SOUTH AFRICA: Zimbabwean activists fear President Robert Mugabe's brutal repression against decent keep him firmly in power

Record ID: 453106

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Zimbabwean activists fear President Robert Mugabe's brutal repression against decent keep him firmly in power
  • Date: 15th December 2006
  • Summary: (W4) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, (14/12/06), (REUTERS) WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE ARCHBISHOP PIUS NCUBE ADDRESSING MEDIA MEDIA AND OTHER OFFICIALS LISTENING SOUNDBITE (English) ZIMBABWE'S ARCHBISHOP PIUS NCUBE SAYING : "The government of Zimbabwe has reverted to patterns of state control established under colonialism, including mass arrests in terms of repressive legislation combined with brutality against civilians." MEDIA LISTENING SOUNDBITE (English) PROFESSOR BRIAN RAFTOPOLOUS OF THE INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION SAYING : "This report clearly show and increasing policing of the state, policing of the crisis and the rapid closing down of democratic spaces in Zimbabwe. This is also all within the context of a huge economic decline, Zimbabwe considered one of the fastest shrinking economies in the world outside the war zone and the structure of violence and this poverty and economic crisis brings to the people of the country an increasing reliance on everyday survival strategies."
  • Embargoed: 30th December 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA97NI1LTBTQLA767703466JNDG
  • Story Text: Zimbabwean activists accused President Robert Mugabe on Thursday of exploiting what they called Western powers' double standards on human rights and a weak opposition to brutally crush dissent.
    Their charges came as Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party looked set to endorse a controversial proposal this weekend to extend his presidency by two years to 2010, a move critics say will deepen the country's economic crisis.
    " What it will mean is an extension of the election period, it also mean an extension of the political crisis, Mugabe himself I think is a very serious part of the problem and will be, therefore, delaying the problem but it will for ZANU-PF a clear decision to deal with the problem of the succession issue," said Brian Raftopoulous of the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation at a Johannesburg news briefing.
    After releasing a report on abuses and a video showing police clubbing opposition figures, activists said U.S. President George W. Bush and his key ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, had no genuine interest in Zimbabwe.
    Growing police brutality had coincided with the rise of a democratic challenge to president Robert Mugabe's government.
    The 63-page study, by the Solidarity Peace Trust and the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation, evaluates 1,981 political arrests between 2000 and 2005.
    " This report clearly show and increasing policing of the state, policing of the crisis and the rapid closing down of democratic spaces in Zimbabwe. This is also all within the context of a huge economic decline, Zimbabwe considered one of the fastest shrinking economies in the world outside the war zone and the structure of violence and this poverty and economic crisis brings to the people of the country an increasing reliance on everyday survival strategies"," said Brian Raftopoulous.
    The combative Mugabe, 82, has ruled the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), charges Mugabe and ZANU-PF have rigged three elections since 2000 to remain in power -- accusations firmly rejected by the government.
    In that time Zimbabwe has descended into a deep economic crisis, and critics blame Mugabe's policies for food, fuel and foreign currency shortages, massive unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate of over 1,000 percent.
    Mugabe blames the problems on sanctions by Western powers.
    The report accuses Mugabe's police of arresting activists without charge and torturing them.
    Pius Ncube, the outspoken archbishop of the southern Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo, said the opposition lacked a leader and accused Tsvangirai of dividing his MDC.
    Ncube also lambasted Mugabe for housing former Ethopian dictator Mengistu who was convicted on Tuesday in a 12-year trial that focused on the killings of thousands of political opponents during his military government's 17-year rule.
    Once dubbed the "Butcher of Addis", Mengistu, along with his family, lives in a government villa in Harare's plush Gunhill district, enshrouded by a high security wall and guarded around the clock by a crack army and police unit.
    " Mugabe is using the tax-payers money to keep a dictator who was responsible for a million deaths in his own country. Nevertheless, it just shows what type of person Mugabe is shielding such people and indeed all the famous dictators in this world are friends of Mugabe, as you know, so is Mengistu a friend of Mugabe because they affirm one another in that dictatorship," said Ncube. ENDS
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