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Bob clutches the gold FIFA soccer World Cup trophy
Last night at the Harare airport, the Zimbabwean President Bob Mugabe had his turn to hold the 6.5kg solid gold Fifa World Cup trophy. The trophy is touring Africa before the continent’s first World Cup finals next year. It would have visited 86 countries before arriving in here ahead of the 2010 World Cup Draw on Thursday.
Mr Mugabe said last night the gold trophy symbolised the return of plundered wealth which should be retained by African victory in South Africa reports AFP.
This is horrific. Two weeks ago 12 soldiers were tortured to death by military intelligence, The Zimbabwean newspaper reports. The soldiers were accused of stealing guns and bombs from Pomona barracks.
Today the Zimbabwe Times is reporting Major Maxwell Samudzi (48), another of the soldiers charged with the theft, “committed suicide under unclear circumstances while in army detention on Sunday night”.
The Herald newspaper, said yesterday that Samudzi, was found on Monday morning lying dead on the floor. “A black electrical code was tied around his neck while blood was coming out of his nose and mouth. Samudzi allegedly carried three packets containing cotrimohazole aspirin and nevirapine in his left trousers pocket.”
But The Zimbabwe Times says “It was, however, not clear who brought him both the cord he allegedly used to hang himself or the tablets.”
Last night I received this press release calling for UN intervention as 120 soldiers are being brutally tortured in barracks:
Brutal torture is being meted out to 120 Zimbabwean soldiers at KG V1 Barracks in Harare as members of the army’s military intelligence, the military police and the Central Intelligence Organisation intensify interrogation of personnel following the alleged theft of guns from the armoury two weeks ago.
According to news just in from reliable sources, shifts of militia are being transported into the barracks day and night to beat and torture the soldiers.
Today the state-owned newspaper, The Herald, reported that Major Maxwell Samudzi had committed suicide in the military cells. However, the sources warn that he was in fact beaten to death.
Colonel Garira, who is alleged to have master-minded the theft of the weapons, is believed at the time of writing to be close to death. Read More…
The following statement was agreed upon by the countries attending a meeting of the Friends of Zimbabwe held in Berlin on October 26, 2009.
Participants: U.S., Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, European Commission (EC), EU Presidency (Sweden), EU Council Secretariat, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), United Nations
The Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe has, since February 2009, taken a number of important and effective steps for the economic and social stabilization of the country. We welcome the progress that has resulted from these courageous measures and note that the lives of many Zimbabweans have since improved.
As friends and donors, we have closely followed and encouraged this process. We want the inclusive government to succeed in its determination to fully implement its programme as agreed in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) of 15 September 2008.
We have met in Berlin today against the background of the temporary suspension of the proceedings of the Inclusive Government, reflecting frustration about the slow pace of implementation of the Agreement. We urge all parties concerned to ensure that the current political crisis is resolved effectively without undue delay and in a manner consistent with the provisions of the GPA.
Zimbabwe has embarked on the road towards restoration of democracy and the rule of law. This is a process we hope will allow the country once again to realize its vast potential. In aligning ourselves with the broad national and regional consensus about the priorities of the current transitional period as laid down in the GPA, we reiterate our wish to see the Inclusive Government succeed in its task to build a framework for long term stabilization and recovery, better and more accountable governance, the re-establishment of the rule of law, and respect for human rights. We recognize the critical role of SADC as guarantor of the GPA and the organization’s stake in ensuring its full implementation. We stand ready to join forces with SADC in our joint endeavour to assist Zimbabwe on its road to full recovery.
Read More…
Remember to watch the documentary on Special Assignment tonight on SABC3.
I saw this film a few weeks ago in Johannesburg – see my post. Tonight and Friday night it will be screened at the London Film Festival. Tickets are sold out.
I came across this interesting blog post by a Zimbabwean journalist based in Leeds, UK. Gilbert Nyambabvu responded to Amanpour’s interview with Mugabe. “Outraged Zimbabweans rightly, if jokingly, dismissed the journalist as Aman-poor,” he says.
About land issues, he says that any ‘experienced’ and ‘intelligent’ journalist would know that trying to engage President Mugabe on the ‘land issue’ and the matter of ‘sanctions’ is a hopeless enterprise.
The President is at his most passionate and eloquent when talking about these issues; and as soon as Amanpour inexpertly raised them, the Zimbabwean leader quickly overcame his initial unease and seized control of the interview.
Online at The Daily Dispatch there is a very interesting story. A scary one too. Students protest, and are politicalyl active. That’s what they do. Remember Soweto 1976, Paris 1968, Iranian Students in the 90′s and again in 2009, and what about our campuses in the 80′s?
Dr Abyssinia Mushunje, a Zimbabwean lecturer in the university’s agriculture economics department, allegedly wrote an email to a student’s mother saying, “I know she is passionate about MDC just the same as I’m passionate about baba. Their permit is for them to study and not to come here and oppose their own gvts… let her know she is being watched.”
The Daily Dispatch reports that:
MDC secretary-general at the Alice campus Vitalis Mubayira said 12 students have so far been cut from the Zimbabwean government Presidential Scholarship for being members of the MDC.
“We have been political victims since we made our position clear by supporting the MDC.
“There is not a single Zanu-PF aligned student that has lost their scholarship,” Mubayira said.
Is this happening on other South African campuses? Let me know. If you know.
I don’t often wish for DSTV and all it’s programming. But today I wish for at least a few of its news channels. Last night I missed Gaddafi’s performance at the UN General Assembly. And tonight I’m missing Robert Mugabe on the AMANPOUR show for a rare interview.
It’s on CNN at 9pm tonight. On Christiane Amanpour’s show. I am sure it will be very entertaining.
The Sunday Times was in Zimbabwe last week, in case you missed the weekend paper, where James Oatway produced this video:
Mondli Makhanya explained this Sunday in detail what sanctions exactly have been imposed on Zimbabwe. And really it’s only Mugabe and his allies whose lives have been restricted. Grace can’t travel to Europe and the US to shop. Shame. And none of the 150 whose overseas bank accounts have been frozen, can spend their lovely dollars. It’s the mismanagement of the country that’s hurting ordinary Zimbabweans. Not these sanctions.
Here is the sanctions myth debunked:
These are limited sanctions aimed at about 150 top government, party, military and business figures seen to be key to keeping Mugabe’s oppressive regime intact. The sanctions range from travel bans to most North American and European countries, as well as a freeze on bank accounts and other assets these individuals hold there.
The sanctions have hurt the Zanu-PF elite, who used to spirit money to foreign destinations, where they often escaped for holidays and shopping sprees and sent their children to study while the rest of the country suffered.
These measures have forced Mugabe and his wife, who were ironically head-over-heels in love with the glamour of Western capitals, to settle for Eastern glitz.
The sanctions have not hurt ordinary Zimbabweans. It is the mismanagement of the country that has hurt them.
