Regime Change Failure in Zimbabwe

Why Morgan Tsvangirayi Failed to Remove Mugabe from Power

Aug 3, 2009

Morgan Tsvangirai set out to remove and replace Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwean leader. After 10 years of trying he became prime minister to his nemesis. How did that happen?

Tsvangirai underestimated the Zimbabwean leader and failed to see the liberation war hero’s appeal in Africa and the popularity of land reforms within Zimbabwe.

Mugabe is 28 years older than Tsvangirai and has more than four decades of national politics ahead of his rival. The former guerrilla commander manipulated, outmanoeuvred or disposed of better men than the former trade unionist who rose from labourer to leader of the opposition MDC through the labour movement almost effortlessly by comparison.

Mugabe's Hard Work Versus Tsvangirai's Opportunism

He faced tough situations and made difficult decisions that propelled him to power. In 1963, along with Sithole and Chitepo, Mugabe masterminded the removal of the inept Nkomo from the leadership of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU). Nkomo expelled the trio, leaving them stranded abroad and without funding. They formed the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). Mugabe became secretary general.

Later, while in prison, following Ndabaningi Sithole’s denunciation of the armed struggle during trial, Mugabe was chosen by fellow political prisoners to replace him as ZANU leader.

Mugabe’s release from prison was one of the most decisive events in the history of Zimbabwean nationalism. He recruited young men for military training before leaving for Mozambique in 1975. He directed the guerrillas effectively such that by 1976 their activities had escalated into war.

However, the diffident Robert Mugabe had a tough time convincing African leaders that he was the president not just general secretary of ZANU in place of the flamboyant Ndabaningi Sithole.

Tsvangirai joined Zanu (PF) in 1980 when it was a respectable, victorious and popular party. He rose within the ranks of the ruling party affiliated Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). As secretary general of the ZCTU, his organisation broke away from the Zanu (PF) when it was convenient to do so-the urban masses were suffering from the effects of economic reforms and directed their anger against the government.

Labourer Against Liberator

Zimbabwe’s retired and sitting army generals and commanders, veterans of the liberation struggle, remained loyal to Mugabe and indicated that they would not allow Tsvangirai to take over. It was either Mugabe or the army, ruling out both violent overthrow and democratic ascendancy.

Tsvangirai largely lacked the support of leaders in southern Africa. According to William Gumede in the New Statesman, to Angola’s Eduardo dos Santos, one of Tsvangirai’s crimes was to form a party to oppose a sitting liberation movement.

Tsvangirai did not seem to grasp the issues against colonialism that led to the war and manifested a lack of awareness of the skewedeconomic structures inherited from Rhodesia, probably because he had worked as a labourer when many of his generation went to war or pursued education.

Poverty and Land Reforms

Tsvangirai prevaricated on land reform while Mugabe remained resolute. By 1999 most urban black Zimbabweans needed a patch of land to grow their own food. Mugabe’s land policy seemed to offer that possibility and was welcomed by neighbouring African leaders who were aware of the country’s land imbalance.

To Mugabe land was central to the liberation struggle. As long as the best arable land remained in the hands of a white minority his fight against British colonialism seemed futile. Growing poverty and uneasiness in most sectors of the population added to the urgency and resulted in commercial farm invasions.

However, Tsvangirai could not endorse land reforms for fear of alienating his European sponsors; nor could he denounce it outright for the sake of his black supporters.

Tsvangirai's Allies and Calls for Economic Sanctions

The opposition leader, described in the Telegraph as 'naive and given to make costly errors," demanded comprehensive economic sanctions against Zimbabwe which hurt the economically and politically marginalised who formed the bulk of his supporters.

Tsvangirai’s allies also worked against his ambition. He flaunted his relationship with the British while Zimbabwe was locked with that country in a bitter land dispute emanating from the Lancaster Constitution Mugabe proved to his audience of fellow African leaders that the British had not honoured their obligations. Thus Tsvangirai failed to disprove Mugabe’s claim that he was a British puppet.

Tsvangirai’s blunders led him to the prime minister’s office to join rivals used by Mugabe, who does not share power with anyone.

Tongkeh Fowale, Mugabe, From Constitutionalism to Radicalism, Revisiting the Story of Land Reforms in Zimbabwe

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