UK Trade Hypocrisy With Zimbabwe

The reset of relations between Zimbabwe and the UK after nearly 30 years of fractured ties serves as yet another example of the validity of the phrase ‘perfidious Albion’.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the various UK governments marshalled international sanctions and trade boycotts in their bid to topple the government of Rhodesia. They promoted and even defended the murderous campaign of terror waged by the Mugabe/Nkomo insurgents aimed at destroying a peaceful and prosperous country, all because it would not submit to immediate black majority rule.

In the 1980s, when their twice-anointed successor to Ian Smith, Robert Mugabe, carried out the ethnic cleansing Gukurahundi massacres against the Ndebele peoples, murdering up to 40,000, the Thatcher government was silent.

Then, when Mugabe applied Stalin-type eradication measures against white farmers from lands they legitimately owned in terms of Zimbabwean law, Britain turned a blind eye. Although its relations with Zimbabwe have been restrained since then, the fact that a once prosperous, food-sufficient country has become a begging bowl has never been met with the moral posturing Britain strutted against white-ruled Rhodesia.

Be that as it may, now that the era of high-tech requires critical minerals for so-called clean energy, perfidious Albion is out to see what bargains it can arrange for Zimbabwe’s lithium (Business Report, August 11).

Of course, the prevailing Mnangagwa regime is crowing about the mineral resources that are now being sought by the UK. The ultimate hypocrisy and deception of it all is reflected in the words of the Zimbabwe minister of trade and foreign affairs. He boasts that he “won’t hesitate to use leverage on Zimbabwe’s natural resources to further its national interests.” Yes, the interests of the ruling regime, not those of the impoverished masses of Zimbabwe.

If the British government had any morality, it would apply Trump-type conditions to trade deals with Zimbabwe. These should include an end to human rights violations and the draconian suppression of democracy and liberty practised by the Mnangagwa regime.