Mr and Mrs Rogers viciously assaulted; other farmers ‘re-educated’
On Tuesday night Mr and Mrs Rogers (pictured) were viciously attacked in an incident between Chegutu and Kadoma. Their farmhouse was looted and trashed in the attack.
We have been told that their injuries are serious: Mrs Rogers was beaten and has suffered a cracked jaw and broken ribs. Mr Rogers has broken ribs and a broken nose - and his ear was bitten. He was shot at seven times and apparently said he felt one bullet going through his hair.
We received information today that last night, in the Chegutu area (south of Harare), farmers in the area were all called into the police station in Chegutu and were “re-educated” in a lecture on ‘how to vote’.
They were told that if they or their workers voted for MDC in an election run-off they would not be allowed to farm any more and would be evicted.
They were then told they would be escorted back to their farms this morning and that the war veterns and militia that have been harrassing them would be called off the farms.
Many of the farmers have been living in the town for security reasons after the vicious attack on the Rogers family on the 6th of May which left Mr. and Mrs. Rogers with serious injuries.
May 8th, 2008 19:01
Mbeki & Mugabe evil
The situation in Zimbabwe after elections has been complicated by the so called mission sent by Mbeki to investigate violence in Zimbabwe. The mission said both (ZANU & MDC) were responsible for the violence. Why didnt the delagation ask the Govt why the police & army was being partisan. ZANU militia are armed whilst the MDC accused unarmed youths will be basically retaliating for defence hence apprehended by the police for wrong reasons.
May 8th, 2008 20:37
As we all know, Mbeki holds the key to the Zim problem. But we also know he is without much spine or brain.
In fact, just today he was quoted as saying “What is democracy, because if it is not quiet, then it cannot be ‘democracy’…” & then went on to say “Zimbabwe’s trouble are not South Africa’s troubles, and they must be sorted out by Zimbabweans”.
So - everyone - that is where we stand with respect (sic) to Mbeki’s attitude.
What’s funny is that he does not recognise 3000000 diaspora living in South Africa as being a problem either - even though they’re taking jobs and even creating other social ills to some extent, like crime, etc.
So maybe what we need is for South African’s to get up in arms with the South African problem which results directly from the Zimbabwean problem.
Could Mbeki continue to be blind to that? Probably - but he surely couldn’t duck it so easily.
May 8th, 2008 20:53
That children have to suffer is just EVIL, and disgusting, and the white farmers have only done good all the years, and from what I know for a fact, have loved and cherished their workers, and still contributed to the economy. These acts of violence must be shown to the whole world. Mbeki must really act or step aside.
May 8th, 2008 22:21
As a South African I am deeply ashamed of this country’s president and the way he is handling his role as ‘mediator’ in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately I think that both he and Mugabe have sold their souls to the Chinese.
It is now well known that the arms ship has not returned to China and that China has obviously reneged on its plan to recall the arms shipment destined for Zimbabwe.
Perhaps the time has come to seriously encourage the boycotting of the Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Soccer World Cup? Those two events could not have come at a better time for you and threatened boycotts should grab the world’s attention.
May 8th, 2008 22:21
History will judge Mbeki harshly. In 2003 a South African friend asked me why as Zimbabweans we thought Mbeki held a solution to our problems. I told him we did not. We just wanted him to shut up if he knows he cant help. His mediation has resulted in legitimizing ZANU PF and giving them the psychological boost they need when all are closing in on them. They are trying to tell us that the MDC is responsible for violence against its own supporters? Could they show ZANU PF supporters with burnts backs and limbs, children with gorged eyes or elderly farmers with black eyes…..better still can they show us the bodies of ZANU PF supporters murdered by the MDC. How many funerals of his supporters has Mugabe been too since the MDC was formed? I am so sick of Mbeki to be honest. All that this says is that we are on our own….
May 8th, 2008 23:13
I wonder if anyone at all in South Africa takes notice any more of Mbeki on Zimbabwe (or anything else for that matter). I’m not even surprised that his “team” come back saying that “both sides” are involved in violence. Selle ou storie as they say around here. Heard it before.
And no one’s listening. We’ve seen the pictures and heard the stories, just like we saw the truth about Murambatsvina and the farm invasions. We know who’s got the farms, the 4×4’s, the cheap foreign currency, who goes to nightclubs with sex workers that once were teachers before ZANU-PF destroyed the economy and the people’s morale. We know people cannot live on speeches that are forty years out of date and bank notes printed this morning…! And, we can see for ourselves that it isn’t MDC beating three year old kids, elderly men and women, burning homes, torturing people and animals. Why should they rampage around like a mad elephant “saving the country with pain” - they didn’t lose the election!
There are many interesting theories about why Mbeki supports Mugabe like this, but ultimately the main reason is that he’d like to be a ruler just like Bob if he could. He’d like a police chief who’s in his pocket, and a national broadcaster who’ll let him drone on unquestioned like Bob does….and someone rained on his parade. Too bad. The truth will out, and it has, because the truth is what people want to hear right now.
Thank goodness for Sokwanele, JAG, Doctors for Human Rights, church groups, MDC leaders and all the ordinary Zimbabweans who just keep on keeping on. Their courage and endurance is an inspiration.
May 9th, 2008 02:54
Fully agree with ‘Durbs’ re boycotting China.
China has a lot to answer for. They are sucking a lot out of Zimbabwe and only give back to Mugabe and his thugs, like huge mansions and paybacks.
It’s time China now helps the people of Zimbabwe with simple things, like urgent supplies for hospitals for instance, or are they only capable of supplying weapons?
May 9th, 2008 04:31
Oh no. I keep hoping for good news, and yet it continues to be bad. While I find these images disturbing, it is good for people to know what’s going on. Let’s hope that the day will come when all these images are used as evidence when the perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.
May 9th, 2008 08:19
All attacks: Discusting & a poor show of mediation from Mbeki. Mbeki & SADC are pro Mugabe
ZIMBABEAN CALL TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!
We as all Zimbabwean & ex Zimbabwean living abroad need to join together & stand for what Zimbabwe should be & not want Mugabe & his thugs want it to be. ZANU-PF thought their attacks during the bush war were bad it’s time to show thwm how to operate the bush without intervention from abroad which cost Rhodesia it’s pride.
May 9th, 2008 09:48
At least now we know that Mbeki is a wolf in sheep skin. All these horrendous killings and butchering of innocent souls does not move him. It is unbeleivable that he is not aware of what is happening. This leaves the only explanation that he is part to it and maybe we should find a way of bringing this argument to the foe. I understand that he has already barked his master’s(Mugabe) voice that Morgan Tsvangirai is a puppet of the west. Guys isnt there a way of us sending these horrendous videos of torture to George Bush, Gordon Brown and Kevin Rudd. As it stands now, these are the only world leaders who have been unequivocal in condeming the Mugabe regime. I did not have problem with Mbeki adopting quiet diplomacy as long as he kept his big mouth shut, but he has not been quiet at all, instead he has barked and sided with his sinking hero. It is time we remind the world that Mbeki is actually not different from Mugabe in his warped ideologies, just like Mugabe mentioned several years ago that he was an apostle of a one party state( remember the apostle spirit is the one that drives its ideologies irregardless of the opinions of other people). The world must know that allowing Mbeki to continue with his subtle murder of democracy in Zimbabwe is giving him experience to do likewise in South Africa itself( dont forget that he was fighting tooth and nail to gain an extension of his presidential term). Truly the statement that , ” the ornithological specimen of identical plumege peramburates in habitual proximity ” has been proven.
May 9th, 2008 10:31
So I have been in contact with http://www.dec.org.uk/ who are running a campaign for Burma to ask them if they could also run a campaign for Zimbabwe Medical Supplies will see what they come back with….Of course you could also go there and ask too more people who ask more chance of them taking notice,,,,,
May 9th, 2008 10:58
exbulawayo is quite right .. the white Zimbabweans have done nothing but GOOD in that country and they have done this under extreme conditions for a long time. Zimbabwean soil is as much the same heritage for white Zimbabweans and black Zimbabweans. It’s Mugabe’s blatant hatred for white people that is driving him. He is PARANOID to the point of dementia, just like he always has been. His extensive armed-motorcade makes him more protected than the Pope!!! Have you seen it?? a few dozen Police motorcycles ALL with sirens blaring, Jeeps armed with mounted machine guns, limosines, all travelling at HIGH speeds and citizens know to GET OUT OF THE WAY if they hear it coming … we used to call him Bob Mugabe and the Wailers!!
I agree, the Zimbabweans who have endured are to be highly respected. We salute you and we hope and pray that this is the darkest hour before the dawn and that the sun will rise any minute.
May 9th, 2008 12:36
I hope that there also will be some brave souls who will be able to smuggle pictures of the butchers out of the country, for all to see proof of who these men are. Pictures of people committing horrific injuries and death. Pictures of demented followers of a demented regime of a demented president.
Proof to the world that the army, the police, the government is fully behind all these atrocities.
May 9th, 2008 14:14
So I have lifted this off a facebook group I don’t know if its true or what but I thought I should post it
This message was sent to a friend of mine in Zim from her ISP Administrator. For those abroad, please be careful what messages you send the folk back in Zim, for their own safety!
I’m hereby advising you all to read and delete all political related news, jokes, cartoons, pictures etc. from your mailboxes. In the near future the ZANU PF delegated team will be visiting different organizations anonymously and checking on these items randomly from different mailboxes. If you’re caught with such information then you know what it means. Please let’s put our house in order before these guys come. It’s not only BNC IT department concerned NO but the external forces are also interested to know who is sending what to whom. So let’s be aware and act promptly to make sure your hands are safe. Some individuals out there are being brutalized, killed, tortured, victimized and so forth. I want to make sure you are safe as far as these political iss
After reading the WOZA letter and what the girls have been accuse of I would not put it past them the regime but not being a computer wizz I don’t know if they really can do this ….any suggestions…..
May 9th, 2008 15:21
How the rest of the world sees it…
The Herald (Harare)
OPINION
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Stephen Gowans
Harare
Zimbabwe’s Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa last Friday denounced the United States and Britain for their interference in Zimbabwe’s elections.
At the same time, he decried the Morgan Tsvangirai faction of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), and its civil society partner, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, as being part of a US and British programme to reverse the gains of Zimbabwe’s national liberation struggle.
”It is no secret that the US and the British have poured in large sums of money behind the MDC-T’s sustained demonisation campaign,” Chinamasa said. “Sanctions against Zimbabwe (were intensified) just before the elections,” while “large sums of money” were poured into Zimbabwe “by the British and Americans to bribe people to vote against President Mugabe.”
The goal, Chinamasa continued, is to “render the country ungovernable in order to justify external intervention to reverse the gains of the land reform programme”. The minister went on to describe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T “for what they are — an Anglo-American project designed to defeat and reverse the gains of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, to undermine the will of the Zimbabwean electorate and to return the nation to the dark days of white domination”.
· the US Congress
· US State Department
· the National Endowment for Democracy
· United States Agency for International Development.
· George Soros’ Open Society Institute,
· Centre for Civil Society.
· the Southern Africa Trust
· Friedrich Ebert foundation
· Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
· the Institute for Security Studies
· the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
· the Centre for Policy Studies
· the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust
.
“The United States government has said it wants to see President Robert Mugabe removed from power and that it is working with the Zimbabwean opposition, trade unions, pro-democracy groups and human rights organisations to bring about a change of administration.” Last year, the US State Department acknowledged once again that it supports “the efforts of the political opposition, the media and civil society” in Zimbabwe through training, assistance and financing. And the 2006 US National Security Strategy declares that “it is the policy of the US to seek and support democratic movements and institutions in every nation . . . with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Belarus and Zimbabwe”.
The goal of the overthrow agenda…
In this, there is an unavoidable conflict between “a government which is spearheaded by a revolutionary party, which spearheaded the armed struggle against British imperialism” and “a party that was the creation of the imperialists themselves (that) has been financed by the imperialists themselves”. It’s impossible to achieve independence from foreign control and domination without turmoil, disruption and fighting — not when the opposition and civil society are directed from abroad to serve foreign interests. Can Zimbabwe’s elections honestly be described as free and fair when the economy has been sabotaged by the West’s denying Harare credit and debt relief and where respite from the attendant miseries is promised in the election of the opposition?
Are elections legitimate when media are controlled by outside forces, and civil society and the opposition have been controlled by foreign powers?
Chinamasa’s complaints, far from being demagoguery, are real and justified. Zanu-PF’s decision to fight, rather than capitulate, ought to be applauded, not condemned. Imperialism cannot be opposed without opposing the MDC and its civil society partners, for they too are imperialism.
May 9th, 2008 16:23
Now that the ZANU PF version of things has been made national news the country will be split down the middle, (sell-outs vs. patriots / pro dictatorship vs. democrats)
All because of the rank mendacity on both sides …The saddest thing is that because people try to ignore the obvious failings of their policies regarding overturning Maoist REGIMES…this is turning into a civil conflict in the making as neither side has the brains to step back and reason honestly about their true natures and motives.
The very suffering some claim they wanted to avoid is now manifesting itself as a ZANU purge against a supposed fifth column.
The whole thing was a dishonest mess from the very start coated in a sugar topping of …seeking freedom and democracy…. If certain people wanted a regime change in Zimbabwe there were proper assets who could have done this without placing ordinary people in this mess…
I hope people can see that in any conflict there are two opposing sides then somewhere out there is the actual truth….
May 9th, 2008 16:30
Isn’t this just so typical … if a white president of ANY country displayed such intense racism the entire world would hang him out to dry!!! I am so sick of being called a racist should I disagree with a black persons conduct because I’m white!! Why does the world not shout MUGABE IS A BLATANT RACIST?!?!?!?! He’s been called human rights violator, tyrant, dictator and many more to no avail from outside help … maybe the racist lable will get people moving since its the new buzz word.
May 9th, 2008 16:34
This is another reason why China should be boycotted. This article in the Australian Sun depicts how tyranny has destroyed Burma - frighteningly similar to what is and has been happening in Zimbabwe.
Burma killed by tyranny
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23667548-25717,00.html
Extracts:
…What the world should be learning from this terrible loss of at least 60,000 people in the cyclone that hit Burma last week is that tyrannies kill more surely than any freak of weather…
…If Cyclone Nargis had struck not Rangoon, but Melbourne or Tokyo, it is unlikely more than a few dozen people, if that, would have died. And that’s because we are free, and rich - as free people tend to be with capitalism. Even Bangkok would have survived this far, far easier.
But in Burma as many as 100,000 are now feared dead - victims not of global warming, but of a tyranny that has left them poor and defenceless.
Burma, a former British colony, was once the rice-bowl of South-East Asia, but in 1962 a bunch of generals took over with a misty-eyed plan to impose on their 50 million people the “Burmese Way to Socialism”.
Their brand of politics was of the kind still distressingly popular at RMIT and Victoria University, and produced exactly the misery it’s inflicted from Cuba to Russia.
The economy collapsed, and Burma went from bread-basket to basket-case. No wonder so many people today still live in shacks and shanties that were no protection against last Friday’s high winds and storm surge.
Whenever the Burmese people tried to protest against this junta-made poverty, and to demand democracy, they were shot - so often and in such numbers that China is now about the only ally the junta has left. In this way does resource-ravenous China, Olympics host, export its tyranny to the world. (Emphasis mine).
Now consider how this junta - so brutal, unaccountable, incompetent, tyrannical and isolated — has handled this latest disaster.
Two days before Cyclone Nargis hit, India’s MeteorologicalDepartment warned the junta’s minions it was coming, and where.
But Burma’s state-owned media, one of the crudest propaganda outfits I’ve seen, issued no mass alerts. Indeed, illegal Voice of America broadcasts probably did more to warn Burma’s civilians to take shelter than did Burma’s own radio station.
At first, the full scale of the disaster was kept from the world.
Perhaps even the junta itself may not have known it, given there are no journalists free in that country to report what they see, and no untapped phone lines or internet to tell the world the truth.
Even now, the junta is killing people with its paranoia. Disaster assessment teams and helicopters from the United States have been blocked from coming in to prepare a huge rescue, and foreign aid teams not already in-country had their applications for visas stalled and aid shipments stopped.
Foreign journalists, whose reports would help raise appeal money, have been banned.
The UN is now “intensely” negotiating with the junta to let in aid workers and ease customs regulations on aid - literally begging the junta to let the world save its people.
So slow has the junta been to let in help, that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, founder of aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres, suggested the UN Security Council adopt a resolution allowing aid to be flown into the country by force. China, naturally, is against such interference in the affairs of its “friend”… (Emphasis mine).
See also:
As Burmese troops open fire at monks, China and Russia block global sanctions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/27/burma.unitednations
China, together with South Africa and Russia, recently vetoed sending a special UN Envoy to Zimbabwe.
May 9th, 2008 17:06
I would like to pick up on two things that have been said: Namely - Durbs, 8/5, 22.21, and Faraway, 9/5, 02.54
Yes, China. Listen, we all know about the arms shipment. We all know about human rights abuses, and the woes of Communism. But, and this is a big BUT, China needs Africa badly. Sure, it trades with the world, but for the first time in its 2200 year long civilisation it is dependent on importing resources. It wants to be in with Africa, all of it, and that means Zimbabwe too. Very much so. And unlike the West, their decisions will not be driven by ideology. What does matter to them, or any trading nation, for that matter, is endless cycles of violence. They are pragmatists and don’t want that baggage. By dealing with the Chinese, even promising them plum cherries, Morgan could, at a stroke, play Mugabe at his own game, show that he is not cowed by the regime trying to hold on to power, and end once and for all the propaganda stick used by the Herald et al., that he is a puppet of the West.
Let others argue about the merits of the case. after all the whole West trades with Germany, for example, who also trades with China. As do many nations. They will jump in later too. But it will shut people like Chinamasa up!
Go for it Morgan, present your case, be friendly and play them along. They could just see the merits of dealing with a non-violent, stable and progressive state and ditch Mugabe’s cronies for what they are: has beens.
May 9th, 2008 19:18
Further to my above comment, I have been reading some aspects of Chinese priorities of state policy.
In relation to social and economic changes that help individuals to be participating citizens, central to their approach is the idea of the public as an active participant in change, rather than as a passive and docile recipient of instructions or of dispensed authority. That is the very behaviour which would favour Morgan’s regime in their eyes over Mugabe’s.
Ultimately, there would be no more need for corruption and strong-arm tactics to be present, or effective, in promoting trade and honouring contracts with them, as a more open and honest society would emerge in which they could put their trust. Seen from their own self-interest, this would be a greater guarantee for economic success than the status quo.
May 10th, 2008 12:07
I am nothing but an A-LEVEL STUDENT this is what I have for you Zimbabweans : ZVICHANAKA….
Mugabe Zimbabwe’s Hitler.
Adolf Hitler became a dictactor in the 1930’s…
Robert Mugabe became a dictactor in the 1980’s…
Hitler fought in the First world war…..
Mugabe claimes he fought in the 2nd Chimurenga war in Zimbabwe but besides his arrests not much is said about him in war we only begin to see photos of him in about 1976??? LIAR
Adolf Hitler formed the Nazist party in 1920 and claimed the Germany army had been betrayed by the jews and communists …
Robert Mugabe was among the founders of the Zanu pf party which is full of murders…He claimes the country has been betrayed by the white Zibabweans and the M.D.C ….
Adolf Hitler also formed a group of secret police ,these were the people he used to break suppress opposition and to break up political meetings ….
Mugabe also formed Zimbabwe’s Central Intellegence Officers which he uses to kill opposition and suppress the people of Zimbabwe…
In 1932 the Nazis gained 32% and became the largest single party…
In 1980 the Zanu pf became the largest party in parliament…
In 1933 President Hindernburg made Hitler Chancellor of Germany…the country’s leaders thought they could control him…
Mugabe became prime minister in 1980 and later Canaan Banana was overthrown by Bob…thus he was now President….
The world deppression hit Germany hard by 1932 there was 6,014,000 unemployment Hitler became a political hero…
Zimbabwe was hit by great economical hardships and now this is 2008 and we have 80% unemployment ,everyone is jobless except for those who have allowed themselves to be Bob’s puppets the Munangagwa’z and the likes..Bob FROM HERO TO ZERO…..
The Reinstag was burnt one week before polling ,the communists wer blamed and Hitler banned political freedom…
Somewhere around 200O’z the M.D.C won elections But Mugabe decided toreelect his government and he rigged making zanu the winner again. Seeing the strength of the opposition he decided to introduce press censorship which left the country with one television station,3 radio stations and 4 sate controlled newspapers…
In 2008 after loosing both the presidential and parliamentary elections he decided to engage in HIS OWN REIGN OF TERROR. In which he murdered suspecetd M.D.C supporters and and arrested their activists and members…
AFETR HITLER GAINED POWER THE STORMTROOPERS BECAME ATHREAT TO HIM AND 61 OF THEM WERE MURDERED IN1934
MR Mnangagwa,Matonga,Charamba,ChihuriI,Mujuru Msika,ZimondiIChiwenga AND THE REST WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU WHEN THE MAN FAILS TO TRUST YOU…
Robert Mugabe, Hitler died and one day the same will happen to you.
God bless you Mr president.
May 10th, 2008 12:49
Hi Sokwanele
I just wanted to alert you and others of a funding opportunity for womens rights which might be useful. I have just come across it. The deadline is 14 may 2008.
Information can be found on http://www.mdg3.nl/downloads.html
May 12th, 2008 02:35
Reading everything that has been said, I sit here wondering just what I can do. My heart bleeds for Zim, its my heritage. I now live in Australia and feel totally helpless and sick as I watch daily, the unfolding attrocities happening in the land of my birth. I sent messages to different media across the world hoping that maybe someone out there will sit and take notice and do something to help. I don’t know if its getting through, it doesn’t seem to be enough as it is just taking too long for someone to do something!!! I don’t understand why Britain doesn’t take the first step, they put him there. You can forget about Mbeki helping, he is only trying to butter his own side of the bread. The world leaders need to stand up and be counted. Every minute of the day counts in Zimbabwe as another is being brutilised or murdered!!
May 13th, 2008 03:03
why in the name of God were Mr and Mrs Rodgers attacked. Its not their fault the results cant be anounced or be accepted. Shame on the perpetrators of this crime.