Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Johannesburgo (Agenzia Fides) – “It is now time to isolate Mugabe completely and to remove all forms of moral, material or tacit support for him and his party,” says Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop of Durban (South Africa) and spokesman for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), in a statement on the situation in Zimbabwe, entitled: “South Africa must isolate Mugabe.” Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, along with his closest collaborators, has been indicated by various parties as the cause for the disastrous situation in the country (see Fides 10/12/2008).
Mugabe is still seeking support in various African social environments that recall his fame as a anti-colonialism activist. “Regardless of whether he is a former “liberator” or an “Elder African Statesman”, he must be forced to step down,” said Cardinal Napier in the statement sent to Agenzia Fides. “No true liberator or statesman clings ruthlessly to power, as Mugabe has done, while his people live and die in misery and destitution. No solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe is possible as long as he is there. Some African leaders, to their shame, have felt it necessary to stand in solidarity with Mugabe against the supposed machinations of former colonial and present imperial powers; it is time for them to re-direct their solidarity towards the needs of the suffering people of this once-thriving country.”
Recalling South Africa's role in mediating the political crisis in Zimbabwe, Cardinal Napier asks the South African government to place pressure on Mugabe to resign. “The South African Government has the capacity to force Mugabe to go. All that is lacking is the political will. History will judge very harshly the tacit support still given to Mugabe and the little (if any) support given to his opposition as well as the total disregard for the people of Zimbabwe. We therefore call on President Motlanthe to stop immediately all collusion with Mugabe and to cut off any life-blood that South Africa is offering him. In consultation with the majority party in the Zimbabwean parliament, the MDC, and with civil society organizations, consideration must be given to the cutting-off of electricity and fuel supplies from South Africa. In addition, any assets held by Mugabe and his cronies in South Africa should be frozen immediately.”
“We express our deepest solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe at this desperate time. We recommit ourselves and our people to praying that they will be able to unite and to have the courage and the strength to persevere in the struggle to remove the evil brought on them by Mugabe’s dictatorship,” the declaration concludes. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 18/12/2008)
