The Sunday Mail
Lovemore Ranga Mataire
Deputy Editor
Today marks exactly two years since the ushering in of the Second Republic following the resignation of Zimbabwe’s founding leader, Robert Gabriel Mugabe.
Almost everyone who witnessed the seismic episode of November 17, 2017, has vivid memories of where they were and what they were doing when thousands of Zimbabweans spontaneously poured onto the streets demanding that then president Mugabe resign.
Four days later, in a joint sitting of the House of Assembly, ZANU-PF Senator Monica Mutsvangwa made a motion to convene a joint session of Parliament with the full Senate for the impeachment of Mugabe. MDC-T legislator James Maridadi seconded the motion.
But before the joint session moved to operationalise the impeachment, Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda received and read then president Mugabe’s resignation letter at exactly 6.00pm plunging the Harare International Conference Centre, where the session was held, into delirium.
The resignation came after pressure from citizens who marched on the streets in support of the army’s Operation Restore Legacy. The army’s intervention was precipitated by developments in the revolutionary ZANU-PF party where people with liberation struggle credentials were being targeted by the G40 element that had taken hold of the Head of State and Government through a devious alliance with the then First Lady Grace Mugabe.
In a televised address, Major-General Sibusiso Busi Moyo, the then Zimbabwe Defence Forces Chief of Staff (Quartermaster), made it clear that the military’s major concern was to rid president Mugabe’s Government of criminals who had led Zimbabwe to social, political and economic ruin.
Major-Gen Moyo emphasised that the military was “only targeting criminals around (the president) who were committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice”.
He said: “As soon as we have accomplished our mission, we expect that the situation will return to normalcy.”
Indeed, to confirm and reinforce the idea that the army had not usurped power, president Mugabe continued to discharge his duties including officiating at the Zimbabwe Open University graduation ceremony in Harare a couple of days later.
The peace and tranquillity that prevailed in the country at the time completely disqualified any intervention by Sadc or the African Union.
It must be noted that while the call for the resignation of former president Mugabe was ecstatically received by all Zimbabweans across the racial and political divide, the developments were at the core of an in-house Zanu-PF realignment strategic process.
As stockholders uniquely bequeathed of that role by their direct participation in the liberation struggle, the military felt it paramount to intervene in order to halt what they viewed as an attempt by some within the revolutionary party to whitewash that noble historical legacy.
Short of the military intervention, the Zimbabwean situation could have developed into uncharted chaotic scenario where people were likely to take the law into their hands. Some even wanted to march to the Blue Roof where president Mugabe was ensconced.
Due to the developments that played out in Zimbabwe, the planned Sadc Extraordinary Summit became irrelevant as Zimbabweans from all walks of life came out to redefine their destiny by calling president Mugabe to step down.
As provided for under Article 2 of the Sadc Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation signed in Blantyre, Malawi, in August 2001, seeks to “promote peace and security in the region”, and one of its specific objectives is to “prevent, contain and resolve inter and intra-state conflict by peaceful means”.
The Organ presents a framework upon which member states coordinate peace, defence and security issues, and comprises two committees that make key decisions — the Inter-State Defence and Security Committee and the Inter-State-Politics and Diplomacy Committee.
The situation that prevailed in the DRC, Lesotho and Madagascar when Sadc intervened was different from the situation in Zimbabwe in November 2017.
What happened in Zimbabwe resonated with the 1917 Russian Revolution which similarly had massive civilian support and general public participation backing the military.
What happened in Zimbabwe could be described or framed as “guided transition” where the military temporarily intervened to prevent the situation getting out of hand.
As one Zimbabwean remarked, developments in Zimbabwe were “a bloodless correction” that would restore normalcy in the country.
Given the direction the governing party was taking in terms of the purges that were targeting anyone with liberation war credentials without due process of the party’s constitutional dictates, the army which is a major stockholder in the revolutionary party, felt compelled to intervene.
It is for that reason that the party decided to recall then First Secretary and president of the party Cde Mugabe and expelled some members of the G40 including the then First Lady Grace Mugabe on November 19 2017.
The party resolved to reinstate then Vice President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa and unanimously elected him as the party leader. ZANU-PF immediately nominated Cde Mnangagwa as Mugabe’s successor. Within 48 hours, Cde Mnangagwa returned to Zimbabwe and was sworn-in on November 24 2017.
In his inaugural speech, Cde Mnangagwa promised to serve all citizens, tackle corruption and rejuvenate the country’s economy. He pledged to end isolation and re-engage with the world. He would also compensate white former farmers for developments on farms.
Two years on, the President has stuck to his script of instituting fundamental reforms. This is partly contained in Part VII of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) blueprint entitled “Governance Reforms”, in which the Government committed itself to ensuring the rule of law; political governance and democratsation; respect for the rule of law; political governance and democratisation; respect of human and property rights; national unity, peace and reconciliation; tolerance, freedoms of expression and association.
In line with the spirit of inclusiveness, reconciliation and unity, President Mnangagwa has set the ball rolling through the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), with the mandate to ensure healing for past and present conflicts.
As a listening President, Cde Mnangagwa’s administration set up the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), comprised of independent and diverse eminent sons and daughters of Zimbabwe, to give him independent unadulterated advice on the direction of the country should take.
The hallmark of every democracy is inclusive politics. In order to ensure inclusiveness and promote national dialogue, President Mnangagwa set up the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) comprising of presidential candidates that participated in the 2018 election. This type of politics clearly distinguishes the old and the new dispensations.
On corruption, President Mnangagwa ensured that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) was reconstituted with a new chairperson and commissioners and given arresting powers. A number of so-called bigwigs have been arraigned before the courts while others have already been sentenced after being convicted of various misdemenours.
It was also during President Mnangagwa’s inauguration that he set the tone for what was to become his foreign policy when he said: “Whatever misunderstandings may have subsisted in the past, let these make way to a new beginning which sees us relating to one another in multi-layered, mutually beneficial ways as equal partners. In this global world, no nation is, can, or need be an island, one unto itself. Isolation as never been splendid or viable, solidarity and partnerships are and will always be the way.”
President Mnangagwa’s robust re-engagement foreign policy has resulted in the re-opening of diplomatic channels with erstwhile international nemeses Britain, the European Union (EU) and the United States under the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” policy.
Zimbabwe’s bid to rejoin the Commonwealth is under consideration, while the EU and US were invited to observe the last elections, something unheard of under the old dispensation.
Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and opposition elements have chosen to resort to the anti-reformist agenda and engage in violent, confrontational and undemocratic politics calculated to invite a backlash from Government’s instruments of peace so that they cry victim.
Government has remained undeterred in pursuing and executing its reform agenda by those who “throw sand” in everyone’s food and then give the wildest shrill that they are hungry.
It is without doubt that Zimbabwe will forge ahead with its agenda that serves the people of Zimbabwe without being stampeded by anyone to subvert its internal constitutional systems and processes.
