JOHANNESBURG – The youth league of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has launched a blistering attack on British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Australian counterpart John Howard. They accuse the two leaders of pretending to love black Zimbabweans but say their “main motive” is to protect the interests of their “white kith and kin”.

The youth league has posted a scathing document on its website ahead of its congress next week. It is understood that the document is being circulated in preparation for a motion by the ANC youth league in support of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.

In the document, the ANC youth league attacks Zimbabwe’s oppostion, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), accusing it of being a puppet party of the British and Australian governments, an allegation that has often been repeated by Mugabe himself.

“Perhaps because we sought to respect some rules of diplomacy, we, the ANC Youth League, have avoided speaking our mind about the true intentions of those who have criticized our government’s policies towards Zimbabwe. In the process, lies and distortions have been told about the true story of Zimbabwe,” reads the document.

“What went wrong between President Mugabe on the one hand, and Tony (Blair) and John (Howard) on the other, is that he, President Mugabe, committed the cardinal sin of challenging white property rights. Secondly, to add insult to injury during the commission of the sin, some white people died or were injured.”

“Thirdly, President Mugabe had the cheek to act in defiance of the wishes of the UK/Australia section of the white Commonwealth, and its supporters. And fourth, he and his friends did not allow the Zimbabwe friends of Tony and John, including the kith-and-kin of the latter, to take power,” the youth league adds in reference to the MDC.

The MDC and other civic groups reacted angrily to the statement. They view it as being seriously flawed and are particularly disappointed that it should come at a time when Zimbabweans are trying to garner support from South Africans by explaining to them that the real victims of Mugabe’s policies are black Zimbabweans and not whites as portrayed in the media.

Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of Zimbabwe’s National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a coalition of civic groups, dismissed the ANC youth league’s stance as the “stupid rantings of a coterie of people who don’t know what they are talking about”.

“To say they are completely out of touch with the Zimbabwe situation is an understatement,” said Madhuku.

He said the ANC youth league was fully aware of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and its statement only reflected the true agenda of their party, which agenda was not in the interests of the Zimbabwean people.

Madhuku said it was no longer the case that South Africans did not know of ‘the suffering of the Zimbabwean people at the hands of the Mugabe regime’. Those who turned a blind eye on Mugabe’s abuses were simply driven by sinister agendas, he said last night.

He said it was unfortunate that the ANC youth league, which should rather be influencing its government to take reasonable action to rein in the Mugabe regime, was in fact taking the lead in showing “stupidity” on the Zimbabwe question.

“Maybe the net effect of all this is that the people of Zimbabwe should stop taking the ANC seriously. It (the ANC) is simply an outrageous organisation, which the oppressed people of Zimbabwe can hardly consider an ally,” charged Madhuku in an interview with ZimOnline.

MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said it was unfortunate that the ANC youth league was supporting tyranny and giving succour to a man (Mugabe) who had caused the suffering of millions of blacks.

“All the ANC needs to do is go to suburbs in South Africa and interview thousands of Zimbabwean refugees who have left Zimbabwe and have been accepted in South Africa. They should talk to them and they will probably discover that the suffering in Zimbabwe has nothing to do with Tony Blair,” said Nyathi.

He said it was ironic that the ANC youth league was supporting Mugabe yet a prominent South African, University of South Africa vice chancellor, Barney Pityana, chaired an African Union team which condemned human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

The report of Pityana’s team was tabled at the AU summit in Addis Abbaba last month. It enraged the Zimbabwe government which accused Pityana’s team of being puppets of the British.

The ANC youth league report alleges Blair and Howard are not speaking the “truth” on Zimbabwe.

“Their track record suggests that they are unlikely to tell us the truth. Fortunately, all thinking persons know why the UK/Australia section of the white Commonwealth has behaved the way it has done over Zimbabwe.”

“This has nothing whatsoever to do with democracy and human rights. It has nothing whatsoever to do with newfound love for the black people of Zimbabwe. It has everything to do with an old loyalty to those Zimbabweans who are seen and described by this section of the white Commonwealth as their kith-and kin. It has everything to do with racism,” the youth league says, accusing the MDC of being a creation of the British and the Australians.

Nyathi said most of the ANC youth league’s statements including its allegations that the MDC is a creation of the British did not need to be dignified by being afforded a response. ZimOnline

Source: ZimOnline