Inside Story - Zimbabwe's political conundrum - 25 Jun 08

Al Jazeera's "Inside Story" once again does an excellent job of looking at all sides, valid or not, acting in Zimbabwe. The media filter is set to "low" and we get to decide for ourselves.

Part 1

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Part 2

South Africa's credibility victim of Zimbabwe debacle

As MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, seeks refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare, the sound of hand-wringing and tut-tutting from neighbouring countries becomes ever louder.

South African President, Thabo Mbeki, had been designated as mediator in the crisis by the African Union (AU). He has not been an effective mediator to date as the Mugabe regime grows ever bolder in its use of violence against Mugabe's political opposition. Mbeki's ineffectiveness is to some extent understandable as Zimbabwe's neighbours have put very little pressure on the Mugabe regime to behave differently. Perhaps they would not be able to effectively enforce any sanctions anyway and do not want to set themselves up to fail.

President Mbeki's apparent unwillingness to be critical of his old friend Robert Mugabe, never mind take any action action, is having a negative effect on perception of South Africa's own stability and integrity.

The deterioration in Zimbabwe has seen the South African rand falling in value as the chaos in Zimbabwe has increased. That can't be good for South Africans already struggling with rising rising food and fuel prices.

How sad it would be if President Mbeki's apparent confusion over what is right and wrong lead to similar problems developing in his own country.

Reality in Zimbabwe

"We can't ask the people to cast their vote… when that vote will cost their lives."

With those words, Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the final round of Presidential elections to be held on June 27th. Mr. Tsvangirai is leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe and is widely regarded as having won the first round of elections in May only to have it stolen by corrupt election practices

The decision to withdraw came amid a wave of government-backed violence against opposition supporters as well as police harrassment of the candidate himself effectively preventing him from campaigning.

Incumbent, President Robert Mugabe, and the other lawless thugs running Zimbabwe will come to regret this day.

Zimbabwe: Court lifts Police rally ban

The High Court in Harare has lifted the police ban on rallies by the opposition MDC party. The MDC has been attempting to campaign to win the second round of Presidential elections to be held on June 27th.

The police appear to be ignoring the Court order as they have previous court orders. The ban is claimed by the police to be for the protection of politicians who may be the target of anticipated assassination attempts.

Zimbabwe is disappearing down the rabbit hole......

Coup in Zimbabwe

UK newspaper, The Independent, reports that Zimbabwe is now being run by a military junta.

A senior Western diplomat told journalists in London that Zimbabwe was now being run by a military junta, locked in an embrace with President Robert Mugabe. Asked if we have already seen a coup in Zimbabwe ahead of the run-off presidential election in three weeks' time, the diplomat said: "Yes we have. This is a junta," referring to the shadowy Joint Operations Command. "These are the people who have actually kept Mugabe in power."

Anyone surprised? Yet another African country falls into the hands of corrupt thugs in uniform. The thug in this particular tragedy is "General" Constantine Chiwenga, head of the ironically misnamed "Zimbabwe Defence Force".

US and UK diplomats are being held at gunpoint by other thugs of the Mugabe regime. Aid agencies have been accused of campaigning for the Opposition and ordered to suspect operations.

Zimbabwe: campaign of intimidation

Opposition Presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, was released today after 8 hours in police detention for "addressing a rally without authorisation".

Mugabe must have his own version of "freedom of speech" that involves preventing the candidate who got more votes than he did in the first round of the Presidential elections from talking to rallies without his permission.

The generals in Mugabe' military have already made it clear they do not intend to support MOrgan Tsvangirai ifhe wins the June 27th final election.

Zimbabwe disaster rolls on

Zimbabwe's election campaign resumed on May 25th in advance of the poll on June 27th that will finally decide who will be the President of Zimbabwe: 84 year old incumbent Robert Mugabe, leader of ZANU-PF or Morgan Tzvangirai, leader of the opposition MDC.

Tzvangirai had been out of the country for several weeks in the lead-up to the campaign. Upon his return, Tzvangirai claimed 50 people have been killed in election-related violence and 25,000 made refugees since March 29th.

President Mugabe has called U. S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs ,Jendayi Frazer, a prostitute and threatened to kick the US Amassador, James McGee, out of the country. Mugabe accuses the United States of meddling in local politics.

ZANU-PF, Mugabe's party, says he will accept accept the outcome in the final election should it come to that. They say they expect to win.

If all this wasn't bad enough, apparently President Mugabe may have cancer and flew to Singapore last week for tests.

The most recent development saw a newly elected MP arrested for allegedly having approached the military on March 31st hoping to win support in the wake of what they believed at the time was an election victory for Morgan Tzvangirai.

Meanwhile, ordinary Zimbabweans speak their mind via BBC News' interactive web coverage of the coming election.

Fingers crossed for a genuine election and an outcome with integrity on the 27th of June. Hopefully air traffic control in Harare will be able to pick up flying pigs on radar.

Zimbabwe Presidential Election Results

The results of the presidential elections in Zimbabwe have finally been released. Movement for Democratic Change leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, got 47.9 percent of the vote, with President Mugabe winning 43.2 percent. The MDC says the results have been rigged.

Given the long delay, it's difficult to have any confidence in the results returned. There will now be a run-off vote. With this result supposedly so 'close', I don't think anyone should be surprised if Mugabe isn't already programmed in to win by whisker.....

Zimbabwe Recount Violence and Al Jazeera English

The rolling tragedy that is Mugabe's Zimbabwe continues. Now, as the recount procedes, there appears to be a campaign of violence and intimidation being carried out. It  appears to me that the intended effect is to silence opposition in areas where the Mugabe regime plans to re-invent the results.

This Al Jazeera report is worth watching. They provide physical evidence of the claims being made. I subscribe to their YouTube Channel and find it to be consistently good and much less biased than most US news outlets. In fact, I find it hard to detect any overt bias at all. It's more like the BBC. Any bias is more likely in the choice of story rather than slant to the report itself. Al Jazeera also appears to be able to go to places other news services can't or dare not to go. 

World (begins to) end on Thursday.....and other news. Plus a song.

I haven't read any newspapers this morning, so I'm probably missing a HUGE story.

I do know Sir Doug Graham has resigned as Chair of the failed finance company Lombard Finance. I have a lot of respect for Graham as he was the Minister of Justice in the last National government who oversaw the move to MMP and also the Treaty Settlements minister who moved the treaty settlements process into a higher gear.

On to the real news: The world begins to end on Thursday.

Yes. You've (probably) heard it here first. "Church of God" pastor, Ronald Weinland is telling anyone who will listen that the end time is here and now. In fact, in this radio interview with a UK Sports station last week, he declares that the first of the "Seven Trumpets" heralding the end times will occur in the Middle East on April 17th. Day after tomorrow. As I write this post, Mr. Weinland is likely on board a jet making his way there to bear witness. Now I'm not sure which one of the 400-ish "Church of God" fragments Weinlands leads. After Worldwide Church of God founder, Herbert W Armstrong, died in 1986 and his son, Garner Ted Armstrong, was discredited through gambling and sex romps with co-eds at the church's "Ambassador College", the church sort of fell apart.

Anyway, Weinland says we will see the first of the "Seven Trumpets" day after tomorrow, then the proverbial will REALLY hit the fan in 2008 and by the end of this year we will see the "the demise of the United States and beginning of man's final war." Ultimately, I think he says there are supposed to be maybe 3,000 people who will go forward into the new world after the apocalypse to come. I may be a bit hazy on the details here as these "Noah's Ark" earth-cleansing apocalypses tend to blur one into the other. You can download Robert Weinland's book here. It's in English, Dutch, Spanish and Italian, so presumably these folks will have an edge as the lights go out. You best get to it or you may not have time to finish it unless you're among the 3,000 in which case it will be history not prophecy, so why bother.

The YouTube version:



Savage Teen Beating and Aftermath

The other news item that got me this weekend comes from the United States. Eight teenagers (6 females / two males) invited a girl they all knew over to one of their grandparents home then proceeded to beat the living daylights out of her in a sustained attack over a 30-minute period. She suffered concussion and bruising over her entire body. They could have killed her. They videoed the whole thing so they could upload it to YouTube or whatever later. This Fox News item on Youtube is one of the better overviews I've seen of this horrifying crime. (Fox? Yeah...I know). Don't watch if you're squeamish. It's not pretty.



The US public is outraged and some are baying for more blood - this time the perps'. The parents of the perpetrators are defensive and obviously shell-shocked. This article on Tampa Bay Online is fairly comprehensive with respect to the response. If you've been following it, you've seen the court appearance and the circus surrounding the release of each on bail. The parents of the victim, understandably and justifiably distraught, blame the Internet for what happened.

It gets worse. A US-based talk-show host known as "Dr. Phil" has apparently paid for or otherwise secured the bail of one of the girls charged in return for an exclusive on her story. The video of a Dr. Phil minder blocking access to the girl by other media is eye-opening on several levels.

I'm hoping this whole episode of teenage rage doesn't become a political football. Gangs of kids have been beating on other kids since forever. It's not right. Never was right. The media circus around this story is bad enough without the additonal dimension of cheque-book pseudo-journalism causing more damage to all concerned - perps, victim, the parents of both, while the "blame the internet" knee-jerk mantra gets more tuneless utterance.

Zimbabwe

Looks like the expected partial recount in the presidential election in Zimbabwe will give the Mugabe regime one more opportunity to stuff the ballot boxes enough to see their man win. Voters are already being softened up by a preliminary campaign of violence and intimidation. The opposition has called for a general strike to begin today. Mugabe's forces are mobilising to meet the challenge, setting up police checkpoints.

South African President, Thabo Mbeke, who had attempted to mediate and been ignored by Mugabe, has proven himself yet again to be an impotent apologist for Mugabe. It is damaging Mbeke's reputation at home

What would you do if you lived there? Would you have yet reached the point where you could no longer afford to be beaten down? Would you be at the point where you felt you had nothing to lose?

I guess we'll find out over the next several days.

...and now the song....

Meanwhile, this song intruded into my world today and I decided I really like it. Have a listen if you haven't already. The band is Opshop and the song is "One Day".

They took my CNN away......

Vodafone and Sky Mobile TV

I have been using Sky Mobile TV on Vodafone for the past several months. It's one of the Vodafone Live! offerings. For $2.50 / week, you get access to a number of Sky channels on your 3G phone. The ONLY reason I added it to my service was to watch CNN. I have NO interest in reality TV on MTV, cartoons on Cartoon Network, or Hollywood gossip on E! or the various sports and soft porn that compose the rest of the Sky Mobile TV offerings. The Prime news bulletin from the previous day isn't compelling by itself.

CNN was the big draw for me. Not that it's that great. The time to useful information ratio was at the low end of the scale, but it was useful to listen to on the headset and pull the phone out of the pocket for a look if anything interesting came up. I would have much preferred BBC World to CNN-I.

Today when I tried to watch CNN, I found it was gone. Hmmm. I called 777 to find out if this was a glitch. As often happens, the person answering the phone at first didn't understand what I was talking about. Then she went away for ages to find out and came back with: "I'm sorry, Sir. If it's no longer on the menu, it must be gone."

At time of writing, the Vodafone web site still includes CNN as one of the listed channels. I've sent a note asking them to confirm the fate of CNN. Without it, the Sky Mobile service is rendered uninteresting to me and I won't be continuing the subscription to it.

Zimbabwe

Looks like the gloves are coming off. The Mugabe push-back, backed by the police, appears to now be underway. Sad to see Mugabe living down to our lowest expectations of him.

MAXX/ARTA, Zimbabwe, Winston Peters, Media Ownership

MAXX / ARTA

The NZ Herald published a story quoting me as being upset that public forums had been removed form the MAXX web site last week. I was. There was a community of MAXX users there who used the forums almost daily to ask questions or get answers to questions. Everyone there was a supporter of public transport. But the folks at ARTA didn't appreciate - and still don't - that when they removed the forums, they effectively destroyed that community. Most interesting to me was that it didn't appear to have any value to them and still doesn't, judging by the public comments of the spokespeople concerned.

I exchanged some e-mail with Sharon Hunter, Communications Manager for ARTA. She seems like a perfectly nice person. We're both passionate about public transport. But her comments made it clear that the forums (and by implication, the community therein) had no value to MAXX. At least not sufficient value to see the forums retained. Instead, the MAXX site will point to forums on someone else's site. OK, that's a good fall-back position as there will still be one place where people who support public transport can go to talk amongst themselves.

Separately, but on the same day the Herald story appeared, I got a call from a person at ARTA who wanted to talk to me about all the issues I had been raising with the MAXX Help Centre that were not being addressed. We went through them, he accepted they were valid (or so he said, anyway) and committed to see them resolved and keep me updated as to progress. Great! That was all I wanted in January when I first called. He made apologies to me blaming issues arising from the opening of the Northern Busway as having clogged their pipes for a while. I'm sure they did.

I'm particularly keen to see what happens about Birkenhead Transport refusing bus services to school students on the normal buses. There is no way that is consistent with MAXX policy with respect to children. I asked the ARTA rep whether he could imagine what might ensue should a child refused access to a bus then suffer serious injury or other major misfortune as a result while hurrying to school on foot after being turned away. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Zimbabwe

Still waiting on the result of the presidential election. That's good in that Mugabe hasn't already been declared the winner with 99% of the vote. That's bad in that no one else has been declared the winner. One broad speculation I could make is that if Mugabe can't hang on, ZANU-PF may use the opportunity to ensure some other person from their ranks is elected and strategising around that outcome may be the source of some of the delay. The least likely outcome is that they say "You won, Morgan!" and hand over the presidency. But who knows? It might happen.

Winston Peters

I've never voted for Winston Peters, but I do confess to a certain amount of admiration for him at times. He says things others are too afraid to say and in a way that the media love to cover.

On the free trade deal with China, he rightly points out that we don't know what's in it, so how can we support it? Perhaps because that is my own position I'm happy to hear a politician say it out loud. To be fair, the Greens have also warned against the deal, but they don't have a Minister in the government, so the media doesn't react in the same way as they do when Peters says it. I'm surprised this isn't the position of EVERY party - including any Labour MPs not privy to the details of the agreement. How can you support a deal you've never seen? I couldn't do it.

Media Ownership

Another reason I felt warmly toward Peters this week was his jibe to journalists (while facing questions about the $158,000 for charity)about reviewing the foreign ownership of New Zealand media. I have to confess I'm with him on that one. The editorial stance of the Fairfax and APN media has been distinctly and consistently pro-National, and generally US right-wing in tenor, for some time now. Having watched the media evolve in this direction over the past 18 years - roughly since Richard Long took over at the Dominion Post within the INL / now-Fairfax world - I know where Peters is coming from. For example, the leader writers of the DomPost would have had us invading Iraq along with Bush, Blair and Howard. If i recall corerectly, prior to the invasion, they had few if any issues with the obviously shonky, reality-free case for invading the place. Only later, when it was clearly a disaster and we were obviously well out of it, did they stop. The conversion over the past 3 years of the Listener into the "ListeNBR" has been duly noted.

Where is the alternative point of view that free speech is supposed to enable? From both foreign-owned media empires there is open hostility to the present government and no admission or recognition of the colossal mistakes they did NOT make that the National party clearly WOULD have. Like invading Iraq.

I'd like to see a law that says no person or corporation can own more than ONE media outlet of ANY kind if that media outlet editorialises and seeks to influence public opinion. I think that is the only way we will ever have something approximating a free press in New Zealand.

Weekend Grab Bag: MAXX, Zimbabwe, Women and Babies

Lots of things to think about today.

Zimbabwe

What about Zimbabwe? In a few hours we'll know whether or not Mugabe cheated. Part of me thinks he has. Part of me thinks maybe this election is a face-saving exit strategy for him and a chance to demonstrate Zimbabwe is a real democracy and always was.....ahem. We'll find out soon enough. I'm hopeful but not optimistic.

Population

Kiwi women not having babies? Interesting that the first comment after that is from the usual demographers who appear to argue in favour of the pyramid scheme that sees population never able to shrink because we might have too look after each other until the eldest generation passes....and then those who come after enjoy the benefits of a smaller population and more resources to go around. They don't talk about that. In my view, the world actually needs to produce fewer people and we do have to wear the temporary inconvenience of looking after the elderly in each generation for the relatively brief time (for the the vast majority of them) they would need looking after....if at all.

The alternative is an ever-growing population and that isn't sustainable. Why go the way of the UK and make NZ into a South Pacific ant hill where the quality of life is considerably degraded as compared to the present? I don't want to and few Kiwis will disagree with that, I suspect. Interested in your thoughts.

MAXX Redux

After noting on Thursday the sudden disappearance of the public forums on the revamped website, Friday saw the MAXX issue come up again.

Let's start at the beginning. I support public transport. It makes sense. I've used public transit only (no car) in getting around cities like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, London, Hong Kong, San Fransisco and Singapore. As far as I know, all those cities have a single, operator providing services and the services, while not always perfect, are generally very good.

Auckland: I like MAXX. It's a worthy attempt to overcome the serious obstacles created by having regional transport services operated by a diverse set of competing private operators. MAXX is an attempt to herd cats and as such will only ever meet with limited success. I've been measuring that success from my own point of view since arriving in Auckland in early December. While there some good bits in places, I find MAXX's overall services expensive, slow and poorly integrated. One is frequently required to walk half a km or more to move between services offered by different providers. Each way. Plus a walk at either end that may be a few hundred metres or a lot more than a few hundred metres. The suitability of MAXX services for a family of four to go anywhere is more the exception than the rule. The family car is almost always BOTH cheaper and faster. That is not how it should be. It could be a lot better.

I've had a few problems with services where I live (north shore) and I've been trying to deal with them in a positive and constructive way: Call MAXX. Report problem. Await feedback and result. This can work and work very well. Several situations have been effectively resolved this way. The bus driver who refused to drive down our street, forcing my wife to walk 1/2km home, has been told he must drive down our street as it is part of his route.

But MAXX has some serious issues where children are concerned. You'd think they would get this right, given they are the future of public transport and they are among our most vulnerable citizens. Unfortunately, at least for Birkenhead Transport, they have not got it right.

I've had a query about MAXX's policy regarding child fares recorded with MAXX since late January. The first query was on January 30th. They said they would come back to me in 7 working days. At most. When I called back a month later, on March 4th, that query had mysteriously disappeared. I opened another. Well over 7 working days went by and no word, so I called again on the Wednesday prior to Easter. The matter had not been touched. After speaking with the supervisor, the person I was speaking to said I would be called back within 24 hours.

I waited a week and heard nothing. So I called back on Thursday this past week, got another 24 hour commitment...and by 5pm Friday had not been called back. That is four (4) failures in a row to abide by the service expectation they had given me with respect to my query. Not good. Total system failure.

What's my query? Very simple. MAXX's policy on child fares is that children aged 5 to 15 ride for a concession rate. That's it. Policy complete. Any child on earth who finds themselves in Auckland can ride on MAXX services for a concession fare.

Except that isn't how it REALLY works if (at least) Birkenhead Transport is your local bus company. They require kids to be in school uniforms or have student ID to pay the concession fare. So the first time my 14yo daughter got on a bus, having never attended an Auckland school, she found herself in an argument with the bus driver over her fare. Welcome to Auckland public transport, young lady. What was happening was not consistent with MAXX's stated policy.

Given MAXX's stated policy on child fares, what ID is required to ensure a child can ride for the correct fare? Remember the child concerned could be from anywhere in New Zealand or around the world. The question appears to defy any attempt to get an answer.

Then, on Friday a new wrinkle appeared. My daughter has been coming home from school telling me that bus drivers on Birkenhead Transport are not allowing school kids on "adult" buses in the morning. A child standing at a bus stop at 08:20am is refused entry to the bus AT ANY PRICE and instructed to get the school bus...which left at 07:41AM (40 minutes prior). They then have to walk. This is clearly contrary to MAXX's policy on children riding buses. It leaves school kids walking 40 minutes plus to school while their parents may have reasonably expected them to be quickly - and safely - conveyed to school on the bus, having paid the required dollar.

What will happen if a 14yo girl who was forced to walk to school, by a bus driver / company ignoring MAXX policy, is later run over, raped or worse? I can just imagine the anger and anguish that would produce. Why go there?

Just to confuse things, my daughter has had no problems because she uses a 10-trip rather than buying a single ticket. I can only assume this is some confusion with the tertiary student policy. Or maybe some bus drivers favour girls and refuse rides to boys. Who knows? As it is, bus drivers are reportedly sailing past stops with school kids waiting on the basis they should get the school bus.....tomorrow as today's left 40 minutes ago.

I then called Birkenhead Transport and asked what was going on. They tacitly admitted the policy was a company policy, not just bus drivers behaving badly. The (unnamed) person I spoke to said that children were filling the adult buses at peak times while the school buses were empty. So they are, as a matter of policy, refusing to carry children on normal buses. Clearly a violation of MAXX policy.

I logged another query with MAXX over it and I think this one will see a quick response. But we'll see. As it stands, the people who are the future of public transport, and arguably among the more vulnerable bus patrons, are being taught that arbitrary refusal of service is their lot. Capricious authority strikes again. Death to petty bureaucrats....etc..etc. Not good for them....or public transport in Auckland.