Wade's early admission of defeat - what lessons for Mugabe!

President Abdoulaye Wade's early admission of defeat â€" less than three hours after election results began being announced in Senegal contrasts sharply with Mugabe's 5-week delay in announcing 'doctored' results in 2008 resulting in the present crisis.

There are some interesting notable similarities and contrasts between Senegal's and Zimbabwe's scenarios. One major similarity is being led by octogenarians, while the two countries have different colonial histories.

Senegal's 85 â€"year old leader Abdoulaye Wade reportedly made a phone call on Sunday night conceding victory to his former prime minister Macky Sall, 50, a geologist, after a presidential runoff that was declared peaceful by international observers.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe's 88-year old Robert Mugabe did not accept defeat in March 2008 but pressed for a presidential run-off which ended being a one-man show after Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew citing political violence against his supporters.

However, former security minister and Zanu-PF politburo member Nicholas Goche conceded that Mugabe lost the 2008 presidential elections and disclosed that senior Zanu-PF officials were reaching out to Tsvangirai to be accommodated in a new government, according to the MDC leader's book 'At the Deep End'.

Whereas, six people died in Senegal's tragic violence sparked by Mr Wade's controversial bid for a third term in office, four Zimbabwean opposition activists were found dead in June 2008 eight days before the presidential run-off.

Zimbabwe's political violence was so pronounced that some of the 211 election observers reportedly saw two people shot dead in front of them in Zimbabwe in June 2008 as the violence escalated.

Critics of Senegal's Wade say he was grooming his son Karim whom he had appointed to key positions in government and failed to curb power cuts and soaring food and fuel prices.

Similarly, Mugabe drew public outrage when he disclosed in February that his 15 year-old son Bellarmine harboured presidential ambitions. The long-serving Zanu-PF leader has appointed his close relatives including his sister's children to ministerial and senior government positions.

Hard-pressed Zimbabweans who are struggling with electricity bills for power that is seldom there thanks to load-shedding since 2000 were appalled to learn that Mugabe and his wife were some of the top defaulters to the country's power utility Zesa, while the poor faced disconnections. Corruption has affected nearly all political parties.

Media reports have cited the 'Diaspora vote in Paris' as having boosted Macky Sall's electoral fortunes in the Senegalese presidential elections, a development that  Mugabe is unlikely to entertain having disenfranchised millions of Zimbabweans abroad since the rejection of his draft constitution in the 2000 referendum.

While the Senegalese leader, Abdoulaye Wade congratulated his rival Macky Sall as the new president, Mugabe instead threatens war if he loses to Morgan Tsvangirai.

Wade's admission of defeat has earned him respect at home and abroad as a sign of maturity, thereby bolstering Senegal's democratic credentials especially as its election was monitored and endorsed internationally, with the European Union calling it a "great example".

In contrast, Mugabe has insisted that election observers from the UK and the European Union (EU) will not be allowed during the next poll, a move which is set to prolong the standoff between the regime and the West.

"We want observers who will not have any choice on who to assist and who not to assist. We abhor meddling in our own electoral affairs," he said.

It is worth noting that Mugabe expelled the head of the EU election observer team in February 2002 after which targeted restrictive measures were imposed on the Zanu-PF leader, his wife and some of his inner circle for human rights abuses and vote rigging.

Wade's early admission of defeat should certainly present lessons for Robert Mugabe and other Zimbabwean leaders, especially that to be a true statesman, you may have to eat a humble pie and not hold the country to ransom for whatever reasons.
 
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Clifford Chitupa Mashiri, Political Analyst, London, zimanalysis2009@gmail.com