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Zimbabwe is deteriorating into chaos again
There has been so much activity in and about Zimbabwe in the last month or so.
From the look of things, it appears as if the situation, especially the working relationship between the parties that were supposed to be working together to bring back some stability and to promote both political and economic recovery, is deteriorating fast.
ZANU-PF and the MDC are hardly on talking terms.
By their own admission, the MDC, through party spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa, says they are dealing with a whole array of issues affecting Zimbabweans, “ranging from the state of the inclusive government, issues to do with the constitution-making process, the dialogue, the general life of the GPA, you name it”.
Chamisa conceded on Wednesday that “the environment is fast deteriorating and we are going to receive reports from all the provinces on what is happening in the country”.
It has been over a year now since Morgan Tsvangirai became Prime Minister in the inclusive government yet it is becoming clearer by the day that he and his party have absolutely no power, authority or influence within the government.
From the very beginning, the people discouraged and warned the MDC from joining the unity government, pointing out that Mugabe and ZANU-PF could not be trusted and that they were only showing constrained agreement to buy time while they regrouped.
The MDC chose not to heed the people’s concerns and warnings and went ahead and joined the government, hoping that Mugabe would be guided and compelled to adhere to the terms as agreed and outlined in the so-called Global Political Agreement, a bastard of an agreement conjured up by disgraced former South African president Thabo Mbeki as his face saver before he was booted out of office.
Mugabe, once terribly weakened after the elections, has roared back and is doing as he pleases with the MDC.
Time and time again, Mugabe makes unilateral decisions without even bothering to consult, let alone inform, the MDC leader.
Since joining the unity government, the MDC has popularized the words “null and void”, as they always lamely try to resist Mugabe’s moves and decisions.
The latest in these unilateral decisions concerns forcing foreign companies to hand over 51 percent of their companies’ shares to indigenous Zimbabweans.
It is the whole mess all over again but this time, instead of farms, they are going after foreign-owned companies.
A law that forces white-owned companies to hand over 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans went into force this week.
It was reportedly passed in 2008, before Mugabe entered the current coalition government with Tsvangirai whose party predictably said the new law is "null and void".
The new law will undoubtedly dash any interest investors might have in the country at a time when concerted efforts are being made by those sympathetic to Zimbabwe to bring in more investors to rekindle its economy.
This is just a repeat of the land grab.
Ten years on, commercial agriculture is yet to recover from the farm invasions. And now this is about to be repeated but this time with companies instead of farms.
To make matters worse, the MDC cannot claim to have achieved anything of note during this period in a unity government. Most of their concerns remain unresolved, with ZANU-PF confidently declaring that they are not going to be making any more concessions until the MDC gets sanctions against Mugabe and his ZANU-PF cronies lifted.
It is clearly a no-win situation for the MDC. They are not getting any cooperation from ZANU-PF and yet, they are not getting any more support from the people for their continued presence in this government.
Actually, for some time now, pressure has been mounting on the MDC to pull out of the one-year old unity government.
But the MDC remains there with little to show for their perseverance.
They have no power to wield nor can they implement any of their governmental ideas.
The army and the police still remain firmly behind Mugabe and still pay little regard to Tsvangirai and his party. They actually loathe him and view him with disdain and he wouldn’t dare count on them.
Mugabe continues to refuse to implement a majority of the agreed upon terms of the agreement and continues to make unilateral decisions as if the MDC is not part of the government.
There continues to be deliberate haggling, especially from ZANU-PF, as a ploy to delay reaching any agreement that might unblock any logjam in the never-ending negotiations.
The first stages in the drafting of a new constitution are already mired in violence that is being perpetrated by ZANU-PF loyalists who believe and fear that a new constitution would greatly weaken Mugabe’s hold on power, yet the constitution-making process is a key component in the Global Political Agreement and would pave the way for the holding of free and fair elections.
The media still remains under the vice grip of Mugabe and ZANU-PF operatives who always report the negative things about the MDC but ignore those that are viewed as positive.
Meanwhile, civil society leaders have reported an increase in the number of death threats against them. They say that “the threats are from suspected security agents linked to ZANU- PF” who are out to stop their countrywide activities on the constitution-making process.
The National Director of ZimRights, Okay Machisa, confirmed the threats having been made, saying that the last three months have seen an escalation in the number of threats, intimidation and harassment leveled against members of civil society. He said the threats are coming in the form of cell phone text messages sent from a given line and also through emails.
Just last week, Gertrude Hambira, Secretary General of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe was, once again, hounded out of the country by state agents.
Her crime: suspected of having produced and published a documentary “exposing rampant human rights abuses by ZANU-PF supporters and the state on the country’s farms”.
Reports say that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has been urged to intervene on behalf of GAPWUZ, as the union’s leadership remains in hiding over police threats and harassment.
The entire union leadership is reported to have gone underground after increased threats and harassment by officials from the Joint Operations Command, and a number of police raids on the union’s offices in Harare. Hambira, the union’s Secretary General, has since fled to South Africa, where she is said to be staying in a safe house.
Meanwhile, civic groups say the harassment is “part of the works of the Joint Operations Command, a committee comprising commanders of all the security wings of the state, which are led by die-hard Mugabe loyalists”.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) this week produced a report titled ‘Zimbabwe: Political and Security Challenges to the Transition’ and warned that Zimbabwe could slide back into turmoil “if the military leadership and others loyal to Mugabe are allowed to continue blocking reforms necessary for economic and political stability”.
Looking at the one-year-old coalition government, the ICG said that although there have been some achievements made, “the democratic transition remains at risk, especially from hard-line security officials’ fiercely loyal to Mugabe”.
The heart of the matter is that, given all these negatives, stagnation, non-cooperation and the continued stubborn resistance from Mugabe and ZANU-PF, there should not be any easing off of sanctions, pressure or any other punitive measures applied against them.
Mugabe has been given a lot of room, a lot of unwarranted time and a lot of unnecessary respect at a time he was defying other leaders and messing up the country and the region.
It is time to move back a few paces and view what the world’s handiwork on Zimbabwe has been.
Enough is enough and Zuma must remember that as he takes tea with the British.
What do you think?
Send me your comments on tano@swradioafrica.com
We are not going to move back an inch, with or without the MDC. People have given all these leaders enough time and space and all we got were noises from their uncompromising stubbornness.
“We have come this far,” said a fellow writer, “we have removed ZANU-PF’s majority; they are not even the ruling party any more. Mugabe had to negotiate; there are non-Mugabe worshippers in cabinet and one unacknowledged fact is up and down the country, policemen and soldiers are waiting for the moment when we will finally attain independence from ZANU-PF. So do not be moved.”
I hope he is right. Actually, I pray he is right.
I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, Thursday March 4th, 2010.
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