(TALKZIMBABWE) MDC-T lacks strategic thinkers

MDC-T lacks strategic thinkers
Tendai Midzi - Opinion
Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:03:00 +0000

DEAR EDITOR - Movement for Democratic Change party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai needs some serious strategic thinkers. Yesterday, the party suffered an embarassing blow when its leadership failed to put Zimbabwe onto the agenda of the regional Southern African Development Community (Sadc), apparently to deal with "outstanding issues" in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement.

MDC-T leaders failed to understand a number of issues:

1. Sadc deals with inter-governmental issues; not inter-party issues. Unless an issue threatens peace and stability in the region, it is unlikely to make it to the agenda of a Sadc Summit. The so-called "outstanding issues" are not a threat to the region.

2. As guarantors of the GPA, Sadc and the African Union can only deal with issues that are within that agreement. The twin "issues" of the appointment of Attorney General Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono were never part of the GPA. The appointments were made six months before the signing of the GPA. In any case, the GPA cannot be applied retrospectively. Even if that was the case, the onus will still be on the president to reverse those appointments. Afterall, he is mandated to make those appointments, even taking the GPA into consideration.

3. Sadc decision-making is by consensus and inherently unconfrontational. Regional or international organisations are membership organisations. They survive on mutual understanding by member-states and confrontation threatens the sustenance of those organisations and defeats the whole purpose for their existence. It is therefore a no-brainer for the MDC-T party to assume that any leader (or leaders) of Sadc will "confront" President Mugabe over what is clearly an implementation issue. Afterall, there is the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic) set up under the GPA to oversee such (implementation) issues.

4. President Jacob Zuma has already completed a trip to Zimbabwe where he was briefed by the principals on the progress made thus far in the implementation of the GPA. Such a briefing would have set the tone for the rest of the leadership of Sadc on how to approach the so-called "outstanding issues". In any case, President Zuma had already indicated that significant progress had been made by the inclusive Government. This is the message that he was carrying to Sadc. Therefore, it was a no-brainer for the MDC-T to try and introduce these "outstanding issues" when they had not discussed with President Zuma (then Sadc chair) when he visited Zimbabwe. What does the MDC-T party think was the relevance of President Zuma's visit vis-a-vis the inclusive Government of Zimbabwe?

It is therefore against this background that the MDC-T's futile attempt to bring Zimbabwe onto the agenda of Sadc should be understood. The outcome of that attempt was not surprising, to say the least.

Those who say that Sadc made a U-turn over convening a "Special Summit" on Zimbabwe are either ignorant of the workings of the regional organisation or are just engaging in wishful thinking. They failed to read the context within which the Sadc Summit was held. Zimbabwe was never on the agenda in the first place. President Zuma had given a satisfactory report only a few days before. In any case, Sadc would rather allocate its meagre resources to dealing with more pressing issues; for instance the situation in Madagascar which threatens regional stability.

The argument that incoming Chair, DRC President Joseph Kabila is friends with President Mugabe, "therefore he will be less willing to deal with the oustanding issues" is an ignorant one. Sadc decisions are made by consensus.

In any case, President Mugabe has a special relationship with every one of those leaders having taken a direct role in their individual country's liberation. The subliminal message in President Mugabe and President Zuma's holding of hands should signal to those who do not want to read African history in context, that there is a special bond there. It cannot be broken by the delayed swearing in of Roy Bennett or the appointment of the attorney general and the reserve bank chief.

It is very worrying to think that a party that considers itself ready to govern Zimbabwe could engage in such acts of futility; and expend so much energy to trivial pursuits. The party definitely needs strategic thinkers who can advise the leadership of the MDC-T party of the inner workings of these regional groupings. Otherwise they will continue to embarass and discredit themselves.
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* Tendai Midzi works as a lecturer in economics at the London Metropolitan University.