Opinion / Columnist
We are the change that we seek
24 Jul 2015 at 14:07hrs | Views
At the core of the Zimbabwean problem lies a guy who many if not all Zimbabweans don't know well. He is not translucent himself and he is hideous. In many instances he uses proxies to say or direct things which he may later refuse or vilify.
An example of this is where he used the Zimbabwean minister of finance, Patrick Chinamasa, to announce the suspension of civil servants bonuses as an austerity measure. When there was widespread disgruntlement among the civil servants, the government stood down by way of him embarrassing the minister. Of late Mugabe is in the habit talking and giving orders through his wife, Grace. This is his method of putting in front a sacrificial lamp as a way of judging the turf.
Rarely does Mugabe appear in public nor allow to be interrogated through press conference. Adeola of Sahara TV dared to snatch a chance to extract answers to important questions concerning his rule in Zimbabwe. Mugabe in keeping with his standard remained aloof. They were not comfortable questions for him to answer anyway. If the questions had been about the feigned western sanctions he may have stopped and answered. But for sure it was a very uncomfortable moment for him and his entourage but the qestions remain important and critical, even if he dodged them.
Eventually when he returned home, Mugabe acted as if nothing happened in Nigeria where he had gone to witness real democracy at play. Mugabe cherishes leadership that's not must not be held to account.
What has happens in Zanu Pf seem to portray an impression that Zanu Pf belongs personally to Mugabe. Events on the ground seem to confirm this especially when after Mugabe ruthlessly fired Zanu Pf top brass when it looked certain that a democratic process would usher Joyce Mujuru as Zanu Pf presidential candidate for 2018 elections. Here Mugabe flexed every muscle to fire all provincial chairperson who were likely to vote for Mujuru and replaced these with those who he was sure would endorse his candidature. Mugabe also without due process refashioned the Zanu Pf constitution to give himself ultimate powers to solely appoint vice presidents and politburo members. Giving himself appointing powers allowed him to circumnavigate the 'outcome not certain election' that was very likely to propel Mujuru to party leadership. At some time in the past Mugabe acted as if he was grooming Mujuru for ultimate takeover, but by acting thus it clearly showed that it was mere pretense, a maneuver to keep Mujuru loyal or to suppress a possible alternative. Mugabe is playing juggle, manipulating Munangagwa and Mujuru. The essence of members choosing leaders after their own hearts is alien to Zanu-PF party.
Whether there are people pushing Mugabe to hang on, or whether he is driving himself is less certain, for Mugabe and Zanu-PF's are not freely open or welcome to both criticism and scrutiny. Mugabe himself is so arrogant that he has told both advisors and critics the same- 'go hang'. So he won't present himself for an uninhibited, spontaneous press conference, for his standpoint is indefensible given the country's unchecked corruption, high unemployment due general negligence and poor, destructive policies that his government has orchestrated. Everyone who does evil will not come to light, for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
The Zimbabwean economic demise is largely attributed to his misrule. Mugabe himself is so old that he can hardly run around to attend to problems bedeviling the country. People of his age can barely go around without wearing pampers due to poor health associated with old age.
Mugabe himself is not the one who formed Zanu-PF, he joined midstream, but he has managed to take excessive control of the party and its people through persecuting opposing figures whilst rewarding the loyal ones even if they were criminals or incompetent. Mugabe and his thuggish party have taken center stage and have assumed, in the background, the control of the state media, electoral process, security forces and judiciary -the key sectors that enable him to manipulate his election.
The second part of the Zimbabwean problem is that Zimbabweans generally tend to be cowards and selfish. Change will not come if Zimbabweans wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. Zimbabweans are the change that they seek. Yet Zimbabwean people would rather suffer silently under oppression, they would rather all run away and seek refuge in other countries, than openly confront Mugabe and thereby fix economy and ensure adherence to set procedures and processes by government. People of Zimbabwe frequently brag about being an educated lot. But educated people take care of their responsibilities. Contrary to their assertion, right in their eyes, service delivery has deteriorated to almost nonexistent. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the citizenry to monitor and adjust the level of service delivery by holding accountable the government they hired to manage the service delivery. For Zimbabweans, this essential characteristic is completely missing. Zimbabweans accept anything and everything. Everyone is too scared to protest. On the other hand, the better off Zimbabweans are too selfish to fight for others wallowing in poverty. The latter then helplessly resort to vending. Scared to protest but afraid to die of hunger, they have filled Harare CBD selling small commodities, to survive, and not to make money. Now that a vendor filled CBD is both a health hazard and a poor sight to both governments to the well off, government has resorted to chasing vendors to the outskirts of town where there will be less business for them. The government has gone too far in downplaying the suffering of the people.
It should be in the best interest of the government to heed the signs of economic collapse and come out of its denial phase. Mugabe's intransigence and obstruction to open politics and sound economic policies has precipitated this vending phenomenon such that if Mugabe truly want to serve the people of Zimbabwe, then he should resign and pave way to a new political dispensation that is inclusive, that has a level playfield and that respects the will of the Zimbabwean people. The indicators that the situation is so bad in Zimbabwe are on the surface, hardly unnoticeable. The situation is getting out of control rapidly such that it should be easy for Mugabe to realise that it is futile to continue in his manner and as president and still expect the state of affairs to improve.
The third and final problem is that of the opposition which continue to contest in elections governed by heavily skewed election processes. If election processes are not remodeled to eliminate the flaws that gives unfair advantages to Zanu-PF, it does not make any sense for any opposition party to contest since participating serves only to give the election process some dimension of legitimacy, but never a chance to win.
It is urgent that opposition parties unite in demanding that the election process be severed and isolated from the control and manipulation by Zanu Pf. It is an important and imperative condition that ZEC, media and judiciary operate independent of government for the electoral playfield to level up. Reforms were a condition in the GNU charter but Zanu-PF cunningly dodged implementing their requirement at the time. But still the reforms have to be pushed through if Zimbabwe is to conduct credible, free and fair elections. Zimbabwe has not progressed towards implementing these reforms and Zimbabwe is still stuck to the time of the GNU with regards to fulfilling the orders of the charter.
An example of this is where he used the Zimbabwean minister of finance, Patrick Chinamasa, to announce the suspension of civil servants bonuses as an austerity measure. When there was widespread disgruntlement among the civil servants, the government stood down by way of him embarrassing the minister. Of late Mugabe is in the habit talking and giving orders through his wife, Grace. This is his method of putting in front a sacrificial lamp as a way of judging the turf.
Rarely does Mugabe appear in public nor allow to be interrogated through press conference. Adeola of Sahara TV dared to snatch a chance to extract answers to important questions concerning his rule in Zimbabwe. Mugabe in keeping with his standard remained aloof. They were not comfortable questions for him to answer anyway. If the questions had been about the feigned western sanctions he may have stopped and answered. But for sure it was a very uncomfortable moment for him and his entourage but the qestions remain important and critical, even if he dodged them.
Eventually when he returned home, Mugabe acted as if nothing happened in Nigeria where he had gone to witness real democracy at play. Mugabe cherishes leadership that's not must not be held to account.
What has happens in Zanu Pf seem to portray an impression that Zanu Pf belongs personally to Mugabe. Events on the ground seem to confirm this especially when after Mugabe ruthlessly fired Zanu Pf top brass when it looked certain that a democratic process would usher Joyce Mujuru as Zanu Pf presidential candidate for 2018 elections. Here Mugabe flexed every muscle to fire all provincial chairperson who were likely to vote for Mujuru and replaced these with those who he was sure would endorse his candidature. Mugabe also without due process refashioned the Zanu Pf constitution to give himself ultimate powers to solely appoint vice presidents and politburo members. Giving himself appointing powers allowed him to circumnavigate the 'outcome not certain election' that was very likely to propel Mujuru to party leadership. At some time in the past Mugabe acted as if he was grooming Mujuru for ultimate takeover, but by acting thus it clearly showed that it was mere pretense, a maneuver to keep Mujuru loyal or to suppress a possible alternative. Mugabe is playing juggle, manipulating Munangagwa and Mujuru. The essence of members choosing leaders after their own hearts is alien to Zanu-PF party.
Whether there are people pushing Mugabe to hang on, or whether he is driving himself is less certain, for Mugabe and Zanu-PF's are not freely open or welcome to both criticism and scrutiny. Mugabe himself is so arrogant that he has told both advisors and critics the same- 'go hang'. So he won't present himself for an uninhibited, spontaneous press conference, for his standpoint is indefensible given the country's unchecked corruption, high unemployment due general negligence and poor, destructive policies that his government has orchestrated. Everyone who does evil will not come to light, for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
The Zimbabwean economic demise is largely attributed to his misrule. Mugabe himself is so old that he can hardly run around to attend to problems bedeviling the country. People of his age can barely go around without wearing pampers due to poor health associated with old age.
Mugabe himself is not the one who formed Zanu-PF, he joined midstream, but he has managed to take excessive control of the party and its people through persecuting opposing figures whilst rewarding the loyal ones even if they were criminals or incompetent. Mugabe and his thuggish party have taken center stage and have assumed, in the background, the control of the state media, electoral process, security forces and judiciary -the key sectors that enable him to manipulate his election.
The second part of the Zimbabwean problem is that Zimbabweans generally tend to be cowards and selfish. Change will not come if Zimbabweans wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. Zimbabweans are the change that they seek. Yet Zimbabwean people would rather suffer silently under oppression, they would rather all run away and seek refuge in other countries, than openly confront Mugabe and thereby fix economy and ensure adherence to set procedures and processes by government. People of Zimbabwe frequently brag about being an educated lot. But educated people take care of their responsibilities. Contrary to their assertion, right in their eyes, service delivery has deteriorated to almost nonexistent. Ultimately it is the responsibility of the citizenry to monitor and adjust the level of service delivery by holding accountable the government they hired to manage the service delivery. For Zimbabweans, this essential characteristic is completely missing. Zimbabweans accept anything and everything. Everyone is too scared to protest. On the other hand, the better off Zimbabweans are too selfish to fight for others wallowing in poverty. The latter then helplessly resort to vending. Scared to protest but afraid to die of hunger, they have filled Harare CBD selling small commodities, to survive, and not to make money. Now that a vendor filled CBD is both a health hazard and a poor sight to both governments to the well off, government has resorted to chasing vendors to the outskirts of town where there will be less business for them. The government has gone too far in downplaying the suffering of the people.
It should be in the best interest of the government to heed the signs of economic collapse and come out of its denial phase. Mugabe's intransigence and obstruction to open politics and sound economic policies has precipitated this vending phenomenon such that if Mugabe truly want to serve the people of Zimbabwe, then he should resign and pave way to a new political dispensation that is inclusive, that has a level playfield and that respects the will of the Zimbabwean people. The indicators that the situation is so bad in Zimbabwe are on the surface, hardly unnoticeable. The situation is getting out of control rapidly such that it should be easy for Mugabe to realise that it is futile to continue in his manner and as president and still expect the state of affairs to improve.
The third and final problem is that of the opposition which continue to contest in elections governed by heavily skewed election processes. If election processes are not remodeled to eliminate the flaws that gives unfair advantages to Zanu-PF, it does not make any sense for any opposition party to contest since participating serves only to give the election process some dimension of legitimacy, but never a chance to win.
It is urgent that opposition parties unite in demanding that the election process be severed and isolated from the control and manipulation by Zanu Pf. It is an important and imperative condition that ZEC, media and judiciary operate independent of government for the electoral playfield to level up. Reforms were a condition in the GNU charter but Zanu-PF cunningly dodged implementing their requirement at the time. But still the reforms have to be pushed through if Zimbabwe is to conduct credible, free and fair elections. Zimbabwe has not progressed towards implementing these reforms and Zimbabwe is still stuck to the time of the GNU with regards to fulfilling the orders of the charter.
Source - Shumba Zanda
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