ZIMBABWE - LETTER FROM THE DIASPORA !

12th Septemver 2008.



Dear Friends,


"We've got a deal"! With those words Morgan Tsvangirai told waiting journalists at the Rainbow Towers Hotel that the unbelievable had happened; the long months of agonising on/off indecision were over. There had finally been a breakthrough. Later at an official press conference Thabo Mbeki announced, "An agreement has been reached on all items on the agenda. All of them endorsed the document tonight. I am absolutely certain that the leadership of Zimbabwe is committed to implementing this agreement." The formal signing ceremony, attended by regional leaders will take place on Monday, Mbeki added, but gave no further details.


For Zimbabweans at home the news may well have come too late at night. By that time they may well have retired to their beds, hungry and without lights or power to cook their evening meal or listen to their radios and televisions. Here in the UK diaspora I heard it first on BBC News at Ten after another day of watching and waiting for hard news. Mugabe had attended the Chiefs' Ndaba in Bulawayo earlier in the day and had given no indication that a settlement was anywhere near. On the contrary, he had told the chiefs, "We have not gone anywhere. We're still stuck at the same point where those from the MDC want to govern. They want Mugabe to go. Where shall I go? I can't go anywhere…It is humiliating to be negotiating with a party sponsored by countries pushing for regime change," It seemed nothing had changed, the Old Man was just not prepared to budge. Yet there was something different; after his speech, the traditional leaders had most uncharacteristically given Mugabe's government a positive tongue-lashing about the food shortages, the corruption of government ministers and police involved in food scams. Had the chiefs' words perhaps reminded Mugabe that he has no money to solve the problem of hunger and food shortages? Could that be the reason he finally put his name to a document that virtually entails sharing power with the hated enemy , the man he has done his level best to destroy? Only a couple of days before Kofi Annan had launched a scathing attack on the AU, "they should have endorsed the results (of the March elections) and said to Mugabe; You are not a legally elected president". With those words ringing in his ears, Mugabe perhaps realised that the game was almost up. Whatever the reason, he arrived back in Harare, ninety minutes late apparently, to sign the deal that was to change the status quo.


No one knows the details of the Agreement yet but we all understand ‘the devil is in the detail'. So many questions spring to mind. How long is the ‘Inclusive' government going to last? Are we in for another five years of Mugabe's presidency? One thing is clear: Mugabe's henchman in the state media have not come to terms with the new reality. On the very day the deal was announced the state controlled Herald was still spreading its lies about Morgan Tsvangirai, claiming that the new Prime Minister was about to appoint a retired Colonel, one Lionel Dyck (a white man of course) to the post of Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army; MDC MP's are still incarcerated, the violence goes on against MDC supporters and Gideon Gono announces the setting up of licences for one thousand retail and wholesale outlets who will for the next eighteen months buy and sell in US dollars. No prizes for guessing who will get these licences; it will be Zanu PF fat cats but for ordinary Zimbabweans with no access to forex it is a pointless exercise which will only increase the shortages and extend their suffering. Right up to the last minute before the deal was announced, Mugabe was busy trying to ensure that his appointees were in place as Provincial Governors and, if rumour is to be believed, under the terms of the agreement, Mugabe will be forced to revise these appointments. Zimbabweans have three days to ponder the deal and from what I hear no one is dancing in the streets. What they are all asking themselves is will this bring an end to our suffering, will this deal bring an improvement in our lives. And above all, can we trust Mugabe to stick to his word? Will he really allow Morgan Tsvangirai and his ministers to operate without interference? ‘Sources' tell us Mugabe will continue to chair the cabinet while Tsvangirai controls a Council of Ministers but what happens when those two bodies clash? We have to wait until Monday and the formal signing before we have the answers to these questions - and maybe not even then. Three days in which the so-called war vets and youth militia may resort to even more violence against opposition supporters. Will they listen if or when Mugabe tells them to desist and what of the police and army who, again if rumour is to be believed, have been promised immunity for their horrendous crimes. Will they now enforce the law impartially?


It's going to be a very long weekend but despite all our reservations and whatever the future holds the truth is that Zimbabwe will never be the same again. Something has changed forever.


Yours in the (continuing) struggle. PH.