Ever since Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa assumed power in a soft military coup in November 2017, international re-engagement has constituted his political mantra and rebranding.
The diplomatic charm targeted countries in the Western geopolitical orbit of liberal democracies.
While Zimbabwe carried a pariah tag under former president Robert Mugabe, it has maintained relations with the former eastern bloc led by Russia, the African countries, and similarly pariah states such as Belarus.
Failing to convince other Western diplomatic communities of changed ways, the Zanu PF-led government under President Emmerson Mnangagwa has increasingly bid for Zimbabwe to rejoin the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth was formed in 1949 as a grouping of former British colonies led by the crown.
Over the years, former non-British colonies such as Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, and Rwanda, a former German and Belgian colony joined; enlarging the forum, though with diminishing geopolitical significance.
The two countries’ switching of spheres of influence may not exactly imply decolonisation as the bloc is still considered as replaying an imperial sphere of influence.
The Commonwealth’s place in global affairs is also frustrated by its loosely defined purpose.
The bloc’s geopolitical clout is lagging new entrants like the BRICS and G20 and spatially concentrated regional economic communities such as the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU).
This is also because neo-colonial and neo-imperial networks or spheres of influence are increasingly discredited.
Zimbabwe exited the Commonwealth bloc under Mugabe in 2003 after the bloc criticised and suspended the country over human rights abuses in 2002.
Before exiting the bloc, Zimbabwe had played a historic role in hosting the meeting that drafted the Harare Declaration of October 1991, committing to principles of democracy and human rights.
Zimbabwe was ironically suspended for violating the Harare Declaration.
The exit presaged Zimbabwe’s declining international prestige since the 2000s occasioned by the violent land reform program and the regime's repressing of the populace.
Zimbabwe’s isolation was exacerbated by the imposition of economic embargoes on persons and entities connected to the regime by the Western countries and the United States under the ZDERA law of 2001.
Zimbabwe responded by berating the countries that criticised its human rights record and undemocratic tendencies and leaning on nationalist sentiments against purported neo-colonial and imperialist machinations.
While the restrictive measures have been eased, 11 members of the Zimbabwean regime and three entities remain sanctioned by the United States under the Global Magnitsky programme.
The Magnitsky laws were enacted to punish human rights violators globally.
The US enacted the Magnitsky Act of December 2012 responding to the alleged killing of Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009.
Thereafter, Western countries and liberal democracies enacted Magnitsky regulations including the United Kingdom and Canada. Authoritarian states have labelled these laws imperialist, however, ordinary people and civil society have welcomed laws to defend them against abuse and human rights violations.
Through two disputed elections in 2018 and 2023, Zimbabwe has failed to convince the US and the West that it has reformed, despite briefly resuming diplomatic talks and country visits.
In April 2018, members of the United States’ bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeff Flake and Chris Coons, visited Zimbabwe to engage the political players and assess the country’s progress.
Zimbabwe and the European Union also started a dialogue series in June 2019.
The Western bloc, Zimbabwean civil society and the opposition have criticised the lack of reforms.
The Freedom House downgraded the country’s ranking on the Freedom in the World index, from “partly free” in 2017 – when Mnangagwa assumed power – to “not free” in the 2024 report.
While the country’s GDP grew amid expectations of transformation in 2018 to US$ 34.16 billion from US$ 17.58 billion in 2017, it fell to US$ 21.83 billion in 2019 and has struggled to reach the post-coup year, also because of Covid-19.
The recently launched Economic Freedom Audit reported by the Eastern Caucus, Atlas Network, and the Fraser Institute indicated Zimbabwe struggled on the economic freedom front.
The Fraser Institute ranked Zimbabwe 164 out of 165 countries in 2024, only bettering Venezuela on the Economic Freedom of the World index.
Post-Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s economic and political development has been subdued.
With this uncharitable situation in its international re-engagement and economic performance, Zimbabwe has staked its bets on rejoining the Commonwealth.
Zimbabwe’s hopes are encouraged by its African friends in the bloc, with equally authoritarian domestic politics such as Rwanda, Mozambique, and Uganda.
During his chairmanship of the Commonwealth, Rwanda President Paul Kagame supported readmitting Zimbabwe into the bloc.
Recently the outgoing Commonwealth secretary general Patricia Scotland said Zimbabwe had made “remarkable democratic progress” to be readmitted to the bloc.
With the recent wave of political arrests after the 2023 elections, discredited elections, and a Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Bill meant to shrink civic space many will disagree with these assessments. From a constructivist international relations perspective, however, admission could help the country reconsider its international image and reform.
Scotland has given Commonwealth countries weeks to comment on Zimbabwe’s readmission bid.
She indicated readmitting Zimbabwe would expedite the reform process.
Joining the block could indeed nudge the country to reform while gifting Mnangagwa a historic diplomatic achievement.
In 2013, the bloc adopted the Commonwealth Charter, emphasising for members the principles of democratic governance, human rights, and respect for civil society.
Given this framework, Zimbabwe could be better influenced to reform as a member but a caveat exists.
The Zimbabwean government could also use readmission to the bloc to launder its image without reforming.
Such concerns have been evidenced in Uganda and Rwanda whose levels of impunity in human rights violations are growing despite the Commonwealth’s principles.
Besides the obvious benefits to the regime’s international image, questions have been posed about the bloc’s benefits to the country’s citizens.
According to the bloc, trade costs are 21% lower between members and intra-Commonwealth trade will reach US$ 1 trillion in 2026.
Commonwealth educational opportunities exist that young Zimbabweans have missed because of Mugabe’s exit from the bloc – pointing to lost manpower development opportunities.
But the question of the country’s political governance remains poignant.
To incentivise the country to reform through readmission may be logical, but it is harmful to propagate an unproven claim of “remarkable democratic progress” in Zimbabwe. Otherwise, the bloc becomes a laundry house for undemocratic regimes to clean their image.
As commentators have said, Zimbabwe’s re-joining the Commonwealth may bring benefits to citizens and the country in human capital development and trade, but pitfalls exist.
Before rushing this decision, the bloc should reflect on the reasons surrounding the country’s exit 21 years ago.
Not least important is ensuring that the country re-joins based on a credible broad-based assessment of the situation and benchmarked roadmap to deeper economic and political reforms.
Absent this, the Commonwealth may be criticised for neglecting the plight of ordinary people and pursuing a sphere of influence agenda.
Even worse the bloc may do harm by entrenching bad governance through laundering the Zimbabwean regime’s bad governance.
- Vivid Gwede is a Harare-based democracy activist. He writes in his personal capacity.
- These weekly articles are coordinated by Lovemore Kadenge, an independent consultant, managing consultant of Zawale Consultants (Private) limited, past president of the Zimbabwe Economics Society and past president of the Chartered Governance & Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe . Email – kadenge.zes@gmail.com or Mobile No. +263 772 382 852