Mugabe using the MDC to con the West

Mugabe's real game: Using the MDC to steal money from the West.

Mugabe remains defiant. People must realize that Mugabe is playing classic psychological games designed to frustrate and destabilize the opposition and provoke them into retaliating in a desired way. Each move is carefully calculated with measured or predetermined consequences they are hoping to achieve. Mugabe has repeatedly demonstrated that neither public nor world opinion concerns him - just so long as he is in control of the Army, Police, Intelligence, Judiciary and Finance he will continue to call the all shots without listening to anyone or anything.

So even if the MDC have 95% of the popular support, Morgan Tsvangirai will remain powerless and be incapable of achieving anything tangible. Tsvangirai's presence in Government will be entertained by the Mugabe regime but only for a specific purpose: to provide Mugabe and his party with some legitimacy but also as a front to solicit money from potential aid donors. It is likely that we will continue to witnesses further arrests of innocent people who will be used as hostages to bargain concessions...it is all part of their plan, with SADC very much involved behind the scenes.

Mugabe, SA and SADC plan to use Tsvangirai as puppet to con the West into pouring millions of dollars into Zimbabwe backfires, Mugabe now planning to stab Tsvangirai in the back, hinting of holding elections to throw the MDC out once and for all.

Too Soon to Lift Sanctions Against Zanu PF, Despite SADC Call : (Business Day)

SA’s Foreign Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has been quick to praise the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for its role in finding a solution to the Zimbabwe problem. At the meeting of SADC finance ministers in Cape Town last week, she said: “As SADC we can today proudly state that we have played a major role in facilitating the political solution to the situation in Zimbabwe.”

This is the same person who, just a few years ago, was seen being wined and dined by Zanu (PF) ministers in smart Harare restaurants, being fed dollops of Zanu (PF) propaganda, as were other politicians in the region. For years, SA and the SADC watched Zimbabwe’s downward spiral, doing little more than finding politically expedient excuses to counter international criticism of the appalling behaviour of President Robert Mugabe and his government.

SADC’s eagerness now to take the credit for a turnaround in Zimbabwe ignores two key contributing factors. One is the resilience of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which found no favour with SADC leaders. The other is that Zanu (PF)’s compromise in agreeing to a unity government was driven more by reduced looting opportunities in a broken economy than by regional persuasion.

Now we, the regional taxpayers, are being asked to contribute to a $2bn recovery package for Zimbabwe. SADC leaders’ complicity with the Zanu (PF) regime has made this an expensive exercise; even a year ago, fixing Zimbabwe would have cost a lot less than it does now.

Of course, SADC must contribute meaningfully. But its attendant call for the lifting of international sanctions may be premature.

The biggest beneficiaries of any such action will be the very people who pushed Zimbabwe to the brink — Zanu (PF) officials, their friends, families and business associates.

Official sanctions against Zimbabwe are targeted against individuals, government agencies and companies with which Zanu (PF) government did business. The sanctions have had an effect on finance coming to the country. But money has mostly stayed away from Zimbabwe because of poor governance, official theft of state resources, investor insecurity, rigged elections and human rights abuses.

While a limited revision of sanctions could be considered where it affects credit lines and relationships with multilateral organisations, it is too soon to bolster the former ruling party’s legitimacy by lifting the targeted sanctions.

Even at this early stage of the unity government process, Mugabe has shown limited appetite for sticking to either the letter or spirit of the agreement with MDC factions. He tried to sneak in more ministers than the agreement allowed, feigning embarrassment when this failed. He was so “embarrassed” that he tried the same trick a few days later with the swearing in of deputy ministers. This time he got away with it. Zimbabwe now has a bloated 71-strong cabinet it can ill afford.

Mugabe has unilaterally appointed all permanent secretaries, filled his cabinet with the tainted old guard and left political activists in jail. The budget and monetary policy statement were issued even as discussions were still under way on the unity government, resulting in uncertainty about economic policy at a time when there needs to be clarity, particularly given requests for hefty aid packages.

Many Zimbabweans believe the MDC has been set up to fail by being given the most difficult cabinet portfolios, notably finance. With Mugabe and a slew of corrupt and inefficient ministers playing key roles in the new government, it would seem to be a poisoned chalice for the MDC.

The international community has been asked to step up to the plate on the back of SADC’s efforts. It is right that they should back the new government’s call for healing through assistance and development. Current sanctions in place will not preclude this. Recovery is not dependent on the lifting of all sanctions.

Zanu (PF) needs to earn the lifting of sanctions against its members by showing a real commitment to the reconstruction process, rather than continuing with its current grudging participation and showing a real tendency to fall back on its old ways.