Cracks in the monolith
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party, in
power since independence in 1980, is no longer the monolithic and
invincible entity that it was a decade ago. The fortress walls are
cracking as dissent becomes more pronounced. But two decades of
uninterrupted power have blinded its leaders to the hard realities
faced by the majority of Zimbabweans who are now clamouring for
change.
The party sees the country as a prize of war and President Robert
Mugabe is on record as saying that the country owes his followers a
living. It is hardly surprising then that the political elite’s view of
public office as a vehicle for wealth accumulation has led to the
systematic pillaging of state resources and the steady impoverishment
of ordinary Zimbabweans.
Examples are not difficult to find. A civil service housing scheme was
hijacked by the Zanu-PF elite including the First Lady Grace Mugabe to
build mansions for themselves. A compensation fund for victims of
Zimbabwe’s liberation war was looted by party chiefs who showed no
signs of injury whatsoever. Among those taking the largest slice was
Mugabe’s brother-in-law, the appropriately-named Reward Marufu. Most
egregiously, a rural irrigation scheme meant to benefit villagers was
hijacked by senior party officials for their suburban homes and
farms.
Zanu-PF came into power with the objective of imposing a one-party
socialist state. This in part derived from the support Zimbabwe
received from the eastern bloc during the war of Independence. The
one-party state project meant that the ruling party took precedence
over government and that its politburo rather than the cabinet became
the supreme policy-making organ. It also meant that Zanu-PF occupied
all the available political space branding newcomers as interlopers in
the post-liberation project. This had dire consequences for democratic
evolution.
The constitution was amended to concentrate absolute power in the
hands of the state president who was also the president and first
secretary of the ruling party. Indeed, the line dividing party and
government became blurred. State institutions such as the army, police,
and intelligence service all saw their role as that of promoting and
defending the party’s agenda. So did the public corporations that
mushroomed after 1980 to provide sheltered employment for Mugabe’s
followers. A culture of fear gripped the country in the early 1980s as
the party sought to consolidate its hold on power. The security
services were used to dealing with critics. Here lay the roots of
Zanu-PF’s inability to distinguish national unity from party
unity.
Its liberation war allies such as students, trade unions and churches
were not spared in this crude attempt to impose a one-party state. To
complete its control over the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans, the
government purchased a majority stake in the country’s biggest
newspaper publishing company from South Africa’s Argus group, with the
help of a grant from the Nigerian government. This led to the
establishment of the Mass Media Trust which, together with its
broadcasting monopoly, gave the new government effective control of
public discourse.
The ruling party’s totalitarian agenda plunged the country into a
civil war as it sought to crush former liberation war ally Zapu which
had overwhelming support in Matabele-land and the Midlands provinces.
Over 20,000 mainly Ndebele people perished at the hands of the army as
it carried out Mugabe’s instructions to beat the Joshua Nkomo-led Zapu
into submission.
For the sake of peace Nkomo signed the Unity Accord in December 1987
which saw an amalgamation of Zanu-PF and Zapu. As a reward he became
the second vice-president of the united party and the government and a
number of his followers were given cabinet appointments while others
were elevated in the public service. Thus the country lost the only
political opposition worth talking about.
In the absence of any economic benefits to the grassroots in
Matabeleland many Zapu supporters dismissed this agreement as a
sell-out that subjugated the Ndebele people to the Shona-dominated
Zanu-PF. They questioned how national unity could be achieved without
the government accepting responsibility for the ethnic cleansing of the
mid-1980s. Mugabe denied responsibility and refused to apologise
claiming that the massacres had occurred during a state of war.
The experiment with socialism which lasted until 1989 laid the
foundation for the economic problems that have now come to haunt
Zimbabwe. In accordance with Soviet-style command-economy precepts
prices of commodities and services were strictly controlled while the
state dictated the pace of wage settlements. The foreign exchange
regime was also centrally controlled. Foreign companies wishing to
invest in Zimbabwe faced a litany of obstacles and could not remit
profits or dividends.
The cumulative impact of all this was that the economy experienced
negative growth, unemployment rose and poverty became deep-rooted.
Foreign investment was reduced to a mere trickle. Having run out of
solutions to these self-inflicted economic problems and faced with the
possibility of a social upheaval the ruling party grudgingly abandoned
socialism and turned to the Bretton Woods twins cap in hand. But the
country’s problems were only compounded by half-hearted reforms
haphazardly implemented.
Today the chickens of economic mismanagement, human rights abuses and
an absence of accountability have all come home to roost. As per capita
GDP has declined with unemployment, inflation and interest rates all
above 50 per cent the public has not been blind to the extravagance of
its rulers. Zanu-PF misgovernance and unbridled corruption have united
civil society and helped it find a collective voice. The Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has decided to take on the ruling
party. It has emerged as the biggest threat to Zanu-PF through
successful national collective stay-aways that have on more than two
occasions brought the economy to a standstill.
Initially it focused on the alleviation of the tax burden on the
workers and the reduction of prices of commodities. But it has now
expanded its brief to issues of governance arguing that economic
recovery is impossible without political reform. In a political
environment where the majority of people are now desperate for change
the recent announcement that the ZCTU would facilitate the formation of
a broad-based party— the Movement for Democratic Change — has injected
new life. If a worker-based party were to become a reality it would
represent a serious challenge to Zanu-PF, particularly in the urban
areas.
The story is different in the rural areas where the politics of
patronage has assured the ruling party a firm grip on gullible peasant
farmers who constitute more than 70 per cent of the population. The
party’s control of the electronic media together with its use of the
tax dollar to distribute free seeds, fertiliser, and draught power
makes penetrating the rural areas a tall order for other parties.
The Zimbabwe Union of Democrats, an opposition party formed earlier
this year which showed some initial potential, has been plunged into
confusion following infiltration by state intelligence agents who have
effectively divided it — a well-practised tactic. However, the ruling
party is also likely to face another challenge from the well-organised
Zimbabwe Integrated Project led by Heneri Dzinotyiweyi, a university
mathematics professor, which announced recently that it would be
transforming itself into a political party. While some Opposition
political parties appear to be faltering, civil society has occupied
the political space once dominated by Zanu-PF. Public dissatisfaction
with the current Constitution which the government has amended 15 times
to remove civil liberties, has seen trade unions, academics, churches
and human rights organisations coming together to form the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA).
In response to this initiative the government has hurriedly put
together a Constitutional Commission whose duty is to come up with a
new founding law. The commission, which is packed with Zanu-PF MPs and
party officials, has been dismissed by the NCA as a ploy to hoodwink
the public. Its findings are open to presidential manipulation raising
suspicions that Mugabe may junk its conclusions as he did the findings
of other commissions in the past. In any case the commission is widely
seen as an attempt by the party to extend its tenure on power.
The party’s insensitivity to the predicament of the majority and the
endemic corruption which President Mugabe recently publicly admitted
exists within his cabinet has seen dissatisfaction within Zanu-PF grow.
There is clearly a yearning for a change of leadership within the
party. Some heavyweights realise that Mugabe is now a liability ahead
of next year’s parliamentary elections.
Zanu-PF member of parliament Dzikamai Mavhaire last year invited
Mugabe’s ire by calling on him to step down. He was stripped of his
party post as a disciplinary measure and denounced as a witch. Not
intimidated by the president’s threats, another Zanu-PF MP Machael
Mataure told parliament earlier this year that the party was led by
“tired horses” and needed new blood to see it through. “You can’t teach
old dogs new tricks,” he told parliament. The party has shied away from
disciplining him fearful of the backlash.
The threat of disintegration is now a real possibility for a party
that has long boasted of its mass appeal. There is factional fighting
at every level as members position themselves for the day when Mugabe
goes. But his presence will hold the party together in the short-term.
While some are critical of his leadership few will risk leaving the
party just yet. The party’s countrywide infrastructure, most of it
built at the expense of the taxpayer, and its control of the levers of
power make it an attractive tool for ambitious politicians. Thus, while
senior members of his cabinet such as justice minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa and Harvard-trained minister without portfolio Eddison
Zvobgo, have staked their claims to the succession none has been brave
enough to challenge the president openly.
While Mugabe is able to hold Zanu-PF together Nkomo’s departure has
removed an important pillar of the regime. His death at the beginning
of July after a long fight against prostate cancer will speed up the
disintegration of the party in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces.
There is widespread disaffection in this region over the party’s
failure to attend to the perennial water problem. There are also
accusations of deliberate ethnic discrimination in public service
recruitment and enrolment to tertiary institutions. Welshman Mabhena,
provincial governor for Matabeleland north, and Joshua Malinga, a vocal
former Bulawayo mayor, are among those in the forefront voicing these
concerns.
More evidence of the peculiar problems of Matabeleland was the
formation in 1997 of a pressure group, Imbovana Yamahlabezulu, whose
objective is to articulate the region’s grievances. And further
discontent with the unity accord has manifested itself in the desire to
resuscitate Zapu through the formation of a youthful movement calling
itself Zapu 2000. The old Zapu establishment is screaming foul and
making all manner of threats which so far have not intimidated anybody.
Nkomo’s death is likely to see more radical voices emerge opening up
new fissures where Mugabe can least afford them.
While the ruling party faces problems from within its ranks and token
challenges from opposition parties it is not yet time to write its
epitaph. So long as the party can control the pace of political reform,
exploit state resources and regulate the media it is certain to win
next year’s elections.
But an economy in free-fall and a restive urban population spell
long-term trouble for Mugabe’s grip on power. More than anything else
it is clear to all sectors of society that he has no idea how to find
his way out of the pit he has been digging for the country over the
past 19 years. The call for new direction is becoming shrill despite
Mugabe’s claims that he cannot hear a thing.