A message of hope for Zimbabwe
Legal Resource Foundation, Bulawayo
Zimbabwe is passing through the darkest chapter of its history in the run up to the 2000 elections. The economy, which has been battered by inept ZANU(PF) rule and corruption over the last few years, may well melt down in the next few weeks. There is no foreign currency. Factories and other businesses are laying people off. And now to compound all the pre-existing problems ZANU(PF) has engineered massive pre-electoral disturbances, violence, murder and general mayhem centered on the land problem in an effort to divert attention away from the disastrous state of the economy and to intimidate the growing numbers of those who support the Movement for Democratic Change. It is now clear that there is a Third Force, crafted by Mugabe and his cronies which is designed to intimidate the electorate into either not voting at all, or voting for ZANU(PF).
The result has been the dramatic loss of confidence in the future by the electorate. Minorities fear that ethnic cleansing could begin shortly. There is a real fear that the Police at best have looked the other way recently and at worst have acted as accomplices to murder. As a result farmers have left their land and hundreds are so unsettled by what is going on that they have packed their suitcases (to enable a quick exit) and are making plans to emigrate in the short to medium term.
In view of all that is happening can there be any hope for the future or is Zimbabwe sentenced to an inevitable slide into total anarchy? I believe that there are six reasons why there is still a lot of hope for Zimbabwe.
1. The violence is a consequence of ZANU(PF)’s fear of losing the election