Big day today. Friday the 12th, luckily not the 13th. We learnt late last night that a deal between the fighting factions of Zimbabwe had been reached, that President Robert Mugabe would remain in his seat and that Morgan Tsvangirai would assume the role of Prime Minister, which was abolished by Mugabe in the 1980s after he took power. Some reports have even suggested that Tsvangirai in his position would take control of the police force, while Mugabe retains his reign over the army. No official document to support any of these claims has been released as yet, but we wait.
A few things have come out of this Zim situation and subsequent talks. Firstly, President Thabo Mbeki’s role as mediator may finally be vindicated after long months of criticism from all sides, involved or not. He was accused (and rightly so) of neglecting his domestic duties to concentrate on helping Africa, especially Zimbabwe, regain its footing. He was seen more as an inter-continental dealer than a homeboy. Charity does begin at home Mr President, always. Now, will Mbeki be the knight in the shiny suit or will people “playa hate” and say things like “but it was his job to mediate. He did it and that’s that”? Will he regain some of the credibility he had lost in the years of Jacob Zuma’s legal woes, for which he was solely blamed by the JZ brigade? The man has done a very good job of this Zim process I’d say, and if he is not remembered for anything else when leaves office in 2009 then he must be remembered for this particular achievement.
The second important thing that happened today of course is the escape from prosecution of JZ himself, at least for now. Today Judge Chris Nicholson handed down judgment that claims of a political conspiracy against JZ may not be as far-fetched as many believe. He ended up saying the NPA’s decision to prosecute the man were invalid. NPA of course can still come back and recharge JZ, a third time. But should they choose this route the conspiracy theory will just balloon into a universe of theories. And get people even more mad than they already are. You thought you heard too much of “kill for Zuma”, “lay my life down for Zuma”? This will be new. Completely new. The likes of Zapiro are just fanning the flames and personally I just don’t need that kind of drama in my life.
In a strange sort of way most people wanted to see this trial go ahead, not only because they had/ have doubts about JZ’s innocence but also because they are interested in the outcome. That he may not be tried again means these opportunities are now lost in space, maybe for good. But it also means that no matter the outcome of a case against JZ, guilty or not, opinions about him have already been made thanks to our robust media, and confirmed by the entire country. I think this is what his allies mean by an unfair trial, that we all have some sort of opinion on his guilt/ innocence already, and that even a judge handling his case would not be immune to these opinions. Would I be happy with a JZ presidency? I don’t know. I would answer that question in April 2011, two years into his administration, when I could properly assess on whether he has provided for enough hungry children, whether our employment rate has increased, the rate of HIV infection, if we are producing enough of really smart kids from ALL schools across the country, the number of pensioners who will be queuing up every month for their money. I’ll judge JZ by how he treats the media, the very poor, how he interacts with issues of BBBEE. They say we can recognise the devil as he walks up towards us. Unfortunately I am not that perceptive a judge of human character and I can only see the devil only months after we’ve moved in together.
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