Move over Mr Mugabe
The elections have not changed anything in Zimbabwe. The old leader has been defeated but he will not accept that the people do not want him. Mr Mugabe believes that after twenty eight years he is indispensable. As a Catholic he says that God wants him to stay. The people don’t want him for they have defeated his party in the Parliamentary elections. He is not improving his country one bit while clinging to power. He does not accept the will of the people and will demand a fresh election. He has surrounded himself with cronies who tell him not to resign because when he goes the people will not want them either. So Mr Mugabe obstinately hangs on to his position. Old men hang onto positions but ultimately they are forced to go.
Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, has shown great restraint. He knows that to push too hard will result in accusations of an attempted coup leading to hurt for his supporters. He shows patience and hopes the world will bring pressure to bear. In 2002 he was widely thought to have won Zimbabwe’s election, beating the old tyrant. But Mugabe had the results fixed. In the recent Presidential poll Tsvangirai is sure he won but Mugabe is demanding a recount and a runoff. The official results have still not been released.
Decades of misrule have turned Zimbabwe into an economic basket case. Inflation is 100,000%, unemployment 80%, and up to 1 million people (out of a population of 12 million) have fled to neighbouring South Africa. Over a thousand people a day are fleeing the country. Other African countries have refused a Chinese ship, full of arms and ammunition bound for landlocked Zimbabwe, permission to dock and unload, as they all believe they will be used against political opponents.
Tsvangirai, 56, formed the opposition MDC in 1999. Despite at least four attempts on his life and four arrests, he has fought Mugabe in every election since. The two men appeal to different sections of Zimbabwean society – Mugabe to rural villagers and his old stalwarts, Tsvangirai to the young and the urban. We will continue to uphold this country, once a nation central to the British colonial rule known as Rhodesia and one of the richest countries in Africa, in our prayers.
Rev The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes, A.C., M.L.C.
