It no longer suffices to call Zimbabwe the post-colonial basket case. Even by African standards of kleptocracy and of state violence and intimidation, it has gone beyond the ambit of words. Morgan Tsvangirai’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change won the first round of elections in March but fell short of a majority to avoid the presidential run-off. What Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF couldn’t do in March they have been doing since, with Tsvangirai now forced to take refuge in the Dutch embassy. The UN has asked Zimbabwe to scrap the run-off on June 27, arguing that a free and fair poll is “impossible” amid the violence. Meanwhile, refugees continue to pour into Zimbabwe’s neighbouring countries and the economic crisis has assumed surreal proportions.If Zimbabwe turns into the next Rwanda, African leaders, particularly South African President Thabo Mbeki, must bear the blame for letting Mugabe buy time since the March polls. A strange notion of third-world solidarity, which would rather justify a tyrant and mass murderer because he is a liberation hero than condemn human rights violations, is sacrificing Zimbabweans. It is time the idea of racial and post-colonial justice was divorced from the practice of governance and welfare. Mugabe has used the bogey of white imperialism to court African sympathy even as he and his henchmen robbed Zimbabwe. African leaders, ineffective for long, seem to have finally lost their patience with Mbeki. An agreement between the UN, the African Union and southern African leaders may replace him as the mediator in Zimbabwe with representatives from the UN, the AU and the Southern African Development Community. While the AU’s change of heart and the strong-worded Security Council draft resolution offer the last hope for Zimbabwe, a Herculean task confronts Tsvangirai himself. He withdrew from the run-off fearing for the lives of his supporters who, however, feel betrayed. Ironically, Tsvangirai’s withdrawal is also tactical; he cannot win the June 27 poll. But he must convince MDC voters that the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe will continue. The international community meanwhile must decide on what mode of intervention is apt: humanitarian aid and civilian protection or pressure on Mugabe and the MDC to negotiate, or both.
