Socrates was wisest, never pretended to know all - we ruled by ignoramus insisting are Mr Know-It-All W Mukori

Here is a tale loaded with lessons for our time! 

“After his service in the war (Athens against Sparta 431BC Peloponnesian war), Socrates devoted himself to his favorite pastime: the pursuit of truth,” wrote pbs.org/empires/thegreeks.

“His reputation as a philosopher, literally meaning 'a lover of wisdom', soon spread all over Athens and beyond. When told that the Oracle of Delphi had revealed to one of his friends that Socrates was the wisest man in Athens, he responded not by boasting or celebrating, but by trying to prove the Oracle wrong.

“So Socrates decided he would try and find out if anyone knew what was truly worthwhile in life, because anyone who knew that would surely be wiser than him. He set about questioning everyone he could find, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer. Instead they all pretended to know something they clearly did not.

“Finally he realized the Oracle might be right after all. He was the wisest man in Athens because he alone was prepared to admit his own ignorance rather than pretend to know something he did not.”

Zimbabwe is well and truly stuck in this economic and political mess because for 39 years and counting the country has been ruled by men and women who claimed to know best but knew nothing. And, worst of all, they have rigged elections so the nation has been stuck with them all these years! 

The curse of “The bombastic Misstra Know-It-All”, as brother Stevie Wonder would say; is that he will never ever admit to failure, ignorance, etc. ever in the face of Mount Everest of evidence!

When the nation finally prised Robert Mugabe at gun point from  state house after 37 years, needed boiling water to take off the binnacle; he was kicking and screaming, “I am the only one competent to rule Zimbabwe!” 

Zimbabwe was a banana republic in every derogatory sense of that phrase! Unemployment had soared to nauseating heights of 90% and so too had poverty. 

Before Mugabe took over the country was the breadbasket of the region. He seized the farms and gave them to his cronies, mostly, and ever since the country has relied of food aid, so impoverish we could not ever pay for it! We are starving in what is for all intent and purposes is the Biblical Garden of Eden. A damning testimonial one insisting he is Misstra Know-It-All!

Mugabe was booted out of office by Mnangagwa and his fellow coup plotters ZDF commander Constantino Chiwenga, Air Marshall Perence Shiri, Major General Sibusiso Moyo and others; supposedly to rescue the country from the economic and political rot and decay. The irony is that these gentlemen were the bulwark of the Zanu PF dictatorship that had kept Mugabe in power against the democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe. 

So, whilst many people had expected things to get better after the November 2017 coup, they have since realised it was al wishful thinking. 

That is not to say, Mnangagwa himself had any doubt that he was going to succeed with flying colours where Mugabe had failed. 

“Zimbabwe is open for business!” announced Mnangagwa. He promised “zero tolerance on corruption” and more important of all he promised to hold free, fair and credible elections. He failed to keep any of his promises and thus confirmed Zimbabwe was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. No one wants to do business with thugs! 

Zimbabwe’s economic situation is dire; unemployment is still a nauseating 90%; 34% of the population now lives in extreme poverty. Millions are suffering and hundreds are dying everyday of easily curable ailments because there are no doctors, no nurses, no medicine, no equipment, no electricity, no clean water, no everything. The situation cannot go on like this!

There is talk of yet another coup!

“Military tactician, Vice President Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, has reportedly set the stage for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s removal from power in 2020,” reported Spotlight Zimbabwe. 

“Senior army officers linked to the VP’s faction and sources inside the presidency, this week revealed that Chiwenga is allegedly going to boot out Mnangagwa from office “at all costs”, following the latter’s attempt to secure a life presidency, and reneging on a gentlemen’s agreement with the former to only rule for one presidential term, amid indications from the just ended ruling Zanu PF 18th annual people’s conference in Goromonzi, that Mnangagwa wants to run unchallenged as Zanu PF candidate in the 2023 presidential elections and beyond.”

Deja vu! 

Mnangagwa came into power on the back of military coup and a rigged elections so, just Mugabe, he is illegitimate. His “Zimbabwe is open for business!” has failed to revive the Zimbabwe economy and the economy has continued with its nose dive. And, just like, Mugabe he is not only refusing to acknowledge his failure but is supergluing himself into state house. It will take another coup or bloody street protests to get this binnacle off!

If Chiwenga was as smart as he now claims to be then why did he, as one of the senior members of the vote rigging Zanu PF junta, impose first Mugabe and now Mnangagwa on the nation all these last 39 years. He is cocksure, just like Mugabe and Mnangagwa, that he will reboot the Zimbabwe economy in no time. In short, he is just another Misstra Know-It-All!

The secret to Socrates’ wisdom was the humility to accept, that regardless how knowledgable he was on a subject, there was always a possibility in one single grain of sand wrong or missing in his vast Sahara Desert of knowledge. Hence the reason why he cross examined everyone and everything in his relentless search for truth and knowledge. 

There is NO secret to Zimbabwe’s economic demise and political paralysis; the country has been stuck in a rut for decades. It was ruled by  corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants, without even the common sense to admit they have failed even with all the evidence of their failure piled mountain high before them.

If Zimbabwe is ever to escape from the hell-on-earth the country now finds itself, then we must do something to replace the dictatorship with a health and functioning democratic system of government. We must replace these Misstra Know-It-All tyrants with democrats, who embrace the right of the people to a meaningful say in the governance of the country as a pre-requisite to good governance reaffirmation that leaders are above all else mere mortal and thus fallible.