Prominent Zimbabwean human rights and pro-democracy activist, Archbishop Pius Ncube, spoke out against the Mugabe government's manipulation of the judiciary and the constitution when he presented a lecture at UNSW.
Prominent Zimbabwean human rights and pro-democracy activist, Archbishop Pius Ncube, spoke out against the Mugabe government's manipulation of the judiciary and the constitution when he presented a lecture at UNSW.
Pius Ncube, the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, also expressed his concern about the country's high inflation, food shortages, failing education system and decreasing life expectancy under President Mugabe.
During his lecture, the Archbishop described Zimbabwe's humanitarian situation as 'disastrous'. He went on to say that, "while the people of Zimbabwe are starving, Mugabe and his ministers are busy corruptly trading and getting themselves rich.
"There should be agreement among nations that, when a person goes against their own people, the international community have a right to invade and bring them down. Otherwise people die while the international community folds its hands and looks on."
Archbishop Ncube has been brought to Australian by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to help raise awareness of the current political and social situation in Zimbabwe. He spoke at UNSW as a guest of the Australian Human Rights Centre (AHRC).
Speaking of his visit, AHRC director, Associate Professor Andrea Durbach, said: "All too often the world has failed to provide adequate and consistent support to African nations facing extreme human rights abuses. It is the courageous voices of people like Archbishop Ncube who make the extent of suffering in Zimbabwe visible to us all and offer us the opportunity to develop an urgent and appropriate response."