DA+has+to+act+against+reckless+aid+to+Mugabe

Letters, The Star, Johannesburg, August 24, 2005
=DA has to act against reckless aid to Mugabe=

I refer to Dominic Tweedie's attack on Tony Leon (The Star Letters, August 22).

Mr Tweedie is a local functionary of the South African Communist Party (SACP).

For him to refer to Tony Leon as opportunistic and unprincipled is rather like receiving a lesson in childcare from King Herod.

The SACP has forever and a day condoned tyranny and oppression, from the Soviet Union to Hungary to Czechoslovakia.

Now, on our doorstep, in Zimbabwe, a tyrant abuses his people and stamps out human rights with the connivance and silent encouragement of the South African government. Yet Mr Tweedie says Tony Leon's, and the DA's, stance has been inconsistent and unprincipled.

Right from the beginning of Mugabe's "u-turn" on civil rights and democracy, Tony Leon and the DA have been a constant voice speaking up for democracy, the return of the rule of law and the end to the economic destructiveness which has now led to that country's meltdown.

And this is not simply so-called megaphone diplomacy. After Tony Leon's first visit to Zimbabwe, when Mugabe lost the referendum in February 2000, he went to brief our Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Dlamini-Zuma to warn of the looming crisis there.

She listened politely and ignored everything he had to say.

Three years ago, Tony Leon had a meeting with then Deputy President, Jacob Zuma and presented him with a report which suggested that the cost to the SADC region of the Mugabe tyranny was in excess of R15-billion in lost investment opportunities.

Once again the South African government preferred to temporise with tyranny rather than listen to the voice of reason.

Now, if taxpayers are expected to stump up R6,5-billion to bail out Mugabe - more than the entire national housing budget - then, indeed, the opposition would be failing in its constitutional duty not to oppose such a reckless move.


 * Motlatjo Thetjeng, MP DA Deputy Spokesperson**