Life after Mugabe long planned � Selolwane
Bame Piet | Friday November 17, 2017 12:48
A former lecturer of Sociology at the University of Botswana, Onalenna Selolwane says she is not surprised that there is a military coup in Zimbabwe because it was long in the pipeline. A civil society activist, she says she was once invited to a meeting in Johannesburg, organised by the National Transitional Authority in Zimbabwe as part of their mobilisation project to prepare for post-Mugabe era.
“The civil society has long mobilised all stakeholders such as Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, churches, the military and all who care to unite in preparing for the post Mugabe era. They were concerned that there was a possibility or evidence that some people may try to hijack Zimbabwe in the event Mugabe was no longer President and they wanted to build an atmosphere of unity to ensure that that does not happen,” she says.
Selolwane says the civil society movement engaged even the military to ensure that it curbs any possible looting post Mugabe era.
“At a meeting in July last year, we were concerned that they have taken too long to take action, but the ongoing developments show that the project really worked. The military did not wake up and demand change; everybody has been mobilised and it is evident from the seeming unity that prevails in Zimbabwe right now”.
Selolwane says the civil society has proposed that there should be a transitional government and that those who sit, or are part of that government should not be candidates for elections.
“It was the position of the meeting that anybody who serves in the transitional government should not contest for elections that will be called within the shortest period possible after the end of Mugabe’s power,” she says.
Could there be a possibility that the military is not alone in this?
There are many surprising factors about the coup in the sense that the country’s intelligence service, the Central Intelligence Organisation did not detect the possible coup. Selolwane is convinced that the civil society did their assignment very well and ensured that every person and orgnisations were taken on board for a bloodless life post Mugabe.
Selolwane sits in two committees of the United Nations - Committee for Development Policy under the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. She also sits on the board of directors for Research Institute for Social Development, which is based in Geneva. She states that the meetings of the civil movement were held in public.