The biggest stumbling block in post-colonial Africa’s progress towards democracy has been the steadfast refusal of its dictators to relinquish power. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that should they be forced to relinquish power they are, more likely than not, going to be facing charges of genocide, crimes against humanity or a multitude other unspeakable acts which they perpetrated during their rule.
South AfricanPresident Jacob Zumain discussion with Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the World Economic Forum confirmed that immunity would be the way to ease Africa out of its dictators.
“The world has changed, therefore let us do things differently and not emphasise punishment. If you are saying: ‘Okay move out, but tomorrow we will deal with you,’ then you are causing a problem with somebody saying: ‘Why should I leave when I still have power? I had better remain here.’
“The leadership of Africa today must come very boldly and deal with these issues. It’s not for our sake as leaders, it’s for the sake or our people, for the sake of our continent,” Zuma said.
In a perfect world I would be right up there with the rest of those who would seek justice for the victims of these monsters but as we have seen time and again, they are not only going unpunished but cling to power which makes a bad situation infinitely worse.
This results in the people of countries like Zimbabwe having their own security forces act as hostage takers owing loyalty to the dictator concerned and not the people.
The world in its turn then sanctions the country concerned which occasions untold suffering and hardship for the people while the elite ponder their fate — in the lap of luxury of course — for years.
Zuma is suggesting a get-out-of-jail-free card in order to expedite the transfer of power in these situations.
Subject to it being a once-off offer never to be repeated it is definitely the lesser of two evils. Rather the thugs walk free than entire populations starve while the planet plays the politics of expedience.
Trust me that is what the starving majority in those countries would want.
STOP THE PRESS!
Traps, your beloved guardian angels of the Constitution, the ANC, have just tabled an amendment TO THE CONSTITUTION to allow Parliament to legislate in contravention to the Constitution.
This is in response to the Nyathi case where Parliament was directed to amend the law which prevented a successful litigant against the State from attaching State property. Now, your beloved party wants to do away with the ability of a citizen to take the State to court and prosecute his case, win, and be effectively compensated instead of waiting for a beaurocrat to pay him out.
An essential ingredient for effective democracy is being destroyed by the ANC.
And the 2/3rds “wasn’t all that important”?????
Here Zuma is trying to grant human rights abusers amensty whilst seeking to dismantle his own citizen’s rights.
The irony is chilling Traps.
In your defence of the ANC pre-election you stood on the foundation of the ANC being the best for the poor, fine. But this amendment flies directly in the face of this as the poor will have the most to lose – just like the late Nyathi.
Deal with this one Traps, face up to what you’ve voted into power despite the warnings of the cynics.
Amensty for dictators outside our borders is one thing, but what about the warning bells our citizens should be hearing from our own government?
I would love to see the back of the dictators, thieves and despotic leaders in Africa and it is tempting to offer amnesty and get rid of them for good.
Some good points have been made in the responses to your article above.
I like what Dave F has to offer in his response – I go with that more than complete amnesty. If amnesty is offered, it is imperative that these guys do not retire in opulence courtesy of all the millions they have stolen over the years. Additionally it is vital that in exchange for amnesty they make a full disclosure of their dirty deeds…….
Then send the bunch of them off to an inaccessible, remote island from which there is no escape – no communication with the outside world, no phones, cell or otherwise – give them a bunch of seeds, a couple of cows, goats and sheep, some implements and let them get on with living survivor style.
We must also remember that most if not all dictatorships in Africa were entrenched by the Western powers and and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Soviet Union is understandable as it was a dictatorship itself. The Western countries, however, need to account for their role to keep the Mugabes, Mobutos and others in power for longer than needed. They created these monsters. It is only when these monsters started defying them that they began to talk about dictators, human rights etc. For instance Mugabe remained the darling of the British long after ordering the killing of thousands of Ndebele people in Matabeleland. No mention of human rights was made.
Zuma is correct we need a once-off amnesty for the dictators to reliquish power to expedite democracy in Africa. As South Africans we have seen how having a strong democratic basis have helped us avoid civil war, overthrow of government, chaos and other ills that are gripping Africa.
Traps I agree with you 100% on this. There are the obvious hurdles like ensuring that they do not get prosecuted once they relinquish control of their armies.
Most of them are wealthy old men, who have probably not been responsible for the deaths of more people than your average global multinational CEO.
Besides, its a small price to pay for the democratization of millions of poeple.
This Zuma and Mo Amins ideas are good but i also think its also good to warn future dictators they should also think that military means by like minded nations can be used and the then dictator when caught he and co should suffer the most painful panishment and death televised for all to see.I know i may sound uncultured and inhuman but this despots are not human themselves why then should they be accorded human treatment?human treatment is for those who want to repent.It should be made Samuel Doe’s death look like toy game.FEAR AND INDUCEMENT can be good deterrent like the way we have hell and heaven!!!!!!!
Rose Morrow
Everyone needs to think out what is being offered to these powerful and brutal people.
If it is a bribe to leave office, it would have to be a bribe, pure and simple – no disagreeable conditions can be attached to it or it will not be accepted. If it is not a bribe, then the ‘offer’ must in some way be backed by a penalty – if you do not accept this, harsh consequences will follow.
But no consequences follow anything these tyrants do – that is the point. They know they enjoy impunity.
This is a proposal from people who are not able or prepared to do anything else about it. The idea is unoriginal, undesirable and, worst of all, unworkable.
Paul, it would be workable if the majority of African Leaders, particularly those who follow tyrants relinquishing power with a “bribe”, were genuinely committed to democratic government and determined to implement it in their countries. “It’s the principle…….” will kill millions more people as time marches on. Democratic African Leaders are often between a rock and a hard place – take Mugabe for instance – in the March election, 48% of Zimbabweans who voted put the tick next to his name – SAFM had a phone in vote prior to the election and 98% of the callers ‘cast their vote’ for Mugabe – It’s a mystery really! It isn’t just the leaders but the people themselves that must be convinced of the efficacy of democracy. For that to happen they have to experience the positive, concrete effects of it in their lives.
That said, Africa has journeyed far with regard to democracy and it will get better as time goes on, particularly if South Africa can be written up as a success story in the long term. If we can continue along the democratic path whilst at the same time eradicate corruption and crime (some at least) and most importantly, have the majority of our people living decently and with dignity – then our success could be the catalyst for other African Leaders to really “come on board” the democracy train.
There is a rite of passage to genuine, meaningful democratic government – has any country made it all the way as yet?
Yeah, now the impressionists and the opportunists will come out and show favour for the new regime and its expressed views of life and law… JZ has always had a different way of thinking. I wait by the borderline and await the next ‘pardon’ scheme, and then I will make my comment – afterall, dont we all have a bit of dictatorship in us.
@ Paul Whelan…..in other words this is not about letting brutal dictators off the hook, it is about letting spineless african leaders off the hook.
Rose/Anton
Agreed, both – especially that ‘the people themselves must be convinced of the efficacy of democracy.’
Achieving democracy is not a top down, but a bottom up process. Govts. do not and cannot make people ‘free’ – they are at best only instruments towards it. ‘Democracy’ has to be exacted – if not actually wrenched – from rulers.
There is no mystery about ‘African democracy’ or the lack of it. It is that society in Africa is not democratic at this period. Leaders cannot run ahead of that fact even if they wanted to – and mostly leaders are quite happy to leave things where they are until it blows up in their faces, as it did eventually for friend Mugabe.
Zuma was not talking about Zimbabwe in particular. He was talking directly to the dictator sitting in front of him. That dictator is Paul Kagame who has more blood on his hands than Hitler. So, he wanted to see if Kagame understands that democracy must take its course. Knowing Kagame’s intelligence or lack thereof, this all probably went over his head. Kagame is a bigger dictator than Mugabe. He has been in power for 15 years and freedom of speech and press is better in Zimbabwe than it is in Rwanda.
Dictators espectially brutal ones, whether friendly to the West or not should understand that people will rise up and stand up to all of them like every continent. Zuma should support those efforts like he did in Burundi and tell Kagame and all other African dictators that their days to face justice are coming.
The majority of opinions expressed point out that complete immunity would set a bad precedence and encourage would be dictators to be thus with impunity. Blanket amnesty to all is a hard sell, rather take each case individually and use the circumstances of each case to encourage retirement of the dictators-and grant some form of immunity where meritable. Mugabe was offered a chance of immunity to retire and be granted immunity as a father figure-he refused to take it-why? Because a dictatorship involves a whole bunch of people and security apparatus and hangers on who benefit from it. An option would be crafting an all encompassing exit deal with all and sundry involved, which is something boardering on impossible. The real power lies in the peers of the dictators-regional leaders who like someone said, need to have the balls to hold a mirror in the dictators’ faces and withdraw all diplomatic support. For as long as islands of support still remain from other leaders, dictators will still act with impunity. That coupled with Dave F’s suggestion can work.