Will protests bring the change we seek?

"There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. The innovator has the enmity of all who profit by the preservation of the old system and only lukewarm defenders by those who would gain by the new system" (Niccolo Machiavelli.)

I must repeat my assertion here once more, that dictators never leave office in mid-stream at happy juncture voluntarily but must be chased out of office screaming. This is simply because they fear persecution. To this date, nowhere in Africa have we seen dictators giving up power voluntarily I sincerely doubt that President Mugabe is about to break this pattern.

We have witnessed a season of public protests as Zimbabweans from all walks of life have decided that their voices are important and must be heard. If there is one thing that Evan Mawarire under #ThisFlag achieved, it is to awaken citizens to the fact that things do not change on their own, we have to change them. By the same token, ZANU (PF) will not change on their own, we have to change them.

It is rather a pity that Mawarire decided to leave the country just when we were all getting started. Although they are many theories and speculations as to why he left, it is understandable given the personal threats he was facing. We certainly do not want any more dead heroes. We who are here in Zimbabwe need to move on but it is rather critical, at this juncture, for us to reflect on recent events as we continue our journey to freedom.

We must never again, as a society, put too much of a burden on individuals, instead we must begin to build institutions that survive personalities. This has always been the challenge in Zimbabwe, in that our politics have indeed been too personalized and therefore too dependent on individual leadership failures of those we tend to put on a pedestal. Nobody is perfect and yet we have continually expected the impossible from those who lead whom we then blame when they fail to meet our expectations. That is a dependence mentality which disempowers us as individuals to be the change we want to see.

We now have to learn to deepen a participative democracy and I think we are well on our way although we may go through challenges now and then.

The fundamental question we must now ask ourselves in whether the current on going public protests from all manner of circles will achieve the change which we seek?

I do not think that there is any doubt in anyone's mind what needs to happen if we are to see fundamental political and economic reforms. Mugabe must simply step down and allow a new leadership to take the country on a new path. If that does not happen, the country will continue on the path of self-destruction as the economic activity declines, unemployment increases and poverty spreads. We all know why we are where we are. The main reason is simply that we have an irresponsible leadership and government which is neither accountable nor competent in creating the Zimbabwe we want.

In my opinion, if anything, the recent protests have delivered a clear message to all and sundry that Zimbabweans want change of political leadership and government and are truly fed up of the abuse, corruption and greed which is driving the economy to its knees. They also have afforded our activists to be relevant and active in seeking change and each day will continue to present its challenges and opportunities of how to continue to deliver this message. However, that is not enough.  These protests can also keep us and the police busy while ZANU (PF) and its moribund ideas continue to entrench themselves and scheme for 2018 elections. We need to do more.

There is no doubt that fundamental change can only come when first we unite as a people and second we act together without vested interest of wanting to act separately as politicians or as civic organisations or as churches. There is no doubt that citizens no longer trust our politicians as the sole change agents given their disappointments in the past nor do they trust a church fraternity to do the necessary given their inaction to date.

That may be true, but we must move on, we must wake up to the reality that without a concerted and collective effort to force both political and economic change. This regime, this tyranny, will continue to identify individual change agents do whatever it takes to shut them up. This remains a present and imminent risk to many of us who have chosen to speak out and we must not be naïve about it.

We now need a coordinated and wide spread citizen's mass action which demands immediate changes and does not stop until that change comes. That is the only medicine which will work for Mugabe and ZANU (PF) to take us seriously. In doing this we cannot afford to fear or to be divisive and that can only happen if we do it together in our huge numbers.

The argument against other forms of action besides protests has been that we must respect the rule of law and must act within the constitution. That is desirable, however, our system is dysfunctional and we have a leader of government and his cronies who do not respect the constitution or the rule of law as long as it does not serve their political interests. Elections, when they come, can never be free and fair as long as they preside over the state machinery. In addition we all know that ZANU (PF) will not implement the necessary reforms which will see them lose power. Worse is that we certainly cannot live like this until 2018 and change must be now? These are the real challenges we face.

We certainly need increased internal and international pressure for substantive change and that is what we must now all focus on.

Change will eventually come yes, there is no doubt about that. But it can only do so through our collective efforts and nobody else.

Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. He is also the secretary for Finance and Economic Affairs for PDP. You may contact him on vtmusewe@gmail.com