Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe land seizures ‘cost $12bn’

The seizure of most of Zimbabwe’s white-owned land has cost nearly $12bn (£7bn) in lost production since 2000, the Commercial Farmers’ Union says.

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Source: BBC News

Eye for an eye

By Nokutula Ncube

Three years ago, I sent Mugabe this card (left), hoping and wishing his time to meet his maker ‘the devil’ was near, and will succumb to illness or something painful and nasty, but against all the odds, the evil guy is still breathing and in charge.

Capital punishment must be abolished everywhere, but I am of the mind, it should stay put in Zimbabwe. Zanu PF have kept it  in force all these years and have used it to kill and intimidate anyone opposing their ideologies. The sterile reason for its necessity in Zimbabwe is:

a-) it is a deterrent
b-) it removes killers from our society.

Truth be said, it is Zanu PF members who are committing crimes against humanity. Innocent Zimbabwean citizens have been tortured, murdered, raped, displaced and orphaned. The death penalty is in fact appropriate to people, notably Zanu PF members, who are participating in these macabre events.

The public needs retribution. The anguish of the victims’ families must be relieved.

The bible says- ‘An Eye for an Eye’. These people must face the ultimate punishment for their evil deeds. And in my opinion, it will be all legal.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to HAT News

Mugabe to attend Pope John Paul’s beatification

(Reuters) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will attend Sunday’s beatification ceremony for the late Pope John Paul, the Vatican said.

Mugabe, who has been widely criticised for human rights abuses in his country, is banned from travel to the European Union, but the Vatican — a sovereign state — is not a member of the bloc.

Full story

Why Zimbabweans still live in fear

AN MDC councilor who told a security guard he “only argued with Robert Mugabe” has been arrested and charged with “undermining the authority of the President”.

Benard Nyamambi, 40, a councilor for the Movement for Democratic Change party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the resort town of Victoria Falls could be fined or jailed for a year if convicted. ADDPTED FROM NEWZIMBABWEAN http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-2191-MDC+cllr+nabbed+over+Mugabe+insult/news.aspx

We have heard about the change in Zimbabwe. Some people think that it is safe to be in Zimbabwe, yet we have things like unlawful arrests still happening. In developed countries you can talk about your leaders in a any manor if you dispise of them (freedom of expresion). For example in Britain you can talk about the prime minister freely without fear of persecution and yet in Zimbabwe people are getting arrested for a simply statement.

It is my opinion that because of this power Mugabe still holds in Zimbabwe and still wishes to be only addressed as a hero nothing less he can do anything he wants to protect his interests. If one is a councilor and is arrested for making a negative statement about Mugabe then people go on to say there is freedom in Zimbabwe, what a contrast and people go on to say freedom is in Zimbabwe where there is a ruler like Mugabe not a leader and clear vaolations of human rights. People then go on to wonder why after the GNU not many Zimbabweans opted to go back to their home either from countries  like South Africa, Canada, United Kingdom and many other countries zimbabweans have fled to. It is simple Mugabe is still feared and still exercises his rule as he wishes. If they are human rights in Zimbabwe how come people like Benard Nyamambi get arrested for simple gestures? The lack of human rights in Zimbabwe is still there ,to remove Mugabe is the only road to true freedom.

Robert Mugabe has reportedly said he will not appoint provincial governors from the MDC, as they may not be loyal to him. He has also dug in his heels and said that Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and central bank boss Gideon Gono are going nowhere.

The ZANU PF leader is said to have told all this to South African President Jacob Zuma two weeks ago, also reiterating that he will not appoint Roy Bennett, the MDC treasurer-general, to the agriculture portfolio or any other ministerial post. The comments were made during a private meeting Mugabe had with President Zuma in Harare.The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe.http://www.swradioafrica.com/news310310/powershare310310.htm

Mugabe has reportedly said no to power sharing seen by the adaptation above. So how can one trust that there is no fear in Zimbabwe whilst Mugabe can do what he wants? It seems if he doesn’t want to go he won’t go and no one can do anything about that. If Mugabe believes that you are a threat and he can not trust you he will deal with you the only way he knows how. He does not trust the Likes of Roy Bennet and he simple won’t accept to put them in their rightful places as ministers and exert them to pressure through the justice system of Zimbabwe which he clearly manipulates. Yet at the same time keeping his friends closer the likes of Gideon Gono and Attorney general Johannes Tomana those people that he trusts. What chance is there for the unknown people who are suffering in Zimbabwe? Mugabe will do what he wants and people will remain in fear.

RUTENDO Munengani, wife of MDC-T legislator for Glen View North Fani Munengami, says she will never forgive President Robert Mugabe after she was raped by a soldier while her nine-month old son watched in horror. Mugabe, who is the commander-in-chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), has always used the security services whenever he feels cornered in his three-decade-long rule. Adapted from The Standard Zimbabwe’s leading Sunday newspaper.http://www.thestandard.co.zw/local/23741-raped-by-mugabes-thugs-.html

Then we move on to serious cases like rape, being raped by a member of the supposed authorities of Zimbabwe how can one not live in fear after things like this happen. To think that these incidents happened in 2010 after everyone is supposing that Zimbabwe is still safe. Mugabe the Commander in chief will rather let his soldiers act this way and not punish them. Yet I still ask the question how can one not live in fear if these kind of things are happening under the noses of the inclusive government. Soldiers can act like this because they know that nothing will happen to them in the dilapidated structure of authority that exists in Zimbabwe, which is full of corruption and nepotism and so much more ‘isms’. Police officers, soldiers, guards and any authorities in Zimbabwe can simply get away with anything because they know they can be pampered by Mugabe and his regime and can get away with anything.

Just recently there has been wide spread objection to gay rights in Zimbabwe Mugabe has since mantained that he would not give these people any rights, and likened them to dogs. it is a well known fact that in any society they are gay people and they deserve to be heard. It is of my opinion that  everyone deserves human right protection and this is a clear obstruction of human rights. Therfore this goes on to show that yet another group of the Zimbabwean society will still live in fear.

This Zimbabwean people know they can survive if they just stay away from the authorities and do not defy Mugabe. With all the evidence of recent events which happen in Zimbabwe goes on to prove why people are still afraid in Zimbabwe. Mugabe still holds so much power that he is still feared in Zimbabwe. This can only change after the rulers of Zimbabwe change and Zimbabwe can once again breathe. In a nut shell Mugabe do what he wants in Zimbabwe and that is why people still live in fear in and out of Zimbabwe.

By Tichaona Manomano – volunteer community reporter with HAT News

A NATION CRIPPLED BY TALKS

Leaders of Zimbabwe can not seem to reach decisions on issues crippling their country. On the contrary people of Zimbabwe are seemingly coming to one conscious agreement with no need of talks what have you. All agreeing that talks are leading the country nowhere. ,” Ncube is also reported as saying “Nothing is moving and it is useless for us to continue telling the nation that there is no progress while they are looking to us as Government to deliver” The MDC officials in Zimbabwe seem to notice that nothing is moving although they want to give the ZANU-PF the benefit of the doubt that they might change for the betterment of the nation, they are equally and slowly getting frustrated, as seen by the above quotation by Professor W. Ncube. 

 “Enough is enough” is a commonly used term by the Zimbabwean people, well who can blame them for saying so. These talks never seem to end. In my view there is only one thing that seems to be stopping the MDC for going the whole nine yards? calling for another fresh round of fair elections, its simply that they know that when dealing with Mugabe it can never be a free and fair elections. History is the only weapon the MDC can depend on and by now the Zimbabwean people and the international community should have learned that you can not share power with Mugabe. He has refused to Remove the now  Reserve bank of Zimbabwe governor G. Gono and has recently claimed that as long as he is alive Roy Benet will never became a Minister . Mugabe has managed to do this because he is hiding behind the on going talks.

 The Unity Accord of December 1987 between ZAPU and ZANU is another example whereby Zimbabweans used their collective efforts to solve their political challenge/divide. Almost two decades later Zimbabwe is under an Inclusive Government again ZANU-PF has tried to share power before with an opposition party only to consume and silence the opposition party; there are strong similarities in the GNU and the unity accord. Although this is evident  to the MDC they seem powerless to do anything against the calculative Mugabe and his party ZANU-PF. All Zimbabwe must hope for is that Mugabe is peacefully removed from power which he is holding on to. The MDC is trying to remove Mugabe peacefully with the help of SADC but removing Mugabe from power peaceful for the past 3 decades has proved to be difficult.  

By now Zimbabwe should be in a new dawn and should be moving on, the never ending talks have been the hurdle to the price, the price of true freedom to the people of Zimbabwe, true economic freedom. Mugabe seems to be clinging on to power and buying  time to yet again orchestrate another plan to oust The MDC, although the MDC have proven to be strong so far, they should never under estimate the mind of Mugabe who is seemingly driven onwards by a ghastly demonic impulse. Mugabe is holding the nation at Ransom for his benefit.

  The GNU has been praised for easing the Zimbabwean economy by the international communities but this can be a short lived solution if these talks go on. It is just a matter of time when the Zimbabwean people get tired of the talks and realize that if they go on it will once again cripple the country. It is time for Mugabe to realize that he needs to be a true patriot of Zimbabwe and give the power to the truly elected leader of Zimbabwe that is Prime Minister M. Tsvangirai for he can truly reform the economy of Zimbabwe and revive Zimbabwe to its former glory.

Zimbabwe is still on a halt only surviving on temporary solutions, by now these talks should have been over and the country should have been concentrating on the issues of relighting the already dead economy. Some might ague that what is happening now is going back the riches of the olden Zimbabwe, but for how long should Zimbabweans continue lying to themselves. Zimbabwe should learn from history?  ESAP an economic measure introduced by ZANU-PF was a short lived solution for the dying economy of Zimbabwe in the 90s and took the country to disastrous lows in terms of the economy. Now we have the dollarization in Zimbabwe this might ease the economy yes, but it will be short lived if the talks in Zimbabwe never end. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC formation has since challenged its coalition partners to concede that the dialogue has failed and begin preparations for general elections. Of course Mugabe does not agree to this because he knows the true outcome of the general elections if at all they will be fair. Mugabe has a history of not playing fair so that he can remain in power. So what then will change this time? In my view once a devil always a devil especially when referring to Mugabe who is hiding behind the fact that talks are going on, and not wanting to relinquish power.

In conclusion Mugabe must realize that he has failed and must give up. These talks in Zimbabwe have the country crippled. Whenever one thinks there is a break through in the talks there is always something holding them back and that is Mugabe. It is time for the nation of Zimbabwe to be truly set free and be restored to its former glory.

 

By Tichaona Manomano – volunteer community reporter with HAT News

Mugabe and the lazy-farmer mentality

By Chenjerai Hove

AS I painstakingly went through the tortuous exercise of watching President Robert Mugabe putting up a sham show on CNN, I could not avoid reflecting on what my farming father told us in our youth on the farm.

As a highly successful African Purchase Area farmer, he had tales about the stories of unproductive farmers.

According to my father, a lazy Zimbabwean farmer always finds someone to blame for his poor crop. Whenever there was a drought, the lazy farmer had the whole world to blame, including everybody’s ancestors and the creator as well.

The lazy farmer would protest that the ancestors and God had, indeed, abandoned all of us, all humanity to perish through starvation.

He would paint a bizarre picture of children and their mothers dying in the fields and valleys, surrounded by skinny, dying animals, dry vegetation, sandy, waterless streams and rivers snaking their way through the rocky earth.

There was no sign of life, with everything abandoned by the ancestors.

But then when the rains came during good seasons, the lazy farmer blamed his neighbours for bewitching the soil in his fields to make them infertile. Fantastic stories were told of how some neighbouring farmers were so skilled in the art of even diverting the rain away from the lazy farmer’s fields. Such bewitching farmers had the craft to divert the rain-bearing winds too.

Or if the rains came to the lazy farmer’s fields, they also were hired to bring harsh and deadly thunderbolts and lightning which always struck his homestead, leaving the thatch roofs smouldering in smoke and ash.

It was only the lazy farmer’s fields which did not receive rains.

In the lazy farmer’s imagination, even the owl which perched on his roof was an ominous sign of bad harvests and inexplicable deaths to come. Everything was caused by outside forces. A child suffering from clear cases of illnesses such as malaria was said to have been bewitched by the bad neighbours whose plan was always to ensure the lazy farmer never went to the fields while attending to the sick. Every natural force wreaked havoc on the lazy farmer’s production plans.

The lazy farmer’s mentality is with us today. Every problem I encounter is caused by other people. In President Mugabe the lazy farmer mentality has manifested itself in modern day Zimbabwe, but this time through a man who spent a sizeable amount of time studying books, and in the process, obtaining numerous academic degrees. The lazy farmer blames either the weather or his neighbours for his own failure or incompetence. Mugabe blames the United States and Europe for his own errors of judgement or even for his deliberate mistakes.

Zimbabwe’s economy started collapsing in 1997 after the dishing out of unbudgeted-for money to pay ex-combatants who had been totally forgotten for 17 years. Because of the political urgency of the matter, even non-combatants stood at the front of the queue with empty bowls for the ready cash. True combatants had lived as paupers who, allegedly, had only themselves to blame for failing to integrate into the tyrannical society they had fought against. How else could we explain the omission?

But of course, according to farmer Mugabe, the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy only occurred after ’sanctions’ were imposed by the Europeans and the Americans. On talking with the then Minister of Finance, Dr Herbert Murerwa, about where the government was going to get all those billions to give to ex-combatants, he did not lie to me. ‘I don’t know. I also saw it in the news like you,’ he responded before he soon lost the job.

Mr Mugabe has transformed a once professional army to some kind of personal militia with no military ethics. They can salute only him, their code of conduct says, and nobody else. The Americans and the European Union are to blame for that. He has nothing to do with it. Once again, the lazy farmer mentality!

A few years ago, a Herald story about droughts covered almost a full page in which the author of the piece went to town in trying to explain how the Americans were tampering with the weather pattern over Zimbabwean skies in order to inflict heavy droughts on the ‘revolutionary’ Zimbabwean leaders.

The final American goal was to make people starve so they could rebel and remove Mugabe from power. A reader faced with such stories cannot avoid thinking the country is run through some kind of science fiction! In this case, we could just call it a lazy farmer mentality, according to my father. Reasonable people are supposed to study the weather patterns of our poor earth instead of shifting into the lazy farmer mentality.

First, the opposition was the creation of the British and the Americans, who were bent on creating unpatriotic, treacherous characters to destabilize the nationalists and revolutionaries of Zimbabwe. Somehow, in this vein, Mugabe and Ian Smith are not different. Smith, may his soul not rest in pieces, always thought when his ‘black Rhodesians’ rebelled against him, it was definitely with the incitement of the Communists somewhere in China and Russia.

Equipped with this Cold War mentality, Mugabe also thinks should Zimbabweans rebel against his politics of tyranny, they surely are inspired by the imperialist Britain and capitalist America. Left to themselves, Zimbabwean are sheep going to the slaughter without a whimper.

Once again, lazy farmer mentality.

And when he manoeuvres the Government of National Unity into a dormant and non-functioning political ghost, he blames the imperialists for dividing the new government. It is the very Mugabe soldiers and ministers who work full time to ensure the new government is crippled in its attempts to bring services to Zimbabweans. But Mugabe would have none of the responsibility. The imperialists are to blame. It would seem the imperialists are his own side of the cabinet, including himself.

The lazy farmer mentality ensures that Mugabe will never admit to making any mistake in the governance of our country. The whole economic mess, the corruption and human rights abuses are caused by outside forces. The lazy farmer mentality is so deeply embedded in Mugabe’s mind that we can actually prove that he is not running the country at all. Our country, according to the lazy farmer mentality, is run by others while Mugabe simply looks on like a helpless spectator from the comfort of State House.

Mugabe’s ministers and the army actually cherish the lazy farmer mentality of the President. So, they don’t have to be efficient at anything since all their corruption, abuse of power and looting is always blamed on the imperialists.

The lazy farmer mentality is born of the incapacity to evaluate oneself in the affairs of daily conduct. Mugabe has never developed the capacity of introspection to evaluate his political performance in order to achieve some kind of refinement.

According to my late father, such men never improve or create anything positive as they fully engage in the lazy farmer mentality,

Mugabe, Tsvangirai clear some key hurdles to Zim turnaround

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have resolved several of the disputes that have paralysed their unity government

since its formation three months ago, Tsvangirai announced Thursday. But the two have failed to break the deadlock between their parties over Mugabe’s appointment of his cronies to the posts of central bank governor and attorney-general and are escalating the matter to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), he added.

Addressing a press conference in Harare, former opposition and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai said Mugabe had bowed to the MDC’s demand for an equitable distribution of the posts of provincial governors. Five of the 10 governors will be named by Tsvangirai’s MDC faction, four by Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and one by a breakaway faction of the MDC led by Arthur Mutambara.

Previously, Zanu-PF insisted on holding onto all 10, despite the unity accord formed by the three parties calling for a fair sharing of posts of power. In an apparent MDC concession, the party has agreed to allow Mugabe’s choices of permanent secretaries to remain. Permanent secretaries are the most important civil servants in government ministries.

“It is important that we recognize that progress has been made and continues to be made with respect to rebuilding Zimbabwe and having a positive impact on the life of our people,” Tsvangirai said, while admitting the negotiations were “slow and frustrating.”Tsvangirai also assured that local and international media were free to operate in Zimbabwe, despite journalists from independent media continuing to be harassed by police and detained on trumped-up charges. “There is no reason why these news agencies (news media) should not be in this country,” he said.

The new government’s attempts to revive the country’s stricken economy and infrastructure have been stalled by the disputes. Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara, who is deputy minister, have held close to ten meetings in the last three weeks to try to iron out their issues. Western donors have refused to release significant amounts of development aid until the new government shows evidence of true reform. Zimbabwe is looking for about 8.5 billion US dollars. – Earthtimes

Doubt cast on Mugabe’s commitment to deal

Photo: South African DFA

President Robert Mugabe

(IRIN) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s seizure of a ministry controlled by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is casting more doubt on his commitment to the fledgling power-sharing deal.

The birth of the unity government on 11 February 2009 was designed to dilute the powers accumulated during Mugabe’s nearly 29-year rule, which has reduced the once prosperous nation to penury.

The first few months of the unity government have been characterized by Mugabe’s intransigence and flouting of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), brokered between Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the MDC by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community.

Mugabe has unilaterally announced that the transport ministry, controlled by ZANU-PF stalwart Nicholas Goche, would be expanded to absorb the functions of the ministry of information, communication and technology, headed by Nelson Chamisa, who is also the MDC’s spokesperson.

Among the responsibilities taken from the MDC was control of Net One, a mobile phone network and services provider, postal services, and the fixed-line phone network provider, Tel One.

Tsvangirai declared the grab “null and void”, saying, “This [appointment) does not only fly in the face of the letter and spirit of the Global Political Agreement, but is also an illegality, as the GPA has legal effect."

ZANU-PF's absorption of the communications ministry allows it to avoid obtaining authorization from the MDC to spy on its citizens.

Spying on its citizens

The Interception of Communications Act permits Zimbabwe's security agencies, controlled by ZANU-PF under the GPA, to monitor telephone conversations and e-mails, and intercept letters, but had required the consent of the communications minister.

Mugabe's realignment of ministries was "in total violation of the GPA, which is very clear that all major decisions made by the [unity] government would be as a result of consultation and consent,” political commentator Chris Mhike told IRIN.

“What is clear, following the outcry as a result of Mugabe’s actions, is that the decision to change the ministries was not arrived at as a result of consultation and consent.”

Since its inception the unity government has suffered numerous body blows, in which Mugabe has contravened both the spirit and letter of the GPA, and the violations have been met with a standard response by Tsvangirai that Mugabe’s actions were “null and void”.

Mugabe unilaterally reappointed permanent secretaries in government ministries without consultation; opposition and civil society activists, and a journalist, remain jailed on charges of “recruiting bandits” to topple Mugabe; Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, who presided over the collapse of the economy, was reappointed – without consultation – for another five-year term.

Provincial governors have still not been appointed. In line with the March 2008 election results, in which ZANU-PF lost control of parliament for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, most governors have to be chosen from the MDC.

Mugabe has also refused to swear in the deputy agriculture minister designate, Roy Bennett, a white former commercial farmer whose land was taken as part of the fast-track land reform programme that began in 2000 and triggered the eventual collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy.

Since the unity government came into office, the material conditions of Zimbabweans have changed little. More than half the country relies on emergency food assistance, unemployment is estimated at 94 percent and pleas for a multibillion-dollar assistance package have so far gone unanswered.

“If the country is unable to secure the requested funding, we are more likely to see discontent and social unrest that will challenge the strength of the unity government,” warned a recent report by the Standard Bank, one of South Africa’s largest.

“The humanitarian crisis might also worsen. The recovery process might be longer and more difficult, with the high probability of divergence among major political parties in the unity government,” the report commented.

Finance minister Tendai Biti told IRIN that the unity government was only receiving US$20 million a month, one-fifth of its minimum monthly requirement.

Mugabe attends Susan Tsvangirai memorial service

(CNN)-Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe spoke at a memorial service Tuesday for the wife of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who was killed last week in a car wreck.

“We are doing our best that we create a conducive environment and tell our supporters that the issue of violence must end,” he said.

Morgan Tsvangirai addresses mourners Monday
at his house in Harare after his return from Botswana.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Glamis Stadium in the capital, Harare, for Tuesday’s memorial service for Susan Tsvangirai. The funeral will take place Wednesday in Tsvangirai’s rural village of Buhera, south of the capital.

Edwin Tsvangirai, the prime minister’s eldest son, said he saw the president differently after hearing Mugabe’s words.

“I would like to thank the president of Zimbabwe for his words today that made me change my understanding of him,” he said, speaking at the memorial service. Watch Mugabe speak at the service »

Some attending the service traveled long distances. Marriam Garwe said she traveled 200 kilometers (124 miles) to be there.

“I want to pay my last respects to Mrs. Tsvangirai,” said Garwe, 43, who is from Mutoko. “I am sad that she died before Mr. Tsvangirai is the president.”

Morgan Tsvangirai, a leading opposition figure, recently joined a power-sharing government with Mugabe after last year’s bloody election campaign.

His wife was killed when a truck collided with the vehicle carrying the couple on a a busy two-lane highway between Tsvangirai’s hometown of Buhera and the capital city of Harare. Tsvangirai suffered minor injuries in the wreck.

Mark Weinberg, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Harare, told CNN the truck belonged to a U.S. Agency for International Development partner who delivers medical supplies as part of a U.S.-British program.

Members of Tsvangirai’s political party, the Movement for Democratic Change, initially said the prime minister believed Friday’s crash that killed his wife was an assassination attempt.

Tsvangirai dismissed those assertions Monday.

“When something like that happens there is speculation, but I want to assure you, if it was foul play it is one in a thousand,” he said after returning home from neighboring Botswana. “It was an accident that took her life.”

Mugabe has made an effort to show his sympathy and support for Tsvangirai, his political rival. He visited the prime minister in the hospital and has said the government will provide a state-assisted funeral for Susan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai has long been a leading opposition figure in Zimbabwe, but he joined a coalition government with Mugabe last month. That seemed to resolve an impasse created by a disputed presidential election between Mugabe and Tsvangirai last year.

Tsvangirai received the most votes in the March 2008 election, but he fell short of the 50 percent required to avoid a runoff. He withdrew as a candidate in the runoff, citing political violence and intimidation targeting his supporters.

Negotiations between the two sides culminated in the power-sharing agreement that was implemented just weeks ago.

Questions about the wreck surfaced shortly after it happened Friday on a busy two-lane highway between Tsvangirai’s hometown of Buhera and Harare.

The secretary-general of Tsvangirai’s party, Tendai Biti, said police should have provided better security for Tsvangirai. The wreck might not have happened, he said, if a police escort been on hand.

A former U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, Tom McDonald, said the wreck raised suspicion.

“I’m skeptical about any motor vehicle accident in Zimbabwe involving an opposition figure,” said McDonald, who was ambassador to Zimbabwe from 1997 to 2001.

“President Mugabe has a history of strange car accidents when someone, lo and behold, dies — it’s sort of his M.O. of how they get rid of people they don’t like.”

McDonald, however, was quick to add that traffic accidents are common in Zimbabwe. The highway on which Tsvangirai was traveling is a two-lane road on which tractor-trailers are common, he said. Vehicles in the country are often in bad shape and many drivers are inexperienced, he said.

“It’s certainly plausible that this was just one of those tragic things,” he said.

Mugabes’ Far East Shady Businesses Exposed

(Sunday Times) – WHEN President Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace landed in Hong Kong last month on the final lap of a lengthy Asian holiday, she had more on her mind than her usual extravagant shopping for baubles and handbags.

The first lady was focused on two investments designed to keep the Mugabes rich should they one day be forced into exile from Zimbabwe, where thousands are starving and ravaged by cholera and opponents are jailed, beaten and tortured.

One investment was a £4m Hong Kong property in a walled and gated complex where residents enjoy quiet gardens, a clubhouse and a swimming pool. The other was a multi-million-pound diamond venture she is considering launching in China. This involves locating a centre for cutting and polishing diamonds at Qingdao, on China’s east coast, in conjunction with Zimbabwe’s central bank, which is notorious for funding her extravagant travels abroad.

The associate with whom she was discussing the diamonds also had a hand in the purchase of the property.

Last week the Mugabes’ bolt-hole in Hong Kong was exposed by a Sunday Times investigation that highlighted a web of financial intrigue stretching across some of the most exotic and luxurious spots in the Far East, from Malaysia and Singapore to Thailand and Vietnam. It also focused attention on the aggressive methods the Mugabes have used to protect their interests, whether political or financial.

When two journalists went to photograph the house on Friday they were attacked by three African occupants intent on defending the secret of its ownership. Both journalists required medical attention.

It is the first time a Mugabe property in the Far East has been publicly identified despite rumours that the dictator, 84, and his wife, 40 years younger, own several in the region.

This newspaper has established that early last year a man called Hsieh Ping-Sung – whom Grace Mugabe knows as “Jack” – began helping her to buy an opulent residence from a UK-based vendor. Hsieh is the holder of a South African passport which shows that he was born in Durban in 1959. Authoritative sources in Zimbabwe say he has an office in Harare, the capital, and often stays at Meikles, its grandest hotel.

Towards the end of January 2008, Hsieh flew from Hong Kong to Harare, having made thousands of dollars’ worth of purchases, including footwear and T-shirts, on behalf of Grace Mugabe. The items may have been intended for distribution to her husband’s supporters during campaigning for an election the president stole from Morgan Tsvangirai, his rival.

Six months later, on June 28, Cross Global, a company Hsieh had bought off the shelf, acquired House Number Three, JC Castle, 18 Shan Tong Road, Tai Po, for HK$40m (now £3.6m). Sources in Zimbabwe say the Mugabes have the controlling interest in the property. JC Castle is in an isolated estate on a hill surrounded by verdant countryside in the northern reaches of the former British colony.

Its villas and flats cater mostly for affluent Chinese fleeing the smog of Hong Kong’s densely populated central districts. By Hong Kong’s compact standards, the properties are generously proportioned and command high prices.

The complex is developed and managed by one of Hong Kong’s richest and most colourful tycoons, Albert Yeung, whose Emperor group promotes the estate on its website.

Yeung has interests in the casino and entertainment industries and has long been linked by the Hong Kong press to the triad underworld gangs that infest those industries. While he has been investigated by the antitriad division of the Hong Kong police and has appeared in court, he has never been convicted and denies any wrongdoing.

Attempts to reach Hsieh were unsuccessful: an Indian man who answered the door at the company’s registered address, a flat in a tenement block, said he was away.

Western governments say that Mugabe runs one of Africa’s most corrupt regimes and that the president, his cronies and the first lady – known as Dis Grace, First Shopper and Grasping Grace by critics who decry her lavish shopping sprees – have siphoned millions of pounds from Zimbabwe and concealed it in bank accounts and property investments, many in the Far East.

Banned from the European Union and America, the Mugabes have come to regard Asia as a haven where they can go on holiday, indulge themselves unnoticed and guard their investments.

Like other members of Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF elite, they have educated their children at Asian universities. Grace’s son Russell, by her first marriage, to a Zimbabwean air force officer, has been a student in Bangkok. Bona, her daughter by Mugabe, is studying in Hong Kong.

The Mugabes are said to have spent years establishing an eastern financial empire. The president boasted that his policy of building friendship with China and the Asian “tigers” was bringing new economic partnerships and opportunities to his impoverished nation.

“We have turned east, where the sun rises, and given our back to the west, where the sun sets,” he has been fond of saying. His opponents rubbish this “look east” policy as, in effect, “crooks east”, largely for Mugabe’s benefit.

The Mugabes have meticulously cultivated a network of partners and hangers-on across the region to nurture their interests and perform favours.

One of the most important roles of such fixers has been to pamper Grace Mugabe and satisfy her voracious appetite for luxury goods ranging from handbags to gems.

On one trip to Paris in 2003, after finding a loophole in a European Union travel ban, she was estimated to have spent £75,000 on luxury items in a day. She was reportedly once seen with 15 trolley-loads of such treasures in the first-class lounge of Singapore airport. Her champagne lifestyle has been funded throughout by Gideon Gono, head of the central bank, who is said to have given her £64,000 for her most recent holiday.

An £8,700 handbag bought in Singapore is one of her latest acquisitions. On a trip to Vietnam she purchased £55,500 worth of marble statues from Nguyen Hung, a sculptor, for the extravagant mansion she was building in Harare.

Her visit in autumn 2006 is still remembered with a chuckle in Danang. Hung’s brother Nam said yesterday: “The VIP lady bought many marble statues here, lots of vases and animal statues. She stayed just one day but she had seen our website and had been communicating with us for a long time by e-mail. Some of the statues took six months toa year to complete.”

Grace Mugabe’s acquisitiveness seems to know no bounds. In Zimbabwe, where she already has several farms, she has just seized another, this one from a High Court judge who had taken it from its original white owner. She apparently wanted the property for Russell, her son.

There is no definitive accounting of the Mugabe family’s wealth. Authoritative sources in Zimbabwe say they have hidden millions away at a bank in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. Gono, who manages their finances, and Constantine Chiwenga, chief of the defence forces, allegedly have accounts at the same bank. The sources believe that a team of accountants suspected of links to Mugabe and his henchmen manage 10 to 12 accounts in a separate bank in the city.

Mugabe has long made a virtue of developing a strong relationship with Malaysia, a country that he and Grace love to visit and where they are believed to have property as well as bank accounts. It was Enock Kamushinda, an Indian-educated Zimbabwean banker, who was the driving force to establish such links with southeast Asia.

Kamushinda was financial adviser to Mugabe’s first wife, Sally, whose death from kidney failure in 1992 freed the president to marry Grace, his mistress and secretary. Although Kamushinda left Zimbabwe after investigations into alleged financial irregularities and now lives in exile, he remains close to the Mugabes. Sources said he still times his trips to Malaysia, where he established the only overseas branch of a Zimbabwean bank, to coincide with the president’s.

In 2002 Kamushinda was placed on a blacklist by the United States and other countries as one of a number of businessmen who supported Mugabe’s regime. His name was later removed.

While Malaysia – in particular the Berjaya Langkawi beach and spa resort on the island of Langkawi – is the Mugabes’ favoured holiday destination, they also like to visit Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

Wherever they go they readily turn their backs on the grinding poverty of their country and spare no expense at their luxury accommodation – the Meritus Mandarin in Singapore, the Shangri-La in Hong Kong and the InterContinental in Bangkok. On some occasions two floors of a hotel have been shut off for their entourage.

All the hotels are luxurious but some aspects of the Mugabes’ financial dealings are decidedly shabby. They involve the back streets of Hong Kong, dodgy paperwork and hotel bills settled with bags of cash.

In addition to Hsieh in Hong Kong, the money trail throws up an odd cast of Asian characters in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore, acting as courtiers for the Mugabes.

One is Mahmood Awang Kechik, a Malay urologist and specialist in erectile dysfunction who is Mugabe’s personal physician. Kechik has treated him for prostate problems for years but the relationship developed into a business one. Just over a year ago, Kechik abandoned his medical practice and went into business.

In Thailand is Nalinee Joy Taveesin, a prosperous and well connected businesswoman who prides herself on her charity work and who is president of the Thai-Australian Association.

In November, the US Treasury Department tightened sanctions against Mugabe and the cronies who had ruthlessly campaigned to keep him in power through the violent intimidation of opponents who had defeated him and his party at the polls.

As a result Kechik and Taveesin both found themselves blacklisted. Any assets within US jurisdiction were frozen and Americans were prohibited from conducting transactions with them.

The US Treasury Department was particularly hard on Taveesin, accusing her of facilitating financial, real-estate and gem-related transactions on behalf of Grace Mugabe and Gono while participating in good works.

“Ironically, Nalinee Taveesin has participated in a number of initiatives on corruption and growth challenges in Africa and southeast Asia while secretly supporting the kleptocratic practices of one of Africa’s most corrupt regimes,” it said.

Taveesin confirmed last week that she had been a friend of the Mugabes for years, but said: “I have no business involvement with the Mugabes.”

The US Treasury Department claimed that Kechik had been conducting secret transactions with a number of Zimbabweans under sanctions, including Gono and Chiwenga, the defence chief, to generate wealth for them and for the regime. It also said he had used his medical practice to disguise the ultimate destination of medical equipment shipped to Mugabe. Associates of Kechik said last week that they had no idea where he had gone.

In Singapore the Mugabes’ facilitator is a businessman, Jeffrey Ng, owner of Microware Systems. Sources in Zimbabwe said that Ng had helped to buy the $12,500 handbag for Grace Mugabe. He also maintained contact with Bona, studying in Hong Kong, and with Gabriel, a nephew of Mugabe who has undergone medical treatment in Singapore.

The importance of Ng’s role was demonstrated in January when Mugabe gave him dinner at the Mandarin hotel, where he was staying. Ng is believed to be arranging to ship more than $500,000 of computers and other electronic equipment to Zimbabwe.

Last week The Sunday Times approached Ng to ask about his relationship with the tyrant. After confirming that he was “Jeffrey”, he said: “You are talking to the wrong man in the wrong place. This is Singapore.” Then he broke off the conversation and walked away.

This weekend the Mugabes were in Harare, where the president entered a power-sharing agreement with Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change shortly before locking up two of its most prominent members.

However, he and his wife will need to start worrying about the security of their Far Eastern investments. These will come under closer scrutiny by the financial authorities in Hong Kong, where new money-laundering laws have created a special category of “politically exposed persons” for surveillance. Experts say regulators appear obliged to monitor their transactions.

The Hong Kong legislation defines such persons as government, judicial, military and political party officials, plus their families and associates, from countries “where corruption is widespread” and says the risk factors include “unexplained wealth”, the use of accounts at a government bank and any request for secrecy.

By any yardstick, the Mugabes fit that category.

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