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The voice of a nation

Polite lobbying of the South African government for action against
Robert Mugabe has had no effect; now it is time to get more vocal.

ANC betrays black Zimbabwe. The ANC asked for international solidarity
against apartheid, but it now refuses to show solidarity with the
Zimbabwe freedom struggle

By Peter Tatchell

The Guardian - Comment Is Free – 30 October 2006

 http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/2006/10/anc_betrays_black_zimbabwe.html

President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has murdered more black Africans than even
the evil South African apartheid regime. In just one region of
Zimbabwe, in just one decade – in Matabeleland in the 1980s - he
massacred 20,000 civilians. This is the equivalent of a Sharpeville
massacre every day for more than nine months.

There was a global campaign against apartheid. I was part of it for
over 20 years. Why isn’t there a similar global campaign against
Mugabe’s murderous tyranny? Ooops, silly me. The killer is the wrong
colour. He’s a black murderer, not a white one. Besides, it is racist
and neo-imperialist for anyone in the West to criticise a Third World
leader, even a bloody butcher like Mugabe. Well, that seems to be the
perspective of some of my colleagues on the left.

It also appears to be the view of the South African government,
judging from the pitiful performance of the South African Foreign
Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, in London last week.

Speaking at the LSE, she failed to address the two biggest crises
facing southern Africa – the HIV pandemic and the chaos and brutality
in Zimbabwe.

I was there and heard Dr Zuma speak about the importance of
international solidarity. She rightly praised the late ANC leader
Oliver Tambo, stating that he was an “ardent internationalist” and a
person who believed in “true solidarity.”

This was stomach-churning stuff coming from a Foreign Minister who,
together with the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, does nothing
while Zimbabwe burns.

It was also too much for the Free Zim Youth (FZY) activists in the
audience.

“We were sickened to hear Dr Zuma talk about international solidarity
when her government is refusing to show solidarity with the persecuted
people of Zimbabwe,” said Alois Mbawara, one of the organisers of
FZY.

He led the disruption of Dr Zuma’s lecture, in protest at her
government’s failure to do anything meaningful to pressure Mugabe to
hold free and fair elections, and to halt his regime’s policies of
detention without trial, rape, torture and murder.

During the 1970s and 80s, I remember well the ANC’s call for
international solidarity against apartheid. The world responded and
the ANC has since said that global support helped secure victory over
white minority rule.

Despite having benefited from an international solidarity campaign to
win black freedom, the ANC is now refusing to show solidarity with the
freedom struggle of the people of Zimbabwe. The ANC had a Freedom
Charter for South Africa. Don’t Zimbabweans deserve a Freedom Charter
too – and shouldn’t the ANC be helping them win it?

I hate to criticise my friends in the ANC but the truth is that
President Mbeki’s “quiet diplomacy” has failed. Mugabe’s abuses have
increased, not diminished, with millions at risk of starvation because
they are being denied food. Why? They don’t get food because they live
in regions of the country that voted for the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change. I call it political cleansing.

The ANC once led a heroic liberation struggle. Now it seems to be
turning its back on the ideals of liberation and internationalism.
Some of its leaders have become complacent and corrupt, suddenly
accruing fabulous wealth. The government in Pretoria spends vast sums
on armaments, while claiming there is not enough money to combat HIV,
fund land reform and treat Zimbabwean refugees humanely.

With these concerns in mind, I joined the protest; jumping up onto the
stage behind Dr Zuma and holding up a placard reading: “Mbeki’s shame.
ANC betrays black Zimbabwe.” It wasn’t long before I was grabbed by
the police: “Mr Tatchell, it’s time to leave,” the officer said. Next
thing I knew I was put in one those agonising restraining grips where
the police force back your wrist and crush your fingers to pinch the
nerves. I was powerless to resist. That was the end of my protest.

Soon afterwards, more black Zimbabweans erupted from the audience.
After a few minutes, we all were either ejected or left of our own
free will. We had made our point. Dr Zuma was able to complete her
miserable lecture.

Although Dr Zuma was greeted by warm applause when she arrived, by the
time she finished her speech she had alienated much of the audience.
They were riled by her arrogant, heartless refusal to express even a
few words of concern for the Zimbabwean people. Particularly
reprehensible was Dr Zuma’s parting shot: that Zimbabweans in Britain
had no right to speak out about the situation in their homeland. This
is a bit rich coming Dr Zuma, who spent much of the apartheid era in
exile in the UK.

While we continued our protest outside the LSE, Dr Zuma was
humiliatingly smuggled out a side exit to a waiting unmarked car. She
scuttled away like the shamed Foreign Minister she is.

Why did we disrupt her lecture? Well, it is because all attempts to
politely lobby the South African government have got nowhere. The ANC
ignores the cries for help from Zimbabwe. That’s why we had to stage
this protest.

MPs and the leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and local
civic organisations have been brutalised while peacefully
demonstrating for fair wages and basic human rights, and against
rocketing prices and mass evictions.

We have seen South Africa blocking calls for the UN to investigate
Mugabe’s abuses. It has endorsed Zimbabwe's flawed elections, even
though they were conducted in an atmosphere of violent intimidation by
Mugabe’s henchmen.

“We salute COSATU and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Unlike the ANC, they
have spoken out against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. They stand in
solidarity with ordinary Zimbabweans. Mbeki, Zuma and the ANC see
nothing, hear nothing and do nothing,” said FZY protester, Wellington
Chibanguza.

“The Zimbabwean people supported South Africans in the fight against
apartheid. Now it is time for South Africa to support Zimbabweans in
the fight against Mugabe's dictatorship,” he said.

Mugabe has killed tens of thousands of Zimbaweans but he cannot kill a
nation and its yearning to be free. The old rally cry of the ANC is
more relevant than ever to Zimbabwe: "Amandla! Awethu!” - Power! To
the People!

Ends