Saturday, January 05, 2013

(DAILY MAIL ZM) Explain new money, directs Sata

Explain new money, directs Sata
By YANDE SYAMPEYO

PRESIDENT Sata has directed all Patriotic Front (PF) members of Parliament to visit their constituencies and assist Government in raising awareness about the rebased currency. This is according to a circular to all PF parliamentarians dated January 3, 2013.

Mr Sata directed the MPs to visit their constituencies as well as those held by the opposition to educate people on the new currency and the need to change their old currency.

“Would you please make an effort to visit your constituencies and those which belong to other political parties and urge the people of Zambia to change their old currency before the end of June this year,” the circular reads in part.

This is according to a statement released yesterday by the President’s spokesman, George Chellah.

Mr Sata further told the parliamentarians to inform him on the difficulties people are facing with the rebasing exercise.

The head of State, who explained that it is an internationally established practice to rebase a currency during periods of low and stable inflations, expressed confidence that the rebasing of the Kwacha will continue without hindrance.

The rebased currency was introduced on Tuesday and will be used side-by-side with the old currency until June 30, 2013.

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Blaming others for self-created problems

Blaming others for self-created problems
By The Post
Fri 04 Jan. 2013, 13:10 CAT

Our opposition political parties have serious organisational problems. And the earlier they admit they have got problems, the better it will be for them because it is very difficult to solve or address problems you are denying. When they sometimes acknowledge their problems, the blame is on others - on the Patriotic Front and its government and us in the media they consider hostile.

Even the current organisational problems the MMD is facing, the blame is on the Patriotic Front. And MMD president Nevers Mumba is on record on this. Even the laws that the MMD itself enacted and enforced, today when they are being enforced on them, the blame is on the Patriotic Front government.

"Ninety-nine per cent of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses" (George Washington Carver). You are never a failure until you begin to blame somebody else. Stop blaming others for the problems you have created for yourselves. You will find that when you become good at making excuses, at blaming your problems on others, you won't be good at anything else. Excuses are the tools a person with no purpose or vision uses to build great monuments of emptiness.

You can learn from your mistakes if you don't waste your time denying and defending them; people who admit they are wrong get a lot further than those who prove they are right.
It is not the Patriotic Front that made the MMD make wrong leadership choices.

It was not the Patriotic Front that made the MMD choose Rupiah Banda, a UNIP member, to become their leader. And it is not the Patriotic Front that made the MMD vote for the people they voted for at their last convention and in the elections they organised to choose their current key leaders. If they chose wrong leaders, as some of them are today saying, they should simply accept the consequences of their own choices and actions.

This applies to the problems the UPND is facing today of being in opposition for a very long time and for being outdone by a relatively new political party - the Patriotic Front.

It was the miscalculation of the UPND leadership of thinking they could take over the leadership of their pact with the Patriotic Front and make Hakainde Hichilema the presidential candidate over Michael Sata. When this failed, they were convinced that no opposition political party, including themselves, could defeat the MMD on their own.

The Patriotic Front went it alone while the UPND opted for a loose and unholy alliance with the MMD, which even they themselves were ashamed of and were not ready to admit publicly, and still lost the elections. Today they are in limbo and seeming directionless. They don't know whether they are going or they are coming. Their leadership seems more empty, more frustrated, more angry, more regional than ever before.

They are sulking at everyone and everywhere. They tried to do some pragmatic manoeuvring to make themselves leaders of Parliament by sponsoring Richard Kapita to become the Speaker of our National Assembly. But that too failed, leaving them helpless, confused and directionless. But instead of accepting their self-created misery, they have never hesitated to blame this on others, including.

It is said that what poison is to food, alibis are to a productive life. A proverb says that "Work brings profit; talk brings poverty." It is said that some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to do when all they really need is one reason why they can.

One of the biggest alibis is regret. Don't leave any regrets on the field - give your all in the game of life. The most valuable thing, we think, that can be learnt from life is to regret nothing. Eliminate your regrets, for the truth is that a thousand regrets do not pay one debt; regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it. It is only good for wallowing in.

When a winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong"; when a loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault." Do you admit, "I was wrong," or do you say, "It wasn't my fault?" A winner explains; a loser explains away.

Who has heard the key leadership of UPND admit their failure, their mistakes in last year's elections? Who has heard Hakainde admit that he was wrong in his assessment that he was more popular than Michael? Who has heard Hakainde admit that he was wrong in thinking that no opposition political party could defeat the MMD on its own?

Dishonest people lack no excuses.
We have many reasons for failure but not a real excuse. Excuses always replace progress. And Philippians 2:14-15 gives wonderful guidance: "In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, so that no one can speak a word of blame against you."

Alibis and excuses should be cremated, not embalmed. The person who excuses oneself always accuses oneself. Denying a fault doubles it. It is said that the best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You don't blame them on your mother, the ecology or some other force. You realise that you control your own destiny.

Don't buy the alibi. We should live our lives like Florence Nightingale, who said, "I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse."
Some people seem to be faultless. Is this possible? We have never heard them admit a weakness, a mistake or error! Is this possible in politics? Everything wrong is always blamed on others, on their enemies, perceived or real. The dishonesty, hypocrisy of these little demi-gods is really frightening.

There is no excuse for being full of excuses. "Admit when you are wrong, and you will avoid embarrassment" (Sirach 20:3). And "value yourself at your true worth" (Sirach 11:28). Stop blaming others for the problems you have created for yourselves. The opposition is in the state it's in today because of its own weaknesses, its own errors, its own wrong attitudes, actions and decisions.

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UPND MP resigns, says HH will never be President

UPND MP resigns, says HH will never be President
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Sat 05 Jan. 2013, 14:40 CAT

HAKAINDE Hichilema will never get into State House as long as people surrounding him don't tell him the truth that Zambians view the UPND as being tribal, says Rev Howard Sikwela.

In an interview yesterday after he resigned as Livingstone UPND member of parliament, Rev Sikwela said UPND was tribal. He said Hichilema was filled with a sense of egoism generated from lies about his popularity told to him by his inner circle.

"My experience with the UPND has been so good and my feelings about the party and its leader HH are that they will never get anywhere near State House. HH will never be anywhere near State House as long as people surrounding him don't tell him what is on the ground," he said.

Hichilema said there was a tendency, in the UPND, of members surrounding Hichilema peddling lies and not telling him the real feelings of Zambians and what must be done.

And speaking earlier during a press briefing at Armadillo Oriento Restaurant, Rev Sikwela apologised to the nation and Livingstone residents for taking such a costly decision but that he smelt a rat ahead of the PF parliamentary petition which was due in the Livingstone High Court as UPND was not prepared to provide him legal representation.

He said he could not afford to meet the financial cost and the party leadership was not willing to help him.

"One would conclude that The Post edition of October 4, 2012 under the heading 'UPND queries Sikwela's stance' was correct. In this article the UPND is said not to be interested in providing legal assistance to me.

From the time my election results were petitioned in 2012, nothing much has been done to prepare for the same. What is prevailing as of now is that the party is preparing for a victory cerebration in Livingstone. One would like to ask what the logic of these celebrations is when the election results are being challenged in the courts of law. One smells a rat concerning these celebrations," he said.

Rev Sikwela said while political parties, just like churches, had their own strongholds, the 'ncicesu' It's ours syndrome was impacting negatively on the UPND.

Rev Sikwela said the other reason for his resignation was the UPND's hostility towards the PF government, which he described as baffling.

"My pronouncement in September 2012 was that I was ready to work with the government of the day for development in Livingstone, and this pronouncement provoked all sorts of insults, animosity and threats towards me by some members of the UPND. It is this attitude and spirit that I have failed to drink of," he said.

Rev Sikwela said Livingstone had more challenges than what could be seen and needed a parliamentary representative who would collaborate with the government so as to generate the required resources for development.

"I have refused to be an MP who is like clouds without rain. An MP must think, talk and dream development, but as of me, I have become irrelevant because whatever steps I take are met with a lot of resistance and suspicion," he said.

Asked by The Post what his political future was like, Rev Sikwela said he wanted to resign without any political or party affiliation so as to make decisions clearer and would also await people's guidance.

"It is the people who will guide me. I will listen to the cries of the people. As of now, I put myself as an open cheque," said Rev Sikwela.

And UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa accused Rev Sikwela of resigning due to a lot of pressure arising from his adulterous court case and his interest in politics of the belly.

"Sikwela has insulted and slapped the people of Livingstone in the face by resigning as their representative. We as a party are aware that Sikwela was under a lot of pressure arising from his adultery case because he claims the lawyer who defended him in that case was PF and that there was need to follow the demands of the PF. So he is good riddance because we can't have an MP who can't respect the people. We are ready to reclaim the seat," said Mweetwa.

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Prominent people in Mpongwe have joined PF - Namulambe

Prominent people in Mpongwe have joined PF - Namulambe
By Moses Kuwema
Sat 05 Jan. 2013, 14:50 CAT

GABRIEL Namulambe says the opposition political parties in Mpongwe will have difficulties finding suitable candidates because most of the prominent individuals from 'Lambaland' have joined PF.

In an interview, Namulambe, who recently resigned as MMD Mpongwe member of parliament to join PF, said the opposition in the constituency was non-existent.

"They will have difficulties even selecting candidates to stand on their tickets because most of the prominent people from Mpongwe have crossed over to PF," Namulambe said.

He said the people of Mpongwe wanted development and that this could only be realised by working with the government of the day.

He said the opposition stood no chance in the by-election as the people of Mpongwe always wanted to work with the government of the day.

And former Mpongwe district commissioner Rasford Bulaya said the people that had been reported to have joined UPND had very little influence on the electorate in the constituency.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has set February 28, 2013 as the date for Mpongwe parliamentary bye-election.


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Sata directs PF MPs to visit their areas

Sata directs PF MPs to visit their areas
By Henry Sinyangwe
Sat 05 Jan. 2013, 14:40 CAT

PRESIDENT Michael Sata has directed all PF members of parliament to visit their constituencies and assist the government in sensitising the general public on the rebased currency.

According to a statement released yesterday by his special assistant for press and public relations, George Chellah, the directive is inFrom front page
circular to all PF members of parliament dated January 3, 2013.

"Would you please make an effort to visit your constituencies and those which belong to other political parties and urge the people of Zambia to change their old currency before the end of June this year. Kindly let me know the difficulties which our people may be facing in this exercise," read President Sata's circular in part.

He expressed confidence that the rebasing of the kwacha would continue without hindrance.

President Sata explained that it was an internationally established practice to rebase a currency during the periods of low and stable inflations.


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KK asks diplomats to inform their govts about the good things Sata is doing

KK asks diplomats to inform their govts about the good things Sata is doing
By Allan Mulenga
Sat 05 Jan. 2013, 15:00 CAT

DR Kenneth Kaunda has asked diplomats accredited to Zambia to inform their governments about the good things President Michael Sata is doing for Zambians.

Speaking at the launch of the national tree-planting programme in Chongwe's Kanakantapa area on Thursday, Dr Kaunda said he was impressed with President Sata's performance.

"Comrade secretary general of PF, you as our minister, I am saying tell our leader Michael Chilufya Sata that what you are doing, I appreciate greatly.

But it needs more than just action programmes, we need action. If you don't act now, we are completely finished as a nation. So, listen to my leader here, all of you present," he said.

"I am asking the ambassadors and high commissioners to inform their governments what he is going to say to us this afternoon because we need your support to fight this deadly war on the Zambian soil."

And justice minister Wynter Kabimba, who represented President Sata, said trees should be harnessed well as they represented one of the most important components of the ecosystem.

Kabimba, who is also PF secretary general, said trees contributed to poverty alleviation by sustaining sound and productive ecosystems for agriculture and water development.

"Zambia's emissions of greenhouse gases through man-induced deforestation are high, hence our government's resolve to embark on a massive afforestation and re-afforestation programme. This is meant to contribute to the reduction of global warming caused by man-induced deforestation. It is Zambia's contribution to this global agenda," he said.

Kabimba said Zambia was experiencing some of the negative effects of climate change.

"The national tree-planting programme that our government has embarked on cannot succeed without sound forest management and protection practices.

To address this, the government will strengthen the Ministry of Lands, natural resources and environmental protection by restructuring the forestry department, so that it can effectively and efficiently spearhead the implementation of the programme," he said.
Kabimba said more than 200,000 jobs would be created once the programme was fully operational.

Earlier, chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II, bemoaned the high rate of deforestation in her chiefdom.
She asked the government to engage the locals in the implementation of the programme.

And Chongwe member of parliament Sylvia Masebo said her constituency has had its share of deforestation arising from charcoal burning.

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Friday, January 04, 2013

(NEWZIMBABWE) Zimbabwe's war of empty slogans

Zimbabwe's war of empty slogans
03/01/2013 00:00:00
by Chenjerai Hove

MANY years ago, I ­listened with amazement to a Zanu PF ­luminary embarking on his party's eternal preoccupation: violent sloganeering. That was in the 1985 elections, in the Midlands capital, Gweru.

The sloganeering was made by none other than the late ­Benson Ndemera, whom I happened to know as a homeboy, when he mistakenly used to call himself "the agonising secretary of the Midlands United African National Council party", led by Bishop Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa.

But by 1985, the music and dance of politics had changed for him. For the sake of political expedience, his notes had shifted to making slogans for President Robert Mugabe's party. The Muzorewas of his previous political map had ceased to exist. It was as if Ndemera's past had been erased by the heavy herbal concoctions prepared by the masters of the art of forgetfulness. Selective amnesia is a serious art of survival in Zimbabwean politics.

"VaMugabe havafi. Kana vakafa havaori. Kana vakaora havanhuwi" (Mugabe does not die. If he dies, he will not decay. If he decays, he will not smell), the Ndemera slogan went, to frenzied cheers from the newly formed dogs of war, the Green Bombers (Mugabe's youth militia).

It was not that Ndemera had invented the sloganeering agenda for the ruling party. Liberation-war guerrillas were masters of sloganeering. The so-called pungwes or all-night political education meetings in the mountains were nothing more than chains of slogans, extolling the unproven virtues of Zanu.

They were also used as a prelude to the cold-blooded murders of those condemned by Zanu kangaroo courts as witches, sellouts and political opponents, aptly labelled "quislings" by Zanu's Radio Maputo, whose chief sloganeer, former DJ Webster Shamu, is the current ­information and publicity minister.

Pamberi neZanu

Come election time in 1980, and Zanu had not moved up a gear to develop the art of persuading the voters to cast their ballot for the party. It was all slogans: "Pamberi neZanu" (Forward with Zanu) and "Pasi nevatengesi" (Down with sellouts). Although we are now in the 21st century, Mugabe's party has not changed its approach one inch.

But then, are the new parties any different? The Movement for Democratic Change formations each have their own repertoire of slogans and party symbols, for which they are prepared to die. They are clung to with the same fervour as the Mugabe slogans, with Zanu PF's added symbols: the clenched fist and a cockerel.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party symbol is the open palm, which symbolises openness and transparency in public governance. The MDC slogan is "the party of excellence". The break-up of the MDC into several camps resulted in a furious war of words as each camp claimed to own the party symbol.

When Zimbabwean parties campaign, they usually produce a chain of newly invented, juicy slogans and clever political sayings rather than persuading voters with substantive issues, analysis of community and national problems and solutions. Anyone who dares to ask Mugabe's politicians about real issues is deemed a traitor who should be punished with torture, harassment and possibly death.

Zanu PF has never bothered to persuade anyone to vote for it. It is still the same old slogans: "Forward with Zanu [PF]", "Down with sell-outs". It is clear that the more politicians make empty slogans, the more likely they are to believe them, even though they carry no weight in the hearts of voters.

There will be war

"Down with sellouts" is simply the slogan of violence against political opponents that Mugabe's party has been using for the past 32 years. Every election is a rebirth of the old slogans and a re-entry into the same cycle of violence that has made ordinary Zimbabweans detest the idea of elections.

For Zimbabwean citizens, elections are a time of extreme fear and possible death. During all the elections, Zimbabwe's armed forces, secret police, prison services and uniformed police have been put on full alert as if a crime was about to be committed the crime of possibly voting for someone who is not the sitting president and his cronies.

"If you don't vote for me, there will be war", Mugabe declared in the 2008 elections. "The ballot cannot be more powerful than the gun", the president publicly threatened voters.

"Simba rokutonga rinobva mumuromo wepfuti" (The power to rule comes from the barrel of the gun), the slogan of returned guerrillas went. And when they were not allowed to carry real guns to election rallies, they were imaginative enough to sculpt and carry wooden ones to improve the effect of the performance. Violent slogans continued and anyone who fell into the pit of "down with ..." faced a bad death.

Unfortunately, young politicians in the new parties tend to follow the only political tradition they have ever known: violence, threats and insults. And can anyone blame them, when persuasive politics and peaceful campaigning is considered weakness?

During the liberation war of the 1970s, if you so much as fell on the "down with" side of the slogans, you were surely dead. The manner of your death was the only thing left to decipher. Some faced death by bayonet, others by having their heads crushed to a pulp by villagers ordered to take up huge logs with which to murder the sellout or witch.

There does not seem to have been much movement along a positive tangent, especially in Mugabe's party, whose other tool is to post party militias in all villages to keep the possibility of death visible to innocent villagers if they do not allow themselves to be pulled by the collar to Zanu PF's destiny.

All the elections in which Zanu PF has participated since independence in 1980 relished in the art of sloganeering. All the rallies Mugabe and his cronies addressed were nothing more than sloganeering shows. Zanu PF functionaries competed to emit huge quantities of slogans, some of them frighteningly serious and others bordering on the comical.

Another spectacle

I remember a newly converted Zapu man standing in front of a Zanu PF rally and shouting "Pamberi neZapu" (Forward with Zapu) several times before the stunned Zanu PF crowd reminded him he was now in Zanu PF. With much laughter from the audience, the man returned to the Mugabe slogans with the same volume and enthusiasm. And my mind wondered whether in his heart he really cared for Mugabe's politics and party. His heart was elsewhere, but he had to change slogans like underclothes to suit his bread and butter – and, of course, his life.

Zanu PF rallies also invented another spectacle: the parading of defectors from other parties. They are usually brought in front of a loyal crowd and forced to recite new slogans with their heads drooping like captured prisoners of war.

Political commissars derive much pleasure in seeing and parading such humiliated human beings. When the captives perform their new repertoire of slogans, it is clear to all that the defectors have been captured from somewhere and made to perform as defectors. They do not even show any sign of believing the slogans. But, all the same, Zanu PF is satisfied with the shallow sloganeering forced upon the poor men and women. And, of course, the Zanu PF crowd usually has a field day, laughing and mocking the poor victims as though it was a ritual of reconversion to the political mother church. The rally becomes a tragicomedy, whose main theme is the capacity to humiliate those who dare to differ in their political views.

New parties are not to be outperformed in the art of parading "defectors". Whereas Zanu PF forcibly took the old party cards of the renegades and sometimes burnt them in public, the new parties take the defectors, collect their old party cards and take them away, probably in case someone in the new party needs to defect to the old party. One never knows. But what we do know is that clever Zimbabweans buy several political party cards for production at convenient times to avoid unnecessary suffering at the hands of violent youth and armed militias.

As the country faints under heavy economic and political burdens, the politicians would rather punch the air with empty slogans and worthless promises that are so unrealistic that even illiterate villagers wonder how a politician can be so dumb as to promise a bridge where there is not even a river.

"Punching the air with clenched fists will make them more muscular than gymnasts" one man was heard to say at a political rally. The joke cost him untold suffering after it was overhead by a member of the secret police disguised in the crowd. The Green Bombers captured the man, took him prisoner for a night of torture and humiliation and released him the following day with a face disfigured and swollen beyond recognition.

Chenjerai Hove is a Zimbabwean writer living in exile in Europe. This article first appeared in the Mail&Guardian of South Africa.


COMMENTS

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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

Chenjerai Hove is a well known Dzakutsaku. He is alleged to have written the 1979 Zimbabwe Rhodesia National Anthem which was a mixture of God Save the Queen and The Bishop. It is also alleged that he openly supported the massacre of refugees in Zambia and Mozambique through his articles. If you carefully analyse the paragraphs on war veterans, you can easily see why he supported the Bishop.
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Elma Sabudo

Phillip Chiyangwa ,Mugabe's cousin sold a lot of war veterans during the liberation struggle while he was the member of the notorious BSAP .And was rewarded with Zimbabwe account by Sekuru.

Primates like you threaten Zimbabweans in every election with violence .Discredit what Mr Hove has posted .Instead of regurgaiting the same template gush mentioned in this article thus ,if anyone dares criticise Zanu is dead no two ways .

This year you are never getting away with what you did in previous elections ,Obama doesn't take any prisoners .We are going to vote in spades against Matibili .

Ana Bhudhi ve Zanu ,munoita se makarerwa ne mukaka we Mugama."One party state ye Jongwe will never succeed .Muchaita tsvina ye huku.
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Mozart

Do you have anything to say on the contents of the article. Which is filled the truth which I have witnessed with my own eyes?
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

Forward with Zanu PF is different from Hezvoko! There is a great meaning in the slogan. It means forward with the Party policies and agenda's plus the leadership. This fish guy does not understand what Zanu PF stands for. Zanu PF is implementing the policies that it stands for, it is the same policies that it fought for. Unlike the puppetry parties in Zimbabwe, what does the MDC have to Offer? Even fish's dzakutsaku party what did it have to offer?
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chigudo

We cant put the whole blame on the entireZANU PF tribe. Let’s converge the blame on Robert Mugabe and his ***********. Be rest assured that WE WILL HAVE NO MERCY ON THESE FOOLS WHEN WE WIN
To ease your pain. Since you are well connected globally. Get a Bulawayo Law Firm to interview 100s of eye witnesses of the Gukurakuhundi attrocities. Document them, and hand the documents over to the International Criminal Court. This can be done.

The ICC will take the case. Mugabe wassnt the only top official involved in making the final decision to send the ***********. There were also other personnel. The ICC will grant an Indictment

Let’s be real, are you willing to do this ? If you are, then I urge you to find a Law Firm this week and open the case TO HELL WITH YOU ZANU PF ANIMALS
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

Did you ever read the unity accord? The war in Matebeleland was never a Zanu Pf Government vs the Matebele people No Never! It was The Government vs the Dissidents. In all wars there are victims and its true there are victims of that Gukurahundi War. You cannot just parade the victims and claim they were killed by the Government alone without talking about the other killers. Its like exonerating the Rhodesian soldiers who killed thousands of people at refuge camps in Zambia and Mozambique. Forward with Zanu PF is different from Hezvoko! There is a great meaning in the slogan. It means forward with the Party policies and agenda's plus the leadership. This fish guy does not understand what Zanu PF stands for. Zanu PF is implementing the policies that it stands for, it is the same policies that it fought for. Unlike the puppetry parties in Zimbabwe, what does the MDC have to Offer? Even fish's dzakutsaku party what did it have to offer?


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Rafique702

It is an unequivical fact that Mugabe cannot, will not and is incapable of backing up his barking with decisive and constructive action...the farms are being abandoned as our erstwhile heroes are finding it tough...I was on one of those farms taken by uncle bob and given to a minister...I do not deny the insincerity of the white farmers who greedily held on to large tracts of land after independence without a single guiltly thought...how ever gentlemen I saw it for my self...there is not much happening on the farms..Kondozi is F*CKED I was there....some other farm is f*cked....workers have not been paid for 6 months...the dams which were full of fish are now epty...YOU CAN TAKE SOMEONES FARM BUT YOU CANNOT POSSESS SOMEONES VISION!..Harare pothole mania...with the largest of them all by the UZ commuter entrance..litter everywhere...Bulawayo is F*CKED litter every where..ASCOT shopping centre is in a state of neglect...Mugabe is a useless old bugger who is all words...the HRE international air port is filthy with wires hanging dangerously out of sockets...poor maintenance.......There is such a thing called maintenance and attention to detail black people.....Gweru is also f*cked...Harare sunshine city...my arrse!
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PG Madziwa

Chenjerai Hove! I had respect for you then, but of late you seem to be singing for your supper. Please them masters at your country's expense. Sellout!
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Sauron_the_Great

tsk! tsk! Singing for your supper Chenjerai
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Tommy

Politics of hate can be a problem. To read through this you would think Chenjerai had never heard about land reform and indigent station and economic empowerment as ZANU PF campaign messages. By all means attack ZANU PF but have the integrity to tell the truth about their amazing issues.
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Ngoko

several things force me to consider discontinuing my patronage of this publication -these include chigudo, the editor, rhodesiansareback and a few others
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Mwanawevhu Muchamama

VaMugabe havafi. Kana vakafa havaori. Kana vakaora havanhuwi

Simba rokutonga rinobva mumuromo wepfuti
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bhutsumutandarika

1- Icho
2-Icho
2-Pasi nenharadada
3-Pasi nadzo
3-Pasi nenhunzvatunzva
4-Pasi nadzo
5-Pasi nevatengesi
6-Pasi navo
7-Pamberi nezanu kubatana
8-Pamberi

5-Pamberi nekubatana pahuro
6-Pamberi

6-Muriko here uko vana chibwido nanamujibha
7-Tiriipo
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Mwanawevhu Muchamama

Pasi nedhongi reBuhera, pasi nechematama, pasi naTsvangirai
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Tengenenge

"living in exile"...please!!... "economic refugee" sounds better...but then that would lower your chances of an "award" from you-know-who !!
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Ngoko

y ou write anything that pleases imperialist galleriesfor a living- you call it singing for your supper by the way
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Ngoko

how much education does chigudo have he is trying to flounce it in saying --I am well traveled, well educated and an astute businessman---

Bear in mind I am asking myself and others NOT CHIGUDO

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Blaming others for self-created problems

Blaming others for self-created problems
By The Post
Fri 04 Jan. 2013, 13:10 CAT

Our opposition political parties have serious organisational problems. And the earlier they admit they have got problems, the better it will be for them because it is very difficult to solve or address problems you are denying.

When they sometimes acknowledge their problems, the blame is on others - on the Patriotic Front and its government and us in the media they consider hostile.

Even the current organisational problems the MMD is facing, the blame is on the Patriotic Front. And MMD president Nevers Mumba is on record on this. Even the laws that the MMD itself enacted and enforced, today when they are being enforced on them, the blame is on the Patriotic Front government.

"Ninety-nine per cent of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses" (George Washington Carver). You are never a failure until you begin to blame somebody else. Stop blaming others for the problems you have created for yourselves. You will find that when you become good at making excuses, at blaming your problems on others, you won't be good at anything else. Excuses are the tools a person with no purpose or vision uses to build great monuments of emptiness.

You can learn from your mistakes if you don't waste your time denying and defending them; people who admit they are wrong get a lot further than those who prove they are right.
It is not the Patriotic Front that made the MMD make wrong leadership choices.

It was not the Patriotic Front that made the MMD choose Rupiah Banda, a UNIP member, to become their leader. And it is not the Patriotic Front that made the MMD vote for the people they voted for at their last convention and in the elections they organised to choose their current key leaders. If they chose wrong leaders, as some of them are today saying, they should simply accept the consequences of their own choices and actions.

This applies to the problems the UPND is facing today of being in opposition for a very long time and for being outdone by a relatively new political party - the Patriotic Front.

It was the miscalculation of the UPND leadership of thinking they could take over the leadership of their pact with the Patriotic Front and make Hakainde Hichilema the presidential candidate over Michael Sata. When this failed, they were convinced that no opposition political party, including themselves, could defeat the MMD on their own.

The Patriotic Front went it alone while the UPND opted for a loose and unholy alliance with the MMD, which even they themselves were ashamed of and were not ready to admit publicly, and still lost the elections. Today they are in limbo and seeming directionless. They don't know whether they are going or they are coming. Their leadership seems more empty, more frustrated, more angry, more regional than ever before.

They are sulking at everyone and everywhere. They tried to do some pragmatic manoeuvring to make themselves leaders of Parliament by sponsoring Richard Kapita to become the Speaker of our National Assembly. But that too failed, leaving them helpless, confused and directionless. But instead of accepting their self-created misery, they have never hesitated to blame this on others, including.

It is said that what poison is to food, alibis are to a productive life. A proverb says that "Work brings profit; talk brings poverty." It is said that some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to do when all they really need is one reason why they can.

One of the biggest alibis is regret. Don't leave any regrets on the field - give your all in the game of life. The most valuable thing, we think, that can be learnt from life is to regret nothing. Eliminate your regrets, for the truth is that a thousand regrets do not pay one debt; regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it. It is only good for wallowing in.

When a winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong"; when a loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault." Do you admit, "I was wrong," or do you say, "It wasn't my fault?" A winner explains; a loser explains away.

Who has heard the key leadership of UPND admit their failure, their mistakes in last year's elections? Who has heard Hakainde admit that he was wrong in his assessment that he was more popular than Michael? Who has heard Hakainde admit that he was wrong in thinking that no opposition political party could defeat the MMD on its own?

Dishonest people lack no excuses.
We have many reasons for failure but not a real excuse. Excuses always replace progress. And Philippians 2:14-15 gives wonderful guidance: "In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, so that no one can speak a word of blame against you."

Alibis and excuses should be cremated, not embalmed. The person who excuses oneself always accuses oneself. Denying a fault doubles it. It is said that the best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You don't blame them on your mother, the ecology or some other force. You realise that you control your own destiny.

Don't buy the alibi. We should live our lives like Florence Nightingale, who said, "I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse."
Some people seem to be faultless. Is this possible? We have never heard them admit a weakness, a mistake or error! Is this possible in politics? Everything wrong is always blamed on others, on their enemies, perceived or real. The dishonesty, hypocrisy of these little demi-gods is really frightening.

There is no excuse for being full of excuses. "Admit when you are wrong, and you will avoid embarrassment" (Sirach 20:3). And "value yourself at your true worth" (Sirach 11:28). Stop blaming others for the problems you have created for yourselves. The opposition is in the state it's in today because of its own weaknesses, its own errors, its own wrong attitudes, actions and decisions.


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Police save Simbao from lynching

Police save Simbao from lynching
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 04 Jan. 2013, 14:00 CAT

MMD acting national secretary Kapembwa Simbao yesterday fled from the party secretariat after being tipped that some MMD cadres were on their way to hound him out of office. And Keith Mukata says MMD president Nevers Mumba cannot expel any member of the party as "he is not a disciplining authority".

The close to 100 cadres from Lusaka and Muchinga mobilised themselves in town around 10:00 hours and proceeded to the MMD secretariat off Addis Ababa Drive to forcibly remove Simbao.

However, another faction in support of Mumba and Simbao, led by MMD Die Hard youth wing coordinator Bowman Lusambo, quickly mobilised and lay in wait at the secretariat.
The anti-Simbao cadres openly said they wanted to lynch him if he resisted vacating the office.

In the ensuing confusion, Simbao, who had been working, managed to slip away and fled the secretariat after being alerted.
An attempt by the anti-Mumba and anti-Simbao cadres to advance towards the secretariat was further thwarted by police, who arrived at the scene 10 minutes after the confusion began.

After about 15 minutes of exchange of invectives between the Lusambo-led cadres and the rival clique led by Andrew Banda, police, who were in riot gear, managed to calm the situation and asked the cadres to disperse and leave the party secretariat.

The Banda-led cadres demanded the removal of Mumba from office and that the party holds an extraordinary meeting to reconcile differences, which have since seen the expulsion and suspension of senior party officials by Mumba.
Banda, who spoke on behalf of the group, said they were not happy with the way Maj Richard Kachingwe had been treated.

"We are not happy with the way senior and old members of the party are being chucked out of the party. They are taking this party backwards. What we are saying is those leaders should be called back so that we can work together because if they do not do that, this confusion will not end,'' he said.
Banda said that the group which wanted to remove Simbao comprised cadres from Lusaka and Muchinga provinces.

He also complained that the MMD Die Hard youth wing, which he said was a parallel structure, had been benefiting from party resources at the expense of all other youths.

But MMD Lusaka province deputy youth chairman Watson Mtonga, who was at the scene, pleaded with police to let the Lusambo-led group remain at the party secretariat as they were not riotous.
But police ordered all the cadres to disperse before they could take further action.

"Those who are trying to sponsor such confusion in MMD, they will never get away with it. This party is a strong party. You can see these are my youths, they are just being used,'' said Mtonga.
Efforts to get a comment from Simbao failed.
Mumba and Simbao's faction has since stationed 10 of its cadres to guard the secretariat.

And commenting on the Maj Kachingwe and Mumba feud, which has split the party into factions, Mukata said that circumstances surrounding the eligibility or ineligibility of the current MMD president to stand as he did for office of president was squarely a matter to be resolved through the provisions of the MMD constitution.

"One such provision is that you should be a bona fide member of the party. The other relates to prohibition of dual membership (you cannot be a member of the MMD and at the same time belong to another party),'' the letter stated in part.
Mukata, who is MMD Chilanga member of parliament, stated that the election to a party position of any person who was in breach of any of the two provisions was null and void in terms of the constitution.

"This illegality cannot be cured by subsequent attempts to relinquish membership of the other party or to subsequently acquire legitimate membership," he stated.

"The illegality does not come into existence at the time the decision to nullify the election is taken. The illegality occurs at the time of election of that member and continues to exist until the election is nullified. A person elected unconstitutionally may subsequently be challenged by an interested party such as a party member not to stand as Republican President.''
Mukata stated that the situation was therefore serious and should not to be treated lightly.

"The recourse under the constitution is to nullify such membership by the national secretary subject to ratification by NEC, he stated.
"If facts presented to NEC disclose breaches as above, then the NEC is bound by the constitution to ratify the decision of the national secretary. The national secretary is the sole custodian of the record of membership and the only disciplinary authority of any member of the party in terms of Article 4. The president cannot expel any member of the party as he is not a disciplining authority.''

And MMD Katuba member of parliament Dr Patrick Chikusu said in an interview that the MMD was suffering from what he described as a withdrawal syndrome.
"This is how you can describe it in medical terms. It is like you lose something but you cannot let go of it because you can't believe that you have lost. The MMD lost power to PF and there is a new government but it's like we cannot accept that we have lost,'' he said.

"This is why some people are already looking and focusing on State House even before we re-organise our party because they feel they can quickly get back in power. What is key now, is to re-organise the party and you do not organise a party by frustrating the government. Re-organising the party can take time, even 20 years, and it can come back into power. We need to be consistent. PF was consistent. They lost three times but they managed to win because of their consistency.''


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Police save Simbao from lynching

Police save Simbao from lynching
By Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 04 Jan. 2013, 14:00 CAT

MMD acting national secretary Kapembwa Simbao yesterday fled from the party secretariat after being tipped that some MMD cadres were on their way to hound him out of office. And Keith Mukata says MMD president Nevers Mumba cannot expel any member of the party as "he is not a disciplining authority".

The close to 100 cadres from Lusaka and Muchinga mobilised themselves in town around 10:00 hours and proceeded to the MMD secretariat off Addis Ababa Drive to forcibly remove Simbao.

However, another faction in support of Mumba and Simbao, led by MMD Die Hard youth wing coordinator Bowman Lusambo, quickly mobilised and lay in wait at the secretariat.
The anti-Simbao cadres openly said they wanted to lynch him if he resisted vacating the office.

In the ensuing confusion, Simbao, who had been working, managed to slip away and fled the secretariat after being alerted.
An attempt by the anti-Mumba and anti-Simbao cadres to advance towards the secretariat was further thwarted by police, who arrived at the scene 10 minutes after the confusion began.

After about 15 minutes of exchange of invectives between the Lusambo-led cadres and the rival clique led by Andrew Banda, police, who were in riot gear, managed to calm the situation and asked the cadres to disperse and leave the party secretariat.

The Banda-led cadres demanded the removal of Mumba from office and that the party holds an extraordinary meeting to reconcile differences, which have since seen the expulsion and suspension of senior party officials by Mumba.
Banda, who spoke on behalf of the group, said they were not happy with the way Maj Richard Kachingwe had been treated.

"We are not happy with the way senior and old members of the party are being chucked out of the party. They are taking this party backwards. What we are saying is those leaders should be called back so that we can work together because if they do not do that, this confusion will not end,'' he said.
Banda said that the group which wanted to remove Simbao comprised cadres from Lusaka and Muchinga provinces.

He also complained that the MMD Die Hard youth wing, which he said was a parallel structure, had been benefiting from party resources at the expense of all other youths.

But MMD Lusaka province deputy youth chairman Watson Mtonga, who was at the scene, pleaded with police to let the Lusambo-led group remain at the party secretariat as they were not riotous.
But police ordered all the cadres to disperse before they could take further action.

"Those who are trying to sponsor such confusion in MMD, they will never get away with it. This party is a strong party. You can see these are my youths, they are just being used,'' said Mtonga.
Efforts to get a comment from Simbao failed.
Mumba and Simbao's faction has since stationed 10 of its cadres to guard the secretariat.

And commenting on the Maj Kachingwe and Mumba feud, which has split the party into factions, Mukata said that circumstances surrounding the eligibility or ineligibility of the current MMD president to stand as he did for office of president was squarely a matter to be resolved through the provisions of the MMD constitution.

"One such provision is that you should be a bona fide member of the party. The other relates to prohibition of dual membership (you cannot be a member of the MMD and at the same time belong to another party),'' the letter stated in part.
Mukata, who is MMD Chilanga member of parliament, stated that the election to a party position of any person who was in breach of any of the two provisions was null and void in terms of the constitution.

"This illegality cannot be cured by subsequent attempts to relinquish membership of the other party or to subsequently acquire legitimate membership," he stated.

"The illegality does not come into existence at the time the decision to nullify the election is taken. The illegality occurs at the time of election of that member and continues to exist until the election is nullified. A person elected unconstitutionally may subsequently be challenged by an interested party such as a party member not to stand as Republican President.''
Mukata stated that the situation was therefore serious and should not to be treated lightly.

"The recourse under the constitution is to nullify such membership by the national secretary subject to ratification by NEC, he stated.
"If facts presented to NEC disclose breaches as above, then the NEC is bound by the constitution to ratify the decision of the national secretary. The national secretary is the sole custodian of the record of membership and the only disciplinary authority of any member of the party in terms of Article 4. The president cannot expel any member of the party as he is not a disciplining authority.''

And MMD Katuba member of parliament Dr Patrick Chikusu said in an interview that the MMD was suffering from what he described as a withdrawal syndrome.
"This is how you can describe it in medical terms. It is like you lose something but you cannot let go of it because you can't believe that you have lost. The MMD lost power to PF and there is a new government but it's like we cannot accept that we have lost,'' he said.

"This is why some people are already looking and focusing on State House even before we re-organise our party because they feel they can quickly get back in power. What is key now, is to re-organise the party and you do not organise a party by frustrating the government. Re-organising the party can take time, even 20 years, and it can come back into power. We need to be consistent. PF was consistent. They lost three times but they managed to win because of their consistency.''


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Rupiah is still relevant to MMD - Kaingu

Rupiah is still relevant to MMD - Kaingu
By Allan Mulenga and Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 04 Jan. 2013, 13:00 CAT

THE MMD leadership has been frequenting Rupiah Banda's home to seek advice on the problems that have beset the party. MMD vice-president Michael Kaingu yesterday said Banda was still relevant to the party. Kaingu said the top leadership rely on former president Banda's wisdom to run the party properly.

"Yes, I have been to RB's home, but of course not looking for resources. RB happens to be our former president and it is important that we consult him. It is assumed that any elderly person has wisdom," he said. "I don't have any problem going to see RB anytime."

Kaingu said he was in Livingstone and would meet Banda again upon his return to Lusaka.

Sources disclosed yesterday that Banda is running MMD through funding and issuing instructions to party president Nevers Mumba.
The sources said Banda is taking advantage of Mumba's financial challenges to control MMD.

Sources explained that Mumba and other leaders had been frequenting Banda's residence, debriefing him on the happenings in the party.

"Maybe what most of you do not know is that Rupiah resisted to retire from MMD and active politics. It took senior members like Major Richard Kachingwe and Catherine Namugala to call for a meeting, where it was decided that he should leave the party. Following the decision, some NEC members then met and assigned Dora Siliya to organise a media briefing at Rupiah's residence, where he announced his retirement under duress," the source said.

The source said Banda has been taking advantage of MMD's financial woes to dictate to the party leadership which people he wants.
Recently, several MMD branches have passed a vote of no confidence in Mumba and called for his removal.

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Rupiah is still relevant to MMD - Kaingu

Rupiah is still relevant to MMD - Kaingu
By Allan Mulenga and Kombe Chimpinde
Fri 04 Jan. 2013, 13:00 CAT

THE MMD leadership has been frequenting Rupiah Banda's home to seek advice on the problems that have beset the party. MMD vice-president Michael Kaingu yesterday said Banda was still relevant to the party. Kaingu said the top leadership rely on former president Banda's wisdom to run the party properly.

"Yes, I have been to RB's home, but of course not looking for resources. RB happens to be our former president and it is important that we consult him. It is assumed that any elderly person has wisdom," he said. "I don't have any problem going to see RB anytime."

Kaingu said he was in Livingstone and would meet Banda again upon his return to Lusaka.

Sources disclosed yesterday that Banda is running MMD through funding and issuing instructions to party president Nevers Mumba.
The sources said Banda is taking advantage of Mumba's financial challenges to control MMD.

Sources explained that Mumba and other leaders had been frequenting Banda's residence, debriefing him on the happenings in the party.

"Maybe what most of you do not know is that Rupiah resisted to retire from MMD and active politics. It took senior members like Major Richard Kachingwe and Catherine Namugala to call for a meeting, where it was decided that he should leave the party. Following the decision, some NEC members then met and assigned Dora Siliya to organise a media briefing at Rupiah's residence, where he announced his retirement under duress," the source said.

The source said Banda has been taking advantage of MMD's financial woes to dictate to the party leadership which people he wants.
Recently, several MMD branches have passed a vote of no confidence in Mumba and called for his removal.

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Thursday, January 03, 2013

(STICKY) (NEWZIMBABWE) Gukurahundi was not genocide, not by any stretch

COMMENT - I still need to see an authoritative source for the 20,000. I quote from the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace's March 1997 report:

" FINAL ESTIMATE: The figure for the dead and missing is not less than 3000. This statement is now beyond reasonable doubt. Adding up the conservative suggestions made above, the figure is reasonably certainly 3750 dead. More than that it is still not possible to say, except to allow that the real figure for the dead could be possibly double 3000, or even higher. Only further research will resolve the issue. "

Question: who has done that "further research" that allows us to move from the Catholic Commission's 3,750 to 20,000? Let alone Tendai Biti's 30,000?

This is what else the CC says on the 'dissidents', specifically Super ZAPU, which was armed and trained by South Africa:

" Super ZAPU was the group of South African backed dissidents, which operated in Southern Matabeleland from late 1982 until mid-1984. Super ZAPU consisted of probably fewer than 100 members who were actually actively deployed in Zimbabwe. They were largely recruited from refugee camps and led by ex-ZIPRA members, who had been retrained in South Africa, in the covert operation known as Operation Drama. A Zimbabwean Government briefing paper on the situation in 1983 conceded "the recent efforts of the Fifth Brigade in Matabeleland have offered the South Africans another highly motivated dissident movement on a plate". Some sources claim that it was once again Matt Calloway, an ex-member of the Rhodesian CIO who acted as a double agent for the South Africans, who was a key player in the campaign to recruit from Dukwe Refugee camp in Botswana.

While they operated, South Africa provided ammunition for Super ZAPU, and some of this found its way to other dissident groups in the country: arms and ammunition used by dissidents frequently indicated South Africa as the source of origin, particularly during 1983. Super ZAPU were also directly responsible for the deaths of white farmers in southern Matabeleland, during their time of operation. "

Were they again operative during 2000? Just wondering out loud.

Gukurahundi was not genocide, not by any stretch
02/01/2013 00:00:00
by Mai Jukwa

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has called the Gukurahundi killings acts of “madness.” His ever-eager opponents seize on this semantic ambiguity as an admission of guilt. It’s a fanciful argument. The killings were two-way and they were indeed madness. The president is right to describe them as such.

The objective political question is to discover whose madness the President was referring to. It is rather simplistic to assume that Mugabe was attacking his own office and government when he made that statement. He was not.

On November 28, 1987, the New York Times published a special report on Zimbabwe. The report led with the story of a savage massacre that was carried out by dissidents. Eight white Pentecostal missionaries and children were brutally slaughtered.

Kirby, of the Commercial Farmers Union, unequivocally blamed the dissidents and complained that the violence had gone on for too long. At the time there was never a question of whether or not dissidents existed.

At the time the orthodoxy recognised the dissidents as an armed Matebele rebel group. Their aim was to protest the unfair treatment of Nkomo as well as his Ndebele supporters. This was the position held by both Western and African governments. The dissidents were real. That narrative now seems to be undergoing creative reinterpretation but one cannot rewrite history.

Geoff Nyarota was at the time working as editor of Chronicle. In one article he demanded that the government of Robert Mugabe “hit them hard.” Who was he referring to? His opponents, in the mold of men like Brilliant Mhlanga, claim he was urging the security forces to attack “innocent civilians who were being butchered by the Fifth Brigade.” This is nonsense. He was talking about the dissidents.

Drawing back to the analysis by journalist Andrew Meldrum in the New York Times, he said: “Western diplomats in the region say the dissidents are believed to be receiving supplies and training from neighboring South Africa. Some weapons have been traced to South Africa, and Radio Truth, a station that supports the dissidents, is beamed into Zimbabwe from South Africa.”

He added:“The dissidents have selected white farmers as targets to gain international attention, to discredit the Mugabe Government and to earn the support of poor black peasants who live near large prosperous white farms.”

That last point is important. It points out that the dissidents wooed the support of poor black peasants. The reader will recognise that it is almost impossible for a guerilla movement to survive without aid from the local community. Whether that support is given of free volition or through coercion is an entirely different matter.

This is why Ian Smith began a concerted effort to drive peasants into Keeps. He recognised that the Freedom Fighters were getting essential support from the locals. Without this aid they could not hide and they could not eat.

History gives a clear account of how the Rhodesian forces dealt with villagers who were found to have assisted the terrorists, as the white settlers preferred to call them. People were beaten, maimed and sometimes killed.

The same was true of the dissidents. They received aid from the local population. This is fact. We can argue the degree of that support but not as to whether or not it existed. Denying it is nothing short of self-imposed intellectual amnesia. Whether or not this support was offered of free volition or out of coercion is open to debate.

I could carry on pointing out to fact upon fact that makes clear that dissidents were a real security threat but that is needless. Any objective analyst can look through historical records and quickly establish the facts of the matter. Others who subscribe to adolescent conspiracy theories will tell us that dissidents did not exist.

Let us assume that dissidents did not exist and this was all a clever ploy by Mugabe. The question is what were his intentions? Why did he do it? Surely it was not merely a game for the sport of it; the man must have had a motive for carrying out such actions.

One conspiracy holds that this was Mugabe’s attempt at genocide in the style of Hitler’s extermination of the Jews. He supposedly wanted to wipe out the Ndebele people. It’s an idiotic argument but this has not stopped it getting traction.

If this was indeed Mugabe’s aim why did he stop? There was nothing standing in his way. The international community was fully behind him. He had the security services at his full disposal as well as rowdy Shonas who could be readily conscripted into service if the need arose. So why did the evil old ogre not exterminate the Ndebeles as the conspiracy theory goes?

Another equally absurd argument says that Mugabe recognised Nkomo’s political abilities and feared that he would lose an election to him. The Gukurahundi killings were designed to dismantle his support.

At the very surface such an approach seems counter-productive. Instead of diminishing Nkomo’s support, the said killings served to solidify the region against Robert Mugabe who they viewed as the architect of the violence that swept across that region. No political strategist under heaven would suggest you brutalise your opponents’ supporters in the hope that they vote for you in the next election. It is just plain silly.

The truth of it is that Nkomo never stood a chance against Mugabe in an election. Even if Nkomo miraculously rose from the dead and ran for office, Robert Mugabe would win a decisive victory against him. It is the tribal nature of our politics. I am not here to argue the good or evil of this reality, I simply point out the facts as they stand.

Welshman Ncube is ten times the leader that Tsvangirai will ever be. However Tsvangirai will defeat him in any and every election even if the Shona electorate heard reports that the man had moved to new sexual heights and was now regularly mating with a donkey. Tribal politics! That is the fact of it.

So this notion that Mugabe somehow feared Nkomo on the political battlefield is just nonsense. It is important that we deal with the facts and put these silly arguments to rest once and for all. Gukurahundi was not genocide. There was never an attempt to exterminate the Ndebele people.

So what really happened? The same thing that happened in Iraq and is happening in Afghanistan, soldiers on the frontline overstep their mandate. We all saw those pictures of the torture that was carried out by American forces in Abu Ghraib.

In an effort to scare the Ndebele generality from assisting the dissidents, the security forces engaged in indiscriminate killings. This was partly out of frustration as they could not get their hands on the fast moving dissidents. This was wrong and yes crimes were certainly committed. However it is one thing to call for Bush to be tried for crimes against humanity but quite a stretch of things if one begins to charge that Bush was attempting to exterminate the Iraqi’s.

During the armed struggle for our independence, how many people were beaten to death or maimed by Rhodesian forces on the charge that they were supporting the freedom fighters? But we have never heard anyone charge that Ian Smith was attempting to exterminate the blacks. That would have been nonsense. It was war and in war bad things happen.

Some will point out to the mass graves with innocent civilians. I will point you to Chimoio and Nyadzonya. Some will point out the attacks on individuals in places like Gweru. I will point you to American soldiers who shot any male in sight after suffering the death of a colleague from an IED.

It was war, it is war! I do not stand here to argue the good or evil of it but simply to put the facts into perspective.

Gukurahundi was no genocide. Period!

Amai Jukwa is a loving mother of three. She respects Robert Mugabe, is amused by Tsvangirai and feels sorry for Mutambara.



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Mai Jukwa

The facts are quite straightforward:

1 - Dissidents were a threat to national security.

2 - Dissidents were given material support by black peasants in that region.

3 - Dissidents were attempting to wage a tribal civil war.

4 - Robert Mugabe's actions were in response to this dissident threat.

5 - The world supported Robert Mugabe's actions.

Others may wish the reality was not as straightforward and entertain foolish ideas about genocide and how Mugabe wanted to exterminate a particular tribe. This is nonsense.
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Songolina Jikijela

You can say that again bro, it was power achieved from a rowdy group that needed to be put in check. Mugabe did the right thing during that time and the problem was quickly contained.
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chigudo

If we as zimbabweans can not value the sanctity of life then we are no different from the Hitlers, Idi Amins, Pol Pots, Stalins, Bandas and Ceausescus we so much despise. When people start saying these things just happened and let bygones be bygones this does not solve the issue of physiological, mental, physical and spiritual scars endured by the victims even in our generation. Zanoo pee eff needs to seriously own up to this sad era of our history and culprits bought to book. The notion that people were killed in Nyadzona and Chimio yet still people were not brought to book under the guise of post independence reconciliation is still injustice laid squarely on the zanoids. Gukurahundi has been classified as genocide, the same applies to the the Marambatsvinas and Mavhotera Papi as there is a deliberate and systematic attempt to exterminate racial, cultural and political groups .Zanoids have a pechant of cover ups and an unquenchable desire of violence coupled with corruption, nepotism and tribalism these ingredients will serve to seriously expose their short commings sooner rather than later. Once zanoo pee eff is booted out of power there will be serious retribution and they know it….that is why being in the GNU it is their last chance saloon.
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ZackieBwerawa

Why leave out the lying duo of Blair and Bush in your list of those that "cannot value the sanctity of life"?
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chigudo

Blair and bush are actual HEROES they are saving this world from SATANIC ghadaffi and TALIBAN . they are heroes for removing tyrants
In fact very soon i hope they move out ZANU PF TRASH
WE WILL CALL IT MURAMBATSVINA 2
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AMGML63

Man get a job i say
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Cde Manesi

Did your brothers the dissidents respect the sanctity of life?
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chigudo

SINCE WHEN HAVE YOU CIO AND ZANU PF CARED FOR ANYONE
I CANT WAIT UNTIL THE DAY THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH FORCES COME RUMBLING IN AND TEAR YOU A NEW ANUS
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

you are a day dreaming idiot. Kepp quiet you fool!
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chigudo

TO HELL WITH YOU ZANU PF DOG
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

I mean your relatives?
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

During which period was Robert Mugabe Knighted by the British?
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Grace Jones

Mai Jukwa from forum madness to sharing that in an article? zvimwe zvinhu itai zvishoma
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Elma Sabudo

It beggars belief why Zanu pf pests who lacks intellectual rigour are given platforms to spew utter rubbish ,just to perpetuate privilege status within this party at the expense of traumatised political victims who have not healed .

Catholic bishops carried out two enquiries to the extent findings were suppressed by Zanu ,just like 2008 political violence .

The healing process was straight up fraudently which lacked institutional frame work ,victim based ,but cacophony rhetoric by Mugabe ,if Gukurahundi was not a crime then let us open an enquiry ?.

Robert Mugabe is clinical narcissist ,angry about his father and has killed every ethnic represented by the Zimbabwe flag ,form kwa Bulawayo ,minorities ( White farmers ) to all Malawian third generation immigrants in the cities .This man has no respect for human life ,even his own circle has been felled by his hand .Like all other genocidal leaders including all the planners like Amai Jukwa must be stopped and hold accountable for his past crimes .

VERMIN LIKE AMAI JUKWA ARE PLANNERS BEHIND ZIMBABWE VIOLENT HISTORY AFTER INDEPENDENCE ,HELL BENT TO DRIVE A WEDGE ON SOUND HEALING PROCESS .AND SINCE THIS " THING " HAS BLATANTLY DENIED SUCH ATROCITIES .WHEN THE TIME COMES THEY SHALL BE PUT TO TASK REFERENCING THIS ARTICLE NOW CACHED ON INTERNET .

MR MODERATOR BRAVO FOR FIRST POSITION TO THE BOTTOM .YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD .
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Cde Manesi

Kupenga hakuridze bhera,uye kunotoonekwa nevamwe,kwete naiye mupengi.
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chigudo

Bloody homosexual, filthy, smelly rotten puussy, piece of ZANU garbage CDE MANESI***. You are the reason why some of our MDC African brothers view Morgan Tsvangison as a hero, indeed if he got a few ***s like u out of the way and back to where they belong , indeed each day that you remain in the mdc motherland you should be scared, because anytime we will come for your filthy zanu
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Tendausaru Mupfanechoya

you lost it chigudo, this is not the way to present yourself to the Global Village and God.You stoop so low here like a kindergaarten kid.
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Jenderenhunzi Surekwembudzi

WAZVIONA SEI KUTI ANE ROTTEN PUSSY? NDIWE UNOTORI NGOCHANI PANO. MUGABE HAATOMBODI KUNZWA NEZVECHINGOCHANI, NDOSAKA VACHIMUOMESERA.
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Elma Sabudo

Perps of violence are within our mists well known ,in fact top Zimbabwe Security echelons.The youths whom you armed since Gukurahundi to date are not that patriotic nor smart either .You should have taught them deceptive methods when conversing with strangers over a beer drink and a tummy tuck .

Mugabe is 88 ,sleeps during every meeting and wet his trousers so are the old Zanu old bags .

We want planners the likes of Savior and Mai Jukwa responsible for post independence atrocities .Continue to chase elephants with butterfly nets ,very soon we will shall know.Already you have halted land grabs .Dont worry son .Catch you later .
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Somerset Masikati

@ Elma. Bear with the gentleman if he does that he will die of poverty. Here is how the game works: 1 - The Editor promotes controversial news stories that trigger a deluge of responses; 2 - The responses translate into "hits" and the Editor gets paid & beats poverty. 3 - "Hits" bring advertisers & bingo, the Editor gets paid again! He can only practice the type of journalism you're referring to if he has a rich benefector, so I'm afraid you're being naive. All he needs to do to beat poverty is to play Zanu PF against the MDC fullstop. I don't blame him, though it's frustrating on occasions
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GreenBomber

My question for u woman is; did Nkomo, Ndabaningi & Tsvangirai ever plot to assassinate Mugabe .... the answer is No; they were just being framed by a dictator trying to monopolise political space .... in this light; how do u know that these dissidents were not just CIO agents just creating an excuse for Mugabe to meet his trabalistic ends, for how do u explain less than 50 dissidents terrorizing a country with an army as big as that of Zimbabwe for 5 yrs. How do u explain the death of thousands of people dying over the "rebellion" of only 50 people. And why were these dissidents never brought to justice or killed if they had no ties to Zanu pf.
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AMGML63

Man, you're all over the place, sometimes you support Zanu sometimes not, kungoda arguing chete?
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Jenderenhunzi Surekwembudzi

HOW DID YOU COME TO KNOW THAT THEY WERE ONLY FIFTY DISSIDENTS, WERE YOU ONE OF THEM? ANOTHER THING IS THAT THREE WELL ARMED MEN CAN AFFORD TO TERRORISE AND TORTURE THE WHOLE VILLAGE. YOU MAY FIND OUT THAT AMERICA SPENT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS AND SWARMS OF SOLDIERS HUNTING FOR ONE MAN, OSAMA. IN ALL COUNTRIES BE IT IN REALITY OR MOVIES ONE MAN CAN CAUSE QUITE A STIR AND THOUSANDS OF POLICE AND ARMY TROOPS MAY BE DEPLOYED TO GET HOLD OF THAT ONE PERSON ONLY. One man can kill a million aggressors to protect himself alone if he has the means. Each and every life lost to the dissidents was very important and thousands of other people might have died whilst trying to save those whose lives were at stake.
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Somerset Masikati

These facts are also straightforward:
1 - The Fifth Brigade was established outside Constitutional parameters and only answerable to Robert Mugabe.
2 - Those targeted and killed only spoke a certain language.
3 - At the time Mugabe openly used inciteful and hate filled language, just as he does know.
4 - The Fifth Brigade operated outside of normal Army structures. Even today there is no such a Brigade suggesting a clearly sinister agenda.
5 - A disproportionately large militia was used to contain a disproportionately small threat.
6 - You have admitted that innocent women and children were indiscriminately and unlawfully maimed and killed and drawn a comparison with the American experience but where is the redress in Zwe?
7 - While in America the perpetrators were prosecuted in Zwe Shiri et al were lauded as heroes and promoted leading to the current impunity we see today.
8 - Mugabe commissioned the Chihambakwe Commission yet its report never saw the light of day why? Is this the behaviour of an innocent person?
9 - The same approach used during Gukurahundi continues to be used today. In March 2008 didn't Mugabe say "a mere pen / X cannot defeat a bullet?"
10 - The West supported Mugabe because a) of the Cold War politics at the time; b) It was a still newly independent nation and he was given the benefit of the doubt; c) There was a State of Emergency and Mugabe controlled the flow of the information!
11 - What is the "political strategy" behind the killings in April - June 2008? Or is it just "plain silliness"?
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Jacques Marneweck

9- A clear point that Mugabe only respects violence and never had any respect for the people of Zim.
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Somerset Masikati

@ Jacques - true that. I would add that:
1 - Mugabe is a power hungry dictator given to wanting to retain power by all
means necessary.
2 - Mugabe has meted the same treatment to all political opponents since 1980. It is his modus operandi.
3 - He holds an irrational fear towards all political opponents. His response is not shaped by how credible a threat a political opponent is towards him but by the mere fact that a political opponent dares oppose him, the "mighty" Robert Mugabe and wants to displace him and usurp his power.
4 - The passage of time naturally increases the size of victims and makes
relinquishing power untenable for fear of reprisals making the process "cyclical".
5 - Once he dies, there is a risk that those in his "cabal" will also try to repeat this process.
6 - This is why we are stuck with him & the evil system that he has built! So yes, Mugabe committed genocide and MLF, while misplaced is a direct result of his actions!
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Rinopisa Chogugudza

A responsible news editor would have put the headline of this irresponsible article as "Was Gukurahundi A Genocide". Allowing Zanuists to make sweeping statements that touch nerves as these will have a backlash on this publication. Judging from the last few articles allowed space here, It simply exposes the owners Mathuthu and Madzingo as Zanu sympathises. For starters, I will no longer put any adverts on this news website. I have removed Newzimbabwe from bieng my home page.
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Somerset Masikati

@ Rinopisa. Bear with the gentleman if he does that he will die of poverty. Here is how the game works: 1 - The Editor promotes controversial news stories that trigger a deluge of responses; 2 - The responses translate into "hits" and the Editor gets paid & beats poverty. 3 - "Hits" bring advertisers & bingo, the Editor gets paid again! He can only practice the type of journalism you're referring to if he has a rich benefector, so I'm afraid you're being naive. All he needs to do to beat poverty is to play Zanu PF against the MDC fullstop. I don't blame him, though it's frustrating on occasions.
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Rinopisa Chogugudza

Lets agree then that this editor has behaved similarly to bieng a paid referee in a contest where two neighbours shit on each doorsteps and their neighbours watching.
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chigudo

AMAI JUKWAi is that why your mother is a ZANU porn star who would even do a bestiality porn movie just to prove that you are the sibling of eddie the ZANU BRED horse. She thought by doing with a ZANU bred horse that would probably add some brain matter to your under developed brains. Both of you AND JUKWA are just displaying how thick as your mothers fannies you are. You guys have given us the ZANU PF blueprint of how to build a ZANU PF IDIOT and thats both of you……………kaboooooooooom.
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Rinopisa Chogugudza

Genocide or not genocide, there is no justification to murder 20k civilians in a war or no war situation. This level of self confessed madness simply demonstrates that those who made the confession were and are not in sound mind to have or continue presiding over a government in any country. The state of affairs in Zimbabwe is clear testimony that a man who has confessed to madness was allowed to continue running the highest office in Zimbabwe. Its also unfortunate that the plague of madness has continued to spread hence you see the likes of Mai Jukwa.
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sublatern

loooool the world supported Mugabe's actions?? what in gods name does this spin doctress smoke??next thing you will be telling me bush was right to wage the middle east war because the so called "world" was by his side.kindergarten reasoning at best

the fact that you clowns have been trying to absolve your leader of any blame for the last 25 years serves to show that deep down your conscious awareness is at logger heads with what you purport on this site

you cant sugar coat it mate you and your evil tyran leader are going to hell.

One thing for sure. Zanu will NEVER win in Matebeleland .NEVER in all infinite lifetime.We know that hurts you.
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Mozart

You should be glad as grotesque as you views are your government and your northern brothers and sisters share your views 20000% you are speaking for the majority as a result they are just cowards to just say it. I guess they will sleep better tonight knowing that one them has shared their feelings.
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chigudo

MUGABE DEATH IN OFFICE. The second route is when they pass away in office. Initially, the death notice is greeted with mournful grief and uncontrollable wailing in memory of the departed leader. BUT IN OUR CASE WE WILL BE HAPPY AND OVER JOYED WHEN MUGABE DIES But most often it is crocodile tears that are shed. A few days later, champagne bottles are uncorked, serious partying, wild celebration and joy erupt in some quarters. The village brass band blows up a storm with chickens doing the “Disco Duck.” Then suddenly the music stops – that’s when the next “rat” takes over power. Here is the list:

1. Gabriel Léon M’ba of Gabon died of cancer in Nov 1967

2. Houari Boumedienne of Algeria died of a rare blood disease in Dec 1978

3. Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya died of natural causes in Aug 1978

4. Agostinho Neto of Angola died in 1979

5. Samora Moisés Machel of Mozambique died in a helicopter crash in 1986

6. Seyni Kountché of Niger died of brain tumor in Nov 1987.

7. Felix Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast died of prostate cancer in Dec 1993

8. Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo died of heart attack in Feb 2005

9. Levy Patrick Mwanawasa of Zambia died from stroke in August 2008

10. Lasana Conte of Guinea died in Dec 2008

11. Omar Bongo of Gabon died of heart attack/cancer in June 2009

12. Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi died of a heart
attack in April 2012
13 ROBERT GABRIEL MUGABE- TESTICULAR CANCER 26 NOVEMBER 2013
YES PLEASE
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chigudo

Your mother broke custom and opened up to your rodent eating mother conceived and gave birth to an even more retarded idiot THAT IS JUKWA. Whoever said law must not be applied in retrospect must have been your relative otherwise your father would be in jail for KILLING INNOCENT CIVILLIANS Since you are grown up and abortion can not practicaly be performed you will have to be hanged as you are a product of rape. IT COULD POSSIBLY BE THAT YOU WERE RAPED BY MA GADEN BOYI
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chigudo

1 ZANU PF IS A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY
2- ZANU PF IS BEING SUPPORTED BY VOTE BUYING
3 ZANU PF CONTINUES TO WAGE WAR AND STEAL ELECTIONS
4 ROBERT MUGABE HAS DESTROYED THE JEWEL OF AFRICA
5 THE WORLD IS AGAINST ROBERT MUGABE
6 TO HELL WITH YOUR ARTICLE OF RUBBISH MURDER IS MURDER AND THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW THIS WAS GENOCIDE
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chigudo

More than 20 000 innocent people are believed to have been murdered by members of the North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade
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AMGML63

Where do you fit in? You are the only mkeda i know with political issues, hehe
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chigudo

WHERE DO YOU FIT IN WITH THE KILLING OF 20 0000 CIVILLIANS
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AMGML63

I was an infant. You still didnt answer my question.
I also think you're trying to cause a rift between two great tribes. It wont work because you're a nobody, with no job in addition.
You are trying to incite tribal hatred through the internet, without even disclosing your identity, i pity you.
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chigudo

Forgiving Mugabe is out of question.He has killed a lot of people, wht would they think and feel if that murderer walks free? Thousands of people have died and they are still dieing.I will not vote for forgiving him.He deserves no mercy at all.
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chigudo

There is nothing legitimate about MUGABEi and ZANU PF. They are both POWER HUNGRYwhose real strength lies in the appalling mess made WHEN THEY ORDERED GENOCIDE AND KILLED 20 000 CIVILIANS
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Tsvatu

Your article really is a good way to see who was wrong when it comes to the topic:"Gukurahundi", i really hope u continue to shed more light to us on the topic because some us just don't know what really happened.
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gynaacologist

Could you please check in at my offices in Avenues immmediately. You seem to be displaying symptoms of a severe candida infection that is spreading into your brain. In the meantime while you are still trying to find your way there I recommend that you take large quantities of yourghut with active culture, it helps to restore your microbial balance down there subduing some of the symptoms in the process especially the itchness that causes you to be restless and pensive leading to hallucinations. Your condition makes you insensitive to the plight of other people, you are inconsiderate of how your words will make the next person feel.
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Nicholas Banda

The research conducted by the writer derives from sources written by other so called historians, who for their own purpose of writing chose to narrate and project the image that there was no genocide in Zimbabwe.

Further to that the writer fails to analyse the information he obtained as to what was the purpose and who was intended to receive and be brain washed by such information.I wont go into the gukurahundi atrocities in detail but I can only feel sorry for the writer who in this day and age has failed to rise above partisan and polarized politics based on tribal orientations. It is the people like the writer who continue to drag Zimbabwe backwards with hogwash and unwarranted stories, that continue to poison anything to do with Zimbabwe.While the whole world is looking for better economic stability and growth, the writer continues with his filth and vulgar views about history that can never be changed.

We all know what happened in Zimbabwe during the gukurahundi and for now let us leave it that. Jukwa or who ever is behind this article should divert his intellectual effort and contribute ideas that will assist Zimbabwe to have a sustainable economic growth and be competitive with the rest of the world.I don't know what planet the writer lives on but, potholes and lack of healthcare, coupled with poor economic growth warrants such discussion to take place.

So in conclusion Ms Jukwa or who ever, stop trying to sell yourself short and contribute positively to the well being of your country. As for Mugabe and his cohorts, their day will come.Mugabe is not too far away from meeting his maker so you can be assured that he knows and is aware of his sins.
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Ras

Wataura apa mface. When has killing unarmed and defenseless civilians ever been called a war. Zanu people have an obsession of comparing themselves to America. Who said people didn't die in chimoi and other places in Mozambique. It doesn't change the fact that Mugabe killed 20 000+ Zimbabweans in Matabeleland and the midlands. Zanu people are known for singing for their supper, Mai jukwa is no different. We cannot change history ,Mai jukwa. Truth be said,Mugabe has killed a lot more people over the years by depriving us of food and a decent healthcare and chocking us on these deathtraps we call highways and roads.Knowing zanu as much as I do,they will find some accidents in America to justify the carnage here in Zimbabwe. We have this one Mpofu guy on a pledging spree. He is pledging to assist in each and every cause in Zimbabwe. Like a doctor who poisons you so that he can cure you he forgets that his looting is the reason why we are so poor. Because he is zanu, he compares himself to FEMA.
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Malikongwa

This is a highly offensive piece authored by some clueless half-wit trying to seek relevance. I wonder why the editors entertain such divisive hogwash, dont you understand that real people with families were killed? This website surely has gone to the dogs!!
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Mozart

Because we are still in the 1980 election mode. Ncube exist and tribalism has to be used to arise the negative feelings about him and his party. So as to leave the 2 other men. They dislike Ncube but don't fear him. All they are doing is evoking the tribal card to quickly casting him aside. The writer knows Nkomo was the national leader we needed but our Northern brothers what can I say where quickly persuaded otherwise. It's nothing new.
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Somerset Masikati

@ Malikongwa. Bear with the gentleman if he does that he will die of poverty. Here is how the game works: 1 - The Editor promotes controversial news stories that trigger a deluge of responses; 2 - The responses translate into "hits" and the Editor gets paid & beats poverty. 3 - "Hits" bring advertisers & bingo, the Editor gets paid again! He can only practice the type of journalism you're referring to if he has a rich benefector, so I'm afraid you're being naive. All he needs to do to beat poverty is to play Zanu PF against the MDC fullstop. I don't blame him, though it's frustrating on occasions
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truth0001

W Ncube is 10 times the leader Tsvangirai can ever be!!!! i totally agree with that!!! this makes me ashamed to be zimbabwean when they would not vote for ncube because of tribalism. i also think that Ncube needs to strategise on his marketing, i have repeately said he has not really taken advanage of his corrupt free image. he should not waste time attacking zanu..because MDC/T does that for him..Ncube MUST focus on attacking protest vote and present his party as the alternative, that way he will wing a more MP seats in cities and possibky become leader of the opposition..and in next elections of 2018 he would leap onto zanu's rural strong holds and can become president of zimbabwe. i can sleep well with ncube zimbabwe president BUT can never sleep if tsvangirai happens to be president, as that flip floper can be easily tricked to sell a whole country to the west...willy nilly..
ncube needs large placards that read , NO TO PROTEST VOTE, his election slogan just has to be that, that simple...and so lets not use tribalism to excuse his inability to correctly strategise his election...DONT RUSH TO USE TRIBALISM, obama worked real hard to win electios and until we are REALLY satisfied that Ncube has done his best then we can cry tribalism

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(LUSAKATIMES) Micro Finance Service Providers’s lending interest rate capped at 42% by Bank of Zambia

Micro Finance Service Providers’s lending interest rate capped at 42% by Bank of Zambia
Time Posted: January 3, 2013 6:14 pm

The Bank of Zambia has with immediate effect introduced a cap on the effective annual lending interest rates that licensed non-bank financial institutions can charge their customers. This follows similar recent measures taken on commercial banks by the central bank.

Bank of Zambia Head of Public Relations Kanguya Mayondi in a statement released to media said that this measure has been necessitated on account of the exorbitant interest rates that some non-bank financial institutions have continued to charge their customers.

Mr Mayondi explained that the capping of interest rates is aimed at making borrowing from non-bank financial institutions more affordable and equitable especially to the vulnerable micro-borrowers served by this sector.

He said that as a consequence, the maximum effective annual lending interest rate for non-bank financial institutions designated as microfinance service providers by the Bank of Zambia shall not exceed 42%.

He said that consequently, the Bank will designate non-bank financial institutions qualifying under this measure.

Mr Mayondi added that the maximum effective annual lending rate that will be charged by all other non-bank financial institutions will not exceed 30%.

He said that the interest caps of 42% and 30% have been arrived at by multiplying the commercial bank maximum effective annual lending interest rate, which currently stands at 18.25%, by factors of 2.302 and 1.644, respectively.

He stated that the Bank of Zambia will periodically revise the factors applicable to the non-bank financial institutions interest caps, in response to changes in economic fundamentals and the commercial bank rate.

Mr Mayondi further added that the conditions will apply to new loans written, while existing loans will be allowed to run their course on the current terms unless refinanced.

Meanwhile the Bank of Zambia has directed commercial banks and business entities to accept cheques issued prior to 1st January 2013 in the old currency.

Head of Public Relations Kanguya Mayondi said that the central bank has received reports that certain business entities and some commercial banks are turning away customers holding cheques prior to 1st January 2013 in the old currency.

Mr Mayondi said that cheques issued prior to 1st January 2013 in the old currency are just as good and should accordingly be accepted and processed.

He reminded all business entities and commercial banks that the cheques have a validity period of six months and therefore cannot be deemed to be invalid because of the currency rebasing exercise.

Mr Mayondi said that Cheques, therefore, should be accepted accordingly as they will be processed through the banking system by dividing the amounts by 1,000 to convert the values into the rebased currency.

He said that the Bank of Zambia, in this regard, wishes to remind all business entities and commercial banks that cheques issued prior to 1st January 2013 and in the old currency must be recognized and accepted as payment in order to ensure that well-meaning customers are not inconvenienced.

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Nawakwi calls on opposition to boycott Mpongwe election

Nawakwi calls on opposition to boycott Mpongwe election
By Mukosha Funga
Wed 02 Jan. 2013, 16:40 CAT

FDD president Edith Nawakwi says her party will not participate in legitimising wrongs by taking part in the Mpongwe by-election. And Nawakwi has called on other opposition parties to boycott the elections in order to benefit the poor in society. Meanwhile, MMD vice-president Michael Kaingu says the party is ready to re-contest the Mpongwe seat.

The Mpongwe parliamentary seat fell vacant following the defection of its member of parliament Gabriel Namulambe from the MMD to the ruling PF. In an interview, Nawakwi (right) said the Mpongwe election was non-existent to her party.

"We find it unacceptable. When there is a lacuna in the law, we as a party are not going to participate in legitimising something that is wrong. As a party, we don't even think that there is a by-election because it is not necessary," she said.

"This is an election which has not been caused by a misfortune of death but by a mere adventure by one of the members of the House to try and cross the floor."

She said by-elections caused by people's selfishness should not be condoned and should be boycotted.

"I am calling on other political parties to boycott the so called by-election and let Namulambe or whoever the ruling party will choose to adopt get it on a silver platter so that we save the country; there are so many people suffering...the money can go to equipping the hospitals, for supporting the teachers and for supporting the police. We now see the police on the roads without raincoats," she said.

Nawakwi condemned the manner in which the MMD were conducting their politics.

"I strongly condemn the manner in which our colleagues in the MMD are conducting their politics. They are nothing but politics of the stomach, looking at only what they as individuals can benefit other than the politics that can serve the people. I have recently been to Mpongwe and it is not acceptable that our people who are living in poverty and are in dire need of support from our government should be subjected to unnecessary by-elections," she said.

Nawakwi added that Namulambe should have exercised his right to work with the ruling party without causing an unnecessary by-election. She said there was need to amend the law regarding defections.

"In other democracies, what is provided for in the constitution is that an MP can cross the floor without causing a by-election. The law should either be amended to show that those who cause by-elections cannot be adopted or Parliament should be provided for so that members can just cross the floor and sit on the other side," said Nawakwi.

Meanwhile, Kaingu said in an interview that the party was ready to contest the Mpongwe seat.

"We are ready and we are still discussing who should take up the role of campaign manager. We will come up with a name very soon. We are also in the process of adopting a candidate," said Kaingu.

The election has been scheduled for February 28.

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Masebo justifies firing of ZAWA director

Masebo justifies firing of ZAWA director
By Henry Sinyangwe
Thu 03 Jan. 2013, 15:00 CAT

TOURISM minister Sylvia Masebo says Zambia's wild animals were being airlifted out of the country without the knowledge of the state. Justifying the dismissal of Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) director Edwin Matokwani and four others, Masebo yesterday said she would ensure she takes the best action so that the country is protected from plunder.

"My actions were not only precipitated because of this issue. There have been many, many issues.
There are many wrong things that have been going on in ZAWA. Just from yesterday and today, I have received over 300 text messages, over 200 calls from all over Zambia… about what is happening in ZAWA and all these people have said this decision was long overdue and a lot of information is coming on how this country is being plundered. Our natural resources are being plundered.

How planes are flying into this country in all the air strips that are dotted all over some of these game parks and flying out without being detected by anybody.

So do you think that if I have powers to do something about it, I will be waiting for a long process? I would use the shortest process. It's just that I don't have that power. But there are many wrong things and when you know, your heart would bleed. You would feel sorry for yourself as a Zambian. And you say Zambia is poor and you are unemployed when other people come here to plunder your resources and you even start protecting criminals to your own detriment?'' she asked.

"In fact, I kept them too long. They should have gone the same day I came here if I knew what they were doing. But I didn't know but I am learning with time and many will go. You should be angry as Zambians that you are not in control of your natural resources and you are sitting there just busy politicking from the day of elections instead of looking at some of these issues."

Masebo said a combined team of security wings had moved to ZAWA headquarters to get the relevant files pertaining to some of the issues that were raised by her ministry so that they could do their investigations.
She said there were a lot of wrong things going on in the country which went unchecked at the expense of the majority poor Zambians.

Masebo said people did a lot of wrong things in the country but went unpunished.
"One thing happening in this country is that people that have been involved in corruption; the government has ended up having even to pay them.

After they have messed us up, after they have plundered, the government has ended up losing double and so the people have ended up being the losers. So you've got to be very, very careful on how issues like these are handled. Secondly, I want you to appreciate that if I did not take the steps I took, maybe at the end of the day, we would not get anything out of this case," she said.

Masebo said in terms of management, she had since put in place an interim management team for administrative purposes and the names would be announced once they received the letters.

"Maybe he Matokwani is right that we unlawfully dismissed him. But let me say this to you; it is always good to give somebody a fair hearing. I think it is important, it is necessary. But sometimes you need to appreciate the nature of the problem and sometimes you are forced to make decisions, action, in order that you don't get dribbled yourself," she said.

Masebo said there was need to use shorter processes when dealing with national issues such as plunder.

"For example, people get deported and I have heard people complain that there are too many deportations. Sometimes you should ask yourself the question, why should we spend so much money as a country on somebody that you all know has been doing things that are illegal in the country and you want to waste time to use a long process when the law allows you to use a shorter process. And why should we do that?

And from our past history as a country, that is what we have been doing. The state has been losing money, they go to court… sometimes files end up missing, witnesses are tampered with, and people get away scot-free,'' Masebo said.
Matokwani on Monday described the corruption allegations raised against him by Masebo as unfounded and untrue.

Matokwani, who was fired by Masebo on Sunday for alleged irregularities in the awarding of safari hunting licences, said in an interview that he was clean and ready to be probed by the ACC.

And Masebo said the ministry had lined up a number of construction programmes, starting this month, in preparation for the UNWTO general assembly.
She said the old Zimbabwe market had been demolished and marketeers relocated to other places.

The toilets will be constructed at Mukuni Park Trust, old bus stop and Livingstone City Council premises. The tender for the same will be awarded on January 4, 2013, she said.

Masebo said the Immigration Department had procured and would instal equipment at new facilities at the border posts. She urged artists to be creative and come up with songs that would help market the country.




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