Does Africa care?

via email from Vince Musewe

Africa will only begin to care if you and me as proud Zimbabweans can stand up now and be counted.

President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa  Zuma extended his profound congratulations to Mugabe on his landslide victory in the recent elections. The African Union has literally endorsed the elections and the SADC are to follow with a full statement and I encourage my readers not to hold their breath.

I walked around Harare today to get a sense of the mood and people are going on with their lives as normal. They seem unwilling to get involved in a battle that they are most likely to lose. They are not waiting for the MDC to lead because that should have already happened. Rather they are waiting for ZANU (PF) to govern because they are asking how can the same courts that expedited the elections come back and admit that the process was flawed. The die has already cast in their minds that it is another five years of suffering. Should that be so?

Another five years of ZANU (PF) gloating while not delivering is looming. How can they deliver in five years what they failed in 34? A banker friend of mine who supports the MDC received an sms from a ZANU (PF) minister, who advised her that she should get ready to go and heard goats in the rural areas. That is their attitude now and we ain’t seen nothing yet.

An answer to my question above is yes, I do believe that they are Africans, black and white, who deeply care about the political developments in our country. I have had an avalanche of sympathy from Africans, both black and white, who understand the likely implications of our situation and are flabbergasted with ZANU (PF)’s fraud.

I however don’t think that Africa has institutions that really care. Africa is hardly geared to address its institutional incapacity to deal with matters of governance and democracy. In addition, Africa does not have a critical mass of political leadership equipped and ready to manage the complexities of a fast changing socio political landscape. Our leaders are in a comfort zone, and they will not challenge each other or the status quo, even on matters of principle because they are all soiled by their past.

Because of this, Africa still lacks the ability to apply the best solutions to its problems and that is likely to be with us for some time. We still accept mediocre and convenient results. We are full of excuses why we cannot apply world class solutions to the problems we face.

I sat and wondered what conversations will be going on in a ZANU (PF) dominated parliament and what its priorities will be. My mind shut down on the horror we shall see.

But again should Africa really care?

I have also heard and seen the blame game emerging with everyone now analyzing how Morgan got it wrong and what he should have done. Thanks to all of you who now have advice, but where were you when Mai Tsvangirai died, when Morgan Tsvangirai was beat by the police and Tendai Biti was incarcerated? When Nelson Chamisa was beat at the airport and left for dead? Where were you when Roy was hounded out of the country like a dog, when Beatrice was arrested and Elton Mangoma humiliated. Yes we all watched as they killed white farmers and stole their property. Where were you?

Where are you now?

Yes we Zimbabweans stood by and watched so why should Africa care?

Why should Nkosazana Dlamini –Zuma care and compromise her career? Why should Rita Makarau or Tobaiwa Mudede care, they have been paid their meager rewards? Why should Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma rise up on our behalf or Olusegun Mathew Okikiola Aremu Ọbasanjo create new enemies he does not need?

Africa will only begin to care of you and me care. If you and me can stand up now and be counted then Africa will begin notice and maybe, just maybe, they will care.

For now, let us not expect others to deal with our problems. Let us take ownership of our circumstances and it is only then that we can expect others to care.

Vince Musewe is an economist based in Harare. You can contact him on vtmusewe@gmail.com