ZIMBABWE - LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA !

7th November 2008.

Dear Friends,

Tuesday November 4th 2008 was a day to remember. Watching the millions of people waiting patiently in line to vote in the US elections was to see democracy in action. There were people of every race and colour and of all ages, standing for as long as five or six hours to cast their votes for a new president of the most powerful country in the world. Whatever one's feelings about the United States, it was hard not to be impressed by the absolute commitment of the American people to exercise their democratic right to choose a new government. A comment by one of the people standing in line said it all: "It's like you see in developing countries," she said referring to the thousands of people waiting in line. And she was right, that unknown voter. I was reminded of 2002 in Zimbabwe when people turned out in their thousands to vote and we saw long lines snaking around the polling booths only to have our hopes dashed yet again of a free and fair election as Zanu PF and Tobiawa Mudede once again stole the people's victory. As the saying goes, 'It's not who votes that counts but who counts the vote.'

Not in the States or not this time anyway. No endless delays, no mysterious pauses while the figures were massaged and manipulated; within hours of the last vote being cast in this vast country the first results were announced. People had stayed up all night and not just in the UK but all round the world, glued to their televisions waiting for early results to come in. When I went down to my local newsagent at six o'clock the next morning the results were already in and to my astonishment every single newspaper, even the tabloids, normally only concerned with images of half-naked females or sporting heroes, had Obama's victory as the front page story. It was history in the making but for some reason known only to themselves and their political masters, the Zimbabwean state-controlled media as far as I can discover chose to ignore one of the most important political developments of this new century. An African American had been voted overwhelmingly by people of every colour and none as the 44th President of the United States and Zimbabwe's ruling party has nothing to say!

Watching Obama's acceptance speech in Washington later that day was to witness a moment of history similar to Mandela's installation as President of a new South Africa, or the collapse of the Berlin Wall or Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech. One knew instinctively that something had changed forever; a wrong had been put right and the balance had been restored. Nothing can expunge the horrors of slavery but the for the first time the White House will be inhabited by a young African American family who as Obama himself pointed out have the blood of slaves and slave owners running in their veins. As he spoke the cameras panned the vast crowd and many were openly weeping. It was the sight of Jesse Jackson with tears streaming down his face that will remain forever in my mind. Such a long and bitter struggle it has been for men and women like him but they have never given up hope. "We never gave up hope," said Maya Angelou, the African American writer. "Hope is all you have in the struggle for freedom. We knew it would come but we never believed it would be in our lifetime."

No matter which side you were on you could not fail to be impressed by the dignity and grace of Obama's acceptance speech. It will go down in history not only as an example of great oratory but for the leadership and vision that it demonstrated to a fractured and divided nation torn apart by wars in Iraq and Iran and by an economic crisis that threatens the lives of thousands of ordinary Americans. Obama will I believe be a president for all Americans , "Whether you voted for me or not" as he said. It has nothing to do with skin colour; it is a question of national identity. Compare the generosity and magnanimity of Obama's speech with the hatred that pours from the lips of Mugabe and his cohorts and you see the difference between true leadership and the arrogance of power for its own sake. The argument I have read this week that the election of an African American to the White House will weaken Mugabe's hand against the US is not supported by past examples of racist rhetoric from the master of hate speech. It seems not to matter to him whether his perceived enemies are black, white or any shade in between, the truth is that if you are not with him you are against him.

As we head to yet another SADC Summit to resolve 'the Zimbabwe problem' what is desperately needed is not misguided pan-Africanist loyalty for Mugabe and his outdated policies but real leadership and vision from the assembled African leaders. The lives of millions of Zimbabweans depend on their ability to force one old man to see sense. It is beyond belief that the political survival of an 84-year old dictator who has ruled for almost thirty years carries more weight with these African leaders than the fate of 11 million African citizens. Dare we hope that this time common sense, decency and human compassion will prevail and the nightmare for Zimbabweans will end before too many more die of aids, cholera or plain starvation?

Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH