ZIMBABWE- LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA !

28th August 2009.

Dear Friends,

The BBC World Service last night showed an interview with Moeletsi Mbeki, the brother of the former president of South Africa, and an independent-minded man who has shown in his speeches and writings that he is not bound by rigid partisan political thinking. He was asked in the interview whether he thought anything would come out of President Zuma's visit to Zimbabwe. In sharp contrast to the naive optimism being expressed by some commentators inside Zimbabwe, Moeletsi Mbeki replied, with reasoned argument, that he thought very little would come out of Zuma's visit to resolve the stalemate in the Zimbabwean political situation. As evidence of this he cited Zuma's own political credentials. As a Liberation fighter, as was Mugabe, Zuma has not demonstrated that he differs in any way from the 'Liberationist' stance taken by SADC and the AU , both of which organizations have failed to raise their voices to condemn Zimbabwe's blatantly rigged elections and human rights abuses. As Mbeki pointed out, South African observers were there in Zimbabwe and saw for themselves the rigging and intimidation but still declared the elections 'free and fair'. In addition, the ANC itself has also not spoken out clearly to condemn the continuing violations of the GPA by Zanu PF. In effect, Mbeki argued that President Zuma's visit to Zimbabwe was unlikely to bring about any real change in Robert Mugabe's behaviour. Like his predecessor, Zuma is bound by the 'Old Boy' network that continues to protect Africa's dictators. Only two African leaders, Moeletsi Mbeki pointed out, have actively condemned Mugabe's blatant rigging of elections. Mbeki might also have pointed out that Zuma has only a short period left before he hands over the Chair of SADC to Angola, another ally of Robert Mugabe.

It was interesting in the light of Meoletsi Mbeki's comments to read what President Zuma said at the banquet held for him by President Mugabe at State House last night. Zuma spoke of 'positive developments' foretelling 'good things' for Zimbabwe, a suitably vague comment which could be taken to mean just what his listeners wanted to hear! "We are all encouraged" Zuma went on, "by how the three parties put their differences aside in the service of the country…The remaining issues are not insurmountable and can be overcome." Perhaps it was too much to expect that Zuma would spell out the specifics at such a 'ceremonial' occasion but the fact that he had already had a private meeting with Robert Mugabe before the banquet rather suggests that Mugabe still has the dominant voice.

As for 'putting their differences aside' as President Zuma put it, we had two different speakers from the Zanu PF side this week who both articulated the real state of affairs, six months after the GPA was signed. Patrick Chinamasa the Zanu PF Minister of Justice who had earlier led the walkout of Zanu PF ministers at the retreat held for members of the Unity government said prior to Zuma's visit, "Our position is very clear. We hope our principal, President Robert Mugabe tells President Zuma that the outstanding issues are sanctions and external interference." Chinamasa went on to dismiss the issues of the Governorship of the Reserve Bank and the office of Attorney General saying, " they are nowhere in the GPA… There is continued interference in our private affairs."

It was Didymus Mutasa, the one remaining old war-horse and close ally of Robert Mugabe, speaking to Zanu PF parliamentarians the day before President Zuma arrived in the country, who spelt out in no uncertain terms the 'hardliners'stance. Mutasa's words hardly suggest that differences have been set aside 'for the good of the country'. "Cde Mugabe is the head of government," he said, "He is the one who chairs our cabinet. He is the one who tells us all, including the Prime Minister, what should be done." With breath-taking disregard for accuracy, Mutasa went on to claim that "the MDC was responsible for the poverty and starvation currently taking place in Zimbabwe" all of this he alleged was a result of sanctions which the MDC has invited. He reminded the Zanu PF parliamentarians that they should never forget that "the MDC want nothing less than regime change." That last statement is perhaps the most accurate in Didymus Mutasa's wild ramblings. To get rid of Mugabe was after all why the people voted for the MDC in the last election and why they are increasingly disillusioned with this Government of National Unity's failure on so many fronts: to restore the rule of law, to take forward the constitutional process and to bring about media reform. One report in the Zimbabwe Independent concerning this last point clearly shows how fed up ordinary people are with the continued use by Zanu PF of the media to further their own propaganda and continue the deification of Robert Mugabe. Some 200 ordinary citizens attended a Public Meeting called by the Media Committee of parliament to sound out public opinion on the conduct of the state-controlled media in Zimbabwe. It was a school girl in a bright red jersey who had the crowd on their feet, applauding and cheering when she said, "If I go to America to study medicine I will never come back. The media made me hate my country." That young school girl spoke for so many of us inside the country and outside in the diaspora. Is it likely that President Zuma and other African leaders will read her words and think again about their support for the 'Liberation Hero' who has led his country to the brink of annihilation?

Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.

ZIMBABWE - LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA !

Friday 15th May 2009

Dear Friends,

The inauguration of South Africa's new president, Jacob Zuma, was an opportunity to marvel once again at what must surely be one of the political miracles of the twentieth century: the end of apartheid. Speaking in 1993 when Mandela and De Klerk were presented jointly with the Nobel Peace Prize, Archbishop Desmond Tutu remarked that South Africa was a microcosm of the world with its mixture of black and white, rich and poor, developed and undeveloped. "Once we have got it right," the Archbishop said, "South Africa will be the paradigm for the rest of the world." (as quoted in Tomorrow Is Another Country: The inside story of South Africa's negotiated revolution by Allister Sparks)

The 'negotiated revolution' of Sparks' sub-title was movingly dramatised on Channel Four recently. 'Endgame' portrayed the tensions and very real fears on both sides at this early meeting of members of the ANC in exile and prominent members of the Afrikaans community. There, on one side of the table were the so-called 'terrorists', Thabo Mbeki, leading the ANC delegation and later Jacob Zuma himself joined the ANC side. Opposite them sat the Afrikaans hardliners: academics, bankers and financiers, all of them passionate believers in the doctrine of 'Separate Development'. What had brought the Afrikaaners to the negotiating table was not a conversion to democracy but the painful realisation that in strictly economic and business terms, apartheid just would not work. It was harsh economic reality that finally brought an end to a system of racial segregation that had shocked the world.It was impossible to watch 'Endgame' and not make the connections with the present arrangement in Zimbabwe. The ANC's first priority was the release of all political prisoners. That struck a deep chord when I thought about how little the MDC had publicly addressed the problem of political detainees. Everything we have heard since the formation of the GNU has been about money and 'changing Zimbabwe's image'. There has been very little said about human rights and justice. It was the total collapse of the Zimbabwean economy that brought about this marriage of convenience. Speaking in Senegal, Zimbabwe's Minister of Finance said, "Zimbabweans don't have any other option but this experimental government. Otherwise we'll sink into the realms of failure like Somalia, Sierra Leone and Liberia." And certainly, the figures are shocking: Tax revenue 20 million, Public Servants' Wages 30 million. For the period 2000-2007, when the farm invasions were at their height, the economy contracted by 40%.

Alongside the economic collapse, the continuing abuse of human rights and harassment of political opponents goes on unabated and almost unmentioned. This last week alone we have seen the arrest of independent newspaper editors; foreign journalists arrested for being on an invaded farm and 150 white farmers facing prosecution for being illegally present on their own farms. The activists charged with various 'crimes' against the state are now be out on bail but the schedule of their upcoming trials runs solidly right through from May to July 20th when Jestina Mukoko and five others will stand trial for recruiting personnel for military training in Botswana. MDC MP's are imprisoned and as for Roy Bennet, the designate Deputy Minister of Agriculture, his trial for possessing weapons of war is due to recommence on July 1st. Mugabe has never made any secret of the fact that he regards white farmers as enemies because, he says, they oppose his so-called Land Reform that led directly to the country's economic collapse. It's ironic that the MDC should be working so hard to reverse the economic ruin caused by the man who once claimed that 'No one could have run the economy better.'

Mugabe is 'Part of the solution, whether you like it or not', Morgan Tsvangirai told an audience of Zimbabwean exiles when he was in South Africa for the inauguration of President Zuma. Back home, he went further and spoke of 'hardliners' intent on wrecking the GNU. Is it not time to name and shame these hardliners who continue to violate the rule of law? With respect, I ask what makes the Prime Minister so sure that Mugabe himself in not one of those very hardliners -or has Morgan Tsangirai been mesmerised by the famous Mugabe charm?

Only this week Mugabe demonstrated yet again where his true political sympathies lie when he received the North Korean Kim Vong Nam on an official visit. With breath-taking insensitivity to the pain and offence it would cause the families of the victims of the Gukurahundi massacre, Mugabe thanked the North Korean de facto leader for all the help his country had given Zimbabwe in the past – including, no doubt, the training of the 5th Brigade that carried out the virtual genocide against the Ndebele people. Rumour has it that the North Koreans are after the uranium in the Zambezi valley. If Zimbabwe is indeed about to sell uranium mining rights to North Korea, then it's easy to see how such an act would further alienate western donors. North Korea's recent launch of a nuclear missile in defiance of a Security Council ban has been widely condemned, yet Mugabe is said to have congratulated Kim Vong Nam on the launch. Was Mugabe speaking with the agreement of his 'partners' in the GNU, I wonder?

Watching the SATV coverage of President Zuma's inauguration and seeing the warm embrace given to the dictator, Robert Mugabe, by the democratically elected Jacob Zuma, we were reminded again how hard it is to get rid of dictators. Eradicating the system of apartheid only happened after years of negotiations, when all the parties agreed on the necessity for change. 'It's a process' says Nelson Chamisa of the GNU 'and not without pain' but no amount of 'spin' by MDC officials can persuade an increasingly sceptical Zimbabwean public that the GNU is bringing about real change.FW.DE Klerk, the reluctant reformer who finally dismantled the apartheid state, took over from a certain PW Botha as Prime minister of South Africa. Botha was known as the 'Old Crocodile'. Zimbabwe too has its Old Crocodile. The question is, has he already swallowed up the MDC? Perhaps the arrest yesterday of the respected human rights lawyer, Alex Muchadehama, by Mugabe's own secret police, will provoke the MDC into some kind of strong public reaction – just to prove to the people that the 'New Beginning' they were promised is more than just a fast-fading illusion.

Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.