We are truly on our own

We are truly on our own

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By Mary Revesai

THE Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) debacle in the Tanzanian capital last weekend when the assembled African leaders treated Robert Mugabe with kid gloves and virtually gave him the green light to continue his ruthless madness proved once and for all that African heads of state are not on the side of oppressed Zimbabweans.

Their shameful copout was evidence, if any was needed, that they regard organisations such as SADC, the African Union (AU), and the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) which are funded through the sweat of taxpayers in the various member countries, as talk shops to stroke each other’s egos and cover up for each other’s excesses and abuses. This impotence allowed Mugabe to go scot-free after his sojourn to Tanzania despite the show of determination to take the bull by the horns epitomised by Tanzanian leader Jakaya Kikwete’s flying visit to Harare following the battering of opposition leaders by state security agents about three weeks ago.

However, it now seems all this commotion was half-hearted and only served to raise false expectations. What ensued in Tanzania was such that Mugabe could gloat upon his return home that he had received the unanimous support of the leaders of the 14 countries in the bloc. This means that even Zambian president, Levy Mwanawasa, who had blasted Mugabe a few days before the summit, had been whipped into line by his peers, in the name of solidarity. This shameful duplicity on the part of the leaders was despite the fact the 83-year old Zimbabwean dictator had attended the emergency summit in the immediate aftermath of committing the most outrageous atrocities against fellow citizens, which he openly boasted about at the gathering.

In un-statesman-like utterances that should have caused outrage among his peers, the Zimbabwean dictator insisted that Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairman Lovemore Madhuku and dozens of opposition activists deserved to be “bashed”. It was not the first time Mugabe had expressed these crude sentiments. He made the same barbaric declarations when trade union leaders were brutalised by the police in September last year for trying to organise peaceful demonstrations to enable Zimbabweans to petition the regime in Harare over their grievances.

It is scandalous, but not unexpected that the leaders assembled in Dar es Salaam last weekend were unmoved by the scale of Mugabe’s tyranny. “Yes, I told them he (Tsvangirai) asked for it… We got full backing. Not even one criticised our actions. There is no country in SADC that can stand up and say Zimbabwe has faulted,” Mugabe declared triumphantly upon his return. This air of invincibility is an ominous warning of what lies ahead for the people as Mugabe gears up to bulldoze his way into another term of office in elections next year that could prove to be the bloodiest yet.

As if their duplicity was not bad enough, the SADC leaders rubbed salt into the wounds of suffering Zimbabweans by appointing South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki as their trouble-shooter in mapping the way forward. This is an arrogant slap in the face for the people of Zimbabwe. Mbeki has previously spent years aiding and abetting the Mugabe tyranny while claiming to be involved in behind-the-scenes “quiet diplomacy”. When he was challenged at home and internationally about the efficacy of his dubious approach, Mbeki asserted impatiently and with an air of all-knowing superiority that it was the only method that was most likely to work. When he finally came out in his true colours and washed his hands of the Zimbabwean crisis, he declared that it was up to Zimbabweans to solve their own problems. What is new now?

In all the years Mbeki previously masqueraded as trouble-shooter, he never once spoke out against the subversion of the rule of law, documented human rights abuses, the ruthless crushing of dissent and the clampdown on the freedoms of speech, assembly and association that the Mugabe regime has resorted to and institutionalised with impunity. The expression of a vote of confidence in Mbeki despite his spectacular failure in the past is a sign that the African leaders want the charade to continue. They hope to hoodwink the world and the people of Zimbabwe into believing that they are doing something about the crisis when in fact they are upholding the archaic Organisation of African Unity (OAU) philosophy of showing solidarity with dictators and abusers of power.

What makes the practice more insidious these days is the public posturing by organisations such as SADC, the AU and ECOWAS that they are capable of finding African solutions to problems if the West stopped interfering? The crisis in Zimbabwe, which has an unemployment rate of about 80 percent and the highest inflation rate in the world of 1,700 percent, should have provided a perfect opportunity for these heads of state to demonstrate their commitment to the upholding of humane and democratic values on the continent. Unlike other trouble spots on the continent where military intervention is called for, the Zimbabwean crisis, despite having been left to steadily escalate over the past seven years, can still be resolved diplomatically.

But alas, African leaders are hamstrung by personal considerations for their own self-preservation. Some are guilty of the same dictatorial tendencies Mugabe has exhibited and others may wish to resort to perpetrating the same atrocities to cling to power. This unwillingness to act has been evident over the years when attempts by various Zimbabwean civil society groups to appeal to SADC, the AU and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) have been rebuffed at the behest of the Mugabe regime.

After consistently swallowing Mugabe’s propaganda that the problems in Zimbabwe have nothing to do with his repressive governance and subversion of the rule of law but a Western plot to effect regime change , African heads of state will continue to find themselves tongue –tied. As one battle-worn Zimbabwean has said, “We are truly on our own.”

Mary Revesai is a New Zimbabwe.com columnist and writes from Harare. Her column will appear here every Tuesday

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