Dear Editor,
Recent events the world over show the principles of democracy being realized, and leaders being forced to own up to their mistakes and failures. In Zimbabwe, however, democracy remains only a dream under the leadership of Mugabe who has misled his country for twenty-eight years. These have been years of mismanagement, corruption, electoral rigging and personal aggrandizement at the expense of the majority. The organs empowered to call leaders to account for their actions have been emasculated and proven powerless. Even though Zimbabwe’s crisis has been man made, its leaders have not been held accountable.
It is justifiable to refer to what other leaders have said and done for the purposes of comparison. First, the case of former Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, who had been in office for thirteen years. After being defeated in an election early this year, the man took full responsibility for his government. He said in the chamber, “I want without equivocation or without any reservation to accept full and utter responsibility for everything that was done by any officer, by any member of the cabinet, by any official, during the three terms that I was leader of this country. I accept utter responsibility…” This is a pearl of wisdom; if only Mugabe could not just make jokes about his irresponsible and corrupt ministers but admit that he was equally responsible for their failures. He has definitely failed to uphold ministerial accountability. He needs rather to accept political responsibility and accountability to the people even if he, as president, did not actually know of some wrongdoing. But the facts on the ground show that he has been the source of all the suffering in Zimbabwe because of his ill-timed policies.
Mugabe points vigorously to the British and the Americans for the problems in Zimbabwe. At the recent UN 63rd General Assembly, he called on the British and the American governments to remove the “illegal sanctions” against his country, yet he fails to record his own transgressions.
The resignation of South African President Thabo Mbeki has dealt Mugabe a major blow. Mugabe is now in a predicament about whether to implement the agreement signed with Morgan Tsvangirai. He is capable of making calculated moves, knowing full well that he could at any juncture be impeached or a vote of no confidence passed against him. Since this would be disastrous, the shrewd old man is manoeuvering carefully.
Apart from the mighty Mbeki, one victim of the power of democracy is former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert. Real power in Israel lies in the hands of the prime minister, and the president has just a constitutional role. The Israeli police have been investigating the Prime Minister for corruption and concluded that he should be indicted. During the inquiry Olmert kept his distance from police investigators because he knew that he would have to resign immediately if he tampered with the probe. Olmert agreed to resign because of the police findings. In South Africa, a judge found that the executive had tampered with the course of justice in the corruption case against Jacob Zuma. That led to the President’s resignation, called for by members of his party, the ANC. This is genuine democracy. Imagine the Olmert or Mbeki scenario happening in Zimbabwe.
Yours faithfully,
Clyde B Chakupeta
