On September 15 of this year, current president Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed a historic power sharing deal. This is one of the first times Mugabe has ever had to consolidate power; he has been the president of Zimbabwe for over 20 years. The decision for a power sharing deal between the two political rivals comes after an election that both sides said they won. This proves problematic when trying to decide how to split up the government because both sides feel as if they should have more control because they “won” the election. Currently, Mugabe and Tsvangirai are having trouble deciding how to split of the cabinet, interestingly enough, both sides what control of the security cabinet.
Among all this political banter, Zimbabwe suffers. Under Mugabe’s 28-year rule, Zimbabwe has endured an 11,000,000% inflation rate, an 80% unemployment rate, and a life expectancy of 37. The World Food Program, part of the UN, has gotten no response to its $140 million appeal to supply Zimbabwe with food. The WFP said it is going to have to cut rations in order keep up with supply demands. The IMF stopped giving money to Zimbabwe in 2006, but said they would be willing to reconsider if they saw Tsvangirai take power. After months of arguing over power and getting nowhere, the international community has finally stepped in to mediate.
The SADC, or South African Development Community, held a summit with the two leaders to facilitate “power-sharing” duties. Instead of focusing on ways to improve Zimbabwe’s socio-economic situation, the summit was focused on how to joint-manage the government’s multiple ministries. What is even harder to believe is how the summit ended. The SADC ruled that Tsvangirai’s party, the MDC, should follow the guidelines of Mugabe’s “power-sharing” plan. The ruthless president who has driven his country into the ground, has fairly, and democratically succeeded in gaining the political upper-hand. With the ability to define “power-sharing” Mugabe will most likely give himself control of the Security ministry, which will make him increasingly difficult to de-throne.
As an aspiring diplomat or foreign affairs officer, I hope to change this tiresome and ineffective form of beauracracy. I’m in favor of the SADC summit, but the way the summit was handled was, in my opinion, irresponsible. While it may be a shot in the dark, I propose a solution. Before the SADC summit, both Tsvangirai and Mugabe should have been required to come up with their own economic and social plans for Zimbabwe. They would present their solutions to the SADC and they would vote on their favorite plan. Whoever’s plan wins, will get to negotiate the “power-sharing” duties. While it may seem unjust to take the decision out of the hands of Zimbabwe, but I feel it is necessary because Zimbabwe’s government hasn’t showed enough responsibility to handle such a vital task.
Nice article Kyle! Way to bring human rights to light- it’s such an important issue and you really covered this well. We should do more articles like this.