Mugabe Launches Two Million Signature Petition

While the million march didn't happen, Mugabe launched his two million signature petition against sanctions.

Many of those signatures were secured through threats of violence and property damage, while others were secured through the promises of loans to small business owners.

It is easy to get the support of people if you are prepared to threaten them, or coax them out if you promise riches aplenty...

petition SfIP8 16744

"Trucks and buses carrying Mugabe supporters arrived Wednesday at open field on the edge of the city center as a volatile mood mounted. The supporters sang slogans and raised Mugabe's trademark clenched fist salute; there were no immediate reports of violence. Mugabe, who is scheduled to address the rally, insists the sanctions have destroyed Zimbabwe's economy. Critics, though, blame his land distribution program for crippling the country's agriculture industry. The sanctions include visa bans and asset freezes on Mugabe and his party leaders. Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe's independence 30 years ago."

Mugabe claims that international sanctions (which he deems 'illegal') have caused the demise of the Zimbabwean economy.

Mugabe loves to blame his woes upon the West.

Maybe this is proof that sanctions (albeit targeted) are working.

Mugabe has magicked up two million signatures in the hope that he can prove to the free world that he and Zimbabwe are 'victims' of the West.

"Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF on Wednesday shut down Harare for the party’s ‘anti-sanctions’ rally, with thousands of people bussed into the capital to demonstrate against the targeted measures.

Hundreds more people were forced to attend the rally, where Mugabe launched the party’s campaign against targeted restrictive measures in place against him and his cronies. SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon Muchemwa explained how market stalls and shops in and around the city were forced to close, with patrons and shop owners frog-marched to the rally.

The MDC’s information department on Wednesday said it was "overwhelmed by a number of calls from Harare motorists and residents reporting acts of harassment and intimidation for their reluctance to join the ZANU PF side-show and non-event." The party said that shop-owners in Avondale were forced to temporarily lock up their doors after truckloads of reportedly drunken ZANU PF youths stormed the shopping centre and ordered people to attend the rally.

Newspaper vendors in the city centre were also forced to flee for safety following an attack by ZANU PF gangs, who ordered them to attend the rally. According to the MDC, one of the vendors was said to have been assaulted and "could be seen bleeding profusely". Another vendor had to seek refuge at the NewsDay newspaper offices.

In Budiriro a resident, Abednico Munda, was assaulted by ZANU PF youths who accused him of not following orders to attend the rally. In Epworth, schools were closed and families were forced to wait for transport to the rally. At the same time, most public transport in the capital was diverted from their normal routes by ZANU PF thugs who, with the assistance of the police, blocked roads and directed people to the rally. Dozens of open lorries and buses were also seen heading to the venue, filled with ZANU PF youths wearing party regalia and chanting the party’s slogans."

I am willing to bet that whilst ZANU PF put on transport to attend the rally, if you could call it that, no transport was available to take the people back to their home areas.

This is how ZANU PF works.

They force people to halt their lives while they get what they want, and having got that enforced 'support', they abandon the people, feeling very pleased with the results.

An amazing sentence in the article for me stated: "...while about 40 ZANU PF youths were seen sitting on the luggage rack of a crammed bus..."

How dangerous is that? Mugabe and his senior loyalists are so eager to show the "support" for the party, that they are fully prepared to put the supporters lives at risk.

Robb WJ Ellis

The Bearded Man