I am struck by the fact that there is little or no debate or
discussionabout what will happen after the election on the 27th June.
Newspaper reports talk of discussions to try and get a government of
national unity, they argue that a free and fair election is impossible and that
therefore the only answer is a GNU with Mugabe as President and Tsvangirai
as Prime Minister. They talk about emulating the Kenyan solution. I have said
to anyone who asked, that the MDC would not accept such a solution at any
price.
We want the run off to take place and whoever wins then picks up from there,
forms a government and we go on.
But of course it is not as simple as that ? just yesterday the Vice
President in Zimbabwe said that a vote for Morgan Tsvangirai is a vote for war. He
said they would not accept a MDC government and those same sentiments have been
repeated in recent weeks by all sorts of people in the Mugabe
administration. So what is this election process all about then? Even last night I heard
Mbeki saying that they were not seeking regime change via their facilitation
process!
But he also said that it was important that the run off take place and that
the people of Zimbabwe enjoy the right to choose their leaders.
So we have an election on the 27th June. An election run by the security
establishment which has now taken over the running of the Zimbabwe Election
Commission, after a campaign characterized by political violence instituted
and managed by the military and the State, a campaign during which the MDC has
not been able to campaign freely, has received no exposure in the State run
media and has had its leaders harassed, beaten, detained and denied all the rights
taken for granted in true democracies. Yet on these matters Mbeki and others
remain mute.
But what happens if, against this background the MDC wins by a wide margin
and its victory cannot be disputed? What then? It is clear at this point that
the administration and security chiefs in Zimbabwe will simply not accept such
an outcome. They only have one choice and that is to act illegally against the
will of the people, override the outcome and force the continued
administration of the country by an illegal regime. Can you really imagine that, after all
they have stated and their own behavior in recent weeks, that they will accept an
MDC victory?
I think this is the most likely outcome and predict that Morgan Tsvangirai
will receive a huge majority on the 27th June. A political commentator with whom
I am staying asked what if Mugabe and the security establishment simply
bulldoze a victory for Mugabe ? succeed with their campaign of violence and
intimidation and then rig the outcome. Mugabe would be declared the winner
and the region would accept this, including South Africa and Mugabe would then
govern with a minority in Parliament.
In either event we need to think through the consequences for the region and
for South Africa in particular. A Mugabe led regime in Harare will not be
accepted by any of the major western nations. The country will have to get urgent
help to meet its needs for food imports, urgent help to stabilize its economy and
bring inflation under control and immediate assistance with fuel and other
essential imports. Only South Africa could do so and if it was to avoid a
complete collapse in Zimbabwe it would have to act to meet these essential
needs very quickly.
But even if it did so, the added burden to the South African fiscus might be
all that is needed to put the South African economy into a tailspin. The Rand is
trading at 8 to 1 against the dollar, inflation is up and rising and growth
is sluggish at 3 to 4 per cent. Whatever they do, we must accept that this year
the winter crop in Zimbabwe is already a casualty of the delays in a
transition, preparation for the crop in the summer of 2008/09 has not even
started and therefore there is unlikely to be any recovery in food supplies
this year. Inflation is out of control at over 2 million per cent per annum
and a wide-ranging economic collapse is well under way.
Under these circumstances any outcome on the 27th that leaves Mugabe in
charge will trigger a mass exodus of economic and political refugees into South
Africa. Estimates put the net arrivals in South Africa from Zimbabwe at 750
000 in the past year. In my own view a victory for Mugabe in any form in June,
will lead to an exodus of not less than an additional 2 million people in fairly
short order. Do I really have to spell out the consequences of such an event
on South Africa? Yet there is no debate here about such a possibility after
June27th. It is a nightmare scenario.
The tragedy of this situation is that it need not be like that. If the SADC
and South Africa stated right now that they would respect the outcome of the
election and would expect everyone else to do so as well ? including the
present leadership in Zimbabwe, this would help. It would reinforce the role
of democratic elections as the only means for effecting regime change and
respect for the views of the people when it comes to the selection of leadership.
Despite their reluctance to intervene in any active sense, South Africa has
little or no choice when it comes to reigning in those in Zimbabwe who
blithely talk of ?war? if Tsvangirai wins. Such rhetoric is simply unacceptable and
the Mugabe team in Harare needs to be told that.
If Tsvangirai wins and is then allowed to take power as is his right, then
the situation can be turned around in short order. The international community
has made no effort to disguise the fact that they would back a new
democratically elected government in Harare. They would step in and feed the country, they
would back a stabilization program to curb inflation and get the economy
onto a recovery path. Most importantly the flight of people to South Africa would
stop and be reversed as people decide to come home and participate in
reconstruction and development. This would reduce pressures on the South African social
system and economy and give much needed breathing space.
It is not too late to get this right, but South Africans need to recognize
that they have as much at stake in Zimbabwe on the 27th June and its immediate
aftermath as every Zimbabwean.
Eddie Cross
Post published in: Opinions