Blind loyalty to remove Mugabe does not guarantee good leadership

Blind loyalty based on the sole objective to remove President Robert Mugabe does not guarantee good leadership.

The majority are not always right. Simply because a large crowd of followers have a similar opinion or a view on a particular issue does not necessarily make that view right nor does it mean that it is the best solution to our problems.

We must never allow blind and euphoric mass opinion to shape our future. Blind loyalty based on the objective to remove Mugabe will not necessarily create good leadership.

Slogans are good for motivation, but soon become impotent when one has to produce results. Opposition politics are typically based on promises far detached from the complexities of actual governing; ask Tony Blair who clearly appreciated this fact in his book A Journey.

Unfortunately this is the challenge we face in our democracy, where political promises to the electorate are framed in order to achieve preconceived plots in the interest of those that seek power. As George Orwell once put it:

"All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome."

This week I want to deal with the mass opinion or view that the removal of Mugabe will result in better conditions for Zimbabweans and only Morgan Tsvangirai can achieve that.  I think it is false, a convenient tactic that avoids us widening our leadership pool and alternatives that could produce better results.

For me, the crux of the matter is not only removing Mugabe, but profoundly changing the nature of Zimbabwe's psychology and value systems so that we may create a new vibrant democracy led by those who respect the freedom of others; particularly the freedom of speech and the freedom to differ.

We must fundamentally change Zimbabwe and create a progressive, free society that is characterised or underpinned by constitutionalism and robust brutally honest dialogue that cannot be limited or controlled by a centre as we have had in the last 34 years.

In addition, as a country, we must manage our assets and resources not based on misinformed Presidential decrees, but based on the people's needs and best practices.

We have to create a new inclusive political culture of transparency and accountability in Zimbabwe, supported by professionalism where policy decisions are made based on one thing and one thing only: Does it benefit the people of Zimbabwe?

Now if this is to be the case, I expect Tsvangirai to change his behaviour now.

I expect him to stop being a vacillator and take decisive progressive action towards our goals of creating a free society. I expect him to embrace new ideas and share with us well-thought-out strategies to transform Zimbabwe, including making well-informed and researched policy proposals to revive our economy now.

I anticipate principle-centred leadership that is intelligent and avoids a god complex.

I expect party machinery that is well managed, depersonalised and run in line with its constitution. I expect him to accept that, despite popular support or mass appeal, he remains accountable to us the people of Zimbabwe and does not have all the answers. Let everyone of us put Zimbabwe and the people first.

Any entitlement to power and position is not acceptable. The jockeying for key positions by those around Tsvangirai, through keeping quiet when things are wrong, is the most disconcerting tendency that leads to sub-standard leadership and breeds a dictatorship.

This has been our experience for the last 34 years that has resulted in the destructive policies of Zanu PF.

We cannot have a President surrounded by praise singers; in fact, a good leader must deliberately be surrounded with those who continually challenge his thinking because iron sharpeneth iron. We also cannot afford to have leaders prevaricate on many crucial issues and must do all we can to remove any comfort for autocratic, irresolute leadership to develop.

My message to those supporting the status quo is "chinjamaitiro". I will definitely support Tsvangirai's bid when I begin to see a better style of leadership; particularly when he acknowledges and behaves as a servant of the people and not become big-headed and arrogant to claim that without him Zimbabwe will never be free. Nothing can be further from the truth.

The idea of "me and the rest of you behind" just doesn't do it for me.It alienates constructive contributions from those who wish to follow. Good leaders should always use "we" because changing Zimbabwe is a people's project.

Don't get me wrong; we all agree on one thing that Mugabe must go.He has done enough damage to millions of us and that is intolerable. However, any quest for leadership can never built on winning one fight or a battle.It must be built on a vision, on principles, unquestionable integrity, above-average intellect and, more important, accountability to the poor masses who necessarily do not know what's best for them.

We must stop electing our leaders on what they say or their past conquests, but on who they truly are and what they stand for. This is simply because once in power, it is only their true character that really matters. We have learnt this the hard way from Mugabe.

The folly of mass opinion must indeed not continue to limit who can lead our country in the future.Let us all be keen students of our own history.

Zimbabwe comes first!

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Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You may contact him on vtmusewe@gmail.com