SADC is assisting in the betrayal of Zimbabweans

TANONOKA JOSEPH WHANDE | Friday November 30, 2007 00:00

I just came across the Patriotic Front Election Manifesto for the 1980 plebiscite that ushered in Zimbabwe's independence.

I was struck by the manifesto's relevance, or irrelevance, to today's situation, 28 years on.

Like normal human beings, the Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU) sat down to agree on and put forward requirements and demands for a democratic foundation for the establishment of the nation of Zimbabwe. The list somewhat summarized their hopes, intentions and expectations but also explained why they were fighting a war.

Their very first promise and demand on our behalf was for us to have the right to vote.
But today, we are being prevented from voting by all means possible.

Already, and as has been happening since 'majority rule' in Zimbabwe, the body count slowly picks up as we march towards another fake election.

In utter frustration, both factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are swaying to the destructive whims of inconsistence as far as participating in these sham elections is concerned. When the MDC split up, it was largely due to differences arising from whether or not to participate in presidential elections. Since then, we have witnessed a classic example of the MDC's lack of direction as both factions frequently change their positions on this issue.

It is now 27 years since we gave Mugabe the mandate to lead the country and our freedoms have been whittled away from what they were under the late Ian Smith.

Thus the famous pre-independence war cry of 'One man, One vote!' has been denied us all since we now have to risk our lives to cast a vote.

The Patriotic Front's second demand in the manifesto has caused a lot of physical pain, anguish and deaths. We voted these people into power because they spoke of our rights to freedom of speech, assembly, association, procession, demonstration and strike action.

Today, we are denied these rights. Mugabe is a particular disappointment to many people. We in Zimbabwe cannot express enough of our disappointment in this man for we are too busy burying our dead and bandaging our wounds inflicted by his people.

Today, in Zimbabwe, five people cannot gather; they would be breaking Mugabe's law which requires that if five or more people should meet, they require a permit to do so. As media accounts show on a daily basis, we cannot assemble freely, nor do we have the freedom of speech. We need a permit to hold demonstrations or to take strike action.

Zimbabweans did not have many problems with the Patriotic Front's demand number three. We went to our churches and prayed hard until Mugabe and his malcontents started interfering with the churches.

Apart from Mugabe calling some bishops evil and calling himself the Son of God, his party has introduced their own religious clowns who are said to be pastors in their obscure churches.

The government now views the mainstream churches with suspicion. And, I dare ask, where ZANU-PF would be today without the churches worldwide? Where, particularly, would Mugabe himself be today if it wasn't for the Zimbabwean Catholic church and bishops who supported and protected him? Today he has the temerity to call them 'evil' while ZANU-PF youths assault and disperse congregations because there are more people in churches than at Mugabe's rallies.

The Patriotic Front demanded the right to work and to a fair wage. I will leave that to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

Mugabe's government has destroyed our economy. There are no jobs anywhere. We send our children to school using proceeds from the tomatoes and onions we sell by the roadside. Trade unions are viewed as enemies thereby blunting people's representation and leaving them open to exploitation and abuse by ZANU-PF.

Mugabe's government handed over Air Zimbabwe, the National Railways of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority and other parastatals to the Chinese.

They squandered all opportunities and are now selling off national assets. China, Malaysia and Libya are notable beneficiaries.

I also see no point in discussing point number five which seeks freedom from racial discrimination. This government has embarked on a very embarrassing racial path. We witness them using race to violate human and property rights as they seize 'white owned farms' to give to their black friends and supporters.

There are no property rights in Zimbabwe today as is demanded by point twelve of their manifesto. And where there are no property rights, there are no human rights.

Government ministers spend hours arguing whether or not to seize a 'white owned farm'. It is a shame that the so-called peasants who were instrumental in liberating the country and on whose support ZANU-PF counted are the ones protecting the white farmers in their areas from a rogue government.

Demand number seven concerns the right to education.
Most countries now refuse to recognize our educational certificates because of the rapidly deteriorating quality of our education. Our Ordinary and Advanced Level certificates are viewed with suspicion and are not accepted outside our borders with most countries requiring Zimbabweans to take some sort of examinations to gage their educational level.

The educational infrastructure is in a shambles and the right to education has become a real nightmare.

Mugabe had 27 years to deal with the land issue but he did not. The land fiasco is not born from a genuine desire to correct the imbalances in land ownership. This is proven by the fact that most of the confiscated farms are lying fallow since they were handed over to indigenous Africans, mostly cabinet ministers and ZANU-PF functionaries who concentrate more on their bottle stores than the farms.

It was simple revenge because Mugabe suspected that white businessmen and commercial farmers supported the opposition, which came on quite strongly, yet they had every right to support a party or individual of their own choice as is demanded in point number two of the Patriotic Front's Election Manifesto.

The remaining Patriotic Front demands are a laugh. How is this government treating the issue of the right to life? We are not talking only about abortions here, seeing as I do that this party is itself being accused of knocking off several thousands citizens.

The Patriotic Front even had the temerity to demand, on our behalf, the right to leisure and rest.

These crooks had the audacity to demand freedom from hunger but today we cannot feed ourselves in a fertile country that used to feed Africa.

Regrettably, the last demand refers to the recourse to the courts which have been staffed by Mugabe praise-singers.

Dr Tomaz Salomao, who shamelessly is making a financial killing while defending evil under the guise of Executive Secretary of SADC, told the Herald (Zimbabwe) that SADC 'will not allow the EU-Africa Summit in Portugal next month to discuss Zimbabwe.'

This is a problem with people like Salomao who make a living from the misery of Africans.
Is Salomao aware that Article 4 of the SADC Treaty in reference to 'Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections', stipulates that 'human rights, democracy and the rule of law' are principles guiding the acts of its members?

Article 5 of the Treaty outlines the objectives of SADC, which commit the member states to 'promoting common political values, systems and other shared values which are transmitted through institutions, which are democratic, legitimate and effective. It also commits member states to 'consolidate, defend and maintain democracy, peace, security and stability' in the region.

Zimbabwe has failed on all these and Salomao is blind to it.
What is SADC? Who is making such irresponsible and dangerous decisions?

Zimbabwe is a powder-keg and Salomao tells the world that atrocities in Africa, in this particular case, Zimbabwe, are irrelevant even when people are dying.

Salomao represents invisible faces in the so-called SADC. Who are these people that the whole of SADC is fronting for? Just like in Darfur, Africans are sponsored not to talk or to take action. We see endless strife in the DRC. Zimbabwe is now Africa's orphan. But Salomao accepts idiotic moratoriums to not only ignore such atrocities perpetrated on Africans but to campaign outside Africa to let Africans kill Africans without interference.
Is SADC just another NGO milking money from elsewhere while retarding the possible improvement of the region?

(Tanonoka Joseph Whande is a Botswana-based Zimbabwean journalist).