Makoni Calls For Unity
Simba Makoni drew a great deal of attention when he stepped out and announced his challenge to Robert Mugabe. He finished third in the recent, and still contested, elections but more importantly he may well have broken the dam of silence and fear. His candidacy simply could not draw from a firm enough base of support and lacked any sort of party apparatus, but when the history of this election is written, Makoni will warrant more than just a footnote. He was a vital force in what still might represent the first real signs that the end of Robert Mugabe’s reign might be near.
Given Makoni’s steadfast opposition to what Mugabe has done to his country, most people assumed that when Makoni spoke publicly this week that he would throw his support behind Morgan Tsvangirai. Instead he stood firm in his calls for national unity, arguing that the planned run-off will almost inevitably exacerbate the violent situation in the country. Makoni hopes for the emergence of a unity government instead. Such an outcome seems, to say the least, unlikely. One cannot envision Morgan Tsvangirai compromising at this late date, and Mugabe almost surely believes that he will possess the whole loaf come July (how he obtains it is another question), and he is even less likely to toss more than crumbs in the direction of the Movement for Democratic Change.
Makoni almost surely is thinking of the events in Kenya. And perhaps he sees a tragedy in the making that he believes can be averted. But that is the thing about tragedy: You can see it coming and cannot do a thing about it. Nonetheless, there does not appear to be a viable, or even plausible, scenario for a unity government. And as long as Mugabe sits at the head of that government, how much unity, never mind reconciliation, could any of us expect?