Thread: The Zimbabwe Situation

Surely it won't happen yet, but another ominous development nevertheless:

Zimbabwe: West Exploits Cholera to Undermine Mugabe
By VOA News
07 December 2008

Kenya's prime minister has called for foreign troops to enter Zimbabwe to help end that country's deepening humanitarian crisis.

Speaking in Nairobi Sunday, Raila Odinga said the African Union must immediately authorize sending troops into Zimbabwe.

He said if no AU troops are available, the AU must allow the United Nations to send its own forces into Zimbabwe. Mr. Odinga said the foreign troops would, in his words, take over control of the country and ensure urgent humanitarian assistance to people dying of cholera and starvation.

Nearly 600 people have died from cholera in Zimbabwe since an outbreak that began in August. The country is also suffering from widespread food shortages and a breakdown of its health care system.

Elsewhere Sunday, a group of international statesmen said the current Zimbabwean government cannot lead the country out of its humanitarian crisis.

The Elders group, which includes former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is urging the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to engage more actively in helping Zimbabwe transition to a more inclusive power sharing government.

Power-sharing talks between the party of President Robert Mugabe and the opposition led by Morgan Tsvangirai have been stalled for months.

State-run media in Zimbabwe Sunday accused the West of using the cholera outbreak to rally support for regime change.

The editorial in the Sunday Mail newspaper says U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Race is using the health crisis to appeal for the toppling of President Robert Mugabe, "instead of marshaling humanitarian assistance."

Rice said Friday that it is well past time for Mr. Mugabe to leave office and urged African nations to take stronger action against his government.

The Mugabe government has repeatedly blamed the country's problems on Western sanctions that target the president's aides and allies. Critics blame Zimbabwe's collapse on mismanagement and repressive policies.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Namibia is coming to rescue of Zimbabwe:

Namibia donates drugs to fight cholera

By Daniel Nemukuyu

NAMIBIA has become the first Sadc country to respond to Zimbabwe’s call for assistance in fighting cholera and improving the situation in hospitals by donating water purification chemicals, drugs and medical equipment valued at US$200 000.

Zimbabwe appealed for help after declaring the cholera outbreak that has so far killed more than 500 people and the situation in hospitals a national emergency.

Handing over the donation which included malaria treatment drugs, antibiotics, needles and drips to the Government at Manyame Airbase in Harare yesterday, Namibian Minister of Health and Social Welfare Dr Richard Kamwi pledged more medical supplies to help in the fight against cholera.

Dr Kamwi said Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba and his government had to take the drugs and equipment from their own reserves after taking into account Zimbabwe’s urgent needs.

"Namibia had been following the health situation in Zimbabwe with concern and I feel we actually delayed in responding. You (Zimbabweans) deserve this donation.

"This is the first consignment from our own stocks and for now, we have just brought 60 percent and we will send the remaining 40 percent in due course," said Dr Kamwi.

He regretted that Namibia had not been able to respond much earlier, pointing out that when a neighbour’s house is on fire, "we immediately respond and that is exactly what we are and what Zimbabwe has been doing to us in the past years".

"Last year and early this year, we had a similar outbreak in Katima and Dr Parirenyatwa did not hesitate to send us experts who joined Mozambique and other countries without us paying a single cent," Dr Kamwi said.

"It seems the situation in the country was going out of hand and we tabled the issue in the cabinet and President Hifikepunye Pohamba approved the plan to assist Zimbabwe."

He hoped the cordial relations between Namibia and Zimbabwe would continue to flourish.

Speaking at the same occasion, Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa thanked Namibia for the assistance and assured his Namibian counterpart that the donation would be put to good use in the prevention and management of cholera.

"The speed at which our call was handled by Namibia, a developing country like us, was extremely touching.

"When cholera started, we made a public request and Dr Kamwi took it to cabinet and the nation resolved to assist us at no cost. I would want to thank you and appreciate this spirit of solidarity in the region," said Dr Parirenyatwa.

He also used the opportunity to urge the nation to avoid shaking hands at social gatherings to prevent the spread of cholera.

"People should watch out for weddings, funerals and other social gatherings which are agents of the spread of cholera. We should avoid shaking hands and uphold high standards of hygiene," he said.

Dr Parirenyatwa discouraged the nation and stakeholders from politicising the cholera outbreak which he said should be handled and managed professionally.

Several senior Government officials and the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Namibia, Cde Chipo Zindoga, accompanied Dr Kamwi.

"Cholera affects everyone and it does not choose between Zanu-PF and MDC supporters. We should work together to bring the outbreak under control," said Dr Parirenyatwa.

Several Government senior officials and the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Namibia, Cde Chipo Zindoga, accompanied Dr Kamwi to Zimbabwe.

The consignment was offloaded at Manyame Airbase around 4pm.

And so he should, considering some of the things that have happened under his watch.

Mugabe is scared - ANC

Johannesburg - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will be persuaded to retire, a senior official in in the ANC said on Thursday.

Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the ANC brushed off suggestions that Mugabe could only be forced out through a military invasion.

"I don't think invading Zimbabwe or sanctions would work," he said.

"What will we do to make Mugabe retire? We will persuade him," Mantashe said, according to Sapa news agency.

Mantashe said that South Africa would prefer to deal with Zimbabwe "on a government-to-government level and on a party-to-party level".

He said the ANC leadership had discussed Mugabe's reasons for wanting to stay in power, saying the 84-year-old was afraid of being arrested and charged with war crimes like former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Taylor, who was Liberia's president from 1997 to 2003, was forced into exile in Nigeria before being extradited to the Hague.

"The Hague has taken a number of African people. Mugabe can't be given any guarantees for his safety in retirement," Sapa quoted Mantashe as saying.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, when he was hailed as a liberation hero.

Now the opposition accuses his party of orchestrating deadly political attacks while the country crumbles.

Several mainly Western countries have called on him to step down. - AFP

It'll take more than that.....

CAPE TOWN (AFP) — Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai appear to be "getting along" as the dawn of their new unity government nears, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe told media Sunday.

"They seem to be getting along fairly well," Motlanthe said of the two Zimbabwe leaders, who are preparing to formally share power under a regional-brokered deal after years of feuding.

"We are optimistic that they can at least manage a transition period until they are ready to hold fresh elections," Motlanthe said.

Tsvangirai is set to be sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday under a power-sharing deal South Africa mediated between the opposition leader and Mugabe in September.

The pact aims to end almost a year of intense political turmoil following disputed March 2008 elections, in which Tsvangirai's party seized a parliamentary majority in the first round.

"Whether they like it or not, or whether they like each other or not, they are bound to work together if anything is to be passed by that assembly and if the country iself is to pull itself out of poverty and disintegration of its infrastructure," said Motlanthe.

Political analysts have said they doubt a union government will work, citing a deeply-rooted lack of confidence between the two men.

Mugabe has frequently referred to his adversary as a Western "lackey" or "puppet," while Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe, in power since 1980, of human rights violations.

Short of lifting sanctions, it can offer targeted help to boost Mugabe's rival. By the Monitor's Editorial Board:

A sliver of light is shining in Zimbabwe, once a star nation in Africa that's been brutally mismanaged by dictator Robert Mugabe. This week, Mr. Mugabe's rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, is expected to become prime minister in a new power-sharing government. Few give the deal much hope, yet it must be given the opportunity to succeed.

How big an opportunity?
Africa's leaders, as voiced by the 53-member African Union, say the new unity government is cause for the international community to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe. Now's the time, it argues, to help to its feet a country staggering under hyperinflation and near-total joblessness, hunger and severe health problems – including a cholera epidemic.

Not so fast, caution the United States and European Union. They're lukewarm to the new political arrangement, and want to see proof of power-sharing and effective governance before they'll ease sanctions.

But doing nothing also leaves Mr. Tsvangirai with nothing – no leverage to succeed, and probably more likely to fail than if he had at least some tangible outside help to rely on. Small, targeted steps can be taken that are short of ending sanctions.

Western diplomats are right that this big move is premature. Mugabe, in power for nearly 30 years, stubbornly remains president, and he has a long history of broken promises.

He did not deliver on free or fair elections last year, when he lost to Tsvangirai and this trade unionist's Movement for Democratic Change. Neither has he allowed the free flow of humanitarian aid to desperate Zimbabweans – instead blaming the West for the country's problems.

And while Mugabe signed the power-sharing deal last September, it broke down over the divvying up of ministries and arrests of opposition figures. Last fall, Tsvangirai had hoped to at least gain control of the police (Mugabe gets the Army); he's since been forced to accept joint command.

Other factors bode ill for a unity government. Tsvangirai is considered feckless by some, and his party unprepared to govern. The one outside power that could truly apply pressure to Mugabe, neighboring South Africa, shirks from crossing a man still recognized for his role as liberator from white rule.

Still, while the West may be justified in its distrust of this deal, it is one that Tsvangirai has chosen – and the only option for now.

What the West can and should do is publicly offer limited humanitarian assistance to Tsvangirai, channeled through the ministries that the opposition in theory will control. Food, medical assistance, and temporary shelter could be funneled through the health ministry, for instance.

The West should demand accountability along with this help, then be willing to pull the plug if the aid is blocked by Mugabe and his supporters, or diverted to them – as it has been in the past.

With such a strategy, Tsvangirai has something to work with, and, if he can deliver, perhaps show even Mugabe's supporters that he's the one to back.

A unity government in Zimbabwe may last only weeks. But the West should do what it can to hasten success – not failure.

Here we go again. You would have thought that a decade later the issue would have been resolved and put to rest. But it seems there remains the attitude in the regime that not enoug damage has been brought to bear on the agricultural sector, on white farmes, on the workers earning a livelihood on these farms - the looting continues. Asset stripping at its best, it seems to me.

Zimbabwe Launches Drive to Remove Last White Farmers
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
10 February 2009


Zimbabwe's remaining few hundred white farmers are under intense pressure to abandon their land, crops, homes and workers on the eve of a unity government. Most white farmers were evicted from their land by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's government earlier this decade.


Peter Bowen, 42, a white farmer from Zimbabwe, points to his potato cultivations (File)
Zimbabwe's remaining white commercial farmers are being threatened with violent eviction or charges of trespass. Several top vegetable producers have already been evicted from their small holdings on the northern edge of Harare.

Chris Jarett of the group Justice for Agriculture tells VOA some of the farmers being targeted are among the 78 who late last year, won a case before a Southern African Development Community tribunal that declared their evictions illegal and ordered the Zimbabwe government to re-compensate them.

Southern African Federation of Agricultural Unions vice president Doug Taylor-Freeme says vindictive hardliners of the Zanu-PF party are behind attempts to drive remaining commercial farmers off their land because they are trying to grab what they can before the unity government is effectively up and running.

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai is to be sworn in as prime minister Wednesday in the power-sharing government with President Robert Mugabe.

Taylor-Freeme says it is distressing that members of Zimbabwe's Department of Justice had allowed themselves to be part of planning this concerted action against farmers, which began about three weeks ago.

He says the campaign and court intitiatives to immediately evict most of the remaining white farmers would be a national disaster for this season, and to rebuilding Zimbabwe's food production in future.

One of those who has been summoned to court is prominent food producer Charles Lock. He was acquitted of trespass last year for being on his own farm. Now a summons has been delivered to his workers for him to appear in court Wednesday, the day the new unity government is sworn in to power. He is away from his farm on business at present, but his lawyers say they are concerned that his acquittal could be reversed.

The Mugabe government began a compulsory program to redistribute land to blacks in 2000. Charges that the program is designed to reward loyal Mugabe deputies have persisted since then.

Economists say Zimbabwe's land program is a large factor in the country's failing economy.

Jarret says the loss of production on seized farms spreads to businesses such as millers, soap makers, and oil producers - many of which have not opened their doors since Christmas. In addition to their own families, the farmers each employ between 10 and 150 workers and each of the worker's families average about six individuals - all of whom lose their homes and livelihood when evicted.

Taylor-Freeme also tells VOA that commercial farms are among the few rural areas where cholera has not taken hold as workers have access to clean water and safe sewage systems. The World Health Organization says nearly 100,000 people have been infected and about 3,500 have died in the cholera epidemic.

The WHO also says more than seven million Zimbabweans, more than half the population, need emergency feeding in a country that was a net exporter of food before land reform.

I have no words.

Robert Mugabe loyalists plan final eviction of white farmers as his "birthday present"
A secret plan has been hatched by by Robert Mugabe's most loyal supporters to evict the last of Zimbabwe's white farmers from their land before his 85th birthday.

By Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Colin Freeman
Last Updated: 5:37PM GMT 14 Feb 2009
Robert Mugabe loyalists plan final eviction of white farmers as his
Mr Mugabe's will celebrate his 85th birthday next Sunday 22 February - the deadline for the action

Their leader is already planning to celebrate the occasion with vast quantities of champagne and caviar, despite half his country facing starvation.

But just in case the Bollinger laid on for President Mugabe's 85th birthday does not provide quite enough fizz, his acolytes are preparing an extra surprise for the occasion - a fresh onslaught against Zimbabwe's last white farmers.

Police, prosecutors and magistrates loyal to the Zimbabwean president are understood to be co-ordinating a strategy of mass summons against the few hundred remaining white owners, aiming to bring them to court and serve eviction notices over the coming week.

The deadline for completing the action is on Saturday Feb 21 - the day before Mr Mugabe's birthday, and a week before his planned official birthday bash, which has already provoked a storm of criticism for its extravagance. The hospitality will reportedly include 2,000 bottles of Moet and Chandon and '61 Bollinger champagne, 500 bottles of Johnny Walker Blue Label whisky, 400 portions of caviar and 8,000 lobsters.

While no official reason has been given for the fresh campaign of evictions, insiders suspect it is timed to hand Mr Mugabe a potent propaganda gift during his birthday celebrations, which normally feature grandstanding anti-colonial speeches to the nation.

The Sunday Telegraph has learned that last Tuesday, in contravention of justice laws, groups of law enforcement officials held a secret eviction strategy meeting in Mutare, 160 miles east of Harare. The plan was to send out a blizzard of court summons to all local white farmers who had so far defied eviction orders, aiming to put them on fast-track trial and jail them for up to two years. In the meantime, new occupants, mostly servicemen, will be allowed to move on to their land.

The officials are believed to think that with the world's attention focused on the inauguration of Zimbabwe's new powersharing cabinet, cries of foul play will go largely unheeded.

Among those to receive a summons was farmer Michael Mackersie, who will head to court on Monday for the 63rd time in three years. "If I lose this one, I think that will be it," said Mr Mackersie.

The Law Society of Zimbabwe said that if it could that prove any of the government judicial officers were members, they would be expelled.

But as well as legal moves, the renewed land grab campaign has also involved violent harassment. Mike Odendaal, a farmer, is currently surrounded by a pro-Mugabe militia at his home in Chipinge, about 40 miles south of Mutare, "We have advised him to stay inside. If he moves outside he may be attacked and they will take his house and then he is gone," said Deon Theron, vice president of the Commercial Farmers' Union.

"This is the biggest push against us in the last few years, worse than the violent weeks after the opposition MDC won last year's election."

Last November, Mr Mackersie was one of 78 farmers who won their case at the Southern African Development Community Tribunal, a court of last resort which ruled that Mr Mugabe had ethnically purged white farmers and failed to pay compensation. It ordered that those white farmers who had so far resisted the land grab, in which more than 4,000 white farming familes were kicked off their land, be left in peace.

Mr Mugabe, who launched the land grab policy nine years ago as part of a campaign to redress perceived colonial injustices, has said that the tribunal has no jurisdiction in Zimbabwe.

I have no words. OK, this article is from the British Telegraph, but if it is true, we are set for yet more of the insanity that has prevailed over the past few years....

Robert Mugabe loyalists plan final eviction of white farmers as his "birthday present"
A secret plan has been hatched by by Robert Mugabe's most loyal supporters to evict the last of Zimbabwe's white farmers from their land before his 85th birthday.

By Peta Thornycroft in Harare and Colin Freeman
Last Updated: 5:37PM GMT 14 Feb 2009
Robert Mugabe loyalists plan final eviction of white farmers as his
Mr Mugabe's will celebrate his 85th birthday next Sunday 22 February - the deadline for the action

Their leader is already planning to celebrate the occasion with vast quantities of champagne and caviar, despite half his country facing starvation.

But just in case the Bollinger laid on for President Mugabe's 85th birthday does not provide quite enough fizz, his acolytes are preparing an extra surprise for the occasion - a fresh onslaught against Zimbabwe's last white farmers.

Police, prosecutors and magistrates loyal to the Zimbabwean president are understood to be co-ordinating a strategy of mass summons against the few hundred remaining white owners, aiming to bring them to court and serve eviction notices over the coming week.

The deadline for completing the action is on Saturday Feb 21 - the day before Mr Mugabe's birthday, and a week before his planned official birthday bash, which has already provoked a storm of criticism for its extravagance. The hospitality will reportedly include 2,000 bottles of Moet and Chandon and '61 Bollinger champagne, 500 bottles of Johnny Walker Blue Label whisky, 400 portions of caviar and 8,000 lobsters.

While no official reason has been given for the fresh campaign of evictions, insiders suspect it is timed to hand Mr Mugabe a potent propaganda gift during his birthday celebrations, which normally feature grandstanding anti-colonial speeches to the nation.

The Sunday Telegraph has learned that last Tuesday, in contravention of justice laws, groups of law enforcement officials held a secret eviction strategy meeting in Mutare, 160 miles east of Harare. The plan was to send out a blizzard of court summons to all local white farmers who had so far defied eviction orders, aiming to put them on fast-track trial and jail them for up to two years. In the meantime, new occupants, mostly servicemen, will be allowed to move on to their land.

The officials are believed to think that with the world's attention focused on the inauguration of Zimbabwe's new powersharing cabinet, cries of foul play will go largely unheeded.

Among those to receive a summons was farmer Michael Mackersie, who will head to court on Monday for the 63rd time in three years. "If I lose this one, I think that will be it," said Mr Mackersie.

The Law Society of Zimbabwe said that if it could that prove any of the government judicial officers were members, they would be expelled.

But as well as legal moves, the renewed land grab campaign has also involved violent harassment. Mike Odendaal, a farmer, is currently surrounded by a pro-Mugabe militia at his home in Chipinge, about 40 miles south of Mutare, "We have advised him to stay inside. If he moves outside he may be attacked and they will take his house and then he is gone," said Deon Theron, vice president of the Commercial Farmers' Union.

"This is the biggest push against us in the last few years, worse than the violent weeks after the opposition MDC won last year's election."

Last November, Mr Mackersie was one of 78 farmers who won their case at the Southern African Development Community Tribunal, a court of last resort which ruled that Mr Mugabe had ethnically purged white farmers and failed to pay compensation. It ordered that those white farmers who had so far resisted the land grab, in which more than 4,000 white farming familes were kicked off their land, be left in peace.

Mr Mugabe, who launched the land grab policy nine years ago as part of a campaign to redress perceived colonial injustices, has said that the tribunal has no jurisdiction in Zimbabwe.

How many stars in the sky? How many noughts in Zim inflation?


"The Cato Institute estimates Zimbabwe's inflation rate at 89.7 sextillion
percent. That is 89.7 million million million, or twenty-one zeroes behind
the number.

"Putting that into perspective, the official count of stars in the universe
is about 70 sextillion, apparently.



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