‘This Country Is In Crisis’
An unexpected presidential contender discusses Zimbabwe's crippling problems and why he feels he can oust Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe's most recent presidential polls have been marred by controversies over corruption and vote rigging. It's upcoming ballot, on March 29, is unlikely to be any different. The southern African nation's dictatorial leader, 84-year-old Robert Mugabe, faces two challengers. The first is Morgan Tsvangirai, a longtime labor-union activist, has stood against Mugabe in the past and lost. The second, Simba Makoni, emerged only recently from within Mugabe's own ZANU-PF party apparatus, and his candidacy has energized those who considered Mugabe unassailable. Makoni, a former finance minister and senior party apparatchik, now stands poised to give one of the continent's longest-standing strongmen a run for his money. Makoni spoke to NEWSWEK's Scott Johnson recently in the presidential suite of the Rainbow Hotel, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Why are you running?
Simba Makoni: Our country needs new leadership, we need another direction.
When did you decide to enter the race?
The trigger was the failure of the party congress on Dec. 15 to solve the leadership question. The congress was convened to endorse one candidate [Mugabe] instead of electing one.
What was the mood at the time?
It's irrelevant now. But my colleagues were frustrated, they were angry, they were anxious. All of them agreed that change was overdue for the party and for the country. Everybody was convinced that we almost lost the elections in 2002 because of the leadership question.
Explain what is wrong with the leadership.
The current leadership is stuck in the past. Their reference points are the liberation struggle and colonialism, but this country is in crisis--in many crises. History is important, but it must give way to the future. We have to deal with people's problems--food, water, electricity, the fragmentation of society, the breakdown of families, the breakdown of respect for the rule of law. Even something as simple as people not obeying traffic signals. The social fabric has disintegrated. There's a tremendous manipulation of natural resources. Our leadership has no feeling for the people. We are preoccupied with staying in power. We don't look at the suffering. The state has to serve the people, not the people the state.
What about corruption?
People are corrupt. Even Mugabe has spoken publicly about people in his inner circle, people in the leadership who are corrupt, but he doesn't do anything about it.
Isn't the responsibility as much with ZANU, your party, as with Mugabe?
The problem is not a lack of policy. There was a U.N. report which found that Zimbabwe ranked [in the] 95th percentile in policy formulation and [in the] fourth percentile in policy implementation, so we have to energize policy implementation.
If you're elected, what will you do in the first days and weeks?
I don't have specific policies. But we will constitute a national authority or a government of national unity, call it what you will. We will bring together competent people, we want to engage the people of Zimbabwe for self-determination. We don't want to give them things. They are caught up in this captive dependence psychology. We have a food crisis, and we will need international assistance to tackle it.
You have a lot of support from within ZANU, that bothers some people.
I have broad support among the people of Zimbabwe. I can't measure support from within ZANU, but it's not important, it's a small party in terms of members. When my nomination was made public, a deluge of people went to register [as voters].
What will you tell foreign investors interested in returning to work in Zimbabwe?
With all due respect, foreign investors are not my first priority right now. My first priority is to mobilize Zimbabweans to take up their lives again and to re-energize people. I cannot fail to win.
What went wrong with the land-distribution program?
Corruption. It wasn't done in a transparent manner, we had guidelines. People just went on to the farms. There are people now who are multiple farm owners. There were gross irregularities. We have people on farms who are not farming. Mugabe is extending favors in the mechanization process. There were people who got tractors, for example, who didn't even own land, so those tractors are just getting dusty now.
Many people say you were sent [as a candidate] by Mugabe himself.
This has been deliberately staged against me. There are two storylines. One is that I'm a Mugabe stooge, a plant. The second, which Mugabe uses, is that I'm a stooge of the West, of Britain and America. I was part of the liberation struggle as the chief representative of ZANU in Europe. I was in the politburo until 2005, and I was in charge of a number of highly sensitive dossiers. So that whole time the president kept me in a high position in the government while I'm an agent of the West? That doesn't make sense. He is smearing me because we parted ways.
What will happen to Mugabe?
He will become an ordinary citizen and become subject to the law of Zimbabwe. We will give him protection, which is accorded to a former head of state. I would hope that he would be respected for his age and left to live in peace. The former president will be subject to the due process of law as any other subject according to the constitution of Zimbabwe.
Some Zimbabweans have called for him to be held accountable for past crimes.
He will be treated like an ordinary Zimbabwean.
How much support are you getting from the military?
Are they Zimbabwean military? Yes. So they're also in the group that supports me.
What does the pin on your lapel signify?
It's a sunflower. It symbolizes freshness. Yellow is the color of spring, renewal.
In the Shona language, what does your first name Simba mean?
It means power and strength.
And your last name, Makoni?
It comes from a sentence which means "one who is invincible."
Do you feel invincible?
No, I don't. I'm humbled to serve.
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
Scott Johnson was named Africa Bureau Chief in April 2007, after serving two years as Baghdad Bureau Chief since the spring of 2004. In the summer of 2007, Johnson co-authored, with Sharon Begley, Newsweek's July cover story "Slaughter in the Jungle," about a spate of rare mountain gorilla killings in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has also been covering, for the magazine and Newsweek's Web site, the economic collapse of Zimbabwe, health initiatives across the continent and the rise of China in Africa.
Prior to coming to Africa, Johnson worked on assignment in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. He was on assignment in Iraq during the invasion and returned several times during 2002 and 2003 to report on the post-invasion occupation. During his two years as Baghdad bureau chief, Johnson covered the rise of Iraq's sectarian war, the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein and the American military's attempt to quell the insurgency in places like Ramadi and Baghdad. He contributed exclusive reporting on the growth of death squads in Baghdad, Iran's growing influence in Iraq and American military and political developments in Baghdad.
Before coming to Iraq, Johnson covered the war in Afghanistan from October 2001 to April 2002, reporting on the fall of the Taliban from the front lines of Kunduz and Taloqan. Later on, Johnson traveled across Afghanistan reporting on the hunt for Al Qaeda and the resurgence of the Taliban as American forces drew down its presence. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, Johnson has done exclusive war reporting, often under fire and in the most dangerous situations. In Iraq, he covered the hunt for Saddam Hussein with exclusive access to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 4th Infantry Division. He also contributed extensive exclusive reporting early in 2003 on the nascent Iraqi insurgency from Fallujah.
In between posts to Baghdad, Johnson was provisionally based in Mexico City from 2002 to 2006. When not covering the war, Johnson reported on political and economic developments across Latin America. In 2002 he authored a Newsweek International cover story on the rise of China in Mexico. In 2004 he received an Overseas Press Club Honorable Mention for "Best Reporting in any Medium on Latin America" for "Latin America Lags Behind," about economic trends across the hemisphere. In Latin America, Johnson also covered violence along the U.S-Mexico border, the creation of Mexico's freedom of information act and an experimental drug treatment center in Peru.
Previously, Johnson reported for Newsweek out of Paris, France, since October 1998. During that time, he has reported on many of the biggest stories to come out of the continent, including Europe's mad cow scare, the backlash against globalization, and Newsweek's military coverage of the Kosovo war out of southern Italy. He has also developed in-depth investigative pieces from Europe, and he contributed heavily to Newsweek's worldwide report on pedophilia and the Internet. He has also covered North Africa, covering terrorism pre-and-post 9/11.
Johnson is a frequent contributor to radio, most recently from Iraq where he has interviewed on NPR, The World and other national stations, and he has been seen on MSNBC, Fox and CNN. In addition to Newsweek, his writing has appeared in Le Courrier International and Letras Libres. Johnson was also part of the Iraq team that contributed to Newsweek's 2003 National Magazine Award.
Johnson is a 1996 graduate of the University of Washington, where he received double degrees in Comparative Literature and Comparative History of Ideas. Postgraduate work included Arabic language and Middle Eastern Studies in Fes, Morocco. He is a member of the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
Comments