We posted a blog eight days ago about refugees seeking shelter at the South African embassy.

News today is that about 200 people (at about 5pm) have walked to the American Embassy in Harare to seek refuge.

These were among the approximately 2,000 people who had sought safety at Harvest House, the MDC Headquarters in Harare, after feeling the violence in the rural areas.

Harvest House is an office block and not suited to accommodating so many people, so today people were given a little money and some food to enable them to return to their homes areas. Unfortunately, many  of the people no longer have homes to return to, because their homes have been destroyed by Zanu PF thugs. Many more are simply too terrified to go back.

So they’ve headed to the American Embassy.

This incident has already hit the news:

Ambassador James McGee said embassy officials were working with humanitarian organizations to help find them accommodation.

Riot police were at the embassy, as well as people holding small bundles with their possessions. Police refused comment.

In the past the government has not allowed the  International red Cross to establish refugee camps because it has claimed it does not have a refugee problem. How many people remember Robert Mugabe refusing to allow tents to be supplied to the homeless after Murambatsvina during 2005 because he said tents were not good enough, or some such drivel?

Shame on Mugabe and Zanu PF. Just look what you’ve done!

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Via an MDC Press Release:

Hon. Naison Nemadziva, the MDC MP for Buhera South in Manicaland province was abducted at gunpoint on Monday, 30 2008 by a group of armed men in army uniforms at the Mutare High Court.

His whereabouts are unknown, and the MDC has been making frantic efforts to locate him.

Hon. Nemadziwa had gone to the high court for a court hearing in which the Zanu PF losing candidate, Joseph Chinotimba, is petitioning him over the result of the March 29 election in which Chinotimba lost.

As the MP was coming out of the court at around midday, five armed men who then drove off at high speed forced him into a parked Toyota twin cab truck that had no number plates.

One of the abductors was identified as ZNA colonel Morgan Mzilikazi.

A report was made to the police and MDC lawyers were told that Hon. Nemadziwa had been taken to Muzokomba police station in Buhera.

However, after a follow up to the said police station, Hon. Nemadziwa was not found and the police officers there were not aware of his whereabouts.

Over 10 MDC supporters have been murdered since Zanu PF held its sham election on 27 June 2008 in which the MDC did not participate because of the political violence perpetrated by Zanu PF militia backed by state security agents.

There has been a high increase in abductions, beatings and rapes at Zanu PF torture bases across the country since Zanu PF claimed on Sunday that it had won the “election” with a resounding victory.

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Update: Zambian government denies rumours of Mwanawasa death.

Via Reuters:

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died in a Paris hospital on Thursday after suffering a stroke earlier this week, South Africa’s Talk Radio 702 reported.

The radio quoted a Zambian High Commission spokesman as saying that Mwanawasa died earlier on Thursday morning. Mwanawasa was taken to hospital in Egypt just before an African Union summit on Monday and Tuesday and then transferred to Paris.

Contact details for the Zambian embassy are in this post here if you’d like to send condolence messages. Thanks for the alert mouce.

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The news of the Zimbabwe election sham is common knowledge.  The fact that the dictator and his clique are ruling the country by fear is also common knowledge.

What does not seem to be reaching the headlines properly is the rate of inflation in Zimbabwe.

There is total financial chaos in Zimbabwe.

There is a cash shortage crises in Zimbabwe.

There is an IT meltdown in Zimbabwe.

Companies have had no choice but to take matters into their own hands, and reduce figures by taking off zeros.  Documents then carry a note of multiply by 1 000 or a 100 000.  Scales, cash registers etc display the same notices.

I was told earlier today that most banks (with the exception of five, including RBZ, of course) have been forced to knock off six zeros on the amounts recorded in their systems because their IT systems just could not cope anymore.  They hit crunch time.

» Please click here to continue reading…

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Mugabe rival rejects unity talks (BBC)
Morgan Tsvangirai President of the MDC said that conditions were not suitable for dialogue with Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai said that the African Union (AU) should appoint a mediator to join South African President Thabo Mbeki in his mediation efforts. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) appointed Mbeki as mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis. The AU had during its summit, called for the “creation of a national government of unity” in Zimbabwe. The European Union (EU) has released a statement indicating that it would not support any government in Zimbabwe that is not under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai.

In the meantime, it is reported that the Zanu-PF youth militia’s are on the rampage in Bulawayo, attacking commuter taxi operators and drivers. The militias are accusing the drivers of failing to campaign for Robert Mugabe despite being allocated free fuel by Zanu-PF.

Mugabe’s spokesman dismisses Western criticism of Zimbabwe’s disputed elections (Welt)
George Charamba spokesperson for Zanu-PF’s Robert Mugabe insisted that Mugabe would not step down. “He’s a few days into office and you expect him to retire, do you? … Five days have expired, not even a week after. … Why is the issue of the retirement of the president of Zimbabwe such an obsession for the West?“ he said. “He has come here as president of Zimbabwe and he will go home as president of Zimbabwe, and when you visit Zimbabwe he will be there as the president of all the people of Zimbabwe.“ Charamba said that Zanu-PF had offered dialogue to the MDC but could not promise that anything “beyond that will emerge”. He said when asked about Western criticism that “They can go hang. They can go and hang a thousand times”.

» Please click here to continue reading…

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I was sent a link by someone to a blog post titled  ‘The Alps and Zimbabwe‘ - my curiosity was piqued. Turns out this guy is planning a cycle ride through the Alps in August and will be using his adventure to raise funds for the Zimbabwe Benefit Foundation (that’s the charity behind the little acacia tree button in our blog sidebar). He apparently found out about Zimbabwe Benefit Foundation via our blog and decided to do what he could to help. Really amazing.

It would be great if the rest of us could cheer him on by sponsoring him. Go to justgiving.org for safe secure online donations.

The description he has written for his Alpine crossing is as follows:

Together with some mates I’ve decided ride over the alps this summer. I’m doing it because i like to cycle up mountains, but  I thought it would be a good idea to link this  madness to a good cause.

Zimbabwe is in pretty dire straights at the moment, and the people  need all the help they can get. ZBF is a well known and respected charity, and comes recommended by many folks who know Zimbabwe well.

I will blog about our adventures over on my blog: www.theotherthomasotter.wordpress.com

Thank you Thomas, and good luck!

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The Movement for Democratic Change acknowledges the concern about the Zimbabwe crisis expressed in the resolution adopted at the 11th Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly.

The MDC would like to thank those African leaders who have joined the global chorus by standing on the side of the Zimbabwean people and advocating that their voices be heard.

The MDC would like to thank the Pan African Parliament, SADC and AU observer missions for acknowledging the reality and pervasiveness of the violence in Zimbabwe and refusing to give the June 27th election any credibility or legitimacy.

The common conclusions of all three reports were:

A – the violence negated the credibility of the June 27 elections

B – the election did not reflect the will of the people

C – consequently the outcome is not legitimate.

» Please click here to continue reading…

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We have had emails from you and suggestions left in our comments that it would be a good idea to send Levy Mwanawasa messages. We agree. Let’s send him our thanks for his support for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe and for  trying very hard to get SADC to stand by the Zimbabwean people’s democractic right to elect their own leaders without fear and intimidation.

Levy Mwanawasa suffered a stroke while at the AU Summit in Cairo and is currently in France for medical treatment.

Send him messages and be sure that he knows that Zimbabweans and people all around the world are grateful for all he has tried to do for us; that he must take care of himself and get well; that we wish him a speedy  full recovery. Tell him he is in our prayers.

Country: Zambia
Name: Mwanawasa, Levy
Job title: President of Zambia; Chairperson of SADC
Email 1: differmu@nkwazi.gov.zm
Telephone 1: +260 1 266147
Telephone 2: +260 1 262094
Fax Number: +260 1 266092
Website: http://www.statehouse.gov.zm/
Physical Address: Independence Avenue Woodlands Lusaka Zambia 10101 P.O Box 30135
Organisation: Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Political Party: Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) (Zambia)
Additional information: Levy Mwanawasa is the current SADC Chairman

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I received this cartoon by email today. The issue of Zimbabwe and cricket is in the news again. This cartoon is old and I’m not sure where it was originally published but the story it tells is truer now than ever before.

Also in my inbox this morning was this image of Delani, who is 11 months old and had both his legs broken by Mugabe’s thugs. You can read his story here in The Times, and the image is also now on Flickr.

Both images reminded me of one of our cricket e-cards; if you haven’t seen them head over and check them all out in our ecard section of our site.

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AU needs to explain resolution: MDC (SABCnews)
Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the African Union (AU) should explain the context of its resolution that there should be a government of national unity in Zimbabwe.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, George Shiboshiwe says there are many interpretations of the term government of national unity and a definition is very important.

“By government of national unity are they talking of a transitional government which is going to run for two years allowing for an election in two years, or of a permanent government which has a mandate for five years, or a government led by Robert Mugabe which is inclusive of MDC or a government led by Morgan Tsvangirai inclusive of Zanu-PF?”

» Please click here to continue reading…

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50 000 000 000 50 000 000 000 000 note, released on the 15th may and has just come into circulation - never forget to put back the three noughts removed by Gono in 2006

Final Update ~ 2 July 2008

The German company Giesecke & Devrient has decided to stop printing bank notes for the Zimbabwe regime. Thank you to everyone who supported this call! Links to articles here.

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Yesterday, the German Development Minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, requested that Giesecke & Devrient stop delivering banknote paper (which is printed to denominations in Harare) to Zimbabwe. She said that the firm had signed an ethical code to which it is bound, that this code included human rights violations, and that the delivery of money served to stabilise Mugabe’s regime.

Download the Giesecke & Devrient Code of Conduct here (PDF format)

Giesecke & Devrient yesterday responded by saying it was ‘unsuitable for their organisation to act according to political beliefs‘. They also added that they deliver only to central banks accredited by the World Bank: “Es stehe dem Unternehmen nicht zu, bei der Lieferung von Banknoten und Papier politisch zu agieren. Das Unternehmen beliefere keine politischen Systeme, sondern vielmehr Zentralbanken und auch nur die, die bei der Weltbank akkreditiert sind”.

What Giesecke & Devrient are conveniently failing to appreciate, is that the central bank of Zimbabwe, the Reserve Bank, is headed by Gideon Gono who is a member of JOC: his job is to finance the terror camapign being run by JOC.

» Please click here to continue reading…

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Via the BBC:

African leaders have called for a government of national unity in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe was re-elected unopposed last week.

The resolution was approved at an African Union summit in Egypt, which also saw strong criticism of Mr Mugabe by Zimbabwe’s neighbour Botswana.

The presidential run-off was boycotted by the opposition, which cited widespread political violence.

Both sides have so far ruled out forming a power-sharing government.

More here.

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There are two things that bug me whenever there is a massive crisis or a big newsworthy event taking place in our country:

A. The first is the way we are usually immediately subjected to a fresh wave of Zanu PF rhetoric about how this is a fight against the British and for sovereignty, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, George Bush, sanctions blah -de-blah blah. Wow, I am so tired of this.

B. The second is the way the crisis almost simultaneously provokes another wave of ‘I told you so ’s’ to our email inbox, often with rhetoric about Rhodesia: you see how right we were, why do we bother trying to help that continent; look at how Africa can’t manage itself; leave them to destroy themselves, blah blah blah. This is just as boring and tedious as the Zanu PF rhetoric to me. I am so tired of this too.

» Please click here to continue reading…

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WOZA website here.

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The new week dawned with even more dramatic news.  The USD, trading at over 30 billion to 1 on Friday opened the day at over 60 billion.

As the cash crisis grows, the disparity between the street and the business rates widened as the former relies on the availability of hard cash. When it is in short supply, desperate relatives of economic exiles compete for the ever diminishing ZWD by reducing the price.

As it stands now, no matter the size of the corporation or business, the limit on daily cash withdrawals still remains at ZW $25 Billion, enough to buy 6 fresh eggs!

Likewise, employees do not have enough days in the month to withdraw sufficient cash to pay for their groceries as the financial sector nears collapse.

The OMIR sits at 66 Billion to USD1 and the Hard Boiled Egg Index Fair Value Rate has risen to 28 Billion which is just above the street rate.

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