Dr Gary K. Busch

There have been many instances in contemporary African history when unready, unfit and politically illiterate people have sought national office; by coups, by rigged ballots and by open rebellion against the state. However, there have been very few who have been so staggeringly obtuse and ‘careerist’ minded as the motley band of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe who have won the chance to rule in a Unity Government and refused to live by the agreement they signed.

Zimbabwe was in a parlous state when the election took place. Now it is in a desperate condition, with no money, no medicines, striking teachers, closing hospitals and an outbreak of cholera which threatens a populace already weakened by hunger. The Unity Agreement was agreed in mid-September. Since then the MDC and the ZANU-PF have been unable to reach an agreement on the members of that government. The point was made over and over that the MDC wanted sole control of the Home Affairs Ministry (which controls the police, etc.) The ZANU-PF negotiators explained that they could not agree to the sole control of the Home Affairs Ministry as that had been a key factor in the 1987 agreement uniting ZAPU and ZANU in a single party. ZANU-PF could, and would, give up half of the control of Home Affairs but was blocked from giving up 100%. When this was raised at the SADC meeting President Mbeki conveyed the wishes of the SADC as a whole that the MDC take its half of the Home Affairs Ministry and get on, with all deliberate speed, with the governance of the country.

In order to accommodate the provisions of the Unity Agreement certain changes had to be made to the Zimbabwe Constitution (creation of a Prime Minister, etc.). The MDC has a majority in the National Assembly. Despite this it did not propose any terms of the Constitutional amendments to facilitate their passage but rather refused to agree to the terms proposed by ZANU-PF. The inter-party talks, which began on 25 November, were aimed at resolving the dispute over the draft bill of Constitutional Amendment Number 19, which should pave the way to the formation of a government of national unity.

The amendment would create the positions of a Prime Minister and two deputies - posts intrinsic to the deal reached on September 15. The government last week announced that its legal department had drafted the amendment bill, with input from all three parties, and had sent a copy to former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who has been mandated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to mediate the talks.

Tsvangirai's MDC (MDC-T) immediately denied that it had been consulted, and instead sent its own version of the bill to Mbeki. This version included a wide number of points which were never included in the September 15 agreement. The MDC-T stated that it would not accept any deal that does not give it a share of the governorships, ambassadors' positions and permanent secretaries, and the Ministry of Home Affairs [which controls the police]. The clock is ticking even if they did reach agreement on the amendments. If the parties do reach a consensus on the bill, it would still be some time before a power-sharing government was inaugurated. Procedurally, the draft bill must be gazetted for 30 days before returning to parliament for debate and adoption. The bill would need a two-thirds majority of the 210 seats in parliament for it to be passed, and would then require Mugabe's assent. The MDC-T has 100 seats, ZANU-PF 99 seats, Mutambara's MDC 10 seats and one independent.

These draft provisions supplied by ZANU-PF to the assembled SADC leaders were accepted as a good way forward. President Mbeki, as the mediator informed both parties of the SADC decision. Tsvangirai's deputy Tendai Biti wrote to Mbeki on November 19, rejecting as a "nullity" the Southern African Development Community's (SADC's) demand that the MDC share the home affairs ministry with Zanu PF. Mbeki wrote back a strongly worded letter on November 22 to Tsvangirai in which he slammed the MDC for denigrating SADC and - according to the MDC - implied that the party was being influenced by the West. Mbeki wrote "It may be that … you consider our region and continent as being of little consequence to the future of Zimbabwe, believing that others further away, in Western Europe and North America, are of greater importance." This was rejected by the MDC and they raised the issue that Mbeki was biased and therefore shouldn’t the mediator.

In his letter of November 19 Biti went on to explain that his side was not interested in participating in any further discussions of the proposed constitutional amendment number 19, aimed at giving effect to the unity government arrangement signed on September 15, as that would amount to legitimising the "illegitimate" decision by the SADC leaders. In his response Mbeki also essentially accused Tsvangirai's MDC of shifting positions and not acting in good faith. For some reason the MDC has chosen to abandon the September Unity Agreement until the SADC repents and fires Mbeki. The MDC has said it will not discuss unity further until Mbeki is removed.

The fact that the country is in chaos; that the promised food and medical aid ($30 million from South Africa alone) cannot be delivered until the new government is formed has not registered with the MDC. They may dislike Mugabe intensely; they may think he is a despot and a clever politician to boot. They may be right. That isn’t the point. The MDC has antagonised virtually the whole of the Zimbabwe electorate. If there were a vote today the MDC would struggle to win the race for the dogcatcher in Umtali. While they are posturing and playing silly buggers with the reconciliation process people are really starving; really dying of cholera; really unable to buy anything in the shops. There is no water; no treated sewage; no electricity; and little hope. It may well be that the ZANU-PF is responsible in part for this decline. Mugabe may be the monster they describe, but he is still in charge and trying to deal with the ship of state; slowly sinking below water level. It ill behooves supposed Zimbabwe patriots to stand aside and prevent remedy when this remedy is at hand.

It is a mystery why these political imbeciles think they know better than the leadership of the SADC who have been running their countries for years. What has given them the right to demand that the SADC change its mind; that they fire Mbeki; that they allow the reopening of the September 15 agreement because they have now discovered that, in retrospect, they didn’t like it?

They may be fighting to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic but it will give no one any pleasure watching the ship sink. Perhaps someone among the MDC, besides Tsvangirai and Biti, will realise the responsibility they undertook in winning office and act like responsible politicians faced with the challenges of a threatened country before it is too late.

Robot  # 1 | 28.11.2008 11:04

Dr Gary K. Busch There have been many instances in contemporary African history when unready, unfit and politically illiterate people have sought national office; by coups, by rigged ballots and by open rebellion against the state. However, there have been very few who have been so staggeringly obtuse and ‘careerist’ minded as the motley band of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe who have won the chance to rule in a Unity Government and refused to live by the agreement they signed. Zimbabwe was in a parlous state when the election took place. Now it is in a desperate condition, with no money, no medicines, striking teachers, closing hospitals and an outbreak of cholera which threatens a populace already weakened by hunger. The Unity Agreement was agreed in mid-September. Since then the MDC and the ZANU-PF have been unable to reach an agreement on the members of that government. The point was made over and over that the MDC wan...Read the full article.