MUTAMBARA NEVER FORGOT MY WORDS! (2nd comment).

Comrade Marime,

Of cause there was a crisis in Zim 20yrs ago: the people of Matebeleland and Midlands regions were reeling from the brunt of Mugabe's self-proclaimed "moment of madness" having butchered some estimated 20,000 innocent Ndebele civilians in the well documented orgy of genocide by Mugabe's FifthBrigade crack unit. This was no different to the orgy of violence that has been perpetrated by Zanu pf in the Mashonaland, Manicaland and Midlands in the run-up to the presidential run-off elections last June, only that more people (almost exclusively Ndebeles) were killed and maimed 20 yrs ago.

Marime just because you are the unashamed rotten Shona tribalist that you are today, does not invalidate or minimize the tragic holocaust that occurred 20yrs ago when you were staunch Zanu pf supporter and as well as a mind-numbed Mugabe sycophant. The violent repression that the MDC has endured from Mugabe's regime in the past 8yrs is a microcosm of that which was perpetrated on the Ndebele people in the first 8yrs of Zimbabwe's political independence from the racist white minority regime.

When Mugabe was busy gouging out one 'eye' (i.e, innocent Ndebele civilians) in the 80's, the other eye (i.e, the likes of you Marime and the white farming community) looked the other way and 'saw nothing'. Now that you and the white farming community are the victims of Mugabe's blood-thirsty appetite you expect sympathy from the other 'eye' that was yesteryear's victim.

Furthermore, we need to interrogate the deafening silence of the international community (in addition to the convenient silence of the Mashonaland and Manicaland regions as well as that of the white farming community) when Mugabe committed similarly egregious crimes against humanity in the 80's. Why didn't anyone see the need for the West to intervene then? This does not necessarily imply that there's no need for&nb sp;intervention in the Zim crisis today by the international community.

This is the point that Mutambara and the writer below are making, and this is the moral equivalence argument that you seem to brazenly ignore in your myopic analysis and appreciation of the comprehensive nature of Zim's tragic political crisis.

Vele Ngeki iphele lindaba!

Mbuso