Phantom voters in Zim

from the BBC

A leaked version of Zimbabwe's voters' roll contains some 2.5m too many names, according to a report by a respected South African organisation....

"This phantom vote is more than enough to settle the outcome of any election," said the author, Richard Johnson.

Charisma and Megalomania

AustinBay has a long essay on megalomanics in politics

He makes several points.

One, if the megalomanic dictator is anti American, he will get a pass from the press (mainly in Europe but also in much of the US) for his atrocities and hijinks.

This of course applies to Mugabe, and is because of the Marxist bias in much of the press and the intelligencia, who have a soft spot in their heart for communists and those inspired by the communist propaganda of brotherhood and equality, never mind that it is a potemkin village that is based more on fantasy than reality.

He then goes on to discuss Mugabe and his ilk. How do you take over a country and keep in power?

People shape events, not vague historical forces or deterministic theories, and people who seek to successfully transition their society from a dictatorship to a democracy need reliable institutions that promote consensus, compromise and the pursuit of power by legal means.

Gadafi, Mugabe, and Chavez have systematically destroyed or attempted to destroy the institutions in their nations capable of promoting compromise. These thugs seek to turn such institutions into ideological instruments –not for an ism, but for the perpetuation of their own power.

Mugabe has yet to destroy the Catholic and Anglican churches, and they underpin the various factions of the anti-Mugabe opposition.

The Catholic Church still wields influence in Venezuela; when Chavez goes, and he will, eventually, perhaps the church will play a significant role in resurrecting that beggared nation.

Mugabe stands in stark contrast to his next door neighbor, Nelson Mandela.

Mandela –personally and institutionally– fostered consensus, compromise and the pursuit of power by legal means. (Kemal Ataturk did it in Turkey.) South Africa could fall into tribal anarchy, but it will not be because of Mandela. Mugabe’s personal jealousy of Mandela may well be a factor in his desire to cling to power no matter the long-term cost to Zimbabwe. Apres moi le deluge.

Bay quotes from two famous essays on politics, that of Jean Kirkpatrick and of Hofstatter. Both are classics and should be read to understand Mugabe and the world's interpretation of Mugabe's actions.

From Hofstatter:

“As a member of the avant-garde who is capable of perceiving the conspiracy before it is fully obvious to an as yet unaroused public, the paranoid is a militant leader. He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician.

Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish.

Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated—if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention.

This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoid’s sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes.”

Lavish birthday party for Mugabe

from the Times Live

"...A huge party, expected to be attended by 10000 Zanu-PF youths, was scheduled for yesterday, at a local five-star hotel in the capital.

The adverts were marked by hero-worshiping phrases and language. In one advert, Mugabe was described as a legendary icon whose selfless dedication in rendering service to the nation and the peoples' of Africa, was inspiring as well as unparalleled..."

and the paper has this photo of the lapdog China seeking stuff from the beloved leader (sarcasm).COMRADES-IN-ARMS: Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Yang Jiechi and President Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe Ill?

from Zimbabwe Mail a report about Mugabe's latest illness:

No he's not ill, says his spokesman...he's just recovering from prostate cancer after surgery in a Malaysian hospital.

Although prostate cancer is a common cause of death, in many older men, it is slow growing and isn't necessarily fatal. But without details if it was merely large prostate from non cancerous causes, or if it was cancer or if the cancer was high grade or not, as a doc I can't comment more.

WikiLeaks supporters attack Zim websites

from the Sydney (Australia) morning herald:

Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe, has become a victim of online attacks by supporters of WikiLeaks.

Cyber activists said they had brought down government websites after Mr Mugabe's wife, Grace, sued a newspaper for $US15 million for publishing a WikiLeaks cable that linked her with the alleged trade in illicit diamonds, and Zimbabwe considered treason charges against the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, over talks with US diplomats revealed by WikiLeaks.

Anonymous, a loose-knit group that has vowed to paralyse sites that act against WikiLeaks, said on its website: ''We are targeting Mugabe and his regime in the Zanu-PF who have outlawed the free press and threaten to sue anyone publishing WikiLeaks.''

smuggled diamond money goes to Zim before vote

from Bloomburg:

...Chikwere and hundreds of other border smugglers are part of a chain whose money flows back into Zimbabwe...

The gems from Zimbabwe’s biggest diamond field in the Marange region are helping enrich the 86-year-old president’s party ahead of next year’s vote, according to Human Rights Watch, Partnership Africa Canada and the Zimbabwean opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, which governs in a forced coalition with Mugabe’s party.

Annual income from the gems may reach $2 billion, assuming the country is able to export them freely, the state-owned Herald newspaper cited Mines Minister Obert Mpofu as saying in October. Mugabe is trying to amass funds for the election campaign, said Tom Porteous, the U.K. director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has lobbied against abuses for the past 30 years.

Mugabe must rule forever

from News24 an AFP report:

Harare -The women's league of President Robert Mugabe's party want him to run in the next election and rule the country forever, state media reported on Sunday.

"We endorse your candidature. We are saying stand in the next election and rule forever," Oppah Muchinguri, the secretary of Zanu-PF Women's League was quoted as saying by the Sunday Mail.

I'm superstitious enough to think that saying he should rule forever implies he is a god.

Indeed, I suspect a lot of the trouble in the US is because of the excess adulation of Obama before the election, including claiming that his nomination would stop the seas from rising...

Yeah, sure...

:-)

Leave the Dummies alone

Strategypage discusses why inept dictators always talk about evil outsiders trying to ruin their country, as a power play.

...Among recent singers of this tune are, in addition to Ahmadinejad, are Venezuela’s caudillo Hugo Chavez, Zimbabwe’s geriatric president Robert Mugabe, Libya’s weird “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution” Muammar al-Gaddafi, and North Korea’s erratic “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il. These bogus claims are intended primarily for domestic consumption, since these strongmen find it useful to pretend dictatorial rule is essential to protect their countries from the dread foreign imperialists.

But why would any rational “foreign imperialist” want to bump off these guys? They’re some of the most inept national leaders in history, each of whom has run his country into poverty, isolation, and brutality on the pretense of protecting it from evildoers, foreign and domestic, while enriching himself and his cronies....

Mugabe schedules birthday party

From the UK Guardian":



...Plans to hold a lavish all-night birthday party for the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, were today condemned as insensitive to the suffering of the country's people.....

Mugabe, whose birthday is on 21 February, shows no signs of slowing down or willingness to relinquish power to Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), his rival in Zimbabwe's unity government.

Opponents criticised the party plans at a time when Zimbabwe's teachers are on strike over pay and around nine in 10 people are unemployed.

Simba Makoni, a former senior member of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, said: "I'm not aware of the source of the money, but I suspect that state resources will be funnelled to this event improperly.
...

Will Zuma intervene?

Two stories

One: from the ZimbabweMail:

Johannesburg - Regional powerhouse South Africa is urging Zimbabwean leaders to resolve political tensions in time for elections expected next year in the troubled country, a spokesman for President Jacob Zuma said on Saturday.

In an interview, spokesman Vincent Magwenya said Zuma made that point to Zimbabwe's delegation at a mini-summit earlier in the week. It was a sign of growing impatience with the slow pace of reform since a coalition was formed nearly a year ago between President Robert Mugabe and his longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai, who is prime minister in the unity government....
But Zuma, who took office in South Africa last year, is concerned that tensions don't undermine 2011 elections.

"The Zimbabweans have set themselves a deadline of 2011 (for a vote). On our side, that is a reasonable deadline," Magwenya said. "That's why President Zuma is quite keen to see them implementing those agreements. They now need to move quickly."
[====================================

then the Zim Eye reports:

Analysis(ZimEye)A rumour has gone off in the media that South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma intends to bring an end to Zimbabwe’s government of national unity by the end of 2011.

“(Are these issues) so fundamental that we cannot move without resolving them? Can we park them and proceed?” Jacob Zuma is reported to have said in an interview with SAFM in Johannesburg, commenting on Zimbabwe’s political deadlock.... a publication alleged to be sympathetic of President Mugabe’s ZANU PF party, the Zimbabwe Guardian the reported that the same Jacob Zuma has criticised Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai stating that Tsvangirai is blocking progress in the negotiation proceedings by being too ‘rigid’.

The MDC-T lists the appointment of provincial governors and the swearing of Roy Bennett as the deputy Agricultural minister, the appointment of Attorney General Johannes Tomana and reappointment of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono as some of the thorny issues in the Global Political Agreement. ZANU PF has demanded that the MDC bring to an end what they have termed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe and certain persons. Doubts have been raised on whether the political principals and the Zimbabwe public are ready for elections. (ZimEye, Zimbabwe)

The Key to Political Progress

from Business Day

Zimbabwe’s government of national unity, scarcely a year old, is gradually collapsing amid continuing violence and recriminations.

Any viable strategy for change must grapple with the brutal fact that the problem lies with the state and the entrenched venality of its political system. Zimbabwe has passed the point at which the state and its institutions can be salvaged through clever reforms. Many within the country’s ruling class have profited personally from a decade of social misery and economic ruin. They maintain a vested interest in perpetuating the status quo, with its facade of democratic institutions and contrasting reality of elite bargains and repressive politics....

But behind that is its apprehension that there are no sufficiently credible and powerful alternatives to Mugabe.

Police stop worshippers at Anglican Service

from SWRadioAfrica

despite a court order they were stopped

Bishop Gandiya took over from Bishop Sebastian Bakare at a time the Church of the Province of Central Africa was locked in a dispute with Kunonga, the excommunicated pro-Mugabe bishop. Kunonga was sacked in 2007 after he attempted to unilaterally withdraw the Diocese of Harare from the Central African Province. Using police and ZANU PF militia he has been able to defy the mother church and continue holding onto Anglican property. This is also despite him claiming to have formed his own church and having appointed his own priests and bishops.

On Thursday Bishop Gandiya told us pro-Kunonga police units went around most of the Anglican parishes in the high density areas of Harare threatening parishioners who were trying to attend services on Christmas Eve. ‘They drove people out and stopped those that were trying to get in,’ Bishop Gandiya said. Those planning on attending services on Christmas Day were also threatened with arrest. All this despite an emergency court hearing in chambers last week Saturday which reconfirmed earlier court orders that property should be shared, until the matter is fully resolved in court.

Mugabe's slight of hand

Amnesty International via the Huffington Post:


Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights recently reported that President Mugabe did not sign the Global Political Agreement (GPA). Well, he signed half of it.

Parliement passed a 36 page document, and Mugabe signed an 18 page document, essentially meaning that it's not legal.

ZANU-PF's withdrawal from the SADC Tribunal and the failure to sign all pages of the GPA are essentially contract disputes and there is no applicable court to turn where a judge can decide which terms apply and should be enforced. Instead, the judge is SADC, who must remove the blinders of reverence towards a one time freedom fighter and see him as the leader of a party of freedom oppressors. SADC announced today it will convene an extraordinary summit in three weeks to address the outstanding issues surrounding the GPA and it must force a resolution on both these concerns.

Mugabe in bad health?

from the BBC

The Times reported that Mr Mugabe had been undergoing specialist treatment in the United Arab Emirates.

But Zimbabwean officials strongly dismissed the claims.

"The president is not sick but was away on holiday," Reuters quoted one official as saying.

"He returned home yesterday, and those reports are a load of rubbish that we get from sick and evil minds."...

The Lessons I learned from Bob

from Kubatana net:

TOP del.icio.us

Stand by your beliefs stand firm even if you stand t o lose your very livelihood.
When your enemy is down kick in the teeth repeatedly.
Choose a very public forum to insult you enemies; do a good and thorough job of it.
That way you divert attention from your transgressions.
You are always right it’s everyone else who is wrong.
If they don’t agree with you to hell with them who do they think they are.
Pretend to agree with some of your opponents.
When they gain your trust.
Stab them in the back.

No Uhuru Speech for Tsvangirai Uhuru Line-Up

From The Standard via All Africa

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe left out Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai from the Independence celebrations programme....

Chamisa said thousands of MDC-T supporters who thronged the stadium expecting Tsvangirai to address the nation for the first time were taken aback when he was not given the platform.

He said it was an opportunity for Tsvangirai to share his views with the whole world about the country's independence. He said independence celebrations did not belong to one party or one person....

Mugabe calls for end of political violence

from the VOA




Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe delivers his speech at the burial of Army Gen. Vitalis Gava in Harare, 14 Mar 2009

President Robert Mugabe delivers his speech at the burial of Army Gen. Vitalis Gava in Harare, 14 Mar 2009
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has called for an end to political violence and said the new unity government should bring peace and stability to the troubled nation....
He called for an end to violence between his ruling ZANU-PF party and the long-time opposition Movement for Democratic Change party - which is now part of the unity government, formed last month.

and if you believe Mugabe means this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you...

Mugabe visits Tsvangirai at hospital

From News 24 (SA)

Harare - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace visited the hospital where Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was being treated for injuries following a car crash on Friday.

The English expression for this is "crocodile tears"...

Let them eat cake in Zimbabwe?

from the CSMonitor

Robert Mugabe threw himself a A $250,000 party with 3,000 spectators celebrating his 85th year on this planet.

And, really, what’s a party without a 187-pound cake?

Nevermind that more than half the population is on emergency food aid, that inflation (by far the world’s highest) floats somewhere well above 200 million percent, or that his own government just days ago asked its cash-strapped neighbors for $2 million more in aid.

Oh yeah, and then there’s that cholera epidemic that’s blamed for claiming nearly 4,000 lives in recent months: a tragedy, that stems from government failure at the most basic levels. As the Monitor wrote in a December story, the outbreak even threatens regional stability.

But none of that stopped Mr. Mugabe from throwing such a lavish birthday bash.

This is Mugabe holding back

To be sure, he’s been more extravagent, as The New York Times point out. “But perhaps hard times call for restraint,” quips the paper.

What Mugabe party would be complete, though, without a renewed promise to seize Zimbabwe’s last few hundred white-owned farms. Yep, Bob was “playing the hits.”...

"Let Them Eat Cake"

photo from BBC