Constitutional reform and the MDC mess

Constitutional reform and the MDC mess

• US says Zim moves 'a sad step backwards'

• Rights groups condemn constitutional moves

• Paul Themba Nyathi: Dark day for democracy

• Parliament passes amendment bill

• Jonathan Moyo: Constitutional madness will not save Zanu PF

• MDC ambush Zanu PF with draft constitution

• Zim tables bill to amend constitution

• Lawyers condemn constitutional amendment

• Aspiring Zanu PF senator dies of poisoning

• Alex Magaisa: Constitutional amendment spells doom for economy

• Chinamasa admits Zanu PF has no two thirds

• Zimbabwe opposition snubs Mugabe

• Zimbabwe senate will last only 5 years

• Moyo fights constitutional amendment

• Mugabe recalls Zimbabwe parliament

• Zanu PF accelerates Senate plans

• Mugabe appoints nephew to new Cabinet

• Mugabe to extend term

• Moyo on opposition benches as MPs sworn in

• Mugabe appoints governors, Cabinet expected

• Mugabe vows to rule for a century

By Tawanda Hove

THE authoritarianism of Zanu PF has once again held sway and will only accelerate Zimbabwe’s race to the bottom.

And what the MDC’s solution is as said by the former MP Themba Nyathi, “We trust regional leaders will take note of today’s developments and reconsider the merits of existing policy approaches towards the Zimbabwe question.”

How many times does the region have to fool you to understand the message that they are trying to get into your obstinate heads – it is only when there is a shift in the balance of forces in Zimbabwe that the region and the international community will act?

Regional solidarity is important so is international solidarity, but remember Burma, remember Chile, remember China, remember Mauritania, remember Pakistan, there are no democratic governments in these countries yet the international community still engages them. There is need to shift the balance of forces in Zimbabwe and then the international community will act. We know what the Zanu PF government has been responsible for but we must question the MDC’s response to the constitutional debate in Zimbabwe.

After the February 2000 NO Vote campaign, the MDC has always made the constitutional reform agenda peripheral. They have failed to hold or build a definitive national front with the NCA and other people who have been arguing and saying that the constitution is what is fundamentally wrong. Te MDC has argued that it is a political movement, their agenda was clear, to capture state power and not to check it like the work of civil society.

The argument that they are a political party and that the business of the political party was to capture power has been turned on its head by Zanu PF. Not only was this an empty and impoverished argument but it reflected the weaknesses of the MDC, it fails to build tactical alliances and despite many meetings with civic society, the MDC was arrogant and never willing to be humble enough to mobilise around constitutional reform.

Now they have been exposed and Zanu PF is playing yo-yo with them and their response is to ‘walk on the streets’ with no people. This is the biggest joke of Zimbabwean politics. Imagine this scene of an almost motley crew of MPs marching on the streets of Harare with no following in your territory. Surely no one is supposed to take them seriously. MPs who cannot even mobilize their constituencies to either march with them or at least stay home. What is the meaning of ‘movement’ then? A political movement is distinguished by one and one thing only, and it is that is composed of a mass of people and that there is motion, there is movement towards somewhere. The opposition is behaving like a spoilt brat, this is Africa, it s not Scandinavia where opinion is regarded highly. In Africa, social transformation will only be guaranteed by mass pressure and mass political action, they must know that unless the balance of forces has shifted then they will remain in a stalemate, out of power and invite more intra-party squabbles.

We now even hear that the Tsvangirai’s home has now been turned into another “Mereki’ where praise singers and clueless people gather to chant how its difficult to deal with Zanu PF. We will not turn to the third force because it has already consumed itself by the type of ethno-nationalists that it is rallying behind its motley cause but the MDC must be reclaimed by the people.
Hove writes from South Africa
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