Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

ZANU PF and MDC talks: Why compromise is a necessary evil
Daniel Molokele, Zim Online
January 18, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2573

Johannesburg - In 1997, I decided to pass on a chance to attain the status of being 'one of the founding members' of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

Since then I have never joined any other political party up to today. I had several reasons for all this. I intend to highlight them in my forthcoming book on my role and contribution to the student movement in Zimbabwe.

But for the purposes of this present debate, I will immediately highlight one of them.

I decided not to join the MDC because I knew that it had the ultimate duty to engage the status quo and help to move the Zimbabwean political dispensation forward.

Inevitably, such a task involved two asymmetrical processes of engagement with ZANU PF. The first option was an outright victory over the ruling party. (Witness the MMD's experience with UNIP in Zambia)

The second one was by way for compromise in the event of a failure by the MDC to completely dislodge the ruling party.

The elections of both 2000 and 2002 were clearly dominated by high hopes and expectations of an outright victory on the part of the MDC.

Unfortunately as history would have it, it was not to be. ZANU PF managed to survive the MDC juggernaut by hook or crook. The rest as they say is history.

Be that as it may, a last ditch effort was further presented to the MDC in March 2005 but as we might all recall, the MDC proved by then that it had lost much of its original venom and ZANU PF this time had an easier task of brushing off the challenge from the MDC.

The issue of the Senate elections then had the effect of further dividing the MDC and in the final analysis gave the upper hand to ZANU PF.

Since the October 2005 debacle, it was always going to be harder for the MDC to stick to the first option. It is thus hardly a BIG surprise that as I write today, the dominant process at the moment is now option B.

Both MDC and ZANU PF need to compromise in order to move forward.

Zimbabwe has virtually come to a standstill. The difference between the two political parties has narrowed up so much that they are both presently facing the risk of political irrelevance.

Neither of the two can honestly claim to have the full confidence of the electorate, let alone the greater Zimbabwean populace.

The fact that at least three million adults and the majority of the electorate are now based outside the country as the so-called Diaspora further underline the failure of the Zimbabwean political process in the past decade.

The public confidence in the electoral system of Zimbabwe is now at an all time low.

It is doubtful that given the recent history of lack of credibility to the national polls, the forthcoming ones will even be able to garner sufficient interest from a weary electorate.

The reality is that the voters are suffering from a serious bout of election fatigue and apathy could prove to be the decisive winner.

Something then ought to give!

In this regard, one should seriously take note of the words given to Parliament by the likes of Patrick Chinamasa, Joram Gumbo, Thokozani Khupe, Gibson Sibanda and Welshman Ncube on the eve of the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

They all clearly held the notion that as long as the political impasse continued to persist, then both ZANU PF and MDC risked being accused of political sterility and stagnation.

They both risked outright rejection by the long-suffering masses of Zimbabwe who have borne the brunt of the failure of the national electoral system to produce a clear political leadership for our people.

Here are some excerpts from the reports of the parliamentary debate at that time:

"This (agreement by Zanu-PF and the MDC on the amendments) should be regarded as the first step of a holistic resolution to the Zimbabwe crisis," said Ms Khupe.

She said the negotiating teams should deliberate further on other important aspects, including the overhaul of the security, media and electoral laws.

Bulawayo North-East MP and secretary general of the Mutambara faction Professor Welshmen Ncube also supported the Bill.

"I fully and unconditionally endorse the remarks made by my colleague (Ms Khupe). I confirm what the Honourable Minister of Justice has said in his statement in respect of the process and content of the negotiations between the Government and Zanu-PF on one hand, and the MDC in its collective sense," Prof Ncube said.

He said the two parties had taken the right steps to address the socio-economic challenges and the two leaders of the MDC factions were impressed with the progress being made by the dialogue.

"As the negotiating teams move on with the rest of the agenda (of the talks), electoral laws, Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and, indeed, the question of sanctions, they are on the agenda and we will deal with them. We hope to find each other.

"We believe we cannot continue to conduct politics for the sake of politics. We should begin to conduct politics for the service of the people," Prof Ncube said.

Nkulumane legislator and deputy leader in the Mutambara faction Mr Gibson Sibanda also welcomed the landmark development, saying the nation should now collectively find a lasting solution to its problems.

"Today is the beginning of a historic moment in this House. Indeed, I find today that between the two parties represented here we can find the solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe . We are in the process of making history and finding solutions to the crisis," he said.

Mr Sibanda said despite the divisions between Zanu-PF and the MDC, the two parties were showing maturity and addressing their differences.

"I support and add my voice to the smooth passage of the Constitution Amendment Number 18 Bill and continued dialogue between Zanu-PF and MDC. Indeed, we are united as Zimbabweans," he said.

Zanu-PF Chief Whip and MP for Mberengwa West Cde Joram Gumbo said yesterday's events showed Zimbabweans were level-minded people who could sit together and resolve their own problems internally.

"We from this side of the House want to say the chickens have come to roost. We realise now that we are Zimbabweans. We, as Zimbabweans, are able to come together and solve our issues," said Cde Gumbo.

On the other hand, other leadership paradigms such as the notion of a "third force" were already being whispered around the darker alleys of the corridors of power at the expense of both the political parties.

ZANU PF could not decisively defeat the MDC and the MDC could not decisively dislodge ZANU PF and so as political logic demands, the two had no option but to reach out for some form of compromise.

This is not a unique political experience at all.

Here in South Africa, we all know that in the late 1980s, a process of engagement between the apartheid regime and the nationalist movement was begun against all odds.

By 1990, the process had led to the unbanning of such crucial 'terrorist' organizations such as the ANC, SACP and the PAC.

Not only that, political activists returned from exile and those that were in solitary confinement were released to actively lead the process of political engagement between the hitherto bitterest of political enemies.

Need I say more about the process of CODESA and the setting up of the Constitutional Assembly that culminated in the process of the certification of the 1996 democratic Constitution of South Africa?

But let me bring the above point further home.

We all know that the Patriotic Front (as represented in the battlefield by Zanla and Zipra) had to engage the powers that be in the Rhodesian government.

We all know that Lord Carrington had to lead the process of negotiation that took several months at Lancaster House. We all know that in the final analysis a new nation called Zimbabwe was born on the mortal bedside of another one called Rhodesia in April 1980.

It was compromise that led to such kind of a breakthrough amid the internecine nature of the armed liberation movement. Over 40 000 innocent civilians lost their lives in that bloody national political conflict.

After the euphoria of independence we all know that all hell broke loose in Midlands and Matabeleland as the struggle for political hegemony between the two former Patriotic Front allies escalated.

Between 1982 and 1987, over 20 000 innocent civilians lost their precious lives in a political struggle that had huge tribalistic or ethnic overtones. (The great Ndebele versus Shona debate)

But still in December 1987, after several months of secret negotiations, as facilitated by the late President Canaan Banana, Zimbabweans and indeed the rest of the international community were pleasantly shocked to see Mugabe and Nkomo sign the Unity Accord that ended the many years of senseless bloody conflict.

To the extent that the ANC managed to compromise with the Nationalist Party, the Patriotic Front with the Rhodesian Front and Zapu with ZANU PF, it should thus not come as a surprise that both MDC and ZANU PF are now on the verge of coming up with a political compromise that might initiate the process of unlocking the political deadlock that has crippled the nation's once thriving economy.

Both MDC and ZANU PF owe the people of Zimbabwe a form of compromise that will help heal the nation and open up the society for a broader national discourse.

Compromise, in whatever form, is the necessary evil that both parties have to face. It is a bitter pill that will ultimately prove to be part of a political panacea to heal the socio-economic malaise that has bedeviled our once prosperous country.

Just last week, I passed by some desperate fellow countrymen at Marabstad Home Affairs Department in Pretoria and also, as usual met the desperate hand of Zimbabwean blind beggars at several traffic lights and thought to myself; why are we as Zimbabweans allowing this humiliation and indignity of out people to continue unabated?

Yes, there is the necessary national ideological debate that needs to continue. We cannot avoid it at all. But it belongs to those that have access to resources such as the internet and its concomitant discussion groups or forums.

But how about those of us that are presently wallowing up at the Lindela Deportation Center, Marabstad, Hillbrow, Sun City prison complex etcetera.

Don't they deserve a better chance of a peaceful life back home in Zimbabwe at all?

I verily believe that if the leading politicians cast their petty differences aside and focus on nation building, those long suffering Zimbabweans will get another chance to be willingly associated with the once 'Proudly Zimbabwean' brand.

Last but not least, let me end by quoting Morgan Tsvangirai when he said these immortal words to the delegates at the launch of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign.

"Let us as politicians not listen to our voices but that of the people. Our people are saying stop dividing us and start uniting us."

So if it means that ZANU PF and MDC have to agree to a form of political compromise to end the crippling impasse, then let it be. The time for that has come. The time for that is NOW!

The MDC has not been Zanunised. Neither has ZANU PF been MDCised!

The political reality we all have to face is that the inevitable process of compromise has eventually dawned yet again on the Zimbabwean political landscape and hopefully it will ultimately prove to be for our own good.

Daniel Molokele is a human rights lawyer and civic society leader who is based in South Africa.

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