Jacob Zuma Walking Into Zanu (PF) Ambush!

Published on Newsday on the same day as Jonathan Moyo's Polls Preserve of Zimbabweans on The Herald, this piece by Brian Mangwende could well have been a response to Moyo, written in anticipation, which captures what most Zimbabweans must be wanting to ask Moyo:  Just what is the point of going for elections if you do not want the people to express themselves freely in that election?

That is precisely what Zanu (PF) and Jonathan Moyo are trying to force Zimbabweans into, either an election in which the SADC conditions for free and fair elections are not met, or no election â€" and the MDC now seems about to succumb to the pressure. The MDC's announcement that it is starting preparations for an election, when not even an inkling of the SADC roadmap has been fulfilled, is not just worrisome.

It is a frightening a reminder of the long drawn out Global Political Agreement (GPA) negotiations which ended in the MDC preparing for the inauguration ceremony for Government of National Unity even before they had agreed on the number and powers of the Ministers, nor dotted the "i"s and crossed the "t"s on the agreement.

It is fears of a repeat that prompted Mangwende to ask in whose interest such an election would be held, when it is well known that in previous elections, what Zanu (PF) could not achieve by rigging it did by killing. Despite carnage Mugabe was sworn in as President by his Chief Justice after his Electoral Commission, headed by a now-promoted Judge, declared that the election had satisfied Zimbabwe's standards of free and fair elections.

It was only the African Union and SADC who looked at what had gone on and decided that the June 2008 debacle was no election. Led by Botswana and Zambia, they rejected Mugabe's participation as a head of state at the African Union Sharm-el-Sheike Summit in 2008, and he was so furious that he wanted to manhandle a reporter who asked him on what basis he considered himself a head of state.

Nevertheless he was forced to go and negotiate with the MDC â€" negotiations which Mugabe's men dragged out until the MDC was forced to accept an imperfect agreement. The African Union could have said the election should be re-run with monitors and peace-keepers to ensure against violence, or they could have declared Tsvangirai the winner. But they said, go and negotiate, on the off-chance that Zanu (PF) were human beings with feelings for their people and a sense of fair play.

Now they are showing true colours - refusing to implement even the imperfect agreement which they signed and which would provide the minimum basic conditions for free and fair elections. In so doing they are poking a finger at the African Union and SADC, and saying the international community can go to hell. The way Mangwende put it: "the usual suspects begin dragging their feet and sabotaging the reform process, rendering the Government of National Unity (GNU) partially inoperable!

"The same culprits go onto the pulpit and shout out loud that the GNU is not working. Of course it's not working! Stop undermining it and implement its letter and spirit and it will work!"  Surely somebody must be listening.

Unfortunately only ones who are listening, and  most intently, are failed politicians like Jonathan Moyo, and other failed intellectuals who are dependent for their sustenance on Zanu (PF) remaining in power, and therefore have every reason to throw spanners in the works to scuttle any possible agreement that would lead to free and fair elections.

Writing on Wednesday Moyo described as a "myth" and "wishful thinking" that it was part of the GPA that Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government elections must be held under the provisions of the agreement. His "logic" was that, as there was no guarantee that the ongoing Constitutional process would produce an acceptable constitution, the holding of elections could not be held hostage to that process.  "...the holding of the next elections cannot rationally and legally or constitutionally be based on the uncertain adoption of the proposed Copac constitution whose outcome depends on (agreement and a referendum)"

In other words all that Zanu (PF) has to do is drag the Constitution-making process out and refuse to agree to it â€" as they have already been doing all along â€" and eventually the term of the current Parliament will come to an end, so elections would have to be held under the old constitution which allows Mugabe to be a player and a referee at the same time â€" yes the one which was rejected by SADC.

Moyo also conveniently forgets that the Constitution that he is saying we must revert to was itself amended to make the Global Political Agreement part of the Constitution. Therefore he cannot wish GPA way, nor can it be legally ignored.

Besides using undiplomatic language to the effect that South African Minister of International Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, should "shut up," Moyo upped the ante by alleging a "national security alarm" triggered by her saying that the GPA envisages an election in Zimbabwe only after finalisation of constitution-making and that South Africa expected that there would be no deviation from the provisions of the GPA.

The national security scare is clearly smuggled in as a way of putting on standby the military men whom Jonathan Moyo believes will take up his cause, to keep Zanu (PF) in power whether it wins or loses elections, if the civilian Zanu (PF) cannot go along with his bloody ambitions.

Then Moyo further escalated the raw with SA by referring to South Africa's UN Security Council support for the no-fly-zone over Libya as the "nonsense that often comes from some of our treacherous brothers and sisters from across the Limpopo who are won't to forget their liberation history all in a senseless and ultimately self-defeating effort to appease some marauding imperialists."

This is clearly timed to destabilise Jacob Zuma who is said to be on his way to Harare for talks with Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Having failed to take Zuma off the ball by making statements to the effect that Zanu (PF) now longer needs him as facilitator, they now hope they can taunt him with Resolution 1973 until he breaks.

As if that were not enough they also intend to say to Zuma that the timeline of the GPA is now off or out, or so behind that it has already "deviated", and that SADC has also deviated by failing to get Western countries to remove sanctions on Zanu (PF), and that these deviations now render the agreement meaningless.

The removal of sanctions was a condition which Zanu (PF) put in the agreement knowing very well that it could not be fulfilled as it was not in the hands of SADC to remove sanctions which it did not impose in the first place.  But now they are accusing South Africa of being silent on the issue of sanctions saying we will not hold elections with sanctions still in place √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨" another typical gem of Zanu (PF) logic: the West imposed sanctions on us, so Zimbabweans will not have elections. As if elections are for the West.

For the convenience of Zanu (PF) the GPA is "just a political agreement between only three political parties" but not a legally binding document, which may well be the case, but unfortunately for Moyo in the political psyche of Zimbabweans it was a binding postponement of the election to a time at which conditions for a free and fair election would have been created.

That is the time they are waiting for. Least do they know that Zanu (PF) has changed and is not going to allow this time to come, as Jonathan Moyo has now said publicly. President Zuma has been ambushed and should now lay down the law for these belligerents, and be prepared to use every weapon in his arsenal as SADC Facilitator, SADC Security Troika Chairman, and President of the Republic of South Africa â€" the same Republic that brought Ian Smith to heel when he refused to accept the deal being offered by Mugabe in 1978.

He could try borrowing from the old Shona wisdom of the Wise Fox (Mutongi Gava). When he was asked to make a ruling after finding a rabbit in the clutches of a lion about to have him for lunch; the rabbit protesting that he had helped the lion out of a trap, but he was now planning to eat him and the lion saying he had every right as he lived by hunting, the Wise Fox feigned a failure to understand the original circumstances and asked the animals to go back into their original positions; the lion into its trap and the rabbit passing by. Then he said to the rabbit, now you decide whether you want to free the lion!

So if Mugabe wants to abrogate the GPA he must return to his original status as a losing candidate who is not a President, and a neutral body should take over the running of another election under SADC guidance.
 
March 21. Be There For Zimbabwe. Demos in Washington, New York, Chicago, London, Brussels, Perth, and Pretoria.