Zimpapers Logo

Together with illegal Western sanctions, a new constitution is the only other key outstanding issue to the full implementation of the September 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA).
In January and May, MDC-M (now MDC-N) and MDC-T held their respective congresses. The former led to a contested leadership change which is now playing out in the courts. It was basically as-you-were in the latter formation.

Professor Arthur Mutambara, the incumbent going into the January congress is challenging the change of guard to Prof Welshman Ncube. Sometime this month, he suffered a significant setback when Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Lawrence Kamocha ruled that he is not the president of the smaller MDC faction. The robotics professor has noted an appeal at the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Prof Ncube’s own legitimacy as leader of the formation has been thrown into question as five MPs from his faction have switched allegiance to Prof Mutambara. In military parlance, the law professor is a general who has been deserted by his commanders, leaving him exposed; his leadership hollow. This is so because the main reason why MDC-N (or MDC-M) is in the inclusive government and why Prof Ncube is a minister was the faction’s strength in parliament. Initially, the formation had 10 House of Assembly representatives, but the leadership threw out three some time ago and five more have left. Now that strength had

being eroded. 
While the MDC-T’s May congress in Bulawayo did not yield a contested leadership, it was chaotic and bloody as its militant activists fought in the run-up to and during the event.  In fact, its leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai came face-to-face with violence in his formation when youths barred him from getting into the venue of the congress, Barbourfields Stadium and later fought among themselves over payment, right under his nose.

He won another term in office although some party provinces were reportedly considering putting forward secretary-general, Mr Tendai Biti to challenge him. It turned out that the provinces chickened out or Mr Biti lacked the guts to mount a challenge.
The Constitution Select Committee (Copac) was appointed in April 2009, with a pledge that a new constitution would be in place in about eighteen months — in November 2010 to be exact.

But most of the initial targets were missed and more than a year after the envisaged time, Zimbabwe is still haggling over the crafting of the new constitution. 
The earnest but belated beginning of the constitution-making exercise came in July 2010 when the outreach programme was launched. Copac, established in terms of Article VI of the GPA sent out teams to gather people’s contributions to the proposed supreme law.
Like during the formative stages of the process, progress is being hampered by financial constraints and recurrent disputes between parties to the GPA. The latest fight came early this month when Zanu-PF accused lawyers drafting the document of tampering with people’s views.

At some point, MDC-T attempted to smuggle a clause that protects gay “rights” despite the fact that the majority of Zimbabweans rejects such unnatural acts and that they made that position clear in their contributions. Zanu-PF shot down the attempt.
It appears these challenges have been overcome.  Drafting, which started around 5 December is expected to take 35 days, so barring any unforeseen circumstances; we could have a draft by mid next month.
Thereafter, the draft constitution would be debated publicly at a second all-stakeholders conference, taken to parliament, gazetted before being taken to a referendum. If approved in the referendum; it would be gazetted and re-introduced in parliament within 30 days of gazetting.

Apart from disagreements over procedures and substance in the constitution-making exercise, financial constraints have from time to time, also been an encumbrance.   
Considering the significance of a constitution to governance and the propensity to disagreeing and fighting among the three partners to the GPA, we could be in for a long, rough haul indeed. 
Wikileaks, the US whistleblower website has over the past year published documents detailing American diplomacy abroad. Among the secret files are accounts of contacts between US diplomats and key political and business figures in Zimbabwe. Initially, the diplomatic dispatches substantially unsettled political parties in the country, with threats that those named could be disciplined. But aware that the cables were in many cases personal views of US envoys and also that Washington could be using them to destabilise weaker states, parties appear to be tolerating them and those implicated.

Nevertheless, interest has been on the documents concerning MDC-T and Zanu-PF.
One cable, released in September shows MDC-T organising secretary, Mr Nelson Chamisa making disparaging remarks on party leader, Mr Tsvangirai.  Another MDC-T official, Mr Obert Gutu questioned Mr Tsvangirai’s judgment and accusing him of practising nepotism and cronyism. Messers Chamisa and Gutu made the remarks during a meeting with US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, in January 2010.
Mr Chamisa, perceived as one of Mr Tsvangirai’s uncompromising loyalists said his boss “is weak and has failed to play a co-ordinating role for Government ministries”.

The cable reads:
“Gutu also stated that Tsvangirai had a tendency to listen to the wrong people. He pointed to Ian Makone, Tsvangirai’s chief of staff, and Makone’s wife, Theresa, who is the Minister of Public Works. Gutu noted that (Murisi) Zwizwai and Tsvangirai are cousins and this is another example of friendship getting in the way of governance.”
Messers Roy Bennett, MDC-T treasurer general and formerly party choice for post of deputy minister of agriculture, and Mr Biti also had a negative appraisal of their leader,

They told US officials that Mr Tsvangirai is a “weak political operator who does what the last person tells him to do and lacks strategic direction to take MDC-T forward.”
Zanu-PF officials, among them Cdes Saviour Kasukuwere, Jonathan Moyo, and Sikhanyiso Ndlovu were also quoted sharing sensitive party information with Americans.
In the aftermath of the disclosures, Mr Gutu was fired from the Harare provincial executive committee while Mr Bennett, in self-imposed exile, was dropped as MDC-T appointee for the deputy minister’s post.
In August, Retired Army General, Cde Solomon Mujuru died in a house fire at his farm in Beatrice, just south of Harare. The death shook, not only Zanu-PF a party he founded nurtured, but the entire country as well.

In October Zimbabwe made an extra-ordinary step in its fight against illegal sanctions by suing the EU.
“The basis of this lawsuit is clear that the sanctions were imposed outside the United Nations, hence making them illegal. We cannot have a situation where a certain regional bloc is allowed to abuse the UN Charter in that manner,” a source told our Harare Bureau.

On November 18, days after he made pro-gay remarks that could damage his political career, Mr Tsvangirai married Ms Lorcadia Karimatsenga-Tembo. It has turned out to be a farcical union, perhaps doomed from the beginning by the fact that he paid lobola in November, a sacred month during which marrying is culturally prohibited.
Twelve days after that, Mr Tsvangirai issued a statement, terminating the relationship, despite earlier claims that he had not married Ms Karimatsenga Tembo.

Chief Negomo, whose area covers Christon Bank where Mr Tsvangirai paid lobola, summoned the MDC-T leader to appear before his traditional court. He refused; his party going on a character assassination campaign of the chief, suggesting he was playing politics. The court tried him in absentia regardless and passed a default judgment. It convicted and fined him two cows, two sheep and 10 metres of cotton cloth.   
Throughout the year the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme gathered pace. Two community share-ownership trusts were launched — one in Mhondoro-Ngezi in Mashonaland West and another in Shurugwi in Midlands province. The schemes give 10 percent ownership of the mines to communities in whose areas the mining firms operate. Also, Schweppes, a bottling firm recently launched an employee share ownership scheme. The indigenisation policy is designed to ensure that indigenous people take 51 percent control of foreign-owned companies. In broader terms, the programme seeks to make indigenous people play a more meaningful role in their economy.

From 6 to 10 December, Zanu-PF held its 12th Annual National People’s Conference in Bulawayo. The party confirmed President Mugabe as its president and first secretary, two years after congress unanimously gave the revolutionary another five year mandate.  This means he would be party presidential candidate in elections due next year.
Another key feature of 2011 has been uneasiness in the inclusive government. There has been lack of cohesion in the government. In some case ministers who sit in the same Cabinet have taken divergent positions on key policies like indigenisation and government support for agriculture.

Zanu-PF wants immediate elections to do away with the inclusive arrangement but accuses MDC-T and MDC-N of frustrating work towards that. The three parties often condemn the government as “dysfunctional”. If the inclusive government was a marriage it would be a strong case for a divorce since there is apparently no more mutual affection between parties to it. 
Speaking at the Bulawayo conference, President Mugabe said while the inclusive government had helped reduce tension among the people, it had run its course.

“There are those among us who lost elections completely,” he said, “but because we wanted the three parties to be together, we said we will work together and asked Parliament to regard them as if they won an election. So we made them ‘honourable this’ and ‘honourable that’ when votes ha made them dishonourable. We actually cheated on democracy, but let’s not over-do it. In fact there was no power in the constitution to do so, so there is this patch, we will take it out.  Now chigamba chacho hachichaita, chava kuremera bhurugwa (the patchwork government is now untenable).”

• Feedback – [email protected]