President Mnangagwa should pursue a pragmatic foreign policy

“IT doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.” The famous quotation was echoed by the Chinese revolutionary and politician - Deng Xiaoping - who in his conviction pursued the policies the Chinese founding leader Chairman Mao had put in place but with more practicality and reform that led China to where it is today.

The swearing in of Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe marks a new epoch in the history of this State, particularly the country’s socio-economic and political infrastructure which is in desperate need of renovation, overhaul and complete change.

One thing Cde Mnangagwa’s predecessor successfully did was the total isolation of Zimbabwe from the international community and positioning it on the peripheries of globalisation and in the process failure by the entire Zimbabwean citizenry to benefit from the dividends of international cooperation.

The foreign policy pursued by Zimbabwe during the reign of Cde Robert Mugabe with the dawn of the new millennium was characterised by demonisation and confrontation as well as tired diplomacy of the erstwhile era no longer viable in the 21st century diplomatic approach. Arrogant diplomacy pursued by Cde Mugabe did more harm than good and became hinged more on personality, self-glory and ego than on benefitting the masses - a cardinal objective of any state’s foreign policy.

Foreign policy is critical at this juncture because it denotes to the activities evolved by communities for changing the behaviour of other states and for adjusting their own activities to the international environment. It is an indispensable engagement in that a state without foreign policy is like a ship without radar which drifts aimlessly without any directions by every storm and sweep of events. Zimbabwe has had a foreign policy since its inception as a bonafide state in 1980. However, the foreign policy of Zimbabwe under Cde Mugabe had remained static and stuck in Cold War ideological standing without an inch of a movement. Such an approach is no longer viable under a Mnangagwa presidency largely because the country’s economy has been vandalised, its stature as an attractive state has been tainted whilst the bilateral stand-off between Cde Mugabe and the European Union has had devastating effects more to the generality of the masses.

Zimbabwe’s foreign policy has been hinged on five key principles, namely national sovereignty and equality among nations; attainment of a socialist, egalitarian and democratic society; the right of all peoples to self-determination and independence; non-racialism at home and abroad and positive non-alignment and peaceful co-existence among nations.

Zimbabwe’s foreign policy options have either been to maintain, modify or reconstruct the above principles originally outlined in 1980. The first two decades were preoccupied with the consolidation of independence and sovereignty of a newly independent state, multilateralism and non-alignment, given the bipolar Cold War rivalry between the USA with its allies and the USSR.

On the other hand, from 2000 Zimbabwe sought to construct a foreign policy framework informed by forging a regional alliance within the Sadc especially with governments led by former liberation movements as well as emphasising pan-Africanism and African issues.

Furthermore, preferable engagement was directed to the Eastern countries including China, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Iran in an approach Zimbabwe termed the Look East Policy. The Look East Policy is based on the belief that it was better to find alternative allies who did not worry about Zimbabwe’s domestic politics in terms of governance and democracy.

In the first decade after attaining independence, Zimbabwe’s foreign policy was generally pragmatic in the pursuit of socialist convictions and at the same time courting the Western capitalist bloc.

Read the full article on www.herald.co.zw