Leave them to the wolves
Simba Makoni’s MKD – unsurprisingly – has joined the chorus condemning the July 31 election results, saying it’s surprising that some SADC leaders were jumping to congratulate Mugabe’s purported victory when SADC as a bloc was yet to issue any official declaration.
These “congratulations” are something that has made the whole business of challenging the election result Herculean for disgruntled parties, and as one journalist asked Makoni, if these SADC leaders are already singing Mugabe’s praises, and if the courts throw out the MDC-T challenge, what then?
Makoni is a firm believer in the human spirit to overcome evil, perhaps even on the same convictions as MLK Jr. himself.
The former FinMin believes complaining to SADC itself about the election is not a waste of time, but an issue of presenting formal protests, and it is also interesting to watch the role CSOs will play now as SADC once again is called upon to “deal” with the Zimbabwe question in summits to come.
But like Makoni said, SADC leaders have been quick to make proclamations because they want to move on. And that’s the same message Zimbabweans are being told: accept the bitter poll outcome and move on. But is it that simple?
No wonder soon after it emerged that Mugabe was taking the trophy, the police were quick to warn that they would brook no street protests.
However, the question remains, what are bitter Zimbabweans and political parties going to do about it, and that’s what some SADC leaders in their Africanist wisdom imagine are addressing.
There is now Zimbabwe-fatigue, Makoni said, yet warning that any attempts to brush aside complaints that have emerged about the July 31 election could prove to be regrettable folly for the regional leaders as they will face the same problems in their own backyards come election time.
Not only that.
There is no way the endorsement of this election by some SADC leaders can be seen as an attempt to steer Zimbabwe from further crisis because a crisis has already been created by apparently endorsing these results.
And these flawed aspirations to “stabilize” Zimbabwe could blow in their faces as Zimbabwe de-stabilises the region by the massive movement of its people across the borders spurred by disgruntlement. But then what’s new?
What’s new is that this election had been expected to stem that tide and as the law of unintended consequences would have it, the opposite could well be very true!
In that regard, Makoni believes the endorsement of the election results could in fact have worse possible outcomes for the region.
It is obvious then that Mugabe has once again been able to keep everyone in the region busy laboring on what to do next, but the truth is that considering the many summits held to deal with Zimbabwe’s political crisis over the years, some countries want to attend to other issues, domestic issues that the incumbents know have a bearing on their own political fortunes.
But then such has become the position of the regional bloc where its teeth have turned out to be nothing but dentures.
Makoni believes the SADC leaders who have sent congratulatory messages to Mugabe are taking the easy route, and like Pilate perhaps, are simply washing their hands and leaving the country to the wolves.