Zimbabwean Elections and Imperialist Propaganda



Just 38 years ago, the last – and most ‘liberal’ - constitution of Rhodesia was promulgated. It allowed for black African voters to vote in just eight of the country’s 66 constituencies, on the basis that blacks had insufficient experience with democracy to be able to sensibly exercise their vote. There was of course some murmur about this in the British press and in Whitehall – if nothing else, such undisguised and unmitigated racism is a bit embarrassing to a ruling class that has learnt to perpetrate its economic and political dominance through more subtle means. Sanctions were even announced (although widespread sanctions-busting by British firms rendered these redundant). However, the denunciation of Ian Smith and his despicable fascist statelet was nothing compared with the treatment that has for the last ten years been meted out to President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF government on account of their putative abuses of democracy.

A pedant might argue that nine parliamentary elections in the 28 years since independence, all of them fully inclusive and all of them monitored and approved by numerous independent international organisations, indicates a significant commitment by the Zimbabwean state to the principles of democratic election. However, according to imperialism, such a position is clearly facile. There is a very obvious problem with Zimbabwe’s elections: the Zimbabwean electors have been voting for the wrong candidate and refusing to play the ‘regime change’ game.

Make no mistake about it: the British state is desperate for regime change in Zimbabwe. In Iraq, they wanted regime change so they could get their greasy hands back on the oil. In Zimbabwe, they want regime change so they can get their greasy hands back on the land and the mineral wealth. Ever since the Zimbabwean government committed itself to solving the question of the unequal and racist distribution of land, transferring a significant proportion of the country’s land from a tiny white minority to thousands of landless black farmers, Zanu’s alleged human rights abuses and anti-democratic practices have never been far from the front pages of the Times, the Guardian and the Telegraph.

During every election in Zimbabwe during this period, the imperialist press has gone into overdrive to denounce Zanu and to promote a more ‘friendly’ opposition. The most recent parliamentary, presidential and senate elections, all held on 29 March 2008, were no exception, with the policy-makers in Britain, the US and other imperialist countries lining up to give their support – financial and political - to Morgan Tsvangirai and his liberalisation-friendly Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

What the opposition really stands for

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) (currently divided into two factions, one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the other by Arthur Mutambara) is the main opposition party in Zimbabwe. If was formed out of the notoriously racist Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) in cooperation with the shady Zimbabwe Democracy Trust (ZDT) (a powerful organisation of imperialists, including three former British foreign secretaries and a former US assistant secretary of state for Africa), towards the end of 1999. Its emergence was triggered by local and international opposition to the nascent Fast Track Land Resettlement Programme which was, after a century of colonial theft, seriously addressing the question of land ownership in Zimbabwe.

On every issue of importance, MDC has taken a reactionary stand. It opposed the land resettlement programme; it opposed the heroic military support rendered by Zimbabwe to its neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which had been invaded by Uganda and Rwanda acting on the instructions of US imperialism; it has advocated an economic programme of privatisation and liberalisation (allowing the dominance of foreign capital); and it opposes the new Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill (discussed below); it has persistently asked for imperialist sanctions to be ramped up in order to bribe the Zimbabwean population into rejecting the Zanu-PF government.

In the words of George Shire, a Zimbabwean lecturer living in Britain: “Keywords keep on coming up in the MDC’s entire manifesto, varied literature and the websites of its supporters. They are seduced by the discourse of privatisation and a dependence on the West. Just in case we have forgotten, privatisation means the transfer of productive assets from the state to the private sector. Zimbabwe’s productive assets include land, natural resources, forests, water, and rivers. These are asserts that the state holds in trust for the people. A majority of the population of the people of Zimbabwe live in the rural areas. Their lives depend directly on access to these asserts. To snatch away these assets and sell them as stock to private companies is a process of … barbaric dispossession ...” (‘Zim must vote to protect revolution’, Zimbabwe Herald, 4 March 2008)

The forces of the pro-imperialist opposition have been bolstered in this election by a new entrant, Simba Makoni, a former Zanu-PF finance minister.

Makoni’s politics are much the same as those of the MDC. He represents the model of ‘development’ that involves lying prostrate before foreign monopoly capital. He is known to be on good terms with representatives of the Bretton Woods institutions, and has hinted at his enthusiasm for the private sector, reducing government spending, removing subsidies and doing everything possible to attract foreign investment.

South Africa’s Independent Online stated as far back as May 2003 that “Makoni is seen, together with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as the only contender for the leadership who would be able to raise loans for Zimbabwe from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.”

We all know what the conditions for raising these loans are: privatisation, liberalisation, land reform freeze and a removal of subsidies. In short, opening up the Zimbabwean economy for unfettered plunder by imperialism.

Makoni’s campaign strategist, Nkosana Moyo, is a senior partner in CDC Capital Partners, which describes itself as “a UK government-owned fund of funds, with net assets of US$4bn. We use our own balance sheet to invest in private equity funds focused on the emerging markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America, with particular emphasis on South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.”

In policy terms, Makoni differs very little from the MDC, but his political value to imperialism is greatly increased by his standing independently.

What does Zanu stand for?

Zanu-PF’s record is one of immense achievements of historic proportions. It is Zanu which spearheaded the heroic liberation struggle against white minority rule; it is Zanu which led the land reform programme that resulted, at long last, to the redistribution of Zimbabwe’s land to its rightful owners.

Zanu’s current platform is based upon solidifying the gains made through the land resettlement programme and building the country’s economy through indigenisation and through mutually beneficial co-operation and trade with friendly countries such as China. Zanu’s central campaigning slogan for the 2008 was: “Defending our Land and National Sovereignty: Building Prosperity through Empowerment”, a slogan that clearly highlights the debate that is raging in Zimbabwe. Do we defend and build upon the gains made through the land reform programme, or do we let the new black farmers founder? Do we focus on indigenous development or do we sell ourselves for a ‘quick fix’ of foreign capital? Do we liberalise or do we subsidise? Do we privatise or nationalise?

Mugabe and Zanu-PF stand firmly and clearly on the side of building up the economy on the basis of local ownership and freedom from imperialist interference. Zanu’s plan includes the implementation of a new Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill (see below), as well as the wide distribution of generators, gasoline, tractors and cattle, in order to improve the productivity of the small farms created via the land reform programme.

The government of Zimbabwe could very easily abandon its militant policies aimed at protecting Zimbabwe’s independence and building its collective wealth – no doubt its ministers would be rewarded amply by the likes of the World Bank and the IMF. Indeed, this is exactly what the likes Tsvangirai are aching to do.

However, Mugabe and Zanu-PF have remained true to their principles and to the people of Zimbabwe. They will not depart from their famous slogan: “Zimbabwe will never be a colony again”.

Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill

The April 2005 issue of Proletarian reported on a public meeting held in support of Zimbabwe, addressed by Simbarashe Mumbengegwi (then Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the UK and now its Foreign Minister).

In his speech, Comrade Mumbengegwi noted that the land redistribution programme, considered to be the ‘Third Chimurenga’ (third liberation struggle) had been highly successful and that Zimbabwe was embarking on a ‘Fourth Chimurenga’ – the economic struggle to hand over control of the country’s businesses to the Zimbabwean population in order to finally remove imperialist influence and pressure from their country and make themselves truly independent.

We are beginning to see the manifestations of this ‘Fourth Chimurenga’. A few weeks before the election, the Zimbabwean government promulgated a new law which stipulates that every company operating in the country must have at least 51 percent of its shares owned by indigenous Zimbabweans. This will ensure that foreign monopolies are no longer able to dominate any section of Zimbabwe’s economy and that the Zimbabwean population as a whole is able to benefit from all areas of the economy. Some of the biggest businesses in the country, including Rio Tinto, BP, Lever Brothers and Barclays Bank, will now have to find local partners.
etc

 http://www.lalkar.org/issues/contents/may2008/zim.php