All Villains?

I have been following the recent news article about the Air Force Jet that crashed at Thornhill Airbase and one cannot help but wonder what really is the status quo in the forces. The two man crew of the training aircraft are reported to have stayed with the aircraft to avoid allowing it to crash into the base primary school.

Indeed an act of heroism.

Would these then be the same type of individual that allow, condone or assist those who carry out rape, assault and murder? Given my experience of human nature, that would appear to be very unlikely indeed. I know colleagues in the ZRP who have a similar disposition. I know that these people, invariably not the party faithful, are watched very closely by internal security personnel. Sooner or later though, they will stop toeing the party line. And ZANU-pf need to know that these guys are there, watching and waiting and the day will arrive when people will be called to account for their wrongdoing.

Another article that caught my attention is the SA NEWS 24 story "No Deal Yet - Mugabe". Basically this continues to follow the ongoing negotiations. A few things are remarkable about this - firstly, I am impressed that it seems some effort is being made to keep talking to bring about a deal. Given the polarity if the issues at stake, it would seem that a deal cannot be struck as Mugabe cannot relinquish the power that holds the ZANU-pf sponsored state and machinery together, and Tsvangirai cannot accept anything less.. but at least the talking continues. And Mbeki's sudden focus on the matter indicates that much pressure exists in the background.

But I think there are two items in this particular piece that need addressing - firstly, this news service (and probably others too) still insist on calling Mugabe "President" - Although it is quite clear that he is not! As TheBeardedMan points out in his blog the following is the law - and, of course, being ignored in Zimbabwe (and elsewhere):

"Electoral Act, Ch 213, subparagraph 3(1) of the Second Schedule, which states as follows:
Determination, declaration and notification of result of Presidential poll:
3 (1) after the number of votes received by each candidate as shown in each constituency return has been added together in terms of subparagraph (3) of paragraph 3 (2)
the Chief Elections Officer shall forthwith declare the candidate who has received:
(a) where there are two candidates, the greater number of votes;
b) where there are more than two candidates, the greatest number of votes;
to be duly elected as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe with effect from the day of such declaration."

Why then, do the rest of the free world, give credence to Mugabe's claim of being President? It is quite clear, from the law, that this is NOT the case.

Which again raises some interesting questions for police officers - and other security force members - for instance, this would mean, therefore, that Mugabe is not the head of state and not the Commander in Chief of the Army etc. Therefore, he cannot grant commissions to serving officers, he cannot issue orders and should, in point of law be, at worst ignored, at best, arrested!

Also, in this article, it states
"Tsvangirai also gained more votes than Mugabe in March elections but failed to pass the 50% threshold to unseat the authoritarian leader." Well, as can be seen from the electoral act, this irrelevant anyway - and I see that this service is now quoting the ZANU-pf line.. without any reference to the fact that Tsvangirai actually received 50.3%, and that was even after there was fiddling going on! Of course that didn't produce the desired result, so delays and more fiddling were required!

Later.