President
Robert Mugabe has urged members of his party’s youth league to beat up anyone
suspected of causing political violence in the name of his party ZANU PF.
"We
hear that there are some people who go about beating people in the name of Zanu
PF forcing people to chant slogan," Mugabe said.
"We
will not allow thugs to soil our name. If you come across these people, get off
the road get hold of them and beat them up. You do not have to wait for the
police."
Mugabe
said this today while addressing about 20 000 of his party supporters who
gathered at Somhlolo Grounds in Lupane Matabeleland North province.
Well,
well! I am speechless!
Here
is the man who has openly encourage his party thugs to beat, rape and even
murder people in the name of “what was accomplished by the bullet cannot be
undone by the ballot”! He ordered the Police to release the odd party thug
arrested for political violence or pardon the odd one unlucky to be taken to
court.
Mugabe
had his own nephew, Minister Zhuwao, re start the infamous Border Gazi Youth
Training Centres were youths under go the rigorous training to be a party
thugs!
The
tyrant had over 30 000 innocent Zimbabweans murdered in cold blood to establish
and retain his de facto one-party dictatorship.
Today,
a total a kind-of confused U turn, he is ordering the same party thugs; he has
openly encouraged to beat, rape and even murder his political opponents and
critics; to beat up a fellow party thug for doing what he ordered them to do! It
is a U turn in that his opponents and critics are not being offered the best
protection from Zanu PF thugs one can possible get – have Zanu PF thugs as your
protector, they are above the law and even the regular Police fear them. It is
a confused U turn in that the tyrant has not renounced violence since the
offending thugs are to be the usual Zanu PF lawless justice.
There
are four possible explanations why President Mugabe is calling off his party
thugs:
1)
President
Mugabe may be playing one of his favourite but dirties tricks – wave the olive
branch of peace and make a big song and dance about it meanwhile tighten his
grip on the assassin’s dagga under the cloak, ready for action. We have seen
him to this again and again and it is shocking how many people have fallen for
the same sucker punch!
2)
The tyrant
is cock sure he has all but won the elections and therefore does not see the
need for him to resort to violence. The regime has dragged its feet over voter
registration and knows that during the blitzkrieg to follow it will create so
much chaos and confusion and use that as cover corrupt the voters roll to suit
its evil purpose, for example. The regime had a very sophisticated and
well-funded vote rigging scheme in 2013 Mugabe called off the deployment of Jabulani
Sibanda and his fellow war veterans who were straining at the leash to be loose.
The war veterans were the regime’s foot soldiers in the wanton violence of the
2008 presidential run-off and they were itching to prove they were still as
loyal as dogs.
3)
President
Mugabe kept the war veterans on the leash and he never ordered the odd one
broke loose and beat the odd MDC supporter to be beaten. It is possible he is
genuinely concerned his “soiled image”! He has employed some PR companies, the
best money can buy, to spruce up his soiled image – the soiling from 37 years
to brutal rule and the blood of over 30 000 murdered innocent victims is hard
to wash off. So, President Mugabe may be trying to do his own PR by asking his
thugs to beat up Zanu PF thugs involved in violence. Carefully stage managed
complete with all the theatricals, he may not fool everyone but will probably
fool many!
4)
Zanu
PF is having its factional wars but serious as the fighting has been the
party’s problems have nothing compared to the chaos in the opposition camp.
Morgan Tsvangirai his minions’ love of grandstanding and political posturing
have been their greatest undoing. The MDC’s failure to get even one democratic
reform implemented during the GNU followed by humiliating defeat in the July
2013 elections was a hammer blow from which the opposition has never really
recovered from.
The opposition camp made a mountain out of a mole hill of
Joice Mujuru teaming up with the opposition only to admit she was not really
the game changer when her Zim PF party imploded.
All MDC factions vowed they would not contest any future
elections until the electoral reforms necessary for free, fair and credible
elections are implemented. “No reform, no elections!” they said. Douglas
Mwonzora, MDC-T Secretary even boasted of Zanu PF “kicking and screaming” to
implement the reform. Not even one reform was implemented and yet all the MDC
factions are united in their desire to contest next year’s elections regardless
of the certainty Zanu PF will blatantly rig the vote as before.
The opposition has tried to present the formation of the
grand coalition as the silver bullet they needed to dislodge Zanu PF but other
than sign a few MoU to talk little progress has been made. The grand coalition
is just another lead balloon that will never fly!
There is no doubt that the opposition has lost a lot of
political credibility and there is no serious political analyst worth his salt
who would support the nonsense of Zanu PF rigging the vote but, some how losing
the election. Everyone can see the opposition are contesting for the sake of
the few gravy train seats Zanu PF gives away.
President Mugabe is smart enough to know if the opposition
have lost political credibility he will lose political legitimacy! By making
sure there is no reported case of political violence, indeed he is even go the
extra mile of giving the opposition protection of the Police and Zanu PF thugs
just to be absolute certain of that, he is hoping to earn some legitimacy
brownie points.
So Zanu PF thugs are now authorised to beat and Zanu PF member accused of political violence but since this is a party well known for holding grudges and where each member is accuser, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one; President Mugabe has just opened a pandora's box here. He is advocating using violence to stop violence using lawless thugs to achieve it who respect only one law survival of the most brutal.
ReplyDeleteWhatever next from this incompetent, corrupt and murderous tyrant! Is he going to allow these thugs to use sticks and knives and then arm them with guns and grenades too!!!!
Mugabe must be held to account for all the distraction of property, injuries and deaths that many come out of this madness. He is not seeking to end Zimbabwe's culture of political violence but making violence the the norm and the country ungovernable except by those who are seasoned thugs themselves! This is not just a crime but high treason!
Mai Mujuru has proven beyond doubt that she is corrupt and incompetent why anyone would still be wasting time talking about her is beyond me. Some people are stuck in this mind-set that the only people fit to rule the country are those already on the political stage regardless how badly they have already proven to be. We love recycling our dead wood and it is no wonder Zanu PF has had the same idiots leading the party for the last 37 years even with the country in a hell of a mess and some of the failed leaders are so worn out they are dozing off at the drop of a hat!
ReplyDeleteThere is no way these failed and corrupt leaders are ever going to get the country out of the hell-hole we are in. They inherited a healthy with a lot of fat and yet they still managed to waste it all and all they ever did was dig us into this deep hole. They longer these clowns stay in power the deeper the hole they will dig.
Mai Mujuru is itching to get back into power so she can take up the looting from where she left off when she was booted out of Zanu PF in 2014! She says she wants to end corruption. Of course, what else would she say?
There is fifth possible reason here; President Mugabe may well be trying to escalate the party's factional war. One of the many things he has always been good at is claiming the moral high ground as cover for his dirty work. He accuse Mujuru of plotting to assassinate him to justify her ouster from the party and government. Could it be that he is trying to go after Mnangagwa supporters by claiming they are the ones beating up the opposition.
ReplyDeleteThe same group of thugs employed to beat the opposition can be employed by the regime to beat up the opposition can then be used to beat up their Lacoste supporters and thus kill three birds with one stone. One, beat the opposition to keep them under the cosh at all times. Two keep the Mnangagwa supporters under the cosh too. Third fool the naive and gullible public on his side bu being seen as the one trying to keep the peace!
In his selfish determined way Mugabe is slowing but surely dragging the nation into a civl war, all the other things are already there - an impoverished and divided nation that has been brain washed into believing Mugabe is an angel instead of the murderous tyrant he is.
Anything is possible with President Mugabe! He has worked himself into a tight corner and the only thing we can be certain of is that he will not want to give up power and will fight to the bitter end if he can. The nation had the chance to implement the reforms during the GNU and that would have forced him to accept a peaceful transition. By allowing him to rig the vote and get back into power we have given him the excuse to stay in power.
DeleteSADC leaders must be worried with all these Mugabe antics, they are like China with North Korea; China has been hamstrung by fear of a total collapse of North Korea and yet with the later growing more and more repressive and now with nuclear missals to boot China's fear has got worse and worse. North Korea is not just dictating to South Korea and Japan and giving the middle finger to America; it is treating China with just as much contempt!
SADC leaders are scarred Mugabe will deliberately light the fuse to make Zimbabwe ungovernable, the very thing they do not want to see happen, if they pressure him too much. In 2013 he threatened to pull Zimbabwe out of SADC when the regional body tried to get MDC to boycott the July 2013 elections until reforms are implemented.
SADC would have stuck to their guns if only Tsvangirai had boycotted the elections. SADC should refuse to endorse next year's rigged election and not allow themselves to be held hostage to tyranny!
What is Mutsvangwa blubbering about, he was booted out of Zanu PF and therefore has no say who else should be booted out! This is the trouble with people of no substance like Mutsvangwa he is nothing without Zanu PF because it was the party, more specifically President Mugabe, that gave him substance. Well the tyrant swept the rag from under Mutsvangwa's feet and no he is just the cursed wandering Jew.
ReplyDeleteMutsvangwa's dream of imposing Mnangagwa as the next dictator shows only how stupid he is. Zimbabwe is in this hell-hole because we have a dictatorship and it must go no if no but!
The last season was a very good one and yet all the country managed to do was produce enough to feed itself. In an average season or worse the country will have to once again rely on imported food aid.
ReplyDeleteInternational aid organisations also chipped in with food handouts but First Lady Grace Mugabe recently told Zanu-PF supporters that non-governmental organisations were no longer welcome in the country following a bumper harvest.
Mugabe said Zimbabwe would soon be an exporter of food after a decade of relying on food imports.
“We can now produce food for other nations and we can now restore our status as the bread-basket of Africa as the soils are wet and we can have enough evaporation to get enough rains next season.”
President Mugabe is yet to learn that it is infinitely easier to destroy than to build. If Zimbabwe is ever to produce enough to feed its own people then it will take a lot of hard work and competent leadership – something this corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime does not have!
This must be great news for the likes of Dr Moyo who had confined his campaign to door to door with no meetings much less rallies just to avoid attracting the attention of Zanu PF wolves. He banished the wearing of any party regalia because that was a red-flag to the Zanu PF thugs. Now Dr Moyo can order the printing his APA party T-shirts and banners and have meetings and rallies in every corner of Zimbabwe because he could not get better protection from political violence from anyone else than from Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs. After all it is him who has planned and executed all the political violence that has ever happened in the country.
ReplyDeletePresident Mugabe is well known for using people to do his dirty bidding and then discard them like used toilet paper. Look at Jabulani Sibanda his war veterans, the women in the Zanu PF Women's league (especially soon after independence when they grovelled before him), Joice Mujuru and Didymus Mutasa and the rest who were booted out in 2014, etc., etc. President Mugabe used them all and when they seized to be useful they all got the big boot!
ReplyDeleteThese Zanu PF youths whom President Mugabe is now disowning got Zanu PF vehicles because they had proven themselves to be faithful dogs in the past. Mugabe is a man of violence and has openly encourage his followers to use violence.
It just so happens that Mugabe knows that the 2018 elections are in the bag and does not need to use violence. But instead of telling his thugs to cool off he wanted to do it in a dramatic way. What could be more dramatic than Zanu PF thugs beating up fellow Zanu PF thugs.
Mugabe wants to be seen as having won the 2018 elections without using violence, at least not using violence against his political opponents!
He will not see the irony of using violence to earn man of peace brownie points! But there is Mugabe for you, a thug through and through even when he is trying to cast off his Mafia cloak!