Mugabe: Zim ready for friendly relations with West

Educate me again on how sanctions against him and his inner circle translates to sanctions against Zimbabwe unless it is an admission that they have parceled out Zimbabwe among themselves.
If you believe Mugabe then you would believe anything given how just recently he said he is not letting go. Why would they, it is his kingdom with fiefdoms controlled by his surrogates.

Pure double speak: "LISTEN to what I say. Don't LOOK at what I do."

"end sanctions on him and his inner circle."

There we go again! Zimbabwe will never be resolved until the West admits it's role in these Economic sanctions on the Zimbabwean government...

But the good thing is that these actions have created an opportunity for a new, fair and balanced approach to land ownership and wealth redistribution!It has come with a heavy cost to the people of Zimbabwe but it is here... Good shot!

Mukai Sithole

you don't have to believe Mugabe, just go to the US foreign policy on Zimbabwe passed in 2001 called ZDERA! It is there in the US foreign policy that states...

It will use it's veto rights to stop financial aid, debt relief or debt extension, to the GOVERNMENT of Zimbabwe, not only Mugabe and his inner circle...

I did not believe it until i saw it signed and approved by the US government, the Policy is easily accessible online!!

The travel bans and account freezes are apart of the sanctions but they will not disclose ZDERA because they know you will only focus on the newspapers and nothing else!

I challenge you to look at ZDERA and come back to tell me that the sanction is only for 200 individuals...

@2boy. The US administration has continued to pour millions of dollars into Zim, as have the EU and many other donors. But they don't give the money to the government - they channel it through NGOs, because the government refuses to be held accountable for how they spend donor funds. This information is also freely available, and it doesn't amount to sanctions.

Private companies have also declined to invest in or trade with the Zimbabwean government, because of their refusal to guarantee property rights, or to pay their bills. That isn't sanctions, either, it's unavoidable for any company that hopes to remain in business.

I'm afraid you're going to have to try a lot harder to convince anyone except yourself that there's some kind of global conspiracy against Zimbabwe.

The world is not the USA and the USA is not the world.
There are already a large number of NGO's at work in Zimbabwe.
He will not allow any debt relief or aid that is not chanelled through his hands; tells you something doesn't it?
It doesn't matter the extent of the travel ban. Except for his circle, Zimbabweans don't have 20 cents for travelling anywhere.
He has simply destroyed a nation and abused HIS OWN PEOPLE. He is the real criminal and has nothing left to offer anyone, Zimbabweans included. Any money channelled into that place is money lost. Only his permanent removal from office will help Zimbabwe. No Mugabe, money the next morning, guaranteed.

It is funny how Mukai Sithole believes this propaganda machine called the mail and guardian. Each time they publish a story on Zim they give emphasis on targeted sanctions on 'Mugabe and his cronies' instead of acknowledging that the European union and the United States slatted economic sanctions on Zim. Please try not to show such bias in your reporting. Or if you don't have all the facts please do your homework first.

Thank you Alastair for providing that counter- reality. We Zims know who has continued supporting the people despite the best efforts of Mugabe to commandeer the aid that is coming in to use as a propaganda machine or to force people to vote for them.
2boy may have read of the policy, but the reality is Zimbabweans have survived under this crappy dictatorship because they had alternative support from governments like the US. That is a reality even he/she cannot deny.

I bet you Grace wants to go shopping in London, Paris, Berlin or Rome. Malaysia and China can't be exciting.
To me, a grovelling apology from Bob to the "bloody whites" followed by an admission of his guilt in the destruction of his land and the persecution of white farmers in Zim will be a good start to get things going. Nuff said.

And believe what you will too Garai. You also show a propensity to believe the propaganda from the state machinery on what the issues are. Just because Mugabe sings from the same hymn sheet every time does not make it any more a reality.

2 boy the one, the you go again. Are you really so stupid? Millions of Zimbweans have been affected by the greedy meglomaniac and you still want to defend him? And yes the west only imposed sanctions on the thieves in Zimbabwe. This man is grasping at straws. His wife is in dire need of a good overseas shopping trip and they will do anyhing to get their hands on the cash. I hope the west tell him to stuff of like he regularly tells them. That goodness we have Obama in America. He doesn't fall for the crap from African dictators and the sad part for them is they can't accuse him of being a racist!!!! 2 boy the one fool, wake up and take your blinkers off.

@2Boy - I see the likes of your (and Julius) mentality in the forefront of the soldiers in Guinea unless you get shot first. Way to go, bru, that's what we need in this land. On top of it you can rape all those all old women as a bonus.
Now that is the kind of thing that informs Western-minded folk, and to them Bob and his ilk are just a variation on the barbaric theme.
But I think this time Africa has gone too far, and no deceitful sweet-talking is going to happen. Have you noticed that even the appeals and assurances (without guarantee, of course) on Zim by our government are more or less ignored.
Zim's ass now belongs to China - we may be next.

Obama has a clear understanding of Zimbabwe, he actually sponsored a bill on Zim while he was Senator. I think Bob has seen that the only way to deal with him is to kneel hat in hand and hope for the best. The old "let it be heard in the towers of London and Washington" rhetoric wont cut this time. How "the mighty" have fallen!!!

2boy- You are benefiting from Mugabe regime and you cant see the evils done by your friends in Zanu PF. You use kill, beat and do all sorts of evils to make people vote for you. I am Zimbabwean and I have seen it all with my eyes. Can you make comments in The Herald like what you are doing in Mail and Gurdian?. You are a hypocrite like Mugabe your partner in enjoying the fruits of the Liberation Struggle while you forget the struggle was fought and supported by Zimbabweans. Be human enough and feel for the people you are oppressing. Dai uri iwe wainzwa sei? HYPOCRITE!

The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA)of 2001 urges ".....the President to consult immediately with the governments of European Union member states, Canada, and other appropriate foreign countries on identifying and imposing travel and economic sanctions against individuals responsible for the breakdown of the rule of law, politically motivated violence, and intimidation in Zimbabwe. (Bill: S. 494) http://www.glin.gov

So, if I get it right, by blocking Mugabe/Henchmen the ordinary Zimbabwean has to suffer?

Did this people planned to by food, etc, and bring it back home?
To me, it is the opposite, by not going, the ordinary Zimbabwean dont pay for all those first class tickets and all the other stupid gadgets and expenses.

Although I hate to dwell on the past, I always wonder how Rhodesia for all its massive faults managed to come out of the international wilderness after 15 years of very hard (and much more severe than Zimbabwe is experiencing now) sanctions with such a strong economy- and all this with a war going on. In fact if I had one question to put to Bob it would be this one. Does anyone else ever think of this? All these sanctions do is stop the big dogs enjoying all their European holiday retreats and stops their business interests over seas. Why oh why then is the same country worse off under much leaner circumstances?

Thank you Themba Hove. I rest my case.

Who are the suckers then 2boy and Peter Garayi?

wants money from the West more like :-) This old man is running out of ideas. Maybe the Chinese can't keep Grace's shoe habit sustained alone?

The EU and US should stand firm. Mugabe will go eventually, but they can't be seen to buckle to this aging dictator until he does. No Mugabe, no sanctions. That easy really.

lilian looney/GUS @ WORK/Alastair Grant

All three of you are stupid!! The fact that Mugabe was sanctioned was not because of mismanagement of finances or human rights abus but because of his land reform and that's why they sanctioned his gvmnt!! In that way, he will have no means to support and develop new farmers. Please read below what ZDERA meant...

The sanctions nature of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 are mentioned below:


SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY.
(c) MULTILATERAL FINANCING RESTRICTION- Until the President makes the certification described in subsection (d), and except as may be required to meet basic human needs or for good governance, the Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against--
(1) any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or
(2) any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.
The institutions directly affected by this policy are listed in Sec 3, titled Definitions:
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.


In this Act:
(1) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS- The term `international financial institutions' means the multilateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund.
(2) MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS-

The term `multilateral development banks' means the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the
International Finance Corporation, the
Inter-American Development Bank, the
Asian Development Bank, the
Inter-American Investment Corporation, the
African Development Bank, the
African Development Fund, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the
Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency

Possibly Mugabe and his inner circle are looking for a way out and this is an opening salvo. What will come next is behind the scenes talks on unfreezing assets, dropping travel bans, AND linking to graceful exit with indemnity.

Robert Mugabe for once spoke with humility but unfortunately he could not bring himself to be truthful. "Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh and cooperative relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us in the past,". The old man could have admitted that the hostility was mutual. If you go into 90% of his diatribes in the past decade, he has only been very hostile not only to the West but Zimbabweans themselves. As for Peter Garayi and 2Boy2, some of the issues you raise are true but you conviniently ignore the obvious fact that more than 99% of the economic problems that Zimbabwe faces arose not from ZIDERA but from non-respect of property rights, wantoon looting, corruption, and a high appettite for printing money from even toilet paper. I have read ZIDERA and unlike you I read it objectively. You have only read a paragraph hear and a line there, you forgot to even read the introduction to this piece of legislation. Please do not insult our inteligence my brothers. Can you be kind to explain why after the GNU Zimbabwean shops have goods, schools are back to life, hospitals are at least open, but ZIDERA has not been repelled. Did ZIDERA instruct Gono tp print money? Did ZIDERA instruct your president to pay almost a million rands to a traditional healer who claimed that money can flow from a rock? Did ZIDERA instruct your president to introduce policies that made it impossible for you to remit your diaspora funds back to Zimbabwe through banks? Did ZIDERA instruct your president and his henchmen to invade productive farms and render them useless? Please dear brothers remove those big logs in your eyes before blaming foreign nations for your stupidity.

Dear Thabisa Sibanda

You are insulting your own intelligence!! The issues of inflations, lack of productivity on fron farms, starvation, basically the breakdown of the economy is not because of Mugabe's management but because of the Sanctions!!

1) How do you fund the land redistribution when international financial institutions that ALL developing economies rely on, reject to give you aid?

2) If you claim that the land was taken illegally then why would the IMF/World Bank fund those farmers who acquired the land, through NGO's?

3) If Mugabe has been misusing funds for the past decade then where does he get the funds from as the IMF/World bank and other institutions gave refused to give Zimbabwe funds?

4) An economy cannot grow without financial aid and that's why the economy started collapsing after ZDERA was implemented in 2001! Before ZDERA, the economy was prosperous! It is not intelligent to deny the fact that the collapse of the Zimbabwean government is in direct correlation with the implementation of ZDERA!

5) I have read the introduction and it has used "human rights abuse", "corruption", etc... How come the very same leader (Mugabe) was adored by the West pre-land redistribution and then after that land redistribution they all of a sudden come up with all these "reasons" for the sanctions?

NB! I have never excused Mugabe for his actions but my issue is the West's interests. I have always stated that the denial of the west for crippling the economy of Zimbabwe by starving it of financial assistance since 2001 has had a MASSIVE effect on the country!

You fool the Zim economy started colapsing in the 1990s. I was in Zimbabwe at the time and so I know what I am talking about. The moment you absolve Mugabe on his mismanagement, I see no reason to debate with you.

2boy, you are so lost. You need sound economic management to grow an economy and not AID. Which economy has grown on AID? Mugabe lacks sound economic management and all he and Gono did was apply trial and error on the economy. What happened to the Global AIDS funds? Who would then pump any meaningful aid directly to a corrupt government. You are only crying because from 2001 Mugabe and his thieves had not too much AID to loot. If you try to look for excuses for the deviant behaviour of Mugabe, you will have a basket of them, but that does not take away the fact that Mugabe is a criminal not fit to lead even a burial society.

Thabisa Sibanda

"You need sound economic management to grow an economy and not AID"

) That's the most ridiculous statement i've heard as those go hand in hand! You need sound economic management to manage the finances. But when you are a developing economy you need financial aid in terms of LOANS!! The loans that Mugabe could have managed are stopped in 2001!

If you are saying that a developing country does not rely on financial assistance to fund it's programs, projects and implement policies, build it's health sector, security sector, financial sector etc in order to mobilise it's economy towards positive change then perhaps you are the looney here!

As such, land redistribution needs capital in order for it to work and when the UK part-funded Zimbabwe in the first round of redistribution 70 000 black Zimbabweans got land!

What you complain about is the effects of the sanctions ie, inflation, starvation, lack of health care etc but not his actions prior to ZDERA!!!!

Even first world countries need financial AID, in fact the UK was at one point banned from borrowing any more money...

Zimbabwe owes the international community more than 5 billion dollars. There is no explanation as to where that amount went. You write here that the West should have allowed him to continually create debts on behalf of Zimbabweans despite the fact that he was actually not voted for in 2002. No sane person will give money to a junta that has just stolen elections and has no sound economic management. Even 2boy will not lend money to a thief!