The New Zimbabwe is almost upon us

The New Zimbabwe is almost upon us

• Zimbabweans have spoken, and the message is in the detail

• Mugabe's re-election would be disaster for private enterprise

• Zimbabweans at the polls: the great debates

• Change cannot wait for Madhuku's post-election ambitions

• Voting for change in Zimbabwe

• Can an independent win in Zimbabwe? Yes he can!

• Makoni: puppet, Zanu PF agent or national hero?

• Who is behind Makoni? Please count me in!

• Obama v Billary Clinton: lessons for Africa

• If Zuma is corrupt, who isn't?

• Charamba gives civil service a very bad name

• Be the change that you want to see

• The paradox of African liberation and change

• Zimbabwe and the Jacob Zuma factor

• The EU-Africa relationship post-colonialism

• Beyond Lisbon: setting the African agenda

• Implications of Zuma winning ANC presidency

• Africa's enduring economic apartheid

• Does indigenisation threaten law of succession?

• Defining the role of the state in post-colonial Africa

• Mushore's ordeal and the Zimbabwe we want

• Does rule of law pose a threat to Africa?

• Capitalism may challenge the poor, but it gives them hope

• The Africa we want: out of time?

• Africa: From Berlin to Lisbon

• The turning point that never was

• Zimbabwe's turning point

• Black Economic Empoerment project gone awry

• Africa's bitter harvest

• Africa's real brand ambassadors

• Indigenisation: a case of hypocritical manipulation?

• Can Africa's brand ambassadors please stand up?

• Is Zimbabwe a candidate for economic surgery?

• Zimbabwe's leadership paradox

• Rhodesia not so good

• Wither Zimbabwe?

• Investing in fear: Mugabe's economic revival plan

• Mugabe takes over as leader of the opposition

• Mugabe under siege: a failed ideology or conspiracy?

• Robert Mugabe's fate

• Without a cause, Africa's progress stunted

• Kofi Annan and the outsourcing of Africa's future

• The Africa we want

• Africa's development challenge: from civil to platinum rights

• 2008 may already be a done deal

• To quit or not to quit: the leadership question

• Business sector cannot remain indifferent to political question

• Gono plays Pope and Cop

• Trust and succession politics in Africa

• Robert Mugabe and Ian Smith: two of a kind

By Mutumwa D. Mawere
(www.mmawere.com)

ANY birth brings with it hope and optimism.

However, it cannot be said that the birth of a New Zimbabwe was ever expected to be easy. The delay in announcing the Presidential election results and the attempt to revisit the parliamentary and senatorial results clearly expose the fact that both President Robert Mugabe and his former ruling party are facing a real and fundamental difficulty.

It cannot be said that the election results are not known, but what is significant is that no-one has the courage to announce the bad news. One has to ask whether it is an easy task to be bearer of bad news to President Mugabe. Is he the type that will accept wily that Zimbabweans are capable and competent to know what is good for them?

Hope is really about imagining the unimaginable and it seems that the people of Zimbabwe have through the ballot expressed themselves eloquently that the days of a Great Leader supported by a compliant legislature are gone.

Whatever happens, President Mugabe’s legitimacy is on the line. He clearly is no longer the favorite First Son of Zimbabwe and now has to live with the fact that he is number two, a position to which the late Vice President Muzenda was condemned to. Vice President Muzenda often observed that he had erased the words “number one” from his vocabulary and had resigned himself to believe that being Vice President was all God had destined for him.

If ever Zimbabwe needed the kind of hope and renewal that the world has been waiting for, the hour is almost upon us. What is required now is a demonstration of maturity and focus and not the political games that have been on display in the post-election period. The world already knows that Mugabe has been dealt a severe blow and change is unavoidable. Mugabe is clearly under siege and all he needs are excuses for remaining in power.

When the election date was proclaimed, many believed that the SADC-mediated process could not be trusted to produce a desirable outcome that we now have characterised by Zanu PF conveniently playing victim.

No-one trusted President Mugabe to be the author of his own demise and all rational minds were expecting that the elections would favour Zanu PF. It is not absurd to ask the question of how could a President and a party accused of being masters at election rigging be stupid enough to preside over a process that undermines their own existence.

Is there something we need to learn about election rigging in Zimbabwe? It occurs to me that at this defining hour in Zimbabwe’s history, we should learn to trust President Mbeki for helping facilitate a process that has produced the unimaginable outcome.

It would be wrong to suggest that MDC-T’s support is a mirage and equally it would be naïve to accept the proposition that Zanu PF does not have its own support base.

If it is accepted that both Zanu PF and MDC-T are repositories of Zimbabwean people’s confidence at this defining hour, it is important that minds are put to use to build a foundation for a new Zimbabwe. In 1980, when Zimbabweans voted ZANU into office, it must be accepted that hope was placed on people whose thinking may have been poisoned by hate than challenged by the future.

President Mugabe with limited experience in managing economic processes was placed at the helm of a relatively dynamic and sophisticated dualistic economic structure and after 28 years in power we can safely conclude that a post-colonial Zimbabwe may have benefited from a different leader.

We have to accept that an ideology that informed the liberation struggle may not be suitable for prosecuting a national democratic revolution in as much as the anti-Mugabe rhetoric may not provide the required fuel to advance the struggle for a better Zimbabwe.

What kind of Zimbabwe do Zimbabweans want to see? Do Zimbabweans want a country where the winner takes all or one that departs from the politics of hate, past and division to a new way of thinking that encourages Zimbabweans to use the minds and energy for positive change?

What Dr. Martin Luther King called the “fierce urgency of now” best captures the Zimbabwean condition. The economy cannot afford five more years of Mugabe. Even if there is a runoff, it is important that Zimbabweans put their differences aside and focus on bringing the change that is believable. I am not convinced that the urgency of now is a monopoly of political parties, but should inform the actions of all role players in the unfolding drama of Zimbabwean politics and comedy.

Even if there is a runoff, which seems more than likely; President Mugabe will enter the race for the first time since independence as an underdog. We have to congratulate MDC-T for making Mugabe eat humble pie for the first time and, if anything, it is important that this opportunity be seized by all concerned to send the message home that Zimbabwe can only have a brighter future without President Mugabe at the helm.

By pointing a finger at the alleged hand of imperialists in the pre-election and electoral process, President Mugabe has already inadvertently conceded defeat and we all now know that even if he were to win, the future of Zimbabwe will require the re-integration of the country in the global community of progressive nations. President Mugabe and his government will not be able to deliver any good news to Zimbabweans and it is obvious that there is a clear choice to be made between the past and the future.

The hour of hope is fast approaching and it is important that change agents manage this final mile with maturity and focus. The real price is evident and the people have already spoken about what they want to see. All we can do is support the momentum of change and no force will stand in the way of change whose hour has arrived.

Mutumwa Mawere's weekly column is published on New Zimbabwe.com every Monday. You can contact him at: mmawere@global.co.za
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