What goes around comes around

Stephen Franks Monday, 4 July 2005 Press Releases - Foreign Affairs

Helen Clark and Phil Goff are international hypocrites for their belated action against Mugabe, ACT Sports Spokesman Stephen Franks said today.

“It is like publicly boycotting a restaurant for paying mafia protection money, while privately begging to stay on the mafia hierarchy’s cocktail party list.

“If Labour Ministers really wanted to put the screws on Mugabe they would be demanding action from their African mates who are propping him up. He would have toppled years ago if Mbeki of South Africa had withdrawn shelter.

“Instead they have flocked to be seen with Mbeki at every opportunity. There are far too many African skeletons in the Labour closet to risk anything more than a noisy pretence at rage. They know that a good search will uncover fawning praise of brutal murderers,” Mr Franks said.

“Labour railed at what they termed Muldoon’s insult of Mugabe in 1981. Mugabe was demanding that the New Zealand government simply ban sports links. Muldoon excused Mugabe’s indifference to niceties like freedom of association with the comment, “when you’ve been in the jungle for a few years shooting people, it’s a bit difficult to understand”. International headlines condemned this rudely truthful observation for days.

“Ironically, Muldoon was then resisting false African claims that the Commonwealth’s 1977 Gleneagles agreement obliged NZ to ban sports contacts with South Africa. We haven’t heard a thing from Africa about that precedent since Mugabe’s racism became too naked for even Labour leaders to ignore.

“Instead, Labour rushed to send Mr Laidlaw to open a High Commission in Harare. It had nothing to do with the interests of New Zealand. Its job was to hand out aid that propped up Mugabe and to host streams of Labour visitors who came to fawn on him.

“It continued even though they knew that Mugabe had borrowed ruthless Korean troops to murder between 5000 and 10,000 of his tribal enemies in Matabeleland. They said it was colonialist and racist to expect more sensitivity to human rights from freedom fighters.

“What goes around comes around. I can hear funny echoes of their condemnations of Muldoon, when we should be hearing blunt truths about who is really responsible for keeping him in power and who can actually remove him,” Mr Franks said.

ENDS

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