|
|
Zimbabwe: Why Zim? Why Now?
 |
 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Herald (Harare)
OPINION
9 July 2008
Posted to the web 9 July 2008
Mohamed Elmasry
Poor are the Africans. For the last 500 years they were victimised, oppressed, enslaved and exploited by European colonisers and still are today.
Why there's so much attention in the United States on Zimbabwe when the average American does not know if Zimbabwe is a country or a river? Why did President George W. Bush lead the charge that last's month election, won by President Mugabe, was a fraud? Why have so many Western media outlets, including Canadian, sent their own correspondents to cover an election in a faraway African country of some 13 million black people? The answer is that President Mugabe is hated by the British now as he was hated in 1980 when he was elected the first President of a free Zimbabwe, after 90 years of British colonisation under the name of Rhodesia (reference to the land Cecil Rhodes and his men had grabbed from the black Africans).
The country had to fight a long and bitter war of liberation. The British government made no secret then that they hoped the winner of the first free election would be Bishop Abel Muzorewa; Muzorewa was prepared to share power with the white minority which controls the nation's economy. But Muzorewa, tainted by collaboration as a Prime Minister, with Ian Smith's racist Rhodesian regime, was booted out of office, and his rival, President Mugabe swept the polls. President Mugabe was trying to implement a land reform; to redistribute the land of some 5 000 white farmers to his country's poor black people. And that is a great sin.
So he was and is still called in the West a dictator, an arrogant, ageing autocrat who has run the economy into the ground, fanned racial hatred and abused his power to suppress political foes, the courts, media, etc. Western media seldom report that President Mugabe was and still is popular especially in the rural areas; his land reform has won him support among his own people. When Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, 70 percent of the country's farmland was in the hands of 5 000 European settler landowners. In a 2004 poll conducted by the popular monthly magazine New African for the most influential African leaders of the 20th century, President Mugabe came third after Nelson Mandela and Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah. Following the presidential elections in March this year, the opposition claimed Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change, a winner with 50,1 percent of the votes.
The Government said it was a tie. President Mugabe decided to hold a run-off election last month. But Tsvangirai pulled out and sought refuge in the Dutch embassy which to some observers is proof that he is a stooge of Western powers. Back in 2002 President Mugabe defeated Tsvangirai at the polls; Mugabe secured 56 percent of the vote, Tsvangirai 42 percent. Zimbabwe was once among the most promising economies of Africa. The country is rich in mineral resources and has the second-largest deposits of platinum. But, thanks to Western sanctions, the country's economy is in ruins. High inflation, high fuel costs and high unemployment are crippling the economy. President Mugabe is no worse than many leaders in the developing world.
Because he is challenging the 100-year-old social injustice in his country, sanctions are imposed on his country by the rich and powerful nations, including Canada, so the poor African blacks suffer some more. Today, as it was years ago under the colonialists, it doe snot pay if you are African, black and poor.
|
Mohamed Elmasry is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo and national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress. He contributed this article to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from Ontario, Canada.
Notice this, an important part of the article: from The Herald - "Published by the government of Zimbabwe."
Just thought I might point that out...
Shut your mouth and enjoy your freedom. After 500 years you would think you could fight back.
The gentleman who wrote this article is not a Zimbabwean. I doubt if he has ever been in Zimbabwe. Despite what Mugabe stands for or stood for in Africa we as Zimbabweans want him to step down and rest. He distributed land to blacks only as a political tactic to survive an MDC challenge after spending the better part of 24 years using British money to buy farms and resettle his cronies. It is amazing how even educated people like this proffessor can be gullible to the Mugabe rhetoric. The bottom line Proffessor is that you don't do the right... [Read Full Text]
Hey Black Jesus, you have many mdc Apostles .....how on earth can you get raped and beaten when ALL reports say that mdc has the vast majority?
You really have shown us your stupidity there Kube. Just because someone has the majority, doesnt mean they have the power. I'm really embarrased for you that I have to point this out to you. Look at the shiites in Iraq under the control of Saddam for a simple example. A dictator, like Mugabe, who intimidated voters, had bogus elections and was happy to murder thousands of his own people to keep a grip on power. Why do you keep letting us laugh at your stupidity?
I'll raise a point here that is in full agreement with Awt for a change, but I'll bring it closer to home:
the Rhodesian regime was a white minority rule, so going by your logic, as the black population were a majority there could have been no atrocities committed by the whites as they were in the minority.
One or the other is true, you can't have it both ways. I find it incredible that you can be so selective with what you see as the truth ..... minorities CAN commit atrocities against a majority, and have done many times... [Read Full Text]
Just because the motive for land distribution was political does not invalidate the exercise or unnecessarily point to it's failure or an absence of a socio-economic imperative for the exercise. Human beings are political creatures (Homo-Politicus)... The political need coincided with the social need. Of-course, it was done with political considerations...like everything else everywhere else from Russian gvnmnt decisions on Oil/Gas companies to such things as the debate in the USA on Iraq, health-care, and lobbying for or against legislations, etc... there are political considerations... In fact, the fact that political heavyweights were given land as well secures the land... [Read Full Text]
Just about the article I must say whatever has been said in it is absolutetly true. Much as Mugabe has other weaknesses it would be wise and helpful for the developed nations like America to step back and leave it to the Africans to sort it out their own problems. Otherwise then it always mean that Afica in this case Zimbabwe may have to undergo another war to gain independence.
the writer is a socail worker in Uganda
I just have a couple of points to raise here:
1: Prof. Elmasry is actually the leader of the Muslim community in Canada and a lecturer at the University of Waterloo in Canada ..... not a Social Worker in Uganda as stated by yourself.
2: It is interesting that he claims sanctions are to blame for the economical collapse, as there are no effective sanctions against Zimbabwe per se, they are all personal sanctions on ruling ZANU PF members. Unless these specific members' personal finances are internally tied to the economy (i.e. using the economy as their personal piggy banks,... [Read Full Text]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
