Zimbabwe Diaspora Prepares for second Global Demo

The meaning of Zuma in Xhosa is "To sneak around at night with bad intent," but President Jacob Zuma is a Zulu so we don't know whether this meaning applies or not, nor indeed whether he is sneaking around Zimbabwe's darkest hour with bad intent.

His middle name, Gedleyihlekisa, is apparently a shortened form of the Zulu sentence "ngeke ngithule umuntu engigedla engihlekisa" , meaning, I won't keep quiet when someone deceives me with a beautiful smile while he is doing damage to me! Very pregnant with meaning.

What we do know, however is that President Zuma took over the SADC facilitation of the Zimbabwean negotiations from Thabo Mbeki, whom history has now adjudged was sneaking around with bad intentions towards Zimbabweans who had rejected Robert Mugabe in the 2008 election.

Now President Zuma's term is almost over, but he has got nothing to show for his mission, except for three SADC resolutions which laid the blame for the failure to move forward squarely on Zanu (PF)'s door, followed by one which defined a road-map to elections, and another which called for monitors to be deployed in Zimbabwe to give some teeth to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee.

This was more than six months ago, but no monitors are in place  and it is becoming clear to Zimbabweans that President Zuma is constrained or not willing to take the next logical steps after confirming that Zanu (PF) is indeed being intransigent.

Or that he does not consider it an urgent issue as we Zimbabweans do. So we are becoming impatient, especially as Zanu (PF) seems to be consolidating some kind of military dictatorship.

Zanu (PF) is considering that as long as it is in the Inclusive Government with some MDC MPs who are also happy to blame their failure to bring about change on Zanu (PF)'s intransigence, then they will just continue their deceitful dance until the cows come home.

Even if they are not happy to be in the deceitful dance, Zanu (PF) is forcing them by simply refusing to implement what has been agreed in negotiations and what has been resolved by SADC Heads of States when the negotiations failed to produce compromise.

And the JOMIC just continues doing a little dance every time a critical statement is made, but is happy to go back to their complacency as soon as the critical voices die down. They are, in fact, doing nothing and now have the added excuse that they are waiting for the SADC monitors.

Having agreed to SADC mediation, the parties to the arbitration, Zanu (PF) and the MDC, and another MDC thrown into the mix by Thabo Mbeki, should be bound by the resolutions, but there was a weakness in the SADC resolutions - no enforcement mechanism.

And in the absence of enforcement mechanisms Zimbabweans had expected that President Zuma would increase diplomatic pressure on Zanu (PF) by making a clear and categorical statement to the African Union in Summit, that Zanu (PF) has refused to abide by the resolutions.

Or, if President Zuma did not want to be seen to be taking sides, he could simply have made a diplomatic statement to the effect that the negotiations had failed, and the AU which gave him that task would then consider what to do next.

But the AU summit has come and gone, without even a report from Zuma on his mission, which is making Zimbabweans even more sceptical about his efforts, and asking whether  President Zuma is sneaking around the Zimbabwean night with bad intent, or whether they should keep quiet while he is deceiving them with beautiful statements from facilitator Lindiwe Zulu while he is actually giving Zanu (PF) an opportunity to consolidate its illegal rule.

The MDC is also in the Catch 22 situation that if it pulls out of the government, then Zanu (PF) will be only too happy to get the majority which it could not achieve through the ballot box and a chance to rule alone and go back it is corrupt old ways, with no scrutiny from the MDC.

The international community which had put its faith in the African Union and SADC must feel let down by the AU and the SADC, because without their support they cannot even dare to bring the Zimbabwean issue to the UN.

The same shameful intransigence that Russia and China have shown in protecting Syrian dictator Assad would be brought into action. Assad's killing of his people is only different from Zanu (PF)s in scale, but so far we have not heard the international community's comment on the AU or SADC, not even a low-level diplomatic statement of disappointment.

Some analysts even go as far as saying the international community has stopped looking to the African Union and SADC for anything because they are just clubs of dictators protecting each other.

But the ones who are suffering are the Zimbabwean people, now with a typhoid out-break - a disease which should never be seen in a country like Zimbabwe where people know about hygiene and sanitation.

The country is now affected because the authorities cannot cope with simple provision of clean drinking, washing water, and running water for the toilets, in the capital city. Containing such diseases in the named high density areas is impossible because this is where the workers in the factories and the city-centre offices come from.

The cropping season is again expected to be a disaster, leaving Zimbabweans needing food aid  - all the result of a failure to develop because of a policy gridlock caused by a dysfunctional inclusive government which should have ended two years ago.

This is why the MDC external assemblies have resolved to demonstrate at South African Embassies all over the world to demand that President Zuma stop his perceived deceitful dance at the expense of Zimbabweans.

Demonstrations this month will coincide with Mugabe's 88th birthday, on 21feb. They will be held in Washington DC, London, Stockholm, Brussels, Ottawa, Pretoria, Adelaide and Sydney, among others which are yet to confirm.

Major Objectives

    Bring awareness to the world about the non-implementation of agreements in the GPA through worldwide demonstrations at all SA Embassies, Consulate Missions, Union Buildings and Parliament.
    Petition SA President Jacob Zuma to fast track the tripartite negotiations.
    No legitimate reforms, no elections
    Demand benchmarks and timelines from SADC for the adoption of all reforms and the punitive measures for the failure to do so.
    Expose Mugabe's extravagance at his birthday parties while the masses suffer. The dictator turns 88 on Feb 21st.
    Put SADC on notice that failure to heed our demands will spur us to take the matter to the UN Security Council


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