Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog: 7/1/09 - 8/1/09 Live From Harare, Zimbabwe

Vice-President Msika (centre) is seen here in March this year at the funeral of General Zvinavashe at the Heroes Acre. With him are Robert "The Solution" Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai. The Vice President left the event very early and went back home due to ill health. Today, online publications are full of stories that he has died, but impeccable government sources, including the VP's own aides, are dismissing this.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 04 August 2009

Despite reports you have been reading online, Zimbabwean Vice President Joseph Msika has not died.

The Vice-President, who has been unwell for some years and whose premature "death" has been reported before, is on life support at a Harare private hospital as I type this, impeccable sources within government have confirmed.

The Vice-President was apparently put on life support in the early hours of this morning and is in a critical condition.

Msika took the slot left vacant by the death of veteran Zimbabwe politican, Joshua Nkomo, also known as Father Zimbabwe. Nkomo was the first black Zimbabwean leader of the resistance against colonial and Rhodesian rule.

The slot that Msika occupies in Government is reserved for ZAPU, the political party founded by Dr Joshua Nkomo and from which Mugabe and others split to form ZANU PF.

If something were to happen to Msika, John Nkomo, ZANU PF Chairman (ZAPU is now a part of ZANU PF) is guaranteed to become the next vice-president.

Confirmation of this would perhaps only come at the ZANU PF Congress in December.

Today, as I tried to confirm these reports about the VP's "death", I struggled with our by now routinely atrocious phone lines. It is impossible to get through to Econet from either Netone or landlines and this has been the case for some weeks now. The Vice President's son's cellphone appears to be switched off and the phone at Msika's own home is going unaswered.

Still, a senior government official I spoke to confirmed with Msika's aide that the Vice President is alive but on life support.

Details will emerge during the evening.

Media Reform In Disarray

It appears Tafataona Mahoso (above), the bane of journalists in Zimbabwe wll bounce back, after Parliament handed the process of selecting new Commissioners to Mugabe

Harare, Zimbabwe, 04 August 2009

ZANU PF has scuttled a crucial part of media reform in Zimbabwe. The party has managed to get the selection process for Commissioners to sit on the board of a new Media Commission abandoned.

A recruitment company that did the job is now being "shadowy" by the State media. It had not been identified.

It emerges that ZANU PF complained that they were outnumbered on the interviewing panel and they claim this led to ZANU PF favourites doing very badly.

With this, all pretence that the "civil service is non-partisan" flies out of the window. ZANU PF is openly admitting that it wants people sympathetic to its cause and its politics to be the majority on that Board.

The solution parliament came up with was to ensure that this happens: they have forwarded ALL the names to The Solution, Mugabe for him to pick and choose.

Who wants to bet this is one Board that will be full to the gills with ZANU PF "activists" as the Herald calls them. Mahoso may well return as head of the new commission.

It is a charade. Journalists still have to register. They still have to accredit themselves with Mahoso, despite what the Prime Minister says. (Is he in charge of Policy or not?)

There will be no let-up at all. Things will continue like that because the MDC, with its majority in parliament (good as gone, yes, but...), has let this one go and handed it directly to Mugabe.

Their faith in the man never ceases to amaze.

Not only is he The Solution, according to the MDC, but now he is also the judge and the jury.

It beggars belief that this Inclusive Government actually thinks it is doing any good to the country.

As Alice would say: It gets curioser and curioser.

South African RIghts Group Accuses Tsvangirai of "Genocide"

A protester with a placard urging Tsvangirai to "stop the genocide in your jails" is seen here at Shell House, the ANC Headquarters during the Zimbabwean Prime Minister's meeting with the South African president earlier today

Harare, Zimbabwe, 03 August 2009

A South African human rights group staged a protest during the meeting between Morgan Tsvangirai and Jacob Zuma in Johannesburg today.

The South African Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights (SAPOHR) held up a banner with the message: Prime Minister Tsvangirai, Stop The Genocide In Your Jails.

Yes, they are his jails now.

It is a curious state of affairs and Tsvangirai will obviously protest about the labeling, but this is a bed he made and must sleep in.

By agreeing to go into government, by telling supporters at rallies that "there is nothing Mugabe does without my approval" after the formation of that Inclusive Government, he is essentially taking responsibility for the actions of the government.

There was an international outcry when video footage smuggled out of Zimbabwe's prisons a couple of months ago showed skeletal prisoners suffering malnutrition and disease.

Roy Bennett, the MDC-Tsvangirai's designated Deputy Minister Of Agriculture, who was arrested on the day he was supposed to be sworn in, shared a cell with a corpse, after a prisoner died and the authorities took their time to remove the remains.

And on this one, Tsvangirai as Prime Minister, in charge of "policy formulation and implementation", can not blame "hardliners".

This is simply a case of the State adopting a dehumanising approach to prisoners and changing this policy is not a political act at all. The people who are suffering in the prisons are ordinary Zimbabweans, most certainly not high-ranking (or even low-ranking) members of the MDC-T.

SAPOHR rightly calls these Tsvangirai's Prisons. He is a part of the government now. He meets with Mugabe and has tea with him every Monday. He sits in Cabinet every Tuesday. Thokozani Khupe, his deputy, insists the PM is "on par" - equals - with Mugabe.

Still, even allowing for hardliners, there is no doubt that the issue of Zimbabwe's approach to prisoners' basic human rights is squarely one of the Inclusive Government turning a blind eye.

So, barely six months into his new job as Prime Minister, Tsvangirai is already being accused of abusing human rights. I wonder where he will be in a year's time.

And after the 5 years they are plotting with Mugabe to hang on to this Inclusive Government? Will we be able to distinguish between the two?

Zuma Shrugs Off MDC-T Concerns On Inclusive Government

Jacob Zuma at a press briefing with Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai earlier today. The South African president says he will speak to Mugabe and Mutambara about the lack of progress on some issues within Zimbabwe's coalition government. He says he will also brief SADC heads of State. And that is all that will happen, apparently.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 03 August 2009

President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, who is current Chairman of the Southern African Development Community, has essentially shrugged off the concerns raised by Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, in their meeting today.

The meeting was held at Shell House, the ANC Headquarters.

After the meeting, Zuma told journalists that he would be contacting Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, President "The Solution" Mugabe and other SADC Heads of State to "brief" them.

Zuma said he was "very happy" with the progress made by the Coalition government in Zimbabwe so far. This echoes Tsvangirai's own repeated words of contentment with his role in government, a government he says is "a train without a reverse gear."

It appears there is no urgency to the matter as far as Zuma and SADC are concerned.

Even though the MDC-T has previously said that SADC would convene a summit to discuss Zimbabwe (the summit was supposed to be held last month, according to what the MDC-T told the media), Zuma made it clear that he was not going to convene a summit.

His promise to speak to Mutambara and to Mugabe only reveals that what I have been telling you for some months now is the correct position:

Zuma and SADC insist that all the parties to the agreement, as well as JOMIC, the internal monitoring body for the Inclusive Government, have to agree that there is a stalemate on any issue before it is referred to the regional body.

Mugabe and Mutambara insist that "it is too early to declare a stalemate" and have made this position public. JOMIC remains a toothless body which, just last week, complained that its operations were being hampered by "lack of funds".

It is almost certain that, when contacted, both Mugabe and Mutambara will insist that there is no stalemate and that all issues are being resolved according to the letter of the agreement.

The other SADC will only be told by Zuma what Tsvangirai says and that will be the end of the matter.

Tsvangirai himself, in briefing journalists, was careful to avoid saying he had tabled "outstanding issues" to Zuma. Instead, he says he briefed Zuma on the "progress" of the Global Political Agreement and the Inclusive Government.

Within the MDC-T, there has long been suspicion that Tsvangirai is pursuing an agenda more aligned to his new "special relationship" with Mugabe. He disagreed with the decision to send a letter of complaint to SADC and in fact dragged his feet on doing this until his party forced his hand two weeks after the resolution at Macheke Stadium.

So, as far as SADC is concerned right now, there are NO outstanding issues and only issues that are not being implemented as quickly as the MDC-T would like.

They have no way of relating Mugabe's dragging of feet to his strategy of waiting until September 15 so that he can contest by-elections against the MDC-T and wipe out thei majority in parliament, at which point the basis for the distribution of posts will become obsolete and Mugabe can, once again, do as he pleases, saying he has the majority in parliament to do this.

Nothing has changed, then.

Simba Makoni Arrested

Dr Simba Makoni, the leader of Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn party in Zimbabwe is being charged under POSA (Public Order and Security Act) with addressing 400 or more people last year in Glendale without police clearance. I suppose they can not find any other charge to stick!

Harare, Zimbabwe, 03 August 2009

Dr Simba Makoni, interim President of Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn has been charged with "addressing more than 400 people" in Glendale during the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Makoni is due to appear in court in Glendale this week to face trial on the charge.

I was with Dr Makoni in Glendale during the campaign and during the incident for which he is being tried and it is nothing more than harassment.

Those who followed the Makoni campaign during the Presidential elections of 2008 know that the Doctor held very few rallies. His approach was to do "walkabouts".

At every place where we arrived and where he did his walkabouts, we went to the local police station where Dr Makoni explained why he was in the area. He also explained at every police station that he was not going to address a gathering but would simply walk around either the markets or the shopping centre greeting people and answering questions.

We had these walkabout in literally every town and city in Zimbabwe and whenever a crowd gathered (which was inevitable considering his status), he would immediately hop into his car and drive off to the next point where he would again talk to people one on one.

In Glendale, we actually just passed through on our way from Centenary towards the end of his campaign. It was already late noon and he still went to the local police station and informed them he was in the area. We then went to Glendale town centre where he spent no more than 30 minutes moving from one shopfront to another greeting people and answering their questions as well as urging people to vote him in the presidential election.

We actually never got more than ten people gathered at any one point. In fact, Dr Makoni walked along the shopfronts giving his salute and greeting people. At no point was there a gathering.

It is surprising, is it not, that, even though the Inclusive Government insists that POSA etc are gone, that very same government is prosecuting Dr Makoni in August of 2009 on the basis of that same law.

What has changed, then? How has the inauguration of this so-called Inclusive Government brought the change that Tsvangirai claims.

The MDC-T president and Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, said recently that his Minister of Home Affairs (in charge of the police) was working well ("fantastic" was the word he used) with his Co-Minister from ZANU PF.

Is this what he meant.

The charges against Makoni were only activated a month or so ago, long after the Inclusive Government was inaugurated.

That should tell you all you need to know about the approach of ZANU PF and the MDC-T to the law and even to their own discredited Global Political DisAgreement.

Still, the authorities are insisting that Makoni addressed a gathering of 400 or more people in Glendale and has to face trial for this breach of POSA.

The details of the allegations, I suppose, will come out in court towards the end of this week.

"Mugabe Should Stay On, Even Tsvangirai Agrees" - ZANU PF

Tsvangirai, who was jeered in London, not for suggesting that Zimbabwean exiles come home, but for insisting that Mugabe is The Solution to Zimbabwe's problems, now given fodder to ZANU PF people in their rush to endorse Mugabe's continued leadership of party and country ahead of the Congress in December. No one will be allowed to stand against Mugabe and his deputies. De ja vu.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 03 August 2009

Now, ZANU PF's Mashonaland West Provincial Coordinating Committee has endorsed Mugabe to be the "sole candidate" at the Congress in December.

They have gone further, endorsing the entire presidium, comprising Vice President Joice Mujuru (who is from this Province), National Chairman John Nkomo and Vice President Msika.

These three should not be challenged, apparently.

In justifying this position, Nkomo, who attended the meeting where the decision was made, said Mugabe was the only one capable of resolving Zimbabwe's problems, saying this was a fact recognised even the two MDCs in government.

He told reminded the meeting that Tsvangirai told the foreign press a few weeks ago that "there was no equation to solve the country's challenges that did not include President Mugabe."

So now we have Tsvangirai's own words being used to endorse the continued rule of The Solution.

He did warn us, though, repeatedly: "President Mugabe is not going anywhere until we achieve positive results in this government", he said at one time to an audience of Zimbabweans in South Africa.

"If the people of Zimbabwe wanted Mugabe to go they should have staged a revolution. They didn't, so we have to do this," he said to the BBC barely a month ago.

People should have taken him seriously, I guess, because now there seems to be unanimity, intended or not, on both sides of the Inclusive MisGovernment, that Mugabe is an extremely wise man who at more than 80 years old, still holds the key to a Zimbabwe prosperous in the 21st Century.

They seem to all agree, Tsvangirai included, that this very wise man is in fact one of a kind, to be milked of all his wisdom until the very day he dies - Life President it is then. With the blessing of Tsvangirai and ZANU PF.

What the people think, does it matter at all in any of this?

Of course not.

They must do as they told. They did not come to democracy, now democracy must come to them.

I keep asking: in this Orwellian Tale, which is the pig and which is the human?

And people died for this?

03 August 2009: Zimbabwe Trade Union Chief Blasts Tsvangirai. Again

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) Secretary General, told journalists in Chinhoyi this last week that the presence of the MDC-Tsvangirai in government has not improved the lot of workers at all. He says the Union reserves the right to withdraw its support of the MDC-T

Harare, Zimbabwe, 03 August 2009

Wellington Chibhebhe, Secretary General of Zimbabwe's massive Trade Union grouping known as the ZCTU, told an audience of journalists in Chinhoyi that the presence of the MDC-T in government has done nothing to improve the lot of Zimbabwe's struggling workers, saying:

"We reserve the right to withdraw our support (for the MDC-T)".

Chibhebhe echoed a sentiment I have repeatedly expressed saying:

"It's a question of priorities. Money to provide three vehicles to each minister following the formation of the so-called Inclusive Government was easily made available. Why don't we share the burden of the economic hardships?"

Chibhebhe made it clear that the guiding principle for the ZCTU was the best interest of the worker and that if any party, no matter how related to ZCTU, departs from this principle, then the labour body would instantly dump it.

Saying that the MDC-T is not leading by example, he castigated the opposition party for what was agreed with regards to the constitution at its formation. The MDC, as it was then known before given Tsvangirai's surname as it own surname, agreed with all its civil society partners that the constitutional process had to be people-driven.

A surprising comment from Chibhebhe was his announcement that the ZCTU was prepared to work with the ZFTU (Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions) to advance the cause of workers. He says overtures have been made by the ZFTU executive.

The ZFTU was formed by Mugabe and ZANU PF specifically to counter the massive support that the ZCTU had amongst workers.

In my opinion, this only serves to underline a fierce pursuit of the vision of the leaders of the ZCTU. Their focus remains on workers and they are willing to bend over backwards to ensure that they justify the subscriptions paid every month by workers to the Union.

That they would consider with ZFTU, considering the circumstances of its short history (the ZFTU was led in the first instance by Joseph Chinotimba, self-styled Commander of Zimbabwe's Land Invasions) speaks volumes about their single-minded focus.

Tsvangirai and his party, meantime, seem content with the posts they have and content to give as much ground as Mugabe demands.

The MDC-T are now politicians, no longer activists. The ZCTU, meantime, remains an activist movement and with the way things are going, I doubt very much that the two remain twinned for very long.

Which would spell doom for the MDC-T, because Trade Unionists tend to go with what their leaders decide. With such focus on the welfare of the worker from the leadership, their loyalty is understandable.

Tsvangirai Appoints "Girlfriend" As Ambassador

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is being accused by senior members of his own party of having given an ambassadorial post to a girlfriend

Harare, Zimbabwe, 02 August 2009

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has confirmed the appointment of a woman alleged to be his girlfrend to one of the ambassadorial posts that the MDC-T have been promised, according to sources in the MDC-T.

The woman, alleged refered to as JZ by people close to the PM, has reportedly been appointed for Australia or one of the antipodean countries.

This lady herself has never hidden her alleged relationship with the Prime Minister and in fact sought to play it up all of last year. During the elections of March 2008, she got in touch with one of Simba Makoni's colleagues and asked him to convince Makoni to stand down and endorse Tsvangirai.

"As you know, I have special relationship with MT and I can assure you that Makoni would get the post of Prime Minister if he did that and MT won", she is reported by the colleague to have said.

A couple of months ago, she was said to have been at the inauguration of Jacob Zuma with Tsvangirai, although he was pictured with a woman he said was his niece.

Sources within the MDC-T are bitter about this and say they will protest the move.

I doubt it will do them any good.

"Tendai Biti Will Be Dead By Year-End"

Tendai Biti, seen here in conversation with Mugabe, has had his life threatened and his staff thoroughly beaten up by soldiers. Sources in the military say there is a determination to do him in by the end of the year. I do not think he should take any of this seriously at all.

Unless Tendai Biti backs off from Gideon Gono, he will be dead by the end of the year and there is nothing anybody can do about it. This is according to sources in the Defence Forces. Clearly, it is intimidation, and it may or may not have substance behind it.

Still, it bears bringing to your attention because the fight has now escalated into the physical realm.

This revelation comes as it emerges that on Saturday, 01 August 2009, one of Biti's aides at his home in Harare was thoroughly beaten up by soldiers who guard the home of the Commander of the Zimbabwe Army. The MDC-T released a statement identifying the attacker.

Police are denying that any report has been to them.

Last week, Biti received a bullet in an envelope with instructions to sort out his estate.

With Tsvangirai having now been thoroughly co-opted by Mugabe and considered "neutralised", ZANU PF and Mugabe now see Biti as the main stumbling block to their plans.

Biti has been fighting to get the Reserve Bank Governor fired by Mugabe on the basis that international financiers and donors will not trust him with any money given to Zimbabwe.

Mugabe is refusing to concede this point at all.

The Defence Forces sources say that Biti's problem is that Gono is closely linked to the top brass of the defence forces. He is alleged to to be heavily involved in "laundering" diamonds looted from the Chiadzwa Diamond fields.

Some months ago, you will recall I told you about the buckets of rough diamonds kept in the basement vaults of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

By seeking to get rid of Gideon Gono, Biti is attacking (maybe unwittingly) the very foundation of the continued funding of not only ZANU PF, but also the lavish personal lifestyles of some of Mugabe's top military brass.

If Gono was to be replaced by a neutral person today, all these deals would be blown out of the water. It is unlikely that the Inclusive Government would survive the revelations that would ensure.

Of course, the military brass are worried primarily about their cash cows and the sleek all-wheel-drive vehicles purchased for them by the Reserve Bank with State funds.

Their kids are sent to school in foreign lands, with some of their allowances being previously paid directly out of Reserve Bank coffers. They are not worried about the health of the Inclusive Government at all.

In fact, they wish it dead and are rather timidly pointed to by Tsvangirai whenever "hardliners" are mentioned.

The likelihood of Tendai Biti dying a violent death are remote. He will have to step very carefully around his comrades in government though.

Already, state agents have started circulating the rumour that the Minister suffers from a fatal and incurable infection and is only being kept alive by medication.

This could be preparation of public opinion for when things go wrong and they can always reveal these details.

ZANU PF and Mugabe have managed to keep the Zimbabwean people's collective head down by these tactics. By casting doubt on the moral rectitude or motivating force behind their enemies, they get people thinking twice.

In the case of something happening, the people do not then take to the streets because in their minds, the doubt in already present: "Maybe he did it......the police do not just arrest someone for nothing......He knows what he did, that is why is acting that way, and so on....."

The current wave of arrests of MDC-T MPs is a case in point, with most people saying there must be evidence of abductions and rapes of 12 year old girls by the MDC-T MPs.

Hence you do not get residents marching in the street when the man they elected to parliament is sent to jail for a year or so.

As for Biti, I doubt anything is going to happen to him unless he scores a spectacular victory in his fight against Gono. Then, and only then, would the renegades act.

Right now, Mugabe is telling them, as I told you in February: "Leave them to me. This is politics."

Tsvangirai Meets Zuma As Mugabe Backpedals on Bennett Swearing-In

Ever masters at fooling themselves and relying on outsiders to do what their party can not do, MDC-T apologists and supporters were telling us all last year and even into this year that when Jacob Zuma, when he took over as president of South Africa, would read the riot act to Mugabe. Here are the two men warmly greeting each other last month in South Africa. Tsvangirai is in South Africa this week to meet Zuma and ask him to do something about the outstanding issues. Tsvangirai has gone quiet on Bennett and the Governors as his majority in parliament evaporates before his very eyes.

Morgan Tsvangirai, who I told you last week had been informed by the dictator Robert Mugabe that Roy Bennett would not be sworn in as Deputy Minister of Agriculture after all because the basis for dishing out ministerial posts in the Inclusive Government (the MDC-T majority in parliament), had now ceased to exist, betrayed the fact that this is indeed the case when he met with Zimbabweans in South Africa yesterday.

Tsvangirai told exiled Zimbabweans that he "would meet President Zuma" to ask him to intervene as SADC Chairman on the "outstanding issues."

Tsvangirai, as a result of Mugabe's position on the erosion of the MDC-T majority in parliament, is now mum on the issue of Governors and Roy Bennett.

Instead, the Prime Minister is now seeking to simply use his position as PM to get Mugabe to agree to reconsider the positions of Gideon Gono (Reserve Bank Governor) and Johannes Tomana (Attorney-General).

He is quiet on the other issues which his party still insists must be addressed, including Roy Bennett, Governors and Ambassadors.

Mugabe, I am told by diplomatic sources, told King Mswati by phone that his position is that if he were to swear in the governors "it would be because I want to, not because of the GPA, because Tsvangirai no longer has the majority in parliament to demand this."

He did not mention Bennett at all in his conversation with Mswati, suggesting that to him at least, Bennett is no longer an issue and will not be sworn in.

Only this past week, Zuma told the South African parliament that the government in Zimbabwe was working well and that there were no problems. He did say that "we are ready to intervene if the tenets of democracy are threatened."

Just what this means exactly is open to question but it is likely that the issue of "jobs for the boys" will not be seen by the South Africans and SADC as threatening democracy.

Although the MDC-T has written to SADC, (which letter was forwarded by President Zuma to King Mswati as head of the Organ on Defence and Politics), SADC itself says they have "not received official communication" that there is a problem in Zimbabwe.

The problem is this: SADC's position is that with the Inclusive Government in place now, there is JOMIC (the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee) to oversee the Global Political Agreement.

SADC would only officially act on the matter if JOMIC, as the overseer of the Inclusive Government, writes to SADC to say there are issues that they as a body have failed to solve with regards to the GPA.

JOMIC has not written to SADC, with Mugabe saying the body can only write to SADC if all parties agree that there is a stalemate.

This has not happened, with Mutambara as well as Mugabe saying a stalemate has not been reached.

Tsvangirai shot himself in the foot by agreeing to the half-hearted promises to swear in Bennett and Governors sometime this August. He also capitulated on Permanent Secretaries, leaving Mugabe's partisan appointments in place.

Besides this, he has also capitulated on ambassadors, leaving all of Mugabe's appointments in place and only being given a few posts that had been vacant for some time because the countries they cover are not considered strategically important to ZANU PF and to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe Blood Diamonds Fields Chief Goes Into Hiding

Small-scale diamond miners are seen here at Chiadzwa when the going was still good. Some of these very people are said by Chief Chiadzwa to have been killed by soldiers sent in to "restore order." The Chief has now gone into hiding as the Inclusive Government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe seeks to arrest him for taking the Kimberley Process Team around the areas.

Reporting from Harare, Zimbabwe, Sunday 02 August 2009

The Inclusive Government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe has sent armed policemen and soldiers to kick down the doors of the Chief of the Manicaland diamond area of Chiadzwa, seeking to arrest him and evict him from his ancestral home for telling tales to the Kimberly Process Team.

As the opposition Member of Parliament for the Chiadzwa Diamond fields was sentenced to two years jail for "abusing farming aid" from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the Chief after whom the vast diamond field were discovered has gone into hiding after he heard that the police and CIO were after him.

Wayne Bvudzijena (the surname means "White Hair"), the Zimbabwe Police Spokesman, confirmed to Walter Marwizi, a reporter on the Standard, that State Agents were indeed looking for Chief Chiadzwa.

The Chief is in trouble for taking the Kimberly Process Team that was in Zimbabwe around the area. He brought villagers to them to recount horror stories of beatings and "point-blank" shootings of unarmed small-scale miners. The Kimberley Process Team recommended last week that Zimbabwe be suspended from trading its diamonds globally.

Cheif Chiadzwa's Court was raided by armed soldiers and policeman and he only escaped because he was not at home at the time. They confiscated two trucks belonging to the Chief.

Still, the soldiers left a message with his workers saying they had come to "evict" him on government orders because he had collaborated with the Kimberly Process Team.

The Chief remains defiant, however, telling Marwizi, "Yes, there are mass graves at the Chiadzwa Diamond Fields. At times, people were shot at point blank range. I could not take the Team there because I was prevented from doing so by soldiers."

This comes as it emerges now that the KP Team was refused access by soldiers into the cordoned off security area. Chief Chiadzwa is adamant that some of 200 people killed at the fields are buried in mass graves within the secure zone.

The KP Team had recommended to government that the Diamond Field at Chiadzwa be "demilitarised". The military responded swiftly, issuing a statement that they were not going anywhere and would remain at the Diamond Fields until they were good and ready to leave of their own accord.

The law enforcement agents of the Inclusive Government say they are looking for the Chief with regards to the matter of "relocation."

Discussions have been going on with the Chief and his people to move them to another area in Manicaland, that much has been established.

But these negotiations, which must include haggling over compensation and the like, were abandoned last week after the Chief was accused of helping the KP Team reach the conclusion to ban Zimbabwe's diamonds. They consider them "blood diamonds".

Now the Inclusive Government wants to use force and is no longer interested in discussions wth the chief, incensed that he is prejudicing of this money-pit, which is, according to government's own estimates, worth up to US$600 million a month.

It is a curious state of affairs, isn't it?

Only weeks ago, Deputy Minister Zvidzai of the MDC-T was denying the slaughter of villagers and small-scale miners in Windhoek at a Diamonds Summit.

On the other hand, you have Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai telling the world media, as he did more than a month ago that "the two minister of Home Affairs (one MDC-T and the other ZANU PF) were "working very well together."

I suppose this is the fruit of their labour.

We are slowly descending into the morass that Nigeria finds itself today, where villagers in areas where oil is mined that country are harassed, arrested, denied compensation and, when they try to organise themselves like Ken Saro Wiwa did, they could get arrested and executed for treason.

This is the work of the Inclusive Government that Tsvangirai said yesterday "is a train without a reverse gear."

Mugabe's Soldiers Kick Widows Off Farms, Harvest Their Produce

These two young men are guarding a farm in Chiredzi which they had just invaded earlier this year. The original owner is part of Ben Freeth's SADC Group, which won a ruling against the seizure of their farms by Mugabe. Elsewhere, in Chegutu, south east of Harare, widows who benefited from the Land Reform Programme are now being kicked off the farms by "new" owners in a chaotic process immersed in allegations of backhanders and the like

Harare, Zimbabwe, 02 August 2009

A colonel in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces is currently harvesting sugar cane on a farm in Chiredzi which he confiscated from a widowed beneficiary of Mugabe's chaotic land reform.

Colonel Makwenjere has benefited from the inexplicable actions of Lands Officer Jacob Chimoto in Chiredzi.

One of the members of the District Lands Committee, which recommends people to be given farms to Agriculture House in Harare, Zimbabwe, is distancing himself from the whole thing. He claims not to know how the list of new names, on which Colonel Makwenjere's name appears, was drawn up.

The Colonel kicked a widow, Mrs Musanhu, from her farm and from the homestead. The Musanhu's were offered the farm in 2001 and have an offer letter. On the basis of this, they have been harvesting sugar cane and selling to Hippo Valley Estates for some years now.

The "new owner" has no offer letter. His recommendation, forwarded to Harare by the local Lands Committee, has not yet been approved.

But the Colonel is in charge now and is busy harvesting that same sugar cane and selling it to Hippo Valley, the sugar manufacturers in Chiredzi.

The widow has now moved into a worker's hut with her six children.

It appears the list of recommended new applicants for offer letters (72 people are on it) was drawn up on the basis that the identified farms are "vacant".

I guess Mrs Musanhu, a mere widow, does not qualify to be classed as a "person" living and working the farm on the basis of a 2001 offer letter.

It is certainly a case of the animal eating its young, although there appears to be at least someone with a conscience at the Ministry itself in Harare who has leaked this travesty to the press.

There are public accusations that Chimoto was bribed by some of the beneficiaries to kick the widows off the farms. And the victims themselves seem to have won out now. They wrote to the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement in Harare to demand that a team be sent down south to Chiredzi.

What we are witnessing here are civil servants who would not otherwise have dared to raise their heads finding their voice, realisation dawning that continued chaos on the land is nothing short of national suicide.

For the Big Fish, such as Nathan Shamuyarira, Mugabe's former Spokesman, this new ethos does not, of course, apply. Shamuyarira is busy at this very moment harvesting fruit and maize (corn) on a Chegutu farm which he is invading despite court rulings.

These people should not get upset when the world speaks of the absence of rule of law.

This petty corruption in the Lowveld of Zimbabwe is nothing compared to what Cabinet Ministers and senior members of all the parties in government are getting up to. These will never be brought to heel.

Instead, a minor functionary in Chiredzi will be made an example of in an effort to hoodwink the world into believing that the Inclusive Government is doing something about the shameless corruption around the land issue.

I doubt many will be fooled. Our eyes remain firmly on those who possess land far in excess of the recommended maximum hectares,, those who continue to harass and evict farmers, (black or white) who have only that one farm.

With dedication and political will, the mess in the bedrock agricultural sector can be sorted out and completely cleaned within a year.

It has taken us 11 years. And I bet this Inclusive Government will also leave in its wake a process not much changed from today's chaos.

Greed is winning out over strategic national vision.

01 August 2009: Tsvangirai Denied Access To Security Papers

Harare, Zimbabwe.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was told that there were no security papers for him to review from the days of JOC during the inaugural National Security Council meeting in Harare on Thursday.

Tsvangirai indicated that he wanted to "familiarise myself with the historical role of security establshment" and said he would want to "peruse previous documentation" to that end.

Mugabe told him that no minutes were taken during JOC meetings because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.

There was no offer to give him copies of previous operational minutes from security structures outside JOC.

Tsvangirais office shrugged off teh snub today: "What is important is not what happened before, but what is going to happen in the future. We are looking ahead."

And my hunch is that this future is a bleak desert filled with the whitened skulls of unfulfilled hope.

Mugabe could have convened the NSC meeting at the snap of a finger, but he dithered, giving himself enough time to destroy papers containing minutes from the June run-off especially. The Secretary being the head of the CIO, it is a simple matter to make these vanish into thin air.

After all, if they can vanish whole persons, what more pieces of paper that they do not want the Prime Minister (sorry, Senior Minister) to lay his eyes on?

The security establishment s still forbidden territory for the MDCs, for Mugabe and his people at least. All this is nothing more than the new partners being allowed a peek into the reception area without actually being taken into the factory.

Which means they still do not know what is being manufactured.

31 July 2009: Tsvangirai Comes Face to Face With Defence Forces Commanders

Mugabe, seen here with Defence Forces Chief General Chiwengwa (whose car allegedly abducted Deputy Minister of Agriculture-designate Roy Bennett from Charles Prince Airport in February) remains firmly in control of the Defence Forces and Justice portfolios and the National Security Council meeting yesterday reinforced that with a tightly controlled agenda. This was the inaugural meeting of the NSC, from which nothing much should be expected. JOC remains active and PM Tsvangirai got no response to his "encouragement" to the body to dissolve.

The National Security Council (NSC) finally met for the first time yesterday under the Chairmanship of Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, whom the State Media now never mention without adding "Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces."

The service chiefs made a point of attending the meeting in civilian clothing.

The Service Chiefs reportedly sat stony-faced throughout. The meeting was tightly controlled by Mugabe and he could be seen fidgeting nervously when Tsvangirai and Mutambara as well as Thokozanu Khupe addressed the meeting.

He was quite clearly afraid that they may insist on unmasking this charade. He need not have feared, with Tsvangirai's speech being essentially an appeal to the Service chiefs to accept him and put the "national interest above partisan and personal interest". This did not go down well with the Service Chiefs, as I will explain.

Mugabe's Chief Spook, Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organisation actually briefed journalists on the meeting, betraying the fact that this was done mostly for show.

As I have told you even before the MDC-T made an "outstanding issue" out of the non-meetings of the NSC, JOC remains very much active.

Bonyongwe told the media that meetings of the NSC are strictly confidential and therefore, he could not discuss what was said there. He claimed the meeting was held in an "inclusive" atmosphere.

But Sekeramayi, the former Minister of Defence and a ZANU PF heavyweight and presidential aspirant, who attended the meeting as a Minister of State for State Security (in the President's Office), was happily harping away at what was said to the media.

Present were Tsvangirai, Mugabe, all the Service Chiefs, Mutambara, Joice Mujuru, Thokozani Khupe, Didymus Mutasa, Elton Mangoma and Welshman Ncube.

The Service Chiefs did not salute Tsvangirai before, during or after the meeting.

Although Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Khupe addressed the meeting, the Service Chiefs remained silent and stony-faced throughout.

Mugabe told the gathering that the NSC's role is to "review national policies of security, defence and law and order" and to recommend to the "Executive" areas that needed to be addressed.

That word, executive, is the key to the whole thing.

Only last week, the President's Office made it known through the state media that Tsvangirai has no executive power whatsoever except that which is due to any other minister, dismissing him in a front page story in the Herald as "just another minister, albeit the most senior one."

One of the Service Chiefs present was asking friends last night: "What right does Tsvangirai have to speak to us about putting national interest above partisan interest. We went to the bush for the sake of the national interest. Some of us died for it. We can't be lectured by someone who ran away from the struggle."

So, no change then?

Significantly, Happyton Bonyongwe of the CIO, in briefing journalists, said "from now on, the NSC will meet periodically."

It is supposed to meet every month.

And another thing:

Just as with cabinet meetings where Tsvangirai privately admits that nothing he wants to talk about is ever put on the agenda, he will also find that the NSC, with Mugabe in the Chair, will also discuss nothing of substance.

Mugabe, Bonyongwe and Sekeremayi decide on the agenda and they will almost certainly stick strictly to discuss "national security policy" and avoid all mention of arrests of Deputy Ministers of Agricultures or human rights activists, under the guise of "not discussing matters before the courts lest we be seen to be interfering with the judiciary."

Tsvangirai will not press home the point that these people were put into that "judicial process" by the very same people around that table at State House (Zimbabwe House as it is properly known).

One thing is for certain, despite this meeting, the Service chiefs remain implacably opposed to Tsvangirai and this will be in evidence shortly, in August, when the leaders gather for the Heroes Day celebrations at the Heroes Acre in Harare.

And a day after that when it is the Defence Forces Day. Tsvangirai will attend both because Mugabe made him promise to "honour national events" in the Global Political Agreement they signed.

Woe unto him should he fail to meet that expectation from his "Solution".

The impasse continues, then.

31 July 2009: Gono Indicates He Will Scupper Deal To Officially Adopt The Rand

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon Gono, seen here with Mugabe at a warehouse where some of foodstuffs and goods from his quasi-fiscal operations were stashed, has come out publicly to defend his role as Monetary Policymaker, setting him on a collision course with Biti yet again.

Gideon Gono's festive Monetary Policy tradition came to end yesterday. Instead of calling all and sundry (even our advertising agency got an invite) to his Mount to hear the Sermon, he called in only bank industry CEOs this time.

He is much more restricted now, with the ending of quasi-fiscal activities and therefore can not pronounce policy position on all sorts of areas as he used to.

One notable thing that came out of his Monetary Statement yesterday was an indication that he and Mugabe are balking at one of the demands from the South Africans for Zimbabwe to join the Rand Monetary Union.

"Our strong views and preference, however, are that as Zimbabweans, we must have our own currency and autonomy in formulating our fiscal and monetary policies."

You will recall that in the December 2008 article in which I broke the news of the dollarisation of the Zimbabwe economy, I told you of the South Africans' demand that any adoption of the Rand as requested by Zimbabwe had to result in abandoning the Zimbabwe dollar for at least six months.

They also demand that Monetary Policy be centrally planned at the SA Reserve Bank and that there be a plan in place for Zimbabwe's government to be self-sufficient. Meaning borrowing from the SA Reserve Bank to fund consumption was out of the question.

Two weeks ago, Tendai Biti announced during his mid-term Budget Statement that he was inclined to do exactly what Gono now seems to oppose.

Maybe there is a reason behind that bullet delivered to Minister of Finance's House in an envelope, after all.

Biti signalled that the Zimbabwe dollar was dead and the government had started thinking of a policy that is (appro) "in line with SADC envisaged goal of a Single Monetary Union by 2018."

Gono and Mugabe clearly do not want this at all. They want to be able to fund election campaigns with state money from the Central Bank without anyone asking what the money is being withdrawn for.

They want to continue the buying of loyalty and spreading of patronage on the hunched backs of the overworked, underpaid and overtaxed Zimbabwe people, whose money it is that Gono was so liberal with before, during and after elections.

Clearly, a fight looms, with Biti arguing for reason and common sense and Gono and Mugabe arguing for self-aggrandisement and patronage.

As Godfrey Chanetsa, our Interim Chairman at Mavambo says, "This is not a government, it is simple one long negotiating forum, everything they do, every move they make has to be negotiated."

Nothing can be achieved for the people under the circumstances.

31 July 2009: Diamond Body Recommends Banning Zimbabwe Diamonds

Chiyadzwa Diamond Fields, where small-scale miners (Makorokoza) made fortunes in the confusion of 2006/7 and into last year. There was a brutal clampdown at the Fields and it is sad some 80 or so people died at the hands of soldiers, the story is denied by both the MDC and ZANU PF since they got into government together. The Kimberley Process Team which was here earlier this month, has recommended a ban on Diamonds from Zimbabwe for at least six months

So.

Despite the Herald shrilling propaganda from their pages during the recent visit of the Kimberley Process Team to Zimbabwe, that very team has now announced that it is recommending a ban on Zimbabwe trading in diamonds through the process for "at least six months".

It is a big deal because the Process is literally the only legitimate way in which diamonds can be sold on the world market. It was set up to certify diamonds as free of blood ( diamonds funded and fuelled the horrific conflicts of Sierra Leone, DRC and Liberia, amongst other countries. Charles Taylor today sits at the Hague because of some of these conflicts and the horrors that they gave birth to).

If you cn not sell your diamonds through the Process, you will be oblidged to deal with shady characters with raincoats, in the alleyways of the international diamond trade.

It also means you do not get proper value for your under-the-counter diamonds and can lose billlions in the process.

The KP Team make it clear that their recommended ban should be indefinite, saying: "..but until such time as a KP team determines that minimum standards have been met.

You will recall that while they were here, the KP Team recommended the "demilitarisation" of the Chiyadzwa Diamond Fields.

They got their response through a defiant and strident statement from the Defence Forces, whose spokesman was eagerly and gleefully quoted by the State media. I remember seeing it given prominence on ZTV Newshour.

Of course, this only made the Team feel infuriated. Their advice was being ignored and even rejected out of hand. They have responded by recommending a ban.

How does this square with the Carnival coverage their visit got from the State Media. We were told by the Herald that the team was "pleased" with Zimbabwe. The next day we were fed the line that the KP Team "hails Government".

Hail them they did, indeed. And we can all see that now.

It is reported that only last week, Finance Minister Tendai Biti "begged" the KP Team to give Zimbabwe time to implement the required measures. Perhaps it is a classic case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

If Biti had bothered to talk to the Defence Forces, then he would have been told not to bother, because they intended scuppering the whole thing with a spectacular press statement.

The proper mining of diamonds at Chiyadzwa is estimated by government itself to be able to bring in up to US$600 million per month. Which would be just over seven billion US Dollars in a year, enough to fund the reconstruction of Zimbabwe, estimated by Biti to need US$8 billion.

None of this is ever likely to make any difference to the way you or I live. Wantonly, the Inclusive Government is simply shooting itself in the foot.

Problem is, it's our foot too.

But when we protest, we are told to shut up. We should just trust the shooter to do what he is doing because he knows what's good for us!!

30 July 2009: Why Tsvangirai Has Now Agreed To The Kariba Draft

It is all about ZIM 1, the presidential number plate in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai has also now joined the plotting of Mugabe. But it is almost certain that his embrace of the Kariba Draft in the hope that it can help him to secure the presidency will certainly come to grief.

It was reported this last Sunday that JOMIC (Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee), which is the arbitrator and overseer of the Inclusive Government's GPA, has now endorsed the Kariba Draft as the basis of a new constitution.

It is a victory for Mugabe and ZANU PF, clearly, that this body, which houses very senior figures from all parties (especially the negotiators themselves) has now genuflected to this hard stance taken by the Solution and his cronies.

What is more puzzling to observers is why Tsvangirai's negotiators agreed to this travesty at all. Why did they bend (seemingly) to Mugabe's will?

The answer is simple enough and was given to me a few moments ago by a senior figure within the MDC-T.

Essentially, it is explained, Tsvangirai is also eyeing the provision within the Kariba Draft which says that if a sitting president dies or is otherwise incapacitated, then parliament sits as an Electoral College and elects a president to serve out the remaining term of the previous president.

Which provision essentially means there is scope for a president elected this way to be in power for four years or so if something happens to Mugabe within a year of his being re-elected (by hook or by crook, especially by crook.)

Tsvangirai sees himself with a majority in parliament even after the next election, which should be anytime after the next four years or so, since the parties are now agreed that their government will last for five years.

The Prime Minister, therefore, believes that he will be able to muster a majority in parliament and be elected to the post by his own MPs and Senators when the time comes, if has a majority in parliament.

He is mistaken, of course.

Once he agrees to the principle of the Kariba Draft, it is almost certain that Mugabe will move goalposts, cook up that draft to put in provisions that will nullify the absolute sway that MPs would hold in the event of his departure from office before his term is over.

It is conceivable that, just as he did in 2000, Mugabe may well unilaterally change things that would have been agreed on through the nationwide consultation process.

This risk is the reason why Lovemore Madhuku of the NCA, Matombo of ZCTU and others are opposed to a "politically-driven process".

Take the process out of the hands of the politicians, right up to the stage of the referendum itself, and there will be virtually no risk that Mugabe could delete paragraphs and insert others of his choosing as he did in 2000.

What should happen is that the politicians should simply be handed a document, a constitution, decided on by the people from scratch through to the referendum. They will then have to live by it, because it will be the people's will.

If not, then smokey backrooms at parliament, Mugabe's home in Helensvale, State House and other spaces will become the final places in which the bargaining and subversion of the people's will takes place, long after the process is considered done but before a referendum.

If it is rejected, this suits Mugabe, because he has all he needs to continue as he is in the current constitution.

Mark my words: Tsvangirai will be crying foul over the Kariba Draft and the Constitutional Process he has now endorsed. He will cry foul when he realises what he has done in leaving the whole thing in the hands of politicians with token "consultation" of the people.

You can also rest assured that, when he does cry foul and points to Mugabe's skulduggery, we will be urged by MDC-T supporters and apologists to "support him" in rectifying a mistake he is being told of even now.

They will try to bully us and stampede us into lining up behind Tsvangirai, who would have been outwitted yet again by Mugabe. Essentially, they will be asking us to cover up for his mistakes, yes, but also for the greed for power that he is exhibiting even now in plotting scenarios that have no hope of succeeding in levering him into the presidential office.

Now we know. And now you know.

30 July 2009: Mnangagwa Explains Why Service Chiefs Will Not Salute Tsvangirai

Emmerson Mnangagwa, Minister of Defence and Mugabe's now-certain heir, seen here with PM Morgan Tsvangirai in parliament, answered questions in the House yesterday after a delay of some months during which parliamentarians complained to the Speaker and the media that the Minister was not availing himself to answer their questions. He was asked about the failure or reluctance by the Service Chiefs to salute the Prime Minister and he fobbed them all off with a flimsy explanation.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Minister of Defence and Mugabe heir-apparent yesterday told parliament why the service chiefs will not salute Tsvangirai in an explanation that was clearly lacking in sincerity, as I will explain.

Mnangagwa was shown on Newshour on ZTV last night explaining that the Service Chiefs only salute the president of the country as the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. He pointed out that the Service Chiefs were also absent at the very low-key swearing-in of Vice-Presidents and that this showed their failure to salute Tsvangirai was not sinister.

I have pointed out the flaw in this argument before, when I told you on this blog that Dr Makoni, for instance, points out that it is inaccurate to say the armed forces only salute the Commander-in-Chief.

Dr Makoni pointed out that when he was minister, "When I went to the Staff College, for instance, even when armed forces personnel met me in the corridors, they always saluted."

The principle here is recognising the authority of the civilian government, from whom the army take their commands. According to proper procedure, Mugabe is not a one-man band that operates government as he sees fit.

He is advised by cabinet, but has usurped the role of cabinet to an extent where that body is now just a rubber stamp where Mugabe's word and wishes carry the day. He, in fact, is now cabinet.

Which means when the MDCs condone this behaviour, they are endorsing the role of cabinet as a rubber stamp for Mugabe and a talking shop where they come to listen to "what the boss has to say."

So, according to proper procedure, Service Chiefs are supposed to salute any member of the civilian authority because they report to that authority as a body and not to an individual.

Still, there is nothing the MDC can do about this. The parliamentarians who heard this explanation from the Minister of Defence yesterday did not press home the point.

It is a particular failure of the MDCs in government that they believe that simply asking questions is enough. They do not insist on their rights and their points. Just as Tsvangirai accepts at face value explanations about the civil service being non-partisan, the whole MDC accepts whatever line is fed them by ZANU PF and The Solution.

Still, it was the Service Chiefs themselves, as well as MDC-T supporters who made an issue out of this. We all know of the truckloads of MDC-T youths who rode around Harare on 11 February when Tsvangirai was sworn in, chanting, "Muchamusaluta chete Morgan!" (You will salute Morgan whether you like it or not).

The Service Chiefs had made it clear that they would not salute him even if he were to become president, essentially meaning that the Chiefs were saying they would not allow him to ascend to that office.

Curiously, the legislators who questioned the Minister yesterday failed to ask why, if this was just a matter of protocol, the Service Chiefs are STILL refusing to attend meetings of the National Security Council, which Tsvangirai is a senior member of and which is supposed to replace JOC.

So, it was a whitewash, then. But MDC-T apologists and supporters accept this even as they praise Mugabe as indispensable and irreplaceable. Even as they applaud their leader when he says Mugabe "is not going anywhere"!!

MDC-T supporters and their leader are now, as we all know, Mugabe's No 1 supporters and fans.

Mnangagwa had been slippery on this issue going back to the end of February, when the MDC-T parliamentarians indicated that they had put questions down for the Defence Minister but that he was failing to avail himself.

Mugabe "Strengthens Structures In The Diaspora" As He Kidnaps The Presidency Once Again

Mugabe, seen here swearing-in Morgan Tsvangirai on February 11 this year, now wants to "strengthen" his structures in the Diaspora and is now certain to run again for President against Tsvangirai. He has said before that if the results are the same as last time, "we may continue with the arrangement" of having Tsvangirai as Prime Minister and he as President.

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe's party, ZANU PF, is "strengthening our structures in the Diaspora to ensure that they spread our message."

The statement was made on Tuesday by Savour Kasukuwere, the Minister of Youth and one of those accused by the MDC-T of being behind the disruption of the Constitutional Conference at the Harare International Conference Centre.

Those in Diaspora can rest assured that they will soon see some of their comrades living it up as money from the Diamond Fields is poured into their coffers in order for them to "spread the message."

This statement comes as Bulawayo Youth League for Mugabe's party endorsed him to continue as President at the ZANU PF Congress scheduled for December this year. So far, Manicaland, Midlands (where Mnangagwa, the heir-apparent, went overboard in labelling Mugabe "The Great Leader"), Masvingo and Harare Youth League have announced they will be backing Mugabe.

This is no spontaneous show of loyalty. It is carefully choreographed by Mugabe himself, just as he did with Jabulani Sibanda at the 2007 Congress, when the Chairman announced that the party had gathered not to elect anyone to the Presidium, but to endorse Mugabe.

No elections were allowed, as a result for the post of President and his Deputies.

It still remains a curious state of affairs for some of us that in places like Harare and Bulawayo, it is the Youth League that is doing the endorsing, and not the Provincial Executive.

As Dr Makoni said to me yesterday, Mugabe will almost certainly "force all the other provinces to endorse him." Still, it is telling that, while there is stampede by the youths (they get beer bought for them and bits of cash here and there in order to buy their loyalty), the leadership in the provinces remains silent.

Some of us have always thought of Kasukwere as a down-home sort of guy who clearly sees that Mugabe is well past his sell-by date and should be put out to pasture, but these latest comments make us think twice.

Mugabe's strategy for the coming Congress is now known. He will station henchmen called "youths" (some are over 40 years old) at the entrances and they will sing and chant his name to drive home the intimidatory point.

There is also discussion of a march in Harare and the town where the Congress will be held (probably Bindura) in support of Mugabe. Everyone will stay indoors, obviously, in case they get caught up in the melee.

What is important is for you to understand that, as I have said before, this is Mugabe's ploy to try and quell the succession dispute in ZANU PF.

He has already told his leadership team that he and he alone can win an election under the current circumstances. He is coupling this with the Kariba Draft (which MDC-T now have bought into, as I will explain in my next article) of the Constitution, dangling the possibility that he will step down soon after winning the next General Election and allow his successor to rule for four years without having to go for an election, as provided for by the Kariba Draft constitution.

JOMIC (and by implication, MDC-T, which sits on that body) has now endorsed the Kariba Draft as the basis of a new constitution.

No wonder Lovemore Matombo of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said, "They are indicating left but turning right."

29 July 2009: It's Official, Mavambo is Now Bugged

While the Inclusive Government of Mugabe and Tsvangirai says it has no money to collect such rubbish as in this picture, which is piling up in cities all over Zimbabwe, they can find the resources to waste on bugging the Mavambo phones and the like.

I told you a couple of days ago that our phone lines went dead and our Internet connection also disappeared.

The lines came back yesterday of their own accord, after TelOne said as far as their systems were concerned, everything was working fine and they had no idea what had happened to our switchboard.

It turns out now that a group led by a CIO operative named Cleopas Chidhakwa intercepted our lines at a "green box" along Fourth Street and did their thing. One of the people who assisted him was Givemore Murapa, also of the President's Office.

They were in two cars as they did the job over the weekend and into Monday: a black Toyota Yaris and a Mazda B2200 pick-up, both of which had no number plates (the President's Office vehicles always travel with no plates when they are on a job and many MDC-T supporters were murdered last year in vehicles loaned to ZANU PF by the Reserve Bank and which travelled the rural areas of Zimbabwe without plates.

They were acting on the instructions of Nicholas Goche, the Minister of Transport and Communications, who now administers the Interception of Communications Bill, according to information at hand. This Bill had originally fallen under Nelson Chamisa's Information Communication Technology before Mugabe raised a lot of dust by gutting that Ministry.

Amidst protests from the MDC-T, he gave back to Chamisa control of some of the things he originally had, including administering ISPs. But Mugabe retained the Interception of Communications Bill. This is why.

Of course, now we know and we have gotten into the habit of blowing whistles into the phone receiver when we are talking to members (who are aware of this and recognise the signal that the whistle is about to go off - the least we can do is damage a few eardrums).

The Toyota Yaris used on this job was in evidence by our offices all of last week, relieved by the pick-up truck now and again.One of our security people even recognised the men sitting in the car as he did his surveillance.

With the country suffering massive power cuts still, with no water flowing in the taps, civil servants struggling to feed themselves, let alone look after their families or improve the quality of their lives, Mugabe and his crew find money, time and energy to do this?

Priorities are wrong, money is being spent on frivolous things while the country burns. But we get told time and again by the Prime Minister that Mugabe is the Solution to Zimbabwe's problem, that he is vital to our future and that he is "not going anywhere"?

Go figure.

29 July 2009: MDC Tsvangirai Minister Arrested For Stealing Mobile Phone

Inclusive Cabinet Being Sworn in, February this year. A deputy Minister from the MDC Tsvangirai in this cabinet had been arrested for stealing a cellphone belonging to "War Veterans leader" Joseph Chinotimba.

First, apologies, it appears I spoke too soon. No sooner had sung the praises of Nelson Chamisa than Internet connection in Zimbabwe collapsed entirely.

While we are back online at the Mavambo offices, with out phones and internet connection restored, my other internet connections went completely dead.

Curiously, last night, as I was working on some posts for the blog and doing other housekeeping things, electricity at the office was also switched off. It is almost unheard of for power to go in the city centre and, even more suspicious, the power went only on the block where our offices are (about ten building on one side of George Silundika. As I drove out, everywhere else there was power).

But we could never expect anything else from this Inclusive Misgovernment.

***********************

Anyway, to today's embarrassing story:

A deputy Minister from Prime Minister Tsvangira's party has been arrested for stealing a mobile phone belonging to Ware Veterans leader Joseph Chinotimba.

The cellphone, it is alleged, went missing at the recently-ended and intially-disrupted Constitutional Conference at the Harare International Conference Centre.

Chinotimba says he left it on the table where he was sitting with other delegates, including MDC-T Deputy Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Thamsanqa Mahlangu.

Apparently Chinotimba, upon coming back and seeing his cellphone missing, announced that someone had taken his Nokia phone from where he had been sitting. No one owned.

The police subsequently tracked the phone down to a woman in Hwange, who is said to have been using the SIM card. When she was arrested by the police, she said she had picked up the SIM card from the trash bin, where Mahlangu had thrown it.

The minister was duly arrested.

It all sounds rather fishy, does it not? And it is almost certainly part of the ZANU PF ploy of trying to reduce the majority of the MDC-T in parliament.

It is a well known fact in Zimbabwe that if you lose a cellphone, unless you take action yourself and succeed, there is no hope of recovering the thing. Police are notoriously inept on matters like these. They are are even inept on matters of murder.

It is then surprising that they acted so quickly and were successful in getting a SIM card from Hwange. Certainly the new-found efficiency is surprising.

If the MDC-T had not abandoned its own MPS who are being harassed by the State, it would have been interesting for them to investigate the woman herself. It may well turn out that she has close ties to ZANU PF or that she is was a delegate at the Conference on behalf of ZANU PF.

If the accusation against the Deputy Minister is true, then it really shows the sort of characters we have leading us now. We have known for years that ZANU PF is full of thieves and murderers, but most people thought the MDC-T was driven by the desire for democracy and protection of life and limb and property for Zimbabwe.

This would now be exposed as a lie.

Let us just hope that, if convicted, the Deputy Minister will not be jailed for six months or more, because this would immediately make his seat in parliament vacant under Section 45 of the Constitution and a by-election will have to be called.

With all this happening, we can only wonder when we will be rid of this avaricious and corrupt

lot.

This comes as reports at the weekend also revealed that 54 000 British Pounds (Sterling) has gone missing from the coffers of the MDC Tsvangirai in the United Kingdom, amidst reports of wives of MDC-T Senior officials calling the UK office from South Africa to ask for 10 000 pounds to be transferred to them, whch has not been accounted for!!

The matter of the Deputy Minister was postponed yesterday at the courts.

Trade Unions, NCA Blast Tsvangirai and Mugabe

Deputy Prime Ministers Thokozani Khupe and Arthur Mutambara are seen here with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Entebbe. The two were taken on a junket by Robert "The Solution" Mugabe as he starts his offensive to charm the MDC-T leadership into submitting to his will. He appears to be winning. Meantime, back home, all hell is breaking loose, with Civil society partners of the MDC-T declaring their marriage to the opposition party dissolved.

Former allies of the MDC-T, the Zimbabwe Congress Of Trade Unions and the National Constitutional Assembly have blasted Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe over their failures on not only the constitution but also the running of the country in general.

Almost all of the criticism was directed at Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T, signalling that the myopic days of "why criticise Tsvangirai, criticise Mugabe instead" are over.

Indeed, it serves no purpose to harp on about the geriatric Mugabe, who everyone agrees should go into the sunset. But the disappointment with Tsvangirai is acutely felt because he has posed over the last decade or so as the embodiment of people's hope in their fight against the ZANU PF dictatorship.

His praise-singing of Mugabe now is especially wounding to his former comrades, like Madhuku, who was beaten up severely together with Tsvangirai during that aborted "prayer meeting" in Highfields, amongst many other beatings he has suffered at the hands of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

Dr Madhuku, whom I spoke to a few minutes ago by phone, told delegates to the NGO-Organised All People's Convention at the Acquatic Complex in Chitungwiza:

"He (Tsvangirai) is now saying Mugabe is indispensable. He drinks tea with Mugabe. This is now the new gospel of the MDC. We will not accept this."

"On the constitution, let us tell Tsvangirai direct that we will not accept a politically-driven process."

He also blasted Tendai Biti, the Finance Minister and MDC-T Secretary-General, for his comments earlier last month when he told an interviewer: "Mugabe is a Victorian Gentleman", saying his view of The Solution (Mugabe) had changed since they got into government.

Lovemore Matombo of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions also weighed in at the event, saying the MDC-T was "indicating left but turning right. They go with the wind."\

Clever Bere, president of the Zimbabwe Students Union, was also present and told the gathering he was "not sure if it is the MDC-T we have today," in reference to widely held opinion in Zimbabwe now that Tsvangirai and the MDC-T have been co opted and are now basically singing the ZANU PF song.

As I pointed out, attacks on Tsvangirai were more prominent than on any other party to the GNU and Inclusive Agreement. And as I have also pointed out before, this reflects the bitter disappointment that people now regard Tsvangirai with.

Of course, there are still MDC-T apologists out there who are now in the curious position of defending Mugabe when they defend such statements from Tsvangirai as "President Mugabe is indispensable and irreplaceable" and "President Mugabe is not going anywhere, the West needs to get over its obsession with Mugabe."

How far we have come from the Gwanzura days when Tsvangirai bellowed to a capacity crowd:

"We want to tell Mugabe today that if you don't go peacefully, we will remove you violently."

My my, how little things change, heh?

28 July 2009: How Many Of You Noticed Mugabe's Latest Ploy?

Mugabe is seen here with Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda over the weekend in Kampala, where he is attending a Global 2009 Smart Partnership Dialogue Conference. Behind the two leaders is Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe of the MDC-T, who was splashed on the front page of the Sunday Mail yesterday deciding on seats on the Presidential plane with Mugabe. Arthur Mutambara, the other Deputy Prime Minister, is also on the trip.

I just wondered how many of you out there noticed that Robert "The Solution" Mugabe has launched a charm offensive against the MDC-T top leadership.

Yesterday, a photo of Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Khupe was splashed on the front page of the Sunday Mail. The two appeared to be joking around and enjoying each other's company.

They were off to Uganda, for some summit or other, at which another Strongman, Yoweri Museveni, launched a broadside at Britain and the west, asking them to "leave Zimbabwe alone."

What you are seeing is the slow softening up of the MDC-T leadership. I have been told before by impeccable sources that Mugabe believes he is unbeatable in a face to face charm offensive. Of course, like the legendary persuasive powers of Cecil John Rhodes at the Diamond Fields, much of this depends very much on the weight of the office the person holds.

Still, I should like someone to ask Deputy Prime Minister Khupe what was said about Roy Bennett on that plane to and from Uganda?

What did Mugabe talk her into this time? That is the question.

I suspect we will know soon enough. The Deputy PM (MDC-Tsvangirai), who only a few weeks back was boycotting cabinet and, with a straight face, suggesting that Mugabe and Tsvangirai were "on par", equals in government and executive authority, will start taking positions you and I will find difficult to understand.

But cast your mind back to this moment and all will be clear.

Tendai Biti has already been enrolled into the programme, although he continues to lose track now and again and lapses into veiled criticisms of ZANU PF (never Mugabe). I suppose in a short space of time, we will know.

There is very strong talk that, as Tsvangirai is in South Africa meeting Zuma (apparently to discuss "outstanding issues"), Mugabe has been tasked with bringing Khupe and hence the rest of the MDC leadership round to the idea that the outstanding issues are not crucial, Bennett need not be sworn in and governors can be delayed until after the by-elections, which can only be held after September 15 to allow ZANU PF to contest against the MDC ........and so on and so forth.

I have told you before that Tsvangirai has been brought round by Mugabe and that is why he went ahead and announced unsatisfactory "agreements" on Permanent Secretaries, Governors, Bennett and other issues, even as his party demanded that those very issues be included on the list of "outstanding issues".

It is likely that Tsvangirai will explain to Zuma the new and strange sense of optimism the MDC-T now has with regards Mugabe. He will insist that it was all a ploy to push Mugabe into acting. He will point to the laughable deal on Permanent Secretaries, Governors, Ambassadors and Principal Directors as proof that Mugabe responded.

Tsvangirai would like to pursue the other issues "diplomatically" as he puts it. Basically, this means sucking up to Mugabe, playing along, honouring, respecting and expecting a bone or two to be thrown his way. That would be diplomatic triumph for him.

We watch. We wait. And we will see.

27 July 2009: Attempts to Harass and Frustrate Mavambo Start?

After the All Stakeholders Conference on the Constitution, the National Constitutional Conference (NCA) has now convened its own All Peoples Congress on the Constitution. It started today and there were no kind words for Mugabe or Tsvangirai in that hall.

Had a visit today from a resident of the Pfungwe area in Zimbabwe and he told me something that would be funny if it were not so sad. This is the area where an MDC supporter was beaten so thoroughly a week or so back, that she can hardly speak.

Apparently, the "talk" amongst ZANU PF hardcores is: "Makabatana kutown ikoko, kwete kunoku" - meaning, "Your unity applies only in the towns, not out here."

Mugabe's party enjoys crushing majorities in the area and has done so since Independence. Last year, for the March elections, Mugabe had the bright idea of splitting the area into three constituencies, thereby gaining three seats where he would have got just one.

But that was aside.

Now, two things:

First, sometime during the weekend (today being Monday 27 July 2009), the Mavambo Head Office in Harare was completely cut off from the communications system. All our six lines went dead. Our Internet connection disappeared.

This is still the case now. There were promises from TelOne today to "look into it and attend to the fault" this morning. And that was the last we heard of the matter.

So here we sit, unable to get phone calls on our lines just at the moment the phone was ringing off the hook with people seeking to find out where and when the structures in their provinces will be set up.

Dr Makoni, who usually works at the offices into the dark of night today ended up leaving early. Thank goodness for cellphones, although those who were calling mine today got a message that "this number is no longer in service", even as I chatted merrily away with people that I had called on that very same number.

It may well be that we are all falling victim to the decay of infrastructure which this Inclusive Government is failing to make a dent in. It may well be a sign of the times in which Zimbabwe lives.

Perhaps.

But what is clear is that the "fault" comes at such a crucial moment for the party. And those next door to us had no problems at all with their phone lines.

And then there's the second thing.

There was pandemonium, anger and even consternation amongst civil servants today when they went to the bank to pick up their "salaries" as announced by Tendai Biti.

I was first alerted to this when a group of young men stormed into our offices today demanding to register as members of the party.

It was they who told of queues from here to Kingdom Come at the banks. It appears there is an administrative glitch or the government simply does not have enough money to fund its wage bill. Worse, when they got their money, they discovered that their new "salaries were US$115 after deductions.

Doctors apparently managed to net a grand total of no more than US$200. Meantime, complained the group, prices had already gone up in anticipation of the "windfall" about to befall the civil servants of Zimbabwe (all quarter of a million of them, plus dependants).

They are sick of it all, as can be expected. And we were more than happy to welcome them, because a country in the 21st century should not be living like this. All that is needed is the will. The political will. Right now, none of the incumbents can muster it.

Meantime, Madhuku and Friends have started an All People's Convention on the Constitution. There were no kind words there for Mugabe or Tsvangirai, especially as it now emerges (reported on in the State Newspapers yesterday) that JOMIC, comprising senior ministers from ZANU PF and the two MDCs have decided that the Kariba Draft, that tyranny in ink, be adopted as the basis for a new constitution.

Of course, the thing will be defeated, and with it both Mugabe and his Prime Minister.

I myself can hardly wait.

27 July 2009: Diesel From A Rock Medium Was Aided and Abeted By Registrar-General

Big Man humiliated: Didymus Mutasa, former Defence Minister Sydney Sekeremayi, Kembo Mohadi, Minister of Home Affairs and other senior ZANU PF officials are seen here paying homage to the woman who claimed diesel was seeing from a rock out in Chinoyi. It turns out she has a lot of support from senior echelons of government and remains abroad, allegedly in Guruve, unmolested, even as her trial and sentencing proceeded in her abscence. Some governmen officials are still paying her visits.

Shocking revealations today about how the n'anga (medicine woman) who fooled Mugabe's government with cliams of diesel pouring from a rock managed to pull it off.

The n'anga, told the court that she got some of the diesel to pour into pipes hidden in this hills from Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar-General.

Mudede has not been questioned or tried in connection with this. The Registrar-General keeps a very low profile.

Rotina Mavhunga, the spirit medium, is still on the run. Although several government officials and even cabinet ministers know of her hideout in Guruve, they are keeping mum.

Mugabe told a rally that his government was going to hound the woman, saying, "Tichanosvitsana kutsime." He quickly toned down saying "we will not be too hard on her, but we want her to tell us where she got the plans to do this," he said as he smiled.

The medium was also asked for advice and potent medicine by several politicians who are eyeing the presidency and Mugabe also publicly commented about this.

Zimbabwe's desperation at the height of fuel shortages saw the government send teams to the Chinhoyi hills to verify Rotina Mavhunga's claims. They came back with the report that there was indeed something to the story and in the end, as the medium continued making demands of government in order to reveal the source, Mugabe grew impatient.

"I told them to go back and come back with a conclusive explanation. I told them to go there and rip off those pipes, " he told an Independence Day gathering at Gwanzura Stadium.

Thus was the hoax exposed.

But still, some politicians believe in her and are still paying homage.

And these are the people in charge of the country?

God help us.

27 July 2009: Mugabe Now Virtually Confirmed Life-President

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe now has the endorsement of not only Morgan Tsvangirai, but also three ZANU PF provinces to die in power. With Tsvangirai telling stunned audiences all over the world, "Mugabe is the solution. President Mugabe is not going anywhere....", ZANU PF Youths in Harare as well as Manicaland Province have now added their voices to the Midlands Provincial Executive of ZANU PF in supporting Mugabe to continue as president of ZANU PF "and the country". It appears what the people think (more than two million have cast a vote against Mugabe and his party) does not come into this at all.

When Morgan Tsvangirai repeatedly told audiences in South Africa, the United States and Europe that, "President Mugabe is not going anywhere..", he had not consulted the people of Zimbabwe about this.

He also had no idea whose language he was speaking, or did he?

The ZANU PF Harare Province Youth Wing came out at the weekend to endorse The Solution as the leader of the party ahead of the ZANU PF Congress to be held in December.

In doing so, the ZANU PF Youths used the exact same language that Prime Minister Tsvangirai used, specifically, they, like Tsvangirai also declared:

"The president is not going anywhere," declared Boniface Karoro, the leader of ZANU PF Youths in Harare.

Also endorsing the continued keeping watch over the corpse that is Zimbabwe by Mugabe was the Manicaland Provincial Executive for ZANU PF.

Last weekend, of course, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Minister of Defence, heir-apparent to Mugabe and one of the party's most senior figures also endorsed Mugabe for the presidency.

These ZANU PF structures, including the party's secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, were also clear that the December Congress was being held only to confirm Mugabe in his post.

You will recall that this is exactly what happened in December 2007, when Simba Makoni intended to challenge Mugabe for the presidency. John Nkomo announced from the podium that there would be no vote taken and that the delegates were simply to endorse Mugabe as leader.

This is democracy, ZANU PF-style.

And Morgan Tsvangirai has bought into it hook, line and sinker.

Manicaland, Midlands and Harare Youths have now declared they are ready to feat of the corpse of democracy in Zimbabwe by imposing the old man on us and unleashing violence at any subsequent election to guarantee Mugabe continued rule.

This does nothing to serve the interests of Zimbabwe's economy or prospects for a brighter future.

But we should also take special note of the fact that, so far it is only three provinces (in Harare, it had to be Youths because there is no Executive in place, due to the infighting and the ordering of election re-runs for the Provincial structures).

What of the other seven?

Immense pressure is being brought to bear on them. Phone calls are being made and executive members in provinces are being urged to show their loyalty, not to Mugabe, but "to the party". Apparently endorsing Mugabe is the same thing as being loyal to the party.

Like in Hitler's Germany, ZANU PF is the Fuhrers party. The Leader Party. Questioning the leader is an act of self-expulsion and so on and so forth.

The provinces will fall in line by the time the December Congress is held.

There are threats in ZANU PF that if Mugabe railroads his way into another term at the helm of the party, then the party will split in half.

Don't listen to them.

The party is full cowards, who refuse to let go of their comforts and hide behind the old man in order to bar the opposition from power.

They fear for their lives and their lifestyles and are willing to let the country go to the dogs so that they can continue to be kept by Mugabe in the style to which they are now accustomed.

Mugabe is not above setting his thugs on his own, so expect that any provinces that refuse to commit suicide like the other three will be hounded and intimidated until they give in. If they won't, they will be expelled.

At least now we know for certain whose language the Prime Minister is speaking. The Solution? We wrote off a long time ago and it serves no purpose to flog that dead horse. Everyone agrees he should go. It is the behaviour of those who should have an upper hand against him, those who should be influencing the course of events in the country, that puzzles us.

26 Jully 2009: How The MDC-T Is Losing It's Majority in Parliament

This map from Sokwanele shows the seats that have fallen vacant and now require by-elections. Some of these vacancies go back to 2008. They also note that, at law, the calling of by-elections is not for Mugabe as president to do with as he sees fit. He is required to consult cabinet. He has not done so. In fact, the issue has not been put on the cabinet agenda at all. And who sets the Cabinet agenda for every Tuesday? None other than Mugabe, of course. Which is why Tsvangirai was asking last week that he also wants to in on setting cabinet agenda.

Following my article a few days ago in which I told you that Robert "The Solution" Mugabe had resolved to stand against the MDCs and other parties in forthcoming by-elections, Sokwanele have produced the most complete and the most detailed analysis of how the MDC has lost its majority in parliament.

ZANU PF has indeed lost seats due to deaths, three of them. In those three, Mugabe enjoys majorities of 2945, 6496 and 8975. Considering these margins, it is unlikely that ZANU PF will lose these seats, especially now when those voters see Tsvangirai paying homage and praise their leader, Mugabe, which is simply confirmation to them that their leader is all-powerful and can still "look after" them.

On the MDC side, the opposition party faces by-elections in 12 constituencies. Of these several are held by the MDC very thin margins: Lovemore Moyo, the Speaker, whose seat is now empty, won it with 474. This is definitely a margin Mugabe will reverse.

As for the rest of the MDC majorities, the most vulnerable are:

Mutare West - MDC-T majority of 22 (twenty-two) votes. The MDC-T MP, Shuah Mudiwa, has been sentenced to 7 years in jail for "kidnapping a minor".
Bikita West - MDC-T majority of 19 (nineteen) votes. The MDC-T MP Heya Shoko, is in the courts facing a charge of "abusing" and "stealing" farm inputs from Gideon Gono. This past week, another MDC-T MP facing the same charges was sent to jail for two years, with one year suspended
Masvingo West: MDC-T majority of 392 (three hundred and ninety two) votes. The MDC-T MPs for the area is facing charges of abusing farming inputs from Gono as well.
Gutu East - MDC-T majority of 989 (nine hundred and eighty-nine) and where their MP faces charges of abusing farm aid from Gono.
Gutu North - MDC-T majority of 702 (seven hundred and two) and where the MP faces the same charges as Gutu East above.

Knowing ZANU PF, it is most likely that it will pour huge amounts of resources into these tenuous seats held by the MDC-T.

Even if we assume that the seats held by the MDC by a majority of more than 2000 will be retained by them, and that ZANU PF will do the same with its seats, which they hold by high margins, this still leaves the MDC-T with 95 seats against ZANU PF's potential of 104, when they claw back 22-vote margins from the MDC-T.

As I revealed a few days ago, the GPA clause that bars the parties to the Inclusive Government from running against each other in by-elections expires on 15 September and Mugabe has resolved that there will be no by-elections before then.

As Sokwanele point out, "If by-elections are delayed till mid-September, this would raise the spectre of election violence."

And it appears that is what is in store for Zimbabwe.

26 July 2009: Why The Inclusive Government Is Bad For Zimbabwe's Economy

Nearly six months after the formation of the much-touted Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe, the country still faces massive power cuts, no running water almost permanently in most suburbs and cities.

Industrial capacity is still well below 50%, despite the dreamt-up figures quoted by the Minister of Finance. Investment is still giving Zimbabwe a wide berth. Schools that are now largely functional remain at the mercy of demotivated teachers, lack of basic services and educational tools in those schools.

The list of woes is endless indeed.

But why?

The problem lies in a crucial ingredient to the success of any modern economy: business and consumer confidence. In Zimbabwe, the existence of the Inclusive Government itself is the cause. It is impossible to instill confidence in the future when Deputy Minister designates are being arrested and denied the freedom of movement.

Foreign investors, like their governments, like the IMF and the World Bank, look at the scenes unfolding in Harare everyday and see an insincere partnership, one part of which is arresting Members of parliament from the other party, jailing them and triggering by-elections.

It is clear ZANU PF refuses to accept the reality that it is no longer wanted by the people of Zimbabwe. Mugabe plots still.

On several occasions, he has declared that he is willing to let the Inclusive Government die for one reason or the other.

We are not certain what this country may wake up to the next day. Business does not like this at all. Especially when ZANU PF has a very recent history of violating property rights, invading companies and mines.

As I have pointed out before, they say private capital is a coward. It will not put up with that sort of nonsense and looks elsewhere for opportunities. Zimbabwe is left high and dry as a result.

It would help, of course, if Prime Minister Tsvangirai had managed to show the world that he was gaining the upper hand over Mugabe and ZANU PF.

If this had happened, business and investors would feel that there was at least an element of inevitability about the process. Right now, they see an utterly subjugated Morgan Tsvangirai and can not be certain that Mugabe is going to make U-turn within months.

It is these two factors, then , that ensure that Zimbabwe never gets the investment it needs.

Investment is the only solution that has a chance of transforming Zimbabwe into a first-class country. Aid and other handouts tend to fund only consumption, be it by the public or the government. After all, even now, what Zimbabwe gets is only the barest minimum needed to keep body and soul together.

But investment and especially Foreign Direct Investment, shies away from Zimbabwe because there is no reason for them to believe that the Highway Robbers of yesteryear are still not lurking in the bushes, ready to pounce the moment they see any valuable bounty.

It is for this reason that I say Morgan Tsvangirai has failed the biggest test of his Premiership. Instead of sending the right signals about the triumph of democratic ideals, he is instead seen to be endorsing tyranny.

Because of that, the world has lost interest. And it is the fault of these two men: Robert "The Solution" Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.

25 July 2009: Mugabe Threatens To Boycott Healing Process If Makoni Invited

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe looks sideways at Tsvangirai to see reaction to the joke he had just cracked yesterday at the launch of the so-called "Healing" process at a 5 star hotel in Harare. Mugabe and Tsvangirai gave two widely differing speeches, with Mugabe, who threatened to boycott the event if Dr Makoni was invited, insisting that the process started at Independence and that what he wanted was unity and not really healing or reconciliation or truth

The Solution and his sidekick, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, launched a weekend of "National Healing" yesterday in Harare at their favourite 5 star hotel in Harare.

At the beginning of the occasion, to which Mavambo and Simba Makoni had originally been invited, Mugabe cracked a joke that had Tsvangirai rolling with laughter. As Mugabe cracked the joke, he looked sideways at Tsvangirai to gauge reaction.

He was mighty pleased to see his prime minister responding as he should, rolling with laughter.

Mugabe, who had just arrived and been handed a folder containing his statement, said as the two leaders stood at the podium:

"Ini ndatarisa mikova yese, ndava kutoziva pekutiza napo vakange voita zvekuConstitution." Which means: "I have scanned all the exits and I know which way to bolt if they repeat what they did at the Constitutional Conference."

It also emerged yesterday that Robert "The Solution" Mugabe had threatened not to attend the event yesterday if the invitation that had been sent to Simba Makoni was not withdrawn.

The invitation to Mavambo had been sent to Makoni by the Prime Minister's Office. Mugabe got wind of it on Thursday and made it clear that if the MKD leader attended, he would withdraw.

I understand Mugabe also explained that the presence of "riff-raff" (referring to smaller parties and civil society) was the reason he boycotted the opening of the Constitutional Conference in Harare last week. Mugabe was due to give a keynote speech at the Conference, which was temporarily suspended after it was disrupted by his favourite nephew (his sister's son, Patrick Zhuwao) and others.

The healing event itself yesterday, of course, was a mockery of the continued harassment of MDC MPs, officials and supporters.

Even as the leaders launched this thing, an MDC-T supporter from the Uzumba area was languishing in hospital, barely able to speak, having been beaten thoroughly in her village by ZANU PF supporters.

The ZANU PF supporters who did this are still abroad, walking freely in their area. No arrests, no reprisals, nothing.

Meantime, Roy Bennett, who is awaiting trial for plotting to "overthrow" The Solution (indispensable and irreplaceable, is what Tsvangirai also called Mugabe in an interview with the BBC last month), appled to go to South Africa on business, but was denied permission and the courts refused to give him his passport back.

To Mugabe, this is not about healing at all. What he wants is what he calls unity (think Dr Nkomo and ZAPU). He made this clear when he said the process he and Tsvangirai were launching yesterday started at Independence.

What he would like is for the MDC-T, MDC-M and all the other parties in Zimbabwe to buy into the ZANU PF way of running the country, to "unite" behind him because, as the founding president of Zimbabwe, he is above the law and above eveybody else.

By the way, it is still the case in Zimbabwe today that Mugabe IS the law. Our Constitution still says that Mugabe can "declare anything done legally to be illegal and anything done illegally to be legal."

There is no sincerity at all around this issue. Mugabe is not serious and Tsvangirai continues to indulge him.

Just so you know, as I finished typing the sentence above, electricity went in my area. Nothing has really changed, even as The Solution, The Prime Minister and their government spend more than US$20 million on travel and car hire, services continue to suffer like this.

For the last two weeks, one of the major companies in Zimbabwe, for instance, Datlabs, has had its operation severely disrupted, so much so that they stopped production. The reasons given were that they did not have electricity and had also run out of ingredients.

So much for "Change you can trust" - the platform upon which Tsvangirai campaigned in March 2008, a campaign during which he also said if you voted for Makoni, he would give your votes to Mugabe.

It turns out that it is he, Tsvangirai, who has now sold ALL the votes you gave him to Mugabe and is now the president's Chief Public Relations Officer.

The more things change.........

25 July 2009: Mutambara Fight Gets Messy

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, seen here with his wife, Mugabe and Tsvangirai at the burial of former Defence Forces Chief General Zvinavashe at the Heroes Acre, is in a bit of a pickle, with his own MPs, who rebelled and started campaigning against him, escalating their fight against him, refusing to attend disciplinary hearings, taking the matter to court and threatening a "political" fight. It's getting messy.

I broke the story about the rebellion in the MDC Mutambara on this blog in April of this year in an article entitled Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara about to be fired.

There was a flurry of activity after that article and even media outside Zimbabwe called me to see if they could speak to my source.

A little while later, all hell broke loose, rallies were held at which Mutambara was denounced by Job Sikhala, Bhebhe and others as a sell-out.

Mutambara reacted swiftly. The MPs were suspended from the MDC-M (by the way, the official title of the so-called MDC-M is just MDC, they won the fight to retain the name MDC and it was Tsvangirai who decided to give his party his own surname and stamp it as personal property).

The suspended MPs are refusing to vacate their seats in parliament. They walked out of a disciplinary hearing called by the MDC. They have gone ahead and acquired brand new vehicles through the parliamentarians' loan scheme.

When questioned by the media, their answer has been essentially only one:

"Hell no, we won't go!"

Apart from this, they have approached the High Court for relief. The MPs position is that the disciplinary hearing is "bogus" and that grassroots structures were not consulted as allegedly provided for in the MDC constitution.

There is an interesting subtext to all this.

You will recall that one of the MPs, Abednico Bhebhe, was originally given a cabinet post by Tsvangirai when the Prime Minister announced his line-up of Ministers for the GNU.

Mutambara protested and Bhebhe was withdrawn.

It is also said it was Bhebhe who led MDC MPs away from an agreed deal for Speaker of Parliament, where MDC MPs were urged to vote for the ZANU PF candidate and deny Lovemore Moyo the Speaker's Chair.

Mutambara thought all was going according to plan until a well-executed move within the walls of parliament itself, minutes before the vote, derailed his plans. There were allegatons of vote buying leveled against Tsvangirai's party, promises of favours and even money changing hands.

The appointment of Bhebhe by Tsvangirai at the time was a dead give-away, as it was reward for what Bhebhe had done for the MDC-T in parliament.

Bhebhe, especially, is outspoken in his defiance and says he and his suspended comrades will "fight them (the MDC-M) politically".

He is certain that should they lose the fight with their party, they will win any by-election called. It is almost certain that they would run as MDC-T candidates. Bhebhe believes the Tsvangirai party still has weight. Combine this with each MPs own personal popularity in their area, and Bhebhe believes it will all be a walk-over.

There is no denying that the whole thing is getting messy.

For Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara, this was an opportunity for him to assert his authority over his party. But it is turning out different.

If the rebels do win out in the end (and there is no saying for sure how this thing will go), then this would mortally wound the authority of the Deputy PM.

24 July 2009: Mavambo Starts Rolling Out Provincial Structures

Members of the MKD National Steering Committee sing the Zimbabwe National Anthem at the launch of the party at Stoddart Hall in Mbare on July 01 2009. Interim provincial structures are now being elected all over Zimbabwe, starting with Mashonaland West and Manicaland tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Saturday 25 July 2009, members of Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn will gather at Orange Grove Motel and at the Mavambo Provincial offices in Mutare to elect the Interim Provincial Executives for Mashonaland West Province and Manicaland Province respectively.

These are the first grassroots elections to be held by the new party, led by Dr Makoni as interim president and Mr Godfrey Chanetsa as interim chairman.

On Tuesday, Harare Province will also meet to elect a Provincial interim team.

It is expected that once this is done, the interim provincial structures will then roll out the rest of the process, overseeing the election of interim structures at ward, district and village levels across Zimbabwe.

By the end of August, all structures will be in place and what will be left will be the inauguration of the party for the election of a substantive national leadership team.

Meantime, the interim leadership of the party will be consulting with the provincial executives about sending delegates to the various national events taking place.

One of these is the Constitution-making process, to which, as I have said before, the party has been invited to send 50 delegates.

A decision on whether MKD will take part in what is widely acknowledged as an inadequate and flawed process will be taken by the National Steering Committee in the next few days.

The party has also been invited to take part in the National Healing process and this will also be discussed and a decision reached on whether MKD will take part in the process, despite its very serious shortcomings and a patent lack of sincerity and commitment to the process by ZANU PF especially.

As most readers will know, Dr Makoni and Mr Chanetsa were also at the Vision conference convened by the Inclusive Government, where a "vision for Zimbabwe" was being deliberated. Prime Minister Tsvangirai was also in attendance there, as was Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara, Vice-President Mujuru, businessman Nigel Chanakira (one of the speakers, together with Dr Makoni) and many others.

By the end of August, MKD will have taken shape all over Zimbabwe and then the real work begins as the new party takes on this moribund and ineffectual Inclusive Government, which is failing to end the people's suffering or give them hope for the future.

24 July 2009: MDC-T In Mass Retreat

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says he did not do it.

We are talking about the document quoted in the state mouthpiece, The Herald, yesterday, in which it was said he sought to usurp the powers of the president and cabinet, seeking to have ministers report to him, insisting that he should not have to report to Cabinet and so on.

The document drew a sharp rebuke from The Solution's office, with an unnamed official stating point blank that Tsvangirai is just a minister, albeit the most senior one, "But a minister all the same," says the source.

Now, reading today's story about Tsvangirai disowning the document, it is clear that the Prime Minister is blaming Tendai Biti.

The explanation given by Gorden Moyo, a Minister in the Prime Minister's office (Tsvangirai insisted on Ministers of State in his own office in an effort to try and feel on par with Mugabe, whose office houses several minister's of state) is very telling indeed.

And it is the explanation that reveals that Tsvangirai is blaming his Finance Minister and MDC-T Secretary-General:

Apparently, the document is very real, according to the PM's office. BUT, he says the document is simply a collection of submissions to the Council of Ministers (chaired by Tsvangirai) by three ministers who were the negotiators of the GPA signed on Septemer 15.

The three are Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube and Patrick Chinamasa.

So, consider this:

Of these three, who is likely to have forwarded submissions for the strengthening of Tsvangirai's office and bolstering of his powers? Who could possible submit that Tsvangirai should not have to report to Cabinet amongst these three gentlemen?

Who could possibly think it a good idea to have Ministers report to Tsvangirai instead of Mugabe and have Tsvangirai in turn report to Mugabe and Mugabe alone (not cabinet, as explained above)?

Jacob Zuma's father-in-law Welshman Ncube? ZANU PF "hardliner" Patrick Chinamasa? Or MDC-Tsvangirai Secretary General Tendai Biti?

The answer is obvious and it is not entirely clear why the Prime Minister is issuing statements that implicate his own comrade.

Next up is Nelson Chamisa, who now says the ICT bill he is said to have submitted to government and which the Secretary to the President and Cabinet refused to handle was NOT written by him.

Curiously, he admits that he is the one who submitted it to the Cabinet office, but that it was only handed to him after he was sworn into office in February. It was, says the MDC-T spokesman, written before the inauguration of the Inclusive Government.

He just submitted it and did not write it, is the position.

Which is a curious position to take, because this does not get him off the hook.

We all recall that Chamisa informed the media amidst much fanfare on 14 June this year that he was "finalising" the drafting of an ICT Bill that he would submit to cabinet as part of the MDC-PF wishlist, aka 100-day plan.

Even the Herald, amongst many other papers (including online papers, the Independent media) reported on his announcement.

Now, all of a sudden, he did not draft any such bill?

I smell a rat.

And I smell a retreat.

From all indications, the MDC-T is retreating on all fronts!!!

One more thing though: Nelson Chamisa seems to done well in one area and credit should really be given to him because Internet connectivity in Zimbabwe in the last few days has improved dramatically!!

We still get daily blackout in the late afternoon, from just after 5:00 p.m., but the improvement in the quality of connections is dramatic indeed.

I just hope it lasts.

23 July 2009: ZANU PF To Contest By-Elections Against MDC-T and Others

Mugabe is determined to wipe out the MDC-T majority in parliament and regain supremacy again. The Global Political Agreement he signed with Tsvangirai allows him to contest the seats that are falling vacant now as MDC-T MPs (one seen above taking the oath of office) fall like flies in the face of various charges, ranging from kidnapping, rape and abusing Gideon Gono's farming inputs programme

ZANU PF is going to fight in upcoming by-elections against Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T and other parties like Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn despite the widely held belief that the parties have agreed not to run against each other.

This was pointed out to me this morning by the source who revealed the ZANU PF resolution to start campaigning in the constituencies that have fallen vacant due to the imprisonment of MDC MPs.

ZANU PF is able to do this because clause 21.1 of the Global Political Agreement signed on September 15 says, "The Parties hereby agree that for a period of 12 months from the date of signing of this agreement, should any electoral vacancy arise in respect of a local authority and parliamentary seat, for whatever reason, only the party holding that seat prior to the vacancy occurring shall be entitled to nominate and field a candidate to fill the vacancy...."

So, it is now confirmed that there will be no by-elections announced in Zimbabwe until September 15 2009, just over a month away. The GPA was signed on September 15 2008.

The MDC-T wasted some months of the life of this agreement while they refused to join government between the signing on September 15 and their eventual agreement to join on January 30 2009.

Through all those four months that the MDC-T wasted, the clock was ticking, counting down to the end of the agreed twelve months. f they had joined back then, it would have allowed them even more time to gauge the health of this relationship before by-elections were due to be held.

Mugabe is also apparently holding off on calling by-elections because he wants to see what the MDC-T does on 11 August this year. This is the date on which the whole Inclusive Government is supposed to go back to SADC for review.

Although Tsvangirai has told Mugabe that he will not have any grievances to put before SADC and that he means what he says when he states, as he has often done, that the "inclusive government is irreversible"", Mugabe says the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

He wants to wait until the review takes place and see whether the MDC-T remains in government or not and then he will move to call the by-elections, which, knowing Mugabe, will revert back to type and turn out to be intimidatory affairs.

It is important to note that so far, the MDC-T is the one that is losing seats in parliament and all the by-elections will be held to fill only MDC-T and MDC-M seats (MDC-M has suspended some MPs and will soon notify the speaker that they are vacant.)

There us nothing anyone can do about any of this because the agreement that Tsvangirai signed leaves Mugabe's powers to call a by-election intact. So, in other words, by-elections can still only be called at a time of Mugabe's choosing.

So, although the MDC-T may be aware of the trap they are in, they are powerless to do anything at all about it all.

"Tsvangirai Just A Minister" - President's Office

Today, Morgan Tsvangirai's is accusedof trying to usurp the powers of the president and the cabinet. He is also publicly accused today of trying "smuggle into government things he failed to have factored into the GPA and is labelled "just a minister" by the Herald source, almost certainly a person in the President's office. Government sources are attributing the coments to George Charamba, who has been ordered by Mugabe to, publicly at least, pretend to show respect towards Tsvangirai.

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe's office has publicly labelled Prime Minister Tsvangirai "just a minister."

"He is the most senior minister, but a just minister all the same," says an "anonymous source" in the president's office on the front page of the State newspaper today.

The article accuses the Prime Minister of "trying to smuggle into government things they failed to have factored into the GPA"

Tsvangirai has apparently written a memo to The Solution seeking to have ministers report to him instead of to Mugabe, who is Head of State and Government, a position that makes Tsvangirai just another minister, despite the title he holds.

In a barely veiled threat to the continued existence of the GPA and this Inclusive Government, the source, almost certainly from the president's office, says, "It is fatal to raise issues that are outside the Constitution."

It is also instructive to note that, in the last month or so, the tone of the State Television news has changed noticeably and every time they report on Mugabe, they refer to him without fail as "Head of State and Government", a move designed to basically rub Tsvangirai's nose in it.

Tsvangirai shows today that these comments on ZTV have gotten to him, because in his memo to Mugabe, he says "it is wrong to refer to Mugabe as Head of State and Government" and that he should simply be called "President" or "His Excellency The President".

The move by Tsvangirai is a very clear acknowledgement by him that he holds no power, despite what some of his clueless apologists have been trying to tell us on the internet and in conversations.

Tsvangirai, by doing this, is telling the world that he now realises the mistake in signing the GPA and that he holds no executive power. In the same memo he sent to Mugabe, it is clear to anyone with even half a brain that he is acknowledging that, according to the laws and rules as they stand now, Cabinet ministers do not report to him.

Talk such as what we got from his Deputy, Thokozani Khupe, last month, about Mugabe and Tsvangirai being "on par" with each other is now exposed by none other than Tsvangirai himself, as false as delusional as he seeks to at least get some semblance of executive authority.

It is true, as I have always said and as other commentators have pointed out, that the MDC-T now realises it made huge mistakes in signing a GPA whose implications they gave little thought to and seemed not to understand. By the time American ambassador McGee pointed it out to Tsvangirai, the deal had already been signed and SADC was insisting that the signatories should honour their signatures or lose all credibility.

They are now trying to correct this, while singing the praises of Mugabe, a position that basically makes their efforts redundant.

The MDC-T has now also acknowledged through its actions that the issue about SADC being a guarantor of the Inclusive Government is a meaningless one, just like Chamisa is alleged to be in yesterday's Herald.

SADC has no intention of stepping into the fray in Zimbabwe. The MDC-T is on its own, cut loose to deal with Mugabe and ZANU PF.

They have written to SADC about the "outstanding issues" but the communication has been ignored, with the Chairman of the Organ on Defence and Politics, King Mswati of Swaziland, coming to Zimbabwe to sing the praises of one of those outstanding issues, Gideon Gono.

23 July 2009: "Mugabe Should Not Be In Government At All" - Simba Makoni

Dr Simba Makoni has just finished an interview with SAFM, the Talk Radio station of South Africa.

During the interview, Dr Makoni told listeners, "The people of Zimbabwe did not elect Robert Mugabe on March 29 2008 and it would have been appropriate that he be not in government at all."

He said he was disappointed that the African Union endorsed Mugabe's presidency, saying they should instead have listened to what the people of Zimbabwe had said in March 2008 and not take into account the June "run-off" in which, "Mugabe beat his way back into the presidency."

While acknowledging that through mistakes made in negotiating with him, Mugabe is now part of government, the Mavambo leader said what was needed was for a truly democratic constitution to be put in place, "so that we can have free and fair elections that will produce a credible winner. I am certain that winner will not be Robert Mugabe."

Listeners also called in and asked Dr Makoni questions, one of which had to do with the return of Zimbabweans in the diaspora.

Dr Makoni told the caller: "When we normalise things and people enjoy their full freedoms, can express themselves without looking over their shoulders for a state security agent, then that will be time for people to come home. That time has not come yet."

He also demanded that a stop be put to all disruptions on "not just farms, but also mines (which have been invaded recently) and other sectors of the economy" that are disrupted in various way including inconsistent and unclear policies, some of which, surprisingly, are coming from this new Inclusive Government.

On ZAPU, the former Finance Minister said he welcomed the formation of the party, that "it is led by a man I respect very much, Dumiso Dabengwa and I am sure that there will be opportunities for us to work together in the future."

In reference to the national healing process that he campaigned on in the March 2008 Harmonised Elections, he said he still believes that this process is necessary but that it should be a process based on "full disclosure. It is appropriate that wrongs be restituted."

Dr Makoni also stated his vision for Zimbabwe during the interview, saying this country has to become "a 21st Century state and nation, a leading light in the region and on the continent."

The interview comes on the back of a meeting of the M.K.D. National Steering Committee, held on Monday 20 July 2009 at which the process of rolling out grassroots structures was launched.

By the end of August, there will be substantive leadership teams all over the country "right down to the village level".

Once this is done, the inaugural conference of the party will be launched, at which the substantive national leadership of the party will be elected.

22 July 2009: Mugabe Cancels Roy Bennett Swearing-In

The euphoria that enveloped the MDC-T at their inauguration in parliament is now slowly dying away, as realisation will sink on Monday that their parliamentary majority has now been erased. With ZANU PF as the majority party in parliament once again, on Monday, Mugabe will drop a bombshell to Tsvangirai, it has been confirmed.

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, yesterday took the decision to cancel the "planned" swearing-in of Roy Bennett, MDC-T Treasurer-General as Deputy Minister of Agriculture. The swearing-in of Governors from the MDC-T has also been cancelled.

Last night, three different people were telephoned by two of the people who took part in the deliberations with Mugabe and the delay in me posting this scoop has been caused by our efforts here to establish the true position.

Having confirmed with all three who were told yesterday, it is now certain that Prime Minister Tsvangirai will be informed of this move on Monday, at the next weekly report-back meeting that he conducts with Mugabe.

Reasons? It is not a surprise really, because I told you of this strategy last year in November. Mugabe will, apparently, tell Tsvangirai on Monday that the basis upon which the distribution of posts in the Inclusive Government rested has now been washed away, with the MDC-T majority in parliament having been wiped out by the imprisonment of their MPs.

Of the five MDC MPs imprisoned, Shuah Mudiwa was given seven years in jail for raping a 12 year old girl and Mathias Mlambo of Chipinge East was sentenced to 10 months in prison for "obstructing the course of justice". With yesterday's conviction, the MDC-T now has 96 seats in parliament, against Mugabe's 99 (the other seat was vacated by the Speaker, MDC-T's Lovemore Moyo, when he was elected to preside over the Lower House).

More imprisonments are sure to follow.

Mugabe, as I told you in April this year, was continually irked that, as he put it to the Politburo, "Tsvangirai continues to use his majority in parliament to beat us over the head with."

As I have explained before, Mugabe was simply playing for time until the majority is eaten away, at which point, the very basis of the distribution of ministries, governors and all the rest fall away.

This has now happened, meaning that the appointment are back to being purely at Mugabe's prerogative.

This, we are told, will be conveyed to Tsvangirai on Monday.

I suppose everything now depends on Tsvangirai, it will be interesting to see how he moves himself and his party around this latest obstacle, will he choose confrontation (which now has no basis, even according to the GPA) or will he use his now customary bowing to Mugabe in order to get him to give the MDC-T what it wants, but out of his own good heart and not he has to.

If it is the later, then the MDC-T's junior partner role will be confirmed and they will essentially be at the mercy of The Solution.

Till Monday, then.

22 July 2009: Mugabe Declared "Supreme Leader"

"Oh my God!", Tsvangirai seems to be saying as he watches Mnangagwa being sworn in as Minister of Defence in February this year. Mnangagwa has just announced that Mugabe has been declared "Supreme Leader."

Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Midlands Province Executive of ZANU PF have declared Mugabe "Supreme Leader" of ZANU PF, the current ruling party. The story is carried by SW Radio (link to their site is my right hand sidebar).

There is an explanation for this.

This is Mnagagwa showing Mugabe loyalty. It is designed to tell Mugabe, "Look how loyal I am, I have no plans to unseat you and I recognise you as the ultimate and perpetual leader of ZANU PF. I will only take over when YOU want me to and I will be loyal to you even after you leave office."

It is part of succession politics within ZANU PF, then, but not as read by many.

It is also a message to Mugabe that Mnangagwa, should he take over, will not go after Mugabe as has happened in Zambia, where Chiluba's anointed successor turned on him and put him on trial.

As a "Supreme Leader", Mugabe will virtually have veto power over the new president. In other words, just like the Supreme Leaders of Iran, he will continue to hold power without holding popularly elected office.

He will continue to hold the fate of the new president and, hence, the country, in his hands. This is an attractive proposition for Mugabe, whom many say fears stepping down in case he should be tried for his misdeeds in office.

It would mean that he will be able to remove any president if he so wishes and moreso should that new president make moves to go after him or displease him in any way.

Mnangagwa realises what many in ZANU PF aware of: that you have to show TOTAL and absolute loyalty to Mugabe if you hope to have any chance of being the final choice when the time comes.

Although now virtually guaranteed the post, Mnagagwa is on a mission to entrench his front-runner status and this move is designed to do that. He is especially wary of the deal rumoured within ZANU PF to have been struck between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, a deal many say explains Tsvangirai's recent public support and respect for The Solution.

This resolution to declare Mugabe "Supreme Leader has only been passed by the one province, Mnangagwa's. It has no force or effect on government, especially, and not even within ZANU PF itself in terms of its administrative structure.

Finally, it shows the breathtaking arrogance within ZANU PF, which still believes that, come what may they will win the next election, by hook or by crook.

Especially by crook.

21 July 2009: Revealed: Mugabe Using Kariba Draft To Settle Succession

Zimbabwe police screen delegates to the Constitutional Conference as it resumed after disturbances by ZANU PF, which has said it is willing to let the Inclusive Government die over the issue of the Kariba Draft. It now emerges that, to Mugabe, the Draft is a crucial ingredient to his succession recipe.

It now emerges that Robert Mugabe is using the Kariba Draft to settle the thorny succession issue within ZANU PF.

Not many people have bothered to read through the Kariba Draft or to find out why it is objectionable and undemocratic. I have explained here before that Mugabe favours it because of the widespread and dictatorial powers granted to the president under this Draft.

But this is not the main reason, an extremely high-placed source within ZANU PF has revealed.

One of the provision of the Kariba Draft is that the president will serve a maximum of two terms, after which he is compelled to step down and not contest.

Crucially, though, should the president die while in office or should he step down, then parliament can elect a new president, who will govern until the previous president's term of office expires. Currently, the new president will have to call new elections within a 90 days or three months.

This means that, should a president win the election this year and step down after six months, say, his successor, appointed by parliament, will then be constitutionally entitled to serve for the remaining 4 years and six months, almost a full term.

In this way, Zimbabweans can have a president foisted on them whom they would never vote for in an election. They will not have a chance to vote on his ascendancy until almost a full term is expired.

Mugabe, who has already settled on a successor (a story I broke here last year), intends to do exactly this. He will run again (of that there is no doubt whatsoever), and step down soon after "winning".

My source cautions: "There is no way Mugabe is going to resign without a ZANU PF majority in parliament."

Once he steps down, the legislative assembly will then basically anoint Mugabe's chosen successor.

As my source reveals, Mugabe told Politburo that "ZANU PF is going to rule this country kusvinga madhongi amera nyanga (until donkeys grow horns). We can not let the party that liberated this country die."

THE PLAN: is to make sure whoever Mugabe chooses to take over after him will have enough time to stamp his authority on all arms of government and cement his position, while preparing to win the next elections. He will be able to weed out people who he sees as "against" him in all areas of the new regime.

The Electoral Commission, the Judiciary, the media (state-owned, at least), the armed forces, the judiciary, state owned companies, in fact, all areas of Zimbabwean public life are expected to be overhauled to fall in line behind the new president, just as they do behind the current one.

Once he has cemented his position like this over the four or so years he is president, the new president will go to the next elections in an extremely strong position, having used patronage to position his own people in key areas.

It will be Mugabe all over again.

It is expected that such an election would then be walkover for the new president, even if he should fiddle the count and insert zeros where there will be none, in other words, rig.

This is the single most important reason why Mugabe says he is willing to let the Inclusive Government die if he does not get his and ZANU PF's way with the Kariba Draft.

His successor currently occupies prime Cabinet real estate, one of the most crucial ministries for any Head of State. Those in the know realise that this is basically a grooming exercise. As he runs that ministry, the successor is already working on one area of crucial importance, realigning things before his next assignment.

The process of succession is already under way, but as with everything Mugabe does, all is not what it seems!

So then, now you know, and I dare say you support the Kariba Draft at your own peril, you can not plead ignorance later!

USAID/UN Predict "Widespead Food Shortages" For Zimbabwe

Families in rural Masvingo, Zimbabwe ancient and famous city of the Great Zimbabwe, are seen here sweeping up maize (corn) spilled by trucks ferrying aid from South Africa in December. It's encore this year, apparently, with USAID and FAO predicting "widespread shortages" going into 2010.

The United Stated Aid Agency, USAID, warns of widespread food shortages in Zimbabwe this season in a just published.

The reports are corroborated by the United Nations, with FAO estimating a deficit in cereals for 2009/2010 of about 180 000 metric tonnes. Says the USAID situation report:

"Although food security in Zimbabwe has improved in 2009, relief agencies predict the need for a large-scale food assistance programme starting in August or September, when food stores from the April 2009 harvest will likely be exhausted."

Already, the reports are receiving short shrift from members of the Inclusive government, who accuse the NGO of trying to justify their existence and "expense accounts" by inflating figures.

If anything, FAO and the World Food Programme are known for underestimating the severity of these thing. For the 2008/2009 season, it turned out FAO had underestimated the number of people needing food aid by almost 2 million!

Of course, we have to take into account the fact that, especially in the rural areas, which are usually the hardest hit, identification of people needing aid is done mostly through ZANU PF structures.

Even where the chief is of the area is active in the selection, ZANU PF rears its head. I saw this for myself last year in Murehwa, where locals knew that if they were identified as anti-ZANU PF, the chief would be told to leave them out of the list of names submitted to aid agencies.

Most times, local officials will claim a "tithe" from those they recommend.which tithe they then sell in urban areas.

This time round, they will not be able to sell to urban dwellers, though, because, unlike last year, the shops are absolutely brimming with foodstuffs.

They will almost certainly end up selling the grain as feed for livestock to farmers who will also be hard hit by the shortage.

What sickening though, is that this is happening while the Inclusive Government of Mugabe and Tsvangirai spends US$11 million on foreign travel, US$5 million on car hire and US$8 million on top of that just for cars for the useless COMESA Summit, which has brought us no benefit whatsoever except the Chairmanship of Mugabe.

Priorities?

This government has them wrong.

You can read a more detailed report of the whole thing here

ZANU PF Plans To Burn Foreign-based Newspapers

Premature celebration? Mr Mbanga, whose paper has grown immensely in quality since it was criticised a few years back by The Sunday Times of South Africa for being an opposition equivalent of the notorious Herald (It was Andrew Donaldson at the SA paper who made the review), should give serious thought to how he protects his consignment of newspapers coming into Zimbabwe in light of the moves being made to deny foreign-based papers the freedom granted them by Biti's Mid-Term Fiscal Policy. Read on...

A day after Tendai Biti made it known in Cabinet that he would be scrapping duty completely on foreign owned and foreign-based newspapers, The Solution and his cronies hatched a plot to frustrate what they clearly see as a threat to their supremacy in terms of information dissemination and propaganda in Zimbabwe.

A "Task Force" has already been put in place, led by two of the people who nearly killed Nelson Chamisa at Harare International Airport a couple of years back. Chamisa was hit so hard over the head with an iron bar that at first doctors feared he would lose an eye or suffer brain damage.

(By the way, The Solution apparently commented after that incident, saying it appeared that one qualification to be a member of the opposition is to have a "hard head" ("musoro wakaoma").

He pointed to Tsvangirai's beating by police during that abortive "prayer meeting" in Highfields, when Tendai Biti and others who witnessed the beating said, "It was not a beating, it was attempted murder." Tsvangirai was also savagely beaten over the head by policemen who have never been charged.

Mugabe publicly commented on the story, saying, "I told the SADC leaders that, yes, he was thoroughly beaten up. Don't mess with the police. When the police move, you move!"

But I digress, as I am wont to do.

"Whether they come by air or by road, those newspapers will make such a massive loss in Zimbabwe that their owners will realise it is not worth it. It will be The Zimbabwean, Act Two," was a comment allegedly made by one of the two gang-leaders.

I have both their names.

You will recall that a consignment of The Zimbabwean, a paper run by Wilf Mbanga, was burned and destroyed at Beitbridge border post. The comment by this "Task Force leader" betrays the fact that the intention is the same, burn, tear up, drown and in whatever way destroy the papers as they come in to Zimbabwe.

Naturally, The Solution will plead ignorance. He may even agree to another press conference at which he will condemn the move and state that he "will not tolerate any more nonsense."

Mugabe, as you all know, fought to retain the Ministry of Information and Publicity in this Inclusive Misgovernment. And he did so for a reason. He and his cohorts are apparently incensed that Tendai Biti dared to introduce media reform through the back door, by scrapping duty on foreign-based newspapers sold in Zimbabwe.

Because he has control of this ministry, Mugabe, aka The Solution, has been able to play politics with it under the guise of "rule of law". He has refused to disband the Media Commission of Tafataona Mahoso, instead saying the new body he and Tsvangirai agreed on in the GPA is, in fact, Mahoso's old Commission at law.

Foreign-based Zimbabwean radio stations, newspapers and the like, see this and are rightly afraid of what would befall them if they accepted Tsvangirai's call to come back home.

Naturally, the normal, reading public is happy about this from Biti. It is now years since I myself managed to get hold of a copy of my favourite magazine, The Economist which, the last time I came across it, was selling at Kensington Shopping Centre for a cool Z$12 million! Inflation (hyper) played a part, but duty was also a big player in that price.

The last thing Mugabe wants is an avalanche of hostile papers like The Zimbabwean. It is surprising really, because we thought only Nazis and Fascists burn books and the like, not intellectuals with ELEVEN degrees, and who speak fifteen languages,like "The Solution".

The unfortunate thing is that these people will probably get away with it, Mugabe professing ignorance, Tsvangirai not wanting to push home the point and so on....

The publishers had better start making plans to safeguard their papers now, is all I can say.

Tsvangirai Shows Teeth

Is that a "Hardliner" right there standing squarely behind "The Solution" so that there is no mistaking who he is saluting? Still, kudos to Tsvangirai and Mutambara for putting the old man in the spot at State House during that emergency meeting after the fracas at the Constitutional Conference!

On the day the Constitutional Conference was disrupted, I broke the story on this blog that Mugabe and Tsvangirai were meeting at State House over the matter.

They subsequently emerged at the end of that very same day with Deputy PM Mutambara in tow to announce that they would not tolerate any nonsense.

In my scoop on their meeting at State House, I told you that the president basically defended the people who made the disruption and said the MDC-T was railroading other parties by refusing to listen to their concerns (and they can do that because they control parliament and the Speaker's Chair, although not for long, if Mugabe's current strategy bears fruit, as I have also explained in previous stories.

Mugabe, while saying he did not condone the sort of violent clashes that took place(only an MDC-T activist was arrested and is still in jail, although the attacker of an MDC-T official, who was left bleeding from the head, was never established and no arrests have been made), said he "understood the frustration of other parties at the way they were being ignored".

Meaning ZANU PF, of course.

Tsvangirai and Mutambara, in a show of their own teeth, apparently demanded that if the president did not condone the disturbance, then he should emerge with them and present a united front to the media, joining forces with the two of them as Principals to lay down the law.

I am told Mugabe responded by saying the move would be hasty, since the facts had not been established and he would be speaking out of turn.

Mutambara turned the screws, saying there was no need to point fingers, all the Principals had to do was speak out against the disturbance and make it clear to the nation that they do not condone it.

This explains why both Mugabe and Tsvangirai stated that it was "not clear what the exact circumstances were". Even though Mugabe's people in ZANU PF had been caught on camera starting the disturbance, he insisted it was "too early to start blaming anyone until the "full facts came out".

Tsvangirai and Mutambara's pressure paid off. And how!

We must understand what an achievement this was. We really have to: Mugabe does not do press conferences, full stop. Not here n Zimbabwe and not when he is travelling outside the country.

He does interviews, locally with handpicked State media personnel and overseas with carefully vetted, widely syndicated organisations.

This was the first press conference on Zimbabwean soil by Mugabe in ages. September 15, when he signed the deal with Tsvangirai, does not count, because he had to be there, it had to be a public event and the spirit he pretended to be be approaching the GPA with did not allow for banning the media.

Other than that, tell me a single press conference called by Mugabe in the last ten years.

More interestingly, though, is this: why is it that, at all times, it is myriad "hardliners" doing these nefarious things without (supposedly)Mugabe's knowledge and approval?

First, it was the Service Chiefs, whose open contempt for Tsvangirai Mugabe says he knows nothing about and can do nothing about.

Second, it is high-placed ZANU PF officials who, even as recently as last week, continue to invade fully productive farms, harvesting mangoes, oranges, beef, maize (corn) and other crops that they never bought seed or fertiliser or chemicals for. These crops planted, nurtured and tended by workers they did not pay.

Now, it is Saviour Kasukuwere, Patrick Zhuwao (Mugabe's favourite nephew by far, who literally grew up at State House) allegedly disrupting a Constitutional Conference without Mugabe's blessing and there is nothing the most powerful president in Africa can do except to say it is not clear what happened?

Am I the only one who smells a rat here? Am I the only one who wonders why the Prime Minister continues to play this charade with the dictator? Am I the only one who continues to wonder what it is that the Prime Minister is being promised for acting like a doormat?

Am I? Or Not?

Here's Exactly How Mugabe Is Thwarting Tsvangirai's Land Audit

April 17 2009: Brian Bronkhoust, a farmer in President Mugabe's home province town of Chegutu, looks at his cattle on his farm, which had just been invaded by ZANU PF thugs. That this was happening just over two months after Tsvangirai took office as Prime Minister shows just how little things have changed. Now it emerges Mugabe and Co are busy "transferring" multiple farms into the hands of relatives and proxies, "cooperatives" and "companies", just so they thwart the Land Audit demanded by Tsvangirai and "agreed to" by Mugabe.

It has now been revealed by impeccable sources that Robert "The Solution" Mugabe is dragging his feet on the issue the Land Audit demanded by Tsvangirai in order to buy time and allow his cronies space to devise ways in which they can hang on to their multiple farms.

"The Solution" himself is leading the way, apparently, in showing how it is done.

The game plan: Make noise (as ZANU PF has been doing) about the land audit being a back-burner issue, not a priority, while at the same time systematically changing the names on offer letters, title deeds and so on.

The Solution has a farm in one of the Mashonaland Provinces, which farm used to called Limerick Farm. In the last two weeks or so, he has had the ownership of the farm changed and it now belongs to something called "The Zimbabwe Women's Cooperative"!

You will also recall that the Inclusive Government has now started giving title deeds to the New Farmers who were allocated land acquired from the previous white owners. No doubt the solution (through proxy names) as well as his well-connected cronies, will be the first in line to get those title deeds.

The idea is that, by the time Zimbabwe Land Audit is done (ZANU PF realise it will have to be done eventually, after they have finished moving the pepper pots around (with apologies to Salman Rushdie), there will be loads of different people with title deeds who, even if they were identified as "bogus farmers", will still cling to their farms.

The solution and his clique have the strategy of using the "rule of law and respect for property rights" argument to stop anyone taking a farm from an individual who would even be identified as a bogus farmer later on.

It is the rule of plunderers, you see, where, once they have plundered, like Julius Ceaser's armies used to do, they go back to camp and declare that the proceeds have to be treated according to the civilised of the land.

They may have plundered, but let someone try to take one farm away from one of their own and you will see! They will cry double standards, they will say "we were berated for not respecting title deeds and property rights, but now that we have turned a new leaf and are willing to respect the property rights of New Farmers with title deeds, we also get burned?!"

There will be accusations of double standards, of rule of law and property rights being good enough only for white people and not New Black Farmers.

I am, as ever, taking bets

New Fresh Look, More Stories, More Scoops

I hope you like the new look. I basically worked non-stop through the night to change from the old blogger template, which has served me quite well, taking me to Page Rank 5, Number 1 in Zimbabwe on Afrigator and also in the mid-fifties in all of Africa out of 10 445 blogs!

Some amongst us have been complaining that they missed some stories and articles because of the previous format, which displayed my famously long posts on the home page. This template is specially for you, then. At a glance, you can scan my posts and articles (yes, there is a difference!) from the last 4 days or so without having to scroll down much.

It is not perfect yet and I am still refining the layout, adding, subtracting and especially fine tuning how the full post looks when you click on the title to read it. I will be adding a Read More button at the end of the summaries you see on the front page, and an anchor to take you back to the that same front page from the full post.

I am beat right now, so that will have to wait till another less hectic day.

Comments are still playing up, and it pays to have some patience, which is why I am amazed when anyone actually manages to get through. These days, most of the conversations and arguments arising from my posts are taking place on my Facebook page, which is why I have also included a link at the top of the page in case you want in.

So, that said, perhaps I should just bugger off now and leave you to enjoy your Sunday in peace, although I will be posting another bombshell later on day, a scoop (yet again! and no, I am still not tired of scooping everyone!) that I got on Friday regarding The Solution and his people and their ill-gotten farms.

Till then, enjoy the new look and I will see you on the other side of the week.

We Will Intensify Begging - Zimbabwe Finance Minister

From this, when banks held the power of life and death over sick people, we now have a situation where banks in Zimbabwe are like Ghost Towns...not a soul stirring, keeping their savings (US Dollars mostly) in their homes and business safes.

Tendai Biti told parliament today in his Mid-Term Policy Review Statement that the government has no strategy for reducing its external debts and that the strategy going forward will be the "intensification" of begging.

Blackmail is going to be involved apparently, with the convening of a "Friends of Zimbabwe" Conference to beg for more money to pay salaries for the inclusive government.

In terms of expenditure, fully sixty percent went towards the payment of allowances to civil servants. Zimbabwe has a civil service of 230 000, which is absolutely mad, especially since it is possible to run this country with less than 75 000 civil servants.

Instead of shrinking this abomination, the Inclusive Government is actually expanding the civil service as more room is made at the feeding trough for new MDC "civil servants". Six months into the year and five months after the government started work, feet are still being dragged over the "rationalisation" of the civil service.

There are no measures introduced today that will lead to the recovery of the economy. None at all.

It was all a juggling act to try and increase the feed in the trough, on which this inclusive government is gorging itself.

And gorging themselves they are.

Biti revealed that US$11 million was spent by government on foreign travel. Even Biti himself says most of this travel has nothing whatsoever to do with economic growth, which should be the priority.

Keep in mind that this US$11 million was being spent even as government told the Grain Marketing Board that they would not get the US$10 million they need to buy grain from farmers.

Harare Hospital, which requires only US$3.6 million to be become full functional and efficient, was there is no money for any of that nonsense and given only US$1 million.

Yet Mugabe and Tsvangirai spent US$11 million on foreign travel for their ministers and officials.

The same Inclusive Misgovernment spent more than US$5 million hiring cars from their own company, CMED.

It is a reflection on both Mugabe and Tsvangirai that our economy remains moribund, unemployment high and everything up in the air as it is now.

First, as Finance Minister Biti bemoaned today in his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review, savings in Zimbabwe are non-existent. This has had a ripple effect with viable businesses unable to borrow to expand or establish themselves. The banks simply to do not have the money.

The lack of savings continues now still. Even as the Inclusive Misgovernment crows about its "achievements", the country is lying bleeding in the dirt.

Here's our problem:

The hyperinflation of the previous decade have instilled in Zimbabweans the opposite of a savings culture. Under hyperinflation, you spent your money the day you got it because it would be worthless the next day.

But now we have a stable currency, so why still experience the same?

It boils down to this: the people of this country do not trust this Inclusive Thing one bit. They wish it would succeed, yes, but they are not hopeful.

Now, if there had been an indication that Tsvangirai is at least winning or getting the upper hand over Mugabe, then perhaps they would be more inclined to trust the government of Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

But all they see is Tsvangirai defeated at every turn, outwitted everyday.

They know just what sort of idiocy Mugabe is capable of. And they are not about to make their hard-earned money a sitting duck in Mugabe and Tsvangirai's banks, despite the Finance Minister's assurances yesterday.

There is, by most accounts, nearly a billion US dollars circulating in Zimbabwe OUTSIDE the banking system. It will be a cold day in hell before either Tsvangirai or Mugabe see this money.

This government has no ideas, as the Finance Minister himself said, apart from intensifying their begging. Perhaps, just perhaps, someone will feel sorry for them soon.

Proved Right Yet Again As Government Bans Zimbabwe Dollar

BEST OF FRIENDS: So much so that in today's Fiscal Policy Review, the Minister simply restated and activated tired Mugabe and ZANU PF policies

The following stories I have previously published have today been confirmed by Tendai Biti, MDC Secretary General and Minister of Finance.

All Zimbabwe Dollar Accounts To Be Dollarised, which I published here on 23 January 2009
Zimbabwe Approaches South Africa to Officially Use The Rand, which I published here on 01 January 2009.

With regards to the dollarisation of the Zimbabwe dollar accounts, Mugabe's strategy as I told you in the article about dollarisation of the bank accounts has been followed pretty much to the letter.

Biti said in his statement today that about "US$6 million will be required to purchase the entire stock of Zimbabwe dollar balances with banks as well as cash outside the banking system."

This indicates that Gono's approach of vindictiveness, in which he sought, as I explained, to lock up huge sums of money made "shady" characters and then pay a pittance in US dollars later, has now been approved by Tenda Biti and this Inclusive Government.

Somehow, with an eye to populism (Biti mentioned "special" treatment for those with smaller amounts in bank accounts), we may even see a sort of "dual" exchange rate being effected, where the common man gets a higher rate and those with quintillions in their accounts a much, much lower one.

Quite a few companies and some individuals who were big shots before are going to see their wealth disappear overnight. Already, this has led to a collapse in the prices of vehicles, for instance, with housing to follow by year-end, as a desperate public sells off assets to a shrinking economic base.

On the approach to South Africa to use the Rand, Tendai Biti gave the game away with this one statement that Zimbabwe, once stability in the economy is achieved and strengthened, "will also consider a number of (currency) regime options, guided by the SADC objective of achieving a unitary currency by 2018.

What he did not tell you, which I told you in January, is that all he is doing is fulfilling the conditions set by the South Africans, including, namely, as I said then, "the South Africans would like to see a stabilisation period of between six months to a year in which Zimbabwe suspends the use of its own currency altogether".

Biti did just that today, announcing the official demonetisation of the Zimbabwe dollar, meaning that as of right now, THE ZIMBABWE DOLLAR HAS BEEN BANNED. It is no longer legal tender within our borders or anywhere else for that matter.

So, the "suspension" required by the South Africans starts today. Before today, the Zimbabwe dollar was still circulating, being used mostly as change in buses and by vegetable sellers and so on. You could pay fares and buy things with it, still, although its use was extremely restricted. But now, it is no more. So start counting the six months to a year from this month.

The other concern from SA was government finances, since they did not want to have to advance Rands to the Zimbabwe government, which routinely overspends and runs to the monetary authorities to get more money.

This is why Biti is sticking to a "Cash Budget". Ideally, he would want to have a balanced budget by the end of the year, although this is unlikley, seeing as his Ministry is extremely weak and was, in the last five months, bulldozed by Ministries into paying for unbudgeted expenditure.

All he is doing is demonstrating that this government can live within set budgets and within its means. This is not going well at all.....

Biti only stayed within Budget because he cut funds to other essential services, so you have Harare Hospital getting less than US$500 000 of the US$3.5 million it requires, while unbudgeted foreign travel for Ministers, President and so on was fully paid for at US$11 million!! (I will be doing a greater analysis of this joke of a Mid-Term policy tomorrow).

The sticking point, one from which Mugabe is still recoiling, is the official removal of the monetary responsibilities of the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank. In other words, taking monetary policy for Zimbabwe out of RBZ hands and handing it to the South Africans.

Slowly, but surely, it is being proved that the Inclusive Government is nothing more than the continuation of ZANU PF rule under a regime in which the MDCs have simply been coopted.

There is no other explanation for the pursuit of policies that were crafted and set by Gono and Mugabe in Helensvale, long before Tsvangirai and Co jumped onto the Gravy Train.

Proof That Zimbabwean Men Are Cowards?

So, here's this little interesting story in The Herald today.

Some joker, a serial rapist, apparently, raped three young women while out on bail for another spate of rapes in Glen View, a high-density township of Harare.

But what tickles the fancy and provokes the question in the header is this:

The boyfriend or husband of the victim was with her when the rapist attacked. And in each of the three incidents, the husband or boyfriend RAN AWAY or "escaped", as the papers put it.

All three times.

So, no chivalrous grappling with the rapist (who, admittedly wielded an axe) while shouting to your hon' to run away and call the police? Instead, turn tail and leave the woman to her devices?

If it had happened once, as Oscar Wilde would put it, that would have been unfortunate.

But three times? You see a pattern here?

60% Tax On Fuel!

The Manica Post is published in the mountainous Eastern Province of Zimbabwe by the government. Itt is one of the major papers in Zimbabwe

This is just disgusting.

Tendai Biti, the MDC-T minister of finance in this Zimbabwean Inclusive Impediment to People's Hopes, charges 60% tax on all imports of fuels and motor oils into the country.

As you know from my previous articles on this blog, fuel costs have risen so much in Zimbabwe over the last couple of months that they are having an impact on inflation, as prices of goods and services rise in order to chase transportation costs.

What this means is that 60% of what a Zimbabwean pays at the pump when they fill up their car goes directly to Tendai Biti, since fuel companies simply adjust their prices so that the buyer pays that tax cost in the end.

While this is going on, you have the same MDC-T, through its Minister of Energy, telling the fuel companies what to charge (fixing prices, a la ZANU PF) and threatening them with all manner of things if they fail to comply.

In the final analysis, then, the MDC in government is directly responsible for the rise in inflation in Zimbabwe. They are responsible for the rise in the price of food (up 15% last month, bound to be much more this month).

The money they get from this is quickly gobbled up by salaries for their bloated and good-for-nothing government.

To quote Oliver Cromwell in his address to parliament:

It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.
Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you?
Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter’d your conscience for bribes?
Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?
Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil’d this sacred place, and turn’d the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d, are yourselves gone!
So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go!

Mugabe Hides Presidential Cabinet Seat From MDC

The seat that Mugabe uses for cabinet meetings is hidden away in his office by the Presidential guard ever since the MDCs got into government.

Apparently, the chair, which stays in his office at Munhumutapa building all week, is wheeled out a few minutes before the start of cabinet meetings every Tuesday.

Religiously, soon after the meeting ends, one of the president's guards moves into the Cabinet Room and takes out the chair.

Mugabe has some of the strictest security in the world around him. It is said that his bodyguards' training is carried out by Mossad of Israel.

Mugabe, who has survived several confirmed assassination attempts (I am not referring to the bogus and convenient accusations against people like the late Ndabaningi Sithole and Morgan Tsvangirai) ordered the change when the MDC came into government because he apparently does not trust that will not try to do something to his seat if it stayed in the cabinet room all week.

And it is not just assassinations the president is afraid of. He is also known to be very superstitious and fears that some sort of juju could also be put on the seat to do him in.

It appears that the new-found faith and trust that PM Tsvangirai has for Mugabe is not reciprocated, after all. But the PM says "His Excellency" is very sincere and eager to work with the MDC, claiming that there is nothing Mugabe does without Tsvangirai's approval.

Zimbabwe Internet Collapse Continues

This is the status of the Zimbabwe internet connection at the moment, 3:50p.m. on 15 July 2009.

Despite the Prime Minister and his Inclusive Government issuing a 100-day Wishlist in which Nelson Chamisa, who is now in charge of all things Internet in Zimbabwe, is tasked with rehabilitating the infrastructure of our data communications, things have not changed much.

Chamisa himself, who is also MDC-T spokesman, boasted at the time of the launch of the 100-day Wishlist launched Tsvangirai that we would see a 60% improvement.

What we are experiencing is in fact a 60% decline in quality.

ISPs who use satellite can still connect, but almost 90% of Zimbabwe relies on these Telone conenctions shown above.

Which means they are cut off as I write.

It changes every minute, literally, with the gateways going up for a few seconds, then down again...

Like I said before, It is scary to realise that this Inclusive Government really has no clue what it is doing.

I expect at the end of their fake 100 days they will lie through their teeth that things have improved and targets met (targets like "hiring a consultant", a 100-day task for one of Tsvangirai's ministries!)

Oh, and electricity has just gone as I type!!! This is the third time today alone.

And Tsvangirai says there is "positive change and improvement"!

Mugabe Seeks Obama Meeting As He Sabotages Constitutional Conference

Jacob Zuma earlier today at Sharm El Seikh in Egypt where the Non-Aligned Summit started. Mugabe, who is seated a few places away from Zuma (and out of shot), has asked the SA president, who is one of his supporters, as well as the Egyptian president to arrange a "low-key" meeting with Barack Obama who will also be attending the Summit. It is a testimony to the acceptability of Obama that he becomes the first American Head of State to be invited to the Non-Aligned Summit, traditionally very anti-American.

FIRST OF ALL, MY APOLOGIES: So many of you have written and complained that I update the blog too late every day. The complaints have really mounted, including the instance a couple of days ago when I was confronted with the "accusation" at an office I was visiting near State House (yes, I mean you guys!) I understand that, but in the last few days, with the launch of MKD and stuff, we have been swamped. I routinely do not get to bed until after 3a.m. these days. BUT I WILL MAKE A SPECIAL EFFORT. Still most of my articles remain a revelation, so they do not get get stale.....a couple of hours' delay....but I will try. Promise. Now to business...

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe left the country yesterday for Egypt, where he will be attending the Non-Aligned Summit.

Mugabe left without officially opening the Constitutional Conference, even though the parliamentary committee organising the Conference, as well as the State media, had announced that he would do so on Monday.

After the disturbances on Monday, the Constitutional Conference resumed yesterday in an atmosphere of farce.

One delegate, who, during her presentation and argument tried to cite the abuse of power by government as reason why we should have a strong constitution with checks and balances, was asked to shut up and sit down by the committee.

A member of the committee then told the gathering that they had all agreed that there would be "no personal attacks on anybody and no citing of examples to make a point."

Tsvangirai is also still to address the conference, although he was due to speak at the same time as Mugabe, on Monday. The two men claimed through the State media that they had not been invited.

In another sign that the conference is basically doomed, the State media has started ignoring the proceedings. Today's Herald carries nothing on the proceedings at all. Instead, it carries stories about why the land audit demanded by PM Tsvangirai should be stopped.

It also carries a letter clearly written from within ZANU PF arguing that the parliamentarians should be the ones to write a new constitution "as demanded by President Mugabe", saying it is cumbersome to have every Jack and Jill involved.

I explained why ZANU PF and Mugabe are taking this line in my article below.

The same ZANU PF letter says the disturbances on Monday (which they caused) show that trying to involve everyone is a non-starter.

******************************

Meantime, there was great excitement in the presidential entourage when it was discovered that Barack Obama will be attending the same Non-Aligned Movement Summit as Mugabe in Egypt this week.

I am reliably informed that the Zimbabweans have asked President Jacob Zuma and President Hosni Mubarak to see if they could arrange a short face-to-face meeting between Mugabe and Obama at the Summit. Mugabe says he wants to put his case directly to the American president, to ask for the lifting of sanctions and reopening of credit lines.

No doubt the two will be watched closely to see if they do indeed meet.

Obama has never spoken to Mugabe and his last communication with the Zimbabwean leader was a message sent through the then South African president, now Vice-president Mothlanthe.

Also, please note that Dr Simba Makoni is travelling overseas and will not be back until the end of the week.

Why Mugabe Wants Parliament To Drive Constitutional Process

Even as I write, the MDC-T technically holds no sway in parliament, despite having a speaker in the chair. Their majority, which Veritas warned a month ago was in jeopardy, is now under sustained attack with the complicity of the judiciary and law enforcement agents.

As always, MDC-T and Tsvangirai apologists are parroting the line of their discredited leader.

Having embraced the most evil dictator in contemporary African history, Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, the Prime Minister and his people are now backing Mugabe's wishes for a new Constitution to be made through parliament and only parliament.

"People-driven does not mean Madhuku-driven," they say.

Leave them be, for they will be crying in frustration tomorrow, having been outwitted together with their leader by one The Solution.

Already, the process as it stands now is guided by parliament. That is a fait accompli that "the people" and Robert Mugabe have decided on and the MDC-T and Morgan Tsvangirai have given in to.

But WHY does Mugabe want this process to be driven by parliament?

It is simple, really.

The MDC-T majority in parliament now is non-existent. Several MDC MPs have been arrested and sentenced to jail terms longer than the six months after which the law says they automatically lose their seats.

Mugabe, at whose pleasure any by-election must be held, has also still not moved on calling by-elections in seats that are definitively vacant, such as the Matabeleland seat held previously by the speaker of parliament, Lovemore Moyo.

What is he waiting for?

He is waiting for the other seats to also fall definitely vacant, that's the first thing.

Second, Mugabe is also playing for time, trying by all means to frustrate the MDC-T into leaving government. He rejoices every time the MDC-T party expresses what the Prime Minister called "frustration" over the outstanding issues.

So, as the MDC's majority in parliament shrinks before our very eyes, Mugabe is keeping his fingers crossed that it disappears completely.

Technically it already has.

This is also linked to the Roy Bennett and Governors case.

Should the convictions of the MDC-T MPs stand and they are sent to jail, Mugabe plans to turn around to Tsvangirai and say that the basis upon which the calculations for Governors and ministries had been made no longer applied now.

The parties based their Gravy Train seats on the number of parliamentary seats they had.

So, the swearing in of Bennett and the governors will be delayed while by-elections are called. If the MDC-T is still in government and the GPA must be observed, Mugabe plans, in the words of one of his advisers, "to do an Ian Smith".

Independents will be fielded in those constituencies and plied with loads of cash with which to buy votes. The Ian Smith thing refers to Mugabe's strategy of fielding "Independent" White candidates for the 20 seats reserved for white voters in the five years after Independence.

Mugabe hopes to win back a majority of these seats falling vacant now, thereby gaining supremacy once again over the MDCs in parliament.

Whereupon the very basis upon which most of the demands of the MDC-T are based will have fallen away.

Then the real fun begins and you will see and hear so much gnashing of teeth from the MDC-T crowd that you will have no option but to feel pity for them.

Of course, these warning will not be taken on board at all, and the defence of the Prime Minister's flawed dealings with Mugabe will continue unabated.

Tsvangirai Capitulates Again

Despite evidence that ZANU PF instigated the disruption of the Allskateholders Conference, yesterday, the PM says that it is "neither here nor there"

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, sly customer that he is, essentially backed his party's position on the disruption of the Constitutional Conference yesterday, while Prime Minister Tsvangirai distanced himself from that of his own party.

Take special note of the following comments at the press conference by Mugabe:

"We are Zimbabweans, with one National Anthem, one Flag and one destiny."

He was of course referring to the ZANU PF claim that the Speaker of Parliament came into hall waving an MDC salute, that the Speaker and the Clerk of Parliament refused to allow the National Anthem to be sung.

Mugabe said he would "brook no further nonsense" at the Conference.
The Prime Minister, who had been with Mugabe at an explosive meeting at the State House in Harare, said "pointing fingers is neither here nor there", even as his party issued a statement laying the blame squarely on ZANU PF shoulders.

Tsvangirai also told the press that he wanted to "associate myself with comments made by His Excellency". Which he duly did by dismissing the claims of his party and saying it was all neither here nor there.

Contrast this with Mugabe's statements and you see what really is beneath all this.

Tsvangirai is keen not to defend his party especially seeing as it is being accused of disrespecting the National Anthem, the flag and the neutrality of the Conference when it comes to political parties.

As I told you last night, Mugabe and Tsvangirai also claim that they had not been invited to the event and were only told that their presence was required after the proccedings had already started.

It is a rather disingenuous position to take and defend, but that is what the two men say.

Mugabe's idea of unity is that the MDCs and everybody else must unite behind the ZANU PF "vision". The Prime Minister, as we have ample evidence of now, appears to agree with this view, so as not to rock the boat.

Like it or not, the bottom line is that this is yet another example of the Prime Minister capitulating to Mugabe's agenda.

Mugabe did not once address the grievances of the people at the press conference, namely that the Kariba Draft; draconian, tailor-made for a dictatorial and overbearing government, should not be the sole basis upon which this process rests.

The Prime Minister is not pressing home this point.

He has become very good at double-speak, telling each audience what it wants to hear, like his comments two weeks ago that all drafts should be put on the table.

The NCA Draft is not on the table. The ZCTU Draft is not on the table. The input gathered by the Women's coalitions have been ignored.

The truth is that, as a visiting professor from the London School of Economics told Dr Simba Makoni at the end of June, the MDC-T wants the Kariba Draft because they would like to enjoy the same dictatorial powers that ZANU PF and Mugabe enjoy now when they eventually take over the country.

Although it is clear from the grassroots that the MDC-T, because of its leader, is unlikely to win the next election, the opposition party clings still to this hope.

Zimbabwe: Student Arrested For "Assaulting" Mugabe's Nephew at Constitutional Conference

A ZANU PF supporter is restrained by a policeman at the podium at Harare International Conference Centre, where the MDC-T had tried to resume the All Stakeholders Conference on the Constitution after earlier disruptions. The police had removed ZANU PF supporters while some MDC-T remained seated, including Tendai Biti, the Minister of Finance. The ZANU PF disruptors were brought back into the hall, however, and that is when they stormed the podium and it was clear that there would be no conference. Mugabe and Tsvangirai are now saying they had not been invited to the Conference.

A leader and delegate from ZINASU, the Zimbabwe National Students' Union has been arrested by police for allegedly assaulting Mugabe's nephew and former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Patrick Zhuwao.

Zhuwao, who happens to be Mugabe's favourite nephew, was not hurt in the attack, it appears. But the eight o'clock television news tonight in Zimbabwe reported the arrest and blamed the entire thing on the MDC.

Yet it is clear that ZANU PF people started shouting the moment Lovemore Moyo, the Speaker, stood up to speak.

On why Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara all failed to pitch up at the event, where Mugabe was supposed to deliver the opening address, and Tsvangirai a key-note speech, state Television says the leaders now claim that they had not been invited.

They were only invited today, was the line.

Yet, even on Saturday, the State newspaper, the Herald, led with the story of the Constitution conference and announced that it would be opened by Mugabe. Mugabe spoke about teh Conference on Friday at the burial of a national hero at Heroes Acre.

The two men, The Solution and Prime Minister Mini-me, were holed up at State House in a fired-up meeting as the conference started.

It also appears that Mugabe has now decided to make his dirty business a family affair. It is now said by insiders that Zhuwao and Kasukuwere were goaded into this action by Mugabe himself, plotting behind the high walls of the green-roofed villa the president now calls home in Helensvale.

Zhuwao led the people who disrupted the proceedings. He knew where he was coming from.

When riot police arrived, Zhuwao then pointed out the guy who had "assaulted" him and the student was led away. He is still in police custody and is probably going to be made an example of.

So, despite the fact that the disruptions were started by ZANU PF, it is MDC-T supporters who are getting arrested. The student arrested by the police was described on State television this evening as "a member of ZINASU and an MDC supporter."

ZTV also told the nation that MDC-T supporters came into the hall wearing party T-shirts in order to provoke ZANU PF.

It was further alleged that Lovemore Moyo, the speaker, when he arrived in the hall and waved to the gathered crowd, was in fact giving an MDC salute and that this is what led "war vets" and rural women bussed into the Conference venue by ZANU PF to shout at him and disrupt his speech.

"They felt he was being partisan", said the newsreader. (I am afraid I do not keep newsreaders name in my mind, so I do not know what her name is).

Of course, we all know it "Her Master's Voice" speaking.

Photos: Zimbabwe Constitutional Conference Abandoned As Riot Police Break Up Rowdy Crowd

Riot Police first seperated the two camps, ZANU PF and MDC-T and then herded them outside the Harare International Conference Centre where this was taking place

Once outside, the police circled the rowdy supporters (here we see the ZANU PF supporters circled to prevent further clashes with MDC-T supporters. The conference was shelved and no word yet on when it will resume, with Mugabe still demanding that the Kariba Draft be the only draft on the table.

Fireworks At State House As Riot Police Patrol The Streets

Lovemore Moyo, the MDC-T Speaker of Parliament, who was forced to abandon his Welcoming Address at the All Stakeholders Conference on a new Constitution in Harare today. Mugabe, at the burial of a former ZIPRA freedom fighter at Heroes Acre on Friday pleaded with Moyo in his speech, saying, "Please please Mr Speaker, let the process be Zimbabwean". Mugabe was in a heated meeting with Tsvangirai at State House at the time of writing this

Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are holed up at the State House in Harare, both of them refusing t come out to address the Constitutional Conference, which the organisers, especially the Members of Parliament from MDC-T, attempted to reopen about an hour ago.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai, whose traditional Monday meeting at which the PM reports to the President on government business today turned into a fireworks display, are still refusing to show up at the venue.

Riot police, who were called in to quell the disturbances between MDC-T and ZANU PF supporters during the disruption of the All Stakeholders Conference earlier today, are still roaming the streets. One of their vehicles was parked at Africa Unity Square, in front of parliament, only a few minutes ago.

Mugabe is insisting on two things in his meeting with Tsvangirai today.

First, he wants the process delayed so that there is clear agreement that the Kariba Draft is the one that will be adopted.

Second, he is insisting that the process must not be funded by western donor agencies and aid groups. He insists this will ensure that there are "no outside interests" involved in this.

During the same meeting, Mugabe told Tsvangirai that statements by Tendai Biti that the MDC-T and its allies will go ahead and write a constitution with or without those who do not want the process to go ahead if the Kariba Draft is ignored are not only against the GPA "spirit" but also "treason".

Mugabe's way forward is that the MDC-T, MDC-M and ZANU PF should agree on the Kariba Draft before the Conference resumes. He says the MDCs and his party have already signed the Draft and his party will not tolerate the MDCs "reneging" on their signatures.

The people, Mugabe insists, should only be given the chance to comment and vote on the Kariba Draft. Guided democracy, North Korea-style.

One comment that came out of the meeting at State House from Mugabe, which should a raise a laugh or two was this: "If you and your party (MDC-T) keep going back on your word like this, then I do not see how you can ever be trusted."

Tsvangirai, who wants to be trusted by Mugabe more than anything else at this point, will almost certainly give in by the time the meeting ends.

Mugabe insists that either his and his party's demands are met or they kill the Constitution-making process.

Something tells me Tsvangirai will bring his party around to Mugabe's point of view. And I am taking bets.

Constitutional Conference Abandoned Amidst Riotous Scenes

ZANU PF supporters shout, jeer, sing and dance during Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo's Welcoming Speech at the All Stakeholders Conference on the Constitution in Harare a couple of hours ago. The Conference was abandoned as MPs and delegates started walking out

The Inclusive Impediment to People's Hopes, led by Mugabe and Tsvangirai was today forced to abandon the All-Stakeholders Conference in Harare after disruptions by members and supporters of Robert "The Solution" Mugabe.

Lovemore Moyo, the Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the MDC-T, could not finish his opening remarks as Mugabe's people started insulting him and singing War Songs.

It got so bad that he had to go and sit back down.

Soon after, as the crowd continued to sing and the dance the kongonya dance (a buttock-waving dance peculiar to female ZANU PF supporters), the Speaker and members of the MDCs started walking out.

Mugabe was supposed to have attended, but I did not see him there at all. I think he knew what was happening, regardless.

This effectively kills the process, really.

Mugabe is still insisting, as he did to his Central Committee, that he wants the Kariba Draft as the basis of a new Constitution, with its dictatorial powers and provisions for jailing people who fail to pay their water and electricity bills (or confiscating their property).

Now, since the Prime Minister the President and his party are the solution to Zimbabwe's problems, it would be impossible for him to go ahead with the process without Mugabe and ZANU PF.

We could all see this coming, really. That is why the NCA and ZCTU, by far the two biggest civil society organisations in Zimbabwe, boycotted this joke. Tsvangirai was trying to convince them he will make Mugabe come around, he had faith that Mugabe would see reason and allow all drafts on the table.

There is, as we all know, a new-found faith in Mugabe by the Prime Minister (American Ambassador McGee recently recalled how Tsvangirai also assured him at the beginning of the GNU by saying, "This time Mugabe really is sincere.")

Of course, the fact that Mugabe is stringing the MDC-T along is self-evident, although shockingly denied by some of the most ignorant people I have ever encountered, who insist that Mugabe and Tsvangirai are "sharing power".

Today, Mugabe just revealed where exactly he stands in the quest for a New Zimbabwe.

The PM, as always, will make excuses for Mugabe, brush the whole thing off and take out his scrubbing brush to scrub Mugabe's image clean once again.

This Conference is doomed.

The next referendum will also see the Constitution that will eventually be cooked up by Mugabe and Tsvangirai defeated. The people want change, real change, not capitulation after capitulation.

"Bennett Will Go To Jail"

Roy Bennet leaving Mutare Prison on March 12 this year, a full month after his fellow ministers and Deputy Ministers from the Tsvangirai MDC had been sworn in by Mugabe. Sunday 12 July is four-month anniverary of that release, and he is still not sworn in. Mugabe makes promises, Tsvangirai and his apologists swallow them........

The idiotic lie that Roy Bennett will be sworn in at the same time as the MDC-T Governors, which is supposedly to happen next month, is still being regurgitated by Tsvangirai apologists, even as the MDC-T itself as a party acknowledges that it has been sold a dummy by Mugabe.

You will recall that in March this year, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara took up the issue with Mugabe because Tsvangirai was too scared to confront Mugabe on it. Mutambara was told by Mugabe that Bennett would not be sworn in because he has a serious case against him pending in the courts.

Mutambara pressed the point and asked The Solution what would happen if Bennett was acquitted. Mugabe responded, according to Mutambara, by saying, "He will not be acquitted."

Just yesterday, another of Mugabe's people in ZANU PF was telling me, "Don't be fooled by all this talk, Bennett will go to jail."

And Mugabe should know about that, seeing as he controls the judiciary in Zimbabwe, much as he controls everything else, a result of Tsvangirai's myopic signing of an agreement that guaranteed Mugabe all the constitutional rights of an Executive President under the current Constitution.

Roy Bennett' case has now been scheduled for October this year. He is charged with terrorism and arms-related offences.

The idea, as you can see, is to ensure that Bennett does not have any time in office.

It is most likely that if he is sworn in at all, it will be at the very end of August, after which he immediately starts attending court to defend himself.

And as Mugabe said, Bennett, by hook or by crook, will be found guilty and jailed. The sentence he will be be given will be a political sentence, meaning that the courts will ensure that he is sent away for the rest of the envisaged life of this discredited Government National DisUnity.

So he is unlikely to get less than 4 years in jail. Perhaps "with hard labour" will be thrown in gratuitously, as it was with the MDC-T MP from Manicaland earlier this year.

And once convicted, Mugabe will very plausibly argue that, since PM Tsvangirai said "innocent until proven guilty" - guilt would have been established and Bennett would not be eligible to be nominated for any post in government.

And that will be end of the story.

Mugabe, Chinamasa and the service chiefs are determined to ensure that Bennett does not sit in his office as DeputyMinister of Agriculture.

They will achieve their end. Tsvangirai will capitulate. On that you can bet your bottom dollar. If you lose it, I will refund you, with interest.

I really have no idea where the people who think he will be serve as Deputy Minister of Agriculture are getting their optimism. Mugabe's track record on Gono and Tomana should really inform them on this.

But the MDC-T and its apologists live in cloud cuckoo-land, where their wishes are horses.

Mugabe knows now that the MDC-T will not leave the Inclusive Impediment to The People's Hopes no matter what. What would be the consequences, then, if he refuses to honour this promise to Tsvangirai (remember, the promise was announced by Tsvangirai. Mugabe and ZANU PF have said nothing at all and at a later stage, then can easily turn around and ask, "When did you hear me promise to swear him in?")?

We only have Tsvangirai and the MDC-T's word for this.

As ever, I am taking bets.

Zimbabwe Army Reveals It's Hidden Hand

Morgan Tsvangirai speaks under the watchful eye of his boss, Robert "The Solution" Mugabe at the opening of the "Investment Conference" in Harare yesterday. A South African investor interviewed by ZTV yesterday said the conference was a joke because, if he invests in a factory in Zimbabwe, "I will need to drill a borehole because there is no water in the country. And then I have to buy a generator to give me power. Your government needs to address these issues first before asking investors to come in." The Inclusive government of the two men above is, however, too busy "eating" all revenue, paying for a bloated government etc to actually see that it has its priorities wrong.

On top of all this, you now have the army thumbing its nose at investor confidence as I explain in this article.

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces has now publicly come out to demonstrate that it listens to no one in the world and is essentially running the show in Zimbabwe.

Earlier today, the Defence Forces announced that they will not be withdrawing from the Marange Diamond fields, despite what the Kimberley Process Team that was in Zimbabwe this week says.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Munorwei (What do you fight?) Shava Matutu, who is in charge of the Manicaland province where Marange is located, said in a statement that soldiers will stay on at the Diamond Fields to "deal with" illegal miners and panners.

Of course, to those who have been reading this blog, it was clear from the outset that the army had no intention of moving out of the fields as promised by the Inclusive Government last Sunday. This is Mugabe and ZANU PF's private cash-cows, whose proceeds the Prime Minister and Finance Minister (both from the opposition) have neither knowledge of nor access to.

I have previously told you that we know for a fact of the existence of buckets of rough diamonds kept in the vaults at the Central Bank.

These diamonds, which are let out in tranches and sold through friendly countries as originating not from Zimbabwe, but from those friendly countries, are the ones that are keeping ZANU PF "in the money".

While the world thinks it is fixing Mugabe and his cronies by refusing to give aid to Zimbabwe, Mugabe and his people are sitting very pretty indeed. In fact, even as I write, one Colonel in the Defence Forces is in Malaysia with ALL his family, including a University student based in the United States who was flown to Malaysia for the month-long holiday.

Shiny and latest 4x4 vehicles are being purchased for the defence forces. The big cheese in the forces all live in sprawling mansions in Zimbabwe's leafiest and cushiest areas.

But what this statement from the Defence Forces reveals is that the defence forces not only defy Morgan Tsvangirai, the titular "Prime Minister" of Zimbabwe, but also the world at large. They know the power behind them is the supreme power in Zimbabwe: Mugabe, whose very word is law.

The hidden hand is this: The Army is NOT the power behind the throne. It IS the throne.

The Lion Holds A Conference for For Its Prey

Dr Evil and Mini-me: Robert "The Solution" Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai at the start of the Investment conference in Harare earlier today. It is a monumental waste of time and energy.

The predatory Inclusive Government duly tropped out of its offices today and gathered for an "Investment Conference" at a Harare hotel.

Don't laugh. They are dead serious about this.

Of course the attendees told them exactly where they could put their investment pleas.

The conference, though, is remarkable for the little-noticed fact that for the first time ever, Mugabe was exposed to the people he governs and they could put their questions directly to him.

Tervor Gifford of the Commercial Farmers Union wanted to know where the Inclusive Government stands on compensation for acquired farms.

Mugabe harangued the hall, insisting that nothing has changed. The dispossesed white farmers must go and get their compensation from Britain (which has denied all responsibility and even knowledge of such an obligation).

Fears around the possible seizure of companies, given impetus by this week's reports of the invasion of a gold mine, will also continue to dominate discussion tomorrow, when the conference resumes.

There is no need for this Investment Conference at all. More so one at which the threat to private property rights is amplified by the Head of State.

The Prime Minister said the Land Reform Programme is done and over with. Next is an audit, he insists and focus on "productivity". As for the farmers? "Losers weepers" appears to be attitude of this Inclusive Government.

On compensation, Prime Minister Mini-me agrees with his boss. In fact the postion that these farmers should get their compensation from Britain is now the official policy of the Inclusive Government.

Tally-ho, then, as the Terrible Twins go forth into the sunset, insisting that it is dawn.

As they say, you do not need to goad a hungry man into eating. If the policy signals being sent by this Inclusive Government were right, investments would come in of their own volition. We are a rich nation (to our eternal shame) and many an international company wants to come and set up shop here.

If the environment is right, everything falls into place.

Instead of inviting their prey into their den, Dr Evil and Mini-me should really be concentrating on putting the correct policy framework in place. A good place to start would be the successful and irreversible privatisation of loss-making government companies.

And then they must start making the right kind of noises to instill confidence in the market.

Overseas, they say "The Market Is A Coward". At the first sign of risk it turns tail and runs.

Which is what's happening in Zimbabwe.

Nothing will come from this Investment Conference primarily because the Inclusive Government has no clue how to go about creating a conducive atmosphere.

Zimbabwe: Staring Into The Abyss Again

Of course, we can expect that those who have now adopted ZANU PF language although they claim to fight for "change" will label us "saboteurs", "divisive elements" or, if we are lucky, merely "skeptics".

But truth must be told.

And that truth is that, as I predicted to you last month, inflation figures just released show a 15% overall increase and a 24% percent increase in the cost of the standard food basket (I was out by one, at 25%, but close enough).

Civil servants to whom Tendai "Father Christmas" Biti is to give a big salary raise on July 16, are still earning US$100 a month.

It's no better in the private sector, with the RBZ revealing this week that our entire brood of 14 commercial banks hold a paltry US$600 million in their vaults (that is just interest to Bill Gates).

Suffer Continue, then.

Two weeks ago, it was also reported that two villagers had died here after they failed to raise the required US dollars for clinic and hospital fees, medication and so on.

Of course, this may well have been ZANU PF trying, as it always does, to influence the nation in its fight with the MDC-T for the restoration of the Zimbabwe dollar as our No 1 currency.

Still, there is no denying that the people are beginning to feel the pinch. Which is why the MDC-T is now panicking, threatening to pull out, yet getting dragged back in by their all-powerful leader, the Prime Minister.

Keep in mind that these figures just released do not take into account a further hike in the price of fuel in the last couple of weeks to more than a dollar and a half per litre of petrol.

It means 15% ain't nothing.

Next month, the figures will be worse.

Through all this, the Inclusive Government is sitting there, two parties trying to stare each other down while ignoring the raging inferno consuming the country.

Inflation figures such as these in an environment underpinned by the relatively stable US dollar and the strong Rand spell nothing short of disaster. And they expose the complete and utter ineptitude of the Inclusive Government.

The people are complaining but they are told to "listen to me" and do as they are told, swallow whatever tripe they are given. The Inclusive Government is not listening.

Then again, it is difficult to hear when you have your snout deep in the trough.

Of Masochists and Apologists

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe, the dictator of Zimbabwe, and his wife, Grace, seen here being welcomed by Muamar Gaddafi of Libya to the African Union Summit in Sirte. Nothing has changed for "The Solution", who retains all his powers while the Prime Minister rather pitifully grasps at straws, such claiming credit for the skeletal US$950 million loan from the Chinese. (By the way, a diplomat here in Harare tells us the Chinese do not like giving aid, they prefer to advance "30 year loans", which they never demand back).

The Masochistic MDC-T and Tsvangirai apologists are at it again. They have a knack for painting themselves into a corner, together with their leader.

First it was the saluting thing, when truckloads of MDC-T supporters drove around Harare on February 11, when the Prime Minister was sworn in, singing, "Muchamusaluta chete Morgan". Meaning "You will salute Morgan whether you like it or not."

We know how that turned out.

The National Security Council is still to meet and the service chiefs pointedly tell the Prime Minister that they do not report to a Prime Minister, but to a Commander in Chief, one Robert "The Solution" Mugabe.

The apologists then turn around when this happens and say they do not care about salutes?! So why compose songs about them?

They say they do not care about SADC but at the first sign of an arrest or a refusal to swear one of theirs onto the Gravy Train, they scream that SADC must do something.

When SADC does nothing they say they never expected them to do anything anyway.

I wish they would all make up their minds.

This time, perhaps in desperation at the failure of the MDC-T and MDC-M to make a single policy, they are now frantically trying to claim credit for the skeletal aid coming in from China.

Of course it is ignorance, because even Tendai Biti himself told reporters as recently as last weekend that he had nothing to do with the US$950 million from China. Biti says it was negotiated starting a couple of years back by Gideon Gono and the Look East crowd.

Still, MDC-T apologists insist on waving this about as an MDC- triumph. When it does finally sink in just how utterly ridiculous they look aping a line disowned even by the MDC-T Secretary-General, they will say they do not care about that as well. Of that we can be certain.

They will then almost certainly turn to deriding the very same figure of US$950 million which, while they still think can be credited to the MDC-T, they are praising to high heaven as the Fountain of Zimbabwe's Economic Youth.

We can only look on bemused as they tie themselves into knots.

Perhaps one of these days they will realise that they should not set up their expectations on the basis of their wishes. It is easier and much more lucrative in the long run to instead boast about how the aid, once it arrives, is expertly utilised by the Finance Minister and PM to alleviate the suffering of people and inject policy and capital stimuli into the private sector in order to reignite investments.

But wait.

They can not claim any such credit, because no evidence of it exists. The PM and Finance Minister are instead operating a hunter-gatherer government, where they hunt only to feed their over sized and bloated civil service family.

How anyone can still insist that this Inclusive Impediment to the people's hopes be allowed to stay intact a day longer is beyond the grasp of the sane.

Mugabe Goes For Broke. Flat Broke

The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai and his Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, were threatening banks day before yesterday for not giving people such as these "small scale miners" pictured here millions of US dollars in loans. This as Mugabe and ZANU PF have decided they have nothing to lose and are escalating their Third Chimurenga with fresh farm attacks and invasions of mines. The Prime Minister appears content to let them get away with all this.

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe of Zimbabwe has decided he has nothing left to lose. A deliberate escalation of the "Third Chimurenga" has been now been adopted.

With the failure to get any aid from the Western nations whose diplomats he publicly calls "idiots", Mugabe has reverted back to fighting mode. As he has always said, he considers this a war between himself and the West. Imperialists, he calls them. Tsvangirai, he said, was just a proxy.

Now that the proxy has been converted and is now the Chief Public Relations Officer for Mugabe, The Solution is turning his guns back on the "real enemy".

So, the war resumes.

The result of this is that, in the near future, we are going to see Mugabe move in directions none of us ever thought could even be contemplated. Already, mining companies are being targeted as are two companies on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

The problem is that when sudden shifts in policy like this occur, it always ends up as a free-for-all, with personal agendas and vendettas being pursued under the guise of enforcing the new policy imperative.

As I write, and with the FIFA 2010 World Cup around the corner, the Miekles family remains specified, any prospects of investment to woo 2010 tourists for the Miekles, at least, are in limbo.

And the desperation of this flat-broke Inclusive Thingy saw the Governor and the Prime Minister threaten local banks day before yesterday. The banks are sitting on US$600 million, complained the Governor, and yet they will not lend any of it to gold panners (makorokoza). The Prime Minister weighed in (the two attended a function for gold panners together).

They seem to fail to grasp a simple, elementary concept of commerce: you lend to people who are likely to actually pay back the loan and the interest. There are criteria to be met, such as provision of security or surety.

But no, the Inclusive Government, still pursuing discredited ZANU PF policies in Zimbabwe, wants to lead the solid banking institutions of Zimbabwe into the same bankruptcy that they have taken the economy of the country.

The banks are very sensibly ignoring all these noises. They have shareholders to account to, shareholders whom they can not beat up for asking awkward questions, like what the government of Zimbabwe does to its own shareholders: the voters.

So then, even as the Prime Minister promised that the 51% local shareholding requirement proposed for the mining sector will be revised, Mugabe sends his supporters out to do to mines what they did to farms.

What next?

Manufacturing companies? Supermarkets? Where will it end? Or will it?

And the Prime Minister?

He will continue to sit there watching the economic arsonists in ZANU PF fuel the raging fires? Will he continue to say Mugabe is the solution, "indispensable and irreplaceable"?

And the farmers who are being murdered still in their homes at the age of 80? "Blown out of proportion", as the PM said?

Mugabe Already Abusing China Loan To Buy Votes/Loyalty

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, seen here a few days ago at a press conference at his Munhumutapa Building offices soon after his return from a begging trip to the US and Europe, is letting Mugabe and ZANU PF get away with buying loyalty and future votes using the aid from China. Rural farmers are already being registered to get fertiliser and other farming aid. The registration is being done through local ZANU PF structures and traditional leaders

ZANU PF has asked its structures in the rural areas to register people who will recieve fertiliser and other incentives, all of which will come out of the US$950 million finance facility that the government is getting from China.

Almost certainly, the condition for being registered to receive this aid will be that one be a member of ZANU PF.

This comes hot on the heels of the revival of ZANU PF "boot camps" for youths, who will continue to be indoctrinated and fed hate speech against the British, Americans and other "imperialists".

Regrettably, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, has agreed to the continuation of the Border Gezi training camps. These camps gave birth to the notorious "Green Bombers" who were used as a paramilitary force by ZANU PF in the urban and rural areas, terrorising opposition activists and ordinary voters into "supporting" ZANU PF.

Tsvangirai agreed to the continuation of Border Gezi training earlier this year, telling news reporters that the youths would be trained in a "non-partisan" manner.

Quite how this will be enforced is anybodys guess. The MDC-T and the MDC-M do not even know what the curricula of the camps is. The Minister in charge of the training of these youths is from ZANU PF. Added to this, military personnel will also "assist" in the training.

The training had been halted because of lack of funds, as the ZANU PF regime was so broke that it was struggling to even pay attention, let alone run indoctrination camps.

With the arrival of Chinese loans and "bridging finance", the training will now resume and the resumption was announced by Saviour Kasukuwere, the ZANU PF minister of all things youth.

It is a tragedy all this.

A tragedy because, yet again, we see the Inclusive Government endorsing the practice of underhand vote and loyalty-buying.

Now, when we are supposed to diverting money to urgent life-saving issues, the Inclusive Government is instead using precious little aid from China to dish out fertiliser and other inputs to rural farmers who are already being told that the President (Robert "The Solution" Mugabe), has sourced money from China wth Gono to give them these goodies because Morgan Tsvangirai has failed to secure assistance for them from the West.

That the MDCs appear comfortable with this status quo is disturbing.

Let's Get Zimbabwe Queuing Again

Teacher protesting in Harare late last month. The Inclusive Thingy is broke, Mugabe is calling US diplomats "idiots" and Prime Minister Tsvangirai says all is well and people should just "listen to me."

Just as I warned you all a few weeks back, Zimbabwe is now in the grip of an inexplicable shortage of fuel.

True, it is not as bad as the days when there was not even a drop in the whole country, but queues have started to form again at service stations.

And they are long queues.

(You will recall that I told you that an importer was telling me that "there just is no money in the country" to import fuel and that some importers were shipping in consignments as small as 2000 litres and these were being snapped by by companies like Caltex, which is supposed to importing fuel itself.

The problem is that, ideologically, the MDCs and ZANU PF are cut from the same cloth. Hence Tendai Biti had no compunction about putting penalty duties on fuel that is brought into Zimbabwe by road.

The Inclusive government "encourages" the use of the Beira Corridor, which is itself controlled by government and can be used by the National Oil Company, NOCZIM, to import as much fuel as they want.

Private capital does not trust the pipeline from Beira in Mozambique because this government has a record of diverting things that belong to other people (witness the raiding of foreign currency from private accounts.)

So, quite apart from the lack of any substantial injection of capital to even import fuel for Zimbabwe, we also have myopic, socialistic policies that seek to patronise the people of Zimbabwe and treat them like children.

The policies actually do more harm than the lack of funds.

For it is the policies themselves that ensure that there are no funds coming into Zimbabwe.

Nobody trusts this Inclusive Thingy. Only last week, a senior NGO official here in Zimbabwe was telling us of his horror when he found out what it that the Inclusive Thingy is doing with money that is handed to it. He was especially surprised at the behaviour of MDC ministers and officials, of whom better was to be expected.

We still suffer blackouts, electricity being switched off for hours on end.

There is still no water in our taps.

Out in the rural areas, they are selling their livestock and emptying their granaries of whatever little they harvested so that they may get foreign currency with which to buy basic stuff and the like.

I suppose when the Inclusive Thingy stole the Mavambo slogan: Let's Get Zimbabwe Working Again for their 100-day wishlist and the laughable STERP, this is exactly what they had in mind: Let's Get Zimbabwe Queuing Again!

There is no reason at all for tolerating any of this.

Tsvangirai Grovels As Dictator Mugabe Gloats

A Rare Sight: I could not resist this image of Mugabe on bended knee at the Mwanawasa household! These days, it's Tsvangirai doing all the apologising.

You have by now heard about Morgan Tsvangirai's apology to dictator Robert "The Solution" Mugabe over the boycott of last Monday's Cabinet meeting by Tsvangirai's ministers.

It was the dictator himself who let the cat out of the bag, telling journalists in Libya that the PM had apologised and labelling the boycotting ministers' move "abject ignorance".

But this should not surprise anyone who reads this blog. I told you a few days ago that Tsvangirai is now to the MDC-T what Mugabe is to ZANU PF: they can not go against his wishes, even if those wishes are against the wishes of the people. And they will never be able to get rid of him.

Tsvangirai who, according to people I spoke to in Kuwadzana at the weekend, has "sold out", has decided that Mugabe is the solution and everyone must agree with him or else.

He came back from his overseas trip and immediately poured cold water over the suggestions by his deputy Thokozani Khupe, that the MDC-T may consider pulling out of the Inclusive Government.

No pull-out, come what may, the PM said.

Just like I told you on the day the news of the pull-out threat spread all over the world like wildfire.

In South Africa, the PM had gone even further, saying that the MDC-T will either succeed or fail together with Mugabe.

******************************

And then there was the issue of Tendai Biti, who called the Zimbabwe Independent a "gutter" newspaper for publishing a front page splash this last Friday announcing that Biti had signed a US$5 bllion deal with the Chinese.

Biti denies the story and says it has no basis whatsoever in fact and truth. It is a cooked up story, claims the mDC-T Finance Minister. So there is no US$5 billion coming.

Yes, there is a US$950 million facility that was extended by the Chinese, but apparently, according to Mugabe and Biti himself, this was negotiated by the Reserve Bank and Gideon Gono almost a year ago.

That US$950 million means nothing and will do nothing for Zimbabwe. This is especially so now, when Biti, the MDC-T Finance Minister, has announced that on July 16 he will, in his mid-term Budget speech, abandon the payment of US$100 "allowances" that are being paid to civil servants.

"It is sending a wrong signal to businesses," he said, adding that businesses now thought the US$100 was a salary and they were pegging their own pay structures to this.

Quite apart from the obvious question of where they will get this money to pay "proper salaries" to civil servants (that US$950 million will be gobbled up within three months), there is the issue of setting the bar too high for businesses who are already struggling.

Many companies will go under in the next six months as they fail to meet the new salary demands bench-marked to civil servants' new salaries. Of that you can be absolutely certain.

So, the two dictators, Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe, remain as broke as ever in their marriage of convenience. The country continues to burn, with no firefighters in sight.

The sooner the people of Zimbabwe are given a chance to vote these two gentlemen and their parties out of power, the better.

Which is why as MKD, led by Simba Makoni, we are demanding that the Constitutional process be done with soon so that we can throw out these bums and bring real change to the people of Zimbabwe.

With Simba Makoni at the helm, it will only take two months for this country to be so transformed that it will be unrecognisable!

To those of you who are clamouring to get in touch with Simba Makoni's new party, you can reach us on the following Harare Numbers:

792566, 792428, 795326 and 791394.

Internet Mayhem In Zimbabwe

So, you missed me, huh?

I went AWOL because starting Friday, Internet connections in Zimbabwe went haywire.

As is typical of customer service from our Inclusive Government, which believes people must just shut up and bear it, there was no communication whatsoever as to what had gone wrong.

Today, I spoke with the government-owned company that is supposed to be in charge of these things. Here's what they said, verbatim:

"Starting Friday afternoon, something went wrong with base stations and affected ISPs. Because we do not work at weekends, the fault was only found out today, and our people are trying to see what they can do"

"When will we back on line?" I asked the nice lady who attended to me.

"I don't know"

"Can you ask someone who will know, I am willing to wait."

'No one knows. But it will be soon?"

"Three weeks?" I asked.

"No one knows. It affected everybody. It's not just you, lots of people have been phoning and coming in."

To make matters worse, we moved offices at the weekend. Our network guys had everything in place by Sunday, but transferring our lines to the new premises is proving a challenge beyond the capacity of TelOne.

We have been living on promises from TelOne since Friday but nothing happening here.

So right now, I am using a dial-up connection which is so painfully slow that it is not worth the while.

With the launch of the party, I have been so busy that I have not had time to read anything online and even my connections with people I speak to have suffered.

Still, there are three huge events that are brewing in this Inclusive Government, as well as between Mugabe and Tsvangirai that I should update you on once I am back online. I am hoping it will not be that much longer.

Denford Magora's Zimbabwe Blog

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Harare, Zimbabwe.

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