I agreed last week with President Robert Mugabe when he said out loud for the first time that Zimbabwe is not for whites. I have had personal responses since, that said - No, Zim is just not for sissies; and No, it is not for blacks – look at what they have done to it.

Perhaps it is all in the eye of the beholder. Radio news has been reporting on the special Government funeral service, at the Catholic Cathedral in Pretoria, of former Health Minister Manto Tshabala Msimang (better known as “Dr. Beetroot” for her Mbeki-obedient answers to AIDS).

Noting that on her watch, the public health sector deteriorated to medieval levels, Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya predicted it all: “Over the next few days there will be lofty eulogies … the great and the mighty will laud her for her dedication … And all of us, including those making the eloquent speeches, will know what a big lie it all is”.

Those telling the lies include a President who once admitted in court going to bed with a girl known to be HIV positive, but took the precaution of showering afterwards. They
include the Deputy President, and a party intellectual, Joel Netshitenzhe, who observed that Sis’ Manto had departed on Reconciliation Day, and wondered whether this was her last symbolic gesture.

One wonders indeed who might be up to such eulogies at the funeral of Mugabe, who could be said to be responsible for many more deaths in his country. South African author, historian and conservative R W Johnson has used the word “genocide”, though it has not been as racially focused as that since the “Matabele massacre” by the notorious Communist North Korean-trained 5th Brigade early in 2000.

A death toll of some thousands (estimates vary) does not compare with nearly a million “cockroaches” butchered in Rwanda. True, Mugabe followed up more recently and more devastatingly with “Operation Murambatsvina” – “Clean Up the Filth”: the demolition of urban homes, driving out occupants (regarded as likely opposition supporters) to “re-ruralise” and starve them.

This month, for the first time, details were released regarding the mass rapes and torture of opposition supporters by youth militia and liberation war veterans, ahead of the 2008 elections. Some 380 rapes are documented in the report by the U.S. based Aids-Free World.

But how is it possible to quantify the death toll attributable to the rule of Mugabe? Social scientists have looked at historic demographic growth (Google) which indicates that had it continued at a similar rate, the country’s population would have passed 15 million by 2000 and 18 million by the end of 2006. Against this, current estimates are 8 – 11 million now.

Emigration has been huge. The latest SA Police report estimates the number of undocumented immigrants in the country at between 3 – 6 million people, the vast majority Zimbabweans. More Zimbabweans work in SA than at home. But all of these
calculations leave a figure of some 2 million people missing, whether alive or dead. About 30% of the population is estimated to be HIV positive. Mugabe believes it is a homosexual disease and has no sympathy.

The SA Government, which has created a security threat by given up on trying to control the border, does not recognize Zimbabweans as refugees. If it did, it would be expected by the UN to provide reasonable care and protection against the xenophobic attacks that have occurred in some parts of the country. So they are “economic migrants”.

I saw some years ago at first hand how the “Makwere kwere” (foreigners) were treated, when I tried to rescue a friend about to be deported for not being in possession of required papers. I argued in prison and at a police special section without success, but saw him about town two days later. Somehow, he had found bribe money.

The disgraceful situation at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg continues, where about 1500 refugees remain in hopelessly inadequate conditions, but Bishop Paul Verryn seeks an injunction to prevent the removal of children by the authorities against their wishes.

Fellow blogger S. Abdi Sheikh of Reuters Writers, mentions the Lindele detention centre for illegal immigrants, which triggered headlines some years ago for alleged torture and assaults. It was my impression that it would be releasing a report of some sort soon, and if memory serves it is a business venture headed by well connected ladies, which provides a service to Government.

The big question is: why on earth has SA retained its “silent diplomacy” stance, so clearly supportive of an unbalanced dictator who has turned a neighbouring country into a wasteland when it could have been such a valuable and stable trading partner? Especially when we recall that the trade union leg of the ANC alliance, COSATU, twice had observer delegations turned away and spoke critically of pretensions to “free and fair” elections. COSATU post-Polekwane, and prominently pro-Zuma, is also a more powerful influence today.

In practical terms, there has been perhaps, over a long period, a similar lack of concern – if for different reasons – about AIDS. But the strongest link would appear to be a mutual fixation on exploitation of mineral resources. (See blogger Lyndall Beddy elsewhere in this publication). SA’s defence force is in a state of melt-down, but we have managed to send troops to the DRC. There is a determination not to lose out on Africa’s mineral wealh. The concern is whether this adds up to national benefit or personal plunder.

SABC night news has just led with something like: “Health Minister Manto Tshabalala has been praised for her life-long service to the Liberation Movement”.
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