Maravi

(HERALD) See Tsvangirai for what he is

See Tsvangirai for what he is

WE Africans are beholden to our traditions and culture, which teach us to question the motives of outsiders who mourn more than the bereaved as they invariably harbour ulterior motives at variance with societal norms and values. Similarly, we are always wary of strangers who express undue interest in our domestic affairs given the hands we have been dealt by the West since the days of slavery, through colonialism to the present era of neo-colonialism under the guise of globalisation.

To this end, the theatrics of the Anglo-Saxon alliance led by Britain and the United States over recent elections in Zimbabwe should convince all sceptics of the extent of the colonial hangover afflicting all at Number 10 Downing Street where Zimbabwe is concerned.

It appears they are under the illusion Zimbabwe is a British county.

For instance, since the beginning of this month British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been battling to have Zimbabwe on the agenda of the UN Security Council as a presumed threat to international peace and security.

Brown made the first attempt on April 16 during a joint sitting of the UN and AU Peace and Security Councils but was told in no uncertain terms that Zimbabwe was not a threat to international peace and security and did not warrant discussion.

Brown was undeterred for a week later, April 24, along with US president George W. Bush, he requested the UN secretariat to give the Security Council a briefing on Zimbabwe this week.

What is revealing about Brown’s charade is that Zimbabweans who cast the votes and whose future is affected by the poll outcome or lack thereof are not making as much, if any noise as he is.

If anything, they are patiently waiting for the result of the recounts after which they will know whether they have a substantive president or will go through another round of voting in 21 days time as provided for in the Constitution.

How such a scenario can be deemed to qualify for a threat to international peace and security in a world torn by real crises in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur and Somalia can only be understood by the British and their allies who were ironically not similarly inclined when over 2 000 Kenyans were butchered in cold blood as 650 000 others were displaced in post-election violence that gripped Kenya since December 27.

The bottom line is, as the US State department aptly put it, Zimbabwe ‘‘poses a continuous and extra-ordinary threat to the foreign policy of the US,’’ and its allies.

And that foreign policy, as we all know, is about global dominance over people and their resources. Nothing more, nothing less. This is what we Zimbabweans have refused to condone which is why Westerners hired a willing vassal in the captive opposition led by Morgan Tsvangirai to do their leg work in Africa and at the UN claiming to be fleeing ‘‘threats’’ to life and limb in Zimbabwe.

Yet Tsvangirai’s lieutenants here are busy applying to and petitioning the courts on all their grievances, with the courts judiciously ruling in favour of some of their applications, the same way it upholds or dismisses some of Zanu-PF’s arguments.

That is the essence of a functional democracy with well-established institutions, which Tsvangirai should exhaust before seeking external recourse.

What Tsvangirai is doing, therefore, is not about serving the interests of his party or supporters here, but his Western overlords keen to lynch the Government, their nemesis, at any cost.

All who blindly follow him would do well to see him for what he is — the white West’s cat paw.

Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI

posted by MrK @ 10:12 PM