The importance of looking at issues when choosing public officials

Zimbabwe continues to experience one problem after another in the political, social and economic spheres of life despite the formation of the Inclusive Government (IG) in February 2009. The Inclusive Government is made up of three (3) political parties of Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC-N. During the formative stages of the Inclusive Administration around February 2009, many people carried high hopes with the expectation that they could see their day to day lives transforming for the better. But to date the plight of the people of Zimbabwe has worsened with very strong indications that our problems are still far from over.  It is time we look objectively at the reasons why our problems are not coming to an end. A reality check is really necessary at this point since time is ticking away and to avoid the embarrassment of passing the same problems to future generations. The solution lies with us and us alone.

One of our biggest problems in Zimbabwe is that we do not want to look at issues when voting candidates into public offices. Instead we elect to concentrate on attacking personalities. In many a case we choose to ignore certain basic fundamentals which resultantly cost us and usually when we pay for our mistakes, we do pay dearly.  There is need for us to interrogate ourselves why we continue to reside with the same problems year in and year out or even become worse off immediately after every election.

Many people in Zimbabwe participate in significant national events such as elections for the wrong reasons. We have developed an annoying tendency of voting to please or spite politicians of political parties at the expense of our well being. It is all fair and fine that people exercise their democratic right to choose political leaders of their choice, but that right should not be used to the detriment of our own well being and those of generations to come. History will judge us harshly for being careless. Let us guide each other constructively.

Our motivation to vote should go beyond participating in an election for the sake of voting Robert Mugabe out without considering a suitable replacement and charting a well defined way forward thereafter. Our voting trend should not be for the sake of replacing one individual belonging to a certain political party and replacing him/her with another individual from a different political outfit but when looked at closely behaves the same or is even worse than the one displaced. It is time to look at what exactly aspiring public officials have to offer. The issue is not about selecting the highest noisemaker in the political arena, but it is about following the idea that one has to transform the country into a better society for us all.

In 1980, people voted resoundingly to remove Ian Smith. PF ZAPU and Zanu-PF sat down and settled to appoint a leader in the name of Canaan Banana who later passed on the Presidency to Robert Mugabe in 1987 after signing of the unity accord between ZANU PF and PF ZAPU. Everyone will agree that during the first fifteen (15) years after attaining Independence life was bearable on the economic front. But look at where the country is today.

Significant national events such as Independence should be celebrated and forever be cherished by all Zimbabweans and there should not be any debate about that. Furthermore we should be objective enough to acknowledge the role played by all those who participated for us to gain Independence, but we should be wary of the replacements that we put to preside over the affairs of our nation, for such replacements have a direct bearing in our lives in that if not carefully worked out, they will live to haunt us and generations to come. We should also acknowledge the role played after Independence by other political parties namely ZANU NDONGA, ZAPU, FORUM, ZUD, ZUM and all MDC formations of challenging one party rule and fighting for democracy in Zimbabwe. However, we are not at all obliged to vote for unsuitable candidates for the sake of appeasing them nor their political parties. We are obliged to put our welfare first before that of politicians. Currently we are prioritizing the happiness of politicians before ours, a very dangerous scenario leading to perennial misery for the majority of the people.

There is a greater need than before to look at the qualities of political leaders before we entrust them with public offices. We need to shift from the culture of counting how much noise one political leader makes, to listening carefully to the detail of the noise and try to detect whether the utterances have anything to do with our well being in future.

Let us shun the politics of appeasing an aspiring leader for being beaten up, tortured or arrested during the course of their duties. Robert Mugabe was beaten up and arrested so was Morgan Tsvangirayi. Today we have both leaders who at some stage in their lives experienced more or less the same problems of beatings and arrests working together in the Inclusive Government but without any tangible results to write home about since February 2009. If appeasing political leaders on the basis of beatings and arrests was the correct barometer for measuring one's suitability for public office and delivery of results, Zimbabwe would have been way ahead of many nations in as far as problem solving and development is concerned.

The missing link is we are being diverted to focus too much attention on beatings, arrests and empty political rhetoric at the expense of demanding more important values such as accountability, transparency and servant leadership. Zimbabwe needs God fearing servant leaders with the Zimbabwean people at heart. Let us work hard towards directing our vote to reflect an aggressive demand for leaders who listen and act on our needs and aspirations. We deserve leaders who are willing to be held accountable. We should not elect leaders who do as they please disregarding our needs as the electorate for the sole reason that they are victims of certain circumstances. We are equally important, just like politicians, and we should demand a say in the day to day administration of our lives.  Let us demand question and answer sessions after an address at rallies from Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirayi, Simba Makoni, Welshman Ncube, Dumiso Dabengwa and Job Sikhala. We should be allowed to pose questions to politicians after every delivery of a speech.

In Zimbabwe, politicians have developed a tendency of calling for collective effort only towards elections for the simple reason that they are interested in our vote. Immediately after being voted in, they start enjoying the perks that go along with their respective offices and make decisions on their own excluding the people who voted for them. Youths must refrain from the habit of getting angry on behalf of politicians. Petty material gifts that come and go with elections should not be used to turn people against each other. Zimbabwe needs nation builders and unifiers, not politicians who divide people along political affiliation, race, colour, gender, creed, ethnic and tribal lines. We are participating in political matches where we, the electorate are always the losers while politicians are the winners. Politicians are always practicing and rehearsing while we are not. Let us unite, get our act together and practice more than the politicians do so that we win the other remaining matches.  We cannot be losers all the time.

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Joel Mapaura is the M.K.D Communications Officer and Aspiring Member of Parliament (MP) for Marondera Central Constituency