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Inclusive Government: Millstones and milestones
Dewa Mavhinga, OSISA
June 30, 2011

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On 11th February 2011, Zimbabwe's Inclusive Government (IG) marked two years in office. An uneasy and often fractious coalition between the former ruling Zimbabwe African Nationalist Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the IG has continued to limp along even though some including President Robert Mugabe have suggested that its lifespan technically ended on its second anniversary and that it should have been disbanded to make way for fresh elections.

But it is clear now that the coalition will stay in charge for the foreseeable future, preparing the ground for a constitutional referendum and new elections in the coming months or years. In this context, it becomes imperative to examine the performance of the IG since its inauguration and, in light of the goals detailed in the framework document, the Global Political Agreement (GPA), to assess how many major milestones have been reached and how the millstones that have hindered its work can be removed

Back in 2008, widespread state-sponsored violence and the subsequent withdrawal of Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC candidate and winner of the first round, rendered the presidential runoff in June illegitimate. Despite the self-evident democratic deficit, Mugabe declared himself the winner of the one-horse race and was swiftly inaugurated for yet another term as president. The West and some African leaders, including Botswana's Ian Khama and Rwanda's Paul Kagame, openly refused to accept Mugabe's sham victory. Even the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which had previously endorsed elections that were clearly neither free nor fair, would not endorse the polls

Faced with the culmination of a governance crisis that had been festering for over a decade, SADC asked the then President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, to continue to mediate between Zimbabwe's main political parties with the aim of finding a lasting solution to the political conflict in Zimbabwe. The product of the mediation and protracted negotiations was the GPA, which led to the formation of the IG with Mugabe as President and Tsvangirai as Prime Minister. The three parties all agreed 'to work together to create a genuine, viable, permanent, sustainable and nationally acceptable solution to the Zimbabwe situation and implement the agreement with the aims of resolving once and for all the current political and economic situations and chart a new political direction for the country'. The leaders also dedicated themselves to, 'putting an end to the polarization, divisions, conflict and intolerance that have characterised Zimbabwean politics and society in recent times'. Tsvangirai later noted that his party had agreed to form the IG because it represented the most practical means of moving Zimbabwe forward and halting the needless suffering of its people.

Along with resolving the political crisis, the stated purpose of the IG was to restore economic stability, facilitate critical reforms and pave the way for credible elections. In addition to analysing its success in relation to these objectives, the performance of the IG must be measured against prevailing political and socio-economic conditions in 2008.

Undoubtedly, the IG's efforts coupled with the replacement of the worthless Zimbabwe dollar with a multicurrency system just before its inauguration facilitated the restoration of a modicum of economic stability and improved access to education and health services. There was a rapid and marked improvement from the empty store shelves of 2008 to the fully stocked shops of 2009, although most of the predominantly South African products were priced beyond the reach of the 70 percent of Zimbabweans who were and still are living on less than US$1 per day. But the economic improvement is clear. After a decade of decline and years of hyper-inflation, Zimbabwe boasted an inflation rate below 5 percent in 2010 and saw its economy grow by 8 percent in the same year thanks to a boost from mining and agriculture.

Critically, the IG set up a parliamentary committee that initiated the constitutional reform exercise. However, serious logistical, administrative and funding challenges mean that the constitutional drafting process is over a year behind schedule. Furthermore, its outreach programme, which was intended to ensure broad public participation and build legitimacy and credibility, was characterised by extreme polarization, violence and intimidation in some cases involving uniformed soldiers. Indeed, the parliamentary committee was forced to abandon several meetings due to violence. And at least one man MDC supporter Chrispen Mandizvidza died after he was severely beating by suspected ZANU-PF youths at a consultative meeting in Harare in September 2010. It is increasingly unlikely that any product from this process will be credible and genuinely reflect the wishes and aspirations of Zimbabweans.

The IG also implemented a narrow range of institutional and legislative reforms, including the realignment of the Central Bank and the establishment of a number of key bodies, such as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and the Zimbabwe Media Commission. The Media Commission went on to license new players in the print media sector, although only a few have actually commenced business.

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