World | Other World Stories
Democracy in Zimbabwe remains a futile passion
Mugabe uses repressive tactics to cow opposition into submission.
- By Karin Brulliard, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
- Published: 23:35 January 10, 2009
Harare, Zimbabwe: At 72, Fidelis Chiramba had spent a decade as a rural opposition party organiser, and late 2008 seemed to bring the truest promise yet for the democracy he wanted. In September, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's autocratic president for nearly three decades, shook hands with his rivals and agreed to share power.
But one dark October morning, Chiramba was seized by several men in four cars, his wife said. Soon, dozens of civil rights and opposition activists had vanished, according to human rights organisations and lawyers.
They remained missing until late December, when authorities marched Chiramba and 17 others into court on accusations of plotting to overthrow Mugabe.
The allegation is widely viewed as an invention. But the activists remain behind bars, and Chiramba's wife has come to think his hope was an illusion.
"Only God's will can change this country, because this government is adamant, " Sophia Chiramba, 69, said in an interview in Harare, the capital. "It is not willing to change. We human beings have tried. But I believe there's a limit."
As defence lawyers have futilely petitioned courts for their release, the jailed activists have become the latest symbols of the demise of what seemed to be a breakthrough power-sharing deal and, critics say, of Mugabe's resolve to keep control of the crumbling nation using the repressive tactics that characterise his government.
"It feels like we are under siege," said Fambai Ngirande, advocacy and public policy director for a umbrella group of non-governmental organisations.
"That's how repression works. You cow people into submission. You crack down heavily on any form of dissent. And meanwhile, you're pumping out propaganda."
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has threatened to quit power-sharing talks because of the disappearances and detentions.
Tsvangirai, who outpolled Mugabe in presidential elections last year, withdrew from a widely condemned runoff months later, citing political violence. The talks have been stalled for months over the allocation of key ministries.
The relationship between the parties is "totally artificial," said Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change, Tsvangirai's party.
State news media has reported that Mugabe plans to form a new government next month, but it was unclear whether he would do so alone.
A constitutional amendment that would permit the creation of a unity government is set to go to the opposition-led parliament this month, which could facilitate an agreement. If negotiations die, it is likely new elections would be called - an unattractive prospect to the opposition, dozens of whose supporters were beaten and killed by security forces after last year's polls.
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