Beware, imperialists still on the prowl
Posted: Saturday, September 20, 2008By Campion Mereki
September 20, 2008
The Herald
THE Sadc-mediated talks in Zimbabwe that have resulted in the three main political parties reaching an agreement after months of tough negotiations should be applauded by all who desire to see the Zimbabwe of yesteryear coming back.
Kudos should go to South African President Thabo Mbeki for his patience in seeing that his northern neighbour and largest trading partner in Africa does not collapse under the weight of the political stand-off.
Sadc has always worked for the development of its members. The regional grouping mediated, through President Mugabe, in Mozambique when Renamo carried out a civil war against Frelimo.
Mozambique today enjoys peace and stability.
The skirmishes in Lesotho following the 1998 elections were effectively dealt with when Sadc, again through South Africa, intervened in the crisis.
Banditry and terrorism in Angola, perpetrated by the US-backed Unita of Jonas Savimbi came to an end when the rebel leader was killed.
This was perhaps the most classic case in contemporary Africa of those who live by the sword dying by the sword.
The vast expanse of land we know as the DRC nearly fell to rebels but for the timely intervention of President Mugabe who sent Zimbabwean troops to prop up their brothers under the leadership of the late Laurent Kabila.
Angola and Namibia also sent in their troops and all three countries committed a lot of resources to ensure that a fellow Sadc member did not go down the path of endless civil war.
Had they not done what they did, we would be looking at a different DRC today.
Sadc is the only region that has resisted imperialist machinations.
Like true brothers, we have fought alongside our neighbours in their times of need and in furtherance of a noble cause and a just war.
This has made Sadc a bloc to reckon with and it is this kind of unity that the West fears in its arrogant engagement with Southern Africa.
The imperialists are on the prowl in our region and are looking for weak and ideologically gullible states to get an entry point to exploit Southern Africa for their own benefit.
Sadc is strategically important in global economic issues.
The region has oil, platinum, gold, uranium, diamonds, huge tracts of virgin forest and other natural resources too numerable to recount here.
And by fomenting disunity and instability the West hopes to get access to these resources by hook and by crook.
It is for this reason that it is important now for the region to stand by the test case that is Zimbabwe come what may so that this region does not become another Middle East where the West has managed to create a never-ending war that allows them to exploit the oil in that part of the world.
Our sovereignty and territorial integrity are key to our development as individual countries as well as a regional grouping.
Sadc is the only regional body on the African continent, if not the whole world, that has managed to maintain peace and order, which are vital pre-requisites for the improvement in the lives of ordinary people.
It has consistently managed to deal with its political challenges in total defiance of America’s subversive interests and the West’s wider agenda for domination of our natural resources.
No other regional grouping, whether in West, North or East Africa has managed to do what Sadc has done in this regard and it is for this reason that the West cannot accept the deal that President Mbeki brokered.
The West cannot formally recognise the settlement because it does not see what it stands to benefit and this is what every Zimbabwean and indeed every African should be aware of: the West does not care about what is good for us
and so we too should not care what they say or think.
The West is finding it hard to swallow its pride and eat humble pie. It will be difficult for the United States to even start thinking about repealing the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.
Similarly it is difficult for Britain and its allies in the European Union to begin contemplating lifting their sanctions regime without a similar reversal of the Land Reform Programme and the wider indigenisation drive in Zimbabwe.
We should therefore start watching out for possible next moves by our enemies to subvert the progress achieved over the past weeks.
They are obviously going to start trying to tell the world that the agreement is not being implemented properly because President Mugabe is frustrating Tsvangirai.
We should not rule out outright sabotage from the West as it seeks to throw spanners in the works.
Right now as the parties discuss the sharing of Cabinet posts, all stakeholders, and in fact all Zimbabweans, should be on the lookout for individuals, groups and countries that try and muscle their way into the negotiations through the back-door.
Do not be surprised if unsubstantiated press reports start surfacing claiming that so-and-so is negotiating in bad faith or is trying to engineer a raw deal.
These reports should be taken for what they are: an attempt to derail out progress and open the country to more the kind of baseless propaganda attacks and economic warfare that we have seen in the past decade.
I foresee a situation in the not too distant future where there will be serious agitation from the usual quarters for Tsvangirai and Mutambara to pull out of the all-inclusive Government.
The fervent hope of the nation is that Tsvangirai and Mutambara will not allow the West to manipulate the internal dynamics and processes of our sovereign political systems for the sake of progress.
Zimbabweans have already proved that with their own initiative and the assistance of well meaning friends within the region they can deal with their challenges in a holistic manner.
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