Makoni guns for 70 % landslide victory over Bob

Robert Mugabe is to blame for the suffering of the Zimbabwean people, his former ally and main rival for the presidency has said.

Simba Makoni, 57, served in President Mugabe's government from the moment the country won independence from Britain in 1980. But his decision last month to challenge Mr Mugabe in the March 29 polls reflects a growing dissatisfaction among leading figures in the ruling Zanu-PF party, who have grown tired of the 84-year-old president and baulk at his determination to remain in his post as the country rapidly disintegrates.

"Zimbabwe is in the condition it is in because of a failure of leadership," said Mr Makoni, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Makoni, who will run as an independent candidate after he was expelled from Zanu-PF for daring to challenge the president, said that this realisation had come to him over several years.

"There was not a 'St Paul on the road to Damascus' awakening," he said. "It wasn't an event, it didn't just happen, it was going on as the situation evolved - that this is not the correct way for our people."

With an estimated four million Zimbabweans needing food aid, and with inflation officially running at more than 100,000 per cent, Mr Makoni predicted he would win by a landslide.

"We will win resoundingly, by 70 per cent plus," he said. "The people who are supporting me in Zanu-PF and in other quarters, agree with me that the country is ripe for change at the highest level, that the country needs to take a different direction, a positive direction."

The destruction of Zimbabwe's economy dates from 2000, when Mr Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms. Mr Makoni is calling for an end to race-based policies.

"What we had in Zimbabwe in 1980 was a national government, we had people from different parties and different ethnic groups. We offered the African continent, if not the world, national reconciliation, so I am merely reactivating those values."

But whatever a candidate's vision, winning an election in Zimbabwe is not just a matter of crosses on ballot papers. Mr Mugabe is widely regarded as having stolen the last poll in 2002 - and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) believes that a fair ballot is impossible.

With the ruling Zanu-PF having control over the media and police, the MDC is participating in the elections only under protest. A new constitution that would have changed the political climate was recently agreed but Mr Mugabe announced the election before it could be implemented.

Mr Makoni's campaign alleges it has been victim to "dirty tricks". He was unable to leave Harare to campaign in rural areas yesterday because registration plates for his vehicles were not available. Meanwhile, his printers had supposedly run out of paper to produce fliers.

"I wish and hope and expect this election will be free and fair," Mr Makoni said. He added, however, that he had no access to the state television broadcaster or to the national daily newspapers.

"I respect our president. Up to Feb 5 [when Mr Makoni formally announced his candidacy] we had a good, cordial relationship. I don't know what he feels now."

So what of the comments Mr Mugabe has made since then, comparing him to a prostitute and a frog? "I am puzzled," replied Mr Makoni. "You had best ask him about that."

Source:The Telegraph

Govt employees fight over ZANU PF crumbs

ZIMBABWE'S civil servants are up in arms against the government for selectively awarding hefty pay rises to the military while excluding the rest of its workers who are earning salaries that are far below the poverty datum line.

Union leaders threatened industrial action if their members are not awarded salary increases similar to those received by soldiers. President Robert Mugabe' bankrupt government this month awarded hefty pay increases to disgruntled soldiers in an apparent move to buy their loyalty ahead of crucial joint elections on March 29.

A survey by New Zimbabwe.com showed that soldiers got windfalls of between $1 billion and $3 billion in salaries depending on the rank this month, while teachers got $500 million on average, with other government workers getting much less.

The government which employees all civil servants is also responsible for paying the salaries of soldiers, police officers and Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) operatives through its various employment commissions.

Government sources say CIO agents who did not receive the windfalls that were received by soldiers this February are bitter and have sent a delegation to approach CIO director general Happiton Bonyongwe with their grievances.

Bonyongwe has been linked with Zanu PF factional fighting, with strong suggestions he is associated with former finance minister Simba Makoni who has launched a bid for the country's presidency.

It is believed that Mugabe now prefers working with Bonyongwe's deputies and trusted army brigadiers on all matters of state security. Bonyongwe, Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi and Rtd Major Kudzai Mbudzi, one of Makoni's top advisers, are all married to sisters.

The leader of the pro-government Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) Tendai Chikowore warned that teachers will embark on a full-scale industrial action if the government does not urgently undertake to review their salaries in line with what was awarded to soldiers.

Chikowore said: "Our members are now very impatient. We are consulting all provinces this week and I must say we are under pressure to call for industrial action.

"Our members now suspect that the employer is deliberately choosing to underpay teachers while other government employees are smiling all the way to the bank every month."

ZIMTA which is now threatening to go on strike has in the past distanced itself from strike action spearheaded by its rival, the PTUZ, claiming it prefers negotiating.

The militant Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) accuses the Zanu PF government of being "insensitive and discriminatory" by giving soldiers hefty salaries while "impoverished teachers and other civil servants get peanuts every month."

PTUZ secretary general Raymond Majongwe said President Robert Mugabe's government was using salaries as an electioneering tool to buy the loyalty of other employees and punishing others.

Majongwe said: "What is happening in the public service is very sad. We have a situation were Mugabe is giving soldiers a lot of money ahead of everyone else as a way of buying their allegiance in the event that the forthcoming elections are disputed."

He added: "We are aware that Mugabe is planning to rig the elections in March because he must win at all costs. On the other hand he believes that teachers do not deserve salaries because they are agents of regime change. That is ridiculous."

Majongwe who was hospitalised last Tuesday after he was brutally assaulted by Zanu PF youth militias in Harare said it was "tragic" that teachers were being viewed and treated like enemies of the state by the government. He said he hoped leaders of other public service workers unions would soon see the light and join the PTUZ call for confrontation with the government.

Public Service Association (PSA) boss Cecilia Alexander-Khowa said members of her association were bitter after being sidelined in the pay review.

Khowa said: "Our members are very bitter because they are saying the employer is showing favouritism when dealing with the employees. We under extreme pressure to reach an agreement with government and the issue requires urgent attention."

She added: "We are members of the same family and for the past 28 or so years we have always been treated the same with the uniformed forces. We can not rule out anything because government employees are very angry to say the least."

The PSA represents the rest of the government employees outside the uniformed forces and teachers. Teachers are now pushing for a gross salary of $1.7 billion from $520 million given earlier this month. PTUZ officials have justified the new salary demands by teachers saying they believe these demands are reasonable in the context of the current hyperinflationary environment and the escalating cost of living.

Nurses, doctors and other professionals are leaving Zimbabwe in large numbers in search of better paying jobs in Botswana, South Africa, Britain, Australia and the United States among other countries.

Source: www.newzimbabwe.com

So President Mugabe is turned 84 ! And is still in control!

Well, it’s amazing how the celestial powers will preserve those you wish never existed and prematurely terminate the lives of the ones you adore most and wish they lived for evermore.

Such is life. Anyway, Happy Birthday Mr. President. We trust you will make average merry with your family in celebrating your more than eight decades of existence on mother Earth. But as you may be aware that you are the most reviled individual in Zimbabwe today, we advise that you pose a little and ponder about the complexity of the tribulations your despicable government has wrought for Zimbabwe as a nation.

Retrospectively, think about the state of the economy back in 1980 when Zimbabweans gave you the mandate to steer the country into prosperity for posterity, and comparatively, examine the economic policies that your government has pursued since its inception that have led to the current economic tailspin and those being explored by neighbors such as South Africa and Zambia. Don’t you see the worlds-apart difference there? If not, go further down the memory lane and examine your government’s disastrous seizures of white-owned commercial farms.

Think about the chaos that ensued when you unleashed supporters of your Zanu PF party and the veterans of the liberation struggle on the farms to evict productive white owners in the name of addressing land imbalances. Think about the violence, the killings that characterized the exercise. Figure out if that was the best way to execute the noble idea of balancing land ownership.

Take stock of your military adventure in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Don’t you think this cost Zimbabwe’s treasury a fortune? Think of the agony that you caused the nation in 2005 when you sanctioned a controversial displacement exercise called Operation Murambatsvina that left more than 2, 4 million people either without a roof over their heads or a reliable source of livelihood.

Instead of complementing survival strategies of those you have denied employment, you added to their agony by displacing them and robbing them of their livelihoods. How inhumane of you Mr. President! You took away the few pieces these people were picking from their stalls. Your state machinery went on the rampage and demolished houses, seizing vegetables from vendors and doing all sorts of acts that degrade humanity.

By this you attracted international condemnation and the United Nations called on you to stop the madness and respect humanity; but characteristic of you, you were defiant and belligerent. The catalogue of your glaring gaffes is shamelessly endless Mr. President. We advise that you spare a moment and imagine how you would feel if you were among the masses that experience the devastating effects of your misgovernance today.

Inflation is officially more than 100 000 percent, prices are incredibly high, blackouts are frequent, food shortages are widely pronounced, and you are proudly in charge of the regime that has caused all these evils. Does this not bother you? We doubt if it does. If it did, we presume you would have long done the most honorable thing.

Mr. President, we are informed that, despite the economic collapse you have presided over, leading to the suffering of the masses, your birthday bash on Saturday in Beitbridge has been sponsored to the tune of $3 trillion. Well, that’s a lot of money being channeled towards an undeserving cause. Not so? We wonder how all this money was raised? Was it not extracted from the treasury; we ask?

Mr. President, do you honestly think its fair for you and your family to spend a fortune on your bash at the expense of millions of Zimbabweans who are on the ropes, literally starving and needing aid? We think it’s absolutely not fair and we detest it.

Do you realize the implications of your blanket price freeze and cuts? Outright madness to say the least! We loath to remind you of your Gukurahundi campaign against the Ndebeles.

Iin your interview earlier today with a State daily, you seem to be in pursuit of the fantasy that you are immortal. You reveal that the grumblings within your party are a culmination of greed by some elements after your job.

And boastfully you ask: “Akanga avaudza kuti ndichachembera ndiani.” How incredible! At 84 you still believe you are young? Y’ know; you have a fundamental problem Mr. President. So this explains why you don’t want to abdicate power. You think you are still young enough? No you are not. You are now a burdensome geriatric.

As you take a sip of your favorite wine to down a morsel of your birthday cake, casting a passionate look at your children wishing you could turn back the hands of time to see them grow, think about how they would feel about you in future when they reach discerning stage. We doubt if they will be amused with what you have done to this country.

The Herald newspaper gladly describes you as a “paragon of magnanimity, consistency.” Consistency, yes, but we believe your consistency is misplaced since it has all to do with wrong; destruction, belligerence. Magnanimity; hell no! We believe you are such a disgraced individual.

Rumbling further in your interview with the Herald, you emblazon this fellow, what’s his name, Simba Makoni with a tag that aptly suits you. Disparaging him for standing against you in the March 29 election, you say: “Once you become subjective and take yourself as the opinion maker; as the key person in making opinion, then you are already dangerous not just to others, but to yourself and you become self-opinionated."

Huh, dangerous just not to self but others, and becoming self-opinionated! Mr. President you are exactly what you think your former finance minister is. If anything, the two of you are birds of a same feather. You think you are an asset Zimbabwe can not do without. That is why at 84 you are seeking a new term to perpetuate your rule.

You are now just too old and devoid of constructive ideas. Zimbabweans are tired of you, you are such a pathetic failure. We do cherish your part in liberating the country, but we stand up and say God forbid when you want to personalize Zimbabwe and make it your personal possession.

Now; that you are facing an election, we wish you defeat. But in the likely event that you win, we advise that you hand over power to a much more reasonable person, although we don’t believe in a reformed Zanu PF or in anybody to do with the party for that matter, including the Makoni that you think is self-opinionated and has become dangerous not only to himself but to the society.

We believe you are the most dangerous individual to both yourself and the society today in Zimbabwe. You have made it shameful for us to identify ourselves as Zimbabweans everywhere we go beyond our borders.

Surely some inkling of shame should sweep across your conscience as you celebrate your birthday today for literally ruining Zimbabwe in the past 28 years. Should Zimbabweans fail in their collective effort to get rid of you through the ballot, we advise that you do the most honorable thing Mr. President, at least in the national interest.

We pen off! Ntungamili Nkomo - www.ntungabb.blogspot.com

Makoni woos the generals off Mugabe bandwagon

Basildon Peta
February 19 2008 at 11:55AM

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's reliance on the army to keep him in power now rests on shaky ground.Two former heads of the Zimbabwean armed forces are solidly behind former finance minister Simba Makoni's rebellion against Mugabe.

Interviews with highly placed Zanu-PF officials have confirmed that General Vitalis Zvinavashe and General Solomon Mujuru have been part of Makoni's plans. The elaborate plot was hatched after the Zimbabwean president blocked Makoni's nomination as the ruling party's candidate at a special congress in December.

The sources said it had always been easy for Mugabe to rig elections, since the army ran the elections, but that this would be much more difficult against Makoni.

Other senior army officers have helped to inspire Makoni's rebellion. In party circles he is supported by Zanu-PF stalwarts, including politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, party chairperson John Nkomo and vice-president Joseph Msika.

Officials said the fact that no senior person within Zanu-PF had openly condemned Makoni since he announced his move more than a week ago,was evidence of his wide support within the ruling party.

"The task of condemning him (Makoni) so far has been seized upon by lunatics like (war veterans leader) Joseph Chinotimba," said a senior Zanu-PF official.

The only senior member of Mugabe's inner circle to have publicly commented on the Makoni move, cabinet minister and Zanu-PF secretary for legal affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa, was very mild in his remarks.

Mnangagwa, who has been doing the bidding for Mugabe in the succession race, announced that Makoni had automatically expelled himself from the party. Mugabe has yet to make a pronouncement on Makoni's move, all of which is in sharp contrast to the normally immediate and virulent attacks launched by Mugabe and his cronies against opponents.

Sources said Mugabe's abrupt postponement of the sitting of the nomination courts two weeks ago was because he had been severely shaken by Makoni'smove and wanted to ensure that Makoni was not joined by disgruntled members who had lost out in the primaries.

Zvinavashe said in 2002 that the army would never salute Tsvangirai as president, because he had not fought in the liberation struggle. But, recently, Zvinavashe has been openly critical of Mugabe, saying that Mugabe was betraying the struggle for democracy with his decision to cling to power at all costs.

(This article was originally published on page 9 of The Mercury on
February 19, 2008)

These elections again - heyi madoda

Peta Thornycroft
Harare

18 February 2008

There is growing uncertainty in Zimbabwe as politicians and analysts realize
that President Robert Mugabe is likely to face a run off after the March 29
elections. For VOA, Peta Thornycroft in Harare reports on the concerns.

Harare political scientist Eldred Masungurure says he believes the ruling
party - Zanu PF - will try to bring off what he describes as "an electoral
coup" when the results of the presidential balloting emerge after the
elections next month.

He and other independent political analysts do not believe it will be
possible for Mr. Mugabe to win an absolute majority, as for the first time
in his political career he faces not one, but two strong candidates.

Mr. Mugabe would, Masungurure says, have to do massive amounts of rigging to win a majority.

Many independent analysts say that Morgan Tsvangirai, founding president of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was cheated out of a narrow victory in the last presidential poll in 2002. Mr. Tsvangirai has
considerable support in many urban areas, particularly in the capital, Harare.

One of the challengers President Mugabe is facing, Simba Makoni, had been a life long member of the ruling Zanu PF until he was expelled earlier this
month, and has held senior positions in both the government and the party.
Mr. Makoni says he has considerable support from many of his former
colleagues in Zanu PF. Analysts say that means it will be more difficult for
Mr. Mugabe's supporters to rig this election undetected.

Analysts point out that President Mugabe does not know which of the
legislative candidates on the Zanu PF ticket will support Simba Makoni in
the presidential poll.

Masungurure says it is hard to image that an already divided Zanu PF, having contested parliamentary, local government and senate elections on March 29, would be prepared or even able to stage a second round of presidential
voting just 21 days later.

He said Zimbabweans should not be surprised if President Mugabe decides to break electoral laws if, as seems most likely, he does not win a clear
majority.

He said Zimbabweans should look carefully at what happened in Kenya last
month when President Mwai Kibaki quickly had himself sworn into power before any legal objections to the result could be launched by the opposition.

Patrick Chinamasa, a spokesman for Zanu PF who is also minister of justice,
says a second round in the presidential poll will not be necessary as
president Mugabe will win "resoundlingly." He described the opposition as
"make shift" and he said Mr. Mugabe's opponents do not have a "platform or
any cohesion."

Source: VOA

---

Elections, idiots and handpicked selections?

As an astute observer of Zimbabwean politics, I have watched the election drama unfold with all the interests and plenty of disappointment. I call it a drama because it cannot be called by any other name.

Democracy is supposed to be a very big and fair game, but can it be so fair that we can have eleven candidates competing for the votes of an increasingly skeletal population of Mpopoma, or Gwanda Central where many who would have been voters have long walked over crocodiles to get to the greener side of the Limpopo?

The sheer number of idiots, nobodies, thieves and politically bankrupt fools, chancers and turn coats competing to represent the people leaves plenty to worry about. Government calls it the harmonized, historic elections. Historic indeed if you consider the number of split parties contesting with twins in every other small constituencies.

The number of disgruntled people who filed is also a cause of questioning as to whether the motive is really to stand for the people or line the pockets of some of these poor sods masquareding as candidates. The only historic thing I see is that ZANU PF is for the first time since its dictatorship facing a real challenge from the alliance of Simba Makoni and least understood and perhaps more rational Arthur Mutambara led MDC.

Tsvangirai being the noisemaker that he is, has already heaped scorn on Makoni calling him an unreformed ZANU PF, which I think emanates from his short memory, so short that he has forgotten that he personally sang all the praises of Robert Mugabe while he was a youth leader and a Gukurahundi in that party in the early 80s.

I have a feeling that If Makoni is ZANU PF, so is Tsvangirai, and so is the ten-fold liar-cum-day dreamer called John Makumbe, an unrepentant Tsvangirai apologist who masquaredes as a political analyst.

The election fever is bringing out all the idiots and some appear to be bigger and more mindless than that we thought. I will tell you why Makumbe and other Tsvangirai apologists are accomplished idiots in the next instalment.

Moroka Media.2008

Zisco Steel Grinds To A Halt

By: Oscar Nkala
Published: 8 Feb 08 - 0:00

Zimbabwe’s major iron and steel producer, the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Zisco), will shortly shut down its Number 4 blast furnace, the only operational unit, to pave way for its refurbishment.

Acting Zisco CEO Alois Gowo tells Engineering News that the refurbishment contract has been awarded to a Chinese company. “The blast furnace has already outlived its lifespan. A Chinese company will carry out the job of relining the furnace between now and July. All we are waiting for now is the release of the US$9,5-million payment by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. We expect the actual refurbishment to begin in August,” Gowo said.

He adds that, in line with the agreement, Zisco has started building up stockpiles of iron waste pieces (ingots) that will be processed into finished goods when the relining process begins, while the Chinese company will supply the equipment.

Zisco projects that production will increase to 25 000 t a month when the furnace comes back into production. Steel production at the company has been on a continuous slide for the past five years as the country’s economic crisis worsens. The latest slide saw production levels tumble from 20% of its full capacity in 2006 to 10% currently.

Gowo blames the decline in production on several factors that revolve around power cuts and inadequate coal deliveries from Hwange Colliery Company.

Coal deliveries to us declined from an average of 8 000 t a month between September and December last year to a mere 5 000 t a month currently. Power cuts also continue to deal us huge blows.” Gowo.

The company resumed production a fortnight ago, after being forced to close down by the nationwide power outages last week.