I ended last week's Letter with the words, Dare we hope that this time
common sense, decency and human compassion will prevail? and now we
know the answer. Hope deferred, it seems. We were told that the fifteen
members – though apparently there were only six of them present – of
SADC voted in favour of a resolution instructing the opposing parties
to go home and form a government of national unity. That, said SADC
Secretary Thomaz Salamao was the decision of SADC and must be
respected. As for the disputed Ministry of Home Affairs, well the two
sides must share that Ministry between them. How that would work,
Salamao could not say; indeed he was forced to admit that not one of
the SADC countries had such an arrangement in their own country but
that was the solution proposed for Zimbabwe. That was the African
solution' to the human tragedy that has engulfed our country and is
spilling over the borders with refugees flooding into the surrounding
countries of these very states whose leaders are content to ignore the
human suffering of thousands of African people. Once again SADC has
demonstrated its total failure to recognise the democratic will of the
people as clearly stated in the March elections which Morgan Tsvangirai
and the MDC won. Instead, SADC chose to placate Mugabe, recognised him
as president and even allowed him to sit in on their deliberations. The
MDC delegates obeyed the ruling to leave the room but Mugabe
categorically refused and a gutless Chairman, none other than the South
African President Motlanthe, apparently lacked the moral authority to
compel the old man to leave. Thus Mugabe was present in the chamber
when the ruling was made, daring the SADC members to say one word
against him, no doubt.
Not only have SADC recognised an illegitimate president, they have, by
their failure to act, become complicit in the criminal activity of a
government in borrowing' donated funds intended to fight Aids,
Tuberculosis and Malaria. The money was diverted says Gideon Gono for
other national priorities' It's not hard to see what those
priorities' were as the Mugabe regime dishes out bribes to judges and
chiefs to continue their craven support for a morally and financially
bankrupt government. SADC turns a blind eye to all this as they do to
the violence inflicted on the opposition. SADC surely know it is
happening but continue on the same path of blind support for a man who
has destroyed his country and allows men women and children to die
rather than give up on iota of his power. Only God can remove him says
Mugabe but in the meantime he will kill, beat, starve and imprison
anyone who dares to oppose him.
MDC meets today to discuss the way forward following this slap in the
face from SADC. I imagine it will be a very stormy meeting. Certainly
local pundits have been vocal with their advice but then words are
cheap. Opinions range from : Let Mugabe get on with it, leave him to
hang himself; Pull out of the Agreement entirely; Fresh elections are
the only answer; Go to the AU and failing that the UN for a solution.
No doubt all those views and many others will be reflected at today's
meeting. Zimbabweans are very good at talking but what is needed now is
Action. Looking in from the outside what I see is the lack of unity
even among the democratic forces. Months ago all the civic
organizations vowed they would work together to overthrow the regime.
When one group demonstrated they said they would all be there to
support their brothers and sisters. It has not happened; instead the
police pick off the brave demonstrators – be they WOZA or NCA or ZCTU –
like so many flies and toss them in gaol to rot in the fetid prisons
that daily spew out their dead. It is only by acting together that the
civic movements and the MDC will demonstrate to SADC, the AU and the UN
that they are one united people. Without that unity of purpose, the
people will remain rudderless, like a ship without a captain sailing on
an ocean of endless suffering. Only through solidarity of purpose and
unity in action will Zimbabweans free themselves from the dictator's
cruel tyranny. Then hope will be restored. We can do it…Yes we can!
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH aka Pauline Henson author of
Countdown a political detective story set in Zimbabwe and available
from Lulu.com    Â