The more the MDC insists that it is “a party of excellence,” the more sceptical I become about it. Having agreed to this transitional government arrangement with Zanu PF, it is now finding it difficult to actually get anything done. Mugabe flouts the agreement by appointing the Attorney-General and Reserve Bank Governor without consulting with the MDC, and at the same time refuses to swear in the MDC’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Roy Bennett.

The MDC’s National Council met on the weekend to decide what to do about some of the problems they’re having in this “power sharing” agreement, like the appointment of permanent secretaries and Provincial Governors.

Their resolution? To ask SADC and the AU for help. Never mind that it was SADC’s mediation that created this imbalanced agreement in the first place. If the MDC can’t solve its problems without looking to outsiders for help, what confidence can we have it its ability to run the country?  It’s time they started demonstrating excellence in action, not just in words.

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti is struggling to get the kind of big dollar support he is hoping for to resuscitate the country’s ailing economy.

He’s gotten a few nibbles – this week Zimbabwe secured USD 200 million in credit from SADC, and another USD 200 million in credit from COMESA. The UK has promised USD 21 million in humanitarian aid. Nothing to sniff at – but nowhere near the USD 10 billion plus injection Biti has been shopping around for.

Part of the problem, of course, is the global financial crisis – countries are worried about bailing out their own economies, and aren’t as open to helping out others as they might have been a year or two ago.

Part of the problem is scepticism. The IMF turned down Biti’s request, reportedly citing arrears and financial restrictions.

But most importantly, perhaps, Western governments at least are still under pressure to not give aid to Zimbabwe – until the government stops its human rights abuses, and commits to reform.

Human Rights Watch Africa Director Georgette Gagnon said in a statement today:

Humanitarian aid that focuses on the needs of Zimbabwe’s most vulnerable should continue. But donor governments such as the UK should not release development aid until there are irreversible changes on human rights, the rule of law, and accountability.

Continued farm invasions are getting a lot of media coverage, and are cited as one type of abuse that has to stop. As Tom Porteous pointed out in the Guardian (UK) yesterday, while perhaps less in the public eye, the attacks at the diamond mines in Marange are also a brutal form of human rights abuse. Porteous warns that donors can’t guarantee that aid to Zimbabwe will go to rebuilding the country’s infrastructure to promote basic human rights. Rather, it might still end up financing the forces which actively assault them.

There is much talk of reform in Zimbabwe but, as yet, no concrete action. The process of political change may have started but it is not irreversible. As long as Mugabe’s nexus of repression and corruption remains in place, no amount of development assistance will help solve Zimbabwe’s huge economic problems. And any economic aid to Harare from the UK or other donors will help to feed the crocodiles, just as surely as the blood-soaked profits of the Marange diamond mines.

I was pleased to see the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe and the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe speak out about an upcoming All Stakeholder Media Conference being organised by the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity.

The conference is themed “towards an open, tolerant, and responsible media environment.” Its objective is “to review Zimbabwe’s current media environment and policies in order to guide the Government’s media policy.” It replaces an event planned for March which Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Publicity Jameson Timba called “the first consultative step by the ministry as it reviews Zimbabwe’s media environment and policies with a view to advising the inclusive government on its new policy.”

But the substance of the two events seems quite different. As MAZ and VMCZ point out, many of the speakers in the revised programme are the same people who have blocked media freedom and opposed liberalisation of publishing and broadcasting over the past ten years.

The 15-minute presentation on “Being seen to be free and fair: Media and electioneering” is hosted by Sekeramayi, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Web 2.0 publishing gets 15 dedicated minutes – under the topic “New media and accountability: The role of ghost sites and blogs.” Way to be progressive, interim government.

How are the same people who closed off Zimbabwe’s media environment, and made it characterised by intolerance, irresponsibility and propaganda going to be the ones to open it up and make it more tolerant and responsible?

It’s 15 days into the “First 100 Days” of implementing the Short Term Economic Recovery Programme, and government hasn’t even released the plan of what it’s considering in the short term – much less implemented any of it.

The MDC is stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, they know that public confidence depends on them making some tangible headway in Zimbabwe’s economic recovery. On the other hand, governments like the US are refusing to give them the financial support they need unless there is rule of law and respect for human rights.

The latest report from the International Crisis Group supports the MDC’s calls for “humanitarian aid plus.” This would see Zimbabwe getting aid for education, health care, civil servant salaries, and infrastructure projects. But, given the stance the US is taking at least, it seems unlikely Zimbabwe will get the support it needs any time soon.

Ambassador James McGee said recently:

It is illegal under the existing laws of the United States to pay salaries to civil servants – we call it budget assistance. I cannot pay a secretary for the Ministry of Health or an economist in the RBZ, I would go to jail for that. What we are trying to look at is other ways of helping the government of Zimbabwe like revitalising Harare Central Hospital. The government itself will have to pay its civil servants and I hope it will be able to generate money to pay its civil servants. Read more

African countries have been approached to assist Zimbabwe, but most have limited funds themselves. If the interim government can’t stop the latest wave of farm invasions, and demonstrate a dramatic turn around in civil liberties, it will be difficult to persuade the US and EU to provide “humanitarian aid plus.”

Meanwhile, the RBZ’s dirty laundry is also coming out – Gono has admitted to raiding the bank accounts of private companies and international NGO’s for foreign currency. But, he swears, that’s all in the past – “Let bygones be bygones,” he says.

When will the interim government start demanding higher standards – and acting on some of its promises?

I’ve been following the battle for control of Zimbabwe’s telecommunications portfolios with interest. For years, communications has been a tightly regulated and strictly controlled space. Politically that has made a lot of sense – adds a certain credibility to the “Big Brother is watching” threats that keep the population in check. And economically it’s made a bit of sense – in the short term, at least, monopoly means profit.

So I was pleased and impressed when the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology was created, and allocated to the MDC. But, unsurprisingly, Nelson Chamisa had hardly taken office when the tussle over control over communications began. First, Webster Shamu, Minister of Media, Information and Publicity tried unsuccessfully to assert his control over telecommunications. Then Robert Mugabe announced that he was “redefining” things, taking the Department of Communications out of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, and putting it in the Ministry of Transport, (Communication) and Infrastructure Development – run by former Minister of National Security Nicholas Goche.

As Denford Magora put it recently, through this “realignment,”

Mugabe has taken TelOne, the phone company, Netone, the cellphone company and the regulating bodies for the communication industry out of the ambit of the MDC. Which means that Nelson Chamisa is now a minister in charge of shops that sell cellphones, phone shops and computer shops. Even the matter of the Internet has now been taken out of his hands.

So, I could understand Chamisa being upset. According to the Zimbabwe Independent, he’s threatening to resign unless his ministry is combined with Goche’s, and the two co-chair it. The article reports “Chamisa is also said to be prepared to stay only if the administration of the Interception of Telecommunications Act (sic) was removed from his ministry, leaving the original portfolio as it was.”

Wait a minute. Where is the principle here? Where is the commitment to democratic values that the MDC purportedly stands for. If Chamisa was going to resign unless the Interception of Communications Act was repealed, I would be impressed. But he’s happy for ICA to continue, so long as he’s not responsible for it?

Reading the Zimbabwe Independent this weekend, I got the sense that Chamisa wasn’t frustrated that the liberalisation of Zimbabwe’s telecommunications sector was being thwarted. He didn’t seem outraged that the potential to open up access to information to a range of Zimbabweans might not be realised. They didn’t quote him as expressing concern that Zanu PF control over telcoms would mean continued surveillance of activists’ communications. Rather, he just doesn’t want to feel demoted – and he doesn’t want to lose his ministerial position.

A recent commentary by Eddie Cross caught Dale Doré’s eye. Among other things, Doré suggested:

The MDC must grasp is that they are powerless and that they have indeed been sucked into the ZANU(PF) morass. And, yes, there is something the MDC can do …… GET OUT!

This in turn caught our eye. Yesterday, we included some of Dale’s comments in our email newsletter, and we invited people to email us back with their thoughts. This has sparked a lively debate. The people who are responding to us disagree strongly with Dale, saying things like:

The GPA is cast in stone! We are tired of talks – and we do not want to backtrack and redo the talks. We will not achieve anything, we cant reinvent the wheel! Why should anyone want the MDC to pull out of the GNU when there are signs of progress written all over the wall? I say to this to these peddlers of venom, eat the humble pie. The GNU is here and is here to stay!

Read more here, and leave us a comment to share your thoughts on this debate.