The Sunday News
Micheal Mhlanga
Democracy is the defining principle for preservation of the interest of the majority. It forms the foundation and pillars of collective aspirations of those unified by common experience and the respect of those who assume the side of the uncommon.
Democracy defines the transactional interaction of those who subscribe to both the popular and unpopular. Leaning to the popular or the unpopular (demos) is not that which matters in a “kratos”.
It is the right to be which bind the value of all those who belong. Democracies provide more public goods and higher standards of living, on average, for citizens than authoritarian countries. But, what is it about democratic practice that enhances citizens’ lives? I argue that competitive elections like ours and citizens’ ability to exercise political rights contribute to responsive, accountable government.
Citizens demand public goods and democratic governments provide them, resulting in greater well-being, on average.
However, weak party systems, low voter knowledge, entrenched clientelistic practices, fragmented states, and partial protection of the rights that constitutions formally guarantee beset many new democracies. These difficulties often combine to limit democratically elected governments’ ability to improve basic well-being. Of interest is, has/ can Zimbabwe pass(ed) that litmus test (before) after these elections?
Locating the democracy of these elections
To put you into perspective of this past democratic election confirming the Second Republic, let me invite thinkers like Dahl (1971), Marshall (1950) and Pateman (2012) who highlight the central role of contestation, participation, and citizenship as core principles. Their basic understanding and prescription of democracy locates this past election within the best practices and dictates of what Democracy is according to the best standards. Contestation, in fact tightly contested seats and Presidency was witnessed. A titanic voter turnout translating into participation was evident. Above all, free exercise of choice as citizenship as a core principle cannot be disputed in this election. What more beyond that can usher Zimbabwe into a
legitimate Second Republic?
Outside classroom confines is Sambulo, an itinerant friend of mine in Bulawayo whom I usually converse with at the City Hall benches during my highbrow pensive times. Many who stay in Bulawayo probably know Sambulo, a very intelligent man, always near the City Hall asking for your assistance.
What is strikingly astounding about Sambulo is his clasp of contemporary issues in and around Africa and his opulent academic background before he involuntarily decided to spend much of his time at the City Hall. On early Friday morning I waged him a visit to scrounge some wisdom about the 2018 election and its democratic import.
He said that democracy is dynamic and open-ended. We capture the complexity of democratic politics by illuminating how multiple features of democracy contribute to well-being.
Much of the empirical literature evaluating democracy’s effects focuses on how elections influence government performance and citizens’ well-being. He extended his argument by saying if anyone disputes the 2018 elections’ role in aggregating preferences and promoting accountability in decision-making, they should not ignore theoretical and empirical attention on ongoing forms of citizen participation, inclusive social policies, and state reform as crucial factors for citizens’ well-being. Profound, isn’t it?
Of fundamental note to solidify the legitimacy of this election as a passage into the Second Republic is how we should understand democracy as presented by the space and place of the citizens and their action-decisions herein. Our understanding of democratic citizenship should stem from three complementary dimensions: civil, political, and social rights.
Ensuring access to these rights is central to democratic politics because citizens must have unimpaired opportunities to formulate preferences, engage in individual and collective action, and participate in deliberative processes in pursuit of their interests. Did this not happen? Did we not see undeterred rallies even in the most remote and impenetrable locations? Was public media space not allocated? Did people not peacefully demonstrate before the elections? Let us be impartial and concede that the process was permissive of what was previously absent hence the outcome is chastely reflective of people’s individual and unfettered choices.
For a country like ours whose First Republic should not be celebrated but always be present for reference, we surely transitioned into a democracy. In such a transitioning democracy, perceptibly the extension of full citizenship must overcome decades or even centuries of practices that have left vulnerable groups subject to semi-feudal and authoritarian social relations. What then becomes centrally inquiring is how do democracies entering the Second Republic construct meaningful citizenship?
Here is a simple answer: Democratic institutions create opportunities for citizens to gather information (not abuse information — FakeNews), organise (not destroy), and advocate for their interests (not insult those who contrast). Electoral politics was one possible democratic avenue because it permitted citizens to select candidates and parties who they believe will represent their interests and that is exactly what happened on the 30th of July, so why should we contest against the dictates that have been evident?
The Second Republic’s democracy as well-being
Just from Sambulo’s argument alone, he burst a standing issue of true democracy in the Second Republic being defined as well-being.
Despite the existing socio-economic challenges, the (pre) Second Republic showed that it is improving and expanding public goods provision which enhance citizens’ basic capabilities and well-being through its re-engagement strategy, opening up for business both internationally and domestically. By well-being, I would say we should beseech Sambulo’s recommended read of Toudourre-Milan-Chengen who in 1799, sitting in a stuffy prison cell wrote, it means “our ability to live as we would like”.
Now that elections legitimised the entrance into the Second Republic, the biggest hurdle facing those given the mandate from henceforth is ensuring well-being as a product of a democratic process. That is how the Second Republic will be judged by those who doubt its hope. With our arrival into the Second Republic where well-being is a desperate envisage by all who cast their vote and those who spiritually translocated to the ballot (Diasporas), wide variation in well-being across and within this democracy presents a puzzle: How does democracy promote well-being to assure the success of the Second Republic?
Addressing this puzzle is important because well-being is connected to many benefits including those associated with citizens’ health, employment, family life, and economic conditions.
For instance, French philosophers like Louis Althusser, Bernard Andrieu, Antoine Aenauld and Jules Barthelemy-Saint-Hilaire connect higher levels of well-being to lower risk of disease or illness, increased longevity, and greater economic productivity — that is basic development imagined by those who voted for the winning party and even those who voted but were not sure of their decision — they all voted nevertheless.
Not many ordinary people think to that level, but that is fundamental in developmental specs where the image of the government is tallied with basic social good, which in this case are expected to be realised in the Second Republic.
Simple yet critical issues such as infant mortality as a proxy for well-being in this Second Republic have so far been a focus through exemption from health service fees for children under five years as declared by His Excellency, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
To those who undermined that move, well, you missed the entrance policies preparing us for the Second Republic — those became part of the deciding factors in this election. Above all, life goes beyond elections and its outcome.
Well-being repositions itself as the pivot of nation’s continuity and a response to questions of: Did we make the right ballot decision? For now, we remain very optimistic that the Second Republic assures well-being as a creation of a true democracy.
If the principle of process versus outcome is solid as it has always been, then be confident of possibilities and opportunities in the Second Republic.
