UN resolution will sober up Mugabe

UN resolution will sober up Mugabe

MDUDUZI MATHUTHU

• Mugabe threatens to pull out

• Mugabe looks to China

BY MDUDUZI MATHUTHU
08/12/03
THE decision by President Robert Mugabe to drag Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth is a perilous, self-serving adventure for which he should be held to account.

By dragging Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth, Mugabe knows his animalistic tendencies of torture, murder and running down the economy will go unmonitored, now that his regime is – for those who thought it couldn’t get worse - officially a rogue state.

Mugabe has tried many times over the past week to convince anyone who cared to listen that there was no point for the Commonwealth. But his fervent attempts to get an invitation betrayed him, and his bitterness in rejection exposes just how much he values the Commonwealth.

Even Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo saw it: “Sometimes when you are pushed against the wall, you pretend something doesn’t matter, although deep down you know it does.”

What emerges from this sordid saga is the frightening reality that Robert Mugabe now thinks he can make ANY decision without consulting the nation, let alone consulting his cheering numbskulls that gathered in Masvingo for the party conference at the weekend.

In the United Kingdom, Tony Blair is struggling to get enough support to embrace the European Constitution. Other European countries like Ireland and Norway have taken a vote whether or not to join the European Union.

But in Zimbabwe, a murderous tyrant called Robert Mugabe - who licensed the killing 20 000 minority Ndebeles in the south western Zimbabwean provinces of Matabeleland South and North - makes the decision to pull the country out of the Commonwealth over breakfast with his wife.

Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries will now find it difficult to access lines of credit from banks – a facility open to citizens of Commonwealth countries. It would be impossible for them to change their drivers’ licence in other Commonwealth countries, register as voters and there would be a change of immigration procedures – all because of an arbitrary decision of a murderous tyrant.

There can only be one conclusion – Mugabe now thinks Zimbabwe is his personal fiefdom. He thinks he can do anything on behalf on the majority, without consulting the people or parliament.

Here is a ruthless dictator using the name of Zimbabwe to fight his personal battles, at whatever cost to the nation which has to bear his excesses at the end of the day.

Predictably, Mugabe will now vent his anger on the opposition at home. He warned at the weekend that he would unleash “legal violence” – whatever that means - on them, which probably points to the extortion of over a billion dollars from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change through legal costs for false arrests.

It would seem to us that Mugabe has reached a point of no return. Trying to close the gap between him and democracy is sure to result in spectacular failure.

What is needed now is a United Nations resolution.

Zimbabweans have endured enough of misrule and economic mismanagement. Inflation reaches 700 percent by the government’s own admission next January. Food shortages are the order of the day, political violence is an acceptable method of campaign and rigging elections passes for good politics in Zimbabwe.

In the past year, the government has crafted two pieces of legislation which perhaps summarise the true nature of this evil regime. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) with the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) are two classic examples of why the problem in Zimbabwe is not that of racist intrusion by Britain, Australia or New Zealand – but that of good governance.

Posa has the same outlook as Communist Russia’s legislation. The clause which bans public demonstrations, or which grants the police the express right to tear-gas or beat the hell out of any assembled group of six people just shows how Mugabe, for all the anti-European mantra, is a ruthless dictator who cries ‘racism’, while at the same time brutalising his own people.

We agree with Malawi President Bakili Muluzi when he said before the Commonwealth summit: “My brother, comrade Mugabe, and his Zanu-PF must realise the world is changing in the direction of democracy. Laws that don't benefit the people should be scrapped.”

The fact that the committee which took the decision to extend Zimbabwe’s ban from the Commonwealth comprised mostly African countries shows that no-one is buying Mugabe’s racist rhetoric. Not anymore!

The decision to elect Don McKinnon for another term as Commonwealth secretary general by 40 to 11 votes is a proxy vote by the Commonwealth against Mugabe which shows the group is a united force - a quality that the Zimbabwean dictator sought to undermine with little success.

Now is the time for fellow African leaders to tell Mugabe that they will not stand or support his tyranny. The world, as Muluzi said, is moving towards a democracy – as can be seen in the case of Pakistan.

Progressive nations should now form a coalition of the willing and carry the same unity displayed at this summit to the United Nations. A clear signal should be sent to Mugabe in the form of a resolution that the world has had enough of his misrule.

As in the case of Iraq, if Mugabe then decides to stick his head in the sand like an ostrich, he should be suspended, or other severe alternatives should be pursued as long as they will secure Zimbabwe and return it to the people.
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