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Mugabe using language of xenophobes
By Mutumwa
D. Mawere
(www.mmawere.com)
FROM 1890 through
1980, the Rhodesian state machinery was exclusively controlled by a
white settler community who derived economic benefits underpinned by
a racist ideology.
To white Zimbabweans, the exclusion of blacks during the 90 year period was justified primarily because it was argued that the state was a creature of colonial civilisation and, therefore, blacks could conceivably have had no interest in participating in the administration of the affairs of a state that they played no part in its creation and was in any event not in existence prior to colonisation.
It was also argued that without education, natives were of no value to the system other than as providers of cheap labour.
The role of white people in Africa is, not surprisingly, still one of the most contentious and debated issues of our time.
Even President Robert Mugabe would rather shy away from discussing his record in government and rather divert attention to the demon of racism that resonates with many Africans.
Many African politicians thrive on it and to the extent that the 90-year history of race-based politics is real, people like Mugabe find the issue of extreme value in explaining black poverty and hopelessness.
It cannot be denied that colonial occupation had an adverse impact on not only black political and economic rights but has arguably some relevance to the national democratic revolution.
The colonial experience was not a pleasant one for the majority native population to make it difficult for anyone to dismiss Mugabe’s attempt to make race the principal issue that must be associated with leadership change even after 28 years in power.
At independence, President Mugabe was a champion of a new civilisation that understood the need for healing and reconciliation on the firm belief that the past provided no viable solution to the pressing problems that confronted the country at the defining moment in its history.
President Mugabe must have known then that Zimbabwe needed to turn a new chapter in its history and white people would be strategic players in the transformation agenda principally because the colonial race-based primitive accumulation process had uniquely advantaged them.
It was none other than President Mugabe who reached out to white Zimbabweans including the army in search for a new civilisation founded on republican principles that all men are created equal and the politics of exclusion was not consistent with the values and principles that informed the liberation struggle.
A new Zimbabwe was then born, and everyone thought to a large extent President Mugabe was a credible person to champion and promote a new Zimbabwean identity.
Many white Zimbabweans were persuaded to remain in the country while a few could never trust a person who in a meeting with General Walls compared Karl Marx to Jesus Christ. White Zimbabweans distanced themselves from politics and saw their role as economic agents.
However, they had more to lose if Zimbabwe degenerated into economic chaos and the question must be asked about what they did or did not do to make the system inclusive and mutually beneficial to all.
To demonstrate his magnanimity, President Mugabe appointed Ian Smith’s former cabinet colleagues to his government and during the last 28 years, he has made many white friends including the likes of Algy Cluff and Tony O’Reilly.
It was evident then that the colonial system had advantaged only whites to the extent that resources were allocated on racial grounds. The ownership of land was skewed as was the ownership of mineral resources.
The deal that was brokered at Lancaster House may not have been fully understood by nationalists like President Mugabe. The thorny racial issue that surrounds not only the idea of Africa but also its material realities is a complex one. It has been argued that it is not sufficient to say that whites stole African resources without acknowledging the role of whites in creating the foundations of a functioning economic model.
In advancing this argument, it is often pointed out that white people are not the cause of every ill on the continent, for how can the poverty in many countries where the white population is small or nonexistent be understood and explained?
The image of an African in the minds of people like President Mugabe is a black person. His argument is no different from the one being advanced in South Africa where black South Africans have accepted that the image of a South African cannot be a Nigerian-born black person but a Zulu, Pedi, Xhosa, Afrikaner, English etc.
Even if the resources of Zimbabwe for example were handed to blacks by the state in the name of indigenisation or black economic empowerment, it cannot be concluded that such inheritance will necessarily produce the same outcomes as the colonial system yielded to white settlers.
The views of President Mugabe on race may not be any different from the views shared by the architects of xenophobia in South Africa. The only difference is that President Mugabe had the power and authority for 28 years to do something about it but regrettably he has not been able to accept any responsibility for the failure to provide leadership on this defining nation building issue of identity.
President Mugabe would accept that colonialism has had a positive influence on him because his mastery of the English language and his dressing betray his ambivalence against colonialism. He speaks better English than many white Zimbabweans but has not understood the true nature of the civilisation they sought to bring to Africa.
At the core of the colonial system was a market-based economic architecture that was founded on an exchange of value. The white settlers created a functioning system for themselves based on service or goods in exchange for money. The colonial administration was only a referee but economic games were played by the individual white actors.
Accordingly, an asset like land had only value if it could produce an income stream as opposed to the position taken by nationalists that ownership/possession is an end in itself.
President Mugabe’s views on race are shared by many and form part of the wider hysteria in not only Africa but the developing world in general that cuts across the class spectrum.
White progress in Africa is easily described as a direct consequence of colonialism without any regard to the effort and initiative of the actors concerned. To what extent was the colonial system responsible for white progress is an issue that requires critical analysis in as much as the role of the state in addressing the poverty challenges that confronts the continent.
As President Mugabe approaches the run-off elections, it is important that the issue of race and skin color be discussed comprehensively to determine whether in fact Mugabe is a saint who will make Zimbabwe a better and not bitter nation after the elections.
President Mugabe takes the credit that his administration has changed land title deeds in favour of blacks without attempting to explain that any commercial enterprise like a commercial farm ultimately belongs to its customers and suppliers. If, for example, a farmer produces crops and is not able to find customers, he will perish irrespective of the colour of his skin.
Whites have been able to thrive under the colonial system in as much as they have confused Mugabe during the last 28 years because they have been able to organise their economic initiatives and blacks who are in the majority have largely supported such initiatives as consumers and suppliers of labour.
If President Mugabe was serious about change, then surely he would have found a way of strengthening blacks without weakening whites. At the end of the day, customers do not care who produces maize for example, as long as they get it.
Since 2000, Zimbabwe has been reduced to a net importer of food prompting President Mugabe to attend the food summit to register his view that were it not for racism and imperialist machinations, Zimbabwe would be in a great economic shape.
The whole idea behind the decolonisation project was that Zimbabweans, irrespective of their skin colour, would be able to occupy any office including the Presidency. However, President Mugabe is of the view that equality is a privilege conferred by the true owners of the revolution i.e. the war veterans who had 28 years to build a new foundation for a new dispensation but regrettably such foundation is missing.
What kind of Zimbabwe do Zimbabweans want to see? This question can only be answered by all who believe that Zimbabwe’s brighter day is yet to come and President Mugabe needs to be told that time for change is now. His brand of politics has nothing to do with the future of the country but his personal legacy.
It can be argued that one of the sustainable ways of combating xenophobia would be an attempt to change the language and tone of politics in Africa.
Zimbabwe is too important hence the global attention it receives for anyone to remain disinterested and it cannot be argued that the whole system needs fixing.
In 1845, it took only 166 people to form Old Mutual and 83 years later Afrikaners responded by forming Sanlam but after 28 years in power, it is evident that the language of mutuality and shared values has not resonated with the leadership of Zimbabwe.
If only President Mugabe had used his political office to unite people across racial, tribal and class lines; I have no doubt that people would have responded with real nation building institutions.
Americans have shown that they can rise above the confines of the politics of race and I have no doubt that Zimbabweans in record numbers will on 27 June register their verdict on whether the attempt by President Mugabe to blacken Zimbabwe and make it a pariah state should be condoned.
Mutumwa Mawere's
weekly column is published on New Zimbabwe.com every Monday. You can
contact him at: mmawere@global.co.za
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