One of the greatest deceptions of World War II was the concentration camp established at Terezin (renamed Thereisenstadt by the Germans) near Prague in then Czechoslovakia. Though the Nazis gave it a pleasant looking facade, in order to fool the Red Cross, diplomats and world media, it was nothing more or less than a collection point for Jews on their way to the death camps.
The whole purpose of Thereisenstadt was to provide the Nazi propaganda machine with a model that they could display to the outside world in order to convince them that Jews and other undesirables were not only being well treated but enjoying life under German rule.
Last week Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC, despite victory in the Zimbabwean elections, finally capitulated and became the junior partner in a government of national unity. In essence Mugabe still controls Zimbabwe from top to bottom and the MDC get to rubber-stamp the latest insane policy moves by the Zanu-PF.
Welcome to ThereisZimstadt. Outwardly a government of national unity inwardly still rotten to the core.
Overall it was a triumph for corruption, elitism and mass murder while confirming a continuing outrageous disregard in Africa for the value of black lives. Where Barack Obama has broken through the glass ceiling to show there is no limit to what black people can achieve, Mugabe, SADC, South Africa and former president Thabo Mbeki have shattered the glass floor and demonstrated clearly that when it comes to cronyism and furthering the interests of the elite there is no limit to how low they can go. Indeed if Mbeki is headed for Sudan as a mediator then I await with interest to see whether the point blank refusal to address genocide, mass starvation and corruption also becomes a feature there.
Indeed if one has regard for the “success” of Mbeki’s policies in Zimbabwe one can only stand in awe at the genius of those who decided to employ his skills in Sudan. The equivalent would be Obama appointing the former CEO of Enron as his new secretary of the treasury.
Notwithstanding, subsequent to the MDC confirming that they will be party to the government, a number of individuals, parties and governments have come out in favour of an immediate lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe. Perhaps they could clarify their reasoning by answering the following questions for us and in particular where they believe the changes have come.
1. Has Zimbabwe suddenly had a free and fair election?
2. Will the next election be conducted before international observers and if so could we have that recorded now?
3. Will Mugabe and Zanu-PF accept the next election result if it’s free and fair?
4. On what are you basing this?
5. Will the army and police now swear allegiance to the people not Mugabe?
6. On what are you basing this?
7. Will Mugabe and Zanu-PF stop using violence to intimidate opponents?
8. On what are you basing this?
9. Will Mugabe stop selling mineral rights for personal gain?
10. Will Mugabe and his wife stop using Zimbabwe as their personal bank account?
11. Will all press restrictions be lifted?
12. Have all the political activists in Zimbabwe been freed?
13. Will law and order be restored?
14. Will Mugabe, Zanu-PF and the security organisations observe the rule of law?
15. On what are you basing all this?
16. Are the people Mugabe murdered now alive or showing signs of a spiritual return?
17. Is reducing life expectancy through neglect to the lowest in the world and committing mass murder a crime? (Just out of interest)
This could go on and on and on.
Easier I imagine would be for those who suggest sanctions should be lifted to simply set out for us how they perceive the situation has changed between Friday and today. As your starting point please tell us what happened to that R300 million we gave to assist Zimbabwean agriculture. Bear in mind that that is South Africa’s money not the ANC’s and accordingly we’d like to know where it went. We’d hate our government to start taking on the same bad habits as Zimbabwe ie using the treasury for personal matters. If the money was received as aid, then a full account should be made available together with exact details of the beneficiaries for verification.
In addition I’m sure most people would like to know how the man who committed mass murder in Matabeleland, murdered and tortured political opponents, destroyed an economy while living like a king, pawned his country’s wealth for own benefit and point blank refused to allow free and fair elections nor recognise the result when he lost the rigged version, has changed between Friday and now? What has he done that leads you to conclude that he can now be trusted when 7 million of his people are on the brink of starvation because of his intransigence? We know he refused to budge an inch on the power-sharing deadlock and withheld food aid to punish his starving masses for voting against him just a few short months ago. Yet somehow all of this has changed since Friday because why?
The only safeguard that those starving masses have against Mugabe in another guise is increasing and delivering the aid directly to them. If the money is given to the Zimbabwean government then God help those people because chances are they will see only a fraction of it and then only in order to show them that big daddy Zanu-PF is looking after them. In terms of sanctions these are directed at the criminal conduct of the Zanu-PF. Why anyone would expect them to be lifted today is anyone’s guess but I’m happy to listen to what’s changed since Friday.
Include in your answers the reason why mass murder, torture and the intentional starving of the Zimbabwean people should be forgotten or forgiven.
Of course SADC, South Africa and AU have stood fair and square behind Mugabe and promised to bail out Zimbabwe. Isn’t the answer then that those parties (not countries prior to holding referendums) that wish to assist Mugabe must now deliver on their promises? The USA and EU can wait to see if Mugabe and Zanu-PF are serious –- perhaps a year to 18 months –- while those that promised to aid them carry the can. I say this for two reasons: Firstly the next time Africans offer to bail out a genocidal elitist faction they make damn sure that they have the means to do so themselves and secondly to spare Zimbabweans being infected by Western imperialism.
As the new head of the AU, Moammar Gadaffi said yesterday the United States of Africa is necessary to keep the West at bay. Put the AU down for $20 billion and make sure that Libya contributes at least half of that.
The sickness of Africa — the perception that the lower classes aren’t clever enough to deal with their own affairs, that they have to be “looked after” by elitist groups who know better. Africa is just littered with “success” stories arising out of the superior intelligence of these selfish elitists. Indeed if the elite become any more successful we might as well close the continent down and send a messenger with a begging bowl to the UN once a year.
Pathetic!
The lower classes are far more intelligent than they will ever be given credit for on this continent. In Zimbabwe they elected the MDC and Tsvangirai to plot them a new course away from the insanity of Mugabe and the Zanu-PF. The elite thereupon refused to accept their decision. Who has the inferior intelligence?
Henceforth classify me as lowest class of all. I would rather sit with my criminal clients and hear about all their problems and how they’ve been living in squatter camps than swallow the selfish and expedient bullshit the so-called intelligentsia is peddling. At least those criminals are honest enough to call themselves criminals and repent.
In the meanwhile let me know what’s changed in ThereisZimstadt since Friday?
The Mussolini/Petacci option is the best one for Zimbabwe with Bob and Grace reprising the roles. Bring it on!
I concur, great article Michael.
Dear Michael Trapido, you clearly do NOT understand African ‘democracy’!
One man, one vote, one party, once. So what’s your problem? Mugabe did this 28 years ago and it is still in line with African democracy. Mugabe even let his people vote a few more times just to show how popular he and his policies are.
touchy touchy…
We too played a scary part in this episode. We, South Africans, have allowed an arrogant, power drunk, inept president to reside ,for 7 long years, over a bit by bit warming pot…and now, who’s starting to feel the heat? Yep! YOU’RE right, it’s us, South Africans…Just look at the current situation, Mad Bob’s head has grown to a size that is impossible to deflate, absolutely impractical. I guess we should wait until it shrinks & freezes.
Don’t even talk about the old school of SADC leaders, who have absolutely no fluid left in their brains. Zimbabweans, too, have no capacity whatsoever (only a handful size have) to resolve their problems…Unlike Black South Africans who were not allowed to cast their votes or elect the person of their choice, Zimbabweans at least still have that liberty. And they’re, year after year, wasting it.
I bet, even if you can let them vote tomorrow, they’ll only see Mad Bob’s head in that ballot, and vote him back…When he start to manipulate them, they run away and cry crocodile tears…why should we feel pity for such people…
It just makes me sick.
God bless us all…
Sorry Pete my mistake :0)
Anton thank you for the kind words.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same”
-A day before Morgan Tsvangirai made public his decision to join Robert Mugabe’s government, Robert Mugabe’s acting Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa was presenting a budget in Parliament.
- A day after Tsvangirayi’s announcement, Robert Mugabe’s press secretary George Charamba wrote an article in the Herald newspaper showing contempt for the prime minister designate.
- Yesterday, Gideon Gono the Reserve bank Governor was presenting the monetary statement.It is public information that Tsvangirayi opposed the reappointment of Gono as a Governer. Now if Tsvangirai is going to be in charge of the government by next week, why the hurry now in presenting the budget and the monetary policy statement.
One wonders if things are going to change and instil confidence in the sector’s previously affected by Robert Mugabe’s goverment. The sector’s are the foreign investors, commercial farmers, the NGOs the Zimbabwean workers e.tc.
Almost all the sector’s had their livelihoods destroyed by Zanu-pf’ actions such as the violent farm occupations, violent elections and the price controls. I will always remember seeing the chinese retail businesses also losing their stock during the 2007 price controls, so much about Mugabe’s look east policies.
For Zimbabwean worker’s there was the emotional suffering caused by Mugabe’s ruinous policies, our personal insurance policies just became useless, people no longer able to feed their families. When I left Zim in 2007 my pension refund i had contributed for years could not buy even 10 litres of petrol. Many people had no choice but to leave the country and go to other countries and start all over again.
In my view this government is a false start,because the same people who destroyed everything in the name of retaining power are still in charge.
As much as we want to go back home, how many Zimbabweans in the Diaspora are packing their bags to back home now? How many foreign investors are running back to take up their previous positions?
Will Mugabe usher in a democratic constitution knowing fully well that he will never win a free and fair election?
I do not think this is the change which we can believe in. One hopes and prays that this government will succeed and stop the suffering in the country.
Outspoken and well-spoken, Michael. What if the West held back from SA the same amount of aid that SA gives to Mugabe, then the people that it affects here in SA will see it as the ANC’s fault. Let’s not use the word “government” any more as we are now talking about only the elitist few of the NEC, apart from the two or three COPE moles, who are Mugabe’s buddies.
Tragic but true. The smoke and mirrors show continues. I wonder just who will be brave enough to expose the truth – or is that wishful thinking?
We are all furious with the ZANU-PF and ANC. I only hope that we will vote the ANC out of power in South Africa and elect someone who will actually do something useful in Africa, like utterly condemn Mugabe and refuse to hand him a cent.
May I just remind everybody about Justina Mukoko and the other abductees?
Free Nelson Mandela. Free Justina Mukoko.
Did anybody notice the ANC (Black African, SADC, AU) hypocrisy there?
Nothing has changed:
Zimbabwe is not governed by a parliament; it is ruled by an executive president.
(Read the Presidential Powers Act and the Emergency powers act, or the Zimbabwe constitution, for that matter)
We have to rely on the optimism expressed by the likes of Mr. David Coltart as to ‘the way forward’ at this stage, without any hard and fast details confirming that the powers of the president are indeed to be formally reigned in or that Mugabe intends to act in good faith (LOL:-) regarding reforms to implement a new democratic constitution and a time frame for fresh elections.
Without these reforms the creation of the post of prime minister is essentially meaningless from a power ‘sharing’ (LOL:-) perspective.
His insistence on remaining president and his bickering over the very posts critical to maintaining control of the coercive state machinery do not auger well for intentions of good faith.
Nor does the appearance of Gadaffi on the scene with his hypocritical anti “Western Imperialism” stance, while the AU calls for the West to drop sanctions against the Mugabe regime, and trust him with billions of dollars of their money!
Fortunately ‘The West’ are also “far more intelligent than they will ever be given credit for” by the likes of SADC, which is why they insist upon Mugabe and cohorts removing themselves from the deal completely before parting with their aid money.
(This will doubtless be interpreted by the usual gaggle of ‘liberation’ diehards as yet another ploy to install a stooge of the ‘West’ in Africa)
Well, well.
So everybody was predicting the end game.
How old is Mugabe now? Hastings Banda was reckoned to be 101 when he died.
This way the ANC can now legitimately use tax payer’s money to keep Mugabe in power.
You only have to read all these posts to see how black South Africans are brainwashed to hate white “colonialists”, mainly in the Mbeki years. Much more brainwashed than the Zimbaweans.
You don’t even realise that the Arabs were the first colonisers of Arica and running the slave trade hundreds of years before the whites ever arrived. Only in the 19th century could explorers. like Livingston, penetrate the continent, after the discovery of quinine to treat maleria. When they found out the horrors of the slave trade in the interior – there was an outcry in Europe, and the abolitionist movement started.
Eventually British ships blockaded the African coast to stop the traders ( which me wonder why the whole world today can’t block the small bit of the coast that is Somalia).
So now you have a descendent of those colonisers as head of Africa, who is just as non-black as the European colonisers. But all you see is that is is not white!
And of course the Sudan want Mbeki – they are still enslaving blacks to-day, and if Mbeki can stall for a decade, like with Zimbabwe, they might have managed to wipe them all out.
And the UN can’t intervene – thanks to the “African Solutions” rule that Bush and Mbeki put in place.
Traps;
You have managed to sum up the whole Zimbabwean problem in a few paragraphs.
The SADC will not send aid to Zimbabwe as they cannot even support their own people. A large percentage of the Zim population is dependant on food aid supplied by the UN and the Red Cross. Why hasn’t the SADC/AU taken charge – it would have been the first time on the continent!
Tsvangurai put up a brave fight but sadly now the MDC has been swallowed up by ZANU-PF in the same way ZAPU was in the 1980s.
Two errors in your Piece: Firstly, there are no sanctions against Zimbabwe. They are against Mugabe and his acolytes. Mugabe is now blaming Zim’s economic woes on sanctions – impossible since the sanctions are not against the country as a whole. Secondly, it is not South Africa that has backed Mugabe, it is the ANC and their supporters. Let history make this very clear. With its two-thirds majority, the ANC has ignored every call by right-thinking South Africans to change their policies on Mugabe. And, incidentally, I do not see any difference in Motlanthe’s approach – none whatsoever.
Since Friday many more Zimbabweans have suffered the ravages of disease, hunger, despair, and cronyism. Since Friday, Bob has had the opportunity to address the AU assembly and once again re-affirmed the support of his fellow dictators (Excepting Botswana). Since Friday Bob has seen the enthusiastic support of the ANC and their apologists go public in support of the lifting of sanctions.
Since Friday, the MDC have lost the plot and their way by joining a develish pact which will utterly decimate and destroy their credibility.
Grant and Traps
You are underestimating Morgan’s intelligence. Just wait – the west will not lift sanctions, and he knows it.
Grace Mugabe seizes pro-Zanu-PF judges farm – He had previously seized it from a white farmer. The judge is apparently highly pissed off.
Terrible shame really.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20090204120541438C132729
Lyndall – I hear you but this puts him in the position of being part of the latest Mugabe government – with all the blame that will go with it and no real decision making powers.
Lynne – I agree with you on it being the ANC not SA and have repeatedly made the point. I have even called for a referendum if they want to use SA money to assist Mugabe.
In terms of sanctions there are very definitely sanctions aimed at members of the Zanu-PF including freezing of assets part of which belongs to the country not the geniuses concerned.
The USA is maintaining these sanctions while the EU have intensified theirs in the past few weeks.
Google the above.
Lyndall,
The Phoenicians were the first colonizers of Africa, more than a thousand years before the Arabs.
The Arabs only moved into the Congo in the 1850s (some say after Livingstone opened up the trade routes in the interior!). The worst horrors of the Arab slave trade came later, after 1870s. And it is widely believed that the horrors perpetrated during Leopold’s rule of Congo Free State were worse than what had occurred under the Arabs.
For the record, quinine was discovered by Jesuits in the 1630s, more than two hundred years centuries before Livingstone’s travels in the Congo. His wife died of Malaria, in 1863.
Traps
You miss the point. When Mugabe realises that the west will not fall for his tricks again, he will renage.
As Prime Minister designate Morgan has authority.
I do not understand why the R300 million was not used for refugee relief instead. Would that not better serve the interests of the South African citizen? It really makes that cheque to SARS hard to swallow.