African Update

Robert Mugabe was photographed on Monday at a press conference announcing the start of conciliatory negotiations—which were apparently brokered by South African president Thabo Mbeki—holding the hand of his archrival and political opponent Morgan Tsvangirai and speaking about seeking a “new way of political interaction” for Zimbabwe.

 

Perhaps Mugabe was just posing for the camera in the hopes that the glaring international spotlight would soon subside and he could go then get back to being a ruthless dictator.  Perhaps he was throwing his friend Mbeki a bone for helping to block UN sanctions against him.  Perhaps he sees an opportunity to emasculate Morgan Tsvangirai by drawing him in to his circle and, by consequence, reducing Tsvangirai’s appeal to those many Zimbabweans who so vigorously oppose Mugabe and all of the ill that he has done for their nation.  Perhaps Mugabe is just looking for any way possible to cling to power (taking a lesson from Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki) and he sees a power-sharing deal as his surest way forward. 

 

Or perhaps Mugabe truly does care about the fact that Zimbabwe has become the purest definition of a failed state; that his citizen’s money no longer buys them anything; that many of his citizens don’t have enough food to eat; that over eighty percent of his citizens are unemployed; that democracy and rule of law have dried up in Zimbabwe.  Maybe Mugabe knows that he has failed his country and truly needs the help.

 

Of course those sorts of rational notions are laughable when it comes to Robert Mugabe and that’s what makes the situation in Zimbabwe just so tragic.  Still, talking is talking and maybe it will lead to some sort of solution that eases Zimbabwe forward in a positive way.  But it’s difficult not to be cynical when Robert Mugabe is part of the equation.

Read our review of Stephen Kinzer’s new book A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It

After years of authoritarian rule, mismanagement, and tyranny—dating back to the 1980s—the end finally appears to be near for Robert Mugabe’s twenty-eight year reign in Zimbabwe.  His latest electoral shenanigans have finally caught the attention of the world and it now seems only a matter of time before he is no longer at the helm.

Even the venerable patriarch of African leadership Nelson Mandela spoke out about Mugabe’s ‘failure of leadership,’ not an easy thing for a fellow member of Africa’s liberation generation to do.  And world leaders seem to be falling all over themselves over the past few days to condemn Mugabe for his latest actions.

It seems impossible at this point that even Robert Mugabe could maintain his grip on power in Zimbabwe under such mounting pressure.  It is only a matter of time before the old man finally—mercifully—fades away.

And it couldn’t happen a moment too soon.

 

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai announced today that he would not take part in Zimbabwe’s runoff election for president this Friday.  It turns out that trying to unseat Robert Mugabe, something that Tsvangirai had come very close to doing during the general election nearly three months ago, has simply become too dangerous.

“We can’t ask the people to cast their vote on June 27 when that vote will cost their lives.  We will no longer participate in this violent sham of an election,” Tsvangirai said.

The MDC and independent rights groups claim that as many as 85 MDC supporters have been killed in the weeks leading up to the scheduled runoff election.  Mugabe’s government was reluctantly forced to admit that Tsvangirai had gained more votes than Mugabe in the March election but it wasn’t enough for Tsvangirai to win outright, forcing a belatedly-scheduled runoff election between the two and an opportunity for Mugabe’s supporters to organize, threaten, intimidate, and murder those who supported the MDC.  A major MDC rally had been scheduled in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, today but Mugabe’s supporters blocked the assembly preventing it from happening.  Perhaps that was the last straw.

Tsvangirai and his supporters were defeated by a ruthless, heartless tyrant who doesn’t care for one moment about the people that he supposedly liberated nearly thirty years ago. Mugabe’s only concern today seems to be making certain that he dies in office and avoids any possibility of being prosecuted for his multitude of crimes.  He is a huge disgrace but, unlike in years past, other African leaders are starting to take notice. 

Tsvangirai has promised to work with the United Nations, European Union, and the southern African bloc of nations to sort out the mess in Zimbabwe so we should see plenty of interesting developments in the coming days and weeks.  Perhaps Mugabe will be forced out of power in favor of a unity government between the MDC and Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.  It’s difficult to know at this moment what might happen but something’s got to give.  The tipping point in Zimbabwe has long since passed.