Zut alors! What brings the French to our neck of the woods? They are not coming to sample the sorghum beer (chibuku) or the grilled trotters (mazondo). On May 30 the Zimbabwean portal (Zimbabwesituation.com) reported that French State Minister, Anne-Marie Idrac, had paid a visit to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and had invited him over to Paris next month. Unbeknown to most African leaders, being invited to the Elysee Palace is like being invited to Dracula's Palace: You are being invited there for a reason - a very sinister reason.
Here's the reason why the French suddenly have an interest in Zimbabwe. In the South-East of Zimbabwe lies a small district called Bikita. Bikita has the world's second-largest (known) reserves of lithium, after Bolivia. The car industry is striving to replace the internal-combustion engine with a battery-powered engine, and yes, lithium is a key part of battery technology. French entrepreneur, Vincent Bollore, has even begun to manufacture a small, battery-powered automobile. Which brings us back to Zimbabwe. All governments in the West are now keen to develop better ties with Zimbabwe since - in the future - whoever controls the battery technology and the resources will automatically control the automobile industry.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Sacrebleu! Mon Dieu!
As we speak, the French are investigating the financial dealings of Presidents Obiang Nguema (of Equatorial Guinea), Dennis Sassou-Nguesso (of the Republic of Congo) , and Omar Bongo (of Gabon). As you know the last two were the poster boys of "France-Afrique", a shadowy network of French interests in Africa and their African lackeys on the ground. Now the French authorities are being disingenuous to a maximum degree. The only reason that the French are now investigating these shady characters is that Messrs Bongo, Nguema and Sassou-Nguesso have realised that ill-gotten wealth must be spread around - like manure. In other words you can't keep all your ill-gotten wealth in one French basket. The money must be spread around between Paris, London, New York, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. Now this is what has gotten the French ticked off!
Why did the French forcibly replace Pascal Lissouba (the Previous President) with "their man", Dennis Sassou-Nguesso? Because President Lissouba had started leaning towards the Americans and - heaven forbid - the British. He had given key contracts in Congo's mineral sector to American companies. So the French saw to it that President Lissouba was replaced. But President Sassou-Nguesso has now started rewarding contracts to American and Chinese companies. You see, even French slaves know not to deal exclusively with the French, whose duplicity and avarice in Africa is legendary.
The biggest French boot-licker of them all, Omar Bongo, now keeps most of his money in America - he prefers CitiBank. Adding to the French misery is the fact that Obiang Nguema, whom they had been grooming in the boot-licking business, is now doing a lot of business with the Americans and the Chinese. Sacrebleu! Mon Dieu! What's a French bureaucrat to do! That brings us to all the hullabaloo about the secret finances of African leaders that are being investigated by President Sarkozy's government.
No, President Sarkozy, Africa is not some play-thing, some mistress, that you can discard whenever you so please. We Africans will deal with our corrupt leaders in our own way; and then we will take over control of our economies; and then we will send those boot-licking African leaders out to pasture. Having done that we will re-direct African economies towards intra-African trade, and proceed to have zero tolerance towards French shenanigans on the French continent.
Thank you.
Why did the French forcibly replace Pascal Lissouba (the Previous President) with "their man", Dennis Sassou-Nguesso? Because President Lissouba had started leaning towards the Americans and - heaven forbid - the British. He had given key contracts in Congo's mineral sector to American companies. So the French saw to it that President Lissouba was replaced. But President Sassou-Nguesso has now started rewarding contracts to American and Chinese companies. You see, even French slaves know not to deal exclusively with the French, whose duplicity and avarice in Africa is legendary.
The biggest French boot-licker of them all, Omar Bongo, now keeps most of his money in America - he prefers CitiBank. Adding to the French misery is the fact that Obiang Nguema, whom they had been grooming in the boot-licking business, is now doing a lot of business with the Americans and the Chinese. Sacrebleu! Mon Dieu! What's a French bureaucrat to do! That brings us to all the hullabaloo about the secret finances of African leaders that are being investigated by President Sarkozy's government.
No, President Sarkozy, Africa is not some play-thing, some mistress, that you can discard whenever you so please. We Africans will deal with our corrupt leaders in our own way; and then we will take over control of our economies; and then we will send those boot-licking African leaders out to pasture. Having done that we will re-direct African economies towards intra-African trade, and proceed to have zero tolerance towards French shenanigans on the French continent.
Thank you.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
G.N.U Tips
Oh yes indeed, there is a venal cabal of Zanu hardliners who have no intention of ever seeing this Unity Govt succeed. They will do whatever it takes to derail this GNU. If I were some of the main opposition players I would take packed lunches to work and avoid the sumptuous buffets being offered in the "Chef's" cafeterias. When possible, please use public transport - E.Ts & taxis.
Those who insist on using Ministerial Mercs must always check their tires (and brakes) before they depart. And if you have to drive to your rural homestead, avoid using rural side roads and dirt tracks; stick to the main roads (whatever the condition they're in). And finally: I'll advise against night-time travel at this critical moment in time, for things tend to go BUMP in the night. Whatever needs to be discussed at night can always be discussed during the day.
Those who insist on using Ministerial Mercs must always check their tires (and brakes) before they depart. And if you have to drive to your rural homestead, avoid using rural side roads and dirt tracks; stick to the main roads (whatever the condition they're in). And finally: I'll advise against night-time travel at this critical moment in time, for things tend to go BUMP in the night. Whatever needs to be discussed at night can always be discussed during the day.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tsvangirai & Mugabe: Impossible Characters
SADC is meeting for the umpteenth time to discuss the Zimbabwe situation. This time President Mugabe is holding hands with President Mothlanthe and not Thabo Mbeki. The SADC heads are meeting behind closed doors - once again - to thrash out a solution to the Zimbabwe problem. Once again, nothing will come out of this meeting, and President Mugabe will have free reign to do as he pleases in Zimbabwe.
The problem here is that President Mugabe detests Tsvangirai with passion, and until those two combatants are separated, nothing will come out of any unity talks. You see, politics is more than just about ideology and policy; it's also about personalities. Mugabe detests Tsvangirai; Mutambara detests Tsvangirai; Thabo Mbeki detests Tsvangirai; Kgalema Mothlanthe detests Tsvangirai; Jakaya KIkwete detests Tsvangirai; Armando Guebuza detests Tsvangirai; Tsvangirai's only ally is President Khama of Botswana - and he's a political nonentity.
When there is such a personality clash, then it's better - for the benefit of the nation - to bring in a different personality as head.
In Apartheid South Africa, it became obvious to the Nats that PW Botha would never concede to majority rule. That's why they roped in the relatively malleable, FW DE Clerk. It was the malleable De Klerk who chaperoned majority rule into South Africa.
If "Die Grote Krokodil" PW Botha had remained at the head of the Nats, with the support of his hard-line supporters in the security services (Constant Viljoen, Magnus Malan, Kobie Coetzee, Jannie Geldenhuys) then we will still be fighting for majority rule down South.
It's time for far-seeing MDC officials to survey the situation, take notes, and then come to their senses. For the benefit of Zimbabwe, they have to replace Morgan Tsvangirai. The opposition does not belong to him alone. Another leader will then be able to take his rightful place as PM in a unity government. Then we could sort out Zimbabwe's problems.
James Chikonamombe
The problem here is that President Mugabe detests Tsvangirai with passion, and until those two combatants are separated, nothing will come out of any unity talks. You see, politics is more than just about ideology and policy; it's also about personalities. Mugabe detests Tsvangirai; Mutambara detests Tsvangirai; Thabo Mbeki detests Tsvangirai; Kgalema Mothlanthe detests Tsvangirai; Jakaya KIkwete detests Tsvangirai; Armando Guebuza detests Tsvangirai; Tsvangirai's only ally is President Khama of Botswana - and he's a political nonentity.
When there is such a personality clash, then it's better - for the benefit of the nation - to bring in a different personality as head.
In Apartheid South Africa, it became obvious to the Nats that PW Botha would never concede to majority rule. That's why they roped in the relatively malleable, FW DE Clerk. It was the malleable De Klerk who chaperoned majority rule into South Africa.
If "Die Grote Krokodil" PW Botha had remained at the head of the Nats, with the support of his hard-line supporters in the security services (Constant Viljoen, Magnus Malan, Kobie Coetzee, Jannie Geldenhuys) then we will still be fighting for majority rule down South.
It's time for far-seeing MDC officials to survey the situation, take notes, and then come to their senses. For the benefit of Zimbabwe, they have to replace Morgan Tsvangirai. The opposition does not belong to him alone. Another leader will then be able to take his rightful place as PM in a unity government. Then we could sort out Zimbabwe's problems.
James Chikonamombe
Friday, January 2, 2009
80 is not the new 60
To all the African leadership I want to offer this piece of advice: don’t believe everything that you see on TV, or hear on the radio. Fifty is not the new thirty; forty is not the new 20; and 80 is definitely not the new 60! Don’t think that an 80 year old man who marries a 29 year old bride automatically drops down in age to 60. No! 80 is still the same old 80, and forty is still the same old forty.
Part of the reason why Africa is in such a mess is that we have a gerontocracy in leadership. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is now 80. On TV he looks like a walking mummy. He clearly has no solution to the problems of Egypt’s teeming masses. President Kibaki of Kenya looks clueless on TV. He loses himself when giving speeches and he is forever tired. President Biya of Cameroon is in his mid-seventies, and President Bongo of Gabon is also in his seventies. President Biya is forever visiting French hospitals to cure his many ailments. In fact, he spends more time in France than in Cameroon. Why not just step down to allow a younger leader to take over? The same goes for President Bongo. How someone who acceded to the Presidency in 1967 is still the President defies any sense of realism and common sense. Mzee Bongo is apparently in good health, but he just prefers living in France to his own Gabon. Why be the President of a country when you would rather be elsewhere?
Do forum members still remember the last days of Le Vieux, Houphouet-Boigny? To this day I still can't tell for sure whether his aides had been propping him up on a chair and he actually had been dead along. His eyes were glazed, there was no hand-movement and he had a fixed smile. He looked dead to me, and yet nevertheless, he was still the President. Meanwhile, his loyal deputies such as Konan Bedie were busy wrecking the country. It’s been downhill ever since and I doubt Cote D’Ivoire will ever recover from its problems in one piece.
What about Ngwazi Mawawa, Kamuzu Banda in Malawi. In his last years he was still ruling Malawi when he was over 100years old, wheelchair-bound, and always pushed by his "assistant" Mama Kadzamira. And yet he still was the President, spitting into a spittoon as he wondered what the hell was going on in this world. Meanwhile the family of his assistant/paramour (Mama Kadzamira) were busy helping themselves to the state coffers. I can also add the late President of Guinea, Lansana Conte, who had been bed-ridden for ten years or so suffering from diabetes and other ailments.
Leaders in their early forties to mid-fifties should be in charge of African countries. To have leaders in their mid-70s and early 80s has proven to be disastrous for all African countries affected, and this must cease to be. We need relative youth and dynamism at the top.
James Chikonamombe
Part of the reason why Africa is in such a mess is that we have a gerontocracy in leadership. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is now 80. On TV he looks like a walking mummy. He clearly has no solution to the problems of Egypt’s teeming masses. President Kibaki of Kenya looks clueless on TV. He loses himself when giving speeches and he is forever tired. President Biya of Cameroon is in his mid-seventies, and President Bongo of Gabon is also in his seventies. President Biya is forever visiting French hospitals to cure his many ailments. In fact, he spends more time in France than in Cameroon. Why not just step down to allow a younger leader to take over? The same goes for President Bongo. How someone who acceded to the Presidency in 1967 is still the President defies any sense of realism and common sense. Mzee Bongo is apparently in good health, but he just prefers living in France to his own Gabon. Why be the President of a country when you would rather be elsewhere?
Do forum members still remember the last days of Le Vieux, Houphouet-Boigny? To this day I still can't tell for sure whether his aides had been propping him up on a chair and he actually had been dead along. His eyes were glazed, there was no hand-movement and he had a fixed smile. He looked dead to me, and yet nevertheless, he was still the President. Meanwhile, his loyal deputies such as Konan Bedie were busy wrecking the country. It’s been downhill ever since and I doubt Cote D’Ivoire will ever recover from its problems in one piece.
What about Ngwazi Mawawa, Kamuzu Banda in Malawi. In his last years he was still ruling Malawi when he was over 100years old, wheelchair-bound, and always pushed by his "assistant" Mama Kadzamira. And yet he still was the President, spitting into a spittoon as he wondered what the hell was going on in this world. Meanwhile the family of his assistant/paramour (Mama Kadzamira) were busy helping themselves to the state coffers. I can also add the late President of Guinea, Lansana Conte, who had been bed-ridden for ten years or so suffering from diabetes and other ailments.
Leaders in their early forties to mid-fifties should be in charge of African countries. To have leaders in their mid-70s and early 80s has proven to be disastrous for all African countries affected, and this must cease to be. We need relative youth and dynamism at the top.
James Chikonamombe
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
We Are Our Own Worst Enemies
First of all, we will not be bamboozled into military invasion and conflict. Africa's most powerful nation - South Africa - is next door and will never allow a fellow Southern African nation to be invaded by foreign powers. Secondly, the activities of the likes of Wouter Basson, The Portuguese Secret Service and the Rhodesian Special Branch are well-known; there is no need to go over their hideous activities here.
Now, back to the cholera problem. Zimbabwe, other African countries and all entities that subscribe to African civilisation are ultimately responsible for their own destinies. Yes, the British, Americans, French, and even the Portuguese have always had vicious designs on Africa. That's to be expected, and we need to deal with that reality. In the Darwinian jungle out there, the strong will always prey on the weak.
The Zimbabwean Health Minister, David Parirenyatwa, stated that a lack of cleaning chemicals for Zimbabwe's municipal water supplies, had led to outbreaks of cholera. This fact is plain and simple. Outbreaks of cholera had absolutely nothing to do with the British, although the British have used the cholera outbreak to further their own machinations in zimbabwe. This was simply a failure of local governance. By African standards Zimbabwe is not a poor country. We have an electricity distribution network that is supposed to deliver electric power to urban areas, and yet - due to a lack of electricity generation - whole ares go without power for hours, even days. Most of our urban areas are connected to sewage systems, and yet we've now had an horrific occurrence of cholera. All these problems are not the problems of the British; we brought these problems on ourselves.
Ultimately, all countries are responsible for their own destinies. To blame the British is to implicitly acknowledge the British as the providers of the solutions to all of our problems. BUT NO! DAMMIT! THAT CANNOT BE! The British have their own problems. We Zimbabweans are an independent nation and are heirs to a proud, African civilisation. We will solve our problems in our own way. We must excuse President Mugabe for blaming the British; he's now an old man of 85, and has a weak grasp of reality.
A country's internal problems will be multiplied by external machinations, if a nation's rulers fail to tackle a nation's urgent problems. Chairman Mao, said the same thing in his treatise "On Contradiction". This is what he said, " ............external causes become operative through internal causes. The fundamental cause of the development of a thing is not external, but internal. Furthermore, social development is due chiefly not to external, but to internal causes."
I hope I answered your queries.
James Chikonamombe
Now, back to the cholera problem. Zimbabwe, other African countries and all entities that subscribe to African civilisation are ultimately responsible for their own destinies. Yes, the British, Americans, French, and even the Portuguese have always had vicious designs on Africa. That's to be expected, and we need to deal with that reality. In the Darwinian jungle out there, the strong will always prey on the weak.
The Zimbabwean Health Minister, David Parirenyatwa, stated that a lack of cleaning chemicals for Zimbabwe's municipal water supplies, had led to outbreaks of cholera. This fact is plain and simple. Outbreaks of cholera had absolutely nothing to do with the British, although the British have used the cholera outbreak to further their own machinations in zimbabwe. This was simply a failure of local governance. By African standards Zimbabwe is not a poor country. We have an electricity distribution network that is supposed to deliver electric power to urban areas, and yet - due to a lack of electricity generation - whole ares go without power for hours, even days. Most of our urban areas are connected to sewage systems, and yet we've now had an horrific occurrence of cholera. All these problems are not the problems of the British; we brought these problems on ourselves.
Ultimately, all countries are responsible for their own destinies. To blame the British is to implicitly acknowledge the British as the providers of the solutions to all of our problems. BUT NO! DAMMIT! THAT CANNOT BE! The British have their own problems. We Zimbabweans are an independent nation and are heirs to a proud, African civilisation. We will solve our problems in our own way. We must excuse President Mugabe for blaming the British; he's now an old man of 85, and has a weak grasp of reality.
A country's internal problems will be multiplied by external machinations, if a nation's rulers fail to tackle a nation's urgent problems. Chairman Mao, said the same thing in his treatise "On Contradiction". This is what he said, " ............external causes become operative through internal causes. The fundamental cause of the development of a thing is not external, but internal. Furthermore, social development is due chiefly not to external, but to internal causes."
I hope I answered your queries.
James Chikonamombe
Sunday, November 9, 2008
A New Paradign For Africa
The editors at the "Economist" are capable of extreme, Orwellian double-speak. Keynesian, fiscal stimulus is great if you have the monetary resources to inject into your economy. However, most African countries are too poor to dabble with Keynes. We Africans need to widen our scope of economic modeling, and experiment with ideas that were working, but then were rejected in the 80s. Here, I'm talking specifically about scientific socialism (or African Socialism). We need to reform agriculture; put millions of Africans to work, making the things that we actually need for our daily necessities; increase literacy and numeracy; introduce relative technologies; and finally, we need to get rid of the clownish leadership that has made Africa the world's laughing-stock. We need a technocratic, development- minded elite at the helm. Compare the Chinese leadership of Wen Jiabao and Hu Jintao to Blaise Compaore in Burkina Faso, and Obiang Nguema in Equatorial Guinea. The former are trained hydraulic engineers and physicists who have led China steaming into the 21st century. The latter are doddering idiots. In normal times, Blaise Compaore would be selling mangoes on the dusty streets of Ouagadougou. HE HAS NO BUSINESS BEING AT THE HELM OF BURKINA FASO. The same goes for that cannibalistic clown in Equatorial Guinea, Obiang Nguema.
Back to scientific socialism: we are now seeing that the Western world's economic system is going through rough times. If this system is having a hard time in it's own blood-stream, in it's own, natural environment, how the hell can it succeed in Africa? If you are having a hard time growing rice in a paddy field, how can you grow rice in the arid Sahel? Under the shrewd leadership of Thomas Sankara; Burkina Faso introduced adult literacy programs; checks on desertification; and the Burkinabe actually started to produce the clothes that they wore on their backs. In Zimbabwe - from 1980 to 1989 - we went from a low educational base to having Africa's highest literacy-rate and a well-functioning health sector. This ended in '89 when the IMF got wind of this successful experiment, and then proceeded to knee-cap our state-led development program with their own genocidal, "structural adjustment" program.
We Africans must not blindly follow the economic models of the West. To have a decent standard of living for the bulk of the African masses, we must introduce scientific socialism. It has worked in the past and it can work in the future. It will allow the African masses to begin to produce, and then to consume what they produce. It will also allow the riches of Africa's natural resources to actually benefit ordinary Africans. Africa's present economic structures are not working. Now is the time to bring about viable change by introducing different, economic structures. I'll leave you with a Chinese intellectual, Minqui Li, and his thoughts on Socialism, " It is well-known that the state, socialist countries have been more successful in meeting the people's basic needs (nutrition, health-care, education, housing), and improving women's conditions than other countries with similar levels of economic developmen."
Thank you
James Chikonamombe
Back to scientific socialism: we are now seeing that the Western world's economic system is going through rough times. If this system is having a hard time in it's own blood-stream, in it's own, natural environment, how the hell can it succeed in Africa? If you are having a hard time growing rice in a paddy field, how can you grow rice in the arid Sahel? Under the shrewd leadership of Thomas Sankara; Burkina Faso introduced adult literacy programs; checks on desertification; and the Burkinabe actually started to produce the clothes that they wore on their backs. In Zimbabwe - from 1980 to 1989 - we went from a low educational base to having Africa's highest literacy-rate and a well-functioning health sector. This ended in '89 when the IMF got wind of this successful experiment, and then proceeded to knee-cap our state-led development program with their own genocidal, "structural adjustment" program.
We Africans must not blindly follow the economic models of the West. To have a decent standard of living for the bulk of the African masses, we must introduce scientific socialism. It has worked in the past and it can work in the future. It will allow the African masses to begin to produce, and then to consume what they produce. It will also allow the riches of Africa's natural resources to actually benefit ordinary Africans. Africa's present economic structures are not working. Now is the time to bring about viable change by introducing different, economic structures. I'll leave you with a Chinese intellectual, Minqui Li, and his thoughts on Socialism, " It is well-known that the state, socialist countries have been more successful in meeting the people's basic needs (nutrition, health-care, education, housing), and improving women's conditions than other countries with similar levels of economic developmen."
Thank you
James Chikonamombe
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