WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-04-03 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Moshoeshoe Monare, Fiona Forde and Basildon Peta
After losing his parliamentary majority, Robert Mugabe appeared to have run out of political options on Thursday but at least one analyst has warned that he may regroup and set the feared war veterans on his opponents.
The self-proclaimed triumphant Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as well as insiders were dismissive of the prospect of a national unity government, despite claims to the contrary by advisers to defeated independent candidate Simba Makoni.
Meanwhile, the London Daily Mail reported on Thursday that emergency aid for Zimbabwe will be tripled to a billion pounds (about R15-billion) as part of a Western rescue operation to be launched within days if Mugabe is ousted.
| ‘If he were not a stubborn man, he would have realised the game is up’ |
British officials are putting the finishing touches to an ambitious package designed to pull the country back from the brink of collapse.
Zimbabwe currently receives £350-million a year in foreign aid, but Whitehall sources said three leading donors, the US, Britain and the rest of the European Union would put up the extra cash.
At the time of going to press today, the opposition had won a combined 110 seats to Mugabe’s 97.
Three seats in the 210-member chamber will have to be contested later because some registered candidates died before the election.
Analysts have predicted that Mugabe cannot win the outstanding seven seats because they are in opposition strongholds.
| ‘We are likely to see war veterans re-emerging’ |
Prominent Zimbabwean lawyer and activist Lovemore Madhuku said Mugabe could cling on only in a government of national unity – a remote possibility, since the opposition had claimed victory and would not be prepared to accommodate him.
Lawyers said Mugabe would not be able to govern even if he rigged the presidential vote.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has won 99 seats in the national assembly, the breakaway MDC faction 10, Zanu-PF 97, with one independent.
“Our laws require a simple parliamentary majority for the approval of any legislation,” said lawyer Alfred Matanhike.
Madhuku said Mugabe’s only other option would be to form a government of national unity.
“The problem remains that no one will want to be part of a unity government headed by Mugabe.
“So I frankly don’t see how he will govern. If he were not a stubborn man, he would have realised the game is up.”
But advisers to Makoni, former Zanu-PF finance minister, say frantic behind-the-scenes negotiations are laying the groundwork for a government of national unity that would include not only the opposition MDC but also Zanu-PF, with Makoni taking on a senior role with extended powers.
Zimbabwean lawyer and political analyst Brian Kagoro said Mugabe might want to buy time to regroup, rearm and defend his 28-year rule.
“We are likely to see an announcement that we require a little bit more time, more than (the required) 21 days, to go into the rerun.
“Even if you deploy war veterans and other forms of militia in the rural areas, it is impossible within 21 days to turn around what we saw as the new tsunami in the rural sector,” Kagoro said.
But former information minister Jonathan Moyo, now an independent MP, said Mugabe would feel the wrath of the people if he postponed the rerun.
“Those in government must understand that it is those kinds of things that precipitated the Kenyan type of scenario.
“You can’t change the rules of the game while the game is being played.
“Mugabe should, in the interest of the country, withdraw.
“This is a run-off he can’t win, it is also a run-off he can’t postpone,” Moyo said.
Kagoro said Mugabe might call for the assistance of war veterans, who terrorised the country in the 2000 and 2002 elections and ensured a Zanu-PF victory.
“I believe we are likely to see war veterans re-emerging.
“I am not persuaded that terror won’t be reintroduced, whether covert or overt,” Kagoro said.
But Moyo said the veterans were also shaken by the people’s will.
“War veterans are human beings. Now they are terrified.”
Kagoro cautioned that any solution would have to accommodate security forces.
“The security personnel are powerful there is a need to reach out to (them),” he said
Moyo said there was also anxiety among security chiefs.
“If you have a situation where the party that has won continues to make statements that sound (irresponsible) then that gives rise to unnecessary anxiety within the security forces and those anxieties need to be managed,” he said.