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Gibson Nyikadzino Correspondent
In a changing world, Zimbabwe is today guaranteeing ways of survival informed by reciprocity, cooperation, recognition, equality and honesty, as opposed to belligerence and chaos in the world.
In such an endeavour, the issue of rejoining the Commonwealth group of nations by Zimbabwe is not a surprise because at the inception of the Second Republic, the foreign policy pronouncements by the Government made that move inevitable.
Such inevitability was not because Zimbabwe was to be seen as a subservient partner, but that it was instructive for Zimbabwea to balance its interests from 2017 going forward as exhibited by how she manages its bilateral and multilateral relations.
The issue of rejoining the Commonwealth is a diplomatic signal that the “might is right” idea which has been the key characteristic of the world at the turn of the millennium is having no place in the modern and future world make-up whose only possibility of survival is mutual cooperation for mutual survival.
There is great wisdom in the terms “open for business, friend of all and enemy to none, re-engagement and engagement” to use as anchors of the nation’s foreign policy motors as what informs the motion of Zimbabwe’s step into the unfolding multilateral world.
No policy has been abandoned and none will be abandoned, the “Look East Policy” also remains a key part in the transformative orientation.
These facets strongly inform Zimbabwe’s foreign policy, coupled by factors that include sanctions; the Zimbabwe-British relations; the land reform programme; geo-politics; resource availability; national interest; cultural values and national power.
Therefore, there is no need for those with little administrative and political experience to misconstrue the intentions of Zimbabwe from its 2018 indications that it intends to re-join the Commonwealth group of countries.
Rejoining the Commonwealth is Zimbabwe’s open-door-policy posture to create a social contract with all multilateral groups it can reach out to in order to escape the state of nature that characterised Zimbabwe’s isolation by such grouping for nearly two decades.
There are internal and external factors that inform the decision that Zimbabwe is pursuing at the moment.
Zim with new image
The sources of a nation’s power can primarily be found and established in its military and economic capabilities which give it either the means to exercise coercive and non-coercive influence over others.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the biggest instrument that it has used to foster its agenda has traditionally been diplomacy and the promotion of values through governmental actors in shaping its relations with other nations.
For Zimbabwe, the external environment is playing a key role in ensuring that Zimbabwe’s quest to be a member of other key multilateral organisations is not only an act of solidarity, but also morality, as seen by how other countries have spoken about Zimbabwe.
Without doubt, the external environment is candid in accepting that Zimbabwe’s strategic position in Southern Africa makes it a key corridor for movement and distribution of goods to the north for future investors.
Again, of the 56 Commonwealth member states, Zimbabwe enjoys bilateral relations with many of them at a political and economic level.
Countries like Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa, all key economies for east and southern Africa have provided the goodwill that ensures that having Zimbabwe on-board in multilateral organisations is a two-way venture that can be used to maximise mutual benefit.
The three countries recently raised their voices in unison for the removal of economic sanctions on Zimbabwe and how they have affected the country’s economic reform and development agenda.
But it has not been these three countries in the Commonwealth alone, but other key European leaders who are sure that shutting Zimbabwe out is a cul-de-sac in relation to business opportunities being availed by Zimbabwe.
At the European Union (EU) level, some team leaders are also keen on seeing Zimbabwe being part of their foreign investment portals.
Mr Thomas Opperer, the EU team leader in Zimbabwe on Agriculture, Private Sector and Trade once indicated that Zimbabwe’s re-engagement drive is set to ensure that Zimbabwe benefits alongside with other African countries from an ambitious external investment plan of the EU.
Within the EU body or bloc, the general sentiment is to want to see Zimbabwe being an equal member of the international political system.
Zimbabwe has, therefore, managed, through its foreign policy, to induce and influence other nations to pay attention to what it is doing now, not only to fulfil its core or short-term objectives, but to expand its interests and highlight how they can be useful for other states’ benefit in the future.
Zimbabwe’s peculiarity,
exceptionality
The peculiarity of Zimbabwe in the SADC region and on the African has made it gain recognition on the international platform through the competitiveness of the country’s human resource.
A key element that has traditionally been acceptable has been that the size and geography of a country determines its strength and power, either politically or economically.
Such cases have been proven on countries like China, Russia, India and Brazil.
But Zimbabwe’s ability to foster its values among other countries have made it peculiar despite its geography and also population.
Countries like Zimbabwe, Cuba, Jamaica, Japan and Britain, for instance, are geographically small but also carry possibilities that are key to shape and reshape the structural order of global institutions and retain a respectable international position.
It explains the international community’s ability to recognise Zimbabwe’s influence through individuals like Major Winnet Zharare who was described by UN secretary general António Guterres in May as “a role model and a trailblazer” during her 17-month assignment with the UN Mission in South Sudan.
The case for the continent’s trust in Zimbabwe also remains key as shown by the election of Zimbabwe’s candidate Dr Cosmas Zavazava to the position of the director general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) development bureau (BDT). His election was endorsed by the African Union.
Notable engagements that have been collectively agreed also include the endorsement by SADC to support Zimbabwe’s bid for the 2027 UN Security Council non-permanent seats.
What happens next?
Management of multilateral relations is a task that comes with key central challenges, institutional complexes and good prospects too.
Complexities and opportunities involved also mean that countries in the Commonwealth are to ease themselves from the temptation to look at Zimbabwe’s readmission through political, instead of economic lens.
Institutional inertia can also creep in as some members will be reacting slowly to reaching the consensus regards Zimbabwe’s intention to re-join.
However, as the Commonwealth members deliberate on the readmission plan of Zimbabwe, the latter is continuing its path of engagement through a purposive plan of action with the view towards promoting its interests as a single political community to foster a stable international order.
Zimbabwe will continue to open new avenues that preserve its objectives that include safeguarding state sovereignty, pursuit of state survival and cooperation, laying out plans of economic growth, advancing its regional weight, pan-Africanism and advancement of peace and security.
Zimbabwe is our homeland!
Online Reporter