Last week it was announced that Mugabe’s Kimberley Process cronies have decided to give him until June to withdraw the soldiers in the Marange diamond fields. The army runs smuggling operations and use forced labour in mines whose profits benefit Zanu-PF.
Human Rights Watch exposed the horrors of Marange in June. A task team from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme followed soon after and confirmed HRW’s findings. They recommended Zimbabwe be suspended from trading in diamonds.
But the horrors have continued. “As recently as late October 2009, [HRW] uncovered rampant abuses by the military in Marange including forced labour, child labour, killings, beatings, smuggling, and corruption,” says the rights body.
There is a clear case for Zimbabwe to be suspended. The gems from Marange are blood diamonds, extracted through the persecution and oppression of those living in the area. But no: Zimbabwe gets away with it. By letting them off the hook, “this diamond monitoring body has utterly lost credibility,” says Georgette Gagnon, HRW’s Africa director. She is absolutely right.
Having failed to do anything about the rights abuses and military occupation of Marange, over the past few months since abuses have been exposed, it is highly unlikely that Mugabe will implement the Kimberley Process’s recommendations by the agreed deadline. And with friends like South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, DRC and Russia — why should he? Doubtless they’ll rush to his defence in June next year.
So the army will continue its plunder. The diamonds will continue to be smuggled. The people — women, children included — will continue to be oppressed and exploited. And the revenues will continue to fund senior Zanu-PF apparatchiks’ lavish lifestyles. All the while, the country continues its implosion: blackouts roll across the country; people starve; hospitals have no medicine; sewage trickles in the street.
Perhaps we should all boycott purchasing diamonds (of course in these dark times it’s not like there are vast hordes rushing to the jewellery shop anyway). But let’s boycott nonetheless. If there was a significant drop in sales, perhaps the diamond-producing countries that allowed Zimbabwe’s shame to continue, will develop scruples. It’s worth a try.
After all, there’s very little one can do, it seems, except jump up and down == and weep, and pray that sanity may prevail in Zimbabwe. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s re-engagement with Mugabe in the sham “unity” government is a great pity. It means his threats are empty. Mugabe can continue regardless. Do you really think Mugabe’s going to fall in line within thirty days like Tsvangirai’s demanded he do? And what then — another deadline?
The unity government has failed to stop Zanu-PF’s reign of terror: human rights continue to be violated with brutal impunity. And the country continues to fall apart. Tsvangirai is an appeaser. His dalliance with Zanu-PF makes me curious: is he stupid, naïve, or has he been bought by Mugabe’s machine? He reminds me of Neville Chamberlain, and the British prime minister’s desperate attempts to secure “peace in our time” in the months before World War II. Well, as that tragic history showed us, appeasement only led to immense suffering, cataclysmic violence and upheaval.
If Morgan Tsvangirai really cares about his country and the members of his party that continue being persecuted, he must act decisively and abandon the marriage he should never have agreed to. Mugabe needs his foe — and bedfellow — to maintain his legitimacy. If the latter walks away, the promise of aid, investment and all the other lifelines that would prop up the Zanu-PF regime will be pulled away.
I admit, it’s not easy for old Morgan. His job is difficult. And lonely. Shamefully, the SADC (which should stand for Southern African Dictators’ Club thanks to its tireless support for Mugabe’s tyranny) is not interested in true democracy taking root in Zimbabwe. Rather, the regional body craves a continuation of the postcolonial aristocracy in which despotic psychopaths can pillage and persecute freely because they are somehow entitled to. SADC’s logic appears to be that such ghastly behaviour is reward for having liberated their countries from the Europeans.
But the threat of regional alienation is no excuse for Tsvangirai to be co-opted by SADC. It is no excuse for him to become the useful idiot acting out SADC’s wilful contempt for the democratic will of the Zimbabwean people. Zimbabwe has suffered long enough. It is time Tsvangirai stops talking and starts acting.
I think your idea of boycotting diamonds is fantastic! That is largely because I am a man and like many other men, have no need for the stupid things besides drilling though hard materials.
Women, those soft loving creatures, are the problem. For many of them, the diamond is a symbol of worth, a seal on the security of their relationship and a status symbol which they flaunt when they can. These warm, kind people, our mothers and sisters and wives and lovers are the consuming monster that makes that oppression in the diamond fields possible.
The marketing campaigns of De Beers are what drives them to this madness. Like Mother’s Day, Boss’s Day and Christmas, our social traditions have been hijacked by commercial giants seeking to up revenues by controlling our perceptions of what is socially acceptable and desireable. Its wrong man, wrong.
So, just before you launch your campaign, which has my support, just check with your lady. She may get vicious! Have lots of posters of poor, oppressed slave labour to defend yourself with because they will not let go without a fight…
Who cares about Zimbabwe?
Mugabe, Mutambara or Tsvangirai makes no difference to me, they are all pigs with fat snouts chasing one trough….
Poor Zim citizens–how sometimes I wish I could relocate all of them to South Africa and leave those power hungry simpletons all by themselves in their dry tiny Banana Republic.
Spare a thought for Morgan as he is surrounded by enemies on all sides. The only country that is able but perhaps unwilling to help is Botswana. Morgan cannot start an armed revolution as he has all Mugabe’s allies lined up against him.
SADC, South Africa, to a lesser extent Zambia, Mozambique and all for Mugabe and if Morgan resists, Mugabe will just take everything, which is what he is doing anyway.
Mugabe stole the election with the help of Mbeki and the ANC so now he must wait until the next ‘free and fair’ election to see everything lost. You can bet on a landslide ZANU-PF win with more votes counted than voters exist.
No matter how tough Morgan is or tries to be, he is in to a hiding for nothing and as is the case in South Africa, with ESKOM, there is NO economics in politics.
As Mao Tse Tung wrote, “the only way to overthrow a corrupt revolution is with another revolution, and each new revolution is worse than the one it overthrew”. Let us pray that it does not come to this in South Africa.
If you hold sponsored power you can never have a backbone/spine.
Morgan does not have an agenda of his own, hence his lack of clout and credibilty. Mugabe will NEVER take the man seriously (neither will AFRICA) because it is becoming more apparent he has no political strategy, save to badmouth his adversary!
Just 10 days before the KProcess decided to invite Zim back into its bed, Bloomberg reported that smuggled diamonds from the Marange fields have turned up internationally. HRWatch said that smugglers from Vila de Manica, in neighbouring Mozambique, pass diamonds on to the international market.
I doubt these are sold in our local franchises.
Tsvangirai has my every respect; he receives so little support that his life is a continual fart against thunder. Why no one has the nerve to total Mugabe and his twisted cronies is beyond me…but they have supporters too and a civil war could be bloody.
Zuma, the AU and SADEC should be ashamed of themselves. They are perpetuating a vicious cycle.
With no other support, perhaps the best bet the country has, is to be starved into submission, but aid agencies won’t allow that and even for me, it’s a bit much rough, Old Testament justice.
Alex, the title of your article is misleading. You do not say WHY exactly Morgan should be considered as being ‘spineless’. If anything, he is courageous and few people support him.
Phillipa Lipinski, “…Morgan……… is courageous and few people support him.” That is the point, “few African people” support Morgan Tsvangirai because he represents the interests of peole other than Zimbabweans. No sane person would plead with other countries to cut ties with his own country, just so that the resultant suffering of the people would propel him to power. Some Zimbabweans, like myself, will NEVER EVER, respect a puppet like Morgan. Why is it that former Rhodesians form the backbone of Tsvangirai financial muscle?
And what would we do with all those Zimbabweans Siphiwo? Your beloved Zuma can’t even manage his cabinet members, let alone the greater majority of our country who remain impoverished.
It’s a good thing you aren’t on our cabinet, but then again, with a comment like that you might be eligible for a position…
The popularity of diamonds has nothing to do with women’s desires. It’s the most portable form of wealth there is. How else can you stick a million dollars up your $%%^&%.
@D Mudiwa – You claim that “no sane would plead with other countries to cut ties with his own country”. How ignorant of the anti-Apartheid movement you are as that was one of their most successful and powerful strategies. The international boycott was incredibly damaging to the locals who remained but it eventually brought the Apartheid state down.
And those former Rhodesians that you claim bankroll Morgan no matter their past would still have interests in that country as well as family and friends. Why can’t Zimbaweans bankroll opposition to oppression? They are part of that country and even if they left they still have ties. You also overstate a propaganda piece by good ole Mugabe that Tsvangarai is just a puppet.
Phillipa, for once I agree with you but D Mudiwa’s reply shows that the Mugabe’s racist poison has spread throughout SADEC and emasculated Morgan. People like Mudiwa would rather see poor black Africans die by the thousand (let alone be driven from their homeland which is sold to the Chinese) than accept a leader who has any hint of a white face in his cabinet. The irony is that Mugabe’s best mates are leeches like Billy Rautenbach etc.
There are two kinds of Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe. The first kind are very thin peasants living on foreign food aid. The second kind are like Mr Mudiwa and Mr bravo. They are nice and fat and live off the first kind, plus any foreign aid they can hijack.
It is only the second kind who are true Zimbabweans, fighting colonialism and Rhodesian influence. They don’t like Morgan because he has no policies other than not stealing the money.
Mr Mudiwa will explain that foreign sanctions against Mr Mugabe and himself are actually sanctions against Zimbabwe. That’s why they have had to go into the diamond mining business.
@ D Mudiwa. Most Zimbabweans voted for Tsvangirai in the last election in spite of Zanu-PF’s foul play. Here in Johannesburg there were probably as many potential voters as there are in Harare, who could not vote. I think your statement that “few African people” support Morgan is a complete lie, and YOU KNOW THAT! I get my info from these very people, the former middle class of Zimbabwe who are now doing menial jobs in SA – their dreams for a better life in total, total ruin.
@Mudiwa. What a load of crap and how brianwashed you sound. For you to suggest Morgan represents the interest of people other than Zimbabweans is ridiculous. People often forget that the MDC lead by Tswangirai actually won the June election. What is unZimbabwean about wanting justice and peace and that the rule of law is respected. Last I checked these are essentially the rallying points the MDC has espoused and what a majority of their supporters and leaders have either been persecuted or even killed for. The fact that Mugabe is still the president of Zimbabwe is actually due to spineless SADCC leaders who cant speak truth to power. I empathize with Morgan’s position even through as a Zimbabwean I felt that agreeing to the GNU was a mistake. However there are very few options short of a blood bath given Mugabe’s hold on the army and police and support from SADCC.
Oh and @Grant. I can tell you while as women we enjoy diamonds we did not give them their current value, neither do we own the largest share, nor have we killed for them or illegally traded in them. Yep you got it its all because of you men, so please don’t blame us.
Possum – Lets agree that its a tie considering that you could insert a plastic bag full of soft cuddly stamps up your ass which will be worth just as much but might not cause serious damage to your sensitive bits on the way out.
Mugabe have never had a good time with the Westerm imperialists who are desperate to make a come back. Scholars of Southern African modern history shall recall that at the very beginning of his rule, Mugabe was forced by the Imperialists to accommodate 20 unelected whites in parliament for 10 years running, what do call that, democracy? The poor Mugabe complied but that never satisfied the bloody imperialists. By the end of the forced marriage of ten years, the imperialists failed to get a single elected seat in parliament. They tried all sorts of gimmicks to bounce back, all in VAIN, NOW THEY HAVE A PUPPERT PARTY WHICH, THROUGH THEIR HARD FINANCING MDC) EVENTUALLY MADE A MARK IN ZIM POLITICS.
When Tzwangarai boycotted the recent elections, he was applauded by the Westerners, but when Abdullah Abdullah boycots sham elections in Afghanistan, the imperialists take him for a looser who was afraid to face their corrupt stooge Khazai in a “free and fair” election.
People such as yourself, and your cronies will never fool us, the indeginous sons of Sadc in believing that Mugabe is a tyrant, that must be removed. What do you call the Bushes? remember Bush Snr got power by lying that he won’t raise taxes… He raised them anyway. His son was later elected to complete his failled Middle East policy. Afrika needs the likes of Mugabe to progress. I am happy, the ANC is grooming Julius Malema to continue the legacy of Nkuruma, Lumumba, Machel, Sobukwe…
I predicted the “Government of national Unity” would come to naught as soon as it was suggested.
ZIM IS FINISHED! It has no options left. It is a pile of offal and an open sewer on the landscape of Africa.
Hatred of Mugabe as a person, and what he stands for – which is self-determination and ownership of resources by Zimbabweans – seems to cloud most people’s analysis of the Zimbabwean situation. Thanks to media lies, Jonathan Haze and most now actually believe that there are no sanctions on Zimbabwe as a country, and that these are just travel bans and assets freeze for Mugabe and his cronies. You now conveniently refuse to accept that most Zimbabwean companies now can’t trade with those in Europe and the USA. Even Tendai Biti, our Min of Finance, who is MDC-T Secretary General, a lawyer himself, knows that what we do have thru ZIDERA and EU measures are indeed sanctions on Zimbabwe in general. The only sin that “Mugabe and his cronies” have commited is to take land away from white farmers and redistribute it to black Zimbabweans, NOT just Mugabe’s cronies. Another lie now believed by most is that MDC-T won more votes than ZANU-PF, yet records are there for all to see. MDC-T indded won just one SEAT more than ZANU-PF but ZANU-PF had more VOTES! Of course Tsvangison won more votes than Mugabe but there was no justification for him to pull out of the Presidential Election run-off a mere 5 days from the day. Now you all blame Zuma, SADC, AU and all. Tsvangison is a puppet, period! He sacrifices a whole nation for one white Bennet?
Jonathan Haze, it is not true that “Mr Mugabe …… have had to go into the diamond mining business. ” The diamond mining is being carried out by the ZMDC, a subsidiary of the Industrial Development Corporation, which is a government owned company. Please get your facts right.
Morgan Tsvangirai is not spineless – he has put his own life on the line for the future of democracy in Zimbabwe and he has the scars to prove it. MT has a strategy – it is to bring democracy to Zimbabwe by democratic means. He has consistently stated this and he has consistently resited the temptation to go outside the laws of the land. That may seem to some to be weak but were it not for this strategy Zimbabwe would today be a blood bath to compare with the Rwandan genocide of the 90′s. Democracy will come to Zimbabwe probably before it gets to the rest of SADC countries. In a recent independent survey less than 10% of the people in Zimbabwe showed support for Mugabe’s continued authoritarian rule.
Dave, it’s true that “In a recent independent survey less than 10% of the people in Zimbabwe showed support for Mugabe . .”. However, that was a sample of about 1,000 people who have access to newspapers and internet, not a very accurate measure of real politics on the ground for a typical African country.
Having said that, I must say I am beginning to have a soft spot for Morgan Tsvangison, thanks to the currrent GNU. At least he’s beginning to think like a Zimbabwean, although the lure of the American dollars seems to stand in the way of him becoming a true son of the soil.
It’s interesting that whenever Morgan Tsvangison addresses a press conference, all the ambassadors of Western countries never miss it, and it seems they have to OK everything before he makes any announcement. That is not the kind of a president that I would wish for my country, unfortunately.
Jonathan Haze, just for your information, I am far from being “The second kind are like Mr Mudiwa and Mr bravo. They are nice and fat and live off the first kind, plus any foreign aid they can hijack.” As a matter of fact, I am a manager for a company (majority-owned by non-blacks) that has been finding it difficult to do business in European countries, purely because we have a Zimbabwe address. To counter this, we have had to “open” offices in Europe and SA in order to survive. I have never held a political party card in all my life, but I have no doubt about the interests of my country and its people.
To show that in Zimbabwe, a pre-school-going child does not need to attend any of our kindergattens, there is already MDC-T, ready made. Never take those people in that pseudo-political party serious. Remember the only time you hear about their manifesto, ideology, economic, any type of plans for future Zimbabwe is when their chief adviser, the ex-Rhodesian mercenary, Eddy Cross is mumbling about the reverse of the Land Reform! Otherwise, their trademark is, boycott, strike, no to land for the black Zimbabweans, no to new constitutions, no to black empowerment, no to Gono because he resisted Western Hegemony, no to the Attorney General because he is intelligent for the Brits, no to Mugabe because he is the only, only remaining Africa cadre to stand this Imperial Hegemony, no to black power. That is MDC-T slogan, to take us back to, before 1980. Wake up Zimbabweans, lets be honest with each other, Zimbabwe has suffered because of sanctions which were called for by Tsvangirai and MDC-T. I was in SIDA conference room in Stockholm, Sweden when Tsvangirai was perfoming in 2001-2002 begging the West to put sanctions on his own people. It is his obligation to see to it that the Zimbabwe Democracy Recovery Act is removed. Look Zimbabwe cannot even get loans from World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, name it. No trade. THIS MAN OWES US AT LEAST AN APOLOGY OTHERWISE GOD WILL NEVER FORGIVE HIM!!!! Look, the west have one thing
Mudiwa does not speak from Zimbabwe- period! Back home no one likes Zanu PF hence they resort to violence. The mere mention of Zanu PF’s rallies in it’s rural “strong-holds” sends shivers down it’s “supposed supporters”.
For instance how did MDC-T garner even more votes in no-go areas where even us thought the chances of getting just fifty votes because of the violence were a snollball’s in hell? And Zanu PF did not make any inroads in towns & former MDC strongholds.
MDC has more than 1 seat against Zanu PF because the 10 got by MDC Mutambara still means Zanu hs lost support! Were it not for power hungry breakaway leaders the result would have been catastrophic for Mudiwa’s party which uses Liberation mantra to youths who are peace loving and not war-mongers!
What party uses youths to coerce 100- year olds to keep on voting face the consequencies? Besides the majority of us are not interested in racial attacks against whites or anyone. Zulus used to attack & rob us but that was the past.(My granpa was skinned by Lobengula’s men & his skin taken for him to see that indeed he was dead but that was then I don’t hv to claim revenge for/from people I don’t know. He should have fought to defend himself)
If a white offers themselves for election we will vote for those who offer good policies!
@D Mudiwa
“No sane person would plead with other countries to cut ties with his own country, just so that the resultant suffering of the people would propel him to power”.
Funny that. It’s exactly what all the African liberation movements did. Why is it different for Tsvangarai?