We have all too often heard some in our midst swearing they will never allow those without liberation struggle credentials and/or those who will, reverse the gains of independence, and even, those who will hand back the country to the whites or former colonizers, to rule.
And we have often wondered what all that really means. They say all this gobbledegook, in the name of protecting our sovereignty. These are the usual threadbare and overworked projectiles hurled by fat-cats seeking to protect their privileges. Firstly, rulers do not rule at the pleasure of these individuals . . . but the electorate! It is these people, who serve at the pleasure of rulers! The call means they are threatening to stage a coup, under the guise of this fancied notion of protecting our sovereignty. It means they seek to place the determination of the future of Zimbabwe and its governance in the hands of a bunch of extravagant eccentrics, and not the people. It’s not even about the mainstream Army, Police or Central Intelligence organ, no! It’s a few pot-bellied bureaucrats arrogating themselves the right to decide for Zimbabweans, who will rule. How is that? They say their participation in the war of liberation entitles them to supplant the people’s prerogative, and make that call! History records it clearly, that when Bourbons hold power they never voluntarily surrender it — the Mandarins in a declining China, the Tsar and his nobles, and many other privileged minorities throughout the world have done the same. It’s for a very simple reason: fear! This violent reaction stems from some atavistic dread deeply routed in the primitive psychology of protecting privileges. They fear the consequences of surrender, and fear induces a paralysis of political action and the thinking process. The Rhodesian was exactly the same. These individuals are people who swore to Oaths of Office, to uphold the Constitution of Zimbabwe. This means their present call is not based on any matter of conscience or principle at all, but protection of privilege and spoils of its primitive accumulation. They can garnish and dress their utterances in all manner of flowery claptraps but, stripped to bear essentials, it’s just greed and human frailty. Their stance does not only betray, debase and vitiate the very efficacy and noble ideals for which so many of our brothers and sisters died, but it negates and constitutes a savage assault on our sovereignty. It constitutes the complete antithesis of the essence of the people’s struggle for self-rule and self determination. In fact, if anything, by making such call, this elite club seeks to reverse the very founding gain of our independence, around which all other gains revolve – the right to self determination! Without the right to freely choose our rulers, our struggle for independence was fought in vain. It becomes meaningless and vacuous. This uninformed stance by this elite club seeks to subjugate and enslave our people once again. It’s a treacherous, blatant and aggressive assault on our rights and liberties. Zimbabweans have the inalienable right to choose and elect leaders of their choice. It’s clear that this privileged minority has now become a fortress community, on account of its fear of losing its power, privileges and wealth. They seek to protect their privileges of patronage under the guise of protecting our sovereignty. They have formed a laager and ring-fenced themselves and their selfish interests with an invisible, but palpable moat, and are now attempting to mask their subterfuge and perfidy with a thin veil and coat of feigned patriotism. This is a bunch of fear ridden neurotics, trying to hold back the winds of change with a porous sieve. Some even have crimes and Human Rights issues to answer for. Therein lies their agonizing psychosis. Zimbabweans are better qualified to define and protect the gains of independence by themselves and have not delegated that right to this elite club. It‘s fairly easy to rationalise as to why they talk and act as they do. These are fat-cats with fat salaries and all manner of perks. They drive around in obscene opulence, in the latest SUVs, Range and Land Rovers and Mercedes Benzes, like celebrities and film stars and they have been put in diamonds vantage positioning. They all have prime farmlands teaming with livestock, machinery and equipment and their tenure in office is open-ended and perennial, for good measure. Their children attend the best schools and they fly out of the country to the best hospital facilities in the world, when in need. Can anyone ask for more? These are the gains of independence they seek to protect. The majority of Zimbabweans, on the other hand, are shouting at the devil and can hardly afford three meals a day. Their savings, pension and insurance investments for which he/she toiled for a lifetime have been wiped out through the effects of reckless political adventurism and brinkmanship by the same people who now deny them the right to self determination. The firms they worked in closed gates many years ago, and more are closing every day. The meagre rental income they earned from leasing out one or two rooms at their houses were swept downstream by the Murambatsvina tsunami and their children now sojourned and are slaving in foreign capitals, doing menial jobs to help the folks back home put food on the table. Their entire family fabric has been routed while this elite lives in clover. My advice to our brothers is, walk where the great men of history before you have walked – stick to your sworn Oaths of Office. Protecting our sovereignty my foot! l Brian Mangwende is the Group Associate Editor of Alpha Media Holdings Private Ltd. Feedback: [email protected]
