Lies, deception as Mugabe emissaries visit regional heads

In a desperate attempt to avoid SADC torpedoing his election plans for this year, Mugabe last week dispatched his trusted lieutenants to spin a yarn to regional leaders and hoodwink them into believing that all is well in the GNU.

Defence minister Emmerson Munangagwa called on Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola, Minister in charge of CIO Sydney Sekeremayi saw Armando Guebuza of Mozambique (see story P5), and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono went to Malawi to see Bingu Wa Mutharika. In addition, SADC ambassadors in Harare were summoned to a briefing by Zanu (PF).

The message conveyed was carefully orchestrated: the government is working well, there is hardly any violence and the little that there is should be blamed equally on all political parties. The emissaries quoted a report produced by Zanu (PF)-card-carrying Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri in which all violence is blamed on the MDC, with Zanu (PF) militia and war veterans claiming to be the victims.

Lies and deception, aided and abetted by the police, constitute the strategy to advance the elections-in-2011 agenda

Mugabe knows he can count on Joseph Kabila of the DRC, Hifikepunye Mohamba of Namibia and King Mswati of Swaziland to side with him and avoid consensus at a full SADC summit.

The trouble is that SADC has always functioned on the basis of consensus it is an upper-class regional club where quiet diplomacy is preferred to any robust show of disapproval.

For the first time in its dealings with Zimbabwe, the Troika got tough last month. In general, SADC communiqus have always been woolly, but this time around they issued harsh words and laid the blame squarely at Mugabes door. This unexpected criticism caused a panic, and the initial response was a vicious attack on Zuma personally and SADC generally in the state-controlled media. However, it appears Mugabe and his henchmen have realised that they cannot afford to antagonise the region.

Analysts say it is vital that the regional body stands firm on its Troikas decisions, and emphasise to Mugabe that there will be a price to pay for defying the regional bloc and forging ahead with an election that no one wants.

Even legislators in his own party have said they are not prepared for new elections yet.

Political commentator Ronald Shumba says the future of SADC could be in “great danger” if the 15-nation group panders once again to the whims of a dictator so ambivalent about democracy.

Zenzele Ndebele, an activist and filmmaker, said Mugabe knows the cost of defying SADC and rejecting the roadmap the regional bloc has proposed.

“If they defy SADC that means serious isolation for Zimbabwe regionally and internationally and I don’t think they would want to take that route,” he said.

Political analyst Hopewell Gumbo believes Zanu (PF) is rushing to hold an election while Mugabe can still walk.

“Zanu (PF) is watching its leaders declining with age, as ill health takes its toll on some of the key figures – hence the need to rush this election,” he said.

Mugabe alone blows an estimated $3million of scarce state funds every time he goes abroad for health reasons once a month so far this year.

Critics blame his “power obsessed wife” Grace, who is also ailing, for refusing to let him step down so that she can continue to enjoy the influence and ostentatious lifestyle of a president’s wife.

Analysts say Mugabe is committing “political suicide” by calling a snap election this year. The people of Zimbabwe have, since the referendum in 2000, displayed a resilience of spirit which has shocked Mugabe and his party of violence. There is little doubt that, despite the huge odds against them, they will still make their choice known emphatically – even if elections are held this year, said one observer.

MDC Senator Obert Gutu says he is flabbergasted by Zanu (PF)’s “enthusiasm” for an early election.

“It boggles the mind why a party that is in terminal decline such as Zanu (PF) would want to have elections held this year, he said. Meanwhile, the MDC-T’s new Youth Assembly has already fired warning shots that it will resist any attempt to steal the election, and grimly warned that it will not be a stroll in the park. The Youth Assembly has said things have changed and the “dictator” needs to look at events in North Africa.

ZINASU, the students union, has also threatened to unleash rolling street protests if Mugabe tries to force an early election. Its president Tafadzwa Mugwadi said: “We are mobilising against an early election, all ZINASU structures and our allies. Our position is very clear; the talk of elections this year is utter nonsense. It will be vigorously opposed.”