Despite his apprehension, the police officer was determined to expose a
growing disenchantment within the ranks of Zimbabwe's police and suggested
that many of its members might stand aside if the people rose up against
their 83-year-old President.
That he was prepared to take such an enormous risk is a measure of how Mr
Mugabe’s grip on power is weakening. It also helps to explain why the
Zimbabwean President wants to import 2,500 Angolan paramilitaries to shore
up his regime.
Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo added to the pressure on Mr Mugabe
yesterday. Sensing his growing vulnerability, he called on Zimbabweans to
“stand up and fill the streets and demand this man stand down”. He promised
to take the lead, declaring: “The pastors must be the ones in front of the
blazing guns.”
The police officer used his clandestine interview to offer an unprecedented
insight into the deteriorating strength and morale of a force on which Mr
Mugabe depends heavily for his survival.
He said that the President was afraid to arm the police in case some of them
turned on him. He claimed — though there is no way of checking —
that Mr Mugabe recently changed the army unit guarding the national armoury
because he did not trust it. The officer said he had joined the force more
than 20 years ago. “That was a time when a policeman was really a
policeman,” he said. “When you woke up in the morning and it was time to get
into your uniform you would feel proud. You would cycle to work feeling
happiness. Today it’s totally different. It’s like you are in a prison.”
Political cronies who were happy to do the regime’s bidding were being
promoted over the heads of senior officers. The force was being turned into
an instrument of repression, not law and order. Officers were being ordered
to use brutality, and were side-lined or punished if they refused. “Today
they may say. ‘We want you to control the crowd at such a place’. If the
command comes to assault, you have to assault,” he said.
The officer said that men were leaving the police, the army and the air force
because conditions were so bad. He had lost as many as a third of his own
men. The pay — 150,000 Zimbabwean dollars (less than £5) a month for a
constable — was derisory and barely covered the cost of travelling to
work. Some routinely extorted bribes to make ends meet. “They are forced by
the situation to do what they are doing,” he said.
His station had no working vehicles — they had either broken down or been
commandeered from above. It had no rubber batons, riot shields or teargas
masks, and he even had to cadge paper from businessmen.
Asked if he would try to suppress a popular demonstration against Mr Mugabe he
replied: “How do you do it if you don’t have the manpower or equipment?”
Pressed, he admitted his that heart would be with the demonstrators. “You
try to appear you are following orders and come up with whatever excuses you
can.” The officer said his views were widely shared by officers of his rank:
“A big number of us are not performing as expected. It’s not as though we
don’t know what to do, but because of the situation. It’s maybe better to
keep quiet.”
If even his security forces are growing restive Mr Mugabe really is in
trouble, and Archbishop Ncube added to his problems yesterday with his bold
declaration at a meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance. The
gangly, loose-limbed Archbishop had prefaced his remarks during a twilight
interview with The Times earlier this week in a small garden next to his
cathedral. “If we can get 30,000 people together even Mugabe’s army would
not be able to control it,” he said, and indicated that he was thinking of
stepping into the leadership vacuum caused by infighting within the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Yesterday he did so. “It’s time for a radical stance, not soft speeches and
cowardice,” Father Ncube, 60, declared to cheers from the assembled clerics.
“I am willing to stand in front. The time is now.”
It is indeed. Richard Mills, the Times photographer, and I spent the past week
travelling secretly around Zimbabwe. Foreign journalists face two years’
imprisonment if caught. We variously posed as aid donors, priests and
chemical salesmen, and were passed from one trusted contact to another.
What we found was appalling. In rural areas of a nation that was once the
pride of Africa, children are now dying of hunger. Families are abandoning
their dead because they can no longer afford funerals. Young girls are
turning to prostitution as their only means of survival.
Hyperinflation is rendering the currency, salaries, savings and pensions
virtually worthless. Prices are doubling every month. The day we arrived in
Harare we were taken to a suburban home where a black-market dealer gave us
12,000 Zimbabwean dollars for one US dollar. Seven days later the rate was
Z$21,000. In one week the price of petrol — in the few stations still
open — rose from Z$14,000 a litre to Z$21,000. Anyone without access to
foreign currency faces destitution. Even whites are now begging.
Two fifths of the population are already suffering from malnutrition, and John
Robertson, a respected economic consultant, predicts worse to come. Maize is
Zimbabwe’s staple. This year’s harvest will be poor, South Africa will
produce too little to export any to its neighbour and America’s drive to
convert maize into ethanol is driving up the worldwide price at a time when
Zimbabwe is almost out of foreign currency.
Waiters, guides, gatemen, maids, hitch-hikers — everyone we spoke to
voiced despair. “By the time Mugabe dies there will be nothing of our
country left,” one woman lamented.
It would be rash to assume that Mr Mugabe’s 27-year-old regime is going to
fall in the next few weeks, or even months. While we met nobody who did not
loathe the man, we met few who were not terrified of his still-formidable
security apparatus.
The dreaded Central Intelligence Office has informers everywhere — “even
in church groups”, Archbishop Ncube told us. Opposition activists are
frequently detained and beaten. Landlines are routinely tapped, so text
messages have become the Opposition’s new bush telegraph. Fearful
interviewees mostly insisted on talking strictly off-the-record — one
prominent white begged me not to report his view that Mr Mugabe would not
survive the year as he could be arrested for treason.
In Bulawayo we watched dozens of illegal street vendors vanish like a Mexican
wave when a truckload of police drew up. Driving the 300 miles to Harare the
next day we were stopped at no fewer than six check-points. Our trips into
the closely watched townships had to be covert and fleeting, and organised
by courageous opposition activists.
It is also the case that most ordinary Zimbabweans are too downtrodden, hungry
and preoccupied with day-to-day survival to even contemplate rebellion. They
retain horrific memories of the terrible bloodshed during and after the war
of independence. The three million Zimbabweans who have left their country
include many of the most able and enterprising.
But there are signs of popular defiance that have seldom been seen before. In
the past fortnight there have been riots in townships in Harare, Bulawayo
and Gweru. Two police stations have been petrol-bombed, tyres set alight and
a railway line blocked. Doctors, teachers and university professors have
staged strikes. Tobacco growers are refusing to sell their crop to the State
unless offered a viable price.
An activist with the opposition MDC in Bulawayo spoke of an impending campaign
of civil disobedience that would include nationwide protests. It would
target the police and homes of leading members of Zanu (PF), the ruling
party. “We are now fighting for our pride as a people, and Mugabe must go,”
he said as he sat in our car, watching for watchers.
Given the desperation of the people it is just possible someone such as
Archbishop Ncube could provide the spark that sets Zimbabwe ablaze. The
Archbishop’s promise to lead “changes the whole scope of the crisis, and
gives the struggle a new dimension”, Eldred Masunungure, a political
scientist at the University of Zimbabwe, said.
The Archbishop was well known domestically and internationally. It would be
hard for the regime to “bash” him. “He is emerging in the mould of [Desmond]
Tutu. We need a Tutu in Zimbabwe,” Mr Masunungure said, referring to the
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town.
The other potent threat confronting Mr Mugabe is the fracturing of his party.
There was a growing consensus within the party late last year that Mr Mugabe
should make way for younger blood after completing his present term next
March. When he made clear his intention to stay on he sparked a revolt, and
a party whose internal machinations used to be as secret as the Kremlin’s is
now engulfed in a vicious semi-public power struggle. At the party
conference last December a faction led by Solomon Mujuru, a former army
chief, blocked Mr Mugabe’s plan to extend his term by two years so the next
presidential election could be held at the same time as parliamentary
elections. Mr Mujuru wants his wife, Joice, the party’s vice-president, to
succeed Mr Mugabe.
A rival faction is led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former national security
minister. Mr Mugabe was enraged when Mr Mnangagwa sought to prevent him
making Mrs Mujuru his vice-president in 2004, but he is now seeking Mr
Mnangagwa’s support to beat off the Mujuru challenge.
Mr Mugabe is a great survivor, and even his fiercest critics concede that he
is a brilliant tactician. They also know that he will stop at nothing to
retain power, and predict that things could become even worse before they
get better. “Unfortunately it may come to bloodshed,” Archbishop Ncube told
The Times.“People are upset now. They are angry. If they burn cars Mugabe
will resort to shooting. He will do anything for power.”
time for the young men to lead zimbabwe to the land of the free that the people and country have bleed for. freedom
robert, uk, bradford
If we label it an "African problem" it is only because if the West intervenes, it will be castigated for 'imperialism' by all those other African states and leaders who now are doing nothing. The burnt West fears the fire.
mgeorge, Carnegie, Pennsylvania
Forget about Mbeki helping. He is much younger than his elder brother Mugabe. Traditional african etiquette forbids a younder to contradict his elders. So, Mbeki admires with awe what brother Robert achieves in his country. And doesn´t seem to think it is wrong !
Jean Blome, Bremen, Germany
I live in South Africa (whats left of it) and crime and violence rule the day here. What is going on in Zimbabwe is an example of what could eventually happen here. Knowing ones people is important. Presient Thabo Mbeki and Robert Mugabe are of course friends. I say to the outside world wake up the time is now. Don't leave Zimbabwe to burn. If the US had to send troops in just maybe other countries in Southern Africa would think about towing the line or doing something about crime.
I was brought up believing Hitler was bad. The crimes Hitler commited was not accepted what is the world waiting for when it comes to Mugabe. Lets see Action.
Lou, Johannesburg, South Africa
Beloved Africa, speak out, take action!
Mugabe - shut up, get out!
Mark, Aylesbury, UK
Chris Tee says “Just reading what is happening in Zimbabwe, one would think you were describing PW Botha and South Africa in the eighties.” This remark is utterly ludicrous to anyone who was in South Africa in the 80s.
What is happening in Zimbabwe is the direct policy of marxist Mugabe and his henchmen, no-one else at all. The failure of the “quiet diplomacy” of Mbeki doesn’t help either. It is, sad to say, not unprecedented in Africa.
It would be interesting to know what action those outside Zimbabwe should take ? Military ? Ecomomic ? The behaviour of Mugabe resembles that of Hitler in early 1945 - he is so insane he does not know or care what happens to his country. The people just have no energy for insurrection. Disaster faces them unless Mugabe goes. Mbeki will probably offer him sanctuary.
ernie, Maire L'Evesaault,
In response to Fred in Dubai, my perspective is that that view is woefully ignorant of options and can worryingly cause others to believe that to be a clear truth and fact.
The resultant mess in other countries does not by definition merely amount to 'the only option is to leave that country to its own devices' response. Think outside the box.
In this instance, or any, a cohesive solution with regarded, respected, intelligent (not 'intelligence'), humanitarian, rational, well educated and experienced tacticians can come up with a desired outcome and a path to that end.
I prefer to live in hope - apathy is not an option for success. It's very dangerous.
claire, York, England
What Zimbabwe needs now is to restore its reputation in the international community, since it is hard to see how it would recover from its current dire straits without external support. This cannot be done with Mugabe still in power. But getting rid of him won't necessarily do the trick. While it is natural to rejoice at the likelihood of this being indeed the beginning of the end of Mugabe, doubts remain as to whether his eventual fall will be followed by real democracy. Hopefully the international community will be prepared to do more than just hope for the best.
Andre de Souza, London, UK
African leaders MUST get together with Mbeki's leadership and make it clear that if the Angolans are brought in, they will intervene. They must also strongly suggest to Mugabe that he step aside and allow free elections. Angola could offer asylum for him and a few cronies.
Bill, Terrace, BC , CANADA
This is NOT Iraq or Iran, this is NOT Ruwanda or Etheopia - this is a crisis that is beyond the control of any external force or government.
No matter how much pressure the West, South Africa, or exciled Zimbabweans try to exert, the only way to remove Zanu PF from power is for the population to have confidence is a popular movement for revolt. The key is to back these groups with money, political will, and assurances that once they get into power we will be there from day one, and not walk away after a few moments.
Rachel, York,
Finally. Why did it take so long?!
chets, Croydon, surrey UK
With that kind of thinking Fred in Dubai, we should have let Saddam keep Kuwait and let the Kuwaitis sort it out. You need to exorcise the devils within you that makes you so callous.
Charles Lewin, Helsinki,
Why doesn't Mandela speak out against this continuing outrage. He benefitted from world condemnation of suppression of the majority by an undemocratic regime and yet his silence along with other African leaders is deafening.
Jane, Beaconsfield, YUK
Mgabe has to go. I agree with the sentiment that it must be Zimbabweans who make him go, perhaps with the aid of Africans in nearby countries. But citizens of every civilized country should be pressing their own governments to ensure that they are doing everything in their power to deny aid and comfort to the criminal Mgabe regime.
Brian C, Oakville, Canada
its shocking and embarrasing to here what is happening in zimbabwe.we people in kenya feel very much for our dear comrades in zimbabwe.conventional wisdom dictates that good knowledge or brilliance should be used well for the benefit of humanity unfortunately this is not the case for Robert mugabe,when we were to sigh with some relieve,other monsters and vampires rear their ugly heads'.kenyans united aganist Moi's dictatorship through the ballot box.Mugbe can be managed.no human human has a title deed for a whole country.
jacktone Nyonje, Nairobi, Kenya
How can this be a solely "African problem" - humanitarian suffering is suffering that affects one and all! There needs to be not only co-operation and assistance from the whole world to push Mugabe out of power, but assistance to rebuild the country!
It is exactly the "lets bury our heads in the sand" attitude that lets the likes of Mugabe get away with retaining power and systematically destroying a country!
Foreign invasion is not the answer no; but there needs to be support for the AU and the AU needs to accept that it needs to act!
Fiona Hirst, Newmarket, UK
Fred. I like Dubai. You see I cannot comment too much on Mugabe as we have Human Right of Speech in the Museum. We are allowed to say everything about Mugabe or Bush or Blaire in the net but not in the streets but please read the RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH by Books, reading a lot of history right now like the rise and fall of the roman empire and the rise and fall of the third Reich, then cross that with mythology ...Mugabe will give us a book like that. This book is sold, out of print, not available and we need a new book. Watch out then there will be film and DVD. Don’t rush. The Mugabe regime cannot last long. Did Saddam last? Thirty years? This is it. Where is he? Being toasted? No idea…
Firozali A.Mulla MBA PhD, Dar-Es-Saalm , Tanzania
It was the now Labour government minister Peter Hain who co-ordinated opinion in the UK in favour of the radical Robert Mugabe, it is always easy to support radical solutions when you are young. If the British had supported the liberal (social democrat as opposed to Marxist) options of Bishop Muzowera in 1978 the country would not be in the mess it is now. Hain has not appologised for his support for Mugabe, and the UK government has taken no practical steps against Mugabe -- even the travel ban to the EU is regularly broken. The Labour government prefers to be seen as the bountiful white man giving out food rather than actually co-ordinating any programme in support of democracy and basic human rights. Such a programme would involve taking action against comrade Robert and we could not do than could we....
Brian, Paris, France
freds right, though he does say that, living in the opulance of dubai.
we need to support the zimbabweans in there revolt, but in a way that does not end up slaughtering thousands of thier country men. surley a race that can send people to the moon could manage to get one decrepit old man out of an undeserved and abused position of power?
gareth, oxford,
Thanks for coming up with an article that gives a more graphic depiction of what the world governments are more or less ignoring. Telling Mugabe he is a "bad boy" wont get us anywhere. Do we let thousands die just to keep up "good dimplomacy"? Africa can still be strong by condemning a despot like Mugabe. Solidarity for the sake of it while leaving so many to suffer is a tremendous error. The world will take the AU more seriously if it they foster proper democratic attitudes and not stick by their friends for the sake of their skin colour. Archbishop Ncube; thanks for doing the right thing.
Clive, BCN , Spain
It is time the Matabele rose behind Archbishop Ncube and removed Mugabe & co from power before more poor souls die "for no good reason". Hamba Gahle.
Mike, Burley-in-Wharfedale, West Yorkshire
So Fred H is too busy mopping up other people's oil dollars in the Emirates to care a jot about some of the most unfortunate people in the world right now. He is the rotten face of Europe. Hopefully the noble face will step up to the table.
S Africa should be doing it but let's face it there was more valour under the sole of Mandela's shoe than there is in that despicable man Mbeki...
Sean, London, UK
Just reading what is happening in Zimbabwe , one would think you were describing PW Botha and South Africa in the eighties .
It still boggles the mind why South Africa under Thabo Mbeki does nothing to help these people. Literally with the flick of a switch South Africa could change Zimbabwe.
Has Mugabe got something on the ANC during their time in exile during apartheid South Africa that we don’t know about? Or is it because Mbeki and Mugabe are related through cousins ?
‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’
Another sad day for Africa.
Chris Tee, Alice Springs , Australia
"Even whites are now begging." What is this comment supposed to mean?
Alex P, Reading, Berkshire,
This is one of the most important pieces of journalism I have read for a long time. We need more of this. The story of what life is like for Zimbabweans is not being heard. Please try and sell to South Africa's Mail and Guardian. South African coverage of what is going on in Zimbabwe seems largely restricted to reprinting Reuters reports.. I hope Tutu reads this and, if resistance is going to come from the Church because the opposition is too divided to do so and because, in South Africa, the ANC won't open its mouth, to the Archbishop of Canterbury as well.
Olivia, London, UK
A lot of talk as usual.
T, Hwange,
I have read with disgrace of what is happening in the country
of Zimbabwe many people are crying of Mugabe's regime. my view
is that Mugabe should listen many voices of the people including the loud voice of the Archbishop N CUBE
LET the whole world join in prayer to pray for Zimbabwe and other countries that are in a such situation.
REV. Fr Charles, Kampala, Uganda
The devil you know is better than the new devil waiting in the wings. This is an African problem let them take care of their own devils. Have we not learnt anything from Iraq, Iran etc. etc.
Fred, Dubai, Dubai
Makorokoto, your reverence Bishop Pius Ncube. Yes, the time has come for all Zimbabweans torise up and take back their freedom and dignity. Mugabe is finished, Mugabe never was and never will be. His contribution to Zimbabwe is disaster and the sooner he and zanuPF are shown the door, the sooner Zimbabwe can make progress
Sally N, Harare, Zimbabwe
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."
A quotation from the United States Declaration of Independence. I think it most fitting for this occasion. It's about time too.
Eric Sukumaran, Philadelphia, US
I hope the outside world wakes up soon and does something. There is no life in Zimbabwe and the violence there is horrific . The US and UK must send troops in. Now. Please listen.
I am a South African Citizen and scared in my own country and know that it is worse much worse in Zimb.
Please guys do something.
Please help them. Now.
Lou, Johannesburg, South Africa
Thabo Mbeki's well-meaning ,quiet diplomacy with regard to Zimbabwe has failed. Now it is up to the African Union to step in and, failing that, the rest of the world must bring greater pressure on Mugabwe to resign. Must we wait for widespread murder of the people of Zimbabwe before we bleat our protests?
Brendan Cooney, Rome, Italy
Where is the bottom in Zimbabwe? We have been told for three or four years that Mugabe's rule was on the brink, yet he manages to keep going, apparently, from photgraphs at least, one of the world's healthiest 83 year olds.
How is it that Zimbabwe produces this apparently strong, most brutal of regimes, yet such has such a weak and compliant society?
How does a society endure for so long inflation above 1000%?
Somethings doesn't add up
John Brownley, Gosford, Australia
Just to maintain some perspective on this situation.It's been front page news for a couple of weeks so lots of people are suddenly realising there is a country named Zimbabwe and it's somewhere on the African continent,oh! yes and people are suffering there.Where has this response been for the last 27 years,because it is a fact that since the day after Independance day Mugabe has been running what was the paradise known as Rhodesia as his own little kingdom.In that time he has emptied the country's financial coffers whilst aquiring massive wealth purchasing many properties in Europe.He systematically murdered 65,000 of his tribal opposition the Matabele who all disappeared down mineshafts in the Matopas area of Matabeleland , and this was in the 80's for crying out loud.He has stolen the productive farms from white farmers,given them to his cronies who then turned them into dust bowls. We knew the outcome but feel no satisfaction in being right .The whole country raped,what a waste.
Ed Allen, Whitby, Canada