UPDATED - "This is Africa!" - Air Zimbabwe down to one plane

Half a century ago, when new "nations" were being created out of European colonies in Asia and Africa -- "Ready or not, here they come!" -- one of the hallmarks of newfound independence was considered to be a national airline. Even the tiniest shithole had to have a national carrier, usually included in the post-independence deal with the mother country.

So it was with Zimbabwe, when the former Rhodesia was handed over by the perfidious British to the black terrorists led by Robert Mugabe in 1980. The slight difference was that Rhodesia already had a small but functional airline, Air Rhodesia, which had a fleet of about a dozen aircraft including a couple of Viscounts -- lovely old prop jobs -- and even a B707. Like most things run by the "white settler regime", it worked. And it was given, in working order, to Comrade Bob's Marxist government, who painted the planes with red, yellow, green and black stripes and dubbed the "new" airline Air Zimbabwe.

Thanks to the ignorance, incompetence and corruption which bedevil most state-owned enterprises in most African countries, the planes inherited from Air Rhodesia were allowed to fall apart long ago. They were replaced by a succession of other types: B737s, a BAe-146, three Chinese MA-40s, a couple of little Fokkers, and two B767s which, in Walt's daze in Zimbabwe, were the pride of the fleet. One was at the beck and call of Uncle Bob, so effectively out of service, but the rest of us were allowed to fly in the other one, occasionally. Here's a pic I took in 1993 at what used to be called Jan Smuts International Airport, in Johannesburg.

Today, that B767-200ER is the only plane Air Zimbabwe has left, and may be grounded tomorrow or the next day. NewsDay reports that one of its two engines caught fire during a flight from O.R. Tambo International Airport (the new name for "Janny Smuts") to Ha-ha-harare (the fun capital of Zimbabwe) on Sunday evening after developing a fault. According to a state released yesterday, "Air Zimbabwe wishes to inform the public that their Boeing 767-200ER servicing flight UM462 experienced a malfunction in one of its engines, which caused a 'brief' tailpipe fire."

The carrier said the malfunction did not threaten the continuation of the flight or the safety of the crew and passengers on board, and that the aircraft landed safely in Harare at 2035. Air Zimbabwe confirmed that their engineers have started investigations into the incident, but continued, "We regret to inform our valued passengers that this incident may result in a disruption of our normal schedule."

This came barely a day after the same plane was involved in a bird strike incident after take-off at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo. The plane, however, landed safely at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in the capital. In March, the struggling national airline said it was using the aircraft, the only one in service, for all its routes. Such is the reality of Zimbabwe today. Mother Africa Wins Again.

UPDATED ADDED 1/5/19 [MAYDAY! MAYDAY! LOL Ed.] - NewsDay reports today that "Beleaguered Air Zimbabwe has bought a new plane, an Embraer ERJ-145, bringing the number of planes owned by the company to two. Air Zimbabwe was put under construction [??? Ed.] in 2018 after it was diagnosed to be a failing parastatal. The new plane is branded Zimbabwe Airways which is the name of a failed airline that was fronted by former President Robert Mugabe's son-in-law, Simba Chikore." Right there, in the last two sentences, is everything you need to know about Zimbabwe and about how things work (or not) in Africa.

VIDEO LINK ADDED 19/6/19: "Air Zimbabwe - The World's Most Dangerous Airline?", the experience of a veteran traveller. Pretty much the way Walt remembers it, having flown in these same planes over 20 years ago.

Prof. Schwab explains African elections

Zimbabwe's capital Ha-ha-harare (the Fun Capital of Africa) was calm today, hours after the government-appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) declared Comrade Emmerson "ED" Mnangagwa winner of the presidential election held July 30th. See "ED wins Zimbabwe presidential election - quelle surprise!", WWW 2/8/18.

The voting itself was peaceful enough, but things got ugly when the ZEC delayed announcing the results of the presidential race for three days, while making sure that they got their numbers right, to avoid a repeat of the 2008 contest in which Comrade Bob Mugabe failed to win an outright victory on the first ballot. As reported here yesterday morning, six people were killed in the melee when the army rolled in tanks to disperse rock-throwing demonstrators who denounced "the Crocodile" and and alleged vote-rigging.

Harare's roads appeared to be free from the troops today, but water cannons and police remained present at the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change (the main opposition party), which police raided yesterday, making 18 arrests. Ed. has obtained for us a picture of the authorities announcing the results to obviously disappointed MDC Alliance leaders.

Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, who received more than 44 per cent of the vote, said on Twitter that "unverified fake results" had been announced by the electoral commission. The ZEC "must release proper and verified results endorsed by parties," Mr Chamisa tweeted. "The level of opaqueness, truth deficiency, moral decay and values deficit is baffling."

Well, it's only baffling to those who expect an African election to bear some resemblance to an election in western democractice, like the US of A. [Eh? Ed.] By the sheerest coincidence, I just read Africa: A Continent Self-destructs (Palgrave, New York, 2001) by Professor Peter Schwab, of SUNY Purchase. Here's what the "authority on human rights" has to say about how the process works in the parts of Africa where they even bother to hold elections.

Within Africa, certainly, elections have taken place.... But elections are merely one indicator of the democratic process, and they are not worth very much if one leader, party, or group totally dominatees the system and if opponents are harassed, intimidated, often shot at, even arrested, and obligated to campaign fearing for their very lives. Sometimes they are even killed.

That's what happened in Zimbabwe in the presidential election of 2008, mentioned above. When early results on polling day put the MDC candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, ahead of Comrade Robert Mugabe, counting was stopped. Just stopped, that's all. More than a month later, the ZEC announced that Mr Tsvangirai won 47.9% of the vote to Uncle Bob's 43.2%, necessitating a run-off. Faced with the likelihood that his supporters would be the victims of the mayhem described by Prof Schwab, Mr Tsvangirai withdrew from the race, and the only ruler Zimbabwe had known since independence was "democratically re-elected".

Old Africa hands know the saying "MAWA" -- "Mother Africa Wins Again" -- and that's exactly what happened in Zimbabwe this week. End of lesson.

Footnote: I do not recommend Professor Schwab's book. The introductory and concluding chapters are nothing more than a rehash of the usual white liberal American apologies for the abject failure of black government. The way the prof tells it, the all-but-hopeless mess that African is in today, half a century after independence, is the result of centuries of slavery, colonialism and systemic racism, all the fault of the evil whites -- Europeans, not Americans, of course.

In between the first and last chapters is a potted history of the political and humanitarian disasters visited upon their people by the leaders of black Africa, "big men" like Comrades Mugabe and Mnangagwa. In the chapter headed "Civil Wars, Wars, and Political Collapse", Prof Schwab concedes (without once mentioning the race of "modern" Africa's leaders):

...it should be obvious that...western nations, and in particular the United States, would be foolhardy to jump into the bog that is currently Africa. [Yes, that's what he called it. Walt] Unless and until indigenous leadership arises that is intent and willing to put its nation's interests above personal aggrandizement, there is little that can be done to resolve the complex and bloody civil strife operative in so many African states....

In the final analysis, it is up to Africa and Africans to finally take the initiative to fix what is broken and to address the problems confronting their respective states. These are clearly not nations where there is public loyalty to established politically legitimate institutions.... There are many cultures, many loyalties, and few national structures that are not riddled with graft and at the mercy of wanton leaders. No conspicuous anchor is available to tie the ship of state to while exploring solutions.

To repeat... MAWA.

At least six killed in Zimbabwe post-election violence

I've been waiting patiently to be able to bring you the results from elections held in Zimbabwe on July 30th. Patience is a must, in African affairs, as things move slowly... very slowly. Future time is expresssed, in Zimbabwe, in phrases with rather vague meanings, which I'll translate for you:
- "Just now", as in "The results will be announced just now." Read: "at some time in the future, but not "now now".
- "Now now", as in "Could we have them now now?" Read: "sometime today".
- "Now now now!", as in "Do it now now now! I'm not going to wait any longer!" Read: "Move your ass, you [racist epithet deleted. Ed.]!"

Old Africa hands, like Walt, were therefore unsurprised when the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), comprised of appointees of the ZANU-PF party which has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, announced on July 31st that results of the voting would be released, not "just now" but as soon as every last one of the 10,095 polling stations had counted every last one of the ballots.

Elections were held for every office from the presidensity to Zimbabwe's rubber-stamp parliament down to municipal councils. The only race of any consequence pitted 75-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa, who ousted Comrade Bob Mugabe in an almost bloodless coup last November against Nelson Chamisa, age 40, who succeded to the leadership of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) after the death of its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

The ZEC has released results of the parliamentary and local elections in dribs and drabs, from July 31st until this afternoon, local time. The commission has said the vote was conducted properly in accordance with African tradition under the vigilant supervision of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and was therefore free and fair.

Supporters of the MDC disagreed, and the longer the ZEC delayed announcing the results of the presidential race, the more they complained that the fix was in. One observer, with experience of elections in the USA, said he was reminded of the delayed announcement of results in Philadelphia, where Democratic election officials would call their counterparts in certain black districts to ask for the vote count, at which time they were asked, "How many votes you need?"

Yesterday the opposition supporters got fed up waiting, and took to the streets of Ha-ha-harare, the Fun Capital of Africa, to express their anger. Zimbabwe Newsday, which was apparently afraid to print anything at all yesterday, reported this morning that at least six people were feared to have died last night, while several others sustained gunshot injuries after soldiers and police in Harare used brute force to suppress MDC Alliance activists protesting against alleged electoral theft of their vote by ZANU-PF and the ZEC.

Harare's Central Business District resembled a war zone, as soldiers drove around in their armoured vehicles, stopping every now and then to beat bystanders with sjamboks (still in use after the bad old apartheid days, but it's black on black now). They fired live ammunition indiscriminately at anyone found in the CBD, with several passersby caught in the cross fire.

Once-and-future President Mngagwa said this morning that his government has been in touch with the main opposition leader in an attempt to ease tensions after the election-related violence. Mr Chamisa said only that "We must maintain this dialogue in order to protect the peace we hold dear." Errr, yes. If you know you're going to lose an election in Africa, it's best to start backing towards the door as soon as the outcome can be discerned.

In a series of tweets, Comrade ED* called for an "independent investigation" into the violence in Harare, saying those responsible "should be identified and brought to justice." By that, he obviously meant the opposition, though some international observers criticized the military for opening fire on unarmed civilians. Those observers obviously need to cleanse their minds or their racist assumptions and get used to African ways.

* Footnote: Comrade Mnangagwa's supporters and the local meeja refer to him as "ED". Apparently no-one has told them that "ED" is commonly used here in the civilized (?) world to refer to a little problem that some men have.

Further reading: "Zimbabwe's elections turn violent", The Economist, 2/8/18. "So much for a fresh start...."

VIDEO: Mugabes under house arrest as Zimbabwean army takes over

This is an update on yesterday's post predicting a military coup in the failing state of Zimbabwe. Yesterday, Zimbabwean National Army commander Constantino Chiwenga issued an unprecedented statement saying purges against senior ruling party officials linked to the 1970s liberation war should end "forthwith". "When it comes to matters of protecting our revolution," he said, "the military will not hesitate to step in." And lo, it has come to pass. Lifetime pct .992.

Today a spokesthingy for the army announced on state-owned radio and TV stations that they have President Robert Mugabe and his wife in custody, and are securing government offices and patrolling the streets of the capital, Harare, following a night of unrest. In an address to the nation after taking control of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, Maj.-Gen. Sibusiso Moyo said the military is targeting "criminals" around Mugabe, and sought to reassure the country that order will be restored. Without saying where Mugabe and his wife are being held, Moyo said, "Their security is guaranteed."

Although these events have all the hallmarks of a coup, supporters of the military praised their actions as a "bloodless correction". In the video, you see armed soldiers in bakkies (= pickup trucks) and armoured personnel carriers stationed at key points in Harare. Walt notes that the personnel carriers are the same antiquated vehicles in use when he lived in the country, twenty years ago. Then, as now, they were seen broken down or out of diesel at the roadside! Meanwhile, Zimbabweans formed long lines at banks in order to draw the limited cash available, a routine chore in the country's ongoing financial crisis. People looked at their phones to read about the army takeover and others went to work or to shops.

Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, says he has spoken with Comrade Bob, and that the 93-year-old dictator is confined to one of his homes -- which one was unclear -- but is "fine". A statement from Mr Zuma's office says, in his capacity as Chair of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), Mr Zuma is sending South Africa's ministers of defence and state security to Zimbabwe to meet with Mr Mugabe and the military. The purpose of the meeting is unclear, but may be to arrange for the Mugabes, Bob and the lovely Grace, to go into exile into the neighbouring country. The problem with that is that President Zuma's hold on office is slipping. If he is deposed, where will he and his several wives, along with the Mugabes, run then? It is said that SADC will continue to monitor the situation closely. So will Walt. Stay tuned.

UPDATED: Zimbabwe braces for military coup to oust Mugabes

Assiduous readers of WWW will know that Walt has a keen interest in Zimbabwe, that failing state in the southern part of the Dark Continent where he lurked [worked, surely! Ed.] in the last decade of the 20th century. Walt got out just before the country's currency tanked completely, but still follows the news from the land of bambazonke. (If you ever lived there, you'll know what that means.)

The present state of play is that the Mugabe's rule, as has been the case since independence in 1980. Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, on the right in the picture, started out as Prime Minister, then became President as well, and later decided the country didn't need a prime minister anyway. He is now said to be wondering if there's any point in having himself declared Emperor. Perhaps President-for-Life would be enough, doing away with the need to rig elections every five years or so.

Pictured on the left, at Bob's right hand, is his second wife, DisGrace [just "Grace", surely! Ed.], with whom he was having an affair as his first wife lay dying of kidney failure. He eventually made her "Mrs Mugabe", going so far as to have the wedding blessed by the toadying Archbishop of Harare. But so far he has been unable to put her into any high office, other than the purely ceremonial one of "First Lady". Even that entitles her to a diplomatic passport, it seems, which has been enough to save her from arrest for assault in both London and Johannesburg.

Still, Grace aspires to a loftier position, perhaps that of President, once her husband, going on 94, dies of lead poisoning or other causes. Her path to the presidential throne became clearer last week, when Comrade Bob unceremoniously dumped his senior Vice-President, a veteran of the "liberation wars" named Emerson Mnangagwa. (Try and say that three times, quick!) It is expected that Zimbabwe's Shopper-in-Chief will be appointed to fill the vacancy at the ruling ZANU-PF party congress in December. That would set her up to be President, in the event that -- God forbid -- anything happens to her husband.

The fly in the ointment is that the Zimbabwean National Army (ZNA) is not fond of the lovely Grace, but loyal to Comrade Mnangagwa. Yesterday, ZNA commander Constantino Chiwenga issued an unprecedented statement saying purges against senior ruling party officials linked to the 1970s liberation war should end "forthwith". "We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution," the army chief said, "the military will not hesitate to step in."

The military statement was not reported on by the state-run broadcaster. Government spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo said only the president could respond, but Comrade Bob did not comment. The state-run broadcaster did not report on the statement. But this morning, AP reports, three armoured personnel carriers full of soldiers were seen in a convoy on a road heading toward an army barracks just outside Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city.

No army spokesman was immediately available for comment today. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the state broadcaster, was operating as usual, and the capital remained calm... waiting with bated breath, no doubt.

UPDATE ADDED 1145 14/11/17: AP reports that this evening (local time) ZANU-PF has issued a statement accusing the ZNA commander of "treasonable conduct" for his threat to have the military step in. The statement said the unprecedented comments made yesterday Gen. Constantino Chiwenga were "clearly calculated to disturb national peace and stability" and were "meant to incite insurrection." Insurrection, izzit? Zimbabweans are waiting. In fact they've been waiting for decades!

Further reading about Mugabe's Zimbabwe on WWW: "Is Zimbabwe's Comrade Bob Mugabe dead or just sleeping?", WWW 3/3/17; "Zimbabwean dictator appointed to, then removed from WHO post", WWW 22/10/17.

Goblin discovered in suburb of African capital

Further to my recent review of The Masque of Africa by V.S. Naipaul, I reprint here, without further comment, a story that appeared today on the Zimbabwean NewsDay website.
Lest you think I'm making this up, here's the link.

Goblin found in Chitungwiza

A strange-looking object, believed to be a goblin, became the centre of attraction for scores of Chitungwiza residents near Makoni Shopping Centre on Friday morning.

The goblin, which had a cone-shaped horn with what looked like human hair attached to it with red, black and white beads, was spotted by a woman who said she had gone to throw away rubbish at a nearby dump site.

According to the woman who claimed to have seen the goblin first, it was removed from a bag of mealie-meal by street kids.

“I was coming to throw rubbish away when I saw that thing (goblin) which street kids nearby said they had taken out of a 10kg mealie-meal bag as they wanted to use the mealie-meal to cook sadza,” the woman said. “That’s when I started calling people to come and see.”

A local man, Rangarirai Mutomba, emerged from the crowd and left people dumbfounded when he lifted the goblin and said such things were the source of suffering for a lot of people before ripping it apart and exposing its insides filled with reddish powder.

“People should not believe in these things. God is there and he is the only one who can answer your problems, no one else. I don’t know why people use these things because they do not work,” said Mutomba.

An eyewitnesses at the scene said: “It is an act of witchcraft used by many people thinking that they would be rich if they use those goblins. That’s why they keep them. But if you see it abandoned like this it would have become a problem to the owner.”

Mutomba said: “A lot of these things happen and the people never go far with them. Throwing it away like this means they couldn’t handle it anymore.”

African airliner crashes; pig blamed!

What you see here is a bushpig, a smaller and better-looking cousin of a wart-hog. They are to be found in many parts of Africa, even in the airports of capital cities like Ha-ha-harare, capital of the "nation" of Zimbabwe.

The pilot of an Air Zimbabwe MA60 (a Chinese-built prop job) discovered this to his chagrin last week when he hit one on takeoff. Damage to the nose, a wingtip and a propeller forced a bumpier and quicker-than-usual landing.

The statement released by the Zimbabwe Transport Ministry led us to believe that the incident was minor. No-one was killed and only a couple of people were hurt during the evacuation of the plane.

However, what the mishap reveals is the extent to which the country's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ) and the national airline have gone the way of its other frayed and failed institutions.
A letter which appeared briefly in the Zimbabwe Standard (now apparently removed) recounted details more serious than the ministry admitted.

The writer, quoted in The Times, said it was "by God’s grace" that he and the other 37 passengers and crew had not all perished. It was plain, he said, that the airline had "no disaster response strategy" and its personnel "did not have a clue" of what to do in a crisis. “The plane was just about to lift off when we heard a loud bang from underneath followed by violent shaking of the entire aircraft.

"The aircraft veered off the runway into the grass before it came to a halt. Smoke and dust engulfed the cabin as passengers screamed for dear life.” With a petrified hostess shrieking "Evacuate!", they discovered that one of the emergency exits was jammed. Passengers were able to jump out of the stricken plane only after the main doors were pried open by hand.

The Times reports that airport emergency rescue service took five minutes to reach the plane. Agent 3, who spent several years in Zimbabwe, suggests that possibly they had no fuel and had to syphon some from cars in the passenger parking lot. They were beaten by a contingent of secret police, whose first act was to arrest two passengers for taking photographs.

There was no medical care for the injured, the Times report continues, and it took an hour for an Air Zimbabwe manager to have water distributed. He tried to reassure them by saying that the airline’s chief executive was on his way to the airport. "The passengers retorted that they did not eat CEOs," said the Standard's informant.

Agent 3 comments that AirZim hostesses are known to be selected by means of "carpet interviews". The only emergency training they receive is how to get out from under a bulky cabinet minister or AirZim executive, should one collapse on top of them while they perform their duties.

Thanks to Agent 17 for passing on the story.