Despite President Robert Mugabe’s diversions and smokescreens, his defeat is final. Polling stations show that Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change won Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary elections. Should the dictator and his minions attempt to deny this truth, injustice may win a minor victory. But it has already lost the war.So let us take a moment to consider what the new government’s agenda would be if and when it takes office.
Many factors have already emerged. For one, there has been an overwhelming rejection of Mr Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party not only in the major urban centres but also in the country’s rural constituencies, which used to provide the basis of Mr Mugabe’s support. Now they have abandoned him, even those in his heartland of Mashonaland. It’s clear that the entire electorate demands a transparent and accountable administration.
Another factor that emerges is the dire state of Zimbabwe and the monumental task that lies ahead. With an economy destroyed, a social infrastructure decimated, and a national spirit utterly exhausted, managing expectations becomes perhaps the biggest challenge.There are no easy answers, yet neither are these insurmountable problems. Zimbabwe is showing that it has the capacity to remove a cancerous regime, peacefully and democratically, and that alone gives courage to all of us who are charged with shepherding its re-emergence into the world of nations. How might success be achieved?
Most importantly, the new government would bring the return of the rule of law. The judiciary will once again be free of the dead hand of the state. Justice will be at the core of the new Zimbabwe.
This does not mean opening the door for recrimination and victimisation. No-one will be singled out for vilification. Law and justice will prevail. Mr Mugabe himself would face no special legal tribunal sponsored specifically by the new government. He will simply be required to follow the law of the land like anyone else.
No-one will be dispossessed of his or her land. Instead, all Zimbabweans will be given a stake in our abundant natural resources. There are no white farmers, nor black farmers, only Zimbabweans. Breaking the racist stereotypes upon which Mr Mugabe has built his incendiary policies will be one of the most significant tasks in order to set the country on a course of modernity and growth.
Economically, we reach out to the world to help us to take this journey out of the darkness of our pariah status. We encourage foreign investment, especially in sectors such as mining and energy. We propose to reprise Zimbabwe’s role as the breadbasket of southern Africa by putting to use fallow fields laid to waste by Mr Mugabe’s supporters and cronies.A programme of public works, driven to some degree by international investment, will restore the all but dissolved infrastructure of the economy and provide work for those millions of Zimbabweans who have no jobs or who have fled overseas in search of employment.
This we propose to do sustainably and responsibly. Zimbabwe will be no playground for rapacious investors seeking to destroy and pillage before moving on to the next target and opportunity.
Industries need not be nationalised. We are in favour of an all-inclusive, market-driven approach. As a social democratic government, we would be mindful of our workers’ roots in unionism and of the need to gather all Zimbabweans to the task of restoring our broken country.
We stand today at the dawn of a new day in Zimbabwe and perhaps in Africa. The end of the Mugabe era is like the lifting of a decades-long burden from the shoulders of each and every Zimbabwean. The pain we have endured is immense, the sacrifices heroic. The coming months and years will remain challenging. It is likely and regrettable that many will be asked to bear yet more pain, carry more burdens, wait longer.
Rebuilt it will be. Zimbabwe will thrive again in the wake of the inevitable demise of Robert Mugabe. But it will be a task for all hands and strong hearts.
First published in the Wall Street Journal.