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
May 5, 2008
What is Mugabe's gameplan?
After an unprecedented delay of four weeks, the official announcement of the presidential election results has now confirmed what everyone expected, namely, that the MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai, was the winner.
But with the disputed figures of the winning candidate being less than 50 percent, Tsvangirai may have to face Mugabe in a run-off.
Mugabe, more than anyone else, knows that in a run-off Mugabe will be humiliated.
Mugabe, also more than anyone else, knows that Zimbabweans are massively voting against him because of the way he has brought the country to the ground. Mugabe and ZANUPF have, like a bull in a China shop, single handedly destroyed Zimbabwe.
And it is precisely the destruction of their country that Zimbabweans are determined to vote Mugabe and ZANUPF out of power.
Yet this should not surprise Mugabe and ZANUPF. Evidence of a ruined Zimbabwe is all around.
Mugabe inherited a relatively sound economy in 1980. But 28 years later Zimbabwe today looks like it was engulfed in a civil war , or was a target of some natural tragedy like an earthquake or a hurricane.
How does Mugabe tell Zimbabweans why the nation lies in such ruins?
It used to be that the Zimbabwe Ruins were confined in space and time to a place near Masvingo.
Now the entire country has become one giant and tragic Zimbabwe ruins,
And the only explanation Mugabe gives is that this has been caused by what he calls sanctions from Britain and the United States of America. Nobody believes Mugabe’s lame excuse.
It is also highly unlikely that Mugabe and his cronies believe in this sanctions bogey. If they did, they would also need to explain why Rhodesia under Ian Smith, and on whom the UN Security Council imposed sanctions, fared a lot better than Zimbabwe.
Both the parliamentary and presidential election results show that Zimbabweans have massively rejected Mugabe.
Attempts to rig the elections in favor of Mugabe merely succeeded in reducing MDC and Tsvangirai’s margin of victory.
Zimbabweans, and indeed the whole world, now know who won the elections. It does not matter by how many votes Tsvangirai beat Mugabe. The unavoidable or inescapable truth is that Mugabe and ZANUPF have been rejected by Zimbabweans.
There was a time immediately after the elections on April 1 when it was reported that Mugabe was either willing to step down, or the army chiefs were willing to advise Mugabe to step down.
According to these reports either Mugabe or the army took a hard line position and decided Mugabe must stay in office regardless of the outcome of the elections.
The most likely event was BOTH Mugabe and the security chiefs were in agreement that Mugabe should stay on in office.
A very desperate Robert Mugabe and ZANUPF are now resorting to whatever it takes to stay in office.
He is using a Machiavellian technique for survival . What this, in essence means is : Mugabe hoped that, through elections, Zimbabweans would love him enough to vote for him.
But now that the Zimbabweans have rejected him, Mugabe has resorted to the Machiavellian strategy of rule by sheer force and violence.
Sixteenth century Italian political philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli, argued that if a ruler was faced with a choice of securing , through love or fear, loyalty from the people the ruler must opt for rule by fear.
Machiavelli said it is better for the ruler to base his rule on fear than on love. This was because people can at any given time withdraw their love for the ruler. But they can never withdraw their fear of the ruler.
Mugabe’s message to the Zimbabweans is either they love him by re-electing him, or Mugabe will impose his rule through sheer violence and the force the military.
Zimbabweans are thus faced with a Hobson's choice, a free choice through elections in which only one option is offered.
While they are given some right to vote for a candidate of their choice Zimbabweans will still get Mugabe to rule them regardless of whom they chose in the election.
At this point Zimbabweans have reached a critical point in their lives. By giving Zimbabweans the Hobson’s choice in presidential election, Mugabe is inviting civil disobedience in the country.
Mugabe’s message to Zimbabweans is : Do your damnedest. I am not resigning or stepping down.
Mugabe’s attitude and behavior makes a mockery of the electoral process. It shows very clearly that Mugabe’s concept and definition of elections is far removed from the whole purpose of the elections.
At the age of 84 Mugabe’s unlikely to go along with the real and constutional meaning of electoral process.
Mugabe’s act of shooting, jailing and sometimes killing members of the opposition MDC is simply yet another event in which Mugabe is competing with himself on who can beat or assault the most Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwe has become a game field of mischief for Mugabe and his cronies.
But above all, Mugabe derives his strength from the apathy of the Zimbabweans. The more no one seriously challenges him, the more Mugabe pushes the envelope or takes even more daring acts of subverting the constitution.
It is imperative that Zimbabweans rise up and confront Mugabe through civil disobedience.
India’s former ruler, Mahatma Gandhi, as well as civil rights leader, Rev Martin Luther King, adopted acts of civil disobedience and they practically achieved their objectives.
Someone once said Zimbabweans do not have the motivation or incentive to participate in mass protests.
He said Zimbabweans know that their socioeconomic situation in the country is pathetic and that Mugabe and ZANUPF are largely to blame for the rot in the country. But he added that Zimbabweans are simply too scared to go to the streets and stage a massive protest against Mugabe.
Surprisingly, Zimbabweans were not willing to follow the message from Tsvangirai asking Zimbabweans to stay in their homes and not go for work .
It is time for a national debate by all the Zimbabweans on the historic question : What must be done?
This is the same question the founder of the Soviet Communist state, Vladimir Lenin, asked.
But this is not, and must not, be not an academic question.
Zimbabweans must individually ask themselves what they can contribute in practical way to the struggle for independence.
If, as some Zimbabweans will most likely say, nothing, then Zimbabweans will have to brace themselves for another five years of Mugabe as president.
However, Mugabe , as I said does not have an everlasting strength to as he pleases. His major fight right now is not with the MDC.
His greatest enemy is the economy. At this stage Mugabe and ZANUPF are bankrupt of any ideas to revive the economy and stimulate economic growth and development.
While Mugabe and ZANUPF may have used guns and other offensive weapons against the supporters of the MDC, Mugabe’s real enemy is the economy.
It is on the battlefield with the economy that Mugabe will stand or fall.