In my opinion any exposures of Mujuru will actually make Tsvangirai look like a saint. We all know that Zanu (PF) is rotten at its core – none are innocent simply because throughout our history we know that people join the party not to serve the country, but for self-aggrandisement and enrichment. Added to that is the fact that if Mujuru has been corrupt, President Mugabe has been aware and so the buck should stop with him.
We are not fools to believe that Grace’s dramatic accusations are new information. Actually Grace inadvertently admitted to this fact by stating that Mugabe has just been too patient with his ministers. This means that he knows what they have all been up to and has done nothing about it.
Until we address the rot within our politics, we will not be able to move our country from predatory politics to a developmental state. It is always going to be a monumental task to remove liberation struggle political parties in Africa as a whole.
Let us for a moment imagine that Mnangagwa prevails and Mujuru is ousted, will that fundamentally change Zanu (PF)’s predatory culture? I don’t think so unless Mnangagwa, being a Christian as he claims to be, repents and ask for forgiveness from the people for acts of commission or omission that he has been part of in the past and proceeds to create an inclusive government that is accountable.
I certainly prefer him as the next Zanu (PF) leader and I hope he will have the courage to clean up and instil some sense of discipline and urgency in addressing corruption and economic problems that neither Grace nor the President has demonstrated any capacity or willingness to tackle. For that reason alone I do support Mnagagwa as the next President but only up to 2018 where we must, once and for all, change the political narrative of our nation and usher in a new age of transformation and inclusivity.
Politicians have abused our youth have put them in harm’s way, without fundamentally addressing the social issues that are limiting their growth and the promotion of a vibrant middle class.
I have spoken to many youths, who seem to still expect politicians to deliver uhuru to them; the sad reality is that this will not happen until our youths themselves take the responsibility to create the necessary pressure for fundamental change in how we govern this country.
We must move away from the politics of protest and expectation to the politics of protest that is followed by active nonpartisan participation in politics by our youth. Of course our political organisations are hardly the bedrock for youth development.
We need an informed and political conscious youth – not drunken fanatics that have no substantive long term plan for real transformation.
Our youth must arise and take that responsibility now, because nobody else will do it for them. Our NGOs can certainly assist in facilitating with re-education and motivation with regard to their rights and responsibilities, but they cannot act for them. I certainly want to contribute to that.
We must admit that even though we want to, we cannot wish Zanu (PF) away. What we must do is lessen their impact on the agenda for the future. We must see some sort of political settlement emerge for the sake of progress. My personal preference would be, of course, that we obliterate the party from our national political and agenda for good, but that is an unrealistic wish and I am not naïve to believe that we can achieve it in the short or medium term. It remains a difficult task until we ensure that they do not preside over the state apparatus and electoral process.
So in the case that Mnangagwa takes over, my approach would be to engage engage, engage. This engagement cannot be left solely to our political parties. Our genuine churches must be seen to play a more active role, our civil society must participate. So should our social institutions and youths.
The responsibility of transforming Zimbabwe into a democratic developmental state is ours and ours alone. We cannot abdicate it to any Zanu (PF) leadership change, Tsvangirai or any other political formations simply because their agenda can never really be as robust and as inclusive as we need. – Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You may contact him on vtmusewe@gmail.com
Post published in: Analysis