Mugabe on Edge over possibility of Losing the Election
June 15th 2008 23:39
Mugabe on Edge over possibility of Losing the Election
The trump card of all Banana Republic Despots is the fact that they control the armed forces. If they lose that then they are just another loudmouth in a $1000 suit or a self styled uniform. There is an old idiom about ruling that goes like this: To rule you need to spend your treasury one of two things Guns or Butter. If you love your people then you look after them and feed them plenty of butter so that they do not get angry. If you cannot do that then go out and buy guns. In the case of Zimbabwe gun are pouring into the nation because butter is nowhere to be found.
The pressure on Mugabe must be enormous but he has steadfastly refuses to go despite his disastrous Land Reforms that have literally caused his nation to starve. Hyperinflation just adds to the woes as shops stand empty of everything but a few food items. Life expectancy has fallen from the highest in Africa just a few years ago to the lowest on the continent. To add insult to injury the police and armed forces have been systematically terrorizing and beating anyone who appears to question his hold on power. Elections take place under the watchful gaze of security forces that are quick to punish large groups of people if the vote goes the wrong way.
Mugabe currently if facing his most serious electoral challenge in his life as the presidential elections enters into a runoff. The opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change party is in a good position to win the presidency. That is if the elections go ahead in a free and open manner.
Mugabe has now threatened war if he loses the election (Guns not Butter).
"Should this country be taken by traitors ... it is impossible,” Mugabe said at the funeral of one his past generals. "It shall never happen ... as long as we are alive and those who fought for the country are alive. We are prepared to fight for our country and to go to war for it."
The warning is stark and direct. Mugabe has labeled his opposition as nothing more than traitors and declared that he would not accept any vote that does not favour him staying in power. Another civil war may seem impossible in such an impoverished nation but that is precisely what he has threatened.
The situation is laced with irony as it was Mugabe who came to power in a hail of popularity after a negotiated end to the previous civil war.
The question that might be bothering outsiders is, how Mugabe maintains the silence and support of the surrounding nations? Zimbabwe is a landlocked nation where all weaponry must cross other African nations to arrive. A ship loaded with weapon was last seen heading off to the coast of Angola to be unloaded and delivered to Mugabe’s regime. South Africa is also contemplating a land reform along similar lines as Zimbabwe and so may be reluctant to be too critical at this moment. Angola has been a tradition ally of Mugabe and was until a few decades ago having a Cuban assisted Marxist revolution. Yet the biggest factor is the history that European colonization carved out in the African Continent. Slave trade, discrimination and apartheid are just a few examples where the fear of Western intentions is easy to magnify. Mugabe has been playing this card very well and has continued to blame British for interfering in Zimbabwe and can find easy traction in those claims just by looking back to when the place was called Rhodesia.
If Mugabe does lose the election he may be tempted to make good his threat of civil war but his age he is probably too old and too irrational to succeed.
Mugabe - Calling for war rather than losing his power.
The trump card of all Banana Republic Despots is the fact that they control the armed forces. If they lose that then they are just another loudmouth in a $1000 suit or a self styled uniform. There is an old idiom about ruling that goes like this: To rule you need to spend your treasury one of two things Guns or Butter. If you love your people then you look after them and feed them plenty of butter so that they do not get angry. If you cannot do that then go out and buy guns. In the case of Zimbabwe gun are pouring into the nation because butter is nowhere to be found.
The pressure on Mugabe must be enormous but he has steadfastly refuses to go despite his disastrous Land Reforms that have literally caused his nation to starve. Hyperinflation just adds to the woes as shops stand empty of everything but a few food items. Life expectancy has fallen from the highest in Africa just a few years ago to the lowest on the continent. To add insult to injury the police and armed forces have been systematically terrorizing and beating anyone who appears to question his hold on power. Elections take place under the watchful gaze of security forces that are quick to punish large groups of people if the vote goes the wrong way.
Mugabe currently if facing his most serious electoral challenge in his life as the presidential elections enters into a runoff. The opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change party is in a good position to win the presidency. That is if the elections go ahead in a free and open manner.
Mugabe has now threatened war if he loses the election (Guns not Butter).
"Should this country be taken by traitors ... it is impossible,” Mugabe said at the funeral of one his past generals. "It shall never happen ... as long as we are alive and those who fought for the country are alive. We are prepared to fight for our country and to go to war for it."
The warning is stark and direct. Mugabe has labeled his opposition as nothing more than traitors and declared that he would not accept any vote that does not favour him staying in power. Another civil war may seem impossible in such an impoverished nation but that is precisely what he has threatened.
The situation is laced with irony as it was Mugabe who came to power in a hail of popularity after a negotiated end to the previous civil war.
The question that might be bothering outsiders is, how Mugabe maintains the silence and support of the surrounding nations? Zimbabwe is a landlocked nation where all weaponry must cross other African nations to arrive. A ship loaded with weapon was last seen heading off to the coast of Angola to be unloaded and delivered to Mugabe’s regime. South Africa is also contemplating a land reform along similar lines as Zimbabwe and so may be reluctant to be too critical at this moment. Angola has been a tradition ally of Mugabe and was until a few decades ago having a Cuban assisted Marxist revolution. Yet the biggest factor is the history that European colonization carved out in the African Continent. Slave trade, discrimination and apartheid are just a few examples where the fear of Western intentions is easy to magnify. Mugabe has been playing this card very well and has continued to blame British for interfering in Zimbabwe and can find easy traction in those claims just by looking back to when the place was called Rhodesia.
What did happen to that ship of weapons.
If Mugabe does lose the election he may be tempted to make good his threat of civil war but his age he is probably too old and too irrational to succeed.
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Thanks for your comments.
I am just watching this pan out until the election.
I am surprised that no younger rival has bumped him off yet but these kinds of people usually live of loyalty.
Whether Mugabe is finished or not may depend upon how much loyalty he can muster if he loses his crown.
The second choice for any army is to refuse to follow orders.
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Mugabe has made sure that he has the money to make anybody and everybody who matters stand up and listen to him. In the past he has gone to rural areas, bribing the chiefs with the promise of seeds and money to make those people vote for him in the elections. At the end of the day food is what matters to people who live outside the city - he has been clever in securing their vote, as well as the votes of people who have long left the country or died many years ago. I left 7 years ago and I can guarantee you that my name was used in the elections to vote for Mugabe.
South Africans are now murdering Zimbabweans in the streets of South Africa - tired of the influx of foreigners who jump the borders every day and seek out illegal work - a couple of weeks ago a news report showed a Zimbabwean man set alight crawling through a street where a Policeman stood and watched him burn with the rest of the bystanders.
A government official who was accused of treason was paid a visit recently at his home by some of Mugabe`s henchmen. He wasn`t there so they set about torturing his wife - cutting of her hand.
These stories are nothing new, they were happening when I lived there. It`s such a shame that it has taken so long for the world to start shedding some light in the situation over there - a little too late for the hundreds of thousands of people starving and living every day in fear.
Unfortunately Africa is not the only place in the world whose people have suffered due to colonization. History shows the Indigenous people of Australia being sent to settlements, away from the 'White Civilized Man', being hung in the streets for crimes they not only did not commit but also had no chance to defend themselves in etc etc. American Indians suffered a similar demise. It makes me ashamed to be a white person to see how our forefathers have treated fellow human beings.
Last I heard ex servicemen and women and those willing to join them were banding together to start an army of their own. It seems another war is inevitable.
Ash
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Thanks for your additional information.
The roll on effect to surrounding nations should have been enough to cause enough concern to have them complain.
However that sadly does not seem to be the case.
I think that it is difficult to build up any real sense of trust between the West and Africa for the moment. Colonization did not help to improve the image of the Western motives. It can still be used as scarecrow to stir up distrust.
I am hoping that this does not lead to War but this situation will need much more than hope.