Zimbabwe's Ruling Party Plans to Transform Economy by Transferring more Wealth to Citizens

The ruling party in Zimbabwe said it plans to transform the economy by transferring more wealth to its citizens. Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front will boost the economy through its policies of indigenization and economic empowerment, ZANU-PF officials revealed.

“Over the next five years, Zimbabwe is going to witness a unique wealth-transfer model that will see ordinary people take charge of their economy,” it said. “The people of Zimbabwe have given President Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF a clear mandate to transform the economy through indigenization and economic empowerment.”

Robert Mugabe recently won the just concluded election which his rival Morgan Tsvangirai described as a 'huge farce' and 'null and void'. Many wondered how Mugabe could have won again though Western nations and Botswana are in doubt of his victory but his victory is hinged on the fact that he has created a niche for Tsvangirai as a western tool.

Mugabe with his appellation of Tsvangirai will always defeat him because Zimbabweans are scared of losing their lands again not when they can remember the notorious Ian Smith Rhodesia regime and the White supremacists. Mugabe received the applause of meaningful African leaders from Nigeria to South Africa much to the chagrin of his rival Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mugabe, 89, extended his 33-year rule of the Southern African nation with 61 percent of the vote in the July 31 election and his party secured a two-thirds majority in parliament. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who won 34 percent, called on the African Union and the 15-nation Southern African Development Community to back his demand for a rerun.

With its indigenization policy, Mugabe and ZANU-PF have forced mining companies such as Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP) and Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS) to cede majority stakes in their local assets to black Zimbabweans or the government. The Southern African nation has the world’s second-biggest platinum and chrome reserves, as well as diamond, gold and coal deposits.

Tsvangirai had promised to repeal the indigenization measure. Mugabe has also redistributed majority of the lands which were held by the minutest white population. This was the beginning of his fisticuffs with the West who wanted the status quo just as it is in Namibia where the Black population has no say on the economy as well as in South Africa where almost the entire wealth is concentrated in the hands of the whites.

Leopard and Its Spots: Harassment and Intimidation all Over Again in Zimbabwe

Amnesty International revealed Zimbabwean police raided the offices of civil society organisations and detained human rights workers in the run-up to elections scheduled to be held on July 31.

“The clampdown on the work of human rights defenders is a worrying indicator that government agencies remain actively hostile to civil society,” Noel Kututwa, Amnesty’s deputy programme director for Africa, said in an e-mailed statement. Even, the Carter Centre, created by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, said it was refused permission to monitor Zimbabwe's elections.

Amnesty in its report titled “Walk the Talk.” said 'civil society organisations carrying out election-related activities including voters' education, domestic election observation and those perceived to be critical of government policies have had their offices raided by police and equipment, including computers, seized whilst human rights defenders have been unlawfully detained.'

Rugare Gumbo, spokesman for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, did not answer calls to his mobile phone before the report was released according to amnesty. Zimbabweans will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on July 31, to end a power-sharing government led by President Robert Mugabe and his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The coalition was formed four years ago following a disputed election that was marred by voter irregularities and violence, according to international observers.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, failed in a bid to postpone the election. The Southern African Development Community, which brokered the power-sharing agreement four years ago also pushed for the ballot to be delayed to allow more time for voters to be registered and ensure certain reforms are carried out for free and fair elections but all efforts proved abortive.

Amnesty said it is 'concerned that partisanship by some members of the country’s security services, who have openly expressed their preferred outcome in the next election, is directly undermining Zimbabwe’s ability to realise its obligation to respect and protect internationally guaranteed civil and political rights.' Robert Mugabe, 89 has dubbed the election to be a 'do or die affair' showing the level of desperation which of course must definitely come with harassment.

Zimbabwe moves to normalise relations with the IMF on its terms

Zimbabwe has made a move to normalise relations with the IMF after its voting right was suspended in 2003 due to policy differences with President Robert Mugabe and non payment of arrears.

The IMF has approved Zimbabwe's plan to clear billions of dollars of arrears, while Harare has agreed to enter a staff-monitored programme with the Fund, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Friday.


"This programme is about showing that Zimbabwe can be trusted again," Biti told reporters in Harare. "We engaged with the IMF on our terms."

While its voting rights were restored in 2010, Zimbabwe has not been able to borrow from international lenders since 1999 when it started defaulting on its debt. Its external debt stands at $10.7 billion (6.8 billion pounds).

The IMF board had agreed to allow Zimbabwe to negotiate debt relief and new financing by leveraging its natural resources according to Biti.

Under the staff-monitored programme, the IMF would want to see evidence of sound policies before agreeing to a lending programme.

Biti's comments came after Mugabe said he would hold elections by the end of July in line with a court order which has angered rivals who want them delayed to allow for reforms to ensure a fair vote. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has also threatened that its party might pull out of elections due to short time frame.

Zimbabwe is still emerging from a decade of economic decline and hyperinflation. The economy has slowly been on the mend since the formation of a unity government in 2009, and the government recently projected growth of 8.9 percent in 2013 which was 4.4 percent last year.

Pope Benedict XVI's Resignation and African Leaders

Pope Benedict XVI became the first Pope in 600 years to willingly resign from office. The Papal Nuncio has no rival forcing him to quit. There is neither a protest or a mass uprising in the Catholic fold demanding the great hero of Christiandom steps down. Upon the realisation that his health can no longer serve as the foundation of his ordained mission, the Pope, to the amazement and shock of the world announced he will exit the prestigious seat in the Vatican by February 28, 2013.

The Pope is within the age bracket of Robert Mugabe (80) yet Mugabe still seek rounds of years in Zimbabwe. Lacking in ideas and foresight, Mugabe has led flowering and blossoming Zimbabwe into the abyss. So many African leaders exist today who continue to rule and hold on to power despite failing health and lack of sagacity. Paul Biya of Cameroon has no date of exit. Yahya Jammeh has turned Gambia into a personal property.

Eyadema Jnr in Togo does not look as if he is ready at all to consider death not to talk of leaving the Presidential Palace. Idris Deby rules on in Chad despite the growing opposition to his rule. How about Yoweri Museveni of Uganda? He went as far as telling BBC that he is too experienced to leave and exit office. If he will not leave by himself, death will. 

Many African leaders die in office due to stupidity. Umar Bongo of Gabon spent 47 years in office before death bade him farewell. Nigeria's erstwhile President's case is the most pathetic. Despite having good intentions and leading truly with a patriotic mind, Umar Musa Yar'Adua died in office due to pressure within his party or better still pressure from the national 'godfather' Olusegun Obasanjo not to leave the stage so that he can achieve his nefarious whims and caprices.

He was sick like the Pope but never considered resignation as an option. Maummar Gaddafi despite being a leader with good track records in the betterment of the lives of Libyans and advancement of his country was killed due to the sit-tight syndrome of African leaders. They are many. Just too many. Is it Hosni Mubarak of Egypt or Ben-Ali of Tunisia? Too numerous.

One singular error people especially foreigners and their apologists in Africa make is to say the sit-tight syndrome is Africa's culture. During the era of the monarchs in traditional African societies, sick men never ruled. When a leader was sick, he must step down. If a society with a calamitous economy like that of Zimbabwe existed in traditional African societies, the people would have risen against such a leader and in Yorubaland, he would be made to open the 'calabash' as a sign of rejection.

African leaders are nothing but bunch of destroyers. They believe resignation is an act of cowardice. Though I do not subscribe to this because I know resignation is never in their minds not to talk of it as an act of cowardice. All they harbour in their corrupt souls is GREED. The irony is that they have successfully built a team of successors among the youths who cannot wait to continue the plundering. The have trained successors. The Pope's announcement that he will never influence the choice of his successor is not an act African leaders can buy or subscribe to.