Setting the Zimbabwean Agenda for 2007:

Reflections from the Opposition
5^th January 2007; Harare, Zimbabwe

The National Mandate
Zimbabwe enters 2007 still embroiled in a crisis that has both political and socio-economic manifestations. The economic aspects are inextricably linked to the political matters. We are tired of describing the pain of our people. Our challenge and obsession should be on redemptive action: What should be done in 2007? We need to focus on the nexus between politics and economics in identifying lessons from the past as we chart a path into the future. We have a duty and obligation to confront our plight as a nation, and deliver change. We owe it to posterity.

The Political Agenda
The democratic forces in Zimbabwe must take stock of the effectiveness of their efforts in 2006. There is need for clarity on what works and that which does not. It must be understood within the opposition that there is absolutely no alternative to working together. Self-serving bickering and infighting among the democratic forces must be shunned. All political leaders must put national interest before self interest. The two MDC formations have neither monopoly of political wisdom, nor the immutable right to represent the people of Zimbabwe. In 2007 they must quickly resolve and achieve a framework of effective cooperation. If they do not accomplish this as a matter of urgency, the people of Zimbabwe must reject them completely and develop other alternatives. In 2007, it is shape up or ship out.

The people of Zimbabwe must not brook any nonsense that serves the interest of the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe. They must not accept a dysfunctional opposition that seizes defeat from the jaws of victory. None of the political leaders in the opposition are indispensable. Zimbabwe is not short of capable leaders. In any case, leadership is about creating leaders, not followers. All of the current leaders in the opposition can be replaced, and the struggle will continue unabated. The leadership of the two MDC formations must accept this without equivocation. They must pledge to put national interest before misguided personal ambition. There is need to re-energize the core opposition supporters while inspiring and attracting non-core constituencies.

It must be clearly understood that the cooperation of the two MDC formations is a necessary but not sufficient condition for democratic change in Zimbabwe. Even if reunification of the two MDC formations is achieved, it is not enough, to dislodge ZANU (PF). We have to grow the democratic forces beyond the traditional MDC support base. This should be done by attracting reform minded people from within ZANU (PF), other political parties, and those who are not currently in active party politics. Furthermore there should be enhanced cooperation with Zimbabwe civic society organizations, thus unlocking synergies amongst all democratic forces. Organizations such as NCA, Crisis Coalition, ZCTU, ZINASU, WOZA, MOZA, Women Coalition, and the Churches have shown spectacular courage under vicious attacks.

A results driven, broad based democratization alliance should be established. This should be characterized by inclusiveness, transparency, agenda clarity, effective communication, and sustained collusive efforts and activities. Isolated individual acts of defiance, grand standing, sectarian glory seeking, publicity stunts, pursuit of partisan credit, and legitimacy competition should not be tolerated. The agenda should be the immediate democratization of Zimbabwe through effective, collective and direct action. The experiences from Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, and elsewhere clearly demonstrate that the opposition has to break the ruling party before it can contemplate success in an uneven political playing field such as ours. The opposition has to break and destroy ZANU (PF), both as an institution and a culture, as part of our strategy to victory.

The dissension in ZANU (PF) over Mugabe’s intention to extend his misrule has presented a unique opportunity to build a national consensus for change. As the opposition we cannot even begin to work on this momentous task when we are a bunch of bickering self-destructive democratic forces. Shame on us! In 2007 things have to be drastically different. We have to quickly put the opposition house in order. Only then can we be relevant and effective in the democratization of our country.

While the apparent discontent in ZANU (PF) should be leveraged, the opposition forces should not base their strategy solely on this aspect. Why would the opposition bank on ZANU (PF) authoring its own destruction? We cannot pin our hopes on 10 ZANU (PF) MPs rebelling in Parliament to support the 41 MDC MPs in blocking insecure and incompetent Robert Mugabe’s insatiable lust for power. The fight has to be broader than participating in ZANU (PF) institutions. In 2007 we will take the struggle to the streets, villages, valleys, and jails of Zimbabwe. We must defeat Mugabe and his bootlickers with or without ZANU (PF) dissension. We should never allow the people’s revolution to depend on those ZANU (PF) cowards who are, for all intents and purposes, Mugabe’s wives.

We believe that the ideal framework for our struggle in Zimbabwe is that we should fight for a people driven democratic constitution before any future elections, followed by an internationally supervised national plebiscite. In 2007 we will pursue this objective by any means necessary. We will not respect any unjust and criminal laws. We will not allow the dictatorship to prescribe to us how we should fight it. We will set the agenda and determine the arena and instruments of combat. The opposition must now lead from the front, by setting the agenda, and not merely responding to ZANU (PF) projects. In addition to participating in electoral and institutional processes we will embrace all forms of democratic resistance. We intend to bring this regime to its knees. 2007 is the year of the people’s revolution.

As we pursue the agenda of a new constitution and internationally supervised elections, we should not be naïve and too idealistic. We must have a plan B. Zimbabwean national elections could be held in 2008 or 2010 before a new constitution, and without international supervision. It is hence imperative for us to clearly understand the current flawed and uneven electoral processes. The issue for us is to clearly establish how they are abused and manipulated, and thus develop anti-rigging mechanisms. In addition we need to carry out comprehensive voter education and registration, protect and guarantee secrecy of the vote, train effective polling agents, and establish functioning party structures throughout the country. The challenge should be; how do we make the flawed electoral processes and institutions work for us? How can we use the rules and laws of the dictator against the dictator? If, for example, the voter turnout was more than 70% in every constituency, and the opposition garners more than 80% of that vote while deploying effective polling agents, it will be very difficult for ZANU (PF) to manipulate such results. One of the rigging opportunities for the regime lies in manipulating the unspent vote and the narrow margins of opposition victory in some constituencies. Thus our challenge in this illustration is: How does the opposition ensure that there is 70% voter turnout throughout the country and that 80% of those voters are against the regime? Only a united, all-embracing, but focused and disciplined opposition can even begin to address this challenge. The struggle in Zimbabwe requires inspiring and transforming leadership, innovation, creativity, and thought leadership. It can not be business as usual.

The Economic Agenda
On the economy the opposition must debate and establish clarity and consensus around their economic vision and its corresponding strategy. In the year 2007 as a country we must establish what we want to be known for; our national brand. In order to establish a globally competitive economy the notion of country branding is vital. We must seek to be known for clean and competent government, efficiency and commitment to excellence. This will attract and retain both domestic and foreign investment. Investors should do business with Zimbabwe because they know that the government is clean, competent and transparent. Our laws should be predictable and not selectively applied. There must be demonstrable respect for property rights, the rule of law, and security of tenure. We must be known for meritocracy; i.e., Zimbabwean life chances and business opportunities must be based on talent and ability. Foreign and domestic investors can bid for projects not on the basis of patronage but on merit. For all our citizens, we must guarantee equal opportunity, not necessarily equal outcomes. It takes time to build a country brand. The starting point is that we must have a country, products, and services worth branding. We must be “famous for something” and focus on brand delivery, not advertising slogans. There is need to find the brand-building triggers, and make these happen. Once a country’s brand is damaged and compromised, its global competitiveness is severely undermined. The ZANU (PF) regime has immensely damaged the Zimbabwean brand. In 2007 we have to embark on a Zimbabwean brand development strategy. The stage for country’s branding on a global scale is already well laid out with the large number of successful Zimbabwean professional and business people in significant and strategic locations across the globe. These are the vehicles for marketing a branded global Zimbabwe.

We need to develop and own our economic models. The starting point is learning from those countries that have successfully transformed their economies such as Mauritius, Ghana, Singapore, Malaysia, India and China. We must also consider the traditionally strong economies of the US, Western Europe, and Japan. In these case studies we need to focus on the interplay between politics and economics in identifying lessons for high economic growth. More significantly, we should learn from ourselves (inside out approach); our local business experience, entrepreneurial instincts, work ethic, institutional memory, values, culture, wisdom, and indigenous knowledge systems. We need to understand and leverage our strengths: excellent human capital, strong natural resource base, and robust physical infrastructure. In this way, we can establish our own unique economic signature processes and institutions. Countries adopt industry best practice to stay competitive, but high-performing economies do more. They embrace unique signature processes that reflect their values and strengths. While adoption of global best-practice provides a level playing field, it is necessary but not sufficient. Signature processes, are idiosyncratic, part of national and local institutional culture & heritage; hence very difficult to replicate. A combination of signature processes and global industrial best practice enhances competitiveness and economic performance of a nation.

Innovative and creative strategic thinking must always inform our approach, so that national weaknesses can be turned into opportunities. For example, rather than continuously mourn about the brain drain and how to reverse it, why not think in terms of how we can benefit from the export of human capital and thus build an export industry centered around educational products and services. Under globalization no country can totally reverse the brain drain. We are living in an age of the global citizen and sovereign individual, where geography, national boundaries, and distance are of less significance. The logical conclusion of a completely global economy is a world without national citizens, but global customers. National governments will just be competing service providers. The challenge is how to turn national loss of human capital into an economic opportunity. In 2007 we must think outside the box. In fact, we must think as if there is no box! The thought processes that got us into a crisis cannot constitute the framework of redemption.

For any economic model to work there must be total ownership and buy in by the nation. We cannot borrow economic systems lock, stock and barrel. There has to be customization and adaptation. However, once a national economic model has been designed it cannot be static or stagnant. There must be continuous reinvention, and improvement. It is innovation or death. What makes a nation successful today will not be necessarily effective in the future.

Currently Zimbabwe is completely out of step with the economic vision, value system and frameworks that are being developed regionally and globally. Clearly the dysfunctional Zimbabwe economy cannot be properly integrated into Comesa and SADC, with regional inflation benchmarked at 20% while Zimbabwe experiencing four digit inflation levels. SADC as a grouping will continue to be affected and the success of COMESA is put in jeopardy. Equally significant and important to note is that countries in the region are also experiencing social impacts from mass migration from Zimbabwe into those countries.

It is imperative for SADC and the AU to realize that Zimbabwe’s failure is their demise too. They must understand that when Zimbabwe coughs, SADC catches a cold. Under globalization there is no country that can prosper and stay competitive without effective regional integration. The global survival paradigm is regional economic integration predicated upon regional sovereignty that supersedes national sovereignty. Any economic meltdown in one regional member is catastrophic to the group’s strategic, economic and political interests.

A Clarion Call for Revolution
We remind the generality of the people of Zimbabwe of the saying that “people get a government that they deserve.” Is this ZANU (PF) tyranny, misrule, corruption and economic mismanagement the best leadership this country can offer? Surely Zimbabweans can do far much better than this. The power is within us, to stand up and be counted. We must be masters of our own destiny. This is a clarion call for revolution. Lets all participate in the democratization and economic transformation of our country. History will never absolve us if we abscond. Ask not, how others will change Zimbabwe, but rather what you can do in your own personal way to deliver change. Be a player, not an observer. We must all play a role in the development of political and economic solutions for our country. There is no activity or contribution that is insignificant. 2007 is the year of national action; the year of people driven political and economic change in Zimbabwe. We must restore our sense of duty and national pride; concern ourselves not only with our personal well-being but also the interests of our entire nation. There is strength in unity of purpose and action. That is the only way forward. We all have to be risk takers, and abandon risk aversion. There is nothing as irresponsible as sleeping through a revolution.

The Struggle Continues Unabated.
Defeat is not on the agenda & Victory is certain.
Arthur G.O. Mutambara
MDC President