Zimbabwe Information Center in North America
A project of the North American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe (NACFREEZ)
MDC
By Stanford G. Mukasa
Letter from America
April 14, 2008
Time to deal decisively with Mugabe and ZANUPF
The most fascinating story that will be told for years to come will be about how Mugabe lost the elections and, in broad daylight, ran away with the ballot boxes.
And now Mugabe wants a recount of votes after the ballot boxes had been kept at a secret location by ZANUPF, and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission had reportedly been disbanded!
ZANUPF’s reason for the recount is that the polling officers undercounted Mugabe’s votes. To avoid suspicion ZANUPF has also reportedly included for a recount a few seats that it won!
Six years ago when the MDC complained of some serious irregularities in the presidential elections results Mugabe and ZANUPF laughed all the way to the bank!
The electoral law says a complaint for a recount can only be made within 48 hours of the conclusion of the voting.
ZANUPF made their complaint more than 300 hours after the vote. The simple explanation was ZANUPF needed time to stuff ballots in the disputed constituencies for which they are now seeking a recount.
If MDC agrees to this recount then MDC will have only themselves to blame.
ZANUPF was aware well before the elections that it was headed for a landslide. Mugabe’s own CIO told him so on many occasions.
No government can survive public outrage at an inflation that is, in reality, approaching one-half a million percent!
It was no surprise, therefore, when Mugabe was told by his security chiefs that he had lost the elections by a very wide margin. What surprised him was all that rigging had been a failure.
Mugabe was then reported to have asked the military to declare him the winner!
And if veteran nationalist, the late Edison Zvobgo, was alive today he would remind us all of a story he once told many years ago about a madman from Ngomahuru mental asylum who was given a baton in a relay race.
Instead of handing the baton to the next runner, this madman escaped to the mountains with it and is, at the age of 84, still running wildly with the baton.
He is no longer following the race track. Neither is he following the rules of the game, but is running as fast as his legs will carry him in the mountains.
What remains to be seen is how far his legs and body will endure such physical abuse from a madman who does not know when to stop or retire.
What is most tragic about this madman is that he is dragging the whole country with him in his merry- go -round run in the mountains.
In the meantime, the economy has hit rock bottom, and appears to be digging even deeper. Mugabe is so focused on holding illegally onto his position that nothing else exists in his weird world.
It boggles one’s mind to imagine that an 84-year geriatric who suffered an overwhelming defeat in the elections should be fighting on to hold office.
There is no longer reason , rationality or sense in what Mugabe is doing or trying to accomplish. He easily qualifies to be included in the Guinness World Book of Records as the oldest president in the world.
If he looks around him in the region Mugabe will notice he is the only remaining president since independence.
His friends and colleagues: Samora Machel or Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Hastings Banda of Malawi, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi of Kenya, Mobutu Seseko of the former Zaire, Sam Nujoma of Namibia are all gone. Even long-time friend, Fidel Castro, of Cuba is gone .
Africa is vibrant with an impressive trend towards democracy and multiparty political systems. Zimbabwe is the sore finger that stands out as an outpost of dictatorship, evil and a systematic and well entrenched suppression of human rights.
In the international community Mugabe is quickly emerging as a pariah, and a political skunk that everyone is trying to avoid at all costs.
There has been an overwhelming international outpour of contempt for the way Mugabe has handled the elections and the results. He has violated every rule in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
He thought he could get away with rigging the elections. It did not work. Then he tried all kinds of concoctions from his witches’ brew.
The more he attempted all kinds of shenanigans to have himself declared the winner, the more he sunk deeper in the hole of infamy that he had dug for himself.
Mugabe and his cronies are hoisting themselves in their own petards – the lies, the tricks, and all the fraudulent acts aimed at ensuring their own victory have now boomeranged and hit them squarely between their eyes.
Much as they try to blame it on others, they cannot escape the fact that Mugabe and ZANUPF made their deathbed and now must lie in it.
And much as he may threaten the opposition movement with damnation, Mugabe and his ZANUPF cannot escape the fact that opposition to his rule is also growing within ZANUPF.
There is now a significant faction within ZANUPF, among the lower ranks in army and in the CIO that played a strategic role in alerting the opposition movement to all the tricks Mugabe had in his bag to rig the elections.
There are reports that the top military brass , especially the so-called Joint Operations Command or JOC, have surreptitiously taken over and are effectively running Zimbabwe.
This is not news. Mugabe has been under the control and manipulation of the so- called securocrats for many years now.
It has always been the ZANUPF tradition that its party’s civilian leadership reports to the military wing. It would, therefore, not be a surprise if the military are now directing when and how the presidential election results should be released.
There are several actions the international community can take to deal with Mugabe. The targeted sanctions currently in place are obviously not 100 percent effective.
The leading actor in the international response to Mugabe should be the United Nations. The Security Council must be convened as soon as possible to pass an effective resolution on Mugabe.
The first resolution should be a call on Mugabe to allow the release of the presidential election results. If no presidential candidate achieved more than 50 percent, a run-off should be ordered within the stipulated time.
However, this run-off should now be conducted under the supervision of the United Nations and the active involvement of the UN peacekeeping forces, as happened in the 1980 elections.
If Mugabe refuses, a gradual approach that begins with targeted sanctions and travel bans should be implemented along the lines of the EU, Canada and the United States initiatives..
For each resolution Mugabe must be given a specific time to respond. If Mugabe either refuses or does not respond, then the next resolution will automatically kick off.
If Mugabe still refuses to allow the United Nations to supervise the run-off elections or bring in UN peacekeeping forces, then the Security Council must meet to consider punitive measures against Mugabe and his cronies.
Such punitive measures can include a worldwide search for assets belonging to Mugabe, his cronies or families. Wherever and whenever such assets are found, they should be seized and invested in a trust.
The United Nations should also compile a dossier of crimes committed by Mugabe and his cronies for possible prosecution at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Member states of the United Nations should be encouraged to review their laws to determine whether any of Mugabe’s cronies can be prosecuted should they set foot in their countries.
Ultimately and unavoidably, the Security Council will have to consider comprehensive sanctions against Mugabe should he remain stubborn.
It might be difficult to secure a sanctions resolution since China, which has traditionally supported Mugabe, is one of the five permanent members with veto powers.
But China can be impressed upon to play an instrumental role in persuading Mugabe to accept a United Nations role in the run-off election, should it be necessary.
In considering the sanctions resolution, the Security Council should allow a humanitarian safety net to help the Zimbabwean masses who will be affected.
The safety net would allow for the continued humanitarian assistance to Zimbabweans. This assistance must be channeled through non governmental organizations and directly to the needy individuals.
Zimbabweans in Diaspora and human rights groups must work on a series of measures in support of the struggle against Mugabe.
Such measures can include a letter writing campaign to Mugabe and his officials who carried out acts of brutality against the masses.
The letters should also be copied to families of these officials. They should state specifically that there is evidence this individual was implicated in an act of atrocity against innocent civilians.
The letter should inform the official that he or she will be held criminally liable in a future post- Mugabe government.
Zimbabweans in Diaspora should also try to identify where children of Mugabe’s officials go to school and write letters to the local media informing the community about the atrocities of the officials.
Some people may feel that children of government ministers must not be penalized for their parents’ sins or crimes.
However, there can be no doubt that they have tremendously benefitted from the Zimbabwean taxpayers’ money and are also beneficiaries of stolen public assets which should have been used to improve the educational and other social infrastructure in the country.
Zimbabweans in Diaspora should form activist groups who will speak to grassroots America or nationals of the countries where they live about the situation in Zimbabwe.
There is a great deal of sympathy and goodwill among communities towards the suffering masses in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean masses themselves have the ultimate responsibility to get rid of Mugabe.
They now have a legitimate justification to do so because they have legally and constitutionally voted against Mugabe and in favor of the MDC.
There was a call from the MDC leadership for the Zimbabweans to shut Zimbabwe down. Previous similar calls for mass action have been met with mixed results.
It is very important that, at this critical moment in their lives, Zimbabweans must do everything possible to liberate themselves.
Merely voting against Mugabe is not enough. The international community can help. But Zimbabweans must play their part as well. They are the ones who are feeling the pain and the agony of Mugabe’s repression.
If Zimbabweans let fear overcome them, and decide they will do nothing, they will inevitably suffer in silence.
Mugabe is not as strong as he projects himself. Ironically, his so- called strength comes from the people’s fear. In some ways, Mugabe is the owl that told other animals that it had horns.
And for a long time, the animals actually saluted and worshipped the owl. It only took one clever animal to notice that the so called horns the owl claimed it had were no more that tuft of fur.
Zimbabweans must confront Mugabe and ZANUPF.
The groundswell of popular resentment against Mugabe is now so overwhelming that mass action will be far more effective today than perhaps five or six years ago.