DECEMBER 2007
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has, over the last thirty years, been responsible for gross crimes against humanity, and for reducing a once prosperous nation capable of feeding and supporting its people, into one of the poorest and most desperate nations on earth. He has done this for one reason only – to remain in power and thus to avoid facing justice for his crimes. An entire nation has been tortured to keep him safe and free.
Mugabe came to power in April 1980. He has never tolerated the existence of any political opposition in Zimbabwe. Within months, by October 1980, he had commissioned the North Koreans to train a hit squad for him, to terrorise those regions in Zimbabwe perceived to support ZAPU, the only political alternative to ZANU at that time. This hit squad, called “Gukurahundi” by Mugabe himself, and answerable in terms of line of command to Mugabe only, massacred an estimated 20,000 civilians in western Zimbabwe between 1983 and 1985 – while the world looked the other way.
The massacres and torture ended with the absorption of ZAPU into ZANU, in 1987. For ten years Zimbabwe experienced comparative stability – although Mugabe ruthlessly put down all opposition in the 1990s. Increasing economic hardship in the 1990s led to the rise of the trades union movement and this led in turn to a new political party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
Since 1999, in the wake of the rise of the MDC, Mugabe has once more unleashed waves of violence and oppression against his own people. In seven short years, Zimbabwe has plummeted in every sense. Our once independent judiciary has been largely subverted to serve the will of the ruling party. Our once productive farms have been reduced to idle land, while millions face starvation. Our once thriving industries have been reduced to locked and abandoned sites, and the few remaining businesses are now under threat of being forcibly acquired and parcelled out to the ZANU elite. Tens of thousands have been tortured and hundreds have been murdered since 2000 – with impunity for the perpetrators.
In May 2005, Mugabe’s forces unleashed a new wave of gross crimes against his own people. In the space of two months, an estimated 500,000 urban dwellers had their homes destroyed, and a further 200,000 lost their livelihoods in the informal sector. “Operation Murambatsvina” – or “discard the filth” – was in violation of international law and thrust millions of Zimbabweans into direst poverty. The price slashes since July 2007 have meant that basic commodities are now entirely unavailable, and daily life is a struggle to put any food on the table – a struggle at which thousands fail.
Zimbabwe currently has:
• the lowest life expectancy on earth: 34 for women and 37 for men.
• the highest density of AIDS orphans of any nation on earth, with one in ten Zimbabweans being an
orphan: 1,2 million orphans.
• one in four Zimbabweans estimated to be in the Diaspora (3 million), constituting more than 60% of the productive aged population (18-60 years)
• near total collapse of health, education and judicial systems owing to mass resignations and lack of
financial support to institutions
• highest inflation rate in the world – estimated variously at between 9,000% and 20,000%
• one in three Zimbabweans currently in dire need of food aid – 4 million.
Mugabe is guilty of genocide with constructive intent.
He belongs before an international tribunal for the crimes of “Gukurahundi”, the crimes of “Murambatsvina”, and the murder and torture of the last seven years. He has deliberately sacrificed our nation’s well being to save his own skin.
IN SHORT THE ONLY PLACE IN EUROPE THAT SHOULD ACCOMODATE MUGABE IS THE HAGUE.
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