Dialoguing the Zimbabwe Crisis: Mnangagwa Must Listen To The Nation
5 January 2019
By Dr Tapiwa Shumba | The “lovely Zimbabwe, so wondrously adorned with mountains …” natural beauty, minerals and fertile soil; so inspires the Zimbabwe National Anthem whose silver jubilee we celebrate this year. This admiration, echoed by the preamble to the Zimbabwe Constitution, celebrates the “richness of our natural resources”.
Yet despite the panegyrics and eulogies of this beauty and wonder, Zimbabwe, the most endowed and peaceful, has citizens living as amongst or worse than those in countries ravaged by war and armed conflict.
How then, do we “overcome all challenges and obstacles that impede our progress … in search of new frontiers under a common destiny”?
The Zimbabwe situation typifies a rare resource curse hardly seen elsewhere. Contemporary history, suggests that resource-cursed countries deteriorate into chaos because of armed conflict precipitated by the desire for control. However, the Zimbabwe situation is a case where people in peace languish in poverty despite abundant resources.
Economists suggest Zimbabwe could make it on tourism alone. Yet in actual fact it can still make it without tourism because of the fertile lands for agriculture. That of course, is if you forget that the country has billions worth of mineral resources but still nothing to show for it.
The triple blessing of tourism, minerals and fertile land means Zimbabwe should never be poor. However, in the midst of such abundance of pigeons was thrown a cat of bad leadership. Zimbabwe might have a leadership curse. There is hardly any other way to explain it.
This makes the country go round in circles – move one step forward and then two backwards. Blame is not only for the political leadership or for the church leaders who live in flamboyance at the expense of the poor but, equally, the citizen who cannot lead himself out of exploitation.
Nevertheless, the epicentre of the current crisis is political leadership. When other countries are flourishing and enjoying through hard work, perseverance and unity, Zimbabwe remains stuck in a state of polarisation, hate, greed, lack of confidence and endless squabbles over political power.
Underneath these ills remains a suffering population consumed by poverty and terrible living conditions. Living in Zimbabwe is painful. The life expectancy corroborates this view.
The two main culprits with a common but differentiated responsibility for the state of affairs remain the two main political players, ZANU-PF and the MDC.
ZANU-PF as the governing party since independence is responsible for all the socio-economic ills bedevilling the country. The MDC is responsible for keeping ZANU-PF in power.
That being said, let us fast forward to 2019.
The situation in the country is dire, a truth that is common to everyone concerned. There are key reasons why ZANU-PF alone cannot resolve the current situation even if it had good intentions. Its President, Mnangagwa, suffers from a serious confidence and trust deficit. No one else other than himself created this deficit.
When Zimbabweans marched in November 2017 to remove President Mugabe, they did so under the belief that it would usher in a new inclusive approach to governance and nation building. There was unity. The people embraced and owned the process.
Indeed, that was the understanding across the divide before ED staged a coup in a coup to arrogate all the power and authority to himself. He is well aware that this treachery is the basis for the growing animosity and mistrust between him and the people; something he never needed and should have avoided. With this, he has risked turning his ‘heroic episode’ into villainous opportunism.
Beyond this, ED made many empty promises to citizens and the international community that have not materialised. The new dispensation has in fact turned out to be the manifestation of the real power behind the old dispensation. The ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra is nothing more than just a charade.
Whatever the current government will try to do will be ‘jechared’ as long as ED is seen as governing by duress. Bravely so, it appears Zimbabweans are prepared to pay the price to force ED to heed their call for dialogue. A tug of war between the government and citizens is undesirable.
The main reason why the Government of National Unity of 2009-2013 performed better than this current government was not because of any wonders. At that time, the people identified themselves with the leadership and thus were willing to absorb some pains to grow the economy and build their lives – brick by brick.
No one is prepared to give the current government any chance. That is a deficit this government must acknowledge and own. It emanates from the many lies, shattered hopes, lack of accountability and transparency, corruption and abuse that the people suffered when they dared to trust this government.
The MDC and its President Nelson Chamisa though without State power, carries the hopeful hope, trust and confidence of the population. His election showing in Harare of close to 600 000 against ED’s paltry 100 000 epitomises the problem. Of course, Zimbabwe is not Harare alone, but anyone sensible knows what it means.
It is conceivable that a simple conversation between MDC President Nelson Chamisa and the striking doctors, for example, would have swiftly saved lives. What is currently playing out is an us versus them struggle.
Why can’t the exclusive strengths be brought together to take the country forward? Who is leading?
The current crisis will be perpetuated and lives possibility lost yet all the challenges could be resolved through dialogue and unity. Once the country is united, the current challenges are surmountable.
Dialogue does not mean a GNU. Dialogue means consensus on how to instil trust and confidence among the people; how to build sustainable institutions; how to strengthen the state; how to build a development orientated governance system; how to implement reforms for development; how to create a transparent programme to resolve the current economic challenges; and how to engage the international community. Of course, the mechanisms for implementing results of this dialogue are equally crucial.
Without sitting around a table and answering the crucial questions, political players are showing a lack of leadership and holding the country at ransom.
The people have bestowed leadership in the main political parties and that is the reason why these parties are jointly and severally responsible for the national interest.
Time is running out as Zimbabweans continue to suffer. It is running out, especially for ED who is now 76 years old and risks a legacy far worse than that of President Mugabe.
An inclusive sincere dialogue is unavoidable. Unity is crucial. Poverty is fertilising instability. Citizens are pinning their hopes on this dialogue. The longer it takes the more desperate the situation will become.
As it is, the burden to initiate dialogue rests with ED. He was placed in mora when Nelson Chamisa made the proposal. ED must put the country first, show leadership, initiate dialogue and most importantly, he must not succumb to the pressure and greed of those around him.
Dr Tapiwa Shumba writes in his personal capacity. [email protected]