"BRITAIN & OTHER WESTERN GVTS HAVE LOST FAITH IN MDC-T" - ZIM OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER

The Zimbabwe Independent newspapers, part of the stable of rabidly pro-Nelson Chamisa newspapers owned by Alpha Media Holdings, has a prominent full page article in today's issue which claims that Britain as well as diplomats in Zimbabwe generally, have abandoned the MDC-T amidst concerns about lack of capacity to deliver on the change Zimbabwe needs.

The paper claims that Britain wants Mnangagwa to be president of Zimbabwe after the elections, saying they trust him to deliver on the issues that would turn Zimbabwe around.

The shift happened in 2013, apparently.

Below is the full text of the article in the Zimbabwe Independent:

BY KUDZAI KUWAZA

 

Britain has shifted its foreign policy on Zimbabwe which was previously anchored on seeking to influence on seeking to influence political change via opposition political parties, and is now pushing for change from within ZANU PF - the same template the West used to catalyse reform in the Soviet Union. 

Change in the Soviet Union was largely driven by Mikhail Gorbachev, a former general secretary of the Communist Party of Soviet Union, who became head of state from 1988 until 1991, through his policy Perestroika: New thinking for my country and the world. 

Gorbachev's perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness), as well as his reorientation of Soviet  strategic aims contributed to the end of the Cold War.
Diplomats told the Zimbabwe Independent this week that Britain and other Western governments have lost faith in the country's main opposition MDC-T after the party's 2013 elections defeat amid failure to heed advice from regional leaders not to participate in the polls without ensuring that the Sadc election roadmap was implemented.

Stephen Chan and Julia Gallagher in their book: Mugabe's Last Stand: The 2013 Elections in Zimbabwe and their Aftermath, aptly sum up the frustration arising from the failings of the opposition party.

The British government, which had over the years supported opposition party, was disappointed by the late former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's blunders during the inclusive government era between 2009 and 2013, as well as the opposition's failure to push for electoral reforms while in government.

Chan is close to the British government.

"Tsvangirai, it was clear from his time as prime minister, had ceased to be a thinkable president in 2013. His love affairs, his apparent lack of concern at the growing corruption of MDC representatives in national and local government, his inability to instil discipline on his party; none represented him as a good father figure, or president," Chan and Gallagher write.

"The criticism of Tsvangirai and the MDC focus on the lack of capacity - the party did not have the resources to look after the electorate - weak leadership and the sense of alienation engendered by what were seen as "foreign" political priorities and campaigning methods".

Unlike in 2008, where the MDC-Trolled out a multi-million dollar campaign which painted most parts of the country red, the 2013 campaign was not well-funded while Tsvangirai was dogged by controversy surrounding his personal life.
In off-the-record briefings with diplomats this week, it emerged that the lack of support which has extended to the 2018 polls, including donor fatigue, has affected the country's biggest opposition.

SADC leaders in 2013 were not impressed by the MDC parties' failure to push for the implementation of their resolutions ahead of elections.

Diplomatic sources said in the run up to the 2013 elections, Sadc leaders felt the MDC leaders had become too comfortable in government, forgetting their presence was meant to create an environment conducive for credible free and fair elections.

At the time, one SADC diplomat said, "Sadc has done a lot for Zimbabwe. We have been firm and resolute, but we are disappointed with the MDC parties which have not been pushing strongly enough for the necessary reforms that would allow for free and fair elections.

"Resolution after resolution has been adopted by Sadc but up to now, the three parties in the inclusive government have chosen to ignore them. These resolutions are very clear and there are even timelines to them, but months before critical elections little has been implemented.

"What more do you want Sadc to do? Nothing is being implemented and the parties are quiet and focusing the constitution and referendum. How about other reforms?"
At the Windhoek summit in 2010, Sadc leaders adopted a report by South African president Jacob Zuma, which called for implementation of 24 agreed GPA items to lay the basis for free and fair elections.

These included media reforms, security sector reforms on a continuous basis, regularisation of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, appointment of a new Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation board and a re-constitution of the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust, all within a month.

However, most of the reforms were not implemented.

After ZANU PF's landslide in 2013, Britain, which backed the opposition the 2000 chaotic land reform programme in which thousands of white commercial farmers lost land to blacks, shifted its stance on Zimbabwe.

Diplomats say frustrated by the lack of political gravitas on the part of the MDC-T, the former colonial power opted for a policy shift on Zimbabwe by focusing on change from within ZANU PF.

Thus began the relationship with Mnangagwa whom they believe is strong not only because of his strong ties with the military, but also his perceived pro-business disposition.

"The British want a strongman in Zimbabwe just like Paul Kagame in Rwanda, hence soon after the 2013 polls their policy on Zimbabwe shifted", a diplomat said.

Which, I suppose now means that the "keys" that the MDC-T and Morgan Tsvangirai/Tendai Biti often boasted about having (the keys to unlock foreign support to revive Zimbabwe's fortunes) have now been handed to Emmerson Mnangagwa?

It is the only trump card the MDC-T had ever had, that no change in our fortunes could come about unless they were in power.

It obviously explains why people like Tendai Biti are so angry at the very open overtures towards Mnangagwa and his government by the West, a process Biti called "putting lipstick on a crocodile."