Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
Dzikamai Bere
Violence is the ugliest expression of intolerance. Since the murder of Abel by his brother Cain in the biblical account, humanity has struggled to shake off this curse. The weekend of February 15 2014 saw some disturbing scenes of this curse in Zimbabwe’s main opposition camp, and it is both disturbing and shocking that this curse is surfacing in a movement that many believed to be a viable alternative to the current political administration.
And yet this is hardly breaking news.
In the previous year alone, on June 7, the Zimbabwe Independent journalist Herbert Moyo was beaten allegedly by MDC-T security team for covering a demonstration at Harvest House. On the 14th of the same month, the Zimbabwe Independent reported that the Chronicle reporter Mashudu Netsianda was detained and questioned by MDC-T security personnel in Bulawayo.
Harry Taruva, another Chronicle journalist covering an MDC-T rally in Gweru, was assaulted by MDC-T youths at Mkoba Stadium on October 13 last year. This is sufficient evidence that the movement once believed to be a democratic alternative has over the years mutated into the likeness of an evil that it was formed to challenge. That is why the events of February 15 2014 in which the former ministers and senior officials of the MDC-T (Elton Mangoma and Tendai Biti) were assaulted by party youths are shocking but hardly surprising.
As if that was not enough, the rally that followed on February 16 was also characterised by physical violence from party youths and verbal violence from the party leadership. This is what happens when a movement loses touch with its values and words like “rebels” are used to refer to those who differ in opinion.
So, this violence in MDC-T; what do we make of it? It is a leadership fiasco and society must respond.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
I have three points, which are important to the movement and the people who labour for democracy in Zimbabwe.
Firstly, we have to call a spade a spade and not a big spoon. We have to unmask the root causes of this violence. We have to come to terms with the reality that the movement is losing its soul. So close to power, the hunger reigns and values vanish.
The violence that we are witnessing is neither random nor sporadic but it is organised and systematic, meant to achieve set goals of those who control it. This is so because it is prefaced with speeches from the top leadership that affirm a form of legitimacy in oppressing opposing views. The violence happens usually at the party headquarters or functions, with MDC-T security in charge of operations.
After the violence, perpetrators are named but hardly held accountable. What follows are usually more hate speeches by leadership calling victims “rebels”. The lack of accountability and speeches that glorify violence and condemn victims creates a culture of impunity — meaning perpetrators can offend again, creating a vicious cycle of violence and striking fear in the hearts of those who think otherwise from the establishment.
What is frightening is that this sounds too familiar — like a history that we have lived before in the days of Gukurahundi.
Indeed, it is a history that we have lived and we hate because it has produced thousands of orphans whose parents lie in unnamed graves and whose future is uncertain. Which takes me to the second point. In this violence, we see a movement that has failed at the very beginning of its life to come up with a clear succession plan. (The story again is too familiar.)
In corporate governance, one of the pillars of good governance upon which we measure the sustainability of an organisation is a clear succession plan, that ensures continuance into the future beyond the founders. The reason why Zanu PF is in a quandary today is because it has lacked this pillar in its sustenance strategy. As a result, it cannot move beyond its founders. The organisation would rather follow them [its founders] to the grave.
Sadly, the MDC-T is caught up in this tragedy and we see in our society the recreation of dictatorship in the place that seeks its destruction. We listen carefully to the language and observe the signs of the times. It is not new. Compare the following statements.
“My people still need me and when people still need you to lead them it’s not time, sir, it doesn’t matter how old you are, to say goodbye. They will say you are deserting us and I am not a deserter, never have been, never have thought of deserting people. We fight to the finish: that’s it. I still have it in me here.” President Robert Mugabe in an interview with Dali Tambo on the documentary, The People of the South.
“I don’t intend to stay a day longer beyond my mandate, but I am not going to step down because a newspaper is saying I should step down or because Zanu PF is saying I should step down. If there is need for leadership renewal we don’t suppress it; we actually encourage it.
But you don’t just walk up in the streets and say [Morgan] Tsvangirai must go. There are processes that should be instituted and there are forums that will make that decision and one of those key forums is a congress. I was elected at a congress of party delegates in 2011 and the next congress is in 2016.” MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai addressing a press conference on September 18 2013 at Harvest House in Harare.
The “my people still want me to lead” mantra is over-used, tattered and cannot fool us where the results clearly show leadership failure.
They learnt from Zanu PF. In truth, we know people will be whipped into the party line to ensure that those who don’t follow gwara remusangano will not make it to the congress. We will hear in the coming weeks different branches and provinces of the MDC-T trying to outdo each other in endorsing Tsvangirai as “the people’s president”.’
And so we will have a congress, in or before 2016, which will endorse Morgan Tsvangirai, just as we have always had Zanu PF congresses endorsing Mugabe since 1980. This is a clear indication that the organisation has failed to come up with a clear succession strategy.
Its structures have become vulnerable to abuse in support of an agenda so divorced from the people and so violent in nature and contradiction it can never be a democratic agenda that can serve the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe.
Dzikamai Bere is a Researcher specialising in Transitional Justice. He writes in his personal capacity. Email: [email protected]
