Indeed this might be true of Zimbabwe, especially if Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara forge a political marriage which excludes Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe and Mutambara will be following in the footsteps of Ian Smith and Bishop Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa respectively, during the short-lived internal settlement of 1979.
The settlement gave birth to Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (mocked by many as a country with a surname) and lasted exactly six months and eleven days, from 1 June 1, 1979 to January 12, 1980). Only this time Robert Mugabe will be the Smith of 2008, while Mutambara becomes the Muzorewa of 2008. As for Morgan Tsvangirai will become either the Robert Mugabe or the Joshua Nkomo of 1979.
When Smith was fed up with the economic sanctions imposed on his government and the protracted bush war waged on him by Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu, he sought to resolve the politic crisis he was facing by embarking on a government of national unity with Muzorewa’s UANC and other African parties (UNFP under Chief Kasiya Ndiweni, ZUPO under Jeremiah Chirau and ZANU under Rev Ndabaningi Sithole) who had lost in the ‘general’ election of April 1979.
But the internal settlement was rejected by the Patriotic Front under Mugabe and Nkomo, the Jimmy Carter administration, United States and the Organisation of African Unity, forcing Smith and Muzorewa to take part in the Lancaster House Conference.
A deal between Mugabe and Mutambara will solve neither the political nor the economic problems faced by Zimbabwe. It will be rejected by the Tsvangirai’s mainstream MDC and more than 50 percent (not the edited version of 48 percent provided by ZEC) of the Zimbabwean electorate who voted for Morgan Tsvangirai on March 29 2008. The deal will also be rejected by the EU, USA, and Canada, Australia and New Zealand and some African countries like Botswana and Zambia. Mugabe and Mutambara can share political positions, China may give them more guns and uniforms for the army, but certainly no financial aid or loans will come from the West and financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. With no money and an economic recovery programme, the deal will be doomed and merely exacerbate the suffering of the Zimbabwean people.
The 1979 Settlement saw Muzorewa appointed as the Prime Minister, Josiah Zion Gumede as a figurehead President, while Smith became a Minister without Portfolio. Rhodesian Front members served as Muzorewa’s Ministers of Justice, Agriculture, and Finance and white control over the country’s civil service, judiciary, police and armed forces continued. Mugabe is treading exactly in Ian Smith’s footsteps. He wants to make Tsvangirai a figurehead Prime Minister with control over a few ministries, while Zanu-PF, like the Rhodesian Front, wants to control the army and security services among other key ministries. With Smith, the economy was on his side, while with Mugabe the economy is his worst enemy.
In his speech yesterday, Mutambara said, “Leaders must put national interests before self interests.” How ironical, because by lobbying for an increased number of appointed senators in the new government of Zimbabwe (from five to twenty-one), and increasing the cabinet posts to cater for Mutambara’s lot who lost the March 29 election, Mutambara is the one who is pursuing self interests at the expense of national interests.
A large cabinet for a country of less than twelve million people is a burden on the meager resources of Zimbabwe. It is looting at its highest level, a preservation of the status quo while five million Zimbabweans starve and die from treatable diseases. Mutambara knows that if he does not become a cabinet minister under Mugabe, his political career is doomed. The people of Zengeza West demonstrated this by giving him a red card during the March 29 election.
When Morgan Tsvangirai said, “A solution must thus put the people first, not leadership positions and titles,” he seems to be the one who is not after positions and power (self interest) but one who has national interest at heart.
Arthur might boast to be an Oxford University graduate with a PhD in Robotics, an academic intellect, but in reality he does not have much to show for all his education. In Zimbabwean politics, a PhD equates one to Robert Mugabe’s failure. – Sarudzayi Barnes is a Zimbabwean writer based in the UK
Post published in: Opinions