According to the definition of Wikipedia, “a civil war is a war between factions of citizens of one country (such as in the English Civil War), or else a dispute between two nations that were created out of one formerly-united country“.
Who’s bright idea was it to call a war “civil“?
But, when we look at the situation in Zimbabwe, we must accept that Mugabe and his ZANU PF party is at war with the Zimbabwean people.
You may disagree, but very little happens in that country without the knowledge of Mugabe and the higher ranks of his ZANU PF party.
First of all there is the relentless land grab, now in its ninth year – which has wrought death, destruction, a decline in produce and wholesale hunger. Then there is the lasting effects of Operation Murambatsvina in which an estimated 1.7 million people lost their homes, their jobs and a foothold in the community.
Some of those victims still remain living under plastic in holes in the ground.
Following the ZANU PF loss of the general election in March last year, we saw an increase in the violence being practised against the winning party, the MDC and its members and supporters. Very quickly thereafter, the violence increased as it became apparent that Mugabe had lost the first round of the Presidential election to challenger Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mugabe had the results re-worked so that a second round had to be enacted. Violence increased once again, and at least 130 MDC members, activists and supporters were killed.
Morgan Tsvangirai then pulled out of the race, allowing Mugabe to take what he wanted all along – the presidency of Zimbabwe.
Since that time, violence in Zimbabwe has become the norm. Activists and members are routinely abducted, tortured, interrogated and then dragged before the courts on trumped up charges that range from writing a latter to the Attorney General’s office to banditry and violence.
Whilst some of the case before the courts have been thrown out, ZANU PF continues to perpetrate the lie that the MDC is involved in banditry and banditry training – now alleged to have taken place in Botswana (subsequently disproved) and Uganda.
There is no money in Zimbabwe, very little food and corruption is clearly rampant. An audit report last week described how the ZANU PF hierarchy has helped themselves not only to office equipment – computers, laptop, fax machines and the like – but minister, deputy ministers and their permanent secretaries have also taken possession (I use the word advisedly) of numerous motor vehicles.
Employment in Zimbabwe is a huge problem. The collapse of the economy has led to mass company closures – and the collapse of the agricultural sector has forced thousands of farm workers to lose their jobs. The ‘new’ farmers have not seen fit to embark upon any farming or horticulture, preferring that their farms lie dormant, fallow and unworked.
Despite the signed agreements between the two MDC factions and ZANU PF, the people of Zimbabwe do not have the freedom or expression, nor do they have the freedom of assembly. ZANU PF however, is allowed to print their hate speeches daily and to broadcast them on ZBC and ZTV – without recourse or punishment.
And despite the agreements signed last year, Mugabe continues to cling onto power without the mandate of the people.
ZANU PF lost the election – and continue to dictate the pace and style of government. Mugabe continues to stand by his unilateral appointments of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor and the Attorney-General.
ZANU PF continue to protect the Chiadzwa diamond fields in the Eastern Highlands, except that the diamonds that the field produce are sold on the black market, filling ZANU PF private coffers instead of being traded honestly and the monies being placed in public coffers.
If the truth be told, there is enough diamonds in the fields to not only rebuild Zimbabwe, but also to satisfy the avarice of ZANU PF – but Mugabe wants it all and he wants it now…
Mugabe, in the form of ZANU PF and all of its associated bodies such as the ZNA, the ZRP, the Air Force, the Prison Services, the war veterans and the youth militia are at war with the population of Zimbabwe, each member afraid for what a free and honest government might find upon appointment and the ensuing prosecutions which could, conceivably, put the whole of the hierarchy in prison for the rest of their days.
Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man
