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Zimbabwe under a subimperial, neoliberal thumb
Patrick Bond
February 2009

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http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/55156

(This article was presented at seminars in February, prior to the introduction of the Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme and revised 2009 Budget)

Introduction

The rise and spread of cholera, the closure of schools, detention of political prisoners, demise of the currency and myriad other cries of Help! are being sent from Zimbabwe.

The September 2008 power-sharing deal between the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu (PF), only brought to partial fruition in February with the appointment of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has crucial moral implications for South Africa.

Will our foreign policy continue to be characterised as 'subimperialist-, for foisting Washington-era economic ideology as part of loan and grant conditionality, for the benefit of Johannesburg capital? And will the New South Africa be viewed in the same way from Zimbabwe villages as the Old South Africa was viewed from the old Transkei Bantustan - a place responsible for keeping the local dictator alive and corrupt, and sucking out cheap workers?

I worry that for Pretoria politicians, the first stage in weakening democratic potentials in Zimbabwe was nurturing the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe from the time of the mid-2000 challenge to his power, a problem caused not only by Thabo Mbeki-s extreme views but also by his successor Kgalema Motlanthe-s inability or unwillingness to change course. The result: A ridiculous deal likely to fall apart within months if not weeks.

Trevor Manuel is hammering the second nail in the coffin, along with the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the UN Development Programme. It will be called a 'rescue package- or 'aid- but in reality it is an instruction to Tsvangirai that he must first repay Mugabe-s Odious Debts and tighten the impoverished Zimbabwean people-s belts.

Strike three for Zimbabwe-s democracy will be when South African firms sweep up the country-s physical assets, shares of residual firms and real estate for a song.

In addition to considering Pretoria-s malicious role, it is time for a closer examination of the Bretton Woods Institutions- historic and current role in Zimbabwe. Along with the UN Development Programme and donor governments, the Bank and Fund are exploring economic intervention in an economy suffering a decade-long depression and the world-s worst-ever recorded inflation.

Meanwhile, civil society - especially those involved in the historic February 2008 People-s Charter - have been asking whether Mugabe-s foreign debt should be repaid; whether orthodox 'Washington Consensus- strategies work and whether new grants and loans should be conditional upon neoliberal policies; and how might social forces be reorganised to ensure a deeper democratic transition and socio-economic justice?

What is at stake, following the establishment of power-sharing and a route to democracy, is who will win the new economic chimurenga (liberation war) being waged in Zimbabwe. The choices are diverse: A parasitical elite of several thousand bureaucrats and crony business operators around Mugabe; the productive bourgeoisie (what-s left of it) around Tsvangirai; the domestic and international financiers hoping for austerity; the global corporations devoted to resource extraction; the aid industry; or the povo (masses).

* Patrick Bond is director of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society

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