allAfrica.com: Africa: Mbeki Gives Africa Bad Name (Page 1 of 1)

It's unreal. I could not believe my eyes and worse my ears this weekend. There was a whole President of a serious country like South Africa telling the world "There is no crisis in Zimbabwe".

Which planet is this guy from? Did he even believe himself? I will not even dignify such a statement with an attempted explanation. Someone should just ask the President to wake up and smell the coffee. He should ask the millions of Zimbabweans in his country why they are there. SADC met over the weekend and came up with a very weak communique which, although it shows signs of movement on Zimbabwe, still falls far short of what is required, given the increasingly worsening situation. Section 14 of the SADC communique states that: " The Summit urged the electoral authorities in Zimbabwe that verification and release of results are expeditiously done in accordance with the due process of law. Summit also urged all parties in the electoral process in Zimbabwe to accept the results when they are announced. By due process of law, Summit understood to mean that: The verification and counting must be done in the presence of candidates and /or their agents, if they so wish, who must all sign the authenticity of such verification and counting; SADC offers to send its Election Observer Mission who would be present throughout such verification and counting. SADC's words and intention appear honourable, except that they ignore the obvious, which is, there is a crisis in Zimbabwe, which has almost definitely resulted in ballot boxes being tampered with. These boxes have been in State and ZANU-PF custody for well over three weeks. By the time we all get round (if we ever will) to carrying out the count as required by SADC, who is to say what is being counted is the original uncontaminated vote. Only the most naive would believe that the ballot boxes have not been tampered with. No matter how properly-worded the SADC communique may have been, failure by SADC to recognise the urgency of the announcement of the Presidential Poll obviates / nullifies the painstaking well meaning efforts of the Heads of State, other than Mbeki, who attended the meeting and produced the communique.

It was also disturbing to hear SADC Heads of State recognising Mugabe as the President despite his having deliberately set the electoral process at large by failing to announce the results of the Presidential election. If Mugabe won, why has he not announced the result? Surely a deadline for the release of the results was necessary. Beyond that deadline, the legitimacy of Mugabe's tenure would no longer be accepted. My view is based on a simple principle: You cannot reward someone for deliberately derailing a process. What if Mugabe does not ever announce the results? Will SADC recognise him for another five years? Surely not.

As I have said earlier, any sane person would recognise that the Extra-ordinary Meeting was urgently required. (Zambian President Levy) Mwanawasa must be commended for at least recognising that there was a need for such a meeting. SADC has in the past sided with Mugabe at the expense of the long-suffering people of Zimbabweans, many of whom have voted with their feet and have left the country. So when signs that SADC may, at last be beginning to recognise the need to keep in touch with the people of Zimbabwe appear, we must at least recognise and support this. What SADC has lacked up to now has been LEADERSHIP. It would appear that the only leadership that has been there has been provided by Mugabe and Mbeki and we all know how enlightened such leadership has been. Botswana's new position provides clear leadership and leaves one in no doubt that Botswana will not be complicit in the oppression of the people of Zimbabwe. It is a pity that other countries have not had the courage of their convictions and have been too timid to stand up to what is clearly a road to disaster, not only for Zimbabwe but for SADC as a region. We have to recognise that apart from exercising their votes, there is nothing else peace-loving Zimbabweans can do. The people of Zimbabwe have the moral high ground. The government of Zimbabwe has the might of the State behind it. SADC must choose which side it is on.

What is left now is for SADC to realise that Mbeki is not an impartial arbitrator and is an obstacle to change. He gives SADC a bad name. He gives Africa and Africans a bad name. For long Mugabe has conditioned us that you cannot be a good African if you are on speaking terms with whites and the West. Surely any sane person would recognise that this is rubbish. There is no way a competent leader can succeed and bring prosperity to his country if he does not cooperate with other countries. Trade, by definition, means negotiating and cooperating with other countries, regardless of the colour of those governments. Yes, white people once oppressed us but that does not mean we must stop planning and thinking about the future. It does not mean we must cut our noses to spite our faces. It does not mean we must not think smart. The bankrupt, myopic and rabid racist policies which seem to find such resonance with SADC up to now will condemn the people of Zimbabwe to poverty for decades to come. Heads of State especially those borne out of once glorious movements such as ZANU and ANC need to realise they are no longer Freedom fighters, they are now Heads of State, Statesmen, who are judged by the success or failure of the countries they lead. They need to recognise that they now represent ALL the people of the country, not factions of it. SADC must now withdraw or qualify its pronouncement that the election in Zimbabwe was free and fair. It was, in my view, premature for SADC to pronounce on the fairness of the election before the results were announced. There is a tendency in SADC to view elections as events not processes.

It is high time SADC considered removing Mbeki from the position of mediator in the process. What SADC needs is a leader who knows the difference between right and wrong and who is not afraid to speak his mind. A leader who still remembers what it was like to be part of the povo, the struggling masses. The current image SADC has managed to cultivate for itself is that of an Old Boys Club - there to look after the interests of Heads of State and their cronies, not of the people they represent. This image is of course not accurate because SADC does so many worthwhile things.

A strong and focused mediator is necessary because when the electoral process is complete and all the results are eventually announced, we will all realise how much the lack of pressure for the announcement of the results allowed Mugabe to set the electoral process at large. Ballot boxes would have been compromised and the only accurate results would be what were posted on the walls of the polling stations soon after voting.

Doubts on ZEC's (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) neutrality and / or capability are justified. A more cynical man than I maybe forgiven for concluding that ZEC is just an extension of ZANU-PF, that it is just a horse, on whose back Mugabe plans to jump over clearly set out electoral procedures, include the SADC Protocol. SADC must not let the horse bolt out of the stable of clearly defined electoral procedures. The wishy-washy, non-decisive communique, which allows the stuffing of the ballot boxes, feel short of the mark. Action to stop this from happening by SADC was required. I may sound cynical but I am filled with hope. (Tanzanian President Jakaya) Kikwete who is the current AU chair wasted a lot of his airtime trying to contact Mugabe, prior to the summit. He was ignored. There are signs that in (Botswana President) Lt. Gen Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Jacob Zuma, (Mozambican President Armando) Guebuza, Kikwete and Mwanawasa there are some leaders who still remember that elected leaders have an obligation to deliver a better life to the electorate, not to waste time heaping childish insults on other Heads of State.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories

Today's Most Active Stories