Thank you Bulawayo Agenda for your discussion paper Breaking the political impasse in Zimbabwe out lining the types of interim governments that are available as options to break the political impasse as you call it. I would choose to call it just ‘ a political mess.. that we Zimbabweans enjoy to create.’

Allow me to agree and disagree with you on the following before I zero in on my views on the interim government.

Firstly I understand you to be implying that we are in a complex political situation in Zimbabwe and we need to agree to have an interim government of some sort to come out of this complex situation. I agree totally with you on this point.

Secondly I understand you to imply that President Mugabe is not legitimate to be president of Zimbabwe and form a government of his choice. I totally disagree with you on this point.

I will not dwell on the point in witch we agree but will go into my views on the point in witch we differ. The March 29 election was free and fair and in my view Zimbabweans should recognize its out come as the will and the voice of Zimbabweans. The June 27 election was not free and fair for the following TEN reasons;

1. The violence towards the run up to that election
2. The deliberate blacking out of Mr. Tswangirai by Zanu PF on all national
   public media
3. The banning by the police of Mr. Tswangirai to hold public rallies in
   all provinces of the country while allowing Mr. Mugabe to hold such rallies across the country.
4. The displacement of MDC structures across the country by militias and
   war vets that support Zanu PF
5. The arrest, persecution and imprisonment of MDC leaders and none of the
   Zanu PF leaders despite the fact that violence came from both political formations.
6. The attack and closing down of NGOs and Civil Society Organization in
   the run up to that election where by shrinking the national democratic space.
7. The bias towards some journalists and media houses just as the bias
   towards some election observers and not others by Zanu PF and the Election Commission during the run up to that election.
8. The forcing of the influential traditional institution of Chiefs, Kraal
   Heads and Village Heads to campaign for Mr. Mugabe and de-campaign Mr.
   Tswangirai.
9. The biased use of the police and the military in favor of Zanu PF and
   openly against the MDC.
10. The threat for war on Zimbabweans if Mr. Mugabe lost the election in all
    his campaign rallies that amounted to intimidation of the electorate.

In my view the TEN above listed reasons make the June 27 election pass for NOT FREE AND FAIR and therefore its out come results not VALID as the free will and voice of all registered voters in Zimbabwe.  I don’t know the reasons why Mr. Tswangirai withdrew from the race as there is a national media black out on him and his party to explain to us his views and concerns up to this day; but I can only assume that the above reasons contributed to his withdrawal.

If Mr. Tswangirai had withdrawn under free and fair conditions then my views would be different about the June 27 election out come. Given the unfairness of the election of June 27 I remain of the opinion that all Zimbabweans from all political formations, NGOs, CSO and ordinary have a reason to reject the validity of the June 27 election and the swearing in of President Mugabe on the 29th based on those election results and call for a Presidential run-off Number 2 under free and fair conditions.

This how ever does not make Mr. Mugabe an illegitimate president unless we are also implying that the March 29 elections were also not free and fair and their outcome therefore, that led us to the June 27 election is also not valid. I remain of the opinion that the March 29 elections were conducted under the most free and fair conditions since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. Credit should be given to the efforts of the mediation process and its participants that was facilitated by President Mbeki.

The unfairness of the results of June 27 takes us back to March 29 that by this country’s election laws did not produce a winner in the presidential candidates. This still makes Mr. Mugabe a legitimate president of Zimbabwe till he is removed from office buy a free and fair ballot.

Firstly it is for this reason that I disagree strongly with Zanu PF to pretend that the elections where free and fair and going on to swear in Mr. Mugabe and not bothering to go back and check why Mr. Tswangirai opted out at the last minute. If I was tacking a 100m race with a challenger and they put their foot in a mice hole, fell down and broke their ankle I would not be proud of the medal if after checking the race field I discover that indeed they put their foot in the mice hole. I would call for a quality maintenance of the track field and take my challenger one more time, unless if I had other hidden motives by wining this race that have nothing to do with the race itself.

In short I am of the opinion that Zanu PF should not be claiming that they won in June 27. By so doing they are complicating our country’s political situation and prolonging the suffering of the ordinary population of Zimbabwe because they themselves have the Reserve Bank Of Zimbabwe to caution them from the economic meltdown unlike the ordinary citizens in my district and other districts of Zimbabwe.

Secondly it is for the same reason that I again strongly disagree with Mr. Tswangirai that he goes on to campaign that Mr. Mugabe is illegitimate as president of Zimbabwe based on the June 27 election while accepting the March 29 election. The two elections cannot be discussed separately if we want to look at the political situation of our country objectively. Mr. Tswangirai can only do so to prolong the political situation in our country that continues to bring untold suffering to ordinary masses across the country and political divide because he has members and friends in the Diaspora who are not affected directly by the cost of living here that send him hard currency to caution himself and his lieutenants from this economic meltdown.

In my view Mr. Mugabe should not have sown himself in as President of Zimbabwe and should still remain president and candidate based on the results of March 27 until a fair and free election has been conducted. It is for such political behavior that makes me say that we enjoy as Zimbabweans to create a political mess of our country and situation, then run, others to the East and some to the West and every where shouting help us!!

In My View The Way Forward

The only way the current political impasse can be put to rest for ever is to follow the ‘what if’ provided by the country’s electoral law.

My view is guided by that ‘What If’

What if the run off of June 27 took place in a free and fair environment that made its results valid but still was a draw at 50/50 failing to once again to produce a winner? How would we as a nation proceed?  The answer is that parliament would TAKE OVER and decide on behalf of the nation. In my view the election process in Zimbabwe has arrived at that 50/50 deadlock but in a different route and it should be at this point that the country’s three elected colleges on the March 29 elections are to be brought into the center of the negotiated way forward. These are the Senate, The Parliament and the Local Councils. Political party formations must now take a back sit in the negotiations and participate through their elected representatives who sit in these three elected colleges.

Thus as I see it;

• President Mugabe based on the March 29 election results swears in the
  Parliament and Senate and then steps aside for President Mbeki to take the negotiations ahead from there on with the three elected colleges.
• Parliament then elects its leader, so does the Senate and the local
  councils.
• The leader of the Senate becomes President of this transition
  arrangement and the leader of Parliament becomes the Vice President.
• These two leaders guided by the Senate and Parliament with the
  involvement of the facilitator appoint an interim Cabinet to form the government.
• President Mugabe and his two Vice presidents, President Tswangirai and
  his Vice President and President Mtambara and his Vice President  become part of the new Cabinet
• All negotiation information and two way feed back to get to the
  electorate at ward level via elected ward officials and not political party structures or media to allow all Zimbabweans to be involved and feed back to the negotiated process, and Cabinet.
• The 2000 rejected constitution is visited by Senate and Parliament to
  iron those closes where there were differences. I remain of the opinion that, that constitution was a very good constitution save for a few closes.
• Attend to all the TEN reasons that made the June 27 election not to be
  free and fair.

Of urgency for this new interim arrangement is to negotiate with all international institutions on the lifting of sanctions and line of credits for specific interventions to allow the economy to stabilize and eventually turn round reducing the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans.

Finally when all are satisfied, a Presidential run off Number 2 between Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tswangirai is carried out under free and fair elections bringing to an end the presence of the facilitator(s) who represent SADC and the AU feeding into the UN.

The winning President would then choose his new Cabinet and do the work until the next general election.

These are just my views and opinions and I am aware that there could be better alternatives than what I have proposed as long as Zimbabwean politicians stop pretending that they are doing what they are doing for the people and country when in actual fact they do what they do for themselves and their friends.

To conclude I remain strongly of the conviction that any interim arrangement that is finally led by President Mugabe will only be good for him and his motives and will in the long term be as he wants it to be in the expense of all other political formations and the ordinary population of Zimbabwe. We need not forget how he handled the Unity between Zanu PF and Zapu PF that does not benefit the majority of the Zapu PF membership to this day and has left the people of Matebeleland marginalized worse off than before the Unity Accord between the two political formations. He is an intelligent genius seasoned politician and we can not take that away from him. If he is given an opportunity to lead any interim rest assured that he will dribble every one to the finish line.

Discussing governance with my great grand mother some years back she said to me ‘Results are a better truth than what comes out of a politician’s mouth.’

The result of the 9 year political bickering in Zimbabwe is that the majority of the population are suffering and are living under conditions that are worse off than  the day when Zimbabwe was born in 1980 and no matter what arguments or clever words come out of any politicians mouth, that fact remains unchanged.

Cont Mhlanga
Councilor Matshiya Ward
Lupane District
Monday, July 07, 2008