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Civil society double standards inimical to change
By Brilliant
Mhlanga
THE recent National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) saga got a lot of
independent thinkers talking.
Interestingly, they were all singing the chorus that Lovemore Madhuku has erred, therefore he should resign, at least this was the final call by some notable colleagues in the other faction of the opposition.
Surprisingly, there
was a deafening silence from other civil society leaders.
A closer analysis would further show that the deafening silence about
the Lovemore Madhuku issue from the entire Civil Society movement in
Zimbabwe is as a result of their celebrated double standards, when issues
of relinquishing positions is concerned.
Whatever, happened to morals and principles? It would appear that someone somewhere in Zimbabwe ejected political principles and morals through the window and locked the door never to have them back. I am not sure whether we really need to blame Mugabe for everything, even loose political morals displayed by the Civil Society leaders?
This article is
a direct challenge to the Civil Society, especially those organisations
that used to meet at the Meikles Hotel in 2003/4 to discuss the creation
of a long lasting strategic alliance. These included a lot of of people
from various organisations and regions of the country. The major thrust
at these meetings was to forge alliances rooted on democratic principles
and to challenge Zanu PF from a democratic grounding. It never was on
the cards to challenge Zanu PF as its off-shoots, seeking to polish
its undemocratic ideals or to parallel its violent activities. The focus
was to shun by any means necessary all undemocratic tendencies. Everyone
in the Civil Society agreed and undertook to abide by those principles.
Now, where are the voices?
Everyone has chosen to be quiet, even when Lovemore Madhuku openly agrees
in his interview with SW Radio Africa that there was some bit of violence
at the NCA´s delayed Annual General Meeting. No-one from the Civil
Society, anyway few did, had the principled temerity to stand up and
remind Lovemore Madhuku´s juvenile statement that violence is
violence, whether meted on one individual or even the threat of it is
considered undemocratic in this era. No-one could remind Lovemore Madhuku
about the spirit of `love´ and `principles´ of a revolutionary,
and also that a Civil Society is considered `civil´ due to the
fact that members are drawn from various private groupings and the generality
of the citizenship. Any attempts to arm or militarily radicalise a section
of the Civil Society movement, be they male or female, young or old,
is considered uncivil and will never be within the ambit of being civil,
law abiding and upright.
The concept of `Civil Society´ in Zimbabwe has been diluted by
capitalist ends with most leaders seeking to view the the whole democracy
and human rights ideation as an industry for making money and improving
their CVs. This unfortunate development has been aggravated by the "founder
syndrome" together with the `Executive Directorship´ crusade
which was spruced up by the Non-Governmental Organisations´ Bill
(NGO Bill 2004), a Zanu PF move aimed at crushing the Civil Society
movement. With the advent of this bill, which is still pending, a lot
of clumsy individuals turned people driven organisations that were established
through Trusts, to individual organisations run by an Executive Director.
| "Civil society leaders now view the the whole democracy and human rights ideation as an industry for making money. This is aggravated by the 'founder syndrome' |
| BRILLIANT MHLANGA |
These over-night
developments that were a subversion of respective organisational constitutions
with the NGO Bill as the excuse meant that terms of office were extended
for as long as the Executive Director´s contract with God runs
on earth. Interestingly, today it is Lovemore Madhuku who has caused
a serious chorus, by twisting the NCA constitution inside out. A thing
he has always done, together with other leaders in various organisations,
which is why they can not criticise him. Strange bedfellows! I will
not elaborate on this issue, as this topic requires a separate focus
someday. I have knowlegde about the goings-on in a lot of organsiations
that were said to be people driven during their inception stages, but
later personalised. I also have names of of these organisations.
In short I would describe these characters as down-right wicked, because
they must know in their hearts that their cause is wrong, and yet refuse
to acknowledge it. They suffer from the lie in the soul. They are engaged
in pursuing their own interests or interests of their class, in gratifying
a lust for power through discreditable forms of conduct. They form a
class which in Freiran description would be seen as wallowing in the
shadow of the oppressor which lingers in their minds and hearts, yet
at the same time struggling to point fingers at the evils of the Mugabe
regime. In reality they are worse off than the ruling party, as they
are beneficiaries of a system that swindles the ordinary people of their
lives, rights and property by claiming victimhood at the expense of
the masses. They have resigned to the role of being official and perennial
civil society leaders, a role they have embraced for as long as it helps
them to cause serious retardation to any meaningful democratisation
process in Zimbabwe.
The Civil Society in Zimbabwe has internalised the image of the ruling
party, their tactics and general guidelines, and are therefore fearful
of freedom and any meaningful change. This explains the reasons for
their quick move to scoff at any suggestion aimed at influencing change
in Zimbabwe. Their fear for change is based on the fact that freedom
would require them to discard the Zanu PF culture and replace it with
autonomy and responsibilty. Most of them have even forgotten that freedom
is acquired by conquest and not by gift because, they are like a short
man who gets himself elevated to a higher position to aid his retarded
view but have now decided to block the rise of the same people who elevated
them lest they take ways their limelight.
This forms the crisis faced by the civil society movement in Zimbabwe.
It becomes imperative therefore for all civil society leaders including
Lovemore Madhuku, to understand that the nefarious claims that power
resides only in those who are in the ruling elite (Zanu PF) is a monumental
scandal. Zimbabwe´s crisis has its genesis from such a warped
line of thinking perpetrated by an irresponsible leadership who fail
to realise that power resides in the people who thrust them up in those
offices.
Otherwise they seem to be confirming the view that elites give way to elites, and that history is a graveyard of aristocracies. Following this view we may seem them as emulating the activities of a ruler who sees himself as a sheperd who fattens the sheep for the good of the sheperd.
What a shame to democracy!
Brilliant Mhlanga
is a human rights activist. He can be contacted at: bsigabadem@yahoo.co.uk
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