Friday, 30th November 2012

Howzit

A bishop packing a pistol? What has religion come to in Zimbabwe?

Is the pistol licensed? Does it fall within his remit that he should be ‘packing heat’?

Methinks that Kunonga is using his close relationship with Mugabe and his party to fulfil his personal goals…

Disgraced ex-communicated clergyman Nolbert Kunonga yesterday threatened to shoot journalists for covering his ongoing shenanigans, as five of his “thugs” were arrested late Thursday.

This came as he packed his belongings - leaving the Anglican Church Cathedral - a bitter man.

Shaking with rage, the once larger-than-life priest confronted journalists in typical gangster fashion, ranting and raving, and spitting venom.

The Messenger of Court descended on his former bastion of power at the Anglican Cathedral, a move that saw him flying into a rage.

And as Kunonga was hounded by journalists and Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) members he went mad.

Dressed in a pin-striped blue suit and a gun holstered to his hip, the burly Kunonga, who was sweating profusely, charged menacingly towards reporters, who fled in different directions.

“You think I am playing with you, I can shoot you,” shouted the disgraced churchman as he fumbled for his gun.

But that was not all.

Kunonga, who has been imperious for five years and boisterous in the media, left the Cathedral with his tail neatly tucked firmly between his legs. He later sought refuge at his lawyer, Jonathan Samukange - an aspiring Zanu PF legislator.

Andrew Chakanyuka, the Messenger of Court, however, gave the Zanu PF churchman a torrid time as he chased after him.

“Mr Kunonga can we please have keys for three cars that are in your possession,” asked Chakanyuka who blocked Kunonga’s path.

Kunonga was ordered by the Supreme Court to surrender a Mazda 626 registration number 646-832C, a Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Hilux single cab and to deliver all CPCA assets of whatever nature in his possession.

But yesterday, he claimed he did not have the properties, in blatant contempt of the court order.

“We do not have cars with us, I did not bring a car today,” said Kunonga, whose anger was boiling over as he frothed on the mouth.

The once-mighty Kunonga was reduced to a pedestrian as he hit the road towards his lawyer’s offices with journalists breathing on his neck.

He later returned yesterday afternoon and invaded the parishioners saying he was in charge. He described the judgment as “fake”.

Earlier on Tuesday, he had filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court seeking to stop the eviction.

But Judge President George Chiweshe deferred the case to next Tuesday.

Notwithstanding the urgent chamber application, locksmiths had a busy day as they changed locks at the Cathedral after Kunonga fled “his base” after he was forced to obey a Supreme Court ruling that he should leave the CPCA properties.

But even in defeat, Kunonga provided some comic excerpts as he initially told the CPCA members who were brimming with confidence to leave his offices, which he said cannot be turned into “dens of homosexuals.”

Judging from the sorry state of the Cathedral, Anglicans have a mountain of work as the once pristine Cathedral has been turned into a business empire where kindergarten children were swashed (squashed?) in the basement.

Some of the rooms have been turned into offices while other rooms have been turned into canteens.

Floors were potholed and the walls are grimy with dirt, while a strong smell pervades the murky corridors which desperately need painting.

(Source)

How does the illegal occupation of church property for the last 5 years result in breakages, filthy walls and property being removed?

He claims that the taking of the properties is to be viewed under the indigenisation programme. If that is the case, then why were the majority of the congregation that were thrown out blacks?

Is he trying to say that because the Anglican church is headed by a white man, that the church in Zimbabwe needs ‘realigning’?

-o00o-

Let me get this straight… The last election was over 4 years ago, and since then we have heard about deceased people voting and an inordinate numbers of centurions on the voters roll.

And only now the ZEC says that they have not got enough time to remove the names before an election next year. So what have they been doing then?

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says it cannot guarantee that the voters’ roll will be free of names of dead people before next year’s general elections.

Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll has been condemned by election monitors and opposition parties for not being updated.

ZEC deputy chair Joyce Kazembe says because a record of deaths and births is still not fully computerised, it is impossible to maintain a credible voters’ roll.

“It’s true; our voters’ roll contains names of thousands of dead people.
 
This is because legally, the Registrar General’s office removes such people only when there is documentary evidencing confirming that so and so is dead,” Kazembe told a conference of Christian students in Harare on Tuesday.

“This is not happening, especially in the country’s rural settings. So you will find we have 109 year-olds in the voters’ roll, zvakaoma nhai. You hear of people living that long in the Guinness Book of Records, but this is what you see in our voters’ roll.”

Kazembe insists that the lack of a computerised record of dead people means updating the voters’ roll will remain a manual process for a long time.

“The registrar general can only act when relatives of the deceased bring documentary evidence to that effect,” she added.

Last year, the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said that the anomalies opened the way for “double voting and other rigging intentions”.

In its research, the group found some 2,344 voters between the ages of 101 and 110 still on the voting rolls, despite the fact the average life expectancy in the country is just 44.

The report also found that more than 500 dead voters had all been given the same birth date - January 1, 1901.

“An accurate, credible voters' register is a prerequisite for free and fair elections,” ZESN added

Cleaning up the voters roll is one of the electoral reforms Zimbabwe’s ruling coalition parties said must be completed before the country holds elections, which President Robert Mugabe says could be held as early as March.

(Source)

This is just a mixture of laziness and political farce. They have done nothing for over 4 years and now say there isn’t enough time… Ridiculous!

-o00o-

More threats to amputate limbs if people do not support ZANU PF.

Mind you, it is what we have come to expect.

Villagers in Nyanga and Binga have been warned by Zanu (PF) militias that their limbs will be cut off if they fail to attend the party's meetings.
 
Movement for Democratic Change Organising Secretary for Binga District, Garisa Moyo, told Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition on Monday:

“Councilors are being threatened with having their arms cut off, for not attending meetings organized by Zanu (PF) activists. The big challenge is that the police are now involved in these activities.”

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition spoke to people from Chungu and Lusulu areas in Binga North under chiefs, Simupa, Sinakatenge and Sinamusanga, who had reportedly come under siege from the three traditional leaders who have been enlisted by Zanu (PF) to work with its coercive party activists to force villagers to attend the party's meetings.

"Villagers who fail to attend the meetings are allegedly being overtly threatened with having their limbs cut off by the Zanu (PF) militias," said the report.

Those who spoke to the Crisis Report said this was a reminder of the infamous “short and long sleeve” campaign whereby many people had their arms and or legs cut off during the violent June 2008 presidential election run-off by Zanu (PF) militias across the country.

Moyo revealed that villagers were also being forced by the chiefs to pay a fine in cash for failing to attend these meetings.

An MDC-T supporter, one Omi, is one of the victims that Moyo cited who was recently fined US$40 by Chief Sinakatenge, for failing to attend a Zanu (PF) meeting which the traditional leader addressed.

Kariba District where Moyo is District Organising Secretary for the MDC-T led by Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, is on the border with Binga North.

Cases of political intimidation and harassment which involve Zanu (PF) militias, soldiers, and traditional leaders against villagers in various parts of the country, continue to be reported as Zimbabwe approaches harmonized elections in 2013.

Councilor Temba Toonse Kunjulu from Jabuba Ward in Binga is reported to have identified Zanu (PF) activist, Kenias Charuma, and a former intelligence agent, Isaac Ndebele, as part of the militia intimidating people in Binga North for not attending Zanu (PF) meetings in the area.

Meanwhile war veterans’ leader, Jabulani Sibanda, who is in Nyanga North recently held a meeting in the area where he misinformed villagers that the constitution making process had been stalled by MDC-T leader and Tsvangirai.

He said this was because Tsvangirai was on insisting in including homosexuality in the new constitution.

Sibanda is also said to have made threats of violence to MDC supporters.

Spokesperson for MDC Nyanga North Constituency, Sekai Gombe, confirmed to the Crisis Report Team that:

“Jabulani threatened all opposition parties stating that Zanu (PF) is going to carry out a disciplinary process particularly to individuals who did not vote for President Robert Mugabe in the 2008 harmonised elections. Sibanda promised inputs for Zanu (PF) supporters only.”

Gombe said following the meeting farm inputs were distributed to perceived Zanu (PF) supporters only. The inputs included 10kg cotton seed bags and 10kg Shumba variety maize seed, and they had stickers with President Robert Mugabe’s image.

“However, some of the Zanu (PF) supporters were disgruntled, saying the party was giving them worthless inputs which are not suitable for Nyanga region,” said Gombe.

One of the Zanu (PF) supporters, Denius Tembo, who castigated his party is said to have been retributively assaulted that same afternoon by the Zanu (PF) youth chairperson for Nyanga North Ward 4, Isaiah Tembo, and an
Officer, John Katerere, and other Zanu (PF) youths. Denius got injured on his left leg and allegedly lost a cell phone and some money in the process according to Gombe.

(Source)

‘Disciplinary process’ if people don’t vote for Mugabe? And those ‘measures’ could include the forceful amputation of limbs?

Is this the ‘democracy’ and the ‘sovereign State’ that Mugabe is always talking about?

Vote for ZANU PF or lose a leg/arm… (or both).

-o00o- 

Mugabe loves to threaten people, and his party members are more than happy to repeat their leader’s words.

And, as he has done for the last 30-plus years, he is relying upon his security forces to ensure that ZANU PF wins at the ballot. (And if they don’t, then we can expect a coup – according to a couple of Mugabe’s ministers who have stated exactly that in public.) 

As Zimbabwe heads towards elections in 2013, Zanu (PF) is once again looking to the country’s highly partisan securocrats to dash the people’s democratic desires and keep the party – and President Mugabe - in power.

It is hardly a secret that Zimbabwean military and intelligence services have always practised an authoritarian, nationalist and totally pro-Zanu (PF) brand of politics. It is also common knowledge that the command structures of all the country’s security services are controlled by men who were part of ZANLA - ZANU’s military wing - during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. Men who have not been professionalised and whose thinking is still dominated by liberation politics - and by unwavering, undying support for Mugabe.

After the security force’s brutal campaign helped to prevent Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC party from taking power when they won the 2008 elections, there was always concern that an unreformed (and unpunished) security sector would ensure that the next polls would also be marred by violence and intimidation - and that the democratic will of the people of Zimbabwe would again be thwarted.

The question was always - how would they do it. The first necessity was cash. With the MDC controlling the state’s purse strings, the security sector bosses needed to find funds that it could use. They found the answer in the Marange diamond fields and in shady joint ventures with Chinese companies, which funnelled illicit diamond revenues into their empty coffers.

But still it was not clear what they would spend all the money in their now overflowing war chests on. That became clear on November 1st with the launch of the so-called military history documentation project - a project that is clearly designed to allow the army to campaign for Zanu (PF) and that will not document military history but instead will write another terrible chapter in the military’s increasingly bloody and anti-democratic history.

As part of the project, the Zimbabwean security forces are going to deploy more than 30,000 members, including serving and retired officers and Zanu (PF) mobilisation officers, across the country to build ‘support’ for Mugabe and the party through a combination of terrifying ‘sticks’ and a few tempting ‘carrots’.

The Zimbabwe Independent Newspaper estimated on November 2nd that the military has bought 1,500 Isuzu trucks - worth around US$45million - for use in the operation, which will target every village and street in the country. This is in addition to the 550 cars that Zanu (PF) has already gratefully accepted and will use as part of its election campaign and which were a ‘donation’ from one of the dodgy diamond mining companies that are plundering Marange.

It is critical that the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is the guarantor of the Global Political Agreement, and the African Union - along with the broader international community - act now in order to prevent any further bloodshed before and after the coming elections and to ensure that the elections result in a genuine transition to a more open and democratic society.

But this will not happen if Mugabe and his henchmen are allowed to get away with using the security services to intimidate their way across the country. Already the security chiefs have made it clear that they will never accept a civilian president (i.e. a person with no liberation struggle credentials) and will certainly never salute Morgan Tsvangirai.

SADC has to step in before it is too late. The longer they wait to denounce the rising tide of intimidation and illegal arrests of MDC politicians and civil society activists, the greater the chance of a repeat of 2008 - and another victory for the securocrats and their friends in Zanu (PF). SADC also needs to tell Zanu (PF) to send the soldiers back to their barracks.

Because let’s be clear. Despite Zanu (PF)’s protestations that the military history project is just a ‘military history project’, everyone knows that it is a carefully thought-out and well-orchestrated election ploy.

Why else would so many security service personnel be deployed in such a hurry to villages across the country - just six months before elections? Independence was 32 years ago so there clearly is no rush to complete a history of the military. The only answer is that they are not going to ask questions about the army’s past but rather ‘tell’ people how to vote to secure the securocrats future - and the future of its allies in Zanu (PF). And they’re going to do it by ensuring there are more army vehicles than ambulances in Zimbabwean villages - and more security force personnel than high school teachers.

It is all part of a grandiose but actually very simple plan. Rig the election, intimidate the voters and install a friendly ‘civilian’ government that will protect the securocrats’ lucrative diamond, gold, platinum and agricultural interests. It is a classic silent coup.

And it can’t be allowed to happen. SADC and the AU cannot afford another coup - another bloody mess in Zimbabwe. And nor can the people of Zimbabwe.

SADC and the AU must stop this dangerous ‘military history project’ in its tracks, instructing the government that it can only take place after the 2013 elections. Then they must put their own ‘boots on the ground’ by immediately deploying observers in all ten provinces of Zimbabwe. And lastly they must demand that the political parties implement the critical GPA reforms to the media landscape and electoral institutions that they agreed to back in September 2008 - to provide a chance for Zimbabweans to cast their vote in free and fair elections.

And to finally enjoy the government of their choice.

(Source) 

Mugabe is on a good thing. He has a huge mansion built with other people’s money, huge diamond deposits that he insists in treating as his own, and the fear of the security forces to keep him in office.

What else could he want? 

-o00o- 

Take care.

‘debvhu