By Wilbert Mukori- “(Former SA President Thabo) Mbeki is in the country at invitation of President E.D. Mnangagwa. The two have just finished their meeting at State House, with former President likely to accede to requests for meetings from different personages including politicians,” announced George Charamba, Mnangagwa’s spokesperson.
“He might mean Madame Khupe, Misihairabwi, Mr Chamisa, Mr Isaac Maphosa and possibly former First Lady.
“The former President of South Africa offered his stature and access globally to help push Zimbabwe’s agenda to have sanctions removed and to ensure reconnection with the rest of the willing world.”
Rubbish, everyone knows that the number one item on Zimbabwe’s national agenda is the country’s worsening economic meltdown. The situation is now so bad that 90% of the country’s population are poor with 34% living in extreme poverty, according to a recent WB report. The country’s hospitals and clinics have all but closed for lack of doctors, nurses, medicine, equipment, power cuts, no water, etc., etc.
Everyone can see that Zimbabwe is in a serious economic mess which, if not resolved a.s.a.p., will lead to a serious human tragedy and political instability that will suck the rest of Southern Africa. No doubt, Mnangagwa is hoping that President Mbeki will help him find a way out of the mess.
Of all people, President Thabo Mbeki will know that the root cause of Zimbabwe’s, seemingly, intractable economic and politic mess is the country’s failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. The country has been stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship since 1980. The people could not remove Zanu PF from power even when it was evident the nation was desperate for change because the party rigged the elections.
In 2008, after a particularly outrageous election in which Zanu PF had blatantly cheated and used wanton violence, SADC leaders led by President Mbeki rejected Zanu PF’s claim as winner of the elections and legitimate government. SADC leaders forced Mugabe together with MDC to form a Government of National Unity (GNU). The primary task of the GNU was to implement the raft of democratic reforms designed to stop a repeat of the cheating and violence debacle of 2008.
Sadly not even one meaningful reform was implemented during the GNU. Not one!
In an article “In defence of my Zimbabwe policy” published in February 2016, penned by President Mbeki himself, he admitted the GNU had failed to deliver its primary objective of getting the reforms implemented and ending Zimbabwe’s curse of rigged elections and bad governance.
So President Mbeki’s involvement in the Zimbabwe crisis will be his second bite at the cherry. The question that matters here then is whether he will make sure that the reforms, all of them, are properly and fully implemented and Zimbabwe’s next elections are free, fair and credible!
President Mbeki will have to look both Mnangagwa and Chamisa straight in the eyes and tell them failed to implement even one reform in 2008 and that it will be foolish to expect them to do so this time.
Both Zanu PF and MDC are responsible for the mess in Zimbabwe, the former for dragging the nation into this mess and the latter by keeping the nation stuck in the mess. Both Zanu PF and MDC leaders have proven to be breathtakingly corrupt, incompetent, sell-outs and murderous tyrants.
Both Mnangagwa and Chamisa are not just responsible for Zimbabwe’s political and economic problems, they are now the country’s number one problem. The two, and their respective political parties, cannot therefore be the solution in a situation in which they are the problem.
To get out of the mess Zimbabwe must fully implement all the democratic reforms agreed in the 2008 GPA and we must get others to do this. It will be naive to trust Zanu PF and MDC leaders to implement the reforms when they failed to get even one reform implemented last time!
Yes , getting Mnangagwa and Zanu PF to step down will not be a walk in the park. What he and his Zanu PF cronies must understand is that this is the only solution and that the consequences of failing to resolve the situation is the worsening economic situation.
Mnangagwa and his cronies must be reminded that they rigged last year’s elections. They have no mandate, never had, to govern the country and the stubborn refusal to step down is nothing short of holding the nation to ransom. This is a very serious matter which Mnangagwa and his friends must weigh carefully before they cross the line!