South Africa P.I.G.

Germany stops banknotes to Zimbabwe

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sfCRyryasHhlKfKqeuTg7PLO-P6n7ovUwzA5VQiGNCEx3-RX348O84N3KGNOQKUzj6OhpebQXU_6IeGvvhw9eu2mT3aWI1uEmckISmWuxQH9LKKLfiXTCMXW0Hxm3nS1LQmjrMkuboaB/s1600-h/zim+bearer+cheque.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218483292912992738" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sfCRyryasHhlKfKqeuTg7PLO-P6n7ovUwzA5VQiGNCEx3-RX348O84N3KGNOQKUzj6OhpebQXU_6IeGvvhw9eu2mT3aWI1uEmckISmWuxQH9LKKLfiXTCMXW0Hxm3nS1LQmjrMkuboaB/s400/zim+bearer+cheque.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>By Louis Weston in Harare and Harry de Quetteville in Berlin THE printing presses which produce reams of worthless banknotes in Zimbabwe may soon fall silent after a German company stopped supplying paper. Giesecke and Devrient, based in Munich, said it would no longer deliver watermarked paper to President Robert Mugabe’s Reserve Bank. This was due to “the critical evaluation by the international community, German government and general public” of the political situation in Zimbabwe. Facing an spiralling economic crisis, Mr Mugabe’s bankrupt regime must print money in order to pay its bills. This has sent inflation rising above two million per cent and wiped out the value of the Zimbabwe Dollar. Today, the currency is not even issued in the form of a proper banknote. Instead, most bills are “bearer cheques”, marked with an expiry date. In practice, prices double every two or three days and the notes become worthless long before they officially expire. More recently, the Reserve Bank, which is issuing bills in ever-larger denominations, moved on to special “agro-cheques”, leading to wry comments about how much “aggro” people have to handle. The highest value banknote is worth Z$50 billion - which is presently enough to buy one can of baked beans. At the TM supermarket in Harare’s northern suburb of Borrowdale, many shelves were bare yesterday. But a kilogramme of mince cost Z$490 billion and a kilogramme of sausage was going for Z$170 billion. A litre of imported orange juice cost an eye-watering Z$303 billion. Some prices have trebled from a week ago, when toilet paper worked out at just under Z$22 million for a single sheet. There was none in the supermarket yesterday, but by now there is probably an alternative use for the Z$50 million note. At one Harare restaurant, dinner was Z$875 billion per person, and a bottle of house wine was a little short of half a trillion dollars a bottle. In one shop, a television was on sale, with a sign marked “1.7”. Asked if that meant trillions, the shopkeeper answered: “No, the next one. I don’t know what it’s called.” The currency is now so worthless that the multitude of zeros have become confusing — to machines as well as people. Technical standards mean most tills around the world are limited to 12 digits, so Zimbabwean businesses have been forced to slash six zeros off their display prices, and their receipts are marked “multiply all prices by 1,000,000”. As well as the difficulty of dealing with prices that double every few days, the sheer number of notes involved mean that some businesses are now switching to accepting US dollars and South African Rand. This is officially illegal - and also increasingly unavoidable.

Germany stops banknotes to Zimbabwe

By Louis Weston in Harare and Harry de Quetteville in Berlin THE printing presses which produce reams of worthless banknotes in Zimbabwe may...

10:46 AM

Beyond the will of mortal men

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9FWhyRqq87Mv0iTCypcFQJ_vZqjyaC8FVTnxUuqs6n7qH9GGQaq3chdoJFhJA3gezUFZaZh-_sN_S34qC6R8138NmgoaiDXMe2OjydqMFdroX1zXNnrZQEHr70sByppTFIEa0euOu8c/s1600-h/mein_kampf_ext.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220119360609256546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9FWhyRqq87Mv0iTCypcFQJ_vZqjyaC8FVTnxUuqs6n7qH9GGQaq3chdoJFhJA3gezUFZaZh-_sN_S34qC6R8138NmgoaiDXMe2OjydqMFdroX1zXNnrZQEHr70sByppTFIEa0euOu8c/s320/mein_kampf_ext.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>Following our central piece - ‘Beyond the will of mortal men’ - there is a collection of Zuma quotes on religion, which hopefully go some way towards illustrating how these two worlds - politics and religion - complement and reinforce each other in the thinking of Jacob Zuma, as well as the consequences for our democracy. If you are not familiar with either of the following quotes below they were both said recently by leading politicians, and both are of concern as to what exactly it is that a Jacob Zuma presidency might entail for South Africa. (For a more detailed analysis of this issue, see extensive series on this topic on <a href="http://www.insidepolitics.org.za/blog_details.aspx?EntryId=312&page=search" target="_blank">Inside Politics</a>.)Compare the following two quotes: “God expects us to rule this country because we are the only organisation which was blessed by pastors when it was formed. It is even blessed in Heaven. That is why we will rule until Jesus comes back. We should not allow anyone to govern our city when we are ruling the country.” And, “[They] will never be allowed to rule this country - never ever.” “Only God, who appointed me, will remove me… Only God will remove me!” Were you to paraphrase each quote - strip each of its rhetoric and reveal its underlying sentiment - each one is fairly represented by the following sentence: “Those that stand in opposition to me or my party are evil and must be opposed; for they stand not only in opposition to us but in opposition to God, who has appointed and blessed us as his representatives here on earth. Thus, my party will remain in power forever and it will not subscribe to the will of mortal men, because it rules by divine right and, therefore, until the end of time and at God’s grace. Nevertheless, those who would oppose me or my party cannot be allowed to govern, irrespective of the broader democratic will, and we must stand together to prevent this from happening.” That represents a profoundly disturbing and fundamentally undemocratic contention and, certainly, a political philosophy incompatible with a constitutional democracy. Thus, it is deeply worrying that the first was said by the current ANC president, Jacob Zuma, and the second by Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe - the one a democratically elected president of a political party; the other a power-obsessed tyrant, who has run rough shod over the democratic will of the Zimbabwean people. The obvious implications are dire: one should not oppose the ruling party; to do so is traitorous and, ultimately, a declaration of war; opposition and democratic elections are illegitimate and the <a href="http://www.da.org.za/da/Site/Eng/News/Article.asp?ID=8884" target="_blank">central tenet of democracy</a> - that the will of the people (as opposed to the will of God) be expressed in the nature of their government - is undermined. And yet, the obvious undemocratic implications aside, if one digs a little deeper, Zuma’s quote allows us to better understand several other recent developments. That famous philosopher, A.C. Grayling said the following about the notion of governing by divine right: “…the very phrase would seem odd, as denoting a deity’s disposition of rights to mortal man or woman to rule a portion of earth, if belief in it were not an historical reality. It is surprising that those who invoked the notion did not see that it rested on nothing more elaborate than the primitive notion that might is right, for it is the deity’s vast and inexorable power to punish and dispose that enforces the ‘right’ of a king to rule by supposed dictate of what that deity wills.” In other words, the notion of governing by divine right is intricately linked to the idea that, ultimately, physical force will be used to impose that ‘right’ - if not by the respective deity, then by those who supposedly represent its will on earth. In South Africa today, we are faced with a position where <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=788466" target="“_blank”">those aligned to Jacob Zuma have threatened to take up arms in his name</a> - indeed “to kill” for him - a comment Zuma has failed to condemn. The threat of force is thus not some theoretical concern, but a very real option that lurks just below the surface for many of Zuma’s supporters, and it is an option complemented by the ANC leader’s belief that his party governs by divine right. Another, perhaps more ironic, implication is that both quotes were made in situations or places where - despite being blessed by God - both respective ruling parties were in danger of losing power: For Zuma and the ANC - Cape Town (which he refers to as “our city”) and the Western Cape and, for Mugabe - who has actually already lost control of the Zimbabwean parliament - the Presidency. Obviously such a situation is almost impossible to reconcile with the belief that your party is endorsed by God. For how is it that the will of mortal men does not conform to the will of God? The explanation can only be one of two: either those that oppose the ANC are evil and un-Godly or, alternatively, that the ANC does not govern by divine right, but rather by the will of the people. Unfortunately, the second possibility is not one to which Jacob Zuma is willing to subscribe. There is one final point worth making - Zuma’s assertion is not only a message to those outside of the party but, just as importantly, a message to those within. The ANC is divided and riddled by factionalism, and it is vital for Zuma to impose himself on those that would stand in opposition to him within the ruling party itself. Just as the message to those outside the party is that they are illegitimate and stand on the wrong side of a moral and spiritual battle, so the message to those inside the ANC is: unite behind me and the party, for we are the chosen vehicle for God’s will, and to disrupt that or oppose me is to stand in the way of the divine. It is easy to dismiss or downplay the significance of Zuma’s sentiments simply because, when you identify them in such stark terms, they become almost surreal. But that would be a mistake. As the selection of quotes below demonstrates, Zuma’s assertion is not a once-off aberration, but a frequently repeated conviction. He believes what he says as, no doubt, does Robert Mugabe, and the implications for our democracy are dire. IN HIS OWN WORDS: JACOB ZUMA AND GOD 2003: On being blessed: “I arrived from Jordan this morning just after 5 o’clock… I must say I took advantage of being in Jordan to go to the River Jordan where Jesus was baptised – I was around there. Jericho and Jerusalem were just across the Dead Sea. So, if I look at anyone, he or she will be blessed.” (HANSARD; [24 June 2003]; Column 347.) 2004: On who God supports: “[Those who vote for the ANC will be] blessed on earth and heaven (sic)” (Sowetan; [5 March 2006]; “ANC voters will be blessed - Zuma”.) 2004: On how long the ANC will rule: “The ANC will rule South Africa until Jesus comes back.” (Business Day; [15 March 2004]; “ANC will rule SA until Jesus comes back, says Zuma”.) 2006: On why he is like Jesus: In an interview with a newspaper, Zuma states he is “like Christ”, that the media and his detractors wanted to nail him to the cross like Jesus, and that certain newspapers had sought to “crucify him”. (Sowetan; [24 March 2006]; “I’m like Christ - Zuma”.) Following Zuma’s comments, many of his supporters embraced the comparison, carrying signs which read “Zuma is Jesus” and asking “Why are you crucifying Zuma?” - as they protested outside the court where he was appearing on a charge of rape. One supporter carried a wooden, home-made crucifix bearing a picture of Zuma with outstretched arms. 2007: On how long the ANC will rule, again: “That is why we believe [the ANC] will be in power forever until the son of man comes back.” (SAPA; [27 October 2007]; “ANC ‘will be in power forever’ - Zuma”.) 2008: On who God thinks should govern South Africa in general, and Cape Town in particular: “God expects us to rule this country because we are the only organisation which was blessed by pastors when it was formed. It is even blessed in Heaven. That is why we will rule until Jesus comes back. We should not allow anyone to govern our city (Cape Town) when we are ruling the country.” (Cape Times; [5 May 2008]; “‘ANC to rule until Jesus comes back’”)

Beyond the will of mortal men

Following our central piece - ‘Beyond the will of mortal men’ - there is a collection of Zuma quotes on religion, which hopefully go some wa...

6:43 AM

Mugabe gets angry, very angry

On Monday the world caught a glimpse of the pressure that Robert Mugabe is under, as global condemnation intensifies in the wake of his sham election. Mugabe went on a tirade calling a journalist a "bloody idiot" when he was waylaid by reporters at the African Union Summit in Egypt on Monday. The drama happened when a journalist from the UK ITV news channel asked him on what basis he thought he was President of Zimbabwe. Mugabe responded angrily saying it was on the same basis that Gordon Brown is "Prime Minister of Zimbabwe". It is not clear if he forgot which country is his and which country is Brown's. He sounded muddled and angry at being questioned by the journalist. In further exchanges with reporters, Mugabe shouted: "We are not a British colony, you must know that. We are not a British colony." He completely lost his composure and the situation was made more dramatic when his security pushed journalists away. Commentators say the drama, captured on camera to the amusement of the world, clearly showed that the 84 year old leader is under severe pressure. <embed name="flashObj" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=" src="http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1137883380" width="486" height="412" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=1640107138&playerId=1137883380&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" seamlesstabbing="false" swliveconnect="true"></embed> Sham election results <a href="http://www.sokwanele.com/election2008">Election 2008</a> for details

Mugabe gets angry, very angry

On Monday the world caught a glimpse of the pressure that Robert Mugabe is under, as global condemnation intensifies in the wake of his sham...

4:59 PM

South Africa P.I.G.

Germany stops banknotes to Zimbabwe

Beyond the will of mortal men

Mugabe gets angry, very angry

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