Gatsha is Back

http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=84739,1,22

The collapse of Zimbabwe has exposed the Southern African Development Community’s ineffectiveness, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Friday.
In his weekly newsletter, he questioned whether an “African solution” would solve the problems in that country.

“There is, in my book, no such thing as a ‘made in Africa’ solution.

Zimbabwe either holds ‘free and fair elections', like those recently held in America, or it does not.

“Zimbabwe either adheres to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (to which it is a signatory) or it does not.

It happens to do neither, and no amount of pontificating about ‘African solutions’ can disguise that fact

.

“Her people are starving, the hyper-inflation is running sky high, there is a humanitarian disaster of biblical proportions emerging with the cholera outbreak, and the country is, for all intents and purposes, not being governed.

“It is time to call a spade a spade,” he said.
Noting there had been both SADC and African Union efforts to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe, Buthelezi said these organisations had been established “to be the architecture of governance”.

“But they, in themselves, are not solutions -- as SADC has just so ignobly demonstrated.”

The disintegration of Zimbabwe had “miserably exposed” SADC’s ineffectiveness to intervene. Africans had fallen prey to the notion of relative standards.
“We are expected to hold ‘free and fair elections’ like everyone else, but there is an unspoken bargain that we will be given a bit of leeway. A ‘bit’ of voter fraud or a ‘few’ acts of intimidation -- even murder --will be overlooked as long as the election is held and the result expresses the will of the majority.

“As an African, who shares the joy of millions of people across the globe at the election of an African American as the leader of the free world, I believe it is time to say that we -- as Africans -- should be expected to adhere to the same standards as everyone else,” he said.

-Sapa


The highlights are mine.

This is the first time an African leader (he is the leader of the traditionalist Inkata Freedom Party and is a Zulu prince) has spoken out about the need for Africa to be judged by the same standards as everyone else. For far too long the undemocratic, barbarous behaviour of African 'leaders' has been excused by the liberal West. I believe that if each and every one of these despots had been taken to task for their behaviour, Africa would not be the basket case that it is.

Mugabe should have been captured and tried in the Hague 25 odd years ago when he ordered the murder of the 20 000 or so Ndebele soon after having had power handed to him by the British Government.

Africa Addio

Once again South Africa's Teaboy Mbeki has shamed his country by his failure to stop Mugabe's violent thuggery.

But is Mbeki alone in his 'silent support' of this madman and his henchmen?

In a statement released by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ANC ( http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=92677&sn=Detail ) they have been quite clear where their support lies.

• It has always been and continues to be the view of our movement that the challenges facing Zimbabwe can only be solved by the Zimbabweans themselves. Nothing that has happened in the recent months has persuaded us to revise that view. A lasting solution has to be led by the Zimbabweans and any attempts by outside players to impose regime change will merely deepen the crisis.

• The political programme of the national liberation movement in Zimbabwe consequently centred on the right of national self-determination to be attained through democratic elections in which all adult citizens of the country would have the untrammelled right to elect the government of their choice. Restoration of the land seized during colonialism to the indigenous people was a central plank of that programme as well. It was a shared objective of all the liberation movements in this region of Africa...

• The ANC is very mindful of the obligations Britain assumed in relation to Zimbabwe at the Lancaster House Talks. Chief amongst these was resolution of the Land Question, i.e. undoing the consequences of well nigh 100 years of British colonial domination. A large measure of responsibility for the current crisis is attributable to the ex-colonial power because it has reneged on that undertaking.

• In our efforts to assist Zimbabweans resolve their problems the ANC has consistently supported the efforts of the South African government and the SADC region. After the SADC Summit appointed President Mbeki to act as mediator amongst the parties in Zimbabwe, he has enjoyed the ANC's unstinting support. We were consequently very pleased when, owing to his mediation, a relatively peaceful and free election was held on 29 March 2008.

• While the ANC was sceptical of the feasibility of a run-off, we deferred to the judgement of the SADC leadership and that of the political parties in Zimbabwe and lent our support to the process.
  

But have added a small sop to democracy by alluding to the violence in Zimbabwe.

• However, compelling evidence of violence, intimidation and outright terror; the studied harassment of the leadership of the MDC, including its Presidential candidate, by the security organs of the Zimbabwean government; the arrest and detention of the Secretary-General of the MDC; the banning of MDC public meetings; and denial of access to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, all have convinced us that free and fair elections are not possible in the political environment prevalent in Zimbabwe today.

• We wish the MDC, ZANU (PF) and all the other parties in Zimbabwe the moral courage, strength and determination to urgently seek a viable solution to the profound problems facing their country.
  
  Meanwhile the ANC government has shown its true colours and is trying to pass an Expropriation Bill through their Parliament which will enable them to take all the movable assets as well as the farm as they continue their own drive to disposses white farmers and destroy the food producers in South Africa.

Even the future SA President, Jacob Zuma, ( http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71656?oid=92679&sn=Detail ) at an International Investment Congress held in South Africa, showed that the Marxist Ideology of the ANC is still very much alive and well when he said:-

• As the ANC, we are calling for a mixed economy, where the state, private capital, cooperatives and other forms of social ownership complement each other in an integrated way to eliminate poverty and foster shared economic growth.

• Our view is that the State must play a central and strategic role in the economy, by directly investing in underdeveloped areas and directing private sector investment.

• The State should also mobilise society to take part in the implementation of those priorities and direct resources towards realising these objectives.

• There still exists skewed patterns of ownership and production in our economy, a legacy of the apartheid past. Change will not happen automatically. Decisive action is required to transform the current economic patterns in order to realise our vision for the future.

• This regulation should take into account the country's commitment to land reform, restitution, redistribution and access to land. The ANC has also resolved that we should discard the market-driven land reform and immediately review the principle of willing-seller, willing-buyer so as to accelerate equitable distribution of land.

This the future of South Africa - Central control of the Economy while it runs unsuccesful collective farms on previously vibrant farming land - yet another Failed State, yet another unsuccesful Post Colonial African Democracy.

If you have the stomach, watch the original, uncut version of 'Africa Addio' recorded by an Italian TV crew in 1964. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4540134202583442015&q=addio+africa&ei=8rEUSOSSGIWEqgOijqTTBA

Zimbabwean Billionaires

Give credit where credit is due - Robert Mugabe has created a nation of billionaires.

Zimbabwe's currency plunged to a new record low on Thursday, trading at an average one billion to the US dollar on a recently introduced interbank market and triggering massive price increases.

Yes that is right 1 US$ = 1 Billion Zim$'s

Mad Bob and his sycophant Thabo

In his speech to world food summit, June 3 2008, the Zimbabwean president said :-

My country's primary agriculture policy objective remains that of ensuring national and household food security through our own production. In this regard, Zimbabwe has recognised the importance and centrality of land in agricultural production and food security. Thus, over the past decade, Zimbabwe has democratized the land ownership patterns in the country, with over 300 000 previously landless families now proud landowners.

Previously, this land was owned by a mere 4,000 farmers, mainly of British stock. While this land reform programme has been warmly welcomed by the vast majority of our people, it has however, and regrettably so, elicited wrath from our former colonial masters. In retaliation for the measures we took to empower the black majority, the United Kingdom has mobilized her friends and allies in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand to impose illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. They have cut off all development assistance, disabled lines of credit, prevented the Bretton Woods institutions from providing financial assistance and ordered private companies in the United States not to do business with Zimbabwe. All this has been done to cripple Zimbabwe's economy and thereby effect illegal regime change in our country.

In a statement released by the White House, President GW Bush had the following comment about Zimbabwe:-

While Robert Mugabe makes political statements in Rome, his people continue to face empty markets at home. The United States currently feeds more than 1 million Zimbabweans and spent more than $170 million on food assistance in Zimbabwe last year. We will continue these efforts to prevent government-induced starvation in Zimbabwe.

In late April the South African President, the purveyor of 'quiet diplomacy', Thabo Mbeki , addressed a four-page letter to President Bush. Rather than coordinating strategy to end Zimbabwe's nightmare, Mbeki criticized the United States, in a text packed with exclamation points, for taking sides against President Mugabe's government and disrespecting the views of the Zimbabwean people. "He said it was not our business," recalls one American official, and "to butt out, that Africa belongs to him."

The 'New South Africa' has also actively blocked United Nations discussions about human rights abuses in Zimbabwe - and in Belarus, Cuba, North Korea and Uzbekistan.

South Africa was also the only 'democracy' to vote against a resolution demanding that the Burmese junta stop ethnic cleansing and free jailed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

When Iranian nuclear proliferation was debated in the Security Council, South Africa dragged out discussions and demanded watered-down language in the resolution.

In the General Assembly, South Africa fought against a resolution condemning the use of rape as a weapon of war because the resolution was not sufficiently anti-American, and opposed a resolution condemning rape and attacks on civilians in Darfur - and then rolled out the red carpet for a visit from Sudan's genocidal leader.

When confronted by international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch about their apparent indifference to all rights but their own, South African officials have responded by attacking the groups themselves which, they conspiratorially (and falsely) claim, are funded by "major Western powers."

South Africa clearly is also attempting to league itself with China and Brazil in a new nonaligned movement to redress an "imbalance of global power," meaning an excess of American power.

Longtime observers of Mbeki believe that racial issues may also play a role as he lashes out whenever he believes that Westerners are telling Africans how to conduct their lives, or who their leaders should be.

There is a common theme developing here and surely this spells out the future of South Africa - the only truely functional economy in sub Saharan Africa, but one wonders for how much longer.

The Big Whip-around II

Funds sought for Mugabe birthday

People in Zimbabwe are being asked to contribute funds towards a big birthday party for President Robert Mugabe, who turns 83 on 21 February.

This is while Zimbabwe is mired in its worst economic crisis, with annual inflation at a record 1,593% - the world's highest; there is record unemployment, the health and education sectors are failing and there is widespread malnutrition.

The cost of this bash - a mere 300 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$1.2m).