With Mugabe rigging himself a 2/3 majority, what exactly could the opposition do anyway?

Members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe’s main opposition group, are hesitant about their political future when the new parliament reopens after last week’s general election which delivered President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF a large majority. The MDC is engaged in its most serious debate since it was formed five years ago.

The first debate among MDC leaders after last week’s election is whether they should return to parliament.

Several MDC analysts say the opposition’s experience in parliament has been “futile and agonizing” and that its effort to democratize Zimbabwe has failed.

William Bango, spokesman for MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, confirmed that the party was in “intense” debate. He said that it wasn’t only about whether the MDC goes to parliament, but whether the party continues to function inside or outside government.

Mr. Tsvangirai and others in the top leadership reluctantly agreed to participate in the March 31 election after considerable African and other international pressure.

Welshman Ncube, MDC secretary-general, said Wednesday he feels that he wants to “leave Zimbabwe and never return.” He said as long as the electoral machinery was controlled by ZANU-PF there was no possibility of auditing the system.

He said the MDC had finally learned a lesson, which was that dictators cannot run democratic elections. He also said no political party could prepare itself for the level of fraud in the recent election and that he now realizes that there is no way of removing dictators democratically.

Opposition spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi was equally gloomy. He told MDC members of parliament that when there were 57 of them in parliament after the 2000 general election, they made little impact. With only 41 out of 120 elected seats now, he said the MDC would not be heard at all.

He said the MDC had opted for what he called “the ballot not the bullet” at three painful elections, and it did not bring democracy to Zimbabwe.

At the same time, and opposition leader has bee arrested for alleged involvement in the small protest in Harare that got beat down. Zanu-PF also blamed the MDC for an alleged bomb threat called in.

Practically coinciding with Mugabe’s victory, unprecedented fuel and food shortages have occured.

HARARE ???????? Fresh fuel and essential food shortages have hit Zimbabwe barely a week after President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party romped to victory in disputed elections.

The shortages are stoking fears the country will miss its inflation and growth targets, hobbling the recovery of an economy which has been in a deep slump for five years.

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Pumps at most fuel stations in the capital Harare have run dry over the past two days with motorists bracing for the long queues they had to tolerate for much of last year.

“We ran out this morning and we don’t know whether we will get any supplies tomorrow,” a Harare petrol attendant said.

The fuel shortfall is largely a result of an acute foreign currency shortage. Zimbabwe has been without international funding because of differences over Mugabe’s policies, particularly the seizure of white-owned farms.

Foreign exchange auctions controlled by the central bank are only meeting about 8 percent of market needs, analysts say.

Cooking oil and the staple maize meal were also scarce in shops in the city centre, with some shoppers bulk-buying the few stocks left in a couple of shops although a government minister gave assurances that maize-meal supplies were back to normal.

“We haven’t had cooking oil for a few days now. Some people have been hoarding for days in anticipation of these shortages,” said an assistant at a city centre supermarket.

Maize-meal supplies were already erratic in both rural and urban areas in recent months with supermarkets out of stock for days on end. This had become a central issue in pre-election campaigns with Mugabe pledging that no one would go hungry.

What a terrible article; talking about Zimbabwe’s chronic Mugabe disease like dry statistics. Some people think we have it bad with black market drugs, but you know its bad when a black market emerges for basic commodities.

HARARE, April 7 (Xinhuanet) — The black market for basic commodities has emerged once again in the capital as speculators take advantage of the current shortages in the official market, Zimbabwean officials said Thursday.

Some people had already started selling cooking oil and sugar, which are in short supply, on the black market at inflated prices.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce President Luxon Zembe said on Thursday that low capacity utilization in industries was the major problem causing the shortage of basic commodities.

“Capacity utilization is very low in industries due to a critical shortage of foreign currency,” Zembe said.

No need for finger pointing the blame. We know whose fault it is. Sokwanele notes how it is impossible to save money due to the rampant inflation.

On another post, however, they note that there is a major difference between the last election and this. People are revved up.

Usually the staff sit in small groups and chatter. But on this day there was one conversation. A big staff discussion. The topic: ???????what to do about it????????. I realised on my way home, that it hadn’t been a normal day after all. The first day of work after elections in 2005 was not like that day in 2002. Back then, Zimbabweans were depressed, beaten. In 2005, they are alive. They are revved up. This will not be taken sitting down. Basop robber mugabe, basop!

But with the failure of the South African government to act, who is willing to actively stand with them against the dictator?