BIOLOGICAL Siamese twins, are those born conjoined to each other, usually at the chest, pelvis or backside. Their conjoinment, unfortunately, is not of their own making.
This results from partial embryo separation to form two babies. Siamese twins often share certain organs. Surviving Siamese twins may be separated surgically, success depending largely on where they are joined and which organs they share.
It is extremely difficult for conjoined twins to live to adulthood, let alone have children. Chang and Eng are the only Siamese twins known to have lived to age 60, got married and had children of their own. May God bless more Siamese twins this way.
But how does this fit into Zanu PF and African National Congress (ANC)? Well, in many ways indeed. Positioned on either side of the Great Limpopo River, both are revolutionary parties that fought protracted wars of liberation to rid “their people” of the yoke of colonialism.
Many leaders of the two revolutionary parties shared experiences in prison, exile or combat. They marshalled support from the masses whom they promised milk and honey. Together, they convinced Russia and China to supply them with most of the combat hardware they required.
Leaders of these parties and their supporters faced horrible treatment from the colonialists as they fought for independence.
Lives were lost, thousands maimed and many more displaced. The gallant revolutionary leaders of the two parties comforted the masses, that their endurance was not in vain, freedom beckoned and with it, a good life.
Then, the leaders did not wear designer suits as they do today, but humble safari suits while those hardened by battlefront combat preferred military fatigues. Marxist theories were the stock in trade for the leaders of the two revolutionary parties.
- Cheeky armed robbers jailed 10 years each
- Dangers of Arab Spring in SA
- Dangers of Arab Spring in SA
- Ramaphosa faces ANC leadership challenge
Keep Reading
Though conjoined at the Limpopo, the Siamese twin north of the river, got independence in 1980, while the other twin got independence in 1994 — 14 years apiece.
The two revolutionary parties were overjoyed. Years of bondage were over; it was time for freedom. Like successfully separated Siamese twins, the two were over the moon.
Zanu PF went on to build schools, roads, clinics and making milestones in education, setting records in Africa. The ANC went on a flurry of giving social grants to the people.
There was joy. There had to be. It had been a long arduous journey for the people. It was time to reap the fruits of the struggle.
At long last Canaan had come, it was time to sup of the honey and the milk. Unbeknown to the masses though was that the two revolutionary parties were dishing out honey and milk to the people without any plans as to how more honey and milk was produced so that it is always available for the people.
Moreover, members of the two revolutionary parties were eating more honey and milk than all the people in the jurisdictions they presided over.
Even worse, they continue to promise more honey and milk even as the cows and bees producing them were dwindling in numbers without anyone caring or noticing. In worst-case situations, the parties even killed the cows and the bees themselves.
Later and inevitably, the masses realised there was less and less honey and milk for everyone. They observed too that the leaders were having far two much of the honey and milk for themselves, leaving nothing or very little for everyone else.
As they did before independence, the masses raised concerns about corruption, mediocrity, and misfeasance. They took to the streets to demonstrate, to vent their discontent and try to regain their leaders’ attention.
All those efforts were in vain. The Fourth Estate (media) that tried to put forward the people’s concerns was demonised. North of the Limpopo many ordinary people lost limb and life for that, south of the Limpopo, the Fourth Estate is accused of being pawns of the white capitalist monopoly.
The revolutionary parties are now devouring their own children. There is an adage that says when a lion wants to eat its own cubs, it accuses them of smelling like goats.
One Bertrand Russel once said: “Power is sweet; it is a drug, the desire for which increases with a habit.” It is said that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The two jurisdictions astride the Great Limpopo River are beholden to the chagrin and theatrics of the two siametric revolutionary parties.
When former Cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo said: “It is too cold out there,” referring to his short stint outside Zanu PF, he was not referring to weather.
The most frightening thing about Zanu PF and ANC is the level of impunity in whatever they do. They flagrantly do not care anymore what the people say.
They can plunder resources left, right and centre, without caring a hoot what the people say.
They will challenge the people to prove before courts of law that they have plundered anything, a process they know is riddled with complexities beyond ordinary citizens’ reach.
They flagrantly refuse to be accountable to the electorate. In fact, the parties have become so adamant in their ways that at times they do things that insult people’s intelligence.
In South Africa for instance, a high-profile figure (whom some say may really not know the difference between the positive and negative ends of a torch battery cell) had the audacity to call a Press conference and tell the nation that load shedding will be a thing of the past by December 2023.
In Zimbabwe, a politician of similar stature also called a Press conference and told the nation that Zanu PF had, indeed, created two million jobs as per its election manifesto when he in fact was referring to graduate airtime vendors on the streets.
It is not surprising, therefore, that a whole president in Zimbabwe went on public and told the nation that around US$15 billion worth of diamonds was lost in Chiadzwa and goes on to do nothing about it.
Years down the line an Al Jazeera documentary exposes massive gold externalisation and the powers that be see nothing amiss about it.
In South Africa, a whole president stashes swathes of greenbacks in pillows and sofas and the ANC says in Parliament that was not an event worth its attention.
In these scenarios does anyone really believe we are getting anywhere with these parties.
While biological Siamese twins often don’t live long, these two political Siamese twins are seemingly here to stay. They constantly promise to rejuvenate themselves.
After Zanu PF and ANC have been in power forty-three and twenty-nine years, respectively, they continue to try and convince the electorate that they will self-correct and do good things for the people.
Unfortunately, there are some people who still are gullible to the extent of believing in these feeble and futile promises.
North of the Limpopo, the authorities there have some other unsavoury means of cajoling the populace into voting for them.
As these parties put lipstick on pigs and try to hoodwink the electorate that they are bringing fresh candidates, they must be unmasked and be thrown into the history dustbin where they rightfully belong.
- Mutemo Pisa is a political analyst. He writes here in his personal capacity.
