A message of hope from Zimbabwean students in Maastricht

Four Zimbabwean students recently gave a joint talk about the current situation in their home country. The talk was organised during Ragweek by the IES network, the organisation for Infonomics & Economics Students at Maastricht University.

The first speaker engaged the audience straight away with a powerful preamble. He asked us to “imagine” Zimbabwe 29 years ago, on April 18, 1980, as the country finally won its independence, after years of bush struggle against its British colonisers. He spoke about freedom, life without fear, with the same zeal and inspiration as Martin Luther King spoke about his Dream. Within the first ten minutes, the audience was all ears, and it was clear to everyone present that the organisers of the evening were people who held their cause at heart.

Raising of the New Independent Zimbabwe Flag at Rufaro Stadium at midnight on the 18th April 1980

Zimbabwean students in exile
It is only after this story that the speaker finally introduced himself and briefly sketched his own story. His name was Shawn Matsheza and he is currently studying at University College Maastricht, after having been exiled from Zimbabwe. There, he had been the president of the student body of the University of Zimbabwe, and had led an activist group to march and hold demonstrations against Robert Mugabe’s regime. He was arrested, put behind bars, and told to leave the country not to return again. His words made a strong impression on the audience, mostly students. He was telling us that this is real life; this happens to everyday people, students just like us.

Restore Human Rights in Zimbabwe, photo by helen.2006 via Flickr

Matsheza then smoothly moved on to the core of his speech, the human rights violations under President Mugabe. “I have never studied human rights, and I do not know the first thing about its law and how it works,” he started, before quickly assuring us that his experiences and the things he has witnessed and gone through himself gave him enough authority to speak about human rights. He had experienced how it felt like to walk into a supermarket with money in his pockets, but to walk out empty handed because there was no food on the shelves to buy. “An unjust law is no law at all”, he said, “and to turn a blind eye to this everyday human suffering is the greatest tragedy”.

This speech was followed by a huge and heartfelt applause.

Nothing but vinegar on sale, photo by Sokwanele – Zimbabwe via Flickr

Zimbabwe: Once “the jewel of East Africa” now “a sinking Titanic”
The second speaker and moderator Themba Mapenduka shifted the focus on key events and the economic situation in Zimbabwe. He was a little older and used a different approach, but was as effective as Matsheza. Mapenduka stood away from the main desk, where the other speakers were sitting, and paced around the stage while commenting on a slide show. This set up a more conversational atmosphere, and put the audience a little more at ease after the emotional start of the evening.

Mapenduka highlighted some examples of his country’s development between the 1980’s and the 1990’s, explaining that Zimbabwe was in fact a very rich country in African terms. It had been dubbed “The bread basket of Africa”, “The Jewel of East Africa”. This state of affairs was then compared to the situation during Mugabe’s later regime, as “he stayed too long in power and destroyed his country”.

Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe

Mapenduka quoted an African leader as saying that “Zimbabwe is a sinking Titanic” and talked about the economic and financial consequences of the regime imposed by Mugabe, such as increasing inflation rates. The Zimbabwean dollar, “only 24 years old, has already gone through four generations,” he said. Each time the Zimbabwean currency had to be replaced as inflation rates soared. Today, the country has completely given up on the Zimbabwean dollar, and now depends on the South African Rand, the American Dollar and the Pula from Botswana.

Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, photo by Sokwanele – Zimbabwe

This part of the lecture was quite technical, but I felt that Mapenduka made it understandable by putting facts into context, or making comparisons with other African countries and richer Western countries. When he showed pictures of the different generations of the Zimbabwean dollar, such as a banknote with ZWD 100 billion written on it, our presenter resorted to humour to lighten up the mood a little. But we could feel the bitter irony of a situation when corruption has become so great that it is almost laughable.

100 Billion Zimbabwean dollars

Whilst talking about the land reforms imposed by President Mugabe, Mupenduka invited another fellow countryman to share his experience. Ryan, who was sitting among the audience, was one of the white farmers who had been told to pack their bags and leave their farm, “or else they’d be shot dead”. Ryan quickly explained that the result had been dramatic for those who had been left behind on the farms, as they used to be thriving businesses, with schools and hospitals for everyone working on the farms. But everything had been “completely destroyed” when the poorer local farmers took over, with little to no farming experience.

Property destroyed by Sokwanele – Zimbabwe via Flickr

To add to this already convincing testimonial, Mapenduka showed a four minute video summarising what had been said so far. At the end of his presentation the audience once again erupted in a big round of applause, marking their respect and appreciation.

Petrol queue by Sokwanele – Zimbabwe via Flickr

Hopes for the future
The last speaker, Edson Hlatshwayo finally talked about the future prospects of his country and what it would need to get back on track economically, after Mugabe’s departure. Unfortunately I had some trouble hearing this part of the presentation as there were some problems with the microphone. Hlatshwayo is also now living as a refugee in the Netherlands after having sought asylum at the Dutch Embassy. He had been an important activist at his university, and was also charged and arrested, and put behind bars for an entire month. After being released he realised that it had become too dangerous for him to stay and continue fighting in Zimbabwe. He decided to leave the country to defend his cause elsewhere.

Hlatshwayo argued that Zimbabwe would need a different kind of aid from donor countries, that instead of health care and food, it would also need to borrow funds in order to get its economy back on track. He saw the need to re-engage the support of the international community.

After this thorough and well organised but perhaps slightly too long round of presentations – perhaps my only criticism of the evening- there was finally time for questions from the audience. Again this was competently led by Mapenduka, who took a couple of questions at a time and forwarded them to the most knowledgeable speakers – Shwan Matsheza, Edson Hlatshwayo and Mehluli Dube (a silent host so far) – according to their area of expertise. The audience, who was mostly European, seemed well informed about Zimbabwean politics, the current new coalition with Mugabe and the MDC opposition, and the workings of the new government. Perhaps the fact that this lecture was held in a university setting, with mostly students attending, could explain the level of awareness on the topic.

Susan Tsvangirai, wife of Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, and mother of six children, died on 6 March 2009. Photo by Sokwanele – Zimbabwe via Flickr

Most questions dealt with the political situation in Zimbabwe, as this aspect had not been covered much during the presentations. There were questions about the elections that are scheduled in two years time. These questions betrayed a certain level of scepticism among the audience, as to whether “the elections would be fair this time around”. Although recognising that “with Mugabe still in power you never know”, the speakers nevertheless expressed the hope that “with the opposition now in a position of shared power, it is more than likely that in two years time, Mugabe will be history.”

“Mugabe must go”, photo by Sokwanele – Zimbabwe via Flickr

Another interesting question, with an even more interesting answer, asked whether Mugabe should be held responsible and charged by the international community. To this the speakers responded that “Mugabe should be held responsible, but that this should be in the hands of Zimbabweans themselves”. This was apparently not a question of revenge or antagonism towards the international community, but rather that Zimbabweans need this for their mental healing.

As I listened to them, it was clear to me that the young people standing before us that evening felt empowered, believed in their cause and would be ready to march back in Harare in two year’s time, to lead their country to recovery. It was a message of hope from educated and united activists, who held the cause of their people at heart, and would potentially be the next leaders of a new Zimbabwe.

By Amandine de Rosnay

Amandine de Rosnay is a Mauritian/French student at University College Maastricht. She is now focusing her studies in Social Sciences, more specifically in international relations and law.

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