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Mbeki slams
Howard, Blair
SOUTH AFRICAâS President Thabo Mbeki has lashed out atpeople
who are trying to use human rights as a tool to overthrow the Zimbabwean
Government.
"It is clear that some within Zimbabwe and elsewhere in the
world, including our country, are following the example set by "Reagan and his
advisers", to "treat human rights as a tool" for overthrowing the Government of
Zimbabwe and rebuilding Zimbabwe as they wish. In modern parlance, this is
called regime change," he said in his weekly ANC Today report.
Quoting
from Dr Henry Kissingerâs book "Diplomacy", President Mbeki said: "Reagan and
his advisers invoked (human rights) to try to undermine the Soviet system.
"To be sure, his immediate predecessors had also affirmed the importance
of human rights.
"Reagan and his advisers went a step further by
treating human rights as a tool for overthrowing communism and democratising the
Soviet Union.
"At Westminster in 1982, Reagan, hailing the tide of
democracy around the world, called on free nations âto foster the infrastructure
of democracy, the system of a free Press, unions, political parties,
universities, which allows a people to choose their own way, to develop their
own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful meansâ. America
would not wait passively for free institutions to evolve."
He said those
who fought for a democratic Zimbabwe, with thousands paying the supreme price
during the struggle, and forgave their oppressors and torturers in a spirit of
national reconciliation, have been turned into repugnant enemies of democracy.
"Those who, in the interest of their âkith and kinâ, did what they could
to deny the people of Zimbabwe their liberty, for as long as they could, have
become the eminent defenders of the democratic rights of the people of
Zimbabwe," said President Mbeki.
President Mbeki said the core of the
challenge facing the people of Zimbabwe, as identified by the Coolum Chogm, had
disappeared from public view.
"Its place has been taken by the issue of
human rights. Those who have achieved this miracle are not waiting passively for
free institutions to evolve," he said.
At its March 19, 2002 meeting in
London, at which it suspended Zimbabwe for a year, the Commonwealth troika on
Zimbabwe noted that the land question was at the core of the crisis in Zimbabwe
and could not be separated from other issues of concern.
He noted that
the land question in Zimbabwe was not discussed at the Abuja Chogm.
"Indeed, the land question has disappeared from the global discourse
about Zimbabwe, except when it is mentioned to highlight the plight of the
former white landowners, and to attribute food shortages in Zimbabwe to the land
redistribution programme."
He criticised Australian Prime Minister Mr
John Howard for acting unilaterally on Zimbabwe after failing to achieve
consensus in the troika that included Australia, Nigeria and South Africa.
"Accordingly, contrary to all normal practice, he decided to announce to
the world at a Press conference, that he disagreed with his colleagues in the
Troika and wanted more Commonwealth sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
"At
one stroke, this both destroyed the Troika and put in question the democratic
principle of decisions by majority."
President Mbeki also took a swipe
at British Prime Minister Tony Blair for campaigning through the media the
continued suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth at the Chogm summit.
"Those accustomed to the practice of disinformation, described as
"spin", did everything to communicate false reports to the media. They
campaigned and lobbied to ensure the continued suspension of Zimbabwe.
"We deliberately avoided engaging in any of these activities.
"We fed no stories to the media. We did not campaign. We lobbied nobody.
"Yet the story is put out that we lobbied, blocked agreements, and
dismally failed to achieve our objectives."
President Mbeki reiterated
his commitment to ensuring a peaceful solution to the problems in Zimbabwe
irrespective of the Commonwealth outcome.
"This outcome demands of us
that, regardless of the fact that we are poor and need the support of others
richer than ourselves to overcome our problems, we should always refuse to
"rationalise the upside-down way of looking at Africa."
"Our poverty and
underdevelopment will never serve as reason for us to abandon our dignity as
human beings, turning ourselves into grateful and subservient recipients of
alms, happy to submit to a dismissive, intolerant and rigid attitude of some in
our country and the rest of the world, towards what we believe and know is
right, who are richer and more powerful than we are," he said.
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