Ethan Zuckerman, one of my bosses at the award winning Global Voices project has just returned from a trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe. As can be expected of Ethan, he invested a lot time in chronicling his experiences inside Zimbabwe’s boarders. Go over and read his posts on his time in Zimbabwe here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Like PRI’s Sheri Fink, Ethan is surprised to find that we continue to survive in Zimbabwe despite massive odds stacked against us. Life in Zimbabwe seems more tranquil than circumstances warrant. Ethan explains that the apparent reticence to rebel is due to the stretchability and adaptability of my country men and women, a phenomenon he labels “makeaplan.”

But Zimbabweans may also be avoiding the demonstrations because it’s just so hard to keep their families sheltered and fed. Operation Murambatsvina may have displaced as many as 2.4 million families from their homes; bread shortages are forcing the government to release hard currency to import wheat; petrol shortages make transport so expensive that some people can’t commute to work any more. These privations might inspire revolution in some countries. In Zimbabwe, it inspires people to “make a plan”.

The phrase is said as a single word - “makeaplan” - and reflects the incredible resilience of the Zimbabwean people. Power cuts mean the kids cannot study their books? Send the kids over to one house and light lamps, conserving expensive lamp oil. Can’t afford transport to your village? Trucks leaving Harare stop and load passengers on top of their loads, taking money to help with petrol costs. People who can’t afford prescription medicines - in short supply because of the currency crisis - make friends with people who travel to South Africa, who can smuggle medicines over the border.

Walking into town one morning, trying to find a taxi, I find myself in step with two young men walking to work. They tell me the taxis don’t come by here any more - it uses too much petrol to cruise for passengers - and encourage me to walk for another half an hour, into downtown, where I might find a cab. “It’s good exercise,” they tell me. “Look how strong we’ve become,” they say, laughing.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish by making a plan. My friend Kennedy Mavhumashava talks about a story she recently wrote for a Panos website. Despite AIDS donors deciding to cut programs in Zimbabwe, HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe is falling, both in the adult population and in mother to child transmission. What’s astonishing about this is that Zimbabwe spends much, much less on HIV care than other countries. Well-funded nations like Botswana spend $74 per patient per year - Zimbabwe spends $4.

Every once in a while, a few people in my reading audience, will, having been captivated by the grotesque realities of life in Zimbabwe, ask me why we can tolerate so much anguish. There it is then. Explained and illustrated better than I’ve been able to articulate it all the times I have tried.

Don’t mistake the Zimbabweans’ “makeaplan” abilities for an improvement in the dire circumstances in Zimbabwe; life in Zimbabwe is horrible. There’s no denying it. It’s just that the numerous dialectics in play in the Zimbabwean crisis make it difficult to adopt a mon0logical stance on my country. Post’s like this one have elicited passionate responses from some in my readership who equate my documentation of what what the people on the ground are thinking to tacit support for the regime. I’m just calling them like I see them.

Zimbabweans are among some of the most resilient people in the world, sometimes to our own detriment. As much as our victimization by Mugabe pilories his reputation, our own resourcefulness is the crutch by which his regime is propped up. Now I’m beginning to wonder should we be less resourceful then to catalyse the regimes demise? Should the majority in Zimbabwe be incapable of defending themselves against the harsh realities that have become modus operandi in the country? How much worse do things need to get before we reach point break?

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Crisis, Life in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Economy

Seven years ago I sat in the aquatic stadium in Chitungwiza and watched as 8000 ordinary Zimbabweans - mostly low-income workers and rural peasant farmers, formed a new political Party, which they called the “Movement for Democratic Change”. It was the start of a new era in Zimbabwean politics.

I seem to have been in opposition politics all my life. It started in the 60’s when I was a student at the University in Harare and underwent a metamorphosis in political terms - discovering the conditions under which people were living and working and for the first time appreciating the
unjustness of the situation. I vowed to work towards resolving the problem and spent the next 12 years in opposition politics - working against the Smith government.

At independence in 1980 I was part of the transition team - working to help the incoming administration (Zanu or Zapu) to come to grips with what had been a closed book to the rest of the world for 13 years following the imposition of mandatory UN sanctions in 1967. I then worked on the first donor conference and did the background papers that laid the groundwork for a very successful transition in agriculture. Over the next 15 years the farm sector was Zimbabwe’s most consistent performer.

Although I sympathized with the forces that came to power in 1980, I always had an uneasy relationship with them even though I occupied quite senior positions in the first 8 years of Mr. Mugabe’s rule. This was accentuated in 1983 when I was brought face to face with the early effects of the Gukurahundi exercise and raised my disquiet with the then Secretary to the Cabinet, Charles Utete. I went on to raise my concerns with certain European governments and got my first serious reprimand and threat from the Minister of State Security, Emerson Munangagwa.

It was the beginning of the end for me - the last time I had been threatened by a Minister of Security, it was by a Minister in the Smith government who called me a “threat to national security”. Somewhat exaggerated in my view at the time and also in retrospect, but as we have come to learn, political paranoia has no bounds.
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This evening it was reported that the Police in trucks and accompanied by water cannon patrolled the high density areas in Masvingo Town today. They used loud hailers to instruct businesses not to close on the Wednesday and for workers to ignore the call by the ZCTU to march to the Town Centre on Wednesday at midday. Tension was palpable in the Town as a result.

Eddie Cross
12/09/06

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, ZCTU Protest, ZCTU, Zimbabwe Protest,

Zimbabwean workers have a right to demonstrate and express themselves. In a situation where their condition and the cost of living continue to sky-rocket, the people have to exercise their democratic right to show their displeasure, suggest solutions and confront what is before them.

However, information reaching the MDC indicates that the regime wishes to suppress the planned demonstrations through brutality, massive arrests and state-sponsored violence. May I take this opportunity to warn Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe against making such a move? Any attempt to turn peaceful workers’ marches into chaotic scenes is counter-productive and unfortunate. For the past six months, we have openly advised the Mugabe regime that we are organizing mass protests as part of our comprehensive programme of democratic resistance. Since the ZCTU action is driven by the people and is a people’s project to address an obvious national grievance, the MDC is fully behind such an effort. Disrupting the planned action shall invite the ire of the party and generate the requisite response.

Come out in your millions and show the regime that you have had enough. We maintain that Zanu PF and Mugabe must be forced to negotiate Zimbabwe out of the national crisis. Already, we have put forward our suggestions on how to save our country and to start afresh. Our roadmap to legitimacy has what we believe are the necessary signposts to rebuild the people’s confidence to pull Zimbabwe out of the woods.

In any society, responsible stakeholders have a duty and a responsibility to proffer suggestions for change and to act, using universal habits of citizenship, to remedy an already deteriorating political, social and economic situation. I wish to congratulate the ZCTU and the entire civil society for their initiative and to inform them that as a political party we are fully behind their efforts. Nothing will stop the people from exercising their generic right to express themselves.

On our part, we remain on course. Our preparations for sustained resistance are complete. We are ready to roll-out our programme. We are watching the regime’s response to the ZCTU action with a keen interest.

Lastly, may I appeal to the church and the business community to work with us to save our country from the current uncertainty? May I extend the same plea to our security forces to refrain from acts that shall put them on a collision course with the people?

We respect the Constitutional and professional mandate of our security forces to protect the people and we look forward to working with you in this regard. We harbour no grievances against you. What we face is crisis of governance, initiated and perpetuated by Zanu PF, a failed political party. Resist abuse. Stay out of party politics.

Morgan Tsvangirai,

President

Technorati Tags: MDC, Mugabe, Zimbabwe, ZCTU, Zanu PF, Morgan Tsvangirai

Against a backdrop of government splurging on new parliament decor and, a new presidential mansion, expensive SUV’s for Reserve Bank officials and much more finicky exhorbitancy, the Herald is reporting that Mugabe’s government has no money to register new voters;

THE Registrar General’s Office has no money for mobile registration of voters, national identity cards and birth certificates while foreign currency shortages hamper the production of passports.

Registrar General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede told the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Home Affairs on Tuesday that his office was so under-funded that it had not started its yearly mobile registration because it did not have the money.

“We do that every year and we could have started in August but there is no money,” he said.

“What this means is that a person who has attained 18 years can not vote because he is not on the voters’ roll and this should be a concern to politicians,” he said.

Mr Mudede said the shortage of foreign currency was seriously affecting operations as some consumables could not be bought to produce passports and the new national registration cards.

If democracy is based on the notion of each individual exerting their influence on who leads them via one’s vote, the notion is too expensive for Zimbabweans.
Don’t take this for granted. This public admission might well signify the modus operandi of ZANU-PF’s fraudalent activities around the presidential elections coming up in 2008. If you go back and scrutinize the MDC’s numerous electoral petitions, one constant theme threading through all the protests is an allegation of tampering with the voters role.

Do you see what I mean? This very article might be the scapegoat employed when ZANU-PF ‘influences’ the outcome of the elections.

There’s a heartwrenching side to this too. Notice that it is the rural population that is essentially being disenfranchised. Not a big deal? I think not. In Zimbabwe, most of our population is rural. These people are the hear and soul of our democracy. That they aren’t even guaraneteed a birth certificate, national ID card and access to voting is beyond unfathomable! Rural Zimbabweans are constantly getting the shortend of the stick; when the currency switch happenend just a few weeks ago guess who was stuck with their old currency because they don’t access to media that would have informed them of the change? Guess who walks the longest to school and medical facilities? The government has ensured that 26 years after independence these people live like paupers even though they are the most important segment of the electorate.

The sad thing is that it would be so easy to meet the needs of Zimbabwe’s longsuffering rural population. It’s not asking the world to expect that the nation’s sole broadcaster would expend it’s broadcast capacity to extend full coverage to all Zimbabweans for example. Requiring space in the national registry is not demanding the moon either. These people must have the same access to government function enjoyed by their urban countrymen it non-negotiable.

After Murambatsvina over a year ago Jonathan Moyo Zimbabwe’s controversial former information minister slapped the Mugabe regime with a stark new label. He claimed that we have in Zimbabwe isn’t governance anymore, he it is now GBO; Governnance By Operation. He was right, Mugabe & Co. are not doing anything more than making hollow policy pronouncement all while the country burns.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Democracy, Zimbabwe Crisis,

The Queen made a famous remark about a year in her life, describing it as a
“horrible year”. I am sure that Mr. Mugabe will say the same thing about
2006 when we finally get to the end of the year.

He was confident that this year the economy would bottom out and the
agricultural system would start to recover. He was wrong on both counts. The
leadership of Africa at the recent AU summit and more recently at the SADC
summit has snubbed him. His closest regional associates have ganged up on
him and are now demanding that he retire and start the process of healing
the country’s relations with the world community.

Over the past year Thabo Mbeki has had three goes at persuading him to
retire and make way for new reformist Zanu PF leadership. Kofi Annan has
also tried to persuade him – albeit only half-heartedly (his mind is now on
that retirement home he has been planning). Mugabe thought he had achieved a
coup when it was announced that his old friend and ally, Benjamin Mkapa
would take over as “point man” on Zimbabwe only to have him dump him as
well.

Just in case the old man might think that his political woes might end
there, the reformist elements in Zanu PF, who think there may be life after
Mugabe, tried to get him to accept that he and his closest colleagues should
retire now and allow the Party to start the process of reinventing itself
and getting the economy back on its feet. They did so in the form of a broad
attack on the old guard and certain dissident elements in the Zanu PF
leadership at the Politburo meeting in Harare last Wednesday. Mugabe was
able to defend the status quo – but that in itself is not sustainable so he
only made things worse by resisting all forms of change.

The international community paid Mugabe their greatest insult this year by
simply ignoring him. For a politician that is the worst form of sanction.
They love to be feted, even if they are hated!!

Isolated and ignored by the world community, increasingly ostracized by
African leaders and now under real pressure by the region, Mugabe is
isolated and alone. His Party has fractured into three or four factions,
each of whom is striving for ascendancy and there is nothing but bad news
from the economy.

After claiming that we had grown 1,7 million tonnes of maize and 200 000
tonnes of wheat, the GMB has taken in less than 200 000 tonnes of maize and
with imports down to a trickle we have run out of maize meal. The largest
supermarket chain in the country told me last week that they had not had a
delivery in two weeks of this essential and basic staple. In response to the
shortage, what was available trebled in price this past weekend. In the “old
days” that by itself, would have been enough to topple any regime.

The State announced they were now able to supply our needs for liquid fuels and that the retail price would fall from Z$680 per litre to Z$330. The trade simply shrugged their shoulders and said – deliver and we will comply – no deliveries and the prices remained where they were. The subsequent attempts to force retailers to drop their prices simply led to further shortages and queues.

Finally poor old Robert started to receive widespread reports of preparations for mass action against his regime. The MDC has virtually rebuilt itself around new leadership and is increasingly effective on the ground. It has taken several new initiatives – the development of a comprehensive “Road Map” describing how we can get back on our feet, it has also developed a “Democracy Charter” that spells out what the MDC stands for and it has crafted a national alliance with all the minor opposition Parties, Civil Society and the Churches. This “Broad Alliance” is now preparing to take on the State in the first real test of strength and Mr. Mugabe and his colleagues are nervous and jittery to say the least.

Intelligence is also reaching the authorities that the MDC is talking to the leadership of the Police, Army and Air Force. How this is being done they simply cannot find out or identify who is involved, but they are hearing persistent rumors of penetration and consultation. This is the final bastion of power for Zanu PF and they know that the day that the Broad Alliance goes onto the street in numbers and the security forces stand by and do nothing, that is the day that Zanu PF begins to run out of options and its final
demise looms.

On Friday last week the entire National Executive of the MDC marched from our Party Headquarters to Parliament and presented a copy of the road map to the Speaker. They then marched back to the HQ and disbanded – it took about an hour. The Police simply stood by and watched. We did not know what to expect and the center of the City came to a halt for that short period of time. We hear that Mr. Mugabe was furious.

But the reality lies in a single ncident last weekend when a senior Zanu PF leader met one of our leaders at a function. “When are you guys going to do something?” he asked plaintively. “We (in Zanu PF) can do nothing – we are paralysed and the Old Man just
refuses to go. It’s up to you.”

Today I saw a draft resolution being put to the European Parliament by EU Members of Parliament. It called for a “National Reconciliation Conference” to negotiate a way out of this crisis attended by the Government, the Opposition and Civil Society. It said that this was the only way to achieve an orderly, fair and democratic transition to a new dispensation that must inevitably follow the retirement or demise of Mr. Mugabe.

It demonstrates the reality that change is on its way here – in one form or another and that the long night of Zanu PF monopoly of power is almost at an end. This week we are encouraging parents to send their children to school –and to pay what they can afford in the form of school fees. We are urging parents to react if the schools subsequently deny their children a place at school arguing that if the State can print money for new military equipment and useless jet aircraft, then they can pay the difference between what
people can afford and what a basic education costs.

Next week the Trade Unions – backed by the Broad Alliance, takes to the street in the form of a bus boycott and walk to work campaign. After that more is planned – Mr. Mugabe knows that and I am sure has difficulty sleeping these days, hated at home and despised abroad, 2006 is proving to be his Waterloo in many different ways.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, September 5th 2006.

Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Crisis, Eddie Cross, MDC,

Anti Senate leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his executives “surprised” police and Zimbabwean authorities when they marched from their party’s national headquarters to the parliament building on Friday. Reports of the event can be found here, here, and here.

There are many differences in the accounts of the march from the various media outlets that reported the event as has become the standard for any public event held by the MDC either at home or abroad. The most contested fact is the number of public protestors that joined the fray; some reports claim it was 1 000 people and others say it was just 500. Despite this, the reports find common ground in the much celebrated fact that both the police and parliamentary authorities where caught “flat footed” by the march.

Under Zimbabwe’s oppressive regime and conditions, there’s no doubt Tsvangirai needed to employ the element of surprise to succesfully hold any public protest. Zimbabwean authorities are notorious for unleashing brutal police and military force on their own civilian protestors. Like the British, Zimbabweans enjoy no protection for the freedom of expression. In this sense, the suprise was both neccesary and positive.

But I couldn’t help feeling unsettled at just how surprising the march was to Zimbabwe’s authorities. What surprises me is that police don’t percieve MDC to be viable threat so they’ve essentially stopped monitoring the part looking elsewhere for undrest threats to the state. This despite Tsvangirai’s insistant protestations that this winter was going to be a “winter of discontent.” With Zimbabwe’s winter gone and no protests led by the MDC, it’s surprising that the police or other government authories weren’t expecting the march. It is clear how low on the threat matrix Tsvangirai is. That is disturbing.

Immediately following the march, the faction’s publicity and information secretary Nelson Chamisa issued a statement tauting the “success” of the event which read in part,

Today’s occasion was just but a warning shot; a harbinger of more protracted, nationwide and decentralized response by the people of Zimbabwe to express their need for a free, prosperous and democratic society.

Today’s occasion was an expression by the MDC President and the leadership of their commitment to lead from the front in the people’s struggle for a new Zimbabwe. The response of the people was overwhelming as they gave thumbs up to the gesture by the leadership. The nation is ripe for change. A new Zimbabwe is obvious.

Judging from the “winter of discontent” track record whether we’re on the verge of a “protracted” struggle towards the demise of the Mugabe regime is still very much in the air.

The most important thing though is that they actually did something. For months, and even years some of us have ponitificated on the status quo but have zero action to back up our verbage. History will laud the MDC for taking some kind of action directly against the regime that has visit so much distress on our people.

As to whether this march was really about “firing warning shots,” well, the jury is still out on that one.

Technorati Tags: Anti Senate, Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC, Zimbabwe, Mass protests

Better late than never.

The damage done by the split in the ranks of the MDC in October last year is now almost fully repaired. The reasons for the decision of a small group of leaders to leave the Movement and form a new political grouping are still unclear. But whatever the motivation I think they now realize that the exercise has taken them into a cul de sac.

MDC has regrouped and restructured around Morgan Tsvangirai and the newly elected leadership is beginning to function well. There are some very significant new players drawn from the academic world and the team of 15 policy portfolio secretaries is starting to work together to craft appropriate and effective new policy positions to assist in the eventual rehabilitation and reconstruction of our society and economy.

This process has not been easy or without pain. We continue to miss certain of the leadership that hived off into the new group and we eventually hope they will join the 30 or so leaders who have returned to the main wing of the MDC under its new leadership. These are now gradually being integrated into the structures of the Party and hopefully, this process will eventually heal the wounds in the ranks of the opposition.
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If Zimbabweans needed fresh evidence that the Zanu PF regime does not understand how modern economies work, does not have a clue about what to do to fix Zimbabwe’s staggering problems and is totally impotent when it comes to addressing these issues, the policy statement by the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Reserve Bank provides ample such evidence.

The Minister tinkers while Zimbabwe burns and the Governor steps through a magic mirror into a fantasy world that is entirely of his own imagination.

The MDC has stated on many previous occasions that the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy can only be halted and reversed if we undertake the following with immediate effect: -

1. We agree to setting up an interim administration to oversee the return of the country to the rule of law and democratic sovereignty.
2. We collectively negotiate a new people driven constitution to replace the existing one and hold free and fair elections under international supervision to restore legitimacy to the Zimbabwean government.

Until we are in a position to resume inflows of finance and support from the international community and adopt more orthodox fiscal and financial policies, there can be no halting of the steady decline currently taking place in all sectors of the economy.

As far as the details of the two statements are concerned the MDC comments as follows: -

GDP Decline.

Since 1997, the Gross Domestic Product of Zimbabwe has declined progressively and continuously. It did so in 2005 and we expect the economy to shrink by a further 7 per cent in the current year.

The Fiscal Deficit

The IMF brought to the countries notice the massive deficit in the national fiscus in 2005 of an estimated 63 per cent. This must be compared to the maximum sustainable budget deficit of 3 to 5 per cent observed by most countries. The Minister of Finance has done nothing to address this issue except to be a little more honest than he was in 2005. The accumulated domestic debt of government at Z$43 trillion must be added to the estimate of parastatal debt of Z$73 trillion – giving rise to an astonishing figure for total government domestic debt of Z$116 trillion.

This confirms Zimbabwe’s status as a deeply indebted country and with our external debt now standing at almost US$4 billion with over US$2,2 billion in arrears Zimbabwe simply has no chance of either servicing such debt or redeeming it for many decades to come.

Of grave concern is the fact that the Minister has made no attempt to redress this issue or to halt the explosive growth in debt. This will inevitably lead to inflationary pressures being maintained in Zimbabwe and present inflation rates can only accelerate still further until more robust and substantial measures are taken.

The Absurd Monetary Situation.

The decision by the Reserve Bank to slash three digits off the national currency and to replace all existing currency in 21 days is a welcome, if stop gap, measure. The MDC hopes that the necessary administrative action to support such a radical step has been carried out in advance of this announcement or the long suffering Zimbabwean population is going to be faced to yet more chaos and confusion.

Tax Measures

The decision to raise the tax free limit from Z$7 million to Z$20 million a month is a belated attempt to redress the impact of inflation on individual incomes. MDC has argued that the tax threshold should be adjusted on a regular basis and in line with the assessed poverty datum line. Under the Ministers new tax regime, people earning significantly less than the PDL (Z$68 million a month) will pay tax at the maximum rate. This is simply another example of the depths to which Zimbabwe has sunk in the past 26 years.

Corruption.

The main source of corruption and theft in Zimbabwe remains the State administered system of under valuing exports in local currency and in the wholesale theft and expropriation of private assets. Mr. Gono is right to identify corruption as a major problem and one of the key areas that require the attention of the State. However, he fails to recognise that the Reserve Bank, an institution that he manages and directs, is in fact the main source of corruption in the country.

Inflation.

It is clear to all except those in privileged enclaves, that inflation continues to accelerate and that there is absolutely no way that this can be halted and reversed under the very conditions being created by these chaotic and piecemeal reforms. The massive reduction in interest rates will further devalue our capital stock and the massive expansion in money supply dictated by the unmanageable budget deficit, will only foster inflation and decay.

Conclusion

Inflation, shrinking economic output and declining foreign earnings are strangling Zimbabwe’s economy. None of the measures announced by the Minister of Finance or the Governor of the Reserve Bank will halt that process. The key to progress remains political rather than economic and monetary tinkering and time is not on our side.

Dr. F. Hove
Secretary for Economic Affairs

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Economics, Inflation, Economics, MDC

On Saturday, the Churches in Zimbabwe held a National Convention to debate the crisis in Zimbabwe and the way forward. The meetiung attracted a large number of delegates - 300 plus - and representatives of the Unions, Civic groups and 5 political parties attended. The meeting was chaired and fascilitated by the Christian Alliance.

Morgan Tsvangirai played a key role and this is his address to the Convention. Because of time constraints he did not read this at the meeting but spoke to it. It makes interesting reading and I commend it to you. In addition to this speech, Morgan called all five political leaders to the podium to pledge their commitment to unity of purpose and action in the weeks ahead. The road map was accepted as was a draft “democracy charter”. All constituent bodies are now being asked to register as part of a “Broad Aliance to Save Zimbabwe” and within 7 days the leaders of this Alliance will meet to agree on a combined action progragramme designed to force Zanu PF to come to the negotiating table.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 31 July 2006.

Tsvangirai address the Save Zimbabwe convention
Political Perspectives to the national crisis

Address by Morgan Tsvangirai, President of the Movement for Democratic Change at the Save Zimbabwe Convention, Harare, Zimbabwe.

29 July 2006

Introduction
May I open my address by thanking civil society and the people of Zimbabwe for staying the course? Against all odds, civil society has never wavered on matters of principle. You are with the people, as always. The record speaks for itself. In colonial times, it was the church, student movements and trade unions that spearheaded the struggle for freedom. After Independence, the people remained vigilant, constantly demanding their democratic space.

At the end of the first decade of our Independence, it became clear that our revolution was fast losing track. An avaricious nationalistic clique had abandoned the ideals of the liberation struggle. Corruption began to flourish. Our nation’s political leadership began to lose their focus. The labour movement came under pressure from the workers to de-link itself from that ruling elite. The ZCTU declared its autonomy from Zanu PF. We were informed and guided by the workers whose welfare was now on the block.

The workers were concerned by a steady erosion of their gains since Independence and decided to confront both their employers and the government. The people raised their voices and demanded their space. Part of Zanu PF’s response included far-reaching legislative changes to restrict academic freedom. This invited the anger of students and progressive intellectuals. They, too, like the workers, declared a rights dispute with the government. After the unification of Zanu PF and PF ZAPU and the declaration of intent to establish a one-party state, Zimbabweans realized that they faced a hard transition and began to search for political alternatives.

The introduction of Economic Structural Adjustment Programme in 1991 heightened the ideological confusion in Zanu PF and opened the way for even greater confrontation between the workers, the church, students and all advocates of free political space. We felt then that part of the problem lay with the Lancaster House Constitution. We began to agitate for a new Constitution. This led to the formation of the Constitutional Movement in the mid-nineties. After years of struggle along this route, we met as the National Working Peoples’ Convention to debate our fate.

The National Working Peoples’ Convention
In short, the National Working Peoples’ Convention decided then to form an alternative political movement to take on Zanu PF. We agreed, as civil society, to challenge Zanu PF and to attend to pressing governance issues whose contagion cut across our political, social and economic life. Seven months later, the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, became a reality. In February, Zanu PF tested his first defeat in a national referendum to decide on a government drafted Constitution.

That was another major turning point in Zimbabwe. It was a people’s
victory. This was the first victory for civil society. It is not my
intention at this forum to chronicle six years of struggle and intense political activity in Zimbabwe. But let me place on record that a wounded Mugabe, in response to the crisis, targeted the people. Mugabe declared a war with the people. Mugabe declared a war with the world. The aim was to stretch the MDC and to test the people’s resilience and seriousness. Unlike his peers, Mugabe failed to work out an exit strategy when it was clear that he had outlived his usefulness.

For two decades, our national and institutional systems failed to address growing internal frictions and tensions arising from a self-created crisis of governance. The existing institutions and governance methods no longer worked. To this day, Zimbabwe finds itself saddled with persistent political imbalances, which can no longer be sustained because of numerous political deficits. However, these imbalances and policy flip-flops, which have affected all of us, show a dictatorship flame-out that should offer us a superb opportunity to start afresh.

Together, we are bearing the brunt of the social, economic and political costs of the dictatorship. The MDC, as you all know is an institution that arose from a resolution of the National Working People’s Convention. The MDC is the political face of the people’s struggle. The MDC is a mere symbol of the people’s resistance. But the bulk of the work rests with all of us, with the people, through the party, civil society and through you. The view of the National Working People’s Convention was that a political alternative should challenge the status quo and to bring about change. The birth of the MDC was a people’s response to an unbearable set of circumstances around them.

Our main strategy was to take on the regime at the ballot box. We succeed in this approach. But the people were unable to assume power. The dictatorship responded in a manner that has surprised the world. It is fair to note that on our part, we seriously under-estimated the dictator’s ability and determination to defy reasonable opinion. As we review the performance of the entire democratic movement, an opportunity presents itself for self-introspection. It is a fact that the MDC is still more of a broad-based movement than a political party in the strict sense of the word. We draw our support from everywhere, literally. Our support emerges from any person keen to see a new dispensation, a new democratic framework, and a New Zimbabwe. While some in civil society may argue that they have no vested interest in attaining political power as individuals, they remain an indispensable part of this liberation culture.

After February 2000 and the wholesale destabilization of commercial agriculture and the rule of law, the MDC attracted millions of new members, new supporters, new sympathizers and new allies whose ideological positions were at variance with the thrust of the initiators of the MDC project.

Conservatives, liberals, democrats, socialists, patriots, anarchists and extremists in our society and beyond found a home in the MDC, creating a mix that was not only difficult to manage but highly open to infiltration, manipulation and opportunism.

The mix became pronounced more glaringly in our international relations regime. Liberal democrats sought an association with us; so did the conservatives and liberals. They invited us to join their international solidarity groups and to take up membership of the same. But our ideology, Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, is social democracy. Quite often we were embarrassed to be lumped in the same basket with rebel African rag-tag and ornamental opposition forces and extremely conservative and racial units. These contradictions have earned us a lot of misunderstandings and sometimes open hostility.

Our goal is to complete the unfinished agenda of the liberation struggle: to extend the people’s freedoms. Our objective remains and has always been to search for a lasting solution to the national crisis. Our vision is a New Zimbabwe.

We have tried everything: elections, dialogue, local and international lobbying, symbolic mass action, judicial redress and the law, and Parliamentary pressure. We know something out of all that. While we made some inroads here and there in exposing the weaknesses of the dictatorship, we believe we now have to break new ground in order to make real progress.

The experiences of the past six years are instructive. Countrywide, the people are demanding a short final phase of the struggle. We all realize that a long struggle wears down its own activists and supporters. A long struggle tends to be overwhelmed by unexpected challenges and changed circumstances. Many expected a short and clean sweep, but that was not be. We have to be realistic: you can’t put time frames to a struggle of this nature. Together, we have been exposed to a serious onslaught from the regime. That onslaught almost disorganized us.

The final phase of our struggle
As we enter the decisive and final phase of our struggle, allow me Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen to reflect on my experience and to attempt to place a forecast on what lies before us. The roots of this struggle reside on a serious national grievance: a grievance that is at the heart of our national politics. The MDC represents a rallying cry for the fulfilment of an uncompleted national agenda, a national assignment and a national revolution.

We cherish a value system that bound us together to confront colonialism. Zimbabweans always believed in, and even fought for, justice. We respect our dignity. The concept of hunhu hwe munhu or ubuntu, has guided our relations in our homes, in our communities and in our natural interactions with our neighbours from time immemorial. We long for liberty and personal advancement. We aspire for a society with equal opportunities. Our culture calls on us to support each other. We believe in stability and empathy. As a people, we are natural social democrats.

Zimbabweans look in hope and a deep longing for a united nation. Inside our chests moves a spirit that seeks to express freely the basic traits of our common humanity and togetherness, which for so long has been suppressed and negatively exploited by a variety of political parasites.

We feel betrayed because we never expected the nationalistic elite to simply replace the colonial administrator at Independence and perpetuate inequality, political corruption and divisions in our society. We question the seriousness and the changed, modern-day credentials of the new minority in our midst, the new elite in power. We realized that Zanu PF’s equality debate was flawed right from the beginning - it was based on a narrow principle of equality across race and colour. The party failed to see beyond this, such that today, we live in a society soaked in black-on-black oppression.

Colonialism taught us that a minority always tampers with our national values. A minority thrives on a patronage system. A minority develops cartels and breeds corruption. And when challenged, a greedy minority in power often retreats into a distorted form of nationalism and invokes fears of the unknown; a minority looks to our colonial past for opportunistic and comparative defence.

As I said earlier, after 20 years of abuse our national institutions and systems gave in. The crisis of governance reached a stage when it was no longer possible to keep the lid on. The people refused to be cowed into submission. Today, Zimbabweans desire and demand a leadership, at all levels, with a clear vision, a national sense of modesty, and much courage, born of honest and patriotic concern to articulate our common humanity, our common goals and our Zimbabwean identity within the global community.

Zimbabweans are keen to restore their confidence in the concept of public service and public good. After a serious bruising and more than two decades of unfulfilled promises and political deception, the people eagerly wait for leaders with hearts and minds large enough for the urgent task of attending to our immediate humanitarian emergencies, national healing, national reconstruction, justice and equality. There is a national consensus accepting that it will take a great deal of hard work, personal humility and patriotism to bring us together and rebuild our tattered lives and our shattered nation.

Zimbabweans expect an extension of a system of values that celebrates the sanctity of life and an unfettered extension of freedom. As a people at the heart of danger and struggling with hard transition, we must exercise caution and demand irreversible safeguards to insulate the nation against possible future abuse, regardless of who is in power. The people expect a permanent opening for liberty, personal security and collective advancement. We risk sliding into a form of generational irrelevance; we risk permanent national disability unless we show leadership and confront the dictatorship at a time when literally the nation is fully behind us.

More than at any juncture in the past, this is certainly the time we must take a proactive stance and work out the necessary political and institutional arrangements that will form the basis of a broadly shared sustainable solution to the crisis. The crisis here may be clear to every Zimbabwean, but not to Robert Mugabe and a few of powerful cronies and associates. Their mental block has become a major source of national implosion. Mugabe and his team are failing to connect with something larger than their personal egos. As a result, their leadership is unable to give Zimbabwean life any meaning at all.

We believe the time has come for Robert Mugabe to step aside because he has become an unacceptable national liability. He has lost himself. He seems stuck in a time warp and within the myth of measurement, propelling him to think that if he goes, Zimbabwe will varnish. In life, you cannot measure what you have done, especially that which is good. We recognize Mugabe’s contribution to the liberation struggle. However, we differ with his apparent reluctance to take an exit package and to enjoy, in retirement, an otherwise noble position as one of the icons of the liberation struggle and a founding father of modern Zimbabwe.

We find discomfort in his insistence to cling on to power, run the country aground and destroy the future of millions of young people. We believe he no longer has the ideas and the energy to grapple with the needs of a new generation to pilot the ship of state in the right direction. But, we still need him to assist us in this transition because while he is the source of the problem and he is also part of the solution.

With his concurrence and influence, we can soft-land the crisis; achieve our main goal of completing the unfinished business from the liberation struggle and realize our vision of a new Zimbabwe. If Mugabe allows Zimbabweans today to search for an honest national solution, the discussion will be over in a few hours because we all know and agree on what needs to be done to impel the nation out of the woods. Leadership must give meanings to the lives of others. Leadership requires an honest application of love and an open heart.

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, the MDC is fully behind an orderly transition to a new Zimbabwe. We are against any form of retribution. We are against the use of force to settle political scores. We pledge to allow the past to guide, and not to derail, us as we work into the future. We shall never allow history and our personal preferences or grievances to interfere with this vision.

We support a democracy charter as a moral, contractual barometer for our society and a guiding expression of our national values, regardless of who is in government. We are unhappy with the unnecessary delay in resolving our national crisis at a time when all Zimbabweans, across the political divide, are agreed on the fundamental issues confronting our country.

We are dismayed that despite the national consensus on the need for a new Zimbabwe, some among us wish to see Zimbabwe burn when we know our problem and politically we have the solutions. For instance, the nation accepts and expects a new Constitution, good governance and a compassionate state, economic revival, land and agrarian reform, respect for private property rights, direct foreign investment and international legitimacy, food security, an open government, strong national institutions and jobs. We sincerely believe Zimbabwe must move fast and sort itself out because of the geo-political, social and economic developments facing the SADC region. In 2010, the region, led by South Africa, hosts the soccer World Cup.

As I said earlier, there is a real possibility of creating a dangerous political vacuum in Zimbabwe. Together with Mugabe and Zanu PF, we must seek a way to avoid further damage to our nation. We need everybody in this delicate transition. As a nation, we must manage that process; otherwise the 2010 World Cup shall be marred by a political blot. A military junta could step in to fill the possible political vacuum.

Already Mugabe, conscious of his advanced age and with a view to increase his own security, has militarised our main national institutions: power generation and supply, food production, food procurement and food security, fuel management and distribution, national parks and wildlife management, agriculture, industry and commerce, election management and administration, key civil service departments and parastatals, land distribution and local government. The entire state sector is now in the hands of the military.

In theory, there may be nothing wrong with military personnel offering assistance to a beleaguered regime on behalf of the people. But our experience in Zimbabwe is unique. In 2002 and thereafter, the military took over the administration and management of national elections, with disastrous results. We have it on record that some ambitious elements in the military harbour a negative view of the people’s sovereign right to elect a government of their choice.

International attention shall shift radically to Southern Africa over the next four years as the region prepares for the international soccer competition. Our crisis shall interfere with regional harmony if we continue to postpone the inevitable. A solution is urgent because of the historic task ahead. Zimbabwe needs to embark on a major reconstruction agenda and to re-set its mind and consciousness in order to play a meaningful part in the hosting of the World Cup.

History will judge us harshly if we allow our own internal problems to soil this critical event with, as expected, haphazard migration across the Limpopo, squabbles over disputed elections, lack of political space, a flawed Constitution, starvation and insecurity and bad governance.

Although Germany played host to the 2006 World Cup, 13 European nations participated and assisted in one way or the other. Europe housed and provided facilities to various national teams, visitors and official delegations before the official kick-off of the competition. We are hosting the World Cup. Let us join the region in the preparations for this event.

We are therefore proposing that we deal with our national issues way before 2010, better still three or four years before this international showcase to allow us to rehabilitate our nation, recover our national pride and dignity and play our complimentary role in hosting the World Cup. Let us avoid alienating ourselves further from our neighbours. We must work together to re-open our links with the rest of the business community and participate, as a stable community, in international events. At the moment, we are simply an irritant, a gadfly ready to muddy a noble cause in 2010. We hope and pray that Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF understand that as Zimbabweans we have a responsibility, a duty to our people and to the region.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, while some in this struggle may feel tortured and betrayed, powerless and hopeless, my sincere advice to the people is: stay the course and lead with an open heart. Let us remain compassionate in our search for a lasting solution to the national crisis. Let us pay attention to the people’s pain, against all odds.

I thank you.

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