Opinion / Columnist
The future of Zimbabwe politics
13 Sep 2011 at 15:48hrs | Views
In order to address the topic adequately, I believe it is important to give a brief background of our history, especially the aspects of our colonisation and the liberation struggle. It is important to highlight what the liberation struggle was about. Following the invasion of our country by the British (Rhodes) Pioneer column and our subsequent repression, dispossession and destruction of our traditional structures and religious values of our people, our forefathers and fathers, and indeed our mothers also, heroically resisted this aggression in order to restore their sovereignty, dignity and freedom.
That armed resistance was overpowered by the better armed settler forces, leading to colonisation of our country. Our people resorted to other methods, such as pressure groups like workers unions and other social group to protests against colonisation. The late 50s and early 60s saw the emergence of the first political party, the Southern Rhodesia ANC, which then became the NDP, and eventually was named ZAPU, which we have since revived, as most of you may be aware. NDP, and indeed ZAPU, tried to end the occupation of our country by dialogue, protests and other forms of low level violence, but the white settlers would not budge.
In the mid sixties, following the banning of ZAPU by the regime, we were forced to embark on a bloody armed struggle to regain our birth right, the land, and our political, economic and social freedom, and indeed our human dignity and self-determinism as a nation.
Regrettably, I stand before you here today to admit that ZAPU firmly believes none of the things I mentioned above are alive today in our country: Our freedom, human dignity, self-determination, economic independence and social justice have been taken away from us by those who believe that the struggle was waged for them to acquire, possess and keep power until they die - at all costs. ZAPU went into unity with ZANU in 1987 trusting that our involvement in the governance of the country would influence a change for the better. But alas, for 20 years, we were patient and tried all we could until we came to the sad conclusion that we had to leave the unity agreement. ZAPU was, and still is for true democracy, accountability, equality and fairness for all.
Before that, together with some of our comrades in ZANU-PF, formed Mavambo Kusile movement fronted by Simba Makoni to contest the presidential election in 2008. We achieved what we wanted: stopping either of the two protagonists from winning an absolute majority. We hoped the situation we created would allow the two protagonists to cool down and negotiate, and abandon their confrontational, winner-take-all mentality. Again, the fact that a recognisable size of the population voted for Mavambo Kusile, even when our project did not have structures at all, surely proved beyond any doubt that there are people in Zimbabwe who are uncomfortable with the two major political players.
We hoped the period between the presidential election and the run-off would be used by the opposing sides to reflect on the national interest and realise that after all we are one people, we fought the struggle as one people, and therefore don't need to go for political dog fights, and negotiate a peaceful power-sharing agreement. This required maturity, statesmanship, sobriety, patriotism, which I am sad to say is in short supply in some of our political leadership. As a result, the opportunity to put our country back on track was missed in 2008 when the leading political players decided to go for each other's throats, thereby sustaining a tug-of-war, during which the grass, which is the people, suffered.
Our hope is that the next election, which we presume will be held next year or in 2013, should be credible, free and fair. By the way, the people's party, ZAPU is back in business and we are working day and night to win that election. I am sure the people of Zimbabwe have learnt in the past three decades the dangers of giving all the political power to one party, and all the executive authority to one office, which has a chain of all powerful titles, thereby literally controlling the destiny of the more than 14 million people, who have no say whatsoever about how they are governed.
Fellow countrymen, we have a golden opportunity to correct all the wrong things about our governance system through the on-going constitution making prowess. ZAPU has strong reservations above the process, but we believe it is still possible to come up with a 21st century constitution which empowers the people to have power over their governance. The problem is that some of the people involved in COPAC just do not realize they have the rare privilege and opportunity to be the saviours of the country and influence our future - by simply doing what is right and produce the constitution that the people of Zimbabwe want. Sadly, some of the characters and players in the process think what matters are the anxieties and wishes of the leadership of their political parties, and not the wishes of the people. Our envisaged constitution must guarantee total freedom of the people and self-determination. There must be a clear bill of rights stipulating all the rights of the people. There must be checks and balances to curb the abuse of power by any office so that we have a people-centred governance system.
ZAPU will not negotiate when it comes to the policy of devolution of power to the regions and or provinces. Citizens in their provinces and regions must be empowered by having control over their natural resources and to determine their priorities, instead of the current system where communities just see people moving earth equipment into their areas to harvest their minerals, timber, and wildlife, without their knowledge, let alone input. All one needs now is to be friends with someone in a strategic office in Harare to obtain the necessary papers and then all the mining claims, hunting concessions, prime land, etc. is all yours. This has made our people poor while individuals get richer and richer. This has made all our regions poor. Devolution of power will bring development to the provinces immediately. Under devolution, central government would still have the role of overseeing regional or provincial administration, and to run crucial national issues like defence, security, police, among others. This is the future that ZAPU dreams of.
I repeat, ZAPU will never support a draft constitution that does not bring devolution of power to the regions. ZAPU wants a Zimbabwe whose future is controlled by the people themselves. We also insist that the new constitution must come up with a democratic electoral system, which is proportional representation, which makes sure that every party is rewarded proportionally, based on its share of support, as opposed to the current situation whereby a party can win all the constituencies even when the majority did not vote for them. Let's move with the times and embrace real democracy. That is the only way we can build a firm future for our children.
The experiences that we have gone through as a nation, and the experiences acquired by millions of our citizens living in the Diaspora, provide us with enough strength and knowledge to know what is best for the future of our country. We have an opportunity to reconstruct our political mindset and environment to avoid the pitfalls of the past. We know which ideas have failed, and those political parties who stick to such ideas will surely become extinct very soon. ZAPU, which by the way is the founder and authentic liberation movement of Zimbabwe, is ready to embrace change and make itself relevant to the contemporary situation as we once again lead Zimbabweans in the final lap towards final freedom.
Zimbabwe is on the verge of true, multi-party democracy. For years we were under a de facto one party state. For more than a decade now we have been under a two-party system. The revival of ZAPU and indeed the strengthening of other political players is a good recipe for pluralism, which is the essence of democracy. That is the future we want. A future where people appreciate that they have different political inclinations, contest each other peacefully, freely and fairly, and shake hands afterwards and agree to work together for the development of their country. The current scenario where political differences amount to declaration of war is barbaric to say the least. ZAPU lost the elections in 1980 and 1985. For those who were old enough, those were the worst ever elections in our history in terms of violence and intimidation. Even when we had the capacity to fight, we chose peace. That served our beautiful Zimbabwe from being another Angola, Mozambique or Somalia. We have no intention of emulating those who chose violence against election results. We challenge other political parties to emulate our legacy. We were privileged to have worked with a statesman of the calibre of the late Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, a man who saw 50 years ahead. That great man had a vision for Zimbabwe. Our generation must pass that spirit to the next and to the next generation.
Our wish as ZAPU is for Zimbabweans to have a future in which it is not wrong to be your race, your tribe, your religion and your origin. Zimbabwe is beautiful because of the various colours, tribes and regions. ZAPU wishes for a future in which people will judge political players on the basis of their polices and manifesto, and not whether they are black or white, Sikhalanga, Korekore, Venda or Ndebele. There are some among us who think that if a white man and black man are engaged in an argument, the white man is always wrong. I can say the same about tribes. That is wrong and must change. We can not build a future based on prejudice. Let us build our own rainbow nation and make Zimbabwe the jewel of Africa.
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Dr Dumiso Dabengwa is currently the leader of the revived Zimbabwe African People's Union, This speech was presented at the Young Presidents' Organisation (YPO) - Harare Chapter On September 07, 2011
That armed resistance was overpowered by the better armed settler forces, leading to colonisation of our country. Our people resorted to other methods, such as pressure groups like workers unions and other social group to protests against colonisation. The late 50s and early 60s saw the emergence of the first political party, the Southern Rhodesia ANC, which then became the NDP, and eventually was named ZAPU, which we have since revived, as most of you may be aware. NDP, and indeed ZAPU, tried to end the occupation of our country by dialogue, protests and other forms of low level violence, but the white settlers would not budge.
In the mid sixties, following the banning of ZAPU by the regime, we were forced to embark on a bloody armed struggle to regain our birth right, the land, and our political, economic and social freedom, and indeed our human dignity and self-determinism as a nation.
Regrettably, I stand before you here today to admit that ZAPU firmly believes none of the things I mentioned above are alive today in our country: Our freedom, human dignity, self-determination, economic independence and social justice have been taken away from us by those who believe that the struggle was waged for them to acquire, possess and keep power until they die - at all costs. ZAPU went into unity with ZANU in 1987 trusting that our involvement in the governance of the country would influence a change for the better. But alas, for 20 years, we were patient and tried all we could until we came to the sad conclusion that we had to leave the unity agreement. ZAPU was, and still is for true democracy, accountability, equality and fairness for all.
Before that, together with some of our comrades in ZANU-PF, formed Mavambo Kusile movement fronted by Simba Makoni to contest the presidential election in 2008. We achieved what we wanted: stopping either of the two protagonists from winning an absolute majority. We hoped the situation we created would allow the two protagonists to cool down and negotiate, and abandon their confrontational, winner-take-all mentality. Again, the fact that a recognisable size of the population voted for Mavambo Kusile, even when our project did not have structures at all, surely proved beyond any doubt that there are people in Zimbabwe who are uncomfortable with the two major political players.
We hoped the period between the presidential election and the run-off would be used by the opposing sides to reflect on the national interest and realise that after all we are one people, we fought the struggle as one people, and therefore don't need to go for political dog fights, and negotiate a peaceful power-sharing agreement. This required maturity, statesmanship, sobriety, patriotism, which I am sad to say is in short supply in some of our political leadership. As a result, the opportunity to put our country back on track was missed in 2008 when the leading political players decided to go for each other's throats, thereby sustaining a tug-of-war, during which the grass, which is the people, suffered.
Our hope is that the next election, which we presume will be held next year or in 2013, should be credible, free and fair. By the way, the people's party, ZAPU is back in business and we are working day and night to win that election. I am sure the people of Zimbabwe have learnt in the past three decades the dangers of giving all the political power to one party, and all the executive authority to one office, which has a chain of all powerful titles, thereby literally controlling the destiny of the more than 14 million people, who have no say whatsoever about how they are governed.
Fellow countrymen, we have a golden opportunity to correct all the wrong things about our governance system through the on-going constitution making prowess. ZAPU has strong reservations above the process, but we believe it is still possible to come up with a 21st century constitution which empowers the people to have power over their governance. The problem is that some of the people involved in COPAC just do not realize they have the rare privilege and opportunity to be the saviours of the country and influence our future - by simply doing what is right and produce the constitution that the people of Zimbabwe want. Sadly, some of the characters and players in the process think what matters are the anxieties and wishes of the leadership of their political parties, and not the wishes of the people. Our envisaged constitution must guarantee total freedom of the people and self-determination. There must be a clear bill of rights stipulating all the rights of the people. There must be checks and balances to curb the abuse of power by any office so that we have a people-centred governance system.
ZAPU will not negotiate when it comes to the policy of devolution of power to the regions and or provinces. Citizens in their provinces and regions must be empowered by having control over their natural resources and to determine their priorities, instead of the current system where communities just see people moving earth equipment into their areas to harvest their minerals, timber, and wildlife, without their knowledge, let alone input. All one needs now is to be friends with someone in a strategic office in Harare to obtain the necessary papers and then all the mining claims, hunting concessions, prime land, etc. is all yours. This has made our people poor while individuals get richer and richer. This has made all our regions poor. Devolution of power will bring development to the provinces immediately. Under devolution, central government would still have the role of overseeing regional or provincial administration, and to run crucial national issues like defence, security, police, among others. This is the future that ZAPU dreams of.
I repeat, ZAPU will never support a draft constitution that does not bring devolution of power to the regions. ZAPU wants a Zimbabwe whose future is controlled by the people themselves. We also insist that the new constitution must come up with a democratic electoral system, which is proportional representation, which makes sure that every party is rewarded proportionally, based on its share of support, as opposed to the current situation whereby a party can win all the constituencies even when the majority did not vote for them. Let's move with the times and embrace real democracy. That is the only way we can build a firm future for our children.
The experiences that we have gone through as a nation, and the experiences acquired by millions of our citizens living in the Diaspora, provide us with enough strength and knowledge to know what is best for the future of our country. We have an opportunity to reconstruct our political mindset and environment to avoid the pitfalls of the past. We know which ideas have failed, and those political parties who stick to such ideas will surely become extinct very soon. ZAPU, which by the way is the founder and authentic liberation movement of Zimbabwe, is ready to embrace change and make itself relevant to the contemporary situation as we once again lead Zimbabweans in the final lap towards final freedom.
Zimbabwe is on the verge of true, multi-party democracy. For years we were under a de facto one party state. For more than a decade now we have been under a two-party system. The revival of ZAPU and indeed the strengthening of other political players is a good recipe for pluralism, which is the essence of democracy. That is the future we want. A future where people appreciate that they have different political inclinations, contest each other peacefully, freely and fairly, and shake hands afterwards and agree to work together for the development of their country. The current scenario where political differences amount to declaration of war is barbaric to say the least. ZAPU lost the elections in 1980 and 1985. For those who were old enough, those were the worst ever elections in our history in terms of violence and intimidation. Even when we had the capacity to fight, we chose peace. That served our beautiful Zimbabwe from being another Angola, Mozambique or Somalia. We have no intention of emulating those who chose violence against election results. We challenge other political parties to emulate our legacy. We were privileged to have worked with a statesman of the calibre of the late Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, a man who saw 50 years ahead. That great man had a vision for Zimbabwe. Our generation must pass that spirit to the next and to the next generation.
Our wish as ZAPU is for Zimbabweans to have a future in which it is not wrong to be your race, your tribe, your religion and your origin. Zimbabwe is beautiful because of the various colours, tribes and regions. ZAPU wishes for a future in which people will judge political players on the basis of their polices and manifesto, and not whether they are black or white, Sikhalanga, Korekore, Venda or Ndebele. There are some among us who think that if a white man and black man are engaged in an argument, the white man is always wrong. I can say the same about tribes. That is wrong and must change. We can not build a future based on prejudice. Let us build our own rainbow nation and make Zimbabwe the jewel of Africa.
-----------------
Dr Dumiso Dabengwa is currently the leader of the revived Zimbabwe African People's Union, This speech was presented at the Young Presidents' Organisation (YPO) - Harare Chapter On September 07, 2011
Source - Dr Dumiso Dabengwa
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