zimfinalpush
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has again riled opposition sections of the Zimbabwean public by insisting that the March 3 state assisted torture of opposition activists while in police custody was justified.
Speaking in a wide ranging interview with Baffour Ankomah, the editor of New African, a United Kingdom based magazine, Mugabe said the bashing of Morgan Tsvangirai and other opposition leaders and political activists was justified because the police had been provoked. He said if the opposition continued provoking the police, they would be bashed.
Activists from Matebeleland region said Mugabe's response was not surprising as he had not publicly apologised to the people of Matebeleland over the killing of more than 20,000 unarmed and defenceless civilians at the height of the Gukurahundi massacres.
"Just an apology is what the people of Matebeleland are asking for, but Mugabe seems to enjoy the torture of other Zimbabeans. It is high time he should just keep quiet about these issues if he can not apologise," said South Africa based Israel Mhlongwa, leader of the Matebeleland Crusade for Justice and Restoration of Democracy Initiative (MCJRD) an organisation which is gathering information on the army atrocities during the 1982-87 disturbances.
Mhlongwa, who said he was brutalised and left for dead by members of the army during the Gukurahundi period, is currently living in South Africa where he has been granted political asylum.
He fled from Zimbabwe in 1984 and has never set foot in his rural home of Maphisa, where three members of his family, including his wife, were killed after being accused of harbouring 'dissidents'.
Another activist, Elton Ngoma, a student leader from Chinhoyi Technical University said Mugabe should have taken the opportunity to apologise or even state that the government was investigating the torture allegations.
He said Zimbabweans had now become accustomed to Mugabe's outbursts over complaints against state repression.
"These days, everyone will always say, ndinokudashura a cliche which Mugabe used to describe Tsvangira's beatings by the police.We know that although the court ordered that allegations of state sanctioned torture be investigated, the police will not do anything because they were rewarded for doing that," said Ngoma.
Ngoma also recalled what the late James Chikerema said during an interview with the now banned Daily News newspaper.
Chikerema said, during their childhood, together with Mugabe, they observed that Mugabe was selfish and had no time to apologise over anything." he said, adding that the same traits of arrogance were being exhibited by Mugabe, especially in recent weeks where he justified state assisted torture of opposition activists.
Mugabe also lambasted the United States of America ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, for allegedly meddling in the political affairs of the country.
"If America wants a man like Christopher Dell to remain here, then he's got to behave because we will not brook further nonsense from him," he said.
British prime minister, Tony Blair, who stands down a few weeks from now, was also caught in the crossfire whenugabe described him as a dictator. He accused him of persuading the European Union and some countries within the Asian community to join in seeking to isolate Zimbabwe.
www.talkzimbabwe.com (30 April,2007)
No comments:
Post a Comment