“So, why is it that Vorster could bring about real change, twisting Smith’s arm to engage in negotiations with his liberation movement opponents that eventually led to a settlement and a transition to majority rule, and ANC governments – from the time of Nelson Mandela onwards – have been so toothless?” wrote Stephen Chan, in Spotlight Zimbabwe.
Whilst many people would agree that post independent South Africa’s leaders have been “toothless” one cannot say the same of the big man himself, Nelson Mandela. He was one of the few African leaders who did not hesitate to take a fellow Africa leader head on - unheard off given the norm is for leaders to close rank and defend each other.
“On 27 November 1995, a calm voice issued this jarring statement on the BBC: “Abacha is sitting on a volcano. And I am going to explode it underneath him.” It belonged to Nelson Mandela. He was 77, and had already been president of South Africa for a year. Mandela was referring to Gen. Sani Abacha, an obdurate and corrupt dictator in Nigeria who, in addition to still holding the winner of his country’s presidential election in solitary confinement, had just executed the writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists from oil-blighted Ogoniland. The nine had been condemned by a military tribunal,” reported Africa Renewal.
“Mandela was angry; Abacha had rebuffed Mandela’s studiously private and civilised appeal for the release of Saro-Wiwa and his fellow activists. By doing so, Abacha had drawn the battle line, stoking the fiery passion for justice still burning in the breast of the aged champion of freedom: to his end Mandela lived by the dictum, which he articulated with great eloquence at his trial at Rivonia in 1964, that though he abhorred violence, he was willing to employ it to fight “tyranny, exploitation, and oppression.”
President Mandela is publicly criticised Robert Mugabe for his tyrannical tendencies, he could not take any decisive action because he was no longer president.
Whilst there was plenty to criticise President Thabo Mbeki, President Mandela’s successor, for his handling of the Zimbabwe crisis following the blatant cheating in the March 2008 vote and use of wanton violence run-off, Stephen Chan’s description is off the mark.
“Zanu-PF struck back with a truly vicious campaign against the MDC, Tsvangirai withdrew from the contest, and Mugabe remained as president, controlling the levers of power. The ANC looked on, held its nose, and scuttled home to Pretoria saying the uneasy coalition it left behind was a job well done,” he wrote.
The truth is President Mbeki did manage to get Mugabe to agree to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms designed to dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship and stop a repeat of the cheating and violence of 2008. Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues, who were entrusted the task of implementing the reforms sold-out and failed to get even one reform implemented in five years.
President Mbeki and then his successor, President Jacob Zuma and a few other SADC leaders, notably President Ian Khama of Botswana, did their best to remind MDC leaders to implement the reforms. Tsvangirai et al had the snouts in the gravy train feeding trough and paid no attention to nothing else.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is proposing that Mnangagwa and Chamisa go into a new power sharing arrangement. This is a complete waste of time because there is no reason to believe the two political parties will finally implemented the democratic reforms they failed to implement during the 2008 GNU.
“They (USA, EU, British and other western nations) are not likely to reenter the arena (as the Americans had done in 1976) and throw good money and effort at the Zimbabwean problem until they are convinced that something significant, some serious political change for the good, is likely to happen,” argued Stephen Chan.
He is right there, the international community did not give Zimbabwe’s 2008 to 2913 GNU their full backing; for example the west refused to lift all the targeted sanctions against Zanu PF leaders. A new GNU with the same Zanu PF and MDC leaders as the key players will indeed be a waste of time, effort and money.
15 comments:
@ Zimbabwelivesmatter
I totally agree on the need for a transitional government tasked to implement the democratic reforms designed to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. Both Zanu PF and MDC politicians cannot play a role in the transition government because they are part and parcel of the political rot and it is naive to expect them to reform themselves out of power.
We, Zimbabweans and Africans in general, have not done ourselves any favours by failing to narrate our own history and so individuals like Stephen Chan have muscled in and have told one foolish lie after another. When the later Nelson Mandela was in office Zimbabwe had its problems of bad governance, rigged elections, human rights abuses, etc. but so did many other countries the world over. The 2008 elections was a watershed in Zimbabwean history and given Mandela's focus and vision it will take a brave man to suggest the great man would have handled the crisis as inaptly as President Thabo Mbeki did!
President Ramaphosa has already proven just how incompetent he is by endorsing Zimbabwe's July 2018 as having "gone well!"And to add insult to injury he has taken it upon himself to join Mnangagwa in blaming the sanction for all Zimbabwe's ills. Sanctions is but shadow boxing and one would he thought anyone competent to lead a country like SA would never be that naive to be sucked into shadow boxing!
There is a real danger of SA imposing a new GNU led by Zanu Pf and MDC as a solution to Zimbabwe's crisis; this is one folly we must not allow President Ramaphosa to drag us into. These two political parties have failed to implement even one reform in the last GNU ; they are now part of the problem and therefore cannot be part of the solution too!
SA and SADC must accept that by endorsing Mnangagwa as legitimate they shot themselves in the foot. They have no political leverage over Zanu PF to force the regime to step down. They must now ask the UN to step in.
We want a solution to Zimbabwe's crisis and not another fudge!
Military And Police Depose Their Uniforms To Join Protest Demanding A New Govt from Mnangagwa’s Belarus Friend!
It doesn't matter how powerful a tyrant can be when it is a fight of him and his regime against the people the people will always prevail! Mnangagwa and Zanu PF may think their are invincible the truth is they are not!
@ Stephen Chan
“As the leading liberators of their respective countries, they believe they represent the true interest of the people. If the people say otherwise in an election, this can only be because they have been duped or bought. It cannot be allowed that history should be put into reverse,” you said.
This is a complete fabrication of the truth to suit your own fabricated notions.
If this was indeed the thinking by Nelson Mandela then he would have never fought hard to make sure SA had strong and robust democratic institutions. The one thing SA has managed to since Mandela was to do without failure was to hold free, fair and credible elections. It therefore suggest that ANC was still in office because it cannot allow itself to be removed from office is an outrage.
In Zimbabwe, Zanu PF has accused its political opponents of being sell-outs who would “put the country’s economic and political gains into reverse”, that is true. But even here, one has to point out this was done just as an excuse to justify denying the people their democratic right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country. Mugabe accused even his fellow liberation war heroes like Joshua Nkomo, Joice Mujuru, etc. of selling out, for example. The most important point is none of the accused were ever convicted of selling-out in a court of law; proof this was all politically motivated. To suggest therefore that there was ever an danger on the opposition selling-out is wrong too!
Indeed, if there was ever any danger of selling out the nation to foreign interests it is the failure to have a robust democratic system of government that would make that possible. There is no denying that Zanu PF has sold-out to the Chinese for the price of the Chinese helping the party win the war of independence and to stay in power thereafter.
WITH the situation in Zimbabwe remaining tense, both local and external analysts say the only viable path out of the country's mess is to get President Emmerson Mnangagwa to work closely with the opposition.
This comes as some in the opposition have once again pinned their hopes on South Africa, regional bloc Sadc and the international community somehow intervening decisively in Zimbabwe's long-standing political and economic crises this time around.
How anyone can argue the status quo, whether it be Zanu PF on its own or in some power sharing arrangement with anyone, as a solution beggars belief. It is 40 years of Zanu PF gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness that has left the country in total economic ruins and earn the country the pariah state label.
As long as Zanu PF remains in power nothing of substance will change. Most important of all, no meaningful reforms will be implemented and so the next elections will not be free, fair and credible. The prospect of yet another rigged election is truly heart breaking.
Given that SA and the rest of the SADC leaders endorsed Zimbabwe’s rigged July 2018 elections as legitimate it will come as no surprise that the regional body will support any solution in Zimbabwe just to kick the can down the road.
The IMF, WB, Paris Club and most of the western lenders and investors have already walked out on Zimbabwe in despair. It is impossible to do business in a pariah state. The addition of MDC faces, manikins really, to the Zanu PF cabinet will not fool anyone; Zimbabwe will remain a pariah state.
The solution to Zimbabwe crisis is for Zanu PF to step down to create the political space and time for an interim administration to implement the democratic reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. Zanu PF rigged the July 2018 elections the regime is illegitimate and must not be allow to hold the nation to ransom.
All the other solutions are only seeking to keep Zanu PF in power by hook and by crook at the expense of the long suffering ordinary people. This is an outrage!
@ Mbofana
“As a devout Christian, there is one thing that I have never been able to wrap my mind around - that is, can most Christians and Church leaders in Zimbabwe honestly tell me that they can not see the barbarous evil being perpetrated by the country's ruling elite on a largely defenceless innocent population, whose only desire is to live an oppression-free prosperous life, where every citizen is accorded their God-given dignity and respect, equitably enjoy the abundant wealth that Jehovah bestowed on this great nation and its people, as well as those entrusted with leadership being held accountable for their deeds?”
The church leaders have been speaking, you have not been paying attention that all!
One segment of the church leaders have been in the Zanu PF camp for donkey years; they are Zanu PF political commissars in all but name. Talk of “barbarous evil being perpetrated by the country's ruling elite” in their presence and they will boot you out of their church.
The remaining segment are braindead! They have been calling for a new Zanu PF and MDC GNU, cannot knock any sense into their empty heads that the last GNU failed and this new one would be a waste of time.
We should be looking for a working solution to the Zimbabwe crisis and not for more empty heads to help muddy the waters!
"We are emboldened by the level of solidarity across political parties that the Zimbabwean people continue to get, especially from South Africa and Botswana.
"This is the level of brotherhood and Sisterhood that we expect from the region," MDC Allliance deputy secretary for international relations, Lovemore Chinoputsa, said.
"The time for passive fraternal relationships without looking each other in the eye is over. Sadc has to show its teeth for once. It's always a problem to wait until it's too late," he added.
Yes SADC leaders must “look Zimbabweans in the eye and show their teeth!” What better place to start than with MDC leaders themselves. Zimbabwe is still in this political and economic mess precisely because MDC leaders sold-out during the last GNU and failed to implement even one political reform.
The way forward in Zimbabwe must acknowledge the political reality that the country needs a complete overhaul and it is naive to expect Zanu PF and MDC to implement the necessary reforms and reform themselves out of power. To move forward both Zanu PF and MDC must step down and step aside respectively!
In a telephonic interview with Radio 786 on Friday, Pandor said, "We respect the sovereignty of Zimbabwe but it is very important that we continue to engage. There is a reality. Go to our border post and see how many Zimbabweans wish to come into South Africa and mainly for economic reasons.
"We all know that Zimbabwe has various economic challenges and that their current situation impacts on South Africa because many Zimbabweans come to seek a livelihood in South Africa. We have to work with Zimbabwe in order to address that economic situation and find a way of helping to reverse the current situation so that the citizens of Zimbabwe can happily return to their country."
Talking about envoys sent to Zimbabwe, Pandor said the delegation was supposed to meet other players including opposition leaders.
We welcome all the help we can get as long as it is helping us get out of the economic and political mess we now find ourselves stuck in. The 2008 to 2013 GNU was going to help us end the crisis if only MDC leaders had not sold out. A new GNU with Zanu PF and MDC is a complete waste of time because the two parties will not implement the reforms. They have reached a working compromised in which the two share the spoils of power. They are not going to reform themselves out of power.
MDC-T's party spokesperson Khaliphani Phugeni told the Daily News yesterday that Zimbabwe does not have an issue of legitimacy because Mnangagwa won the elections although there are some who are contesting that.
"It is that contestation which has brought polarisation in the country and impeding development. It is not fair to contest the president's legitimacy when the courts ruled in his favour. When you seek adjudication you must accept the outcome and not hold the nation to ransom. So we expect the SA envoys to concentrate on allegations of human rights abuses," said Phugeni.
He added that his party welcomed the envoys' engagement with the president and deferred meetings with the opposition.
Ever since the 2008 to 2013 GNU which MDC leaders spend with their snouts in the gravy train feeding troughs forgetting they were there to implement the reforms MDC leaders have all but completely abandoned the mission of bring about democratic change. Zanu PF realised that as long as Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues got a share of the spoils of power they would never implement the reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
All the MDC factions including the MDC Alliance plus the rest of the opposition camp participated in the July 2018 elections knowing Zanu PF was rigging the elections. They all knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats as bait, these were what the opposition candidates were fight over and did not mind that Zanu PF was rigging the election to win the presidency and the 2/3 majority.
Chamisa’s refusal to accept Mnangagwa’s legitimacy must be dismissed with the contempt it rightly deserves because MDC Alliance participating in the elections knowing Zanu PF would rig the elections; it is nonsensical to complain the election was rigged when you knew that all along. The whole election process was flawed and illegal, Chamisa accepted the parliamentary process and rejected the presidential. To reject the presidential result over the vote count when there are more glaring flaws like the failure to produce a verified voters’ roll is cherry picking at its worst.
The bottomline is Chamisa accept the flawed and illegal electoral process his refusal to endorse Mnangagwa as the winner is just his way of forcing Mnangagwa to give MDC A a bigger share of the spoils of power. No doubt Zanu PF will amend the constitution to create the position of Official Opposition Leader and Shadow Cabinet posts complete with the ministerial limos, generous salaries, etc.
Anyone who expects MDC to push for implementation of comprehensive reforms leading to free, fair and credible elections is naive!
MDC leader are now Zanu PF’s partners this is why if we want the democratic reforms implemented we must demand that Zanu PF must step down they cannot be trusted to implement the reforms and the same for MDC.
@ Andy Stanley-
"Following the energy challenges that Zimbabwe has been going through, there were expectations that the next Minister of Energy was going to be a leading engineer and definitely not an accountant Soba Zhemu who followed the lawyer Fortune Chasi.
"The true definition of an Engineer is a creative problem-solver and we appoint an accountant to run such an important strategic institution."
You do not make a silk purse out of sow's ear! Mnangagwa, just like Mugabe before him, is corrupt, incompetent and a vote rigging tyrant, it is therefore naive to expect him to run a competent and efficient government with competent ministers, etc., etc. If we are serious about reviving ZESA, our health care service and the whole economy then we must start by electing a competent president and government. And for that, we must implement the democratic reforms to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
THE political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe is seriously affecting South Africa and the neighbouring country is ready to assist in solving the challenges facing the former British colony, South African International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor has said.
Zimbabwe needs all the help it can get. However for that help to count it must be the right help.
What SA and SADC must accept is that the 2008 to 2013 GNU failed to implement even one meaningful reform all because there was no political will on the part of both Zanu PF and MDC. A new GNU in which the two parties are asked to play the leading role is just a waste of time. The most unjust thing SA and SADC can do for Zimbabwe is to impose a time wasting solution on us!
The solution Zimbabwe should be pursuing is a total overhaul of its rotten political system and since we cannot expect Zanu PF and MDC to reform themselves our of power, the two must play no part in the overhaul.
Zanu PF will not step down, not if they can help it, we need help to get Zanu PF to step down. The party has held the nation to ransom for the last 40 years, this cannot be allowed to continue!
The last thing we want is for SA and SADC to be encouraging Zanu PF leaders to believe they have a divine right to rig elections and rule the country!
@ gynaacologist
"In it's attempt to help Zimbabwe, South Africa must understand that in as far as Zimbabwe is concerned there are two classes of sovereignty. There is sovereignty of the leaders and zanu pf as defined by the junta and the looters and there is sovereignty of the general population of Zimbabwe as defined by international norms. The Zimbabwe citizens have sovereign rights to self determination, freedom of choice and assemble, to dignity, health, education and all the other fundamental norms necessary to live comfortable lives. That sovereignty was taken away from them a long time ago by zanu pf which has gone on to define sovereignty as the right for zanu pf to do whatever they want, whenever they want, as they please to the people of Zimbabwe. For the benefit and well-being of Zimbabweans the only sovereignty that needs to be respected is the sovereignty pertaining to the the general citizens. To achieve any meaningful and beneficial progress the zanu pf sovereignty need not be be recognized at all."
You have hit the nail on the head right there! President Ramaphosa has already made the blunder by supporting Zanu PF's nonsense of blaming sanctions for Zimbabwe's ills, shadow boxing, and, worst of all, by endorsing the rigged elections. We must not allow Ramaphosa's shallow incompetence to impose a Zanu PF led GNU as a solution to the country's crisis; it is just a time wasting gimmick!
@ Greenbomber
That is not entirely true! The people of Zimbabwe played a major role in the liberation war, Zanu PF has never wanted to acknowledge that. The people have also risked life and limb to elect MDC into power only to be betrayed when Morgan Tsvangirai et al sold-out and failed to implement even one meaningful reform!
What Zimbabwe needs is a complete overhaul of its rotten political system and since Zanu PF and MDC have failed to implement even one reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU we must appoint an independent body to do it. Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections, the regime is illegitimate and must step down. We must not allow Zanu PF to hang on to power and hold the nation to ransom!
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference Letter On The Zimbabwean Situation
What Zimbabwe needs is for everyone to agree on one fundament historic fact - that Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections, the party has no mandate to govern and must step down. Those who are asking for a GNU in which Zanu PF plays a role are not helping the nation to move forward because they are seeking to reward Zanu PF for rigging the elections. Zanu PF cannot be allowed to hang on to power and thus hold the nation to ransom!
@ Roger Southall
“This would include: the release of journalists, opposition figures and civil society activists from jail; promises to withdraw the military from the streets; perhaps even some jogging of the Mnangagwa government to meet with its opponents and to make some trifling concessions,” you said.
“After all, the pattern is now well established: crisis, intervention, promises by the Zanu PF regime to behave, and then relapse after a decent interval to the sort of behaviour that prompted the latest crisis in the first place.
“But in a previous era, South Africa once made Zimbabwe’s dependence count.”
I must admit the chance of SA and SADC imposing one of those foolish solution in which nothing is done to address Zimbabwe’s underlying problems, the solution is kicking the can down the road, is almost a certainty. President Ramaphosa is pushing for a new Zanu PF led GNU when there is no chance Zanu PF will implement any democratic reforms. None!
Still I do not agree that the 2008 to 2013 GNU was doomed to fail. Zimbabwe would have been transformed if Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends had not sold out and implemented the reforms. SA’s President Thabo Mbeki at the time and SADC did manage to get Mugabe and Zanu PF to agree to the implementation of a raft of democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging elections.
President Ramaphosa has no leverage to get Mnangagwa to make a similar commitment since President Ramaphosa has shot himself in the foot be endorsing Zimbabwe’s July 2018 rigged elections as having “gone well”!
Since Zanu PF cannot be trusted to implement the reforms the only solution then is for the party to step down to allow the country to appoint an independent body that will implement the reforms. If President Ramaphosa cannot get Zanu PF to implement the reforms it is naive to expect him to have the muscle to force Zanu PF to step down.
SA and SADC must accept they are powerless to solve Zimbabwe’s crisis and call upon the UN or some such body to step in. The last thing SA and SADC should do is impose another wishy-washy solution in Zimbabwe.
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