Thursday, 16th July 2009
Howzit
The more hawk-eyed of you may note that the blog counter on the right has lost 90000 hits. What happened was that I was checking things over with various parts of my page, when I noted that the counter was clocking individual page loads as opposed to unique visitors.
When I changed it to unique visitors, I found that it reverted to 709000 - but I would prefer an accurate figure as opposed to an inflated figure.
I am sure that you understand.
I am sure that you understand.
-o00o-
when he attempted to make a citizen's arrest of the Zimbabwean President.
Mugabe's close security 'deal' with a reporter.
On June 8 the Department of Justice decided not to prosecute a police and an intelligence officer serving as minders to Bona Mugabe for the assault of Sunday Times journalists Colin Galloway and Tim O'Rourke outside her Tai Po home February 13. Mugabe's daughter is a student atCity University
In a separate incident in January, Mugabe's wife Grace was granted diplomatic immunity from prosecution after allegedly punchingHong Kong photographer Richard Jones near the Kowloon Shangri-La where she had been staying.
This is beyond a joke. Mugabe now basically has a green light to have his security personnel beat up in any reporter knowing that the chances are that they will not be prosecuted for their acts.
I find it strange that no other head of state seems to have this problem. Is it perhaps that the world is waking up to the activities of Mugabe and his henchmen?
"According to Cross, the bodyguards were concerned about the two strangers who approached unannounced, and whose shifting purpose for the visit and refusal to produce identification led to their manhandling. One suffered minor injuries.
However, legislators were unconvinced Mugabe's minders had exercised sound judgment in their use of force in the February incident."
I do note that the two bodyguards concerned were spirited away to Zimbabwe very quickly and replaced with others.
Here's a thought: Who pays for these security personnel? ZANU PF? I thought that they were broke...
-o00o-
The Hong Kong government has been criticised for their decision not to pursue assault charges against bodyguards who beat up on reporters who were covering a story on Mugabe's daughters.
Not only that, but it also transpired that the bodyguards were in Hong Kong on visas that did not allow them to work.
Mugabe and his loyalists not only break the law in Zimbabwe, but now they break the law in foreign countries and the powers that be allow them to get away with it!
Peter Tatchell was punched senseless in a London street by Mugabe's bodyguards
Not only that, but it also transpired that the bodyguards were in Hong Kong on visas that did not allow them to work.
Mugabe and his loyalists not only break the law in Zimbabwe, but now they break the law in foreign countries and the powers that be allow them to get away with it!
when he attempted to make a citizen's arrest of the Zimbabwean President.
Mugabe's close security 'deal' with a reporter.
On June 8 the Department of Justice decided not to prosecute a police and an intelligence officer serving as minders to Bona Mugabe for the assault of Sunday Times journalists Colin Galloway and Tim O'Rourke outside her Tai Po home February 13. Mugabe's daughter is a student at
In a separate incident in January, Mugabe's wife Grace was granted diplomatic immunity from prosecution after allegedly punching
This is beyond a joke. Mugabe now basically has a green light to have his security personnel beat up in any reporter knowing that the chances are that they will not be prosecuted for their acts.
I find it strange that no other head of state seems to have this problem. Is it perhaps that the world is waking up to the activities of Mugabe and his henchmen?
"According to Cross, the bodyguards were concerned about the two strangers who approached unannounced, and whose shifting purpose for the visit and refusal to produce identification led to their manhandling. One suffered minor injuries.
However, legislators were unconvinced Mugabe's minders had exercised sound judgment in their use of force in the February incident."
I do note that the two bodyguards concerned were spirited away to Zimbabwe very quickly and replaced with others.
Here's a thought: Who pays for these security personnel? ZANU PF? I thought that they were broke...
A government of national unity - which reportedly is what governs Zimbabwe today - needs that all the parties concerned and their different parts work together.
It has been apparent from Day One that ZANU PF is not that interested in working with the MDC and as time has gone on, the activities of Mugabe's party are more and more independent and unilateral.
"Service chiefs have boycotted yet another scheduled meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), highlighting the contempt of army generals for the Prime Minister. Last Friday's meeting of the NSC failed to take place after flimsy excuses from the generals.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was expected to sit down with the recalcitrant army generals but this has failed to take place on several occasions since the National Security Council Bill was passed on February 10. The NSC was created to replace the shadowy junta body, the Joint Operations Command (JOC).
They were supposed to hold one meeting a month, but there has been fierce resistance against the make-up of the NSC from the service chiefs. They see the establishment of the new security think-tank as stripping them of their power.
Tsvangirai’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment, but a senior official in the PM's Office said: "It shows shocking contempt for the GNU." Tsvangirai told a news conference in June: "We have to regularise the meeting of the National Security Council."
But still nothing has changed. Tsvangirai's deputy, Thoko Khupe, told a news conference that "securocrats" were in denial over the circumstances in the country and were refusing to accept the new order."
What Mugabe has achieved is a window dressing of a government, an attempt to show the world that there is an inclusive government is place, whilst Mugabe continues to rule the country just as he has for the last 29 years.
It is obvious that ZANU PF are no interested in sharing power - even though their party lost the majority in Parliament in last year's election in March.
We see more and more reports of MDC MPs being imprisoned for crimes which are invented, trumped-up and litigated with the full force of the law.
"The NSC consists of President Mugabe as chairperson and his two deputies, Joyce Mujuru and Joseph Msika, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his deputies Arthur Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the two Home Affairs Ministers Giles Mutsekwa and Kembo Mohadi.
Within the Council, service chiefs are relegated to the role of ex-officio members. According to sources, this has heightened tensions in the inclusive government. Officials said the latest boycott by the service chiefs of the NSC meeting signalled their on-going determination to scuttle the GNU.
Security forces have long been accused of partisanship, and senior government officials told The Zimbabwean that the Council would have the de-politicisation of the security forces into professional service forces high on its agenda.
The legislation establishing the Council was drafted by the MDC. It was set up to receive and consider national security reports and give direction on how the country's security forces work. However, officials were quick to clarify that the creation of the NSC did not mean the disbanding of JOC. The power-sharing agreement is unfortunately silent about the dissolution of JOC."
Doug Rogers on Blood Diamonds in Zimbabwe
-o00o-
Mugabe claims that compensation for the dispossessed commercial farmers should be paid by the English government (even though he was given money years ago to pay compensation) and the governors that Mugabe unilaterally appointed are to be compensated for their being removed from office...
Now it transpires that 30 families are to be 'compensated' because a new road it being built that goes to the airport...
"More than 30 families from Harare's Braeside suburb are facing displacement by the end of July as the construction of the airport road starts in preparation for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Leslie Gwindi, the Harare City Council’s director of works said the houses along the airport road would be demolished to pave way for the dualisation of the road.
He added that the residents who have been given notices would be compensated.
The dualisation is part of the plans of the Harare City Council of attracting tourists ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
The Residents who built their residential houses in the medium density along the airport road have registered discontent with the city fathers for giving them a month’s notice to vacate their houses to pave way for the dualisation of the road."
Does the government of Zimbabwe really think that the World Cup in 2010 will increase tourism in that country? I don't think so!
Which reminds me. I was watching a series on television about a celebrity ballooning through Africa. They were in Livingston in Zambia, overlooking Victoria Falls.
The celebrity said that it had been considered that they flew the balloon over the falls, but there was concern that the wind might blow them over into Zimbabwe.
The celebrity stated: "We are not that crazy!" - or words to that effect...
If the land grab is anything to go by, compensation will be a mere pittance and no doubt violence will be visited on those families that are prepared to make a fight of it.
"Some residents revealed that they have been instructed by council officials to list their belongings to enable them to be compensated.
Several residents expressed disappointment as they were still in the dark on how much they would be compensated.
However, others said the expansion of the road is a positive move given the fact that the country has high hopes of hosting tourists arrivals from the 2010 World Cup to be hosted bySouth Africa
We wait. We watch.
It has been apparent from Day One that ZANU PF is not that interested in working with the MDC and as time has gone on, the activities of Mugabe's party are more and more independent and unilateral.
"Service chiefs have boycotted yet another scheduled meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), highlighting the contempt of army generals for the Prime Minister. Last Friday's meeting of the NSC failed to take place after flimsy excuses from the generals.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was expected to sit down with the recalcitrant army generals but this has failed to take place on several occasions since the National Security Council Bill was passed on February 10. The NSC was created to replace the shadowy junta body, the Joint Operations Command (JOC).
They were supposed to hold one meeting a month, but there has been fierce resistance against the make-up of the NSC from the service chiefs. They see the establishment of the new security think-tank as stripping them of their power.
Tsvangirai’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment, but a senior official in the PM's Office said: "It shows shocking contempt for the GNU." Tsvangirai told a news conference in June: "We have to regularise the meeting of the National Security Council."
But still nothing has changed. Tsvangirai's deputy, Thoko Khupe, told a news conference that "securocrats" were in denial over the circumstances in the country and were refusing to accept the new order."
What Mugabe has achieved is a window dressing of a government, an attempt to show the world that there is an inclusive government is place, whilst Mugabe continues to rule the country just as he has for the last 29 years.
It is obvious that ZANU PF are no interested in sharing power - even though their party lost the majority in Parliament in last year's election in March.
We see more and more reports of MDC MPs being imprisoned for crimes which are invented, trumped-up and litigated with the full force of the law.
"The NSC consists of President Mugabe as chairperson and his two deputies, Joyce Mujuru and Joseph Msika, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his deputies Arthur Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the two Home Affairs Ministers Giles Mutsekwa and Kembo Mohadi.
Within the Council, service chiefs are relegated to the role of ex-officio members. According to sources, this has heightened tensions in the inclusive government. Officials said the latest boycott by the service chiefs of the NSC meeting signalled their on-going determination to scuttle the GNU.
Security forces have long been accused of partisanship, and senior government officials told The Zimbabwean that the Council would have the de-politicisation of the security forces into professional service forces high on its agenda.
The legislation establishing the Council was drafted by the MDC. It was set up to receive and consider national security reports and give direction on how the country's security forces work. However, officials were quick to clarify that the creation of the NSC did not mean the disbanding of JOC. The power-sharing agreement is unfortunately silent about the dissolution of JOC."
-o00o-
Doug Rogers on Blood Diamonds in Zimbabwe
-o00o-
Mugabe claims that compensation for the dispossessed commercial farmers should be paid by the English government (even though he was given money years ago to pay compensation) and the governors that Mugabe unilaterally appointed are to be compensated for their being removed from office...
Now it transpires that 30 families are to be 'compensated' because a new road it being built that goes to the airport...
"More than 30 families from Harare's Braeside suburb are facing displacement by the end of July as the construction of the airport road starts in preparation for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Leslie Gwindi, the Harare City Council’s director of works said the houses along the airport road would be demolished to pave way for the dualisation of the road.
He added that the residents who have been given notices would be compensated.
The dualisation is part of the plans of the Harare City Council of attracting tourists ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
The Residents who built their residential houses in the medium density along the airport road have registered discontent with the city fathers for giving them a month’s notice to vacate their houses to pave way for the dualisation of the road."
Does the government of Zimbabwe really think that the World Cup in 2010 will increase tourism in that country? I don't think so!
Which reminds me. I was watching a series on television about a celebrity ballooning through Africa. They were in Livingston in Zambia, overlooking Victoria Falls.
The celebrity said that it had been considered that they flew the balloon over the falls, but there was concern that the wind might blow them over into Zimbabwe.
The celebrity stated: "We are not that crazy!" - or words to that effect...
If the land grab is anything to go by, compensation will be a mere pittance and no doubt violence will be visited on those families that are prepared to make a fight of it.
"Some residents revealed that they have been instructed by council officials to list their belongings to enable them to be compensated.
Several residents expressed disappointment as they were still in the dark on how much they would be compensated.
However, others said the expansion of the road is a positive move given the fact that the country has high hopes of hosting tourists arrivals from the 2010 World Cup to be hosted by
We wait. We watch.
-o00o-
Now the NGOs are wanting their money back...
"Non-governmental organisations (NGO) have askedZimbabwe
The National Association of NGOs (NANGO) said it had written to Finance Minister Tendai Biti demanding that he should outline a repayment plan when he announces a mid-term national budget statement to Parliament on Thursday.
"The government should highlight the government’s strategy in trying to return the money that it owes the local NGOs whose funds were taken by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in 2008,” the NANGO said in a statement shown to ZimOnline yesterday.
Gono last year seized millions of dollars in hard currency belonging to NGOs including more than US$7 million that belonged to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that the RBZ was holding in trust.
The central bank chief allegedly used the funds to shore up Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, including - according to some accounts - paying for Mugabe’s violent campaign to retain the presidency in a bloody second round presidential election in June 2008."
Theft is the illegal and intentional removal of property of another... That is just what Gono did - and therefore he is complicit in the crime.
"The NANGO said returning money grabbed from its members - all of which had been provided by foreign funders - would help mend relations between theHarare
"(Returning) the money is critical for the organisations and also for the mending of relations between the government and the donors," it said."
The Zimbabwean government is broke - mainly because it's principals have stolen anything worth keeping. Perhaps Gono should arrange that the money be repaid from the illicit gains made by the senior indivifuals in Mugabe's party that have enriched themselves from the diamond find...
"...the Finance Minister is on record as saying the unity government is bankrupt after years of recession, while rich Western nations are reluctant to provide direct financial support to the government insisting on more reforms first including at the central bank."
Of course, the headlines in the papers report how Mugabe is unhappy that the West will only give aid to Zimbabwe under certain conditions. This is why the West will not give money without conditions - because it would end up in personal accounts of the Mugabe administration...
-o00o-
Now the NGOs are wanting their money back...
"Non-governmental organisations (NGO) have asked
The National Association of NGOs (NANGO) said it had written to Finance Minister Tendai Biti demanding that he should outline a repayment plan when he announces a mid-term national budget statement to Parliament on Thursday.
"The government should highlight the government’s strategy in trying to return the money that it owes the local NGOs whose funds were taken by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in 2008,” the NANGO said in a statement shown to ZimOnline yesterday.
Gono last year seized millions of dollars in hard currency belonging to NGOs including more than US$7 million that belonged to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that the RBZ was holding in trust.
The central bank chief allegedly used the funds to shore up Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, including - according to some accounts - paying for Mugabe’s violent campaign to retain the presidency in a bloody second round presidential election in June 2008."
Theft is the illegal and intentional removal of property of another... That is just what Gono did - and therefore he is complicit in the crime.
"The NANGO said returning money grabbed from its members - all of which had been provided by foreign funders - would help mend relations between the
"(Returning) the money is critical for the organisations and also for the mending of relations between the government and the donors," it said."
The Zimbabwean government is broke - mainly because it's principals have stolen anything worth keeping. Perhaps Gono should arrange that the money be repaid from the illicit gains made by the senior indivifuals in Mugabe's party that have enriched themselves from the diamond find...
"...the Finance Minister is on record as saying the unity government is bankrupt after years of recession, while rich Western nations are reluctant to provide direct financial support to the government insisting on more reforms first including at the central bank."
Of course, the headlines in the papers report how Mugabe is unhappy that the West will only give aid to Zimbabwe under certain conditions. This is why the West will not give money without conditions - because it would end up in personal accounts of the Mugabe administration...
"Five war veterans and their families who were allocated plots under the Zanu (PF)'s 2000 land grab have been served with eviction notices because they now support the MDC.
The five, Fanuel Musona, Gift Lemon, Lyson Reason, Gift Mhembere and Lazarus Malunga, received plots at Foothills farm in Bindura in 2000. For the past nine years they have built homes and families on the land. But they have now, together with fellow settlers around the country, become victims of ZANU PF zealots who accuse them of turning against the liberation war movement that allocated them the plots.
MDC Foothills chairman, Collen Langton, confirmed the eviction notices against the five war veterans were issued after they were made to appear Chief Negomo of Chiweshe village on charges of turning against President Mugabe's ZANU PF.
"Though they are still residing at the farm, the fate of whether they will be evicted or not in is in the hands of the village court. The five are being told that they will be evicted because they now support the MDC. They have been told to go to the MDC to look for land," said Langton in an interview."
So the right to own land - or at least occupy it - now rests with the residents' political affiliation?
As if we didn't know that before. Since 2000, Mugabe has heralded the land grab as a return of the land to the landless blacks - and then has given the land seized to his senior henchmen and security chiefs. Now the majority of the land in Zimbabwwe belongs to ZANU PF... All that the land grab has achieved is to substitute one group of owners for another.
The difference is that the commercial farmers were able to feed the country - ZANU PF are not...
-o00o-
The five, Fanuel Musona, Gift Lemon, Lyson Reason, Gift Mhembere and Lazarus Malunga, received plots at Foothills farm in Bindura in 2000. For the past nine years they have built homes and families on the land. But they have now, together with fellow settlers around the country, become victims of ZANU PF zealots who accuse them of turning against the liberation war movement that allocated them the plots.
MDC Foothills chairman, Collen Langton, confirmed the eviction notices against the five war veterans were issued after they were made to appear Chief Negomo of Chiweshe village on charges of turning against President Mugabe's ZANU PF.
"Though they are still residing at the farm, the fate of whether they will be evicted or not in is in the hands of the village court. The five are being told that they will be evicted because they now support the MDC. They have been told to go to the MDC to look for land," said Langton in an interview."
So the right to own land - or at least occupy it - now rests with the residents' political affiliation?
As if we didn't know that before. Since 2000, Mugabe has heralded the land grab as a return of the land to the landless blacks - and then has given the land seized to his senior henchmen and security chiefs. Now the majority of the land in Zimbabwwe belongs to ZANU PF... All that the land grab has achieved is to substitute one group of owners for another.
The difference is that the commercial farmers were able to feed the country - ZANU PF are not...
Take care.
'debvhu
'debvhu
posted by Robb WJ Ellis at 7:07 AM
Union Jack (1963 - 64, 1998 - ??)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home