Admiration of Mugabe shows contempt for ordinary Zimbabweans

I was quite disturbed to read two opinion pieces in the SA Sunday papers, on Zimbabwe, where the authors were basically defending Mugabe.

In an article in The Sunday Times, titled "The West is conspiring to unseat that valiant warrior, Mugabe" (www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=764077), Mohau Pheko repeats the tired old line that the MDC is an agent of the West, and that while Mugabe has had made 'gross mistakes in governing', the reason the West wants to unseat him is that he's a 'valiant warrior against Western superiority in Africa'. In another article (and now I can't for the life of me remember which paper it was in), a former senior member of the Presidency in South Africa defends Mbeki's approach, and again argues that the MDC is an agent of colonialism.

The thing is, these writers have some valid points to make*. In their articles they question why such a fuss is made about Zimbabwe and not about other countries where there are undemocratic governments, such as Uganda, and Swaziland, to name two. They point out that Britain and the West reneged on promises with respect to supporting land reform in Zimbabwe, and correctly remind us that all foreign countries are pushing their own interests.

But they then seem to think that if these things are true, it must be a logical conclusion that the MDC is noting but an agent of foreign forces, and that Mugabe's actually the good guy (though of course he's made some mistakes). But why can't all of these things be true: that we should pay attention to other problematic regimes too, that a lot of the noise made about Zimbabwe is made by people and countries with their own agendas to push, that the MDC is a legitimate party with demonstrably legitimate support within Zimbabwe (and perhaps with some questionable alliances), and that Mugabe is a brutal dictator who may have done great things in the past, but who has now driven his country into the ground?

Arguments like those made by Pheko seem to spring from a need for simplistic judgments -- the world must be seen in terms of black and white, good versus evil. So if there are some people and interests on one 'side' that are seen as bad, then everyone associated with them must be bad, and the other side must be the good guys. There's no allowance for the fact that the real world is complex. There's a refusal or inability to accept that the man who was once a hero is now a villain, and that countries which have acted despicably in the past just might be doing a good thing by supporting his downfall (even if they're doing so for the wrong reasons).

But perhaps more disturbingly, these arguments show contempt for Africa and Africans -- contempt expessed by people who purport to be defending Africa and Africans against colonialism. Firstly, they show contempt for the MDC and other opposition politicians. There is the assumption that if the Americans and British offer support to the opposition, that the opposition is a puppet in the hands of these powers. There is no willingness to believe that the opposition may have agency in such alliances -- that they may be strategically using what support and supporters they may get, for their own aims.

But secondly, there is utter contempt for ordinary Africans -- in this case, ordinary Zimbabweans. A refusal to believe that ordinary Zimbabweans may have voted for the MDC not because they are being manipulated by crafty colonialists, but because they believe that it is in their own interests to do so (despite extensive measures by the state designed to make them believe otherwise). And a refusal to admit that it is more important to support and defend ordinary citizens who have been jailed and tortured and had their lives and livelihoods ruined, than it is to cling to a childish belief that one's one-time hero can't possibly turn into a monster.

(*Amid some others that are less valid -- like Mohau's condemnation of the MDC for calling for sanctions against its own country -- excuse me, isn't that just what the ANC did during apartheid? With good reason, and good results.)