When I was
a small boy my aunt told me a story of an Ingutsheni Mental Hospital patient
who watered the garden with a leaking bucket. He would be drenched from the
leaking water and up to his knees in mud but will carry on. Sometimes the
bucket would be empty before he reached the patch; he would continue and empty whatever
little water was left.
The story
has remained with me and formed the basis of my understanding of mental
illness. The garden needed watering, the patient had the physical strength to
carry the bucket to water the garden but, sadly, lacked the mental intellect to
realize that the task will not be accomplished using a leaking bucket!
If the
truth be told, we are stuck in this economic and political mess because for the
last 36 years we have so to appease Mugabe and allowed to establish a one-man
dictatorship and hoped, when reason said there was no basis for such hope, the
dictatorship will someday transform into the democratic government we wanted. We
have been doing our bit of watering the garden with a leaking bucket and we
have come off with a lot worse than being drenched with water and covered in
mud!
In 1980
Zimbabwe had the potential to be a free, just, and economically prosperous
nation; a far cry from what we have become. Zimbabwe is facing a serious economic
meltdown with unemployment a nauseating 90%, most cities and towns have no
clean running water, we have daily power cut lasting 18 hours, most hospitals
have no drugs, etc. The root causes of the economic meltdown are gross
mismanagement, rampant corruption and institutionalized lawlessness which have killed
all economic activity and scared away all foreign investors and donors alike.
As if the
economic meltdown was not bad enough, the country is facing political chaos because
there is no rule of law; the only law that counts now is survival of the
fittest.
The economic
meltdown and political chaos are causing untold human suffering and deaths and
are now threatening to undermine national cohesion; there is a distinct possibility
of the street violence or worse.
So why did
we not follow the path to freedom, peace, justice and economic prosperity and instead
took the one that has landed us in economic ruins and political chaos? We,
foolishly, allowed Mugabe to do as he pleased, he did, and he dragged us into
this mess!
Mugabe and
his Zanu PF cronies were the liberation war heroes and out of respect for their
heroic sacrifice, fear of the AK47 rifle pointing at the them and sheer
political naivety the Zimbabwean people have allowed Mugabe to do as he
pleased. To gratify his insatiable greed for absolute power Mugabe stifled all
meaningful debate and democratic competition within his own party, Zanu PF, and,
even more so, outside. He has destroyed the nation’s state institutions like
the Police and Judiciary turning them into Zanu PF departments, there to serve
him and his one-man dictatorship agenda.
Mugabe has
creamed off the nation’s wealth to feed his and his cronies’ insatiable
appetites for luxuries and extravagant lifestyle. There is no money to buy
drugs, water pumps, etc. and yet Mugabe is pocketing $2 billion a year from the
wholesale looting and plunder in Marange and Chiadzwa!
After 36 years
pursuing this policy of appeasing Mugabe and his cronies at all coast, of carrying
this leaky bucket of hope against reason; one expected that the penny has
finally dropped and the nation now sees the sheer futility of pursuing this
stupid policy for one day longer! Sadly that is not so, there are some people
like Vince Musewe who still want us to appease Mugabe!
“In my
opinion, ZANU (PF), especially its leaders, fear to lose power through free and
fair elections. Understandably so, because that loss of power may result in
personal criminal persecution, loss of income and status. This fear is the same
which is causing succession battles as Mugabe holds onto power. It is clear
that the more we demand for political reforms, the more resistance to change we
are getting,” wrote Vince Musewe in his latest contribution to the national
debate on the subject.
“Going to
2018 elections without any reforms is political suicide and therefore
unthinkable. I would rather we postpone elections and pursue an inclusive
political settlement that addresses the fears of ZANU(PF), but ushers in a new
era of inclusive democracy through comprehensive political reforms over an
agreed timeframe.”
The GPA
that led to 2008 to 2013 GNU wanted meaningful democratic reforms to be
implemented and did not seek to appease Mugabe on this point. By signing the
agreement Mugabe agreed to the democratic reforms (the only reason why not even
one reform was implemented was because MDC sold-out).
Musewe’s
proposed settlement is double Dutch, gibberish; to allay Mugabe’s fear of free
and fair elections Musewe is granting the tyrant the power to veto all
meaningful democratic reforms. So his promise of “new era of inclusive
democracy” to the populous is based on hopeless supposition that Mugabe will
never use the veto!
In short
Musewe is not proposing anything new but just a variant to the present policy
of appeasing Mugabe at all cost! Even now with the nation’s very survival
hanging on the balance; some people still believe appeasing Mugabe and his
cronies must still remain the nation’s primary concern.
It is not
how to secure Mugabe and his cronies’ in power in perpetuate that is at issue
here; it is the very survival of this nation that is at issue. It is a great
national tragedy and shame that none of the GPA democratic reform were implemented
during 2008 GNU. After 36 years of appeasing Mugabe and seeing the nation
dragged deeper and deeper into this economic mess and political chaos there is
no excuse for any sane Zimbabweans pursuing this foolish policy for one more day.
I agree with Vince that the nation must not go into yet another election with no reform but his proposed second GNU will be a complete waste of time that is clear.
ReplyDeleteZimbabweans have a knack for reinventing the wheel and that is what Vince is trying to do here. The problem is we have tyrannical dictatorship the solution is simple enough - implement the democratic reforms designed to dismantle the dictatorship. Job done!
I do not know what Vince is proposing here. Is he proposing the second GNU to draft and implement new reforms or GPA reforms? If this GNU is not going to deliver free and fair elections then is it there for?
I am disappointed that the people basic freedoms and human rights including the right to free and fair elections and the right to life are being tramped by the imaginary right of the political leaders to grant or deny the people their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful vote.
There are no red lines, everything is negotiable; that is a fundamental weakness of our opposition political leaders and tyrants exploit that naturally hence the absurd situation we are facing here where Musewe is coming up with a compromise solution to safe guard President Mugabe's red line - he will not allow free and fair elections and so we must give up demanding meaningful reforms and free and fair elections!
If the right to a meaningful vote and the right to life are not red lines then I do not know what will even constitute a red line to people like Musewe!
If this coalition is still talking about electoral reforms then they are not to be taken seriously; we are back to the MDC politics of the GNU of focusing on the trivial and easy tasks whilst avoiding the important and difficult ones. Electoral reforms will change nothing it is the GPA reforms that are game-changers.
ReplyDeleteThe coalition, if it materializes, will increase quantity but will still be lacking in quality and quantity without quality is a mirage to the man dying of thirst - it promises relief but will never bring any!
@ Mudhara
ReplyDeleteZanu PF did not win the last elections because the opposition was divided but because it was able to mobilize state resources to help it rig the vote. The opposition can have the majority of the voters behind them but as long as Zanu PF controls the voting process and can deny some voters the chance to vote whilst allowing a select few a chance to cast multiple votes, as happened in 2013, Zanu PF will have the clear advantage!
Get all the opposition into one coalition is easy but will not stop Zanu PF rigging the vote; we all know how much the opposition likes to be seen doing the easy stuff!
What Vince Musewe is proposing will only make sense to Zanu PF who know that their positions as the judge, the jury, prosecutor and execution in all matters is secure; their dictatorial power will be guaranteed. Vince is then promising the ordinary people a new Zimbabwe he knows, Zanu PF and everyone with any brain knows will never be delivered.
ReplyDeleteIt saddens me that people like Vince Musewe, to who many millions of ordinary Zimbabweans would look up to and trust intrinsically for helping them out of this nightmare, are the ones queu-ing at Zanu PF's door with proposals on how to sell-out the people. MDC leaders sold-out the people during the GNU and now a new gang of sell-outs has arisen! How sad!
Yes the people trust individuals like Musewe, Tsvangirai "intrinsically" without ever questioning them and there lays their greatest weakness because leader are human beings and like all human beings they are fallible. When people believe this fallible mortals blindly they will become big headed and become even more reckless than normal knowing no one will ever hold them to account.
ReplyDeleteThe people do not have clue is and is not possible on any of the important issues; they have no choice but to assume these opposition leaders know what they are talking about. This is why our attempts at building a democratic system of government have always failed. Democracy demands voters who have an idea, at least, what the leaders are talking about!