The power of unity in conflict
THE number of conflicts on the continent shows that Africa continues to be overwhelmed by what Sigmund Freud called the “narcissism of small differences”. The African Union and its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), were named with great deliberation. They could have been simply called the Organisation of African States or any other combination of words.
But instead there was an important focus on Unity in both names. Why?
Perhaps there was a keen understanding by the generation of anti-colonial leaders that created the OAU that it was disunity that ultimately led to the continent’s colonisation.
Their predecessors in pre-colonial Africa spent more time plotting against, sometimes enslaving and destroying their neighbours, when a greater threat and enemy loomed on the horizon.
As the OAU/AU continues to evolve, there is growing recognition that unity cannot be pulled out of thin air it is not simply a slogan but a long process of overcoming the fissures that keep people apart.
Ethnic rivalry has been one important fissure of disunity, alongside religious and other ideological differences.
These have been the underlying reason for many of the conflicts afflicting the continent. But perhaps more important has been the competition for economic goods.
The collapse of oil and other commodity prices probably means that the “Africa Rising” moment may be affected and that with economic retrenchment, a rise in the number of conflicts may be expected.
But Africa can overcome the fissures of disunity by a renewed focus on what unites us and is in all our interest a prosperous common homeland, which nurtures and allows its citizens to flourish.
However, how do we develop an effective neighbourhood policy? The AU is underpinned by a number of important principles, however, most of us either do not know them, or if we do, do not believe in them or live our lives by them.
Also and perhaps most fatally, there has never been an entity powerful enough to police and enforce its own values. Usually a hegemonic power can define and protect the civilisational values.
Take the “Five Eyes” or the Anglosphere of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand they have had two world empires over the last 200 years, the British and the United States of America.
They have fought against each other and in the process defined some of their core values. In the war of American independence the issues at stake touched on representation, taxation, and whether the relationship between the centre and the periphery would be based on equality.
And the Civil War in the US finally rid the Anglosphere space of slavery while preserving unity. Today, under US leadership, these Anglosphere values are understood by all even to the extent that the “Five Eyes” don’t spy on each other, but only share intelligence on others.
Contrast this unity with that of the Slavs. From Poland in the north to Serbia in the South, passing over Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and the Slav hegemonic power (Russia), the Slavs’ underlying language and culture has not prevented the huge hatreds we are now seeing convulsing in places like Ukraine.
The confessional changes have bred different practices and viewpoints, enough to trigger brutal conflict in the 1990s. Similarly, the Ukrainians, though mostly Slavs, are again divided along dialect and confessional lines, easily exploited by others. A joke about the current conflict: NATO will fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian.
Africa’s confessional, language and cultural differences have led to similar divide and rule by outsiders. An important value and principle that would enable us not to be so exploited would be a simple acceptance through the AU of the principle of resolving our disputes only through peaceful means. — New African.
MORE often than not, action speaks louder than words. Zimbabwe finds herself in a situation wherein the major political actors have been very long on talk but, unfortunately, extremely short on action,regarding the new trajectory that our beautiful country should be taking.
Old habits are dying hard. As the Italian Marxist philosopher and communist politician, Antonio Francesco Gramsci, once said: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born, in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.’’ Zimbabwe is at the crossroads.
As the Government led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa is desperately seeking to break with the past and start off on a new slate of openness, transparency and accountability, there is a vicious and powerful under-current of resistance and retrogression.
This is a virulently insipid, vapid, rabid but extremely tenacious and deeply-rooted under-current of negativity and darkness.
This is a force that is pulling in the opposite direction at every turn. The inconvenient truth is that this apparently strong and powerful under-current is located within well-placed Government bureaucrats at Munhumutapa Building and also in various Government departments. President ED has got his plate full, literally. Here’s a President who is passionately trying to create a new culture of governance where meritocracy, transparency and accountability will underpin his administration but at the same time he has got to contend with erstwhile comrades and colleagues who are apparently pushing a completely different agenda.
This is a group of people who are still steeped in the old order of indolence, laziness, opaqueness and corruption. In fact, this is the biggest challenge facing President Mnangagwa right now.
ED’s monicker is The Crocodile. Essentially, the crocodile is a very sly and patient reptile that can lie low and even play harmless if not downright dead but when the right opportunity presents itself, a crocodile strikes with chilling and devastating accuracy and precision.
I have observed that the President is quietly putting all his ducks in a row. His body language is extremely difficult to read.
For a man who hardly shows his emotions in public, it is very, very easy for many people to underestimate the President’s scheming and planning capacity. But, I’m absolutely convinced that ED knows what has got to be done in order to put things in order.
This is an intricate game of chess where patience and strategic planning are critical components. I will not be surprised if, one of these fine days, the President pulls off his Joker card and plays a sucker punch that will completely and utterly surprise and confuse even some of those Government bureaucrats who work with him each and every day.
The socio-economic challenges that Zimbabwe is currently facing are immense. There is turbulence within the financial sector and prices of basic goods and commodities are
ZANU-PF
rapidly going up, literally on a daily basis.
The local currency is yet to gain traction as wheeler dealers still continue to manipulate the illegal foreign currency market. I am not an economist and as such, I am not going to attempt to proffer a holistic solution regarding currency reforms.
Suffice to state that those people who argue that Zimbabwe must adopt the United States dollar or the South African rand as its official currency are hopelessly and dead wrong.
The Government has got to address the cause of the disease rather than simply rushing to cure the symptoms of the same.
That there is a clique of powerful politicians and business people who are virtually controlling Zimbabwe’s financial markets is beyond debate.
That is the real problem that President ED and his Government must immediately address if we are going to experience any sanity and stability within our financial markets.
There is a small group of powerful politicians and business people that is raking in millions of United States dollars as a direct result of manipulating and controlling Zimbabwe’s financial markets, particularly the foreign currency market.
If this powerful clique of politicians and wheeler dealers is not promptly dismantled, even if we obtain a Finance Minister and a Reserve Bank Governor from heaven, our financial markets will remain forever in turbulence.
This is where there is need for a drastic and definitive paradigm shift.
For daring to speak truth to power, in certain political circles, I have been routinely branded an ED bootlicker and even a latter-day Zanu-PF activist but yet nothing could be further from the truth.
I am just a patriotic Zimbabwean who is passionate about establishing a truly democratic, progressive and socio-economically stable country.
Nothing more and nothing less. I am a private citizen who isn’t in Government but that will not stop me from fearlessly speaking out my mind as well as articulating what I think is good for my country.
Going forward, I expect President Mnangagwa to crack the whip and to instill some discipline within Zimbabwe’s financial markets.
A certain political school of thought is arguing that the national economy is distressed because President Mnangagwa lacks legitimacy, whatever that means. This is utter nonsense, complete and unadulterated hogwash.
There is no crisis of political legitimacy in Zimbabwe. There is a socio-economic crisis, yes.
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The Government has got the electoral mandate to run Zimbabwe until the next harmonised elections that are scheduled to take place in 2023. Anyone dreaming of a so-called Government of National Unity before the 2023 harmonised elections are held is, of course, simply power-hungry and daydreaming.
And for anyone to still childishly and rather bizarrely argue that President Mnangagwa isn’t the legitimate President of Zimbabwe is tantamount to whistling through a graveyard, there shall be no answer. Some people have even argued that we need a funny creature called a National Transitional Authority to run Zimbabwe. That, again, is rubbish.
The Zanu-PF Government has got the electoral mandate to run Zimbabwe until the next harmonised elections that are scheduled to take place in 2023. Anyone dreaming of a so-called Government of National Unity before the 2023 harmonised elections are held is, of course, simply power-hungry and day-dreaming.
The political and socio-economic challenges that Zimbabwe is currently facing are not insurmountable. They can be fixed. For now, we are eagerly and desperately waiting for drastic action to be triggered from the seat of power at Munhumutapa Building and No. 1 Chancellor Avenue, Harare.
◆ Obert Chaurura Gutu is the MDC-T Vice President. He is also a practising lawyer in Harare and the founder and Executive Director of the Negona Legal Consultancy & Public Governance Institute LLC.