DR Congo: It's big.

News.com.au reports

DR Congo giant hydro dam work starts 2015

Work on the world's biggest hydroelectric dam will start in October 2015 in the Democratic Republic of Congo after talks between DR Congo and international officials. 

                                                Three Gorges Dam ( China )
  

Sunday's meeting on the proposed Inga dam on the Congo river also involved multilateral lending institutions.

A statement said the "foundation stone will be laid in October 2015."
"With a production of 40,000 megawatts, the Grand Inga project will eventually provide electricity to half the African continent," it said.

This is less than half of the DR Congo's total hydropower resources, which the World Bank estimates at 100,000 megawatts.

World Bank estimates suggest that if completed and running at full capacity, the complex could provide energy to up to 500 million African households.
The first phase of the project, Inga 3 Basse Chute, will have a capacity of 4800 megawatts.

The Paris meeting follows a deal signed on May 7 between South Africa and DR Congo for co-operation in the energy sector and for South Africa to buy some of the electricity produced.

Plants would need to be rehabilitated and massive new stations built on the powerful Inga falls, which lie in a narrow strip of DR Congo territory through which the Congo River runs down to the Atlantic coast.

Three consortiums are bidding to clinch the contract for the project: China's Sinohydro and Three Gorges Corporation; Spain's Actividades de Construccion y Servicios (ACS), Eurofinsa and AEE; and South Korean firms Daewoo and Posco with SNC Lavalin of Canada.

Three Gorges Dam in China is currently the world's largest hydropower complex, with a capacity of 22,500 megawatts.

There can be little doubt as to why the DR Congo is such an attractive target for balkanisation.

Rwanda: Never ever under any circumstances tell the truth. Batshit crazy is always better

New Times Rwanda reports parrots

Rwanda is not a small country, says Kagame

                                                         Kagame

President Paul Kagame has said that Rwanda is not a small country as some people may think because the country’s people are determined to own it’s development process and choose their destiny.

Okay New Zealand is a small country so lets look at size.

Rwanda 26,338 km²            

New Zealand  268,021 km²

I personally wouldn't trust a word Kagame says but he is right Rwanda isn't a small country it is a tiny country. On the population front Rwanda does better or worse depending on your perspective.

Rwanda 11,689,696

New Zealand  4,451,017

The head of state made the remarks yesterday in London, UK, while addressing about 3,000 Rwandans, most of them living  in the diaspora.

Actually I have to concede 3000 Rwandans turning up to listen is bloody impresive. There must be hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders in the UK and I doubt that 300 would turn up to hear the NZ Prime Minister talk. Maybe 30 on a good day when there was absolutely nothing more interesting available. 

The colourful event that was preceded by performances by Rwandan artists like Intore Masamba, François Chouchou Mihigo and London-based traditional dancers also attracted Rwandan citizens as well as friends of Rwanda.

" Friends of Rwanda"  I was unaware there were any.

“I used to think that Rwanda is small but following the challenges we went through last year, I realised that Rwanda wasn’t small,” Kagame said drawing a loud applause and a standing ovation.

Yes I have noticed a total inability on the part of the Rwandan government to acknowledge the truth on just about any issue so this is no surprise. 

The president emphasized that Rwandans have made their country big. “It’s not about the size of the country; it’s about the people who face challenges and try solving them without blaming others.”

A UN Group of Experts on DRC accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels in a report to the UN Sanctions Committee on June 21, 2012, to which Rwanda presented its rebuttal. 

Following the report, some development partners to Rwanda subsequently suspended or froze aid to the country.

More than some, actually all of them did to a degree but. It is what happens when a criminal takes over the government and then silences all legitimate dissent.   

The Rwanda Day 2013 was held under the theme: “Agaciro (self worth): Delivering Prosperity,” and according to the organisers, this year’s focus was on economic development. The event was streamed live on national radio and TV as well as online.

“We have learned that when you are determined to solve your challenges, you succeed. We will not be made to carry the burden of other nations or allow others to decide our future for us,” said the president.

“Nobody can give you dignity if you can’t give it to yourself. Others will respect you after you have respected yourself. Nobody can donate dignity to you,” he added.

“The problems we faced throughout our history taught us to live our own life. Every person should advocate for self-reliance and determination and this shouldn’t be a shared problem with other Africans. Instead, it should be looked at as a solution.

“Rwandans and Africans shouldn’t continue relying on others. First of all we have resources but because of our thinking, they are being taken away by the same people who want to determine our destiny.”

Wow there is a policy change. Not. Rwanda is going to stop stealing every thing it can get its hands on in the DR Congo ?

At the function, the panel consisting of Amb. Claver Gatete, the minister of Finance and Economic Planning; Claire Akamanzi, the acting chief executive of Rwanda Development Board; Andrew Mwenda, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council; and Amin Gafaranga, founder of Shokola Group, explained to the audience Rwanda’s development progress.

Kagame added that Rwandans created the Agaciro Development Fund to promote the country’s self-reliance following the challenges it faced.

The nation’s first solidarity fund that is financed through voluntary donations from Rwandans and friends of Rwanda, was launched last year and has so far raised more than Rwf28 billion. Responding to some of the questions from the audience, the president urged young people to put more emphasis on job creation rather than being job seekers.

Rwf 28 billion is impressive. That is about 43 million US. 

He asked Rwandans why a citizen of another country has an obligation to sustain their livelihood.

The Eastern Congolese have been asking that question for quite some time.

“We Rwandans are determined. We know our problems, we want to own up to those problems. Even through hardships, we can resolve them.”

Kagame thanked Rwandans for what has been achieved despite the fact that the country still has a long way to go and encouraged them to maintain the momentum and develop relations with others while promoting dignity.

“The world is becoming a global village in terms of technology, innovation and creativity. Finances and other means can always be available. If there is correct attitude and ideology, there is no way we can fail. Although some people may choose to fail, I want Rwandans not to fail,” the head of state emphasised. Kagame also talked about the African demonstrators who lined up at the Oxford University Business School in London protesting against his visit.

“The world is becoming a global village in terms of technology, innovation and creativity."  I would go further and say justice is joining that group. Somethin Kagame might want to bare in mind.

“Those protestors should be going to resolve their problems at home, not here...it is a sign of ideological bankruptcy,” he said. The head of state also touched on the progress made regarding the East African Community integration and answered a wide range of questions from the audience.

Grace Hightower De Niro, an American philanthropist, actress and singer who graced the event, hailed Kagame’s leadership and was impressed by the country’s tremendous growth.

Never heard of her. I am guessing she is a mate of the great American Rwandan apologist Susan Rice.

“You are not just a leader, you are visionary and Rwanda is so fortunate to have you. Growth Domestic Product (GDP) does not move you, you move the GDP,” she said.

The Rwanda Day in London follows four similar events that took place in Boston, Chicago, Paris and Brussels.

The events are mainly aimed at facilitating the Diaspora to learn about Rwanda’s progress towards socio-economic transformation.

Kagame is batshit crazy, he is a Crocodile but he is also a hell of a lot worse than that.

DR Congo & Belgium: The Arsehole's of Antwerp

It is difficult to fathom why the leaders of Antwerp would market the city with chocolate hands but it does on the grounds that they represent friendship. They don't they represent  the most brutal and repressive aspects of Belgium colonialism in the Congo. A Rwandan friend of mine surprised me when he mentioned that they were still a product sold in Belgium given the historical context I didn't really believe him. He was right.

Ancient Worlds blogs 

To this day, in the chocolate shops of Belgium, chocolate 'hands' are sold and represent Belgic former claims of imperial power. Between 1884 and 1885, European Imperialist powers sat around tables in Berlin and decided the partition and colonial fate of Africa. It was to Congo’s misfortune that King Leopold of Belgium was given the largest and soon to become evident, richest chunk of the richest continent. I had a vague notion of the 'hands' from listening to 'Short memory' by the Aussie band, Midnight Oil. But in no way does the Midnight Oil song explain the lyrics reference and it's not as if Central African history is one of my strong points...

The Belgians in the numerous rubber plantations forced Congolese children, men and women into slave labour. From Letissa we learned that their hands were cut off by the Belgian colonizers in a macabre system of accounting. Sometimes hands were cut off because workers didn’t work fast enough. Sometimes rubber plantation guards brought back hands as evidence they had killed workers who had failed to meet their rubber bounty. Other times such hands helped the plantation guards “prove” they hadn’t wasted any bullets on hunting game, an offence in the eyes of the colonialists. Children’s hands were chopped off as punishment for late deliveries of rubber. Over the next 20 years of direct Belgian rule, millions of Africans would die by murder, of disease and the deplorable conditions of life. Resistance was put down by wanton murder in what today we would call "ethnic cleansing." In the meantime, the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber and Exploration Company were racking up 700 percent profits on its shipments of rubber from the Congo. The company’s stock-market valuation increase 30 times in six years.

King Leopold, who utterly condoned and applauded this behaviour of his subjects, was celebrated in European capitals as a humane and progressive pioneer of 'Christian values' in "darkest Africa." I think he was an arsehole. Letissa, who finds the sale of these dark chocolate hands, extremely distasteful, suggests if we wish to buy Belgian chocolate to avoid buying 'hands' as she is trying to have the practice stopped. She offers us the more recognisable iconic Belgic Guylian 'sea shells' and after more tea we slip off to our room to sleep, with some of my illusions regarding Belgic history, now shattered.

Short Memory Midnight Oil ( Incidently I have been privileged to attend a live concert of Midnight Oil and it was truly awesome ).





Conquistador of Mexico
The Zulu and the Navaho
The Belgians in the Congo, Short memory

Plantation in Virginia
The Raj in British India
The deadline in South Africa, Short memory

The story of El Salvador
The silence of Hiroshima

Destruction of Cambodia, short memory

Short memory, must have a, Short memory
Short memory, must have a, Short memory

The sight of hotels by the Nile,
The designated Hilton style
With running water specially bought, short memory

A smallish man Afghanistan
A watch dog in a nervous land
They're only there to lend a hand, short memory

The friendly five a dusty smile 
Wake up in sweat at dead of night
And in the tents new rifles hey, short memory

Short memory, must have a, Short memory
Short memory, must have a, Short memory
(repeat)

If you read the history books you'll see the same things happen again and again
Repeat repeat short memory they've all got it
When are we going to play it again
Got a short, got a short, got a short, got a short
They've got a short must have a short they've got a short aah
Short memory, they've got a.

Swaziland: More batshit crazy from the porncracy

The Daily Star reports

Swaziland Bans Witches From Flying Above 150metres

Swaziland has launched a crackdown on high-flying witches after banning them from hovering above 150metres.

Anyone caught flying their broomstick above the height limit faces arrest and a hefty R500,000 fine, the country’s Civil Aviation Authorities said this week.

According to the Corporate Affairs Sabelo Dlamini‘A witch on a broomstick should not fly above the [150-metre] limit,’

The new aviation law was highlighted after a private investigator was caught flying a helicopter equipped with a video camera to gather surveillance information.

Witchcraft is taken seriously in Swaziland where many people believe in the power of black magic.

Last year a leading Swazi MP called for a hike in tax paid by witch doctors to help ease the cash-strapped country’s financial woes.

 

Hat Tip " hello there, welcome to my blog "

 

 

Uganda: The election is a few years away

Voice of America reports

Uganda Opposition Leader Blames President Museveni for Tension

Ugandan opposition party leader Kizza Besigye shakes hands with supporters before being arrested on September 4, 2012 in Kampala, Uganda.

A Ugandan opposition leader says frustration within the rank and file of the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) is creating tension in the country.

“There is a clear intension of monopolizing the control of the military, which is the source of power, and that is what is clearly being described as the construction of a presidential monarchy,” said Dr. Kizza Besigye, the former leader of the main opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).

It is hard not to give some credence to these allegations. Besigye is a former officer of the UPDF and presumably retains contact with rank and file soldiers. 

There isn't a western leader in the world outside of a few politically toothless monarchs in Europe that are retained  more for tourism dollars than any real governance function that can claim to have been in office for over 27 years. There is no way anyone with even half a brain can call Museveni a democrat he is undoubtedly a Crocodile    although of a more begnine variety than most.

Besigye says President Yoweri Museveni is to blame for the rising tension in the country, which he contends could create instability and chaos.

Having talked to many Africans in the diaspora in New Zealand I think it is reasonable though to give Uganda credit where credit is due. Museveni has always shown tolerance and understanding of the plight of refugees in Uganda. Yes Uganda shares the blame for creating the refugees from the DR Congo.

Besigye on the other hand has taken a populist position demanding the repatriation of refugees a Uganda for Ugandans approach if you like. This sort of stupidity is common in most democratic societies and can safely be ignored on the whole but in Uganda this is a recipe for disaster. Instability and chaos are certainly not only the preserve of Museveni.

“There is palpable frustration in all corners of the ruling establishment.  The whole idea that Museveni is constructing a presidential monarchy I think is grossly unacceptable to a wide range of actors, especially those who were his comrades in the struggle for what was hoped to be democracy,” said Dr. Besigye.

His comments were made after security officials raided the office of the coordinator of intelligence agencies, General David Sejusa.  The general had petitioned the government to investigate rumors of a plot to assassinate senior administration officials opposed to Mr. Museveni’s succession plan.

Uganda media quotes UPDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda as saying “we are investigating the issues that he raised in his letter ... We needed useful information from his office.  The team got documents and [a] computer from his office.”

President Museveni’s alleged plan is to step down and hand power to his son, Brigadier Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Actually I would be surprised to discover Museveni had any real succession plan at this stage. Under the current legislation he is entitled to stand again in 2016. I don't see him throwing in the towel any time soon. 

Critics say the sudden rise of Muhoozi, the first son of the president, to the position of the Special Forces Group commander in the UPDF forms part of the Museveni succession plan.

The Special Forces group is in charge of protecting the president, as well as the country’s oil installations and other institutions.

“Now they see that the military is essentially put under his son, Mr. Muhoozi, who was actually recruited into the military illegally because there is a very well established procedure of how one gets a commission to the UPDF,” continued Besigye, “even before he was recruited into the force he, himself, recruited other young people into the military.  Those people [he] recruited plus himself are now in charge of the military.”

The government denies the allegation.

“The allegation or insinuation that Museveni is grooming his son is completely untrue,” said government spokesman Fred Opolot.  “President Museveni has been at the fore of ensuring democratic progress of the country [and] it is diversionary to suggest that all of a sudden he is grooming his son.”

All in all a bit of a muddle ain't hearsay fun.

DR Congo: Thank you Gilbert Makelele. You are the future.

Str8talk reports.

There is very little I can add to this  so I won't other than to say that there is no shortage of really good people in the Eastern DR Congo and with our support they can win through. We owe them that and a hell of a lot more.

Trading conflict for coffee in DRC

GOMA, 8 May 2013 (IRIN) – Entrepreneur Gilbert Makelele wants armed groups in his part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to wake up and smell the coffee.

Militiaman with a farmer at a coffee plantation near Kalonge, on the borders of Masisi and Walikale territories in North Kivu

“You should tell the population to grow coffee, as it’s the best way for them to make money,” he told a militia member during a recent visit to the town of Kalonge, where he and his fellow cooperative members have planted a nursery for coffee seedlings.

The Kivu Cooperative of Coffee Planters and Traders (CPNCK), which Makelele founded five years ago, has planted six of these nurseries in the Kalonge-Pinga-Mweso triangle, a hotbed of militia activity.

“If the young men in this area knew how much they could earn with coffee, they would not be interested in joining militias,” Makelele told IRIN.

“A paradise for coffee” 

Coffee, a traditional export crop, was virtually abandoned across much of North Kivu in the past 30 years. DRC’s production shrank from 110,000 metric tons in the late 1980s to about 50,000 metric tons in 2009, according to the DRC’s national coffee office.

CPNCK says it is giving away half a million arabica seedlings to help relaunch coffee’s cultivation.

Many people in the Kalonge area, including members of armed groups, appear to be interested in planting coffee. The militiaman told IRIN he would like to plant the crop on his ancestral land of more than 100 hectares, but that he would first have to raise US$1,000 to pay the land registry for title deeds.

Uncertainty about land titles and the involvement of Congolese and foreign armed groups are just some of the problems local farmers will face if they decide to take Makelele’s advice.  Planting coffee is a long-term investment, prices have been volatile and the market is not as reliable as that for food crops.

Nevertheless, the crop has paid off for neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda, which have increased their production in recent years. The crop is Uganda’s single most important export, and coffee and tea together account for nearly half of Rwanda’s exports.

The recent history of coffee prices could also deter would-be planters: The New York market price for mild arabica, currently slightly above the inflation-adjusted average for the past decade, has fluctuated by more than 300 percent since 2003, and has trended downwards since the late 1970s.

But coffee’s promoters argue that increasing demand in middle-income countries, plus the possibility that climate change could lead to the spread of diseases in coffee plants, point to higher prices in future – and bright prospects for Kivu coffee.

Additionally, the temperate climate in the Kivu region’s hills is thought to be protection against coffee rust, the most devastating disease affecting arabica. Partly for this reason, World Coffee Research describes the area as “a paradise for coffee”.

This optimism has helped to persuade several NGOs – including Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Oxfam, the Eastern Congo Initiative and the Fairtrade organization Twin – to launch coffee projects in the Kivu provinces.

Twin has helped a South Kivu co-operative, Sopacdi, replant coffee and improve yields, quality and post-harvest processing, enabling its 3,500 members to become the first producers in Kivu to achieve organic and Fairtrade certification.

Income potential

Sopacdi has publicized the job opportunities it has provided to ex-combatants. A number of them work at a mechanized washing centre – paid for by Twin and employing 161 people – where the coffee berries are depulped and dried.

One of the staff at the washing centre, former rebel Habamungu Engavashapa, told IRIN he was happy with civilian life because he was able to spend nights in a house rather than in the forest.

Another ex-combatant, Abdul Mahagi, said Sopacdi had trained him as a machinist and given him a contract; he said he was beginning to see a way to organize his life.

Other workers at the washing centre, however, complained that their salaries, about $60 a month, were barely enough to live on.

The main opportunities that coffee co-operatives are likely to provide for ex-combatants in the short term would be to clear land and plant seedlings.
CPNCK has been employing 50 ex-combatants on these tasks at a rate of $1 a day, much less than they would earn in artisanal mining, but not insignificant in most of the villages, says Jean-Baptiste Musbyimana, an agricultural journalist based in Goma.

The returns could be more enticing for ex-combatants and smallholder farmers who are able to grow coffee for themselves.

                 Coffee nurseries near Kalonge, on the borders of Masisi and Walikale territories in North Kivu © Nick Long/IRIN

For information on the profitability of coffee versus that of alternative crops, IRIN consulted Franck Muke, an agronomist who has studied coffee production in DRC and in Brazil; Xavier Phemba, CRS’s agricultural project co-ordinator in Goma; and Sandra Kavira, an agronomist working for the International Fertilizer Development Centre.

Their data suggest returns from a hectare of 2,500 coffee trees could be two to three times as high as the returns from a hectare of maize or beans, assuming an absence of mineral fertilizers and only limited use of organic fertilizers.

Jean-Baptiste Musabyimana, of the Federation of Agricultural Producer Organizations of Congo (FOPAC), which does not promote coffee, said coffee is regarded as having several advantages over other crops, including the potential for intercropping with bananas, beans or legumes, which provide organic waste and additional profits from the same acreage.

Once the trees have been planted, coffee also requires less labour than annual crops and is less likely to be stolen.
“Armed groups won’t cut off the berries and eat them,” coffee plantation owner Eric Kulage told IRIN. “And the workers don’t want the berries either, whereas when they are harvesting maize they always solicit some bags.”
Coffee’s major disadvantage is the cost of planting and the fact that the trees cannot be harvested for the first three years and do not reach their full potential for five to eight years. Muke estimated costs of planting 2,500 trees per hectare, and pruning for three non-productive years, at $850 to $950. These costs, and the risks involved, limit the acreage farmers will be willing to devote to the crop.

Helping DRC compete 

A significant limitation to DRC’s coffee industry is the lack of mechanized washing stations, which cut down on waste and help maintain product consistency. Washing stations are the norm in Uganda and Rwanda, but there are hardly any in Kivu, where producers depulp the berries by hand or sell the wet berries to merchants from Uganda and Rwanda.
Aid agencies are planning to install several washing stations at sites close to large population centres and to Lake Kivu. But Muke says this could be a mistake, as the lakeside areas have higher humidity, which is thought to promote coffee rust.

There could be social advantages to promoting a perennial crop in areas further from Lake Kivu, like Kalonge Pinga and Mweso, where many young men see joining an armed group as their most viable livelihood option.
“If they have a perennial crop to look after, they will want to settle down,” suggested CPNCK’s Makelele.

But a major obstacle to promoting agriculture in areas where militias recruit is, of course, insecurity. Although armed groups are unlikely to steal coffee berries, they might try to steal bulk loads of dried coffee from washing stations.

Plantation owner Kulage commented that, in his experience, armed groups had not succeeded in stealing and marketing large coffee harvests in recent years. He suggested that security forces might be deployed to protect washing stations during the limited periods when bulk loads of dried coffee are left there.

Oxfam’s co-ordinator for North Kivu, Tariq Riebl, doubted whether any donor would accept the risk of building a washing station in a place like Kalonge. He noted that 90,000 seedlings had recently been stolen from a CPNCK nursery near Kalonge.

“If you mention that to donors, they won’t want to hear anything more,” he said. But Makelele argues that the theft was not a problem because the co-op was going to give the seedlings away anyway.
“I am very happy about it,” he told IRIN. “It shows that people want to plant coffee.”

Zimbabwe: The hypocrite speaks.

New Times ( Rwanda ) reports

Mugabe’s warning to government officials on keeping mistresses

                                                                                       Robert Mugabe

HARARE. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has warned local officials to stay away from keeping mistresses, terming it a practice that is “not good to nation building.”

Well I guess that is debatable. Presumably if the mistresses are participating in procreation then one might argue it is actually quite a useful contribution to nation building. 

Mugabe told the third Zimbabwe Local Government Association biennial conference that he receives continuous reports of various national leaders lavishing their mistresses with expensive gifts such as vehicles and houses, the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper reported.

If I was a local government official I think that that might sort of piss me off a little. National leaders get to lavish their mistresses with " expensive gifts such as vehicles and houses " while local officials are warned not to have mistresses.

“When you cheat, people will not trust you, especially when the position you hold is an economic one. They will think you are abusing their money,” he said. The 89-year-old Zimbabwean leader said the trend of men keeping mistresses, commonly known as “small houses,” is to blame for the country’s rising divorce rate. Children will also suffer from the men’s loss of moral, he added.

Yes what else can I say ? The master hypocrite has spoken. 

Harare President Robert Mugabe has for the first time confessed that he is addicted to mistresses, from what are known as ‘small houses’ in Zimbabwe.

Speaking during a United Nations event on Thursday, Mugabe said in the Shona language, “Tiri vanhu vemeso meso. Chakabaya chikatyokera, tozviita sei? (We are easily tempted by different women. Once it is in and it has stuck right inside, what else can we do? Its an addiction, what can we do about it?)”

There are two types of marriages legally recognized in Zimbabwe -- the Marriages Act Chapter 5:11, which is monogamous, and the registered customary union, covered under the Customary Marriages Act Chapter 5:07, which recognizes man having more than one women partners.

But the government has been urging a shift from the customary marriage to monogamous marriage to avoid disputes and provide better upbringing environment for the children. Mugabe’s “morality call” is also seen as an attack on his arch- rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who was embroiled in a relationship scandal last year when he tried to remarry. The 60- year-old former opposition leader’s first wife was killed in a road accident in 2009.

Again there is an irony in this. The Crocodile cries again. 

President Robert Mugabe ‘snatched’ his current wife Grace Mugabe from under the nose of then Air of Zimbabwe (intelligence officer) and husband Stanley Goreraza. The current First Lady then known as Grace Marufu worked as Mugabe’s secretary before she became his mistress while still married to Goreraza.

At the time Mugabe’s first wife Sally Mugabe was battling a chronic kidney ailment while Mugabe was having an affair with Grace. The affair resulted in two children, Bona, named after Mugabe’s mother, and Robert Peter, Jr.

Two women filed civil cases to court blocking Tsvangirai’s marriage last year, alleging they are already “married” to the prime minister. Mugabe and Tsvangirai are expected to compete against each other for the country’s top post in the elections later this year. The two were forced into a coalition government in the wake of the last disputed polls in 2008.

One can only again conclude the world will be a better place when Mugabe departs it. That day can't come soon enough.