Crisis Coalition: Time to think beyond failed strategies

By Pride Mkono

The  past several months have been politically tense and economically unfulfilling for Zimbabwe. The economy continues on a free-fall while politics has degenerated into complete chaos as politicians across the board are at each other’s throats. Plots and counter-plots are the order of the day.

Zanu PF is headed for a showdown as rival factions are angling to succeed President Robert Mugabe when he finally bows out of politics in the near future, while the opposition remains divided and fragile, and would not  pose a serious threat to Zanu PF’s hegemony.

Civic society has not been spared from the chaos as it has grown weaker, primarily because of the lack of a clear guiding ideology, principles and thought leadership in most of the umbrella bodies and coalitions.

One of the key institutions in the civic society discourse is the Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe, a civil society  network formed in 2001 – currently having a membership complement of over 72 organisations focusing  on different thematic areas.

The thrust of the coalition is on democracy, human rights, good governance and sustainable development issues – working locally, regionally and internationally.

The coalition is currently locked in an unprecedented crisis because of intransigent individuals who are spurred by selfish interests and greed for money. Like all large coalitions, there have been problems before in Crisis Coalition. However, the coming in of the inclusive government in 2009 and the subsequent constitutional reform process which it embarked upon, deeply divided the coalition’s membership and allies.

On one hand were organisations like Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu),  National Constitutional Assembly, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and Progressive Teachers’ Union Zimbabwe that pushed to “take charge” and disengage from the process led by politicians on the basis of the principles in People’s Charter of 2008 and on the other, there were other Crisis Coalition members who decided to “take part” in the process.

The situation was further exacerbated by the interference of certain funding partners within the internal processes of the coalition as they sought to gain more control of the secretariat and take advantage of the elected board for their selfish gains.

This cabal of interests grew so powerful within the coalition and presided over the dismissal of some staff members and the suspension of other board members and their organisations from the coalition, such as the Youth Forum, which was chairing the Youth Committee in 2012.

The result of this process, which was clearly supported by certain funding partners who even withdrew their support from organisations that were dissenting from the secretariat position, was to effectively out-law internal democracy.

Thus, in essence, the Crisis Coalition became two organisations in one. On the one hand was a powerful cabal of the secretariat and some donors which developed and funded projects that were often withdrawn from members.

On the other, was the membership and its board which was without any funding and too weak to enforce their legitimate demands upon the secretariat. Corruption, back-biting, sexism, tribalism, threats and even naked violence were employed to silence any dissenting voices.

This led to the subsequent collapse and weakening of key institutions such as Zinasu and the Student Solidarity Trust, two institutions which this cabal sought to micro manage for selfish ends.

Therefore when the July 31 election came, the coalition was too weak to effectively participate. Its flagship campaign dubbed ‘Feya Feya’ was too elitist and withdrawn from most of the membership and masses.

The ‘Feya Feya’ programmes were spearheaded by the secretariat with little to token membership involvement hence the campaign was all but a huge failure as compared to the 2007 ‘Save Zimbabwe’ campaign and the 2008 ‘Go Vote’ campaign.

In short it appears that the ‘Feya Feya’ campaign was a money-making gimmick for a few individuals in the top echelons of power with the donor world and secretariat of the coalition and other selected organisations and never really a campaign for a free and fair election in Zimbabwe.

That said, Crisis Coalition still remains a vital platform for collaboration especially now when civil society in Zimbabwe is in a period of soul-searching. Now, and  more than ever, the coalition must abide by its timeless motto: ‘A time to act’.

The executive board had started well on this course of acting by first cleaning-up the internal dirt that has been swept under the carpet for a long time.

Yes, crafting a membership driven constitution has been a key milestone and there is need for more. Calling on external auditors to have a serious look in the internal procedures of the organisation and its finances is also a further action that was long overdue which must be credited to the Dewa Mavhinga-led board.

The membership must now have an opportunity to discuss the audit report and its recommendations and take appropriate action to avoid any pitfalls so pointed out in the future.

As Mavhinga said in his stepping down statement: “It is now very crucial for the Coalition and indeed the broad Zimbabwean civil society to stand by the values we claim to hold highly every day, values of transparency, accountability and democracy”.

This statement is inevitably the yardstick for going forward. All the executive board members must step down and not contest for any position in the coming AGM; this is the only way that the institutional integrity that has hit an all-time low can be resuscitated.

The talk by the outgoing spokesperson and the long-resigned vice-chairperson  to cling onto power until donkeys grow horns is not only ridiculous but a declaration of war on democracy. Now, a threat to democracy anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere and it calls for all democrats to fight this threat.

The talk by these few errant elements to either continue to be in charge of portfolios that they have shown before all and sundry to be incapable of managing or to “go down with the whole organisation” is the most ridiculous and insolent of all propositions which all serious members must resist.

Furthermore, while as adults we have a right to personal relationship of any nature including sexual, such relationships must not, at the end, lead to the undermining of any structure on the basis of such a relationship as has been witnessed between the secretariat and some board members in the outgoing board.

Now is the time to act and stop the rot from the top. Zimbabweans expect civil society to walk on a higher plane of truth, transparency and justice than to be stuck in the current mud which makes it no different from the regime it claims to fight, if not worse.

The talk of wanting to establish a parallel coalition if certain individuals are sent out of their offices for obvious incompetency and or even corruption and abuse of office is no different from the devil claiming to set up a parallel heaven for his followers.

It is corruption of the highest order, everyone must be subjected to the test of transparency and competency. There can never be sacred cows in a democratic movement.

Furthermore, the membership must be aware of the shenanigans of certain elements fronted by the secretariat of a resident organisation whose total membership appears to stretch no further than the head count of their office staff and a few overpaid consultants.

Their plot to undertake a bogus AGM was rightly and rationally shot down by conscious members who thus preserved the little integrity left within the coalition.

For those who have stood by the people of Zimbabwe in their struggles for a better life in their own land, it must be made plain to them that if they are as committed to providing solidarity as they claim then reason must preside over selfish interests.

The future of Zimbabwe and its citizens is too vast and far too important to be held to ransom by a few elements who have, after all, failed to take civil society as organised under the Crisis Coalition forward.

In fact, civil society today has regressed and there is need for serious thought-leadership within the coalition which can be represented by a democratically elected board of the coalition and its enthusiastic members who continue to undertake their work faced by various challenges. There will, and can never be, room for bought-leadership at this moment in time, never!

Indeed for Crisis Coalition, this is the time to think beyond the tried and failed strategies and look into a new future of reorganising the masses towards a functional and economically prosperous social democracy in Zimbabwe.

Pride Mkono is a former student leader, political commentator and environmental activist. His organisation is a member of the Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe.