Friday, 29th July 2011

Howzit

I am still hard at work on the Microsoft qualification course, and envisage at least another month of hard work ahead. But I do believe that it will be worth while. So, sorry, you'll just have to bear with me.

The security chiefs should remember that it is Zimbabwe that they serve, not Mugabe!

Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday told Parliament only those in the military chain of command can be saluted by security forces, implying it was not mandatory for the security forces to salute Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and any other person not in that chain.

He was responding to a question by Gutu North MP Edmore Maramwidze, who wanted clarification on whether the utterances by Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba that the army would not salute any President without liberation war credentials were personal or the ministry’s policy.

Sheer hypocrisy!

Tyrant Robert Mugabe spends £2million per month on luxurious foreign travel, according to a Zimbabwean newspaper.

The president splashes cash on first-class jaunts around Africa and Asia, often with an entourage of more than 70, while his country remains desperately poverty-stricken.

The Daily News, one of the few independent newspapers in Zimbabwe, claimed official papers revealed the despotic leader spent £12million on travel in the first six months of this year.

For the financially minded, that calculates at US$44.80 per minute for the last six months! Or just shy of $0.75 per second...

ZANU PF strives to show the world that they are a peaceful, law-abiding party, but we all know the truth.

The house of Marjorie Chikwasha, an MDC activist in Ward 12 Nyanga South, Manicaland province was burnt by known ZANU PF mobsters on Tuesday night. Chikwasha lost three bags of fertiliser, two 50kg bags of maize and kitchen utensils. She made a report at Nyanga Police Station but no arrests have been made.

Of course no arrests were made! The ZRP is a ZANU PF appendage!

SW Radio Africa continues with Part 5 of the list of Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents working in and outside Zimbabwe. The document dated 2001 contains a list of state security agents working at that time. Some may have retired or passed away, but evidence has shown many are still serving. Although the document contained their home addresses, we are not publishing these details.

I would love to see the addresses and to see how ZANU PF would react in that eventuality.

Mugabe has all manner of his stalwart supporters dropping like flies.

Vice President John Nkomo has been admitted to a South African hospital with a “life threatening” cancer-related illness, reports said Thursday.

Nkomo, 76, collapsed at home in Harare last weekend before being airlifted to South Africa, the privately-owned The Mail newspaper reported.

We watch and wait.

Known pro-Mugabe governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has come out with a statement that criticises the indigenisation programme in Zimbabwe.

Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono still stands by his 2007 statement on indigenisation saying the there was need to strike a balance between the objectives of indigenisation and the need to attract investment, a development which could set him for a collision course with ZANU PF officials.

He said a few greedy well connected officials were making the most noise on indigenisation to grab so that they grab the wealth on their own.

Gono has in the past clashed with the Minister of Indigenisation Saviour Kasukuwere while several Zanu PF hawks, who are eying to grab companies through the controversial indigenisation law, have also been at odds with the central bank governor over the issue.

Take care.

'debvhu

Thursday, 28th July 2011

Howzit

In Zimbabwe, the principle of freedom of speech is stifled by the Mugabe regime. No one is allowed to say anything against ZANU PF and/or Mugabe (even though the pro-Mugabe radio and television stations spend their days belittling the MDC and Tsvangirai - in direct contravention of the unity agreement which provides a section against 'hate' speech).

So, when the son of a national hero speaks out against Mugabe and his followers, we have to wonder just how long will it be before the son is arrested?

Dominic Muntanga, the son of former ZIPRA combatant Andrew Muntanga declared a national hero by ZANU PF, stunned President Robert Mugabe and his entourage at the Heroes Acre on Wednesday when he told them to their faces that they had stifled his father's promising political career.

Mugabe's response was angry...

He lambasted Mugabe for failing to develop his home area and to uplift the Tonga people.

"The Tonga people have not drunk from the cup of prosperity of independence. We have the Kariba dam, but the Tongas have no clean water and no electricity. Zimbabwe has rejected the Tonga people and the Tonga language," he said.

Mugabe reacted furiously to the speech, shooting down most of what Muntanga had said and disparaging him personally.

"He won't be like his father. The father's life is not Dominic's. He is enjoying the freedom fought for by his father who was arrested and sent to Khami, Hwahwa and Gonakudzingwa prisons. We also arrested him," Mugabe said.

Mugabe's anger is surely going to be part of his downfall.

Meanwhile, the ZRP have done nothing to investigate a reported case of assault on one of their officials. But had the roles been reversed, the MDC official, along with various other officials, will be arrested on spurious charges - which invariably will be disproven.

A police officer named Peter Pedzevere has been accused of assaulting an MDC-T official in Mashonaland East, reaffirming the party’s claims that police are interfering in political affairs and there must be security sector reform ahead of any elections.

Godfrey Maronge, the MDC-T Secretary for Ward 1 in Mudzi North, had to seek treatment after the assault on Friday. Police at Nyamapanda Post in Mudzi ordered a medical examination, which found that Maronge had sustained a deep cut on the forehead and internal body injuries.

The party released a statement that described Constable Pedzevere as a 'notorious' officer, 'known for harassing and intimidating MDC activists'. They alleged that the police officer also assaulted Godfrey Chapfora, the MDC-T Ward 1 Organising Secretary, last month.

And right on cue, we have this report on the arrest of 13 protestors outside High Court...

Thirteen human rights campaigners were arrested outside the Harare High Court on Wednesday where allegations of police assaults and torture were to be raised.

Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) spokesman Stendrick Zvorwadza said the 13 demonstrated with placards calling for impartiality by police and judicial officials accused of targeting opponents of President Robert Mugabe.

But do we have anyone from ZANU PF arrested for their protest at parliament just a few days ago? NO.

ZANU PF have the freedom to do what they want, but the MDC has been neatly painted into a corner.

I do wonder if anyone has been able to tot up the amount that Mugabe has spent on international travel over the last 31 years...?

President Robert Mugabe has spent US$20,6 million on foreign travel in the first half of this year, reports said on Wednesday.

Mugabe, currently attending the United Nations General Assembly’s high level meeting on youth in New York, has overshot his budget for the year by US$5,6 million, according to the privately-owned Daily News newspaper.

As I wrote earlier this week, why do the United Nations insist on inviting Mugabe to their various conferences? He is obviously not interested in doing anything more than maligning them, and this time around, he is presenting a list of 2 million signatures that supposedly are calling for the lifting of sanctions, but the signatures include the dead, infants and people who were forced to sign.

Not that I believe that the targeted sanctions will be lifted anyway.

The landgrab is one thing, but the theft of private property is another thing entirely.

A farming family that was evicted from their Nyazura property last week is now counting the cost of their loss, after farm invaders looted their home.

The Smit family from De Rust farm was forced to flee the property last week, after days of harassment and intimidation from a self-confessed CIO agent named Onisimas Makwengura and a gang of thugs.

The situation turned ugly last Friday after farm owner Koos Smit was arrested. SW Radio Africa was told that Makwengura gave police a false statement saying Smit had assaulted him. Smit was arrested and held at Nyazura police station on assault charges for most of Friday morning.

While he was being detained, Makwengura and his gang broke into the De Rust farmhouse, where Smit’s wife, Mary Anne and two sons, Michael and Adriaan, were taking shelter. The sons were forced to fire warning shots in an attempt to keep the mob away from them. But when police arrived at the property, after being alerted by a neighbour, they refused to arrest the mob. Instead they told the family to leave because they could not guarantee their safety.

The ZRP is as much use as an ashtray on a bicycle. They are useless, partisan, political and driven by the senior ranks who are pro-Mugabe. The law in Zimbabwe is not being observed.

Mugabe perpetuates the idea that the few whites that remain in Zimbabwe are free game to be targets of crime, and he and his band of loyalists will do nothing to change that stance.

Take care.

'debvhu

Wednesday, 27th July 2011

Howzit

Talk about throwing good money after bad! What concerns me is the idea that this money can 'be drawn down at any time for any reason'. Even with the MDC's Tendai Biti in charge of the country's purse strings, I do believe that ZANU PF cannot wait to get their dirty mitts on the money...

The IMF (International Monetary Fund) has today confirmed that $400 million has been transferred to the IMF account of Zimbabwe which can be drawn down at any time for any reason. A further $102 million of international aid has been held in a suspended account until the Zimbabwe clears its $140 million debt with the IMF. Despite the fact that Zimbabwe itself is in the grip of a damaging political climate there is still a need to invest in the economy to try and avert total collapse.

In a budget review, Biti has also told the country that the diamond sales and the money returned do not tally. No surprise at all...

Zimbabwe has exported more than 700000 diamond carats since the beginning of the year as production levels at the Marange diamond fields increased in line with market demands but these exports and revenues declared are not tallying, Finance minister, Tendai Biti has revealed. Presenting his 2011-2012 budget review, Biti said it was worrying that while Zimbabwe exported 716958 diamond carats to outside markets, only US$103,9 million was realised by government from the resource.

Somebody's fingers have been in the cookie jar.

The Gukurahundi continues to be a barb in the flesh of the people of Matabeleland. No matter how many people call for a commission of some sort to give closure to the families of those concerned, Mugabe refuses to do anything.

The closest he had ever come to doing anything about it is admitting that the Gukurahundi was 'a moment of madness'. He has never apologised to the Matabele people for the operation, and refuses to do so.

International experts on genocide have said that justice for the Gukurahundi massacres is needed, before real peace can come to Zimbabwe.

The killings of tens of thousands of Zimbabweans in the 1980s, at the hands of Robert Mugabe loyal soldiers, were last year finally classified as genocide by the internationally recognised group Genocide Watch. The group’s chairperson, Professor Gregory Stanton, said the Mugabe regime has been trying to sweep this atrocity under the rug for 30 years now but this classification now means the perpetrators can be prosecuted no matter how much time has passed.

Mugabe will probably disagree that the Gukurahundi was a genocide, and will ignore the experts, believing that he know best, as is his habit.

I am a little taken aback at the fact that the report is able to tell us that a specific number of people were in the gang. Who stopped and counted them all?

A 46-member armed gang robbed a mine in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, of more than four tonnes of gold ore in two separate incidents.

The gang are also believed to have beaten up workers with iron bars and clubs, according to Zimbabwe's Herald Online on Wednesday.

The owner of the mine Sam Munyoro confirmed the robbery, but declined to divulge details, the report said.

Is it illegal in Zimbabwe to distribute party newsletters? Apparently so...

Police in Bubi district in Matabeleland North province arrested and detained for seven days without charge Sibangani Kesa, an official from the mainstream MDC party, for distributing the party’s newsletter The Changing Times.

Kesa, who is the MDC ward 12 chairman in Bubi district, was arrested on 15 July at Drumland Resettlement area by two plain clothes police officers and detained at Inyathi and Lupane police stations for a week, only to be released on Friday without charge.

The two police officers who arrested him are believed to have been tipped off by some ZANU PF officials in the area.

A week in custody and then released? Justice is Zimbabwe is very difficult to define, given that the police can lock someone up in their cells and then release him. Should the matter have been taken to court, the magistrate would have thrown the case out, so the ZRP just kept him in their dirty cells for a week to teach him a lesson.

This I find quite disgusting. And the ZRP will do nothing even though the victim's phone is being used by the gang of people who murdered her...

SW Radio Africa investigates unsolved and deliberately ignored cases of political violence, torture, murder and other forms of abuse, by people in positions of authority. This week we focus on the brutal June 2008 murder of Abigail Chiroto, the wife of Emmanuel Chiroto, the MDC-T deputy Mayor of Harare.

This year alone police have arrested a cabinet minister for calling Mugabe a liar, a police officer for using Mugabe’s official mobile toilet at a Trade Fair, and a group of activists for watching video footage of protests in Egypt and Tunisia. But a group of well known ZANU PF thugs who murdered Abigail in 2008 remain free. Not only are they said to be boasting about it, one of them is still using the mobile phone stolen from their victim.

And then, of course, there are the senior officers in the ZNA who do whatever they want, using threats and violence to get their own way.

Notorious army commander, Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba last week forced two young journalists from a Harare-based publication to run for dear life after they quizzed him on remarks by a parliamentarian that he was an “idiot”, Radio VOP has learnt.

Nyikayaramba, the commander of the 3rd infantry battalion in Manicaland province allegedly threatened to beat up two journalists from The Mail after they asked him respond to a comment in parliament by Masvingo Central legislator Tongai Matutu that the Brigadier General is an 'idiot' for his comments he made on the leader of the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) Morgan Tsvangirai whom he labelled as a national security threat because he supports ZANU PF.

Take care.

'debvhu

BPBE (12 October 1923 - 27 July 1997) - Gone but never forgotten.

Tuesday, 26th July 2011

Howzit

Dynamic HTML is not easy, and it isn't helped with so many differing rules and dictates coming from the different languages, but I persevere as I know that there will dawn a day when it suddenly all makes sense - or, at least so I am told...

Here's hoping.

I fail to understand just what is Mugabe's goal here. He has sucked Zimbabwe dry and blames all his woes on the West - and now wants the West to drop the targeted sanctions against him and his co-horts. Why? So he can go and spend his millions in foreign shops?

He will claim that the sanctions have caused all manner of economic problems in Zimbabwe, but, in reality, the problem facing the Zimbabwean economy is ZANU PF and Mugabenomics...

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will table the issue of the West's economic sanctions at the SADC Summit to be held in Angola next month.

This after more than 2,2 million Zimbabweans signed a National Anti-Sanctions Petition, ZANU PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo said.

He said that Zimbabweans countrywide had signed the petition following the launch of a campaign in March. It drew people from all walks of life, among them academics, political, business and religious leaders, Zimbabwe's Herald Online reported on Tuesday.

Gumbo said the issue would also be raised at other regional and international forums such as the African Union and the United Nations.

Does ZANU PF not realise that it is common knowledge that the 2 million signatures include people forced to sign, the signatures of the dead, and those of children not old enough to write? They must think that the rest of the world is stupid!

The very description of the team from South Africa as 'facilitators' is a misnomer. They haven't done anything - except do nothing, and, at other times, very little...

The SADC facilitation team on Zimbabwe has confirmed that it did not discuss the crucial question of security sector reforms, when they met representatives of political parties in the coalition government last week.

The security sector is widely blamed for inflicting violence on those opposed to ZANU PF, especially during elections. The MDC-T has been ardently calling for the reforms, but these are being resisted by army chiefs and Robert Mugabe. This month the MDC-T reportedly said it was not happy with the road map for elections because it does not address reform of the military, to ensure the country’s generals and other top officers do not meddle in electoral politics.

Why doesn't the team just admit that they are getting nowhere with Mugabe and try another plan altogether? SADC is a eunuch! Or at least acts like one...

A 76 year- old white commercial farmer and miner Mike Van Royen who was arrested in Bulawayo on Friday on charges of insulting President Robert Mugabe appeared in court on Monday afternoon and was granted free bail to appear in court in mid-August. Van Royen who runs Cynthia Mine and Asher Estate farm in Matobo district, Matebeleland South province was arrested on Friday after a top ZANU PF official in Bulawayo province, Joe Tshuma alleged that he had insulted Mugabe and him over the phone.

And just like that the pro-Mugabe police swings into action against a white commercial farmer who also runs a mine. And he is 76 years old!

So he has three strikes against him before we even start.

He's white, a farmer and runs a mine. Mugabe wants the white people gone, all of the farmlands and the mines in ZANU PF hands ASAP...

I think I smell yet another travesty of justice being cooked up.

How can the idea of Mugabe being dead by the end of the year be viewed a joke? In all likelihood, he will be dead! It is a prophecy, not a joke!

Zebedia Mpofu who said Mugabe would be dead by the end of the year, allegedly also joked claiming a colleague’s lunch food was courtesy of MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai. He is alleged to have followed after writer Tendai Tagarira by claiming that President Robert Mugabe would be dead by the end of the year.

Early this year the Denmark based Tagarira, a professed critic of Mugabe, made a vow never to cut his hair until Mugabe is removed from power while also claiming that Mugabe ‘will not be with us’ by the end of the year.

At least Mabanda will have a neat prison cell, meals and medical services available, unlike those serving time in Zimbabwe.

But what a wicked thing to do!

A Zimbabwean man who had unprotected sex with his partner knowing he had HIV has been jailed for four years.

Nkosinati Mabanda, 44, who had sex with at least eight other women, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm by infecting the woman with HIV.

Even when he was on bail awaiting trial he had unprotected sex with a tenth woman though she did not contract the HIV virus, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Detectives said they were unable to trace all of them. His former partner, who lives in the Walsall area, said she had been given a life sentence.

I don't understand the problem here. Is ZANU PF trying to prove some sort of impropriety here? Let us never forget that Mugabe was bedding one of secretaries before his wife, Sally, had breathed her last. And that Mugabe organised that Grace's husband was transferred about as far away as possible.

How can ZANU PF point fingers at Biti when their own leader shows the same lack of respect?

Finance Minister Tendai Biti has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court after the High Court on Friday dismissed his attempt to block police accessing his mobile phone call register from Econet.

Biti approached the High Court seeking an interdict preventing mobile phone network provider Econet from disclosing any information about his phone lines “without a valid court order”. The MDC-T Secretary General says the police are trying to abuse their position by claiming they are investigating criminal activities.

Take care.

'debvhu

Monday, 25th July 2011

Howzit

It is just gone 2 in the afternoon, and I have been struggling with learning Dynamic HTML... it isn't easy!

I seem to say it at least twice a week. Whatever ZANU PF does is deemed acceptable by the ZRP, but if the same were done by the MDC, then there would be arrests, beatings, incarcerations, prosecutions, convictions and imprisonments. Is this what they call 'a level playing field'?

Supporters of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) on Saturday 23 July 2011 descended on Parliament building in Harare in large numbers to intentionally disrupt a public hearing organised to solicit people’s views on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) Bill. This follows chaotic disruptions witnessed in the last four days at similar parliamentary committee hearings organised in Chinhoyi and Mutare.

In Zimbabwe, it is no longer what you do to commit a crime, but the illegality is dependent upon who breaks the law...

SADC and African Union leaders now understand President Robert Mugabe is the major cause of the country’s problems which is why they have toughened their stance and insist on free and fair elections, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said.

The problem being that Mugabe will listen to no one, will do as he pleases, when he pleases to whoever he pleases, and, if he finds himself in a tight spot within an organisation such as SADC, he will just decide that Zimbabwe will leave that organisation.

And SADC's dealing with the crisis in Zimbabwe has fallen horribly short of doing anything whatsoever. Their appointment of Mbeki and now Zuma as mediator in the ongoing crisis was as short-sighted as lauding Mugabe's 'win' in 2008.

With Mugabe's reluctance to pay any heed to SADC or anyone else, the problem of Mutambara holding office without a party seems to carry just a little more importance than people realise. We have Mugabe hanging on to the Presidency and Mutambara hanging on to the Deputy Premiership - that is a mere two out of three. Not the best odds when the intention is democracy...

There are allegations that Arthur Mutambara’s refusal to step down and allow MDC-N President Welshman Ncube to take over as a principal is a ‘CIO project’ intended to collapse the inclusive government.

Mutambara is a Deputy Prime Minister in the inclusive government. He lost the MDC-N leadership to his former secretary-general during the party’s congress in January, but has refused to relinquish his post as the Deputy Premier and principal, arguing that the congress, which ushered Ncube into power, was illegal.

As with anything where ZANU PF is involved, the situation on the ground is tense, often violent, and laced with threats. And that the latest invasion and eviction is accompanied by theft of private property - which the ZRP do nothing about - Zimbabwe is no longer circling the drain, but has begun the headlong flight into depths never plumbed before.

So much for the 'willing buyer - willing seller' idea in the Lancaster House agreement...

A farming family in Nyazura has been forced to flee their home on Friday, after an attack by a mob of land invaders.

The Smit family from De Rust farm has been fighting their illegal eviction from the property the whole week, after a self-confessed CIO agent called Onisious Makwengura, plus a gang of thugs, started harassing and intimidating the family.

Makwengura and his gang have vandalised property on the farm and threatened the Smit family, insisting he is acting under the orders of top police officials and the Manicaland governor.

But the situation turned very ugly on Friday after farm owner Koos Smit was arrested. SW Radio Africa was told that Makwengura gave police a false statement saying Smit had assaulted him. Smit was arrested and held at Nyazura police station on assault charges for most of Friday morning.

I suppose it is one way of avoiding paying the bill... accuse the owed bank of irregularities and have it shut down...

Gono's intentions are well chronicled... if you will excuse the pun.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe owes Renaissance Merchant US$7 million in the form of gold bonds and statutory reserves.

The merchant bank was placed under curatorship after the central bank unearthed serious financial irregularities in its operations. RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono disclosed this before a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion on Monday.

Why don't ZANU PF just sell a few more kilograms of their blood diamonds to pay the bill, or is their preference just to detour the money to their own private accounts?

And finally today, Mugabe doesn't even try and bother with the correct protocol when it comes to appointments.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is seething with anger over President Robert Mugabe's alleged unilateral appointment of the deputy chief of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Aaron Nhepera, without consulting him.

The appointment of Nhepera has also been condemned by the smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Welshman Ncube.

President Mugabe last week announced the appointment of Nhepera as deputy director of the CIO. A former ZANLA cadre, Nhepera replaced Mernard Muzariri, who succumbed to cancer three months ago.

The appointment comes as the protagonists in the troubled inclusive government are locked in a bitter wrangle over security sector reforms. The MDC formations want the spy agency to fall under the purview of Parliament.

Mugabe's unilateral appointments, although publicly criticised, remain in place - serving as an almost permanent reminder of who is boos, even though he, no his unruly, violent and criminal ZANU PF party, hold the public mandate to rule Zimbabwe.

Take care.

'debvhu

Friday, 22 July 2011

Howzit

As per SW Radio Africa's promise, part 4 of the listing of Central Intelligence Organisation's operatives is published here.

Once again, the United Nations has stuck two fingers up against the world and is entertaining Mugabe in New York.

President Mugabe left Harare last night for New York to join other heads of states and government at a United Nations high-level meeting on youths.

Mugabe was accompanied by First Lady Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbabrashe Mumbengegwi, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and senior Government officials.

Twelve youths from various sectors of Zimbabwe's social sphere are also part of the delegation.

Can someone tell me why it was necessary to have a dozen youths travel with him, or why he even went to the UN in New York. It matters not what is discussed, the United Nations will give Mugabe the floor and allow him to castigate, insult and berate the United Kingdom and the United States, claiming that they have a 'regime change' agenda...

The Zimbabwean government's anti-corruption drive has failed - primarily because the very people that are involved in the corruption, are also among those who are supposed to investigate the corruption.

It is a case of who will police the police?

Government efforts to combat graft in Zimbabwe have failed to yield results because the investigators are often implicated in many of the cases.

According to the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa’s latest report, corrupt leadership which siphons the country’s economy for personal gain was a barrier to a corruption-free society. Several senior Zimbabwe government officials have been fingered in looting of the country’s resources for personal aggrandisement at the expense of the impoverished masses.

I do note that this report comes out of the ZANU PF-controlled news broadcaster. The article's inference that the ZBC is led by government is incorrect. The ZBC and The Herald have no interest in the MDC - part of government - and spend a rather large part of their days maligning the Tsvangirai party.

So this is not only questionable, it is loaded with political bias.

Zimbabwe government controlled media reports that the MDC-T top leadership led by Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai sneaked out of the country to hold private meetings with British PM David Cameron's advance team in South Africa.

The MDC-T leader and his team sneaked out of the country last Thursday without government sanctioning the trip as is the norm with all government officials.

ZBC alleges that in a mission to seek relevance and appease their western masters, the MDC-T leadership, including Mr Tsvangirai sneaked out the country in three batches to South Africa last Thursday where they allegedly met with the British PM Mr Cameron's advance team and President Zuma's facilitation team of Lindiwe Zulu.

The article is in no way substantiated, and why am I not surprised?

Chiyangwa is a relative of Mugabe's, and fears very little. It wasn't that long ago that a reporter was allowed into their home and shown around. To say that Chiyangwa lives in opulence is an understatement.

I was perturbed, however, when Chiyangwa's wife boasted about their daughter studying in the UK. I thought that there was an unwritten agreement that the offspring of Mugabe loyalists would not be allowed to study in the West.

Now he makes a rather revealing statement.

Property tycoon Philip Chiyangwa stunned a gathering of local government officials discussing national housing delivery system when he publicly declared he owned 57,000 residential stands in Harare alone.

Think about that. Fifty seven thousand stand - in Harare. He gives no clue as to how many stands are under his control elsewhere in the country.

Corruption in Zimbabwe know no boundaries...

In a distinctly Mugabe-esque move, all 175 plans for the takeover of 51% of foreign-owned mines in Zimbabwe have been thrown out.

The government has rejected all the empowerment proposals put forward by foreign owned mining companies in Zimbabwe, threatening to "kick them out" if the don’t revise the plans.

By rejecting all of the proposals, Savious Kasukuwere, the minister that will oversee the takeovers, has placed the companies concerned under huge pressure to meet the deadline.

Kasukuwere has no real intent to do things under the rule of the regulations, preferring to work with threat and malice aforethought.

175 mining firms, including top groups like Rio Tinto and Anglo-American, have since submitted their empowerment plans. But all 175 proposals have been rejected.

Kasukuwere said on Wednesday that the groups must revise their plans to meet the September deadline to indigenise their shareholding. He also threatened to “kick out” all companies that fail to meet this deadline.

Take care.

'debvhu

Thursday, 21st July 2011

Howzit

The fun and games in Zimbabwe continue...

It now emerges that each constituency in Zimbabwe was allocated US$50000 to use for developments such as electrifying schools, providing generators to clinics, building public facilities and helping the poor.

By simple calculation, $7.5 million has disappeared courtesy of the very people who are supposed to monitor the public purse.

Why drop the bomb in parliament? Just report the whole mess to the police! Yes, the ZRP will drag their feet when it comes to prosecuting ZANU PF officials, but at least the attempt to gain justice will been made.

Announcing it in parliament just warns those that have looted these funds to cover up their dalliance.

Mugabe isn't going anywhere soon. Zuma and Tsvangirai can come out with 100 different plans and Mugabe and ZANU PF will reject them all. The only way that Mugabe wants to leave the scene of the crime is in a box...

South Africa President Jacob Zuma and Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have rolled into motion the protocol for President Robert Mugabe's departure from State House after the forthcoming poll that he is widely expected to lose.

The problem is that the plan concerns Mugabe and not his ZANU PF faithful. There will be huge resistance to any plan which excludes them

Another one of the Mugabe faithful has died, and his son has challenged Mugabe to explain the treatment that his father experienced at the hand of ZANU PF.

Dominic Muntanga, son to the late national hero Andrew Muntanga on Wednesday challenged President Robert Mugabe over the ill-treatment of his father who was being buried at the national shrine.

"It’s unfortunate that my father was arrested in a free Zimbabwe whose independence he contributed to," he told mourners. "My father was great man who united the people of Binga and the nation at large. He was also disturbed in his political career when he was disqualified from contesting for the seat of parliament for Binga in 2000 on false allegations after he had won the primary elections."

This is the hypocracy of ZANU PF. Here we have 'hooligans' preventing the US Ambassador from addressing youths, but if the US was to offer aid to Zimbabwe, it is taken with both hands and very little of it gets to the people in need.

United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Dr Charles Ray failed to address a a group of youths here after ZANU PF hooligans besieged the Kwekwe Theatre, the venue of the meeting carrying placards denouncing the envoy.

And all the time, the ZANU PF upper echelons criticise the US for their attitude towards Mugabe and the targeted sanctions in place against him and his loyalist core.

The former CIO agent that was granted asylum in the United Kingdom, has appeared in an English court charged with working illegally.

Surely the fact that this individual is going to break the laws of the country that he has moved to, is indicative that his attitude has not changed, and therefore, he is not worthy of the aylum granted him?

It is alleged that he worked illegally as a nurse at The Priory, a drug and alcohol recovery hospital, in Stapleton from June 2005 to May 2010.

It is also alleged that he worked as a support worker for Milestones Trust, a Bristol charity which supports people with dementia, learning disabilities and mental health needs, from May 2003 to May 2010.

The alleged deception involves not telling the employers that he was barred from working in the UK.

He was bailed to attend a committal hearing in September and will appear at Bristol Crown Court at a later date.

Take care.

'debvhu

Wednesday, 20th July 2011

Howzit

Late yesterday afternoon there was a knock on our front door and there was a signed delivery of my new English passport. Considering that I posted it off on Tuesday afternoon last week, this is an unreal turnaround.

A service that is most definitely not equalled in Zimbabwe!

Events in Zimbabwe seem to have taken on a distinctly stupid tone. Here, we have a policeman being fired and then evicted because he listened to MDC music on his mobile phone, and reporters covering his forced departure are ordered to delete photographs from their cameras!

Does that mean that the eviction never took place?

Four Bulawayo based journalists arrested by the police in Ntabazinduna, last week Friday were ordered to delete photographs from their cameras, after they had gone to cover a story about the eviction of a policeman for playing MDC music.

Salaries of civil servants is a huge problem for the finances in Zimbabwe, and it has been proved that there are thousands of ghost workers on the payroll. I would have thought that some priority would have been given to not only removing these fictitious names, but also where did the money paid to these 'people' actually go?

Obviously not...

Cabinet yesterday came under pressure from lawmakers to remove ghost workers on the government's payroll as details emerged in Parliament over illegal payments to individuals aligned to ZANU-PF. The debate on ghost workers took place in the House of Assembly this week with Vice President Joice Mujuru and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in attendance, after Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) Chiredzi West legislator, Moses Mare, moved a motion for government to ensure that all proceeds from mineral sales benefit the country and also for the executive to take measures to weed out ghost workers.

The Gukurahundi issue is not closed. It will only be closed when the victims and the victim's families have received some sort of apology from Robert Mugabe, and they are correctly and adequately compensated.

No amount of side-stepping the issue will change that.

ZANU PF officials are publicly claiming the issue of the Gukurahundi massacres is closed because they fear it will be investigated when Robert Mugabe loses power, ZAPU has said. 87-year old Robert Mugabe is known to be suffering from health problems which could force him to step down or make it impossible for him to win the next election.

The abducted MDC official has been located and he is in need of medical attention. This may not sound like much, but the fact that he required medical attention means that whoever has held him have beaten and/or tortured him

Allan Svotwa, the MDC-T district chairperson for Headlands who was abducted almost a week ago, has been located.

The MDC-T said that Svotwa was taken by police officers from his house last week Wednesday and that all efforts were being made to locate him. By Monday he had still not been found and there were fears that he was being tortured by his captors and deliberately denied access to medication and a lawyer.

You might recall that people like Jonathan Moyo was making noises that Morgan Tsvangirai by prosecuted for some of his utterances, even though the statements made by ZANU PF officials are more more incendiary.

Morgan Tzvangirai will not be prosecuted, a Zimbabwean panel has determined, in connection with comments he made to US diplomats, revealed in cables published by the Guardian.

Take care.

'debvhu

Tuesday, 19th July 2011

Howzit

I was a policeman based in Bulawayo Rural South during the Gukurahundi. I had to go to scenes and pick up dead bodies, and in at least one case, I was chased away from a scene, the victims then disposed of...

So for Emmerson Mnangagwa to dismiss the Gukurahundi as a 'non-event' is just stupidity.

Between twenty and thirty thousand people died in the operation - how many deaths does it take for the Gukurahundi to be considered an 'event'?

Mugabe's crowd of reprobates are attempting to change the agreement that election be held next year and want them brought forward to this year. Money in Zimbabwe is tight, but Mugabe seems more than happy to spend the nation's fortunes on his own entertainment.

So when the MDC say that they are ready for elections, it will be very interesting to see what reaction comes from ZANU PF.

Any call for reform within the security sector of Zimbabwe is met with typical ZANU PF politicking, saying that the current measures are essential to preserve national security.

Let us be aware that the current security situation in Zimbabwe has been caused by ZANU PF and the need for reforms is probably now more urgent than ever. But Mugabe has told the MDC to back off from demanding reforms to 'his' army...

Since when is the ZNA Mugabe's?

Prime Minister Tsvangirai has again stated that his life may be threatened, but all it does is stiffen his resolve to strive for democracy in Zimbabwe.

"The PM is not shaken at all. In fact, he has said before that he is prepared to rot in jail if arrested for political reasons."

Mugabe now believes that he can force the removal of targeted sanctions by taking his case to English courts. Somehow I doubt that he would succeed - and the cost of the legal case would be astronomical, and probably paid for by the blood diamonds stolen by the truck load from the Marange diamond fields.

But that is not going to stop Mugabe, or his cabal of nutters that back him...

Take care.

'debvhu

Monday, 18 July 2011

Howzit

The studies continue, the weather stays cold and wet... so very little changes here. Perhaps we should be thankful for that...

This policeman was thrown out of the force because he listened to an MDC jingle on his cell phone. If ever there was any doubt as to how Augustine Chihuri runs the ZRP, it must be completely gone by now.

A senior police officer Assistant Inspector Tedius Chisango who was expelled from the police force for playing MDC songs on his cell phone is now stranded after his eviction from Ntabazinduna police camp and dumped in a bush nearby.

The eviction was witnessed by four journalists who were themselves arrested.

Has the ZRP gone completely crazy?

You may remember the arrest of 45 people in February for watching film footage of the uprisings in North Africa.

One of the 45 socialists arrested by the Zimbabwe government this February for watching a video about the Arab Spring died late on Thursday evening.

Mpatsi had been held in solitary confinement for two weeks following his arrest, and was on remand on a charge of treason, which could conceivably have resulted in the death penalty. How ironic.

There is not a lot that goes on in Zimbabwe that surprises me. When this article was published, I already knew that there were unscheduled power outages in the country, and obviously, when this happens, the care of the sick is a prime concern - but perhaps not to Robert Mugabe.

Health workers at the country’s biggest referral hospital, Harare Central Hospital, were on Monday forced to attend to patients using candles after a power outage.

The incident occurred on Monday night after a ZESA Holdings (ZESA) unannounced power outage.

The power failure affected the hospital’s main building which houses the main female and male wards.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has lodged a formal complaint with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) over controversial statements made by brigadier-general Douglas Nyikayaramba.

The problem that the MDC has is that any complaint to JOMIC will be met with very limited action as Mugabe & Co have a finger in every pie and are able to prevent any corrective action.

When I first read this article, my surprise was not that the officials had been abducted, but that there are still buses running in Zimbabwe!

The MDC-T’s secretary for Mudzi East, Abel Samakande, the MDC and Steven Zenda, a party activist were today abducted by ZANU PF thugs at Mbare Musika.

"The two were boarding a bus to Mutoko. They were taken to a building opposite Bata in Mbare. Their whereabouts are unknown and the MDC, Samakande and Zenda families fear for their lives," the MDC-T party said in a statement.

No doubt someone will be in trouble in Zimbabwe because the Chipangano crew is referred to as a 'terrorist' outfit. But let's face it, it is exactly that...

More than 35 ZANU PF members of the terrorist Chipangano outfit took turns to beat two helpless MDC-T officials, who they followed from rural Mutoko, over 200 km from the capital.

Take care.

'debvhu

Friday, 15th July 2011

Howzit

My stidying continues, although I am waiting for my new passport as I can't write an examination without official photograph identification - and there are only two forms that meet that criteria - a passport and a driver's license. They took my DL away in 2001 saying that I would have to re-qualify as a disabled driver...

As per SW Radio Africa's promise that every Thursday would see further publication of the CIO members listing, Part 3 is here...

I express no surprise that ZANU PF has decided that which was agreed at the negotiation table for elections to be held next year is now no longer on the table. They want elections this year. Do I sense a panic growing in ZANU PF.

Simon Khaya Moyo has threatened to have all youths attending important rallies and gatherings searched - for digital recorders as ZANU PF is not happy with the publication of sound and video bytes that detail the manner in which the Mugabe party is intending to forge.

And 'forge' is a good word...

A ZANU PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo has dismissed the party's legislature for Marondera East and Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Tracy Mutinhiri as a ‘non event’, saying the party will not waste time discussing her relationship with the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC-T).

ZANU PF is very good at ignoring the issues of the day and choosing not to comment on anything that might be 'misconstrued'.

Now ZANU PF want the farm they gave her back.

Controversial businessman Phillip Chiyangwa faces more troubles in his land deals after a group of war veterans approached the High Court seeking to regularise their stay at a farm he claims to own.

Chiyangwa, related to Mugabe, believes that laws and regulations do not apply to him...

ZANU PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo has threatened to take legal action to gag the Zimbabwe Independent from republishing articles he penned for the newspaper attacking President Robert Mugabe and his party.

In a letter to this newspaper through his lawyers Hussein Ranchhod & Co on Wednesday, Moyo said republication of his articles was unlawful.

How can republishing something that is in the public domain be illegal? Moyo makes up the rules as he goes along - but we have to remember that this is the proverbial political chameleon in Zimbabwe. A turncoat and a man that runs hot and cold at the same time...

Take care.

'debvhu

Thursday, 14th July 2011

Howzit

Sometimes Zimbabwean politicians are intent on saying their piece, whether it is right or wrong. And sometimes, what they have to say either does not make sense, or it is nonsensical.

This however, is bang on the money.

"Speaking in Plumtree a few days ago, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai made a dramatic statement on political violence. He said: "My hands are very clean and my conscience is clear. I did not kill anyone during Gukurahundi. I did not kill anyone during Operation Murambatsvina and I did not kill anyone during the 2008 Presidential elections run-off. I challenge Mugabe to come out in public and say the same."

It is pointless taking on Mugabe at his own game. But this sort of statement will receive the backing of the people as they have very long memories, and the Gukurahundi was a time when the patience of the people was severely pushed.

A man who was shot by the police and forced to suffer 14 months in Chikurubi Maximum prison before being acquitted has approached the High Court to compel police commissioner Augustine Chihuri and the government to pay him over $1,5 million in damages.

Cosmas Nyambara was shot in the thigh in July 2009 while lying on the ground when police suspected him of being part of a gang that had robbed a vehicle in Harare’s Mt Pleasant suburb.

Nyambara said he was at his rural home when the alleged robbery occurred yet police accused him of being part of a notorious armed robbery gang led by Gift "Tyres" Mwale who was on the police most wanted list and died in a hail of bullets days before Nyambara’s ordeal.

Even if a court ordered a payment, Chihuri and his police force will not do anything to accede to the need for justice in this case.

The appetite by military generals to influence political processes is set to come under parliamentary probe, barely three weeks after Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba described Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a national security threat.

A notice has already been given to the House of Assembly that a motion on the probe will be moved today.

Mbizo MP, Settlement Chikwinya of MDC is expected to move the motion, which is most likely to meet fierce opposition from ZANU PF MPs.

But the superior number of the two MDC formations over ZANU PF in Parliament will ensure the motion is debated and adopted.

Controversial Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba, recently threatened two MDC MPs saying that he would deal with them for daring to challenge him over the deployment of soldiers in Manicaland province. Last month in an unprovoked attack, soldiers assaulted villagers at Daisy Hill in Chipinge East and left four of them seriously injured. The four are still detained at Chipinge general hospital.

Following the attack the legislator for the area, Hon. Mathias Mlambo and Pishai Muchauraya the MP for Makoni South, decided to confront Nyikayaramba over the issue. The two legislators and the General met in Harare during a COPAC session, just before Nyikayaramba was booted out of the constitution making process.

Whilst I do appreciate the need for some sort of investigation, and I understand the need for any probe to be rubber stamped through parliament, I am not so sure that the envisaged probe will be given much leeway when the actual investigations begin. The security chiefs in Zimbabwe are a law unto themselves...

I am not so sure that announcing the new boss man of the spy agency actually works. Is this not letting the cat out of the bag? Mind you, nothing that happens in Zimbabwe makes sense anymore.

President Mugabe has appointed Cde Aaron Daniel Tonde Nhepera as the Deputy Director General of the Central Intelligence Organisation with effect from July 6.

Cde Nhepera replaces the late national hero Cde Maynard Livingstone Muzariri who died in April this year.

Announcing the appointment, Minister of State for National Security Sydney Sekeramayi said Cde Nhepera's elevation was in line with his loyalty and dedication to duty.

The firm grab is hotting up and the minister concerned, Saviour Kasukuwere, is fully intent on conducting the takeovers with the same chaotic provision seen in the farm grab since 2000.

I find it interesting that Kasukuwere wants to 'kick the bloody foreigners out'... Maybe he should start with the half-Malawian Robert Mugabe!

Another MDC-T official has passed away as a result of injuries sustained during the violent 2008 election period, which saw ZANU PF launch a brutal attack on opposition supporters and members.

Kwanisai Marapanga Sarai, the MDC-T Youth Chairperson for Ward 15 in Chivi Central, Masvingo province died earlier this week.

On 24 June 2008, Sarai was abducted from his home by ZANU PF youths and taken to a torture base. He was severely assaulted and sustained serious internal injuries.

Take care.

'debvhu

Wednesday, 13th July 2011

Howzit

So I went to see the hand specialist late yesterday afternoon - and, as expected, I was discharged back to the care of my GP. Just shy of eleven years it has taken to get to where I am today. I am very grateful to the specialist and all his supporting staff...

I then came home to find that the job appointment made by the local Council to do a very simple job had not been attended to!

This morning, as a direct result of a stinging email I sent last night, the job has been done, but the whole thing has left a very nasty taste in my mouth...

So, because fo the delay in starting anything and that I am attempting to carry on with my studies, today there will be no posting. I hopefully will be able to catch up tomorrow.

Take care.

'debvhu

Tuesday, 12th July 2011

Howzit

Zimbabwe is constructing Africa’s longest airport runway, according to Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) officials.

I don't understand this. The Country has got thousands of kilometres of highway that are all in dire need of repair, but Mugabe has them building a long runway instead. Why? Is he expecting planes to land in the country that he has virtually single handedly destroyed?

It reckon that the new runway will develop potholes and break up just like the highways in the country. Just about the only road that is kept in pristine condition is the one from Harare to Mugabe's home area... in Malawi?

The man with a party, the man without a future is still refusing to hand over the office to his successor. Arthur Mutambara has defiantly dismissed recommendations by the Global Political Agreement (GPA) negotiators to replace him with Welshman Ncube, one of the principals in the GPA, declaring that would never happen.

Mutambara is a sorry figure, now deposed from the head of the smaller faction of the MDC. Instead of looking at the requirements of the Zimbabwean people, Mutambara has placed his own needs first, and for that he is losing the little remaining support that he had.

Zimbabwe is bigger than the leaders and former leaders of political parties and factions.

Hey, Arthur - move along! There's nothing to see here...

I see that five officials from the finance ministry were arrested. The state-controlled Sunday Mail said the five latest to be arrested were detained on Thursday and Friday on allegations of taking unauthorised trips and violating purchasing procedures.

I am a little confused. Doesn't Amazing (Dis)Grace travel all oer the place with her husband and brings back planes full of purchases? And are her purchases subject to customs and excise regulations? No.

This is the same old, same old... MDC officials are once again in the sights of ZANU PF.

How sad that a human life can be pegged at US$400.

MDC legislator for Hwange West, Gift Mabhena was yesterday fined US$400 or three months in prison for causing the death of two year-old Tanatswa Zvombingo in 2007.

I really do struggle with it.

It took four years for this case to be finalised. What of the uninvestigated death caused by ZRP spokeman Wayne Bvudzijena who killed a youngster in Chitungwiza when drunk at the wheel? Bvudzijena compounded the crime by picking up the child and placing him in his care, and driving off. The dead child was found further up the road where the body was dumped...

This sort of thing is bound to happen in a country where there is little or no control on currency since the country abandoned their own currency a number of years ago.

Con-artists using fake notes are targeting business people in Zimbabwe's rural areas and vendors along major highways in the country, Zimbabwe's Herald Online reported on Monday.

The conmen reportedly drive around in unregistered vehicles with fake money in US20, US50 and US100 denominations. They buy goods using counterfeit notes and get change in genuine notes.

There is an outcry over words reportedly said by Morgan Tsvangirai about violence at the hands of ZANU PF. People say that the PM's statement that the MDC will fight back is inciting violence.

But how come no one is criticising the actions of ZANU PF, or has than become the expected norm in Zimbabwe?

I personally, see nothing wrong with being able to defend ourselves, our family and our property.

As an added story, The Herald has an article that says the government will keep the national carrier, Air Zimbabwe, 'afloat'. I am sure that someone could have worded that headline a little better...

Take care.

'debvhu

Monday, 11th July 2011

Howzit

Mugabe is certain that the smaller faction of the MDC is not forgotten, especially in light of the former leader being deposed...

Zimbabwe police arrested and then released top leaders of a political party in the country's fragile ruling coalition government for violating provisions of Zimbabwe’s strict Public Order and Security Act, which prevents political meetings without police clearance.

The arrest of Zimbabwe's Minister of Industry and Commerce Welshman Ncube and at least 20 other senior members of the smallest of the three parties within the ruling coalition – the Movement for Democratic Change-Ncube (MDC-N) - is just the latest of several provocative moves by security forces loyal to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980.

Mugabe is not happy unless he is actively stirring the pot.

I could spend all day reading articles about ZANU PF accusing each other of all manner of activities - and sometimes I just have to grin and move on..

A group of people claiming to be war veterans have reportedly invaded Labour and Social Services deputy minister Tracy Mutinhiri’s farm in what she sees as retribution for allegedly voting for MDC-T candidate Lovemore Moyo elections for Speaker of Parliament.

This ZANU PF official had to flee for her life. I love it when the boot is on the other foot...

"Where is the evidence? It was a secret ballot," she said. "They are belittling the secret ballot box system by pointing fingers at me."

Blaming State Security Minister and Senator for the area, Sydney Sekeramayi, for the farm invasion, Mutinhiri said she would not be intimidated and vowed to stay put.

Zimbabwe Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo on Friday said there should be fresh probes on the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres that occurred in Matabeleland region adding that previous investigations were not properly handled.

In January 1984, the Simplicius Chihambakwe Commission of Inquiry was tasked to investigate the Gukurahundi atrocities, but its findings were never made public after ZANI PF government blocked it.

There was also a full report done by Justice Enock Dumbutshena. However, Mugabe complained about its findings, and the Dumbutshena Report was never made public.

Mugabe will move heaven and earth to ensure that the Gukurahundi will never be investigated - well, not in his lifetime at least...

Air Zimbabwe will begin to service local and regional routes after the Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ) cleared three of the troubled airline’s planes which had been grounded over safety concerns.

CAAZ grounded Air Zimbabwe’s three Boeing 737-200 planes in April insisting they had reached the end of their economic life forcing the debt-ridden airline to stop servicing domestic and regional routes.

But one of the planes is now ready for service with the other two expected to be cleared shortly, CAAZ chief, David Chawota, confirmed.

Air Zimbabwe is barely operating, and then, at a loss... No wonder Mugabe avoids the national carrier!

I would have thought, in a sane world, that this sort of thing would have been stopped. But, because the officer is ZNA and pro-Mugabe and ZANU PF, it is deemed acceptable..

A Zimbabwe National Army Colonel, Charles Muresherwa, has given MDC supporters in Mhakwe and Chikwakwa wards in Chimanimani an ultimatum to renounce their MDC membership and join ZANU PF before July 15.

Muresherwa, who is a serving member in the army and also aspiring Member of Parliament for Chimanimani East, has been moving door-to-door in the area with soldiers in army uniforms asking the villager’s political allegiance.

"If you say you support MDC, they write your name down and promise to get rid of all MDC supporters in the area after 15 July. All the lists of MDC’s supporters have been handed over to local headmen and chiefs by Muresherwa,” said Stephen Mhlanga, the MDC councillor for ward 19.

Some things in Zimbabwe just work against any attempt to restore democracy, law and order.

The Ncube MDC Senator for Lupane, Dalumuzi Khumalo, allegedly ran over a pedestrian with his vehicle leading to his death on Monday evening. Matabeleland North police spokesperson Inspector Trust Ndlovu confirmed the accident, which occurred at about 7pm at the 124km peg near Phulula shops along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road.

Another MDC official faces a difficult time ahead...

Take care.

'debvhu

Friday, 8th July 2011

Howzit

I see that an earthquake off the Mozambican coast has shaken the Eastern side of Zimbabwe.

An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale rocked the lower Save Valley in Mozambique and was felt in eastern Zimbabwe.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake struck at 12.37PM on Wednesday in an area that has seen more than a dozen quakes in the last 20 years, including two very large ones in 2006 that were felt as far as Harare.

The earthquake was severe in Chipinge where panic-stricken residents scurried for cover.

This is not the first earthquake felt in Zimbabwe, but it is distinctly less destructive than the Mugabe rule.

The second instalment of known CIO operatives was published by SW Radio Africa yesterday. The list makes very interesting reading and we can only hope that those Zimbabweans who have access to the website will look to pass the information on to other Zimbabweans.

Part 2 of the list is available here.

I have to laugh at this. Zimbabwe is to probe de Beers Diamonds as they believe that the company 'looted' the precious rock from under their noses.

Mugabe and has bunch of has-beens have been helping themselves hand over fist to the diamonds which belong to the country as a national asset, but they believe the diamonds to be theirs.

Any probe would be looking at what de Beers might have got away with, and ZANU PF will be rather miffed if there was any 'theft' as they treat the diamonds as their own personal property.

As usual, in most things like this, it will be like throwing good money after bad - and Zimbabwe cannot afford it.

There are reports that the cross-party negotiators have agreed a time line to the next elections in Zimbabwe.

My concern is very simple. Any ZANU PF signature is not worth the paper that it is written upon as ZANU PF have, time and time again, year after year, decade after decade. failed to live up to their side of any deal.

Lancaster House, the Global Political Agreement - these are just two of the agreements that they have just ignored. Why should this be any different?

Elections are called by Mugabe, not the negotiators. What is stopping Mugabe from calling an election whenever he and his party are ready?

I really want to see just how Biti is going to stem the flow in foreign trips.

The MDC-T has ordered its government representative, Finance minister Tendai Biti, to cut funding for foreign trips that have gobbled up more than US$25 million since the beginning of the year.

The party’s national standing committee also told Biti, who is the party secretary-general, at its meeting on Wednesday to get proceeds from Chiadzwa diamond sales for civil servants’ pay increments.

Mugabe will respond with the attitude that the MDC-T may control its own finances, but that Biti does not have the required control to cut foreign travel of the coalition government.

With ZANU PF, sex never seems to be far from the surface.

Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs ministry has ordered the country’s ambassador to Australia, Jacqueline Zwambila, to respond to allegations of sexual harassment on a male staff member at her Canberra official residence.

If the ambassador did act improperly in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter, should the allegations have merit, then she should be either prosecuted or disciplined whichever is correct - regardless of which party she represents.

Take care.

'debhu

Thursday, 7th July 2011

Howzit

We cannot forget Operation Murambatsvina in 2005, which saw about a million people left homeless following the destruction of their homes after Mugabe ordered any illegal structure to be demolished.

Without very much thought, there was panic and pandemonium - and Mugabe promised to have adequate and acceptable housing built for those affected, and that this would be Operation Garikai.

It will not surprise you to know that Garikai never materialised and six years later people are building shacks again in an effort to escape the elements. Robert Mugabe managed, in a single order, to cause so much pain and suffering - and there were deaths connected with the original operation. Not the greatest feature to put on his CV.

MDC councillor Tungamirai Madzokera was arrested with another twenty-plus people, accused of murdering a ZRP inspector in a bar in Glen View a few weeks ago. Those arrested were held by the police and their bail application was delayed a number of times.

The councillor is suffering from a head injury received during a beating whilst in custody.

The prison services have ordered an urgent CT scan, but, in typical Mugabe-esque efficiency, if it does happen, it will be a long wait.

And the world has a lot to say about the violence in Lybia and Syria, but very little is said about the situation in Zimbabwe.

For me, I am surprised that the ghost workers have remained on the payroll for as long as they have, given that the MDC is able to list these people.

Every day that they remain on the payroll is a further crime as far as I am concerned.

Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro has told SW Radio Africa he expects the more than 75,000 ghost workers still draining the government’s budget, will be removed from the payroll before August. Mukonoweshuro was responding to questions from our listeners on the Question Time programme.

Agreeing anything with ZANU PF is a waste of time. The concessions that Mugabe gave in the early days of the negotiations have yet to be implemented.

What would make us believe that any further agreements would actually by carried out?

ZANU PF has flatly refused to countenance security sector reforms. On Monday negotiators in the GNU met in Harare and agreed on timelines for everything on the election roadmap. But once again, ZANU PF says there can never be any security sector reforms.

Take care.

'debvhu

Wednesday, 6th July 2011

Howzit

Yesterday evening I received electronic copies of the qualifications I attained on Friday by passing the first examination. The printed copy will be here in due course. It feels good that the last four weeks of work has been rewarded with something tangible.

Video of a church meeting broken up be police using tear gas...

Mugabe has always been against his party giving away too much when it comes to the cross-party negotiations. But, and we have to question it, the power in Zimbabwe is not for him to negotiate over, as his party lost the 2008 election.

But he is reluctant to allow ZANU PF to act properly as the opposition party that it is.

His attitude is driven by the fear that he and his senior officials will be punished for their actions over the past 31 years.

But the negotiators seem to have ignored him (about time!) and elections are going to be held towards the end of next year...

And while some sort of agreement has been hacked out by the negotiators, and has yet to be ratified by Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the pro-ZANU PF police force is still dragging MDC officials to court on trumped up charges.

Costin Muguti, the beleaguered legislator was again dragged to court on Tuesday over allegations of inciting violence, undermining police authority and unlawfully taking pictures of a military barrack, but the case was not heard.

In typical Mugabe mode, the legislator was taken to court but the case is not ready for prosecution.

Now Maguti will be the subject of implausible bail conditions which will make his life very difficult. And the ZRP will feel the need to pick him up 'for questioning' whenever they want. Such is the 'rule of law' in Zimbabwe today.

Have uniform - will harass...

I see that Philani Ndlovu who was a Security detail in the MDC Youth Assembly External Structure in South Africa has died.

The only thing that troubles me is that the article refers to Ndhlovu as 'comrade'. Are the MDC intent on embarking down the same route as ZANU PF when it comes to extolling the virtues of their leadership base?

Elton Mangoma, recently acquitted in court for abuse of power charges is now the subject of civil charges from the managers of ZESA who claims that he slashed their salaries without any grounding.

For some people in Zimbabwe, it never rains, but it pours...

Mangoma has reportedly dismissed allegations of any wrong doing. But Mucheche insisted his clients have a case: "It is a contractual right which can never be taken away from them. What they are saying is that you have to restore the status quo or the original position which was obtained because a salary or allowance which is being given in terms of a contract is a legal right and no-one has the power to take it away."

More violence in Zimbabwe - this time at the Harare Residents Trust (HRT) on the 25th of June 2011 at the Mbare Netball Complex.

In an act of thuggery, bordering on ignorance and foolishness, identified youths among them Robson Sakala (31 Madzima Road), Chairman of Youth in Ernest Kadungure Branch, Monica Chapusha (33 Madzima Road), Charles (69 Zambe St), Reuben Doti (32 Pazarangu Way), Elvis Linje, and Spiwe (109 Zata St), Tyson Chinyemba (11B, 24th St), Emmanuel Majaya (16A-24th st), Lawrence Sintilau (New Lines, 7c- 4th St), Sam Ziwore, Sandra Chikanya, and a host of other guys known to have started off as street kids residing along the Mukuvisi River, and capable of committing even murder, were witnessed brutalising unarmed, innocent residents, with booted feet, clenched fists, broom sticks and baton sticks. Police have no reason not to take action against these people. They are known, where they live and what they do for a living.

This attack on the gathering of the HRT cannot be blamed on anyone else other than the identified youths, allegedly acting on the instructions of a Mr Namion Chirwa, who has become notorious for taking over Majubeki residents’ houses, acting in connivance with identified City of Harare housing allocation officers at Remembrance Drive District Offices. So it is understood when they get very hostile towards the HRT, hiding behind ZANU PF to try to intimidate us.

Mr Chirwa faces multiple charges of abusing his position as a Chairman of ZANU PF’s Joshua Nkomo District where he has allegedly forced over 26 people out of their houses using the identified officials in the Housing Department and replacing them with known people, after payments of around $2000 in bribes.

Obviously the police did not have the manpower or the transport to attend to the beatings... or, more like it, decided not to attend as it was deemed 'political'.

I find it very frustrating that the police will attend any scene at any time, anywhere in Zimbabwe if the report comes from ZANU PF, but when the tables are turned and the complainant of perceived as MDC, the complainant is locked up for their trouble and the police hide behind manpower and transport woes.

Well done, Mr Augustine Chihuri! You have effectively turned a once brilliant police force into a ZANU PF extension, supposedly doing the job of police officers when, in real terms they are propping up the Mugabe party...

Take care.

'debvhu