Regards, Ivan
Posted on 04/09/2006 4:50:36 AM PDT by MadIvan
THE Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has placed army and intelligence officers in control of key state institutions in an attempt to retain military support and quell discontent amid widespread hunger and opposition threats of mass mobilisation.
The attorney-general, chief executive of the Grain Marketing Board (the national food monopoly), and the head of the country’s electoral commission are all now serving or retired officers of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), as are several members of the newly created Senate.
Last week Mugabe put Constantine Chiwenga, the ZDF chief, in charge of tax collection after reports of corruption at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. The Financial Gazette, one of the last independent newspapers, was taken over by the Central Intelligence Organisation.
While Mugabe has been appeasing those at the top by handing out positions and seizing white farms, there are growing indications of unrest in the ranks. So many junior officers have been leaving because of poor pay and lack of food that last month the government issued a ban on quitting before the completion of 10 years’ service.
The discontent is symptomatic of that of most Zimbabweans struggling to find just one meal a day. The country’s economy has shrunk more than any other in the past five years and inflation is now 1,150%. World Health Organisation statistics released on Friday showed life expectancy to be shorter than anywhere else: 34 years for women and 37 for men.
Last week Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), began a nationwide tour to drum up support for his planned “winter of discontent”.
The government promptly warned opponents against attempts to unseat it and threatened to “eliminate them physically”, but Tsvangirai, who has survived two assassination attempts, remained defiant. “This is a typical defence mechanism from a government that knows they don’t have an answer to the people’s plight but are determined to keep power for power’s sake,” he said.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
A lingering death would be better for him. He's right down there with Pol Pot, this former darling of Western liberals. This is the guy the world cheered on to replace the evil Ian Smith.
Mugabe destroyed a wonderful, vibrant nation in a matter of months.
The SOB will end up like most of his kind....dragged through the streets.
Absolutely, Erik. I was there just at the start of his farm seizures, before the country had been dismantled. Not only is Zimbabwe a beautiful place, it was full of bright, entrepreneurial people, both black and white. What Mugabe has done is just sickening; completely senseless brutality.
That poor country needs help. A mercenary army perhaps, but the problem remains that the ANC corrupted South Africa wouldn't like that. The lefties all stick together.
Mugabe deserved to go a long time ago.
Mugabe is a favorite of theirs, as everyone knows.
It is Mugabe's ideas that inspired the celebrated Kelo v. City of New London "Eminent Domain" decision of which these particular Justices are so very proud.
You can learn a lot by studying foreign law and applying it in the United States.
Mugabe is just full of ideas!
And these five Supreme Court Justices are just eager to be inspired!
It would appear the end is nigh.
Insightful, tangential point. Bump!
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You are quite right but recall that Smith was already out of office and had been replaced as prime Minister by ----Murozewa?
My favorite leftist slogan is certainly apt in Zim:
"Revolution is the festival of the oppressed."
It's time.
Idiot.
He gives the gravy jobs to the gernerals and chiefs. Idiot. ITS THE GRUNTS THAT GOT THE GUNS!!!!
Mr. Mugabe, Hell called. Your room is ready.
You're right, Rockpile. There was a transition government that included Bishop Able Muzorewa and Joshua Nkomo as well as Mugabe. At least that's my hazy recollection of it. When I was in Zim in 2000, Muzorewa's son was our naturalist guide at a wildlife camp in Lake Kariba. We were told by our hosts that he would prefer not to discuss politics. He struck us as not only a skilled naturalist, but a dignified man, the kind that a bum like Mugabe can find no place for in the New Zimbabwe.
Burning the candle at both ends, Robert?
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