Them against Us, the story of Zimbabwe

Them against Us, the story of Zimbabwe

11/07/03
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PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s political conduct in the last three years has divided the nation between two false camps pitting "Them" against “Us”. The latter are supposed to be the patriotic Zimbabweans ranged against sell outs who are engaged in the bad habit of pushing the country down just to please their imagined Western masters.

Occasionally the “Them” group is dismissed as “gay gangsters”, “unrepentant Rhodies”, “tea-boys”, “ sell-outs” and “ ignoramuses”.

Given the totalitarian nature of Mugabe’s 25-year rule the lily-livered and the those willing to be his tools have camped with the ruling elite and assumed their mannerisms, language and habits.

The net result has been the killing of debate, diversity and free associational life and the thriving of totalitarian thinking. In other words Zimbabwe’s body politic is largely affected by one man’s character.

It is not shocking today that when one opens the official newspapers and other publications or listens to the television they are greeted with examples of this kind of thinking.

Even young journalists who are evident victims of the current rule strive daily to hobnob and associate themselves with the old men and women in the Mugabe camp just for the fear of being labeled “ignorant born frees”. They have written personal essays to appeal for attention and recognition as patriots.

During the press conferences journalists who trained together at college keep a distance from each other for the fear of being identified with the wrong camp.
Those who have been to the President’s office speak of everyone there right from the secretary to the information minister being quarrelsome or always angry or volcanic. Even the naturally cordial and jocose presidential spokespeople have today turned quarrelsome.

No wonder why all the independent journalists today think phoning the President’s office is almost a waste of time.

What does that tell us? That the capacity for any body to reason freely is under siege and the culture of fear is holding sway. Many are so scared of being caught outside the official thinking that some academics today spend their time regurgitating President Mugabe’s words on national television or newspapers as their own just to save their jobs or to cover up for their incompetence. Under this culture political correctness has taken precedence over professional competence. Occasionally they write in the official press referring to the Western leaders as “gangsters” and “house Niger’” repeating President Mugabe’s words. They are granted space to confuse Mugabe’s wishes for national interests.

They confuse the ruling elite’s fears for those of all the black people from Cape to Cairo. It is this unfortunate culture which explains why the CIO’s public face today is that of a terror tool for the ruling elite. They, too, have swallowed Mugabe’s views hook line and sinker. Rather than see their role as that of protecting the national interests they will shield their master first because their fortunes are tied to his endurance.

"There are people who believe in Mugabe’s propaganda so much so that they believe he is the best leader in Africa because 'he educated us'. So what is the lesson?"

MTHULISI MATHUTHU

It will be news for example to hear that the CIO ever predicted the fall of the dollar but not shocking to hear that their reports to the President are often characterised by imaginary conspiracy theories and assassination attempts.

A classic example was when Mugabe told the world in a television interview that he had been told that Tsvangirayi was receiving calls from the British Prime minister Tony Blair. That was false because Tsvangirayi has never spoken to Blair-the MDC leader said.

The other example was about a meeting which was supposed to have been held in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana between the US Assistant Secretary Walter Kansteiner, Econet Wireless boss Strive Masiyiwa and other Botswana leaders.

It turned out that there was never such a meeting and Masiyiwa was actually in West Africa at the time when that meeting was supposed to have taken place.

Being the members of the society the CIO have also mastered the art of pleasing their master. They know how delusional Mugabe is to the extent that they will report to him what he wants to hear. Isn’t he has chosen to heap all the blame for his troubles on the international conspirators and the Western leaders?

Another characteristic of this totalitarian culture is paranoia. Only a fortnight ago one of Mugabe’s chief salesmen in the UK, Chinondidyachii Mararike told the official press that he had discovered a bomb at his garden.

When the police got to his home they found some antique cylindrical item which had been buried in there for sometime. Already there had been reports to the effect that Mararike was being targeted by Zimbabwe’s enemies because he was a staunch defender of the land reform exercise.

His colleague, David Nyekorach Matsanga also accused some people of wanting to “kill me” early this year when all what had been written about him were reports that he had allegedly leaked a confidential government document to the British press.

Like their master, Mugabe’s close and peripheral supporters have been consumed by his thinking so much so that they behave almost like him. Gullibility can’t be an exception. So dependent on gullibility are Mugabe’s tactics that he seems to have succeeded in convincing not only the rural folk but some regional leaders and scholars that Zimbabwe’s problem is about land.

It is to this trap that many a foreign journalist has fallen. Often times I have met with South African and West African journalists who ask why Zimbabweans are against Mugabe when he is giving out land.

Evidently they are yet to understand what is happening here. It is not shocking to see some of them dedicating pages to proving how beautiful Zimbabwe is from Victoria Falls to Beitbridge. As if anyone said there are no beautiful resort areas in Zimbabwe. The story is about tyranny discreetly masked behind a facade of African Patriotism.

If gullibility is an issue, then propaganda is top most. It is the reason why today the national television has become an gent of Zanu PF propaganda without anyone having thrown a stone or demonstrated.

There are people who believe in Mugabe’s propaganda so much so that they believe he is the best leader in Africa because “he educated us”. So what is the lesson? Evidently all those committed to the return of democracy, tolerance and diversity had better start thinking about how to destroy this totalitarian thinking.

Which is why the talks, if ever they start between the MDC and Zanu PF, should focus on constitutional changes which will forbid any future leader from fostering false thinking by penetrating every facet of life through propaganda, deceit and black mail - thuthuma@yahoo.com
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