JOHANNESBURG - In many a dialogue, specifically with black locals, there has always been bewilderment as to why after all these years as Zimbabweans we have failed to oust President Robert MugabeAlmost a third of the country has chosen to leave the country rather than stay at home and confront the dictator.
I shall in this expos try and share with the anxious reader why this is the case and whether we can expect any significant changes in the short term.
The Zimbabwean I know is a highly accomplished character academically and to me, this quality has been his fundamental blemish.
His persona was shaped mostly in a colonial environment where he believes in hard work and a reverence of those above his station or those in authority.
He therefore finds it unimaginable that he can use ferocity or force to achieve his ends. He is navely patient hoping eventually justice will prevail and has chosen to wait things out and leave any developments to the providence of the gods.
The Zimbabwean I know is an extremely proud individual with an over-bearing sense of self importance. To him, education comes first, for that has been his escape from poverty and his off-spring must get a better education than him.
He will therefore do anything to ensure his offspring receive better schooling. He will also hastily exhibit his academic accomplishments whenever he is afforded an opportunity to do so. Unfortunately these have been rendered useless in the current political environment.
He is quite avaricious and egocentric when it comes to business and tends to be ostentatious in his tendencies. The Zimbabwean who has acquired an authoritative position, whether in a public or private arena, loves to be bathed with admiration and honour.
He thrives in hierarchies and seeks to be esteemed because he occupies a position whether competent or not in discharging the duties and responsibilities that come with it.
He desires a highly unchanging predictable environment and will pay back with his fidelity. He will therefore unlikely to challenge any status quo securing his attained comforts. He is a weakling when it comes to change. It is his duty, he believes, to revere elders and he will not be seen affronting their views or positions. He believes passionately in ancestral spirits and will not dare to be contrarian, lest be damned by them.
He is therefore, despite having attained a respectable level of western education, highly superstitious and has much fear of witchcraft and the occult.
He loathes and avoids violence and delinquency. He places a high value on his life and that of others and would sooner find an escape from any capricious situation. He is peace loving and enduring.
The Zimbabwean politician, on the other hand, has taken full advantage of these weaknesses and has pushed the boundaries to the brink and exploited the ordinary Zimbabwean in all spheres of life. The politician has used intimidation and fear as his tools to cower the Zimbabwean into accepting his dominance.
Those fortunate to escape the system have done so in numbers and continue to watch and hope things will one day come to a head.
This scenario has created an advantageous situation for the politician because it is in the urban areas he is likely to experience much resistance, and with most of the middle class gone, this has cleared the ground from any meaningful organized opposition emanating from an educated vibrant middle class.
In the meantime, the politician satisfies his own greed and increases his material wealth hoping things will not change, for that will be his ruin.
The army has played its role and flexes its muscles just to remind most that, if provoked, would surely come to the aid of the politician. Together they have formed a formidable partnership which will be difficult to dislodge because it is based on mutual economic survival; one cannot survive without the other.
The Zimbabwean businessman, in my view, has become compromised and therefore useless in the game of change. He can only survive in this environment by supporting the ruling party or else his business will come to ruin.
Unfortunately he has become a partner in the entrenchment of a dictatorship. Because of the fear of loss, he has chosen not to dabble in politics but be a mere spectator. His position is similar to that of the Zimbabwean in the Diaspora who can make as much noise as he wishes, to no effect.
Despite all this, Zimbabweans I know are sick and tired of Zanu (PF) but know no better means to dislodge it but through the ballot box. That is his only conceivable and safe means of bringing on change and yet it tarries.
The day will come, I guess, when all fear must dissipate and all Zimbabweans realise that without force there will be no change because this adversary is not going anywhere. Until that happens expect nothing much to change and the situation to worsen.
That is the sad reality. – Vince Musewe is an independent Zimbabwean economist based in South Africa. vtmusewe@gmail.com
Post published in: News