Justice for Zimbabwe: Sign On to TransAfrica Forum Petition

If you've been watching the news about what's happening in Zimbabwe and its recent elections, it's not an understatement to say the country is a shell of what it once was when it emerged from colonial rule.

Current president Robert Mugabe has been in office since 1979. In 2000, President Mugabe came under fire from many Western countries for instituting a land reclamation program where the government took control of land that was owned and run by white commercial farmers. Initially, the government said it was instituting land reform to give black Zimbabweans -- some of whom tilled the land their families once owned -- control of the land once again.

Since 2000, the country has slowly sunk into high inflation and heavy corruption with violations of human rights and civil rights abuses reported by several groups.

Fast forward to March 29: Election Day in Zimbabwe. States Patrick Bond, director of the Centre for Civil Society based in Durban, South Africa:

Zimbabwe's March 29 election surprised many, because although it seemed President Robert Mugabe had the machinery in place to ensure a victory even by stealth, as has happened before, the groundswell of opposition was overwhelming. By late on April 3, we don't know how many votes he won, either in reality or in the cooked books of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), but certainly fewer than 50%.

TransAfrica Forum, a partner organization of Jubilee USA Network, sent a delegation over to Zimbabwe during the elections. What they experienced on the ground from observation and conversation has spurred the organization to launch this petition. TransAfrica Forum writes:

On March 29 the people of Zimbabwe cast their votes for president, Parliament, and local representatives. To date, the results of the Presidential election have not been announced, leading to widespread accusations of vote manipulation. 

Charges of intimidation and the threat of violence grow daily, while the population suffers from spiraling inflation, commodity shortages, and joblessness. 

Ultimately, the people of Zimbabwe will determine their leaders, but as concerned citizens we can send a message to the Government of Zimbabwe, the African Union and to the nations of Southern Africa that we stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe and that we support their struggle for human rights and justice. 

The following Message of Solidarity includes the points outlined in such popular documents as The Zimbabwe We Want, the People’s Convention (February 2008), as well as the platforms of human rights and justice groups in Zimbabwe. We invite you to add your name to the following message.

MESSAGE OF SOLIDARITY

HUMAN RIGHTS AND JUSTICE FOR ZIMBABWE

The people of Zimbabwe have been betrayed, both by the government that represents them and by Western governments that claim to support their desires for economic development and democracy.  Internally, corruption, government mis-management, military excesses, and poor economic decisions have deepened the country’s multiple social and economic crises.  At the same time, the post-independence promises made by the international community were not kept and the imposition of World Bank/IMF economic structural adjustment policies further entrenched inequality and reversed the initial gains made by the country.  We, the undersigned, support the people of Zimbabwe in their calls for a peaceful resolution to the current crisis.

We urge the Government of Zimbabwe to work towards:

1.  A new constitution, a people-driven document that ensures that any elected government runs the country to benefit its people, not the elite.

2.  Economic justice, specifically: 

• An audit of Zimbabwe’s 4.2 billion dollar debt.
• Repatriation of stolen assets, particularly funds diverted from public coffers to individual accounts in international banks.
• National investments in social development, job creation, and regional economic integration efforts.

3. A national “Truth and Reconciliation” process to begin the healing process.

We urge the international community to:

• End the “undeclared economic sanctions.”
• Cancel the colonial debt, including apartheid-related debt, along with debts related to failed structural adjustment policies, following an audit of the country’s national debt.
 
• Work with the Zimbabwean people to identify and repatriate public funds that have been diverted to private accounts in international banks.

Send an email and to add your name to the petition.

For more information visit us on the web at www.transafricaforum.org.