Zimbabwe opposition chief quits run-off, handing win to Mugabe

Monday 23rd June, 06:13 AM JST

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Madverts at 06:06 PM JST - 23rd June

Ian Smith didn't want the native Zimbabwaen's in power full stop.

Looking at history with hindsight is never very fair, bebert - who could have known Mugabe would end up this obsessed with power.
Madverts at 06:07 PM JST - 23rd June

Sorry "earned it".

Same difference.
Madverts at 06:10 PM JST - 23rd June

superlib,

"Maybe people in Zimbabwe aren't ready for democracy. Maybe they need a man like Mugabe to lead them."

Nice try, but the mod has already said he won't have that comparison. Heh, and when the un-mentionable held "elections", they never ended up like this fiasco.

Mugabe is a miserable failure - over the course of his near 30 year reign he took the most affluent country in Africa and turned it into a sh!thole with 1400% inflation.
RedMeatKoolAid at 08:12 PM JST - 23rd June

This Mugabe chap could be the last King of Scotland.
Madverts at 08:24 PM JST - 23rd June

"King of Scotland"?

meat,

That was a work of fiction.
unscrejects at 10:17 PM JST - 23rd June

Madverts: FYI : www.africanews.com/site/page/weblog_overview check out: "Mugadza's weblog" Go to all articles and scroll down 3/4 of the page to: the article on Israeli intelligence and Mugabe

Also take a look at the pictures on the blog but be warned they're horrific. As I've been trying to tell all you folks - Zimbabwe's mess is horribly bigger than you are imaging. Secondly it is a thousand miles away from what you think it is. We are beyond help - if help is that so-called political solutions being offered by the west. Our problem is Congo Coltan, Cobalt, Gold, Diamonds etc. The names Bredankamp and Rautenburk should give you a hint. Yes, Zimbabwe was prosperous but Mugabe didn't squander the wealth as you unfortunately believe. Saddly the world is going to get the Scot McCellan inside look on Harare when it's too late. The line between good and evil in Zimbabwe is so clear to the people - and embarrassingly Zimbabweans abroad and within are pretending to the rest of the world about the actual story of our troubles. That is the single greatest tragedy for us because we are allowing the west to continue antagonizing Mugabe while we clearly know that the multinationals crashed our economy to get rid of Bob (Congo). Let me also remind readers of JT that the war veterans were with Tsvangirai in 1998!
unscrejects at 10:24 PM JST - 23rd June

niku: go back to bed will you. Remember Rumsfeld's "They'll welcome us with open arms"? Trust me, the common folk in Zimbabwe have zero sense of diplomatic 'respect'. Foreign ambassadors running around the country like they're shielded by devine power are seriously running the risk of lynching. God knows how many horrible scenes I saw in Zimbabwe when I was in the service. Excuse me for being ignorant but I sense that perhaps one or two ambassadors are actually being set-up by their countries - to be lynched. Africa is afterall a funny place to do business.
Madverts at 11:31 PM JST - 23rd June

sushi,

Bush is a world class statesman compared to Mugabe.
Madverts at 11:33 PM JST - 23rd June

reject,

The head of the MDC has just taken refuge in the Dutch embassy, as more than 60 supporters of Mr Tsvangirai's party were arrested at its Harare headquarters.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7469705.stm

Wronged was Mr Mugabe, how right you are.
bebert at 12:07 AM JST - 24th June

who could have known Mugabe would end up

Maybe people that were there. For example, read Peter Godwin's book "Mukiwa." He was one of those bleeding heart liberals who welcomed the death of Rhodesia. He was a native of the country. What he noticed, though, was that Mugabe started killing -literally killing- his rivals soon after he took power. Dumping their bodies down mine shafts, etc. That was back in the 1980's. Now people are only catching onto his dark side after inflation runs 1000% and refugees cause trouble for other multi-culti nightmare nations like South Africa. Please. Zimbabwe was a democracy at one time and a safe place to live - when it was Rhodhesia, ever since, it has been sliding toward African anarchy.
Madverts at 12:30 AM JST - 24th June

bebert,

I'm well aware of the situation - your position seems much more reasonable now you're not saying Ian Smith has been "vindicated" and that these people have "earned" to be crapped on in this manner.
bebert at 01:22 AM JST - 24th June

Madverts, I certainly don't believe any people should be "crapped on" and the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe is awful. The point I was trying to make was that Rhodesia was a stable, prosperous nation. The West came in and collapsed that stability. They installed a strongman and we've seen what sort of fruit that has borne. I'm not a great admirer of the Anglo-sphere, but where it has rooted around, it seems to have provided the structure of the rule of law. That's not so bad.
Triumvere at 01:48 AM JST - 24th June

inflation runs 1000%

Add a couple of zeroes. Add a few more...

Were at something like 3 billion Zim$ to 1 US$. I'm sure by tomorrow it will be double that.
Madverts at 02:41 AM JST - 24th June

Bebert,

I'm sorry if I took your comments too seriously. Nobody deserves Mugabe. And all Mugabe deserves is an accident.

I don't think the West is to blame however - the PC crowd at the time Mugabe came to power would have hung, drawn and quartered anyone supporting an apartheid regime - despite that I have a secret feeling if Smith had continued to rule, the people of Zimbabwe would probably quite affluent.

History is easy with hindsight.
unscrejects at 10:18 PM JST - 24th June

bebert: Peter Godwin's book is a total con-job! I know exactly which mine shafts he was refering to - my best friend, Hapaguti, was the one who discovered the remains - in 1984. They were from 1979!!!!!!1 Rhodesian kills from the Botswana ZIPRA camps. The book Mukiwa is a piece of crap. The Fifth Brigade he talks about was in Matabeleland less than three months! They were demobilized by Mugabe not for their sake but because their North Korean instructors were smuggling counterfeit US dollars and Mandrax. Besides they suddenly billed Mugabe for their "free" services - $38,000 US per man per month. I believe we paid to aoid the undesireable... The entire Rhodesian war killed 22,000 from 1967 to 1980. How did Godwin come up with 22,000 dead in Matabeleland? And he clearly fails to mention that we were fighting 22,000 Russian and south african sponsored terrorists from Joshua Nkomo's ex-army. The lies out of Zimbabwe are the same racist crap we've had to deal with since Ian Smith's failed coup of 1981.