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Mister D
09-07-2011, 02:27 PM
Salisbury (the former name of the capital) was once a beautiful city.

A top research group on Thursday rated Zimbabwe's capital as the worst of 140 world cities in which to live.

The British-based Economist Intelligence Unit said its researchers excluded cities in Libya, Iraq and other war zones.

Harare, where power and water outages occur daily, scored a 38 percent "livability rating," the group said.

The group said the threat of civil unrest and the availability of public health care and public transport in Harare were intolerable. Energy and water supplies were undesirable, it said, calling phones and Internet services uncomfortable.

Zimbabwe formed a shaky coalition government in 2009 after years of political violence and economic meltdown. Melbourne and Vienna were rated the two easiest cities to live in.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2011/09/study-says-zimbabwe-capital-worst-city-live

Pendragon
09-07-2011, 02:34 PM
Where does Washington D.C. rank on that list?

It is a dank hole.

Mister D
09-07-2011, 02:36 PM
Where does Washington D.C. rank on that list?

It is a dank hole.


Right. What do Harare and DC have in common? :o

Pendragon
09-07-2011, 02:40 PM
Is this a list of capital cities?

It is not clear.

Mister D
09-07-2011, 02:42 PM
Is this a list of capital cities?

It is not clear.


It's clear that you put your foot in your mouth yet again. ;)

Pendragon
09-07-2011, 02:46 PM
I am not to blame for your limited ability to express yourself through the written word.

Mister D
09-07-2011, 02:47 PM
I am not to blame for your limited ability to express yourself through the written word.


How does your foot taste, Pen? ;D

Pendragon
09-07-2011, 02:56 PM
I wouldn't know.

Would you care to discuss the article?

Mister D
09-07-2011, 02:59 PM
I wouldn't know.

Would you care to discuss the article?


I've been trying to, Pen. As usual, your first reaction is to slam your own country but you love it. Really, you do! ::) So what do Harare and DC have in common, Pen?

Captain Obvious
09-07-2011, 05:42 PM
I guess it's not too early to start thinking about selling my time share there.

MMC
09-08-2011, 06:21 AM
Looks like its not just Capitol Cities. Still that is 2 million people living in such conditions. I noticed it said only the Wealthy can afford housing.

waltky
08-08-2016, 12:27 PM
War veterans rise up against Mugabe...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/oldicons/icon17.gif
Zimbabwe war veterans leaders boycott Mugabe heroes speech
August 8, 2016 - Leaders of Zimbabwean war veterans on Monday boycotted a speech by President Robert Mugabe to honor fighters of the country's independence war, widening a rift with Africa's oldest leader, whom the veterans have asked to step down.


The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) last month denounced Mugabe, 92, as a divisive dictator, in a jolting rebuke underlining mounting anger over economic woes. The ZNLWVA executive was absent from National Heroes Day celebrations in the capital to honor living and dead fighters of the 1970s liberation war against white minority rule. This is the first time leaders of the group have failed to attend the celebrations since ZNLWVA was formed in 1990. The group has anchored Mugabe's election campaigns since 2000, when the first major opposition to the president emerged with the formation in 1999 of the main opposition party Movement For Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai.


https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/L2r0PTaZOqI9wUJJ11KhuA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9MTI4MDtoPTk2MDtpbD 1wbGFuZQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/df7568a21e074d6fa12bf5d1fbb88c9c.jpg
Police in Zimbabwe's capital fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to quell rioting by taxi and mini bus drivers protesting what they describe as police harassment.The violence came amid a surge in protests in recent weeks because of economic hardships and alleged mismanagement by the government of President Robert Mugabe.

ZNLWVA secretary general Victor Matemadanda said his group had boycotted Monday's event because it had lost its meaning. "We said as an executive we have no reason to attend because it (National Heroes Day) is not intended to achieve the true goal to honor the war veterans," Matemadanda told Reuters. "We said because we are being persecuted continuously, there is no reason why we should go there. In fact if you go there, you will never know what they will think, maybe they will think of arresting us or other comrades who have not been arrested."

SALARIES DELAYED

Mugabe's government has arrested and charged war veterans' leaders in a crackdown against his formed allies. In his 50-minute speech, Mugabe did not mention the war veterans, but instead accused activist pastor Evan Mawarire of calling for violent anti-government protests. Mawarire's #ThisFlag movement last month led a protest over delayed salaries for public sector employees that closed businesses, government offices, schools and hospitals - the most significant popular defiance of the long-ruling Mugabe in a decade. "If protests are allowed, let them be peaceful not to be like the ones advocated by Mawarire," Mugabe said.


https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/8WlSB_mMpiS6fQX4ZGnTnA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9MTI4MDtoPTk2MDtpbD 1wbGFuZQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/a87f08944c774b459d4c7cc9508f1541.jpg
Police in Zimbabwe's capital fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to quell rioting by taxi and mini bus drivers protesting what they describe as police harassment. The violence came amid a surge in protests in recent weeks because of economic hardships and alleged mismanagement by the government of President Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe is struggling to pay salaries to soldiers, police and other public workers, which could stoke political tensions in a nation plagued by drought, a drop in mineral prices and chronic cash shortages - all factors behind unrest against Mugabe, the only leader independent Zimbabwe has known. Mugabe's government is drafting a Computer Crime and Cyber Crime Bill, which will allow authorities to seize phones and laptops, seen as a bid to curb the use of social media to organize anti-government demonstrations. Information Communication Technology Minister Supa Mandiwandzira defended the bill saying it had been planned a long time ago and was similar to legislation in other countries.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/zimbabwes-mugabe-says-seeking-measures-speed-public-workers-103632733.html?ref=gs

donttread
08-08-2016, 04:01 PM
Looks like its not just Capitol Cities. Still that is 2 million people living in such conditions. I noticed it said only the Wealthy can afford housing.

Without HUD that would describe most American cities

rembrant
08-09-2016, 08:29 PM
Where does Washington D.C. rank on that list?

It is a dank hole.Worse than St Louis?

Mister D
08-09-2016, 08:49 PM
This thread is 5 years old.

waltky
08-26-2016, 01:47 PM
Protesters in Zimbabwe Hit With Batons, Tear Gas and Water Cannons...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/icon_omg.gif
Police in Zimbabwe Hit Protesters With Batons, Tear Gas and Water Cannons
AUG. 26, 2016 — The Zimbabwean police on Friday violently extinguished a protest against President Robert Mugabe in the capital, Harare, cracking down on a united show of force by Zimbabwe’s political opposition.


Despite a last-minute court order allowing the demonstration to proceed, the police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of hundreds from a square in Harare, beating protesters with batons. Mr. Mugabe’s government has been challenged by a series of public protests in the past two months, fueled by widespread anger over the deteriorating economy. But the broad array of opposition figures and the swiftness of the police reaction, despite the court order, signaled a new level of tension. Leaders of an emerging coalition against Mr. Mugabe — including Morgan Tsvangirai, the nation’s longtime opposition figure, and Joice Mujuru, a former vice president who broke with Mr. Mugabe — were chased away from the square by the police and fled in their cars.

Protesters left the square and ran into the central business district, some of them throwing stones at the police. Though the demonstration was organized by about 20 opposition parties and led by supporters, many ordinary Zimbabweans also joined the protest. “I was beaten by the police here exercising my constitutional right, beaten with baton sticks by a horde of around 10 police officers,” said Jonathan Malindati, 39, a jobless man who stood near the square, bleeding from his head and displaying baton marks on his back. “Police must safeguard the Constitution, which permits us to demonstrate,” he added. “They must not be sent to fight us by Mugabe.”

The demonstration on Friday, organized by the political opposition against what it calls Zimbabwe’s corrupt electoral commission, occurred amid a deepening economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe. A fight to succeed Mr. Mugabe, who is increasingly frail at age 92, has split the governing ZANU-PF party and emboldened his opponents. As the government has run short of cash, it has delayed paychecks to the military and the police for two consecutive months, and has struggled to pay other civil servants. Tambudzai Jabangwe, a 68-year-old widow, shouted at anti-riot police officers for protecting a government that was destroying jobs for the country’s children. “You are cruel, you have no heart,” she yelled before being chased away from the square.

Later, Ms. Jabangwe said she had taken a bus from her home into the city to participate in the protest. “I am fighting for my grandchildren, who are educated but unemployed because of Mugabe who has shut down everything, every industry,” she said. Amid the turmoil of the protest, rumors spread on social media that Mr. Mugabe had fled the country. But the state media reported that he had left to attend a previously scheduled summit meeting in Kenya between African nations and Japan.

MORE (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/world/africa/zimbabwe-protest-robert-mugabe.html?_r=0)

Mac-7
08-26-2016, 03:08 PM
I am not to blame for your limited ability to express yourself through the written word.

Pen knows the answer but dare not say it

Tahuyaman
08-27-2016, 09:15 AM
This thread is 5 years old.

what's changed in that five years?

nathanbforrest45
08-27-2016, 09:26 AM
Uhuru

Tahuyaman
08-28-2016, 09:38 PM
what's changed in that five years?


Uhuru

And what does he have to do with Zimbabwe?

waltky
11-13-2017, 06:07 PM
Zimbabwe Military Threatens Mugabe Rule...
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif
Could a Coup Happen? Zimbabwe Military Threatens Mugabe Rule After President Fires Deputy
11/13/17 - Zimbabwe's military chief issued a rare, stark warning to the nation's political leadership Monday over alleged recent political purges, raising concerns of a potential coup and renewed instability in a country already devastated by economic hardships.


General Constantino Chiwenga, a revolutionary who rose up the ranks to become head of the country's armed forces in 2004, threatened to use military force to defend the positions of ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) figures who played a role in ending U.K. rule over Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, in 1980. While Chiwenga did not name names Monday, his frank statement came a week after President Robert Mugabe fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, an influential independence leader who has held various high-ranking positions in the government. "The current purging which is clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background must stop forthwith," Chiwenga said at a news conference at the army's headquarters in Harare, according to BBC News. "We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in," he added.

Mugabe suddenly sacked Mnangagwa last week after accusing his deputy of conspiring against him and using witchcraft to determine when the president would die. Two days later, Mnangagwa fled Wednesday to South Africa, complaining of "incessant threats" against him and his family, Bloomberg News reported. Mnangagwa has denied taking part in any plots against the president, whose wife, Grace Mugabe, had recently suggested she could succeed her 93-year-old husband. With Mnangagwa gone, Grace Mugabe was anticipated to inherit her husband's 37-year rule. The jobs of other officials who worked under Mnangagwa were reportedly on the line as well. Minister for State Security Kembo Mohadi, Home Affairs Deputy Minister Obedingwa Mguni, provincial chairman Rabelani Choeni, Central Committee members Reni Kibi, Tambudzani Mohadi, Abednigo Ncube and others close to Mnangagwa have been placed under investigation and will not be permitted to participate in next year's elections, Zimbabwe's The Herald reported.

Mnangagwa's dismissal has upset many current and former military figures, who have viewed Grace Mugabe's younger faction of support with distrust. In addition to being vice president, Mnangagwa headed Zimbabwe's Joint Operations Command, of which Chiwenga was a member and the general's comments signaled a community alienated by the president's recent decisions. Robert Mugabe has already announced his intentions to seek another five-year term in Zimbabwe's 2018 elections, but he may face a handful of rising stars and a potential seven-party coalition attempting to challenge one of the longest political tenures of the past century. The last election in 2013 was criticized by Zimbabwe's opposition and international agencies over reports of irregularities and opponents of the president blame him and his party for decades of corruption and massive economic mismanagement.

http://www.newsweek.com/could-coup-happen-zimbabwe-military-threatens-mugabe-rule-president-fires-710002

waltky
12-20-2017, 02:00 AM
Zimbabwe tryin' to make a comeback...
:cool2:
Zimbabwe's Ruling Party Hopes for Economic Turnaround
December 19, 2017 - Less than a month after a military intervention forced longtime leader Robert Mugabe to step down, new leaders of the ruling ZANU-PF party have big plans for Zimbabwe.


Retired General Sibusiso Moyo announced the military takeover on November 15 and has been appointed to serve as foreign minister. He sees opportunities to revive Zimbabwe’s struggling economy. “Our primary interest at the moment is economic development and emancipation of our people,” Moyo told VOA’s Zimbabwe Service. Zimbabwe's long-ailing economy will recover, according to Moyo, through direct foreign investment, tourism and exports to worldwide markets. ZANU-PF hopes to jump-start the economy by collaborating with Zimbabweans in the diaspora and creating a more appealing environment for investment. “We are opening up to all our friends,” Moyo said.

‘Zimbabwe isn’t poor’

The ruling party is right to focus on Zimbabwe’s economy as it defines its post-Mugabe platform, according to Chipo Dendere, a visiting assistant professor of political science at Amherst College in Massachusetts. But to truly open up, the country must come to terms with endemic corruption. “Zimbabwe isn’t poor,” Dendere told VOA, speaking over the phone from Harare. In fact, the country is endowed with valuable minerals such as gold, diamonds and platinum. But, Dendere said, the wealth has been stolen. During Mugabe’s regime, he and his allies stole more than $2 billion in diamond revenue, according to Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), a group tracking mismanagement of global natural resources.


https://gdb.voanews.com/3B07803F-C2A3-4D7D-9B51-FE6A147FF81B_w650_r0_s.jpg
Zimbabwe's President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, speaks during the Extraordinary Congress of the ruling ZANU-PF party in Harare, Zimbabwe

So far, the government seems to be putting pressure on officials to bring back money, according to Dendere. But with so many people who have stolen, it's unclear how the government will serve a greater good without violating human rights or falling into partisan traps. “If the government fails to deal with the economic challenges, then Zimbabwe is going to be in great disarray,” Dendere said. Fixing Zimbabwe’s economy begins with addressing its many infrastructure problems, such as pothole-ridden roads and an aging and leaky water system.

Real change?

Some, including Dendere, remain skeptical that ZANU-PF will enact real change. “It’s one thing to be excited about a new government. But I think people need to be cognizant of the fact that the people that are in power right now ... are the same people that have been in power for the last 37 years,” Dendere said. The government has not, in fact, changed, Moyo conceded, but it will do things differently with new personalities in power. Dendere, meanwhile, questions what’s new. The ideology for the ruling party is unlikely to change, she said, based on language used at the party congress this month.


https://gdb.voanews.com/D51A0C8C-74AF-4C82-B807-7C25838975BC_w650_r0_s.jpg
A security employee guards a diamond-processing plant in the diamond-rich eastern Marange region of Zimbabwe

Still, Moyo sees opportunities for dialogue and improvement. “We are not a government of a party. We are a government of all the people of Zimbabwe. And therefore, when there are issues which need dialogue, they must be discussed in house,” Moyo said. For Dendere, aspects of ZANU-PF’s legacy are, in fact, worthwhile. “This is the legacy that brought us independence, the end of colonialism. But it’s also the legacy that gave a lot of power to one party and the centralization and consolidation of power around the president and the people that are closest to him.”

Space for opposition (https://www.voanews.com/a/zimbabwe-ruling-party-hopes-economic-turnaround/4170577.html)

donttread
12-20-2017, 08:51 AM
Salisbury (the former name of the capital) was once a beautiful city.

A top research group on Thursday rated Zimbabwe's capital as the worst of 140 world cities in which to live.

The British-based Economist Intelligence Unit said its researchers excluded cities in Libya, Iraq and other war zones.

Harare, where power and water outages occur daily, scored a 38 percent "livability rating," the group said.

The group said the threat of civil unrest and the availability of public health care and public transport in Harare were intolerable. Energy and water supplies were undesirable, it said, calling phones and Internet services uncomfortable.

Zimbabwe formed a shaky coalition government in 2009 after years of political violence and economic meltdown. Melbourne and Vienna were rated the two easiest cities to live in.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2011/09/study-says-zimbabwe-capital-worst-city-live


I'm thinking if I had no relable water source that poor internet would be the least of my worries. Just goes to show you the "necessity category" we've put internet in.

waltky
07-21-2018, 04:37 PM
Zimbabwe Appealing for White Votes...
:huh:
Zimbabwe's President Appealing for White Votes
July 21, 2018 — Zimbabwe's president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, extended a hand of reconciliation Saturday to whites and ruled out more invasions of their land. [/quote]

In a sharp departure from his ruling ZANU PF party, which used to treat whites as foreigners and seized land under Robert Mugabe's regime, President Mnangagwa appealed to whites to vote for him in Zimbabwe's July 30 general election, and promised them land. "We are saying many of our, especially, white farmers, who remained behind and did not go away, we are very grateful for accepting this change, and you must come on board and must be issued with the 99-year leases, wherever the pieces of land which they hold," said Mnangagwa. "And as we go forward, we are acquiring so much land that is getting reviewed as a result of the exercise we are doing now from those who have acquired multiple farms. And again, we are racially blind. It doesn't matter whether it's Chiwenga, who has a farm bigger than what is required in the area. We will downsize it and we forget that he is the vice president.



https://gdb.voanews.com/780FCF00-7FBA-4223-874A-2B6341AF594B_w1023_r1_s.jpg
President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaking to reporters after meeting former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan in Harare says Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is independent and professional to run a credible election, July 20, 2018.



He is a citizen like anybody else, the same with me, and the same with everybody. We are going to make sure we don't have the animal farm mentality, which you did this morning." Mnangagwa was speaking at what his ZANU-PF party called a "white interface rally" to garner votes from the race about whom his predecessor, Mugabe, used to say, "The only good ones are the dead ones." President Mnangagwa now wants their votes in the July 30 election in which he locks horns with Nelson Chamisa of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, along with other candidates for Zimbabwe's number one job.



https://gdb.voanews.com/DB1ED265-A7C0-4994-9E4C-7370C5F8D206_w650_r1_s.jpg
Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, speaking to reporters after meeting former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan in Harare says Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is biased towards the ruling Zanu PF, July 20, 2018.



On Saturday, Mnangagwa said whites now would be eligible to get a 99-year lease for land. Mugabe's regime seized most of the white-owned land in the early 2000s in what he said was land reform meant to address colonial imbalances.

Tahuyaman
07-21-2018, 06:41 PM
They should coax the Discovery Channel into creating a reality diamond mining show there.

The Xl
07-21-2018, 06:46 PM
Dat necrobump though

Admiral Ackbar
07-21-2018, 07:58 PM
In short it looks like Zimbabwe is a shit hole country.

waltky
07-30-2018, 08:06 PM
Zimbabwe slowly recovering from Mugabe rule...
:undecided:
Mugabe's Gone, But Zimbabwe Still Has A Serious Cash Shortage
July 28, 2018 - It's a little after 8 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in downtown Harare, and Brandon Moyo has been waiting in line for the ATM for over four hours already. He's hoping to withdraw $20 — but it's not looking promising. There are over 20 people in front of him and bank officials have already warned they might run out of cash before he gets to the front.

Moyo is from a small farming town about 65 miles outside of Harare. He says banks in his town usually don't have any cash at all these days, so he takes a bus into the Zimbabwean capital city twice a week to wait in a line like this. He has to pay for that bus ride in cash, and if the bank runs out before he can get some, he sometimes has to stay overnight until he can try again. Zimbabwe has been facing a major cash shortage (https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/10/11/497487307/the-u-s-dollar-is-zimbabwes-main-currency-and-its-disapperaing-fast) for the past two years, a symptom of the country's larger and longer economic crisis. After Robert Mugabe was ousted from power by the military last November, his replacement, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has claimed that Zimbabwe is now "open for business." But getting cash into the country is complicated, and access to physical currency hasn't improved with the leadership change.



https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2018/07/27/2018-zimbabwe-cash-charbage-24_custom-53e1a325f78504cb2311d7847e56908e8e9d5511-s700-c85.jpg
Zimbabweans stand in line in front of NMB bank in Harare. Zimbabwe has been facing a major cash shortage for the past two years, a symptom of the country's larger and longer economic crisis.



At another bank down the street, Rumbidzai Chihera is also waiting in an ATM line. She sells chickens for a living, but no matter how much she earns, she's limited to the amount of cash available at the bank. She says her bank used to let her withdraw $100 a week, but in recent months that limit has dropped to $40. "It's very painful to have to wait for your money, especially if it's money that you've worked for," she says in Shona. "It feels like we keep getting pulled back when we should be moving forward." The cash problem stems from massive hyperinflation Zimbabwe experienced in the years leading up to 2009. By then, inflation was so bad that the Reserve Bank was printing notes with a valuation of 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars — reported to be worth (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/16/zimbawe.currency/index.html) about $300 at the time.



https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2018/07/27/2018-zimbabwe-cash-charbage-36_custom-944110e8afaed31f95abfc331a0d9cb842b42a23-s700-c85.jpg
In an area of the city called Copacabana, the sidewalks are packed with people selling items of all kinds.


Zimbabwe eventually abandoned its currency in favor of the U.S. dollar and several other currencies. But as the country slipped into a widening trade deficit and a lack of foreign investment, U.S. dollars became harder and harder to find in the country. So the central bank introduced bills called "bond notes" (https://www.reuters.com/article/zimbabwe-currency/zimbabwe-introduces-bond-notes-to-ease-cash-crunch-idUSL8N1DT0P1) in 2016, worth $1 each in the country, but worthless outside of Zimbabwe. Bond notes come out of ATMs and are used in most cash transactions. There's also a thriving electronic economy, with more than 96 percent of the transactions in the country happening through plastic money or mobile banking systems, according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.



https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2018/07/27/2018-zimbabwe-cash-charbage-13_slide-d3a3eb23267eb4dfbaafc83721e91aab1e489a6e-s700-c85.jpg
Lawrance Ncube shows a photo of the truck that he uses to transport things across the Zimbabwean border from South Africa.



But cash is crucial for buying things like basic goods at markets — where they're much cheaper — or public transportation. And a recent two-day crash (https://qz.com/1321152/zimbabwes-ecocash-mobile-money-crash-has-people-worried/) of Zimbabwe's most popular mobile banking system showed how precarious it can be to rely on electronic payments. A thriving black market has developed around cash as a result. All over downtown Harare, you can find money traders — people who can exchange foreign currency for Zimbabwean bond notes, for a price. In an area of the city called Copacabana, the sidewalks are packed with people selling shoes, cellphone chargers, clothes, wallets. Money traders — men and women — line the streets, sitting on milk cartons and leaning against storefronts, holding thick stacks of cash: U.S. dollars, Zimbabwean bond notes, South African rand, Zambian kwacha. When cars pass by, the money traders run to the windows, waving bills and yelling unofficial exchange rates, competing over each other to give the best deal.


MORE (https://www.npr.org/2018/07/28/632986144/mugabes-gone-but-zimbabwe-still-has-a-serious-cash-shortage)

waltky
08-02-2018, 06:59 PM
Protests erupt in Zimbabwe over delayed election results (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/protests-erupt-in-zimbabwe-over-delayed-election-results)...
:shocked:
Protests erupt in Zimbabwe over delayed election results (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/protests-erupt-in-zimbabwe-over-delayed-election-results)1 Aug.`18 - Rioting erupted Wednesday in Zimbabwe's capital as opposition supporters clashed with police and army troops over delays in announcing results from the presidential election, the country's first since the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe.


The security forces opened fire with guns, water cannons and tear gas, and protesters burned cars and threw rocks as helicopters hovered above Harare. A lifeless body was seen near the demonstration. Armored personnel carriers ferried troops and riot police to the scene. Dark smoke rose near the offices of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission where protesters burned tires and at least two vehicles. The commission postponed announcing results of Monday’s tightly fought presidential race, pitting President Emmerson Mnangagwa against opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.



https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2018/08/RTX6DJIN-1200x820.jpg


Supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition party of Nelson Chamisa sing and dance as they march on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe, August 1, 2018.




The commission said it would release vote totals “sometime” Thursday, even though it said most of the results “are here with us.” Agents for all 23 candidates must verify them first, it said. The ruling ZANU-PF party won a majority of seats in Parliament, the electoral commission said. “The more the presidential vote is delayed, the more it calls into question the population’s confidence in the election process,” said former Liberian leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the lead observer of a U.S. monitoring mission. “The longer it (the delay in announcing the results of the presidential race), the more the issue of lack of credibility arises,” European Union observer Elmar Brok said. Both the EU and U.S. missions urged the release of the presidential results as soon as possible. The EU mission questioned why presidential votes were counted first but were being announced last.


The EU observer mission expressed “serious concerns” as representatives of Western and other groups gave their first assessments of whether the vote was free and fair — crucial for lifting international sanctions on the once-prosperous country. The EU observer mission said “a truly level playing field was not achieved” in the election, pointing out the “misuse of state resources, instances of coercion and intimidation, partisan behavior by traditional leaders and overt bias in state media.” It said the election campaign and voting were largely peaceful in a break from the past. The opposition has alleged irregularities, saying voting results were not posted outside one-fifth of polling stations as required by law. Mnangagwa’s government has accused Chamisa and his supporters of inciting violence by declaring he had won. “Let me also warn such individuals and groups that no one is above the law,” Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu said.



https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2018/08/RTX6DK8A-1024x648.jpg
A man runs as supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC) of Nelson Chamisa burn barricades in Harare, Zimbabwe, August 1, 2018.



The violence was an unnerving reminder of the tensions that pervade this southern African nation, debilitated by Mugabe’s long, repressive rule. The 94-year-old former leader had been in power since independence from white minority rule in 1980 until he was forced to resign in November after the military and ruling party turned on him. Mnangagwa, a former deputy president who fell out with Mugabe and then took over from him, has said his showing in the election was “extremely positive” while urging people to wait for official results. Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, has claimed victory based on results supporters said they collected from agents in the field. “We won the popular vote & will defend it!” Chamisa tweeted. The violence appeared to dash the hopes of Zimbabweans that the peaceful vote would lift them out of decades of economic and political stagnation under Mugabe, but the country is haunted by a history of electoral violence and manipulation that means trust is scarce.



https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/protests-erupt-in-zimbabwe-over-delayed-election-results

See also:


Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa wins first post-Mugabe election
AUGUST 2, 2018 - Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former spy chief installed after Robert Mugabe’s removal in a coup in November, was elected on Thursday after a poll marred by the deaths of six people in an army crackdown on opposition protests.



After two days of claims and counterclaims, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa secured a comfortable victory, polling 2.46 million votes against 2.15 million for 40-year-old opposition leader Nelson Chamisa. The election, the first since the army’s removal of 94-year-old Mugabe, passed off relatively smoothly but its aftermath revealed the deep rifts in Zimbabwean society and the instinctive heavy-handedness of the security forces. On Wednesday, troops backed by armoured vehicles and a military helicopter were sent in to crush demonstrations by stone-throwing opposition supporters who said Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party had rigged the elections.


Six people were killed as soldiers, some with their faces obscured by camouflage masks, opened fire with automatic weapons. The following day, soldiers ordered civilians off the streets of the capital, despite calls from foreign governments and international organisations for calm and for political leaders to show restraint. Police then sealed off the headquarters of Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) before storming the building and arresting 16 people. The search warrant said they were looking for unlicenced firearms, grenades and stones.


CLASHES



Coupled with video of soldiers firing on unarmed demonstrators on Wednesday, the raid does serious damage to Mnangagwa’s efforts to rehabilitate the image of a country synonymous with political repression and economic collapse. Questioning the independence of the judiciary, Chamisa said he was reluctant to go to court to challenge the results, saying this would be “going into the lion’s den”. “We are not about to be a meal for lions,” he told reporters, alleging that Mnangagwa’s ruling ZANU-PF party had rigged the poll but without providing any concrete evidence.


An MDC official briefly interrupted the results announcement to say the party rejected the result as it had not been able to verify them. Wednesday’s crackdown by the army crushed the last vestiges of euphoria that followed its removal of Mugabe in November and fuelled suspicions that the generals who launched the coup remained Zimbabwe’s de facto rulers. In Harare, the contrast could not have been starker with November, when hundreds of thousands filled the streets, hugging soldiers and celebrating their role in ousting Mugabe, the only leader Zimbabwe had known since independence in 1980.


MORE (https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-zimbabwe-election/zimbabwes-mnangagwa-wins-first-post-mugabe-election-idUKKBN1KN0JR)

Mini Me
08-03-2018, 01:47 PM
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Strait outta Compton!

Mister D
08-03-2018, 02:21 PM
Compton used to be a nice neighborhood too...

donttread
08-03-2018, 04:18 PM
Where does Washington D.C. rank on that list?

It is a dank hole.

Full of leech-vipers

waltky
09-15-2018, 08:11 AM
Cholera Outbreak in Zimbabwe Turns Drug-Resistant...
:shocked:
Cholera Outbreak in Zimbabwe Turns Drug-Resistant
September 14, 2018 — The United Nations says it is hopeful Zimbabwe will soon contain an outbreak of cholera that has killed more than two dozen people. Efforts are complicated as authorities are fighting a drug-resistant bacterium said to be fueling the spread of the waterborne disease.



Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health Friday said the number of cholera-related deaths has climbed to 28, and more than 3,700 cases have been reported across Zimbabwe, with the country’s capital, Harare, remaining the epicenter of the problem. Amina Mohammed, the deputy chief of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said patients are not responding to the drugs typically used to combat the disease. She said doctors are now using second and third-line drugs, which she said UNICEF is importing.



https://gdb.voanews.com/B5ACFF49-AD16-467D-B7F1-F1ABC1CA55E5_cx0_cy10_cw0_w1023_r1_s.jpg
Cholera patients are seen isolated at Budiriro clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe



She said the outbreak can be contained if people follow basic hygiene practices at home. “This is an outbreak, at the beginning it is not easy to bring everyone together. But I think we have all rallied behind and are improving. I think we are stabilizing. I am happy about that. It could be better but we are happy that there is coordination by the ministry of health, together with the WHO, ourselves, MSF is doing a great job managing these cases,” said Mohammed referring to the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, the latter known for its French acronym MSF.



https://gdb.voanews.com/7402DCBE-0856-4ACE-AFE5-00CA8AD00746_w650_r0_s.jpg
A woman is seen washing clothes in the Mukuvisi River in Harare, Zimbabwe, Sept. 11, 2018, as water shortages persist, what experts say is fueling the spread of cholera.



UNICEF, the WHO and MSF are some of the organizations that took action after Zimbabwe's health minister declared a state of emergency Monday. On Thursday, the University of Zimbabwe postponed a graduation ceremony that President Emmerson Mnangagwa was supposed to attend, after police banned all public gatherings in light of the cholera outbreak. But Jacob Mafume, spokesman of the main opposition party MDC, said the ban was only meant to stop its planned “inauguration” of party leader Nelson Chamisa Saturday as the “people’s president.” “The government is using its failure to provide water, it is taking advantage of its failures to restrict the freedoms of the people. They are running scared of our president Nelson Chamisa since his victory, to quickly take over from ZANU-PF inefficiency so that people can be healed from medieval diseases,” said Mafume.



https://gdb.voanews.com/BC6DCEBC-CA76-420C-8C55-C4D95EE63EDE_w650_r0_s.jpg
Authorities go for weeks without collecting trash resulting in Harare residents dumping it anywhere they can, creating conditions for cholera organisms to thrive, say health experts, in Harare, Zimbabwe



Mnangagwa’s government has refused to comment on what it called “cheap politics” by the opposition, which has refused to accept results from the July 30 elections. It said it is concentrating on containing the cholera outbreak which has since spread from Harare to other parts of the country. Critics blame the government for failing to address issues of poor water supply, blocked sewers, and irregular trash collection, factors which are said to be making a cholera outbreak worse.


https://www.voanews.com/a/cholera-forces-zimbabwe-opposition-to-call-off-inauguration-/4571808.html