I arrived at the ambassador of Zimbabwe’s speech hosted by World Affairs Council 30 minutes early. I figured by the time he arrived it would be standing room only and I didn’t want to be that guy. I was also worried that I would have to fight my way in, I’m a student! I’m an American! I’m interested! I was prepared to argue. However I walked right into the ordinary business center, down to the basement conference room and signed right in. Since there were only 3 people already in the room with chairs enough for 90 I decided to get a coffee.
Returning at 9:20 I was easily able to take a seat in one of the first few rows noticing that there were still about 50 empty chairs which only half filled before the ambassador was introduced at 6:40. Probably about 40-50% of the crowd was students (for us it was free and for others between $15-$25).
The introduction began with a few highlights of the Zimbabwe of the past and then moved a barrage of the current tragedies: AIDS, inflation, decreased life expectancy, tyranny, the list went on and on.
The ambassador began his speech with a not so brief history lesson about colonialism which he basically used to explain away the current situation. He spoke in a slow, consistently deliberate manner with a deep gravelly voice and a slight British accent. The only slight emotion was punctuated at times with a widening of his eyes. He told of Rhodesia’s position as “white man’s country” along with S. Africa, new Zealand, Canada and Australia. It was here that he revealed two policies of the “WMC” one which pushed to move natives onto native reserves where M. was born.
Rhodesia fought a war for independence that began in 1966 and ended the year I was born in 1979. In 1980 the first democratic elections were held. The room began to murmur as he discussed the March 29th election results stating that although the opposition opponent tried to withdraw from the run off race citing violence it was not a valid withdraw due to legal time constraints. This meant that Mugabe was allowed to run anyway against a no longer existing opposite.
The ambassador then went on to talk about the African Union summit in Egypt on July 1st, 2008 in which Africa seemed to, for the most part, be supporting Zimbabwe. While the US and EU “unilaterally decided to impose more sanctions.” He went on to ask why the Nigerian election which was also rife with violence did not invoke US and EU sanctions.
Before the floor was opened to questions he admitted that the economy in Zimbabwe was in “unprecedented turmoil,” but he was quick to add that there had been some steps toward progress that were being taken.
The question and answer series was basically a study in dodging and composure. The first question was asked about the inflation rate to which the ambassador responded that we would all have to wait for a statement which was to be made the next day, today. The next person to stand up had less of a question than a long winded diatribe which he began by saying, “Thank you ambassador for your misinformed presentation.” The room began to look around at each other. Did we hear him right? He went on in a really difficult to understand accent until one of the moderators asked him to get to the question. In answer to the question about the current state of politics the ambassador readdressed the colonialism argument and restated the rules of the electoral process.
One question was about the recent lack of support from S. Africa to which the ambassador admitted was true. And as a follow up someone asked about Mugabe’s claims that foreign investors were ruining the Zimbabwean economy to which he listed some numbers about how many European companies are currently in Zimbabwe. The last question was a struggle between a young suited guy and an older woman. Age won over beauty and the woman stood to ask about the current state of the farm land that was taken from land owners and given to landless natives. Everyone knew the answer to this question and chuckled as she asked. “Not so good,” was the response. He expanded on the statement to say you need to have farmland in order to learn to be farmers. This response concluded the presentation.
Before leaving the room, I stood in line with the other business-card wielding guests to speak to the ambassador. A man directly in front of me, clapped the ambassador on the shoulder and asked permission to speak to him at a later date about a private matter. I, in contrast, shook the man’s hand, said thanks for coming and walked off.
