Schauen wir heute einmal auf Südafrikas Nachbarn, Zimbabwe. Vor zehn Jahren konnte sich niemand auch nur im Entferntesten vorstellen, was heute Realität ist. Wenn sich nicht schnellstens etwas in Südafrika ändert, werden wir das in zwölf Jahren auch über Südafrika sagen. Wer wettet dagegen?
Absolute poverty, total tyranny – why are we still talking?
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Zimbabwean
Wednesday, 09 December 2009 10:21
It is now ten years since the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy got underway
in earnest, writes EDDIE CROSS. It actually started in 1997. but only really
began to slide two years later when the effect of policy changes took root.
It is perhaps time that we looked back on this lost decade and ask ourselves
what sort of price have we paid?
The numbers are astonishing – if you assume an average potential growth of
five per cent in GDP over this decade, then the actual cost in terms of lost
GDP earnings is more than $76 billion. In human terms, life expectancies
have halved and over three million people have died at a younger age than
they would have died in the decade before. In human terms, the collapse has
been nothing short of a catastrophe – a third of our population has left the
country – nearly four million going to neighbouring states. About half a
million people have lost their jobs and nearly two million people displaced
internally.
Absolute poverty is now the norm, with average Zimbabweans receiving less
that a dollar a day on which to subsist – the international measure of
living below the level required for essential needs. This is confirmed by
the fact that over 70 per cent of the national population was being supplied
with their basic food needs at the beginning of this year.
On Sunday, I attended a meeting where I was told of an incident where a
woman encountered a man who was clearly insane wandering about a shopping
centre. She was told he was a former member of the security forces who had
been involved in torture. I understand there are thousands who are haunted
by the crimes they have committed under state direction.
The consequences of the genocide in many areas of Matabeleland have not been
addressed and remain a shadow over many communities. So too the effects of
Murambatsvina in 1995, when 1.2 million people were displaced by a state
campaign to force people back into the rural areas. Thousands died in the
aftermath and hundreds of thousands are still homeless.
All of these are the consequences of a political tyranny that has sought to
defend its hold on power and privilege. While the country slid into poverty
and collapse accompanied by joblessness, homelessness and despair, a small
minority who came to power in 1980, have become wealthy beyond their
imaginings. They shop in Dubai and Johannesburg and holiday on the ski
slopes of Europe. Their children go to the finest universities and schools
in the world. Many have homes in Zimbabwe that would do the wealthy in the
West proud.
They conduct a clever and professional campaign to cover up their crimes. In
offices in Toronto, London, Washington and Johannesburg, highly paid experts
counter the attempts by the victims in Zimbabwe to tell their stories.
Dozens of websites spew out their propaganda and people with false names
correspond across the globe.
Inside Zimbabwe, they are terrified of any independent sources of news and
information.
Attempts to reform the media and allow new broadcasting and TV channels have
been met with total resistance even though they agreed to the reforms in the
GPA.
Only 12 per cent of the reforms negotiated over two years under the
facilitation of SADC have been implemented in nine months of political
squabbling. No progress on democratic conditions for elections, no progress
on the rule of law, freedom of assembly and association, no progress on the
enforcement of contract law and respect for property rights, no progress on
media reform. Instead we are faced with a flood of propaganda about “pirate”
radio stations, “sanctions” (shopping restrictions) and “regime change”; as
if elections are not all about regime change by democratic means.
In place of real reform we continue to see harassment of the political
opposition, illegal arrests and prosecution, the use of the legal system,
(not for justice) as a mean of suppression.
Political violence continues across the country with thousands of militia
deployed and active, and communities fearful of a knock on the door at
midnight. We are waiting, like everyone, for some news of the discussions
that have been taking place over the past two weeks. These talks were not
about negotiations – they were about a timetable for implementing what all
the parties have already agreed and signed up to in the GPA. Why they have
taken so long is a mystery to me – what is there to talk about? They signed
up to the deal; all that remains is to get on with the job of implementing
the agreement and in full.
It is obvious that once again we in the MDC are being asked to compromise.
Quite frankly it is difficult to see any reason why we should. We won the
2008 election – hands down, we clearly control two-thirds of the country
through local authorities. Everyone knows full well that in a genuine
election with free and fair conditions that the opposition to the MDC would
be miniscule. We have suffered under a tyranny for 30 years. Believe me, we
are quite prepared to suffer for a bit longer if at the end we can elect a
leadership that we can trust with our future under a system that will allow
us to dismiss them if they fail us or abuse our trust. After all that is
what democracy is all about.
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