Wednesday, 27th August 2008

Howzit

Foreign currency mid-rates updated...

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What do you suppose happened yesterday that Mugabe's wife, Amazing (Dis)Grace, failed to make an appearance with her husband?

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As fast as the MDC record a historical victory in Parliament with the Speaker of the House being one of their own, than Mugabe ordered his police force to harass MDC MPs and four of their number have been arrested. On unknown, but allegedly trumped up, charges.

"The police besieged a central Harare hotel in the early hours of Tuesday morning and threatened to arrest a number of MDC legislators who are booked there.

The police say the names of the targeted Members of Parliament appear on a list of persons wanted by the police.

Officers from the Harare Central Police Station’s Law and Order section threatened to break down the door to hotel room number 512 at the Quality International Hotel around 4 am Tuesday. The MDC’s Chipinge East legislator Mateo Mlambo is booked in that room.

Mlambo told The Zimbabwe Times by phone that he was holed up in the hotel room together with his wife after refusing to entertain the police at that time of the night.

The officers claim Mlambo beat up a war veteran in his constituency during election campaign in March."

If the allegations were ture, why did the police not effect the arrest at the time of the incident? This is plainly and simply Mugabe's master plan. To hassle and provoke MDC MPs in an attempt to get a rise out of them, or just to arrest them because they can.

"They are here and they are waiting to take me," he said. "They came around 4am and demanded that I get out but I told them it’s too early. They threatened to break down the door but I dared them to try it."

Hotel staff said the officers demanded the guest register at the hotel at gun-point. Terrified reception staff handed over the list and the officers frisked the entire hotel, located in central Harare, reportedly on the hunt for MDC MPs on their "wanted" list."

"It is clear ZANU PF is on a retributive campaign after bitterly losing the post of Speaker in Parliament," Chamisa told The Zimbabwe Times. "We have been magnanimous in victory; they must also be distinguished in defeat."

Chamisa said it was appalling that the police were harassing MDC MPs who were themselves victims of violence and yet not even a single person who murdered any of the at least 125 MDC activists and sympathizers had been arrested.

He railed the police for disturbing the peace at the hotel and for embarrassing guests."

Mugabe will not allow the political landscape in Zimbabwe to settle. Just as he blames the West for all the problems facing the country, he will blame the MDC for all the political violence and will use the police to arrest them at will.

Just taking them off the streets for a few days at a time is well worth it as far as he is concerned.

"The police have issued a list of wanted MDC legislators. The list includes the names of Highfield East MP, Pearson Mungofa, Mazowe Central MP, Shepherd Mushonga, Piniel Denga (Mbare), Broadwin Nyaude (Bindura South), Bikita East MP Edmore Marima and Mangoma, who was arrested yesterday.

Chamisa said his party was privy to a revised list of 15 MDC legislators said to be wanted by the police. Mudiwa, Jembere and Mlambo are among the latest additions, he said."

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The problem with Mugabe politics is that somehow he has gotten under the skin of SADC and they are rubber stamping all his requests and moving the goalposts at will.

I question how such a body can dictate (good word, when used in connection with Zimbabwe) that Mugabe can convene Parliament. Mugabe had already contravened the Constitution by not doing anything about Parliament, and then SADC decided that they could 'allow' him to do it.

What would we say if the UN took it upon itself to meddle in English politics, European politics or even US politics?

"Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said President Robert Mugabe's opening of parliament Tuesday was "illegal" and called for the speedy resumption of talks on power-sharing as a state crackdown on MDC officials continued.

"The purported opening by Mugabe, the illegitimate usurper of the people's will as reflected on 29 March 2008 (elections), is illegal and of no force and effect," the MDC said in a petition handed to Mugabe after he opened the two-chamber parliament to noisy protests.

"The only person who can officially open this session of Parliament will be determined by the outcome of the on-going dialogue sponsored by SADC (Southern African Development Community)," the petition continued.

In unprecedented scenes reflecting the ebullient mood within the party after scoring a parliamentary victory Monday, MDC deputies occupying ruling party benches for the first time this week drowned out Mugabe's speech with booing, clapping and singing.

Mugabe's ZANU PF was consigned to the opposition in March elections after it finished second to Tsvangirai's MDC faction - the larger of two."

As I stated last evening electronically to a friend elsewhere in the world, the petition has joined the Memorandum of Understanding in the rubbish bin (together with millions upon millions of Zimbabwean dollars). Since when does Mugabe listen to other people's reasoning? Since when does Mugabe concern himself about legalities?

"Tsvangirai's MDC won 100 seats to Zanu-PF's 99. The balance of power in the 210-seat lower house is held by a breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara.

The MDC had initially threatened to boycott the convening of parliament because it does not recognize Mugabe as president.

Mugabe stakes his legitimacy on a June presidential run-off vote that Tsvangirai - winner of the first round - refused to contest because of a spate of political violence directed at his supporters."

I go back to the explanation of events I received over the weekend. In a election race consisting of more than two people, it is impossible for one person to receive over 50%, and therefore, the election is won by the candidate with the most votes.

This is democracy, a concept that Mugabe and his people clearly fail to understand.

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We left Zimbabwe almost ten years ago, and we left before the economy began it's headlong spiral to plumb new depths.

We earned enough money to live a reasonable life with a few extravagances and luxuries.

By chance, we left for other reasons and never witnessed the beginning of the end of a lifestyle which I don't think is easily maintained anywhere else in the world.

I am sure that if I was to return to Zimbabwe anytime soon, I would struggle to recognise it...

"Famines occur due to war, anarchy, floods, droughts, insects or blights. Yet in the last century the most horrible famines are those planned by the government in the absence of war, to punish their own people, or from a callous attitude that political power is more important than human life. Such famines occurred in the Ukraine in the 1930’s and in China’s Great Leap Forward in the 1960’s. So add to this list of monstrous tyrants who plan the deliberate starvation of their own people the name of Robert Mugabe. The party line in Zimbabwe is that "the West" is to blame for the famine, since the west has a limited embargo on investment in Zimbabwe.

But the reality is that Mugabe has used food as a weapon to keep power in previous elections. It was understood that villages who voted wrong would not get food aid during the periodic famines in their areas."

I have never been in a situation where foodstuffs are limited and either unavailable and too expensive to purchase. And I can assume that it takes a hard person to order that food aid be stopped to put the people under further pressure.

But I want to know why... Why is Mugabe so intent on punishing the people? Why is Mugabe so intent on governing each and every part of Zimbabwe's economy? There's a laugh - he governed it right into the ground...

"But apparently, the mere threat of violence was not enough to ensure the correct vote: Mugabe also banned the distribution of food aid by NGO’s in early June.

This was a twofold threat: One, it meant that after a poor harvest, villagers would know that if they didn’t vote correctly, no food aid would be coming to keep them alive, and two: It meant that there were fewer outsiders to report on atrocities.

The dirty little secret about missionaries and NGO’s is that they write about what they see. Mugabe is trying to intimidate his population, and keep it a secret. That is why he bans outside reporters from entering the country, and why letters and emails are assumed by locals to be monitored.

So since June, NGO’s have been banned from giving out food aid. After the farce election, and the South African mediated talks to try to get a coalition government, Mugabe agreed to stop the suspension of the NGO’s. This did not happen, although in early August a small amount of food was allowed to be distributed to HIV patients. But if things don’t change, Zimbabwe, which once exported food and with irrigation and modern techniques could be the breadbasket of Africa, will become a state with massive starvation."

If Mugabe can't beat the people through the ballot box, or using the police, the army, war veternas and the youth militia, then he may as well starve them out. The by-product of attempting to teach the people who to vote for is that there will be less people to teach as the old and infirm, infants and the weak will die.

The man has no conscience.

"The government has always maintained a stranglehold on food distribution with a view to ensuring that those receiving the food associate this generosity with the government, rather than the donors."

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Are we really going to continue to flog this dead horse?

Any further negotiations should be mediated by anyone not called Mbeki and not connected to the South African government.

"Zimbabwe’s opposition called on Tuesday for urgent resumption of stalled power-sharing talks with President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party, saying only a negotiated political settlement could end deep-seated polarisation ripping the country apart.

Opposition MDC party secretary general Tendai Biti said the unprecedented jeering and heckling of Mugabe by opposition legislators as he opened Parliament earlier in the day was evidence of a divided nation, and urged neighbouring South African President Thabo Mbeki to recall Zimbabwe’s rival political parties back to the negotiating table."

I am not so sure that Mbeki is up to the job. He is about to be replaced in South Africa - and he has publicly stated that he support Mugabe and his ZANU PF party. Can we really guarantee that he is not going to twist the knife and make life even harder for the MDC?

"What happened today shows the obligations on both sides that negotiations should continue until we reach a negotiated settlement. I hope the facilitator (Mbeki), as a matter of urgency, will re-convene the talks so that dialogue will resume," said Biti, speaking after the opening of Parliament five months after last March’s elections.

Negotiations to form a government of national unity - which many analysts say is the most viable way to end Zimbabwe’s long-running political and economic crisis - hit deadlock after MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe failed to agree on who between them should control such a power-sharing government."

It should be noted that these talks have been ongoing for the thick end of two years and the only person that has benefitted from them is Mugabe...

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This is how 'law and order' is dealt with in Zimbabwe. Seen a crime being committed by the police? Run! Otherwise you will be arrested...

"Reporter Rutendo Mawere of the privately-owned weekly "The Standard", who was arrested on 21 August 2008 in Gweru (in Midlands province), 280 km southwest of Harare, was released a few hours later without being charged. Mawere was arrested while watching police beat resident who had been queuing outside a shop for basic staples.

"As the search for a negotiated solution to the political crisis continues, journalists are still being subjected to police brutality, arbitrary arrest and constant intimidation," Reporters Without Borders said. "Trying to hide the destitution of the population by arresting witnesses is shameful."

Of course it is! To us in the free world - but to Zimbabweans it is part of everyday life, and to Mugabe's police force, it is essential...

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There was a time when the health delivery system in Zimbabwe was arguably the best in Africa. And I have happily been the recipient of that service, as have members of my immediate family.

Now the health system cannot even deliver prescriptions, let alone treatment and/or the cure...

"When the doors opened at 8am there were about 200 people waiting to see the pharmacist and collect life preserving medication on repeat prescriptions for conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy and diabetes.

Nothing happened for an hour and there was no explanation for the delay but at 9am the pharmacist finally came out and he went quickly down the line looking at people's open case record books.

The pharmacist could not help the woman and neither could he help Frank who needs 3 tablets every night to control his epileptic fits.

"Nothing, nothing, nothing," he repeated as he looked at the books being held open by the patients."

One word. One rejection. And another life is made more difficult and, in some cases, will be cut short by the unavailablity of the medication.

But Mugabe spends valuable foreign currency on motor vehicle for his security force chiefs, satellite systems for the judiciary, piles of the folding stuff for his wife...

Gideon Gono, who is supposed to ensure that foreign currency is used for the best money can buy for the people of Zimbabwe, is printing useless local currency in a bid to hoodwink the population, whilst ZANU PF spend more than they are worth or have.

"This hospital, like all other government hospitals around the country, has no drugs on hand, no stocks on order, no money, no budget and no idea when there may be a change in the situation.

Frank watched a woman, perhaps in her late fifties, sitting on a wooden bench weeping. He saw her tears dripping onto the cracked concrete floor, their wetness bright in the dust. He tried to comfort the woman but she was inconsolable.

"Now I am going to die," she said. "Without my tablets I will die."

Which suits Robert Mugabe fine.

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Take care.

'debvhu