One year on and little to celebrate under GNU

By Alex Bell
11 February 2010

Zimbabwe’s troubled coalition government turned one year old on Thursday, but there was no sign of celebration amid political upheaval, a civil servants strike and ongoing human rights abuses.

Thursday marked exactly one year since MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister under a unity agreement with ZANU PF. The agreement was hoped to be the start of critically needed change, but one year on there is still no sign of significant progress.

The unity government has remained all but paralysed by inter party feuding, while ZANU PF has kept a firm grip on power. The agreement which formed the government has also not been implemented fully, with ZANU PF refusing to concede on major issues standing in the way of reform in the country. Robert Mugabe unilaterally appointed two ZANU PF stalwarts to the critical positions of Attorney General and Reserve Bank Governor, but he’s still refusing to appoint MDC governors. He has also refused to swear in the MDC’s Treasurer General Roy Bennett as Deputy Agriculture Minister. Bennett meanwhile has been stuck in the middle of a farcical court case that ZANU PF says is the only reason stopping Mugabe from swearing the MDC official into the government.

Mugabe’s party at the same time has blamed the MDC for not doing enough to convince the West to remove targeted sanctions placed against Mugabe and his cronies. ZANU PF has said there would be no concessions until “Tsvangirai and his Western allies remove their sanctions.” The West in turn has indicated that real change needs to be evident in the country before there is talk of lifting the targeted measures.

But as the government continues its bickering, the country and its citizens are still waiting for the change they were promised. Civil servants have embarked on a nation wide strike, with the government still failing to pay them a promised wage increase. Food prices have started rising again while locally, almost no food production has been taking place as a result of ongoing land invasions. The employment rate too has remained in the frightening 90% range, with land attacks again putting thousands of people out of jobs.

Pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) said the public’s expectations of the unity government have not been met on the most important issues affecting the country. In a report on the state of democracy in Zimbabwe one year since the formation of the unity government, WOZA expressed concern over ongoing harassment, arrests and lawlessness. WOZA leader Jenni Williams told SW Radio Africa on Thursday that crucial reforms have not happened, leaving people worried about a return to violence and oppression should elections be called.

“ZANU PF will use elections as a ticket to beat, brutalise and harass the public, and they will get away with it again,” Williams said, adding that the ‘political climate’ for free and fair elections needs to change immediately.

WOZA has listed a number of steps that need to be taken before the group will believe that democracy is alive and well in the country. This includes the return to the rule of law, the repealing of oppressive laws such as the Public Order and Security Act, and ultimately, elections. Williams said that people “do not want a unity government. They want a freely elected government that represents their choice.”

Human rights group Amnesty International this week also expressed concern about the state of the country one year since the unity government was formed. The group’s Africa Director Erwin van der Borght told SW Radio Africa there is growing concern that abuses of human rights have continued under the government. He highlighted the ongoing harassment and arrests of human rights defenders like WOZA activists, as well as the ongoing intimidation of MDC supporters in mainly rural areas across the country. Villagers in Mutoko, Muzarabani and Mt. Darwin have said that they’ve been warned they will be beaten unless they support ZANU PF’s position on constitutional reform.
“By delaying reform, the situation in Zimbabwe remains fragile as perpetrators continue to escape justice and are instead effectively given the all clear to continue violating human rights,” Van der Borght said.