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Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
Remember
Murambatsvina!
Sokwanele
May 18,
2007
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Today is the second anniversary
of the occasion when, the grubby little dictator, Robert Mugabe,
openly declared his contempt for the man in the street, placed there
and suffering because of his economic policies. In an ensuing "moment
of madness" Bob, spurred by his secret service, declared that
these people were filth and had to be fumigated, removed like cockroaches
from the simple homes they had lived in for years.
In the dead of winter,
just like Stalin, one his heroes, Bob set the armed forces on defenceless
families and brought in the bulldozers to throw them into the street.
Within a matter of weeks, 700 000 people were living in the open,
exposed to the harsh winter by night and loss of dignity and property
by day. It was a hopeless situation as working men and women were
tormented by the choice between going to work and leaving their
property and helpless children in the open, or not going to work
and getting fired. The expression between a rock and a hard place
has never been so real.
Two years later, neither
the rock nor the hard place has made way for comfort. Instead, the
people continue to eke out a miserable life, their eyes clearly
displaying their hopelessness while Bob gleefully speeds past in
his motorcade. An evil man indeed.
How did the world react
to this? South Africa, who blame their own frightening crime levels
on apartheid's legacy of stripping people of their dignity and on
poverty, saw no evil at all and continued its quiet diplomacy with
Brother Bob. Does this country, the so-called hope of Africa, deserve
to host the world cup?
The UN, it must be admitted,
sent in Anna to confront King Bob. She wrote a good report and was
called all sorts of names by Zanu PF, a fate which befalls everyone
who dares criticise Bob and his policies. The UN bureaucrats did
their work but Kofi Annan was focussed on something else - his impending
retirement. So more 'quiet diplomacy' ensued and won the day as
Annan's schedule did not allow him to visit this country while he
jet-setted the world making farewell speeches. It was a question
of priorities.
Zimbabweans helped where
they could but, in their majority, whispered comments in the privacy
of their offices. Nearly all expressed sympathy; however, no public
display of outrage ever occurred. Some companies bought a few tents
for some of their staff and, with conscience clear, went back to
the business of seeing to the bottom line. The opposition stayed
ominously silent, with no attempt to mobilise the people.
The rest of Africa either
supported Bob or kept their heads averted in passive solidarity.
There is a tremendous shame in Africa when to spite your face you
cut off your nose. Just for the sake of thumbing their noses at
the EU, African leaders did not condemn Bob.
Instead, two years later,
they have rewarded this evil regime by nominating and electing it
to head the UN body on Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development!?
The irony could not be more bitter for those people still living
in plastic tents with absolutely no facilities at all. Their fate
was sealed simply because a grubby little dictator was afraid the
people would rise up against him. So, he set out to destroy them
and send them back to the bleak backwaters of the rural areas.
The pain of last week's
endorsement of Zimbabwe at the UN could not be more poignant. How
dare the world vote him in to lead the way in sustainable development,
for a country no longer able to feed itself, not because of drought
or non existent sanctions, but because Bob in a great sulk after
being defeated in a referendum, set about punishing the people by
dismantling the agricultural sector. It is a deep-seated evil that
knows no bounds.
The praise singers in
his party all have relatives who were affected by this operation
and still they have no shame in actively applauding the oppression
of a humble people. It was not the first time, nor will it be the
last the Bob has insulted all who dare oppose him: in the language
typical of a cunning and manipulative thug, he called on peasants
to "strike fear in the hearts of our enemy the whites,"
he then turned on the same peasants and called them "totemless
people" and "filth" and now he is restoring their
citizenship rights because he needs them for 2008.
The man is truly evil
and yet he gets away with it every time. He has demonstrated that
no one is above a bashing from him; his own party members, business
executives, the man in the street, lawyers, judges, women marching
with children, church leaders, members of the opposition - in short
anyone who dares oppose him is the enemy.
This man stands alone,
evil and surrounded by fear and misery. Yet he continues to gloat
publicly like Bokassa, Mobutu and Amin did before him.
Africa should be hanging
its head in shame.
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