Launching a landmark visit to long shunned Myanmar and becoming the first U.S. leader to visit the Asian nation, President Barack Obama stated "Today, I have come to keep my promise, and extend the hand of friendship. The flickers of progress that we have seen must not be extinguished”. During his brief stop Monday in Myanmar, Obama met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein and delivered an address in which he called for continued political reforms in a country that had been internationally shunned for decades.
America’s responsive foreign policy towards Burma bears some resemblance with its foreign policy towards Zimbabwe. For example, the new US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, in his recent press statement stated that ‘American policy towards Zimbabwe is not static and will respond positively to Zimbabwe’s progress on the roadmap to constitutional reform and elections’
Zimbabwe has a lot to learn from Burma’s fledgling steps which has sent a powerful signal that people are rejecting the notion that an authoritarian model is the key to development. This is a notion that the Zimbabwean authorities are currently holding dear to, especially as seen through the draconian indigenisation policies which are nothing but a plot to enrich a few.
Specifically Zimbabwe could learn from the Obama’s historic speech at the University of Yangon particularly by:
• Respecting people’s right to assemble and lifting the veil on media freedom by passing both the Public Order and Media bills pending before parliament.
• By addressing the culture of fear that has led people either to be mute about their political views or at the very least exercise mendacity. As Obama said, ‘Fear is not the natural state of civilised men. It is the force that stands between people and their dreams. There must be freedom of fear and fighting fear is the key to economic development’. Zimbabwe could do this through a repeal of the so called ‘insult laws’ meant to protect the office of the president but which have been disproportionately applied.
• Creating a strong and diverse society out of the acknowledgement that diversity is strength and not a weakness by guaranteeing the right to citizenship to those who are legitimately entitled to it.
• Stopping all forms of violence and incitement of violence against those who oppose or who are perceived to be opposed to the President’s political party-ZANU PF.
• Acknowledging that the most important office in a democracy is the office of the citizen and not politician. Zimbabwe should demonstrate this by creating a conducive environment for a free, fair and credible election. The process of empowering citizens in keeping with the principles of participatory democracy should extend beyond the ballot hence the need to support development of democratic institutions right now and beyond the elections.
Despite the flickering hope in Zimbabwe, huge challenges still remain. Civil society has acknowledged and welcomed the recent reforms to the electoral process in the Electoral Amendment Act which includes addressing the role of the Zimbabwe Election Commission in compiling the voter’s roll, the introduction of a polling station based voter’s roll and tthe removal of police from inside the polling station amongst a number of other reforms. However, a number of gaps are identified as glaring, including the need to harmonise laws so that areas of conflict and contradiction within the laws can be rectified and the independence of the Observers Accreditation Committee, need for a credible Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Secretariat and the demilitarisation of the electoral processes (ZESN, 2012).
The government of Zimbabwe must be urged to respect the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and the pro-actively involve SADC and the AU in the implementation of the GPA. This will enable the country to be able to hold a free, fair and credible election where there is a peaceful transfer of state power in accordance with the SADC Guidelines on Democratic elections and other international standards to which Zimbabwe is party (Crisis Coalition, 2012).
With further geo-political changes such as the recent legitimisation of Hugo Chávez who recently won an election as president for a fourth time on 7 October 2012 and the Chinese communist party leadership renewal, Zimbabwe is likely to find itself increasingly isolated in the future, with a government that condemns its people to a life of squalor and oppression.
Post published in: News