Links ~ 31 October 2008
October 31st, 2008
Unhappy soldiers and police flee Zimbabwe’s misery in droves ~ Business Day
More than 3500 disgruntled junior officers and police are said to have abandoned Zimbabwe’s security forces over the past two months in protest at poor working conditions and low pay. Junior officers were unhappy with their low salaries and poor working and living conditions, as their superiors remained loyal to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government, said sources in the Zimbabwe National Army and Zimbabwe Republic Police, who preferred anonymity.
ZANU-PF militia re-deployed, violence flares up again ~ Zimbabwe Tribune
Politically motivated violence has erupted again in Zimbabwe following the failure by SADC’s African leaders to break a month-long cabinet posts allocation deadlock between the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). In Epworth, fifteen kilometers southeast of Harare, ZANU-PF militia units redeployed to their torture bases went on the rampage Wednesday, October 29, assualting perceived MDC supporters in the restive, impoverishing township.
Mediums fight for Mugabe ~ Zimbabwe Today
After failing to defeat them on an earthly plane, Zanu-PF activists in Mashonaland Central have turned to spiritual warfare against supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). They are using a mixture of fear and superstition to punish those who voted for Morgan Tsvangirai in this year’s elections. MDC supporters in Mbire constituency told me that many are now living in terror, as spirit mediums harass them for joining the opposition. This is particularly prevalent in Ward 16, where in March local voters overturned three decades of Zanu-PF dominance. In this case the mediums are a group of three women and two men, all of them believed to be at least 60 years old. They are from neighbouring Mozambique, and each year they visit Mbire, normally performing rituals to bring rains and a good harvest. But this year their mission is political.
I will step down-Gono ~ Zimbabwe Metro
Embattled Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono says he will step down at the end of his next month term and will not seek to be re-appointed. “I know one thing for certain, this governor shall not serve one day longer than he is allowed by his principals,â€Gono told delegates to the just-ended Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) congress. MDC secretary general Tendai Biti who is highly tipped to take over as Minister of Finance in the new all inclusive government early this year blamed Gono for Zimbabwe’s economic woes. “Gono is the number one enemy of this country, not inflation,†Biti,MDC-Harare East said. “He has been stoking the fires of inflation through quasi-fiscal activities.
Zimbabwe crisis worsens amid impasse, Amnesty says ~ Reuters
Human rights abuses are going unpunished and the food crisis is worsening in Zimbabwe while President Robert Mugabe and the opposition bicker over forming a unity government, Amnesty International said on Friday. [...] “We are worried that human rights have not been at the centre of the negotiation process,” Simeon Mawanza, the rights group’s Zimbabwe expert, said in a press release accompanying a report on the humanitarian situation in the country. “While the parties continue to negotiate on political details, the most vulnerable Zimbabweans are at further risk of extreme hunger. Many Zimbabweans are now only surviving by eating wild fruit.”
Zimbabwe Waits ~ New York Times, Editorial
President Robert Mugabe is responsible for much of Zimbabwe’s terrible suffering. But so long as Africa’s leaders allow Mr. Mugabe and his henchmen to bully them into silence — with phony claims of anti-colonialism and national sovereignty — they are fully complicit.
October 31st, 2008 15:36
The new President of South Africa would indeed be fully complicit if he does not clear up the political mess in Zimbabwe quickly:
Mr. Motlanthe should:-
1. Make Zimbabwe his most important immediate concern.
2. He should give the parties a definite date to come up with an equitable power-
sharing allocation of ministerial posts.
3. He should warn the military Junta that they should not use any force to prevent a resolution to the crisis.
4. He should obtain the full agreement of all the SADC heads of state to his proposals.
Mr Motlanthe should do all of the above in the interests of all the Southern African countries and all the region’s people. He must now take the initiative.
November 1st, 2008 06:15
The deal was a lame brained farce from day one.
Mbeki is too meek and biased, and now powerless.
ZANU PF would never ever give up Home Affairs, after all it controls the elections, passports, police, journalists visas, etc. All so wanted by Morgan.
Motlanthe and SA are feeble and in disarray.
SADC are weak and have no clout.
The AU are not much better.
The UN is a total embarrassment.
Mugabe knows this so well, and will do whatever the hell he wants, no matter what anyone says.
No serious western financial aid will ever arrive with the fraudulent Mugabe & cronies still in government.
If you add up all of the above, it appears there’s only one painful answer; freedom for Zimbabwe will only come from within.
November 1st, 2008 06:26
It’s interesting to see the Home Affairs web site use the following content search words.
November 1st, 2008 12:08
Ha ha! Dream on….
November 2nd, 2008 00:00
Diplomacy misused, misunderstood and misdirected. That is what African politics and diplomacy are all about. Why is the AU failing, its obvious, they are preserving evil in the name of Afrocentricism.
Zanu criminals will abuse the diplomatic platform.Zanu has sunk so much in tribalist, racist, confused ideology, and self defacing politics so much that like a man struggling in quick sad, they will hurl hate-filled and emotive rhetoric, humanitarian abuse and death at anyone. What have they to lose.
All this is a quest to avoid imprisonment for their past idiotic murders and kleptocratic tendencies.
I once said something about being cynical about the Thabo Mbeki brokered deal, and people thought I was the blind man who refused to see the light.
Now get this my brothers and sisters, I repeat: Anything that involves zanu will never bear any fruit. zanu is the cancer of the nation.
Ants says we should dream on, I say it is possible to do an inside job. After all robert himself is scared of the monsters he created. They now have complete disregard for their own relatives’ welfare let alone the nation’s.
November 2nd, 2008 04:32
It’s interesting to see the Home Affairs web site use the following keywords for content search.
mdc trail of violence,mdc campaign,mdc violence,zrp,zimbabwe elections,mugabe,Tsvangirai,Tendai Biti,electoral fraud activities,mdc alliance with NGOs,mdc and civic groups,pre-election period,post-election period,travel bans,expulsion of senior officials children,economic sanctions.stay way and boycotts,USA and UK companies,mdc sponsorship
platform,mayo destruction,hamonised elections,NGO activities.restoration of order,Harvest House,Central Police
Station,PGHQ,Police General Headqurters.