The Fear: a review in the NYT
Via a BSAP Association email a pointer to:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/bo...ichikokakutani
Which ends with a note of admiration for the ordinary Zimbabwean who is persecuted:
Quote:
....Mr. Godwin asks. “Westerners often mistake African endurance, and the lack of self-pity, for fatalism. No, I think the other quality in Chenjerai Mangezo is patience, a dogged tenacity. He hasn’t given up on getting justice. But he will wait for it.”
“People like Chenjerai,” he goes on, “are the real asine mabvi — the men without knees. Not only were his legs covered by plaster casts for months, but he has refused to kneel, refused to prostrate himself before the dictatorship, whatever the consequences.”
Patient too and little prospect IMHO of any real change.
Mugabe Pressured to Act on Zimbabwe Elections
A nice headline after a SADC meeting and a report which starts with:
Quote:
Leaders from across southern Africa, who have long deferred to President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s 87-year-old strongman, dealt him a setback on Sunday, calling for speedier progress toward free and fair elections conducted “on a level playing field” and injecting the region more forcefully into the process of making that happen.
Ends with:
Quote:
..regional leaders had strongly backed Mr. Zuma’s push to strengthen the electoral institutions needed to ensure that Zimbabweans will be able to vote without fear of reprisals.
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/wo..._r=1&ref=world
Diplomatic announcements alas matter little in the villages where the "playing field" is far from "level", where the voters face state-sponsored intimidation and violence. Well an "injection'" by the region will be magic!
The ZNA drops a loud hint
Quote:
A top army officer in Zimbabwe has accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of being a security threat.
"He takes instructions from foreigners who seek to effect illegal regime change," Brig-Gen Douglas Nyikayaramba told the state-run Herald paper.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13888810
Yet another sign that the planned / prospective general election is fraught with problems.
Are Zimbabwe's new farmers winning, 10 years on?
A BBC story I missed and provides context for events in Zimbabwe starts with:
Quote:
In 2000, President Robert Mugabe launched Zimbabwe's controversial fast-track land reforms, seizing the majority of the 4,500 farms held by mostly white commercial farmers. More than a decade on, while some of the new farmers are doing well, others have found that if they cross the ruling party, they face losing their new land.
Ends with:
Quote:
President Mugabe's land reforms have had a mixed outcome, with at least as many farm workers losing their livelihoods as there are new farmers working their own land. The country is also now a net food importer where it once exported grain to the region.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15919538
The 'Crocodile' after Mugabe: speculation or fact?
Quote:
Robert Mugabe has struck a secret "gentleman's agreement" to hand over power in Zimbabwe to his feared defence minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa, sources close to the two men have revealed.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...Mnangagwa.html
There is something strange IMO if 'The Crocodile' granted an interview in 2011 to the Sunday Telegraph, not a "progressive" paper by ZANU-PF standards.
A different point of view
A different point of view by a British columnist, who was born in Rhodesia and making his visit to Zimbabwe since 1968:http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnist...zimbabwe.thtml
Nice to read someone who is an optimist, Zimbabwe could be a great country for all it's people.
Voting tomorrow: backgrounder
A short comment by Knox Chitiyo, for Chatham House, which starts with:
Quote:
Zimbabwe's election on 31 July will mark the formal end of the fragile 2009 Government of National Unity (GNU) which, for all its fractiousness, has proved surprisingly resilient and brought economic stability to Zimbabwe after a decade of national trauma.
He ends, optimistically:
Quote:
The hope – and it is still a reasonable one – is that the 2013 election will be passably credible and produce a new government which is fit for purpose.
Link:http://www.chathamhouse.org/media/comment/view/193509
There's something about organising elections that seems to have been lost:
Quote:
On 14-16 July uniformed forces voted nationwide in a special election, seen as a dry-run for 31 July. There were numerous glitches, such as a lack of ballot boxes, names not appearing on the roll, and late starts. With tempers fraying, police units had to be deployed at the Harare polls to maintain order. If the ZEC struggled to process 37,000 voters over three days, what will happen on 31 July when millions will be at the polls?
Yes the police had to deployed to the security forces voting!:eek:
1 Attachment(s)
Zimbabwe voted, many Zimbabweans didn't
I have struggled to find a decent report on what happened last week until an email provided one by Dr Sue Onslow, LSE, an academic who has researched Rhodesia-Zimbabwe history. It is on the attachment.
The vote itself from the BBC:
Quote:
Presidential:
Robert Mugabe, Zanu-PF - 61%, 2,110,434 votes
Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC - 34%, 1,172,349 votes
Parliamentary:
Zanu-PF - 160 seats (up 61 seats from 2008)
MDC - 49 seats (down 51 seats from 2008)
No great surprise Robert Mugabe found ways to ensure he remained in power, although I've yet to see an published, reliable opinion polling data.