Opinion / Columnist
The insanity of the Confucius Peace Prize - PDP
20 Oct 2015 at 18:21hrs | Views
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) is utterly disgusted that Robert Mugabe was awarded the China's Confucius Peace Prize in the name of his management of the economy in Zimbabwe and promotion of peace and stability in the 1980s. We would like to put it on record that as a party we are dismayed by this show of malice by the organisers and promoters of this Prize. Mugabe as we know him and as the people of Zimbabwe have experienced his reign is a war- monger, a bellicosist and a sadist who delights in the misery of the people.
PDP would like to remind the Confucius Peace Prize promoters that the past is present in Zimbabwe. The 1980s that they are parading as Mugabe's most successful years were actually the worst years in the historyof Zimbabwe. It was that ' lost decade' which saw Mugabe presiding over ethnic cleansing which left over 20 000 innocent lives of Ndebele speaking people-women and children from Matabeleland and Midlands provinces losing their precious lives.
It is an insult to the people of Zimbabwe for anyone to suggest that the 1980s were prosperous. While figures may indicate that the economy witnessed some growth and education and health expanded during that period, it must be equally noted that more lives were lost in that decade compared to any other post-independence period. Homesteads were torched down, property destroyed, schools shut, and opposition leaders and supporters hunted down like wild animals by Mugabe's private army, the 5th Brigade. For this reason, the awarders of the Confucius Peace Award are guilty of the fallacy of ignorantia elenchi- they are missing the point by a very wide margin.
In fact the rule of Mugabe is paved with blood, violence, arson and cruelty. Evidence of all this is aplenty to ignore. Operation Murambatsvina, operation mavhotera papi, operation red fingure, 3rd Chimurenga, violence of 2008 and the recent abduction of Dzamara have been reported internationally and it boggles the mind how the awarders of the Prize missed these or they simply chose to ignore them. If the Organisers of the Prize have any iota of moral rectitude,then they should hang their heads in shame for rewarding murderers who masquerade as peace makers.
Actually, one needs to be a fool to believe that the State managers and the managers of the economy of Zimbabwe deserve recognition, acknowledgement or a pat on their back. For years now Zimbabwe's economy has been suffering from liquidity crunch, deindustrialisation, informalisation, balance of payments deficits, unemployment, shrinked fiscal space and abjact poverty just to mention a few as a result of Mugabe's wrong-headed policies. Today Mugabe is presiding over a full blown economic dislocation and yet somebody is thanking him for that- God forbid.
While PDP acknowledges the role played by China during the liberation struggle, which role included assistance in the form of weapons, training and food for the freedom fighters, the party is concerned with the post-independence activities of China. China provided weapons of war worth millions of dollars in 2008 for Mugabe to emasculate the opposition. To date China is the leading supplier of weapons to Zimbabwe. China also looted Zimbabwe's mineral wealth in the form of diamonds in Marange with the help of Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe got nothing. Currently Zimbabwe is used as the dumping ground of cheap Chinese products thanks to Mugabe and his lieutenants in ZANU PF.
To this extent, the Confucius Peace Prize of USD$15 000 given to Mugabe is an insult to the people of Zimbabwe. PDP agrees with Moletsi Mbeki who earlier in the year noted that Mugabe deserves a 'bad leadership award'as he has succeeded in ruining the economy of Zimbabwe. PDP is therefore calling upon all the members of the intellectual community-academia, faith based organisations, civil society and the political opposition society to denounce the Confucius Peace Prize awarded to Robert Mugabe with contempt it deserves.
Dr Gorden Moyo
Secretary General
People's Democratic Party
PDP would like to remind the Confucius Peace Prize promoters that the past is present in Zimbabwe. The 1980s that they are parading as Mugabe's most successful years were actually the worst years in the historyof Zimbabwe. It was that ' lost decade' which saw Mugabe presiding over ethnic cleansing which left over 20 000 innocent lives of Ndebele speaking people-women and children from Matabeleland and Midlands provinces losing their precious lives.
It is an insult to the people of Zimbabwe for anyone to suggest that the 1980s were prosperous. While figures may indicate that the economy witnessed some growth and education and health expanded during that period, it must be equally noted that more lives were lost in that decade compared to any other post-independence period. Homesteads were torched down, property destroyed, schools shut, and opposition leaders and supporters hunted down like wild animals by Mugabe's private army, the 5th Brigade. For this reason, the awarders of the Confucius Peace Award are guilty of the fallacy of ignorantia elenchi- they are missing the point by a very wide margin.
In fact the rule of Mugabe is paved with blood, violence, arson and cruelty. Evidence of all this is aplenty to ignore. Operation Murambatsvina, operation mavhotera papi, operation red fingure, 3rd Chimurenga, violence of 2008 and the recent abduction of Dzamara have been reported internationally and it boggles the mind how the awarders of the Prize missed these or they simply chose to ignore them. If the Organisers of the Prize have any iota of moral rectitude,then they should hang their heads in shame for rewarding murderers who masquerade as peace makers.
Actually, one needs to be a fool to believe that the State managers and the managers of the economy of Zimbabwe deserve recognition, acknowledgement or a pat on their back. For years now Zimbabwe's economy has been suffering from liquidity crunch, deindustrialisation, informalisation, balance of payments deficits, unemployment, shrinked fiscal space and abjact poverty just to mention a few as a result of Mugabe's wrong-headed policies. Today Mugabe is presiding over a full blown economic dislocation and yet somebody is thanking him for that- God forbid.
While PDP acknowledges the role played by China during the liberation struggle, which role included assistance in the form of weapons, training and food for the freedom fighters, the party is concerned with the post-independence activities of China. China provided weapons of war worth millions of dollars in 2008 for Mugabe to emasculate the opposition. To date China is the leading supplier of weapons to Zimbabwe. China also looted Zimbabwe's mineral wealth in the form of diamonds in Marange with the help of Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe got nothing. Currently Zimbabwe is used as the dumping ground of cheap Chinese products thanks to Mugabe and his lieutenants in ZANU PF.
To this extent, the Confucius Peace Prize of USD$15 000 given to Mugabe is an insult to the people of Zimbabwe. PDP agrees with Moletsi Mbeki who earlier in the year noted that Mugabe deserves a 'bad leadership award'as he has succeeded in ruining the economy of Zimbabwe. PDP is therefore calling upon all the members of the intellectual community-academia, faith based organisations, civil society and the political opposition society to denounce the Confucius Peace Prize awarded to Robert Mugabe with contempt it deserves.
Dr Gorden Moyo
Secretary General
People's Democratic Party
Source - Dr Gorden Moyo
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