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Dr Ibbo Mandaza

Tichaona Zindoga Political Editor
A conference to deliberate on regime change and “transition” in Zimbabwe ahead of next year’s harmonised elections has been slated for Harare later this month.

The conference, running under the theme “Zimbabwe in Transition: Reform and Reconstruction”, is being hosted by the Southern African Political Economic Series Trust (Sapes) on June 29-30 and funded by the United States of America’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and British think tank Chatham House.

It will bring together mainly local opposition leaders along with funders, think tanks and academics from the West and region. Leaders of opposition parties, the MDC-T’s vice president Nelson Chamisa; Mavambo Kusile Dawn (Simba Makoni); People’s Democratic Party (Tendai Biti); National People’s Party (Joice Mujuru) and Zapu (Dumiso Dabengwa) will attend.

The ruling Zanu-PF is barely represented, with Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa and former co-chairperson in the 2013 national constitution-making process, Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, the only top officials being invited from the party.

NED’s Dave Peterson, Chatham House’s Alex Vines, academic and former advisor to ex-prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, opposition-leaning academics Philan Zamchiya, Briggs Bomba, Tony Reeler, Brian Kagoro as well as NGO leaders such as Promise Mkwananzi, are expected to present papers.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, the umbrella body of anti-Government civil society and non-government organisations linked to the opposition MDC formations, is a partner at the fete. On Tuesday, Sapes convenor Dr Ibbo Mandaza confirmed the event.

He claimed that the conference was for investment. “We want to see how we can mobilise investment for reconstruction of the country since at the moment investors are adopting a wait-and-see attitude,” he said. “It is less about what has happened in the past than what will happen in the future and the way forward,” he added.

However, Dr Mandaza was at pains to explain why there was a predominant cast of anti-Government organisations and academics. He conceded that the inclusion of Zanu-PF officials such as Cde Mangwana and other parliamentarians was a “late addition”.

The forthcoming event has raised eyebrows due to its timing, ahead of the crucial polls next year, as well as its funders. NED is one of America’s fronts for regime change in the developing world, although it calls itself “a private, non-profit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world”.

The organisation is cash-flush and is funded by corporate financiers with massive economic and geopolitical interests tied to the American ruling elites.

It supports activities in 90 countries through anti-government civil society organisations. In Zimbabwe, it funds thousands of anti-Government organisations under the banner of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.

The London-based Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, describes itself as an independent policy institute but is widely regarded as antennae of the British system.

Dr Mandaza said NED and Chatham House had been Sapes’ funders and partners since the 1980s and its links to the West.