The Australian
By David Coltart
July 25, 2008
WITH talks between the Movement for Democratic Change and ZANU-PF set to
determine the future of Zimbabwe, it is incumbent on all to refer to the
vision of Zimbabwe held by its most important stakeholders: Zimbabweans.
That vision reaches out to gather in the desires and hopes most ordinary
Zimbabweans carry for peace, freedom and justice in their country. The
coming weeks are not a time for empty leadership, nor is it time for a
process of arranging the chairs of power to comfort the padded fundaments of
power-brokers. Zimbabwe has seen enough of this. We need leaders who listen
to human-scale policies.
Such a process won South Africa its much-deserved freedom. Then, the
towering figure of Nelson Mandela constructed and maintained a process that
was politically sound and broadly integrated. Mandela is the first to admit
that his leadership was reliant upon the leadership of others, of people
such as F.W. de Klerk, Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer. It was a culture of
leadership that won out.
Zimbabweans know too well the implications of a drastic and fatal failure in
leadership. The agreement between the MDC and ZANU-PF to discuss a
transitional arrangement is a step forward, but Zimbabweans have too often
seen the moral bankruptcy in our leaders to hold their hopes too high.
The political leadership of Zimbabwe has been soaked in violence and
recrimination for decades. The most concerted and avowed efforts have been
in tight circles of self-interest, spinning enduringly in power’s tiny
labyrinth.
These leadership dysfunctions have reached across all Africa and indeed,
across the globe. World and regional leaders, along with Zimbabwe’s, have
rarely failed in one area: to disappoint.
While leaders talk, we might cast our minds back to the 1987 Unity Accord
between Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF and Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU, to fully appreciate
the moment we are in. Then, political comforts were top of the agenda.
Policy reforms and economic development were relegated.
The cause of democracy in Zimbabwe is still struggling to recover from this
self-satisfying arrangement which created a personal vehicle of rampant
power that Mugabe still drives to this day.
This is the historical context for the talks between the MDC and ZANU-PF.
You can see why there is many a jaundiced eye being cast on it from the
direction of Zimbabwe.
However, if politics is an art, then compromise is surely one of its
instruments. As a lawyer myself, compromise on certain issues is hard to
accept. But, short of a willingness to countenance an even higher body
count, today there are no alternatives.
This being so, how might our leaders fulfil the destiny of a nation and
seize this vital moment in the lives and futures of not only all
Zimbabweans, but of all those with hope and a will for freedom?
For one, there should be no consideration of a permanent government of
national unity. Such a joint arrangement, possibly with Mugabe retaining the
presidency indefinitely and with Morgan Tsvangirai becoming the prime
minister, would simply make a mockery of the decision of Zimbabwe’s voters,
which has already been recorded following the March 29 poll.
There can be no other consideration beyond the establishment of a
transitional authority.
A formal transitional body renders an emphasis on something new, not on a
few shifted seats at the top in Harare. Its composition will need to reflect
the will of the people expressed on March 29 and will need to incorporate
the much-undervalued yet utterly vital forces of civil society.
An authority so constructed will need to quickly enter a period of
power-sharing, working to a finite mandate. A period of 18-24 months should
be sufficient during which to address the issues most pressing in
post-Mugabe Zimbabwe. Broadly, these issues are: the economic crisis, the
constitutional crisis, the need for fresh elections and the humanitarian
crisis.
Like all Zimbabweans, I see the coming weeks as a test for leadership. But,
all tests are opportunities. We are now looking upon a rare, if not unique,
chance to arrest the plummeting decline of one of Africa’s brightest stars.
All Africa has a stake in what happens and in the ability of our leaders to
lead with justice, peace and equality uppermost. I prefer to side with the
optimists who see hope instead of bitterness, a new future instead of a past
repeated and, a new dawn in Zimbabwe, where the beauty, intelligence and
potential of our people is fully realised.
This is my Zimbabwe. It is our Zimbabwe. It must be our leaders’ Zimbabwe
too. Failure is not an option.