Wikileaks & Zimbabwean Politics

There has been a lot of talk regarding the sanctions issue, broadsides were thrown towards Morgan Tsvangirai, culminating in Jonathan Moyo calling for his resignation & prosecution. Many supporters of MDC were rattled by this to the point of hating Wikileaks, however such is politics, not for the faint hearted. To open the discussion I decided to quote an excerpt of the leak in unedited form for the benefit of those who cannot seem to locate it, so here it goes:

***Quoted Text***

SANCTIONS
15 (C) Sanctions were discussed in all meetings with government officials. Mugabe portrayed the West as unfairly targeting people in the Unity Government for no reason. "What do you expect but hostility when you expel the children of my collaborators from universities in your countries? This hurts us." He uses the sanctions in the media, saying, "You are making the people of Zimbabwe suffer, trying to force regime change from the outside." Clancy noted, "One would think. that sanctions would be a gadfly to him - nothing more than annoying. But they bother him enormously because they do not apply to the MDC." The officials with Mugabe stated that the targeted travel measures do not matter, but indicated the measures against parastatals do. Unsurprisingly, Tsvangirai does not want sanctions lifted. He says the process needs to be a two-way street, so there is no reason to lift them when there has been no progress.

16. (C) Out of the three, Mutambara spoke the most about sanctions and claimed they only help Mugabe. Without sanctions, he said, the GPA could move ahead, as Mugabe would have no excuse. (NOTE: Considering that Mugabe claims the GPA is finished, the delegation did not share this assessment. END NOTE) Mutambara asserted that the West must follow the advice of Africa leaders. "If Zuma says so, then you should not bat an eye." He seemed surprised to hear from the delegation that Tsvangirai did not agree. Mutambara said that any progress would require considerable engagement with Zuma. "You must get African leaders to put pressure on Mugabe. He will not listen to you."

17. (C) The Zimbabwean Ministers said the African Union and SADC have asked that the sanctions be lifted, so "why don't you listen to them?" Minister Carlsson asked how they reconcile asking for respect for SADC's views on sanctions when the GOZ had pulled out of the SADC Tribunal because of its views (a reference to the case brought by Mike Campbell, a white farmer). Displaying a capacity to "create reality"

***End of Quote***

So this is the source of the din we've had to put up with. Now first let me highlight that at no point did Morgan Tsvangirai call for the imposition of sanctions from this excerpt on which Jonathan Moyo's accusations are based. All what Morgan said was that if there is to be any removal of sanctions, then there must be reciprocal action on the part of ZANU PF as it is indeed a two way street. Before sanctions came they had destroyed the economy, the do business like a drug cartel from Tijuana destroying everything. Even the Chinese did not find Zimbabwe a good place to do business because of the unsustainable chaos. It is important also to note that this delegation came to meet MDC, Mutambara, ZANU PF, this was a fact finding mission on progress on the ground. In politics like we have, the negotiation unfortunately takes the distributive nature, bargaining points once conceded cannot be recovered. But one might ask, why not lift the sanctions if African leaders are in unified chorus for the sanctions to go? The thinking in Africa is that if sanctions are not there Mugabe will have no leg to stand on, but they are wrong, he can pull a cow out of a hat and say MDC is funded by the west let them declare their source or we don't negotiate, he is like that hoping from one place to another or worse still demand that him and his cronies will not have any property confiscated plus amnesty.

It is also important to note that African leaders have failed Zimbabweans, remember the days we would pin our hope on SADC election observers to call a spade a spade after elections, notably 2000, 2002 and 2005 elections? Then the next you hear elections were credible by SADC, AU would follow and say the same noting minor irregularities. The West has learnt not to trust these African bodies, why then listen to the leaders? Can you trust SADC or AU election observers to be a jury where you are the accused?

I think Jonathan Moyo is just trying to account for the money he is being paid, if he says nothing then factions within ZANU PF will have him for a meal, he is already loathed no doubt so he has to yarn propaganda to have a semblance of being relevant. He must dig deep into the propaganda budget or seek the service of Ari Ben Menashe. For now we dismiss his rants as horse play, a lapse of his thought faculties.

Case dismissed with contempt it deserves.