May 14, 2008.

A RUN-OFF AGAINST TIME

A casual look at the figures reveals that the result was fixed to deny the MDC President outright victory. This is because for quite a long time now the ground was being prepared for a run-off when ZANU (PF) unleashed widespread bloodshed in an effort to intimidate voters to vote for Mugabe the next time round. There are growing reports of electoral intimidation, political violence, murders and the destruction of homes across the southern African country.

During the recounting process (carried out from the 19th to the 29th of April) that confirmed MDC victory with even a wider margin than originally, a pattern of systematic fraud emerged. The ruling party hoped the recount would demonstrate that Robert Mugabe had victory snatched from him by unscrupulous polling officers. Whatever the shortcomings of the electoral process - and there were many - the number of ballot papers in the boxes remained largely the same. There was an occasional miscount here or there but nothing systematic and certainly no grounds for the politically-inspired arrest of polling officers.

The results of the March 29 election clearly show that the biggest loser was Mugabe as he lost big not only to Tsvangirai but also to the MDC. Even going by the fixed official results, Tsvangirai got 1,195,562 votes (47.9%) against Robert Mugabe's 1,079,730 ballots (43.2%) of the total valid vote cast. At the same time, the MDC got 54% or 1,228,658 votes (MDC Tsvangirai - 48% and Mutambara 6%) while ZANU (PF) got 46% (1,046,634 votes). One winning Tsholotsho North independent candidate polled 3,532 votes.

Mugabe's former Finance Minister, Simba Makoni, who stood as an independent, took 207,470 votes or 8.3% of total ballots cast while another independent candidate, Langton Towungana, polled 14,503 votes equal to 0.6%. There were 39,975 "spoilt papers" with the total percentage poll standing at 42.7% of the 5,605,204 registered voters.

In a report on the outcome of the election, the Pan African Parliament (PAP) Observer Mission said the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) had lost control of the election process.

"Judging by the mystery surrounding the outcome of the presidential results and the unorthodox recounting of the ballots even before all the results of the harmonised elections are known, it is evident that the ZEC long lost control of the electoral process and its constitutional obligation has been gravely compromised," said the report presented by the observer mission to the PAP on May 7.

Apart from questioning the registration of some 8,000 voters at one and the same address, the mission also found that ZEC had printed a total of nine million ballot papers - which is about 50% more than the number of registered voters.

The winning MDC President was quoted on France 24 as having said, "What must be accepted is that the people have spoken and that their voice and their will must be respected.... We cannot hold the country to ransom with his [Mugabe's] intransigence."

For its part, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said there was no transparency in the verification, collation and tabulation of the results, as party agents required by law to be present were not invited to witness the process.

One must not lose sight of the fact that even before the vote was cast, the election had already been rigged - examples abound of ghost voters on the voters' roll; the postal ballot boxes that were stuffed with fictitious votes from diplomatic postings and security and other servicemen.

Determined to win the harmonised elections, Mugabe used public-owned media institutions as its propaganda mouthpieces. Programmes demonising the opposition while extolling the virtues of Mugabe and his ruling ZANU (PF) party are a daily menu. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings operates the country's only radio and television stations while the government-owned Zimpapers publishing house runs the largest newspaper empire in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe's government tightly controls the media and has closed four independent newspapers while also arresting scores of journalists over the past four years. Even this has not deterred Zimbabweans from voting for democratic change.

However, to the dismay and frustration of undemocratic forces, new technologies have become powerful tools for political campaigning, communication, advocacy and mobilisation. If you are in Zimbabwe and your phone rings, you might be receiving news headlines from SW Radio Africa, election updates from Kubatana.net or political jokes about Robert Mugabe. Widespread mobile phone access in Africa has made SMS a powerful and useful tool for activists.

It is mystical for Bright Matonga, the self-serving deputy Information Minister, to delude himself and his ZANU (PF) clique by claiming that Tsvangirai is "staring a heavy defeat to President Mugabe" during a run-off. These are words of a ZANU (PF) crony scared of prosecution because of the corruption scandal at ZUPCO (the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company). The whole of Zimbabwe is aware of this and other corrupt activities a new democratic dispensation will have to investigate to bring the culprits to book.

Having become addicted to the trappings of power and the resultant limitless opportunities to plunder, Matonga obviously cannot imagine someone else becoming president and ending his opulent lifestyle as a minister. Remember the words of a wise Shona who said, "Mhosva haiori." (A court case does not disappear into oblivion.)

Bright Matonga and other Mugabe henchmen do not seem to realise that the people of Zimbabwe are not fools and they can see through their deceptive antics. They do not seem to have considered that a time of reckoning could come when they will have to answer questions about the source of the billions they have stashed away and the multiple farms they have acquired. Come run-off, Zimbabweans will again vote to get rid of Mugabe and his corrupt coterie that has run amok.

The SADC observer mission said it had noted an increase of politically motivated violence, torture, pillage, destruction of goods and killing of people in the post-election period but blamed the deteriorating situation on "all political leaders who took part in the elections".

On their part, the MDC, Western governments, churches, local and international human rights groups have blamed political violence and human rights abuses solely on state security forces and militant supporters of Mugabe's ZANU (PF) party they say are out to intimidate voters to back Mugabe in the second round ballot. The MDC says more than 32 of its members have been killed since Election Day while another 5,000 have been displaced. Political analysts cast doubt on the credibility of the presidential election results and said it was hard to see how a run-off could be fair because of state-orchestrated violence.

The General-Secretary of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe, told a press conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, that some 40,000 farm workers and their families have been displaced as a result of violence and intimidation by pro-government militias since Zimbabwe's elections.

"Since the elections, we have recorded a total of 40,000 people who have been displaced, Gertrude Hambira said on May 8. "Our members and their families have been left homeless. They have been attacked by a group of militias wearing army uniforms. They have been accused of voting for the opposition. Most of them are either on the roadside or sheltering at some farms."

A group of UN independent human rights experts spoke out against the violence, noting that intimidation, violence and torture were being used to take retribution against MDC supporters. In a statement, the six rapporteurs said that there is reliable evidence that security forces, paramilitary groups and gangs have attacked the homes of MDC supporters, and of workers with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, in areas where the MDC received more votes than the ruling ZANU (PF). They reported that at least 351 people have been hospitalized, nearly 300 homes have been destroyed through politically motivated arson, 15 women have been abducted, and several people have been murdered.

"As a result of the violence, which has been taking place mainly in rural areas, townships and farms, hundreds of families and individuals, mainly women and children, have been displaced internally or are seeking refuge in neighbouring countries," the statement said.

Even independent election observers have not been spared of violence. ZESN, Zimbabwe's largest independent election monitoring group on May 6 said scores of its election observers were attacked and their homes burnt down in Mashonaland East and Central provinces as political violence takes its toll on the southern African nation. The targeting of observers by ZANU (PF) supporters with little or no protection from the police is not just worrying but contrary to the Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri's assertion of zero tolerance to politically motivated violence.

The head of the South African observer mission said that with delayed election results already announced, Zimbabwe has become too violent to hold a presidential run-off. "We have seen it, there are people in hospital who said they have been tortured," Kingsley Mamabolo said, adding that there have also been pictures in the media of houses that have been destroyed.

"Indeed, you cannot have the next round taking place in this atmosphere; it will not be helpful, it will create a whole lot of problems," he said.

The campaign of terror codenamed by ZANU (PF) Operation Makavhotera Papi (Where Did You Put Your X) was mounted with the specific approval of the party's president, Robert Mugabe, against opponents of his regime. A defector from the campaign of terror called the operation ‘the killing project' and revealed that ZANU (PF) was paying its thugs Z$10 billion for each member of the MDC killed and Z$5 billion for burning down houses of activists. He said the ongoing intimidation and murder of MDC supporters had been ordered at a high level and was being directly orchestrated by the Joint Operations Command.

The operation was launched shortly after Mugabe lost the March 29 elections, and is widely seen as the party's strategy to ensure that a terrified populace votes for Mugabe in the presidential election run-off that has been engineered by the military junta - the Joint Operations Command - through the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

Headed by the army commander-in-chief, General Constantine Chiwenga, the JOC was put together by Mugabe to make crucial decisions during this political crisis. Originally, it was chaired by Mugabe's Security Minister, Didymus Mutasa. After the March 29 elections, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the architect of Operation Gukurahundi, took over.

Mugabe is famous for many sayings - including the notorious "we have degrees in violence" when he openly acknowledged that ZANU (PF) not only used violence as a weapon but actually boasted that party supporters were violent people.

All eyes, including international and regional, are on Mugabe in desperate moves to make sure the electoral process is free and fair. The AU has been jolted into action following the post-election violence against opposition supporters. On May 6, the head of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, AU political affairs commissioner, Julia Dolly Joiner and peace and security commissioner, Ramtane Lamamra met both Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Earlier, over the weekend Ping had also met South African President, Thabo Mbeki.

The SADC ministerial troika of political, defence and security organs had a meeting with Robert Mugabe and representatives of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, plus members of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. From Zimbabwe, the group flew to Lusaka, Zambia, to present to the SADC chairperson, Levy Mwanawasa, the results of the meeting.

Meanwhile, a team of South African officials led by Local Government Minister, Sydney Fholisani Mufamadi, arrived in Zimbabwe on May 5 to investigate the violence. Sydney Mufumadi was the head of Thabo Mbeki's negotiating team that was mandated by the SADC to bring the MDC and ZANU (PF) to the negotiating table between March and December 2007.

Mbeki also dispatched a delegation of six retired army generals led by Lt-Gen Gilbert Lebeko Ramano, former South African army chief in the combined defence forces, to Harare on May 4 to probe cases of violence. Sources said the team has gathered massive and compelling evidence of violence.

The Mugabe regime is in serious breach of AU and SADC electoral laws with its delay in announcing the presidential results and the state organised violence against opposition supporters. Both the AU and SADC require action when member states are in breach of their regulations. The AU has a Constitutive Act which professes "to promote and protect human and peoples' rights, consolidate democratic institutions and culture, and to ensure good governance and the rule of law".

SADC Guidelines and Principles Governing Democratic Elections demand the impartiality of electoral institutions, and the encouragement of member states to "take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent perpetration of fraud, rigging, or any other illegal practices" during elections.

Instead of examining the causes of Zimbabwe's economic collapse, Robert Mugabe blames his opponents as agents of "regime change". People are looking for solutions that will lead them from poverty and despair to creation of jobs and prosperity. Mugabe is still engaged with the past, the 1970s liberation struggle and not its gains and the future. The generic Stalinist offers no new ideas 28 years down the line. Predictably, Mugabe has already offered himself for the final showdown against his own record of economic ruin. Therefore the run-off is not a competition against Morgan Tsvangirai, but against time.

At independence in 1980, Mugabe inherited a booming economy with 10.5% inflation even though the country had been in a civil war for 15 years. Now the year-on-year inflation is over 165,000%. Unemployment was running at 20% and now is at a record 85%. One US dollar was equivalent to 72 Zimbabwe cents but now one needs 200 million Zimbabwean dollars to purchase one US dollar at the officially introduced market of willing-buyer, willing seller.

The main culprit in all this is Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, whose economic experiments are guided by none other than Robert Mugabe. Twenty-eight years in office is a long time for anyone to run on his record and yet it is not obvious that Mugabe has accepted that he should take some responsibility for plunging the country into an economic abyss.

Critics of the Harare regime blame Mugabe's policies that have sent millions of refugees into neighbouring countries to escape severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages. Furthermore, Mugabe's corrupt and deeply flawed land-reform programme has turned Zimbabwe from a bread basket into a begging bowl.

Thus, it really does not matter what Mugabe says as he campaigns for the run-off. A land audit will soon establish which criminals got which farms. No wonder multiple land owners have been begging Mugabe to go for a run-off whatever the result. Mugabe and his cronies should wake up to the new realities, namely the fact that people voted overwhelmingly to rid themselves of the criminal gang in their midst.

The fast-track and haphazard land reform which started in 2000 was rejected by the voters. The well-documented Gukurahundi atrocities of the 1980s where nearly 20,000 innocent civilians were massacred in Matebeleland and parts of the Midlands were followed by Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Filth) in 2005 - these are still fresh in the minds of voters.

If one observes how people in Matabeleland have voted in all elections since Gukurahundi, it can be concluded that they have been more resilient in their silent agony and this is now being repeated by Zimbabweans all over the country. The "crackdown" option has been effective in the past for Mugabe in other Zimbabwean provinces, but this time he will not easily reverse gathering momentum for his removal.

The May 2005 Murambatsvina has made Zimbabweans realise there is no other way for relief except to use their vote to silence the dictator once and for all times. For the first time since independence, war was brought into the heart of Harare, Bulawayo and other big cities and towns. People were beaten up and homes destroyed. Up to 700,000 of Zimbabwe's citizens were rendered homeless and a further 2.4 million were affected in one way or another when the informal sector was destroyed.

Men and women wailed openly in broad daylight as they watched their life's investments vanish into the sky in a pall of cement dust. Even in rural areas people voted against ZANU (PF) despite violent retribution in the past. The recriminations underway only help to harden people's attitudes towards Mugabe. The international media is displaying lacerated backs, burnt buttocks, broken skulls, knocked-out teeth and severed lips while political leaders tell them "Zimbabwe will never be a colony again". It is the deadly aftermath of a watershed election which ZANU (PF) and Mugabe lost where the international community is witnessing the familiar horror of a liberation party devouring its born-frees.

Looking at the situation objectively, all indications are that Tsvangirai would trounce Mugabe in the run-off. The reasons for this are not difficult to understand. At 84, Robert Mugabe is running against time. Mugabe has become widely unpopular with the majority of voters who see him not just as too old to remain in office after 28 years of his corrupt rule but who also see him as the personification of the economic crisis about which he clearly has no solution.

The feeling now among voters is no longer about electing the right person or the right party with the right policy but about choosing a different person and different party with different policies. Tsvangirai and the MDC fit that bill.

What makes Robert Mugabe's run-off even more difficult is that fractures have appeared in ZANU (PF) and among Zimbabwe's security chiefs. ZANU (PF) is no longer united behind Mugabe, which is the reason his former Finance Minister, Simba Makoni, challenged him in the first round of voting. The party is irreparably now split in the middle with one half decidedly against Mugabe's continued rule and is ready to work with the opposition while the other half supports him during the day only to spend the night scheming ways about how to replace him internally.

Mugabe's conspicuous failure to successfully rig the election, something he has done routinely this decade, has damaged his position among ZANU (PF) hardliners and exposed his vulnerability to a citizenry that has crossed a threshold of anger and economic desperation.

Therefore, there is no doubt that in a run-off with neutral electoral officers and international observers, Tsvangirai would win as he would be supported by a de facto united front of opposition and ruling party forces.

Among his regional neighbours, Mugabe is at long last losing the essential insulation provided him this past decade by the leadership of the Southern African Development Community. To Mugabe's dismay, new Botswana president, Ian Khama, insisted that MDC leader be present at the SADC extraordinary summit in mid-April. Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa, the current chair of SADC, has publicly criticized Mugabe's refusal to disclose the presidential electoral results.

In an overt rebuke to South African president Thabo Mbeki, African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma opened a direct dialogue with the Zimbabwe opposition and while on tour to Berlin, Paris, and London signalled his openness to new solutions that look beyond Mbeki's dismal mediation of the crisis between March and December 2007.

Mugabe's actions are the last kicks of a collapsing jongwe or cock and it is progressive Tsvangirai decided not to boycott the run-off as Mugabe and his cronies would have been handed victory on a silver platter. They were praying for an MDC boycott because it would have enabled them to claim victory, however empty, on the back of a constitutional and legalistic position. However, even if Mugabe were to win by the backdoor by hook or by crook and thus remain in office, the sobering reality is that the already comatose economy would deteriorate to levels never before imagined.

Resolving the Zimbabwean crisis necessarily requires a transition from Mugabe's legacy of a de facto one-party system to a constitutionally defined dispensation whose pillars would not be threatened by any change of government or leadership through a democratic election. It must be admitted that the harmonised March 29 elections, even though they were won by the opposition, were not democratic. What is needed is a national transitional government whose objective would be to draft a new home-grown constitution that would lead to new elections.

While it is clear that Mugabe and the worst of his associates cannot be part of a transitional government, less tainted and moderate elements in ZANU (PF) could contribute to the stability of transitional governing arrangements.

There is a need for reconciliation because the present constitutional, legal, institutional, bureaucratic and policy environment in the country are deeply underwritten by Mugabe's 28 year legacy which is run by his associates who would be prone to playing dirty games to undermine and sabotage the new dispensation after the run-off.

Holding a grudge and seeking revenge have no place for those who truly love peace. Reconciliation is essential at this time where temptation for revenge abound. Zimbabweans must learn to get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

It is a matter of the public record that some of Mugabe's key associates in the security forces have said that they would neither salute Tsvangirai nor support his MDC government should he win the presidential election. Their public position is inherently destabilising and is cause for serious reflection about the dangers of Morgan Tsvangirai's certain success in a winner-takes-all run-off.

Key institutions - courts, universities, media, police, and armed forces - have been heavily damaged and will require special, concentrated reforms. Courageous civil organizations will continue to press for justice, especially in regard to serious human rights abuses and officially sanctioned egregious corruption.

The financial sector controlled by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been pivotal in supporting Mugabe's bankrupt schemes. On May 6, Zimbabwe's central bank unveiled two more new Z$100 million and Z$250 million bearer cheques: an economy ravaged by hyperinflation has meant there are not enough notes in circulation. Despite this move, thousands of Zimbabweans are camping in queues outside banks while trying to withdraw their own hard earned money. This is the third set of high denomination notes to be issued this year, the last on April 2 when a 50 million dollar note was put into circulation after the introduction of a Z$10 million bearer cheque in January.

On the same day, the Reserve Bank floated the Zimbabwe dollar in a bid to obtain foreign currency for food and key agricultural inputs and end rampant black market currency trading. The Zimbabwe dollar closed the day in some banks at close to Z$200 million against the US dollar. Before the move, the Zimbabwe dollar had been pegged at Z$30,000 to the US dollar, compared with about Z$130 million to the US dollar on the parallel market. Zimbabweans with foreign currency to sell welcomed the willing-buyer, willing-seller policy but were immediately plagued by shortages of cash.

Analysts are wary of the government's commitment to a free floating currency. In 2005, the Reserve Bank partially floated the Zimbabwe dollar only to fix the exchange rate again when the currency started depreciating faster than had been anticipated.

This crisis can be traced to the destruction of the agriculture, manufacturing, mining and tourism sectors, which in turn have meant low foreign currency inflows and accompanying high import prices. Ninety percent of business transactions are taking place on the parallel market, because of ill-advised price controls. The country's chronic economic crisis has condemned millions to grinding poverty with at least 80% of the population living below the poverty threshold amid mass shortages of basic goods in shops.

Meanwhile, scanty parallel market fuel supplies are quickly running dry and transport is grinding to a halt across Zimbabwe. Industry, a big consumer of fuel in Zimbabwe, is estimated to have shrunk by more than 60% since 2000. The state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), plagued by allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement, has had its problems compounded by foreign currency shortages and rocketing inflation, leaving it unable to meet local demand since 2000. NOCZIM only supplies fuel to government departments, ministers and those linked to the ruling party.

Essential services such as ambulances have long been paralysed because the government has said it had no funds to purchase fuel; now the operations of private clinics, which purchase fuel on the parallel market, have come under pressure. It is only a person under the influence of illusions who does not admit that in this run-off race, Mugabe is staring a heavy defeat. Zimbabwe's economy is in free-fall and to revive it is the main objective as opposed to Mugabe's patronage policies.

Impeccable sources in government said that bank accounts of teachers, nurses and other civil servants were each credited with over Z$5 billion on May 6, a week after they got their April salary.

One source, who is a government worker said, "This increment was not negotiated for. The government just deposited the money and suspicion is that it is part of attempts by the government to buy votes for Mugabe ahead of the run-off."

Three weeks before the combined presidential and parliamentary elections on March 29, the government awarded civil servants a 300% salary increment in a patronage move that analysts said was meant to buy support from civil servants. The results of that plebiscite are now water under the bridge.

These salary increments wont help catch up with the country's runaway inflation. The ZANU (PF) government now faces a tall order as its wage bill is set to clock Z$2 quadrillion by the end of May 2008. It is even clear to see that Mugabe's government and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission do not have the money and logistical capacity for another poll. Sources said US$60 million is needed to fund the run-off.

Printing of money to cover unbudgeted for government expenditure only puts the ZANU (PF) government into more domestic debt. Domestic debt maintained its upward trajectory, hitting Z$1.6 quadrillion during the first week of March as inflationary pressures continued to soar, militating against any little prospects of an economic recovery in the country. The cash strapped government borrowed a staggering Z$5.2 quadrillion in just two months (March and April). At the beginning of May, the central bank governor, Gideon Gono, revealed that the latest domestic debt figures now stood at Z$6.8 quadrillion.

The government's domestic debt stock was reported to have touched Z$1.4 quadrillion at the end of February, from Z$60 trillion during the first week of February. The debt had stood at Z$21 trillion at the start of 2008.

Of the current government debt stock, Z$13 trillion is already outstanding; a sign that the government's default risk is intensifying on the domestic market. Treasury bills (TBs), the most common debt instrument by the government, account for Z$233 trillion of the current debt stock, with an interest charge of Z$692 trillion. The government has entirely depended on domestic sources to finance its ever-increasing budget deficits, resulting in increased money printing.

The unprecedented rise in government debt levels which over the years was sparked by huge interest payments this time ballooned due to the central bank's advances to the government. RBZ advances to the government accounted for 88% of total debt or a hefty Z$18.7 trillion. Interest payments have for years remained over 70% of the total debt, a situation bank economists said was evident that the government was broke and had no other sources of income other than the domestic market.

It is under these circumstances that the March 29 elections gave the competitors the chance to espouse their plans on how to solve the economic crisis and not what they already know about the vices of colonialism. This election was really about the future and not the past. As Zimbabweans are forced into a run-off, it is important that they resist surrendering their future to a man whose views are a hindrance to economic growth, prosperity, opportunity and justice for all.

It is not unreasonable that the MDC is demanding that president-elect Morgan Tsvangirai has agreed to participate in a run-off provided the violence and killings stop; that the environment is conducive for free and fair elections; and that results are announced within 48 hours. The MDC also wants assurances that Mugabe would accept defeat if he loses. Zimbabweans are dealing with a party in panic and a biased electoral commission that refused to announce the presidential vote until after five weeks - and only after pressure from regional leaders and the international community.

The UN Secretary-General's spokesperson said the Secretary-General is closely following the evolving situation in Zimbabwe, and has remained in contact with leaders in the region.

"He [Ban Ki-Moon] reiterates his strong belief that future stages of the electoral process must be conducted in a peaceful, credible and transparent manner in the presence of international observers."

Morgan Tsvangirai is widely expected to win the run-off poll on the back of a worsening economic crisis that has fed voter anger against Mugabe and is marked by an acute shortage of electricity, fuel, water, foreign currency and basic commodities and the collapsed sewage, health and education systems.

Robert Mugabe is obviously a very bright man with seven degrees many of which he acquired when he was in prison fighting the oppressive Ian Smith regime. As bright as he may be, he is still convinced that he has something special to offer Zimbabwe, even after plunging the economy into ruin during the past 28 years. This is where many analysts find the irony. For such an intelligent man who endured the dangers of the guerrilla war, who witnessed first-hand prison torture inflicted on his people and himself in particular, how he could allow similar, if not worse, suffering to happen to his people under his regime.

It defeats every imagination and logic that ordinary Zimbabweans, for whom Mugabe was sworn in to protect as a father figure, can be treated worse than beasts simply because they exercised their constitutional right. Zimbabweans are ready to prevent Mugabe from running off the race track with the baton stick. ZANU (PF) has already lost both the parliamentary and presidential elections. After 28 gruelling years, the end is within reach.

As the Shona say, "Chisingaperi chinoshura." (That which does not come to an end is an omen of bad luck.) "Because an end will still come at the appointed time." (Daniel 11:27)