Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

State of democracy

Since President Mugabe lost a constitutional referendum in 1999 he has tried to remain in power by any means necessary. Mugabe’s drastic attempts to retain power have been referred to as a ‘democracide’, and have come at great cost to Zimbabweans. The average age has declined from 64 to 35 years, currently the lowest life expectancy in Africa. Millions have fled the country, shops are empty, inflation is sky high and unemployment is estimated to be 85%.

Following a government crackdown on the opposition in early March 2007, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mandated South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), with the objectives of securing agreement on constitutional reform ahead of March 2008 elections and ending the economic crisis. The SADC mediation failed and ZANU-PF unilaterally decided to set a date for the elections. This torpedoed the dialogue as the date ought to have allowed a timeframe for implementation of agreed-upon reforms and enactment of a new constitution.

Break-away

Mugabe had promised to step down in 2008 but changed his mind. He initially toyed with the idea of tampering with the constitution to allow his term to run until 2010. This was met with resistance within the party but ensured the support of the women, youth wings and war veteran. Within Zanu-PF, the members have recognized that there is a need for leadership rejuvenation. Speculation about the formation of a break-away political party by the former Minister of Finance, Simba Makoni, materialized early in 2008. His standing for the election has caused more fissures within ZANU-PF.

Internal rivalry

In the opposition, MDC had an uphill battle in 2007. From the start, they faced the daunting task of overcoming the internal party divisions in the hope of arriving at a coalition which could contest the March 2008 elections. To make this possible, they had to agree on national party structures, set formulas for candidate selection and nominate candidates for the presidential, senate, parliamentary and local elections. At the same time they made a huge effort to meet the challenges of building capacity and finding the resources to rejuvenate their administrative structures in order to carry out an effective electoral campaign.

By the end of 2007, two MDC factions, one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and one led by Arthur Mutambara, reached for a coordinated approach to the forthcoming elections – an agreement that subsequently was blocked by the Tsvangirai group.

NIMD Programme

The Zimbabwe programme aims to foster democratic dialogue between the political opposition parties (MDC Tsvangirai and MDC Mutambara), ZANU-PF and Zimbabwean civil society. Through partnerships with the Zimbabwe Institute (ZI) and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), the programme supported the SADC dialogue by providing the financial support and facilitating expert knowledge and confidence-building mechanisms. The dialogue reached agreements on electoral legislation and constitutional reform.

Preparing for transition

To prepare for a political transition and to move from opposition politics to transition politics, a Special Programme was prepared which deals with a transition agenda and with reversing the autocratic measures taken by Zimbabwe’s regime. The Special Programme was initiated at a conference in South Africa, which involved MDC factions, representatives from civil society and other African countries. The Programme is managed by a board composed of Zimbabwean and international experts with substantial track records in managing transition processes. An increasing number of major donors have bought into the programme and are financially committed. This required extensive lobbying by two NIMD’s partners (Zimbabwe Institute and Institute for Democracy in South Africa) to find support for this programme, identify drivers for change in Zimbabwe, find experts and begin implementation.

Evaluation

In 2007 the Zimbabwe programme was evaluated by an independent team evaluators. The results confirmed the relevance of the policies applied by NIMD. The evaluation also indicated the opportunity to increase efforts for an inclusive dialogue, based on the exploration of reform-minded individuals within the governing party ZANU-PF. Measures to that extent had already been taken by the programme and have resulted in constructive relations with forces for change within ZANU-PF.