25 July 2008
editorial
HAVEN'T we been here before? "Talks about talks"; the search for a "settlement";
the palpable need for legitimacy on the part of the incumbents; the public media presenting dialogue as something the opposition seeks; the diehards trying to keep the British and Americans out of the picture?
It all has a familiar ring about it. We need to remind ourselves this is 2008, not 1978.
The difference being of course that after 15 years of sanctions, isolation and civil war the country was in better shape than after eight years of Zanu PF's sanctions, isolation and civil war.
Still we are treated to the rhetoric of exclusion. This is a uniquely African exercise, we are told. The Europeans and Americans should not interfere. But their help with balance-of-payments support and economic recovery will not be resisted of course, just as their food programmes are keeping thousands of Zimbabweans alive!
It is good to see the leaders in their memorandum of understanding pledging themselves to putting "an end to polarisation, conflict and intolerance". The parties agreed to refrain from using "abusive language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and ethnic hatred".
Also welcome is a commitment to the rule of law and "the security of persons and property".
Seeing is believing, they say. It will of course take more than the proposed two weeks to change the habits of a lifetime. The state media continues to abuse the government's critics, even claiming the victims of militia brutality inflicted their own injuries.
This sort of mendacity cannot be allowed to persist if the negotiations are to be taken seriously. The media needs to be able to report fully and honestly on the nation's problems before any recovery can take place.
The big gain of the past week has been the agreement of the UN and AU to come to the table. Their monitoring of the situation on the ground as part of a "reference group" will ensure that the perpetrators of violence are correctly identified. But they cannot of course substitute for a professional and non-partisan police force and armed forces command that the country needs as a priority.
Commentators have identified discussion around the land and sanctions issues as potentially problematic for both sides. This should not necessarily be the case. All parties have said there can be no going back on land reform, and we cannot see any reason why Zanu PF would resist a full and professional audit of who got what in the chaos of the past eight years. Future land reform cannot proceed on the basis of lawlessness.
As for sanctions, there is some expectation that the MDC can snap its fingers and deliver significant changes to other countries' legislation. The sanctions measures, fortified this week, were imposed in direct response to electoral violence. Once the root cause is removed, so will the sanctions. It really is that simple.
President Mugabe on Monday provided as an example of the two main parties working together the legislative amendments made to Aippa, Posa and the Electoral Act. But, it must be noted, the amendment to Posa did not prevent nearly all opposition rallies being banned after March 29 while journalists were arrested despite changes to Aippa.
Mugabe reversed changes to the Electoral Act as soon as they had been passed.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ignored its own mandate to ensure all parties were treated equally in terms of access to the media, that news reporting in the public media was factually accurate and fair, that political parties were accorded a right of reply to allegations made, and that political parties that encouraged violence were not promoted.
What did the ZEC do to assure the public it was promoting conditions conducive to free, fair and democratic elections? What transparency has there been in the commission's relations with the public or the media? How do they explain the five-week wait for an announcement of the presidential poll result in April and May?
The run-off showed, if evidence were needed, that elections in Zimbabwe desperately need an independent supervisory body. The same goes for law enforcement and the judiciary.
A two-week conference isn't going to fix any of these glaring shortcomings. What we need is a sea change in political culture. That will only come with the passage of time and intense hard work. But what we can be pleased about is that Zimbabwe's failings were exposed in such a way as to induce a sense of horror by our neighbours and friends. They all at last saw what needs to be done -- and quickly. With the UN and AU involved and an energised Thabo Mbeki, under siege at home, there can be no dragging of heels.
There is now an international, regional and domestic consensus.
Above all Mugabe has met his Waterloo in the form of a collapsing economy. The days of fist-waving are over. From here we can only go forward, however carefully.
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bud...I know you said that tongue in cheek but I can honestly see it happening...these guys are desperate and it is very palusible they will embalm the poor bastard after he kicks the bucket and employ the services of a skilled ventriloquist or something and get him to utter the same hate filled rants that we have all become so accustomed to of late. I can nominate one individual here who is still trapped back in the 60's when he was working as a gardener somewhere in borrowdale or something and his master insisted he call him Baas...he cant drop that term from his lexicon try as he might poor sod!
Commenter Prem is quite right here (as well as a couple of other articles); I’ll add a couple of points. First is that the Butcher of Harare and his bloodstained cronies did not sign the MoU for any reason approaching altruism, or even common decency. With the sanctions being tightened on them, what little access they had to foreign currency (since their own is worthless) is fast drying up; they don’t want to have to live like the average citizen and even with multi-trillions of Zdollars, they can not purchase the luxuries they have come to expect as their ‘right’ and their children are being removed from schools all over the world and deported home. (They scream about the evil of the ‘west’, yet they wouldn’t dream of having their own children be educated in their own country.) Second, Since they have built their house on lies, deceit, and the innocent blood of their countrymen, they want to make sure that when the inevitable lose of power occurs they will have had time to put in to place immunity clauses for themselves, for surely they are guilt of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide. I would ask all to join me to continually pray that the Good Citizens of Zimbabwe will have their travails lifted, and that the Basket Case may again become the Breadbasket of Southern Africa.
Your analysis is quite pertinent. However, the title of your article suggesting that there is only one way, that is heading towards an independent Zimbabwe may be ignoring Mugabe's monstrous ideas how to cling to power at all costs!
There are speculations that Mugabe's negotiators have made it clear that the legitimacy of Mugabe"s election during the one man run-off was not on the agenda for any discussions. What then? Will the talks collapse under a secret wish of maverick Mugabe so that he could lay the blame on the back of the opposition. Will Tsvangirai got his fingers badly burnt?
Will maverick Mugabe then unleash his cronies to spread terror in the ranks of the opposition across the country?
Anyway, Mugabe's waterloo is fast approaching! If he cannot read the writings on the wall, well so bad for him and his cronies.
Should he succeed to fool Mbeki, he will have to put up next year with an angry ANC with Zuma at the helm of affairs in South Africa.
Zuma and the people in South Africa will not allow Mugabe to destabilise the country's socio-economic fabrics by a further influx of millions of refugees.
Will maverick Mugabe, while clinging to power through further intensification of terror, end up like Mobutu, Idriss Déby, Charles Taylor?
That is the point I wanted to argue about given your view of "only one way". Better be prepared for more tricks from maverick Mugabe.
May God hear our cry and give marching orders to maverick bloodstained Mugabe to clear the stage for people with clean hands to take over and to harness the will of the people to bring Zimbabwe to prosperity.
Leave our President alone. You would not like to open a can of worms, would you ??? Remember all those rhodie murderers and killers in Perth, Australia and elsewhere!! How about all those who had the freedom to shoot and l kill in Soweto and other areas ?? Why clean only what you perceive as rubbish or is it that you have a selective mindset, baasi murungu ???
Leave our President alone. You would not like to open a can of worms, would you ??? Remember all those rhodie murderers and killers in Perth, Australia and elsewhere!! How about all those who had the freedom to shoot and l kill in Soweto and other areas ?? Why clean only what you perceive as rubbish or is it that you have a selective mindset, baasi murungu ???
Leave our President alone. You would not like to open a can of worms, would you ??? Remember all those rhodie murderers and killers in Perth, Australia and elsewhere!! How about all those who had the freedom to shoot and l kill in Soweto and other areas ?? Why clean only what you perceive as rubbish or is it that you have a selective mindset, baasi murungu ???
Ooi DREAMER !!! Baasi I you realise that that you are dreaming. Your negative patronising mindset of a muzungu who cannot manage to live in Europe. You wish you were a BWANA MAMBO surrounded by spear wielding natives waiting to be civilised. How you wish!! God bless Gt zimbabwe leadership ...president RMG and his trustworthy proactive military men and the patriotic team of Biti/Chamisa/Tsvangirai.
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Don't worry , nothings going to change.The whole thing's a crock, a sham and an insult to the intelligence of any average soul.The "Generals" drag out the poor tired and worn out old bogeyman Mugabe wave him about as if he's the "man",and I suppose when he dies they'll have him stuffed and cart him through a couple more elections.