Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabweans can elect recycled opportunistic politicians at own risk!
24 Jun 2023 at 08:26hrs | Views
I am not much of a soccer fan, but there is something that I have always found strange, if not downright weird - without anyone able to provide a satisfactory explanation.
Why is it that a coach fired from one team on the grounds of incompetence and dismal performance, is immediately hired by another team?
What makes this scenario even more bizarre is that, not long after, the same coach is again fired from the new team - on similar grounds of incompetence and dismal performance.
Again, within a fairly short time, he would be picked up by yet another team!
This maddening circus continues, seemingly perpetually!
In the midst of all these footballing shenanigans, I could not help being reminded of Albert Einstein's famous saying: "Madness is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result".
However, such 'madness' is not just confined to the soccer pitch, as we in Zimbabwe have had our fair share of this circus.
In fact, this was most glaring in the celebratory acceptance of the November 2017 military coup d'état - which ousted long-term despot Robert Gabriel Mugabe, and ushered in his former deputy, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
This brought in the same recycled faces that had been the late tyrant's henchmen and right-hand people - largely attributed for his regime's brutality, institutionalized corruption, as well as incompetent economic policies.
As with the consistently and constantly failed soccer coach, we oddly believed that the coup plotters - who had disingenuously re-branded themselves as a 'new dispensation' - had mysteriously metamorphosed themselves into pillars of democracy, and an embodiment of good governance and economic excellence.
However, barely a year down the line, Zimbabweans learnt, in a very painful and horrendous way, that there are never any 'Road to Damascus' repentance and transformational moments in this country's politics.
We watched in utter horror, as scores of unarmed protestors were massacred in cold blood by security forces on the streets of Harare - most of whom where shot in the back as they fled, on 1st August 2018 and 14th January 2019.
Did these horrific incidents awaken Zimbabweans to the folly of trusting supposedly 'transformed and repentant' politicians?
I think not!
Today, we are still rushing into the arms of politicians who have already proven themselves to be no better than those they are now challenging.
Why do we somehow believe that those who were previously at the forefront of authoring our untold suffering and misery, can now return as our messiahs?
We, as Zimbabweans, have a very dangerous and uncanny weakness of easily falling into the trap of desperation - due to the immense suffering and hellish livelihoods we have endured in this country.
We seek saviours in every corner - such that, even if the devil himself were to come offering heaven, we would easily take him up on the offer.
Talking about 'saviours', this brings me to the point of this article.
As the country heads towards the 23rd August 2023 harmonized elections - we witnessed the entrance of former ruling ZANU PF party political commissar and government minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, into the race for the presidency.
As has become the norm in Zimbabwe, this announcement was met with jubilation amidst some sections of the population.
We appear to have forgotten this man's dark history - predominantly through his brutal crackdown on opposition supporters, including destructive interference in urban local government authorities.
In fact, during my time as a communications advisor at regional anti-corruption lobby group - the Anti Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) - we produced a damning report detailing the wanton abuse and misappropriation of funds meant for empowerment programs, during Kasukuwere's tenure as youth minister.
Are we now to seriously believe that this man has gone through some major transformation and is now our possible saviour?
I just could not resist the pan!
He is known to have been the kingpin of the so-called 'G40 faction' within ZANU PF - who, together with Mugabe, were ousted by Mnangagwa (who led the 'Lacoste group') - thereafter, fleeing the country to neighbouring South Africa, where he has been holed up ever since.
The resurgence of Kasukuwere, standing as an independent candidate, should be viewed in the same light as all other previous political shenanigans witnessed in Zimbabwe over the past years.
This is the scenario of recycled politicians who claim to have undergone some 'Road to Damascus' moment - which suddenly awakened and morphed them from their notorious and vile attributes into godly angels!
This is the same as when we embraced the so-called 'new dispensation ' - led by the very same people who presided over the 1980s Gukurahundi genocide, and the 2000s sadistic killing of hundreds of opposition supporters.
This, on top of wanton and shameful corruption, and shambolic economic policies - all of which caused such unparalleled suffering in the lives of this country's citizens.
Can any honest Zimbabwean truthfully claim to have made a very wise and prudent choice in November 2017 - when thousands thronged the streets of Harare in a rapacious welcome of the coup d'état?
I am sure the answer to my question is a big NO!
The pain and horror I felt that day, as I watched on television the scenes unfolding in Harare, still haunt me to this day.
I penned several articles in a desperate effort to discourage Zimbabweans from supporting this madness - which was obviously intended to bring in Mnangagwa - but to no avail.
I am quite certain those who truly believed a political leopard could change its spots are now regretting their naivety.
It is really unsurprising that we are experiencing the current atrocious persecution of vocal voices.
Why should we be particularly shocked when we learn of the billions of dollars in our minerals being looted by those in power - leaving millions of Zimbabweans languishing in poverty, in the midst of appalling living standards?
So, why do we think Kasukuwere will be any better?
What is there to be surprised about, when all these leaders were an integral and inseparable part of Mugabe's heinous corrupt misrule?
Are the people of Zimbabwe willing to undergo the same mistake as in November 2017?
Do we ever learn?
There are no shortcuts in resolving this country's seemingly unending and ever-worsening tribulations - which were caused by the very same people we strangely and frighteningly keep running to for salvation.
We should be capable of seeing through all these shenanigans - as merely a continuation of long-running ZANU PF factional fighting - that have absolutely nothing to do with our welfare and wellbeing.
If the events of the past six years have taught us anything, it is that those in power will never ever attempt to prioritise the interests of the people ahead of their own - even if it was just a charade to garner our support in their factional fighting.
These politicians have repeatedly proven beyond any reasonable doubt that they do not care, and will never care, about the ordinary person on the street.
If anything, each wave of 'new old dispensation' is worse than the previous one.
The only solution for this nation - and its future - is for the people themselves to unite and band together in fiercely demanding genuine democratic and electoral reforms, that will enable us to freely choose our own leaders.
Leaders who are truly new, who do not have any unsavoury track record of corruption and human rights abuses.
We need leaders who genuinely embrace democratic contestation and voices of dissent - even encouraging criticism.
Leaders who can show, through their life experiences, to have the sincere interests of ordinary people at heart - without any ulterior motives.
There should no longer be any divisions amongst us.
Even ordinary ZANU PF members are also suffering under these heartless people in power.
We now need to resolutely stand together by realizing that none but ourselves can free ourselves.
The remedy to the problems bedevilling us, as the ordinary suffering people of Zimbabwe, can only be found from within us.
We are all alone.
Even our brothers and sisters in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and African Union (AU) have long since abandoned us.
It is time we realised and accepted that repeating the same thing - of running to the very same people who destroyed our lives and expecting a different result - is raving madness.
There is never any 'Road to Damascus' moment for these people, as they have proven that they are an inherently corrupt, self-centred, heinous, and incompetent lot.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: http://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Why is it that a coach fired from one team on the grounds of incompetence and dismal performance, is immediately hired by another team?
What makes this scenario even more bizarre is that, not long after, the same coach is again fired from the new team - on similar grounds of incompetence and dismal performance.
Again, within a fairly short time, he would be picked up by yet another team!
This maddening circus continues, seemingly perpetually!
In the midst of all these footballing shenanigans, I could not help being reminded of Albert Einstein's famous saying: "Madness is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result".
However, such 'madness' is not just confined to the soccer pitch, as we in Zimbabwe have had our fair share of this circus.
In fact, this was most glaring in the celebratory acceptance of the November 2017 military coup d'état - which ousted long-term despot Robert Gabriel Mugabe, and ushered in his former deputy, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
This brought in the same recycled faces that had been the late tyrant's henchmen and right-hand people - largely attributed for his regime's brutality, institutionalized corruption, as well as incompetent economic policies.
As with the consistently and constantly failed soccer coach, we oddly believed that the coup plotters - who had disingenuously re-branded themselves as a 'new dispensation' - had mysteriously metamorphosed themselves into pillars of democracy, and an embodiment of good governance and economic excellence.
However, barely a year down the line, Zimbabweans learnt, in a very painful and horrendous way, that there are never any 'Road to Damascus' repentance and transformational moments in this country's politics.
We watched in utter horror, as scores of unarmed protestors were massacred in cold blood by security forces on the streets of Harare - most of whom where shot in the back as they fled, on 1st August 2018 and 14th January 2019.
Did these horrific incidents awaken Zimbabweans to the folly of trusting supposedly 'transformed and repentant' politicians?
I think not!
Today, we are still rushing into the arms of politicians who have already proven themselves to be no better than those they are now challenging.
Why do we somehow believe that those who were previously at the forefront of authoring our untold suffering and misery, can now return as our messiahs?
We, as Zimbabweans, have a very dangerous and uncanny weakness of easily falling into the trap of desperation - due to the immense suffering and hellish livelihoods we have endured in this country.
We seek saviours in every corner - such that, even if the devil himself were to come offering heaven, we would easily take him up on the offer.
Talking about 'saviours', this brings me to the point of this article.
As the country heads towards the 23rd August 2023 harmonized elections - we witnessed the entrance of former ruling ZANU PF party political commissar and government minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, into the race for the presidency.
As has become the norm in Zimbabwe, this announcement was met with jubilation amidst some sections of the population.
We appear to have forgotten this man's dark history - predominantly through his brutal crackdown on opposition supporters, including destructive interference in urban local government authorities.
In fact, during my time as a communications advisor at regional anti-corruption lobby group - the Anti Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) - we produced a damning report detailing the wanton abuse and misappropriation of funds meant for empowerment programs, during Kasukuwere's tenure as youth minister.
Are we now to seriously believe that this man has gone through some major transformation and is now our possible saviour?
I just could not resist the pan!
He is known to have been the kingpin of the so-called 'G40 faction' within ZANU PF - who, together with Mugabe, were ousted by Mnangagwa (who led the 'Lacoste group') - thereafter, fleeing the country to neighbouring South Africa, where he has been holed up ever since.
The resurgence of Kasukuwere, standing as an independent candidate, should be viewed in the same light as all other previous political shenanigans witnessed in Zimbabwe over the past years.
This is the scenario of recycled politicians who claim to have undergone some 'Road to Damascus' moment - which suddenly awakened and morphed them from their notorious and vile attributes into godly angels!
This is the same as when we embraced the so-called 'new dispensation ' - led by the very same people who presided over the 1980s Gukurahundi genocide, and the 2000s sadistic killing of hundreds of opposition supporters.
Can any honest Zimbabwean truthfully claim to have made a very wise and prudent choice in November 2017 - when thousands thronged the streets of Harare in a rapacious welcome of the coup d'état?
I am sure the answer to my question is a big NO!
The pain and horror I felt that day, as I watched on television the scenes unfolding in Harare, still haunt me to this day.
I penned several articles in a desperate effort to discourage Zimbabweans from supporting this madness - which was obviously intended to bring in Mnangagwa - but to no avail.
I am quite certain those who truly believed a political leopard could change its spots are now regretting their naivety.
It is really unsurprising that we are experiencing the current atrocious persecution of vocal voices.
Why should we be particularly shocked when we learn of the billions of dollars in our minerals being looted by those in power - leaving millions of Zimbabweans languishing in poverty, in the midst of appalling living standards?
So, why do we think Kasukuwere will be any better?
What is there to be surprised about, when all these leaders were an integral and inseparable part of Mugabe's heinous corrupt misrule?
Are the people of Zimbabwe willing to undergo the same mistake as in November 2017?
Do we ever learn?
There are no shortcuts in resolving this country's seemingly unending and ever-worsening tribulations - which were caused by the very same people we strangely and frighteningly keep running to for salvation.
We should be capable of seeing through all these shenanigans - as merely a continuation of long-running ZANU PF factional fighting - that have absolutely nothing to do with our welfare and wellbeing.
If the events of the past six years have taught us anything, it is that those in power will never ever attempt to prioritise the interests of the people ahead of their own - even if it was just a charade to garner our support in their factional fighting.
These politicians have repeatedly proven beyond any reasonable doubt that they do not care, and will never care, about the ordinary person on the street.
If anything, each wave of 'new old dispensation' is worse than the previous one.
The only solution for this nation - and its future - is for the people themselves to unite and band together in fiercely demanding genuine democratic and electoral reforms, that will enable us to freely choose our own leaders.
Leaders who are truly new, who do not have any unsavoury track record of corruption and human rights abuses.
We need leaders who genuinely embrace democratic contestation and voices of dissent - even encouraging criticism.
Leaders who can show, through their life experiences, to have the sincere interests of ordinary people at heart - without any ulterior motives.
There should no longer be any divisions amongst us.
Even ordinary ZANU PF members are also suffering under these heartless people in power.
We now need to resolutely stand together by realizing that none but ourselves can free ourselves.
The remedy to the problems bedevilling us, as the ordinary suffering people of Zimbabwe, can only be found from within us.
We are all alone.
Even our brothers and sisters in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and African Union (AU) have long since abandoned us.
It is time we realised and accepted that repeating the same thing - of running to the very same people who destroyed our lives and expecting a different result - is raving madness.
There is never any 'Road to Damascus' moment for these people, as they have proven that they are an inherently corrupt, self-centred, heinous, and incompetent lot.
© Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: http://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
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