Opinion / Columnist
Hold your horses, Mugabe and Zanu-PF are not going anywhere!
21 Mar 2012 at 08:25hrs | Views
"We have to navigate the middle ground between the victims of injustice and perpetrators of injustice for the greater good of the country" â€" Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
Not long ago, the Prime Minister told us how the security echelons of the country had warned him that they won't let him rule the country even if he wins the upcoming elections. In short, they told him that they would consider a coup d'état. Now, it seems the PM has found a solution to this problem. At a dinner organised by The Times on Monday, the PM said he would form a government of national unity in the greater interests of the country if his party were to win elections later this year.
Why I hate GNUs
Again, not so long ago, the PM had written a long letter expressing his frustration about the current GNU giving the impression that this current one would be the last. This was good news for me because I strongly believe that GNUs are an elite creation in both formation and practice. We first experienced this in 1987, when Zanu and PF-Zapu elites met and agreed to unite. In this new reality, ordinary supporters were reduced to spectators and blind worshippers while the elite gallivanted all over the world and country ushering in a new order in Zimbabwe. Just over 20 years later, when the country had reached a stalemate, South Africa's Mbeki negotiated a GNU once again between Zimbabwe's political elites.
Although we might want to be sensitive when criticising this set-up, the question still remains, "Where do the supporters and the rest of the country fit in this arrangement?" This is not the same as a coalition arrangement in which two or more parties align within a democratically elected Parliament â€" instead it is an elite agreement on who should be entitled to represent government at the highest levels. While we had our own reasons to have the GNU, I think the fundamental problem here is that it does not reflect the will of the people as was indicated in the first round of elections in 2008.
Then, Mugabe went on to make it impossible for the MDC to participate in the runoff and bullied the international community into accepting him as the leader of Zimbabwe. Materially some things are improving â€" we have food in the shops and fuel in petrol stations for example, but many others show little or no sign of progress. Some political activists are languishing in prisons while political criminals act with impunity. On the whole, the political elites from all sides are benefiting from this arrangement. At worst, some have had their revolutionary lingo suspended while some of them still survive in tough working environments.
We can rape, beat them, arrest them and still get a GNU?
In settling for a GNU or even seeing it as the only hope for peace after elections, I suspect that this could be a decision many will live to regret. Zimbabwe is a country where perpetrators of injustice know that they won't be persecuted. We can even see today that Zanu-PF supporters are becoming more violent because they want to force us into a situation where we have to accept to live with them in fear. Some Zanu-PF supporters have beaten and intimidated people since the country's independence and the majority of them are walking in our streets freely. Nowadays, they have found a new game that they are linking to the future.
Some Zanu-PF people are benefiting in a massive way under the new indigenisation laws and for this they cannot see themselves leaving corridors of power, let alone observing the rule of law. What we are seeing in Zimbabwe is a challenge not only to justice but to future generations. If we are to live knowing that political power is tied to freedom from prosecution then we will have more people killing each other for it. Chances are that politics itself will never become an arena for ordinary citizens to have a say on how they are governed. Instead, people will pursue dishonest and undemocratic ways of politics with the sole hope of being the strongman of the country or community.
It is for these reasons that I feel GNUs are a betrayal to democracy. While they may have been seen as a stabilising ingredient for our politics, new generations â€" especially the youth â€" must prepare for a complete departure from the way things are currently being done. They must aim for their voice to be heard not only as party machinery but as party all-rounders who seek to transform politics to reflect a healthy society where everyone is equal before the law. To some extent I agree Thabo Mbeki when he addressed a Youth Global 21 leadership meeting in Nairobi recently. In his words, he said, "To ensure that [the youth] actually exercises the leadership everybody rhetorically accepts and proclaims is its due; the youth must organise and ready itself to rebel, so to speak."
Not long ago, the Prime Minister told us how the security echelons of the country had warned him that they won't let him rule the country even if he wins the upcoming elections. In short, they told him that they would consider a coup d'état. Now, it seems the PM has found a solution to this problem. At a dinner organised by The Times on Monday, the PM said he would form a government of national unity in the greater interests of the country if his party were to win elections later this year.
Why I hate GNUs
Again, not so long ago, the PM had written a long letter expressing his frustration about the current GNU giving the impression that this current one would be the last. This was good news for me because I strongly believe that GNUs are an elite creation in both formation and practice. We first experienced this in 1987, when Zanu and PF-Zapu elites met and agreed to unite. In this new reality, ordinary supporters were reduced to spectators and blind worshippers while the elite gallivanted all over the world and country ushering in a new order in Zimbabwe. Just over 20 years later, when the country had reached a stalemate, South Africa's Mbeki negotiated a GNU once again between Zimbabwe's political elites.
Although we might want to be sensitive when criticising this set-up, the question still remains, "Where do the supporters and the rest of the country fit in this arrangement?" This is not the same as a coalition arrangement in which two or more parties align within a democratically elected Parliament â€" instead it is an elite agreement on who should be entitled to represent government at the highest levels. While we had our own reasons to have the GNU, I think the fundamental problem here is that it does not reflect the will of the people as was indicated in the first round of elections in 2008.
Then, Mugabe went on to make it impossible for the MDC to participate in the runoff and bullied the international community into accepting him as the leader of Zimbabwe. Materially some things are improving â€" we have food in the shops and fuel in petrol stations for example, but many others show little or no sign of progress. Some political activists are languishing in prisons while political criminals act with impunity. On the whole, the political elites from all sides are benefiting from this arrangement. At worst, some have had their revolutionary lingo suspended while some of them still survive in tough working environments.
We can rape, beat them, arrest them and still get a GNU?
In settling for a GNU or even seeing it as the only hope for peace after elections, I suspect that this could be a decision many will live to regret. Zimbabwe is a country where perpetrators of injustice know that they won't be persecuted. We can even see today that Zanu-PF supporters are becoming more violent because they want to force us into a situation where we have to accept to live with them in fear. Some Zanu-PF supporters have beaten and intimidated people since the country's independence and the majority of them are walking in our streets freely. Nowadays, they have found a new game that they are linking to the future.
Some Zanu-PF people are benefiting in a massive way under the new indigenisation laws and for this they cannot see themselves leaving corridors of power, let alone observing the rule of law. What we are seeing in Zimbabwe is a challenge not only to justice but to future generations. If we are to live knowing that political power is tied to freedom from prosecution then we will have more people killing each other for it. Chances are that politics itself will never become an arena for ordinary citizens to have a say on how they are governed. Instead, people will pursue dishonest and undemocratic ways of politics with the sole hope of being the strongman of the country or community.
It is for these reasons that I feel GNUs are a betrayal to democracy. While they may have been seen as a stabilising ingredient for our politics, new generations â€" especially the youth â€" must prepare for a complete departure from the way things are currently being done. They must aim for their voice to be heard not only as party machinery but as party all-rounders who seek to transform politics to reflect a healthy society where everyone is equal before the law. To some extent I agree Thabo Mbeki when he addressed a Youth Global 21 leadership meeting in Nairobi recently. In his words, he said, "To ensure that [the youth] actually exercises the leadership everybody rhetorically accepts and proclaims is its due; the youth must organise and ready itself to rebel, so to speak."
Source - Harare Sunset | wp.me
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