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Powerful nations rarely climb down from their lofty positions, particularly when the positions relate to smaller, less powerful nations in which their vested interests are threatened. But in the few times they do, everyone notices, with great caution, of course. Zimbabwe woke up to thoroughly surprising headlines yesterday; US Ambassador, Mr Bruce Wharton, declaring our 31 July harmonised elections free and fair.
Zimbabweans were surprised, not because they don’t believe that their elections were actually free and fair, but because even the optimists among them did not expect the US, not through an embassy official speaking anonymously to a western media outlet, but its ambassador saying so, a departure from the super power’s initial negative assessment of the poll.
We recognise that Mr Wharton represents the US in Zimbabwe and is the official spokesperson of his country here. So when he spoke declaring the election as free and fair, his words represent his country’s position on the poll won convincingly by Zanu-PF.
“The United States stands by our assessment that these elections, while relatively peaceful, did not represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people due to serious flaws throughout the electoral process. We have made clear to the government of Zimbabwe and the region that a change in US sanctions policy will occur only in the context of credible, transparent and peaceful reforms that reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people,” said State Department spokeswoman Ms Jen Psaki in August.
On Wednesday this week, Mr Wharton took a different view. He has not denied or clarified it to agree with the original position announced soon after the polls.
“Yes, a lot was said about the elections,” he said while on tour of Naletale Ruins in Somabhula on Wednesday.
“The EU (European Union) described them as generally credible but the bottom line is that the 31 July harmonised elections were free and fair though there were some disappointments.”
We don’t take this as some kind of multiple messaging from the masters at it, but a possible, genuine change in position which must shape Zimbabwe-US relations into the future. In any case, the US’s adverse appraisal of our election was unsustainable in the first place. While Britain, Australia and Canada typically shared the same view with the US before Wednesday, they were a minority perspective to an election that was endorsed by Africa, African Caribbean and Pacific nations and basically all of Asia including the world’s second biggest economy, China.
The European Union has actually indirectly endorsed the election after it recently permitted the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) to freely sell its diamonds at Antwerp, Belgium. Prior to the July elections, the EU had promised to lift the sanctions on ZMDC if the plebiscite was judged as free and fair.
Mr Wharton is correct; we had a free and fair election that was representative of the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
He made the significant remarks as he visited Naletale Ruins to hand over $64 000 his government donated to restore collapsed walls at the national monument. We hope his presence there was symbolic. Since Independence in 1980, Zimbabwe had strong relations with the US.
Now they are in ruins, like Naletale itself. The diplomatic relations must be restored, as President Mugabe has been saying since he was returned with that crushing 61 percent majority in July. As the deteriorated stone structures that make up Naletale are being restored, hopefully to their original state or something close to that, Zimbabwe-US relations must also be restored, hopefully to their original state or something close to that.
The difference, however, is that we don’t need US pecuniary benevolence to restore the ruined diplomatic relations between Harare and Washington but simply mutual respect.
As we restore relations, the US illegal sanctions will obviously have to go. Millions of money seized as it moved from abroad through the American system and destined for Zimbabwe, must be repatriated. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control is holding at least $30 million that had been paid by customers who had bought diamonds from Chiadzwa. The financial prejudice caused by the illegal sanctions is more than just $30 million given the dominance of America on the global economy. That must end.
We take note that Mr Wharton sees the free and fair elections as “disappointing.” It is most probable that the disappointment he suffered, and the government he represents here, is not because of the few issues he raises as allegedly marring the elections.
Rather it has all to do with an outcome that he must recognise, even reluctantly. The US had a preferred candidate, MDC-T leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai. They have funded MDC-T since its inception and have plied Mr Tsvangirai with high-sounding awards. Opposition groups that work with him in his failed push to power are benefiting from US financial and moral support. He lost in the presidential race after polling 33,9 percent of the vote; his party becoming a parliamentary minority.
Therefore, Mr Wharton and the US government are disappointed they invested millions in a lost cause.
But, as we have always said, we don’t know why an election outcome in a sovereign country would actually disappoint an ambassador of another country.
It simply reinforces the widely held view that the US was, or still is, an active participant in our politics, a needless pre-occupation for them.
Online Reporter