Maravi

Region shames MDC

Region shames MDC
By Reason Wafawarova

THE resolutions, on Zimbabwe, at the just-ended Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government did not only expose Western propaganda, but also sent a clear message to MDC and any would-be lapdog politicians that it’s either the African way or the highway to foreign-backed oblivion. The resolution calling for the scrapping of the ruinous sanctions behind economic decline in Zimbabwe is a test for MDC’s sincerity in its claim to be standing for the interests of ordinary Zimbabweans.

MDC faction leader Morgan Tsvangirai publicly called for the same sanctions and the official MDC line is that the sanctions are "targeted", but the party’s sponsors have since dropped the pretence with Washington recently pledging stiffer economic sanctions. Now MDC has to choose between rallying behind Sadc’s call to condemn the sanctions and endorsing the region’s planned rescue package or continue the shameful support for the illegal sanctions along with its masters in London and Washington. The former route will cost MDC as it comes with loss of both regional and domestic support while the latter will cost the opposition donor funds as well as their only known political weapon, foreign-sponsored campaigns to create anarchy and despondency in Zimbabwe.

The two MDCs are likely to register their disappointment with the Sadc position and dutifully front Western anger and frustrations. While this may portray MDC as a resolute pliant party in the eyes of the West, it can only help further isolate it from the African cause and interest. Sadc basically sees Tsvangirai the same way it sees Jean-Pierre Bemba, the way it saw Afonso Dhlakama and Jonas Savimbi, subversive individuals that needed to be tamed and reformed into acceptable Africans.

The clear message from Sadc is that MDC has to abandon its externally-induced political positions and start approaching its differences with Zanu-PF from the position of a loyal, homegrown political party. The sanctions really put Tsvangirai and his cohorts between a rock and a hard place.

The resolution calling on Britain to honour its obligations to compensate white commercial farmers compounds MDC’s woes. The quisling party has to wait for London’s response before pronouncing itself on the issue. Open support for the British position can only further expose MDC as a sellout political party.

Tendai Biti’s overused rhetoric in articulating Western-oriented policies will have to be at its tired best to come up with a face-saving position. The proposal that Sadc should find ways of countering the effects of sanctions was probably the worst news Tsvangirai has ever received since 1999, family bereavements included. On this he can either choose to fight Sadc and the people, or join Sadc and the Government in fighting his masters. Panyanga dzaMushore chaipo (a real Catch-22 situation).

MDC factions will have to tell their masters that they need to be more African to remain relevant lest they go the way of Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s UANC and Ndabaningi Sithole’s Ndonga, the way to oblivion. The decision to have South African President Thabo Mbeki mediate between MDC and Zanu-PF was not good news to Tsvangirai, his colleagues and their desperate masters in London and Washington. This is the same Mbeki who ignored Tsvangirai’s mad calls to cut off of power supplies to Zimbabwe. This is the Mbeki who has repeatedly refused to condemn President Mugabe, much to the chagrin of Bush and Blair. This is the Mbeki whose quiet diplomacy has irked the entire bloodthirsty Western political set up. This is the Mbeki whose government and ANC declared all elections in Zimbabwe free, fair and democratic. For Tsvangirai, this is the Mbeki he called "a dishonest broker".'

Tsvangirai, Pius Ncube, Lovemore Madhuku and all other money-sniffing opposition supporters must really be extremely sad fellows today. In one fell swoop; Sadc dealt a death blow to puppet politics in the region. If it can’t endorse Sadc’s position, MDC may as well go and seek solidarity from Iraq’s Nouri al Maliki, Israel’s Ehud Olmert and Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai.

Africa is saying no to puppet politics and treachery and MDC has two options to deal with the situation, either to shape up or ship out. What Sadc has done gives the world an opportunity to scrutinise the Western media and choose who to believe between Zimbabwe’s neighbours or its distant detractors and enemies.

Of all five known styles of conflict management; that is dominating, obliging, compromising, integrating and avoiding; MDC seems to be having only one viable option and that is to oblige with the dictates of the African interest in general and Zimbabwe’s national interest in particular. They have no one to dominate, no room for compromises since they are a British outfit, nothing to integrate since their objective is unAfrican and they can no longer avoid engagement lest they be dismissed for what they are, puppet anarchists and counter-revolutionary Trojan horses.

For MDC, it is either the African way or the highway; there are no two ways about it. The writer is a post-graduate student in International Relations at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Labels: MDC, SADC, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 4:12 PM