21 things the Zimbabwe opposition has to address to effectively compete with ZANU-PF

9- Plan, prepare and take opportunities

“Planning is key as an organisation cannot move into any strategic direction without a proper plan. A good plan also requires an accurate assessment of the situation, as that will determine your policy and political options. Part of the MDC-T’s problem with regards to planning is that the party lacked evidenced-based analysis during the GNU period,” Hartwell argues. “Planning can only be effective if the opposition parties have a realistic understanding of the environment in which they operate. Furthermore, planning takes cognisance of the environment by mapping out a host of scenarios, each with alternative plans. It thus demands a lot of preparation. Some risks can be managed by going through different scenarios and by figuring out what would be the most optimal way of acting should things not go according to plan A. This is exactly where ZANU-PF officials are brilliant; they are able to play chess on two boards at the same time and they generally seem to be two steps ahead of the game.” Hartwell says one diplomat told him: “the MDC-T never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”.

10-Engage the security sector

“Zimbabweans often tell a joke that goes like this: ‘Why do they call elections general elections in Zimbabwe?’ The answer is; because generals usually determine the outcome of the results.’ There is a lot of truth in the joke as the November 2017 military coup demonstrated. The security sector has been responsible for keeping ZANU-PF in power, which is why they have to be considered in any grand plan aimed at democratic transformation. After the MDC-T won the March 2008 election, they entered into secret discussions with Mugabe’s representatives. It was alleged that Uncle Bob was ready to step down. In fact, senior MDC figures were confident that he would do so. However, this did not happen and one of the reasons was because the MDC-T leaders failed to deal with the fears held by hardliners: those with blood on their hands did not know what was going to happen the day after the transition and therefore ZANU-PF pulled out of the talks,” Hartwell argues.

He says the MDC-T confused security sector reform with engaging the of the security sector. The Security Sector Reform process is long-term, it deals with the relationship between the security sector and the people, and it aims to fundamentally change the professionalism of the military, police, intelligence, and other security structures.  Usually, security sector reform takes place during, and particularly, after a major transformation. However, engagement should be an ongoing political activity that has to play an important role during the negotiations leading up to a potential transition. Security sector reform is generally much more open compared to the engagement efforts, which by and large happens behind closed doors. The main goal of engaging the security sector should be to get the military, police, and intelligence to support a democratic transition.

11-Focus on your goals

A political party without goals is like someone getting into a car without knowing where he or she is driving to. There is a lot of scientific evidence linking success to goals. Therefore everything the party does should be subservient to the party’s goals.  It is important to distinguish one’s goals from one’s position. Morgan Tsvangirai was focused on his position instead of focussing on his goal. (It looks like Chamisa is falling into the same pit).

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