Government must stop treating murderous Zanu-PF with kid gloves
Zimbabwe crisis is our problem and SA must take action
On Friday, I attended a picket outside the embassy of Zimbabwe in Pretoria. The picket, organised by the #Zimbabwe an Lives Matter movement, was marred with some violence by the triggerhappy South African Police Service (SAPS) that threw stun grenades and shot at us with rubber bullets without any provocation.
No matter how often I witness the contempt with which the police treat foreign nationals in our country, I do not seem to get used to it. It was as heartbreaking on Friday as it is every year when I drive to Zimbabwe and bear witness to the brutality of immigration officials at Beit Bridge border post, who treat Zimbabweans trying to enter our country legally like criminals.
Over the past few weeks, the Zimbabwean government has been clamping down on innocent civilians – arresting and torturing journalists, activists and anyone who dares to call the regime by its proper name.
In response, Zimbabweans across the Diaspora have been staging protests under the banner# Zimbabwe an Lives Matter, to force the world to see the cruelty with which the Zanu-PF government is treating people and has been for many years. It is cruelty that began under Robert Mugabe’s leadership and which continues to this day under Emmerson Mnangagwa, a man who so many hoped, naively, would be better than his predecessor Robert Mugabe who was removed through a bloodless coup shortly before he died.
Many South Africans contend that we ought not to be bothering with the Zimbabwean crisis because Zimbabwe is not our problem. On social media, many argue that Zimbabweans should, instead of protesting against their government from South Africa, return home and leave us to deal with our own internal problems. The reality, however, is that the Zimbabwean crisis is our problem. Our fate is intricately linked with that of
Zimbabwe, and we are connected by more than just a border and a shared history of liberation Struggle. There is no prosperous future for SA without a prosperous future for Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean people did not start migrating into SA in large numbers until the political instability of the early 2000s started. But it was when the post-election violence of 2008 erupted that multitudes entered SA.
The ongoing economic collapse has led to even more Zimbabweans entering the country – legally and illegally. So, it is evident that until such time as there is political stability and economic development in Zimbabwe, there is no reasonable way in which we can expect Zimbabweans to not come to our country to seek greener pastures.
The argument that they must just go back is as irrational as it is naïve. Throughout history, migration has been defined by economic prospects.
Zimbabweans, like everyone else, have the fundamental human right to live. Chasing Zimbabweans back to a country where they cannot live is effectively sending them to their death, for how do we expect them to generate meaningful livelihoods in the absence of subsistence?
SA must intervene in the Zimbabwean crisis. Our government must stop treating the murderous ZanuPF regime with kid gloves.
In 2008, then president Thabo Mbeki mediated in an unprecedented political crisis, then turned around and boldly declared that “There is no crisis in Zimbabwe”, even as the entire world stood watching the carnage that was happening.
Today, we dare not repeat the same mistake.
There is a crisis in Zimbabwe and SA has an obligation to intervene by cutting ties with the Zimbabwean government until such time as the demand for the protection of human rights is met. In the meantime, we must protect the Zimbabwean nationals who are in our country by extending compassion and ensuring that they are not denied basic services.
Continuing to treat Zimbabwean people like they are a problem while doing nothing about the regime that is forcing them to flee Zimbabwe is wrong and cruel. Zimbabwe is our problem – and we must resolve that problem before a genocide happens.
Zimbabweans have right to generate meaningful livelihoods