Tonderai Katswara
17 April 2008
Windhoek — Leading Namibian business personality has come out with all guns blazing, saying it is high time businesses in Africa stand up and take a firm stand on Zimbabwe.
During the NEF annual general meeting in Windhoek yesterday, President of the Namibia Employers' Federation, Vekuii Rukoro, lashed out at the continent's private sector over what is happening in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe remains president of Zimbabwe despite no official results of a presidential election held almost three weeks ago, in which MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has declared victory on the basis of an independent count.
Despite losing the parliamentary election to the opposition MDC, Zanu-PF cabinet ministers continue to do their duties. Political rallies have been banned, and intimidation and violence are being reported. "As you all know these are not normal times, so it can't be business as usual but business unusual," said Rukoro, a former Namibian Attorney General, as he explained to the gathering of local business leaders how business was linked to politics.
He said it was a great shame that the private sector in SADC and the rest of the continent had decided to ignore and remain silent on the Zimbabwe crisis, when they could play in pivotal role in turning around the situation.
Rukoro, who is also the CEO of First National Bank Namibia Holdings Group, gave an account of how the business community in South Africa stood up to their former leaders and told them that the private sector would no longer support apartheid, leading to the demise of the regime.
"As business we should stop fooling ourselves. There is no such thing as business on one side and politics on the other. Just like South African enterprises decided to pull the rug from under De Klerk saying enough is enough ... that was the final blow.
"It was not the bombs nor the ANC that brought an end to apartheid. Politics played a part, yes. It brought the situation to the brink of collapse, but it was when the private sector said it would not bankroll apartheid any more ... that did it," he said.
Not mincing his words, Rukoro said he was speaking as a free man, a citizen of Africa, who bemoaned the suffering of the Zimbabwean masses, and would call a spade a spade.
He said it was high time the economic muscle of SADC and the continent as a whole acted against Mugabe.
"I say it is time for business people in SADC to stop aiding the rapes and massacres and other forms of brutality being meted out on the innocent people of Zimbabwe by a regime which has lost all legitimacy and whose power is derived from the military and fellow SADC leaders.
"How do we attract investment to SADC when we as a region are in the business of aiding dictatorship, through our silence.
Shame on us as Africa and as Africans, as we have really failed our continent, our people - as leaders of both politics and business," he said.
Rukoro said he would immediately correspond and liaise with various regional and continental business bodies, including the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business Unity South Africa, on a course of action on the Zimbabwe issue.
Rukoro is confident his fellow businesspeople in the region will support his cause.
Rukoro said it defied logic that SADC leaders had decided to stand with Mugabe against the will of the people of Zimbabwe - who had spoken through the ballot.
"Based on the Zimbabwe experience, it seems democracy for SADC leaders no longer means government of the people, by the people, for the people, but now means government of the ruling elite, by the ruling elite and for the ruling elite."
Rukoro said Namibia and the rest of southern Africa should be in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, and said he hoped that such a situation of isolating the masses would not happen in Namibia.
He applauded the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) for being the only body in SADC that has spoken out against what has happened in Zimbabwe after the elections, saying they have always stood for the people.
After stalling for nearly two weeks, Mugabe and his Zanu-PF have now decided to challenge the results and have been talking about a re-run of the presidential vote, even though the results remain a mystery.
The Zimbabwean High Court and SADC leaders have said there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, neither is there any need for urgent release of the presidential election results.
The country is currently plagued with runaway inflation of around 100 000 per cent, MDC supporters are allegedly being subjected to torture while many disillusioned Zimbabweans, filled with fear and uncertainty, continue fleeing to neighbouring countries - mainly South Africa - as they fear a more crackdowns by government forces.
Widespread violence against MDC supporters, especially in the rural areas, since the March 29 elections have been widely reported in the media and on the Internet.
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