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Give Makoni a chance
The Zimbabwe Independent
February 08, 2008

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=20&id=12299&siteid=1

It's early days yet to gauge the full impact of Simba Makoni's decision to challenge President Robert Mugabe for the topmost political post in Zimbabwe. What must be said is that it must have been a brave and painful decision. Still somebody at some point had to be brave and do it. As providence would have it, that lot fell to Makoni.

A number of irrelevant questions are being raised about his suitability, his culpability in the sorry state of our economy and generally his capacity to lead the country. Most of these are questions which have never been asked of any other leader, which begs the question why now? Time will answer those questions.

What is important, in our considered view, is Makoni has broken the mould in directly challenging Mugabe for the position of president. Like everybody else, he says he was disappointed by what people expected but didn't happen at the December Zanu PF extraordinary congress.

"I shared the wish, the hope and expectations of the overwhelming majority of Zanu PF members and the nation at large that the extraordinary party congress of December 2007 would usher in . . . a change of leadership," said Makoni in his brief statement announcing his presidential bid. "Needless to say I share the disappointment that followed the failure of congress in that regard."

It is necessary to point out that Makoni is clear about the source of our problems — a crisis of leadership in the country. He said a change at the leadership level "is a prerequisite for change at other levels of national endeavour".

It is hard to fault this observation given that it is failure at the leadership level of policy drafting and implementation that is responsible for the parlous state of Zimbabwe's economy. We can talk about the land reform, corruption, political violence and all the evils that go with our crooked electoral system, but it all boils down to a failure of political leadership.

It is possible that Makoni could very easily have jumped the Zanu PF ship and joined existing opposition political parties. But that he didn't opt for this easy route must say something to us about leadership deficiencies in that quarter as well. It is an indictment of those who have stood so firmly against Mugabe's excesses that they have failed to rise above petty personal egos to fit the bill of national calling. It is this failure which is spawning a number of fly-by-night political parties on the eve of crucial national elections.

It is commendable instead that Makoni has opted for a neutral position, ready to receive brickbats and accolades from both sides of the political divide. We believe Makoni has remained the least tainted of the Zanu PF old guard even as he has been with the party since Independence, occupying various ministerial posts, including that of Finance minister before he fell out with Mugabe in August 2002.

His neutral position in Zimbabwe's highly polarised politics allows Makoni to speak to reform-minded Zimbabweans in both Zanu PF and the MDC. It allows him to speak even to those sitting on the fence between the two antagonistic parties. His neutrality allows him to give a non-partisan view of the state of our nation, something which neither Mugabe nor Morgan Tsvangirai can do and be believed by the other side.

Further to his advantage, Makoni independently understands the importance of Zimbabwe's re-engagement with the international community, not just China, Iran and Cuba. So far Zimbabwe has tried to be an island, to go it alone in a globalised village. The results are fuel and foreign currency shortages, loss of skills to the developed world and a collapsing health delivery system.

Tellingly, cognisant of the failure of leadership, Makoni has remained faithful to Zanu PF policies as envisaged on paper at least. A key aspect of those policies is obviously a final resolution of the land question, who owns what and the issue of compensation to dispossessed white commercial farmers, not a return to pre-Independence boundaries. This is very important to state from the outset, so that Zimbabwe's re-engagement with the international community is not premised on some romantic notions about the status quo ante 2000. Zimbabwe must rejoin the community of nations on its own terms, free to trade with other nations on an equal basis. It is certainly not in our national interest to be treated as a beggar state or as if we have been defeated in a war. We believe these are sentiments which sit comfortably with Makoni and he can pronounce on them at any forum without raising fears about Zimbabwe's suitability as a safe investment destination.

Let's give Makoni a chance. His candidacy, first reported in this paper on January 11, creates a new dynamic in our political process and offers something that had been lacking in the campaign so far: hope of real change.

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