via Between the devil and the deep blue sea 20 November 2014 by Magari Mandebvu
I haven’t heard anyone in Mbare weeping for Jim Kunaka’s recent misfortunes, though a lot are worried that this means there is a bigger and even worse villain in the neighbourhood.
And that reflects my feelings too. One part of me says “let them tear each other apart” and wants to stand back from the struggles we hear all about, almost faster than real time. The other admits that we are talking about individuals, and no two individuals stand at exactly the same level on a moral scale. Both contestants for power are leaders of a party and have grown suspiciously rich but are they equally villainous? If we stand aloof from their struggle, might we come to regret ignoring the wise man’s advice to “always keep a hold on Nurse for fear of finding something worse”.
Both claim to have caught religion. One proclaims that he is a “Born-again christian”; the other struts around in her Salvation Army uniform. Are they mouthing “Lord, Lord” while their actions betray how far they are from following the Gospels or the example of Jesus?
I would not be happy with an unrepentant murderer as President. South Africa has enough problems with Zuma, though as far as I know murder is not among his sins.
So far I’m talking about their personal (not necessarily private) morals. We can’t always have saints as leaders, so the next question is “which of them if they succeed, would have better policies to restore employment, education and health services?” You might add more items to that list.
Zanu (PF), once they had power, showed they had no idea how to use it for the benefit of the people, and no inclination to do so. Are the two contestants equally bad on this count? They don’t have to be experts in all fields, but which of them is more likely to take advice from people with other ideas on politics and economics? Don’t expect too much from either of them but they might not be equally stuck in the old ZANU rut.
That rut ends in the mess we have today, so I’d rather bury ZANU there. On the other hand, there is a risk that one of them might win the leadership contest decisively. Then the next question is would that person be able to co-operate with their defeated rivals within Zanu (PF)? More important – could either co-operate with people outside the fold of the party faithful? Don’t expect either to be enlightened enough to appoint Simba Makoni Minister of Finance and Morgan Tsvangirai Minister of Labour, but I have a few ideas there that I probably don’t need to spell out now.
Or if one wins by force, can s/he rule by force and take us anywhere? If not, how great is the risk that they would rely on foreign friends, Chinese, Western or Russian, Indian or Malaysian, to give them the direction they crave? Zanu (PF) has always seen everything in terms of patron and client, with black people condemned to be clients because they are supposed to be incapable of having an idea they weren’t given by a murungu or a Chinese?
It is clear they see themselves among those unfortunate blacks. That is why the present incumbent was so annoyed when the old colonialists wouldn’t welcome him as governor of Zimbabwe. Nothing in ZANU’s approaches to their Eastern friends suggests they want advice on how to empower their people. As long as their wealth and jobs are secured, they would be quite happy to pretend they held power – by permission of those same eastern “friends”. Would either contestant reject that kind of patronage, from East or West?
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