Monday, 23rd February 2009

Howzit

Foreign currency mid-rates updated.

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I don't normally use others blogs as sources, but I was particularly taken by this posting, and so break my own rule...

"On Friday had a cheerful message of greetings to Robert Mugabe wishing him well on his birthday:

"Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assembly, on Feb. 18 sent a message of greetings to Robert G. Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, on the occasion of his 85th birthday.

Kim in the message wished the president good health and success in his work for the stability of Zimbabwe and its people's well-being.” Today’s Observer reports, unsurprisingly, that Robert Mugabe marked his 85th birthday yesterday with a sumptuous banquet in Harare at the start of a week of parties – at a time when prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai said "maybe US$5bn (£3.5bn)" would be needed to rehabilitate the collapsed health, social and education systems.

Celebrations got under way on Friday as schoolboy pipers, accompanied by drum majorettes, marched through the decrepit capital and members of a ruling party youth organisation sold $10 raffle tickets."

But of course Korea is going to support Mugabe! They were the ones that trained the Fifth Brigade who were responsible for the Gukurahundi in which twenty to thirty thousand people were killed in Matabeleland and the Midlands in the early to mid 1980s...

A few of Mugabe's military head honcho's are a bit worried that their escapades in that time will result in their prosecution.

Regular readers will know that I wrote a book about my experiences in Matabeleland whilst serving in the ZRP in that time.

Clicking on the cover above will take you to my Lulu page where
you can order the book as printed matter or as an electronic download...
I am currently working on my second book.

"Political science professor John Makumbe said the birthday display was the latest of many signals that the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) does not intend to respect the power-sharing agreement that saw Tsvangirai sworn in on 11 February. "The money for the parties and the cattle and chickens donated are extracted from people virtually against their will," he said. "Thousands have died from cholera and many students are not attending school or university because teachers are not paid. It's unbelievable that he can blow quadrillions of Zimbabwe dollars on parties."

I found it laughable that ZANU PF should attempt to defend this event. No one but Mugabe's loyalists are invited to the feast - how is any 'inspired' youth meant to meet their 'hero' if they have no access to him?

"Absolom Sikhosana defended the Chinhoyi event: "It is not a feast per se, but an event where youths have a chance to meet their hero. This inspires them to emulate his exemplary qualities of nation-building, patriotism and principled leadership."

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And whilst Mugabe and his shamwari's were eating and drinking on the money of the good people of Zimbabwe, the police were busy defying a High Court order...

"Armed police took a leading Zimbabwean rights campaigner and eight activists to a maximum security prison on Thursday, defying a High Court order for their immediate release to a local hospital, their lawyer said.

Jestina Mukoko and the others were charged on Wednesday with recruiting or trying to recruit people, including a police officer, to plot the overthrow of President Robert Mugabe's government.

High Court Judge Yunus Omarjee ordered their release and that of 23 other activists because their detention was illegal."

So what is Tsvangirai going to do about this? What is the free world going to do - apart from issuing wishy-washy statements?

Tsvangirai will find himself powerless, because Mugabe-ites are crawling all over the halls of power...

"Alec Muchadehama, a lawyer for the activists, said all nine people, who were being held in police custody, had been taken to a maximum security prison on the outskirts of Harare. "I've been told that they've been taken to Chikurubi maximum prison," Muchadehama told Reuters. "No part of the High Court order has been complied with. The police are defying the court's order as usual and they've started taking us on a merry-go-round."

And because Mugabe-ites run the ministry that oversees the courts, no charges will ever be faced by the police chief for this flagrant disregard of the order...

"I have just received information that they were taken by a red vehicle under armed police escort. The investigating officer expressed shock and surprise when I asked him."

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Zimbabwe right now is a powder keg just waiting for the smallest of sparks.

And ZANU PF are aware that they can carry out the most audacious acts against the people of Zimbabwe with little chance of them being prosecuted for their actions.

To wit, the police chief is intent on all murder cases against ZANU PF people during the reign of terror visited on the MDC last year all be stopped and dropped immediately.

"A senior member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and journalists working in Masvingo Province have predicted that the recurrence of political violence in the province’s rural areas is now a strong possibility unless the government takes urgent steps to effect the much-talked about national healing process.

A senior police officer told The Zimbabwe Times Sunday that it was now very likely that the province would witness retributive violence on a scale greater than the sporadic incidents that have been witnessed in Mashonaland East and Central where serious clashes have been reported. “Tension is rising in the rural areas as most people who believe they were wronged during the run-up to last year’s second presidential election now want to revenge,“ said the police officer who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the press."

This officer is rather lucky that the article doesn't name him - or he would be joining Mukoko and Co in Chikurubi post haste...

"He said there was an urgent need for aid organisations to provide counselling services to traumatised rural communities. He cited an incident in Zaka in June 2008 as a case study. A war veteran is said to have openly shot a supporter of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in front of people who were also accused along with him of being MDC members. The war veteran later locked the group of people in a room and went on to splash petrol on them before setting the room ablaze.

"Such incidents are regrettable," said the police officer. "Sometimes we the police are to blame but our hands were tied. It is now up to the politicians to move quickly to resolve some of these simmering disputes."

Regrettable? I could swear - but will refrain from doing so.

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I understand Tsvangirai's call for reconciliation - but it has to be a two way street...

The MDC cannot reconcile without ZANU PF - and vice versa - and I don't see ZANU PF playing ball...

"Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called for national reconciliation and forgiveness on Sunday after years of political conflict in the country.

Tsvangirai, who entered into a unity government with President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party this month, also said the time had come to address poverty and hunger. "This nation needs national healing. It has endured so much violence. Let’s forgive those who have transgressed against us…," Tsvangirai told supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) at a rally in Gweru, 220 km (140 miles) southwest of Harare. "If there’s no national healing, there won’t be progress."

The internet dictionary has reconciliation defined as: "an act of reconciling or the state of being reconciled" and to be a little more pedantic, "reconcile" is defined as: "the process of making consistent or compatible"...

"Zimbabwe’s new government urgently needs to find a solution to the country’s economic meltdown that has led to the world’s highest inflation and a worthless currency. Tsvangirai said last week it would cost as much as $5 billion to repair the shattered economy. He said on Sunday that Mugabe, himself and Arthur Mutambara - leader of a breakaway MDC faction - were committed to the unity government."

Mutambara has said not a word, whilst Mugabe does everything to ensure that power-sharing never has a chance.

"We realized that the time had come to sort out this mess. There is absolute poverty and hunger in this country. This is what prompted us to work with ZANU PF and I am sure that is what also prompted ZANU PF to agree to this inclusive government," he said."

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Take care.

'debvhu