Would African leaders stand by if it was THEIR children who were suffering like this?

At first glance, the alarmingly swollen eyelids of the toddler in the photograph make it look like an exaggerated stone carving.

You would be forgiven for thinking that the child had been injured in a serious bus accident or been beaten mercilessly by Zanu-PF militia. (Since the Mugabe regime resorted to beating up little children and the elderly in their efforts to terrorise voters in the March elections and June Presidential run-off, the latter would have been a feasible scenario.)

However the caption tells a different story.

The two-year-old is from the Tsholotsho area, which has suffered tremendously from food depravation following the violent take over and destruction of the commercial farms. It has kwashiorkor.

Doctors explain that kwashiorkor, which had not been seen for decades in Zimbabwe, is caused by a chronic deficiency of calories and protein that leaves infants with swollen stomachs caused by excess body fluids.

Kwashiorkor also causes swelling, peeling of skin, pitting oedema (when you press the area, it leaves an indentation), lethargy and stunted growth. In severe cases, the hair turns ginger and chubby baby faces shrivel into the features of world-weary old people.

This face of kwashiorkor, profiled in Solidarity Peace Trust’s just released Hunger Alert, portrays the horror of the rapidly unravelling food crisis. In the remote and desolate village of Esawudweni, SPT reports there was close to 100 percent crop failure last season and today there is literally no food.

Last month, Save the Children, a relief group, reported that the most vulnerable children are resorting to eating rats and inedible roots riddled with toxic parasites to stave off hunger. However, the roots cause terrible stomach pains and at least one child is known to have died.

The spokesperson said those who are most vulnerable face starvation unless they receive food aid in the next couple of weeks. The United Nations estimates that more than five million Zimbabweans will need food aid by early next year.

This tragedy is a blight on the conscience of Africa. Since 2002, there have been continuous warnings that kwashiorkor is on the increase in Zimbabwe and that mass starvation is taking place.

Last year, Arnold Tsunga, chairman of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (an NGO devoted to democracy and the rule of law in Zimbabwe), called Mugabe’s policies “smart genocide”.

As New Republic reported, “South Africa, the regional power, has been accused of emboldening Mugabe by endorsing every instance of his election-theft, supplying him with economic aid, and strengthening the countries’ military alliance.”

What is the solution?

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has the power to turn the screws on Mugabe and those within the government who are believed to be holding him to ransom in order to protect their own skins and the fortunes they have amassed illegally.

SADC countries have everything to lose from the fallout in Zimbabwe, including a heightened refugee crisis and disinvestment in the region. If they turn the screws on Mugabe, as South Africa did on Ian Smith, the regime – which refuses to allow equitable power-sharing – will be history.

SADC countries have a moral responsibility to the people of Zimbabwe. And they have a moral responsibility to this two-year-old toddler whose sightless eyes accuse them of failing to act to save the children in a country on the verge of collapse.

My question to SADC – and indeed to the African Union – is this: If their own children were ravaged by kwashiorkor, would they stand by and watch the terrible suffering followed by a painful, emaciated death?

There are sins of commission and there are sins of omission. According to the scriptures, the day of judgement weighs both.

This entry was posted by Sokwanele on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 8:15 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.