News / International
Stony road ahead - Zimbabwe Vigil Diary
01 Jan 2017 at 15:24hrs | Views
As we begin a new year it is difficult to imagine that it will be a happy one in Zimbabwe. Even optimists will find it hard to see anything but a stony road ahead.
We at the Vigil in the depths of a British winter are further chilled by the bleak analysis of Prince Mashele, executive director of the Centre for Politics and Research in South Africa (biznews.com).
He argues that 'Western' values of accountability, political morality, reason and so on are not African and that it is idle to hope that Africans will have democracies of the type existing in Europe.
He says: 'People must not entertain the illusion that a day is coming when SA will look like the US. Our future is more on the side of Zimbabwe, where one ruler is more powerful than the rest of the population.' He goes on: 'How else are we to explain the thousands of people who flock to stadiums to clap hands for a president who has violated their country's constitution? . . . In a typical African country people have no illusion about the unity of morality and governance. People know that those who have power have it for themselves and their friends and families.'
The Zimbabwean writer Pettinah Gappah, speaking about a recent visit home, told BBC listeners that, despite the hardships there, she came across many Mugabe supporters. Prince Mashele would sardonically have called them 'true Africans'.
As we embark on 2017, we at the Vigil cling to the hope that Mashele is too pessimistic and that, having gone through so much suffering, Zimbabweans, given the chance, will find the road to freedom. Speaking at the Vigil, Ephraim Tapa said that free and fair elections were the key. Then the Vigil could shut up shop and we could all go home and rebuild our country into something that is not 'typical' and will surprise Mashele. After all, many in the diaspora have learnt something from living in free and democratic countries.
So this new year we wish you all well but with a heavy heart. Even if Mashele is wrong there are many stones on the road.
We at the Vigil in the depths of a British winter are further chilled by the bleak analysis of Prince Mashele, executive director of the Centre for Politics and Research in South Africa (biznews.com).
He argues that 'Western' values of accountability, political morality, reason and so on are not African and that it is idle to hope that Africans will have democracies of the type existing in Europe.
He says: 'People must not entertain the illusion that a day is coming when SA will look like the US. Our future is more on the side of Zimbabwe, where one ruler is more powerful than the rest of the population.' He goes on: 'How else are we to explain the thousands of people who flock to stadiums to clap hands for a president who has violated their country's constitution? . . . In a typical African country people have no illusion about the unity of morality and governance. People know that those who have power have it for themselves and their friends and families.'
The Zimbabwean writer Pettinah Gappah, speaking about a recent visit home, told BBC listeners that, despite the hardships there, she came across many Mugabe supporters. Prince Mashele would sardonically have called them 'true Africans'.
As we embark on 2017, we at the Vigil cling to the hope that Mashele is too pessimistic and that, having gone through so much suffering, Zimbabweans, given the chance, will find the road to freedom. Speaking at the Vigil, Ephraim Tapa said that free and fair elections were the key. Then the Vigil could shut up shop and we could all go home and rebuild our country into something that is not 'typical' and will surprise Mashele. After all, many in the diaspora have learnt something from living in free and democratic countries.
So this new year we wish you all well but with a heavy heart. Even if Mashele is wrong there are many stones on the road.
Source - Zim Vigil
