Culled from the Daily Observer of April 3, 2002, this article by Alia Nian of Kotu, makes interesting reading. I had wanted to share it with the list earlier but did not have the time to sit for long typing it. My apologies, in advance, for any typographical or grammatical errors.
Have a good day, Gassa.
President Mugabe’s deserved election victory – by Alia Nian.
Mugabe’s victory was great because it was in spite of massive Western propaganda against him. The attempt to rob Mugabe of his election victory was as wrong as the earlier plot to make him lose.
The all out settler-British-European Union-United States media propaganda against Mugabe was however to no avail. The attempt to turn the indigenous people of Zimbabwe away from Mugabe and ZANU/PF through BBC propaganda, and also the special subversive radio broadcasts from London and the financial support of the Westminster Foundation for the opposition, all failed. These extreme undemocratic and unlawful measures to remove President Mugabe from office have nevertheless shown the extent to which the present Western leaders are prepared to go in support of each other and to protect their interests and kith and kin anywhere in the world.
The strategy behind the campaign against Mugabe was to make every effort to ensure his defeat or failing that, to declare the election not free and fair in the hope that there would be, in that case be a fresh election. In other words, a second toss of the coin. The people of Zimbabwe remained faithful to their dynamic president, freedom fighter, land reformer and socio-economic developer, and returned him for a further term. In the circumstances, the election has been declared not free and fair as already agreed. Furthermore Zimbabwe has been suspended from the council of the commonwealth, and the prescribed economic sanctions also agreed well before the election. Surely, Britain and the USA, even if not the European countries, know that “this is not cricket”.
In the true sense of “British Justice”, common to all commonwealth countries and the USA, any accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. If the result of an election is disputed, genuinely or not, the dispute should be resolved in a court of law. In the case of the recent, hotly disputed US presidential election result (ballot boxes in hotels and churches, uncounted votes, split votes and minority ethnic groups’ complaints), the controversy was legally settled in court. No other country got involved before the outcome of the judicial process was known, and even then none imposed economic sanctions on the candidate eventually declared the winner.
Briefly, in conclusion, it was very unfair of the BBC to harp extensively and exclusively on the Zimbabwe government’s difficulties and shortcomings. What about the achievements as cited in the March 2002, issue No. 405 of New African: 456 health centers, 612 rural hospitals, 25 district hospitals, 8 provincial hospitals (one for each province) 4,500 primary schools (over 2,274,000 pupils) instead of 2,401 segregated schools (81,958 pupils), 177 secondary schools (66,215 pupils) at independence, now 1,548 schools (700,000 pupils), 4 teacher training colleges (1,000 trainees) now 15 (17,000 trainees), 2 technical colleges (2,000 students) now 15 (20,000 students), 1 university (2,000 students) now 7 (30,000 students), 1,226 boreholes now 34,538; 10,536 deep wells and 520 pipe water schemes instead of 26; 121 dams mainly for white commercial farmers and urban sectors now 2,438 dams mostly for thriving irrigation schemes, and 8 more under construction.
Apart from all these achievements, it was also Mugabe and the war veterans who brought democracy and human rights in the country and abolished racial discrimination. But for Mugabe and the war veterans, Strangirai would not have become a presidential candidate in his country.
The people of Zimbabwe should not allow the political rights and the right to engage in trade unionism, they now have, to be used by elements in the white minority and their external supporters against the government of Zimbabwe.
For the past 20 years, in the absence of any land redistribution dispute with the white farmers and Britain, Zimbabwe has been holding elections regularly, all found to be free and fair. The only difference of opinion now is due to the land issue.
Now that the election is over, the people of Zimbabwe, irrespective of colour, should unite, and continue the effort to develop their country on the basis of racial equality, equal opportunity and equitable land reform. The opposition has lost the election and should remain the opposition in parliament as in other countries including Britain, the USA and the rest of Europe. There should not be a coalition just because the opposition lost the election.