Samvulachole
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 22, 2006
- 413
- 119
WHY ZIMBABWE and not ERITREA or DRC-KINSHASA?
Huyu askofu anataka kujitafutia "ajali ya gari" isiyo ya lazima
Police in Zimbabwe have broken up a march by lawyers in the capital, Harare, beating up several of them. "They asked us to lie on our stomachs and then they started assaulting us," the law society's president, Beatrice Mtetwa, told the BBC.
The lawyers were protesting about what they said was police harassment after two lawyers were arrested last week.
The men - who were subsequently freed on Monday - are representing opposition activists accused of detonating bombs. In March, a prayer meeting in Harare attended by opposition leaders and activists was broken up by police, leaving two people dead. Scores of activists, including Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, were arrested and assaulted in police custody.
President Robert Mugabe has accused the opposition of "creating a state of anarchy".
Shouting
Ms Mtetwa said there was a large turnout in the town centre where many riot police had already assembled.
"The [commanding] officer then arrived and told us that we must disperse: he'll count to three and if we don't disperse when he's finished three his officers were free to beat us up," she told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
Some of the lawyers then began walking towards the Ministry of Justice's offices, she said. Lawyers could then be heard shouting as police bundled several of them into a truck. "They physically forced us onto a truck drove about three or four kilometres and asked us to disembark... Four lawyers were assaulted," she said.
"A lot more lawyers were beaten up outside the High Court itself," she said.
Public demonstrations in Zimbabwe require police clearance and unauthorised gatherings are frequently broken up. But Ms Mtetwa said that the march was legal.
"There is no law that says police must approve the march. It only says they have to be notified, and we have done that," she is quoted as saying before the demonstration.
Escalation
On Monday, the International Bar Association said the arrest of lawyers Andrew Makoni and Alec Muchadehama was "another example of the precarious situation in which human rights lawyers work in Zimbabwe". Their detention was ruled illegal, but the police twice defied orders to free them - they are now out on bail. "President Mugabe's government has escalated attacks on political dissenters in recent weeks," Mark Ellis of the International Bar Association said.
"And no effective international action is being taken to stop the flagrant violation of international law in that country."
Zimbabwe has the world's highest annual rate of inflation - 2,200% - and only one person in five is in full-time work. Mr Mugabe blames the country's problems on a Western plot to remove him from power.
Merciless Zanu PF criminals sink economy
WHY is Zimbabwe, once the jewel and icon of Africa, in deep economic meltdown? Zimbabwe, once the envy of the world, has fallen far into the pit and is now the world's fastest shrinking economy exceeding the collapse in war-torn countries like Somalia.
To explain this surprising phenomenon, I use a criminal metaphor, as an illustration of the calculated, evil and self-interested use of cohesive power by Zanu PF directed on the defenceless masses, the hardworking, caring and loving Zimbabwe people. With the aid of this metaphor, I will try to let the reader see beneath the surface and increase an understanding of the suffering on Zimbabweans inflicted by Zanu PF over the past 27 years.
Consider the incentives facing an individual criminal in a society. Other things being equal, a criminal is always there to steal. When resources are abundant, there is more to steal. Criminals do not care who they steal from, they have no mercy they even steal from the hand that feeds them.
Likewise, when Zanu PF took control of power at independence they took on the minds of criminals - squander, loot and steal the vast natural resources of our economy. Corruption, scandals, embezzlement, nepotism and shady deals have been slogans of Zanu PF since it took power. Most Zanu PF cronies expropriated state enterprises for free. As thieves they stripped the assets, sold them, only to buy mansions in Western countries and invest in foreign banks. This substantially reduced our capacity to produce more output, reduced incentives to invest, negatively affected upstream and downstream industries and set the stage for the economic meltdown that we have today.
Likewise Zanu PF thugs were, are and will continue to steal every resource that our country has, since they know that they are not the ones who pay the price for their evil deeds. The majority of Zimbabweans today are paying for this mismanagement of the economy by Zanu PF. As with this metaphor, the regime has used brutality, cohesion, instigating fear on its citizens, threats of war, repression, murder and torture to evade punishment from the people of Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans have watched and taken no action while this Mafia gangster called Zanu PF robbed them, terrorised their families and subjected them to inhumanity.
Zanu PF is truly a Mafia family or a criminal gang that continues to monopolise crime and terrorise Zimbabweans. This Mafia family has incentives
and will do all it can to evade punishment for its crimes and keep sensible Zimbabweans away from the economy. Who in his right mind would continue to say there is no vacancy at State House when one's performance results are inflation 1 700%, unemployment 80%, poverty 90%, and shortages of basic foodstuffs and fuel?
While other countries are busy trying to realise the full potential of every one of their citizens, Zanu PF elites are busy torturing and killing Zimbabweans who want this madness to stop and return sanity to our land.
Laramie, Wyoming
USA.
Huna sababu ya kujua umri wangu lakini nakuhakikishia sasa hivi Zimbabwe wanaishi maisha mabaya hata kuliko alipokuwa Smith. Wenyewe ndio wanasema hivyo. Zimbabweans mpaka leo hii hawana ardhi bado wanaendelea kuishi kwenye sehemu ambazo hazina rutuba kwenye vilima vilivyojaa mawe. Mashamba wamepewa cronies wa Mugabe ambao wameshindwa kulima kwa kuwatumia wazimbabwe na malawians ambao ndio waliokuwa wengi kwenye mashamba yale. Wanaamka saa 11.00 asubuhi kwenda kuwalimia hao wazungu na kumaliza kazi saa 12.00 jioni kwa mshahara wa kima cha chini.