JUSTICE MALALA | SA’s migrant problem is of its own doing

You really can’t make this stuff up.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, the 80-year-old president of Zimbabwe, has been at the heart of the country’s leadership since 1980, when he was appointed minister of state security by Robert Mugabe. In that role he presided over the operations of the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation, a body that oversaw the killing of thousands of civilians by state forces in the mid-1980s in what came to be known as gukurahundi.

He held a succession of ministerial positions after that, flitting from housing to defence and finally justice. Mugabe rewarded his loyalty with the deputy presidency in 2014.

Zimbabweans have been listening to the empty promises and populist rhetoric of Mnangagwa and his comrades in Zanu-PF since 1980. In that time, Zimbabweans have watched as the Mnangagwa and Mugabe families have become multi-millionaires, with wealth stashed in banks and properties across the globe, while citizens have become steadily poorer. Recently, independent media reported that the Mugabe family is the biggest landowner in the country. It achieved this feat by, among other things, pressuring black land activists and white farmers to give up land to them and not to the poor recipients it was allegedly meant for during the violent land expropriation programme of the 2000s.

Mnangagwa and his comrades have, for the past 43 years, sucked every bit of life out of Zimbabwe. They are a small, dangerous, greedy, elite that claims to represent the poor, but leeches off them.

Reuters reported last week that a Zim$100 note — the country’s highest denomination — is not enough to buy an egg. It said Zim$10,000 fetches just US$1 on the parallel market. The BBC noted that “in the 12 months leading up to May this year, prices rose by 86.5%, one of the highest annual inflation rates in the world”.

When Mugabe was ousted by the army in 2017, Mnangagwa came to power by being the frontman of the coup — and through the help of South Africa. In 2018 he unleashed violence on the opposition and won elections that many observers believe were rigged.

So amid this economic devastation, Mnangagwa gave a speech last week pledging to turn the economy around. I am not kidding. With a perfectly straight face, with no hint of irony, the man who has been at the heart of the destruction of Zimbabwe since 1980 said: “Zanu-PF is unstoppable. It will continue governing Zimbabwe as other parties continue to split asunder ... We fought for our democracy, no-one will stop us.”

I am writing about Zimbabwe again because the crisis in that country will not end after the election on August 23. As things stand, the political opposition continues to operate in a highly restricted space. Opposition activists and human rights workers are arrested on a whim. The press is gagged, and journalists and commentators are routinely harassed and detained. Efforts by the opposition to hold meetings are frustrated, with the main opposition candidate Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change saying more than 60 of the party’s meetings were banned, or disrupted by police, during by-elections last year.

This repression has been going on since 1985. The 2002 and 2008 elections in that country were stolen in broad daylight. Violence was unleashed on Morgan Tsvangirai, the then opposition leader, and his members.

When Mugabe was ousted by the army in 2017, Mnangagwa came to power by being the frontman of the coup — and through the help of South Africa. In 2018 he unleashed violence on the opposition and won elections that many observers believe were rigged.

Zimbabwe’s problems are South Africa’s and Southern Africa’s. Our government’s support for Zanu-PF, Mugabe and now Mnangagwa over the years has led to hundreds of thousands — very possibly millions — of Zimbabweans crossing the Limpopo into South Africa to seek a better life, jobs and freedom.

In South Africa, after we failed to condemn Mugabe’s orgy of violence after the 2008 elections, we granted eligible Zimbabweans exemption permits in 2009. This allowed them to live and work in SA under the Zimbabwean Exemption Permit. Well, now we don’t want them here, and minister of home affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi tried to scrap the permit system. Last week a full bench of the Gauteng high court correctly declared his initiative invalid, unlawful and unconstitutional.

This is a classic case of the chickens coming home to roost. The ANC has refused for two decades — from Thabo Mbeki’s to Cyril Ramaphosa’s administrations — to condemn Zimbabwe’s human rights abuses. Now, the results of that cowardice are here for all to see. In Diepsloot residents have been protesting for over a week, alleging crime brought on by undocumented migrants is at the heart of their problems. They are wrong, of course, but this problem would not exist if Zimbabwe was a stable and prosperous country in the first place.

Mnangagwa is likely to unleash more violence and repressive measures over the next two months. He will most likely win a rigged election on August 23. The ANC will congratulate him. And Southern Africa will continue to be unstable.