A Discussion Paper by Cont Mhlanga  

May be I worry about issues that are not necessary?  May be I ask
questions that are not relevant? May be I am concerned with topics that
are not on the national agenda? May be I am not the only one worrying,
asking and concerned. May be?

On what basis is Cde Mugabe traveling to global forums addressing them in
the capacity of the president of Zimbabwe?  Why are these forums and other
world leaders affording him the honor and the opportunity of addressing
them as president of Zimbabwe? May be I ask irrelevant questions.

Cde Mugabe is on record boasting that Zimbabwe has never failed to run a
general election since independence in 1980 to choose a democratically
elected local government, parliament and head of state. This is not only
just a truth but also a fact. He has won all the elections that he has
run. I do not want to take that away from him.

It is how ever public knowledge across the country, in all African
countries and the world over that Cde Mugabe lost the March 2008
presidential elections, not by a small margin but by a wide margin.

Zimbabweans had spoken with a loud clear voice that Cde Mugabe’s time as
head of state and president of Zimbabwe was up. Those that were lucky to
be invited by him and his government as observers endorsed the March
election as free and fair.

I for one expected Cde Mugabe being a peoples revolutionary that he has
always been for all these years to listen to the voice and the will of
Zimbabweans and make a big celebration party at the national stadium for
his farewell party and return to his village for a well deserved rest. So
did many Zimbabweans. But alas! He did not choose to take that route. He
chose to refuse to do the right thing for Zimbabwe, to listen to a
peaceful democratic election and step out of the state house with dignity
and honor that he so much deserved. That day the authoring of the current
Zimbabwean most fascinating political soap opera unfolded in front of the
world audience. This is the only country that I know of in Africa if not
the world over, that has gone so long with no government and a deep seated
humanitarian crisis, yet it has remained extremely quiet and peaceful.

Zimbabwe, Africa and the rest of the world waited for over a month for the
March election results to be announced! Every body knew that some one
under the instructions and with the permission of Cde Mugabe was cooking
something with the election result; a meal that has caused political
constipation to the nation as it has become impossible to digest the meal.
The results that were finally announced were a technical draw that was
never announced numerically but in percentage language even for the elders
in the village!

All that was hyped was that there was no winner and there will be a
presidential run off to decide the winner. The loud voice and will of
Zimbabweans was being suppressed. SADC, AU the NON ALIGNED MOVEMENT and
COMESA observed the events as they unfolded and diplomatically supported
the suppression of the voice of the people by Cde Mugabe. Asian countries
made choices as well; they told Zimbabweans that they do not understand
the election language but they only understand the financial language and
for them it will be business as usual with Cde Mugabe despite the clear
events that were unfolding before their eyes.

The Drama Unfolds

The June 2008 presidential run off election date was announced. This
election turned out to be a nightmare for all Zimbabweans. Cde Mugabe’s
most popular campaign line was ‘ …..Let me warn all of you; the pen and
the ballot box will never be mightier than the barrel of a gun. Go on and
vote for the opposition and you will see….’ He supported his words by
action as well, deploying solders to every ward and authorizing his well
funded war veterans and youth brigades base camps to be established in
every district. The election campaign terror and violence was alarming!
The election intimidation was unparalleled since 1980. His opponent was
closed down at every turn and given no space to campaign. Eventually he
ran the run off by himself and this time round the nation and the world
did not have to wait for over a month for results. SADC, AU, NON ALIGNED
MOVEMENT and many other African countries that had been invited one more
time to observe the June presidential run off by Cde Mugabe are on record
as condemning the run off as a NOT FREE AND FAIR ELECTION but Cde Mugabe
declared himself winner and installed himself president of Zimbabwe before
some ballot boxes were even opened for counting. The next hour AU leaders
were giving him a warm reception and a platform in Egypt as president of
Zimbabwe! How could this be possible? May be I ask irrelevant questions?

Twists and Turns In the Drama

Cde Mugabe is a frank talker and I respect him for that. He told every one
after the June solo run off, ‘No one must challenge the June results. I
won. It’s our results. I am the democratically elected president of
Zimbabwe. I am going to Egypt as president of Zimbabwe and I want to see
that African leader who will dare point a finger at me.’

No one did. They rolled a red carpet for him and gave him the treatment
deserving to a democratically elected head of state in a free and fair
election. They protected him and endorsed his actions of suppressing the
voice and the will of the Zimbabwean population expressed in the March
election. When the rest of Zimbabweans and the world asked questions the
African leaders closed ranks in Cde Mugabe’s defense. He had warned them
when he left Harare for Cairo. They kept their fingers in their pockets as
warned.

They did not stop at defending his actions but went further to invent a
twist in the unfolding drama; that the people of Zimbabwe wanted ‘power
sharing’ in the form of a government of national unity! I will try not to
be rude to our African leaders so I will ask my question politely… Where
did our African leaders get this nonsense of Zimbabweans wanting a
government of ‘power sharing?’ I live everyday of my life among
Zimbabweans of all classes from peasant farmers and villagers, to urban
dwellers, to business people, to politicians who walk the corridors of
power and never have I come across Zimbabweans who want a ‘power sharing
settlement with Cde Mugabe’. Zimbabweans have been consistent with their
March election voice to this day. Cde Mugabe is not listening; Sadc
leaders are not listening; African and Asian leaders are not listening.
All Zimbabweans want is a free and fair election and they will decide who
enters the state house to govern their country.

Kid’s Gloves

This week end Cde Mugabe, again, was globe trotting since his lone wolf
election race of June and is reported addressing the International
Conference on Financing for Development in DOHA Qatar telling the West to
lift illegal sanctions. Yes the West should lift any sanction illegal or
legal, but the question that begs for an answer is if it is politically
correct and appropriate for that West to lift what ever sanctions for a
country whose president lost elections and refused by all means possible
to vacate the state house and forces his presidency on the population? Cde
Mugabe of all the people since March 2008 should not and does not qualify
to be talking about the removal of sanctions because he himself is an
illegal president running an illegal government and is therefore an
excellent magnet to attract illegal sanctions!

My concern is that some leaders and organizers of such global forums
continue to accept and give opportunities to this Comrade despite him
loosing the March election. Is it that the African and World leaders do
not know what to do with elections that are pronounced by observers as not
free and fare? May be I ask irrelevant questions?

World leaders, African leaders in particular should please stop handling
Cde Mugabe with kid’s gloves. Stop listening to a self proclaimed
undemocratically elected president while the people suffer and die in the
country just because Cde Mugabe is refusing to do the right thing for
Zimbabwe.

Zimbabweans too; why are you still talking to Cde Mugabe as long as he
goes around calling himself president after what he did after the March
2008 and the June 2008 election? And you our business leaders, you still
find courage to go to his receptions? Just the other week I watched on
news with deep sorrow when the supposedly top academia of our nation in
2008 went to kneel and bow to Cde Mugabe to cap them and touch their heads
in their graduation?? After what he has done to the nation since March
2008 holding every citizen to ransom after loosing in a free and fair
election?? Ruining a whole generation’s life and you people, the cream of
our young nation, the future of this country still go and bow your heads
to this Comrade??

History is full of university students the world over who have mobilized
themselves and made strong statements against their country leaders who
tramp down over the voice and the will of the people; but not you our
Zimbabwean future; you choose to bow your heads to be capped by a
president who lost elections and refused to vacate the state house!!!

Mamamiyah!!!

These are really bad signs for the future of human rights and people’s
freedoms in our beloved Zimbabwe. May be I ask irrelevant questions?

Case Study

Zimbabwe’s political soap continues to unfold. The way the script has
unfolded in the last three months, it is clear that even if the so
promoted ‘power sharing deal’ invented in Egypt by AU leaders is concluded
it will be very challenging to put it to governing applications and
practice that will ever bring meaningful change in the lives of ordinary
Zimbabweans.

To break the current political impasse thus so far in this Zimbabwean
soap, there is need for another 360 degrees twist in the current plot; so
I suggest that Amendment 19 should be about giving legal power and frame
work to Parliament to elect a President to form a government that will
implement the practical and good sections of the September agreement for a
two year term while focusing on preparing for a free and fair presidential
election that was aborted in June, this time funded and monitored by the
international community by invitation of the AU. If not I see the soap
making useless twists and turns for the full five year term as long as Cde
Mugabe is alive while he trots all over the world calling himself
president of Zimbabwe and enjoying the benefits too, over a suffering and
dying people.

Hate or like Madam Michelle of Mozambique I don’t mind. But I liked her
comment the other week when she was swiftly turned a sell out by our
illegal government some of whose members she cooked dinner for when they
were still deserving Comrades during the liberation struggle of this
country. She said,‘ It’s either the political leadership in Zimbabwe is
not aware of the level of the humanitarian crisis in the country or they
are aware and just do not care’

Madam Michelle they are aware; they just don’t care!

As long as they continue to be recognized every were as president,
ministers, ambassadors, generals, commissioners, governors when the head
of state they serve lost a free and fair election they will not ‘care’

Zimbabwe, Africa’s political case study of the century!

Cont Mhlanga
Bulawayo
Monday, December 01, 2008