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The
Archbishop Denis Hurley Lecture November 2002
Given
by Archbishop Pius Ncube, Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
November 2002
Archbishop Denis
Hurley, Brothers and Sisters;
It is good to
be able to speak in Church circles, I do not have to go through
a whole list of protocol and titles, but as we are equal before
God though different in our roles, it is sufficient to address everyone
as brothers and sisters.
I come to you
today to appeal to you for prayers to ease out most serious situation
in Zimbabwe and to appeal to you to lobby by all means possible
for a peaceful solution to the Zimbabwean crisis.
We face an absolutely
desperate situation in Zimbabwe and the government is lying to the
world about it. Our government continues to engage in lies, propaganda,
the twisting of facts, half truths, downright untruth and gross
misinformation, because they are fascists.
My understanding
of Christ and of the Church makes me believe that Christ is a prophet,
a priest and a shepherd. (King). As a prophet He is a teacher
to all nations and a carrier of God’s word. He stands against sin,
falsehood and injustice; and we are tasked to do the same.
As priest
he is self-sacrificing and offering his life for others. He is prayerful,
holy and God-centred. The Church is called to the same posture.
As shepherd
he defends the poor, the marginalised and the minorities. Jesus
calls the Church to do the same, to uproot sin and oppression.
Reading Luke
4:17-19/ Matthew 6:33/ Luke 17:20-21
As
Christians and as Church we are not called to go along with society,
rather we are called to preach the values of the Kingdom of God,
namely love, holiness, humility, respect for others, and their property,
peace non-violence; to feel for others, to be gentle, compassionate,
understanding, to be sincere, to be truthful, to be human, to be
integrated, to be whole. To put people first before things, to be
God-centred, to forgive, to be self controlled, to be prayerful,
to heal, to sacrifice ourselves for others; not to take advantage
of others, to suffer for the truth; to judge ourselves before we
judge others, to be joyful to be the salt and the light of the world;
to respect the poor, to be renewed with God’s vision (to be born
from above John 3:5), to be motivated by the Holy Spirit to be free
and to free others (John 8:36) and to be full of hope.
The Political
Situation
Politically,
Zimbabwe gained Independence 22 years ago, and for the first decade
things worked well although between 1983 and 1987, Mugabe, deliberately
and with malice aforethought, killed up to twenty thousand innocent
civilians in revenge for the fact that in wars against the Shona
in the nineteenth century, before the arrival of the colonisers,
the Ndebele killed, looted and took wives from the Shona, and in
more recent times, followed a different political path to him and
his party.
There was then,
an economic boom and unemployment was down to about 15%; Mugabe
was prime minister, he attended Parliament and was sympathetic to
the poor. The government spent a great deal of money to develop
the people.
Unhappily, everything
changed politically three years ago. In 1999, Mugabe wanted to impose
a new constitution on the country. To this end he appointed the
whole of Parliament and about 400 others, to discover what the people
would want in a new constitution. The people responded well, they
wanted a maximum of two terms for the president, they wanted to
limit the presidential powers and they wanted a senate, or upper
house.
When the draft
constitution was drawn up by the Mugabe supporters, these demands
were ignored and the new proposals gave even greater powers to the
president. A referendum was held in February 2000 and the proposals
were rejected. This was the first time the electorate had voted
against Mugabe and his party. In the referendum it was clear that
the white voters also rejected the new proposals. The result enraged
Mugabe and almost immediately the violence began.
Some nine months
earlier, a new political party had been formed, the Movement for
Democratic Change, (MDC) and Mugabe saw in the referendum results
an alliance between the whites and the MDC. He also foresaw that
he was in danger of losing power to this new party in the elections
which were due in 2000. He reacted wildly to the defeat, called
together his central committee and the politburo and plans were
made for the invasion of commercial farms by the so-called war veterans,
of whom perhaps only one third were genuine veterans of the liberation
war, some were too young even to have been alive during that war.
To briefly explain
the land situation in Zimbabwe, I must say that the white commercial
farmers had owned much of the productive land in the country and
by 2000 there were approximately 4500 farmers on that land. Land
reform was clearly needed but government efforts to redistribute
land failed in the early eighties and the land question was put
onto the government backburner. The government now brought it back
into focus as it was the only card it had left to play.
The first invasions
took over about 1500 farms reducing production there to almost nothing.
As time has passed all except about 600 farms have been occupied.
The constitution was amended by Presidential decree and various
laws changed to allow this all to happen, but the invasions were
to serve as the jumping off point for grave violence to be perpetrated
in the rural areas by these war veterans and other party members
in the run-up to the elections in 2000 and the Presidential elections
in 2002. Before the elections sixty people were murdered, some in
the most gruesome fashion, many people were abducted and tortured,
some simply disappeared. At the election ZANU(PF) gained 62 seats,
the MDC 57 and another party one. The election were declared not
free and fair by the independent monitors for a variety of reasons
and the MDC brought court challenges in thirty-seven constituencies,
to no avail. In any case Mugabe has the gift of 30 seats in Parliament,
being 10 traditional chiefs, 8 Provincial Governors and 12 non-constituency
Mps all of whom are Mugabe supporters.
This result
gave ZANU(PF) a majority in Parliament but not the two-thirds required
to change the constitution so whenever a bye-election is called
after the death of an MP, the polls are rigged to ensure a Mugabe
victory. Mugabe is using the food crisis in Zimbabwe to force people
to vote for his party, indeed every means to ensure victory are
used, from bussing people in from other constituencies to using
seriously bad arithmetic in the counting of votes.
Before the Presidential
elections, the Gallop poll indicated that the incumbent would gain
no more than 45% of the vote and that the opposition candidate would
receive 55%. In the event those figures were reversed, but all observers
testified to the irregularities; the violence, the control of the
media, the intimidation, the stuffing of ballot boxes and the falsification
of figures.
But Mugabe knew
that the people had voted against him in substantial numbers and
after the election he began to take his revenge, to punish the people.
Any civil servant perceived to be sympathetic to the MDC, teachers,
nurses, even policemen lost their positions. Ordinary citizens were
hounded by state security agents, houses of the opposition in towns
and villages were burned. As food became more and more scarce, only
those who had ZANU(PF) cards could obtain food, men, women and children
were, and still are, being deliberately starved. MDC members are
refused attention at clinics and other health facilities and even
shops are refusing to serve members of the opposition.
ZANU(PF) is
using every tactic it can to cling onto power, despite the fact
that they have been in power for twenty-two years and some of them
are past their prime.
Currently, lawlessness
by party members is endorsed, bribes are given to ensure silence
over political and other crimes. People who murdered for the party
are not prosecuted and the huge corruption which has characterised
ZANU(PF) goes unpunished. Just to mention two parastatal companies,
the Grain Marketing Board and the National Oil Company, the former
lost some three hundred million and the latter nine billion, to
corruption and although one Minister had to resign and another was
charged with corruption, no action has been taken against anyone
for this great loss to the country. One of the Minister is now the
proud possessor of a huge fleet of busses and rural businesses.
The judiciary,
which was independent and courageous has been tailored to government
needs and a man of questionable credentials has been appointed Chief
Justice. Most High Court and Supreme Court cases are now decided
in favour of the government so the constituency challenges and the
challenges made by farmers over the land grab are now lost causes
The commercial
farms which have been taken over have in many cases been given to
senior party officials, their friends and families and we hear now
that Gaddafi is demanding land in payment for the fuel he has supplied.
The subsistence
farmers who have been settled on other farms have not been given
title to the land, or any assistance to begin farming so that production
from the land in this cropping season will be almost nothing, meaning
that next year will possibly be worse than this year.
Top officials
in the police, the army, state security, the air force and prison
staff are highly paid so that they remain loyal to the government
and they are used by government to intimidate, torture and generally
punish the people. Some two months before the presidential election
the leaders of the armed forces stated categorically on television
that they would not accept anyone who did not uphold the "culture
of the Revolution" as president and that they would only give allegiance
to Mugabe.
Subsequently
new laws have been passed to intimidate and control civil society;
the Public order and Security Act is even more draconian that its
predecessor which was brought in by a colonial government and makes
it almost impossible to hold any kind of political meeting or demonstration
of any kind that does not favour government.
The Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act controls every aspect
of the media and reporting in the country. It also controls the
reporters coming in to the country and demands huge sums for accreditation.
The Private Voluntary Organisations Act is to be amended to ensure
that no organisation, even within the Church, can operate without
registration.
All this is
being done to destroy the opposition and to cling onto power, the
arrests, the arson, torture and selective distribution of food all
serve to keep the population under control. As recently as a month
ago the government used all these methods to ensure victory in the
council elections. In many cases, opposition candidates were not
even allowed to register as candidates. The people in opposition
areas were denied food and were seriously intimidated. In the event
of a bye election, the war veterans and the party youth militia
hold all night meetings and force the people to attend. Then the
elections results are falsified to ensure victory for the party.
At the recent Insiza bye election the result were almost exactly
the reverse of the results in the 2000 election, 12000 for ZANU(PF)
and 5000 for the MDC in an area which is clearly MDC.
The Economy
Because
of the severely reduced production in Zimbabwe and because of the
general situation, very little foreign currency is coming into the
country, inflation is running wild, food prices have increased in
some cases by 400% and there is a mass exodus of people including
professionals, doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers and other graduates
who come to South Africa or go overseas to try to earn some real
money to send home to their families. A year ago the US dollar would
buy Z$300, it will now buy Z$1500. Unemployment is around 85% and
the poverty datum line has risen sharply. Last year 400 industries
or companies closed and, apart from the 400,000 farm workers who
have lost their jobs, last year 300,000 urban workers lost their
jobs, that is a huge percentage of the working population.
Agricultural
exports which brought in 40% of the foreign currency have dwindled
to almost nothing since the end of the tobacco sales. Tourism, also
a major contributor of foreign currency is now almost negligible.
The closure of mines, the lack of investment, the removal of loans
from the World Bank and the IMF all add to the acute poverty in
the country.
The people are
demoralised, petty crime and prostitution are now the means of making
a living; there is a proliferation of street children, destitutes,
homeless and squatters, starvation is rife and I expect that because
there are no seeds and farming inputs for this season, thousands
will die next year. I believe that about 160 people in Matabeleland
have already died from starvation.
This is the
worst starvation since colonisation in 1890 because even those with
money cannot find the food to buy. Shortages of cooking oil, sugar,
milk and in particular, bread and mealie meal are causing great
hardship for most Zimbabweans.
The Social
Situation
Zimbabwe
is the second most affected country in sub-Saharan Africa with AIDS.
Some 1,5 million Zimbabweans are infected and this has resulted
in almost a million orphaned children in a population of some 13,000,000.
Approximately 3000 people are dying each week and starvation has
increased the death rate substantially as without nourishment it
is almost impossible to ward off the effects of the virus. An AIDS
levy was imposed by government two years ago but the money disappears
into the pockets of corruption. Hospitals have no drugs, little
working equipment, few doctors or qualified nurses; sick people
are told to buy their drugs at the pharmacy but most cannot afford
it.
Some families
spend three or four days without real food, some eat roots and seeds
from the bush. Family conflicts and divorce have increased because
of the stress in urban families. Many children cannot afford to
go to school and end up on the streets. People are insecure and
fearful but prefer to remain silent that to criticise or complain
about government. The government is promoting racism against whites
and sometimes against Asians, and tribalism against the Ndebele
people. Top job opportunities are given mainly to Shona people even
in Matabeleland so that the people there are punished and brought
into subjugation.
Municipal services
such as sewerage and water supply breakdown and cannot be repaired
due to lack of foreign currency to buy spare parts for the equipment.
The gap between
rich and poor is widening and the rich are very materialistic and
opportunistic. Ministers and other Mugabe cronies are expert liars,
they continue to blame this starvation on the drought when in reality,
and everyone knows this, the food shortages are a result of the
farm invasions and poor governance.
While there
is money for arms, aircraft, ministerial Mercedes abound while the
people starve. The government did not plan to import food despite
the fact that the minister of lands and agriculture was warned last
year that there would be severe shortages this year.
The land taken
over by government in this redistribution process has remained largely
unproductive for two years and where small scale farmers have been
resettled no facilities were given them to allow them to start farming.
The whole exercise has been corrupt and without any transparency.
Young school
leavers who wish to take up nursing or teaching or any government
position, they are forced to go to the youth camps for militia training.
These camps have become places of rape and promiscuity and when
girls fall pregnant they often are forced to abort the child.
My Appeal
What
I have said here tonight is but the tip of the iceberg; more and
worse things are happening but go unreported and undiscovered. We
therefore appeal to you for prayers to change the situation. We
ask you to lobby wherever possible to apply pressure on Mugabe and
his followers to change. Through his manipulation, the churches
are divided. The Latin principle "divide et impera" divide and conquer
apply here as well as the bribery of gifts to the deserving to buy
their loyalty.
With hope in
God and trust in the good people of the world we know we will win.
Thank you
For more information,
contact:
Fr. Cas.
Paulsen, cmm
Monastery Retreat House
P.O. Box 11007
3601 Mariannhill, KZN
South Africa
Ph.and Fax:
27-31-700-2890
Cell: 083-635-0151
Email: frcascmm@wn.apc.org
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