Britain's Prime Minister, Labour leader Gordon Brown is struggling to come to terms with his party's recent catastrophic losses in the local government polls. He is faced with much the same uncertainty for the future as is Zimbabwe's Morgan Tsvangirai (pronounced changiraiyi). In Africa, Tsvangirai who is the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader, is known to have won handsomely in recent general and Presidential elections, albeit the ruling party with its boss, Robert Mugabe, is attempting to steal the MDC's victory.
How can you compare these two men, Brown and Tsvangirai? Brown bleakly watches his political fortunes plummeting while Tsvangirai's hopes, aye, even his chances of attaining high office appear to be rising. Simply: neither man has much chance of being able to deliver on any but the most elementary of promises to their supporters in the short term.
That is as far as can be seen right now.
Brown is accused of failing to listen to voters whose concerns are of a rapid decline in their spending power. Credit is being cut off, banks are nervous and mortgages are no longer easy to find while houses are getting harder to sell. Brown failed a former Chancellor of the Exchequer to save during the fat years. No need to extrapolate. The word recession is too frightening to use, but the British are entering the lean years.Its not going to be easy for government, any British government.
Tsvangirai has to stay alive and is currently in voluntary exile, awaiting the long-overdue acknowledgement by Mugabe's government that its days of plenty for the few (while the rest starve) are coming to an end. When a new government comes into power, no matter what its name or who its leader, Zimbabwe's economy, like so many in Africa, will have to be dredged up from the bottom of a very murky lake (there is no sea in Zimbabwe). The expectations of Zimbabweans for an improvement in their lives will be high. Government is not going to be easy for any new Zimbabwe government.
Brown is accused of failing to listen to voters whose concerns are of a rapid decline in their spending power. Credit is being cut off, banks are nervous and mortgages are no longer easy to find, while houses are getting harder to sell. No need to extrapolate. The word recession is too frightening to use, but British people are entering the lean years
Its not going to be easy for government, any British government.
Tsvangirai has to stay alive and is currently in voluntary exile awaiting the long-overdue acknowledgement of the Mugabe's government that its days of plenty for the few while the rest starve, are coming to an end. When a new government comes into power, no matter what its name or who its leader, Zimbabwe's economy, like so many in Africa, will have to be dredged up from the bottom of a very murky lake (there is no sea in Zimbabwe). The expectations of ordinary Zimbabweans for an immediate improvement in their lives will be high.
Government is not going to be easy for any new Zimbabwean Party leader.
Copyright © 2004 Diana Mitchell
