In the year 2000, Zimbabwe had a referendum and Mugabe lost. The response of Mugabe was to complain of foreign «colonialists» out to destabilize his government and he started a programme of nationalisation of white owned farms. While it is understood that the White Europeans unjustly stole land from Africans during their conquests, there were other ways to resolve the land issue. Unfortunately, Mugabe did not have patience for legal issues and went ahead and confiscated land even at gun point and turning the land to people who needed the training but never received it. It was during the land reform programme in which Didymus Mutesa a Minister for Mugabe once said: «»We would be better off with only six million people, with our own people who support the liberation struggle. We don’t want all these extra people.»
Robert Mugabe and the ZANU-PF continued to use «colonialism» as a pretext to repress opposition political groups including Morgan Tsvangarai of the MDC [Movement for Democratic Change] with beatings, and imprisonment. The economy of Zimbabwe which was one of the most prosperous went for a free fall with the government issuing bank notes of up to a Million Zimbabwean Dollars. At the present time [5th of April 2008], the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has 100,580.2% as the inflation rate with the official exchange of rate of $1.00 USA = $30,000 Zimbabwean Dollars.
Between the end of 16th of May 2003 to the end of the 7th of March 2008, the Gross Domestic Debt of the Republic of Zimbabwe increased fro $446,102.60 to $ 1,619,206,762.55 in Zimbabwean Dollars. All of this so that one person can impose his form of Communism on a people who want to go forward instead of backward. Robert Mugabe and company were not content to destroy the economy, expel the Europeans, commit genocide against the Matabele, steal elections, and practice the fine art of repression against the opposition.
In the year 2005, Mugabe and company practiced a new Operation called Operation Murambatsvina otherwise known as «Operation Drive out the Filth». Operation Murambatsvina or «Operation Drive out the Filth» expelling people from the city of Harare to the country and practically leaving 700,000 people homeless and directly affecting the rest of the population.
Regardless, the people of Zimbabwe in the latest elections of 2008 told Mugabe that enough was enough. In fact, the MDC [Movement for Democratic Change] released their results which gave them an outright victory in order to avoid a run off election. The Zimbabwean Civil Society released figures that gave Tsvangarai victory as well. The response of Mugabe was to deny that he lost, send his personal guard to beat up the opposition, and arrest foreign journalists including a New York Times Newspaper Reporter.
According to BBC News, Mugabe’s Police blocked the MDC from filing a petition to Zimbabwe’s Highest Court to have the official presidential results released. According to Reuter’s News Agency, members of the police left the presidential compound in front of the court and actually blocked the MDC. Regardless, Morgan Tsvangerai have asked for a peaceful dialogue with Mugabe in order to facilitate a democratic transition. In other news, the final election results minus the Presidential Elections shows the Senate evenly split between MDC and ZANU-PF while the Parliament is dominated by the MDC.
Mugabe has to go but there is more power behind extra official forces created by Mugabe himself. In addition to the military, there is a group of war veterans who fought under Mugabe during the 1965-1979 Rhodesian Civil War and they are willing to support him. There is another group that was trained by North Korea which participated in the massacre of 1982. Last but not least, there was one group composed of homeless youths and children who were picked up by the police, placed in a rehabilitation centre [theoretically] but were turned into fanatical followers of Mugabe. These above mentioned people have terrorized Zimbabwe.
At the present time according to the BBC News Website, South African President Mbeki is meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss the situation about Zimbabwe. Mbeki has declared that «Zimbabwe is not a South African Province» and Brown has promised international observers in the run off election. It must be remembered that South Africa will be the host of 2010 World Cups and South Africa has been taking measures to reassure FIFA [Football [Soccer] International Federation about South Africa being a stable and reliable host. If Zimbabwe implodes and there is a horde of refugees and the possibility of the problems of Zimbabwe spilling into South Africa [as well as Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, and Botswana] many people will not risk their lives to go to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
What happens in Zimbabwe remains to be seen.
REFERENCE:
Engle, Kevin; Stanton, Gregory: «Facing Mass Murder in Zimbabwe»
http://www.genocidewatch.org/ZimbabweFacingMassMurder12August2005.htm
assessed on the 5th of April 2008
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
http://www.rbz.co.zw/gdd/gdd.asp
assessed on the 5th of April 2008
BBC News: «Mugabe Preparing for Poll War»
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7332334.stm
BBC News: «Brown and Mbeki in Zimbabwe Talks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7332837.stm
El Noticiero de Alvarez Galloso 