by Bonginkosi Masiwa

Robert Mugabe has at last been dragged to the negotiating table to form a government of national unity with long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe’s main opposition faction, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

However it seems Mugabe, who has ruled the small southern African country with an iron fist for almost three decades, is still keen to extend ZANU-PF’s hegemony.

Mugabe’s tokenism in the signing of a power-sharing deal is evident in the way he wants to keep all the government’s key ministries to himself.

Mbeki’s mediation efforts have been greatly undermined by ZANU-PF’s fears of persecution in a new Zimbabwean dispensation.

ZANU-PF heavyweights were always going to be hesitant in entering into a power-sharing deal partly due to fear of prosecution for past crimes such as the genocide they orchestrated in the country’s Southern region.

ZANU-PF’s politics of patronage have been instrumental in the current crisis in Zimbabwe, whose flawed constitution over the decades has allowed Mugabe to appoint his loyalists to key ministries at the expense of the country.

For decades Zimbabwe has seen the deployment of numerous ministers “without portfolio” to government simply because an all-too-powerful president wanted to keep comrades at the helm.The chaotic land-grabs that occurred in 2000 showed the extent to which the ruling party was willing to go in order to stay in power, despite the socio-political and economic crisis wrought by its policy misadventures.

Having been thrashed in the legitimate elections in March, Mugabe needs the deal more than the opposition does if ZANU-PF is to survive to fight another day. What is at stake in Zimbabwe is now the people’s dignity, which has been battered by the horribly dysfunctional economy. Mugabe and his cronies are aware of that, but after almost a lifetime of mafia-style plundering and looting, who would be willing to face the wrath of the people of Zimbabwe?The African experience has taught us that the so-called liberation parties have viewed themselves as having the people’s mandate to rule for life.

Mugabe’s ZANU-PF might be the last of the dying breed, but it is certainly not the only one. The Kenya African National Union (KANU) ruled Kenya for nearly 40 years after its independence from British colonial rule in 1963, until its electoral loss at the end of 2002.  Mugabe’s ZANU-PF will continue to employ every trick in the book to “swallow” the opposition after a humiliating electoral defeat. That is not a new project. It was done before to Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU. Such is the nature of despotic parties based on personalities. As such, Zimbabweans view the power-sharing deal with much suspicion.

Until such time that Mugabe loses control within ZANU-PF itself, there can never be a genuine power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe. The other negotiations will just be a means of buying time to hatch the next plan to maintain its hegemony.

Transformer Vol. 14 No. 5 Oct-Nov 2008