Zim and the new political paradigm
It’s not a consoling situation for the opposition MDC-T that Mugabe is no longer in power. Already suffering from years of ideological bankruptcy, the MDC-T finds itself in a quagmire as the “Mugabe Must Go” mantra has been rendered redundant.
IT’s just a few months away from elections and in the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe and the death of main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe is entering uncharted political terrain. While Zanu-PF has already settled on President Mnangagwa as its candidate, the same cannot be said of opposition political parties still dithering on an “alliance” candidate.
But that is actually not the real problem. The broader issue that confronts the Zimbabwe electorate and to a certain extent the southern African region is the gradual blurring of traditional ideological divides of the Left and Right long regarded as a determinant factor in making political choices.
Since the departure of the decolonisation leadership of Samora Machel, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Nelson Mandela, Sam Nujoma, Eduardo dos Santos and Robert Mugabe, the southern African region has witnessed the coming into the fold of a new crop of leaders keen on taking the region in different direction.
The political developments that have taken place in the region tempt one to revisit Marcus Greil’s in “The Dustbin of History” in which he makes a profound statement about “history (being) written as we speak, its borders (being) mapped long before any of us open our mouths.”
History, as Greil insists, is running faster than any journalist or historian can capture.
Zimbabwe, like other southern African countries, is writing its own piece of history. People used to simpler dichotomies of “them and us” and the devious “West and us” are having to do a lot of re-adjustment as the new political dispensation is singing a different hymn.
Even before his inauguration, President Mnangagwa had already made it clear that he was taking a different route from that of his predecessor.
He made his vision clear when he addressed party members at an extraordinary congress in December last year when he said; “Party work must not be in the old mould. Now we must be about politics and economics.
“We must embrace each other and other nations. This congress must define a new trajectory for the party.”
A new trajectory focusing more on economic delivery is indeed taking route in Zimbabwe. Since his inauguration, ED has resisted the temptation of taking unnecessary jibes at political opponents. His message has always focused on economic delivery and inclusion of all Zimbabweans in the remaking of Zimbabwe.
While conscious of the party’s enduring ideology as socialist-oriented with Zimbabwean characteristics, the same ideology has not been the defining maxim in all government operations and conduct.
Unlike before, when ideological rhetoric was frequently used to illustrate the divide between the ruling party and the opposition and the ruling party and its foreign detractors, it is not the same with the new dispensation.
ED’s rallying call of “Zimbabwe Open for Business” encapsulates the new dispensation preoccupation. Economics is defining politics. Besides harnessing local resources to spur economic growth, the new Government is also reaching out to foreign investors.
What then is left of the traditional divide? Is this the end of politics as we have known it? Former President Mugabe, like his colleague the late Samora Machel of Mozambique, was known for his anti-imperialistic rhetoric. The West was always the albatross.
Mandela ran with his Rainbow Nation euphemism, Kaunda pursued his humanism agenda, while Nyerere experimented with Ujamaa.
While most of the new crop of leadership in southern Africa remain rooted in liberation ethos, they seem alive to a changing world and are not willing to be perpetual prisoners of the decolonisation discourse.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the game has completely changed and the new administration is not only “Open for Business” but also open to election observers from any part of the globe.
The Indigenisation Act, which seemed to have been a major concern to most investors, has been repealed.
In his 2018 National Budget Statement, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced a raft of businessand investor-friendly proposals as well as plans to tackle corruption and reduce excesses.
The emphasis is also on having free and fair elections devoid of violence and, to show its seriousness in promoting tolerance the Government accorded the late opposition leader a State-assisted funeral, something previously unimaginable.
The dominant message coming out of the new dispensation is that of re-engagement with cooperative partners.
It’s a new work ethic that was hitherto unknown. The call for tolerance is growing louder as national elections beckon.
All that is happening gives enough credence for one to ascribe to Brett Henning’s declaration that the world is entering “The End of Politics” where countries are to be ruled by “managers” with politics as we know it fading away.
But Henning has a disclaimer; “The End of Politics” does not call for an end to politics (as such), but rather to the antiquated institutions over-reliant on a small number of elected leaders.”
Henning questions everything that we have taken for granted.
He even questions the holding of elections as a measure of democracy and argues convincingly that elections have for a long time been known to serve the interests of the powerful.
It is too early in Zimbabwe to rule out elections. It may also be too early to rule out ideological differences. But it’s never too early to predict a future where individuals will judged by the substance of their thoughts. Time is indeed remaking liberal or Western democracy as we have known it since Plato wrote “The Republic” around 380 BC.
ED is talking about servant leadership in a manner that points to inclusivity or “crowdocracy.” “Crowdocracy” refers to the radical new forward, one that allows all of us, not just some of us, to participate in how we are governed.
In his first speech as the new First Secretary of Zanu-PF following his reinstatement as a Central Committee member and subsequent nomination as party president on November 21 last year, ED said the duty to transform the economy was a collective effort that required the involvement of all Zimbabweans.
“I pledge myself to be your servant. I appeal to all genuine, patriotic Zimbabweans to come together, to work together. No one is more important than the other. We are all Zimbabweans.
“We want to grow our country. We want peace in our country. We want jobs, jobs, jobs!”
Although ED was addressing Zanu-PF supporters, his message targeted all Zimbabweans. It is not to declare that ED has already won over a large chunk of not only fence-sitters, but opposition supporters as well. The signs are already there. He seemed the only organised and focused political figure than all opposition political figures struggling to assert themselves among their supporters.
Daniel Bell’s words in “The End of Ideology” are indeed coming to pass.
A former Harvard Professor, Bell sardonically predicts the older, grand-humanistic ideologies derived from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries becoming exhausted while new, more parochial ideologies are being born.
His proposition was based on the idea that the polity of the future would be driven by piecemeal technological adjustments of the extant system.
Bell’s proposition is not balderdash. Truth be told, ideological differences are slowly becoming mundane determinants in making political choices.
Yes, marked differences between political parties still exist.
It’s not a consoling situation for the opposition MDC-T that Mugabe is no longer in power. Already suffering from years of ideological bankruptcy, the MDC-T finds itself in a quagmire as the “Mugabe Must Go” mantra has been rendered redundant.
Zanu-PF is, to its credit, engaging the international community primarily on its own terms. ED has made it clear that land reform is irreversible and that former white commercial farmers would be compensated in accordance with the law and dependent on the availability of funds.
National self-interest seems to be dictum guiding the dispensation.
One cannot say the same about the MDC-T. The electorate is yet to know its policy on land. Its recent attempt to engage the West ended in disaster after lobbying for the economic sanctions imposed by the EU and United States to be extended. A desperate attempt to ingratiate themselves with the West by lobbying for sanctions backfired back home even among opposition supporters who felt the move was self-defeating.
That said, there is no denying the fact that the political terrain is undergoing a serious metamorphosis. The old ideological poles of Left and Right that once reflected social reality are becoming blurred.
The trade union movement that was once the mainstay of left-wing political parties is fading. Politics as we have known it is taking a life of its own.