NO to FIFA World Cup in South Africa!

As thousands of Zimbabweans lie dying of cholera in various provinces around the country - and now in neighbouring countries too - the world is at last starting to take notice. Yes, the unfolding humanitarian disaster that has been happening for ten long years is finally being taken seriously.

How so? Well, Mr Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has said Mugabe is very naughty or something similar. Mr Obama has been quiet, but I expect some words post-inauguration. Mr Bush has said Mugabe is very naughty too, probably after Ms Condi Rice told him who Mugabe was and showed him this place called Africa, an island off the coast of Florida.

But yes, its been ten years of agonised cries for help by a population suffering terribly at the hands of one of the most evil people to ever walk the surface of the planet.

South Africa, the regional powerhouse has for the last ten years led the 'mediation' between Mugabe's ZanuPF and Tsvangirai's MDC. Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" has for ten years failed. For ten years we have all been pointing out the absolutely, totallly and irrefutably obvious, that "quiet diplomacy" is the very LAST thing needed to remove a recognised genocidal butcher from power.

In fact, I believe "quiet diplomacy" is the carefully and deliberately applied slow-death torture that Thabo Mbeki has enjoyed inflicting, together with his cohort Mugabe on Zimbabweans. They have acted in collusion. After ten years, that is obvious. Mbeki has reinforced Mugabe's position time and time again. He feels and the ANC feels, that they owe Mugabe a favour; that his loyalty to the ANC during the Apartheid era must now be repaid at all costs.

The truth is, Mugabe did not help the ANC. It was us, the people of Zimbabwe who all helped the ANC. The very same people who are now suffering at the inactive hands of the ANC. Mugabe put our country at the ANC's disposal. Our country, not his country.

And this is the basic fault with African politics. History has shown time and time again, right across Africa, that most of the leaders never seem to realise that they lead a people. They look at only themselves as important, and see only counterparts as important. And the reason is simple. They help each other to subvert freedoms, to keep democracy at arms length. Mugabe helped Mbeki; Mbeki's quiet diplomacy has helped Mugabe. Mugabe helped Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire, then rapidly switched to helping his replacement, Laurent Kabila. He helped Marxist President Samora Machel bring Mozambique to its knees, fighting off the pesky concept of democracy. He mollycoddled the utterly useless President Kaunda of Zambia... there are more... the club of incompetents all wrecking Africa in a circle-jerk of self -importance, greed and corruption.

But it is South Africa where the spotlight falls. South Africa has the regional influence to dramatically change the course of history in any of its neighbouring countries. It should have used its influence in 2000, nipping in the bud what was a very nasty situation even then. Instead, it chose to side with the Mugabe rather than with Zimbabwe.

Now, when South Africa prepares to pose and preen on the world stage as World Cup hosts, its neighbour has to suffer the dreadful consequences of its inaction. Any firm action taken by South Africa now would be welcomed, but it will have been too late. Mugabe should have been dealt with in 2000. There is simply no excuse.

African leaders, very wrongly, enjoy a lot of leeway when it comes to their governance and moral conduct. They are forgiven a lot (just look at Mugabe's genocide which everyone swept under the carpet). And because they are forgiven for one thing, they carry on and do something worse until they are all behaving like... like... ummm well, African Leaders.

Time to stop it. South Africa must be made to utiliuse its influence. What possible harm can be done over and above that which is already being done by Mugabe? South Africa must act as it did years ago to bring the Rhodesian crisis to an end or if it would rather carry on supporting Mugabe and his (really quite small) band of thugs, then it must lose the right to host the World Cup. There are other more deserving, more democratically free countries, to host the tournament. Let voting South Africans suffer the consequences of their leaders' inaction, the consquences of electing to power a party that would rather support a dictator than his desperate people, and let it be an example to the rest of the swine that rule in Africa. This is no misdemeanour we're talking of. Its a crime against humanity. All 13 million of us Zimbabweans. South Africa could have, should have helped avert it.

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I have little doubt that many South Africans will feel I'm being rather unfair. Let me just offer a word of caution: I have seen Zimbabwe squander its freedom. Our voters allowed our leaders to ride roughshod, first over tiny freedoms, then later (when it was too late) anything they chose. Right Now South Africans need to get a grip of their freedom because I see the signs of it being wasted. You've set your standards too low. Expect better from your leaders, expect better from your ANC - and watch them like a hawk! They are way too powerful - just like ZanuPF.

Zimbabwe: Too little, too late.

On Thursday, one of the world's most respected moral authorities, Bishop Desmond Tutu at last, at long, long last said what has been needed to be said for many many years: "Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe must resign or be sent to The Hague for the "gross violations" he has committed..."

Well done, Des, you're the man!

Now to be fair, Bishop Desmond Tutu has spoken out against Mugabe before, but his words were tempered with the hopeless, 100%-ineffectual-in-Africa, "diplomacy". Diplomacy has no place in a continent where, with a few exceptions, brutality seems to be first law.

On this occasion, he was blunt and to the point. And very quickly, the voice of the other (more self-appointed) moral authority, the United States, chimed in (jumped on the band wagon?) via the vocal chords of Ms Condileezza Rice who said, "it is "well past time" for Mr Mugabe to go, saying a "sham election" has been followed by a "sham process of power-sharing talks".

D'oh!

Saint Desmond and the Angel Condi need to learn that whilst we now appreciate their words of condemnation for Mugabe, they should have been said many years ago.

Africa's gravestone should bear those words: "Too little, Too Late". For that is how it has always been.

The Developed world has a duty to protect the citizens of Africa. They should be protected from both the developed world and the highly exploitative 'emerging' world - that's you, China. Most of all though, Africa needs to be protected from Africans.

This vast continent of 934,283,426 people living in 54 states has known nothing but exploitation either as victims of the rest of the world or by their own leaders whose promise was always to deliver them from evil.

From north to south, Afrca has seen a continual sequence of civil wars, military coups, uprisings, genocides, disease and brutality. The whole world sees Africa as a mineral free-for-all, robbing the continent of wealth in collusion with its leaders. Disease, unrest and turmoil are the tools of the exploiters. The meagre income from the exploitation funds yet more violence as arms dealing scum wrest cash from the hands of the regimes. (Stop violence, shoot an arms dealer?)

And when the people of Africa say, "enough!" all it gets is useless, hopeless, pointless "diplomacy". Stillborn UN resolutions and verbose, but toothless statements of condemnation from the EU and other 'blocs'. Late, as ever.

Use Force!

Britain, the EU and the United States along with all other G20 countries have the power - more than eough power - to force sanity back into Africa. Yes, I said it: FORCE sanity back into Africa. Force accountability into its leadership. Punish the punishable! The Hague would be the busiest place in the world!

Darfur, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone... all are cases of completely avoidable crises. That they eventually resolve themselves is not thanks to anyone; that they were allowed to escalate to what they became, is down to those who say they know better but who refused to act, preferring the band-aid of diplomacy.

Diplomacy is just talk. Africa needs action. Immediate, authorative action the minute a crisis looks likely.

If the developed world forces sanity back into Africa the right way, they can give the continent a genuine rebirth, a genuine rennaisance. They can convert a market of a billion penniless people into one that has enormous wealth from exports and more importantly, cash to spend on imports. From the developed world! Everyone will win.

And now, some reading for you:

This woman deserves a Pulitzer Prize for saying it how it is. She is in my view, the best writer on the Zimbabwean situation. If you want to understand what it is like in Zimbabwe, subscribe to her website and spread her words.

Zimbabwe: The squandering of a country's freedom

I am from Zimbabwe and I have been meaning to put up a post about my beloved home country for quite some time. The problem is, I get too angry. I've drafted numerous posts where I set out with a clear intention to make a single point but became mired in a vicious cycle of blind, cold fury with just about everything. My frustration knows no bounds.

Before you read on, please be aware that my views are not "politically correct". I believe that (for want of a better term) political correctness lies at the heart of not only Zimbabwe's, but all of Africa's many problems.

Today, 50 people will die of cholera in Zimbabwe. Cholera is a deadly disease that essentially is spread from person to person through drinking water that contains shit. It is a dirty, filthy, disgusting disease that is wholly and very simply preventable. It is a disease that like no other is a clear indicator of the competence of a country's government; you have to be the lowest of the low for it to become a problem.

For years the world has watched Mugabe taking bites from the thin end of the wedge. The Third World apologists have even praised him for his "African" solutions to "colonial legacies". They have showered this man with praise as he dismantled the colonial legacy that he inherited. That legacy, aside from the privileges of a white minority, was law and order, jobs, economic growth, inventiveness, decent health care, clean hospitals, reliable water supplies in the cities, proper sewage management, a working transport infrastructure, education and a burgeoning productive sector.

When Mugabe exhibited any signs of his political stewardship falling below what is considered decent, the world and a huge proportion of his own countrymen turned a blind eye - the man committed a genocide - "The Gukurahundi" - against up to 40,000 Ndebele people and no one thought to prosecute him. Not the majority of Zimbabweans, not the leaders of the "civilised" world. You see, Mugabe's crimes against humnity are somehow less repellant to the world than those of Milosovich.

Even now, when the whole world is united against Mugabe NO ONE is prepared to snatch him and his cronies and whisk them off to the Hague. No one! Yet every day, 50 people - and rising - will die as a direct result of his actions. And that is just from cholera.

There is also a steady stream of disappearances of opposition supporters. There have been well publicised government-backed murders. There has been the disgusting "Operation Murambatsvina" where up to 2.4 million poor shanty town dwellers were rendered homeless, their posessions destroyed and their informal subsitance businesses looted and closed down. (Mugabe once had a programme called "Homes for all by the year 2000" which, as we can all see, failed). The world did nothing. Not a fucking thing.

Most idiotic of all, the world is under the illusion that diplomacy can bring results. With Mugabe? Since when? Its time to understand, Mr UN, EU and Co that diplomacy is wasted on Mugabe and is, to be honest, a bit baffling to most Africans - look at Thabo Mbeki's interpretation of it and see just how misunderstood it is. Africans can talk all day and all night. Long after others have given up talking and have gone onto the "enough talk, lets take action" phase, the Africans will still be talking - because as long as they can talk, they don't have to do the dirty work. Someone else eventually will.

What is worse though, is that most Zimbabweans have done almost NOTHING to stop this monster. Zimbabwe has a great deal to say about "Our Sovereignty" and "Our Freedom". A lot to say, but they do nothing to preserve those concepts and do you know why? Because they do not understand them. How can you understand a concept such as Freedom when to all intents and purposes, you are now much worse off than you were under the (often exaggerated) "oppresssion" of Ian Smith or the British?

You see, the majority of Zimbabweans did not have to fight in the liberation struggle. It was done for them by a few tens of thousands of (either brave or misguided) guerillas. Most Zimbabweans sat back and waited for their freedom to be given to them. They waited for the world's outrage to deliver them from the evil of Ian Smith. Not so bloody evil now, is he?

And then Zimbabweans waited for foregn aid to be delivered, which it duly was. They waited for jobs which they got and they allowed Mugabe to start taking bigger and bigger slices of the pie. His flagrant liberties were all, so it seems, forgivable. After all, "he gave us our freedom": He was delivering prosperity, growth, jobs and all Zimbabweans had to do was sit on their arses and occasionally sing the Party tune. But he was also lining his pockets and building a clique of super-powerful cronies who were seen to be above the law...

Then things started going down hill. Zimbabweans started muttering, agreeing yet again, with a few tens of thousands of people that Mugabe had to go. He was ruining their future. He was getting rich at their expense. Fortunately, Mr Tsvangirai put himself forward as the man to lead Zimbabwe out of the clutches of Mugabe. Fantastic! Now Zimbabweans had someone to do the job for them, they could once again sit on their arses and do nothing.

And this is how it has been. A lonely Tsvangirai surrounded by a few (brave or misguided?) people trying to take on Mugabe who has control of the army. And the police. And the CIO. But at least the people of Zimbabwe can carry on sitting on their now scrawny backsides while Tsvangirai tries despertely to stem the bleeding.

This cholera epidemic, this badge of hopelessness, is the inevitable result of a people whose idea of freedom is to chant the mindless, meaningless ZanuPF slogans at political rallies. Whose idea of freedom is to cower in the dust before their leader. Whose idea of freedom is to sit and wait for someone else to deliver them from evil. Again.

Zimbabweans - ALL zimbabweans need to grow some balls. Tsvangirai cannot overcome Mugabe on his own. He needs the peoples' committment to be the same level as his. That means, he needs people to put their lives on the line, just like he does. There are still more than enough Zimbabweans fit and able to create a tidal wave that will obliterate Mugabe and his henchmen. Save yourselves or drown - the rest of the world has proven it doesn't really care. If it did, Mugabe would be serving his 15th year in prison for genocide.

What a waste of freedom.

Help stop this terrible waste of a brilliant talent

I come from Zimbabwe. It is a country that I love, populated by a people that I love and ruled by a monster who I hate. Properly, fundamentally and all-consumingly hate. I cannot summon up enough obscenity to describe my hatred for Robert Mugabe. But I don't want to talk about him. I want to talk about my very good friend, L.

L is a very senior advertising copywriter, editor and wordsmith at large - arguably Zimbabwe's top talent in that field. Twenty-two years of experience. She still lives there, unlike me, who got out eight years ago. Despite everything - the horrific political situation and the utter destruction of the economy, L like the majority of Zimbabweans, has managed to survive because Zimbabweans do one thing very well: they "make a plan". "Making a plan" should actually read, "finding a way to get round yet another hugely difficult obstacle".

But things have rapidly ground to a complete halt in Zimbabwe. Inflation which ran into the stratosphere has finally completely killed the local currency. This means that it is pretty much worthless. If you want to buy something now, pay in US dollars. And for many Zimbabweans, that is a problem because Zimbabwe ain't earning much of any currency right now - it has almost nothing to export and a wasteland of a productive sector. Thanks, Mugabe.

L, now desperate to earn foreign currency so she and her dependents (dependents = children, domestic workers, domestic workers' children, her retired mother, extended family, pets and others to whom she happily gives) can buy food and other basic staples, is coming over to the UK to train as a carer. Yes, to learn how to wipe old peoples' arses. It seems Zimbabweans are good carers - and I know L would be brilliant. She's a very kind, gentle woman. But this is bullshit!

I do not want to devalue the work of carers at all, but L is a WRITER. A bloody good writer who, to be frank, could outclass some of the very top copywriters over here in the UK. Her skill is very hard-won. Like all other Zimbabweans, copywriters have had to invent and innovate their way around problems one does not encounter in any other country. Her skills have been honed under the most difficult marketing conditions and she's been successful. Her clients have benefited. She has held several Creative Directorships and she has won awards. Lots of them.

She is conscientious. She used to work with me and I have seen her burning midnight oil, often. I have seen her battling to improve a piece of writing that is more than good enough. Her career matters so much to her. I write copy because I have to. She writes copy because it fulfills her. Every comma, every full stop she places is agonised over. Her delete button is probably worn through because I remember how before she had a computer, she used to cross-out and re-write the same sentence sometimes dozens of times.

She has written to overseas agencies asking for work but with the storm of job applications that lands daily on the desks of creative Directors across the world, she has not managed to get much work. Those who do read her application and her CV are doubtless impressed but hell, "Zimbabwe's a long way away. It just wouldn't work." Rubbish!

• Zimbabwe, give or take an hour or two, is in the same timezone as the UK.
• From my own experience I can tell you that I have some clients in London, the same city as me, who I have never met, communicating only through emails and phone calls.
• Sophistication is not an issue. The one thing I discovered once joining the creative industry in the UK is that it is actually not much more sophisticated or clever than that of Zimbabwe's. Just look at the fecking Halifax ads!
• L would cost a fraction of the hourly rate of a UK writer and deliver huge bang for the buck
• She has UK right of abode
  

Much as I admire L's "I'll do whatever it takes" approach, I am not having it.

Advertising is a horrible, cut-throat industry. Very few people like L survive - she's too nice. Too gentle. I fear for her. I fear that the industry that she has loved, immersed herself in, helped to drive, helped to improve, won't give her anything back. She'll get swept aside in the wake of the race to win more D&AD awards, more Cleos.

I also know that there are people in the advertising industry who understand the value of people like L. People who when they read this will bother to contact me. People who want, like a Zimbabwean, to make a plan.

Please contact me. Please pass this on. I have her CV and her portfolio here.