Zimbabwe Republic Police

Accident

2009-03-13T01:04:00.002+02:00

Hello All,

It has been some time since I last wrote, for many reasons, not least of which was to see how things develop.

And then the very sad news that Susan Tsvangirai had been killed in an accident along the Beatrice road. Of course there was much immediate suspicion and a great deal of comment. Not having attended the scene of the accident, it would be wrong for me to try and air an opinion on it. Suffice to say, however, that I have attended a huge number of accidents on that particular stretch of road.. and I know it to be deadly. The road surface has never been great and now is suffering the same neglect that the rest of the country's infrastructure has suffered.

I would very gladly offer my services to investigate this matter if called upon to do so.

I think though, that by far the stupidist comment has come from that idiot Mnangagwa. The British? The Americans? No Mnangagwa, ZANU-pf - your backward contribution to the country has chased away most of the real law enforcement. It has chased away most of the engineers who maintained the once excellent road network. It has chased away VID inspectors. It has chased away professional ambulance staff. It has chased away Doctors and nurses. It has chased away most of the farmers. It has chased away most of the people from all walks of life who would make a country work and improve and develop to avoid accidents and tragedy.

It really is time that the entire police "command structure left" - what a pity they were the only ones encouraged to stay!

My condolences to Morgan Tsvangirai. The prices you have paid to get into a position to do good have cost you more dearly than any man should be made to pay. I hope you find the peace you and Susan have fought so for.

Later.

More "Arrests"??

2009-02-14T12:42:00.002+02:00

Well it certainly didn't take long for the ZANU-pf militia to show their hand... the ink is not even dry on the paper of the Prime Minister's swearing in... and Zanu-pf and their pit bulls are up to their old tricks!

This must clearly demonstrate what the MDC are up against. The first thing that needs to happen if this government is to have any hope of surviving, is the re-organisation of the ZRP and internal investigations (by outside parties) as to the goings on. The so called "CID Law and Order" section needs to be completely disbanded and ALL of the personnel assigned there over the past ten years need to be arrested.
And this cannot be done by PISI (Police Internal Security Intelligence) - they themselves need disbanding, arresting and investigating. I personally have witnessed their method of "investigation" - usually this consists of beating any suspect you wish to fit to any "offence" with a length of armoured cable until a "confession" is obtained. And do not kid yourselves - this is routine.

Following the mass infusion of Zanu-pf loyalists into the force, all the precepts of a lawful force preventing and investigating crimes within the bounds of the law have disappeared. The so called officers have absolutely no training or ability to properly investigate anything by making appropriate "enquiries". There is no ability to back up charges with actual evidence and no ability to gather, examine or process scenes of crime for evidence which can then be scientifically evaluated for inclusion in dockets to be presented in a court of law.

That sort of thing is too much of a waste of time in ZANU-pf's eyes, particularly when there is NO evidence because NO offence has been committed or the evidence points back at them - it all becomes too costly and too inconvenient and certainly will not produce the desired result.

I note from the reports of Bennett's "arrest" that an actually "warrant" was obtained - who signed this warrant? And based on what evidence? bearing in mind what I said above, the other thing that springs to mind is the lack of impartiality of the judiciary. Clearly this is merely the old regime trying to stamp it's authority again and letting everyone know that they believe themselves to still be entirely and singularly in control of Zimbabwe.

I can assure you that if I were there now, in uniform and backed up by a few of my former colleagues (some of whom are still trapped in the militia).. In a few short hours I could put together, properly and supported by actual forensic evidence, water tight cases against most of the so called " state agents", CIO, CID and Uniform branch officers, right up to and including the laughable "commissioner general". I wonder what would happen if that happy situation occurred and we started arresting, detaining and producing before a proper court, these individuals? I am sure we would be the target of many violent attacks by ZANU-pf "gun-men" or other arms of their militia, probably even from within the so-called police itself.. but, with active policing and a good core of men, these criminals would very quickly be properly convicted and behind the bars they use stifle the people of Zimbabwe, Democracy, Law and Order, progress, Development and any other positive thing you can think of!

I guess the situation will continue along these lines for some time to come. It is going to be a very difficult road as the SADC are too cowardly to get involved really - they will, not doubt make some statement about it not being their business to interfere with the police and law in Zimbabwe etc, etc ad nauseum..
So actually, the situation on the ground is going to be VERY difficult to change. Until Mugabe and ZANU-pf have been dispossessed of all they have stolen from the people of Zimbabwe.

When you really examine thing and consider the whole picture, the law is still in a total state of collapse and while that continues... nothing can change.

No doubt the SADC, ZANU-pf, South Africa and everyone else who have IMMEDIATELY started jumping up and down for the removal of sanctions should now be told to look at what is happening and that NO MONEY is forthcoming until Bennett is released and all the so-called state agents etc are behind bars, being properly investigated, charged and convicted of the crimes they have committed and will continue to commit.

Sadly though, this whole episode points to the fact that these "state agents" and "police officers" and "soldiers" are all carrying on regardless because they know nothing will change and they feel they can act with impunity. There is absolutely no indication that they are trying to modify their behaviour because they might feel their time is at an end and that their behaviour will land them in trouble!
And I guess that basically says it all - they will continue doing what they want, when they want and how they want and that will be that. After all their provocation and ignoring the MoU and GNU agreements, when the MDC are finally forced to walk away they will still jump up and say it was the MDC's fault!

This is actually now approaching a very pathetic state.

A New Hope?

2009-02-11T23:44:00.002+02:00

My apologies for a long absence... I have been trundling around Africa for a bit getting a first hand view of things... and they are dismal... .

Well today, finally, the man legally voted in by the people of Zimbabwe as their leader has finally been sworn in by the man illegally occupying the post of President.

I suppose that I, like about 99% of Zimbabweans am sceptical... And would anyone blame us? Lets be honest here - it seems Mugabe still hasn't released the activists that are being held illegally... nor, indeed, has he even tried to comply with anything that he doesn't agree with.

The Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, is busy making a lot of promises... I just wonder what he knows that we don't. If he were Prime Minister or President in his own right with full control of government, I wouldn't hesitate to believe him. Unfortunately, at this point, what I predicted some time ago has come to pass. He has, probably for the right reasons, decided to take up the challenge of trying to lead Zimbabwe and deal with the excesses of Mugabe and his party of thugs from within. And this means he has to handle ministries that are still ham-strung by Mugabe's grip on security. Any failure will bring Mugabe out shouting and pointing fingers!

And whilst most of us may question this approach, I am given hope by the open statements he himself has made - there is no trust between the two and he knows Mugabe's probable hope is to absorb him and the MDC in the same manner as he did with ZAPU. Also, the eyes of the world are a bit wiser to his plans, the news media firmly understands how Mugabe has acted in the past.. and so he will not quickly be able to just slide past his usual plan of firstly trying to absorb the opposition and secondly.. blaming them for everything.

It is still very fraught and, I understand, there are still many things to be negotiated.. in fact most of the fundamentally important pre-requisites of allowing this "marriage of inconvenience" to have much chance of working, remain outstanding.

But I truly think that Tsvangirai will have a chance at really frustrating Mugabe as much as Mugabe will frustrate him - hopefully, in the end, Tsvangirai will prevail - as tenacious as Mugabe is at hanging on, Tsavngirai has shown he is at standing strong and fighting for what he believes in. Hopefully it will be enough to bring the transitional period through to an end where a proper election can be held and Mugabe can be soundly defeated.

One of the biggest things Tsvangirai has to fight with is his parliamentary majority - and hopefully this will be one of the prime movers. As much as ZANU-pf and Mugabe must be wringing their hands in anticipation of a new inflow of foreign aid and investment on which they hope to feast, we can only hope the foreign donors will not be falling over themselves to hand over the cash. Sadly, I think, this is possibly the weak link in everything. I think that the initial position of the world that they want to see the government working MUST be rigidly maintained.

This, however, puts Tsvangirai and the MDC in a difficult position - they will have to deliver progress for the people in Zimbabwe.. without the rest of the worlds' money.. which is interesting. Zimbabwe is a beautiful country with a HUGE wealth of resources. Now the problem is, Mugabe and ZANU-pf's policies are all contrary to allowing the resources to be utilised and managed in the manner necessary to allow economic activity to help the economy recover. And that is going to be a big challenge to overcome. And it will be interesting to see how this can be done. In my opinion proper law and order is the main priority (of course, I am a cop - so it would be!).. but, the chaotic land grab which has taken place and continues to take place is illegal. Even if Mugabe changed the law to suit, the fact is, he initially allowed the law to be broken willy nilly. Farmers were targeted on the basis of their race (to my understanding, this is against the law).. Farmer were murdered, assaulted and harassed. Farmers had their property vandalised and stolen.. So all of that was illegal - and the law needs to recognise that. I personally DO understand the need for land reform, however, we need to remember that a large percentage of the farms which were grabbed, had changed ownership since Zimbabwe gained Independence.. and had certificates of no interest from the government. So yes, we would have to delve into the whole history of the land problem.. and approach it in a sensible manner. The farms need to be taken away from Mugabe loyalists. Their original owners need to be restored to their properties.. and that means reversing the whole land grab, before a proper reform can be undertaken... something which Tsvangirai has said will not happen.... So what now?

Before the economy can possibly recover, the farms need to be working again.. after all, the country had an agriculturally based economy... and it needs food.. now it is a fact that the Mugabe loyalists (illegally) occupying these farms have absolutely NO idea about farming.. and those farms where people have been resettled, have regressed to subsistence farming levels.

Quite a dilemma - since the police, army, air force and CIO are still firmly under Mugabe's control... and they are not likely to start upholding the law or trying to chuck the so-called generals and commissioner generals etc off farms that they have stolen and occupy without producing any food.. I guess it is going to be a hard, if not impossible road.. so we will have to watch carefully - but I should think that Mugabe's hopes of the world rushing in with money need to be dashed and remain that way.

I note that Mbeki and the SADC are already shouting for the world to drop sanctions and re-invest... I truly hope the world can respond by saying, very simply... Don't be silly! After all - aren't Zimbabwe's problems going to be resolved by Zimbabweans?

It is time for the world to stop being conned by Mugabe and Africa.

Sadly though, I am sure that the bleeding hearts will ensure Mugabe has a reason to to stay as his money will still be coming in.. and going out - to his bank accounts!

I watched, in disbelief, the amounts of money that the world is chucking at Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak.. especially when it is plain that the money is being sent via the Reverse (Reserve) Bank of Zimbabwe.. and into Mugabe's pockets! For the amounts of money that have been deployed to deal with this crisis, the water reticulation system could have been completely overhauled and medical supplies could have been shipped in and the problem brought firmly under control! I sat and listened to some high up lady in the UN doing an interview with UK TV about the crisis... and all I heard was stupidity - the answer - more and more money being channelled into Zimbabwe... and none of it being used for the dying people!

I would be very Happy though, to be heading home myself, shortly and going back into the force and seeing what effect I could have... but at this point, it would seem that the force is still too truly compromised and is, still, just a ZANU-pf militia.

Let see what happens over the next few days and weeks - and lets hope.

Later.

The Zimbabwe Shambles...desperation?

2008-12-17T21:07:00.003+02:00

Well today the news is full of the story of Shiri's mishap with a bullet with many differing versions having him shot in the hand or the elbow or the shoulder and the would be assassins ranging from the army to the CIO to the police...

Who knows for sure? But one thing IS for sure - whoever did the shooting needs a kick up the portal for missing! But at least they DID do the shooting! And now the ZANU-pf bigwigs are in a panic for their personal security. I guess things are, at last beginning to affect them. The soldiers have warned of more riots and I doubt it will be long before the police stop reacting to riots. Still, it is all very slow and very painful. The good thing is that Mugabe and his murdering minions now have to keep looking over their shoulders... and even those who protect them are a threat now! I know a few of these people.. and I wouldn't trust them further than I can spit! Mugabe shouldn't either!

One of my readers has written in a comment asking what everyone can do? And I have to say that I too am a bit lost on this. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that writing to ineffectual politicians in ineffectual governments does little more than waste time and, perhaps, paper! If I were in a position to start some real activism, I would suggest a campaign of writing thousands of letters addressed to police stations all over Zimbabwe telling the policemen some simple facts such as:

Their actions are largely illegal.
They are serving a party and not the (legally elected) government and, therefore, are in breach of their oaths of attestation, particularly in reference to the bits that say "I do solemnly swear and make an oath that I will uphold the laws of Zimbabwe..."
That those of them actively supporting Mugabe and his party will be investigated and face charges when Mugabe is gone.
That their officers will all disappear when the time comes to face the music and they will be left holding the baby!
That Mugabe will, before too long actually be gone (He is 84 and simply will not live forever).
That they need to think of their own welfare and futures and that of their families and decide whether to keep ensuring these murderers who are stealing from everyone or help get rid of them so everyone can prosper again.
That the time is approaching when they WILL be called to account for their part in abductions, murder, theft and that turning a blind eye to it makes them just as complicit.
That they are, principally there to serve the people of Zimbabwe, not the Party of Mugabe.
And, perhaps quite a few other things, although I would tend to keep the list short and to the point.

Perhaps a direct campaign of letter writing by thousands of Zimbabweans directly to the police men and women themselves may serve to foment change in itself? I am clearly open to suggestions. My personal plan for the removal of Mugabe must, in order for it to remain a viable option, remain secret. Although I very seriously doubt it, I am always hopeful that someone with a bit of real influence somewhere, might take me seriously and get in touch. I firmly believe that with the efficient and selective removal of Mugabe and, perhaps one or two others, final collapse and restoration will be far more quickly achieved at far less cost in lives.
Lets see, if they had taken me seriously just after the recent so called elections and equipped me in the manner I had requested, Mugabe and his top men would now be a thing of the past. Yes, five or six lives may have been lost.. but then, how many people have died since those elections? It would seem though, that the CIA, by not condoning the violent destruction of six people, prefer, instead, to condone the violent death of thousands of others, the rape, torture and abduction of yet more. Not to mention the cost of millions and millions of pounds, dollars and euros still pouring into the country in aid.

South Africa's new president has clearly been bought off by Mugabe. South Africa's shameful stance at the UN (and Russia, for some bizarre reason?) has blocked yet another resolution on the matter. How hard is it to stand up and say - this Mugabe is illegal and we deplore him killing thousands of people? It is hard to understand what such a tin pot dictator such as Mugabe could possibly offer.. but then, let us not forget that Mugabe is reputed to be about the fourth richest man in the world and Kgalema Motlanthe is only the caretaker South African president - he has no hope of staying in office after the next general election in South Africa, so it would not be a far leap for the imagination to conclude that Mugabe has offered him a lucrative retirement in return for more of the failed "softly, softly" approach!

Let us see what happens next!

Regime Change... but How?

2008-12-16T21:48:00.002+02:00

The news is full of Zimbabwe again.

And the international community is, more and more calling for regime change - something they should have done in 2000... but that is all anyone is actually doing about Zimbabwe - talking. And Mugabe cares nothing about words - they are cheap and they mean nothing. Mugabe is rich and has the guns - no one can do anything to him - unless they are prepared to bring more and bigger guns - and they are not!

South Africa, much to my surprise, is still not using it's power to move Mugabe - Why would that be? Has the new president already been bought by Mugabe? Without South Africa and other neighbours support - Mugabe would fold and die in weeks!

I was interested to see on Britain's Channel 4 news an interview with Mr Miliband, the British foreign secretary. The interviewer made the point that they will probably still be doing similar interviews complaining and deploring the Mugabe regime late in 2009 and beyond.. and Mugabe will STILL be there! And yes, you had better believe they will.

If you want regime change Mr Miliband, get in touch with me. As a Zimbabwean police officer, I have the right and the legal mandate to deal with criminals in that country - and, with a bit of equipment - I can have the job done within a few weeks - it will cost very little and will not involve a war!

I see that Zimbabwe feels it is under "terrorist" attack because someone with no money and no hope (since it was taken away by Mugabe and his thieves) took a shot at the criminal purportedly in charge of what used to be Zimbabwe's airforce. I think though, as one commentator said - if it was a trained person - Shiri would be dead! The loss of Shiri would hardly be a blow to the embattled people of Zimbabwe.

Mr Miliband, another thing - if you want regime change, get hold of the legally elected President, Morgan Tsvangirai and pledge support and recognition for him to set up a government in exile. Get the rest of the international community to follow suit, stop the UN from dealing with Mugabe and things will start to change.

And if you are worried about feeding the people - deliver the food by air. With parachutes. Directly to the people who need it. And protect your delivery aircraft with the RAF and other international air forces. That way, Mugabe loses his command of the food, one of his big power cards (and no matter what you or the international aid agencies say - Mugabe is still controlling the food.. and probably the medicine now). And I guarantee that the so called air force of Zimbabwe poses no credible threat, in fact knocking a few of his planes down in quick succession would send a very clear message to Mugabe. And other tin pot dictators like him.

Other than the above all that is set to happen is more talking. More deploring. More condemning. More nothing and More Zimbabweans dying.

And many are dying - I wonder how the CIA view things in Zimbabwe - when I last offered to eliminate Mugabe - they told me they do not condone violence... so why are they condoning it now??????

And on a personal note to Mugabe - be aware that if there was, indeed, a real "terrorist" or security threat to Zimbabwe - you would already be dead! I certainly hope to have the pleasure of personally arresting you, Mnangagwa, Shiri, Chiwenga, Chihuri, Bvudzijena and the hundreds of others who have pledged themselves to you. You are all common criminals. You have NO mandate to run Zimbabwe (or plunder it) and you need to go now.

No Progress

2008-12-14T23:11:00.003+02:00

I have just listened to Morgan Tsvangirai's interview on SWradio Africa with some interest. Basically, Tsvangirai is not in Zimbabwe and his whereabouts are not being revealed.

And that is just how it should be. Unfortunately, many people at the grassroots perhaps do not understand this position and they are feeling a bit abandoned and vulnerable because they are facing the new onslaught from Mugabe's murdering minions. Sadly though, that is exactly how things need to be now.

The abductions are continuing unabated. Mugabe's own judiciary have ruled against him and instructed his militia (police) to find these people and they have ignored the court. The rest of the world is shouting out that this must stop and Mugabe has ignored them because he knows that they are saying "Stop!!! or else... we will have to say stop again!", but they will actually do nothing about it. If Tsvangirai re-appears in Zimbabwe who can honestly say that he will not be arrested and disappear. And on this occasion, Mugabe and his murderers will have an "excuse" to "arrest" him - as he is travelling without a passport.. which, of course, they are illegally with holding!

Mugabe knows that whatever he does, no one will intervene. So it is not without basis to imagine that he is very tired of the headaches caused by Tsvangirai and his party and, having tested the world's response thus far with all the current abductions.. of both high profile humanitarians, party members and even a baby (just to make sure he sees what everyone would say to extreme outrage), what he now knows is that whatever he does, there is no reaction or response that will cause him any problems - even if the same fate befalls Morgan Tsvangirai. So yes, Tsvangirai needs to stay well away from Zimbabwe at the moment. Especially since, whilst he is outside the country, he can really raise the international temperature.

It is still my contention though, that Tsvangirai needs to accept the Botswana governments' offer of a safe haven in which to set up a government in exile. But, before he does this, he will need to secure the support of the international community. They need to acknowledge that Tsvangirai IS the legally and properly elected leader of the people and nation of Zimbabwe. And they need to pledge to engage ALL their official business with this government in exile and absolutely ignore and stonewall Mugabe and his thieves.
The United Nations (yes, that clueless, hapless gathering of ineffectuality) must STOP inviting Mugabe and his people to anywhere. Mugabe's foreign officials need to be turfed out of their embassies and High Commissions and deported. This will begin the real process of telling Mugabe he is illegal and must go.
And this is not something outside the power of western nations who are finally calling for regime change (despite Mugabe's assertion that they have been for some time) to effect. Without the USA, the UK and the EU, the UN will stop functioning. Without the aid money these countries pump into Africa, the AU will fall apart and government will be unstable. The western world needs to stop feeding people the line that negotiating is the only way - they have done this for years and years in Africa in general.. and nothing has changed. Why? Because the great river of aid money continues to flow. So now, even in the midst of depression, they must still support this mass of corrupt governments in Africa that have no intention of changing their ways, or growing a backbone and standing up straight for what is right. Until that happens.. nothing will ever change or develop in Africa.

And, perhaps that is what everyone prefers - God forbid that an African Nation with its wealth of resources suddenly became viable! That would mean that the rest of the world might actually have to accord Africans their rightful place and that would mean they lose all control of Africa. We simply couldn't have that now could we?

Anyway, I digress!

Having secured the backing of the international community, if Tsvangirai set up government and pressure (real economic pressure) was applied to Zimbabwe's remaining recalcitrant neighbours to close the borders.. I guarantee a lot less people would die and Mugabe and company would, as Botswana and Kenya repeatedly point out, be gone in a few weeks. The suffering would end then and there and proper government could take over, proper aid could come in and function under the protection of the police and army, and that would be that. Tracking down Mugabe and his criminals could then be pursued with great detail and a LOT of money could be recovered to help rebuild the country!

Mugabe's remarks are becoming more and more crazy and his followers (which the world press still insist on referring to as "ministers") are becoming more and more rabid. It still amazes me though, that some news services, notably those in South Africa, continue to refer to ZANU-pf as "the ruling party".. they should be calling it what it is - Zimbabwe's illegal dictatorship.

MDC - it is time to set up government - not with Mugabe, but against Mugabe, as you have been elected to do. Negotiating is merely playing out the game Mugabe's way - you have nothing to negotiate - Mugabe and ZANU-pf lost the election, Tsvangirai and the MDC won the election - stop giving Mugabe any form of credibility by continuing this farcical and endless negotiating - step up and form a government. I, and many of my colleagues will sign to you as you are legally elected. You will find a fair number of colleagues trapped in the now ZANU-pf militias (police and army) will cross the border to help. And I am sure Botswana will assist - it serves to strengthen the MDC position and weaken Mugabe's grip on power!

Good News... and More Bad News

2008-12-08T23:58:00.004+02:00

I have had time a busy at work and am preparing to go and assist with members of the Zimbabwean public displaced and dying from Mugabe induced cholera.. So, within the next few days, my postings will become even more sporadic as I am not sure what, if any, Internet access I will find on the borders of Zimbabwe!

I note that there are more "calls for Mugabe to step down".. I still cannot believe that western politicians believe that Mugabe would even pay the slightest heed to them - he is well fed, he is healthy, he has diamonds and other mineral wealth, he has large amounts of money that the western banking world cannot find, he has people whose loyalty he has both bought and obtained through threat - why would he give a continental what the "Mad Gordon Brown" wants? The only people speaking sense at the moment are the Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the Botswanan administration. I am even dismayed to see that Jacob Zuma is taking the "mediation through Mbeki stance"!

I say again that the MDC should listen to Botswana and accept their offer - that will create a bigger problem for Mugabe and send the absolute signal that they are not going to play anymore whilst Mugabe and co prevaricate, abduct and murder still more Zimbabweans.

I see, however, that another ZANU-pf "cadre" has died.. in a road accident. He was on his way to "preside over" a zanu-pf election (I wonder why they still bother with the sham of an election - just appoint someone.. ZANU-pf has no care for elections or the will of the people!). Elliot Manyika has been widely acknowledged as one of the pioneers of the violence and abductions. It is my fervent hope that he laying dying and bleeding in the wreck of his vehicle and had ample time to feel a lot of pain and reflect on the fact that no ambulance or paramedic would be on their way to rescue him.. because his direct influence had helped destroy the infrastructure that supported such services. And I hope he realised that a huge contributory factor in his accident is the lack of law and order on the roads in Zimbabwe.. where the police have been converted to ZANU-pf militia and have no interested in enforcing the law!

Poetic Justice I would say - pity it doesn't happen to more of these criminals!

It is also widely reported that the abductions continue - and members of the so-called police are instrumental in this.

Police officers do not abduct people - they arrest them, charge them and bring them before an independent court which will decide whether the individual is guilty or not and if guilty, an appropriate punishment.

ZANU-pf militia masquerading as police officers abduct people regularly - they have to abduct them because in reality, they have no reason to interact with them otherwise. And these people are "disappeared"... this is not the work of police officers.

It is time that real police officers caught up in this mess walked out.. you are not being effective in mitigating the actions of the militia - so get out now, lest you be tarred with the same brush as them. It will be the fastest way for you to secure your future.

Later.

The Pathetic Response!

2008-12-06T19:24:00.002+02:00

I have just watched, with complete amazement, Gordon Brown on the news... finally calling for regime change in Zimbabwe. But, of course, he is calling for Mugabe's friends to do it! And will England do??? Supply more money to aid agencies which cannot operate effectively and something like 31pence in every pound donated, is NOT used for direct assistance to those in need. And, to top all that, the money goes through where? The honourable reserve bank of Zanu-pf!

How pathetic!

Only Botswana thus far, has been forthright and straightforward. They have openly said Mugabe MUST go - they DO NOT recognise him as he did NOT win the election. Simple. And it is time for more than talk - the international community should be telling those neighbours of Zimbabwe that are still sitting on their hands and muttering about "quiet" (meaning silent) diplomacy that their intransigence will cost them aid, support and trade from the rest of the world if they do not end relations with Mugabe's illegal government now. If they did what Botswana suggests, and close the borders to any and all traffic entering Zimbabwe, particularly fuel - Mugabe would be done within a few days.

At least the storm is finally starting to grow, although painfully slowly. Will it produce a result? Unless definitive action is taken against Mugabe - NO. Mugabe couldn't care less. Nor could those at the top of his pile of thieves and murders.

When will Gordon Brown and the rest of the international community grasp the fundamentals here - Talk and targeted sanctions DO NOTHING. Mugabe uses the sanctions story as propaganda to justify his behaviour!

And really, as long as the idiots at the United Nations even bother to entertain Mugabe as a national leader - he will continue to believe he is!

Mugabe is not the president of Zimbabwe. Stop calling him that. There are no government ministers because there is no government.

The police force is merely the ZANU-pf militia and the army are the "enforcers" made up of common criminals. So who and what are we engaging? At best, a powerful warlord who has no shred of legitimacy.

I think that it is high time that Tsvangirai should move to Botswana and set up a government in exile. The international community should then engage all official business with him. Especially the United Nations who should invite him and not Mugabe to their conferences and functions.

The borders should be closed to Zimbabwe and humanitarian relief set up outside the borders to accept and assist Zimbabweans escaping Mugabe's hell - and I guarantee you that regime change will take place in a VERY short space of time. And I mean regime CHANGE - not power sharing which will clearly never happen.

Mugabe will frustrate every single process he is involved in and drag this on till many thousands die. And then, of course, the world will be outraged and many conferences, speeches and seminars will result and the world will say never again.. like Rwanda, like so many other places. Why not say it BEFORE thousands of people die? Is it just me? Am I missing something here?

And if you really want rid of Mugabe - get hold of me, provide me with what I need - and I will go and fix him. On my own! Instead, however, they will go on talking and condemning and demanding...

Reminds me of the old story about the unarmed policeman chasing a bad guy and he shouts "STOP".... "STOP or else"... "STOP or else.. I will have shout stop again!" very effective! I guarantee "STOP or I shoot" works much, much better!

You can shout whatever you like at Mugabe and his gang of criminals.. they DO NOT CARE.. get it? duh!

Later.

The Restlessness Is Growing

2008-12-01T21:11:00.002+02:00

First on Friday.. then on Monday.. Mugabe's soldiers are starting to feel the realities of the country that they have helped to destroy. And then they have the temerity to actually riot about not getting cash from the banks??? This is the first really amusing thing I have seen in the midst of all the gloom and death.

It is amusing from a number of perspectives actually - these are the men and women who ensured that Mugabe's ruinous policies have been implemented. And they did this with impunity, shielded by the ZANU-pf system of patronage from the effects that they have forced upon the rest of the populace. And they felt nothing and cared less about it.. but now it is coming back to bite them and is it not wonderful??? And be sure, these are not isolated incidents, the discontent is finally starting to show amongst the ranks.. I bet the generals are feeling more and more uncomfortable by the day.

The second and more important part of these incidents is that the discontented soldiers have clashed with their erstwhile comrades.. the MP's on Friday and the Police (ZANU-pf militia) on Monday. On Friday it was an estimated 60 uniformed soldiers on the rampage, on Monday an estimated 200. So uniformed police fighting uniformed soldiers on the streets of Harare? I wonder what happens when the police cannot withdraw their salaries? Perhaps I am jumping the gun here... but this has all the makings of a final meltdown beginning.. what happens when the mobs of desperate people and soldiers want to confront ZANU-pf and their militia (the police) suddenly decide to step aside and NOT confront them? Does this mean we have another Romania and Nicolai Caeucescu situation?

There are many parallels between the economy and happenings of Zimbabwe and Mugabe and Romania and Nicolai Caeucescu - huge corruption and terrible governance resulting in an unfettered inflation rate, the government continually removing zeros in an attempt to keep the currency usable.. growing discontent among soldiers, regimes propped up by deadly state security police with no regard for law and order, confrontations on the streets and finally.. the people, soldiers and police will storm the party headquarters or parliament and suddenly the oppressors will find themselves in a world of hurt.

I think the can also be no doubt that Mbeki is not only biased, but as ignorant as Mugabe. South Africans must applaud the day that he was thrown out of the seat of power. He has repeatedly demonstrated that he lack the capacity to grasp even the most basic things. His now famous gaffe over AIDS was the first sign of stupidity to emerge clearly. Now he, as the so called "impartial" mediator writes the following to the Morgan Tsvangirai, the legally elected president of Zimbabwe:

"As you secure applause because of the insult against us that we are 'cowards', you will have to consider the reality that our people have accepted into their countries very large numbers of Zimbabwean brothers and sisters in a spirit of human solidarity, prepared to sustain the resultant obligations," said Mbeki in his letter written to Tsvangirai and published in full text by Sunday News. "None of our countries displayed characteristics of cowardice when they did this," he stressed in his letter."

Erm.. have you missed the point entirely Mr Mbeki? Why is it that those countries have had to accept these poor unfortunate people who actually used to form part of one of the best and growing workforces in Africa? The very people that used to feed Africa need help (and, mind you, they do not get too much help out the SADC countries in general).
And Mr Mbeki, if those very countries that you refer to had displayed real courage and faced up to one thieving man and his following of murderers and rapists, then they wouldn't have to be rescuing and supporting thousands of others. The have not, contrary to Mbeki's assertions, accepted them "in a spirit of human solidarity" they have admitted them out of guilt or just the fact that they are scared to lose what little support they get from the evil western world. And they are not prepared to "sustain the resultant obligations".. they are just too frightened to stand up like Botswana and tell Mugabe to go.

As Botswana quite rightly pointed out, if all Zimbabwe's neighbours closed the borders... this crisis would be resolved in a week. And a lot less innocent Zimbabweans will die. That is courage Mbeki - not kow-towing to a common criminal!

Later.

Botswana - The voice of sanity

2008-11-26T22:05:00.004+02:00

Death no longer stalks the streets of Zimbabwe.. it walks around openly and just takes whoever it wants. The very people whose job description begins with "Protect Life", the police, are one of the main causes of upholding not the law, but the lawless and helping death to roam unfettered.

Every day now it is harder and harder to find any justification Mugabe has for hanging on. He must go. NOW. And his party militia needs to be rapidly replaced by a force staffed by courageous individuals who are properly trained, equipped and disciplined needs to move in rapidly to restore order.

Botswana is who everyone should now be listening to. And I would think that if Morgan Tsvangirai fails to secure an agreement in South Africa that is both workable and enforceable, he should take up Botswana's offer and go directly to Gaborone. And the rest of the world should just ignore Mugabe and start to deal with the properly elected government of Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately, it seems that many world leaders are picked for their ignorance. I was watching a report on Television tonight in which a British MP was was being interviewed. He referred, repeatedly to the government of Zimbabwe taking action to avert the health crisis exploding there now.. which "government" is it that he is referring to? Is there a government in Zimbabwe right now?????? If so, what is it's composition? Who is in it? What mandate do they carry from the people of Zimbabwe? News media needs to get to grip with the fact that ZANU-pf is NOT THE RULING PARTY IN ZIMBABWE! And they need to stop conferring legitimacy on Mugabe's gang of thieves who are raping the country and enriching themselves further, Mugabe is NOT the PRESIDENT and he has no ministers.

I was pleased to see the new individuals named in the sanctions, Rautenbach has made a life outside the law - he was a Rhodesian sanctions buster and, no doubt one of Mugabe's greatest assets - The rest of the world now need to do the same thing and a huge investigation to find his resources needs to start now. I have no sympathy and would be glad to see him in court - he is one of the white criminals who has not only supported Mugabe, but also made an absolute killing off the backs of the poor people in the country.. of which there are many. Other notorious names need to be added to the list, not least of which is Nicholas Van Hoogstratten.

It will be interesting to see what happens next, but I hope to see Tsvangirai in Botswana leading the proper government of Zimbabwe.

Later

End of Times

2008-11-25T22:09:00.002+02:00

Well the situation in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse. And will continue to do so until Mugabe and ZANU-pf either leave or accept the MDC as equal partners. In point of fact, Mugabe and ZANU-PF have no business running, or pretending to run Zimbabwe. The MDC (T) are the ruling party and it is high time they accepted it.

I have been reading, with interest, the comments by the group of so-called "elders". I have to marvel at Carters views.. the current Zimbabwe is a result of his views originally, now he seems to be labouring under the mis-apprehension that if the MDC join Mugabe's government as junior partners, they will be able to curtail the excesses of Mugabe and the JOC through their parliamentary majority!

How did this man become a world leader? Does he really believe, for one second, that Mugabe and the JOC will allow MDC to do anything at all? What does a parliamentary majority in Zimbabwe mean? Perhaps it means the same thing as a popular majority? Where the winners are beaten and jailed and the losers just take over and do as they please?

There is only two options remaining and I applaud Morgan Tsvangirai and his party for sticking to it - either a proper unity government in terms of the original agreement (not the "altered" one) with proper power sharing and the police force under the control of the MDC (T), or that ZANU-pf finally concede defeat and hand over the government to the legally elected leadership.

It is either that, or the deaths will soar. One cannot help but accept now, that the country has hit the bottom. Reports coming out of the country indicate that there is no functioning economy, no proper infrastructure, no law and order, no police force, no health service, no hospitals, no water, no electricity, no food... just nothing at all really, other than fear and oppression stalking the streets. And it will take some not inconsiderable sorting out. Mugabe couldn't make it work when he had everything going for him, how does anyone imagine he can make it work now?

His regional isolation continues to grow and the ante is growing steadily between ZANU-pf and Botswana. And probably his other neighbours too. I am so pleased that Botswana, Africa's most successful economy and democracy have mage no bones by clearly stating that they do not recognise Mugabe. Other nations would do well to follow their example. Botswana is a true friend of the Zimbabwean nation and all it's people - their straightforward stance is very hard for Mugabe and the JOC to deal with and Botswana is leading the way in saving the people of Zimbabwe. That Mugabe and the JOC have deployed CIO agents into Botswana to try and bolster their story is quite amusing really (apart from the fact that it is a hostile action against a sovereign and democratic nation and completely illegal). What happens when they turn up empty handed? I guess it will just mean another lie that Mugabe and his propaganda machine will find some bizarre explanation for, because, as we all know, Mugabe is never wrong and never at fault. The only people who have caused this in his opinion are some shadowy foreign governments who, by banning Mugabe and his people from travelling, have engineered the collapse of an entire nation... I think it will be highly amusing when Botswana start arresting CIO agents. It may even be a decent excuse for raising the diplomatic pressure even further.

I have been giving some thought to Mugabe's travel ban.. perhaps this should be lifted - when he arrives in a foreign country he can be arrested - he is not the elected leader of the nation and, therefore, in my mind, not entitled to diplomatic immunity. In fact, he is a common and garden criminal and needs to be brought before a court to face his handiwork! If western government are still frightened of taking action against Mugabe, they can readily call upon myself to do the deed, as a Zimbabwean police officer. As such I have the legal right to arrest him and would not hesitate to deal with the thugs that accompany him on his various jaunts. In terms of Zimbabwean law, I could also appoint Zimbabwean citizens to assist me in carrying out such an arrest and they can, under my direct supervision, act with full police powers. I wonder how volunteers would step up to the plate?

I think though, Mugabe and the JOC really need to sit up and take stock, they are painting themselves firmly into a corner - once they have alienated all their friends, and the list grows daily, their options for a bolt hole will be gone. So when it all finally comes crashing down around their ears, they will find themselves standing in a desert, surrounded by the Zimbabwean people rightfully seeking justice and there will be no where to hide.

I wonder if these talks will resolve anything.. until people like the "elders" actually wake up and stop making ridiculous suggestions which would play into Mugabe's hands and give him some sort of legitimacy, I doubt anything will change. And while things do not change, ordinary people living in fear are continuing to die because of Mugabe and because the rest of the world is too frightened to say anything.

Mugabe and his JOC have brought a reign of terror to the simple and decent people of Zimbabwe in their lust for power and their personal greed.. does this not then make them the epitome of terrorists? That being the case.. where is the GLOBAL war on terrorism and why is it failing the people of Zimbabwe? Is it simply because they are not a religious group? or, more correctly, is it because Zimbabwe has no oil?

I wonder how people will react to real policing when it returns to Zimbabwe along with freedom and democracy... We pray for that sanity to return every day.

Later.

The Gathering Storm

2008-11-24T22:37:00.003+02:00

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.

And so where to now?

2008-11-13T00:27:00.004+02:00

The disappointing result of the useless conference with the weak and corrupt representatives of African governments is still heavy in the air and it leaves the biggest question of all - so where to now?

Clearly Mugabe holds some kind of sway over this regional grouping of cowards who have basically endorsed his position. So should the MDC join Mugabe in his "government" or not?

And this must be the most difficult question to answer - if they do not, Mugabe will crow loudly and say he offered the hand of reconciliation to them. And, therefore, their misfortunes are of their own making. He will use this point to claim some form of "legitimacy". Conveniently forgetting, of course, that he lost the elections and shouldn't be anywhere near parliament anyway! But also, if the MDC withdraw now, Mugabe will not be held to an election in two years, but hold out for another four years!
If they do, Mugabe will ensure that everything his party does wrong is blamed on the MDC, whilst claiming every small positive thing (for lets face it -they can only be small things now) is the doing of his party. Also, if they do join this fiasco, they will be giving legitimacy to Mugabe's process. But perhaps they can use their majority in parliament to frustrate zanu-pf at every turn? And at least they can try to force the election agreed upon in two years. Although, with Mugabe still in control of the guns, that elections will be another rigged fiasco!

So, in reality, Mugabe has, as the Bearded Man has always predicted, entrenched himself and Mugabe will not budge. He will remain, no matter what the rest of the world thinks, for the next however many years doing exactly as he pleases, supported by his band of thieves and murderers whilst so-called "diplomacy" continues to blunder along, delaying everything, letting more people die, letting Mugabe's thieves continue to take what little is left and nothing will change.

And that IS the fact - nothing will change until Mugabe dies. And the only thing we know for sure about Mugabe is his ability to hang on. He is 84 now and one would hope he is on his last legs (I have often read stories written about his ill health, but they have, as always, turned out to be mere wishful thinking) - this guy will be here till he is 90 something - at least a further 10 years. I wonder how much more wealth will be stripped away by his corrupt "officials"? I wonder how many more Zimbabweans will die of hunger, disease and the violence unleashed by his militias?
And what will be done about it?

NOTHING!

It is time for a different approach. I am often asked why no one has assassinated Mugabe yet - well, it would takes certain tools and equipment to achieve a surgical strike to remove him - but those tools are relatively impossible to come by. We also do not possess that fanatical sense where a suicide attack could be considered. The sad thing though, is that with Mugabe removed, hiw policy of "divide and rule" policy will cause ZANU-pf to implode and allow the MDC to take over. So, remove Mugabe, and the problem will go, the JOC will have no one to support and they will fight amongst themselves as to who will take Mugabe's place and will render themselves impotent in the process.

There is a way to do this job, but no one will consider it because violence against Mugabe cannot be condoned. It's ok to condone it against helpless men, women and children though!

I wonder if the world has reached such a state of madness that they can only consider "diplomacy" against someone who couldn't give a continental about what they say and who does not feel any form of "diplomatic pressure"?

I guess at the end of the day, we shall have to wait and see how much Zimbabweans can take before they openly confront soldiers and police in the streets and a bloodbath ensues. Mind you, I always marvel at the amount of fear Mugabe and ZANU-pf have instilled in the people, otherwise they would already be confronting off duty personnel and it would be too dangerous for service personal to be anywhere other than where they are in force! But I foresee even darker days ahead for my suffering country. As I keep telling everyone, "it will get MUCH worse before it gets better" and they say well it cannot get any worse. Every time someone says that, it gets worse.

I think it is time to start lobbying to have the world cup football removed from South Africa and for other forms of sanction on the entire regional grouping.. but these are all slow long term measures which are unlikely to change anything for the people who are suffering and dying every day.

And I think that any suggestion of a "deal" for Mugabe and his followers should now be put permanently away. When things finally do change, these murderers MUST be pursued to the ends of the earth in the same way the Nazi's were. And they should be brought to justice and their ill gotten wealth MUST be recovered for the state coffers from whence it came. The people of Zimbabwe need to be empowered again and that can only happen when Mugabe and ZANU-pf finally get removed. And the net must be cast wide to include any persons who have acted corruptly as this all helps the bad guys stay in control. Anyone who supports or props up the regime which has killed so many of it's own people must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Later.

When is it time for war?

2008-11-11T20:20:00.003+02:00

Like many Zimbabweans, I followed the latest non-developments with disgust. I suppose that whilst we have all known for some time now that Mugabe has no intention of sharing anything, I think we all hoped that his rule would be finally brought to an end now. Instead, the toothless gathering of corrupt African governments have basically endorsed Mugabe's theft of the entire nation by their inability to stand up to him. Sadly this malaise is international and ordinary people must wonder about the forces that control events. We have to ask why the developed nations continue to provide aid and support to the begging bowls of Africa, instead of holding it back until Africans learnt to behave with some integrity at least. But then, I suppose, we are asking that question of a morally bankrupt world. Still, the world, being driven by money and everyone feeling the pinch right now, should be taking a view on Zimbabwe - why on earth should the rest of the world be paying anyone in Southern Africa anything in any kind of development aid or support? Southern African nations will not put pressure on to rid Zimbabwe of a man who is not elected, a man who is basically a thief and a murderer and a man who is bankrupting an economically solid country for his benefit and the benefit of those around him, through the much vaunted "patronage" system (here read "looking after a band of brigands and cut throats to make sure they keep Mugabe in power").
The net result is that Zimbabwe will end up costing the rest of the world a vast sum of money to try and rebuild a viable nation when, if the correct pressure had been applied, it would instead be contributing to the region as a whole and taking the pressure off the world's purse.

The logic defies explanation!

And when is it time to say that "diplomacy" is simply not working, a military solution is needed? That famous cop out when the international community, particularly the labour government in the UK, rings out repeatedly and loudly - "this is a Zimbabwean problem and Zimbabweans must resolve it". Erm... how exactly does that work then? Do we expect that the beaten, starving and dispossessed people of Zimbabwe will rise up against the AK 47 and armoured vehicles? Perhaps they will be able to knock down the fighter jets with catapults?
And even if we are speaking "diplomatically".. how are Zimbabweans going to solve the problem? No matter how Zimbabweans vote, Mugabe wins. As he has done now - so Zimbabweans go to the regional bodies for help and they support Mugabe? So what next?

I challenge ANYONE in the international community to explain that statement to me.

I have also often read in forums and comments on news sites the view of many of the retarded people in the world who say that the international community should just disengage completely and let Africans get on with killing one another.. Convenient, but wasn't it the various colonial administrations that created large tracts of the problem?

So what now? Diplomacy is not going to work - so many months since the most irregular and flawed election in the world and still no progress, other than what Mugabe wanted in the first place - so despite the fact that Zimbabweans voted him out of power, he is still in charge and calling the shots... and diplomacy is not helping.

In the meantime, Mugabe and his cohorts continue to rape the country of everything of value. They steal from the aid agencies (although when this "irregularity" was going to impede the flow of even more money.. it was suddenly returned). The aid agencies continue to send money into the country for "humanitarian reasons" and this money is mis-appropriated to Mugabe's use. Mugabe and his followers are into diamonds, gold and anything they can get their crooked fingers on.

Add to this that they are in fact ILLEGAL and then the populace must turn to the police for help.. but the grand commissioner general is firmly part of the problem and the police force has been turned into a party militia.. so now what?

As a police officer myself, and a real policeman, not a zanu-pf militia man, I feel that it is my duty to arrest all of these people - but how do I go about it? Essentially I am dealing with criminal cartel protected by armed men, so how much force should I use to achieve these arrests? In terms of both Zimbabwean and international law, these are wanted people and they need to be brought to book. How do I go about that?

Additionally, in terms of Zimbabwean law and police procedure, deadly force may be used when:

a. Lives are at risk from criminals
b. A criminal attempts to disarm an officer
c. A criminal attempts to relieve an officer of prisoners

(there are more reasons, some quite complex, governing the use of deadly force, however these are the main and most pertinent)

In terms of the use of deadly force and in line with the precept of "minimum force", deadly force should be used as a threat (if possible and practical - i.e. warning shots), if that is not effective or possible attempts should be made to effect the arrest by injuring, maiming or otherwise incapacitating the accused. As a last resort, however, the accused may be killed, if killing is lawful under the circumstances.

Now, if we read and understand all that, and we accept that Mugabe and, particularly, the members of the so-called "JOC" (Joint Operations Command) are, in fact, criminals. So they should be arrested and brought before a court for trial. How does one arrest these individuals who are protected by well armed men?

It would seem that the minimum force required in this instance is armed conflict. Would this be justified? Well, all armed conflicts must be considered in terms of both human and financial cost.

How many lives would be lost in conflict? How many lives have been lost since Mugabe and his murderous regime have been in power? How many more will be lost for everyday he continues denying people access to health care?

In fiscal terms, how much money has Mugabe and his cohorts stolen? How much do they continue to steal? How much will it cost the country and its people for everyday he remains and wreaks further destruction on the economy? How much will it cost the region and the international community in aid and support? How much will armed intervention cost?

I think the answers are many and diverse, however, the facts are that people are dying every day and the financial cost is staggering. It needs to stop.

How do we stop it? I my mind it is quite clear, it is now time to remove the head from this snake. If they cannot be arrested (and I am not sure why - they are not legally the elected representatives of the people and therefore, not entitled to diplomatic immunity, so could easily be taken when they visit the UN or any of their other sanctions avoiding trips), then force must be considered, and there are many, many ways to neatly remove Mugabe and company without starting a full scale war. I personally have made representations to international security agencies with a view to getting equipment and minuscule funding to carry out the required operation. Sadly I merely received the pious reply that they "do not condone violence"! Not sure what they are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan then and, if this statement is true.. why are they condoning the violence of Mugabe and his followers?

I am hoping that a peaceful, diplomatic resolution will rapidly end this situation, but it seems unlikely. I admire and commend the MDC who are the legally elected representative of the people of Zimbabwe and I hope they continue to reject Mugabe's unworkable solutions. I also am ready, willing and able to take action against Mugabe if the right support is forthcoming.

Vain hope methinks - this stinking morass will continue ad infinitum because the African and International community still refer to him as "president" Mugabe and refuse to stand up to this little criminal.

Later.

Riots and Minimum Force

2008-10-27T20:20:00.005+02:00

Hello All,

I, like many others have now been watching the news carefully today to see if there are any reports on the "negotiations" but, at the time of writing, there does not appear to be anything.

I did see the report on the demonstration by ROHR (Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe). And the subsequent reports of injuries and arrests.. And the photographs of the demonstration.

50 people arrested? 11 Injured? This picture, showing the demonstration does not show a mob of violent people which required aggressive intervention.

I know - I have seen real riotous mobs and, apart from carrying placards and banners, they are certainly not carrying anything offensive nor posing a threat to the public at large.

In point of fact, they seem to be quite a jolly crowd waving and smiling - and exercising their right to freedom of expression... erm I guess that is NOT a right in Zimbabwe at the moment!

But then... if you look a little more closely.. you see what the actual problem is - these people look like they are giving the dreaded MDC open handed salute.

Naturally then, the powers that be felt it necessary to intervene!

And so... enter the riot squad...

Firing teargas (CS ANTI RIOT IRRITANT).. And all hell breaks loose.

Suddenly everyone is running for their lives.

I think it pertinent to say here that police officers are required to uphold the law. And at the moment, the law says you may not protest (Just in case everyone discovers that ZANU-pf is not who they want to govern them). I imagine that the law itself is illegal and the process to make it "law" was illegal and it is a law made by an illegal regime (So yes, on top of everything else - it gets very complex when you start looking at an incident like this!).

But, for the sake of argument, let us just say that this is the law and police officers are required to enforce it. How should they be going about it?

I would tend to think back to my training and remember the definition of "minimum force" and that is as follows:

MINIMUM FORCE - this is the force required to be applied to reach one's objective, applied with a PREVENTATIVE and NOT PUNITIVE intent, and STOPPING WHEN IT IS NO LONGER NECESSARY.

Clearly this principal was not adhered to in this case. Did the police form a line? Did a senior officer address the crowd? Did he/she warn them to disperse? Was an attempt made to make arrests peaceably?

From the reports and pictures, I would say not.

So now, the officers involved in this attack have, themselves, committed an offence - assault and causing a breach of the peace to begin with, dereliction of duty also springs to mind.

That would mean these officers need to be arrested themselves. And they need to be charged.

I would say that if the MDC are given control of the Police, which will need to happen if any progress is to be made in Zimbabwe, then there are going to be a lot of "policemen/women" (I put these titles in quotations.. because I feel the force is now largely a ZANU-pf militia anyway), who will be finding themselves where they have put so many brave people just trying to stand up for themselves.

Creepimg Genocide

2008-10-26T12:08:00.002+02:00

Is it not amazing that the world is still standing by, wringing it's hands and actually doing nothing.. whilst people in Zimbabwe are slowly being "eliminated"?

The MDC are quite correct in their stance to hold out over real power sharing. And they need to have control of the Police. Sadly, still now, relatively little pressure is being applied to Mugabe and ZANU-pf. And all the while that they are prevaricating, people (particularly the ruling MDC supporters) are starving to death or dying from cholera and many other things besides.

I often take news headlines with a pinch of salt - for instance, whilst they report widely on the deaths from causes such as starvation and disease brought on by infrastructural collapse, what about the people who are being turned away from hospitals and dying from "normal" diseases, because there are no doctors or drugs? What about people who are injured in road/domestic/occupational accidents? I would imagine that, in a pure statistical format, the number of these deaths is far greater than the cholera deaths and starvation deaths.. at the moment anyway. Of course, whilst Mugabe continues to cling desperately to power the situation will continue to deteriorate.. and more people will die.

And where does the blame for all this lie? It will take the setting up of a special section of the Zimbabwe Republic Police to concentrate solely on investigating all the murders, assaults, rapes, ZANU-pf sanctioned thefts, corruption and many other abuses of office and derelictions of duty. And it would take this section a not inconsiderable time to investigate all of this. And external help will be needed. Whilst much of modern day forensic work originated in Zimbabwe (A surprising but true fact - read CRIME SCIENTIST by John Thompson) - I would doubt that the current forensic labs will have the capability to recover and analyse DNA evidence.. or much else. And many experts who used to serve, particularly in Ballistics, will have to be recalled for service again. A very sad state of affairs, but like everything else, the ZANU-pf government inherited these institutions when they were cutting edge (the FBI used the ballistics lab in Harare on occasion because of their renowned expertise).

And at the end of the day, how much actual prosecution will be actually achieved as, with the passage of time, much factual evidence will be lost. Also, it begs the question.. who was behind it all? Was it Mugabe himself? Was it the JOC? was it individuals? Or was it all of them?

It will take one massive and intricate investigation and, I suspect, when this investigation takes place, vast fortunes will be recovered, which they must be and the money used for redevelopment and infrastructural repair. It will be interesting to see the reaction of those who have stolen so much when they lose it all!

And it will take a very organised prosecutor who is extremely diligent and thorough to bring these cases successfully to court. And the judiciary will need to be purged of political elements (although this may be easily achieved as most of them are accused persons themselves!).

Make no error, the task before everyone is gargantuan. But certainly worth doing. It is time though, for Mugabe and ZANU-pf, to be put under sufficient pressure to adhere to the terms and spirit of the agreement. They are holding out desperately because they know that once the power sharing agreement takes effect and the balance of power shifts out of their hands and into the hands of Zimbabweans.. the end will be at hand. So I do not expect them to go easily or quietly, but go they must. And the sooner the better and it is high time that the international community started putting real pressure on the African heads of state and the SADC to make it happen quickly.

Later.

Riots, Response and Bvudzijena

2008-10-16T22:26:00.002+02:00

Hey all,

Well, one wonders what to make of all the goings on. Most commentators believe Mugabe will do exactly as he pleases without any reference to the law or anyone else.. but then this evening I hear on the radio news that an accord had been reached on sharing the ministries? I have to admit though, that I have been unable to verify this anywhere on the web. It will be interesting to see what happens - the SADC is now under pressure and seems to be swinging away from Mugabe, Botswana have told him openly that they don't recognise him, Mozambique had serious words with him on the quiet after the "elections", Zambia (if they continue in Mwanase's style) have told him they think he should go and now South Africa, with a new President have started making some uncomfortable noises about him... And still the JOC clings on to power and, I think, this is the central problem - Mugabe's choices are becoming more and more forced - he has created an ever hungry elite amongst the top ZANU-pf membership who, having tasted their ill gotten gains, do now want to let go.. and are afraid of what will follow - the proverbial "tiger by the tail" scenario seems to be emerging..

I wonder where this will all end up.. because it will end. Perhaps it is required that the MDC must give the assurances of no prosecution to the senior generals and Commissioner.. otherwise they are not liable to let go. And whilst this sticks firmly in the craw of dedicated police men and women, myself included, and whilst it may not provide the justice and closure the families and victims so rightly desire, it may just be the short term answer to get rid of the rot and sort things out. And that has to be the best answer, otherwise there will be many more victims and bereaved families around.
Two recent news items stick out for me in regard to the "so called" police. They have been noted for attacking peaceful protests... again! I wonder if the officers involved were the Support Unit, which tends to be the case these days. Before this time of madness, the riot squad generally consisted of officers drawn from stations and deployed against rioters and backed up by the support unit.. but one gets the impression, more and more that the worst acts are carried out by the black boots.

I know also, from personal experience that control of these actions is rested with the Officer Commanding Province (Propol), who usually receives direction and policy directly from PGHQ. I recall listening to the radio in Bulawayo when the MDC offices were under attack by ZANU-pf thugs and was burnt down. Officers on the ground were requesting permission of the Officer Commanding to engage the ZANU-pf thugs and he was holding them off until one of the call signs could stand around no longer and merely reported that they were engaging as "the situation was no out of hand". No doubt that individual, if he was identified, is now an ex member.

What ever the excuses, it is very clear from the my own personal experiences and knowledge and from the results, that the actions or inaction's of the police are very deliberately calculated and very politically motivated.

It just surprises me that it is continuing - either the commanders themselves are unaware of the change about to sweep their lives or they believe they can maintain the status quo indefinitely. I think that if they are truly of the belief that they are never going to be brought to account, they will continue this. I should point out though, that there will be an accounting. And yes, perhaps the JOC and some of the most senior people may get away with it by negotiating their way out, the victims and the law will have their pound of flesh. And I would think that payment will start, perhaps at Deputy Commissioner level, perhaps at Senior Assistant Commissioner level, but payment will be received - I wonder how long it will take those men on the ground to realise that their beloved Field Marshal Commissioner General Chihuri will probably be long gone and they will be left holding the baby? I wonder if it will take too long before the brighter stars start covering their tracks by hanging their erstwhile comrades out to dry?

Hopefully it will be soon and some normalcy can be restored to the policies pursued by the force. And then work can start to rebuild a police force that everyone will trust, rely upon and support.

I notice also that Bvudzijena - the so called "national police spokesman" - is very quiet and these days, more often than not, cannot be reached for comment! Would that be because he is away, trying to find a dark hole into which he can crawl? I certainly hope so.

And on the subject of police commentary, I remember very clearly (although still to young to be a policeman at the time) when Rhodesia transitioned to Zimbabwe, the then Commissioner, P. K. Alum was interviewed as to the police stance on the changing political scene within the country. He was able to clearly answer that "the police would continue to maintain law and order". Something that Chihuri is unable to say (or, indeed, Bvudzijena) because police have NOT maintained Law and Order under his "leadership", quite the opposite is true. Perhaps once we are rid of ZANU-pf militia masquerading as police officers, the next Commissioner will at least be able to say that the police will clean their own house and then ensure that they will bring order back by upholding the law?

Lets hope so.

Later.

Inflation, Profiteering, Collapse

2008-10-10T09:55:00.002+02:00

Hello All,

I thought I would comment today on the financial situation in Zimbabwe as I currently have a vested interest in an ongoing matter.

It would seem now that the entire economy is going through the death throes of collapse. The intransigence of ZANU-pf and it's ludicrous financial "management" is going to be the catalyst that will erupt in civil war very shortly.

It is now time for Mbeki (in whom I do not have much faith) and the regional leadership to sit up and take notice and act before a total breakdown in society takes place. As many commentators have noted, ZANU-pf lost the March election, despite much rigging, the evidence of which has been seen by the world after the very brave prisons officer secretly recorded his "vote" for the world to see. They then went on to perform the farce of a run off accompanied by massive acts of violence and rapidly install Mugabe as "president" despite breaking every single law (their own laws!) related to the process. Surely even they can see for themselves that they are not legal?

Now we have the losing party and the ruling party (MDC) negotiating this agreement. And Zimbabwe breathed sigh of relief hoping the end was in sight.

Not a chance, ZANU-pf was merely trying to set the stage to absorb the MDC as it had done to pf-ZAPU some years earlier. They have suddenly discovered, however, that the MDC are awake and not ready to play their game. They want an actual equal share in government. And this is causing Mugabe untold headaches. Much to his surprise, they will not go quietly and are fighting him, correctly, on every point. The lack of faith being exhibited by ZANU-pf is quite clear. Ignatious Chombo is still trying to fiddle in the affairs of local government even though he is actually NOT a minister (parliament not existing currently!), the arrest and detention of MDC persons continues, in point of fact, not ONE SINGLE ELEMENT of the MoU has been acknowledged or adhered to by ZANU-pf.. or is it the JOC?

7 months after the election we are no closer to an actual settlement. And, I am wondering, where does this JOC get its power from? The people they "command"? I wonder how long that will go on given the situation regarding the economy which Gideon Gono has managed to finally bring to a screeching halt? Surely the policemen and women and soldiers of Zimbabwe themselves are feeling the pinch now and must be questioning how they got there?

Inflation continues to spiral so dramatically that it is virtually impossible to put any real figures on it. And the inflationary environment is giving way to open profiteering and racketeering, even in foreign currency.

How is it that a can of soft drink costs US$5??? and worse still, the matter I am involved in is around moving a sick person from Harare to Bulawayo by road ambulance. The price quoted by the private ambulance services in Zimbabwe is so disproportionate that it actually works out cheaper to buy an ambulance in the UK, ship it to Zimbabwe and do the transfer by road that way! In fact the cost of that is less than half of what I was quoted! (And, by the way, this is now what I am arranging!). In defending his prices, the general manager of the service involved told me that the British Medical aid BUPA routinely pays US$500 for an ambulance call within Harare!!! In the uk a private ambulance service charges £300 for a full ICU ambulance transfer in a new vehicle equipped with the the required gadgets and staffed by a paramedic, ICU nurse and Doctor over a distance of 350 km.

And what is worse, I also happen to know that ambulance staff in Zimbabwe earn, on average, less than US$5 a month! Can anyone else see the problem here? If this is how businesses are being run, which is clearly the case, how long before it becomes completely untenable?

How is it possible to justify such a profit margin? And where or who does that profit go to? Some people are really and truly using business and the prevailing situation to cash in on the misery of everyone else in the country. And making things worse.

Clearly the whole economy is out of control thanks to the machinations of ZANU-pf and the Reserve bank.

But private individuals need to sit up and take notice - these are crimes, possibly even against humanity itself. And I foresee a situation where, once things have been resolved, where those who have become ultra rich are going to have to be brought to book and their ill gotten gains taken away from them. I think there will be some very intricate and involved court cases and I, for one, will be helping employees sue their employers for back pay of a decent wage. They can clearly afford it. I think for a period of time after things settle, some serious forensic accounting is going to be called for and money and people will need to be pursued all over the world.

This kind of behaviour by business people is as bad as the torture meted out by ZANU-pf and cannot go unpunished.

Later.

Chihuri "threatens" to resign

2008-10-03T11:09:00.002+02:00

Hello all,

Well I am still connected at present and the new ISP is due in on the 6th! So hopefully any interruption will be brief!

I was doing the usual trawl through the news today and whilst most of it still stinks of Mugabe trying to hold on to all the organs of state that he has transformed into organs of the party. Funnily enough the cited reason that he cannot give up Home Affairs appears linked to the unity accord with pf - ZAPU. Erm... pf ZAPU did not, to the best of my knowledge, contest the last elections - and anyway, have been so overwhelmed by ZANU-pf that they no longer exist.

Apparently Dumiso Dabengwa and other ZAPU heavyweights are threatening to abandon the unity accord in response to the power sharing agreement... I have personally met Dabengwa on a number of occasions - I think he is a man of principals who should move away from the stinking morass created by ZANU-pf after all, Dabengwa is a very decent statesman too. Yes, bring back ZAPU if it is felt that it will represent the ndebele people - political diversity is to be encouraged - provided all parties act lawfully and work to represent their followers in the best interests of the nation - this would be a healthy development consistent with democracy. Instead of ZANU-pd being able to swallow up every corner of Zimbabwe to feed Mugabe's megalomania!

Well all these complications aside - the power sharing agreement will not work -unless power is equitably shared between the parties who are signatory to the document - all the other issues are merely a smoke screen to try and force Mugabe to stay in control and allow him to continue to destroy the country.

The fact is that Mugabe uses the organs of state and the ZRP in particular, who are deployed nationally, to rig elections, help ZANU-pf thugs attack the opposition and detain MDC leaders - if he retains control of this, the balance of power does not shift.

I see also that the MDC are under immense pressure to walk away from the power sharing deal, however, this would play into Mugabe's hands as he will be able to go tothe world and say "see - I tried, but they didn't want to play!" - No, I think the MDC must remain engaged, but stick thoroughly to their guns - and despite everything, there must be something going on behind the scenes - because there is also the story the Chihuri has threatened to resign if the MDC gain control of Home Affairs...

This is the report about Chihuri.. It can be found on the Zimbabwe Metro site here - and the comments that follow on that site show just how people feel about Chihuri!

Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri has threatened to resign if Mugabe goes ahead and allocates the Ministry of Home Affairs to the MDC,sources have revealed.
Chihuri reportedly met President Robert Mugabe at State House in Harare early this week and told him that he cannot directly work under any MDC minister."The President was told that by Chihuri that he will step down if he handed over the home Affairs ministry. " revealed a source who attended the meeting.
Meanwhile ZANU PF 's chief negotiator Patrick Chinamasa has downplayed the deadlock over allocation of four key ministries telling state media that progress has been made."I don't think that the issue of allocation of ministries is a matter that can be referred to the facilitator . We cannot, at the slightest difference in opinion, call outsiders to mediate. Even if you are a married couple, you cannot have a situation where your wife runs to her mother each time you have a problem in your home. If there is thinking on such a kind of approach, it has to stop in the interest of harmonisation of relations," he told The Herald.
Chinamasa went on to claim that the Deputy Prime Minister designate Thokozani Khuphe has already toured her new office to be located in downtown Harare."I understand offices for Mr Tsvangirai and the two Deputy Prime Ministers have already been set aside at Munhumutapa Building and that MDC-T vice president Thokozani Khupe has already been to the building to see the offices", said Chinamasa.
Earlier MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told The Star newpaper that they has been no progress in the stalemate."This approach of claiming the marrow of the government while peripherising the MDC is completely unacceptable. The mistake that Zanu-PF is making is to imagine that we are desperate to be in the government. We are not in a hurry to be chauffeur-driven. We are a people-driven party.", he said

Well Comrade Field Marshal General Brigadier Commissioner - please ensure you hand your uniform in at ordinance on your way out, ensure that your office is clean and that you personally polish the desk before you go..

The sooner you and ALL the Deputy Commissioners go, the better - and yes, if it is felt that the ZANU-pf supporters throughout the police "will resign en masse", please ensure that you encourage them to do so - it will save us having to suspend them before we begin investigations!

I see that after refusing to allow the Finance Ministry to go to MDC, reports are emerging that this has been conceded - let us hope that the same will happen with Home Affairs, because without this Ministry, the agreement and power sharing government are dead in the water. I think Mugabe must be finding it exasperating that the MDC will not cave in to their demands - good for you MDC - you keep at it, you were the legally elected representative of the people of Zimbabwe, you have promised to fight their corner and you are doing an impressive job under very hard hostile conditions.

Later.

Chihuri's step backwards

2008-10-02T13:01:00.002+02:00

Hello All..

Well, at this time I still have a connection to the internet - but it clearly struggles as I can open none of the news sites based in Zimbabwe. TheBeardedMan has come to my rescue, however, and provided me with the text of the article I wanted to comment on yesterday.. It is quite incredible and deserves picking apart on a line by line basis!

ZIMBABWEANS should set aside political differences and embrace the historic power-sharing deal for the betterment of the country, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has said.
Comm-Gen Chihuri said Zimbabweans should now move on and work together.

This sounds more and more like a step backwards for our revered Field Marshal General Commissioner! What happened to "I will never recognise Tsvangirai"????? Too little, too late methinks!

“We need to work together and fore go our minor differences as Zimbabwe has now moved on with its politics as parties engaged in landmark talks to restore whatever seeming differences amongst them and a common understanding was reached,” Cde Chihuri said.
He said the formation of an all-inclusive Government was imminent and all sober-minded Zimbabweans welcomed this development.

And is Chihuri sober minded? I doubt that.. Come now Augustine - what happened to the nasty rhetoric you have been gushing in recent months?

He noted that the current economic challenges facing the country were not of the making of the leadership but of foreigners who wanted to enjoy and benefit from the country’s resources.

Would that be the Chinese foreigners? How can you, as the head of the so-called police force blindly follow this old and worn out party line? I am sure the economic challenges have absolutely nothing to do with the destruction of the agricultural sector and the departure of people capable of making the economy work! Of course - preventing Mugabe and his entourage - including you from going on their monthly US$2 million shopping trips must be the cause of all your woes!
If this man cannot grasp the fundamentals of what poor governance has done, how can he possibly understand that the failure and partisan behaviour of the police is down to his own leadership - no doubt, that too, is someone else's fault! Get a grip Chihuri - resign now and run away - real policemen will return soon and you will be arrested!

He said this in his address to officers who have just returned from a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia and another contingent leaving for Sudan on a similar assignment.

I still have some difficulty understanding how policemen and women who cannot uphold the law in their own country can possibly be seconded for duties in other world "trouble spots"? Is it just me that has a problem with this? Has someone in the UN not noticed this parody?

Cde Chihuri said the peace prevailing in the country should continue to be jealously guarded.
The incoming contingent of 13 officers had briefed Cde Chihuri on the unstable situation they encountered during their tour of duty in Liberia.
“You have outlined in your reports that disturbances were rampant. This is what happens when people do not abide by laws. I urge you to contribute to further maintain this peace as you have done during your tour of duty,” he said.

Erm Chihuri, let me break this to you gently.. the only reason that the people of Zimbabwe haven't risen up and buried you and your followers in ant hills is because they are a fundamentally decent people who abide by the law of their own choice. The people disturbing the peace and breaking the law are you and your mis-guided officers. Be thankful that the people of Zimbabwe are prepared to wait it out until the law is restored and you can be dealt with in the proper manner!

The police chief also took a swipe at corrupt officers, saying the long arm of the law would soon catch up with them.

So this was a swipe at yourself then?

Comm-Gen Chihuri also said he was impressed by the increase in the number of female officers participating in peacekeeping missions, which were usually regarded as a male preserve.
“By taking up these extremely challenging assignments, they are confirming their undoubted ability, capability and professionalism which cuts across gender,” he said.
Cde Chihuri also applauded the contingent for standing up to the daunting challenges that confronted them in Liberia as they worked towards restoring peace and tranquillity in the West African country.

I am quite sure there is much professionalism still within the police, across all genders, which Chihuri works hard to cover up and control, lest the actual law be applied - in which case, Chihuri would be immediately suspended, investigated, charged, convicted and carted off to somewhere dark!

“Your preparedness has shown the way and laid the pattern of good work. The Zimbabwe Republic Police’s peacekeeping record has been common cause as evidenced by the wide commendations lavished upon the organisation by both regional and international entities.
He said despite the challenges, corruption cannot be used as an excuse.
“I want to take this opportunity to highlight that there is no room for criminality in the ZRP and those who are involved in criminal activities will not be spared,” he said.

Would criminal activities include things like contravening the Police Act? Contravening the Electoral Act? Acting in an unconstitutional manner? Dereliction of duty? If they do, I am impressed that Chihuri would threaten himself in this manner! But he is right on one point - there is no room for criminals in the ZRP - and that includes you Chihuri - you are only the Commissioner, which is just a rank that can be help by a police officer - it does not make you immune to the law!

To departing officers, Cde Chihuri said they should always strive to do better than their predecessors.
“You should, therefore, individually or collectively work as one with the aim of exuding the highest level of professionalism that is an unfailing characteristic of police both locally and internationally,” Cde Chihuri said.

Perhaps Chihuri could start "exuding professionalism" himself by resigning immediately and let real police officers who are not party biased take control?

Later.

News from within Zimbabwe

2008-10-01T13:07:00.002+02:00

I have been trying, without success to access local news sites from within Zimbabwe to try and see what rubbish the Mugabe media is trying to shove down people's throats - unfortunately, I think either the hack attacks have taken their toll or the news sites themselves are just unreachable!
However, I was able to access the "newsnet" site of the ZBC and Mweb.co.zw..

On the Mweb page I noted a headline from the Chronicle which proclaims " Lets Bury Our Political Differences: Chihuri" - the kink is HERE and I hope that someone can access it and tell me what this story is about.. but, given the statement reported, i am speculating that this may be a signal that Supreme Commander Field Marshal Commissioner General Chihuri of the ZANU-pf / Robert Mugabe personal militia may be starting to feel a little unsettled?

Whilst I am dying to see what this is about, if my suspicions are correct, someone needs to point out that the best way to bury the political differences, particularly within the police means the removal of all political appointees, political commissars and biased officers who police for the party, instead of the nation! And that will have to start with the departure of Chihuri from the office he has used to destroy the Zimbabwe Republic Police and semblance of law and order within the country! Chihuri, take your cap off your head and read the badge - it says "Pro Lege - Pro Patria - Pro Populo" - that is Latin and it means the following - Pro Lege (For the Legion/company) - i.e - for the good of the force.. Pro Patria (for the country) - i.e not for the party!.. Pro Populo (for the people) - erm did this one slip our minds? or perhaps only zanu-pf are people????
Now, having taken the cap off your head - give it to someone who can actually be a police officer and fulfil the requirements of the post!

Reading the "newsnet" site is yet another joke which, if were not so sad would be totally funny.
they carry this story about the police's "crack crime team" in a shoot out with the bad guys.. The police has a "crack crime team"?????? Insofar as I am aware, there is but one man who effectively chases down the armed criminals in Harare - and he is a neighbourhood watch member who uses his own vehicle and is virtually a one man police force. He operates in the "high density areas" and is extremely efficient and effective. I will not put his name down here because that will, undoubtedly result in his removal and, therefore, and end to all policing! Suffice it to say he is black, has very few resources but uses them all to prop the police up! To the best of my knowledge, this guy is involved regularly in shootouts with real criminals and is a deadly force for the bad guys to reckon with - and, in reality, he is not even a real police officer. And the so called regular members of the force are either not interested or completely unable to keep up with him.. or the bad guys! Hopefully, once things change, people like this can be integrated and provided with resources to really be a pain to criminals! I would certainly like to work with him again.

Apart from that - the site reports on a number of items, but seems to know who the ministers are - which is a little strange.. seeing as we do not actually have a government and ministries are not allocated... ho hum - life in Zimbabwe!

I am anticipating a short break from blogging as my ISP is changing and I may not have regular access again until the 6th. I will try though!

Later.

the ZRP in the news

2008-09-29T17:33:00.003+02:00

Hello again, I felt compelled to come back and write about some of the things I have seen regarding the ZRP in the news...

The first thing that caught my eye was this story about Chihuri locking up a police officer for making remarks critical of Mugabe! Well Dinyero - take hope, I would be pleased to include you on the board of enquiry that reviews allegations against Chihuri! I would have thought by now that officers such as Dinyero, whose voice is growing stronger and louder each day would not be mistreated, but their detractors would do well to listen to them. The law under which Dinyero has been arrested is a very questionable law and I think it is high time that people using this so called "legislation" to protect Mugabe's reputation (you need a law to do that where normal people can see through your nonsense!), would be busy making exit plans themselves.

I note also that Chihuri is now COMMISSIONER GENERAL.... erm is this a police force or the army???? perhaps soon he will be the Commissioner Field Marshal General??? Get a grip - Commissioner is a standard for senior police men - but I guess he needed that to stand on an equal footing with the Generals in the JOC owned military junta! In my opinion, he would be lucky to be an auxiliary reserve constable.. not quite sure he would be up to that job either!

Starving Residents to Take Legal action Against the Police:

Another gem of professional policing also made it into the news with this story on the SWradio site! I see that the police, with nothing much else to do (since, of course real crime is NOT their business), felt reasonably motivated to interfere in people getting much needed food aid! Well, it is clear what their motivation was - they want the food themselves - and how dare anyone interfere with Mugabe's food and aid distribution policy? We have to remember that food only belong to those who vote for Mugabe... not those who really need it! (do excuse my sarcasm, but this fiasco would be laughable if it were not so sad!).

I wait in great anticipation to hear the explanations of those so called officers in days to come to try and justify what it was they were actually trying to achieve? These days are numbered and the corrupt officers who run these stupid operations and carry out these biased and ILLEGAL tasks need to start thinking about what they are doing. It will not be long now, before they must account for their actions.

I think the days are drawing in on this regime now.. and I think it is high time that officers woke up to their responsibilities. They will have to remember that they are there to protect the people and serve them and the nation as whole and not a single party.

And I note, thankfully, that the indomitable Bvudzijena is growing ever quieter.. maybe he is waking up? Nah - too much to hope for I think!

Later.

A Blueprint for the ZRP

2008-09-29T10:17:00.002+02:00

Hello all, well with Mugabe being away and it being deathly quiet in terms of news, coupled with personal tragedy in my family - there hasn't been too much to write about recently.

It would seem though, that something is happening, Mugabe has come back earlier than I understood he was meant to and Mbeki's sudden demise have added all kinds of new speculation to the situation. Clearly though, the balance of power has shifted with changes in South Africa - suddenly Mugabe will feel a lot more exposed, no wonder he feels that the Democratic process (which still works in South Africa) IS "devastating" - it is really only devastating to ZANU-pf''s military junta and spells the final death knoll for un democratic leadership in Zimbabwe.

I have, for some time been considering a blueprint for the police force to be resurrected in Zimbabwe. It will be a gargantuan task and fraught with many dangers. Police officers loyal to their calling will be on the front line and face a great deal of danger - from their own erstwhile colleagues - particularly those who have climbed through the force causing mayhem and destroying the structure of the force in the process to support Mugabe. In the process discipline and processes have been cast aside. This has allowed corruption to flourish and indeed it has become the norm now.

I spoke to friend in Zimbabwe last night who said that the police force no longer functions, except to provide traffic control for Mugabe's motorcade, and collect bribes at roadblocks. In fact police action now depends on who pays the biggest bribe to the highest ranking man, it has absolutely nothing to do with controlling incidents and carrying out a thorough investigative procedure. So how do you fix such a massive machine when it so broken?

BLUEPRINT

Well a huge number of things have to be done almost immediately.

The hierarchy in the force comprising the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioners and many Senior Assistant Commissioners needs to be suspended.

Suitable replacements need to be found, either in the few remaining serving senior officers or in many of the those who have been forced to resign. I know a few of the senior officers both serving and ex members who would be very capable of taking this task on and removing the political bias in the direction and leadership of the force.

CID Homicide and CID law and Order sections need to have virtually every man suspended and arrested (They were instrumental in much of the torture inflicted by the police).

The police constabulary A branch, B branch and C branch need to be disbanded immediately.

A huge number of transfers need to take place to move officers out of their comfort zones and mix them with colleagues they cannot be sure of across the country.

The police supply chain needs to be examined and refinanced. Police men and women all look like a complete shower. Their uniforms are falling apart, dress orders are no longer enforced and their general appearance engenders absolutely no respect from the public. Those that do have new uniforms (generally those that stand behind Mugabe at conferences etc) have uniforms that are several sizes too big! It is absolutely laughable.

Police transport is badly distributed, generally used by officers in charge as their personal "company cars" and most of them are, in themselves, moving violations!

Station inspections will have to be carried out and great attention paid to what has happened to the various reports in the RRB's, IR's and OB's. These docket will have to be examined to see whether any form of actual reality has been applied to them. Investigation will have to be carried out into CR's and "missing documentation" - The system used to be very good indeed and missing paperwork falls within a chain of responsibility - so where it has gone "missing" officers need to be charged.

Training needs to be examined, as does the rank structure. When I was in depot, all officers did six months initial boot camp style training before being deployed to stations where they were put in the company of experienced officers and learnt the trade from personal experience. And yes, they had to do the "undesirable" duties to begin with - roadblocks, farm patrols, guard duties and so on - that is a rite of passage. For some bizarre reason, Chihuri and co decided we would be better off following the British style of 18 months training which would include periods at a station working. Not sure I get this though - are not the British the enemy?? Anyway, I have not been impressed with the British police - by and large they are not corrupt, but they have no public faith and this is largely engendered by their behaviour and attitude - and their hands are bound by ever expanding and more complex "human rights" laws, mountains of paperwork, statistical targets and a departure from basic principles of policing - for instance, I have often heard people complain that the police in Zimbabwe took so long to attend to various reports - but did you know that in the UK if you report a break in or criminal damage case, in most cases the police will simply provide a report number for insurance purposes? They "do not, as a matter of policy, attend every 'minor' incident". - So how then, do they gather evidence? They cannot accurately plot a crime map and, in the event an arrest is made (by mistake usually!), how do they tie the accused to the crimes in a given area? They cannot - so the accused appears in court charged with one offence, gets a warning and is back on the street in ten minutes... hmmmm!

Anyway, serious thought should be given to retaining some of the older core policing that the ZRP inherited - it was effective and it worked well.

Having disbanded the Police Constabulary, it would be a good idea to reform it - this may sound to be a bit of a contradiction, however, remember that one of the big entrance requirement was ZANU-pf membership, we need to be rid of that. Also, given the lack of selection applied to policon members, most are unsuitable for service. There is no reliable record keeping for them and they can virtually assume whatever rank they wish - in fact many have been promoted, at least to Assistant Inspector by doing "favours" for various officers..

A lot of attention will have to be paid to providing a flying squad / scorpions type response to urgent reports and emergencies - that would be central to rebuilding public confidence in the force also.

Having said all that - with a proper selection procedure, suitability tests and training, they could become an effective tool in the police armoury once again and help to boost numbers without draining the budget. They can also be a good balance and check to ensure that the police are not a "closed corporation" with a hidden agenda as they have become.

Perhaps the entire rank structure of the force needs to be re-examined with the re- introduction of the "patrol officer" rank and a two tiered entry system based on educational achievement? It worked very well before, why was it changed? I often think about that old saying - "if it ain't broke - don't fix it"!

By continually "fixing" and adjusting something that was working, we now have something that is completely broken - from the basic function of the force to its entire infrastructure, men, women, stations, vehicles, horses, buildings, accommodation etc - it is interesting to not the beautiful new stables built on the way to Chivero... yet many officers have no accommodation!! And for the most part, horses are only ceremonial in this day and age, although they do have a role to play in actual policing also!

And I haven't even got started on the Support Unit!

There is SO MUCH to fix, so little time before this caretaker government will have to hold elections and if this stuff is not sorted out - the next elections are hardly likely to be policed effectively by an unbiased police force - therefore the elections would not be free and fair. AGAIN. And the ramifications are too terrible to contemplate!

The Next Steps

2008-09-17T13:43:00.003+02:00

Hello All,

It never fails to amaze me the amount of guesswork and mischief making that seems to go into modern reporting. I am a believer that the modern media is, quite often, the policy setter in so many situations. Sadly, this is a huge double edged sword and speculation in the media can often have a very detrimental effect on the outcome of a situation.

At this time, despite the circulation of various "lists" of cabinet posts in the media, the only thing known for sure, is that the accord had been signed, but discussion over ministries has not yet happened! It is interesting to note the situation that the new dispensation has caused may itself be responsible for the delays. ZANU-pf are now locked in their own meeting to decided who will get what from the new government... a little pre-emptive given that the division of the ministries has not yet taken place! Surely the allocation of ministries is the first order of business? It does show, however, that there are many hard feelings in ZANU-pf and people scurrying to and fro to try and secure themselves in the new order, an order over which their control is now severely limited! Mugabe must now be marvelling at how effective his divide and rule policies have been and I think that this, in itself will be yet another step towards oblivion for ZANU-pf. I would love to be a fly on the wall there and watch and listen to the disagreements and finger pointing that must be going on at ZANU-pf headquarters! Let see what happens next!

Sadly though, these delays, again brought about by ZANU-pf's inability to govern even themselves, let alone the nation as a whole, only have the effect of further delay the installation of a government which will run and administer Zimbabwe. Until this happens, no one will be able to say how much, if any, water the agreement holds and whether it is the beginning of the road to recovery.

As for the police, I note that they are remarkably quiet right now. Where are the statements from the Commissioner and his staff congratulating the parties on their historic move to end the defacto one party state? Where is the voluble Bvudzijena now? I note the absence of a statement from him indicating that police will strive to achieve the impartiality required to cover the new agreement in solid Law and Order? Why no comment indicating that the police acknowledge thier shortcomings and a need to re-adjust and to provide law and order for all?

Hmmm - that old quote again - the silence is deafening!

I imagine that mush like the rest of the world, they wait to discover who will control what? Being a hugely partisan organisation they must, inevitably, fear the consequences of their blind faith. What happens if, indeed, the Prime Minister gains control of the force?

I would imagine that these worries are now foremost in the minds of the individuals, particularly the hierarchy of the force. For too ling they have served ZANU-pf faithfully and, in return have achieved much for their own personal benefit - and now they must be wondering how hard it is going to be to lose those things. I would guess that after much time of being immune from the law, the prospect that it might actually be applied to them now must be quite daunting!

It is going to be a difficult time for those policemen and women who have strayed from the path of policing for personal gain, whether material or political.

If I were one of them, by now I would be living quietly on the coast in some other country and keeping a very low profile indeed!

As we wait and see what the new dispensation will be, I am contemplating a blueprint for recovery for the police which I will endeavour to publish over the coming days and weeks.

Later.

CHIHURI AND DEPUTY COMMISSIONERS - RESIGN NOW

2008-09-12T14:48:00.002+02:00

I think it is now time for Chihuri and his deputies to resign. They have not contributed one iota to the nation and, in particular, to the Zimbabwe Republic Police. It is now time for them to start preparing their defences for charges to be brought under the Police Act.

Ordinary police officers will not miss their so-called leadership but should be aware that the days of acting as the ZANU-pf militia are now at an end. I would suggest that my colleagues be very mindful of human rights and the job description of the peace officer (police officer) in Zimbabwe. I recall the description extremely well and it needs to come into sharp focus now:

1. Protection of life
2. Protection of property
3. Prevention of crime
4. Detection of crime
5. Maintain Law and Order

These are the 5 main precepts of the job description - start acting accordingly.

And you should all remember that you WILL now have to salute Morgan Tsvangirai! I certainly look forward to that day myself. It will give me great pride to pay respects to the man who has endured so much and by proxy to his followers who have resisted intimidation, torture, cruelty, murder, rape, assault, dispossession and virtually every other offence against the person it is possible to imagine.

I have now revealed my identity to certain party insiders and I am hopeful that I will, shortly, be called back into service. I will reveal my identity further if the power sharing deal takes the shape we all hope it will and I hope that I can continue to blog, hopefully on more topical lines associated with the Zimbabwe Republic Police in the future. Until then, I will keep up to speed with all the developments!

I would wish to give my undertaking to the people of Zimbabwe to pursue the criminals who brought suffering to so many and to help remove corruption from within the force itself.

I have to say that I am, finally, becoming hopeful that we are now on the road to the end of this madness. Lets see what happens on Monday then!

A Bated Breath

2008-09-12T14:41:00.003+02:00

Well reading the various news stories on the net regarding the signing of the deal is still full of assumption and innuendo, but little real real fact.

It would seem that the details will be released on Monday and, until then speculation will be rife!

The one ray of hope is that it would appear that the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Ministry of Home Affairs will, in fact, fall under the control of the MDC - who are really the legally elected representatives of the people and nation of Zimbabwe.

Is this the momentous occasion we have awaited? Will ZANU-pf attempt its normal hijack of things? One wonders, but I do take comfort in the fact that Morgan Tsvangirai sticks to his guns and Mugabe and Mbeki will not find it easy to bully him into what is wanted by ZANU-pf. So we will have to see how things develop now.

And, as TheBeardedMan points out - 72 hours is a lifetime in Zimbabwean politics.

A Deal?

2008-09-11T14:50:00.003+02:00

It would appear, from all that is being said and done and written, that a power sharing deal is on the table that may just be the answer to shifting the balance of power. Although there is still some worrisome posturing from ZANU-pf circles, I think that once a deal comes into being, those members of the armed forces who have been threatened and cajoled into doing the party's bidding, may well feel that they are now free to act within the law.

For the Zimbabwe Republic Police, this will be a very intense and interesting time and will require very careful and measured actions to rid the force of the ZANU-pf faithful and the corrupt, who are now starting to realise that the game is very close to being up.

It is interesting to note that Chihuri is very keen to be nice to Mbeki, in the hope that he will look kindly on his request for immunity and, probably asylum. I hope though, that when Chihuri runs for the hills, he will take Godwin Matanga and the other Deputy Commissioners with him. This will then clear the decks for a proper police hierarchy to be put in place and begin the huge process of bring the Zimbabwe Republic Police back to the high standard that it inherited.

I was considering my position on all this and, given the legalities of the situation, I have to confess that I would see no actual reason to salute Mugabe or any of his party appointed members of the ZRP - they carry no legal mandate from the people of Zimbabwe and, therefore, there is no requirement to either salute them or follow orders from. A police officer in Zimbabwe is only duty bound to follow "lawful orders" - which would leave anything the party faithful want in dubious territory, whilst conversely, officers should be sitting up and taking note that the real legal head of state in Morgan Tsvangirai and not following lawful orders from him could be tantamount to dereliction of duty!

I sometimes wonder if we are not victims of Confucius' famous lines "may you live in interesting times!"

We shall watch and see the developments over the immediate future with a mixture of hope and trepidation and hopefully the time is at hand for a new dawn in Zimbabwe.

Later.

All Villains?

2008-09-09T11:27:00.003+02:00

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.

And We Stagger On!

2008-08-28T15:54:00.002+02:00

Hello all,

A short entry today...

A recent scan of the news reveals not much of real interest - Zimbabwe literally staggers on a bit more. Mugabe, having failed in his bid to absorb his detractors is now charging on alone as usual! It is noteworthy that the rest of Africa remains silent in their ever stoic way. But then, I always have to remind myself that this is Africa - and here we do what individual dictators want!

The passing of Levy Mwanasa was a blow to the anti Mugabe movement, but it seems that Zambia may continue with that line! which is a good thing - and the South African elections are getting ever nearer. Mugabe mus be looking in despair at "the wall" and be reading, with horror the writing that is there.

People often ask me if I am disappointed with the outcome of the elections.. Well I am not, but then I never truly expected a different outcome - Mugabe was never going to allow the ballot to actually reflect the will of the people and oust him - he never has, so why would that change now? I think though, he has realised that the time is now drawing inexorably nearer and he needs to make plans - in the meantime, he will hang on, law and order will be become ever more irrelevant and the general state of things will, inevitably deteriorate - they WILL get worse before they get better.. but then they WILL get better.

And there are a great number of Zimbabweans who, having done well in the rest of the world will come home and the economy, with huge injections of promised aid, will bounce back. The infrastructure in Zimbabwe still exists, we just need the right people to operate it!

And this will all start with the police and the re-establishment of the rule of law. In my view (naturally!), the cornerstone of any economic recovery is the re-establishment of the rule of law and all it's attendants, such as human rights, property rights, security and freedom. This has to start with the police - and that will mean virtually eliminating the ENTIRE hierarchy of the Police force, re-organising training and development within the force and redeployment of officers who WILL do the job correctly and with dedication.

Later.

A Long Absence!

2008-08-27T00:41:00.003+02:00

Hello all,

I am back after a forced absence - domestic events and another move!

A brief whizz through the news events shows things following much the course that I anticipated.
It would seem that Mugabe's plan to "negotiate" a settlement and absorb the MDC as he did with Nkomo in the earl years has hit something of a wall. Fortunately, the opposition know where they stand and will not be suckered! And good for them.

It is strange, being a policeman (not present in Zim right now and, therefore, not subject to stupid biased leadership) and being able to be objective and try to make sense of the whole thing! How on earth does one sort out what is actually legal from what is not? Clearly the party faithful in the police can see their way very clearly... and their actions are targeted against opposition to Mugabe. And I find that remarkable - obviously these individuals who act within the force cannot see that the writing is on the wall. And it never ceases to amaze me that the closer to the end it gets, the more violent these individuals become, the more biased they become and the further from legality their actions become. It is the old story of history repeating itself over and over - from Eastern Europe and worldwide. They never learn and they fails to recognise that their actions are being recorded and they will face justice - and probably sooner rather than later!

Individuals like Bvudzijena should by now be keeping a low profile and making plans to either mitigate their behaviour, or disappear - either option would be preferable, their continued presence merely delays and complicates matters. And Bvudzijena is but one of many - the top end of the force is filled with the party faithful who are blindly clinging to the belief that in reality, they can convince the rest of Zimbabwe and, indeed the world, that this is all some Western plot carried out by "puppets" to rob Zimbabwe of it's sovereignty! Either they are incredibly stupid (a reasonable assumption given some of the things they have come up with over the years!) or they are so brainwashed as to completely useless to the people, the nation and the force itself.

I am relishing watching these people scattering for cover when it all finally crashes down! I am sure that there will be those amongst their number who believe it is time for another was against the (now non-existent) Colonial Machine. And this is a very valid reason that the MDC look to the future and make plans to cope with this now. When the time comes, it will be imperative that they have trained and experienced personnel in place to take immediate action against those who would take up arms against the legitimately elected government.

And there are those of us who are poised, waiting for some indication from the MDC that they have thought about this and would want us to help. I must say that whilst I understand their focus at the moment, they have said nothing and appear not to be looking to the future at all. Perhaps they feel the situation is quite hopeless at this point and no one could really blame them, however, surely it is becoming plain to all that Mugabe and his ZANU-pf fiefdom is rapidly heading for the wall.

The MDC should be engaging with some members of the force, both those in service and those ex members and exiled members who are the very people they will need to rely on to fill the power vacuum or wrest control from the party biased agents. And they need to be doing this sooner rather than later!

I note that the police is till acting in a biased manner, bringing trumped up charges against the MDC MP's whilst ignoring gross violations by the party! I do find it strange - having been present and on duty during the previous election, I recall listening to the stations passing their stats on the radio in the early hours and was surprised to hear that more ZANU-pf supporters had, in fact been arrested than MDC supporters! Strange, but very true. obviously the party is trying to keep the lid on tighter now and actual law really doesn't apply!

Hope fully I will now be able to contribute on a daily basis - without further breaks in transmission!

Later.

Professionalism, Corruption, MoU

2008-07-22T23:07:00.002+02:00

Hello All,

The bearded man pointed out a story to me that is very pertinent in showing the confusion, paranoia and complete unprofessional behaviour of the ZANU-PF militia!

The report emanates from ZWnews.com and can be read by clicking here.

The report states:

Masvingo - Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena is now reportedly editing all violence related stories by the Herald, Radio VOP can reveal. In an announcement that shocked other news editors gathered in Masvingo, The Herald news editor, Isdore Guvamombe, who is also a former freedom fighter, openly told workshop participants that the ZRP had demanded to see all stories on violence and that they therefore, had to send them to Bvudzijena for clearance before publishing. Guvamombe said while Bvudzijena could not write copy like journalists, they just had to publish what he would have cleared. The news editor said this had been done for security reasons, probably explaining why MDC violence reports are never published by the paper. Guvamombe said he would continue sending copy to Bvudzijena every day and would only publish after the ZRP spokesman had cleared the violence reports. Guvamombe said he did not expect any foul play in the write ups as the ZRP was 'very professional'.

So now the ZANU-PF militia (the so-called present ZRP) is extending it's propaganda machinery into the formal press by controlling what they print? And this is professional?? Bvudzijena and others like him, throughout the Zimbabwe Republic Police need to be giving their attestation (basically their oath to serve) some serious thought. And they need to be paying due diligence to the Police Act. These people are in breach of many aspects of the Law, the Constitution and their duties as police officers. They will be made to account for their actions.

And I think it is a point here to remind ourselves that pretty much everything ZANU-PF has done since the 2000 referendum has been illegal. Certainly right now the Junta controlling Zimbabwe is illegal and every single police officer (and soldier or air force member or Prisons Officer) needs to be thinking very hard about what a "lawful" order is, what it means and why they, as police officers, need to be very clear that the "party" is NOT the government and is not the duly elected representative of the people. Presidential decrees are not legal and, in many cases, ride roughshod over the law - and these are things that will need to be addressed.

I was also considering corruption in Zimbabwe now. And this has become a very deep rooted epidemic, affecting virtually every aspect of life and, in particular, every thing the ZANU-PF militia do (I am loathe to call them a police force as they could not be further from it at the moment!). I have a great deal of information on many cases of absolute corruption - people in Zimbabwe, particularly the rich whites still making a killing there, need to also be thinking hard. It is now an accepted fact of life that the police will act, or not act depending on how much money, which contacts you have and really nothing follows any semblance of law enforcement at all any more. This is going to be a gargantuan task to reverse. I would think that a special task force will need to be set up and actively engaged in investigating and stinging both police officers and members of the public. We need to return to the days when bribing a cop was a very risky business indeed.

Funnily enough though, I have had dealings in the past couple of years with the Presidents Office corruption desk - in particular a chap called Andy. And he is exactly the type of chap we need. If, of course, he hasn't given up, been threatened or anything else. He was extremely motivated in following up stories allegations and was very active in bringing offenders, from any side of the line to book. On two cases I involved him in, I was very impressed with his diligence!

Corruption is the biggest single factor in the downfall of the police. I am aware that many people have had to resort to corrupt engagements with the police to just get what any normal citizen is due, such as passports, foreign currency, police clearance certificates (which some countries still demand - and to what end I have no idea since they are not worth the paper they are written on!), birth certificates, drivers licences - in fact virtually every aspect of normal life has become a corrupt practise - simply put, if you don't pay, you don't get.

But the dealings with the police interest me the most and here, again, I have seen great contrast. There are still officers who actually just want to do the job properly (although they appear to be a shrinking minority, probably more through necessity than anything else) and there are those who truly are lost. The problem is so bad that con artists, the fraudsters and that type of individual have all got a pet policeman on tap that gets them off the hook or diverts attention away from them. And here I have seen some Officers-in-charge of Harare suburban police stations heavily involved in these behaviours. Funnily enough, the Officers Commanding District seem to be much less involved and still quite genuinely interested in policing.

Sadly, until investigations really get into this cess-pit, we will never know and, I suspect will be truly shocked by who is and who isn't involved.

And this is such a long topic to consider, people routinely make reports against people they view as business rivals, or use CIO personnel to collect debts. I have had particularly unpleasant dealing with two of the most corrupt members of the CIO I have ever come across - and the interesting part is that they are firmly under the control of criminal white businessmen in Harare - I have kept a great amount of information and really do hope for the day that investigations can be launched - it will be interesting to see who is heading for the hills then!

And so the much vaunted MoU had been signed amid much smiling and handshaking between the parties. I do hope that this produces some results. I will not be publishing the MoU here as it can be found in almost a zillion places on the net - but I did want to comment on a couple of things agreed to..

Firstly:

(b) POLITICAL
(i) New Constitution
(ii) Promotion of equality, national healing and cohesion, and unity
(iii) External interference
(iv) Free political activity
(v) Rule of law
(vi) State organs and institutions
(vii) Legislative agenda priorities

Section (b)
part (ii) - does this mean that as a white policeman, I will be eligible to promotion and be treated as a full member of the force? (something that hasn't been the case for over 15 years now!). Maybe I will even get my GSM and LSM???

part (v) - Does this mean we want to re-establish the Rule of Law? If so, does it mean that persons who committed offences will be arrested? Indeed if that is the case, the police will shrink by about 80% - so what next???

10. Interim measures

10.1 Security of persons
(a) Each Party will issue a statement condemning the promotion and use of violence and call for peace in the country and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that the structures and institutions it controls are not engaged in the perpetration of violence.
(b) The Parties are committed to ensuring that the law is applied fairly and justly to all persons irrespective of political affiliation.

If these parts are to be read together, how will the ZRP function? They have long ago lost their ability to function and have no hope of investigating anything unless they are permitted to beat a confession out of an accused!

I recall that recently I was at a local Harare police station were plain clothes officers were investigating a string of House Breaking and theft offences. I had to go into the office to obtain something from one of the officers and I recall that when I went into the office, the accused was lying on the ground whilst these two plain clothes so-called police men were beating him with 60mm armoured cable. When I questioned them, they said it was the cheapest and easiest way of closing the CR - and, after all, they "knew" this accused person was responsible! I didn't press the matter with them and when I reported to the officer in charge, he became decidedly frosty towards me and told me that this was Zimbabwe, not Rhodesia and Zimbabwean police officers knew what they were doing! Erm... wasn't the Rhodesian government and BSAP accused of brutality? I seem to be confused!

Clearly a solution is required for Zimbabwe and this solution must culminate in the removal of the illegal Junta and free and fair elections under the rule of law must be achieved - I just wonder how realistic that is????

Later.

Reservists, Police Constabulary, Neighbourhood Watch

2008-07-19T19:59:00.005+02:00

Hello All,

Today I was considering some of the things that contributed to the collapse of The Zimbabwe Republic Police as a credible law enforcement agency. And one of the things that I hit upon was the reserves.

On the surface, the police reserve force, or special constabulary as it is now known (so many names of things have been changed, ostensibly to try and help the colonial past fade, but really just costing money and of no significant use!) could be an extremely useful adjunct to the regular force. And indeed this used to be the case. These are generally individuals with an interest in policing who have normal full time employment. They used to be trained to a fairly high standard and fitted into the force as part time paid members. They generally operated from their local station and carried out duties alongside regular officers. They were issued uniform and rank, were subject to the police act. They also could be "called up" for continuous service when the demands on the force dictated.

Being paid, they could not be classified as "volunteers" which made them subject to regulation and disciplinary procedures and meant that they were required to fulfil certain obligations. However, they were people who chose to be involved and, as such, they tended to have quite a decent attitude towards their work and were often very dedicated.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police had a very effective reservist contingent inherited from the BSAP. In the early 80's, around the time of gukurahundi, the ZANU-PF government used this as one of their tools to start turning the police into a party militia. The first things that happened was that one had to have a zanu-pf party card in order to be eligible to join the police reserve. And so the rot set in. A number of individuals who really wanted to be reservists and involved actually joined the party and endured endless party meetings in order just to get in!

The reserve filled up with party members who saw it as a way to get into the regular force. Their dreams were, in fact, realised. During the late 80's and early 90's there was much talk about the scrapping of the reserve force altogether and all members were offered integration into the regular force. Many of these persons would not have survived the entry criteria and testing to which normal regular officers were subject. When I joined the force all manner of things were tested, health, minimum height, weight, education, fitness as well as all manner of psychometric testing as well as CID and police clearance for criminal records (I a m surprised they no longer pay attention to this aspect as it almost seems that being completely unsuitable for service and having a criminal record are pre- requisites for entry!).

The name of the police reserve was changed (late 80's, I think!), entry criteria began to fall away and, as funding within the force dropped (probably to accommodate the excesses of the elite!) training fell away. One merely had to approach and befriend the local CRLO (Community Relations Liaison Officer) at any station and the paper work would be completed, usually a lot faster if you "helped out with certain things" and presto - you would be a policeman! There were a number of young white Zimbabweans (as well as the odd foreigner!) who joined during this era, some of whom were not even over the of 18 years (the minimum age for joining since the scrapping of the cadet rank). Some of these people had a genuine interest in policing and many provided transport where the police had none and many managed to accumulate strong records of arrests. Many did not. And confusion reigned supreme. The neighbourhood watch scheme was introduced as a way of putting grass roots patrols back out on the streets (you recall from the official history I quoted - this was probably a duty considered "manual, dirty work!). Neighbourhood watch members were issued with force numbers (usually starting 080) and were imbued with the rank of constable. Their mandate was meant to be to patrol their local neighbour hood only and to apprehend and detain persons who may have been committing crime in that neighbourhood.

Well, most of the true neighbourhood watch work was actually done by domestic servants who patrolled diligently, provided and decent presence and made some good arrests. they acted as a very good deterrent.

Many of the younger whites who became involved with neighbourhood watch, suddenly saw themselves as crime fighters extraordinaire! They could be found producing their ID cards to gain entry to local nightclubs, rushing around with blue lights and generally creating a huge amount of confusion. Many of the A branch members of the Police Constabulary, as it became known fell in with this group. I have met many of these questionable quasi policemen who claim to be things like "vice squad", "drugs squad", "C.I.D." etc. And quite laughable, but also fairly dangerous. Many of these individuals had absolutely no idea about what forms were required for what, how to attend a crime scene, what the priorities at a road traffic accident were etc. And regular officers used to have to be in the duty uniform branch for at least two years and score consistent b's in their APR's to be considered for C.I.D. work. Many of the real A branch members who did a lot of good work found themselves confused with these self made "miami Vice" wannabes and suffered for it. Even the force itself has no clues what these members are or who they are now! There were one or two notable ex regular member who fought hard to maintain some form of policing, but alas, all have become mired in the absolute shambles that is the ZRP today.

Nowadays the regular members of the force have become so confused themselves as to who or what "policon" members are - generally speaking, if you are white, you are now regarded as being a member of the neighbourhood watch and the police constabulary no longer exists. They stopped paying members in about 1998 and with the need for pay records gone, record keeping dropped to match other areas of the force.

But then, the reserve had done its job - as a route for the party cadres into the force, without having to undergo anything as embarrassing as a set of tests to determine if they even had the ability and attitude to police! No surprise then that the quality of the force has crashed!

Later.

Politics and Policing

2008-07-17T19:46:00.003+02:00

Hello all,

I was considering policing and politics today - a very pertinent subject at this point in time. And it occurred to me that I stray very close to being "political" in my postings. I imaging that this is not without reason, but wrong nevertheless.
The Police Act (Cap 11:10) spells out quite clearly how police officers should approach their political beliefs, but I remember the lectures from my Depot days, where it was clearly explained. Basically a member of the force is entitled to attend any political meeting he/she wishes to when off duty, although not in uniform. He/she may listen to the address and, without identifying oneself as an officer, ask questions during the meeting. An officer may not address the meeting, nor take part nor hold any office in a political party. When in uniform and required to, as part of his/her duties, an officer may be present at a political meeting, but may not address the persons assembled, unless in the course of their duties, i.e. for safety or crowd disbursement requirements.
A police officer is not permitted to declare his or her political affiliations during the course of their duties nor make any statement related to his or her personal views or beliefs.

So I need to be quite circumspect in my approach to this blog. However, given that the law has been broken by the so-called Commissioner of Police and many of his deputies, given that it is largely considered that Mugabe and his junta are illegal, what credible right do they have to be in judgement of any of this? I would not be any better, however, if I indulged in political commentary myself and, therefore, will endeavour not to do so. I do, however, feel it correct for me to comment on the current situation as these would be my judgements as an officer. I f I were given the opportunity to make arrests related to the current behaviour of the various persons involved, these would be the judgements I would have to make and these would be the cases I would have to build in order to bring charges and prosecute the individuals in a court of law.

I have today, again been browsing the government website - in particular - the ZRPolice page. Like everything from Zim, it took forever to load!

I imagine that history is always written by the victors, but there are one or two statements in this published history which are news to me. In fact, I am unable to verify them one way or another and would welcome anyone who is able to cast any light, with some degree of proof, on this. It is stated:

The primary role of the black contigent, then known as the Black watchers, was to do all the manual dirty work considered unsuitable for the white superior race such as foot patrols, escorting sick horses on foot to the vet in then Salisbury, the capital city sometimes walking more than 300 kilometres. Under the supervision of the white officers, the Black watchers were also tasked to perform other barbaric acts like beating up and burning the houses of fellow blacks accused of having disobeyed the white man's rule.

Were the early pioneer police involved in acts that are described above? Is this an edited view taken out of context? I would really welcome any information. Are foot patrols, a basic tenant of policing, considered unsuitable for police officers? I wonder, since a great many of the forces vehicles have been destroyed, does that mean policing should stop, because foot patrols are "manual dirty work"?????

It goes on to state:

During the period of the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Southern Rhodesia and Unilateral Declaration of Independence the police went through a number of changes due to socio-economic demands. The police was never disbanded but political changes usually compromised the standards of professional policing.

As much many who served during these times may vehemently deny this, there may be an argument to support this assertion in that, in many ways, a white persons' word may well have over ridden anything a black may have said. I doubt it was anything as pronounced as the lack of professionalism being displayed today and in recent years.

In 1980, Zimbabwe attained independence and the police force changed its name to the Zimbabwe Republic Police. Section 93 (1) of the Zimbabwe Constitution mandated the restructuring of the police force on professional lines as to provide the best service possible to earn the total satisfaction, confidence and support of the public.

Well, that has failed dismally hasn't it? I think what they mean is the total satisfaction, confidence and support of ZANU-PF and Mugabe. The police force has become a virtual arm of a political party and, in this light, the previous statement about compromising professional standards of policing is ridiculous!

Although the new look police force was formed with an amalgamation of the former British South Africa Police, The Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (ZANLA), Zimbabwe Peoples' Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) cadres and new civilian recruits, it has strived to maintain the professionalism, consistence and vibrancy required of a standard modern police force.

Again, a complete failure - professionalism? Can this possibly be maintained by a Commissioner who clearly has, as part of the much vaunted JOC, carried out a virtual coup and serves only the interest of the ZANU-PF elite. Can this possibly be maintained by a Commissioner who should be suspended for his own contraventions of the Police Act and should be under investigation for these allegations? Can this possibly be maintained by Officers who have forced their sub-ordinates to vote in front of them and then brought retribution on those who do not toe the party line?

Is it not sad to note that former Commissioner Widzirai Nguruve was forced to resign amid allegations of corruption, and now Chihuri is also in a position where he faces arrest? The rot starts at the top and needs to be cut out from there. I wonder, however, how possible this will be or how it will play out?

I have, on several occasions had the opportunity to meet a number of these officers of great rank and office and I have to say, the reek of corruption is tangible in their offices. The so-called Deputy Commissioners are also in this tank of political corruption, in fact, I wonder how far down the ranks one has to come to actually start finding professional officers who could be relied upon to help steer the force out of this morass? Mind you, so many of the real and professional officers will not be found in high office because it quite clear that in the ZRP of today, it is very difficult to climb the ranks on merit or ability - you have to first be loyal to ZANU-PF, then to those who are above you, are corrupt and in control of your career!

Later.

The Herald

2008-07-14T20:53:00.004+02:00

Hello all,

I decided, for a laugh, to read what the venerable ZANU-PF news paper was carrying today in terms of "news". Bear in mind that I use the term loosely!

The first thing that caught my eye was an address by David Karimanzira - illegal governor of the Harare Metropolitan Province. In this report he thanks the people for voting overwhelmingly for Mugabe's illegal government in the so called run off elections. Amongst other things, He said some of the people who had voted for MDC-T during the March 29 joint presidential, parliamentary and council elections had realised afterwards that the opposition was being used by Britain and its Western allies to effect illegal regime change in the country.

Cde Karimanzira said when voting, people should know who they would be voting for and not to sell the country to the former colonisers who still had a hidden agenda to occupy Zimbabwe.

Hmmm... does anyone, including him believe this clap trap???? The people who voted for Tsvangirai were only forced to vote for Mugabe because they were being killed and tortured, because they knew that they were being watched, because they knew the vote was far from secret and so on and on. He should also be aware that people of Zimbabwe voted LEGALLY for regime change - and the junta now in Harare couldn't be more illegal!

I am sure people are becoming very tired of the old chimurenga line of the colonialists trying to get Zimbabwe back - I am sure they are quite clear by now that if the former colonialists had any interest in Zimbabwe (which may have been the case if there was oil there!), they would have simply walked in and taken it! The Zimbabwe National Army is an ancient collection of equipment wielded by people only unafraid of unarmed civilians! A proper army would take them apart in five minutes - and probably because most of them would not have any desire to fight to prop Mugabe and the elite up! In fact, I imagine that the generals would be running for the hills.

He also went on to say:

"As part of its ongoing empowerment initiative, Zanu-PF has put in place a bold legislative dispensation to ensure that Zimbabweans own at least 51 percent of strategic companies across the national economy. This programme is ready for implementation,"

This would be similar to the bold legislative moves that destroyed the country's agricultural sector and, in turn the economy! Really, what he means is that as the economy no longer functions and taxes and duties are no longer there to pay for the lavish life styles of the elite, this is the last stuff they can grab. Although I suspect that personal property will be next on the list!

I will drop in tomorrow for another instalment!

Later.

Back Online! Experiences.

2008-07-13T20:16:00.003+02:00

Hello All,

Apologies for a lengthy delay - many issues have had to be sorted out and, now as they have been done, regular contributions should return!

I have decided today, to try and keep my review of the news to a minimum - after all, there are many already out there. I must say that TBM carries an interesting report about ZANU-PF youths and militia - the erstwhile "veterans" (what an insult to actual veterans!lol) are being arrested - and they are feeling quite wretched about it all! TBM quotes a report in which one criminal is quoted as saying this:

Some of the revanchist youths say they have nowhere to turn to, as the politicians who were mobilising them to perpetrate violence, are nowhere to be found.
"The police are arresting us saying we were breaking the law and nobody had the right to instruct us to do that. Most of my friends have been arrested, while several others have fled homes as they are the target of attack from the relatives of those people that they killed or beat up during the campaigns," said one youth who was operating from a base at Mupandawana growth point.
"We were so foolish as to beat up our neighbours and relatives. Now they are not willing to help us if we have a genuine problem. We feel we have been used."

Hahahahaha! I must admit, I found myself rolling on the floor with tears rolling down my face at this!
The really not funny part of this is that real and good people have paid with their lives. I note the criminal quoted says he feels he has been used - welcome to your beloved comrade Bob's dust republic! (I had thought to call it a "banana republic, but then remembered that there are no bananas. Or anything else!).

Clearly the police are to blame in this situation also. But what is does say, quite loudly, is that the few at the top are the ones who are causing the problem - but the sheep, and in this I include members of the police and army etc, are just too weak to stand up to them. If they all, with one accord, stood their ground and said NO - this rubbish would be over by now. Of course, Mugabe's divide and rule tactic is still the single most effective weapon keeping him and his cronies in power. Opposition to Mugabe must learn to unite - then we would see precisely how small his little band are. But, of course, they have all the money that has been pinched from the people and the country.

and this brings me on to the latest report on Zimbabwe from SA News 24:
Zim rivals 'closer to serious talks'

I truly hope the opposition realises during it's negotiations that South Africa's idiot president does not have long left in office - and that his replacement is likely to change the balance of power significantly. That should give them the strength to get the right outcome from the talks with Mugabe's illegal junta.

You know, Mugabe and co MUST see the writing on the wall, mind you, they have demonstrated an enviable tenacity (which is not hard given the pathetic response from the world leaders!) and when the farm invasions all kicked off the beginning of this dark chapter of Zimbabwe's history, we all thought back then that world would not stand by and let Mugabe get away with it. Again. Like we did during gukuranhundi. Like we did when the so called liberation forces attacked and killed the weak and innocent and shot down passenger aircraft. I wonder when we will all give up the hope and actually do something.

I know that there are many suitably angry members of the forces poised to get rid of these carbuncles, although they have stayed their hand pending positive moves that we are all hanging onto.

I wonder by what legal right and tenant Mugabe feels he and his greedy, genocidal cronies feel they have the right to negotiate about anything to do with the presidency and parliament of the government? I guess none, just the death grip they have on all the instruments of state which they have corrupted to their own ends. This is no longer even remotely about colonisation (if it ever was) or land or anything else other than greed and corruption.

I remember during my earlier years some of the contrasts I saw in Zimbabwe. Like the night (circa 1987) my wonderful Peugeot 404 broke down mid way between Bulawayo and Harare (heading for a hot date!lol). The water pump died. 22:00hrs 10 km's from Battlefields Police.. so, as any policeman would, I managed to limp the car to the police station. When I arrived there, there were several National Army vehicles and quite a number of soldiers overnighting there. These soldiers came over and used a serious amount of mechanical expertise to remove the water pump, make a new gasket out of a chibuku packet, refit the pump and reset the points gap using a hacksaw blade. And they fed me (bearing in mind actually, that I was not in uniform and was just another white guy driving his car) and did everything they could to help me out and get me on my way. I remember that, at the time, we whites were not particularly sure of the army, and I thought a huge request of payment or some such would be forthcoming. But no, all they said to me was please could I organise some donations of some magazines for them to read in their bases when away from home!!

So where are these soldiers? Where are the constable from Ngundu Halt police post who gave me place to sleep and food on New Years' eve the year before when I was hitching to Beit Bridge - or indeed the many, many soldiers who gave me lifts ( as a white hitch hiker) over the years?

Are all the members of the forces bad? Given my personal experiences, which are at odds with most of the stories I ever heard from other whites), I cannot imagine that they are all bad guys who want Mugabe to stay.

In October last year I stopped next to a police Landrover defender ( I was in civvies) and I smiled at the sergeant driving and said, "hows it going?" and he said to me, "ah, we are suffering. Help us to change things!" The lights changed and off we roared..

There have been contrasts and there are not all good guys. I had to arrest two constables one night who were liberally swinging a riot baton amongst the commuters in an ET (also in October) and I remember the return trip from my hot Harare date (of the 404 story) - I was hiking because the car had to wait for a new pump. I got stuck at Kadoma where, naturally, I went to the cop shop. I was given a bench to doss on in the Charge Office. Whilst I was there I recall a farmer calling in because there was a brawl in the farm compound. The fat, lazy sergeant who answered the phone said there no transport and the farmer should sort it out! About 40 minutes later, the farmer called again to say that one of the protagonists had managed to kill the other. The sergeant heaved a sigh of resignation, got off his back side and went to attend the scene - in the vehicle which had been parked outside the charge office all along. It gave me great pleasure to write a report for the officer in charge who had to then attend and was not best pleased that his slumber was interrupted!

I think the unfortunate sergeant received 30 days not to count for pay along with a discharge.

Well, enough reminiscences from me for today! I hope to introduce new feature soon which I will call the real police spokesman. I will review that Mugabe militia loyalist spokesman Wayne Bvudzjena's comments - and make what I think should be a correct police response.

Later.

The G8 - More of what was already there

2008-07-08T23:22:00.002+02:00

Hello All,

My apologies for the extended absence! My isp problems still continue but appear to be improving!

There has been much on the Internet and the TV about the G8. I see, from various reports that they had invited some African "leaders" to the summit who, basically, appealed for at the very least, a delay in the sanctions against Mugabe. What???? Why didn't the G8 tell them to get stuffed??

I did watch an interesting, but disturbing report from Zimbabwe on ITV - interestingly, though, they interviewed a member of the ZRP who said that there was much "discontentment" amongst the ranks or both the army and the police. And warned that there would be "open disobedience". This is something that I am all too acutely aware of.

Mugabe needs to sit up and listen.

Back to the G8 - this report talks about the sanctions and measures against Mugabe. I am a little confused as to what is new in these measures? I thought FULL economic sanctions was on the agenda - not the same thing we had before? Clearly apart from noise - there is nothing new going on really.

Also on SA News24 this evening is a report quoting "Bright" Matonga saying that any sanctions by the G8 were racist!!! I cannot wait to test this man's lack of intelligence and his view of what is right and wrong or lawful and unlawful in court one day! If you have every heard a racist speaking - listen to this guy!

Later.

Missing in Action!

2008-07-08T02:44:00.001+02:00

Hello all - just abrief note to say I am having isp problems.. hence the lack of posting. Always happens when it is most critical!

Later

2008-07-01T22:44:00.003+02:00

Hello All,

I decided I needed some amusement, so visited the Zimbabwe Government Official website! I found some interesting stuff on there - like the "ZRP Service Charter" I have provided a link to it below - and cut and pasted it into my blog - And I review it in the current context. On the face of things - it looks like quite a reasonable charter - of course, unfortunately, it does not apply to Mugabe's police!
http://www.moha.gov.zw/index.php?link=zrp_service

Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)

SERVICE CHARTER ZR POLICE

We are committed to providing:
The most effective and efficient service
Professionalism in our dealings with the public
Accountability and transparency in our operations
Diligency and courtesy in the discharge of our duties

Effective and efficient - I wonder what part of effective and efficient relates to the response you get as a member of the MDC???

Professionalism? I am staggered! How can you be professional with Chihuri, a law breaker himself, as Commissioner?

Accountability - Perhaps here it will be pertinent to point out that whilst this clearly is lalaland talk in the current state of affairs within the force - there will be the day when officers will be called to account for their actions!

Diligency??? - Is that a word?

HONESTY AND INTEGRITY IS OUR MOTTO

A motto eh?? This is a comedy!

*TOGETHER WE CAN FIGHT CRIME*

HOW CAN YOU HELP

Supply any information you think can solve a crime - provided the accused is MDC, or if not, just invent something!

Report to the nearest Police station anything suspicious - As long as it is MDC, it is suspicious!

Join/support the local neighbourhood watch committee - Here you must be totally unsuitable as a police officer, but provide lots of money and stuff to the police.

Use suggestion boxes or hotlines - erm.. the hotlines are out of order, and the suggestion boxes have been vandalised!

Assist the police when they are making an arrest (Do not hinder them) - Arrests only apply to MDC members - crime is not a pre-requisite, however.

When you are dissatisfied with our service please advise the Officer In Charge and if you are still unhappy advice the Officer Commanding District/Province and finally the Commissioner Of Police. - This is so we can clearly identify you. Of course, the Officer in Charge is never available, the Officer Commanding will never be interested and the Commissioner is actually the architect of the anarchy!

I have just been watching the BBC news - reports covering Mugabe in Egypt! Well, of course, the reporters never got near Mugabe, but George Charamba, was quite defensive and angry. Showing all the signs of desperation - he described Mugabe as a "Head of State" - actually George, he is not. He is just a tin pot dictator. I am glad, however, that your racist views came through quite clearly - in the new Zimbabwe, I will be pleased to deal with you - in accordance with the law. That will be a most uncomfortable time for you!

Later

And the Talking and Hand wringing begins

2008-07-01T10:29:00.003+02:00

Hello All,

Trawling through the various articles in the media truly underlines my predictions! There is much talking going on, but nothing new. Those states who actually want to do something about Zimbabwe, such as officially not recognising Mugabe as President, and applying full sanctions are powerless to do so. The UN, by it's very nature is crippling itself - rogue states such as China (greedy state in this case) and South Africa, will block every sensible action, whilst pursuing their own agenda's with the absolutely pointless softly, softly approach. In truth the "quiet diplomacy" truly means quiet - Mugabe does what he likes and South Africa tells the world to back off whilst they keep quiet!

From SA NEWS 24:
New York - The United States has prepared a draft text on United Nations sanctions against Zimbabwe that will ban arms sales and freeze assets of specific individuals and firms after last week's widely condemned election.
But council diplomats said it would be difficult to persuade South Africa, Russia, China and other UN Security Council members to accept a sanctions resolution against Zimbabwe.
The seven-page text, titled "Draft Elements for a Chapter VII Sanctions Resolution" and obtained in full by Reuters on Monday, said the council would not recognise Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's June 27 re-election and would impose an embargo on sales of arms or military hardware to Harare.
It asked the council to freeze the assets of and ban travel for anyone who helped the government "undermine democratic processes" or supported politically-motivated violence.
Beating, violence, torture
The legally binding resolution would have the council "expressing deep concern at the gross irregularities during the June 27 run-off presidential election (and) the violence and intimidation perpetrated in the run-up to the election that made impossible the holding of free and fair elections".
It also had the 15-nation council "condemning the continued beating, violence and torture of civilians, sexual violence, and the displacement of thousands of Zimbabweans, many of whom had been driven to take refuge in neighbouring countries".
The draft text condemns the "intimidation and violence directed against supporters of the opposition political party, as well as the detention of its leaders". It also demanded that the government cooperate with "non-partisan investigations of the political violence" between March and June 2008.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters he would probably circulate the draft to the full council this week.
One-candidate election
The Security Council was deeply divided on the issue of Zimbabwe and council diplomats said that South Africa, which opposed the idea of sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government, had the backing of two powerful veto-wielding council members - Russia and China.
Elected Security Council members Indonesia and Vietnam, which usually preferred to avoid intervening in what they saw as other countries' internal affairs, also appeared to be supporting the South Africans, diplomats said.
Khalilzad said the "credibility of the council is at stake" because of its statement a week ago that condemned the violence and restrictions on the opposition because they made a free and fair election impossible.
"We spoke loudly and clearly, made demands that were ignored," he told reporters. "If we do nothing, if there is no response, what does that say about the council?"
Mugabe went to an African Union summit in Egypt on Monday after being re-elected in a one-candidate election that was condemned by regional monitors and many world leaders.

Now correct me if I'm wrong - targeted travel bans and freezing of assets of individuals in and supporting the Mugabe regime??? Is this something new? I thought we already had that? Where are the trade sanctions? Where are the border blockades? Where is the financial pressure on Mbeki's South Africa to get with the programme? Where is the firm statement to African countries that there is a global intolerance of violent governance that could lead to the Rwandan style genocide????? Did I miss something????

And then, following a link from the SA NEWS24 website, I found this article, which, for the most part makes, one or two reasonable points, but is underlined by the fact that the writer is an imbecile!:

(The url - should you wish to read more of his clap-trap is: http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-25_2349373)

Mortal racist blow for MDC
Jun 30 2008 11:13AM
Vic de Klerk
Pretoria - Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the former Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe, is a lightweight. That's in a figurative sense, though in a literal sense he looks like an adult.
Somewhat unexpectedly, he won the March 2008 election in Zimbabwe.
Immediately after that he left for an extended visit to neighbouring states. Then he returned and decided to take part in the run-off election for president. But a week before the election, he took refuge in the Dutch embassy and withdrew the MDC from the election.
For this forceful behaviour, he received worldwide approval, except from SA President Thabo Mbeki.
In the same week, the international icon of courage, perseverance and fairness, SA's own Nelson Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday in the UK.
I couldn't help thinking back to my third year at university. We were listening to the evidence in the Rivonia trial and also to Mandela's statement about what he was prepared to live and die for.
We didn't understand it very well, or didn't want to or couldn't understand it, but we nevertheless shared the disappointment of our economics lecturer when Mandela and his co-accused weren't given the death sentence.
But this week, Tsvangirai wasn't prepared to pay nearly the same price as Mandela was in 1965. Now he's apparently prepared to work with Zimbabwe's legally elected president, Robert Mugabe, in a government of national unity.
Yes, President George Bush, Mugabe is a legally elected president.
You also had problems with those last few votes in Florida where the voters' choices weren't all that clear.
Change Africa perception
But the political argument isn't my point.
As my colleague Bruce Whitfield showed on the cover of this week's Finweek, Africa can no longer afford the Mbeki/Mugabe fiasco.
Africa needs to become known in the world not for its racist and xenophobic politics, but for its human achievements, such as Nelson Mandela proved this week.
I'm using the word racist again. Mugabe is a proven racist. To achieve his aims, he drove whites away, especially farmers, rather than creating wealth for his country.
His knowledge of economics, wherever he may have acquired it, doesn't understand the concept of baking a larger cake and sharing it for the benefit of all. He preferred taking everything there is, destroying it and then trying the distribute the crumbs.
To our dear state president: your friend Mugabe is a racist and also displays xenophobic tendencies. He's power-crazy and has destroyed a country's economy.
In case you don't know, Mr Mbeki, the annual per capita income in Zimbabwe is now less than one-twentieth of what people in Swaziland earn.
It would be better to respect the king of Swaziland at the cost of your friend Mugabe.
The West - let's say the leaders of the white world like Bush, Brown and Merkel, to mention just a few - has openly given its support to Tsvangirai. Is that perhaps the reason, Mr Mbeki, why you're so opposed to supporting the clearly more democratic and less despotic Tsvangirai rather than Mugabe?
Western countries, as well as SA's whites, if I may be allowed to be racist, were right to favour a new government in Zimbabwe, even if it had been under the leadership of a lightweight like Tsvangirai. We were right - yes, I wanted to be part of it - to want to create a new Zimbabwe.
We were keen to transform Zimbabwe from a country of poverty into one of the world's jewels.
A success story that would've brought the humanity of Africa just as much favourable publicity as Nelson Mandela's birthday celebrations in London.
Wouldn't that have been a wonderful birthday present for Mandela, who, incidentally, is our idol too?
Tsvangirai, you took that opportunity away from us, because you were not prepared to walk the full length of the path. Sorry, Mister SA state president, there's an increasing taint of racism, not only in our country, but also in your southern African leadership.
For the Western world - Brown and Bush and others like you - your support for an African political party is often an automatic mortal blow for that party or democratic freedom movement. Perhaps the Zimbabwe fiasco will make racism easier to understand.

I think that Vic must have his head firmly up where the sun doesn't shine! Whilst some of his comments are OK, he is trying to equate Mugabe's election with Bush and Brown. How - the fact is this, first of all, Vic seems to have absolutely no idea about law. Mugabe - LEGALLY elected president????? The mind boggles! So, what he is saying is that if, in fact you have ZERO popular support, get your cronies to go out and beat people until you can do what you like?? Get a life! You simply cannot compare compare Bush and Brown to Mugabe - not in terms of legality - Both of those would have been unseated in a minute if their had been a case for them to answer! Vic - Mugabe is NOT legally elected - he LOST the election - i.e. he had fewer votes (in the first round) than Tsvangirai - despite the rigging that he tried on then! So he should not have a had a second round, and the second round was not held in accordance with the law and there is NO law governing the behaviour of ZANU-PF and it's thugs!!!!!

You really do not understand racism either - racism is where a white person subjugates or dislikes a black person. ONLY. Blacks cannot be racist (If memory serves - that was actually said by Mugabe or one of his cohorts a few years ago!).

I was also disturbed by the news that the white farmers were abducted and beaten. Well, it has certainly hit the headlines - but WHAT ABOUT THE COUNTLESS BLACK ZIMBABWEANS BEING ABDUCTED, BEATEN, RAPED, AND MURDERED DAILY!! Why do their stories not hit the headlines??????? And the world media wants to talk about racism?? Clearly what happened to the white farmers was hideous, terrifying and wrong on so many levels, but why is their story bigger than the comparatively more terrible stuff that happens to black Zimbabweans?????? Anyway - the furore is already beginning it's decline - in this day and age, if you miss your slot to grab world attention in the media to a meaningful level, you will soon be forgotten in the wake of another footballers broken toe!

And I just wanted to recall the CIA's response - "We do not condone violence"... Ahem, by your inactivity and pious rebukes to those of us who are prepared to stop the violence, albeit with force (the only option remaining) you ARE condoning violence. Let us hope to remember their response when Mugabe is gone and the US is in line for a pick of the natural resources of Zimbabwe!

Later.

SADC

2008-06-29T21:24:00.002+02:00

I wonder if this statement will remain unchanged? I commend the fact that it has been made, yet one wonders just how much effect it will actually have?

Harare - A team of observers from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said on Sunday that Zimbabwe's one-man presidential run-off election failed to reflect the will of the people.
"The pre-election phase was characterised by politically-motivated violence, intimidation and displacements," Angolan Sports Minister Jose Marcos Barrica, the head of the 400-strong team of observers, said in a statement.
"The process leading up to the presidential run-off held on June 27 did not conform to the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections.
"Based on the above mentioned observations, the mission is of the view that the prevailing environment impinged on the credibility of the electoral process.
"The elections did not represent the will of the people of Zimbabwe."

I think the pressure has to come on to South Africa - the Mbeki - Mugabe mutual admiration society is too ridiculous for words! Is it not about time that the South African parliament, who do not appear to share Mbeki's views, passed a vote of no confidence? Although, as I said earlier, unless South Africa is put under pressure, that is not likely to happen. Given that Mbeki has to step down in 2009 as he is no longer the ANC candidate for the next presidency in that country, and Zuma (likely to be the next South African president) is no fan of Mugabe, there may be some progress in the next 12 months! Maybe!

Still, I do think that it creates an interesting situation as Mugabe will loose his greatest ally and protector - that will be significant! It is, after all, South Africa, which is aiding Zimbabwe and propping up his illegal regime - no wonder Mugabe is keeping the door open for negotiations. As I said, this may be the end of the beginning. When Mbeki is gone, then it will get really interesting - I hope that the MDC will remember this and negotiate from a position of strength in that knowledge. If they do not fade away in the meantime! They must set up their government in exile and the world must help them! Fat chance!

later.

Mugabe Wins

2008-06-29T19:55:00.003+02:00

Hello all,

In a surprise result, our dear Robert Gabriel Mugabe has won with landslide margin! Mind you - not particularly hard to win a landslide when you are the only candidate.

I notice that George Bush has declared the government and presidency of Mugabe illegal and is drawing up a list of sanctions. Well - that will convince him for sure! Especially seeing as they couldn't even get the UN to condemn the election as illegal "the face of South Africa"!

I imagine we shall see real pressure being brought to bear on South Africa (NOT!). Like the withdrawal of the 2010 world cup - and other measures to show displeasure with Mbeki's outright support of his despotic neighbour. Despite everything that has been said and done and "huge amount of international pressure" - Mbeki and Mugabe continue without check. They will just ignore what has been said, Mugabe will attend the Au summit, get them all back on sides and the situation will continue to deteriorate in Zimbabwe over the five years.

And really, no one will do anything even mildly effective and nothing will change. If anything, by the next "election" the opposition will cease to exist.

The MDC need to change their game drastically. They should, by now, be arranging to form a government in exile and start doing everything they can to fight the Mugabe regime. I have to say that I have, on several occasions written to the MDC and have not, as yet had even the courtesy of a reply! I wonder if that is the level of their game? As such, they will now seriously begin to decline unless they do something about it. And pronto!

Later

International Intervention

2008-06-29T01:40:00.002+02:00

At the behest of certain friends, I contacted the CIA recently with a view to getting assistance to remove Mugabe, surgically, without foreign forces in order to create a power vacuum where the MDC could install itself as the legal government.

I was e-mailed by "Jonas" asking all manner of personal questions (to which I provided the details of a serious Mugabe supporter! lol) and for some detail of what we were after.

I replied, with a basic outline of the plan, the piece of equipment needed and some funding (Well less than US$1 million - in case you were wondering!).

The nest day I received an e-mail saying,

"Thank you for your note.
We do NOT condone violence and will not continue contact with you or any persons with whom you are associated."

Hmmm! Do not condone violence eh?? So what are they doing in Iraq or Afghanistan pray tell?????

My reply:

Thank you for your reply. We are disappointed but have noted your response (this in reference to future developments, whereby I am sure the US will be queueing up for a bite of Zim's natural resources! lol). we will continue to seek an internal plan to rid Zimbabwe of Mugabe and his thugs.

I would like you and your colleagues, whenever you read of another Zimbabwean tortured or killed by Mugabe and his illegal so called government, to recall clearly that you do not condone violence.

So - that, again answers the question, will the international community be prepared, in any way, to end Mugabe's rule of Mugabeland?? Even when they are untraceable? NO.

The solution will, as always, have to come from within - but at much greater cost. But the time is at hand - every Zimbabwean and person of conscience must actually do something real to help. Writing letters etc will have the sum total of the square root of nothing effect on anything or anyone!

Despite that doom and gloom I would recall, however, to mind the words of Winston Churchill who said something to the effect of "This is not the end. Indeed nor is it the beginning of the end. It may be, however, the end of the beginning".

Later

Minimum Force

2008-06-26T19:58:00.003+02:00

Over the past few days I have been considering how one could go about arresting Mugabe and the actual legal implications of such an action.

Whilst a police officer cannot be the judge of whether an individual is guilty or not, he does have to exercise some judgement, principally, he (and I use "he" for convenience - my first officer in charge was a woman!) must decide whether an offence has been committed and whther or not he should make an arrest. Also, an arrest is defined as the confining of a person and the restriction of that accused individuals rights.

As a properly attested police officer, it is my judgement that Robert Mugabe has committed numerous offences, and plenty we shall only be able to investigate or discover after he has been brought down from his lofty self imposed majesty. For instance, it is common cause that Mugabe has not been recently elected by a majority and that, owing to various breaches of the consitution (as detailed in Tsvangirai's withdrawal), the run-off is not legal and, at best, a farce. Therefore, it stands to reason that Mugabe is NOT the President - ergo, is it not treason for him to suggest that he will start a war to oust the properly elected Tsvangirai? And of course, there are a great many other offences for which he needs to stand trial, some of which should land him in the Hague.

Also, his so - called Commissioner, Chihuri, as I detailed previously, has also committed offences and should be immediately suspended and arrested.

So, given that minimum force, as defined in Zimbabwean law, is "the minimum force required to achieve the objective (of arrest, usualy) applied with preventative, not punitive intent and stopping when it is no longer necessary - how does one apply this to Mugabe. he is surrounded by armed soldiers and police (who, it could be argued are also committing an offence by aiding and accused). The minimum force, therefore, may include the use of deadly force in this case. therefore, following this train of thought - it must be legal to kill Mugabe - as it is lawful in the circumstances.

I wonder how the world would interpret this?

Interesting!

Lets see what Mugabe brings us tomorrow - obviously his "landslide victory!".

Later.

The World Reacts - but no action!

2008-06-25T09:56:00.002+02:00

Hello All,

I have, this morning, been reading on the various news services, the reaction of the world. Finally it has risen from mumbling to actual grumbling! But nothing real really. There was a report in the Times (London) of an MOD plan for military intervention - but when you get to it, really all they are talking about is a plan to rescue their own nationals from Zimbabwe. Nothing unusual there - although, from the British people's point of view - a waste of money. Apart from the Embassy Staff, all the other British nationals who are in the country are there because they are making a financial killing off the situation - and they should be responsible for themselves!

But real military intervention? Not a chance!

Given that Mugabe is no longer the President of Zimbabwe (he lost this election remember? Despite the slanted ground that he had in place even then!) - and Morgan Tsvangirai could legally be argued to actually be the President - does he not have the right to call for UN peacekeepers? So why then, when he asks for them - does the world shimmy shammy away and mutter about a negotiated political settlement?

And all the while, Mugabe has his thugs holding people in "re-education camps" where the beatings continue and starvation is still a weapon. Can you imagine what it must be like to be "re-educated" by retarded thugs? I challenge you to put yourself in the position of someone in one of these camps and imagine what it must be like - then decide whether all this political clap trap is worth anything other than to those politicians who like to be the proverbial empty vessels - making much noise, changing nothing and fluffing out their feathers. When the blood has been spilt and destruction wrought to rid Zimbabwe of Mugabe and his cronies - you can bet these same politicians will be queuing up to stake their claim to some of the not insignificant natural wealth of Zimbabwe - crowing loudly about how much they did!!

The world owes Zimbabwe much - they are the ones who put Mugabe in place, yet conveniently turn their backs on the trouble it has caused - saying "it is a Zimbabwean problem which must be resolved by Zimbabweans"! How nice - did they forget they gave all the guns to Mugabe too? So how then, do Zimbabweans free themselves from Mugabeland? At great cost - and this cost is the fault of the world. Perhaps we should all wake up and realise that there is no responsibility for anything that happens in Africa - despite the fact that the problems have been caused by the foreign governments in the first place!!!! There will, of course, be much hand wringing and wailing and gnashing of teeth after the blood is running in the streets though!

Anyway - it is a Zimbabwean problem - and we will solve it. Although probably not through negotiation - which has consistently failed over the past 8 - 10 years! It reminds me of a photocopied cartoon on the walls of many police stations in Zimbabwe which says, "Never argue with a baboon - people may not be able to tell the difference". Mugabe is clearly a baboon - no point in arguing with him then!

Later.

Tsvangirai's Withdrawal, The Law.

2008-06-24T21:47:00.003+02:00

Hello All,

Below is the full text of the letter written by Morgan Tsvangirai withdrawing from the elections (with thanks to The Bearded Man).

23 June 2008.Attention: Honourable Justice Chiweshe

The Chairman

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
7th Floor,
Century House
HARARE
Dear Sir,

Re: PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF ELECTION SCHEDULED FOR THE 27TH JUNE 2008

I write this letter to advise you that for reasons set out in this letter, it is no longer possible for the holding of the Presidential run-off election set for the 27th June 2008.

In my considered view, the conditions presently obtaining throughout the country make it virtually impossible for a proper election envisaged in both the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the Electoral Act [Chapter 2.13] to take place. This being the case, the election scheduled for Friday 27th June 2008 cannot be an election as provided for by our law and accordingly, it will be a nullity if it were to be proceeded with.

Section 107 of the Electoral Act deals with the withdrawal of candidature from a Presidential election. Subsection 1 thereof provides that a nominated candidate for election as President may, by notice in writing addressed to the Chief Election Officer withdraw his or her candidature before 21 days from the day or first day as the case may be on which the poll in an election to the office of President is to be taken. This section in my respectful view does not apply to a Presidential run off election. Section 110 (3) provides that where two or more candidates for President are nominated, and after a poll taken in terms of subsection (2) no candidate receives a majority of the total number of valid votes cast, a second election shall be held within 21 days after the previous election. It is quite clear therefore that Section 107 (1) was clearly not designed for a presidential run-off election as it would not make sense to expect a candidate from a presidential run-off election to give 21 days notice of his/her withdrawal where such election has to be held within 21 days anyway.

Section 107(3) makes it much more clearer that Section 107 does not apply to a presidential run-off election. It provides that:-“where a candidate for election as President has withdrawn his/her candidature in terms of this section, the sum deposited by or on his behalf in terms of subsection (1) of Section 105 shall be forfeited and form part of the funds of the commission”.

No money was ever deposited for the Presidential run-off election in terms of Section 105 by any candidate.

Furthermore, there has been no rules prescribed for the conduct of a presidential run-off election and in particular the notice period set for the withdrawal of candidature by a participant. Accordingly, any candidate wishing to withdraw his candidature is free to do so at any time before such an election.

In any event, as I have already pointed out, the election set for the 27th June 2008 is not a proper election but a nullity. In the circumstances, the question of the withdrawal from such an election and the notice thereof cannot be an issue.

REASONS FOR WITHDRAWAL

In terms of Section 61(4) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is obliged by law to ensure that elections are conducted efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and in accordance with the law.

Section 3 of the Electoral Act sets out in detail the principles which must govern democratic elections. This Section provides as follows:-

“Subject to the Constitution and this Act, every election shall be conducted in a way that is consistent with the following principles-
(a) the authority to govern derives from the will of the people demonstrated through elections that are conducted efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and properly on the basis of universal and equal suffrage exercised through a secret ballot; and
(b) every citizen has the right-
(i) to participate in government directly or through freely chosen representatives, and is entitled, without distinction on the ground of race, ethnicity, gender, language, political or religious belief, education, physical appearance or disability or economic or social condition, to stand for office and cast a vote freely;
(ii) to join or participate in the activities or and to recruit members of a political party of his or her choice;
(iii) to participate in peaceful political activity intended to influence the composition and policies of Government;
(iv) to participate, through civic organisations, in peaceful activities to influence and challenge the policies of Government;and

(c) every political party has the right-
(i) to operate freely within the law;
(ii) to put up or sponsor one or more candidates in every election;
(iii) to campaign freely within the law;
(iv) to have reasonable access to the media”.

What has been going on in this country immediately after the elections held on the 29th March 2008 is a clear testimony that the elections scheduled for the 27th June 2008 cannot be held efficiently, freely, fairly, transparently and in accordance with the law.On the 21st May 2008, after having noted the sad events that were happening, I instructed my Legal Practitioners Dube Manikai & Hwacha to write a letter to you setting out in detail various concerns which were an impediment to the holding of a free and fair election. For ease of reference, I attach a copy of the said letter. Sadly, that letter was neither acknowledged nor responded to. In my view, if your commission had taken steps to abide by its constitutional mandate, the situation would have probably not worsened. Regrettably, the situation since the letter from my lawyers has worsened to such an extent that no proper election can be carried out. I set out below few examples of the adverse conditions that vitiate the holding of a free and fair election as envisaged in our law:-

1. THE FAILURE BY THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO ENSURE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS

Your Commission has failed to discharge its mandate in the following respects;

1.1 Your Commission failed to declare a winner of the Presidential elections as provided for in the Third Schedule of the Electoral Act. This point was well articulated by my lawyers in their letter of the 21st May 2008 and I associate myself with the submissions made in that letter in regards to this issue. In my view, a Presidential run-off election should have been conducted after due compliance by your Commission and in particular the Chief Election officer with this Section.
1.2 Your Commission has failed to stop and/or condemn continued utterances by senior Zanu PF officials including Mr Robert Mugabe to the effect that irrespective of the election result, Mr Robert Mugabe was not going to move out of his office. The failure by your Commission to condemn such utterances right from the beginning clearly encouraged Zanu PF, war veterans aligned to Zanu PF, senior Zanu PF officials and Mr Robert Mugabe to make it their theme during their campaigns that a President does not come to power through the electoral process but rather through the barrel of the gun. This theme which has become pervasive throughout the Zanu PF campaigns makes people wonder whether we are in an election or in a war.
1.3 Your commission failed to abide by the provision of the Electoral Act when it failed to conduct the presidential run-off election within 21 days from the date of announcement of the presidential elections results conducted on the 29th March 2008.

2. VIOLENCE
The violence currently obtaining in this country which has resulted in numerous deaths, destruction of homes, displacement of various people and injuries to people is something that is clearly in the public domain. As of today, the country has recorded at least 86 deaths, 10 000 homes destroyed , 200 000 people displaced and 10 000 people injured.

The victims have been MDC supporters. The violence has been clearly state sponsored and carried out in most cases by members of the Zimbabwe National Army and ZANU PF militia. It is true that in some instances our supporters have fought back, inmost cases in self defence. Because of our inability to access the rural areas, the above statistics may be understated.

If this present scenario is compared to the period towards the 29 March harmonised election, it is evident that the conditions on the ground have fundamentally changed for the worse. The above statistics clearly show that the electoral environment is not conducive to the holding of a free and fair election.

3. THREATS OF WAR

Throughout its campaigns, Zanu PF has threatened that there will be war if an MDC win in the presidential run-off is pronounced. Mr Mugabe made it quite clear recently that power cannot be taken by a pen but by a gun. War veterans aligned to him have articulated this position throughout the country. These sentiments were echoed by senior Zanu PF officials including the President’s wife when she clearly made the point that even if I was to win, I was never to set my foot at the State house. Mr Mugabe also came out on National television encouraging his party members to conduct a war-like campaign. These kind of threats coming as they did from Senior Zanu PF officials including the President of Zanu PF should certainly be taken seriously. Indeed, these threats were taken seriously by our population with the result that a free and fair election is something that cannot be dreamt of under these conditions.

4. PARTICIPATION OF THE UNIFORMED FORCES IN ZANU PF CAMPAIGNS

It is common cause that the Zimbabwe National Army through its senior officers has actively campaigned for Zanu PF and continues to do so. This has been the position with the Zimbabwe Republic Police where senior officials have publicly campaigned for Zanu PF. As if this was not enough, the senior officers of the uniformed forces have forced junior officers to vote for President Mugabe. On the 18th June 2008, my lawyers wrote to you advising you of these developments and the fact that officers from the police, prisons and the army were forced to apply for postal ballots. These officers from the reports we have received have already voted in the presence of a senior officer and were forced to vote for Mr Robert Mugabe. I attach herewith a copy of my lawyers letter dated 18th June 2008 which letter as usual was neither acknowledged nor responded to. In the circumstances, one cannot talk of a free and fair election which can be conducted on the 27th June 2008.

5. INTIMIDATION

The level of intimidation which is currently being subjected to our population particularly in the rural areas is alarming. People are being forced to attend Zanu PF meetings during the night. People are being told to record serial numbers on the ballot papers and disclose them to Zanu PF official who are responsible for carrying out the intimidation. These incidents have been brought to your attention but unfortunately nothing has been done by your Commission by way of assuring the voters that their votes are secret as was the case during the run up to the March harmonised elections. Infact, the voter education campaign which was reasonably conducted during the run up to the March 2008 harmonised election has not been repeated. You have simply allowed Zanu PF, war veterans aligned to Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe to scare the people by suggesting quite clearly that presidential run-off vote is between a choice of war and Robert Mugabe.

In my view, there can never be a free and fair election under these circumstances.

6. NON-ACCESS TO MEDIA

The law clearly provides that a political party is entitled to enjoy reasonable access to the media. My party booked space for its advertisements with Zimpapers newspapers namely Herald, Sunday Mail, Chronicle, Sunday News and the Manica Post which adverts were to commence on the 13th June 2008. We were advised that our publications could not be published because of the shortage of newsprint. What surprised us was that Zanu PF’s campaign advertisements are being carried in these newspapers on a daily basis. We also encountered problems with our electronic advertisements with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings which effectively resulted in our failure to have access to media. This is in sharp contrast with what occurred during the run up to the March 2008 harmonised elections where we were given reasonable access to the media. The importance of media advertisement in any election is quite critical and it is for this reason that media access was specifically provided for in our law. Without this right, there can be no free and fair elections.

7. THE BANNING OF MDC RALLIES AND MEETINGS AND DISRUPTION OF MDC MEETINGS

Since I launched my campaign for the presidential run-off elections, I have encountered numerous difficulties occasioned by agents of the State. I have been detained at police stations on numerous occasions and thereby denied time to campaign. Our meeting and rallies have been banned by the police. We have had to approach the High Court on no less than 3 occasions for the court to intervene to enable us to go ahead with our rallies. On the contrary, Zanu PF is being allowed to conduct its campaign rallies even during the night. In the few cases that our rallies have been allowed to go ahead pursuant to these Court Orders, Zanu PF supporters have disrupted such rallies. On Sunday the 22nd June 2008, our star rally in Harare, in respect of which a High Court Order had to be applied for to proceed with such rally was disrupted by Zanu PF supporters. Clearly it is impossible for any political party to campaign let alone to exist without being allowed to have access to the voting population. In these circumstances, it cannot therefore be said that the environment presently obtaining is conducive for the holding of a free and fair election.

8. DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF VOTERS AND LACK OF ACCESS TO RURAL AREAS

As you are aware voting in the Presidential election is constituency and ward based. In other words no person can vote outside his or her constituency and ward. The massive displacement of people already referred to herein (mainly from rural to urban areas) will result in the disenfranchisement of these people. The confirmed reports we have received confirm that there has been massive and systematic confiscation of national identity documents of our supporters by ZANU PF militia and people claiming to be war veterans. Until our supporters are able to replace these identity documents (which cannot be done by Friday 27 June 2008) they are obviously not going to be able to vote.

Furthermore, more than two thousand of our polling agents throughout the country have been arrested and kept in custody on flimsy allegations. They will certainly be unable to vote. We have trained replacement polling agents, but unfortunately we cannot possibly make arrangement for their deployment in rural areas as it is common cause that the rural areas have virtually been sealed off by ZANU PF militia, some members of the Zimbabwe National Army and people claiming to be war veterans. We will therefore be unable to deploy polling agents at more than 50% of the polling stations in rural areas. Certainly there can be no pretence of holding a free and fair election under these conditions.From the foregoing and indeed due to several other reasons not necessarily covered in this letter, it is quite clear that no proper election can be held under the present conditions.

The present conditions constitute a good example of conditions that vitiate the holding a free and fair election. My party and I have been giving serious consideration to this whole issue for some time, during which time it was hoped that a semblance of a conducive environment may be created as has been the case with other elections where we have participated under protest. The situation obtaining now is very different from what has been experienced in this country since independence. The violence, intimidation, death, destruction of property is just too much for anyone to dream of a free and fair election let alone expect our people to be able to freely and independently express to free themselves. For this reason, my party and I have resolved that we cannot be part to this flawed process. For the avoidance of any doubt the presidential election question remains unresolved until such time a free and fair election is held.

We accordingly urge you to abide by your mandate clearly spelt out in our constitution and in particular ensure that a proper environment conducive for the holding of an efficient, free, fair, and transparent election is held in the shortest period of time possible. It is only in that kind of an election that my party and I will participate in.

By copy of this letter ZANU PF’s candidate Mr. Robert Mugabe, the Chief Election Officer and your Commissioners are advised accordingly.

Yours sincerely

Morgan Tsvangirai
PRESIDENT

MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE

Cc: Mr. R. G Mugabe (ZANU PF Headquarters)

Cc: ZEC Commissioners

As you can see from the letter, which has been clearly set out and quotes, at length, the law - The MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai are making every reasonable effort to comply with the law. Their case is a very straightforward one. I am impressed to note that Tsvangira does NOT refer to Mugabe as President of Zimbabwe - which, of course, he is not. It is clear, from the articles set out in the letter that the law has not only been breached, but completely ignored by ZANU-PF.

Of course, the law doesn't apply to ZANU-PF, and their response (taken from NEWS24 in South Africa) is as ludicrous as their interpretation of the Constitution, the law (even their own questionable law):

Harare -

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe told a rally on Tuesday "we will proceed with our election" and accused the opposition leader of seeking to withdraw because he was scared of losing.

"We will proceed with our election ... Other people can say what they want, but the elections are ours and we are a sovereign state," Mugabe told a rally in Banket, north of Harare.

"MDC leader (opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai) saw this wave of political hurricane coming his way. He is frightened, frightened of the people."

ZANU-PF's interpretation of the law is simple - if it is inconvenient or may threaten to subvert their cause - it should simply be ignored. At the same time, they have much to say about what they view as being illegal about the MDC's actions - they need to be quiet, if the law doesn't apply to them, then they should not expect it to apply to anyone else - particularly when those others are doing everything to comply with the law!

I relish the day when I can appear in a proper court to hear what excuses or responses ZANU-PF will be forced to give - and how stupid they will look to the world when they do!

I was also reading through The Bearded Man's spot today and I saw that he had included some responses from readers on a news site. I have read some of their responses also - there are clearly also some out and out idiots who feel the need to write in and display their ignorance of the situation and how it came to be. But it does look, in general, that the world is fed up with Mugabe - It is time for him to go - he has had so many opportunities to step down peacefully and be regarded as a statesman - however, he has not - I would guess that this is because he is not a statesman. He is little more than a thug who came to power through the barrel of a gun - ostensibly to fight for the right to vote, although we now know that he has no intention of allowing anyone to vote, unless they vote for him!

More soon.

Of Elections

2008-06-23T16:35:00.002+02:00

Hello All,

Well the news is now all over the place that Tsvangirai has decided to withdraw from the elections. Good move or bad move?

There are those who believe he should not have withdrawn, even though there is no hope of him winning with Mugabe's thugs on the rampage and the so called security forces with their hands in their pockets and looking the other way! However, it does seem to say to everyone - don't bother to fight for me, because I wont fight for you. Even though it is clear to see that his true motivation was to protect the people who are bearing the brunt of this pre-genocidal activity (which the rest of the world will bewail and bemoan without actually doing anything!), there are those who will feel let down. Particularly the relatives and supporters of those killed, who will wonder why the blood was shed.

From a legal standpoint (if anything in Zimbabwe can be considered from that standpoint at all!), does his withdrawal not give Mugabe some legitimacy? I wonder, because of course there is no such thing as law in Zimbabwe today. Of course ZANU-PF is not beholden to anyone at all, they do try to make some sort of show of legitimacy at times (by saying that the vote must, constitutionally go ahead!) and at others when it doesn't particularly suit them, they just ignore it. The party propaganda machine is in full overdrive churning out the most inane nonsense to ever hit the planet being led by that idiot the anything but "Bright" Matonga - the party mouthpiece who is just staggering in his ignorance. And, of course the ZANU-PF politicians (if they can be so described!) are already jumping up and down claiming, quite rightly, that Tsvangirai had quit because he would have lost the re-run. Of course he would have lost - given the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe today, given the fact that Mugabe and his minions control the people tasked with the electoral process (although he is not too sure about trusting anyone - given that they nearly let him down during the recent election) - how would it have been possible to Tsvangirai to win - even if 100% of the votes cast were for him - he would not have won.

There are also those who feel that this is the right thing to do. And, I share Tsvangirai's sentiments on this (although at first I too felt let down!). But it does mean that the electoral process is dead. And that means that something else HAS to happen. I know that there plans afoot to start military resistance - the sad part about that is the fact that represents a long road at great cost, particularly in lives. The rest of the world needs to actually do something though - writing letters and making strong statements of condemnation are absolutely pointless. It just adds to Mugabe's propaganda store to prove that the "evil west" are just out to pick on him (conveniently forgetting how they put him where he was in the first place! And yes - Rhodesia could have dealt with the communist weapons, but they ultimately gave up because of Western Pressure!). Now is the time for Western Governments and press to STOP calling Mugabe the "President" - he has not been for quite a few years now, but lets all give up the pretence that there is any form of legitimacy there! The West also needs to help Tsvangirai to set up a government in exile and provide assistance and funding, whilst simultaneously apply FULL sanctions.

They need to tell Mbeki to get out of the way or suffer also - he is married to a Mugabe relative - does anyone still think their is any chance that Mbeki has any intention of doing anything constructive in this matter? And most of all, they need to show other African governments who will not behave that they are prepared to send in the troops. Then they need to let me, in my Z.R.Police uniform, handcuff Mugabe and prepare him for prosecution in the Hague. Will they do any of this or anything remotely useful? No - of course not - they will make loud, strong statements and call for the UN to review the situation. They will send letters to African governments decrying the pitiful state of things in Zimbabwe. and they will wring their hands some more as more and more photographs of the dead, tortured and dying emerge from Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, my colleagues will start to fight. They will have no support, no reserves, no infrastructure, few weapons, no food supplies other than what the beleaguered people can give them - but they will fight on and they are the only hope the nation has.

For a very long time now, everyone has had to play nice and show the world that we are trying to do the right thing and follow a legal process - but that time is now at an end.

Without the world helping, and I mean really helping - this is going to be another sad tale of murder, rape, and war in Africa - mind you, it is actually at that stage already!

Chihuri

2008-06-21T21:56:00.003+02:00

Hello all - apologies for the absence - life and work take their toll!

I have entitled this piece Chihuri because I wanted to examine the whole legal position of the force. Chihuri has often stated, publicly, that he supports ZANU-PF and that he expects all officers to do the same. He has also stated that he would not salute Morgan Tsvangirai, should he win the election.

Perhaps his sentiments are just as well because, should the MDC take power - their first order of business will be to re-establish the rule of law. Chihuri has broken the law. Directly and publicly. He faces many charges, not the least of which include corruption, dereliction of duty and offences under is own, much coveted (although probably not legal) Public Order and Security Act (POSA). So - given a change of power - he would have no need to salute anyone - he would be pleading his case in court!

Given that Mugabe is illegally claiming to be the president - which he is not (and about time the world and the press stopped referring to him as such), he cannot legally sign anything into law. His so-called Police Commissioner is a wanted man, supported by his Deputy Commissioners and Senior Assistant Commissioners, etc! This would, effectively leave the police without any leadership at all! So what happens next? Is there someone amongst the ranks of the Assistant Commissioners who may be sort of OK enough to promote to steer the force through this, it's most difficult hour? Or perhaps it will be time to recall some retired senior officers? or look to the legions of professional officers who have routinely been passed over for promotion for someone suitable? It is notable that the Police non spokesman, or should I say ZANU-PF enforcers spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena has flown up through the ranks since becoming notorious for toeing the party line and supporting it through his press statements!

I wonder if there is an answer - the police force is the key to the Zimbabwe Situation - along with the army. And it bears serious consideration - because the last thing needed is to turn the police from a ZANU-PF instrument to an MDC one.

Later.

Police Powers

2008-06-18T22:46:00.002+02:00

Hello All,

A belated entry today.. Having been pulled over by the Thames Valley Police! When I asked the reason... "because we are the police and we can!!!!". No good evening, no "Hello, please may I see your licence" - just Blue lights, sirens and extreme rudeness! And when I made a complaint - his Sergeant, felt that his officer had not done anything out of the ordinary! And I was wearing paramedic uniform!

I guess that the days of proper policing in the UK are long gone. Funnily enough, my last dealing with the police was in another town when my car has been broken into. The police gave me a report number and suggested that I contact my insurance company. They told me that crimes of this type "were not attended as a matter of policy"!!!??

I recall in the days when the ZRPolice resembled a force - this type of thing would never have been tolerated! And if one doesn't attend every scene of crime - how does one establish MO, how does one make a crime map? How does one prosecute an individual other than if he is caught by mistake?

Hmm. Does make one wonder - what actually constitutes a "police state"?

Clearly no comparison can be made between the Zimbabwe of today and the UK - particularly where policing is concerned, however, with the introduction of ever longer periods of detention without a warrant or court - how different is the UK? Could it be argued that it is slowly but surely heading in the same direction as Zimbabwe? Or does it merely mean that the UK are finding out what it is like to guard against terrorism - and how difficult it is to draw the line between using the powers legitimately or to be heavy handed! These are decisions that need to be taken carefully by officers on the ground - or the risk stands that they will creep further and further to the point where the lines become so blurred that it is easy for corrupt individuals within government to further subvert the law - until eventually we end up with Zimbabwe!

More tomorrow.

Police Officers under duress

2008-06-17T10:33:00.002+02:00

Good morning all,

I was looking through the news on SWRadio's website and saw the story about police officers being forced to vote under the scrutiny of their superiors. Obviously, from a legal standpoint, this is in direct and absolute contravention of the police act which lays out precisely what a police officer may and may not do in terms of his/her political standpoint. Obviously though, this is also unashamed election rigging.

I was pleased to see that some officers saw fit to defy this illegal procedure and make the vote of their choice. Sadly though, these officers are in very deep hot water now. The type of hot water that costs your life.

I know, from personal experience that there are still a great many officers in service who are genuinely just police men and women - they have no interest or desire to be involved in the illegal behaviour of Mugabe and his so called government.

And that raises a number of interesting legal arguments. Mugabe, whom the world still refers to as "President" was not voted into office - either at this election, or the many of the previous ones - neither was a large portion of his cabinet. How does this affect the whole process of law? Surely any statutory instruments, laws, changes to the law, presidential decrees etc. are, by definition, just nonsense? I look forward to a day when they will be tested in a proper court - I think we would find that these "enactments" to be just what they are - rubbish!

But, of course - these arguments can range backwards and forwards and dribble on into the annals of history - for instance, another aspect of legality that bears examination goes back to Rhodesia days. The majority of the population were excluded from the political process - so were the laws passed then any more "legal"?? I recall that when I was in Morris Depot (The ZRPolice Training depot in Harare), we were taught that the premise for all law was, basically, a set of rules to govern society that are acceptable to the majority as a code of conduct. Funnily enough, the Law in Zimbabwe is Roman Dutch Law and it comprises two main parts - Common Law, which is pretty much based on the christian bibles ten commandments - things such as theft (Thou shalt not steal), murder (Thou shalt not kill) etc. Even Adultery (Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife) was a part of common law until abrogated through disuse (Green vs Fitzgerald 1913).
The second part of the law is Statutory law - these are enactments passed through parliament and relate to the area of law that governs lesser offences and offences specific to the society that they operate in. There exists, within the statutes of Zimbabwe, various schedules of offences - which loosely classify the severity of the offence. All Common Law crimes are included as First Schedule offences. The First Schedule also includes things like Treason, Statutory Rape, Assault GBH etc.

So, it brings, to the fore, the whole premise of law and the society upon which the Zimbabwean society was built.

I think, however, that it is fair to say that we have to examine Law from the "fairness" with which it is applied. If that then, is our basis for law, then just about EVERYTHING that Mugabe and his so called government have done since he truly lost the popular backing - is illegal!

Certainly, this is the premise that I am using when I decide what I believe to be legal or illegal. The funny thing about Mugabe and co is that they themselves, do not consider themselves beholden to their own laws! So really, from any point of view, Mugabe and Co are illegal. I think they may have overestimated how much control they have over the forces in place to oversee the law. And the worm is certainly beginning to turn. They will find that they cannot cow everyone indefinitely - and with their "wonderful" management of the economy, the ranks of those who can see more clearly grows everyday. It will not be long before those "state agents" turn up to abduct a member of the police or army, only to find themselves arrested (not abducted, but arrested - for breaking the law!).

Time is against me - however, that is probably a good thing to stop me rambling on ad nauseum on a subject that whilst complex, is also fairly obvious!

More soon.

Background

2008-06-16T12:07:00.005+02:00

Hello all,

Zimbabwe is facing an election now, which we all hope will bring the much needed change. There is much coverage on the news about the terror and ridiculous conditions there - I will, as I go along and learn more about how to post all the various items, provide links to the various sources of news - although I do not wish to make them the main focus of this blog. There are a great many places on the web focusing on this already! I am a serving policeman, although currently outside Zimbabwe (I still have close daily connections within the force and have a very good knowledge of what is happening) and I would like to bring an in sight into what used to be an incredible police force and what has gone wrong. I also wanted to try and publish what I see as a path to getting the police out of the grip of Mugabe and ZANU-PF and back to being the national police.

I hope to include a great deal of diversity in what I post, including personal anecdotes, some background to what is happening on the ground as well as making comments on news items from my standpoint as a police officer. I will approach the news items as though these were incidents reported to me and what action should be taken by a police officer in Zimbabwe, according to the law - and by law, I refer to the law that stood prior to the 2000 referendum, where after the regime has ignored and changed the law to suit itself.

At this point in time, it is clear that I am, effectively, sitting on hill and crowing from afar, but I think it is clear that it would be impossible, at this time to do much else. Having said that, however, I can speak for many of my colleagues, on the ground in Zimbabwe, who are now at the end of their tether - and I am hopeful that this election will bring the change that has been hoped for. If it does not, then I think it will be clear that the political route is wholly ineffective and a new approach will have to be sought. I am aware that alternative initiatives are in planning at the moment. I am sure though, that most, if not all of us, would prefer to avoid any route that carries high risk to ourselves and the innocent people of Zimbabwe, whom we are sworn to protect. At some point, however, we have to reach a point where we find that a more acceptable cost than the continuing creeping genocide that is the situation at the moment. Clearly no solution is forthcoming from the international community at large who continue to sit on the sidelines and wring their hands. And hand wringing it most decidedly is - I have, in the past, approached Security agencies of foreign governments with an extremely effective, low cost plan to resolve the situation (without involving any of their personal and, therefore, in my view - the called for Zimbabwean solution to the Zimbabwean problem), or at least provide the basis for resolution - and their response has been the all too familiar deafening silence!

In an effort to avoid huge rambling columns, I will end today's post! More tomorrow!

Intro

2008-06-15T20:51:00.003+02:00

Bear with me whilst I learn how to operate this blog!