A Discussion Paper by Cont Mhlanga  

Ndabikhona I enjoyed reading your opinion of what you think drove Cde
Mugabe to the point where he is today; his anger against the British and
the Americans. I want to respond to your analysis that points a finger at
what you call the hypocrisy of the West to remain silent over the
Gukurahundi killings because they befriended Cde Mugabe then and now speak
out ‘human rights Mugabe must go’ because he has killed a ‘few’ White
farmers and MDC activists in comparison to the numbers he killed in
Matebeleland and the Midlands in the eighties.

It is on the regional and global silence on Gukurahundi operations in
Matebeleland and the Midlands in the eighties that I want to contribute
on; but before I say my mind on that issue let me make a quick long point
on the current relation ship between Cde Mugabe and the British.

Zanu PF vs Labour

Cde Mugabe’s claims that his differences with what he refers to as the
British; stems from the land issue is correct. Both sides may have valid
reasons to their arguments. Let us unpack this group called The British in
this conflict. Cde Mugabe is in fact at war with the Labour Party
leadership and not just any ‘British.’ This is only natural because he was
friends and made several agreements, deals and packs with the Conservative
Party leadership and not just the ‘British’ For reasons best known to
Labour when they came to power in Britain they decided they were not going
to follow through with the Conservative deals and agreements with Zanu PF
in the light that the Conservatives had agreed to them. Until we know the
details of the agreements, deals and packs and what Labour did not like
about them we will not be in the best position to make informed judgments
in our debates as to who is wrong or right between Zanu PF and the Labour.

It is how ever a fact that the stand off between these two Parties and
their behind the scenes maneuvers to outclass each other have brought
Zimbabwe politically to where it is today. The result of this political
stalemate is a now very critical humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe that Zanu
PF can never handle single handed. Suffer and die the ordinary people!

It is only sad that Zanu PF, Labour and The Conservatives are not coming
together behind closed doors and picking the pieces and putting them
together from where things went wrong with what ever agreements, deals and
packs that Labour inherited from the Conservatives in the presence of Zanu
PF and some critical Zimbabwean Political Parties and Civil Society
Stakeholders. They have all chosen to play out their egos at government to
government level first before creating some common understanding at
political parties level completely ignoring the historical implications
and processes that preceded their two current governments in regards to
Zimbabwe. May be they did meet but if they did and there were still thorny
differences between the three I guess they should be making those
deliberations public through one spokesperson so that the world can make
informed contributions on assisting Zimbabwe.

It is also my humble opinion that this is where the team of ‘Elders led by
Kofi Anan should have started in creating a dialogue between Zanu PF,
Labour and the Conservatives who played a part in what ever agreements
that were born after the Lancaster Conference that brought about the
independence of Zimbabwe. I guess it is for this reason that Cde Mugabe
refers to this conflict as from just the British by the British! And on
this ground he remains right and correct in my opinion. These British that
he refers to have not only messed up on this land agreement as Cde Mugabe
states but on other issues too in this country that are yet to explode in
the face of the world.

Lets take this simple plot; ….on behalf of Queen Victoria and her Empire,
Cecil Rhodes comes to Africa and finds two separate nations coexisting
next to each other; the Mthwakazi Empire and Munumutapa Empire; he settles
himself with no resistance in the Munumutapa Empire and turns every one to
his subject; trains the locals into his police force and pays them to go
and fight along side his men to military topple the Mthwakazi Empire. He
joins the two Empires with no concent from the locals to make his own
dream country that he calls by his sweet name Rhodesia and all people and
resources of these forcefully emerged Empires work for the growth and
development of the Queens Empire. A liberation war is fought by two
separate liberation groups each coming from the historical background of
the two forced to emerge Empires. Years and generations later the matter
finally goes before the British Lancaster House Conference. The British
take the country Rhodesia created by their ancestor Rhodes and give it to
the descendants of the Munumutapa Empire completely ignoring the
historical events that took place on how this Rhodesia was created. At
once from this careless decision the modern politics based on the
historical background of the then Mthwakazi and Munumutapa Empires that
was ignored and taken for granted at the Lancaster Conference start
playing out into a new civil war conflict in the making…

Now you have cries from the descendants of the Mthwakazi Empire that the
descendants of the Munumutapa Empire are marginalizing them and stealing
their local resources to empower their own and turning their off spring to
perpetual economic refugees in other countries.And this claim is a fact
and not an exaggeration!The have started to ask 'Why and for how long?'
This is a recipe for a very explosive civil war in not so far a distant
future created by the British. So you see that Cde Mugabe is not totally
insane when he squares up with his British!

Actually this plot that I have just narrated above motivated Cde Mugabe to
ruthlessly implement the Gukurahundi killings with no remorse at all
allowing him self to play into the British mistakes and give a runway push
to the civil war to take off. It has taken off but it has just not landed
and I can only suggest that the UN should be proactive for once and handle
such national security risky issues before they explode rather than
waiting until local people kill each other then moving in with piece
keeping forces! I am for a peaceful secure world but peace and security
cannot exist where there is injustice and human rights violations!

Silence over Gukurahundi

The Gukurahundi atrocities and genocide remain the highest human rights
violations by any sitting President in the SADC region today yet no one
even in the then Front Line States let alone the rest of the world raised
their voice. I how ever square the blame for the silence on the then Zapu
Central Committee led by the late Dr Joshua Nkomo and the Zipra High
Command led by Dr Dumiso Dabengwa and Cde Lookout Masuku for the silence.
Every member of the then Zapu Central Committee are equally accountable
and responsible for the cloud of silence during and after the operations!
They actually made and shaped Cde Mugabe to be the heartless person who
does not care for human rights violations that he is today.

Even when the Catholics worked hard and tirelessly to break that silence
it was members of the Zapu Central Committee that were on the fore front
in attacking that initiative protecting Cde Mugabe all the way. Even to
this day there are some former Zapu Central Committee members who are
still working on making sure that they protect Cde Mugabe on the
Gukurahundi saga and violations all the way to his final resting place
that little village they call The Heroes Acre!

If the people and the leaders of those people whose rights are violated
stand up in defense of the perpetrators what else can the rest of the
world do? Even when Dabengwa and Masuku and others were eventually framed,
arrested, acquitted but still kept in prison no one from the then Zapu
Central Committee raised a voice let alone go outside the country and
launch the ‘ Free Dabengwa and Masuku Campaign’

They knew very well that Cde Mugabe and his Fifth Brigade were targeting
at wiping out all the Zapu leadership structures from Dr Joshua Nkomo
himself to the chairperson of the cells and all their relatives as long as
they were Ndebele because Cde Mugabe did not want any party to be in
opposition with his own. Cde Mugabe hates opposition parties. Simple. They
all chose to remain silent and for some, even attack those that dared to
raise their voices on behalf of those that are packed in unidentified mass
graves to this day. These people in these mass graves were their members!
Many of them died with their party’s cards in their pockets and some with
pins of Dr Joshua Nkomo on their chests and hats, yet he was on the fore
front to put and press the lid on the violations just to protect Cde
Mugabe. Puzzling!

No one can convince me that the training, and the intelligence
capabilities of the Zipra Soldier could fail to get out of Zimbabwe and
start a protest voice sensitizing the world of what Cde Mugabe was doing
and had done at that time. But no one did. Puzzling!

Even then many members of the Zapu Central Committee and several members
of Zipra managed to run away and find safe homes in other countries yet
when they settled out there they decided that they will not do anything
about the Gukurahundi silence. Dr Nkomo himself managed to get to London
but all he did when he got there was write a nice book that most of his
party members could not even access or be able to buy. He had all the
reasons and the opportunity to create a voice that would have broken the
silence and Cde Mugabe and his allies would have been brought to book for
gross human rights violations sooner than later.

Even after the Unity Accord signing and after having joined Cde Mugabe’s
government Dr Joshua Nkomo and his Zapu Central Committee had all the
opportunities within their means to take on Cde Mugabe face to face on his
human rights record and send him to the gallows but they did not.
Puzzling! They decided that they will promote the silence and of course
the world took their queue.

Today 22 December is Unity Day in Zimbabwe. But if you conceder the events
that brought about this holiday carefully you will agree with me that this
is a holiday to celebrate the bad human rights record that Cde Mugabe
scored after killing thousands of unarmed civilians some of them pregnant
women who where being skinned alive just because the baby in their
stomachs would be born to be a supporter of Dr Nkomo and Zapu and hence
that baby had to be killed. Guess who is there lifting Cde Mugabe’s hand
to the air to help him celebrate this achievement and cover up for him-
its Dr Joshua Nkomo surrounded by his members of the Zapu Central
Committee. In my opinion this holiday must be put into the right context
and should be moved to coincide with the World Human Rights Day in memory
of the thousands that were killed for being members of the opposition
party to Cde Mugabe and those that continue to die for that reason to this
day.

How ever, finally things are changing. Now the persecuted people are
speaking out, the world is slowly getting sensitized and even Cde Mugabe
once found himself responding to the voices saying his actions were a
result of ….a time of madness on his part… but some members of the Zapu
Central Committee were quick to cover up and even be at pains to explain
what he Cde Mugabe meant by that and encouraged affected citizens to take
the opening of public dialogue on the matter as tribalism and opening of
old wounds as if those wounds were justified or ever healed.

So before we point our fingers at the rest of the world on this issue
questioning them on what they should have done or failed to do, lets look
at the members of the then Zapu Central Committee first. Our own leaders
in the region wanted the Gukurahundi silence to exist for what ever reason
only them know. Cde Mugabe cannot bring himself before the international
courts for prosecution! It is also very difficult for an outsider to take
him to the courts if those who were wronged protect him!

I think I have made my point Ndabikhona.

Cont Mhlanga
Monday, December 22, 2008

In Reponse To:

> THE TRUTH AND LIES ABOUT ZIMBABWE'S POLITICS.
>
> The current Zimbabwe's political economic meltdown confuses even the
> wisest of the wise.It never ceases to amaze me that Zimbabwe has gone so
> low in such a short time.No matter how much attention the country on the
> nation of Zimbabwe is getting worldwide, the problems seem to get worse.
> For a long time I have always thought that the people of Zimbabwe will get
> a quick fix to the current prevailing economic situation.When I was
> growing up in the mid eighties, I used to hear about such extreme  poverty
> and hunger from places far away  as Ethiopia and so no.Never could I have
> imagined that such calamities could  hit home anytime soon.The big
> question we must all be asking ourselves is, "What went wrong?
>
> The Zimbabwean story is like a love relationship that went wrong. "I mean
> seriously wrong". As the Americans put it, its a he said, she said type of
> story. By now most of us who tune in to different kinds of mediums of news
> and opinions must have a clear idea of who is wrong in Zimbabwe.Just for
> a minute can you allow me to challenge your long held  theory and beliefs
> about Zimbabwe's situation. Would you allow any new truths  in this matter
> if ever there is such a thing? Seeing that by hiding the truth for some
> quick fix to the problems in Zimbabwe, we have not achieved anything, why
> not allow me to brainstorm you with some questions? Why don't change your
> news channel just for a day? Will it hurt you if you consider the opinions
> of the other side? What if both sides were telling half truths?
>
> The rest of the  civilized world had hoped that Zimbabwe's problems would
> be solved quick and amicable through usual ways and means.Political
> sanctions and regime change among them. Let me put this one very bluntly.
> What if the crazy man called Robert Mugabe has a point? Or what if there
> is something fishy which Mugabe is protesting. What if the British are
> wrong? What is Zimbabwean people's suffering is caused deliberately by the
> outside forces? Why is Mugabe so angry at the British and Americans
> governments? What went wrong? I ask. Were not these guys the best of
> friends hardly a decade ago? Were not these two govts the largest
> financially  supporters of R.G Mugabe and his ZANU PF? Was it not R.G
> Mugabe who was honored by the whole world. Did Mugabe ever change his ways
> since getting in power in  1980? Now I will answer, No! Mugabe is still
> the same person and still operates the same way. This also applies to his
> party.
>
> According to Mugabe, they still hold a record in pondering their enemies.
> (him and his party).What angered  the American, British and the whole
> Europe so much? So much that they are willing to embarrass him in public?
> So much that they would rather have every black Zimbabwean die of hunger
> and malnutrition to say the least.What sin did the people of Zimbabwe
> commit which its only  sentence is death? To put it simple Mugabe, began
> well as a puppet of these guys, but when he changed, all hell broke loose.
> He should continued the way he began.Its not a secret anymore that Mugabe
> and his brigades killed thousands of people in 1982 to 1986 thereabout.For
>  a long time it was a secret.Even the renowned  human rights world
> watchdogs of our time turned a blind eye to that. That was not a problem,
> it was business as usual. No problem.Zimbabwe was the bread basket of
> Africa.
>
> Investors were all over the country. Donations were flowing in. Tourism
> was booming.There was only one problem. Matabeleland and Midlands, these
> two provinces were under fire. Who cares? People were abducted, people
> disappeared mysteriously. Some  were jailed and tortured. These two poor
> provinces lagged behind when it came to development of roads, schools and
> so on. The cake of the nations 's independence was never shared equally
> to these. The watchdogs of the world did not see this happening under
> their nose. They were busy fishing in blood rivers.The late Dr Joshua
> Nkomo had to go and seek refuge in Britain, himself.Again nobody ever paid
> attention to these calamities except for the  Catholic Church.To this day
> there are still thousands of mass graves of unknown people.
>
> Does that means that Robert Gabriel Mugabe is right? No, not at all.It
> means that the so called human rights watchdog nations did not consider
> that a problem.They were playing a "hear no evil see no evil
> game".Perhaps at that time they did not consider blacks were  worthy of
> human rights privileges.Whatever the case, Mugabe remained in good books
> with his partners or friends up until the war vets messed every things. At
> that time organizations like Inqama settlers and some other were
> advocating for the redistribution of the land. Needless to mention that
> the war veterans were beginning to voice they dissatisfaction. Whenever
> the honorable Prime minister at that time R.G Mugabe addressed the nation
> he made sure to mention that black Zimbabweans were "not economically
> independent." He would promise to work on that. On the other hand when
> ever Dr Joshua Nkomo spoke either in his capacity, he always made sure to
> mention, "that the land and other nation's
>  resourses needed to be redistributed as soon as possible". This was going
> to earn him a bad name with the media, which accused him of being anti
> white, because of his straight talk.
>
> The war vets later became impatient and were out to get Mugabe's head. The
> govt tried to appease them by giving them $50-000 cash. Talk about
> injecting money into the economy.When these guys finally realized that the
> govt was a cash cow, they demanded more.They could not be stopped.The late
>  DR Chengrayi  Huzwi, who was also a questionable war vet championed their
> cause. In turn got the most powerful modern position.These guys wanted
> attention when they stepped into the farms owned by white Commercial
> farmers.They wanted the govt to recognize them as an organization.War of
> words with Britain began, and the man Mugabe wanted to win the elections
> by all means as usual. He had lost the referendum and the writing was on
> the wall. All was bad timing, the ZTCU, which is Zimbabwe's largest, Human
> right organization was trying to negotiate with the ministry of Labor and
> so on without success.There stay away protest.
>
> The economy was surely going down. The war vets scared the international
> community. Mugabe started trashing the British calling the gays and so
> on.The former colonial masters opted for the young Morgan. This guy Morgan
> T has championed the ZCTU. He was seen asking for donations from the
> farmers and farmers unions. Dennis Norman was the minister of Agriculture.
> He quit his job, when he lost approval of his fellow white counterparts in
> the business. R.G could not control the war vets and at the same time he
> wanted the to win a Presidential election in 2002. The world bank and
> other International organizations were busy devaluating the Zim dollar.
> Part of it was genuine part of it was politically motivated.The relations
> between the boss and the servant had soured. Honorary degrees  re
> called.Zimbabwe kissed goodbye to the term breadbasket of Africa.
>
> Mugabe still has not forgiven the British and American for trying to
> unseat him.At the same time these people want to use the people of
> Zimbabwe's suffering to remove him.Mugabe has once again resorted to his
> biggest weapon, violence.These are not new.The biggest question is, Who
> then is responsible for the suffering of the masses in Zimbabwe? Is it
> Mugabe and his regime?Is it Morgan.T or is it the hypocrisy of the
> international community?
>
>
> By Chief Justice

> ikhonaindaba.blogspot.com

> 12/19/2008