Controversial United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, has again defied Harare by publicly accusing the government of ”burgeoning corruption”.
Last November, Zimbabwe threatened to invoke an unspecified clause in the Vienna Convention on diplomatic guidelines to expel Dell for ”meddling” in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs. In an address to students in Bulawayo on World Free Press Day on Wednesday, Dell said Washington would not change its attitude until Harare undertakes ”profound reforms”.
”So far I see structure, but no real debate. I see form, but no substance. I see committees, but no commitment to change policies that have shown they do not work … I, for one, will watch with interest to see how this turn-around will be effected.”
Dell said President Robert Mugabe’s ”look east” policy should not be selective in the lessons to be drawn from that part of the globe. He quoted from a speech by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev after the death of Joseph Stalin: ”Those who stand in information revolution’s way will simply be buried, buried under the ashes of history and consigned to irrelevance.”
Dell put the boot into the Zimbabwean state media for what he called ”gross exaggerations”, that painted a ”very rosy” picture for its audience that ”recovery is only months away”.
The Mail & Guardian spoke to Dell shortly after his Bulawayo address.
Do you anticipate any action from the government after you repeated remarks that got you into trouble with the administration last November?
I don’t believe so; the government seems to want to hold me to a double standard. They want to accuse the United States of being the cause of the economic woes without recog-nising that, if they choose to make the United States part of the problem, then the United States has got the right to reply. It’s my view that none of the comments we make in reply to government accusations are either inappropriate and/or interference.
What did the US government advise when you left the country immediately after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its displeasure at your conduct?
Oh, they basically said keep doing your work. It is the role of diplomats in a given country to talk to all elements of society. We talk to government officials; we talk to opposition officials; we talk to civil society, churches, and teachers. It’s our role to understand what is going on in the country. There is nothing, unusual, inappropriate or special about Zimbabwe in that sense.
Should they order you out, what are the likely consequences from your government?
I have no reason to believe that’s going to happen. If it happens, I’m a career diplomat — there will be other assignments.
What did you make of Mugabe’s play on your name, that he can’t spell Dell, only Hell.
I thought that was very abusive. I have the front page of that day’s Herald framed in my office. It’s the sort of thing you would expect, as an ambassador, from places that tend to have disagreements with us. It didn’t bother me at all.