|
BOSTON Robert Mugabe is in angry, fiery form. Shaking his clenched fist, the Zimbabwean leader 88 and in powerfor 32 years harrangued a group of southern African leaders,telling them that South Africa's ruling party, the African NationalCongress, must stop an investigation into charges that Mugabe'sregime has tortured its critics. Speaking in Harare at a convention southern African liberationmovements, Mugabe said the recent decision by South Africa's courtswhich ordered a probe into allegations of torture and other humanrights abuses in Zimbabwe "a racist assault" by whites againstblack majority rule, reported Associated Press . Mugabe said that South African President Jacob Zuma and other ANCleaders in South Africa must "apply every means at their disposal"to prevent the court-ordered investigation against Zimbabweanpolice officers and others. Calling the white South Africa judgewho made the ruling "a boer," a pejorative term for whites, Mugabesaid the ruling came from whites "still in our midst yearning forthe old flags" of Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa. Mugabe was speaking to representatives of the liberation movementsthat ended colonial rule in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, SouthAfrica and Tanzania, and that all remain in power more than 30years later. Mugabe was on the offensive after receving a sharp setback fromregional leaders last week, when the summit of the 15-nationSouthern African Development Community (SADC) refused to endorsethe Zimbabwean autocrat's plans to hold elections this year,without a new constitution and reforms to ensure free and fairelections. The SADC insistence that Zimbabwe must agree to a new constitutionand substantial reforms before elections infuriated Mugabe,according to Zimbabwe commentators. "SADC stuck to its guns and I'm sure it will continue sticking toits guns because changing at this point would have fatally impairedthe credibility and sincerity of the regional leaders," said EldredMusunungure, a professor at the University of Zimbabwe, according to the Zimbabwe Independent . Mugabe's call to SADC to allow him to hold elections withoutreforms "was a gamble he was never going to win. He was shooting inthe dark," said Musunungure. By refusing to endorse Mugabe's call for elections this year, theleaders of southern Africa are restricting Mugabe's room formaneuver. They are trying to prevent a repeat of Zimbabwe's 2008elections in which some 300 people were killed in politicalviolence and there were charges of widespread vote-rigging byMugabe's regime. By pressing for fully free and fair elections, theSADC leaders are aware that they are pushing Mugabe to allowhimself to be voted out of office. Mugabe shows no signs of allowing that to happen. His Zanu-PF party continues to press for the new constitution toincrease the power of the president, reported Voice of the People . And he is appealing to the ruling liberation movements ofsouthern Africa to stand by him, painting his oppositon as thestooges of whites and the West. However the region's otherliberation movements have stayed in power by making significantreforms and they are aware that if they stick with Mugabe, theycould see Zimbabwe return to prolonged instability and that wouldbe bad for the entire southern African region. If the regional leaders hold firm against Mugabe, this could be asignificant check to his desire to continue in power. Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe became independent fromBritain in 1980. He was forced by SADC to form a coalitiongovernment with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and hisMovement for Democratic Change (MDC) after violent and disputedelections in 2008. In the unwieldy coalition, Mugabe has maintainedcontrol of the army, security, police and several other key arms ofgovernment. He is pressing for early elections to regain fullcontrol of government. Tsvangirai and others warn of a return topolitical violence before the elections, and some MDC officialshave recently been killed. Mugabe has reason to be angry at southern Africa's ruling parties,their pressure on him may be the first step to free and fairelections in Zimbabwe that will see him and his Zanu-PF voted frompower. I am an expert from cobledlighting.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Cob Led Tube , China Cob Led Module, Cob Led Downlight,and more.
Related Articles -
Cob Led Tube, China Cob Led Module,
|
