Sanitising repression through Prophecy

By Dr Alex T Magaisa

As a general rule, because we support freedom of religion, itself a constitutional right, we stand strongly in the corner of the men and women of the Word. What they believe is their business, together with their flock of the faithful. But the moment, they start making pronouncements on secular matters, on matters of the State and politics, it becomes everyone’s business because it affects all of us.

They cannot make pronouncements on such matters without, at the same time, anticipating the possibility of scrutiny.

For while they may claim spiritual superiority over matters of the Word and exclusivity in intermediating between man and God for the remission of the former’s sins, the same privileges cannot be extended when they venture into the political terrain. They become critical actors, validating or challenging politically-charged notions and strategies and therefore, open themselves to scrutiny.

This explains the general outrage, evident on social media and elsewhere, that has been inspired by the pronouncements of a political character that have been attributed to the gentleman who plies his religious trade by the name Prophet Makandiwa. The merger between religion and politics demands scrutiny. What is happening and why? I must return to a framework of analysing power, which I have used before.

Borrowing heavily from Susan Strange’s theory of structural power, I have located the source of power as emerging from at least four structures: Production, Finance, Security and Knowledge. The idea being that those who control these structures tend to have the most power.

For example, those who can provide or withdraw the provision of security from violence, generally have the power over those who do not have the same facility. It is our failure, and here I speak of those of us in the opposition politics, to extract power from these structures, particularly the security structure, that has often seen us fail to overcome Zanu PF.

For a long time Zanu PF has drawn power from the knowledge/information structure through its dominant control and, in some cases, monopoly over the media. They have controlled the definition, packaging and distribution of information and therefore, their narratives dominate the national psyche. Now, they are stepping it up – through the dimension of the popular preachers.

There is a great deal of power that is drawn from the knowledge structure. Power is conferred upon  those who control key decision-making positions in the knowledge structure.

This kind of power is not coercive but is acquired by consent – in this case, the flock do not dispute what the person they refer to as the man of God says. They are not forced to agree. They do because they have a shared belief system and because they believe that this knowledge is important and sacred and that therefore, the person who possesses this knowledge is also important.

But what we are witnessing is not new. Since, however, we generally do not read history, we think things that are happening in our part of the world are new. Other continents and other peoples of the world went through them centuries ago and we are only now catching up!

In Medieval Europe, the dominant knowledge structure was informed by religious beliefs that placed a high premium on the knowledge of man’s ability to achieve eternal salvation. The belief in resurrection after death was so strong that legitimate power was conferred upon those who claimed possession of knowledge and authority to intermediate between man and God and pave the way to heaven, man’s sins having been forgiven.

Strange explains that this religious knowledge that promised remission of sins and salvation of the soul was so highly valued in Medieval Europe for a number of reasons: times were tough and life expectancy was very low, conditions were harsh and brutal, there was little to guard against the elements, including violence.

Naturally those who promised to intermediate with God and bring material wealth failing which they could still save the soul held a high position in society. The good people went to heaven and the bad people went to hell but even the bad people could still go to heaven if they sought remission of their sins and the Church was there to provide this wonderful service.

Since man was inherently sinful, they all sought this intervention. Naturally, those occupying these positions were idolised and respected, and with that came the vast authority they wielded. In this way, the Church was a powerful political authority.

(Now consider this and compare with what is happening in our own countries – times are tough, expectation of life is very low, people feel powerless against a difficult and corrupt political authority. People are in search of material wealth and failing that, salvation for the soul.)

Politically, the legitimacy of the church was also acknowledged and accepted and, consequently, it also impacted as a restraint on the behaviour of rulers. There were harsh sanctions for disobeying the Church rules – one could be ex-communicated and with that went the pass to heaven.

This diminished the monarch’s authority and they did not want this to happen. Hence, the close alliance between the religious and political authorities. Religion supported the political authority and the Church supported political authority. (Compare, too, with what is happening in our countries)

Further, the Church used its authority in the knowledge structure to draw and claim key rights and privileges over land and capital. It became and remains exceedingly wealthy. It is also one of the very few entities that enjoy exemption from the regime of taxation.  (Again compare this with present day situation in our countries – wealth accumulation and the justifications for it)

The Church in Europe gradually lost this position and therefore its superior authority and power with the collapse of the knowledge structure in the face of challenge from the emerging scientific knowledge structure.

Scientific enquiry, not religious beliefs began to be seen as the path to wealth and power. The authority of the Church was substituted by the authority of the Scientific State. The Church retains some power, but not nearly as much as it had in Medieval times before the scientific revolution.

The critical thing is that those with authority from a knowledge structure tend to use power and other means to augment and protect their position of privilege. For example, in the scientific state, patents are used to protect monopolies.

Those who have authority from a knowledge structure can also be seen finding alliances with political authorities. They do so for self-preservation. However, since their power from the knowledge structure is also seen as a threat by the political authorities, they too, seek alliances with the religious authorities – just like it was in Medieval Europe.

It is clear that Makandiwa’s church and Zanu PF have been forging a close alliance over the past few months, both with a shared interest in self-preservation and boosting authority in their respective areas. This can be seen more evidently in their use of shared expertise – both parties share a deputy spokesperson.

Therefore the same person who speaks on behalf of Zanu PF has been hired as a spokesperson for Makandiwa’s church. It is unsurprising that Makandiwa is now making pronouncements on political matters.

Now Makandiwa appears with a “prophecy” in which he claims that demonstrations will lead to civil unrest and bloodshed – a political warning package as a spiritual message. Who would have guessed that demonstrations in Zimbabwe are likely to lead to unrest and bloodshed?

Does anyone really need to be a prophet to foresee that such an outcome is the most probable outcome of mass action in the highly-militarised Zimbabwean State? Have Zimbabweans forgotten the orgy of violence in 2008? Arguably, any sober political analyst, banking purely on history would have come to a similar conclusion.

But, of course, it is better to package it as a “prophesy” and therefore, to confer upon it some status which would appeal to the faithful flock. For perspective, consider this: If what Makandiwa has said had been uttered by a military General or by a Minister of Government, there would have been serious outcry across the region and internationally. But it has been packaged and delivered as a spiritual package.

It’s sheer desperation but it’s also quite amate.

Dr Alex T Magaisa studied law at the University of Zimbabwe (LLB) and the University of Warwick (LLM & PhD) in Great Britain. He is a former adviser to the then Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Dr Magaisa has worked at the University Warwick, the University of Nottingham and is presently based at Kent Law School, the University of Kent. 

You can visit his blog: NewZimbabweConstitution.wordpress.com