Mkapa a wrong prescription to Zimbabwe crisis

Mkapa a wrong prescription to Zimbabwe crisis

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By Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro

THE MDC has watched closely developments at the seventh African Union summit held in Banjul, Gambia, over the weekend.

The MDC notes with concern the acceptance by the United Nations secretary-general Mr Kofi Annan of President Benjamin Mkapa as the mediator in the conflict “between Zimbabwe and Britain.”

In our view, there is a serious structural crisis in Zimbabwe, but it has to be located correctly. The crisis in Zimbabwe is one of governance. It is a crisis of a weak and usurped Constitution, a crisis of a privatized and militarised State that has failed. As we speak now, real inflation is over 1 500 percent, 80 percent of the people are living below the poverty datum line, 80 percent are unemployed and more than 3 000 die every week of hunger and the HIV/Aids pandemic. That is the true nature of the Zimbabwean crisis.

In our view therefore, incorrectly identifying the crisis necessarily predicates an incorrect solution. The mediation that is required urgently is between the stubborn dictatorial Mugabe regime and the brutalized people of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean crisis will not go away unless the dictatorship is totally rooted out of the country’s political culture.

More importantly, since this is a regional crisis, it will be wise for the SADC region to come up with its own point persons and intercessors. In this regard we note previous and failed efforts involving the appointment of President Joachim Chissano.

Further, whilst it is important for the Zimbabwean crisis to be acknowledged in the UN, sight must not be lost of the fact that it still remains a Zimbabwean, SADC and African crisis. The region, through SADC, must accept and recognize that the Zimbabwean crisis is having a pervasive and negative multiplier effect in the entire region. That being so, Zimbabweans and the region itself must be at the core of any process and roadmap connected with resolving the crisis.

The African Union too must recognize that this is an African crisis and like SADC, it must not pass the baton stick to the UN. Understandably, the region and Africa are arrested by fatigue and frustration vis a viz their failure to reign in on the dictatorship in Zimbabwe. However, Africa must recall its recent United Front against the apartheid regime when everyone played her role.

Of further concern to us is the ability and capacity of President Mugabe in appointing a mediator in a situation where he is a major actor. Principles of natural justice and common sense dictate that one cannot be an umpire and wicketkeeper in the same game. Clearly in our view, if the UN accepts the need and obligation of a point person, then it as an international body, must appoint its own mediator.

In addition it is our experience from the past, that appointing point persons with ambiguous and ill-defined terms of reference, is a disaster. The whole process can become a smokescreen for averting, delaying and postponing the urgent action that is required in respect of the crippling crisis in Zimbabwe.

Be that as it may, we trust that President Mkapa shall understand the true nature of the crisis and the solutions it requires. To us, there can be no solution to the Zimbabwean crisis unless Zimbabweans are allowed the opportunity of writing a new, democratic people-driven Constitution for themselves and by themselves. Once this Constitution is accepted in a referendum, clearly, free and fair elections under international supervision must be held. This is the point we make in our ROADMAP, which would be a useful starting point for President Mkapa or any other intercessor for that matter.

We now look forward to further developments.

Professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro is the MDC's Secretary for International Relations
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