Zimbabwe taught Africa an impressive lesson on civic and political maturity last weekend. In spite of brutal pre- election intimidation, a flawed electoral process and attempts to obstruct independent monitoring, people were neither cowed nor discouraged. More than half of the voters told President Robert Mugabe it is time for change.
Let us not forget the months before. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) could campaign freely in only 20 out of 120 constituencies. In 80 they faced threats. Twenty were no-go areas. The candidate for Masvingo spent election weekend in a coma in hospital after Zanu- PF youths beat him up. The candidate for Kwekwe Central, whose house was gutted and who is under a death threat, could not go into town to vote. Yet he won over Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Minister of Justice and, until now, Mugabe’s unofficial successor.
Opposition candidates and supporters were tortured, murdered and beaten up; their homes, shops and cars were torched and looted. At least 30 people died. Hundreds of women and girls were raped. About 10 000 villagers are refugees in their own country. One thousand farms are still invaded by militiamen. But nothing broke the will of the people. This is one lesson. Political change can be delayed but it cannot be stopped.
Another lesson is that a newcomer in the political scene, a nine-month-old party, can challenge an established ruling party and win nearly half of the seats under adverse conditions. Some interesting paradoxes: in spite of Mugabe’s heated racist rhetoric, the black townships of Bulawayo south voted solidly for a white MDC human-rights lawyer. Predominantly black sections of Harare elected two white MDC MPs, while the mostly white northern suburbs elected a black MP. Mugabe is the racist, not the people of Zimbabwe.
Yet another lesson is that liberation parties cannot campaign forever on liberation credentials and rhetoric. They have to deliver the goods – democracy, good governance, human rights and a healthy economy – or people will chuck them out. But perhaps the biggest lesson is that it was the phenomenal growth of civil society that made this feat possible. The National Constitutional Assembly was a catalyst for trade unions, human-rights and women’s groups, churches and students. It mobilised the citizenry into political debate. About 25 000 poll agents and monitors were trained. This investment in civic education, in becoming citizens, not subjects, is an asset to the country.
On Friday, while the Registrar General delayed their accreditation, thousands of monitors waited day and night, without food or accommodation. Badges began trickling in at 6pm, the last at 9am on Saturday. The delay only strengthened their resolve.
When Tony Yengeni glosses over the flawed electoral process and pre- electoral coercion, he is doing Africa a disservice. He is upholding second-rate democratic and human-rights standards for the continent. Africa deserves better.
The African National Congress sent a silly message of congratulation to Zanu- PF for its victory. They should have withheld their exuberation: 62 to 57, with 20 constituencies to be challenged in court, is a very poor result for Zanu- PF, and may not even be final. Reruns may yield something like 60-60.
Zanu-PF got a resounding no-confidence vote. Imagine what the results would have been without rigging and without state- sponsored terrorism.
Some analysts are attributing the positive outcome to the efforts of Peter Hain and Thabo Mbeki. Let us not look elsewhere than Zimbabwe for the heroes of these elections. They deserve South Africa’s support.
Deafening silence
The Mail & Guardian reported last week that the government plans to spend many more billions to refurbish the South African National Defence Force. We question the wisdom of spending these sums on ”defence” in the absence of a reasonable threat to national security, particularly when the money could be more profitably spent on addressing poverty.
Of equal concern are indications that officially sanctioned corruption is playing itself out under cover of the weapons deals. We hear distressing accounts of moves by senior government members to sideline officials in the Department of Trade and Industry who continue to insist that original guarantees are met. We are told of ministers accepting gigantic bribes and of officials involved in the process holding shares in companies contracted to supply components for the weaponry. We are baffled that South African companies are being sold to foreign interests at a fraction of their real value.
Yet the government seems to have no interest in getting to the bottom of the affair. When Pan-Africanist Congress MP Patricia de Lille raised these issues in Parliament eight months ago, she was reviled. The M&G and other newspapers that have reported on aspects of the corruption have been largely ignored. The auditor general was not allowed to investigate anything beyond the procedures followed in awarding the deals, leaving the real issues of corruption and self-enrichment out of the picture. And the already squeezed Heath special investigating unit, though it is sitting on many boxes of relevant documentation and is convinced something is rotten, has yet to request that the government authorise an investigation.
We call on the Heath unit to either force the matter by calling for a proclamation or to hand over the documents to the media. Mostly, we call on the government to allow meaningful investigations and to make it clear that its interest lies in getting to the bottom of corrupt practices, and not merely papering them over.