A respected academic commentator, Stephen Chan, has written a long article on recent events; full article on: http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/a...s.php?id=10268
davidbfpo
UK's leading retailer stops buying
The amount of produce Tesco sources from Zimbabwe - worth around £1 million per year - is insignificant in terms of global trade and influence. However, in the current circumstances, we have decided to stop sourcing any products from Zimbabwe as long as the political crisis persists in that country.
More on link: http://www.tescocorporate.com/page.a...F5855DA51575CD
davidbfpo
Observer comments
A respected academic commentator, Stephen Chan, has written a long article on recent events; full article on: http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/a...s.php?id=10268
davidbfpo
Rhodesia`s unfinished business, Zimbabwe`s real problem. I.R.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ty-Mugabe.html
100 billion dollars a day
a tin of baked beans cost... at least for the next few hours - a mere 256 billion Zimbabwe dollars (worth about one USD)
an unofficial inflation rate soaring past 15m%
The salary I was paid at the start of this month cannot even pay for my bus fare here this morning. I am struggling."
In bars, the price of beer goes up between rounds.
Angry soldiers
But worryingly for President Robert Mugabe, the police and armed forces are not immune to the economic chaos.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
Neighbour's view on events
I shall refrain from commenting on the mediation process and the reaction of critics inside Zimbabwe. Instead here are the reported views of Botswana, one of Zimbabwe's neighbours that can claim rightly to be a democracy, from an email circulated on a Zimbabwe listing I get:
Botswana´s vice president, Mompati S. Merafhe, sitting just two seats from Mr. Mugabe, said the Zimbabwean leader should be suspended from the African Union, Mr. Skelemani said. Botswana seems to have been greatly affected by its ringside view of the Zimbabwe crisis. The accounts its election observers brought back from Zimbabwe deepened Botswana´s official revulsion. Ruth Seretse, the deputy director of Botswana´s directorate on corruption and economic crime, led the 50-person observer team. She said in an interview that she had seen ZANU-PF youth militia members beating people at a rally for Mr. Tsvangirai in Harare."People ran for their lives," she said. "The riot police just stood there." Some of the most disturbing reports came from Bakwena Oitsile, a retired major general in Botswana´s army. He said in an interview that in one village in Zimbabwe´s Mashonaland West Province, he had found 14 houses, as well as grain stores, burned and reduced to ashes. Pregnant women and children there had nothing left but the clothes on their backs. In another village in the province, he arrived just hours after an attack on June 17. In one hut, he discovered the body of a man just beaten to death and his wife, still alive, with a deep cut on her head. Another woman´s index finger had been cut off. Her hand was still raw and untreated."She was in great pain when we were there," he said. "She was screaming." He said of what he witnessed in Zimbabwe: "I will never forget it. It´s all in my heart and head."
Yes, grim reading.
davidbfpo
Deja Vu All Over Again
The very day I stepped off the plane onto the NDjili tarmac to meet Stan for the first time, Mobutu did the very same thing with the New Zaire set at 4NZ to the US Dollar, replacing the the old Zaire which used a 10 Million Z note.
Mugabe's no Einstein
Friday, August 1, 2008
President Robert Mugabe's portrait is displayed behind Zimbabwe's hyper-inflated currency. The central bank is issuing new notes with 10 zeros removed from them, effective Friday. Mr. Mugabe warned "entrepreneurs" against attempts at profiteering. (Getty Images)
With talks in South Africa set to resume this weekend on Zimbabwe's impasse, strongman Robert Mugabe has suddenly rediscovered his nation's disastrous economy. Not that Mr. Mugabe has applied the right lessons. On Wednesday, the regime rolled out an old classic in government economic illiteracy — a new zim dollar that simply knocks 10 digits off the old currency's denomination. So, a loaf of bread that previously cost Z$50 billion now costs either $50 billion of the old zim dollars, or $5 in new ones.
The central bank is issuing new notes with 10 zeros removed from them, effective Friday.
Something similar happened to the value of my portfolio, except it was fewer zeros.
Begs the question. What has kept Zimbabwe's legendary 5th Brigade (or any other unit for that matter) from going full tilt as did Zaire's 31st Para (assuming the North Korea-trained 5th still exists) ?Originally Posted by Tom Odom
Where did Mugabe fix Mobutu's fatal error in keeping a county in "strangle hold"? Maybe the DRC was a lesson learned for Zimbabwe's government following their assistance against Ugandan and Rwandan rebel forces in the DRC.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
Stan,
The difference is that the Zairian/Congo Mobutu crowd never fought to get into power. When they got in trouble, we bailed 'em out.
Mugabe's thugocracy did fight a war to get where they are. The veterans are not all veterans but veteran still means something.
Best
Tom
This is so Mobutu it is uncanny. Did he have a long lost twin brother named Robert Mugabe?
Robert Mugabe 'strikes deal to exclude Morgan Tsvangirai'
Robert Mugabe last night appeared to have ensured his political survival by splitting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
A senior member of Mr Mugabe’s ruling Zanu (PF) party said that the 84-year-old dictator had agreed to set up a coalition government with Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a breakaway faction of the MDC with ten seats in Parliament.
Like bad horror-flick villains, these guys never really die, they just keep coming back for the umpteenth sequel. Or so it might seem.
I just wonder
When and/or if it's ever going to occur to Mugabe's groupies that while he's busy thumbing his nose at what he perceives as undue and "ill advised" interference is his countries affairs; that he's thumbing his nose at the populous of the country at the same time. They won't likely forget it and even though he's a tough old bugger he ain't gon be round forever.
Any man can destroy that which is around him, The rare man is he who can find beauty even in the darkest hours
Cogitationis poenam nemo patitur
Maybe some of these guys figure once the time comes they'll just pull a reverse Mobutu, with the whole cloud and light thing going, except going up instead of down.
Tom, I think Robert had years of watching Uncle Mo doin' the dance
Let's face it, Mo was nearly famous for his adept political maneuvers. I recall the way in which he literally invited the head of an opposition group (Etienne Tshisekedi) to form a new government.
Hell, it actually worked til some bonehead tried to replace the Bank of Zaire President
If you want to blend in, take the bus
Mugabe meets opposition
The State Opening of Parliament in Harare took a different form on Tuesday, alas without any film footage, but the BCC News carries this report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7583128.stm
Since then President Mugabe has declared a government can be formed without the MDC, so no real change there.
We can only hope the jeering had an effect.
davidbfpo
Mugabe rejects coalition?
The UK daily Telegraph reports President Mugabe has issued an ultimatium to the opposition MDC: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-Zimbabwe.html
davidbfpo
Same announcement covered here.
see also:September 4, 2008
Robert Mugabe gives Morgan Tsvangarai power-sharing ultimatum
President Mugabe has delivered an ultimatum to his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, to sign up for a power-sharing agreement with his ruling Zanu (PF) party or face being frozen out of the new Cabinet to be announced tomorrow.
“If after tomorrow [Thursday], Tsvangirai does not want to sign, we will certainly put together a Cabinet,” Mr Mugabe told the state-controlled Herald newspaper.
The move would violate the founding conditions of the talks and signal Mr Mugabe's repudiation of the process doggedly pursued by South Africa’s President Mbeki for 18 months.
All of this makes me repeat what I said on this same thread on March 19 2008:Comment: Boo and hiss as much as you like, Robert Mugabe’s still in power
Jonathan Clayton
Zimbabwe sailed into uncharted waters this week with only one thing certain: President Mugabe’s hand is still firmly on the rudder.
Although his ruling Zanu (PF) party lost the position of Speaker of Parliament on Monday for the first time since independence in 1980, talk of it being the endgame for the octogenarian’s brutal rule is premature.
“We are back at square one, and Mugabe is on top,” Professor Sipho Seepe, a political analyst in neighbouring South Africa, said. “Mugabe has outwitted the Opposition and the entire international community and there is no reason to believe any concessions are on the way.
Cynic that I am, I don't think Mugabe will leave so quietly...
Tom
Putting On the Fiscal Mo-Jo
I am in a time warp. It is October 1993 and just finishing 2 weeks vacation in Haiti (yes I am indeed warped in ways beyond time) I step off a plane to meet Stan and Dean Schultz in K-town. They great me with the news that the old Zaire which had inflated to a 10 Million note worth pennies on the street had been replaced with the New Zaire set at 4NZ to the dollar.
Now it has migrated: 10 Trillion for 1,000 will still only get you a loaf of bread
ARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has introduced a $1,000 note -- $10 trillion in the old value -- as the country battles to end cash shortages in the hyper-inflationary environment.
Zimbabwe's currency is trading around Z$350 -- $35 trillion in the old value -- against U.S. dollar.
However, analysts said the new note -- which can only buy a loaf of bread -- will not ease pressure on cash shortages because of the ever-increasing prices.
"It will not make even a small impact. What we need in Zimbabwe is a clear change of policies, start production and then inflation will start easing up," said John Robertson, an economic consultant. "The zeros seem to be coming back no matter how often they slash them."
I only caught a brief mention of it on CNN International with the sound turned down, but did Mugabe agree to a coalition government recently? And did the opposition accept the terms?
I cannot find much due to the internet filters here that run during the day. What sort of commentary is out there concerning the situation on the ground?
More importantly, what does the prospect of a coalition government really mean in terms of economic recovery? What Mugabe policies (which contributed to the decline) are subject to review and reversal, if any?
On a side note, can anyone (I imagine Jedburgh will swoop in to the rescue with a reference) post a study or such that highlights just what Mugabe-centric policies influenced the current economic problems?
Last edited by jcustis; 09-21-2008 at 10:00 AM.
Re Power Sharing
Sir
Yes there has been an agreement on power sharing, however at the present time said agreement appears to be wobbling over who gets what Cabinet position. Mugabe retains his position as Head of the Army, while Tsvangirai gets power over the Police. The CIO (secret police) will apparently be disbanded (transfered to Military Intelligence is more likely). My friends "in-country" tell me that many of those living there are very supportive of all this, however they also say that this support is being driven by complete desperation. Basically things are now so bad, that any relief is welcome.
Most professional commentators and many members of the press, are a lot less enthuisiastic about this state of affairs. There is complete cynicism that Mugabe will ever place himself in any position that leaves him open to charges for genocide etc etc, so real power will always remain his (and to hell with the consequences and everyone who dislikes him etc and forget agreements!) Some are hopeful nevertheless that some good will still come of this, even though when the details are looked at it seems to me and many others that the MDC may have actually just shot itself in the head. We cant find anything tangible that shows ZanuPF have genuinely given up anything.
We have been here before, when Bob forced Joshua Nkomo into talks, we just saw the destruction of the opposition as a result etc. There will be no genuine "deals" while a Mafia remains in control. Even if Mugabe goes, those who have made themselves fabulously and corruptly rich over the last few decades and who were involved in the massacres of the eighties (and 2000, and 2002, and . . . ) will just find themselves another Godfather.
There is also a great deal of pessimism amoungst the Zim diaspora too, and theres no rush to go back home.
A pity really, Mbeki got what he wanted by leaving Mugs in control, the country wallows in despair, and the economy etc continues to decline.
I.R
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