Meanderings on Zimbabwe...

Hello all,

I was pleased to see that, finally, a senior African personage resident in the UK has finally called for the stronger measures against the revolting regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

His Grace the Archbishop of York, Ugandan born John Sentamu, has been waxing lyrical in various media over the last few days about how its time for Britain to shed its “colonial guilt” and for Gordon Brown to take the lead in imposing strict sanctions against Zimbabwe, and to encourage other EU states to put pressure on Mugabe and his cronies through limitations on their diplomatic prerogatives in their embassies (which are being used as fronts to circumvent EU financial and travel restrictions on members of the ruling circle).

Which is all well and good. I am sure that most people would be hard pressed to deny that Robert Mugabe deserves even more pressure than sanctions, that he has destroyed a vibrant, prosperous nation through his megalomaniacal need to retain power over an increasingly poor and decrepit nation-state. I have been amazed that what is going on in Zimbabwe has been allowed to do so for so long, ascribing it to misplaced colonial guilt, much as Archbishop Sentamu has.

But its all too little too late. Why has it taken almost a decade of increasingly blatant oppression and insanity on the part of Mugabe for this point to be made by a senior, globally important African man? (For those of you who don’t know, York is the second most senior Archibishopric in the Anglican Communion – in essence Sentamu is the second most powerful man in the Anglican Communion after the Archbishop of Canterbury).

At a recent summit of African leaders, Mugabe was given a standing ovation. He is seen as a hero by many black Africans, peasant and politician alike, as a stalwart warrior against the legacy of colonialism. His methods and rhetoric are parroted in several countries, most worryingly in Namibia and South Africa, who have thus far managed to avoid the seemingly inevitable slide into anarchy that typifies post-colonial Africa.

Even Archbishop Sentamu himself said that it is “now time” to take action since the diplomatic efforts of African leaders have failed to reign in Mugabe’s excesses. Now time? Come on! Where the hell have influential Africans like Sentamu been for the last decade? Mugabe should have been stamped on hard around the turn of the century, either by major African power players like South Africa, or by the UK and damned be the politically-incorrect fallout.

The Archbishop has even spoken to Gordon Brown, and the general feeling is that some sort of stern worded message will be forthcoming soon. Big deal. A stern worded message that will be ignored, and another opportunity to avert a Uganda/Amin style tragedy in Zimbabwe will be lost.

What we need is someone to take a damned stand against this “boys club” of ex-communist leaders now in positions of national leadership in Africa and let them know that yes, the colonial past does have more than its fair share of injustice and exploitation, and yes part of the responsibility for Africa’s current state can be laid at the feet of the old colonial powers; but that this same colonial past is no excuse for the blatantly racist, corrupt, criminal, short-sighted, malicious persecution and destruction of their own countries.

Archbishop Sentamu is not the first senior black African churchman to make this stand, only the most high profile. Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo has been one of the most valiant and vocal opponents of Mugabe for several years now. But we need more than just Churchmen to stand up and be counted. It is time for the UK and the EU to stop playing politically correct games and get over their un-necessary colonial guilt complexes and treat African nations and leaders as mature peers – which means holding them up to the same standards that are expected in the West. No more excuses. No more unconditional aid. No more colonial guilt cards to be played by either side.

Mad dogs like Mugabe would never be tolerated as a head of a European state. He should not be tolerated as the leader of an African one either, especially as a leader who seemingly can get away with anything he bloody well pleases with the only “sternly worded” diplomatic messages as a punishment. Its time to get tough before we see a spontaneous revolution in Zimbabwe that will leave that shattered country in an even worse condition that it is now – perhaps even see massacres and pogroms that will make Rwanda look like a tea-party spat.

So yes, it is “now time” Archbishop Sentamu. It has “been time” for years, thanks for noticing. Now lets hope someone else does too, someone who is willing and able to do something about it.