'Mbeki kneels before Mugabe'

2006-02-02 08:42

Neels Jackson

Johannesburg - Should South Africa disconnect Zimbabwe's electricity supply, it could bring the Zim government to its senses.

President Thabo Mbeki, however, feels inferior to Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and supports him rather than put pressure on him.

This is the opinion of Pius Ncube, outspoken Roman Catholic archbishop of Bulawayo, expressed in an interview in Pretoria where he attended the meeting of the conference of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) and strongly attacked Mbeki regarding his handling of the Zimbabwean question.

He had expected the South African government to exert pressure on the Mugabe regime but instead Mbeki supported Mugabe, he said. "Mbeki kneels before Mugabe," Ncube said.

Asked if the disruption of the power supply would not be a drastic measure, Ncube said anything that would help in bringing the Zimbabwean government to its knees should be done.

He said it should be remembered that Mugabe has been in power for 26 years and this gives him a feeling of superiority over younger heads of state such as Mbeki. The result is that he pays no attention to them.

Children will not go back to school

"He [Mugabe] would never have done this with former president (Nelson) Mandela. He was afraid of Mandela because Mandela was of a moral giant," Ncube said.

Ncube said things are very bad in Zimbabwe.

Half of the country's school-going children will not go back to school because they simply don't have to money to do so.

With an inflation rate of 800% people were finding it extremely difficult just to survive. "Where one South African rand was worth Z$13 000 in December, it now equals Z$22 000.

"Fuel is scarce and dealers even dilute it with water and other substances to make it go further at the pump," Ncube said.

There is no talk of civil resistance because the Mugabe regime has a very active espionage system in place.

Ncube said it is estimated that one out of every five people in the cities are spies. This includes teachers, other civil servants, policemen and soldiers. They even spy on each other.

"Everybody is afraid of saying anything because it can land them in serious trouble. The result is that there is a deafening silence. There is no leadership."

SA Presidency spokesperson Murphy Morobe said nothing said by Archbishop Ncube was new.

SA's position on Zimbabwe is well known and there is nothing further to add.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, president of the SACBC, said they received feedback from Ncube regarding the Zimbabwe situation and will arrange a meeting with the Zimbabwean Catholic bishops' council to establish how they might be able to alleviate the situation.

- Beeld