Editorial
Mugabe needs to be thrown out
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Tomorrow, when Zimbabweans go to the polls to elect 120 members of their 150-seat parliament, we hope they will send a loud and strong message to President Robert Mugabe that they will no longer tolerate his despotic rule of that southern African country.
We hope too, that the people of Zimbabwe will not cower in fear at Mr Mugabe's scare tactics, which he seems to revel in utilising to disrupt the democratic process at each election.
This newspaper has, in the past, expressed its disappointment with Mr Mugabae's behaviour. Not only has he trampled on the rights of his people by trying to silence opposition, but he has also undermined institutions, thereby creating the kind of tension that can explode into civil disorder and plunge Zimbabwe further into poverty.
Mr Mugabe, according to wire service reports, made his latest tyrannical utterance yesterday at a rally in Bindura when he told 15,000 supporters of his ruling ZANU-PF party that a win by the Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would "not be tolerated".
The day before, at a rally in Mutoko, he branded as "traitors", everyone who intended to vote for the MDC in tomorrow's elections.
Mr Mugabe knows very well that this kind of inflammable rhetoric will spur members of his party and its feared youth militia to take violent action against Opposition supporters and candidates. For, it has happened in the past.
While the election campaign thus far has not seen the level of violence experienced in the 2000 parliamentary elections and the 2002 presidential vote, Mr Mugabe, it appears, would not mind his supporters using their "sticks" to "beat out the snakes" among them, as he so viciously instructed after an election victory in 1985.
But really, what else could we have expected of this bully whose security forces last Sunday arrested 146 Opposition supporters after a campaign event; has shut down most independent media in Zimbabwe while using state resources for campaigning; and whose government has threatened to withhold food aid to Opposition supporters?
Frankly, with each passing day, Mr Mugabe appears more of a demented tyrant wallowing in corruption while Zimbabwe, which many people, including Jamaicans, helped in the tough struggle against apartheid, continues to collapse.
The world should not allow him to continue destroying the democracy that so many fought to achieve.
Taken from the Jamaica Observer
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Tomorrow, when Zimbabweans go to the polls to elect 120 members of their 150-seat parliament, we hope they will send a loud and strong message to President Robert Mugabe that they will no longer tolerate his despotic rule of that southern African country.
We hope too, that the people of Zimbabwe will not cower in fear at Mr Mugabe's scare tactics, which he seems to revel in utilising to disrupt the democratic process at each election.
This newspaper has, in the past, expressed its disappointment with Mr Mugabae's behaviour. Not only has he trampled on the rights of his people by trying to silence opposition, but he has also undermined institutions, thereby creating the kind of tension that can explode into civil disorder and plunge Zimbabwe further into poverty.
Mr Mugabe, according to wire service reports, made his latest tyrannical utterance yesterday at a rally in Bindura when he told 15,000 supporters of his ruling ZANU-PF party that a win by the Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would "not be tolerated".
The day before, at a rally in Mutoko, he branded as "traitors", everyone who intended to vote for the MDC in tomorrow's elections.
Mr Mugabe knows very well that this kind of inflammable rhetoric will spur members of his party and its feared youth militia to take violent action against Opposition supporters and candidates. For, it has happened in the past.
While the election campaign thus far has not seen the level of violence experienced in the 2000 parliamentary elections and the 2002 presidential vote, Mr Mugabe, it appears, would not mind his supporters using their "sticks" to "beat out the snakes" among them, as he so viciously instructed after an election victory in 1985.
But really, what else could we have expected of this bully whose security forces last Sunday arrested 146 Opposition supporters after a campaign event; has shut down most independent media in Zimbabwe while using state resources for campaigning; and whose government has threatened to withhold food aid to Opposition supporters?
Frankly, with each passing day, Mr Mugabe appears more of a demented tyrant wallowing in corruption while Zimbabwe, which many people, including Jamaicans, helped in the tough struggle against apartheid, continues to collapse.
The world should not allow him to continue destroying the democracy that so many fought to achieve.
Taken from the Jamaica Observer
posted by Anneke | 1:36 AM
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