The Gathering Storm

Well I have been away with work and training commitments.. so my apologies for the lengthy silence!

However, in retrospect, the past couple of weeks have been oddly quiet.. It makes me think of "the phony war"... because suddenly the temperature is rising. Whilst the world has been focused on resolving it's financial woes and governments have been doing some inventive stuff to help their people out.. Mugabe's non-existent illegal government have been trying to focus on ways to remain entrenched and enrich themselves at the expense of the Zimbabwean people.

And to quote a phrase that has much significance for some, The Silence Has Been Deafening!

In fact, much of the famous sermon preached by The Very Revd. J.R. da Costa, in the Cathedral of St. Mary and All Saints in Salisbury, Rhodesia, on Friday, 8 September, 1978 at the service for those who died and were massacred in the Viscount air disaster Sunday, 3 September, 1978 is again very relevant. One just wonders why it is that the world feels that it should fail to react to the excesses of murderers because they can quote some feeble justification? I am beginning to wonder where the greatest evil lies.. Here is a Transcript of that Sermon.. if you read it, I wonder how many situations around the world it could apply to? (not having read the whole site where this transcript is located, I cannot say whether I have a view on their site).

Anyway.. now suddenly, it would seem that patience is truly wearing thin and the noise against Mugabe's is growing. And significantly, the noise seems to be growing in Africa. Mugabe MUST surely be starting to get the picture? But then.. does he ever or, if he does, do the infamous JOC? They must believe that they are in control of very powerful forces that can withstand any pressure! Either that or they are trying to realise as much wealth as they possibly can from these diamond mines in the hope that they can disappear with their ill gotten wealth and leave their moire junior officers holding the baby. I think though, that the time is approaching where Zimbabwe is likely to turn into another Somalia, controlled by warlords who prey on any source of wealth, even if it is people.

So now the South African government is turning up their vocabulary at last.. but I see that the ineffective Mugabe supporter Thabo Mbeki is still guiding the "talks"!

Mugabe, no doubt, hopes to come to South Africa and be supported in his bid to unilaterally form a government and try to force the MDC to participate.. If the South African government cannot put pressure on Mbeki to bring a proper resolution, then they must realise that these talks too, will fail.

Clearly, unless the MDC are given a proper and significant stake in government, NOTHING WILL CHANGE. And people will continue to die and the region will continue to suffer. The MDC are playing an extremely courageous game here and standing hard on their principals. There have been many who feel that Morgan Tsvangirai (the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe) and the MDC(T) (The true RULING PARTY) should have given more ground or capitulated to Mugabe, however, that would not produce a country with a viable hope for the future.

The MDC MUST have control of the police. In its ENTIRETY. Not on an unworkable shared basis. They must be FULL partners in the government. With any luck, that would help to tear Mugabe's gang of thieves apart as the number of areas open to them diminishes, I expect the party in fighting over the scraps will tear it apart and, finally, ZANU-pf will be consigned to history.

It will be very interesting to see what is found inside Zimbabwe when it is opened up. And I think that any talk of amnesty for Mugabe and his JOC needs to go away now. Clearly the promise of indemnity has not pulled them into an agreement and it will be pressure that will achieve that instead. So, they should be prepared to face the law. And they should be punished and the wealth they have stolen from the people will have to be recovered.

It is interesting to note that the JOC is even beginning to fight amongst themselves.. over the diamonds and the one name that keeps coming up is Perence Shiri, one of the greatest architects of the decline of the country and it's forces. I recall in 1983 when he ordered the arrest of a group of pensioners who had gone to the KGVI bowling club to play lawn bowls. These old people were detained without charge and harassed for an entire night in freezing conditions where cold water was poured onto the floor every half an hour. Very minor stuff compared to what is going on now with helicopter gunships mowing down un-armed people, but very definitely a precursor to what is happening now. And, in those days, what was his real motive??

I was also interested to see this photograph on the SWRADIO website:

I would point out, again, that these are hardly policemen.. more they are the ZANU-pf official militia. Their shabby uniforms, incompatible with any of the force's published dress orders (not that any standing orders are adhered to any longer) is indicative of the depths being plumbed by what used to be a great force. And well, arresting a vendor for selling carrots - they can only have one reason for doing that - they are beginning to get hungry. I wonder how long loyalty lasts on an empty stomach? Anyway, this is typical of the zanu-pf militia - when something serious happens.. like murder, rape, robbery or abduction.. there is not reaction. But when something minor happens.. well it is clearly time to turn out the riot squad!

Significantly, I note there have been a number of explosions at police stations in Harare.. but in itself, these too are a mystery.

Are they ZANU-pf looking for an "incident" to justify a new Gukurahundi? I wonder, Mugabe has been too quiet on this, even that criminal zanu-pf mouthpiece, Bvudzijena, has had little to say other than security is being tightened up.

Or, is this policemen and women beginning to get restless? I note that apart from some minor structural damage, there have been no serious consequences, injuries or deaths. Very curious indeed!

Anyway, lets see what tomorrow brings. I doubt it will be any kind of result, but at least the pressure appears, at this point to be growing.

Later.