All change champions must understand what it means to be a change champion. Without this understanding, Zimbabwe faces two dangers. First, the chances of removing ZANU-PF will remain remote because the failure to understand change championship undermines the fight for change.
Second, Zimbabwe may transition from ZANU-PF to a new government, but continue to face the same problems, if not worse. Change champions are not people who are united by their collective zeal to remove ZANU-PF, but by highly competitive values, ideas, and aspirations.
Africa has no shortage of opposition parties that ascended to power on grandiose promises of change but dismally failed to deliver. This is why this paper establishes the fifteen laws of change championship to guide those who are seeking change in Zimbabwe.
Law 1: Establish robust, infiltration-proof, transparent, and democratic structures of governance.
Change champions must be organised. The main way of organising themselves and contesting for power is through political parties. Zimbabwe is an absurdly authoritarian context where it is difficult for opposition parties to be conventionally structured.
It is therefore justifiable for them to be innovative and use unconventional ways of structuring. However, conventional structures should never be done away with.
These structures consist of hardware and software elements such as the constitution, core values, ideology, and mechanisms for transparency, accountability, discipline, and conflict management.
These structures must be capable of protecting and promoting collective leadership, consensus-building, resolution of disputes, neutralizing external threats, and ensuring that change champions always read from the same script.
Without these structures, the operations of opposition parties can be severely undermined and opportunistic elements will take advantage of ungoverned spaces and cause chaos.
Law 2: Always converge on core values, principles, and big ideas, not on big personalities.
The fight for change is a restless and perpetual one. It is passed from generation to generation because it knows no arrival. Such a fight cannot be built on big personalities, but on big ideas, values, and aspirations. Converging on big personalities is tragic in two fundamental ways.
First, it puts popular and feared individuals above collective values, principles, and ideas. Second, it erodes critical thinking and when this happens, the battle for change is shifted from the territory of ideas to the territory of sycophancy.
There is no change project that can deliver without converging on critical thinking and big ideas.
Law 3: Develop a positive and resilient appetite to accept criticism and be held accountable.
Every site of power must be criticised and held to account by citizens. All change champions must be willing to be criticised, to listen to others, to see the world through the eyes of others, and to engage at the level of ideas and not insults.
A change champion who is not willing to be held to account while in opposition will not suddenly develop the appetite to be held to account when in power. It is misleading to believe that anyone who criticises “change champions” undermines the fight for change.
Change champions should never be as aversive to criticism as the regime they are seeking to remove. Instead, they must teach the regime that citizens must politically disagree and still engage each other peacefully, respectfully, and at the level of ideas.
Accepting criticism does not mean that you must agree with everything that your critics say, it simply means three key things: that you are willing to take constructive criticism and use it to improve yourself, that you respect the right of every person to hold and express opinions that are different from yours, including to criticise you, and that you believe that society must allow a healthy contestation of ideas so that the best ideas can merge and be applied.
There are many opposition parties in Africa that ascended to power and committed the same atrocities that were committed by the autocratic regimes which they removed.
This is because when they were in opposition, they were aversive to criticism and accountability, but they simply lacked the instruments of power to punish their opponents.
Law 4: Always seek counsel and growth, accept your mistakes and shortcomings, and make amends.
Being a change champion does not make you sacrosanct. After all, human nature is fallible. It is the responsibility of change champions to teach society, especially the ZANU-PF regime, that acknowledging your mistakes and shortcomings is not a sign of weakness or cowardice, but of strength and courage.
It takes extra-ordinary courage, integrity, and authenticity to do so. Making mistakes is not tragic, but refusing to acknowledge and amend them is. Accepting one’s mistakes and shortcomings is an avenue to self-improvement, political maturity, responsibility taking, and trust-building.
Apart from acknowledging one’s mistakes, a change champion must always seek counsel from sincere and knowledgeable individuals, groups, and institutions. This counsel enables change champions to deal with their mistakes, improve their ideation capabilities, make the right decisions, and avoid pitfalls.
Law 5: Never fall in the danger of regarding other change champions as enemies of the struggle simply because they see things differently.
The most tragic thing in any fight for change occurs when people who are fighting for the same cause become enemies simply because they see things differently. They forget that their collective dream is bigger than their differences and that their differences are intended to achieve the same dream.
Being change champions does not mean that you must agree on everything. What is important is that you have one thing that binds you, the search for change or at least the removal of ZANU-PF.
Change champions must never fall into the danger of regarding each other as enemies of the struggle because they see things differently. Always understand that there are change champions who criticise the change project from a good heart because they want to see it more organised and stronger.
Speaking evil of such champions and regarding them as enemies of the struggle is tragic and only helps to keep ZANU-PF in power. However, given that the terrain of change championship is infested with regime-enablers, it is critical to avoid unity for the sake of unity.
Law 6: Always be equipped with the torch of ideological clarity because without it, you will be lost at sea.
There is no meaningful change championship that can be undertaken without ideological fluency. Ordinary citizens can nonchalantly dismiss the essence of ideology, claiming that “it cannot be eaten”, but serious change champions understand that for any change project to deliver, ideological eloquence is pre-eminent.
As the late Dr Alex Magaisa would put it: “Ideology is not a leisure. Ideology is as important to a leader as a compass is to the pilot of a ship at sea. It constantly gives him direction. It reminds him when he is off track.
He might take a detour because of adverse conditions, but eventually, he must return to the main route. Thus the leader needs an ideological compass. It helps him to steer the nation in a specific, predetermined direction. Without it, one ends up lost at sea, unsure where to go and what to do”.
Law 7: Be a restless reader and seeker of consciousness.
Change is a remote territory that is only accessible through astute consciousness and highly competitive ideas. Ideation is the bedrock upon which progressive societies are built. There is no change championship that can be undertaken without the generation and application of big ideas.
A change champion must have futuristic thinking and a solid understanding of how the world is wired. This understanding is gained through two key pathways: reading widely and sustained exposure to “the outside world”.
Let me give a simple example. If one looks at most of the African cities today, it is clear that the “city fathers and mothers” have no idea of how cities are built and maintained. Most African cities are using the same facilities that were built during the colonial era, intended to serve a small white community.
Today, these cities are serving millions of people. Areas that should be reserved for the expansion of the city and its infrastructure such as roads and railways are parcelled out haphazardly and mostly through corrupt deals.
There is no futuristic thinking. This is why change champions must be the citadel of competitive ideas. Change champions are people whose ideation capabilities are highly competitive, not only within Zimbabwe and Africa, but across civilisations.
If you are not a restless reader and seeker of consciousness, then you are not a change champion.
Law 8: Nation-building is a universal responsibility, not a partisan one.
ZANU-PF has created a political culture which says that only citizens who support the regime have the divine commitment and right to participate in nation-building. As a result, scores of Zimbabweans, especially opposition leaders and supporters, have been excluded from national processes and institutions.
The upshot is that Zimbabwe has failed to benefit from the contributions of Zimbabweans who are highly skilled and knowledgeable simply because they are not ZANU-PF. This must change.
To build a nation, it takes citizens across diverse identities such as gender, age, political affiliation, ethnicity, geographic location, and social status. In fact, these identities must melt as soon as one enters the territory of nation-building so that every citizen can play a part.
While it is important for citizens to belong to political parties of their choice, it is exceedingly important for them to rise above partisan politics and make nation-building a collective responsibility, not a partisan one.
There is no society that can prosper without its citizens converging on a “big myth” regardless of political differences. Change champions understand that nation-building is a unifying project that transcends partisan politics. It is impossible for any political party to monopolize such a project and succeed.
Law 9: Always remember that political office is not a way to individualistic arrival, but to collective arrival.
True arrival is collective, not individualistic. Change champions do not use political office to fight for their stomach, but for the wellbeing of the entire nation, especially succeeding generations.
They understand that individualistic arrival that is surrounded by a sea of poverty is as poor as the poverty that surrounds it. This is why change champions do not see political office as a way to individualistic arrival, but to collective arrival.
It is heart-wrenching to imagine that since 2000, thousands of opposition supporters, especially in rural areas, lost their lives and livelihoods because of supporting the democratic struggle yet some opposition leaders use their positions in parliament, senate, and council to accumulate wealth.
Such chronological betrayal is diabolical to the uttermost.
Law 10: Create “constituencies of excellency” across Zimbabwe to inspire citizens and demonstrate your commitment and capacity to govern.
Zimbabweans do not know how to be admitted to a fully-equipped hospital, how (clean) water flows from the tap, how electricity lightens a house, how to walk or drive on streets that are clean and well-lit, how to drive on a modern road network, how to use a modern public transport system, and how to teach or learn in a functioning public education system.
The youth do not know how to be employed and to deposit or withdraw money from the bank, those who are employed, especially civil servants, do not know how to earn a decent salary, our senior citizens do not know how to benefit from a functioning pension and savings delivery system, and the generality of Zimbabweans do not know how to live in a functioning economy.
This explains why ZANU-PF campaigns by drilling boreholes in urban areas in the 21st century, implementing archaic projects such as pfumvudza, and giving fish, soap, bread, and chicken and chips to its supporters.
People who have never known a functioning economy are easily manipulated because they can see the provision of basic necessities as achievements. In fact, ZANU-PF has killed the power of Zimbabweans to imagine and aspire.
This is why change champions must create “constituencies of excellency” or “exemplary constituencies” across Zimbabwe.
These constituencies must serve three purposes: to demonstrate that change champions are competent and capable of doing things differently from ZANU-PF, to give citizens a taste of “the promised land” while they are still “in the wilderness”, and to restore the power of citizens to imagine and aspire.
There is so much that can be done despite that ZANU-PF is in power. There is no need to wait for the removal of ZANU-PF to start doing certain things.
Law 11: Expose, oppose, and smash corruption with ruthless and restless efficiency.
Zimbabweans who are supportive of the “second republic” are applauding it for building or refurbishing roads, bridges, ports of entry, and dams. There are three key reasons why I am not impressed by these projects. First, I know the potential of Zimbabwe, given its vast natural resources.
I can visualize and see where Zimbabwe could be if it were in the hands of a corruption-free, visionary, and competent leadership. This is why, whenever I juxtapose Zimbabwe’s abundant natural resources with its conscience-wrenching poverty, I find it difficult to believe that it is being led by humans.
Second, the current infrastructure projects should have been built during the first decade of independence. I refuse to celebrate, in 2025, a project that should have been built in 1980 because I know that it is 45 years behind the development schedule.
I cannot celebrate, in 2025, a public transport system that uses poorly refurbished Rhodesian rails and trains when other countries are using advanced rail and tram systems. I refuse to celebrate, in 2025, a public health delivery system whose central hospitals were built by the colonial regime.
Third, the infrastructure projects are used by the political elite to loot our national resources. Because of this, whenever I look at a development project, my mind naturally thinks about the amount of money that was embezzled in the name of that project. It is the responsibility of change champions to conscientize Zimbabweans and make them see the link between corruption and vile poverty, unemployment, and economic collapse.
Zimbabweans must fully understand how corruption has killed millions of citizens because our derelict public hospitals do not have the first line of defense such as drugs and bandages, because of the deplorable state of our roads, and because of crossing flooded and crocodile infested rivers as they seek opportunities in other countries.
Citizens do not have access to basic services such as water, electricity, and garbage collection because of corruption. This is why change champions must expose, oppose, and smash corruption with ruthless and restless efficiency.
There is no change champion who can turn a blind eye to the conscience-wrenching corruption that is devouring Zimbabwe.
Law 12: Understand, expose, and smash imperialism.
While Africa’s problems are a result of internal shortcomings such as incompetent, corrupt, and undemocratic leadership, it must be acknowledged that the legacies of slave trade and colonialism continue to afflict Africa and that imperialism will always be Africa’s greatest enemy. Consequently, any fight for change that does not understand the undying terrain of slave trade, colonialism, and imperialism is bound to be hollow.
It is therefore vitally important for change champions to always ensure that the struggle for change is built on all the historical struggles of Africa, particularly liberation struggles.
The “change agenda” cannot be funded and directed by the very forces that enslaved, colonized, and dehumanized Africa because their eternal agenda is to protect colonial injustices and continue to have access and control over Africa’s resources.
The fight for change cannot be based on an inferiority complex and the desire to be accepted into the magnificent but diabolical edifice of imperialism.
Law 13: Never focus on blaming ZANU-PF for the failure of the opposition to ascend to power.
ZANU-PF is a vile, corrupt, incompetent, and intolerant regime that uses all wicked tools to stop the opposition from ascending to power. However, change champions should not focus on blaming ZANU-PF because of three key reasons.
First, ZANU-PF will never hold free and fair elections simply because the opposition is blaming it. In fact, it can do worse than it has ever done. If you are in a war with a rogue opponent who does not abide by the laws of war, it is futile to focus on blaming that opponent for breaking the laws of war.
Instead, you must focus on finding ways of defeating that opponent. You do not solve a problem by focusing on describing how insurmountable it is, but on solutions. At a personal level, you will never succeed if you focus on blaming the circumstances that make it impossible for you to achieve your dreams.
Instead, you must focus on what to do to overcome the circumstances and achieve your dreams. Second, focusing on blaming ZANU-PF produces the disempowering narrative that ZANU-PF is an invincible regime when the truth is that it is a very weak regime with a false appearance of invincibility.
A regime that relies on corruption, patronage, violence, intimidation, and state capture instead of supreme ideas is extremely weak. History has no shortage of regimes that appeared invincible for decades, only to be removed from power with very little effort.
Third, focusing on blaming ZANU-PF appears to show that the opposition does not have strategies to effectively fight and remove the regime from power.
The opposition needs critical thinkers who can make a forensic analysis of Zimbabwe’s absurd political terrain and establish fool proof strategies of removing the regime from power.
Law 14: Always build solid relations with like-minded forces, both locally and internationally.
The fight for change cannot be achieved by opposition parties alone. It requires the unity of all forces that are seeking change, including civil society, traditional leaders, the business community, the media, social movements, human rights movements, and workers’ unions.
It also requires the support of regional and international actors, especially regional and international organisations, heads of state, opposition leaders from other countries, and diplomats. Change champions must therefore consciously build solid relations with these constituencies.
Law 15: Principles are more valuable than votes: Be ye therefore ready to lose votes on account of principles.
Change champions must always know that principles are inviolate, they must never be sacrificed on the altar of votes. There are votes that are worthy to be lost on account of principles.
Dr Moses Tofa is a Research Leader, political analyst, and self-critical Pan-Africanist. He holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Johannesburg and a PhD in Conflict Studies from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. He is the Head of Research at the African Federation’s TAF Governance. He is also an Investigator at the University of Andes, Colombia. He writes in his capacity. He can be reached at [email protected], Twitter handle: @DrDrMTofa.
