South Africa’s role in Zimbabwe’s Current Crisis

Progressio
Unit 3 Canonbury Yard
190a New North Road
London N1 7BJ

21st March 2006

Subject: South Africa’s role in Zimbabwe’s Current Crisis

South Africa’s role in Zimbabwe’s Current Crisis

Your Excellency,
We write as an international development NGO with a long history of commitment to working in Southern Africa. Our work to overcome poverty and injustice necessarily leads to an involvement with many civil society organisations in the region, including in Zimbabwe. As a northern partner to these organisations, we are keen to give voice to their demands and needs.

We have chosen this day to write to you as March 21st is Human Rights Day in South Africa. We urge you to consider the sufferings of ordinary Zimbabweans who are now being subjected to violent and repressive human rights abuses by their government.

Zimbabwe today is a divided country, characterised by police brutality, political repression and a ruling elite which systematically denies the basic rights of the majority of citizens. In spite of this, South Africa’s government has repeatedly voiced its support for the ZANU-PF government. The solidarity shown by the government with other African nations is admirable; but our partners consider that in the case of Zimbabwe it is misplaced. True solidarity should be with the oppressed citizens of Zimbabwe, and not with their undemocratic government.

A campaign against the majority of poor civilians is today being waged by the ZANU-PF government in Zimbabwe. The following examples are illustrative:

• The ZANU-PF government uses repressive legislation to silence opposition and harass individuals whom it considers threatening. The Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) have been used in the last year to, inter alia, close privately-owned media outlets, break up peaceful demonstrations, and arrest and detain civil rights campaigners. The 2005 Constitutional Amendment Act gave the government, among many other powers, the power to withdraw passports from those it deems to be a threat to security. As a result of these actions, there is little independent space to voice criticism of the government, or to propose responses to the economic and social crisis in the country.

• Torture is widely practised in Zimbabwe with the knowledge and support of the state, and is rarely prosecuted. Documentation exists of the practice of torture against individuals by the police force, the military and ZANU-PF party faithful. For example, a June 2005 report by the Redress Trust, an international anti-torture NGO, delineates a culture of systematic abuse of prisoners by Zimbabwean state officials, and others acting on behalf of the ruling party.

• The independence of the Zimbabwean Judiciary has been thoroughly compromised, and it is now subject to almost complete control by the Executive. Appointments to and removal from judicial office can take place at a political whim, as illustrated by the well-documented case of the dismissal of Justice Benjamin Paradza. On a number of occasions in recent years, the Constitution has been amended to circumvent the jurisdiction of the courts. Consequently, individuals have no access to legal redress for crimes committed against them, such as under ‘Operation Murambatsvina/ Restore Order’ in 2005.

Defenders of Zimbabwe’s current regime frequently point out that Western commentators are disproportionately concerned about the situation there, when greater disasters are occurring all over Africa. Zimbabwe is a special concern precisely because, although there is no formal conflict, the government is using emergency legislation and powers to centralise all power in the hands of the state and its supporters.

In spite of the hostility of the Zimbabwean government towards its own people, South Africa continues to support it actively. In early 2005, South Africa led a SADC observer mission to the parliamentary election, which formally pronounced the poll “peaceful, transparent, credible and well-managed”. As we have stated, these elections were strongly condemned by organisations including the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the National Constitutional Assembly, with the endorsement of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. South Africa has welcomed President Mugabe as a guest of honour at high profile events: in April 2004, he was one of a handful of African leaders invited to President Mbeki’s second term inauguration. At the Commonwealth, the African Union, and within SADC, South Africa has rallied around the ZANU-PF government, and turned a blind eye to the rampant human rights abuses and entrenched polarisation engendered by that government. This is the greatest endorsement the Zimbabwean government could hope for.

As the driving force of NEPAD, with its objectives to promote democratisation and human rights, South Africa is undermining its own principled position through its vocal support for the ZANU-PF regime. South Africa has shown it can play a leadership role on the continent, influencing positive outcomes in Burundi, the DRC, and Cote d’Ivoire. In a recent issue of the Review of African Political Economy, Ian Phimister and respected Zimbabwean political scientist Brian Raftopoulos argue that, taking into account the current regional context, “the importance of Mbeki and SADC’s support for Mugabe could hardly be exaggerated”.

It is tragic that on this, South African Human Rights Day, that an African government can still victimise its own people and poarise its society on South Africa’s border.

We hope that South Africa will do its utmost to reverse its uncritical support for Zimbabwe’s undemocratic regime, encourage it to break free from its repressive actions, begin a dialogue with its own people and above all that South Africa will not continue to support the ZANU-PF regime in regional and international forums.

We would welcome an opportunity to discuss these issues further with you.

Yours sincerely

David Bedford
Acting Director