The average Brit, heavily influenced by the right-wing press, still tends to think of Britain as being somehow superior to the rest of the world. Thanks to cheap travel, ordinary Brits now see more of the world including Africa than ever before but, hearing people talk about their foreign travels, I am constantly amazed at how little they have gained in terms of increased understanding or appreciation of foreign cultures. This applies even to countries within Europe but when it comes to Africa, that attitude is even more marked. And the explanation for this is, in part at least, Britains colonial past. Graca Machel argues that Britain should re-examine its relationship with its (former) colonies; they cannot, she says, expect to continue to be the big brother in the relationship.
For Africans living in the UK diaspora, it is easy to understand and empathise with what Graca Machel is saying. The burden of colonial guilt sits heavily on the British and often prevents them from speaking out on issues, such as human rights, that need to be aired but Ms Machel seems to be saying that the British government has been too loud in its condemnation of Zimbabwe in particular. Speaking as an ordinary member of the diasporean community, it is rare these days hear or read of any British government Minister publicly airing views on Zimbabwe. Ms Machel rightly points out that there is much more to Africa than Zimbabwe but she fails to acknowledge that Mugabes misrule in Zimbabwe has seriously affected the worlds perception of Africa as a whole, not excluding South Africa itself. The recent visit of the ANCs Youth Minister, Julius Malema, to Zimbabwe did nothing to alter that perception. Yes, Zimbabwe has failed. Ms Machel admits, Im not saying things are OK, (that) theyre all fine in Zimbabwe Britain shouts immediately. Cant they just keep quiet. Let them do their own things. Let SADC deal with them. Unfortunately, as Zimbabweans know only too well, SADC has done little or nothing about the deplorable state of affairs in Zimbabwe for ordinary people. Let them (the Zimbabwean government) do their own things she proclaims and if that includes violence against innocent men, women and children, then so be it; the outside the world must remain silent. I find that argument singularly shocking coming, as it does from a woman who is an international advocate for women and childrens rights, married to Nalson Mandela, the ikon of the anti-apartheid struggle. Is Graca Machel saying that no European and nearly all European countries have a colonial past – has a right to comment on African misgovernance even when it includes overt violence against innocent men, women and children?
This week Amnesty International reports that one quarter of all the children in Zimbabwe are orphans yet the government of Robert Mugabe has forbidden NGOs from paying childrens school fees. As Zimbabwe was celebrating thirty years of Independence, the women of WOZA were spending the four-day Independence holiday in gaol, sleeping on bare cement floors running with human excreta. Their crime was a peaceful protest about the high cost of electricity. No crime at all, but still the police kept the women in gaol for four days because they refused to pay an admission of guilt fine. While Robert Mugabe shed crocodile tears at Independence celebrations over the violence in the country and appealed for peace and tolerance, it was his own Youth Brigade youngsters, the ones he once described as his new war veterans some of them no more than children, who paraded in front of the crowds with their toy guns. And in my own home area of Murehwa a headmaster was frog-marched out of his school by so-called war veterans and accused of supporting the MDC. From the same area comes the report of a local Zanu PF Chairman, one Mike Chiwodza, telling MDC supporters, We will kill you after the World Cup. This time we will kill you and get rid of your body in the Mazowe River or down mine shafts even if you flee we will find your wives and children. These are the chilling realities of the Let them do their own things philosophy that Ms Machel advocates. She implies that Europes colonial history precludes them from commenting in any way on events in Africa today. No one, black or white, can deny the evils of colonialism any more than they can defend the apartheid system which was ultimately defeated by men and women, black and white struggling and dying together so that a new generation of South Africans could live together in a democratic country. And their endeavours were supported by the whole world, including Britain, which gave refuge to the many victims of apartheid not excluding the ANC itself. Yet Graca Machel urges the western world, and Britain in particular, to be silent about Mugabes evil dictatorial regime, a regime which she herself admits has failed!
To quote Edmund Burke, All that it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH. aka Pauline Henson, author of Case Closed a detective story set in Zimbabwe and published by Mambo Press in Zimbabwe, Going Home and Countdown political detective stories set in Zimbabwe and published by Lulu.com
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