Living Zimbabwe

Author: Living Zimbabwe

  • Zanu PF and MDC Sign Memorandum of Understanding

    Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai Shaking Hands at Signing of AgreementOn Monday the 21st of July, Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara signed an agreement to pave the way towards power sharing talks between their respective political parties. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by all three leaders in the presence of SADC facilitator Thabo Mbeki.

    The memorandum is a written agreement that Zanu PF and the two MDC factions will commit themselves into dialogue with the view of creating a sustainable solution to the Zimbabwe situation. The priorities of the dialogue will cover the economic, political, security and the communication situation in Zimbabwe. It is stated that the dialogue will be completed within in a period of two weeks and shall be facilitated in accordance with the SADC and AU resolutions.

    Click here to read the Memorandum of Understanding between Zanu PF and MDC.

    This is a big step forward towards a better Zimbabwe. Owing to recent comments and moves made by Mugabe and officials within his party, most if not all people would have ever imagined him entering into talks about a power sharing agreement. Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara have very different views on what they envisage for Zimbabwe and this fact will not make talks easy. Hopefully these talks will be fruitful and that all parties involved come up with and eventually implement steps that will lead to Zimbabwe getting back on its feet and well on the way to political, social and economic glory. The next few weeks will tell whether or not a resolution will be reached on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

  • Zimbabwe Vote Rigging Film by Shepherd Yuda

    This video taken by a Zimbabwe prison guard, Shepherd Yuda (for the Guardian) shows how the government made sure that votes were cast in their favour.

  • Mugabe Feeling The Pressure

    This week, African leaders meet in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt for an African Union (AU) summit. President Robert Mugabe made his way to Sharm el-Sheikh after his inauguration and it was clear that he did not want to hear any advice from other countries. He went there thinking that no-one would speak up about all that has taken place in Zimbabwe. This was not the case as some of the leaders at the summit took the opportunity to express their concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe. The AU commission chairman, Jean Ping was one of the first to raise his concerns about the violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe followed by Raila Odinga, the Kenyan Prime Minister who urged the AU to suspend Mugabe until he allowed free and fair elections and Ernest Koromo, the President of Sierra Leone commented that the people of Zimbabwe have been ‘denied their democratic rights.’ All the criticism would not have been easy for him to take especially with him being there at the time. This is something that is necessary and I applaud the people who have managed to speak up.

    It looks like African leaders have realized that doing nothing is not an option because Mugabe will do whatever it takes to stay in power which was evident from the June 27th election and his hasty Presidential inauguration on the 29th of June. There was nothing free and fair about that election. President Mugabe did not look too pleased at the summit after all the criticism he faced and by the looks of things he is beginning to feel the pressure. This may explain his outburst when he was approached by a journalist at the summit:

    A recent visitor to this blog, Hilary left a comment with a link to a petition to make world leaders recognize Mugabe’s crimes and speak out against him – Global Action for Zimbabwe – you can make a difference.

  • Mugabe, the Rest of the World and God

    Mugabe: A Modern Hitler Cartoon by Tom Scott of The Dominion Post featured in the June 19th edition. (Click on image to enlarge.)

    With the increasing unrest in Zimbabwe, a number of people around the world have a lot to say about the situation. All the major news networks are continually running reports on the post election violence, the June 27th run-offs that Tsvangirai has reportedly pulled out of, all that Mugabe has to say about MDC and God being the only who will remove him from office, reports by reporters who have gone undercover in Zimbabwe, UN observers visiting the nation and the list goes on. Whatever it is that is being reported, all that it is is talk and all that there ever has been from SADC countries, other African nations and the wider international community is just talk! Thabo Mbeki was called upon to mediate in Zimbabwe but he has not made any sort of meaningful progress with him at one point stating that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe. The EU has hinted at extending sanctions against Zimbabwe but these sanctions have done more to harm the people of Zimbabwe than the people they are targeted towards to which they have had little effect. Political figures talk about how it must be made clear to Mugabe and his regime that what is going on in Zimbabwe is unacceptable and out of everything that has been said nothing has hit home for the ruling party to convince them to rethink their policies.

    A lot more intervention is needed in order to remove Mugabe from office be it from within Zimbabwe, Africa or the wider international community but people have had enough and can no longer live they way that they do. Just about everything that is being said at the moment has been said before with people calling upon SADC (who have been called upon before) to intervene. Do people not care about Zimbabwe that much and are waiting for another Darfur situation and only come to some sort of realization when too much harm has been done? This last weekend Mugabe insisted he would not step aside for MDC and went as far as saying “Only God, who appointed me, will remove me — not the MDC, not the British. Only God will remove me!” Zimbabweans are religious a people and there are a lot of people praying for salvation. He may have unknowingly sealed his own fate when he said what he said because at this point in time God may be the only one able to remove him from power and set the people of Zimbabwe FREE.

    God may indeed be the only one who can SAVE ZIMABWE now.

    For an insight into what some people in New Zealand have to say about Zimbabwe, here are three interviews that took place on Newstalk ZB June 23, 2008:

    Titus Katiyo (Zimbabwe Association of New Zealand) – click here for audio
    Helen Clark (Prime Minister of New Zealand) – click here for audio
    Winston Peters (Minister of Foreign Affairs) – click here for audio

  • Zimbabwe Voter Registration Search

    The presidential run-off elections scheduled for 27th of June are just around the corner. For Zimbabweans who are interested, you can do an online search for your voter registration details via the following link:
    zimvoter.com

  • Zimbabwe Election Violence Report by Ian Pannell

    Even though the BBC is banned from reporting from Zimbabwe yet another one of their correspondents has managed to enter the country and report on events taking place in Zimbabwe. Ian Pannell has reportedly spent the last month in Zimbabwe following the election campaign. Below is Ian Pannell’s report from Manicaland.

  • Deposing Mugabe by Learning From Nature

    Lion and Buffalo StandoffOne of the basic animal instincts needed in order to stay alive is fighting for survival. I was watching a video on YouTube and thinking about it in terms of the current situation in Zimbabwe. For years people have been trying to bring Mugabe’s rule to an end but to no avail. In two weeks time Tsvangirai will go against Mugabe in a second round of voting but since the first round of voting in March things have not gone smoothly for MDC and its supporters.

    The video (below) is about a pride of lions stalking a herd of buffalo. The lions get their paws on a calf. The struggle between the buffalo and lions at the waters edge in turn leads to the calf being attacked by a crocodile too but the lions eventually win over the crocodile and work on killing their prey. The herd of buffalo that had fled away return to help their own and after some hesitation one charges the lions, another flicks one into the air with the herd eventually saving the young buffalo from certain death and they succeed in chasing the away the lions.

    This situation is somewhat reminiscent of events in Zimbabwe in the fact that you have the King of The Jungle (Mugabe & Zanu PF) doing what they do and being feared by just about everyone in the Animal Kingdom (The General Population & MDC). In most cases when a lion pounces on its prey (with assistance from other lions for big prey) survivors or those lucky not to have been picked scatter completely or watch helplessly from a distance as one of their own succumbs. For a number of years Zimbabweans have been watching innocent members of the public and the opposition being subjected to violent attacks and murder, elections being allegedly stolen, suppression of freedom of speech and other various steps taken by the ruling party to stay at the helm.

    Most of the time it is impossible to win over the king of the jungle but it is not impossible as you can see in the video. If the people of Zimbabwe really wanted to or when they have really had enough they should/will come together for their cause as the buffalo did. All it will takes is a few very brave individuals to charge at one the lions or fling one into the air to get the ball rolling for the rest of the herd to follow suit. If you take a look at the xenophobia attacks that took place in South Africa, groups of people banded together for a cause which in their eyes was necessary. In a sense they succeeded at achieving their goals with the exodus of a number of foreigners. There is nothing stopping people in Zimbabwe from grouping together the way people in South Africa did and pushing hard towards a cause that they feel will be worthwhile. This is a feat easier said than done but is it something that is impossible?

  • Zimbabwe Resistance Movement

    Below is a very interesting article about a military movement that has apparently been set up to depose Mugabe. If this is infact true it just goes to show that Zimbabweans have had enough and are ready to do whatever it takes to remove Mugabe from office.

    05 June 2008

    FELLOW Zimbabweans, it is with deep regret and trepidation that we announce the formation of the Zimbabwe Resistance Movement, a military organisation comprising of serving and former members of the Zimbabwe armed forces and security services.

    We thought it would not come to this, but unfortunately the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe has forced us to take this unprecedented move. We are firm believers of democracy but we are also alive to the fact that the democratic means are not necessarily the only options available to achieve democracy.

    We have discovered that the problem in Zimbabwe is a military one and therefore, require a military solution to bring a resolution to our long suffering. We acknowledge the efforts that have been made by numerous political, civic and student groups to achieve a democratic transition, but also note the arrogance of a few politicians, generals, colonels, police chiefs and top brass of the CIO.

    It is against this background, that we, serving and former military, police and CIO men and women believe that we would be doing our once great nation a disservice if we do not challenge the status quo by all means that are open to us, including but not limited to militarily means.

    For the benefit of our geriatric leadership that is fond of conspiracies, we would like to place it on record that we are a stand alone organisation, with its own leadership and doctrine. We, are however, not averse to alliances with like minded people, groups and organizations that are committed to the removal of the evil and despotic Robert Mugabe regime by any means necessary.

    WHO ARE WE?

    We are a group of serving and ex-servicemen and women who were and/ or are intimately involved in the operations of the Army, Air force, Police, CIO and Prisons.

    We are aware of what is happening at all military, police and CIO establishments such as 1 Commando, Inkomo, Magunje, Ngezi Barracks, KGV1, Chikurubi, Manyame Airbase, Suri Suri, and Thornhill.

    We would not hesitate to use the confidential and classified information and knowledge that we have about sensitive security and military state that we have to strike fear and pandemonium into the ranks of this dictatorship, which is causing untold suffering and hardships on its people that it claims it fought to liberate from colonialism.

    We are in everyday contact with Officers and other ranks in the armed forces and security services that places us at an unassailable position of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each battalion, squadron, brigade etc.

    Furthermore we have minute and intimate personal details of the politicians, generals, CIO directors and police commissioners who are wreaking havoc on our people. These details include, and are not limited to their residential addresses, the security details, the communal areas that they hail from, their farms, the schools that their children attend, their itineraries and mistresses. We reserve the right to strike this dictatorship where it hurts most and as they have chosen to be indiscriminate in their attacks on the Zimbabwean people, we are also going to be indiscriminate. History abounds with cases where the people have chosen to be as indiscriminate in their revenge as those who instigate the killings in the first place.

    Let those who are instigating the current wave of killings of innocent children, men and women not say we were not warned when the people’s juggernaut exacts revenge on the perpetrators.

    We reserve the right to use any means available and necessary to get rid of him and other impediments to the realisation of a full democracy in our beloved country.

    We aim to cripple and suffocate the dictatorship’s financial ability to continue to finance the killings and we will be targeting the financiers of this killing spree. To this end, we are hereby serving notice to Gideon Gono, who has unashamedly abdicated from his professional role, opting instead to align himself with the cause of the people’s suffering.

    We will exert our energies on exterminating and disrupting the operations of businesses that finance the regime such as Barclays Bank and those that are fronts for the people who are the cause of our suffering.

    It is widely acknowledged that the dictator and his surrogates use companies registered in the relatives’ names as conduits of siphoning money and resources from the state. It therefore does not surprise anyone that today they live opulent lifestyles and have amassed huge fortunes despite having no known history of primitive accumulation.

    AIM

    We are guided by our desire to free Zimbabwe from the burden of the Mugabe dictatorship.

    Zimbabweans should know that the MDC won an absolute majority in the June 2000 parliamentary elections; that Morgan Tsvangirai won by over 500 000 votes in the March 2002 presidential elections; and that he won convincingly in the March 2008 elections. They should know that Mugabe is still there because of intransigent generals who are afraid of Tsvangirai’s pronouncements that he will establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, if and when he assumes the reins of power.

    Zimbabweans should also know that even if Tsvangirai were to win again on June 27, there is little likelihood that these generals acting in cohort with Emmerson Mnangagwa are going to allow the people’s will to prevail, just like they have denied us since 2000. Mnangagwa knows that Mugabe is terminally ill and that he will handover power to him by the end of this year. We will take our fight with Mnangagwa to Zambia where his family live so that he will realize how traumatic it is to indiscriminately butcher defenceless people for simply having exercised their democratic right.

    Some of us, as serving soldiers, police officers and prison officers, we have already been denied our democratic right to choose who we want to lead us as we been directed to vote in front of our superiors. We would like to place it on record that we will do this under protest and urge our country men and women to do to Mugabe what he has denied us.

    We would like to urge our people to be extra careful and vigilant in these dangerous and desperate times as there are lot of blood thirsty vulnerable young people who are armed and have been freshly minted by Gideon Gono, an arch accomplice in the suffering of our people.

    The people who are killing and maiming the defenseless men, women and children are predominantly young recruits and war veterans who are being armed and let loose to commit the greasily murders.

    MDC and human rights activists as well as lawyers should avoid walking alone and patronizing the areas they normally frequent. We advise that they lie low until after the elections as the current abductions that are just an eye before the storm.
    Fellow Zimbabweans, there is only one outcome to expect on 28 or 20 June 2008, the delayed but eventual DEPARTURE of Robert Mugabe and if that is not announced by the poodles who run ZEC, then that is our call to ARMS.

    LETS SPREAD THE WORD – MUGABE MUST GO OR BE FORCED OUT

    Zimbabwe Resistance Movement

    Source: Nehanda Radio

  • Mugabe The Hero

    Zimbabwe is in a bad state at the moment and most of the blame has been pointed towards Mugabe and his governance and he himself has pointed a lot of blame towards the West and their supporters. A number of people will also know he is very much against imperialism and at the moment he is fighting to stop those engaged in reversing the gains of Zimbabwe’s liberation.

    Wars have taken place throughout the history of mankind and majority of them have taken place to gain freedom from a foreign ruler. One of the main reasons for wars besides a want for freedom is that of land taken over by foreign powers. In 1979 land reform issues were a major stumbling block during discussions of the independence constitution, the Lancaster House Agreement. The Agreement came with a ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ plan where white farmers were compensated for land they lost with funds provided by the British. In 1997 the British government, under the leadership of Tony Blair stopped funding this compensation which may have played a very big part in Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform program.

    Almost half of the arable land was in the hands of the white minority and Mugabe did not see Zimbabwe as being truly independent because of the percentage of arable land owned by white colonialists. He took drastic steps to rid the land of so called colonialists and give it back to its original and rightful owners. He is one of a few leaders in modern times to take extreme measures to ensure that colonialists have little or no influence in affairs of a nation.

    Mugabe has been called one of the great African liberation fighters because of his efforts in the liberation struggle and in more recent times for stepping up and taking measures to rid Zimbabwe of foreign influence. He is hailed as a hero by a number of people for taking a firm stand against imperialism.

    A number of nations and leaders around the world are against colonialism/imperialism. During a visit to Algeria, French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned colonialism with the following statement, “Yes, the colonial system was profoundly unjust, contrary to the three founding words of our Republic: freedom, equality, brotherhood,” he said. Even though he said he was against colonialism he was not apologetic for France’s colonial past. Kevin Rudd is the only leader in recent history I can recall apologizing to an indigenous people for the actions of colonial masters. In New Zealand talk does come up on the occasion about breaking ties with the Monarchy and becoming independent which just goes to show that everyone the world over wants ‘true independence’ even if the nation were they reside is in a good state.

    Where Mugabe has faltered may be in the methods he has taken to try and get Zimbabwe to the point he sees as being independent. Is Mugabe wrong for having the view that he has on Colonial and Western powers?

  • Post Election Violence in Zimbabwe