‘Switch off Mugabe’s power’

British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell is to meet with the South African High Commissioner to the UK, Lindiwe Mabuza, on Friday to urge the South African government to cut electricity supplies to Zimbabwe.

Joining him will be European Labour member of Parliament Michael Cashman, who is being enlisted to lobby the European Union (EU) to compensate South Africa for any loss of revenue caused by halting power supplies to Zimbabwe.

The two said they planned to remind the South African government that during the apartheid era, the African National Congress (ANC) urged the international community to exert economic pressure on the then racist regime.

Tatchell, who was himself active in the anti-apartheid movement for more than 20 years, said his aim was to get South Africa to issue an ultimatum to Mugabe — restore democracy and human rights or the electricity supply would be cut.

“When South Africa threatened to switch off Rhodesia’s power in the late 1970s, it forced Ian Smith’s white minority government to agree to black majority rule,” said Tatchell.

“The mere threat to cut the electricity supply worked then, and it can work now,” said Tatchell.

The Zimbabwe electricity authority, Zesa, imports 15% of its power from South Africa’s Eskom. This is nearly half its imported electricity. Zimbabwe also currently owes South Africa at least $16-million for power imports.

According to Tatchell, economic meltdown would follow if the proposed power cuts were enforced, while the disruption would not be enough to jeopardise water supplies, medical care and other essential services in Zimbabwe.

“Some people say this campaign could cause terrible suffering to the people of Zimbabwe, but the people there are already suffering. Millions are starving… If South Africa switches off the power it will create short-term hardship, but produce the long-term gains,” said Tatchell.

Tatchell said apart from organising protests in England and around the world, he was also planning to approach old friends of his in the ANC to secure the South

African government’s agreement to “turn off the lights on Mugabe’s tyranny”.

Tatchell’s campaign — Switch off Mugabe’s Power — is supported by opposition activists inside Zimbabwe, and by Zimbabwean exiles and refugees in Britain and South Africa, like the Concerned Zimbabweans Abroad organisation.

The group, the main Zimbabwean exile group in South Africa, is planning protests outside Eskom’s head offices in the next two to three weeks as a follow-up to Tatchell’s meeting in London on Friday. – Sapa