The 15 September Zanu PF –MDC Agreements is doomed to suffer the same fate as Zanu PF – PF Zapu Unity Accord of 1987- precious little.
When Joshua Nkomo signed the Zanu PF and PF Zapu unity accords in 1987 there one thing, indeed the only thing the people of Zimbabwe got was the political motivated violence which had seen the death of 20 to 30 000 Zimbabweans, stopped. The accords were on Robert Mugabe’s terms- nothing to do with what ordinary Zimbabweans wanted- and thus he was able to consolidate his hold on political power creating a de facto one-party state.
On the economic front, the one-party state system allowed mismanagement and corruption to become rampant. The consequences of which is the economic melt down will see in Zimbabwe today.
On the political front a one-party state is by it very nature repressive; individual rights and freedoms are subordinate to those of the ruling party. As the national economic continued to nose dive the people became more restless for a government more responsive of their suffering. And so to retain his struggle on political power the violent repression of the pre- Unity accords returned collimating in the debauchery of the post 29 March 2008.
The Zanu PF –MDC Agreement is a Robert Mugabe document through and through. It was certainly drawn on Mugabe terms, full of his usual rhetoric which is not just irrelevant but in most cases a serious obstacle to the people’s dream of a fresh democratic start. Consider the following five points, for example:
a) The Agreements is completely silent on the serious human rights violations that the nation has suffered repeatedly throughout Mugabe’s rule. It is as if the victims were nothing more than ants crushed underfoot! If we sweep this under the carpet again as we did following the pre 1987 Unity Accords then we necessary accept of this whole nightmare visiting us again.
If is falsehood that sweeping past wrong doing will help in the national healing. There can be no healing or lasting peace with justice.
b) So sum total of the parties to the Agreement’ s understanding of Freedom of Expression is that MDC is given equal coverage in the public media and to gag all external media operators then we are in serious trouble. State control of the public media, the Agreement has done nothing to end the State control, is at the very root of the denial of this fundamental individual right.
The whole exercise of writing a new constitution would be lost on the people unless there is open and free public debate.
The independent newspapers and foreign operated radio should disregard this unashamed dictatorial control. If anyone expected the Agreement to grant any individual rights or freedoms then they were hopeless wrong. The people of Zimbabwe will have to fight for the basic human rights now and, this time, never give an inch!
c) The Agreement was conveniently silent on when fresh elections are to be held.
The Unity Government is strictly speaking does not have any policies agenda – of course, in practice it is Mugabe’s policies that are being followed. If there is one thing Zimbabwe can ill afford at this point is to drift!
The new constitution should be ready in 18 months; there is no reason why there should not be refresh elections in 24 months. The people will have to push the parties for this!
No doubt the Unity Government would happily stay on for the next five years, particularly Mugabe!
d) The land issue is probably the single most important item which will determine the rate of Zimbabwe’s economic recovery, if there is any recovery at all. Most of the farms seize from 2000 on are now in the hands of Mugabe cronies and no doubt they would like to keep the farms. Most of these cronies had a hand in the rot that brought the country to its knees and in the violence of the past few months- it would be totally irresponsible if they should now be rewarded by allowing them to keep their ill got loot!
The farms must be taken away from Mugabe cronies for economic reason too; they will never put them to productive use.
e) In the short term, the violence will stop and there would be some measure of economic recovery – anything is bound to show as an improvement given the depth the country’s economy has sunk.
As a nation we must look before the here and now- that is where we wrong in the past and, by God, have paid dearly for it.
“I have signed this agreement because I believe it represents the best opportunity for us to build a peaceful, prosperous democratic Zimbabwe.” Said would be Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on 15 September, 2008 after signing the Zanu PF – MDC Agreement.
What else could poor Tsvangirai have said; admit that he was bulled into signing an agreement in which there was not a single item he wanted included. He had to give the whole sad episode as positive a spin as he could. Spin or no spin; nothing can change that the Agreement was on Mugabe’s terms, on a dictator’s term; a building a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Zimbabwe will remain a pipe dream!
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