Zimbabwe Crisis: Workers’ action needed to oust Mugabe - PR9

Meanwhile the living standards of workers and poor plummet even further. Inflation has reached the dizzying heights of a million percent according to a new estimate and unemployment is running at 80%. Zimbabwe may now have the lowest life expectancy in the world.

Any opposition genuinely dedicated to saving the nation and ending the nightmare for ordinary Zimbabweans would have declared the current government illegitimate immediately after the election victory, and called the population onto the streets with the clear aim of ending the hated regime of Mugabe once and for all. It would have called for an indefinite general strike, occupations of the land and the factories, accompanied by street demonstrations. It would have organised self-defence militias, ready to resist the inevitable onslaught of state repression meted out by Mugabe’s thugs in the army, secret services and the police, and sought to split an already divided government and security apparatus.

The MDC did none of these things. Instead after the election MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai left for a safe haven in South Africa and an extended tour of southern African states, leaving his supporters to bear the brunt of the Zanu-PF thugs’ attacks. Tsvangirai has predictably put his hopes in the region’s rulers applying diplomatic pressure to achieve change rather than in the action of the masses.

This is the third time the MDC has used these tactics after elections were stolen, and each time Mugabe has been left in power and the conditions of the masses have deteriorated.

Each time the rulers of the surrounding states have backed Mugabe, leaving Tsvangirai to go home empty handed. It shows how far Tsvangirai has distanced himself from his trade union roots that he has shown little interest in rallying the only force in southern Africa that could have delivered real aid to his movement, the workers and trade unions.

The power of the South African unions was shown when dockworkers in Durban refused to unload a shipload of arms (which included three million rounds of ammunition for AK47 guns and 1,500 rocket propelled grenades) being sent to Mugabe by his friends, the Chinese government.

Even before the election the MDC leadership was more interested in negotiating with those within the regime who believed Mugabe’s time was up. Tsvangirai was busy handing out guarantees of impunity to the military high command – reassuring them they would not face prosecution for their crimes of repression and corruption should they help usher Mugabe from office. Now there is talk of a “national unity government” with the very forces – ZANU-PF – that have attacked the masses and led the country to ruin.

As a result of his international journeying, it is Morgan Tsvangirai who has bowed to the pressure of the South Africa government and others; he has reversed his boycott position on a second round of presidential elections and agreed to take part in the presidential election run-off on 27 June.

There is talk that the South African Development Community will discuss the possible deployment of “trusted” peacekeepers and election monitors from outside the region, possibly Canada included. The problem is that by the time election day comes around the violence and intimidation may have taken its toll on MDC supporters; the polling could be declared roughly “free and fair” on the day but tens of thousands of MDC voters could justifiably be just too scared to turn up, having been the target of brutality for voting against Mugabe last time.

The second round of elections is a fraudulent exercise. It will either end in a fixed election, putting Mugabe back in power, or a deal brokered by the southern African heads of state, to allow him and his criminal gang to escape responsibility for their years of brutality and for a section of them to remain in power.

The workers should give no credence to such an election and should call for a boycott. The MDC should have been using the majority in parliament they won in March to rally the working class and poor to a campaign of mass opposition to Mugabe on the streets. The failure to do this has given Mugabe a green light to intimidate the voters and try to fix the upcoming second round.

The crisis in Zimbabwe is sharp indeed and the people need answers and action now. Years of scarcity, hyper-inflation and violence have wreaked havoc on the working class and urban and rural poor. Some of the latter have been bought off by Mugabe’s land seizures and handouts; many are used to intimidate the opposition. The workers’ movement (the unions and the political left) has been battered, with many jailed or in exile. Some 20% of the whole population have been forced to survive outside the country’s border, leading to social tension and recently inter-communal violence in South Africa against migrants from Zimbabwe and other African countries.

Scarcity and inflation means hunger and deprivation for the majority. Despite the weakness of its organisations, the working class must assist the poor peasants and farmers to organise genuine and democratic land seizures rather than the fraudulent and corrupt seizures for show orchestrated by Mugabe. This is absolutely necessary to restore agricultural production that will be used to feed the population. This is something the MDC, in hock to the white farmers and imperialists, has refused to do. Only a workers’ and peasants’ government would nationalise the land and legally endorse and defend the land seizures. Fighting for such a policy would help undermine Zanu-PF’s influence over the rural workers who fear the MDC will hand back land to the big farmers.

Workers’ organisations need to present an alternative emergency plan to the MDC’s politics of compromise with imperialism and big agribusiness. It should be aimed at relieving the immediate suffering of Zimbabwe’s people. At its heart must be the struggle to put the town and rural workers in control of the economy.

With rampant inflation, the distribution of goods, especially essentials such as foodstuffs and heating oil, must come under the direct control of democratic emergency distribution committees controlled by the working class and the peasantry. These committees would ensure that ordinary people received an essential and equitable amount of the goods they need to live.

But this conflicts with the very idea of private property. These emergency committees would have to confiscate goods in order to meet the needs of the people and would need organised and armed squads to physically intervene against speculators hoarding food, intent on making money out of the misery of others. Such squads would also be vital to defend the workers’ organisations against Mugabe’s thugs.

To control inflation there need to be price controls and control of the flow of money. Again this demonstrates the need for a workers’ and peasants’ government that will nationalise the banks and act against financial speculators.

In the struggle for democracy the workers and poor will need to defend themselves against the regime’s violence. They will not only need their own defence squads but must set out to win the rank and file soldiers over to their struggles.

*              For mass opposition on the streets to overthrow Mugabe’s regime!

*              No deals with Mugabe or his cronies; no impunity for murder and corruption!

*              For an emergency plan to feed the people!

*              For a workers’ and peasants’ government!

Sat 04, October 2008 @ 13:03