| |
Back to Index
This article participates on the following special index pages:
Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
State in Fear: Zimbabwe's tragedy is Africa's shame
Archbishop
Pius Ncube, Dr Roger Bate & Richard Tren
July 06, 2005
http://www.fightingmalaria.org/research.php?ID=38
Download
this document
- Acrobat
PDF version (940KB)
Summary
Robert Mugabe remains President of Zimbabwe only through corruption of
the democratic process and the legal system and through suppression of
opposition. Desperate to maintain power and control, he is employing tactics
used against guerrilla fighters in Rhodesia in the 70s; then he was a
victim, now he is the perpetrator. But while the guerrillas of the 1970s
were mainly men and knew the risks they were taking, today’s victims are
not just men who vote (but not fight) for the opposition but women and
children too.
The international community has done little to prevent Mugabe’s excesses
and it is time to act. The G8 leaders who want to help Africa with debt
relief and aid, must condition such taxpayer largesse for all African
nations on improving democratic performance in Zimbabwe (and other rogue
states). Recent reports that President Mbeki will finally act against
the Mugabe regime and be supportive of a return to democracy should be
seen against years of inaction and similar broken promises in the past.
Prime Minister Tony Blair should seize this opportunity to exert pressure
on President Mbeki to act in the interest of the suffering Zimbabweans
and not the political elite.
Background
When Mugabe became the first president of the newly independent Zimbabwe
in 1980, his conciliatory approach and apparent commitment to nation building
generated worldwide confidence. Numerous countries came forward with support,
hoping to ensure the country developed peacefully and prosperously. Apart
from his ordering the largely unpublicised and tragic massacre of between
20,000 and 30,000 ethnic Matabele people in the early 1980s by the notorious
North Korean-trained 5th Brigade, Zimbabwe was relatively stable. The Mugabe
government invested significant amounts of money into improving health care
delivery and educational standards, and achieved the highest literacy standard
in Africa.
In time, however,
large-scale corruption, economic mismanagement and the increasingly vocal
disgruntled war veterans began to undermine Mugabe’s popularity. An attempt
by Mugabe to change the constitution and further entrench his power was
thwarted in a popular referendum held in February 2000. Just days later,
the government-instigated farm invasions began, leading to the collapse
of the commercial farming sector. In the face of growing unpopularity,
his regime responded by clamping down on opposition politics and the free
press. Sham elections were held and property rights, together with any
credibility in the rule of law, were destroyed. Wide scale abuse of basic
human rights took place. Torture as a means of suppressing opposition
escalated dramatically. The Zimbabwean economy has been in freefall for
several years with rampant inflation and unemployment (even prior to Operation
Murambatsvina) approaching 80 percent. A combination of price controls,
politicised state distribution of maize meal and a lack of foreign currency
meant that nearly every basic necessity was in short supply. An estimated
4 million Zimbabweans have been forced to eke out a living in the informal
sector (such as street traders), supporting further millions, and it is
these people who were targeted by Operation Murambatsvina as ‘economic
saboteurs’. According to Mugabe, they, along with western imperialists,
are causing the economic crisis.
Download
full reports
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
