South Africa Can Do Something If They Want To

Contrary to what ANC says that South Africa cannot do anything about Zimbabwe, and the various diction ANC led government of South Africa employs to absolve themselves from the crisis in Zimbabwe, history shows they can do something its only that they are unwilling. They have the economic wherewithal and the political clout needed to bring change in Zimbabwe. Their main argument is flawed, that Zimbabweans have to solve their own crises.

To the outside world it gives a distorted view that the people of Zimbabwe are unwilling to solve their own problems yet the people of Zimbabwe are incapacitated by a brutal government and through repressive laws. What the ANC preaches is that Zimbabweans need to find a solution through dialogue, Zanu PF is unwilling to negotiate they have even failed to turn up for meetings brokered by Mbeki. Zanu PF also keeps throwing out key negotiations points even before the talks begin like the need for a new constitution that would have ensured that result of the proposed 2008 elections are free and fair, so how can we also talk when what we want to talk about is deemed unnecessary. Since Zanu PF holds power illegally in Zimbabwe they do not see the need to negotiate as stated by Chinamasa how then can Zimbabweans solve their own problems?

Lets look at what we could do in Zimbabwe if it was a free country, we would have won the 2000 parliamentary elections had Zanu PF not rigged it. Morgan Tsvangirai could be the President now had Mugabe not rigged the 2002 Presidential Elections. Murambatsvina would not have happened, basically if people of Zimbabwe could do something about their situation then we certainly could have done something about it long ago. The only reason that is stopping us is that in Zimbabwe we live under a dictatorship, were personal freedom is curtailed, where human rights are no longer respected, where freedom to express political opinion is a dream, there is no free press in Zimbabwe. Recently for Mbeki to be tasked by the lame SADC to broker talks between opposition in Zimbabwe and the illegal government of Robert Mugabe had come about because on the 11th of March this year Mugabe's partisan police murdered Gift Tandare a member of MDC (rest in peace) and beat more than 60 opposition leaders including Morgan Tsvangirai to pulp in ua barbaric reaction to opposition called prayer meeting in Harare. Now Mr Manuel tell s how under such circumstances we can we help ourselves?

History tells us what precipitated the Lancaster House conference that ushered Mugabe and Co into power were the sanctions that were imposed by apartheid regime on the Rhodesian government. Internationally, the then Rhodesian state was placed under official United Nations sanctions almost from the start of UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) in 1965. Apart from a few daredevil adventurers who broke the sanctions by aircraft missions across Africa, White ruled South Africa became the Rhodesians' main source of supplies, including the vital oil and petrol needed to keep the wheels of the army running. Pressure was then applied to the South African government to in turn exert pressure on Ian Smith. At one stage the beleaguered country had only three days fuel and ammunition left after the supply was cut off by the then South African Prime Minister, John Vorster, in an attempt to curry favor with the American government. Vorster had been promised a lifting of pressure on South Africa by Henry Kissinger, the then 'American' Secretary of State, in return for pressure being applied to the Rhodesian government. Foolishly, Vorster believed Kissinger, and applied pressure to Rhodesia, simply cutting off shipments of vital supplies and refusing to take Smith's calls when the later tried to find out what was going on. The same would happen today if South Africa were to hermetically seal the border with Zimbabwe, cut off the electricity, refuse to buy Zimbabwean produced goods then Zanu Pf might want to negotiate. For those that think sanctions would hurt ordinary Zimbabweans, think again because what is hurting ordinary Zimbabweans today is the dictatorship that rules Zimbabwe. Like the forced price controls that have led to the shortages of basic commodities like meat, sugar, bread and oil.

At the height of apartheid black South Africans called on the world in order to defeat apartheid and the world answered their call. Our call is the same today as it was for South Africans, whereas then the enemy was a white racist government now its black government but the questions and answers remain the same, this is a government that is starving its own people a government that murders its own citizens for belonging to an opposition party. ANC should be more revolted by Mugabe, if apartheid was understandable white supremacy over blacks, surely black on black apartheid is too much to stomach.