Comments on: SADC’s hypocrisy over Madagascar

By: XP1

XP1 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:02:22 +0000

not supporting r.g mugabe but you should know defferent rules apply to def people look at the way
america handled north korea and iraq about the w. of mass distruction or the jews/palastine issues

By: japes

japes — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:10:03 +0000

Nah, I think it’s about cash. I reckon Mr Mugabe made some serious donations to the ruling parties (and maybe some individuals Swiss bank accounts) of a few countries around him to keep them supportive. In particular, SA’s ever supportive ANC. It was Zim govt. loot of course and his people paid in blood. The Chinese he more or lee kept onboard with mineral and agricultural concessions prised from previous owners hands by coercion. To the Zim people he showed the finger. A devilishly cunning man Mr Mugabe, right up there with Pol Pot.

Now Madagascar doesn’t have much loot to spread around although maybe the ousted pres. is offering all sorts for SADC tough talk.

By: nzs

nzs — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:27:54 +0000

Just confirms what I have just said:

1) Emotions override reason on Zim affairs,
2) Subjective interpretations (solely based on sectarian interests rather than augmented by factual reality) dictate that MDC won the elections,
3) We are soon going to hear people saying the MDC won a two-thirds majority (But wait a second! ne fella above has alluded to the MDC getting up to 85% of the vote. It can’t get any more interesting than this!)

By: Peter Joffe

Peter Joffe — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:59:21 +0000

I am amazed at some of these comments. It is clear to anyone that an election held with results that should have been available in days, took three months to finalize. ZANU-PF lost and took three months to figure out a way to steal the election. The mindless second run off for President that Mugabe ‘won’ hands down is clearly a fraud. If anyone believes that anything democratic has happend in Zimbabawe for the last 20 years they are hopelessly stupid. Mugabe stole the election, again and the ANC and SADEC helped him do that for their own hidden reasons. When 1 and 1 are added together you get 2, no matter how tou look at it. Mugabe is an election thief and his accomplices know this as do any thinking person. Only Mbeki has the mentality to tell us that there is ‘no crisis in Zimbabwe’. Mygabe will win the next election because there won’t be any voters left in Zim to oppose him.

By: Alisdair Budd

Alisdair Budd — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:02:16 +0000

Dear NZS,

Tsvangarai won the Zim Presidential Election in the first round with 57% of the vote (even with rigging), that’s why they spent so long delaying the declaration and vote count as they packed out the polling stations in Mashonaland (where there were no observors) with false votes to bring the percentage down.

And acording to an alleged internal ZANU report, they estimate that they would only get 15% of the vote in a free and fair election. (and that was at least a year ago, let alone now.)

By: Hugh Robinson

Hugh Robinson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:22:05 +0000

Well noted Traps. Throw a shoe at the next ANC meeting.

By: Robin Grant

Robin Grant — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:48:12 +0000

@NZS you are obviously a ZANU-PF shrill.

We counted our votes here in SA in a few days and announced the winner. The March election in Zim was clearly scammed. You can’t even pretend that it was OK, because every sane human being with eyes on Zimbabwe at the time knew that it was obvious that MDC had won because ZANU did not want to release the vote count. There is no other logical explanation.

By: Kit

Kit — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:37:23 +0000

Siphiwo herein admits to never having seen an atlas of the world? Tiny Madagascar. Deploy the cadre to foreign affairs quick.

By: nzs

nzs — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:36:47 +0000

Emotionally peddling falsehoods on the Zimbabwean situation seems to be the game of the day if you really want to be noticed as an “expert” on Zim affairs. For as long as doing so has a cathartic effect, then it’s alright.
Trapido falsely claims: “[Zimbabwe’s President Robert] Mugabe… [stole] an election he clearly lost,… [and that this is] tantamount to a coup”. Not so fast, Traps. You know very well that:

1) During the contested March elections in Zimbabwe, there was no outright winner, this necessitating a second-round vote,

2) The MDC, under the leadership of the present Prime Minister, withdrew from the second-round, citing political violence

Are you with me so far, Traps? Trusting you still are, then you baseless statement of Mugabe having “clearly lost” the elections borders on your sectarian interests, for which you never came out clean.
Would SADC have threatened with military intervention if:
a) Tsvangirai had usurped power in Zimbabwe (a la that upstart DJ, Rajoelina, in Madagascar)?
b) Mugabe or other ZANU-PF party hack had taken power from a democratically elected president Tsvangirai, in a form of a coup?

The truth is that even you don’t know. I doubt if anybody knows. We probably would have to wait for such eventualities to unfold, to see what SADC would do. Credit must, however, go to SADC for seeing fit that elements of Rajoelina’s ambitious ilk are nipped in the bud within the SADC region.

By: John Onyando

John Onyando — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:42:24 +0000

The SADC has no muscle to democratise its member states. It may be the best organised of African blocs, but this hasn’t immuned it from the burden of confused regional leaderships.
It cannot do in Madagascar what it did not do in Zimbabwe. Bob’s liberation credentials have never been questioned. But he didn’t win the March 2008 elections (Tsvangirai won)- and SADC helped his fraud stand regardless of the verdict of long-suffering Zimbabweans.
Now here you have SADC posturing over Madagascar- all in the vain belief that military coups are more undemocratic than civilian coups ala Mugabe.
The regional groupings in Africa were founded on noble ideals of freedom, peace and stability. They have been effective for the single reason that leaders themselves are corrupt, stole elections or have comfort in the company of their less popular comrades. Now you have Garaffi as AU chairman at a time when democracy is being rolled back by emerging dictatorships in Africa.
Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and many key states have registered declining political freedoms and democracy- the AU is cheering them up. I think the secretariats of the blocs should gain more policy power so that presidents are not allowed to tinker with sacred continental charters. Dictators flock together. Only that in Madagascar the stakes aren’t high for them.