Sanctions and easier re-branding of Zimbabwe

Unelected DPM Prof Mutambara: re- branding means unelected do not become DPM's and Ministers

At one of the schools I passed through there was a highly qualified English teacher who introduced each of his lessons with an attention grabber.

One morning he came and wrote on the blackboard that in the lesson he was presenting he would not entertain any questions from anyone which was odd given that his lessons were always very participatory and he would take time to explain any new concept to the satisfaction of the slowest leaner in the class.

He threw in a few jawbreakers that left us mesmerised as he was going on about. Half the class had their hands in the air by the time he was making his third sentence including mine because I had not understood a thing about what he was saying and it had no relevance whatsoever to the subject matter of prepositions he had explained was the lesson of the day.

He ignored the hands in the air and continued as if nothing was happening in the class. To add insult to injury he stated from nowhere that whenever he wanted to keep a secret from us he either put it on the notice board or wrote it on the blackboard as we were too illiterate to understand anything he wrote.

The incident came back to my memory following on goings in the Zimbabwe coalition government over the past two weeks.

Zimbabwe is struggling to unshackle itself from the debilitating effects of 28 years of misrule by successive Zanu PF governments.

In terms of the Global Political Agreement that resulted in the unilateral coalition government no ordinary Zimbabwean ever voted for, the AU and SADC underwrote to assist the government of their choice in Zimbabwe in turning around the economy and overcoming political differences that had polarised the once prosperous nation and were threatening to implode into Civil strife.

For the AU and SADC formation of an inclusive coalition government involving two major political parties and a renegade faction of one of the parties was the panacea to resolution of the long running political impasse that was threatening not just Zimbabwe but the Southern African region.

It was tacitly included in the 15 September GPA that SADC and the AU would underwrite the coalition Government initiative in Zimbabwe to guarantee its success.
“22.6 The implementation of this agreement shall be guaranteed and underwritten by the Facilitator, SADC and the AU.

22.7 The Parties and the new Government shall seek the support and assistance of SADC and the AU in mobilizing the international community to support the new Government's economic recovery plans and programmes together with the lifting of sanctions taken against Zimbabwe and some of its leaders.

23.2 The Parties will continually review the effectiveness and any other matter relating to the functioning of the Inclusive Government established by the Constitution in consultation with the Guarantors.”

In pursuance of the above clauses in the agreement, the Coalition Government has approached the guarantours of the GPA with a staggering short term request for US$8.5billion to halt the economic malaise in the country and return the country back to some modicum of economic normalcy.

The required bailout funds could not be raised by SADC and the regional political and economic bloc decided that it was time to bring on board the international community to assist with the funding of the country’s turnaround programmes.

Meanwhile the international donor and lending community has insisted that for them to consider buying into the plea for help from Zimbabwe the country must first drastically reform its governance practices to at least meet minimum standards expected internationally.

At the centre of International donor and lending agencies’ concerns are issues concerning;

- the restoration of the rule of law;
- economic stabilization and growth;
- commitment to the democratic process;
- respect for human rights;
- and full access to humanitarian assistance.

In particular the international donor and lending community is unanimous that there is need to see substantial and irreversible commitment on the part of the Zimbabwe coalition government towards in particular;

- the immediate release of all political prisoners;
- the end of farm disruptions;
- the cessation of politically motivated violence;
- the establishment of a credible and transparent Reserve Bank team;
- an end to harassment and intimidation of the media;
- and a commitment of all stakeholders to holding credible elections in a timely manner.

These demands are not new at all but instead of addressing them for some reason or another the coalition government appears to have settled for a line of attack that seeks to have economic sanctions the alleged imposers prefer to call targeted sanctions against individuals that have helped the Zimbabwe government to undermine people in the manner highlighted by the concerns.

The initiative is spearheaded by SADC as part of its obligation to underwrite the GPA. It however appears to have failed to persuade the International donor and lending institutions to release funds to the government as of now at least.

The frightening aspect is that the international donor and lending community in the rich Western countries appear to be as unconvinced by the progress in addressing the concerns by the coalition government as they were by the Zanu PF regimes.

They have been forced to once again reiterate the concerns that were first highlighted when they imposed travel restrictions on President Mugabe and his cabal of advisers and aides within Zanu PF.

But no matter how many times the donors and lenders have tacitly put their reservations about dealing with an intransigent Zimbabwe government; SADC and the successive Zimbabwe governments seem to believe that they can extract aid from them after making meaningless cosmetic changes in the composition of the government and the rhetoric it uses.

Professor Mutambara in particular believes that aid can be secured through the lifting of sanctions and re-branding of the country.

We agree with professor Mutambara that for the country to qualify for aid and credit lines it must re-brand but we are not sure if we share the same meaning of rebranding with him.

In our view the re-branding that would automatically qualify Zimbabwe for both international and donor aid is a change in its autocratic misgovernance to the consultative model currently being tried by some Ministers in the coalition government.

By some coincidence it is those ministers who are in Government after winning elections to become Parliamentarians and or Senators that are leading the consultative government model.

From his own faction of the MDC Senator David Coltart has won most of the plaudits in the early successes of the coalition in the manner he managed to get schools to reopen.

He also is reported to have refused allotment of the luxury Mercedes Benz preferring rather to be allotted an all terrain 4X4 that would enable him to access remotely located rural schools.

For some reason or another he is now being reported as the only Minister with people’s interests at heart because he refused to accept the Mercedes Benz luxury vehicle all other ministers accepted without care about the poverty gripping the people whose taxes bought the cars.

How the press has missed that he only opted for an equally expensive perk amazes. Is it because it was written rather than announced verbally, that it is being praised as the example of considerate leadership?

Senator Coltart also brought on board leaders of the teaching trade unions as Education Board members to advise him along with retired former educationists. The only gripe I have with his selection of Board members is that he seemed to choose them from the elitists that partronise his and the Mavambo political formations but did not find it appropriate to appoint a peasant representative to represent the interests of the ordinary parents.

Because of the trend he has set we can resign to seeing more and more elitists being appointed to other boards at the expense of the poor consumers.

For the country to rebrand completely Professor Mutambara must lead the initiative to address donor and lending community concerns at the same time he condemns those like him and the majority he has chosen to be in Cabinet who were rejected at the polls imposing themselves into leadership.

As long as the country remains under the control of election losers like him it can not rebrand into the democratic state that qualifies for donor aid and credit lines because those who can expropriate political power are equal capable of abusing aid. Donors and money lenders are alert to that possibility and it is the single most critical reservation they have in helping the current Zimbabwe government.

If the country is led by a President, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Justice Minister and several unelected Cabinet Ministers appointed by unelected principals who are not accountable to the electorate what would prevent such a crop of self imposed leaders stealing money when they have openly stolen leadership positions at the expense of the electorate?

Finally for rebranding to be meaningful it must address the international and national electorate concerns about specified areas of misgovernance and that is unlikely to happen when the unelected are in charge.

My English teacher was right. To keep a secret in Zimbabwe publish the secret and it will be ignored just as we ignored the written instruction not to ask him questions and the coalition government is refusing and or failing to address international misgovernance concerns before the country can be extended credit lines and or aid.