allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Mbeki Should Condemn, Then Investigate Violence (Page 1 of 1)

I WAS skeptical when I first saw a headline in the May 3 issue of The Saturday Star suggesting that after the tirade of criticism following his "There is no crisis in Zimbabwe" outburst, the Southern African Development Community (SADC)'s mediator, Thabo Mbeki, had finally spoken on Zimbabwe.

My cynicism was vindicated when upon reading the story I discovered that Mbeki had indeed spoken on the situation in Zimbabwe but only to slam the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and to blame scapegoats for his failure to bring leadership and integrity to his role as peace broker between ZANU-PF and the opposition. In a nutshell, he blamed every one but himself for his failure to deliver over almost a decade.

The South African paper reported that while speaking to a delegation of clergymen from across Africa who had sought an audience with him to express their concerns about Zimbabwe, Mbeki slammed MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and complained that political interference by Britain and America had threatened his capacity and abilities as mediator.

"He said he was worried about statements made by US President Bush and the US mission in South Africa. Mbeki criticised the overt presence of these countries around Tsvangirai. Mbeki sees this certainly as political interference," The Saturday Star reported.

It is clear that in the face of their own impotence and collusion with the authorities in Harare, Mbeki and other African leaders within SADC and the African Union are riled that it is only Western nations that have offered both material and moral support to the embattled populace.

But for Mbeki to blame political interference for compromising his skills as a mediator is to take the art of passing the buck too far. If he has any such skills, Mbeki has done a very good job of concealing them under the bushel of "quiet diplomacy", whose efficacy in an escalating crisis such as the one in Zimbabwe is doubted by almost everyone except Mbeki himself.

It is unrealistic for the South African President to expect that in a world that has become a global village characterised by instantaneous communications and information dissemination, he can operate in a vacuum in which other leaders throughout the world never express opinions about developments in Zimbabwe.

Being skilled as a mediator means the ability to act decisively and with integrity despite distractions. This is what all mediators in disputes have to contend with; they cannot gag the rest of the world.

The paper referred to Mbeki's "genuine" commitment to ensure that the MDC, which has threatened to boycott the presidential run-off, would participate. Mbeki's belief that the MDC's refusal to participate is the biggest obstacle to his efforts is misguided. The biggest threat to any successful resolution of the electoral impasse is the state violence unleashed against the populace about which Mbeki has remained resolutely tongue-tied.

In view of his continued silence on this issue, his motives for leaning on the opposition to literally enter a lion's den to participate under such fraught conditions are questionable. As mediator, Mbeki has done nothing to call for a conducive atmosphere in which the people of Zimbabwe can vote safely without fear of reprisals afterwards..

Mbeki's idea of sending a regional team to Zimbabwe to investigate incidents of violence is ridiculous in view of the fact the violence being perpetrated against innocent citizens is self-evident through the figures compiled by human rights groups and pictures published in the press.

What more does Mbeki need to condemn the onslaught by the state against unarmed and innocent villagers? He cannot claim that political interference from Gordon Brown and George Bush has kept him tight lipped on the issue of state sponsored violence, which has been prevalent in Zimbabwe since the advent of land invasions in 2000.

Rather than political interference, the biggest obstacles to Mbeki's efforts in Zimbabwe are his inability to be impartial and objective as well as his disdain for the people of Zimbabwe for whom he has never shown any compassion or empathy.

Apart from being openly partisan in his dealings with ZANU-PF and the MDC, Mbeki has regarded his role as being a purely academic exercise without any human dimensions. The crisis in Zimbabwe needs to be resolved because the people are suffering under repressive governance, the highest inflation in the world, rampant poverty and unemployment, lack of access to essential services and commodities, etc.

Mbeki's reported idea of sending a regional team to investigate allegations of state violence in Zimbabwe is more confirmation of his nonchalance. It can only be put into its proper perspective by asking whether it would have made any sense for any one to send a team to investigate apartheid in South Africa when it was a self-evident fact.

By proposing time-wasting investigations, Mbeki seems to be almost saying the retributive post-election beatings, abductions and killings and displacements can continue in the mean time.

This is the only conclusion to be drawn from his quibbling about interference by those who have spoken out in solidarity with the besieged people of Zimbabwe while he himself continues to tacitly condone the atrocities.

In addition, he has failed to learn any lessons from the debacle of the SADC team that observed the March 29 polls, turned a blind eye to irregularities and rushed out of Zimbabwe after declaring the polls free and fair. State sponsored violence broke out while some of them were still in the air on flights back to their countries and besieged Zimbabweans have been at the mercy of state agents and militias since then.

The lesson Mbeki has failed to learn is that elections are not only about the day the people turn out to cast their votes. The safety and security of voters need to be ensured in the months leading up to polling day and after it.

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