Botswana attacks Zimbabwe regime

http://www.ft.com/

By Tom Burgis in Gaborone

Published: March 8 2009 17:12 | Last updated: March 8 2009 17:12

Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government is a recipe for “disaster” and sets a
dangerous precedent for democracy in Africa, Ian Khama, president of
neighbouring Botswana, has warned.

Mr Khama, a quad-biking former army chief and the son of Botswana’s
independence leader, has won plaudits for an active reform programme but has
been accused by opponents of using presidential fiat to advance a personal
agenda of “discipline”.
His tough stance on Zimbabwe – a rare exception to many African leaders’
willingness to tolerate autocrats in their midst – has been a crucial prop
to Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change, which triumphed
in a first round of elections last March only to withdraw from the
presidential race amid attacks on its supporters.

Following Friday night’s car crash in which Mr Tsvangirai’s wife Susan was
killed, Mr Khama flew Zimbabwe’s injured prime minister for treatment in
Gaborone, Botswana’s capital.

However, speaking to the Financial Times before the accident, Mr Khama said
that he doubted whether Robert Mugabe, the authoritarian president, and Mr
Tsvangirai would be able to work together to rebuild the country’s shattered
economy. Its collapse has unleashed widespread hunger and triggered a
cholera epidemic that has killed some 4,000 people.

“If you had asked me to put together a combination of people who could spell
disaster, that would probably be the combination,” Mr Khama said in his
first wide-ranging interview with a foreign newspaper since assuming office
in April.

Accusing Mr Mugabe of displaying “bad faith and more bad faith” since an
initial power-sharing framework was agreed in September, he said the
85-year-old’s rule had been “ridiculously long”.

After initial successes following the war of liberation Mr Mugabe led,
“every year, and in more recent times, every day he has been in power,
things have just gone from bad to worse … he should have gone, long ago”.

Since Mr Mugabe installed himself for a further term in his 29-year rule
following widely discredited polls, Mr Khama has been a staunch and often
lonely critic of the region’s senior freedom fighter. He refused to
recognise Mr Mugabe’s mandate, lobbied his fellow regional leaders to demand
fresh polls and gave sanctuary to Mr Tsvangiari when his life appeared to be
in danger.

The Mugabe regime responded with unsubstantiated claims that the opposition
movement was assembling militias on Botswana’s turf and a smear campaign
against Mr Khama in the state media. Mr Khama was said to have been livid
when Mr Tsvangirai opted at a January summit to accept the premiership in a
unity government that allowed Mr Mugabe to remain president and his Zanu-PF
party to retain control of the security apparatus, despite the MDC’s failure
to achieve many of its demands.

Mr Khama defended his democratic credentials in the face of critics who
accuse him of governing in a manner more suited to his military past. He
said that, like cholera and an exodus of refugees, the ramifications of the
Zimbabwe deal go beyond its borders. Drawing a parallel with a power-sharing
pact struck amid the violence that followed Kenya’s disputed ballot last
year, he said: “If a ruling party thinks it’s likely to lose, and then uses
its position as a ruling party to manipulate the outcome of the election so
that they can extend their term in power, [it is] not the way to go . . .
this power-sharing thing is a bad precedent for the continent.”