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Laying the foundation for 2009: The inconvenient truths about the West
Arthur G.O Mutambara
January 05, 2009

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Introduction

The year 2008 was a very difficult year for us as a nation. Since the inconclusive harmonized elections held on the 29th of March, there has been a political impasse in our land. The country has been without a legitimate government. Our economy has virtually collapsed, while disease and starvation are ravaging our people.

Hopelessness and despair characterize and define the national psyche. There has been complete leadership failure across the board, within Zimbabwe, in the region and in the international community. As we start a new year, let us reflect on some of the major debates that are shaping our politics as we exit 2008. Of particular interest in this treatise are the uncomfortable realities and challenges that sometimes we shy away from confronting. In particular we seek to slay that elephant in the national living room: How ignorant and unstrategic external involvement in the Zimbabwean discourse does more harm than good. We seek to argue that in the year 2008, brazen and crass Western shenanigans have actually undermined the opposition and strengthened Robert Mugabe. More importantly, it is our submission that the uninformed and reckless foreign policy positions of Western governments, in particular the US and the UK, have negatively impacted our national interest. Zimbabweans have to clearly understand this for our collective fortunes to be different in the year 2009.

The Mugabe must go chorus

As we exited 2008, in the month of December, there was a crescendo of demands for the departure of Mugabe from the political stage. There is nothing new and creative in this Mugabe must go mantra. The trouble is that many people and institutions on this track suffer from the disease of the heart being in the right place, while the mind is not being applied. One needs both a good heart and a good mind. Some of us have been singing the Mugabe must go mantra for the past 21 years, to no avail. Incidentally, Western governments disagreed with us in 1988 when we turned against the ZANU-PF regime. Now they patronize us, as if they understand why Mugabe must go, better than us, his Zimbabwean victims. We have been fighting Mugabe for two decades, where have you been America and Europe? Why did you support Mugabe in the late 80-s when we were opposing him? Why did you actively back him during Gukurahundi? We never heard you say Mugabe must go during that period. Instead you gave him prestigious awards on both sides of the Atlantic. We can understand it if your defense is that you are slow learners and late bloomers where our matters are concerned. We can accept that. But it then also means you must take your cue from us who understand the Zimbabwean terrain better. You must accept that you are essentially ignorant, unstrategic, and hence ineffective where African matters are concerned. While you seek to assist us in our struggles for change, your brazen behaviour effectively undermines us and strengthens our opponents. You must listen to us and not the other way round.

The December 2008 Mugabe must go chorus was as pathetic as it was both unimaginative and predictable. It started with Raila Odinga, Bishop John Sentamu and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in that order. As soon as they were done, David Milliband and Condi Rice came in to support the "many" voices of African leaders. Thereafter, it was Gordon Brown, George Bush, Sarkozy, and Merkel. Every European leader and their grandmother joined in, supporting the "many" voices of African leaders. To crown it all, there was an incompetent dash to the UN Security Council, where everything came crumbling down; what an embarrassing non-event. Why was anyone surprised by this unmitigated failure? Was there ever a method in the madness? What was to be the logical conclusion of the chorus?

First and foremost there was no African leader who had spoken. So whom, were the Western leaders purporting to support? Soon after Raila Odinga spoke, he was contradicted by his own Foreign Minister. This means he was not speaking on behalf of Kenya or Kibaki. Bishop Sentamu does not speak for any African country. Well, the same for Tutu; he is a good African who speaks for no African nation. For him to be effective he should work on convincing the South African political leadership to adopt his views. Interesting enough, even the usually reckless and unimaginative Ian Khama was not part of the African voices. So when these American and European leaders went into chorus who were they supporting? In a continent of 53 countries, the US and UK could not convince a single African President to be part of their elegant chorus. If the Western leaders were indeed just supporting themselves why did they lie that they were supporting voices of African leaders. If they care about what African leaders think, why did they not spend enough time convincing the real African leaders of the correctness of Western positions and thereafter, have the African leaders speak first. Surely if, for example, Presidents Kgalema Motlanthe, Armando Geubuza, José Eduardo dos Santos, Jakaya Kikwete and Mwai Kibaki had taken a particular collective position on Zimbabwe, and Western governments had come in to support them, there would have been some traction.

But no, the Western powers chose to create their own pseudo African leaders, and then force a world chorus. This was sure to fail. Beyond the chorus, there was no real strategy to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe. There was no specific action that the US and the UK were going to take after the chorus. Would it not have been logical to back the slogans with both procedural plans and proper African buy-in? It seems the rationale was that Mugabe was just going to fall off the Zimbabwe political stage because of the deafening sound of Western leaders repeating the same meaningless message. How pathetic! Well, shame on you for trivializing the legitimate struggle of our people.

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