I watched Moeletsi Mbeki's interview on Sky News this morning and I am afraid the picture is bleak. He starts by pointing out that Zimbabwe is a landlocked country that if any pressure was needed then it can only be exerted by the neighbouring countries i.e South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. He then points out what he conceives as the primary reason for the neighbours for not exerting pressure on Zimbabwe is mostly because they fear that their support for MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai would send a wrong message for Africa's most industrialised region. Souther Africa being the most industrialised has more people working and this has given rise to trade unionism, the trade unions using their sheer size are becoming more and more political. He cites the case of Zambia where Kenneth Kaunda was ousted by a trade union leader after 27 years in power. Therefore African leaders are reluctant to be drawn into the issue of Zimbabwe for fear that they own labour movement might oust them from power one day. Mr Mbeki argues that the influx of refugees would not make a big policy change as he acknowledged that even in South Africa, COSATU the largest umbrella labour body in whole of Africa poses a threat to South Africa's ANC led government. COSATU is only civic body together with The Church Council of Souther Africa which issued a statement concerned by what was happening in Zimbabwe. On Human Rights day in South Africa it has promised to demonstrate against South Africa's quiet diplomacy and the illegal arrest and torture of Zimbabwean's opposition and civic leaders on their way to a prayer meeting.
Mbeki having lived in Zimbabwe when he was forced to flee apartheid was there when Mugabe ordered the massacre of more than 50 000 civilians to crush Joshua Nkomo's opposition Zapu PF which later merged with Mugabe's Zanu PF. He then uses this example to say that things will get worse before they get better in Zimbabwe. Asked about the fact that The MDC President feels that last Sunday's events were a tipping point, he answers that Morgan is an optimist. He says he knows Mugabe personally and know that he has an appetite for violence and will continue to exert brutal violence to stop regime change in Zimbabwe.
Mr Moeletsi Mbeki is a brother to South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, has a strong background in journalism, with a resume that includes a Nieman Fellowship and time at the BBC. He was a media consultant for the ANC in the '90s, and is currently the chairman of Endemol South Africa. He has always bee outspoken and differs on many things from his brother South Africa's president. He caused waves when he said: Africans Were Better Off During Colonial Times Than They Are Now
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Some of Australia’s most eminent Aboriginal community leaders, artists, educators and performers have expressed their horror at the brutal bashing and torture of Zimbabwean grandmother Mrs Sekai Holland and other opposition leaders at the hands of the Mugabe regime in Harare.
Many Aboriginal Australians who were involved in the anti-apartheid movement in the early 1970s have strong and fond memories of Sekai Holland. She was a staunch supporter of the Aboriginal Land Rights movement and the 1972 Aboriginal Embassy.
Naomi Mayer’s of the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service said that Sekai was and is a strong but gentle person of principle and great integrity and that it was outrageous for a grandmother to be brutalized in this manner. Mrs. Mayers said that both the Redfern Legal Centre and the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service has written to the South African High Commission (the major international sponsor of the Mugabe regime) expressing concern for the safety of Mrs Holland and other opposition leaders in Zimbabwe.
Other Aboriginal rights leaders and Aboriginal community members who said that they were shocked and outraged by the actions of the Mugabe Government included, Jenny Munro, Lyall Munro, Gary Foley, Sol Bellear, Gary Williams, NSW MP Linda Burney, novelist and historian Tony Birch, Kaye Bellear (widow of Aboriginal District Court Judge Bob Bellear), novelist and Miles Franklin Award nominee Alexis Wright, artists Richard Bell and Sam Wickman, , barrister Lloyd McDermott, and veteran campaigners Lowitja O’Donohue, Evelyn Scott, Faith Bandler, Hans Bandler, Lester Bostock, Dulcie Flower, Euphemia Bostock, Joyce Clague and Colin Clague.
Activist and historian Gary Foley, who knew Sekai from the late 1960s said that it was particularly ironic that the ANC Government of South Africa were propping up the Mugabe regime at a time when the Zimbabwe government is brutalizing a grandmother who once stood beside Australian Aboriginal activists to fight against South African apartheid.
Mr. Foley said that Mugabe has dismissed criticism from the West as just ‘white racists’. “Well it is time for Mugabe and his thugs to realize there are black people in the west who also condemn his actions. Fascism is fascism, whether its face is white or black!”
The Aboriginal Australians also called on the Australian government do more to ensure the safety and security of Sekai Holland and her opposition colleagues in Zimbabwe. They said the Australian government, which had rushed in to help depose Sadam Hussein have an obligation to take more firm action against a worse tyrant in Zimbabwe.
For further info: contact Gary Foley gfoley@kooriweb.org
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