Summary

The following is a statement from Ephraim Tapa, chief spokesman for the Save Zimbabwe campaign and former president of the Civil Service Employees Union in Zimbabwe. Visit www.savezimbabwe.com for more information about the Save Zimbabwe campaign.

November 2002

Let me start by telling you what the current crisis in Zimbabwe is not about. It is not about the Mugabe regime's treatment of 4,000 white farming families, brutal and unjust as that has been.

Nor is it a battle over land reform. There is no opposition to land reform in Zimbabwe. But what the regime has unleashed is not land reform. It is an assault on the people; it is political terrorism and simple theft that rewards cronies of the regime.

And it is not, as Mugabe spins it, a gallant post-colonial struggle between a black African nation and the white oppressor. The struggle happening in Zimbabwe today is between a tyrant and the people suffering under his ruleÑthe people who attempted to remove him at the ballot box, but were denied their right to free elections through the regime's cynical and massive campaign of violence, intimidation and downright electoral fraud.

The tragedy of Zimbabwe today is that it is a country denied human rights by a dictator. It is a country where violence, torture and intimidation have become the common currency of politics; where opposition is ruthlessly quelled and starvation is used as an instrument of political oppression.

Zimbabwe was once a rich and fertile land, supplying food to much of Africa. Today six million of our people face death by starvation. Next year the situation will be worse. Unemployment is at 75 percent, and by the end of this year the economy is forecast to contract at a breathtaking 12 percent. But, with grotesque cunning, even the famine has been harnessed by the regime for its own ends. Food aid is systematically denied to opposition supporters. A senior government leader has actually stated that the reduction of the population to six million less than half its present number would be acceptable, even welcome, if it removed the disloyal element of the population.

Unlike other parts of Africa, the disaster in Zimbabwe is not a cruel accident of nature. It is predominantly the result of blind and brutal government policies. Farms seized from commercial farmers have been taken as trophies by party officials, not experienced farmers. They want the houses; they know nothing about farming. The Farm Community Trust estimates that less than 2 per cent of the families given land taken from white farmers have been farm workers.

Other farms, meanwhile, have been looted and destroyed by the so-called war veterans, and farming activity has ceased. In a small number of cases subsistence farmers have moved onto the land and are scratching out a living for themselves. But they lack the skills, equipment and financial means to farm on the scale that Zimbabwe so desperately needs.

At least 500,000 black workers from the commercial farms will be homeless if the 2,900 farmers issued with Section 8 notices vacate their farms. This number includes 10,000 orphans and 14,000 elderly people.

In the most recent round of farm seizures, it is estimated that some 150,000 workers have already been driven from the land. They have no other source of income. No other source of food. They now face starvation. And with malnutrition, of course, comes lowered resistance to the rampant curse of AIDS.

But there is perhaps a glimmer of good news. There is still enough infrastructure in place in Zimbabwe, enough skill and expertise, financial resource and goodwill, that this crisis could be halted and rolled back if a legitimate government, with the mandate of the people, were to put a stop to this insane destruction of the farming economy. But we have very little time. By this time next year the damage will be too great, the collapse too deep-seated. Zimbabwe will be past hope of an early recovery.

This brings me to the Save Zimbabwe campaign. It was both because of the pressing urgency of the situation, and because there is still a chance, a real hope that Zimbabwe can be saved, that the campaign was launched in Durban in early July during the inaugural meeting of the African Union.

The campaign's aims are clear, straightforward and strictly limited. We are demanding the restoration of democracy, human rights and legitimate government to Zimbabwe. We also believe that the only way to bring this about is through early, free and fair elections under proper international supervision.

That is the limit of our platform. We have no other policies, no other positions. We have drawn support from across the political spectrum, from Left, Right and Centre, and we welcome this. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change are among those who have leant their support to this campaign and I am delighted that two of their most senior members are with us on this mission. But the campaign itself is strictly non-partisan.

This is vital, because there must be the broadest possible consensus of opinion for this campaign. There is no room for petty quibbles or differences of detail. We seek a moral tidal wave of international outrage that will sweep away Mugabe and his cronies, and expose and embarrass those who stand by passively by while he murders our people. If we have a role model, it is the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. In some ways, though, our struggle in Zimbabwe is even more acute. We are battling not just for our freedom and our rights; we are fighting for our very lives.

So what can the United States do?

We believe that Mugabe's tyranny in Zimbabwe is, above all, an African problem, and one that the African community of nations must address. Within the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) framework, Africa has made commitments to democracy and human rights, and, by introducing the concept of peer review, has recognised the concept of mutual accountability.

But all this is meaningless if the brutal horror of a regime like Mugabe's is allowed to flourish unchecked. If fellow African nations stand by passively by and quietly acquiesce.

African nations, South Africa in particular, but other African neighbours too, have both the moral duty to intervene on behalf of the Zimbabwean people, and the economic, logistical and political muscle to bring this criminal and illegitimate regime to its knees.

For a variety of reasons, African leaders have been reluctant to act against Mugabe. And this is where the United States can help. We look to you to use your influence, your friendship and goodwill, your economic power and commercial access, to encourage actionÑurgent and early actionÑby the community of nations in Africa.

It is important that Africa know that the United States regards Zimbabwe as a litmus test for NEPAD. If it fails this test, NEPAD fails. There are some who are inclined to turn a blind eye, who appear to feel that tyranny is acceptable, or at least less worthy of condemnation, if it takes place in Africa, or is inflicted by one of our leaders on his people. I can only say that this view is both patronising and racist. Tyranny is tyranny, and people of good will must stand against it, wherever it is found.

The United States has poured aid into Africa, and this has been desperately needed. But here we have one country where famine is the result of human action, not natural disaster. In Zimbabwe the tragedy could be swiftly and permanently remedied, if Africa would only show the political will.

The crisis facing the country is acute and horrific. But it does not have to be chronic. Six million Zimbabweans today need food aid. This aid is desperately needed elsewhere. Set Zimbabwe back on its feet, and you free up this aid. Set it back on its feet, and you will have a strong, vibrant economy, capable of feeding not only itself, but many of its African neighbours.

The response of our neighbours to the tragedy of Zimbabwe will always be the most important factor in our hope for freedom. Sadly, some African leaders still see Robert Mugabe as a liberation hero who has earned their solidarity. But the Robert Mugabe of today is no hero. He is a desperate tyrant, engaged in the wholesale subjugation of his people. Solidarity, yes. But it is to the people of Zimbabwe that this solidarity is due, not to their ruler.

The people of Zimbabwe will always remember those who were their friends in these dark days of our struggle for human rights and democracy. The United States has the moral integrity and the power to be among the greatest of those friends.

So we ask you: Help us now to Save Zimbabwe.