Mugabe
Mugabe acts like a cornered animal, sending his goons to crack heads. With the world looking on and inflation at 1800 percent, it feels like this time his apparatus may finally disintegrate. But we have been here before. Despite almost complete collapse of the economy, institutions, agriculture, 5 million plus fleeing to South Africa, genocide in Matabeleland to his name, the 83-year old may stagger on for a few more months.
Now is the time for the African Union to end its queasy complicitious silence and make the Peer Review mechanism meaningful. The embers of Mbeki's leadership (a litany of errors) could be stoked back into a degree of respect by something approaching direct criticism. Ghana's former President John Kufuor (now President of the AU) was on BBC radio a few days ago prior to his speech at Chatham House, sounding needlessly brittle when faced with Today anchor Ed Stourton's criticism of the recent spinelessness of the AU, from Darfur to Zimbabwe. African governments need to get out of the habit of associating criticism of their neighbours with external neo-colonialism, a trick that Mugabe has played tirelessly to his advantage in the past few years. The AU is the one body that can most effectively start the process of change in Zimbabwe. Let's see if Kufuor grasps the nettle.
Would that the South African government could use the AU and the Peer Review mechanism to critique the impending homophobic legislation in Nigeria..
Click here for a good Zimbabwean-in-the-uk blogger, Cry Beloved Zimbabwe. Scroll down and read his trenchant post, South Africa is a Disgrace, or go straight to it here.
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3 comments:
John Kufour is still the president of ghana
Everytime I hear about Zimbabwe - the only thing that reflects my feelings is the The Scream (or The Cry) by Munch.
I heard that radio interview. Did I expect to hear anything different from John Kufour? No.
African leaders will not say anything about what Mugabe is doing to his people because they do not want the spotlight to fall on the sufferings of their own people. Of course there will be people ready to point this out to them in the glare of the world media. We know what skeletons most African hoard in their closets.
I do not know why the world expects any better from Mbeki. This is a man who continously failed the South African People (who elected him to power) on the issue of Aids plus, plus and he is caked in this nonsensical African brotherhood with Mugabe
Everytime i read d news about dat country, i feel like screaming out loud for those innocent people. Good Lord, when will these barbaric leaders stop ruling our nations?
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