SADC must break Zanu-PF stranglehold on power

The SADC has one hell of a challenge to rescue the Mbeki negotiated Global Political Agreement (GPA) in Zimbabwe from almost certain collapse. After several failed efforts, yet another opportunity will arise on Monday in Pretoria to fashion out an acceptable implementation plan of sorts. However, after the failure of negotiations in Harare earlier this week there is no reason to believe that the outcome will be any more different this time around. There is one fundamental problem with the approach SADC has taken to resolve Zimbabwe’s problem and unless and until they sort this problem out, their efforts will result in almost certain failure.

SADC seems to have forgotten that the basic premise of power sharing is that the parties to the sharing bring the power with them to the table. They agree to add their own to the power which the other parties bring so that the sum total of the power is shared between the parties along an agreeable and workable formula. It is not like the power comes intact from some other independent source and the parties grab what they can in the sharing process. For some reasons best known to themselves, the SADC believe that power is in the hands of Zanu-PF and therefore it is enough for the later to offer bits of that power to the opposition MDC to achieve political settlement and everlasting peace. That is clearly an erroneous, misguided and unproductive approach.

Zanu-PF derives its power from its position as the sitting incumbent. There will some who will argue on the legitimacy or otherwise of this source of power but the fact remains that, through hook or crook, they still control the levers of power in the country. They have achieved this by subordinating and manipulating state institutions over a long period of time to serve their own ends and purposes. These institutions survive and subsist to further the ends of Zanu-PF. It must be remembered that the incumbency was initially achieved legitimately, when the people of Zimbabwe elected Mr Mugabe and his party to lead them in 1980. However the incumbency is now being sustained illegitimately especially now after the party lost the elections of March 2008. So while the party’s incumbency lacks legitimacy, the power which the incumbency confers on them is nevertheless real.

That is what Zanu-PF is really bringing to the negotiating table. Zanu-PF is saying that as sitting incumbents they are not willing to relinquish their power regardless of the outcome of democratic processes. They have the might of the gun on their side – the same gun which they used to shoot down colonial oppression is what they are now using to suppress democratic will and expression. By imposing a solution which allows Zanu-PF to retain that substantial power, the SADC is in fact accepting that the power of incumbency is a bona fide element of Zimbabwe’s political equation. Well it is their choice, it is their decision and I am not going to argue with that.

What I find objectionable is the apparent unwillingness of the SADC to recognise the power which the MDC is bringing to the table – the power of democratic authority. The MDC won the March 2008 elections and, with that, claimed the mandate which is conferred by the democratic processes which the elections represent. The success of the MDC in the elections was as much a stamp of approval by the people of their (MDC’s) rightfulness to preside over the affairs of the Zimbabwe state as it was a repudiation of Zanu-PF’s rule. The people of Zimbabwe spoke loudly and clearly that it was time for a change and they anointed Mr Tsvangirai and his party as their preferred and rightful leaders.

In the circumstances any settlement that will fail to respect or give vent to the will of the people as expressed in March 2008, will be a nullity. This is the point which the MDC has been trying to make to all and sundry who care to listen and they should repeat this position until everyone hears and understands it clearly. MDC derives its power to sit on the negotiating table from the fact that in March 2008 the people of Zimbabwe declared that they wanted them (MDC) to preside over them and not Zanu-PF. If they agree to any settlement that leaves Zanu-PF is charge, no matter how cleverly disguised, they will have betrayed the people who voted for them and, thus, rendered themselves illegitimate and irrelevant.

That is the simple point which the SADC should recognise – any settlement that leaves Zanu-PF in full control is not a settlement at all. These negotiations are not about how the opposition can be accommodated in a Zanu-PF led government but they are about how the will of the people of Zimbabwe can be fulfilled in the face of Zanu-PF’s intransigence and unwillingness to respect democratic outcomes. The task and challenge of the SADC is to break Mugabe’s stranglehold on power and not to protect and sustain it. This requires that they stand up to him and tell him in no uncertain terms that his rule is illegitimate and that he must give way to those who have been chosen by the people.

They should tell him that if he is unwilling to give in peacefully then an AU-led international effort will be launched to forcibly remove him from power after which he will be taken to The Hague to face trial on crimes against humanity. They should tell him that he can avoid these consequences by respecting the spirit and letter of the GPA (which was designed as a safety net for him), by relinquishing meaningful and substantial power and authority to the opposition and by cooperating in all transitional arrangements to a fully democratic dispensation.

Too much time and effort has been wasted in diplomatic niceties (such as Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy) and constructive engagements. The issues which the MDC has demanded to be resolved before they enter into the unity government are valid and understandable but they are just symptoms of the single most significant issue that should be sorted out by SADC if Zimbabwe is ever going to emerge from the current doldrums – breaking Mugabe’s stranglehold on power. This whole initiate should be about telling Mugabe not just to go but showing him the door and holding it open for him to exit. SADC should realise that too much time has been spent in trying to appease a dictator whose time is long past gone. They should now hold the gun to his head and stop pussy-footing around him.

In the meantime, the MDC must hold fast and strong against the pressure being exerted on them by both Zanu-PF and the SADC to join the national unity government under unfavourable terms and conditions. It is all very well for MDC to continue to profess their commitment to the political agreement but they should equally make it clear that they are prepared to walk out of the deal if there is no acceptable and expeditious conclusion to the ongoing negotiations. They should ensure that every one of their concerns is fully resolved before they join their relatively clean hands to Zanu-PF’s blood-dripping hands.

They should insist on and secure sole and full responsibility for the key ministry of home affairs through which they can begin the serious task of restoring law and order in the country. Securing home affairs will also represent the single most important indicator of a break in the power of Zanu-PF. My experience is that life is all about compromise – give and take, some would say. However there are times and cases when it is neither wise nor desirable to compromise. Allowing Zanu-PF to retain all the powers which they are seeking to hold under the GPA is one such issue which cannot and should not be allowed nor be compromised on.