Mariko, in the last article you wrote “There is a real danger of Zimbabwe breaking up into warring factions as has happened in other countries like Somalia. You must be worried about that surely!”
I assume that you were specifically referring to my statement “Tendai Biti and Tsvangirai both have tried the “GNU is the only game-in town, support it or Zimbabwe is doomed!” argument.”
The West and anybody else out there should judge for themselves whether or not this Government National Unity has carried out the promised democratic reforms with the energy and commitment expected of it to warrant the lifting of the targeted sanction and renewal of aid. They should be allowed to make that judgement call without undue pressure of dire consequences that may or may not happen if they decode one way or the other.
Any of those within Zanu PF to make such threats is unacceptable. That is black mail pure and simple. That these threats should be made by those within the country’s Police, Army and other State Security Organs is high treason and should be investigated with the diligence and urgency it rightly deserves.
The policy of appeasement has never worked because one is not dealing with rational individuals with any sense of fair play and decency. Given in to their demands today and tomorrow they will come up with even more demands.
The individuals who have driven Zimbabwe into the gutter today are the same individual who in the past threatened to turn the country into a blood bath if their hold on power was threatened. Being in power has allowed Mugabe and his cronies to loot unchecked, forcing school and hospitals to close for lack of funding whilst they used the money to buy cars and other luxuries. In the last ten years they have carved the nation farms amongst causing such disruption to the country’s food production 80% of our people are now dependent on food aid!
Mugabe and his cronies have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people in their three decades in power to prove their blackmail was not an empty threat. And the people for their part gave in to Mugabe and his cronies and they in the end lost everything; Mugabe, oblivious of the people’s suffering and despair, demands have become more and more ridiculous.
Anyone who claims to represent the ordinary people in Zimbabwe must be acutely aware of this vicious circle of appeasement the nation is caught up in. They should know the solution is not to try to appease the cabal but to break the cycle by standing up to the cabal!
What people like Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti are doing is blackmail the West on behave of the cabal. Even if the West was foolish to fall for that they too will be forced to rethink. The cabal’s modest appetite in 1980 has grown in leaps and bounce over the years, it is now humongous. Back in 1980 Mugabe and any of his cronies would have been contend to with a US$50 000 - house. Today Mugabe owns a mansion worth US$6 million, his daughter rents a US$5 million apartment, he has farms valued in millions of dollars each, no doubt he has millions of dollars starched away somewhere. His wife, Grace, has farms, houses, money in foreign accounts, etc. all valued in hundreds of millions of dollars. Whatever the West throws in Tsvangirai’s begging bowl will disappear in a flash.
Thank God the West is sending Tsvangirai back home empty handed!
The second reason why we need to break this vicious circle that nation’s economic recovery is totally dependent on us wrestling the land and other important resources looted by the cabal over the years and put them back into productive use. In other words we should not be seeking just to end this policy of appeasement but to reverse it. It is pay back time; Mugabe and his cronies must give back to the poor what they looted and account for all the suffering and murder of innocent lives!
So to answer you question Mariko whether or not are not I am concerned that Zimbabwe might suffer the same blood shed it suffered last year or worse. I am concerned. These fears are real today because thirty years of appeasing Mugabe and his henchmen has emboldened them. The people of Zimbabwe have paid dearly for the thirty years of pursuing the erroneous policy of appeasement. The Mugabe dictatorship has taken away their livelihoods and them destitute and yet the cabal demands more. What the cabal is asking for now is the people’s very soul and it is used to getting whatever it wants and will not be denied. For the people they will lose their humanity if they give up their soul; this is something well worth fighting for.
If the cabal start a fight then the people will have no choice but fight the good fight. The cabal must however know that this is a fight they will not win and whose consequences they will have to account for.
People like Tsvangirai and Biti, who are actively promoting the discredited policy of appeasement and selling cosmetic change in the regime as the democratic change the people are seeking; are doing so to win favours with the dictator. They are no different from the old guard within Zanu PF itself who have too have sold their soul to the dictatorship.
Claims that Tsvangirai, Biti and many others in the MDC are somehow different from the Zanu PF old guard because of what they have suffered under Mugabe is more no valid that Mugabe’s own liberation struggle credentials. Whilst it right and proper that those who suffer and risk their very lives fighting for a common cause are honoured as heroes par excellence. It must be stated that no amount of heroic can ever justify taking away the basic human rights and freedom of another!
What we are grappling with in Zimbabwe today is a great human tragedy perpetrated by men and women who were yesteryear’s liberators. In condemning the new oppressors we must too deal with those hunting with the hounds and running with the hare!
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