The crude dishonesty of party regalia

Just recently, I was saddened by the sorry sight of five Chitungwiza youths who were fighting over a loaf of dry bread as they headed home in the evening after attending President Robert Mugabe’s rally at Chibuku stadium.

Readers will recall that rally for the tragedy that engulfed the dormitory city when several people died during a stampede to gain entrance into the stadium, and the ominous truck accident that injured many residents, quite a number of whom had been frog-marched to Chibuku, as they trooped back home.

Of course, the deaths did not stop President Mugabe from addressing the rally; neither did he acknowledge the tragedy – just as he does not stop when his speeding motorcade causes a fatal accident.

But that is just an aside. The youths mentioned above were clearly too hungry, having been bussed into the stadium early in the morning without eating and spending the whole day with only Mugabe’s rhetoric as sustenance.

I wondered if these young men were awake to the fact that the T-shirts and caps they wore were in fact far more expensive than the loaf of bread they were jostling over.

I don’t blame them. It is unlikely that they still believe what the Old Man tends to spew at his rallies. Young they might be, but they have lived long enough to know that the party Mugabe heads represents nothing but a howling hollowness and painful memories.

They are old enough to remember the days of the bearer cheques, the endless queues and the overflowing sewage. Memories of the cholera that claimed thousands of deaths and empty banks and shop shelves must surely be still fresh in their minds. It is just that they had no choice but to go to Chibuku, for they also remember what happened at the Zanu (PF) torture camps in 2008.

But the madness is not limited to Zanu (PF). All the other parties are guilty of the same sin. Wherever Morgan Tsvangirai goes, there is a sea of red shirts, T-shirts, berets, jackets and campaign posters. The same applies to Welshman Ncube’s “green” party.

I blame the parties for having wrong priorities. It simply does not make sense to clothe a person in regalia worth more $10 when you cannot buy him or her a loaf of bread worth a dollar or less. But this is what happens whenever elections are around the corner.

I hear that Zanu (PF) managed to get regalia worth millions of dollars, apparently from China. I am not so naïve as to be ignorant of the importance of institutional wear as a marketing tool. I know that it is vital for branding and publicity. That is the reason why parties are so obsessed with it during election time.

But I maintain that a good party, especially in the Zimbabwean context, does not need a sea of red, green or yellow T-shirts to brand itself. It should simply do so through its own deeds, past and present – which should be enough to sell the party to the electorate.

I am convinced that the parties could earn more votes by asking their benefactors to give money or gifts in kind and channelling these towards renovating clinics and schools, or feeding and clothing those in old people’s homes or orphanages.

That has not happened, of course, because most sick people, school children, the elderly and orphans do not cast votes, so they may just as well go to hell. The striking irony, though, is that, during the rallies, the parties will profess undying commitment to these neglected segments of our population. Crass hypocrisy, isn’t it? – For feedback, please write to majonitt@gmail.com