The violations of human rights by Mugabe must not go unnoticed

May 18, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
Throughout Africa, Zimbabwe is seen as one of the engineers of the anti-colonial struggle, with its now President, Mr. Robert Mugabe, leading the charge. Independence came after much enduring struggles and patience to overcome the exclusion of blacks from participation in Government, other discriminatory policies towards blacks by whites, and the most contentious issue — the inequitably distribution of land (largely in favour of white farmers).
None can ignore how instrumental Mr. Mugabe was in his country’s fight for independence. For his involvement in the nationalist struggle he was jailed for more than a decade; a man who was seen as a terrorist became the President.
Rhodesia, renamed Zimbabwe in 1980, was given over to the Mugabe Government and was considered the gem of Southern Africa. It was viewed as having an optimistic future, with its vast natural wealth; home to the Victoria Falls (was one of the Seven Wonders of the World), modern infrastructural development, an accepted educational system, and economic stability. After years of negotiations failed to give substantial results in the redistribution of farmlands to blacks, and losing a constitutional referendum to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Mr. Mugabe rationalised his approach by employing land grabbing, mass evictions, torture, and countless other human rights violations. For his actions he has encourage much suffering on his people. In 1997 Zimbabwe had the fastest growing economy in all of Africa, with massive exports of agricultural products. Now, it ranks with the poorest countries in the world, with inflation at 165,000 %.
Mr. Robert Mugabe, to some, remains a hero because of his achievements in the anti-colonial struggle, but this does not justifiy his human rights violations and total disregard for Zimbabwe’s Constitution. Whatever the bad experiences were during colonialism and that which continued after, the direction taken by Mr. Mugabe has brought Zimbabwe’s people a ruined economy, forcing millions to be unemployed, and millions have emigrated.
The people of Zimbabwe, on the 29th March, 2008, demanded a change at that country’s general elections; their voices were loud enough to give the opposition a majority in Parliament for the first time in 28 years. The presidency was (according to the ruling party) not won out-right.
After much reluctance, the opposition has now agreed to take part in the run-off. But after asking for such a runoff to be open to the entire world, the Justice Minister is quoted as saying that, “The run-off will be held within the framework of the constitution and electoral laws. There will be no conditionalities that will be outside this framework”, this coming from a Government that has no respect for the constitution and an Election Commission that has been compromised by the Government (matters from the last elections are still before the courts, with no end in sight).The world must seek to ensure that Mr. Mugabe does not employ his usual human rights violations. There are already reported cases of torture and intimidation.
All the political parties of the Guyana Parliament have boldly announced how much they all promote democracy. To date, they have failed to endorse what they promote individually or as a Parliament; they have not moved any motion or even spoken out against the atrocities being perpetrated by Mr. Mugabe. Please don’t betray that which you all promote. Leaders like Mr. Mugabe must not be allowed to go unnoticed for their total disregard of one of the pillars of democracy; which is the respect for human rights.
Sharma Solomon

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The violations of human rights by Mugabe must not go unnoticed

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