Photo by Sokwanele-Zimbabwe on Flickr.
Last week, SAMGI along with several other NGOs participated in a protest outside the Cape Town International Convention Centre to defend democracy in Zimbabwe. We also wrote a memo to the Inter-Parliamentary Union urging them to put pressure on Zimbabwe to release the election results and uphold its constitution. We have yet to receive a response.
Since then, the situation there has taken an increasingly violent turn, with graphic photos surfacing of wounded Movement for Democratic Change supporters who were tortured, and news of Zim riot police raiding MDC headquarters, all an indication that there is no end in sight for this election disaster.
Alex Matthews, a blogger with Thought Leader on the Mail and Guardian Web site, argues that Thabo Mbeki and the international community need to take a stronger role in quelling the violence. Matthews writes that Mbeki, with his “quiet diplomacy,” has blood on his hands.
Silence about this criminal autocracy equates to a tacit approval of it. Thus, our president is complicit in the Zimbabwean catastrophe. South Africa, as Africa’s economic and military powerhouse, has been in the unique position of being able to pressurise Zimbabwe into reforming, yet Mbeki has done nothing. He has passively watched our beleaguered neighbour and the way its citizenry, both black and white, have been — and continue to be — shockingly abused in ways that bear a palpable resemblance to the sufferings of blacks during South Africa’s apartheid. [Mail and Guardian]
Matthews also warns that the situation could spiral into genocide.
Mugabe used crack troops for ethnic cleansing in Matabeleland in the early 1980s. It is quite possible he will resort to this sort of massacring again. After all, Angolan troops are allegedly ready for deployment to fight on his behalf. And Sokwanele’s blog has revealed that young men are being armed with AK47s; with a so-called war vet being quoted as saying: “Yes we are all being armed; we are going back to war”.
South Africa has a moral obligation – as a young democracy and a neighbour – to champion democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe. [Mail and Guardian]
Let’s hope that our national and international leaders take a stronger role promoting democracy in Zimbabwe soon.
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