Millions fled Mugabe rule

THE EDITOR: I read with interest Emancipation Support Committee chairman Khafra Kambon’s assessment of former dictator Robert Mugabe 37-year rule in Zimbabwe.

It differs significantly from those who were victims of his repressive rule. Perhaps the comments by Botswana President Ian Khama on Mugabe’s removal from power best explains my disagreement with Kambon.

Khama was quoted in The Zimbabwean as saying, “I don’t see any reason why I should wish him (Mugabe) well.

“Because if I have any sympathy for him, I would say to myself, but he didn’t have any sympathy for his own people? But if he cared nothing for his own people, then why should I care for him and I don’t wish him ill either. “I just say, let’s leave him alone and let him try and enjoy the rest of his own life.”

Over 100,000 Zimbabweans fled their country and are now living as refugees in Botswana, while another three million fled to South Africa. They fled prosecution and economic deprivation in Zimbabwe, preferring to live under squalor conditions in a free country. What a hero, Khafra?

HARRY PARTAP, former high commissioner to SA accredited to Zimbabwe