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Zimbabwe Briefing - Issue 59
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (SA Regional Office)
February 01, 2012

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What is superior the people or bullet?

There is a monotonously over-narration of how Zanu PF captured and tries, on a daily basis, to maintain if not expand its illegitimate control of the state. Those with short memories were shocked that Zanu PF was running scared after the drubbing in the March 2008 harmonised elections. The party was stating unashamedly that the mere writing of an X to vote, could not replace the bullet. Put simple, the hundreds and thousands of Zimbabwe citizens who had over-whelmingly voted against Zanu PF could not expect to consummate their victory because Zanu PF was prepared to take up arms to deal with those who had opposed it. In the aftermath of losing the March 2008 election, Zanu PF made it abundantly clear that the bullet is mightier than the pen, unleashing a wave of terror that left almost 200 people dead and thousands displaced. Zanu PF and its spinners surely knew and still know that the will of the people as ex-pressed in March 2008 cannot be wished away. The main question, perhaps, is- which is superior the people or the bullet? This article therefore focuses on two issues, a) exposing the myth of Zanu PF's false "bullet". dominance and b) rally the people to prepare for a new Zimbabwe.

On reflection, there was no need to be surprised at Zanu PF's utter callousness, after all the song Zanu Ndeyeropa (Zanu is a blood party) is enthusiastically sung by the partys supporters and storm troopers. One re-mixed version of the song which was being belted out by Zanu PF supporters as Zimbabweans prepared for the Presidential election re-run in June 2008 went this way:

"ZANU ndeyeropa (Zanu is a blood party) Ropa hatidi (we do not want to see spilt blood) ZANU inouraya (Zanu kills) Ropa hatidi (we do not want to see spilt blood) Ndiani ane nharo? (who has the audacity to challenge us?) Ropa hatidi (we do not want to see spilt blood) Vhotera ZANU (Vote for Zanu) Ropa hatidi (we do not want to see spilt blood)"

This song celebrates and glorifies violence. The message is simple but deadly: If you don't want to die then vote for Zanu PF. President Robert Mugabe is much subtler but the message remains the same. Students of history will know that Mugabe's 1976 statement remains a key frame of modern day Zanu PF: "...our votes must go together with our guns. After all, any vote we shall have shall have been the product of the gun. The gun which produces the vote should remain its security officer - its guarantor. The people's votes and the people's guns are always inseparable twins."

The media is awash with stories of ZANU PF's intransigence in implementing the agreements contained in the Global Political Agreement. Arrests and torture of MDC and civil society activists across the country and Zanu PF's continued reluctance to implement the roadmap to free and fair elections is in fact a strategy by Zanu PF to portray a larger than life image of itself. It is a survival tactic, albeit it being a late and expired tactic.

But the gun has gone beyond merely protecting the ballot in Zimbabwe. That gun is protecting rapists, abductors, murderers, looters and economic saboteurs. That gun was responsible for the Gukurahundi in the 1980s. It destroyed the livelihoods of nearly 700 000 people in operation Murambatsvina in 2005. It is the same gun that invited the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to institute the current transitional authority in 2009.

As such, the Zanu PF gun has ceased to be only about protecting the ballot. The contest for the state in Zimbabwe is far beyond the simple MDC- Zanu PF dichotomy. Ordinary Zimbabwe-ans surely know what they want and it seems, at present, their hope is de-posited in the MDC. Should their hopes and aspirations fail to get fulfilment through the MDC, there is no doubt that another political movement will rise in Zimbabwe.

It is also interesting to note that at the heart of the intra-Zanu PF contests is this idea of using the gun to command operations that maintain that party's grip on the state. The Zanu PF elements that have "eyes", who have a sense of time surely know that this political epoch is a period of reform for the good of them and the whole country.

I argue that the people who stand to gain more from democratic reforms are Zanu PF merchants themselves. The economic base that they now hold and the myriad of human rights atrocities under their belts pause a huge sociopolitical dilemma for their future. The post-people power state of the dictators who also ruled by the bullet- Gaddafi, Gbagbo and Mubarak should hold lessons for Zimbabwe. The question therefore is: for how long will Zanu PF rely on the bullet to protect the ballot in 2012/3? The global, continental, regional and domestic political terrain has changed significantly making it easier for Zanu PF to fool the world that it is the legitimate holder of the people's mandate in Zimbabwe.

The Zanu PF rhetoric of elections in 2012 must be dismissed with the con-tempt it deserves. It is a simple strategy which borrows from the thinking that the best defence is to attack.

The people of Zimbabwe must in fact concentrate on remodelling their country. The control of the state needs to be retaken from Zanu PF which continues to abuse the national institutions- both public and private for its private gain.

The invasion of a commercial farm is no different from the "invasion" of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation or the annexure of land in various city councils by the political elite.

Corruption is the biggest product of the Zanu PF gun. Unfortunately, this corruption has also permeated into areas that the alternative/progressive political forces preside over. The rot in various local authorities including Harare, Chitungwiza, Bindura, Kwekwe and Chegutu is shocking. These local authorities are now under the control of the MDC- but the .gun. system that Zanu PF left is still in place.

This frames the people's challenge of today. The current threat to Zimbabwe is no longer Mugabe or Zanu PF, but Zanuism. Zanuism is the governance system that is characterised by impunity. There is no doubt that the transition in Zimbabwe is irreversible despite all the noise and threats from Zanu PF. To get Zimbabwe move from dictatorship to democracy, there is need for the civil society to keep in check those in power. They have to be accountable. This frames the debate or the struggle beyond a uni-focus on Zanu PF. The majority party in this government is the MDC. They have to account for the continued rot in Zimbabwe and their failure to reform and democratise state institutions.

That Zanu PF is refusing is not enough when they (MDC) are presiding over local authorities from which models of change must be evident. The enclave trap which equates political power to wealth is another Zanuist trap that the people must be wary of. Does it make sense for an ordinary Member of Parliament elected to represent people in a village or township to immediately relocate to the glossy and leafy suburbs of the capital city? Who will fight to improve service delivery in terms of education, transport and health if the new rep becomes a mere placeholder? 2012 is a watershed year with or without elections. The people, mobilised as labour, students, women, the church and business must be unequivocal in defining the kind of Zimbabwe they want. That includes placing Zanu PF and its bullets where they belong- courts of law.

Another Zimbabwe is possible!

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