(HERALD) Zanu-PF should set conditions for run-off
Zanu-PF should set conditions for run-offTHE centrality of sanctions to voting patterns is why they have to go before ZEC can announce the date for the run-off. That is if Zanu-PF and the Government it leads are serious about wanting to defend the gains of the revolution, writes Caesar Zvayi
THE MDC-T leadership and their handlers have set and are harping on conditions for participating in the impending run-off, which conditions, they say, are about levelling the ‘‘playing field,’’ whatever that means since what is at stake in Zimbabwe is not a playing matter.
High-ranking MDC-T officials have been quoted in the local opposition, South African and Western media saying they have come up with a number of conditions to be met for a second round of voting, one of which is that Western observers and the UN be invited to the run-off.
In suspiciously similar language British foreign secretary David Milliband and his American counterpart Condoleeza Rice have been making the same demands saying ‘‘international’’ supervision, a euphismism for London and Washington’s involvement, was integral to a credible run-off.
I agree with their calls for a levelling of the election environment as a precondition for the run-off let alone any other election in Zimbabwe.
In other words there should be no run-off until the factors militating against any competitor are removed.
I, however, differ with them on who needs to do the levelling, and in which direction the scales are tipped.
It is a fact that Zanu-PF addressed all of the MDC’s concerns during the inter-party dialogue held under the aegis of Sadc as evidenced by amendments to AIPPA, BSA, POSA and the Electoral Laws.
Ironically, the crybaby opposition was let-off the hook over the illegal sanctions, and to this day, continues refusing to concede ground on the illegal economic sanctions whose existence they inanely refuse to acknowledge.
It is an indisputable fact that the illegal sanctions were imposed with a view to ensuring that Zimbabwean voters become disenchanted with the Government and see Tsvangirai and his cohorts as saviours who will deliver ‘‘a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning’’ without sanctions.
It is these economic sanctions that were supposed to see Zanu-PF deposed by one of two methods either through a popular uprising in the streets using the colour template the Anglo-Saxon alliance perfected in Eastern Europe or through an avalanche of protest votes at the polls, which is what nearly happened on March 29.
This agenda was outlined by former US assistant secretary of state for African Affairs in the Reagan administration, Chester Crocker, who in a foreign policy testimony to the US Senate in 2001, said "to separate the Zimbabwean people from Zanu-PF we are going to have to make their economy scream, and I hope you senators have the stomach for what you have to do."
Crocker’s words, a carry-over from the utterances of the then secretary of state Henry Kissinger who said the US had to make the Chilean economy scream in order to topple the left-wing government of Salvador Allende in 1973, culminated in the drafting of the US sanctions law, the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act that was signed into law by George W. Bush.
The ZDERA not only provided for the cutting of Zimbabwe’s lines of credit from all multilateral lending institutions but also provided for funding for the MDC and other quasi-opposition groupings in Zimbabwe in pursuit of illegal regime change.
It is important to note that the sanctions idea came from the same Crocker who was opposed to the imposition of sanctions against Apartheid South Africa preferring what he called "constructive engagement," which latter became Washington’s official policy towards the racist regime in Pretoria.
The premise was that instead of economic sanctions on, and divestment from Pretoria, the West had to ‘‘use incentives to encourage South Africa to gradually move away from apartheid.’’
The sanctions law was drafted with the assistance of the MDC legal desk and had the blessing of sworn white supremacists like Senator Jesse Helms.
The sanctions law, ZDERA, compels American officials in the International Monetary Fund and multilateral development banks to "oppose and vote against any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe," and to vote against any reduction or cancellation of "indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe".
What is more, ZDERA also interdicts debt relief to Zimbabwe forcing the country to spend its scarce foreign currency reserves servicing debts instead of investing in economic development, particularly boosting the ailing industry that was sabotaged by the MDC and its allies.
The world saw how, in 2003, the IMF was compelled to lay siege on Zimbabwe by instituting compulsory withdrawal procedures and giving the country ultimatums to clear arrears in the General Resources Account when countries like Liberia that had worse arrears were not subjected to similar pressure.
The European Union also has sanctions on Zimbabwe, because in addition to the travel ban imposed on top-Government officials on February 18 2002, the EU announced that it had also suspended budgetary support to Zimbabwe and terminated "financial support for all projects" except "those in direct support of the population", a euphemism for opposition non-governmental organisations intrinsically linked to the MDC.
Apart from these overt sanctions, Zimbabwe is also under covert sanctions that saw the West politicise the HIV and Aids pandemic, which is why Zimbabwe gets an average of just US$4 per HIV-infected person compared to the US$74 given other countries.
The net effect of these sanctions is the worsening of the socio-economic situation with severe consequences for innocent people, many of whom sought to punish Zanu-PF at the polls while letting Barabas, the opposition, go scotfree
Not only that, the lies MDC-T leaders and their allies peddle about Zimbabwe have foisted an artificial investment risk tag on the country, a tag that scares away potential investors and tourists.
It is only because of the MDC’s support for sanctions that Western countries got the pretext to impose them, and it is the opposition’s continued support for the illegal sanctions that sustains them.
So as long as those in the MDC play to the foreign gallery by refusing to renounce the sanctions, they tilt the vote, primarily the urban constituencies, in their favour at the expense of the livelihoods of millions of suffering Zimbabweans.
The centrality of sanctions to voting patterns is why they have to go before ZEC can announce the date for the run-off. That is if Zanu-PF and the Government it leads are serious about wanting to defend the gains of the revolution.
The MDC has been left with the best of both worlds long enough, that is lying that the environment is tilted in favour of Zanu-PF while systematically working with its allies to ensure that the people are really squeezed so that they vote with their stomachs instead of their heads.
This is not to say a mere announcement that the sanctions have been removed should be grounds for the run-off, no. The scrapping of the sanctions should be followed by a period during which the economy is allowed to normalise, probably 6 or 8 months, only then can the run-off be held with Zanu-PF and MDC-T going to the people with their programmes, and the people using their heads not tummies to cast the ballots.
I am sure Tsvangirai will be lucky to come out with 5 percent of the votes cast for the simple reason that he has nothing to offer the people.
No sane Zimbabwean can be swayed by Tsvangirai’s promise of jobs and food and Thokozani Khupe’s pledge of sanitary pads to Zanu-PF"s progressive empowerment programmes that aim to see not only land but the mines and manufacturing industries in the hands of the black majority.
Alternatively if the Westerners and their lackeys in the MDC do not want to renounce the sanctions, we can wait for the interventions the Government has put in place, among them the Look East Policy, investment in agriculture and capacitating the manufacturing and export sectors to bear fruit before going for the run-off.
Food for thought.
l Feedback: caesar.zvayi@zimpapers. co.zw
Labels: ELECTIONS, MDC, ZIMABWE
posted by MrK @ 1:28 PM
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