Mugabe Quickly Brewing A Sudan Alike Crisis In Zimbabwe
FreeAfrica (June 6, 2005)

The world watches and listens as Mugabe and his heavily armed and dangerous terrorist-tactic trained army and police force continue to harass, arrest, assault and displace tens of thousands and in some cases millions of innocent civilians in what the Mugabe regime/network has described as a clean up of the cities –– “a clean up of what? when what really needs to be done is clean the cities of these dangerous Zanu P.F gangsters led by the unpopular independence rebel, Robert Mugabe. After 25 years of claimed independence our people are today being thrown out of their homes, their hard earned cash being stolen/confisticated under justification that it is earned through unjust means by vending in the streets and at popular flea market spots. What could be unjust about such a means of survival? Well, only the brutal Zanu P.F fully employed merciless regime/network could probably explain that. Some of us live in first world countries now and indeed can attest to the fact that not even first world countries are exempt from the existence of flea market traders; infact they contribute a significant amount to the countries’ economies, more so by the mere fact of encouraging small business growth and decreasing unemployment rates.

Zimbabwe, our beloved country with an estimated unemployment rate of at least 80% of the adult population and inflation running at despicable figures of over 500% at any unpredictable time, has for the past 25 years been imposed with the ever failing leadership of the apparent Zanu PF terrorists regime/network who have todate betrayed all the causes of the people’s fight and pride for the attainment of independence. “Operation Murambatsvina” as Mugabe’s Zanu PF has termed this atrocity, is the name of the legitimized evil deeds that Mugabe and his Zanu PF criminal enterprise have recently and still continue to perpetrate against Zimbabwe’s vulnerable citizens. When interpreted, the shona word “murambatsvina” means “cleaning dirt”, a meaning similar to the name “gukurahundi” that Mugabe gave to the popular genocide era he and his Zanu PF gang carried out against the Ndebele people beginning in the early 1980s. Mugabe and his criminal gang todate remain at large with regard to the 1980s genocide but we are hopeful that soon the switch which will turn off Mugabe’s glory and freedom will inevitably trigger and Mugabe together with his fellow Zanu PF gangsters will live to be punished for all their crimes including those of their subordinates, the secret police and armies.

Recent report have put the number of civilians arrested during Zanu PF’s onslaught on the country’s small business owners such as flea market traders and street vendors, at 30 000. It is believed that hundreds of thousands have also been left homeless by the onslaught which also threatens to destitute over a million of the country’s already poor. The onslaught has also targeted the country’s majority destitute citizens living in informal settlements sometimes referred to as “shanty towns or squatter camps”. When Mugabe’s police force swept through neighborhoods they destroyed everything onsite, including people’s clothing and food. FreeAfrica has also learnt that during the process of the onslaught members of Mugabe’s police force also went around beating up everyone crossing their path. In a recent telephone discussion with Ms Dliwayo (not her real name), who lives in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Ms Dliwayo broke down in tears as she tried to recount to us how one of her friends, a local street vendor was beaten up by Mugabe’s police force during the blitz. Ms Dliwayo says her friend had all her merchandise including goods she had just ordered from her rural home - having spent thousands of dollars on travel expenses to order the goods - confiscated and her only remaining savings from the daily business she has run for over 10 years since her husband died, also taken by Mugabe’s police. “Its chaos everywhere you look now” Ms Dliwayo pointed out, referring to the hardship she and fellow Zimbabweans have to bare during these hard times under Mugabe’s severe oppression. She further went on to say “if only this Mugabe and his people were taking all these properties and food that they are burning down and just hand it out to destitute people in the streets, maybe one would find a little mercy in their cause. But they are out to completely destroy people’s lives… yet they cannot even provide the jobs or the education to counter such destruction”. Ms Dliwayo also spoke of how she occasionally finds herself having to bribe local taxi operators “imtshova” as they are locally known in Bulawayo’s native Ndebele language, just to be able to make her way to the city’s downtown, sometimes to buy bread for her family (if she could find it in the stores). She also spoke of how a neighbor of hers now tries to budget at least Z$360 000 per week for four return trips from his downtown workplace just so he can get home before midnight after a day’s shift ended at 4:00pm.

Mugabe is pushing Zimbabwe’s people to the edge. Sporadic reports are starting to emerge where civilians are now demanding guns as opposed to civil protests to fight Mugabe’s terror regime. Zimbabwe’s opposition political parties are now facing the challenge of having to calm down irate members, especially youth who say they now have nothing to lose even if they engaged in armed conflict with Mugabe’s regime. Mugabe’s terrorist regime has done the final blow on Zimbabwe’s masses. There now is a real danger of a civil war in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s youth feel so betrayed that their lives and future have been purposely shattered. Zimbabweans have always been known for their peaceful nature, but no one knows now, for how long this peaceful nature may last. In the distant horizon one can imagine a major blood shed befalling our people in an attempt to rid the country of these Zanu PF long time terrorists. Mugabe’s regime has assumed command of people lives and has totally frozen all Rights that any citizen or human being living in Zimbabwe has. People are now the regime’s puppets, but soon somebody will say “enough is enough” and guns will start blazing as is happening in Sudan today. With what is happening in Zimbabwe now, even without real political leadership against what Mugabe is doing to the people, one would not be surprised to see the insurgence of vigilante militants. We have seen it happen in so many African countries that militant wings of youth, sometimes referred to as “Rebels” rise up in challenge against the government. It normally turns out nasty as may be expected in any cause without a leader, but when people are burnt out in thought for the better, they will risk everything including their own lives. Zimbabwe is near South Africa and other neighboring states like Mozambique, where getting a gun from the black market is no difficult task, a realistic fear then would be that soon some of those youths (the young men and women that Mugabe’s regime has trained in the Militia camps) who have fled from the regime’s orders to kill their relatives and neighbors, will soon use their potentially destructive knowledge of weapons and return to Zimbabwe to fight.

If the United Nations is really a global force to reckon, then Zimbabwe is now a classics test for its influence and responsibilities. We hope that Zimbabwe will not be like the sorry case of Rwanda, where the United Nations is reported to have evidently waited; only to act after the fact, when over 800 000 people where massacred in just over a period of three months. Millions where left destitute and with no apparent future to look forward to.

CLICK HERE to read a BBC news world report on the 1994 killings in Rwanda.

Mugabe and his terrorist regime have shown the world, the evil that they are capable of, and it is now time for the world to act. If the world does not act now, surely it will only act after the fact, which will be pointless for the benefit of Zimbabwe’s innocent civilians. It is time for the international community to start “walking the talk” on Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s regime should be brought down. If it was really a just cause to help the people of Iraq by removing Saddam Hussein by means of force, then if the international community cannot use civil pressure to oust Mugabe, maybe it needs to consider other means. FreeAfrica does not condone violence or war to resolve any issues but will always stand with Zimbabweans to justify any means that will rid them of this brutal regime and restore their peaceful lives. We are pleased to read from a current report from the Associated Press media, that a United Nations expert on the right to adequate housing Mr. Miloon Kothari, in Geneva, has strongly condemned the destruction of people’s lives that is being perpetrated by Mugabe’s regime.

CLICK HERE to read the full report.