Zimbabwe: after Mugabe resigns

[davidbfpo]

An op-ed in the South African new website by Dr. Stuart Doran (who has written a book on Zimbabwe's troubled times), that "joins the dots" to help assess whether President Mnangagwa has "dirty hands".
Link:https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/arti.../#.Wh6sSzdpHtQ

[davidbfpo]

Via a BZS email a curious two page commentary from Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans on events, with a very clear pointer to the Chinese model of development not being suitable:

.. ‘democracy’ and ‘development’ cannot be decoupled especially as pushed for by the militarists in the Chinese model....

On the new President:

ED is a Trojan horse of what others have called the ‘deep state’ which was very desperate to reproduce itself and its elite network. The ballot box has always presented a threat to a network of elites who have looted Zimbabwe dry and have been party to these ‘treacherous shenanigans’ as others have said. The hierarchical party-state apparatus built by the ruling elites steam-rolls on its opponents extra-legally and extra-judicially. To start to imagine that ED has suddenly become a reformer and a democrat goes to show the level of political disorientation currently fashionable.

Link:http://ipazim.org/wp-content/uploads...ns-Edition.pdf

[davidbfpo]

Trevor Grundy reviews 'Kingdom, Power, Glory – Mugabe, Zanu and the Quest for Supremacy 1960-1987' by Stuart Doran; a weighty tome at pgs, with no illustrations.

It is a long review so I cite a small passage:

the Australian historian Stuart Doran has lowered, not a small bucket, but a vast ship- size container into an opaque plastic-media-rubbish- filled African ocean. He has brought to the surface for our ‘careful curiosity’ not only the criminals and crooks who ran Rhodesia under Ian Smith from 1962-1979 but a whole cast of villains, mass murderers and self-serving sycophants who dominated Zimbabwe from 1980 to the fall of Robert Mugabe last month.
The overwhelming theme of this large and enthralling book is the way Robert Mugabe was able to bamboozle people of all backgrounds and his single minded determination to create an over-arching ruling political party which many liken now to the Nazification of Germany in the 1930s.

Why here? Well this is why:

...here’s the overwhelming question. Will Emmerson Mnangagwa – the acclaimed new brush from the old storeroom – be able to turn back the clock and return Zanu (PF) to the grass roots organization it became after its formation at the home of the late Enos Nkala in 1963?

Link:http://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion...rd-to-the-past

[davidbfpo]

Amidst a long reflective commentary on Zimbabwe's prospects by a former minister and opposition MP was this passage:

The other thing that we saw was the Military Junta, that has, in effect, been largely responsible for running the country and making key decisions, has come out into the open and taken key seats in the new Government. The man who ran the "Smart Coup", General Chiwenga has been appointed Vice President. But in his place is the best soldier in the Country - a real professional who will
change the face of the Armed Forces and ensure that we have a small, but highly proficient Army which does not dabble in politics.

So, what lies ahead for us in 2018? Firstly, we know the most crucial event is the election, which must take place in July or August this coming year. The President has made it clear, he is going to
deliver a free and fair election, the outcome of which cannot be contested by anyone.

Who is the best soldier in the country? Lt. Gen. Edzai A. C. Chimonyo, a 'veteran ZANLA commander', who in swift research had been the Ambassador to Tanzania, since at least 2007 or 2011; that I would read as "put out to pasture". It was a common practice to post ex-commanders to diplomatic posts.

In January 2010 he featured in High Court case over his seizure of a foreign-owned banana plantation farm, using soldiers - according to a leaked US State Dept. cable from Harare. See:http://wikileaks.zilog.es/cable/2010/01/10HARARE12.html

So not immune from "helping himself" to other's property. In January 2016 he was in a legal dispute over another farm 'granted' to him, but those on the property refused to leave. See:http://www.zimnewsblog.com/author/admin/page/183/

He served in the DRC during the intervention there, according to a few web links; as the SADC contingent commander in 2001.

At some stage he attended the UK's most senior defence training course, known as RCDS; according to his very thin LinkedIn profile.

For more moves see:https://theworldnews.net/zw-news/bre...iwenga-retires

I note Air Marshal Perrance Shiri was one of three officers who retired; he was the Fifth Brigade CO during the campaign in Matabeleland in the 80's. He had a promotion and remains on the reserve list. He has become the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement; one must wonder what that portends.

[Firn]

I guess not participating in the theft of land and property would have made him rather suspicious in the eyes of the other members of the mafi.. ah elite running the country.

The coup leader is now also under pressure to reward the high-ranking supporters and to give something to the many downtrodden. The new official budget and the black one should be rather interesting in planning and execution.

[Firn]

I have seen first-hand how the horrors of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe haunt our people shines some light into the dark past. An example:

When Gogo Ncube* spoke, she held her walking stick firmly. She was from Matabeleland’s Silobela. “They came,” said the 82-year-old. “They rounded us up. They put the men in a hut, closed it and set it alight.” Her granddaughter sat next to her, wearing an expression of indifference. She had heard this story many times.

Gogo continued: “The young women were raped in front of us. Some were bayonetted. I have not stopped seeing those visions. They called it Gukurahundi.”

After a while, her granddaughter interrupted. “Doctor, can you stop these thoughts and constant repetitions about these events? Why has Gogo not moved on?” she asked, finally breaking into tears. “This has affected all of us.”

Gogo looked into the eyes of her granddaughter. “How can I move on when I have the ghosts of my entire village crying out for justice?”