Back to Index

Zimbabwean civil society must seize the moment to confront Mugabe
Stanford Mukasa
July 17, 2006

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news170706/lfa170706.htm

The renewed hostilities in the Middle East will come as a mixed blessing for Mugabe and ZANUPF in as far as appeals for international intervention in Zimbabwe are concerned. Nobody knows when the conflict in the Middle East will end, let alone subside. This latest event is an indication of how volatile the international geopolitical environment is and how the Zimbabwean tragedy can easily fade into the background each time a crisis breaks out around the world. This perhaps partly explains how the Mugabe regime has escaped or has been spared of the potential for harsh international action.

Mugabe's continuing stubbornness and heartless obduracy in any serious efforts at seeking a solution to the crisis he has created for Zimbabweans is a direct consequence of ineffectual international action and near zero responses so far from the Zimbabweans themselves. The ball is now fully and squarely at the feet of the Zimbabweans themselves. We can all shout until our voices are hoarse for international intervention. The reality of the situation is that the spotlight is now on Zimbabweans to decide what they are going to do with Mugabe and ZANU PF.

Historically the masses do not spontaneously start revolutions, although there is evidence of this in mass protests in Haiti, Togo, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and also during the Soweto uprising back in 1976 and the age of the mass democratic movement in the years leading to independence for South Africa. Be that as it may, there was some organizational structure in which the mass protests were given inspiration and direction by the civil society leadership.

In the case of Zimbabwe the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai is slowly waking up to the reality that the leadership must take a more pro-active and assertive action in confronting Mugabe and ZANUPF. The leadership is taking its time in spearheading the push against Mugabe. Such popular mobilization is long overdue. However, judging by the political cancer of apathy that has incurably afflicted many Zimbabweans there is an understandable precaution by the leadership to avoid another flop in mass action. Mass action is the only option left for the opposition movement in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean response to Mugabe's tyranny now rests on mass action or civil disobedience.

Mugabe's actions speak volumes as to where he stands about negotiating with the MDC. He has cherry-picked his political split image, Benjamin Mkapa, to do his dirty work in "negotiating" with Britain for the "normalization" of relations between Mugabe and Tony Blair. Mugabe has narrowly defined the dispute as between Zimbabwe and Britain which, according to Mugabe, did not meet its promised financial obligations in efforts to purchase land from whites for resettlement. Mkapa has been Mugabe's John the Baptist in this narrow and selfish definition of the root causes of the problems in Zimbabwe.

Mkapa's record in his fanatical hero-worship and utter admiration of Mugabe stands out like a sore thumb. As far as Mkapa is concerned Mugabe and ZANUPF did not do any wrong and have become "dedicated revolutionaries" in defending the rights of the people to their land "which was stolen by the whites during colonialism." Mkapa has selective amnesia about the sordid record of Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe, namely the killing of thousands of people in Matabeleland and the fact that ZANUPF thugs have in the past few years murdered in cold blood over 400 opposition supporters. Neither has Mkapa commented nor reprimanded Mugabe for the gross human rights violations and the mismanagement of the country leading to the subhuman Stone Age conditions that prevail in Zimbabwe today.

It should by now be obvious to Zimbabweans that Mugabe has no desire or inclination to negotiate with the opposition leaders and in good faith. It is, therefore, a futile exercise to keep on talking about negotiations with Mugabe or ZANUPF as some members in the opposition movement appear to be suggesting. Time has come for the leadership in the opposition movement to make difficult decisions if they are to be relevant in the struggle.

Back in 1961, and in the aftermath of the Soweto massacre in which Africans who were staging a peaceful protest were gunned down by the apartheid police, Nelson Mandela declared that time had come for the black leaders to reconsider their strategy. Mandela noted that African leaders continued to preach peace and nonviolence at a time when the apartheid government reacted with brute force as in the case of the Sharpeville massacre.

Today, the opposition movement in Zimbabwe is faced with the same question of how to more effectively confront Mugabe and ZANUPF. The two "factions" of the MDC have taken different strategies. MDC under the leadership of Tsvangirai, while expressing interest in talks, has resolved to stage mass demonstrations and is now in the process of organizing such protest. The faction led by Mutambara has disavowed any mass demonstration, preferring to either increase their appeal to the international community to intervene or to try to increase voter participation in the next election in the hope that, if the election process is manned by people who are against rigging, there is a chance that the elections may not be rigged!

This strategy was summarized by Mutambara's party secretary general, Welshman Ncube, who was once quoted as saying his supporters must participate even if the elections were for a janitor! No other strategy was offered except for a promise of some undefined plans A, B, C ad nauseam.

A consortium of clergy have met with Mugabe in the hope of convincing him to change. Indeed some clergy were reported to have shared jokes with Mugabe, laughed their lungs out reflecting the circus nature of their so-called mediation efforts - especially since nothing serious came out of this encounter. The reality of the Zimbabwean situation is that without mass action or an organized strategy for civil disobedience Zimbabweans are doomed to suffer exponentially until Mugabe drops dead of old age while clinging to power. Leadership for the Zimbabwean opposition movement is about taking very difficult decisions and attempting what may be impossible initially.

Nationalist movements in southern Africa in the 1950s and 1960s appeared doomed. But it quickly dawned on the nationalist leadership that they must prepare themselves for a long drawn struggle. Amilcar Cabral, the liberation hero in Guinea Bissau which was then under Portuguese colonialism, stated that opposition leaders should not expect quick or easy victories. He also warned that people must expect to rely on their resources in any revolutionary struggle, a point that was echoed by the late Ndabaningi Sithole. Although Cabral's guidelines to confronting the enemy were in reference to a situation under somewhat different conditions from those prevailing in Zimbabwe, there is a lesson to be learnt from this.

In the first place, the civil society leadership in Zimbabwe has not publicly announced a strategy that reflects a long-term program of resistance to Mugabe. The only exception is Lovemore Madhuku's National Constituency Assembly ongoing hit and run demonstrations which reflect in some ways what Cabral may have had in mind.

It is noteworthy that the NCA has added a new dimension to the ongoing demonstration, namely, some of its supporters are now refusing to pay admission of guilt fines. This was Martin Luther King's strategy as well when he said, "Let us all fill those jails." What many people do not know is that admission of guilt fines levied by the police are aimed at not only enriching but saving the police the headaches of managing large numbers of arrests. It is one thing to arrest 400 people and release them as soon as they pay the fines. It is a logistical nightmare to arrest a similar number every day and have to cater for them for several days!

As long as the NCA supporters are held in custody other Zimbabweans also arrested would solidify this passive resistance by considering not to readily pay the admission of guilt fines. It is, of course, very difficult and almost inhumane to encourage people not pay the fines as the animal conditions in Mugabe's jails are among the worst in the world. Being jailed in Zimbabwe can be tantamount to a death sentence. But confronting Mugabe entails a certain level of risk. If the NCA strategy could be replicated at a larger and more national scale, Zimbabweans will be halfway towards reclaiming their birthright from Mugabe and ZANU PF.

The NCA groups whose supporters have been demonstrating consistently have shown that mass actions are not impossible in Zimbabwe. What is particularly interesting about the NCA demonstrations is they are not announced in advance, and they mushroom anywhere anytime. Surprise is a very important element in any civil disobedience campaign. Many people are quick to write the NCA demonstrations off as inconsequential and incapable of significantly impacting on Mugabe. The same thing was said about the WOZA women. But recent reports show a steady increase in the number of supporters who are participating or are now ready and willing to take part in the demonstrations.

It is a fact of history that major liberation movements start small. But they gain more membership as their strategies and objectives are understood and supported by the masses. Tsvangirai and his MDC may want to start by some well defined acts of civil disobedience and then as they become more popularly accepted, MDC must expand and extend their strategies as well.

What is needed, as a prelude to mass actions, are brush fires of individual or group acts of civil disobediences. In 1950s America the civil rights struggle started when one woman refused to sit at the back of the bus which at those times had been reserved for blacks and the front for the whites. That single act of defiance or civil disobedience launched mass protests that saw Blacks win many concessions from the segregated South.

Once the acts of civil disobedience begin and the mass action gets into full gear, the Zimbabwean opposition movement will have shown to the people and to the world that this is our war; and, while international intervention is appealed for, Zimbabweans must take the primary responsibility for fighting it out.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP