ANC Youth League misinformed about the Zimbabwean crisis

This is an open letter to some of our colleagues in the African National Congress Youth League who show a lot of ignorance about the political situation in Zimbabwe and how the human agency factor is central to the multifaceted crisis that Zimbabweans are facing.

The ANC Youth League chief, Fikile Mbalula was quoted recently in the South African media attacking both the leadership of the ANC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) saying that they are meddling in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe and that Zimbabweans have a right to their sovereignty and self-determination. He warned of unspecified action if the two bodies continued like this. This was not the first time that the ANC Youth League has demonstrated total ignorance about the situation in Zimbabwe and how this state of affairs is now cause for concern within Southern Africa and beyond.

The position that Mbalula states ignored a number of fundamental issues pertaining to the situation in Zimbabwe. There are high expectations both in Zimbabwe and from the international community that as long as the government of South Africa does not commit itself to help out in the situation in Zimbabwe the situation will continue to deteriorate.

At sub-regional level the emphasis is put on South Africa to intervene in Zimbabwe because of both historical reasons and the fact that within the framework of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the country plays a crucial role as Chair of the Organ on Politics Defence and Security. Historically, both the governing party in South Africa and Zimbabwe’s Zanu PF party led by President Robert Mugabe share a common history of the struggle against colonial rule.

I want to agree with Mbalula that Zimbabwe needs self-determination but this does not preclude the ANC and COSATU to intervene in Zimbabwe and assist with finding a solution to the political and economic crisis that the country is experiencing. Yes the ANC Youth League must show the revolutionary spirit and vibrancy with which youths the world over are known for but looking at the intricate nature of the Zimbabwean question it is an obvious blunder to preach empty rhetoric about self-determination, sovereignty and Pan–Africanism.

It is high time that the ANC Youth League and like-minded fellow South Africans start to discern between the situation that they are experiencing and that Zimbabweans are facing. As I write this note there are long winding fuel queues , food shortages and a public transport crisis in my country but we are continuously reminded that we need to be sovereign and that we should not seek any external intervention to this crisis. The reality is that in contemporary international relations there can be no country that can survive on its own with entering into bilateral and multilateral relations with other state and non state parties in order to improve governance systems.

The aborted COSATU fact-finding missions to Zimbabwe were meant to establish the facts on the ground regarding the human rights situation. Members of the ANC Youth League were invited to Zimbabwe by Zanu PF last year and were not deported.

Rather than depending on one-sided accounts of what is happening in Zimbabwe , Mbalula and his colleagues in the Youth League must make an effort to visit Zimbabwe so that they can meet all sectors such as the church, business, civil society and the opposition political party , Movement for Democratic Change rather than depending on Zanu PF.

I challenge Mbalula and state that the government of President Mugabe has outlived its relevance to the politics of the country because of an economy that is bleeding and one that he has no formulae to use to mend it. The Zimbabwe National Students Union has on numerous occasions invited both the South African Congress of Student Unions (SASCO) and the entire leadership of the Youth League to pay a visit to Zimbabwe and see for them how President Mugabe has run down the country.

Contrary to the thinking of the Youth League, both the ANC and COSATU must bury the petty differences they are showing on the Zimbabwean question and must increase pressure on the government of President Mugabe to be sensitive to the plight of the people.

* Phillip Pasirayi is Information Officer for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and he is currently attached to the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town as a research fellow.