Between October and November 2017, I joined 17 other journalists and media practitioners from Africa for an international professional and cultural exchange programme in the United States of America (USA), which focussed on the media’s role in fostering and strengthening democracy.
By Nigel Nyamutumbu
This initiative, known as the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) is supported by the US government’s Department of State and seeks to professionally stimulate current and emerging leaders in a variety of fields with a view of promoting democracy around the world.
It being my first time in the United States, I was virtually amazed and left with a deep sense of adoration at how the country is developed and basically working.
I had of course imagined how this global power would appear in my sight — not least to what we see on television but also through music. For instance, Thomas Mapfumo, one of Zimbabwe’s legendary musicians, who is now based in the United States, once told us of how “everything is big in America” in one of his songs.
While I didn’t necessarily find everything to be big in America, I took particular interest at how the country managed to reach such dizzy heights and continue to scale up its development.
Admittedly, the differences in the cities I had an opportunity to visit are quite pronounced and some parts of the US are developed more than others. In spite of this glaring inequality, I learnt that the country is built on strong value systems that have been instrumental in fostering their development.
I obviously consciously and sometimes subconsciously drew parallels between the United States and my own country, from basic service delivery to broader structural and ideological issues.
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The lessons I cherished from America became particularly quite telling for me as my homecoming coincided with the new dispensation in my country, characterised by the fall of the only president I had ever known.
It was indeed an exciting period to have been in Zimbabwe and the euphoria that gripped the country when it was announced that Robert Mugabe had tendered his resignation signified how unpopular the long-ruling leader had become.
I was one of those that chose not to celebrate on the premise that Zimbabwe’s problems were beyond Mugabe and while he was the symbol of all our troubles, I argued that citizens ought to be concerned more with the entrenchment of militarisation of our country politics. While for me, the fall of Mugabe was most welcome and indeed a positive development, the manner in which he was deposed under pressure from the military did not suggest the dawn of a new democratic era as some espoused.
For a moment those of us among the cynics were to be proven wrong, with the country’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa announcing a raft of positive measures that were widely applauded. Among the proposals was the need to streamline cabinet posts, where interestingly we have more ministries or departments than the US, which has more than 10 times our population.
The president also committed to review non-investor friendly laws.
We were told that members of Parliament were requested to submit their resumes and that there was going to be an inclusive government based on competencies and merit. This really sounded positive.
However, our worst fears were confirmed when Mnangagwa announced his cabinet, which for all intents and purposes, did not inspire confidence. Not only did he recycle the very same ministers that have been failing the country, he clearly rewarded his allies and consolidated his power.
Like a real student of Mugabe, who in his last days in office reshuffled cabinet to try and consolidate his power — creating funny ministries in the process — Mnangagwa’s appointment of senior military personnel in cabinet demonstrates his rapport with members of the defence forces and how they are his political power base.
This is not to suggest that soldiers cannot occupy civilian positions in government and/ or corporate sector, as even in mature democracies such as the United States, retired military personnel can still serve government or can work in the private sector without any conflict of interests.
Our contexts are, however, different and for the purpose of this submission, I am going to draw on three lessons I took from the United States that have immensely contributed to the development of their economy and democracy.
For starters, the US is a country that is not ashamed of its history — for better or for worse. The country has fought several inequalities since the declaration of independence and from this experience; they do not take their major scores and freedoms for granted.
Among the inequalities that the US citizens have had to confront include, economic, slavery, gender, race and creed among others. There is no attempt to hide the ugly side of the country’s history and most museums I managed to visit document all these atrocities and help to instil values of the “American dream” in every citizen.
As a result, every citizen has a sense of ownership and belonging to the country and the fact that the ugly history was confronted and is laid bare in its most brutal form makes the American societies open and in a way makes the citizens cognisant of their rights.
Contrast that with Zimbabwe, where significant parts of our history, both pre- and post independence, are either distorted or deliberately ignored. Our historical narratives are told by those in power to suit their own interests and we will never find closure on certain atrocities that have occurred in our country’s history.
Calls for a truth and reconciliation commission have largely been ignored, efforts to depict this history in the form of art have been thwarted — with some journalists and media practitioners victimised or arrested for trying to graphically portray our experiences.
Secondly, the Constitution of America is virtually sacrosanct. We specifically interfaced more with the First Amendment, which stipulates that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Freedoms of expression, the media and freedom of assembly form the backbone of the US democracy. This right is respected and practised to the extent that there is a daily protest at White House. Citizens are free to petition without fear and the media, though somewhat polarised, is free to be as critical as is possible.
Respect for press freedom makes the US media big business and due to the other liberties that citizens have, which extend to the country’s economy, the United States continues to develop.
Our context is the exact anti-thesis. Free expression is criminalised and petitions, even on basic social service delivery issues, is politicised. There is no respect for the consumer and when they complain of poor services or quality, they are victimised. Journalists and citizens in general often work and live in an environment of fear and to except the same people to be productive is stretching it.
The economy cannot grow when citizens live in a constrained environment characterised by fear, victimisation and trepidation.
Finally, for the purpose of this submission, the United States thrives on strong institutions that are independent from the executive arm of the government. All arms of government are independent of each other and my experience of the US Congress, which is equivalent to our Parliament, was quite interesting in that during my time there, President Donald Trump was facing stiff resistance from Republican congressmen who supported his ascendency to power.
How I long for a day when Members of Parliament in Zimbabwe openly oppose their political parties in the interests of the constituencies they serve.
The judiciary is equally independent and so are academic institutions, the media, commissions and statutory bodies. All these entities are linked to the executive in Zimbabwe and in a classic example of how conflated our institutions are to the government, one of the state academic institutions did not waste time in conferring Mnangagwa an honorary doctorate barely a fortnight of assuming office.
Without taking anything away from Mnangagwa’s honorary doctorate, which may well have been deserved, the culture of conferring degrees on the basis of proximity to power or as a political tool to spruce up the image of politicians and public personalities is tantamount to corruption, inhibits academic freedom and can potentially destroy the country’s education system.
There is a direct correlation between democracy, good governance and development and as the above case study of the United States illustrates, economic development is underpinned by respect for pertinent citizen freedoms.
Zimbabwe’s new government should prioritise this democratisation agenda, not least to prepare the country for free and fair elections due next year, but also to spur economic development in the country.
l Nigel Nyamutumbu is a media practitioner currently serving as the programmes manager of the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe. He can be contacted on [email protected] or Whatsapp +263 772 501 557
