This is really making a mockery of democracy.. It seems that as the struggle becomes intense, the enemies really show their colours. In this case, the South African gvt (Mbeki's camp) has shown that they sympathise with the Zanu gvt and really wish for a status quo so that their position is not threatened in their own homeland.. Long as it may be, change will always come, with/without the support of any foreign body. I commend the civil society (MDC, Save Zim etc) who really show that leadership is about integrity and not about getting to power no matter the cost.. Participating would have led to more chaos and violence. "Flip flopping" is really being pro active and responsive to the environment. Rigid leaders are more harmful any way..( Bush sticking to Irag no matter the consequences, Mbeki and no AIDS stance and Zanu being eternal ideology, list of leadership rigidity is endless). So change of strategy is actually a good thing

The west has been taken for a ride. Zimbabwe is modelled after China. in its purest form, the ideology is such that the country should be a one party state. Peasants have no clue of the strategic direction and therefore they don't get to vote on issues that affect the future of the country, just like China. The semblance of democracy, or pseudo-democracy, has been used as a tool to solicit for aid, grants and loans from western institutions. ZANU is not an individual but an institution. Whatever negotiations that will take place, which is now more than likely, have already been engineered in ZANU's favour. Most likely Mugabe will step aside for a crony and have tsvangirai step away from any leadership role in the transitional government. As soon as that happens, the west is bound to soften or be divided. That works in favour of ZANU.

The last two US presidential elections were decided by fraud (Florida in 2000; Ohio in 2004). The very last thing that Africa needs is to allow US and western Europe to continue to determine its political future. -- Where was the US concern when Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia?? -- Zimbabwe, like China, is building a society for all its people, not just for the benefit of multi-national banks and corporations. We can only hope that a suitable successor will come forward when President Mugabe finally does retire. - J. Daraja

Zimbabwe is building a society for ALL its people? Then how come millions are running over the border? How come you can't find any petrol in the country, but Bob and Gracie and their entourage can drive or fly anywhere, anytime they want? ( Maybe you are one of the hangers-on?) How come people in Zim will "sell" you their goods for the shoes you are wearing? Yes, the US elections were flawed, but the media of the world was allowed to look at all it's warts. We Americans are a dumb-assed bunch. Half of us don't even bother to vote. We deserve the wretched government we have. But The Zimbabweans don't deserve this crap. The best thing that could happen is a sniper puts Bob and Zim out of it's misery and he can become a martyr instead of dying of prostate cancer. China! Give me a break! My only hope is when this madness is over, Zimbabwe can do the kind of turnaround that happened in Mozambique. It won't happen as long as Bobby Mugabe and his cohorts are in charge.

Yes but like most near sighted people you only picked one election of one country to show a point! what about- England,Australia,Germany,Netherlands,New Zealand,Canada etc etc etc. All places the condemns magabe and his farce of an election and they all have free and fair elections that are show live results to the world and are happy to have any country in the world monitor them. Open your eyes Zimbabwe is about to see the end of mugabe and his regime very soon and you will thank the world for there kindness when it happens.

If you want a suitable successor to mugabe when the geriatric retires and is in the same mould as mugabe,go to any swamp and you will find many Leeches that will do exactly the same job as mugabe has done.

jdaraja - At the end of the day who calls the shots is one with the wallet. You seem to be very confused. Mugabe should not expect to survive with South Africa, Russia annd China. Soon after elections, Mugabe and his murderers are going to deal with the real mojo - hungry Zimbabweans and South Africa will not be able to do anything. The only reason you don't hear about strikes is because of the elections. Wait and see. God and Zimbabweans will find a way to topple ZANU PF. It aint over yet. If you disagree, dare tell me my God doesn't love His suffering people. My God, My God. Mark my words. This is brewing up to a real cocktail. Mugabe will pay dearly. Munangagwa will not get away.

Also, let me remind you that China, Russia and other troublesome countries do have big enough stomachs. Where is Zimbabwe's?

I always find it interesting when Mugabe supporters attempt to compare Zimbabwe's political system with that of the United States and other western countries. In those countries, you won't be arrested, beaten, tortured, or killed for voting for the "wrong" person. Can you honestly say the same thing about Zimbabwe?

"Zimbabwe, like China, is building a society for all its people..." Yes, China is definitely building a society for all its people. Except for Tibet. And independent journalists. And people who criticize the government. And anyone who disagrees with their leadership. Oh yeah, and there's also that whole Tienanmen Square protest that happened a while back. Did you hear about that? The Chinese government demonstrated their tolerance and respect for their people by violently suppressing the protesters.

I can't see why the world is doing nothing about (ZIM),we all now what happen in Rwanda,South Africa and all its African Leaders should close all its doors the way they have close their doors on South Africa the time in Apartheid,Dictatorship must stop for the world belongs to (GOD and his SON our LORD JESUS CHRIST) we own nothing because we came with nothing,

As a keen observer of African politics, i would like to warn my African brothers about been manipulated by the West on the Zimbabwe issues.

There is no question that the pepople of Zimbabwe are under a lot of stress lately. Some of their problems are due to failed policies of the ruling party. Others are clearly linked to the sanctions imposed on that country by the twin evils cousins: US and the UK.

Zanu PF has to take responsability for its failures but must take pride of its successes. Zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy rate in Africa, thanks to Mugabe. Today that country has fixed a major historical injustice by giving the land back to its rightful owners. However, whereas Zanu PF did an excellent job in training doctors and nurses that are now filling up hospitals in UK and the US, they forgot to train enough agriculturalists. The consequence is that they took back the land but no one knows how to till it properly. But I believe such problem has to be tackled as a matter of urgency.

MDC on the other hand has proven its ability to mobilize the people, using the failure of Zanu PF. They have won the legislative elections and the first round of the persidential elections. they are a force to be reckoned with. But, Morgan Tsangira decision to pull out of the second round was a stupid decision. The biggest mistake of that party however is its tendency to mirror the West so much so that they give validity to Mr Mugabe assertion that they are a puppet party of the UK. The MDC also breeds suspicion in African nationalists by having a fuzzy position on the issue of land reform. Whatever they do, they should never reverse the land expropriation and they must make such a promise to the people of Zimbabwe and of Africa.

This been said, based on the March 2009 uncontested electoral results MDC has about 47% of popular vote against 43% for ZANU PF. This clearly means that each party is is strong but not strong enough to have a majority. Even if one aprty had 51% or 53% at the presidential run off, within the African context that will not be enough for the victorious party to govern alone. The obvious political solution for Zimbabwe is a Government of national Unity tasked with preparing a transition to a new political dispensation. The UK and the US must leave Zimbabwe alone, lift the sanctions, stop the media war against Mugabe and allow Zimbabweans to solve their own problems.

Heru, I can only assume that you only actually observe the political side of the situation, as you seem to have missed quite a few valid points which go against parts of what you are saying there.

Firstly, when you describe the US and UK as the 'twin evils cousins', you fail to say who actually enabled Mugabe to steal power within Zimbabwe through (surprise surprise) voter intimidation and violence in 1979/1980 ..... The people in question were Lord Soames, Lord Carrington and David Owen, and they were all representatives of the British Government working on the Lancaster House Agreement. The US and UK were the leaders of the drive for the sanctions against Rhodesia, which also worked in the future state of Zimbabwe's favour, without those sanctions (against a government that cared more about the people than Mugabe does, if you need evidence look at the 5th Brigade and the political violence that ZANU-PF has marred it's record with constantly since that first election) it is more than likely that Zimbabwe would not exist and the Bush war would still be raging ..... probably in most of Southern Africa by now. Yet those sanctions you agreed with and the current ones you call 'illegal' despite ZANU-PF's contraventions of human rights, that is total insanity.

Giving the land back to it's rightful owners is a good thing, but you missed out the points of the methods of recovery and distribution ..... Murder, violence and intimidation are vile methods, and giving the land to war veterans who had no horticultural experience was complete lunacy (not to mention only distributing it out to ZANU-PF members and allies, even to the extent of the latest round of land grabs in which land was stolen from people who benefited in the first redistribution to be passed on to 'more' loyal members). Also they didn't 'forget' to train enough agriculturalists, they were too busy driving out and killing the people who could have trained them.

You're right, there are plenty of Zimbabwean medical staff in foreign hospitals (not just the UK as you state), but the point you miss there is 'why are they not in Zimbabwean hospitals?' The answer can be found in the systematic decimation of the Zimbabwe economy by Mugabe and ZANU-PF, and probably the fact that a lot of them feared for their lives under the current regime.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulling out of the elections was a personal decision based on the death toll and unwarranted hardship placed upon his supporters by the violent and intimidating tactics used by the Mugabe regime ..... He made that decision to HELP the country by trying to stop the violence, a sacrifice for the greater good which will probably come to nothing because of the way Mugabe has acted over his entire time in power.

For the last part I am going to copy and paste your final paragraph whole, and comment on it part by part:

"This been said, based on the March 2009 uncontested electoral results MDC has about 47% of popular vote against 43% for ZANU PF."

Now this is a sticky point, as there are independant witnesses that have stated there was widespread 'ballot stuffing', so are those figures accurate, and by how much are they skewed? Knowing ZANU-PF's tactics, they were probably skewed around 10% to prevent the MDC from gaining an overall majority.

"This clearly means that each party is is strong but not strong enough to have a majority. Even if one aprty had 51% or 53% at the presidential run off, within the African context that will not be enough for the victorious party to govern alone."

But how can even the figures that you state be trusted when the intimidation of voters to vote the 'right way' is so widespread that even the most honest of people would cast a vote that was a lie rather than see their family tortured and killed, or their homes burned?

"The obvious political solution for Zimbabwe is a Government of national Unity tasked with preparing a transition to a new political dispensation."

That was tried before and exactly the same thing will happen as last time ..... anyone remember ZAPU and Joshua Nkomo?

"The UK and the US must leave Zimbabwe alone, lift the sanctions, stop the media war against Mugabe and allow Zimbabweans to solve their own problems."

Ah, so you're asking the international community to turn their backs on the people of Zimbabwe ..... I assume they should have turned their backs on the Jewish people of Europe in WW2, and the People of Rhodesia and South Africa during the 60's, 70's and 80's? Think about what you have said there and look at the history, you might find that history actually proves you right on certain points, but you will certainly find that it proves you soooooooooo wrong on others.

We, Africans, never learn, sadly enough. Zimbabwe will become another Rwanda to the amusement of all Mugabe supporters. After which we will start blaming the WEST that they did not help us. Interestingly, these Mugabe lackeys will be running to the WEST for asslyum under the guise of opposition supporters. Yes, it will happen. They are all shameless dudes.

Unfortunately thats exactly how it will happen, all because the UN cares about the Human Rights of these lunatics that have no respect for life when they should be working on ways of bringing them to justice for their transgressions on the Human Rights issue.

"Zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy rate in Africa, thanks to Mugabe". Hahaha...kudos...yes right! What do you think such a literacy rate respresent about your country? Do you see the whole picture or are you totally brainwashed? 100,000% inflation with your literacy rate? What the problem is, is that the acquisition of literacy has miserably failed to transform yopurpeople's way of life and thinking from that mindset that holds them captive under the most brutal dictator. The true heart of Zim's people is shattered and broken to pieces...their morale at an all time low. They lack the ability to translate education into practical information that transforms his/her worldview, attitudes, behaviors, and practices because they are constantly suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and have become zombies..They are suffocating for Oxygen and are getting death at their doorstep unless they flee the country. Oh yes, you are the one making noise when you can't interpret the whole picture. How marvelous of Uncle Bob to decrease Zimbabwen's life expectancy to a meagor 34 years old when he has achieved 84 and is committing murder all over the place, feeding himself and his stupid cowardly brainwashed military turned into murderers for over 2 decades? Uncle Bob is making sure his cronies are will taken care off while your countrymen are dying of hunger. Now let us discuss this. People like you who claim to be so highly literate are not supposed to die at age 34 and neither get your self infected with HIV/AIDS all over the place. You need to use condoms to protect all exits and entrances and you still dotn have it right when people are so highly literate? What role do you think literacy should play? Is it just for good looks on your resume? Why do your prison systems have infection rates among males of over 53%? Do you think you are talking to fools here on this public forum? You better find a safe place to hide or else....Im waiting for you and all your brainwashed warped mindset cronies? You guys are a bunch of hoodlums without training from your mothers. Many parents must be rolling in their graves what devils you all have turned out to be. You need a good whipping on your what ever and need to start behaving! Start going to tilt the land and feed your nation and mind your words because you lack commonsense.

Zanu PF has no successes that come to mind. You are missinformed.

This is totally absurd. What justifies 28 years in power? Is that sound democratically ? If Mugabe was that real hero he will take responsibility for what is happening and let someone else lead the country. He is divisive. He doesn't own Zimbabwe. He has provoked the demise of the country. The bastard should go and let people suffering stop.

And once again Mbeki/SA have shown they are wimpsand will do anything to help Mugabe. The two sides will never agree to effective talks. Knowing Mugabe's past history of keeping promises, any talks woud end up being a waste of time. Here is one way to get Muage, Mbeki, and all the other spineless African leaders to see the light. Completely stop all aid of any kind to Zimbabwe. No food, no money, no NGOs, no help of any kind. Trust me, it will only take a few days for Africa to do the right thing. Without western aid Africa will return to the year 1524. It isn't nice, it isn't racist, it is simply the only way out of this mess that for the most part is the result of African corrupt leadership. We already know the end result of the summit in Egypt, nothing, absolutely nothing. Let's hear it for the standup African presidents and prime ministers.

This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.

WHO THOSE JUDGES IN SOUTH AFRICA BLAMING MUGABE REALLY ARE ? WHAT IS THE CRIME COMMITTED BY MUGABE?

HE CLAIMED BACK THE LAND STOLEN BY BRITISH COLONIAL POWER. THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN TRAGEDY CALLS BACK THE TOTAL DISPOSSESSION OF NATIVE AFRICANS OF THEIR LANDS AND MINERAL THE APARTHEID WAS AND REMAINED BASED ON THAT DOCTRINE. SOUTH AFRICAN MASSES AND MANY IN AFRICA HAD BELIEVED THAT THE AVENT OF THE ANC WOULD MEAN THE RECOVERY OF THE LAND AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF SPOLIATED APARTHEID VICTIMS. IN NAMIBIA THE LANDS AND RESOURCES ARE STILL IN THE HANDS OF THE EUROPEAN (GERMAN) MINORITY SETTLERS. THE LIBERATION MOVEMENT AND WARS WERE PRIMARILY AIMED AT CLAIMING BACK THE SEIZED LANDS AND RESOURCES AND FREEDOM. THE ANTI-MUGABE COALITION (APARTHEID DOCTRINAIRES, THE POWERFUL FORMER COLONIAL POWERS, THEIR MEDIA: TV, BBC, CNN, SKYNEWS, CIA, MI6 AND OTHERS) WAS BUILT ON THE FIRM DETERMINATION AIMED AT BY ALL MEANS AND COSTS PREVENTING THE ZIMBABWE’S TO CREATE A JURISPRUDENCE BY SETTING UNPRECEDENTED CASE THAT WOULD UPSET THE STATUS QUO GEOPOLITICAL MAP OF THE ENTIRE SOUTHERN AFRICAN REGION. THE ANC LEADERSHIP, INCAPABLE OF GIVING BACK THE LAND TO THEIR CITIZENS, COALSCE WITH AFRICAN ENEMIES TO ANIHILATE THE ZIMBABWE REVOLUTION WITH SOLE THE MOTTO OF SEEING TO IT THAT THE LAND ARE GIVEN BACK ANGLO-RHODESIAN SETTLERS. WHAT A SHAME!

Please translate into something that makes sense! Crime comitted by Mugabe, well reducing life expectancy to 34 years old, destroying an economy, making a country dependent on aid. Then we can get onto the minor crimes of murder, torture, election theft. This can go on and on. Suggest you get a brain and not support someone just because he is black and an ardent supporter of Castro and Mao. Try looking at his real achevements, try looking at whio put him in power in the first place (try UK and USA)

Well that's the negative western spin, let's look at the other side. Firstly, Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe instead of Rhodesia today because of the fight that Mugabe and others lead against white settlers which culminated in the West coming up with a plan that would salvage as much as they could after they realized that the ZANU and ZAPU fighters were determined to take their country back with some help from true friends of Africa. So your allusions about the US & UK putting Mugabe in power is total nonsense. The fact is that the "peace" agreement signed to end the war called for elections which Mr. Mugabe won with overwhelming support of the African majority. Secondly, Mr. Mugabe's policies has, 1)returned some of Zimbabwe's land to the rightful owners 2)attained the highest literacy rate in Africa 3)shown the world just how the so-called western "free press" is nothing more than an extension of their governments' policies and which will tell any lie, distort any fact and ignore anything that does not support its primary agenda, i.e., the maintenance of white supremacy. There is no way that they are going to let anything like truth and objectivity stand in the way of that. And with all the money that they have accumulated from centuries of exploitation of African human and natural resources they can afford to buy other "Africans" to help maintain the status quo.

dj, I'll take your post point by point here, bear in mind for your naive view of things that I am a white who loves the country we're talking about here, regardless of the colour, creed or religion of the regime in charge ..... I'm also someone who would love to return to Zim as a productive citizen at any level, as long as I am classed as equal to any other HUMAN BEING in the country.

ok, on to the post:

"Firstly, Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe instead of Rhodesia today because of the fight that Mugabe and others lead against white settlers which culminated in the West coming up with a plan that would salvage as much as they could after they realized that the ZANU and ZAPU fighters were determined to take their country back with some help from true friends of Africa. So your allusions about the US & UK putting Mugabe in power is total nonsense."

So the sanctions that were imposed on the Rhodesian government after UDI (called for and initiated by the UK and US) had absolutely no effect on their ability on the ground? How has this changed from then to now, when people are saying that the allegedly illegal sanctions (which are a lot lighter than they were then) are destroying Zimbabwe? The ZANLA(ZANU) and ZIPRA(ZAPU) fighters were indeed intent on taking the country, but they did so with the backing of the world, not just Africa as you state ..... in Mugabe's rewritten history, the west may be the 'big evil', but the fact remains that actions from the west directly and tangiably contributed to Mugabe being installed in power (I hasten to add through violence and intimidation, not much changes, huh?)

"The fact is that the "peace" agreement signed to end the war called for elections which Mr. Mugabe won with overwhelming support of the African majority."

The real fact is that most of the electorate were ready to vote for ZAPU and Joshua Nkomo, but a campaign of terror by ZANLA forces, as in the 2008 elections as well as others persuaded people that this was not the way Mugabe wanted them to vote, so again I state that his initial win was flawed (and that was under the 'watchful' eyes of commonwealth observers, again a UK assist to Mugabe getting in)

"Secondly, Mr. Mugabe's policies has, 1)returned some of Zimbabwe's land to the rightful owners 2)attained the highest literacy rate in Africa 3)shown the world just how the so-called western "free press" is nothing more than an extension of their governments' policies and which will tell any lie, distort any fact and ignore anything that does not support its primary agenda, i.e., the maintenance of white supremacy."

I'll add a little bit to the end of each point here, I'm sure you'll be able to get the jist of it easily enough:

1) and managed to create a food shortage from what were the most productive farmlands in Africa by distributing them to people with no horticultural knowledge whatsoever

2) which hasn't stopped the slide to an 80%+ unemployment rate and inflation that is well over 100,000% due to the collapse of the basic industrial infrastructure ..... due to placing unsuitable and untrained people in positions simply as a reward for being 'party faithful'

3) They have only shown that to the people who already believed it, if you want to see 'anti-' press that is an extension of the government, look to the Herald ..... at least the western press can criticize their own governments without reporters disappearing mysteriously.

What you have stated here may have even come from (although reworded) Mugabe himself, trying to cling to power after 28 years with the blood of more than 2500 Zimbabweans on his hands for each of those years ..... you need to look at what you are saying dj, most of us don't look at it as black and white, we look at it as people ..... the only barrier to everyone doing that in Zimbabwe is the propaganda that Mugabe would love you to believe, and in the case of quite a few people it has worked, because you see him as the 'peoples hero' he professed to be during the bush war, and not the murderous old fool he is, and has been ever since he took power.

That is an extremely funny read Timberwolf. Some great jokes in there.

I'm sure that if you're sick enough to find genocide, degradation, torture and murder on the scale of ZANU-PF's reign then yes, there will be enough in those posts to keep you laughing for a good few years.

Personally I find it quite grim and unamusing, but at least I know where I stand.

I meant in regard to Mugabe's ability to run a country.

Mugabe must go and rest. The time to rest os long past. How much damage does he want to make before he goes. Let alone his friend Mbeki he is a dictator too he is trying to get a third term then it goes forever. Zimbabwe need someone who has a heart. Long past is the time to talk about salveregnity when we do not have food. We are starving one meal a day is not a joke, let alone Mbeki says their is no crisis in Zimbabwe thats being satanic 13 million peaple the suffering because of the Lord help you Mbeki. We will live to remember how you made our lives worse keep quet it better. The word you speke hurts. We dont talk about colonisation at this day and age as your friend make it a point. The Lord will redeem Zimbabwe one day

Mugabe must go now he is too old to continue

My apologies for the abrupt reply there West, the Mugabe situation has me seeing red, all the worse for being impotent to do anything tangible to assist. I had assumed you meant my reply was amusing insofar as the facts behind it, not the Mugabe ruling methods aspect.

No problem at all Timberwolf, i should have explained myself better in the first place! I hear your feeling and feel the same.

I notice that this thread has gone quiet, I assume the history and logical fact behind the recent posts has overloaded a few synapses.