A beacon of justice

by Editor · Published November 5, 2003 · Updated March 6, 2012

It is encouraging that the fearless witness of Archbishop Pius Ncube, a beacon of social justice in Zimbabwe, is being internationally recognised, as we report this week. In a land where integrity has become virtually a criminal offence, Archbishop Ncube is giving a voice to the oppressed.

For this, the archbishop himself faces persecution. Presumably his standing in the Church has protected him from suffering physically at the hands of President Mugabe�s thugs. Indeed, should harm befall the archbishop, the fall-out would be too appalling for the Mugabe regime to contemplate. Nevertheless, he is not exempt from other forms of harassment, such as constant monitoring, smear campaigns, official obstruction, death threats, and even interference with his mother.

Yet, all this surely is secondary to Archbishop Ncube in proportion to the privations his fellow Zimbabweans are subjected to. Apart from the distress caused by Aids, the people suffer from shortages in essential goods as well as brutalisation at the hands of Mr Mugabe�s assorted militias, often arbitrarily. The victims of state persecution include judges and innocent bystanders alike.

Among his fellow bishops in Zimbabwe, Archbishop Ncube stands alone in unequivocally speaking out against injustice. However, his conscientious position earlier this year received a boost when Pope John Paul took the highly unusual step of dressing down Zimbabwe�s new ambassador to the Holy See over his government�s activities.

It will be painful to many Catholics to note that Mr Mugabe apparently is a weekly Mass-goer. The notion of such a man, complicit in such atrocities, receiving Communion will cause scandal to these Catholics�especially those who for lesser reasons are precluded from the Lord�s Supper.

Meanwhile, the regime�s efforts to silence the last remnants of an independent press are going into overdrive. In absence of an independent voice, Archbishop Ncube�s message needs to be amplified�especially in South Africa, the one country that can exert pressure on Mr Mugabe.

Time will tell whether President Thabo Mbeki’s much derided policy of “quiet diplomacy” will bear fruits. However, at a minimum, the South African government should insist, unambiguously and publicly, that the brutish oppression of opposition supporters and critics of the regime (including the independent Daily News) must cease, completely and instantly.

This, however, would require a change of perception within the South African government, one that would be grounded in reality. To wit, reacting to a protest organised by the End the Silence Campaign in London last month, South Africa�s foreign minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said: “We believe Zimbabweans themselves, across party political and other divides, are responsible for resolving their problems on the basis of the will of the people.”

Surely the will of the people above all is that the freedom of speech and liberation from hunger, violence and fear be returned to them, unconditionally.

Human rights, Dr Dlamini-Zuma must be told, are not negotiable. South Africa, with its troubled history marked by grave injustices, should be first to acknowledge this truth.

In the past, the likes of Archbishop Denis Hurley and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu � like Archbishop Ncube both men of God with no political ambition � made known to the world the horrors of apartheid.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma may well benefit from meeting with Archbishop Ncube to discover the realities of life in Zimbabwe under Mugabe. Her diplomacy may well be turned up in volume as a result