We, Zimbabweans, are our own worst enemy and hence the reason we are stuck in this hell-on-earth W Mukori

“Come on Wilbert, I thought you are smart enough to have figured it all out for yourself by now,” Brian said, provokingly.

“What, may I ask, is it I should have figured out for myself by now!” I asked, sitting straight up!

“That black Zimbabweans are your own worst enemy!”

“What makes you say that?”

“76% of the front-line soldiers in the Rhodesian Army, were blacks!”

Bang! That was a hammer blow and I sunk in my chair! Brian was a white Zimbabwean and like most whites before independence had served in Ian Smith’s Army. There is no denying that in the country’s war of independence many, many blacks fought alongside the whites fighting the fellow blacks risking life and limb to end black oppression and exploitation.

For the record, I had figured it out for myself. Even if one black had fought in the liberation war on the side of the whites, it would have been one too many. The fact that so many blacks had fought alongside the whites is something every black person must surely be ashamed of. I am ashamed of this to this day!

There is no denying the fact that Zimbabwe is in this, seemingly intractable, economic mess and political chaos for one primary reason – these are all man-made problems and we, Zimbabweans, our own worst enemy. Ever since Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF thugs got into power in 1980, they have instituted a corrupt, incompetent and ruthlessly oppressive political systems which has left the nation’s economy in ruins and the people denied their freedoms and rights including the right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life itself.

“Zimbabwe is what it is because of a political subculture, centred on the ruling party, that has hegemony and subjugation as its highest ideals. Violence, disdain, paranoia and plunder are among its natural progeny. It is fundamentally antithetical to genuine political competition, dissent and notions of stewardship,” wrote Doran.

“The attitudes and instincts that together comprise the culture are audible at every turn, if we are tuned to the right frequency. Asked during a trip to Ethiopia about the numerous allegations of rape during the recent crackdown, Mnangagwa retorted: ‘It’s all stage-managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody, local or foreign, to produce the women, so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened.’

“Regarding the killings: ‘We’d want to see evidence. We see all this in social media. But we’d want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed. Where were they buried?’ And then the sterile references to external manipulation; the protests were part of ‘a regime change agenda which is not new’.

“Back at home, speaking at a rural rally, he went on: ‘Those who we fought during the liberation struggle, the whites, are still fighting so they can claim power again … Our enemies are not resting.’ But, away from the international glare, he was unable to restrain the urge to brag. ‘We don’t want violence, so I said soldiers go and silence these people, they were silenced.’ Protestors were of ‘Legion’—a multitude of demons—and the government would ‘sort them out … We will crush our enemies, and they are being crushed.’”

Robert Mugabe et al did not give a damn about freedom, justice and human dignity; the war of independence was all about them securing absolute power for themselves. So as soon as the civil war was over but before anyone had tasted freedom and liberty, Zanu PF hijacked the revolution for its own selfish purposes.

“Zimbabwe is what it is because of a political subculture, centred on the ruling party, that has hegemony and subjugation as its highest ideals. Violence, disdain, paranoia and plunder are among its natural progeny. It is fundamentally antithetical to genuine political competition, dissent and notions of stewardship,” wrote Stuart Doran in a recent article in The Strategist publication.

“The attitudes and instincts that together comprise the culture are audible at every turn, if we are tuned to the right frequency. Asked during a trip to Ethiopia about the numerous allegations of rape during the recent crackdown, Mnangagwa retorted: ‘It’s all stage-managed. We are challenging anybody, anybody, local or foreign, to produce the women, so that the world can see them, and say this is what happened.’

“Regarding the killings: ‘We’d want to see evidence. We see all this in social media. But we’d want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed. Where were they buried?’ And then the sterile references to external manipulation; the protests were part of ‘a regime change agenda which is not new’.

“Back at home, speaking at a rural rally, he went on: ‘Those who we fought during the liberation struggle, the whites, are still fighting so they can claim power again … Our enemies are not resting.’ But, away from the international glare, he was unable to restrain the urge to brag. ‘We don’t want violence, so I said soldiers go and silence these people, they were silenced.’ Protestors were of ‘Legion’—a multitude of demons—and the government would ‘sort them out … We will crush our enemies, and they are being crushed.’”

The pulpable disdain and hatred of blacks by Mugabe, Mnangagwa and Zanu PF regime is shocking. The whites have never displayed such hatred of blacks, not even at the height of the civil war and have never ever shown any white on white hatred. Never!

As a nation, we have had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship but have failed to do so for the same reason – we are our own worst enemy. Zimbabweans have risked life and limb, over 30 000 have lost their lives in the fight for freedom and liberty since independence, to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends into power on the understanding they will dismantle the Zanu PF dictatorship. Just as happened during the liberation war, as soon as MDC leaders got into power they forgot about dismantling the dictatorship in pursuit of their own selfish goals.

There was international consensus that Zanu PF rigged last year’s election thus making the regime illegitimate.

“The electoral commission lacked full independence and appeared to not always act in an impartial manner,” stated the EU Election Mission in its final report.

“The final results as announced by the Electoral Commission contained numerous errors and lacked adequate traceability, transparency and verifiability. Finally, the restrictions on political freedoms, the excessive use of force by security forces and abuses of human rights in the post-election period undermined the corresponding positive aspects during the pre-election campaign. As such, many aspects of the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe failed to meet international standards.”

Declaring the election null and void would have opened the door for the appointment an interim administration which would have been entrusted the task of implementing the reforms. It was none other than Zimbabweans ourselves who have foolishly undermined the consensus of Zanu PF’s illegitimacy.

By participating in the flawed and illegal elections Zimbabwe’s opposition candidates gave the illegal election some modicum of credibility. After the elections most opposition candidates have publicly endorsed the elections as having been free, fair and credible. Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends have withheld their full endorsement of the Zanu PF regime’s legitimacy but only for the purpose of bargaining more gravy train seats for some of the MDC leaders.

Yes, Zimbabwe is in this hell-on-earth situation today because we, Zimbabweans, are own worst enemies. And, worst of all, until we learn to treat fellow Zimbabweans as we would like would want others to treat us, we will never escape out of the hell-hole.