Zimbabwe needs support

Zimbabwe needs support
By Editor
Friday September 21, 2007 [04:00]

It is time for the British government to rethink its position on Zimbabwe. It is very clear that the British policy of trying to isolate the Zimbabwean government of Robert Mugabe is bound to fail. There is growing support for Zimbabwe in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

The British government should realise that their attempts to isolate and strangulate Zimbabwe have no support in SADC. The leaders of this region have not forgotten that those who are today championing the economic and political isolation of Zimbabwe never did so, or were very reluctant to do so, when Ian Smith was in charge of a criminal, brutal and racist white minority regime in that country.

The British government and its friends used to argue that sanctions don’t work, that they end up only hurting the same people they are intended to serve. They even had similar arguments in their defence or support of the criminal apartheid regime in South Africa.

The leaders of SADC understand this very well. And probably that is why they are opposed to the political and economic isolation of Zimbabwe and are calling for the removal of sanctions against this country.

No one can deny that there are issues of governance in Zimbabwe that need to be resolved so that national unity and stability is increased in that country. But from the behaviour of the British government towards Zimbabwe, it is clear to us that the problem here is not primarily that of democracy or human rights.

If lack of democracy or human rights were a preamble to political and economic isolation, many countries would today be shunned by Britain and its key allies. The problem lies elsewhere and governance issues – despite being legitimate – seem to be used as a pretext. The true reasons seem to lie elsewhere – probably in the land question.

If our European friends are truly interested in finding a solution to the current economic crisis and other problems going on in Zimbabwe, they should mull over things and listen to what the SADC leaders are saying and consider their feelings and the positions they have taken.

If they don’t do so, the ending of this whole issue will not be nice, it will start to look like a struggle between Britain and the SADC region and other African countries who are supporting Zimbabwe. This can be avoided by Britain allowing the SADC initiatives in Zimbabwe a chance to be implemented. The leaders of SADC have taken certain initiatives that they consider right and legitimate to try and address the Zimbabwe’s problems.

The SADC leaders recognise that Zimbabwe needs both economic and political assistance from all progressive countries of the world. This is so because there is no way a country that has been so weakened by sanctions and internal political divisions can solve all its economic and political problems by itself.

There is no way a country plagued by so many problems and difficulties, a country that has been so undermined and weakened, can overcome by itself all the challenges and difficulties Zimbabwe is facing today. Zimbabwe needs help and support and not further isolation and strangulation.

The problems in Zimbabwe cannot be solved by blackmail and bullying. Now the British government is not only trying to blackmail Zimbabwe but the whole of Africa. But as it can be seen, many African countries will refuse to be blackmailed by the British government over Zimbabwe. And the SADC countries are today saying they will boycott the forthcoming European Union (EU), and African Union (AU) summit in Portugal if Mugabe is not allowed to attend.

We agree with President Levy Mwanawasa’s position that blocking Mugabe from attending the EU/AU summit will not help solve the problems in Zimbabwe. It is immoral for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to declare that he will stay away from this summit if Mugabe attends. And the SADC leaders are saying if Mugabe is not allowed to attend, they too will not attend.

This is a serious stand-off that shouldn’t be allowed to continue. It is tantamount to Britain telling the AU to boycott or isolate Zimbabwe. But from the conduct of SADC leaders, it is clear that this will not happen – they will not work to isolate Zimbabwe. For the SADC countries who stood together to fight colonialism, this is really a question of honour.

Which SADC country can today agree to support Zimbabwe’s isolation at the insistence of a country which not very long ago was their coloniser or supported racist or apartheid regimes in our region? If that happened, would such a country and its political leadership retain any measure of credibility with the people of our region?

It is time the British government started to respect the positions being taken on Zimbabwe by SADC leaders. They should learn to listen to others and not only to themselves. Our countries may be poor but that doesn’t mean our political leaders are also poor in the brains. They are capable of coming up with solutions to the Zimbabwean crisis.

Brown wants the entire African continent to subscribe to his government’s position on Zimbabwe but he is not prepared to listen and adopt the position that is supported by 14 SADC governments. Even simple democracy shows that there is something wrong with Brown’s approach to the Zimbabwean crisis.

We welcome the position taken by SADC in solidarity with Zimbabwe because that country’s problems can only be solved by a rational and intelligent engagement. And the best time for a negotiated settlement in Zimbabwe is now.

We say this because the starting point for developing a framework within which to approach some large questions in the negotiating process is to answer the question: why should we negotiate or dialogue? There is need to dialogue because as a result of its escalating economic crisis, the Zimbabwean government is no longer able to continue ruling the country in the old way and is genuinely seeking some break with the past.

At the same time those who, like the British government, are seeking a regime change in Zimbabwe are clearly not dealing with a defeated regime and the question of removing Mugabe and Zanu-PF from power cannot be realistically posed.

For the past five years or so, the British government and their friends had their say. It is now time for the leaders of SADC to have their day. There is growing impatience with the British government’s approach to the Zimbabwean crisis. Zimbabwe needs support.