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ZSF
calls upon stakeholders to organize, acknowledge need for new strategies
Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum
July 10,
2008
The shifts in
power and the exposure of the militarized nature of the Zimbabwean
State leave no question that Zimbabwean politics have fundamentally
changed. The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum calls on all stakeholders
to acknowledge the need for new strategies and new forms of organizing
ourselves.
Thousands have
been chased and forced to run from their places of safety. Eyewitnesses
flee to avoid the action of those who wish to silence evidence of
the daylight abductions now taking place in Zimbabwe. Families,
grandparents, and entire villages are being punished for being linked
to anybody known to oppose ZANU rule.
Tapera Kapuya,
South African spokesperson for the National
Constitutional Assembly, who arrived Thursday from Zimbabwe,
said that "The military and those on its payroll have taken
over. There is a sinister degree of collaboration between the intelligence
services and the military and paramilitary forces spread out across
the country. Violence, targeted against activists and their families,
is on the rise and becoming increasingly blatant. Zimbabwe may be
paddling on the edge of a tragic blood bath."
Rural bases
of soldiers, living off rural communities and humanitarian aid,
and militia controlled road blocks demanding tolls and political
compliance, speak to the final implementation of Zimbabwe's
total militarisation.
A military
junta rules Zimbabwe
The
problem is not Mugabe. The enemy is not Mbeki. Even as the world
renounces the violence in Zimbabwe and declares Mugabe an illegitimate
president notice how he stands his ground. His advisors are amongst
the Masters of doublespeak and illusion. In forcing others to denounce
him they detract from the fact that his denouncement is no longer
the point. Mugabe is no longer in charge. He has allowed power to
change hands. But into those of the Generals, Shiri, Chiwenga, Chihuri
and Zimondi.
We should
be engaging the military not the puppet
The
objectives of progressive forces are clear:
- A multi-stakeholder
transitional authority
- An end to
violence
- The end of
military rule!
- Free and
fair elections under a civilian authority
- A people's
government that leads a social transformation process Unless we
acknowledge the outcome of the March 29th election and the seizure
of power by the military, dialogue is unlikely to lead to a useful
solution.
The challenge
facing the world is to convince a comfortable group of generals,
with a personal interest in not accounting for their involvement
in the massacres of the 80's or the devastating effect of
the Murambatsvina
displacements, to talk themselves out of power. Invasion is demonstrably
not an option. And this is more than a Zimbabwean challenge.
The importance
of locally driven multi-lateral and dialogue driven approaches places
the African Union at centre stage. The AU has a number of policy
options to assist in driving a broadened mediation process that
can facilitate with the full confidence of all stakeholders. These
include diplomatic censure, the suspension or expulsion of Zimbabwe
from the AU and SADC, the imposition of an arms embargo and other
forms of economic sanction, the denial of Air Zimbabwe's right
to fly over air space of neighbouring countries, and moves towards
the deployment of African peacekeepers to halt the current wave
of violence and respect the responsibility to protect victims of
violence, and those made vulnerable by the social crisis, the food
shortages, the absence of essential services and the curtailment
of the activities of humanitarian agencies.
Civil Society
too has a number of options. The message from Zimbabwe is clear.
Non-violent powerful efforts to expose the regime and then force
change are already well underway. We need to build on these. We
need strong structures that can involve people in decision making
and engage government, whoever they are. New forms of organisation
are required that are led by the voices of resistance from Zimbabwe,
and that amplify these voices globally.
On this occasion,
to mark the ongoing suffering of the Zimbabwean people, and to condemn,
and commit to ending, the military seizure of power in Zimbabwe,
the ZSF calls on African leaders, the international community and
progressive forces across the world to: Support a UN Resolution
that applies universal pressure on the military regime to shift
power in the direction of dialogue, expose the violence, condemn
it, work actively to defend and protect the vulnerable, deepen,
expand and extend the dialogue process to include leaders from additional
African nations, establish a Transitional Authority of civil society,
technical advisors and party representatives that creates the conditions
for the election of a legitimate government.
*The Zimbabwe
Solidarity Forum is a network movement of progressive South African
civil society organizations, including youth, women, labor, faith-based,
human rights and student formations that are engaged in the promotion
of solidarity for sustainable peace, democracy and human rights
in Zimbabwe.
A Luta Continua!
Forward to freedom and democracy!
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