The Sunday News
Richard Runyararo Mahomva
THE outcome of the 2013 harmonised elections tremendously changed the face of Zimbabwean politics.
To some it marked the legitimisation of Mugabeism against a power sharing concession between Zanu-PF and the late Cde Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T following the 2008 election stalemate.
The victory of Zanu-PF in 2013 marked a turning point in the opposition’s donor dependency. In the same manner numerous NGOs became bankrupt and faced the inevitable fate of shutting down.
Zanu-PF’s victory in 2013 inaugurated a paralysis of sponsored opposition rhetoric. Fortunately, this donor fatigue towards regime change resuscitated the organic reframing of Zimbabwe’s body-politic.
It revived the long lost and derided anecdotes of the country’s liberation which had been silenced by the superficial Global Political Agreement. Zanu-PF’s unequivocal and intimate proximity to the liberation legacy was further illuminated by the fall of the regime-change agenda — which is still in a staggering motion.
The resurgence of nationalist euphoria in 2013 gave gravitas to a renewed consciousness of national belonging. Now there was less intoxication to the national project which was under regime-change sabotage.
The new state of affairs worked in favour of Zanu-PF. Zimbabweans reached a renewed rallying point of national belonging framed under the banner of economic indigenisation, reclamation of consensual brotherhood and sisterhood. With Zanu-PF back on its feet as the defining mark of the then 1980 moment, the trajectory to repositioning the body-politic became a Zanu-PF monopoly. Certainly if Zanu-PF called for another election outside the framework of the constitution — just to prove a point. It was going to have a white wash victory.
However, the 2013 momentum which re-established the ruling party’s renewed convergence with the electorate since the woes of 2007-2008 and the fight against sanctions was lost to factional wrangles which led to the dismissal of Cde Joice Mujuru and a crop of other cadres who fought on her side.
They had to fall out of the way as the freedom train found its way to this day against a background of the 2017 November internal rebirth of the revolutionary party.
The November experience informs another renewed path to Zanu-PF’s re-assertion of power against the tensions that rocked the party owing to the Grace Mugabe-led factional gimmicks.
Against that background of the internal re-establishment the principles of democracy, pluralism and tolerance within Zanu-PF it has equally become crucial for the same to be transferred to the general Zimbabwean body-politic.
This is why one notes the popularity of a plural political culture — something which was never a defining feature of our politics. In the same vein, President Mnangagwa has also emphasised the need for Zimbabweans to embrace dissent.
Opposition political campaigns are also getting relevant coverage and publicity in State media.
Of course, the same opposition parties clamour for the State media attention yet their sectorial media would not dare speak of Zanu-PF in a positive light, the way State media has profusely marketed opposition parties.
At the same time, there is no denial that State media has been brutal to some reckless misgivings of the opposition. In so doing, the State media has earned marks in the realist score lines. Against the circumstances of polarity, the State media just has also taken a side as it is the case with media who claim to be “private” in their agenda setting and dissemination of political issues.
On the other hand, the country’s current transition has seen the repositioning of the structure of governance with public institutions seemingly taking preferential leaning to national interests over partisan interests. This stimulates consorted patriotic commitment to national growth outside partisan leanings. In the same manner, this definitely indicates that the coming election will and must have a universal embrace of the desires of all Zimbabweans so as to validate the idea of a rebirth of a nation which was lost to corruption, clientele politics, nepotism and other vices that come with the corrosive effects of power.
Moreover, the Government’s public out-reach initiatives to various political and economic stakeholders as well as his meeting with the youth from across the political divide is telling of a transformative paradigm which is corrective to the systematically aloofness of the Government from the public. Cabinet Ministers must take a leaf from the President’s approach and be in contact with the needs and realities of their respective constituencies.
This is key in recasting interactive attitudes between the State, key economic actors and the public at large.
This trails a background of a chasm existing between the Government institutions and the public. The path towards an “open-door” style of governance led by Cde Mnangagwa must cascade to all public service institutions to trample on corruption, lethargy, nepotism and monopoly.
Sloganeering and preoccupation with partisan business over national interest would only take us back to the 37 years we are coming from. This calls for renewed commitment for Cabinet to be at the service of national interest. 2018 is here, power must be consolidated, but the ground for structural renewal has been set and President Mnangagwa must be commended for effectively dispensing his duties as is expected of a national leader.
The election Zimbabweans want
As far as I know, Zanu-PF has taken the lead in having volatile and largely contested primary elections. What has since emerged from the MDC-Alliance has been high discontent on issues of favouritism, yet to be substantiated someday. Of course, the funding of opposition primaries has been a mammoth challenge considering the party’s current financial crisis.
The MDC-Alliance is broke! This is why its supporters have tremendously castigated Zanu-PF’s full swing campaign as if when given the same proximity to resources they would not do the same or bigger.
Zanu-PF primaries had their own problems which were open for all to see. Nothing was swept under the carpet. It was transparent for all to see. However, there is one thing that cannot be devalued as a key success of the Zanu-PF primaries.
There was mass participation in the internal Zanu-PF democratic processes to shield candidates ahead of the coming elections. This explains that there was massive grassroots participation in the internal party processes.
Using the demographic figures of the Zanu-PF primaries, it is clear that Zimbabweans will actively participate in this election against a background of the country’s parochial and passive voting culture.
This active participation seems to be gaining its traction from President Mnangagwa’s constant call for the free, fair and credible elections.
This potential for active participation of citizens in the coming elections will also be incentivised by increased political tolerance.
This calls for political leaders across the political divide to be disciplined in their conduct. Politicians have a mandate to make sure that they desist from reckless utterances which may disparage the institutions they represent. Recently Zanu-PF and the Government has had to deal with the ill-utterances of the Deputy Minister Terence Mukupe. How pathetic!
How on earth does an entire senior member of Government proclaim that the army which grabbed the country from Mugabe would not concede to the ruling party’s defeat by the opposition? “. . . Mauto vakanotora nyika kunobvuta nyika kuna vaMugabe kuti vagotambidza chana chirikutaura zvema spaghetti roads.” (The military did not seize the country nor did it forcefully grab the country from Mugabe so that they could hand it over to a childish spaghetti roads hallucinating infant).
This reckless utterance by the Deputy Minister feeds into a malicious, divisive and misleading narrative that the November transition was a coup undertaken by the army. As a result, there is no way the same army will give away its recently acquired power.
This was not the case, it only takes a motor-mouth to make such a hoodwinked Kudzai Chipanga-type of a statement. Such an utterance is oblivious of the fact that what happened in November was an internal Zanu-PF insurrection which compelled the military — through public consent to intervene in succouring a crisis which had become a threat to national interest.
Moreover, this same shallow misrepresentation of the military as an authoritarian entity is misleading considering how the November experience created a natural blend of patriotic affection between the military and the citizens. After all, this is an era of democracy and President Mnangagwa has pledged his commitment to ensuring that this election will be free, fair and credible. Therefore, it is sabotage to Government policy for a senior public official to make pronouncements that go against the type of election that Zimbabweans demand. An election that is free and fair — and also free from the meddling hand of state institutions like the army.
Therefore, it is key that as we even seek dialogue around the elections we are guided by national principles which define the essence of our cohesion and unity outside misdirected partisan bigotry cushioned on a position one holds in their party.
Organisational principles — in this case Zanu-PF principles; are bigger than narcissist imaginations of oneself as a modern political Goliath unleashed to dismantle those with a different persuasion.
Let Shamu be an example to all that internal and external discipline is a founding pillar of Zanu-PF and as the President would declare “Zanu-PF ihomwe inokwana tese” — including those who are stigmatised for being HIV-positive. Was President Mnangagwa’s example of symphathy and love not enough when he visited the ailing leader of the opposition? Then how dare does a supposed protégé of President Mnangagwa stigmatise an opposition counterpart? Itsika dzekupi idzodzo?
Zimbabweans want a civil entry into the elections. There is no need for senior politicians to be catalysts of hate and intolerance. That is not the nationalist way of doing things. It’s not even close to the values of Ubuntu which has always been the bedrock of embracing dissent and appreciating that we are diverse, but one. Zimbabweans needs a peaceful, hate-free, credible, free and fair election and our leaders across the political divide need to communicate that message through honourable behaviour and top notch character decorum.
