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Between a rock, and a soft place
Bev Clark
April 25, 2008

Peter, the barman at an up market Harare restaurant, leans over the bar and reassures me that he has been told by the leadership of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that they have a "secret plan". His reassurance comes after I-ve grilled him about the MDC-s lack of response to stolen elections and that Robert Mugabe will never give up power through the ballot alone. But Peter, who a stocky and very articulate barman by day, and an MDC cadre by night, has been to several MDC rallies where Morgan Tsvangirai has confidently assured his followers that this time, change is inevitable.

This was four weeks ago. My conversation with Peter was quite different last night as we both glumly shook our heads over this election, which everyone is calling a farce. When I asked him if he ever got to know what the MDC-s "secret plan" was to mitigate a stolen election, he shook his head slowly saying "we have been abandoned".

That indeed is the feeling of most Zimbabweans as we try to make sense of the events of the last few weeks.

In those heady three days after the election when the MDC audaciously claimed victory, the collective Zimbabwean spirit soared and our optimism overtook us. The streets were awash with euphoria; finally change is here. Or so we thought.

But instead of capitalizing on a shell-shocked Zanu PF thrown into disarray on discovering just how unpopular they really are, the MDC went into five star hotel press conference mode, distancing themselves from their supporters and letting Mugabe and his cabal gather their thoughts and their tactics.

Zanu PF has tied the MDC up in legal knots and has drawn out the announcement of the presidential result for so long that both the MDC leadership and the people of Zimbabwe have become anaesthetized.

There are pockets of people, institutions, civic organizations and donor agencies that are blindly loyal to the MDC, forgiving all their shortcomings simply because they represent something other than Mugabe. Journalists and bloggers continue to afford the MDC glamour press ignoring the need to expose their weaknesses, of which there are many, in the fight for democracy in Zimbabwe.

There seems to be a general consensus that the solution to the crisis (yes, crisis) in Zimbabwe is international pressure and intervention. Whilst the international community is an important ally in our fight, internal pressure created and implemented by Zimbabweans is equally, and vitally important.

At every turn commentators on the Zimbabwean crisis will say that it is too dangerous for the MDC or Zimbabweans to mass mobilize and challenge Robert Mugabe. But both the MDC, in particular, Morgan Tsvangirai, as well as human rights defenders, must reassess strategy and tactics and invoke creative imagination in order to unseat Robert Mugabe.

There are several campaigns that the MDC could have launched in those first few days after the election when Mugabe was on the back foot.

Instead of holding elitist press conferences in Harare-s most glamorous hotel, the newly elected opposition Members of Parliament and Senators should have gone out onto the streets, to meet and match and swell the euphoria of the people before Zanu PF cracked down on public meetings.

Symbolic gestures have immense power and help those who are fearful of street events to participate and be active. If Tsvangirai felt that he had won the election he should have sent a message far and wide throughout Zimbabwe asking Zimbabweans to pull down all the presidential portraits which hang in businesses, schools and hotels. The symbolic removal of Mugabe-s portrait from public places would have solidified the fact that the old man must go.

The MDC-s unwillingness to create robust channels of communication with the people of Zimbabwe has become one of the nails in their political coffin. It-s time for Zimbabwean political activists and parties to stop complaining about state-controlled media, and start engaging parallel media strategies. Tsvangirai-s state of the nation victory speech should have been aired on community broadcasters like Voice of the People and SW Radio Africa.

We spend too much of our time and our creative thinking in what Mugabe is doing wrong, and not enough time working out what we should be doing better.

In Zimbabwe we find ourselves between a rock - Mugabe and his fist of fury; and a soft place - Tsvangirai-s failure to recognize that the pressure that is developed through a successful election campaign must be followed up with strong internal pressure, if we have any hope of finishing off this dangerous snake that is poisoning our lives.

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