Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog: 5/1/09 - 6/1/09 Live From Harare, Zimbabwe

We Are Proved Right. Again. (No, We Are Not Tired Of Being Right Yet)

OUT IN THE COLD? Morgan Tsvangirai is seen here at the Dutch Prime Minister's Office with a painting of a snowy winter landscape by P. F. de Noter as a backdrop. (What, no Van Gogh?). The Ducth Prime Minister said his country would not give Zimbabwe any of the money it is seeking. Instead, they will continue with their humanitarian assistance. The denial of aid to Tsvangirai is celebrated in huge front page story today in the Government newspaper, The Herald. It sounds like they like the fact that he got nothing.

Yet again, we are proved right. (No, we do not get tired of proved right on this blog and we never tire of pointing it out).

As you probably know by now, it was announced yesterday that banks in Zimbabwe have now converted Zimbabwe dollar accounts on their books into US dollars.

This blog broke that news on JANUARY 23 2009. Click here to read that article.

At the time, we were not sure what exact predetermined rate would be used by Gideon Gono, but we now know.

The accounts have been converted at a rate of Z$6 quadrillion for every US$0.11. That means for every six quadrillion Zimbabwe dollars in your bank account, you will get eleven United States cents.

The article I refer to above, writte on January 23, explains the thinking that informed this strategy back then.

Still, this is money that is being conjured up out of thin air, so to speak. Tendai Biti and Gideon Gono will have to find the US dollars to fund those accounts they have turned into US dollar accounts.

Where is the money to come from? Tax revenue is not even enough to pay the salaries of civil servants. Will they use the one billion dollars they have secured from African banks to fund this freebie carnival?

What is important for you to understand here is that the Reserve Bank Governor has continued with his and Mugabe's plans as f Tendai Biti did not exist at all.

Gono has defied his principal, Tendai Biti, who announced only recently that the Rand would be the base currency (or currency of reference) for the country.

Gono announced yesterday that this is not so and instead, as the Monetary Authority, he has declared the US dollar to be the base currency of Zimbabwe. All the banks in Zimbabwe have complied with this directive, making the UD dollar Currency Number 0 in their systems (base currency).

The Zimbabwe dollar is currency Number 43, which means it will not even be accepted as legal tender in Zimbabwe anymore.

I guess Tendai Biti will just have to put all of that in his pipe and smoke it.

Meet Morgan Tsvangirai in Washington D.C

It appears Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe is not meeting any of his countrymen during his trip overseas, which will last more than three weeks. There appears to be no meetings with Zimbabweans scheduled.

But, if you are in Washington D.C., there is a chance for you to spend an evening with the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, at a concert organised by Capitol Resources (see the flyer above). This will be on June 12 2009 and the concert starts at 8:00p.m., Washington D.C. time.

But you will have to pay US$20 for the privilege.

I am not sure why the Prime Minister has decided to snub his own people and his own supporters out in the diaspora.

Could it be because it is now public knowledge that the Prime Minister and his party have banded together with Mugabe to pass laws that forbid Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to vote?

This also raises the question of whether the PM and Robert "The Solution" Mugabe know something we don't about the Constitution process. Why are laws being amended now and gazetted and even tabled at all if they are sure that we will have a new constitution in two years?

Why rush to deny people in the diaspora votes NOW, when there is no election imminent except for a few possible by-elections?

Could it be that they have now seen the survey done in the last month by a very respected local survey group, which shows Simba Makoni with more support than either of them?

I wonder?

Yet More Proof Of How Utterly Powerless Tsvangirai Is

Morgan Tsvangirai is greeted earlier today (June 8 2009), by the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende upon his arrival for their meeting. No aid has been pledged by the Dutch yet, with the country's Development minister saying yesterday they will wait and see

The humiliating position in which Tsvangirai finds himself was demonstrated over the weekend when he was defeated by a non-entity, Tafataona Mahoso, who got assistance from George Charamba in his mission against Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai told reporters when he announced his capitulation to Mugabe on Permanent Secretaries, Ambassadors etc that there was no need for journalists to accredit themselves and that the Media Commission of Mahoso was now null and void.

Some journalists took the government to court because they wanted to cover the Comesa summit and they were being asked to register, accredit and pay US dollar fees for the privilege.

Tsvangirai, as Prime Minister, was the one being taken to court by the journalists. Other respondents were Mahoso of the MIC Commission itself and the Attorney General.

Surprisingly, the Attorney General, to whom Tsvangirai appealed for an an opinion when he got the summons, agreed with the Prime Minister that there was no need for the journalists to register and he did not oppose the Journalists' application for relief from the courts.

But this was just a ruse, because ZANU PF, Mahoso and Charamba had told the Attorney General to "appear" to be in agreement with the Prime Minister since there is a fight going on between them at the moment.

The court found in favour of the journalists.

The court even ruled that the journalists should be allowed to cover the summit even if the state appeals the decision.

Sure enough, the state immediately appealed, leading Tsvangirai to express "surprise" on Saturday at the airport as he embarked on his begging trip, that the Attorney General had moved away from the Prime Minister's side and was now with Mahoso and Charamba.

The upshot was that the journalists were chased away from the Summit when they tried to cover it, in defiance of the courts.

There is nothing Tsvangirai can do to Mahoso or Charamba about any of this.

And he insists that he is the Prime Minister? With full powers? On par with Mugabe?

He insists the government is working well and everything is just spiffy?

As we all know, the PM is in Europe and the United States for the next three weeks or so. He has gone there to beg for money for Mugabe. It is unlikely that with all of this happening, he will get anything of substance. But we will see.

The Dutch, whom he met yesterday, have already said they are giving him nothing.

In any case, Tsvangirai has now been defeated by a civil servant, George Charamba, as well as someone who does not have any authority or power at law, Tafataona Mahoso. They have simply ignored the court ruling and defied the law.

One wonders what (apart from bringing in money, which Mugabe will immediately take by force to finance ZANU PF and dispense patronage) the Prime Minister hopes to achieve by continuing to tell us that Mugabe and his people are the solution to Zimbabwe's problems.

Tsvangirai Goes Begging As Mugabe Refuses to Fund His Trip

" I can't believe they are letting me leave...." Tsvangirai at Harare International Airport earlier on Saturday as he arrived to leave for a month-long tour of Europe and United States. The Solution started sabotaging him even before he left, with a front page splash in the Herald today claiming that it was Robert "The Solution" Mugabe who had sent him to Europe to get sanctions lifted and bring back bags of money.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai left Harare this morning to go and beg for aid from the European Union and the United States.

The Prime Minister started begging even before he left the country, extremely reliable sources have revealed.

Mugabe apparently refused to authorise funding for the trip, citing the very plausible reason that there is no money for the delegation. (Yet money is found if it is The Solution that has to attend some nonsensical summit in Doha or Asia or Africa).

So Tsvangirai, even before he flew off, had to request each of the countries he is visiting to pay for the accommodation of his delegation as well as their expenses!

Yet, in today's Herald, Mugabe was already positioning himself to take credit for any success Tsvangirai may have (I doubt it will be much). The Herald did a propaganda piece and splashed large and bold on the front page:

"Tsvangirai Tasked"

It claims Tsvangirai was tasked by Mugabe to go and get those sanctions lifted. By doing this, Mugabe may also be jeopardising the success of the trip, which success was in doubt from the beginning.

Nail.

Coffin.

You get the drift.

Tsvangirai, as he usually does, pretends none of this is happening. He arrived in sunglasses and open neck at the airport today to fly off, looking relaxed and a little bit puzzled that they had actually let him leave the country.

As is usual these days, he was accompanied by a phalanx of CIO operatives, who are now guarding him.

He says while in America, he will meet Barack Obama and "all heads of state or government" in Europe.

Tsvangirai has said he may well come back with "as much as US$700 million". Which is entirely inadequate for anything other than meeting the voracious appetite of this MDC-PF creature called the Inclusive government.

That sort of money buys a lot of luxurious cars, lavish furniture and so on. It could come in handy when financing is needed for trips abroad, retreats to "strategise" and so forth.

Yes, you can bet The Solution has a few plans for that money. An election will have to be held at some point, you know, and there are marauding thugs in the countryside waiting for their monthly US$100 allowances because they are "civil servants".

It matters not that they are neither civil nor servants (of the the people anyway).

Bring it on. As Tendai Biti said during his Budget statement, they are going to "eat" that money the moment it shows up on our shores.

Oil's Is Well That Ends Well

Perhaps there is something in the water at parliament (above) and in government buildings, because MDC-T ministers are now busy implementing ZANU PF policies. There is still to be a single policy initiative from the government. All efforts are focused on "control" such as control of prices, which they have now adopted with regards to water, fuel and power.

I mentioned to you a few days back that prices have started going up again in Zimbabwe and if the Exclusive government does not cook them, we will see the first spike in inflation under this government next month.

The main driver appears to be fuel. A litres of petrol now costs anything between US$1 30 and US$1.45. Only last month, petrol was about a dollar per litre and less than that at many service stations.

Engineer Elias Mudzuri, who did wonders as Mayo of Harare, is now in charge of the Energy Ministry. He issued a directive last week telling retailers that petrol is supposed to be sold at no more than US1.10.

The industry responded by hiking the price even more.

You can not blame Mudzuri completely. Zimbabwean are notorious for trying to the government of the day to protect them against anything that comes to mind.

Instead of adopting power-saving measures, such as buying low-watt bulbs, turning geysers off and so on, they cry to government that the Energy Company should be compelled to avoid switching off defaulters.

Mudzuri, therefore, has simply had people go to him, business people as well as ordinary members of his party, who complain that ZESA is being unfair, TelOne is being ridiculous, arrest them if they refuse to bring down the prices and so on.

So we now have the very strange spectacle of a party, the MDC-T, which criticised price controls before joining government and said they would never work because they did not address the fundamental problems, imposing them now from within government.

They are not shy about it, either.

Nelson Chamisa was in The Independent on Friday threatening TelOne and saying he was going to tell them what to charge their customers.

Mudzuri has so far set tariffs for power and now for fuel.

Meantime, Tendai Biti has resorted to taxing anything that moves (and some things that don't).

The opening of the South African border for Zimbabweans to travel visa-free to South Africa saw customs and duty tariffs go up.

By the way, a full two months after I made the suggestion here on this blog as Tendai Biti and government cried that without aid we are are doomed, I am happy to see that the Finance Minister took my advice.

He has now announced plans to hive off parastatals (government owned companies such as the national airline, NetOne and so on in order to raise finance for the government. It is a clear admission that no aid is coming any time soon from outside.

But this plan is doomed to fail.

The MDC-T, just like ZANU PF, mistakes populism for policy. Hence, it panders to populist sentiment. We need to understand that in order to understand why this plan will fall flat on its face.

First, Mugabe is ideologically opposed to privatisation. He remains a Marxist, after all. So there will be no support for this from there, no matter what they may agree in cabinet.

Second, the MDC itself is a product of Labour and draws support from workers. Although workers neither care about privatisation nor really understand it as a concept, their leadership, the leadership of the ZCTU and the like, have publicly come out against any privatisation.

Even as the Oil Company, NOCZIM, which is owned by government, fails dismally at every turn, the MDC-T base appears not to want this to happen.

An unlikely alliance will develop between the labour bodies and Mugabe's side of government, who do not want any of this to happen either.

Tsvangirai himself, as well, is ideologically opposed to privatisation. He is, after all, a Trade Unionist.

It is important to understand that this announcement is nothing more than the MDC-PF government flying a kite.

They fully expect that it will die a quiet death.

And we will be where we started, having wasting God knows how many months gazing up at that kite.

Censorship Rears Its Ugly Again In Zimbabwe

This image is of the TelOne website. TelOne Is owned by the Government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert "The Solution" Mugabe. Nelson Chamisa, the MDC-Tsvangirai spokesman is in charge of it now. They have started censoring some sites

MDC-T supporters, who apparently believe that freedom of speech should only be afforded to those who sing the praises of their incompetent leader, Morgan Tsvangirai (and now also the praises of Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, whom their leader is praising no end and whom Tsvangirai says is the solution to our problems in Zimbabwe) will celebrate this:

Nelson Chamisa's ministry of Information Communication Technology is blocking several sites now.

One of these happens to Blogger, the platform that hosts this blog.

If you use any internet service provider that relies on TelOne, the State phone company, to bring you the internet, you will have seen that there are several sites you can not access, including this blog.

This has been happening for a few days now.

Now, almost a thousand of my regular visitors come from Zimbabwe and a large majority of these are indeed using ISPs who have to go through TelOne. This means, for the last few days, they have not been able to see my blog.

Those who use other ISPs who connect to the satellites directly, have had no problems at all.

It is worth noting here that Nelson Chamisa, who has been given back responsibility over internet thingies by Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, has made no moves at all to repeal the repressive legislation that allows only the Government company, TelOne, to be the gateway out of Zimbabwe.

He is more interested in telling the phone company to reduce its charges and charge sub-economic tarrifs. Or perhaps he is just too busy admiring the government cellphone company he is now in charge of.

What they do not know is that there are many ways to skin a cat and I have three ways in which I can access the internet. I do not really care whether they are legal or not according to the laws of this repressive Inclusive Government of Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

So, I am still able to post, as I am doing now.

And I am still able to show the world just what a cock-up this government of Tsvangirai and Mugabe is making in running this country.

The more things change, the more they stay the same eh?

SADC Kicks MDC-T In The Teeth

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe and King Mswati of Swaziland arrive at Gideon Gono's New Donnington Farm in Norton yesterday. The King has snubbed the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe during his visit and gone on to endorse a man whose appointment he is supposed to mediate over as Chair of the SADC Organ on Defence and politics

King Mswati, the SADC Chairman on Defence and Politics, basically kicked the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, and the MDC-T in the teeth yesterday.

Mswati, on a State Visit to Zimbabwe prior to the COMESA Summit to be opened by Mugabe on Sunday, has decided not to meet the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe during his visit and also gone out of his way to humiliate the MDC-T, which recently wrote to SADC over the issue of Gono and Tomana, whom they want fired from government because of their partisanship towards ZANU PF.

The King went to Gideon Gono's farm yesterday in the company of Robert "The Solution" Mugabe. And he praised the Governor of the Reserve Bank to Kingdom Come.

Speaking after "inaugurating" Gono's ambitious silo project at New Donnington Farm, the King said:

"I am glad to see that the man implementing this farm is the governor of the central bank. I understand why he is the governor."

This is hugely significant, what the King has done and it confirms conclusively that the outstanding issues the MDC-T are concerned about will NOT be resolved by SADC, to whom they have appealed.

You need to understand that the King is the Chairman of the Organ on Defence and Politics in SADC. Which means that the dispute over the government in Zimbabwe will be referred to him first, as was the case last time when Tsvangirai was trying to get these issues to be resolved prior to joining government.

The SADC Chairman (South Africa's Zuma), if he at all takes any action on the letter sent to him by the MDC-T over Gono and Tomana, will simply ask the Organ on Defence and Politics to deal with it and then report to a full SADC Summit when they are done.

With behaviour such as this, it is clear what he is going to do and say over the disputed outstanding issues.

This comes against the background of the fact that the King snubbed the Prime Minister when he arrived in Zimbabwe. He was met at the airport on his arrival by Mugabe, his wife, Service Chiefs, Webster Shamu of Information and other ZANU PF dignitaries. The Prime Minister was not invited.

The Prime Minister was also left out of the Banquet held in the honour of the King at Rainbow Towers in Harare.

If confirmation was needed that Gono and Tomana will not be going anywhere and that SADC will do nothing about this, here is that confirmation.

The King knows the man is under dispute and his visit to Gono's farm was designed specifically to humiliate the Prime Minister, who leaves over the weekend to visit Europe and America.

You will recall that a few weeks back, I told you that at the last SADC Heads of State meeting, the King led the group that maintained the position that SADC should do nothing to help Morgan Tsvangirai's government and that he should instead go and get money to run his new government from his "friends" in Europe.

I also told you that the King has still not forgiven Morgan Tsvangirai for snubbing him during the ill-fated SADC Summit in Mbabane late last year, when the Prime Minister refused to board a private jet sent to bring him to the Summit by the King.

In the same article, I also revealed to you that pretty much all of SADC was set against the Prime Minister and his party.

The MDC-T appeal to SADC is now basically dead in the water. The regional body is now paying the Prime Minister back for his lack of diplomatic skills during the negotiations, when they felt he valued Western support more than the support of the African and regional bodies that had the mandate from the UN and then USA president, George Bush, to deal with Zimbabwe.

So, as of this morning, a visiting Head of State has rebuffed the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, who is essentially looking to him to settle a dispute between MDC-T and ZANU PF over breaches of the GPA.

And it is clear Gideon Gono, with the help of The Solution, has basically thumbed his nose at the Prime Minister yet again. He is going nowhere. Neither is Johannes Tomana, the Attorney General who is arresting MDC-T supporters still.

Also of interest is evidence of the flouting of Land Reform rules in the case of Gono at his farm.

The Zimbabwe government regulations on Land Reform limit farm sizes to between 350 - 400 hectares per person. In Gono's Norton region, the maximum size is 400 hectares.

Yet Gono's farm, the one at which the King was yesterday, is 4000 hectares. It is actually TWO farms that have consolidated and given to Gono. The farms were acquired in 2000 under Mugabe's controversial Land Reform programme.

The King also visited Grace Mugabe's farm in the same area, which is also vastly over the 400 hectare limit set by government.

The King, apart from kicking the MDC-T in the teeth, is also endorsing this flouting of guidelines and laws by the government.

It's Official, Tsvangirai Does Not Exist

This here is the Zimbabwe government website as it looked tonight.

The BBC link to this on their website.

Notably, the website says the Government of Zimbabwe is headed by Mugabe, Joice Mujuru and Joseph Msika. President and two vice-presidents.

There is no mention of a Prime Minister.

Yet the website itself says it was "last updated" on February 20 2009. That is AFTER Tsvangirai had been sworn and and a new government installed.

We have three whole ministries of Communications. We are trying to lure tourists to come to Zimbabwe and enjoy rare sights (such as abductions and burst sewage pipes in the city centre?). And this is teh bes we can do in terms of telling the online world about Zimbabwe?

Is this an indication that Tsvangirai and the MDC's entry into government is not recognised as legitimate by The Solution and his comrades?

The Prime Minister had to resort to making his own website, since Mugabe did not want to play with him on the "Official Government Website".

Or perhaps it is an oversight.

In which case we must ask: what has Nelson Chamisa been doing for the last three months if not attending to communicating with the online world about Zimbabwe?

MDC-T Activists Abducted

"Well, don't look at me, Morgan, I am just as helpless as you are." (Which means there actually is no one in charge!)

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe is at it again.

This time, the "fantastic" ministry of Home Affairs (Tsvangirai's words), sent some of its policemen to "abduct" some MDC-T activists in order to get them to implicate the ones already awaiting trial for plotting to overthrow The Solution.

They claim nasty things were done to them and think it all unfair and unacceptable and all that.

Are these people deaf? Did they not hear the Prime Minister? "If it's victimisation, let it be proved in a court of law." Jestina Mukoko was abducted, was she not? Did the police not claim for a whole month that they had no idea where she was, only to produce her poste haste when Tsvangirai signed on the dotted line?

The Prime Minister says it's OK, it's "due process" when these sorts of things happen. He'd rather people don't make such a fuss about "human rights" and that they would stop jumping onto the "Gideon Gono bandwagon" because all of this is "unhelpful".

Let us be honest about this:

What we are seeing here is a man who made mistakes negotiating with Mugabe. Costly ones, such as not defining his own executive powers clearly. And confirming Mugabe as President with full constitutional rights.

He is now trying to correct those mistakes and the only way to do that is to give Mugabe due respect and hope for crumbs from his table. This will then be held up as proof that the dictator has been chased away from the banquet.

We are told we have no option but to go along with this, to follow the MDC-T on its tortuous route of repairing the mistakes it made from 2005, when these negotiations began to the signing on 15 September 2008.

We must just accept all these "shortcomings" even as people are arrested, abducted, tried on trumped-up charges, refused a swearing-in ceremony, have ministries taken away from them, beaten......

Why?

Because we have no choice, we are told.

The Prime Minister is taking his begging bowl to Europe and America next week. Just he prepares to leave, this is the send-off he gets.

All this is being done with The Solution looking on, telling Tsvangirai there is nothing he can do because neither of them should be seen to be "interfering with the judicial process."

Surely, they have every right to interfere in an extra-judicial process? And what could be more extra-judicial than abducting people from their homes and forcing them to bear false witness?

Should the West ignore the very clear signs that Tsvangirai is floundering against Mugabe, pinned down and unable to move in any direction at all? Will they open up their purse-strings and ignore the baggage that this Exclusive Government carries.

Somehow, I doubt it.

Which is exactly how Robert "The Solution" Mugabe wants it.

Greed Rules, OK?

This is the Monomotapa Hotel in Central Harare. Hoteliers in Zimbabwe have just shot themselves in the foot, but this is only an indication of a deeper problem: the fact that Zimbabwe business people do not have confidence in the new government and are looking to make a quick buck while there is still hope

So, you have probably heard by now that Zimbabwe lost a massive contract to host World Cup guests because our hotels decided to charge anything up to US$3000 per night for the service.

The booking company took their business elsewhere and have now signed contracts with hotels in Botswana.

But, the reason I am mentioning it is that, today, one of these hotel managers is quoted by the media as saying the move by the organisers to Botswana is "just a marketing gimmick, Botswana does not have the rooms"!

What arrogance!

So, they will come back anyway, because Botswana does not have the rooms?

The man who is quoted also says the reason why the high rates were quoted was because, "they met with our junior people". He says marketing managers are meeting in Harare today to revise the rates and that will bring the organisers back.

Quite apart from the obvious question, which is: why would the hotel managers leave such things to their "junior people", there is also the fact that this demonstrates that Zimbabwean mentality, the get-rich-quick mentality, is still with us.

I wrote previously in this blog about these hoteliers and other service providers and I remember that at the time, I told you that charges in Zimbabwe are still affected by the mentality of hyperinflation.

In Zimbabwe today, no business feels alright unless they bring up their charges every few days.

Right now, I can bet you my bottom dollar that the next inflation figures will, if they are not cooked by this Exclusive Government of Tsvangirai and Mugabe, show that inflation is on the rise again.

For some reason, over the last week or so, prices that had been going down have started going up again. A specific product I know of which cost 80 US cents two ago is now selling for US$1.50.

There is no reason for this at all.

What it is going to do is turn the people against this government, against Mugabe and against Tsvangirai. With civil servants still earning only US$100 per month, the rise in prices now will ensure that they starve.

But the priorities of this government are all wrong. Focused on fighting for power and space at the feeding trough, they are neglecting the fundamentals that will make Zimbabwe work again.

You will recall that Gideon Gono said last year that Zimbabwe was losing US$1.2 billion a month through the leakage of diamonds from Chiadzwa.

But now, the state is in charge at the diamond fields and we are still not able to raise even a paltry US$500 million. We celebrate when the EU sends us US$11 million (not enough even for a month's wage bill for civil servants).

More importantly, all this shows that the people of Zimbabwe, including business people, have no confidence in this Inclusive/Exclusive creature.

You see, they expect this thing to fall flat on its face and for Zimbabwe to back to the dark ages before dollarisation. Hence, everyone is trying to make as much money a they can while the sun still shines.

Business confidence is crucial for the recovery of Zimbabwe, for without it, no one is going to invest new money into expanding capacity and hence creating new jobs in the economy.

Tsvangirai and Mugabe see nothing wrong, insisting that everything is fine and the world should just give us more money!!

Yet, their own people, the business people, are in panic mode and trying to make as much as they can while they still can!!

As I keep saying, there is no recovery here. Power is still being cut like there is no tomorrow, people still have no water in their taps and money is too tight to mention.

No wonder Tsvangirai and Mugabe do not want to have elections before 5 years are up.

MDC-T Turns On Western Countries

So awed is the MDC-T by Mugabe that Tendai Biti (seen beaming here at his swearing into office by Mugabe in February) told the UK Guardian last week that the dictator is cool, calm and collected and is a man "who never gets flustered by anything" He also said in the same interview that Mugabe is an "English gentleman". Now that this is sorted out, the MDC has now turned against the West, who they see as the real evil. What else can we expect from the MDC-PF?

I recall telling you on March 20 this year, on this very blog, that within a couple of months, we would start hearing the MDC-T, Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti shouting insults at the West in frustration.

A couple of weeks before that, I had told you that the frustration levels within the Tsvangirai MDC at their failure to correct the economy would soon explode and that their rage would be at the West and would be misdirected.

Right on cue, Tendai Biti has now come out with guns blazing, calling the attitude of the West towards the Unity Thingy (or Coalition Thingamajig) "unscientific and ahistorical". The State newspaper, The Herald, duly put him on their front page and reproduced his diatribe against the West.

Biti says "we can not move" as long as ZIDERA (The American Act of Congress called the Zimbabwe Democracy and Recovery Act) is in place.

In other words, for the fourth time in two months, the MDC Secretary General is saying these sanctions will hamper efforts to develop Zimbabwe. His interview (with a South African paper, apparently), betrays the frustration.

But the MDC-T is only doing its Master's bidding (the master being "one Robert Mugabe" in the words of Raila Odinga). Mugabe wants sanctions gone and they have to oblidge. No matter what.

Yet, the MDC-T fails to understand that the problem is not ZIDERA or sanctions or the West.

The problem is that, now that they have places at the feeding trough, the MDC-T think that all is alright and the world should stampede into Zimbabwe to offer assistance and help rebuild the country, regardless of anything else, including the West's own principles (which they mistakenly thought Tsvangirai and the MDC-T shared all along).

This will not happen for the following reasons:

Rule of law is still absent. Tsvangirai may think it "fantastic" that his supporters are being arrested, harassed and jailed, he may see nothing wrong with the persecution of Roy Bennett, with the farm invasions ("so-called farm invasions", he called them last week in a public interview published by the Zimbabwe Independent), he may think it "process" when his supporters, who were thrown out of their Mbare council homes in March last year, are arrested for trying to claim those homes back from ZANU PF supporters, he may see nothing amiss in Mugabe continuing to enjoy his full priviledges, power and authority in this Exclusive Government, but he should not expect the West to do the same.

The West is guided by universal principles on this. Simply because Tsvangirai thinks the persecution and jailing of MDC-T supporters is a non-issue does not mean that the world should do the same.

Just because Tsvangirai thinks there are limits to democracy does not mean that the world should lower its bar for rights abuses.

Just because Tsvangirai is happy to be a non-Prime Minister with a Prime Ministerial title does not mean the world should accept this and throw its money at his Mugabe's government.

And most importantly, just because Tsvangirai has sold the votes of the people to Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, does not mean the West should also sell its own principles to the same man.

Like I said more than two montsh ago, the West can see that Tsvangirai has given up and sold out. They will keep their money in their pockets, their aid in their pockets and refuse to help Tsvangirai in his quest to burnish and polish Mugabe's image.

Of course, as Geoff Nyarota pointed out in his Zimbabwe Times, there are people who are seeking to construct a personality cult around Tsvangirai such as the one that was around Mugabe in the 1980s and 1990s.

They should be resisted by anyone who has even half a brain. They would have us led off the face of a cliff simply because "Save" is "Save" and must not be questioned.

They have every right to be sheep, but we must not be forced to think we have no choice.

As for solutions: Tsvangirai must simply accept that the job of liberating Zimbabwe from the clutches of Mugabe and his cronies is beyond him. He should accept that he made a mistake by signing that flawed agreement which gave Mugabe legitimacy and gave him back ALL the presidential powers he enjoys today.

Once he has accepted that, the next move would be for him to step aside from the leadership of the MDC-T because at this rate, ten years from now, we will still be "looking for a solution".

He does not have it within him and should give somebody else the chance to take on the dictator.

In 2004, Tsvangirai told the Guardian of the United Kingdom in an interview, "I know I am not the best person for the job, but no one else will even try."

Things have changed a lot since then.

MDC-T says Tomato, Tsvangirai says Tomato

At this spot off the Limpopo River, three countries meet: Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. Yes, those three different pieces of land in the picture are different countries. They are entirely self-governed countries and the thought that any one of them should tell another who to hire and fire in their own government is unthinkable. Tsvangirai understands this. His party does not. Therein lies the tomato. And the tomato.

A couple of months back, in an article on this blog entitled Real Reasons for the Mugabe/Tsvangirai Clash to Come, I predicted that the biggest fight between Mugabe and Tsvangirai would be over the definition of the words "executive power". I also said at the time the Prime Minister would do well to steer clear of this, because everyone could see it coming.

Besides, he would only be defeated by Mugabe because, lets face it, the MDC-T has lost its appetite for a scrap.

And what do you know, the Prime Minister, after knocking his head against the brick wall called Mugabe for a couple of months on civil service appointment, used the recent launch of his government's 100-Day Wishlist to explain at length what he understood the words "shall have executive power to mean.).

He quoted chapter.

He quoted verse.

And it is all still as clear as mud.

The GPA says Mugabe shall have executive power due to him from the constitution (the current idiotic quilt of amendments). Then its says, almost as an afterthought: "The Prime Minister shall also have executive authority".

I asked in the article, The Real Reason for the Mugabe/Tsvangirai Clash To Come: "Executive authority over what? Over whom?"

The GPA is silent on this burning question. So, Mugabe gets up to no good, mischief in the middle of the night, pilfering ministries from the MDC-T, jailing the odd Treasurer-General, appointing whoever he wants to be Permanent Secretary without so much as a "by your leave" to Tsvangirai. He insists Gono and Tomana are cast in stone........

The MDC-T as a party has now taken the view that the Governor and Attorney General are the outstanding issues. Tsvangirai knows how silly and a total waste of time it would be to ask foreign governments to compel Mugabe to fire a Zimbabwe civil servant.

It is unprecedented. And silly.

This is why Tsvangirai believes that the fight has to be within government. He understands what his party seems unable to understand. And it is this:

The real fight is over how much executive authority Mugabe is willing to cede to Tsvangirai. Willing.

This is because Mugabe draws his executive authority from the constitution, which clause Tsvangirai agreed to be included in the GPA he signed. And where does Tsvangirai draw his executive authority from?

Nowhere in the constitution is the authority of the Prime Minister defined. Instead, the constitution was tailored to an Executive Presidency and is specific on what he can and can not do, who he has authority over and who he hasn't. The Constitution has no room for a Prime Minister, although an amendment arising out of the GPA was passed. Instead, it puts all executive authority in the lap of the Head of State, who is also Head of Government.

Which is why Mugabe refused to let go of his chairmanship of cabinet. Had he given in to Tsvangirai's demands for this, that very act would have had the brilliance of conferring on Tsvangirai the same executive authority over government that Mugabe enjoys.

So, knowing this, Tsvangirai prefers the route of ploddingly trudging along behind the dictator, sidling up to him all the time in an effort to endear himself and thus gain the trust of the dictator. Once this happens and the dictator sees that Tsvangirai is not a Trojan Horse from Westminster, he may decide to cede part of the burden of governing to his Prime Minister.

This will take time. Tsvangirai knows this. And that is why Tsvangirai told Basildon Peta last week that elections are clearly not a priority for this government. Elections are the furthest thing from Tsvangirai's mind at the moment.

His party, meantime, acts as if it does not understand any of this, passing a resolution they knew to be meaningless at their National Congress at the weekend. In it, they called for elections to be held once the constitution is in place. They also rather pointlessly demanded the resignation of Gideo Gono and Johannes Tomana ("forthwith"!)

But feet are being dragged by both Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Their reasons are as different as day and night.

Still, like I said, the real fight here is over what the phrase "shall have executive authority" means for the two men." Truth be told, Tsvangirai is no Prime Minister, despite the title. Mugabe has not ceded any of his powers to his Prime Minister. He even still thinks that Tsvangirai's ministers serve not at the Prime Minister's pleasure, but at his own, even if they should be MDC-T nominees (witness Roy Bennett).

The Active Private Armies of Zimbabwe

MDC-T supporters and others accused of being such camp outside the US Embassy in Harare on July 3. Post election violence had got so bad that they fled their rural homes to come and sleep in the open outside the embassy in order to avoid ending up looking like:

...........this victims of last year's election violence, Gift Mutsvungu, whom the MDC-T said "suffered" before he was killed

Often, just a word from Mugabe suffices. In 1985, he told a rally in Chitungwiza: "Ngatichigoborai zvigobo zviri mumunda medu" - meaning, "Let us get rid of the tree stumps in our field. The next night, countless families in the cities were thrown out of their homes by masked ZANU PF supporters.

Most had their furniture thrown out, the doors locked and their keys swallowed by ZANU PF supporters.

Targets were supporters of Ndabaningi Sithole and Abel Muzorewa. There was a pile of Ndonga (Mwenje) and Dzakutsaku t-shirt at the local dump the by morning.

Fast Forward to 2008, and the MDC-T has just trounced Mugabe at the March elections. As he himself said later at an Independence Day rally at Gwanzura Stadium, "Takanga taenda" - "We were almost gonners".

Almost.

Well-organised and coordinated had begun in the rural areas immediately after word got out that Mugabe had been defeated. Most people even in his own party, were to traumatised to recall that, according to the new electoral rules insisted on by Tsvangirai during the negotiations that had started in 2005, failure by either candidate to garner 50% would trigger a run-off.

At the height of the terrifying April to June Presidential run-off election, just after the election results for March were finally announced, I was sitting just outside the Command Centre at the Rainbow Towers. Next to me was Bright Matonga, then Deputy Minister of Information. There was another gentlemen who only identified himself as "ZANU PF".

Both men were dejected, you could tell from their looks. "ZANU PF" was complaining to Bright that the ruining party had gone overboard with violence in the rural areas. He cited the case of a young man in his village who had made something of himself and managed to build his father a rural store for him to earn income.

The father was shopped to the marauding gangs of ZANU PF "Enforcers" as an MDC-T supporter and benefactor. They came for him in the middle of the night and by morning all they found was his mangled body.

"Now this young man, who used to support us, is totally against us and says he is prepared to die any time, nothing will stop him from confronting ZANU PF. He is definitely not voting for us." This was "ZANU PF" speaking.

Bright just stared into his beer and sighed now and again.

Indeed, those marauding gangs of Enforcers are still on the loose. They still roam the countryside. They were never recalled.

There may well be over 2000 trained, professional fighting men scattered around Zimbabwe's ten provinces. JOC stipulated a "minimum" of 200 per province.

At one village near Mrewa, these are the men who stood up at a school football pitch and fired AK47s into the air. They told the terrified villagers that they knew the area, since this was where they "operated from" during the liberation war.

The message was straightforward enough and it was not hidden. They were told that these war veterans were going to camp out at that school until the election results were announced. If "you vote wrong, we will be right here and it will be the last vote most of you will ever cast."

Zimbabwe was split into three "theatres" or "spheres of operations". Basically, these terms betray the fact that this was war.

Each of the three theatres is commanded directly by a General. The fact that these armies were not disbanded or recalled after the June run-off means they are still roaming the countryside. In Mtoko, one of their camps is so well-known that even someone in Harare will be able to direct you there.

Disturbingly, though, this also means that we have private armies, armed and on the loose out in the country. There is no formal structure they follow for accountability. There is no law that governs them, their law being the word of their Commanders. Which means they exist outside the law.

Arms were handed out like candy on Haloween during the June run-off; that is how close the establishment thought we were to all-out anarchy and a resumption of war.

Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T have been kept at an arms distance by Mugabe and the armed forces precisely because they all (including Robert "The Solution" Mugabe) see this GNU or Coalition thingy as a hiatus, akin to the special "Christmas breaks in fighting" during the world wars, when enemies would shake hands and share turkey before resuming shooting at each other with deadly intent the next day.

All ZANU PF see in this GNU is breathing space. Mugabe will be back. And his armies will be out there. Waiting.

As soon as this Exlusive Government is pronounced dead, all hell is going to break loose in this country.

This is perhaps the greatest fear the Prime Minister has. For Tsvangirai insists that he will not leave government only because he knows very well what deluge awaits the aftermath of the death of this Inclusive Thingy is.

"It's Fantastic", says Tsvangirai as His Supporters Are Locked Up

Mini-Me: Tsvangirai is increasingly sounding and behaving like Mugabe now. This last week, he was at it again in an interview published by the Zimbabwe Independent in which he said Home Affairs was working fantastically, presumably referring to the continued harassment of his supporters by the police and the judiciary

Here's a shocking excerpt from an interview Tsvangirai had last week and published by the Zimbabwe Independent on Friday:

Peta: During negotiations you demanded control of Home Affairs and the police but you reluctantly settled for sharing it with Zanu PF. How has that worked?

Tsvangirai: It has worked fantastically. The two ministers have worked very co-operatively together.

So, what about Jestina Mukoko? And Ghandi Mudzingwa, who complained bitterly against the MDC-T Minister of Home Affairs when he was rearrested?

Tsvangirai: The recent arrests were not political arrests. They were procedural matters. If you are given bail in a lower court and then indicted to a higher court for trial, you have to negotiate a new bail condition. This is the mishap that occurred, especially with the case of Jestina Mukoko and others. These were not re-arrests but just a mishap to deal with their being indicted to a higher court. Either existing or new bail conditions had to be instituted. Once the state has charged people and you try to interfere, there will then be accusations that you are trying to interfere with the due process of the law. We say, well let the law take its course but it must take its course not selectively but in all cases. I don’t believe the charges (against Mukoko and others) are valid. But they have to go through the due process. If it’s harassment, it will be proven in a court of law. I went through the same process being accused of treason but in the end I was acquitted. But the issue is that if the state believes it has a case, then it should bring people to trial speedily.

"The recent arrests were not political arrests"? Really?

These people were abducted, imprisoned unlawfully for months, no one knowing where they were. They were tortured. They are accused of plotting banditry on behalf of the Prime Minister of the country and the interviewee here.

Not political?

Due process?

Tsvangirai also as good as confirmed what I have been telling you on this blog for months now: that the parties to the agreement have decided to make this Inclusive Thing of theirs last five years.

Tsvangirai says in the interview: "We will consider the issue of elections after 18 months." When all this began, Tsvangirai told his supporters and the country that there would be elections after 2 years.

Now he says they will only consider the issue? And when you read his comments, it is clear that he is hinting at elections not being held as promised. He says they can do this because, "Election dates were not defined in the GPA".

If there was still anybody who doubted just thoroughly Tsvangirai has been co opted into the ZANU PF thinking, they only need to read the interview to see the light.

This is the now infamous interview in which he referred to continued farm invasions as "so-called farm invasions" and dismissed the whole issue as a storm in a tea cup.

Take special note of his comments that Zimbabweans "are grateful" for the US$100 they get as pay for civil servants.

It is becoming increasingly difficult, isn't it, to tell which is the pig and which is the human? Long Live Animal Farm!

Mugabe Secretly Escalates Unity Government Sabotage

With the failure by the MDC to bring in foreign aid and balance of payment support and the "pesky" demands by the MDC for equitable distribution of government posts, Mugabe and his crew have now decided to keep the MDC in government busy by inciting civil servants labour unions to march and protest against the ministries responsible, all held by Tsvangirai's party. Within a week or two, armed forces may be brought into play, to complain also about their measly salaries. Mugabe feels he no longer needs the MDC in government, since they have proved incapable of loosening the pruse strings of the West and Bretton Wooods.

In a move incited by the Zimbabwean dictator, Robert Mugabe, Mariyawanda Nzuwa, George Charamba (Mugabe's spokesman) and Misheck Sibanda, the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, civil servants marched to the offices of two MDC-T ministers complaining about their "poor" salaries.

The brains behind this scheme are now planning on roping in the armed forces as well, to get them to protest their poor salaries and working conditions on the streets.

The idea, as the strategists see it, is to so overwhelm the MDC-T in government that it will spend all its time occupied with the strikes and demonstrations and have no time left to protest the continued tenure of office by Gono and Johannes Tomana, the Attorney General, as well as other "outstanding issues".

A couple of weeks back, civil servants marched to the offices of Labour Ministry and those of the Ministry of Public Service. Both ministries now belong to the MDC-Tsvangirai.

Mugabe and two of his closest advisers have been inciting these demonstrations. Tellingly, although, as Tsvangirai himself said yesterday, freedom of assembly is still stifled in Zimbabwe (marches and demos are still being largely banned by the police, citing lack of manpower or some such excuse), the civil servants were able to get permission to march quite quickly.

The police escorted them and even offered advice on how to hand over their letters of grievance to the relevant ministers.

The plan to destabilise the coalition government took shape soon after the first announcement of Permanent Secretaries appointed by Mugabe. Tsvangirai at the time declared them null and void.

As the battle widened to take in the disputed appointments of Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana, Mugabe's Kitchen Cabinet hatched the plot to widen the circle of disgruntlement to include the armed forces.

"Vachaita ekutiza maoffice ehurumende avaichemera iwayo," is one comment from one of Mugabe's commanders.

It is rather odd that, considering what civil servants went through at the height of Zimbabwe's economic crisis, when they still were paid in Zimbabwe dollars with inflation in billion percentage points range, they would choose to take to the streets now, when they at least get US$100 per month.

Because the Ministries of Finance, Public Service and Labour are all in MDC-T hands, the civil servants Labour Union, whose leaders are indeed aligned to ZANU PF, have been roped in to distract the new government partners and take their minds off the fight for space at the feeding trough.

I can assure you that before the week is out, you will start hearing whispers of disgruntlement within the armed forces. This will soon escalate and Tsvangirai, Biti and his party will have their hands full trying to stave off what they will think is a rebellion not only by civil servants but even by uniformed forces as well.

The Generals, as well as Mugabe, are well aware of the fact that the MDC-T is scared stiff of the Zimbabwe armed and uniformed forces. The last thing they want is to get on their bad side.

Because, by law, armed forces are forbidden from holding public protests, it will be interesting to see how they are brought into play.

My sources are certain that we may see what we saw last year, when Mugabe was plotting to declare a state of emergency and some soldiers were sent into the streets to protest and smash up a few windows and beat up a few people (including policemen). The rioting soldiers, you will remember, were pardoned a couple of month back and the pardon was announced in the public media (despite some nonsensical reports at the time that said the rioters had been executed!)

How Simba Makoni Fell Out With Mugabe

Morgan Tsvangirai at the MDC National Congress today. He told the gathering that there was still no rule of law in Zimbabwe. But he insists he will not leave government, that the democratic process is "irreversible". He is dealing with a chameleon who has a long history of paranoia, as related here today.

It was in 1982 and Simba Makoni was Zimbabwe's Minister of Industry and Trade.

There was a shortage of mealie-meal in the country. Dr Makoni says, "There was an explosion of spending power after independence in the hands of the people, so more could afford to buy roller-meal as opposed to milling their own meal."

Mugabe did not see it this way. He accused the (white) milling industry of sabotage, saying they were creating a shortage of meal in the country in order to make the government unpopular. He threatened to take over the milling companies.

Makoni clashed with Mugabe in a cabinet meeting over the issue, telling the then Prime Minister Mugabe that he could take over all the milling companies if he so wished, but that would not expand capacity at the milling companies. And he pointed out that the government would have to pay anyway to take over the milling companies. It would be wiser, he said, to take that money and build additional milling companies and that way capacity could be expanded.

From that time on, Mugabe was suspicious of Makoni, saying he "supported white people."

In 1984, Makoni became SADC Secretary General and built the Secretariat pretty much from the ground up.

That first clash with Mugabe just shows how little the Zimbabwean dictator has changed. He thinks that business as well as the general population, should work to glorify the government. If you hold different views, you are a saboteur. If you refuse to accept Marxist dogma, you are counter-revolutionary.

The intervening years have only seen the president get even more paranoid and resulted in the targeting of the white community whom he suspected even back then of actively working for his government's downfall.

As he became more desperate, so his actions betrayed his frustration at not being able to impose his cherished one-party state.

As he said last year in a ZBC interview, "Mupolitics, unoruma, uchifuridzira...." meaning, "In politics, you bite and then kiss it better..."

His designs on the MDC-T are in keeping with that Machiavellian philosophy and it is just a pity that the fly can not see the lengthening tongue of the chameleon.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai Cynically Trying to "Fool The World" - SA Journalists

The"Rt Honourable Prime Minister" (as Mugabe prefers to address Tsvangirai in public now) seen here at the press ocnference where he announced that media was reformed on January 11. George Charamba, Mugabe's spokesman, has since told the world that the Rt Hon. PM was talking nonsense and journalists still needed to be accredited and registered

A poll conducted by the Wits University and the Institute for the Advancement of Jornalism finds that the majority of respondents think that Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai's Unity Government are not sincere about media reform.

The poll, published here, finds that 42.9% of respondents think that "moves towards media reform in Zimbabwe are a cynical attempt by the new unity government to fool the world". Another 22% say the moves are doomed to fail.

Only 28.8% think the moves "are a hopeful sign".

This comes in response to Tsvangirai telling a press conference where he announced his capitulation to Mugabe on Permanent Secretaries that there was no need for journalists to register to operate in Zimbabwe because of media reforms put in place by Mugabe on January 11, before the Unity Government was formed.

It appears no one believes a word of it. Especially now that George Charamba, one of the powers behind Mugabe, has made it clear that the Prime Minister was talking nonsense and insisted that journalists have to register.

Of course, we all know that should any Smart Alec journalist try to come and report from Zimbabwe, they will be arrested. With the Prime Minister unable to protect his aides and even his own Deputy Minister of Agriculture nominee from detention and arrest, what journalist would put faith in the intervention of the PM to get them out when they are arrested?

Meantime, I ran into this example of Zimbabwean talent and ingenuity on YouTube. Quite brilliant, considering it is being done by Zimbabweans with no professional equipment. This, by the way, is a remix of an extremely popular song locally. The song is orginally by a religious sect in Zimbabwe.

That it was mixed like this has apparently got up the nose of quite a few Zimbabweans who are urging the author to remove it from YouTube for the sake of his "soul"!

The MDC Backing Down

In a shocking about face, the MDC told the media yesterday that they could live with Gideon Gono because they can "manage and control him" through a revision of the Reserve Bank Act.

This is coming just two days after the Service Chiefs waded into the fray in support of the cornered Governor. This has clearly rattled the MDC-T. Tsvangirai, especially, seems so mortified of upsetting the Generals.

He told the New York Times this year, "We had won the election but did not have the support of the military" in justifying why he decided to play second-fiddle to the man he had defeated at elections.

"We can not unravel the tentacles of the State without Mugabe," Tsvangirai said.

But the party still insists that Tomana is not up for negotiation and must simply go. So, what if the Generals come out in public support of the Attorney General as well? The MDC-T will retreat sharpish as well? Like they have just done on Gono?

There will be an excuse. Perhaps one is being forged now, to explain why they must remain at Mugabe's side even after they fail to dislodge Tomana.

So Gono is not such a big deal after all. Were these not the very issues that had the Prime Minister refusing to consummate his marriage to ZANU PF all through the last six months of 2008?

If they were so important, what has changed? Will the donors whom we are told want Gono gone in order to bring in money bring it in anyway? Just because the MDC-T says it's Ok to do so? You see his happening?

I don't.

They will keep giving to charities and NGOs and no economy ever grew on charity.

Greg Mills and Jeffry Herbst make an interesting argument in the New York Times today for donors to simple ignore Mugabe's presence and put faith in Tsvangirai. They argue the West should release money anyway to the government and help rebuild it.

Their argument rests on the blind faith that the strategy adopted by Tsvangirai, of going into government literally to hack away at the ZANU PF institution that is government, will triumph.

Others, like myself, look for signs as to whether this strategy is likely to come off. If it was, we should be seeing Tsvangirai outwit Mugabe on the peripheral issues that now seize them. That we are not seeing this, and only witness capitulation after capitulation from Tsvangirai, makes us less confident that he will indeed be able to work his way around the dictator.

There is no way this is going to happen, what with the Mail and Guardian quoting a Western Diplomat in Harare saying of Tsvangirai:

"He's talking like Mugabe now."

We ain't seen nothing yet. This is a clear a case of "If you can't beat them, join them" scenario. But as the Mail and Guardian story will show you, world opinion is now beginning to turn against Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC.

"We Will Eat Your Children" - ZANU PF Thugs To White Farmer

Land invaders, led by a character called "Landmine", broke into the house of Ben Freeth (seen here injured at the SADC Tribunal hearing that ruled in his favour) and threatened to eat his children on Tuesday night this week

The white Zimbabwean farmer who was visited by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara a few weeks back had a torrid Tuesday night this week.

Ben Freeth, who has been beaten up before by Mugabe's land invaders and who has a SADC tribunal ruling in his favour, had burning tyres dragged through his house that night. The invaders beat drums and rang bells, clanging metal objects together to intimidate the farmer.

The leader of the invaders, called Landmine, took the phone Freeth was using to call the police and would not give it back. Police later arrived and "led out" the invaders without arresting them. Landmine returned the phone, according to Freeth, after police asked for it back.

A little while later, after the police had gone, Landmine and his band returned and this time, Freeth said they shouted that "they would eat our children."

This is part of the "isolated incidents" the Prime Minister talked about, though I doubt Freeth felt it was isolated at all.

It also just happens that today, a source informed me why the new invasions appear to be intensifying.

ZANU PF is getting new farms to give as payment to some of the people they used to beat up the opposition in the June one-man run-off. They also intend to give farms to senior MDC-T officials who do not yet have farms allocated to them.

"They want them to be fully implicated," my source told me.

Still, where does the "eating" of children come into all of this? Should we conclude that these people are witches, since, according to Zimbabwean tradition and folklore, only witches ingest human flesh?

With a farm protected by a SADC Tribunal ruling being subjected to this, what on earth does the Prime Minister's party hope to get from SADC on the issue of Gono and Tomana?

Which is as good a time as any for me to remind you that at his press conference last week, PM Tsvangirai told the media "we have since written to SADC" on the outstanding matter of Gono and Tomana.

As of yesterday, the MDC-T was confirming to SW Radio that the letter has not been sent yet.

They claim it will be sent by the end of the week.

But like I told you before, the PM seems to be playing for time, nodding in agreement with his party while sabotaging their efforts to take the matter to SADC.

Why Tsvangirai Is Afraid

Jestina Mukoko at her first release into hospital. She was later re-arrested and then again given bail. But the charges still stand and the trial dates have been set. This case dovetails with that of Roy Bennett, which Mugabe's men seek to expand. Which begs the question: Will Bennett actually ever be sworn in?

On April 20 this year, a Monday, Robert Mugabe took Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai into his "confidence".

In December last year, I told you that Mugabe's Plan B, in case Tsvangirai agreed to join government, was to isolate the Prime Minister, to get him stranded in office. The idea is to so paralyse the MDC-T with the charges of insurgency and banditry that the Prime Minister will find himself without a party backing him.

What Mugabe told Tsvangirai was that some of his "hardline" people were talking "nonsense" about him (Tsvangirai) being involved in the alleged banditry plots. He asked the Prime Minister to leave them to him, he should get ahead with the job of restoring order to the economy".

Evidently, it was the genesis of the Prime Minister's new-found faith in the old dictator, whom he feels now is actually "protecting" him from the hardline elements of ZANU PF.

It appears the Prime Minister is now too afraid to step out of the echoing corridors of power because he feels safer there. By now it is clear that he should not be expecting to do anything of substance while part of the Exclusive Government. He is Excluded from real decision-making, excluded from real power and influence, unable to fire even a simple non-performing civil servant, Gideon Gono.

Meantime, pastors are being abducted. Jestina Mukoko, Gandi Mudzingwa, Andresen Manyere (he of no media house, according to George Charamba's public statements) all still face trial for plotting to topple the dictator.

MPs are being arrested, some for violence (ten months in prison, with hard labour) and others for rape and so on.

Roy Bennett (when is he being sworn in?) still faces weapons charges. These are being built up into terrorism charges and the abduction of the pastor, who also counselled victims of violence in the June one-man run-off, is part of this escalation.

ZANU PF is still pursuing with the utmost vigour the insurgency/banditry case.

The pastor is being roped in because there isn't enough evidence yet. Somebody had the bright idea that pastors are people other people confess to. As a Christian, it would be hard for him to tell tall tales about anything.

So, get hold of him and ask him what those he ministered to told him about their actvities. (You will recall me explaining to you in December last year that the Mugabe Government position was that Zimbabwe Peace Project, the organisation for which Jestina Mukoko works, was providing safe houses to the people who were due to leave for training in Botswana).

This is the trail they are after.

It would be legitimate to wonder right now if Roy Bennett will ever be sworn in when things like this are being done for the state to strengthen its case against him?

And it would also be legitimate to ask again why the Prime Minister seems so very afraid of confronting the hardline elements who are still pursuing the charges that his party was bent on training people to remove Mugabe by force of arms?

Mugabe Abducts Tsvangirai's Pastor

While Tsvangirai is busy defending Mugabe and saying he is not the problem but the solution, that solution is harassing Tsvangirai supporters and arresting his spiritual adviser. But MDC-T supporter say Tsvangirai must stay on, like an abused wife sticking around for "her children". He should walk. He paralysed Mugabe last year and this year, for seven months. Yet he thinks he has no option?

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's pastor has been abducted and disappeared, according to an MDC press release published by SW Radio.

It must be those hardliners and "residual elements" that we keep being told about.

Almost certainly, MDC-T supporters will defend all this, asking the world what they expect Tsvangirai to do. Do we not know that there is 30 years of entrenched rule to fight against and so on.

Of course, this marriage is on the rocks. But we are told time and again that the groom has been a bachelor for thirty years and is not used to having a wife lounging around the house. So we must understand when the groom beats up the wife and kicks out her out of the house now and again.

We must urge the wife stay on even as the husband abducts her close relatives and gives them hell. And so on.

There are saner voices, however, who keep telling the Prime Minister that he can not achieve anything under these conditions. All hope that he has any power and can eat away at the entrenched evil within ZANU PF must be dismissed as the talk of clueless children.

Tsvangirai is indeed eating away at his reputation and his brand by remaining in this marriage. He really should walk and stay out of this government. But the comforts are too many for the MDC-T to take this principled stand.

They are failing to influence anything within the corridors of power. Tsvangirai, if the truth be told, holds the same authority and influence in this government as does the lowest ranking ZANU PF Deputy Minister.

As a senior ZANU PF member said to me yesterday: "Tsvangirai is now just part of of the ZANU PF succesion politics dynamics. He just leads another ZANU PF faction that is fighting to succeed Mugabe now, not an opposition party. And those seeking to succeed Mugabe within ZANU PF must show the old man some respect, or they risk losing favour."

But the title also appeals and he is willing to sacrifice himself for it.

There is no benefit to staying in a government when your own policemen (remember MDC-T supporters writing on this very blog that times had changed and all policemen, the lower ranks at least, were behind Tsvangirai and would refuse to obey anti-MDC-T orders if Tsvangirai got into government) are abducting and jailing your supporters.

Do you still call yourself Prime Minister under the circumstances?

Gandi Mudzingwa, Jestina Mukoko and Roy Bennett still face charges of plotting to overthrow Mugabe.

Gono and Tomana, responsible for money and for the prosecution of MDC-T activists, remain at their posts, as do Permanent Secretaries and ambassadors.

Although we were told Governors and Roy Bennett will be sworn in, there is no sign yet that this is about to happen. ZANU PF Governors still sit in their offices, presiding over the ruining party's patronage system.

And now a man of the cloth has been abducted for being the spiritual adviser to the Prime Minister.

Only in Zimbabwe, eh?

For those MDC-T supporters who can not think for themselves and are now defending the untenable position of Morgan Tsvangirai to stick around in government, here are some questions:

You seriously think that the MDC will advance the interests of democracy by dining on the hopes and dignity of MDC-T supporters and officials with Mugabe?

You think anything will come out of this moribund MDC-PF government just because Tsvangirai says there is no option?

I assure you, no MDC-T supporter will answer any of this, because they not been fed lines to say by their party yet. And they can not think for themselves to see just how untenable all this is.

But there is an option.

Mugabe failed to form a government from June to February this year without the MDC-T. That shows you how muchclout Tsvangirai had back then.

Mugabe was paralysed, could not make a move because the MDC was refusing to throw him a lifeline.

This state of affairs has not changed, except that now it is Tsvangirai who insists that he needs Mugabe more than Mugabe needs him.

If Tsvangirai walked away today and pointed to all these violations, Mugabe would be on the ropes again.

But, of course, he is now "Father" to the MDC-T and they are not going to put him in a fix.

Mugabe is as happy as pig in mud. And, as I told you last week, he is going to get even more daring, his behaviour more atrocious, because he knows no matter what he does, the taste of fake power is too sweet for the MDC-T to turn their backs on.

We Were Right. Yet Again

This was the moment power was swiped from Morgan Tsvangirai's hands: the Mugabe inauguration on June 29 2008. Looking on as General Chiwenga congratulates the dictator are Air Marshal Perance Shiri and General Sibanda of the Army. Now they have come out in vocal support of Gideon Gono

What did I tell you?

I told you at the weekend that Gideon Gono, in putting his resignation to the president at his home in Helensvale, had said no ZANU PF leader was standing up for him even as he was vilified in public by the MDC-T.

He is said to have told the dictator. that he felt he was not wanted anymore.

On Monday, Mugabe duly oblidged and made a public statement (below) at the funeral of the Governor's brother. By now, if you have not been on Mars, you know what the old dictator said.

But, just as I said, now others are coming out of the woodwork. Service Chiefs, no less, Prime Minister Tsvangirai's nemesis, have come out in support of the man at the burial of the same brother.

Air Vice Marshal Henry Muchena, who represented the Defence Force Chiefs at the burial, told the gathering that the Defence Forces were fully behind him.

Patrick Chinamasa said anyone who wanted Gono to go was essentially calling for ZANU PF to go (gee, you think?). And of course, that will not do, he said.

Another ZANU PF attendee, Advocate Dinha, also spoke up in support. (Somehow I doubt Herbet Murerwa will be making the same comforting sounds to Gono. The two do not see eye to eye and Gono essentially got Murerwa fired as Minister of Finance).

Chinamasa, betraying the fact that Mugabe has now briefed the so-called heavyweights in ZANU PF on the "resignation" of Saturday, addressed Gono saying, "You may have been wondering where all the people who wrote those letters to you are now." (Meaning the written authorisations that Gono says he has for ALL his actions from several Finance Ministers that he served under.)

Chinamasa said he was one such Finance Minister who gave Gono orders and anyone who keeps saying Gono must Go is also saying ZANU PF must go.

Of course, this is not directed at the general population, who see nothing wrong in anyone calling for ZANU PF and Mugabe to go. Rather it is aimed at the Prime Minister (whom Mugabe pointedly accused on Monday of still pursuing the regime change agenda from within government).

Being seen in this light by Mugabe is not part of the Prime Minister's strategy. Therefore, I can assure you that as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, the PM is going to decide that it is simply too costly to his continued stay in government to push Mugabe too far on the issue of Gono and Tomana.

Not that he was ever likely to achieve anything anyway. If anybody thought SADC was going to tell Mugabe to fire Gono or they will impose sanctions or expel Mugabe from SADC, then they probably have been drinking weird stuff.

As a commenter on the Mail and Guardian blog said last November in relation to Home Affairs:

"So now poor Motlanthe must force Mugabe to give MDC Home Affairs? What if he says no? He just pissed on Anan and Carter and he will do it again."

Still, it is strange that there is this much focus on a single man while the nation continues to burn (see three articles below). We have more substantive issues to deal with: the constitution, the repeal of AIPPA (which is still operational despite what the Prime Minister says) and POSA, a new Electoral Commission and many other things that would level the playing field in Zimbabwe.

As it is, it appears as though the Prime Minister is afraid to start any of these things in earnest. It is as if he fears that he will again be defeated on these litmus-test issues by the dictator, which would make the Coalition Government completely, utterly and monumentally useless. Pointless.

If we are facing such spirited fights now over people, what more when it comes to a new Electoral Commission? Will Mugabe agree to disband his "retired military chakuti"-filled Electoral Commission and leave the appointments to a neutral recommending body?

Will he or won't he?

I rather doubt he will and I think the Prime Minister is fearing to "go there" because he knows just how bruising that battle is going to be. If he insists on staying in government after that (when it does happen), then he will be finished as a political force in Zimbabwe.

We watch and wait.

PS What is it with ZANU PF and comparing Morgan Tsvangirai to Jonas Savimbi. Today's state newspaper, the Herald, carries yet another page-long piece in which Savimbi is brought up again. The article is an anti-Tsvangirai article.

Are they trying to prepare us for the day when they assasinate the Prime Minister and tell us that he had, like Savimbi, left a coalition government to go and fight a war in the bush?

Just wondering.

Now Mugabe Turns Tables On Biti

Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe arrives for the funeral of Gideon Gono's brother on Monday. He told the gathering that Gono would not go anywhere, saying he never stole "even a cent" of anybody's money.

The State media today carries a story that implicates Tendai Biti in the "manufacturing" of evidence against Gideon Gono.

The case has been taken to the courts. On trial is a Prison Officer, Fibion Makoni, who is alleged to have gone into the cell of a former RBZ employee, Joseph Banda, who was arrested for stealing farming implements from the Reserve Bank. The prison officer is alleged to have told the prisoner that he had been sent by Minister Tendai Biti to get information on the corruption of Gideon Gono at the Reserve Bank.

He was told the Finance Minister would get him good lawyers and get him off the hook in the courts if he squealed on Gono.

Obviously he refused. And that is why the prison officer is now in jail.

It shows one thing: human nature being what it is, Banda looked at the balance of power in government and had to to decide who was most likely to have the power to make a difference to his case.

It was either the Finance Minister and the MDC-T (assuming this story is not cooked up) or the Governor and Mugabe.

He decided he stood to gain more by snitching not on Gono, but on Tendai Biti to Gono and the RBZ lawyers and hence, to Mugabe.

So now we have entered the phase where Mugabe fights back. Publicly. This trial of a prison officer, in my opinion, is simply to prepare public opinion. Zimbabweans, whatever other faults we may have, universally hate figures of authority using their positions to settle personal scores.

So, Mugabe would have won if he manages even to just sow the seeds of doubt into the motives driving Tendai Biti.

The job was started by that fake letter, whose main purpose was to disparage the efforts of the Finance Minister by attributing all the positives in this Inclusive Government so far to Gideon Gono and ZANU PF.

This trial will get prominence in the state media, which remains the most widely read (if not widely credible). At the end of it all, Zimbabwe will say Biti had nothing on Gono and had to resort to bribing jail guards to get adverse information on the governor from a man whom he assumed would hate Gono for having him arrested.

Although some of us are skeptical, the vast majority of Zimbabweans simply read the paper and shake their heads. If a conviction is secured, it will also be conviction on Tendai Biti, even if he should never stand trial.

By the way, if that letter from Gono was indeed from Gono, how come it did not mention this incident? It would have strengthened his case, that there was now a court case arising from the Finance Minister trying to buy off a prisoner to implicate Gono in nefarious misdeeds.

Hmmm.

Gideon Gono Gets What He Wanted

Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono got what he wanted today.

Mugabe, for the first time since the Inclusive Government was launched, publicly stated that the Governor is not going anywhere.

This comes hot on the heels of the resignation of the RBZ governor at the president's mansion in Helensvale. Gono, as I told in a previous article on this blog, complained to Mugabe on the day that no one from ZANU PF was standing up for him despite the fact that he was being "victimised for supporting them."

It appears Mugabe took this a direct challenge. It is also probable that, just like the rest of the people in ZANU PF, he has now heard of Gono's fear that Mugabe may well sacrifice him to Biti and Tsvangirai in return for getting much-needed aid from outside Zimbabwe.

This was a real fear in the Gono camp.

It appears the Governor got even more rattled when Morgan Tsvangirai announced that agreement had been reached on Governors, who would be laid off and paid off.

Gono thought he could also be forced into early retirement and be paid off compensation for cutting short his tenure. If Mugabe could let go of Governors, was anyone safe?

Mugabe, speaking at the funeral of Gono's brother today, Monday 25 April, used the occasion to state unequivocally that Gono was not going to be sacrificed, despite the calls from Western capitals, Bretton Wooods and other donors.

The dictator went further.

He also acknowledged that within the Inclusive Government, there are people who also want Gono gone. Although he did not name them, it is clear who he refers to.

After all, it was only last week that Prime Mnister Tsvangirai told a packed press conference at Munhumutapa Building that he and the other Principals would refer the matter to SADC.

In other words, Mugabe told the world today that whatever the Prime Minister says, it is of no consequence whatsoever. Like it or not, Mugabe, says, Gono will stay. SADC or no SADC. Which means there is little point to the whole pursuit of the matter.

But Gono now has public backing from his patron, who had maintained silence on the matter for months now. Gono can now wave that approval in the face of not only the Prime Minister but also the Finance Minister, who most probably will not be able to amend the RBZ Act as he wishes and will be blocked first in parliament and then at the stage of signing into law by Mugabe, should it get that far.

Now, you may also hear from Mugabe's cronies and ministers. They may start also publicly defending the Governor.

Somehow, I think it unlikely because Mugabe is running a very tight ship. He has told his Politburo that "it is me they are after. Let me deal with them." Which means dispute resolutions or positions will only be communicated once the President says so.

This is also why, through all of this nonsense, we never heard from ZANU PF in public. They are under orders to keep silent. And when people like George Charamba speak, it is with feigned ignorance of what is taking place in the negotiations. They are under orders to appear respectful at all times.

You will also notice that Mugabe made a confirmation of what I told you two months ago on this blog. Back then, I informed you that Mugabe had said to the MDC Gono can only go if it is demonstrated that he is being insubordinate or was being disloyal to the new order. He could not be punished for anything that happened before the MDC came to power.

"I said show me the wrong he has done," Mugabe told the mourners at Gono's brother's funeral today.

This is also the very reason why that letter said to be from Gono, is a fake. It would be insubordinate of him to appeal to the Prime Minister and smear Tendai Biti like that. The MDC would have found something to take to Mugabe.

Still, we know now that Gono stays and there's an end to the matter.

Scenes From Harare on 25 May 2009 (And Condolences)

Street Theatre: It is Africa Day In Zimbabwe today, a Public Holiday. Here, you see a crowdthat was gathered today in First Street watching a group that conducts street plays on First Street in Harare. They seemed to be enjoying themselves fully. The group performs comedy daily on the pedestrian-only First Street.

And this is a scene from Glen Norah, a high-density area of Harare today, where residents gathered at the Community Centre in Glen Norah B to fetch water from a Borehole dug by UNICEF. This particular area of Harare has gone for three days without electricity and they last saw water in their taps, they say, last year in July.

This is happening while, as you can see at the very top of these photos, treated water is left to gush out of pipes all over the city. I took these pictures today and the ones of the treated water gushing away were all taken within one block between Eastgate and Parliament in Harare.

CONDOLONCES:

It is also with a very heavy heart that I announce the death of our Provincial Coordinator in Manicaland, Mr George Kawonza, who was found burnt beyind recognition in his car in the province. He had just returned from a business trip to South Africa.

Dr Makoni, Mrs Makoni and thousands of Mavambo supporters gave him a fitting send-off on Saturday at his rural home in Rusape, where he was laid to rest.

The headman and chiefs from the area also attended.

Speaking at the funeral, Dr Makoni (who received a tumultous welcome) bemoaned the continued suffering of the people of Zimbabwe, saying the country is not working and that if it was working, George would perhaps not even have gone to South Africa, because business would be alright in Zimbabwe.

Dr Makoni also bemoaned the collapse of the health and edcucation infrastructure in Zimbabwe, saying "our kids today are getting a worse education than ever before."

He assured the gathering, which included countless people in Mavambo T-shirts, dancing and singing, (we ran out of T-shirts at the event as people kept clamouring for them) that the Mavambo party would be launched very soon to give people a true alternative to the moribund Government of National Unity.

Gideon Gono Resigns

Here's yet another scoop from this blog! Following hot on the heels of my scoop that the letter supposedly written by Gono was in fact written by George Charamba and is designed simply to expose the fact that the MDC-T "has done nothing since assuming power)

Gideon Gono, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, handed a letter of resignation on Saturday morning to dictator Robert Mugabe just as he was about to leave for his rural home in Zvimba from his Helensvale home.

Gono lives just up the road from Mugabe in the posh area and delivered the letter personally to Mugabe.

In a move that shows just who it is that is scuppering the Global Political Agreement, Mugabe is said to have refused to accept the resignation.

Gono, however, was insistent that no ZANU PF minister is standing up for him, not one is fighting from his corner except President Mugabe himself.

But the dictator, who has told Gono that he must hold his horses because the fight here is between the dictator and Tsvangirai, was apparently dismissive of Gono's move.

Gono was still insisting yesterday that his only option is to walk, claiming that, in doing so, he is going to show ZANU PF ministers and officials, whom he claims benefitted from his largesse, that they would also be exposed in the process.

For some time now, Gono has been bitter that the whole of ZANU PF has remained silent while he is hung out to dry by Biti.

He has not been sure whether Mugabe will hold fast in his refusal to let him go. My own assessment of his latest move is that it is designed specifically to test just how steadfast Mugabe is in his support. People close to the Governor say if he gets the impression that Mugabe is indeed willing to let the GNU fail on account of the Gono and Tomana issue, the governor could well be persuaded that he has a future.

Gono also told the president that he has essentially been made a lame-duck Governor by Tendai Biti, who has taken away pretty much all of the functions that used to give the Central Bank a source of income.

The Reserve Bank is now struggling to fund its own operations, with Biti insisting that the 6000 people that Gono has hired at the Central Bank are not needed (he calls them a parallel government) and refusing to fund their salaries. So, even as I write, RBZ staff are not being paid their salaries because Gono's coffers are dry.

You will recall that I told you soon after Biti's budget statement that the Finance minister and the MDC were vowing that, within six months, Gono will have to come to Treasury (Finance Ministry) to ask for funds to keep the central bank going.

What Gono fears, though, is to wake up one day and find that Mugabe has struck a deal over him with Tsvangirai.

The events of Saturday seem to show that Mugabe is unwilling to let his personal banker go.

Tsvangirai himself, who told the Financial Times at Jacob Zuma's inauguration that "it is not helpful to jump on the Gideon Gono bandwagon", will need to refer the matter to SADC if he is keen on getting the man to go.

As things stand, Tendai Biti and others are of the opinion that Tsvangirai will not do this, hiding instead behind the anthem that ALL principals need to AGREE to refer the matter to SADC for the matter to be referred there.

You will notice that Biti has now resorted to making moves on the legislative front to curtail and reorganise the Reserve Bank. This he is doing because he has lost hope that Gono will indeed go. Advice given to Biti by the IMF during recent consultations will inform the legal measures Biti will take to try and bolster confidence in the RBZ amongst donors and Bretton Woods institutions.

Still, it appears that Gono has now reached a stage where he is willing to walk unless ZANU PF becomes more vocal in supporting his continued stay at the Central Bank.

Fake: Gono's Letter To Tsvangirai

Impeccable sources now confirm that the letter supposedly from Gideon Gono to PM Tsvangirai, which the Prime Minister has denied receiving, was in fact written by Mugabe Spokesman George Charamba as a propaganda ply. It has worked spectacularly

The letter circulating online purportedly from Gideon Gono to Prime Minister Tsvangirai is fake.

Sources close to the Governor say the Governor has disowned the document and says he has not written to the Prime Minister. Gono claims that his issue is being handled by the dictator and the Prime Minister and he had no reason to appeal to a man whom he knows definitely wants him out of office - Morgan Tsvangirai.

Impeccable sources now confirm that the letter originated from the office of Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba. Charamba, a propaganda man, has repeatedly suggested to Gono that he should fight back by telling the world the true facts around the US$1 billion credit lines and STERP that are Gono's achievements.

The embattled Governor has resisted these suggestions because he still hopes to be able to work with Tendai Biti and does not want to appear insubordinate. You will recall that I have told you before that Mugabe, at the outset of the battle over Gono, told Tsvangirai that Gono can not be punished for past deeds but that if he proved insubordinate under the new dispensation, then the MDC would have a case.

Gono is aware of this and was fighting to ensure that he does not put a foot wrong. The press conference held by Gono and Biti last month, at which Biti said there was no bad blood between them, was an attempt to fall in line with Mugabe's wishes.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai has denied receiving the letter.

Charamba apparently felt that Gono was letting a good propaganda opportunity go to waste. He felt that the MDC-T was claiming credit for things they did not do, such as the credit lines, dollarisation, reduction of inflation and even STERP.

(It boggles the mind, though, that t=anyone would want to claim credit for STERP, which a South African economist as recently as last week called "a joke").

The fake letter contains many of the arguments that appeared last week in The Herald in an article that quoted unidentified "sources" as saying STERP was a ZANU PF programme handed to Biti in his capacity as Minister of Finance when he took office.

The same article also sought to "set the record straight" on dollarisation and all the other things that Tsvangirai has been claiming as the successes of the Inclusive government.

Charamba first sought to have these leaked anonymously, and the Herald article only said STERP was put together by ZANU PF "officials" before the Inclusive government was formed.

Perhaps this did not cause a good enough stir for Charamba. Shrewdly leaking a fake letter to PM Tsvangirai from Gono ensured that the letter got a much wider audience than the Herald.

Sure enough, it has now been widely reproduced on the Internet. In doing so, the arguments in it, the ones Charamba has been seeking to make widely-known (STERP, dollarisation etc as ZANU PF programmes), are also now being read.

No Deadlock In Zimbabwe, Says SADC

SADC Heads of State at a meeting of the regional body in Swaziland after the formation of Zimbabwe's Coalition Government. The regional body says there is no deadlock in Zimbabwe

"The first hundred days of Zimbabwe's Unity Government were given the seal of approval by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which dismissed any notion that the fledgling government was facing difficulties - a view not shared by Western donors," reports IRIN, the United Nations news service.

Tomaz Salomao, the Executive Secretary of the regional body, told the news agency yesterday that SADC was happy with the strides made by the Zimbabwe Unity Government so far, according to a story issued by IRIN here.

The Executive Secretary says no deadlock has been declared to them "but we are happy with what they have achieved so far."

As I told you before, Tsvangirai appears to be working against his own party on this supposed deadlock. He is happy to let Mugabe get the Permanent Secretaries, Ambassadors and so on.

The MDC National Council took a decision to refer "outstanding issues" to SADC because they are not happy with what Tsvangirai has agreed with Mugabe. The issues that they highlighted include the following:

Continued harrassment of MDC supporters, officials and even MPs
Continued dententions and arrests of MDC activists and supporters and officials
Failure by Mugabe to convene a meeting of the National Security Council, which is supposed to replace JOC
Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana appointments
Permanent Secretaries' appointments
Swearing in of Roy Bennet
Governorships of the ten Provinces of Zimbabwe.

The Council, led by people like Biti, wants ALL of these to be referred to SADC because they do not trust Mugabe one bit. They do not believe that he will honour his word and swear in Governors and Roy Bennet, especially since he will not give a specific date on which he will swear them in.

Of course, he has refused to discuss the continued trials of Jestina Mukoko, Gandi Mudzingwa and other MDC activists and Tsvangirai has not pressed him.

At his press conference yesterday, the Prime Minister said nothing about any of these issues of the arrests and harassment of MDC activists. Nothing at all.

So, Tsvangirai has essentially undermined that Resolution from Sunday by announcing that he has agreed to most of the issues that the National Council wanted referred to SADC.

The statement from SADC today shows that he has also not even taken the issue of Gono and Tomana (the only issues he says he will refer to SADC, in contravention of the Resolution of the MDC-T issued on Sunday) to them.

But Tsvangirai knows his supporters at the grassroots well. They will follow him unto death. He knows that, even if he were to tell them today to vote for Mugabe for president, they would unquestioningly do so.

His supporters at the grassroots level also seem to accept that it is OK for Mugabe to continue to detain MDC supporters as long as the MDC-T gets Principal Directors and Governors. They are happy with these "crumbs" as one diplomat put it to me yesterday, and are not worried about anything else really.

He is also quite happy with the junior "Principal Director" posts he has been given. Principal Directors, as one long-serving diplomat explained to me yesterday, have "no impact whatsoever on policy".

The hierarchy of the civil service is as follows:

Minister, followed by a Deputy Minister, followed by a Permanent Secretary, followed by an Undersecretary, followed by various Assistant Secretaries and then followed by the Principal Director.

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for instance, it was explained to me that Ambassadors report to Assistant Secretaries. They do not even report to the PermSec. The ambassador would report whatever he has to say to the Desk that covers his region, which is manned by an Assistant Secretary.

He will take the matter to the Undersecretary, who, if need be, will take it to the Permanent Secretary. Ambassadors can not speak to the PermSec unless the PermSec asks to speak to them.

In any case, Tendai Biti is privately saying now that he has had enough and he has the National Council backing him.

He is baffled as to why there would be silence on a fundamental issue like the continued sham trials and detentions of MDC-T activists, why Tsvangirai would consider these closed when Bennett, Mukoko, Mudzingwa and others are still being tried and face stiff jail sentences.

He is also baffled why Tsvangirai would continue on this route when all the donors say these are the very issues upon which aid to Zimbabwe depends.

Does the Prime Minister not realise that he has a no chance whatsoever of getting aid and assistance as long as he quietly accepts these breaches and leaves Mugabe's patronage structure in place?

In any case, it appears that even the matter of Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana has not been referred to SADC. But when one leads sheep, it is a walk in the park. Tsvangirai only needs that statement he made yesterday and then he will remain quiet, with his supporters thinking that his word alone at that Press conference means that the issue has been referred.

Soon, they will start again pointing fingers at Mugabe and SADC, forgetting that their leader has not sent a letter to the regional body and that the MDC-T itself can not approach SADC, only the three leaders can and it appears not one of them (Tsvangirai included) wants to take that futile route.

It is called smoke and mirrors and the gullible have already swallowed it.

End of story. The dispute is closed, unless Tendai Biti and the National Council decide to continue pushing Tsvangirai to fight for real power.

If Zimbabwe Is On The Right Track, Why Are Exiled Zimbabweans Not Coming Back Home?

Morning at Beitbridge border post, the gateway for Zimbabweans who fled Mugabe's misrule to find jobs in better-run South Africa. And they are not coming back, despite professed positive changes in Zimbabwe. Why not?

If the government of Zimbabwe, the one between MDC and ZANU PF, is working well and achieving positive results in Zimbabwe, why are our citizens still outside the country, living and working in Britain, South Africa, New Zealand and so on?

Why?

If STERP and the other plans that this government has are in tune with what Zimbabwe needs to roar again, why are our countrymen refusing to come back home and help make the vision of thet STERP a resounding success?

Instead, what we have now is Zimbabweans overseas "urging" the West to give money to the MDC-PF in order to turn the country around. What we have is applause for a strategy (STERP) that hinges purely on begging for alms from the West in order to feed the nation.

If that money comes, what will be done with it?

Most qualified personnel from Zimbabwe have found jobs elsewhere. This has left a serious gap in skills needed to revive Zimbabwe. From civil engineers to mechanics, let alone accountants and scientists, Zimbabwe is short.

Instead of praising the moribund and visionless plans of this government, Zimbabweans with skills out there in the diaspora need to start putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak.

It all reminds me of a comment on the South African Sunday Times website late last year when it was announced that South Africa had committed to giving Zimbabwe 300 million Rand in farm aid.

The commenter, a South African, said Zimbabwe should get nothing, South Africans needed to satisfy their own needs first.

"I have been fortunate enough to interact with educated Zimbabweans in South Africa, UK, New Zealand and USA and they are all very negative about their country. So why should I care about their country when they don't?"

That attitude is still with us in the world.

It appears that, to some extent, MDC-T supporters and Morgan Tsvangirai have realised this. Instead of exposing the truth about how Mugabe is still stubborn, refusing to replace Permanent Secretaries, refusing to fire Gono and Tomana, arresting MDC-T activists and officials like Gandi Mudzingwa, they are very keen to to sanitise Mugabe now, to say to the world is everything is just fine, the government is working well and Tsvangirai is winning and has power, so give us the money.

Of course, much of the world is not paying attention. The World Bank has just clarified it's position on the US$22 million that Tendai Biti claimed had been given to Zimbabwe.

They say, no, we are doing no such thing. The money is money that we have been giving to aid agencies and NGO all along for humanitarian work. The government gets nothing.

Of course, the money has not made a much fundamental difference even through all the years that aid agencies and NGOs have been getting it.

Still, the question remains: would it not convince the world even more that things have changed in Zimbabwe if all her exiled doctors, nurses, scientists, civil engineers and other qualified Zimbabweans started flocking back to the country, looking to see where they can help to uplift their country?

As long as the praises of the MDC-PF government are sung by Zimbabweans from the comfort of Peterborough, Manchester, Brighton, Alberta, New York and Johannesburg, then the words sound very hollow indeed.

And the world will ignore those voices and instead look inside Zimbabwe to make up its own mind.

The situation obtaining now is simply this: Zimbabweans outside Zimbabwe, professionals who are working elsewhere, show by their actions that they do not have confidence in Zimbabwe. The world takes its cue from the actions, not only of Mugabe, but also of those who oppose him.

That is the basis upon which they will judge whether to engage and help Zimbabwe or not.

Tsvangirai Announces Agreement On Outstanding Issues

Morgan Tsvangirai addresses a Press Conference at his offices earlier today, under the watchful eye of Mugabe. The Prime Minister claimed at the Press Conference that all outstanding issues have been resolved

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has confirmed that Mugabe's Permanent Secretarial appointments are not null and void and have been confirmed in their posts.

At a press conference this morning in Harare, Tsvangirai also detailed the other areas on which he, Mugabe and Mutambara and have reached agreement. But he also announced that Mugabe has flat out refused to agree to reviewing the appointments of Gideon Gonoa and the Attorney General.

When you look closely at the agreement as announced by Tsvangirai, it becomes very clear that Tsvangirai has basically been defeated substantially by Mugabe.

You also understand why Tendai Biti and the Executive of the MDC-T are so angry.

This is simply confirmation of what I told you yesterday, in an article below, that Mugabe insisting that the GPA says priority has to be given to the economic situation in Zimbabwe and all other issues should play second fiddle to this.

That the Prime Minister is willing to accept this is what is angering his Executive at the MDC-T.

On Provincial Governors, Mugabe has apparently "relented" and "agreed to appoint" 5 MDC-T Governors and 1 MDC-M Governor. ZANU PF gets 4. But, there is no word on when this will happen. Tsvangirai, at today's press conference, said they would be sworn in "at the earliest opportunity".

When will be the earliest opportunity? A year? Six months? One week?

It remains to be seen.

Roy Bennett's swearing in has also been "agreed on" and he will be sworn in, according to the Prime Minister, "before or on the day" that Provincial Governors are sworn in.

On ambassadors, Tsvangirai says the MDC-T has been asked to supply names of people to be "trained" for ambassadorial posts. Which means Mugabe has refused to reorganise the Foreign Service.

The Prime Minister, however, says Mugabe has agreed to fill four vacant posts for ambassadors with MDC-T and MDC-M nominees. Again, these will be made at the "earliest opportunity". No word on the exact date.

Nelson Chamisa has been given back control over the cellphone companies and ZIMPOST, but ZANU PF has retained control of the Interception of Communications mandate, which leaves them free to spy on everyone from the Prime Minister downwards. Interception of Communications was the real reason Mugabe grabbed the ministry from Chamisa, which means he has got what he wanted, after all.

The fact that Mugabe has refused to back down on Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana means that the matter will now be referred to SADC, Tsvangirai announced. Like I predicted earlier today, he claimed at the three principals have, with the backing of their parties, agreed to refer the matter to SADC.

But ZANU PF and MDC-M are still saying going to SADC is "premature". Which means, if they insist on this, the matter of Gono and Tomana will simply be left hanging and not be referred to SADC. Tsvangirai has indeed bought Mugabe;s argument that unless they all agree to refer the matter to SADC, it can not be referred there.

Significantly, Tsvangirai said absolutely nothing about the continued arrests and detentions of MDC-T activists and officials. He completely ignored the issue.

When he spoke about the rule of law, he mentioned continued "taking the law into their own hands" by "some of our citizens" with regards to the Land Reform Programme.

He said nothing about what, if anything will be done about it.

He was very quick, however, to dismiss, almost in the same breath, the same disturbances, saying "It is important to recognise that progress has been made and continues to be made with respect to rebuilding Zimbabwe."

So, to recap:

Permanent Secretaries are not null and void
The Interception of Communications, the real reason why Mugabe raided Nelson Chamisa's ministry, remains firmly in ZANU PF's grasp, for them to spy on citizens to their heart's content
Ambassadors remain at their posts and only the vacant five posts will be filled with MDC-T and MDC-M nominees. The others will be looked at "as they fall vacant" and filled through "a formula to be agreed"
Roy Bennet will be sworn in at a date no one is sure of, except that it will be before or at the same time as the Governors are appointed
Governors have been agreed on and will be sworn in at a time of Mugabe's choosing.

On media freedoms, Tsvangirai, despite the arrests of journalists like Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure of the Independent this last week, says the media was reformed on January 11, a month before he was sworn in as Prime Minister and 19 days before the MDC announced its agreement to join the Inclusive Government.

He says the Media Commission of Tafataona Mahoso is now null and void. Yet Mahoso still draws a salary and his offices remain open. Parliament, apparently, is in the process of putting in place a new Media Commission which will be announced at a date no one knows.

It is important for you to note that none of these things will be implemented. Mugabe will insist that the issue of Gono and Tomana, which will at some point (if ever) be brought before SADC, has to be concluded before he can move to implement the other things he has "agreed" to.

I will be very surprised if we see any movement on any of this soon at all.

All Mugabe's Appointees Reinstated

25 February 2009: Morgan Tsvangirai, flanked by Arthur Mutambara, announces that the appointments of Permanent Secretaries are null and void. Yesterday, he capitulated and ALL of Mugabe's Permanent Secretaries have been reappointed, as announced by the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda.

Tsvangirai has accepted this, driving his National Council even crazier with rage that he would accept such a slap in the face.

Every single Permanent Secretary appointed by Mugabe has been reinstated and confirmed in the post, President Mugabe's Office said last night.

On Tuesday, in a meeting of the Principals soon after Cabinet, Mugabe asked Mariyawanda Nzuwa, Chairman of the Public Service Commission and Misheck Sibanda, Secretary to the President and Cabinet, to come in and explain to Tsvangirai why none of his suggested nominees were qualified to be permanent secretaries of any ministry

They did this

Mugabe then threw in a sweetener and said he would give the MDC-T some Principal Directorships. Tsvangirai accepted this as a fair deal.

What it exposes is that the MDC-T simply wants space at the feeding trough, jobs for their boys. Mugabe read Tsvangirai right and, by offering the lesser posts of Principal Directors, he has provided that space at the trough.

Tsvangirai is satisfied with this because it allows even more of his cronies to join the gravy train.

So, even as Nelson Chamisa said, "Their appointments are null and void", the Prime Minister has relented and finally agreed that they are indeed no null and void.

That score that we were keeping from a month or so back is now active again.

This Thursday morning, it reads:

Mugabe: 3 Tsvangirai: 0

Tsvangirai Sabotages His Own Party

While Tsvangirai is willing to pursue the dictator to Kingdom Come, Tendai Biti and others believe Mugabe is "moving goalposts". So, he's reverted to type then?

In a move certain to anger Tendai Biti and the MDC-T National Council, Morgan Tsvangirai has decided to take the route of quietly defeating his Council's resolution to take the dispute over jobs for the boys to SADC.

The Prime Minister was advised by the president that SADC does not respond to statements by political parties. They will only engage a government.

Consequently, unless one of the Principals in the government approaches SADC with a grievance, SADC would simply ignore the resolution of the aggrieved political party. (Mugabe also falsely clams that unless the Principals ALL agree to declare an impasse, they can not approach SADC).

Tsvangirai has decided not to take the matter to SADC. You will notice that since he came from that meeting in Masvingo at the Flamboyant Hotel, Tsvangirai has made no moves whatsoever to make the request to SADC.

It appears he is taking Mugabe's advice and simply sitting back, while his National Council think that their Resolution is enough to elicit a call from Jacob Zuma to ask after them.

Tsvangirai remains very much committed to dialogue with Mugabe. He is willing to go the distance, cajoling and praising the dictator in the hope of charming him into capitulation.

I also learnt today that Mugabe's main arguing point, which the Prime Minister appears unable to counter effectively is that the GPA signed by the three parties clearly states that the Inclusive Government "will give priority to the restoration of economic stability and growth in Zimbabwe."

Mugabe is insisting that this has not been done and it would be hasty to start talking about other things, such as Governors and the like, when the priority item was still outstanding.

This is why you have heard Tsvangirai, over the last two weeks, at pains to emphasise that the government has stabilised the economy, brought inflation down and restored the supply of goods and services in the shops.

Mugabe is refusing to buy this and he has much evidence of his misrule to point to in the economy to bolster his position that the priority is STILL not attended to.

As Tsvangirai kept pushing, Mugabe had agreed to give a verbal commitment to addressing the MDC-T outstanding issues, but benchmarked against certain milestones on the economic front.

These had to do with the lifting of sanctions and the aid Zimbabwe receives from outsiders as a result of the efforts of the Inclusive Government.

Tsvangirai appeares to want to go along with this.

But, Tendai Biti is dead against the idea. He believes the dictator is trying to "move the goalposts" and that he can not be trusted one bit to do as he says should the MDC-T succeed.

But the frustration Tsvangirai has expressed at the West's reluctance to chip in with funds is evidence of the fact that he believes should there be even just a portion of Zimbabwe monetary needs released by the West, he would have an upper hand. He would go to the dictator and say much more could come if did A, B and C.

Right now, Tsvangirai does not have that bargaining chip.

And this is also one of the reasons Mugabe reminded him in the Herald a couple of days ago that he has "done nothing" since taking office.

In any case, Tendai Biti and Co. must now demand that the Prime Minister approach SADC as Prime Minister and Principal and formally declare an impasse or crisis.

If they do not do this, that Resolution will hang in the air like a bad smell for the rest of this government's life. Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Mutambara will simply continue to refuse to declare an impasse.

Tsvangirai will tell his executive that unless the three principals ALL agree to take the matter to SADC, it can not be taken there.

They should not believe him.

"We Don't Report To A Prime Minister" - Zimbabwe Service Chiefs

HERE ARE THREE ZANU PF HARDLINERS: General Chiwenga, Mugabe's top Commander, happily congratulates the president soon after his inauguration at State House on Sunday June 29. Misheck Sibanda, the Secretary to the President and Cabinet, can be seen in the background, partly obscured by the General. These are the men who are causing Tsvangirai endless headaches. But he insists Mugabe, at least, is "not the problem."

Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe and his security chiefs have refused to disband JOC (the Joint Operations Command, which was at the forefront of strategising Mugabe's retention of power in the chaotic aftermath of the March elections in 2008).

Instead, JOC still sits regularly, thumbing its nose at the Inclusive Government. The meetings, some of which I have reported here before, are mainly held in two places: at State House, which Mugabe now uses as his preferred office after moving his family to his mansion in Helensvale, Borrowdale, a minute's drive from Gideon Gono's house, just off Carrick Creagh Road) or at the house in Highlands that I have mentioned here before.

The Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara commits to the creation of a National Security Council, on which Tsvangirai is guaranteed a seat.

The Service Chiefs and Mugabe hav simply ensured that the Security Council never meets.

The MDC-T made the mistake of assuming that the creation of a National Security Council meant the disbanding of JOC.

The agreement says nothing about disbanding JOC. Based on this, the Service Chiefs and Mugabe have said the continued meetings of JOC are legal and not in violation of the agreement. Technically, they are correct. The letter of the agreement certainly indicates this. But only if you are being legalistic and insincere.

The spirit of the same agreement, however, suggests that the body should not even be meeting anymore.

Meantime, the MDC-T has been reduced to demanding that the National Security Council meets "without further delay".

They bemoaned the failure by the Council to meet in their Resolution this past Sunday, the one in which they said they had referred the matter to SADC. (Another cock-up I shall be discussing in detail in a later posting this evening).

I also know for a fact that the Prime Minister "invited" the Service Chiefs to have a cup with them for familiarisation purposes and got back the following response (within the day):

"We don't report to a Prime Minister. Send your request through our Commander-in Chief (President Mugabe)."

It is not known whether Tsvangirai put his request to Mugabe in their one-on-one Monday meetings, but the fact that he has failed to meet the Service Chiefs to date says a lot.

As I told you around the time Tsvangirai was sworn in (and I was told that I was dreaming and was wrong, the tide had turned etc), Mugabe was clear from the outset that Tsvangirai had to be kept as far away from the Defence Forces as possible.

The Prime Minister, who keeps telling us about hardliners and how Mugabe is such a dandy chap, needs to look no further than Mugabe to find the gang leader of these "residual elements".

So far, he is insisting that he needs Mugabe in order to give Zimbabweans a solution.

Why Mugabe Is Walking Away From The Coalition

PICTURE OF HEALTH: It appears even Morgan Tsvangirai has given up on Mugabe retiring, telling an audience at Wits University barely two weeks ago: "President Mugabe is not going anywhere. He is with us in this government until we achieve positive results"

The commenting system on the Blogger platform, who host this blog, has been misbehaving for some days now and I commiserate with all who have called and emailed to say you can not leave your comments.

I am sure the blog platform are aware of this glitch and are fixing it, so we should be back to normal soon.

A few of you who have called or emailed today were asking how feasible it is for Mugabe to go it alone, to abandon the Coalition with Tsvangirai as he has now clearly decided to do.

First thing to understand is that Mugabe now believes that the MDC needs the GNU more than he does.

The explanation is found in the story below this one, the story in which I tell you about Mugabe's ZANU PF publicly humilating the MDC by revealing that:

STERP (The Short Term Economic Recovery Programme) was crafted by ZANU PF before MDC agreed to join the Coalition and simply presented to Biti for him to take to cabinet upon taking office (this has not been disputed by the MDC, so we can conclude that this is true)
Dollarisation was introduced by ZANU PF (this is public knowledge and we all know that it is Chinamasa who introduced dollarisation in his budget as Acting Minister of Finance before the MDC even announced that they had agreed to go into a coalition with ZANU PF)
Licencing for all providers of goods and services to charge in foreign currency was introduced by ZANU PF (again, this is public knowledge, we all heard Gono make the announcement in the Monetary Policy that followed the Chinamasa Budget. This, again, was before MDC even announced its decision to join government)

Now, it is not in dispute, even amongst MDC-T die-hard supporters, that these measures have brought a measure of relief on the inflation front and on the economic front.

The Prime Minister has been, over the last two weeks or so, pointing to these measures as the big achievements of this Inclusive Government. He claims inflation is now at minus 3%.

Mugabe and ZANU PF are now saying, since they did these things by themselves without the MDC-T or M, since these measures have been proved to be successful and to bring results, what on earth do they need the MDC-T for?

It is a very real position within ZANU PF that with or without the MDC, what Mugabe's party did in January this year would have brought the same results.

ZANU PF readily admits that the only thing they need MDC-T for is removal of sanctions. But it is now clear to them that these are not being lifted.

As one senior member said yesterday, "why should we allow them to claim credit for our success when they are not doing anything at all about the sanctions? Tsvangirai has achieved nothing since coming to office, nothing."

So, ZANU PF clearly now believes that were it to be left alone in government, it would essentially continue with the route they put in place in January (dollarisation) and see this bring in results, changing the face of Zimbabwe's economy.

Now, the economy was Mugabe's biggest problem, the root of his unpopularity and the issue that turned the whole country against his party. They had to be forced to support him.

He is certain that the correction of the economy signals his ascendancy back to supremacy.

The key to defeating an enemy is to understand how he thinks, and not to prejudice our opinion of him because of our hatred for him. A long line of brilliant Generals, from Ceasar to Eisenhower, grasped this simple truth in the cradle

The trump card the MDC-T held, which was that they could open floodgates to aid coming into Zimbabwe, has been proved to be hollow and false. The aid is not forthcoming.

Based on this, Mugabe is now absolutely certain that he will lose nothing if the MDC walks away from the coalition today.

He can not fire them, but he would like them to go. This is where we are. This is what we we face.

It is indeed true that the only thing that will change today if the MDC-T walks away is that they will not longer be in office, they being the MDC-T.

Otherwise, everythig else remains as it is now. Nothing will change.

AS FOR THOSE CREDIT LINES: ZANU PF SAID THROUGH THE HERALD TWO DAYS AGO THAT THESE WERE ALL NEGOTIATED AND SEALED BY GONO AND BITI HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM.

So, the MDC has not even brought those grants into the country, except for the US$22 million that was announced yesterday by the World Bank.

But you must remember how insignificant this is: this sum from the World Bank, negotiated by Tsvangirai, is barely enough to cover just the salaries of the bloated civil service for ONE MONTH.

ZANU PF says, through Gono, it brought in the credit lines amounting to almost a billion which Biti was now trying to take credit for.

None of these claims have been dismissed by the MDC-T, so they stand and are true.

If you are in doubt, please tell me now the one thing that the MDC-T has given Mugabe during the short life of this GNU that would he wouldn't have got otherwise.

I agree, it is unpalatable. But the truth has a certain way of being unpalatable.

Biti Stole STERP From ZANU PF, Says Mugabe As Coalition Crumbles

BETTER DAYS: Tendai Biti is seen here with Mugabe and South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe when South African business leaders jetted in to talk investments with the Zimbabwe government.

Now Mugabe has publicly humiliated Biti and the Prime Minister by saying STERP was drafted by ZANU PF before the Inclusive government was formed and simply handed to Biti when he took office

President Mugabe and ZANU PF have now basically declared the GNU or Inclusive Government dead.

Mugabe's party yesterday let it be known through the media that Tendai Biti did not draft STERP. Instead, it is claimed, the plan was drafted by the ZANU PF government prior to the MDC agreeing to go into the Government of National Untiy or Inclusive Government.

Apparently, Biti was handed the document when he took over and "all he did was present it to Cabinet".

You will also notice that the 100 Day Plan document itself does not carry pictures of the President and his two deputies.

Although it details the laughable "plans" in each ministry, the Presidency was left out, suggesting either that the Presidency has no plans for the next 100 days or that Mugabe is keeping his plans secret.

It is the later, of course.

Technically, the Prime Minister is in charge of the policy formulation and implementation, but the spirit of inclusiveness should have seen Mugabe and his deputies volunteer their own plans for reorganising government.

The true state of affairs in Zimbabwe is that ZANU PF and Mugabe have already made up their minds that the GNU is dead. Mugabe has said anyone who does not like the fact that Gono is staying can go and hang.

He is certain that he will never back down.

Which has also led to him being certain that the MDC are on their way out of the MDC-PF government. He fully expects them to walk.

The confirmation of this state of affairs came yesterday in the state newspaper, The Herald.

The newspaper publicly called the Prime Minister a liar, basically. It quoted his statements in recent times (including in South Africa) in which he claimed credit on behalf of the Coalition government for dollarisation, bringing inflation down and filling the shops with food.

The paper, in a page-long feature, explained that dollarisation was introduced by Patrick Chinamasa in his budget speech as Acting Finance Minister. It debunked the inflation story by saying Gideon Gono, "four days later", introduced wholesale licencing for goods and services to be charged for in foreign currency.

Shops, the paper pointed out, were already full of goods by the time the MDC agreed to join the Inclusive Government.

It then goes on to paint an extremely dismissive picture of the measures taken by Tendai Biti and the Inclusive Government, including the claim that STERP was drawn up by ZANU PF and simply handed to Tendai Biti when he came into office. All he did was present it to cabinet, Mugabe's camp says.

And this has not been disputed by Biti.

As for the aid that is now coming in from African Banks, it is explained that the deals had already been done by Gideon Gono at the Reserve Bank and Biti simply concluded them. Again, this has not been disputed by the MDC.

But the importance of all this lies in the indication it all gives that, clearly, Mugabe is now preparing for an election. He is campaigning.

Yesterday, he obviously gave orders for the gloves to be taken off and for Tsvangirai to be exposed as having "done nothing" since assuming office.

The paper also carries an opinion piece that says "No Reforms" at the Reserve Bank until sanctions are removed.

There you have Mugabe's answer to the MDC Resolution.

The dictator himself remains quiet as a mouse and simply moves pieces into place on the chessboard called government.

It is now almost certain that by the time the MDC-T wakes up and the Prime Minister realises that Mugabe is, indeed, the problem, they would have been checkmated.

This line on the economic turnaround will be drummed into people's heads relentlessly during any election. It will be repeated with every news bulletin.

It is the only straw the MDC was hanging onto in terms of achievements in the Inclusive government so far. Mugabe wishes to blow that straw away.

And with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission confirming yesterday that by-elections will be held for seats whose incumbents are dead or in jail or dismissed by his party, the stage is set.

Nakedly, ZANU PF is going to abandon the pledge not to fight the MDC for MDC seats that fall vacant.

The point of all this, really, is to give you a heads up. The signs are all there that this Coalition Government is now dead in the water.

If the MDC get frustrated enough with not being able to appoint a Governor or an Attorney General that they think it wise to walk out, that indeed would be the end of the government.

But the Prime Minister's party says it has no intention of walking. Which means Mugabe is going to get even more outrageous in the coming weeks. He is going to go out of his way to humiliate and frustrate the MDC.

If they stay through all that, they will emerge at the end of this experiment the laughing stock of Africa and, more importantly, of the people of Zimbabwe.

"Chiyadzwa Diamond Massacre and June 27 Run-off Victims Buried in Chitungwiza"?

Shallow graves can be seen clearly in the foreground in this picture I took earlier this evening. In the background are "normal graves" where people continue to be buried.

In the first photo, at the very top, you can see the sort of grave into which these bodies were put. They are the "pre-graves", dug by council employees at cemeteries just as a start. Normally, those burying their loved ones would deepen the grave considerably before burial, but it was not the case here. The bodies were dumped into these "pre-graves". In the same photo right at the top, you can also clearly see the surgical masks and gloves discarded by the prisoners who buried them there.

One April night, just a few weeks back, a tipper truck arrived at Unit L Cemetery in Chitungwiza.

It was accompanied by a truckload of prisoners, who all disembarked and were handed gloves and surgical masks as well as picks and shovels.

Shortly, bodies started being offloaded from the back of the tipper truck and thrown into the graves. No coffins.

Eighty five bodies are now buried at the Unit L Cemetery in Chitungwiza, a satellite town of Harare, the Capital of Zimbabwe.

The bodies were piled two or three into a row of shallow, knee-length graves. There are thirty seven of these shallow graves in all.

Sources say the 85 bodies belong to victims of the Chiadzwa diamond fields massacre as well as some victims of the June 27 presidential election run-off horrific violence.

The 85 bodies were allegedly buried by prisoners and the masks and gloves they wore during the grisly act have been dumped into another shallow hole, which nobody has bothered to cover up. The masks and gloves were still visible when I visited the place today.

The row of shallow graves is unmistakable at the Unit L Cemetery.

It says a lot about the sense of impunity that pervades Zimbabwe when things like this happen in an urban area.

But in a way, it makes sense. Traditionally, chiefs out in the rural areas would rather die than accept the bodies of strangers into the ground over which they preside. It would the scariest thing they can do and no spirit medium would let a chief like that off the hook.

This explains why the burials had to be in town.

The bodies had been turned away from Mutare and from Marondera by the Mayors of the town, according to very reliable sources. Residents of Unit L in Chitungwiza are aware of the presence of these graves and are up in arms against their own MDC-T mayor for allowing the bodies to be brought there.

Within two days, the whole neighbourhood near the Cemetery was filled with the stench of rotting human flesh, according to residents who live nearby.

I also understand that, this week, there are plans to put up a tarred road over the shallow graves, which are buried in the middle of the cemetery. The new road would simply look like an access road for cars and people, flanked by proper graves on either side.

MDC-T officials in the area also fear that the more 40 MDC-T activists who the opposition can not account for and who disappeared last year may well be part of the group.

Since coming into government, the MDC-T has pressed for information on where the missing activists are, but the police say they have no idea.

Residents of the area, some no doubt with hyperactive imaginations, now say that they see strange lights rising into the sky over the cemetery late at night and are very upset with the Mayor of the City for allowing the bodies to be buried there, especially since they had been turned away from Mutare and Marondera.

It would require more resources than are available to a blogger to unravel this whole thing.

But what is not in doubt is that there are 37 shallow graves at Unit L Cemetery in Chitungwiza some with three and others with two bodies in them that are about to be tarred over.

Hopefully, the MDC-T will push for an explanation on this particular incident and give us all an official position, otherwise.......

What Happened At The MDC National Council Meeting On Sunday, May 17?

Tendai Biti and Nelson Chamisa (above) as well as Roy Bennett and other members outside cabinet, rammed through the resolution to take the "outstanding issues" back to SADC and AU, despite Tsvangirai's resistance. The Prime Minister would have lost not only the argument but even his job as head of the party is he had refused to capitulate to his Council

Morgan Tsvangirai was left all alone in the MDC-T National Council meeting held in Masvingo on Sunday as the rest of his executive argued against the continued status quo in the MDC-PF Coalition regime.

Not a single member of the National Council backed the Prime Minister's position that time was needed to bring Mugabe around. Not a single one of them thought it wise to listen to the Prime Minister's advice counselling "patience".

Tsvangirai was again in the mood to defend Mugabe, saying the dictator was "tired" but that if he were to push matters, the whole government could crumble around their ears, plunging Zimbabwe into an even deeper crisis from which neither the MDC-T nor ZANU PF would benefit.

At one time, he asked the gathering whether they thought they could achieve anything by going back to the days of running battles and harassment from the police and whether they thought they could achieve anything by abandoning everything now, before they had had a chance to put in place measures that would make a news election fairer and the playing field more level.

From the beginning of the meeting, it was clear that National Council wanted Tsvangirai to send a big signal to ZANU PF that what they continue to do is unacceptable.

About half of those present (including Nelson Chamisa) favoured pulling out altogether, but it was Tendai Biti who argued against this, saying staying in government allowed the MDC-T to claim credit for changing the economic situation of Zimbabweans. He also agreed that they had to stay in to get a new constitution, licence new media players and influence the environment as much as possible in their favour for the next elections.

He argued it was quite possible to continue the work of government while fighting for "political space". He believes there are important areas where the MDC is proving influential and more are available.

In the end, the Council decided that it had "to be seen to be doing something" about all these violations.

One member reminded the gathering that SADC and the African Union were guarantors of the whole deal and could be appealed to to knock sense into Mugabe's head.

Tsvangirai pointed out that this would not achieve any results, reminding the gathering that these are the very same issues that he had tried to raise with the regional and continental groupings after signing, as the MDC-T refused to be sworn in.

He explained how both Jakaya Kikwete, whom he called a "friend" of the MDC (and who is Chair of the African Union) and the then South African President Motlanthe said these were issues that were out of the facilitation mandate and would have to be resolved by the Joint Implementation and Monitoring Committee set up by the three parties to the agreement.

Some members of the Zimbabwean opposition Supreme Body argued that, be that as it may, they still thought that sending the matter back to SADC would at least show their supporters that they were not taking ZANU PF violations lying down.

And that is how agreement was reached on sending the matter back to SADC and the African Union.

It is important to understand that all this is smoke and mirrors, that the MDC-T National Council knows very well that SADC and the African Union can not force Mugabe to appoint MDC-T ambassadors.

They know the regional bodies will most probably refuse to even step in and instead ask the parties to continue addressing their concerns through JOMIC.

But these are desperate times for the MDC-T and they want to give an impression of doing something about the humiliations they continue to suffer at Mugabe's hands.

Tsvangirai remained opposed to what he called "confrontation" right to the end of the meeting.

This is why he told the gathered masses at the MDC-T 10th Anniversary rally at Macheke Stadium that he was "bound" by his party's decision. He does not like it and would prefer to plod along, ignoring the violations by Mugabe.

But it became very clear during the MDC-T National Council meeting that if he insisted, he risked losing his job as President of the party. So strong was the feeling against the continued status quo that, if he had tried to steamroll his way through, he would elicited a vote of no confidence from the gathering.

As it is, Tsvangirai has saved his job. But for how long? It is clear Mugabe is not going to budge and the frustrations will continue within the opposition.

One interesting fact here is that it does not appear as though this whole thing will lead to a split. It would have done if Tsvangirai had anyone backing in the party, thereby creating two camps: Pro and Anti Tsvangirai.

But, with no one standing by his side in this fight, when the whole thing explodes, it is likely that only Tsvangirai will be the one to be sacrificed.

It is like what happened with Winston Field after the dissolution of the Rhodesia and Nyasaland Federation, when Ian Smith and other hardliners felt that he was not being confrontational enough with Britain in demanding independence for Rhodesia.

In the end, the Rhodesia Front ousted Field and elected Smith, giving themselves more than 15 years of survival as the supreme political force in Rhodesia.

So it will be with Tsvangirai. He has now been mortally wounded politically by this rebellion and it is just a matter of time. His days are definitely numbered, especially if he keeps insisting that Mugabe must be handled with kid gloves.

Tsvangirai Declares Stalemate, Says Government Can Not Function

The MDC-T party has won over its president, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the argument over outstanding issues.

Despite the Prime Minister's insistence that the government is working very well and nothing was amiss except a few men with hard heads, the MDC-T announced Sunday that it is referring the "Outstanding Issues" to SADC.

Morgan Tsvangirai himself told a rally at Macheke Stadium in Masvingo that he is "bound" by the decision of his party to take the matter to SADC and the African Union.

It was admission that he did not agree with this route. But Tendai Biti managed to rally the Council to his side and made the announcement.

In a direct challenge to Tsvangirai's claim that "there is no deadline," Biti pointedly announced on Sunday:

"We had given the three principals a deadline to have solved the outstanding issues by last month, but there was no progress."

So, there WAS a deadline?

Tsvangirai knows he can not get any joy from SADC and the African Union and he therefore preferred to deal internally with Mugabe, cajoling the reluctant dictator by incrementally currying his favour.

Hence the politeness in private and public and so on.

In making the announcement, Nelson Chamisa said, "Government can not function under the current circumstances.

The Prime Minister had no alternative to being browbeaten by his Executive, who felt that Mugabe was simply making fools of all of them, stringing Tsvangirai along while consolidating his power by elbowing the MDC-T out of the real power sphere.

By saying the government can not function under the current circumstances, the MDC-T are basically saying this is no government. That the present state of affairs mean the death of the GNU (or Coalition government or whatever is in fashion today).

What happened to the 95% of outstanding issues that had been resolved?

What were they? With 95% agreed, what is so important about the remaining 5% that it warrants killing the Coalition?

Could it be that there never were 95% of anything agreed on as I told you before.

These are the facts of the matter. And facts are stubborn.

So now the country will be put on autopilot, left to simmer in its own juices on the back burner while the two main parties to the Agreement fight over what should have been fought over before the document was signed.

As Tsvangirai is well aware, he will not win the battle at SADC or the African Union.

It is highly unlikely that Mugabe takes them seriously anymore, especially as they are very keen to emphasise that they will not be leaving the government come what may.

So what is the incentive to Mugabe?

None.

Like I told you earlier this month, SADC still views Tsvangirai as not only an outsider but also an impostor. It is highly unlikely that they will satisfy his demands. They can not. If Mugabe does not want, then he does not want.

It would be easier and much less painful for them to simply walk away now. They still have some vestige of pride. Later, it will be much more different.

But their supporters, who were against the GNU before Tsvangirai agreed to it, were now at the forefront of supporting the decision to stay in. Whatever will they do now?

Why, support the futile decision to appeal to SADC and then support the pull out or crumbling of the agreement when it comes, of course.

I guess it was fun while it lasted.

The MDC-PF Government's 100 Day Plan: Go Begging

GETTING A HAIR CUT AT BEITBRIDGE BORDER POST BEFORE GOING TO LOOK FOR A JOB IN SOUTH AFRICA:

Instead of formulating policies that create jobs and empower industry, the MDC-PF's 100 Day Plan shockingly relies only on going begging or "mobilising resources". It is a frighteningly inept document

My God!

We are in more trouble than even I thought.

If you have not done so already, I urge you to read the 100 day plan that was launched by the Prime Minister last week and see for yourself evidence that this government has no clue about how to revive this country.

I fear this MDC-PF government is in over its head and does not have a single clue as to how to get us out of this mess.

The 100 Day Plan is a naive plan that can be explained in one simple word: Aid. You could replace that with "Donors" if you like.

This is what the government went to Victoria Falls for?

We are in trouble.

The 100-Day Plan is simply a wish list and, more disturbingly, a rehash of failed ZANU PF policies.

For example:

The plan calls for the dishing out of goodies left right and centre, without saying where the money for this will come from. These include the "target" at the Agriculture Ministry to "facilitate" the dishing out of crop inputs and seedlings by June 1. This is followed by this:

Increase tobacco to 150kgs, Cotton to 450 000mt, sugarcane to 600 000mt and soya beans to 240 000mt......mobilising farming equipment and implements for both the summer and winter crops

Just like that? But how?

Like I said, it is not a plan, it is wish list.

What the MDC-PF government fails to understand is that government is not a farmer and can therefore not "increase tobacco".

Government is not a factory can therefore not "supply fertiliser".

Well, the madness stretches across the board.

Targets for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce include:

Ensure adequate supply of fertiliser for winter crops by end of May...Develop pricing models (price controls).....Compile comprehensive information on the manufacturing sector (what were they doing in opposition if not studying the gravity and magnitude of the problems facing this critical sector for the last ten years?)......and then "Promote rebranding of Zimbabwe through the hosting of ZITF (which was gonna happen anyway and was a flop), COMESA (Mugabe's long-awaited Chairmanship of that body is now here)...

As you read through this wish list that is trying to pass itself off as a plan, you begin to realise something: THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

A wish list does not a plan make.

There is legislation, by-laws and investment environmental issues that make is impossible for locals as well as the foreigners to invest here. There are impediments that have been set in the way of business over more than 30 years that must be addressed by this MDC-PF government.

But they do nothing of the sort. Instead they want to "mobilise fertiliser" and "hold the COMESA Summit".

One of the more laughable targets belongs to the Ministry of Women's Affairs and Gender and Community Development. And it is?

"Hire a Consultant."!

Local Government has a target that says "Design and Fund a Local Authority Retreat"!

Excellent! More tax dollars spent on hotel bills and imported beers while sewage flows in the streets.

Ministry of Public Works, held by the MDC, (which should be at the forefront of using innovative infrastructural works that are historically the engines for employment and economic revival in an economy in the doldrums like ours) is tasked with what?

I'll tell you: "Cleaning all government buildings by end of June 2009".

"Complete 19 Government buildings by end of July (the government already has too many buildings housing too many underemployed people who, if they so wish, should be allowed by the Prime Minister to go on strike, because the country will not notice the difference) and

maintenance and rehabilitation of all sanitary facilities by end of June 2009"

That is IT? Yes, folks, that is the 100 day plan of this important ministry.

Meantime, Nelson Chamisa, whose Ministry has been stolen by Mugabe, is tasked with mainly Internet thingies to do and some cryptic targets about "parastatal status report in 60 days" (I doubt Mugabe will let him anywhere near the parastatal's offices, whose boards are chaired or populated by retired soldiers and armed forces people.)

It really would be a waste of your time and mine to spend any more time on this joke they call a 100 day plan.

This government has no clue what it is doing, where it should start or how it should be doing what it needs to do: remove the impediments that make it impossible for business to function properly and create jobs in Zimbabwe.

Instead of urging the Ministry of Finance to "widen the tax base", they should be tasking that same ministry to provide specific breaks on tax set against specific reinvestment targets for companies."

For example, if a company reinvests a certain amount into its own business in the 90 days and proves it has not only created X% capacity increase but also new jobs, then it gets given tax breaks to allow it to do more of the same.

Instead, the Prime Minister, who proudly claimed responsibility for the document at its launch, exhorts Tendai Biti to "widen the tax base". How, if you do not create any jobs?

There is not a single item in the whole 100 day plan that even attempts to stimulate job creation in the market. Instead, it is all about going begging and dishing out the alms to an expectant nation.

LIKE I SAID, WE ARE IN TROUBLE.

And Yet Another Blow To White Farmers from Morgan Tsvangirai

The Tobacco Auction Floors in Harare on May 7 2009

Quite odd, this.

Coming hard on the heels of the MDC-PF government declaring that farms protected by Bilateral Investments Protection Agreements (BIPAs) are not immune to being seized by the government of Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, Morgan Tsvangirai has dealt yet another blow to the hopes of Zimbabwe's white farmers.

The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe was in Bindura yesterday for what the state newspapers are calling a "Stakeholders Conference".

(An awful lot of these are being held with nothing to show for them, by the way."

Anyway, the Prime Minister is quoted as saying, "There is no going back on land reform," by the Herald.

His actually words were, "No one is going to reverse Land Reform. Isu tiri kuti rimai tidye tese tese."

No mention of the Land Audit, one of the most burning issues of Zimbabwean elections since at least 2002. It was rightly demanded by the opposition because many good-for-nothings had hoarded farms in the hope that they would get title deeds and then sell those farms right back to their former owners or go into 50-50 partnerships where they shared the profits but not the capital costs.

It was well planned...

In the interim, they do no farming at all, using farmhouses as brothels and weekend retreats.

Now, however, this is territory the Prime Minister fears to tread.

In fact, in the last couple of weeks, ZANU PF parliamentarians and ministers have written in the state media saying they are going to push for a land audit. One of them was very clear that the continued refusal of ZANU PF to entertain an audit would be its undoing, since it would be seen as wanting to hide something.

To win the next election, he said, ZANU PF must now be at the forefront of calling for the Land Audit that the Prime Minister now fears to press home. In case he treads on the toes of the military brass, who have taken this crusade to be theirs, a protection of what they fought for...

So ZANU PF does not want to appear to hiding anything....

But in reality they most certainly are. Most, if not all, multiple-farm owners are ZANU PF lackeys and cronies. Some are ministers, others soldiers and policemen.

Western countries, if we abandon beating about the Bush, primarily refer to property rights when they talk of the rule of law. Specifically, they lecture Zimbabwe on this in order to get it to pay compensation for the private assets (farms) that it took from their owners.

This is really not a racist or supremacist stance, when you look at it within the context of the 21st century.

FDI - Foreign Direct Investment, has been the proven engine for the growth of any economy. But foreign investors will never come into Zimbabwe if the government decides on a whim that it is going to "liberate" certain farms or companies and redistribute them without paying"a cent"in compensation for them, as Mugabe once famously declared.

FDI will dry up, as it has in Zimbabwe. No matter how much gold or uranium or platinum you have, no one except the riff-raff, shady characters of the international business underworld will want to have anything to do with your country.

By endorsing this Marxist approach to private property, the Prime Minister is actually doing more harm to the future of this country than he realises.

He should stop skirting the issue and start engaging the world about the issue of the Land dispute. Most white farmers are not against the process, but they simply want compensation for their toil to date.

Mugabe says they must go and get it from Britain, who stole the land in the first place and parceled it out to people who later claimed ownership to the stolen property and sold it on to unsuspecting people.

I sincerely believe that the true test of the statesmanship of the Prime Minister will be whether he can bridge this divide, whether he can get Mugabe and the British to meet halfway, wherever that halfway is.

Right now, though, he is ignoring the festering sore on the neck of Zimbabwe, instead prescribing painkillers for the headache caused our nation by the toxins in this sore.

Mugabe is already in the land of the hopeless.

I hope the Prime Minister is not planning to join him there.

Outstanding Issues To Remain Outstanding

Morgan Tsvangirai is seen here wearing his reading glasses as he delivers a speech at the "launch" of yet another 100 days of plans by the MDC-PF regime. Tonight, his office confirmed that there is no announcement on the outstanding issues. The Prime Minister, on this, has now managed to break three promises in one week. Good going, Morgan.

A few minutes ago I was told by the Prime Minister's Office that "there is no announcement on the outstanding issues scheduled."

The main news bulletin on State television is going on at the moment and nothing has been said about the matter, as can be expected. Instead, one of the main news items is the fact that the lawyer for MDC-T activists Gandi Mudzingwa and Chris Dhlamini, has been granted US$100 bail by the courts. He is charged with defeating the course of justice.

I told you earlier this week that Mugabe responded to Biti's "ultimatum" by saying, "No one threatens me." I also told you that he was now determined that no resolution of the outstanding issues is reached before the threatened May 17 MDC-T National Council meeting.

This has come to pass.

The Prime Minister is livid with Tendai Biti, because he believes that, were it not for that stunt of a press conference giving Mugabe an ultimatum, he would have sealed a deal with Mugabe by now.

He gives both himself and the dictator too much credit.

Tsvangirai now believes that the best way to get anything out of Mugabe is to show him due respect both in private and in public, to avoid confrontation at all cost (and I mean ALL cost). But this strategy was scuttled by members of his own party who are now after his head, believing him to have been "bought" by the dictator.

Still, the situation in Zimbabwe today is that outstanding issues have not been resolved. Governor Fagan, Gideon Gono, and Prosecutor Shylock Tomana, remain at their posts.

Nelson Chamisa remains Minister of Nothing-in-Particular (at least he has a cossetted Mercedes Benz ML into which he can retreat and sulk).

Permanent Secretaries (null and void) remain very much valid.

Ambassadors, First Secretaries, Provincial Governors and all the other issues that are sticking in the MDC-T's throat remain firmly lodged there tonight.

The MDC-T is proving very bad at agenda setting. They have spent the first 100 days of their MDC-PF regime fighting for space at the feeding trough, paying scant attention to the deplorable issues that are killing Zimbabweans as I speak.

As they squeal at the feeding trough, every time the MDC-T thinks it has elbowed one of the ZANU PF people out of the way, he runs off to complain to Brother Napoleon Mugabe, who, in this classic Animal Farm scenario, immediately takes a ministry away, or rushes to detain an MDC-T legislator or activist.

The dictator himself has spent the time ensuring that the MDC-T gets nothing of substance done. And they have played into his hands time and again.

The Prime Minister's office told me this evening "Zvatova zve next week" - meaning, "Maybe next week."

Maybe.

Maybe not.

As the Herald pointed out this week, Mugabe thinks it the height of absurdity for the MDC-T to be demanding a complete reorganisation of the diplomatic services, the civil service and the entire government when this "arrangement" of a GNU is supposed to be only temporary.

He still, like I keep telling you, insists that the MDC-T must simply ensure that they fix the economy while Mugabe and ZANU PF strengthen their structures, imprison MDC-T activists and basically push to regain the electoral upper hand they are used to.

Whether anything will be announced at the MDC rally to be addressed by Morgan Tsvangirai at the weekend in Masvingo remains to be seen.

The MDC-T has said it will not leave government. And that is the only thing the Prime Minister could do to precipitate a crisis and force Mugabe's hand if he feels very strongly about any of the outstanding issues.

It appears that he does not want to do this.

What he is achieving by staying put is less certain.

Money remains too tight to mention.

Services remain dismal if at all existent.

Instead of hunting down people like myself who are pointing out the futility of this MDC-PF regime, MDC-T supporters would be well advised to tell their PM and their leadership to forget about the struggle for posts and instead concentrate on delivering services for the people, on formulating policies that actually work and are different to the failed ZANU PF policies.

The fight that they have set up for themselves is untenable and the more they issue deadlines and play up "outstanding issues", the more egg they wake up with on their faces every morning.

But, of course, the MDC-T are ordained by God, and Tsvangirai is a Black Jesus. They know it all. They listen to nobody.

So we will just have to keep pointing out the egg on their faces every morning.

Tsvangirai Refused Entry To State House

I could not credit this when I first heard it, but I am now forced to concede that it is true after the Independent confirmed it today.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was effectively barred from entering the State House on Monday for a banquet being held in honour of the President of North Korea, who was in the country to "talk nuclear" with Robert Mugabe.

James Maridadi, MT's spokesman, says the one of the vehicles in the Zimbabwean Prime Minister's convoy was refused entry into State House grounds by the Presidential Guard.

Tsvangirai had been invited by Mugabe.

The Prime Minister was reduced to arguing with Gatekeepers for his delegation to be allowed in, but they would have none of it.

In the end, the whole convoy, including the Prime Minister himself, turned around and drove off.

It makes one wonder: How can the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, who recently said "there is nothing Mugabe does without my approval" - effectively equating himself to the dictator - be ordered around by the President's bodyguards?

How much power does he have, really, if he can be so humiliated by men who should be saluting him?

But, as most Zimbabweans know, the President's Praetorian Guard is a law unto itself. Countless motorists have been bludgeoned and hauled off to police or Military Intelligence cells for not getting out of the way of the Presidential convoy fast enough.

And bad behaviour seems to be the order of the day in the Mugabe family as well. Taxi drivers at Fife Avenue Shopping Centre now know to flee when they see Sabina Mugabe approach.

Apparently, quite apart from the fact that, once the hired taxi arrives at State House and the groceries are offloaded, the President's sister is in the habit of paying the drivers in Zimbabwe dollars, at a rate she thinks is fair, the drivers, on trying to exit, are then stopped, searched and questioned on what they were doing inside and how they got in.

Mugabe thinks there is nothing amisss about this at all, saying, for instance, after Tsvangirai was beaten up by the police:

"When the police say "move", you move".

The Prime Minister is putting this down to "residual elements" who refuse to acknowledge that there is "a new force in town, the Office of the Prime Minister."

It appears the residual elements have every intention of remaining residual.

(Blogger will not load photos, so I could not attach one here, but will do when I can)

Mugabe Talks Nucelar With North Korea

Kim Yong Sam, seen here with Jacob Zuma on 10 May, two days before he met Mugabe as head of the North Korean delegation in Zimbabwe, is the de facto Head of State in North Korea, although he is officially the 2nd in Command to Kim Jong Ill. His delegation included representatives of "power and energy" companies as well as a Korea Defence Force Colonel. A Barter deal is in the offing, involving uranium in exchange for rehabilitation of our crumbling electricity infrastructure and expansion of current power stations.

Robert has apparently been talking nuclear power with North Korea.

The dictator in Zimbabwe met with a delegation from the Kim Jong Ill regime and representatives of DPRK companies.

The delegation was led Kim Yong Nam, who is the 2nd in Command in North Korea after Kim Jong Ill. In fact, he is widely regarded as the de facto Head of State in that Communist country.

So this was high-powered delegation indeed and it was coming straight from South Africa, where the North Korean de-facto Head of State met with Jacob Zuma.

This is a tour headed by the Head of State. They don't come much more high-powered than that.

Kim Yong Nam is the one who meets goes on foreign trips, meeting with the Russians, South Koreans and so on in the last two months. Kim Jong Ill himself has only ventured as far as China, where he went when his country was in the grips of famine. He came back with trainloads of grain and other aid from the Chinese.

But we are getting carried away.

The businesses represented in the delegation are interesting to say the least.

Mugabe was not accompanied by his Prime Minister when he met the delegation. In fact, he cancelled a meeting called to discuss essentially the fate of his Coalition government with Tsvangirai (the outstanding issues meeting) in order to meet with the North Koreans.

Although he attended the launch of STERP by Tendai Biti, he absented himself yesterday at the launch of "the next hundred days" plan of the MDC-PF government.

Amongst those in the North Korean delegation were:

Jung Sang Kwon - Korea National Defence Forces
Colonel Gap-sik Shin - also of Korea Defence Forces
Myoung Reul Huh (huh?) - Hyundai Construction vice-president (Power and Energy)
Chang-Mok Lee -Chief Rep of South Africa-Korea Electric Power Corporation

There were also Civil Engineers and Construction experts in the delegation.

Mugabe is quoted by the Herald as telling the Nuclear-missile-launching North Koreans that Zimbabwe has plenty of minerals in the ground. It only needs appropriate technology to get them from under there. There is more goldfields waiting to be explored than had been found so far, he told them.

The presence of military officers in the delegation should be duly noted.

Kim Jong Ill is scouting around for a place where he can get even more uranium for his game of chicken with the United States. He has already defiantly launched a test missile and has managed to get away with it.

He only gets bolder.

Mugabe, for his part is now desperate to restore the fortunes of Zimbabwe so that he does not have to leave the stage in disgrace. Seeing the light at the end of the Bretton Woods tunnel extinguished, he is now going out on a limb and gambling with one of the most sought-after and dangerous minerals known to man - uranium- which makes nuclear bombs, which can reduce London to ashes in a matter of seconds.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

If this was a transparent democracy, we would ask for a transcript of the closed-door meetings Mugabe had with the his visitors. As it is, we have to make do with the words of those who have been briefed about this.

It could be scaremongering. But I doubt it.

Like I said, these are desperate times for the MDC-PF government. Desperate measures are called for.

And did you hear? They gave Mugabe some High Rank in the sport of Taekwando, which is a form of wrestling. The sport is catching on fast in the world. My son goes to classes of this sport!!

Mugabe? Wrestling?

We thought we had seen it all!

Mounting Anger As Residents Drink Sewage

Residents in Zimbabwe's cities, like the little girl in Kambuzuma pictured here, are still collecting dirty water from drains and polluted wells for their needs because the taps are still dry. Now a massive electricity blackout, affecting suburbs for more than three days at a trot, are stoking the people's anger against the MDC-T and the Inclusive Government. The most common sentiment is that "We never experienced this bad when Mugabe was alone in Government."

With the advent of winter here in Zimbabwe (which has come early this year, not in June as in other years), ZESA, the Power Authority, has started a brutal, unforgiving schedule of rolling blackouts (load-shedding).

Large swathes of Harare, Bulawayo and other urban centres are being totally cut off for more than three days at a time.

As I speak right now, large parts of industrial areas around Graniteside and Workington are in darkness.

Quite apart from the impact this has on the operations of private enterprise (which the IMF recently insisted will be the engine for Zimbabwe's regeneration and not aid or donor funds), it is the anger of residents that is most disturbing.

The two MDCs in government are clearly forgetting that this is exactly what turned people against Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF. They suffered lack of services (no water in their taps, no electricity, they could not pay school fees and so on). They suffered diminished standards of living until they decided they had had enough of ZANU PF and Mugabe.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai must not make the mistake of thinking that he holds a magic wand that lulls the people into a deep slumber regardless of how shoddily his government treats them.

The mistake the MDCs are making is thinking that the people will give them the same leeway they gave Mugabe. That they will suffer in resilient silence like they did when the dictator was alone in government.

The dictator used force to silence the masses. The MDC does not have this tool at their disposal. Even if they did, I would like to think that they would not go that route. Persuasion, delivering services and actually changing people's lives is the only tool at their disposal.

They are squandering this.

Yet solutions abound.

For starters, one of the MDC leaders that I truly admire, Elias Mudzuri, the former mayor of Harare, is the new Minister of Energy in Zimbabwe.

Day before yesterday, he held a press conference at which he announced that he had issued a directive to ZESA setting the charges they should bill customers (US$30 per month for high-density, poorer areas and US$40 for the more affluent areas).

Ironically, in the same statement, Mudzuri says ZESA needs more funds injected into it in order to import up to 500MW of power and to rehabilitate crumbling infrastructure.

The MDC was at the forefront of telling us for years that the ZANU PF government was ensuring the failure of ZESA by setting prices, not allowing the power authority to charge viable rates that would finance the rehabilitation of infrastructure and imports of the deficit we suffer as a nation.

Yet now, Tsvangirai's own MDC-T ministers are doing exactly what they criticised ZANU PF for: issuing directives on prices and tariffs for everything from phones to water and electricity.

It is a peculiarly Communist approach to governing. They want the people to enjoy the benefits of all these services without paying anything that even approaches cost recovery.

The problem is that people do not see it this way when they then do not get the services. What they see is failure by the governing parties.

As one visitor to our offices put it yesterday, "If the MDC is allowed to appoint governors and Permanent Secretaries, will that give me electricity or water? Will that stop cholera? Will that school fees for my children?"

Like I said, it is difficult for anyone outside Zimbabwe at the moment to fully appreciate the people's anger, which is now directed at Tsvangirai and the MDC-T, who tied a noose around their necks by repeatedly telling the nation that they are in charge of policy formulation and implementation.

The people want implementation.

The people see burst water pipes in the city centres of Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Mutare and other areas, spilling countless gallons of treated water into storm drains while in their own homes out in the townships, not a drop can be found in the taps.

They see this and they say Tsvangirai only cares for posts and power, not for them. They see this and they say he has abandoned them while fighting for places at the feeding trough for his lackeys and cronies.

The MDC-T, MDC-M and the Prime Minister, as well as his deputies, are making a big mistake in taking people for granted like this.

But I reckon, because Tsvangirai now knows that the MDC will fight against another, unconstitutional and illegal term for him as Party President, he really does not care much for electoral success.

If he hangs on in the Prime Minister's Office, he is guaranteed a government pension, perks and the like, for the rest of his life.

He is now looking out for himself and nobody else.

But in so doing, he is undoing his party.

Mavambo Launch Update

Dr Simba Makoni is seen here at the World Economic Forum, addressing the "Reconstructing Zimbabwe" Session

The launch of Mavambo as a political party, which had been agreed by the Party Formation Steering Committee to be set for today, 13 April 2009, has now been put back.

At a meeting of Conveners (Heads of Department) last Saturday, held at the Mavambo offices in Harare, the Conveners asked for more time to finalise plans for the launch ceremony in their own areas. Because the launch ceremony can only be held once and the new party wants to launch with a huge bang, they felt that they would rather delay than rush headlong into the whole affair.

So, later this month, detailed plans for the launch ceremony itself, as well as the logistics, will be finalised at a retreat of the Party Formation Steering Committee, which will also be attended by what Mavambo structures are there in the Diaspora (South Africa and Botswana are particularly active at the moment), at a secret location here in Zimbabwe.

After that, the definitive announcement will be made as to the venue and the logistics in place to get people to the launch venue.

Interest is huge.

Since Monday, when people read in a newspaper coming out of London that the party would be launched today, Mavambo offices have been overwhelmed with people seeking to become members.

The party leadership has now been forced to put extra at the offices in order to handle the upsurge in numbers. Staff members who had been eagerly giving out their mobile numbers are now regretting this.

I found one sitting on the carpet this morning, saying SMS messages he has been receiving have simply overwhelmed him!!

Meantime, it appears the MDC-T especially is quite worried about this. I and two other colleagues got phone calls from senior MDC-T officials yesterday asking if Makoni, "is going to launch a comeback"!

As if he ever went away!!

They were there at the ZCTU celebrations (addressed by Tsvangirai) on May 1, and they saw the reception that Dr Makoni got from the people.

For those who missed it, when he was introduced by Mr Chibhebhe, the whole stadium went wild with cheering and it would not stop.

Sitting in the VIP tent right in the middle of the ground, it was rather difficult for Dr Makoni to hear what was being shouted by the crowd.

Eventually, Mr Chibhebhe announced through the Public Address system: "Zvanzi ngavabude mutende tivaone...." - meaning "the crowd says he should come out of the tent because want to see him."

He came out and waved to the cheering crowd.

(This is the main reason Morgan Tsvangirai, in his speech afterwards, specifically told the crowd that Mavambo has been invited to take part in the Constitution-making process. The fact of the matter is that we have received no such invitation.)

So the man remains popular and is perhaps now the sole hope people have that things could change in this country, hence the cheering.

The country is hungry and ripe for change, it appears, and Mavambo wants to ensure that they emerge into the sunlight in a fitting manner.

This blog will update you as soon as the retreat is done and the new, bigger venue and dates are set.

Twist and Shout

Life Goes On........while the MDC-T twsts and shouts over "outstanding" (and grandstanding issues). Above is the start of the tobacco auction in Harare, where a lot of twisting and shouting is also being done, but more profitably

He he he he.

"All outstading issues have been resolved," Prime Minister Tsvangirai said at the weekend.

An announcement was allegedly to be made at the cabinet meeting today, Tuesday. And then the PM was going to tell parliament in a special address what these things agreed on are.

Mugabe and ZANU PF today revealed just how far away from a resolution of these issues we are. They used The Herald to do this.

The State says it "understands" that Ambassdors are off-limits to Tsvangirai. They claim that highly placed sources in government told them ambassadors are career diplomats, professional types who are not bound by any political agreement.

These professional types who were drafted into the civil service through ZANU PF structures, mind you. Otherwise, we mus ask if you have ever seen an ad in the paper or even an internal advert within the Civil Service asking for applications for these career posts?

If they were career posts, then this what you do to fill them.

This same argument, we can be certain, is also being put forward with regards the Permanent Secretaries. (They were "null and void", these permanent secretaries, according to Tsvangirai. And that almost three months ago.)

Today, we were told that the meeting to discuss outstanding issues has been moved to tomorrow.

Twist and Shout time.

Slowly, the naton is witnessing the spectatcle of the MDC-T swinging in the wind, hung from the tallest tree in the land: The Prime Ministerial Office.

Of course, the PM has said that there is no deadline to Mugabe on this matter. Effectively, he is aware that he has to play Mugabe's game. And Mugabe says "no one threatens me." The PM says "Yes, Baba."

While these "issues" are still outstanding, perhaps the Prime Minister can add another outstanding issue to the ones already on the table. This being the recent sentencing of an MDC Member of Parliament to ten months in prison WITH HARD LABOUR (that was a particularly gratuitous act, an act not of justice but vengeance).

General Chiwengwa did warn them, as I told you on this blog in the article "General Chiwengwa Now Issuing Political Orders".

The MDC-T likes to talk tough but then not back that with any action. This works very well with empty heads. They tend to mistake the tough talk for tough action.

"Null and Void!" And they cheer.

"Mugabe Must Go." And they cheer and repeat.
Well, The Prime Minister at the weekend changed this one and shouted, "Mugabe Must Stay!"

Still they cheered!!

"Ultimatum!" Again we hear cheers. But Monday has come and gone. The PM has said there is no deadline. Since he is Mugabe's spokesman now, (He does all the talking on behalf of the MDC-PF government while Mugabe remains quiet), this means that his views (government and not party views) carry the day.

Come Wednesday, to when will they postpone the next meeting of the Principals?

To next week, most likely. Just so Mugabe can show the MDC-T that its National Council ultimatum means nothing to him. He will prevaricate until the Council meets on Sunday. He is enjoying watching Tendai Biti and company twist and shout.

I can tell you he is desperately hoping that, at that National Council meeting, they will pick up their toys and decide to go and play by themselves.

Zimbabwe Is Still Not Working

The profiteering in Zimbabwe has reached alarming levels, I tell you.

This last week, I received a foreign cheque in US dollars and duly went to Barclays Bank to deposit it in my new foreign currency account, which they had helpfully automatically opened for me because I am a long-standing customer.

Imagine my shock on Monday when my branch called me to tell me that bank charges for clearing this cheque were US$109.

I know that in Kenya, where I have made enquiries, the very same cheque, from the very same company, is cleared for US$20. In South Africa, the charges are even less than that.

Meantime, instead of supervising Zimbabwean banks that are doing this, Gideon Gono is busy fighting political battles? Can he explain how it is that the very same cheque, cleared by a neighbouring country through the very same process and the very same international bank, costs five times less in a neighbouring country than it does in Zimbabwe?

The problem goes back to politics. The MDC-T president is supposed to be in charge of policy formulation and implementation.

Are these the sort of policies he is implementing?

Does he realise that these policies make Zimbabwe an unattractive destination for investment? Is he willing (or even able) to do anything about this?

This sort of thing is simply unacceptable for a country that is trying to attract investment in this tough global environment.

But the problem is that the MDC-T believes that it is special and the world should genuflect before them without regard to any other factors.

Basic commodities are more affordable now in Zimbabwe, but only because Mugabe scrapped duty on imports of these. Local businesses are up in arms, because they prefer to have a captive market, where they can charge as they see fit, milking helpless and defenceless workers with punitive prices.

Tsvangirai and the MDC appear willing to accommodate local business demands for protectionism.

It would be disastrous to do so.

Our local businesses live beyond their means and they hanker for the old days, when they made super profits even in US dollar terms. This should not be allowed.

Ever.

It would kill Zimbabwe.

And this Inclusive Government can forget about attracting tourists here in 2010 with these sorts of skewed pricing policies. Why should they come here to pay through the nose for a crumbling infrastructure and abysmal service?

As usual, you can expect that none of this will change.

The focus at the moment is wrong: the focus is power. Can anyone tell me of a single initiative this inclusive government has made since it was formed?

Just one.

Tsvangirai Versus The MDC, The Fight Is Now Out In The Open

President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's dictator, looks mighty pleased as he acknowledges the roar (and chanting of his name) from the crowd gathered as he arrives for Jacob Zuma's inauguration at Union Buildings in Pretoria. With him is Grace and behind them but out of this photo, Misheck Sibanda, Secretary to President and Cabinet

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai arrives for the inauguration of Jacob Zuma at Union Buildings in Pretoria, accompanied by an unidentified woman, who is believed to be named Jacqueline and is effectively the Prime Minister's second wife.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed the ultimatum issued by his own Secretary General and Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, saying "it is not helpful to jump on the Gideon Gono bandwagon."

Speaking to the Financial Times of London's Richard Lapper and Tom Burgis in South Africa where he was attending the inauguration of Jacob Zuma as president of South Africa, Tsvangirai pointedly said, "There is no deadline."

You will recall that in my article, "MDC-T Poised To Fire Tsvangirai", I told you that the Prime Minister had refused to attend the press conference called by Biti on Wednesday, during which the MDC-T Secretary General put down the ultimatum to Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

I also told you why.

It is now clear that there are serious disagreements within the MDC-T on the way forward, with some MPs (nine identified so far) calling into question the Prime Minister's motivation in staying in government.

There are also strong forces within the MDC-T itself who feel that Tsvangirai is not being grateful enough to them for all that they have done for the party. He is failing to stand up for them. Failing, for instance, to stand up to Mugabe on behalf of the MDC-T Deputy Minister of Agriculture-designate, Roy Bennet, despite his gigantic efforts over the years in fundraising for the opposition party.

Failing, also, to stand up to Mugabe on behalf of Nelson Chamisa, who is now in charge of a shell of a ministry.

But the significance of the Prime Minister's statement to the FT lies in the fact that, although we all know an ultimatum when we see or hear one, and although Biti was clear that his was an ultimatum, Tsvangirai says the Secretary General does not know what he talking about.

He openly calls Biti's fight to clean up the Reserve Bank in order to get donor money into government coffers "the Gideon Gono bandwagon."

As for Biti's threat that failure to resolve "outstanding issues" by Monday 11 May 2009 will result in the matter being referred to the MDC-T National Council, Tsvangirai also dismisses that as so much hot air, saying:

"We had to express our frustration."

In other words, he is saying Tendai Biti was simply blowing off some steam and his statement should not be take seriously at all.

I wonder how the Secretary General, who is emerging as the strongest critic of the Prime Minister within the party, will take this.

Still, on the matter of the Unity Government (or Coalition Government or whatever it is they are calling it this week), it is clear from all of Tsvangirai's statements in South Africa that he has accepted that there is no way out.

With MDC activists, including Gandi Mudzingwa still behind bars and scores of others persecuted, the Prime Minister boldly told three separate audiences at the weekend that the GNU is "on the right track."

I wonder if Gandi Mudzingwa agrees with him. What about Jestina Mukoko? Or the other 17 people charges with her?

I wonder if Nelson Chamisa, who threatened to resign centuries ago but has still not gone anywhere, agrees with him?

What about Roy Bennet?

And what about the people themselves, Zimbabweans who are still plagued by cholera (which the Prime Minister, aping Mugabe, now says has "disappeared"), with no water in their taps, with boreholes being drilled at our University of Zimbabwe?

Do they agree that the GNU is on the right track?

What about the all-important donors? The IMF, World Bank, British, Americans and others who, if things were as rosy as the Prime Minister would want us to believe, should be falling over each other to offer us the balance of payment support we need to get this country working again?

The right track?

The Prime Minister should have his head examined.

Still, he has now cut his Secretary General down to size in full view of the world. What remains to be seen is whether Biti can marshal enough forces on his side at the National Council, set to meet on November 17.

What, I wonder, is the point of the meeting, seeing as the President of the MDC-T himself says there is no deadline. They will be meeting to do what, in light of the fact that the Prime Minister says they should not pay attention to the "frustration" of Tendai Biti?

Denford Magora's Zimbabwe Blog

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