History is permanent but the future of Zimbabwe is in our hands

I did not take part in the liberation war but my father did. He represents the burning desire of his generation to free Zimbabwe. He spent seven years dodging bullets in the Chiurwi mountains of Buhera, running through the marshy lands of Chivhu and nursing horrible injuries that today still bring trauma to him. All this in a hope for a free Zimbabwe. A Zimbabwe devoid of colour. A Zimbabwe of equal beings. A Zimbabwe that respects human rights. We celebrated the culmination of his efforts on 18 April 1980. That day will always be precious in our hearts.

He saw that something was not right and he was prepared to pay the ultimate price for the freedom of his country. A vision with an action can change the world. For this, I salute him. I salute him because at that time there were others who were as oppressed as he was but they chose not to do anything about it. To them the Rhodesian machinery was invincible. They represent the section in society that is willing to be subservient to injustices as long as they life is guaranteed. These are the enemies of change. We have them today in our society.

He is there in Tokwane-Ngundu, farming on his small plot at Village 8 that he was allocated in 1987 during the resettlement of people from Manyuchi Dam. He left Chibi Mission School where he was doing form three but the person he sat next to in class continued school until he graduated at the then University of Rhodesia. That person went on to become an officer in the Rhodesian Army. They were both conscripted into the Zimbabwe National Army in 1980, my father at a lower rank and him as a Captain.

So in 1980, the new Zimbabwe was rewarding those who did nothing about the freedom of the nation with better opportunities whilst those who fought had to struggle for the crumbs. That was the burden of managing a diverse society that the new government had to bear. My father decided to leave the army and become a nurse back in his home village in Chivi.

In 1994 I asked him what he was fighting for; he told me- freedom, one-man-one-vote and land. He felt free because he could now travel from Chivi to Harare without being asked to produce a pass. He could now kill his cow and not be expected to turn in the head at the District Assistant’s office as proof. He could now walk in First Street and he could stand in a queue in front of a white man without fear of prosecution.

He could now vote and his vote would count. Gone were the days when only Stanlake Samkange and Jasper Savanhu represented seven million Blacks whilst 60 000 whites had fourteen representatives in parliament. This made him satisfied.

His biggest worry was THE LAND. I remember one day in 1988, when we were in a bus to Triangle. We had travelled approximately forty kilometres of fenced land full of cows that were just loitering without anybody manning them. I asked him whose they were and he told me that they belonged Jackson. Who was Jackson? Why did he have so much land and so many cows? He just laughed and said “The time will come”.

In 1996, I was mature enough to understand the feelings that existed amongst those who had fought the liberation struggle. In 1979 Murray MacDougalls estates in Triangle belonged to Anglo American Corporation, in 1996 they still belonged to Anglo American Corporations. Jackson still had a farm in Gutu, another near Triangle and another in Beatrice.

He took me to the newly built Tokwane-Ngundu dam. We saw how big it is. He took me to Village 10 in Tokwane-Ngundu Resettlement area. A big canal carried water from Tokwane-Ngundu Dam to Triangle Estates and passed through that village. No one, even in the times of drought was allowed to fetch water from this big canal. The water was private!

At village 12, there is a gigantic powerline that I am told carries electricity from Hwange Power Station to Triangle Estates. People were moved to make way for this powerline. No one in the whole vicinity has ever benefited from this powerline. They sleep in darkness, walk kilometres in search of firewood yet thousands of electrons travel just above them.

This is not what my father fought for. My father fought for equal access to land, equal access to national resources, not that some capitalist master monopolises them because he has greater access and power!

So it is with background that in 1997; at my tender age of sixteen I supported unreservedly the re-allocation of land. To me, it represented the fulfilment of the dreams of freedom that my father and all those who had died in the struggle shared. I thought the government had the power to order those with multiple farms to vacate and the landless to occupy it.

There was no way that issue wasn’t going to be racial since very few blacks owned multiple farms. The only black that I knew who owned a very big farm was Joshua Nkomo because I had recited a poem for him on one of his visits to Nuanetsi ranch and had been told he owned a very big chunk inside that massive ranch. But I knew Jackson had three farms.

I supported the people of Svosve for their gallant efforts to force Mugabe’s government to do something about the Land Issue. This was the continuation of the struggle. When my father was given $50 000 in 1997, he gave me $2 000 to buy whatever I wanted. Because then the spirit of the struggle was also overwhelming me, I spend half of it on books like No easy Walk to Freedom (the earlier version of Long Walk to Freedom), Matigari, With the People. I started listening to Joseph Hill and Culture, Simon Chimbetu and Cde Chinx.

I was shocked to see the brutality that followed especially after the Constitutional Referendum in 2000. I witnessed the horrific deaths of Talent Mabika and Chiminya that year in Murambinda. I was at the scene of the accident since it was just two kilometres from my mother’s house. There were people like Konan’ale and Kitsiyatota who purported to be War veterans and went about beating people for not supporting ZANU PF. Konan’ale was just a violent rank-tout aged around thirty. He killed in the name of ZANU PF disguised as a war veteran.

The death of white farmers at the hands of purported war veterans could not be condoned. No life was that cheap. Mugabe allowed it because it served his interests. The blame however should go to war veterans themselves because they failed to rise and demand an end to the abuse of their name. Nevertheless, I forgive them because there were bigger powers at hand which were determined to kill and maim in the name of power.

Who could have guessed that Elliot Manyika never fought the liberation struggle? He was at the forefront, singing and beating. He had taken the liberation struggle to be himself. He grabbed land, he maimed and he brutalised. Elliot Manyika the clerk in the Rhodesian Ministry of Public Works became the champion of Chimurenga 3. What I ask is; where was he during Chimurenga 2?

Elliot Manyika had multiple farms when real war veterans had nothing. Elliot Manyika had many farms but the people who deserved land had nothing. But ask anybody he will tell you: War Veterans killed the country!

At one point I confronted my father on that issue, and all he said was; “the truth shall come out. Real freedom fighters don’t behave like that because each one of us made a covenant with the people and we used to sing it day and night- ‘Kune nzira dzemasoja, dzekuzvibata nadzo…’”

We all know the fact that Jabulani Sibanda is not a war veteran, Chinotimba never fought the liberation war, so did Border Gezi. But they claimed they fought the war.

So, today we commemorate 29 years after independence from Colonial rule; there are many things that we have seen that make us question whether we are free or not.

My father fought for freedom. Today we have draconian laws in our country that limit our freedoms. We can no longer criticize that which Mugabe does. We cannot express ourselves. We cannot choose for ourselves. We cannot have our own meetings without getting a pass from Mugabe! Is this freedom?

My father fought for one-man-one-vote. Today we have one vote and that vote belongs to Mugabe. Voting otherwise does not count. The bullet is mightier than the pen. So what does this independence mean?

My father fought for land. They took the land and shared it amongst themselves. Those who deserve it either do not have it or were resettled in the semi-arid lands of Chivhu which are only fit for cattle rearing. So what independence should we celebrate?

On this day we do not celebrate freedom from oppression, rather we celebrate the gallant sacrifice that the people who fought in the bushes offered for this nation. Lest we forget, many good-intentioned people died in the bushes, many were maimed, and many carry the cicatrices of horrific events during that struggle. They fought for a reason and that reason has not yet been achieved.

On this day, we celebrate the foundations of our conscience as a people that love freedom. They played their part in the struggle for total emancipation of Zimbabwe.

On this day we are reminded of the fact that we have a generational responsibility to preserve the ideals of the struggle that our fore-fathers and our fathers fought for. We are clear about what we want for Zimbabwe.

We want a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe. Our struggle should therefore reflect our aspirations. Whilst others find solace in fighting within defined political entities it should be emphasised that the struggle is dynamic. The people whom we entrust with the responsibility to lead us may become our worst enemies. It remains our responsibility to hold them accountable for their actions.

Today we witness the inclusion of MDC into government. We should be aware that the primary responsibility of any politician is himself and his family, everybody else come second. So, we should not expect Morgan Tsvangirai to throw a loaf at us when his family is hungry. Even the much revered Barack Obama bought a dog for his family when victims of Katrina are dying of hunger.

We should know that our future is dependent on us. If you are not there when others are hunting don’t expect to be given a share. So when Nelson Chamisa gets a Mercedes Benz, we should not frown because he is being rewarded for being there in the thick of things.

We are the change that we wish to see. If you feel that your destiny is to be a successful business man, this is the time to hustle your way into business. No one will invite you to come and partake of the national cake; you have to fight your way to it.

To those who care to listen, history is there for wisdom but the future is untapped. Our behaviour today reflects what we will be in future!

Madhuku is right in demanding a people-driven constitution

A few days ago the National Constitutional Assembly declared that it would reject the proposed constitution on the basis that it is not “people-driven”. This has led many to ask themselves what “people-driven” means. Is it a verb that defines a clear status of an action or it’s just sweet sounding rhetoric? It has become necessary that we examine the logical validity of this compound word, its relationship to the constitution and finally its implications to the proposed process.

A constitution of a country is a system for government that defines the fundamental principles of the country and the structure, behaviour and composition of its government. It explains which organs of the state has the responsibility and powers, to make new laws (legislative), implement the laws (executive) and arbitrates or adjudicates(judicial); further to this it defines the limits of these powers. Most modern day constitutions also have guarantees of certain rights to the people. In short therefore, a constitution is a set of rules on how the governors should make rules and implement them without impeding on certain fundamental rights of the governed.

So, a constitution represents a consensus between the governors and the governed. An examination of the evolution of constitutionalism shows that most constitutions were written after a period of revolt, uprising or revolution. Such circumstances demand that there be a clear demarcation of duties, jurisdictions and responsibilities to avoid anarchy. Zimbabwe is no exception; the fall of Rhodesia signalled the transfer of power from a largely white minority to black majority. All man became equal in Zimbabwe and so arose the need to collectively relinquish certain powers to what is termed THE STATE. The state is the molecular sum of individual influence.

From time to time; there is need to choose characters that we would extract from society to govern the affairs of the state- that is to exercise the powers that we would have relinquished to the invisible being called the state. This we do using the minimal power that we would still remain with; that is the power to choose who rules us.

Since the power that would be used to rule us in essence belongs to us, there is need to define how those people should use that power. This becomes the constitution: an agreement on who should use our power and how he should use it!

We have managed to define the relationship between the people and the constitution. Logically, it is the people who should define how their power is to be used and not the other way round.

Why then should the people whom we have elected with our minimal power to vote seek to describe how we should define the constitution? This becomes the bone of contention for NCA. The political leaders in Zimbabwe are seeking to retrospectively influence the process of defining how they should manage the State. What NCA is calling for is simply that; we start from point one. None of us has power that is above the other. We pool our power and define how that power should be used. Not that people use the power they have gotten through the use of a flawed system to define how they should use our power.

At this point in time we should appreciate that The State exists but we want to remould it to represent our undying desire for peace, prosperity, growth and democracy. We want to create a State that is dynamic enough to respond to the needs of time but rigid enough to preserve our social and cultural fabric. In this regard we need MDC and ZANU PF legislators not as characters managing the State but rather as simple leaders within society without special power over others.

What we need are people who are leaders in society; that is priests, coaches, civic leaders, teachers and many others to listen to what people want and put it in writing. This is what we would call a draft constitution. The authenticity and truthfulness of this document would then be tested by way of a referendum.

The purpose of the State in all this is simply to avail the required resources for the smooth running of such a process. Political leaders should either be spectators or contribute as simple citizens like anybody else. This makes Article Six of the Global Political Agreement incongruent with the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe.

Conclusively therefore; Zimbabwe needs a PEOPLE-DRIVEN CONSTITUTION !

Africa and the challenge of good governance

The issues that surround good governance and sound leadership in Africa although diverse and numerous basically revolve around ideologies- what set of ideas a government or leadership values. More often than not, a government is faced by questions about which path to follow: should it be capitalism, socialism, democracy, autocracy or monarch? Frequently those who have chosen the wrong path have met a lot of complications in their reign.

Primarily, there is a conflict between the responsibilities of a government in an economy. Whilst the business sector would be striving to make profit, the poor in the society would be striving to afford the basics. So at the end of the day the government is faced by the problem of how it can protect the people against the machinations of the rich at the same time allowing for business to prosper. This now boils down to whether it should be socialism or capitalism.

Whilst capitalism is mainly characterized by a free market, where economic forces determine the price of a commodity; socialism is mainly characterized by a controlled market where prices of certain commodities or services are controlled for all to afford. In Africa, where the majority of the people are poor, it becomes a responsibility of governments to ensure that the people can afford these basics which include food, water, shelter, health and education. At the same time governments are faced with issues of stimulating production and trade; thus at the end of the day it requires acumen to strike a balance.

Unfortunately, African countries have had a good share of leaders who lack compassion and wisdom to balance these responsibilities. Many leaders have become part of syndicates to reap their countries of returns resulting in the rulers amassing personal fortunes at the expense of the country. This has happened through a conspiracy between the rich and the government, typical examples being Mobutu Sese Seko and Charles Taylor of Liberia.

There are also certain countries where the need to sustain reign has superseded the need to ensure productivity; such that a government becomes irresponsible to the extent of using finite national resources to campaign for power. This is typically a case in Zimbabwe where a government is going out of its way to hysterically redistribute every resource in the name of citizen empowerment. Although some of these policies are good for the common citizens; the biggest challenge that the countries face is that of leadership within a government who during the day a champions of citizen empowerment but during the night mutate into sole beneficiaries of the same policies at the expense of the people.

In some instances; Africa being so depended on international aid has been forced to follow the prescriptions of the so-called donors without pausing to think if this would be in line the dictates of social empathy. For example, many economic packages have been accompanied by stringent requirements of liberalization of the economy and limited government subsidy. These have been the demands of New Partnership of Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and also the Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP) implemented in Zimbabwe in the early 90’s.

So this issue of capitalism versus socialism requires a leadership that has intelligence, wisdom, compassion and patriotism to balance and articulate.

Africa also is faced by a challenge of type of rule. Whilst democracy is viewed as the best type of rule and defined loosely as ‘the rule of the people, for the people, by the people’; Africa has noticed an increase in the number of dictatorships and other forms of rule that defy the norms of democracy.

Whilst many countries in Africa are considered democracies or moving towards that such there has been little appreciation of the fact that democracy entails competition for power. In a democracy competition for power is shown through the ballot, with whoever winning the elections taking the office ahead of the loser. Unfortunately, there are cases where competition for power has been taken outside the ballot usually with fatal consequences. A recent example is Kenya, where more than a thousand people died in political clashes. The clash a few years ago in Madagascar is another good example.

More commonly though has been the tendency by incumbent leadership to use state machinery to fend off competition for power. This has resulted in many competitors resorting to the use of force or other means to usurp power, like in the case of Laurent Kabila who used war as a means and Ravalomanana of Madagascar who used public disobedience as a tool. In Zimbabwe, the army, police and militias are used to sustain ZANU PF hegemony.

In many African countries citizen participation in issues of governance is limited to the electoral processes only. Whilst it would be appreciated that in a democracy citizen participation is important especially in the formulation of national policy very few governments have opened up the space for freedom of association and expression. One country that has managed to harness the people in its government is Botswana where leadership takes time to give feedback and get views of the people in the different chieftainships (dikgotla). The result has been a fluid society with less suspicion.

In a democracy, there are certain basic rights which are guaranteed under international law which the state cannot take away. These include the right to say and write what one likes, the right to associate and many others. However, there are many governments that are failing to respect these rights resulting in persecution and murder of innocent people. Ken Saro Wiwa, a writer from Nigeria was executed during the reign of Gen Sani Abacha for expressing his views. Ngugi wa Thiongo lived in exile during the rule of Daniel Arap Moi in Kenya and we have seen people like Lovemore Madhuku being assaulted in Zimbabwe for exercising their right to express themselves. These reflect badly on the type of governance we have in Africa.

Democracy is a system of rule by laws and not individuals thus the rule of law is also important in a democracy. Every citizen should be equal before the law. There are certain instances in African countries where governments do not respect the rule of law; where certain individuals are spared from prosecution just because of their status in society or government whilst some innocent people are also detained arbitrarily for opposing the government. The corruption cases against former government officials in Zambia point to this whilst the prosecution of Jacob Zuma for fraud in South Africa is a good example of equality before law.

Besides, the issues discussed above good governance also entail a system and leadership that is transparent, honest and accountable to the people. The Willowgate, Ziscogate and War Veterans Fund scandals in Zimbabwe where public funds were either abused or misused by government officials are typically some of the cases that are rampant in Africa. This has resulted in reduced public trust and eventually friction between the governors and the governed. Many leaders who have left power are accused of having secret offshore bank accounts with monies fraudulently acquired from the state.

Finally, although Africa is striving towards democracy, it has on many occasions found itself a victim of the imperialistic tendencies of some superpower states. This has resulted in other countries outside the continent imposing and supporting rulers that do now reflect the wishes of the people just because such individuals support such countries. Any leader from a resources-rich country who resist the imperialistic maneuverings of usually is targeted for regime change and usually the replacements turn out to be dictators. Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Mengistu Haile Miriam are some of the classical examples. The revelation by Simon Mann, a mercenary arrested and deported to Equatorial Guinea that United Kingdom and Spain were involved in the plot to topple the president of the oil-rich Equatorial Guinea goes a long way to prove how some of the states are making good governance hard to achieve in Africa. Another good example is the hypocrisy shown by America by declaring a blatantly flawed electoral process in Kenya ‘Free and Fair’ just because Mwai Kibaki has been touted in America as a democrat but at the same time denouncing Zimbabwean elections as flawed even before they are done. This has shown that whilst Africa would be better off maintaining its sovereignty, its destiny is still being shaped by its relation with the industrialized superpowers.

A discussion on governance and leadership in Africa is always a complicated subject; nevertheless with the issue of globalization, advent of new information technologies and general advance in technology there is hope for transformation. Better education and exposure of Africans to the developments in the Diaspora has equipped them with the sense of pride and appreciation of their continent and as I write a number of prototypes are emerging. The election of Mrs Johnson in Liberia, the prosperity of Angola in the newly-found democracy and smooth passing of power from one individual to another in Mozambique and Botswana gives an extra assurance to Africans that what is needed for Africa to boom is just PEACE and GOOD GOVERNANCE!