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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
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
Last week three significant developments in
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
The size and importance, in political and economic terms, of
What the region needs today is pro-active, creative, revolutionary political and economic leadership. Otherwise current trends point towards a conflagration in
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. –
Spokesperson Zimbabwe Action Support Group, ZASG, Email rodgersmudarikwa@yahoo.com Phone 0723266356