Was the Global Alliance for Zimbabwe a Day After Mugabe project?

It was also going to:

• to promote policies and practices that create opportunities for US business to conduct business in the Republic of Zimbabwe and to sell products to and purchase products from businesses conducted in the Republic of Zimbabwe;
• to promote business relationships between United States business entities and businesses operated in the Republic of Zimbabwe;
•  to obtain and provide information about the conduct of business in the Republic of Zimbabwe to US businesses that are contemplating undertaking business in the Republic of Zimbabwe or developing business relationships with companies that are otherwise conducting business in the Republic of Zimbabwe; and
• to represent US businesses conducting or seeking to conduct business in the Republic of Zimbabwe before regulators, legislators and public policymakers, in public forums and before the press on matters of important public policy, legislation and regulation.

The articles, however, also clearly stated that “the Corporation shall never be operated for the primary purpose of carrying on a trade or business for profit”.

It was therefore not clear how the organisation was going to benefit the MDC-T or how it was going to promote business when Zimbabwe was under United States sanctions.

The only plausible explanation is that the organisation was formed in anticipation of an MDC-T victory as the United States has always felt it would play a more active role after Mugabe.

This was clearly shown by the high profile of the company the organisation partnered with, Goddard Gunster.

 The company says on its website:  “Goddard Gunster does advocacy better than anyone else. As boundaries and borders begin to fade, strategies we honed on the local level are translating into international success stories. And with a 95% win rate, we can confidently say— GET USED TO WINNING.”

Its directors are also high profile lobbyists.

In a cable dispatched on 4 June 2003, entitled After Mugabe, United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Joseph Sullivan clearly stipulated what the United States envisaged to do after Mugabe left the scene.

He wrote:  “While it is still uncertain whether President Robert Mugabe will depart in the next days or months, Post (the embassy) considers it prudent to offer policymakers “day after” recommendations at this stage.

“Assuming a transition government is committed to political and economic reform, the US should immediately assist with elections, humanitarian needs and infrastructure loan guarantees. A transition government will not completely overcome the country’s political divisions or recession, but it could lay the foundation for a viable democracy and market economy.

“To accomplish this, we suggest the US establish the legal groundwork for waiving the Brooke-Alexander Amendment and 620(q) at the appropriate time.”

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