anonymous-remailer

The people of Zimbabwe must decide their own future

Earlier this week, we were in Zimbabwe together with Presidents Olusegun
Obasanjo and Bakili Muluzi of Nigeria and Malawi respectively. We went to Harare
to discuss with the Government of Zimbabwe and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), what we might do to contribute to the resolution of the
problems facing this sister African country.

Even as we publicly communicated this simple message about the purpose of our
visit, there were some in our country who insisted on imposing their own agendas
on us. Accordingly, they pretended to know everything about what we would say to
the political leadership of Zimbabwe, raising unjustified expectations that
reflected their wishes.

This manner of proceeding has bedevilled the general understanding of the
situation in Zimbabwe, as well as our response to this situation.

These same detractors, who have their own partisan agendas, which they dress in
the language of high-sounding principles, are firm in their conviction that we
have some divine right to dictate to the people of Zimbabwe what they should do
about their country. They seem to believe that if we issued some instructions to
the political leaders of Zimbabwe, as determined by themselves, this leadership
would meekly obey what the baas across the Limpopo would have told them.
Precisely because we are South African, we know the reasons why.

Our own experience as a movement tells us unequivocally, that no lasting
solution to the challenges that face Zimbabwe can be found, unless that solution
comes from the people of Zimbabwe themselves. It tells us that no Zimbabweans
with any pride in their country, and respect for themselves, will accept that
another should determine their destiny.

We remain convinced that the people of Zimbabwe must decide their future,
together with their entire leadership. For our part, we will never treat
Zimbabwe as the tenth province of South Africa.

To ensure that we are best positioned to give such assistance as may be required
by the Zimbabweans, we will continue to follow developments in Zimbabwe with
great care, and make our own assessments without fear or favour.

We will continue to interact with the entire political and other sectors of the
leadership of the people of Zimbabwe, excluding no one.

As we did before and immediately after the 2002 Presidential elections in
Zimbabwe, we will continue to encourage both ZANU-PF and the MDC to sit together
to agree on a common response to the pressing challenges their country faces, as
we did again earlier this week.

We were pleased and inspired that the leadership of Zimbabwe itself holds the
same view. Accordingly, we hope that all obstacles to the resumption of the
dialogue between ZANU-PF and the MDC, if any exist, will be removed, so that the
talks can begin.

Certainly more than we, the Zimbabwe leaders understand the very difficult
situation imposed on their people by the economic crisis that is gripping their
country.

Zimbabwe can only extricate herself from this crisis in conditions of political
stability. She would be best placed to take the difficult decisions she has to
take, if her political leadership acted together, responding to a common
national emergency, in the interest of all the people of Zimbabwe. Fortunately,
the leadership of our neighbouring country is sensitive to this requirement, for
all to act in unity to achieve the common good.

In the heated atmosphere that surrounds the issue of Zimbabwe, the tendency
among some of us to pose as high priests at the inquisition, hungry for the
blood of the accused, as though to condemn, demonise and punish, constituted the
very essence of solving the most difficult problems, has taken root. In this
situation, as in war, the truth soon becomes a casualty.

From its very beginning as an independent country, Zimbabwe took the correct
position that it had to address the issue of the legacy of colonialism and white
minority domination in the socio-economic sphere. As we all know, this virtually
quarantined the critical matter of land redistribution, because of agreements
reached during the independence negotiations in London. These sought to counter-
balance the principle of black liberation with the protection of white property,
inserting into the political settlement the racist notions of black majority
rule and white minority rights.

Beyond this, the new democratic state worked to advance the socio-economic
interests of the liberated majority. This focused on meeting the needs of the
people, changing the state machinery to reflect the new political reality, and
encouraging black participation in the economy and society in general, so that
the majority joined their white compatriots as actors for development, rather
than mere consumers and employees.

To advance these objectives, the Government of Zimbabwe ploughed considerable
resources into the area of education, from the primary to the tertiary levels,
with dramatic and measurable successes. Similarly, significant state
expenditures went into the area of health in both urban and rural areas. This
resulted in such positive developments as an increase in the proportion of those
immunised rising from 25% to 86%, and an increase in life expectancy from 55 to
59 years.

State expenditures on rural development, food security and nutrition, impacting
on the majority in the country, resulted in the small farmers' share of marketed
maize rising from zero in 1980 to more than 70% in 1989.

During the fiscal year 1990/91, the civil service wage bill accounted for 16.5%
of the GDP. This high burden on the economy was caused both by the rapid
expansion of state services to the people and the drive to achieve equal pay for
equal work between black and white civil servants. Central government
expenditure on the social sectors during the same year amounted to about 13% of
the GDP.

To meet the needs of the people and alleviate poverty, the independent state
decided to adopt measures that would keep the cost of living relatively low, to
ensure better mass access to essential goods and services.

In essence, this was done through a system of subsidies financed through the
state budget, which has been maintained for two decades. As a result of this,
during the fiscal year 1990/91, the subsidies to the public enterprises absorbed
a staggering 3.7% of Zimbabwe's GDP, since these were required to supply goods
and services below cost, to guarantee a tolerable standard of living for the
people.

These extraordinary expenditures could only be sustained by running a large
budget deficit and through foreign borrowing. In other words, this could only
mean - live now, pay later!

By the end of the first decade of liberation, total public sector debt stood at
90% of GDP. In Fiscal Year 89/90, central government interest payments comprised
6.7% of GDP. By 1987, foreign debt service payments had risen to 34% of export
earnings. Capital to finance economic growth began to dry up. Private investment
in an overwhelmingly capitalist economy, contrary to blatantly false assertions
about a socialist Mugabe government, dropped to less than 8% of GDP in 1987,
compared to an already low 12% in 1985.

By the end of the first decade of independence, it was clear that the growth
path chosen by the government of Zimbabwe was unsustainable, despite the
objective declared not long after independence, of growth with equity. Even as
early as 1984, less than five years after independence, the government of
Zimbabwe had to appeal to the IMF for assistance, resulting in a counter-
productive structural adjustment programme, the belt-tightening that any banker
will demand of a borrower in dire straits.

Contrary to what some in our country now claim, the economic crisis currently
affecting Zimbabwe did not originate from the desperate actions of a reckless
political leadership, or from corruption. It arose from a genuine concern to
meet the needs of the black poor, without taking into account the harsh economic
reality that, in the end, we must pay for what we consume.

Persisting ideological blindness to this reality is evident in our own country,
where some who call themselves the unique representatives of the poor, have been
seeking to oblige us to follow the same policies that led to the economic crisis
in Zimbabwe. We have refused to do this. We will continue to do so.

To come out of this crisis, the people of Zimbabwe will have to make serious
sacrifices and take a lot of pain. This has been demonstrated by the sharp
increases in the prices of petroleum products and the resultant rises in
transport costs, as the government has reduced the unaffordable fuel subsidy.

All this communicates a message that is perfectly clear. It is that the longer
the problems of Zimbabwe remain unresolved, the more entrenched poverty will
become. The longer this persists, the greater will be the degree of social
instability, as the poor try to respond to the pains of hunger. The more
protracted this instability, the greater will be the degree of polarisation and
generalised social and political conflict.

To respond to this, the state will inevitably have to emphasise issues of law
and order, even as it has ever fewer means to address the needs of the people.
As it responds in this manner, the less will it have the possibility to address
anything else other than the issue of law and order. The more it does this, the
greater will be the degree of the absence of order and stability.

None of this will happen because there are demonic people in Harare harbouring
evil hearts, with no concern other than the exercise of power and the personal
enjoyment of its benefits. The internal logic of various processes in human
society compel all of us to be carried along by events, to destinations we may
not have sought.

In this regard, the people and leaders of Zimbabwe are neither more nor less
human than anyone among us. As has happened with us at various times, they too
will have to break the vicious cycle.

I am certain that they will sit together as Zimbabweans and Africans, to listen
to and hear one another, and take the difficult decisions that will say,
practically, that none among them was born to impose an intolerable burden of
suffering on the people of Zimbabwe. The rest of us have an obligation to work
with them as they strive to overcome their immense difficulties, faithful to the
spirit of human solidarity.

As immediate neighbours we have no choice in this regard. As patriots who
occupied the same trench of struggle with the people of Zimbabwe when we,
together, battled to end white minority rule in our region and continent, we
have no choice but to lend a hand to the effort of the people of Zimbabwe to
enjoy the fruits of their hard-won liberation, of independence, freedom,
democracy, peace and stability, and prosperity. Righteous and self-serving
indignation, and the attitude of superior rectitude will not give us this
outcome.

Our greatest and most enduring strengths as a movement and a people derive from
our humility, our respect for others, our commitment to principle, our love of
Africa, our commitment to serve the interests of the poor of the world, as best
we can, our refusal to abandon what we believe in because of battle fatigue.
These we must never lose, simply because some among us tell us to act in an
arrogant and superior manner towards another human being who lies by the
roadside in pain, bleeding.

Thabo Mbeki

anonymous-remailer

The people of Zimbabwe must decide their own future

Earlier this week, we were in Zimbabwe together with Presidents Olusegun
Obasanjo and Bakili Muluzi of Nigeria and Malawi respectively. We went to Harare
to discuss with the Government of Zimbabwe and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), what we might do to contribute to the resolution of the
problems facing this sister African country.

Even as we publicly communicated this simple message about the purpose of our
visit, there were some in our country who insisted on imposing their own agendas
on us. Accordingly, they pretended to know everything about what we would say to
the political leadership of Zimbabwe, raising unjustified expectations that
reflected their wishes.

This manner of proceeding has bedevilled the general understanding of the
situation in Zimbabwe, as well as our response to this situation.

These same detractors, who have their own partisan agendas, which they dress in
the language of high-sounding principles, are firm in their conviction that we
have some divine right to dictate to the people of Zimbabwe what they should do
about their country. They seem to believe that if we issued some instructions to
the political leaders of Zimbabwe, as determined by themselves, this leadership
would meekly obey what the baas across the Limpopo would have told them.
Precisely because we are South African, we know the reasons why.

Our own experience as a movement tells us unequivocally, that no lasting
solution to the challenges that face Zimbabwe can be found, unless that solution
comes from the people of Zimbabwe themselves. It tells us that no Zimbabweans
with any pride in their country, and respect for themselves, will accept that
another should determine their destiny.

We remain convinced that the people of Zimbabwe must decide their future,
together with their entire leadership. For our part, we will never treat
Zimbabwe as the tenth province of South Africa.

To ensure that we are best positioned to give such assistance as may be required
by the Zimbabweans, we will continue to follow developments in Zimbabwe with
great care, and make our own assessments without fear or favour.

We will continue to interact with the entire political and other sectors of the
leadership of the people of Zimbabwe, excluding no one.

As we did before and immediately after the 2002 Presidential elections in
Zimbabwe, we will continue to encourage both ZANU-PF and the MDC to sit together
to agree on a common response to the pressing challenges their country faces, as
we did again earlier this week.

We were pleased and inspired that the leadership of Zimbabwe itself holds the
same view. Accordingly, we hope that all obstacles to the resumption of the
dialogue between ZANU-PF and the MDC, if any exist, will be removed, so that the
talks can begin.

Certainly more than we, the Zimbabwe leaders understand the very difficult
situation imposed on their people by the economic crisis that is gripping their
country.

Zimbabwe can only extricate herself from this crisis in conditions of political
stability. She would be best placed to take the difficult decisions she has to
take, if her political leadership acted together, responding to a common
national emergency, in the interest of all the people of Zimbabwe. Fortunately,
the leadership of our neighbouring country is sensitive to this requirement, for
all to act in unity to achieve the common good.

In the heated atmosphere that surrounds the issue of Zimbabwe, the tendency
among some of us to pose as high priests at the inquisition, hungry for the
blood of the accused, as though to condemn, demonise and punish, constituted the
very essence of solving the most difficult problems, has taken root. In this
situation, as in war, the truth soon becomes a casualty.

From its very beginning as an independent country, Zimbabwe took the correct
position that it had to address the issue of the legacy of colonialism and white
minority domination in the socio-economic sphere. As we all know, this virtually
quarantined the critical matter of land redistribution, because of agreements
reached during the independence negotiations in London. These sought to counter-
balance the principle of black liberation with the protection of white property,
inserting into the political settlement the racist notions of black majority
rule and white minority rights.

Beyond this, the new democratic state worked to advance the socio-economic
interests of the liberated majority. This focused on meeting the needs of the
people, changing the state machinery to reflect the new political reality, and
encouraging black participation in the economy and society in general, so that
the majority joined their white compatriots as actors for development, rather
than mere consumers and employees.

To advance these objectives, the Government of Zimbabwe ploughed considerable
resources into the area of education, from the primary to the tertiary levels,
with dramatic and measurable successes. Similarly, significant state
expenditures went into the area of health in both urban and rural areas. This
resulted in such positive developments as an increase in the proportion of those
immunised rising from 25% to 86%, and an increase in life expectancy from 55 to
59 years.

State expenditures on rural development, food security and nutrition, impacting
on the majority in the country, resulted in the small farmers' share of marketed
maize rising from zero in 1980 to more than 70% in 1989.

During the fiscal year 1990/91, the civil service wage bill accounted for 16.5%
of the GDP. This high burden on the economy was caused both by the rapid
expansion of state services to the people and the drive to achieve equal pay for
equal work between black and white civil servants. Central government
expenditure on the social sectors during the same year amounted to about 13% of
the GDP.

To meet the needs of the people and alleviate poverty, the independent state
decided to adopt measures that would keep the cost of living relatively low, to
ensure better mass access to essential goods and services.

In essence, this was done through a system of subsidies financed through the
state budget, which has been maintained for two decades. As a result of this,
during the fiscal year 1990/91, the subsidies to the public enterprises absorbed
a staggering 3.7% of Zimbabwe's GDP, since these were required to supply goods
and services below cost, to guarantee a tolerable standard of living for the
people.

These extraordinary expenditures could only be sustained by running a large
budget deficit and through foreign borrowing. In other words, this could only
mean - live now, pay later!

By the end of the first decade of liberation, total public sector debt stood at
90% of GDP. In Fiscal Year 89/90, central government interest payments comprised
6.7% of GDP. By 1987, foreign debt service payments had risen to 34% of export
earnings. Capital to finance economic growth began to dry up. Private investment
in an overwhelmingly capitalist economy, contrary to blatantly false assertions
about a socialist Mugabe government, dropped to less than 8% of GDP in 1987,
compared to an already low 12% in 1985.

By the end of the first decade of independence, it was clear that the growth
path chosen by the government of Zimbabwe was unsustainable, despite the
objective declared not long after independence, of growth with equity. Even as
early as 1984, less than five years after independence, the government of
Zimbabwe had to appeal to the IMF for assistance, resulting in a counter-
productive structural adjustment programme, the belt-tightening that any banker
will demand of a borrower in dire straits.

Contrary to what some in our country now claim, the economic crisis currently
affecting Zimbabwe did not originate from the desperate actions of a reckless
political leadership, or from corruption. It arose from a genuine concern to
meet the needs of the black poor, without taking into account the harsh economic
reality that, in the end, we must pay for what we consume.

Persisting ideological blindness to this reality is evident in our own country,
where some who call themselves the unique representatives of the poor, have been
seeking to oblige us to follow the same policies that led to the economic crisis
in Zimbabwe. We have refused to do this. We will continue to do so.

To come out of this crisis, the people of Zimbabwe will have to make serious
sacrifices and take a lot of pain. This has been demonstrated by the sharp
increases in the prices of petroleum products and the resultant rises in
transport costs, as the government has reduced the unaffordable fuel subsidy.

All this communicates a message that is perfectly clear. It is that the longer
the problems of Zimbabwe remain unresolved, the more entrenched poverty will
become. The longer this persists, the greater will be the degree of social
instability, as the poor try to respond to the pains of hunger. The more
protracted this instability, the greater will be the degree of polarisation and
generalised social and political conflict.

To respond to this, the state will inevitably have to emphasise issues of law
and order, even as it has ever fewer means to address the needs of the people.
As it responds in this manner, the less will it have the possibility to address
anything else other than the issue of law and order. The more it does this, the
greater will be the degree of the absence of order and stability.

None of this will happen because there are demonic people in Harare harbouring
evil hearts, with no concern other than the exercise of power and the personal
enjoyment of its benefits. The internal logic of various processes in human
society compel all of us to be carried along by events, to destinations we may
not have sought.

In this regard, the people and leaders of Zimbabwe are neither more nor less
human than anyone among us. As has happened with us at various times, they too
will have to break the vicious cycle.

I am certain that they will sit together as Zimbabweans and Africans, to listen
to and hear one another, and take the difficult decisions that will say,
practically, that none among them was born to impose an intolerable burden of
suffering on the people of Zimbabwe. The rest of us have an obligation to work
with them as they strive to overcome their immense difficulties, faithful to the
spirit of human solidarity.

As immediate neighbours we have no choice in this regard. As patriots who
occupied the same trench of struggle with the people of Zimbabwe when we,
together, battled to end white minority rule in our region and continent, we
have no choice but to lend a hand to the effort of the people of Zimbabwe to
enjoy the fruits of their hard-won liberation, of independence, freedom,
democracy, peace and stability, and prosperity. Righteous and self-serving
indignation, and the attitude of superior rectitude will not give us this
outcome.

Our greatest and most enduring strengths as a movement and a people derive from
our humility, our respect for others, our commitment to principle, our love of
Africa, our commitment to serve the interests of the poor of the world, as best
we can, our refusal to abandon what we believe in because of battle fatigue.
These we must never lose, simply because some among us tell us to act in an
arrogant and superior manner towards another human being who lies by the
roadside in pain, bleeding.

Thabo Mbeki

samg

The desires of the people of Zimbabwe matter little to the likes of
thabo mbeki, one would have thought that the povo in Zimbabwe have
given enough blood and pain for freedom from tyranny in their country.
The world watches and notes how mr mbeki has developed an uncritical
relationship with mr mugabe, if mbeki supports mugabe he is encouraging
a fascist dictator to violate human rights; the demonic people mr mbeki
mentions must and can only be mugabe and zanupf.

Try to learn something about Zimbabwe.

samg

The desires of the people of Zimbabwe matter little to the likes of
thabo mbeki, one would have thought that the povo in Zimbabwe have
given enough blood and pain for freedom from tyranny in their country.
The world watches and notes how mr mbeki has developed an uncritical
relationship with mr mugabe, if mbeki supports mugabe he is encouraging
a fascist dictator to violate human rights; the demonic people mr mbeki
mentions must and can only be mugabe and zanupf.

Try to learn something about Zimbabwe.

begreen

SamG, while you F* Whitey Imperialists always call a True African
Leader who is loved by Africans to be a Dictator and so on, and the one
who is not loved by Africans to be a good African Leader? Do you
remember Mobutu? Imperialists loved him, while he was disliked by
Africans.

Rembember that His Excellency, the President, Mr. Mbeki, grew up during
Apartheid era, so he know well what the like of you are trying to do in
Zimbabwe, which is nothing but to uphold the minority white rule.

I have been reading this Mbeki's speech for few times, I will keep it
for reference, God Bless him, he just confirmed my independent research
on Zimbabwe. From now on, I will like to talk to MDC People, here, to
**** OFF, from this newsgroup, or at least to stop their propaganda of
lies, as Mbeki's speech just hit the nail on the head!

More the MDC people, continue their propaganda of overthrowing a
democratically elected President of Zimbabwe, like it was done in Haiti
and Venezuela, they are not doing any good for the people of Zimbabwe,
as they are just contributing to instability to shy away Investors.

begreen

SamG, while you F* Whitey Imperialists always call a True African
Leader who is loved by Africans to be a Dictator and so on, and the one
who is not loved by Africans to be a good African Leader? Do you
remember Mobutu? Imperialists loved him, while he was disliked by
Africans.

Rembember that His Excellency, the President, Mr. Mbeki, grew up during
Apartheid era, so he know well what the like of you are trying to do in
Zimbabwe, which is nothing but to uphold the minority white rule.

I have been reading this Mbeki's speech for few times, I will keep it
for reference, God Bless him, he just confirmed my independent research
on Zimbabwe. From now on, I will like to talk to MDC People, here, to
**** OFF, from this newsgroup, or at least to stop their propaganda of
lies, as Mbeki's speech just hit the nail on the head!

More the MDC people, continue their propaganda of overthrowing a
democratically elected President of Zimbabwe, like it was done in Haiti
and Venezuela, they are not doing any good for the people of Zimbabwe,
as they are just contributing to instability to shy away Investors.

samg

BeGreen you know nothing about me nor who I am. Neither do I feel I
need to respond to your insulting manner. You have no idea what's going
on in Zimbabwe. No one has done more harm to Zimbabwe than the fascist
dictator, mugabe and zanupf: the country is in ruins due to his fascist
policies. I suggest you go away and learn something about Zimbabwe a
country of which you know nothing.

samg

BeGreen you know nothing about me nor who I am. Neither do I feel I
need to respond to your insulting manner. You have no idea what's going
on in Zimbabwe. No one has done more harm to Zimbabwe than the fascist
dictator, mugabe and zanupf: the country is in ruins due to his fascist
policies. I suggest you go away and learn something about Zimbabwe a
country of which you know nothing.

begreen

<<
BeGreen you know nothing about me nor who I am. Neither do I feel I
need to respond to your insulting manner.

Yes, I know you, a F* Brainwashed with an imperialist mindset.

<<
You have no idea what's going
on in Zimbabwe. No one has done more harm to Zimbabwe than the fascist
dictator, mugabe and zanupf: the country is in ruins due to his fascist

policies. I suggest you go away and learn something about Zimbabwe a
country of which you know nothing.


That's what you thing. I just ask you to stop your childdish postings.
Keep Mbeki's statement with you and meditate on it, so that you can go
out of your Imperialist insanity!

samg

Once again you seem incapable of anything but insulting language.


mbeki does not care about the Zimbabwe povo, he has shown himself as an
apologist for fascist mugabe's dictatorship in Zimbabwe. I would
suggest you are the one that is brainwashed, you ignore the desires of
the majority of Zimbabweans to be a fee people and that Zimbabweans
wish the rotten dictatorship gone. you have no idea of the reality of
life in Zimbabwe.