31 Years Of Lies & Violence

Mugabe famously said, during his speech now dubbed “The Hand of Reconciliation” that he wanted to work together with those who he previously labelled as enemies.

"If yesterday I fought you as an enemy, today you have become a friends and ally with the same national interest, loyalty, rights and duties as myself. If yesterday you hated me, today you cannot avoid the love that bonds you to me and me to you. The wrongs of the past must now stand forgiven and forgotten."

Thirty-one years later those very words that he uttered and about to bite him, and bite him hard.

If the 'wrongs of the past' are 'forgiven and forgotten', then why does Mugabe and his fickle ZANU PF party raise such a stink about the mass grave 'discovered in Mount Darwin, those killed, he claims, by the Rhodesian security forces.

Why, whenever he opens his mouth, does he hold the ever-decreasing population of whites in Zimbabwe as 'enemies'?

bullet proof vest for mugabe brhTo 16744

And why does the aged leader find it necessary to wear a bulletproof vest when in the public eye?

It becomes more and more apparent that Mugabe says what he needs to at the time, failing to stand by that which he said before, in total belief that people should do what he says, not what he does.

And while the country struggles to survive daily under the vicious rule of Mugabe, he has the audacity at the country's 31st independence day celebrations to defend his rule.

How many people have died as a direct result of Mugabe's rule since 1980? I reckon that if the true number of dead people were known, Mugabe would lose much of the support that he claims to have.

We know of between twenty and thirty thousand people in the first 7 years in power, and who knows how many since? (And Mugabe has acknowledged the Gukurahundi, but has had a government minister and and a priest arrested for holding a memorial for those killed in that operation, for, what the police say is 'communicating falsehoods'...)

"Zimbabwe's president defended the nation's bitterly divided coalition government as the southern African country on Monday marked 31 years of independence from Britain.

President Robert Mugabe said the coalition he joined after violence-plagued elections in 2008 missed some objectives "here and there" and faced "outright misunderstandings," but strove for national unity despite Western interference. Monday is the anniversary of Zimbabwe's 1980 independence.

Critics blame Mugabe for stalling reforms under the power-sharing deal and not stopping surging political violence.

After recent, repeated medical treatment in Singapore, Mugabe, 87, strode the length of two soccer fields to inspect a military parade in the blazing sun during independence celebrations on Monday.

In a robust 30-minute address at a 50,000-seat sports stadium afterwards, he called for peaceful campaigning ahead of fresh elections he wants this year."

"Western interference"? I would love to know what Mugabe is talking about here. He has studiously avoided a straight confrontation with the West, preferring to snipe during his numerous public addresses, and he will take whatever Western aid he can lay his thieving hands on - but what 'interference' does he refer to?

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mugabe couldn't get enough involvement from the West. Only his disastrous rule has proved a difficult pill for the West to swallow and they have turned their collective backs on him.

"Mugabe has said he regretted joining the coalition with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, and wants early elections to bring it to an end."

It is almost an unspoken rule that Mugabe will peddle that idea of non-violence in Zimbabwe, while his party continue with their violent oppression of the Zimbabwean people.

"Tsvangirai, in a separate independence anniversary message issued by his party, said the coming year holds "many challenges, dangers and difficult choices".

"There will be many treacherous voices to try and convince you to cast away your determination for a new, democratic Zimbabwe," he said.

International human rights group Amnesty International said Monday that Zimbabwe human rights abuses continue and give rise to fear.

"People in rural areas in particular remain in fear" after years of violence orchestrated by Mugabe party militants and police and military loyal to Mugabe, Amnesty said."

And then there is Mugabe's accusation that the West is 'interfering' in Zimbabwe...

"On Monday, Mugabe again accused the West of interfering in Africa.

He accused Western nations of breaching the United Nations charter with their bombardment of Libya.

Europe and the United States wanted to make it their "sacred mission to interfere" in other countries' affairs, he said.

"When will they ever realize there is international law. They tear the UN Charter to pieces" for their own political and economic interests, he said."

Mugabe would do well to ensure that his own house is clean before throwing allegations at the West...

And he says that he regrets entering into a coalition with the MDC. What other option was there? The MDC won a parliamentary majority, whilst he 'won' the Presidency... Was there another alternative to the coalition?

The gloves are off. Mugabe is now going for the jugular...

"The aged Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe has warned that more MDC senior officials would be incarcerated - in a speech to mark the country’s 31 years of independence.

Mugabe, 87, defended the arrests of MDC cabinet ministers saying the uniformed forces would deal with "them".

The National Healing and Reconciliation minister Moses Mzila-Ndlovu is languishing in police cells in Lupane while Energy minister Elton Mangoma was arrested twice in a month over corruption allegations.

The Zimbabwean dictator defended the crackdown against ministers from MDC formations and activists saying those who break the law would be punished."

I fully understand that breaking the law has its own repercussions, but Mugabe must be very honest to the people of Zimbabwe and act in the same manner against his own people.

Start with the security chiefs - the very people that orchestrated the Gukurahundi. That will never happen as Mugabe is as blood soaked as those he seeks to shield. He cannot, with any honesty at all, make the assertion that his ministers and officials are not without any blame. Indeed, more so than any MDC ministers...

But Mugabe protects his own.

Robb WJ Ellis

The Bearded Man