Charity begins at home Mr Mbeki
By Alois Phiri Mbawara
IT’S a shame that we, young Africans, have such a big deficit in role models. All our heroes are falling from heroes to zeros, they are actually becoming villains faster than we ever imagined. I’m talking here about South African President Thabo Mbeki.
It sounds too ambitious for Mbeki to stretch himself saying South Africa is ready to intervene in the Middle East if called on to support peace initiatives by United Nations when right next door his own neighbours are suffering under the autocratic rule of another former hero, Robert Mugabe. Well, it is very vital for South Africa to join hands with the International community in pushing for peace in the Middle East but I think Mbeki’s bigger problem right now should not be the Israel and Lebanon but Zimbabwe, whose problems have for long being a cause of pain in his own backyard.
Speaking recently he said it was essential to end hostilities in the Middle East. Mbeki openly pointed out the negative and positive things that will pave way for peace in the region while supporting a transition and the need for negotiations between Israel and the other stakeholders, which is a good thing.
He even said that his government will launch a joint initiative with the South African civil society to channel humanitarian aid to the Middle East. Well charity begins at home Mr President. Mbeki was given a mandate to solve the Zimbabwe crisis but has failed to even acknowledge it. Why go to solve problems so far away when in your own neighbouring country, Zimbabwe, people are being denied life. How can he see hostilities in the Middle East when he can’t see children in Zimbabwe who are being denied basic health care, meals, clean water, basic education and related things.
There are people who are sleeping on the streets, in shacks not because of natural disasters but because of a ruthless regime which has destroyed their livelihoods. Is Mbeki waiting for a civil war for him to intervene and talk openly and honestly about the Zimbabwean crisis or is it there are no casualties openly being displayed on the streets as in Lebanon. Or are they waiting for Zimbabwe to be another Angola for them to intervene?
Africans should boycott and push for major reforms in the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other such institutions which we are increasingly coming to believe were designed to fund and protect African leaders and not the general populace on the continent. Or is it Mbeki wants to maintain his “quiet diplomacy” because South Africa is benefiting a lot from Zimbabwe’s crisis. What with all the Zimbabwean doctors, teachers, lawyers, builders, prominent people, investors who are fleeing Zimbabwe into South Africa and contributing a lot more to their neighbours economy. South Africa’s interests in Zimbabwe are also increasing by the day – the Zesa-Eskom deals, its mining interests and many others. Why destroy your fellow brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe, Mr Mbeki.
Mbeki needs to openly criticise Mugabe's policies which have lead the country to ruins. He needs to point out that there is need for a transition in Zimbabwe – he needs to encourage Mugabe and all the other political stakeholders to sit down and iron out the problems affecting the country while at the same time mapping out the future for the troubled country. Mbeki should stop sympathising with Mugabe and desist from protecting him and for once put the Zimbabweans people first. They have suffered long enough in the land of “milk and honey”. As the Zimbabwean youth in the UK, we call on our fellow Zimbabweans all over the world to speak-out and push our African counterparts to reform from their softer stance towards Robert Mugabe and his government. And to our fellow Youth in Zimbabwe, we say let us get up and show the Mugabe regime they can jail, kill a revolutionary, but they can’t jail or kill a revolution.
Our criticism is liberty because the Mugabe regime has never done anything for us the youth, especially now when people are being denied their civil rights.

Alois Phiri Mbawara is one of the founding members of Free-Zim, an organisation formed to educate young Zimbabweans to take an interest in the politics of their country. He can be contacted on freezim6@yahoo.co.uk