Friends of Zim are committed to bringing about a peaceful transition to a new democratic government in Zimbabwe and an end to the increasingly tyrannical and corrupt rule of Robert Mugabe.
We launched FriendsofZim.com because we believe the best way forward is for the people of Zimbabwe to determine their leader through a free and fair election. Following the March 29th vote, Robert Mugabe embarked on a campaign of terror, beatings and murder.
Oct
6
From the Zimbabwe Times:
JOHANNESBURG - The current haggling over the sharing of cabinet posts would have been avoided if Movement for Democratic Change leader, Morgan Tsvangirai had been listened to, sources have revealed.
Three weeks after President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders signed a Southern African Development Community (SADC)-brokered power-sharing agreement Zimbabwe’s government of national unity has still not taken off, as the leaders continue to wrangle over key ministries. Read more
Oct
5
Zimbabwean: “Chaos in Zimbabwe”
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From the Zimbabwean:
Today I went from one meeting to another using the main streets in Harare - it was pure chaos. The City had no electricity, the traffic lights at all intersections were not working and the traffic was gridlocked. The Police were nowhere to be seen and even as we sat in the traffic a police car drove past - ramped the pavement and drove though the intersection paying no attention to what was going on around them.
At the Reserve Bank it was the same. They are printing money and creating money in other forms so fast that the inflation rate is no longer calculable. What we do know is that the RTGS rate - that is the rate at which foreign exchange is exchanged in the open market for money transferred by electronic means is moving by the hour. At the beginning of August it was
7 to 1 against the US dollar (after we dropped 9 zeros) and yesterday it was
2 000 000 to 1. Quite a change in 8 weeks! At this rate it will be no less than 10 million to one by next weekend. Read more
Oct
3
From The Zimbabwean-
THE Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC yesterday alleged that government was refusing to renew its leader’s passport in a deliberate attempt to bar him from travelling in the region and beyond to appraise leaders on political developments in the country.
Tsvangirai, who is prime minister-designate in an all-inclusive government made up of his party, Zanu PF and the smaller formation of the MDC led by Professor Arthur Mutambara, is still without a passport three months after it expired and he applied for a new one.
The Registrar-General (RG)’s office in Harare was reportedly reluctant to issue Tsvangirai with a new passport or an emergency travel document for him to visit regional and international leaders to update them on the impasse between him and President Robert Mugabe on the formation of a new cabinet.
Sources in the MDC said the RG’s office was claiming that it had run out of materials to produce passports, but senior officials in the same office said hundreds of Zimbabweans were issued with the travelling documents after Tsvangirai’s application. Read more
Oct
2
From the Guardian [UK]:
Almost half the population of Zimbabwe could soon be dependent on food and medical aid, the UN’s humanitarian chief said today.
John Holmes, the UN’s under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said that around 3 million people were already reliant on aid, and that figure could rise to more than 5 million.
He said it was a critical time because preparations needed to be made now for next year’s harvest to avoid millions more people becoming reliant on aid. The main growing season in Zimbabwe lasts from now until March.
“Planting season for the next harvest starts in five or six weeks’ time, at least for maize, and there is massive shortage of seeds and fertilisers in the country because of the economic situation,” he told the BBC’s World Today programme. Read more
Oct
1
From The Zimbabwean-
As the impasse over the distribution of cabinet posts in Zimbabwe’s new government continues, white farmers have become targets of looting and evictions – yet another sign that the deal signed by the country’s political rivals has done nothing to change the situation on the ground.
Since the leaders of the MDC and ZANU PF put their signatures to the long awaited deal, there have been fresh farm invasions in Manicaland, with at least 4 farms in the Vumba area being taken over. Another 2 farms in Old Mutare have also been invaded, with the invaders apparently brandishing ‘fake’ offer letters from State Security and Lands Resettlement Minister Didymus Mutasa.
A recent report on farm disruptions indicates that there has been a definite upsurge in the increase of offer letters being issued by Mutasa, with a high percentage of the new ‘beneficiaries’ being part of the military. The new ‘beneficiaries’ of the land have been arriving on many properties, claiming immediate access to homesteads and crop lands. A further threat to productive farmers has also come from the recent promise to give land to Chiefs, who have allegedly not benefited from the land reform programme. Read more
Sep
30
From the Guardian [Zim]
In 2006 U.S. President George W Bush approved a 700-mile border fence (one-third of the 2,100-mile or 3,360-kilometer U.S. border with Mexico), but missing from the legislation was a means to pay for it.
Earlier this year (in March) presenting a paper on the real cost of the war, which was a forerunner to their book on the same gist, Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001, and Linda Bilmes, a Harvard budget expert, said the Iraq war had cost the US economy $700 billion and the true final cost was estimated to top 3 trillion taxpayer dollars (if huge back-end costs like disability payments are factored in).
The Dow Jones fell 700 points yesterday – a day dubbed ‘The Real Black Monday’.
With America on the edge of the cliff – threatening to push every other economy to the edge – why is no one talking about the cost of the war? Read more
Sep
29
THE measures previously undertaken by the Reserve Bank to increase the
maximum bank withdrawal limits for individuals and companies have amply
demonstrated the futility of such approaches.
What is clear is that the solution cannot emanate from the central
bank. It has to come from elsewhere, including the lessons of countries that
have suffered similar crises, although on a more limited scale compared to
Zimbabwe.
On Thursday the Reserve Bank announced that from tomorrow (Monday) it
was raising the maximum cash withdrawal limit for individuals and companies
to $20 000 and $10 000 respectively.
It is difficult to understand what informs central bank decisions:
companies, cognisant of the hardships their workers are enduring have taken
to paying them bus fares in cash. It is therefore incomprehensible how
anyone can suggest that companies access a maximum of only $10 000 a day. In
any case the needs of any given company are greater than those of
individuals. Read more
Sep
27
Zimbabwe’s new government to take on culture of impunity
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From The Zimbabwean
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe signed a power-sharing agreement with the Movement for Democratic Change’s leaders on Monday, 15 September 2008 in an attempt to resolve the political crisis that has been developing since 2000 and escalated sharply in the last six months.
The crisis has been characterised by a series of politically-motivated violations of civil, political, social and economic rights against real and perceived opponents of President Mugabe. Those who instigated or committed these violations have enjoyed almost total impunity.
In the run-up to the 27 June presidential election run-off, the country saw a wave of state-sponsored human rights violations that left at least 165 people killed, thousands tortured and nearly 30,000 people internally displaced. How Zimbabwe’s unity government will tackle important questions of justice and impunity remains unclear. Read more
Sep
26
Mugabe: Mbeki firing “devestating”
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From the Zimbabwe Guardian
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe who is currently attending the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York has described the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa as devastating.
Speaking to reporters yesterday after his meeting with the President of Mozambique Armando Guebuza held on the sidelines of the ongoing debate President Mugabe said, “It’s devastating news that President Thabo Mbeki is no longer the President of South Africa but that is the action of the South African people. “
He warned against making any judgment about what had transpired in South Africa.
“Who are we to judge (the South Africans)? But it is very disturbing,” the President said.
President Mugabe also praised Mbeki for his efforts in brokering an agreement between the two MDC formations and his ruling Zanu PF party. Read more
Sep
25
MDC convinced to sign bad deal?
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From the Zimbabwe Times
By Tendai Tumbutshena
THE time may soon come when all have to agree that the so-called power-sharing agreement signed in Harare on September 15, 2008 should be discarded as a worthless charade.
At the signing ceremony the omens were not good. With the eyes of the world watching, Robert Mugabe missed a golden opportunity to deliver a speech that would convince skeptics about his commitment to the agreement. It was the occasion to give real hope to Zimbabweans that indeed the country was on the verge of a new era founded on civilized principles and values. Instead the world was subjected to yet another rambling diatribe against imaginary foes. An act of exorcism is required to free Mugabe from the British and American demons that possess him. Read more
Opinion
Starving the Beast that is Mugabe’s regime
Uncovering the Web Putting the 2010 World Cup At Risk
Obituary: The Death of Mbeki’s Credibility
SILENT WITNESS
The collapse of Mugabe’s African support
SHAMELESS, WITLESS, GUTLESS
Zimbabwe: China’s Tibet in Southern Africa
Electoral Cleansing, the first stage in Mugabe’s election plans
Around 50,000 suspected of supporting the opposition have already been displaced from their homes. 65 have been killed so far. The opposition is forced to act like a banned organisation – its rallies are banned, access to TV and radio is severely curtailed.
Download the Human Rights Watch report on the political violence being perpetrated in Zimbabwe.