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(TALKZIMBABWE) Are Zanu PF and MDC compatible marriage partners?

Are Zanu PF and MDC compatible marriage partners?
Lloyd Msipa - Opinion
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:21:00 +0000

SINCE the official signing of the historic power sharing agreement between Zanu PF and the two formations of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on September 15, expectations have been high with regards to the ending of the political and economic challenges faced by Zimbabweans in general. It was expected that the signatures appended by the principals would usher Zimbabwe into a new era of economic and political recovery.

Despite all the main parties bending over backwards to accommodate one another, it seems the differences between the two main political animals are irreconcilable.

To understand the differences, it is important to compare Zanu PF and MDC as political parties.

Zanu PF is a party that has its roots in the ethos of liberation war politics and therefore its value systems clash with the values that obtain within the MDC.

Zanu was formed in 1961 and has been in existence for over forty six years. The party fought in the liberation war of the sixties and seventies, morphed itself in 1980 after independence and took over a government that was largely a racist institution courtesy of the late former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith.

It undertook the audacious task of overhauling those systems of government that had been entrenched over the time. The resultant government was a government that went a long way into acknowledging the values of the indigenous black Zimbabweans and got involved in the redistribution of the country’s white-owned resources.

In 1987 a Unity Accord was signed between Zanu PF and a liberation war ally, PF Zapu, led by the late Vice President Dr. Joshua Nkomo. Both parties merged to form the new Zanu PF party – the party that is currently in government.

A close look at the 1986-87 unity talks between Zanu PF and PF Zapu will show that the talks were not as laborious as the current power-sharing talks between Zanu PF and the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai. The Zanu PF/PF Zapu unity talks did not require external intervention and neither were they influenced, to a great extent, by external forces.

Current talks, however, have required the facilitation of the regional Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the African Union, and at one time the opposition has flirted with the idea of including external players like Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations and the European Union in the matrix.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa once said that Zanu PF and the MDC are diametrically opposed – simply not compatible. Indeed, they are diametrically opposed and make strange bedfellows.

The MDC has its roots in trade union politics and external factors still play a big role in the make up and ideology of the party. Its formation is often viewed as reactionary and not deep-rooted in the struggles of the Zimbabwean people. It initially drew its membership, as a movement, from the shrapnel of student leaders, professionals, trade unionists and most recently, others who saw an opportunity to enter into politics.

Many of the members of the MDC did not have liberation war credentials and had very little appreciation of the country’s liberation history, despite saying the contrary

The differences in the origins of these two political parties would inevitably make them very unlikely bedfellows.

The deep-rooted mistrust between these two organisations emanates from their very different origins. These differences (and hence mistrust) did not exist between Zanu PF and PF Zapu who had the same origins and went through the same struggles to achieve independence in 1980.

This mistrust deals a heavy blow to current negotiations and especially when it comes to the distribution of Cabinet positions. Can Zanu PF trust the MDC to defend the legacy of the liberation war? Can the MDC use the power entrusted upon it by way of powerful cabinet positions responsibly? These are the questions that will linger in the minds of many of the Zanu PF leaders.

The current power play with regards to who controls what ministry is ample evidence of the mistrust that exists between the two parties.

The mistrust is exacerbated by the marriage between the MDC and the West – whom Zanu PF blames for the current crisis. What are the implications of a game of golf between the MDC-T leader and the U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, who has almost become a spokesman for the MDC party? McGee’s statements oftentimes have echoed the statements coming from the MDC and are issued at exact times as the MDC statements?

The US track record in the world is not a rosy one. It has destabilised many countries and Zanu PF has every reason to mistrust their alliance with the MDC (who are supposed to be Zimbabwean brothers and sisters). The US has left an indelible mark in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, etc. The list is endless and the evidence is not worth repeating here.

Will the power sharing agreement stand the test of time considering the level of outside interference, the difference in origins and the mistrust? The MDC has used the sanctions as an invisible hand in the current negotiations and has not openly denounced them although all other organisations including Sadc have done so. How come we have not had an official request from the MDC for the lifting of sanctions?

The failure to agree on power distribution means that the actual governing could also prove elusive. Zanu PF has often charged that they are not negotiating with MDC alone. There are other players on this ‘chess board’. All Zimbabweans have to realise that any agreement reached, with the pawns on this chess board not being controlled by us Zimbabweans, will result in a still birth. Without good faith and goodwill, this agreement which already has so much stalked against it, is not likely to pull Zimbabwe out of the challenges it currently faces.


[Lloyd Msipa writes from London, United Kingdom and can be contacted at lmsipalaw@googlemail.com]

Labels: MDC, ZANU-PF

posted by MrK @ 9:23 PM