


The outsider versus the cobra

Copper-rich Zambia faces uncertainty as it chooses a new president

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There are no sanctions against Zim imposed by anyone. Yet your people are being fed and kept alive with `White' man's maize, the same whites you blame all your problems on. Mug has no shame, dignity pr pride(every black man cringed when Mug called last `elections `anti-Blair' elections) and he brought his country and his people on their knees. Shame you still support him and by extension the shame he brought on the whole of Africa and the black man wherever he might be.

But fear not. Obama has just won and he will not stand for anymore brainless thugs destroying Africa. Prepare for Change.

ZANU PF Strategist II


Sanctions against Rhodesia were paid mere lip service. Rhodesian beef and tobacco was knowingly exported to Britain and USA and passed off as produce from Zaire.

The Rhodesians could not have succumbed to these imaginary sanctions, it was when the boys trained in China set Salisbury on fire that the White Settler realised the occupation could not hold anymore and hence scrambled to the negotiating table.

I think most things can be realised for their value neutrality. It is not wrong or right, good or evil that someone rules for 28 years. What is your objection? Does the Zimbabwe Constitution have a limit on the number of terms one can run for office? Has there been a breach of said Constitution? Have elections not been held timeously?

The majority supports Comrade President Mugabe, those of us who have sought to understand the forces pitted against him for his resolution and immutable nature when it comes to principles, and the older generation who suffered the direct humiliation of White Settler occupation for the dignity he brought back to black lives.

I know in your little thieves conventions you think that the support for President Mugabe has waned because of the economic sabotage the West has wrought on our Country, but who will attempt military action against us will be the first to understand that our resolution, our land and our Country is no longer open to foreigners and their puppets.



Objective facts about the ZANLA war and Mugabe are well documented and well known and they all confirm Rhodesians could've hold on to power indefintely despite the relentless sanctions placed on them by the UN.

If Mugabe indeed wanted to take back land why did he leave it till 2000s? It proves he is not interested in Land only in remaining in power at any cost.

And what do you do with land once you get it back? Nothing. You leave it to turn into Bush. All of which confirm at least to the ordinary observer that there is something in the whispered allegations of Black man's inherent incompetence.

That is the legacy Mugabe has bestowed on Black Zims and all Black people the world over: he confirmed the worst of all racial stereotypes.

But one question to you: do you think it is wrong for anyone to rule for 28 years elected or unelected?

ZANU PF Strategist II


We forced the White Settler and his backer, Britain to come to the negotiating table when it became apparent we were now able to come into Salisbury unfettered by the Rhodesians. We hit Whitehall in the pocket when set Shell (Oil Tankers Depot) ablaze in the middle of the supposedly well guarded Capital City. If we had been left to our devices, if the war had been allowed to run another year, allowed to reach its logical conclusion, I think a worst case scenario would have occured for the minority!

So sensing that an outright victory for the nationalist would have been catastrophic for the white minority, Whitehall then mediated, not out of the goodness of their hearts but because it would allow them to keep their grubby hands on our most precious resource - LAND. Mind you the White setters are of British stock therefore Whitehall made a settlement that favoured its kith and kin. The objection to that settlement has consumed Comrade President Robert Mugabe's best years, he has continued Chimurenga through diplomacy, because he only made compromises in 1980 on our behalf and we have been asking him when will our land be returned to us as promised by Whitehall in 1980....

This is the root cause of this ugly mess we find ourselves in...the racist West reneging on the ceasefire of 1980 and trying to keep OUR land in their kith and kin's hands. Demonising of Comrade President Mugabe is a silly diversionary tactic that can only fool the most gullible.


It looks as though Banda has won again. Expect another six months of interesting news from this nation. 40% of the vote is a mandate for another election!



Incontrovertible evidence supports Mugabe was not a very accomplished guerila fighter. Neither were ZANLA for that matter. The number of enemy killed, captured, number of succesful raids tells its own story. Zim was not liberated by force of arms but by nagging guilt in Whitehall.

No need - Ian Smith died more popular amongst Black Zims than Bob Mugabe. How ironic is that?

As for Nujoma kowtowing to Mugabe it is silly African obsessions with old age and chiefdom isnt it? Billy goats get old too. Doubt it makes them any wiser.

ZANU PF Strategist II


President Mugabe doesn't have to be Che, Cabral, Nujoma, Neto or whosoever. He is Robert Gabriel Mugabe. It is the mark of mediocrity to want to be thought as someone else or want yourself to be compared with lesser men such as those you put across. Nujoma defers to Robert Mugabe.....

Also just because a disgruntled former comrade, Edgar Tekere, wrote a book where he accusses RGM of hesitancy after the Chimoio massacres of our civilians by the white settlers, does not make it gospel truth....

I read a book that pitched Che as a womaniser, a drunkard and fame hungry coward but I do not go around saying that's what he really was, since I have not cross referenced the knowledge I have of him and Latin American revolutionaries hold no interest for me anyway



I think you'll find it is universally accepted that Bob was no Che or Giap or for that matter Cabral, Nujoma or Neto. He had a reputation for hesitancy and lack of grit and the statement about giving up the fight is well known and well documented.

What Bob was good at once he got to power was killing other Black Zims. 20,000 in Ndebele alone.

To be fair to him he also do really well in the first few years of his rule by encouraging literacy and building clinics and so on. But like a child and sandcastle he then proceeded to destroy it all, all the while blaming it on Massah whitey, a habit clearly well learnt by his followers. Doesnt make anymore dignified though does it?

ZANU PF Strategist II


ZANU PF's gallant military wing ZANLA, did not operate actual bases from Zambia. Instead we were in Mozambique. Joshua Nkomo's ZIPRA were based in Zambia and the Aircraft that were shot down were shot down by ZIPRA who constituted the minority Ndebele's war effort (2000 fighters to ZANLA's 15 000 in the the theatre at any given time)....

Now if you get so mixed up on the most obvious and well documented clashes in the Chimurenga War, what else do you get mixed up on?



I was talking about the heavy price Zambia under Kaunda paid for sheltering and supporting people like Mugabe who was actually a lousy guerrila fighter. It is alleged that he even suggested to his comrades to give up the armed strgggle at one point after the massive Rhodesian attack on his Zambian bases following the shooting down of the BOAC? airplane by ZANU.

I'm afraid the only thing Zimbabwe and Mugabe has proven is Ian Smith taunt that Blacks cannot run a Nation State. Of course Mr. Smith was wrong as usual but who can argue with him given the current State of Zimbabwe?
And ZANUPF time to grow out of this blame-it-all-on whitey mentality. It is undignified and unjustfiable and shows a deep lack of national pride and dignity. It is actually slave menatlity. It suggests we Blacks have no will or power or determination to run our own things and make our own mistakes. Everything wrong with us is massas' problem. Do you see at all? Doubt it.

Induna of the Savannas

Zedian, the point is that Zambia is headed for a Zimbabwean scenario IF King Cobra wins. Sata admires Mugabe so much that he named his own party PF and in 2006 he had promised to invite Mugabe as guest of honour for the inauguration had Sata won the elections. Sata's rabid tribal inclinations (he cannot complete a sentence without inserting a Bemba phrase regardless of the audience)chime nicely with Mugabe's "gukurahundi" purge of the Ndebeles in the early 1980s.


interesting comments but i do not see how ZANU-PF is arising over the subject matter. This is about Zambia and not the falling titanic Zimbabwe.


What? A Zanu PF supporter reading the economist? Maybe your excellency should read the economist once in a while as well, no other leader in the world is leading its country worse than what Mugabe is doing! The whole country's economy is in ruin because of him! How he is at all popular is beyond my belief. 11,200,000% inflation in July 2008 compared to 32% in 1998? 80% unemployment rate? 15% of the population with HIV? Continuous repression and violations of basic human rights? And instead of doing anything about it, your favorite president blames the outside world, while stealing an election and putting money (the people of Zimbabwe's money) in his pocket. Colonialism, neo-colonialism and apartheid are the base of Africa's problems, I can agree, but Robert Mugabe is the last nail in Zimbabwe's coffin.

ramblin man

As an American foreign national living in Namibia, I've had the unique opportunity to contrast the undemocratic practices engaged in on both sides of the pond, especially this year with Americans and Zambians going to the polls within the next week.I'm surprised that this article failed to mention that the ruling MMD refused to update the voter registers since the 2006 election, effectively disenfranchising tens of thousands of young opposition supporters who have turned 18 since the '06 elections. In a country where average life expectancy is in the mid-30s, 18-20 year olds constitute a disproportional percentage of the voting age population in comparison to more developed countries. Also on that note, both of these candidates are 71 years old. How in touch with the plights of the average Zambian can they possibly be?While Zambia's peaceful departure from post-independence single-party rule was certainly commendable, the reforms instituted since the MMD's inception have done little more than placate the public and enrich the ruling elite. I too hope for a peaceful outcome to this election, but even more I look forward to the youth generation's empowerment and the disappearance of the old hats and their incessant tribal nepotism.

ZANU PF Strategist II

Liberate Zimbabwe from who/whom?? and what has the same who/whom since done to recover the privileges they lost when the gallant sons of Zimbabwe said NO to Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism, Apartheid and degradation of black people in their own homeland by foreign minorities....

My advice to you is this; forget about Zimbabwe. This place called Zimbabwe is no longer open to foreigners' little experiments, meddling and silly interventions. In fact follow the Economist's lead, they went on a wild goose chase a few months ago, predicting the end of His Excellency President Mugabe, but they now realise their folly and have since taken a deserved back seat on the subject...


Zambia paid a heavy price for helping liberate Zimbabwe(given current state of Zim perhaps it shouldnt have bothered)and eked out a peaceful and stable existence if not a prosperous one. There is no reason why it shouldnt become as succesful as nearby Botswana. Lets hope the people of Zambia keep their reputation as gentle, patient folks and conduct their democratic elections fairly and peacefully as they've done in the past.


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