Zimpapers Logo

The fact that President Mnangagwa will be sitting in the pews of Westminster Abbey with other heads of State and Government to witness the coronation of King Charles III tomorrow would, in normal times, just be routine and simply showing respect for the Head of the Commonwealth.

But times have not been normal in British-Zimbabwe and in Commonwealth-Zimbabwe relations for almost quarter of a century, so the invitation, and the acceptance of the invitation, to attend the coronation is symbolic of the growing rapprochement between Zimbabwe, its former coloniser and the modern Commonwealth. 

And this return to normality that the invitation symbolises is important.

Britain and the US were the leaders of the sanctions initiative against Zimbabwe during the land reform, and made strenuous diplomatic efforts to bring more countries on board. 

President Mnangagwa has led the effort to engage and re-engage the world, and made that along with boosting trade one of the two main planks of Zimbabwean foreign policy, ably implemented by the two Foreign Ministers he appointed to work out the details.

We have already seen a lot of progress. Most European Union member states have been making strong efforts to improve their ties with Zimbabwe, and the new EU ambassador to Zimbabwe has been pushing for even more normalisation and improved ties, as part of his mandate to open more doors for Europeans, but that is also of benefit to Zimbabwe.

Commonwealth members have also been far more supportive of Zimbabwe. We always had a good block ready to back us, and others have been joining them. 

Latest reports suggest that even in an organisation where decisions are reached by consensus, effectively giving everyone a veto, no one wants to be in a minority of one or two. 

This is especially so when expert opinion finds that Zimbabwe’s reform process, initiated for the benefit of its own people rather than outsiders, has been very successful.

One of the more interesting points about the invitation to the coronation is its timing. The king is being crowned about three months before Zimbabwe once again goes to the polls. 

Obviously the sort of reports the British Government is getting from Harare suggest that Zimbabwe is moving into a normal election process, with all the global and Commonwealth standard procedures and rules being followed. 

So no one on the British side appeared worried about inviting President Mnangagwa.

We had a foretaste of what is likely to happen and not happen in our elections when we run a large batch of by-elections as Covid-19 retreated. 

What happened was that the major political parties all nominated candidates for most vacancies in Parliament and local authorities, everyone campaigned quite openly, the people in the affected constituencies and wards voted without any trouble, the votes were counted, the winners announced and everyone accepted the results. Normality.

There admittedly has been one brief outbreak of minor political violence recently, but that was just a punch up between supporters of two opposition parties over a provincial office the two parties both claimed, and no one was seriously hurt, just embarrassed.

Even the frequent attempts to embarrass the Government by some in opposition whenever the President attends an international gathering, misfired this time.

One fairly senior opposition figure, who was possibly seeking martyrdom in his trial for interfering with a police murder investigation, was found guilty and then fined. That followed a lengthy legal journey of the accused politician using every legal measure possible to delay the final trial. 

While the judiciary does not take into account political or diplomatic factors, the presiding regional magistrate has certainly exhibited the total independence of the Zimbabwean judiciary. 

Most lawyers probably regard the final result of conviction and a stiff fine to have met all the requirements of a fair trial and a fair sentence.

There are still four legislators facing criminal charges, two from each side of the aisle, and despite applications, appeals and other legal points that seem to be occupying a lot of the time of high-powered lawyers from the prosecution and defence, most people accept the final result will be some competent senior magistrates looking at the evidence presented in their courts and making a decision based on what facts are proven and what facts are not. 

Political factors are not considered. We continue to show we are a normal society.

So President Mnangagwa will be in the Abbey, and will be as is usual on these occasions mixing with his colleagues before and after the ceremony, and also as is usual with every head of state and government on these sort of occasions, cementing ties and opening new contacts. 

These sort of occasions traditionally lend themselves to unofficial diplomacy out of the limelight, the bright lights being on the actual event.

The normalisation process of international relations continues on other fronts. One of the most important is the sorting out of Zimbabwe’s foreign debt, where we owe quite a lot of money. 

We are unlikely to be found poor enough to get cancellation of any debt, but the sort of efforts now being made are to have debt rescheduled, a more normal process. 

This does require Zimbabwe maintains its present processes of fiscal discipline and ending corruption, since those willing to work out payment plans like to be able to deal with those who will follow the plan. 

But once these have been agreed then Zimbabwe should be able to move back into the normal world where concessionary lending for infrastructure becomes possible, and any votes of sanctions-applying states being swamped by the positive votes or abstentions of those who want to help Zimbabwe, or at least see no special reason to hammer Zimbabwe. 

The President’s visit to Britain will help to push these processes, one step at a time as the President keeps emphasising in almost all our forward movement in all spheres.