"Pyrrhic victory”

[Jay]

I remember reading of the origin of the term “Pyrrhic victory.” It came from a battle in which Pyrrhus, the King of ancient Epirus, won a victory over the Romans at such a terrible cost, that he and his forces were ruined.

Robert Mugabe has been declared the victor in the Zimbabwean elections. The elections were so tainted by murder and intimidation that they lost all credibility. Leaders of African nations who, hitherto, had been reluctant to criticize the undemocratic practices of President Mugabe have now spoken out. South Africa’s former President Nelson Mandela felt compelled to break with his successor, President Thabo Mbeki, in denouncing President Mugabe and his “failure of leadership.” In the middle of this, President Mugabe stands firm, as if a character out of a Shakespearean play, proclaiming his eternal rule and willingness to go to war should he lose an election.

Maybe the new term should be "Zimbabwean victory" - the results are the same.

[Comrade_007]

The elections were little more than a pretense or fiction that can be seen through readily, or a travesty - an absurd or grotesque misrepresentation. In the end, Mugabe's and ZANU-PF's time will come. In the end.

[Ar.]

Almost like our blind eye back at home ... SWAPO, her days are numbered too. Just a matter of time. Some times slowly and some times quickly, but it will materialise.

[Comrade_007]

SWAPO may think otherwise, but the clock is ticking. The question for us is whether there will eventually be a peaceful, democratic transition of political power. As things stand at the moment, and they way that SOME SWAPO members a behaving and talking, the writing is on the wall that the process may be violent and cause upheaval. There is this sense of entitlement among SWAPO politicans and supports, which us something along the lines of "we fought for the country, so now it is ours to have and to behold and to use at our pleasure".

Let us remember once again: SWAPO is not Namibia and Namibia is not SWAPO. Namibia is a free country that belongs to all the people of Namibia, and if the Namibian people decide in free and fair elections that they want to be governed by another party, with different people and different policies, then that is the will of the people. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Jay]

AS long as I ( and anybody else who qualifies) can make his/her my cross against the face/symbol THAT HE/SHE/I CHOSE(S) every five years without some over-eager under-achiever TELLING us what do do, Namibia will be safe