Tuesday, November 5, 2024

What business can the world do with Robert Mugabe?

Last Saturday as Zimbabwe’s parliamentarians held a public meeting on the establishment and functions of a Human Rights Commission, Robert Mugabe’s mobsters gate crushed into the august house and violently disrupted proceedings.

They then went on to beat up a Member of Parliament belonging to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change before assaulting a number of journalists.

The police, who witnessed the fracas, did nothing to stop the thugs from entering parliament and behave in such a manner.

This came a few days after Mugabe’s thugs broke up a youth meeting in the Midlands province town of Kwekwe, preventing the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, from addressing members of the Youth Agenda although the meeting had been cleared by the police.

Again, “the police did nothing to keep the public gathering from being disrupted by rowdy and abusive ZANU-PF youths singing revolutionary songs and jeering”.

“It is regrettable that elements of the security sector and some political parties remain afraid of allowing a free exchange of ideas and have yet again shown themselves intent on barring members of the public from engaging in genuine dialogue,” said Andrew Posner, US Embassy spokesman.

In the preceding weeks and months, Mugabe’s youths have disrupted council proceedings, residents’ association meetings and other gatherings with members of the police watching but not interfering.

On Thursday, a rowdy and threatening mob disrupted another public hearing on the Human Rights Commission, which was being conducted by parliamentarians in the southern town of Masvingo.

It is also rather good that South African President Jacob Zuma’s facilitation team was in Harare when violence broke out. The team spokesperson said that they were “outraged at the latest outbreak of violence, just a few metres away from Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s offices”.

We have been trying to tell Zuma that he is wasting everybody’s time engaging Mugabe in the so-called talks.

In all these political transgressions, including soiling the Parliament of Zimbabwe, which should not have been abused even were it empty, did Mugabe admonish or chide his followers.
Indeed only last week did Mugabe threaten parliamentarians who wanted to debate the outbursts of one of his praise singers, Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba who had labelled Prime Minister Tsvangirai a “national security threat”.

Nyikayaramba had also declared that the military would do “anything” to ensure Mugabe stays in power “even after losing elections” and parliamentarians wanted to discuss and censure Nyikayaramba.

Mugabe then jumped into the fray and warned parliament that there are things they cannot discuss.
“As Commander-in-Chief of the security forces, I want to make it very clear that no one should meddle with the command,” said Mugabe. “Parliament cannot be Commander-in-Chief of the security forces. It has no business debating the conduct of individuals in command, let them raise that with me in appropriate forums.”

This is a head of state ordering parliament around and warning it against the very same things they are elected to do.

The on-going meetings, which are open to all, are being held across the country and are meant to gather public views on the Human Rights Commission Bill before it is debated in both Parliament and Senate.

The Bill “is supposed to pave the way for the enactment of a legal framework to govern the operations of the human rights body to protect the human rights of all Zimbabweans”.

One of the reasons why this bill is unpopular with Mugabe and his ZANU-PF is that it is the same bill that is supposed to look into and investigate human rights violations and atrocities that occurred in the past and promote national healing.

But Tsvangirai’s MDC is being heavily criticized for agreeing to limit the mandate of the Commission to investigate violence and abuses that took place from 2009, thereby excluding investigating the murder of thousands by ZANU-PF in the early years of independence.

In 2008, the MDC lost more than 200 supporters, murdered by state-sponsored militants and for the MDC to have agreed to leave these two sad eras in Zimbabwe’s history is betrayal of the worst kind.
In the invasion of parliament, when mobs of ZANU PF supporters stormed the Parliament building in central Harare and disrupted a public hearing on the Human Rights Commission Bill, the police are being accused of being aware of the threat to the public hearing but not taking any action to deter violence and responding to the attack without urgency.

“The consultative meeting, conducted by a Parliamentary group, had to be abandoned 45 minutes after it started when the ‘hired mob’ from Mbare began toy-toying, singing revolutionary songs and denouncing Tsvangirai’s MDC,” said Simon Muchemwa, one of the assaulted journalists. “The police did not do anything. They just stood there watching as the ZANU PF mob was mercilessly beating up people.”

In contrast, police on Wednesday arrested 13 members of the pressure group, Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe (ROHR), outside the High Court where they had gathered to peacefully protest against ongoing human rights abuses in the country.

ROHR told reporters that their activists were protesting against the continued incarceration of eight activists from Tsvangirai’s party who have remained behind bars while being denied bail since May 29.

As Zuma’s facilitation team flies in and out of Zimbabwe, violence continues to be perpetrated on people; arrests of opposition people is a daily occurrence and now Mugabe threatens parliament.
We hear no statements of admonishment from Zuma, SADC and the African Union. They are busy expressing solidarity with Muammur Gaddafi.

ZANU-PF has become the single worst law breaker in the country, breaking all norms of fairness and natural justice and harassing people.

Farms continue being seized and a new trend has also started to emerge where farms belonging to blacks are being invaded because the owner, old or new, is being suspected of having sympathy for the MDC.

This is the man whom Zuma seeks to reach a deal with.
For a long time now, it has been very clear that Mugabe was never and is never a man to do business with.

Mugabe’s behavior has always flown into the faces of all those who tried to mediate.

It is time the world thought of another way of tackling Mugabe because the Zimbabweans have tried their best but to no avail because of the tacit support Mugabe gets from outside Zimbabwean borders yet the situation continues to deteriorate by the day.

Zimbabweans and political parties in Zimbabwe have shown commendable patience and restraint.
It is time for the world to engage into a higher gear for the sake of the nation of Zimbabwe and its neighbouring countries which are suffering so much….just because of one man who is way past his sell by date.

Enough of this charade.

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