Back to Index

Civil society and the Zimbabwe crisis
Botsalo Ntuane
July 10, 2006

http://www.mmegi.bw/2006/July/Monday10/8336906111214.html

On May 6 I had the honour of being invited to officiate at the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day. The occasion brought together media practitioners and civil society activists who are committed to the existence and promotion of a free press.

The other objective of the day is to impress on the rest of society the importance of a free press. The event is also observed to lend solidarity to media practitioners who operate in difficult circumstances in repressive states. In my remarks to the gathering I spoke about the role of a free press in the fight against poverty. I mainly relied on the work of the 1998 Nobel Prize for economics laureate, Professor Amartya Sen.

In evoking Prof Sen I alluded to his thesis which argues that in open societies, famine is not possible because the state is always on the alert on account of pressure from organs of civil society which are given voice by a free press. Prof Sen provides case studies of societies that experienced ravaging famine, resulting in heavy loss of life. Without exception all the societies he cited had repressive governments, which did not permit a free press.

Examples of such states include North Korea and Ethiopia under the Mengistu regime. On the inverse this gifted thinker cited democratic societies with a free press and stated that despite suffering droughts and crop failure they had never experienced famine. Included in this league were Botswana and Zimbabwe. I pointed out to the participants at World Press Freedom Day that were Prof Sen to revisit his study he would have a different take on present day Zimbabwe. It is within this context that I urged the press to join hands with the rest of civil society to speak out against quiet diplomacy as a method of finding a resolution to the cascade of problems engulfing our neighbour.

Clearly even when I made my remarks a number of voices had previously spoken out against quiet diplomacy. In utilising the platform accorded to me to amplify calls for the end of quiet diplomacy, I was joining the ranks of many in the global community who are convinced they can longer remain silent about the realities of Zimbabwe. There is nothing normal about a society in which inflation has passed the 1000 percent mark. There is nothing normal about a society in which close to three million citizens out of a population of 13 million have left the country in less than seven years.

In fact after Palestine the Zimbabwean Diaspora is the largest in the world per head of population. It would be immoral to remain silent in the face of diminishing human rights and the closure of space for free expression and choice. As Botswana we more than anybody else are right at the coalface of the melt down in Zimbabwe. For instance, statistics released by the police indicate that many crimes are committed by desperate illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe. In turn this has precipitated a backlash from local citizens in the form of increased xenophobia and vigilante justice. On account of the fact that our government and other members of SADC and the African Union are wedded to the futile concept of quiet diplomacy, it is left to civil society to speak out and call for more vigorous forms of engagement to bring about a resolution.

It is against this backdrop that we should embrace the formation of the Botswana Civil Society Coalition for Zimbabwe (BOCISCOZ). Since its inception the organisation has embarked on a protest march and rally in support of victims of the political and socio-economic crisis in that country. Other activities have included an inter-denominational church service and a symposium attended by rights groups from the region. For too long many Batswana concerned about the Zimbabwe situation have been silent. This silence was interpreted by victims of the crisis as a sign of complicity with the policies of the Zimbabwe government.

The programme of action spearheaded by BOCISCOZ has therefore cleared the mist and demonstrated to many citizens of Zimbabwe that we don't all support quiet diplomacy and its devastating effect on their lives. The origin of the Zimbabwe crisis is contested terrain but to many it is crystal clear that the root cause is governance. That said the people of Zimbabwe want a resolution. They want a return to normalcy and wish to regain their dignity and rights. On available evidence they cannot expect solace from SADC and the African Union. For all practical purposes, the two organisations have chosen other priorities over Zimbabwe.

In their bizarre choice of priorities SADC and the African Union have vindicated the view of sceptics that they remain little more than talk shops. We must note that one fine day Zimbabwe will be back to normality. It would be a sad indictment if on that day Batswana are cited among those who remained silent during a time of darkness and deprivation. Hence we must give our support to the lawful and legitimate activities of BOCISCOZ.

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