Obama to honour Zim women with rights award

It's great to see women acknowledged for non-violent action. "There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." Women and men from all over the world should be "a force more powerful" as they stand up and take action to let leaders know that the time for bad governance is up. Keep it up, Woza! Keep it up Moza!

Is it true that more than 75% of Zim parliamentarians are not in favour of a new constitution because that would mean that they won't serve out their 5 year term? If it's true it's really bad news.

In all these years, not a single word of criticism from our government. Mugabe and his thugs have ruined their country, abused, tortured and killed his own people - so much so that several million of desperate Zim citizens fled their brutal oppressors. Our government literally and figuratively embraced Mugabe and kept silent. We are now treating the SYMPTOMS of the De Doorns and the JHB Methodist Church situations. We all know the CAUSES why Zim citizens ended up there in the first place. Simply silence and some more support for Comrade Bob from the ANC. What a disgrace… Voters, where are you?

Did you notice the bit about the organisation being mixed race, white and black.

It's one of the reasons ZANU and Mugabe hate them so much, because they want to ethnically cleans Zim of Whites, with the support of their comrades in the ANC.

And everyone in Africa denies this, since Black people cant be racist, they are only xenophobic.

alisdair budd you have r hatred of african progress you dont want the people of zimbabwe to gain what rightly belongs to them .i have been looking over your comments about zimbabwe over the couple of months and today i felt i should let you know zimbabwe is gone for the white man they might return when mugabe is dead or what but not like before when they controlled everything..

Our government not only keeps silent on the human rights violations, vote rigging and political intimidation, but also supplies Bob with weapons and ammunition.

There will NEVER be stability in southern africa, with bob and his generals in power.

MDC-T a month ago held a function to launch a Trust Fund in honour of Learnmore Jongwe a man they eulogised as a hero and champion for democracy. Learnmore Jongwe murdered his wife in cold blood by stabbing her several times in a francied attack with a kitchen knife. He later committed suicide in remand prison while awaiting trial for the murder.

The moral of this story is that WOZA have been very conspicuous by their silence on this obvious vulgar glorification of a wife killer because he belonged to the MDC and they are in bed with them. People get awards for being said to be fighting against Mugabe even if they ignore more elaborate violations by other notables. Mugabe is an obvious award winning activity for these so called activists.

anything you say against mugabe is bound to make you famous even if they a lies and people claim that they want are free and fair environment when infact when they themselves r not doing that inga zvakaoma viva zanu pf

What Dear Fungayi Dzvinyangoma,

Rather like ZANU said Lookout Masuku was a terrorist, so dangerous he had to be imprisoned for four years under the old Rhodesian Emergency laws used by Mugabe and ZANU , after he led ZAPU to help liberate Zimbabwe then watched ZANU steal his country and his acheivements:

http://www.zimdiaspora.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2252:lookout-masuku-son-attends-zapu-uk-meeting&catid=38:travel-tips&Itemid=18

And did you notice the bit about trumped up false charges, that when they didn't stick, were imprisoned anyway to be tortured until their party gave in and formed a "Unity" govt?

Might start realisinghow obvious it is that ZANU are just using an old trick on Bennnett, Gwezere, Mukoko and the MDC, because they are too stupid to think up a new one.

Alisdair Budd, so are Jane Williams and Magondonga Mahlangu being honoured for fighting for Masuku's rights? What does Masuku's terrorist label have to do with women's rights. Margaret Thatcher called Nelson Mandela a terrorist who should rote in prison while she was your PM backing the apartheid government in SA so what? Your country was built on slavery and brutal colonialism which you yourself are a beneficiary hence the interest in Zimbabwean affairs so whats new.

These women are cheapening what they stand for in return for these meaningless awards by countries that do not respect human rights of other countries. What human rights award can the US or anyone linked with it give to someone while Guantanamo Bay is heaving with innocent people detained for 8 years without trial?

I will highlight another hypocritical situation which exposes this obvoius anti-Mugabe charade. Trudy Stevenson almost got killed by an MDC-T gang led by a thug called Tonderai Ndira whom the MDC considers another one of their heroes and again WOZA were loudly silent. These women while they started well seem to now only be interested in headlines. I don't respect Williams for contradicting her fight. She is campaigning against the suffering of the majority but does not want ZDERA repealed. I am sure Alisdair as a well read Brit you are now fully acquinted with the contents of this US law and it's impact on a developing economy?

Alisdair Budd, I challenge you to put a lead to ZDERA just like you do with all these anti-Mugabe websites!

Woza women has shown great courage and determination in their fight for basic human rights in Zimbabwe. This is recognition well earned and deserved. Well done one and all. We are all very proud of you.

Ms Mahlangu and Ms Williams talked Zimbabwe writing "a home-grown Constitution, which would lead to real elections." (Don't we all!)No doubt Woza will throw its full weight to achieve this. But before you go any further, ladies; I think you should ask yourselves this: do you serious expect Mugabe to produce a democratic constitution and to hold free and fair elections? The answer has to be a big NO!

Mugabe has too much power in this GNU for it to achieve anything. It is now ten months since the GNU was formed and still the parties are bickering over trivial issues whilst the burning issues of the return of law and order, economic recovery, etc remain untouched. The GNU is a dead lose!

Botswana’s President Ian Khama has proposed a way out for Zimbabwe; hold internationally supervised fresh elections NOW. I believe this to be the best and only way forward and Woza should give the proposition its serious consideration.

Fungayi

Woza has been doing a sterling job in fighting for human rights in Zimbabwe but, I am sure, Woza will be the first to admit that they did not cover all the bases. You are clearly passionate about Learnmore Jongwe, ZDERA, etc. Why don't YOU champion these causes?

You are angry that Woza championed causes affecting millions of Zimbabweans who are themselves the helpless victims of a brutal regime. You want Woza to drop these and take up the causes affecting a select few who are in most cases the worst human rights offenders in ther own right! You are sick!

Dear Fungayi Dzvinyangoma,

Lookout Masuku was the military leader of ZIPRA, the Military wing of ZAPU, in the Liberation War for Zimbabwe, or dont you know your history and "Liberation Heroes", and his treatment is one of the reasons that most Matabeles hate ZANU. (Gukurundhi is the other.) And believe any of ZAPU left in ZANU are all sellouts.

I am in the EEC, ZIDERA only applies to the USA.

Why not go ask Latin America, or Japan, why they dont invest in Zim, since ZIDERA doesn't apply to them?

Nor does it apply to SA which is why Old Mutual is curretly helpin the Zim Herald to print hate speech and the Generals and Zim army to kill peasants for diamonds in Marange.

And I have better things to do than rant about "Sanctions" because you tell me to, since I am not an idiotic coward who sups with the people who killed his wife and torture his supporters, like the puppet Tsvangarai.

Dear Fungayi Dzvinyangoma,

Lookout Masuku was the military leader of ZIPRA, the Military wing of ZAPU, in the Liberation War for Zimbabwe, or dont you know your history and "Liberation Heroes", and his treatment is one of the reasons that most Matabeles hate ZANU. (Gukurundhi is the other.) And believe any of ZAPU left in ZANU are all sellouts.

I am in the EEC, ZIDERA only applies to the USA.

Why not go ask Latin America, or Japan, why they dont invest in Zim, since ZIDERA doesn't apply to them?

Nor does it apply to SA which is why Old Mutual is curretly helpin the Zim Herald to print hate speech and the Generals and Zim army to kill peasants for diamonds in Marange.

And I have better things to do than rant about "Sanctions" because you tell me to, since I am not an idiotic coward who sups with the people who killed his wife and torture his supporters, like the puppet Tsvangarai.

@Alisdair Budd Your comment that the ANC or Mugabe is trying to cleans south Africa of whites is absurd..and a lie!! Your white Rhodesians fear strong black leaders. That has always been the problem with the so-called White-Africans. Zuma and Mugabe are strong ppeople, they do not fall for any whiteman's lies or proding. You talk about ethnic cleansing and you forget how evil, savage whites behavored during aparthied and Rhodesia. That was ethnic cleansing!!

sibanda: Oh, trying to use apartheid to justify murder, and torture in Zim? Bob has been pres for 30+ years in Zim.

But you still blame the white man. I think you are being lied to by your black leaders.

The funny thing is, you believe the lies.

Mr Dzvinyangoma has a point on Learnmore but he wasnt proven guilty in a court-o-law because the zanu pf prison machinery martyred him before due process could be applied which is why WOZA had no say in the matter.

What is it that British-American's wants from Zimbabwe because it looks like Mugabe is blocking their way. The way is this is profit driven, which to me is no different from dictatorship.I still think people are very wrong especially Africans about the good, which they think Obama will bring to Africa.

Alisdair Budd, when you are fully knowlegeable about British history then can you lecture me on Zimbabwean history's who is who in the liberation struggle. For your information Zimbabwean high school history syllabus is very thorough on the liberation struggle from beggining to end. You really are desparate to be Zimbabwean or at least get one up on me about trivia on Zim. Keep trying you will get there someday.

I wonder what gives you the authority to dicatate to Zimbabweans which party they should belong to or associate with lest you consider them sellouts? Is it the master in you speaking since you are a whiteman and all? There is such a thing as freedom of association that we were denied by your Rhodesian relatives and our heroes brought to us by the barrel of a gun. Noone is born belonging to a political party after all its all about ideology so for you to say those former ZAPU members in ZANU PF are sellouts is your desperation to be an authority on Zimbabwe overplaying itself.

"Your country was built on slavery and brutal colonialism which you yourself are a beneficiary..." Coming from someone living in ENGLAND that is so rich. Are you not a beneficiary of all THAT, Fungayi?

Alisdair Budd. According to Africa Confidential, up to 4,000 ex-ZIPRA guerrillas deserted from the national army (1 Dec. 1982). The same source of information described the deserters' activities in the following terms:

Activity by the ex-ZIPRA dissidents usually takes the form of armed robberies of stores, farms, buses, trucks and mines, and harassment, sometimes murder, of resident Shonas. Probably about 100 people have been slain including eight whites and an Asian in Matabeleland since February [1982], when Joshua Nkoma was expelled from government (ibid.).

In its 4 August 1982 edition, Africa Confidential referred to "six foreign tourists abducted by ZIPRA guerrillas on 23 July" [1982].

Describing the dissidence within the Zimbabwean army, Africa South of the Sahara revealed that:

During 1982 dissiden[ce] from ZIPRA, ZAPU's former guerrilla army, and former colleagues who had deserted from the new national army, perpetrated numerous indiscriminate acts of violence.

This might help your selective self to put into perspective what Gukurahundi was all about and not the one sided versions you get from Sokwanele and the likes.

Marius de Kock, I wouldn't waste my time worrying about potshots from an apartheid beneficiary who still revels in days gone by and the privilege about to disipate. Britain was built on slavery and colonialism. I am here to enjoy the fruits of the sweat of my fellow men and women as well as the minerals that were stolen. I am thinking of quitting work and going on benefits! What do you think?

Alisdair Budd you may also want to research about these individuals Malcolm Calloway, William Casey, Kevin John Woods and their links to Supa Zapu and apartheid SADF.

Fungayi. Hau! Going on benefits rather than going back to Zimbabwe to farm your piece of land? Interesting that you consider England as your home now, but will cling onto your patch in Zimbabwe to the exclusion of your fellow citizens. Do you really not think that the coming land audit is going to show you up as being absent? As far as migrant workers in England on working permits go? There are no "benefits" or dole... but go for it if you must. RICH!! Let them eat CAKE!

Marius de Kock noone has been excluded from land ownership in Zimbabwe. The Rhodies in their stupidity wanted it all for themselves or nothing. Mugabe called their bluff now they are playing victim. It's called land redistribution not land seizure as often misrepresented.

Fungayi:
Going on the dole in the UK? What hollow bravado!!

Megan Holden as usual you missed the gist. Typical!

A sixth of the US population is battling to put food on the table

and at least 1.6 million Zimbabweans will need food aid this year, because the cellphone farmer has been absent from his land.... @Megan.. you got the gist just perfectly.

@Marius, I think this time you are only partly right; even if cellphone-farmer were on his land, he wouldn't know what to do with it. And the figures we are hearing are that it is somewhere around 3.5 million, more than half the current population.

Of course Fungayi will go on the dole, just like the black Zimbabwean who got a job with Immigration, then began a scam to sell visas to his compatriots. As Fungayi The All-Knowing said, "Typical"

Fungayi
Please complete the quote: A sixth of the US population is battling to put food on the table (you failed to add) AT SOME POINT LAST YEAR.
That puts a whole new slant on things doesn't it!!
Oh I get your gist alright!!!
In the Job Centre/ Dole office queue this morning, ready to sign on? Or are you all mouth and no b*lls.

LA QUEBECOISE "the black Zimbabwean who got a job with Immigration". Need I say more about what you really are?

@Fungayi...and what would that be? Someone who reports the truth. Oh gosh, ytou're not that person are you? Ooops, sorry

LA QUEBECOISE = racist!!! Why couldn't it just have been a Zimbabwean? What exactly were you trying to prove about black people inspite of your low opinion of them?

@ Fungayi...

Two reasons first, like the Irish and the French in my country, the underclass if you will ...when one of us got a job, we scoured around for one for our brother/cousin etc. Just like you all do in Africa, only you're so colour blind, you see it as 'colour' instead of nepotism.

Second, by and large, white Zimbabweans aren't given jobs in the bureaucracy; they 'do care' , waitressing, cleaning and other things. People feel sorry for the black Zimbabweans, and give them 'real jobs'.

@ Fungayi, and lastly because you & the others who foam at the mouth are so easy to provoke into your violent tirades, so that people can see it is NOT only Mugabe who speaks like that; there are plenty like you in Zim, and that Mugabe isn't there solely by coercion, but as the result of the will of thousands of irrational people like you.

Have a nice day

@ Fungayi. What you dont' understand is that people don't hate black people. SOme of us, just don'tunderstand black societal culture; what we see as stealing and brutality and inequality. You speak of a perfect society, which may have worked after a fashion a hundred years ago, and don't seem to be working on finding a way to transfer those values which you hold dear to a functionning modern society which works for all; correcting the societal imperfections which all societies have, as you go along. And if anyone says anything, you label us 'racists'

LA QUEBECOISE no amount of explantion can wash away your prejudices and racist overtones. You have exposed yourself and I am sure even your friend Marius de Kock cannot believe that he has been agreeing with a Nazi sympathiser.

What do you mean when you say people don't hate black people? Which people? You are a rabid racist. All the things you mention are based on xenophobia and ignorance. What is black societal culture in this post modern multi-cultural society? You are not living in Rhodesia, apartheid SA or nazi Germany anymore? That time is past. People are nolonger defined by the colour of their skin. You are the one living in the past and you need to be brought into the 21st century. Ignorant Racist!!

Do not try to pass yourself as representing all white people because you don't. I called you racist and if you revisit your postings you will see how racist and ahistorical you really are. Your kind of thinking and all your views are typical Rhodie, Ian Smith, Botha and Hitler type. You think so lowly of blacks and you try to pass that off as failure to understand them. When was there ever an announcement that white people are the easiest to understand? Do you understand all your fellow white people?

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama presented Magodonga Mahlangu and her organization Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in a White House ceremony.

The irony of this award is astounding, given that it is done on the backdrop of increasing calls for an explanation of why thousands of innocent civilians died in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East over an illegal war waged by the US and UK and their allies

The pictures of Mahlangu and Jenny Williams at the White House are sad reminders that while African states will be labelled dictatorial and dragged to the Hague, there can never be justice for millions who die elsewhere as powerful states kill with impunity.

They are being praised for "defying" Mugabe's riot police yet in the British papers today was this headline, "Police image damaged by strong arm tactics at G20."

The judge who oversaw the trial of serial killer Dr Harold Shipman is to lead the inquiry into alleged war crimes by UK soldiers in Iraq. BBC News 25.11.2009

Fungayi, I have to agree with you with regard to your accusations against the British - they are indeed devious and inconsistent! Didn't they award your great leader, Mugabe, a Knighthood or to be more precise "The Order of Saint Bath" probably one of the most prestigious and high profile awards they possess! And wasn't your leader also awarded an Honoury Doctorate and degrees by Western Institutions? Goodness gracious, it only stands to reason that he must have done something extra, extra special to please his former colonial masters especially when you consider that Madiba or any other African leaders for that matter failed to achieve any such high recognition. The unanswered question that begs to be answered is, "what did Mugabe do to deserve such incredibly high praise?"...nothing comes for nothing in this world!

Ephraim Molai they were trying to bribe him so that he does not impliment land redistribution. When that did not work they withdrew the honourary degrees and the Knighthood. He told them where to go and put it. He does have 7 of his own degrees he earned while in Ian Smith's prison so the honourary degrees meant nothing to him. Tsvangirai does need them though as he does not have anything after his name.

Ephraim Molai you also lied about Madiba, the only living man with a statue standing in the centre of London. Sir Seretse Khama, Sir Ketumile Masire, Sir Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Mugabe never referred to himself as Sir which is what a Knighthood entails because he had read the script.

Don't forget Mugabe's knighthood has since been annulled by the Queen of England. If he was so anti Britian why did he accept it in the first place irrespective of whether he used the title or not!!
Fungayi please stop comparing Madiba with the likes of Mugabe. Do not insult a true hero such as Madiba. Madiba has a statue because he deserves it!!!

Megan Holden, calm down and follow context. Molai said Madiba has never been honoured by the west while Mugabe was knighted. If you actually read and understood my posting you would have seen that I said the knighthood was withdrawn by the British because Mugabe refused to be bribed into selling out the real struggle - Land. Mugabe may not be your hero but he is our Zimabwean and African hero. He does not need European, British or American endorsement to be one. His actions resonate with the majority of Africans save for a few lapdogs and sellouts chasing worthless awards from countries with chequered human rights records at home and abroad.

Receiving a human rights award from the US is like receiving a racial integration award from Voster, Botha or Hitler. Mugabe accepted the knighthood out of courtesy to the Queen like the statesman he is. He has never said he is anti-British, that's just your assumption. Being anti-imperialist is not the same as being anti-British.

Fungayi
How absurd you comments are! I am most confused: Obama is the leader of the US, right, and as leader of the US and representing the US;he awarded these two ladies, again right. So what you are actually saying that as you are fiercely opposed to these awards being given to Zimbabwean women because the country and it's leader is wonderful. Right. What I don't get though you are tarring Obama; being the leader of the USA; with the same brush as apartheid and nazi leaders because he; as US president, gave these women human rights awards?
And speak for yourself only, Muagabe is not mine or millions more Africans hero.
What planet are you on!! Mugabe accepted knighthood out of courtest, what a load of hogwash..........

Megan Holden. Survey of greatest Africans done last year or year before:

1. Nelson Mandela
2. Kwame Nkrumah
3. Robert Mugabe

After all by your own confession you are half African like Obama and Khama.

Obama is the president of the US and yes I am painting him with the same brush as Nazis because he represents US interests as well as abuses at Guantanamo until he actually closes it and Abhugraib in Iraq for which he is witholding evidence of gross torture.

I know you are a simpleton so I will let you off as you are easily flattered by cosmetic things.

Fungayi: whatever!!!

Being mixed race is not a confession but an asset.

Zimbabwe is facing heart breaking economic problems and the root cause is Mugabe. It is really disappointing there are any Zimbabweans out there who would be spending time defending the dictator. Sadly there are and Fungayi Dzvinyangoma is one of them. How much is Mugabe paying you to do this or are you doing it out of sheer stupidity!?