(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
On Monday, talks on power distribution collapsed between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe.
It makes everything more difficult. When I was visiting around my New Year in my hometown of Bulawayo, in southwestern Zimbabwe, one of the hardest things to get used to was the constant complaints about money and prices. Unlike before, when only the local currency was legal tender with empty stores as a result, almost all sectors have now switched to foreign currency, especially the US dollar.
The obvious victims are not only poor inhabitants of the countryside, but also the many money changers who have earned in recent years on the country's economic maturity. Now, virtually no one needs to buy Zimbabwean dollars.
Street vendors and local bus companies are now paying themselves dollars. Even prepaid cards for mobile phones require hard currency, making an SMS an ever-less luxury for those who do not have access to foreign money. The so-called dollarization has become a larger topic of conversation than politics, as it has created a deep divide between those who have and those who have not.
Most people with money receive outside money transfers. Those who do not have such support stand out easily. There are those who cannot travel or eat regularly. Some have had the ash-like facial expression that comes with malnutrition or they live with untreated AIDS.
The country's second largest city, Bulawayo, has previously perceived itself as the country's most well – run municipality. Hospitals, schools – and even beer halls – were sustainable and well-kept. This is now history.
The only advantage Bulawayo still has is the relative proximity to South Africa and the longer distance to cholera epicenter in the capital Harare. But the city suffers from rapid population. Anyone who can, will go his way.
South Africa is the preferred destination for Zimbabwe's most weary and hungry. Fortunately, there is now talk of introducing a more humane refugee policy focusing on governance rather than control. Kumi Naidoo, Honorary President of the Global Civic Participation Alliance, says there is now a slow genocide where even the respect for the dead is in retreat. Naidoo spent Christmas in Zimbabwe on a field trip in hiding. "One of the mortuaries was closed while we were there, which means families have to take sand into the house, moisten it and store the dead family member there."
Together with the South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is planning a weekly fast, Naidoo will go on hunger strike to focus on the situation. Despite the noble intentions, changes are unlikely to come from divine intervention. However, the move is typical of the desperate lack of strategies to solve Zimbabwe's problems.
The largest opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is no less insecure. 40 of their supporters are in custody, but the party still does not want to leave the fragile power-sharing agreement from December. The agreement was signed in September to get out of the stalemate after MDC leader Tsvangirai won the presidential election in March, but then boycotted the second round.
The 84-year-old former guerrilla leader Mugabe has already broken the agreement that requires the MDC to be consulted in connection with key appointments. Mugabe has installed one of his loyalists as justice minister, three months after he reinstated the very unpopular central bank governor. The state media spews out hate propaganda. Again, Mugabe seems to be sitting with all the cards.
Leaving aside a military intervention, of which the MDC is reluctant, the greatest hope lies in pressuring South Africa to support a UN resolution forcing Mugabe to adhere to the power-sharing agreement. Western governments must continue to raise their voices, but they should also consider stronger ways to make South Africa no longer silent against the injustices in Zimbabwe.
The MDC can also attempt mass actions to ensure that the power-sharing agreement is kept. But demonstrations and strikes have not worked before. Nor will they probably work now that the population has to focus on survival from day to day. The ruling elite, who fear being prosecuted for crimes against humanity along with Mugabe, will not give up without a fight either.
The MDC must decide whether they will continue to hope that Mugabe will change his mind, or look at other alternatives, which in the current circumstances will mean that the fight is escalated wherever possible.
Translated by Tonje M. Viken
Wilson Johwa was born and raised in Zimbabwe and now works as a journalist for the South African newspaper The Business Daily. He writes exclusively for Ny Tid.
