Another perfect storm is brewing on the horizon.
Mix the clashes over the draft constitution and the disruption of census preparations by security forces in civilian clothes countrywide this week and the combination is guaranteed to worsen an already dangerously escalating situation drastically.
All this is building up to a perfect storm days ahead of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, next week. Juxtapose this with the impending summit, then you begin to ask: What’s the political wisdom of it all?
Only last week, Zanu PF “strategist” Jonathan Moyo was accusing Sadc of continuing to “poke its nose in the day-to-day running of Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government long after the bloc brokered a power-sharing agreement”.
“There is too much Sadc interference in the GPA (Global Political Agreement) like a marriage counsellor who stays in your bedroom after helping solve a problem.”
Witty expression indeed, but has it been applied appropriately or reversely? These are the same people who have been saying the GPA has expired or some such words, but they dust it off as and when it suits them. These cutting remarks instead apply to those who are demanding to be left alone as they abuse citizens they are supposed to protect. It’s like saying to your in-laws or neighbours don’t interfere with me while I beat my wife.
“Sadc is still in our bedroom, why could it not take a leaf from Kofi Annan’s book in Kenya and leave the GPA alone?” Moyo said.
Kenya aside, is it not actually a case of Zimbabwe hanging its dirty linen in public for all to see rather than Sadc being “still in our bedroom”? This inevitably puts Zimbabwe firmly on the Sadc summit agenda. It shows why Sadc has been clear on the full implementation of the GPA as the guarantor. That is the effect of this apparent militarisation of the census with the police and soldiers reportedly sealing off centres earmarked for the training of enumerators. This demonstrates how far power is unevenly distributed and how bad it is for the nation. Zimbabwe is far from being at peace with itself. That is why a mere census has assumed a sinister political angle; that is why Sadc finds itself “still in our bedroom”.
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The census now appears on hold with millions of dollars having been budgeted for it and a sizeable chunk of this having already been spent. But to the powers-that-be, such wastefulness does not matter because they don’t have much time for financial prudence as the state of the economy shows with public finances in shambles. This is not being done out of concern for the common good — it’s for themselves.
Is this supposed to send signals before the referendum on the draft constitution to avoid defeat similar to that of February 2000 over a similar issue? Is this a test run for election violence with polls set for next year? Are they testing their readiness to go into action at short notice? Having possibly concluded that their electoral chances are next to nil, have they decided to spread alarm and despondency? Crises affect different people in different ways with those at the top thriving from them while the overwhelming majority suffers. How much longer can this deficit of accountability be shouldered by the ordinary man and woman?
One cannot be accused of reading too much into this after the census chaos this week which had shape and form as soldiers in civilian clothes countrywide disrupted induction, especially coming soon after the ongoing determined moves to completely undo the constitution-making process.
Looking further, is this the right time to have a potentially violent political crisis with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly set for Victoria Falls next year and all eyes soon to be on Zimbabwe? This makes no sense from a logical standpoint: there is no reason or rhyme to this.
Having said that, these political gambles haven’t really worked in the long term, but the plotters still persist. We should be learning from our mistakes, but with our current leaders, that is unlikely to happen because they are too self-absorbed. Those who disrupted the census induction beating up civilians in what amounts to public violence and mutinous conduct can be identified and should be court-martialled. But that would be expecting too much from the ruling class. How can that possibly happen when the political brains behind all this week’s disruptions remain off limits to investigation?
But Sadc mustn’t be deterred from doing the right thing especially if the race card is pulled out to portray it as pandering to the West. Said United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to her hosts in Cape Town this week: “When old friends in power become corrupt and repressive, a decision by South Africa to stand on the side of freedom is not a sign that you are giving up on old allies; it’s a reminder to yourselves and the world that your values don’t stop at your borders.” So should Sadc as a whole. That these words have come from a white person is immaterial; what matters are the values behind them, not the race or colour.
The census fiasco provides another chance for Sadc to act in the best interests of the people of Zimbabwe to ensure their voices are heard and votes counted.
