[2007 October 18]
By: Trevor Ncube
These are excerpts/extracts from the Second Oppenheimer Lecture delivered at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London in September
Although the Zimbabwean crisis has preoccupied the attention of opposition parties, civil society activists, global policymakers and researchers, particularly since 2000 when President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF government embarked on controversial land seizures, there has been between little and no focus on viable solutions to end the crisis beyond condemning and demonizing Mr. Mugabe and his misrule.
While the Zimbabwean crisis is now widening and deepening in every respect, the continued focus on the description of the crisis at the expense of finding and mapping out solutions to that crisis is generating widespread fatigue, cynicism and even resignation among Zimbabweans and some concerned sections of the international community.
I believe the time has come for those concerned about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe to take a leaf from the Chinese language which depicts the word crisis with two characters: one denoting danger and the other representing opportunity. Much as the situation in Zimbabwe is replete with dangers arising from the political and economic meltdown in that country, the very same meltdown is creating opportunities for change.
Against this background, and in the interest of shifting the focus of our debate and policy action on Zimbabwe away from crisis-description to crisis-resolution, there are four opportunities that need our collective attention in the hope that we can zero in on one or all of them to facilitate positive change in Zimbabwe.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Downloads18 October 2007Trevor Ncube - Opportunities for reform.pdf
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