Mbeki outwitted Mugabe

Submitted by Takwana Makaya

Quiet diplomacy was seen as a failure, but it also was a venomous snakebite that left Zanu-PF splattered into pieces, divided and with nowhere to hide.

If President Thabo Mbeki forced Uncle Bob to adopt radical changes in reforming the electoral system, the vampire regime would have told Mbeki to go to hell and accused him of being part of the Western agenda to oust the Zanu-PF-led government.

Mbeki presented a dossier/report to SADC leaders on his diplomacy in trying to break the political impasse that existed and still exists in Zimbabwe. SADC leaders hailed his diplomacy as a success. Many critics said that Mbeki was saving his face by presenting a report without breaking the Zimbabwean political stand-off. But the question to ask is: What was meant by the success of quiet diplomacy?

The success of quiet diplomacy can be pinned on two points.

Firstly, Mbeki convinced Zanu-PF leadership to relax some of its ferocious and barbed laws that would have made it difficult for Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC to campaign freely. If the laws were not relaxed, it would have meant that the MDC had to apply to the police to hold its rallies. Sometimes holding rallies would not be authorised for minor or fake reasons. But barbed laws were removed and the MDC was able to campaign within the change-hungry Zimbabwean electorate.

Secondly, Mbeki managed to convince the adverse Uncle Bob to make sure that a sense of peacefulness would render the elections free and fair; thereby bringing a sense of genuineness to the electoral process. Thus the vigilante group of Zimbabwe and Mugabe’s youth militias and war veterans was restrained from behaving like intoxicated morons during the presence of SADC observers. If the vigilantes were to misbehave, then the peacefulness of the elections would be questioned, thereby rendering the elections not free and fair. But there was no violence; it gave opposition parties space to campaign for change.

Uncle Bob blinked to Thabo’s suggestions held under the aegis of quiet diplomacy. It was a known fact that Tsvangirai’s MDC had mass appeal, looking at the economic hardships faced by the people of Zimbabwe. By opening the campaigning space as per Mbeki’s prescription, Zanu-PF had thrown itself into the mouth of an anaconda because it never survived the onslaught from Tsvangirai’s MDC.

Mbeki was clever enough to see to it that the campaigning space be opened enough for both parties to campaign freely, so that the unheard MDC message would echo within all of Zimboland. For sure, Tsvangirai got away with the trophy. The MDC has the majority in the House of Assembly, meaning that it controls the House. The Zanu-PF government has suspended the announcement of presidential election results, leaving people to guess that Uncle Bob was trounced by Morgan.

So who outwitted the other: Mbeki or Mugabe? Critics used to say that Mbeki was wasting his time in his quiet diplomacy because Mugabe would never listen to him. But, as it stands, it would be better to assume that Mbeki is the man of the moment. Even the Tsvangirai MDC has agreed that the South African president must be given credit for a job well done in opening the political space within the Zimboland (Sunday Times, April 6).

Since Mugabe agreed that he would accept any outcome of the elections, why is he deploying the Machiavellian tactics of trying to return to power by all means? The SADC, AU and international community should rescue Zimboland from Zanu-PF’s vampire operation, whereby the party is willing to shed blood in order to remain in power.

Thank you, President Mbeki, for your tactical and outwitting persuasiveness. Zimbabweans must be thankful to you.

Takwana Makaya is a Zimbabwean in South Africa