Let’s face it: more than three months since its inception, Zimbabwe’s so-called government of national unity is a failure.
This is a unity government in all but name. Oppression and coercion is embedded within its architecture, with the impotent opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) serving as little more than a legitimising mechanism for ruling party Zanu-PF’s totalitarian agenda. Little wonder that the country is still falling apart when Zanu-PF shamelessly grips onto power. Stalling reforms proposed in the GNU agreement and having unilaterally appointed ambassadors, it’s sent a clear message that it remains the party calling the shots.
Furthermore, human-rights activists, lawyers and MDC politicos continue to be unlawfully harassed and detained. Hundreds of prisoners die of starvation in jail. And land grabs and persecution of farmers occur with impunity.
The MDC has shown itself powerless to prevent all this and unable to ensure that the rule of law is respected. Instead, it pleads for smart sanctions against Mugabe’s cronies to be lifted, naively assuming this will kick-start the very economy that these vile specimens actively destroyed through their avarice and tyranny.
It is clear that Zanu-PF’s undemocratic participation in government is only further aiding Zimbabwe’s disintegration and prolonging the suffering of our beleaguered neighbours. Yet Pretoria remains silent about the continuing subjugation of the Zimbabwean people, preferring, rather, to silently condone the brutality of a fellow “liberation” movement.
Instead of propping up Zanu-PF, South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC, needs to act in the best interests of all Zimbabweans and force the party to accept the rule of law and ensure that the obligations in the unity agreement are adhered to. Otherwise one can only assume that our ruling party’s endorsement of Zimbabwe’s dictatorship is an indication that it too believes that rapacious oppression is justified to maintain an increasingly slippery hold on perpetual rule.
This post first appeared on The Soapbox, the online opinion platform which Alex edits. Find out more how to get involved here.
What is happening in Zimbabwe is truly horrendous but what stifles its economic progression and adds to the misery that people are suffering there are the sanctions imposed on Zim. You are mistaken in saying that SA condones what happens there. It is clear that they strongly condemn it. Trouble is, they cannot go and colonise/terrorise Zimbabwe as you (and many others who see nothing wrong with colonial invasion/terrorism) would have them do.
All SA can do is help the ordinary Zimbabweans who are suffering. But you don’t care about ordinary Zimbabweans do you? All you care about is revenge against Mugabe for (allegedly) “grabbing” white farms? No?
What is truly bad about Mugabe is that he is a dictator who does not respect democracy and who has subjected his people to suffering. But what about the Western countries that have continued to support him? That have funded him? Now only China gets bad pres for befriending Mugabe. What about Nicholas Sarkozky and Jacques Chirac? Or does their being Western exempt them from scrutiny? They are just as responsible for Zimbabwe’s problems as you claim South Africa is, if not even more.
Alex, you are wrong. The Zim “Governemnt of National Unity” is a resounding success for Mugabe, Mbeki, SADC and the ANC. The status quo has been maintained and the election has been stolen – again, and one of Afric’a ‘hero’s will move on regardless. Every one other than the electorate are happy and now, more than ever, as more and more of Mugabe’s detractors are leaving the country so that in the next election, Mugabe will have a reasounding victory, that will be free and fair. In fact there won’t be need for another election as all the opposition will have left.
i think the de facto opening of the border has pretty much been an admission of guilt as far as pretoria is concerned.
it’s like canadians going into the united states these days — you cross the border, get your 90 days, but in reality don’t leave until the issue is forced. and, also — they are ALLOWED to look for work.
why do i have the feeling that passports are about to go up in price from the $650 they already are?
Well the MDC will just have to tough it out, they have no other choice. If they leave the GNU they will not be backed by SADC, AU or SA. They will be painted as the spoilers.
I doubt if SA will specifically address ZANU-PF and President Mugabe, but are more likely to diplomatically ask both parties to work things out and express SA support for the GNU.
The MDC will have to convince an electorate that they performed while in office – ZANU-PF knows this.
Before that they will need to secure conditions for free and fair elections, a new constitution and be able to position themselves in such a way as to claim independent success and not as part of the ZANU-PF led GNU.
ZANU-PF knows all of this and will do their best to frustrate these strategies. The MDC doesn’t control any of the crucial power levers (military, intelligence or election departments) and we can expect very liberal interpretations of the agreement if no new constitution is in place…
That is assuming we make it to a new election…
Now how does that come as any surprise? A ‘black swan’ has flown over Zimbabwe. Soon he’ll return and come over this land also (having just winked at us the last time he passed by!)
Phillipa, your twofacedness is astounding. Why exactly do you speak as if you could care less about those foreigners who travel to work on donkey carts (your words, note)? So when was the last time you went to Zimbabwe to see how these ‘sanctions’ operated?
Your running commentary is like Lyndall Beddy in drag through one of those distorting mirrors they used to have in fun fairs or something…started off making no sense, occasionally finds a point then disappears off into something resembling Salvador Dali without talent.
I thought there were smart sanctions against the biggest cleptocrats and murderers, not against Zimbabwe. Mugabe is responsible for the destruction of law and order in his country. He won’t be around long enough to see if it ever returns, but the likelihood diminishes with every passing day. Once the law goes, things will become a whole lot worse than they are at present. Think DRC, Angola, Somalia, Chad. The people in these countries have all seen the law die and with it any hope of a decent life. Let us all prey for Zimbabwe and never forget the tyranny that is happening right now.
It’s been a reasonable success, considering the situation in which Zimbabwe had found itself by 2008. The armed forces are not running as wild as they did, the economy is slowly getting up onto its knees, and above all, the general public is beginning to hope that the future might not be completely bleak. In fact this may not be true — unfortunately, the MDC’s neoliberal agenda of privatisation and salary cuts seems to be gaining a lot of ground — but the trouble is that by 2008 there was no real alternative.
Of course, the West hates this, which is why they are refusing to offer any aid (what Philippa Lapinsky calls “sanctions”). And right-wing South Africans hate this. I can’t quite see why, unless their sole motive is to punish Mugabe and they couldn’t give two hoots for the people of Zimbabwe.
Significantly, the author of this silly article doesn’t suggest any alternative to what was done, because he has no alternative; he is simply whingeing about the failure of his own fantasies of revenge.
I know it has been asked before but have not seen a straight answer: Is this “Phillipa Lipinsky” for real?
@ Phillipa L: Wow, you can jump to conclusions. Alex’s piece does not reflect your line: “All you care about is revenge against Mugabe for (allegedly) “grabbing” white farms?”
The white farms are small fry in the whole Zim landscape. In fact they’re already history. So many robots in Jhb have a Zim beggar and so many gardeners and security guards are Zim folks who had to give up a middle class life and come here as economic refugees.
Besides, it’s an old story that SADC and SA money to Zim has been squandered by the people who are NOT suffering.
Zim people help themselves by sending remittances back home, either in cash or through mealie meal. Pop over to any Jhb taxi rank and you’ll see this industry in action.
I speak to many Zim economic refugees on a daily basis. They say that for many of their loved ones left up there, it’s a case of “have a lifeline from outside or you’re DEAD”.
Mugabe’s being allowed to carry on the way he has over the past year, and now in the GNU, is a disgrace, a disgrace, a disgrace.
It’s the defenders of Mugabe (to any extent) who don’t care about the Zimbabweans, not the likes of Alex!
Your argument is in fact such a reminder of the “constructive engagement” during apartheid sanctions.
@Kit: I admitt that my “donkey” comment might have been misinterpreted and as a result might have been offensive to some. That was not my intention. I sincerely care about the people whose lives have been ruined by Mugabe (but they must take some responsibility for letting him go on for so long-whatever happened to coups? Isn’t he one such leader who deserves to be removed from power in whatsoever measure avails itself).
I personally was induced to make that comment because I was pissed off by the racist and xenophobic comments coming from that irrepressible negrophobe: mundundu. Otherwise, really, I care. And besides there’s nothing factually incorrect about that statement. People are induced to using donkeys because petrol is unavailable (not just expensive).
Pissed off by the racist & xenophobic comments? So your response is thus:
@mundundu: Your xenophobic comments are appalling. If South Africa is such a dismal place to be, then why the hell did you (and a legion of other foreigners who are flooding our borders everyday) come here? Get real. Your country is probably in shambles and had you stuck it out, you would probably be commuting to work in a donkey and struggling to afford even the most basic foodstuffs so don’t bite the hand that feeds you, brother.
Please tell me you can see the irony in that….
See, this is when I know that Phillipa is in fact clueless. Quite apart from displaying sheer anti-African (as opposed to anti-South African) xenophobic ignorance with the phrasing of that donkey comment (and claiming to be ‘driven’ to it and then even going a step further and calling a black man a ‘negrophobe’!), the suggestion that the removal of a politician with the gun rather than the ballot box when, almost without exception, other African countries were failing to openly declare the elections rigged, where the incumbent was still viewed as the legitimate head of state by other nations…..absolutely astounding. No other adjective quite does it for me like that one.
So what’s your solution to getting Somalia back on track and the Somalis back home then? I’d love to hear.
(Include in the answer in order not to receive negative marks: Madagascar, Mauritania).
“A unity government in all but name”. I think you mean “a unity government ONLY in name”.
And the rest of the piece is no better thought out.
Zimbabweans have been royally shafted by the SADC and given that reality, MDC has got on with it, still mainly supported by civil society. Zimbabweans know what’s happening and given a chance to vote again in relative freedom they will express themselves. Next time, the ZEC won’t be Bob’s plaything to rig the vote.
Sanctions: only against the nonproductive elite, aside from loss of international credit due to non-payment. We can debate the influence of World Bank and IMF in 1990′s Zimbabwe but who would give more credit to a Government who without a popular mandate, printed money and pampered a small coterie while closing down every nook and cranny of democratic space and wrecking the economy? How can people talk about “coups” – Ms Lipinsky, don’t you know that the JOC are the ones backing Mugabe? That Zimbabwe has experienced a “coup by stealth”? People speak of “land grabs” and “white farmers” but they know nothing about how the rural economy of Zimbabwe functioned (or collapsed).
Back in the Seventies – now THAT was sanctions. And despite the injustice and war and rationing, no one starved to death, there was clean water, electricity supplies were constant to the cities, and roads were maintained. Prisons could and did feed themselves.
Don’t insult Zimbabweans with this rubbish.
ian:
what makes phillipa’s comment even funnier is that i’m american [which anyone would see if they would click on my name -- the pic is one from an old passport].
i grew up in [countries given in no particular order]: france, liberia, kenya, rhodesia [it wasn't zimbabwe yet], belgium, puerto rico, upper volta [not burkina faso yet], and south africa [yup, i lived here under the nats for a bit] — but it was under either a canadian, french, dutch or [finally] an american passport.
i’ve also lived in zim as an adult, in addition to a few other countries.
i’m under no illusion that my being able to move countries almost at will is directly linked to my american passport. i mean, get real: if i overstay, i’ll get deported to the united states? are you kidding? sign me up for that.
i’m seriously considering returning to zim, despite the political situation, once SEACOM expands bandwith availability in zimbabwe. why? because it’s a better place to raise kids than south africa. [to tie in to another thread]. it honestly is.
that so many zimbabweans are this side is testimony to mbeki’s consent to the destruction of zimbabwe.
i honestly think that there is a desire in south africa that zimbabwe be reduced to the levels of [non]-development found here. mugabe’s greed made a lot of it happen, but pretoria’s lack of desire to stop him exacerbated the situation exponentially.
phillipa –
to directly answer your rant, the answer is thus:
the job that i held from 1999-2004 put me in a unique position to see the global financial crisis that was coming. in 2004, i left that job and moved to south africa, where the exchange rate would mean that, if i played my cards right, i would have a nice life while most first-worlders had a rough ride.
i would have much preferred to have stayed in senegal, but since senegal is, for all intents and purposes, eurozone [do you need that bit explained?], i elected to live in the randzone, where, overall, i’ve done fairly well, despite making a few financially catastrophic decisions.
—
and, with regard to the removing bob via a coup approach? i mean, i don’t know if you noticed or anything, but bob made sure that no coup was going to take him away. i suggest that you do some insightful research into the last 30 years of zimbabwean political history, and come back to me about how and why what you said is just plain daft. mmkay?
to get full marks you need to include all of the following: “frelimo”, “anc/mk”, “mpla”, and “money”.