Region unites to support Zimbabwe's efforts at progress

This week, a number of Commonwealth Foreign and other Ministers have been meeting in Abuja, Nigeria to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe. Next week, a SADC delegation of Heads of State will visit Harare to meet a cross-section of the important role players of that country, including the government.

As with the Commonwealth meeting, the task of the SADC delegation is to assist the people of Zimbabwe to overcome the problems that currently confront this important neighbour and country of Southern Africa. At its last Summit Meeting in Blantyre, Malawi, the SADC took time to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe. The leaders of our region did this because they are concerned both about the country itself and its impact on the rest of the region.

They considered these matters in the light of other regional matters that were discussed. Among these were important issues about the further strengthening of the institutions of the SADC so that the Development Community moves even faster towards regional integration and balanced economic development.

It also considered and finalised all matters related to strengthening the capacity of the Community to deal with the critical issues of politics, security and stability in the region. Accordingly, the Summit Meeting elected the leadership of this special organ to make certain that it could become operational without any delay. The necessary measures will also be taken to ensure that the Secretariat of the Community, based in Gaborone, Botswana, has the capacity to service the special organ, in the same way that it attends to all other elements of the work of the SADC.

The Summit Meeting also reviewed the food situation in the region and expressed concern about food shortages that are expected to affect a number of countries. In this regard, it decided to convene an urgent meeting of Ministers of Agriculture to consider this matter and make the necessary recommendations.

This meeting has already taken place. It resolved that all affected countries would present more accurate information and that all efforts will be made to meet the shortfalls from surpluses within the region. As of now, all indications are that it will be possible to meet these shortfalls without any need for imports into the region. The Summit Meeting also resolved to discuss the issue of land and agrarian reform in order to evolve a common approach towards this important matter which bears on the critical issue of economic growth and development and redressing the imbalances inherited from the past.

It is clear that Zimbabwe is an important player with regard to all these matters. The Community wants this country to make its own positive contribution towards the achievement of all the objectives decided by the SADC, together with the other member states. As with these member states, the Community wants to see Zimbabwe as a stable and peaceful country with a growing economy that both serves to improve the standard of living of the people of Zimbabwe and to strengthen the regional economy.

In this context, the Community recognises the fact that historically, the economy of Zimbabwe has been among the biggest and strongest in the region. This was a positive factor not only with respect to the lives of the people of Zimbabwe but also with regard to the prospects for further regional growth and development. However, the Summit Meeting noted with concern that this economy is now affected by serious problems. For this reason, it decided that the Community should do everything it can to assist the sister Republic of Zimbabwe to overcome these problems.

In this regard, it is important to understand some of the fundamental reasons for the emergence of these problems in an economy that was historically strong and robust, as we have said. As with the land question, this relates to the serious and difficult challenge of addressing the legacy of colonialism which, as in other African countries, condemned the indigenous population to live in conditions of underdevelopment.

>From its independence in 1980, Zimbabwe worked hard to address this legacy. Accordingly, it allocated large resources to such sectors as education, health and rural development. It also did everything it could to ensure the affordability to the poor of food and other basic necessities. It is a recognised fact that, indeed, Zimbabwe succeeded to raise the general level of education in the country, with significant expansions at all levels of the educational system, from the primary to the tertiary. This was a positive development that none can question.

The attention paid to improving the health of the people also paid dividends. Infant mortality fell significantly. With reductions in the incidence of disease because of improved standards of living and better access to health facilities, life expectation also improved significantly with people living longer. Large investments were also made in the rural areas to assist especially the subsistence farmers to grow more food for their families and to generate surpluses that could be sold to enable the farmers to earn additional incomes.

All this had the dramatic result of ensuring that this sector became the predominant source of all maize produced by Zimbabwe agriculture. Here again, we can only speak of a success story of the improvement of the lives of the rural masses as a result of the allocation of significant resources from the state budget to address the important issue of rural development. As we have said, as part of the process of waging a struggle against poverty and underdevelopment, the Government of Zimbabwe subsidised various items of consumption to ensure that the poor could afford to buy these items. These included food, paraffin and other liquid fuels, transport fares and other items.

To meet these objectives, the government also subsidised loss-making state corporations to ensure that they deliver goods and services to the people at affordable prices. Needless to say, all the important work that was carried out by the government to improve the standards of living of the people and to bridge the disparities inherited from the colonial system, also meant that the civil service had to be expanded.

This was so because of the greater need for such personnel as teachers, nurses, agricultural extension officers, managers and workers in the parastatal organisations and public service administrators. It is of course clear that all this important work, focused on the struggle to end poverty and underdevelopment, absorbed a large part of the state budget. The reality was that revenues accruing to the government were not sufficient to finance all the programmes that were carried out by the public sector.

To help finance these programmes rather than cut them down, the Government of Zimbabwe ran a large budget deficit which was financed by borrowing money both domestically and internationally. Among other things, this resulted in diversion of resources towards social expenditure, driven by the legitimate desire of the Government of Zimbabwe to meet the needs of a population that had suffered from oppression and impoverishment.

Accordingly, insufficient resources flowed into the productive sector of the economy reducing the creation of the new wealth without which it is impossible to raise the standard of living of the people on a sustainable basis. In addition to this, the country also experienced several periods of drought which negatively affected the growth and expansion of the economy. At the same time, it was negatively affected by adverse terms of trade to which all producers of primary products were exposed.

The net result of all these developments over the last two decades is that the budget must now address a large debt burden. The country has had to default on some of its international payments to service the accumulated debt. It is also experiencing high rates of inflation as well as high interest rates. It suffers from an extreme shortage of foreign currency, and a parallel foreign exchange market has developed, reducing the volumes of foreign currency going through the banking system. Mining and manufacturing have been severely affected, with many operations and enterprises having to close down. Accordingly, unemployment is increasing as well as the levels of poverty.

The Government of Zimbabwe has itself analysed these problems and adopted plans to address them. Clearly, many sacrifices will have to be made by everybody in Zimbabwe to pull the country out of its economic crisis. It is the resolve of our Development Community to assist Zimbabwe in this regard. SADC will also seek to interact with the rest of the international community to build a partnership with this community in an effort to ensure that a concerted drive is mounted to assist Zimbabwe to recover.

Together with all reasonable people throughout the world, our Development Community is also convinced that Zimbabwe does indeed face the urgent need to address the issue of a more equitable distribution of land. This is important from all points of view, including meeting the objectives for which an heroic independence struggle was waged, intensifying the offensive towards poverty eradication and ensuring the balanced growth and development of the economy.

SADC is also of the view that the international community should assist the people of Zimbabwe to achieve these objectives by pursuing the pledges that were made in the past to help finance a programme of land and agrarian reform. At the same time, the entire Community is convinced that this should be done in a peaceful and legal manner, taking into account the long-term interests of all the people of Zimbabwe and the need to maintain and enhance social stability.

Similarly, the Development Community is convinced that Zimbabwe, like other countries of our region, must remain a democratic country in all respects, including the observance of the rule of law, as well as ensuring the independence of such institutions as the judiciary and the press. Happily, no member state of the Community disagrees with this proposition. The Community is therefore ready to act together to ensure that we entrench democracy throughout our region.

The SADC Summit Meeting agreed that the political, economic and social challenges facing Zimbabwe are of a national character, requiring that the people of this sister country respond as one to meet these challenges. For success to be achieved, there has to be an agreed united, national response that draws in all sectors of Zimbabwe society.

To work towards this goal, the Summit Meeting decided that a SADC delegation should visit Zimbabwe to talk to as many sectors of the population of Zimbabwe as possible and thus support all national efforts towards united action for stability and progress in Zimbabwe.

Given the importance of this work, it was subsequently decided that the first visit should be carried out by the Heads of State of the countries that were chosen in Blantyre to constitute the SADC delegation to Zimbabwe. These are Malawi, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa. The Heads of State of these countries will therefore spend the 10th and the 11th of this month in Harare interacting with representatives of the people of Zimbabwe, including the government.

Our region hopes that this important visit and subsequent work will assist Zimbabwe, an important member of SADC, to overcome its current problems and continue to play the leading role it has played for the further all-round development of all of Southern Africa. As this delegation visits Zimbabwe, it will be greatly encouraged by the positive results achieved at the meeting of the Committee of Commonwealth Foreign Ministers on Zimbabwe, which met in Abuja, Nigeria this week.

Govan Mbeki

The struggle for liberation in his words

Amid tributes from across the world for ANC stalwart Govan Mbeki, thousands of South Africans have in the last few days attended memorial services in a number of centres around the country. Thousands are expected to converge on Port Elizabeth this Saturday to lay to rest "an African giant". Mbeki passed away on 30 August at the age of 91.

A prolific writer, journalist and educator, Mbeki's works form part of his enduring legacy. In this special tribute edition of ANC Today, we include, in his own words, some of the themes which occupied his life.

On development of white capital

"To satisfy the need for a plentiful and inexhaustible supply of cheap labour for the developing economy Boer and Briton acted jointly to achieve a common purpose. While there were serious contradictions between them, on one question - the forging of a common policy that would ensure a regular flow of cheap labour from the African reserves to the white farms and mines -there was agreement. In these circumstances it was obvious that the aspirations of black and white would be poles apart. The oppressor and exploiter would strive to be on top for all time, while the downtrodden would struggle to stand on their feet, to overthrow oppression, to enjoy to the full the product of their own labour, to share on a basis of equality the resources which nature has so liberally bestowed on this country."

Migrant labour

"By controlling the movement of African labour the government was able to create a pool of cheap labour in the Native reserves which could be drawn upon to satisfy the needs of employers in the 'white areas' - be they the mines, manufacturing industry, commerce or the farms. It entrenched the practice of migrant labour, by creating a situation where only the labourer was permitted to take up employment in the 'white areas' while his family was left in the reserves."

African wages

"Not only did the mines pay very low wages to the migrant labourers but because of the role which gold played in the economy, they set a pattern for the low level of wages throughout the economy. In computing the wages of workers the mines did not take into account their families. For a long time the Chamber of Mines argued that the wage of a black mine worker was subsidised by the produce of his peasant arable holding - a lie which the Chamber of Mines knew to be such. In seeking to find a theoretical justification for its bloodsucking practices, the Chamber's economists advanced the theory that if the wages of an African mine worker were raised he would work only for a short period of time to satisfy his simple needs. They proceeded to lend respectability to this false theory by representing it graphically with a backward-bending supply curve; hereby they sought to show that higher wages would result in a diminishing supply of labour, since African mine workers required cash wages only to pay once annually the poll and local taxes."

Land

"The issue of land and its redistribution is fundamental to the struggle for liberation in South Africa. There can be no peace until this and other rights of which the majority of the people have been deprived for so long have been restored to them." Class struggle and national liberation "The working class has no way of bringing about fundamental changes to the long-entrenched policies of exploitation without first breaking down the barriers that stand in the pathway towards national liberation. The role of the working class in the national democratic struggle and the role of the ANC in the working-class struggle for the recognition of the rights of workers to form and belong to trade unions became two faces of the same coin."

The union movement

"ANC organisers concentrated on instilling the need for its members to join trade unions. Scores and scores of meetings took place in the townships under the cover of darkness. It was a task that was carried out patiently and consistently. It blossomed over a long period of time into the mushroom growth of the trade-union movement of the 1980s, which has culminated in the formation of COSATU, the biggest trade-union federation the country has ever known."

Formation of the ANC Youth League

"Another important factor which was decisive in breathing new life into the ANC as well as giving it a sense of direction was the formation of the ANC Youth League, which acted as a pressure group within the organisation. Unlike the older generation, the Youth League members had not had any contact with liberals. They therefore pursued a line which was nationalistic and sought to rely exclusively on themselves to revive the ANC into a fighting instrument for the rights of the Africans."

Peasant struggles

"It should be pointed out, however, that in spite of the awakening of the peasants in reserves throughout the country, both the ANC and the Communist Party gave scant attention to the organisation of the peasants. What organisational work did take place amongst them was carried out by the peasants themselves with their very meagre resources. The neglect of this very important area left the government free to implement its policies without the co-ordinated resistance not only of the peasants but also of the urban and rural areas."

Participation in 'dummy' state institutions

"It was the most difficult thing to destroy dummy institutions from inside. The only way to destroy them was to go to the people and campaign against them, slowly and carefully showing the people that the power was in their hands to destroy them. The argument that such institutions should be used as a platform to fight government policies and that not to seek representation there serves to isolate popular organisations, is false. The people are the key, and should be reached directly by building the organisation and bringing them into it to fight government policy."

Defiance Campaign

"The Defiance Campaign put an end to the era of deputations to and pleading with the government to grant rights which it had deliberately, as a matter of calculated policy, taken away from the oppressed and exploited majority."

Apartheid

"Here was a plan that was painstakingly designed to wipe out millions of people by subjecting them to a slow death by starvation, so that the Afrikaner could live out his life in peace without fear of the swart gevaar, the 'Bantu'."

Congress Alliance

"The formation of the Congress Alliance represented an advance. Previously each of these bodies had operated in defence of the particular group it represented. Now they realised that they all had one thing in common, that in spite of differences in their oppression, they were all oppressed. As such they agreed to work together in an alliance to fight against oppression."

Non-racialism

"The three centuries of racism and racial oppression of blacks by whites have failed to transform blacks in this country into racial bigots. In South Africa racism remains, therefore, a white man's ideology and those blacks who over the years have thought they could adopt it and use it against other races, be they Coloureds, Indians or whites, have failed to get the support of the overwhelming majority of the black people."

Formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe

"The decision to embark on armed struggle did not arise out of sheer frustration nor was it arrived at in a fit of blind emotion. It was a calculated decision taken after the consideration of a number of factors. For people who had not been allowed to bear arms in the South African army and who even in times of war were only allowed to serve in menial positions, it meant taking on the full might of an army that served to defend the apartheid policies of the government."

The beginning of apartheid's end

"When the black workers strike took place in Durban in 1973 in spite of the strong arm of the police and the army, the government began to realise that the right of African workers to belong to recognised trade unions could no longer be held back by the use of guns. Again, when the school pupils rose in 1976 against the use of Afrikaans in the classroom as a medium of instruction, the government realised that if those pupils risked their lives rather than allowing themselves to be mentally paralysed and their vision distorted by the theories of racism, apartheid could no longer work."

The NP's negotiating strategy

"From the statements which have come profusely from [FW] De Klerk and leading members of his cabinet, it is becoming clear - that what the NP leaders are seeking to achieve through negotiations is a situation where they can continue to exercise power while the oppressed are lulled into a sense of security. By engaging in negotiations, the oppressed people, through their political organisations in general and the ANC in particular, may - so it is hoped - lower their guard. The regime still wants to maintain its position of domination but in doing so would like the oppressed, especially the ANC, to feel that the NP is genuine about letting go of power."

A mass-based ANC

"We should not make the mistake of thinking that the people who show up at rallies are members. It is the committed membership, which we can call upon to embark on a mass campaign throughout the country, that is crucial. To achieve this level of organisation and mobilisation requires that we put in massive human and financial resources to help build the membership of the ANC."

Negotiated transition

"It is doubtful whether history can provide a comparable example of a tyrant loosening his grip on power and allowing it to be negotiated in to the hands of the enemy. But it is important to acknowledge that the apartheid regime was forced into handing over power by the sheer weight of millions of people who had been mobilised into an irresistible force."

Nation-building

"The task of nation-building has begun. We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans will be able to walk tall, without fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity in a nation at peace with itself and the world. Free at last, free at last!"

BOOKS BY GOVAN MBEKI:

• 'South Africa: The Peasant's Revolt', 1964 (Online)
• Learning from Robben Island : The Prison Writings of Govan Mbeki, 1991
• 'The Struggle for Liberation in South Africa', 1992 (Online)
• Sunset at Midday, Latshon'ilang'emini, 1996

Govan Mbeki

Tributes to Govan Mbeki

President Nelson Mandela

"Throughout the years he continued to inspire all of us inside and outside prison with the certainty that we would triumph in the end. South Africa today mourns the passing of one of Africa's great sons. We salute a comrade and friend, a leader in (the) struggle, one of the intellectuals of our movement and a fellow member of a generation that has given so much to the shaping of our country."

Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

"Govan Mbeki's death on the eve of the world conference reminds us of his enormous contribution to the struggle against racism and oppression in South Africa. His memory should make us redouble our efforts to achieve in Durban a breakthrough that will ensure a life of dignity, free of bigotry and intolerance, for people around the world."

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

"Our country has been blessed with some quite outstanding persons, Govan Mbeki was one such. We give thanks to God for his quite substantial contribution to our struggle and to the transformation that has happened and is happening in our country."

Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu General-Secretary

"People can be consoled by the fact that we are a free nation today because of Oom Govan's contribution. Oom Gov, one of our country's most heroic, steadfast and thoughtful fighters against racism, discrimination and class exploitation."

South African Communist Party

"In all his work, he distinguished himself as a scholar, a disciplined cadre, a builder and a teacher. Few political activists in our movement have paid such attention to the indigenous application of the science and theory of Marxism to South African realities and conditions. He built and sustained a tradition of excellent political journalism and theoretical writing."

Bishop Mvume H Dandala

"A great African hero has died. Cast in the mould of those stalwarts who have fought for justice - always at considerable personal cost - the name Govan Mbeki will go down in the annals of history as a man of immense integrity, intellectual capacity; unrelenting in his determination to follow his own destiny, and on behalf of the voiceless, but always a gentleman of stature."

Deputy President Jacob Zuma

"The country has indeed lost a fine revolutionary intellectual. He could easily have led a life of comfort but instead he chose to sacrifice everything and fight for the freedom of his people. He chose to utilise his knowledge and skills to bring about fundamental change in this country. For that he spent 23 years on Robben Island, where he continued to play a central role in imparting knowledge and continued to write on various topics."

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