Arnold Tsunga, chairperson of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, on Thursday joined other politicians and civil-society representatives in calling for an end to the country’s “smart genocide” where, instead of blood and bullets, there is a systematic eradication of human dignity, he said.
Tsunga was addressing the media at a “Save Zimbabwe” press conference in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, along with representatives from the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), the Zimbabwean National Student Union (Zinasu), Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) and the official opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The people of Zimbabwe “experience routine human rights violations under the guise of pan-Africanism and redressing the balances of power”, he said, adding that many Zimbabweans are now so desperate that they resort to crossing the crocodile-infested Limpopo River illegally into South Africa, just to maintain their livelihoods and self-respect.
One of the country’s religious leaders, Reverend Pius Wakatama of the Christian Alliance Organisation, said President Robert Mugabe’s is “a government whose laws are satanic and cannot be conquered just by praying and fasting”. A decision was therefore taken to form a coalition to address the challenges the country faces, he said.
“[We must] topple down this fortress of the devil called the government of the [ruling] Zanu-PF,” Wakatama told the conference.
Objectives
The group said the coalition focuses on two main objectives: formulating a new, people-driven Constitution for the country, and ensuring that Zimbabwe has a free and fair national election in 2008. It has also called on the international community to push Mugabe’s government to respect the rights and freedoms of its people.
Lovemore Madhuku of the NCA, the main organisation calling for constitutional reform in Zimbabwe, said the group’s two objectives need to work together, as a legitimate election was not possible without a revised Constitution.
Madhuku called Mugabe’s government a “brutal regime” that will not give up its brutality through a simple call for change. He said the solution can only be found in a “determined coalition” of stakeholders who will have to engage with the government in a battle of wills until the government finally gives in.
He said Zimbabweans need to maintain the pressure they are putting on the government by defying improper legislation, such as its decision to ban public meetings. They should not back down, even if they are arrested.
“Continue to do what you are doing, because [the government] will continue what they are doing,” he said, referring to the government’s harassment and even attempted abduction of defiant individuals.
Key to success
Jenny Williams of the women’s organisation Woza agreed that the situation is extremely difficult in Zimbabwe, saying that people can be arrested or killed when they oppose the government. “There have been attempts to abduct me and to kill me,” she said.
“But it is not about individuals; it’s about mobilising Zimbabweans out on to the streets,” Williams emphasised. She said the key to success in Zimbabwe is getting more people on the opposition’s side and protesting on the streets. “It’s a matter of numbers.”
To garner support, the coalition intends highlighting “bread-and-butter issues” such as education, employment and patriotism among the country’s citizens, who are greatly affected by the policies of the Zanu-PF government.
The president of Zinasu, Promise Mkwananzi, agreed that normal citizens are the worst affected. “These testimonies [of speakers at the conference] are a drop in the ocean to what is going on in Zimbabwe. What is happening to the people of Zimbabwe is too gruesome to bring to this platform,” he said.
Calling Zimbabwe a “de facto state of emergency”, Mkwananzi said he has also been systematically targeted by the government for standing up for students’ rights. “Student activism has been made illegal,” he said, explaining how he was expelled from university and arrested for initiating student protests.
“But it’s not just within the student movement,” he emphasised. “The ball is in the court of Zimbabweans to solve the crisis facing them. But Zimbabwe is not in a vacuum … [and it needs] the international community’s assistance.”
Assistance
Ray Bennett of the MDC clarified that the coalition is “not asking the international community to find solutions for us, but [for] assistance such that it amplifies the local process”.
He emphasised the need for solidarity with the region, saying that countries in similar situations were only able to rise above it through support from other nations. They needed moral support and possible financial assistance.
“You are too diplomatic,” Abednico Bhebhe, also from the MDC, added, complaining that countries in the region, such as South Africa, need to stand up to Mugabe. “Mugabe has a history of violence and a history of killing … If Mugabe is a killer, call him a killer; if he is abusing human rights, tell him he’s abusing human rights … that’s the support we need.”
The NCA’s Madhuku expressed that coalition members are all victims of the situation in Zimbabwe, but what they are attempting to do is “advocate for a democratic path to get Mugabe out of power”.
“This is the year we are likely to deliver change in Zimbabwe,” he said.