Denialism is always a convenient tool for most if not all dictatorships throughout the history of mankind.Even if Adolf Hitler was alive today,he will vehemently deny that his expansionist and fascist policies in Europe were a direct cause of the Second World War.If Idi Amin was alive today,he will give you a wide grin and declare that he is the best thing to ever happen to Uganda.
Students of history and political science are quite accustomed to the denialist tendencies of all dictatorships and thus; they are not at all surprised when ZANU-PF religiously blames Zimbabwe's economic stagnation and general socio-political trepidation on so-called ''illegal'' sanctions imposed on the country by Britain and her western allies.ZANU-PF zealots and propagandists will not tell you about the autocratic and klepocratic style of governance that their party has perfected over the years.
They will be conveniently silent about the complete disaster that has been the hallmark of their brand of land '' reform''.In equal measure,they will not explain to you why the so-called Look East policy has been such an unmitigated disaster.Talk about ''regime change'' and these same ZANU-PF apologists and sycophants will go into a trance and shout their voices hoarse; declaring that they are a '' revolutionary'' party that should rule Zimbabwe until thy Kingdom come! But what they will not tell you is why their '' friends'' in the East never seem to take them seriously. They will also not tell you what they mean,exactly, by the term '' regime change''.
Regime change is a perfectly lawful,legitimate and democratic aspiration of any mass political party in any country.Political parties basically compete for political power and thus; there is absolutely nothing wrong for any political party in Zimbabwe or anywhere else for that matter,to seek to form the next government through peacefull,lawfull,democratic and constitutional means.
If a political party doesnot aspire for regime change then it is not a serious and ambitious political organisation.Put simply,therefore,there is nothing criminal and/or treasonous for a political party to seek to change the incumbent government through democratic and constitutional means.That is regime change.
In recent weeks, the issue of sanctions has been very topical again.Infact,this particular issue is literally threatening to tear the inclusive government into pieces.We have heard ZANU-PF vehemently declaring that, as a political party,they have since fully complied with all their obligations in terms of the global political agreement that was solemnised on September 15,2008 in Harare.
This political party is,instead,blaming the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for failing to play ball by not calling for the lifting of so-called illegal sanctions imposed on the country by Britain,the US and their allies.In my humble opinion,this is what I call errant nonsense.I have repeatedly argued that Morgan Tsvangirai does not run Britain; neither does he run the United States nor Australia.
For any sane person to, therefore, expect Morgan Tsvangirai to instruct these countries to lift the restrictive personal measures that they imposed on certain ZANU-PF personalities simply boggles the mind.
If some people opt to conduct their political affairs like warlords and die-hard fascists then who is Tsvangirai to help these kind of people to have their cake and eat it? If the same group of people seeks to derail the democratisation process by deliberately delaying the constitution-making process,then why should they demand to be treated as royalty when their very actions are the exact antithesis of the democratisation agenda? If it takes more than
two months to consider the names of individuals selected to sit on the Zimbabwe Media Commission before setting up the said Commission,then who,exactly, has imposed sanctions on the innocent and suffering people of Zimbabwe?
So much has also been said and written about the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act ( ZIDERA) that was passed by the US Congress in December 2001.What surprises some of us is that no attempt has ever been made by the ZANU-PF propagandists to clarify,chapter and verse,how exactly ZIDERA has caused Zimbabwe's economy to collapse and its agriculture industry to plumet to such humi\
liating levels where we have to import 400 000 tonnes of maize this season from a tiny country called Malawi.
With or without ZIDERA these propagandists should be told that Zimbabwe has accumulated more than US$5 billion in both domestic and foreign debt.They should also be advised that Zimbabwe's voting rights in the IMF were suspended because of her failure to service her debt and clear her arrears.And how does ZIDERA impact on Zimbabwe's failure to service her indebtness? How did this indebtedness arise in the first place? Where is the money? Who used it and for what purpose(s)? When Zimbabwe chose to waste her hard-earned financial and material resources in the DRC during the so-called Operation Sovereign Legitimacy,how did ZIDERA influence this absurd military escapade? Furthermore,what tangible benefits,if any, did Zimbabwe derive from her military adventurism in the Congo?
It is misguided military adventurism such as the Congo operation and not the so-called '' illegal'' sanctions, that accelerated Zimbabwe's economic meltdown.We have heard that a certain man who heads the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe boasts of being a '' sanctions'' buster.Really; if this gentleman has managed to be a successfull sanctions buster why is that the Zimbabwe economy literally imploded during his tenure at the Reserve Bank? There are surely more questions than answers.
ZANU-PF's stubborn refusal to agree to the swearing in of Roy Bennett as a deputy minister is hardly anything to surprise anyone who has studied the modus operandi of this party.Similarly,the refusal to share the gubernatorial posts is typical of this party; always indicating left and then suddenly turning right.
The real reason why ZANU-PF is unreasonably refusing to fully consummate the GPA is mainly because they realise that the MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, is becoming so immensely popular each and every day that ZANU-PF has got a snowball's chance in hell of ever winning a free and fair election in Zimbabwe.
The reluctance by ZANU-PF to fully consumate this clearly loveless and almost forced marriage is informed by the desire for self-preservation.ZANU-PF is properly advised that their continued
stay in power can only be sustained by holding back the train of democratisation.But then they have to learn from the lessons of history.Surely,the former ruling party can fool some of the people some of the time but they will never manage to fool all the people all of the time.The day of reckoning is nigh.
For as long as the GPA is not fully consumated ZANU-PF can be assured that the rest of the world will always view the new political dispensation with extreme caution and circumspection.Surely,if a die-hard hardcore and violent criminal tells you that he is fully rehabilitated it would be folly to take his word on the face of it.
You will have to wait and observe that the hardcore criminal has genuinely reformed and that he has abandoned his nefarious ways.To date,ZANU-PF has hardly managed to convince the doubting world that it has become a rehabilitated political party that can be trusted with pursuing a democratisation agenda; in keeping with the letter and spirit of the GPA.
No matter how much they will talk about the so-called '' illegal'' sanctions,if they fail to honestly and in utmost good faith,fully consumate the GPA, then the status quo shall prevail.
Those characters who are prohibited from travelling to New York,London,Paris,Sydney and some other western cities will only see those cities on television and /or in their dreams.This is the cold hard fact that they should learn to live with.Indeed,poor governance and rampant corruption and not the so-called '' illegal'' sanctions are the main and direct cause of Zimbabwe's economic malaise and a generalised democratic deficit.
Wriiten by:
Senator Obert Gutu
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