[Here we see hypocrisy in action. It was fine to have comprehensive worldwide sanctions against Rhodesia. I don’t think any country in the history of the world ever experienced sanctions as tough as what we in Rhodesia were subjected to. It was fine to have sanctions against South Africa. This was fine… as long as the rulers were WHITE. But now that they’re black… They can get away with everything… even a man-made famine… Jan]

By: Jenni Evans

Durban – South Africa’s top Catholic bishop said on Monday he cannot understand why the South African government is not considering sanctions against neighbouring Zimbabwe, given the success that sanctions brought for South Africa. However, the Catholic Church believes that if sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe, they should be applied “intelligently” and it should be up to the people of Zimbabwe to decide when they should be lifted, Cardinal Wilfred Napier said. Napier said that while he is not calling directly for sanctions against Zimbabwe, he does not understand why sanctions are not being considered. He said that during apartheid no progress was made with the second-last white president, PW Botha, so most churches supported the African National Congress’s call for sanctions, through the United Democratic Front. “Sanctions in South Africa brought us a quicker end to the oppression. But I think you have got to do it intelligently,” said Napier who is the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

He said Zimbabwe’s Catholic Bishop Pius Ncube told a gathering of church leaders in KwaZulu-Natal last week that nobody is pressuring the Zimbabwe government to find a solution to its problems. Ncube is reported to have said: “All they do is back each other up and drink tea together.” Napier said: “It’s difficult on the outside of the situation to comment, but for my part our government has the means to find out what needs to be done.” Commenting on whether the church should get involved in politics, Napier said: “When people are dying it is not politics, it is a matter of life and death and about the promise of a better life and making that fulfillable. Life and death is not about politics.” He said it is usually people who have a lot to lose who oppose sanctions, and disputed that it will have a negative impact on ordinary Zimbabweans. “What further suffering will sanctions bring to the people of Zimbabwe?” Napier asked.

Zimbabwe is currently reeling under the combined effects of food shortages, spiralling inflation and unemployment. Certain Zimbabwean government officials have had “smart sanctions” imposed on them, meant to prevent them from travelling to certain countries across the globe. However, diplomatic protocol has usually enabled them to bypass these restrictions. Last week civil rights groups expressed their concern at a decision by the African Union not to make public a report said to be critical of the country’s human rights record. The report, compiled by the AU Commission on Human and People’s Rights two years ago, contains allegations of government complicity in a wide-range of rights abuses, the United Nations’s Integrated Regional Information Network (Irin) said. According to Irin, Brian Kagoro, chief executive of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said: “There was a glimmer of hope that African leaders would finally publicly condemn the ongoing human rights violations, but that opportunity has once again been lost.”

Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com