APPENDIX 6
Memorandum from the Britain Zimbabwe Society
1. The Britain Zimbabwe Society was founded
in 1981. For the past two decades it has acted as a friendly society,
representing the interests of Zimbabweans and informing people
in Britain about Zimbabwe. Its affiliate, the Scotland Zimbabwe
Group, has also submitted evidence to the Committee.
2. The Society includes among its membership
many people with long practical knowledge of Zimbabwe. It also
contains almost all British academics with research experience
in the country. (The Society has drawn up and made available to
the Law Society a list of academics qualified to act as expert
witnesses in Zimbabwean asylum cases). It provides regular information
to its members by means of a daily e-mail provision of Zimbabwean
news and by means of regular newsletters and bulletins. In these
communications the Society has provided its members with detailed
reports of the situation inside Zimbabwe. (The forthcoming May
mailing includes impressions of the presidential election by the
Society's President, Professor Terence Ranger. See also his "Zimbabwe.
Cultural Revolution" in The World Today, 58,2, February
2002).
3. Drawing on its detailed knowledge, the
Society would certainly endorse the representations which have
been made to you by oral witnesses and in writing by other organisations.
Violence inside Zimbabwe has not come to an end since the elections;
the worst of this violence is directed against known and suspected
opposition supporters in the rural areas; there are thousands
of internal refugees; there is a catastrophic food shortage. We
urge that Zimbabwean asylum seekers be not sent back; that Zimbabwean
students in the United Kingdom be supported in every way possible;
that every encouragement be given to the efforts that are being
made by Zimbabwean humanitarian and human rights organisations,
through initiatives such as the Zimbabwe Appeal Fund, to assist
the victims of violence inside Zimbabwe, and to alleviate hardship
and poverty.
4. In this submission, the Society wishes
to emphasise a further point. Its long-formulated position is
that it exists to further the interests of the people of Zimbabwe
rather than the interests of any particular regime or party. The
Society has never taken a partisan position and at this moment
it does not support or represent either Zanu-PF or the MDC. It
supports Zimbabwean civil society organisations and NGOs, trade
unions, municipalities and local authorities, churches, cultural
and environmentalist bodies and others whose day-to-day work is
contributing to the search for creative and constructive ways
out of the present crisis. It works with Zimbabwean musicians,
artists, film-makers, writers and academics. We believe that at
this moment, when the political parties are irreconcilably divided
and Zimbabwe's international relations are so fractured, it is
more important than ever to foster all individuals and organisations
who are maintaining Zimbabwe's social, cultural, moral, artistic
and intellectual life. It is crucial that the foundations of this
life emerge from the present crisis without too much damage.
5. To this end the Society itself has taken
many initiatives. It has organised conferences of British municipalities,
schools, churches, youth groups etc which either are or wish to
be twinned with Zimbabwean counterparts. Recently the Society
has made representations to cities twinned with Harare, both in
Britain and in Europe, seeking to re-animate their links with
the new Harare Local Authorities. The Society has helped to organise
Zimbabwean music festivals both in Britain and in Zimbabwe. Every
year it holds a Research Day to which Zimbabwean academics are
invited to present their latest research findings. (This year
the Research Day is on 15 June, on the theme of "Zimbabwe
Futures" and with presentations by young historians and geographers
from the University of Zimbabwe). Every year it also organises
a Dayschool which brings together a wide variety of people and
organisations with links to Zimbabwe. (This year the Dayschool
is on 14 September on the theme of "What Can We Learn From
Zimbabwe?"). Through its officers and committee the Society
has close connections with the University of Zimbabwe, with the
Zimbabwe International Book Fair, with the Pamberi Trust, with
the National Gallery in Bulawayo, with the National Constitutional
Assembly, with Zimbabwean projects for the pre and primary school
education of children with disabilities and Aids orphans, with
community-based tourism, organic and permaculture farming projects
and with many other Zimbabwean non-governmental projects and initiatives.
6. As a result of these initiatives and
experiences, the Society has learned many lessons which it wishes
to commend to the Committee. These are:
7. Despite everything, Zimbabwe possesses
a vibrant civil society, capable of operating at the highest standard.
Its literacy rates are the highest in Africa. Its university demands
the highest entry standards in Africa. Institutions like the National
Gallery in Bulawayo attract admiration from leading galleries
all over the world. Its literature, music and art have a high
international reputation. Its young scholars are the intellectual
leaders of southern Africa. It possesses an unrivalled number
and variety of indigenous NGOs, particularly in the fields of
rural development, human rights, and gender empowerment. Zimbabweans
have introduced innovations in many fields of practical knowledge
and implementation. Collaboration with such institutions and people
has enormous two-way benefits.
8. Civil society in Zimbabwe cannot be defined
merely in terms of an opposition between Government and Society.
Many of the major contributors to civil society are formally "government"
institutions. This is true, for instance, of the University of
Zimbabwe, the National University of Science and Technology, and
the University of the Midlands. It is also true of the National
Galleries and of National Museums. None of these bodies is carrying
out government propaganda: all are contributing essentially to
Zimbabwe's intellectual, moral and practical life. Yet even before
the United States and the European Union adopted "smart"
sanctions, some major donors had suspended support from all these
bodies. The Britain Zimbabwe Society wishes to emphasise that
it makes no sense for North American, European or British state
and voluntary aid organisations to abandon the very people upon
whom the survival of Zimbabwean civil society depends. New ways
need to be found to support them in what is certainly a sensitive
and complex situation. In fact, more support should be provided—scholarships
for Zimbabweans to study in Britain, certainly, but also support
for Zimbabwean institutions at a very difficult time, and, inter
alia, for collaborative projects between them and British
bodies.
9. British aid to Zimbabwean civil society
should not only take the form of financial support. It is important
that individual Britons continue to visit Zimbabwe and to work
with their Zimbabwean colleagues. Officers and members of the
Society regularly do this and can testify to the warmth of their
welcome. We understand that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
website accurately describes continuing "considerable political
tension in both urban and rural areas of Zimbabwe" and "continued
incidents of political violence", and that it advises "British
Nationals ... to keep a low political profile and to avoid unnecessary
travel". This is sensible advice for tourists who are unfamiliar
with Zimbabwe. But those who are travelling at the invitation
of civil society organisations and other partners in Zimbabwe—such
as, for example, British publishers considering attending the
Zimbabwe International Book Fair—are in a different position.
The FCO should seek creative ways to keep such links open. Certainly
where people have been working in collaborative schemes funded
by British Government agencies these should continue. A blanket
boycott of travel widens divisions and will result in the broad
democratic movement feeling abandoned by the world.
10. Unfortunately there are many thousands
of Zimbabweans living outside their country, many of them in Britain.
Every effort should be made to assist them in maintaining contacts
with events and processes in Zimbabwe and in preparing themselves
to return and contribute to reconstruction and renewal. The Britain
Zimbabwe Society is doing what it can to make detailed and dispassionate
discussion of Zimbabwe's future possible. The British Government
should play its part.
11. We urge that Zimbabwean asylum seekers
not be sent back. Those granted leave to remain should be admitted
to training courses of their choice. Zimbabwean students in the
United Kingdom should be supported and increased resources made
available for scholarship schemes.
12. These are the points which the Britain
Zimbabwe Society wishes to draw particularly to your attention.
The Society is very ready to offer further advice and comment
or to submit its recent publications.
Britain Zimbabwe Society
9 May 2002
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