Alone but together
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
15.12.12
by Obert Gutu
It will get worse before it gets better. Prophets of doom and gloom are
running amok; like people possessed. Opportunists, chancers as well as
political low lives are cleverly positioning themselves. Fencesitters are
busy gazing into the open space; not exactly sure which ship to jump onto.
These are very exciting times that we are going through in Zimbabwe.
The land of milk and honey beckons and some comrades’ appetite for plunder
is now greatly under attack from an increasingly discerning electorate who
would want the elections in 2013 to be issues-based as opposed to
personality-based. The time for sloganeering is most certainly over. The
people have clearly refused to be fed on an incessant diet of hate, malice
and propaganda. The game is on. We are absolutely alone; but we are
together.
History has taught us the lesson of dialectical materialism; simply put it
means that the old collapses into the new and that nothing lasts forever.
Political parties that stubbornly refuse to mutate and move with the times
will inevitably collapse into the dustbin of history. In similar measure,
politicians who morbidly think that they are God’s gift to mankind will soon
find out that no one is indispensable. Change is inevitable and change is
coming.
At the elections to be held in June , 2013, the people of Zimbabwe will
refuse to be locked up in history. They will totally reject the politics of
thievery, kleptocracy, retribution and obscurantism. The people will bid
farewell to a system that has brought untold suffering into their lives. A
system that has perfected the art of patronage and consistently rewarded
mediocrity, insolence and downright incompetence.
In the corridors of power, alarm bells are ringing. They are ringing so
loudly they have become a constant irritant. Thirty two years of unbridled
political power and control has, unfortunately, made some of these comrades
impervious to the winds of change. While dynamic revolutionary parties such
as Chama Chama Pinduzi ( CCP) in Tanzania and the South West Africa People’s
Organisation ( SWAPO) in Namibia have constantly appreciated the need to
periodically renew and re-invigorate their leadership, a certain political
party in Zimbabwe, which party is as old as the writer, has not seen it fit
to bring in new and fresh blood to jump start and crank its fading engine.
Like an ostrich, this political party continues to bury its head in the sand
in the vain hope that the hand of time will come to a standstill and that
miraculously, the wheel can be re-invented. We all know this party. Its top
four leaders have a combined age of around 300 years! With due respect, this
is an old and extremely tired leadership. This is a retirement-bound
leadership which has, of course, seen better days. To expect them to be able
to take Zimbabwe to the next level will be as futile as expecting heavy
snowfall in the Sahara desert. It simply won’t happen. Finish and klaar.
The voters are discerning. You can no longer sell them a dummy. You can beat
the hell out of them, rape their wives, sisters and daughters, loot their
meagre possessions and even kill them but then one thing is certain. You
cannot take away their humanity. You cannot and will not strip them of their
convictions. On polling day, they will hit you back in a very harsh way. You
may bribe the traditional l leaders and buy them beer so that they are
always sloshed but the truth is you can never stop an idea whose time has
come.
You may actually think that the people are alone but what you certainly do
not know is that the very same people are, in fact, together. They know what
they want. They know you for what you really are ; a sly, thuggish and
intolerant political class who are corrupt to the bare bones. They will not
be seduced by your smash and grab policy disguised as empowerment and
indigenisation. The people are not impressed when you routinely rob Peter in
order to pay Paul. You will not touch the people’s hearts by creating
thoroughly discredited and corrupt, so-called community share ownership
trusts whose directorship and shareholding is opaque and shadowy.
The people may be desperately poor but they are not stupid. They know what
they want. They know that thirty years of looting has brought extreme
poverty into their lives. One day, very soon, they will punish you heavily.
Zimbabwe is more than ripe for change. This is the time for women and men of
honour and integrity to rise up and save their nation from collapse. This is
the time to renounce the notoriously discredited smash and grab policy and
start to create wealth. You cannot continue to squabble over a small and
dwindling cake.
In fact, you should actually create new wealth and the best way to do so is
by giving the people JUICE. ( jobs, upliftment, investment, capital and
environment) Yes, it is possible to create one million new jobs by 2018. It
is also possible to bring macro-economic stability anchored by single digit
inflation. Indeed, it is very possible to attract foreign direct investment
( FDI) that is at least 30% of the gross domestic product ( GDP). More
importantly, it is feasible to establish a US$100 billion first world
economy by 2040.
To take Zimbabwe to the next level, we need an invigorated team of dedicated
and honest leaders who shun corruption and who are able to work their socks
off. We need a new vision to enable JUICE to be enjoyed by the people. Gone
should be the days when patronage rules the roost. If you are incompetent,
lazy and/or corrupt, you should be promptly shown the exit door. There
should be zero tolerance to corruption, across the political divide.
Let sloganeering become a lazy person’s past time. Zimbabwe is crying out
for workaholics and not schemers, opportunists and political scavengers who
see enemies where, in fact, there are no enemies. And we should never forget
to recover looted public assets. All ill-gotten wealth should be accounted
for in the new dispensation coming soon. Money that has been looted and
externalised, should be repatriated to enable Zimbabwe to start running
efficiently again. There should be no impunity for looting. Neither should
there be immunity for the perpetrators of gross human rights violations.
Lest I be misconstrued for advocating for an eye for eye approach; I am not
by any stretch of the imagination clamouring for retribution.
My argument is that no one should be seen to have benefited from their
deliberate and criminal acts of thievery. In similar vein, perpetrators of
heinous human rights offences should be dealt with in accordance with the
tenets of the law in order to bring closure to both the victims and the
perpetrators. Without bringing closure, there will be no lasting and
sustainable peace in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has to literally start from scratch. A battered economy such as
ours cannot be resuscitated by cowboy and thuggish economic policies as
exemplified by the doomed to fail so-called empowerment program. We have to
adopt a rational and pragmatic economic blueprint. Populist economic
blueprints that feed on lies, thievery, opaqueness and patronage should be
totally rejected.
Indeed, we should not smash and grab and call it indigenisation and
empowerment. Instead, we should give the people plenty of JUICE.
Obert Gutu is the Senator for Chisipite in Harare. He is also the MDC Harare
provincial spokesperson & Deputy Minister of Justice & Legal
Affairs. He is the Africa Heritage Society Goodwill Ambassador for Justice
& Messenger of Peace.