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Make
poverty history - or make dictators history?
Sokwanele
July 08, 2005
http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/sokwanele/makepovertyhistory_7july2005.html
  Leaders
of the world's richest 8 countries have gathered at Gleneagles in
Scotland to discuss two matters of global significance - how to
protect planet earth from irreversible environmental damage, and
how to rescue the African continent from debilitating and dehumanizing
poverty. While acknowledging that the two issues are inter-related,
and in no way wishing to detract from the importance of the first,
our main concern here is with the second issue.
The poverty
issue has been highlighted in recent weeks by an international campaign
under the banner "Make Poverty History", which culminated in the
Live 8 concert and mass marches of last weekend. In Scotland alone
a crowd of some 225,000 people marched behind banners calling for
debt relief, more aid and improved trading terms for Africa. The
Live 8 concert brought together an impressive international ensemble
of singers and bands, and it is estimated that 5 billion people
around the world watched the spectacle on television. Enough to
make the point to the world leaders gathered at their plush resort
in Scotland that there is enormous interest in the topics under
discussion, and great expectations that significant moves will be
made to rescue Africa from the debt trap.
A great deal
of international lobbying has already been done in preparation for
the summit on the issue of debt relief, and a clear consensus seems
to be emerging among the most technologically advanced and wealthy
nations that Africa deserves a break. At a popular level in the
West there is massive support for debt cancellation, and some governments
have already pledged to write off all, or a significant part of,
historic debts and to increase the level of aid to the continent.
There has been noticeably less offered in the way of what in the
longer term is of greater importance to the economies of Africa,
namely improved trading terms. Nonetheless there remains a considerable
amount of goodwill and a clear determination to help lift Africa
out of poverty. The discussion is already down to specifics in many
cases and the economies of the most indebted countries have been
closely examined to determine where and how debt relief should be
applied.
The one country
in Africa which has been conspicuously omitted from the discussion
is of course Zimbabwe. The reasons for this are obvious. The Zimbabwean
economy is in terminal decline. All the economic indices are negative.
Plummeting industrial and agricultural output, soaring inflation,
unemployment and national debt - all combine to give Zimbabwe the
unenviable reputation of having the fastest shrinking economy in
the world. Surely a prime candidate for international aid - except,
as we all know, this is a man-made crisis.
The massive
stress to which the Zimbabwean economy has been subjected is the
result of bad governance, which in turn is the result of the democracy
deficit and lack of accountability of the government to its people.
Were the government accountable to the people it would not get away,
at such a time of famine and unprecedented hardship, with the profligate
expenditure of (conservatively) US$ 400 million on military hardware.
Nor would it dare undertake, as it has, an insane attack upon the
informal sector that supports over 3 million families and makes
a substantial contribution to the national economy. These crazy
decisions of the executive - which in Zimbabwe's case means one
man, Robert Mugabe - were only possible within a political environment
in which that one man knew he would not have to answer for them,
at least not immediately. If there was ever any doubt about the
direct causal link between the lack of democracy and bad governance,
and between bad governance and national poverty, a case study of
Zimbabwe under Mugabe's misrule should settle that doubt once for
all.
Which means
that the G8 and other industrialised, first world countries are
absolutely right in not even considering Zimbabwe for debt relief
at this stage. Since the causes of Zimbabwe's economic decline are
entirely political it follows that a solution to the political crisis
must be sought before any economic assistance is offered. Specifically
because the prime cause of the misery of Zimbabwe's millions is
the lack of democracy in the country, the international community
should seek first to remedy this deficit. Here we applaud the comments
made by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on the eve of the
summit, to the effect that aid to Africa is useless if African leaders
are corrupt. "We should not be afraid to stop aid to dictators,
like Zimbabwe's Mugabe", he added.
It is extremely
unfortunate for those suffering under the dictator that the debt
relief and increased aid to be offered to other African countries
as a result of the G8 meeting should not be made available to Zimbabwe
at this stage, but the victims of Mugabe's misrule would surely
be the first to say that this is the right decision. Any debt relief
offered to Zimbabwe under its present rulers would simply entrench
them in power. A few more ground attack aircraft from China or armoured
personnel carriers to send into the high-density suburbs perhaps,
or another fleet of Mercedes to hand around to the dictator's cronies
…
Let Zimbabweans
know they are being excluded from this round of debt relief and
donor aid precisely because they are still under the yoke of this
loathsome dictator. And let them know also that when they have found
the courage to rise up and assert their stolen rights of freedom
and democracy, they will certainly be in line to receive very substantial
aid and support from the West. The United States for one has already
signalled as much. This is not to call Zimbabweans to arms but a
simple recognition of the unfortunate but inescapable reality that
until the country is set fair on a course to democracy even the
most sympathetic nations will remain severely constrained in what
they can do to alleviate the suffering.
On the other
hand if Zimbabwe is not to receive any immediate economic aid does
this mean the subject should be removed from the G8 agenda? On the
contrary we ask what other help its suffering citizens are entitled
to expect from this summit? We suggest five urgent priorities:
- First and
foremost emergency relief for the victims of Mugabe's recent (and
ongoing) "Operation Murambatsvina". News of this pogrom against
the poor is already circulating widely and has drawn international
condemnation. Indeed at this moment the UN Secretary-General's
personal envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, is continuing her investigation
into this massive humanitarian disaster that has rendered more
than a million Zimbabweans homeless and destroyed the livelihoods
of an even greater number. Sokwanele has posted a number of reports
and photographs of this brutal assault upon the poor and we, and
others, have highlighted the wretched plight of the victims.
They are in urgent need of emergency relief aid in the form of
food, blankets, shelter, fresh water, toilet facilities and medical
care, which clearly the bankrupt Mugabe regime has neither the
means nor the will to supply. Accordingly it would be a wonderful
gesture if the G8 and other world leaders would acknowledge the
crisis and begin to mobilize resources for relief. We must emphasise
that what we have in mind here is not aid and debt cancellation,
but simply emergency relief supplies to assist, in the short term,
the huge number of victims.
Furthermore as the Mugabe regime is the perpetrator of these atrocities
it is hardly to be trusted to administer relief supplies to the
victims, so the relief effort would have to be supervised by an
international body of standing such as the United Nations. Let
the UN exercise its authority here to insist on direct access
to those in desperate need and the right to supervise the whole
operation.
 Second,
we see the need for a far greater degree of honesty from the international
community in acknowledging the root causes of the present suffering.
Especially does this apply to African leaders who, to date, have
gone to great pains to avoid condemning Mugabe and his totalitarian
regime. In fact their refusal to confront the core issue here
calls into question their seriousness in committing to the values
of freedom, democracy and good governance - and hence their own
eligibility to participate in any new anti-poverty partnership
with the West.
Bob Geldof who organised the Live 8 aid concert for Africa, put
it this way:
"What about the absolute, absolute thuggery, brutality and mayhem
of that mad creep Mugabe? Why does Africa refuse to acknowledge
what is happening in that country? This man is mad. He's destroying
his country; he's killing his people."
Admittedly we wouldn't expect African leaders to use quite such
undiplomatic language (!) but this is the reality after all, and
the sooner Thabo Mbeki and other regional leaders admit it publicly
the better. Acknowledging the problem is surely the first step
towards finding a solution.
- The next
priority must be to intensify international efforts to isolate
the Mugabe regime diplomatically. The targeted sanctions applied
against the ZANU-PF leadership by the European Union, the USA,
Switzerland and a handful of Commonwealth countries, are hurting
and should be intensified and extended to cover all those who
are collaborating with the Mugabe regime in any significant way,
and so prolonging the suffering of the Zimbabwean people.
- Closely related
to the above, we note and endorse the call of human rights activist
and writer Judith Todd for total sanctions to be applied. On June
30 Ms Todd (herself a victim of an earlier form of tyranny in
this country under Ian Smith) called for "very serious action
against the genocidal regime". She referred to the possibility
of stopping all arms sales, all sales of spare parts, bank loans
and "everything that can extend the life of the regime." As the
evil monster of apartheid was undermined by the application of
an increasing range of international sanctions, so might the end
of the Mugabe regime be hastened. Every day by which that objective
is brought forward means one less day of acute suffering for millions
of Zimbabweans.
- Finally the
international community must give urgent consideration to supporting
and assisting in every way possible those progressive forces within
Zimbabwe which are working for peaceful, non-violent change. One
of the tragic consequences of prolonged misrule and the melt-down
of the economy is that millions of Zimbabweans have taken refuge
beyond the borders of the country of their birth. Refugees and
asylum seekers have their own desperate needs which must still
be addressed urgently, but we are referring here to the needs
of those activists who have demonstrated exemplary courage in
leading the struggle for freedom and democracy from within Zimbabwe.
Sadly they are often lacking the resources and support which they
require and deserve, and we would call the attention of all democratic,
freedom-loving peoples to this deficit.
The international
campaign to end poverty in Africa has been dubbed "Make Poverty
History". We applaud this campaign and salute all who have worked
so hard to turn such a slogan into reality. And from our unique
Zimbabwean perspective we would raise another banner to place alongside
the first, reading "Make Dictators History".
Any help the
world can offer in making our dictator history would indeed be most
welcome!
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