I wish to comment on yesterday’s article in your paper in which President Levy Mwanawasa is quoted as having said that, “Zimbabwe is likened to a sinking Titanic whose passengers are jumping out in a bid to save their lives”.
1. As a Namibian, I am concerned that President Mwanawasa chose our land and its hospitality to criticize another SADC country and a friend of Namibia.
2. President Mwanawasa and indeed Zambia don’t hold any substantial post in either SADC, the AU or the Un for them to proffer such criticism. The President never mentioned economic sanctions imposed on the “troubled country” by the Western countries.
3. Zimbabwe is not by any standards, compared to other countries of the world, a “troubled, distressed or sinking Titanic”. These phrases have been coined by the Western countries and their imperialist media in order to paint a picture of a country which needs external intervention.
4. It is such utterances which cause divisions within the African solidarity and play perfectly into the hands of the enemy. Liberation parties born out of the wars of colonialism are under attack (SWAPO, ZANU-PF, MPLA, etc.); this statement by Mwanawasa is of no value to the region’s cause.
5. Lastly, Comrade Editor, the SADC Region is very peaceful and any violent moves to remove popularly-elected governments should be resisted. The region should make use of the SADC and AU to solve differences and, more so, “to lend a helping hand when one of them runs into serious difficulties”.
Son of the land of the brave
Katima mulilo