Mugabe: A giant who bestrides Africa President Mugabe

Tichaona Zindoga Political Editor

That one of Africa’s remaining liberation luminaries becomes the face of the continent once again is an opportunity that should have the continent reconnect with its founding ideals

President Mugabe is set to come out of the ongoing 24th African Union in Addis Ababa as the new chairman of the organisation.

That will make him the continent’s top diplomat and statesman for Africa for the next year. Interestingly, he is also the sub-regional Sadc bloc chairman, a coincidence that makes Robert Mugabe a bestriding giant across Africa, from Cape to Cairo.

And it is an honour well deserved.

That one of Africa’s remaining liberation luminaries becomes the face of the continent once again is an opportunity that should have the continent reconnect with its founding ideals of 51 years and speak to emerging problems both in Africa and the world at large.

In fact, this may be the last time Africa will be in this unique situation.

This is not the first time that President Mugabe is taking charge of the continental body, though.

He was the continental body’s chief between June 2, 1997 and June 8, 1998, becoming the 31st leader of the then Organisation of African Unity.

Then he was confronted with, and spoke strongly, on issues affecting the continent from the Lockerbie bombings and the subsequent sanctions on Libya, which he vehemently opposed; the Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute, Namibia-Botswana Linyanti River marsh dispute and the instability in Nigeria, Central African Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leonne, the Comoros, Somalia and Angola, among other issues.

Some of those challenges have seen been resolved, although it would be misleading to say it has all been because of Robert Mugabe.

But the tradition by African leaders to see the back of these blights, which President Mugabe upholds, is remarkable.

(Notably, though, speaking in New York, US, following the coup in Sierra Leonne where President Joseph Kabbah was ousted, he said, “We have had these coups for too long. No other coup will be recognised. In the past we may have acquieced to them, but enough is enough.” That was a turning point, as the rejection of coups and unconstitutional changes of power has since been upheld.)

Besides, some of the old and new conflicts (South Sudan, DRC, CAR, North Africa, Boko Haram) are not entirely of Africa’s own making.

They are in part the handiwork of Africa’s detractors who seek to destabilise the continent under the cover of which carnage they will siphon resources.

President Mugabe urged African governments to gird their loins to confront the security challenges.

They had to make sacrifices, foster regional cooperation and integration in the area of defence and see the resolution of African problems by Africans themselves.

“We should therefore be prepared to make sacrifices and contribute to OAU’s efforts towards the prevention, management, and resolution of conflicts,” he said at an army function in Harare on November 28, 1997.

He added: “We are all aware that the condition of peace is absolutely essential for the socio-economic development of our continent.”

 

Voice of the voiceless

Today, many in Africa and in the diaspora see a champion in President Mugabe because of the past struggles he has fought and the struggles he is currently fighting, which have led to punitive measures by the West after he spearheaded programmes to empower indigenous Zimbabweans through land ownership.

He has spoken for the rights of African people, and other oppressed peoples politically, socially and economically.

He has spoken of the need for Africa to have its proper place in international geopolitics.

He has used the world’s apex forum at the United Nations General Assembly to air his views, and received due uproarious cheer.

A cursory look at his presentations at the UN will confirm how he has been an able and consistent representative of the masses of the oppressed world.

Just take his last three, namely last year’s and the two preceding years.

Last year he stated that, “Social justice, political stability and sustainable development in African countries can best be achieved through genuine and committed support for the ownership of means of production that favour the poor, who are in the majority.”

He said peace, security, stability and welfare of Africa and our sub-region was “vital”.

“The international community must remain intensively engaged and support Africa in the maintenance of peace and stability, enhancing thereby its peacekeeping capacity needs through training, logistical and financial support. Africa also remains seized with the issue of Western Sahara, the last colonial vestige in Africa. The United Nations should not shake off its responsibility to ensure the achievement of self-determination by the people of Western Sahara.”

Turning to Palestine, he regretted witnessing “the suffering and persecution of the people of Palestine at the hands of Israel”, which oversaw the “callous murder of women and children in shelters where they seek refuge from Israel’s bombs”, “brutal and random destruction of infrastructure in the Gaza strip” all to the “deafening silence” of the so-called civilised world.

The previous year he called for “substantial international support and an enabling international economic environment” for the attainment of MDGs.

He called for the fulfilment of commitments made to support Africa in various international fora.

“The UN should track the fulfilment of these commitments,” he challenged.

He also repeated the long-expressed wish for the reform of the UN Security Council.

“For Africa,” he said, “the reform of the United Nations Security Council is especially long overdue.

“The anachronistic and unrepresentative character of the Security Council must be redressed. For how long should Africa continue to be denied the right to play a pivotal role in the United Nations Security Council as it decides measures on conflicts within its own borders?”

He explained that the UNSC needs to be more representative, democratic, transparent, accountable and accessible to the wider membership for its decisions to have more legitimacy.

He stated: “Africa’s case for the correction of the glaring historical injustice of being unrepresented in the permanent category and under-represented in the non-permanent category has been made through the clear, fair and well-articulated Ezulwini Consensus.”

He would not accept to “be bought-off with empty promises, nor shall we accept some cosmetic tinkering of the Security Council disguised as reform.”

He stated: “It is indeed a travesty of justice that the African continent, which accounts for almost a third of the membership represented in this august Assembly, has no permanent representation in the Security Council. Is this good governance? Is this democracy? And, is this justice?”

In 2012, again with Africa in mind, he spoke of the threat posed by imperialists.

Nato had just sidelined Africa and gone on to kill an African leader, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

President Mugabe the African statesman was unhappy.

He said: “In that case of Libya, the African Union and its peace-making role was defied, ignored and humiliated. May we urge the international community to collectively nip this dangerous and unwelcome aggressive development before it festers.”

Libya still burns today, and the world, even in the West, openly admits the misadventure and grave misdeed to this African country.

If only the world had heeded the call to stem the “aggressive development before it fester(ed)”!

 

Climate justice

The thread of Mugabe’s statesmanship continues.

In fact, whatever he says at any international forum carries the theme and motif of equality of world’s peoples and the liberation of Africa.

One could go on and on to cite his representative sentiments. Space and time do not allow that.

But there is an important point to make.

Robert Mugabe is also concerned about climate change and the destruction of the environment, which will affect Africa worst.

In December 2009 at a major climate summit, President Mugabe decried that climate change occasioned by industrialised nations was “gross human rights violations”.

He said: “We raise these questions not out of spite or vindictiveness, but out of concern for our very endangered livelihoods. When these capitalist gods of carbon burp and belch their dangerous emissions, it is we, the lesser mortals of the developing sphere who gasp, starve, sink and eventually die.”

That is typical Mugabe, fighting for justice — all justice.

And if one were to take cue from the agenda setting he hit when he assumed Sadc chairmanship and immediately brought on the theme of resource nationalism and sustainable socio-economic development, one can see that Africa has finally had the right man for the job.

Last year he also paid tribute to an African hero, Julius Nyerere, whom he said the continent had ignored.

All this whets the appetite for the reign of Africa’s last kings and the discomfiture in some imperialist circles confirm this.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey