Mugabe Rallies Regional Presidents To His Cause, Refuses To Cooperate With Tsvangirai Anymore

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe addresses the media at the end of the ZANU PF Politburo meeting on Wednesday 27 January 2010 at ZANU PF Headquarters along Rotten Row in Harare. The president of Zimbabwe says the Politburo has directed that no more concessions be made to the MDC-Tsvangirai until sanctions (illegal sanctions, he calls them) are lifted unconditionally by Britain, American and the European Union and their allies. Mugabe had earlier informed ministers from ZANU PF that Jacob Zuma and other SADC presidents had told him that they support this stance

Harare, Zimbabwe, 29 January 2010

Robert "The Solution", the Houdini president of Zimbabwe, appears to have done it again, claiming to three senior ZANU PF ministers that he spoke to Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president, this week and got an assurance from him that the issue of sanctions was of real concern to the South African Development Community (SADC) leader because it was a "threat to regional security".

Mugabe also says he spoke to four other Heads of State in the Southern African region who told him that "they fully understood the implication of what the British Foreign Secretary said" and that they would stand by Mugabe and ZANU PF in demanding that the MDC-T holds up its end of the GPA bargain by getting sanctions on Zimbabwe lifted and funds flowing back into Mugabe's back pocket.

This is what informed the ZANU PF Politburo decision to make an announcement on Wednesday that their party will not make any more concessions on the Zimbabwe Global Political Agreement (GPA) upon which the Inclusive Government is founded until all sanctions are lifted.

This comes after the British Foreign Secretary announced in the House of Commons that his country would "be guided" by the MDC-Tsvangirai in deciding whether to lift sanctions or not.

Prior to this, Mugabe had bought into Morgan Tsvangirai's argument that he could not control whether the British, USA and European Union lifted sanctions against Zimbabwe or not.

When Tsvangirai embarked on a tour of Europe after he was sworn in as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Mugabe publicly announced that when his Prime Minister came back, he would ask him: "Do you see how unreliable your friends are? They will not lift sanctions until we reverse the land reform programme. (Madziona here shamwari dzenyu idzi bambo?)"

Now, however, because of the announcement by the British Foreign Secretary, ZANU PF is back on a war footing.

According to Mugabe, President Zuma of South Africa told him that he "knew all along" that the issue of sanctions was real "and that the MDC-T was using it still, even while in government, in order to dis-empower ZANU PF and effect regime change".

The alleged conversation with Zuma as reported by Mugabe "assured me that we have the support of SADC in refusing to make any more concessions because SADC now see that they have been made fools of by Tsvangirai and the MDC-T. They are as mad as we are about this and they will not tolerate Tsvangirai's nonsense any more. He should get those sanctions lifted before we do anything else for his party."

As a result, you got that announcement by Mugabe himself on Wednesday that the ZANU PF Politburo had "directed" him to make no more concessions on the GPA until the issue was resolved to ZANU PF's satisfaction. (Of course, anyone who knows Zimbabwean politics knows that NOBODY directs Mugabe to do anything).

Ephraim Masawi, ZANU PF deputy Spokesman, echoed his masters voice:

"The hypocrisy of the MDC-T's denial of its role in the evil saga of the imposition of illegal sanctions now stands exposed for all to see. The people of Zimbabwe, as victims of the MDC-T and Western murderous collusion, now demand that Mr Tsvangirai and his Western allies remove their illegal sanctions so that children can go to school, the sick can be attended to in hospitals, people can find jobs and farmers produce."

Of course, the man forgets that it is his party ZANU PF, that put Zimbabweans in this state by shouting at the very "murderous West" that he now wants to give Zimbabwe money for schools and hospitals.

Was it not the President of Zimbabwe himself who called Australians "the progeny of convicts"? Was it not the leader of ZANU PF who told the British and the American governments to "keep your filthy lucre"?

Why does he want that lucre now? Is it no longer filthy?

Again, Mugabe and ZANU PF have brought up the issue of "pirate radio stations" and are linking this to the "sanctions agenda".

Says ZANU PF:

"The Politburo therefore instructs its negotiators on the GPA to desist from making concessions in the negotiations until the sanctions are removed and the pirate radio stations cease to pollute airwaves."

Yet, in most peoples' view, ZANU PF only need look at how many satellite dishes there are in Mbare and even rural areas, accessing SABC (South Africa Broadcasting Corporation) to see who the people of Zimbabwe consider to be polluting airwaves.


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