Zimbabwe's New Deal- Who has the real power?

After nearly two months of talks between opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe of the ruling Zanu-PF, a new Zimbabwe government power-sharing deal was announced in mid-September.

The MDC won last March’s elections in parliament and Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the race for president. But instead of accepting the result, Mugabe’s private militias and the police launched a massive campaign of violence and intimidation against MDC supporters with a view to securing a win for Mugabe in a "run-off" in June.

In the event the MDC refused to stand in such a rigged poll. Since then South African leader Thabo Mbeki has tried to get both sides to share power. In reality, this has meant getting the legitimate winners to accept that Mugabe, the Zanu-PF and military will keep some of their powers –a way of protecting their ill-gotten gains and safeguarding their immunity from prosecution for innumerable crimes while in power since 1980.

The new deal gives a slight majority of cabinet seats to the MDC but Mugabe will chair meetings and be more than just a ceremonial head of state. While in principle, Mugabe cannot veto legislation or cabinet appointments, crucially, he retains control over the army, which would be used should Tsvangirai "overstep the mark".

In reality the new deal institutionalises a form of dual power in the executive of the state, something that is too unstable to survive the dire economic situation and the desire of the Zimbabwean people for real change. The most likely result is that unless Zimbabwean workers and the rural population break from the misleadership of the MDC that the government of ‘national unity’ will merely become another corrupt dictatorship with certain leaders of the MDC bought off and those wanting real change short-changed yet again. This is why it is important that we support all workers and socialists in Zimbabwe struggling for real democracy and answers to the vital needs of the poor- for an emergency plan to feed the people, for workers’ control of production and agriculture.

Fri 19, September 2008 @ 05:19