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From war to peace: Breaking the cycle of violence in Zimbabwe
Farai Maguwu
October 2006

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This reflection paper was written submitted to the European University Centre for Peace Studies between November and December 2006.

Introduction
The on-going political impasse that has reduced Zimbabwe to a pariah has got very deep roots that have been growing for the past forty-three years. Trying to explain the conflict in a narrow scope of recent political developments will only help to sustain the conflict and prolong the solution. It is therefore reasonable to understand the main actors in this conflict, investigate their beliefs, trace their political roots, and attempt to dig and expose their interests and needs, if possible. It appears Zimbabwe is a prisoner of its own history, and is firmly chained to its past that is characterized by intolerance, tribal politics, racial hatred, winner take all politics and political violence. Unless a proper diagnosis of the political cancer destroying the once prospering Zimbabwe is carried out the situation will continue to deteriorate to a near comatose state where people will think they have nothing more to lose and start another costly civil conflict.

In some countries leaders are elected because they have brilliant economic policies that promise to revive the various sectors of the economy and ensure a decent living for the citizens. Such leaders know that if they fail to deliver they can be kicked out of office, come next election. Such leaders owe their stay in power to their efficient service delivery and general support of the mass populace. They only look forward since they are under pressure to perform and continue to win the public confidence. In such democracies voters do not allow past achievements to eclipse current failures by their leaders.

That’s why Tony Blair, very popular in Britain before the war on Iraq, has bowed to pressure and announced that he will be stepping down as Prime Minister in 2007. In a related incident George Bush paid dearly for not listening to calls to pull out of Iraq by losing control of both the lower and upper houses. In such democracies the people have a powerful way of expressing their approval or disapproval of their leaders and governments. They reward them for good performance by returning them and punish them for bad policies by shunning them at the next polls. The mid-term elections in the United States of America are also a political barometer to test whether the leaders and the people are still moving in the same direction. This ensures that conflict is managed to a large extend by the ballot.

This is a completely different scenario when it comes to Zimbabwe where the current crop of leaders has one thing to talk about when appealing for votes – the liberation war. Even when their policies are a disaster they continue to appeal to the past for their political survival. Consequently government policies are inconsistent, there seems to be no agreed vision of the future, there is no democratic space for those who did not actively participate in the war and the economy is in serious recession due to corruption, bad planning and international isolation.

This paper attempts to investigate the root causes of the current socio economic challenges that are confronting Zimbabwe and affecting the entire Southern African Development Community. The paper begins by discussing how the current crop of the Zimbabwean political leadership emerged, their history, ideology and weaknesses of having war leaders in civilian offices. This is followed by a reflection on lessons that can be learnt from other states that emerged out of war to curve out peaceful states. A peace theory will be applied in an effort to guide the road to lasting peace in Zimbabwe. And finally the paper ends with general conclusion and recommendations.

* Farai Maguwu is National Coordinator for Civic Alliance for Democracy and Governance (CADEGO) based in Mutare, Zimbabwe

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