H THE CAROLINA TIKES , SAT,; FEBRUARY 27t 1982 .
-ZIMBABWE: "
Joshua Nkomo Out
A fter Plot Accusations
JAN In the most
significant crisis since
Zimbabwe's ih-j.
dependence Prime.
Minister Robert Mugabe
dismissed Patriotic Front
leader Joshua Nkomo
from the Cabinet ;
February 17, charging
him with plotting to
overthrow the govern
ment. The move
strengthens the position
of the ruling ZANU par
ty but stops short of;
slamming the door on '
PF involvement in the
coalition government,
which has suffered other
strains si$w in-,
dependence ilfApril ;
1980.
The severe measures
taken, against Nkomo
were prompted by the
unearthing, of large
caches of military hard
warcon property belong
ing to Nkomo and the.
PF.
A number of caches
were found earlier this :
r month v in the
southwestern part of the
country near Bulawayo.
Nkomo's primary sup
port comes from the
Ndebele-speaking people
who live there and who
make up some 20 of,
the country's popula
tion. Government sources
said the quantity of
weaponry located was
large enough to supply a
5,000-person brigade. ;
Included in the
stockpiles were medical
supplies, sophisticated
electronic equipment us
ed for jamming com-i
munications frequencies, '
' thousands of automatic j
weapons, surface-to-air;
missiles and a number of i
army vehicles.
Observers believe
security forces learned of
the weapons locations
while interrogating peo
ple suspected of armed
robbery in the town of
Bulawayo. The weapons
are thought to be part of
the arsenal Nkomo had
in his bases in neighbor
ing Zambia' during the
independence war.
' Reports suggest the ex
istence of the arms
caches was known to the
.government for some
time, but the size of the !
find's anch the implica-l
. tions of stockpiling came!
as a jolt to the ZANU
leadership, which charg-
4d if had caught Nkomo
"red-handed in a plot, j
In his harshest words!
against Nkomo since!
thier, original split in
1963, Mugabe was!
quoted as saying, "They I
joined us to string along j
while planning for an1
eventuil overthrow of
the government."
i ne prime minister
went on to charge
Nkomo with failure as a
leader of his people and
accused him of seeking
help from white Rhode
sian General Peter Walls !
in gaining support from
white-ruled South Africa
, for a war against his
government.
The state-controlled
. news media has also
lashed out at Nkomo and j
called for him to be j
brought up on charges of !
treason. So far,;
however, there have been i
no arrests of PF leaders. ,
. The ' ZANU- ;
dominated government
began taking action
against the PF last week
when ; eleven PF-ownedi
companies i were con-'
fiscated under the coun-;
Plain Talk:
(Continued From Page o)
these conditions, you
should be receiving equal ;
pay. Women in the !
Work Force is a project !
of the American Friends
Service Committee in ,
High Point. This infor-1
mation was taken from a
booklet which is
available from them. If
you feel your rights of
equal pay are being
denied, they may be able
to asslstyou.
RE. Pago
PLUMBING
SERVICE
682-1605
Fro? 6:30-8:30 A.M
Daily
After 4 p. n;
Iry's emergency regula
tions. The businesses will
soon be liquidated and it -is
likely that controls will
be placed on their assets
to insure they are usedj
for party projects andj
not for commercial ven-j
hires.
- Calling the ' arms
discoveries "bizarre,"
Nkomo - denied any
previous knowledge ' of
their existence and said
there was no plot to
overthrow the govern
ment. Instead, Nkomo
charged Mugabe with us-'
ing the incident -to.
discredit him and his
party and to give ZANU
the opportunity to .
remove Nkomo from his
Cabinet post as home af
fairs minister.
With 57 seats in parlia
ment ZANU leaders
believe they can govern
without the inclusion of
Nkomo's party, which
controls twenty seats.
Minister of Local
Government Eddison
Zvogbo described the PF
involvement in the
government as "an act
of magnaminity and,
generosity on the part of (
the prime minister, and
went on to say, "Recon
ciliation was never in
tended to cover-up
dishonesty."
While Mugabe's shaky
alliance with Nkomo ap
pears to have come to a
bitter end, the prime
minister has offered to.
keep four PF members in
the government, and he
has been careful not to!
alienate all of Nkomo's i
followers. Mugabe's at- i
tacks have been address
ed very speciiicaiiy to a
military forces and arms
leaders.
For his part, Nkomo
has called for his party's
total withdrawal . from
the government. Reac
tion in the PF is ap
parently mixed.
however, and at least one
party member has
declared he will remain,
in the Cabinet, saying,
"My country comes
first." .
Whatever may be the
i outcome of the current
crisis, it can be no sur
prise that the tension bet
ween coalition partners
Mugabe and Nkomo
finally came to a head.
The nationlist
movements ZAPU and
ZANU had maintained
separate guerrilla armies
during the long war for
independence from white
minority rule, and even
the alliance known as the
Patriotic Front that was
sustained from 1977 was
beset with mutual suspi
cion. In February of
1980, the two parties
contested the elections
. separately, ZAPU under
the name, "Patriotic.
Front, and ZANU as
ZANU-PF.
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. Cherokee Art Of Basket Weaving
A native Cherokee woman demonstrates the ancient Cherokee art of basket
weaving at Oconaluftee Indian Village, a recreated Indian community of 250
years ago. The Village will be open daily from May 1 through October 31 this,
year. ' ' - : .
small number of PF
Mugabe's ZANU-PF
won a landslide, victory,
but while many members
of his party would have !
1 preferred to .rule alone.
Mugabe opted for a
coalition strategy. In
November and again in ;
February fighting
erupted between guer-1
rillas of the two groups,
as yet incompletely in
tegrated into a national
army. And many in both
camps suspected the
'other of holding back
in preparation of a
future confrontation.
Somehow each ' time,
the two drew back from
the brink of escalated
conflict, knowing that
such an outcome could
only please the advocates
of white .minority rule
and disappoint the hopes
of the average Zimbab
wean for a time of peace.
In recent months,;
Prime Minister Mugabe
-has repeatedly broached
the subject of forming a
one-party state, based on
an eventual merger of '
ZANU-PF and the
Patriotic Front. Sup
porters of this view have
argued that ZANU-PF
was clearly the over
whelming winner in the
elections, and that per
sistence of an opposition
with support" concen
trated in the; minority
Ndebele-speaking sec
tion of the population
would perpetuate i
regional conflict. i
; At least a portion of
the Patriotic Front
leadership has been
responsive to such
arguments, and in
January, in fact,
Mugabe announced that
merger talks between the
two groups would begin
soon. He was, however,
angrily rebuffed by
Nkomo, who. said he
knew nothing about it,,
and that the prime
minister "has been
misguided."
The atmosphere has
. also been tense due to
' strained relations with '
South Africa and with
supporters of former
Rhodesian leader Ian
Smith. The presence in
South Africa of Jarge
numbers of former
soldiers of the white
Rhodesian army and of
former Prime Minister
lAbel Muzorewa has led
to repeated charges that
' South Africa is planning
destablization of .the
Zimbabwean govern
ment. And on December
18, a bomb exploded in
the ZANU-PF head
quarters, killing six and
injuring as many as ISO, 1
at a time when ndrmally j
the prime minister and
several of his colleagues
Would have been there.
Some thirteen whites,
including Member of
Parliament Wally Stut-.
taford, have been in
detention on suspicion of
organizing a plot late last
year. And in late
January, Parliament
renewed the state of
emergency, which had
been continued after in
dependence, for another
six months.
In such a context, it
would be easily possible
for any conflict to get
out of hand, thus lending
credence to white predic
tions of the 4chaos' that
would follow majority
rule. ' .
Letters to thG Editor:
, Cold Comfort In U.S. Position '
Secretary of State Haig brought a message front
, President Reagan to the Chicago rally held in sup
. port of the Polish union Solidarity a few weeks ago.
"We will not do business with the Soviet Union or
. n.t.-Al n. thai- Sc rnrpccif&rt in
Poland No matter what your feelings about thfr
fonsn situation, inose oi us cunccmeu mui ui.
plight of twenty million blacks in South Africa
found cold comfort in the statement.' ,r 1 .,y
' Pnlanrl ha been a communist-ruled country for .
'decades. By -Western definition communist means
(repressive, in the wona oi reaipouiiK, no uu.
reaction should have been expected of the Polish
1 regime wWn confronted with Solidarity. v.,'"
j ' In South Africa, however, we have ? government
that claims to be a republic where people vote for
their political leaders. In reality,, the 84foof4he
population that is non:whiteas no politicalvo.ee
at all. Yet, that government prides itself on being a
member of the free world; and our government not
'only recognizes that membership but, under the
ReaganHaigCrocker policy of 'f constructive
engagement, seeks closer ties between us and them,
rnnvftiientlv overlooked or exolained away
: ta Imi Htc4nrr rtf rmre'cinn nnnrfcinn and
racism practiced by the government r of South ,
Africa. Racism is written into its constitution and
repression andpppression the aim of its intricate
web of apartheid laws. : . ' "
Like Lech Walesa, Nelson Mandela demanded
for his people the right to vote. NelsoA Mandela has
been in jail on Robben Island for almost twenty ;
years. Like Lech Walesa, Steve Biko'attempted toj
build solidarity among his people. Steve Biko was
killed while in' police custody in 1977. Like Lech,
Wl"ca Xhr7!iTi.lff CXnMifi'x cjtrc in nronn'ne t hl !
workers of his country. THozamile Gqweta is now
in jail.
Why is our President so distraught at repression
in a Communist state' and so accepting of it in a so
called free world nation? I've com? to the sad,
disturbing conclusion that racism is so entrenchejj:
in the American sys'tem that repression of black 1
people just isn't terribly repugnant to us. And so we
are outraged by Poland but do business as usual
with isoutn Africa.
Franklin H. Williams
President
Phelps Stokes Fund
Positive Feedback
I want to thank you for the excellent coverage
which you gave to our Private Industry Council
visit to the Lyon Park School CETA training pro
grams on Tuesday, February 2. We have received
nothing but positive feedback from your article,
and on behalf of the members of the Private In
dustry Council J am happy to convey our sincere
appreciation to you for your involvement.
Thomas J. White, Director
i Private Sector Initiative Program
? Durham Chamber of Commerce
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