Back to Index

Develop a more democratic culture, Dr Magaisa tells civic society and opposition in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwejournalists.com
June 18, 2006

http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=534&cat=1

LONDON – A well known Zimbabwean intellectual and lawyer, Dr Alex Magaisa, has criticised some civic society organisations in Zimbabwe for replicating the behaviour of political organisations that they are fighting to change.

In a wide-ranging paper on the situation in Zimbabwe presented at the inaugural annual Basker Vashee Memorial lecture in Amsterdam, Dr Magaisa singled out the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) as one such organisation. He said some CSOs in Zimbabwe have failed to live by the principles that they espouse.

"Worse however, is when CSOs begin to replicate the behaviour of the political organisations that they are fighting to change," he told a receptive audience in the Netherlands. "This has happened for example, when Constitutions of CSOs are changed on the basis of following the will of the people, something that ZANU PF and the government has done in the past." The NCA has recently amended its Constitution amid controversial circumstances, with allegations flying around that the amendments were designed to allow Dr Madhuku to remain in power beyond the stipulated two terms.

"As a body that has been fighting for a new Constitution, people have begun to doubt whether it still has the moral authority to challenge President Mugabe and ZANU PF in the wake of the controversial amendments. Whatever the merits of the amendments the NCA ought to have taken into account the current context and refrained from appearing to replicate ZANU PF’s behaviour."

He continued: "Also worrying are the allegations that Dr Madhuku’s supporters used violence and threatened opponents of the constitutional amendment."

Dr Magaisa said it was sad that very few organisations in the country had spoken out openly against the NCA debacle.

"The biggest problem however is that except for the Mutambara led faction of the MDC, none of the other political and non-political actors preaching the word of democracy have uttered a word of condemnation against Dr Madhuku and the NCA," he said. "The Tsvangirai-led MDC, which appears to command a majority at present, has not commented on the episode. One suspects that the apparent conspiracy of silence is motivated by political alliances, which mean that none of the alliance partners has the moral standing or courage to criticise the other." He said the alliance of partners also resulted in CSOs keeping quiet when the Morgan Tsvangirai MDC was accused of using violence against some senior party officials.

"Violence was also reportedly used against opponents and perpetrators got away with it – fuelling impunity. At that time civil society remained largely silent and at worst took sides in the MDC split, thereby undermining their own impartiality," said Dr Magaisa. "It is unsurprising then that now that the NCA has trampled on its own principles and values, there is by and large unity in silence, bar the lone voice of the Mutambara MDC, which called for Dr Madhuku to step down. There is only one word to describe the whole episode: embarrassment."

Dr Magaisa said it was small wonder that in the eyes of a number of critics, CSOs have lost credibility and have become part of the problem in Zimbabwe. "Unless they reform and refocus, they risk becoming an irrelevant side-show in the current politics and a mere footnote when the history of Zimbabwe is told in future," he said.

Dr Magaisa said allegations of corruption and lack of accountability have also posed threats to the credibility of CSOs. The greed and competition for resources, he said, has had a largely negative effect on the nature of CSOs hence the many unnecessary and wasteful divisions. "It is not uncommon that once a leader loses office in an NGO he goes on to form another one. Unfortunately donors buy into their project proposal and consequently Zimbabwe has a lot of organisations doing the same things. They cannot even mobilise their membership, if they have any, in order to carry on a united protest."

The paper also touched on Zanu PF politics and paralysis, the succession issue, the opposition MDC and the situation obtaining in Zimbabwe at the moment. He did not only look at the visible damage done by hyperinflation, material shortages and the breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe, but also at the invisible damage the country's current crisis is having on the culture, behaviour and attitude of citizens towards each other, the state and other institutions. Dr Magaisa argued in addition to insisting on a new government and Constitution, the Zimbabwe opposition movement needs to closely scrutinise its own practices and work to develop a more democratic culture.

The Basker Vashee Memorial lecture will be held annually to commemorate the life of Basker Vashee (1944-2005), a Zimbabwean activist and scholar who was director of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI) from 1977 to 1987, and a TNI Fellow until the end of his life.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP