RYM SECRETARY GENERAL ABDUCTED IN KZN

LINK!!!!


TRUST MATSILELE

KZN:The Secretary General of the Zimbabwe youth formation in South Africa, Revolutionary Youth Movement has alerted The Zimbabwean that he was picked up and tortured at KwaZulu Natal University recently whilst making preparations for the much anticipated demonstration.

John Chikwari who is in KZN preparing for a massive demonstration meant to push back children of ministers and top army officials to Zimbabwe studying at the University of KwaZulu Natal on presidential scholarship as they allege that these children are unscrupulously benefiting from the corrupt acts of President Robert Mugabe’s regime.

“I was arrested on Thursday around 8am when I was entering the KwaZulu Natal gate to sort out the acknowledgement letter from the relevant authorities for the submission of the petition on the demonstration day.

He also added that, “I was taken by three men whom I believe are Zanu-PF C10 who drove me to Escort a small town from Durban and moved further for almost twenty kilometers near Kwazulu Natal Shoe Company which is situated in a farm.

“They tied me all my hands and tied my mouth so that I could not speak nor see .I was interrogated by quiet a number these men, whilst beating me, they did not give me anything to eat till Sunday.

The exasperated Chikwari went ahead in explaining his ordeal as saying,
“On Saturday evening they left me in a sealed room and they all went out that is when I managed to untie myself and escape the hell and it seems that the place is busy with these men.

Chikwari also claims that he walked by foot almost 21 Km to Escort town through the forests as he was afraid to be recognized if he used the main road.

The RYM founding member who has been mobilizing demonstrations around Johannesburg over the past three months says he was robbed of his my and other belongings,

“I lost R300 and my cell phone and do suspect that it disappeared the time these people were beating me which I suspect was meant to disconnect me with my contacts,” Chikwari lamented in an interview with The Zimbabwean.

In the past months the RYM has managed to hold demonstrations at Milpark hospital were the senior police chief of Zimbabwe, Bothwell Mugariri was being treated and also did another demonstration at the Zimbabwean embassy in Pretoria over worsening human rights abuses in the country and also another one at Witwatersrand University as they called on the University authorities to expel all students with Zanu PF links.

Militant youths mobilise ahead of next year's poll!

LINK!!!



By Trust Matsilele

JOHANNESBURG - The militant youth grouping of the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) yesterday said it would be setting up an information dissemination centre to act as a major link to the media covering Zimbabwe 2008 elections.

 

RYM president Simon Mudekwa, who was in South Africa recently said the information centre would deal with many issues affecting Zimbabwe at the moment. This, he said, would include talking to the international community and urging those employing Zimbabweans to relax their working conditions next year so they can go home and vote in 2008.

 

"Those with working permits all over the world should be given time to go and vote home and those who are refuges, asylum seekers should be given the right to vote where they are in the world, these elections are crucial for Zimbabwe and the SADC region," said Mudekwa.

"We are working tireless as we will be launching a unified force campaign programme in December at the international global conference. We all know that the participation by every Zimbabwean in this election is vital in making the Robert Mugabe regime history. They have ruled for the past three decades and the result is there for everyone to see.".

 

Mudekwa said his organisation will soon launch its programme of action to mobilise local Zimbabwe in time for next year's crucial election as well as targeting those working in the region and abroad.

 

The Zimbabwe government has repeatedly refused to allow those living in the Diaspora to vote. Most of those now living abroad are believed to be opposition supporters who either ran away from the economic crisis or persecution back home.

 

"As an organization we understand that if you want development and change, you have to stand up, assume a leadership role and work for that change. We are left with no time," he said.

 

"Networking, advocacy, lobbying and implementation is the only tool we are left with to see change."

 

 

DANIEL MOLOKELE PROFILES THE ZIMBABWE REVOLUTIONARY YOUTH MOVEMENT!

LINK!!!

Meet the Revolutionary Youth Movement of Zimbabwe

REVOLUTIONARY YOUTH MOVEMENT OF ZIMBABWE

 

4th Floor Noswal Hall Tel/Fax. +27 11 339 3629
3 Steimens Street Cell. +27 72 254 3486 / 72 261 1493
Braamfontein E-mail:rymzim@yahoo.com.au

P.O.Box 32038 website:www.zimrevyouths.blogspot.com

Braamfontein 2017

To bring back the democratic dispensation, peace and tranquility &
Healthy to Zimbabwe.



Background Information: Origin

 

The Revolutionary Youth Movement of Zimbabwe (RYMZ) is a non-governmental organization (NGO).The movement was formed by the concerned and active Zimbabwean youth in South Africa, who are more concerned by bringing back democratic dispensation in Zimbabwe. As results of this Eco-Political stalemate spear headed by the illegitimate, murders and ruinous ruling party ZANU PF, youths in South Africa have geared themselves for time to change and act tirelessly as to strategies and fight the Zanu PF regime. As an organization we understood that if you want development and change, you have to stand up, assume a leadership role and work for that change.

The RYMZ is dedicated to fight tirelessly against the one party state rule of Robert Mugabe and his henchmen, who are heading our country to ransom and tatters.
The RYMZ has a role to play in the country observing and expressing challenges that characterizes Zimbabwe.
The RYMZ is geared to lobby and advocacy and to disseminate information on detoriating economical melte down, political instability, the distorting Healthy and Educational system and unprevelance of the rule of law.

Objectives

The movement was established in 2007 with the following objectives

1. To mobilize resource (human ,material and technology) to facilitate the function of the movement as to increase civic participation against the Zimbabwean government

2. To fight for a new Constitution in Zimbabwe and regime change.

3. To fight for democracy and freedom for Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe

4. To publicly condemn human rights abuse in Zimbabwe through demonstrations and petitions.

5. To alleviate poverty amongst Zimbabweans by establishing self-sustenance projects

6. To provide access to education and vocational training

7. To fight for the rule of law in Zimbabwe


8. To promote peace and the security of Zimbabweans

9. To dissuade Zimbabwean exiles from crime

10. To cultivate and foster a sense of national pride and patriotism among Zimbabwean exiles with a view to facilitating return to Zimbabwe after democracy has been restored

11. To mobilize all Zimbabweans in exile with a purpose that they actively participate in the democratic process of their country.

12. To develop community capacity and competency through continuous learning and information disseminating

13. To promote strong collaborative networking partnership with stakeholders who share the same vision locally ,regionally and internationally

14. To advocate and lobby on issues within the mission




Vision
· To see a brighter and a peaceful Zimbabwe

Mission
· To restore dignity to all Zimbabweans

· To bring back democracy in Zimbabwe


Motto
· A revolution is inevitable

Values

· Faith - Commitment to public service
· Dignity - Humanity
· Love - Togetherness
· Passion - Innovation – creativity & excellence
· Leadership - Respect for oneself &diversity culture
· Trustworthy – Quality &efficiency
· Team work - Connectedness
· Genuiness - helping other to help themselves
· Resilient - whole committed





Community Target Group

Youth
Women
Men
Children
Elders

Key Accomplishment

Recognition of the movement by the Local , Regional and Internationally organization
Affiliation to CSO Forum in Diaspora
Affiliation to National Constitution Assembly
Affiliation to Movement of Democratic Change
Affiliation to youth arise


Revolutionary Youth Movement of Zimbabwe - Community Empowerment Activities

27 JULY 2007

· A demonstration was held at the Wits University and a petition was handed over to the vice chancellor demanding the immediate expulsion of the ZANU PF sons and daughters from the university.ZANU PF chiefs are sucking government scarce foreign to currency meet their sons and daughters expenses on the expenses of poor and suffering Zimbabweans who are all tax payers .

29 AUGUST 2007

· Demonstration at the Zimbabwean Embassy ,RYMZ handed over a petition to the Zimbabwean Embassy demanding an immediate closure of the embassy since it is not catering for suffering Zimbabweans here in the Diaspora. The embassy is now involved in illicit diamond dealings for which it is not mandated to do so Zimbabweans were demanding a Diaspora vote.

04 OCTOBER 2007

· Demonstration at Milkpark Hospital, RYMZ Handed over a petition to the Milkpark Hospital demanding the Hospital to stop once and for all to admitte ZANU PF elites for treatment as the government is claiming that the healthy system is well functioning in Zimbabwe. The ZANU PF is plundering scarce country's foreign currency and taxpayer's money to meet their personal needs on the expense of poor and suffering Zimbabweans.

 

 

Peace and Tranquility???

Peace and Tranquility???

 Cell in RSA: 0791463039

 

DANIEL MOLOKELE PROFILES MS ANNMARIA MUDZINGIRANWA!!

SOURCE!!!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Meet Annamaria Mudzingiranwa - Youth Activist
Starting with effect from this week, i will run a feature series that will focus on some of the prominent Zimbabwean activists and NGO leaders that are now based in South Africa.

In this regard, the first honours will go to Ms Annamaria Mudzingiranwa. She is the Publicity and Information Officer of the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth Movement.

She was born at St Theresa hospital in Chirumanzu March 1975.

She is now based in Johannesburg where she has established herself as one of the most visible youth activists in the city.

At present, she is heavily involved with the Fair Deal Campaign that seeks to expose the hypocricy of Zanu PF top brass.

In particular, the campaign is against the use of international facilities by top Zanu officials and their children. These include university education and healthcare services.

The campaign argues that it is morally unjustified for Zanu PF leaders to seek outside services when they claim that all is well back home in Zimbabwe.

More specifically, the campaign accuses them for abusing the tax payers money to pay for their own personal services outside Zimbabwe

MDC REPORT!

Zanu PF insincere about SADC dialogue as violence escalates against pro-democracy forces

MDC DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION & PUBLICITY National Headquarters 6th Floor Harvest House 44 Nelson Mandela Avenue Harare Tel: 0912 940 489, 0912 850 556 e-mail: mdcnewsbrief@gmail.com 15 October 2007 Zanu PF insincere about dialogue as regime continues violent crackdown on democratic forces The Zanu PF regime has intensified its violent crackdown on the MDC and other pro-democracy activists as it becomes clear that the people are determined to oust the regime in a free and fair election. Today, police arrested WOZA women on a peaceful protest against the deteriorating national crisis. In Harare, police summoned MDC Harare provincial organizing Secretary and Glen View MP, Paul Madzore, in an apparent attempt to thwart the party from holding rallies in Harare. Senior police and intelligence officers summoned Hon Madzore to Harare Central Police Station, alleging that speakers at an MDC rally in Glen Norah on Sunday had preached hate and insulted police officers. The police also said they took exception to calls by the speakers at the rally for the people to note down the names of police officers who are involved in human rights abuses. The MDC is dismayed by Zanu PF's disdain of the SADC-initiated talks that are aimed at finding common ground between the regime and the opposition. While the MDC and Zanu PF are engaged in dialogue in Pretoria, the regime's has continued to hound our supporters; brutally assaulting and attacking them against the spirit of the dialogue process. We continue to receive disturbing reports from across the country of violence against our supporters as well as Zanu PF's continued abuse of food as a political weapon. We condemn the incessant attempts by the regime and security agents to tamper with the people's basic freedoms of assembly, speech and association. The regime is working hard to shrink the democratic space of ordinary Zimbabweans which SADC, through the South Africa-brokered talks, is working hard to expand. Zanu PF has to revise its behaviour to show its sincerity in the talks. Since the dialogue process started, police have turned down 103 opposition rallies while Zanu PF's "solidarity marches" continue to take throughout the country without any police interference. The people of Zimbabwe are resilient against a regime that continues to harass and assault them when it has a constitutional mandate to protect them. They do not want a police force that continues to gag their collective spirit and their desire for a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning. The people are resilient against violence and repression. They want to start afresh. They have seen enough violence in the past seven years and they do not want to walk the same road again. The people of Zimbabwe are prepared to make a bold statement against a regime that thrives on violence, thuggery and intimidation. Now is the time! Hon Nelson Chamisa, MP Secretary for Information and Publicity ..

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Mugabe a blood sucker

 

Wednesday, 20 June 2007

"MUGABE IS THE PROBLEM IN ZIM!" PAN-AFRICANISTS FINALLY ADMIT!!

LINK!!!!!!!

18 June 2007, by Cyprian-Orina Nyamwamu in Nairobi. John Kamau's article (Business Daily 29th May 2007) on Zimbabwe calling on the world to give Mugabe a break was the most articulate article regarding Zimbabwe to have filtered to the Kenyan press this year. Sadly the Article was peppered with propaganda aimed at achieving sympathy for Mugabe's despotic rule in Zimbabwe.

 

As we speak, Mugabe has succeeded in destroying Zimbabwean society all in the name of fighting imperialism. The problem in Zimbabwe did not begin with the land acquisition programme that Mugabe ordered after losing a referendum on a new constitution in 2000. The problem is Mugabe's understanding that he is Zimbabwe and even if all Zimbabweans were to die, so long as he remains the President, so be it. You have in Zimbabwe a despot who has appropriated his gallant role in the struggle for Zimbabwe's independence and majority rule as a basis for killing ethnic Ndebele's and suppressing opposition in the name of ZAPU and now MDC. This despot has created a humanitarian and economic crisis that has driven nearly 3 million Zimbabweans out of their country.

 

A campaign of annihilating

 

Between 1981 and 1987, Mugabe ran a campaign of annihilating a whole Ndebele population using the red-tagged Fifth Brigade simply because Joshua Nkomo was Ndebele and had demanded for Multi-party democracy and power sharing in Zimbabwe. When Gukurahundi ended in 1987 and as the world began to embrace liberal democratic systems of governance, Mugabe embraced the IMF-imposed liberalization programme that hurt the people of Zimbabwe and delegitimised his rule further. The economic crisis began with the failure of the SAPs and has been compounded by the chaotic and inept governance system that Mugabe has created to safeguard his populist rule.

 

Mugabe's after destroying ZAPU, then sought to entrench his rule through constitutional amendments aimed at giving him unparalleled power to dominate Zimbabwe's politics. Mugabe is also fearful of the repercussions that will follow him after he leaves power emerging from the killings he sponsored and supervised in Matebeleland and parts of Midlands.

 

Violent land invasions

 

After Mugabe lost the 2000 referendum, mainly since the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led a campaign that was well coordinated against the Mugabe constitutional amendements, he then had to jump to the violent land invasions by war veterans and ZANU-PF stalwarts to reward cronies aimed at consolidating support that he had lost over time. Here, a dictator who had sensed defeat needed a quick populist act to hold his base together. Mugabe, a Shona, witnessed  for the first time parliament receive up to 57 MDC MPs and nearly lost the presidential election in 2002. The whole of Matebeleland voted for MDC as was the case in Shona dominated provinces because the country was doubtful of Mugabe's credentials to lead a modern nation and steward a modern economy. I can report that indeed the 2002 Presidential election was stolen. Morgan Tsvangirai without doubt won that election. 

 

Since 2002 Mugabe has been involved in a Mugabe-succeed-Mugabe subterfuge. In continuing with this strategy Mugabe has packaged himself anew. He has presented himself as the African leader of the anti-neo-colonialist and anti-imperialist war and therefore the tackler of Blair and Bush; as the custodian of Zimbabwean interests against whites and foreigners and the selfless and strategic leader of a Zimbabwean revolution. He is none of these three.

 

A failed leader

 

Mugabe is a failed leader of the Zimbabwean independence. He has actually become the negation of the Zimbabwean independence and freedom. Any one who plans and executes a programme of killing more than 20,000 of his own people in the name of fighting about 400 insurgents in Matebeleland, consolidates a dictatorship. This dictatorship mismanages the economy and disregards the voices of it's own people calling any one who has a different even better view a stooge and reactionary. Any one who represses his own people, who bangles on land reforms in attempting to achieve political ends of maintaining the status quo must fail the test of patriotism and Pan-Africanism. Dr. Mugabe is not a Pan-Africanist but a dictator who is exploiting Pan-Africanist sentiment. He is not an anti-imperialist leader but a fascist who is exploiting anti-imperialist sentiment to legitimize the tyranny and torture he is unleashing on his own people.

 

He is not working towards giving the people land formerly owned by whites. What Mugabe is doing is to reward his cronies to ensure continued rule until death. Mugabe is not a strategic leader of Zimbabwe but a coward who feels dwarfed by emerging leaders in his country. He only uses his organizing skills to marshal political power against opponents successfully. MDC's weakness to date has to be attributed to the weakness of its leader to marshall numbers on sentimental platforms as Mugabe has managed, rather than a bankruptcy of vision to deliver Zimbabwe.

 

Ineptitude rule

 

Sadly Mugabe has succeeded to portray his Zimbabwean victims as villains and to blame his ineptitude rule on Blair and Bush. Africans who have yearned to see the minority whites in Zimbabwe kicked and fellow blacks given land are so happy. They ask, what was Mugabe supposed to do? To this I reply, Mugabe should have facilitated the making of a democratic constitution in Zimbabwe, implement a comprehensive agrarian reform, seek a SADC assisted plan to finance economic modernization and hand over leadership to the next generation of elected leaders.

 

Mugabe supporters who no longer care about Zimbabweans living in polythene roofed shelters in economic exile in South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia blame economic ruin in Zimbabwe to the sanctions imposed by the USA and Britain. While the sanctions particularly those outlined in the Zimbabwe Democracy Act, passed in the US should be condemned unreservedly, the fact is that diplomatic sanctions are  in the nature of  personalised travel bans and freezing of assets of ZANU-PF cronies. What about Mugabe's and ZANU-PFs mismanagement of the economy through corruption, cronyism and looting? So are we going to sit and whine about Blair and Bush? Kenya inherited same problems of unequal land distribution from British colonial rule and while little has been done to deal with the land issue, Kenyatta, Moi or Kibaki have not used land to secure political victory and destroy the economy and the society.

 

Economic independence

 

While we must resist imperialism and neo-colonialism in all its forms and I am a believer of economic independence, I am not about to side with fascist dictatorship, the murder, harassment and torture of innocent Zimbabweans simply because they oppose Mugabe's misrule. I am not about to tolerate human rights violation and torture by a fellow African because he thinks he is fighting imperialism yet he is corrupt and self aggrandizing. You can not hurt the people and destroy the economy and cause a humanitarian crisis the proportion it reached in Zimbabwe in the name of developing the same people and fighting imperialism. We know you fear prosecution for killing ethnic Ndebeles when out of the Office and fear a failed legacy marred by impunity and gross human rights violations, after many years of gallant and celebrated struggle for independence.

 

As Africans we must refuse to stand with the tyrants and stand with the people. The legacy of Mugabe can not now become of greater significance than the millions of suffering and dying Zimbabweans. The arguments that even in Kenya opposition activists get killed and beaten in demonstrations and that since USA has Guantanamo Bay so then Mugabe's acts of terror and debauchery are tolerable are too shocking for my comprehension. Is Bush torturing Americans in Guantanamo bay? Is Blair torturing Britons or Iraqis in Abu Ghraib? Why should Mugabe and Museveni torture the victims of imperialism for us to win against imperialism?

 

Deep political, economic and social crisis

 

Logically, President Mbeki should act with urgency and negotiate the safe exist of Mugabe from the Presidency of Zimbabwe. Mugabe is the problem and can not solve the countries deep political, economic and social crisis. ZANU-PF is no longer a nationalist liberation political party but a machinery for marshalling sentiments to secure Mugabe's dictatorship and the enrichment of government functionaries. The MDC should consider organizing a broad National Democratic Alliance/ Front to persuade Mugabe and ZANU PF to undertake political reforms to facilitate a free and fair election in March 2008 where the will of the people shall prevail.

 

Those who speak in support of a new Zimbabwe should in my view state this: If ZANU PF were to win, which is unlikely if constitutional and electoral reforms are undertaken to level the ground, then so be it. But I doubt if electoral reforms are realistic since the real problem in Zimbabwe is Mugabe who is determined to succeed himself. And the March 2008 election offers an opportunity for that feat. 

 

Cyprian-Orina Nyamwamu
Chief Executive Officer
National Convention Assembly (NCA) and NCEC,
Kenya

www.ncamovement.org

 

See also The Zimbabwe Crisis Platform

 

 

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COMMENT:
abdurratln said...
Dear Africans,

We are the Front for the Unification and Development of Africa and Arabia. Thus, we are Pan-Africanists; thus, we align ourselves with the African Unification Front.

What is not exactly clear from reading this post is wheteher or not your Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth Movement subscribe to African Unity and Development. It is one thing to attack a movement that led to independence in Zimbabwe. It another to have creditials proving that you helped in the Struggle for indepedence. One thing is certain: those who shed blood for independence are most likely to defend that independence. Where do you stand?

Another question is this: does your Zimabawe Revolutionary Youth Movement align with the African Unification Front or any other such political formation? If you do, we in FUDAA will be happy to give you and your associates a fair hearing in our political discourses. Otherwise, we shall be forced to consider you hostile to the best interests of the African Nation and to the African Revolution.

Abdurrahman

http://groups.google.com/group/fudaa

WHY THE SADC/MBEKI INITIATIVE CANNOT AND WILL NOT SOLVE ZIMBABWE'S PROBLEMS!

By Mufaro Stig Hove (Rev.): 14 OCTOBER, 2007.



PRELIMINARY COMMENTS:

There is no journalist, no blogger, no analyst, no politician: there is no individual or organisation that can ever describe the whole or even a part of the suffering that the people of Zimbabwe are going through just today as you read this humble submission of mine.

Suffering can never be adequately described!

It is the sufferer himself/herself who goes through the experience and may then try to describe it to whoever is interested in listening.

Zimbabweans are suffering both within Zimbabwe and outside Zimbabwe.

Whoever is reading this submission of mine has probably already read or heard of the trials and tribulations of the lovely people of Zim.

I will not go the direction of descriptions!

I will rather concentrate on looking at the Mbeki fallacy that the Elections of 2008 may/will help end the Crisis in the country of Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai, Lovemore Madhuku, millions others and myself also.

In brief, the State President of the Republic of South Africa, Cde Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki seems busy with what looks like some Initiative of some sort to try and return Zimbabwe to a state of “normality.”

(In the meantime, his Government is on a recruiting spree absorbing all the qualified teachers, nurses, accountants, engineers etc that are fleeing the humanitarian disaster across the Limpopo.

Who remains to look after the sick in the Hospitals, who remains to teach our children in the schools, who is working for various Industrial Establishments back home?

I am equally guilty of fleeing the land of my fathers and hiding in the land of my uncles!)

Thabo Mbeki’s under-paid soldiers and police are making a “killing” collecting bribes at the border and within the country from desperate Zimbabweans wanting to “regularize” their entry and stay in the mighty Republic of South Africa.

Farmers at the northern border are having various items disappearing as the “illegal immigrants” pilfer whatever they can so they can sell and get the precious Rand to use on the uncertain journey Southwards. The Rand will be required to pay for transport, for further bribes and for survival as one tries to establish oneself in the land of the intellectual Marxist-Leninist Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki.

When our legal or illegal immigrant brother/sister arrives in some town further South, life then really becomes another Hell as bad or even worse than the Zim one abandoned.

The only difference is that here one can set up a Barber Shop of sorts and get R10 per hairdo or whatever one can involve oneself in.

Bricklayers and other skilled or semi-skilled persons can be luckily absorbed in some project or other.

Women must brace themselves for vigorous sexual orgies and the word “prostitution” does not exist in this new land of South Africa. If one puts on a condom and gets in and then gets out, where is the problem there? The liberal ANC Government makes it even easier since they have exterminated all fear and acknowledgement of God in the short time they have presided over the affairs of the South African State.

The whole story of what is really happening as far as sexual abuse of Zimbabwean women is concerned will never be fully known or told!

Women share blankets with men at Marabastad Home Affairs (Pretoria / Tshwane) and the “lucky” ones are picked up in the evenings, spend the night earning a few rands “God-knows-where” and are then returned in the mornings to continue their wait for weeks and months for “papers” of one sort or another.

I will not talk of the rise in criminal activities because I have noticed that Cde Thabo Mbeki will then concentrate on having me substantiate this and that allegation instead of appreciating that the crime levels of any society will definitely go up when hundreds of thousands of hungry, angry and displaced persons are absorbed in that particular society.

As I have already said above, I will not go on singing about the trials and tribulations of my countrymen within and without the Zim borders.

ENTER THE SADC/MBEKI INITIATIVE:

The very idea of some initiative of any kind is a noble one!

It must, however, be mentioned to you, dear reader, that various initiatives were explored before to try and tackle the Zim crisis and (for reasons that would require a separate submission) dismally failed. Why did the previous initiatives fail? What is different about this present SADC/MBEKI initiative?

If you listen to Mr Mbeki very carefully, you will decipher that his urgent mission is to define the legitimate and the illegitimate. He said in Parliament recently that SADC has decided that its member states would share notes and intelligence on Terrorism so that South Africa would suppress and arrest any Zimbabwe terrorists if they tried to operate from its soil and vice-versa and the same for the whole SADC region.

At face value, there seems to be nothing wrong with that but imagine a situation where the Elections are heavily rigged as is the normal ZANU-PF practice. Then me as a private blogger can then be charged with something like “trying to cause alarm and despondency/ incitement” etc.

If Mbeki does his usual “pre-mature ejaculation” and declare the forth-coming 2008 Elections “free and fair”, especially if they are not, then wait for more of Hell coming from Mvuyelwa Mbeki than from Robert Mugabe!

So the time to evaluate the way forward is desperately NOW and not after the 2008 Elections!

LETS NOW GO INTO THE MEAT OF THE MATTER:

My problem with the Mbeki Initiative is its lack of width and depth.

This Initiative works on a strange premise that the only way forward in solving the Zimbabwean Crisis is to try and ensure that Elections are held whose results will not be disputed by any party.

Well and fine!

But for reasons beyond me, these Elections MUST JUST BE HELD IN March, 2008 even if the Voters’ Roll is in shambles with 20% of the names being those of dead people some of whom died as far back as 1998.

Why can the Elections not be postponed by a few months to make sure everything is above board?

Who can explain to me why Cde Mbeki or anyone else believes the only solution for Zimbabwe is the holding of Elections next year?

To me there are certain things that are seriously wrong with Cde Mbeki!

To Cde Mbeki the only tragedy is that there are certain elements that are disputing the legitimacy of the Government of Zimbabwe (whose legitimacy he apparently he himself does not doubt) and the major task at hand is to prepare for as free and fair an Election in 2008 as possible.

At face value this objective looks very noble and innocent!

But recent history has shown us the real character of President Thabo Mbeki!

He will seriously under-play any issues brought to him and his philosophy seems to be that if a senior person declares that there is no lion, whatever lion is hiding anywhere will immediately disappear!

The junior persons are full of mischief if they continue wailing that the lion continues to be sighted.

The fact that the senior person has unequivocally declared the absence of the lion should be enough to make all the juniors relax and continue with their everyday chores believing as “Gospel Truth” the declared proclamation that there has never been a lion and if it was there at all, it has been effectively dissolved by the Presidential Proclamation!

Alternatively, what has been sighted is some big stray dog that is being mistaken for a lion.

If indeed it is a lion, we need experts to check if it has any teeth and if it has the capacity to cause anyone any harm.

Welcome to the mind of the Hon Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki!

Lets now look at the SADC/Mbeki fallacy that the Elections of 2008 will be the effective “penicillin injection” that will make Zimbabwe sneeze once and for all and return to normality.

SOME BACK-GROUND INFORMATION:

When we got our Independence on the 18th of April, 1980, we had the greatest of potentials. Our new ZANU-PF Government was being led by a handsome 56-year-old Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

This fine “Englishman” was actually heading a Government of National Unity comprising members of Dr Joshua Nkomo’s PF-ZAPU as well as members of the former racist Rhodesian Front eg Mr David Smith, Dr Timothy Stamps etc.

I refer to him as an “Englishman” because that is what the Englishmen labelled him.

“Oh what a fine, refined gentleman ……can never believe they called him a terrorist! Is this the same Mugabe we were so afraid of…..that Communist that was coming to take all our properties etc.? ” The elderly whites were discussing among themselves over cups of coffee and glasses of whiskey.

The struggle for Zimbabwe had been long, bitter and extremely rough!

The blood, sweat and tears that oozed out during that protracted armed struggle against the illegitimate, racist regime of Ian Smith can never be adequately described nor compensated.

It was fully within the power of the new Mugabe Government to mete out retribution and spill even more blood of identified “sell-outs” etc.

Mugabe kept his word and did not go that route!

The question of whether Mr Mugabe was advised to follow a Policy of National Reconciliation is completely beside the point! Unscrupulous elements want to analyse whether Mugabe’s Policy was genuine and whether it was originally his idea or not.

Oh come on! Come on!

The glaring truth is that Prime Minister Mugabe did announce a Policy of National Reconciliation and made sure it was followed by all who belonged to his Political Party, ZANU-PF.

As is normally the case with a formerly oppressed group, Mugabe’s hand of Reconciliation was felt more by members of the white community than many of his own race. Any member of the white community today who can dispute that Mugabe did pursue and did implement this very noble Policy would be an incorrigible and mischievous liar.

I read in a certain “A” Level Sociology Lecture Note that black people and many other oppressed communities usually suffered from a condition that is called “group self-hatred.” What this means is that the oppressed groups hated themselves and could not respect themselves.

They sub-consciously believed the philosophy of the oppressor and hence ill-treated others of their own group. If that school of thought is applied to ZANU-PF, it was therefore natural for Mugabe’s party to abuse their own struggle brother, Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo.

So the Methodist Bishop Abel Muzorewa of the UANC and Dr Joshua Nkomo and his PF-ZAPU continued to be at the receiving end of worse abuses from this seemingly magnanimous angel, Gabriel.

I invite you, dear reader , to read the whole 117-point letter which the late Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo wrote to the then Prime Minister Mugabe on the 7th of June, 1983.

(The Link thereof is available at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com !)

Among his former opressors (all over the world), Mr Robert Mugabe was at home: not only speaking their English so well but also sharing their jokes and watching their cricket with a genuine passion. He only irked them when he reminded them that “his” Government was committed to spreading the National Cake so that “the previously disadvantaged, who incidentally were the Indigenous members of the Community of Zimbabweans” could also have a bite.

Among his own people, Mugabe was really relaxed and those that had/have access to him swear that he is a normal “Gushungo” (except for the permanent feeling that one is in the presence of a very alert, highly intelligent being.)

Mr Robert Mugabe was, therefore, a darling of the whole world!

But there is also a debate whether the former oppressors were frantically trying to “pacify” the Communism/Socialism in this 56-year-old former Guerilla Leader. Do not omit this aspect when looking at Robert Mugabe’s journey from 1980 to date!

The tragedy of Zim Politics is that one is expected to ignore certain aspects if one is of a certain persuasion or claims to be of a certain persuasion.

If one is “Anti-Mugabe”, that person must never mention any positives that arose from that same Mugabe!

Similarly, if one is a “Mugabe supporter”, that person must never acknowledge the fact that the people of Zimbabwe badly needed a new Political Party to arise and replace ZANU-PF in matters of Governance.

Some of us then prayed that a Mediator or a Facilitator could then arise and give the two schools of thought a chance to sit down and iron out their differences for the sake of taking the beautiful country of Zimbabwe forward.

One school of thought has the self-styled “Defenders of the Revolution.” Here we have the rough, illiterate, foot-soldiers -the likes of Joseph Chinotimba etc.

These do not know about the consequences of any action!

They will kill, abduct, torture etc at Mugabe’s Command! To them, Mugabe is “The Revolution.” And indeed, were it not for Mugabe’s desperation in the last eight years, the likes of Cde “Chinos” would be just simple security guards without any major role in the running of the country.

On the Mugabe side, we have certain intellectuals, the likes of Dr Tafataona Mahoso, the shady “Nathaniel Manheru”, the Australian-based Reason Wafawarova etc.

To these, the whole truth of the real personality of Robert Mugabe is well-known but to them, “THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS” and the destination is more important than who is driving the vehicle and how he is driving it!

To them, Robert is still the picture that I painted at the beginning of this submission: A handsome, forgiving, smiling “man of the people” and “Statesman of the world.”

That is the line they must uphold because they view Robert Mugabe as the “bravest” among them who has “ably-led” Zimbabwe since the 70s etc etc.

Their slogan is “You say Mugabe is too old and must go: We say Mugabe is too bold and must stay!”

To these, were it not for a perceived “sanctions regime” against their beloved Mugabe Revolutionary Administration, Zimbabwe would be better than God’s very Garden of Eden!

To these, General Josiah Magama Tongogara’s death was just a simple car accident. The fact that of the six passengers who were in that ill-fated Land-Rover, no-one was injured when the gallant General was killed is not an issue!

At worst, they sarcastically ask: “Ko kana iri chokwadi kuti akapondwa, kuzviziva ndiko kuchamudzora here?” (“ Suppose it is true that he was assassinated, will knowing how it really happened bring him back?”)

What these revolutionaries fail to realise is that Robert Mugabe’s death will open a completely new era!

Eritea, The Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Congo (Formerly Zaire), Rwanda, Burundi etc will be Sunday School/Kindergatten stuff when Robert Mugabe’s eyes are finally closed for the very last time.

Where will Robert Mugabe’s “comfort girl” Oppan Muchinguri hide? Will she drink rat poison at his death? Will she be able to explain why she waited until the last of the four other people passed away for her to tell the world what she called the called “the truth” of how the Gallant Karanga General Tongogara died?

I was given a list of Karanga operatives in the Central Intelligence Organisation who were either murdered or fled the country when Mugabe purged that Organisation of senior officers.

Of course Emmerson Munangagwa had Karangarised the CIO and this was equally wrong! Munangagwa had done exactly done what Eddison Zvobgo had done in every Ministry where he had set his foot! The Karangas were looking after their own just as the Manyikas were looking after their own via Didymus Mutasa, Oppah Muchinguri etc. The late Chitepo had been accused of using the Karangas in the rough, bloody assignments and keeping the Manyikas in the offices.

Mugabe himself was/is equally accused of protecting his “own.”

Leo Mugabe rose into wealth thanks to corruption vigorously supported by none other than the ageing dictator himself, Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

Whose name was mentioned as corrupt when the Harare International Conference Centre was being built? Was Kofi Annan’s son’s name not mentioned? Why was a Commission of Inquiry not set up to clear their names?

What did Phillip Chiyangwa mean when he said “If you want to be rich, join ZANU-PF”? How can one be rich when serving the people through a supposedly Socialist Movement like ZANU-PF- an Organization that set up a Leadership Code that limited its Senior Officers from the excesses of corruption and wealth-gathering?

Robert Mugabe was reportedly “visibly disturbed” when the very Senior Maurice Nyagumbo was found to be involved in that “Cressida” Scandal in Zimbabwe’s formative years! My question is: why was Mugabe not equally disturbed when his sister’s son’s name was mentioned in the scandal at the Harare International Airport?

Why was he not equally disturbed when his wife Grace was mentioned in a scandal that caused Civil Servants to lose a noble scheme that was benefiting them to build houses for themselves? Grace Marufu-Goreraza-Mugabe dipped her adulterous finger-nails into that Revolving Fund and hundreds of thousands lost out!

The “unholy” Gabriel Mugabe was as quiet as an Angel when the Press uncovered the ungraceful “Gracelands Scandal.”

Then our own dear Thabo Mveyelwi Mbeki thinks the 2008 Elections will answer the problems besetting Zimbabwe!

Oh My Dear God!

If you go to my www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com, I have numerous links (some to articles like “Appeal to all writers and journalists”, “Is Robert Mugabe the Master-Assassin?’ and Prof Jonathan Moyo’s “The death of the Robert Mugabe: The tragedy ahead!” among other articles. All these concerned writers will be trying to show you, dear reader, that the problems of Zimbabwe will never and can never be solved by Elections whether in 2008 or at any other time after that!

No single person, whether its Morgan Tsvangirai, or Arthur Mutambara can stand on behalf of Robert Mugabe and say “We have granted Robert Mugabe some Amnesty or some Immunity!” Check the debates on such Foruns as the ones at “The Zim Daily” (www.zimdaily.com) and get feel of the general Zimbabweans.

If the MDC gets out of touch with the general mood of the Zimbabweans, then they risk facing a completely new and more difficult problem and I wonder if the Security Forces (who hopefully will be at their command) will assist them to quell the new “uprisings.”

I have not yet addressed the Ndebele question!

I have just touched in passing on the Karanga Question.

The Ndebeles have clearly shown me that a problem exists!

I received an e-mail from a certain radical Ndebele Grouping here in South Africa (they call themselves “MTHWAKAZI SOMETHING OR OTHER”) and they advised me that they were no longer accepting me and recognizing me as a fighter for Democracy in Zimbabwe because of my revelations of my role in the atrocities that were perpetrated by ZANU-PF in the 80s against ZAPU members.

I refer you to my submission “The thoughts and memories of a former ZANU-PF cadre” and the link thereof can be got at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com .

For numerous articles and submissions on the atrocities of the 80s in Matebeleland and the Midlands in the 80s, I refer you to my www.gukurahundi.blogspot.com .

The letter by the late gallant Dr Joshua Nkomo to the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe can be found on that blog-site.

A link to that letter can also be found at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com .

In fact, my work in blogging so far is structured in such a way that every important item that has something to do with the Zim story is available archived in any one of my 30 blog-sites.

The very original blog-page is now named www.zimfinalpush1.blogspot.com and has the majority of the very early postings since October, 2006.

Its “faces” changed over the time and the “faces” themselves were saved and archived and the links to those archived “faces” are available at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com . What this means is: there is nothing that was posted in any of my now-30 blog-sites that cannot be easily retrieved.

The next main “ZIMFINALPUSH HEADER” is the current page which is now available at www.thezimbabwedigest.blogspot.com .

This page serves in conjuction with the www.zimfinalpush5.blogspot.com . This means that the former has the main postings but the latter has the same postings listed in a style that is mainly monotonous ie a field of links, links and more links!

I had to digress in this direction so that you realise my unquestionable commitment to exposing all the problems besetting the beloved land of Zim and what various writers and players around the world observed and said (some trying to offer certain versions and various suggestions as possible solutions etc.)

My style of writing is to put down on paper exactly as it comes to my mind!

What I have tried to highlight is the fact that the “Anti-Mugabe” bloc is too wide and that great-grand-father has too many enemies across too wide a spectrum!

No-one should ever fool themselves that even Cde Thabo Mbeki himself believes that what he is doing will really solve the multi-faceted problems facing Zim!

WHAT THEN IS THE IDEAL APPROACH TO ZIM’S CRISIS?

If I were in President Thabo Mbeki’s shoes, I would call for a very wholistic approach!

A biased approach where you treat the Opposition as some delinquents who are being sponsored by the former colonizers will not work!

It will only encourage the likes of me to be more radical and more inclined to call for a stronger International Condemnation of Robert Mugabe.

As the title of this submission asks: “WILL THE 2008 ELECTIONS END THE ZIMBABWEAN CRISIS”?

I have not yet looked at the question of the Rigging of Elections because I believe that this issue has been exhaustively dealt with by numerous writers.

I’ve my own submission: “THE RIGGING OF THE ZIM ELECTIONS” and the link thereof can be found at www.finalpushzim.blogspot.com .

But I was shocked to hear a supposedly respected senior journalist by the name of Mduduzi Mathuthu of www.newzimbabwe.com say on a SWRADIOAFRICA programme “Reporters’ Forum” that he did not have any evidence of the rigging of the Zim Elections.

I have no words to describe such duplicity on this brother’s part!

He ran away from Mugabe’s thugs when he was a journalist in Zim and now that his tummy is full of British goodwill, he conspires simultaneously with ZANU-PF to pretend that the situation is such that he no longer has reason to doubt the freeness and fairness of the Zim Elections.

Yet, incidentally I hold him the highest degree of respect!

Yet sometimes his mind runs away with him as if certain “winds” periodically visit him.

In March, he tried to defend the ZRP violent assults on the MDC Leadership and was corrected by the www.talkzimbabwe.com Editor , Mr Itayi Garande.

My final request to all concerned in trying to solve the Zim Crisis is that they be very sincere and look at the whole picture!

A shortcut will not solve this complex, long-term problem.

President Thabo Mbeki has a propensity of doing things wrongly!

He rushed to congratulate the new Nigerian Leader while there was a lot of dust etc.

We must not allow him to prescribe a short-circuited solution to our crisis.

To summarise my submission, here are the reasons why Elections may not or will definitely not solve the Zimbabwean Crisis:

There are too many issues involved in the Crisis which require a total and whollistic approach.These range from the assassination/ elimination of numerous of the peoples’ heroes as mentioned above.

There are too many cases of clear corruption which were literally swept under the carpet over the two decades of Mugabe’s rule (well before the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change.) When the MDC was formed late 1999, the resolve of the people was great that a new Political Party was required to replace ZANU-PF. Many analysts fail to see the composition of the members of the MDC. It is only a very feeble-minded imbecile who fails to see numerous ex-ZANLA and ex-ZIPRA Combatants in the structures of the MDC. Very senior former ZANU-PF leaders eg Mr Patrick Kombayi are the top leaders of the MDC now. Never, never mislead yourselves into thinking that the MDC is made up of novices who “don’t know Politics” or “sell-outs” who have been bought by whoever or whoever else etc etc.

The record of Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF as far as Elections are concerned is very well known. Elections are to Robert Mugabe a physical battle where new graves must be dug each time they are held. Robert Mugabe’s perception of Elections does not change when “his” Party goes to “fight” other Parties. His view of Elections is the same even when they are held within his “own” ZANU-PF. It is simply treasonous to try and challenge him for the post that he himself holds. In fact it is treasonous to try and raise one’s hand and offer a different viewpoint within the same ZANU-PF! Ask Professor Jonathan Moyo and the other casualties of the “Tsholotsho Declaration” fame! So how can Elections solve the Zimbabwean Crisis, when within the very ZANU-PF exist disgruntled members at very senior levels who send SMSs to the top Leadership of the MDC urging them to “continue the fight.” Oh dear President Thabo Mvuyelea Mbeki! Oh my dear Xhosa brother! Do you want to know, do you not know or do you pretend not to know when in fact you actuaaly know? Which is which tata?

Elections can only solve any Crisis anywhere when those in power are prepared to step down if the people say so through a “free and fair” show of their will as they did during that Referendum of 2000. The Referendum of 2000 was the last free and fair expression of the people of Zimbabwe and ZANU-PF should have arranged to leave the corridors of power right there and then! I don’t care a hoot whether Cde Thabo Mbeki agrees with me or not! THAT IS THE NAKED, UNADULTRATED TRUTH! On the next points let me visit each probable Scenario and show you how each scenario will or will not solve the Zim Crisis!

SCENARIO ONE!

Lets suppose the Elections are held next year (2008) and no action is taken by President Mbeki to ensure that all the accompanying evils of the previous Elections are not repeated. As things stand, ZANU-PF has already stepped up violence in various parts of the country and the gear-lever will soon be moved to “over-drive” as we approach March, 2008.

President Thabo Mbeki is fully aware of the whole scenario and judging from previous experience, he will, as usual, prematurely ejaculate and pronounce the Elections “free and fair” while many MDC Election Observers etc are in various Intensive Care Units (if there are still any in Zimbabwe!) Thabo Mbeki is a very dangerous sweet-talker who should not have been assigned any task to do with the Crisis In Zimbabwe!

So in Scenario One, ZANU-PF will win in a cloud of dust and blood and Mbeki will appeal to the world to recognise the “will of the people of Zimbabwe”, lift all the real and imaginary sanctions etc etc.

In Scenario One, the situation has the capacity to seriouly deteriorate! What will happen after that “Electoral Robbery” will be seen by those that will be alive to witness it.

Those like myself will obviously intensify whatever we are involved in and God knows where Zimbabwe will then be headed!

SCENARIO TWO!

All is done to ensure the holding of “free and fair” Elections and all (including characters like myself) are completely satisfied that ZANU-PF did indeed win and deserves the respect and the recognition of the whole world Community.
What will that mean?
That all the evils and atrocities of Mugabe and ZANU-PF are completely erased and Zimbabwe must be given another “ZIMCCORD” to re-build itself after these latest 8 or so years of serious and reckless misrule?

Who will compensate all those who suffered various injustices eg loss of property, injury, and even death? Remember it is not only the former white farmers who deserve compensation.

There are more blacks who have suffered under Robert Mugabe’s evil than the whites who have suffered in the last 8 or so years. Perhaps a white man’s blood is of greater value that’s why there is more noise now about Robert Mugabe.

If Mugabe has done more evil by “touching a white man”, then well and fine…all the complainants can join the queue full of white people even if it means joining at very end! (In any case Zimbabwe is a land of queues. Who will be perplexed?)

But my question still stands: Will Mugabe’s victory in a hypothetical “free and fair” Election in 2008 mean all then that “all is well that ends well”?

SCENARIO THREE:

With or without the normal violence and rigging, the MDC or whoever else wins the reigns of power in 2008.

Then what?

Will the whole ZANU_PF machinery just melt and dissolve and obey the new Administrators? Theoretically, it seems very simple! In reality we are talking of an advanced Mafia Gang that has looted not only the Commercial Farms but various other Establishments as well.

I ask any sincere seeker of the truth to investigate the reasons why Mr Chris Ushewokunze was assassinated. He was too sincere in his quest to end corruption at a certain Company which we all know was being looted by very Senior ZANU-PF Officials with Mugabe yawning pretending he was not seeing anything.

The same with the late youthful Moven Mahachi with his desire to get to the bottom of the allegations of the DRC looting of minerals by Munangagwa.

My question therefore is: Suppose some Opposition Party or Coalition has won the Elections of 2008. The issue of the “freeness and fairness” is not the subject of this question. Suffice to say that Mr Morgan Tsvangirai or whoever else is then sworn into Office.

What then?

Our evil Robert Mugabe then retires to his supposed home in Zvimba to enjoy a long-deserved retirement and joins the Esteemed Club of Senior Citizens who are made up of Cde Nelson Mandela, Dr Kenneth Kaunda etc. Will we then all live happily ever after with Police Commissioner Chihuri, Air Force Commander Perrence Shiri (of the “Gukurahundi” Fame) etc sitting at a round table with new “HIS EXCELLENCY” ,CDE MORGAN TSVANGIRAI or whoever else charting the way forward for the country?

Has President Mbeki got any assurances or his hope is only that there is no other option, except for Mugabe and ZANU-PF to win!

If the Hon Mbeki has that hope (as most of us seriously suspect,) then we are in for a very rough 2008. Mbeki himself may literally cough and spit blood if Zimbabwe becomes ungovernable.

SCENARIO FOUR:

I have deliberately labelled my vision of the way forward in Zimbabwe as one of the scenarios.

This scenario really does not stem from the Elections. This scenario stems from the recognition that the complexity of the Zim situation requires that all the Political Players exhibit the highest level of patriotism and put the Country and Nation far above any personal interests or fears.

This scenario requires that all Political Players recognize that being Political Leaders does not make them some “demi-Gods” above those that they purport to lead.

This Fourth Scenario therefore expects that a myriad of interest groups be invited a to huge “ALL-STAKE-HOLDERS CONFERENCE” not at Union Buildings in Pretoria/Tshwane but in the centre of Harare itself!

There men will bare their souls and re-dedicate themselves to the Nation of Zimbabwe!

Mugabe will be first to bare his soul exactly as at a “Gospel Crusade.” All those that have skeletons in their cupboards will have them taken out for viewing by all!

All propaganda will be repented of and tearfully renounced.

A new start will then be launched with Mugabe hugging Tsvangirai and the same happening down to the last man.

Then a team comprising all will go round to SADC, the AU, the Commonwealth etc seeking support and recognition for this new Zim miracle.

All compensations will actually end up being over-paid by various funds set up and clear guidelines will be set as to the ratios of BLACK versus WHITE in the ownership of Commercial Farms etc. Goodwill will return to Zim and we will all happily return to our beloved mother-land to be involved in serious re-construction.

This fourth scenario appears too simplistic and unattainable!

But miracles do happen and I believe in a God of Miracles!

Yes I believe in the God of Miracles!

Respectfully submitted,

The Rev Mufaro Stig Hove.

mufarostig@hushmail.com

www.zimfinalpush.blogspot.com

Cell: 0791463039 RSA.

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P/S

I invite you all to wish me a Happy 51st Birthday for the 18th of October, 2007.

If you add 5 years to my age, that is the age that Cde Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980.

That gives me a target to be President of Zimbabwe in 2012!

GOD BLESS US ALL!

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report by chikwari

14 September 2007

 

The birth of Zimbabwe was attended by great rejoicing and high hopes; 27 years later the country is facing institutional collapse and economic disaster.

The deepening political, social and economic crisis in Zimbabwe has over the past five years and more seldom been out of the headlines.

Now it is worth considering the kind of interventions, domestic and external, that will be needed to put Zimbabwe back on the right path.

Before considering the wider regional implications of helping to reconstruct Zimbabwe's economy, we should consider the lessons we can learn from the origins, nature and extent of the crisis.

How did an apparent success story turn into a tragedy?

 

What needs to be done and how can a similar crisis be prevented in Zimbabwe again? Can societies transcend their history?

President Robert Mugabe has understandably been singled out for responsibility. To call Mugabe dictatorial or despotic might well be true and morally satisfying, but it explains nothing.

 

 Widespread demonisation of Mugabe might even impede the understanding and explaining of the situation in Zimbabwe.

We need to unpack issues that might help to identify what brought Zimbabwe to where it now is and that which needs to be done.

Has Mugabe's personal role been overplayed? After the pendulum has swung between exaggerating and underestimating the roles of personalities, popularly endorsed policies and other institutional factors, the longer perspective suggests that in Zimbabwe, as in many other failed states, neither the institutional forces nor the personality is sufficient explanation without the other.

There is a strong tendency to ascribe developments in Zimbabwe to Mugabe's personality and autocracy. It is believed his exit from the national stage is all that will be required to return the country to its former status as an admired and successful nation state.

Were this true then even if recent attempts to negotiate his departure from office are unsuccessful one of life's two certainties will eventually solve the problem.

 

But neither Mugabe's eventual departure from office nor even a speedy reversal of failed policies will guarantee that the rebuilding policies will be a success, though both might be necessary for the reconstruction of Zimbabwe.

We will also have to evaluate what important facilitation and influential role the Southern African Development Community, and South Africa in particular, can play in these processes.

This is not to say that lesser measures or preconditions will fail to ameliorate the situation.

All the SADC states have a vital stake in the nature of the change in Zimbabwe and in the success of those who support genuine political and economic reconstruction.

We must also assess how far institutions have been corrupted after 27 years of virtual one-party rule and identify all the post-Mugabe challenges in turning the country around.

Whatever the outcome, the present government's successors, once in power, will have to immediately deal with the consequences of past misrule and mistakes.

How they choose to do so, and how the international community responds to their efforts, are important factors in evaluating their prospects for success. But ultimately the decisions have to be taken by Zimbabweans themselves.

Footnote: This is an edited version of part of an address to the Economic Society of South Africa Biennial Conference this month by Professor RAYMOND PARSONS, Department of Economics, University of Pretoria and Overall Business Convenor at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac).

 

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demo

LINK!!!!
DURBAN - The University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) will next week see disgruntled Zimbabweans demonstrate against Zimbabwe's resources being squandered on educating children of the ruling elite.
The Zimbabwean government is spending over R10 million a year for the children of senior Zanu (PF) and government officials to study at the university under the presidential scholarship programme, documents obtained by this newspaper reveal.
The presidential scholarship is meant to help disadvantaged but academically gifted Zimbabwean students with tertiary education.
However, our investigations have shown that over 30 students related to senior government and Zanu (PF) officials are benefiting from this programme.
An invoice sent to Chris Mushowe, the Minister of Transport and Communications and presidential director - a copy of which is in the hands of The Zimbabwean - shows that the government paid an initial deposit of almost a R1 million (Z$30 trillion) for 20 students.
"The Zimbabwean government is heartless, as it is failing to improve the education system in the country but using the resources meant for that to send their children to elite colleges outside the country," said John Chikwari, the secretary-general of Revolutionary Youth Movement.
As a result, we have decided to hold a demonstration at the university to show the world what is happening in Zimbabwe. We also hope that the university is going to know that it is making super profits from the sweat of suffering Zimbabwean taxpayers."
Amongst the so-called 'disadvantaged students' at UKZN are Chipo and Hillary Matibiri - President Robert Mugabe's niece and nephew. Hillary was a magistrate in Zimbabwe until he resigned to take up the scholarship.
Other students are Laura Sibanda the daughter of Zimbabwe National Army general, Major-general Phillip Sibanda; Simbarashe Masoka, the son of agriculture permanent secretary, Ngoni Masoka; and Brigadier Phillip Kundishora's twin daughters, Jacqueline and Elinor.
Australia recently deported the children of high-ranking government officials who were studying there. Now there are fears those children will be sent to UKZN.
In Zimbabwe, a crisis is brewing at the country's oldest university, the University of Zimbabwe, after only a quarter of the students turned up for a new semester that began last week while acute accommodation and financial problems kept thousands others away.

OUR BELOVED COUNTRY OF ZIMBABWE!

 

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DEMO AT MILPARK PRIVATE HOSPITAL, JOHANNESBURG!

We had a very successful Demo at the abovementioned Hospital.

 

ZANU-PF Chefs eg Army, Police chiefs and their family members are being treated at the expense of the S A Taxpayer.

 

At home in Zimbabwe, our parents and relatives are perishing because of the break-down of the Health Service (as it is in the whole Economy.)

 

Our Demo was directed at the SA Public to appreciate the Hypocricy of the Mugabe Regime and their ANC "brothers."

 

The pictures will be posted to this site as soon as they are available.

 

ALUTA CONTINUA!

 

rymzim@yahoo.com.au

 

Thursday, 4th October, 2007.

 

 

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DIASPORA BACKS US PRESIDENT'S ALL FOR INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE ON ZIMBABWE

LINK!!!!!

 BY TRUST MATSILELE
 
JOHANNESBURG: Leading Zimbabwe pressure groups based in Johannesburg has backed the United States President George W Bush in calling for International community to intensify its efforts as to deliver change in Zimbabwe soon.
 
In the just ended United Nations General Assembly the United States President remarked that the Zimbabwean government was under siege of a tyrannical regime under President Robert Mugabe which has caused millions to flee their home country.
 
The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum Director, Gabriel Shumba said Zimbabwean crisis had become an international crisis which needed an international solution as its citizens tortured under the Robert Mugabe regime were flocking to all nations.
 
"By limiting the Zimbabwean crisis to a regional or continental crisis is by far an underestimation of the magnitude of the crisis. The Zimbabwean crisis is reminiscent to the Sudan 's Darfur region but Zimbabwe becomes more complicated as civilians are tortured with the region doing nothing about it," said Shumba.
 
Commenting on the same issue the National Constitutional Assembly Coordinator, Tapera Kapuya augmented Shumba's remarks as saying Zimbabwean crisis could not entirely rest on Africa for its solution as the region has failed over the past decade.
 
"Relying on the SADC and the AU for solution over the Zimbabwean crisis is tantamount to the furtherance of human rights violations by the Mugabe regime as a large number of African leaders have at most forums have backed Mugabe's stance of leadership and have even dismissed efforts by the United Nations Security council to debate the Zimbabwean issue," said Kapuya who is also a human rights lawyer.
 
The Revolutionary Youth Movement, President Simon Mudekwa also lamented the South Africa has continuously blocked efforts by the United Nations to involve the biggest coalition force in dismantling the tyranny government of Robert Mugabe.
 
"At the just ended United Nations Annual General Assembly summit in New York , president Mbeki of South Africa has been quoted as having said Africa can solve its own problems.
 
"What is disturbing is that South Africa and indeed the regional bodies have failed to solve the Zimbabwean crisis which has left over a third of the population moving out of the county.
 
"President Mbeki is on record as having said Zimbabwean problems will be solved by Zimbabweans themselves and as Zimbabweans we acknowledge that as long as Mugabe directs the army , police and security there is no way Zimbabweans can solve their problems there is need for international solidarity," said Mudekwa.
 
These leading pressure groups are saying once international community intervene in delivering democracy in the country Zimbabweans would then call for Robert Mugabe to be indicted by the International criminals court for gross violations of human rights he has committed since independence.
 
Human Rights watchdogs and political think tanks allege that once out of power Mugabe will be tried for destroying houses of over 700 000 Zimbabweans a campaign known as the operation Murambatsvina (clean the trash) which critics say as like during the Gukurahundi the move was meant to frustrate urban dwellers who have in the past supported opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
 
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace has also a thesis of a report on gross violations of human rights and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Mugabe from 1982-1987 as he accused them of supporting dissidents which left over 20 000 civilians dead. Critics say that the CCJP report is the one which is haunting Mugabe and which will see him fight to death in the state house so as to escape prosecution.

 

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ZIM REV YOUTH MOVEMENT TO DEMONSTRATE IN KWAZULU-NATAL!!!

Protest over abuse of scholarship fund

BY TRUST MATSILELE

LINK!!!!

DURBAN - The University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) will next week see disgruntled Zimbabweans demonstrate against Zimbabwe's resources being squandered on educating children of the ruling elite.
The Zimbabwean government is spending over R10 million a year for the children of senior Zanu (PF) and government officials to study at the university under the presidential scholarship programme, documents obtained by this newspaper reveal.
The presidential scholarship is meant to help disadvantaged but academically gifted Zimbabwean students with tertiary education.
However, our investigations have shown that over 30 students related to senior government and Zanu (PF) officials are benefiting from this programme.
An invoice sent to Chris Mushowe, the Minister of Transport and Communications and presidential director - a copy of which is in the hands of The Zimbabwean - shows that the government paid an initial deposit of almost a R1 million (Z$30 trillion) for 20 students.
"The Zimbabwean government is heartless, as it is failing to improve the education system in the country but using the resources meant for that to send their children to elite colleges outside the country," said John Chikwari, the secretary-general of Revolutionary Youth Movement.
As a result, we have decided to hold a demonstration at the university to show the world what is happening in Zimbabwe. We also hope that the university is going to know that it is making super profits from the sweat of suffering Zimbabwean taxpayers."
Amongst the so-called 'disadvantaged students' at UKZN are Chipo and Hillary Matibiri - President Robert Mugabe's niece and nephew. Hillary was a magistrate in Zimbabwe until he resigned to take up the scholarship.
Other students are Laura Sibanda the daughter of Zimbabwe National Army general, Major-general Phillip Sibanda; Simbarashe Masoka, the son of agriculture permanent secretary, Ngoni Masoka; and Brigadier Phillip Kundishora's twin daughters, Jacqueline and Elinor.
Australia recently deported the children of high-ranking government officials who were studying there. Now there are fears those children will be sent to UKZN.
In Zimbabwe, a crisis is brewing at the country's oldest university, the University of Zimbabwe, after only a quarter of the students turned up for a new semester that began last week while acute accommodation and financial problems kept thousands others away.

"SADC PROMISES: ANOTHER DAMP SQUID" Bill Saidi!

Sadc to tackle poverty: another damp squib

By Bill Saidi

LINK!!!!


THE Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) may not be the impotent Big Shot Talkshow that some critics have called it, or the Southern Africa Dictators’ Club, the sobriquet preferred by detractors.

But it cannot be faulted for its lofty ambitions. Since 1980, when it was formed, it has scored notable successes, particularly in advancing the prospect of creating a powerful political and economic alliance in the region.

Its political agenda is to forge democracy in all the 14-member states. Critics say this would be acceptable only if the meaning of "democracy" were so liberal as to include countries which pay only lip-service to the concept.

In Greek, demos means "people"; a democracy would be "a government of the people, by the people and for the people".

Among some Sadc leaders, that is so Western a concept, they view it as part of a plot to recolonise the region.

There are monarchies, such as Swaziland, where King Mswati III will not give his people a meaningful role in government.

Lesotho is a kingdom too. Its description as a "modified constitutional monarchy" has not earned it the "democracy" tag so far.

Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have panel-beaten the concept to suit their peculiar, blood-spattered circumstances.

Zimbabwe, ruled by one party and one man for 27 years of political and economic decline, is not the democrat’s ideal model of a "people’s" democracy.

South Africa is still struggling to match its vast material wealth with its equitable redistribution among the population: opulence sits cheek by jowl with abject poverty.

But the heads of state’s next summit in Mauritius next year could be its most ambitious yet. It will focus on poverty eradication.

The venue is highly significant, according to many civil society leaders.

Mauritius has few of the glaring signs of a down-at-the-heel African country. Tourism tops the list of its major economic performers, followed by textiles and food processing. Sugarcane is its chief export crop.

Forty-nine percent of its 700 square miles is arable. Its Gross Domestic Product was once estimated at US$11,7 billion for a population of less than two million.

Yes, there is poverty in Mauritius, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade amd Regional Cooperation, Madan Murlidhar Dullco.

But it is nowhere near the deprivation you would find in the shanties of Zambia, the DRC or Angola - certainly not in present-day Zimbabwe.

The last summit in August in Lusaka received "mixed reviews" in terms of its results, but the Sadc Civil Society Forum, held simultaneously only a few kilometres away was dubious of the leaders’ commitment to the eradication of poverty, or to other problems in the region.

Civil society in general is critical of the heads of state summit concept itself. It is known that the leaders themselves are suspicious of civil society. Not surprisingly, they are said to feel civil society is "too pro-Western" to be taken seriously.

The secretary-general of the Sadc Civil and Non-Government Organisations, Abie Ditlhake, focused on "one important issue" in his "Reflections" at the third Civil Society Forums in Lusaka.

"This is the exclusive nature of the heads of state regional project. Transformation and restructuring is urgently needed at the Heads of State Summit or Government level. We have to ensure that regional integration is a people-driven project, that ordinary citizens of the region are a driving force behind this project.

"This requires that our Presidents are having clear mandates from their countries, and thus are accountable to national institutions such as parliaments in their declarations at the regional level."

The final communique of the forum called on the heads of state to:

refrain from putting in place restrictive civil society legislation that will constrain the operating environment for civil society;

Put in place legislation that promotes and enables civil society participation and existence rather than restrict and hinder them. We specifically call upon the Zambian and Zimbabwean governments to withdraw NGO Bills currently under consideration but held in abeyance; and instead guarantee the involvement of civil society in any processes that seek to put in place regulatory and legislative frameworks;

Guarantee the effective participation of civil society at the SADC national and regional committees;

Take immediate measures to institutionalize civil society involvement in key decision-making processes.

To prepare for the Mauritius summit, civil society debated a graphic display of poverty in the region: poor people representing themselves at the summit, speaking of their poverty in their own languages.

A forum resolution called on the SADC Secretariat and member states to ensure effective participation of civil society in the upcoming SADC Poverty and Development Conference in Mauritius, and a review of existing poverty eradication initiatives.

This may be tantamount to "whistling in the wind", some of the more than 200 delegates at the forum complained. They spoke vociferously of the lack of action on previous resolutions on poverty eradication.

"It’s so hopeless," said one delegate. "They (Heads of state) talk and talk but do nothing."

Statistics on poverty caused alarm among delegates. In one instance, a country independent for 40 years, had 68 percent of its population still classified as poor.

This left many delegates wondering if the Mauritius conference would be different from other summits which had dealt with poverty, or other "bread and butter" issues..

They wondered if it would not be another SADC damp squib, as its initiatives on Zimbabwe have all turned out to be, so far.