ZANU-PF: Beware of the Apollonian spirits
SOON President Mugabe will be coming back from his annual holiday. Just wait and see the pomp and funfair at the Harare International Airport. Ministers and top Zanu-PF officials will almost fall on each other in a bid to be noticed by the President at the airport.
A welcome rally may even be organised at the airport where thousands of Zanu-PF supporters will be bused from all over the country. One will be tempted to think all is well in Government and in Zanu-PF.
The ruling party seems to be suffering from what Friedrich Nietzsche, that 19th century German philosopher calls the Apollonian spirits. Let’s dig a bit deeper to grasp what Nietzsche was referring to.
According to Nietzsche mankind was endowed with two types of spirits namely the Apollonian and the Dionysian. Apollo being the Greek god of intellect and enlightenment was responsible for the rational and thinking side of man.
On the other hand, the Dionysian spirit which is connected with the ancient Greek god Dionysus is the opposite of the Apollonian. The Dionysian spirit represents the emotional side of man. The Dionysian spirit thus makes man an actor and a doer relying less on rhetoric and more on action. Nietzsche asserts that a holistic human being therefore must be able to strike the proper balance between the two spirits — the Apollonian and the Dionysian spirits.
It looks like the intellectuals, the talkative, the academics are trying to wrestle Zanu-PF from the practical, the so-called uneducated and pragmatic cadres. The doers are under threat from the thinkers. Supposed thinkers actually.
It’s as if this country’s independence was brought by intellectuals when we all know that many brave comrades abandoned school in Standard Six and below to join the liberation struggle. We also know that many intellectuals abandoned the struggle as they sneaked out of the country to go and further their education in the lands of the colonisers.
Now the Apollonians think the time for the Dionysians is up. They over-emphasise the importance of the academic in a bid to overshadow the contributions of the street-wise and pragmatic doers. Professors and doctors talk more and act less but still they think now its their time. Practical people, like Cde Joseph Chi- notimba who are full of wisdom are pushed to the periphery just because the intellectuals think their time has arrived.
The intellectuals think its their time yet they spend most of the time bickering among themselves. Just look at the people making the most noise in Zanu-PF today? Just look at the people who now look down upon veterans of the liberation struggle?
These overfed and ungrateful Apollonians who overrate themselves just because they can write good English and just because they have access to the social media platforms such as twitter and facebook. Even outside Zanu-PF, the Apollonians exist. Just look at the never-ending talks about the opposition coalition. It’s now months since the talks started and even more worryingly for the opposition, 2018 is fast approaching, yet Morgan Tsvangirai and Joice Mujuru are still bickering over this coalition.
Zimbabweans should not be fooled into equating academic success with good political leadership. These two are miles apart and as a country we have been blessed to have Apollonians who are so arrogant and so reckless that we know where to put them when the right time comes.
Before brickbats start flying, the Apollonians, the intellectuals are free to seek public office, but they should not present themselves as superior human beings. The Dionysians also matter because they bring positive change in people’s lives.
So, when President Mugabe returns from holiday, the Apollonians and the Dionysians will be all out to outfox each other at the Harare International Airport. The unsuspecting ordinary card-carrying Zanu-PF members will be used to paint a picture of normalcy.
There is nothing normal when Zanu-PF officials continue attacking each other in the media. There is nothing normal when Zanu-PF officials defy the President and continue using the private media, twitter and facebook to attack each other. There is nothing normal when Zanu-PF officials continue plotting to smuggle themselves into power. There is nothing normal when Zanu-PF officials pretend to be defending President Mugabe and yet they are undermining him by disobeying him.
Fortunately, President Mugabe is in the full picture because he is well briefed. The Apollonians have been wrecking havoc for far too long. The nonsense has to stop.