President Robert Mugabe, The Lone Voice Crying In The Bush

I have been weeping since 2000 whenever Zimbabwe is mentioned in the news. Yesteryear President Kwame Nkrumah was not good, today President Qadathfi is not better and President Robert Mugabe is even worse.

Why! Why again! My question is, how long shall they kill our prophets whiles we stand aside and look!
The economic crisis in Zimbabwe today is caused by the illegal economic sanctions imposed on her by the United States and the United Kingdom.

But what the African Union fail to understand is that when two powerful Western nations oppress a weak African nation for over a century and try to frustrate her endeavours for self-determination it becomes an all African problem for which a continent wide action should be taken without any delay.

Take what happened between Britain and Iran early this year as a study case. When three British marines arrogantly trespassed into Iranian waters and were arrested by the authorities there, it took the European Union just two days to organise an emergency session.

Over 17 options were considered by the European Union to secure the release of the three British marines. Possible military action against Iran was one of the options.

But is depressing to witness what Zimbabwe is going through, yet not even a single nation from the 53 member nations of the African Union has raised a finger to help.

How can we sit back and watch the United Kingdom and United States suffocate Zimbabwe to death? Equally important is, after Zimbabwe which country is next?

I would not be surprised if it is Namibia, South Africa or Mozambique since all those countries still have over 80 per cent of their lands in the hands of the white minority.

The silent majority of Africans are deeply rooted in the believe that the allegation of “human right abuses” levelled against Zimbabwe does not square with the amount of pressure that the ZANU-PF government has been put under.

Why because there are many countries right here in Africa and elsewhere in the world with worst human rights records than Zimbabwe.

Consider Human Rights Watch's World Report, 2007. It states among other things that: “ruthlessly repressive governments impose enormous cruelty on their people in North Korea, Burma and Turkmenistan. Closed dictatorships persist in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and Syria. China is slipping backwards.

Russia and Egypt are cracking down on NGOs and Peru and Venezuela are considering similar steps. Iran and Ethiopia are silencing dissident voices.

Uzbekistan is crushing dissent with new vigour while refusing to allow independent investigation of its May 2005 massacre in its eastern city of Andijan.

In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe would rather drive his country to ruin than tolerate a political opposition”.... Now the question is, why is the West not putting the same pressure on all the countries mentioned above? If you put all these together it paints a very clear picture.

The picture is, the West is hell bent on removing President Robert Mugabe from power because he has refused to maintain the Zimbabwean economy in the hands of the white minority.

But president Robert Mugabe has summarise it all when he said at the beginning of the crises that “if there may be trouble with the Zimbabwean land redistribution policy let it be my day so that future generation of Zimbabweans may live in peace”.

The fact is also that no matter what we think of President Robert Mugabe or what happens to him and the ZANU PF in the end, events in Zimbabwe today will definitely set the tone for Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique when it comes to land reforms and redistribution of resources from the white minority to the black majority.

Did I hear President Bush or Prime Minister Gordon Brown say that the last election that brought President Mugabe to power was rigged by the ZANU PF government?

It is on this point I always describe the American president and the UK prime minister as the two walking contradictions of our time. 

This is because the pair is always being consistently inconsistent with the way they see issues bordering on democracy in Africa.

If the rigging of election is enough reason for the West to ask for a regime change in Zimbabwe then they should equally be asking for regime change in Nigeria.

The election that brought President Umar Yar' Adua to power in April was a disgrace to all the leading democratic voices in the world.

Even the European Union observer mission, (which Britain is a key player) reported that not only over 200 people had died due to election related violence but also in that election even “minimum standards for democratic election were not met.”

But what do we see today? At the time most of us were still struggling to come to terms with the shameful election that brought President Umar Yar' Adua to power, he was invited with alacrity to the G8 summit to dine and wine with the same so called world leaders who are asking for a regime change in Zimbabwe.

Shame! Shame again! The point must be made very clear that the imperialist and neo -colonialist West does not care whether there is democracy in Zimbabwe or not.

Neither do they care whether there is human rights abuse, no free press or economic hardships. Their man preoccupation is that their fellow brethren of European stock, in Zimbabwe are losing their land to Africans.

This sentence alone is enough to unite the British and American governments against the leadership in Zimbabwe. Not only does it unite the American and British governments but each and every European government joins their comrades in support.

But the problem with African leaders is that although they understand the situation in Zimbabwe far better than most of us they still lack the courage to support Zimbabwe openly. Why?

In the light of all these, its now time for the African Union to act and act actively. As a first major step, the 2008 African Union summit should be dedicated to Zimbabwe.

African leaders at the summit should speak with one voice in condemning the machination of the west to impose an illegal government on the people of Zimbabwe.

African leaders should also task Nigeria, Sudan, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Libya, to export oil to Zimbabwe at subsidised price until the crisis is over.

All member states of the African Union should open their borders and allow unrestricted tax free trade for all Zimbabwean goods until we find a lasting solution to the crisis.

Zimbabwe should also be given preferential treatment at the African development bank when it comes to borrowing and repayment of her loans.

Zimbabwe is a test case for all the independence states in Africa most of whom are celebrating their 40th and 50th birth dates.

So let show the imperialist and neo- colonialist that the days of colonialism are gone and gone for good and any attempt to recolonise any part of Africa shall fail and fail woefully.

With this the West would show respect to Africa and be less arrogant in its dealings with our continent and people.