Zimbabwe Information Center in North America
A project of the North American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe (NACFREEZ)
MDC
By Stanford G. Mukasa
Letter from America
April 9, 2007
MDC must temporarily move their offices and leadership out of Zimbabwe
It has now emerged from insiders who are clearly worried that Robert Mugabe and his cronies have compiled a hit list which includes top leaders of the MDC and NCA.This is similar to P.W. Botha’s "Total Strategy" during the apartheid years in South Africa. Botha’s strategy was to deal decisively with both internal and external opposition to apartheid.
Mugabe has the motive, the intent and the means to carry out his mission to physically eliminate the opposition leadership. The fact that Mugabe has ordered the brutal assaults on opposition leaders to the point of almost killing them, and then denying them the urgent medical treatment they need by throwing them, and leaving them languishing, in jails can only point to one undisputed fact : Mugabe is hell bent and intent on killing the opposition leadership.
The only dilemma he has is how the people of Zimbabwe will react on the news of the death of MDC leaders.
In his evil, scheming and calculating ruthlessness Mugabe is probably working out scenarios about how this assassination can be carried out and avoid any direct links of the murder to him.
Mugabe is emboldened by the fact that he has survived mass public action after his cronies savagely beat the MDC leaders. Even the callous act of dragging his victims from hospitals and dumping them in jail where there is no medical treatment for them is glaring evidence that Mugabe is prepared to inflict not only the maximum physical pain on the opposition officials but to let them die off without any medical care for them.
The testimony by one of the Zimbabwean doctors was most riveting. Addressing a subcommittee of the United States Congress recently, the doctor gave graphic details of the extent of the savage assaults.
It was very hard to imagine that in this day and age human beings could treat others with such brutality. The victims’ only crime was to stand up for their constitutional rights.
There is a historical parallel to this mayhem.
Over two thousands years ago a man paid dearly with his life. Jesus Christ was not guilty of any crime. From that incident of the crucifixion has emerged one of the more influential and enduring religions of our time – Christianity.And this weekend was an observance of Easter to remember the occasion when an innocent man died a humiliating death on the cross.
Zimbabweans are also remembering some of the most profound events when thugs acting under Mugabe’s orders used some of the crudest implements and methods to inflict excruciating pain on members of the opposition. Nelson Chamisa’s head was forcefully slammed against the tarmac by Mugabe’s thugs. Never in its history has Zimbabwe experienced such a bestial assault that can only be equaled to primitive barbarians of the Stone Age era.
What is even more mind boggling is the fact that, in this information age and instantaneous communications, SADC presidents, especially Thabo Mbeki, have chosen to behave the Pharisees and Sadducees in the biblical good Samaritan story when they deliberately looked the other way from a man who had been beaten to near death by thugs. Isn’t this what is happening in the case of Zimbabwe? How could SADC heads-of-state live with their consciences when they embraced Mugabe knowing that his thugs were bludgeoning opposition officials at home?
If, as Mbeki later claimed, SADC heads-of-state had dragged Mugabe over the hot coals on human rights abuses, then Mugabe either had plugs in his ears when they were telling him or he just decided ignore whatever they said
The big question now is: How much longer can this genocide continue? The number of people killed by Mugabe’s thugs stands at over 20,000, especially in Matabeleland.
For 27 years Mugabe has had a free reign on Zimbabwe. He has virtually dictated what kind of freedoms, if any, Zimbabweans will have – which does not amount to much. He has treated Zimbabwe like a serfdom – as if it was his privately owned land and in which he has given himself enormous powers to do want he wants and to parcel it to his cronies.
An official of the United Nations has warned Mugabe that shooting and killing unarmed civilians is tantamount to crimes against humanity and the perpetrators could be prosecuted at the international criminal court at The Hague.
But Mugabe has totally ignored all the warnings. His thugs are now on full scale kidnappings of MDC officials and supporters, beating them brutally and leaving them for dead. One human rights lawyer described his frustration at having to scour the country looking for the kidnapped victims who are now routinely taken to remote and scattered areas around the country where they are left for dead after a barbaric assault.
Yet MDC must not be cowed. It must rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of Mugabe’s mayhem. In 1960 and after the massacre of hundreds of peaceful anti apartheid demonstrators, Nelson Mandela posed a strategic question about what the opposition should be thinking about when all their peaceful demonstrations are met with ruthless and brutal violence.
MDC has lost whatever democratic space it may have had. MDC could be on the brink of being banned as part of Mugabe’s grand plan. And the opposition movement’s leadership could be in mortal danger right now.
MDC must look at two strategic decisions right now.
The first is for the entire top leadership to relocate from Zimbabwe and establish a campaign in any of the neighboring countries that may be willing to take them. This would not be an easy task considering Mugabe enjoys the support of many SADC countries.
The second would be to launch a major regional and international campaign against Mugabe. Being located outside Zimbabwe would also give MDC the chance to plan for a post Mugabe era. MDC could also campaign for all kinds of training assistance for Zimbabweans in exile.
This would be the ideal time for MDC to assess its manpower needs after Mugabe is gone. Maybe the party has already done this. But manpower needs assessment is an ongoing exercise. MDC would be a lot more effective if it established its offices outside Zimbabwe because they will be able to work without all those raids by Mugabe’s thugs.
Unless there are guarantees for free and fair elections MDC must boycott next March’s elections. If this were to happen Mugabe knows very well that filling Parliament with ZANUPF supporters as well as being re-elected president will be an empty sham. The international community will not ease up pressure on Mugabe; there will be no investments or tourists coming to Zimbabwe.
This is why Mugabe, like a leech or maggot, feeds on the MDC through fear and rigged elections to create the impression that he leads a legitimate government.
If MDC leadership were to relocate outside the country Zimbabweans would understand and be supportive of this move – just like ZANU and ZAPU left the then Rhodesia to lead their campaigns against Ian Smith from outside. And when they returned in 1980 they were given a heroes’ welcome by hundreds of thousands of people who thronged the airport.
Some people would not be supportive of the MDC leadership moving out of the country. But, then, for them to stay they risk loss of their lives at the hands of the rampant thugs of Mugabe. The MDC leadership’s position, articulated by Grace Kwinjeh, namely, to lead from the front, has nearly killed the leadership. When the leaders were being arrested one may well ask: Where was the outrage among the Zimbabweans ? Why didn’t Zimbabweans turn up in thousands to demonstrate? Can Zimbabweans guarantee the security of their leaders who have borne the brunt of all those brutal attacks from Mugabe’s thugs?
The answers to the questions are obvious. So is the need for the MDC leadership to temporarily relocate. They have nothing to gain by staying under these oppressive conditions. They have lots to gain by moving to the neighboring countries from where they can lobby the international community and organize Zimbabweans in non violent acts of confrontation with Mugabe.