Biti’s suggestion of a national dialogue is being viewed as a climb down from the MDC’s 2013 position that the MDC would only consider negotiating with ZANU PF if the latter addressed the issue of political legitimacy. Further, by hinting at a national dialogue, Biti appears to be acknowledging that a narrow political dialogue, which would lead to another GNU, is not the answer but a more inclusive dialogue. This is an acknowledgement that Zimbabwe’s problems cannot be solely resolved by politicians but by general civil society. The political approach to reforms and constitution making process was the major weakness of the now defunct political settlement. The question that arises from today’s Conference is whether Biti’s subdued tone is an indication that the MDC is prepared to walk the high bi-partisan road, for the sake of moving the nation forward or is Biti simply breaking ranks with the rest of MDC in charting a new course that will define his own personal legacy as a statesman?
Some people think that the ‘Biti’ factor is what Zimbabwe needs at this juncture in order to heal it from years of strife and polarization. On 25 April 2013, we rendered an analysis of Tendai Biti’s speech at Chatham House in an article titled ‘Hall marks of potential political consensus on key issues
’. A comparative analysis of that speech and today’s speech clearly demonstrates that Biti appear to have an agenda premised on defining broad, bi-partisan, centre and inclusive politics in Zimbabwe.
There is a clear thread of reconciliation and the theme of moving the nation forward runs through his speeches. This centre ground politics has similarly been gaining traction from other corners of Zimbabwe, for example David Coltart from the smaller MDC formation has since rebranded his website with the strapline ‘Taking Zimbabwe Forward Together’ and on 22nd January 2014 when he was interviewed by US based television station on the current situation in Zimbabwe, he spoke on the need to move Zimbabwe forward.
In October 2013, David Coltart also remarked that, ‘What ZANU PF needs to is to enter into an honest national dialogue with all our nation's people. They need to recognize that there is human capital out there in the form of the Tendai Biti 's of this nation who love this country with a deep rooted passion and what is more are honest, clever and hard working…and have solutions……..Zimbabwe has gone downhill economically for the last 50 years because we have allowed narrow partisan or racist interests to dominate out political discourse. We are the classic example of a house divided, falling. Until we end that, the massive potential of this great Nation will not be realized.
In today’s conference, when Tendai Biti was asked, ‘How is the so-called ‘illegitimate government’ supposed to negotiate with the international community?’ he replied ‘We have a de facto government, which should be able to do its job. If we have a liquidity crisis creeping to 25% then the government should rejuvenate the tourism sector and engage the international community even countries like South Africa. Tendai Biti had preceded this by giving recommendations to the current government on how to resolve the current liquidity crisis. Some of his recommendations included support for SMEs, recapitalization of the central bank, and implementation of the IMF’s Staff Monitoring Programme, appointing a commission to probe corruption and service delivery, and re-alignment of laws with the constitution.
With the calls from some quarters of Europe to move Zimbabwe forward from the punitive measures to a multi-issue dialogue, the question that arises is whether a dialogue with detours, compromises and disappointments is the unique road that Zimbabwe will take until it matures into a stable democracy? What are the implications of this path? The jury is out and only history will tell but perhaps it is high time discussions on Zimbabwe began exploring the issue of a ‘National Dialogue’ and weigh its pros and cons in the grand scheme of things.
Post published in: News