I was not surprised this morning, to read that exiled Ethiopian leader Haile Mengistu Miriam has had his life sentence for crimes against humanity and the murder of countless Ethiopians, increased to a death sentence.

Mengistu was convicted of killing thousands of people during his 17-year rule that began with the toppling of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and included war, brutal purges and famine.

In all probability he will never see the inside of a prison cell, let alone have an appointment with the executioner.

Mengistu lives in exile in Zimbabwe, given succour and protection by Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Mugabe considers Mengistu an ally following his support of Mugabe’s terror campaign in the Rhodesian bush war of the 1970s.

Mengistu initially lived in the upmarket Harare suburb of Emerald Hill, but in the last couple of years word has it that he now lives near to Kariba, preferring the bush life to the retrace in the cities.

Word also reached the watching world some three years ago that Mengistu was the mastermind behind the ‘urban slum clearance’ in Zimbabwe, now known as Operation Murambatsvina.

Three years after that operation, there are still families directly affected by that brutal event, living under plastic in places like Hatcliffe Extension on the outskirts of Harare.

Mugabe decided that the opposition party was building support in the shanty town enclaves in the cities and towns, and so he had his armed forces go in and evict the people living in ‘illegal’ structures, and then the buildings themselves were pulled down.

Some people died in the ensuing violence and some people died in the ruins of the homes.

Most of the people were forcibly removed to their rural roots, but some don’t have rural roots in Zimbabwe and they were dumped at Hatcliffe Extension Farm.

A government initiative named Operation Garikai was launched, and it was intended to provide adequate housing for the people evicted in Operation Murambatsvina.

Today, any houses built under Garikai are either uninhabited as they fail to meet any decent standard or construction and do not have running water, electricity and are not connected to the sewer system - or are occupied by Mugabe’s cronies’ family members.

A sizeable number of bags of cement, originally intended for use under the rebuilding exercise, were diverted to be used in the final building stages of Mugabe’s mansion in Borrowdale Brook in Harare.

So the original operation and its successor were excuses to break up Mugabe’s perceived opponents. It was nothing to do with housing or improving the lifestyles of the people. It was entirely a political decision and three years later, the victims of that brutal operation are facing yet another Zimbabwean winter out in the elements.

Whilst we read daily of the political violence running riot in that country and the xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa.

Mugabe makes the excuse that the violence is perpetrated by the Movement for Democratic Change, but we need to be aware that if his government (illegal though it may be) is intent on protecting a convicted mass murderer, it should then come as no surprise that his weak explanation to cover for his party thugs, falls in line with his penchant to protect the guilty.

One wonders just how much longer the plummeting economy in Zimbabwe can sustain life, and how much longer the illegal government of Robert Mugabe is able to maintain the pretence of authority.