Zimbabwe: brink of genocide?
The BBC has run an article saying that Methodist bishops from southern Africa have warned that a potential genocide could take place in Zimbabwe.
I would like to say that the Zimbabwean people are not capable of genocide. I would like to say that only Mugabe and his cronies are evil, and that the rest of the population are well-intentioned people suffering under his tireless tyranny. But I fear that a sinister malignancy has been suffusing the minds of many Zimbabweans.
Yesterday I was speaking to someone on the ground in Harare. She has been active in the community, collecting blankets and clothing for the poor souls whose houses have been demolished by the governement. They managed to get a whole lorry full of supplies to these people, who are suffering without food or shelter in the biting Zimbabwean winter. But this was not a heart-warming story. When the lorry arrived, the police confiscated all the supplies, piled them up and burned them. They said that the people didn’t need help - the State would provide for them. If only that were true.
The malice behind such an act makes me nauseous.
Many of the newly-homeless have been carted off to the rural areas. But they are not being resettled. Some of them, I am told, are being held under guard on farms. They have minimal food, shelter and clothing, and no rights. This sounds suspiciously like what happened in the Darfur region of Sudan. In fact, the words “concentration camp” immediately leap to mind.
Perhaps it is just a matter of time before people are killed trying to escape from this captivity. From there, I fear it would be a very slippery slope down to all out genocide.
August 19th, 2006 at 23:00
Even Mugabe is not capable of a genocide. Such sentiments are being propagated by individuals frustrated by lose of power. Among such individuals are the tribalists Ndebele people scattered in uk, SA and other western countries including so called white people.
August 20th, 2006 at 19:32
Mutimba, you say that Mugable isn’t capable of genocide. I might be inclined to believe you; Mugabe isn’t even capable of rudimentary national governance; how could he possibly be capable of the large-scale systematic elimination of his opposition?
Unfortunately however, history proves that that is exactly what Mugabe is capable of. Thousands of Ndebele civilians were
massacred in 1982/1983 by Mugabe’s notorious, North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Ndebele people would fear genocide.
Let’s be clear about this. Anyone who dares to pose a serious threat to Mugabe’s power will be eliminated.