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Zimbabwe: Addressing The Issues
by
Suzette Gardner
Commemorating Zimbabwe's independence in Washington DC was
business as usual for the diplomatic staff at the embassy
there. Zimbabwe's Ambassador to the United States, His
Excellency Dr. Simbi V. Mubako recently held a press
reception to mark the nation's independence by addressing
some of the issues facing Zimbabwe and lacking clarity in
the western press. The 'Black Press' in Washington DC were
especially invited to discuss the current challenges facing
the 23 year old modern nation.
The audience of mostly
journalists and Pan-African activists listened intently to
his presentation lamenting the misinformation western press
continues to make public about Zimbabwe. Ambassador Mubako
admitted, some of the misinformation was due to either lack
of information from Zimbabwean sources -which journalists
have limited access to, and of coarse, malice. "Zimbabwe is
facing serious socio-economic problems," he said, but "the
true story of Zimbabwe will be written by you!"
"The international press is on
a propaganda campaign to demonize Zimbabwe," said
Ambassador Mubako. "Zimbabwe has its faults as any other
country, [but] Zimbabwe's policies are anchored in
democracy… and the government never want to deviate from a
democratic process."
Ambassador Mubako chose the
event to announce a turning point in modern Zimbabwean
affairs. "The land distribution process is now over", he
declared.
Zimbabwe has been engaged in
the internationally criticized government policy of seizing
portions of farms owned by whites and re-distributing it to
black Zimbabwean nationals.
Faced with questions and
concerns that some Zimbabweans are regarding the process as
inconclusive, the Ambassador retorted "the white farmers
have never been satisfied by the process… some white
farmers are still on the land, complaining mainly because
they want compensation." The Ambassador affirmed, that
compensation could only be for 'improvement' to the land
itself, but not for the land, which was unjustly "taken
from the blacks in the first place without any
compensation."
The ambassador proudly offered
that 400,000 families had been resettled on 11 million
hectares of land acquired. The next step, he said, was for
emphasis to be "placed on the utilization of the land
…those who have acquired the land will have to utilize it."
As if pre-empting questions
which were sure to follow, he further announced, "...there
will be a land audit, promised by President Mugabe
himself." The land audit he explained, was to assess
misappropriated land, and to re-distribute land that is
being held by landowners without plans or resources to put
the land into production.
Responding to allegations that
Mugabe cronies have unfairly acquired more land than they
are due, the Ambassador acknowledged that this is in fact
"real" but pointed to the official land redistribution
policy as being clearly against any person acquiring land
not sanctioned by law. He emphasized that "those are things
the audit will iron out …there are some cases like that but
they are few and it does not mean the whole project is
flawed." He pointed out that 400,000 families-with an
average of 6 members per family, thus roughly 2.4 million
Zimbabweans "cant all be friends of Mugabe or cronies."
The Ambassador also addressed the current food shortage
crisis in his homeland. He claimed that NGOs presently
operating in Zimbabwe were using food as a political tool
against Mugabe supporters who were often denied food
because of their political affiliation. His Excellency
Mubako was keen to isolate Mugabe supporters and government
ministers who are allegedly involved in 'food politics'
from the national agenda. Mugabe, he said, had made it
clear that "…it is against government policy for any
official to [use food as a political tool], any official
doing this, is doing this for their own political
purposes--not the government's."
Addressing rumors that Zimbabwe may be next on the U.S.
list for regime change, Ambassador Mubako remarked,
"Zimbabwe's relations with the U.S. is not as good as they
should be." Zimbabwe, he said, "have no quarrel with the
United States" which have taken a negative political
attitude towards Zimbabwe. Referring to President George
Bush's recent Executive Order against Zimbabwe, which also
provides for the freezing of assets belonging to Zimbabwe
government officials, the Ambassador quickly pointed out
that "no Zimbabwe leader on the list of 72 or so have
assets in the United States." President Mugabe, he said,
issued a statement that if the United States finds any of
his assets in the U.S., "let them take it and distribute it
to their poor."
The Ambassador appeared to regard threats made against
fellow African states by the U.S. to be more serious.
Pressure on members of the African Union (AU) to either
isolate Zimbabwe or face omission from the proposed
benefits of NEPAD were classed as "very rude." Ambassador
Mubako advised the US to "go to the African states to ask
how to deal with an African state" rather than dictating
from afar.
The Ambassador agreed that the
United States' tone and threats towards Zimbabwe is
colonial. "We have been a colony after all," he said, "[but] if we
are going to be threatened by a new colonialism, we have to
fight. Zimbabwe will never agree to surrender its
sovereignty."
Suzette Gardner is a freelance writer, editor
of
RastafariToday.com
and founding member of Organized
Community Of United People (The COUP) a Washington, DC based
organization for socio-political change through media and education. She is
also host of Roots Revolution, a weekly radio adventure into roots
reggae, dub, afro-Diaspora beats, afro pop, and a little "talk." She contributed above article to Media Monitors Network (MMN)
from
Washington, DC,
USA.
Source:
by the same author:
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