Maravi

More is needed from the UN over Zimbabwe

More is needed from the UN over Zimbabwe
By Editor
Thursday May 08, 2008 [04:00]

WE have no doubt Zimbabwe will recover from the difficulties it is today experiencing. The economic problems that country is facing today are not natural, they are a creation of various forces that have colossal interests in Zimbabwe. Let's not forget that throughout the years of the liberation struggle, that country's economy was virtually left intact. It was supported by the same countries that have today strangled it. Recently, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said as soon as there was a change of government in Zimbabwe, his government would give a lot of financial assistance to that country.

Clearly, the assistance is on condition that there is a change of government, the Mugabe regime is kicked out and replaced by MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai. This is not the way countries are helped. This is help not to a country but to a regime that the British feel can advance their interests.

We agree with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) deputy regional director for Africa Moustapha Soumare's observations that Zimbabwe's recovery depends on agreement from all the parties in the country to move forward. What Zimbabwe needs are patriots who wish to see their country succeed regardless of who is in power. It needs political leaders who don't gloat over national reverses, nor talk down their successes.

We wish to see Zimbabwe behaving honourably, being an influence for good in SADC and Africa. We wish to see the economy of that country recover and regain its strength. We want to see politicians in Zimbabwe who don't look to defeat their opponents on the back of national failure.

There will always be sufficient grounds in a democracy without that to argue for their removal. It is this type of politics that has contributed to the destruction of Zimbabwe's economy.

The white Rhodesians who have been in the forefront of campaigning for sanctions against that country wherever they may be - Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa - never campaigned for sanctions against the racist white minority regime of Ian Smith. They never even campaigned for sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

Unfortunately, some opposition leaders in Zimbabwe joined hands with them in this venture in their desire to replace the Mugabe regime. They have every right to campaign and remove Mugabe from power, but it is treacherous for them to do so on the back of national failure.

The Mugabe regime will finally be brought down. It won't last forever. It is humanly impossible for Mugabe to continue in power beyond a certain age. But the damage that has been caused to the Zimbabwean people and their economy may take much longer to repair. This type of politics should be avoided. It is not prudent to join hands with imperialism - that was not very long ago our common enemy - to destroy our own countries simply because we want to be in power.

Those who genuinely support Zimbabwe should work to unite its people because there is very little a divided country can achieve. Unlike the UN, they should be there to support the country, and not factions or groups.

In the final analysis the true solutions to that country's problems will only come from the Zimbabwean people themselves and not from the divisive and arrogant rantings of Brown. Those who genuinely love Zimbabwe should help broker peace among its divided politicians instead of fuelling or deepening divisions and suspicions among them.

We share Soumare's optimism that Africa will one day be one of the most democratic regions in the world. But this will only happen when Africa starts to find its own strategies for good governance and development and build capacities for strong democracies.

The situations of the European and African countries are not comparable. The European countries are rich and developed; they have established certain political forms and achieved certain standards of living by exploiting and plundering the rest of the world.

They have amassed enormous wealth that they took from the colonies and neo-colonised countries, and they have achieved a passable standard of living. They have invented procedures for maintaining a sort of social peace based on redistribution of some of the wealth to alleviate the worst consequences of class society and the system of capitalist exploitation, and to calm the masses of the poorest and dispossessed. They have money to establish a system - we are not going to call it a single-party system - of single-class government.

They have established a ruling class that, using different methods which include some differences of opinion within the capitalist system, has created a political situation in which nothing threatens its system. Its members are rich and live in peace; nobody threatens or attacks them - save for the rare terrorist attacks.

They live in conditions that are completely different from those we live in - and especially those in a country like Zimbabwe, which is subjected to a blockade, and imperialism's ongoing hostility, which forces them to make a truly incredible effort to survive. These conditions aren't at all similar to those in Europe.

There may be a difference of opinion, but it's a difference of opinion within the system, whose continued existence is ensured by the monopoly on all means of communication, all money, all wealth and all the power of the state. This is the only way a system of that kind can continue to exist.

Truly, these elections we hold are very important steps in democracy but, as Soumare observes, democracy must be looked at in terms of opening up dialogue in a country. Elections per se should not be seen as the only reflections of democracy in a country.

It cannot be denied that there are serious problems in Zimbabwe that need to be resolved. But these can only be resolved by efforts that genuinely seek to unite Zimbabweans across the political spectrum and not by efforts that seek nothing but divisions among them. We don't know when imperialism will ever stop this tactic of divide and rule.

We therefore urge the United Nations, as the best placed organisation, to step in and help the Zimbabwean people overcome their political differences and unite to tackle the economic and social problems today facing their country.

Labels: UN, UNDP, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 12:46 PM