CONVERSATIONS WITH MAWERE
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- Mutumwa Mawere -
Zimbabwe 2008: A conversation with President Mugabe on Republicanism & Democracy
Posted on June 15th 2008
Speaking at the burial of Retired Lieutenant-General Amoth Nobert Chingombe at the National Heroes Acre yesterday, President Mugabe said the following:"Once again, we want to make it clear to the British and Americans that we are no one's subject, and never will be. We are the subject of ourselves, and we belong to ourselves. This country shall not again come under the rule and control of the white man, direct or indirect. We are masters of our destiny.
Equally, anyone who seeks to undermine our land reform programme, itself the bedrock of our politics from time immemorial, seeks and gets war.
On these two interrelated matters we are very clear. We are prepared to go to war. We are prepared to fight for our country if we lose it that same way it was lost nanaMbuya Nehanda.
As a people, we must define clear political taboos, clear boundaries for rituals of governance. It cannot be right to sanctify and celebrate the institution of opposition when its politics go against the very essence of our nationhood.
It cannot be right when interests of hostile foreign powers overturn and subvert the will of our people in the name of democracy. Surely, democracy cannot mean the right to pawn sovereignty. Sovereignty is not and cannot ever be a property for any outsider."
After 28 years of independence, no Zimbabwean can be blamed for wondering whether it was the same person in 1980 who led the struggle to create a post colonial republican and democratic state who now stands at the crossroads of history and now wishes to turn the page back to 1979 as an incentive for people to vote for no change.
Zimbabwe is a republic like many African states founded on an ideology that gives emphasis to liberty, rule of law, popular and not manipulated sovereignty, and the civic virtue practised by citizens.
When Zimbabweans elected to have a republican system of government they stood as a collective in opposition to aristocracy, dictatorship and oligarchy. A fundamental principle of this ideology is the notion that all men are created equal imbued with inalienable rights and they are the direct custodians of their sovereignty.
When a republican system of government creates the kind of language that President Mugabe is using to win the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans in the runoff elections then it should be evident that liberty is the ultimate victim.
A republic like Zimbabwe should be a government of laws and not of men. The noble idea that informed Zimbabweans to opt for a republican system of government is regrettably under threat from the least expected quarter i.e. President Mugabe.
It should have been obvious 28 years ago as it is now that a republican system carries with it obligations on citizens to negotiate among themselves on what sort of values and behaviour should be acceptable if the republic is to be viable.
When an incumbent Head of State in a republican system believes that he knows better than his masters then you must know that something has gone fundamentally wrong. Republicanism cannot be compatible with office holders using public power to intimidate and for personal gain.
President Mugabe's role must be to protect the rights or liberty of citizens. Clearly, if Tsvangirai, a Presidential candidate, is being harassed daily it cannot be said that Zimbabwe is still a republican system. As I write this article, Mr. Tendai Biti, is in remand prison for a crime that should not exist in any republican order.
What has gone wrong in Zimbabwe for President Mugabe to now hold the view that by Zimbabweans voting on 29 March 2008 for regime change, this constituted a negation of the principles and values that informed the national democratic revolution?
By accepting to subject himself to an electoral process, President Mugabe must be equally prepared for victory as well as defeat. President Mugabe cannot be the referee and player in the same game.
President Mugabe makes the point that Zimbabweans should make it clear to the British and Americans that they are no one's subject when it is common cause that no foreigner is allowed to vote in Zimbabwean elections. Zimbabwean laws do not allow for dual citizenship and, therefore, it must be accepted that all the people who voted were eligible under the rules supervised by President Mugabe's administration.
What would make President Mugabe believe that Zimbabweans would opt to subordinate their sovereign right to decide who should represent them as President of the Republic to foreign interests? Can it be the case that President Mugabe genuinely believes that Zimbabweans cannot be trusted to make their own legitimate political choices?
President Mugabe then makes the statement:" We are the subject of ourselves and we belong to ourselves" in a representative capacity when he should be speaking for himself. After all, President Mugabe is entitled to a single vote and there can be no circumstance in which he can represent people who voluntarily participated in an election and made their own preferences.
It is instructive that President Mugabe is advancing his notion that the people who voted for regime change were confused makes the point that such a vote could not have been in the national interest but a consequence of white political manipulation.
It should be clear to President Mugabe as it must have been at independence that the introduction of universal suffrage ensured that any person elected to represent citizens in Zimbabwe must do so with the consent of the majority. Why then would he assume that the same people who made him a leader in post colonial Zimbabwe are not entitled to make a different choice?
It is mind boggling that President Mugabe would come to the conclusion that voting for regime and leadership change represents a negation of the land reform programme without attempting to change the constitution to provide for a new litmus test in terms of who should be eligible to compete for the office of the President.
Both Tsvangirai and President Mugabe have complied with the legal provisions to offer themselves as candidates and it cannot be right that in a republican system one's patriotism is questioned by a competitor.
While Biti is being threatened with treason, President Mugabe makes statements that are no different from what his administration regards as treasonous.
He makes the point that if Zimbabweans after being induced by violence can still vote for leadership change, war is inevitable and as a loser he will try to reverse the verdict of the people through extra legal means. He does not make it clear what he means when he says in a purportedly representative capacity that the losers are prepared to fight for the country outside the electoral system.
President Mugabe makes the point that Zimbabweans must define clear political taboos and clear boundaries for rituals of governance. He then defines the defence of nationhood as a vote for no leadership change. In other words, President Mugabe believes that he alone is the best protector of Zimbabwean sovereignty while forgetting the suffering of the majority under his watch.
It is clear from the above that President Mugabe only subscribes to the republican system as long as it produces an outcome through elections that entrenches his rule. According to him, democracy cannot be allowed to produce an absurd outcome that he describes as an overturning and subversion of the will of the people to foreign interests.
Is President Mugabe right to hold the view that democracy in so far as it can result in Tsvangirai being the President would be tantamount to pawning sovereignty? He makes the point that anyone who votes for change will be doing so to assert the rights and advancing the interests of outsiders. President Mugabe having been spawned by the west is now looking east and yet he would not want Tsvangirai to make the same choices that he has been allowed to make on behalf of the suffering Zimbabweans for the last 28 years.
A republic should mean the rule by many and by laws while President Mugabe who would want the world to believe that he is a democrat has now exposed himself as one who has contempt for democracy and believes in the arbitrary rule by one (being himself).
When the views of President Mugabe are read in context it would only be fair to say that Zimbabwe has been reduced to a despotic state and he should no longer be called a President but the His Majesty, the Last King of Zimbabwe.
In a democracy, the rule of the majority must not and should not be restricted. It is clear that the Emperor/King is now naked and the only way to demonstrate that Zimbabwe has no place for a King is to vote for leadership change on 27 June 2008. If anyone was in doubt of what is at stake then please read carefully and reflect on what King Mugabe is now saying about your country.
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I AM NOT AMUSED BY ROBERT MUGABE (APCGM). Zimbabweans must not fall in the hands of a single person, Mugabe. Zimbabwe’s political history has many astute nationalist individuals who could have steered this country farther. Today the country is economically bleeding and we are made to defend self serving maneuvers that seemingly resonate with the Zimbabwe we want to see. Are we defending our morality and nationhood from insatiable erstwhile oppressors and we are caught in a quagmire of defending the person of Robert Mugabe.
Firstly, I salute those individuals who lost their lives in the struggle against last century’s pandemic in the name of English barbaric colonisation. I salute all living heroes who surrendered their lives to liberate this crucial country today spearheading Africa’s last intrinsic worth of emancipation. Educated Mugabe was invited to lead the guerrilla youthful fighters with a national mission to free blacks from English bondage. The inhuman Rhodesia’s chemical weapons from Kwekwe and the British mercenary killings of the black natives were enough examples that the settlers were not ready to consider blacks as equal human beings. The war was won through the barrel of the gun and the victory is synonymous to the unfathomable loss of youthful lives of fellow countrymen.
Error 1-Robert Mugabe then announced reconciliation without the losers consenting. The population was made to glorify a new nation with no clear understanding of the mindset of the defeated white settler and its English empire in new Zimbabwe. Although it became overt that the settlers denigrated black majority rule and would not integrate into a new nation apart from exploiting land and mineral resources, protests from artists and former fighters received deafening silence in 20 years from the man at State Souse for mere reasons that his spot was not yet under threat.
Error 2-Mugabe and his colleagues in political leadership got the new nation worried about compensating colonial settler farmers of stolen land from day one in Lancaster (willing buyer willing seller). Zimbabwe had inherited poverty from colonialism in 1980, more than 80% of the population was rural based with no education and health facilities, no roads and all infrastructures were war ravaged. The new nation had to habilitate refugees generated by the Rhodesian insurgents. Britain should have sorted the mess of inhumanly shipping British relegates to settle in Zimbabwe directly with the very settlers alone. Although we had lessons from bad transition in Mozambique and Angola, Mugabe must not have allowed the status quo of colonialism to see the light of a day in new Zimbabwe. Mugabe therefore must accept that he heads a new colonialist state where few blacks hijacked the white settler rule.
Error 3- Mugabe allowed the country to be undemocratic by allowing 20 unelected seats for whites; this gave our white Zimbabweans a sense of superiority even though they were defeated through the barrel of the gun. I shudder to think how a nation that almost perished to bring egalitarian rule would let naked racism thrive before their very eyes in a free Zimbabwe. Mugabe accepted to inherit a racial crisis from the beginning and today it is haunting the nation and most specifically his favorite spot.
Error 4- Sir Mugabe heartily accepted to be knighted by the worst oppressor in the history of humanity, Queen of the English Empire. Did learned Mugabe had forgotten of how land was annexed and colonized in Zimbabwe? Robert must have been aware of all the brutal hangings of our liberators granted by this most loathed queen. Mugabe abused the trust given to him by the struggling Zimbabwean people and served himself foolishly. To dine and wine with the notorious head of the English empire that has oppressed more than 50 nations is unthinkable for a fighter with raw experiences of his people being exterminated by the same evil. If Mugabe thought he was teaching the English establishment humanity then he should study more of the animal kingdom for the English kingdom he tried to please is worse than that of wild animals.
Error 5- Given to respect mistakes of Lancaster ’78, by 1990 Mugabe must have implemented land reform policies that were geared towards limiting farm sizes through taxations and penalties. Vast tracks of land were under the hands of white settlers outside Zimbabwe, gradual resettlement could have started by annexing such lands for the rural majority. Heavy land taxation policies could have catapulted the adamant white farmers to release non-tillable lands for repatriation. Robert was concerned with agreed British compensation that was already on doubt that it was used for ulterior reasons other than resettlements. As political leaders, Mugabe and crew must have had plan B once the British gvt delayed or compensated meagerly to resettlements schemes.
Error 6- While we hail the unity accord of ’86 between warring Zanu and Zapu, Mugabe missed the opportunity of forming a true post liberation Zimbabwean revolutionary party with virtues and rituals of governance anchored in the aspirations of the majority. Zanu negotiators glorified themselves in absorbing Zapu without caring of the revolutionary and political values of Zapu and J. Nkomo of the oldest party and the oldest nationalist. Joshua Nkomo was politically abused now and then after Unity ’86 up till his demise and most Zapu heroes were removed from sight, glorification of heroes only came from Zanla side.. A post liberation party that was to stand the test of time could have been formed if it was not of the egocentric tendencies of the man heading Zanu then.
Error 7- The vesting of all state and government powers in one office of executive presidency was to conclude the nightmare of individualizing the party and the country. The life and thinking of all Zimbabweans became the thinking of one man, RGM -(APCGM). Absolute power corrupts absolutely and this made Mugabe the most feared individual by all people of well meaning. Opposition to Robert is treasonous and comes with a heavy price. Discussing the office of the presidency is anathema and commenting his portrait is still criminal. The population started to breed a silent rejection to Mugabe with no one of sane mind challenging him publicly. The mentally challenged were the only ones to be insolent to Mugabe’s rule, the likes of Tekere the drunkard, nervous wreck and emotional short tempered Zanu’s former secretary general who thinks he can be president by shooting hard line rhodies in the streets, Dongo the garrulous of neither family values nor political administration acquaintance, and naïve Morgan of non self respect of the history and moral values of his nation – the Zimbabwean society condemned and fought colonial oppression at a high price and managed to eject English supremacy within their midst by finally excreting Ian smith’s settler government, our own Tsvangirai has turned to that excrement for consumption, all forms of human or social excrements must be left for dogs and donkeys. The people, harboring their silent resistance to Mugabe are ready to do away with RGM-(APCGM) by accepting anyone who, ‘if not anything that” challenges him as they are dejected and now care less of the consequences.
Error 8- Farm seizures of 2000. Astutely knowing the unconcluded promises of the revolution, Mugabe used the already stretched revolutionary emotions of the people by harp-hazardly grabbing fertile land from white unrepentant farmers whom he regards as unthankful to him. This was induced by the threat to his spot – the state house. While the hapless peasantry saw the fulfillment of their aspirations, Mugabe had worked out his relevance but plundered his poor non-self reliant country in an economic quagmire. Robert had awakened the noxious python in the English establishment by tempering with their kith and kin in this part of the global jungle. The python would eat all the eggs and chicks (wealth) before pouncing on the hen (Mugabe). All economic plugs were sealed by Britain and America against Zimbabwe (now Mugabe) to make it/him suffocate until he gives in and effect regime change while acknowledging the myth that without the Englishman you perish. The powers that be today lies with the superpower neo-colonials who control ALL international financial institutions and organisations, and Mugabe can not stay in isolation.
Error 9- Mugabe gave multiple farms to same families in his quest to find support for most of his war time colleagues were slowly deserting him. Being in Zanu PF is to scramble for a free for all unlimited national wealth. Free agro inputs every season and no question asked about repayments, free top of the range agro machinery for those who are seen to be highly supportive of the man himself, free diesel for the RBZ free delivered twin-cab vehicles. Free, free, free for as long as you are with us! I smell rotten institutionalised corruption in high political places with the RBZ at the core. We are shooting ourselves on the foot with Gono’s economics. Our detractors are in good spirit as they affirm; it is thus fulfilled that Africans can not rule themselves.
Error 10- HANDIENDE! I will not go. The party and the nation need new principled faces and these are dictates of nature. Mugabe is not ready to hear of anyone even from within who can replace him. Malawi’s Banda times have visited us.
Given the creed of African politicians today, the legendary anti-imperialist Robert Mugabe APCGM is a high cut above the rest; one has to look at his tremendous achievements which I will save for another installment. Unfortunately what a better devil indeed!
I AM NOT AMUSED BY ROBERT MUGABE (APCGM). APCGM- African Political Chase Grand Master! What choice do I have?
Mutumwa Dziva Mawere (born January 11, 1960 in Bindura, Zimbabwe), is an African business executive, pioneer, financier, banker and entrepreneur best known as the founder and Chairman of Africa Resources Limited ("ARL"). He is known for having built one of the most powerful and influential corporations in Zimbabwe's history
What president MUGABE must put in mind is that change is inevitable.Change is the only constant in life.Those voting are not BRITISH bt purely Zimbabwean citizens advocating for a new ZIMBABWE.
For a learned man of the calibre of MUGABE to
constantly talk abt the BRITISH in a country full of intellectuals like ZIMBABWE I think it is a mere fallacy.What people must tell Mugabe is that he no longer belongs to the new generation.The world has changed and it is now a global village and Zimbabwe cannot live in isolation.In short MUGABE has failed to address the needs of the mordern generation hence we want him out of power.