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
October 29, 2007
Zimbabweans in Diaspora must play a more proactive role against Mugabe
A recent visit to North America by top MDC officials led by its president, Morgan Tsvangirayi, provided the MDC members in Diaspora with some insights about what was happening in the country as well as the role of the Zimbabweans outside the country.
Negotiations between MDC and ZANUPF are said to have yielded some agreements including a new draft constitution.
There were reportedly some outstanding issues that were still being negotiated. One of the issues is the right of the Zimbabweans in Diaspora to vote – something which ZANUPF has, for very obvious reasons, absolutely refused to allow.
Zimbabweans in Diaspora wield a significant economic power. There are between three and four million Zimbabweans outside the country. They remit an estimated US$3 - US$4 million a day, mostly to their families and relatives. That totals about US$90 to US$100 million every month. This remittance is traded to ZANUPF and businesses on the parallel market at a rate of about US$1 to ZIM$1 million dollars.
Information is emerging now that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, in collaboration with the notorious CIO, are almost on a daily basis buying the badly needed foreign exchange on this thriving parallel market.
Mugabe’s cronies in government and the party buy from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe this foreign currency at the rate 1 to ZIM$30,000. This is how the ZANUPF apparatchiki are able to purchase luxury goods and send their children to study abroad. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has, in fact become a bank for ZANUPF. It might as well be called the Reserve Bank of ZANUPF!
To make up for this loss where the US dollar is traded at one million Zimbabweans dollars on the parallel market and then sold to ZANUPF bigwigs at a paltry 30 000 Zimbabwe dollars ZANUPF’s chief banker Gideon Gono, for this is exactly what he is, has to keep printing more money. And the more money he prints, the higher the inflation with the inevitable decline in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar.
While the official inflation stands at about 7,000 percent many people estimate the real inflation is somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000 percent and is still rising. With wages fixed but consumer prices recently allowed to rise to try to catch up with the ever plummeting dollar any income Zimbabweans get either from work or from remittances immediately loses its value. It has been estimated that the Zimbabwean dollar loses its value by up to ten percent everyday.
The only Zimbabweans who benefit from this economic circus are the top ZANUPF and government officials, some of whom reportedly resell the US dollars they bought from Gono but this time at the parallel market rate. They then use the billions of dollars they make to invest in real estate or businesses.
It is precisely for this reason that ZANUPF is highly unlikely to easily agree to relinquishing political power in Zimbabwe. For to do so would spell not only the end of their lucrative business but also they could lose all those properties they have purchased. They could also lose the farms they seized.
The seized farms and real estate are an investment for the ZANUPF top officials. They are holding these investments to assure them of a future in the post- Mugabe Zimbabwe. But these cronies are aware that a post-Mugabe government, if it is most likely the MDC, might take steps to recover some of the seized properties. However they are pinning their hopes that any settlement from the talks between the MDC and ZANUPF will allow them to keep their looted properties.
It is understood that the MDC policy is to take an audit of properties. The single farm ownership rule will be enforced under an MDC government. There is a chance that many ZANUPF officials who seized multiple farms will be allowed to keep just one and give up the rest, provided the audit clears them. However, there will be nothing to stop individual Zimbabweans whose farms were seized by the ZANUPF officials from suing them in court and seeking compensation.
But for now the vast majority of Zimbabweans are caught in a vicious cycle. They are bearing the brunt of a failed state brought about by bad governance, a repressive regime, a breakdown in the rule of law and an economic meltdown.
Zimbabweans in Diaspora have a role in the struggle for democracy in the country. They have an obligation to be part of the struggle, not just to talk about it or act the role of armchair critics.
Incredibly ironic as it may sound, Zimbabweans in Diaspora are propping up the Mugabe regime with this massive inflow of foreign exchange. It is the same foreign exchange Mugabe and his top cronies are using to enrich themselves as well as to maintain their luxurious standards of living.
But worse still, Mugabe is using the same foreign exchange to buy weapons, anti-riot equipment, torture instruments, radio jamming equipment to prevent foreign broadcasts and a paraphernalia of items and services to repress Zimbabweans.
Mugabe is, in fact, holding the Zimbabwean masses at ransom. By subjecting them to abject poverty, Zimbabweans are now objects of pity from the international community, who, in turn, have to dole out handouts to a pauperized population.
It would, of course, be cruel to ask Zimbabweans in Diaspora not to send foreign currency to Zimbabwe in order to punish the Mugabe regime because the masses will suffer even more..
But Zimbabweans in Diaspora can and should send a small part of their remittances towards the liberation struggle. It is estimated that each Zimbabwean in Diaspora sends an average of $25 to relatives a month. If each Zimbabwean were donate just one dollar the opposition movement in Zimbabwe could be making over $3 million a month! That kind of money would go a long way towards building a strong civil resistance movement against Mugabe. It would also give the Zimbabweans in Diaspora a stake in the struggle as well as the post- Mugabe Zimbabwe.
If Zimbabweans in Diaspora are seen doing something rather than just talking about the liberation struggle they will transform their massive economic strength into political influence. It is a pity that Zimbabweans in Diaspora do not appear to realize their potential and tremendous ability to effect changes in Zimbabwe.
The biggest tragedy with the opposition movement is that, instead of developing the sense of purpose or personal responsibility towards the liberation of their country, many Zimbabweans are engaged in unproductive power struggles that help no one except to weaken the opposition movement. The creation and maintenance of a strong, actively engaged and viable opposition movement is a very essential element of a successful struggle against the Mugabe regime.
All too often members of the opposition movement tend to attack each other in public, make conflicting statements and policy positions and other behaviors that are, quite frankly, unbecoming of people who are involved in a fight to restore the rule of law and democracy in Zimbabwe.
Members of the opposition movement can, and do, belong to various parties. That is well and good. It helps to nurture democracy. But the problem is members of the splintered opposition sometimes focus on attacking each other.
In Kenya the majority of the voters always cast their ballots against the ruling party president on several elections. The reason the opposition movement could not win was their leadership were at each others’ throats.
In a twist of irony the incumbent president was forced to step down only after a massive defection of MPs from his ruling party.
In Zimbabwe there is a potential for a strong, stable and resolute opposition movement. What is needed now is to instill a new culture of discipline, civility, tolerance and cooperation among the opposition forces.
At the same time the Zimbabweans in Diaspora must take up their responsibilities towards the liberation of their country with as much determination as they support their families and relatives.