Zimbabwe after the election: All parties bear a heavy responsibility

Zimbabweans go to the polls this weekend to elect a new parliament. The elections follow months of violence and confrontation between President Mugabe’s old ruling party and Morgan Tsvangirai’s new opposition party. Many have lost their lives. Thousands have been affected by threats, beatings and rape. It has not been possible to hold free and fair elections under these conditions of fear and duress. Whoever wins the elections, it is important that both the winners and the losers contribute to solve the serious challenges.

25. June 2000

Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke’s Annual General Meeting on 25 June calls upon joint action by the next government of Zimbabwe to address the following issues as priorities:

Re-establishment of the rule of law
In the past six months the rule of law has entirely broken down, following the government-supported land invasions by war veterans and the unleashing of violence upon opposition supporters. Court orders have been openly defied, the police have been ordered by their superiors not to intervene to protect citizens’ civil and property rights, and in some instances, murders of government opponents have not been investigated. It is essential that this situation now be rectified with utmost urgency.

Countering corruption
As the economic and political crisis has grown in the past few years, systems of accountability have disintegrated in the public sector. Numerous cases of large scale, high-level corruption have been revealed. As a result, corruption now threatens the viability of the national economy. Effective measures must be taken to investigate and bring to justice those who have committed these economic crimes.

Social and economic empowerment of the poor
More than 75% of Zimbabweans are living below the poverty line and there is every indication that their plight is deteriorating rapidly along with the economic crisis. Record inflation levels of 55%-80%, formal sector unemployment rates of at least 65% and sharply declining access to health and educational have severely undermined most households. The AIDS pandemic now claims at least 700 lives every week. Failure to address this crisis will lead to further social, political and economic instability.

Need for land redistribution
Despite the manipulation of the land issue by government for political purposes, land redistribution and resettlement remains a key problem which needs to be redressed. MS believes that only a transparent process of land redistribution based on a clear set of legally-enshrined rules, aimed at directly assisting the poor and landless, and involving all key national stakeholders, will adequately address the land problem in Zimbabwe today.

Building greater space for civil society
One of the notable failures of the current government has been its failure to engage civil society interests in an open, structured manner. Rather, it has attacked most representative groups and labelled them as "opposition" sympathisers aiming to overthrow the government. Despite this frequent open hostility by the state, in the past ten years civil society has managed to develop better organisational capacity, and now serves a useful representative function. For the next government, civic organisations will be an important partner in developing new solutions, and must therefore be given the opportunity and space to do this. If not, a new crisis in governance and credibility will emerge.

National reconciliation
The land invasions and the ruling party election campaign have re-opened ethnic and racial tensions, adding to persistent and unresolved tensions arising from the mass killings during the civil conflict in Matabeleland in the mid 1980s. In the past several years there have been calls by human rights and other civic organisations to establish a truth and reconciliation process for the victims’ families and communities. These calls for truth and reconciliation will resume following the election, particularly given the violence of the recent months, and will have to be addressed by the new government.

New constitutional reform
Following the defeat of the government-sponsored draft constitution in February, public participation in the process of constitutional reform was halted. Despite more than a year of national consultations, the promise of a home-made constitution has therefore not been delivered. Whichever party forms the next government, the need for comprehensive constitutional reform will continue to stand as a key demand by civil society groups. Zimbabwe’s problems can only be solved if a new constitution addresses the importance of democratic development by involving civil society groups.