EDITOR Zimbabweans cannot deny that the Mugabe regime forced upon the nation is unworthy of our history. In the book The Spirit of Laws, which is the foundation of the modern division of governmental power, Montesquieu makes a distinction between three types of government according to their basic nature:
‘The Republican form wherein the whole people or a portion thereof has sovereign power; the Monarchical form where only one man governs, but in accordance with fixed and well-defined laws; and the Despotic form where one man without regard for laws nor rules acts as he pleases, (Mugabe) regarding only his own will or whim.’
And then he adds: ‘A man whose five senses constantly tell him that he is everything and that the rest of humanity is nothing is bound to be lazy, ignorant and sensuous.’ ‘As virtue is necessary to democracy, and honour to a monarchy, fear is of the essence to a despotic regime, where virtue is not needed and honour would be dangerous.’
The right of rebellion against tyranny has been recognized from the most ancient times to the present day by men of all creeds, ideas and doctrines.
It was so in the theocratic monarchies of remote antiquity. In China it was almost a constitutional principle that when a king governed rudely and despotically he should be deposed and replaced by a virtuous prince.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theological, rejects the doctrine of tyrannicide, and yet upholds the thesis that tyrants should be overthrown by the people.
Martin Luther proclaimed that when a government degenerates into a tyranny that violates the laws; its subjects are released from their obligations to obey. His disciple, Philippe Melanchthon, upholds the right of resistance when governments become despotic. Calvin, the outstanding thinker of the Reformation with regard to political ideas, postulates that people are entitled to take up arms to oppose any usurpation.
Zimbabwean singer Thomas Mapfumo sang Sabhuku wepano watadza kutonga.
George Buchanan stated that if a government achieved power without taking into account the consent of the people, or if a government rules their destiny in an unjust or arbitrary fashion, then that government becomes a tyranny and can be divested of power or, in a final recourse, its leaders can be put to death.
I have mentioned examples from antiquity, from the Middle Ages, and from the beginnings of our times. I selected these examples from writers of all creeds. What is more, you can see that the right to rebellion is at the very root of Zimbabwe’s existence as a nation. ?
The right of insurrection against tyranny should go to its final consecration and become a fundamental tenet of political liberty in Zimbabwe.
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