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Robb Ellis’s commentary on Zim News…

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: 2007-01-06 Time: 00:00:00  Posted By: Jan

Howzit

It’s coming on 0730 hours and it is still dark outside. The weather here looks like it’s going to be wet and nasty. Another day indoors for me.

I was speaking to some friends in Harare a day or so ago and they said that it was raining, hot and humid. I recorded some silence, zipped it, and sent it to them as an attachment. Called it ‘compressed air’!…

Foreign currency mid-rates updated. I note that the site that I use to get the rates has begun to quote rates having also dropped the three zeroes. I agree with this as the money discussed on this page is largely quoted by these rates. I may be wrong, but that’s the way it’s going to stay.

I do note that there is much news today, so without much more delay, let’s get into it…

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The civic leader who said his house was petrol bombed in a politically motivated attack early Sunday accused the police of taking their time to investigate the attack. He also accused them of deliberately misleading the public in reports published by the state controlled Herald newspaper.

He said the way the authorities have been behaving is part of the evidence that shows the attack is state sanctioned. Dr Madhuku said even though he reported the matter to Waterfalls police and actually collected an officer to go to the scene within 20 minutes of the incident, the officer took no action. According to the NCA chairperson it then took another 22 hours to get the Member in Charge at the police station to go to his house. Officials from the Law and Order Section went there the following day.

“What we then saw is they rushed to the Herald, as police, to put a story that they were investigating the attack which was by an unknown person. In fact they gave a false story that we had seen someone putting a chemical on some fire outside my bedroom and then we panicked and broke the windows. That kind of a deliberate lie by those who know better is a reflection of people who want to limit the political damage that this kind of thing does,” said Madhuku.“

Have I not said in the past few days that the charge that they are investigating is incorrect? That would fall in line with Madhuku’s assertions.

The ZRP have been brainwashed – they are obliged to attend ‘patriotism classes’ which I describe in my ‘Year In Review’ on my last podcast as the ‘ZANU PF Mutual Admiration Society’ – and all members are aware that they must toe the line of the ruling party – and have no intention of standing for justice unless it is on behalf of Mugabe and his government.

Madhuku said the attackers sprinkled petrol around his house and outside his garage hoping his car would catch fire and explode. But he managed to escape together with his three young children and some relatives who were in the house.

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When it comes to rain, drought and earthquakes then I take a back seat. This is outside of our domain and is the ‘Kakulu Nkosi‘ upstairs doing his thing.

Unusually heavy rains have been causing problems around Zimbabwe since New Year’s, though the country’s meteorological office said the dry spell that preceded the recent deluge prevented worse flooding than might have occurred in many areas.

Beitbridge, on the southern Limpopo River border with South Africa, received some 93 millimetres of rain, the most it has gotten in 46 years, meteorologists said. Masvingo, to the northeast, and Manicaland, still further north, were also drenched.“

Just what long term problems this will cause, I don’t know, but at least it will stop Robert Mugabe from running and hiding behind the words, “We are experiencing a drought.”

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International media bodies have condemned attempts by Zimbabwe authorities to strip a prominent newspaper publisher of his Zimbabwean citizenship, which some have interpreted as a move toward forcing the closure of his Harare publications.

The International Press Institute, the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editor’s Forum put out a statement Thursday accusing Harare of trying to silence dissenting voices through an attempt to strip Trevor Ncube of his citizenship.

Harare has accused Ncube, publisher of the South African-based Mail and Guardian, and of the Standard and Zimbabwe Independent papers in Harare, of breaching the country’s citizenship laws by not renouncing his Zambian nationality. But Ncube, now challenging the state’s position in Harare high court, said the claims are false as he was born in Zimbabwe and therefore entitled to his citizenship.“

Exactly. As I have mentioned before, I know one person who was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia – and today is treated as an alien – yet I was born in the UK and I held Rhodesian and then Zimbabwean citizenship, and only was issued with a British passport in 2001 because the Zimbabwean authorities refused to extend my Zimbabwean travel document.

It’s quite amazing how the Mugabe regime treat people. At that time I did not run a blog and as far as I was concerned they had no reason to refuse me. It’s the old story of ‘if you’re not with me, then you are against me.’ Too bad, so sad for them…

Too right I’m against Mugabe and everything he and his bunch of clowns running the country stand for…. And I’m just one of many.

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President Robert Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe, which has mounted a six-year campaign to seize white-owned farms, is poised to allow hundreds of white farmers to return to their land as the country faces starvation and economic collapse.

“There could be some 300 whites back on farms by the end of next year,” government land adviser Sam Moyo said. “Most of them will be running commercial farms.”

Since November, 19 white farmers who lost ownership of their land have been granted 99-year government-backed leases on resettled farms in a spectacular U-turn by Mugabe.

On a commercial farm lying off a clay-dirt road just outside the town of Kadoma, 118km from the capital Harare, Jim Boethe described how he had been invited back to his land.

“When land-reform started we had nearly 1,000 hectares growing maize,” he said. “It was divided up [by the government] and now we only have 100. But we are happy to be back — we applied for the lease and are waiting for it to be signed.“

If I were a commercial farmer and had been chased off my land by armed war veterans or green bombers or the Police or the ZNA, I would NEVER consider going back to the land in Zimbabwe.

You see, the government have proved just what they are. Liars, cheats and bullies.

Let me ask this question: Has anyone ever been brought to book for the murders of David Stephens, Martin Olds – or any other farmer slain in the name of ‘Land Reform’? I didn’t think so…

And the government expect commercial farmers to go back to the land on their terms?

I doff my cap in respect of those that do take up the offer.

After Mugabe was defeated in a referendum on Zimbabwe’s Constitution in 1999 the government decided to “fast-track” land reform to win over a hostile electorate, resulting in farm seizures by supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party spearheaded by landless veterans of the country’s war for independence.

The UN-funded World Food Program said that 2 million Zimbabweans will need food aid in the next six months despite improved agricultural output last season.

But welcoming back white farmers might be too little too late.“

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Books that rebut the history of Zimbabwe as rewritten by Mugabe and his loyalists are more than welcome… I wrote “Without Honour” because I felt that the story needed to be told, and that the lies and humiliation that Mugabe now forces his people to live under, need to be exposed.

Not that one book written by myself is going to achieve that – but if only one person reads it and realises the truth behind the Gukurahundi, then my job is done.

A Lifetime of Struggle” a new book by veteran Zimbabwean politician Edgar Tekere is published next week.

Tekere, 70, served briefly in government before his popularity as a potential rival to Robert Mugabe caused their estrangement.“

What I want to know, is has the story been told truthfully? Given that Tekere crossed swords with Mugabe and was in the political wilderness for a long time, I would hope so. He has nothing to lose, has he?

In review, Ibbo Mandaza, a veteran journalist and academic, says: “It reveals how that militarism of the liberation war was overflown into the current situation where we have violence of the state.”

He also says: “Tekere shows Mugabe as a weak character. He also comes across as an unreliable and calculating individual keen on long term strategies where people are used variously like Enos Nkala, Maurice Nyagumbo and Tekere himself to achieve set ends.

Tekere also portrays Mugabe as manipulative and therefore, insecure which explains his desire to stay in power. Tekere also says Mugabe has an inability to see beyond himself.

The book is an eye-opener and in a way, it explains the nature of the state today.“

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Yesterday I reported how the House of Lords are meeting next week to decide whether to maintain travel sanctions against top Zimbabwean government members. Today I can tell you how the USA has donated computers to the Zimbabwean Air Force…

The United States of America donated computers to the Air Force of Zimbabwe despite slapping sanctions on that African country that included a military embargo, it emerged Thursday.

Unreal…

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Another article, this one looking at the existing travel sanctions against Mugabe and the effect they have upon the Zimbabwean people, the country and the political climate as a whole…

The lifting of sanctions against one of Africa’s last ageing dictators could actually be a boon for the waning fortunes of the like of beleaguered Morgan Tsvangirai, whose once-blossoming political career was greatly damaged by dithering, naivety and lassitude.

So far, calling for the maintenance of sanction has been the equivalent of burning down a house to kill a rat.“

Do the travel sanctions really have that effect on the country as a whole? So Mugabe can’t travel to the UK or head off to the US or Australia for a brief ‘visit’ – most of which were excuses to take his wife, Amazing Grace (or should that be DisGrace?), shopping.

Does this article hint that the situation in Zimbabwe is largely as a result of Mugabe’s anger at being hampered in his travel plans around the world?

If sanctions were lifted today, he wouldn’t hesitate to catch – literally – the next Air Zimbabwe plane to London, if only to thumb his nose at the West once more for the fun of it.

Before the unfortunate prisoners of change can start sharpening their knives in defence of sanctions, let me explain why sanction should be lifted. There are several advantages to be achived from the lifting of personal sanctions against Mugabe.

First, by allowing Mugabe to travel to London or new York or Munich once more, it would water down his pro-Look Far east rhetoric, and might make him lose his appetite for things Oriental in favour of afternoon tea and cricket tidbits with the Queen, where Her Majesty could even put a word in edgeways and ask about the health of Porta Farm residents!“

Mugabe, driven by personal feelings, as opposed to political good-naturedness (is there such a thing?), would still maintain his Look East campaign if sanctions were lifted, although I feel that there would be a certain amount of quiet undercurrent work going on out of the public eye.

And he knows we know. And we know he knows we know.

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In a dramatic climbdown, President Robert Mugabe's cabinet quietly issued orders in December ordering a halt to the smash and grab tactics that has characterized the Zanu (PF) government's violent and repressive 27-year rule.

The advisory, entitled “Jambanja is over,” was signed by the chief secretary to Cabinet Misheck Sibanda and dovetailed Mugabe's speech at the Zanu (PF) conference where he warned senior ruling party officials that their rush to claim resources had “shamed us.”

The cabinet advisory reads: “Jambanja is over. It is time for return to the rule of law. We wanted something. Now we have got it so jambanja is finished.“

So. ZANU PF have lined their deep pockets with the good of the land, the possessions of the people, the contents of the State coffers and so very much more. And their leader is as old as the hills and wants to stay for an additional 2 years – until 2010.

Their answer? Having threatend the people with violence and death if they rebel, they quietly tell each other ‘stop the theft, the grab and the confusion’ in the mistaken belief that the people will ally themselves with them again…

But the damage is done. It was done as long ago as 2000, but ZANU PF had hoodwinked too many people and had promised so much but not delivered. Just play the YouTube file in the sidebar to hear what Mugabe had to say just 12 years ago…

We want to plan. There shall be no greediness allowed in opening up the area of mining to the people. You have always been the first, why can't you be the last?” Mugabe said.

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Zimbabwe’s frail dollar plumbed fresh depths to hit $2 900 to the greenback on the thriving parallel market, starting the year 2007 on a sombre note and reinforcing gloomy forecasts of an unprecidented acceleration in the rate of inflation.

The rate was at over $3 000/US$ for larger volume transactions.

Other major currencies, mainly the British pound, the South African rand and Botswana pula, were moving around the benchmark US dollar rate.“

More trouble on the horizon for the Zimbabwean currency.

In fact, it’s not on the horizon – it’s already here and it looks set to stay…

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OK, I’ve been at it for over three hours. There is more news out there but I don’t want to spend all day writing, and give no one a chance to read….

Take care.

‘debvhu