Abject poverty in the midst of plenty

By Mutsa Murenje

The concept of ‘maximum feasible participation’ is best understood in the context of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 that came into effect on August 20, 1964 after United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law.

The Act authorised the formation of local Community Action Agencies as part of the War on Poverty. Of worth to note, however, is the fact that the said agencies were directly controlled by the federal government.

The rationale behind the enactment of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 was, according to Stephen J. Pollak, “to eliminate the paradox of poverty on the midst of plenty in this nation by opening…To everyone…the opportunity for education and training, the opportunity to work, and the opportunity to live in decency and dignity”.

One writer has suggested that Community Action mandated the “maximum feasible participation” of the poor themselves.

What was innovative about Community Action was the revolutionary idea that the act of participation itself could be transformative; what the poor needed was not the dole, but the opportunity to test their self-assurance to lift themselves out of poverty, and the means to develop and access capacity- and skill-building programmes to corroborate that self-determination.

Now, when I came across this information which I have but briefly shared with you, I began thinking of the suffering and oppressed people of Zimbabwe who, in most cases, are my audience. It is a fact that we are living in abject poverty in the midst of plenty.

Nobody really knows what is happening to the revenue from precious minerals such as diamonds that are being corruptly mined to fund the evil activities of a rotten, brutal and cruel party that has illegally presided for the affairs of the Republic of Zimbabwe during the past 33 years.

It is also true that most Zimbabweans, albeit 33 years after independence, are still being denied the opportunity for education and training, the opportunity to work -I bet that I would still be out of employment had there been no opportunity from outside Zimbabwe (Kenya and South Africa respectively) for me, and the opportunity to live in decency and dignity.

These days, whole families are sharing a single room and there is no such thing as privacy let alone decency and dignity. To then demand a further term from the electorate when one has virtually done nothing for them over a period of 30 years is rather too much.

In our vernacular we would hear grumblings and mumblings with people saying: ‘Wava kupinda nemwenje mudziva’.

In other words, it is just impossible to get into the river with a burning lamp. What then makes Robert Mugabe think that he deserves our votes when we are still being oppressed more than what we might have endured during Ian Smith’s Rhodesia? We can’t have Mugabe again.

So how do we stop him from holding onto power against our will like he has been doing all these years? I don’t claim to have formulas or a formula to go about that but I sincerely believe our “maximum feasible participation” in the forthcoming elections is required in order for us to realise fructification of real transformation in our lives.

So if you want to make a difference and be somebody, get registered, go vote. If we register and vote, and get our friends to register and vote, we are doing a service to our own interests as Zimbabweans.

If we register and vote in our large numbers, the politicians will get the message that we are a political force to reckon with. Our needs, therefore, will become more important to elected officials. They will be more interested in what we need if we register and vote.

Clearly, we must not drag our feet on this matter. Doing so will be greatly irresponsible indeed.

To make matters worse, we all know that Mugabe continues to trample on our rights. This intolerable condition and unendurable situation will continue as long as we choose to do nothing. We have a choice to make; it’s either democracy or dictatorship.

After all, it is still true that “Man’s inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of the bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of the good” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr).

We gotta do something fellow citizens, all of us. You can count on me, I will be in the country to register and vote. My single vote also counts. I shouldn’t be encouraging others to register and vote whilst I am not registered. I practice what I preach.

Our Prime Minister’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has asked for the opportunity to govern exclusively in light of the policy discord that characterised the past 4 years of the not-so-inclusive government.

And the party has since launched their policy document, the Agenda for Real Transformation (also known as the art of governance or simply ART) which compliments the earlier JUICE (Jobs, Upliftment, Investment Capital and the Environment).

The MDC as a party is motivating us to change and engendering hope and a willingness to make an effort. They have something to offer and can bring about the requisite transformation we have been denied all these years.

I have seen them assuming the posture of an expert while also expressing ignorance when appropriate. However, ZANU PF is notorious for its murky banalities, half-truths and sententious nonsense that abound in its hate speeches, slogans and campaigns.

Our participation, therefore, is an essential requirement for real transformation. It is part of our democratic heritage but also a means to perfect the democratic process. We remain the ultimate voice in national decision-making.

Let us share in decisions affecting our destinies. Anything less is a betrayal of our democratic tradition.

I am sure that we all know that we are painfully conscious of the many shortcomings of the Mugabe regime and that we also feel a great desire to eliminate unsatisfactory situations in order to achieve greater harmony within ourselves and with our environment whether social, economic or political.

In conclusion, as a writer, I write to influence events. And on this occasion, I intend to deliberately alter the social, political and economic order and to predetermine events and situations of the future as well as inaugurating changes in thought, behaviour and social relationships.

Aluta continua! The struggle continues unabated!