The riddle of the ever-dwindling minority ruling Zimbabwe

Ben Semwayo

Zimbabwe has endured the endless misfortune of being ruled by a minority, as if an irreversible spell was cast on it. It all goes back to the colonial era when a tiny minority ruled Zimbabwe.

When the war of independence was waged under the guise of ushering in a new epoch marked by democracy, equality of all citizens and respect for both human life and human rights, the rank and file embraced it and played various roles, each one crucial in its own unique way, to ensure that the war was successfully executed.

Fighters

Some Zimbabweans went to the forefront and slugged it out on the battle front as armed guerrillas, while others were the mujibhas (young male collaborators) and chimbwidos (young female collaborators), who played indispensable reconnaissance roles and ensured that the communication machinery among the various armed units of fighters was well oiled.

Yet others supplied the all important fuel for the war – food – without which there would not have been any war to talk about as the fighters would simply wilt and be scorched into tinder like stray grains of wheat trying to take root in the Sahara.

The Chinese and the Russians gave Ndabaningi Sithole and Joshua Nkomo the guns, but not the food. Neither did Zanu supply a single maize grain. This came from the populace, who were made to believe that they were waging their war from which they garner dividends on an equal footing with all the other players.

The combatants insisted on tasty victuals such as prized chickens or kapenta fish, and if anyone tried to offer them sadza with a relish of vegetables, which were easier or cheaper to find, they would take offence.

In short, virtually every Zimbabwean played a role in the armed struggle, whether directly or indirectly, and the promise was one man one vote. Tantalised by the prospect of casting votes that would count and give every citizen a say in nation building, Zimbabweans redoubled their efforts to see the back of the repressive minority regime, and risked life and limb to bring the dream into reality.

Ian Smith’s UDI government reacted with fury and turned its arsenal on innocent civilians. Ordinary people were massacred in pungwes (all-night re-education sessions run by the guerrillas) and more were murdered by the Selous scouts (Ian Smith’s counterfeit guerrillas).

When the war was finally won and the minority regime was toppled there was celebration along the length and breadth of the country. At last people were free, or so they thought.

Once in power, Mugabe changed the rules and adopted the habit of shifting goalposts to suit himself as and when he felt his grip on power was threatened, all the while brutalising the masses for challenge his abuse of power. The masses were told they did not matter because they did not fight in the war.

His popularity has been on a downward spiral since then, which resulted in him losing every single subsequent election, only managing to cling to power through subterfuge, having perfected the art of rigging elections, the most spectacular example of which is the way in which he stole the 2013 harmonised elections.

By Mugabe’s own admission at the December 2014 ZanuPF congress, Tsvangirai won the 2008 elections by an eye-watering 73%, but was not allowed to form the next government.

Needless to say, the government that subsequently imposed itself on the people was a veritable minority government by any standards. That confirmed Mugabe’s habitual thieving of the presidency, coming as it did after the disputed 2000 elections, which the Khampepe report appropriately condemned as being neither free nor fair.

Every single post-independence election was fittingly disputed, and what we end up with is a scenario where Mugabe is a serial offender for ruling a nation without the mandate to do so.

Recently an even smaller ZanuPF minority imposed itself at the helm of the country. The toxic feud within ZanuPF resulted in hundreds of party stalwarts belonging to the bigger of two warring factions being jettisoned from their posts or from the party itself.

Press reports maintain that the faction, which enjoyed a majority of up to 70%, was muscled out through the unconstitutional changing of rules which concentrates power in Mugabe, enabling him to unilaterally make decisions. Didymus Mutasa astutely argued that this makes him the only person qualified to participate in elections. Only he can vote, making his government worse than that of Ian Smith.

The coterie currently ruling Zimbabwe is set to be whittled down further. Press reports state that cracks have developed and are widening within the new and smaller minority ruling Zimbabwe as some party heavies are disgruntled that they were not rewarded adequately for the roles they played in the brutal annihilation of the Mujuru faction.

It is predictable that when the current cycle of in-fighting finally comes to an end, the smaller of the warring factions will gain the upper hand, for that seems to be the way things work according to ZanuPF’s warped logic.

It is also predictable that the winning faction will suffer the same fate: it will be dogged by infighting until it splits, and the smaller side, favoured by Mugabe, who knows he will never have the majority behind him, will have the upper hand and continue to rule. Come election time, it will win by a stage-managed 90% landslide majority.

The question is, for how long will we Zimbabweans allow small minorities to decide our fate? What will it take for us to say enough is enough and bring real change to our beloved country? The evil spell can be reversed.