Ray of Hope

18 October 2004


Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Not Guilty of Treason

Morgan Tsvangirai is the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, the opposition to the two-decade misrule Dictator Robert Mugabe. A court on Friday acquitted him of treason. The government alleged he had conspired to kill Mr. Mugabe ahead of the 2002 elections. Mr. Tsvangirai is not out of the woods yet, since he faces a second trial for treason on the grounds that he called for street protests to oppose the way in which Mr. Mugabe’s victory in those elections. If Mr. Tsvangirai were really as determined to betray his country as these allegations maintain, Mr. Mugabe must have the greatest security for in the world. In truth, he’s just using the legal system to keep his rival under guard and under duress.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa originally said the verdict was wrong, and there would be an appeal. But Saturday, he apparently calmed down enough to accept the verdict, which was very magnanimous of him. After all, as justice minister one of his jobs is to uphold the law, and court verdicts go with that. In a broadcast on state TV and radio (in Zimbabwe, the state owns all the TV and radio outlets), Mr. Chinamasa said, “Government will accept the judgment, we'll respect it and we now look forward to meeting the MDC and its current leader Tsvangirai at the polls in March 2005."

The next election may go ahead as scheduled, but it is almost certain that the second treason trial of Mr. Tsvangirai will run for quite a while, and that will cut down on the amount of time that his MDC will be able to organize and campaign. And that is precisely what Mr. Mugabe intends. Having stolen the 2002 elections, he has no intention of having a fair result in six month’s time.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has the highest inflation rate in the world, currently running at 315% per annum. A nation that once exported food to the rest of southern Africa now is importing 36,000 metric tons of seed grain. More than 2.3 million in the countryside will need food aid in 2004/2005. A similar number in the cities will also need to be fed by charity. All this in a population of 12.6 million. Another 150,000 have fled Zimbabwe for economic reasons.

After more than 20 years of Mr. Mugabe, it is quite clear that his claims that all the evil in Zimbabwe is the result of white colonialism just doesn’t bear scrutiny. It is equally clear that Mr. Tsvangirai was saved by a judiciary that hasn’t yet succumbed to Mr. Mugabe’s lies and intimidation. There is a traitor to the people in the country, but it isn’t Mr. Tsvangirai.

© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

Home