Mutumwa Mawere

The only power that people who do not have power is the power to organise and yet human civilisation has taught us otherwise.

Faith is the biggest business not least because its practitioners are driven by greed, but its customers realise the limitations and opportunities of human life.

When human beings think and act as one they possess a power that is indivisible and solid.
Human progress is necessarily located in the ability of actors to pursue individual interests, but in a societal or community framework.

The box that we have to think and act in has to be seen in a bigger context.

Nation states exist only because human beings thinking and acting in the personal, family, clan, village, provincial and national settings define and shape its character.

The human mind is a powerful instrument capable of conceptualising, reasoning and making choices that not only advance the cause of human progress, but that could undermine the validity of the well-established fact that human beings have some superiority over God's other creations in the animal kingdom.

Indeed the law of the jungle applies to the rest of the animal kingdom where might is right. We generally expect better from human beings.

When the basic foundational principles expected in the human kingdom are absent, then one must know that the difference, if any, between the animal and human mind is the same.

Having read Manheru's article entitled "Who governs, who rules?" published by the Herald newspaper on 13 January 2012, it occurred to me that the shrinking conversation space on what matters in shaping and defining the character of not only Zimbabwe but Africa may very well explain the post-colonial African quagmire.

Manheru correctly observes that no real assessment of the Right Honourable Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai's book ("MT") has been done by a Zimbabwean and concludes by saying that this is partly a self-sought ruin, partly a tragedy of contemporary Zimbabwe.

The human mind is an incredible, innovative and creative asset that is capable of doing both good and bad.

Building national democratic societies is never an easy task, but what we do know is it is fundamental that such societies are founded and underpinned by a political and economic morality that respects the rule of law and in which the rights of persons and to their property are also respected.

So when Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa invoked Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) by promulgating Statutory Instrument 187 of 2004 published as a supplement to the Zimbabwean Government Gazette dated September 3 2004, it stands to reason the minds that saw it fit to use emergency powers to deal with the affairs of SMM Holdings Private Limited (SMM) were of the view there was no other instrument to use than to borrow State powers to create a law that did not exist.

As we journey through 2012 and the promise and challenges it offers, I could find no better theme for this year than "When Minds Meet" to highlight the urgent need to improve our conversations on what matters.

My own experiences have assisted me in sharpening my understanding about the human mind and the need to create a vibrant space in which minds can meet and engage in meaningful conversations based on the premise that every mind counts and ideas, facts and perspectives can advance the human cause when they are voluntarily generated and freely shared.

The fact that the birth of the Arab Spring Uprising was on the African continent is significant not only because the cry for a better life has regrettably not produced the desired outcomes in the post-colonial era but because it exposed a fundamental fault line in the construction and performance of the post-colonial dispensation.

It, is therefore, fitting that I add my voice on this last article for 2011 to the extraordinary events that started unfolding from 17 December 2010 when a young vendor named Mohammed Bouazizi in Tunisia came to the conclusion that his life was less important than the change that needed to take place in his country so that the dignity of citizens could be restored.

Does the state exist?  The fact that the state is an artificial construction of mankind is easily lost in human experience as human beings have an affinity to belong to something.

Human beings do not need the state for them to exist but on the contrary the state cannot exist without human beings who give it legitimacy.

The state is, therefore, merely a vessel that can and should be used by living human beings to advance their cause for a better and secure life.

The African colonial experience has had its own toll on the psychology of the former subjects to the extent that the post-colonial experience has produced its own contradictions and distortions.

As we draw closer to the end of this remarkable and defining year, we are compelled to pause and reflect on the many thoughts and ideas about state power.

The post-colonial experience has produced its own unique case studies about what it takes to get, hold and stay in power.

Gaddafi was the longest serving head of state in Africa who began the year oblivious to what was taking place around him and how power was escaping from him and more importantly his inevitable exit.

The role of the state in post-colonial Africa as in other nation states is necessarily contestable and controversial.

Our collective understanding of the cause of poverty has been influenced by not only the past but by the objective material conditions and class relations that exist in contemporary Africa.

The poverty of the majority is easily explained by the affluence of the few.  Using this logic, it easy to locate state-driven empowerment initiatives in the poverty alleviation worldview.

Africa's future does not belong to the state and its actors, but is and must be the business of its people.

Africans are not alone in expecting salvation from an institution that at its core was never meant to perform the kind of duties that we now expect it to.

It is not unusual for human beings to expect the governors to have a little more wisdom than the governed and yet in reality there is no instrument known to mankind that is capable of transforming an ordinary person into an extraordinary state actor.

What distinguishes mankind from God's other animal creations is that human beings have the capacity to organise and order society in a manner that allows opportunity to be redistributed.

Aristotle understood the centrality of justice in human organisation.

He held a view that is as relevant today as it was in his time: "It is in justice that the ordering of society is centred" and not in the wisdom of leaders.

Many of us are concerned about the state of the African condition, but few are able to rise above personal prejudices to appreciate what needs to happen for Africa to deliver on the promise.

Yesterday, like every Monday I was a beneficiary of inspirational quotes under the heading "Facing Obstacles" sent by Mr. Egias Musundire who works for Place Care, a recruitment company operating in Zimbabwe, as a Management Consultant.

Mr. Musundire drew his inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci who observed that: "Obstacles cannot crush me.  Every obstacle yields to stern resolve.  He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind."

The next quote was borrowed from Frank A. Clark who observed that: "If you find a path with no obstacle, it probably doesn't lead anywhere."

There is a widely held view that Africa's historical and contemporary condition is primarily a direct consequence of the actions and choices of external parties collectively labelled as imperialists and capitalists.

Zimbabwe is in the final stage of writing a new constitution but the underlying contestation for political power and hegemony will overshadow the real and fundamental issues that are critical in shaping and defining the character and content of the national democratic revolution.

Post-colonial Africa has universally accepted to be integrated into a civilisation that is shaped and defined by voluntary contracts between willing participants.

Even those that lead and participate in economic freedom marches are and must be acutely aware that human civilisation has not been able to produce precedents in which wealth is created merely by marching from point A to B and drafting and delivering one petition or another.

Poverty is a condition that regrettably many human beings find themselves and this is not unique to Africa.

The poor will not simply shake off poverty by targeting the rich and powerful, but need to appreciate that economic freedom is not something you can buy or use violence, propaganda and slogans to realise.