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Journalism of Courage
It no longer suffices to call Zimbabwe the post-colonial basket case. Even by African standards of kleptocracy and of state violence and intimidation, it has gone beyond the ambit of words. Morgan Tsvangirai8217;s opposition Movement for Democratic Change won the first round of elections in March but fell short of a majority to avoid the presidential run-off. What Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF couldn8217;t do in March they have been doing since, with Tsvangirai now forced to take refuge in the Dutch embassy. The UN has asked Zimbabwe to scrap the run-off on June 27, arguing that a free and fair poll is 8220;impossible8221; amid the violence. Meanwhile, refugees continue to pour into Zimbabwe8217;s neighbouring countries and the economic crisis has assumed surreal proportions.
If Zimbabwe turns into the next Rwanda, African leaders, particularly South African President Thabo Mbeki, must bear the blame for letting Mugabe buy time since the March polls. A strange notion of third-world solidarity, which would rather justify a tyrant and mass murderer because he is a liberation hero than condemn human rights violations, is sacrificing Zimbabweans. It is time the idea of racial and post-colonial justice was divorced from the practice of governance and welfare. Mugabe has used the bogey of white imperialism to court African sympathy even as he and his henchmen robbed Zimbabwe. African leaders, ineffective for long, seem to have finally lost their patience with Mbeki. An agreement between the UN, the African Union and southern African leaders may replace him as the mediator in Zimbabwe with representatives from the UN, the AU and the Southern African Development Community.
