By Senator Obert Gutu
The year 2010 marks the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century.It is beyond debate that the first decade of the new millennium was a real nightmare for the majority of Zimbabweans.
Infact,one can safely describe the years from 2000 to 2009 as the ” lost decade” in Zimbabwe.With the formation of a vibrant and robust political organisation called the Movement for Democratic Change at the turn of the last millennium,Zimbabwean politics have never been the same again.
Since the MDC was formed in 1999, the former ruling party, ZANU-PF, has been obsessed with the desire for power retention at whatever cost.Because the MDC’s formation offered a viable alternative to Zimbabwean voters in matters of national governance, from the year 2000, particularly after losing the constitutional referendum in February 2000, the former ruling party resorted to unconventional methods of power retention.
Invariably, these methods included, but were certainly not limited to, the use of physical, emotional and psychological violence against real and perceived MDC supporters ; the abuse and misuse of the State-controlled print and electronic media to spread hateful propaganda against the leadership of the MDC as well as any persons, natural and/or artificial, perceived to be sympathetic to the cause of the MDC.
In short, Zimbabwean politics degenerated into a violent and intolerant mode of human interaction where the emergence of any views contrary to those held by the former ruling party was crudely and primitively crushed by the establishment.Therein lay the genesis of the collapse of the Zimbabwean socio-economic and political infrastructure as well as superstructure.
The politics of knobkerries, knives, guns and machetes should be relegated to the dustbin of history as Zimbabwe enters the second decade of the new millennium.The use of rape, torture and other forms of inhuman and degrading treatment as instruments of political coersion and forced mass mobilisation should now become a thing of the past.
Political parties, across the divide, should learn to accept and respect the verdict of the people after a free, fair and legitimate election.No political party has a monopoly of popular appeal and no citizen should be unlawfully barred from supporting and/or voting for a political party of one’s choice during elections.
The creation of no-go areas and the forced participation of people at all-night vigils and ” pungwes” should now be confined to the annals of Zimbabwe’s rather sad political history.After wasting a whole decade as other countries within the SADC region and beyond pursued genuine and people-centred development policies, we should now wake up and smell the coffee.
We shall derive no benefit whatsoever from seeking to perpetuate the relics of tyranny, kleptocracy and thuggery.Those of us who are still in shock and denial after being rejected by the people during the March 29, 2008 harmonised elections should now bite the bullet and accept that their time is apparently over.Nothing lasts forever.
Here is hoping that the soon to be sworn in Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission will rise to the occasion and be the people’s last line of defence against the excesses of politicians and other State actors.Zimbabwe is crying out for a robust, well- equiped and capacitated human rights defender and in this context, the Human Rights Commission is expected to play a crucial role in healing our hurting nation.
Perpetrators of heinous crimes such as murder, rape, torture etc should not be allowed to go scot free.There can be no meaningful healing without proper and genuine accountability, genuine repentance and of course, reparations.Sloganeering and workshopping will not heal the nation.
Political hooliganism, the rampant pilfering of public resources, corruption and all other shenanigans should not be swept under the carpet and/ or trivialised.The soon to be appointed Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission should be a powerful body with powers to investigate, arrest and prosecute.
What we have presently is a low-key, useless, toothless and powerless body that masquerades as an anti-corruption commission.In reality, Zimbabwe doesnot have an effective anti-corruption body at this juncture.
A new development trajectory should now be designed.Those of us in Parliament will no doubt push for the promulgation of people-centred and development-oriented legislation.We realise that for far too long Zimbabwe has been a sleeping giant.
We cannot remain in our deep slumber forever.Those Ministers and other public officials who have dismally failed to discharge their duties should be given the sack.This should be no time for a ” jobs for the boys” approach to running this great country.Those public officials,including legislators and ministers, who are lazy and incompetent should shape up or else they have to ship out.
There should be zero tolerance to laziness, incompetence, corruption and dereliction of duty.We have to reclaim our dignity, our humanity; indeed our very essence as human beings.We should refuse to be objects of pity, ridicule and contempt.We should refuse to be mere economic refugees in South Africa and other countries within the region and abroad.We should not run away from our problems.Being defeatist will not help our cause.
Zimbabwe, in this new decade, should deliberately embark upon a serious paradigm shift.The resolution of the outstanding GPA issues should be prioritised.The people are no longer interested in endless talks about talks, about talks.Post Maputo 2009 and going forward, the negotiators from the three political parties that are signatories to the GPA should realise that the people’s patience is wearing thin.Surely, we cannot negotiate forever.
There has to be a cut-off point.We now have to concentrate on development issues that will enable our country to get to the next level.People do not eat politics.Sanity should not only prevail; it should be seen to be prevailing.In one way or the other, most black Zimbabweans, and even some non-black people, participated in the liberation war of the 1970s.
Noone has a monopoly of patriotism.We all love our country and we should not be forced to eulogise cowards, pretenders. mafikizolos and other latter day ” heroes”. Heroism is not demanded; it is earned.
With the constitution-making process about to begin in earnest, it is sincerely hoped that Zimbabweans have learnt bitter lessons from the lost decade of 2000 – 2009. We are our own liberators.Before clamouring for the lifting of the so -called ” illegal” sanctions imposed by Britain and her allies, we should demand that those sanctions imposed against the people’s freedom such as POSA, AIPPA and some other nefarious pieces of legislation are prompty dismantled.
Zimpapers and the ZBH should immediately stop being purveyors of hate and propaganda.Put simply; the people of Zimbabwe should be allowed to genuinely enjoy the freedom that they sacrificed so much for.Aluta continua!
Senator Obert Gutu is the MDC Senator for Chisipite. He is a trained Lawyer, member of the MDC National Legal Committee.
