Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has moved to strengthen his dominance over the 17-month “unity” government by unilaterally appointing ambassadors and running regular advertisements in the state media inflating himself and minimising his coalition partner party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
Incensed by Mugabe’s diplomatic reshuffle last week, on which he did not consult Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC called for the reversal of the appointments.
This is not the first time Mugabe has breached the terms and spirit of the coalition government. He previously appointed Gideon Gono governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and Johannes Tomana as attorney general, as well as making appointments to various provincial leadership posts. In May this year he appointed a new supreme court judge and four high court judges without consulting his coalition partners.
The new diplomatic posts include those of Phelekezela Mphoko as ambassador to South Africa. Mphoko replaces Simon Khaya Moyo, elected Zanu-PF chairperson earlier this year. The Pretoria posting is of great significance for both Zanu-PF and the MDC, as two million Zimbabweans are estimated to be living in South Africa — a large potential support base.
Given that President Jacob Zuma is now the Southern African Development Community’s facilitator in talks between the two Zimbabwean parties, they both see the ambassadorship as a strategic platform from which to promote their agendas.
Said Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, the MDC’s secretary for international relations: “Taking into account the number of Zanu PF-appointed diplomats throughout the world — we believe that in all fairness the South African post should have been given to the MDC.”
Meanwhile, the state-owned broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), has been airing jingles at 30-minute intervals lauding Mugabe and reminding Zimbabweans of who is “number one and the man in charge”. Political analysts view this as a campaign by Mugabe to tighten his grip on power and ready Zanu-PF for elections, scheduled for next year.
One of the jingles, entitled Ndikusetere Timu (Let’s Set the Team), identifies the leadership hierarchy in the country as Mugabe and his two deputies, Joyce Mujuru and John Nkomo, and suggests that Tsvangirai is unimportant.
The MDC vehemently rejected the jingles, saying that they “fan disunity and undermine the letter and spirit of the Global Political Agreement (that established the unity government)”.
A Zanu-PF insider said that the jingles reflected the party’s view of Tsvangirai as a “senior minister” within the coalition government, whereas Mugabe was “the supreme leader who wielded real power”. Tsvangirai won majority support in the 2008 presidential elections.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa described the jingles as another point-scoring ploy by Zanu-PF that showed a party moving into election mode. The MDC views ZBH as a “conveyor belt of Zanu-PF propaganda”.
Since 2000 Zanu-PF has used jingles on the state-owned media to garner popular support for Mugabe and his policies. They were particularly prominent during the 2002 and 2008 presidential elections and the wave of farm seizures.
Mugabe loyalists defend them by saying they are part of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle history.
Mugabe and Zanu-PF’s drive for absolute dominance has also been highlighted by Zimbabwe’s ongoing constitution-making process, rolled out last month in Harare by Parliament’s constitutional committee.
Reports of intimidation by Zanu-PF supporters and war veterans, apparently aimed at seizing control of the process, have cast a dark cloud over attempts to sound popular opinion on a new constitutional dispensation.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said that “the process has become highly politicised — with political interference such as coaching the ordinary person on what to say”.
It emerged last week that views gathered from people in the Matabeleland South region had mysteriously disappeared from a laptop where they were stored.
Chamisa said that in light of the growing intimidation, the MDC leadership would debate its continued participation in the outreach process.