Indeed there is suspicion generally that the talks would be inconclusive because of Mugabe's insistence he remains executive President. By then, that is in a fortnight, Tsvangirai would have burnt his fingers rubbing shoulders with maverick Mugabe!

Cunning maverick Mugabe would thus ditch any future talks with MDC and will embark upon exterminating political opponents. Why Mbeki agreed to talks while 500 MDC supporters are still detained? Mugabe has maintained all repressive means under his control - how then could talks take place on a level playing field?

Amnesty Internation is right to warn against the granting of any pardon to anybody.

Thanks the fate of Karadzic, Al Bashir and other similar bloodstained oppressors should remind Mugabe that he may end up in a similar situation. How sad for a hero turned oppressor?

One thing that is sure is that the commoners in Zimbabwe will never drop a tear should Mugabe exit! The once milk and honey flowing country will start afresh to breath again. Zimbabweans with the right institutions and a blend of civil society organisations would make sure a second Mugabe is never born in Zimbabwe, nay Africa!!

"One thing that is sure is that the commoners in Zimbabwe will never drop a tear should Mugabe exit! The once milk and honey flowing country will start afresh to breath again. Zimbabweans with the right institutions and a blend of civil society organisations would make sure a second Mugabe is never born in Zimbabwe, nay Africa!!"

The simple truth is that Africa needs a lot more Mugabes who are looking out for Africans interests instead of Europeans interests, western propaganda notwithstanding!

There is total news black-out of the talks; whatever is being reported by this sw radio pathetic writer is utter nonsense. Executive this or that and elections is mere speculation with an intention to incite negative reaction of the population if what is being thrown in the papers doesn’t come true. From these talks from SA how does this writer get to know about Zanu PF being opposed or in support of whatever is being discussed? Good journalism propels one to write about something else divorced from the talks up till there is a press conference by discussants. I have a feeling that the negotiations have a totally different focus from what the anti-mugabes dream of. As usual the same prophets of doom against Mugabe are bound to have yet another failure surprise to dictate the Zimbabwean discourse after these 2 weeks. Lance and crew have been horrible losers against Mugabe but will never tire, I feel very pitiful for their wasted misguided energy.

Yeah, Mugabe did sure take good care of those 120 MDC supporters that were murdered during the run off election. Oh. And the 20,000 Ndebele people he murdered in the 80's. Geez... imagine how Africa would be with more people like Mugabe. Africa would be full of Billionaires! Look what he's done for Zimbabwe!

awt from where did you get these figures? you seem to be mathematic minded now go ahead and tell us how many inoccent iraqis and americans have so far died in the so called war against terror

well lets start with the 3000 innocent americans that died when the twin towers got downed. And then lets look at all the suicide bombers in iraq that have killed many thousands of iraqi's and countless US military personel. Plus the many thousands that have been tortured and killed by sunni and shiite extremists. So yeah... theres a few alright. But really what you are trying say is that its ok because only 120 or so have died and only a few thousand have been tortured because you believe its happened on a much greater scale elsewhere. Well, if you think the blood of a innocent zimbabwean is not as important as the blood of an innocent iraqi then that just speaks for itself really....

EEh Baasi!! Pipe down, for goodness sake, you imagining things again!!! Why do fill your poor head with all these numbers??? Tinyarewo.

EEH baasi!!! for goodness sake, you are imagining things again!!! Why do you fill you poor head with all these numbers??? Haunyareba???

I'm imagining that 120 or so MDC supporters were murdered during the election? Well you did think that the first world war and second world war was only fought by england and germany. I guess those Anzacs in turkey were just there on a long holiday eh.

And 20,000 Ndebele people were murdered by Mugabe in the 80's? Well, I guess Mugabe must be imagining it as well... here's his recollection of it.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR_RIBT6L10 its a strange thing to be in denial dont you think... you dont even realise you are... but you are...

prem lets give talks a chance. i believe the conclusion of same will include the release of the detained as well.

Prem!Where were Amnesty International during the time when the Zimbabweians for over 80 years were getting (cleaned out) by the Brit/USA? Was Jesus Christ the same then? Boy I bet. (suspicion?)You got that right.In America we know the deal. You just stick with that Devil Quartet,Chaney,Bush,Blair, and Brown.SHAME.......................on you. Oweij liebo, America

i agree with you leviboone.

Sure bad things have happened in the past. But if we dont stop clamping down on them, they will continue. As long as we have people like you that think, well... its happened before so its ok to do it again. Murder is murder and should be punished. Just because others have murdered, doesnt make it ok for you or Mugabe to murder also.

awt yes bad things will continue to happen as long as we hypocritically give a go ahead to bush jr and his cohorts cause havoc around the globe in the name of war against terror whilst shamelessly point a finger at Bob for te so called election related violence.

are you saying there was no election related violence in Zimbabwe? Well that just shows how much credibility your comments here have. Pretty much zero. Let me guess, the sky is green also, and 1+1 is 8?

Why Why Why do people feel the need to comment on Iraq or Bush? Does it really matter in this case? NO! Mugabe is his own man. Let's deal with his horrible actions accordingly. I am am not condoning the Iraq war, I was always opposed to it but this is not what we are discussing. People can be quite selective in what they condone. If you oppose the Iraq war and the killings, you should also opppose Mugabe's kiilings as well! As an African I will not stand for stupid despotic behaviour that will furthur bring down my continent. Lord knows we have too many of those already.

The problem with most of you guys is you rely too much on international media with an agenda of peddling lies about Zimbabwe. People died both ZANU PF members and MDC members but people tend to turn a blind eye about the ZANU PF supporters who passed on. Now take a closer look at this report. The reporter claims both ZANU PF and MDC officials were in the same plane to Pretoria after confussion of when the talks would start. Only a few hours back onother paper was reporting that ZANU PF mediators failed to turn up for the talks,then which is which? Who then is telling a lie? l rest my case.

Sure there may have been some retribution by MDC members against the ZANU PF supporters, but really, do you seriously think it wasnt one sided? Lets look at the motivation here. With the MDC having won the initial election, and given a 2 horse race, under a free and fair election, they would rate there chances to win. The ZANU-PF however, needed to change the playing field to win. Else they would lose. So clearly the widespread intimidation of voters was impletmented to secure the election for the zanu pf. And this is what led to the murders of over 100 MDC supporters along with the rape, beatings and torture of many many more. You can say it was even between both sides, but clearly one side had an agenda to force as many people as possible to change there votes.

chiki..you are correct..we should instead rely on the reliable, honest and unbiased Herald!!!

Murder is murder and should be punished. Just because others have murdered, doesnt make it ok for you or Mugabe to murder also.Nice line. So tell me who is going to pay for the lost lives in Iraq? or are you ever going to talk about it? And why are the human rights groups silent about it? Is it love for Zimbabwean people? Hundreds of thousands of people parished in Iraq because of lies, should these lies be allowed to continue even in Zimbabwe? l wonder.

i fully concur with u chiki.we want to see the international community and the so called ICC intergity in their judgment of the global affairs starting with bush sr and jr,cheney/rumsfeld,our african slave sister condi rice,blair,and so many others hiding in safe havens in europe before they point their fingers to Bob.

Interesting..."should these lies be allowed to continue even in Zimbabwe? " You tell me! thats exactly what Mugabe is doing! What you are saying is that Mugabe is as bad as those in the west who's lies have led to the deaths of innocents in iraq. I think thats fair. Whether it be Iraq, Sudan, or Zimbabwe, the deaths of innocents should not be tolerated. Saying its ok that Mugabe has murdered because Blair/Bush have is like saying I can kill you because Some guy in South America killed someone. There is no excuse for murder. And whats worse is that Mugabe is doing it to his own people. His own brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe. What sort of leader does that?

So you mean to say maverick Mugabe has taken over from the Brit/USA to clean out the commoners who want freedon to influence the type of society they want to live in and propsper!!

Why do you still cling on defending a bloodstained illegitimate President on the point of causing his own drowning? Mandela, Tutu, Zuma: their pleas against the continuing confiscation of power still keeps you indifferent? The fate of Charles Taylor, Idriss Deby, Mobutu do not make you move an iota from your supporting Mugabe just because he bashes whites!!

Let's wake up please. What we should all work towards is the promotion of the respect of genuine freedom. Freedom for us and our children to influence and shape the society we want and while tolerating divergencies in opinion. Africa is endowned with most resources to enable its sons and daughters to prosper had it not been for the murderous dictators who took over from the colonizers and gradually became worse exploiters.

Thanks God, things have started changing in a majority of our countries thanks to the pressure from organised civil society organisations (CSO). Amnesty international does not have an army at its disposal; it can only alert public opinion. The failure to prevent the illegal regime of Ian Smith should also be our own failure in our own countries to exert maximum pressure.

Please let's align ourself in favour of a fresh start in Zimbabwe ridden of its bloodstained vampires.

Prem has not taken over from anybody. It makes no difference as to whether the victims of ones ferocious acts are fellow citizens or aliens. They are all human being. As well the number of innocent people who have so far lost their lives in Iraq/ Afghanistan and so forth is countless. Prem for your information Americans created Taylor to eliminate their prodigal son Doe. The same fate followed Taylor once they got tired of him. Same applies to Mobutu –of course u know what happened to Lumumba as for Derby I reserve my comments unless u tell me what u know about him. Prem, africa’ s worst enemy is the west period.

My dear shakaman7

How right you are in saying that our ennemy is the West! Putting it in a pragmatic way would be to say some forces in the West are greedy to do mischievious things to short term gains. We should however, continue this logic by saying also that it is human nature to exploit the feeble in the absence of transparency and accountability.

The situation exists in Africa for these dark forces to exploit the African economy. Because those leaders who cling to power by illegal means place themselves under the protection of colonising forces.

Now, are the colonising forces exclusively in the West? That type of human nature is not only in the West. It is everywhere where there are clusters of human beings.

What are the Chinese upto now in Africa shielding Al Bashir and providing arms to Mugabe to exterminate its own people. We can say the same thing against the West.

But its our own leaders who create such situations whereby they depend on external forces in order to cling to power.

A leader with legitimacy from his people do not need external protection from colonising forces to stay in power!

The day we in Africa would ensure that every one of our leaders is democratically elected under free and fair conditions, that would be the day when we will put en end to external forces dividing us to rule from behind the scene.

Under even this disastrous situation in Zimbabwe, Mugabe and his Army cronies are robbing DRC of its minerals in order to fund their terror campaign back home. Is that not also colonising a neighbouring country?

let's be fair! We want freedom and prosperity in Zimbabwe. Murderer Mugabe failed to ensure these during the past 28 years. Basta with him and cronies.

Prem Mugabe has not taken over from anybody. It makes no difference as to whether the victims of ones ferocious acts are fellow citizens or aliens. They are all human being. As well the number of innocent people who have so far lost their lives in Iraq/ Afghanistan and so forth is countless. Prem for your information Americans created Taylor to eliminate their prodigal son Doe. The same fate followed Taylor once they got tired of him. Same applies to Mobutu –of course u know what happened to Lumumba as for Derby I reserve my comments unless u tell me what u know about him. Prem, africa’ s worst enemy is the west period.

Mugabe's devillish game!!

VOA declared today that Zimbabwe's state-run newspaper, The Herald of today's (Friday) edition, reports that unidentified members of the ruling ZANU-PF have declared that Mugabe's controversial re-election was "non-negotiable" in the ongoing power-sharing talks with the opposition!!

The suspicion that shrouded the beginning of the talks while - 500 MDC sopporters are still being detained - a charge of treason still hangs on against MDC chief negotiator - Mugabe's murderous henchmen are still controlling the state apparatus

is gaining further recognition and may soon cause the talks to collapse. Tvangirai will have badly burnt his fingers. Mbeki should prepare to provide shelter to another five million Zimbabweans.

The call by Amnesty International that nobody should be granted pardon should be backed by Zimbabweans to the extent that Mugabe and cronies should find it hell to cling to power.

May Africa provide comfort to the commoners in Zimbabwe who want a clean slate with which to chart out a new country based on full respect of law and order.

It seems the maverick Mugabe gave Mbeki false hopes. Otherwise one cannot understand how Mbeki would have backed a process to legitimise the illegitimacy of Mugabe's sham election? Mugabe will have the ANC on his back should he cause the talks to collapse. Early next year, he will have to face the tune of the ANC under Zuma!!

Mugabe is unable to read the writings on the wall!! Is there any of his cronies around to lend him a pair of appropriate looking-glasses?

Prem, even if they gave Mugabe that looking glass, he would be afraid to look at it because he would see the devil looking right back at him - his own image.