[It is excellent hearing this being said so openly by someone held in high esteem in Zimbabwe. I wish more people would speak up and call for an uprising. This is a bulletin summary from TheBeardedMan’s blogspot. Jan]

In a sign of how bad things have become in Zimbabwe, Chimurenga music icon, Thomas Mapfumo, has called for an armed struggle to topple Robert Mugabe. In an interview at the Eden Music festival two weeks ago, promoting Live 8 in the UK, he says the white regime of Ian Smith did more for the welfare of Africans than Robert Mugabe’s government has. The title of his new CD, ‘Rise Up’ has a song entitled ‘Kuwarira Mukati’. In the song he calls on Zimbabweans to rise up and not to suffer in silence. Mapfumo saus the government has banned his music on the state broadcaster because of the political content. The ban is now so broad they will not even play any of his love songs. He had a very good relationship with government before independence but this gradually deteriorated as Mugabe became more dictatorial. When people elected Mugabe they thought he would be their saviour but Mapfumo believes he has been a big let down. Pressed on what he meant by rise up, he said “if we say enough is enough, the gun is the answer. The suffering in the country has gone on for too long and people just have to do something to effect change.’ It is a great tragedy that the immense suffering in Zimbabwe and the lack of regional pressure on Mugabe to step down is forcing Zimbabweans to think of turning to violence.

Source: SW Radio Africa.
URL: http://thebeardedman.blogspot.com/br>