Striking Back

Toward a one-party state

Officials of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe's government have been railing against the Western press for months, charging that a steady stream of critical reports that describe increasing authoritarianism, economic decline and bloody intertribal feuding in Zimbabwe were distortions of the truth. Last week they struck back. At a meeting with the five other "frontline" black African nations that confront South Africa,* Zimbabwe won approval of a resolution banning all visits by foreign journalists who are based in South Africa, except by specific invitation. Since almost all reporting on Zimbabwe is done by 90 foreign correspondents who work in South Africa, the ban's immediate effect will be to sharply curtail coverage of the country.

Foreign journalists who are based outside South Africa can visit Zimbabwe, and the country's press freedoms still exceed those of most other black African nations. Nevertheless, the decision seemed to be another disappointing sign that, three years after wresting independence from white rule, black-governed Zimbabwe was slipping into the mold of so many other African states.

Mugabe has done little to dispel that impression. He has forcefully moved to curb the powers of his main rival, Joshua Nkomo, with whom he shared an uneasy alliance during the seven-year guerrilla war that finally ended the white regime of Ian Smith in 1979. In January, Mugabe's troops killed hundreds of Nkomo's Ndebele tribesmen in Matabeleland, ostensibly while crushing opposition guerrillas. When soldiers raided Nkomo's home in March, he fled to London, where he remains in exile.

An attempt by Mugabe to administer a final blow to Nkomo's waning political prospects failed only narrowly last week. Invoking a law that requires the Zimbabwean Parliament to declare a seat vacant if any member misses 21 consecutive sittings, Mugabe's ruling ZANU-P.F. Party called a vote to strip Nkomo of his parliamentary seat. When the embarrassed leadership realized that not enough members were present in Parliament to provide the necessary majority, it postponed the decision. In London, Nkomo warned glumly that "if I don't go back, there will be a war."

One-party rule now seems all but inevitable. Yet Mugabe, who describes himself as a Marxist, has offered intriguing hints that he will not create a Communist-style state. Finance Minister Bernard Chidzero has imposed a tough new budget that includes not only higher taxes for upper-bracket incomes, but also an unprecedented "lower level" tax of 2% on all incomes above $100 a month. The pragmatic measures are aimed at reducing Zimbabwe's budget deficit, which was more than $600 million last year.

The government has taken small but significant steps to reduce political repression and to signal its need for support from Western governments. Last month Mugabe ordered the Korean-trained Fifth Brigade that was responsible for the massacres earlier this year to leave Matabeleland. When the brigade's Korean instructors returned home, Mugabe invited Britain to retrain its 5,000 troops.

Those steps should earn Mugabe a relatively warm reception next month when he visits the U.S., which is the country's largest aid donor. "If a one-party state tolerates diversity of views, freedom of political expression and the press, and legal protection for the rights of minorities," says a State Department official, "is that not compatible with what we want?" Lifting the controversial ban on foreign journalists based in South Africa would be a painless way for Mugabe to reaffirm that it is what he wants too.

* Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.