Transitional authority the only way forward

IT is time to put in place a new way of politics in Zimbabwe because the current party system has failed and brought us to the brink of ruin. Zanu PF’s oppressive, exploitative and manipulative structures have cowed the populace, conflated party and State, and ensured that power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of party chefs and apparatchiks.

The past 41 years have been a travesty of good governance.

Hope was born in 1999 with the emergence of the late Morgan Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) but that hope was effectively stifled when Zanu PF stole the 2008 election and denied Tsvangirai and the MDC their right to rule.

The MDC has limped on since then and morphed into various manifestations which, instead of fighting the system, have been fighting one another to become part of the system.

In the last 12 months, we have witnessed the recall from Parliament of MDC Alliance MPs, a move many saw as a Zanu PF-engineered ploy for Thokozani Khupe and Douglas Mwonzora to neutralise the opposition.

In recent weeks, Mwonzora displaced Khupe and is moving to consolidate power by recalling more legislators from Parliament as well as councillors who continue to defy him.

Khupe herself is refusing to stand down as parliamentary leader of the opposition. What is particularly reprehensible is that these machinations are occurring under the cover of the COVID-19 emergency.

Apart from making ineffectual addresses to the nation, Nelson Chamisa has largely disappeared from sight and his MDC-A has been emasculated. It must be exceedingly painful for grassroots supporters who still share the late Tsvangirai’s 1999 vision and ideals to see what MDC has become. The “people’s project” has been destroyed.

It may seem as if Zanu PF is tightening its grip, yet that is not necessarily the case.

The Zanu PF government is in peril. In an attempt to avoid economic collapse and unlock funds to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube made a passionate appeal to international institutions to help the government to clear its arrears owed to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.

Ncube’s communication to the international financial institutions (IFIs) in Washington said the government and economy were almost collapsing and raised the spectre of an implosion of the State.

His pleas were rebuffed by the IFIs which argued that Zimbabwe’s problems are rooted in politics not in economics. Zimbabwe is in an economic crisis that is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forty years of looting, mismanagement and unbridled corruption have impoverished this country once touted as the jewel of Africa.

In recent times, the combined effects of the 2019 drought and Cyclone Idai, shortage of foreign currency, contraction of agriculture, shortage of electricity and water production have forced more than 50% of Zimbabweans into food insecurity.

Fiscal mismanagement and bungled de-dollarisation have precipitated depreciation of the local currency and high inflation.

Ongoing local currency depreciation and disruption of production, trade and tourism by COVID-19 will continue to drive inflationary pressures for the foreseeable future.

Economic collapse will be the trigger for the collapse of the government and it appears to be a hair’s breadth away.

The people’s question

I have been listening to a number of ordinary citizens on the streets of Masvingo and others with whom I am in contact throughout Zimbabwe. In short, they are saying: “We are stuck with Zanu PF and we will continue to suffer because there is no alternative.”

They keep raising the question: “If Zanu PF goes, who takes over?” Their question highlights the pressing need to assemble a transitional authority as a credible and capable alternative that, in the event of a government collapse, stands ready to step into the void, take control of government and set Zimbabwe on the path to recovery.

Zunde has previously canvassed the idea of a transitional authority but the political landscape was not as conducive then as it is today.

There are many talented, credible Zimbabweans scattered around the globe and now is the time to engage them to explore how we can constitute such a competent and effective transitional authority to stand in waiting, ready to step in.

This is the reality we now must face: Zanu PF is not the way. MDC is not the way. It is imperative for Zimbabwe to find a different way founded on good governance and the rule of law.

Governance

Governance is not government. No, governance is the sum total of relationships between a government and citizens and those relationships are at a low ebb in Zimbabwe right now.

A prime focus of the transitional authority must be to right the relationships between government and citizens in Zimbabwe.

Our problems are not in the West, nor are our solutions in the East. Our problems are the greedy jackals among our own people and the false prophets among us who have worn us down. Our solutions are within our own hearts and in our own hands.

Achieving good governance in Zimbabwe requires providing African solutions to African problems, and our culture and traditions provide us with the means to do so.

Tapson Muchena is an academic and a keen observer of the Zimbabwe situation. He writes here in his personal capacity.