Cape Town — A South African Cabinet minister has called on Zimbabwe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) party to "surrender power" to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Arts and culture minister Pallo Jordan said Zanu PF had "only itself to blame" if it had lost the confidence of Zimbabweans to the degree that it could win elections only by intimidating people or rigging polls.
"Any attempt by ZANU (PF) to cling to power through overt or covert violence will only compound its problems by stripping it even further of the legitimacy it won by leading the Zimbabwean people in their struggle for independence, freedom and democracy," he added.
Jordan's comments were made in an article published on the website of the ruling African National Congress, and marked as having been written in his personal capacity. The son of prominent South African researchers and writers, Jordan studied in Britain and the United States while in exile and has a longstanding reputation as an independent-minded ANC leader.
Responding to a recent article by two South African academics in a Sunday newspaper, Jordan argued against what he said was their suggestion that opposition to Zanu PF was "ipso facto illegitimate and necessarily counter-revolutionary, and therefore pro-imperialist...
"I do not support the MDC and my track record in the struggle against imperialism speaks for itself, but I differ most fundamentally..." Jordan wrote.
"It is precisely my commitment to the anti-imperialist agenda that persuades me that our two comrades are wrong. We will not assist ZANU
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(PF) by encouraging that movement to proceed along the disastrous course it has embarked on. Offering it uncritical support because it is anti-imperialist will not help ZANU (PF) to uncover the reasons for the steep decline in the legitimacy it once enjoyed."
He said there were "disturbing parallels" between the arguments of the academics and those of American presidents who supported like-minded foreign governments, irrespective of whether they had democratic credentials.
He added: "The questions we should be asking are: What has gone so radically wrong that the movement and the leaders who brought democracy to Zimbabwe today appear to be its ferocious violators. What has gone so wrong that they appear to be most fearful of it?"
