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7 steps Mugabe must take
Geoff Hill, SW Radio Africa
September 24, 2008

http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/geoff240908.htm

Not one country has pledged aid to rebuild Zimbabwe. So, beyond humanitarian assistance, what signs are needed to draw the big money?

Geoff Hill has been discussing the matter with diplomats and political analysts in London, Washington and Pretoria.

Aid agencies have started their engines, and are ready to deliver food, drugs and other assistance to Zimbabwe, now that Robert Mugabe has lifted a ban on relief.

But, in wake of the agreement between ZANU-PF and the MDC, donor governments are cautious, and investors will need a lot more assurance.

Norway last week approved emergency funds of 40 million kroner (US$7m), channelled via the United Nations and humanitarian groups, but the billions Zimbabwe needs to rebuild are nowhere in sight.

British Ambassador John Sawers told the UN that his government was ready to support recovery only "once the power-sharing deal is fully implemented".

"We are ready to support Zimbabwe's recovery, but we clearly have to see a commitment that the tragic policies of recent years have come to an end, and that there is a genuine effort to share power with those who were elected in the March election," he said.

So what are the signs that Britain, the European Union, Australia, Canada and the USA will be looking for?

Key ministries under MDC control

The MDC, between its two factions, hold a majority of seats in Parliament and therefore have a right to determine policy. Departments that need be led by MDC ministers include Finance, Police and Home Affairs, Justice, Information including Zimbabwe Newspapers and the ZBC, Agriculture and Youth Affairs.

Immigration, now part of Home Affairs, should be hived off as a separate ministry to handle return of exiles and restore citizenship to those who have been denied passports while abroad or forced to return to countries of their ancestors. This includes Malawi and Zambian farm workers who had lived in Zimbabwe since Federation in the 60s and were sent packing when their employers were forced off the land.

Mugabe should also step down as head of the National Security Council and allow the chair to be rotated between himself, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, each holding the position for one month at a time.

In Foreign Affairs and Defence, one suggestion has been the model used when Ian Smith-s Rhodesian government took its first steps towards majority rule in 1977. Co-ministers were appointed, with two parties each having a minister overseeing the more sensitive areas of government. However, applying this to more than three or four departments would prove cumbersome.

An end to the militia

Although the power-sharing document calls for a new youth training system, there is wide support for the militia to be shut down.

While they remain in place, ZANU-PF has a virtually free army, unbound by military law, unaccountable and trained to torture, rape and kill. They are a fall-back should the party find MDC rule unpalatable, and it unlikely that money will enter Zimbabwe until the youth are demobbed.

Non-government media

There must be an end to the harassment of journalists at the last private newspapers still in circulation. Legislation requiring journalists to be registered will need to go, including the repeal of AIPPA and POSA and laws on public meetings

The Daily News back on the streets and The Zimbabwean printed and distributed in-country without hindrance would be perhaps the clearest sign that things have changed. .

Jamming machines that scramble broadcasts from SWRA and VOA Studio-7 must be turned off. The licensing of at least one independent radio station, or local transmission of an international station such as BBC World Service on spare frequencies controlled by ZBC, would bring accolades. Countries as diverse as Uganda, Somaliland, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa relay BBC radio free-to-air on FM or medium wave.

New boards drawn from both political parties should be established for state-owned media, and professional consultants brought in to reposition the TV and radio brands.

Reserve Bank

An early ZANU-PF casualty is likely to be Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank (RBZ). Gono has been willing to subvert the simplest economic theories to the whim of government, issuing new one dollar notes a month ago, while knowing full well that inflation would in days render them worthless.

After the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the new government of Paul Kagame asked the South African Reserve Bank for help. A team from Pretoria installed as consultants in Harare — along with an independent audit — would help restore confidence.

Land for food

Unproductive farms near major cities — from where food can be delivered easily to market — must be cleared of squatters, ministers and other recipients and returned to commercial use under qualified management. This is urgent because first rains are due soon and a delay will not see new crops in the soil for another year.

The most productive tobacco farms — most of which now lie fallow — must be handed over to experts and seeded for crops. This will boost both employment and, in time, foreign earnings.

Central Intelligence Organisation and the Police

The much-abused CIO must be removed from the president-s office, and an all-party committee given oversight of the agency. By controlling the finance ministry, MDC will determine budget for CIO and the army. An early confidence building measure, well within the President-s gift, would be to retire Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri. His departure would be a good start to depoliticising a once proud force.

Enemies of the state

Political activists and Zimbabwe journalists and others based abroad who have angered the Mugabe government and are liable to be harassed or arrested on arrival must be allowed back without hindrance.

None of the above would be costly or difficult to manage. But it requires real commitment from ZANU-PF.

In 1988, the Australian government established a set of markers to measure change in apartheid South Africa, including the release of Nelson Mandela, return of exiles, independence of the media, an end to racial discrimination and other steps which then foreign minister Gareth Evans said would show "irreversible progress" to democracy. And at each stage, some of Australian sanctions against Pretoria were relaxed.

The same could be applied to Zimbabwe. As each area of policy is addressed, so aid could be restored and some of the sanctions lifted.

But if ZANU-PF believes that merely signing up to power sharing will bring the world back to Harare, they are mistaken. This time, it seems, the game really is up and Mr Mugabe has to deliver change that will, step by step, manoeuvre him and his party out of power.

*Geoff Hill is bureau-chief Africa for The Washington Times and author of What Happens After Mugabe?

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