ZANU PF supporters poisoned

ZANU PF officials and supporters have been poisoned by the culture of political correctness that has curtailed the independent thinking of its members. The party of Robert Mugabe has turned Zimbabwe into a country that values free speech and thinking a privilege not a right and, into a country that wrongly believes that everyone has no absolute right to freedom of speech and expression. ZANU PF restricts the free exchange of ideas and encourages self-censorship by its members leaving then afraid to express their views in case they get a reprimand. It is a political engineering by the ZANU PF president that curbs the independent voices of its party members serve for the president himself. ZANU PF goes hard on its members when they speak against the party and against untoward actions of its president.

Jabulani Sibanda got fired when he spoke about the presidential bedroom coup; so was Margaret Dongo when she likened ZANU PF men as Mugabe's prostitutes; so was Dzikamai Mahvaire when he asked the president to retire; so was Simba Makoni when he became favourite to become president of ZANU PF; so was Edgar Tekere when he was critical about the leadership of Mugabe and recently was Mujuru when she appeared popular with its members to become leader of the party. The war vets who for a long time have been the rock of the party mainly because they were compliant to political correctness are now being ostracised for advocating for Mugabe to step down. No one is safe in ZANU PF. Party members are harshly punished when they contradict their president. It gratifies the party deeply and quickly to punish its members for over stepping unethical boundaries of their party, and works well to solve the problem in the short term but not in the long term. Harsh punishment is not a good way to affect a lasting positive change in the attitudes and behaviour of party members. It breeds strife, hostility and violence rather than harmony, equality, tolerance, and freedom. The current factional fights and trading of insults in ZANU PF is the result of the negative impact of political correctness where the discussion on party presidential succession is forbidden and out of bounce by party members who in theory are the owners of the party with a stake in championing and shaping the future of their party. Supporters who survive in ZANU PF are those who do not have aspirations for leadership but are keen in keeping their leaders in leadership positions for as long as possible regardless of their quality of leadership and performance.

ZANU PF members of parliament sleep and fart during parliamentary sessions (zimdiaspora.com 01/09/2012) just like their president whose bedroom is the boardroom armchair in the full glare of the world over. This implies that it is safe for ZANU PF parliamentarians to abstain from making contributions in parliamentary debates by dozing off in case they contradict the position and the views of the their president and suffer negative consequences. Political correctness stifles enterprise and creativity where MPs of the establishment accept it as a norm to withhold their critical views about their party. The opinions of ZANU party officials and supporters are constantly assessed not according to the political truth or appluasability, but according to whether they are politically correct within the framework and thinking of their leader, Robert Gabriel Mugabe. Where the truth, objectivity and free intellectual exchange are expected party subordinates to include party ministers, MPs and supporters self-regulate and edit themselves to justify the general expectation of the establishment. The philosophy within ZANU PF is that its members have the right to see criminal conduct by their officials but have no right to express their views freely to question the behaviour of those officials.

ZANU PF Chinamasa and kusakuwere gags ZANU PF members of parliament from asking questions that exposes failures by the ruling party's ministers (Zimbabwe situation.com 11/05/15). ZANU PF politburo gags the then minister of media, information and broadcasting services Jonathan Moyo to stop taking party internal matters to the media (Newsday.co.zw 25/11/13). President Mugabe gags senior party officials from making statements on issues that he has already publicly spoken about (zimeye.net 02/09/15). This imposition of gags could never be required unless Mugabe feels personally threatened by the idea of the values that he holds and adheres to and in some way feels that it is inherently dangerous when information is dissipated beyond the immediate vicinity of his party. It is a social destruction, censorship and suppression to reprimand party members who contradict the establishment expressing progressive ideas and labelling them trouble makers or enemies of the party. Political correctness is an attack on the truth and honest speaking and stifles freedom of choice and freedom of speech.

ZANU PF officials working under the doctrine of political correctness would then concoct approaches of responding to both internal and external criticisms that is clouded with inaptitude and rhetoric remedies. It compels the junior party officials to hero worship Mugabe as a super human being in return for favours and protection. Mugabe is God (Kusakuwere). I am the beloved son of Mugabe (Obert Mpofu). Mugabe shall rule from the grave (Grace Mugabe). Too much hero-labelling of Mugabe reinforces a false dichotomy that he is the only one and no one else can lead in the ZANU PF political discourse. This is the reason why Mugabe is holding onto power even when it clear that his ability to lead has been overtaken by age and content conceptualisation.

An open democratic society requires people to have the courage to argue against the ideas they disagree with even if those ideas are against the scope and doctrine of their party. The narrow minded view of trying to shut down the opinions of party members even if the party officials find it abhorrent does not necessarily remove the fact that things are not going wrong or the opinions of party members will suddenly go away because their views have supressed. ZANU PF supporters are now wrapped up in blind following, faith and allegiance in a pretty bow to the master victimhood where they have accepted that their views and opinions do not matter but only those of the leader of their party. ZANU PF supporters get feed with false information, promises and empty slogans that take the greater part of their meetings to distract them from constructive thinking and engagement. It is about stopping people saying what they think because allowing them free self-expression risks exposing party officials of their weaknesses and wrong doing.

People should be able to voice their opinions without people silencing them. Political correctness destroys both honesty and trust; it denies clear thinking by denunciation of party subordinates to instil fear and force then to withhold their feelings and views about the affairs of the party. It is not surprising that the known vocal ZANU PF officials are now discreet in what they say because of fear of contradicting the current political discourse in their party which by all intents is now volatile.