Zimbabwe: 2007 till Mugabe resigns

[J Wolfsberger]

From The Atlantic:

"... If his political adversaries knew Tsvangirai secretly supported the sanctions, deeply unpopular with Zimbabweans, they would have a powerful weapon to attack and discredit the democratic reformer.

Later that day, the U.S. embassy in Zimbabwe dutifully reported the details of the meeting to Washington in a confidential U.S. State Department diplomatic cable. And slightly less than one year later, WikiLeaks released it to the world.

The reaction in Zimbabwe was swift. Zimbabwe's Mugabe-appointed attorney general announced he was investigating the Prime Minister on treason charges based exclusively on the contents of the leaked cable. ..."

[JMA]

Interesting development:

China planning airbase at Zimbabwe's diamond fields

[davidbfpo]

Rare reporting on Zimbabwe caught my eye. The focus is on the policeem who ran away and came back later with ZANU-PF helpers:

Last Friday the police launched a raid on the shrine of a religious cult, the Johane Masowe weChishanu, in Budiriro, a poor Harare suburb. They had hoped to shut down the church, which is accused of marrying off young girls to church elders and banning children from attending school.

Instead, the police were brutally beaten in a melee that also left a journalist injured. That the incident did not cause outrage at such disregard for the law, instead attracting derision and mockery of the police, says a lot about how the public have come to view the police.


Within hours of the violence, Zimbabwean social media erupted. There was celebration, and the few voices that sought to ask whether this was not another step towards lawlessness were quickly drowned out.

Link:http://mg.co.za/article/2014-06-05-t...first-red-card

[davidbfpo]

Zimbabwe has been arigocracy for awhile now, so the latest political news is not really a surprise, except this time it is ZANU-PF members who have been excluded:http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-1906...ties/news.aspx

Oh yes, in case you don't follow Zimbabwe closely Mugabe's wife appears to be destined to follow him.

[davidbfpo]

A superb explanation of the situation in Zimbabwe, one that few here I expect will dissent from and totally unacceptable to those who see Mugabe and his party as liberators:www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/14772/despite-zimbabwe-purge-mugabe-succession-still-far-from-certain?

A taster:

Zimbabwe may not yet be categorized as an outright failed state akin to Somalia, but it remains a highly dysfunctional one, a victim of decades of misrule by a predatory elite that has plundered the state and drained the term “liberation” of any semblance of meaning.

To hope that ZANU-PF can become a vehicle for change under figures so deeply compromised as Mnangagwa, Grace Mugabe or Mujuru is folly, and only the party’s collapse can rescue Zimbabwe from its current condition as a virtual mafia state.

[davidbfpo]

A short article on Zimbabwe, which opens with:

The Zimbabwean economy is going through structural regression, with rapid deindustrialisation, burgeoning external debt, an over 85% formal unemployment rate and nominal growth due to declining investment and a biting liquidity crunch. Between 2011 and 2015 over 4,610 companies closed their doors leaving over 55 000 workers redundant, putting further pressure on a cash-strapped population. This year’s harvest has failed due to insufficient rain while a regional maize shortage and empty government coffers will leave thousands without sufficient food. Within the ruling ZANU-PF, a battle rages between the emergent successor to President Robert Mugabe and his rival – disgraced former Vice President Joice Mujuru – who holds the latent support of a significant number of the ruling party’s major players. While the country faces a growing crisis and the ruling party turns in on itself, the battle-weary opposition has lost momentum and is facing its own internal crises, leaving fatigued citizens to trudge on with few credible prospects for change.

Going back to 2008 is this startling passage, with my emphasis:

Following the hotly-contested 2008 elections, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission stalled the release of the presidential results for five weeks, ultimately announcing that there had been no clear winner.....In a surprising moment of candour at the ZANU-PF congress in December 2014, President Robert Mugabe accidentally let slip that the opposition had in fact won the contentious 2008 polls by an astounding 73%.

Link:http://africanarguments.org/2015/04/...e-beardsworth/

[BayonetBrant]

https://zimbabwe-today.com/rhodesian...-war-vets-say/

[davidbfpo]

Last week's post was surprising enough, with war veterans once again showing their opposition to Robert Mugabe. now a potentially more dangerous "shot across the bows" and the BBC's headline:

Zimbabwe military chief Chiwenga in Zanu-PF purge warning

So what did he say, with ninety senior officers standing with him?

The current purging, which is clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background, must stop forthwith....We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41970317

Whether the leadership are true to the revolution is a moot point, perhaps they also fear for their wealth from the younger generation.

[AdamG]

A coup is reportedly under way in Zimbabwe, with reports on social media claiming that the head of Zimbabwe military Constantino Chiwenga has given President Robert Mugabe 24 hours to vacate office after sacking his vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.

https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbab...babwe-20171114

[davidbfpo]

So far we have reports on a few APC moving along a traditional route and one broke down. If this was a coup it is hardly significant, as a signal it might resonate.

The ZNA are very unlikely IMHO to be seen as "friends of the people", given their role in suppressing protests and their leader's enrichment. Is this just another episode in the competition for power? As this BBC News item suggests:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41984813

[AdamG]

A witness who spoke to Reuters saw two tanks* parked up on the main road from Harare to Chinhoyi, about 20 km (14 miles) from the city. Social Media has seen ambiguous photos of military personnel making their way to the Capital.
The strong show of force comes just a day after the armed forces said they would step in ‘if Mugabe was to dismiss any further army officials’. The fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa shares a very cosy relationship with the army, and it seems like they are throwing their support behind him following his dismissal.

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/watc...-coup-attempt/

* Actually, Chinese-made APCs.

Looks like a Type 89/90 ARV (six road wheels, boom crane & box body rear hull) towing the Type YW309 APC. Even coin toss between a vehicle recovery mission and an actual road movement, given where we're talking about.

[Azor]

https://apnews.com/91bb7f9b5f2f4d00b...&utm_medium=AP

TRUNCATED

5:50 a.m.

• Zimbabwe’s army urges other security services to “cooperate for the good of our country,” warning that “any provocation will be met with an appropriate response.”
  
• The statement read out early Wednesday on state-run television calls on troops to return to barracks immediately, with all leave canceled.
  
• It says that if the country’s degenerating political, social and economic situation is not addressed, it “may result in a violent conflict.”
  
• The army insists that this is not a military takeover and that President Robert Mugabe’s security is guaranteed.

4:55 a.m.

• Zimbabwe’s army has announced that “this is not a military takeover” and that President Robert Mugabe and his family are safe and sound.
  
• “We are only targeting criminals around who him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice,” the army announced on state-run media.
  
• The army statement says that “as soon as we have accomplished our mission, we expect that the situation will return to normalcy.”

[davidbfpo]

A curious event in Harare, the army say we have moved, Robert Mugabe and family are safe and sounds of artillery fire in the north of the city. This is not a coup, a bloodless transition and the dismissed Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa is reportedly back in town. With the Presidential Guard still on duty.

BBC:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-41992351

A running story:https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...rt-mugabe-live