Crime against humanity : the case for urgent action on Zimbabwe

The potential for mass starvation in Zimbabwe is now so real and close that Cardinal Wilfred Napier, President of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, and Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo have both, separately, called on the United Nations' Security Council to take responsibility for the crisis and act immediately.

They stress that, if the organisation does not respond quickly and decisively to ensure that food aid comes into the country and is distributed fairly to all communities without political interference, it will become complicit in the rapidly unfolding humanitarian disaster.

Cardinal Napier joins his brother cleric of the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe and other regional church leaders in branding the Mugabe regime guilty of a crime against humanity in relation to the politicization of food, and in calling upon the international community to act.

Cardinal Napier was part of a South African Council of Churches delegation which, on visiting Zimbabwe in July to assess the scale of the humanitarian crisis caused by Operation Murambatsvina, expressed shock and outrage. Under the guise of restoring order, the government's controversial operation to "Drive Out the Filth" destroyed the homes or jobs of at least 700 000 people and the lives of 2.4 million others, affecting almost a fifth of the population - currently estimated at 11 million. The informal economy, which fed 40 percent of the people, was wrecked. The International Crisis Group estimates that Zimbabwe's internal refugee problem is between four and five million. A further 3,5 million people are estimated to have fled the country, mainly to countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), notably South Africa.

Also in July, the Executive Council of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa noted: "There is little doubt that we are witnessing a tragedy of unprecedented enormity. We have on our hands a complete recipe for genocide." They went on to urge the international community to act "vigorously" to expose the tragedy of Zimbabwe.

Although the international community has continued to drag its heels in this regard, a mechanism by which it can take action is in fact available.

The Treaty of Rome is the statute governing the International Criminal Court, and Section 7 (2) (b) of that statute defines "extermination" (a crime against humanity) as "the intentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia, the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population."

David Coltart, secretary for legal affairs of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has already said "there is no doubt … this regime is guilty of constructive intent to deprive people of access to food which will in turn destroy a part of the population." In a letter to colleagues he wrote: "The Mugabe regime knows that its brinkmanship with the UN and the WFP regarding the question of who will distribute UN food … is delaying the supply of desperately needed food aid. People are now starving, and no doubt many are already dying as a result throughout the country." This he cited as evidence of the regime's "gross negligence and callousness."

On June 30, 2005, James Morris, director of the World Food Program, said at the United Nations that southern Africa was the world's gravest crisis at present, and that Zimbabwe was the epicentre. The UN's World Food Program lists the number of people in need of food aid in Zimbabwe as between four and five million. The Mugabe regime has consistently denied that the country faces food shortages and has refused to appeal for help formally from the World Food Program.

The call by church leaders for the United Nations to intervene swiftly to avert a looming tragedy raises the issue of state sovereignty. Here it is interesting to note that the World Summit held on September 14-16, 2005 in New York adopted the "International Responsibility to Protect" doctrine. In terms of this doctrine the international community has a responsibility to intervene in a country where genocide, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity directed at the population of that country are taking place. Accordingly one of the core principles to which all UN Member States are now committed is that "where a population is suffering serious harm, as a result of internal war, insurgency, repression or state failure, and the state in question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it, the principle of non-intervention yields to the international responsibility to protect."

Even against President Mugabe's devious ways and continued intransigence there is therefore a mechanism for the international community to act, and to act decisively, to counter the threat of a major catastrophe before it is played out in bitter tragedy.

As Namibia's National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) executive director, Phil ya Nangoloh, commented: "Leaders of dictatorial regimes out there can no longer hide behind the so-called principle of non-interference in the affairs of another state in order to get away with murder with impunity."

Furthermore, first among the elements of the "responsibility to protect" enshrined in the UN doctrine is the "responsibility to prevent" - defined as "to address both the root causes and direct causes of internal conflict and other man-made crises putting populations at risk."

Archbishop Pius Ncube has repeatedly warned the international community of the politicization of the food issue by the ruling Zanu PF party, and of the tragic consequences for the people of Zimbabwe.

The present major food crisis began with the violent farm invasions orchestrated by Mugabe in February 2000 after losing a referendum to change the constitution and further entrench his power. Today this once highly productive engine of the economy has been virtually destroyed. Prior to the land invasions, the sector brought in about US$700 million annually, but is now estimated to earn below US$200 million. Formerly breadbasket of the region, the country has grappled with persistent food shortages and serious levels of hunger since 2001. At the same time, the Mugabe regime has achieved the dubious distinction of presiding over the fastest-shrinking economy in the world.

Until now the seriousness of the food crisis has been brought to world attention by the opposition movement, civil society and the church. Surprisingly, during the past month, the government's own agents have admitted to the severity of the food crisis.
On September 8, 2005, Ministry of Agriculture permanent secretary Simon Pazvakavambwa disclosed to the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries that the country had only three weeks' supply of food left. "If for some reason imports stop, we are finished…. and if we take too long (to import food), there may be no food in many people's homes in the coming weeks," he told his stunned audience.

Pazvakavambwa was immediately taken to task by State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa and the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Joseph Made, for disclosing "classified information". Mutasa said that the allegations were baseless as the government was importing 15 000 tonnes of maize each week from South Africa to feed the people.

Mutasa's figure of 15 000 tonnes inadvertently lent credence to Pazvakavambwa's revelations and revealed the gravity of the situation. The importation of just 60 000 tonnes of maize each month represents a major shortfall since the national requirement is more than 150 000 tonnes.

Zimbabwe needs more than 1.8 million tonnes of maize to feed the nation until the next harvest in May 2006, just seven months away. At the rate of 15 000 tonnes every week, it will take the government up to 30 months to import the required amount.

The same week, the state-owned Herald newspaper, which normally churns out government propaganda, published the following warning: "Zimbabwe faces a serious food deficit during the next farming season because of a severe shortage of seed and fertilisers, coupled with poor planning and management of the agricultural sector."

The article continued: "So serious is the situation that some farming experts told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands and Agriculture yesterday that even if the heavens opened up, no meaningful farming would take place."

The catalogue of failures in the agricultural sector reported to the Parliamentary Committee makes dismal reading.

Producers of seed, fertiliser, chemicals and farming equipment reported that the country has minimal stocks of fertiliser and seed, while funding was released late for the 2005-2006 agricultural season.

The same depressing picture of chronic shortages of materials and foreign currency and a lack of forward planning emerges across the whole range of agricultural activities, from seed and fertilizer production to the provision of tillage and irrigation equipment. For the first time in history, the country has run out of 6mm discs. All this leaves an already crisis-ridden Zimbabwe ill prepared for the next growing season.

Vice-President of the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU), Edward Raradza, said apart from the poor preparations, 60 percent of funds allocated for farming by the government did not reach the intended beneficiaries.

The Parliamentary Committee's chairperson, Walter Mzembi, concluded that the information and statistics presented to the committee pointed to a grim future. "The information you have given us as a Parliamentary Committee simply shows there is no season," he said.

This evidence is supported by first-hand accounts from across the country of large swaths of once-productive farmland now lying idle, with little sign of the normal preparation of fields for planting ahead of the first summer rains.

The end result of the Mugabe regime's plundering of agricultural resources and gross mismanagement of the economy is that today close to half of the population is in urgent need of food aid, without which they will quite simply starve. The 1,8 million tonnes of the staple food required to see the country through to the next harvest is nowhere in sight.

Recently a pro-government newspaper reported that people were struggling to meet escalating food costs, with a bucket of maize selling for between Z$150 000 and Z$200 000, far beyond the reach of many villagers in dire need of food. Just this week Archbishop Pius Ncube spoke again of his fears of "starvation by inflation" for those who could not afford even the little food available.

On October 10, 2005 Mrs Justice Rita Makarau handed down her judgment in the case of Elton Steers Mangoma v Didymus Mutasa in the MDC electoral challenge for the Makoni North Constituency - case EP 12/05.

Although she dismissed the application to set aside the election (because of the excessive burden of proof now imposed on a losing candidate by the new Electoral Act), page 23 of the judgment revealed the following significant finding:

"I am satisfied that throughout the constituency, villagers were threatened with the withholding of food and other handouts and were denied these if they supported the MDC. To borrow a phrase used by the petitioner during his testimony, it was made clear to the villagers (that) supporting the MDC meant going without food and other handouts.

In my view, a graphic and rather sad example of how the villagers were made to exchange their right to belong to a party of their choice for food is afforded by the evidence of Mabvepi Mawanga who witnessed a fellow MDC member exchanging his MDC T-shirt for a bag of food at a public meeting. The other MDC members were then invited to do likewise if they wanted the food handouts. This occurred in the communal area. The practice of withholding food and agricultural inputs was however not confined to one part of the constituency. It was practiced in urban Headlands, in the resettlement areas and in the communal areas.

The perpetrators of this practice were the leadership of Zanu PF at the village levels and the war veterans residing in the constituency."

It should be noted that State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa is in charge of food aid distribution. This month he announced the government was holding back a decision on whether to invite international relief agencies to help feed starving Zimbabweans until after the Senate Election on November 26. In August 2002, Mutasa, then organisation secretary for Zanu PF, said: "We would be better off with six million people, with our own people who supported the liberation struggle", which equated then to almost half of the population.

During the past five years, the once resilient Zimbabweans have been subjected to massive food shortages, the collapse of health care system and chronic shortages of essential medicines. Thousands have been abused or tortured by the regime and now live in abject poverty without access to medical care. As a result of Operation Murambatsvina, hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwe's most needy people are homeless.

It is estimated that over 3,000 men, women and children die of AIDS related diseases each week. Life expectancy in Zimbabwe has plummeted to just 33 years. The estimated 3,5 million refugees in neighbouring countries face increasing levels of xenophobia and police victimisation while struggling to survive themselves and still send food and money to their families back home.

All this adds up to a devastating indictment of the Mugabe regime. Leaving aside for the time being the issue of accountability for crimes against humanity perpetrated by the regime, the immediate priority has to be the mounting of a massive humanitarian relief operation. The scale and urgency of the crisis now facing between a third and half of Zimbabwe's debilitated population requires a response which is way beyond the resources and the proven limitations of Harare.

The case for United Nations' intervention therefore is overwhelming - not on Mr Mugabe's terms and according to his timetable, but as soon as the UN can respond to prevent a catastrophe of major proportions. The time has come for the international community to demand action. Zimbabwe must be referred to the UN Security Council without delay.