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Why MDC may end up covered in slime
Posted Saturday, February 21 2009 at 13:58
This time round, it is very different. This is a coalition government: There is an agreed statement of principles, in which Zanu/PF tries to bind the MDC to its doctrines of sovereignty and the MDC seeks to restrain Zanu/PF by commitments to human rights.
Nevertheless, the two parties remain quite distinct. And both have made it clear that they look forward to competing against each other in an election as soon as possible.
In September 2008, when the agreement was first signed, Mugabe called upon his party to revive itself so that it could achieve a smashing electoral victory and he would never again have to suffer the “humiliation” of working with Tsvangirai. During the long delay between the agreement and its implementation, Tsvangirai called for internationally supervised elections as an alternative to coalition.
Those who worship the majority are torn between the parliamentary majority won by the MDC in March 2008 or the claimed presidential majority won by Mugabe in the uncontested election in June.
There is no amnesty this time round, which is why police are still able to arrest a nominated MDC deputy minister — Roy Bennett — and why many in Zanu/PF fear prosecution for crimes against humanity.
When there is another election the old Zapu will contest it. If the 1987 agreement was designed to usher in a one-party state, this agreement seems designed to usher in intense competitive multiparty “democracy.”
The MDC will not be swallowed up and digested by the python. But it may emerge covered with slime.
It is part of the largest and most expensive cabinet in Zimbabwe’s history. Now in charge of the economic ministries, it may be blamed for failure to bring about recovery.
So, everything will be done with an eye to electoral advantage. And the most important thing of all is to seek to create conditions in which a fair election can be held.
Terence Ranger, a veteran historian of and commentator on Zimbabwe, is an emeritus fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford. Email: terence.ranger@sant.ox.ac.uk
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