In two seemingly unrelated events, the east of Zimbabwe was rocked recently — first by a violent earthquake and then by the election of Manicaland local hero Arthur Mutambara as the president of the pro-Senate faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
His election at the congress in Bulawayo recently is significant, as he follows in the big footprints left by other sons from the eastern province, from Ndabaningi Sithole, the first leader of the original Zanu party, to assassinated nationalist Herbert Chitepo, former finance minister Simba Makoni and MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai.
In a country long dominated by members of the Zezuru ethnic group, mostly notably President Robert Mugabe himself, the fact that Mutambara is a Manyika is significant.
His election speaks volumes about the fluid nature of the power dynamics within Zimbabwean opposition politics, and Mutambara is the first to acknowledge the disarray in the opposition ranks.
”My position was that the MDC should have boycotted those Senate elections. I guess then that makes me the anti-Senate leader of the pro-Senate MDC faction! How ridiculous can we get?”
Mutamabara is not an easy man to pigeonhole, ideologically straddling the views of most of the country’s power groupings. His views on land owe more to Mugabe than Tsvangirai. ”While we put the failure of the land reform programme squarely on the Zanu-PF government, we also acknowledge the complicity of some Western governments which reneged on agreements and the inertia of white farmers in seeking pre-emptive solutions.”
The olive branch that he extended by calling for peace and reunification of ”democratic forces” has wilted even before budding. Tendai Biti, MDC member of Parliament, rejected the overture, saying there is no shared ideology between the two camps.
He scathingly dismissed Mutambara’s views on the land question, referring to him as ”someone who last bought bread in Zimbabwe 20 years ago”.
Mutambara’s status as a member of the educated elite who have spent decades living abroad may be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, those who never left see him as out of touch with the realities of Zimbabwean life. On the other, he may be persuasive in convincing the estimated four-million highly skilled Zimbabweans living abroad, to come home and rebuild the country.
”They want to be global players. They want to be globally competitive,” he declared.
Of course, many of them are already global players, but perhaps not in the sense Mutambara wishes. It is easier to find a Zimbabwean chartered accountant in South Africa or the Jersey Islands than in Zimbabwe itself.
A Zimbabwean chartered accountant working in Johannesburg is emphatic that he will not be going home — ever.
”Having been exposed to an economy where things work and where there is good governance, it will be a step back returning to Zimbabwe,” he explains. ”In fact, I have just sold my house in Harare because I don’t intend going back. I am now part of this society. From here, I may go to London or New York.”
Dr Robert Muponde, a Zimbabwean working as a researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, said it is unlikely that exiles will flock home, even if Mugabe gives up power. The paradox facing the country is that the economy has to be revived before many of the professionals go back, but it cannot do so if professionals don’t go back. ”For many who go back, it will be a sacrifice. They have to give up many comforts. It will be an act of patriotism.”