We need a new leadership culture

t1:country-region w:st=”on”>South Africa wants a peaceful region for the 2010 World Cup’

JOHANNESBURG – The issue of Zimbabwean immigrants and refugees in South Africa is a complex one requiring immediate intervention by leaders from all sectors of society. Out of Zimbabwe’s population of more than 13 million, one third is now effectively resident outside the country.

The mere fact that 1 000 Zimbabweans risk their lives streaming into South Africa every day reflects failure within the country’s leadership and also at regional level to create a situation of peace and stability in the country. A simple linear projection means if current trends are sustained about a million people are crossing into South Africa every three years!

The massive impact that this has on the structure of the population cannot be ignored. Zimbabwean society needs help. This is not a crisis that can simply be divided between political and economic causes, and South African public officials are certainly wasting their time looking for political and economic migrants.

What we are seeing in South Africa are only the symptoms are a deeper crisis of political leadership in Zimbabwe. All the current initiatives are built on the assumption that it is the migrant who is the source of the problem. There seems to be a deliberate campaign in the region to ignore the real causes of the crisis, bury heads in the sand and terrorize innocent people who are only trying to make ends meet.

Last week three significant developments in Southern Africa helped bring out more clearly the true colors of regional leaders. In Botswana, Zimbabweans were beaten up in their ‘Operation Clean-Up,’ which is targeted at Zimbabwean immigrants.

In the same week the Zambian Government took the opportunity to deport the legitimate President of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, whose election victory in 2002 went largely unsupported by the regional leadership, as a matter of principle.

Taken seriously, the policy attitude of President Mbeki and his colleagues in the region is a dereliction of responsibility. His comment last week that South Africa will adopt a hands-off approach to the Zimbabwean question reflects a leader who has failed to demonstrate leadership at a time when his expertise is perhaps most needed.

The size and importance, in political and economic terms, of South Africa in the region demands meaningful responses from Mbeki. It is a serious mistake to blame victims of a crisis for the cause of that crisis, and ruling politicians in this part of Africa will be judged by history when justice eventually prevails.

What the region needs today is pro-active, creative, revolutionary political and economic leadership. Otherwise current trends point towards a conflagration in Zimbabwe, in the form of civil disobedience. South Africa wants a peaceful region for the 2010 World Cup, not turmoil along its northern border.

It is pointless to try to solve the problem by fixing the migrants. The solution is clearly political. It requires regional leaders to begin to approach the issues differently, with the real interests of Zimbabweans at heart. Then we can all grow together in a region where people enjoy their true democratic freedoms, where the rule of the law is respected, where there is real progression, stability, and democracy. – Rogers Mudarikwa.
Spokesperson Zimbabwe Action Support Group, ZASG, Email rodgersmudarikwa@yahoo.com Phone 0723266356