A Slight Revision To My Study Programme

Howzit

It is amazing just how much I miss blogging!

But my studies continue. This morning I completed a study module and was looking for the mock examination module to be going on with before the actual examination. I contacted the company that are providing the course and was told that there is no longer the requirement for an examination for 'Internet Security'.

Wow! Not only a saving on time, but a saving of £90 which would have paid for the examination...

So now I have three short modules and head into three Microsoft examinations and that is it...

It seems to just get better and better!

Take care.

'debvhu

Regrettable Change To Service

Howzit

I am very sorry to drop this all on you - especially at the weekend... With immediate effect, posting to this site will be put on hold as I have other priorities right now. My studies are swiftly approaching the taking of numerous examinations and I need to put my head down and do the graft.

I am not withdrawing completely, but am suspending operations on this page for the time being as I need to use the time elsewhere.

Hopefully you all will understand and appreciate the decision I have made.

Take care.

'debvhu

Friday, 4th November 2011

Howzit

The weather people said that we could look forward to 'torrential' rain last night, and hardly a drop fell. This morning we have already had a reasonably short, but heavy, rainstorm. Now it is quiet, with hardly a breath of wind, and it is numbingly cold...

Ever heard President Mugabe singing? If you haven’t, then you should listen to a new song, “Toita Sei?” in which the President - in probably his first recorded song - features.

This has captivated many people who use public transport and other social spheres where the song has become popular. The single is taken off a new album titled “Nhaka Yedu/Our Heritage” by The Born Free Crew, who first caused a stir with their debut offering “Get Connected” last year.

A few years ago, someone did a mix on Mugabe's speeches set to music, and they managed to pick up on Mugabe's undelivered promises and his penchance for threats.

This I don't see as much more than a political move.

The President opens with a narration of how tough life was in Rhodesia.

“Mazuva iwayo vaizvarwa vaifunga kuti nyika inoiyi ndeye maBritish. Vamwe vakatotambira vakati ha hee chido chaMwari kuti maBritish atitonge… (In those days youths were of the mistaken belief that this country belonged to the British). Some even believed that they were under British colonial rule because of God’s will,” says His Excellency in the song.

The President then starts singing: “Toita sei nenyika yeRhodesia?/Toita Sei nenyika yeRhodesia?

“Vazezuru vaida kutonga nyika, vaManyika vaida kutonga nyika, maNdebele aida kutonga nyika.”

If life was 'tough' in Rhodesia, then how do we describe life in Zimbabwe today?

And here we have soldiers rushing to the aid of a crime gang, largely seen as ZANU PF-sponsired...

Soldiers were deployed in the Mbare suburb of Harare Monday after angry commuter bus operators and touts clashed with members of the notorious ZANU PF Chipangano gang.

Trouble started after Chipangano gang members tried to set up their own bus terminus near the ZBC studios in Mbare to extort ‘ranking’ fees from operators.

But just like Hatcliffe on Sunday, when angry MDC-T supporters retaliated against a ZANU PF mob trying to disrupt their rally, a similar angry reaction saw commuter operators refuse to have money extorted from them. Street fighting broke out which the police failed to control, resulting in the army being called in.

According to Precious Shumba from the Harare Residents Trust the Chipangano gang “is merely there to protect business interests of various leaders within ZANU PF, who also use the outfit to intimidate and silence critics and opponents.”

This is just ludicrous!

The calls for Mugabe to step down are growing, although I do not see the m'dala ever stepping down. Even defeat at the ballot box has not prevented him from staying on top.

Robert Mugabe should consider stepping down as old age and health worries catch up with the 87-year-old Zimbabwean president, Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister, has said.

"The question of age is catching up, the question of health is catching up. I am sure that advisably he would be in a position for the sake of the country, for the sake of his legacy, for the sake of his children to consider stepping down," Mr Tsvangirai told a news conference.

The comments were the clearest public indication yet that Mr Mugabe's health is failing, amid reports that he is suffering from prostate cancer.

Mr Mugabe returned on Sunday from a private visit to Singapore – the latest in what has become an almost monthly journey.

The president, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, has brushed off speculation about his health.

For someone who claims to listen to the wishes of the population at heart, perhaps his hearing is impaired now as well...

Mugabe claims that SW Radio Africa is a 'pirate' radio station, yet it has broken no laws in the UK or anywhere else for that matter. He just isn't happy with a radio station that looks at the reality of the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe.

And so ZANU PF jam the signal - but got it wrong recently when they jammed the sugnal when one of their own was giving an interview...

SW Radio Africa’s shortwave broadcast on Wednesday evening was jammed by the Mugabe regime. Ironically jamming began after our news bulletin and just as an interview on Question Time was about to begin with ZANU PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo.

In 2005 Mugabe's regime began jamming SW Radio Africa frequencies, just before the controversial Operation Murambatsvina. It was reported that the jamming equipment and expertise was provided by China and at the time we spoke to a soldier who says he was sent to China to be trained in jamming techniques.

The jamming has been intermittent since then and often targets our flagship Newsreel bulletin, using a loud and irritating noise to drown out the broadcast. In March 2007 then Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga admitted they were jamming our broadcasts. He told parliament they were generating electronic interference to prevent reception.

SW Radio Africa is run by exiled Zimbabweans who, because of repressive media legislation, are not allowed to broadcast from home. In 2000 the station, then called Capital Radio, challenged the government's broadcasting monopoly and won its case in the Supreme Court.

So - just a little bit of an own goal.

But here's a question... if SW Radio Africa is a 'pirate' radio station, then how is it that ZANU PF officials are always on the station, albeit defending their unruly and distasteful stance?

Take care.

'debvhu

Thursday, 3rd November 2011

Howzit

There are some decisions made in and concerning Zimbabwe that just don't make sense. How can the Kimberley Process allow the Mugabe administration to conduct sales of the national diamond stocks when there is a question over the actual mining of the precious stone, together with a query over the final destination of the so-secured funds?

Zimbabwe's mining minister vowed Wednesday that the country "will no longer be begging for anything from anybody" after international diamond regulators agreed to let it trade some $2 billion in diamonds from a field where human rights groups say miners have been tortured.

Earlier this week, Kimberley Process experts meeting in Congo agreed to allow Zimbabwe to sell diamonds from the Marange fields. Zimbabwe, which has denied allegations of human rights abuses in the area, had been under sanctions since 2009 because of "significant noncompliance."

The Kimberley Process was set up in 2002 after brutal wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia that were fueled by "blood diamonds." Participant nations are now forced to certify the origins of the diamonds being traded, assuring consumers that they are not financing war or human rights abuses.

The 60,000-hectare Marange field in eastern Zimbabwe was discovered in 2006 at the height of Zimbabwe's political, economic and humanitarian crisis. It is believed to be the biggest find in the world since the 19th century, and it triggered a chaotic diamond rush.

Last year, the Kimberley Process declared two shipments of stones from the Zimbabwe mines conflict-free, backing off from a ban and allowing 900,000 carats of diamonds to be auctioned.

The latest move allows all diamonds from the area to be sold. The stockpile of Marange diamonds - some 4.5 million stones, is valued at around $2 billion.

For me, the decision to allow the sale just will ensure that Mugabe/ZANU PF will have an adequate cash reserve to run their election 'campaign'. The fact that the Finance Minister is an MDC representative makes no difference as the Ministry of Mines (a ZANU PF ministry) will fail to comply with any auditing function.

The Kimberley Process has failed the people of Zimbabwe.

If the country is footing the bill for Mugabe's numerous (now eight this year) trips to Singapore, surely the population have the right to know what ails him?

Costly and frequent travels to Singapore by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe for medication were justified because the 87-year-old might be having "complications," his political rival and Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday.

"The responsibility of the state is to look after its leaders. If the president is sick, he should be attended to," said Tsvangirai responding to journalists who were eager to know why his and Mugabe's travel expenses had reached $29 million dollars in eight months, according to government figures published quarterly.

The figures represent an enormous sum for a country where the majority of the population struggles to have one meal a day.

Official figures show Zimbabwe spends about $5 million a month. Mugabe's and Tsvangirai's travels consume more than $3.6 million a month, the figures show.

Mugabe has supposedly accrued vast wealth - why doesn't he pay for his own trips to Singapore? And for someone who is always complaining about not enough business at home, how come he doesn't use the doctors in Zimbabwe - or South Africa? Why has he got to travel to the other side of the world each time?

Whilst their is an altogether serious side to this story, I could not help but laugh when I read it initially. Mugabe's lot - including the police and the CIO - know no bounds when it comes to behaviour... and this man got just what was coming to him.

A notorious CIO operative, David Mutobaya was recently thoroughly beaten by MDC-T woman ward youth leader, Jenifer Yovita, after he fondled her behind and said MDC women should be subjected to sexual harassment.

The bragging CIO agent went on to report the incident to the police with some additional falsehoods, resulting in the arrest of the activist.

“Yes, the MDC youth activist has been appearing in court for allegedly assaulting a CIO operative, Mutobaya. with a sweeping broom at Cherutombo Shopping Centre. There has been no progress in the court case as the complainant was not showing up to stand as both complainant and state witness,” confirmed a court official.

Yovita denies most of the contents in the police case classified as C/S 89 of the “Assault” Court summons.

“I beat up Mutobaya as he had provoked and violated my womanhood through fondling my behind. He said MDC women should be open to sexual harassment since their behinds and sexual organs belonged to Mbuya Nehanda. (In ZANU PF circles it is loosely translated that Mbuya Nehanda was a generous woman war liberation hero and whatever belonged to her was public property). I felt highly provoked and humiliated as a woman and had no choice but to vent my anger on Mutobaya,” Yovita told the magistrates court.

Too right! The CIO agent could find himself publicly humiliated in the courts, but there is always the chance that the court, vicariously pro-ZANU PF, may decide that the assault was inappropriate for the sexual assault...

But I do stand with the female MDC activist on moral grounds alone.

This is not 'news'! This is just confirmation of what we already knew...

President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party says the current negotiations with the MDC-T have come to an end and new platforms should now be explored.

The party says it has lost faith with the Global Political Agreement forum of negotiators.

Negotiating teams from ZANU PF and the two MDC formations met Sadc facilitator South African President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team in Harare on Wednesday.

The team which included Charles Nqakula and Lindiwe Zulu, met with the negotiating teams of Patrick Chinamasa and Jonathan Moyo (ZANU PF), Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma (MDC-T) and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Moses Mzila Ndlovu (MDC).

(I do note that the smaller faction of the MDC, now led by Welshman Ncube, is shown as just plain 'MDC' as opposed to MDC-M (for Mutambara) or MDC-Ncube... someone is totally unsure and so went the safest, yet rather confusing route. By identifying the faction as just 'MDC', the writer infers that the smaller faction is the original body...)

And how on earth has political chameleon Jonathan Moyo become part of the negotiation team for ZANU PF? No wonder it wasn't going anywhere!

And, at the risk of repeating myself for the umpteenth time, how can the losers of an election negotiate with the winners of an election as to just how much power the winners can have?

This is not democracy!

Take care.

'debvhu

Wednesday, 2nd November 2011

Howzit

Only a short posting today, as I am in the middle of quite a lengthy and serious;y mind-boggling module in my studies - and I really would like to finish it today. Trust that you understand.

There was fun and games on the streets of Harare yesterday as ZRP personnel in riot gear besieged the MDC headquarters at Harvest House, allegedly to arrest an MDC supporter/member - although they did not identify this person - and the block was tear gassed.

The crackdown against the MDC-T intensified on Tuesday after a group of armed police officers besieged their headquarters, barricading the main road and firing tear gas.

It’s understood that the afternoon’s chaos began when police tried to arrest local vendors who retaliated, resulting in skirmishes with officers. The police officers apparently retreated to get reinforcements, but when they returned the vendors had scattered.

According to the MDC-T, a group of more than 30 fully armed police officers immediately stormed Harvest House, saying they were looking for the vendors. The officers blocked the main road outside the headquarters and then started firing tear gas, both inside and outside the building, causing MDC-T staff and passers-by to flee.

Eyewitnesses meanwhile explained that the chaos spread across the city, with police officers firing tear gas at members of the public. On First Street, people were seen scurrying for cover as gas canisters were launched at passers-by. On the social networking website Twitter some Zimbabweans shared images of the police stationed on the corner of First Street and Union Avenue “waiting to pounce.” It was also reported that many businesses were forced to close early.

Yet another example of the heavy-handed tactics used by the pro-Mugabe police force to weigh in with the Mugabe thought process - 'my way or the highway'...

More on the same incident:

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party headquarters, The Harvest House was late Tuesday afternoon attacked by police who fired tear gas at staff members based at the property.

“About 36 Police officers in Harare have besieged the MDC head office, Harvest House today at 15:10hrs. Reasons remain unknown. They have since blocked Nelson Mandela to traffic, are gathered outside, armed with teargas canisters, button sticks and guns,” said the MDC’s Information department following the attack.

The Tuesday attack comes barely a week after a last Thursday attack of the same building by suspected ZANU PF supporters who broke several windows in the process.

The incident at Harvest house is said to have started outside the building when police were trying to arrest vendors along Fife Street.

State owned media however reported claiming that violence had erupted after MDC-T youths and vendors attacked policemen who sought to arrest them for selling pirated compact discs near the party’s Harvest House headquarters.

The article read in part:

Six people, among them two vendors and an MDC-T security official, were arrested.Violence broke out after a Chiedza Chevatendi member Tapiwa Chibaya saw pirated CDs of their music being sold by vendors near Harvest House.Harare provincial police spokesperson Inspector James Sabau said Chibaya confronted the vendors who assaulted him.

“Chibaya went to the police post along First Street where he made a report. Three policemen went to the scene to arrest the suspects,” he said.They arrested the four, but one of them sneaked into Harvest House, where a few minutes later MDC-T youths emerged and manhandled the policemen.

I do note that no police action was taken when the same building was attacked recently by ZANU PF members and supporters...

Is there a Fife Street in Harare? I know that there is a Fife Avenue, but you can never be sure anymore as Mugabe likes renaming things as his urges take him..

It isn't very often that people in Zimbabwe stand up and say in so many words that Mugabe needs to serious contemplate retirement, so when it does happen, eyebrows are raised.

ZANU PF stalwarts are overworking President Robert Mugabe for their own selfish and greedy gains by not letting him hand over power, firebrand politician Margaret Dongo has said. Dongo, a freedom fighter and former member of ZANU PF, said Mugabe was no longer as capable to make decisions as he used to be.

“ZANU PF is overworking Gushungo (Mugabe), he needs to rest. The law of diminishing returns also applies to humans, as you grow older you can’t do all you used to do. Your mind and body get tired even look at me; I am 51, I can’t do the things I used to do at 30 so well or even at 20. Mugabe must rest,” Dongo said.

A Harvard fellow and one of the first people to break out of the former ruling party and contest for a parliamentary seat as an independent, Dongo urged Mugabe to retire and reflect on his achievements.

Take care.

'debvhu

Tuesday, 1st November 2011

Howzit

Events in Zimbabwe have a habit of being sinister or just plain silly. We have Senator Eddie Cross and his wife being threatened by the CIO (or, at least, someone claiming to be CIO), whilst we have Mugabe threatening the Swiss authorities that he may take over their properties and businesses in Zimbabwe as a 'pay back' to his wife and other personnel within his huge entourage being denied visa to enter that country...

Swiss companies in Zimbabwe include food giant Nestlé, which temporarily shut down a Harare processing plant in December 2009 due to pressure brought when it stopped buying milk from a Mugabe-owned dairy.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has threatened to seize Swiss-owned properties or companies following that country's denial last week of visas to his wife Grace and five senior aides who wished to attend a United Nations conference in Geneva.

Although Mr Mugabe had received a visa, he canceled the trip and headed to Singapore for treatment of what credible reports say is metastatic prostate cancer.

Arriving home at Harare International Airport late Sunday, Mr Mugabe told journalists he was saddened by the Swiss visa denials, adding, “now they are showing that they are vicious and we will reciprocate because they have properties here. We are not without means to reciprocate.”

Once again, I remind us all that Mugabe denied the entry of a UN torture specialist into Zimbabwe in the first few days of this year. If Mugabe is allowed to pick and chose who can and cannot enter Zimbabwe, then why cannot the Swiss have the same rights?

Or does Mugabe really believe that he and his entourage have default right of entry?

And once again, we have the pro-Mugabe police force acting in contravention of a High Court order...

Police in Victoria Falls yesterday cordoned off Chinotimba Stadium, effectively blocking MDC-T president Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s campaign rally in defiance of a High Court order allowing the rally to proceed uninterrupted.

Tsvangirai said this was a serious matter he would take to President Robert Mugabe as it had exposed the need for security sector reform.

“It’s a very serious issue and the behaviour of the police in the last three days has exposed why there is need for security sector realignment. The issue will be taken up with the President,” he said.

MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa confirmed the incident, adding armed anti-riot police had literally locked themselves inside the stadium as early as 6am.

How can this be correct in any form? Mugabe may be the President of Zimbabwe (by using violence and intimidation in the second round of the Presidential election in 2008 forcing Tsvangirai to withdraw), but he forgets the wishes of the people.

Mugabe describes Zimbabwe as a 'democracy' and then proceeds to be a tyrannical dictator...

Is this the first real signs of Mugabe and ZANU PF beginning to crack under the stress and strain?

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF has for the first time retreated from publicly promoting its leader as its candidate in the next elections ahead of its annual conference in the country’s second city, Bulawayo, this weekend.

The silence signals that Mr Mugabe, battling ill health and old age, could be facing a turning point in his long career in the party he has led for more than 30 years.

General elections are expected next year but may be pushed back to 2013 amid funding shortages and political stonewalling.

Mugabe would be coming up to 90 if elections are held in 2013, and if his health problems now are already beginning to show, in two years time he most likely won't even be with us in the land of the living.

The idea that Mugabe would have died before any election in 2013 would be enough to have me arrested in Zimbabwe, but facts are facts...

I really don't know what to make of this. Is this genuine praise for the man that has held Zimbabwe ransom for the last 31 years, or is this Tsvangirai placating ZANU PF in the hope that they might drop their guard?

Robert Mugabe is a hero, a liberator and the founding father of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, arch rival and victim of rights abuses under his regime, said today.

The conciliatory words chosen by the Zimbabwean prime minister came as he challenged the world to see the president as not only part of his country's problem, but also part of the solution.

Speaking at a conference in Johannesburg, Tsvangirai acknowledged the atrocities of the past decade but insisted Mugabe could rescue his legacy.

"I suppose Robert Mugabe has been portrayed as a demon," he told the Guardian. "He himself made a contribution to that caricature because I cannot defend what he did over the last 10 years in terms of violence, in terms of expropriation and all these other activities.

"But there is also a positive contribution to our country that he has made. Remember that he was the national liberation hero, and so those are positive years. I suppose there is the personality conflict between a hero and a villain, of which you have to make an assessment. History will have to judge him."

Not history - the Zimbabwean people should be Mugabe's judges - and I do believe that the verdict will be unanimous and not altogether complimentary.

ZANU PF is synonymous with violence. Anyone who has lived in Zimbabwe for any realistic period since 1980 will concur.

So I am not surprised to read the opening paragraph of this article.

“Soon after I discovered that my husband had been killed by ZANU PF thugs, I quickly covered him with a blanket and rushed to Gutu police station where I narrated my ordeal to six policemen. But when I told them that the perpetrators were well-known ZANU PF supporters and that the team was headed by a Colonel, they told me to go home as they were not entertaining ‘political cases’.”

The above testimony was recorded by the pro-democracy NGO, Heal Zimbabwe, on 2 July this year during a memorial service for an MDC-T supporter murdered by ZANU PF militants and the army in Gutu East in 2008. It is part of a huge dossier that gives chilling evidence of the genocide committed by President Robert Mugabe’s backers as he desperately clung to power after losing elections to MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai, that year.

As the prospect of another bruising election looms, ordinary Zimbabweans, politicians and human rights defenders are watching with alarm the violence pervading the country. Those who can manage are fleeing the country in droves. Others are leaving the countryside in the hope of finding safety in cities and towns. Many more have already made the decision not to participate, fearing a backlash if they vote for the ‘wrong’ party.

Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have said the election will take place in 2012, although they are still haggling over a possible date. Mugabe, who is suffering from poor health, says he will not go beyond March next year before declaring an election date. Tsvangirai says an election can only be possible after a new constitution is in place and other reforms agreed in the Global Political Agreement are implemented.

The continuing violence by ZANU PF is a direct violation of what Mugabe signed up to on September 15, 2008, in the presence of regional leaders acting as observers. Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara made a commitment to “…build a society free of violence, fear, intimidation, hatred, patronage, corruption and founded on justice, fairness, openness, transparency, dignity and equality.”

And, because Mugabe has such a tight grip on the police, the army, the air force, his youth brigade and the war veterans, it is obvious that this sort of mantra is set to remain.

God help all Zimbabweans...

Take care.

'debvhu