EU LIFTS SANCTIONS ON ZIMBABWE... WHY?????

Sanctions
Who are they meant to hurt?
Who was hurt, Affected?
Will they be lifted?

I'm sure the answers to those questions came to your minds as soon as you read the first word at the top...
There is good news for Zimbabweans.
The EU has lifted sanctions on Zimbabwe although Ten people, including President Robert Mugabe, and two companies, including state-run diamond miner the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, remain on the sanctions list, an EU source said.

What we should take from this is hope for a better future as we can expect that the tourism industry can regain some of its lost ground. That's my hope.  

The lift according to the EU is a reaction to the peaceful and successful referendum. I wonder then that had the vote been a no would the sanctions have been lifted?? This is a curious matter to me, this reward and punishment power that the west has over most of the third word countries as to how they can effect political decisions by giving or withdrawing economic aid or any other forms of assistance begs the question "who is running my country and who is running them?" well in the case of the current president that was clear. perhaps thats why he remains on the sanctions list. No sovereign nation should be forced to conform to western standards of governance. Each nation should freely determine it's own political road map.

Well all we can do now is hope that the lifting of the sanctions brings some good economic fortunes to the country. Perhaps the the EU and USA have plans on as to the out come of the general election set to have taken place by the end of the year. Could they have an assertion that  the winner of the general elections could be one who would conform to the West's Ideologies. I surely hope that's not the case, because this would not better the conditions of the greater population of Zimbabwe. I feel this way because the trend in most western countries is a capitalist system that has seen the greater population finding themselves in debt or unable to pay for all the expenses and luxuries they expect to live in.

Sanctions on Zimbabwe may be partially lifted but whats the take of the common citizen and what effect does it bear on the country as a whole. We can only hope for the best out of this situation. 

Violent General Elections Coming Up?

Final Lap: Contestants take your places

So its the final lap to the elections...
Violence is what everybody fears..
should we expect it???

PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM NOT ASKING PEOPLE TO PARTAKE IN VIOLENT ACTIONS BEFORE AFTER OR DURING THE GENERAL ELECTION !!!!!!!!!!!!

In all the past elections since the emergence of a significantly strong opposition party (MDC) there has been politically influenced violence. In this view most people seem to anticipate "bloody" polls. I do too.
Why you may ask... well the nation's uniformed forces is led by people that actively participated in the liberation struggle and feel this nation is theirs. So too are those in the once undoubted "Ruling Party". As such they are more likely to consider violent action as means for maintaining the offices they hold.

Zimbabwe is a young country in comparison to some of the well established examples of "democracy" in Europe or America that  gone through large numbers of presidents and or heads of state; where Zimbabwe has only gone through 1 in its 32 year history. This has greatly impacted the people of Zimbabwe such that if the out come of the General elections is not a favored one to some groups there will be a violent backlash in response to the result.

During the weekend there was a graduation ceremony for several hundred police cadets.....
fresh from training the young cops are quick to strike with their  batons. So too are those from the military. My fear is if their commanders are unclear as to that their agenda is to protect the people and not to strike fear and pain to them the election result will not be consider free or fair....

I URGE YOU TO CEASE AND DESIST FROM ANY VIOLENT ACT IN THE MONTHS TO FOLLOW
LETS ALL VOTE IN PEACE AND HARMONY

Accessing the referendum Vote

I first talked of what people were going to vote for, now lets see what we have learnt from the referendum.

Yes people wanted a new constitution and they are set on getting it
Yes again the people carried out the vote in a peaceful manner and I’m sure everybody is happy about that.

The pre-referendum period was largely peaceful but was punctuated by an upsurge in attacks on civil society organizations which witnessed raids and searches at the Zimbabwe Peace Project, ZIMRIGHTS, ZESN, NYDT and Radio Dialogue.

Such attacks on civil society impeded the ability of the CSOs to freely provide their services to the citizenry, and can stifle information to the communities especially as it relates to the referendum.

Voter Education- the ZEC embarked on a voter education outreach programme meant to inform prospective voters of the requirements and places where people were going to cast their votes.

The outreach meetings started on the 6th of March and were conducted until the 13th of March 2013 with ZEC deploying 2 voter educators per ward. Clearly the time allocated for voter education exercise was inadequate and indeed not far reaching.

Now we are looking towards the General elections set for June are we to expect violence?

This will be the topic of my next blog.....

The Referendum: Vote "YES" or "NO" do you know what you are voting for

THE REFERENDUM ON THE 16th OF MARCH

The Oscar Pistorius kept us entertained for a while, now it’s time to come back to serious business so what a celebrity shot his girlfriend. There are more pressing issues that affect more people in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa as a whole.

The upcoming constitutional referendum, and later the presidential elections in the country are a much awaited development in the country that experienced an economic meltdown in the wake of political problems.

On the 16^th of March the country will hold the referendum. Training of polling officers is currently ongoing at various centers around the country. There are many crucial points we need to check before we go and vote yes or no…

The process of drafting this constitution has been bridled with much trouble with all three political parties having parts of it they did not agree with; and recently Welshman Ncube threatened to pull out of the referendum campaigns. Surely that’s no way to start off with the new constitution. Question now is; were there any changes made in coherence with those made by the citizens when they went to give their views on what they wanted out of the constitution?

Well who knows?  Zanu PF rejected one of the drafts because it did not adhere to their views and values so they said. Now they are pushing for a YES vote just like the MDC- T faction as well as the MDC-N. What has changed? We really have to know. These Political Parties have definitely found something that they stand to benefit from at the expense of the people of Zimbabwe.

When we go to vote on the 16^th, will our decision be an informed one or not. Will we vote because we want to and we know what we are voting on? To the people of Zimbabwe I say find out today what you are voting on before u place an X on the “Yes “ or “No”.