carries some considerable weight throughout the world: (Ps. see the last paragraph!)

Quote:

Mugabe's joke is no laughing matter

Is Thabo Mbeki's quiet diplomacy' part of the running gag in Zimbabwe?
Tim Hames

Robert Mugabe in all his 84 years has not until now been known for comedic flair. But what else other than a keen sense of humour could explain his claim - made via his Zanu-PF allies - that the Opposition had cheated in Zimbabwe's election, hence the need for a recount in 16 constituencies? With a wit like that, the President could spend his overdue retirement wowing crowds at seaside and spa towns across Britain with lines like “How do you blow up the world's biggest balloon? With 100,000 per cent inflation” or “There is supposed to be an obesity crisis, isn't there? Someone had to have the courage to stop his people overeating.” Ken Dodd must be quaking at the competition.

There is, alas, no evidence that Mr Mugabe intends to abandon Harare for Harrogate. He is instead preparing for a second round in the presidential election where he will use every possible trick to have himself declared the victor. This is obvious to virtually all of Africa (and beyond) except one individual, Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's President and architect of a “quiet diplomacy” approach towards his neighbour.

Before meeting Gordon Brown this weekend, surreally opting to be in Hertfordshire at an hour when the southern half of his continent is in meltdown, Mr Mbeki said that the present situation in Zimbabwe is “manageable” and this is “not the time to interfere”.

It is difficult to decide which of those two statements is the more fantastic. If today's circumstances in Zimbabwe - in which an election result has been shamelessly held back until the incumbent figures out what the numbers released should be, real GDP has shrunk by half since 2000, production of maize has fallen by 90 per cent from then, inducing starvation, and unemployment is at an effective rate of 80 per cent - are manageable, one struggles to divine what might be the kind of conditions that Mr Mbeki would deem “not very manageable”. And if this is “not the time to interfere”, precisely what scale of political malpractice and economic anarchy would prompt him to back “limited intervention”? In his own way, Mr Mbeki could rival Mr Mugabe when it comes to Tommy Cooper territory.

The South African President has, unfortunately, form on this question. When Mr Mugabe swiped the last presidential contest in 2002, Mr Mbeki said his win was valid. In advance of the 2005 parliamentary poll in Zimbabwe, marked by massive intimidation and a media muzzling of the Movement for Democratic Change, Mr Mbeki announced that “I have no reason to think that anything will happen... that anybody in Zimbabwe will act in a way that will militate against the elections being free and fair.” Despite the fact that the ballot conducted was more rigged than a 150ft clipper ship, Mr Mbeki's chosen observers published an account in which they “congratulated the people of Zimbabwe for holding a peaceful, credible and well-managed election which reflects the will of the people”. Not long afterwards, Mr Mbeki used a television interview to blame “divisions within the MDC” as the main reason why he had, sadly, been unable to broker a settlement.

This is not “quiet diplomacy”, it is naked appeasement. It also makes the South African President the second-most responsible man for the catastrophe that is modern Zimbabwe.

The only reason why Mr Mugabe did not declare himself re-elected instantly is because election monitors from South Africa who were independent of Mr Mbeki insisted that the results be posted locally. This enabled a reasonably accurate assessment to be made of the numbers which would be difficult for the Zimbabwean Election Commission to overturn. This information should have been sufficient for Mr Mbeki to have stated that, at a minimum, Morgan Tsvangirai had outscored Mr Mugabe in the initial election and that more external observers should be in a position to scrutinise the final run-off closely. If he had done this a week ago, Mr Mugabe may well already have been heading out of his office.

Britain has been exercising its own version of “quiet diplomacy” on Mr Mbeki. Mr Brown seems to have stuck with this softly, softly strategy. The theory is that if we keep the volume down in public and persuade in private, Mr Mbeki in turn will convince Comrade Bob to be less beastly to his opponents and his population and take off for a villa somewhere. Yet this low-key approach has yielded almost nothing, and probably never will.

This is the moment to be ready to adopt the only course of action that might humiliate Mr Mbeki into finally taking decisive measures. Britain should overtly open a direct dialogue about Zimbabwe with Jacob Zuma, the South African President's deputy, the man who recently defeated him for control over the ANC and hence his heir apparent. Mr Zuma is not the most appealing of men, with accusations of corruption as well as sexual impropriety surrounding him, but on the Zimbabwe matter he is a comparative pragmatist and does not seem to believe that Mr Mugabe is owed any favours for his stance in the 1970s.

Mr Zuma would relish the chance to take centre stage and emerge as Zimbabwe's saviour and a regional statesman, 12 months before he prepares to assume the presidency. That this would profoundly embarrass Mr Mbeki, whom he loathes, would be an added bonus. It would also allow him to rebuild personal links with his own business community which has been desperately lobbying for something to be done about the economic damage being done to South Africa by Zimbabwe's collapse.

Zimbabwe and Africa cannot afford Mr Mugabe to be in office a year hence. If he is, then the exodus of people, perhaps two million more, will reduce what little is left of the country to total destitution. The task of salvaging its economy would be all but impossible. Zimbabwe's very last hope depends upon a transfer of power in the next few weeks. The idea that the MDC has stolen the parliamentary election might be side-splittingly funny. The notion of Mr Mugabe carrying on, by contrast, is no joke.

Comrade_007 · #37 7th April 2008, 10:29 PM

War veterans on the streets.....fresh farm invasions....results known but not released...election commissioners virtually under house arrest........still no election results.....and now the news we all probably knew all along: Mugabe lost comprehensively to Tsvangirai. From the horse's mouth:

Quote:

'I can testify that late on Sunday (March 30) I was informed by one of these officials that Mugabe had been beaten by Tsvangirai by 57,8 percent of the poll to 39,9 percent. Armed with these results Chiwenga, Chihuri, Bonyongwe, Shiri and Paradzai Zimondi of prisons, then approached Mugabe at State House. Mugabe, in a state of shock, sent them back to Chiweshe to ask him to reverse the result. More here: ZIMBABWE: Electoral Officials Under 24 Hour Surveillance

Once again our leaders have failed the people of Zimbabwe by failing to put sufficient pressure on Mugabe to step down and hand over power peacefully. Personally, I am starting to think South Africa is not without responsibility in this mess and should also sart to take responsibility. Is Zimbabwe a province of South Africa? No, but Mugabe sure does not deserve any of the cover he is getting either...who knows: Maybe 2010 World Cup in Australia after all? Just a thought......

Comrade_007 · #38 9th April 2008, 04:56 PM

The bloodletting has started and no-one gives a flying&%^$$&:

Quote:

The mob materialized quietly in the fading dusk light. There were 50 youths hurrying along, armed with sticks, rawhide whips and knives. It was Sunday night, just over a week after Zimbabwe's disputed national elections, and even before the shouting began, John Saramu knew what was going to happen.

ZIMBABWE: Gangs go after opposition voters

Dude · #39 10th April 2008, 09:27 AM

Maybe I don't have to eat my words after all - indications are that Mugabe has unleashed the security establishment to brutalise and terrorise his desperate, downtrodde, sad, defenceless population once more, and that SADC will stand idly by and let him do it once more. Maybe sort of as a parting present to remind them just what his decades in power were all about: Repression, impoverishment, deceit, brutality - at least that's what he'll now be remembered for.

tjommie · #40 10th April 2008, 10:01 AM

Hello Brothers from other mothers....and Sisters....

This is my first post and as a Namibian I am shocked at our silence as a country about the suffering and persecution of our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe. I can only say that my blood boils to see NO leader in SADC apart from the Zambian president doing anything.

The WILL of the people is not being respected and one can only congratulate the PEOPLE of Zimbabwe for their commitment to freedom, democracy and PEACE under the harshest of conditions. It is a country that will see my support in going there when we rebuild Zimbabwe together. Our currently leaders have let us down. I am really saddened by their lack and inability to act.

My hope is that our leaders will feel ashamed and embarrassed when they hear Zimbabwe. Shame on them!!!

View Poll Results: Do you believe the March harmonised elections in Zimbabwe were free and fair?
Yes, they were	28	14.58%
No, they were not	108	56.25%
I'm not sure	56	29.17%
Voters: 192. You may not vote on this poll

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