A stay-away, 'Third Force' and lessons (un)learnt

July 6, 2016 is the day a section of Zimbabwean civil service, urged on by their unions, embarked on a nationwide "stay-away" in protest over a delay in the payment of their June salaries.

Due to a biting cash crisis stemming from the spiriting away of foreign currency mainly through illicit financial outflows and imports of non-essential goods, there has been minimal circulation of money in the country.

Government, in light of the shortages of cash, has in recent months been staggering payments for its workers.

The end of last month saw only uniformed forces getting paid while the dates of payment for the rest of the civil service were pushed back by up to two weeks. In the strictest sense, it was little wonder that civil servants would embark on some kind of protest — it was a matter of time if things continued that way.

(image) And on Wednesday, workers stayed at home seeing very limited activity in towns and cities — including the informal traders as well as some shops. Some major ones were open, and ATMs dispensed cash too at some banks.

There is a caveat to this.

Although the majority of the economy in Zimbabwe and activities in towns and cities revolve around the informal — rendering the civil service a small component - many Zimbabweans were afraid to venture to their workplaces in case there were violent confrontations between authorities and hoodlums.

Hoodlums have in the past also blocked traffic, beaten up people who do not comply, destroyed public and private property, burnt vehicles and looted shops.

Some transport operators withdrew their assets from the road, at worst fearing destruction of their vehicles as they could be stoned, upended or burnt by hoodlums discouraging people from travelling to work.

Some commuter omnibus operators have been complicit by withdrawing their services in a bid to discourage people from going to work — leading to urgent calls for the introduction of an efficient urban mass transportation system, which has been in the offing for a long time now.

The possibility of the vigilantes torching off mayhem against peace-loving citizens was high and messages were being circulated on social media platforms not only encouraging the stay away, but also with direct and indirect threats against non-compliant citizenry.

So, there was limited activity in Harare and other centres.

Political hand

It has been, and indeed should be acknowledged, that the failure by Government to pay its civil service on time would be a disaster.

It was a ticking time-bomb.

However, when the civil service embarked on the next logical thing — a job action in the name of a stay away — there were also political vultures circling over Zimbabwe.

First, there has been a section of the opposition that has long been seeking a massive national crisis to engulf Zimbabwe to force out the Government and ruling party, Zanu-PF.

This is despite the fact that Zanu-PF convincingly won national elections in 2013 and has a mandate to govern until the next election in 2018.

This does not matter, though, to this group. Having routed for the opposition and with endemic dislike of the status quo of the revolutionary party, Zanu-PF, they have refused to acknowledge the credibility and legitimacy of the Government.

They have thus picketed on social media and private, opposition-linked media, and made a lot of noise from there.

They have prayed for and encouraged the torching off of any crisis that could lead the ruling party abdicating.

This group of people have been waiting for an Arab Spring in Zimbabwe — with all its cost of violence and carnage.

They do not even care that the so-called Arab Spring did not bring any good summer to countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and, much worse, Libya.

Often, it appears the naïve and self-flagellating proponents of violence and carnage have a particular feeling of being left behind when other countries are being shown on TV drunk in an orgy of violence and destruction.

Suffice to say these voyeurs are mostly resident in the Diaspora where they would watch the drama unfold in the comfort of their homes.

And perhaps for selfish reasons such as seeking justification for continued stay under asylum status.

Those resident in Zimbabwe have been so disillusioned by the legitimate processes of the country that they seek to subvert the same and hope to access ill deserved power through the back-door.

So the motivation, urging and encouragement of carnage were self-evident in social media messages being peddled.

Critically, the civil servants strike provided a perfect cover.

Third Force

Now, if there is a shocking development within this whole saga, it is the revelation that there is a "Third Force" working with opposition and violent elements to precipitate a crisis in Zimbabwe.

Lessons

Whatever happened yesterday should be fraught with lessons, especially for the ruling party.

The party appears to be suicidal — and it has not shown it for the first time having an uncanny knack for shooting itself in the foot.

It won elections in 2013, so convincingly it vanquished the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T, its main rival.

The party had just emerged from the so-called Inclusive Government where it was dysfunctionally sharing power with the MDC-T following a close shave in the elections of 2008.

However, as soon as Zanu-PF emerged victorious it went about shooting itself in the foot by engaging in internal fights that finally saw the booting out of Joice Mujuru, who now heads the Zimbabwe People First party.

No sooner had the poor Mujuru left than fighting erupted again, this time giving us a disgruntled section of war veterans who are now appealing for Zimbabweans to unite against President Mugabe.

It must be something within the DNA of Zanu-PF to self-destruct.

And self-distract, too, for we know that after vanquishing MDC-T, Zanu-PF must have concentrated on delivering Zim-Asset and all its lofty promises to the people.

Alas, it didn't.

It concentrated on petty infighting while the economy slowly tanked until that day when Government could no longer afford to pay its workers.

Its enemies - who often taunt it about the inability to rig the economy - are smelling blood; and the enemies are both within and without.

It is hoped that some lessons have been learnt by the revolutionary party.