Well done Bryony for your article. I am also excited of the possibilities of Zimbabwe.

The Gukurahundi mass Ndebele murders I am aware of. However the overwhelming majority of Zimbabweans still voted for him. Which is why Joshua Nkomo was pressured to be part of Mugabe’s government.

As Mugabe’s part or even campaign of getting rid of a strong opposition such as the ZAPU of which Nkomo was its vehement president.

Consider the following:
• http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/bhekinkosimoyo/2008/06/16/zimbabwe-violence-reminiscent-of-gukurahundi-massacres-believe-me-you-don%e2%80%99t-want-to-go-there%e2%80%a6/

I do not refute the fact that ruling parties –democratically elected- can be tyrannical or at-least their leaders.

Thanks for a good post.

For instance, the exit of Mr. Mugabe will probably be contingent on a guarantee that he will not be prosecuted for any crimes he may or may not have committed, ditto for some of his closest cronies. Second, as pointed out, the state structure will remain in place for the successor to inherit. In order for this to function, the people in charge will probably be able to keep their recent acquisitions handed out by Mugabe for support. Thirdly, many of the issues that faced Zimbabweans will still exist.

It is regularly assumed that one day, in order to garner political support, Mugabe decided to allow a policy of ‘land reclamation’ be carried out by ordinary people. The more complex truth is that this general action was started at the grassroots level and Mugabe quickly had to claim it as his initiative and in so doing dramatically radicalize himself and his economic policies to remain politically viable; a sharp political move if you are desperate to remain in power whatever the cost.

As such, how is that yearning from ordinary Zimbabweans to be sated? How do the axes change when the catalyst was a popular reaction to gross inequalities in land distribution? It seems incredibly shortsighted to concentrate on the necessary Mugabe exit without considering what real reconciliation will mean.

This is not some process of trying to ‘heal’ a wounded national psyche, which, at any rate, will not result in much more than an official tick next to a bureaucratic process that acts as a dress-up for a natural process that will take a long time to complete. It will mean addressing a radically shaped geography of people with new and important senses of entitlement. The MDC leader, or whomever, as a democrat, will be subject to this, the most pressing desire and the most important one politically, socially and economically.

How then does a faithful ex-pat act? This justice is unexpected from the large community that has lived the terrible reality of leaving their country and what does this new configuration mean for the hope of possible returnees?

I do not feel it is accurate to describe the ‘tyranny’in Zimbabwe as beginning in 2000. Yes, indeed, the pronouced economic depression and political suppression became noticeable then, but events like Gukurahundi in the 1980s show that the tyranny of Mugabe;s regime is not such a recent phenomenon.

Also, i didn’t dispute that he was elected by the majority in the beginning. Elected leaders can be tyrannical…

However, I tend to worry over the inaccuracy about the 28 year tyranny mentioned in the article. This is not the case as the Zanu-PF has been the choice of the people of Zimbabwe as its government since independence in 1980. Taking into accord that Africans vote for the parties that liberated them.

In short, the fact that Zanu-PF was the people’s preferred choice of government is by no means a tyranny.

However Mr. Mugabe’s refusal to step down as party leader and president is tyrannical because of the human rights violations that he has committed to ensure that he is not removed from power.

I wish to draw your attention to the following information:

This is a summary of Mr. R.G Mugabe before and after independence.

Titled: “Mugabe in a nutshell”

His Life
Born February 21 1924 in Matibiri village near Kutama Mission in Zimbabwe’s Zvimba District.
• Graduated with a BA degree from Fort Hare, in Alice in the Eastern Cape, in 1951.
• Rose to prominence after joining the Zimbabwe African National Union in 1963.
• Arrested in 1964 by the Rhodesian government for “subversive speech” and spent the next 10 years in prison.
• While still in prison, Mugabe was elected leader of Zanu in 1974.
• Led the guerrilla war against white minority rule in Rhodesia in the Bush War which raged from 1964–1979.
• Elected to head the first government as prime minister on 4 March 1980.
• Between 1982 and 1985, Mugabe’s armed forces crushed resistance from Ndebele groups in Matabeleland and the Midlands, killing more than 20000 Ndebele civilians.
• In 1987 the position of prime minister was abolished and Mugabe assumed the new office of executive president of Zimbabwe, gaining additional powers in the process.
• On December 22 1987 , the Zimbabwean African People’s Union merged with Zanu to form the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front .
• Mugabe was re-elected as the country’s president in 1990 and 1996, and in 2002 amid claims of vote-rigging and intimidation. His term of office expired at the end of March 2008.
• In 1994 Mugabe was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II. But the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee later called for the removal of this honour.
• Mugabe married Grace Marufu, 40 years his junior, in a Roman Catholic wedding on August171996 . His first wife, Ghanian political activist Sally Hayfron, died in 1992 from kidney failure. They were married in 1961.
• On April 62000, Parliament pushed through an amendment from a draft constitution, allowing the seizure of white- owned farmland without due reimbursement or payment.
• On March 9 2003, US President George Bush approved measures for economic sanctions against Mugabe and other high-ranking Zimbabwe politicians and froze their assets.
• On December 8 2003, Mugabe withdrew his country from the Commonwealth.
• On July 3 2004, a report adopted by the African Union executive council, which comprises foreign ministers of the 53 member states, criticised the government for the arrest and torture of opposition MPs and human rights lawyers, the arrest of journalists, the stifling of freedom of expression and clampdowns on other civil liberties.
• On April 8 2005, Mugabe attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II, a move which was seen as defying of a European Union travel ban imposed in February 2002.
• As of September 2006, Mugabe’s family owned three farms: Highfield Estate west of Harare, Iron Mask Estate in Mazowe, and Foyle Farm in Mazowe. These farms were seized forcibly from their previous owners.
• On February 6 2007, Mugabe orchestrated a Cabinet reshuffle, ousting ministers such as his veteran Finance Minister, Herbert Murerwa.
• On March 11 2007, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and beaten after a prayer meeting in the Harare suburb of Highfields.
• On March 30 2007, it was announced that the Zanu-PF central committee had chosen Mugabe as the party’s candidate for another term in 2008.
• On February 23 2008, Mugabe launched his election campaign on his birthday in Beitbridge, a small town on the border with South Africa.
• General elections held in Zimbabwe on March 30 2008.

Source: http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx/id=742166

It is vividly clear that things started going wrong in Zimbabwe in the year 2000. Therefore the 28 year tyranny mentioned in text is inaccurate. Moreover the truth is that tyranny started in the year 2000 and above. It is on that note that the economies of scale in Zimbabwe became imprudent and futile.

In the text there is an error of articles in paragraph 5 which reads as follows: “. . .points to aN violent. . “ which should read as “. . .points to A violent. . .” Furthermore, Plato is forgetting something about the good book and that is the fact that it is interpreted differently from one person to the next. For example, Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr. used the bible to get rid of segregation in America. Interestingly P.W Botha used the same good book to polarise Afrikaners and various Europeans with Apartheid racism.

The fact that Plato recognised this contrast is a good thing however to use this to discredit the Archbishop is grossly incorrect as the bishop has not been given an opportunity to defend his statement about who goes to haven and who does not. Anyhow, the focus of the text was not on what the bishop had to say about Zimbabwe but the article was rather about what will become of Zimababwe if or when Mr. Mugabe steps down.

One should also be very careful about opposition parties particularly to what they say. This is because opposition parties are opportunistic and will exploit such opportunities in their favour so as to win votes. One should be careful about contrary results and statements made by opposition parties as they may be plots to simply win votes or secure certain standings, impressions and beliefs.

I am not looking for retribution. For all I care, Mugabe and anyone responsible for what has happened in Zimbabwe can live happy lives elsewhere… I just feel that the ‘injustice’of such a solution, or the brutality of witchhunt murders of all these people, will do more damage in the long run.