By Thursday, however, when the Summit ended there was an agreement of
sorts with the world leaders agreeing to a one trillion dollar package
to rescue the world's economies. Will any of that money come Africa's
way and perhaps there is some hope in the fact that the World Bank and
the IMF will directly benefit from the one trillion dollar package.
There was also the provision of Special Drawing Rights of 250 billion
which would make loans available to lowest-income countries depending
on their contributions to the IMF (and we all know Zimbabwe has not
done too well in that area). There was a good deal of rhetoric about
the necessity of avoiding protectionism in trade but it remains to be
seen whether developed countries battling the recession will be either
willing or able to encourage the free trade which is the lifeblood of
capitalism.
None of this offers much comfort to Africa and the developing world.
In truth, it could not be a worse time for an appeal to the G20 to help
Zimbabwe, bearing in mind the fact that Zimbabwe's troubles are
self-inflicted: the result of gross mismanagement by Robert Mugabe and
his Zanu PF party. In Prime Minister Tsvangirai's article he set out
the principles that underpinned his participation in the Inclusive
Government: To create a country wherewe are united by our respect
for the rights and dignity of our fellow citizensOur success on this
journey will depend on this new transitional Government, our people and
the international partners who will work with us to realise this vision
for our country.
Noble sentiments, but the truth is, that however noble and sincere the
sentiments expressed by Morgan Tsvangirai, the distrust of Robert
Mugabe, his partner in the Inclusive Government, is deep rooted. Gone
are the days when Mugabe was the blue eyed boy' of the west. They see
very clearly what he has done to his country and why we are now in such
a desperate state. Zimbabweans themselves who have been the victims of
Mugabe's ruthless abuse of power share the distrust and while they may
welcome the easing of the everyday miseries of life, the more
perceptive among them recognise very clearly that the leopard has not
changed its spots.
Even as world leaders were gathering, perhaps with Morgan Tsvangirai's
words ringing in their ears, the Zimbabwean police continued their
violent abuse of human rights. The Zimbabwean Human Rights Forum,
issued a report showing that The formation of the Inclusive Government
did not bring an end to civic repression. On the contrary, there were
435 incidents of political discrimination and repression reported in
February compared with just 78 in January. Until the MDC partners' in
this government can stop the blatant partisanship of the police and
restore the rule of law in the country, I can see little hope that
Morgan Tsvangirai will get the financial assistance Zimbabwe so
desperately needs; even SADC, which pushed, some say forced, through
the so-called Global Agreement cannot raise the money to help the new
Inclusive Government.
Meanwhile, little changes in our poor, benighted country. Hidden behind
high prison walls there is unbearable suffering and degradation with as
many as twenty prisoners a day dying from a combination of starvation
and disease. SABC sent a secret camera team in to film the horror over
a three-month period in three different prisons. I watched extracts
from the film on Channel Four last night and can only agree with Roy
Bennett – and he should know having experienced prison life at first
hand – the resulting images resembled nothing less than the nightmarish
images of victims of the holocaust. And what was the response of our
esteemed Minister of Justice? Patrick Chinamasa totally denied that
the film shown on South African television last week, was an accurate
portrayal of reality. His lame explanation is that the film was shot in
some other part of Africa! It could not have been Zimbabwe says
Chinamsa because cameras are not allowed inside Zimbabwean prisons!
Chinamasa's ridiculous excuse typifies the kind of Zanu PF logic we
have all become used to. He and many of his colleagues in the once
all-powerful ruling party simply cannot accept the truth even when it
stares them in the face. Paradzai Zimondi the man in charge of the
prisons joined in the chorus of denial, this despite the fact that both
men had earlier admitted that the prisons were in a dire state.
Zimbabwean commentators refer to this Zanu PF habit of denying the
truth as being in denial' but I prefer to call it what it is: just
plain lying. Too many innocent Zimbabweans have suffered incarceration
in these hellholes to be deceived by Chinamasa's lies. While Zanu PF
ministers lie and steal, Robert Mugabe himself is the picture of
smiling reconciliation these days. He leaves it to his ministers to
tell the lies, denying the brutality of the police or the violence of
the ongoing land invasions. They seem unaware that in this age of mass
communication anyone can see what is really happening in Zimbabwe.
Watch the You Tube video of one particular farm invasion in Chegutu and
you see the horror being experienced on a daily basis by the remaining
white farmers. It is no good Morgan Tsvangirai saying that he will stop
these invasions when we all know that he is powerless to prevent the
downright theft that is going on. While he and his party may be
absolutely sincere in their desire to restore the rule of law, his
partners in government are content to go along with business as usual.
Police brutality was demonstrated again only yesterday when HIV and
AIDS patients were attacked with batons for daring to demonstrate
against excessive hospital fees. The words of one demonstrator sum up
for me the precise reason why Morgan Tsvangirai's appeal to the west
may fail, We did not imagine such kind of behaviour from them( the
police) in this new political setup.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH. aka Pauline Henson author of
Going Home and Countdown political detective stories set in Zimbabwe
and available on Lulu.com