What is Mugabe's problem?

[murdock]

why would he give up his life style...he lives better than a king...he has got toooo much to loose.

voting was a good opitunity for him to expose and pin point all mdc supporters and key members...and now he can crack down on them...good move...if you want to expose your opposition...now he just needs all his weapons being sent from china...and he can start a civil war.

[Dave A]

The president and general secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions are being subjected to "intensive interrogation", police in Harare confirmed on Friday.

The two were arrested on Thursday on charges of inciting violence and making inflammatory statements about the government during a May Day rally.

Lovemore Matombo and Wellington Chibebe are said to have made "false statements" about farm workers and others in the rural areas being killed and harassed by forces supporting the ruling Zanu-PF.
full story from IOL here

I suppose the sequel is someone being arrested for making false statements about the harassment of ZCTU leaders.

[Dave A]

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Saturday he will contest the run-off election against President Robert Mugabe.

"A run-off election could finally knock out the dictator [Mugabe] for good," he told reporters in Pretoria. "The run-off election could be the final round in a very long fight to liberate ourselves from our former liberator."

The run-off should take place within two weeks and not later than May 23, Tsvangirai said, adding that he would return Zimbabwe soon.

Tsvangirai also said there were conditions for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to take part in the election, including a halt to the current violence, the deployment of Southern African Development Community (SADC) peacekeepers, media access and that international observers be allowed into the country.

"The optimum conditions are conditions SADC should deliver, we put our faith in that, and we are going to run," he said.
full story from IOL here

[Dave A]

It's not looking pretty for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. At what point do you call Bob's "democracy" a sham?

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says liberation war veterans are ready to take up arms to prevent the opposition winning a June 27 presidential run-off.

"It will never happen that this land which we fought for should be taken by the MDC so that they can give it back to our former oppressors, the whites," the paper quoted him as saying.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, human rights groups and Western powers accuse Mugabe of unleashing a brutal campaign to win the run-off.

Tsvangirai says 66 of his followers have been murdered but former guerrilla leader Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, blames the MDC for violence that has caused widespread international concern.

Earlier, the MDC said Zimbabwean police impounded two campaign buses used by Tsvangirai in the latest action against the opposition leader in the election campaign.

Tsvangirai, who has been detained four times in the past week and has had his own vehicle confiscated, would continue the campaign, MDC spokesperson George Sibotshiwe said.

The third most senior MDC leader, Tendai Biti, was arrested on his return from abroad on Thursday and faces a treason charge which could carry the death sentence.

His lawyers said on Friday they have still not been given access to him.
full story from IOL here

[Marq]

I think its going to be a long haul either way.

The interesting part is that the UN and US seem to be more active at the moment and we could see them put in a push to either oust Magube and the Veterans themselves or push SA to do it for them.

Civil war - well the same war escalating me thinks?????

Either way the region is in the dwang and we cannot afford this on top of the current economic woes.

[Dave A]

Doesn't this sound like Zimbabwe?

'We are prepared to die for Zuma'
African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema has vowed that the youth of South Africa would die in supporting ANC president Jacob Zuma.

"We are prepared to die for Zuma," Malema told a Youth Day rally in Thaba Nchu in the Free State.

"We are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma," Malema added at the end of his speech, while the crowd clapped hands and laughed.
full story from M&G here

[Marq]

Interesting that the article did not pick up on the bit that was added to end of the news report that I saw last night.

That's the bit that reported - if Zuma did not perform he would suffer a similar fate.

Makes one wonder who the activists the terrorists and the freedom fighters really are in this part of the world. What motivates a speech at this stage of the game with words as militant and hateful as Malema's.

I think the earlier m&g article http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx...ght__national/ is a great summary of the state of affairs in the country at the present time. The big divide could be wider than we think. A worrying problem, with bad behaviour and militant type action could sink us into a civil war scenario.

Is it me or them over-reacting?

[Dave A]

I think henceforth I shall refer to the erstwhile President of Zimbabwe by a more appropriate title - Dictator Bob.

Even Morgan Tsvangirai has had to concede Dictator Bob has run an awesome campaign. Why leave things to chance, I reckon.

Well done Dictator Bob. May you enjoy the rich rewards you have so unjustly earned.

[Yvonne]

There was an excellent discussion this morning on the radio, John Robbie was talking to a Zimbabwian, unfortunately I did not hear his name.
At the end of the conversation he was asked if he had a message for South Africa, in a nut shell: he said ensure that we hold the "Rule of Law" sacrosanct.
No politician should be above the law!

Every citizen in South Africa - MUST BE EQUAL BEFORE OUR LAWS!

The ANC refusal to permit its South African citizens to have any say even in the naming of our own highways and roads! - this is a clear indication of where we might be heading, unless we all stand up and fight - we must refuse to permit anyone, anyone at all to attempt to put a political party, political leader, political appointee, or govt. employee. "above the law".

Mugabe said only God can remove him!

The law should be seen as the ultimate God - not in a religious sense - but in the "supreme" highest held God given right - our right to every citizen being equal in the laws of our land.

The ANCYL portraying a claim to a historic right to violence and a continuation of the "Freedom movement attitude! is deeply concerning.
Nelson Mandela did everything he could to ensure equal rights within the law.

Yvonne

[wynn]

I have this recurring vision of the 'Whitehouse' in Harare burning, watched by masses of singing and dancing people.
Grace running naked down the road with her hair burning while being chased by a mob of children.
Perhaps her comments that Morgan will never get to stay in the 'Whitehouse' will come true after all.