Is Mugabe On His Way Out?

Twice daily, once on the morning and once more in the afternoon all traffic is pushed aside as President Mugabe travels between his home and the State house. He wears a designer suit as he sits in his armored and heavily guarded Mercedes as he travels to and fro where even the point of a finger in his direction will result in imprisonment.

Now he is due to leave on his annual Holiday vacation with his money grubbing, shopaholic wife to one of the few places he is allowed, the Far East. This is his favorite place since the United States and Britain has banned him entry in their countries.

Will he actually leave for his annual vacation? It will surely be a sign of how secure he feels amidst the outrage against him as a ruler. More speculation surrounds this holiday due to the total disarray of his party’s (ZANU PF) annual conference. Many of the delegates dribbled away and Mugabe had to apologize for the delegates food being stolen, a sure sign of the desperation even among his followers.

The U.S. has been urging Mugabe to step down to which he has responded with viciousness, allegedly ordering the secret arrest of 40 activists including a two-year-old child shortly before Christmas. Even with a judge’s order, Mugabe feels he is above the law and refuses to release them. The whereabouts of many are unknown.

With pressure from the U.S. and the endorsement of Britain’s Africa Minister Malloch-Brown, it is predicted Mugabe will step down in 2009. There has also been pay problems for his army and in November his troops actually rioted.

It is my sincere hope that this new year will bring about the changes that Africa so sorely needs, bringing action and hope to the people of Zimbabwe.

Death By Cholera. Really?

I have not updated this site because of a war going on in my head. A war that, on the one hand feel I we should do anything to help the poor of Zimbabwe and on the other hand rage at the injustice of a politically crazed despot, who cares more about how many people are in his cabinet than trying to repair the country he is fighting for.
Robert Mugabe, president of Africa rigged the voting to have himself elected and has since pushed this once proud nation into a death trap with inflation the highest in the world at over 10000%. Cholera is running rampant and refugees are pushing into the borders of other cities carrying the deadly disease with them. Sewers are broken all over the cities and fresh water is harder and harder to find. Garbage is not being picked up and street vendors sell their wares amidst the rotting sewage in the streets.

The US and other nations are calling for Mugabe to step down. Amid the grumbling of the outside world, human activists calling for peace in Zimbabwe were arrested including a two-year-old child. There are reports of torture being used against the leader, Jestina Mukoko and nine others to force a confession out of them. She was taken from a health clinic where she was treated for injuries reportedly from her torture, directly to court where she and others may face the death penalty. She was ordered released, but was has not been, instead now being held in an undisclosed location.

Zimbabwe's people are suffering from Mugabe's appalling economic mismanagement, corruption and brutal repression.  How do we as civilized people continue to pour money, food and medical supplies into a country with a violent leader who cares not for all Africans but only a select few? Those who do not agree with his views are subsequently beaten, raped and killed with no thought of it at all. Do we keep pouring sand down a rat hole, as this powerful despot rules the country with fists of iron?