It seems to me that the ruling elite within ZANU-PF are nothing but a gang of mafiosa who, starting before 2000, managed to carry out the ultimate criminal act which is to hijack the government of a country. This enables the elite to use  all the levers of state power to serve only their own narrow interests rather than the interests of the rest of the population.

As a consequence of this understanding of the situation in Zimbabwe I have always been sceptical of the prospects of the so-called Unity government. At  core the ZANU-PF elite is without any scruples whatsoever thus any unity with  such people, except on their own corrupt terms, is a practical impossibility as the  MDC is finding.

In my opinion it would have been far better for the MDC to have called on the  people of Zimbabwe to actively refuse, whilst ZANU-PF illegitimately clings onto power, to recognise any aspect of government as legitimate. The consequences of  the people’s actions springing from this position would have been certain  suffering as ZANU-PF used its illegitimate access to state institutions to clamp  down on the peoples’ response. There would however have been a major difference between this suffering and the suffering that the people of Zimbabwe are presently
undergoing anyway. This suffering would have been consciously accepted as a consequence
of the moral stand being taken against the illegitimate government of ZANU-PF and would as a result have had immense power to transform the situation for  the better. The current suffering because it is not consciously chosen to serve a  higher purpose does not have that transformative power.

Rory Short is a Quaker, Yogi and Buddhist.

Let’s face it: more than three months since its inception, Zimbabwe’s so-called government of national unity is a failure.

This is a unity government in all but name. Oppression and coercion is embedded within its architecture, with the impotent opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) serving as little more than a legitimising mechanism for ruling party Zanu PF’s totalitarian agenda. Little wonder that the country is still falling apart when Zanu PF shamelessly grips onto power. Stalling reforms proposed in the GNU agreement and having unilaterally appointed ambassadors, it’s sent a clear message that it remains the party calling the shots.

Furthermore, human rights activists, lawyers and MDC politicos continue to be unlawfully harassed and detained. Hundreds of prisoners die of starvation in jail. And land grabs and persecution of farmers occur with impunity.

The MDC has shown itself powerless to prevent all this and unable to ensure that the rule of law is respected. Instead, it pleads for smart sanctions against Mugabe’s cronies be lifted, naively assuming this will kickstart the very economy that these vile specimens actively destroyed through their avarice and tyranny.

It is clear that Zanu PF’s undemocratic participation in government is only further aiding Zimbabwe’s disintegration and prolonging the suffering of our beleaguered neighbours. Yet Pretoria remains silent about the continuing subjugation of the Zimbabwean people, preferring, rather, to silently condone the brutality of a fellow “liberation” movement.

Instead of propping up Zanu PF, South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC, needs to act in the best interests of all Zimbabweans and force the party to accept the rule of law and ensure that the obligations in the unity agreement are adhered to. Otherwise one can only assume that our ruling party’s endorsement of Zimbabwe’s dictatorship is an indication that it too believes that rapacious oppression is justified to maintain an increasingly slippery hold on perpetual rule.

Alex Matthews is editor of The Soapbox. He writes this in his personal capacity.