'Politics of survival' behind South Africa siding against McKinnon

By HELEN TUNNAH, Deputy Political Editor


A Zimbabwean living in New Zealand says the politics of survival are more important for Africans than old ties from freedom struggles.

Those bonds are believed to have led South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to back a bid to have New Zealander Don McKinnon removed as Commonwealth Secretary-General at the Commonwealth leaders' summit in Nigeria this week.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, accused of political killings and torture and of starving his own people, is reported to be behind the surprise late challenge by a Sri Lankan to oust Mr McKinnon.

The Zimbabwean man, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said the links between Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Mr Mbeki's ANC were less relevant to younger Africans who were struggling with issues such as poverty and the ravages of HIV/Aids.

"[Mugabe and Mbeki] have this unspoken brotherhood as liberators from pan-Africanism," he said. "They vowed to stick together, which they did ages ago for reasons of changing the colonial scenario.

"Close to 50 per cent of the population in that region is just in their twenties, and they don't understand all the struggles that all these people went through in the '70s." Zimbabwe was suspended from the Councils of the Commonwealth last year, after presidential elections widely believed to be rigged returned Mr Mugabe to power.

Mr McKinnon, who admits he has "failed" to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis, issued a report this year blaming Mr Mugabe's land confiscation policy for the famine which has left half the country's 14 million people needing food aid. Mr McKinnon's challenger is Lakshman Kadirgamar, a respected former Foreign Minister and lawyer from Sri Lanka.

Mr Mugabe began his bid to get rid of Mr McKinnon in October. Because it would not be the turn of an African to have the Commonwealth's top administration job, he approached Asian nations, including Malaysia, which backed Mr McKinnon.

Victoria University's Institute of Policy Studies director Andrew Ladley told the Herald he did not think the Commonwealth would be fooled by any Mugabe-endorsed challenge.

But if people did take the challenge seriously it would have severe implications for the Commonwealth.

"This is not a good cause to split the Commonwealth on. This is politics, and gross human rights violations.

"We're not just talking about black-white issues here, which is dangerous enough. We're talking about whether the Commonwealth is prepared to tolerate someone who is going to be prosecuted in his time ... for running a state which is based upon torture."

He said Mr Mbeki appeared to have been active in assisting Mr Mugabe. A South African delegation last year declared the presidential election as free and fair, and that had disappointed those who fought the apartheid regime.

The election of the Secretary-General will be during the first session of the summit on Friday. An indicative vote will be held, with the loser expected to withdraw so no formal vote of leaders is needed.

Mr McKinnon's first four-year term ends in April.