MDC made its bed and must lie in it
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MDC made its bed and must lie in it
May 19, 2009
By Tendai Dumbutshena
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
LAST Friday the three principals to Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement (GPA), Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara were supposed to announce a breakthrough on all outstanding issues bedeviling the inclusive government.
When Tsvangirai attended the inauguration of South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma on May 9 he told the media an announcement on the breakthrough was imminent. The nation of Zimbabwe waited with baited breath.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s spokesman James Maridadi subsequently confirmed this. He was quoted as saying: “The principals have taken a position on outstanding matters and they will announce the position by tomorrow.”
This was contradicted by President Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba who said:’ I am not aware of anything of that nature. What I know is that the principals are meeting weekly. What I find interesting is that it looks as if there is greater interest in the so-called outstanding issues in the MDC and diplomatic community. One begins to wonder in whose interest these issues are. Are they Western issues coming through national institutions?’
Charamba was proven right as no announcement was made last Friday. There was no word from Tsvangirai or his spokesman on the non-event. All Zimbabweans were subjected to earlier in the week was a meaningless ramble from Tsvangirai on the next 100 days. Those who have closely followed events since the aftermath of the June 27 presidential run-off were not surprised. It is unlikely that any agreement on outstanding issues has been reached. If there is an agreement it is certain to amount to yet another major climb-down by Tsvangirai.
It will be packaged as another example of Zimbabweans working together to solve their own problems. Thabo Mbeki may be flown in to grace the occasion. The reality is that Mugabe has no reason to indulge Tsvangirai. The MDC has reached a self-inflicted hopeless point of no-return. Seduced by the safety and comfort of office even at this early stage he sees no future outside this inclusive government, Mugabe will take full advantage of this. All reliable reports and indications are that Mugabe is stonewalling on the issues of provincial governors, ambassadors, permanent secretaries and the appointments of Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana as Reserve Bank governor and attorney-general respectively.
Mugabe maintains that all these people were appointed constitutionally and should serve their full terms.
Tsvangirai is under pressure from people in his party not yet on the gravy train to open these jobs to them. They watch with envy as Tsvangirai and cabinet ministers ride in their brand new Mercs and SUVs with bodyguards carrying their bags. Their hearts bleed when they see the likes of Finance Minister Tendai Biti armed with brand new diplomatic passports fly all over the world to beg for money and the lifting of sanctions against Mugabe and his cronies. They also know that once the empty coffers start filling huge salaries in hard currency will be drawn to fund opulent lifestyles. They want to be in on the action hence the pressure on Tsvangirai to open the doors of opportunity for them.
Emphasis is being put on issues related to appointments. There is no clamour for the resolution of issues relating to human rights and governance. Eight months after the signing of the GPA the country is still far from tackling the crucial issue of media freedom. A stakeholders’ conference managed by information minister Webster Shamu, Charamba and Tichaona Mahoso is all this inclusive government has done. You have to be stupid or naïve to believe that anything positive will come out of this charade.
At the very time when this conference was underway senior journalists were arrested for publishing a story based on court documents. Not a single publication has seen the light of day since the advent of the GPA because elements of the old regime still decide who is allowed to operate Zimbabwe Newspapers and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation still remain publicly-funded mouthpieces of Zanu-PF. Major foreign media organizations still remain banned from Zimbabwe.
The media conference is just a sideshow meant to deceive and buy time while the status quo is retained. The intention is to stall and get to the next election with the mainstream media still under the control of Zanu-PF with hardly any dissenting voices allowed to operate freely.
It suits Mugabe that Tsvangirai’s energy will be expended in a fruitless chase to get some of his cronies appointed to juicy government and diplomatic posts. This takes the MDC’s focus away from issues related to how the country is actually run. As stated above there has been no serious movement on the media front. The criminal justice system continues to be manipulated and abused through the ministry of justice. The attorney-general is politically compromised. Innocent people continue to face trumped-up charges.
All Tsvangirai can do is plead that they be granted bail. Roy Bennett is a victim of racial hatred and vindictiveness. The Prime Minster and leader of his party is powerless to protect him. He cannot even get him sworn in as deputy minister of agriculture. Tsvangirai watches helplessly as Mugabe unilaterally strips Nelson Chamisa’s ministry of its responsibility for telecommunications. One of his MPs was sentenced to 10 months in jail for alleged violence with another facing a similar fate.
The intention is to have these MPs lose their seats to force by-elections in their constituencies. Through violence Zanu-PF will win those seats and others to follow to make it the single largest party in the House of Assembly. Yet Tsvangirai still pretends that in Mugabe he has a genuine partner. He argues that it is only “residual elements” who want to sabotage the inclusive government. If he really believes this then the problem is much bigger than we realize.
All of this comes as no surprise.
When the African Union urged Zimbabwean parties to form a government of national unity following the June 27 debacle, the MDC’s position was that it did not recognize Mugabe’s presidency of the country. It called for a transitional government of limited duration to prepare the country for internationally supervised elections. This position was abandoned without even a semblance of a fight. Tsvangirai told supporters in Gweru that power-sharing meant that Mugabe would be head of state while he was head of government. He would not sign an agreement if this was not achieved. Literally on the following day he signed the GPA which had Mugabe as both head of state and government. He was fourth in the government and state hierarchy with no executive powers.
Another principle was abandoned for no reason.
He stalled over actually joining the government while holed up in Botswana. He set a number of conditions to be met before he took up his position in government. Charges against MDC and civil society members had to be dropped. Mugabe’s unilateral allocation of ministries had to be reversed and be replaced by an equitable formula. The appointments of Gono and Tomana had to be rescinded. The appointment of provincial governors had to reflect the election results of March 29. Violence on the farms and elsewhere had to stop.
When he returned to Harare from Botswana he restated his position that these conditions had to be met before he joined the government. The MDC, he said, would not be bullied into joining the government. A few days later at a SADC summit in Johannesburg he reneged on this commitment and signed up without a single of these conditions being met. All he got were promises that these issues would be addressed soon after the formation of the government.
A full three months later nothing concrete has been achieved on all these issues.
Yet Tsvangirai paints a rosy picture of the record of the inclusive government. As Jonathan Moyo has repeatedly pointed out the MDC makes false claims about achievements on the economic front. Mugabe now knows that in Tsvangirai he deals with a man who does not stand firm on anything. He does not have to concede anything of substance. All he has to do is stick to his guns and capitulation will follow.
What should the MDC do? It has to be honest with the people of Zimbabwe. There should be no more talk of outstanding issues. These should have been dealt with before the MDC, to quote its leader “took a plunge into the unknown”.
They just have to accept what is on the table. In life you reap what you sow.
What is on the table is a cumulative consequence of months of caving in to Mugabe. The MDC leadership, inept, naïve and devoid of self-belief threw away a position of relative strength. They were too obtuse to see how weakened and desperate Mugabe was at that critical juncture. Instead of driving home their advantage they threw him a lifeline. Now they expect him to be reasonable and meet them halfway He will not do anything of the sort. The MDC made its bed and must lie in it. What is happening now is nothing.
Worse is to come from Mugabe himself not from non-existent residual elements.
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Isaac H. Dziya
MBA(SPM), MSc(GSCM),
FCIPS, FInstLM,B.SC. Economics,
BSc Property Management (2),Cert Ed1
ARICS +447719618637