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Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe is Not Liberia
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
OPINION
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Nomagugu M'simang
Harare
I write as a Zimbabwean woman and mother of four who has lived in Zimbabwe all her life.
I also write as a woman and mother who has been a victim of the devastating effects of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States, Britain and their European Union allies.
I also write as a Zimbabwean who wonders at the moral decency of why her country is being punished for repossessing its land and reasserting its national independence and sovereignty.
I am also writing as a Zimbabwean who is witnessing through leaps and bounds, the growth and development of our democratic systems since 1980 when Zimbabwe attained political independence.
And, I am also writing as an observer who has seen political spaces opened up by the Zanu-PF Government despite what may be said to the contrary.
I am also writing as someone who saw the present Government sitting down with their arch-rivals, the Rhodesian government, in 1979 at Lancaster House.
I also write as a woman and mother who also saw the hand of reconciliation being extended by President Mugabe to Ian Smith and Rhodesia.
I further write as someone who realised the importance of forgiveness and embracing one's foes regardless of how they might have hurt you.
I also write as someone who saw yet again the magnanimity in the Zimbabwean people and their leadership when in 1987, they buried the hatchet and chose peace and not war, through the Unity Accord. This is an accord that has now become the raison d'être (rupawo) of our nation. For as a nation we have since realised that unity breeds success and prosperity.
I am also writing as a Zimbabwean sick of outside interference in our internal affairs, aware that Zimbabweans can bridge their differences and come to a common understanding about their vision, and adequately plan for the realisation of that vision.
For, it is a fallacy that Western standards and value systems artificially imposed on Zimbabwe will work for the common good of our nation.
And now, I write as a woman, full of sadness as I see a fellow woman who holds a very powerful leadership position deciding to do the West's bidding against Zimbabwe.
Last week, on the eve of the United Nations Security Council vote on the US-sponsored draft resolution for sanctions against Zimbabwe, Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson became one of the few lone voices outside of the UNSC membership to vocally support the imposition of sanctions against Zimbabwe.
President Johnson-Sirleaf as a woman, mother and grandmother, should know the serious consequences that sanctions have on the most vulnerable groups in society.
For through experience, she knows that the sanctions imposed on Liberia resulted in the suffering of the most vulnerable groups in that country.
The Liberian leader said she supported a Western push for sanctions as a way of illegally effecting regime change against President Mugabe's Government.
Sirleaf-Johnson said sanctions against Zimbabwe would be appropriate since they would send a "strong message" to the Zimbabwean Government. She has also denounced Zimbabwe's electoral system.
Sirleaf-Johnson also argued that her support for sanctions against Zimbabwe could be equated to the Liberian experience where she maintained that sanctions had assisted in bringing about "a satisfactory resolution" to Liberia's 14-year civil war that ended in 2003.
Since she made the comments while on South African soil, the Liberian leader should probably be reminded that another notable leader and a woman, former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, opposed sanctions against the evil apartheid system as she argued that the most vulnerable groups - the black people - would suffer immensely.
The Liberian leader's comments also contrasted with those of other members of the African Union who opposed sanctions against Zimbabwe. South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had told the leaders at the G8 summit on July 8 that Africa would not back sanctions against Zimbabwe.
And, as such, the draft resolution did not pass, with the full support of South Africa, Libya and the vetoes of two of the UNSC's permanent members, China and Russia. And no one forgets Vitenam's sterling role in the whole matter.
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So, are Liberia and Burkina Faso - which supported sanctions against Zimbabwe in the Security Council - not part of the African Union?
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With due respect to your love for your tyrant and disregard for the opposition, I can see how difficult to argue your point. You failed to mention that in Liberia, there were no brutality against the opposition as the we have seen against the opposition. It is no wonder that the opposition is fearful to participate in the run off. You are right, Zimbabwe is not Liberia but it can start by having free and fair election nad put an end to this madness that Mugagbe owns Zimbabwe. Follow Mandela's Example.
You are right that Zimbabwe is not Liberia. You are also right that sanctions do little to affect those they are designed to affect, but the masses; this is evident from North Korea to Cuba and from Iraq to Libya. You are definitely right again to exert that the Liberian elections in 2005 were not perfect, for indeed they were not. Where your arguement falls apart is its implication that somehow Robert Mugabe is the only "patriot" capable of leading Zimbabwe. After almost 30 years in power, what good can Mugabe do for Zimbabwe that hasn't already... [Read Full Text]
Even Hitler had his supporters; Idi Amin too had his State Research goons ready to defend him to the last day. So this kind of support of Mugabe at this time of the game is not unprecedented. Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe, what else could it possibly be ? But unfortunately for you like Liberia it is a part of a world community of nations, which community is becoming closer and closer; atleast what happens next door has immediate and direct effect on what happens around the entire world community. The difference between the latter dictators and the previous dictators is that... [Read Full Text]
It is true that Liberia and Zimbabwe are and will not be the same. They are located in different parts of Africa, with different histories background. It is same that that Zimbabwean lady will make comments that Mr. Mugabe has been the saviour for his people, since they gain independence from Britain. I will like to ask this lady a question. What good is a leader who takes his country from being self sufficient agriculturally, to now depending on aid from the World Food Program, through the International Communities to feed his people? What good is a leader when his... [Read Full Text]
She may well know what the leadership has wrought, but did she write that report of her own free will? Was she bribed with a package from the new food distribution program? Or was there a ZANU member stood behind her with a firearm?
This may sound like a cynical view to take, but I honestly can't see how someone on the ground in Zimbabwe could not know the reasons that the Mugabe regime is so reviled in an ever increasing number of nations from the international community.
Lady, you're right when you say Zimbabwe is not Liberia. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf understands exactly what the adversity is on hustiles and tyrannical governments. She understands what the impact is when comparing the situation of the Zimbabwean people to that of the post Liberian crisis.Though sanctions sometimes don't have direct impact on those individuals for which they're intended and seems not to work, but I do believe in the case of Zimbabwe, it will work; besides, Zimbabwe is a land locked country which don't have direct access to seaport which is known for breaking sanctions. In addition, Zimbabwe... [Read Full Text]
No disrespect but I think this woman is getting something for writing this. Her counrty is two steps from hell. After 30 years what has he really done? He has used foreign aid as his personal checkbook. Those who work for him are getting there cut. Where are the schools, hospitals, running water and lights? There is a gas shortage or no gas at all depending on where you are. The children suffer who have lost there parents to aids and are left to fend for themselves. If you don't want a foreign opinion then stop taking foreign money and... [Read Full Text]
correct me if i am wrong,west africa is very far away from zimbabwe,different cultures,backgrounds,and ellen sirleaf of liberia is not a mother[right]this was her first time to hear about zimbabwe[after the problems]well ,the reality ,mugabe and tsvangirayi are both power -hungry ,they both don't care about the poor people.why waste time when we have nelson chamisa and tendai biti,they are both promising leaders of tomorrow.why not give them a chance.yes the zimbabwean woman you have seen it all,right now things are very-very bad,poetry or not people need help now.your mugabe did his part he must now give power to someone... [Read Full Text]
Nomagugu or whatever your contrived name is...this is what you wrote in your self serving flight of fancy and I quote: President Johnson-Sirleaf as a woman, mother and grandmother, should know the serious consequences that sanctions have on the most vulnerable groups in society. Permit me to ask this one question if I may. Did you hold the same view that sanctions are evil when they were imposed on Smith during the Great Rhodesian days when food was aplenty despite PROPER sanctions and not the playground targetted ones against travel of mugabe and his thugs and access to the nations... [Read Full Text]
Britain, the USA and SouthAfrica opposed UN sanctions. There were NO sanctions. I should know because l was in charge of STORES AT caps in Salisbury, now Harare. We had everything we needed. Sanctions,what sanctions? By the way, Switzerland is land locked and its doing very well. God bless Great Zimbabwe.
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