Dear Editor,
I refer to the discussion led by Ramprakash entitled ‘Guyanese should be wary of Western vilification of ‘Third World’ leaders’ (SN, 8.5.08). According to Mr Ramprakash, the disaster in Zimbabwe and other African countries now is a result of the colonial system. The same thought is shared by Frank Fyffe (‘Zimbabwe’s problems stem largely from a ruthless colonial legacy’ SN, 22.5.08) who parrots what Ramprakash states, without offering any meaningful arguments to support this warped view. Mr Ramprakash claims that “nobody knows enough of the current events in Zimbabwe either to pile all the blame on Mugabe or to exonerate him completely.” This is only true if one decides to ignore the evidence about the collapse of Zimbabwe. I intend to highlight five disasters in Zimbabwe for which Mugabe could be held responsible in the last twenty-eight years.
First is the well known genocide of 1982-86, the infamous Gukurahundi.
Mugabe’s Korean trained fifth brigade was dispatched to ‘deal’ with the opposition in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, strong-holds of ZAPU, then led by Joshua Nkomo. According to a report by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), close to 20 000 people were killed, with hundreds of thousands displaced and property destroyed. This report, which was supposed to make this brutal action known to the world in the early ’90s, was suppressed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference which did not want to “open old wounds.” Mugabe himself acknowledged this in a passing comment when he said “It was a moment of madness.” For Ramprakash to trivialize the mass graves as “unconvincing… just a few bricks arranged in a square shape,” is just denying the facts. This shows the extent of Mugabe’s brutality that denied decent burial to the victims of such willful killings. Why not set up an independent and transparent commission of enquiry to clear the dust surrounding this phase in the history of the country?
The second disaster came after Mugabe’s loss in the 2000 referendum.
Mugabe immediately dispatched the so called ‘War Veterans’ to invade farms owned by white farmers and any opposition members. Invasion involved not only invading the farm, but looting, killing and destroying the farming system in the process. Labourers were dismissed and farms given to party supporters, ministers and party sympathizers. Most of the people who got farms have no basic knowledge on how to manage even a small vegetable garden. To claim that Zimbabweans have been settled on productive farms is but a total fabrication of the truth. There is multiple farm ownership by most of the powerful politicians in the ruling party and church leaders loyal and sympathetic to the ruling party. What does it help to say we claimed back land from white farmers, when most of the land is in the hands of a few men and women with political muscle? The majority of people who deserved land are still landless. The programme was employed as a political gimmick by Mugabe after losing the referendum.
The third disaster: Mugabe sits on a clandestinely corrupt government. His ministers and powerful supporters have ripped the country of her wealth. In 1987, there was the famous ‘Willowgate’ scandal that involved most of his ministers buying cars at a subsidized price and selling the same cars at exorbitant prices. When this scandal was reported in the public media, one of the senior ministers, Maurice Nyagumbo committed suicide. None of the other named ministers and political heavyweights were investigated. Rather, the reporters that brought the scandal to light were arrested, tortured and subsequently died. To question who bankrolls the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC – government in waiting) would attract questions about who has been bankrolling ZANU PF all these years. A case in point:
One Chris Hardy, owner of Mashonaland Holdings, with mining and construction businesses in Zimbabwe donates at every party congress, hundreds of beasts to feed participants. He is white. Is there anything wrong with that? Is he a party member or just a sympathizer? A few kilometres from the capital, there is the Zengeya farm owned by a white family. The farm has not been invaded, the reason being they are sympathetic to the party and make donations to the party and party members, even for the President’s birthday which has been turned into a national event. Is this not corruption glaring us in the eyes?
The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the fourth disaster we have had to endure in the last ten years. When Laurent Kabila was under threat from rebels, he called for help and Zimbabwe responded swiftly together with Angola. Kabila was not legitimately elected, but was a rebel who seized power. Mugabe thought this war would end in two months. Millions of US dollars that were not budgeted for found Zimbabwean troops in their thousands flooding the DRC to defend an illegitimate government. Why did Zimbabwe respond to Kabila’s call so swiftly? Most of Mugabe’s lieutenants have mining interests in the DRC. The mineral wealth of DRC has been looted by Zimbabwean senior army personnel, and they are living large because of this war. Zimbabwe had to defend the illegitimate government in DRC because our political leaders had mining investments there.
The fifth disaster is Operation Restore Order of 2005 that saw the malicious destruction of homes and people’s means of living, a disaster that remains hard to defend. This was an exercise which came exactly a month after Mugabe’s party lost most of the parliamentary seats in towns and cities.
The government decided on ridding the towns of “illegal citizens dealing in illegal businesses.” People who had used their ingenuity to eke out a living through selling wares and home projects became the target of the government. Homes were destroyed, and so were indigenous industries.
Thousands of people were left homeless, and with no means of subsistence.
This was a catastrophe that led Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of United Nations, to send an envoy led by the Tanzanian Anna Tibaijuka, to investigate and make recommendations; the recommendations were dismissed by the West.
Zimbabwe truly developed after independence, with schools, social centres, health centres and the applauded universities, as Ramprakash would have us believe. But most of these structures are white elephants, with no personnel or resources to run them efficiently. People are leaving the country in thousands – leaving schools with no teachers, health centres with no nurses or doctors, and universities with under-qualified or no lecturers. Do we still have to count that as development? Do we pride ourselves on saying we have an educated nation when the educated people are scavenging in foreign lands, scouring for ‘leftovers’ to feed families back home? With three million in South Africa, one million in the United Kingdom and hundreds of thousands in other countries, Ramprakash still wants us to believe that these are the effects of colonialism and not mismanagement by Mugabe? Mugabe has failed the nation, which was a beacon of hope soon after independence; he has militarized parastatals and has made dubious appointments to high posts of people affiliated to his party. If Mugabe is right, as Ramprakash wants us to believe, then close to five million Zimbabweans in exile and the remaining seven million suffering in the country are wrong! Everyone is wrong save for Mugabe? For the sake of justice, The Hague is the best place for Mugabe, before he finds harbour with the friendly Chinese. To blame colonialism for such disasters is just to perpetuate the mismanagement of nations like Zimbabwe.
Yours faithfully,
Clyde B. Chakupeta
