Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

A classic liberator’s dilemma

The current political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe is the direct result of over a decade of increasingly authoritarian governance. A failed constitutional reform process in the late 1990s, culminating in the ‘no’ vote in the referendum in 2000, marked the beginning of a deepening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. This reform process failed primarily because Zimbabweans did not feel that the draft Constitution adequately reflected their views.

At the same time President Mugabe’s military liberation movement turned political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), was faced for the first time since independence with an oppositional force in the political arena, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), founded in 1999 by trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The people’s ‘no’ vote in the Constitutional referendum as well as the growing power of the opposition has led the ZANU-PF regime to resort to increasingly unorthodox means to stay in power, including rigging of election results, electoral violence, intimidation and limiting press freedom.

To summarise, even after having lost the last three elections (most recently in 2008), ZANU-PF shows no inclination to hand over power in a peaceful way. The party rationalises its clinging-on to power by referring to a classic liberator’s dilemma, declaring all opposition unpatriotic and neo-colonial. In reality the Zimbabwean political system of winner-takes-all, inherited from its former British colonisers, simply does not allow Mugabe and colleagues to hand over power for they have too much to lose in terms of economic privileges, not to mention the threat of possible prosecution by an international court. To mitigate the challenges of a transition of power, a negotiated route to a power-sharing deal between ZANU-PF and MDC was brokered by South Africa on behalf of the South African Development Community (SADC), culminating in the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in September 2008.

The signing of the power-sharing deal resulted in an Inclusive Government taking office in February 2009. Relative peace returned to Zimbabwe, with a decrease in violence. The ‘dollarisation’ of the economy ended the world-record inflation, allowing business to pick up and providing for food on the shelves again. A constitutional reform process was initiated to restore democratic governance in Zimbabwe and establish new institutions that would allow for free and fair elections.

World Championship

However the constitutional process is only slowly moving ahead and with the prospect of new elections, Zimbabwe is again experiencing an increase in the number of violent incidents.

“We know where to find you after the World Championship”, is the current threat being issued to democracy activists in certain rural areas, referring to the moment when the eyes of the world turn away from the region at the conclusion of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Democracy has its price Elma Karimazondo (pictured) and her husband Sheppard Jani used to run a shop in Murehwa, Zimbabwe, that also served as a safe haven for victims of political violence during the elections of 2008. Harassed democracy activists sought shelter, food and medical aid which Elma and Sheppard Jani provided as often as they could. Soon though, Mr. Jani became a victim himself. Armed men dragged him out of their store and Elma never saw her husband alive again. She had to flee the village with their two children. EPD’s project supporting victims of political violence in Zimbabwe has helped Elma and 600 other activists and widows who have paid an extremely high price for standing up for democratic change in their country. It provided for safe housing, medical and legal aid and a job to generate income for their family after losing their husbands. After a relatively quiet time, incidents of political violence are on the rise again and are expected to rise even further in the run up to a referendum on the Constitution and Elections. “We know where to find you after the World Championship”, is the current threat being issued to democracy activists in certain rural areas, referring to the moment when the eyes of the world turn away from the region at the conclusion of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa. For more information, visit the EPD website.

The EPD started out with a project to assist victims of political violence and will continue this project during 2010 with the generous support of the Dutch Postcode Lottery. It allows for assistance to people who have paid the price for democracy by losing their husbands, fathers and sons in the targeted violence carried out by youth militia, the army and police that are still under ZANU-PF control.

Since the implementation of the powersharing deal, EPD has focused on supporting the interface between the new Inclusive Government and civil society. The deal is far from perfect, but provides an opportunity once more to reform the ‘Lancaster House’ Constitution which has been in place since independence from the UK in 1980 and which has now been amended 18 times, mainly for the purpose of extending executive powers.

There are now fears that the consultation process for a new constitution will be both rushed and politicised and will fail to engage the Zimbabwean public in a substantive manner. This would threaten the people-driven nature of the process as stipulated in the GPA, which acknowledges the fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a constitution by and for themselves. In short, the process of making this constitution must be owned and driven by the Zimbabwean people and must be inclusive and democratic.

Supporting a people-driven constitutional reform process

The EPD focuses with a group of Zimbabwean NGOs on meeting the urgent need to supply impartial information to the Zimbabwean people about the constitutional process to ensure their meaningful participation, and allow them to make their own choices to be reflected in the new constitution. As has already been mentioned, the current political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe is the direct result of over a decade of increasingly authoritarian governance, which affect the lives of Zimbabwean citizens on a daily basis.

Zimbabweans are generally very engaged with and well informed about the ongoing political transition. Zimbabwe is truly a country with 12 million political analysts. EPD and its partners work to further empower the Zimbabwean public in expressing their own needs and making their own choices by strengthening civil society coordination of activities in support of the Constitutional reform process. EPD aims to achieve:

• Sufficient civic education meetings across Zimbabwe and materials to inform Zimbabweans, so that they can participate meaningfully in the constitutional reform process;
• Strengthened synergies between the Parliament-led process and the people’s input to the process;
• Efficient advocacy strategies to mobilise Zimbabwean citizens to participate; and 
• An enrichment of the quality of debate as well as the contents of the constitutional reform process by sharing international best practices and providing a safe platform to discuss contentious issues.

While EPD’s Zimbabwean partners are already working to achieve these results, they face a number of challenges. One of these challenges is the prevailing funding environment. Most Zimbabwean organisations recognise that the global financial and economic crisis has led to diminished funding levels. This makes it important for Zimbabwean organisations to coordinate their activities closely and avoid duplication of efforts. Another challenge is that, despite the fact that these organisations are making attempts to coordinate their activities, more can be done to ensure that consistent messages are delivered to the Zimbabwean public. By investing in effective coordination, EPD will ensure that scarce funds are utilised as efficiently as possible.

By signing the GPA, the leaders of the rival political parties showed they were mindful of the need to ensure that the new constitution deepens Zimbabwe’s democratic values, principles and the protection of the equality of all citizens. The Inclusive Government, however, is faced with a severe lack of resources and technical capacity to implement the goals outlined in the GPA, as is the Parliament of Zimbabwe. The Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, charged with the facilitation of the constitutional process, is keenly aware that the participation of the Zimbabwean people in the process is essential for restoring legitimate governance in Zimbabwe, but lacks the means to facilitate meetings and disseminate sufficient information to include the public throughout the country.

Politics meets civil society: EPD and NIMD’s work in Zimbabwe

EPD is a network of European organisations that strengthen democratisation processes world-wide. It was established in order to express more clearly European solidarity with the men and women fighting for democracy in their own countries, and in recognition of the fact that Europe’s peace and prosperity is based on democracy. The recent transitions to democracy in Eastern Europe and Southern EU Member States provide for a plethora of experience in this field. In its support programmes, EPD is therefore using the best available knowledge from the European continent to assist our partners oversees in the best possible way. NIMD is a founding partner of the EPD.

With both MDC and ZANU-PF in the Inclusive Government, Zimbabwe has lost a political opposition in parliament performing the democratic oversight role. Civil society can play a key role in informing the Zimbabwean public about the process to ensure they can engage with the government/parliament’s constitutional interlocutors. With so much power concentrated in the all-party government, the EPD focuses on strengthening civil society organisations to redefine their roles as a countervailing power in the country.

The EPD activities perfectly complement the important work that NIMD is supporting with regard to the inter-party dialogue in Zimbabwe. The NIMD experience in facilitating democratic progress on a political level is a sine qua non for the transition process in the Zimbabwean context where politicians are clearly to be blamed for the current problems in the country.

At the same time politicians are the actors who need to find a peaceful resolution to overcome the conflict and restore the conditions for democratic governance in Zimbabwe. For this reason, NIMD and EPD will systematically seek to support meetings between the political actors on one hand and civil society on the other, with a view to working towards a peaceful and democratic Zimbabwe.

Return to the NIMD Magazine 2010 Table of Contents.