Forget new elections; Mugabe needs to learn integrity

If ever a man deserves the oblivion that a new election in Zimbabwe would bring then that man is President Robert Mugabe. He and the Zanu-PF’s failure to recognise the miracle that former South African president Thabo Mbeki achieved in arranging a power sharing deal, by failing to allow its implementation as contemplated, has brought renewed calls for elections and threats of boycotting further meetings from the MDC.

Regardless of what Mugabe’s spokesman has to say about Tsvangirai delaying the deal, the facts remain that the Zanu-PF lost the election and refused to hand over to the winners and then reneged on undertakings given on how the power sharing would be implemented. Staggeringly at a time when the real beneficiaries of power sharing are the Zanu-PF.

As is common knowledge neither Mugabe nor Zanu-PF can even begin to contemplate a free and fair election in that country because the chances are that they’d be lucky to come in second. In all likelihood the MDC splinter party would probably be better placed to form the opposition as things stand now. This is deduced from the results of the last election where, despite every form of intimidation and manipulation Zanu-PF could muster, they still managed to lose. This in turn occasioned the bloodshed on the build up to the presidential run-off, which Mugabe knew would end in an embarrassing defeat, resulting in it having to be abandoned to save the population from wholesale murder.

Notwithstanding and through the miracle referred to above, Mbeki arranged a deal which would give the presidency and two deputies to Mugabe while Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, would be given the role of prime minister with two deputies. The cabinet would be split as to 13 + 3 ministers to the MDC and splinter party and 15 to the Zanu-PF.

Day to day running of the country would fall to the Council of Ministers headed by Tsvangirai and in respect of which he would require at least the ministries of Home Affairs and Finance. As a gesture of goodwill Zanu-PF would retain defence and foreign affairs.

Never lose sight of course of the fact that, as the losers of the election, the Zanu-PF should have been given chairs in opposition and nothing more.

Subsequently Zanu-PF have been trying to circumvent this life saving deal by grabbing the ministerial posts required to achieve day to day control of the country. Toss the MDC the finance portfolio so they can go out and ask the international community for money, which I imagine the Zanu-PF intend, in the main, distributing among themselves as they have done for year after year. Of course the fact that Zanu-PF controlling the country in any form whatsoever precludes any assistance seems to have escaped them, as does the fact that 80% of their population now lives in poverty with the lowest life-expectancy in the world.

What they might better understand is self preservation :

Mugabe, by unilaterally allocating key ministerial posts, ensures that the deal cannot proceed as anticipated. This achieves deadlock and stalls the process, which regardless of what he might allocate, leaves most of those ministries at best barely able to function. The stalemate in turn occasions more poverty and less elite to defend the Zanu-PF when wholesale rebellion eventually breaks out.

At best they’ve achieved the right to tread water for a short while, but no more than that.

SADC is fast tiring of picking up the tab for the Zanu-PF, and Zimbabwe under Mugabe might soon know what it feels like to be surrounded by hostile neighbours.

Which leaves their options as what?:

Standing still – can’t be done; they’ll be murdered by their own while millions succumb to starvation.
Elections – they’ll place third unless a new party starts up in which case they’ll place fourth.
Civil War — It will be like the Afghanistan of Africa with the elite, at best, buying time until the inevitable storming of the palace. Ask white South Africans what it is like to live day to day while waiting for a violent revolution.

Yesterday Morgan Tsvangirai, supposedly the prime minister of Zimbabwe, was required to travel to Swaziland on emergency documents because the country still won’t furnish him with a passport. While I’m sure the Zanu-PF and civil service found this highly amusing, I’ll wager that the author of that joke won’t step in among the population and tell it to them while they’re starving to death from all these fun and games.

As a result the issue of the Congo rather than Zimbabwe was dealt with at the meeting in Swaziland. The issue of Zimbabwe will be dealt with in Harare next week with the MDC requesting that all SADC members be present.

Let’s hope for everyone’s sake that Zanu-PF’s haven’t pushed the envelope once too often and occasioned the collapse of the deal. This will retard progress for the masses that are way out of time as things stand. As for the Zanu-PF, the end of the deal may well mean that very shortly they’ll be travelling the road used by the National Party down here.

Into oblivion.