Mandebvhu Talks “Zimbabwe”…

Robert Mugabe is to blame for the suffering of the Zimbabwean people, his former ally and main rival for the presidency has said. Simba Makoni, 57, served in President Mugabe’s government from the moment the country won independence from Britain in 1980. But his decision last month to challenge Mr Mugabe in the March 29 polls reflects a growing dissatisfaction among leading figures in the ruling ZANU PF party, who have grown tired of the 84-year-old president and baulk at his determination to remain in his post as the country rapidly disintegrates. Simba Makoni is anticipating a resounding win of 70 per cent . “Zimbabwe is in the condition it is in because of a failure of leadership,” said Mr Makoni, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. Mr Makoni, who will run as an independent candidate after he was expelled from Zanu PF for daring to challenge the president, said that this realisation had come to him over several years. “There was not a ‘St Paul on the road to Damascus’ awakening,” he said. “It wasn’t an event, it didn’t just happen, it was going on as the situation evolved - that this is not the correct way for our people.” With an estimated four million Zimbabweans needing food aid, and with inflation officially running at more than 100,000 per cent, Mr Makoni predicted he would win by a landslide. “We will win resoundingly, by 70 per cent plus,” he said. “The people who are supporting me in ZANU PF and in other quarters, agree with me that the country is ripe for change at the highest level, that the country needs to take a different direction, a positive direction.”

The destruction of Zimbabwe’s economy dates from 2000, when Mr Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms. Mr Makoni is calling for an end to race-based policies. “What we had in Zimbabwe in 1980 was a national government, we had people from different parties and different ethnic groups. We offered the African continent, if not the world, national reconciliation, so I am merely reactivating those values.” But whatever a candidate’s vision, winning an election in Zimbabwe is not just a matter of crosses on ballot papers. Mr Mugabe is widely regarded as having stolen the last poll in 2002 - and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) believes that a fair ballot is impossible. With the ruling ZANU PF having control over the media and police, the MDC is participating in the elections only under protest. A new constitution that would have changed the political climate was recently agreed but Mr Mugabe announced the election before it could be implemented. Mr Makoni’s campaign alleges it has been victim to “dirty tricks”. He was unable to leave Harare to campaign in rural areas yesterday because registration plates for his vehicles were not available. Meanwhile, his printers had supposedly run out of paper to produce fliers. “I wish and hope and expect this election will be free and fair,” Mr Makoni said. He added, however, that he had no access to the state television broadcaster or to the national daily newspapers. “I respect our president. Up to Feb 5 [when Mr Makoni formally announced his candidacy] we had a good, cordial relationship. I don’t know what he feels now.” So what of the comments Mr Mugabe has made since then, comparing him to a prostitute and a frog? “I am puzzled,” replied Mr Makoni. “You had best ask him about that.”

(Source)

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I listened to this interview this morning. The one thing that I noted - and was saddened by - was the initial confrontational manner of Simba Makoni.

I ask - why should the Presidential hopeful be so negative when dealing with an interviewer? Does he not realise that millions of Zimbabweans are going to hear this? He talks of being in ‘coaltion’ with the people of Zimbabwe.

Well, if his treatment of the interviewer is an example of his ‘coalition’ then I’d much rather go without.

Avoiding the issues at hand is one thing - but when the candidate refuses to address the questions asked, I begin to ask - in capital letters - WHY?

I do not reject Makoni out of hand, but my defence mechanisms are on full alert.

Take care.

‘debvhu

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ZNU 109 released. Today’s programme is a little different - I decided that I would touch on any story that was not about Simba Makoni. So it is a “Makoni free” episode…

It can be heard in the player below, in the multiplayers in the right hand sidebar (of The Bearded Man blog), or here, whilst can also be downloaded from here.

Take care.

‘debvhu

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A trip to Beit Bridge yesterday was an interesting affair.

The Zimbabwean town showed little sign at first of the pending celebration for President Robert Mugabe’s 84th birthday bash. There were no posters with adulations. Instead, groups of people listlessly sat about, or moved slowly in the streets. The midday atmosphere was dusty and hot. Everyone looked tired. The fridges in a large supermarket stocked no dairy products or cool drinks, and there were few loaves of bread. Local newspapers had not been delivered for two weeks. Old issues of a South African weekly newspaper were still on sale. Another shelf had November issues of magazines on the shelves. The first sign of Mugabe’s birthday came in a side street with lines of ruling party colours leading to a large marquee. But we beat a hasty retreat when a truck loaded with uniformed soldiers pulled up, while two ZANU PF bakkies passed our car along the pockmarked street.

However, the president loomed large at a chain hotel where the dining room was packed with ZANU PF bigwigs and supporters, with some sporting T-shirts supporting Mugabe. The parking lot outside was full of luxury vehicles, while inside a jovial atmosphere prevailed. There was also no evidence of the food shortages that plague the impoverished country. Guests tucked into salads, chicken, beef, rice, pap and vegetables, followed by cake and fruit salad. The hotel has a full bar, stocked with top brands, and guests can even have milk with their tea or coffee - unlike a downtown eatery that had black tea as the sole choice of hot refreshments. People in Beit Bridge were cautious. It soon became apparent that questions were being asked about us, and the realisation that suspicious eyes had tracked our every movement hit home when our car was closely inspected by hotel staff and, later, by a policeman.

Later at the border, as we crossed back into South Africa, an immigration officer queried a form given earlier with our Zimbabwe entry stamps that specified a same-day return. “And why did they give you this?” she asked. Such forms are given to people that authorities had suspicions about, like journalists and artists, we were told. So even though we had entered as tourists, it became clear that we had been fingered as journalists at least three times: once in SA and twice in Zimbabwe. Driving back into Musina, a massive unbranded billboard called for Zimbabweans to return home and vote. “We know why you’re in SA. Life in Zimbabwe is murder these days. Just remember your country still needs you. Come home at election time and vote for freedom,” it read.

(Source)

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In an unusual show of unity, the two secretary generals of the two factions of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have described the dialogue that was meant to resolve the country’s meltdown as “dead”.

The dialogue followed the brutal assault of MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai and other opposition leaders in March last year and has been lauded by the Southern African Development Community as a success.

Welshman Ncube, secretary general of the Arthur Mutambara-led faction of the MDC, and Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Tsvangirai-led faction, were speaking at a joint press conference held in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Ncube said bluntly “the dialogue has failed”, which has “undermined those who advocate change by peaceful means and strengthened the hands of those who advocate violence”.

He painted a dire scenario for Zimbabwe after its upcoming elections. “No one knows what the situation will be like after the elections… whether Zimbabweans will start using machetes,” he said.

Biti said “we feel let down by the process” and hinted that the election has already been “stolen”.

“What will happen on March 29 has nothing to do with what will happen in the election halls,” he said, adding that there is no way President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF will win an election fairly when inflation has soared to 100580,2% and up to 80% of the population is living on less than $0,20 a day.

Biti said the path to a free and fair election is littered with impediments such as tough security laws, restrictive information laws that deny the MDC access to state media, and the use of food aid to gain votes.

In a statement, Ncube and Biti strongly protested against “the misrepresentations in both the facilitator (South African President Thabo Mbeki) and the subsequent SADC communiqué”. The two “vehemently objected to the suggestion that the dialogue had been successfully concluded save for” procedural issues related to the enactment of a new constitution.

Biti said the forthcoming elections will be “contested” and the MDC is participating “under protest” and “with a heavy heart”. The statement described the failure of the negotiations as a “catastrophe” both for the people of Zimbabwe and the region.

Biti and Ncube said unresolved issues are voter registration, at present in the hands of a Mugabe appointee; delimitation of constituencies, done by a Mugabe appointee; a partisan electoral constitution; the denial of the right of non-resident Zimbabweans to vote; and the absence of media and human rights commissions.

He had said that he would be ready to step down when his term ends this year but will stand again in general polls next month to seek a sixth term. He faces a challenge from Tsvangirai and his former finance minister Simba Makoni.

(Source)

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When Mugabe does it, he always does it big, real big. His largess is often so breathtaking that most find it hard to comprehend, let alone digest. He’s doing it again.

First it was Gukurahundi where he oversaw the slaughter of at least 20,000 people in the Matabeleland and the Midlands Provinces. He used his personal extra-legal military unit, the 5th Brigade, which was trained by North Korea to do his dirty work. Whilst this genocide was going on, Mugabe was the darling of the West and a blind eye was turned on his excesses.

When he saw his grip on power under threat in 2000 and 2002, he blatantly rigged more elections and ordered his storm troopers to invade and violently confiscate at least 4000 farms from fellow white Zimbabweans. In the process, over one million black farm workers and their families lost their homes and livelihoods and became refugees in their own country.

Today Zimbabwe starves.

A few years later, he implemented Operation Murambatsvina where he literally destroyed the homes and livelihoods on over 700,000 Zimbabweans. Quiet diplomacy kept the lid on this atrocity.

To top it off, last year he ordered all businesses to slash their prices in half and thousands of businesses went under as a result.

Throughout his rule, Mugabe has perfected the rigging mechanisms necessary to win elections but this time the pressure is on to have free and fair elections and given the numbers, he has a real problem.

Some months ago, Mugabe’s advisors warned him that conditions in the country had become so bad that if an election was held, he would suffer a humiliating defeat. His worst fears were confirmed as he was told that Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC now commanded the overwhelming majority of support in Zimbabwe.

Enter Mugabe’s new con - Operation Makoni.

In the Polit Bureau, his strategists developed a comprehensive and detailed plan to get Mugabe and ZANU PF out of their predicament. The plan involved the fabrication of a split in the party and the creation of the perception that ZANU PF was falling apart. Later, when the votes are counted, there would be “enough” votes from the so-called disaffected ZANU PF (Makoni) faction and ZANU PF (Mugabe) faction to form a “coalition” government. As a sweetener, another small unimportant party would also be included.

The plan would be that Makoni would pull out of ZANU PF with a bit of stage managed acrimony. He would then “play” a magnominiously role to the electorate which would be desperate enough to see him as their saviour. This would be re-enforced especially if it was marketed in such a way that there was an illusion that Makoni had the support of certain key strongmen/kingmakers from ZANU PF. Many analysts say that ZANU PF have always kept the public guessing. That’s why these so-called strongmen remain an illusion to this day.

A week before the Makoni “split”, Makoni held another secret meeting with Mugabe to add the finishing touches to their plan.

Makoni then went out and told Zimbabwe that he “felt their pain” and called on Zimbabwe to rally behind him and stand as a united front against Mugabe.

The Mutambara MDC splinter faction fell for it almost immediately and naively answered his call. However, within an hour of Mutambara’s irrational announcement, Makoni caused them major embarrassment by saying he would not agree to any alliances. By doing this, Makoni effectively neutralised Mutambara and his splinter faction.

One down and one to go.

The question on many people’s lips is, will Tsvangirai also fall for this deception? To date it seems not. In fact Tsvangirai is keeping his distance.

It is common knowledge that certain western countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, certain Scandinavian countries and Canada are quite prepared to accept a reformed ZANU PF. Mugabe’s minders in South African are well aware of this. South Africa desperately needs the Zimbabwe problem to go away before the 2010 Soccer World Cup. If not, the world cup venue might be in jeopardy if Zimbabwe explodes.

The real dilemma for ZANU PF has been to find a way to repackage Mugabe to become more acceptable to the international community. The realisation is that they can’t, so this is their way of doing it. It kills two birds with one stone by giving Mugabe a safe way out and it also solves the succession issue in such a way as to keep Mugabe safe from prosecution at the Hague.

Known as “Operation Makoni” it forms part of an intricate web of deceit to re-package and give a face-lift for a NEW ZANU PF formation to become more internationally acceptable. The resources of ZANU PF and their jingles in branding Makoni are being done in the classic ZANU PF way. Their propaganda news vehicles are in full flight as they spread dis-information and deception through local and international media.

The sudden announcement of the March election was a deliberate ploy to confuse and rush the opposition into going into this election. Mugabe needed this to happen as part of the deception in order to confuse the real objectives.

Mugabe has already done enough to rig the outcome and has prepared the ground for a “semi” free and fair election that certain Western countries will gladly accept, especially if there is a “coalition government” in place.

Mugabe is being very quiet at the moment. He’s watching the fall-out being generated and he’s playing a waiting game in preparation to further manipulate the situation.

This is Mugabe’s only way out and it is becoming clearer by the day that his “pup” is being well and truly bought by the West.

(Source)

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Zimbabwean authorities are planning constitutional reforms to introduce stringent screening for presidential candidates in the coming elections, a state newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sunday Mail quoted an unnamed government source as saying the move was to bar some “presidential chancers” who were using legal loopholes to try their hand at taking over the reins of power from veteran President Robert Mugabe, in office since 1980.

“It seems anyone who wishes to participate in a presidential election can do so without the requisite structures as the law does not screen out such people,” the newspaper quoted the source as saying.

“The government is therefore seeking screens to net such chancers from bona fide candidates.”

The planned move came after the decision by Zimbabwe’s former finance minister Simba Makoni to challenge Mugabe as an independent candidate in presidential elections on March 29.

Makoni, a former member of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU PF)’s elite politburo, said his decision to challenge Mugabe followed consultations with a cross-section of Zimbabweans.

His candidacy was confirmed by special nominations on Friday along with those of Mugabe, main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai Morgan, and an obscure independent candidate, Langton Towungana.

The Sunday Mail said under the proposed reforms presidential candidates should be backed by elected members and be able to form a government.

“Recent years have, however, seen the emergence of independent candidates who want to run for the presidency without the backing of elected members,” the newspaper added.

The newspaper quoted Mugabe’s spokesperson confirming Makoni met with Mugabe before announcing his decision to stand for presidency, but said at the meeting Makoni only said some people had invited him to stand in next month’s elections.

(Source)

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The entry of Simba Makoni into the Presidential race has received mixed views. Some see him as the saviour, some see him as a strategy by Mugabe to reduce the MDC vote in the urban areas, while some see him as an opportunist.

His credentials as a saviour are questionable. Simba has been in influential positions both in Zimbabwe and within the region, but has never produced any convincing results. Simba was a minister in Mugabe’s government in 1980, some twenty eight years ago. His stay in government was cut short after he was appointed Executive Secretary for SADC, a very influential position. He never molded SADC into a vibrant body. The circumstances under which he left SADC have never been explained, but rumour has it that he left the regional body as a result of failure to produce any tangible results.

Upon his return from Zimbabwe, Simba was appointed Chief Executive Officer at Zimpapers, a publishing group which runs several pro-government newspapers. His contribution did not improve that company’s fortunes.

Some have described Simba as a wealthy businessman. Very little is known about his business empire. He could be wealthy as reported by some because he was paid handsomely as Chief Executive Officer of SADC, and soon after that joined Government. I have heard unofficial reports from a senior manager at the CBZ, a commercial bank in Zimbabwe, that Simba was involved in buying foreign currency at official rates at the CBZ, and selling the same foreign currency to the same bank during his last ministerial role.

Simba may have won a lot of admiration for “his” decision to devalue the Zimbabwean dollar. I call it “his” decision because it wasn’t his decision. Simba Makoni is not an economist by the way - he was simply communicating advice given by the economists employed in the Ministry of Finance. And what did he do – he betrayed these economists by chickening out of the argument. He failed not only the economists, but the entire nation by being spineless when it mattered most.

Zimbabwe introduced an Economic Structural Adjustment Programme in the mid 1990s. Simba Makoni was there when ESAP was introduced by the late Bernard Chidzero, then in charge of the Ministry of Economic Development. I can’t remember whether Simba was at SADC at that time, but all the same, as head of a regional institution, he was supposed to advise Government of Zimbabwe against ESAP. Among the notable people who advised against ESAP is none other than Morgan Tsvangirai. TTsvangirai’s critics must read “Beyond ESAP” a book published by the ZCTU to understand his vision of the economy and land.

Those who think he [Makoni] has the answer to Zimbabwe’s problems are simply overrating him. He has nothing new to offer. Everything he has said so far, including his economic solutions, has been said already by Morgan Tsvangirai. He appears to be copying from Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. I have just read reports from a press conference at which Simba Makoni talked about his priorities when he gets to power, but he wasn’t as detailed as Morgan Tsvangirai has done on the same issues.

Now let me try to list some of Morgan Tsvangirai’s many achievements.

Morgan galvanized the ZCTU into a modern and vibrant labour organization. Most people may be of the mistaken view that ZCTU was only popular for street protests. I have already referred to Morgan Tsvangirai’s position on ESAP. Through Morgan Tsvangirai’s hard work, ZCTU established what became an enviable regional resource centre for labour issues. This demonstrates Morgan’s vision for information as a tool for decision making.

Because of his leadership abilities, Morgan was elected as Chairperson for the National Constitutional Assembly, where he lead a team of enthusiastic academics, trade unionists, students, workers and the general populace to defeating Mugabe in the constitutional vote of 2000. Mugabe had wanted to impose a constitution that did not reflect the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe.

An avid reader, Morgan qualified for a post-Graduate diploma in Governance at the Harvard University. He is one of a few Zimbabwean politicians holding such a qualification.

Simba Makoni’s bid to run for presidency is not his personal idea, but he seems to have been pushed into the race by retired army generals who are beginning to feel the pinch of the ZANU PF manufactured economic decline. As correctly observed by Patrick Laurence in a media story, these Generals are more worried about their waning business fortunes should Mugabe remain president. “His military credentials aside, Mujuru - whose wife, Joyce, is one of Zimbabwe’s two vice presidents - is a fabulously rich businessmen; if Mugabe is allowed to prolong his disastrous rule at the age of 83, Mujuru is a candidate for impoverishment and even retribution”.

Other former army chiefs pushing Makoni into the race are retired army general Vitalis Zvinavashe and retired Major Mbudzi. Towards the 2002 Presidential elections, Vitalis Zvinavashe made a startling statement that he would not support a person with no liberation war credentials. Reading Makoni’s CV, I did not see where mention is made of him having fought in the war of liberation. Probably that was the time in the UK studying, perhaps through sponsorship sourced by ZANU?

There is nothing wrong at all for Simba or anyone else to run for Presidency even if they did not participate in the war of liberation at all, but Simba may only need to beware of the people who are trying to push him to the throne.

Zimbabweans still await a satisfactory explanation from Zvinavashe. Equally, Simba Makoni, as a presidential hopeful, must convince the people of Zimbabwe that these are the kind of people he associates with; that these are the kinds of voices he has listened to decide to run for Presidency.

Makoni’s other greatest undoing are his comments on the skewed delimitation exercise which reorganized the parliamentary constituencies to accommodate the 90 new seats. He celebrated the rigging done by the delimitation committee by restructuring new constituencies in a way that benefited ZANU PF. This he said when he was campaigning in ZANU PF’s primary elections as he had made an agreement with Mugabe that he would stand as a parliamentary candidate in Makoni Central constituency. It must be against this background that I hear civic society in Zimbabwe seems to be distancing itself from him.

Benjamin Chitate

(Source: By email)

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More than one hundred students marched in the streets of Bulawayo this afternoon over the education crisis which is facing the country. They were singing revolutionary songs mourning the death of the education system in the country. Mass pressure on the government was one of the resolutions that were adopted by the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) at their Bi-annual congress held early this year in Harare.

Four students were arrested while several others were injured when riot police descended on the defenceless students. Privillege Matanga, a pregnant female student leader was also assaulted by the police during this demonstration. It is believed that one student has been abducted by plainclothes policemen and his whereabouts are not known.

This is happening a month before the harmonized election in the country. The education system in Zimbabwe has collapsed with the government concentrating on political issues leaving both students and lectures with no option but to demonstrate or engage in industrial action.

Meanwhile Marvellous Kumalo a former student leader and an advocacy officer with ZINASU has been released from police custody after paying seven hundred million dollars bail. Kumalo is an aspiring member of the house of assembly for St Mary’s constituency. He was arrested on Sunday evening while campaigning in his constituency. He is being charged with public violence after his supporters were provoked by Job Sikhala who is the sitting member of the house of assembly for St Mary’s. He is expected to appear in court on 28 February.

(Source: by email)

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A faction of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has left the door open for an electoral pact with Zanu PF rebel, Simba Makoni, in a move likely to bolster the former finance minister’s challenge to President Robert Mugabe in presidential elections due on March 29.

A day after MDC founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai - who leads a faction of the party following a 2005 split - ruled out any electoral pact with Makoni, a rival faction led by Arthur Mutambara and which controls half the MDC’s parliamentary seats revealed on Monday that it was in talks with Makoni to create a “united front”.

Officials of the Mutambara faction’s national council met in Harare and resolved to pursue talks with Makoni.

Noting Makoni’s decision to stand for President, Professor Welshman Ncube, the secretary general of the MDC faction, said the national council had mandated the party’s management committee “to remain engaged with all progressive opposition formations desirous of creating a united front to confront the Mugabe regime in the forthcoming elections within a single candidate philosophy framework.”

New Zimbabwe.com understands from party sources that Mutambara will not contest the presidential elections in the event of a deal being reached with Makoni.

“It is something of a foregone conclusion that if Makoni is running, then Mutambara will stand down,” said one official.

Makoni declared his intentions to challenge Mugabe last week after talks aimed at reuniting the two MDC factions collapsed in a dispute over parliamentary seat allocations between the two groups. Tsvangirai’s group wanted a lion’s share of the seats.

President Robert Mugabe is seeking a sixth term in the March elections and Makoni is seen presenting the biggest threat to those ambitions.

(Source)

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