African Update

After years of authoritarian rule, mismanagement, and tyranny—dating back to the 1980s—the end finally appears to be near for Robert Mugabe’s twenty-eight year reign in Zimbabwe.  His latest electoral shenanigans have finally caught the attention of the world and it now seems only a matter of time before he is no longer at the helm.

Even the venerable patriarch of African leadership Nelson Mandela spoke out about Mugabe’s ‘failure of leadership,’ not an easy thing for a fellow member of Africa’s liberation generation to do.  And world leaders seem to be falling all over themselves over the past few days to condemn Mugabe for his latest actions.

It seems impossible at this point that even Robert Mugabe could maintain his grip on power in Zimbabwe under such mounting pressure.  It is only a matter of time before the old man finally—mercifully—fades away.

And it couldn’t happen a moment too soon.

 

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai announced today that he would not take part in Zimbabwe’s runoff election for president this Friday.  It turns out that trying to unseat Robert Mugabe, something that Tsvangirai had come very close to doing during the general election nearly three months ago, has simply become too dangerous.

“We can’t ask the people to cast their vote on June 27 when that vote will cost their lives.  We will no longer participate in this violent sham of an election,” Tsvangirai said.

The MDC and independent rights groups claim that as many as 85 MDC supporters have been killed in the weeks leading up to the scheduled runoff election.  Mugabe’s government was reluctantly forced to admit that Tsvangirai had gained more votes than Mugabe in the March election but it wasn’t enough for Tsvangirai to win outright, forcing a belatedly-scheduled runoff election between the two and an opportunity for Mugabe’s supporters to organize, threaten, intimidate, and murder those who supported the MDC.  A major MDC rally had been scheduled in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, today but Mugabe’s supporters blocked the assembly preventing it from happening.  Perhaps that was the last straw.

Tsvangirai and his supporters were defeated by a ruthless, heartless tyrant who doesn’t care for one moment about the people that he supposedly liberated nearly thirty years ago. Mugabe’s only concern today seems to be making certain that he dies in office and avoids any possibility of being prosecuted for his multitude of crimes.  He is a huge disgrace but, unlike in years past, other African leaders are starting to take notice. 

Tsvangirai has promised to work with the United Nations, European Union, and the southern African bloc of nations to sort out the mess in Zimbabwe so we should see plenty of interesting developments in the coming days and weeks.  Perhaps Mugabe will be forced out of power in favor of a unity government between the MDC and Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.  It’s difficult to know at this moment what might happen but something’s got to give.  The tipping point in Zimbabwe has long since passed.

According to reports this morning Movement for Democratic Change candidate Morgan Tsvangirai has decided to pullout of this Friday’s runoff election with Robert Mugabe for the presidency of Zimbabwe.

The MDC has been subjected to a lot of violence during the run up to the election and South African mediators have been in discussions with both sides. 

Although it’s difficult to see Mugabe going for it, perhaps some sort of unity government is in the works.  We hope to know more soon.

Stay tuned.

There is a remarkably insightful piece by Joshua Hammer in the June 26th issue of the New York Review of Books about the events before and after last March’s election in Zimbabwe.  It’s a great primer for understanding the situation prior to the critical June 27th runoff election.  I highly recommend taking a look.