An open letter to her Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Ms. Chipo Zindoga
Her Excellency Ms. Zindoga,
This open letter has reference to the recently distributed leaflet, by New Era, on the commemoration of Zimbabwe Heroes Day, 11 August 2007.  I have read with keen interest the detailed past and current situation in Zimbabwe.  It is interesting to discover that our two countries have many things in common.  I came to find out that both Namibia and Zimbabwe have the following programmes or mechanisms designed in the same fashion, whether it is a coincident or deliberate goes beyond my knowledge: the National Reconciliation Policy, Heroes Day on August 11 (Zimbabwe’s) versus Heroes Day on August 26 (Namibia’s) and The National Heroes Acre versus Heroes Acre and Willing Seller – Willing Buyer of which Namibia has been consolidated with expropriation with a fair compensation while Zimbabwe has been reported to have gone for what is called “land-grabbing”.
Your country is widely reported to have been hit by economic hardships.  An inflation has been reported to have exceeded 5000 percent, four in every five Zimbabweans are currently jobless while 80 percent are living under the poverty line.  Your country’s citizens of various status are flocking and fleeing the country, which was previously known as the “African Breadbasket”, as political and economic refugees.  This is one of the angles you have hardly touched in your text about the country’s Heroes Day.
Your country’s President, His Excellency Robert Gabriel Mugabe was often quoted by the media as blaming the current crises on drought and targeted sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) against the ruling elite after the 2002 Presidential elections which the opposition and western observers say they were rigged.  According to the information at my disposal the EU sanctions involve a travel ban against your country’s top officials and the freezing of their assets in European Banks as well as a ban on arms sales.  Similarly, in your Heroes Day contribution, you have also raised the concerns that “Britain succeeded in internationalizing its bilateral dispute with Zimbabwe.  Thus other western countries also imposed illegal sanctions against the country.  The illegal sanctions have had far reaching consequences for the economy, which has grievously suffered as a result.  The western powers, led by Britain, have embraced on an unrelenting campaign to unconstitutionally effect regime change against Zimbabwe.  However, the gains of the liberation struggle cannot be reversed.  Zimbabwe will never be a colony again”.
What I want to know then from the horse’s mouth, Your Excellency, is as follows:
·What are the specific sanctions, if any, that were imposed targeting Zimbabwe as a country?
·Has the Zimbabwean economy “collapsed” because it is dependent on EU, specifically Britain (UK) and United State of America (US)?
·South Africa, during the apartheid era, has had international sanctions imposed on the country for holding on administering Namibia illegally.  It has suffered 10 years of global isolation, which directly affected Namibia too, but these two states have not gone to the level of Zimbabwe.  Why only your country Ms. Zindoga?
·What has President Mugabe and his Cabinet done with the bilateral and multilateral agreements signed with the African states and other non-Western States around the world?
What is also of serious concern though is that your country and its political leadership seems to be too much occupied with fighting the unseen enemies in the form of “imperialists and opposition parties members as well as the regime change”.  The victims of the economic hardships are not necessarily the Blairs and Bushs of this world but the innocent and politically vulnerable Zimbabweans who have found themselves scattered around SADC and beyond.  By the look of things, it is likely that your political regime at home has lost confidence in negotiating in the interest of the masses by rejecting the main opposition party, the advise from other African leaders and the world beyond.  I believe that Zimbabwe is not an island and therefore it will be in the interest of Africa if your people have found a way out of the misery and nobody else will be able to do it best than yourselves.
I will be appreciative to hear more from Your Excellency about Zimbabwe’s current situation and future plans as well as the way forward to the full enjoyment of human rights by all citizens.
Your Sincerely
Steven Mvula
Human Rights Activist
Namibia