Zimbabwe is a mess because we lack "capabilities to evaluate options," argue Mauwa W Mukori

In a recent opinion piece in New Zimbabwe, Hopewell Mauwa hit the nail on the head on one of the reasons why Zimbabwe is seemingly incapable of solving its political and economic problems – our inability to understand the challenge before us and make timeous decision.

“Competitively, a key strength of developed nations is their ‘collectively educated’ populace; citizens are capable of factually comprehending problems, critically evaluating options and crucially, they apply insights to act. This is complemented by a well-informed and vigilant media, which is very effective in changing attitudes on issues of ‘national interest’. Technological advances have made these countries realise that in the information age, the most adaptable will survive, not necessarily the fittest,” argued Mauwa.

“Zimbabwe, on the other hand, has an impressive literacy rate of close to 90%. However, such ‘literacy’ appears to have only succeeded in equipping citizens with basics of reading and writing (the definition of literacy!) but not the value-added complex capabilities of critically evaluating options and practically applying insights to solve problems.”

The most obvious example of Zimbabwe’s collective failure is in politics. It took the nation nearly 20 years before we finally admitted that Mugabe was not the liberation war hero with the nation’s interest at heart who would deliver mass economic prosperity, “gutsa ruzhinji,” as he claimed. He was, just an incompetent, corrupt, vote rigging and murderous tyrant whose only passion was to secure absolute power when if that meant riding roughshod of the people’s freedoms and basic human rights including the right to free and fair elections and even the right to life. It was not until the late 1990s that Zimbabwe finally called for democratic change. But even then, as Mauwa has rightly pointed out, many Zimbabweans, including the political leaders themselves, did not have a clue what these democratic changes were.

The people of Zimbabwe risked life and limb to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) friends into power on the promise they would bring about the democratic changes, as their party name implied, the nation was dying for. MDC had their best chances to deliver democratic changes during the 2008 to 2013 GNU by implementing the raft of democratic reforms agreed in Global Political agreement (GPA) drawn up by SADC leaders, who were the guarantor of the agreement. MDC leaders failed to get even one single reform implemented in five years.

SADC leaders warned Tsvangirai and his MDC friends not to contest the July 2013 elections without implementing the democratic reforms designed to stop Zanu PF rigging the vote. MDC leaders with the stoic stubbornness of the foolish, who think they know best but know nothing, did not listen. As SADC leaders had warned, Zanu PF went on to rig the elections with the disastrous political and economic consequences we can see today.  

Even now, with the benefit of hindsight; many MDC leaders, including Tsvangirai himself, have no clues what these democratic reforms are about and so too does many ordinary Zimbabweans. SADC leaders’ warning not to contest elections without implementing the democratic reforms first is just as valid for next year’s elections as it was in 2013. And yet Tsvangirai & co. are still determined to contest next year’s election although not even one reform was ever implemented since the last rigged elections because they lack the “complex capabilities of critically evaluating options”, as Mauwa would put it.

“Arguably, this is an uncorrected colonial legacy whereby ‘native’ education was designed to produce obedient functional workers. Add to that, despite fast adaptation of technology, information media is still largely state-controlled, all of which hinders understanding of ‘real’ national challenges and consequently change of attitudes. Of-course, national culture plays a role too,” was Mauwa’s explanation.

Personally, I do not buy that explanation. Zimbabwe was not the only nation that was colonized; whereas other nations have, effortlessly, step-out of the shadow of the colonial oppression and exploitation to assume their rightful place in the league of other free, just and prosperous nations we have faltered. I think we had the great misfortune to have had a particularly obnoxious tyrant in Robert Mugabe and particularly naïve and gullible individuals around him whom he twisted round his little finger at will and so he did as he pleased.

Margaret Dongo, a former freedom fighter and Zanu PF MP herself, once described Zanu PF leaders, MPs, cabinet members, the lot as “vakadzi vaMugabe” (Mugabe’s subservient concubines). Of course, she was right.

By the time the rest of the populous saw Robert Mugabe for the control freak, vote rigging, corrupt and murderous megalomania he is, the Zanu PF dictatorship was deeply entrenched and the people were naïve to believe a simpleton like Tsvangirai would dislodge the cunning fox like Mugabe out of his fox hole!

After 37 years of Zanu PF rigging elections it is barmy to take part in the flawed elections on the strength of Tsvangirai and his MDC friends Winning In Rigged Elections (WIRE) strategies! This is just a feeble excuse to justify the insanity of contesting flawed elections hoping against reason for a different result!

Right now, the key to ending the Zanu PF dictatorship is in demanding the implementation of the democratic reforms and then and only then agree to the holding of fresh elections.