Update 8/21/2018:
The conditions in South Africa now resemble the situation seen in Zimbabwe about 15 years ago.  White farmers are having their property seized, just because they're white, and the assets are being given (by the government!) to blacks, just because they're black.

The rest of this page is about the turmoil in Zimbabwe, the heavy-handed rule of Robert Mugabe, the expulsion of white farmers because they were white, economic collapse, property seizures, and the suffering of the general population.  Somehow the situation hasn't received a lot of attention in the American news media.  Perhaps this is because Zimbabwe doesn't have a lot of oil, or perhaps the U.S. news media, in the era of Barack H. Obama, dare not criticize a black "leader" under any circumstances.

More probably, news about Zimbabwe is suppressed because it is politically incorrect to come out and say that the people of Zimbabwe were much better off under white colonial leadership, back when the country was called Rhodesia.  Mr. Mugabe is still considered a great leader — as good as any other — by many members of the United Nations.  That in itself tells us a lot about the U.N.

Why do I care?  This is what the idea of "reparations" for 19th-century injustices really means.  Mugabe's rounding up and imprisoning the white farmers is justified, in his view, by the whites having taken control of the country about 100 years ago.  Black "leaders" like Louis Farrakhan seem to be delighted by what's happening there.  But it also shows what uncontrolled land grabs and property seizures can do to a country.

The story of Zimbabwe's miserable situation is the story of a power-crazed communist dictator who has single-handedly wrecked one of the strongest and most prosperous countries in Africa.  It is the story of a black racist government that has violently driven out white farmers just because they are white.  It is the story of a country that now endures mind-boggling rates of inflation — where a loaf of bread costs billions (if not trillions) of dollars.  As of 14 November 2008, Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate was 89.7 Sextillion (89.7x10²¹) percent.  In 2009, Zimbabwe's monthly inflation rate was 79,600,000,000%.  In spite of all the above, it is a story that is all but completely ignored by the American press, primarily — in my opinion — because the villain is a black leftist.

More recently, and more importantly, the situation in Zimbabwe serves as a warning sign to the United States.  The Zimbabwe experience is the story of a power-crazed black president setting himself up as a Marxist dictator and wrecking the economy of a once-prosperous country.  If that doesn't sound familiar, you haven't been paying attention.

This page is mostly about current events.  The situation in Zimbabwe has been headed in the same direction for well over a decade.  More about Zimbabwe's history over the last 50 years can be found here.

(The last time I counted, there were about 524 links on this page.)

Recap and overview:

These articles sum up the current situation and the roots of Zimbabwe's troubles.

(Scroll down for timely news, or click here.)

Dictator Robert Mugabe Is What Happens When A Country Falls For A Charismatic Socialist.  Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's dictator and lifelong communist, died on Sept. 6, 2019, at the age of 95.  In a country where the average life expectancy was only 44 years (according to a 2006 census), he outlived most of his countrymen.  However, his protracted and long life was constructed upon inflicting enormous and unimaginable suffering upon his people and country.  For the rest of us, his incumbency should serve as a constant warning about why we should not fall for the next charismatic socialist who heedlessly promises everything.

Black Rule in Zimbabwe.  Zimbabwe — when it was ruled by whites and known as Rhodesia — was the most prosperous nation in southern Africa.  When black rule began in 1980, the country had excellent railroads, good highways, and clean, well run towns.  It was rich in gold, chromium, platinum, and coal, and Rhodesia was such an agricultural success it exported food.  It has now been reduced to a shattered ruin, facing famine, with whites and black dissenters murdered and tortured.  It is fashionable to blame the country's failures on the man who has been president since 1980, Robert Mugabe. [...] Mr. Mugabe is undoubtedly a bad character, but so are most of the people who rule African countries.  It is possible he hastened Zimbabwe's decline but decline was inevitable once blacks took over institutions built by whites.

Diary:  Nightmares in Harare.  I was back in Harare, visiting my grandmother, when the riots began.  My grandmother is in her nineties, and lives in a cluster of cottages in a northern suburb which used, once, to be one of the smartest in Harare.  It's now so rundown that the roads, unlit by streetlamps, are booby-trapped with potholes deep enough to bury a mid-sized treasure chest, but still African tulip trees bloom by the roadside.  The other inhabitants of the cottages are, like my grandmother, white, un-rich and quite spectacularly old, and, unlike my grandmother, liable to refer to themselves as 'Rhodesian'. The complex has a garden surrounded by a rusty electric gate, but, unlike many such complexes, no guard, because we are so far from any possible happening.  This diary is not an account from the heart of the action:  it's an account of how possible it is to be sure of nothing but rumours, as brutality goes on only miles away; of how life goes on, against the backdrop of a dictatorship.

Will Global Warming Destroy the World?  Ask America's Farmers.  Africa must import food staples valued at some $25 billion annually, largely because continental food production, supply, and consumption systems do not function optimally.  Why?  Consider that no nation on that continent can provide its farmers the needed political and societal stability to support a similarly developed agricultural infrastructure.  The examples of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia and once Africa's breadbasket) and Sudan are illustrative of the entire continent's challenges.  Zimbabwe has Africa's most fertile farmland, yet, as a recent exposé explained, "a onetime net exporter of maize, cotton, beef, tobacco, roses, and sugarcane," Zimbabwe now "exports only its educated professionals," who fled by the thousands from decades of corrupt autocratic rule.

Scuttling Sanity to Repeat History and Sink a Country.  On the morning of April 18, 2000, a Zimbabwean farmer, Martin Olds, mounted a defense of his 12,000-acre holding 400 miles southwest of Harare, after 70 men wielding automatic weapons arrived to lay claim to his land.  For two hours, the 43-year-old former Rhodesian soldier used a shotgun and long rifle to fend off the invaders, wounding several while suffering multiple disabling injuries himself.  He died there, his body treated indignantly by his murderers — communist thugs acting under the auspices of then-president Robert Mugabe.  There were no arrests.  Olds's property, like 4,000 other white-owned commercial farms in Zimbabwe, was swarmed by squatters and ultimately seized by the state for redistribution to those loyal to the ruling ZANU-PF party.  The seizures had predictable results:  mass starvation, economic ruin, and citizens fleeing in droves for fruited plains — mainly South Africa.

Poor Robert Mugabe.  Ironically, the only genuinely free election ever held in the country took place under European rule in April 1979 when a black majority government took power under the leadership of Bishop Abel Muzorewa, only for Mrs. Thatcher to renege on her promise to recognize it.  "The lady who was not for turning" did a double somersault when confronted with the wrath of the African despots, who insisted on Mugabe as the leader of the new Zimbabwe and swiftly moved the goalposts to Lancaster House.  Within those hallowed halls, her Machiavellian foreign secretary, Lord Peter Carrington, stitched up an agreement that (then former prime minister) Ian Smith rejected, but he was quickly drummed out of the negotiations so as not to blow the great con.  John Giles, the Rhodesian legal expert at the conference, also warned against accepting the terms, and he was soon after found dead under highly suspicious circumstances.  Ian Smith was unequivocal in insisting he was murdered.  But Carrington and Thatcher got their way; Britain took back control of the country under the boozy governorship of Lord Christopher Soames and a farcical election was held during which Mugabe's forces ran a violent intimidation campaign that decisively influenced the result in their favor.  When then Rhodesian military supremo Gen. Peter Walls cried foul, called for a rerun, and demanded access to Mrs. Thatcher as previously promised, the door of No. 10 was slammed shut in his face.  A beaming Prince Charles, resplendent in his naval commander's uniform, soon arrived to deliver Rhodesia on a silver platter to a richly undeserving Robert Mugabe, who thus came to power with the blood of thousands of his countrymen on his hands.

When Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Africa.  These fascinating pictures show a time when Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Africa long before it was left impoverished by Robert Mugabe.  Pictures from the late 1890s and early 1900s show farms, mines and railways being constructed in the southern African nation, when it was known as Rhodesia.  They also show protests calling for independence from colonialist rule as the 20th century progressed before a bloody liberation war started in 1972, led by Mugabe.

The Truth About Mugabe's Land Reform.  As Zimbabweans go to the polls today, it is time to set the record straight about Robert Mugabe's land reform.  Some are now calling it a success.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Do 'the people' get the governments they deserve?  Zimbabwe has been a difficult case from its inception.  The intransigence of the Smith white government created a negative background which Robert Mugabe used to create an anti-white highly centralized government, which proved to be enormously incompetent and unfair — not only to whites, but also to blacks in the country.  Agricultural policies created bad results and much poverty.  Mugabe was charged with human rights violations and economic incompetence.  His people are poor, undereducated, and unhappy.  Per capita GDP is $500 per year, 226th in the world (abysmally low).  Yet Zimbabweans keep electing Mugabe to the presidency.

Timely news and commentary:

South Africa:  Next Rich Failed State?  Although the African National Congress (ANC) remains the dominant political party in South Africa after the 2024 national elections, its power is significantly diminished in addition to its reduced parliamentary representation.  After failing to command a majority, the ANC is the largest faction of South Africa's so-called Government of National Unity — although there is little unity among its large number of members.  To describe the government as a fragile coalition would be more accurate.  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, an ardent critic of Israel, is the authority behind South Africa's actions condemning Israel's actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.  Ramaphosa is also a leading figure in BRICS — a group of nations seeking to bypass America's dominance of world trade, and global financial and monetary control.  As part of South Africa's realignment from the West towards BRICS, the ANC has adopted Russia and Iran as replacement benefactors, and has strengthened ties with China.

Zimbabwean killer allowed to live in UK under ECHR because of illicit love child.  A Zimbabwean jailed for killing a man in a car crash has been allowed to live in the UK under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) after it was discovered he had an illicit love child.  The Zimbabwean, who has been granted anonymity, has fought off an attempt to deport him by the Home Office after claiming his removal would breach his Article Eight rights to a family life under the ECHR.  He was jailed for five years and eight months after causing the death of a man and seriously injuring another when he crashed his car at "break-neck" speed while high on drugs and drink.  After he was released from prison, a DNA test revealed that he was the father of a boy whom another man had, until then, believed was his son.  The boy was three years old and had been living with his biological mother and the other man whom he believed was his father.

Zimbabwe's New Gold-Backed Currency ZiG Targeted With Black Market Manipulation.  At the beginning of April, Zimbabwe introduced a new currency called Zimbabwe Gold, or ZiG for short.  What makes this currency special is that it's fully backed by real, valuable assets like gold and other foreign currencies, giving it more credibility than past currencies the country has tried.  However, the ZiG is already facing challenges.  Zimbabwe's central bank governor, John Mushayavanhu, recently told Bloomberg that the new currency is struggling because of a growing gap between its official exchange rate and the rates on the parallel (black) market.

South Africa:  Safe-haven for Hamas, Islamic State and al-Qaeda Terrorists.  South Africa might appear to have scored another diplomatic victory propaganda victory by getting the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to accept onto its judicial docket the African state's charge that Israel's presence in the West Bank is an illegal occupation.  This recent initiative follows South Africa's December 29, 2023 presentation to the ICJ that Israel's military operations in Gaza were supposedly acts of genocide against the territory's civilian population.  While South Africa's latest grandstand maneuver will most likely fail on its lack of merit, the effort did succeed in exposing yet another unsavory dimension of the relationship between South Africa and the terrorist organization Hamas, which initiated the war against Israel on October 7, 2023.  South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has close and long-standing ties to Hamas.

State Department slams Zimbabwe after U.S. aid workers deported.  The U.S. State Department on Friday issued a stinging rebuke of Zimbabwe after that country recently deported aid workers. "We take the safety and security of U.S. citizens seriously and demand accountability from the government of Zimbabwe," the State Department said in a statement.  "The people of Zimbabwe deserve better and we will continue to support them as we work to build a more inclusive, democratic society with accountable political leaders and government institutions."  Zimbabwe authorities last month detained and eventually deported officials from the United States Agency for International Development.

US sanctions Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa over human rights abuses.  The United States on Monday [3/4/2024] sanctioned Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa, its first lady and other government officials for their alleged involvement in corruption and human rights abuses.  The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on three entities and 11 people, including the Mnangagwas, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and retired Brig.  Gen. Walter Tapfumaneyi.  Mnnangagwa is accused of protecting gold and diamond smugglers who operate in Zimbabwe, directing government officials to facilitate the sale of gold and diamonds in illicit markets and taking bribes in exchange for his services, among other offenses.  President Joe Biden also Monday signed an executive order that terminates Zimbabwe's national emergency and revokes Zimbabwe-specific sanctions.  Now, the administration is using a Trump-era executive order that implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act as its authority to issue the sanctions.

Crime is destroying South Africa.  What would you say about a country that in 2023 saw 75 murders and 153 rapes every day for a grand total of 55,000 rapes and 27,375 murders in one year?  I should add that authorities say that many of these crimes go unreported, so those figures are undoubtedly higher.  With that said, I think it would be fair to describe this country as a literal hell on earth.  This country is South Africa, once called the jewel of the African continent.  White farmers and other Whites are getting beaten, raped, and murdered there on an almost daily basis.  Too many live in fear for their safety and lives.  In addition, many are seeing their farms confiscated as happened in another [bad] country called Zimbabwe.  I guess the logical question becomes, where is the world outrage and concern that we saw for years over apartheid in that land?  The harsh reality is, is that the world's media has pretty much chosen to ignore it.  I sense the reason for this attitude is because South Africa is now a Black-run country, and a significant number of the victims are white.  Do you really expect the Media to report that this country has gone down the tubes ever since Black rule took over and that most of the other countries in Africa who received its freedom from the "evil" colonizers are now not fit to live in?

Slavery follows looting in African country as its economy collapses.  Sudan, one of Africa's largest countries, is in the middle of a civil war that has destroyed its economy, driven millions from their homes, and left 60% of its farmland untended.  The Rapid Support Forces, a militia that controls most of the country, used to support itself by looting, taking people's valuable, portable possessions.  But now, the country has gotten so poor that there isn't much portable property to loot.  So the RSF has turned to slavery and kidnapping instead, to raise revenue.

Watch As South Africans Go To War Over Toilet Paper.  A truck accident North of Pretoria South Africa resulted in the locals stealing toilet paper as the truck drivers tried to fend them off.  [Video clip]

Zimbabwe Floats the Idea of Putting Its Currency on a Gold Standard.  Could arguably the world's worst currency become its best?  If Zimbabwe follows through and embraces a plan to back the Zimbabwe dollar with gold, it just might.  Last week, Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa said officials were exploring ways to introduce a "structured currency," but he didn't explain what that meant.  On Monday (Feb. 12), Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube shed some light on the plan, saying the goal was to "manage the growth of liquidity which has a high correlation to money supply growth and inflation."  The way to do that is to link the exchange rate to some hard asset such as gold.  To do that you have to have some sort of currency board type system in place where the growth of the domestic liquidity is constrained by the value of the asset that is backing the currency.

In South Africa, a great evil is growing fast.  For decades, Westerners were deeply concerned about South African apartheid.  The pressure the West put on that nation finally led to apartheid's end in the early 1990s.  However, a new and very ugly apartheid movement is emerging in South Africa, and no one in the West seems interested in talking about it.  This time, it's whites who are in the crosshairs, and genocide is on the menu, with a radical black communist party poised to become the majority in South Africa's Parliament.  While the end of apartheid was ripe with promise, the fly in the ointment was always going to be communism.  Thanks to the non-stop communist rule of South Africa's ANC party, the country, which is rich in natural resources, is an economic basket case.  The result, especially when focused through climate change madness, has led to the electric grid's collapse across vast swaths of the country, bringing with it water and food shortages.

The Editor says...
No, the fly in the ointment is this:  Racist blacks can't govern.  They proved this in  Rhodesia  Zimbabwe and now they're proving it again in South Africa and Sudan (and Haiti and Chicago).  They chased out or murdered all the whites, and now they're starving.  But at least all the white people are gone.

What's Going on In South Africa?  Other than natural disasters and major loss of life, Americans rarely pay attention to events occurring around the world — especially if it is a slow process, aided by the left.  Such is the case with South Africa.  With the end of Apartheid in the early 1990s, the African National Congress (ANC) won power in 1994 and has never relinquished it.  What has happened since then has been the embodiment of Critical Race Theory in practice, with predictable results.  Americans should pay attention to this, as it will be the endgame in the United States in the not too distant future.  South Africa is beating its carbon reduction goals handily as the power grid is increasingly causing rolling blackouts.  The state-owned energy company Eskom provides 90 percent of the county's electricity.  The blackouts and "load-shedding" are caused by an aging fleet of coal-fired plants that are continuously breaking down due to lack of maintenance, years of underinvestment, and systematic corruption.  Eskom warned then-president Nelson Mandela's administration in 1998 that unless new and more sophisticated power plants were built immediately and infrastructure was upgraded, the electrical grid "would begin imploding within a decade."

Britain is turning into South Africa [which has turned into Zimbabwe].  I feel obliged to say that South Africa is a wonderful country, and a resilient one.  For every horror story you see in the media — most recently the tragic blaze in Johannesburg — there are many things worthy of love.  Nonetheless, three decades after the end of apartheid, it is obvious that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has failed in its historic mission:  to spread the living standards formerly enjoyed by the white minority to the broad mass of the population.  It has, if anything, achieved the opposite, overseeing the dereliction of the infrastructure and human potential on which any such improvement would depend.  Metaphors for this failure are everywhere.  Railways that took my parents to their summer holidays as children now lie rusting and abandoned.  Supermarkets sell asphalt for drivers to fill in potholes for themselves.  Criminal gangs, their numbers buoyed by an unemployment rate above 30%, cut down traffic lights for scrap, steal transformers from power stations and collapse roads with illegal mining operations.

How America Becomes Zimbabwe.  What is the difference between South African politician Julius Malema, who led chants of "Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer" during a recent rally of the Economic Freedom Fighters, the political organization that he chairs, and U.S. Air Force general C.Q. Brown, nominated as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose goal as CJCS isn't to increase the combat capability of the Armed Forces, but to ensure that white male officers become a minority at the Pentagon?  Same clown, different uniform.

The New York Times Insists It's Only a Song When It Urges Killing White South Africans.  The New York Times, also known as those wonderful people who brought you Walter Duranty and his minor omission while slobbering over Joseph Stalin in the 1930s of mentioning how Stalin was systematically mass murdering four million Ukrainians via forced starvation, has come up with another pearl of wisdom for we the peasantry.  Did you know that when a radical South African political group demanding the country's white farmers give up their land by any means necessary, including murder, sings a song at their rallies featuring "Kill the Boer," Boer meaning any white person living in South Africa, they don't literally mean it?  It's only a line in a song, you see.  No big.  Nothing literal.  How can it be when some other songs aren't literal?

How Many White Farmers Have Been Murdered In South African?  This Many....  South Africa: 300,000 firearms were seized from White Farmers following a Constitutional Court decision that required the owners to surrender their weapons.  Video:  Each cross symbolizes a White Farmer who was killed life in South Africa from 2018 to 2022.  More than 4000 white farmers have been killed in South Africa since 1994 in farm attacks.  [Video clip]

Funny how no one cares about racism in South Africa anymore.  Remember all the speeches about apartheid?  As I recall, Jesse Jackson got involved in South African politics.  It was the issue of our time, as they often say.  For the record, apartheid was terrible and a correction was needed.  However, it's hard to see what's happening in South Africa today.  The country is a financial mess and the extremes seem to be doing all the talking. [...] It sounds like they are in fact pushing for genocide of white people.

Rally in South Africa with 60k [black] people singing 'kill the white man, kill the farmer'.  Meanwhile in South Africa:  That is not a soccer match or Church gathering, it is radical socialists singing with drooling mouths to kill white people.  [Video clip]

South Africa's Vice President's Detail Drags White Man Out Of Car And Stomps Him Unconscious.  A group of armed plainclothes officers assigned to protect South Africa's deputy president was caught on video dragging a man out of a car and then stomping on his head until he lies motionless, sparking outrage and drawing more attention to the country's problems with police brutality.  The officers are part of the police security team protecting South Africa Deputy President Paul Mashatile, his office confirmed on Tuesday.  There are no indications that Mashatile was present during the incident.  [Video clip]

South Africa's grid is dissolving — climate activists hit hardest.  I ran across this article in Climate Change News decrying the fact that the coal lobby in South Africa is fighting against shutting down the coal industry and replacing it with renewables.  It's a tale filled with evil carbon villains. [...] If only the mean, nasty coal people would let the activists work their magic, all would be rainbows and sunshine and butterflies fluttering in the breeze.  Sad, really, that such mean people are so powerful.  [Tweet]  Of course, the story ignores one minor point:  South Africa's power grid is collapsing, with electricity shut off to residents for 8-13 hours a day.  The problems that most South Africans face these days has nothing to do with carbon "pollution;" it is the fact that they are forced to use candles to light their homes and watch their food rot for lack of refrigeration.  That the coal lobby has any political power at all is a miracle in South Africa.  The country is falling apart before our eyes, becoming a failed state after decades of being one of the only functioning countries on the continent.  The power company?  Apparently not as well functioning as the coal lobby, perhaps because it is run by the government which is a socialist mess.

Fifteen People Get Shot Up At Nightclub In South Africa.  The police in Tshwane have launched a manhunt for a suspect who shot and injured 15 patrons at a tavern in Soshanguve on Sunday night.  According to police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, police were called to a shooting incident and upon arrival at the scene several people were found with gunshot wounds and were taken to the local clinic and hospital.  [Video clip]

As South Africa collapses, it opts for full, anti-white apartheid.  For a very long time, South Africa was a well-managed country that engaged in immoral racial apartheid.  Blacks were denied all civil rights and were forcibly economically marginalized.  When apartheid finally ended, it seemed as if South Africa could continue to be a well-managed country, only without the evil of racial segregation.  However, with Cyril Ramaphosa, who rose through the communist African National Congress, in charge, the country is violently imploding, and apartheid is back, only this time against whites and Indians.  It became apparent in March that South Africa's power grid is failing.  This was a self-imposed crisis that occurred because South Africa's hard-left government embraced the anti-fossil fuel "green" agenda.  As South Africa is discovering, without a power grid, it's not just the lights that go out.  Everything in the modern world stops: water treatment, refrigeration, medical treatment, and more.

South Africa has new "equity based" water use regs.  You'll never guess what that means.  The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Mr. Mchunu, published his revised guidelines as part of a massive "Government Gazette" on the 19th of May.  Parties who wish to opine or comment on the proposed new guidelines are welcome to do so in written form for the next 60 days.  That sounds all sorts of above board and pretty much like any change in a civic reg.  The "public comment" period — always done.  We've seen enough school board meetings to know how this can go.  But when you rumble on down through what they've laid out as the requirements, perquisites and qualifiers to successfully apply for water use... maybe you wouldn't be so quick to fire off an email, especially if you had livestock to water or a field to irrigate or a well for your family that needs digging.

That's probably the only way to meet this ridiculous goal.
South Africa beats climate goal as load shedding slashes emissions.  South Africa is ahead of its target for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases.  Output of the climate-warming gases from the world's 14th-biggest emitter is already falling even though its Nationally Determined Contribution, a target adopted by the cabinet in 2021, only forecast a decline from 2025.  Regular breakdowns of the coal-fired power plants that supply more than 80% of South Africa's electricity mean that less carbon dioxide is being pumped into the atmosphere and daily rotational cuts of more than 10 hours a day are further limiting emissions from factories.  "It's unintentional," Crispian Olver, the executive director of South Africa's Presidential Climate Commission, said in an interview in Johannesburg on Monday.

Now Progressives are Sneering at Economics.  [Scroll down]  Briefly, the ANC regime in South Africa has followed the progressive line to a T. And South Africa has gone straight to hell, economically and culturally and politically.  Why?  Because the ANC thinks that all you need to do is hand over the levers of the economy to its supporters, and bingo!  Except that everything goes straight to hell.  And plenty of people in today's South Africa are witnessing it.  Does the daughter of an ANC "activist" get it?  No.  Malaika, 30 years after Mandela rose to power, thinks that "the perks of white society are... withheld from her."  And the white progressives!  One of them had a friendship with Mandela successor Thabo Mbeki, but after coming to power, Mbeki never spoke to him again.  ["]This [white progressive] fell into a depression and drank himself to death.["]  Then there's the mixed-race Michael that "after apartheid got a job in land reform."  It all sounded great except that the modern, mechanized farms he handed out to illiterate subsistence farmers quickly went broke.

South Africa's infrastructure 30 years after the end of Apartheid.  [Nelson] Mandela served just one term, but his party, the ANC (African National Congress) has provided every president and government since and faces very little competition in parliament.  What does South Africa look like after thirty years of non-stop ANC rule?  I decided to go down and find out for myself with the question:  What is the state of the rainbow nation thirty years after Apartheid?  How did the fairy story work out? [...] South Africa has been experiencing rolling, planned blackouts, locally called "load shedding", since 2008.  It is a beautiful, eerie experience to drive around a big, modern city like Johannesburg during load shedding.  It is true that the high-end shopping centres, the top hotels, the better restaurants, and upscale homes as well as hospitals, airports (and the presidential palace) use diesel generators or inverters and batteries to keep the power on, but the vast townships are all swathed in darkness, and the street and traffic lights are all off.

The African power grid collapse is spreading.  Last summer, we looked at the collapse of the power grid in South Africa.  The country which previously had the most economically stable and prosperous government in sub-Saharan Africa suffered waves of unemployment and looting as its economy buckled under the strain.  They've managed to put together some foreign aid to apply patchwork fixes since then, but there are still rolling blackouts taking place on a regular basis.  This winter, however, the power grid problems are spreading in one of the more underreported stories of the year.  Zimbabwe and Nigeria are now also experiencing near-total collapses of their power grids.  People who still have jobs are having to work at night because that's the only time there is stable electricity.  Scheduled blackouts frequently last up to ten or even twelve hours per day, and both nations' economies are tanking as a result.

South Africa is in freefall.  I received an email from a South African friend today, infuriated at his country's destruction at the hands of his own government's ideology and incompetence.  This was not hyperbole.  In fact, the power grid is on the verge of complete collapse, which will leave people without food or water, and, when combined with South Africa's decay in all other areas, may lead to civil unrest on a scale that could trigger a full civil war.  As a predicate to this post, it's important to note that, since 1994, when the all-white government finally ended, all South Africa's presidents have come from the African National Congress, a communist front group.  It's also important to note that South Africa, although in chaotic fashion, has been bowing down before "green colonialism."  As I use it, that phrase means that economically fragile countries destroy their energy infrastructure to suit the climate delusions coming from affluent western nations.

The collapse of South Africa.  With so many things going to pieces all around the world these days, it can be difficult to keep track of them all.  Particularly when so much of the global news media's attention is riveted on the war in Ukraine, other things can slip through the cracks.  For example, were you aware that the government of South Africa has basically collapsed?  And it happened fairly quickly.  Take a look at this lengthy Twitter thread from someone who actually lives there.  The government and the police have almost disappeared, the energy grid has imploded, half of the people in the country are out of work and the nation's infrastructure has crumbled.

South Africa — The First Country Built on "Critical Race Theory" — Officially Implodes.  South Africa is disintegrating.  After the jailing of Jacob Zuma, supporters of the former president took to the streets, ostensibly to protest but actually to simply plunder at will.  The official death toll already runs into the dozens, but in a country as violent as South Africa (57 murders a day) the real toll will likely never be known for certain.  [Tweet]  Rioters have plundered shops and entire shopping malls.  When they run out out of normal goods, they steal livestock.  When it's too heavy to carry by hand, they bring a forklift.  [Tweet]  The meltdown in South Africa isn't a natural disaster or a random fluke.  It's a choice.  South Africa was the first modern nation to be refounded on the anti-white principles of critical race theory, and now it is reaping the whirlwind of that choice.  South Africa did everything that is being done in America right now.  As a hyperdiverse multiethnic, multilingual society, South Africa has followed almost every prescription embraced by the globalist ruling class.

South Africa President Ramaphosa Faces Impeachment Over Farmgate Scandal.  Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, may be subject to impeachment after an independent commission determined that he may have broken the law against corruption while looking into a robbery at his farm.  Ramaphosa is accused of covering up a $4 million theft from his Phala Phala farm in the country's northeast in 2020 in what has come to be known as the "Farmgate" scandal.  In addition to cooperating with Namibian law enforcement to capture, torture, and bribe the defendants, claims also include finding $580,000 of this money hidden beneath couch cushions.  Ramaphosa vehemently disputes the accusations and has not been put on trial for any crimes.  He insists that the money came from the selling of the buffalo.  He admits that the crime happened, but he maintains that the less money was taken than was claimed, and he rejects any involvement in a cover-up.

South African Police refuse to investigate murder of white farming family.  The South African Police Service, of which many officers are former Marxist-ANC terrorists trained in the former Soviet Union and East Germany to attack civilians, refused on Sunday to investigate the kidnapping and murder of Dan and Breggie Brand, as well as their daughter Elzabie, in the country's remote Northern Cape province.  The couple's son phoned the police in vain who refused to send anyone out.  Only when volunteer groups complained to a high-ranking officer and exerted pressure through the media, did the police service finally send officers to the crime scene.

Johannesburg's Opposition Government Collapses; [Black] Racist Marxist Party Could Govern South Africa.  The city of Johannesburg, South Africa, which had been governed by an opposition coalition since municipal elections last year, saw its government collapse over the weekend, a sign that the country could be led by a racist left-wing party after the 2024 election.  The liberal Democratic Alliance (DA), the country's largest opposition party, has made steady advances in urban areas over the last two decades.  Last year, it succeeded in taking over the troubled city of Johannesburg, installing physician Mpho Phalatse as mayor.  Johannesburg, the country's economic hub and the most important industrial metropolis on the African continent, has suffered high crime and declining public services in recent years.  The country's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is widely seen as both corrupt and incompetent, using political power to fund its patronage network and neglecting basic government functions.

The Editor says...
It sounds just like Zimbabwe -- or Detroit.

Zimbabwe Hails Success Of Gold Coin Issuance — Lower Denominations Coming.  Declaring its July launch of one-ounce gold coins a success, Zimbabwe's central bank says it will begin issuing and selling coins in smaller gold denominations this fall.  "Following the successful launch of the gold coins on 25 July 2022 and in response to public demand, the bank shall introduce and release into the market gold coins in units of a tenth ounce, quarter ounce and half an ounce for sale with effect from mid-November 2022," Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya said this week.  The coins, which can be purchased from approved banks, were introduced to combat rampant inflation driven by locals exchanging Zimbabwean dollars for US dollars.  In July, Zimbabwe's price inflation rate was over 250%.

Anarchy rules South Africa.  President Ramaphosa, once hailed as the modernising saviour of the country after the depredations of his predecessor, has not turned the country away from its trajectory towards a failed state.  Institutional collapse is obvious in many state and para-state institutions and physical infrastructure is dire.  Those citizens who can afford to have turned to private suppliers of health care, security and education.  Going off-grid is now a staple of dinner conversation.  Recognising the danger of a collapse of the national energy grid, Ramaphosa has belatedly sought support from private energy producers, primarily renewables.  In short, for many years now the country has already been undergoing an Arab Spring of its own as people take charge of their own communities: sometimes orderly, often chaotically and occasionally violently.

Zimbabwe to introduce gold coins as local currency tumbles.  Zimbabwe's central bank said it would start selling gold coins this month as a store of value to tame runaway inflation, which has considerably weakened the local currency.  The central bank governor John Mangudya said in a statement on Monday that the coins will be available for sale from July 25 in local currency, U.S. dollars and other foreign currencies at a price based on the prevailing international price of gold and the cost of production.

In Memory of Those Who "Died Suddenly" in Zimbabwe and South Africa.  The Hwange community has been plunged into mourning following the sudden death of Hwange Colliery Company Limited managing director, Dr. Charles Zinyema.  He was 59.  Dr. Zinyemba collapsed and died at his home in the mining town on Sunday morning and details leading to his death are still sketchy.

South Africa Erects Roadblocks to Stop Wave of Zimbabwe Migrants.  South Africa's government recently erected four separate checkpoints along its border with Zimbabwe in an effort to detect and arrest "hundreds of undocumented Zimbabweans" who have crossed into South Africa illegally in recent days, the online newspaper New Zimbabwe reported on Tuesday [1/4/2022].  South Africa's Department of Homes Affairs funded the construction of the roadblocks, manned by national police and defense forces along with South African customs officials.  Two of the checkpoints are located "at Baobab, one at Musina and another at Mantsole," according to New Zimbabwe.

Death Toll in South Africa Riots Rises to 276, Minister Says.  The death toll from recent riots in South Africa has risen to 276, and police are investigating 168 cases for murder, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday [7/21/2021].  The unrest started as protests over former president Jacob Zuma's jailing two weeks ago in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.  But it quickly escalated into arson and looting, and spread to Gauteng province where the biggest city Johannesburg is located.

How 'equity' ideology plunged South Africa into inequality and chaos.  As South Africa erupted into chaos, my thoughts turned to the United States — a great country brought low by the same toxic and demented racial politics that set afire my homeland last week.  As I write, shell-shocked South Africans are trying to muster a response to an orgy of arson and looting.  Cargo vessels are being turned away from some of our largest harbors, because it's too dangerous to unload them.  Hundreds of thousands face hunger thanks to the destruction of warehouses and disruption of food-supply chains.  Tens of thousands of jobs and small businesses have been destroyed; the property damage is incalculable.  Former President Jacob Zuma's refusal to be held accountable for corruption triggered this mayhem.  Rather than face the prospect of imprisonment and disgrace, he seems to have attempted a preemptive coup against his successor.

World in Chaos.  In South Africa, the currency has fallen hard as riots have devasted the country.  They looted the mall, except for the bookstore.  The former South African President Jacob Zuma turned himself in to begin a 15-month sentence for contempt of court.  This has sent the country into a tailspin.  Contempt of court is an abuse of judicial power, for they claim they can lock anyone up for any reason whatsoever.

South African riots and looting leave at least 200 dead.  There's been a substantial breakdown in law and order in South Africa over the past two weeks.  Looting and riots have spread around the country and an estimated 200 people have been killed.  The current government is suggesting the rioting was planned by loyalists of former president Jacob Zuma.  Zuma was president of South Africa for nine years and was dogged with various charges of corruption for his entire career.  Zuma resigned under pressure in Feb. 2018 and prosecutors announced corruptions charges against him the following month.  Zuma attempted to have the charges against him dismissed but South Africa's high court refused in 2019.  In December of 2020 Zuma was ordered to testify to a commission looking into corruption.  But in January of 2021, Zuma failed to show up.  On June 29, he was found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to 15 months in prison.  He handed himself over to police on July 7. [...] Zuma's arrest seems to have been the spark that set off what followed.

Video Shows The Longest Line You'll Ever See Outside A Supermarket As Food Shortages Hit South Africa.  A viral video, shared on social media, shows a massive line, most likely miles long, outside a supermarket in South Africa's coastal city of Durban.  A man, who called himself John, said to BBC news:  Middle-class people like me now face shortages.  On Tuesday, I could not get bread and milk until I became aware, through our neighborhood WhatsApp group, of a community organization giving it out.  [Video clip]

Events in South Africa affirm the importance of our Second Amendment.  A friend in South Africa has been keeping me updated about what's going on there.  According to him, it was "a well-planned attempt at provoking a civil uprising."  What's extraordinary, though, is that, wherever armed, law-abiding citizens have been able to make a stand against the violence and anarchy, the rioters are backing down.  My friend forwarded to me a round-robin letter ("the Letter") that South Africans are sharing — and that reflects his experiences. [...] The ostensible reason for the South African riots is the fact that Jacob Zuma, a former president, was finally arrested on corruption charges.  However, according to the Letter, "nobody that I personally know, cares about freeing an ex-president from jail, under whose watch the country turned into a garbage dump."  The looting is comparable to what happened in American cities last year although on a much larger scale.

Why Violence and Looting Have Exploded Across South Africa.  The explosion of looting and destruction which has overtaken South Africa has left the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa shaken and dazed, its credibility and legitimacy undermined.  Ramaphosa's broadcasts to the nation, appealing for calm, full of cliches and generalities, have met with derision.  Nobody doubts that South Africa has reached another Rubicon, one which the ANC (African National Congress) government may be unable to cross.  The explosion of violence followed the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma on a charge of contempt for refusing to appear before the Commission of enquiry into the wholesale looting of the state which took place under his presidency.  Nobody seriously doubts that Zuma stole millions, probably billions of Rands and he still faces a long list of charges for racketeering, money-laundering and sundry other crimes.  But Zuma still has a large following among his Zulu followers and effectively threatened to make the country ungovernable if the government dared to jail him.  Undoubtedly the rioting began as his followers sought to make good on this threat.

Take A Guess Which Stores Remained Unlooted In South Africa.  As most of you have seen by now, not much is left unlooted or un-torched in South Africa.  But there is one shop in all the malls that were left unmolested.  It's the store that could have prevented the coming mass starvation and economic collapse if more South Africans would read.  [Video clip]

South Africa:  Mass Starvation To Follow Now That All Food Supply Chains Have Been Torched And Looted.  The South African government plans to deploy 25,000 troops after days of widespread looting and violence.  The military deployment — to counter riots sparked by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma — would be the biggest since the end of apartheid.  [Video clip]

This Is The Apocalyptic Hell That Is South Africa Right Now, Looks Eerily Like A Typical BLM Riot.  This was the pathetic scene at Watercrest Mall in Waterfall, KZN, South Africa as what looked like a zombie horde looted stores and stole anything and everything from, clothing to refrigerators to entire stoves.  Aidan David, a former police officer and chairperson of the eThekwini outer south community police forum, said he has never witnessed anything like this.  "It just goes to show that our country is ill-equipped, naked and vulnerable to crime and criminals.  We are not ready for this.  We are just sitting ducks," he said.  [Video clip]

South Africa's William Wallace Prepares His Fellow Civilians For War Against The Looting Zombie Horde.  Watch as this South African man, dubbed the William Wallace of South Africa, prepares his locals for battle with the looting horde coming their way to burn and steal everything in sight.  The armed civilians, alongside a few armed police, were able to push back the horde, even teaching a handful a lesson that crime can get [someone hurt].  [Video clip]

Video Shows Armed Vigilantes Driving Around And Shooting At Looters In South Africa.  South Africa is in a state of chaos and unrest ever since the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma on July 7.  As riots, arson, violence and lootings escalate in the country, the Indian community living there faces dangers to their homes and businesses.  In a desperate attempt to protect their businesses from looting, Indians have now stepped up their fight against the arsonists and looters.  [Video clip]

South Africa now suffers just like Zimbabwe did:
South African Farm Attacks In May: 7 Dead; Elderly Farmers Shot, Beaten, Strangled In A Wheelchair, And Hacked With A Machete.  These are the most recent "farm attacks" on whites in South Africa.  [For example,] A guard at a Jabula farm in Limpopo province of South Africa was killed during an attack.  Reports say an unknown number of intruders managed to gain entry to the property by cutting through electric fences.  The attackers opened fire on security guards resulting in one death.  No arrests were made.  The incident occurred June 3, 2021.

January Farm Attacks And Murders — Another Month In The Death Of White South Africa.  A farmer was murdered every 4.7 days in South Africa last year.  Farm attacks in that nation totaled 446 in 2020, or about 1.3 attacks each day on average.  The attacks resulted in 77 murders.  Compared to 2019 when 453 attacks occurred, the number of farm attacks decreased slightly.  However, the number of deaths nearly doubled in 2020.  There were "only" 48 farm murders in 2019.  With few exceptions, attackers were black and victims white.  Farm attacks are an expression of a much wider crime problem for South Africans.  The nation ranks third behind Venezuela and Papua New Guinea as the most crime-ridden of the planet's 195 nations.  The trend is continuing in 2021.

Democrats Introduce South African Style Land Confiscation Bill to Give Land To "Black Farmers".  On November 19, 2020 [U.S. Senator Cory] Booker released a statement about the bill titled The Justice for Black Farmers Act that plans to establish The Equitable Land Access Service system.  This land redistribution system would be led by an Under Secretary of Agriculture for Equitable Land Access.  The bill will be formally introduced in the U.S. Senate on November 30th and features co-sponsors such as Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand.  Lewis told Red Elephants that "the goals of Booker's legislation aren't all that dissimilar from those of the land expropriation acts enacted by South Africa's ruling ANC government that have accelerated the wanton murder and genocide of white farmers and their families."  South Africa has been one of the most notable countries on the planet that has seen its government use institutionalized racism against its White citizens.  Additionally, the South African government has turned a blind eye to the systematic killings of Boer farmers by black terrorists over the last decade since Apartheid ended.

Zimbabwe agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers.  Zimbabwe agreed on Wednesday [7/29/2020] to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to white farmers whose land was expropriated by the government to resettle black families, moving a step closer to resolving one the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era.

The Editor says...
Now for the bad news:  They'll probably pay off with worthless Zimbabwe dollars!

With Zimbabwe hopelessly lost, we now turn our attention to South Africa:
The Slow and Ugly Implosion of South Africa Continues.  In 2018, Tucker Carlson highlighted the expropriation of land from white farmers in South Africa.  He stated, "As land seizures based on skin color shows, South Africa is once again becoming a place where an entire group of people is targeted for discrimination and violence on the basis of their skin color."  Twenty-six years ago, "South Africans engaged in a peaceful revolution.  As late as the 1980s commentators predicted that any transition from white minority domination and black majority rule would precipitate a bloody civil war.  Instead, in 1994 South Africans replaced president F.W. de Klerk with Nelson Mandela in a free and fair election that astonished the world."  Thus, "South Africans of all races voted in the country's first democratic elections, choosing Mandela as their first black president.  The inhumane apartheid regime seemed to be miraculously ending peacefully, though much work remained to improve the lives of all South Africans."  By the "late 1980s, however, South Africa's economy was in a deep recession and large segments of the country were becoming ungovernable."

South African Police refuse to investigate murder of white farming family.  South Africa's lackadaisical police service, run by ex-terrorists, has again shown that it does not care for the country's farming community who are under constant attack.

The Beginning of the End of Whites in South Africa.  And it's worse than any of us can imagine.  Eighty-four farm attacks since lockdown began, twelve white farmers slaughtered from their land.  The footage of the aftermath of one of the attacks circulating on Telegram and sent to me — too brutal to share.  Only monsters could do such things to the elderly in their own homes.  As many of us celebrated the 4th of July this weekend, there were three murders in two days, one of them so unspeakably cruel that even those hardened to the news of torture of farmers by black gangs have found themselves white-knuckled at the speed of the horror.

The Sneaky Covid War on Cash.  We have seen the death of much of the world's funny money in just the last 40 years.  For example, in Peru, one million Intis would buy a modest home in 1985; five years later it would not buy a tube of toothpaste.  Brazil had so many new banknotes they ran out of heroes to print on them.  In Vietnam in the 1980's, factories had to hire trucks to carry the bags of dongs to pay the Tet (New Year) workers' bonuses.  In 1997 in Zaire, it took a brick-sized bundle of 500,000 notes of the local currency to pay for a meal — no one bothered to count them.  On the Yugoslav border in 1989, tourists foolish enough to change "hard" currency for Yugoslav dinars got 14 cubic metres of dinars.  "Dinars can no longer be measured in millions or billions, but only in cubic metres".  It had become a cubic currency.  These grim records were eclipsed in November 2008, when Zimbabwe suffered inflation of 98% PER DAY.

Zimbabwe stock exchange shutdown: stockbrokers stunned, investors stressed.  Stockbrokers in Zimbabwe are struggling to explain to investors what's happened to their money after the government shut down the stock exchange.  The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange announced Sunday it suspended trading to comply with a directive issued by the Information Ministry late Friday that the bourse close.  It's the latest in a series of measures the government has implemented to try and stabilize the nation's currency.

Zimbabwe Shutters Stock Exchange, Blocks All Mobile Money Payments As Currency Collapses (Again).  For the fifth time in Zimbabwe's history, its currency has just collapsed.  As Decrypt.co's Adriana Hamacher reports, Zimbabwe's government suspended all mobile money payments, including operations by dominant provider Ecocash on Friday.  The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange was also ordered to stop trading, in a dramatic escalation of the nation's currency crisis.  The government claims the move is to avert a conspiracy to sabotage the collapsing Zimbabwe dollar.  But millions of Zimbabweans rely on digital payment operators because obtaining physical cash is so difficult.  Ecocash is also commonly used to buy Bitcoin.  In response, Ecocash has promised to defy the ban.  It maintains that only Zimbabwe's central bank can order it to stop trading.

Zimbabwe Begs For Aid To Avoid "Collapse".  Zimbabwe finds itself in economic dire straits.  Again.  The South African nation which previously wiped out its debt with a historic round of hyperinflation, is trying a different approach this time and is pleading with international institutions to help it eliminate billions of dollars in debt so the country can avoid economic collapse and unlock funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.  Taking a page out of the Italian playbook, finance minister Mthuli Ncube told the IMF, African Development Bank and other institutions in a letter seen by the Financial Times that without urgent aid to clear arrears owed to official lenders, Zimbabwe faced "domestic collapse."

Coronavirus hits African despots hard now they can no longer fly abroad to have expensive medical treatment.  For years, leaders from Benin to Zimbabwe have received medical care abroad while their own poorly funded health systems limp from crisis to crisis.  Several presidents, including ones from Nigeria, Malawi and Zambia, have died overseas.  The practice is so notorious that a South African health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, a few years ago scolded: 'We are the only continent that has its leaders seeking medical services outside the continent, outside our territory.  We must be ashamed.'

Coronavirus Is Not Even Close to America's Biggest Problem.  The immediate reaction of our government to the virus threat was to spend massive amounts of money.  The latest news is that politicians plan to "boost" the economy with nearly two trillion dollars in spending and loans.  "The package is coming in at about 10% of GDP.  It's very large," says Larry Kudlow.  For a plan of this size to sound like a good idea, you need to ignore some important economic facts.  Our country has unbelievable levels of debt, and our debt is rising rapidly.  The numbers are staggering. [...] Governments that have tried this approach have ended up with money that looks like this 50-trillion-dollar bill from Zimbabwe.  It's real paper money.  But this $50 trillion wouldn't buy much.  In Venezuela, the inflation rate is around 53 million percent.  That means everything costs more every day.

Zimbabwe facing 'man-made' starvation, UN expert warns.  Zimbabwe is facing "man-made" starvation with 60 percent of the people failing to meet basic food needs, a UN special envoy said Thursday after touring the southern African country.  Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, ranked Zimbabwe among the four top countries facing severe food shortages outside nations in conflict zones.  "The people of Zimbabwe are slowly getting to a point of suffering a man-made starvation," she told a news conference in Harare, adding that eight million people would be affected by the end of the year.  "Today, Zimbabwe counts amongst the four highest food insecure states," she said after an 11-day tour, adding that poor harvests were compounded by 490 percent hyperinflation.

Zimbabwe controversially flies elephants abroad ... probably China.  Zimbabwe has flown up to 30 young elephants to a different country, believed to be China.  The sale has been criticised by animal welfare groups, who say that the animals may be traumatised.  But Zimbabwe's National Parks service argues that it needs to earn hard currency to support other wildlife during a devastating drought which has already killed 55 elephants.

US Embassy In Zimbabwe:  Tucker Carlson Doesn't Know The Half Of It.  Last week Tucker Carlson fumed with astonishment at a tweet — since deleted — by the US Embassy Harare apparently praising former, deceased Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.  That's certainly what's happening with the US down in Zimbabwe.  Stating, as Carlson did that the Ambassador "should be recalled for that" was not the half of it — he made clear his view that "This is when you know the executive branch of government is completely out of control.  That it's being run by bureaucrats who don't care at all who was elected, who are acting out their left-wing agendas without any restraint". But there's far more going down than that which Tucker Carlson has identified.  For what the bureaucrats of the executive branch are attempting (whilst denying they are doing so) is to support the opposition in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe funeral:  Zimbabwe ex-president laid to rest in Kutama.  Zimbabwe's former President Robert Mugabe has been laid to rest in the rural village where he was born, three weeks after his death at the age of 95.  He was buried in the courtyard of his home in Kutama, about 90km (55 miles) west of the capital Harare.  Mugabe died in a Singapore hospital on 6 September, nearly two years after a coup ended his 37 years in power.  The Mugabe family decided on a private burial in Kutama after weeks of argument with the government.

A look at the shattered Zimbabwe that Mugabe left as leader.  Robert Mugabe took a country shining with the promise of independence and left it economically shattered and in the grip of repression — and yet Zimbabwe continued to crumble so badly after his downfall that some of its people began openly missing his nearly four-decade rule.

Longtime Zimbabwean Strongman Robert Mugabe Dies At 95.  He was a symbol of liberation and hope — a leader of the quasi-Communist ZANU-PF who helped free his country from oppressive British rule, according to the NYT.  Mugabe was 95 at the time of his death.  Later, when food stocks started to run low, Mugabe's true nature became apparent.  He authorized oppressive crackdowns and indefinite detentions of suspected political opponents.  Some suspected him of torture and unspeakable treatment of suspected political opponents.

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean leader who helped liberate and destroy his country, dies at 95.  Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president who rose to power as a champion of anti-colonial struggle but during 37 years of authoritarian rule presided over the impoverishment and degradation of one of sub-Saharan Africa's most promising countries, has died in Singapore.  He was 95.  Zimbabwe's current leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, announced the death on Twitter, but did not disclose the cause.  Mr. Mugabe, who had displayed physical decline over recent years, had been receiving hospital treatment in Singapore since April, Mnangagwa said last month.

Robert Mugabe, socialist curse of humanity, is gone.  Zimbabwe's preening socialist strongman, Robert Mugabe, a man who left his once-prosperous country a hellhole, is gone, and his end didn't come soon enough.  He went out as as one of the world's worst curses against humanity. [...] Mugabe had a free license to disrespect the rule of law inherent in property rights, and then plunder the country, all in the name of 'helping the poor,' justifying his vile acts with virtue-signaling, seemingly with God's imprimatur.  Did the poor get rich from his land expropriations?  Not in the least.  Actually, they got poorer than ever, and millions fled as refugees.  He turned his once-successful country into a miserable failure.

The Editor says...
Mugabe may be gone, but his goons are still in power, and if you don't cry at his funeral, something bad is likely to happen to you.

Senegal sounds a lot like Zimbabwe.
Bad Law Keeps People Poor.  Why does most of Africa stay poor while other parts of the world prosper?  People blame things like climate, the history of colonialism, racism, etc.  But I say Senegalese businesswoman Magatte Wade gives the right explanation:  too many rules.  "Once you hire someone, good luck getting rid of them for any reason," Wade complains.  Her government must approve every firing.  "Then the tax code is so complicated... worth at least two or three truckloads of paper."

African nations get brutal at borders in crackdowns on illegal immigration.  African borders are often a tangle of razor wire, with soldiers at crossing points checking papers, waving on those with valid IDs and turning back the rest.  Even so, an estimated 1,200 undocumented migrants every night cross the Limpopo River, South Africa's equivalent of the Rio Grande separating the U.S. and Mexico.  Most are from Zimbabwe, where shortages of food and fuel and an unemployment rate of more than 80% have sparked a steady exodus to the more stable and more prosperous South Africa.

Zimbabwean Businesses Abandon Local Currency for US Dollars.  With Zimbabwe's economy struggling, more businesses are refusing to accept local currency, taking only U.S. dollars.  As Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, even some government agencies have started charging in American currency.

The Elephant in the Room.  While human populations and the concomitant demand for land continue to grow in both Botswana and Zimbabwe, so are their elephant numbers.  One estimate coming from the Zambezi Society puts the elephant population of what is now known as Zimbabwe at a paltry 4,000 in 1900, when the country was very sparsely populated.  Against a backdrop of a massive increase in the number of people, there are now over 80,000, and that is despite the culling of roughly 45,000 between 1960 and 1990.  Hwange National Park, which is now home to the bulk of the Zimbabwean elephant population, did not boast a permanent elephant presence until the arrival of the Europeans at the turn of the last century.  They were at a loss as to what to do with an uninhabited wasteland unsuited to agriculture because of poor sandy soils and a lack of water.  A farsighted decision was made to turn it into a viable wildlife refuge through the creation of artificial water holes drawing on subterranean water, and the success was spectacular; too successful, in fact, and thus the present-day problem of too many animals.  Neighboring Botswana, part of the same ecosystem, and about which the present controversy swirls, is home to approximately 130,000 elephants, the largest population of them in Africa, and parts of the country, particularly the Chobe area, are being ecologically devastated as a result of the overconcentration of animals.

Socialism Leaves South Africa In The Dark.  With rolling blackouts that can last for as long as twelve hours, South Africans have grown used to eating by candlelight and heating water the old-fashioned way.  Those who can afford it have been stocking up on generators.  But the demand is so high that it can take a month to even obtain a generator.  It's not just homes and small businesses.  Factories and mines are struggling to maintain the country's industrial base when power can vanish for the entire workday.

Chinese Companies Tear Down Zimbabwe's Environment.  The environmental impacts by some Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe can only be described as catastrophic, according to leading environmentalist and human rights activist Farai Maguwu.  Maguwu told The Epoch Times that some Chinese companies don't even have proper licenses to operate in Zimbabwe.  And as such, these companies are leaving trails of immense environmental degradation across the country, particularly those in extractive sectors such as gold, diamond, and chrome mining.

The Deadly Truth about South Africa.  The corruption in South Africa is so bad, it's like a noxious fog that has settled on a once peaceful, prosperous, and prejudiced nation. [...] The ANC no longer stands for African National Congress but for Accumulation, Nepotism, and Cronyism.  Corruption is one of the most used words by South Africans.  Of course, this does not surprise anyone since one-party rule always results in cronyism, chaos, and corruption.  The corruption is ubiquitous, especially in the ANC, the political party that has been controlled by Communists from its earliest days and has governed South Africa since the end of the white minority government in 1994.

Will we become like South Africa?  [Scroll down]  Years after my travels to South Africa, the white racist regime fell thanks to the peaceful likes of Nelson Mandela, black domestic violent insurrection and a total economic boycott by Western countries in Europe and the United States.  But when the nation was turned over to the socialist and borderline communist African National Congress and its black constituency, all did not go as planned and hoped for.  Violent crime escalated, and whites fearing retaliation by the now black majority control and government fled South Africa in droves.  And, a big driving force was the related fear that the property of the white minority would be confiscated by the new black majority.  To put it mildly, the law and order, the safety of the citizenry of all races and ethnicities, and the economy of South Africa all suffered greatly — and the nation went into a downward spiral that continues to today.

24 bodies found after Zimbabwe mine disaster; search goes on.  Searchers have recovered 24 bodies from a mine in Zimbabwe that was flooded after heavy rains, trapping dozens of subsistence miners underground.

Is Zimbabwe the Next Venezuela?  Robert Mugabe became the president of Zimbabwe in April 1980, back when Jimmy Carter was still president.  Within two years he had deployed his infamous North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade against minority tribes in Matabeleland in a campaign of deliberate killing and starvation.  The organization Genocide Watch estimated that 20,000 people were ultimately killed.  Mugabe would later launch an insane seizure of white-owned farms.  That led to widespread food shortages and a destructive hyperinflation that resulted in almost-worthless 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar notes in circulation.

Zimbabwe's President Returns Amid Economic Crisis, Crackdown.  Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Harare late Monday [1/21/2019] after cutting short his fund-raising trip in order to address the country's economic crisis and crackdown.

Zimbabwe leader warns 'heads will roll' after violent crackdown of protesters.  Zimbabwe's president sent a warning to his security forces that "heads will roll" if the chaos and insubordination seen amid a week of economic crisis and brutal crackdown of protesters continued.  President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who cut short a high-profile fundraising visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to return on Tuesday, called the violence by security forces "unacceptable and a betrayal."

A Letter from Zimbabwe Where the Country is in Total Shutdown.  16 January 2019.  We are now in our third day of complete shutdown throughout the whole of Zimbabwe.  Banks are closed, schools are closed, roads are closed in and out of the main towns and transport systems have shut down.  There are no newspapers to be bought, the Internet has been shut down by the government and everything is at a complete standstill.  People are too afraid to move around as a result of the burning of vehicles by vigilante groups and the complete dearth of any updated information or warnings due to the total social media blackout.  This means that no WhatsApp messages or photos can be sent, no one can access Facebook or Messenger, and the situation is very tense.

US alarmed as Zimbabwe targets, beats activists amid unrest.  The U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe says it is "alarmed" by credible reports that security forces are targeting and beating activists and labor leaders.  A local doctors' rights group says it has treated 68 gunshot cases.

$3.33 per liter.
Zimbabwe now has the most expensive gasoline in the world.  Zimbabwe is on a three-day nationwide strike and protests are erupting in the streets after the government of the southern African country doubled fuel prices, making gasoline sold in Zimbabwe the most expensive in the world.  Zimbabwe is in the midst of an economic crisis and a shortage of foreign exchange, which has led to fuel and bread shortages, and many companies have stopped working because they can't import raw materials.  Following hyperinflation in 2009, Zimbabwe abolished its own currency and has been using the US dollar and South African rand instead.  But the economic crisis and foreign currency shortages has prompted the government to say over the weekend that it would introduce a new currency of its own in the next 12 months.

Zimbabwe military quells fuel price protests; several deaths.  Zimbabwe's police and military patrolled the streets of the capital, Harare, Tuesday [1/15/2019] as a helicopter fired tear gas at demonstrators blocking a road and burning tires on a second day of deadly protests after the government more than doubled the price of fuel in the economically shattered country.

Race row in South Africa as health officials advertise for 100 new doctors, but white people are told not to apply.  A race row has broken out in South Africa after health officials advertised for 100 new doctors, but did not allow white medics to apply for specialist roles.  The health department in the KwaZulu-Natal province expanded its registrar programme for 2019 from 314 to 414, but aimed to fill the new posts with only black candidates.  Health bosses said the move was implemented to redress the country's historical racial imbalance of Apartheid that saw most high-ranking positions filed by white doctors.  Campaigners and human rights activists have branded the recruitment policy 'discriminatory, unconstitutional and racist'.

CNN Claims that White Farmers in Africa Defending Land 'Are Racist'.  The race-baiting rhetoric from CNN has officially entered the "unhinged zone."  Ironically, they have made some mad claims in the past.  However, their recent claims have topped the charts of insanity.  CNN claimed in a recent video that whites in Africa who defend their land are "racist."  Additionally, so are whites in America who speak against the white genocide.  The left's disingenuous ignorance knows no bounds.  We are talking about white people who were born and raised in Africa, being killed by the hundreds.  This is nothing short of "white genocide."  Yet it is racist for the farmers to defend their land.  What has become of the US?  These aren't white people that moved to Africa from some other place.

Whites Have No Place in Africa.  On 11 December the South African Constitutional Court delivered a scathing judgment against former president Jacob Zuma's decision in 2014 to support a Mugabe-initiated pseudo-legal maneuver to block a South African Development Community (SADC) tribunal ruling.  This court had been constituted at the time of the formation of SADC and was designed to arbitrate disputes within the member states.  The founding fathers of the community were explicit in the prohibition of any action taken against any person or entity motivated by race.  This worked until Mugabe forcefully evicted 4,000 white farmers on the grounds of their skin color.  When Zimbabwean courts were found wanting, the farmers took their case to the SADC tribunal and won.  Suddenly a deified "freedom fighter" was conclusively proved to be a vicious and destructive racist, that his actions were illegal, and (all credit to the brave judges) his government was instructed to compensate the dispossessed.  This was too much for Mugabe and his regional acolytes, so they simply closed the court and annulled the ruling.

This is only slightly off-topic:
Combating Racism by Slaughtering Sheep.  The scourge of racism has been cured in the best way possible:  through the exuberant application of indigenous culture.  ["]Pandemonium broke out on Clifton's Fourth Beach on Friday [12/28/2018] when demonstrators arrived with a sheep which they slaughtered to exorcise the 'demon of racism.'["]  Clifton is an upscale suburb of Cape Town, South Africa.  It offers the most expensive real estate in the country, and no doubt is chock-full of well-to-do liberals who helped bring down Apartheid.  Uh oh.  We have an intersectionality problem.  Sheep are oppressed too: [...] There followed a melee, as the black supremacists and animal rights advocates hurled obscenities and footwear at each other.  Yet again, we see that leftism can only be used to destroy.

White Genocide?  South African Politician:  Kill Whites, "Their Women," and "Their Children".  "For every one black person we will kill five white people," bellowed the South African political leader.  "We'll kill their women, we'll kill their children, we'll kill anything we find in our way."  The comments shocked many, but here's what's more shocking:  They're not all that unusual in today's South Africa.

'Your time is up' South Africa sets date for white farmer land grabs — March 2019.  South Africa has set a date for when its much-criticised land expropriations can begin after a politician declared:  "Your time is up, white people[.]"  The country's National Assembly approved a proposal to change the constitution to make the so-called reforms legal in a vote of 183 to 77.  This paves the way for land to be taken from farmers without giving any kind of compensation.  And now lawmakers have agreed to set up a committee that will write and introduce a new bill for land expropriations.

Zimbabwe to Compensate Displaced White Farmers.  Zimbabwe's government plans to compensate white farmers whose land was seized during the country's land reform in the early 2000s.  But farmers say the $53 million in compensation is not enough and that land should also be returned to them.  Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare.  [Video clip]

Zimbabwe 2.0: South Africa Votes to Confiscate White Minority's Land Without Compensation.  The South African parliament voted on Tuesday to move forward in amending their Constitution to allow for the confiscation of land from their white minority without compensation.  The move has come just twenty-four years after apartheid officially ended.  Whites ended the apartheid system only with the explicit constitutional guarantee that their land would never be stolen, but now that they've become a small minority with rapidly dwindling political power that's all gone out the window.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe no longer able to walk, president says.  Zimbabwe's 94-year-old former president Robert Mugabe is no longer able to walk as his health declines, his successor said Saturday [11/24/2018].

In Zimbabwe, Skyrocketing Prices Evoke Painful Memories.  Prices for some consumer goods are skyrocketing in Zimbabwe, a painful echo of the hyperinflation that ripped through the Southern African country a decade ago.  In October, the cost of certain items — including cooking oil, alcoholic drinks and flu medication — jumped as much as 400%, as many Zimbabweans rushed to liquidate their savings and businesses struggled to pay for imports.  Long fuel lines forced people to fill up their cars on the black market at three times the price.  Some companies have started paying part of their staff's salaries in food, while many stores no longer accept card payments for imported goods.

Rumble in the jungle: Is South Africa heading for imminent property war?  South Africa's controversial land reform that aims to take property and farmland away from white owners without compensation for redistribution among the black population is stirring heated debate in the country.  The reform, which has become a burning issue both domestically and internationally, was pushed by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) earlier this year.  Last month, the country's president Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to speed up implementation of the disputed policy.

'I've heard your cries,' Mnangagwa tells Zimbabweans.  Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly warned his Zanu-PF party heavyweights that he would not tolerate saboteurs manipulating the country's economic crisis to enrich themselves by inflating basic commodity prices.  According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, speaking at a Zanu-PF politburo meeting this week, Mnangagwa said he was aware that some close party officials were using their positions to "create despondency in the country through manipulation of currency market and creating artificial shortages."  "Government is fully aware of the machinations by some detractors and economic opportunists who are bent on creating despondency in the country through the manipulation of the foreign currency market and creation of artificial shortages.  "This has caused untold suffering to our people.  As a listening president, I have heard their cries and my government is determined to provide solutions to these perennial challenges," Mnangagwa was quoted as saying.

Zimbabwean Widows Punished by Tribal Courts for Selling Gold-rich Land.  When massive gold deposits were discovered about a decade ago in Chimanimani, eastern Zimbabwe, the rural district became famous for attracting hundreds of artisanal miners from across the country every year.  Wealthy small-scale prospectors regularly offer residents generous deals for their land, locals say.  To many widows selling their unused land, that kind of money can be life-changing and a source of greater autonomy.  But in recent years, widows in Chimanimani have found that taking a deal can have consequences.  Many say they have been taken to tribal courts by their husbands' families for selling portions of their land.

South African city set to seize land in national 'test case'.  As South Africa's passionate debate over land redistribution grows, one city outside Johannesburg is preparing what the mayor calls a "test case" for the nation — the seizure of hundreds of acres of land from private owners, without paying for it, to build low-cost housing.

Zulu king backs South African white farmers against land seizures.  South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, is taking steps to change that nation's constitution and permit the seizure without compensation of land owned by white farmers.  Notably, the leftists at the Southern Poverty Law Center demand that we avert our eyes from this situation because "white genocide" is a "dangerous myth."  But there is already an ongoing epidemic of murder of white farmers.

Zulu king wants South Africa land reform to exclude his territories.  Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini wants President Cryil Ramaphosa to sign an agreement promising to exclude territories that the monarch controls from a government land reform drive, the eNCA news channel reported on Monday [10/8/2018].

Trump Pulls Back the Shroud on South Africa.  Loathe or admire the apprentice who became the president, all owe a debt to Donald Trump.  Upon telling his secretary of state to home in on fears that Mandela's legatees had declared open season on white farmers and farmland, the habituated tweeter provoked his opposite number to defend what, to many, seems gutter politics.  If a road to Hell is paved with good intentions, another road going to the same venue is paved with bad intentions.  It's the road South Africa is on.  Manipulators of a penniless mass may drum into them having been dealt a derisory thin edge of the wedge.  Do the poor want to go on being pushed around and exploited?  Are they content with being homeless and landless?  Do they want the white Boers to harvest their lavish gift, the farmlands God meant indigenous people to have and to hold?  Do they like being knocked over with a sneeze, or do they want to command respect?  Victims may take back what is theirs by right.

White farmers warn of 'new Zimbabwe' as calls grow for land expropriation in South Africa.  Any aspiring farmer would envy Nick Serfontein.  The Bonsmara cattle he rears on 15,000 acres of pasture in the high plains of South Africa's Free State province are fat and sleek, prize-winning specimens of arguably Africa's finest beef-producing breed. [...] But Mr Serfontein is also a member of South Africa's privileged white minority, who could — if certain politicians get their way — lose everything he has built up for years and receive nothing in return.

South Africa 'unexpectedly' slides into recession as agricultural production plummets in wake of plans to seize white-owned farmland.  [W]ho could have possibly anticipated that threatening to steal (that is, expropriate without compensation) land from farmers who have worked it for generations would cause farmers to cut back on planting, cultivating, harvesting, or shipping crops?  Thus, we have Bloomberg telling us, "South Africa's economy unexpectedly shrank for the second consecutive quarter in the three months through June."  The recession, based on a second-quarter decline in GDP of 0.8%, is entirely due to a steep decline in agricultural production:  "the agriculture market fell back by 29.2 percent, taking 0.8 percent off GDP."  This was entirely predictable.  Half a year ago, I warned that with expropriation of white farmers, South Africa is embarking on a course headed toward disaster.

Africa Destroyed: Poster Child for Liberalism.  The continental catastrophe that has engulfed Africa may go down in history as the greatest politically motivated human calamity of all time.  Hundreds of millions of poverty-stricken people are getting poorer while an ever-diminishing, tiny elite get richer and richer.  Central authority in most countries is dissipating, legal strictures introduced by the colonial administrations have disintegrated, and the rule of "might of right" is back.  Countries in the traditional sense of the word are ceasing to exist as borders are eviscerated by tribal allegiances trumping national identities.  Warlords and tyrannical traditional leaders have assumed control over vast swathes of sub-Saharan Africa, and they rule ruthlessly.  The world rarely and barely gets a glimpse of the blood-soaked barbarities routinely visited upon a multitude of wretchedly poor and defenseless people, and when they do, they respond with little other than the muttering of meaningless platitudes.  The damage being done to the environment through overpopulation, "slash and burn" agriculture, and uncontrolled logging — along with the decimation of wildlife — is sickening, but the "Global Warmists" are silent on this and the "bunny-hugging" so-called "environmentalists" do little other than wring their soft wet hands.

South Africans Push Back Against Lying American Media — White Farmers Getting Killed Daily.  Residents of South Africa are creating videos backing up US President Donald Trump's claims that white farmers in South Africa are being murdered.  In riveting firsthand testimony uploaded to Twitter Monday [8/27/2018], several South Africans pushed back against the mainstream media, testifying violence against whites is on the rise.

Does White Privilege Theory Pave The Way For South Africa-Style Property Confiscation In The United States?  The South African parliament is considering an amendment to their constitution to allow for "expropriation without compensation" of private property for the purpose of "land reform."  Although apartheid ended in the early 1990s, most South African farmland is still owned by whites, and many in South Africa see land reform as a necessary remedy for past injustices committed by white colonists of Anglo and Dutch origin.  While many pundits have been quarreling over whether 74 farm murders last year constitute "white genocide" (the case is weak at best, given the lack of data), the actual policy debate in the country is deeply disturbing on its own, and shows, regardless of what you think about the farm murders, that racial Marxism threatens to bring an economic and human rights disaster upon South Africa. [...] Could a version of South Africa's or Zimbabwe's property confiscation ever happen in America?

South Africa withdraws white farmland redistribution bill.  South Africa has withdrawn its white farmland redistribution bill — six days after Donald Trump warned he was closely studying the situation.  The ruling African National Congress (ANC) said the bill passed by parliament in 2016 enabling the state to make compulsory purchases of land to redress racial disparities in land ownership needed further consideration.  It comes after Trump criticised the country's land reform plans in a tweet that touched on the overwhelmingly white ownership of farmland in South Africa — one of the most sensitive issues in the country's post-apartheid history.

Dear CNN: Blacks Are Taking Land From Whites In South Africa — Is That 'Racism?'.  The Militant Left's racism rules are so jacked up that they don't know how to react to the South Africa story.  The rules that we used to all play by were pretty straightforward.  Treating someone differently (better or worse) than someone else for no other reason but skin color or ethnicity was explicitly racist.  Ah, yes... way back in those far simpler times.  Then someone had the bright idea to connect racism to Marxism thinking.  Now racism is defined through the filter of power and politics.

Zimbabwe opposition rejects ruling and 'false' inauguration.  Zimbabwe's main opposition leader said Saturday [8/25/2018] he respectfully rejects the court ruling upholding President Emmerson Mnangagwa's narrow election win and he called the inauguration set for Sunday "false."

South Africa begins seizing white-owned farms in land redistribution program.  The South African government has begun the process of seizing white-owned farmland, reportedly filing legal papers seeking to expropriate two farms for one-tenth of their estimated value.  The filings, involving two game farms in the northern province of Limpopo, come as the African National Congress government is seeking to amend the country's constitution to allow outright seizures of land with no compensation.  The ANC's leader also has recently argued that pure expropriation is allowed anyway now "in the public interest."

The Genocidal Elite, Part II: The Pains in South Africa.  [J]ust step off a plane in South Africa and witness the cataclysmic collapse of Nelson Mandela's famed "Rainbow Nation."  To no one's surprise, Mandela's vision of "peace and reconciliation" has become increasingly unsustainable as South Africa's heavily socialist economy sinks deeper into recession, putting a huge majority of its black population in poverty, and earning an average annual income far below that of their fellow whites.  Couple this with inflammatory (and incorrect) claims by the ruling government that whites own 80 percent of the land in South Africa — the number is actually closer to 15 percent — and economic anxiety combined with racial tension has produced a political environment deeply friendly to policies and rhetoric directed against the white population.  Most alarmingly, this year, South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the South African constitution would be amended to allow the government to seize white-owned land without compensation:  a move likely inspired by pressure from virulently racist radicals like Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the militant Black First Land First (BLF) movement.  To no one's surprise, this move has caused the South African currency to tank, as the market recognizes the obvious echoes of Zimbabwe.

South Africa farm seizure:  Terrified white farmers plot escape as crackdown looms.  A record number of white South African farmers have put their land up for sale amid fears the ruling party is considering confiscating properties bigger than 25,000 acres.  Tensions among the country's white farming community have been rising since the election of Cyril Ramaphosa assumed office earlier this year and committed his African National Congress (ANC) to land expropriation.

Mnangagwa Declared Winner in Zimbabwe, Opposition Calls Election 'Coup'.  The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission released the results of the presidential election late on Thursday [8/2/2018] and declared incumbent interim President Emmerson Mnangagwa the winner by just enough to avoid a runoff against challenger Nelson Chamisa.  Chamisa's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party immediately rejected the results as "fraudulent" and accused Mnangagwa of staging a "coup."

Zimbabwe Police Try to Stop Opposition From Criticizing Vote.  Hours after President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner of a tight election, riot police attempted to disrupt a press conference where opposition leader Nelson Chamisa denounced the election results.

Related:
South Africa set to amend constitution ... to become a wasteland.  There's no way this is going to work the way they think it's going to work.  Get ready for the "before" and "after" pictures after this one.  South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has announced that his ruling party will move to amend the country's constitution to allow the expropriation of white-owned farmland without compensation.

A Racist Communist Famine Grows in South Africa.  "Strongman politics are ascendant," Barack Obama warned in South Africa.  He spoke passionately about "the politics of fear and resentment" at the Mandela Lecture.  He worried that we were entering a world, "where might makes right and politics is a hostile competition between tribes and races and religions."  While the media used the remarks to attack Trump's meeting with Putin, Obama had shared a stage with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who had come to power promising to seize land from white farmers.  Ramaphosa was the latest in a series of ANC strongmen, including his predecessor, an alleged rapist, beginning with the Communist terrorist whose legacy Obama was commemorating.

South African Ruling Party Calls All White People 'Murderers' — Seizes Farms For Redistribution.  We really should care about Africa... these are communist despots we are talking about and they are redistributionist and murderous.  Apartheid may have ended, but now South Africa is swinging the other way big time.  White farmers are furious and the government has announced the seizure of 139 farms to redistribute to black farmers in a supreme incidence of racist social justice.  These farmers did not hurt or kill anyone.  They aren't engaged in racism either, yet they are having what they have worked their whole lives for ripped from them and given to someone else based solely on skin color.  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last week plans to allow white people's land to be taken without compensation, which will then be distributed to black people in a move that he believes will be good for the economy.  That won't end well for South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) and it will definitely egg on class warfare and violence.  There have already been numerous incidents that I've heard of concerning the murdering of white people in South Africa simply because they are white.

Zimbabwe's leader pleads for peace amid protests.  Zimbabwe's president is warning against making "provocative statements" as hundreds of angry opposition supporters protest in the capital and riot police fire tear gas.

Why are people so angry about Donald Trump's UK visit given we rolled out the red carpet for Robert Mugabe?  The on-off visit of Donald Trump to the UK is happening — but that doesn't mean the controversy has stopped.  Thousands are taking to the street to condemn the arrival of the leader of the free world, while a giant baby blimp has mocked the US president from the sky.  Any yet Britain has entertained some equally controversial world leaders before him.  So why are people so unhappy this time and why didn't Mr Trump get the state visit treatment Britain offered to Robert Mugabe?

Zimbabwe President Uninjured in Blast at Rally.  An explosion at a campaign rally for Zimbabwe's president that injured 49 people will not delay next month's election, officials said Sunday [6/24/2018].  Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa escaped injury in the explosion at a campaign rally in Bulawayo, an opposition stronghold.  State media called the attack an assassination attempt.  The president said there have been "so many" attempts on his life that he is used to them.

White South African farmers claiming persecution at home seek refuge in Australia.  More than 200 farmers from South Africa have applied for humanitarian visas in Australia after allegedly suffering attacks for being white, according to the Australian Home Affairs Ministry.  "The type of criteria they of course have to meet — or the key one — is evidence of persecution, so that's exactly what we will be looking at," Home Affairs Deputy Secretary Malisa Golightly said.  Home Affairs said 89 refugee visa applications relating to 213 people had been received, although they did not specify their ethnicity or any other details.

A Zimbabwe Spring?  New leader embraces surprising freedoms.  Zimbabwe's new president is rolling out freedoms as never seen before in the country recovering from the 37-year grip of former leader Robert Mugabe.

US Senators Call For Credible Elections in Zimbabwe.  Visiting members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee say Zimbabwe's government must ensure free and fair elections if Washington is to lift sanctions.  Jeff Flake and Chris Coons, both members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters Saturday in Harare they are happy with how Zimbabwe is progressing since the forced retirement of Robert Mugabe as the country's president last November.

Zimbabwe's Vegan Anti-Poaching Squad.  We meet Margaret Darawanda and Nyaradzo Hoto from the all-female anti-poaching team facing tough challenges in the bush in Zimbabwe.  The squad is called 'Akashinga' which means 'the brave ones' and are trained by a former Australian special forces sniper called Damien Mander.  [Video clip]

Somewhat related:
White South African farmers in fear for their lives as the government prepares to seize their land.  The government of Australia is offering to fast track visas for white South African farmers who are under siege on their own land.  It's a story that's not getting much play in the US — for obvious reasons.  A group representing Afrikanners, the white minority claims that 82 white farmers were murdered just last year with 432 incidents of violence.  The government is challenging those numbers and even whites admit that white farmers are not the only victims of violent crime in rural areas.  But at least some white farmers are living in fear and they are blaming the bill passed by parliament last month that will allow the government to sieze white owned land without compensation.  Many white farmers are choosing to leave and Australia is trying to expedite "humanitarian" visas.

It's Wrong To Ignore Racist Violence Against White South Africans.  White farmers in South Africa face an existential threat, yet the governments of most Western democracies, including the U.S., remain largely silent.  This appalling situation must change.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Roy Bennett killed in U.S. helicopter crash.  Exiled Zimbabwe opposition leader Roy Bennett and four other people were killed in a helicopter crash in a remote northern part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, officials and his political party said on Thursday [1/18/2018].

1st white farmer gets land back under Zimbabwe's new leader.  A white Zimbabwean farmer evicted by gun-wielding police and a mob associated with the ruling party has returned to a hero's welcome, in a sign that the new president is charting a path away from predecessor Robert Mugabe on an issue that had hastened the country's international isolation.

Mugabe's Avoidable Tyranny?  Could Robert Mugabe's calamitous 37-year reign of repression and exacerbated poverty over Zimbabwe, now mercifully ended, have been averted?  I've wondered about this question for 40 years since a boy when I began to follow events in Zimbabwe closely and was distressed by America's role in enthroning Mugabe.  Mugabe at age 94 stepped aside this week after his military and political party finally turned against him.  He ought to have been chased from power long ago.

Robert Mugabe to get $10m payoff and immunity for his family.  Robert Mugabe and his wife will receive a "golden handshake" worth many millions of dollars as part of a deal negotiated before the resignation of the ageing autocrat last week.  The exact sums to be paid to the former president and his wife Grace are still unclear, though one senior ruling party official with direct knowledge of the agreement said the total would not be less than $10m.  The official said that Mugabe, who has been granted immunity from prosecution and a guarantee that no action will be taken against his family's extensive business interests, would receive a "cash payment of $5m" immediately, with more paid in coming months.

Young, Talented, and Jobless:  Young Zimbabweans Desperate for Change.  Zimbabwe has no shortage of energetic, educated young people, many of them college graduates.  But what the country lacks is jobs, and the pressure is on for the new government to turn the situation around quickly.

Ousted Zimbabwe Finance Minister Chombo In Court To Face Corruption Charges.  Former Zimbabwe finance minister Ignatius Chombo, who was among those detained by the military when they seized power before Robert Mugabe resigned this week, appeared in court on Saturday [11/25/2017] to face corruption charges.

Mugabism Without Mugabe.  We need more often to be reminded than informed, said Doctor Johnson, and if anyone needed to be reminded of how fragile and temporary the exercise of power is, and how changeable are courtiers and flatterers, especially of dictators, he could not do better than look at the website of the Bulawayo Chronicle, one of Zimbabwe's newspapers of record.  On November 10, one of its main stories was the unveiling of a plaque commemorating Harare International Airport's change of name to the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, a process presided over by His Excellency Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe himself, who "reiterated his gratitude on behalf of himself, his family and the entire country [for] the honour bestowed on him, saying it has brought joy to all Zimbabweans."

Mugabe Won't Face Prosecution in Zimbabwe, Ruling Party Says.  Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe won't face prosecution and is free to remain in the southern African nation following his resignation on Tuesday after 37 years in power.  "There aren't any plans for former President Robert Mugabe; he's free to stay in Zimbabwe and he won't face prosecution," Simon Khaya Moyo, a spokesman for the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, said Thursday [11/23/2017] by phone.  "We don't have anything against him or his family.  He's the hero of our liberation."  Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, is due to be sworn in on Friday to replace Mugabe, who's ruled since independence in 1980.

Mugabe's ex-No. 2 man to become Zimbabwe president on Friday.  Robert Mugabe's former right-hand man, Emmerson Mnangagwa, will be sworn in as interim President on Friday, a day after Mugabe and his wife were granted immunity, allowing the couple to remain in the country.  Mugabe resigned on Tuesday, in a historic moment that brought his 37 years of oppressive rule to an end.  Mnangagwa, returned to the country on Wednesday to take the reins, promising to lead the nation into a "new and unfolding democracy." He spoke in front of throngs of supporters, but made no mention of Mugabe's future.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe resigns, ending four decades of rule.  Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe's president on Tuesday [11/21/2017], a week after the army and his former political allies moved to end four decades of rule by a man once feted as an independence hero who became feared as a despot.

Zimbabwe rejoices as Robert Mugabe finally quits as president, ending 37 years of iron rule.  Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe's president on Tuesday [11/21/2017], finally swept from power as his 37-year reign of autocratic control and brutality crumbled within days of a military takeover.  The move looks set to end Zimbabwe's worst political crisis since it won independence from Britain in 1980.  The bombshell announcement sparked cheers at a special joint session of parliament convened to impeach Mugabe, 93, who has dominated every aspect of Zimbabwean public life for decades.  On the streets, the news sparked wild celebrations, with car horns being honked and people erupting into ecstatic cheers and frenzied dancing.

Robert Mugabe addresses Zimbabwe after ruling party cuts ties — does not resign.  Hours after Zimbabwe's ruling party voted to oust Robert Mugabe as its leader, the embattled president addressed the political turmoil in the African country in a speech to the nation — but did not say he was resigning.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe defies expectations of resignation in address to nation.  Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has shocked expectations that he would resign by pledging to remain on as leader of his ZANU-PF party in an address to the nation.  That despite the party removing him as leader earlier in the day.  The party's Central Committee had given the 93-year old less than 24 hours to vacate his office or face impeachment.  The move was an attempt to draw his lengthy reign to a close following a de facto coup.  However when he addressed the nation on Sunday [11/19/2017], Mugabe made no mention of resigning.

Zimbabwe will now seek President Mugabe's impeachment.  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe ignored continued calls to step down on Sunday [11/19/2017] — a stubborn defiance that could trigger impeachment proceedings as early as Monday.  Before Mugabe addressed the nation, multiple media outlets cited government sources to report that the 93-year-old despot — under house arrest following an apparent coup — was going to surrender the post he has held since 1987.  But in a speech about political division, Mugabe refused to say he was resigning.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Has Until Noon to Stand Down or Face Impeachment.  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has until noon (1000 GMT) on Monday to stand down or the ruling ZANU-PF will begin impeachment proceedings after the 93-year-old leader defied expectations he would resign.  Mugabe stunned Zimbabweans in a rambling late night Sunday television address by avoiding any mention of resignation, pledging instead to preside over a congress next month of ZANU-PF, which had sacked him as its leader only hours earlier.

Sunday Schadenfreude:  Another socialist monster is gone.  What a pathetic miserable end to one of the world's most odious thugs in power.  Hailed by the left as a new kind of socialist liberationist, he was nothing but a monster, not only to the white farmers he persecuted, but to every citizen in the country, blacks and whites alike.  Mugabe, the Reuters report noted, bragged he had a 'degree in violence.'  He's famous for bringing hyperinflation to a once-prosperous post-colonial African state and destroying property rights in the country, leaving it a smoking ruin.  Zimbabweans of all colors fled the place, many of them escaping under fences to South Africa if not making their way to Europe and a few to the U.S.  He was a rabid identity politician and racist, targeting white-owned farms for expropriation in the name of 'social justice.'  In the process his country was left in rubble.

Mugabe Given Less Than 24 Hours To Quit Presidential Post.  The ruling party of Zimbabwe fired Robert Mugabe as its leader on Nov. 19 and gave the 93-year-old president less than 24 hours to quit as head of state or face impeachment, Reuters reported.  A senior party official said Emmerson Mnangagwa, the deputy who was recently sacked, will take Mugabe's place.  After 37 years in power, Mugabe faces a deadline at noon Nov. 20.

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe to resign after nearly 4 decades in power.  Robert Mugabe, who spent nearly four decades in power, is resigning as Zimbabwe's leader on Sunday [11/19/2017], an official close to the talks told The Associated Press hours after the ruling party fired him.  The ZANU-PF party threatened to impeach Mugabe if he didn't resign by noon Monday.  Recently fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa was appointed as the new leader of the party and is expected to lead a new government.  Mugabe is expected to address the nation on Sunday.  Meeting chair Obert Mpofu called Mugabe the "outgoing president" and said Sunday was a "sad day" after 37 years of ruling Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's Coup, Venezuela's Default, And The Ongoing Failure Of Socialism.  As Zimbabwe locked down following a military coup this week, Venezuela defaulted on its debt.  On the surface, these events in these two countries — one African, the other South American — seem to have little in common.  But, in fact, they share two very big things:  Both are socialist, and both are failed states.

Mugabe given until noon Monday to quit as President of Zimbabwe.  Robert Mugabe agreed on Sunday to resign as Zimbabwe's president hours after the ruling ZANU-PF party fired him as its leader following 37 years in charge, a source familiar with the negotiations said.

Robert Mugabe dismissed as head of Zanu-PF.  Embattled Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe was on Sunday [11/19/2017] deposed as the leader of ruling Zanu-PF party, and replaced by his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa.  His wife Grace Mugabe was also expelled from the party and banned for life.  Mugabe on Sunday [11/19/2017] met with the army commander who put him under house arrest, while the ruling party opened an emergency meeting to recall the world's oldest head of state as its leader.

Mugabe Fired As Ruling Party Leader:  ZANU-PF Sources.  Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was fired as leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party on Sunday [11/19/2017] and replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the deputy he sacked this month, sources at a special ZANU-PF meeting to decide Mugabe's fate told Reuters.

Zimbabwe Pres.  Mugabe meets with army commander following military takeover.  Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe met with army commander Constantino Chiwenga Thursday to discuss the country's ongoing turmoil and a likely transition of power following Tuesday's military takeover and Mugabe being forced into house arrest.  The president's motorcade was seen driving through the capital, Harare, earlier in the day, followed by helicopters overhead.  Photos posted to the Zimbabwe Herald showed the pair together at the state house.  Details of the conversation were not made available.

Zimbabweans urge Mugabe to step aside.  Zimbabwe's opposition party on Thursday called for a transitional body to take over the country after the military seized control on Tuesday, plunging Zimbabwe into a political crisis.  The party in a statement suggested the transitional authority be "made up of competent Zimbabweans whose mandate will be to put in place measures to turn around the economy."

Zimbabwe's Mugabe 'under house arrest' after army takeover'.  Zimbabwe's military has placed President Robert Mugabe under house arrest in the capital Harare, South African President Jacob Zuma says.  Mr Mugabe told Mr Zuma in a phone call that he was fine, the South African leader's office said.  Troops are patrolling the capital, Harare, after they seized state TV and said they were targeting "criminals".

Zimbabwe's Military, in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of Mugabe.  Zimbabwe's military said early Wednesday that it had taken custody of President Robert Mugabe, the world's oldest head of state and one of Africa's longest-serving leaders, in what increasingly appeared to be a military takeover in the southern African nation.  After apparently seizing the state broadcaster, ZBC, two uniformed officers said in a short predawn announcement that "the situation in our country has moved to another level."

Zimbabwe army takes control, Mugabe and wife in custody.  Zimbabwe's army seized control of the southern African country Wednesday, taking President Robert Mugabe and his wife into custody and securing government offices following a night of unrest.  The army took over the state broadcaster, triggering speculation of a coup.  Military supports insisted it was not a coup but a "bloodless correction" of the nation's current political order.  South Africa's president said he spoke to the 93-year-old Mugabe, who was "fine" but confined to his home.  Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Sibusiso Moyo addressed the nation Wednesday morning, saying "the situation in our country has moved to another level" and assured the public that Mugabe and his wife were safe and sound.

Zimbabwe in turmoil after apparent military coup.  Military leaders in the impoverished southern Africa nation of Zimbabwe have staged an apparent coup, placing veteran President Robert Mugabe under house arrest and deploying tanks to the streets of the capital, Harare.

Mugabe Roils Zimbabwe's Succession Waters.  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's dismissal of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa fits his strategy of pitting would-be successors against each other and expelling those he deems too ambitious.  While Mugabe may consider elevating his wife to vice president, liberation-era party politics may dictate that his successor not emerge from his family.  Despite Mnangagwa's alleged support from within Zimbabwe's security services, any attempt at a palace coup d'etat would be extremely difficult to execute and would likely fail.

Soldiers On Harare Streets As Ruling Party Accuses Zimbabwe Army Chief Of Treason.  Zimbabwe's ruling party accused the head of the armed forces of treason on Tuesday as troops took up positions around the capital in an escalation of a dispute with 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe over political succession.  Just 24 hours after military chief General Constantino Chiwenga threatened to intervene to end a purge in the ruling party, a Reuters reporter saw six armored personnel carriers on major thoroughfares on the outskirts of the capital.

Think Bitcoin's Getting Expensive?  Try Zimbabwe.  For most investors around the world, bitcoin is a volatile and highly speculative bet.  For Zimbabweans, however, the cryptocurrency seems to offer rare protection from the onset of hyperinflation and financial implosion.  Some are turning to bitcoin out of desperation as their bank deposits lose value almost by the day, while others are using the online currency for housekeeping such as funding family members studying abroad.

Zimbabwe police charge U.S. citizen with anti-government plot.  A U.S. citizen was charged on Friday [11/3/2017] with attempting to overthrow the Zimbabwean government, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in jail, after police earlier accused her of insulting 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe.  Martha O'Donovan, who works for Magamba TV, which describes itself as Zimbabwe's leading producer of political satire, was picked up in a dawn raid on her Harare home, her lawyer said.

WHO rescinds 'goodwill ambassador' appointment of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.  The World Health Organization has rescinded its appointment of Robert Mugabe, the longtime president of Zimbabwe, to a "goodwill ambassador" role.  WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus said in a statement Sunday morning that he had "listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns" in making his decision.  The appointment had provoked global head-scratching and outrage because of Mugabe's track record of human-rights abuses, including violent crackdowns on political dissent, which had earned Zimbabwe international sanctions.

World Health Organisation withdraws invitation to make Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe Goodwill Ambassador after public backlash.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) has rescinded its invitation to appoint Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe as a Goodwill Ambassador for the NCDs in Africa.  WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom tweeted a link to a statement which was posted on the WHO website, informing the public of their decision.  In the statement, he said he had listened to the barrage of abuse directed at the decision and had decided, after talking with the Zimbabwean government, that it was in the best interest of the WHO to rescind the invite to the 93-year-old.

Robert Mugabe Named World Health Organization 'Goodwill Ambassador'.  Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe has been named one of the World Health Organization's "Goodwill Ambassadors," in a move that has puzzled just about everyone on the face of the earth.  Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since 1980, has seen the country essentially fall apart under his leadership.  Life expectancy in Zimbabwe is just 60 years and Mugabe is accused of dozens of human rights abuses.

Robert Mugabe's WHO appointment condemned as 'an insult'.  The choice of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe as a World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador has been criticised by several organisations including the British government.  It described his selection as "surprising and disappointing" given his country's rights record, and warned it could overshadow the WHO's work.  The opposition in Zimbabwe and campaign groups also criticised the move.

As Zimbabwe Starves, Socialist Dictator's Relatives Import Rolls Royce Limousines.  Socialism has been getting a bad rap lately.  True, it entails poverty and tyranny, and often genocide.  Yes, it recently reduced the wealthiest nation in Latin America to economic ruin.  But it has its positive side.  For example, even as their countrymen starve and hyperinflation has reduced the local currency to worthlessness, socialism allows dictator Robert Mugabe's relatives to live high on the hog.

Zimbabwe plans to rent 102 Cuban slave doctors from Castro, Inc..  Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's 93-year-old dictator, has been a chief client of Castro, Inc. ever since he assumed power in 1980.  And Castro, Inc. cranks out "doctors" from its lousy medical schools faster than bullets from a machine gun.  In fact, it seems that its supply of slave doctors is nearly infinite, given how many of them are constantly being shipped abroad.  Could it be that the production rate of slave doctors is higher than that of any other commodity manufactured or grown in Cuba?

Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Is Hospitalized in South Africa.  Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been hospitalized in South Africa, according to a senior party official.  Luke Tamborinyoka, spokesman for Tsvangirai's MDC-T party, said Saturday [9/16/2017] he was admitted "for a routine medical procedure" and is in "very stable condition."  A senior party source said Tsvangirai, who is considered President Robert Mugabe's primary challenger in elections scheduled for next year, experienced severe vomiting after a party meeting.  Local media outlets had reported Tsvangirai, a former prime minister, was transported Friday to South Africa in critical condition.

The Editor says...
If a person is reported to be in "critical condition" one day, and "very stable condition" the next day, it is easy to surmise that the person has expired.  I've never heard a report in this country that a hospital patient (or anybody else!) was in "very stable condition."

Zimbabwe first lady Mugabe back home despite assault claim in South Africa.  Zimbabwe's first lady, Grace Mugabe, arrived home in Harare on Sunday [8/20/2017] — but that doesn't mean the controversy she's linked to in South Africa has died down.  In fact, it may be just beginning.  Mugabe, wife of Zimbabwe's longtime ruler, 93-year-old Robert Mugabe, is accused of beating a woman with an extension cord Aug. 13 during a trip to Johannesburg.  Some in South Africa say Mrs. Mugabe should return and face assault charges.

As Zimbabwe's homes go solar, its businesses lag behind.  Old Mutual Zimbabwe Ltd, the country's biggest insurance and property firm, now plans to install up to 20 megawatts of rooftop solar panels on all its commercial buildings over the next two years to help ease a countrywide power crisis that has begun to drag profits down, company officials said.  As state power utility ZESA Holdings struggles to generate enough electricity to meet demand, power outages have hurt businesses in recent years, according to the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.

45 killed as bus in Zimbabwe loses control, crashes.  Police in Zimbabwe say a bus traveling to Zambia has crashed, killing 45 people.

Chicago Obama donors tried to strike it rich in Africa.  Shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama made it clear to Zimbabwe that he would keep America's economic sanctions against the nation's leaders in place until they reformed their government's repressive policies.  Around the same time, a cadre of Obama political supporters from Chicago began exploring an array of potentially lucrative ventures in the African nation, everything from manufacturing medical supplies to mining diamonds.  Despite the U.S. sanctions, Americans can legally do business in Zimbabwe as long as their deals don't involve specific people, including President Robert Mugabe, and companies targeted by the sanctions in place since 2003.

What African Airports Taught Me about Obamacare.  [Scroll down]  I was in no hurry to make the embassy connection to seek official sponsorship and entry into Zimbabwe.  However the situation was at their airport, I recommended to my leadership we reject any consideration of rehabilitating or managing Zimbabwe's airport primarily because of its land confiscation policies that targeted white people.  The Obama administration had issues with the Zimbabwe government's confiscation policies, but only on the basis that "confiscation of white-owned farms is contributing to the growing hunger crisis in the region."  Three thousand white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe were subject to a "fast track" seizure program to redistribute farmland to landless blacks. [...] Nothing says, "White people are not welcome here" like a racist law designed to use the power of government to take a white person's stuff.  It was pretty sobering revelation that if you were Caucasian, the government of Zimbabwe (and soon South Africa) could unilaterally confiscate your property — and everything in it or on it — without compensation, solely for redistribution to blacks.

The History of Zimbabwe in Three Headlines.  Once there was a land called Rhodesia, which was known as the Breadbasket of Africa.  Social justice replaced it with Zimbabwe, the history of which can be summed up in three headlines: [...]

Zimbabwe's Mugabe, 92, gets party's nod for 2018 presidential race.  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 in February, was endorsed on Saturday [12/17/2016] as the ruling party's candidate in a national election scheduled for 2018.  The ruling ZANU-PF party announced its support in the southeast town of Masvingo, where the party's youth wing even proposed that Mugabe should rule for life with broad powers.

Russia, Zimbabwe to join efforts against sanctions.  Russia and Zimbabwe will join efforts against sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union, co-chairs of the intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation said on Saturday [4/30/2016].  The Russian delegation headed by Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has arrived in Zimbabwe's capital Harare on an official visit.  On April 29 Manturov had a meeting with President Robert Mugabe and attended an industrial exhibition.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe will not pick successor, wants to live to 100.  Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says his successor must be chosen democratically and that his wife will not automatically inherit the role, a warning to feuding members of his ZANU-PF party that he is still in charge after 36 years in power.  The comments from Africa's oldest leader, now aged 92, are his clearest indication that he wants to be president for life.

Zimbabwe president has huge birthday celebration as starving country looks on.  Calling Robert Mugabe "dear father," "his royal highness," and "the Moses of Africa" members of Zimbabwe's ruling party reasserted their loyalty to the longtime leader at the celebration of his recent 92nd birthday.

'Cecil effect': Zimbabwe park may kill 200 lions as discouraged hunters result in over-population.  The largest wildlife reserve in Zimbabwe said it may be forced to cull 200 of its lions after the predator's population "exploded" due to hunters being scared off by international outrage over the killing of Cecil the lion last year.  Bubye Valley Conservancy, which is home to more lions than anywhere else in the south African country, said that the population of over 500 was too much for the reserve, the National Post reports.  The big cats have been decimating the population of antelopes and giraffes, and even wild dogs, cheetahs, and leopards, which have become easy prey after a dry summer left the grass short.

Mugabe First To U.N. Trough In Global Warming Shakedown.  Zimbabwe tyrant Robert Mugabe is asking the United Nations for $1.5 billion a year to feed his people, who he says are hungry due to global warming.  The looting begins.  About a year ago, we said that the global warming scare is not about stewardship of the environment.  It is instead an effort to pull down capitalism and redistribute wealth from rich nations that earned it to poorer nations whose governments impoverish their own people.  Mugabe fully understands the plan and is making his demands accordingly.

Zimbabwe impounds American plane with body and cash on board.  Zimbabwe aviation authorities impounded a U.S.-registered cargo jet, a senior official said Monday [2/15/2016], with a dead body and millions of South African rand reportedly on board.

Police 'take over' white Zimbabwean family's farm to make way for a black British doctor.  The wife of a Zimbabwean farmer evicted from the family plantation by a British GP wept today as she described the trauma of losing everything they own.  Anita Rankin, who has farmed the tobacco fields with husband Phillip for thirty years, said she could no longer cope with the campaign of intimidation from 'thugs' employed by the GP, who is said to be friends with Grace Mugabe.  She told MailOnline:  'This is actually too much for me.  This has been going on for months.  The people have not behaved well towards us.

Dr. Walter Palmer Vindicated in Cecil the Lion Witch Hunt.  Dr. Walter Palmer, who was the subject of a witch hunt by Social Justice Warriors because of the shooting of a lion, in Zimbabwe, Africa, has been vindicated.  The only legitimate reason to fault the good doctor was if he had broken Zimbabwe's arcane hunting laws.  At the time, I argued that a hunter traveling to Africa had to rely on his guides to follow the complex and obscure African Hunting laws.  That is exactly what Dr. Palmer did.  The Zimbabwe officials have now vindicated him.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe: 'We Are Not Gays'.  Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, issued a strong statement to the United Nations during his scheduled public address, telling the body — as well as the world — his country will not accept or adhere to any "gay"-rights provisions in the international charter.

Lion kills guide in Zimbabwe safari park where Cecil lived.  A safari guide has been mauled to death by a lion in the same Zimbabwean national park where Cecil the lion was killed by hunters.  Quinn Swales was taking guests on a photographic walking safari in Hwange national park at dawn on Monday [8/24/2015] when he was charged by the male, according to the Camp Hwange lodge.  The 40-year-old Zimbabwean saved his guests but died of his injuries.

In Zimbabwe, We Don't Cry for Lions.  When I turned on the news and discovered that the messages were about a lion killed by an American dentist, the village boy inside me instinctively cheered:  One lion fewer to menace families like mine.  My excitement was doused when I realized that the lion killer was being painted as the villain.  I faced the starkest cultural contradiction I'd experienced during my five years studying in the United States.  Did all those Americans signing petitions understand that lions actually kill people?  That all the talk about Cecil being "beloved" or a "local favorite" was media hype?

Cecil The Lion And Robert Mugabe.  By 1987, when Mugabe became President, he had consolidated his power over every branch of government, and he has ruled ever since.  Today he is the world's oldest national leader.  Four months before a Minnesota dentist killed Cecil the lion, Mugabe celebrated his ninety-first birthday with a feast of wildlife.  The menu included dishes of young elephant, killed especially for a party with twenty thousand of Mugabe's supporters.  Another elephant was killed so that constituents could celebrate, too.  Mugabe was presented with a lion trophy and a crocodile trophy that were to be stuffed.  Mugabe's birthday feast was held just four days before World Wildlife Day, on March 3rd.  "It's time to get serious about wildlife crime," U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at the time.

Country w/72% Poverty Rate and 2 Million Starving Doesn't Care About Cecil the Lion.  The same people who don't care about baby parts being trafficked are very worked up about Cecil the Lion.  As opposed to lions they're not on a first name basis with.  Meanwhile Zimbabwe, where people are living under a dictatorship, where the poverty rate is 72%, 15% of the population has HIV and 2 million people are facing starvation, doesn't care about Cecil.

Zimbabwe President Mugabe Proposes To Obama, Mocks Gay Marriage Supreme Court Decision.  Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe jokingly said he would travel to the White House and propose to U.S. President Barack Obama, who lauded a historic Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 American states last week.  The Zimbabwean leader mocked the 5-4 court decision and condemned marriage equality during his weekly radio interview with the country's national radio station, ZBC, on Saturday [6/27/2015], according to media reports.

Zimbabwe offers new exchange rate: $1 for 35,000,000,000,000,000 old dollars.  Zimbabweans will start exchanging "quadrillions" of local dollars for a few US dollars next week as President Robert Mugabe's government discards its virtually worthless national currency.  The southern African country started using foreign currencies including the US dollar and South African rand in 2009 after the Zimbabwean dollar was ruined by hyperinflation, which hit 500 billion per cent in 2008.  At the height of the country's economic crisis, Zimbabweans had to carry plastic bags bulging with banknotes to buy basic goods.  Prices were rising at least twice a day.

Mugabe celebrates 91st birthday with million-dollar bash.  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Saturday celebrated his 91st birthday with a lavish million dollar bash that was slammed by the opposition as "obscene" in a country wracked by poverty.  Thousands of supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF, many wearing party regalia emblazoned with the president's image, sang and danced as he arrived for the jamboree at a luxury hotel in the famed Victoria Falls resort.

Robert Mugabe fell over, tried to hide it and ended up becoming a meme.  Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe president and recently elected chairman of the African Union (A.U.), was in Harare on Wednesday to give a speech.  As he walked down from the podium, he appeared to trip and fall.  It was caught on film.  For a 90-year-old man, a trip is understandable.  What's less easy to understand is what happened next:  Zimbabwe's government issued a denial.  "Nobody has shown any evidence of the president having fallen down because that did not happen," Information Minister Jonathan Moyo told the state-owned Zimbabwe Herald, before offering a more obtuse explanation.

'You Can't Trust the White Man': Mugabe Trashes Vice President Amid Purge of Leaders.  Zimbabwe's 90-year-old dictator, Robert Mugabe, is continuing to expand his purge at the highest levels of office, disparaging his vice president, Joice Mujuru, as a politician willing to cooperate with white people.  Mugabe did not mention Mujuru by name, though the Agence France-Presse (AFP) notes that it has become increasingly public that she has fallen out of favor in the leftist government.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe tightens grip on party, to choose successor.  Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe has changed the constitution of his ruling ZANU-PF party to allow him to directly appoint his deputies, giving the 90-year-old sole power to anoint his successor, party sources said on Sunday [11/23/2014].

Robert Mugabe's racial decree on whites and land brings backlash.  President Robert Mugabe's statement early this month [July 2014] that whites will no longer be allowed to own land in Zimbabwe, and that any white farmers still left will be kicked out, raised eyebrows at home and abroad.  Now those comments by the long-ruling autocrat are bringing a backlash in Zimbabwe's beleaguered trade and tourism ministries.  One Harare business newspaper calls them "not just racist but also unconstitutional, retrogressive, and detrimental."

Ex-congressman arrested in Zimbabwe.  Former Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-Ill.) has been arrested in Zimbabwe by immigration officers, according to multiple reports. [...] Reynolds resigned from Congress in 1995 after being charged with 12 counts of statutory rape, solicitation of child porn and obstruction of justice.  The former congressman arrived to Zimbabwe in November, and was given a two-week visa, which was renewed and expired on Dec. 10.  He has since remained in the country illegally, the report says.  A source told AllAfrica that Reynolds shot more than 100 pornographic videos and 2,000 nude photos in his hotel room.

Zimbabwe: Foreigners must close shops by Jan 1.  Zimbabwean authorities say they have given foreign shop-owners — mostly Chinese and Nigerian nationals — an ultimatum to shut down their businesses by 1 January.  A top official of the black empowerment ministry said only Zimbabweans had the right to run shops that have sprung up across the country and are termed foreign businesses targeted under the nation's black empowerment laws, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Friday [11/22/2013].

Zimbabwe to ban platinium exports.  Zimbabwe, the world's number three platinum producer, is determined to ban exports of raw platinum and to force firms to refine locally, the new mines minister told AFP Thursday [11/21/2013].  "We are determined to ensure that a refinery is put up in Zimbabwe," minister Walter Chidakwa said, speaking during a visit to Johannesburg.  "Once you put up a refinery, surely we must put a law that says we do not want our platinum to be exported as raw," he added.

At Zimbabwe golf club, 'foreign' trees exit stage.  A century-old thorn tree with an umbrella-shaped canopy offers shade to players on the 13th hole of Zimbabwe's oldest surviving golf course.  The indigenous tree is going to stay, but "foreign" trees — firs, pines and eucalyptus — that were planted by early white settlers to remind them of their distant origins are now being rooted out.

The Editor says...
If the trees have to be removed because they remind you of colonialism, then perhaps you should stop using electricity, gasoline, indoor plumbing, and the centralized sewer system, and go back to the way your country was run before colonialization.

Activists Call for Condemnation of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.  More than 20 Zimbabwean protesters were physically assaulted by riot police Thursday and Friday, leading human rights activists to call for international condemnation ahead of longtime President Robert Mugabe's speech at the United Nations General Assembly this week.  Demonstrators for the group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were beaten by state security forces Thursday before they could reach Zimbabwe's parliament in Harare to stage a peaceful protest.

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe vows to continue sweeping black empowerment.  Zimbabwe's longtime President Robert Mugabe says his party won "a resounding mandate" from voters to complete a sweeping black empowerment program to take over foreign and white-owned assets.

Churches feel vulnerable after Mugabe reelected in Zimbabwe.  The atmosphere in Zimbabwe after the reelection of strongman Robert Mugabe is not one of great celebration, but of tension.  Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the main challenger, says he will not join in a new governing coalition but is contesting the credibility of the July 31 vote in court.  Fears are on the rise in the capital of Harare, reports say, that under one-party rule, a host of Mr. Mugabe's old partners, cronies, henchmen, and friends will start to come out of the woodwork to take advantage of the hour.

Zimbabwe signs secret deal to supply Iran with uranium to build a nuclear bomb.  Zimbabwe has signed a secret deal to supply Uranium to Iran for its controversial nuclear programme, according to a senior Government source in Harare.  Negotiations between the two countries, which would see thousands of tonnes of the raw uranium shipped to Tehran for enrichment, have allegedly been going on for two years, the Times reports.

Zimbabwe President Mugabe declared winner in vote called fraudulent.  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the country for 33 years, was reelected president in an election declared a "farce" by rival Morgan Tsvangirai.  Zimbabwe's electoral commission announced Saturday [8/3/2013] that Mugabe, 89, had received 61% of the vote, compared with 34% for Tsvangirai, the current prime minister and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change party, or MDC.

Zimbabwe election was 'huge farce' — Morgan Tsvangirai.  Zimbabwe's election was a "huge farce", Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said, alleging vote-rigging by rival President Robert Mugabe's camp.  Mr Tsvangirai said Wednesday's presidential poll was "null and void".  The largest group of election observers described the vote as "seriously compromised" and said up to a million Zimbabweans were prevented from voting.

Robert Mugabe Slams Barack Obama for Supporting Gay Rights in Africa.  Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe has slammed US president Barack Obama for tying to aid African countries that have decriminalised homosexuality.  Ahead of Zimbabwe's elections on 31 July, Mugabe, 89, has reiterated his previous claim that gays are "worse than pigs and dogs" and said his country will never legalise homosexuality.

Mugabe hunts for internet mole 'Baba Jukwa' revealing his secrets.  President Robert Mugabe has reportedly offered a $300,000 reward to anyone who can unmask an anonymous whistleblower behind a string of leaks about alleged Zimbabwean government assassination plots, corruption and plans to rig this month's election.  The well-informed mole, who calls himself "Baba Jukwa" and appears to be operating from within the heart of the regime, began posting revelations on a Facebook page four months ago.

EU suspends sanctions against most Zimbabwe officials.  The European Union has suspended sanctions against 81 officials and eight firms in Zimbabwe.  The decision followed a "peaceful, successful and credible" referendum on a new constitution earlier this month, the EU said in a statement.  However, sanctions will remain in force against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and 10 of his top aides, EU sources said.

Christiane Amanpour: Happy birthday, President Mugabe!  I'm trying to imagine Amanpour giving an equally non-judgmental and upbeat birthday tribute to, say, John Boehner.  Amanpour tweeted birthday wishes for the 89-year-old Zimbabwe leader along with [an] online video, which is one dash news report but mostly sounds like a toast at someone's 33 Years of Brutal Power-Mongering Party.

Zimbabwe Is Down to Its Last $217.  There are cash-strapped governments and there are broke governments.  And then there's Zimbabwe, which, after paying last week's government salaries, has just $217 left in the bank.  No, we didn't forget any zeroes to the end of that figure.  Zimbabwe, the country that's home to some of the world's largest platinum and diamond reserves, literally has the same financial standing as a 14-year-old girl after a really good birthday party.

Zimbabwe's largest platinum mine agrees to sell shares to gov't under black empowerment laws.  It is the biggest handover in several years of an empowerment program to force foreign-owned mines to cede 51 percent control to black Zimbabweans.

Group of white farmers plead with William Hague not to lift sanctions on Robert Mugabe.  A group of farmers who had their land seized in Zimbabwe are launching a campaign today to protest against a proposed lifting of sanctions against Robert Mugabe's regime by the European Union.  The 11 farmers and their families have won successive court cases over the takeover including one through the legal channels of the World Bank and another presided over by an officially sanctioned judge in Harare.

12035 kHz, SW Radio Africa. 1833-1859* September 21. Very interesting talk by man in English, obviously by telephone, who trashed Robert Mugabe, saying how the 85-year-old leader employs a witch doctor full-time; wakes up at night "talking deliriously to some invisible person;" feels guilty about having an affair with his secretary while his wife was dying and now the secretary has signed a million dollar tell-all book deal abroad; donated a lot of money to the Catholic Church as a guarantee so "he won't burn in hell." Sign-off with Zimbabwe song and announcer saying that they are on the air 7 pm to 9 pm (local time) on "multiple frequencies on 25 [meter band]." It has been quite a while since I have heard such great entertaining clandestine radio. Very clear reception.

"Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice."

– Martin Luther King Jr.