Zimbabwe

Article Summary and Analysis: Coming to a Crunch: From The Economist March 18, 2008

by

Varo Borja

This article, from The Economist March 18 edition, discusses the coming parliamentary and presidential elections in Zimbabwe on March 29. The article begins with a warning: Don’t re-elect Robert Mugabe. Mr. Mugabe, through extreme leftist disbursements of land and capital to his cronies, violent suppression of dissenting voices, and outright corruption, has almost bankrupted the sovreign state of Zimbabwe since it won its independence from British control in 1980. The 84-year-old Mr. Mugabe, instead of retiring and handing over power to his nominal successor, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, is scheming for continued control over the state of Zimbabwe by his tired methods of nepotism, subversion, bribery, and threatened violence. However, Mr. Mugabe faces at least one viable rival in the person of Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai, and a lesser, but perhaps more capable opponent in Mr. Simba Makoni, “a former finance minister whom many of Zimbabwe's black and shrinking white professional middle class see as the decent and competent face of ZANU-PF” (the mostly corrupt ruling party in Zimbabwe). Mr. Mugabe has already begun to rig the elections and, according to the article,

The media are hugely stacked against the opposition, which is rarely given even a cursorily polite airing by the all-state-run radio and television services. The election commission is chaired by a Mugabe man, a former general. The registrar-general, another loyalist, presides over an electoral roll that is notoriously unreliable and incomplete, and contains thousands of dead people whose votes are expected to go to the president. Unless voting is extended beyond one day, many town-dwellers may be unable to cast their ballots, because there are too few urban polling stations. The diaspora, some 2m-3m mostly disenchanted Zimbabweans, is barred from voting.

Also, many Zimbabweans see Mr. Makoni as entering the election too late to make a difference, with some Zimbabweans going as far as to label him an agent of Mr. Mugabe’s, sent to disrupt the rallying party of Mr. Tsvangirai, much like the Nader vote has done and will do in the American election of 2008. Also, Mr. Tsvangirai is seen by many to talk loudly and carry a big stick, but to have no real plan for bolstering the economy should he win on March 29. According to the article, the economy is certainly the biggest contributing factor in the discontent of most Zimbabweans, with astronomical inflation rates of 100,000 % yearly, and an almost worthless Zimbabwean dollar weighing in at 30,000 to 1 U.S. dollar. According to the article, in most sections of the country basic necessities such as maize, sugar, and salt in are in desperately low supply, with most the of the nation subsisting on either remittances from exiled Zimbabweans or UN relief. Astonishingly, the Zimbabwean unemployment rate is at around 80%, mainly because of the nepotism and greed displayed by the Mugabe administration. The article ends with a sobering, if gloomy thought that even if Mr. Makoni or Mr. Tsvangirai win the presidential election on March 29, it may be too late for the sinking ship that is the nation of Zimbabwe to recover from its long, corrupt and violent lethargy.

For further analysis of this article I’ve chosen to relate this piece to the machinations of the International Criminal Court. According to the article,

Mr Makoni has called for a government of national unity, bringing together both wings of the MDC and the supposedly acceptable bits of ZANU-PF, along with his own team. Mr Mugabe would be allowed to go into a dignified retirement, and not be sent to The Hague for crimes against humanity.

Would this action, or lack of action, be just? The International Criminal Court is in place to try those accused of “crimes against humanity” and other global offences. Mr Mugabe clearly meets this criterion through his ruining of the Zimbabwean economy, his underhanded political dealings and overt theft of private property, and his various violent crimes against the citizens of Zimbabwe. The manifesto for the ICC also states that there must be “repeat offences” to merit an inquiry by the ICC, but Mr. Mugabe has been in power for over 20 years and repeatedly violated the statutes set up by the court. Perhaps this lack of action by the ICC is in accordance with John R. Bolton’s argument that the court is both ineffective and hindered by the same bureaucratic straight-jacket that the UN and other multi-national organizations wear.
If this is the case, perhaps the United States should further decline membership in the ICC, in accordance with (ugh) President Bush’s former refusals.

My thoughts on this article are myriad in scope. How can such a tyrannical, unjust, violent and oppressive regime be allowed to continue in power with the means available to depose it? Obviously, the ICC isn’t fulfilling its obligation to enforce global justice. The United States is stretched to the hilt in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sub-Saharan Africa is in such turmoil as to be ineffective in combating injustice. From an idealistic standpoint, I can’t help but look with chagrin at the inaction of the rest of the world on this issue. However, I am ever more becoming a realist in the realm of global politics. Perhaps Zimbabweans and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa aren’t ready for peace, justice, prosperity and equality. Obviously, the imperial pursuits of European nations have played havoc with Africa and Africans in the past. Mr. Mugabe and his lot sought to completely cast off the shackles of their former European masters, but what have they gained? Chaos, cruelty, starvation, and bankruptcy seem to permeate the African landscape. It seems that only time and evolution will heal the hurts of the sub-Saharan African nations. In the meantime, I suppose it is up to the UN and the rest of the civilized world to act as midwife for sub-Saharan pre-adolescent growing pains.