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“Zimbabwe Today” by Robb WJ Ellis (09-09-2010)

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: 2010-09-09 Time: 09:00:03  Posted By: The BeardedMan

Howzit

The decorators finished the job yesterday at about lunchtime and B is very happy with the results. All I can think is I am glad that it is all over for another year as it is major disruptive and leaves the house in such a mess.

Tomorrow’s posting will probably be a lot shorter than normal as I have domestic responsibilities in elsewhere Derby in the late morning.

-o00o-

Tapestries of Hope

Tapestries of Hope is the story of filmmaker Michealene Cristini Risley who traveled to Zimbabwe to document the work of Betty Makoni and the Girl Child Network. The film exposes an issue that continues to be ignored: the rape and abuse of thousands of young girls in Zimbabwe by men who believe it will cure their HIV/AIDS.

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It is all very well saying that diamond sales will not be announced because of security concerns, but my feeling is that without the publicity, not only will it make potential buyers a little more reluctant to attend, but it also lends to the idea that the diamond sales may not be kosher.

There is a huge need in Zimbabwe that anything which could result in suspicion or controversy should be conducted in the public eye to allay those very fears.

The Government will in future not announce diamond sales for security reasons and in line with international standards governing marketing of the precious stones.

Zimbabwe last month sold 1.1 million carats of diamonds from the two companies mining in Chiadzwa – Mbada and Canadile, after industry regulator the Kimberley Process Certification System allowed a one-off supervised sale while it checked levels of compliance with minimum production standards.

The KPCS had last November banned ale of the gems after some Western countries and civic groups alleged human rights violations in their production.

In terms of the agreement that the Government reached with the KPCS, a second supervised sale would be conducted this month after which if the regulator was satisfied, the country would be allowed to resume sales without conditions.

KP appointed monitor to Zimbabwe, Mr Abbey Chikane is expected in the country to certify another batch of diamonds for the second sale.“

The first sale, whilst confusing many people with the apparent controversy about human rights abuses in the diamond fields, raised about US$72 million which will be split between various companies and the government.

Even though the finance ministry is run by an MDC MP, I don’t see or read of Tendai Biti querying where the money is. Could it be that the money has actually gone to the correct purses?

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President Robert Mugabe's sister Bridget who collapsed in August at the burial of her sister Sabina is critically ill and admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare, ZimEye can reveal.

President Mugabe and his large delegation of state security agents and officials, are regularly seen at Parirenyatwa hospital in the ICU, where Bridget has been admitted for the past four weeks now.

“Each time the President is around, entrances to the hospital wards are blocked and visitors are not allowed to go in or out,” said a senior Doctor at the hospital.

He said only carefully selected specialist doctors and nurses are allowed to attend to Bridget.“

Whilst I understand the want that Mugabe has to visit his sister, why is it that the hospital should virtually be locked down whenever he arrives? Are the members of his family to be considered ‘more equal’ than everybody else?

What of those people that are hospitalised for various medical problems, and then can’t be visited because Mugabe is visiting Bridget?

Mugabe’s paranoia is the cause of this endemic want for total privacy.

This is the man who claims to have been ‘elected’ by the people and now walks all over them to pursue his own family interests…

According to a close relative, Bridget was not showing signs of recovery from the stroke which hit her at the burial of her late sister, Sabina.

“We are just hoping God will redeem her from the stroke she is suffering from. She is unable to talk let alone stand on her own,” a relative who declined to be named told ZimEye after visiting her on Monday.

Bridgette went into a hysterical frenzy before collapsing at the burial of her elder sister, Sabina, at Heroes’ Acre. She was ferried to the hospital by flamboyant Harare businessman Phillip Chiyangwa who is related to the Mugabe's.

The death of Sabina and Bridget's illness, is reportedly taking its toll on the health of President Mugabe who is said to be now under stress as the two sisters were his emotional advisers.“

And, should Bridget succumb to her sickness, I can guarantee that she will be declared a national hero within just a few minutes of her demise.

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Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Style Definitions table.MsoNormalTable (123){mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;(125)} Right now, in Zimbabwe, there is an attempt to garner input from the population as the unity government tries to come up with a people driven constitution. Not that such a document is an easy thing to attain, and we read, almost daily, of the influence that ZANU PF is placing on the meetings.

But public opinion can carry quite a lot of weight, as seen in this story.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that the cost of a standard passport will be reduced from $140 to $50, with immediate effect. The reduction was announced at a joint press conference in Harare on Wednesday by the co-Home Affairs Ministers Kembo Mohadi and Theresa Makone.

For a long time there have been serious complaints from the public about the fact that Zimbabwean passports cost much more than the regional average. Applicants also had to wait for extended periods of time for their documents, and the ministry often ran out of ink and paper. Zimbabweans found the whole process extremely frustrating.

The cabinet had ordered the ministry of Home affairs to review the prices back in April, a year after the last review, which resulted in a reduction then from $170 to the current $140.

The price of urgent passports, which are processed in only two days, will also be reduced and lost passports will cost the same as new ones to replace.“

A cut from US$140 to US$50 is huge. I think back to the early days of Zimbabwe, and I can remember when the national identification cards were processed and issued for free. I don’t know if there is a fee charged for the document these days, but it was made an offence in Zimbabwe to move around without the identification cards.

I do understand that producing a passport can be expensive, but I see no reason for a governing administration to make money out of the need. A reduction on this level suggests to me that the government was making an inordinate amount per passport.

Commenting on the Daily News website, writer Chenjerai Hove described the price reduction as a good move. He said: “Our passports had become some of the most hated documents in our possession because of their price. Now, for us in the diaspora, the idea of traveling to the embassies thousands of kilometers away to obtain a passport form and be photographed should be attended to immediately.”

He added: “This idea of having to be photographed and finger-printed makes us feel like criminals belonging to a fascist dictatorial state.”

Hove suggested that the application forms be sent in the mail so people can complete them and send the required money to embassies, instead of wasting time and money on travel and accommodation.“

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Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Style Definitions table.MsoNormalTable (123){mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;(125)} I find it somewhat insulting that a High Court order can be enforced by the police after their ignoring that order for so long, and that the MP in question openly warns that he will be back.

It is apparent, therefore, that the ZANU PF MP has no real intention of obeying the court order.

An MP behind the invasion of a farm in Somabuhla has finally been evicted from the property, but has warned he will return to take over the land.

MP Jabulani Mangena has led a campaign of harassment, vandalism and violence against Philip and Ellen Hapelt on their Grasslands farm, claiming he has an offer letter entitling him to the property. Late last year, the Hapelts were brutally beaten in an attack the family believes was meant to drive them from their farm. Over the past few months the situation has continued to worsen, with Mangena's hired men increasing their intimidatory tactics against the elderly couple.

The Hapelts many years ago voluntarily gave up the majority of their land for the sake of ‘reform’, under an agreement that would allow them to remain on their homestead with a small portion of farming land. They have two court orders that entitle them to live on the farm without fear of invasion or persecution, but they were forced to seek two successive evictions orders in an effort to get Mangena's men off their land. But Mangena has openly disregarded the rulings of the courts and has previously threatened the Hapelts with violence.

Local police meant to carry out the evictions, have previously refused to assist the Hapelts, expressing their own fears of Mangena. But to the family's amazement, the police and the Sheriff of the Court finally started eviction proceedings last Friday. According to the Hapelt's daughter Lauren, Manegna's farm manager was frantically trying to get the eviction halted the entire time, and eventually warned that he would be back.“

It makes a mockery of the judicial system when Mugabe’s administration routinely defies court orders, or will obey them, only to return within days.

And the fact that the farmer and his wife were beaten last year, and that an investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators have never happened, is indicative of the hold that Mugabe has in the judiciary and the police force.

We are all a bit dumb struck that the eviction took place. We have been fighting so hard for this with so little progress. The fact that the High Court order has been enforced is something we hoped for but never dreamed would happen,” Lauren told SW Radio Africa.

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ZANU PF disregard for legitimacy and government is never far from the surface, as evidenced by this story.

It isn’t enough that someone in Zimbabwe support ZANU PF, but no it would appear that you have to support a particular faction within Mugabe’s party to be acceptable and avoid a beating.

Operations at Chitungwiza Municipality ground to a halt last week Thursday as ZANU PF thugs linked to Retired General Mujuru went about beating council employees accusing them to be loyalists of Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa as rivalry between the two factions escalates.

The violence which occurred at Chitungwiza Head Offices has left many of the town council's top executives including the town clerk Godfrey Tanyanyiwa and departmental heads nursing life threatening injuries.

The incident has stunned Chitungwiza residents and it has sent shock waves in the coalition government.

An eye witness account told The Zimbabwe Mail reporter of an aggressive group of gunmen waving AK rifles and pistols arriving at the City offices at around ten in the morning and they started beating up the Municipal guards manning the gates.

Sensing danger, the guards immediately called the police for reinforcement.

Truck loads of police details from Makoni and St Marys Police stations arrived to stop the mayhem, but they were overpowered and beaten up and disarmed of their weapons.“

It reads like something out of a ‘B’ listed spaghetti western, doesn’t it? The thugs and gunmen know no obedience to the law, and, unsurprisingly, no one was arrested.  

The gunmen appeared to be well trained military personnel.

The gunmen are believed to be a rebel group in the war veterans association which was backed by members of the armed forces from the Zimbabwe National Army's 2 Brigade barracks in Cranborne.

They fired a number of shots in the air before rounding up council employees and asked them to sit on the floor.

The town clerk and the director of finance were dressed down in front of their junior officers and accused of pillaging council assets for the benefit of Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and they were also accused of using council cash resources to fund political activities.“

Even if the allegations held a drop of water, what of the use of armed soldiers being used to give support to the Mujuru faction? How is it acceptable that pro-Mujuru soldiers – armed and angry – are allowed to wreak havoc in Chitungwiza without fear of prosecution?

Surely the firing of weapons in a public area alone – considering that there was no public threat or uprising – is a criminal offence?

When the town clerk tried to deny the accusations, he was asked to lie down and he was savagely beaten with sticks, and gun bats.

The finance director was asked to join him and he received much more battering, with kicks and all sorts of beatings. His bleeding eyes toggled, and his tong rolled out like a man on fits.

At that time, the women screamed thinking that the man was dying but that only made it worse for them as the men began to beat up everyone randomly using sticks, kicking and fists.

It is reported that the men were shouting obscenities about President Robert Mugabe's manhood and his wife the First Lady Grace Mugabe and they declared that Mr Mngangagwa would never rule the country.“

And, in the last week, we have read about a man being jailed for a year for characterising Mugabe as ‘wrinkled’…

Police officers were also forced to sit down with council employees and some were not spared the bashing which took more than an hour without members of the public noticing what was happening inside the offices.

Anarchy – Mugabe style…

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Given that elections and by-elections seem to only be called by none other than Mugabe himself, and that it is a constitutional requirement that by-elections by held within a given number of days following the relevant seat falling vacant, then it means that Mugabe has transgressed the constitution of Zimbabwe – the very document he wants rewritten with a serious ZANU PF bias – and should be held accountable for that failing.

Calling new elections is a ‘limited preogative’ of President Robert Mugabe and neither the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission nor its chairman can order elections, the Bulawayo High Court has heard.

The argument was heard as ZEC chairman Justice Simpson Matambaengwe and the ZEC opposed an application by three former MDC MPs expelled by their party who want by-elections to be urgently held in Lupane east, Nkayi South and Bulilima East constituencies.

Justice Mutambengwe said he had been wrongly cited as the first respondent in the matter, and the ZEC second, as neither he nor the electoral body can make such a proclamation.

The former MPs cited Mugabe as the third respondent, although he is yet to respond to their application.“

If Mugabe is the only one with the authority to call elections and by-elections, and not calling those polls is a direct contravention of the constitution.

Mugabe thinks of himself as the law, above the law and not subject of the law. yet his obvious arrogance in the face of the constitution remains unpunished, not acted upon – because his is who he is and that is that.

There are currently 20 vacancies in the Senate and the House of Assembly occasioned by the death of lawmakers, lengthy court convictions and expulsion by their parties.

Right now it suits Mugabe to not call the election as that way his death-like grip on power is unfaultering, unwavering and all power-encompassing.

Is there no provision within Zimbabwean law – or the constitution – that would make Mugabe answerrable for his continued transgression of the very document that make up the backbone of Zimbabwean politics, laws and regulations?

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Take care.

‘debvhu

Source: http://thebeardedman.blogspot.com/2010/09/thursday-9h-september-2010.html