Remember Zimbabwe?

Ever since 2008, I’ve maintained an interest in the politics of Zimbabwe. The Presidential election that took place that year was controversial (to say the least) and there was plenty of violence and corruption. Robert Mugabe (ZANU-PF) was re-elected, despite the first round of voting being narrowly won by Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T). In the end Tsvangirai became Prime Minister and the Ministries were split between the two. However, Mugabe still controls much of the country using military force.

So, what’s been happening in the country since that election and the creation of the Global Political Agreement? I go into some detail in the remainder of this post because I think the people of Zimbabwe have been forgotten and plenty of work still needs to be done in the ailing country.

Photo taken by Pan African News Wire (found on Flickr)

Budget

The following is taken from this article in ‘The Zimbabwe Guardian’:

“LEGISLATORS in Zimbabwe’s Parliament have refused to rubberstamp Finance Minister Tendai Biti’s budget and asked for “considerable” time to analyze it.

Biti, who has presented skewed Budget statements before, thought this budget debate would be smooth-sailing like every other.

Most of his budgets have made grand promises on paper, but failed to deliver in real terms the amounts promised to government ministries.”

Obviously, for all nations, the Budget is very important. Looking at this article, you would think that Tendai Biti isn’t particularly good at his job. However, The Zimbabwe Guardian is government owned and is a long standing supporter of Zanu-PF. It is also a well-known critic of MDC-T. Biti is an MDC-T member, which explains the one-sided nature of the article.

Another thing to consider is the make up of the country’s Legislature. The Senate has a Zanu-PF majority and Zanu-PF Speaker. The House of Assembly (the lower house) has an combined MDC majority, but it isn’t substantial. This could explain why the Budget had stalled.

Later on in the article, there was this:

“The unity exhibited by MPs from MDC-T and Zanu-PF in refusing to debate the Budget was extraordinary.

According to experts, it is possible for MPs to force a rethink of the entire Budget.

“MPs have become increasingly discontented about Parliament being treated as a rubber-stamp institution by the executive.  What can they do if not happy with aspects of the Budget?” reads a post by parliamentary monitor, Veritas.”

This might make you think that the issues with the budget were legitimate. However, I could find no figures to justify this statement about “unity”. This article from the AllAfrica website also paints an entirely different picture. The reaction to the budget seems more positive and the negativity seems to be (mostly) from Zanu-PF. This article from ‘The Africa Report’ goes into more detail and states that most of the complaints are about the members of the legislature not being paid enough money and not being given enough luxuries. In short, it seems that the legislators aren’t in total unity and it’s mostly Zanu-PF (probably a few MDC members too) wanting more for themselves, instead of wanting to improve the nation.

Elections and reform

Elections are hugely important, but they never seem to go smoothly in Zimbabwe. Presidential elections take place every six years and elections to Parliament happen every five.

According to this article on Sokwanele, there has been no money allocated for elections in 2012 due to the current “political situation”. However, any elections next year would be out of sync with the normal schedule. The only reason I can think of for it being discussed is that it would show electoral reform is still considered a major issue by those who are in power.

Marriage scandal

Tsvangirai recently ended a short marriage and cited reasons such as media and state security intrusion. Of course this is perfectly possible, especially when you consider the Zimbabwe Guardian tried to brush off those claims. It’s interesting that Mugabe has actually supported Tsvangirai on this occasion, saying that under Zimbabwean law, men are allowed to have multiple wives and he hasn’t done anything wrong. This could be honesty, or it could just be a way of covering any manipulation of the media.

Mugabe

According to Times Live, Mugabe will be endorsed as the Zanu-PF Presidential candidate (once again) at this week’s party conference. However, it seems that there are some in the party who would like to see a change, but they feel intimidated by Mugabe loyalists. This is not surprising, but also worrying for the future of the country. Given the corruption that took place in the last Presidential election, he’s got a strong chance of staying as President well into his nineties.

“”The reality is most people want the president to retire but no one has the courage to break the ice on that issue,” a senior politburo member said.”

Summary & Conclusion

The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) worked with Zimbabwe in 2008 to form the Global Political Agreement. The idea was that it would help to create peace and reform in a nation that badly needs both. It is now 2011 and very little has happened in both areas. There is still violence and corruption and no sign of it ending.

The world media seems to have completely forgotten about this country. I find it odd as there was so much media coverage a few years ago – not just about the election, but also about the weakening economy. Transition to an MDC government isn’t going to happen any time soon. There needs to be some form of action from other groups and/or nearby nations.

So, what do you think?