12 November 2009
editorial
Johannesburg — THE attendance of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader and Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at yesterday's cabinet meeting ended a three-week boycott of his country's unity government.
This after the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) intervened and set a 30-day deadline for the dispute between the MDC and President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) to be resolved.
The day before yesterday, SA's Department of Trade and Industry confirmed SA would soon sign a long-awaited investment protection agreement with Zimbabwe.
This only weeks after political risk assurance for South African companies that trade with Zimbabwe became available for the first time in years, through the government's Exporter Credit Insurance Corporation.
Things are clearly looking up for Zimbabwe, both politically and economically. Or are they?
The latest interventions by the region have erected a facade of progress that does not accurately reflect reality.
While it is true that the unity government and scrapping of the Zimbabwe dollar put the brakes on the economy's accelerating downward slide, it remains in the doldrums with little hope of meaningful recovery. And many of the fundamental political sticking points that are the root cause of Zimbabwe's malaise have not been addressed adequately.
Tsvangirai's participation in the cabinet meeting occurred under protest because if he had he continued the boycott, the MDC would have been vulnerable to accusations that it was the cause of the political stalemate.
Yet it is clear that it is the refusal of Zanu (PF) to honour its obligations under the unity agreement that is the core of the problem, and the Sadc has been silent on the consequences if the outstanding issues are not settled within the stipulated 30 days. If the past is anything to go by, there will be more prevarication and any number of escape clauses for Mugabe.
Similarly, the investment- protection agreement is unlikely to cover property rights, the main impediment to investment in the ailing agricultural sector.
And its goal is contradicted by renewed plans to force foreigners to sell a majority of their shares to locals. Commercial farmers' land is still being grabbed, opposition activists persecuted and little real power conceded by Mugabe and his henchmen. Such state- sponsored plunder and abuse of office is the elephant in the room whenever the Sadc meets to discuss the Zimbabwe issue. Until the body can bring itself to confront Mugabe, its attempts to rehabilitate the country and restore it to the ranks of countries in which foreigners might be prepared to invest without requiring a political safety net from their governments, all the talk will come to naught.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
