Interview with Zimbabwe's Minister of Tourism at JW HQ

OrphanCrow

Zimbabwe has been under the rule of a dictator since 1980. Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, is notorious for his ruthless ways of dealing with the problems of a post-colonial country. His land reforms resulted in much economic hardship for the people of Zimbabwe and anyone who was a white farmer in Zimbabwe suffered dire consequences as a result of Mugabe's land grabs post-2000.

The atrocities against the people of Zimbabwe have been documented by Cathy Buckle and I have personally heard of the violence against those opposed to Mugawbe's policies.

Some comments from a 2003 article about Robert Mugabe:

Looking at this effete, uncomfortable little man, it was hard to believe he was one of the world's most ruthless despots, "a caricature of an African tyrant," in the words of South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Mugabe's picture hangs on the walls of every public building in Zimbabwe. There is at least one Robert Mugabe Avenue in every city and town. When he travels in his custom, armored $900,000 black Mercedes-Benz, with punctureproof tires, it is with sirens blaring in a 24-car motorcade of armored 4x4s, motorcycles, and military vehicles, which Zimbabweans have dubbed "Bob and the Wailers." Mugabe also has his own choir, a small coterie of women who attend his arrivals and departures, trilling and dancing, in dresses made of fabric emblazoned with his face.

Well, Mugabe may have banned foreign press in 2003, but since that time, he certainly has developed a good relationship with the Watchtower Society. In this following interview, produced by the WTS, the Minister for Tourism in Zimbabwe delivers a "message of gratitude" from President Mugabe to the JW organization. The gratitude comes from the WTS' influx of money into the country from the convention that was recently held there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPdNc5EeVts

Apparently, the JWs are "politically neutral" yet cooperating with despot governments for financial gain is okey dokey.

The WTS has released this video as a feather in their cap but I see it as an indication of how birds of a feather flock together.

LoveUniHateExams

Good find, OrphanCrow.

I find it odd to say the least that, at every opportunity, the WTS speaks out against the stable, relatively decent governments of the West, yet cozies up to old Mugger-Bugger.

Do JWs have any self-awareness? Do they realize how ridiculous they look?

sir82

A mutual admiration society between the WTS and the Mugabe government? How fitting.

username

Dictatorships hand in hand with many things in common. One being money and corruption, another having self appointed leader(s).

OrphanCrow

Do JWs have any self-awareness? Do they realize how ridiculous they look?

I don't think they do. They think that the rest of the world is ignorant of Mugabe's atrocious policies that have trampled on human rights in his own country. Not only that, the JWs themselves would be ignorant of the historical abuses that Mugabe has perpetuated. After all, the WTS is guilty of the same thing - violating the basic human rights of those who follow their ideology.

I find the history of the "Watchtower Movement" in Africa to be fascinating - the overtly political nature of how different WT sects have developed and impacted politics in some African countries is often overlooked. I find it difficult to figure out which of the African Watchtower sects are actually aligned with the WTS and which ones have independent organizations.

For example, in Tanzania, the Watch Tower Church has recently made the news because of its ban against voting for its followers.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201508110646.html

The Watch Tower Church is located at Kitika area, Kasanga village, along the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Kalambo District in Rukwa Region. The village is the headquarters of the Church in the world.
Investigations carried out by the "Daily News" recently show that the Church has not been registered officially in the country since its establishment 100 years ago.
The Kitika area is venerated as the permanent residence of Watch Tower Church's spiritual leader popularly known as the "Holy Father", the "Pope" whose followers have stretched as far as neighbouring Zambia.

The Searcher

When I was at a convention in England about 7 years ago, I chatted to a fellow J.W. and his wife at lunchtime. They were white Zimbabweans who had just moved to England. According to the husband, many years ago a young black man was being hunted by a gang wielding knives and machetes. The young man ran into a K.H. and was concealed by the Witnesses, thereby saving his life. The young man was Robert Mugabe.

The brother also said that the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had warned the J.W.'s that after he'd dealt with Mugabe, (the election was imminent) he was going to deal with them!

That explains why J.W.'s have freedom from persecution in Zimbabwe - for the time being.

joe134cd

I have commented on this before on a conversation I had with a some black Zimbabwean witnesses a few years back. I believe Mugabe is very favourable to witnesses even choosing to have them work for him in his close confines in none political rolls. Obviously he sees sees the advantages of their political neutrality and takes full advantage of it. What makes this comment more interesting is that the Zimbabwean who was relating this to me was wealthy, black, absolutely hated Mugabe and it was the reason for him leaving the country.

Vidiot

There's something vaguely familiar about this...

...oh yeah, some guy named Himmler.

Saintbertholdt

Oh wow,

So with the video in the original post you have one dictatorship complementing another. How wonderful.

In 2007 I participated in an Amnesty International writing campaign protesting against Zimbabwe's ban of a prayer meeting and the resulting government violence against the assembly. To this day you can't directly snail mail Zimbabwe's government because they just don't process offending mail when they receive a slew of letters after a known human rights violation. During the campaign we had to mail the President of the United Republic of Tanzania to therefore indirectly put pressure on the Zimbabwe government at an international summit.

Totalism has the same characteristics in government and religion.

umbertoecho

Wow Crow!!

Thanks for that information. Posts like this amaze me at the the complete lack of knowledge the average JW has about it's own religion. It is highly suspect that they, the witnesses would tout this man by means of "tourism". For that is what they are doing. Then again, they are simply fulfilling the command to preach to all the inhabited earth.

Next someone will be telling me that North Korean leader Kim il um sing jongy thing aiilll (whatever the hell his name is) ..... Is a really good guy and has Jehovah's Witnesses working for him because they are so good at "not knowing what is going on".

Interview with Zimbabwe's Minister of Tourism at JW HQ

Share this