By Caroline Hooper-Box
South African and Zimbabwean church leaders have condemned the South African government and other African leaders for their silence on the state-backed human rights violations in Zimbabwe, and have called for international solidarity to dismantle the national youth service training programme.
Speaking at the launch of a report detailing youth militia training and activities in Zimbabwe, the church leaders said the youth programme was a paramilitary operation used by the ruling Zanu-PF party "to maintain their hold on power by whatever means necessary, including torture, rape, murder and arson".
The report describes the use of the militias to carry forward the Zanu-PF political agenda in everything from manipulating election results to controlling the food distribution process to the party's advantage.
It was compiled using interviews with former militia members, victims of militia torture, state-controlled and independent media reports, militia camp training materials, and reports by international and Zimbabwean human rights groups.
Popularly known as "Green Bombers", the militia - clad in trademark green fatigues and red or green berets - have become a common and fearsome sight.
The Sunday Independent reported in March that hundreds of these youths, tired of being beaten and starved by their handlers, were fleeing to South Africa. Those interviewed said they underwent rigorous physical fitness programmes, weapons training, and political indoctrination in camps officially called national youth training centres.
Speaking in Johannesburg last week, South African Catholic Bishop Kevin Dowling said the human rights violations committed by the youth militia "cannot be maintained and justified by the SADC region and by our South African government in particular. We condemn our political leadership for being quiet about this".
Last month southern African leaders called on the Western countries to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe. Earlier this year South African foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa would never criticise the Zimbabwean government.
Dowling said the Solidarity Peace Trust - a grouping of churches led by Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube and South African Anglican Bishop Rubin Phillip - challenged "governments and all those who are supporting in any way an absolutely inconceivable abuse of human rights and crimes against humanity" to bring down an unjust regime.
Ncube said pressure should be brought to bare on African leaders and on Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to "stop this abuse and killing by young people". Between 30 000 and 50 000 young people had been trained, he said.
"The SADC and African Union should insist that these things stop so that our young people, whose lives are being stolen by politicians, are again free."
In February this year Mugabe invited Cape Town Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane to mediate between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC, after the crisis engendered by last year's flawed presidential election.
Ndungane at the time said the invitation "opened a new window of hope". But the mediation initiative has failed, Ncube said, shot down by hardliners in the ruling party.