Zimbabwe collapses

[Necuno]

ArchbishopTutu said: "Yes, by force - if they say to him: step down, and he refuses, they must do so militarily."

SA plans more aid as Zim falls apart

THE government is planning a massive humanitarian intervention in Zimbabwe as fears grow that the country is about to collapse.

# Cholera a national emergency

# BLOG: Zimbabwe collapse: SA prepares to move in

# AUDIO: Cholera: The Facts

# LINK: Footage of body bags in a Zimbabwe hospital

President Kgalema Motlanthe’s cabinet will today unveil a plan for rescuing the country, which is buckling under the weight of a shattered economy, food shortages, a cholera outbreak and rioting soldiers.

South Africa believes that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has lost control.

A South African government official said: “That is why we are moving in. To help some government institutions to provide basic services. Mugabe has lost control. He has lost power. It’s just a matter of time before the country implodes. He cannot support his own people and that is a danger for the region.”

The Zimbabwean government yesterday took the unusual step of asking for international help — something it has been loath to do during previous crises — and declared the cholera outbreak a national emergency.

The World Health Organisation said more than 560 people have died of cholera in Zimbabwe since last month. A further 12000 are said to be infected, and there are signs that the epidemic is spreading to South Africa and other parts of Southern Africa.

Zimbabwe has been hit by a series of riots, some involving the army, caused by the acute shortage of money.

In the latest incident, riot police yesterday fired tear gas in Harare to disperse rampaging soldiers who were upset because they could not withdraw money from the banks.

The soldiers broke windows of the post office just two blocks from Mugabe’s office. They also looted a nearby fruit shop. Earlier in the week, soldiers were confined to barracks in an effort to contain the rebellion.

A senior South African government official said yesterday that Motlanthe and his cabinet feared the complete collapse of Zimbabwe, which would threaten the security of South Africa and the region.

Motlanthe will next week hold an emergency meeting with key government ministries, such as health, water and agriculture, to consider ways to give more assistance to Zimbabweans.

At its final meeting for the year, on Wednesday, the cabinet decided to work with other countries in the region to address the urgent need for food in Zimbabwe and to provide other humanitarian assistance.

Government spokesman Themba Maseko said South Africa “cannot fold its arms while people in Zimbabwe are suffering”.

“There are clear signs that people are dying of starvation and that it is time for urgent action to be taken,” Maseko said.

Details of the government’s plans for Zimbabwe will be revealed at a press conference to be addressed by Maseko and Public Enterprises director-general Portia Molefe this morning.

The Times understands that, among the measures being considered are sending food, medical personnel and other resources.

Zimbabwean government spokesman George Charamba told The Times that Mugabe’s regime would accept South Africa’s help.

“Zimbabwe has made a call for international aid and assistance. The kind of assistance required is primarily chemicals to purify our water and food. If personnel are sent through to assist, that would be a bonus,” Charamba said.

The South African government has been providing health care to Zimbabwean cholera victims who have crossed the border looking for help.

“A lot of assistance is being provided, mainly inside [South Africa], but it is very clear that if we continue to provide these services inside the country without interventions taking place in Zimbabwe itself, the chances are that whatever services we provide within our borders will constitute a magnet for people to cross the border to receive medical attention,” Maseko said.

The cabinet has taken a tough stance on the political impasse in Zimbabwe.

The government has vowed to increase pressure on Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to sign a draft constitutional amendment that was agreed to during negotiations in Pretoria between Zanu-PF and the MDC this week.

The amendment would pave the way for Tsvangirai to be sworn in as prime minister in a unity government of which Mugabe was president. Maseko said Motlanthe’s government expected the deal, brokered by former president Thabo Mbeki, to be signed within days.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s failure to form a unity government has meant that Western nations have not reached into their wallets to provide aid, or lifted their sanctions against the Zimbabwe power elite.

This has led to a deepening of the economic crisis, with banks now restricting customers to withdrawing the equivalent of about R5 a day.

But Charamba denied Zimbabwe was falling apart. “In a country where there are problems, there is a will to survive — and Zimbabwe is one such country,” he said.

http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=899110

 

[marine1]

Yet another African disaster. What a shame

 

[Devill]

Uncle Bob says they are not truthful with the world and it is white emperialist lies!

 

[PeterCH]

http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=899110 "... He cannot support his own people and that is a danger for the region.”

He cannot do what??? Since when did he do this??? LOL. SA government protecting Mugabe to the end.

 

[ZA.Schmidt]

This whole cholera thing might just turn out to be a blessing in disguise in bringing Mugabe down. No other way it would've happened but just sad it had to come to this...

 

[boramk]

Eish guys, it is elections soon, lets talk about our crime, our economy, our poor, HIV and about Zimbabwe... We will get votes eta

 

[brixton tower]

Where are the Malaysians and Chinese who have financially propped up Mugabe until now?

 

[daveza]

http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-1783_2437550

Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank chief on Thursday blamed retailers for the nation's crushing inflation, hours after introducing a 100 million dollar note in a desperate bid to keep up with runaway prices.

"The Reserve Bank also appeals to sellers of goods and services to please have a heart and protect the interest of consumers," Gideon Gono said at a news conference.

Mugabe - the government with a heart ?

 

[ZA.Schmidt]

Where are the Malaysians and Chinese who have financially propped up Mugabe until now?

Rats. Sinking. Ship.

 

[Deenem]

This definately seems like the beginning of the end.

Maybe the Zimbabweans will get the Xmas present they deserve this year.

 

[ZA.Schmidt]

I bet Mugabe isn't even in Zim right now. He's probably lying on a beach somewhere in the Cayman Islands sipping cocktails and getting a massage

 

[DigitalSoldier]

I bet Mugabe isn't even in Zim right now. He's probably lying on a beach somewhere in the Cayman Islands sipping cocktails and getting a massage

life & times of a mad despot

 

[Pilgrim]

A South African government official said: “That is why we are moving in. To help some government institutions to provide basic services. Mugabe has lost control. He has lost power. It’s just a matter of time before the country implodes. He cannot support his own people and that is a danger for the region.”

They can hardly provide basic services to our people now they want to help others?

I suppose to Zim we look like paradise, but this is going to take our tax money and piss it away into a bottomless pit.

As long as MaD BoB is in charge no amounts of help can save that country.

 

[CorneN]

Close the border post, plant landmines along the fence and forget about Zimbabwe. We have enough **** of our own to deal with, thanks.

Yeah, I'm not a in a humanitarian mood today.

 

[Slootvreter]

Yet another African disaster. What a shame

Not a shame. They brought it upon themselves. Looking at the rest of Africa, this is really not surprising.

 

[DigitalSoldier]

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Zimbabwe/0,,2-11-1662_2433083,00.html

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's neighbours should close their borders in an attempt to bring down President Robert Mugabe, Botswana's foreign minister said on Wednesday in the strongest call yet for action from Africa.

Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani told BBC World News television that southern African nations have failed to move Mugabe with mediation and they should now impose sanctions.

The leaders should "tell Mugabe to his face, 'Look, now you are on your own, we are switching off, we are closing your borders,' and I don't think he would last. If no petrol went in for a week, he can't last", Skelemani said.

If only the rest of the African nations wanted to support Botswana's stance on Zimbabwe.

Another article with some more info left out of the news24 report.

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/botswana28.19071.html

Skelemani expressed little confidence in mediation, saying SADC should "own up" and admit it had failed, and that it was time for strong action.

Botswana's president Ian Khama has emerged as one of Mugabe's harshest critics in Africa. Mugabe's government has accused Khama of being a western puppet, interference and said his call for fresh elections was an "act of extreme provocation".

Skelemani said Botswana would be willing to shelter Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main MDC faction -- a position that is likely to anger Mugabe, in power since 1980.

"Anybody who comes to Botswana saying that they fear for their life, from their own country, we would not chase them away because, if we did, what do we want to happen? For them to be killed first? And then do what?" Skelemani said. - AP

 

[TheHiveMind]

Bob has enuf money to help his people if he was inclined to.
You know, the money he made abusing the country and its people in the first place?

If most of his cash and properties are held overseas, they should just seize it, landgrap, sell, and use the cash for Zim.
Who cares if its legal lol we own the world, and he can cry about it as much as he wants ^_~

 

[daveza]

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-12-05-bottom-of-the-abyss

Forget about negotiations -- they will solve nothing. The time has come for radical measures by the region, spearheaded by South Africa. The bottom line must be the imposition of "smart' sanctions against the ruling clique, of the kind already applied by the EU and the US, to sever their lifeline to South Africa.

Zimbabwe must be suspended from the SADC and excluded from its consultations. And as Botswana's foreign minister has proposed, the final response to continued intransigence must be comprehensive regional sanctions, which would block Zim*babwe's exports and cut off fuel and electricity supplies.

For the citizenry the pain would be acute, but hopefully brief. Their plight could hardly be worse than it is at present, and the harsh fact is that there is no possibility of it improving until the octogenarian dictator and his key lieutenants step off the political stage. It is time for South Africa to abandon Mbeki's failed policies of appeasement and to provide real leadership.

 

[Ady]

Eish guys, it is elections soon, lets talk about our crime, our economy, our poor, HIV eta

+1

Close the border post, plant landmines along the fence and forget about Zimbabwe. We have enough **** of our own to deal with, thanks.

Yeah, I'm not a in a humanitarian mood today.

I agree (except for planting landmines) lets help them out because it is good for the region, but lets make our borders as tight as possible, we can get our idle army in to earn their keep.

 

[BandwidthAddict]

So 500 odd people died and they now call this a tragedy?

Mugabe is responsible for the deaths of many thousands so where was the tragedy then? Oh, they died away from the "camera" so they don't count.

Zimbabweans have the country they DESERVE!!! That is the country they wanted. Because a country is not a border, or an economic system, or a political system; a country is a WILL, a MEME. If you don't understand what I am saying, you need to start using that wasted resource between the ears.

The only change for Zimbo is for it to get so bad, that they decide NEVER AGAIN!! That time is not now, it may even take a few more years but they have to decide to either embrace civility and civilization, OR, they must embrace a subsistance / village based existance. They have the mental capacity for a village based life but that means no cars, no modern equipment, no modern economy etc. Those things require a civilization and that means they will have to renounce force as a way to do business and forget the stupid white/black tribal nonsense. I don't think they are capable of doing that, TIA after all - the whole black/white thing is their bag baby!

If SA goes in now to "save" Zim, then Zim is doomed to an eternity of limbo - with loads of suffering but not quite enough to effect real change. That is, until SA collapses .. well, then they won't have to wait too long.

My hope is that Africa resets, goes back to basics and restarts with a new mindset, a new MEME; one that embraces the tenets of civilization - respect, compassion, life, liberty in the pursuit of happiness. Then Africa will be a mighty force in this world, definitely bigger than the rest of the world - alas, they are too stupid to see this.

TIA

BTW have you ever put any thought into what TIA actually means? This is my definition:

Dumbazz people running around with AK47s and the mental capacity of 3 year olds - yep TIA FTL!!!