Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Beaten in Police Custody

The dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is feeling invincible. He has arrested opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and 50 other political activists who were trying to attend a prayer meeting, several of them have been beaten, some died, yet no charges have been filed. After a brief court appearance, where the prosecutor had no instructions, Mr. Tsvangirai and six others were taken to hospital. Regime change anyone?

Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the BBC, “The opposition has been involved in violence, caught by police with weapons of destruction and destroying cars and stores and beating up people. They’ve been beating up police you know. That is what government cannot tolerate.” It seems, though, that few others take that view.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said through a spokeswoman that the crackdown and police actions “violate the basic democratic right of citizens to engage in peaceful assembly. This form of repression and intimidation of a peaceful assembly is unacceptable, and the loss of life makes this even more disturbing.”

The Americans are actually living up to their own ideals, at least verbally. White House spokesman Sean McCormack called the government’s moves “brutal and unwarranted.” He warned, “We hold President Robert Mugabe and the government of Zimbabwe accountable for the safety and well-being of those in custody.” Secretary of State neoCondoleezza Rice went further, demanding the immediate release of those arrested, and saying “The world community again has been shown that the regime of Robert Mugabe is ruthless and repressive and creates only suffering for the people of Zimbabwe.” Now, action to back that up would be good.

Meanwhile, the silence from the Union of South Africa is deafening. The official line from Johannesburg is “Zimbabwe’s problems require Zimbabwean solutions.” Former opposition lawmaker Roy Bennett, who now lives in exile in South Africa, took the South African government to task over this view. “The situation in Zimbabwe is an African problem and countries like our neighbour South Africa cannot go on keeping quiet when people die in Zimbabwe. It is very sad that our neighbours continue to keep quiet about the brutal situation. They should stand by the very principles they believe in, of democracy, human rights and people’s dignity. Silence is a condonation [sic] of Mugabe’s brutal regime, and ... it is sad that those who speak out against abuses of the people in Zimbabwe are not Africans themselves.”

The Kensington Review respectfully disagrees with Mr. Bennett in one respect, “We are all Zimbabweans.”

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home