Happy Christmas Zimbabwe

An article by Drew    No Comments

Every year TEAR Fund’s Christmas Focus appeal focuses on a particularly needy area of the world.  In 2007 the focus was Darfur.  Last year it was Nepal with a particular emphasis on slave trafficking.  This year it’s Zimbabwe – which on the failed states index – runs a close second to Somalia as the most crippled country in the world.

Out of a population of around 12 million, 1.5 million have HIV/AIDS. 80% are unemployed.  At least 75% are facing chronic shortages of food, clean water and medicine causing malnutrition and disease – like the recent outbreak of cholera which is still ravaging the country.  In the last ten years the life expectancy has dropped from about 60 to 37 years for men and 34 years for women – one of the lowest in the world.  When it comes to orphans, Zimbabwe has the highest number per head of population.

Not surprisingly nearly 5 million people have fled Zimbabwe, some leaving legally, many escaping across the borders in spite of barbed wire, guards and bandits.

One of the great tragedies of Zimbabwe is the current crisis is mostly man made. When it was still a British colony, Rhodesia provided an affluent, pleasant home for the whites  but the native black African population couldn’t vote, had few rights and were little more than servants in their own country.

As so often happens this sort of injustice breeds conflict and through the 60s and 70s rebel groups, particularly PF ZAPU (Patriotic Front Zimbabwe African Peoples Union) led by Joshua Nkomo and ZANU PF (Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front) led by Robert Mugabe fought against the English and each other.

The British eventually were forced to offer independence but a white minority government under Ian Smith took control in 1961 and ruled until 1979, imposing an apartheid regime.  In the late 70s they were ousted and for a short time there was a joint ZANU and ZAPU government.  Robert Mugabe was elected Prime Minister in 81 and Executive President in 87 so has enjoyed absolute power for nearly 30 years during which time the country crashed and burned.

Change was undoubtedly needed in Zimbabwe – independence, land reform, justice for all its tribes and races but Mugabe’s measures were brutal, inept, unjust and had a disastrous impact on the economy.  Under Mugabe’s leadership the country went from a leading food producer to a country needing massive food aid.  The country’s infrastructure has broken down from neglect – closing schools and hospitals, impeding the supply of electricity and water.  The Zimbabwe dollar has been through almost unparalleled hyperinflation and is now worthless.  Those who can, trade in US Dollars or South African Rand.  Those who can’t afford foreign currency face hunger and hardship.

I’ve been conducting an email debate with a highly intelligent friend of mine in Australia.  (Yes there is intelligent life in Australia…though Joe was originally from India. )   Joe believes that Mugabe has been demonized by the western press, while his reforms have been undermined by the British.  He holds that the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe have done more damage to its economy than Mugabe’s actions. Joe argues that the best future for Zimbabwe could be achieved if the octogenarian leader were given a few more years to complete his reforms, unimpeded.

Now it’s true you can’t lay all the blame for Zimbabwe’s sad state at Mugabe’s feet.  Colonialism has a lot to answer for.  Western nations have clearly added to Zimbabwe’s problems as have years of severe drought.  There are always many factors and explanations for a situation… or as Oscar Wilde put it… the truth is seldom pure and never simple.

However we can try to be so reasonable, considering every point of view, that we miss the obvious.  In this case it’s obvious that Mugabe has clung to office at great cost to his country.  He and his henchman have always been ruthless with the opposition.  Back in the early 80s for example, Air Marshal Perence Shiri  became known as the butcher of Matabeleland after he massacred around 20,000 civilians who were trying to oppose Mugabe’s regime.

Intimidation has been used by ZANU PF in every election since they seized control.  During the last election their attacks on opposition leaders and supporters were blatant and brutal, including the leader of DMC (Democratic Movement for Change) Morgan Tsvangirai.  The fact is that with Mugabe controlling the army, the police and the judiciary – supporters of ZANU PF can literally get away with murder whereas opponents of Mugabe’s regime face persecution, imprisonment, torture and death.

Mugabe has consistently rewarded his cronies and attacked his opponents.  When his government enforced land distribution in 2000, most of the land confiscated from white farmers went to ZANU supporters.  When the slums were cleared in 2005, most of the homes and businesses destroyed belonged to urban poor identified as potential ZANU opponents.  When aid agencies were expelled and essential help denied to the population it was again Mugabe’s perceived opponents who suffered most.

Right now there is a “Government of National Unity” in Zimbabwe – a coalition of ZANU PF and DMC but Mugabe is still president and retains all the real power.  Opposition MPs are still being jailed on trumped up charges so they can be replaced by Mugabe henchmen.

We can’t imagine, here in our MMP democracy, how intensely frustrating it must be to be ruled by a dictator who retains power in spite of losing the election.  There seems no way to get rid of him and standing against him is an extremely dangerous decision.

I can remember when the National party won two elections with less votes than the Labour Party because of the way Muldoon’s lot had redrawn the election boundaries – but while I loathed Muldoon I knew that I could speak out against him without the risk of being badly beaten, jailed or even killed.

I would love to see Mugabe removed from power and sentenced to spend his last years rebuilding the houses of those he has persecuted rather than living in the lap of luxury while the majority of his people suffer.   But what concerns me more than the evil of the few – Mugabe and his accomplices  – is the evil of the many – all those who have gone along with Mugabe, the ordinary people who have turned a blind eye or participated in crimes against humanity.

No dictator could achieve atrocity on a grand scale unless an awful lot of solid citizens were prepared to do nothing or do wrong.  I guess the moral is to recognize and resist evil government before it has a chance to take root and grow too strong to be safely removed.

When Mugabe dies or finally steps down it seems likely that the factions within ZANU PF will cause the party to implode so the DMC may have a real chance to start rebuilding this shattered nation.  In the meantime there are millions of people – orphans, elderly, sick and political prisoners who desperately need your help.

You can contribute to the TEAR Fund Christmas appeal on our website – which will also give you info on how the money you donate will be used.  Give a gift to Christ this Christmas and show at least some of our Zimbabwean brothers and sisters that their plight is not being ignored or forgotten.