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 30, 2007
Justice or people's vengeance will catch up with Mugabe’s thugs
A group of human rights activists including victims of the barbaric assaults by Robert Mugabe’s thugs got a chance to address a press conference at the United Nations last week. They also met with congressional leaders and other humanitarian groups in the United States.
The activists, who included MDC deputy secretary for international relations, Grace Kwinjeh, made a strong case for international support for the embattled Zimbabweans.
Admittedly most of their accounts about their brutalization by the Mugabe regime were now well-known and well documented, having been widely publicized by the mass media.
However, what made their case authentic and compelling was they had experienced first hand these savage assaults. Some of them, like Kwinjeh, were victims of the assaults and they had all the scars to prove it.
The human rights activists brought another dimension to the struggle against Mugabe. They showed by the scars they bore that they had tried to confront the Mugabe regime, only to be met with the full militarized police force and brutal assaults.
At the risk to their own lives, the activists proved that not all Zimbabweans were just sitting and bemoaning their predicament. Some were actively engaged in street protests, prayer rallies and other forms of expressing their grievances against what has clearly become a brutal dictatorship of Mugabe.
A long-standing tradition of the international community has been that Zimbabweans must be actively involved in their liberation and not wait for the outside world to come like knights in shining armor to rescue them.
But after hearing Kwinjeh’s moving testimony there is now clearly a case for the international community to intervene. Her testimony was a collective account of the brutalities inflicted on Zimbabweans. Over 600 MDC supporters have been severely assaulted. Mugabe’s plans to eliminate the opposition before the next elections are well known.
It is reported that Mugabe has directed that MDC be neutralized by June. There are some obvious reasons for this. Mugabe is under some form of diplomatic pressure from SADC to enter into negotiations with the MDC leading to the elections.
Based on intelligence reports he received, Mugabe is aware that the most effective opposition is the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirayi. This is why he selected its leadership for intense brutalization. He wants to complete the political ethnic cleansing, so to speak, that would leave MDC without any effective leadership.
At the very least, Mugabe hopes that he will physically bludgeon MDC to submission. That way, when talks begin he, Mugabe, will bargain from a position of strength.
The most unfortunate development is there has not been any substantial mass protest by the Zimbabweans after the savage assault on their leaders. But a few Zimbabweans have, by their very determination and spirit, agitated enough to get SADC and the international community to maintain a strong spotlight on Zimbabwe.
But even far more important, the European Union has taken lead in strengthening its targeted sanctions to include the perpetrators of the atrocities against the MDC leadership. The EU message is very clear: any officer or mercenary of the Mugabe regime who engages in acts of aggression and torture against Zimbabweans risks being included in the blacklist.
Some may laugh at the idea of an extended blacklist. But it is more than a listing of people who are barred from entering any EU member countries. The blacklist is also an indictment that can be used in future criminal trials against the perpetrators of these aggressions.
The UN is already on record of warning Mugabe that acts of torture against innocent and unarmed civilians are grounds for a charge of crimes against humanity being leveled against Mugabe.
The message to Mugabe’s thugs, whether they in the police, army, CIO, the so- called people’s militia, or hired mercenaries, is very clear. Their actions are being documented and justice will catch up with them eventually.
But naming and shaming should not be left to the European Union alone. The same strategy has been underway way organized by a number of groups. The efforts do not seem to have been well coordinated. What is needed is for a mechanism where the names and other details of Mugabe’s cronies should be circulated as widely as possible.
Children and close relatives of the perpetrators should also be included, especially those who are abroad. Zimbabweans in Diaspora should be more actively involved in naming and shaming individuals who are related to Mugabe’s thugs. Once these cronies’ children and relatives have been identified the communities in which they live must be made aware of their presence through news releases to the local mass media.
Information about the perpetrators of these atrocities must also be circulated in the communities heir live as well as among their families. Many of Mugabe’s thugs try to live an innocent life . They projected the look of a respectable member of the community. Yet once they get to their places of work they turn into monsters.
Human rights organizations must now circulate within the communities and among families names of the criminals as well as the atrocities they committed.
Another strategy will be to circulate widely the telephone numbers of these criminals and encourage people to call and tell these thugs that we are aware of the crimes they have committed and we will be naming and sharing this information with their relatives, friends, families and members of their communities. The criminals should also be told that their names are being documented for possible prosecution in future.
Many of Mugabe’s cronies live under the illusion that Mugabe is there to protect them forever. They see a seemingly robust Mugabe and naturally assume he will be in power indefinitely. At the age of 83 Mugabe is in fact in the sunset of his life, as he once said some years ago. He is virtually living on borrowed time. He might wish he could continue for another six years as president. But life gives no guarantees. Sooner or later his day will come. Mugabe is aware of this. And maybe this explains his reckless behavior. He no longer looks forward to anything in future because he knows each passing day brings him a lot closer to his end.
The tragedy is Mugabe has always been self centered. Just as much as there is nothing in future for him Mugabe has no interest in preparing a future for the rest of the Zimbabweans. This is known as the scorched earth policy. When you do not want future generations to inherit anything worthwhile you destroy the country. The departing Portuguese in Mozambique and Angola destroyed the country after FRELIMO and MPLA won their freedom struggle back in 1975. Mozambicans had to start from scratch to rebuild their devastated economy. Angolans were plunged into a civil war that lasted over 20 years. In the process the country was reduced to rubble.
The name and shame strategy will get Mugabe’s cronies and thugs thinking more seriously about the consequences of what they are doing. Each time they commit an act of atrocity they will be reminded that someone is documenting what they are doing and at some point in their future, if they are still alive, they will come to a rendezvous with their destiny.
They will be reminded that the very same people they are torturing today will be in government in future. When this change of government happens the enraged masses will be after these criminals to inflict instant justice. It happened after the overthrow of the Haitian dictator, baby Doc. His Tom Tom Makuts, or the militia thugs, who had tortured people were hunted down and some of them burned alive. Other were hanged. Meanwhile, Baby Doc and his wife had flown out of the country and were enjoying life in exile in France.
The same can happen in Zimbabwe. If Mugabe does not die in office he might go into exile. But he will not take all his cronies with him. They will be left at the mercy of the people of Zimbabwe.
The most ironical thing is the very same thugs , fearful they will be torn apart by enraged masses, will plead with the new government to protect them.
They say what goes round comes round.