From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS:ZIMBABWE: WOES BLAMED ON MUGABE
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 03:50:33 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ZIMBABWE: WOES BLAMED ON MUGABE


an inter press service feature

by godfrey karoro

harare, oct 28 (ips) -- after sailing zimbabwe through thick and
thin since independence in 1980, president robert mugabe's seat
is becoming hotter and hotter by the day.

although many zimbabweans, especially the 70 percent rural
dwellers, would vote for him in an election, many observers
admit the president has made some inexcusable mistakes in his
political career.

the critics point out, for instance, that zimbabwe is
cash-strapped -- going round begging for food to feed almost 50
percent of its 11 million people. the country was once described
as the southern africa sub-region's ''bread basket''.

over 16,000 workers in the formal sectors are expected to be
retrenched before year-end as a direct result of the structural
adjustment programme (sap) at a time when the programme is
already triggering massive price hikes of basic necessities.

inflation accelerated from 17.3 percent in 1990 to 28.1
percent in 1991. by end of september it was above 40 percent.

according to the central bank of zimbabwe, the overall
outlook for 1992 economic activity indicates the economy is
declining by up to nine percent in real terms.

born in 1924, mugabe joined politics in 1960, rising to take
up the top post of the ruling zimbabwe african national union-
patriotic front (zanu-pf) in 1977.

in 1979, he led zanu-pf to the lancaster house conference in
london and in january 1980 led the party to a landslide election
victory.

however, observers say mugabe has taken too long to realise
the difference between leadership of a liberation, guerrila
movement and a ruling party.

''as a leader of a nation, mugabe should have been magnanimous,
allowing every citizen to contribute to the well-being of the
nation'', says jonathan moyo, a political science professor at
the university of zimbabwe here.

''but the president regards those who criticise him as
enemies. he has not grasped the essence that opposition is as
good as support'', adds moyo.

as a result, zimbabweans often accuse him of protecting loyal
supporters even if they are ''hopelessly inefficient'' or do
something wrong. (more/ips)


zimbabwe: woes (2)

mugabe has kept the majority of party loyalists in top
government positions since independence from britain in 1980.

human rights organisations have accused him of either
pardoning people found guilty in courts of law, sheltering
corrupt lieutenants or stopping court proceedings against party
stalwarts severely tarnishing the government's human rights
record.

but the one thing he has succeeded doing uncompromisingly is
to reprimand severely any dissenting voices.

the director of the human rights watchdog catholic commission
for justice and peace (ccjp) says when mugabe ascended to power
in 1980, the government's record was ''very good'': concerned
with the welfare of the people.

unfortunately, both the president and the party have become
arrogant and stopped relating to the people, says mike auret.

''in a sense, he has lost the human touch so that where in
1985 there was human concern, there is lack of it now'' as shown
by the way landless people are evicted, the massacres in
matebeleland by the army's notorious ''fifth brigade'', and the
delay to provide water to the cities of bulawayo and mutare, he
says.

diverging from the norm of attacking the government instead
of the president for the country's woes, the independent
'financial gazette' said two weeks ago that mugabe, after 12
years in power, has overstayed.

''there is an irritating degree of rustiness, inertia and
fatigue which has not been helped by the lack of viable
opposition to nudge zanu-pf and the president into meaningful
action'', said the paper in a comment titled 'executive
arrogance'.

''having been in the sadle for so long the party and the
executive (mugabe) have evidently become highly contemptuous of
the people that put them in power'', the weekly said.

''some of the problems faced by the country are because he
(mugabe) has too much on his plate. and because he is out of
touch, he reacts to national issues when they have reached
crisis proportions'', explains moyo.

because of mugabe's indecisiveness, auret says the country is
in a very grave situation -- politically, socially and
economically. (end/ips/gk/apc/ar/92)

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