Andrew Young slams violence
Andrew Young, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, has strongly condemned the prevailing violence in Zimbabwe, spearheaded by war veterans, saying it bears the seeds of its own destruction. Young was addressing guests at a recent business breakfast meeting in Harare, whose theme was “Overcoming Zimbabwe’s economic challenges and the land issue”. The meeting was hosted jointly by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Zimbabwe Newspapers (Zimpapers), both State-owned.
“Violence has to be the last resort, if at all, and if we’re going to achieve peace, prosperity and freedom that we hope for, we’re going to have to do so in a climate that totally minimises violence,” he said. Young said he had seen people in Zimbabwe living peacefully on land that had been taken away from them illegally in the past. He condemned killing and violence of any sort, both of which he said were avoidable. “Killing and violence are unnecessary. We should become more aggressive in pursuit of our goals without violence. As a politician, I know that you can’t buy, bribe or intimidate people away from the polls. People are not dumb; they will not be intimidated or humiliated and with the privacy of the voting booth, they have their own opportunity for judgment and they will exercise that opportunity for judgment according to the appeals made to them and for them by those who they know and trust,” Young said.
On vote-buying, the African-American politician cited elections in Haiti where politicians poured large sums of money and used the vicious Ton Ton Macoutes – an underground intelligence militia created by Haitian dictator Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier – to beat up people. Papa Doc, in power from 1957 to 1971 when he died, ruled Haiti with an iron fist and maintained the Ton Ton Macoutes as a large and vicious guard. His son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc”, took over in 1971 and ruled up to 1986 when he was deposed and fled into exile He said: “They were the most vicious people in the Western hemisphere. Yet, when the elections were held, the people who had been beaten into submission voted for a penniless priest, Jean-Betrand Aristide, for whom they had love and respect.”
Young said he had always advised President Mugabe whenever he visited the US that it was important for Zimbabwe to maintain good relations with the international community. He said Zimbabwe’s economy was not stable but had the potential of making a positive turn-around. He urged Zimbabweans to be tolerant and to help build a strong and vibrant nation that would be an example to the rest of Africa. The breakfast meeting was attended by a wide spectrum of the Zimbabwean businesspeople including Enoch Kamushinda, a leading banker and chairman of Zimpapers, Phillip Chiyangwa, the MP for Chinhoyi and a proponent for the indigenisation of the economy, and Nigel Chanakira, chief executive of Kingdom Financial Holdings.