‘Zimbabwe Today’ by Robb WJ Ellis (17-04-2008)

Spokesperson John Dludlu said on Wednesday: “As for vessel An Yue Jiang, we wish to confirm that this vessel with its cargo destined for Zimbabwe is at anchorage outside the port of Durban.

“As is procedure with all vessels, the vessel and its cargo have been cleared by the relevant authorities.”

However, Dludlu did not say what the contents of the cargo were.

According to Noseweek editor Martin Welz, the cargo includes a shipment of arms.“

I still await absolute confirmation that the cargo contained arms of war. It will be very interesting to see what South Africa does should the cargo be confirmed, as their is a boycott on selling ans shipping weapons to the Mugabe regime.

If they play this by the book, then someone is in a lot of trouble…

“Earlier on Wednesday, Inspector Nicholas Gunther of the police explosives unit in Durban told Sapa that An Yue Juang was carrying weapons.

“There are arms on the vessel and the ship is on the outer anchorage of the port and it’s been docked here since April 14.

“We have not allowed it in because they have no clearance, which is something they should have got beforehand.

“We went there just now and they are not being allowed in,” he said.

“There was a problem with documents they submitted and we have directed the matter to the chief inspector of explosives in Pretoria, Senior Superintendent Van Sittert, and it may take days for them to get clearance,” said Gunther.“

Thirty six containers on the ship are meant to be bound for Zimbabwe. If they are full of weapons, that is a helluva lot of firepower and oppression that Mugabe wants to visit on the good people of Zimbabwe.. And would go some way to explaining the delay on the Presidential election result. Mugabe was awaiting delivery of weapons.

Is there nothing that the international community can do to have this man indicted for attempting to buy such weapons?

“A Hallandale Beach businessman has been arrested on charges that he tried to sell 10 Russian military helicopters equipped with guns, rockets and bombs to an undercover federal informant who told the dealer they were destined for Zimbabwe.

Peter Spitz, 70, arrested last week, has a bond hearing set for Tuesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.

Military exports to the African country are banned.

Spitz, owner of Russian Aircraft Services LLC, was first contacted in March about a potential helicopter purchase by the informant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to a criminal affidavit, the informant told Spitz he was interested in buying seven MI-24 Russian attack helicopters and three MI-8T Russian military transport helicopters.“

The MI-24 strike helicopter…

The MI-8T supply chopper…

The want that any dealer may have to supply arms of war to Mugabe’s regime is nothing less than despicable and they deserve to have the book thrown at them.

It is not as if the people of the world don’t know about Mugabe’s penchant for violence. His buying weapons is just a natural progression on the line of rule that he has taken. In the run up to the election, he had existing air force helicopters fly around the MDC strongholds in a threatening manner, and before today he has had jet fighters ‘buzz’ Harare and Bulawayo as a show of strength.

Spitz said the price for each would be $750,000, the ICE affidavit said.

“On March 25, the ICE informant told Spitz that he was arranging the sale to a ‘commercial entity set up by a cabinet member of the [Zimbabwe] government,’ the affidavit said.

Spitz reportedly asked for $1 million in five installments to secure the deal.

He allegedly instructed the informant to make two initial ‘test’ deposits of $11,000 each for Russian Aircraft Services LLC in separate accounts at Colonial and Wachovia banks. Those April 3 transactions established Spitz’s intent to sell the helicopters to the informant, in violation of federal law.

ICE special agent Joseph Skidmore said Spitz ‘engaged in illegal brokering activities’ because he had not obtained a defense export license from the U.S. government. He also noted that in April 2002, the government suspended all export licenses for military hardware to Zimbabwe.“

A fitting punishment for this man would be that he be paid the money for the deal – in Zimbabwean bearer cheques!

Very simply, do not allow the South African government to have anything to do with any negotiations between Mugabe’s ZANU PF and the MDC. Thabo Mbeki will put his oar in and we will be promised breakthrough after breakthrough – and meanwhile the ‘negotiations’ will be going nowhere.

My point of reference is last year and the mediated talks – Mbeki still maintains that the talks were successful – maybe so… if you were ZANU PF…

“South African envoys are expected to start separate talks with ZANU PF and the MDC to map out the agenda for talks to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis.

The consultations follow last Saturday’s SADC extra-ordinary summit’s key resolution that South African President Thabo Mbeki should lead transitional mediation between the two parties.

Reports suggest that, behind closed doors, Mugabe was roundly condemned by SADC leaders for fanning tension by withholding results which show that he has lost the Zimbabwe’s president-in-waiting, Morgan Tsvangirai, says he will discuss nothing but a fresh call for Mugabe to step down.

‘Consultations are expected to start this week, separately between ZANU PF and the MDC in Harare with facilitators from South Africa,’ a SADC country diplomat told The Zimbabwean.“

I think it should go without saying or stipulation that the person who will mediate (I hate that word!) between the two parties should have no interest in one or the other. This then obviates Mbeki. Not only because he proved utterly useless last year, but because he is shamwari akanaka with Mugabe. And we need look no further back than last Saturday for confirmation of that.

If SADC really wants someone to mediate (there’s that word again!), then why not someone who is not shroud in controversy and double-dealing? What about the new President of Botswana, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, son of Sir Seretse Khama? Botswana, whilst sharing a border with Zimbabwe, has a very good economy and a very good track record. Whilst the rest of Southern Africa was busy shooting each other to bits in various war theatres, Botswana was growing in economic might and remains very peaceful – even in the light of the economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

Why is it that SADC refuse to think outside of the box?

“Formal talks were expected to start “probably Thursday” with the leader of the ruling party’s team, former Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who was rejected by the electorate, according to ZEC’s official results of the house of assembly poll.

Chief mediator in Mbeki’s team, Sydney Mufamadi, who met Tsvangirai in Pretoria last week, declined to give details of the mediation.

‘We have been sworn to silence. We are not speaking to the media until both parties have come up with some sort of agreement,’ he said. South Africa‘s embassy in Harare also declined to comment.“

So what is happening here is a repeat of last year’s mediation. Same people, same parties and, no doubt, the same result. This is just time wasting by Mugabe – and he’s pretty good at it, isn’t he? The initial talks started in March last year – so we are 14 months down the road, with little or nothing to show for it, except Mugabe is still in power, although everyone believes that he lost the election, and he is sending his ‘former’ Justice Minister to waste more time.

Mugabe will argue the word ‘former’ with me )or anyone else). He has reappointed his cabinet and that includes seven people who lost their seats in the elections. Chinamasa is one of those people…

“MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti, who is leading the opposition team, said his party would fulfill an undertaking made to the SADC extra-ordinary summit to pursue dialogue aimed at instructing Mugabe to leave office.

‘We are giving them a chance to have that dialogue. Our view is that you will not be able to have successful talks until you have the climate for successful talks. So we want the results announced by ZEC first,’ Biti said.“

Mugabe is playing games with the MDC. On one side he smiles and nods to the people and participates in ‘negotiations’, whilst behind his back he holds the throat of the people, slowing and determinedly squeezing the life out of them.

When is SADC going to wake up?

“Zimbabwe was instructed by SADC, according to communique issued after the gathering at Mulungushi International Conference centre in Lusaka Saturday, to immediately announce the results and that all parties accept the outcome of the poll.

Mugabe is in contempt of that order by continuing to withhold the results.“

I rest my case.

The final sentence of this article caught my eye. “Zimbabwe’s government dismisses the charges, saying they are being pushed by Western powers keen to see Mugabe ousted over his seizure of white-owned farms for landless blacks.“

The only blacks that didn’t have land before the land grab started, that now own a farm (or more) are all members of Mugabe’s government and armed forces. The ‘landless blacks’ that really need the land now find themselves with jobs, without homes and without food…

And while Mugabe attempts to purchase weapons of war to cow the Zimbabwean population into submission, and whilst he cheats SADC into believing he will negotiate (again) with the MDC, he hangs on to power in Zimbabwe illegally.

Yes. Illegally. But because it is in Africa and the regional leaders, for some reason or other, worship the ground Mugabe walks on, it is allowed to continue. Like a rubber stamp of their legitimacy.

“Soldiers and militants loyal to Robert Mugabe™s regime have unleashed a terror campaign that the MDC on Wednesday compared to the beginnings of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. In an interview on our Behind the Headlines series MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the brutal attacks on their supporters countrywide will ultimately cost many lives, including the two who have already been killed in Karoi and Mudzi.

In Magunje soldiers made villagers line up and forced them to hold bullets while demanding they meditate with their eyes closed, on why they voted for the opposition. One by one they were forced to reveal who they voted for in the election while soldiers asked menacingly, “do you want to start a war with ZANU PF?” Military experts have described the tactic as a Chinese psychological torture technique. The MDC have also revealed that ordinary ZANU PF militia have been given army combat gear to wear and so distinguishing genuine soldiers from fake ones has become difficult.“

This sounds very much like the beginning of what I term “Gukurahundi II”… Except that the party is not taking on the Ndebele, they are taking on anyone connected with the MDC… notable ‘the party of choice’.

“Village elders in Magunje were also questioned on why they did not ensure their people voted for ZANU PF. Two village leaders bravely defied the soldiers and told them to strip them of their “village head” status if they wanted. One of them, Forbes Chambati, ran on an MDC ticket for the parliamentary elections in the area. Although he lost to a ZANU PF candidate, Chamisa says MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai had more votes than Mugabe in the presidential election. The results were posted outside polling stations in the area and could be clearly seen.“

Helicopter gunships and the weapons on the 36 containers would be used to force the population to accept the ZANU PF regime once again. But the world prefers to let SADC issue yet another mandate to Mbeki to waste more time while Mugabe prepares for war against his own people. Just when is the international community going to put a stop to this?

When there are dead bodies on the streets? Two people have died in this latest wave of violecne, and in my book, that is two too many!

“In Chatsworth soldiers have ransacked villages at Injama farm and abducted all the polling agents who worked for the MDC during the election. In Gutu in an area called Chiguhuni, similar attacks have occurred. In Mutasa South the party reports that over 500 villagers have been made homeless after soldiers ransacked and burnt their homes. Those affected have moved to Old Mutare. Chamisa says their social welfare department is struggling to cope with the refugee crisis that is developing.

In Gokwe an MDC supporter was shot in both legs on Tuesday and has been admitted to a hospital in Gokwe centre. Again ZANU PF militants masquerading as soldiers were behind the attack. In Seke a group of war veterans moved around the villages wielding guns and threatening those who voted for the opposition. In Zaka, Tsholotsho and other rural areas the stories are the same.“

I may get hammered by people who disagree with me – and daily I receive emails from all over the world wishing death and injury upon me – but I continue with my commentary, because these threats just drive me on towards the established goal of democracy in Zimbabwe. Those people that email me with such epithets are wasting their time… – but the judiciary in Zimbabwe is warped beyond recognition.

‘debvhu