Zimbabwe: which way forward?

Zimbabwe: which way forward?
By Editor
Monday June 30, 2008 [04:00]

REALISM and rationality should prevail over the Zimbabwean crisis. Those involved in Zimbabwean politics or those trying to help this country resolve its current political crisis should always be able to respond practically and dynamically to the changing circumstances. They should appreciate the implications of new situations, which sometimes may be hard to admit. It is clear to us that it will not be possible to move forward if rigidity and arrogance is not abandoned by both parties - Zanu-PF and MDC and its Western backers.

We know that for close to a decade now, the Western supporters of MDC have been pushing for nothing short of a regime change. Britain and the United States have been publicly calling for this. And the Zanu-PF leadership, especially President Robert Mugabe, has been adamant that he will never hand over power to the puppets - MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai - of Western imperialism.

It must be clear to everybody that a total regime change in Zimbabwe is right now not a feasible proposition. It must also be clear by now that it is not possible for President Mugabe and Zanu-PF to totally exclude MDC and Tsvangirai from the governance of that country.

The balance of political forces in Zimbabwe has altered - probably, permanently so. It may no longer be possible to go back to the Zimbabwe we have known since 1980. A new Zimbabwe seems inevitable as a result of the changed political landscape.

We are not one of those people that criticise historical figures who have been satanised by world reaction in order to please the imperialists and their lackeys. But we are not going to be so foolish as not to say something we have the right to say. In Zimbabwe, because of President Mugabe and Zanu-PF's intolerance to opposition over the years, an arrogant mentality or whatever culture, a tendency towards abuse of power to stifle opposition and criticism emerged, and especially the habit of imposing one hegemonic party's authority on every citizen in a country that has always had a de jure multiparty political system.

As a result of this intolerance, Zimbabwe destroyed opportunities for the emergence of patriotic, progressive and possibly, anti-imperialist opposition. This being the case, the only opposition that seemed viable in Zimbabwe was that which would win the political and financial support of imperialism. And with their intolerance, the Zanu-PF leadership engendered this type of opposition and they got it and today it has come to haunt them.

And from history, we know that imperialism is merciless and it uses everything at its disposal - including war - to achieve its economic and political ends.

In the early 1970s when the United States was trying to overthrow the leftwing democratically-elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende, US President Richard Nixon instructed the CIA to "make the economy scream" in Chile. The idea was that by fomenting economic chaos and making the country "ungovernable", Allende would be forced out of office - either by voters or by a military coup. In Zimbabwe, imperialism and its agents are more or less pushing the same strategy and with very favourable results. They have almost succeeded in achieving their goal with these methods.

We should not forget that there are colossal interests being fought for and defended in Zimbabwe. There are interests of the white Rhodesians that are being defended and fought for. There are also interests of those who gained something after independence that are being defended.

A well-planned and executed international campaign has been waged by the MDC and its supporters. The entire international media has been at its disposal with running commentaries that violate all the standards of balance, accuracy and objectivity in news reporting. The commentaries being run by Western journalists on BBC, CNN and even on Al Jazeera are not different from those of their politicians and other agencies.

These are very powerful institutions that cannot be ignored when it comes to the shaping of international public opinion. But those dealing with the issue of Zimbabwe now should start to analyse things and see things for themselves and come to their own conclusion instead of totally relying on the propaganda and positions of others. We do appreciate the fact that today's globalisation forces us to look for and find global solutions to our problems. But we have a duty not to be swept by the so-called international public opinion, not to blindly follow a point of view, however popular, even dominant, it may be, when, of course, it may be extremist.

We have seen how some Western countries have openly been working with the MDC over the last decade or so for a regime change in Zimbabwe, trying everything they could to get rid of the Mugabe regime. We have also seen their vitriol grow as their attempts to quickly get rid of the Mugabe regime failed and frustration set in.

The solution to the Zimbabwean crisis does not lie in Western solutions - in the 19th Century protectorate government style. In fact, there is a lot to learn from that history of protectorate governments when African chiefs ran to the empire to protect them from their fellow African brothers when they had conflicts. We are yet to recover from the effects of that protectorate colonialism, from the effects of puppet regimes.

Imperialism has never been a force of unity anywhere in the world; it has always been a force of division and conflict among people. They have been forcing and pressurising our leaders to speak their language of insults and denunciations, of name-calling on Mugabe. Some of our leaders have bought into the imperialist scheme. But African problems will never be solved, and have never been solved in this way.

The Zimbabwean crisis needs level and cool-headedness. Even Mugabe and Tsvangirai should be discouraged from deriding each other in such an uncouth and uncivil manner. We say this because in the end, a durable solution to the Zimbabwean crisis will only be found if these people start to cooperate and discourse with each other in a civil manner. As things stand today, there is no alternative to the Zimbabwean crisis other than that of a negotiated settlement.

It is folly for President Mugabe or anyone else to think that last Friday's presidential runoff will give Zanu-PF the free and absolute reign. It is also an illusion for Tsvangirai and his supporters to think that last Friday's runoff from which they had to withdraw can be totally and legally ignored. These issues, these differences can only be resolved by a negotiated settlement.

And the starting point for developing a framework within which to approach some large questions in the negotiating process is to answer the question: why are we calling for a negotiated settlement? We are calling for a negotiated settlement because we have come to the conclusion that, as a result of the escalating crisis in Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF and President Mugabe are no longer able to continue ruling that country in the old way, in the way they have done since independence in 1980 and maybe genuinely seeking some accommodation; a break with the past. At the same time, we realise that MDC and Tsvangirai and their Western supporters are clearly not dealing with a totally defeated Zanu-PF and Mugabe, and the regime change they have been seeking over the last decade or so cannot be realistically posed - there has to be some accommodation of one form or another.

From the point of view of strategies and tactics, the cost of an all-out political onslaught for either Zanu-PF or MDC to gain total political victory in that country is too high. They must look at the human cost that will have to be paid, the suffering that will have to be endured by the ordinary citizens of that country to give them the total political victory they are seeking. It will certainly be too high to justify the ascendancy of MDC and Tsvangirai to power or the retention of power by Zanu-PF and President Mugabe.

The most prudent and logical thing to do is to take advantage of the altered political balance of forces and push in initiatives that will enable them to come together and move their country forward in a more united way. This is what we feel the political leadership of Zimbabwe should be seeking. This is what we urge the political leadership of SADC and of the African Union to push for and help the people of Zimbabwe achieve.