Africa should not abandon Zimbabwe at its hour of need

People jostle for a chance to buy a loaf of bread from a vendor at a market in Bulawayo on January 16, 2019, as shops and offices remain closed for business in the central business district following violent protests in the country triggered by a sharp, sudden rise in fuel prices. PHOTO | ZINYANGE AUNTONY | AFP

What you need to know:

  • I think Zimbabwe needs this spirit from the whole continent. This proud nation deserves a chance, not the boot of its brutal rulers.
  • Africans can come up with a modest rescue package for Zimbabwe — nothing fancy but enough to tide them over until they can get back on their feet.

Two weeks ago, the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa increased the price of fuel by 150 percent, from Sh124 for a litre of petrol to Sh331, and Zimbabwe exploded in riots and protests.

From what I have read, the government shut down the internet and turned out the army to humiliate, bludgeon and, on some occasions, allegedly kill protesters.

It was a reaction of uncommon brutality. And it shows that what Zimbabwe has is not a democratic government but a cabal of ruthless and violent overlords.

Was there a people’s revolution in Zimbabwe that has been stolen by this cabal?

Or is it that there was no revolution at all but a game of smoke and mirrors, a palace coup, in which a tyrant was replaced by an even more heavy-handed strongman?

I have received photos of what appears to be bodies in the streets. I have also seen a soldier with their boot in the face of a citizen, driving it into the dust.

BRUTALITY

And I have seen desperate messages of frightened people.

“Under the cover of the internet blackout, the military have unleashed a campaign of terror. Soldiers are shooting people, bashing down doors, dragging people out of homes and beating them up, making people roll in the mud,” said one witness.

Another one, an MP, said: “We are being butchered in the townships by soldiers.

“Internet has been shut down to prevent the world from helping us. This is an appeal for help to the international community.”

The internet blackout was lifted three days ago and the scene that confronts the world is not pretty: Citizens dead, opposition and union leaders arrested, populations terrorised by its own government.

And an unrepentant regime chillingly vowing that the crackdown was just a taste of how it would deal with protests in future.

FUNDS

Surely, Africa cannot abandon Zimbabweans and leave them at the mercy of these frightening gangsters.

South Africa, the most influential neighbour, has been talking about how it has rejected pleas for cash from a desperate Zimbabwe.

This is not enough, nor is it helpful. Neither would it be fair to leave Zimbabwe to its fate.

There is no one else to help: The British are busy with their problems. In any case, they are not very popular in that part of the world.

The US has a president who does not like helping. The Chinese are mainly interested in the exploitation of resources and lending money, not rescuing distressed countries.

It is true we do not have much in Africa, but countries can help.

TOGETHERNESS

First, the brutal gang in Harare needs to know that it can’t continue beating up and shooting the people.

Poor African countries helped the Congolese to overthrow Mobutu Sese Seko.

Secondly, Africans, even poor as they are, can come up with a modest rescue package for Zimbabwe — nothing fancy but enough to tide them over until they can get back on their feet.

I see how we come together to help those in need, whether it is to give blood for the injured or food to the starving.

I think Zimbabwe needs this spirit from the whole continent. This proud nation deserves a chance, not the boot of its brutal rulers.

* * *

I have been following with some interest the debate on social media whether I should retire from writing.

The Public Editor, Dr Peter Mwaura, in his column, expressed the opinion that I probably should. And he had a compelling reason.

Those folks that we cover will expect our coverage to follow the contours of my opinion.

Those that I pillory in this column will think that we can’t cover them fairly. Fair enough.

But objectivity in journalism is like love. It is not really what you feel, it is what you do.

FACTS

Ours is a science of verification; we test the facts and we report them. There is no way I can report what I can’t prove.

And if I can prove it, isn’t it true? And if I report untruths about someone because I have been critical of them, what kind of journalist would I be? And how long would I be in a job?

Opinion is sacrosanct; everyone has one. You can disagree with mine but you can’t challenge my right to hold it.

An iron curtain exists between opinion and fact in journalism; opinion is what I do and reporting is what we do on the front page.

I was pleasantly surprised by the many folks who like my column and who would like me to continue writing it.

RESPONSIBILITIES

When you are starting out, you write with your heart because you have nothing to lose.

You have no spouse, no children, no property and no big position to protect. As you grow, you start asking yourself things like, what will my children think?

Relentless radicalism is a luxury of youth. Old guys are measured, careful, sober, judicious. It is called wisdom.

You saw what happened to Hamas, an example I have quoted a thousand times. When they won power, they had to govern.

So, on top of waging war on Israel, they had to keep the water running and the schools open. It moderated them.

I am not retiring from writing, not yet anyway. I’ll just aspire to wisdom and a little bit of moderation.

How about we try that for a little while and see how it serves us?