Author Archive
Her name is Memory
Friday, May 16th, 2008
This is Memory. Her story was told in an article published yesterday by the Daily Mail. It’s title: How one woman’s extraordinary bravery is a haunting rebuke to a world that is ignoring Mugabe’s genocide.
Her experience of torture at the hands of Zanu PF thugs is beyond ordinary imagination. Her lovely face, with its almost serene expression, also protects the reader from the horror of her experiences. And the editorial rigours of the mainstream media buffers us from the full awful truth: the images of Memory’s injuries have been considered too graphic - grotesque - by most to publish.
When you click the read more link on this post, you will see the reality of what happened to Memory. (more…)
A 500mln bearer cheque (aka ‘bank note’) added to Gono’s portfolio of success
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
(Click on the image to enlarge). A new so-called bank note - which is actually just another of Gideon Gono’s funny-money bearer-cheques (printed with expiry dates) - has hit the streets. It has not yet been added to our display of Gideon Gono’s portfolio of past and current cheques, but I’m sure our readers will understand that it is almost as hard to keep up with him and his printing as it is to keep up with inflation!
The photograph certainly makes one think, doesn’t it?!
It’s hard to believe that the smallest note in this pile - $5 - was issued on 1st August 2006 (you can just make out the date if you enlarge the image).
1st August 2006 is a very important date: this marked the beginning of Gono’s Operation Sunrise where he knocked three zeros off our currency. (more…)
About Robert Mugabe’s Honorary Degree in Law…
Thursday, May 15th, 2008The University of Massachusetts (UMass) awarded Robert Mugabe an Honorary Doctorate of Law (yes, LAW) in 1986 and news today, reported in FoxNews, is that the UMass President, Jack Wilson, has recommended that the Board of Trustees revoke the honorary degree.
Last year Edinburgh University stripped Robert Mugabe of an Honorary degree they had bestowed on him, but as a Kevin Cullen writing for The Boston Globe scathingly notes, the UMass Trustees decided last year to not follow suit.
Last year, they said they wouldn’t rescind the degree, but would write a letter expressing disapproval of Mugabe’s behavior. This, no doubt, bothered Mugabe no end.
The trustees said they were very, very upset with Mugabe. That’s like members of the Reichstag saying they didn’t like the tone of Hitler’s speech to them in 1933.
Financial Gazette hacked
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Apparently the Financial Gazette was hacked last night. What’s more, Zimbabwe Metro report that some of the links - which were changed to read ‘Mugabe must go!’ - redirected people to the Sokwanele website. (more…)
Statement made by William Bruce Rogers and Annette Mary Rogers
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
This statement, made by Mr and Mrs Rogers, follows on from our previous post here.
STATEMENT MADE BY WILLIAM BRUCE ROGERS AND ANNETTE MARY ROGERS
On the day of the 6th May, 2008 at approximately 1300 hours I was visited by three men at our farm, Chigwell Extension Farm.
They told me that I had two minutes to vacate my property otherwise they will send the mob there and the house is not worth sacrificing my life for. Because we would lose our lives. They said they were like hungry lions.
My wife made a report to the Chegutu Police Station about this incident, naming the people involved. At that stage I asked them if they would react to any incident that my occur and they informed my wife that they would speak to the Assistant Inspector. My wife also saw him before making the report and informed him of the visit and he told her to go and make a report at the charge office. (more…)
The ‘Art of Determination’ : a photo newsletter
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
I take real pleasure in being able to share this with you. My email inbox is usually filled to the brim with despair and pain, all of it real and all of it justified. Today, this small gem dropped in and lifted my spirits. It’s a photo newsletter and this edition focuses on the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA).
HIFA was held from 29 April to 4 May. It is hard to correlate these images of joy and creativity with the horror that was simultaneously going on in the rural areas. Hard to imagine that while some people were singing and dancing, others were crying and fearful. (more…)
Eye witness account
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008This account was written last week. I have removed details that might identify people to prevent reprisal attacks. This was written by a Church Minister based in Harare.
Greetings in Jesus Christ’s name!
I write this to give you information and ask for your Prayer on the recent suffering that our very own brethrens in Mvurwi, namely, [details supplied] churches have gone through. These two fall under the care of the Mbare Session. I had an opportunity to visit the area on Sunday with a group of Elders and [name supplied].
As we were to get into the [name supplied] community, there were two road blocks manned by Youths from the ruling Party. We went through the first one quite easily as we managed to identify two youth from our church who were holding big sticks.
We were let in to go to face another road block again about 50m from the first one. At the second one we were immediately requested to give the Party Slogan. I enquired which slogan they wanted, and the response was clear, the Zanu PF slogan.
Destruction of property and food
Monday, May 12th, 2008
It is well known now that the homes and possessions of many people in the rural areas have been destroyed. These images were uploaded to our flickr account yesterday and show some of the destruction (for more, visit this set here). These are from Maramba (above) and Uzumba areas (two images below).
Morgan Tsvangirai will stand in a run-off; outlines conditions that need to be met
Saturday, May 10th, 2008This morning’s press conference saw Morgan Tsvangirai confirm that he would face Robert Mugabe in a run-off, but he has conditions which he says need to be met. We heard the news via sms.
Arthur Mutambara was also at the press conference and said that national interests needed to be put before personal interests and that he entirely supported the conditions outlined by Morgan Tsvangirai.
The BBC have an article here, but we have a bit more sent to us in a series of sms’s. We hope more on the conditions especially will appear in the media later. (more…)
Mr and Mrs Rogers viciously assaulted; other farmers ‘re-educated’
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
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.
Three year old child assaulted
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Above: This is little Samson (3 years). He was beaten on Golden Star farm, Shamva. His parents are ex farm workers who remained living on the farm after their white employer was evicted. His parents were beaten on 21st April by militia who were saying “Whites left you on this farm, you are MDC, you want whites to come back and look after you”. Their houses and everything they owned was burned. The mother is at the hospital with Samson; her husband and other two children are still somewhere in Shamva. She does not know where.
Above: These injuries are of a 38 years old man from Kavasha village, Mutoko. On the 27th April he was beaten with big sticks on the buttocks by youth militia who were saying “stop supporting MDC”. What you see in the image is the result of extensive deep tissue bruising that has not received medical attention. This man has a very long road to recovery. (more…)
Waiting, while the country continues plummeting downwards
Monday, May 5th, 2008There is still no clarity on the run-off - when it will be or even if the opposition will participate. So, everyone is waiting again.
But not the teachers: today’s news is that they are threatening to go on strike in response to a campaign of violence against them.
Teachers have traditionally assisted in running elections. The Progressive Teachers Union said Sunday the violent campaign against them — respected figures in local communities — was meant to instill fear and prevent them from participating as polling officers in the runoff.
“Whoever is calling himself the government should act to stop violence in schools or we will be forced to act,” the union said, adding it was considering calling a nationwide strike.
The union said 133 members were assaulted in the past week and 496 were “interrogated over election matters.”
The presidential poll numbers
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008Here are the total counts per presidential candidate, according to The Herald. We were hoping to see the breakdown by constituency… but not yet it seems…
Our activist ‘number cruncher’ is totally fed-up, and has just left the room angrily saying, “I’m sick of looking at incomplete spreadsheets and only half the story”.
Fact is, the half of the story that we don’t know is probably where the rigging will take place, and that is why the frustration is so deep. The lack of transparency breeds suspicion, mistrust and lack of confidence in ZEC.
So, here you are, but let it be said that we feel as if we are STILL awaiting the full results of the presidential poll.
Whether ZEC will ever reveal them for us all to see the full story - the truth - remains to be seen.
| Morgan Tsvangirai | Robert Mugabe | Simba Makoni | Langton Towungana | Total Vote | Spoilt |
| 1195562 | 1079730 | 207470 | 14503 | 2497265 | 39975 |
| 47.9% | 43.2% | 8.3% | 0.6% | 100% |
The ‘An Yue Jiang’ has not returned to China
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
The An Yue Jiang is limping back into the news.
Last week we called attention to an article in the Nyasa Times that informed us that Malawi was playing a role in helping to ensure the weapons arrived in Zimbabwe. This news hasn’t been widely publicised on the Internet, but activists reading this blog have been researching independently and Shami advised us that sources she contacted in Malawi were indicating that the news of Malawi’s intermediary involvement might be true. We have to say though that we also received an email from another activist who had contacted the Malawi High Commission - she told us that they had denied Malawi’s involvement. The denial wouldn’t be surprising - if they were involved - but until we have clear confirmation it seems that all we can conclude is that Malawi may or may not be involved. (more…)
