Mugabe sits pretty while Zimbabwe suffers

The number of deaths per week in Zimbabwe is higher than that of Iraq and Darfur combined, with almost 4,000 people effectively being “exterminated” each week, according to a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer. By Chris Connolly

Arnold Tsunga, the director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, says that 4,000 people are dying every week in Zimbabwe because of a failure of government to provide shelter and provisions for people they cleared out of slums.

“People are being subjected to a very slow and excruciatingly painful death because of the failure of government,” explains Tsunga, who was recently awarded the Martin Ennals Human Rights Award. “Over 3,900 people dying per week – that's much more than the maximum number of people to have died in Iraq in one month. In Darfur you don't get almost 4,000 people dying a week. You simply don't get this many people dying anywhere else.”

Zimbabwe was plunged into a humanitarian crisis last year following a government-organised slum-clearance operation in which hundreds of thousands of people had their homes destroyed. President Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party insist that the slum clearances were designed to reduce crime and overcrowding and combat illegal trading, but human rights groups believe the clearances were aimed at political opponents and their supporters.

The UN has said that around 700,000 people lost their homes or livelihoods as a result of Operation Murambatsvinge (Drive Out Rubbish), and over two million more were affected, though the government disputes this figure. Amnesty International estimates that less than four per cent of the dwellings demolished have been replaced.

“It's a serious human catastrophe that is unfolding in Zimbabwe at the moment,” Tsunga said, speaking to Village from Harare. “You're looking at an average lifespan of 34 or 35 years. That's the lifespan now, but in [the year] 2000 it was 69.

“Over 700,000 people were forcibly ejected from their homes, mainly because they were poor and had become an eyesore to those who were in fact responsible for their condition. With the absence of public health facilities, it is a real disaster.”

The clearances have, Tsunga says, led to a situation where the deaths of thousands of people are being ignored by both the government and the international community. “Because of the method in which people are being exterminated, it's a very slow and painful dying process – no security, no shelter, exposure to elements, no medicine – these processes predictably result in human suffering and death, but because their bodies are not riddled with bullets the world does not seem to pay attention.”

A plan to extend Mugabe's presidency by two years was recently backed by Zanu-PF, increasing concerns that he is planning to stay in power indefinitely. Mugabe had previously said he would step down in 2008, but will now remain as president until at least 2010.
According to Zanu-Pf, the extension was proposed so that the presidential and parliamentary elections could be held at the same time in order to save money, but opposition says it is just a way for Mugabe to hold onto power for as long as he can.

“It's a strategy for political self-preservation, because Zanu-PF is in disarray,” Tsunga says. “Internal instability has reached a stage where the party is in self-destruct mode. If they were to enter an election with this level of instability it's very possible that the party and Mugabe's rule would fall apart.

“They are fully aware of the socio-economic decline and suffering that has taken place in our country, and that if there was a free and fair election tomorrow they would not stand a chance.”

Zimbabwe's economy has been in turmoil since Mugabe implemented a plan to redistribute large, mainly white-owned farms in 2000.
Before land reforms began, Zimbabwe had an estimated 4,500 productive white commercial farmers who sustained the region's agriculture but now only 400 remain, and they will have to leave soon too.

Before this the country's economy was one of the strongest in Africa, but Zimbabwe now suffers inflation rates of over 1,000 per cent and unemployment levels of over 70 per cent.

In recent weeks there is evidence that Mugabe, who celebrated his 83rd birthday in lavish style on 21 February, is losing his grip. The president banned all opposition political gatherings in an attempt to quell the unrest.

Recently the USAID-funded Early Warning System Network noted that at least 1.4 million Zimbabweans were in urgent need of food aid, with below-average yields expected this year as a result of low rainfall.

According to Tsunga, economic growth is impossible under the current regime. “Zanu-PF is too corrupt. Even if we were to get good rains and a good agricultural season the level of corruption has reached astronomical levels – it's now endemic. They cannot be trusted to turn around the economy, that is now impossible.”