By Tabani Moyo
Some events are meant to define history!
How else can one comprehend the new wave of divisions within civic organizations in light of the constitution making process? It is as if a cat has been thrown among the pigeons. Movements, covenants, value systems and gluing principles which maintained consensus for decades and eras, are now fractured and weaker than ever before.
This can only be explained by the dangers elevated by the elements of time. Time has eroded the core values of our struggle - the virtues which as a collective we used to cherish and kept us united under the most trying of times.
Over the last ten or so years, civics remained committed and did not compromise on issues of principle much to the annoyance of the regime. Several good friends and comrades died while pursuing the same virtues and principles which were built through countless conferences and conventions.
As civics, our long held belief has been that a people driven constitutional reform exercise must be done in terms of the principles that were outlined in the National Working Peoples convention as well as Section 3 of the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter. And in this that we must remain defiant in the face of the tempting idea of letting our political outlook colour or warp our intellectual perception of things.
Inherent in this argument is the philosophy that whatever actions we are pursuing or intend to pursue, should be executed with clear conscience that we are doing it as the today’s custodians of Zimbabwe for the benefit of future generations. We must not be blinkered and controlled by cross- buffeting winds and remote controls both in terms of ideology and resources that are dangled as carrots and sticks.
The crux of the matter is that since the singing of the GPA and the formation of the inclusive government, the current wave of divisions are unnecessary given the fact that they are not of the institutions’ own making. Equally, they should not be perceived as simply a reaction to the constitutional making process. The problems are as deep as they are wide. They are a reflection of a deep seated ideological and value system crisis, which I insist must be addressed if we are to move forward as a collective.
This can be noted in the historic split of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) into two formations namely, MDC-T and MDC-M. The root cause of the split at face value can be attributed to the Senate elections of 2005, but in essence the causes were deeply entrenched in the lack of value consensus and issues to do with failure to define the party’s ideology. It was also the result of failed cohesion among academics or the so- called intellectual wing and trade unions.
This led to the other group believing that the best way of eroding the then incumbent government was through the courts whilst the radical wing in the mould of labour and student activists impressed on the need to mobilize in the streets.
The travesty of 2005, has struck civil society four years later in 2009. The main difference this time is that the splits are mythical creations built and cemented by a certain crop of personalities deciding how certain actions should be carried out and in what order. Such personality differences have had cascading effects on civic institutions.
It is therefore necessary that consistency of mind, persistency with the cause or purpose and the brazen simplicity of decisions in the face of adversity and successful moments should remain the guiding principle that governs the conduct of civic organizations against all odds.
The mistake happened at the very beginning due to the way we framed the narrative of our journey from the repression under President Mugabe’s rule. It never occurred that one day, the core principles we shared and believed in would stand to divide us. The thinking was that the values of democracy and constitutionalism where clear road signs towards the Promised Land as captured and articulated in the Zimbabwe Peoples Charter.
If the CSOs are to execute their mandated roles of being a watchdog of the government rather than the lapdog, there is an imperative need to borrow from an American phrase – reset the button in our public discourse, because the politics of yesterday will get us nowhere. Typical of any machinery, when you reset, it reverts back to its default status – which will cleanse off the confusion reigning in on the civics and start afresh on a clean slate.
Suffice to note that in the initial proposition I made that the so called splits are mythical still stand. If you cut away the ranting and raving mouth pieces from the sources of proxy wars, one often gets the sense that those fanning the divisions are not always the ones calling the shots; that they are being hypothetical while the organization grinder is lurking from somewhere in the background, pulling the strings. Thereby the personalities battling to outdo each other in the civics are often seen as the elephants in the room.
This is why the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is experiencing the upheavals and riding in personality driven manifestations of waves in an ocean. If the grinders pulling the strings halt their acts of personality ‘differences’, sanity will prevail at this cog of young and dynamic academic activism. It is therefore notable that the ‘split’ in ZINASU is not hinged on the issues of constitutionalism but the forces of insurgence aimed at weakening the union.
If these forces colliding at the union are to hold their horses, the students will start reorganizing themselves and forge ahead with their academic freedom campaigns with the hope to free the students from the collapse of the education system in Zimbabwe. Above the battle of personalities at ZINASU lies a constituency of suffering students, coming from humble backgrounds, whose main agenda is to attain academic credentials, as the only attainable escape route from the demon of poverty. This can only happen when well meaning colleagues within or without the union are to chip in and facilitate the reign of sanity, rather than employing divisive tactics, which will not help the students to achieve their goals.
The crisis which has been brought by the constitutional making process should therefore be revisited, since it has created some rattling of shock in the civic organizations and the political parties themselves.
The constitution making process should be understood from a point of fact that constitutions are meant to overhaul and redress socio-economic and political imbalances which are deeply embedded in any given fabric of a society. This is mainly so given the fact that constitutions are either written in post conflict periods or in transitions such as was the situation with South Africa, which wrote its constitution under a transition.
For this to happen, there is a need to dispel the mind games being played by the three political parties in government, namely a) Zanu PF seeks to smuggle provisions in the constitutions which shoves away issues of restorative justice must be dealt with in a new constitution and ensure that crimes are swept under the carpet b) the MDCs should be careful of falling in the trap of thinking that its role in government would be drafting a constitution that will liquidate Zanu PF – its role is to abide by its founding values on constitutional making process which allows the peasant, the intellectuals, labour, media, church, women and students among others to play an active role in writing their country’s constitution. The three political parties in short should understand that the constitution making process is not a power contest – no institution or individual(s) can contest for power using the process of making the country’s contract between the governed and those governing unless individually or collectively the parties are not answerable to the people of Zimbabwe.
The MDC as a party of ‘excellence’ and the civic organizations who have all of a sudden found new reason in blindly following where-ever the government is going should be on a constant watch of the terrain which they are treading on. It’s very easy to erode the people’s confidence if organizations and movements are not firm on the covenants and ideals which have been reiterated over and over again.
The wobbling can be understood, given the fact that the MDC and some civic organizations manning the opposition or civic role through the anti-Mugabe crusade and pro-democracy positions not so long ago, found it easy to see things in stark terms: in black and white. No compromise. It’s the beauty of one being powerless, I believe. You don’t have to prove and justify all the things in measurable terms. All you have to do is to yell and hope someone across the barricade will take fright and accede to your demands.
The main danger forthwith in yelling is that of taking a militant pose in making promises to ingratiate your followers for the opposition and the public for the civics. That would be a grave mistake; promises have got political and budgetary consequences. The promises of a people driven constitution which registered Zanu PF’s first millennium defeat by a united CSO and united MDC are now having some political consequences on the MDC and posing serious response problems on the part of the CSOs. It’s neither the time nor the place to keep on yelling on who are the people through countless press conferences and conferences.
It’s time to come up with a constitution that will attempt to correct the ills that are so entrenched and have existed for so long which cannot be done through artificial plastic surgery. Hence the people of Zimbabwe should be given a chance to fully express the grey areas in their lives through factoring their views in an uncensored manner in a new people driven constitution which will surgery the state and the society at large. This will not be achieved when the three political parties have total control of the process from sub-committees to the chairing of the entire committee – those who want to believe that we will find a surgical process through people throwing water missiles at each other at a supposedly all stakeholder meeting should wake up and smell the coffee.
This is why I am opposed to this state led process of writing the constitution. It gives the three parties which are interested in a pending election to write a constitution – such a farce cannot be entertained level headedly as it propels power contests rather that enabling the people of Zimbabwe to express themselves. As said before this should be a revolutionary process of transforming the society. Ours is a society whose constitutional and socio-political ills date back to colonial settlement which need genuine constitutional reform to spare the country from further human rights violations.
The problem of lack of clarity of thought which is being forwarded by the CSOs is particularly from the so called ‘modern’ day civic activists. This is a new crop of cadres facing an identity crisis emanating from the fact that they have been employed in the government but are finding hard to relinquish their roles in the CSO. There is a lot of cross-pollination, whereby a decision made by the CSO coming from these modern activists should tally with the aspirations of the government – Zimbabwe deserves better!
This has led to adverse moments for the civic organizations, presenting it with confusion never witnessed before, which I can liken to ‘young adults’ who leave home to build a life of their own, but are not quite confident enough to take along their belongings. It is critical to make sure that the movement shakes off such confusion. When such a self introspection has been done, the kaleidoscope would have been shaken, the pieces would be influx, but very soon they will settle again, but my argument remains, before they do, there is a need to reorder and realign the movement.
Taking lessons from South Africa, they drew the Freedom Charter in 1955 and it was done by people of principle and virtue, who gave future generations a constitutional architectural design as a model of a society and the governance which over decades has inspired and guided revolutionary activities at all convincible levels of their political, military and constitutional struggles.
In 1994, April the 27th the charter survived the test of time and remained the colossal at which the South African constitution was premised on. It was to become a life time value system and covenant upon which the people of South Africa’s struggles were to be found, but such bonds only work when the leadership, the CSOs and any other pro-democracy forces are of a strong principle hold.
In this country, the so called civic leadership will attend conventions, all stakeholders meetings and come up with binding documents which are supposed to be creating the bind but less than a decade, in this struggle post the movement’s formation, the modern day activists have reined in a circle of confusion. Given such a scenario, it’s high time to re-set the buttons and start on a clean sheet.
The progression of Zimbabwe coming in the form of providing leadership to its people leading to the attainment of better lives and a return to the rule of law should remain our bible. The quarrels and perceived splits are only but buttressing individual egos at the expense of the people of Zimbabwe’s desire for a better country where all men and women have got equal access to opportunities and the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Tabani Moyo is a free thinker, who writes on issues affecting his country. He writes from Gokwe and can be contacted on rebeljournalist@yahoo.com or moyojz@gmail.com
