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Zimbabwe's
19th October 2002 MATTHEW NGWENYA was battling for his life yesterday. He's a member of Zimbabwe's courageous Movement for Democratic Change, the only real opposition to President Robert Mugabe's violent, corrupt, isolated regime. Ngwenya was elected to the Kamativi town council in last month's municipal elections. That sent Mugabe's men into a "vicious" fury, according to local press reports. They rampaged through the town on Saturday and beat Ngwenya senseless, crushing his skull and breaking an arm. They stabbed his wife and left her for dead. They beat a woman eight months pregnant with iron bars. And they chased injured people into the surrounding hills. Police couldn't even begin to assess the damage. This is what daily life is like for Zimbabwe's embattled democrats, as Canada and other Commonwealth countries look the other way and the media focus on "hotter" stories. Seven months ago, Mugabe effectively stole the presidential election from MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in what was widely seen as a fraudulent vote. Since then Mugabe has tightened his 22-year grip on the nation of 12 million, driving white farmers from their holdings, and harassing judges, the media, opposition figures and even charities, as the economy crumbles and 6 million go hungry. This past week Tsvangirai decried Mugabe's "state-sponsored terror" and begged the United Nations to investigate "the carnage, the violence and the human rights abuses" that have taken place. Mugabe, meanwhile, has been ranting that foreign embassies, the private media, trade unions, banks, companies and even drought relief agencies have made themselves enemies of the state. How? He claims they support his opponents. Where are important African leaders as all this goes on? South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo are still preaching "engagement" with the Mugabe regime. They're embarrassed by Mugabe's violence, but still regard him as a freedom fighter. Since the fraudulent vote, they have rejected any suggestion that Zimbabwe be expelled from the 54-nation Commonwealth. Officially Zimbabwe is merely suspended for a year. Mugabe isn't welcome at summits, but other contacts continue. Has this gentle approach worked? No. Things have gone from bad to worse. During the municipal elections last month, MDC candidate Nikoniari Chabvamudeve was hacked to pieces, to intimidate others. Scores of MDC candidates promptly withdrew, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum reports. No fewer than 37 other MDC supporters have been murdered this year. And the forum cites 1,000 cases of police torture. Anyone who defies the regime is a target. On Sunday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard broke with the Commonwealth herd and took stronger, though still largely symbolic, action. He formally banned Mugabe and 76 of his ministers and officials from setting foot in his country. He froze their Australian assets. And he suspended other contacts. "Democracy has been trashed by President Mugabe," explained Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer. "Human rights egregiously abused, people harassed, driven off farms without compensation. It is a situation I think all Australians feel strongly about." Canadians, too. Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government has made it clear that Mugabe and his cronies aren't welcome here. But Ottawa's sanctions are less sweeping than Australia's. Our criticism is muted. We are reluctant to demand that Africa's leaders lean on the regime. That is a cop-out, as people like Matthew Ngwenya and Nikoniari Chabvamudeve are attacked and left for dead. It is a betrayal of other Zimbabwean democrats who are terrorized daily. Linos Mushonga, a Harare city councillor and MDC member, just this week said he was beaten and tortured by police who gave him electric shocks that sent him into convulsions. Medical reports confirm injuries consistent with his story. "If the police can do this to me, a city councillor, then who is safe?" he told The Guardian newspaper. "The international community is letting us down." Tongesai Goremucheche, an MDC supporter, was attacked by thugs wielding sticks, iron bars and broken bottles during the local elections. Gift Dhliwayo, a traditional healer and MDC sympathizer, had his home torn apart and burned. John Hwenhira and his wife were beaten and left for dead. Keiphas Madzorera was beaten with an iron bar, and stabbed. There isn't space in this column to catalogue the suffering. Yet Zimbabwe's democrats struggle on, risking everything to rescue their nation from autocracy, violence and corruption. They deserve more than a passing bleat of concern. By Gordon Barthos Foreign
Affairs - Toronto Star (Canada) |
