Opinion / Columnist
Political tomfoolery hinders country's democracy, progress
15 Apr 2022 at 08:59hrs | Views
WHEN political clowns among us such as Douglas Mwonzora, Thokozani Khupe and the like decide to turn themselves into serial political flip floppers by dancing like jumping jacks from one party to another, it is definitely none of our business.
We hear Khupe, for instance, is now hell-bent on joining the new kid on the political block, the Citizens Coalition for Change(CCC) and she is reportedly madly determined to pull out all stops to even get a seat at the CCC high table. Whatever her ambitions are, we will never lose sleep over it and do, indeed with her well.
However, when this turns into political tomfoolery and this ambition ends up a serious detriment to national progress and prosperity, then it becomes our business.
For those who have bothered to follow Zimbabwean politics, they may remember very well how the shenanigans of a bunch of political clowns led by the likes of Mwonzora and Khupe orchestrated the demise of the MDC party.
But what may have escaped many was the damage this political clowning did to our democracy. The MDC had been the only hope Zimbabweans had for a progressive and balanced legislature.
Since the Unity Accord in 1987 until 2000 all Zimbabwe knew was a one-party Parliament dominated by the still ruling Zanu-PF, whose majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) would merely snooze throughout debates, only to work up to rubber-stamp bills.
Definitely, this was not good for a green democracy like ours. Parliament debates must be robust and they can only be so if there is an active opposition voice. Choirs are composed by all the different voices, that is, bass, alto, soprano and tuner; and hardly just one voice. And the MDC's presence in Parliament was critical for our democracy to mature.
Yet the entire life of the 9th Parliament of Zimbabwe was wasted by a shudder of clowns. The Parliament's business was disrupted at every turn and dominated by recalls of the now essentially defunct MDC-Alliance MPs. These clowns dealt a damning blow to our democracy big time.
We believe we are not out of order to raise the red flag when we hear that people we all know were the main engineers of the demise of a promising healthy Parliament of Zimbabwe are mutating to join yet another promising opposition voice.
What boggles the mind is why the ruling Zanu-PF party is so averse to having a vibrant opposition voice in Parliament, when such should be encouraged to help the ruling party improve the way it is running the country.
Zanu-PF can rule the country until donkeys grow horns only if it values the importance of an opposition and not entertain political clowns who may in the long or short run threaten their continued stay in power.
We definitely cannot have a parliament whose members all agree on everything. And the opposition must be allowed to flourish for the growth of our democracy and overall development of the country.
We hear Khupe, for instance, is now hell-bent on joining the new kid on the political block, the Citizens Coalition for Change(CCC) and she is reportedly madly determined to pull out all stops to even get a seat at the CCC high table. Whatever her ambitions are, we will never lose sleep over it and do, indeed with her well.
However, when this turns into political tomfoolery and this ambition ends up a serious detriment to national progress and prosperity, then it becomes our business.
For those who have bothered to follow Zimbabwean politics, they may remember very well how the shenanigans of a bunch of political clowns led by the likes of Mwonzora and Khupe orchestrated the demise of the MDC party.
But what may have escaped many was the damage this political clowning did to our democracy. The MDC had been the only hope Zimbabweans had for a progressive and balanced legislature.
Since the Unity Accord in 1987 until 2000 all Zimbabwe knew was a one-party Parliament dominated by the still ruling Zanu-PF, whose majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) would merely snooze throughout debates, only to work up to rubber-stamp bills.
Definitely, this was not good for a green democracy like ours. Parliament debates must be robust and they can only be so if there is an active opposition voice. Choirs are composed by all the different voices, that is, bass, alto, soprano and tuner; and hardly just one voice. And the MDC's presence in Parliament was critical for our democracy to mature.
Yet the entire life of the 9th Parliament of Zimbabwe was wasted by a shudder of clowns. The Parliament's business was disrupted at every turn and dominated by recalls of the now essentially defunct MDC-Alliance MPs. These clowns dealt a damning blow to our democracy big time.
We believe we are not out of order to raise the red flag when we hear that people we all know were the main engineers of the demise of a promising healthy Parliament of Zimbabwe are mutating to join yet another promising opposition voice.
What boggles the mind is why the ruling Zanu-PF party is so averse to having a vibrant opposition voice in Parliament, when such should be encouraged to help the ruling party improve the way it is running the country.
Zanu-PF can rule the country until donkeys grow horns only if it values the importance of an opposition and not entertain political clowns who may in the long or short run threaten their continued stay in power.
We definitely cannot have a parliament whose members all agree on everything. And the opposition must be allowed to flourish for the growth of our democracy and overall development of the country.
Source - NewsDay Zimbabwe
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