Mugabe ambassador: We expect THEM to support an African solution

from the Liberian Observer:

It is so full of lies I hesitate to post it...

Mugabe congratulates himself on land reform

Through our unshakable determination, today we are proud masters of our political and econo mic destiny. As the fountain of our collective heritage, which is back in our hands, the land, the land should now be transformed into acres upon acres or into hectares upon hectares of maximum productivity. It is in this context that government, with the assistance of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and other stakeholders, has embarked on a long term agricultural mechanisation program meant to give added impetus to the productivity of our farmers.

The mechanization program, whose implementation will span the next five years, focuses on equipping farmers with mechanized capability across the entire cropping cycle, covering tillage, planting, fertiliser and chemicals application, crop tendering as well as harvesting, and right up to transportation to the market. And we realize that it is only one dimension of our agriculture sector. The livestock sector is another area where equal inputs are needed in order for our livestock to also play a part in the same way cropping is intended to play a part. Experience here at home, in the region and all over the world has shown that farm productivity is directly linked to the degree of mechanization and specialization in the agro chain, hence my government has taken a bold step of strengthening and increasing the support available to our farmers through mechanization. Collaborate efforts between our ministers of agricultural engineering and mechanization and the Reserve Bank, among other players, has seen government procuring assorted farm machinery which we are proudly distributing to the initial batch of beneficiaries today.

I am informed that in total that this machinery constituting the first phase of the mechanization program comprises of some 925 tractors, 35 combine harvesters, 586 disc plows, 463 disc harrows, 78 fertiliser spreaders, 241 boom sprayers and 71 planters. I am informed that in determining today's list of beneficiaries, intensive interaction with community leadership structures played a predominant role that enabling the identification of those farmers who have consistently demonstrated impressive production levels. To this end, today's beneficiaries are men and women who are leaving the years of the government's support so they can now translate this new dawn into positive yields delivered to the Grain Marketing Board and other markets. As government we will continue to work towards the expansion of the mechanization program in order to empower the growing number of our farmers. Consideration will also be given to special interest groups who include women, the youths, war veterans and war collaborators as well as grassroots farmers on A1 and communal farms. As we work to reinvigorate agriculture productivity, government will remain alert to the varying needs of our farmers by ensuring that national resources are deployed in a manner that yields maximum impact.

Equally prominent in government's prepared way of national resource allocation is elimination of all forms and manner of corruption, favouritism or discrimination, and this I say of whatever nature of description. As Zimbabweans we need to turn the current challenges obtaining in the country into stepping stones towards macro-economic recovery and development. The equipment I have the honor of unveiling today should not be used as mere status symbols that eventually gathers rust and dust for lack of use. So that people say I have a tractor? That is not the way to go. Appropriate self service centers will be created countrywide to give farmers accessible spares and maintenance avenues. Minister Made has spoken about it.

Equally important is centralization systems for the procurement of spare parts and ancillary equipment should be formed to push out briefcase dealers who continue to wreck havoc on our economy by stoking up the inflation monster through shameless profiteering.

Of course, the rhetoric and the reality are two different things...

US$1 million spent on Mugabe's image

"...GOVERNMENT of Zimbabwe) has blown over US$1 million on a propaganda campaign through a London-based New African magazine in a bid to spruce up President Robert Mugabe's battered image. The campaign is also designed to exonerate government from state-sponsored political violence by the police against the opposition in March, the Zimbabwe Independent has heard.

The secret propaganda war -- to fight negative publicity against government -- is said to be targeted largely at foreign audiences who have of late been shocked by images of bruised opposition leaders after they were brutally assaulted in police custody....

The revelation comes at a time when the country's foreign currency coffers have all but run dry, with government failing to procure fuel, food, electricity or medicines for the poor. "Given the advertising rates at New African magazine, the Zimbabwean government paid over US$1 million for its 70-page sponsored supplement published last month in which they give their side of the story following the clashes between police and opposition activists," a source said....

Iran funds Mugabe's propaganda radio station

Robert Mugabe has been actively pursuing a policy of friendship and co-operation with Iran, claiming that the two countries share a common ideology of standing up to Western hegemony. Now it looks like it's paid off, with the news that Iran has agreed to finance the establishment of a new radio station in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo.

Iran, which has previously donated funds to refurbish the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's television and radio stations, will provide a total of US$39.6m for the new station. The money will be spent on re-equipping an old Bulawayo studio providing new digital technology, and sending instructors to train local technicians.

The deal was signed in Harare last Friday,...

The News 24/7 programmes, headed up by veteran broadcaster Happison Muchechetere, will be designed to offset the critical broadcasts beamed into the country from anti-Mugabe stations abroad, such as SWW from Britain and Studio 7, which is part of Voice of America.

The station is unlikely to carry commercial advertisements. In the current economic crisis, with inflation running at 1,700 per cent and unemployment at 80 per cent, no-one can afford to advertise.

Harare sets up new radio station

Zimbabwe is setting up a new radio station to counter what it calls Western propaganda against President Robert Mugabe.

"We are under siege and being bombarded by the Western media broadcasting to our people," Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said.

The short wave station will become the fifth state-run radio station in the state and will cost Z$8.9bn ($39.6m).

The station is being partly funded by the Iranian government.

An example of Mugabe's propaganda machine

Peter Mavunga
Harare

THE British government and Western media campaign against Zimbabwe is notable for its rabid bias; what is said or written has no concern for the truth or balance, that is getting the other side's point of view. It has a single-minded pre-occupation with demonising Zimbabwe and propping up the opposition, especially Morgan Tsvangirai, well above his station.

All this is at variance with the age-old notion of British fair play, if ever it existed. When I was studying journalism in London, my tutor was at pains to emphasise that there were always two sides to a story and the views of both sides ought to be reported....

Ah, there are indeed two, if not more sides to a story.
But calling names and twisting the truth has a different name: Deception. Lies.
And Satan, the Father of lies, is also the father of violence.