Zimbabwe: End of mission statement by UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay

An organisation is as good as the people running it; what Ms Pillay has done here is a great disservice to the UN and South Africa (since she is South African). For a judge she is as stupid as they come!

We assume she accepted there have been serious human rights violations in Zimbabwe, specifically the never ending political violence which have made it impossible to have free and fair elections. It was for that very reason – failure to hold free elections – that the West imposed the targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his cronies ten years ago. The same sanctions she is now asking the West to lift although Mugabe has stubbornly refused to implement any democratic reform. But put all that to one side.

Every thinking Zimbabwean has repeatedly rejected Mugabe’s futile attempts to link free elections to lifting of the sanctions. Whether or not the targeted sanctions hurt ordinary Zimbabweans directly or otherwise why should Zimbabweans be denied their basic and fundamental right to a meaningful say in the governance of their country because of what the West, rightly or wrongly, has done to Mugabe?

The fact of the matter is Zimbabweans were systematically denied their vote long before the West imposed sanctions on Mugabe, making the linkages even more tenuous.

Ms Pillay – UN’s Human Rights CHIEF, a qualified lawyer and experienced Judge – fell for Mugabe’s warped logic and she is now fighting in tyrant’s corner for the lifting of the targeted sanctions!