Mugabe Must Be Stopped Now
June 26th, 2008MUGABE is not just an embarrassment BUT A DANGEROUS AUTOCRAT WHO NEEDS TO BE STOPPED BEFORE HE DROWNS THE COUNTRY.
It is extremely sad to watch, hear or read about the tragic events happening in Zimbabwe. Not even the proverbial ostrich, notorious for burying its head in the sand no matter what is happening above the soil, can claim not to notice. This week’s withdrawal of the Opposition Presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC, winner of the Presidential election in March (allegedly without obtaining the required majority) from the runoff scheduled for this Saturday (27 June) is not surprising at all. In conditions such as those orchestrated by the ZANU-PF regime and its ageing revolutionary turned autocrat, formerly endearing Uncle Bob now embittered Gerontocrat, has made the holding of a credible election impossible. Mugabe has made it clear, and his security goons and freelance political enforcers have repeated it in words and brutal actions, that on no condition would he hand over power to the MDC and Morgan. So why bother to hold an election at all?
Mugabe is only willing to accept one outcome: his continuation in office. This means that whatever the outcome of the election he will not respect any result that does not perpetuate his misrule.
In conditions like this an election is not an indication of democracy but a conspiracy against the masses. The issues facing Zimbabweans are no longer just about electoral disputes. There is now a one sided civil/political war situation, where the state and its agents are persecuting their real political opponents or those they believe to be their supporters. It is not only that the coercive instruments and institutions of the state are extremely and openly partisan but that ruling party supporters are allowed to operate with impunity. The state is no longer an arbiter between warring factions but actively partisan. The army, the police, security/intelligence services, state/government officials, and party officials all operate as outlaws, while militias operate as regular officers. It is a post-liberation state gone full circle. The vanguard of the people has become vanguard of the leader and the people’s state has become the enemy of the people.
The problem is political, therefore the solution must be found in politics. Our first responsibility is to discourage President Mugabe from his destructive self-succession by going ahead to run against himself on the 27th of June. If he persists, as it is likely, the immediate response should be a withdrawal of official observer teams that may have been sent there, a recall of ambassadors, and travel advice to nationals not to go to the country and evacuation suggestions to citizens resident in the country. All these will signal to Mugabe that Africa is serious. Our second responsibility, if he goes ahead, is for African countries to publicly state that they do not recognise the election. That should invite immediate break in diplomatic relations to demonstrate to President Mugabe that we mean business.
Taking this position does not mean that we are siding with the opposition or any other opponents of the regime, but is necessary action to help Zimbabwe find a political solution. Up to now, most political pressures have been unequally applied by African states on the opposition to cooperate with the Mugabe regime, whereas non-African pressures, especially from the USA/EU, are almost exclusively directed at regime change and encouraging non-cooperation. If outside pressures could do it, Mugabe would have gone many years ago. He has survived Western diplomatic isolation because African states and leaders, even those opposed to him, have refused to accept Western dictates on the matter. He has used this to his advantage without making any significant concessions in return, even to his closest allies and defenders like Thabo Mbeki.
Mugabe has become a collective embarrassment to Africa and we need to be rid of him. It is no longer enough to say he is not alone. The fact that there are other thieves is not a plea against prosecution by those caught in the act. Those who continue to focus on Western hypocrisy and multiple standards on the matter are guilty of being accessories to the continuing suffering of the people of Zimbabwe.
As African leaders arrive this weekend in Sharm El Sheik for the AU summit, we must campaign in our various countries: lobby our heads of state, foreign ministers and African ambassadors in our countries to take a firm stand against Mugabe to ensure a credible political negotiation for a transitional government in which both ZANU-PF and MDC and other stakeholders share power for a limited period. This could lead to a level playing field for democratic elections, but is not possible with Mugabe and therefore he needs to be eased out.
Africa has been an experimental laboratory for all kinds of transitions. Zimbabwe itself has a historical memory of different transitions that were initially thought to be impossible. Ian smith died of old age in a free Zimbabwe, in spite of his atrocities against Black Zimbabweans. A negotiated settlement may indemnify Mugabe too, while the cause of justice and democracy can be enhanced by him seeing other people (including those he called traitors) govern the country. Official deals do not prevent individual citizens from seeking redress in the law courts.
The writing is on the wall, but Mugabe cannot read it, and so African leaders should spell it out for him in BOLD letters.
It is so sad that a leader who came as a New Nkrumah is going down as a Mobutu. It is a grave understatement to continue to describe him as an embarrassment to Africa. He is a dangerous autocrat who no longer cares if the country crashes down with him. He needs to be stopped and stopped NOW.
“Forward ever, backward never”… Kwame Nkrumah (1909 - 1972)
………………DON’T AGONISE!…………………ORGANISE!!……………
