2008 Articles 25 Dec Kingdom Come 21 Dec Christmas 15 Dec Step Forward 5 Dec Beginning 1 Dec Amendment 30 Nov Facilitation 26 Nov Genocide 24 Nov Running Out 17 Nov Crisis 15 Nov Somalia 12 Nov What Next? 8 Nov Leadership 2 Nov Chipo 1 Nov Rome Burns 29 Oct Failure 25 Oct High Noon 19 Oct Never Easy 10 Oct Abyss 8 Oct Filibustering 4 Oct Chaos in Zim 29 Sept A Mule? 21 Sept On Step 16 Sept The End 12 Sept New Beginning 11 Sept Deal? 6 Sept Consequences 3 Sept Need a Deal 2 Sept Dollar Died 31 Aug Steering 29 Aug Unstuck 23 Aug Betrayed 18 Aug The Devil 13 Aug 13 Aug 08 12 Aug Today 11 Aug Cliffhanger 8 Aug Whats Going On 27 Jul Progress 22 Jul Agree to talk 21 Jul Mbeki kicks 16 Jul Crunch Time 13 Jul Economics 9 Jul Reality Looms 2 Jul Where? 30 Jun Looking Glass 26 Jun Battle 22 Jun What Now? 21 Jun The Commitment 16 Jun Do or Die 13 Jun Morning After 10 Jun Closing Doors 26 May Current Outlook 24 May Fan Club 19 May Tyranny 17 May End Game 15 May Flushing 8 May Violence 6 May Bizarre Process 25 Apr Cornered 20 Apr Electoral Fraud 19 Apr Jesse 17 Apr This Farce 11 Apr The Devil 6 Apr Wounded Buffalo 1 Apr Dying Kick 31 Mar Politcl Tsunami 27 Mar Current Situ. 26 Mar 4 days to go 21 Mar 8 days to go 15 Mar Election Time 27 Feb Games Begin 17 Feb Public Office 11 Feb Choices 4 Feb Decision Time 26 Jan Ambushed 25 Jan The Struggle 20 Jan Truth or Fiction 12 Jan Mugabe Mistake 8 Jan Surprise 2 Jan Kenya Lessons
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Genocide
Many years ago, Didymus Mutasa said that they (Zanu PF) would be quite happy
if the population fell to 6 million people who would then support the Party
in its ambitions. At the time the population was probably just over 12
million and most thought these were the remarks by someone who did not have
any idea of just what he was talking about?
Today we are rapidly moving towards that target figure of national
population. Some people say that our population is no more than 8 million. I
personally am comfortable with 9 million. In 1980 when we gained our
independence as a State, the population growth was about 3,4 per cent per
annum and expected to double in 17 to 18 years. It should therefore have
been 17 million in 1997 when the madness that has gripped the country since
then was initiated by the government.
So when we talk of the population now being only 8 or 9 million we have to
ask what has happened to 8 or 9 million people. At least 4 million now
reside in South Africa, a further 1 million live in other parts of the
world - probably most in the UK, followed by the USA and Canada and
Australia. This leaves an unexplained gap of 3 to 4 million people. Remember
that is half the population of London or Paris or Gauteng.
We need to understand this number in terms of individuals - people with
families, children and parents. Real people with real relationships that
have been smashed by a system that has been deliberately created to sustain
the grip on power of a small elite of perhaps 2 000 individuals at best (or
worst).
In the 10 years that have followed 1997, the population should have grown
naturally by another 8 million had historical birth and death rates been
maintained. So we are talking about unnatural deaths in the order of 12
million people. One feature of this abnormal death rate is that life
expectancies have fallen by half since 1990, from 60 years to about 30 years
today.
It is not difficult to establish how these millions of people have been
dying - HIV/Aids kills over 100 000 a year. Malaria another 30 000,
tuberculosis perhaps 60 000, malnutrition and hunger perhaps another 60 000,
mainly the elderly and the young. What we do know is that whereas in the
Smith era, live births exceeded deaths by a 4:1 margin. The ratio today is
perhaps 4:5 - a rise of 5 times in the natural death rates pre 1980.
Some aspects of these huge changes are particularly poignant - the men who
were displaced by Murambatsvina and died of heartbreak when they could not
protect or sustain their families, they just quit and died. The numbers of
people displaced or traumatised by this regime since 1980 are astonishing.
All data are estimates as official statistics are either not available or
just plainly dishonest.
It started with Gukurahundi - a 6-year campaign to destroy Zapu and entrench
Zanu PF hegemony over the whole country. This campaign was kept secret until
the Legal Resources Foundation and the Catholic Bishops Conference published
a partial report on the atrocities. Their conclusion was that over 20 000
people hade been murdered and hundreds of thousands displaced. What is not
appreciated from this first attempt at securing control is that many of
those affected elected to move to South Africa. The breadwinner going first
followed a short while later by the rest of the family.
Between 1987 when Zapu succumbed and 2000 there was no campaign of
dislocation and intimidation as such, but the war against any form of
opposition continued unabated. The Centre Party, ZUM and the Forum Party all
became victims. Their leadership hectored and brutalised - leaders such as
that gentle intellectual, Enoch Dumbutshena, former Chief Justice and leader
of the Forum, hounded into liquidation and disgrace.
Many leaders even in Zanu PF who attempted reform found themselves vilified
and even killed. How many died in this secret war will never be known.
Then came the defeat in the 2000 referendum and the near defeat in the
election that year. In a fury, Zanu PF turned on their perceived enemies -
farmers had played a key role and when the votes were counted it was
discovered that the 2 million people on commercial farms had in fact swung
the vote. The State turned on this community - savagely beating and even
killing any who opposed their will. Thousands of farms were illegally
confiscated and at least 1,5 million people were displaced.
When it became clear that a majority of the population now lived in the
urban areas - the hard core of MDC support, the State launched
'Murambatsvina' - 'clean out the rubbish'. In the view of the UN special
investigator 300 000 homes were affected, 700 000 people displaced and 1,4
million people lost their livelihood and shelter in a period of three
months.
Again an understated effect of these state managed interventions was the
flight of millions to the nearby states of Botswana and South Africa.
Completely understated is the number of people who have died in these
campaigns. A common feature of each new campaign has been the ruthless
application of State power.
Despite these massive manipulations of the population and the complete
disregard for the welfare of the people, the population of the urban areas
still expanded - a process actually impelled by the dislocation of the rural
economy. In addition the flight to South Africa and other destinations
accelerated.
In political terms this meant that the objective of the ruling elite still
eluded them - MDC became stronger, not weaker and they were faced with a
steady escalation of pressure from the global and regional community. In
desperation the State turned on the MDC and its structures in a manner that
resembled the Zapu campaign 20 years before. Hundreds of thousands were
beaten and tortured, their homes and businesses destroyed and families
harassed. Hundreds were killed or disappeared.
But they were up against a very different antagonist in the form of the MDC.
Its leadership understood what Zanu PF strategies were, they used every
means open to them to publicise what was going on. They refused to give the
regime the excuse to use its military power. They maintained a strong
political base in the urban areas and even managed to penetrate the rural
areas. In consequence, when minor reforms of the electoral system were
adopted in 2008, Zanu PF went into the elections in March and lost the
election.
We know, without any doubt, that there was widespread rigging on top of
intimidation and violence let alone the total distortion of the national
media and the control of food and traditional leaders. We also know that
despite desperate effort to over turn the result, Zanu eventually had to
admit it had lost control of Parliament and that Morgan Tsvangirai had won
the Presidential contest. What they did not do was to publish the actual
results of the poll - with the deliberate connivance of the South African
President; they simply published a fictional result that gave Mr. Tsvangirai
less than the required 50 per cent.
Even so, they then launched a campaign they called Mavhoterapapi or 'where
did you vote'. 2000 militia camps were established with military
leadership - thousands were beaten and tortured. Hundreds died. Now we
understand they are about to launch another campaign called 'Ngatipedzenavo'
or 'lets finish them (MDC) off'.
Today, besides the direct victims of Zanu PF's genocidal activities over the
past 28 years, we have perhaps 6 million people without food and 98 per cent
without medical attention or services. Schools are closed and Universities
dysfunctional. Can anyone describe what I have set out above as anything
other than a form of Genocide? A lot of publicity is being given right now
to the situation in the Eastern Congo - but the death toll there is tiny by
comparison to the death toll here. There can be few situations in the world,
even in recent history, where a small country like Zimbabwe can go through a
period of its history seeing a full third of its population die in state
sponsored violence and dislocation.
Where else in the world has a State overseen a crisis during which half of
its total population has died by natural and unnatural causes in a short
space of three decades - under conditions where there was no national civil
war or conflict. In the past century we have seen two genocides - Cambodia
and Rwanda. In both the mortality was less than that through which Zimbabwe
has gone in the past 28 years. But because the universal eye (the camera)
was not present and because we were not killing each other - it was the
State killing its people, our genocide has not been understood or lamented.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 25th November 2008
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