HARARE - President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF supporters stormed Parliament in
Harare yesterday, beating MPs and journalists while women traders were
rounded up in Mbare and forced to attend their party meeting, as the
political situation in the country deteriorates further.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Gideon Gono warns US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
CENTRAL Bank chief Gideon Gono had some curiously frank advice for US
Treasury secretary Tim Geithner on printing money at a Zimbabwe Independent
dialogue function in Harare this week.
Treasury secretary Tim Geithner on printing money at a Zimbabwe Independent
dialogue function in Harare this week.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Joseph Chinotimba and his violent past
War vets leader Joseph Chinotimba might be well known for being the butt of
jokes which mock his broken English and clownish behavior, but today on our
Crimes of the Past series we look at his trail of violence, rape and murder.
A landslide victory certain ... as Zanu PF turns to wayward generals for whiffs of oxygen
Robert Mugabe has done Zimbabwe and SADC a favour by admitting that he is the principal power source of a few military generals now in charge of Zanu PF. In the process, he explicitly assumed the main responsibility for the unending investor anxiety, fear and political instability.
Fresh ZANU PF Gukurahundi remarks ‘indicate fear’
ZANU PF officials are publicly claiming the issue of the Gukurahundi
massacres is closed because they fear it will be investigated when Robert
Mugabe loses power, ZAPU has said. 87-year old Robert Mugabe is known to be
suffering from health problems which could force him to step down or make it
impossible for him to win the next election.
Gono apologises for Zimdollar era chaotic errors.
HARARE - Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono yesterday
apologised “on behalf of everyone” for the chaotic period in which the
country’s inflation reached unprecedented levels and where the central bank
accrued debts of $1,1 billion.
Mugabe to table sanctions issue at SADC
economic sanctions at the SADC Summit to be held in Angola next month.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Zimbabwe music star becomes UN goodwill ambassador
NORTON, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwean music superstar Oliver Mtukudzi's lyrics
have delved into child abuse and homeless youngsters living on the streets.
Now he's been chosen to serve as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N.
children's agency.
Sekeramayi “behind Mutinhiri farm invasion”
Hundreds of armed “war veterans” and party militia invaded Tracy Mutinhiri’s
Waltendall Farm on Saturday, allegedly at the behest of Zanu (PF) Minister
of State Security and Senator Marondera-Wedza, Sydney Sekeramayi.
Once a close family friend, Sekeremayi has also been accused of engineering
Muthinhiri’s divorce from her husband Ambrose.
“It is an open secret in Zanu (PF) circles that Sekeramayi was instrumental
in the unfortunate split of the Mutinhiri family. We are not surprised to
learn that his hand is behind the attempted invasion of Tracy’s farm. He
hates her personally - this has nothing to do with politics,” said a top
Zanu (PF) insider.
Waltendall Farm on Saturday, allegedly at the behest of Zanu (PF) Minister
of State Security and Senator Marondera-Wedza, Sydney Sekeramayi.
Once a close family friend, Sekeremayi has also been accused of engineering
Muthinhiri’s divorce from her husband Ambrose.
“It is an open secret in Zanu (PF) circles that Sekeramayi was instrumental
in the unfortunate split of the Mutinhiri family. We are not surprised to
learn that his hand is behind the attempted invasion of Tracy’s farm. He
hates her personally - this has nothing to do with politics,” said a top
Zanu (PF) insider.
Buy Zimbabwe Day: public invited to celebrate local goods
Next Wednesday Africa Unity Square will see the colourful launch of the Buy
Zimbabwe Campaign. All are encouraged to join in the celebrations, aimed at
raising awareness and generating support for consumers to buy locally-made
products and help revive local industries
In order for the campaign to be successful and effective, it needs to go
beyond words by working with business, government and consumers in practical
matters directed at ensuring increased production and consumption of local
goods and services, says the campaign’s spokesperson Munyaradzi Hwengwere.
Zimbabwe Campaign. All are encouraged to join in the celebrations, aimed at
raising awareness and generating support for consumers to buy locally-made
products and help revive local industries
In order for the campaign to be successful and effective, it needs to go
beyond words by working with business, government and consumers in practical
matters directed at ensuring increased production and consumption of local
goods and services, says the campaign’s spokesperson Munyaradzi Hwengwere.
Gumede stands firm on explosive match fixing report
Zimbabwean football has been rocked by what is now known as the Asiagate
scandal, where players, coaches, journalists and football officials were
paid huge bribes to cover up for the fact that the country’s national team,
and at times a bogus one, was deliberately losing matches hosted in Asia as
part of a betting scam.
Zimbabwe banks want to clean dirty dollars
Banks in Zimbabwe have urged the public to deposit money in their accounts,
so that soiled, torn and defaced dollar bills can be exchanged for clean,
new notes, a state daily reported.
"Old notes continue to be in circulation because people are not banking
money so that old notes can be repatriated and new ones are brought into
circulation," Bankers Association of Zimbabwe chairman John Mushayavanhu
said, according to The Herald newspaper.
so that soiled, torn and defaced dollar bills can be exchanged for clean,
new notes, a state daily reported.
"Old notes continue to be in circulation because people are not banking
money so that old notes can be repatriated and new ones are brought into
circulation," Bankers Association of Zimbabwe chairman John Mushayavanhu
said, according to The Herald newspaper.
High Court reserves judgement in Biti's phone records case
The High Court on Wednesday reserved judgment in an application by the
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is seeking to block the release of his
mobile phone records to the police. The serious fraud squad at the Criminal
Investigation Department claim they are investigating Biti for “abuse of
office,” allegations that the Minister has dismissed as harassment.
The MDC is lying, Tendai Biti bombed his own home
During the second world war Britain sought to lead German intelligence astray. An elaborate ruse, Operation Mincemeat, was set out. The Allies intended to attack Sicily but wanted to throw the Germans off the scent by having them believe they were readying to invade Greece and Sardinia. This deception being successful, the Germans would saddle the might of their forces readying for a battle that would never be whilst the allies simply marched into a less fortified Sicily given the troops committed to the imagined imminent attack. The full account of events is intriguing and a most impressive display of military intelligence and the power the comes from being able to correctly anticipate your opponent.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The curse of Africa: Limited Imagination The curse of Africa: Limited Imagination
In electing leaders to high office, what is it that the generality seeks? It has become tradition that the politicians share a vision, an imagination if you permit the word, and we buy into it and commit our vote to them in the hope that what they have in mind to accomplish will come to fruition. What then can we say of a people who routinely elect those with a vision no advanced than their bellies and the anatomy below the same? Who is guilty of greater evil, the mindless lunatic who runs the street butchering the innocent or the Knife Shop proprietor who was so reckless as to sell him the knife? Let’s draw closer to our subject of interest and ask: Who must suffer the more damnation, the elected or the elector? I am the Zimbabwean Prince
.
In the late 19th century a man of remarkable vision, Cecil John Rhodes, set out to conquer the African continent. His aim was not merely to subjugate it’s primitive black inhabitants but to set out an impressive network of commerce. He spoke of a rail network that would stretch from the Cape, through the heart of Central Africa and reach the courts of Cairo. It was a crazed manner of ambition. Had the man lived years in step with his hopes I have no scarcity of faith that all he sought to achieve would have been accomplished.
Consider this dear reader. In the late 19th century, a British man unfamiliar with the African terrain imagined laying down a rail network across thousands of miles. Take to mind the numerous obstacles. He did not have the luxury of advanced technology and accurate mapping as we do today. There was no certainty about how agreeable the various tribes they would encounter would be. There was the real chance of an entire workforce being devastated by some obscure tropical disease. Despite all this the man dared to dream. He had a vision. He had imagination.
Today Africans suffer the disgrace of being the poorest of the poor. We suffer the debasement of beggars. Western televisions stations run aid appeals for Africa in an endless loop. Hungry black babies strapped to the backs of the equally hungry mothers. If only it were getting better. It is not. Africa is worse off today than it was 30 years ago. We are becoming more the poorer.
One would imagine that an ambitious leadership would arise with unique ideas to overcome the uncommon challenges that we face.
The problem we face is not failure nor inherent inability. It is limited imagination. All things are possible to them that believe. What the mind can conceive it can achieve. Mankind has gone to the moon, set metal in flight in the form of airplanes, conducted hand transplants, face transplants and set out advanced technologies through complex computing procedures; this being so surely Africans can do as much as feed themselves. But we have failed. So miserable is our existence that we cannot feed ourselves. It is a miserable reality to face, a stripping of dignity.
We come back to the matter of leaders of limited imagination. Zimbabwe has failed in a most basic task: bringing water from the Zambezi to Matebeleland. This is not a tasking feat demanding advanced engineering but we have still failed. We have failed because none of our leaders ever had it in mind. Nobody ever imagined the reality of it, or cared to imagine.
When Mugabe came to office in 1980 he had a vision, albeit a limited one. He set out courageous reforms in education to redress the imbalance set in place by the past colonial regime; because of what he saw in his mind, his imagination, today Zimbabwe has the most impressive literacy rates in Africa. It is not that those nations that are not as accomplished in education are incompetent or that Zimbabweans are of superior intelligence. Far from it. All things are possible to them that believe. It is only that they have never had a leadership that conceived advancing education in the same manner as Mugabe did.
The problem then is not insurmountable odds but a leadership that is unable to dream. The strength of the Americans is not in uncommon intelligence but in the ability to imagine. To imagine a bomb with powers of destruction beyond compare, an imagination that later incarnated itself as the nuclear bomb. To imagine traveling to the moon. The power is in being able to conceive an idea. That is half the task accomplished. When the mind determines to accomplish a task the obstacles one encounters along the way can easily be overcome. A way will be found for this, obstacles of any form can be overcome.
Food is the most basic of mankind’s needs. Are we so incompetent as a people that we cannot have a surplus of food? Is it not possible to line the entire Harare-Mutare highway with endless fruit trees? Is it not possible that we can have a nation in which bananas are thrown away because of abundance? These are not grand goals. How is it we cannot have vast fisheries across the entire nation? How is it that we cannot grow potatoes in such abundance that they go to waste because of excess. These are not insurmountable goals near landing on the moon. Is our government unable to set out efficient subsidies and manage ambitious agricultural projects to feed the nation? If we can run a scarily efficient intelligence service like the CIO on a shoe string budget then surely we can grow potatoes.
The challenge dear reader is that this has never entered the imagination of our leaders. They are concerned with their bellies and the anatomy below the belt. With those satisfied so are they.
Does Morgan Tsvangirai have sufficient mental clarity of thought to bring about such considerable transformation in our national direction? I’ll let the reader decide.
In 2008 the the people of the United States were readying to elect an eloquent man of unique accomplishments, Barack Obama. Obama had grand ideals. He spoke of a world free of nuclear weapons, universal health-care for Americans and a world of greater peace and cooperation. A man begins with a vision. Given power he walks toward that which he saw in his mind. At that same time South African was readying to elect a man of less colourful stripes to high office, Jacob Zuma. Here was a man who had been involved in corruption scandals and whose right hand man had only recently been convicted of gross corruption. Here was a man who was so dull as to not see the absurdity of telling a court that he had taken a shower after have unprotected intercourse with an HIV positive woman, this in the hope of preventing infection. This is the man that South Africans determined to anoint as king. One Julius Malema vowed that he was ready to “kill for Zuma.”
What is Zuma’s imagination, what is his vision. What he sees in his mind is what will happen to South Africa.
.
In the late 19th century a man of remarkable vision, Cecil John Rhodes, set out to conquer the African continent. His aim was not merely to subjugate it’s primitive black inhabitants but to set out an impressive network of commerce. He spoke of a rail network that would stretch from the Cape, through the heart of Central Africa and reach the courts of Cairo. It was a crazed manner of ambition. Had the man lived years in step with his hopes I have no scarcity of faith that all he sought to achieve would have been accomplished.
Consider this dear reader. In the late 19th century, a British man unfamiliar with the African terrain imagined laying down a rail network across thousands of miles. Take to mind the numerous obstacles. He did not have the luxury of advanced technology and accurate mapping as we do today. There was no certainty about how agreeable the various tribes they would encounter would be. There was the real chance of an entire workforce being devastated by some obscure tropical disease. Despite all this the man dared to dream. He had a vision. He had imagination.
Today Africans suffer the disgrace of being the poorest of the poor. We suffer the debasement of beggars. Western televisions stations run aid appeals for Africa in an endless loop. Hungry black babies strapped to the backs of the equally hungry mothers. If only it were getting better. It is not. Africa is worse off today than it was 30 years ago. We are becoming more the poorer.
One would imagine that an ambitious leadership would arise with unique ideas to overcome the uncommon challenges that we face.
The problem we face is not failure nor inherent inability. It is limited imagination. All things are possible to them that believe. What the mind can conceive it can achieve. Mankind has gone to the moon, set metal in flight in the form of airplanes, conducted hand transplants, face transplants and set out advanced technologies through complex computing procedures; this being so surely Africans can do as much as feed themselves. But we have failed. So miserable is our existence that we cannot feed ourselves. It is a miserable reality to face, a stripping of dignity.
We come back to the matter of leaders of limited imagination. Zimbabwe has failed in a most basic task: bringing water from the Zambezi to Matebeleland. This is not a tasking feat demanding advanced engineering but we have still failed. We have failed because none of our leaders ever had it in mind. Nobody ever imagined the reality of it, or cared to imagine.
When Mugabe came to office in 1980 he had a vision, albeit a limited one. He set out courageous reforms in education to redress the imbalance set in place by the past colonial regime; because of what he saw in his mind, his imagination, today Zimbabwe has the most impressive literacy rates in Africa. It is not that those nations that are not as accomplished in education are incompetent or that Zimbabweans are of superior intelligence. Far from it. All things are possible to them that believe. It is only that they have never had a leadership that conceived advancing education in the same manner as Mugabe did.
The problem then is not insurmountable odds but a leadership that is unable to dream. The strength of the Americans is not in uncommon intelligence but in the ability to imagine. To imagine a bomb with powers of destruction beyond compare, an imagination that later incarnated itself as the nuclear bomb. To imagine traveling to the moon. The power is in being able to conceive an idea. That is half the task accomplished. When the mind determines to accomplish a task the obstacles one encounters along the way can easily be overcome. A way will be found for this, obstacles of any form can be overcome.
Food is the most basic of mankind’s needs. Are we so incompetent as a people that we cannot have a surplus of food? Is it not possible to line the entire Harare-Mutare highway with endless fruit trees? Is it not possible that we can have a nation in which bananas are thrown away because of abundance? These are not grand goals. How is it we cannot have vast fisheries across the entire nation? How is it that we cannot grow potatoes in such abundance that they go to waste because of excess. These are not insurmountable goals near landing on the moon. Is our government unable to set out efficient subsidies and manage ambitious agricultural projects to feed the nation? If we can run a scarily efficient intelligence service like the CIO on a shoe string budget then surely we can grow potatoes.
The challenge dear reader is that this has never entered the imagination of our leaders. They are concerned with their bellies and the anatomy below the belt. With those satisfied so are they.
Does Morgan Tsvangirai have sufficient mental clarity of thought to bring about such considerable transformation in our national direction? I’ll let the reader decide.
In 2008 the the people of the United States were readying to elect an eloquent man of unique accomplishments, Barack Obama. Obama had grand ideals. He spoke of a world free of nuclear weapons, universal health-care for Americans and a world of greater peace and cooperation. A man begins with a vision. Given power he walks toward that which he saw in his mind. At that same time South African was readying to elect a man of less colourful stripes to high office, Jacob Zuma. Here was a man who had been involved in corruption scandals and whose right hand man had only recently been convicted of gross corruption. Here was a man who was so dull as to not see the absurdity of telling a court that he had taken a shower after have unprotected intercourse with an HIV positive woman, this in the hope of preventing infection. This is the man that South Africans determined to anoint as king. One Julius Malema vowed that he was ready to “kill for Zuma.”
What is Zuma’s imagination, what is his vision. What he sees in his mind is what will happen to South Africa.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)