EDITORIAL
The power to change is in the palms of our hands
Published: 04-APR-05
By the time you read this, Zimbabwean president
Robert Mugabe will doubtless be sitting back on a
comfy chair, drawing contentedly on a Cuban cigar
and sipping a fine single malt whisky as he savours
his victory in his country’s latest elections.
There may even be the odd deranged observer mission which
declares the polls free and fair, in spite of the litany of monstrous
atrocities which have gone unchecked in the days and
months leading up to the ballot. One thing is for certain: his
fellow African leaders will nod sagely.
The more thick-skinned will even offer congratulations, and
mouth platitudes about the people of Zimbabwe having spoken,
when they will, in reality, have done no such thing at all – not
with the gags on the media, the police clampdowns on anything
that looks faintly like an opposition and the ongoing suppression
of basic human rights.
Another certainty is that South African President Thabo Mbeki
will continue his
policy of quiet diplomacy towards his northern
neighbour, much to the consternation of opposition groups
at home and human rights organisations across the world.
What they need to realise is that he doesn’t have much choice.
As a rapidly emerging world leader, it would be singularly inappropriate
for Mr Mbeki to openly chastise a fellow president,
power-crazed dictator or not. And the consequences of inciting
a bloodbath on South Africa’s doorstep are terrifying, even to
the most rabid anti-Mugabe campaigner.
Mr Mbeki may be many things, but a fool he most certainly
is not. So if he successfully cajoles the cranky Mugabe into
retirement, as we suspect he is trying to do, and as he did so
well with Charles Taylor in Liberia, the world will applaud his
political acumen. If there is one major criticism of his approach,
it is that he has not shared his vision with those around him. It is
impossible to buy into someone’s plans if you don’t know what
they
are.
Besides, the African Union has hardly been consistent when
it comes to its treatment of maverick leaders. Why should Mr
Mugabe change his ways when he sees people like Teodoro Obiang
Nguema, Paul Biya and even Laurent Gbagbo treating their
countries like their personal fiefdoms, without fear of censure?
What increasing numbers of commentators are suggesting is
that the power to change Zimbabwe must come from within that
country itself. Just look at South Africa, where sustained pressure
from the people themselves was the single biggest factor
in the overthrow of a fundamentally hideous apartheid regime.
Or Nigeria, which is finally forging the democratic future it deserves
after years of brutal military rule. It’s not perfect by any
means, but it beats the heck out of Abacha.
What Zimbabweans do have on their side, as do millions of
Africans, is a burgeoning channel with which to interact with the
outside world, do business and change their lives.
It’s the muchtalked
about mobile telephony revolution, which is touching
every single aspect of life on this continent in ways that we could
never have dreamed about a few years ago.
The beauty of this unstoppable GSM force is that governments
have very little control over it. Once they have taken the
initial barriers down, they can do very little to stop the sweep of
cellular telephony, which is narrowing the digital divide far more
effectively than any number of computers could do in the next
century.
We touch on this phenomenon in this issue of Business in
Africa, for touch is all you can really do with a topic like this. We
could fill our magazine with the effects of mobile telephony for
the next year without repeating ourselves, if we so wished. Such
is the nature of the beast.
The important point about mobile communications, that we
can never make too strongly, is its ability to act as an agent of
change. It knows no formal boundaries,
respects no petty laws,
rides roughshod over manmade obstacles and restrictions. It
is this ability that we as Africans should harness to grab our
rightful place at the global table, to realise our own hopes and
dreams, to expose wrongdoing and abuse, to form powerful networks
of people who want something better for themselves and
their children. It is a fitting analogy for the people of Zimbabwe
who feel they are getting a rough deal.
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