Preparations for Robert Mugabe's swearing in ceremony Sunday were said to be underway at State House on Saturday even before results from the 'one-man election' were released.
Government sources who spoke to the AFP news agency confirmed that the inauguration would be held at 10am on Sunday before Mugabe left the country for the African Union summit in Cairo, Egypt. The source said tents were already being set up for the ceremony in the clearest signal that Friday's vote was a mere formality.
Mugabe vowed he was going to confront any African countries that will dare to point a finger at Zimbabwe during the summit. This was interpreted to mean he might try and hide behind the poor human rights records of other countries like Sudan.
Analysts however say he is standing on his last legs after his own peers in SADC rejected the poll as a sham. Other African countries outside SADC have also branded the election an embarrassment, adding to Mugabe's legitimacy woes.
As results trickled in from some of the polling stations a clear picture is emerging of many people spoiling their ballot papers in protest. A polling station in Highfields recorded 266 votes for Mugabe, 184 for Tsvangirai while 150 votes were spoiled. The pattern repeated itself countrywide especially in opposition strongholds.
Meanwhile the United States is planning to put forward a UN resolution on Monday calling for tough action against Mugabe's regime. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US and Britain will present the resolution. Rice said, 'Its time for the international community to act. It's hard to imagine that anybody could fail to act given what we're all watching on the ground in Zimbabwe.'
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Elections are over in Zim and please get some sleep. The regime change crusade has been defeated this time for good.
Not by a long shot! mugabe prepares for it before the result because as he and the world knows, he rigged it. Mugabe and his regime will be out in the near future and this i can promise you. Very funny that mugabe is now just a puppet with the army and police chiefs firmly having there hands up the end that does not shine.He is that much a puppet for them i wonder if he is actually still alive or if he has under gone taxidermy so there hand up his you know what makes his mouth move and his wife throws her voice to make him speak!
"The world knows" only the lies that have been created by western propaganda. BTW, you're in no position to promise anything to anybody, as you know the West (the real one, not some pseudonym) have been trying to overthrow Mr. Mugabe since he started his land reform program around 2000.
OK - I'm from the "West" and have no economic, family or social ties to Zimbabwe, so lets talk about lies......
Here's the first of several "lies", the "Sanctions" constantly being bleated about by Mugabe and his "flock" of ZANU-PF cronies are directed at a total of 130 people..... Is Zimbabwe's economy so weak that it cannot provide for it's people when only 130 of them are targeted by such "Sanctions"? Only if the 130 ZANU-PF cronies control ALL of Zimbabwe's economy...... if a country cannot withstand economic "sanctions" and travel restrictions against only 130 of their citizens, then there is something seriously wrong with the distribution of wealth in that country!
(Oh, I forgot, ZANU-PF "restored" the "legitimate owners" of the land in Zimbabwe - one would think that if so many ordinary Zimbabweans were "Empowered" by ZANU-PF/Mugabe's policies, then Zimbabwe's economy should have posted record increases in the people's standard of living - right?). Oh yes, Zimbabwe is "totally empowered" (Mugabe claimed it was so), but for some reason, no one wants to do business there............
So yes, Zimbabweans can now feel "empowered" while they are starving because the one-time breadbasket of Africa can no longer feed itself! This has absolutely no reflection of ANY effect of any "Sanctions" supposedly in place against Zimbabwe.........
Here's one such "lie"........ The ZBC has announced the "official" rate of inflation is "only" 165,000% - yes, the 165 number would be bad enough, but to add another 3 zeroes after it? Although, the ZBC has not pronounced an "official" rate of inflation in a while and many commentators from Africa, not the U.K. or U.S., have indicated the actual rate of inflation is over 1,000,000% and can be expected to get as bad as 4,000,000 in the next 6 months.
The "Sanctions" imposed by the U.S. and U.K. certainly aren't powerful enough to cause that sort of inflation. Only the further printing of worthless currency by the ZBC could cause anything close to 100% inflation, but 1,000,000% inflation?
Here's another "lie"....... 80% of the people of Zimbabwe are unemployed. "Sanctions" by the U.S. and U.K. CANNOT cause that sort of economic malaise.
Here's another "lie"....... at least 30% of the population of Zimbabwe has left the country! Yes, people are literate, and they're leaving the country. These are educated professionals who are leaving, they are just the sort of people a country like Zimbabwe needs right now. Why are they leaving in such ridiculous numbers?
The "West" doesn't make up these "lies" - they merely report these FACTS. I previously posted the actual text of the "Sanctions" which are freely available to all on the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury's website. You obviously didn't read them......
The "West" did not "create" the FACTS of 1,000,000% inflation, 80% unemployment and 30% of the population fleeing their homes to other countries. The policies of ZANU-PF/Mugabe did! I think even Nelson Mandela mentioned the "tragic failure of leadership" in Zimbabwe, didn't he? What does Mandela owe to anyone? Why would he make such a statement? I find it hard to believe that such a man could be pressured by the "West" to spout such a lie......
If these conditions in Zimbabwe did not exist, if inflation was only 10%, if unemployment was only 10%, if only 10% if Zimbabwe's population had left the country, do you think the "West" would even care about Zimbabwe? What does trade with Zimbabwe mean to the U.S.? NOTHING! What does the U.S. have to gain from a "regime change" in Harare? NOTHING! We're far more interested in the price of oil than anything Zimbabwe has to offer us.
It is only the complete and abject failure of ZANU-PF/Mugabe's policies and the resulting economic devastation being wrought there that makes the "West" even care about Zimbabwe! Answer me these following questions:
1) How much better fed are the people of Zimbabwe now as compared to when Ian Smith's racist government ruled Rhodesia?
2) How much better is the medical and public health infrastructure of Zimbabwe now as compared to when Ian Smith's racist government ruled Rhodesia?
3) How many "re-education/rehabilitation camps are there in Zimbabwe now as compared to when Ian Smith's racist government ruled Rhodesia?
4) How much better off is the educational infrastructure of Zimbabwe under ZANU-PF now as compared to when the racist Ian Smith ruled Rhodesia?
Over 28 years of ZANU-PF rule, Zimbabwe has managed to piss away any of the positive infrastructure left behind by the racist government of Ian Smith! It is the poor stewardship of Zimbabwe's resources under the rule of ZANU-PF/Mugabe that has caused this fiasco. When a people of ANY nation are so poorly served by their leaders, it is ANY people's right to seek new representation - and not at the point of a gun or under threat of a beating or amputation.
People like you, who continue to blame the "West" for the shortcomings of your own government, are what cause Africa's problems - instead of looking forward, you are always looking to the past to blame the "white man".
Judge ANY government by it's record, ZANU-PF's is 80% unemployment, 1,000,000% inflation and 30% of the population "voting with their feet" and leaving Zimbabwe. Their record is indictment enough for not just the rest of the world, but for the people of Zimbabwe to DEMAND regime change!
You too, are such a "tool"!
People like Mugabe, actually make us ashamed to be Africans. I am disgusted with African politics and the ostentatious African leaders including the west. At 84 Mugabe should be counting his days on earth. If he survives another 2 years in power, they'll have to be changing his diapers every hour. Shame.
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