Just read an article about Zimbabwe and its new PM. Any information from our locals?

I recall recently a small number of online requests to help out a few unfortunate people and/or wildlife in Zim's. There was one for an illnes, another for suppoting some wildlife conservation, and also one to get a one-way airfare paid I believe !!

ANYHOW can you donate again:

Please (I BEG of YOU) with all the CHARITY in your soul .... can you (spare a few crummy thousand US Dollars) to help BOB MUGABE celebrate his upcoming BIRTHDAY ...

There apparantly will be a Bank Account opened for you to send your KIND remittance's

Pleaaaaaaaase GIVE GENEROUSLY and help the man enjoy his BIRTHDAY, it could well be his last (-:

Cheers, Peter
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Martin Fletcher in Harare

It is the 85th birthday of President Mugabe this month and the zealots of his Zanu (PF) party are determined that it should be an occasion that their great leader will never forget.

In recent days they have been out soliciting “donations” from corporate Zimbabwe and have drawn up a wish list that is scarcely credible in a land where seven million citizens survive on international food aid, 94 per cent are jobless and cholera rampages through a population debilitated by hunger.

The list includes 2,000 bottles of champagne (Moët & Chandon or ’61 Bollinger preferred); 8,000 lobsters; 100kg of prawns; 4,000 portions of caviar; 8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates; 3,000 ducks; and much else besides. A postscript adds: “No mealie meal” — the ground corn staple on which the vast majority of Zimbabweans survived until the country’s collapse rendered even that a luxury.

Those who prefer to give in cash, not kind, are invited to send “donations” of between $45,000 and $55,000 to a US dollar bank account in the name of the 21st February Movement, a youth organisation controlled by Zanu (PF) and named after the date of the President’s birthday.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Balla Balla:
Martin Fletcher in Harare

It is the 85th birthday of President Mugabe this month and the zealots of his Zanu (PF) party are determined that it should be an occasion that their great leader will never forget... In recent days they have been out soliciting “donations” from corporate Zimbabwe and have drawn up a wish list... 2,000 bottles of champagne (Moët & Chandon or ’61 Bollinger preferred); 8,000 lobsters; 100kg of prawns; 4,000 portions of caviar; 8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates; 3,000 ducks... A postscript adds: “No mealie meal”...
QUOTE]

Unbeleivable!!! I'd suggest giving him something the people of Zim would never forget!

I do have a freezer burned rudy duck downstairs I had orginally planned to mount though. Think e'd like it?

oupa,

Very thoughtful. I hear originality really counts with gift giving.

Brett

How big of a "cracker" (the British party favor that goes bang when you pull the ends) can we get for him?

The real situation on the ground is that we are jubilant that Morgan Tsvangirai is our new PM, but remain cautiously optimistic as to whether the other fellas will stick to their side of the bargain. A couple of positives are that a) the world and SADC are watching it all very closely, and ZANU PF are under no delusions as to how fast the aid will cease if they carry on with their heavy handed bullshit. b)never, in 3 decades, has ZANU PF been as weak as they are right now, and never has an 'opposition' been stronger. Guess we'll just have to wait and see......as we do our whole lives in Africa.... Congratulations Morgan - an incredibly brave man who has endured so much hardship on behalf of his people. I am so proud to be one of his people.

He's certainly a very brave man and although he'll have his work cut out for him in a very big way, I wish him all the luck in the world.

I have to say, I had my doubts as to whether he'd make it to the swearing in ceremony without getting some extra ventilation. Thankfully he did and let's hope he manages to achieve his stated goals.

Thank you David, that was what I was looking for. I Wish all the very best. Good luck.

It is hard to believe it could make things any worse than they were.

I was in Zim in October. The one thing I will never forget is a sign nailed to a tree on the road from Hwange to Vic Falls. It said:

GOD, PLEASE SAVE OUR CHILDREN FROM STARVING

It was an eye opening experience for me.

Sorry.

I ended up here by mistake. I meant to contribute to the thread "Premium Bullets vs Old Crap."

But what the hell. The topic of this thread just reinforces the incontrovertible fact that modern, premium bullets are an absolute bargain. Compared to, well, other things.

The thought seemed appropriate.

quote:

Originally posted by China Fleet Sailor:
Sorry.

I ended up here by mistake. I meant to contribute to the thread "Premium Bullets vs Old Crap."

But what the hell. The topic of this thread just reinforces the incontrovertible fact that modern, premium bullets are an absolute bargain. Compared to, well, other things.

The thought seemed appropriate.

I was there in mid-december, it is as bad as they say. We took our government scout home at the end, and gave him some of the buff. I gave a handful of those pre-packaged cheese & crackers to the kids there. You would have thought it was hundred dollar US bills from the looks on their faces.

Rich
Buff Killer

quote:

Originally posted by China Fleet Sailor:
Sorry.

I ended up here by mistake. I meant to contribute to the thread "Premium Bullets vs Old Crap."

But what the hell. The topic of this thread just reinforces the incontrovertible fact that modern, premium bullets are an absolute bargain. Compared to, well, other things.

The thought seemed appropriate.

Yeah, the 400 grain .416 Barrett is a particularly notable creation...

I will be there next week and will post a report early March. Will be doing a buff/ele combo, trying out my "Bad Boy VIII" (as opposed to our original Mauser "Bad Boy" which only takes 3 rounds down, this one takes 8 rounds down...). My contacts there say that the hunting goes on, and this year is shaping up to be a little light on bookings, so there may be some leftovers come Sept/Oct.

Well, I haven't seen a single new new new Zim $ note (we droped another 12 0's from the currency at the begining of the month). Everything in Harare is dollerised, and expensive. Bulawayo is much more reasonably priced- goods ar 40% cheeper there- principally becasue the rand and Pula are the main currencies of trade and people know their value.

What else? the peasants are truelyhungry, the civil servants basically unpaid, and everybody except the elite hoping that there will be real change... but nobody is holding their breath!

quote:

Originally posted by Ganyana:
Well, I haven't seen a single new new new Zim $ note (we droped another 12 0's from the currency at the begining of the month). Everything in Harare is dollerised, and expensive. Bulawayo is much more reasonably priced- goods ar 40% cheeper there- principally becasue the rand and Pula are the main currencies of trade and people know their value.

What else? the peasants are truelyhungry, the civil servants basically unpaid, and everybody except the elite hoping that there will be real change... but nobody is holding their breath!

All I can say is it's a good thing you're losing all those zeroes.

We need all the zeroes we can get our hands on over here, so we can tack them onto Obama's spending plan.

It's being engineered by no one who has any concept of the value of a pula.

It is quite interesting really .... Mugabe is knocking of the zeros and Obama is adding on the zeros, trillions of them in fact.

One wonders if they are from the same tribe in Africa unfortunately maybe both will failed policies, albeit at different ends of the spectrum

Cheers., Peter

Not sure where to put this tidbit of information but this seems as good as anywhere. This was part of a note from a friend who is attached to Hong Kong University and was originally from Rhodesia.

"Mugabe bought a US$5m house in Hong Kong (i.e. fairly modest), and his daughter is attending University of Hong Kong under a fake name. Well, I saw her in the library but now apparently officially she doesn't exist (although hard to hide here, really)."

I consider this individual quite reliable.

David;
What would be your guess as how the JOC is going to react. I would imagine there is too much money and power for these guys just to roll over, and go away. There is also the threat of prosecution for their past doings.