Zimbabwe: 2007 till Mugabe resigns

[Tom Odom]

I am sure the West is lining up. Who wants to be first to get fleeced?

Mugabe Wants New Start to Relations With Western Nations

HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Robert Mugabe called Tuesday for a new start to relations with those Western countries he has spent years insulting for their criticism of his leadership.

"Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh, friendly and cooperative relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us in the past," he said.

Mugabe spoke to legislators at the first sitting of parliament since a unity government was formed with the former opposition in February.

[davidbfpo]

The "new" coalition government has a few problems:

Riot police shot and seriously injured three mine workers at Zvishavane who were part of a strike action towards the end of September. Rather than holding the police accountable the victims were charged with public violence and had to appear in court in wheelchairs.

The public perception that the Zanu PF party is not at all serious about addressing human rights violations or re-establishing non-partisan law and order in Zimbabwe is most heavily highlighted by the news that members of the disbanded Joint Operations Command - now the National Security Council - are said to be holding secret meetings with Robert Mugabe, excluding Morgan Tsvangirai who, under the GPA, is a member of the National Security Council. Analysts have reportedly said that these secretive meetings constitute the worst violation of the Global Political Agreement by the Zanu PF party.

The Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr Mashwiringwani, denied Louis Fick access to 4,000 pigs on Fick's Friedewil Farm. Mr Mashwiringani's tactics were a calculated attempt to use animal cruelty to force the farmer to give up more livestock pens. Farm employees working on Friedewil Farm were also beaten by thugs loyal to the Deputy Governor.

I've left other episodes aside. The combination of police, military and central bankers is quite an indictment (JMM maybe wrong word) of the baron state Zimbabwe is.

From: http://www.sokwanele.com/

[M-A Lagrange]

The public perception that the Zanu PF party is not at all serious about addressing human rights violations or re-establishing non-partisan law and order in Zimbabwe is most heavily highlighted by the news that members of the disbanded Joint Operations Command - now the National Security Council - are said to be holding secret meetings with Robert Mugabe, excluding Morgan Tsvangirai who, under the GPA, is a member of the National Security Council. Analysts have reportedly said that these secretive meetings constitute the worst violation of the Global Political Agreement by the Zanu PF party.

Since 2000, Bob has had a paralell administration ran by ex-liberation fighters. Even before the elections, observers in Zimbabwe were sceptical on the capacities of Tsangirai to be capable to run the state if he won. The administration in place is not the one rulling (and probably never was) the place. We should not be surprised. It is part of Mugabe strategy to keep power: apparently sharing power with opposition but if they do not comply with him, keeping a personal hand on the security apparatus. What Tsangirai is experimenting is what happened to ZAPU.

[Tom Odom]

So the opposition steps back from partnering with Mugabe after their Minister of Agriculture is charged with high treason.

Maybe we just merge the DRC and Zimbabwe and call it Chaos...

Opposition official's trial on hold in ZimbabweHARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- A Zimbabwean court postponed the trial of key opposition figure Roy Bennett on Saturday to allow his lawyers time to prepare their case.

It is unclear when coffee farmer Roy Bennett will go to trial on weapons charges.

Bennett, the Movement for Democratic Change's nominee for the deputy agriculture minister post, faces charges of possessing weapons for sabotage, banditry and terrorism.

His trial had been scheduled to begin Monday at a high court in Mutare, but his defense team asked the judge for more time to prepare their case.

[davidbfpo]

Tom and others,

In response to this legal persecution the MDC has 'disengaged' from the joint government: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8310629.stm

Clearly this is not departure or resignation, so I cannot see how this can be effective. What will the "robber barons" i.e. ZANU-PF and Mugabe do? Yes, continue to rule as before minus the MDC camouflage of unity IMHO.

The country to be called 'Chaos' nice one Tom. Somehow after the Zimbabwean intervention in DRC, military-led commerce in effect, I doubt they will want to return, but then as Zimbabwe slides is there any profit to be made?

davidbfpo

[Stan]

Chaos it is !
Much like Uncle Mo however, Mugabe has yet to learn what's coming and in what form. At his age, humiliation and exile are not good alternatives.

Mugabe is the Mobutu of our time

... Like Mobutu, Mugabe came to power promising a new dawn for a nation that had just emerged from under a white minority rule. Like Mobutu, Mugabe will leave or be forced out of power amid political repression and economic collapse.

[M-A Lagrange]

Chaos it is !
Much like Uncle Mo however, Mugabe has yet to learn what's coming and in what form. At his age, humiliation and exile are not good alternatives.

From reuters 29/10/09

Invited by prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the special envoy of UN on torture has been arrested and sent back to South Africa on the very day of his arrival in Harare.

Humiliating and sending to exile others seems to be his solution.

[carl]

Maybe we just merge the DRC and Zimbabwe and call it Chaos...

I think you calumnize the DRC.

I have a question. The white farmers are going to lose all. The opposition will be bought off, jailed, driven out, cowed into submission or killed. Nothing much will change while Bob is alive.

What will happen when Bob dies? You guys are qualified to speculate and I am interested in what you think not only in Zim but the region. Also as it relates to Zim, what will happen when Mandela dies?

[Tom Odom]

I think you calumnize the DRC.

By that you mean this?

calumny
A false statement maliciously made to injure another's reputation. 2. The utterance of maliciously false statements; slander. ...

If so, I will just say that I believe I have earned my opinions on the DRC through long study, extensive writing, and living through some of its chaos. Since I refer to Kinshasa in my memoirs as an old whore as I saw her in 1994, malice perhaps. False statements, nope, not when compared to what she looked like in 1984. A Belge-American who brought his parents over for the first time since they unassed in 1960 said they simply broke down and started crying at the state of the Congo. Stan has years longer on the ground than I and he is tougher on the place than I am. Give him a few beers and he will really tell you what he thinks. As for injuring the reputation, it is hard to find a worse reputation; you pretty much have to start with Somalia and then the DRC comes next in the ladder of chaos.

I would say that Zimbabwe is not far behind. The real issue is no longer Bob--it is Bob's thugs, several generations of them. They will not go gently into the night when Bob does the place a favor by dying, whatever the cause.

Tom

[carl]

Tom:

hold on. don't hit me. the comment was meant as an ironic joke, an attempt to illustrate how bad things have become in Zim. unfortunately, the only thing the comment accomplished was showing how good I am at typifying the truism
that if you have to explain a joke, it was a really lousy one.

What do you think those thugs will do when Bob dies?