Remove the repressive regime
The removal of the repressive regime in Zimbabwe has become a desperate humanitarian necessity.
Along with a lot of other people, I am worried that it’s almost a week since Jestina was forcibly disappeared. Two of her employees were also abducted recently. It appears the state is unashamedly bent on doing whatever it takes to eradicate all forms of dissent and criticism.
But my worry goes beyond the safety of Jestina and her coworkers. I used to get encouraged each time somebody ‘important’ made a statement on Zimbabwe or castigated Mugabe or called for some sort of action. All the while I believed this was culminating in a build up of some real decisive action. But the continuous all-talk-and no-action is causing me, and I’m sure many other people, the kind of fatigue that makes you want to turn off the TV whenever the news starts, or avoid reading the papers. Everyone seems to acknowledge there is a serious crisis in Zimbabwe but no one seems capable or willing to actually do something about it.
I have developed an acronym for all the politicians spewing the tired and useless rhetoric of castigating Mugabe. They are ATANAs: All Talk and No Action. It seems to have become the fashionable ‘in thing’ to be heard once in a while castigating Mugabe. You find even idiots like Julius Malema in some speech that has nothing to do with Zimbabwe calling for Mugabe to step down. I have been putting together quotes from various politicians worldwide and a distinct pattern emerged: they are all ATANAs who really can’t or won’t do anything except talk. It probably gives them some kind of political mileage to be seen to establish a certain position on Zimbabwean or African politics at large.
Interestingly some ATANAs have been more vocal than others and recent examples include the revered Archbishops Desmond Tutu and John Sentamu as well as President Raila Odinga calling for the forcible overthrow of Mugabe. I feel I must point out at this stage that former President Jimmy Carter in an interview with SW Radio admitted that the Elders couldn’t actually do anything for Zimbabwe except that they had the ability to shift the beam of world attention onto the beleaguered country. Go figure.
That I ambitiously agree with the idea of a forced removal is no secret but it is unfortunate that it might just remain that: an ambitious idea. As long as loud mouth politicians are putting more energy into talking; as long as the world willingly watches as the people of a nation slowly die, and as long as we value the cornerstones of the Wilsonian system of independent states i.e self- determination and sovereignty – people in Zimbabwe will continue to die miserable, unnecessary deaths.
Meanwhile, South Africa continues to play a half-hearted role of outwardly criticizing Mugabe, all the while being the super-power in Southern Africa that’s harboring him against real removal from power. If the cholera outbreak spreading across the Limpopo will not serve to make them take more decisive action or at least realize that this might implode and cause instability and suffering throughout the region, then only God knows what will.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner long ago once recognized a duty to intervene when human rights were abrogated. I agree and reckon that if earthlings are the ones who designed and put in place the concept of sovereignty, surely the same earthlings must by now realize the need to make provisions for when a regime forfeits that legitimacy through abuse of the human rights of innocent people.
Though an Iraq-style solution might not be favorable, it has become desperately necessary for the world to intervene somehow, whether they decide upon military invasion or something else. The fact is Zimbabweans need to be saved from this untouchable regime that will neither cooperate with the provisions of the GPA nor cease the culture of crushing dissent though the enforced disappearance of perceived enemies.
Won’t somebody say something and actually mean it for once because all the diplomatic gibberish is serving only to further torment an already disillusioned nation. It has clearly become desperately necessary that in order to salvage the little that remains of this economy and its people, the repressive regime needs to be removed and an interim government instated until fair elections can be held again.
Tuesday, December 9th 2008 at 3:39 pm
We need some suicide bombers. the Bindura congress seems ideal – a couple of bombs and we get rid of the lot. I never thought I’d say something like this but what other action will work with these disgusting people?
Tuesday, December 9th 2008 at 4:41 pm
[...] The blogger Natasha Msonza summed up the problem: “The removal of the repressive regime in Zimbabwe has become a desperate humanitarian necessity.” [...]
Tuesday, December 9th 2008 at 5:41 pm
[...] The blogger Natasha Msonza summed up the problem: “The removal of the repressive regime in Zimbabwe has become a desperate humanitarian necessity.” [...]
Tuesday, December 9th 2008 at 9:33 pm
We are in a political cul-de-sac. It’s a dead end situation where ‘talks’ and negotiations dominate the agenda. A friend of mine suiggested that the talks be moved to Budiriro high density suburb in Harare, which is currently spweing with raw sewage and experiencing cases of the much dreaded cholear epidemic. That way, the leaders – so repulsed by ths stench of poverty and suffering – might come to a compromise sooner than they are doing in the comfort of plush hotel conference rooms. The leadership in this country is far too removed from the general population – how else can we explain their willingness to stall action while Zimbabwe fast becomes a hotspot for all forms of plague and strife?
International treaties forbid invasion into a soevereign state which is not at war. So what can anyone on the outside looking in do but stand at the glass door of our sorry home and raise a hand or a voice in soildarity with us? While I stand in accusation of some of the ATANAs that Natasha mentions, I wonder what can really be done for this country by anyone external to it.
The only real solution to this mess has to take the current regime conceding their selfish hegemonic rule over tired and tormented citizens who are fed up with being the the butt of every joke and the lost hope of our continent, Africa. But I very much doubt that this will happen any time soon. And I wonder, “What next for my country?”
Wednesday, December 10th 2008 at 8:06 am
I am an American who has been following this evil regime for some time. I sponsor a child in Zimbabwe. I am finally going to do something by demanding that my representatives in Washington, D.C. pursue a just solution and intervene in this crisis. Forgive me for being apathetic as to what I should do. I continue to pray that Mugabe’s power comes to an end.
Wednesday, December 10th 2008 at 5:22 pm
Throughout the African people’s history of fighting for liberation and human dignity, each gain and breakthrough we have made was mainly due to our ability to overcome our enemy’s overt brutality, deceit and manipulation.Because the colonialists and imperialists have actively engaged in both our physical and mental oppression, the web of deception created by their Media and networks is a crucial and deadly weapon .
The manner in which the European and British media have reported how cholera is spreading in Zimbabwe not only reveals they enjoy watching a people whom they cannot intimidate and control suffer, but even, more importantly, it is clearly a masquerade by supposedly compassionate human beings who have nothing to do with the problem.
The Zimbabwean Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, and his staff deserve ultimate praise, not only for their tireless efforts to maintain Zimbabwe’s broken health infrastructure, but for having the courage and integrity to inform the world that the sanctions — and not negligence or bad governance — are the root cause for problems with the country’s health delivery system.
While the cholera problem is tragic and deserves our immediate attention, the British government and its supporters (raila Odinga and Co), obsessed with illegal regime change in Zimbabwe, should be the last ones allowed to pass moral judgment on how President Mugabe and Zanu-PF deal with this matter.
Africans generally deplore what is going on in Zimbabwe. However, students of African history are equally aware that the seed of the crisis in Zimbabwe was planted by the British. Just as they equally know that when it comes to African affairs, the EU, Britain and the US has no credibility. Their sordid record in Rwanda, Kenya, the Congo, Angola and Namibia completely disqualify them to lecture African leaders on what is good for them.