So just a couple of weeks ago, on 27th June 2008, The Queen of England jumped on the Anti-Mugabe bandwagon by revoking his Knighthood. This happened in the week where he condemned by Nelson Mandela, denounced by the English Cricket Board and almost removed from the ICC; more bad news, well, according to everybody but ‘ole Rob who started raving on about Gordon Brown and the ‘Demons at Number 10!’ and now wants the British people, businesses and all interests out of Zimbabwe.
Earlier this year Zimbabweans had a largely peaceful 12 hours to cast a vote for or against their current president, Robert Gabriel Mugabe. After days of vote counting and much debate around the world it was announced that the MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai had in fact gained 49% of the votes against the ZANU-PF’s 42%. Mugabe was out! Or so we thought, I remember reading the news and the first thing that came to my mind was that there is no way that he will step down. There was a slight hint that he would, on the condition that he would not be tried for any crimes that may have occurred during his time in power; this statement was quickly withdrawn. With Morgan Tsvangirai, fearing for his life and that of his supporters, pulling out of the elections Mugabe was left in this one-man presidential race. Mere hours after voting closed Mugabe announced the people of Zimbabwe had chosen him to lead them, quel surprise! The end of last week prompted yet more African Leaders to condemn or denounce the Zimbabwean President, notably one of the Iron Ladies of Africa - Sirleaf-Johnson President of Liberia.
Thinking about Afghanistan, Iraq and possibly Iran to name a few there is a ‘clear vested interest’ in sending British (and US) troops; namely oil, narcotics and yes, the T word - Terrorism. With the words ‘Free Tibet’ popping up here and there, the Chinese government keeping people locked away, knocking down homes in the name of the Olympics. All to impress the World with how modern China is. Supplying weapons to Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the Sudanese government, despite an international arms embargo. Still, apparently this is not a British problem, what about Burma? It is officially supposed to be referred to as the Union of Myanmar, many people would have no clue, let alone the problems that are still going on there. Yet it is not in the press, unlike Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, with the herds of “undercover” BBC journalists who are banned from the country reporting almost daily.
So, there is no oil, no drugs and not a big issue for international terrorism why on earth is there such a campaign against this regime despite the controversy of many other dictatorships in other parts of Africa. The abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe is appalling, as are the problems in Darfur, DR Congo and Somalia. Where did this interest in Zimbabwe come from? Going back to the late 1800s and enter Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company, almost 300 years after the formation and Royal Charter, by Queen Elizabeth I, of the British East India Company. 1898 and Southern Rhodesia is born. October 1923 saw the beginning of self-government, with Howard Unwin Moffat becoming the state’s second Premier in 1927. The post World War II boom brought an influx of about 200,000 largely working class British immigrants. The previous white population was in the region of 70,000. A University was established in 1952, offering degrees from the Universities of Birmingham and London, it still stands and in 1980 was renamed the University of Zimbabwe. In 1953 the calls for independence began and the UK created the CAF. The Central African Federation (now Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi) splits after 10 years of being ‘A Federal Realm of the British Crown’, so not a Colony or a Dominion it was a semi-independent state. The majority of the Federal Army was given to the white minority ruled Rhodesia and Ian Smith waged war on the black nationalist guerrillas as well as the British, in 1970 Rhodesia was declared a republic; half of all the land given to the white minority. After 10 years of civil war Zimbabwe, her president Robert Gabriel Mugabe and prime minister Canaan Banana, was recognised independent. The UK (and London) played a large part in hosting the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement where the US and British governments pressured and bullied Mugabe to sign and the agreement was pushed through after three long months of negotiations.
Where does this leave us now? 20 years of Mugabe and 2000 saw the beginning of a redistribution of white owned land and farms to 250,000 Africans. This ‘programme’ quickly began to affect the economy with a sudden decline in agricultural exports leading to a hard-currency shortage and economic decline. Fast-forward to today and more and more countries are distancing themselves from Robert Mugabe, they want something to be done, but what needs to be done? The African nations are beginning to show support for the UN in this matter and that is definitely a good start. Though, its doesn’t stop people thinking that the British government feel as though they need to clean up the mess they left in Africa. They used to say that The Sun never sets on The British Empire, so where will we need to sort out next?
