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Poll about dignity, power, water
Bill Saidi
October 28, 2007

SOON citizens with prickly consciences will be peppered with questions about the forthcoming elections.

Should they take part? What guarantee do you have that Zanu PF will accept defeat?

The conscientious citizen will weigh the options: not taking part must presuppose there is a Plan B; if it has no provision for preventing the victory of the ruling party, then it is a dud.

Taking part must entail vigorous preparations, to ensure the largest number of voters turn out at the polls.

Only in such a scenario can the opposition stand a chance of beating Zanu PF, hands down - it's the only way to win.

Most of the election arsenal against Zanu PF has been provided by the party itself: the economy is a prime example.

The splits within the party are self-inflicted. There may be attempts to blame this on Gordon Brown, Tony Blair or even Harold Wilson - Zanu PF's capacity for creating scapegoats is unparalleled.

As of now, the party has been shorn of all its dignity. The internal squabbling is not unlike a beer hall brawl.

At the recent politburo meeting in Harare last week every effort was made to present a picture of unity. There was no indication that President Robert Mugabe had earned the opprobrium of his colleagues by enlisting the dubious talents of Jabulani Sibanda to stage nationwide pro-Mugabe solidarity marches.

Sibanda, a discredited war veteran, is using the former fighters as cannon fodder for Mugabe's bid for an umpteenth term as president.

To most clinical analysts, there is something utterly undignified in Mugabe's use of Sibanda.

If Mugabe is ready to chuck his dignity overboard, then we must assume he is at the end of his political tether.

For the same reason, relating to dignity, all men and women of conscience must determine that 2008 presents them with an opportunity to retrieve their dignity from many years of political abuse by Zanu PF.

In Africa and the world, they have been pilloried as thoroughly spineless, people who won a 15-year struggle against a small band of heavily armed white supremacists, but cannot now say Boo! to an 83-year-old despot who has brought shame upon their country.

The fight for dignity is bolstered by the humiliation of living without water and electricity for days and weeks on end: all this, not because they have refused to pay their taxes or their electricity and water bills, but because of the inefficiency and corruption of a system over which Mugabe has presided for 27 years.

Under this cronyism, most people enjoying his favours are living, literally, off the fat of the land: most have two or three farms, the most productive properties previously owned by white commercial farmers.

They have the most sophisticated farm implements to work with and are provided with such inputs as fertilizer and other chemicals at the press of a button.

Zanu PF has a record of political dishonesty which must persuade mature voters in 2008 to make the courageous decision to reject the party once and for all.

If voters hoping for a change of government had set great store in Zanu PF itself rejecting Mugabe's attempts to prolong his torture of this land beyond 2008, they must now realise that the party is putty in his hands.

Some optimists are still hopeful that the Zanu PF congress called for December will unanimously reject Mugabe. If that were to happen, it could herald a new era for the ruling party.

It would be the first time since Independence that his colleagues in the leadership have said No to Mugabe on an issue of principle.

The principle here is that, with Mugabe at the helm, Zanu PF has no guaranteed future as a viable political party. Its record of success is so patchy, it is a travesty of logic that it has won every presidential and parliamentary election since 1980.

It is unreasonable to believe that most of the men and women sitting with Mugabe at the politburo meeting in Harare last week believe firmly that Mugabe is right when he blames everyone and everything else, except himself, for the pathetic state of the country.

The congress in December may endorse Mugabe but only after the people who genuinely believe he has done enough damage to this country are seduced in the horse-trading that must precede his endorsement.

Assuming the congress is conducted without the customary stage-managed tomfoolery, a decision to start on a new slate could be accepted by the party.

A new candidate for president could be named and Mugabe could be consigned to the role of "elder statesman" of the party.

This would be a huge gamble. The way ordinary voters feel about Zanu PF today, even the party supporters would not hesitate to ditch the party candidate.

Most permutations so far do not feature a deal between the MDC and Zanu PF on a more or less permanent resolution of the political and economic crisis.

Morgan Tsvangirai has been robustly positive in his rejection of a government of national unity. But it's early days yet: some Sadc leaders would probably not countenance Mugabe's humiliation - ending up with nothing, as Kenneth Kaunda, Hastings Banda, Frederick Chiluba and Bakili Muluzi did.

There is always the excuse that Zimbabwe must not be plunged into turmoil after an election. There are Sadc leaders who would prefer no change at all in Zimnbabwe.

They seem convinced that a non-Zanu PF government would bring the British back into the colonial saddle: after Zimbabwe, which of its neighbours would be the next?

In many respects, it is this which should motivate Zimbabweans to regain their dignity: to show they are not puppets of Mugabe or the British.

saidib@standard.co.zw

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