[Marxism] Zimbabwe: Mugabe's opposition softens its stance

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(From here in Los Angeles I've no idea who won the Zimbabwean 
presidency. If you believe the official announcement, and why 
should one not, since the incumbent administration's party lost, 

==================================================================

Zimbabwe: Mugabe's opposition softens its stance

The MDC is now forced to mend rifts with smaller parties 
  in a bid to unite against President Robert Mugabe's 
  alleged effort to rig the March 29 elections.
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer
and | a contributor 
from the April 18, 2008 edition

Bulawayo and Harare, Zimbabwe - After weeks of insisting that it had
won Zimbabwe's March 29 elections outright and that Robert Mugabe's
government would be pressured to accept defeat, the main opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has begun to reach
out to smaller parties to form a unified front ahead of a possible
runoff against Mr. Mugabe.

The opposition's change of strategy may be the result of an
increasingly polarized environment, where government officials have
accused MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai of treason, as well as a belated
realization that the MDC has little to no leverage over the Mugabe
regime, which controls all levers of power in Zimbabwe.

Yet the MDC is not the only one courting smaller parties. Mugabe's
ruling ZANU-PF seems to have had a head start, laying the groundwork
for a possible comeback after the humiliating vote.

Paul Siwela, head of the smaller Federal Democratic Union party says
he has met with ZANU-PF officials recently, and he believes that the
only solution now is for Mr. Tsvangirai to give up his insistence
that MDC won the election outright.

Instead, he urges Tsvangirai to call for an all-parties conference to
remove obstacles to a behind-the-scenes deal to transfer power away
from Mugabe, including the fears of ZANU-PF officials of being
prosecuted for human rights violations, corruption, and the violent
seizure of white-owned farms since 2000.

"What happened to [former Liberian leader Charles Taylor] after he
lost elections? He was taken to The Hague," says Siwela. "These
issues will not allow power to go to [Tsvangirai]. Those issues
cannot be resolved by the electoral process." Speaking of
Tsvangirai's MDC, he adds, "They're excited, immature. They are not
ready to rule."

Many things have kept Mugabe in power for 28 years, but one key
factor is the lack of a unified, organized opposition. This year's
election - while it is the closest to dislodging a man whom the
British tabloid press nicknamed "Mad Bob" - is no exception.

And even though outside pressure on Mugabe is rising - US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice criticized Africa for lack of action on
Zimbabwe on Thursday and South Africa shifted its stance to express
concern for the first time - the divisions within Zimbabwe's diverse
opposition are still strong enough to give Mugabe ample chances to
hold recounts without foreign observers and to cling onto power for
another five years no matter what the outside world says. But with
MDC reaching out to smaller parties, that attitude may finally be
changing.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said his party was already talking
with other parties to form an alliance to push Mugabe out of power.

"We are in constant contact with our colleagues in other parties to
seek a way of making sure normalcy returns to this country," Mr.
Chamisa said. "We are working with parties that we see are real and
want change."

Chamisa refused to name the parties that MDC is negotiating with, but
sources in the MDC said the opposition party has already approached
smaller parties.

MDC's reaching out comes in a week where Zimbabwe's High Court gave
permission for a recount of the March 29 election results and acting
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa turned up the heat by accusing
Tsvangirai of treason.

Claiming to have obtained a letter from British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown to Tsvangirai, promising a meeting of southern African leaders
about the Zimbabwe crisis, Mr. Chinamasa told the state-owned
newspaper, the Herald, "It is clear from the correspondence that
Tsvangirai along with Brown are seeking regime change in Zimbabwe,
and on the part of Tsvangirai, this is treasonous."

When confronting a regime that controls the media and the courts and
uses police violence against its citizens, a certain quality of
mulish stubbornness would seem to be part of the job description for
a Zimbabwe opposition leader. Those who know Morgan Tsvangirai - a
former leader of Zimbabwe's mine workers - say that he can be as
stubborn as Mugabe himself when told that he can't do something.

But Dumiso Matshazi, a former parliamentary candidate of the Federal
Democratic Union, says that the MDC seems unable to recognize that
Mugabe continues to use the advantages of state power - such as the
police, intelligence services, violent militias, and the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission - to stay in power. "We are willing to help
Tsvangirai, but how do we get him to the starting point, without
using force?"

For their part, MDC insiders argue that while Mugabe has all the
powers of the state, the MDC has the upper hand, since voters, and
even ZANU-PF members, are fed up with Mugabe.

. A journalist who could not be named for security reasons
contributed from Harare.

Find this article at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0418/p07s03-woaf.html


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