Enter Jack Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania,
and Chairman of the African Union and master diplomat. He looks at Mzee
Bob and smiles widely at him, Bob Mugabe.
"I would like to praise President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila
Odinga of Kenya for putting Kenya's interests ahead of their personal
ambitions and ending the post-election violence.
"Kenya is now calm and the grand coalition is now working," President
Kikwete says and gives Mzee Bob Mugabe another dazzling smile. Mzee Bob
Mugabe starts to twiddle his fingers and grunts: "Cheeky young man!..."
then he nods off.
We are certainly sure that Mh Rais will have a FREEDOM COALITION that excludes THE WANAMTANDAO WHO advised him to back TSIVANGIRAI instead of the NATURAL ALLY...BOB MWENYEWE AKIWA NA ZANU PF!
AFRIKA UNITE!
Murderer, blood is upon your shoulder
Kill I today you cannot kill I tomorrow
Murderer, your insides must be hollow
How can you kill and take the life of another
Murderer- Buju Banton
Murderer, blood is upon your shoulder
Kill I today you cannot kill I tomorrow
Murderer, your insides must be hollow
How can you kill and take the life of another
Murderer- Buju Banton
Murderer, blood is upon your shoulder
Kill I today you cannot kill I tomorrow
Murderer, your insides must be hollow
How can you kill and take the life of another
Murderer- Buju Banton
bob Mugabe Is Not A Man To Play With. Check The Clip:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=1640107138
Ndugu wa JF Ukweli wote na yote yaliyofanyika zimbabwe na yanayoendelea kufanyika haya hapa Bofya hapa http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cchjy
Duncan Campbell and Paul Lewis said:
The Guardian,
Saturday July 5, 2008
It was the murder of his uncle two months ago that convinced a young prison officer called Shepherd Yuda that he should risk his own life to bring to the world a first-hand visual account of life in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.
What he did not realise at the time was that he would also provide incontrovertible proof of exactly how Mugabe's men rigged the votes to ensure his election. As he shot his clandestine film, Yuda was aware that it might never be seen in the outside world and that his reward could be nothing more lasting than an unmarked grave in the Zimbabwean bush. By the time he and his family were safely out of Zimbabwe yesterday, Yuda had a record of how the votes have been stolen and how those who have dared to oppose Mugabe fear daily for their lives. The film shows how he and his colleagues at Harare Central prison had to fill in their postal ballots in front of a Mugabe supporter, how voters had to pretend to be illiterate so an official would fill in their ballots for them, and how terrified Zimbabweans were using felt tip pens to colour their fingers to pretend they had voted, lest they be murdered by Zanu-PF gangs.
On April 13 this year, two weeks after the first round of the elections, Tapiwa Mobwandarika, was killed. He was a former prison officer but also an outspoken opponent of Mugabe. In the mopping-up operations conducted by Zanu-PF supporters, angry that Mugabe had lost the popular vote, he was stabbed to death. Mobwandarika was one of more than perhaps a hundred - no one knows the true figure - people murdered by Zanu-PF gangs or members of the police and military. Thousands more have been severely beaten, many too frightened to go to hospital for treatment.
"I had never seen that kind of violence before," said Yuda. "The impact has left a lot of orphans, it has left a lot of people displaced. You cannot expect that from your government. You expect that from a rebel group. How can a government that claimed to be democratically elected kill its people, murder its people, torture its people? "I've been optimistic that Zimbabwe would be a better country, even though we were young after independence. But we have seen that Zimbabwe has been reduced to the worst country in the world because of violence. Now we have a government that is composed of people who don't hesitate to kill innocent civilians." But what could a prison officer with a young family and living on wages of around £4 a month do to honour his uncle's memory? He decided that, with a secret camera, he could at least show the extent of the misery and brutality within his country as reflected in the prison service.
Yuda did not realise then that he would be privy to the cynical manipulation of the electoral process. His testimony, made for Guardian Films and broadcast on guardian.co.uk and BBC Newsnight last night, shows how he and his prison colleagues had to fill in their ballots in front of Zanu PF supporters. "This was the most difficult moment of my life," he said of marking his cross beside the name of Mugabe. "This is a terrible moment." They had all been told that they had to use postal ballots which they then had to fill in surrounded by prison officials who checked their electoral register serial numbers. Superintendent Shambira, a war veteran and Mugabe supporter, checked how he had voted.
"Then he folded it and put it in the small envelope. He handed it over to me and said: seal it ... These people forced me to do [something] I have never done in my life." Yuda explained how the intimidation worked in government establishments. "In the prison service, we've got Zanu-PF militias that are known as 'the green bombers'. These are the people who are getting privilege to get jobs - they get senior ranks to us. In this run-off election they were released to go to the rural areas, they were released to go in towns. They are the people causing violence, they are the people killing, they are the people murdering." Unaware that they are being filmed, his colleagues talk frankly. One is critical of Thabo Mbeki, the South African president: "The person who let us down, he did not want to come down hard on Mugabe and report accordingly. Instead, he went on about meaningless pan-Africanism. I don't know what interests he is representing."
Another describes the state of the country: "We are starving. We can't even feed our parents in the rural areas." He notes defiantly that they are already suspected of having voted MDC. "I know some of our names are there but I want to see who is going to get it on with me and I will say that's right - so what?" Others discuss what is happening in Zimbabwe prior to the run-off election. "People are being killed, right now there is no work going on in the rural areas. It's rally after rally," says one. Another remarks: "During the war, there was no white person going and beating up people in their homes ... People are dying, the international community knows it, even Condoleezza Rice has said Mugabe has declared war on his people."
With his hidden camera, Yuda was also able to show Tendai Biti, the secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who was in jail on treason charges and is currently on bail awaiting trial. Biti, who faces the death penalty if convicted, is shown in leg-irons. Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, leaders of Woza, Women of Zimbabwe Arise, who have been detained since May 28 after taking part in a peaceful protest, are shown in Chikirubi security prison. He explained how voters were told at a pro-Mugabe rally they must pretend to be illiterate. "They said we don't mind if you are doctor, if you are a teacher, if you are a prison officer or if you hold any degrees in education. We don't mind. When the day of voting comes, you go and tell the election agents that you can't read and write."
The film also shows a woman desperately colouring her finger purple because she had failed to register. "All of those who have not voted will be taken away and killed," she says.Yuda's family, with whom he has now fled, also talk about the state of fear stalking the country. "Youths came and forced everyone to go to the rally so to protect yourself, you go," says his wife. "They said 'we know there are some people who need to be beaten' and I was so scared because I started thinking maybe they are talking of you because last time they were saying they want to kill you in front of people."
He describes the effect on his children and how they feared for their mother's life after she was forced to attend a Zanu-PF rally. "When I opened the door [my daughters] were seated on the sofas. I asked: where is your mother? They said: 'Dad! Dad! Dad!' [I said] what's wrong with you girls? [The girls said:] 'Zanu PF youths were here and they knocked our door, they said 'Anybody here? Anybody here'. Then mum said 'yes'. They said 'can you come out'? Mum said 'who are you'? They said 'if you don't come we will get inside and deal with you, let's go to the rally'. My children were
so shocked and they were instilled with fear. Then I said 'so where is your mum?'. [The girls] said they had taken her to the Zanu-PF rally." One of his daughters recounts: "Youths were knocking door by door saying 'if you don't come out for the rally we will force you out.' I was scared to walk in the streets. I was very afraid. They gave us papers with Zanu-PF information instructing you to attend a rally, they said 'if you don't attend, we will come to your houses'." Yuda describes how attempts were made to persuade people to vote. "During the elections, even the unemployed could get things, they would sell some sugar cheaply. Now [after the vote] they will sell sugar at the actual value, like this milk by tomorrow, it will be sold for $5bn."
The level of intimidation is also demonstrated by a meeting inside the prison which workers are forced to attend. A senior prison official sings a campaign song and tells fellow officers: "When I have sung, I want you to understand what is being said in this song in relation with the current situation, do you understand?" The song contains lines that are dismissive of the opposition: "They wait to criticise, while they stir the soup/Forgiving each other has failed,/Living peacefully has failed,/Understanding each other has failed,/Return the spirit of the heroes into the battlefield, Return the spirit of the heroes into the battlefield ... Return our strength to us, Jehovah, lord of war." The speaker warns: "I want to remind you that these whites we are trying to send away - they hate us. It's like, if you fall while walking in town, whites will just look at you and ask what happened while they are walking away. They won't help you up."
The footage shows both the extent of fear and the level of resistance in the country. One man remarks: "Gentlemen, I have a spear in my house. Do not underrate me." He is told: "Father, you will die holding that spear ... Your spear can only stab one person. Those men will be armed. It is not just youth we are seeing there, some are guards, police and soldiers." Yesterday evening, Yuda had slipped out of the country with his family for a new life. His family had been unaware of his plans or his undercover filming until the last moment. He is leaving without regrets. "I don't regret doing this although it is a painful decision I have taken. I am very glad to move out of Zimbabwe to a better, secure country where I am going to live peacefully with my family. We can live without the memories of seeing dead bodies in the prison, dead bodies in the street, dead bodies in my family. "I've lost my uncle. My father was also beaten by Zanu-PF. I am praying to God: please, God, deal with Zanu-PF ruthlessly."
Headquarters--Harare Tribune NewsZimbabweMetro said:| Harare Tribune News
July 7, 2008 13:28
news@hararetribune.com
Despite the much publicized talks between the MDC and ZANU-PF,state sponsored terror is raging on and according to a plan by JOC the MDC has to be destroyed completely.Metro has obtained information from Credible Sources with the Zimbabwean Security Services.
Soon after arriving back from the AU Summit in Egypt, Mugabe met with the ZOC , namely Chiwenga, Chihuru, Shiri, Mnangagwa, Zimondi and others. He briefed them on: AU Position on Zim Botswana's position on Zim West Africa (Nigeria) All anti-Zimbabwe sentiments worldwide Looming sanctions UN Position Africa's position ZANU PF's increasing isolation from the rest of the world.
The JOC's response was as follows: To target and eliminate the MDC from the political map in Zimbabwe. This operation is to begin at cell, ward, District, province and national levels. To target and eliminate selected MDC MP's so that the other MPs are forced into hiding and after 21 days of being absent from parliament by-elections will be held and rigged to regain ZANU PF's majority in parliament. Killing of all critical journalists from both the public and private media to silence all independent voices. Police internal security intelligence (PISI) have all the names of all the MDC activists in the country so targeting them will not be a problem.
This is meant to cripple the MDC to eventually force it into a government of national unity where it will be swallowed by ZANU PF and there will be no MDC in the future. This operation is being coordinated now and all logistics are being mobilized. The operation will begin Monday 7th July 2008 by attacking and abducting MDC refugees. The Junta assured Mugabe that no country in the world can invade Zimbabwe as their state of preparedness was second to none in Africa. It is obvious from this information that the Mugabe regime is not sincere about negotiating a peaceful resolution to the Zimbabwe crisis and is determined to continue to wage war against the people
of Zimbabwe.
Personnel Identified as being integrally involved in the past and forthcoming violent operations: Supt Remegio Utsiwembanje - Officer Commanding Police Protection Units (PPU) Projects Supt Absalom Mudzamiri - DISPOL Minor PPU Tomlinson Depot Ex-Supt Nyawani - now with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Inspector Patric Maramba - Officer In ChargeTomlinson Depot
Inspector Marufu - 2nd IC Parliament Inspector Mbokochena - Officer Commanding PPU Assistant Inspector Jongwe - PPU Tomlinson Depot Assistant Inspector Madziwana - PPU Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI) Assistant Inspector Muranganwa - PPU PISI Assistant Inspector Ndangana - PPU State House Assistant Inspector Maguma - PPU State House Sgt Nyamunaki - PPU PISI Sgt Muridzo - PPU Transport Sgt Madzinga - PPU Willovale Sgt
Chikazaza - PPU State House Sgt Deremete - PPU State House Assistant Inspector Mudonhi Assistant Commissioner Martin Kwaimona Chief
Superintendent Musvita Superintendent Linda Superintendent Chikerema Chief Inspector Mukudu Chief Inspector Tigwere Superintendent Mumba Inspector Ngazi Inspector Bonyongwa Insepector Muzondiwa Sgt Mudzova Sgt Jaji Sgt Sharara Assistant Inspector Mutendamambo Constable Tarise - Armourer Constable Matara Assistant Inspector Matienga - Armourer Police General.
Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Sebastien Berger said:
Last Updated: 6:54PM BST 07/07/2008
Zanu-PF militiamen have raided a refugee camp housing hundreds of opposition supporters supposedly under the protection of the Red Cross and United Nations agencies, in an indication of Robert Mugabe's disregard for
international opinion...... ....
Alex Bell said:
07 July 2008
As the numbers of displaced Zimbabweans continues to grow, the safety of
refugees has become a matter of serious concern after armed militia raided
two camps of people fleeing post election violence. ... .....
Chris McGreal in Harare said:
guardian.co.uk,
Monday July 7, 2008
The tortured and burned body of an opposition party worker has been found on a farm belonging to an army colonel two weeks after the activist was .........................
Susan Njanji said:Mon Jul 7, 11:47 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's opposition accused militias loyal to Robert Mugabe of stepping up deadly attacks against its followers Monday as the veteran leader faced more foreign criticism over his controversial re-election...............
SW Radio Africa said:(London)
7 July 2008
Posted to the web 7 July 2008
Tichaona Sibanda
There is increasing concern for the safety of the MDC MP for Buhera South,
who has not been seen or heard from since he was abducted outside the High court in Mutare last week Tuesday....... ............
IOL said:
July 07 2008 at 01:05PM
Pretoria - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Monday said
Robert Mugabe had "turned the weapons of the state on his own people" and
urged the world to support fresh sanctions against his regime.... ............
Krishna Guha said:
Published: July 7 2008 19:14 | Last updated: July 7 2008 19:14
Leaders from the developed world and Africa failed on Monday to agree on how to deal with the crisis in Zimbabwe, which overshadowed a meeting between the Group of Eight and seven African heads of state.The African leaders resisted pressure from the US and Europe for sanctions against the Mugabe regime, telling the western nations that they still saw
scope for African diplomacy to lead to a power-sharing accord.
Appearing at a joint news conference with President George W. Bush, Jakaya
Kikwete, president of Tanzania and chairman of the African Union, said: The
only area where we may differ is on the way forward. Last week the African Union called on both sides in the Zimbabwe crisis President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to come together in a national unity government. The call came after Mr Mugabe declared himself the winner of a presidential election run-off on June 27 which the MDC candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, boycotted, citing violence against his supporters.... .....
Michael Wilkerson said:| 07 Jul 2008
World Politics Review Exclusive
Nigerian author Wole Soyinka -- the first African to win the Nobel
prize -- famously described the Organization of African Unity (OAU) as a
"collaborative club of perpetual self-preservation." Part of the reason the
continental body re-branded itself as the African Union (AU) in 2001 was to
distance itself from the days, when the most brutal of dictators took a
break from killing the opposition and stealing state funds to mingle will
colleagues in fancy hotels... ..........
Mary Papayya said:
'Politicians should not overstay their welcome'
ANC president Jacob Zuma took a swipe at African leaders such as Robert
Mugabe who "refuse to step down" and overstay their political welcome.
Zuma was speaking at a celebratory ANC dinner in KwaZulu-Natal to welcome
the new ANC leadership and pay tribute to outgoing premier and ANC chairman
S'bu Ndebele.
Acknowledging Ndebele, Zuma said: "You are a good political student . who
knows how to step down with dignity . you have learnt from our great leaders
such as Madiba.... ......
Zimbabwe[/url]
N/A • N/A
Subject: I CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE
Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:13:26 • Mr Bush is the Head of State of the United States, I will therefore respect him just as I would want every American to respect my own President Robert Mugabe.
With due respect sir - Mr Bush. Zimbabweans are suffering not because Mugabe is a bad leader who is not supported by the people and who does not want to let go of power. To the contrary, Zimbabweans are suffering because of ZIDERA, they are suffering because of the sanctions the EU and Britain have imposed. Sir, I am sure you have ready Stephen Covey when he talks of a WIN WIN situation. Sir you are against a WIN WIN situation for Zimbabwe-yet you say you care about us. I am appealing to you as a God loving Catholic, to depart from the approach of wanting to beat Robert Mugabe into submission and therefore teach Africans elsewhere a lesson, to an approach of allowing Mbeki to work together with all concerned in order to achieve a win win for the people you care about.
I take your word sir, when you say you care about us, and hope you will be constructive and not be destructive to the healing process that we Zimbabweans can bring to bear upon ourselves.
Tell Mr Brown to adopt the same approach and you will see what that approach can achieve. Thank you for listening to this ordinary Zimbabwean and enjoy yourself at the G8.
40 plus still suffering I want to differ with you Bwana. War does not solve anything talking does. So Zimbos should sit down and discuss their differences until all of us win. The fourth Chimurenga should be about building our beautiful country which we have all destroyed by being a divided house, thus letting in outsiders to help us destroy it quick-for their own interests.
Saka hama yangu, lets forget about guns- let take mapadza nema gejo and till the land. Before you know it, you will be 45 plus Smiling and Happy and fulfilled.Your kids will be second to none in Africa. Your home will be full of everything you can dream of. How about adopting that approach Sir?
Who knows you may even live to take a shot at chigaro chamambo and get there. So lets be constructive ngati bwereketei kwete kurwa.
][/B]
George Ayittey said:| Harare Tribune News
Updated: July 8, 2008 20:25
opinion@hararetribune.com
Nothing coming out of Zimbabwe makes sense. The country is now a certified "coconut republic," where common sense has been butchered and arrogant insanity rampages with impunity. A loaf of bread costs 6 billion Zimbabwean dollars and one U.S. dollar exchanges for one trillion Zim dollars.
The rate of inflation is over 3 million percent - whatever that means. Even African villagers laughed off the June 27 coconut run-off election, in which President Robert Mugabe, the sole candidate, won a "landslide victory." Morgan Tsvangirai, his rival and leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) withdrew amid escalating violence, beatings, torture and assassination of opposition supporters.
Over 90 members of the opposition have been killed since the March 29 elections. Even babies have not been spared of the insane brutalities - as if they have anything to do with Western colonialism and imperialism. Meanwhile, over 200 opposition supporters have sought sanctuary on the compound of the U.S. Embassy in Harare. Zimbabwe is a tragedy in more ways than one. It is a despicable disgrace to Africa and reinforces the racist notion that black Africans are incapable of ruling themselves. We took over from the departing white colonialists and in country after country we ran our economies into a sump and ruined our countries. The exceptions are few. Ian Smith, the former and late prime minister of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, must be dancing in his grave. This hurts and cuts deep into my African pride.
The crisis took long to unfold and I repeatedly warned of the impending implosion in Zimbabwe after my visit there in 1990. In my book, Africa Betrayed, I wrote this: "It would be wise for Mugabe to retire now, after running the country for 10 years, rather than to stay on to fall from grace to grass." A liberation hero I once admired, he has transformed himself into a murderous despot.
In May 1999, I attended a conference organized by the Mario Soares Foundation in Porto, Portugal, to address conflict and security issues in the Central and Lake Regions of Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire). I opined that the response of the international community to Africa's crises had been woefully inadequate. It waits until an African country implodes before rushing in blankets, tents and high-protein biscuits to cater for the refugees. Prevention is better than cure, I intoned. I stunned the audience when I warned them that, as they seek to resolve the crises in the Central and Lake Regions of Africa, they should be aware that there were other African countries standing in line ready to blow. Specifically, I mentioned
Ivory Coast, Togo and Zimbabwe. But few paid heed.
Barely six months later after the Porto Conference, General Robert Guie seized power in the Ivory Coast in December, 1999, unleashing a chain of events that led to a civil war. The country is still divided between the Muslim north and the Christian south. Zimbabwe started to unravel after the Feb 2000 referendum and I warned in a PBS interview with Bill Moyers (Wide Angle) that the country faced the grim prospects of a military coup or civil war. Togo imploded in 2005.
Zimbabwe's economic situation started to deteriorate by the late 1990s. The country had been rocked by a wave of strikes by workers, nurses, teachers to protest rising food and fuel price hikes. In 1998, even doctors went on strike to protest shortages of such basic supplies as soap and painkillers. And while the urban poor were rioting about food prices, the Mugabe government ordered a fleet of new Mercedes cars for the 50-odd cabinet ministers while 77-year old Mugabe himself and his wife and his 36-year-old wife, Grace, attended lavish parties and conferences abroad. In 1999, President Mugabe further angered voters by tripling and quadrupling the salaries of his ministers.
Rampant shortages of basic commodities -- such as mealie meal, the national staple diet, bread, rice, potatoes, cooking oil and even soap -- kept inflation raging at more than 110 percent. Zimbabwe's gross domestic product dropped from US$8.4 billion in 1997 to about US$5 billion in 2001, a fall of around 40 per cent"(The Times of London On Line, March 06, 2002). With the flight of investors and closure of businesses due to attacks by militants -- more than 30 businesses were attacked in May 2001 alone -- jobs became scarce, pushing Zimbabwe's unemployment to nearly 60 percent. In 2000, 400 companies closed and some 9,600 jobs were lost.
The state treasury stood empty, pillaged by kamikaze kleptocrats and drained at the rate of $3 million per week by some estimates by a mercenary involvement in Congo's war (The Washington Post, March 3, 2002; p. A20). Cabinet ministers, army generals, relatives of President Robert Mugabe, prominent figures in the ruling party and a score of the well-connected launched lucrative business ventures to plunder Congo's rich resources: diamonds, cobalt and gold. Plunder of Congo's mineral riches and lucrative deals kept Zimbabwe's army generals fat and happy. Accordingly, the commander of the defense forces, General Vitalis Zvinavashe, warned in February 2002 that the country's military, police and intelligence chiefs would not accept a "Morgan Tsvangirai" as a national leader if he won the March 9 election since he was not a veteran of Zimbabwe's independence
struggle.
Mugabe angrily rejected criticism of his government for the economic crisis. He always blamed British colonialists, greedy Western powers, the racist white minority and the IMF, which he denounced as that "monstrous creature." But Zimbabwean voters knew better. When Mugabe asked them in a February 15 2000 referendum for draconian emergency powers to seize white farms for distribution to landless peasants, they resoundingly rejected the constitutional revisions by 55 percent to 45 percent. Paranoid and desperate, Mugabe played his trump card. He sent his "war veterans" to seize white commercial farmland anyway.
To be sure, there is basic inequity in the distribution of land in Zimbabwe. Whites account for only about 1 percent of Zimbabwe's population of 12.5 million, yet 4,500 white farmers continue to own nearly a third of the country's most fertile farmland. But the land issue has become a political tool, ruthlessly exploited by Mugabe at election time to fan racial hatred, solidify his vote among landless rural voters, to maintain his grip on power and to divert attention from his disastrous Marxist-Leninist policies and ill-fated misadventures in the Congo.
Race, however, has little to do with the crisis in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe himself did well in the beginning after independence in 1980 and a handful of African countries, such as Benin, Botswana, Ghana and Mali are doing well. Neither does British colonialism, American imperialism, ethnicity, religion or gender have anything to do with Zimbabwe's crisis. The most singular cause has been the stubborn refusal of the leadership to relinquish or share power when their people are fed up with them. This has been the gruesome post-colonial African road to implosion that was religiously taken by Liberia (1990), Somalia (1993), Rwanda (1994), Burundi (1995), Zaire (1996), Sierra Leone (1999), Ivory Coast (2000) and Togo (2005). Terrified of their own failed policies and the prospect of rejection at the polls, the leadership always cited some bizarre reason why they would never allow the opposition to win power.
The African Vampire State
The source of Africa' s perennial crises can be traced to the alien system of governance imposed on Africa by its leaders after independence in the 1960s -- in particular, defective political and economic systems that were blindly copied abroad and imported into Africa: The political system of "one-party state" system with "presidents-for-life" and an economic system of dirigisme or state interventionism. These systems are alien to Africa's own indigenous institutions. The traditional African system of governance was confederacy and participatory democracy based upon consensus building under its chiefs. The ancient empires of Africa - Songhai, Ghana, Mali and Great Zimbabwe - were all confederacies, characterized by great devolution of authority and decentralization of power.
The traditional African economic system was free market and free enterprise. In contrast to the West, where the individual was the basic social and economic unit, the extended family was the economic unit in traditional Africa. It acted as a "corporate entity," owned the land on which food was produced for consumption. The surplus was sold on village markets. There were markets in Africa before the colonialists stepped foot on the continent. Timbuktu, Salaga, Kano, Mombasa and Sofala were all great market towns. Prices on Africa's traditional markets have always been determined by bargaining. Chiefs do not fix prices and market activity, especially in West Africa, has always been dominated by women.
All these suddenly changed after independence. Markets were suddenly portrayed as "western institutions" to be controlled and even destroyed. And democracy suddenly became a western luxury Africa could not afford. In their places were erected the "one-party state system," where opposition parties were outlawed and one buffoon ran for president, always won 99.9999 percent of the vote to declare himself "president-for-life." No such nonsensical system existed in traditional Africa. Chiefs were chose, OK? And if they did not govern according to the will of he people, they were removed. No African chief declared his village to be a "one-party state" and himself "Chief-for-Life."
The "one-party state" was a political system that concentrated a great deal of power in the hands of the head of state. Any political system that concentrates a lot of power in the hands of one individual ultimately degenerates into tyranny, regardless of the geographical area where it is established. As Lord Acton once said: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute
power corrupts absolutely." Similarly, the economic system of state interventionism, under the guise of socialism, concentrated enormous economic power in the hands of the state.
Very quickly after independence, the head of state and government officials discovered that they could use the enormous power vested in the state to enrich themselves, punish their rivals and perpetuate themselves in office. Gradually in post-colonial Africa, "government," as we know it, ceased to exist. What came to exist is a "vampire state" - a government hijacked by a phalanx of unrepentant bandits and vagabonds, who use the machinery of the state to enrich themselves, their cronies, tribesmen and exclude everyone else - the politics of exclusion. The richest people in Africa are heads of state and ministers. Quite often, the chief bandit is the head of state himself.
Billions of dollars in personal fortunes have shamelessly been amassed by African leaders while their people wallow in abject poverty. At an African civic groups meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 2002, Nigeria's President, Olusegun Obasanjo, claimed that "corrupt African leaders have stolen at least $140 billion (£95 billion) from their people in the decades since independence" (The London Independent, June 14, 2002. Web posted at www.independent.co.uk). Robert Mugabe has amassed a personal fortune of more than $100 million in Malaysian banks while his people suffer. But he is not alone. The African Union claimed in an October 2004 report that corruption alone costs Africa $148 billion a year, which is 6 times the foreign aid Africa receives from all sources in a year.
The fortunes of African heads of state were published by French Weekly
(May, 1997) and reprinted in the Nigerian newspaper, The News (Aug 17,
1998):
1. General Sani Abacha of Nigeria 120 billion FF (or $20 billion)
2. President H. Boigny of Ivory Coast 35 billion FF (or $6 billion)
3. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida of Nigeria 30 billion FF (or $5 billion)
4. President Mobutu of Zaire 22 billion FF (or $4 billion)
5. President Mousa Traore of Mali 10.8 billion FF (or $ $2 billion)
6. President Henri Bedie of Ivory Coast 2 billion FF (or $300 million)
7. President Denis N'guesso of Congo 1.2 billion FF (or $200 million)
8. President Omar Bongo of Gabon 0.5 billion FF (or $ $80 million)
9. President Paul Biya of Cameroon 450 million FF (or $70 million)
10. President Haile Mariam of Ethiopia 200 million FF (or $30 million)
11. President Hissene Habre of Chad 20 million FF (or $3 million)
Name one traditional African leader who looted his tribal treasury for deposit in Swiss banks. Said Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), former founder of the Black Panther Party in the United States, "[Modern] African leaders are so corrupt that we are certain if we put dogs in uniforms and put guns on their shoulders, we'd be hard put to distinguish between them"
(quoted in The Washington Post, April 8, 1998; p.D12.
The vampire state does not care about nor represent the people. It sucks the economic vitality out of the people. Eventually, however, it metastasizes into a coconut republic and implodes. The implosion nearly always begins with a dispute over the electoral process: A refusal to hold elections or the results of outrageously rigged elections. Blockage of the democratic process or the refusal to hold elections plunged Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, and Sudan into civil war. Hard-liner manipulation of the electoral process destroyed Rwanda (1993), Sierra Leone (1992) and Zaire (1990). Subversion of the electoral process in Liberia (1985) eventually set off a civil war in 1989. The same type of subversion instigated civil strife in Cameroon (1991), Congo (1992), Kenya (1992), Togo (1992) and Lesotho (1998). In Congo (Brazzaville), a dispute over the 1997 electoral framework flared into mayhem and civil war. Finally, the military's annulment of electoral results by the military started Algeria's civil war (1992) and plunged Nigeria into political turmoil (1993).
The political crisis starts when public furor, protests and violence erupt over election disputes. A gaggle of politicians and stake-holders scramble to resolve the crisis. They talk endlessly. The country is paralyzed. Frustrations mount. Several scenarios become possible.
Opposition leaders may be bought off and co-opted to join the errant regime. A "government of national unity" may be attempted. But even before the ink on the agreement is dry, squabbles erupt over the distribution of ministerial positions. Neither side is satisfied with what they get and hostilities resume. The regime may resort to brutal repression of the opposition (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zimbabwe) or even extermination with the macabre logic that if the opposition doesn't exist, then there would be no one to share power with (Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan).
But sooner or later, the people come to see through the political chicanery and posturing. The public loses faith in the electoral process and the ability of politicians to resolve the crisis. Some group then decides it is no use talking and the only way to remove the tyrant in power is by force. The group then takes "to the bush" and that is how nearly all rebel
insurgencies start in Africa. Charles Taylor of Liberia launched his rebel insurgency in 1989 after losing faith in the ability of the then president, General Samuel Doe, and opposition leaders, Gabriel Baccus Matthews and Amos Sawyer to resolve it. Similarly, Laurent Kabila of Zaire (now DRC) in 1996. It only takes a small band of determined rebels to start an insurgency, wreak mayhem and utter destruction. Yoweri Museveni, now president of Uganda, started out with only 27 men. Charles Taylor of Liberia with less than 200 and Laurent Kabila with about 150.
The insurgency, always mounted by politically-marginalized or excluded groups, always starts from the countryside. Rebels don't set out to redraw artificial colonial boundaries. Nor does ethnicity have anything to do with the insurgency. Somalia is ethnically homogenous; yet it imploded. The insurgency is about capturing POWER, so the rebels head straight towards the capital, where political power resides. Along the way, they pick up recruits and their ranks swell with unemployed youth (child soldiers). Government soldiers, sent to crush the rebels, often defect, bringing along their valuable weapons (Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Zaire). Eventually the despot flees into exile (Generals Mobutu Sese Seko, General Siad Barre, General Joseph Momoh of Sierra Leone) or is killed (General Samuel Doe, General Juvenal Habryimana).
Since 1990, one African country after another has imploded with deafening staccato:
. In 1990, Liberia was destroyed by the regime of General Samuel Doe,
. In 1991, Mali by the regime of General Moussa Traore,
. In 1993, the Central African Republic was destroyed by the military regime of General Andre Kolingba,
. In 1993, Somalia was ruined by the regime of General Siad Barre,
. In 1994, Rwanda by the regime of General Juvenal Habryimana,
. In 1995, Burundi by the regime of General Pierre Buyoya,
. In 1996, Zaire by regime of General Mobutu Sese Seko,
. In 1997, Sierra Leone by regime of General Joseph Momoh,
. In 1999, Niger by the regime of General Ibrahim Barre Mainassara,
. In 2000, Ivory Coast by the regime of General Robert Guei.
. In 2005, Togo by the regime of General Gnassingbe Eyadema.
Note the frequency of the title "General". The paucity of good leadership has left a garish stain on the continent. More distressing, the caliber of leadership has deteriorated over the decades to execrable depths. The likes of Charles Taylor of Liberia and Sani Abacha of Nigeria even make Mobutu Sese Seko of formerly Zaire look like a saint. The slate of post colonial African leaders has been a disgusting assortment of military coconut-heads, quack revolutionaries, crocodile liberators, "Swiss bank" socialists, brief-case bandits, semi-illiterate brutes and vampire elites. Faithful only to their private bank accounts, kamikaze kleptocrats raid and plunder the treasury with little thought of the ramifications on national development.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the final chapter has already been written. The country is finished. It has followed the same post-colonial African road to implosion. Robert Mugabe is no longer in charge. He is just a "hostage president." A "Joint Operations Command" (JOC) is in charge, after a "military coup" in April 2008. Ominously, JOC is led by these military generals: Constantine Chiwenga, Perence Shiri, and Philip Sibanda.
Reshuffling at the top, however, amounts to reshuffling on the deck of the Titanic. It won't save nor restore credibility to the dying regime. People have already lost faith in the leadership and the political process. Over 200 Zimbabweans have sought refuge on the compounds of the U.S. Embassy in Harare. Over 4 million Zimbabweans have fled the country. A group of them will return from exile - with bazookas. But that won't be the end of the Zimbabwe's or Africa's saga.
First, there are other African countries that are also standing in line:
. Angola: President Jose Eduardo has been in power since 1979;
. Burkina Faso: President Blaise Compaore since 1987;
. Cameroon: President Paul Biya since 1982
. Chad: President Idriss Derby since 1994;
. Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak since 1981;
. Equatorial Guinea: Teodoro Obiang since 1979;
. Gabon: Omar Bongo since 1967;
. Guinea: President Lansana Conte since 1984;
. Libya, Moammar Ghaddafi since 1969;
Second, Africa's post-colonial story also shows that rebel leaders who seize power are often no better. They are themselves "crocodile liberators," exhibiting the same dictatorial tendencies they loudly condemned in the despots they removed: Charles Taylor versus General Samuel Doe and Laurent Kabila versus Mobutu Sese Seko. As Africans often say: "We struggle very hard to remove one cockroach from power and the next rat comes to do the same thing."
Another joke in the unfolding tragedy.
On Friday 4th our local tellers were dispensing 20 Five Billion Dollar "Agro" cheques to make what GG believes should be a bank client's maximum daily cash requirement. By Monday this week they were reduced to only handing out 4 Twenty-five Billion notes and yesterday it was 2 X 25 & 1 X 50.
What will the banks be dishing out on Friday? Apparently Harare parallel market trades against USD were yesterday around 125 Billion which values the bigger of the notes at 40 US Cents. ... ... .... ....
Zimbabwe's annual rate of inflation has surged to 2,200,000%, official figures have shown. The figure is the first official assessment of prices in the troubled African nation since February, when the rate of inflation stood at 165,000%. Zimbabwe, once one of the richest countries in Africa, has descended into economic chaos largely blamed on the policies of President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Mugabe was re-elected last month in a controversial one-man race. The opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), pulled out of the run-off election, saying its supporters were being attacked and killed. Rising costs are forcing retailers to increase prices a number of times a day for goods purchased with billion dollar bank notes and the number of people falling into poverty is on the rise.
In May, the central bank issued a 500m Zimbabwe dollar banknote, worth US$2 at the time of issue, to try to ease cash shortages amid the world's highest rate of inflation. This is in stark contrast with the situation at independence in 1980 when one Zimbabwe dollar was worth more than US$1.
Mr Mugabe denies that he is ruining the economy, laying the blame on international sanctions he says have been imposed against Zimbabwe. The US and the EU have imposed targeted sanctions, such as a travel ban and an assets freeze, on Mr Mugabe and his close allies.
Zimbabwe, Harare-- In the last few days, the MDC and human rights organizations have confirmed , it has come to light that foreign mercenaries are joining ZANU-PF militia units in the rural areas, torturing, killing, raping, cutting tongues and beating MDC supporters and activists.
Sources at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe revealed that indeed there were foreign soldiers of fortune, whose services they are rendering to the ZANU-PF government the RBZ underwrites.
In the rural areas, eyewitness say they mercenaries move from village to village, with translators in two since they don't speak the local tongue.
Patrick Chitaka, the MDC chairman in Manicaland province in the east of the country, said the foreigners had been identified in the past two to three weeks supporting government-backed men.
Mr Chitaka said: "We have observed that some of the people leading the violence are foreigners because they speak a different language and they do not understand our local languages. "Also the tactics they are using are not peculiar with Zimbabweans because they are cutting out the tongue, removing eyes and genital parts. We are not sure where they come from."
The claims were supported by human rights workers in Manicaland last night. A spokesman for one group who did not want to be named said observers on the ground had witnessed "tens, if not hundreds" of foreigners accompanying government-backed militias.
He said the soldiers were not from neighbouring countries but were more likely from farther north in Africa, possibly Rwanda, Kenya or Uganda. Local people claim the irregular forces are Hutus from Rwanda, but the human rights representative said he could not be definitive. There are an estimated 4,000 Hutu refugees living in Zimbabwe, some of whom took part in the genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994.
The spokesman said observers in two constituencies Makoni South and Makoni West west of Zimbabwe's third city of Mutare, had calculated there were up to 200 foreigners spread across both areas. "There are between six and 10 foreigners in each base, and there are 20 Zanu bases in the two constituencies. They wear military uniform, carry guns especially shotguns which we think are Russian. They are cruel and brutal. Each unit has an interpreter who tells them what to do. People here live close to several borders and they know Portuguese from Mozambique and languages from Malawi and Zambia. They don't speak any of those or English.
"The tongues are from much farther up north Kenya, Uganda or Rwanda."
Mr Chitaka added: "People are very scared of them because they know no bounds. They go house-to-house in MDC areas and beat people and force them to shout for Zanu-PF. The men then get their victims to beat their neighbours in the same way. "They have gang-raped women and abducted them. People are missing but families are too afraid to look for them."--
The SADC Tribunal hearing is scheduled for Wednesday 16 July 2008. The application led by Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd (first applicant), William Michael Campbell (second applicant) and 77 Zimbabwean commercial farmers (the interveners) who face eviction from their farms will be heard by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal in Windhoek tomorrow. The application is also brought on behalf of the thousands of farm workers and their families living on the farms.
..
Dumisani Muleya said:
Mbeki forced to call off Zimbabwe visit
Harare Correspondent
AT THE last minute, President Thabo Mbeki yesterday cancelled a critical
visit to Zimbabwe to witness the signing of an inter-party agreement to pave
the way for substantive talks on power-sharing after the opposition backed
out of endorsing the draft. This was a major setback to Mbeki's efforts to find a breakthrough in the talks between President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.
The collapse of the planned signing came 10 days after Mbeki's bid to secure
the first meeting between Mugabe and his bitter rival, Tsvangirai, flopped at the 11th hour. Tsvangirai boycotted that meeting, urging the African Union (AU) to appoint a permanent envoy to beef up Mbeki's mediation efforts. Tsvangirai said political violence in the country had to stop.
The AU recently resolved that Zimbabwe should form a government of national unity to end its political impasse. Mbeki is expected to meet AU Commission chairman Jean Ping tomorrow for talks on the Zimbabwe crisis and then fly to Harare at the weekend. Tsvangirai threw a spanner in the works for Mbeki for the second time in two weeks after he refused to sign a memorandum of understanding agreed to between the parties on Monday.
This will make Mbeki's meeting with Ping highly charged because Tsvangirai
says Ping, the AU's most senior permanent diplomat, told him not to co-operate until a permanent AU envoy was appointed. The claim was rejected
by Zanu (PF) mediators yesterday, who said the MDC leader was "spinning a
yarn". They said they had verified with the AU that Ping never said that. Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said the Ping saga was a "fake issue".
The MDC and western countries say Mbeki is ineffective, even biased, and
should be replaced or assisted , but Pretoria rejects this. Mugabe yesterday continued to lambaste Britain and other western countries he says are plotting to overthrow him. His latest tirade was at the start of the televised opening of what was described as a food subsidy programme. Mugabe, however, for the first time did not attack the MDC, which he alleges is a western puppet.
Frantic meetings were under way yesterday to put pressure on Tsvangirai to
sign, but he held out, demanding his conditions be met first , forcing Mbeki
to remain on standby. Tsvangirai insists the AU assign a permanent emissary on Zimbabwe to bolster Mbeki's mediation. He also wants Mugabe to first stop repression and political violence, release detained MDC officials and supporters, and let humanitarian aid resume.
Tsvangirai's MDC group is represented at the talks by Tendai Biti and Elton
Mangoma, while Mutambara's camp is led by Welshman Ncube and Priscillah
Misihairabwi-Mushonga. Zanu (PF)'s negotiators are Patrick Chinamasa and
Nicholas Goche.
Mbeki was expected to come with his facilitation team, comprising Local
Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, director-general in the Presidency
Frank Chikane, and presidential legal adviser Mujanku Gumbi. Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono said yesterday inflation had reached 2,2-million percent, although independent economists say it is now well above 7-million percent. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions yesterday condemned Mugabe's re-election and urged the AU to appoint a high-profile envoy to help Mbeki with the talks.