Wednesday, 18th June 2008

Howzit

Foreign currency mid-rates updated.

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I have already said that the UN representative talking to Mugabe is not going to result in anything other than what Mugabe wants him to know.

The UN envoy must be given the freedom to move around the country, to visit the hot spots and make his assessment based upon that.

"Senior UN official Haile Menkerios met with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in Harare on Tuesday ahead of a run-off presidential poll, said a source close to the United Nations.

"He (Menkerios) met with the president just before lunch," the source, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

Menkerios, an assistant secretary general for political affairs responsible for Africa, arrived in Zimbabwe on Monday to evaluate the political situation in the country and discuss the upcoming election.

Following the meeting with Mugabe, of which the content and duration were not immediately known, the UN delegation was holding internal meetings, the source said."

I'll say it again. Meetings with ZANU PF will not show a complete and full picture of the problems on the ground. But I must state that even getting a UN envoy into Zimbabwe and talking with Mugabe is better than nothing...

"Menkerios' visit, which will last until Friday, follows talks between UN chief Ban Ki-moon and embattled Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on the sidelines of a food summit in Rome early last week.

It comes amid an escalating humanitarian, economic and political crisis in the country since Mugabe's ruling party lost control of parliament in general election on March 29 and the veteran leader came second in the first round of the presidential poll.

Mugabe has stepped up rhetoric ahead of the run-off on June 27, threatening to arrest opposition leaders over mounting violence, and warning he is ready to fight to prevent the opposition from coming to power."

Obviously, Mugabe will claim all manner of stories that will all have the idea that the violence is perpetrated by the MDC on ZANU PF. Let the UN envoy meet with the hospitalised victims and hear their stories.

But, alas, it will not happen...

And he is due to leave Zimbabwe on Friday. Seven days before the election. That last seven days will not only see an escalation in the violence, but any report he tenders to the UN will not be actioned as there just isn't enough time...

Hence why Mugabe held back on allowing the UN in.

And I see on the news, whilst I am typing, that Thabo Mbeki is to visit Mugabe as well... The plot thickens.

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One thing that I do enjoy on the internet is the number of sites that have their information feeds in real time. And I see that Sokwanele has a map of Zimbabwe that details all the violence throughout the country.

Click on the graphic to visit their page.

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It must be easy to be Mugabe and parry each plea, each attempt and each action by the opposition. He has the administration in Zimbabwe so neatly tied up that everyone in government employ answers his call.

"Zimbabwe's main opposition party was demanding Tuesday to know why its secretary-general has not been formally charged six days after he was arrested.

A Zimbabwean judge ruled the detention of Tendai Biti was legal, dismissing a petition from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change which called the detention unlawful.

Biti was supposed to be formally charged in magistrate's court on Monday, but the hearing was delayed for a day due to "a lot of paperwork," a Zimbabwe police official said.

Tuesday's hearing also failed to happen. Biti's lawyer, Lewis Uriri said he was waiting for the attorney general's office to fulfill its obligation to bring him to court on Wednesday.

Police have said Biti will be charged with treason, which could carry the death penalty, and disseminating malicious falsehoods. The charges relate to a document published by the MDC before the March 29 presidential election, according to Zimbabwe national police."

So court orders are ignored, with no consequence, as ZANU PF, having failed to make treason charges stick on Morgan Tsvangirai some years ago, now go for his third in command.

And the courts back that detention.

It must be noted that the police indicated they wanted to have words with Biti in early April. It is now mid to late June. Surely their investigation is complete by now?

All they really need is Biti's side of the story. Then it is up to the court.

"The judge has dismissed our application," said Uriri outside the Harare court.

Uriri said the document on which police are apparently pinning their case "was not authored by Tendai Biti... These are just trumped-up charges."

He said Biti remains held at Matapi police station, "which the Supreme Court ruled... is not fit for human habitation." The station is in Mbare, the oldest suburb of the capital city of Harare."

But of course the ZRP is going to make Biti as uncomfortable as possible! That is what Mugabe-ites do best!.

"Speaking at a campaign rally Monday, Mugabe threatened to arrest more MDC officials, blaming the party for pre-election violence."

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Reading this story, it reminded me of the furore in the early 1980's when the security forces in Zimbabwe demanded that all foreign nationals serving in the army, police, air force and prison services, were to renounce their foreign nationality - or leave the service.

Luckily, I was in Harare at the time and nipped up to the British High Commission to check the legality.

A day later I was obliged to sign a bit of paper for the Zimbabwean government, or walk out the door as an ex-copper. I signed, because the High Commission advised me that the bit of paper may have meant something to the Zimbabwean government, but not to the British government.

(Don't tell anyone that I had been a certified citizen of Rhodesia for many years, still hold a Zimbabwe-Rhodesian national ID card and also held a Zimbabwean passport at the time I signed the bit of paper!)

See the "CIT"? That means 'citizen'!
And the photo? I was only 17 at the time...

They may have been forced to claim allegiance to ZANU on camera, but it still means little.

"Political violence in Zimbabwe continued Tuesday in Harare's Mbare district where members of the ruling ZANU PF party's militia forced opposition members to declare their allegiance to the ruling party in front of state television cameras, sources said.

Evictions of Mbare families continued as suspected opposition supporters in Matapi, Nenyeri and Mbare apartment flats and the Siyaso market stalls were forced to vacate."

This is the activity that the UN envoy should be seeing, not sitting talking with Mugabe. This is what should be witnessed by SADC, the AU and the likes of Mbeki. But Mugabe ensures that these people will only see what he has sanctioned, giving these establishments a false idea of the lie of the land.

In fact, that is a very good expression of Mugabe's intent.

The 'lie' of the land.

"Sources said election observers of the Southern African Development Community tried to visit the areas hit by such violence but were chased away by ZANU PF militia members. The sources said observers were also attacked in Epworth, a suburb east of Harare.

The director of SADC’s organ on politics, defense and security, Tanki Mothae, said he had not yet received a report on attacks against observers chased from Mbare and Epworth."

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

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"The head of an African observer mission on Tuesday warned over violence ahead of Zimbabwe's presidential run-off next week and expressed concern about President Robert Mugabe's recent threats of "war".

"Violence is now at the top of the agenda of this electoral process," said Marwick Khumalo of the Pan-African Parliament as the group's observers began deploying in Zimbabwe.

"We have had so many horrendous stories. This election is a far cry from what we had last time," he added, referring to the first round of the election on March 29."

This is an observer speaking more than a week before the election date! Doesn't this mean anything to anybody?

Or will that observer by told to wind his neck in?

"Mugabe recently warned he was ready to go to war to keep the opposition from taking power in Zimbabwe, and while Khumalo did not mention the 84-year-old leader by name, he denounced such statements.

"Beating the drums of war is not acceptable in any situation even if it is in Zimbabwe," he said."

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We haven't heard anything out of amaiJuru for some time. And, incredibly, she choses to speak to the people who have been allocated farm land - and gives them a hard time for it!

First off - what about the land that lies fallow and unworked, the land that is 'owned' by all of Mugabe's hierarchy and security forces? It is all very well whinging about those that are at least attempting to farm, but how come she doesn't say anything about the Ministers' lands?

"Zimbabwean Vice President Joyce Mujuru has criticised "lazy" farmers for leasing the land they invaded, The Herald Online reported today.

"Do you think there would be another government that would come and do the farming on your behalf while you sleep?" she asked at a rally in Chiweshe attended by 20,000 people yesterday.

"What do you get when you lease your pieces of land? How do you expect to survive with your families?

"Such behaviour is the root to other disgraceful behaviour like stealing and prostitution," said Mujuru.

She said leasing pieces of land was "tantamount to laziness and such retrogressive behaviour was wearing away government efforts to empower farmers through giving them land", the website reported."

Interesting that she should say that the government is making an effort to 'empower farmer' - absolute rubbish! The government is making an effort to empower the government...

If the government were intent on empowering the farmer, then they would have engaged with the established farmers on a more equal plain and negotiated for the land takeover - instead of murdering a number of farmers and farmworkers, destroying farm houses and burning the equipment.

"We appeal to you all to utilise land as there are no other means to improve our wealth, stabilise the economy other than production.

"We are aware that some of you are having problems like procuring inputs in time. It is because of sanctions imposed by western countries at the behest of opposition party leader Morgan Tsvangirai," she said."

So now the failings of the Mugabe government are the fault of Morgan Tsvangirai? How so? He has not been even given a chance, let alone any ground to work upon - excuse the pun...

"Some countries like Germany and Brazil reached a stage when people were paid weekly, daily and hourly because of hyperinflation, but today you are going there to buy goods because it was merely a passing phase."

And I hope in a week's time to be able to say that Mugabe's government is also a 'passing phase'.

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There are two point worth mentioning in this story.

Firstly, if Mugabe's utterances and his actions over the last couple of months are anything to go by, the results WILL be withheld.

Mugabe has proved himself a liar on more than one recent occasion - so not much of what comes out of his mouth is to be believes.

Secondly - Mnangagwa is meant to be Mugabe's chosen successor, so he will say ANYTHING to be heard - no matter how much of the truth he leaves out.

'Tsvangirai likes being arrested' he says - so that he can get the headlines! I could swear, but I won't.

"Despite the massive violence in Zimbabwe against supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe's Minister of Rural Housing, Emmerson Mnangagwa, on a brief visit to Maputo on Tuesday, claimed that the conditions in the country are conducive to hold a second round in the presidential election on 27 June.

Mnangagwa was in Maputo in his capacity as Secretary for Legal Affairs of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU PF, and he spoke to reporters after an audience with President Armando Guebuza.

Recent reports indicate Mnangagwa is poised to be nominated by Robert Mugabe as his successor in the event that ZANU PF wins the June 27 election. Mugabe intends to win another six year term, but due to his advanced age, he will opt for early retirement and give the reins of power to Mnangagwa.

In Maputo, Mnangwagwa boasted that the second round would take place on the date announced and ZANU PF had no intention of delaying it. He predicted that the ZANU PF candidate Robert Mugabe would win with "an overwhelming majority"."

I would like to rephrase the last sentence.

ZANU PF will win with overwhelming intimidation...

"In an apparent admission that ZANU PF had forced ZEC to delay the release of the March 29 election, Mnangagwa promised that the results from the second round would be announced speedily - unlike the first round, where theZimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) delayed for five weeks before announcing the results.

As for the violence, Mnangagwa shrugged it off as "deceitful MDC propaganda" with the intention of confusing the electorate. He alleged that the MDC carries out acts of violence under cover of night and then blames them on ZANU PF."

I look forward to the release of the second round results in early to mid August.

"Tsvangirai "likes being arrested", claimed Mnangagwa, allegedly because this is way of grabbing the world's attention."

Well - you know the solution then - stop arresting him...

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For those using Firefox, please be aware that Firefox 3 is now available for download.

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Nine days and counting.

Take care.

'debvhu