The right to know is a fundamental right

Economic transformation can only happen if government is open about its mistakes.

JOHANNESBURG - Prior to independence Africans fought for the right to vote in the expectation that their aspirations and rights would be recognised by new black governments. They fought for their dignity and the rights to all freedoms including the right to gain access to information. African governments on coming into power recognised some of the rights but quickly ensured that they controlled the information that was fed to their citizens. Some governments even had government departments whose sole objective was to control information especially about corruption and the waste and abuse of state resources.

To this date most African governments control the media space as they continue to think that particular information in the hands of the public can be dangerous to the "stability" and "security "of the empire. It would be naïve for us to believe that. It is my contention that, the state always seeks to protect its acts of omission or commission because if it were to come to light, it would lead to its demise. The state therefore always intends to be in control of power regardless of its incompetence or audacity and it will protect that licence at all costs. It acts at all times to preserve itself through the control and avoidance of any information that would threaten its continued custodianship of government.

Unfortunately this very fact threatens democracy, economic development and freedom and that becomes the dilemma. The arrested development of Africa in the past was because its citizens were constrained in what they could become and the new black governments sought to discharge that and pursue a path of open democracy where all citizens are treated as equals. This continuum cannot be complete without a free press and access by all citizens to information that allows them to make informed decisions and choices in pursuit of their ambitions and emancipation and yet, this state seeks to continually limit  access  to specific information that it deems "unfit" for consumption by the very citizens it seeks to develop.

If we take the case of Zimbabwe, the ruling party there continues to restrain access to information by policing the press and monitoring journalists in the hope that it stays in power. A nervous establishment will do that and the worry is that it will happen in South Africa.

South Africa, as we all know now, is failing to address the fundamental economic challenges faced by the majority of its citizens despite access to the resources to be able to do so. It is now an open secret that the state has failed to address the needs of the masses, it has compromised the social and well being of most South Africans through the very acts of omission or commission. These to most are symptoms of state failure and incompetence to deal with the socio-economic realities.

As with the right to vote, the right to know is a fundamental right and not a privilege. In order to deepen this democracy it is essential that we all fight tooth and nail to protect it. What worries me is that black communities seem to be naive to the need to do so. It is perhaps understandable given that their fight now is for basic service delivery but if this replaces the fight for the protection of the right to know it could be dangerous.

We, Zimbabweans, have been naive and accidental accomplices to the erosion of our own fundamental freedoms and must now fight for their restoration.

Let this, I pray, not happen here.

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Vince Musewe is an independent economist. E-mail him at vtmusewe@gmail.com