What ever Mugabe may or may-not have done, what hope/chance does your position
holdout to the people?
Do you suggest that they (the people) will fair better under the puppets of
empire, such as you have name.
What, who remains?
Abati
Visit: myspace.com/reallyquittingamerica
For the "people made in america".
--- On Mon, 6/30/08, wanzala@xxxxxxxxx <wanzala@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: wanzala@xxxxxxxxx <wanzala@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [NewPacifica] Zimbabwe Update, June 27, 2008 on the ground with
December ...
To: NewPacifica@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Monday, June 30, 2008, 10:05 AM
Its more like hate than merely 'disliking' mugabe, just as I abhor other
like mugabe such as idi amin, yoweri museveni, jean bedel bokassa, paul kamage,
mobutu sese seko, mengistu haile mariam (who mugabe invited into exile in
zimbabwe) and other bloodthirsty kleptocrats, along with their counterparts in
the west.
Joe w.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&TFrom: Emmett Abati Doe <abatidoe2@yahoo. com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:53:27 -0700 (PDT)
To: <NewPacifica@ yahoogroups. com>
Subject: Re: [NewPacifica] Zimbabwe Update, June 27, 2008 on the ground with
December ...
Wanzala wrote: The zimbabwean people are caught between a
despotic regime controlled by robert mugabe and his cronies in the military on
the one hand, and an opportunist confab (the mdc) backed by western who are
extremely annoyed with their heretofor obedient servant robert mugabe.
Why should the people of Zimbabwe live under better conditions of governance
then americans? Americans are under the subjugation of its home-imposed
Military, Industrial, Prison Complex doing the bidding, and in service to a
demozionistfascist regime.
You don't like Robert Mugabe who choose to accept the lies and hollow promises
of queen and empire in order to stop the slaughter of his people. A MAN who
stood-up and said "NO Means NO"!
YOU (for the moment) living, safe and comfortably HERE...DON'T LIKE HIM!
Disgusting!
...made in america
Visit: myspace.com/ reallyquittingam erica
For the "people made in america".
--- On Mon, 6/30/08, wanzala@gmail. com <wanzala@gmail. com> wrote:
From: wanzala@gmail. com <wanzala@gmail. com>
Subject: Re: [NewPacifica] Zimbabwe Update, June 27, 2008 on the ground with
December ...
To: NewPacifica@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Monday, June 30, 2008, 12:35 AM
It is true that land has always been the core issue
- just as airtime is the core issue in radioland - but the piece from the
zimbabwe herald below is classic example of government propaganda. It does not
even contain much analysis of the current situation in zimbabwe.
The zimbabwean people are caught between a despotic regime controlled by robert
mugabe and his cronies in the military on the one hand, and an opportunist
confab (the mdc) backed by western who are extremely annoyed with their
heretofor obedient servant robert mugabe.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&TFrom: siddharta2@aol. com
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:47:29 EDT
To: <newpacifica@ yahoogroups. com>
Subject: [NewPacifica] Zimbabwe Update, June 27, 2008 on the ground with
December ...
Omowale Clay is a leader of the December 12 Movement, which stands for
reparations and African liberation. He is also a WBAI LSB member. He
is currently in Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE UPDATE...JUNE 27TH,
on the ground with the December 12th Movement... Please
forward to your contacts
Today, Zimbabweans went to the polls at over 9,000 polling
stations across the country. The December 12th Movement,
International Election Observers traveled to variest
constituencies to observe the balloting. We found the
people excited and proud to be voting in an atmosphere of
peace and security. The polling stations close at 7PM,
Zimbabwe time, and counting will immediately follow with
the reporting of results to begin tomorrow. We had an
opportunity to observe President Mugabe and First Lady
Grace Mugabe accompany his daughter to her polling place
to vote in Harare Province. The President was confident
that the Zimbabwean people would vote their interest in
keeping Zimbabwe a free and
independent country. More on this tomorrow.
>From The Herald, Harare, Zimbabwe....
Land has always been core issue
By Peter Mavunga
BRITAIN had the right to intervene in Rhodesia when, on
November 11, 1965, Ian Smith defied the Crown and
declared UDI. But it did not because the rebel was Ian
Smith, a white man, and Harold Wilson, the then British
prime minister, could not bring himself to fight against his
kith and kin.
These were Dr Davis Gazi’s words on Wednesday night in a
speech to an all-black audience in London where he was
promoting his book, "Zimbabwe: Racism and the Land
Question".
His words were relevant to those in the audience, some of
whom had come from outside London to hear him speak.
Britain and her allies are engaged in a flurry of activity
to justify such intervention in Zimbabwe.
So Dr Gazi’s grasp of history and his willingness to share
it was just the antidote to the daily diet of BBC
propaganda his audience needed.
Indeed, a Jamaican young woman confided in me: "I am just
fed up of the BBC. I have come to hear an African
perspective of the story of Zimbabwe," she said before the
meeting started.
Dr Gazi pointed to "a funny irony of history" that meant
that the Conservative governments, rather than Labour, had
done more for Africans than Labour.
He reminded his guests that it was Harold McMillan, a Tory
prime minister well remembered in Africa for his "wind of
change" speech, who had suggested buying land for Africans
in Kenya.
This was a Conservative, said Dr Gazi, expressing
disappointment in another paradox that the Democrats in
America — who were supposed to be closer to black people
than the Republicans — had on the whole been the slave
owners and wanted slavery to continue as opposed to the
Republican factory owners who preferred "these niggers" to
work in their factories as free men.
He said the only time Britain had the right to intervene
in Rhodesia was during UDI.
Today, no amount of posturing will justify Britain and her
allies to intervene in the affairs of an independent
country. Yet morals or ethics had never deterred Western
countries from interfering in the affairs of other
sovereign states.
In 1960, Patrice Lumumba, who had been elected by his own
people, was removed from office by America, Belgium,
Britain, France and others. Here is an example of the
intervention by those who murdered Lumumba whereupon they
went to defeat the notion of democracy in order to further
their own ends.
And after they had murdered Lumumba, said Dr Gazi, they
immersed his body in sulphuric acid to dissolve it. They
were not going to tolerate seeing his grave turned into a
shrine lest it might foster unity among the Africans.
Since this brutal intervention in the Congo by the West,
more than five million people have died in the Congo. This
is what intervention by the West means in reality. It is
concerned with the violation of an African country’s
sovereignty; it is about occupation; it is about murder
and it is brutal.
In 1971, Milton Obote went to the Commonwealth conference
in Singapore where he was going to object to the British
selling arms to the South African navy. In doing this, the
then president of Uganda was opposing the apartheid regime
in South Africa. When he returned home, his country had
been taken over by Idi Amin, who was supported by the
British, the Americans and the Israelis.
Dr Gazi went on to speak about farms and farming in
Zimbabwe. He inveighed against the idea often put forward
by those who confuse land and one-man one-vote.
"Never did I hear my mother or father say we were fighting
for one-man one-vote," he said. "They said we went to
fight for our land, to get our land back."
He dismissed the notion often peddled by white
supremacists that white farmers were responsible for more
agricultural output in Zimbabwe. He also dismissed the
idea that because of white farmers, Zimbabwe had been "the
breadbasket" of Africa.
Dr Gazi, a scientist by training, said there was no
evidence suggesting that white expertise was responsible
for more agricultural output in Zimbabwe, particularly the
production of staple food. What evidence there was,
pointed to black people doing this.
Reflecting on life in Rhodesia where he grew up, Dr Gazi
recalled that from primary school, black children were
taught carpentry, agriculture and sometimes metalwork.
There was not one, not one, he repeated for emphasis,
school where white people went to learn agriculture. He
himself started learning agriculture when he was 10.
He dismissed the idea that whites were responsible for
feeding Africans as a myth. It was Africans who had the
agricultural know-how, pointing out examples of
Domboshawa, Chivero, Mlezu agricultural colleges and others
where Africans learnt agriculture. And there were many able
black farmers, said Dr Gazi.
On whether President Mugabe had been in power "for too
long", as is often said by those advocating change, Dr
Gazi said this depended on the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
He pointed that President Mugabe had been in office since
1980 while Hosni Mubarak of Egypt had become president in
1981. While there was clamour for President Mugabe to be
removed from office, no one was asking Mubarak to leave
office.
He went on to say that no one was saying President Mugabe
was still in office because he breached the Constitution
of Zimbabwe. If that was the case, this would mean he had
been in office for too long. But since he was in fact
complying with the Constitution, Dr Gazi urged his
audience to reflect on the reason why there was pressure
on President Mugabe and not on Mubarak. He challenged his
audience directly and asked them why, if they were
concerned about starvation in Zimbabwe, they did not send
a container load of food or medicines to the poor.
Dr Gazi was asked to comment on violence reported in the
media. He said he had no view on this until he had the
facts.
He said he would not excuse anybody who violated Africans.
That included South Africa where people were beaten up
simply because they were foreigners.
His view on this was that this was meant to frighten
Zimbabweans in South Africa so that they could go back to
Zimbabwe and vote or influence the outcome of the
election. He was driven to this conclusion because of the
timing of the violence. Why did it happen just as
preparations for the run-off got underway?
As regards violence in Zimbabwe, he said he did not know
who was committing the violence against who. He said we
had to find out and urged his audience not to be misled by
those who are quick to blame the Government. He referred
anecdotally to a section in his own book in which he
described how the MDC once claimed that one of its members
had been murdered by Zanu-PF when, on closer examination,
it turned out it was a member of Zanu-PF who had been
murdered by the MDC. Reality and what is reported don’t
always coincide, he said.
A South African woman in the audience asked Dr Gazi
whether he would comment critically on her former
president, Nelson Mandela, given what she saw as a man who
was being used by white society?
Dr Gazi would not be drawn to do so, saying Mandela, who
was apparently speaking about "failure of leadership in
Zimbabwe" as Dr Gazi was delivering his own speech, was a
black man. He said there was a danger of concentrating our
criticism against our own people who have got it wrong
when there were many white people to criticise for doing
untold damage to our own people.
He went on to say he did not join those who criticised
Morgan Tsvangirai for being "so stupid" for the simple
reason that he (Tsvangirai) "is my brother" who, he went
on, "did have the right not to rule Zimbabwe", he said to
much laughter.
People here are confounded by Tsvangirai’s judgment
following his decision to seek refuge in the Dutch embassy
rather than one of the African missions. One man in the
audience remarked, to the amusement of the audience, that
he had to run past the Nigerian embassy to reach the Dutch
embassy and our Nigerian brothers are very upset about
this!
The most heated exchange came when Dr Gazi was challenged
by a former member of Zipra who complained that he did not
get the land that he went to fight for. He complained that
the Government of Zimbabwe had been discriminating against
those in Matabeleland.
That is when Dr Gazi came to life. He said this was not
his experience and he said this with certainty "because I
was there".
He explained in minute detail his own role in trying to
persuade people in Matabeleland to accept land being
offered to them by the Government. He rejected the idea
that land was being given by Zanu-PF.
"I know because I took 60 forms myself from the Ministry
in Bulawayo, trying to persuade people to take up land but
only six were taken because people were wrongly advised to
reject it on the grounds that ‘ngo kwe Zanu konoko’."
Dr Gazi was applauded for holding his own ground on this
and for winning over his brothers who later agreed that a
discussion about the rights and wrongs made by individual
personalities like Robert Mugabe at this stage was, in
fact, a distraction from the real issue facing us today.
The issue is that "we want our land and we want to keep
it", said Dr Gazi.
Road to victory: Key events after March 29
By Stephen T. Maimbodei
ALL registered voters are exercising their democratic
right today. But they are doing so against the backdrop of
an onslaught and siege against Zimbabwe and President
Mugabe in particular by the United States, Britain and
their allies.
There is no denying that George W. Bush in particular
would want to "resolve" the Zimbabwe issue by any means
possible before leaving office even if it means military
action using the UN Security Council to rubber-stamp his
actions as they did before the bombing of Iraq in 2003.
They are aided and abetted by their stooge here, MDC-T
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whose desperation at becoming
Zimbabwe’s next president will stop at nothing including
making an absolute fool of himself as he sinks to the
lowest levels of African dignity through the demeaning and
embarrassing antics he has been exposing us to: imaginary
killers everywhere, and the best place to "hide" is the
local Dutch embassy. He has also exposed how the West has
delegated their responsibilities in their war against
Zimbabwe. Now the Nordic countries are made to play a
visible role. However, the copy of what Tsvangirai does is
still authored by the British and Americans.
He gave President Mugabe an ultimatum after briefly
leaving his "hideout" at the Dutch embassy, for the
international community to intervene militarily by sending
a peacekeeping force that will maintain peace while
preparations are made for yet another presidential poll.
The US and Britain also feel that the time is ripe for a
successful illegal regime change since they have managed
to rope in some Africans who are now "speaking against"
President Mugabe.
Their divide and rule tactics were apparent as the US
assistant secretary of state for African affairs Jendayi
Frazer’s shuttle diplomacy took her to a number of
African countries whom they believe could be instrumental in
the execution of their "mission impossible" stunt in
Zimbabwe.
Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana — would all like to straighten
you out. They’re not fooled. You’re outnumbered and
outgunned by a ratio of about 50 to 1 — just Google "news"
and click the thousands of articles regarding your boss
Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF. Only the state news
organisations agree with you — your credibility decreases
each day with this type of juvenile nonsense. It is my
sincere hope that our CIA meets your CIO. Guess who’ll be
left standing? Regards from USA." He trashes my opinion, but
has the audacity to write this message with veiled threats.
This writer is proud to be Zimbabwean and a
pan-Africanist. This writer also takes pride in the
revolutions that Zimbabwe waged against settler colonialism,
and we have beaten the system. And this American who
threatens Zimbabwe with violence will realise that when the
Americans and British eventually decide on this course of
action, they will be moving in no man’s land.
Iraq and Afghanistan will look like a picnic. The
Americans will realise that the foolhardy approach of
illegal regime change will not stop the "100 percent
empowerment and total inpdependence" policy programme. Ask
John Simpson of the BBC World Services.
After he used to clandestinely enter Zimbabwe, this time
he saw the light and admitted in his own words to a
renewed and transformed Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF. His
admissions came after he had trashed Zanu-PF a few months
ago, writing them off as he had done China after the
Tiananmen Square incident. Soon China will be the biggest
economy in the world. Professor Isheunesu Mupepereki’s
words of counsel "Takagarigwa pasi" still echo with
immense clarity and truth. In 2000, a fortnight after the
DRC leader Desiree Kabila, a faculty member in the War and
Strategic Studies Department at the University of
Zimbabwe, claimed that he was present when the whole
14-member Sadc team made a resolution to intervene
militarily.
However, when push came to shove, there were only three
countries that went into the DRC to save Joseph Kabila’s
fledgling government. And the DRC has become one of the
many "sins" that President Mugabe has committed against
the West since they preferred the chaotic situation which
gave them during Mobutu Sese Seko’s time unfettered access
to the DRC’s rich mineral and other resources, while the
owners gained nothing at all.
The academic-cum- soldier cautioned that while people
might believe that the decisions that are usually
announced at communiqués are binding, they are, in fact,
made at strange hours by phone usually. Is this what the
British and Americans are doing regarding Zimbabwe?
Moeletsi Mbeki, head of the South African Institute of
Policy, seems to concur when he describes the cracks in
Sadc. He says that there are three groups: the pro-Mugabe;
the anti-Mugabe and the fence-sitters. Wednesday’s summit
on Zimbabwe in Swaziland endorsed this when key members of
the troika boycotted the meeting. What impact will this
action have on Sadc and the AU after today’s election?
The divisions alluded to, and today’s vote will redesign
and redefine the African political and economic landscape,
and Africa will never be the same, including its
relationship with the West.
In addition, as pressure on Zimbabwe mounts, there are now
clear signs of who is in the driver’s seat, and the
evidence of the carrot and stick tactic being used on some
Sadc leaders, and an apparent conspiracy of not only wanting
to disregard Zimbabwe’s rule of law regarding the run-off
elections, but also trying to impose a leader against the
wishes of the Zimbabwean people.
That violence and intimidation are being used as reasons
of not only crying foul against the Zimbabwean Government
is a double standard of the first degree. Both Zanu-PF and
the MDC-T have claimed that there are victims. Why then do
MDC-T supporters seem like they are the only victims, and
so precious? Are they saints when violence has been a
hallmark of the MDC since its formation.
Individuals like Job Sikhala and Trudy Stevenson are
clear testimonies of the deeply entrenched violent nature
within the MDC-T.
Zimbabwe is also supposed to be the benchmark of how
elections are conducted in the Sadc region. We have had
elections in many parts of Africa in the past eight years,
but none of the countries such as Zambia, Nigeria, Uganda,
Kenya and Nigeria got as much scrutiny as Zimbabwe and
neither were they exposed to so much analysis as Zimbabwe.
Neither was vilified for carrying out elections that went
against the norms of democratic principles as Zimbabwe is
doing. Some of our neighbours who pass judgment on our
democratic principles and President Mugabe’s leadership do
not hold elections and pass on leaderships as if they are
a fiefdom.
Why was a peacekeeping force not sent to Kenya? Why was it
also not sent to Nigeria, Uganda and Ethiopia where the
levels of violence and intimidation were equally high?
All these countries produced disputed elections whose
leaders would not be legitimised anywhere. But only
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has to go through this rigorous
and tortuous refereeing process because he dared to stand
up against the Philistines and their giant Goliath.
As Zimbabweans go out to vote under the shadow of doubt
and uncertainty we publish below a chronology of key
events on the national, regional and internal scene that
have impacted Zimbabwe’s political and socio-economic
landscape since the March harmonised elections.
It helps the readers to put into perspective the visible
presence of the third force and other key players and the
manner in which major stakeholders on the Zimbabwean
political landscape played out both to the people of
Zimbabwe and those still playing to the gallery.
This by no means is not an exhaustive list the past few
days since Friday when the MDC-T leader announced that he
was contemplating pulling out of the race, the tempo at
which the reactions from the so-called international
community has been running at fever pitch.
l March 29: Zimbabweans vote in the historic harmonised
elections.
l April 2: MDC-T Tendai Biti announces the MDC-T’s
version of presidential results giving Tsvangirai a 50,3
percent of the vote, and declaring him an outright winner.
Claims that they would participate in a re-run under
protest. Soon after Tsvangirai and Biti go into self-imposed
exile in the region.
l April 8: ZEC officials arrested for tampering with poll
results.
l April 12: Sadc Extraordinary Summit called by President
Mwanawasa held in Lusaka. MDC-T leader and Simba Makoni
attend summit as observers.
l April 14: Document exposing alleged MDC-T ballot bribery
is published.
l April 15: Mnangagwa says that Mwanawasa erred for
unilaterally calling for the Extraordinary summit.
l April17: MDC-T leader allegedly approached the British
government over the possibility of launching a military
offensive to unseat the government because efforts to
depose President Mugabe from within had failed a top
secret MDC-T transitional document Memorandum of
Understanding reveals.
l April 21: Government challenges anyone with information
demonstrating that acts of State violence have
characterised the post-election period to furnish the
police with details to facilitate full investigations.
April 21: Sadc rejects MDC-T calls to replace South
African President Mbeki as mediator in the Zimbabwe issue
and also resist attempts by MDC-T and its European backers
to discuss Zimbabwe’s elections at a regional summit on
poverty in Mauritius.
l April 23: China clears air on arms shipment to Zimbabwe.
l April 24: "Arm Zim’s opposition" — Wall Street Journal
calls.
l April 27: Zuma rebukes UK’s "extreme position" on
Zimbabwe
l May 2: ZEC announces presidential results. No winner
with an absolute majority, automatically setting the stage
for a second election between President Mugabe and
Tsvangirai. On May 4, Zanu-PF says it was ready for
run-off poll.
l May 5: War veterans attacked, three farmers
arrested.
l May 12: South African President Mbeki say solutions to
Zimbabwe’s challenges rest in the hands of Zimbabweans
with outsiders only coming to assist.
l May 13: Anti-violence drive intensifies. Police
dismantle political bases in Masvingo.
l May 14: Zanu-PF Politburo meets and condemns politically
motivated violence.
May 14: Government summons US ambassador to Zimbabwe and
warns him over his involvement in the country's domestic
affairs.
l May 15: Church leaders, security chiefs discuss
political violence
l May 16: ZEC announces run-off date: June 27
l May 17: "I am under pressure": Mwanawasa speaks out; and
Sadc says it won’t dump Zimbabwe.
l May 20: US ambassador to Zimbabwe McGee orders
Tsvangirai to return home from self imposed exile and
participate in run-off.
l May 21: President Mugabe says price hikes are a regime
change tactic.
l May 23: Zanu-PF, MDC-T in frank talks on violence.
l May 24: Tsvangirai returns to Zimbabwe after spending
six weeks in self-imposed exile, after McGee had ordered
him back.
l May 25: Zanu-PF launches the presidential rerun campaign.
l June 2: Tendai Biti arrested. Biti had been on
self-imposed exile for two months.
June 2: UK government seeks to engage churches in Zimbabwe
and Britain to boost regime change agenda.
June 2: US government intensifies efforts to aid and abet
regime agenda by trying to have Sadc sideline President
Thabo Mbeki as official mediator in favour of current
Sadc chairperson, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa.
June 2: Despite travel ban imposed by the EU and the US,
and protests from certain Western quarters, President
Mugabe travels to Rome, the Italian capital to attend the
UNFAO food summit, and addresses the summit on June 3.
l June 3: President Mugabe holds talks with UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-Moon, and tells him that Zimbabwe is
alarmed by his statements on Harare, which raised concerns
of Western countries while completely ignoring the fact
that Zimbabwe is bleeding under illegal sanctions imposed
by Britain, the US, and their allies.
l June 6: Government suspends operations of all NGOs as a
clampdown on incidences of civil society meddling in the
country’s politics ahead of the June 27 run-off poll. They
are ordered to apply for new registration permits.
l June 10: US announces it would give US$7 million for the
June 27 poll. The US, had not been invited to observe
polls because of its meddling in Zimbabwe’s internal
affairs and funding of the opposition said it would spend
the money helping "international observers".
l June 17: Ban on NGOs is lifted.
June 17: President Mugabe meets UN’s assistant general for
political affairs Hail Menkerios who is on a tour of Sadc
region and is in Zimbabwe to assess the country’s state of
preparedness for run-off poll.
l June 18: Tsvangirai calls for intervention from
Zimbabwe’s regional neighbours.
June 18: President Thabo Mbeki holds talks with President
Mugabe in Harare, evaluating progress made in run-off
poll. Also holds talks with Tsvangirai.
June 18: Former Mozambican President Joaqim Chissano takes
a swipe on the West over illegal sanctions on
Zimbabwe.
June 18: British premier Gordon Brown’s divide and rule
tactics are revealed when he lies in parliament about the
Zimbabwe situation saying that Jacob Zuma is South
Africa’s president-elect, and that the ANC would be
sending 1000 observers for the run-off.
l June 19: Visiting Namibian Defense Forces Chief,
Lieutenant- General Martin Schalli assures Zimbabweans
that it was not in Africa’s interest to interfere in
another country’s internal affairs, and that Namibia would
continue to assist Zimbabwe to resolve its problems
through Sadc.
June 19: Tsvangirai tells the media of his intentions to
withdraw from presidential run-off poll. Cites escalating
politically motivated violence against his supporters,
intimidation and harassment by the Police.
l June 20: Public broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings explains why it could not flight MDC-T campaign
advertisements pointing out that they contained
inappropriate language and information.
l June 21: MDC-T wins a High court order to allow them to
hold rally in Harare on June 22. Rally is marred by
violence between MDC-T and Zanu-PF supporters.
l June 22: Tsvangirai announces to media and election
observers about his withdrawal from the poll.
June 22: Cde Patrick Chinamasa challenges Tsvangirai to
put the withdrawal in writing.
l June 23: Tsvangirai seeks "refuge" at the Dutch Embassy
in Harare, and Police Director General warns that
Tsvangirai’s actions were a dirty political antic to stir
international anger and further damage the country’s
image.
June 23: Justice George Chiweshe, ZEC Chairperson confirms
that Tsvangirai had not yet formally withdrawn from the
race and that elections would go on as scheduled.
June 23: A non-binding statement by the UN Security
Council in New York condemns "the campaign of violence
against the political opposition".
June 23: Sadc foreign ministers discuss Zimbabwe situation
in Luanda, Angola.
June 23: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says campaign of
threats and intimidation, is against spirit of democracy.
June 23: Zimbabwe’s opposition withdrawal from the
presidential election run-off unconstitutional, the
Zimbabwe electoral body has said.
June 23: US ambassador James McGee says Sadc must declare
both the election and President Mugabe's government
illegitimate.
lJune 24: President Mugabe tells supporters that
Government was open to negotiation with anyone, but legal
process has to be logically concluded. Declares that the
June 27 poll would go on as enshrined in the constitution.
June 24: U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee issues a
veiled warning that if Government goes forward with its
planned Friday electoral run-off - in the absence of an
opposition candidate - the U.S. would view the resulting
government as illegitimate and take the "expected" steps.
June 24: Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and ANC
leader Jacob Zuma say the presidential run-off must be
postponed as Tsvangirai had withdrawn. Zuma says the
run-off is no longer a solution.
June 24: Zimbabwe’s UN Ambassador maintains the
international community has been duped into believing
that there is lawlessness in Zimbabwe.
June 24: Britain, current president of the Security
Council, tries to use Belgium to halt run-off election and
illegally install Tsvangirai as president, but South
Africa blocks the attempts.
June 24: South Africa’s ruling ANC party rejects foreign
intervention in Zimbabwe, especially from erstwhile
colonisers.
June 24: Tsvangirai officially withdraws from the June 27
presidential run-off. He also called on world leaders to
isolate President Mugabe.
June 24: Constitutional law experts say that Tsvangirai
cannot pull out of race.
June 24: President Mugabe says Zimbabwe will go ahead with
the run-off election and that no amount of pressure from
Britain and the US will stop the election.
l June 25: Tsvangirai briefly leaves sanctuary of Dutch
embassy to do a press conference at his house where he
gives an ultimatum to President Mugabe. After addressing
the brief press conference, he returns to the embassy.
June 25: Tsvangirai repeats his call for a new
presidential election.
June 25: A meeting of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defense
and Security in Swaziland to ratchet up pressure on
Zimbabwe to call off today’s election flops after Angola,
the chair, and South Africa the mediator boycott summit.
June 25: United States presidential hopeful, Barrack
Obama adds his voice to international condemnation of
President Mugabe, declaring that his "regime" in Zimbabwe
"is illegitimate and lacks any credibility" .
June 25: UK Conservative party urges military action
against Zimbabwe, but Brown says military action was not
an option at the moment.
June 25: Sadc election observers to remain in place for
the run-off poll, despite the withdrawal announcement by
Tsvangirai.
l June 27: Zimbabweans vote in the run-off poll despite
Tsvangirai’s withdrawal.
Let’s consign Morgan to the dustbin
THE hour for which our heroes and heroines sacrificed
their lives is nigh, let us honour their memory by
defending their ideals.
The people’s victory ushers in the dawn that will eclipse
the nights we endured over the past 11 years, since the
day the British reneged on their obligations to fund the
land reform programme, and in so doing precipitating the
bilateral dispute that has drawn in much of the Western
hemisphere.
This is why this fight has never been between Morgan
Tsvangirai and President Mugabe, Zanu-PF and MDC-T, but
between Zimbabwe and the Anglo-Saxon alliance led by
Britain and the US.
This is why though today Tsvangirai is holed up in the
Dutch embassy, claiming to be boycotting the election, we
vote regardless because the fight was never about him
anyway.
He was just imperialism’s cat’s paw.
This is the election that should deliver the death blow to
the neo-colonial project and usher in the holistic
independence we struggled for since 1896 when our
forebears took up arms against the settler brigands.
It is, thus, providential that on the eve of this historic
election, after having divested ourselves of much of the
colonial baggage we inherited in 1980, the British High
Priestess, Queen Elizabeth II, stripped President Mugabe
of the honorary knighthood she conferred in 1994, accusing
him of ‘‘abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe’’ as we report
elsewhere in this issue.
But we know better. We know the reason is President
Mugabe’s refusal to live up to the expectations of the
British, refusing to be their knight in shining armour who
safeguards their ill-gotten gains.
That is what is expected of a knight of the British
Empire, one has to dedicate one’s life to serving the
empire.
We salute President Mugabe for doing the exact opposite,
dedicating his life to serve Zimbabwe, which is why he has
drawn the wrath of the British after taking land from
their kith and kin for onward distribution to landless
black Zimbabweans.
We can only say good riddance, because the award was never
solicited anyway, let alone ever used.
At no point in his political life did President Mugabe
refer to himself as ‘‘Sir Robert’’.
The man deserving of that award today is Tsvangirai, a
faithful British servant. They can as well confer it on
him as he represents everything expected of a ‘‘good’’
African.
Over the coming months, President Mugabe leads the charge
to the mines and factories to ensure that we own
everything down to our ants and reptiles, which is why he
ran his campaign under the theme: "100 percent
Empowerment, Total Independence" .
As such, the stripping of the knighthood, which was meant
to humiliate him, has actually honoured him.
The symbolism is not lost to us.
What it means is Zimbabwe has been divested of the last
vestige of colonialism and President Mugabe enters this
decisive election a free man.
The mantle is now on our shoulders to strip this country
of British puppet politics by consigning Tsvangirai to the
dustbin.
‘Knighthood withdrawal on President a blessing’
Herald Reporter
QUEEN Elizabeth’s decision to withdraw an honorary
knighthood bestowed on President Mugabe in 1994 is
actually a blessing in disguise as it removes one of the
last vestiges of colonial titles on an outstanding African
statesman and revolutionary, analysts said yesterday.
While the rabid western media ranted and raved about the
event because of their warped value system, progressive
Zimbabweans saw it as signifying the further
decolonisation of Africa.
A social commentator said Zimbabwe was independent and has
its own value systems that protect African humanism,
integrity and empowerment.
"The decolonisation process was a rejection of British
value systems and so as Zimbabweans we simply see this as
the removal of one of the last vestiges of colonialism. No
one has ever referred to our President as ‘Sir’ Robert
Mugabe. He is known as ‘Comrade’ Robert Mugabe and that
says it all," he said.
The analyst said the move should be seen as further proof
of the British Empire’s brazen interference in Zimbabwe’s
internal affairs, as if the country is still their colony.
Observers said it was shameful that the Queen still thinks
the knighthood has more meaning to Zimbabweans than the
100 percent black empowerment programme that President
Mugabe has embarked on.
The Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, Cde
Bright Matonga yesterday laughed off the development,
saying the continued existence of the knighthood had given
the British the mistaken impression that they still held
some form of sway over the country.
"My President never used that knighthood. It meant nothing
to him and it means nothing to us as Zimbabweans and this
is why it was never talked about here.
"Zimbabwe is not a part of the British Empire and their
titles and honoraria mean nothing to us unless they
promote the values and virtues of our existence in the
form on protection of our land rights and our right to
exploit our resources.
"My President has nothing to benefit from being considered
a subject of the British Queen. It is something we
rejected and that is why Britain today is trying to meddle
in our affairs. The same goes for the honorary degrees
that various Western institutions gave him.
"Cde Mugabe is a very educated man with seven degrees of
his own that he earned through his own sweat. You will
not hear him talking about his honorary degrees and in
fact, they can take them away along with the knighthood,"
Cde Matonga said.
The withdrawal of the knighthood comes at a time when
Britain, America and their allies have upped pressure to
divide Sadc by clandestinely engaging individual regional
leaders to isolate Zimbabwe and effect regime change.
The Americans, which fully understand that the impasse
between Harare and London is strictly from the failure by
London to honour Lancaster House agreements over the land
reform, has joined in the fight disguised as a democracy
lecturer yet it is looking for soil to establish its
military base for Africom in the region.
"The whole American story is that of trying to establish
military base in Africa and President Mugabe is a threat
because he would certainly reject such a move. The British
story is a bilateral problem emanating from the historical
colonial land issue.
"This knighthood is meaningless to land hungry black
Zimbabweans. It should also assume the same meaningless
form in the rest of Africa because Africans do not survive
on knighthood but on their resources, such as land.
"Knighthood did not bring independence to Zimbabwe and to
Africa. It was the war waged by comrades that brought
independence to Zimbabwe and it is the land revolution
that makes sense to President Mugabe’s supporters not
knighthood.
"I am sure that given a choice between knighthood on one
side and his country’s independence, sovereignty and 100
percent empowerment any reasonable Zimbabwean would never
go for knighthood,’’ said a social commentator.
Social leader Bishop Trevor Manhanga, the chairman of the
Heads of Christian Denominations in Zimbabwe, added to
this saying the knighthood had no value whatsoever to
President Mugabe and to Zimbabwe.
"It is totally of no significance. Of what value is a
British knighthood to a Zimbabwean? I don’t think the
majority of Zimbabweans even know or care what criteria is
used to bestow these things," he laughed.
Interestingly, on the same day that Queen Elizabeth’s
decision was made public, the British monarch was
knighting Mr Salman Rushdie, an Indian-born writer who for
10 years was wanted in his homeland for blasphemy after
authoring the novel, The Satanic Verses.
In 1989, the Supreme Leader of Islam Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini passed a death sentence on Mr Rushdie for
desecrating the Moslem faith and the writer has since
lived in the UK under the protection of British special
agents.
Defend Zim’s sovereignty: Nkomo
Herald Reporter
ZIMBABWEANS should go in their numbers to vote today as
the right to vote and the sovereignty they currently
enjoy came through the liberation struggle and cannot be
subverted, Zanu-PF National Chairman Cde John Nkomo has
said.
In a statement televised on Wednesday night, Cde Nkomo
said no one could overturn the sovereignty of the
Zimbabwean people by dictating how and when they should
vote.
He said events of the past few days had exposed the
intimate links between the opposition and Western
political establishments.
"Our statehood and our nationhood are under severe threat.
The question before each and every one of us is whether,
advertently or inadvertently, we will go down in the
annals of history as defenders of our motherland or as
traitors who unabashedly volunteered for servitude.
"They have jointly agitated for international punitive
measures against Zimbabwe with a view to dislodging the
progressive Government of President Mugabe. The ferocity
of the anti-Zimbabwe campaign underscores what is at stake
— our independence and future as a nation. Evidently this
onslaught is being directed from London and Washington," he
said.
Cde Nkomo said Zanu-PF has continuously reaffirmed its
credentials as the people’s party since independence.
It was imperative, Cde Nkomo said, that as the electorate
cast its vote it be imbued with a sense of history and
destiny as June 27, 2008 was a direct result of April 18,
1980.
Cde Nkomo said it was travesty of natural justice for
those who colonised Zimbabwe and denied its people basic
human rights for centuries to suddenly change into
champions of democracy.
"It is also disheartening to realise that fellow
Zimbabweans, especially those who shunned the liberation
struggle, are eager today to serve the interests of our
sworn enemies.
"The domestic vote we take for granted today was earned
through the blood, sweat and tears of the gallant sons and
daughters of Zimbabwe. Zanu-PF Presidential candidate Cde
Mugabe is the embodiment of our arduous struggle for the
independence and liberty. He is a man of the moment and
future," Cde Nkomo said.
The land reform programme, he said, which democratised
property relations in the agricultural sector has brought
economic empowerment to the indigenous people and made
them masters of their own destiny.
"It is no coincidence that the 100 percent Empowerment and
Total Independence are twin thrust of our electoral
campaign. These underline our unflinching commitment to
social and economic justice.
"We realise that the essence of governance also entails
the total and full empowerment of our citizens. The
economic challenges that we face today can only be resolved
with the full participation of our citizenry," Cde Nkomo
said.
He said Cde Mugabe’s revolutionary zeal and patriotism
had attracted attention from those who had unfettered
access to resources and have mobilised opposition both
domestically and externally to scuttle the Zanu-PF
empowerment agenda.
"We are all aware of the untold brutality and pain
inflicted by the Rhodesian forces at home and in our
liberation camps located in our neighbouring countries.
"It never crossed our minds to abandon the struggle and
our people to seek sanctuary at foreign mission. It was a
fight we had to fight to finish," Cde Nkomo said.
He said Cde Mugabe had stood by his word and has never
shortchanged his people for the sake of filthy lucre.
Cde Nkomo scoffed at Tsvangirai’s theatrics that had seen
him dash in and out of a foreign mission saying they
reflected on his character.
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