Until Death Do Us Part: the Mugabe Vow

IT is a theme that runs through some of the great literary works of our time.

It is particularly a dominant theme in Shakespeare’s works, especially Macbeth. That is: once one goes deep into crime, then it becomes difficult for such a person to get out of it.In such a situation, there is usually one option left for the perpetrator: keep on committing the crimes.The past becomes the present.This is how Mugabe ended up where he is today.It is, therefore, pure daydreaming or wishful thinking on the part of SADC leaders and others to think that somehow Mugabe would one day voluntarily relinquish, or retire from, power.There is simply too much at stake.Forget about such naïve comments by President Thabo Mbeki and others that Mugabe will retire peacefully.Mugabe is not totally oblivious to the fact that he might face a Saddam Hussein-type trial should he step down.He thus cannot envision a peaceful retirement life even if his ruling Zanu-PF is still in power.Otherwise there is no explanation why the 83-year-old Mugabe, who has been President for 27 years, is precariously clinging onto power at all cost and in the face of a country which is in a political social and economic coma.Also forget about the much-touted fast-track land reform as being at the centre of the current malaise and stagnation.The point is that Mugabe has a long history of silencing his opponents – sometimes in the most brutal fashion.Because for him, politics is a matter of life or death and he does not regard it as a means of running the affairs of a nation with periodic changes among those at the helm of state structures.Almost 30 years on and there is still no answer about the mysterious death of the former liberation struggle military commander and hero, Josiah Tongongara, in a car accident just before Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980.Journalists who in the past have implied that Mugabe had a hand in Tongongara’s death have been swiftly punished.And that should tell the story.Some of us knew that there were different opinions on how to conclude the Chimurenga War.The commanders were convinced that their forces could, within few months, over-run the Rhodesian forces and take the country, but the political leadership instead opted for a sell-out strategy – the Lancaster House Agreement – which was a face-saving strategy for Britain.And Mugabe and others instead agreed to be co-opted into this scheme because it fitted into their own grand strategy to succeed the Rhodesian ruling elite.But it was the Matabeleland massacre in the early and mid 1980s that highlighted Mugabe’s disdain of any challenge to his rule.He brooks no opposition.Operation Gukurahundi was launched as an effort to stem an uprising in part of the Midlands and in Matabeleland immediately after independence.One could legitimately argue that any sovereign state has a right to ensure that law and order is maintained.But this operation was internationally condemned for the excessive violence it unleashed for over a period of five years – from 1981 to 1987 only ending with the signing of the Unity Accord between PF-Zapu and Zanu-PF.Even one of Zimbabwe’s foremost nationalists, Joshua Nkomo, was on the run during this reign of terror by Mugabe’s North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade.Figures are always elusive in a war situation but it is estimated that close to 20 000 people, mainly innocent civilians, perished at the hands of the Fifth Brigade.The respected Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace compiled a report about these atrocities.It is a document worth reading, especially for those interested not only in Zimbabwean history and politics but Africa’s as well.The genocides in Rwanda and now in Darfur perhaps are clear reminders that these are problems of our time and not events relegated to the dustbin of history.For this writer, the scars of this operation were visible all over Matabeleland, especially in Bulawayo – which was my first entry into independent Zimbabwe in September 1980 when I was still in a refugee in neighbouring Botswana.So the current clampdown on the opposition parties and politicians, their supporters and the independent press must not be seen in isolation.It is part of long-running political culture based on violence and total disregard for the opposing views.You are either with them or against and in the latter case, you must perish.Joshua Nkomo understood this and that’s why his party was literally incorporated within the Zanu-PF structure and he allowed himself to be made one of the two vice-presidents to Mugabe – a strategy that was meant to water-down his power and silence him completely.So, the opposition in Zimbabwe has an uphill battle.They are fighting a well organised state machinery and not just another political party – backed by some of the most draconian laws, the police, the military, the intelligence network and organised thugs sponsored by the ruling party.Remember ‘operation clean up trash’ – Murambatsvina? It had its political contents and functions – to break up opposition strongholds in urban areas.One often hears some self-serving comments like: Mugabe is a liberation hero, Pan-Africanist, or he is fighting the West and therefore needs support.To me, Mugabe is not a Samora Machel or an Amilcar Cabral.He is just another capitalist worshipper and he therefore can’t be a liberator or a Pan-Africanist.He has effectively joined the other capitalist thugs in the rest of Southern Africa and beyond.Let me be on record.No one is calling for a regime change in Zimbabwe – though there is nothing wrong with this if it comes through a democratic process – but for a different set of leadership at the helm of the ruling Zanu-PF party.But with the recent endorsement of Mugabe as the next presidential candidate for Zanu-PF, hopes are dashed again and Zimbabweans might have to endure another extended period of back-breaking hardship and suffering.That is: once one goes deep into crime, then it becomes difficult for such a person to get out of it.In such a situation, there is usually one option left for the perpetrator: keep on committing the crimes.The past becomes the present.This is how Mugabe ended up where he is today.It is, therefore, pure daydreaming or wishful thinking on the part of SADC leaders and others to think that somehow Mugabe would one day voluntarily relinquish, or retire from, power.There is simply too much at stake.Forget about such naïve comments by President Thabo Mbeki and others that Mugabe will retire peacefully.Mugabe is not totally oblivious to the fact that he might face a Saddam Hussein-type trial should he step down.He thus cannot envision a peaceful retirement life even if his ruling Zanu-PF is still in power.Otherwise there is no explanation why the 83-year-old Mugabe, who has been President for 27 years, is precariously clinging onto power at all cost and in the face of a country which is in a political social and economic coma.Also forget about the much-touted fast-track land reform as being at the centre of the current malaise and stagnation.The point is that Mugabe has a long history of silencing his opponents – sometimes in the most brutal fashion.Because for him, politics is a matter of life or death and he does not regard it as a means of running the affairs of a nation with periodic changes among those at the helm of state structures.Almost 30 years on and there is still no answer about the mysterious death of the former liberation struggle military commander and hero, Josiah Tongongara, in a car accident just before Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980.Journalists who in the past have implied that Mugabe had a hand in Tongongara’s death have been swiftly punished.And that should tell the story.Some of us knew that there were different opinions on how to conclude the Chimurenga War.The commanders were convinced that their forces could, within few months, over-run the Rhodesian forces and take the country, but the political leadership instead opted for a sell-out strategy – the Lancaster House Agreement – which was a face-saving strategy for Britain.And Mugabe and others instead agreed to be co-opted into this scheme because it fitted into their own grand strategy to succeed the Rhodesian ruling elite.But it was the Matabeleland massacre in the early and mid 1980s that highlighted Mugabe’s disdain of any challenge to his rule.He brooks no opposition.Operation Gukurahundi was launched as an effort to stem an uprising in part of the Midlands and in Matabeleland immediately after independence.One could legitimately argue that any sovereign state has a right to ensure that law and order is maintained.But this operation was internationally condemned for the excessive violence it unleashed for over a period of five years – from 1981 to 1987 only ending with the signing of the Unity Accord between PF-Zapu and Zanu-PF.Even one of Zimbabwe’s foremost nationalists, Joshua Nkomo, was on the run during this reign of terror by Mugabe’s North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade.Figures are always elusive in a war situation but it is estimated that close to 20 000 people, mainly innocent civilians, perished at the hands of the Fifth Brigade.The respected Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace compiled a report about these atrocities.It is a document worth reading, especially for those interested not only in Zimbabwean history and politics but Africa’s as well.The genocides in Rwanda and now in Darfur perhaps are clear reminders that these are problems of our time and not events relegated to the dustbin of history.For this writer, the scars of this operation were visible all over Matabeleland, especially in Bulawayo – which was my first entry into independent Zimbabwe in September 1980 when I was still in a refugee in neighbouring Botswana.So the current clampdown on the opposition parties and politicians, their supporters and the independent press must not be seen in isolation.It is part of long-running political culture based on violence and total disregard for the opposing views.You are either with them or against and in the latter case, you must perish.Joshua Nkomo understood this and that’s why his party was literally incorporated within the Zanu-PF structure and he allowed himself to be made one of the two vice-presidents to Mugabe – a strategy that was meant to water-down his power and silence him completely.So, the opposition in Zimbabwe has an uphill battle.They are fighting a well organised state machinery and not just another political party – backed by some of the most draconian laws, the police, the military, the intelligence network and organised thugs sponsored by the ruling party.Remember ‘operation clean up trash’ – Murambatsvina? It had its political contents and functions – to break up opposition strongholds in urban areas.One often hears some self-serving comments like: Mugabe is a liberation hero, Pan-Africanist, or he is fighting the West and therefore needs support.To me, Mugabe is not a Samora Machel or an Amilcar Cabral.He is just another capitalist worshipper and he therefore can’t be a liberator or a Pan-Africanist.He has effectively joined the other capitalist thugs in the rest of Southern Africa and beyond.Let me be on record.No one is calling for a regime change in Zimbabwe – though there is nothing wrong with this if it comes through a democratic process – but for a different set of leadership at the helm of the ruling Zanu-PF party.But with the recent endorsement of Mugabe as the next presidential candidate for Zanu-PF, hopes are dashed again and Zimbabweans might have to endure another extended period of back-breaking hardship and suffering.