ANC and Zanu (PF): partners in non-delivery

Both organizations demonstrate a lamentable lack of imagination with regard to the future of Africa. They continually show us that they cannot shed the old habits and language of liberation, and must use it at every turn to try and convince us of their relevance. They continue to divide Africans based on their skin colour because it worked well for them in the past

In the case of Zimbabwe, most of us are well educated and progressive in our view of the world and our aspirations can hardly be represented by freedom fighters of yester year. Yes, they performed a risky and vital role in dislodging the colonialists, and it should have stopped there. In South Africa too, the enlightened black middle class realizes that its deliverer from apartheid is not necessarily qualified as the deliverer of economic freedom.

The majority of our most educated and progressive middle class is outside the country simply because of the failure of Zanu (PF) to create a modern democracy. We are missing a large number of those who can help us accelerate change towards the creation of a modern state. South Africa’s middle class is also becoming educated, but there is a general level of apathy when it comes to politics, and this continues to limit the country’s political talent for the future. We made the same mistake here.

What happens is that the masses, through their sheer numbers, become the deciding factor in our politics. The impoverished sectors of the population that continue to deliver the vote to Zanu (PF) in Zimbabwe and the ANC in South Africa do not necessarily know what is best for them. They continue to sell our future for food handouts, bicycles, goats and airtime at election campaign rallies.

How do we deliver true freedom to Africans? Firstly we must acknowledge that the role of liberation political parties is now over. It is time for new progressive and diverse political organizations to emerge and take over leadership.

Second, we must realize that unless you and I become politically active, it will always be a case of the below-average thinkers leading us. Africa deserves better. We need to change our economic systems and manage them better – and that requires new blood.

Third, progressive Africans must collaborate in the same manner as liberation parties collaborated during the struggle, to create a momentum towards change and economic freedom.

The problems that we Zimbabweans and South Africans face are similar. We are all tired of unaccountable politicians enriching themselves at our expense. We are tired of their inability to deliver on our economic freedom and blaming the West. Corruption, incompetence and greed continue to dominate public office, while poverty continues to increase. Politicians continue to recycle the same people, robbing our countries of fresh ideas from the young, the educated and the progressive. Black racism continues to stifle racial integration and social development.

We must see more Lindiwe Mazibukos of the DA in South Africa as middle class blacks rise to the challenge, see beyond their current circumstances and ignore the negative political rhetoric of the ANC. In Zimbabwe, we must see more courageous Beatrice Mtetwas as we reject Zanu (PF)’s narrative of our future.

But more important, we must realize the fact that Africa can never go beyond the limits set by our liberation struggle political parties unless we all actively participate in politics and build modern democracies that deliver economic freedom. We can no longer afford to watch from the sidelines, excluding ourselves from determining our future and complaining about lack of change.

We would be foolish to leave these responsibilities to the ANC in South Africa or Zanu (PF) in Zimbabwe because their mentality cannot imagine beyond liberation. So let them support each other and disregard what we think for sooner or later, they will be bedfellows in the dustbin of African history. – Join the debate. Send your comments to: vtmusewe@gmail.com