Mugabe in SA 'a travesty'
2003-05-16 17:31
Cape Town - It is a travesty that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has the freedom of South Africa while so many citizens of Zimbabwe do not have the freedom of theirs, Democratic Alliance deputy chair Dan Maluleke said on Friday.
"That he and his wife take advantage of that freedom in the most ostentatious fashion, by living it up in the most expensive hotels, adds insult to injury," Maluleke said.
It was also unfortunate that Fort Hare University - the nursery for so many liberation leaders - still chose to host Mugabe, who had betrayed so many of the ideals that were fostered at that institution.
"His honorary doctorate of commerce from Fort Hare eight years ago has been dishonoured by his almost single-handed destruction of Zimbabwe's economy.
"It is also a tragic irony that Mugabe is in South Africa to attend the funeral of Walter Sisulu, a father of the freedom struggle, while dishonouring his legacy by eroding hard-won freedoms in his own country," Maluleke said.
The late Sisulu would be remembered as a man who, despite enormous obstacles, never deviated from his ideals of human rights, freedom and democracy for all.
He steered clear of the trappings of power, refusing any position of power - in government or the ANC - once a free and democratic South Africa had been achieved.
In contrast, Mugabe had turned liberation into oppression and state-sponsored violence in his desperate attempt to cling to power.
His regime had undermined the rule of law and attacked the basic human rights and freedoms once enjoyed by Zimbabweans.
If Mugabe really wanted to honour Walter Sisulu, he should restore the rule of law and democracy in Zimbabwe, retract the oppressive legislation his regime had passed over the past two years to restrict the opposition, the media and civil society, and resign as President and allow an interim administration, which included the opposition, to prepare for fresh elections, which were internationally recognised as free and fair, Maluleke said.
Mugabe was in Alice on Friday, attending a graduation ceremony at Fort Hare University where he was expected to meet Zimbabwean presidential scholarship award students after the ceremony.
- SAPA