Monday, January 5, 2009

Let it crash and burn!


Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 4th January 2009

When I hear people talking about putting pressure on the regime in Harare
they often express concern about the impact on the ordinary men and women
living in the country. No such sentiments are in fact heard as grass roots
level - in fact quite the opposite, ordinary people are the most vociferous
in their view that the MDC must not enter into any sort of deal with Zanu PF
as a junior partner.

A good friend in Harare called me just after Christmas and said that in his
conversations with people in the capital, he was hearing the view that we
should let the country crash and burn and then pick up the pieces. People
are very perceptive in what they think and say about sometimes complex and
difficult issues. Take for example the use of street traders of the word
"burn" to describe changing money from hard currency to the local paper. It
aptly describes the otherwise complex process that simply destroys the real
value of the currency once it in local form.

So what is outstanding? We have got a decent draft of the amendments
required for the constitution to give effect to the Global Political
Agreement, now all that remains are four issues - the legal basis for the
National Security Council, which will replace the Joint Operations Command,
the equitable allocation of Ministerial portfolios, the rescinding of the
appointment of the 10 provincial governors and their replacement with 10 new
ones agreed with the MDC as required by the GPA and now a new condition -
the production in safe and sound condition of the 42 people abducted by the
regime in recent weeks.

Mr. Tsvangirai has received his passport - that was finally extracted from
the Registrar Generals hands and taken to Gaborone by the South African
Ambassador and handed to him by the Ambassador on Christmas day. They have
also "found" 30 of the abductees and produced them in Court to be formally
charged. 12 still; to be produced. A number will be in Court on Monday and
we will then learn what the State intends and what case they will try to
make against them.

This leaves the question of the Ministerial portfolios, the governors and
the Security Council. South Africa is still trying to persuade the MDC to go
into the transitional government without these issues being resolved. What
they fail to understand is that we will not get on the bus until the
steering wheel and the accelerator and the gear lever are in our hands. Last
time someone did that they ended up in the bush, dumped on the side of the
road and having to walk back to civilization - they are still walking.

So the stage is set - Parliament will sit on the 20th of January and is
ready to debate and vote on the amendments and the new legislation to set up
the Security Council - but we will not do so if the outstanding issues are
not agreed and in place. It is not grandstanding, because of the way the GPA
was agreed, largely at the behest of the South African mediation team; this
bus is a peculiar one in design.

In the front of the bus - up against the windscreen, is a large sitting area
that will be empty most of the time until we have to decide which direction
to go next. Then the President will get on the bus and meet the driver and
passengers and hear their views and together with the driver, will map out
the next stage in this journey. He will then get off the bus and the driver
and his passengers will move to the divers seat, take charge and actually
drive the bus to its next destination. Clumsy, but workable if there is no
doubt about who the driver is and how he will operate. The Prime Minister
and the Council of Ministers is clearly designed to take this role but the
bus hasn't been built yet.

Since this machine was designed in South Africa we expect them to deliver a
completed vehicle into our care. To do this, the South African President has
to return to the factory and give final instructions to the factory staff on
the completion of the bus. Then, if we are satisfied it's to specification,
we will take delivery and be prepared to drive the bus to its destination.

Spectators underestimate the MDC. In March 2006, when 22 000 delegates and
guests crowded the National Sport Stadium in Harare for the MDC Congress,
the Congress resolved to adopt a road map - first the democratic resistance
campaign, then negotiations, a transitional government, new constitution,
then free and fair elections - and only then, a genuine MDC Government. I do
not recall any commentator saying that this was a brilliant plan or
commenting at the time on the prospects for the MDC achieving its stated
objectives.

Yet two years later, stage one is complete, stage two is about to be
completed and we are shortly to start work on stage three. What people also
need to know is that we have a detailed road map of how to traverse the
ground ahead of us. A road map exists already and is agreed with Zanu PF, as
to how and when we are going to complete a new national, people driven
constitution to guide us into the future. It even has a timetable and the
next elections will be in mid 2011.

We also have a detailed understanding of the territory we must traverse in
the next two years. The shambles in education and health, the collapsed
economy with closed mines and factories, the deserted farms. The absence of
the rule of law, freedom of association and information, the destruction of
our own currency by stupid, myopic bad management. We know what the
obstacles are and how rough the road will be - we think we will have to fuel
for the bus and we certainly know how to steer us back to sanity.

But you cannot drive a bus with two drivers trying to do so at the same
time. The GPA says the MDC is in charge of the bus and MT is the driver. We
just need to make sure, absolutely sure that there are no dual controls in
the front of the bus - they remain where they were designed to be - further
back in the hands of the Prime Minister.

What the people at the bus stop are saying is "we will not get on the bus
until we are satisfied that the driver is our man and not Mugabe". And that
is not negotiable. If Mugabe is anywhere near the wheel, we would rather let
the bus crash and burn.

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