CVN News

Times are indeed changing in global politics, and so is the way Britain looks at Zimbabwe. Who would have thought that the Speaker of Zimbabwe's Parliament, Advocate Jacob Mudenda, would receive a special mention in the belly of the beast, the House of Commons, the very citadel of British political power? Two things explain this shift. First, Britain has changed its attitude towards Harare because there is no meaningful opposition to speak of. Second, since the 2016 Brexit vote, Britain, much like President Trump's administration, has become far more interested in trade and investment, and only talks politics when its own interests are directly affected. It is called realpolitik. President Mnangagwa's administration has also moved to address issues that troubled London for years. It agreed to compensate white farmers who lost their land, and, unlike the Mugabe administration, it has toned down ZANUPF's anti-British rhetoric. There are still members of the British Parliament who are vehemently opposed to ZANUPF rule, but they now sit on the fringes of a policy that the new British Ambassador, Gill Lever, has framed around trade, investment and people-to-people links. What does this mean for the opposition? You only get recognised if you exist and are organised. Today's opposition is built around personalities, where one individual stands in for opposition politics instead of an institution, as the MDC once was. Until that is fixed, Britain will keep tightening its embrace of ZANUPF, for as long as ZANUPF does not stand in the way of British interests. The tragedy of Zimbabwe's opposition personalities is that they tell their supporters what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. Lies, empty promises and delusions galore. It is no small feat for Mnangagwa to send a cross-party parliamentary delegation into the heart of Britain's Parliament, led by none other than the Secretary General of ZANUPF, who is also the Speaker of Zimbabwe's Parliament. Whichever way you look at it, this is a diplomatic win for him. Instead of pretending that these things are not happening, the opposition should be asking itself hard questions. How did things get so bad that ZANUPF now controls the narrative in the way we are watching unfold before our eyes? If you really want to understand the depth of this story, consider this. The Speaker who presided over the recalls of elected opposition MPs, the Speaker who presided over the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill (CAB3), and the Speaker who oversaw its passage into the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Act (CAA3), was warmly welcomed in the British Parliament. That is how far the opposition has lost the narrative. It is loud on social media, but absent from the corridors of global power where decisions are made.