South Africa P.I.G.: MUGABE

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South Africa, Zimbabwe and Communism

South Africa, Zimbabwe and Communism

This is the story of what really goes on in Southern Africa, the truth on how communism crawled into Southern Africa with the help of the Un...

6:25 AM

It's Not OK Mr Zuma

FOLLOWING the promulgation of the regulations around the Indigenisation Act, there can be no illusions about how the international community will respond. This is another own goal of far-reaching significance. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_6y8DjAJByNBTyifj2okItxfvayUvstpUKpFjQOM0fXCkBOS9Tyx9EPQ9psSykeR0mAryYI2Yl3GM1y090bIYm-V_9Axf98XrwF9KfsBJ8IFvYwCqiuMAfGH-kwmDeapoz-AnU0LiqHhD/s1600-h/zuma-mugabe.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445646575343217458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_6y8DjAJByNBTyifj2okItxfvayUvstpUKpFjQOM0fXCkBOS9Tyx9EPQ9psSykeR0mAryYI2Yl3GM1y090bIYm-V_9Axf98XrwF9KfsBJ8IFvYwCqiuMAfGH-kwmDeapoz-AnU0LiqHhD/s400/zuma-mugabe.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 259px" /></a>President Mugabe and his followers appear to think they can pass this off as an attempt to promote an equitable business environment. In fact it will be seen as yet another self-serving move that empowers the already powerful and damages the economy as a whole. It is clientelism at its worst. Just like the so-called land reform programme, we shall see nationalisation of private assets by a greedy clique. Investors will want no part in this free-for-all. They will not want to be told that they must give up 51% of their ownership of a company they have worked hard to build over the years and be presented with a list of suitable "partners" who all turn out to be members of the same party. Prospective "partners" have reportedly already been descending on companies in Harare to check out new possibilities for plunder. Sadc's reaction will be instructive. Sadc's intervention was designed to rescue Zimbabwe from political havoc that would damage not only this country but prove contagious to the region. Sadc leaders gathered in Dar es Salaam were appalled by the pictures they saw of Morgan Tsvangirai after his "bashing", as President Mugabe suitably called it, threatening more. Zimbabwe was marching in the opposite direction from a region that was enjoying investment, stability and growth. Despite appearing to buy Zanu PF's phoney nationalist rhetoric, there was a clear understanding by regional leaders that Zimbabwe was scaring off investors and creating a zone of instability in their midst. The presidential run-off poll, they unanimously agreed in 2008, was anything but free and fair. That is why after the poll they persuaded Mugabe to enter into a political pact with Tsvangirai. That arrangement, the GNU, is now in trouble because Zanu PF leaders have undermined the whole basis of the exercise. By leaving hardliners in place and refusing to accept the need for root-and-branch reforms, Zimbabwe is doing exactly what its friends feared. But of all the clumsy attempts to block change, the promulgation of the regulations surrounding the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act are the most egregious. The former ruling party has by this move signalled its contempt for the GPA and for Tsvangirai as prime minister. Both the GPA and Constitutional Amendment 19 define the powers of the prime minister. Not only have Mugabe's supporters driven a coach and horses through these provisions and ridden roughshod over cabinet due-process, they have done precisely what Sadc sought to avoid -- threatened economic havoc and damaged the region's reputation. In the circumstances, getting Tsvangirai to lift sanctions is like sending him on a mission impossible. None of the countries imposing sanctions will be able to justify to their constituents a removal of measures when there has been no progress in the GNU talks. How else do we explain the ongoing land seizures; the torture of political prisoners; the arrest of journalists, one bearing a letter of introduction from Minister Walter Mzembi, the other doing his job as a cameraman; and the continuing abuse of the prime minister in the official press? US Congressional delegation leader Douglas Meeks described Mugabe as "a great man" after their meeting at State House last month. It is understood that compliments in diplomacy work better than brickbats. But he must be assuming that readers of the New York Times, which publishes in his constituency, are ignoring its stories on Zimbabwe. They are not. All the disgraceful details are there. Meeks and his fellow legislators will have difficulty securing a change of policy in the current situation. Barack Obama wasn't fooled into believing there has been progress. Tsvangirai's call for a relaxation of sanctions after Zanu PF unleashed youths into the city centre to threaten him will not have done much to sway opinion in the US and Europe! Tsvangirai, the bravest of the brave in 2007, is increasingly looking like a jelly that bears the impression of the last person to have sat on it. President Zuma in London this week will ask Gordon Brown to lift sanctions. But Brown is likely to ask what the GNU has achieved to warrant such a move? Does this include the hardliners at Zanu PF headquarters who mobilised the youths who threatened Tsvangirai last week? Media houses are still unable to launch new titles. The state media continues to be abused by 2008's losers to justify Mugabe's damaging policies. Meanwhile, Saviour Kasukuwere is threatening more damage. He evidently doesn't think he has done enough already. Like the AAG, he wants to reap where he did not sow elsewhere in the economy. And Jacob Zuma thinks all these things should be ignored; that the GNU negotiators should "park and proceed". How can he expect the MDC-T to park the glaring violations of Amendment 19 and the GPA where the PM's powers are unambiguously defined but now widely ignored by the old gang of ministers, permanent secretaries, and generals? If Zuma wants Zimbabweans to disregard the type of leadership that thinks it's OK to plunder productive farms and businesses, he might find the same disease spreading, like cholera, across the border.

It's Not OK Mr Zuma

FOLLOWING the promulgation of the regulations around the Indigenisation Act, there can be no illusions about how the international community...

1:27 PM

Protest against 'shameful' Zuma

SA president Jacob Zuma faces angry protest South African President Jacob Zuma has been met by protesters in London chanting "shame on you" on the last day of his state visit to Britain. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwLOghhum7H8ssn6ccpApbfCkI3d1hIq1BWUZOtslwfqRtmKNRl1wiFQK9lO0gyQsk_ft4HWLN8QguJcy5TQ30Zbl5O4cas0NIlqw443JV7dIabQmwtenNQqJ8h1XeiZy3PH8AJMI_JcO9/s1600-h/zuma-save-zim.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGETl3GSxBZx8Kyowmzy1FzMAiWmyrBlTiJWYNriQXEcjlMkXGB3-05YSMaYbNjBU_JmUUxONCWEAil39CbCZJGf1Yw3IrZfV-wqkxaMMKb96UdTQcjlHuBdMuECNnPrjWe7866PSZuGbz/s1600-h/SAHouseLondonSmall.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445236380257475986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGETl3GSxBZx8Kyowmzy1FzMAiWmyrBlTiJWYNriQXEcjlMkXGB3-05YSMaYbNjBU_JmUUxONCWEAil39CbCZJGf1Yw3IrZfV-wqkxaMMKb96UdTQcjlHuBdMuECNnPrjWe7866PSZuGbz/s400/SAHouseLondonSmall.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 318px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 238px" /></a>Earlier, the leader sparked anger over calls for international sanctions on Zimbabwe to be eased. About 50 people gathered outside the South African High Commission, waving banners saying "Zuma save Zimbabwe". In response, President Zuma walked up a red carpet at South Africa House before turning and waving to demonstrators. Earlier on Friday, he held talks with Prince Charles at Clarence House on climate change, youth opportunities and the built environment. 'Another wife' During his three-day state visit, the leader suggested sanctions should be eased to help Zimbabwe "move forward". But campaigners accused him of appeasing Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and believe he should be doing more to ensure fresh elections are called in the country. Gordon Brown has said Zimbabwe must show progress in key areas including democratic reforms before sanctions are lifted. At the protest, one man wearing a Mugabe mask held aloft a sign saying "Zuma - have another wife on me". The 67-year-old leader is a polygamist - following a Zulu tradition - and has taken a third wife. Rose Benton, co-ordinator of a weekly demonstration outside the Zimbabwean embassy, said: "The government of national unity isn't going to work, Mugabe isn't serious about making it work - he never has been. "What we need is Zuma to do something, " she said. This has been the third state visit to Britain by a South African president since the advent of full democracy in 1994. Nelson Mandela came to the UK in 1996 and Thabo Mbeki in 2001. <a class="DL-external" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8552084.stm" jquery1267817262312="3" title="Read the full text of Protest against 'shameful' Zuma from BBC News">Full Article at BBC News</a> Related <a href="http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z2601767308&z=950245066">The Independent</a> Protesters challenge Jacob Zuma over Mugabe

Protest against 'shameful' Zuma

SA president Jacob Zuma faces angry protest South African President Jacob Zuma has been met by protesters in London chanting "shame on ...

10:37 AM

Robert Mugabe mocks the hungriest country in the world with a birthday feast broadcast on TV

Eight thousand lobsters and 4,000 portions of caviar were eaten last night at a birthday party for Mugabe which was broadcast live to a nation facing famine. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTuLXxYNlLGLmjmhsF2wlJkZtjDLrems8idgei-1k5-R4QEUpHis9KSyCqtaWe0ekuoLatzcWXrkTLggw7XWSl4rATzvcYb6_RtwbQZnY_rpqu73pMTtislfo_nsaFxuanRuNFDOQUFF_/s1600-h/mugape-bobape.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZiLP6B78RN54U8iv5_pd3PxN_hHKLKYLE8pA3yy2L608bCD7IOMxew0BmNwm9D2DpSTq-UZdwTGYI5iv0JWxhUEH6_Oww3m7Or3v6Dg360URa3iGQU2ME3DeP97h8ob8UIUYfqFxiNS1/s1600-h/mugape-bobape.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443452057125803650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZiLP6B78RN54U8iv5_pd3PxN_hHKLKYLE8pA3yy2L608bCD7IOMxew0BmNwm9D2DpSTq-UZdwTGYI5iv0JWxhUEH6_Oww3m7Or3v6Dg360URa3iGQU2ME3DeP97h8ob8UIUYfqFxiNS1/s320/mugape-bobape.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 236px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The £330,000 televised feast to celebrate the Zimbabwe president's 86th birthday came as crop failure and drought raised the prospect of widespread hunger in the poverty-stricken country. Mugabe's political opponents, the Movement for Democratic Change, said the food served was enough to feed 50 villages. The MDC branded the 12-hour all-night gala a 'senseless extravagance'. Also on the menu were 200lb of prawns and 500 bottles of whisky. Guests at the party in Bulawayo were entertained by a Jamaican reggae star flown in specially and more than 30 musicians. The revelry began at 6pm and was not due to wind up until 6am. The Zimbabwean leader celebrated his birthday last Sunday and has already attended a number of parties, including one at the Chinese embassy in the capital Harare. Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 30 years and overseen the country's economic collapse. He had expected taxpayers to pay for the party but had to go cap in hand to corporate supporters and friendly embassies when the MDC finance minister refused. An MDC spokesman said the celebrations were inappropriate as the country braced itself for a tough harvest with an 11 per cent maize crop failure caused by a prolonged dry spell. He said: 'It is not progressive for any Zimbabwean to join this senseless fray as the country faces imminent drought. 'It is lavish, careless and extravagant on the part of the organisers that they dedicate £330,000 to one person, an amount which could feed 50 villages. 'It is absolutely self-centred for someone to try to nationalise a birthday. MDC members will not be part of this circus.' Last week the EU voted to continue sanctions on Zimbabwe for another year, citing a 'lack of progress' in implementing a power-sharing deal. The sanctions are mainly targeted at senior ZanuPF figures and involve asset freezes as well as arms and travel embargos. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/</a>

Robert Mugabe mocks the hungriest country in the world with a birthday feast broadcast on TV

Eight thousand lobsters and 4,000 portions of caviar were eaten last night at a birthday party for Mugabe which was broadcast live to a nati...

2:01 PM

Fifa 2010 Hospitality contracts goes to Mugabe's nephew

By Craig McKune Fifa’s World Cup Hospitality packages has been awarded to businessman and former Zanu-PF MP Philip Chiyangwa, who is the subject of international sanctions. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYos2i7VPjPFEuEBmHXUUde_NuApbl3ZmmZ1NkmDE6xo7l-lc-T47w4i1IXq4ssDmwE6n1v88yyAhZl9ZEx4XYKuYbBeuvnGdjOsdJwizvSEkAMaSv1SDUqEBEaD6XHJI4zC39-CVgc5Ib/s1600-h/fifa-2010.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPkaLXzdRM2vMJNc30qPUWVwEtzZ1dYC7FbpIKwtQVZJUEKMpNh1l3dIxOgAtc1wnuw9d3sSHOGVLytH5IM-rCQetYqhhR300_KRXyzbAvVb3BzNs9hCQQ5TPxVo7m9tNWVbHO5Wgjac8O/s1600-h/fifa-2010.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443728493302747314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPkaLXzdRM2vMJNc30qPUWVwEtzZ1dYC7FbpIKwtQVZJUEKMpNh1l3dIxOgAtc1wnuw9d3sSHOGVLytH5IM-rCQetYqhhR300_KRXyzbAvVb3BzNs9hCQQ5TPxVo7m9tNWVbHO5Wgjac8O/s320/fifa-2010.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 271px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Chiyangwa’s Native Investment Group (NIG) was hand-picked late last year to sell World Cup packages for Fifa. While ticket prices are being slashed in South Africa to fill stadiums, and Zimbabwean fans had only bought 546 tickets by the beginning of this month, Chiyangwa has claimed his Native Investment Group, which he directs, is doing a rip-roaring trade. Fifa’s Hospitality packages - including premium Match tickets, catering, entertainment, “dedicated hostesses” and travel packages - are managed internationally by Match Hospitality, which appoints regional agents and sub-agents such as NIG. Match Hospitality is run by Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s nephew Philippe Blatter, through his sports marketing company Infront. According to Match spokesman Peter Csanadi, NIG was “identified and appointed” - without a tender process - by the sub-Saharan African agent, a joint venture between Primedia and Sail. “The best possible entities are identified for the respective territory and, provided they are available and willing, they may be appointed as sales agents or sub-agents,” he said. Chiyangwa has been targeted by New Zealand’s and Australia’s sanctions regimes, according to their websites. Asked on Friday whether Fifa was aware of this, Fifa officials referred queries to Match, which did not respond. According to The New Zimbabwe, Chiyangwa - who is building tourist accommodation on residential land traded with Harare authorities - recently told journalists his company had overshot its sales target four times in two weeks. Csanadi refused to say how many VIP packages had been sold in Zimbabwe, how much they cost or what profit went to Chiyangwa’s company. Asked how NIG was chosen above other Zimbabwean companies, he said: “I do not think it is appropriate to discuss our business decisions in detail.” Chiyangwa was provincial chairman of Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West province. He was well-known for starting the Affirmative Action Group in the early 1990s which successfully campaigned for the Indigenisation Act, demanding 51 percent local ownership of any foreign investment. Today Chiyangwa is one of the country’s most successful businessmen and was seen this month on BBC Newsnight, where he was paraded by a government official as “a model of a successful businessman in Zimbabwe today”. Showing off his 35-room mansion and a collection of cars including a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley, a Mercedes-Benz and his daughter’s sports cars, Chiyangwa told reporter Sue Lloyd-Roberts: “If I want to buy a jet tomorrow, I will do it here. If I want to buy a Rolls-Royce, I have one. If I want to drive a Bentley then I have one. If it’s a beautiful mansion house, I bought one. I built it myself.” Last month, the Zimbabwe Mail reported that Chiyangwa would bankroll a bid for the Zimbabwe Football Association presidency by one Lesley Gwindi, through his vice-president hopeful (and Chiyangwa’s employee) Nigel Munyati. But Munyati later denied he was running for the position. According to investigative reporter Andrew Jennings, who wrote the book Foul: The Secret World of Fifa, the football federation has been involved in several suspect relationships with rulers and their relatives. Sepp Blatter was in 1999 awarded The Humane Order of African Redemption by then-Liberian dictator Charles Taylor. In 2002, Taylor’s son-in-law Edwin Snow, head of Liberia’s Football Association, campaigned for Blatter to be re-elected as Fifa president. Blatter’s presidency is meanwhile entering a critical phase as he campaigns for a fourth term, the success of which relies heavily on a successful tournament in 2010. But while he has touted 2010 as an “African” World Cup, less than 2 percent of tickets have been sold to Africans outside South Africa, prompting calls for ticket sales methods to be urgently re-examined. Fifa meanwhile announced last week that a substantial portion of its mid-range category two and three group match tickets (R840 and R540) had been recategorised as cheaper category four tickets (R140) in an effort to fill stadiums. This came amid admissions by the football federation and the local organising committee that earlier estimates of 450 000 international football tourists were over-optimistic. The Guardian in London quoted Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke saying 2,1 million of 2,9 million tickets had been sold but many were in the hands of tour operators, not fans. Related: - <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=vn20100222065008749C381670">http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=vn20100222065008749C381670</a>

Fifa 2010 Hospitality contracts goes to Mugabe's nephew

By Craig McKune Fifa’s World Cup Hospitality packages has been awarded to businessman and former Zanu-PF MP Philip Chiyangwa, who is the sub...

2:17 PM

Grace Mugabe, her 'stolen' farm and how she supplies Zimbawean milk to Nestle food giant

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCAlPcMaVuqXlzpX6tYYftz_mFll5qt-fdmS_lh5jVEd61p-tp6lXsZVJ4rZT74Dg4zH3VSvL-K2eHMC7YoScZQiTdIpodNB72ma-YWWuiynapyNlVbhLz6rIKxGstoGHJKnLbBd2QRQ/s1600-h/zim-nestle.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386267055531950754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCAlPcMaVuqXlzpX6tYYftz_mFll5qt-fdmS_lh5jVEd61p-tp6lXsZVJ4rZT74Dg4zH3VSvL-K2eHMC7YoScZQiTdIpodNB72ma-YWWuiynapyNlVbhLz6rIKxGstoGHJKnLbBd2QRQ/s400/zim-nestle.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 253px" /></a><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/6235334/Grace-Mugabe-her-stolen-farm-and-how-she-supplies-Zimbawean-milk-to-Nestle-food-giant.html" target="_blank">The Sunday Telegraph</a> features this shocking story today. Why would Grace Mugabe be using an unmarked tanker? Why is her farm enjoying big investment. Shame on Nestlé! I certainly won’t be buying any of their products from now on, and I hope others will boycott them too! Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace, who has taken over at least six of Zimbabwe's most valuable white-owned farms since 2002, sells up to a million litres of milk a year to Nestlé. Mr Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, his wife and a number of other figures linked to his administration are the subject of European Union and US sanctions as a result of their controversial 29-year rule over the once-prosperous country. Nestlé, the multinational food company which is the biggest customer of Mrs Mugabe's dairy farm, is not obliged to comply with those sanctions as its headquarters are in Switzerland, but the country has its own set of measures, including against Mrs Mugabe, among which it "is forbidden to make funds available to persons mentioned, or put them, directly or indirectly, at their disposition". Nestlé denies that it has violated Swiss law. Mr Mugabe, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/6231765/Robert-Mugabe-has-built-up-10000-acre-farm-of-seized-land.html" jquery1254084432665="66">The Daily Telegraph </a>disclosed, has built a secret personal farming empire comprising at least five white-owned farms from which the owners were forced out during his regime's evictions of about 4,000 commercial farmers. Mrs Mugabe's properties total about 12,000 acres, but her most important is Gushungo Dairy Estate, formerly known as Foyle Farm. It is in Mazowe, about 30 miles north of the capital Harare. Other dairy farmers, who have also been forced off their land, said that the previous white owner of Foyle faced a campaign of violence over several months in 2003 until he was forced to sell his property to the state's Agricultural Rural Development Authority (Arda). The price was set at about a quarter of independent estimates, they say, and the former owner received only 40 per cent of that amount. Mrs Mugabe became a regular visitor as soon as the previous owner departed. Workers at the 2,400-acre property say it is now her farm, managed by Russell Goreraza, her son from her first marriage. She married Mr Mugabe in 1996, after his first wife died. She visits the farm several times a week, according to workers at the dairy. Under her occupation, the farm has become one of the few in the country to benefit from investment in recent years and has been lauded in The Herald, the state-controlled newspaper. Mrs Mugabe has built a new residence on the farm, remodelled the original farmhouse and constructed an office block, workers said. The dairy produces 6,500 litres of milk a day, The Herald has said, which is only about 35 per cent of its output under the previous owner, who produced 6.5 million litres a year, more than any other dairy in Zimbabwe. Her biggest customer, according to her staff and other industry insiders, is Nestlé Zimbabwe, the local subsidiary of the Swiss company. The plant, in an industrial area in Msasa on the outskirts of the capital, manufactures powdered milk and cereals for the local market and for export to East African countries. Mrs Mugabe uses an unmarked £100,000 tanker and trailer combination dedicated for her use to deliver milk three times a week to Nestlé's plant on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Harare, according to workers at the plant. The dairy's only other customers, according to farm staff, are personal callers at the premises, and when The Sunday Telegraph visited, the milk cost $1 (62p) per litre. The Sunday Telegraph was unable to locate any documentation for the tanker – registration number AAF 2381 – at Zimbabwe's central vehicle registry. It has a capacity of 30,000 litres, but sources in the dairy industry and Nestlé itself say that it carries only 6,500 litres per delivery, which would amount to about one million litres a year in sales. A spokesman at Nestlé's global headquarters in Switzerland was unable to confirm a precise figure, but said that the estimate was "reasonable". He said: "At the end of last year we found ourselves operating in a market where eight of our 16 contractual suppliers had gone out of business. "As a result, in early 2009 the company started purchasing milk on the open market from various suppliers on a strictly non-contractual basis. In certain instances the milk available in the market would be from Gushungo Dairy Estate." Such milk would be bought on a "cash on delivery" basis, he said, adding: "Nestlé has no direct engagement whatsoever with this estate." But when asked to clarify whether it was bought directly or through a third party, he said: "We bought Gushungo Dairy Estate's milk through Dorkin Dairies until that firm collapsed last February, then we bought the milk directly." Nestlé has spent years protecting its reputation amid other scandals, particularly allegations over the improper promotion of formula milk to nursing mothers in the Third World, which it denies, but which have led to consumer boycotts in the West. American and European officials said that if Nestlé was subject to their rules it would be committing a criminal offence by trading with Mrs Mugabe. Mrs Mugabe is one of a number of people individually targeted by international sanctions. In July 2002, she was first included on an EU list, and she has been on Washington's list since it was created in 2003. On the Swiss list she is described as "spouse of the head of government and as such engaged in activities that seriously undermine democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law". A spokesman for Nestlé said it had “absolutely not” broken Swiss law. “The legislation is internal to Switzerland,” he said. “In any case, Nestlé Zimbabwe and any commercial transactions it engages in within Zimbabwe are subject to Zimbabwean law.” Asked if it thought that it was doing anything wrong by doing business with Mrs Mugabe's operation, Nestlé said: "During the recent crisis Nestlé has not considered moving its operations out of the country. By providing basic food products to Zimbabwean consumers, Nestlé aims to meet the needs of the local population, many of whom are vulnerable and disadvantaged." The company's code of conduct, according to its website, states: "We condemn any form of bribery and corruption." It also says that Nestlé "supports and respects the protection of international human rights", and adds that its suppliers should also adhere to its code. Asked to explain its dealings with Mrs Mugabe in that context, it said: "Nestlé does not provide any support, financial or otherwise, to the Gushungo Dairy Estate or to any political party in Zimbabwe. "Nestlé is a truly global company which operates in almost all countries in the world, and therefore its products are found in widely diverse political settings." No response has been received to The Sunday Telegraph's requests for comment from Mrs Mugabe at State House or through her husband's spokesman, nor from the agriculture ministry. Pay and conditions for workers at the dairy are meagre. A 25-year-old worker, with a child to care for, said she could not afford to buy the milk at $1 (62p) a litre. "Do we ever get enough money? No, I get $40 (£25) a month, yet we sell lots and lots of milk," she said. "We do get cabbages returned from the market and 25kg of maize meal twice a month, but there is no electricity in our houses, only for office staff and managers. Mrs Mugabe is here a lot, but doesn't talk to us, just the managers." Many Zimbabweans blame Mrs Mugabe for her husband's descent into misrule and fixation on financial gain. Mr Mugabe's first wife, Sally, a Ghanaian, died of renal failure in 1992 and four years later, aged 72, he married his former typist Grace, 40 years his junior. The couple had begun their relationship and had two children even before Sally's death, with a third child born in 1997. With a penchant for lurid dresses, often from expensive European designers, and matching head gear, Mrs Mugabe is famous for her extravagant shopping trips abroad – during one of which, in February, she was approached by a press photographer outside a hotel in Hong Kong, and responded by smashing her jewel-encrusted fist into his face. Gushungo Dairy Estate is not the only farm controlled by Mrs Mugabe. In 2002, she personally ordered John and Eva Matthews, both in their seventies, out of their 29-room house on the nearby 2,500-acre Iron Mask Estate, giving them 48 hours to leave. Farmers in the area said that she had also taken over Sigaro farm from Joe Kennedy, a major seed producer who has now left Zimbabwe and did not want to comment. Sources said that last year she took over the neighbouring property, Gwebi Wood, which had been bought by Washington Matsaire, the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank's Zimbabwe subsidiary, in 2001. He did not want to comment, but neighbours said the farm was now "a mess". Mrs Mugabe also has properties in Banket, about 50 miles north of Harare. In December last year, Ben Hlatshwayo, a high court judge who had evicted Vernon Nicolle from the 1,445-acre Gwina farm in the area, was in turn forced out by alleged "unlawful conduct" on Mrs Mugabe's part, according to court papers he reportedly filed. His legal action was later abandoned, however Robert Mugabe has built up 10,000-acre farm of seized land er, and when asked about the events he would not comment. According to Mr Nicolle, who has emigrated to Australia, Mrs Mugabe has also taken over the nearby 1,740-acre Leverdale farm, which used to be owned by his brother Piers until he was forced out by Arda in 2002. Last month Mr Nicolle visited both properties. "Anything that could be vandalised and sold has been destroyed," he said. He added that some of his former workers found him during his visit. "It was very emotional," he said. "They thought I was returning to take the farm back and were disappointed when I said I was just visiting." Mrs Mugabe's farm management is, nonetheless, celebrated in The Herald newspaper. At a ceremony at the Gushungo Dairy in June, Mr Mugabe referred to the dairy repeatedly as Mrs Mugabe's "project", saying she had invested "determination and dedication" to it. "It's now her project," he said. "I would like to congratulate her. Today you see this monument. It is a result of her efforts and time." Mrs Mugabe herself told The Herald: "Today has been a wonderful day for me. When we came here it was in a bad state. I had to work hard to transform it to what it is today. I went into dairy farming because he [Mr Mugabe] wanted it. I did it especially for him." url - <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/</a> related: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/6235566/Nestl-the-worlds-biggest-food-company-and-one-of-the-most-boycotted.html" jquery1254085464880="60">Nestlé: the world's biggest food company and one of the 'most boycotted'</a> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6235648/Grace-Mugabes-milk-sales-to-Nestle-sparks-human-rights-groups-to-call-for-action.html" jquery1254085464880="61">Grace Mugabe's milk sales to Nestlé sparks human rights groups to call for action</a> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/6231765/Robert-Mugabe-has-built-up-10000-acre-farm-of-seized-land.html" jquery1254085464880="62">Mugabe builds up 10,000-acre farm of seized land</a> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/4447091/Robert-Mugabes-wife-Grace-seizes-Zimbabwe-farm.html" jquery1254085464880="65">Robert Mugabe's wife Grace seizes Zimbabwe farm</a>

Grace Mugabe, her 'stolen' farm and how she supplies Zimbawean milk to Nestle food giant

The Sunday Telegraph features this shocking story today. Why would Grace Mugabe be using an unmarked tanker? Why is her farm enjoying big i...

3:18 AM

Mugabe’s nine lives

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbuL7m9rH5w9MkMYdWOVQuGjAx8ueD2BZWX1lefk2O0H8OArOqmD98CxrEd8elvwgVBrKrtoLffyaA-gR4hDibDAufQC6HQGbtMa73HUQRfs1GkDNkkqhUHOCnoTafJbjaZv_A4iywZSs/s1600-h/mugabewd.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375490359143806114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbuL7m9rH5w9MkMYdWOVQuGjAx8ueD2BZWX1lefk2O0H8OArOqmD98CxrEd8elvwgVBrKrtoLffyaA-gR4hDibDAufQC6HQGbtMa73HUQRfs1GkDNkkqhUHOCnoTafJbjaZv_A4iywZSs/s400/mugabewd.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 305px" /></a>‘Mugabe is dead”. That’s a headline many long to see in their lifetime -- so much so that, once in a while, we write it anyway. A report on Wednesday <a class="l" href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1055371" onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'news_result','','res','1','&sig2=eoOOPwHX44pxO1rQC44udQ')">Mugabe in hospital</a>‎ quickly morphed into the tale that he had actually croaked. So, distressed at missing the scoop, and having made a few calls to Zanu-PF types who laughed at me, I do what any self-respecting journo would do -- hit Google. I log on to website deadoraliveinfo.com and, punch in Robert Mugabe on search. Up pops a bright yellow smiley, with the search result: “Alive,” it says. “President of Zimbabwe, currently in the process of driving his country into bankruptcy, anarchy and starvation.” So, no change there. Just to be sure, since Mugabe has recently added a few new prefixes to his name, I try again: “Robert Mugabe, Supreme Leader”, I write this time. “Alive,” says the site. “President of Zimbabwe, currently in the process of driving his country into bankruptcy, anarchy and starvation.” Bummer! He’s still at it! Mugabe dies every year. Then reappears. One minute he’s wheezing up the old ghost in some Far East hospital, the next he’s running up the stairs like some kid, on to the plane and off to visit a fellow Supreme Leader. Just as he will do soon when he visits Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who sent an emissary to Mugabe on Wednesday afternoon -- as the rumours raged -- inviting him to Venezuela. The web search continues.There’s a 2004 article, “Mugabe death watch”, on a website called “Damnation”, speculating on Mugabe’s demise after he failed to attend a state funeral. It links to a site called “The Daily Wanker”. That figures. There’s a 2005 report quoting The Herald saying Mugabe had “scoffed at rumours doing rounds in Harare that he died last week following heart failure”. Another, from 2006, quotes George Charamba, Mugabe’s press secretary, saying he had to check with Mugabe about reports that he’d died of heart failure. “He [Mugabe] said: ‘When did I die and where?”’ The good news is that wiki-News isn’t leaving anything to chance. It has a “prepared story”: “Robert Mugabe, dictator and president of Zimbabwe has died today at the age of AGE. The cause of death was announced as CAUSEOFDEATH.” The story, says wiki, “describes an event that is scheduled or expected, but has not yet occurred”. And so we wait.

Mugabe’s nine lives

‘Mugabe is dead”. That’s a headline many long to see in their lifetime -- so much so that, once in a while, we write it anyway. A report on ...

7:55 AM

Mugabe grabs AirZim planes for foreign jaunts

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhCp0OB2Ymib6Rx4PeWn35Nqhn23epIGs_2-Q-mLYHeWz2xtPf2dkxE3P-Yq3gl2H0EFe-oZY_bGN90VTev0sBj0Lrfz3JFnh_nSzvzQuZuMhkCcY-myqKbz0NDX2oXfCzt6x-trqM7c/s1600-h/AirZim+plane.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374030852851811746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJhCp0OB2Ymib6Rx4PeWn35Nqhn23epIGs_2-Q-mLYHeWz2xtPf2dkxE3P-Yq3gl2H0EFe-oZY_bGN90VTev0sBj0Lrfz3JFnh_nSzvzQuZuMhkCcY-myqKbz0NDX2oXfCzt6x-trqM7c/s400/AirZim+plane.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" /></a>Shower and a change of clothes Harare - President Robert Mugabe this week commandeered an Air Zimbabwe plane to Namibia, keeping it overnight before grabbing another jet for a private visit to Dubai, making the airline lose critical income at a time when it is battling to meet its financial obligations. Mugabe on Tuesday grabbed the national carrier’s Boeing 737 for a Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting, Air Zimbabwe sources said. Upon arriving at Harare International Airport from the SADC meeting on Wednesday, Mugabe drove his motorcade home reportedly for a shower and change of clothes before grabbing a Boeing 767 for a private visit to Dubai. Sources at Air Zimbabwe and from the President’s office said the Dubai visit was mired in secrecy. They said Mugabe only took 18 people on the Dubai trip. A Boeing 767 has a capacity of 250 passengers. “Ten of the people were security guys and the other eight close staff. No-one really knows about the purpose of the visit but we think it has to do with a medical check up,” said a source. <a class="l" href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1055371" onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'news_result','','res','1','&sig2=eoOOPwHX44pxO1rQC44udQ')">Mugabe in hospital</a>‎ Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba was not immediately available for comment on the matter. However Air Zimbabwe chief executive Peter Chikumba defended Mugabe, saying it was a chartered flight, but he could not confirm whether the President’s office had paid. “I am not able to confirm that. You can charter an airplane just like anybody but I cannot comment on the President (Mugabe)’s travels. We charge the costs of operating chartered flights. This is happening everywhere,” Chikumba told ZimOnline on Friday. Although no figures were immediately available, sources at Air Zimbabwe said Mugabe’s plane grab would cost the financially troubled airline because scheduled flights had to be cancelled. This is not the first time that Mugabe has diverted Air Zimbabwe planes from scheduled flights. He often does this whenever he wishes to fly outside the country and sometimes even when he is travelling on personal business – and in the process leaving passengers stranded. Air Zimbabwe was one of the best airlines in Africa at independence in 1980. But years of mismanagement and interference by the government have nearly brought the airline to its knees. The airline’s foreign debt – excluding the US$50 million the airline owes suppliers of Chinese made MA60 it acquired in 2005 – has soared to US$28 million. The national flag carrier has just announced that it will cut 500 jobs – a third of its workforce – because of cash-flow problems. In recent weeks Air Zimbabwe has cancelled scheduled regional and international flights due to shortage of funds to buy fuel. Most creditors are wary of doing business with Air Zimbabwe because of the state-owned carrier’s bad debt servicing record. This has forced Air Zimbabwe to rely on government handouts to stay afloat. In February, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the airline was draining US$3 million per week from the fiscus. Starved of cash for re-tooling, Air Zimbabwe uses mostly obsolete technology and equipment while nearly all its planes are between 18 and 22 years old. In addition, the airline pilots and other skilled staff have deserted the airline to go abroad where salaries are higher and working conditions better.

Mugabe grabs AirZim planes for foreign jaunts

Shower and a change of clothes Harare - President Robert Mugabe this week commandeered an Air Zimbabwe plane to Namibia, keeping it overni...

2:38 PM

Is the ANC becoming like Mugabe?

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3hDTXAVnHsTpnFWCEosxz1Mi4EgZeJfqjA0_cjYooB_d4cfRLS5BWJ83YUiozTVaR4ZdPHLOhWl2zyHyfvmj_Yple1vvtQc_N4czp0wSpBszBnPnJrZO0i1a126suoRhTQ1pwob3zJ1c/s1600-h/anc-zanupf.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365887027612315474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3hDTXAVnHsTpnFWCEosxz1Mi4EgZeJfqjA0_cjYooB_d4cfRLS5BWJ83YUiozTVaR4ZdPHLOhWl2zyHyfvmj_Yple1vvtQc_N4czp0wSpBszBnPnJrZO0i1a126suoRhTQ1pwob3zJ1c/s400/anc-zanupf.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 318px" /></a>SO, President Mugabe’s idea of exclusivity and national vision is to get rid of the NGOs working in the country. They have “exceeded their terms of reference” by posing as “shadow governments”, he charged, Louis XIV-style, at the Global 2009 Dialogue in Uganda this week. In fact, as the whole world knows, the NGOs have been keeping Zimbabweans fed during the crisis spawned by Mugabe’s disastrous agricultural policies. If it had not been for their timely intervention tens of thousands of Zimbabweans would have starved. Now Mugabe wants them to go because they are acting as “shadow governments”. So what’s wrong with that? NGOs and anybody else for that matter are perfectly entitled to fulfil that function, particularly when the government itself is incapable of doing anything useful. It is called service delivery. Their terms of reference are to provide capacity to those working for national improvement and to help those least able to help themselves. NGOs embarrass Mugabe by showing him what he should be doing. No wonder he loathes them! The Herald, which carried the story from Uganda, tried to be helpful by claiming the Zimbabwe delegation was “hailed for setting a unique example in Africa”. It also managed to slip in the following: “The NGO community has been accused of disrupting the recent All-Stakeholders People’s Conference in Harare…” Accused by whom? Nothing more clearly reflects the dishonesty of the state media. Is Patrick Zhuwao an NGO activist? And what about Saviour Kasukuwere and Joseph Chinotimba? We saw the real culprits on ZTV! Mugabe’s remarks in Uganda betray a hostility towards organisations that form a fundamental part of any democratic society and give a warning that the discredited assumptions of the ancien regime are still with us, paraded on international platforms when the country was supposed to have mended its ways. It is a pity Mugabe’s views, redolent of repression, will discredit the smart partnership project, started by his old friend Mahathir Mohamad over a decade ago. “National vision can only thrive in an environment of peace and stability,” the president told his audience. He is quite right. But does that involve expelling NGOs and arresting civic activists? Investors will be unimpressed. Chiadzwa provides a picture of what the absence of peace and stability looks like. And what sort of investment destination is it where a youthful n’anga is able to con an entire cabinet taskforce and senior police officers into believing she could tap diesel from a rock? The country’s fuel problems were “a thing of the past”, they reported back to Mugabe. In fact she was controlling the flow of diesel by operating a tap on a fuel tank! And does Arthur Mutambara know his national vision document is “drawn from the government’s Vision 20/20” project that went nowhere? If that is the case it will suffer the same fate as the Kariba document! And what about the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which he is currently charged under? Is that part of his vision? The president nowadays seems a tad insecure. Why are ministers and service chiefs required to line up at the airport when he comes and goes? Does he really need to offer a limp handshake to all of them –– twice a day in some cases? Now there is a new manifestation of this preoccupation with the trappings of power. His office has clearly directed that he now be known as “Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces”. Not just here and there but every single time he is mentioned in the state media. This seems rather obviously directed against any pretensions Morgan Tsvangirai may have to be Head of Government. But is it really necessary? It was carried in a caption on Page 1 of the Sunday Mail last weekend. Then again on Page 3, and finally on Page 11. We could have missed a few! State journalists are evidently not allowed to mention the president without citing all his titles. Even the relatively independent-minded Alexander Kanengoni, in recalling that a friend had advised Patrick Zhuwao not to send that famous letter, squeezed in this mouthful: “He advised him the letter was against the spirit of what the Head of State and Government, Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, His Excellence (sic) President Mugabe had said at the principals’ joint press conference…” Phew! How many column inches does this amount to? But the more obvious question: Is Tsvangirai that much of a threat? Does the president really need this sort of elaborate comfort zone? Again, do we need a media in which journalists are instructed in forms of address? We would like to know who is giving the press their marching orders in this regard, especially when we suspect that “Head of Government” is not a constitutional title anyway. And what can we conclude when Kanengoni and Funny Mushava, both first-class writers, misspell Excellency the same way on the same page? This reminds us of all those “illegal” sanctions that are still deemed “illegal” despite the pronouncements of the US president that Congress can pass what laws it wants! Last week saw some interesting disclosures from Attorney-General Johannes Tomana. Like the president, he appears to be on the offensive. He “slammed attempts by some politicians to undermine his office”, we are told, “and has vowed to continue carrying out his duties without fear or favour”. Giving an interview to the Herald, he at the same time gave a number of hostages to fortune. Asked about the Bennett case where he has been accused of being “the single largest threat to national healing”, Tomana said: “My job is to ensure that criminals are brought to book and I should not let people off with impunity. My obligations are not going to stand or fall on the platitudes of politicians. These are people who are trying to hide behind politics to settle their scores. They are blaming me for being Zanu PF. I have my allegiance to my religion as I have my allegiance to my party of choice, but I have also an allegiance to deliver in my profession. I am a public servant and I owe it to the people that those facing serious charges are not given the freedom to flee.” He accused the MDC-T of “fighting crime prevention”. “Should we just ignore (it) when 13-year-old girls are being raped? Should we let it go when the laws are being broken with impunity? We cannot do that.” The Herald didn’t ask about the status of Joseph Mwale and his legendary impunity. Nor did it ask why only activists from one party are prosecuted when it is public knowledge that the bulk of the electoral violence came from another party, the one arguably better equipped to mount a campaign of violence. Who for instance was responsible for the savage assaults on MDC leaders at the Highfield police station in 2007? Why haven’t they been prosecuted or those who tortured Jestina Mukoko and others? Hasn’t the AG a duty to operate in a way that is even-handed instead? As for the Bennett case and that of Blessing Chebundo, is it sensible to discuss guilt or flight risk when those cases are still pending in the courts? Bennett, let us remind ourselves, voluntarily returned to this country to participate in the government of national unity. He was arrested despite assurances made to President Motlanthe that he wouldn’t be. Who is the guilty one there? And is it Tomana’s job to lecture the MDC on its duties to the public. Surely the MDC and every other party has a duty to ensure the AG’s office is managed with professionalism and independence. That should not include self-serving statements in the press. At least we can thank Tomana for opening up a debate around his conduct in the AG’s office. That will give us a bone to chew on without any justifiable grounds for complaint from him. We will want to know for instance how he moved up the legal ladder so rapidly and if his colleagues in the legal profession have the same confidence in him as the president? The GPA is unambiguous that all senior appointments in government should be made in consultation between the principals. Why did that not happen in Tomana’s case? Columnist Max Du Preez, writing in the Star, will have struck a chord with Zimbabweans. As the townships sink into anarchy and violence over service delivery, senior officials have been displaying extraordinary insensitivity. “During the weeks that the township protests were raging,” Du Preez said, “it became known that former MK top brass and now Minister of Communications General Sephiwe Nyanda had spent R2 million of taxpayers’ money on two real James Bond cars for himself –– not just reliable, safe cars which he should really have at his disposal, but ultra-luxurious limousines with extras and added bling that would make any multi-millionaire proud. “During the same time, “ Du Preez adds, “we hear that senior ANC figures refused to stay in the really good and safe housing provided for them and instead rented homes for more than R30 000 a month –– again using taxpayers’ money.” The ANC’s full attention, Du Preez points out, is right now focused on a debate over whether the mines should be nationalised and how the judiciary can be manipulated so they end up with a bench friendly to the ruling party. “Citizens should be forgiven for asking the ANC, its Youth League and the SACP,” Du Preez writes, “whether they really think the state can run the mines in South Africa if they can’t even run the SABC, the Robben Island Museum or local government.” Both the SABC and Robben Island Museum sagas have provided South Africans with a useful glimpse into what happens when a post-liberation aristocracy helps itself to public funds –– all in the name of transformation, you understand. Zimbabweans may be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu. Been there. Done that.

Is the ANC becoming like Mugabe?

SO, President Mugabe’s idea of exclusivity and national vision is to get rid of the NGOs working in the country. They have “exceeded their t...

11:32 AM

So who thought Mugabe could be trusted?

<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpUfwsTMp_xyKR8JYJfZ9OGX1Si39MBVg7muzInkda6p562CugPsFAEJq2lmb0iuwRVEF7lxYXwZVLLmFJH5nopHiO4LlRdjyIkcGN5hc40iFGGhcoseSyWCB46SrgZ0oVrW4ScUtqY4/s1600-h/MDC_MP_Takes_Oath_Office.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365342089616162162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpUfwsTMp_xyKR8JYJfZ9OGX1Si39MBVg7muzInkda6p562CugPsFAEJq2lmb0iuwRVEF7lxYXwZVLLmFJH5nopHiO4LlRdjyIkcGN5hc40iFGGhcoseSyWCB46SrgZ0oVrW4ScUtqY4/s400/MDC_MP_Takes_Oath_Office.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 283px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /></a>Mugabe is determined to wipe out the MDC-T majority in parliament and regain supremacy again. The Global Political Agreement he signed with Tsvangirai allows him to contest the seats that are falling vacant now as MDC-T MPs (one seen above taking the oath of office) fall like flies in the face of various charges, ranging from kidnapping, rape and abusing Gideon Gono's farming inputs programme</div> I learn from my Zimbabwean sources that Robert Mugabe is not happy with power sharing. His latest ploy is to have some of Morgan Tsvangirai's MPs arrested. So far 17 MDC MPs have been arrested and four have been convicted by the courts. The latest MDC politician to be arrested is deputy minister for youth, Tamsanqa Mahlangu, who has been arrested for allegedly stealing a mobile phone from a Mugabe "war veteran" at a conference a few weeks ago. As I have said over and over again, Robert Mugabe will not relinquish his hold on power in Zimbabwe voluntarily and it is South Africa that holds the key to the solution. So long as the ANC led government in South Africa treat Robert Mugabe as a hero of the revolution, the longer the people of Zimbabwe will have to live under tyranny, fear and starvation. Unfortunately I do not expect Jacob Zuma to be any more intellectually or morally capable of dealing properly with Robert Mugabe than Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela were. I hate to break it to you but the ANC leaders of South Africa are no more moral and laudable than their predecessors from the National Party, they are just blacker. See also <a class="l" href="http://iluvsa.blogspot.com/2009/08/president-zuma-please-get-serious.html" onmousedown="return clk(this.href,'','','res','4','&sig2=3p6BJ_euje5XhcijPKiESA')">I Luv SA: President Zuma, please get serious!</a>

So who thought Mugabe could be trusted?

Mugabe is determined to wipe out the MDC-T majority in parliament and regain supremacy again. The Global Political Agreement he signed with ...

3:05 AM

Zuma 'lying' about R650 000 Zim report

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUJ9NGVBMzq67Hh1t8mUg2K1uGDkbsQWdHvPYKZgMdG3MshvWTz8MtXBYf7hg2lw5Fq_ItZi1FmgeiZapEA1liCj1g_NpOmZe8GlgLULrkuaBUD831_Vp16C8Afikakx959zwS3ayM-I/s1600-h/zuma-lie.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349188385578242370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUJ9NGVBMzq67Hh1t8mUg2K1uGDkbsQWdHvPYKZgMdG3MshvWTz8MtXBYf7hg2lw5Fq_ItZi1FmgeiZapEA1liCj1g_NpOmZe8GlgLULrkuaBUD831_Vp16C8Afikakx959zwS3ayM-I/s400/zuma-lie.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 326px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a>NGOs have taken further steps to force the Presidency to publish a report by retired army generals into state-sanctioned violence in Zimbabwe, the South African History Archive (Saha) said on Friday. They had submitted an internal appeal to President Jacob Zuma's office in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, disputing his claim that the document does not exist. The Saha, the South African Litigation Centre and the Southern African Centre for Survivors of Torture last month invoked the Act to get the report -- which was commissioned by former president Thabo Mbeki -- into the public domain a year after the generals conducted two fact-finding missions in Zimbabwe. Mbeki asked the team to assess the extent of the army's involvement in the political crisis in Zimbabwe. The NGOs said they were convinced that the six generals produced a hard-hitting report that influenced the power-sharing deal Mbeki brokered between Zimbabwe's political rivals last September. But Zuma's office had insisted the generals never reported back to Mbeki in writing. Frank Chikane, the director general in the presidency under Mbeki, and Trevor Fowler, who currently holds the post, produced affidavits in which they said there was not only no report, but no supporting documentation on the generals' mission. The Saha said it was hard to believe that they were not asked to document their findings, as the mission cost the South African taxpayer nearly R650 000, according to the Foreign Ministry. "To suggest that this amount of money could be spent and the admitted investigation conducted merely for a once-off oral briefing to be made to the president ... beggars belief." "Consequently, the NGOs involved submit that the president 'must be mistaken' and that 'the overwhelming probability is that the documents must exist'." Saha spokesperson Fritz Schoon said the appeal was handed to Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane last week. Zuma's office had 30 days to respond to it. If he were to reject the request, Schoon said, going to court would be the NGOs last resort to obtain the report. Human rights groups accused President Robert Mugabe of unleashing a systematic campaign of violence on opposition supporters after his Zanu-PF lost control of Parliament to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in elections in March 2008. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai claimed at least 100 of his supporters were killed.-- Sapa

Zuma 'lying' about R650 000 Zim report

NGOs have taken further steps to force the Presidency to publish a report by retired army generals into state-sanctioned violence in Zimbabw...

11:27 AM

Zim death truck owned by Mugabe minister!

DEATH TRUCK: The American-owned truck which caused the Prime Minister's Cruiser to crash, killing his wife on Friday, March 6, 2009 <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUpyjdOqZgJ7ABU1xSTXnmoCaIyB_8nLJVeCPZGuFex85nMHwmY6yrAWsnhEYVCuK0COseAAQTLM5b9iFpCMyARtUm5EXsg0pB8NyGPhhewLXodKxsDWImdO3UAT8EquOsckKlUPbXXIk/s1600-h/udtsvangiraicrashtruck470.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327266620909914850" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUpyjdOqZgJ7ABU1xSTXnmoCaIyB_8nLJVeCPZGuFex85nMHwmY6yrAWsnhEYVCuK0COseAAQTLM5b9iFpCMyARtUm5EXsg0pB8NyGPhhewLXodKxsDWImdO3UAT8EquOsckKlUPbXXIk/s400/udtsvangiraicrashtruck470.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 253px" /></a>THE TRUCK that killed Susan Tsvangirai in a road crash was owned by one of Robert Mugabe's ZanuPF cabinet ministers! This amazing coincidence was revealed in Harare yesterday by a private investigator probing the death of the wife of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai eight days ago. Susan was killed when a truck hit the Land Cruiser she and her husband were travelling in. At the time the Zimbabwe Government said the truck was a USAID vehicle taking medicalsupplies to HIV victims. But yesterday: <ul><li>The investigator, whose name is known to Sunday Sun, revealed that the truck belonged to top Zanu (PF) politburo member and business tycoon Saviour Kasukuwere who is also Youth and Gender Development Minister in the Zimbabwe cabinet .</li></ul><ul><li>And a US Government spokesman in Harare conflrmed that the truck did not belong to USAID, although it WAS delivering medical supplies.</li></ul>"It was purchased using USAID funds by a contractor and belonged to the contractor," said US public affairs officer Tim Gerhardson. He added that the driver was a Zimbabwean employed by the contractor - and not by USAID. The revelations will boost fears that the death crash was more sinister than a simple accident - although Tsvangirai himself has said he is satisfied with the official explanation. The investigator, a former Harare CID officer, told Sunday Sun that inquiries showed the truck belonged to Cum Oil, a company owned by Kasukuwere. He said his investigations were not complete - "we are not looking for scapegoats, only the truth". But he declined to reveal who hired him to investigate the crash. There have been calls, backed by the US and Britain, for an independent inquiry. Clever Bere, president of the Zimbabwe National Students Union said: "Zimbabwean political history is riddled with a trail of politically motivated accidents that remain unsolved cold cases." <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP0318hQfzJ39USXmuIDEx7OY-H9_zhum24rwcIy7RGs6r0OsQISviY9n94x3r5SMMW59Bt6C7fx1SpRLV55668bSq0OKT3e9h-Aj_WU8RiejRx-1I4kCXioApdrr4L3W98x676JZceKnu/s1600-h/kasukuwere.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327278810578024898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP0318hQfzJ39USXmuIDEx7OY-H9_zhum24rwcIy7RGs6r0OsQISviY9n94x3r5SMMW59Bt6C7fx1SpRLV55668bSq0OKT3e9h-Aj_WU8RiejRx-1I4kCXioApdrr4L3W98x676JZceKnu/s320/kasukuwere.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 159px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" /></a>Saviour Kasukuwere, a former spy agent in the CIO JOHANNESBURG - The truck that killed Susan Tsvangirai the wife of the Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in a road crash is owned by Saviour Kasukuwere, a former spy agent in the CIO and Youth and Gender Development Minister in the inclusive government, a South African newspaper The Sunday Sun revealed. "Tyson" as he is popularly known, has worked as Robert Mugabe's body guard. Kasukuwere was one of the first government officials to visit the Prime Minister in hospital at the Avenues Clinic in Harare. The amazing coincidence of his truck's involvement was revealed in Harare by a private investigator probing the tragic accident that took the life of the Prime Minister's wife Susan. Kasukuwere has worked in the Zimbabwean government's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)'s close Security Unit, a crack department in the spy organisation which reports directly to the President. Its role is to spy on CIO agents and government officials, including Zanu(PF) politicians. The notorious Mt Darwin MP has a menacing body and menacing looks and a close confidante of the President alongside the Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and he is normally tasked to carry out ruthless missions on behalf of Robert Mugabe. Sources say Kasukuwere gained the favour of Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa when he worked for (Central Mechanical Equipment Department (CMED) as a driver and spy agent monitoring the movement and servicing of government officials' vehicles. Over the years, Kasukuwere has become obsessed with eliminating Zanu(PF) rivals in Mashonaland Central to secure his position as the unchallenged political baron in that province. It is believed that Kasukuwere drove out Mashonaland Central businessman James Makamba into exile and General Solomon Mujuru who had vast farming interests in the region was sent packing back to his native Chivu. Tyson is also linked to the death of the province's budding young Zanu(PF) politicians Border Gezi, Elliot Manyika and the recent arrest of former Guruwe MP David Butau on his return from exile in the UK. Butau, like James Makamba was Solomon Mujuru's business front man. In 2005 he spied on Phillip Chiyangwa, Tendai Matambanadzo, a banker, and Itai Marchi Zanu-PF director of Security, and long-serving Zimbabwe diplomat Godfrey Dzvairo and they were convicted of breaching the Official Secrets Act and given sentences ranging between five to six years in jail on accusations that they sold information to South African Intelligence. Kasukuwere is also linked to the attempted murder of MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa two years ago. In the disputed violent Presidential elections run-off, he directed political assasinations, abductions and torture in Mashonaland Central and engineered attacks on US embassy vehicles. During his time as a Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative in Manicaland in the Nineties, he was nicknamed "Mike Tyson" because of his ruthlessness and precision in dealing with political foes. Kasukuwere is a wealthy individual and his youthful brother Stanley had a brief stint as Chairman of Dynamos football club. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdJ60Rp3OeUL5poRQ9T7hFW0EAUnGFBO02PU3EuXe1SGIBVu3L2q-hxbketl1IzmGcaLH1_teTKtqsXSQNauWg79NbUy_6mi6tK1OLBbeu8gUhgJmkEBc-Os3VkW_pmdGOVf1yoCOLC11y/s1600-h/landcruiser-after-accident.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327266629959943362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdJ60Rp3OeUL5poRQ9T7hFW0EAUnGFBO02PU3EuXe1SGIBVu3L2q-hxbketl1IzmGcaLH1_teTKtqsXSQNauWg79NbUy_6mi6tK1OLBbeu8gUhgJmkEBc-Os3VkW_pmdGOVf1yoCOLC11y/s400/landcruiser-after-accident.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 195px" /></a>In a report by a Zimbabwe Sunday paper The Standard, John Snow International (JSI) "Deliver project" has opened an internal investigation on how the "killer truck" that claimed the life of the Prime Minister’s wife Susan was dispatched last Friday, in a new twist to the accident. The truck was involved in an accident with Tsvangirai's car on Friday. The Supply Chain Management System (SCMS), is the contractor of the "USAid/Deliver Projects" aimed at strengthening HIV/Aids and family planning supply chains in developing countries run by JSI. According to the official JSI website the "Deliver project" helps developing countries "establish effective and efficient supply chains for public health and family planning programmes". A confidential internal memorandum in the possession of The Standard, dated March 9 — three days after the accident — said the truck belonged to JSI but was not driven by a JSI driver. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuO86sVZADfY8KRMO2Q4txwwczzi8yIgFuNwsClQzKuEMMenAfQExGiePr1sbaVZGQ45bhafpgUAPDqHA9jhmkTWJ0qBZvw773zg2hgNtNKLuOlnKYEUgeyS7-1z6FPRstAG6oOpKsz_s/s1600-h/tsvangiraicrashcruiser470.jpg"></a>"As you may have heard, there was a tragic car accident on Friday (March 6) in Zimbabwe in which the Prime Minister (Morgan Tsvangirai) was injured and his wife was killed. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZjPXXTESjVE-WJKxy9x7cj7os6J6Z8XWXVFrTG7geTz00VTzg_1pSQIIiSEvpEJOxvIF6UIoh0r3vqyfUj7WTr0L74cSDKWc9m1TbIoEZnbD3LJ4BOvBD5CIE49SUKHMdq0gEQn-IZSo/s1600-h/crash.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327293128761236210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZjPXXTESjVE-WJKxy9x7cj7os6J6Z8XWXVFrTG7geTz00VTzg_1pSQIIiSEvpEJOxvIF6UIoh0r3vqyfUj7WTr0L74cSDKWc9m1TbIoEZnbD3LJ4BOvBD5CIE49SUKHMdq0gEQn-IZSo/s400/crash.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 232px" /></a>CRASH SCENE: The Prime Minister's Toyota Landcruiser lies on its roof after being sideswiped by an American truck, forcing it into a violent spin (March 6, 2009). Morgan Tsvangirai's wife, Susan, died on the spot "The vehicle involved in this accident was registered to USAid/Deliver (a JSI Project) although not driven by a JSI driver, as far as we know. At this point, further details about the accident are unknown. "Understandably, this tragedy has generated a lot of media interest. If you receive any inquiries from the media, we ask that you please direct them to Penelope Riseborough, WEI/JSI Director of Communication in Boston," the memorandum said. JSI has launched an internal investigation to unravel how the truck was dispatched under unclear circumstances, leading to the fatal accident along the Harare-Masvingo highway on March 6. Sources said that an "administrator", identified only as N Dube and in charge of the delivery trucks, had been quizzed by management amid reports that she had been sent on suspension pending investigations. The administrator was not at work when The Standard visited JSI head offices at Agriculture House in Marlborough on Friday. "The administrator has been quizzed on how the truck was released laden with SCMC drugs but with an unofficial driver. If it was coming from delivery in Masvingo it should have been empty," the source told The Standard. It was not immediately possible to get details of the whereabouts of the administrator because of the blanket ban on talking to the media. David Alt, the JSI’s country director, was locked in meetings when The Standard visited JSI headquarters. He did not respond to written questions on the alleged suspension of the administrator. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMoYalbyuZofcc7eRMgGMd_gNziBlnaIaj6q_ho_zkM8vqHMg58sLmbbCqYt0pGrdZB3-ycUC7YOKe0YXPipZPgZfxS_HraA9Z7c_EW8L7-PgwbH4vNckMIA2qdXESPWuxO_s4z1M-zjRG/s1600-h/tsvangirai-funeral.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327266625445202034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMoYalbyuZofcc7eRMgGMd_gNziBlnaIaj6q_ho_zkM8vqHMg58sLmbbCqYt0pGrdZB3-ycUC7YOKe0YXPipZPgZfxS_HraA9Z7c_EW8L7-PgwbH4vNckMIA2qdXESPWuxO_s4z1M-zjRG/s400/tsvangirai-funeral.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 279px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a>However, late on Friday afternoon JSI released a statement in which it said: "We have learned with great sadness about the death of Susan Tsvangirai in a tragic accident on Friday afternoon. We cannot at this time make any comment on the detail of the accident but we are co-operating fully with the authorities to ensure the investigation is open and transparent. "We send our deepest condolences to the Prime Minister and his family at this terrible time and hope they find peace and comfort in the coming weeks." Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his wife were being driven in a Toyota 4x4 Land Cruiser to their rural home in Buhera, when they were sideswiped by the Nissan UD truck driven by Chinoona Mwanda (35). The PM’s Land Cruiser was forced into a spin rolling over at least three times, killing his wife Susan. Download attachment >> <a href="http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/files.php?file=Sunday_Sun_1__878103588.pdf">Sunday_Sun_1__878103588.pdf</a> <a class="contentpagetitle" href="http://www.hararetimes.com/world/parly/363-report-truck-that-killed-susan-tsvangirai-owned-and-operated-by-the-cio.html" included="null">Report: Truck that killed Susan Tsvangirai owned and operated by the CIO </a>The Zimbabwe Mail/The Sunday Sun (SA)/The Zimbabwe Standard

Zim death truck owned by Mugabe minister!

DEATH TRUCK: The American-owned truck which caused the Prime Minister's Cruiser to crash, killing his wife on Friday, March 6, 2009 THE ...

1:57 PM

Horrifying Film - Mugabe's Death Camps Exposed

Warning: graphic video. (April 1) This video contains graphic images that some viewers may find disturbing HORRIFYING film, exposes how prisons under Mugabe have become death camps for thousands of inmates... some of the prisoners in the footage have since died <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zo1BfLNHZWQ&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zo1BfLNHZWQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> 'Hell Hole' a grim account of a crisis in which at least 20 prisoners die each dayA horrifying investigative film, shot undercover in Zimbabwe, has exposed how prisons under President Mugabe have become death camps for thousands of inmates who are deprived of food and medical care. The documentary, shown on South Africa's state broadcaster SABC, documented the “living hell” for prisoners across 55 state institutions. The result, Hell Hole, was a grim account of a crisis in which dozens of inmates die each day. Describing the conditions in two of the main prisons in the capital, Harare, in late 2008, a prison officer said: “We have gone the whole year in which - for prisoners and prison officers - the food is hand-to-mouth. They'll be lucky to get one meal. Sometimes they will sleep without. We have moving skeletons, moving graves. They're dying.” The film was made by SABC's Special Assignment programme and shot over three months with cameras smuggled into the prisons. Reaction in South Africa, where the authorities try to deny the extent of the crisis in its neighbour, is certain to be fierce. The film showed how prison staff have converted cells and storage rooms to “hospital wards” for the dying and makeshift mortuaries, where bodies “rotted on the floor with maggots moving all around”. They have had to create mass graves within prison grounds to accommodate the dead. In many prisons the dead took over whole cells and competed for space with the living. Prisoners described how the sick and the healthy slept side by side, packed together like sardines, along with those who died in the night. Prisoners in the film are suffering from slow starvation, nutrition-related illnesses and an array of other diseases to which they are exposed as a result of living in unhygienic conditions. A former prisoner, a young man, struggled to convey the horror of these conditions: “That place, I haven't got the words ... I can describe it as hell on earth - though they say it's more than hell.” In October last year the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (Zacro) released a report noting that there were 55 prisons in Zimbabwe, with the capacity to hold 17,000 inmates. But in October 2008 it was estimated that more than 35,000 people were in jail. A report released to accompany the film said that, unlike Zimbabweans on the outside, “inmates can't beg for food from passers-by, they can't forage for wild berries in the bush, and they can't rummage through dustbins for waste food. “Because of this, Zimbabwe's prisons constitute a unique and especially cruel form of torture,” said the report compiled by a human rights organisation called Sokwanele, or “Enough is Enough”. The number of deaths from disease in the prisons have risen since the start of the economic decline and political crisis that has gripped the country since the late 1990s. From 1998 to 2000 the Zimbabwe Prison Service estimated that there were some 300 deaths each year because of disease, with tuberculosis the biggest killer. In May 2004 a senior prison officer reported 15 deaths a week, and a peak of 130 deaths in March of that year, in just one of the prisons in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo. Since then the crisis has deteriorated greatly as all the country's services have entered meltdown after Mr Mugabe's refusal to leave office in the wake of rigged polls. The Times spent ten days in one of the “better” prisons in Bulawayo last year, surrounded by young skeletal men who fought over small plates of sadza (local maize), and noted severe overcrowding, overflowing toilets, water and electricity cuts, and a lack of blankets and basic commodities such as soap. Those without people on the outside to bring them food face almost certain starvation unless they find another solution, such as resorting to prostitution. Prison populations also have high rates of HIV/Aids infection, with some reports estimating that more than half of prisoners are HIV-positive. Antiretrovirals are unavailable and the dietary requirements of treatment cannot be met in any case. There are few drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis and other diseases, and the cramped and filthy conditions ease the transmission of infection. Late last year and early this year a cholera outbreak in Harare's Central Prison killed four to five prisoners each day, with a peak of 18 deaths in one day, according to prison officers. <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320059261602533218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6wpHPdBdggdnhwjbX-LccbCoLIRdZbLAdfsFCPPURRIr94qbO9dFeZE_Un8mzDA6eI_ep-kIHe4XbWT0_st5h5vowGyp2MxxGi8STL6wnZvzdhtHs_wK55E4VYZbci7-RIL1zal_3gyt/s400/zim-jail04.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 369px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" /> HARROWING: A prisoner with protruding ribs and wearing rags has water poured over him for a morning 'shower' <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320059265781953282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXnyZ0VvuXWEp1h7ePUPJpm9G3IC2imM2qvllwzwaMKgA9cDDIpjLPYsRofKG4OVL6YCBVxaWAMgV_ibA_mbP22eJnb2hVLiicytZBKOp0YEW6W_sbOd9X2H-mlzkzaQOEAr_mM6V5I34/s400/zim-jail03.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />CRAMPED: Prisoners at the jail where Mugabe sends dissidents pack into a cell <img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320059270393188466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYD6tR3XHojT69uzEWenIQhVNS0HN09ZOwn8DzvPRYNxEFF_JL3Si_4Sk2RAWADND8xAFlBr8lp6xbIjy7jRUSHv9MGqCYRg-n5hvNCOwdTC0fziKhFXC_uke2UoHvWArSwsroxUe-rF1-/s400/zim-jail02.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 295px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />STARVING: Prisoners are given just one bowl of corn porridge a day to survive on<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320059272233573074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinbP_LmQPWdyioHWEp8JCvsp3Uc5quuHGvo0tTCRcd1qjoT_dzdR6jF1HyFBxdD_uaQlZnewwihtnqg1NAZZjnbS09Fw9THIf9veOQ3IPsb50tUYaaHFDOsAt86qDZxVEJD0xgq4hS-eqi/s400/zim-jail01.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 295px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />SQUALOR: Two prisoners with only blankets as clothes sit in an unfurnished cell<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320059671360003794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcEVeGwAIbhtoVjhLMF1SKRibhEfZOVquxrTS-sfvkcPWBCM2Hr_asU9yGPAE-YOHD1d0bS9652TPpF-5SFa0IgKO8jyLlK1LlOu0udku0rdHQPM9DvbfJUig47aC1qZO0BwJtwNHmuXyd/s400/zim-prisoner2.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 270px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />HORRIFIC: A prisoner bathing from a bucket<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320059673995931170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8AqH65dqgJIf9LT3tsFssAZZUphVb7AR8YOleCtj_bMu8u0AP1ghKhJCpHV274tHVX8TIK81HyTcfEzdRnQ_Fbh2RZdVHni4gDF4ASl1uIZSlGvjIL4iEwUBGNZnis2fmN9PKOBGoObFv/s400/zim-prisoner1.jpg" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 295px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" />WAITING TO DIE: Prisoner Brian Gumbo, seen with a bowl of isitshwala/sadza, was sentenced to two years for housebreaking. He has served half of his term and is gravely ill. The man, like many prisoners, is suffering from pellagra – a deficiency disease caused by a lack of vitamin B3 and proteins.

Horrifying Film - Mugabe's Death Camps Exposed

Warning: graphic video. (April 1) This video contains graphic images that some viewers may find disturbing HORRIFYING film, exposes how pri...

3:53 AM

Mugabe using the MDC to con the West

Mugabe's real game: Using the MDC to steal money from the West. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3yd3Sydu69qPIyHilsh_AIl-BdK2av00u-zCuIjvv-VTdBq-Jr3R2jnAHhQpAiffBubAhDzCGiGmzReE2KvSsP67M7e0NeOiG64g3F7Zg_juqD2gxBGzyU1U7abk2qBMlZoTPDv1F7Oo/s1600-h/Mugabecon%5B1%5D.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309476988512801458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3yd3Sydu69qPIyHilsh_AIl-BdK2av00u-zCuIjvv-VTdBq-Jr3R2jnAHhQpAiffBubAhDzCGiGmzReE2KvSsP67M7e0NeOiG64g3F7Zg_juqD2gxBGzyU1U7abk2qBMlZoTPDv1F7Oo/s400/Mugabecon%5B1%5D.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 274px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" /></a>Mugabe remains defiant. People must realize that Mugabe is playing classic psychological games designed to frustrate and destabilize the opposition and provoke them into retaliating in a desired way. Each move is carefully calculated with measured or predetermined consequences they are hoping to achieve. Mugabe has repeatedly demonstrated that neither public nor world opinion concerns him - just so long as he is in control of the Army, Police, Intelligence, Judiciary and Finance he will continue to call the all shots without listening to anyone or anything. So even if the MDC have 95% of the popular support, Morgan Tsvangirai will remain powerless and be incapable of achieving anything tangible. Tsvangirai's presence in Government will be entertained by the Mugabe regime but only for a specific purpose: to provide Mugabe and his party with some legitimacy but also as a front to solicit money from potential aid donors. It is likely that we will continue to witnesses further arrests of innocent people who will be used as hostages to bargain concessions...it is all part of their plan, with SADC very much involved behind the scenes. Mugabe, SA and SADC plan to use Tsvangirai as puppet to con the West into pouring millions of dollars into Zimbabwe backfires, Mugabe now planning to stab Tsvangirai in the back, hinting of holding elections to throw the MDC out once and for all.<a class="headline" href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200903020065.html">Too Soon to Lift Sanctions Against Zanu PF, Despite SADC Call </a>: (Business Day) SA’s Foreign Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has been quick to praise the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for its role in finding a solution to the Zimbabwe problem. At the meeting of SADC finance ministers in Cape Town last week, she said: “As SADC we can today proudly state that we have played a major role in facilitating the political solution to the situation in Zimbabwe.” This is the same person who, just a few years ago, was seen being wined and dined by Zanu (PF) ministers in smart Harare restaurants, being fed dollops of Zanu (PF) propaganda, as were other politicians in the region. For years, SA and the SADC watched Zimbabwe’s downward spiral, doing little more than finding politically expedient excuses to counter international criticism of the appalling behaviour of President Robert Mugabe and his government. SADC’s eagerness now to take the credit for a turnaround in Zimbabwe ignores two key contributing factors. One is the resilience of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which found no favour with SADC leaders. The other is that Zanu (PF)’s compromise in agreeing to a unity government was driven more by reduced looting opportunities in a broken economy than by regional persuasion. Now we, the regional taxpayers, are being asked to contribute to a $2bn recovery package for Zimbabwe. SADC leaders’ complicity with the Zanu (PF) regime has made this an expensive exercise; even a year ago, fixing Zimbabwe would have cost a lot less than it does now. Of course, SADC must contribute meaningfully. But its attendant call for the lifting of international sanctions may be premature. The biggest beneficiaries of any such action will be the very people who pushed Zimbabwe to the brink — Zanu (PF) officials, their friends, families and business associates. Official sanctions against Zimbabwe are targeted against individuals, government agencies and companies with which Zanu (PF) government did business. The sanctions have had an effect on finance coming to the country. But money has mostly stayed away from Zimbabwe because of poor governance, official theft of state resources, investor insecurity, rigged elections and human rights abuses. While a limited revision of sanctions could be considered where it affects credit lines and relationships with multilateral organisations, it is too soon to bolster the former ruling party’s legitimacy by lifting the targeted sanctions. Even at this early stage of the unity government process, Mugabe has shown limited appetite for sticking to either the letter or spirit of the agreement with MDC factions. He tried to sneak in more ministers than the agreement allowed, feigning embarrassment when this failed. He was so “embarrassed” that he tried the same trick a few days later with the swearing in of deputy ministers. This time he got away with it. Zimbabwe now has a bloated 71-strong cabinet it can ill afford. Mugabe has unilaterally appointed all permanent secretaries, filled his cabinet with the tainted old guard and left political activists in jail. The budget and monetary policy statement were issued even as discussions were still under way on the unity government, resulting in uncertainty about economic policy at a time when there needs to be clarity, particularly given requests for hefty aid packages. Many Zimbabweans believe the MDC has been set up to fail by being given the most difficult cabinet portfolios, notably finance. With Mugabe and a slew of corrupt and inefficient ministers playing key roles in the new government, it would seem to be a poisoned chalice for the MDC. The international community has been asked to step up to the plate on the back of SADC’s efforts. It is right that they should back the new government’s call for healing through assistance and development. Current sanctions in place will not preclude this. Recovery is not dependent on the lifting of all sanctions. Zanu (PF) needs to earn the lifting of sanctions against its members by showing a real commitment to the reconstruction process, rather than continuing with its current grudging participation and showing a real tendency to fall back on its old ways.

Mugabe using the MDC to con the West

Mugabe's real game: Using the MDC to steal money from the West. Mugabe remains defiant. People must realize that Mugabe is playing class...

8:55 AM

Zim's horror on film

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVRVaQwJ7tkvWNrW_dGwWjN9XIImbqYBaLCJpBaMBeiXiX7YJVEMBkxuYBBRzBPEczpnvOxRro6x-jt4XB3MrK_OYzcntfuix-1a3u1SIkxHPTNtLTbSmWr6EsC-pxSRJ9clrVptSi5A/s1600-h/zimbabwe-graves.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308380378128873938" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcVRVaQwJ7tkvWNrW_dGwWjN9XIImbqYBaLCJpBaMBeiXiX7YJVEMBkxuYBBRzBPEczpnvOxRro6x-jt4XB3MrK_OYzcntfuix-1a3u1SIkxHPTNtLTbSmWr6EsC-pxSRJ9clrVptSi5A/s400/zimbabwe-graves.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px" /></a>A new Guardian film, smuggled out of the country, exposes horrors of man-made epidemic claiming thousands of lives <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/feb/26/zimbabwe-cholera" name="&lid={inBodyVideo}{Link to this video}&lpos={inBodyVideo}{1}">Link to this video</a> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/cholera">Cholera</a> is one of the most visible signs of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/zimbabwe">Zimbabwe</a>'s collapse. It has claimed thousands of lives, infected tens of thousands of other people and left millions of impoverished, half-starved Zimbabweans living in fear of their own drinking water. But Robert Mugabe has tried to make cholera an invisible disease, hiding the dying in hastily erected treatment centres, behind barbed wire and police guards, and burying the victims away from prying foreign eyes. The president declared the epidemic over even as the numbers of dead were growing ever more rapidly, and claimed the spread of the disease was all a British plot. Now a new Guardian film, smuggled out of the country, reveals what Zimbabwe's autocratic leader does not want seen: the stark reality of life, and death, in the midst of a cholera outbreak that Médecins Sans Frontières only last week called part of a "massive medical emergency that is spiralling out of control". See Full Story - <a class="link-text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/26/zimbabwe-cholera-mugabe" name="&lid={trailItemImageAndTrailText}{Mugabe splashes out on birthday bash as cholera spirals out of control}&lpos={trail}{1}">Zimbabwe: Cholera country</a> <a href="http://www.mg.co.za/section/article/2009-02-28-zims-horror-on-film">Zim's horror on film</a> A new Guardian film, smuggled out of the country, reveals what Zimbabwe’s autocratic leader does not want seen. - <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/feb/26/zimbabwe-cholera" name="&lid={inBodyVideo}{Link to this video}&lpos={inBodyVideo}{1}">Link to this video</a> Source: guardian.co.uk <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian" name="&lid={contentTypeByline}{The Guardian}&lpos={contentTypeByline}{2}">The Guardian,</a> Thursday 26 February 2009

Zim's horror on film

A new Guardian film, smuggled out of the country, exposes horrors of man-made epidemic claiming thousands of lives Link to this video Chole...

8:05 AM

Revealed: The horror of everyday life in Zimbabwe

Starving children eat rats, families turn on each other and farmers kill their own livestock to survive. Smuggled film brings Mugabe nightmare to world's attention <center><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bvJNpkLxyzg&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bvJNpkLxyzg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></center><div align="left"> A Guardian film smuggled out of Zimbabwe brings home the economic devastation and deprivation Robert Mugabe has wreaked upon his own people. Sam Chakaipa, at considerable risk to himself and as an act of resistance, returned clandestinely to his village, 125 miles from Harare, to document the plight of his former neighbours. The opposition activist has produced extraordinary footage of what Zimbabweans have to do in order to survive in a wrecked economy. As <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/30/zimbabwean-currency-worthless-patrick-chinamasa" title="">money is worthless</a> – Zimbabwe is plagued by the world's highest inflation rate – the villagers are reduced to panning for gold in rivers. Instead of attending school, youngsters from the village scrabble knee-deep in muddy water or dig ever deeper holes in a desperate search for a few grains of gold. These small supplies of the precious metal have thus become a crucial commodity Zimbabweans can trade for food; a loaf of bread is worth 0.1 grams. But only the young have the strength to dig and pan for gold; the village elders must go hungry, unless they have friends or relatives they can rely on. Some parents have been forced to feed rats to their children, and hunger has turned family members against each other. In a particularly wrenching scene in the video, a 15-year-old girl with a swollen face describes tearfully how her grandmother beat her to drive her away as she was an extra mouth to feed. She says she has not eaten for three days. </div><center> </center><div align="left"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/" lpos="{contentTypeByline}{2}" name="&lid=">guardian.co.uk</a></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div>

Revealed: The horror of everyday life in Zimbabwe

Starving children eat rats, families turn on each other and farmers kill their own livestock to survive. Smuggled film brings Mugabe nightma...

10:01 PM

South Africa P.I.G.